Vaike

Vaike is a character from the Fire Emblem Awakening games.

Vaike is a self-proclaimed rival of Chrom and a member of the Shepherds. He aspires to become "a warrior among warriors", and is always eager to seek challengers to prove his might. He holds Chrom in a regard that is higher than that which he holds for anyone else, as the lord is the first person who has ever viewed him as an equal. Vaike's supports reveal that he was born and raised in a ghetto environment, where he was once notorious for leading a small band of children in the engagement of mischievous antics. His life underwent a radical change when Emmeryn paid a visit to his village, where he, touched by her words, swore to become a great fighter.

In the AWA fics, Vaike is a student at the AWA Academy.

Appearance
Vaike has a muscular physique, he has a wild messy blonde hair and wears a headband, and has dark eyes. He wears a metal neck guard with chains, a large shoulder guard made of wood covering his entire left arm, a waist armor underneath a brown belt with a pouch bag, black pants and wooden boots.

Personality
Vaike possesses an abnormally inflated ego, a fact that is bolstered by him constantly referring to himself as Teach (Ore-sama, lit. The Great Me in the Japanese version). Often times, this ego of his is unjustified, as its constant overclouding of his judgment sees him incapable of comprehending why things never quite go the way that he envisions. Such instances include him getting confused when Sully receives more gifts from women than he does, alongside Tharja obsessing over Robin and not him.

Clearly befitting the archetypal mold of the man in possession of more brawn than brains, Vaike seeks to fulfill the purpose of strengthening himself and thereafter becoming the greatest fighter in the entire world. This ambition of his is, however, offset by his forgetfulness, being considered the best at misplacing things in the army, as evident from his misplacing his weapon in Chapter 2, alongside failing to remember to relay vital information to other members of the army. His birthday falls on December 26.

Abilities
Vaike plays much like a typical Fighter, possessing high HP and Strength growths, alongside a fair growth rate in Skill. As his Speed tends to remain persistently mediocre early on, Vaike can set up situations for weaker units like Donnel and Olivia to achieve easy kills for experience. These strengths are, however, offset by his abysmal Resistance growth rate, rendering him especially vulnerable to magic-based units. Vaike can directly promote into either a Hero or a Warrior, both of which grant him access to a fairly rich skill pool. Vaike will grab Zeal early on, giving him the chance to finish off enemies in the beginning.

As a Warrior, Vaike will retain the same growths stat-wise, but with higher caps. Counter is a semi-useful skill in the beginning when Vaike's stats are not capped, but will lose effectiveness once he has reclassed a few times. It is, however, a useful way for him to inflict more damage to enemies until Second Seals are made readily available. This skill is especially useful in the Lunatic+ difficulty, as enemies often have the Counter skill themselves, making long-range weapons such as bows the most reliable weapon to be employed in order to prevent the sustaining of heavy damage. The skill's usefulness is further extended to allowing Vaike to employ bows without being completely helpless in close combat. As a Hero, Vaike gains a useful skill, Sol, one that provides him much-needed relief when under heavy enemy fire. The Hero class also allows him to boost his Skill stat and eventually increase his chances of triggering critical attacks and skill activations.

Vaike's class sets allow his children to inherit the potential to learn skills like Despoil, Wrath, and Gamble if he marries. He also has good supports like Chrom, Lon'qu, and Sully, all of whom provide him with substantial boosts to his Skill and Speed, allowing him to kill enemies more consistently. Although Vaike does need quite a bit of support to fully expend his potential, he is, by no means, a unit to be overlooked.

Trivia

 * Vaike's official artwork depicts him wielding a Tomahawk.
 * If Vaike is defeated on his turn after getting his axe back from Miriel, the dialogue between the two will still occur, even in Classic Mode.
 * Vaike uses a buffer model than most other playable characters as a Fighter, Barbarian, and Warrior. Curiously enough, his Berserker model is significantly skinnier than the hulking one boasted by NPCs and enemies, contrary to the muscular figure that both his official artwork and portrait feature him possessing.
 * Vaike shares his Japanese voice actor, Daisuke Endo, with Yarne.
 * In a support conversation with Sully, it is revealed that Vaike knows how to wield lances and can even fight her with them, in contrast to his inability to be reclassed into a lance-wielding class.
 * Although he has two male-only classes, Vaike does not pass down any female-exclusive classes to his potential daughters; instead, he passes them unisex ones. He is the only male in the game for whom this is true.
 * Along with Cordelia and Yen'Fay, Vaike has a unique Confession Backdrop, where he is shown proposing to Robin in a Grassy Field during the Afternoon rather then in the Barracks.
 * Before Yen'Fay's inclusion as a playable unit via Spotpass, Vaike was the only Male Character that had a Unique Confession Background.