As I've already talked about Tinny at length ( Here ) I've decided to do an analysis of my second favorite girl in Jugdral.

(Sophia is still coming, but I have to actually play through fe6 again and I was already playing Thracia before deciding.)

Sara

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Sara is a 12 year old girl, who just so happens to be the granddaughter of Jugdrals big(ish) bad, Manfroy.

I don't really have to go into detail with Manfroy, but he's a dick. You know chapter 5 in fe4? Yeah that's his fault.

For those newer fans, think of him like Validar or Iago, except actually well written and relevant to the plot, to the point that he succeeds at being evil and does some really terrible shit.

Anywho, being Manfroys granddaughter allows her to use the Kia Staff, something very important in FE5 (that can be missed lol).

It also gives her some....Peculiar...Abilities. To the point that even members of the Loptyr Sect (the cult that Manfroy heads) are afraid of her.

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(Note, Rinecock is a dark bishop and this takes place in the darkest forest on the continent where one of the Loptyr Sect's bases is.)

(Note II, this is on B/Lunar Route. Her Route A recruitment is much more generic and none of her other conversations happen on it)

"You seem to be having fun Rinecock"

R: "Lady Sara...?! You mustn't come out here...Please return to your room..."

"But I'm bored....Where's Grandpa?"

R: "Bishop Manfroy is in Connote with Lord Julius. He should be returning soon...."

"I shouldn't have come here...."

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(Several Turns Later)

"Huh....?.....Who...Who...Are you?"

R: "Lady Sara....Is there something wrong?"

"No...It's nothing. I'm going for a walk.

R: "N-no lady Sara. Please...You must stay put...."

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The bishops hesitancy to reprimand her at all, or even *talk* to her despite defying him is a pretty clear view of just how scary Sara is to these people.

The Loptyr Sect abducts and sacrifices children to Loptyr, their dark god, and the ones that live are turned into new worshippers. So needless to say, had this been any other kid, he probably would've killed her on the spot (like he later tries to do to Leif).

Of course, this could be interpreted as him not wanting to face Manfroy if he harmed her, but due to Sara not really being meant to exist (more on that in a bit) I don't think Manfroy would've particularly cared.

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Her parents are dead, and it's pretty important to her character.

In fact, this is how she introduces herself to Leif.

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(Takes place after her "walk" where she leaves the cult building and goes to find Leif and his liberation army, deep in the forest)

Leif: "Who are you? Are you alone...?"

"I'm Sara. I know all about you. Your name is Leif. Your father is named Cuan. Your mother was a pretty woman named Ethlyn, but she died."

Leif: ".....!!"

"You don't have to look like that. My parents are dead too. Mama died when I was still little. Papa....Was killed by Grandpa....Because he loved Mama. It was before I was born...."

Leif: "......."

"You were calling for me. So I'm offering to help. But if you're just going to call me a nuisance, then fine!"

Leif: "Wait....I need to know more about you. Will you come with us?"

"Well...Okay. I like your voice, Leif"

Leif: "Thank you....Sara..."

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This is one of Sara's special abilities. Leifs "voice" is actually his holy blood calling out to her. This is how Manfroy is able to detect Loptyr blood in Arvis in fe4, and the ability was apparently inherited.

(Note: This is mostly implied and my own intuition, and is never thoroughly talked about, but it makes the most sense to me. Manfroy does a lot of strange things and they're never particularly mentioned in detail.)

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Being raised in the cult with only Manfroy to watch over her, Sara was more than likely brought up to believe in their ideals, but it appears that she does not. She joins Leifs army.

So why does she do this? Being able to understand holy blood and it's calls more than likely would make it easier for her to observe other things. Like the children brought in and slaughtered at that very building, or how common people cursed the cult as something evil.

Her knowing about Leifs parents could be attributed to either overhearing a conversation about it, or another ability, that would allow her to see things going on (or that went on), elsewhere that she really isn't meant to see. (Through dreams?)

Her knowing about her father's death ties into this, as it's highly unlikely Manfroy would've let her know about it even with her heightened awareness.

In any case, these abilities make her very strange, and clearly Leif wants to know more....Like how his parents truly died. So he lets her join.

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Before this conversation with Leif, she actually has a conversation with Salem. As she starts out as an enemy on the map (despite not attacking you), it's a bit odd to trigger because she initiates it. This will unlock support bonuses between the two when she is recruited.

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(Salem only, couldn't find art of them together)

Salem: "Lady Sara?! What are you doing here...?"

"...Who are you? I don't know you..."

Salem: "Ah...I was once a Loptyr Priest...But there is no way you would know me."

"Oh....But I don't need you...I'm looking for the voice..."

Salem: "Voice?"

"A beautiful voice....It's crying out for me...Saying...'Help'....'Help'..."

Salem: "....I....See....Lady Sara...The granddaughter of bishop Manfroy, can use the staff of Kia...."

"Oh....See you...Salem..."

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This implies that the callings and being able to use the staff are related, which means they definitely come from Manfroy's bloodline. It makes the theory more solid, if not by much.

It's kind of interesting to note that Salem doesn't seem scared of Sara like any other Loptyr Priest would be. Maybe it's because he no longer fears death after being saved from the cult by Pahn.

He does claim that the only reason they tried to kill him is because he began to question their purpose, so perhaps he sees things as they really are as well - Sara is just a young girl whose essentially been outcast, even from a cult - even if she is a little creepy.

And due to their similar circumstances of joining Leifs army, it appears that he and Sara have become friends. (This is shown through the two way support bonus.)

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I think Sara really faces a case of being misunderstood, more than anything. She's been raised in isolation by a grandfather who is the leader of an evil cult and is feared by all it's members.

This may be why she seems so odd - shes never had other relatively sane people to talk with. Leif and Salem are really the first two people to even try to understand her, and it's pretty sad.

This is also shown in her battle/death quotes while she is an enemy.

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Battle:

"You....Don't like me.....?"

Death:

"I'm so....Lonely...."

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Her next scene comes in chapter 24. As you should know if you've played up until this point, Leifs mother figure, Eyvel was turned to stone nearer to the beginning of the game.

This is your only chance to get her back, and that is exactly what the Kia Staff does.

(The Kia Staff is hidden in the chapter, and this scene does not occur if you don't get it)

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August: "We have the Kia, but as I mentioned before only those of Manfroy's blood can use it. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do right now....."

Leif: "Damn! Something....There has to be something we can do! I didn't come this far for nothing...."

"Don't worry Leif....I can use that staff..."

Leif: "Sara?! You can.....? Are you serious...?"

"Yes...That staff...It's...Grandpa's."

Leif: "Grandpa...? Wait....Manfroy is your granddaughter?!"

"I don't want to talk about Grandpa. I hate him. Come on Leif, let's go. And don't forget to bring the Kia."

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This scene doesn't do a ton for her, but it does show that she hates her grandfather. And this doesn't seem like a childish kind of hate either....With all she's seen and heard in the army, and before that, she's more than happy to do whatever she can to fix whatever atrocities he has created.

She doesn't know Eyval, but she doesn't need to. She now has a place - with Leif, Salem and the army, and it is much better than with her grandfather.

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Now, something Thracia does that fe7 took a bit of inspiration from is at the end of the game, it revives dead characters and has them fight you in multiple rooms to unlock the room to the final boss.

However....Thracia throws a twist into it. These aren't just morphs of previous bosses.....If you failed to recruit certain characters, got them killed, or worse, killed them yourself....

You have to fight them here as reanimated corpses. And it's implied that they are entirely aware of what is happening, but have no control over it. In other words, they are suffering.

Sara is one of them.

And if you get her killed and have this happen to her, know that you are a terrible person and deserve all the things Thracia does to you on a blind run. Her life was bad enough as it was.

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If she does survive until the end, her ending title and blurb are

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Sara

Shaman of Tragic Fate

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Sara quietly disappeared after the war. Legends say she lived a peaceful life under Leifs protection.

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Tragic Fate indeed. She is forced to live away from all others...The blood of Manfroy is hated by all after what he did to the continent.

However, it does give us hope. Leifs protection is granted to her, and Salems ending is very similar in that he disappears and writes a manuscript of his life - something that gives insight to what the Loptyr cult was really like.

Admittedly this is more of a headcanon, but due to how similar their endings and stories are, I like to believe that the two did find happiness - even if it was away from everyone but Leif. A much better ending than the title alone.

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As a unit. (I did not do this with Tinny due to fe4s many variable father's for her.)

Bases

Growths

Hp: 40%

Str: 0%

Mag: 80%

Spd: 80%

Ski: 80%

Lck: 40%

Def: 10%

Con(Bld): 5%

Mov: 3%

Promo gains:

Supports:

Salem

Supported by:

Salem

Leif

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Overall, Sara is one of the best units in the game. Not only is she downright required for the best ending due to the Kia Staff, she also has both insane offense and support utility.

Sara is an Est Archetype, which means a growth unit that joins very late. Normally Ests are pretty trash, and not worth the trouble of training....But Sara is different than other Ests.

80% growths in the primary offensive stats means she's going to be nuking anything that can't attack back, and doing it twice.

Her other growths, while not fantastic, can be augmented with scrolls (particularly HP and Def) to help her combat even more, and she caps luck relatively early due to how high her base is.

She has 5 Movement Stars which means she has a 25% chance to move again after an action (once per turn)

Her skillet is probably the best in the game bar maybe Galzus. Paragon lets her catch-up *very* quickly (something all Ests should have by default imo). Wrath allows her to automatically crit on any counterattack, something that makes her absolutely broken with Nosferatu (which her weapon ranks allow! It's a light tome!). Prayer, while not that fantastic on the surface lets her live hits that would otherwise kill her, and in conjunction with wrath makes her a lot harder to kill than she first appears.

Finally, she starts with B Staves in the game known as Staff Emblem, and promotes to Sage. This lets her use any non prf staff in the game. Meaning Warp, Rewarp, Status Staves, you know. All the goods. And near infinite stealable Rewarp means she can become even more of a goddess of destruction because it lets her warp herself anywhere.

It also gives her Adept (Speed % chance to attack again) and +2 move, +3 defense and massive boosts to her primary stats if she somehow hadnt capped them.

She's one of the best units in the game, and not using her is a mistake.

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That concludes my Sara analysis. I know she doesn't get many lines, but what she does get is intriguing and makes her a character I really like.

She's also a goddess on the battlefield and probably my favorite character to use in Thracia as a whole.

Oh and she's really pretty. I guess I like girls with long silvery hair since Tinny is like that too.

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Sources used:

Our wonderfully shitty translation patch filled with memes and whatnot. I don't remember its name but it's the only one for Thracia so you can find it fairly easily.

Fire Emblem Wiki for stats and official art.

And these wonderful artists, which there were more of than I expected. Thracia isn't the most popular game. Again, not all of them, but I tried.

http://marthur.deviantart.com/art/Sara-Fire-Emblem-Thracia-776-578557123

http://www.zerochan.net/?post=41841806_1361&o=1124397

http://www.zerochan.net/Fire+Emblem%3A+Seisen+no+Keifu,Fanart

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#IzanaSees