Robin
Player avatar and tactician from Fire Emblem Awakening.
Robin, also known as the Avatar, is a player avatar from Nintendo's Fire Emblem video game series, first appearing as the lead character in Fire Emblem Awakening. In the game's story, Robin awakens with amnesia in a grassy field and is found by Chrom and his sister Lissa, becoming the main tactician of the army. Robin is the eventual parent of Morgan and the child of Validar, and later gained widespread attention through playable appearances including the Super Smash Bros. series.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Fire Emblem
- First game
- Fire Emblem Awakening (2012)
- Creator
- Kouhei Maeda; Genki Yokota
- Designer
- Kusakihara; Yūsuke Kozaki
- Occupation
- Tactician
- Nationality
- Plegia
Facts from the source article.
Conception and design
Robin was brought to life by designers Kusakihara and Yusuke Kozaki. During the creation of Fire Emblem Awakening, two major story ideas drove development: a deep affection for the cast and the way relationships between characters grow as the plot unfolds. That second idea showed up in gameplay when characters fought side by side. The team kept voice acting brief, using only short lines meant to stir a specific mood, because they worried that too much spoken dialogue would bloat the game and hurt its pace.
Special audio and visuals were made just for the confession scenes. Every main character, Robin included, got a unique backstory and a personality that fit them. A big group of writers handled the character conversations, guided by a story bible that listed each character’s traits. Listening to fans who said even nameless soldiers should have names, the team gave every character a full name and created complete artwork for all of them, hoping to make each one feel like they had their own life.
Making the characters was one of the hardest parts of the project. Kozaki also drew the 2D portraits used during talks. The look of characters on the map changed over time; at first some developers thought showing their gear and class was enough, but later they decided to give each one unique features. The game also had more varied character expressions than earlier Fire Emblem titles, which let dramatic moments show a wider range of emotions.
Appearances
Robin is an avatar character whose name, gender, and appearance can be customized by the player. In the original timeline, the evil Dragon Grima possesses Robin and kills Chrom. When Lucina escapes to the past, Grima of that timeline follows and tries to fill the present Robin with his memories, but Robin's body was not strong enough to retain them, weakening Grima's power and giving Robin amnesia. As a result, Robin occasionally gets visions of their future self's memories, causing migraines.
The male version of Robin appears in Fire Emblem Fates as a playable character after using the Robin amiibo, awakening in the player's Castle and introducing himself to Corrin. Male Robin also appears in Fire Emblem Engage as a DLC Emblem alongside Chrom as the Emblem of Bonds. Variants of Robin appear in the spinoff games Fire Emblem Warriors and Fire Emblem Heroes. Outside the Fire Emblem series, Robin is featured in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. crossover fighting game series, promoted as a character unlike any other sword fighter due to mastery of magical tomes and the Levin sword.
They first appear as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and return as an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Amiibo figures featuring the male version of Robin were released to coincide with their Smash appearance. In response to complaints about too many Fire Emblem characters, Sakurai assured that the development team would ensure each character would be balanced properly.
Critical reception
Robin has been called the best player avatar in the Fire Emblem series by Melanie Zawodniak of Nintendo World Report, who noted that the character became so memorable and central to Awakening’s story that they were later added as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. In North American popularity polls leading up to Fire Emblem Heroes, the male version of Robin ranked eighth, while the female version was slightly less popular. When a female Robin was announced for Fire Emblem Warriors, Mike Sounders of Destructoid pointed out that a male version already existed and considered her a waste of a slot if she appeared as a standalone character rather than an alternate costume.
Reactions to Robin in the Super Smash Bros. series have been mixed. Steven Hansen of Destructoid praised Robin’s inclusion in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, calling the character’s element unique. In research on player perceptions of femininity among female Smash characters, John Adam found that language around the female Robin was less sexualized, though several people described her as cute, and one male player felt she was a stronger character in her own right.
Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek approved of Robin’s addition, noting that their spellcasting abilities set them apart from the many normal-looking human swordfighters in Smash, as well as from other Fire Emblem characters with similar skills. Cecilia D’Anastasio from Kotaku agreed that Robin at least has a distinct moveset built around magic tomes. Jeremy Parish of Polygon criticized Robin as just a big nerd who attacks with books. Michael Kelly from Dot Esports called Robin one of the worst characters to play in Ultimate as of April 2021, citing underwhelming gameplay attributes and noting that they are among the least selected characters in competitive matches.
Elsewhere in Fire Emblem
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