Almedha

Almedha
Species	Laguz (Dragon)
Affiliation	Daein
Hair color	Green
Eye color	Red
Base	Daein
Relatives	Dheginsea (father) Rajaion, Kurthnaga (brothers) Soren (son)
Debut	Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Almedha is a supporting character appearing in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. She was the princess of the dragon laguz tribe in Goldoa until her relations with the Mad King Ashnard caused her to lose her laguz abilities as well as partially her sanity.

Background

Almedha was the second child born to King Dheginsea and his only daughter. She disagreed with her father about his policies that forbade usage of their powers of dragon transformation for war and eventually left Goldoa over those disagreements. She soon came upon Daein and met Ashnard. The two felt a strong mutual attraction, and she became his mistress, which was the closest thing he had to a wife despite the lack of an official ceremony. After they consummated and gave birth to a child, the lovelessness of their union became evident. Breeding with a beorc caused Almedha to lose her laguz abilities, and Ashnard did not care so much for her while she was no longer a source of power. Unbeknownst to Almedha at the time, Ashnard was also using their relationship as an attempt to provoke Goldia into war.

After their son was born, Ashnard held him hostage, which lured Almedha's older brother Rajaion into his trap. This involved forcing the Feral One drug onto Rajaion, which warped him into a large, mostly mindless wyvern. Almedha and Ashnard were separated around this time, and their son wound up in an orphanage, presumably due to Ashnard rejecting him. Almeda lived in seclusion for decades, losing part of her sanity over time, until Izuka recruited her for the Daein Liberation Army in Radiant Dawn. Izuka's purpose for her was identifying Pelleas as her son so that he could become the new king. Almedha assumed that she would not be able to recognize her own son due to losing her powers, and Pelleas looked enough like their son for Almedha to convince herself that he was. She became very attached to him and was dedicated to never lose her son ever again.

In "Chapter 6: Raise the Standard" of "Part 1: Silver-Haired Maiden", she was visited by her younger brother Kurthnaga, who wanted to see if she would return home. Almedha felt her place was with Pelleas, and Kurthnaga gave her a sending-stone to use to contact him if she needed him. After Pelleas became king, Almedha stayed in the court as an adviser. She encouraged Pelleas to act more elitist and unattached to his subjects, and she gave similar advice to Micaiah in her role as general. In "Chapter 7: Rivals Collide" of "Part 3: Intersecting Vows", she confronted Pelleas after witnessing his meeting with Lekain and offered him comfort, but he denied her attempt to help. Later on, she was able to guess that Pelleas had been bound to serve Begnion by a blood pact. She was familiar with the nature of such pacts from her time with Ashnard, who used one to become Daein's king. She then contacted Kurthnaga over the sending-stone and asked him to come and save her son.

However, depending on the choices made by the player in "Chapter 13: Blood Contract", Pelleas was possibly killed by Micaiah or Tauroneo in an attempt to undo the curse of the blood pact, which caused Almedha to have a fit of anger. After being pressed, Almedha told them everything she knew about the blood pact. In "Part 4: Of Gods and Men", she was assigned to accompany the Hawk Army. She spent most of her time alone brooding, either due to Pelleas's death further unhinging her or Pelleas rejecting all the attention Almedha gave him. Elincia confronted her at the end of "Chapter 2: Silent World". She succeeded in reaching out to Almedha and calming her, and Almedha also went into detail describing her past relationship with Ashnard as well as the guilt she felt about Rajaion's fate. If Pelleas was alive, she also went out of her way to get a Fenrir book and had Tauroneo deliver it to Pelleas in "Chapter 5: Unforgivable Sin".

In the "Dragons" base conversation of "Endgame: Rebirth", she was reunited with Kurthnaga and Ena as they prepared for the final battle. Almedha was shocked that Ena did not hate her for what happened to Rajaion and told her that she wanted her to hate her, but Ena refused because she said that would be insulting Rajaion for his sacrifice. Nasir then visited them and tried to convince them to join the other dragons serving under Ashera. He increased Almedha's guilt by telling her that everything that has happened was caused by her leaving Goldoa, as it allowed Ashnard to constantly provoke Goldoa into war, and the search parties that went out for her had been captured and turned into Feral Ones.

If Pelleas was kept alive, in the ending he realized that he was not truly Almedha's son and admitted thus to her, helping to see for herself. The mark that she thought was The Brand (the sign of a child of mixed blood) was actually the Spirit's Protection. He apologized for unintentionally deceiving her but also thanked her for showing him a mother's love. She then met with General Ike because Pelleas had told him it would be wise, and she soon saw why when she met Soren. Even though she had believed that she was incapable of it, she was able to instantly recognize Soren as her son, but she only told Kurthnaga about this. Nothing of her life after the war is known.

Trivia

• Almedha is named after a Catholic saint.