Human
Humans, also known as beorc in Tellius, and occasionally known collectively as mankind, men or humanity, are the most common sentient race in the Fire Emblem series, mirroring humans in real life. Despite possessing weaker physical abilities compared to most races in the series, humans are very prosperous due to their high birth-rate, ability to craft tools and weapons and use of language.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The humans of the Fire Emblem series, for the most part, look identical to their real-world counterparts. A key difference is that in Fire Emblem, humans are very frequently seen with a wide range of hair colors which are naturally impossible in real humans, including purple, blue, green, and countless other colors. Similarly, a wide variety of unusual eye colors are also present. Both hair and eye colors are frequently used to convey a character's status in some form; for instance, blue hair is frequently seen on the games' main protagonists, and red eyes often denote something unusual, often related to Manaketes. Of course, this is not always the case; a large number of non-protagonist characters also have blue hair, and Raven has red eyes but is an entirely ordinary human.
One area in which Fire Emblem humans do not diverge significantly from real life is skin color, as few to no Fire Emblem humans have skin colors which do not match a real skin color. However, pale-skinned people are the overwhelming majority, and the number of dark-skinned characters remains extremely low.
Biological Traits
The humans of the Fire Emblem series are standard human beings in appearance, lacking many of the more chimeric features of races like the Manakete, Laguz, Taguel, Wolfskin, and Kitsune as well as the inability to transform into beast creatures. Instead, Humans utilize a plethora of skills in battle, including fighting with metal weapons, magic, and tamed mounts. Humans make up a majority of the playable cast of characters and generally populate their respective worlds when compared to the other races. However, several humans have been known to marry and bear children with the chimeric races, resulting in children with special characteristics. Several have retained their bestial heritages traits of transformation or common features, while others lack them but retain specific characteristics like advanced lifespans and vulnerability to specific weapons.
Genetics and Reproduction
Compared to other sentient races, humans have an extremely high rate of birth, which is a key factor in their wide distribution and dominance; indeed, Jahn believed that the sheer number of humans and the speed at which they were born and grew up was a key factor in their ability to successfully fight dragons in the Scouring. As in real life, after coupling with a man, human women give live birth to one (or rarely, two or three) baby(ies) after nine months of pregnancy. The parents raise and protect their children for at least fifteen to eighteen years, after which they are regarded as adults and take on responsibilities of their own. The average human life span in Fire Emblem is similar to that of real humans; although a human will on average live to the age of sixty to eighty years old, conflicts and diseases often ensure much earlier deaths than this. Very few humans live beyond one hundred years, and for those who do, such as Athos and Jeralt, it is often the result of magical power.
Although it is highly uncommon, humans are able to reproduce with Manaketes, taguel, wolfskin, and kitsune. In the case of Manaketes, depending on the world, the resulting child looks mostly human, perhaps sporting the trademark pointed ears of Manaketes, but their powers are more in line with those of Manaketes. A half-human, half-Manakete will live for centuries, though some not as long as full-blooded Manaketes do, but whether or not they will have the ability to assume dragon form seems to vary; the half-Manaketes Ninian, Nils and Nah have the ability, but fellow half-Manakete Sophia does not. On the other hand, only two children resulting from the union of humans and taguel are known: Yarne and Morgan. Both retain the full ability to transform into beast form, but both inherited different amounts of a taguel's physical traits (Yarne inherited all of them, while Morgan inherited none). Other effects on their biology and lifespan are unknown. Wolfskin and kitsune hybrids function like taguel hybrids; they retain full transformation ability, but not always the physical traits (ears, tail) in human form. Three children resulting from kitsune-relationship hybrids are known: Selkie, Shigure, and Kana. Velouria is the result of a wolfskin-human relationship, while Shigure and Kana can also come from this form. However, Shigure and Kana lack wolfskin or kitsune features.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Humans are notably very social creatures, and although there are individual exceptions, the vast majority of humans typically come together to establish communities and live together in social groups; these groups can range in size from small villages or tribes to enormous nation-states. Humans often derive a sense of identity and purpose from the communities they are part of, and frequently express determination to protect and even die for their community. Indeed, this sense of nationalistic pride is often the source of conflict between nations.
Humans often maintain a strict hierarchy within their society, through which they seek to maintain order and security. Typically in the Fire Emblem series, human nations are hereditary monarchies where a single royal family rules over the population with the support of a system of nobility, where other humans are given prestigeous ranks and maintain the state's affairs in detail on behalf of the king or queen; such nations are called kingdoms, or occasionally empires. Needless to say, this system is not foolproof, as the royal family often has absolute power over their lands and a sinister or corrupt king or queen could potentially exploit and abuse their people for their own gain. As a result, there are societies which are deliberately built to avoid the problems of monarchy, such as republics like Carcino where the common people both rule and keep their rulers accountable; the Sacae region in Elibe, whose people form small, nomadic tribes headed by an ordinary person in the role of chieftain; or simple, closely-knit villages which are isolated from the affairs of the rest of the kingdom's territory, such as Caer Pelyn.
The majority of human societies in Fire Emblem are loosely based on medieval European society, and so in terms of social structure, attire and aesthetics strongly reflect these European influences. However, there are several exceptions: notably, the Sacaen tribes draw their influence from Mongolian culture, and both Chon'sin and Hoshido instead reflect a strong Japanese influence.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Cosmopolitan
Average Intelligence
Sapient
Civilization and Culture
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
In Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, although humans are properly known as beorc there, the word "human" is still used to refer to them at times. Beorc societies often call themselves as "human" as a way of referring to themselves as the chosen people of Tellius, but when used by laguz it instead has an insulting connotation.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
A common theme throughout the franchise is the general powerlessness human have in contrast to Manaketes and other draconic entities, whom they treat as divine beings. In addition, many humans tend to fear the chimeric races, resulting either committing mass genocide or forcing them into isolation to the point that they are considered myths. As such, many of the chimeric tribes harbor hatred towards humans and will only interact with select individuals.
Human relations with other sentient species have, on average, been extremely rocky, often of the humans' own volition. Although the bulk of human conflicts are spent fighting other humans, it is far from uncommon for other races to be the subject of organized violence from humans.
In particular, humans have a turbulent history with dragons, or their Manakete forms, and have frequently been the instigators of bitter conflicts against them. The two most prominent examples of this occurred in Archanea and Elibe: in the former, Manaketes were the subject of cruel persecution from power-drunk humans following the decay of the ancient dragonkin civilization and the rise of humanity in its place, which in turn led to the rise of Medeus and his Dolhr Empire's quest for vengeance against humans; and in the latter, a once peaceful co-existence was broken by humans when they engaged dragons in a genocidal war known as the Scouring, which ultimately resulted in the banishment of almost all dragons from Elibe. In some cases, the feeling is mutual; many Archanean dragons were contemptuous of humans and their sheer inferiority, as exemplified by the majority of Dragon tribes, such as the earth dragons, refusing to become anything like humans out of their pride as Dragons despite the mental danger it posed, and who later posed a grave unprovoked threat to humans when they degenerated into a feral state.
At the same time, however, these same civilizations (and others) also tend to express a reverence for dragons in the context of mythology. Dragons figure heavily in the myths and legends of various cultures, often telling stories of benevolent dragons who aided humanity in the past, such as one story told in Ilia about an ice dragon, or the reverence which the people of Caer Pelyn hold for Manaketes. Individual dragons are often hailed as gods with powers and technologies beyond the grasp of humans, especially in Archanea and Jugdral, although in these and most other cases, the majority of human worshippers regard them as general humanoid gods without realizing their true dragon nature. Additionally, in at least Archanea and Jugdral, evidence suggests that human magic actually outright originated with the dragonkin and was given and taught to humanity through various avenues over the millennia.
In Ylisse-era Archanea, taguel are claimed to hold an even worse history with humans. During Chrom's era, the taguel have been hunted for sport by humans to the point of extinction.
Various dark entities, such as Duma and Fomortiis, also threaten humanity, primarily through the hordes of monsters that serve them. In their many forms, some of which even deriving from human corpses, even the weakest monsters are more powerful than an ordinary human and are unambiguously hostile toward them, posing a significant threat to human populations.
Lifespan
60 years
Related Organizations
Related Ethnicities
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