Nuibaba

Nuibaba (Japanese: ヌイババ Nuibaba) is a minor antagonist first appearing in Fire Emblem Gaiden, in which Nuibaba appears as an Arcanist who presides over Fear Mountain from his manor. Nuibaba presumably a high-ranking member of Duma's clergy, as he/she has Marla, Jedah's daughter, under his/her command to guard Fear Mountain. Nuibaba wields the powerful magic spell, Medusa, which she is said to have received in exchange for her soul.^[1]

Nuibaba was redesigned significantly in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, now appearing as a female Witch. Additionally, Nuibaba is stated to sacrifice girls from all over Rigel to monsters in order to preserve her youth.^[2]

Fire Emblem Gaiden

Role

Nuibaba appears somewhat early in Act 4; he holds Tatiana hostage to keep Zeke under the control of Jerome.

The Mage Ring in his inventory makes him a formidable opponent, as it greatly increases the range of his Medusa spell.

Stats

See also: Siege of Nuibaba's Abode

Arcanist Level 10

Stats Max HP 40 Luck 0 Magic 12 Defense 9 Skill 7 Resistance 8 Speed 8 Movement 4

Equipment Spells Mage Ring Fortify Medusa Weapons Sword ✗ Lance ✗ Bow ✗ B. Magic ✓ W. Magic ✓

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Role

For Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Nuibaba has been redesigned and is now a witch. She, like in Gaiden, holds Tatiana hostage to keep Zeke under Jerome's control.

Her role is expanded from Gaiden, she offers to perform sacrificial rituals and initiation rites for Berkut to obtain more power from Duma. She also gifts Berkut with a mirror containing potent magical power for him to use in a dire situation. Berkut rejects her offers though he does take the mirror; he later goes on to sacrifice Rinea of his own accord.

Stats

See also: Siege of Nuibaba's Abode

Normal Hard

Witch Level 20

Stats Max HP 37 Luck 0 Attack 20 Defense 10 Skill 17 Resistance 14 Speed 14 Movement 4

Item Skills Mage Ring Medusa Fortify Recovery* Sophisticate* Weapons ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗

Witch Level 28

Stats Max HP 44 Luck 0 Attack 24 Defense 12 Skill 19 Resistance 14 Speed 16 Movement 4

Item Skills Mage Ring Medusa Fortify Recovery* Sophisticate* Weapons ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗

{{{content3}}}

{{{content4}}}

{{{content5}}}

{{{content6}}}

{{{content7}}}

{{{content8}}}

{{{content9}}}

{{{content10}}}

{{{content11}}}

{{{content12}}}

{{{content13}}}

{{{content14}}}

{{{content15}}}

Personality

Before the events of the game Nuibaba lived happily with a man with whom she had fallen in love. Unfortunately she was set upon one night by brigands and sustained a deforming wound to her face. Her love began avoiding her in favor of Nuibaba's younger and prettier sister. Eventually, wishing to be rid of Nuibaba, the man and her sister lured her to a remote location in the woods and threw her off a cliff, intending to kill her; she survived this by making a contract with a spirit that had sensed her dying presence. After killing her former lover and sister she secluded herself and turned her focus to extending her lifespan and enhancing her beauty using maidens collected from the region.^[3]

Nuibaba seems to favor using love to trick people; she used an illusion of Celica to draw Alm to her manor.

Quotes

Battle quotes

Critical quotes

Death quotes

Flavor text

Choose Your Legends placement history

Round	Placement	Character	Votes

CYL 2 (2018)

455

Nuibaba Gaiden / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

297

CYL 3 (2019)

403 (−27)

Nuibaba Gaiden / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

385 (+88)

CYL 4 (2020)

515 (+56)

Nuibaba Gaiden / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

179 (−206)

CYL 5 (2021)

563 (+48)

Nuibaba Gaiden / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

99 (−80)

CYL 6 (2022)

404 (−161)

Nuibaba Gaiden / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

196 (+97)

CYL 7 (2023)

398 (−6)

Nuibaba Gaiden / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

135 (−61)

CYL 8 (2024)

509 (+111)

Nuibaba Gaiden / Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

91 (−44)

Total results		This character has 7 entries across all Choose Your Legends polls.	1,382

Trivia

• The opening to the fight against Nuibaba is the only map in the entirety of Gaiden to have any sort of chapter narration.
• While referred to with with the masculine Japanese pronoun かれ "he" in the original game, Nuibaba is female in the remake. This could be due to the "baba" portion of the character's name being construed as coming from the Japanese 婆 (meaning "old woman") and the character's association with the female monster, Medusa.
• Despite Nuibaba's class being changed to witch, Nuibaba is still referred to as an arcanist outside of gameplay in Shadows of Valentia.
• In Gaiden, Nuibaba shares his portrait, magic spells, and stats with Gharn. However, Nuibaba has a Mage Ring while Gharn does not.
• Nuibaba's critical hits are purely cosmetic, as while she can land a critical hit on a low-dodge unit, her only offensive spell is Medusa, which uniquely deals the same amount of damage even if it crits; as much as needed to bring the target down to 1 HP, or 1 damage if the target is already at 1 HP.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

Sprite Gallery
Gaiden Arcanist Black magic
Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Witch

Official artwork

• 

  Full portrait artwork of Nuibaba from Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

CG images

• 

  CG image of Nuibaba in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

Portraits

• 

  Portrait of Nuibaba in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

Concept artwork

• 

  Concept artwork of Nuibaba from Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

Screenshots

• 

  Nuibaba as a Witch in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

Heroes artwork

• 

  Nuibaba in artwork of Tatiana: Devoted Saint.

References

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