—Chulainn, after being defeated in the Arena.
Chulainn (ホリン Horin, Holyn in the Japanese version) is a playable character from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. He is the son of the Lord of Sophara Castle in southern Isaach, and is a former gladiator and descendant of Odo. He will join Sigurd's army after being defeated in the arena present in Chapter 2.
Chulainn is distantly related to Ayra, who is five years his junior. He is essentially Ayra's male counterpart and bodyguard. According to Chulainn, he developed a crush on Ayra at first sight, having met her when they were adolescents, an event portrayed in the Nattsu Fujimori manga adaptation.
Chulainn will fall in the Battle of Belhalla, alongside several of his fellow comrades.
According to unofficial manga-based sources, Chulainn was born in the Gran Calender year 733 and stands at 185 centimeters in height. He weighs 80 kilograms, and his blood type is A.
In-Game
Recruitment
To recruit Chulainn, the player is required to clear the arena in Chapter 2 with any given character in their very first try. Chulainn will be the final enemy in the arena and will join the army upon defeat.
Base Stats
- Minor Holy Blood- - Major Holy Blood
| Starting Class | Holy Blood | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Myrmidon |   Odo | ||||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Mov | Lead | Gold |
| 12 | 40 | 14 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 10,000 |
| Skills | Weapon | Starting Items | |||||||||
 Pursuit Luna |  Sword - A |  Iron Blade | |||||||||
Growth Rates
(With Holy Blood Bonuses)
| HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 110% | 30% | 5% | 80% | 30% | 20% | 30% | 5% |
Promotion Gains
| Promoted Class | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hero
| ||||||
| +5 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | 0 |
Overview
Chulainn is the second on-foot Sword wielding unit that you obtain in Genealogy of the Holy War, and like Ayra he is a very competent boss killer and 1-on-1 combatant. He should wind up killing most units he engages in combat within one round other than units with particularly high durability, though for those types of units he may activate Luna and make short work of them. However, like Ayra, he comes with a major problem: his low Movement. In Genealogy of the Holy War, maps are very large and half of your army is made up of mounted units that have twice as much mobility as your foot units. Although you can choose to have your mounted units wait for your foot units, this can result in items being lost to burnt villages and recruitable characters dying. Chulainn, as with other foot units, will have trouble reaching the action in time to have a noticeable effect and will usually just wind up cleaning up stragglers until later parts of the map when you're given a chance to position your army before continuing.
Should Chulainn be used on the frontline, he will do quite well. Although Chulainn may not be as deadly as Ayra on offense since she has the Astra skill, he is a more reliable frontline fighter as he will wind up with better durability than Ayra. While Ayra generally has a few more points of Speed than Chulainn, he winds up with a lot more HP and a few more points of Defense. So while her offense is significantly better and her Evasion is slightly better, Chulainn has similar Evasion levels while being significantly better at actually taking hits. It's worth noting that Chulainn has strictly superior growths to Ayra, but taking base stats and starting level into account, they wind up pretty statistically similar aside from the differences mentioned above. Ayra is given access to a Brave Sword, but it's not really a strict advantage for her since the item can be bought from her cheaply by Chulainn or anyone else.
All things considered, Chulainn is a dangerous and solid foot unit. The main thing that separates Ayra and Chulainn is their skills, where Ayra's Nihil and Astra are clearly superior to Chulainn's Luna. However, although Ayra can potentially yield higher rewards. Chulainn is still very strong and there is really no reason not to use him.
Father Overview
Chulainn makes a pretty good father as he has above average overall stat growths and Holy Blood. He does, however, come with two notable flaws: his Pursuit skill cannot be passed to his children as it is a class skill and not an innate skill, and his Luna skill can only be passed on to children who are infantry-type classes (those children being Larcei, Ulster, Lene, and Patty). This means that most pairings don't pan out very well for him, but those that do, he will make an excellent father for.
Chulainn is best paired with Ayra or Brigid, and can be alright with Sylvia. Edain, Erinys, Tailtiu, and Lachesis should be avoided however.
With Ayra, he passes on great stat growths, Holy Blood, and his Luna skill to both children make both of them monsters. Ulster will receive weapons that are perfectly suited for him.
With Brigid, Patty will have an easier time leveling since having Chulainn as a father gives her access to B-level Swords, and thus access to specialty weapons (and in particular, the Brave Sword). She will still lag behind a bit until she promotes and obtains Pursuit, but will become fairly dangerous at that point since she can inherit Luna. Febail merely gets decent stats from Chulainn.
Sylvia is an okay pairing, as her children are support-oriented units that mostly care about inheriting good defensive growths. Lene can also inherit Luna, which is nice, but doesn't really improve her overall usefulness much.
The rest of the pairings should be avoided either because: the children focus on Magic, Chulainn can't pass any weaponry or skills to them, or the children will lack Pursuit.
Conversations
In Chapter 3, if neither Ayra nor Chulainn has a lover, Chulainn may speak to her, resulting in her receiving a Brave Sword and 100 love points with him.
In Chapter 5, after Phinora Castle is captured, if Chulainn and Ayra are lovers, Ayra may speak to Chulainn, but nothing will result of it. He reveals that he is from Sophara Castle in Isaach and that they had first met as children, with him being in love with her ever since.
Love Growths
- Deirdre: N/A
- Ethlyn: N/A
- Edain: 0+2
- Ayra: 0+2
- Lachesis: 50+2
- Erinys: 50+2
- Sylvia: 0+3
- Brigid: 150+3
- Tailtiu: 120+3
Quotes
—Chulainn's death quote
Etymology
Chulainn refers to a figure in the legend of Cú Chulainn, a legendary hero in Irish mythology. Chulainn was a smith and the owner of the guard dog who attacked and was killed by Setanta, the future Cú Chulainn. Setanta swore to be Chulainn's hound and guard in the dog's place until a new one could be reared, earning him his more famous name.
Chulainn's Japanese name, Holyn, is a corruption of Chulainn.
Trivia
- Like Beowolf, Chulainn was omitted from the Oosawa Mitsuki manga adaptation.
Gallery
.jpg "Holyn (TCG Series 2).jpg (211 KB)")
.jpg "Holyn (Anthology TCG Series).jpg (204 KB)")
