Valtome (pronounced /⁠vɑlˈtoʊmeɪ⁠/^[key][1]; Japanese:バルテロメValtelome) is aBegnion duke from the territory of Culbert, and a member of the Begnion Imperial Senate. He played an important role in the Senate's schemes in their war with theLaguz Alliance, plotting to both drive thelaguz to extinction and to usurp control of Begnion from its rightful ruler, EmpressSanaki, once and for all. He was assigned command of the Begnion military to achieve this, where he became a bitter enemy of the acclaimed Begnion war heroZelgius.

Biography

The war

Along with the rest of the Senate, Valtome desired to seize control of Begnion away from EmpressSanaki and allow the Senate to govern it themselves without interference, as the result of years of Sanaki andSephiran working to put an end to the corruption and misdeeds which were common among senators. To achieve this, Valtome and the rest of the senate, under the leadership ofLekain, provoked thelaguz nations into war and caused them to form theLaguz Alliance and attack Begnion. When the war was underway, the senate had Sanaki and Sephiran detained to prevent them from interfering.^[2]

Partway through the war, afterZelgius had defeatedSkrimir in single combat and the Alliance had begun its retreat toGallia, the rest of the senate appointed Valtome as thecommander-in-chief of Begnion's forces. He took over direct command of the war effort and Begnion's military plans from Zelgius, in order to prolong the war and destroy thelaguz once and for all. Under his direction the northern force was left behind to "search for bodies of dead sub-humans or something" in the dangerous Kauku Caves, into which the Alliance had fled, while Valtome led the Central Army to retreat and regroup.

Valtome's new plan for the Begnion army was to stage an invasion of Gallia throughCrimea, and he immediately began to pressure Crimea's QueenElincia for support for the war effort, demanding both free passage through Crimean lands and supplies and reinforcements. As a pacifist and ally of Gallia, Elincia denied all of these requests, and in revenge Valtome ordered the army to enter Crimea anyway and begin actively raiding and stealing from its people for the needed supplies.^[3] After the Crimean Royal Knights stopped one of these raids, Valtome met with Elincia and demanded her loyalty and support for the war, threatening to have Elincia executed for treason and to then claim Crimea as his own.

Days later, Valtome and the Central Army passed into Crimea territory anyway and prepared to engage the Laguz Alliance, but they were stopped by the arrival of Elincia, who laid down her sword as a symbolic gesture to stop the fight. When Valtome insisted on attacking anyway, Zelgius,Levail, and the Central Army retreated from the battle, as did the Laguz Alliance army. Enraged by this turn of events, Valtome ordered his personal Culbert army and its commander,Sergei, to kill Elincia for defying him. Valtome's army was opposed byIke and theGreil Mercenaries, as well as the Crimean Royal Knights, who drove his men back. In the end, as Elincia's allies succeeded in overwhelming the Culbert army, Valtome escaped the battlefield and swore to punish Zelgius for failing to aid him.

Once he returned to the Central Army's base camp, Valtome immediately arranged to have Zelgius executed as a traitor for his inaction in the last battle, despite the objections of Levail. Knowing of the great esteem Zelgius had among the people of Begnion, Valtome planned to release a cover story for Zelgius's death which claimed that he had died in battle against the Laguz Alliance.^[4] The execution was foiled by the arrival of EmpressSanaki and her Holy Guard, who accused the senate of treachery to seize control of Begnion. Valtome, of course, denied these claims, and this divided the Central Army between those loyal to the senate and those loyal to Sanaki.

The Disciples of Order

After the awakening ofAshera andYune, Valtome became a leader in Ashera'sDisciples of Order along with the other Begnion senators. He led an army of Disciples to attack the Hawk Army, led by Elincia andTibarn, as they traveled near Lake Semper in the east, and he fought to avenge himself on both Elincia and Zelgius (who was not present, although Valtome insisted otherwise) for how they had undermined him before. Valtome died in this battle, still cursing Zelgius with his last words.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Role

Valtome is the boss ofPart IV, Chapter 2 and acts as thecommander of the Hand units in this chapter. The chapter'sobjective is to defeat all enemy units, including Valtome.

Stats

See also:Silent World

Bishop Level 14 Affinity Constitution 10	Stats Max HP 45 Speed 25 Strength 17 Luck 29 Magic 30 Defense 17 Skill 24 Resistance 35 Movement 6 Weight 10	Inventory Skills Valaura Shove Weapon Levels -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- S -- A
Biorhythm Best Good Normal Bad Worst

Personality

Valtome is vain and arrogant in the extreme, believing himself—and by extension, the Begnion Senate—to be flawless, infallible, and the rightful rulers of anything they desire. He demands total, unfliching obedience from anybody he views as his inferiors, even fromforeign rulers. He makes no attempt to hide his utter disrespect for others, insulting both their intelligence and their broader worth in colorful detail and in a very patronizing, condescending mannner, treating others as if being obedient servants of the Senate is for their own good.^[5] He does not react well at all to having his control or expectations undermined by them, becoming highly vindictive and vengeful when he is actively defied.^[6]

Valtome had a peculiar, antagonistic obsession with Zelgius, which only grew more intense as the war continued. He saw Zelgius as rigid and pompous, and kept trying to surprise him and poke holes in his stoic demeanor.^[7] After the incident with Elincia laying down her sword and the humiliation of his forces being defeated, he became particularly obsessed with finding and punishing Zelgius, refusing to believe that he was not hiding in Elincia and Tibarn's ranks.

Quotes

Battle quotes

Death quotes

Flavor text

Choose Your Legends placement history

Round	Placement	Character	Votes

CYL 1 (2017)

724

Valtome Radiant Dawn

55

CYL 2 (2018)

709 (−15)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

56

CYL 3 (2019)

626 (+5)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

61 (+5)

CYL 4 (2020)

729 (+25)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

31 (−30)

CYL 5 (2021)

753 (+24)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

26 (−5)

CYL 6 (2022)

685 (−70)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

48 (+22)

CYL 7 (2023)

753 (+68)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

21 (−27)

CYL 8 (2024)

759 (+6)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

26 (+5)

CYL 9 (2025)

717 (−42)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

31 (+5)

CYL 10 (2026)

751 (+34)

Valtome Radiant Dawn

18 (−13)

Total results		This character has 10 entries across all Choose Your Legends polls.	373

Trivia

• Legion, a character appearing inFire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, has a laugh very similar to Valtome's.
• Unused data suggests that Valtome was intended to have a personal weapon, likelyValaura.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

Portraits

• 
  Portrait of Valtome inRadiant Dawn.

Screenshots

• 
  Valtome as aBishop inRadiant Dawn.

Heroes artwork

• 
  Valtome 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.