“My name is Etzel. I am a traveling sorcerer. Those Grustian cowards stole a ring from me, and were it not for you, I might never have seen it again.”
— Etzel to Marth
Etzel (エッツェル, Ettseru) is a Sorcerer and is one of the exclusive characters in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. He had a wife named Ursula, who died in one of many attacks that Doluna launched, and all that is left of her is her ring. During his travels, Etzel was captured by Dactyl, who uses the ring as leverage to make Etzel fight Marth. After Marth defeats Dactyl, Etzel regains his ring and joins Marth intending to end the war.
Clear Chapter 17 With 15 or fewer units to unlock Chapter 17x. Etzel is a foe in this chapter. To unlock him, complete the chapter without killing him.
Despite being a sorcerer, who supposedly has more defense than a mage/sage, Etzel has a 0% chance of increasing his defense, so without class-swapping, his defense will stay at 7.
In FE12, Etzel has both a great personal base defense and a great personal defense growth. He arrives in time for Chapter 11 and has a high enough tome level to use Excalibur and a decent staff rank. His bulk can make him hard to kill and very useful, even in Lunatic Mode.
Etzel's name could come from the Israeli organization, Igrun, whose acronym was 'Etzel'. Or it can be the German translation of Attila the Hun's name, Etzel again. Also, a mountain in the Swiss Alps is called by the same name.