—Melady in a support conversation with Yoder
Melady is a playable character in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. She is a renowned knight of Bern and captain of Princess Guinivere's guards. She has a younger brother, Zeiss.
She is willing to follow Guinivere and join the Lycian Army despite the risk of being labeled a traitor and leaving her country, family and lover, Galle, behind.
Her wyvern is named Tryffin.
Profile[]
Melady, by her own admission, considers herself entrusted to Guinivere first and Bern second. She seems to have little love for the actions of her country, spending most of the war searching for Guinivere rather than attempting to aid in the fighting. She is a true believer in her oaths, considering her humiliation and loss of status to be no object when it comes to keeping them fulfilled.
Melady, though a traitor to Bern, still feels a good deal of remorse for the actions of its army, as she was an officer and therefore at least complicit in the terror wrought in its name, as well as many of her old colleagues now being her enemies. She is fairly stiff and serious in her attitudes as a result, and can be especially cagey around people who have personally suffered due to Bern's actions, particularly Lugh. She is slow to form relationships outside of people whom she personally knew before the war, and consequently, is rather surprised when others attempt to speak with her. Trec is one of the people to get through her shell, and she enjoys his company due to his spacey nature breaking the ice between them.
Melady is anguished when facing Galle, whom she cared deeply for. She fondly remembers their time together, but is waylaid by the fact that Galle chose the opposite to her; while she considered her oath to be towards Guinivere, Galle considered it to be towards Zephiel. She questions her own oaths at points, wondering if her own actions carry to Tryffin, who follows her instructions as surely as she followed Guinivere's, meaning that her self-sacrifice harmed those around her. Nonetheless, she ultimately works past it on Yoder's advice.
After the war, Melady helped Queen Guinivere rebuild Bern.
In-Game[]
Description: The leader of Guinivere's personal guard. Unbendingly loyal.
Base Stats[]
Growth Rates[]
HP | S/M | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
75% | 50% | 50% | 45% | 25% | 20% | 5% |
Promotional Gains[]
Item Required | Promoted Class | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elysian Whip | Wyvern Lord | |||||||
1 | +5 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 |
Weapon Levels | ||||||||
E +1 |
Supports[]
- See also: Melady/Supports
Overall[]
Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.
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As the player's first Wyvern Rider, Melady does not disappoint. All of her stats save for Luck and Resistance are well above average, her growths are good in all the right areas, and she has the perks of being a flier. Her decent Constitution also allows her to use the heavier lances with less effort than Shanna and Thea, and with a C-rank, she can use the Killer Lance, which is conveniently buyable in her joining chapter. She can easily hold her own while unpromoted, and her flying utility will be very useful for the next few chapters after you get her. Many of the later maps in Binding Blade rely on terrain or impassable obstacles like mountains and water, which Melady can freely trivialize, with her high durability enabling her to face foes that Shanna and Thea struggle with.
In Normal Mode, though somewhat overshadowed by Shanna, Melady is easily the second best flying unit, blowing Thea out of the water statistically. She is tanky, strong, has a good lance rank, and fills an uncommon niche. However, in Hard Mode, Melady is arguably the largest beneficiary of its bonuses of any recruitable unit. She has the equivalent of ten extra levels in Wyvern Rider class growths added onto her already above-average stats, and the result is a combat juggernaut. Even the exceptionally powerful enemies of Hard Mode struggle to do significant damage to her, and when equipped with a Killer Lance, or in some cases even an Iron Lance or Javelin, she is one of the only characters who reliably one-rounds. When leveled to any degree and/or promoted, Melady is capable of charging on ahead of the rest of the army and wiping out entire formations of enemies solo.
Melady's weaknesses on Hard Mode are minor, but still worth considering. She has very low Resistance and is weak to bows, though her sheer bulk and solid Speed should still let her dodge or survive most hits. Aircalibur is by far her biggest bane, as it hits on Resistance and has anti-flier properties. This can be alleviated through the Delphi Shield in Retaking the Capital, which will make Aircalibur mostly a nonissue. While her Speed is good, it is often a point or two away from doubling faster enemies in the following chapters (and she shouldn't even bother with the overly-heavy Steel Lances), which means she may need an early promotion, a Speedwings, or some luck with her 45% growth to reach her full potential. Lastly, low Resistance will make her a target for status staves, and curing her can be problematic when she is usually off on her own.
Promotion can be done at any time, with a relatively uncontested item in the Elysian Whip, and it will push her limits even further, with its well-rounded stat gains (most notably HP) and the addition of the high-accuracy swords to her arsenal making her all the more untouchable and pushing her past certain doubling thresholds. Melady is at the perfect level, as well: she has enough in her stats to be promoted immediately and stay viable, but is low enough level and has good enough growths that her gaining another few levels isn't difficult. She will usually cap HP, Strength, Speed, and Skill, and her Defense will be among the best in the army.
Her brother will usually pale in comparison as he joins later and weaker and only has slightly better Strength and Defense in return. Zeiss is one of Melady's few support partners that can keep up with her, however. Both Zeiss and Trec will give Melady a good boost to her critical rate.
In general, Melady is a very good choice in Normal Mode, and likely the strongest unit in the game in Hard Mode, owing to her excellent class, her combat prowess, and the massive gains she receives on the higher of the two difficulties. There is simply no other unit in the game that can match her mixture of flight, power, and durability, and her weaknesses are fairly easy to patch. Using her is highly recommended.
Fire Emblem Heroes[]
- Crimson Rider
- A wyvern rider who accompanies Guinivere. Though she is conflicted about opposing her homeland, she is loyal to her lady. Appears in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.
Base Stats[]
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯
Title | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Crimson Rider | |||||
Group | |||||
Flying | |||||
Level | HP | Atk | Spd | Def | Res |
1 40 | 18/19/20 37/41/44 | 9/10/11 37/40/44 | 6/7/8 30/33/36 | 10/11/12 38/41/45 | 3/4/5 13/17/20 |
Skills | Weapon | ||||
Instant Lance+ Glowing Ember | Lance |
Skills[]
Overall[]
Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.
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Base Set[]
Counters[]
Skill Inheritance[]
Meet Some of the Heroes[]
Crimson Rider Melady | |||
---|---|---|---|
Melady is a wyvern rider of Bern. She's a talented, dedicated soldier who serves as a member of Princess Guinivere's royal guard! | |||
Both Melady and her brother Zeiss were loyal to Bern, but things took a sudden turn when Guinivere opposed her own country in a desperate bid to put an end to the war. | |||
It was a difficult choice, but Melady decided to trust in Guinivere. This meant she would one day find herself fighting Galle, her lover and trusted comrade… | |||
Though she walked a difficult path, Melady fought on with conviction in her ideals. And so she continued to soar through the skies, a proud wyvern rider! | |||
Closely Associated Characters | |||
Guinivere | Princess of Bern, and sister of the king, Zephiel. Her beauty, kindness, and intelligence make her popular among her people. Melady is her loyal retainer. | ||
Galle | Considered by many to be the strongest Wyvern Lord of Bern's army, he is loyal to the leader of the Wyvern Generals, Murdock. Lover of Melady. | ||
Zeiss | A wyvern rider of Bern. Serious, with a strong sense of right and wrong. Melady's younger brother. |
Quotes[]
Vs. Narcian[]
- Narcian: You're Melady... Hah! You betray your home and join the enemy. You are a disgrace!
- Melady: My loyalty has always lied with the princess. And so it shall remain!
—Melady's Death Quote in The Binding Blade
—Melady's Final Battle Quote in The Binding Blade
Heroes[]
Ending[]
- Melady - Crimson Rider (紅蓮の竜騎士, Guren no ryū kishi, Crimson Knight)
- Melady returned home with Guinivere to help rebuild Bern. Her unbending will and hard work earned Guinivere due respect, and Bern began to regain its former prosperity.
Non-Canon Appearances[]
Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)[]
Melady is illustrated in the trading card game Fire Emblem Cipher with the following cards:
Choose Your Legends Placement History[]
Round | Placement | Character Version | Votes |
---|
CYL1 | 338 | The Binding Blade |
545 |
CYL2 | 330 ↑8 |
The Binding Blade |
618 ↑73 |
CYL3 | 307 ↑23 |
The Binding Blade |
666 ↑48 |
CYL4 | 277 ↑30 |
The Binding Blade |
477 ↓189 |
CYL5 | 435 ↓158 |
The Binding Blade |
71 ↓406 |
CYL6 | 428 ↑7 |
The Binding Blade |
92 ↑21 |
CYL7 | 362 ↑66 |
The Binding Blade |
71 ↓21 |
Etymology[]
'Melady' may take its reference from the character 'Milady de Winter' of The Three Muskateers. She was the wife of Athos and one of the chief antagonists.
Trivia[]
- On the official Japanese website for Nintendo, Melady won 27th place out of 80 in the character popularity poll for Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. The male-female vote ratio is 2:1. The voter comments seem to mostly focus on her strong sense of loyalty to Guinevere despite her hardships, and her relationships with her lover Galle and her brother Zeiss.
- Melady's battle conversation with Brunnya is switched with her brother Zeiss'.
- Melady is notable for being one of the few characters in the series to start off as an enemy unit, yet cannot be fought (even through hacking), for she defects on the same turn she appears on the battlefield in a scripted event. The most substantial consequence of this is that she still receives Hard Mode bonuses.
Gallery[]
- See main article: Melady/Gallery.