Inheritance is a game mechanic that appears inFire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War,Fire Emblem Awakening, andFire Emblem Fates. These games feature two generations of playable characters; if the characters in the parents' generation are paired up with each other, they can have children, who will inherit various attributes from their parents when they join the player's party as playable units. Usually, the children characters will only appear if their mothers are married, and, inGenealogy of the Holy War, survive to the end ofChapter 5, though there are exceptions.

Genealogy of the Holy War

The first generation ofGenealogy of the Holy War features nine playable female characters. With the exception ofDeirdre, who is automatically bound toSigurd upon her recruitment, andEthlyn, who is married toQuan prior to the game's events, the female characters mustfall in love and survive to the end ofChapter 5 in order for their children to appear in the second generation. If they are not married or are killed, their children will be replaced by substitute characters.

Substitute characters are similar to their second-generation counterparts; they have similar appearances, the same roles, and the same or similar classes. Unlike characters in the first generation, most substitutes lack innate holy blood—Amid andLinda, the substitutes for Tailtiu's children, share her minor Thrud holy blood. Substitute characters inherit nothing from the first generation; without the first generation's items, skills, or holy blood, substitute characters are generally weaker than their second-generation counterparts. However, all fourteen substitutes can participate in at least one special event granting them extra stats or unique items (thoughHermina's andJeanne's events are mutually exclusive), and many start with rarer items or skills. The following table shows the mothers, their children, and their respective substitute characters:

Mother	Children Classes	Substitutes Classes
Deirdre	Seliph Junior Lord	N/A
Ethlyn	Altena andLeif Wyvern Rider andPrince	N/A
Edain	Lester andLana Arch Knight andPriest	Deimne andMuirne Arch Knight andPriest
Ayra	Scáthach andLarcei Sword Fighter andSword Fighter	Dalvin andCreidne Sword Fighter andSword Fighter
Lachesis	Diarmuid andNanna Free Knight andTroubadour	Tristan andJeanne Free Knight andTroubadour
Silvia	Lene andCoirpre Dancer andPriest	Laylea andCharlot Dancer andPriest
Erinys	Ced andFee Sage andPegasus Knight	Hawk andHermina Sage andPegasus Knight
Tailtiu	Arthur andTine Mage andMage	Amid andLinda Wind Mage andThunder Mage
Brigid	Febail andPatty Bow Fighter andThief	Asaello andDaisy Bow Fighter andThief

The following attributes are affected by inheritance:

• Base stats: Children will inherit a small portion of their parents' stats as of the end of Chapter 5.^[1] The stats of the same-gendered parent affect the child's base stats twice as much as those of the other parent.^[2]
• Growth rates: Children will inherit their same-gendered parent's base growth rates, plus half of the other parent's base growth rates, in addition to their own Holy Blood bonuses.^[1]
• Holy Blood: Children will inherit all types of Holy Blood held by their parents. Where one parent has major Holy Blood, the child with the same gender as the major-blooded parent will inherit the major blood, and the other will inherit minor blood. The exceptions areFebail andAltena, who inherit the major blood of their mother and father, respectively. If both parents have the same minor Holy Blood (e.g. ifAyra marriedChulainn, both bearers of Minor Od Holy Blood), both children will inherit major Holy Blood.
• Skills: Children will inherit all personal skills held by both parents.Sol,Luna, andAstra will only be inherited if the children can use swords, and are not mounted units.
• Gold: Children will inherit one-tenth of their parents' combined gold total at the end of Chapter 5, plus 2,000 gold.
• Inventory: Children will inherit all items held by their same-gender parent that they can use in their starting class. They will also inherit any usable items that parent has in storage. There are some exceptions:
  • Seliph will never inherit theTyrfing directly fromSigurd; he does not receive it until an event inChapter 10.
  • Febail andLeif will inherit their mothers' items, and their sisters,Patty andAltena respectively, will inherit their fathers' items.
  • Forseti andValkyrie will be passed down to the child that inherits major Holy Blood, even if they cannot use it. For example:Lester—anArch Knight—can inherit Valkyrie, but he will never be able to use it.

Note that, except for holy weapons, theFollow-Up Ring, theKnight Ring, andSafeguard, if an item is not inherited, the same exact item will be obtainable elsewhere in the second generation, such as in the shop or dropped by enemy units; some items likeSilver Axe andThoron cannot be inherited at all due to a lack of child units with the requisite weapon level and thus must be reacquired this way. Weapons will retain theirkill bonuses.

Despite being the child of a playable character,Julia is not affected by the inheritance system; her base stats, growth rates, skills, and inventory are fixed.

Calculations

Below are the calculations used in the inheritance of each stat.^[2] "Main parent" below means the parent of the same sex as the child, and "secondary parent" means the opposite-sex parent.

Awakening

Like inGenealogy of the Holy War, the children are completely optional, withone exception; however, no replacement characters exist. The children are mostly attached to their mothers, with the exceptions ofLucina and femaleMorgan, who are attached to their fathers. Children become recruitable afterLucina joins the Shepherds, but there is no specific chapter before which the parents must marry. The exception isChrom, who automatically marries whoever he has the highestsupport level with at the end ofChapter 11, if he has not already done so; if he has not gained enough support points with any of his potential brides, or they are already married, he will instead marry an un-named village maiden. Each parent only has one child; siblings will only exist if Chrom marries someone other than the Maiden, orRobin marries someone from the below table. The following table shows the parents and their respective children:

Parent	Child
Chrom	Lucina
Robin (M)	Morgan (F)
Robin (F)	Morgan (M)
Lissa	Owain
Sully	Kjelle
Miriel	Laurent
Sumia	Cynthia
Maribelle	Brady
Panne	Yarne
Cordelia	Severa
Nowi	Nah
Tharja	Noire
Olivia	Inigo
Cherche	Gerome

The following attributes are affected by inheritance:

• Base stats: The child's base stats at recruitment are determined by how much the child's parents have grown from their base stats.
• Maximum stat modifiers: Children will inherit the sum of their parents' modifiers, +1. If Morgan is the child of a child character, they do not receive the extra +1.^[3]
• Growth rates: The child's growth rates will be equal to one-third of the sum of their parents' growth rates and their own absolute growth rates.^[4]
• Skills: Children will inherit the most recently activated skills known by each parent, regardless of whether or not the child can access the class that learns the inherited skill (e.g. it is possible for male children to inherit skills likeDemoiselle andGaleforce). These exceptions apply:
  • Chrom will always pass downAether to Lucina, even if he hasn't learnt it when she joins the party. Likewise, if Chrom's wife has a son, he will always inheritRightful King from Chrom, or if she bears Chrom another daughter, she will always inherit Aether.
  • If Robin marries Lucina or her sister (if Chrom marriedSumia orSully), Morgan will always inherit Aether from her.
  • If Robin marries Chrom or his son (if Chrom marriedMaribelle orOlivia), Morgan will always inherit Rightful King from him.
  • If Robin marriesAversa orWalhart, Morgan will always inherit their personal skills,Shadowgift andConquest, respectively.
  • Olivia's child(ren) can never inheritSpecial Dance, as theDancer class cannot be inherited.
  • Skills obtained fromDLC can never be inherited.
• Reclassing options: Children will inherit all of their parents' reclassing options, gender permitting. Robin's child(ren) can access almost all classes, gender permitting.Conqueror andDancer can never be inherited. OnlyLucina can inheritLord from Chrom. In situations where a parent passes down a class that their child's gender prevents them from accessing, the following changes apply:^[5]

• Morgan's base class: When Morgan is recruited inParalogue 12, they will be in the original base class of his father/her mother. IfRobin marriedChrom,Lucina,Olivia, orWalhart, Morgan will instead begin in theTactician class.
• Hair color: With the exception of Lucina (whose appearance is fixed) and female Morgan (who inherits the hair color of her mother), children inherit the hair color of their father; e.g.: aCordelia–Donnel couple will produce a dark-hairedSevera.

Inherited attributes are determined when the player begins theparalogue in which the child is recruited. For Lucina, this occurs at the end ofChapter 13. The inheritance system similarly affects the NPC children's stats and skills in theFuture Past DLC chapters.

Calculations

Below are the calculations for a child's base stats and growth rates.^[6]

Fates

Children once again appear inFates, being similar toAwakening and are completely optional. This time, however, the children are attached to their fathers, except forShigure and maleKana, who are attached to their mothers. Each parent has one child, but siblings can exist ifAzura orCorrin marries someone in the below table. UnlikeAwakening, exiting a paralogue and reentering it later does change inheritance. The following table shows the parents and their respective children:

Parent	Child
Corrin (M)	Kana (F)
Corrin (F)	Kana (M)
Azura	Shigure
Jakob	Dwyer
Kaze	Midori
Silas	Sophie
Ryoma	Shiro
Takumi	Kiragi
Saizo	Asugi
Kaden	Selkie
Hinata	Hisame
Azama	Mitama
Subaki	Caeldori
Hayato	Rhajat
Xander	Siegbert
Leo	Forrest
Benny	Ignatius
Keaton	Velouria
Arthur	Percy
Odin	Ophelia
Laslow	Soleil
Niles	Nina

The following attributes are affected by inheritance:

• Base stats: The child's base stats at recruitment are determined by how much the child's parents have grown from their base stats.
• Maximum stat modifiers: Children will inherit the sum of their parents' modifiers, +1. If Kana is the child of a child character, they do not receive the extra +1.^[7]
• Growth rates: The child's growth rates will be equal to one-half of the sum of their variable parent's growth rates and their own absolute growth rates.^[8]
• Skills: Children will inherit the last equipped skills known by each parent, regardless of whether or not the child can access the class that learns the inherited skill. These exceptions apply:
  • Azura's children can never inheritInspiring Song, as theSongstress class cannot be inherited.
  • Skills obtained fromDLC can never be inherited.
• Dragon Vein: If one or both of the parents is able to use Dragon Veins, either as a royal or having used theFirst Blood item, that ability will be passed down to the child.
• Reclassing options: Children will inherit one class from each of their parents. It follows these set of rules:
  • First, if the child's class does not match their father's default class, they inherit his default class; otherwise they inherit the father's alternate class. This is true even for Shigure and male Kana, despite being tied to their respective mothers.
  • Next, if the child does not have the mother's default class, they inherit it; otherwise they inherit her alternate class. Azura passes only theSky Knight class as Songstress can never be inherited.
  • Should the child have both the mother's default and alternate class in their class set, they instead inherit the following parallel class set based on the mother's default from the chart below:^[9]

• Hair color: With the exception of a male Kana (who inherits the hair color of his father), children inherit the hair color of their mother; e.g.: aJakob–Mozu couple will produce a dark-hairedDwyer.

Inherited attributes are determined when the player begins theparalogue in which the child is recruited and how far into the story the player is.

Calculations

Below are the calculations for a child's base stats and growth rates.^[10] "Variable parent" usually refers to the mother; however, in the case of Shigure or male Kana, it instead refers to the father.

Trivia

• While some second-generation characters fromGenealogy of the Holy War appear inThracia 776, no substitute characters do; however,unused portraits for Asaello, Daisy, Jeanne, and Hermina exist inThracia 776, suggesting there were plans at some point in development for them to appear.

References