Hetzel (Japanese:ヘッツェルHetzel) is aBegnion duke from the territory of Asmin, and a senior member of the Begnion Imperial Senate. He was a follower of Vice-MinisterLekain and an unwilling accomplice in many of his crimes, and came to oppose ApostleSanaki when Lekain and the other senators worked to usurp her.

Biography

The Serenes Massacre

Late in the reign of ApostleMisaha, Hetzel attended alaguz slave auction, whereRafiel was being auctioned off. Despite fierce bidding among the senators of Begnion, Hetzel won the auction and spent most of his fortune to buy Rafiel. Rafiel soon fell ill, however, so Hetzel took him to a temple and helped to nurse him back to health. He promised Rafiel that once he had recovered he could return toSerenes, and he entirely intended to keep this promise.Sensing Hetzel's honesty in this, Rafiel trusted him.^[1]

Within days of this promise, however, Misaha was assassinated and theSerenes Massacre occurred, events orchestrated by Hetzel's fellow senators. Hetzel was not personally involved in planning or executing any of these events,^[2] although he would later admit that he could have done something to prevent these events, but instead just stood by and let both Misaha and the herons die.^[3] He never spoke of the Massacre to Rafiel, but the heron knew anyway and fled from Hetzel, eventually ending up inHatari. In the years after the Serenes Massacre, Hetzel became mostly quiet in his public dealings, likely out of guilt over his role in the disaster.^[4]

The Mad King's War

In the middle of theMad King's War, Hetzel was present along with the rest of the senate at the first meeting betweenSanaki andElincia. He joined his fellow senators, includingLekain andOliver, in a sycophantic chorus of laughter and praise for their empress after she testedIke and Elincia's resolve with a fake interrogation about Elincia's legitimacy.^[5]

Judgement

After the awakening ofAshera andYune, Hetzel was petrified by Ashera's judgement, but was quickly unfrozen and recruited into serving Ashera. He became part of herDisciples of Order, along with Lekain and the other senators, and although he followed Lekain's lead in order to save himself, he privately questioned why he and Lekain - who, as senators, had committed so many crimes - would be taken as Ashera's chosen ones.^[6]

Hetzel was present at Tanas Manor when Oliver engaged Ike and his army on their way to theTower of Guidance, reminding Oliver to not fail the rest of the senate after all the effort they put into saving his life during the Mad King's War.^[7] After the battle he returned to the manor to survey the damage and found Rafiel in Ike's company, and although Rafiel refused to talk to him because of the Serenes Massacre, Hetzel warned him to stay away from the Tower of Guidance and to not anger Ashera.

When the three armies reached Sienne and began their attack on the Tower of Guidance, Hetzel awaited them on the ground floor along with Lekain and an army of Disciples of Order. Although he tried to half-heartedly apologize and disavow Lekain, Hetzel died in the ensuing battle with Ike andMicaiah's forces.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Role

Hetzel's only appearance inPath of Radiance is a minor speaking role in the opening cutscene ofChapter 14.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Role

Hetzel is one of two bosses inthe first stage of the Part IV, Endgame. He is positioned in the top-right corner of the map, on the opposite side of the map toLekain. The chapter'sobjective is to defeat all enemy units, including Hetzel.

Hetzel also briefly appears as an enemy inPart IV, Chapter 4, but he leaves the map completely after the first turn and cannot be fought under ordinary circumstances.

Stats

Enemy - Part IV, Chapter 4

See also:Revelations

Saint Level 14 Affinity Constitution 8	Stats Max HP 42 Speed 24 Strength 17 Luck 28 Magic 34 Defense 19 Skill 26 Resistance 35 Movement 6 Weight 8	Inventory Skills Heal Shove Corona Weapon Levels -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- A -- S
Biorhythm Best Good Normal Bad Worst

Enemy - Part IV, Endgame (1)

See also:Rebirth (1)

Saint Level 14 Affinity Constitution 8	Stats Max HP 42 Speed 24 Strength 17 Luck 28 Magic 34 Defense 19 Skill 26 Resistance 35 Movement 6 Weight 8	Inventory Skills Silence Sleep Shove Corona Weapon Levels -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- A -- S
Biorhythm Best Good Normal Bad Worst

Personality

Hetzel's life is seemingly ruled by fear of those more powerful than he is, and he is willing to do or say just about anything to ingratiate himself with his superiors, to win their favor and continue to survive. He is deeply ashamed and regretful of the role he had played in enabling and participating in so many of the senate's crimes, but he is also too much of a coward to do anything to rectify his actions. Even when he endlessly apologizes for his actions, disavows himself from Lekain's crimes and insists that everything is Lekain's fault, he will not commit to these words and betray Lekain out of a fear of falling out of his favor.^[8] This is reflected in his beliefs about serving Ashera, as he believes there to be no alternative but to grovel and accept the mercy of gods by serving them.^[9] When he encounters a plan or act from Lekain and the other senators, he simply does not act at all even if he knows it is wrong, and neither tries to undo the act nor convince Lekain to stop;^[3] and while he privately considers Lekain to be an immoral man, in Lekain's presence he continues to be an ingratiating yes-man simply to preserve his status.^[6] He is seemingly unable to understand why others would not act as he does and choose to actively defy powers greater than themselves, both mortal and divine.^[10]

Nonetheless, Sanaki remarked that she thought that Hetzel would have refused to assist in Lekain's schemes, indicating that Hetzel was known for his decency to some extent.^[3] Before the Serenes Massacre, he was entirely honest and sincere in his dealings with Rafiel, who could sense that he legitimately wished to see Rafiel returned to his home despite spending so much money on him.^[1] Even so, Hetzel could not help but try to turn his moments of decency into bargaining chips to save himself, as he tried to use his treatment of Rafiel to convinceNailah not to kill him.^[11]

Quotes

Battle quotes

Death quotes

Flavor text

Choose Your Legends placement history

Round	Placement	Character	Votes

CYL 1 (2017)

772

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

33

CYL 2 (2018)

760 (−12)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

36

CYL 3 (2019)

687 (+29)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

20 (−16)

CYL 4 (2020)

769 (+8)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

12 (−8)

CYL 5 (2021)

805 (+36)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

12 (No change)

CYL 6 (2022)

796 (−11)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

16 (+4)

CYL 7 (2023)

809 (+13)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

9 (−7)

CYL 8 (2024)

880 (+71)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

6 (−3)

CYL 9 (2025)

876 (−4)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

7 (+1)

CYL 10 (2026)

893 (+17)

Hetzel Radiant Dawn

4 (−3)

Total results		This character has 10 entries across all Choose Your Legends polls.	155

Trivia

• Hetzel has unused base stats and growth rates inPath of Radiance.
• Unused battle dialogue data inRadiant Dawn suggests that Hetzel could be spared. This is not possible in the final game due to the chapter where Hetzel is fought a rout objective, providing no scenario in which he could be spared.^[12]
• According toTellius Recollection, Hetzel was designed with an apparent age of 64 inRadiant Dawn.^[13]

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

Official artwork

• 
  Artwork of Hetzel fromRadiant Dawn.

Portraits

• 
  Portrait of Hetzel inPath of Radiance.
• 
  Portrait of Hetzel inRadiant Dawn.

Screenshots

• 
  Hetzel as aSaint inRadiant Dawn.

Heroes artwork

• 
  Hetzel in artwork ofSanaki: Begnion's Apostle.

References

This article is part ofProject Characters, a project focused on writing articles for every character present in theFire Emblem series.