—Barthe to Gwendolyn in a support conversation
Barthe is a playable character from Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. Barthe is a well respected and well revered knight of Ostia, acting as a mentor to new recruits. Barthe has possibly been employed the longest out of all of Ostia's knights. Barthe, although not related to Gwendolyn or Bors, has the ability to use the Triangle Attack with them. After the war, he rebuilt Ostia's army.
He makes a brief cameo appearance in chapter 18 of the Fire Emblem: Hasha no Tsurugi manga.
Profile
Barthe is a part of the Ostian Armor Knights, a notably strong sector of Ostia's military. Barthe was knighted around the same time as Bors, with the two becoming fast friends. At one point, they fought each other in a martial arts tournament, with Bors being the victor. Barthe is also well-acquainted with Astolfo, an Ostian spy, as well as Gwendolyn and Ogier, fellow members of the Ostian Armor Knights with the former being Bors's sister.
When a rebellion in Ostia headed by the well-respected general Leygance and a former lieutenant named Devias broke out, Barthe, along with Gwendolyn and Ogier, were apparently absent from Castle Ostia. They returned, however, to save Lilina, the daughter of the Marquess Hector, who had been imprisoned and used by the revolutionaries. Upon their arrival, they met up with Roy and his army, who were engaged in a battle with Leygance to stop the rebellion. Under Roy's command, they helped to defeat Leygance, ending the revolution, and saving Lilina. Afterwards, Barthe joined Roy's army on a journey to stop King Zephiel of Bern from eradicating the humans of Elibe, with Gwendolyn and Ogier also tagging along.
After the war, Barthe was placed in charge of the Ostian military, being described as a "strict but fair" leader.
Personality
Barthe is a very collected individual, and can appear cold in his opinions. Nonetheless, he is devoted to bettering himself, often challenging the local arena in the town of Ostia despite how life threatening it is. He has much in common with his fellow knights Bors and Astolfo, being devoted to Ostia's cause and disappointed with their failure to keep it's coup from happening, as well as failing to keep Hector alive. He's also very suspicious of many of the figures in Roy's army, and alongside Astolfo keeps tabs on everyone in it to the point of paranoia. Lastly, he is a mentor to Gwendolyn and Ogier, teaching more power-oriented lessons than Bors teaches.
In-Game
Description: A knight serving Ostia. Humorless and severe.
Base Stats
| Starting Class | Affinity | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Knight |  Ice | ||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Con | Mov |
| 9 | 25 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 16 | 4 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
 Lance - C |  Steel Lance Vulnerary | ||||||||
Growth Rates
| HP | S/M | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | 60% | 25% | 20% | 20% | 40% | 2% |
Promotional Gains
| Item Required | Promoted Class | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Knight Crest
|
 General
| |||||||
| 1 | +4 | +3 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +3 | +2 | +1 |
| Weapon Levels | ||||||||
+1  E
| ||||||||
Supports
- See also: Barthe/Supports
Overall
While Barthe is not the worst unit in the game, he still suffers from two major issues, being a Knight and possessing low combat parameters. While Barth does possess both a decent base in Strength and nice base in lance rank, his pitiful base of 5 Speed means that he at base fails to double anything but 0-1 AS Soldiers and Knights and his Speed growth will inhibit him from getting much better. He also struggles to even hit his enemies upon joining, as he has low Skill and Luck. He joins right before the Western Isles, which are full of axe-wielding enemies which have Weapon Triangle advantage, undermining his good Defense. Past the Western Isles, he still has problems since maps keep getting larger in size, axe-wielding enemies get promoted and his low Speed keeps limiting his tanking capabilities since enemies double him easily.
Aside from suffering from the typical problems that the Knight class possesses (e.g. low movement), his CON is so high that his mobility problems cannot be circumvented with the Rescue command. For example, promoted Shanna cannot rescue him as a Knight, while unpromoted Sin is the only unit capable of rescuing him as a General, illustrating how difficult it is to move him around.
All in all, Barthe is a unit that is very hard to use effectively in spite of getting the highest Defense in the game but if the player is willing to use him, his Ice affinity ensures that, when supported, he will receive HIT bonuses to circumvent his accuracy problems. His movement and Speed will remain underwhelming, however.
Ending
- Barthe - Knight of Justice (剛直なる重騎士 Gōchokunaru jū kishi)
- "After returning home, Barthe was put in charge of the Ostian military. Although devastated from the tragedies of Hector's death and the rebellion, Barthe's strict but fair leadership led the Ostian Armor Knights to glory once again."
Trivia
- According to a Japanese gaming news website, Barthe landed 62nd place out of 80 in the character popularity poll for Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.
Quotes
Vs. Leygance
Barthe: Leygance, you miscreant! Have you no shame for your betrayal of Lord Hector?!
Leygance: Barthe... Shut your ugly mouth. Lord Hector was a fool. His death was his own doing. I do not intend to fall along with him.
Barthe: You'll eat those words!
—Initiating a Triangle Attack.
—Barthe in the final chapter of The Binding Blade.
—Barthe's death quote in The Binding Blade.
Gallery
