Ashunera

Goddess of Dawn
Ashunera
Species	Goddess
Class	Order Incarnate (Ashera)
Hair color	Red
Eye color	Red
Voiced by	Unknown
Debut	Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Ashunera is the Goddess of Dawn who created the world of Tellius. She was later split into the two halves called Ashera (Goddess of Order) and Yune (Goddess of Chaos), who came to play vital roles in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, despite only appearing in the latter game, in which Ashera is the final boss.

Background

The Beginning

Ashunera appeared in the world at its beginning, when it was only water. She made the first land, followed by trees and flowers, and then living beings. Ashunera at first felt very happy about this, but eventually she started feeling lonely because she felt that all the living beings were different from her, and that no one could truly understand her. Eventually, the beings became more intelligent and sophisticated, and they started to comfort Ashunera. They were known as the zunanma, and they were the ancestors of the beorc and laguz.

The zunanma came to worship Ashunera and called her the Goddess of Dawn because of her hair's brightness. However, as the people evolved over the years, they eventually formed separate tribes and nations that declared war on each other due to their senses of superiority. Ashunera struggled to find a way for peace, but failed repeatedly. She was also the one who named the different factions beorc and laguz in an attempt to help them reconcile, but this failed. Eventually, when her emotions reached her height she summoned a flood to convince them to stop. However, she could not control it, and it resulted in every continent save for Tellius being lost in the flood.

The Split

Horrified by all of the lives that her unchecked emotions cost her, this caused Ashunera to cast out the imperfect, chaotic side of her; this became Yune. The remainder was Ashera, Goddess of Order, who sought total perfection in order to properly protect the world. For this reason, she wanted to do away with Yune and chaos altogether.

Ashera empowered Dheginsea, Soan and Altina with blessings and sent them out to subdue Yune, whose new form resembled a small child. Yune was defeated and captured, and Lehran helped to conduct the following trial. Yune apologized for all the damage she had inadvertently done and assured them that she loved them, but Ashera wanted her destroyed for being imperfect.

It was eventually decided that Yune would be sealed within Lehran's Medallion for a thousand years. Because Ashera was connected to Yune, she would enter a slumber for the same period of time. If mankind learned how to coexist peacefully without them for that period of time, Ashera would spare Yune. The protocol was that if the tides of war were strong enough to awaken Ashera, she would immediately pass her judgment upon the world, but if she was awakened by the galdr of release (which could only be sung by one of Lehran's bloodline), then Ashera would have to confer with Yune first.

The Sealing Period

In order to uphold the pact, Dheginsea altered history records so that Yune was recorded as a dark god who caused the flood, in order to discourage people from waging war, which could awaken "the dark god" again. There was some truth towards the danger surrounding Lehran's Medallion, however, as holding it would often cause the holder to be consumed by a berserk rage from the chaotic energies, which would drive them to kill anyone they could nearby. Only a truly balanced person could hold the medallion without being driven mad, which was why it was entrusted to the heron tribes. Their songs helped Yune to feel happy, while Ashera rested alone. Yune later theorized that Ashera's isolation increased her bitterness towards the people.

About 800 years later, a depressed Lehran, whom had come to be known as Sephiran, plotted to manipulate the world into war to awaken Ashera and Yune so that Ashera could end the world. He first passed the medallion on to Ashnard and told him lies about the dark god's power so that he would be encouraged to awaken her. Although the medallion was lost, this inspired Ashnard to start his large war in Path of Radiance. The war ended before Yune could be awakened, as Ike killed Ashnard in battle, and peace returned to Tellius for the time, although Sephiran saw that Ike's victory had also planted the seeds for future war.

Awakening

Despite her imprisonment, Yune was able to communicate with Micaiah in the form of a small yellow bird and mostly helped her in making decisions and foreseeing danger. In Radiant Dawn, an even bigger war brewed across Tellius, coming to consume the entire continent. At its climax, in the endgame of Part 3, the seal on Lehran's Medallion was nearly broken from the chaotic energies released by the war. At this point, Yune communicated with Mist out of desperation to warn her that she should be awakened through the galdr of release, and not through warfare, as that would cause Ashera's instant judgment.

It was Micaiah who was able to sing the galdr, awaking both Yune and Ashera. Sephiran was there to tell Ashera about mankind having broken their promise, at which point Ashera released a powerful judgement that turned most of the people in the world into stone. Yune did not seem to have a physical form and instead possessed Micaiah, as she explained most of their situation to Ike, Sothe and the army. She eventually left Micaiah's body, but continued to oversee them and possess her when she needed to address the army, guiding them towards the Tower of Guidance at Begnion and the final battle.

Ashera, Goddess of Order.

Ashera was based at the Tower of Judgment, and she spared many of the corrupt senators there so that they would serve as her Disciples of Order, hunting down Yune and her band of rebels. Her ultimate plan was to stop them and then end this imperfect world altogether so that she could start on a new one. Ike and Yune's army eventually reached the Tower and began to scale it, with Yune receiving many of Sephiran's memories along the way. She recognized Sephiran as Lehran, and after he was dying, depending on the conditions Yune possibly revived Sephiran, which helped to restore his faith in the world. Yune also gave her own blessings to the weapons of Ike and his army so that they could damage Ashera and her followers.

Eventually the time came for the final confrontation. Yune and Ashera argued about the state of the world. Yune attempted to convince Ashera to reconsider her position, but Ashera remained firm in her stance that the beings of flesh were imperfect and needed to be destroyed. Yune argued in vein that people had grown and matured into something else, which is why they were not turned into stone by Ashera. Yune then rallied the army against Ashera, because neither Ashera nor Yune could destroy each other, but the empowered humans (who were not created by Ashera or Yune) could. Ike then went as far as to tell Ashera off before entering the battle. If Sephiran/Lehran was still alive, he also pleaded with Ashera to stop, but she did not trust him due to how flexible and inconsistent he had been.

Ashera was protected by a series of auras that had to be destroyed in order to reach her, as well as several spirits that could heal both Ashera and her auras. She also used long range attacks as well as area-wide magic attacks and the Judge ability. Ashera would also revive herself if struck down by anyone either than Ike. Ashera was truly defeated when Ike finished her off using the doubly-blessed Ragnell blade. Ashera disintegrated into a brilliant light, when the blue flames from Ike's Ragnell sword took on the form of Yune, a small child. She decided to leave because the world did not need gods and they made mankind weak, but Ike reminded her of the importance of gods in giving them something to aspire to. Ike told her that they were all one family and that they had to try to understand each other. Yune said she would try one more time, then left in her bird form.

Return

Twelve hundred years later, Ashunera returned in her original form and was greeted by Lehran (this whole scene of course only being present in the ending where Lehran survives), whom had felt she was returning. Lehran told her that the peace they had built up was crumbling once again, but Ashunera refused to be afraid again and dedicated herself towards protecting the world. She then asked Lehran to sing for her again because she missed his songs, but he claimed to no longer sing, at which point Ashunera told her that she would sing and he could sing with her.

Trivia

• She seems to be named after the Semitic mother goddess Asherah.
• Unused data from Path of Radiance includes Yune and Astartyune (which is similar to Ashunera's Japanese name), indicating that they were possibly planned to be mentioned or play a larger role in the game.