“I prayed to the Hero-King for a small part of the strength he used to save the world. But I need this subterfuge no longer. I choose to fight as Lucina now. The name that reminds me of the strength in the man and woman who chose it.”
This is our list of the top 25 female characters of all-time. We’re into the top 5 now, and counting down one by one until we reach the best of the best on Sept. 30.
5) Lucina (Fire Emblem Awakening) – 5 votes/403 points
Chris: After some consideration for two other characters (both of which have yet to appear on our list), I voted Lucina as my favorite female character of all-time. However, it’s important to note up front that your mileage with her might vary because of the way that Awakening works. Lucina might’ve been your daughter, your wife, your best friend, or just a valued party member. The reason that she’s so important to me is because of how I played the game.
I decided that I wanted to play a female Robin (the main character) because I really enjoyed other great female leads in the series, like Lyn. Early on in my playthrough, I found myself pairing up with Chrom (the deuteragonist) in battle. I didn’t really know how the relationship system in Awakening worked because I avoided guides like the plague. Turns out that by helping each other out on the battlefield, Robin and Chrom started to care for each other as well. They accidentally saw each other in the camp’s baths. Chrom was a pretty great guy, so when given the chance, the two characters confessed that they loved one another, even though that created some potential problems in the middle of a war. They eventually had a child, and life was good.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. I can’t really avoid it when talking about this character.
The crucial juncture happens when we finally get to the bottom of the person who looks like Marth. After Marth saves Chrom’s life, the mask he had been wearing is removed to reveal Lucina. But no one knows who she is, except that she has an uncanny knack for predicting the future. After Chrom’s sister sacrifices herself, Lucina realizes that the world is still doomed, and reveals the truth — she’s Chrom’s daughter from the future, who risked everything to travel through time in an attempt to stop the cataclysm, and her parents’ death.
Of course, that meant that Lucina was MY daughter, too. And I stumbled into what I think is the best scenario for these characters — one big happy family.
Awakening gave us a fantastic dynamic: not only could your characters develop strong relationships with each other, be it love or friendship or camaraderie, but you could also see what their kids would be like and fight alongside them to save the world.
Lucina was my family. We survived onslaughts of enemies together, sometimes side by side. Eventually Lucina found someone that she loved as well, and the four of us would tackle entire parts of the map on our own, always watching each other’s backs. I cared way more about these characters than I ever should have, and the framework is a large reason why.
Whether I play through the game again or not, and whether I try out different combinations or not, Lucina will always be my daughter: a resourceful, determined, ruthlessly strong woman who threw caution to the wind to save everyone. And I’ll always cherish that.
Shaun: Throughout Fire Emblem, Lucina struggles with keeping her inner emotions and impulses in check. She wants to have friends. She wants to have fun. But she’s too busy being a stonecold leader to make any time for that. When you consider what future she comes from — an apocalyptic world where almost everyone she loves has been killed and she’s on the losing side of a human genocide, it’s not hard to blame her.
This dichotomy is also what makes her character so fascinating though — in the past, the times aren’t yet as dire. For the first time, Lucina can let loose a little, and watching her discover these things about herself that she had to bury so deep makes for a great journey. Sure, I can talk about how she is arguably one of the best gameplay characters and has an excellent design, but her establishment as one of the most sympathetic characters in a game filled to the brim with them is what resonates with me the most.
Jason: The best part about Lucina is that the nature of Fire Emblem Awakening makes her so very versatile, both form a gameplay standpoint and a story one. If you played your cards right she could have access to every class in the game. And if you romanced Chrom (who didn’t!) she was even your daughter! Who wouldn’t want Lucina as your daughter?! She was awesome.
I won’t give away too much of her story arc, although I’m sure others will, but she’s perhaps one of the best time traveling characters I’ve ever seen. She came from a shitty future, but that isn’t going to stop her from doing everything in her power to prevent that future from happening. There is a heavy burden on her shoulders, one that leads to some pretty emotional scenes (especially between mother and daughter!), but despite it all Lucina manages to be both grim and serious without going pull on mopey and depressed. A rare thing from a lot of writers these days. Lucina makes the best of what time she has, and for that, we’ll always love her.
Michaela: Lucina’s life sucks. Living in a world without her parents, she gets through each day fighting for her life – that is, until she utilizes the power of the Fire Emblem to rewrite history. Eventually reuniting with her parents in the past, Lucina strives to protect them no matter what. While she has a traumatic back-story, her sweet and at times naïve personality shines through the entire game. Her interaction with her parents and respective sibling is both bittersweet and heartwarming, and the lengths she will take to rewrite the past are so pronounced that they’re even questionable. Regardless, Lucina is a wonderful character who deserves happiness, and the fact that she garners that sentiment every single time I play the game is a testament to her growth and personality.
TOP 25 FEMALE CHARACTERS
Introduction/Honorable Mention
Gray Areas 
Lucina is not exactly my favorite character in Awakening, but I think she’s pretty dang cool nonetheless. She’s got this charm to her that makes me root for her as a character. Not exactly on my top 10, but she’s still an endearing character. Even if she’s the character the fanbase is split about. (She’s defiantly not bland at all FE Fandom)