“You there. Have you come across a young girl, one by the name of Tiki? She must be found, boy! Tiki is the last of the Naga, the divine-dragon clan.”
—Bantu in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.
Bantu (バヌトゥ, Banutu in the Japanese version) is a playable character in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, and their remakes.
Profile
Edit
Little is known about Bantu's background outside his history with Tiki and his strong resistance to madness, unlike other Manaketes.
Prior to the events of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and its remakes, Bantu took pity on the Divine Dragon Tiki, who was sent to sleep in the Ice Dragon Temple by her mother to protect her from lapsing into insanity. He then chose to, against Gotoh's strict instructions, rouse her from her slumber and thereafter explore the human realm with her. At some point of time during his travels with her, the two were separated. When Marth visits the Lefcandith village that he later takes up temporary residence in in Chapter 7, Bantu, in a state of panicked agitation, urges him to aid him in locating Tiki. The pair is reunited in the Fane of Raman in Chapter 19, where he is instrumental in freeing her from the spell of hypnosis that Gharnef had placed on her. After the end of the War of Shadows, Bantu seals the power of the dragonstones and takes Tiki to live a life of tranquility in the Dolhrian countryside.
Some time preceding the events of Book 2 of Mystery of the Emblem and its remake, Bantu and Tiki are separated yet again, as Gotoh makes the decision to return her to sleep in the Ice Dragon Temple. When Marth later encounters Bantu in the eastern village on an island by Cashmere Bridge in Chapter 8, Tiki's fate is made known to him, and Bantu thereafter chooses to enlist in his army. Bantu will then aid Marth in bringing the War of Heroes to an end, and after abandoning his Firestone, sets out for parts unknown. Some light on this journey is shed in his final base conversation with Tiki in New Mystery of the Emblem, where that he seeks to find, and help other kindhearted Manaketes similar to himself, who are viewed more then ever with fear, and loathing by mankind in light of Dolhr's actions in the past two wars. Bantu explains he intends to provide moral support to those Manaketes in their desolation, and show to humanity that not all Manaketes are bad. Before this journey, Bantu promises to return by the time Tiki is alittle bit taller, roughly his height.
PersonalityEdit
Bantu can best be perceived to be in possession of a gentle, docile disposition, a fact made evident through the mild register that he employs in his speech. An example illustrating this is that of the second recruitment conversation with Marth, where, despite being aware of the ongoing chaos outside the village he has taken up residence in, he still speaks in an affable manner nevertheless.
Further bolstering Bantu's personality is the fact that he is rather tender-hearted, where he uses his heart as a moral compass more than he does his mind. This is proven through his taking pity on Tiki's plight, electing to defy Gotoh's orders by rousing her from her slumber and taking her away from the Ice Dragon Temple to explore the human realm. Bantu's interactions with Tiki also reveal an inclination to be patient, one that he exercises in obliging to her whims. His first base conversation with Tiki, for one, sees him not reprimanding her for having broken Marth's mirror, choosing instead to calm her down and coax her into believing that she had been forgiven by Marth.
In spite of his forbearing countenance, Bantu evidently wields a very strong will; one that is strong enough to resist being driven to madness like the bulk of his kin was. Bantu is shown to possess a strong moral compass, and unlike many of his kind, refuses to hate humans.
In GameEdit
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of LightEdit
RecruitmentEdit
| Name | Class | Chapter | Affiliation | Recruit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bantu | Manakete | 7 | None | Visit the southern Village enclosed within the circular mountain range. |
Base StatsEdit
| Starting Class | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Manakete
| |||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Wlv | Mov |
| 1 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
|
- | |||||||||
Growth RatesEdit
| HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Wlv | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 0% | 10% | 0% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Overall Edit
Despite his low growth, Bantu has a niche is that his Firestone has infinite uses, allowing him to be used as an effective tank against enemy units.
Mystery of the EmblemEdit
RecruitmentEdit
Base StatsEdit
Growth RatesEdit
| HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Wlv | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 0% | 10% | 0% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 3% |
Overall Edit
While Bantu's growth rates remain some of the worst in the game, his base stats as a Fire Dragon are higher than most Enemy Dragons in the early to mid game. Bantu's Fire Breath ignores enemy defense, his considerable stats for the period allow him to kill, or greatly weaken enemy units with ease early on, allowing others in your army to finish off the weakened enemies for the EXP.
Like all Dragon units, Bantu has his defense taken into account when attacked by breath weapons, this allows him to act as a tank against enemy dragons, and block dragon reinforcement points. Bantu's fire breath is extremely effective against enemy Ice Dragons, killing them in one attack, or weakening them enough for others to finish them off.
As mentioned, Bantu's stats are extremely poor, if Bantu is close to leveling, and no one else is in need of it, Starsphere Shards can be used to considerably boost his growths. Due to how dragons work in the game, it is recommended to give Bantu shards that increase Defense such as the Cancer shard(increases defense growth by 50%).
Unless Bantu has grown particularly well with Starsphere shards, it is recommended to retire him by the time Tiki is recruited. Unlike Tiki, Bantu is unable to use the Ice, Wyvern, and Magestones. While Bantu does gain higher stats when using the Firestone, it is not enough to keep up with Tiki.
Shadow DragonEdit
RecruitmentEdit
| Name | Class | Chapter | Affiliation | Recruit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bantu | Manakete | 7 | None | Visit the southern Village enclosed within the circular mountain range. |
Base StatsEdit
| Starting Class | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Manakete
| |||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Mov |
| 1 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
|
- | |||||||||
Growth RatesEdit
| HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40% | 20% | 10% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 0% |
Support RelationshipsEdit
- Supported by
| Character | Initial points | Total points for | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | B | A | ||
| Tiki | 5 | 5 | 8 | 10 |
| Nagi | 5 | 5 | 35 | 35 |
- To increase support levels, characters must participate in chapters together
- One support point is gained for each chapter they both participate in
- Support levels that require 35 chapters cannot be reached normally
- Characters must be within a three tile radius of each other to receive support bonuses
Bonuses per level:
OverallEdit
Bantu can be a decent Manakete to use for combat, but his horrible base stats and growth rates mar his usability considerably, causing him to be of lesser use when compared to Tiki or Nagi.
In the later stages of the games that he appears in, Bantu's mediocre growth rates makes him rather weak when compared to the rest of the playable cast. In spite of this fact, it is an absolute necessity for him to be utilised in order to recruit Tiki at a later stage, just as in the original.
New Mystery of the EmblemEdit
RecruitmentEdit
| Name | Class | Chapter | Affiliation | Recruit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bantu | Manakete | 8 | None | Visit the Village located near the vantage point. |
Base StatsEdit
| Starting Class | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Manakete
| |||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Mov |
| 3 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
|
- | |||||||||
Growth RatesEdit
| HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40% | 20% | 10% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 5% |
Support RelationshipsEdit
| Number | Importance | Name | Chapters Needed | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 175 | * | Bantu and The Avatar 1 | 3 | - |
| 176 | * | Bantu and The Avatar 2 | 6 | - |
| 177 | * | Bantu and The Avatar 3 | 10 | Defense Bond |
| 334 | * | Bantu and Tiki 1 | 3 | - |
| 335 | * | Bantu and Tiki 2 | 6 | - |
| 336 | * | Bantu and Tiki 3 | 10 | Magic Bond |
- To obtain the conversations, characters must participate in chapters together
- The requirements for unlocking support conversations are separate from the support bonus system
Support BonusEdit
- Supports
| Character | Conversations | Total points for | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | B | A | ||
| Tiki | 1, 2, 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
Supported by
| Character | Conversations | Total points for | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | B | A | ||
| The Avatar | 1, 2, 3 | 5 | 10 | 16 |
| Tiki | 1, 2, 3 | 5 | 10 | - |
| Nagi | None | 2 | - | - |
- To increase support levels, characters must participate in chapters together
- One support point is gained for each chapter they both participate in
- A hyphen (-) indicates the support level cannot be reached
- Characters must be within a three tile radius of each other to receive support bonuses
Bonuses per level:
OverallEdit
Bantu's reappearance in the DS remake of Mystery of the Emblem does not see any of his flaws ironed out, and further adding on to these flaws is the fact that the enemy dragons now have significantly higher stats than him. The Firestone is used up faster in the DS games, and New Mystery of the Emblem only contains 3 obtainable Firestones, making things harder for him as Tiki may want to use the Firestone herself. Unlike in Shadow Dragon, the Starsphere does not prevent dragonstones from breaking. While Bantu is now able to use other dragonstones for combat purposes, it is not enough to make him a recommended unit.
QuotesEdit
Death QuotesEdit
“Tiki...I'm so sorry...”
—Bantu's death quote from Shadow Dragon
Possible EndingsEdit
Shadow DragonEdit
- Fire Dragon
- "Bantu sealed the dragonstones’ power and disappeared, but his wish was to live out his years in the Dolunian countryside."
New Mystery of the EmblemEdit
- Tiki's Guardian
- "Bantu left after discarding his dragonstone, his whereabouts unknown."
Non-Canon AppearancesEdit
Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)Edit
Bantu is illustrated in the trading card game with the following card:
TriviaEdit
- Bantu's portrait is an edited version of Gharnef's in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
- Bantu is the only playable male character of the Manakete class. Additionally, Bantu is the only non-Divine manakete to support Marth and the Archanean League.
- Bantu is randomly mentioned in Awakening by Nowi in passing when she stands on an Event Tile, where she erroneously refers to him as "Banter", hinting that he might still be alive during Awakening's time period.
GalleryEdit
.jpg "Tiki and Bantu (Memorial Book Archanea Chronicle).jpg (137 KB)")
