I think Finn deserves an honorable mention, even though he’s more of a squire, and less of a retainer; -He served Quan loyally through two wars (against Verdane and Augustria) without ever leaving his lords side. -He stayed behind to protect the king of Lenster, while Quan rode of to Barharra. -Finn then escaped Lenster castle with Leaf and Nanna when it was attacked by Leydrick, and subsequently went on the run from the empire for years, moving from village to village while dragging around two kids. Even during these difficult times he made sure they always had food to eat, often going hungry for days himself to ensure they never even suffered. -After finally escaping the empire's eye, he settled down in a small village, literally raising Leaf and Nanna as his own children until they were teenagers. -When Leaf set out to fight against the empire, Finn joined him as his advisor and bodyguard, and fought with him for the entirety of Jugdral’s second holy war, being the only character in Jugdral to fight in both generations. It is revealed in Fe5 that without Leaf’s efforts in Thracia, Celice would probably not have won the war, so indirectly, Finn is actually responsible for the Lopto empire being vanquished. -Even after the war was over, Finn continued to serve Leaf the rest of his life, he took a small 1-2 year break to head to Barharra to look for Lachesis, but returned to his lords side when he failed to locate her. Finn really went above and beyond what is required of a retainer/squire, the devout loyalty of one squire is the whole reason an entire continent survived!

Remember when supports actually used to build character instead of establishing the same character over and over?

I haven't seen Finn as best retainer and I'm mad. Like this guy was in 2 generations and two games. He raised his lord's kid when Quan was murdered. Not mention would go without food to feed Leif and Nanna for years. Finn is loyal beyond loyal and deserves this title without a doubt.

You know, seeing this vid makes me wish there wasn't a limit to the amount of supports a unit can get, in the GBA and tellius games.

I really like Erika as a character, I felt that she's a naive character done right. She's a noble not in an uptight way, she's (despite what people said about her being stupid) very well versed in conversations and knows how to make people feel genuinely at ease. She taken to fighting due to her own accord, and unlike Elincia who's on her own, trained herself to compliment her brother Emphraim cause Emphraim will be king.

Best retainer? Finn would like to have a word with you. Dude fights in like 3 different wars.

So after listening to this, I've realized that Laslow/Inigo heavily parallel Forde. Low key badass swordsmen, womanizer, momma's boys, practice a hobby that reminds them of their mother that they try to hide, and aim to bring smiles to everyone. I like Laslow, but Forde pulls it off better.

That guy that I benched because I had enough cavaliers?

Wow. Forde and his supports are better than the entire story of Fates.

"There is one particular retainer that outshines the Fates Cast?" Me: "It's gonna be Finn! It's gonna be Finn!" "His name is Forde" Me: "WAT."

Fredrick literally set the ocean on fire. He is very fond of starting fires.

17:57 This might be captain obvious but I think his choice of painting landscapes is also symbolic. In landscape painting there are no people in the pictures, but I think you could also say that the people are missing. So landscape painting could be symbolism of empty space that was once filled by his parents. Edit: I didn't watch the whole video before making this comment, oops xD

E D W A R D E L R I C

>my 3rd favorite FE Character gets the spotlight F O R D E B O Y S

I gotta say, hearing you talk about a character you love with so much passion and enthusiasm is always great in this little series you have, but especially in this video. As my first game in the series, Forde wound up being my first exposure to the characters like him that I'd grow to love and favor so much, but I sadly didn't give him as much attention as I really should have. I'm also disappointed in never having gotten that goddamn beautiful support with Erika back then. While my favorite knight of his archetype was Stahl for the longest time, I'm starting to think Forde's making his way up there pretty quickly.

This was an incredible video, and it really makes me want 2 things from Fire Emblem even more: 1) More supports that build upon each other like this rather than always starting with a blank slate with different characters 2) An easier time gaining supports in the older games because although they had better supports overall, I hated how you were limited to 5 supports per character per playthrough.

wow, I never liked Forde. I thought he was a slacker. These supports paint him in a whole new light. Thank you for a fun episode.

Happy Holidays Fam! SS was released in '04. If you didn't play it, do that over winter break :3

This video was amazing. You made me see Ford in a whole new light; he's this spiritual/emotional badass. I hope you do more GBA supports. Maybe Ross and Gracia. It's among my favourites.

Best retainer is Finn Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinn~~

Sacred Stones still has the best supports in Fire Emblem.

WRONG, gunter is clearly best retainer because of his amazing supports

Forde has always reminded me of Edward Elric tbh

Forde was certainly one of my favourite characters in Sacred Stones. Paired him with Eirika on one of my play throughs.

This was a really good one. I was always a fan of Forde’s supports with Eirika, but the connections you draw to his support with Franz are something I’d never considered before, and it makes it that much better.

Would Matthew count? He kind of takes duties to Hector and Hector claims that he is his man in Hector mode. He also gets special convos with Oswin (who later swears to follow Hector). If Matthew does count... Matthew for best retainer.

Felecia is the best retainer because she stays with you no matter what side you choose and decides to aid you in a heartbeat. Flora fights you in every route and Gunter falls down the canyon but Felecia with her flame shurikens is always there.

Forde's support with Eirika reminds me of the book Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse. The plot of the book is about Goldmund being abandoned by his father after his loving mother died and so after growing up in the monastery travels the countryside chasing memories of his mother in art.

Thanks for doing these videos Ghast! I love all the appreciation you're doing for the story and characters of FE, especially Sacred Stones!

I always loved Forde when I was younger. Forde is what Sain, Saul, and basically every other FE womanizer if they were more like human beings.

I'm so happy you made this series, and this video is the most impactful so far. It's a wonderful love letter to the franchise as a whole, and the way you structured the episode really made Forde's character come together in a new way for me. Thank you!

i wish i had seen this video when it came out, thank you for giving the recognition one of my favorite characters deserves

Who knew a car brand could be a good retainer?

Seriously loving this series. Thanks for the great content!

DOZLA IS THE BEST RETAINER

this was amazing! i hope this becomes a series man! this really fleshes out the character and creates a new view of the character that i never had before. Thanks man! Here's for the best of you man! take care

I really wish that we got more backstory from Stahl apart from just "I have brothers and my family has an apothecary." He is just that one character you love when you've supported him with who he can support with but you'll forget if you haven't used him.

Love this, Forde has always been one of my favorite fe characters because of his supports. His B support with Vanessa however I think develops Vanessa only. She talks about innes and kind of reminds us she has a crush on him and is slightly embarrassed about it. That's just how I interpret it

Wow, haven't ever looked at him that much. This was pretty awesome and really showed how much supports can do for a character in a game with a large cast.

Ghast. Litterally marry me. I don't care if you're straight! Joking aside, I can't put into words how happy I am that you made this video. Finally, someone does the best Christmas Knight justice! It just... feels amazing.

Great video man. I enjoy the discussion of supports from the GBA games, so definitely keep doing more of this.

Sacred stones was my first introduction to the fire emblem series and after watching this i realized i overlooked forde to easily when i played through (to be fair i liked the stuffy characters more back then(kyle,seth,etc.))This and a few other of you videos have been fun to watch and listen to since i found this series.

This convinced me to use him next time I play SS. I kinda wrote off all of the cavaliers aside from God-Emperor Seth. I appreciate these kinds of videos a great deal

I remember doing a bunch of support grinding in Sacred Stones. It was long ago, and I didn't get too far with it or really appreciate how deep some of them can be.

Edforde and Alfranz Elric

Good video, man! Sacred Stones was my first FE game and the one that got me into the franchise.

Nice breakdown! I can't wait for your next one. I think for your next one's you should look into Takumi and Leo's Supports. And I'm not just talking about their Supports with each other. Both of them have Supports that allow for character growth on their parts. Takumi's are about him realizing his own worth, and Leo's involve learning to be more accepting of others and less harsh to them. Check it out.

Loving these vids man. Keep em coming.

its really nice to hear you talk about Forde hes my favorite chracter in sacred stones but i had rerally bad luck with his growths so he was near useless on tyhe battlefield its nice to know what im missing

This was was my favorite episode of support science so far. It's supports/characters like these that I love so much in FE, because they make the characters feel more real. There are some characters that make it very obvious what they are from the get go, and that often comes in the form of a gimmick. With Forde and other such characters, their gimmick isn't shown from the moment they join, with his being painting. We get a good feel for his personality initially, but his gimmick isn't shoved in our face. Then, the gimmick itself doesn't consume his character at all, but enhances it. Some characters simply revolve around a single for trait, making conversations feel repetitive and boring after a while. With characters like Forde, It is important to them, but subtle. I feel like Sacred Stones probably did the best with these concepts in general, and made for one of the best overall casts in the series.

This was really well done, and now I really want to play this game.

^_^ Forde is probably one of my favorites in the series.

Ghast, I would love to hear your thoughts on Soren. He's only got two supports, but he's one of my favorite characters in FE.

At the start of my video, my prediction is Finn.

Dang. i love this video. I love all of these Support Sciences, but this one was especially great. Maybe it's just because FE8 is so much better than FE14, but this was just so interesting to listen to. I love how it sounds like I am reading an accademic essay or speech. i can tell a lot of work when into what is being said and in what order, and I am extremely pleased. Awesome video.

Really great character spotlight! Forde is a really great character, and like you said, makes really good use of the silly side of the Christmas Knights feel deeper. The only thing that bothers me is that he paints and sleeps _on the battle field_. I feel like if they had just changed it a bit so it was more that he was doing it when he was on guard duty or something, it would feel much better. I also feel like he seems a bit inconsistent between his support with Erika and his support with Vanessa, mostly because he seems a lot more gentlemanly in his one with Erika than his one with Vanessa. I personally prefer how he acts in his support with Erika, since the flirtatious cavalier has been done before. Overall, he is still really great, and I love using him along side his little brother Franz.

Seriously, Sacred Stones is the best story in the series.

I love Forde. He's my favorite red knight, second being sully. Keep up the good work, Ghast!

Holy shit dude. I was only about 80% in agreement with you about Forde being the best retained until you got to Eirika and the smile he thought he lost forever. That actually made me shed some man tears. It was at that point I was sold.

Wow you have reals good explanation of forde a play fire emblem sacred stones and a never notice this good explanation man a like this won the most.

Is that the song in the background in the beginning of the video Right Behind You from tf2?

any chance you'll do a matthew breakdown? or does it have to be a favorite character of yours?

>No Finn. 0/10 Literally unviewable.

Nigga.... Your videos are awesome. Finally someone who's a lot more intellectual with these games.

Triggered Mekkkah

In my current playthrough of SS, I am using Forde because of this video, it made me appreciate his character

Eirika's Mary Sue powers strike again!! Jokes aside their ending is very sweet. I just wish she had more of a personality so that I could actually ship them, but maybe you'll make an analysis on Eirika in the future and prove me wrong? Who knows. While Forde is my favourite christmas cavalier I gotta agree with the majority here that Fin is probably the best retainer though!

Remind me to pair these two next time I play SS.

this video put tears in my eyes. that's how good forde's supports are.

you ought to do a video on which princess is the best. So many to choose from, so many mary sues.

Intersting character analyse I almost beat FE7 and move on to FE8. I heard sacred stones has pretty amazing cast.

Damn, this is-really great.

WE NEED MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS

What's the name of the background music?

Wow....really cool video!!

Wow Ghast, keep it up ^^

I haven't even waited for you to get anywhere: Forde's one of my favourite characters in SS

The story between Forde and Eirika just gives me the goodliewoodlies! ^-^

dunno if you read this comment, but ive been watching some of your videos today and this is the one video with the , most informal ... language? i mean like , usually you talk far more civil, was that on purpose?

The awnser did not surprise me...as my 3rd fave retainer in fire emblem, he defiantly deserves.the place. Sccred stones was also my first Fe game, which explains why I defence it alot.

17:34 HAHA! I see what you did there!

What background music did you play for this one?

Love This!

Hey Ghast could you continue your hacking tutorials series plez

Gameplay wise, every unpromoted unit in SS that has/can get a horse all have the exact same problem: They aren't Seth. Great analysis and love the SS attention!

I played Sacred Stones forever and a day ago, but never spared Forde a second glance. I hadn't even recognized that he was the womanizer of the group, having favored his brother Franz over him from the start. But after watching this video? Boy, do I wanna use him! I'm still not the biggest Fordika shipper, but you made a compelling argument, no doubt. Thank you for your incredible work, as always!

I was so excited when you said it wasn’t in FE14 but... Seth though...

o god the whole portrait thing is reminding me of the lost canvas

As much as Sacred Stones gets a lot of shit, it have the most fleshed out support conversations of Fire Emblem. When I finished Sacred Stones, I found myself reading all of the support conversations... and then reading all of them again. They're just that good. Forde is just one of the shining examples. For me, the most relatable character was Vanessa. What I really love about these conversations is that it fleshes out one of Fire Emblem's core themes that the people behind war aren't just droves of nameless soldiers, but individual people with personalities and feelings and loved ones. That's why each soldier has a face and a quirk. While, say, Awakening mostly plays off of the quirks (I say mostly because some good conversations, like Henry/Olivia), Sacred Stones deepens these quirks and fleshes them out to be, well, real people. Forde's story was about loss and coping with it through art, something I'm very familiar with. I really like how your videos highlight this.

I think the "working behind the scenes" was trying to put a good word to try and get Vanessa with Innes?

I knew it was going to be Sacred Stones, but my go-to would be Seth. I'm definitely biased though, since he's one of my favorite Paladins in the series.

And the fact he and Franz looks like Ed and Al from FMA 8D

Me: "Please let this be a Seth Video" Ghast: "Forde..." Me: "For fuck's sake..." Great Video tho

Forde was the Christmas knight I used in both Ephraim and Erica's story between him and Kyle, I don't know why but hey he just stuck with me until the demon king got rekt. (kyle died in one and was benched in the other)

Who is next?!

Sacred Stones is one of my favorite FE games...right next to Gaiden of course :).

I have always liked Forde as a character, and this is largely why. I paired Eirika with Forde in my first playthrough and it was so good. I always use Forde. I don't always pair Fordika, but I always use him. Even if Forde is stat-wise the "worst" Paladin in Sacred Stones, he is still a Paladin, one of the best classes, and I like his personality. And having Forde and Seth charge together into the fray, with Kyle and Franz right behind, and Amelia stumbling along somewhere in the back... It is a great headcanon.

Admittedly, a tall order indeed to find who else could stack up to his character, but it's breath of fresh air coming off of the bs with Story Xander

This video made me wanna go get a Forde Focus.

Looks like I'm going to use Forde next chance I have!