Black Dragon
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The black dragons (Japanese:
History
Like both the beorc and the other laguz clans, the black dragon tribe is descended from the Zunanma. The first black dragon king, Dheginsea, was one of the goddess Ashera's Three Heroes who defeated Yune, and afterward he sequestered the dragon tribes away in their own nation, Goldoa, under the belief that they were too powerful to interact equally with the rest of the world. The black dragon clan became the ruling clan of Goldoa as Dheginsea remained its king for 780 years, and over time his family was subject to the same rule of non-interference with the outside world as the rest of the dragons.
It was ironically the black dragons themselves who violated the Goldoan rule of sequestration and inadvertently made massive contributions to conflicts in the outside world. Dheginsea's daughter, Almedha, left Goldoa out of disagreement with her father's non-violent policies and married Daein's Mad King Ashnard, which in turn led her brother Rajaion to depart Goldoa and become trapped by Ashnard, transformed into a Feral One, and used as his personal steed. Numerous other dragons entered Daein's service because of Almedha's actions, including Rajaion's pregnant fiancée Ena, her grandfather Nasir, and a platoon of red dragons who also became Feral Ones.[1]
Despite all of this, Dheginsea adamantly maintained Goldoan neutrality through the Mad King's War to prevent the unsealing of Yune, but three years later the war between the Laguz Alliance and Begnion - in which Dheginsea's last child, Kurthnaga, allied himself with Daein as well to help Almedha - caused Yune and Ashera to awaken anyway and for the latter to judge the world. Although his two surviving children allied with Yune to free the world from Ashera's petrification, Dheginsea and the rest of Goldoa allied with Ashera out of Dheginsea's guilt. Following Dheginsea's defeat by Kurthnaga, Ike, and Micaiah at the Tower of Guidance, Dheginsea died and Kurthnaga succeeded him as the second king of Goldoa, continuing the black dragon dynasty.
Characteristics
Physical appearance
| “ | Ike: That black dragon is Prince Kurthnaga? Sheesh, I thought the lions got big... Tibarn: Ah, it’s the son, is it? I thought maybe the dragon king had shrunk a bit in his old age. |
” | — Ike and Tibarn |
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Like the other dragon tribes, black dragons in their unshifted state have a distinctive orange/bronze skin color. All known black dragons have dark green hair. Also like the other dragon tribes, black dragons have no obvious physical characteristics giving away their laguz nature other than their skin color, whereas most other unshifted laguz still have wings or tails.
When transformed, black dragons are by far the largest living creatures on Tellius, dwarfing both beorc and laguz in their sheer size; the size of their dragon form grows even larger as they age. They otherwise look similar to the other dragon tribes, being muscular and standing on two legs.
Behavior
As with the other laguz dragon clans, the black dragons tend to be extremely susceptible to the chaotic influence of a battlefield and are particularly prone to losing control in the heat of the moment.[1] Black dragons who are inexperienced in battle such as Kurthnaga seem to experience intense feelings of pain, discomfort, and even psychosis when subjected to extreme amounts of chaos in this way.[2]
Powers
| “ | I’m not deluded enough to think that I can beat you. The goddess herself would hesitate to fight you. | ” | — Naesala, on Dheginsea |
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Black dragons fight by exhaling breath of blue-white flames. They are acknowledged by virtually everyone in Tellius, both beorc and laguz and even Ashera herself,[3] to be vastly more powerful than any other mortal creature on Tellius. Their power is such that a single blast from Kurthnaga, a very young black dragon, was capable of leveling a castle's tower.
Life cycle and reproduction
Much like their manakete counterparts in other games, the dragon laguz have extremely long life spans, and the black dragons are the longest-lived of the dragons, dwarfing all other mortal creatures on Tellius. This is best exemplified by King Dheginsea, who had lived since the age of Ashunera herself; the only living being to rival him in sheer age is Lehran. They tend to not show any physical signs of aging, with the process coming to a complete halt at some point in their lives. By black dragon standards, Kurthnaga's age of 100 years is effectively still young adulthood.[4] They also seem to share the manakete problem of an extremely low birth rate, as Kurthnaga was the youngest dragon of any kind in Goldoa as of the events of Radiant Dawn despite his age of 100 years, and Rajaion and Ena's child was the first to be born since Kurthnaga.[5]
Notable black dragons
Class data
Black Dragons were properly introdued as a class in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, exclusive to Kurthnaga and Dheginsea. Both of these has a different variant of the class with different base and maximum stats, with Dheginsea's being the stronger version by a significant margin. Kurthnaga's variant is the strongest of the playable dragon classes, with immense HP, strength, and defense, with their other stats being respectably high. Compared to other laguz classes, however, both are fairly lacking in speed.
Black Dragons wield suitably themed variants of the Breath strike, with both Dheginsea and Kurthnaga having different versions from each other. Dheginsea's Breaths are the stronger of the two. When unshifted, Black Dragons can counter-attack incoming enemies with punches, but they cannot initiate battles themselves in this state.
Kurthnaga and Dheginsea have differently-named classes in their unshifted states. Kurthnaga's unshifted class is Dragon Prince (Japanese:
Base stats
| Game | HP | Strength | Magic | Skill | Speed | Luck | Defense | Resistance | Movement | Constitution | Weapon level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radiant Dawn (Dragon Prince) |
55 » 55 | 15 » 30 | 7 » 14 | 8 » 16 | 10 » 20 | 0 » 0 | 15 » 30 | 15 » 30 | 6 » 5 | 7 » 17 | -- |
Max stats
| Game | HP | Strength | Magic | Skill | Speed | Luck | Defense | Resistance | Movement | Constitution | Weapon level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radiant Dawn (Dragon Prince) |
80 » 80 | 23 » 46 | 12 » 24 | 18 » 36 | 16 » 32 | 30 » 30 | 23 » 46 | 19 » 38 | ?? | ?? |  SS
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Class growth rates
| Game | HP | Strength | Magic | Skill | Speed | Luck | Defense | Resistance | Charm | Constitution* | Movement* | Weapon level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radiant Dawn (Dragon Prince) |
95% | 45% | 15% | 20% | 35% | 60% | 25% | 40% | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Class skills
| Game | Skill | Learning conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Radiant Dawn |  Shove
|
Innate. |
Class change
Radiant Dawn
| width=100px style="Template:Round; background-color:#232855; border:2px solid #b0b0b0;"|Unshifted class | width=200px style="Template:Round; background-color:#232855; border:2px solid #b0b0b0;"|Transformation method | width=100px style="Template:Round; background-color:#232855; border:2px solid #b0b0b0;"|Shifted class |
|---|---|---|
Dragon Prince Dragon King |
Gaining 30 transformation gauge points. → ← Transformation gauge reaching 0 points. |
Black Dragon |
Playable Black Dragons
| Playable Characters | |
|---|---|
| Name | Game |
| Kurthnaga | Radiant Dawn |
| Playable Black Dragon units in the Fire Emblem series. | |
Notable enemy Black Dragons
| Enemy Units | |
|---|---|
| Name | Game |
| Kurthnaga | Radiant Dawn |
| Dheginsea | Radiant Dawn |
| Enemy Black Dragon units in the Fire Emblem series. | |
Trivia
Etymology and other languages
| Names, etymology, and in other regions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Language | Name | Definition, etymology, and notes |
| English |
Black Dragon |
-- |
| Spanish |
Dragón negro |
Black dragon |
| French |
Dragon noir |
Black dragon |
| German |
Schwarze Drache |
Black Dragon |
| Italian |
Drago nero |
Black dragon |
Gallery
Artwork of a black dragon from Tellius Recollection: vol. 1.
Artwork of a black dragon from Tellius Recollection: vol. 2
Kurthnaga in his shifted black dragon state in a Radiant Dawn cutscene.
Kurthnaga as an unshifted Dragon Prince in Radiant Dawn.
Kurthnaga as a shifted Black Dragon in Radiant Dawn.
Dheginsea as a shifted Black Dragon in Radiant Dawn.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Kurthnaga: Nasir, I need to know something. Why has Goldoa sided with Goddess Ashera!? What is Father thinking? The laguz and beorc have joined together to save the petrified. Why hasn’t Goldoa joined the effort?
Nasir: As you wish. Lady Almedha… Are you aware of the fact that everything that’s happening is due to your decision to leave Goldoa?
Almedha: …What?
Kurthnaga: Explain, Nasir.
Nasir: King Dheginsea forbade the dragon tribe to use our transformation for the purpose of war. Almedha, you left because you did not agree with this policy, did you not?
Almedha: That’s right.
Nasir: Shortly after you left Goldoa, you met Ashnard in Daein and were united with him. However, your union begat a chain of tragedies. Did you know that the red dragon platoon which went in search of you was captured and turned into Feral Ones by King Ashnard?
Almedha: I-I had no idea.
Nasir: Ashnard needed Goldoa to get involved in his war. That’s why he did everything in his power to provoke King Dheginsea. Most of you have never fought in a war, but even more than other laguz, the dragon tribe loses control once they taste battle.
Kurthnaga: Oh…
Nasir: Near the end of the war, we found out that Prince Rajaion could not be saved. I thought the king would surely go on a rampage. At the time, we had no idea that Lady Almedha was still alive. The king thought he’d lost not only dragon soldiers but also his children.
Ena: …
Nasir: If the war had ended any later… Had Ike not killed Ashnard… Goldoa would have joined the war. And we would have started killing. We would have destroyed the Daein army, its coconspirators, everyone. We would not have stopped until the continent was ashes. Then the spirit of chaos would have spread across Tellius, awakening the goddess and destroying the dragon tribe. That was the danger we faced in the Mad King’s War.
Kurthnaga: …
Ena: But Ashnard was defeated. And Rajaion regained his sanity thanks to the songs of the heron clan.
Almedha: …Sniff… Bwuah… Sniff…
Nasir: We escaped annihilation once. We took Prince Rajaion’s body back to Goldoa. And the king did not shed a tear, nor fly into a rage. He endured his loss by himself. He endured for the sake of his last child, and for the sake of his people. Goldoa remained neutral.
Kurthnaga: Father…
Nasir: But now… All that effort has been wasted. The war between the Laguz Alliance and Begnion has spread through Daein and Crimea. And to top it all off, Goldoa can no longer stay neutral because of what Prince Kurthnaga has done!" — Kurthnaga, Nasir, Almedha, and Ena, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - ↑ "Ike: Prince Kurthnaga!
Kurthnaga: It’s so hot… I’m burning up! My body, it’s on fire!
Ike: Can you hear me? I guess not. Kurth, what’s happening to you?
Kurthnaga: I don’t want to fight… I… I don’t want to take any more lives…" — Ike and Kurthnaga, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - ↑ "Ah, son of the dragon king… You may be the greatest among the enfleshed, but you are no match for me." — Ashera, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
- ↑ "Nasir: It may be difficult for you beorc to believe, but...We of the dragon tribe live for a very, very long time. When we reach a certain maturity, we stop showing almost all signs of further aging. For example, do you remember Prince Kurthnaga whom you met in Goldoa?
Ike: Yeah, he was a nice kid.
Nasir: The prince is the youngest in all of Goldoa, yet for all his apparent youth, he's at least a hundred years old." — Nasir and Ike, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - ↑ "Ena returned home and gave birth to her lost fiance’s child. Goldoa rejoiced at the first dragon born in centuries." — Epilogue, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
See also
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This article is part of Project Classes, a project focused in writing articles for every class present in the Fire Emblem series. |
| Races and animals of the Fire Emblem series | ||||
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