Cornelius

Cornelius (Japanese: コーネリアス Cornelius) was the fourth king of Altea, the great-nephew of the nation's founder Anri, and father of the legendary Hero-King Marth. At the onset of the War of Shadows, he was killed at Fort Menedy following the betrayal of Gra.

Biography

At some point before the year 602, Cornelius ascended to Altea's throne, succeeding his late father Marius;^[2] he had no brothers.^[3] Little is known of his broader reign, beyond that he was considered a good king, and that he was a close friend of King Mostyn of Talys.^[4]

In 602 at the dawn of the War of Shadows, Cornelius responded to his obligation as the heir of Falchion to set out to fight the revived Medeus. He led the Altean army to Fort Menedy, the border between Archanea and Gra, where it met with the Gra army and prepared to combat the encroaching forces of Grust. During the battle, Gra's King Jiol betrayed Altea and attacked its army; Cornelius related his last words to the Altean knight Cain and entrusted him with alerting Marth, then died in the ensuing battle.

Other appearances

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (anime)

The OVA goes into greater detail about Cornelius's character. While fundamentally decent, he is nonetheless harsh toward Marth, rebuking him for refusing to go through with hunting a deer. He attributes this harshness to a desire to ensure that Marth grows up to be a worthy successor for Falchion.

The battle at Fort Menedy in which Cornelius died is also depicted in a flashback. Cornelius received word of Gra's betrayal from a wounded soldier, then tasked Jagen with returning to Altea to guide Marth before setting off to continue to fight alone. He encountered Gharnef and engaged him in a duel, in which he was killed by a bolt of Imhullu piercing his midsection.

Trivia

• The identity of Cornelius's killer in the game canon is unknown, with both Camus and Jiol claiming to be at least partially responsible. In the OVA, Gharnef was his killer; while Gharnef did indeed take possession of Falchion after Cornelius's death, any direct role he may have had in said death in the games goes unspecified.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of Cornelius from the introduction of Shadow Dragon.

• 

  Cornelius, as depicted in the OVA.

References

This article is part of Project Characters, a project focused on writing articles for every character present in the Fire Emblem series.