Mark

This article is about the character. For the currency in Shadows of Valentia, see Forge § Currency.

Mark (Japanese: マーク Mark) is a customizable tactician (Japanese: 軍師 tactician) from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade that acts as the player's persona within the game. The player can change Mark's name, gender, birth month, and—in the Japanese version—blood type; the default settings have Mark as a man named "Mark" who was born in January and has a blood type of A. Acting as the first player-customizable character in the series, the concept of Mark later evolved into the avatar system used in almost every game since Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem.

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

Role

Mark's purpose in-game is to act as a way for the player to link with the playable characters; many characters in-game will speak with Mark prior to at least one battle, and the lords in particular speak with Mark quite often, primarily to ask for their advice. Despite this, Mark has no direct effect on gameplay; while Mark does have an overworld sprite, it is not seen in actual battles, and Mark also cannot be placed on the map, preventing it from getting into battles. Of note is that this sprite features thick yellow and green garments, and Mark's sprite also does not change between genders.

While Mark can be barely seen in two CG images in Lyn's tale, these shots make careful note to not show their face; in the first, only the back of Mark's head is visible, while in the second, Mark's face is obscured with a hood.

Biography

As the player is supposed to be Mark, intentionally little information is given about them; both Eliwood and Hector note that they know very little about Mark despite having spent many days traveling with them, though the supposed resulting conversation is not actually seen by the player. Regardless, it can be assumed that Mark is a well-worn wanderer; the game starts because Lyn finds Mark unconscious in the plains of Sacae, and notes that their name sounds foreign. In addition, one year later, Mark is found in Pherae, where they volunteer to assist Eliwood on his journey.

In the end of the game, Mark chooses to continue their travels of Elibe; just before leaving, however, Eliwood or Hector will designate Mark as the godparent of either Roy or Lilina. Additionally, depending on the player's ranking, different endings involving Mark are featured in the Epilogue.

Mark appears to have previously worked for an unspecified employer while in or traveling through Bern prior to the game.^[1]

Tactician's bonus

Creating a tactician.

Mark is assigned an affinity based on the month of birth they are assigned when created. This influences the tactician's bonus, where units who share the same affinity as Mark gain small statistical boosts to their hit rate and avoid, which grow stronger as Mark's ranking increases throughout the game; additionally, every unit also receives a boost to dodge regardless of affinity. For every star displayed in Mark's Rank menu in preparations, units receive +1 to each calculation they qualify, for a maximum +10 boost per calculation. These bonuses are only present in Eliwood's or Hector's tales, not in Lyn's.

The Japanese versions of the game also feature the ability to choose Mark's blood type, which further altered their affinity. As blood types hold a considerably lesser significance in Western culture, this option was removed in localization.

Affinities are assigned to Mark based on birth month as follows:

Affinities by month

International versions Japanese version

Month	Affinity
January	Light
February	Ice
March	Wind
April	Thunder
May	Wind
June	Anima
July	Fire
August	Dark
September	Fire
October	Anima
November	Ice
December	Thunder

Month	Blood type A	Blood type B	Blood type O	Blood type AB
January	Ice	Wind	Fire	Ice
February	Wind	Fire	Thunder	Anima
March	Ice	Wind	Anima	Thunder
April	Anima	Fire	Thunder	Ice
May	Light	Thunder	Fire	Wind
June	Thunder	Anima	Wind	Fire
July	Anima	Wind	Ice	Thunder
August	Wind	Dark	Fire	Anima
September	Fire	Ice	Anima	Thunder
October	Ice	Anima	Wind	Fire
November	Anima	Thunder	Ice	Ice
December	Thunder	Fire	Wind	Light

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Other effects

In the Japanese version, the five "emblem items" – Emblem Blade, Emblem Lance, Emblem Axe, Emblem Bow, and Emblem Seal – are instead named directly after the save file's tactician (e.g. Mark's Sword or Mark's Lance). The four weapons are described as "a tactician's [weapon]" in their description in all regions, and the Emblem Seal's description also cites it as belonging to Mark. This effect is purely cosmetic and otherwise has no impact on gameplay.

Playing without Mark

If the player elects to start the game without Mark by directly starting with either Eliwood's or Hector's stories, the character simply does not appear, and in many scenes, the role of the army's tactician instead falls to either Marcus or Oswin, as well as sometimes other characters. The usefulness of this, however, is questionable; in addition to not receiving Afa's Drops from Athos, the player also loses access to Mark's bonus and the Emblem Seal will lose its effects.

Additionally, in the Japanese version, the five "emblem items" will fill Mark's empty name space in both the weapon names and their descriptions with ♡♡.

Fire Emblem Heroes

Role

One version of Mark is present in Heroes: a special young version in a duo with Lyn added in the No Matter Where update; this version was first available for players to summon starting April 7, 2023. Notably, Mark does not have any dialogue, as Lyn does all of the speaking on their behalf.

Mark: Winds of Hope

Starting stats

Mark: Winds of Hope is only available at 5★ rarity.

Rarity ★★★★★ Weapon type Movement type

Initial Stats Level 40 Stats Maximum HP 17/18/19 Attack 13/14/15 Speed 2/3/4 Defense 4/5/6 Resistance 10/11/12 Maximum HP 36/40/43 Attack 41/44/48 Speed 24/27/30 Defense 17/20/23 Resistance 43/46/49 {{{content3}}} {{{content4}}} {{{content5}}} {{{content6}}} {{{content7}}} {{{content8}}} {{{content9}}} {{{content10}}} {{{content11}}} {{{content12}}} {{{content13}}} {{{content14}}} {{{content15}}}

Skills Total War Tome Chilling Wind --

Skill set

Skill set
Skill		Unlock	Auto-unlock	SP cost
	Light	★★★★★	★★★★★	50
	Ellight	★★★★★	★★★★★	100
	Shine	★★★★★	★★★★★	200
	Total War Tome	★★★★★	★★★★★	400
	Chilling Wind	★★★★★	★★★★★	100
	Iceberg	★★★★★	—	200
A	Warding Blow 1	★★★★★	—	50
A	Mirror Strike 1	★★★★★	—	120
A	Mirror Strike 2	★★★★★	—	240
A	Remote Mirror	★★★★★	—	300
B	Sabotage Res 1	★★★★★	—	60
B	Sabotage Res 2	★★★★★	—	120
B	Sabotage Res 3	★★★★★	—	240
B	Sabotage A/R 3	★★★★★	—	300
C	Canto Control 1	★★★★★	—	60
C	Canto Control 2	★★★★★	—	120
C	Canto Control 3	★★★★★	—	240

Endings

Lyn's Tale

Mark, the Tactician
Mark leaves Lyn to continue his/her training. He/She plans on traveling throughout Lycia. Lyn refuses to say good-bye, believing in her heart that she will see him/her again.

Eliwood's and Hector's Tales

Mark - Superb Mind (With S or A ranking)
A tactician whose brilliance changed the course of history. Bern and Etruria so desired this skilled mind that they went to war.

Mark - Famed Genius (With B or C ranking)
The tactician vanished after the battle. Bern, Lycia, and Etruria all sought those famed skills, but none ever found the tactician.

Mark - Suspect Mind (With D or E ranking)
To this day, historians look back and question how these incomprehensible strategies ever led to victory.

Quotes

Main article: Mark/Quotes (Heroes)

Other appearances

Fire Emblem Awakening

While Mark does not appear in Awakening, they are referenced in a conversation between Lyn and Robin upon completing the downloadable content xenologue Smash Brethren 3. In this conversation, Lyn is convinced that the person in front of her is the same tactician from her adventures; when she learns the character has amnesia, she asks if they have any memories of their previous adventures. If the player says no, Lyn will be disappointed, but stays with Robin to see if they will remember their time together. If the player says yes, then Lyn will be happy that she has been reunited with her master strategist.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

Mark appears as an alternate color scheme for Robin in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, based off of their sprite on the map screen.

Flavor text

Meet some of the Heroes entries

Mark: Winds of Hope
A young Mark and Lyn have come to visit Askr! I'm not sure where Mark came from exactly, but I know Lyn was living a nomadic life in Elibe at this age!	Mark's face is almost completely hidden by that big hood. It's a nice hint at the distant, enigmatic look of this future star tactician!	Meanwhile, Lyn's wearing the traditional attire of the Lorca, a nomadic tribe who wander the plains of Sacae. She's been practicing with a sword so that she can become a master swordswoman one day!	Mark and Lyn didn't know each other until they got here, but it already feels as if they've known each other for years. I know their friendship is going to keep them strong!
Closely Associated Characters
Eliwood Hector {{{Related_name3}}} {{{Related_name4}}} {{{Related_name5}}} A sincere noble of Pherae. His friends Lyn and Hector serve him loyally. Aided by Mark, who serves as his tactician. Eliwood's friend and brother of the marquess of Ostia. Prefers action to court formality. Aided by Mark, who serves as his tactician. {{{Related_blurb3}}} {{{Related_blurb4}}} {{{Related_blurb5}}}

Trivia

• According to developer commentary in the Fire Emblem Official Staff Book, both Mark as well as the later avatar concept were inspired by the introduction of Commanding Officer characters in Advance Wars, another strategy game for the Game Boy Advance which was developed by Intelligent Systems.^[2]
• The Mage class is assigned to Mark's character data; they are set to appear as such in an unused test map exclusive to the Japanese version.
• For a time it was popularly believed that Mark's affinity increased growth rates by 5% for any character that shared their affinity; this was proven false by setting growths of some characters to 95, then demonstrating that some stats would fail to increase upon level-up.

Etymology and other languages

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Mark

Tactician

Gallery

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  Lyn introduces herself to Mark (bottom-right).

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  Mark (right) and Lyn meeting Kent and Sain.

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  Mark's map sprite.

Heroes artwork

Character artwork

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  Artwork of Mark: Winds of Hope.

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  Artwork of Mark: Winds of Hope.

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  Artwork of Mark: Winds of Hope.

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  Artwork of Mark: Winds of Hope.

Meet some of the Heroes artwork

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  Artwork of Mark: Winds of Hope.

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  Artwork of Mark: Winds of Hope.

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  Artwork of Mark: Winds of Hope.

Other artwork

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  Artwork of Mark and several other characters for Heroes's seventh anniversary, drawn by Wada Sachiko.

Prototype

Images from the Fire Emblem 0206 and 0219 prototypes.

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  Lyn introduces herself to Mark (bottom-right) in the prototype.

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  Mark (right) and Lyn meeting Kent and Sain in the prototype.

Notes

References