As one of the best and most popular Fire Emblem games of all time, Awakening is made even better by its unique and lovable cast of characters—maybe none more so than its customizable avatar character, Robin. While players have the option of customizing Robin with hairstyles, voices, and appearances, the tactician also has many tricks up their sleeve and surprises to discover. We’ve compiled 10 things that even Fire Emblem superfans might not know about one of the series’ most unique player characters.
10 A Man For All Seasons
With two different genders, three voices and heights, different faces for each, and plenty of different hair colors, Robin is one of the most customizable characters in Fire Emblem history. This makes for a high level of replayability, as no two Robins will ever be the same through different playthroughs. It helps that Robin’s class and abilities are also extremely customizable, meaning that you can choose a different playstyle each time. All things considered, Robin has an incredible 3,000 different possible appearances and can be anything from a red-haired male mage to a purple-haired female myrmidon. They will also pass down their hair color to their son/daughter Morgan.
9 The Strong Silent Type
Robin’s voices vary between genders and builds, but did you know that the original Japanese release allowed you to have no voice at all? Reminiscent of silent RPG heroes like the protagonists of the Pokémon series, Robin would respond to each line with an ellipse, and the game’s script was altered to accommodate. We can’t imagine Robin without his or her voices, whether they be powerful and commanding or gentle and demure, so picturing a strong silent type seems far-fetched. Maybe that’s why the creators decided to remove this feature from the game’s international release—though StreetPass characters still use ellipses when leveling up in lieu of voice lines.
8 Fight or Flight
Robin’s appearance in Super Smash Bros is a bit of an anomaly in terms of featured Fire Emblem characters, as they are one of only two characters (along with Corrin) to use moves aside from sword slashes—male Robin uses a Thunder tome whereas female Robin uses Elwind. But what’s most interesting is Robin’s down B move: Nosferatu, a dark magic tome featured in Awakening, saps health from enemy fighters. This makes Robin the only Smash character from the Fire Emblem series not to feature a Counter move as their down B, encouraging a more offensive rather than defensive playstyle.
7 Fools Rush In
Talk about a Casanova. Fire Emblem Awakening is as much a game about pairing characters together as it is about tactics, and Robin is the only character in the game that can romance every other character (except their son/daughter, obviously). This includes children from the future, which is a little weird, to be honest. Anyway, this means that Robin has the possibility of having two children if male Robin marries a female character or female Robin marries Chrom. The latter will have to be done after chapter 11, as Lucina will be born regardless of whether Chrom is at an S rank with any of the game’s female characters. Robin’s son/daughter Morgan, who is given the opposite gender as their parent, will always be one of Robin’s children, but the rest is up to the player.
6 Queen For A Day
Speaking of marrying Chrom, female Robin can shack up with the game’s protagonist and become Lucina’s mother. Building on the strong relationship established between the two from the game’s beginning, as well as their uncertain future depicted in the prologue. Chrom is a natural choice for Robin’s husband, and what’s better is that Robin can become the new queen of Ylisse once Chrom takes the throne. No matter which character Robin marries, they get the same ending, noting how much Robin loved their wife/husband. But Chrom and Robin have a special connection that makes it hard not to pair them together.
5 You Know My Name
While Robin’s name in English recalls a bird, their name differs across other regions. In most areas outside North America and Japan, Robin is named Daraen, possibly a reference to the boss Darin from Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade. In Japan, Robin is named Reflet, which could be a reference to the French word reflection. Either way, we prefer Robin for its simplicity and memorability. I mean, don’t they just look like a Robin?
4 Second Fiddle
Like many Fire Emblem games featuring an avatar, Robin is not actually considered to be the main character of Awakening—that honor goes instead to Chrom, the future king of Ylisse and Robin’s best friend and closest collaborator. For evidence that Robin is the game’s deuteragonist, look no further than their role in the game’s 26 chapters, of which only a handful require Robin to participate. Chrom, on the other hand, is a necessary unit in every single chapter. For that reason, it’s strange that it took so long to add Chrom to the Smash Bros roster. After all, Robin and Lucina were already playable before Chrom joined the battle.
3 Future Sight
Looking for an in-game explanation as to how Robin can plan battles ahead of time? The game suggests that Robin actually has the ability to see into the future. This is how they had the premonition that they would end up killing Chrom, a prophecy that was ultimately reversed in the game’s final chapter. This makes sense when considering how Robin can see which units are on the battlefield and choose their own fellow soldiers accordingly. It’s useful to have a soothsayer on your side in the heat of battle, and this might help explain how other tacticians in the Fire Emblem universe get their powers.
2 Personality Crisis
Despite being a completely customizable character, both male and female Robin have their own distinctive personalities, much of which can be gleaned from their support conversations with every character in the game. One fun fact we learn from Robin’s support conversation with Frederick is that they enjoy eating bear meat—a delicacy that Lissa says smells like old boots. Female Robin also reveals in a conversation with Lon’Qu that she enjoys throwing figs at opponents when training for battle. Robin’s character comes through in these conversations, which shows that it’s important to become close with as many characters as possible.
1 A Guest Appearance
Despite not playing a role in the game’s main story, Robin can be recruited in Awakening’s sequel Fire Emblem Fates provided you have the Robin amiibo. They are recruited as a level 15 Grandmaster with the powerful Thoron tome. After Robin visits the player’s castle three times, they will challenge Corrin to a battle. This battle is considered one of the most challenging in the game, as the player is only allowed to bring four units into the battlefield and must face a powerful army of high-level units such as a particularly ruthless Great Knight. Once Robin is defeated, they can be recruited onto Corrin’s team.
NEXT: Check Out The Fire Emblem Board Game Before Nintendo Torpedoes It
