Volug (Japanese:オルグOrugh) is awolflaguz fromHatari and a servant of QueenNailah. He accompanied Nailah andRafiel on their journey toTellius across theDesert of Death, where they metMicaiah andSothe. He became a companion to Micaiah throughout the war forDaein's liberation, and remained with her as part of the Daein army after Nailah left forGallia.

Biography

Just as the people of Tellius believed there to be no surviving lands other than their own after theGreat Flood, the people of Hatari also believed that they were alone. This changed whenRafiel was found wandering the Desert of Death by Nailah after theSerenes Massacre. Around the year 648, Nailah took Volug with her on an expedition to follow Rafiel to Tellius. The group took shelter in one of the desert's laguz ruins after a mysterious voice guided Rafiel there, and there they metMicaiah and theDawn Brigade, who had also followed a voice to the ruins.

Nailah and Rafiel desired to travel toGallia to visit Rafiel's surviving family, so Micaiah and Sothe offered to escort the group through Daein to protect them from anti-laguz bigotry so they could safely reachCrimea and contactIke to reach Gallia. However, first the Dawn Brigade had to venture back into the Desert of Death to find the rumored heir ofAshnard, so Nailah volunteered Volug's services to Micaiah to guard her in the guise of a common dog. Volug sensed a massive number ofbeorc gathered to the south of their location, which led them directly to this heir,Pelleas, and theBegnion siege of his hideout.^[1] When Micaiah and the Dawn Brigade joined with Pelleas's forces to form the Daein Liberation Army, Volug accompanied them and fought by their side throughout the war against the Begnion garrison. Throughout the war Micaiah and Sothe managed to keep Volug's laguz nature a secret from the majority of the army, preventing potential issues with Daein's notorious bigotry toward laguz.^[2]

When the war ended with the liberation ofNevassa, Nailah and Rafiel departed for Gallia in the company ofTormod, but she left Volug behind to protect Micaiah. Volug helped the rest of the Dawn Brigade with the reconstruction of Daein, and when Begnion ordered Pelleas to join the war against theLaguz Alliance, Volug continued to serve under Micaiah despite the highly racist nature of much of the Daein army's war-mongering, as he knew why they were forced to fight and of Micaiah's motivation to save Daein. During the battle of Castle Nox, he passed this information on to Nailah as she attempted to approach, reaffirming her determination to help Micaiah.^[3] He later participated in the battles against theDisciples of Order, and after the final battle at theTower of Guidance, he returned to Hatari with Nailah.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Role

Volug is a playable unit who is associated with Micaiah's party. After he joins inPart I, Chapter 5, he remains with Micaiah's party through the rest of Parts I and III. He can be freely allocated to any of the three armies in Part IV, although if he is assigned to the Greil Army, he unlocks abase conversation which gives a spareElixir and discusses the nature of theancient language.

Volug comes with the skillWildheart, and during Part I it functions differently for him: he is permanentlyhalf-shifted and is not allowed to revert. Once he returns in Part III, the skill returns to its ordinary function and he is allowed to revert. His copy of Wildheart cannot be removed from him during Part I, and this restriction is also lifted in Part III.

Volug also appears as an enemy unit twice in Part III, first inChapter 7 and then in theEndgame, with the same stats and inventory which he had at the end of the preceding chapters.

Starting stats and growth rates

Wolf Level 15 Affinity Constitution 11»20

Recruitment:Part I, Chapter 5, viewbase conversation "Nailah", or automatically from preparations StatsGrowth Rates Max HP 49 Speed 13»19 Strength 11»16 Luck 13 Magic 2»3 Defense 9»13 Skill 12»18 Resistance 5»7 Movement 7»9 Weight 18»40 Max HP 95% Speed 40% Strength 25% Luck 90% Magic 15% Defense 15% Skill 35% Resistance 10% {{{content3}}} {{{content4}}} {{{content5}}} {{{content6}}} {{{content7}}} {{{content8}}} {{{content9}}} {{{content10}}} {{{content11}}} {{{content12}}} {{{content13}}} {{{content14}}} {{{content15}}} Inventory Skills Fang Vulnerary Howl Shove Wildheart* Weapon Levels -- -- -- -- -- A -- -- -- -- -- --

Biorhythm Best Good Normal Bad Worst

Availability

Analysis

Volug is a wolf laguz with forced Halfshift during Part I. As halfshift allows him to stay transformed but with only half the transformation benefits, he does not have to rely on items to stay transformed. He has the highest mobility in the team after Jill, only lacking flight and canto. Unlike Jill, he has full mobility in indoor maps, helpful for 1-7 and 1-E. He can also shove and rescue many units, including even the Black Knight. Volug has decent offensive base stats for Part I, doubling most enemy units and one-rounding less tanky ones. His defense is average but he has a very high base health and above average avoid, so his durability is one of the best on the team. However, his resistance is low and he is weak to fire magic. While Volug is a valuable unit through Part I, his experience gain is extremely low compared to beorc units.

In Part III, Volug's Halfshift is optional, though enemies are a lot more powerful so he performs better with normal laguz shifting. Volug is still one of the team's more durable and mobile units (especially with earth supports), though his base stats begin to fall behind. He has extremely high growths in health and luck, and good growths in skill and speed for a laguz, but his strength and defense growths are extremely low. In addition to his lower experience gain and being a laguz, Volug is a difficult unit to raise through Part III, and will be outclassed by other raised units on the team such as Jill and Nolan. His performance improves if his strike rank is increased, as it dramatically improves his attack power, especially if combined with beastfoe, so it is recommended to grind his strike rank in Part I to prepare for Part III.

Volug will struggle to contribute in Part IV, as mobile units are much more common and Volug will not have gained many levels. His bad strength growth, relatively low level, and low strike rank will limit him from contributing to combat, limiting him to being a rescue or shove unit unless babied significantly. He performs best on Ike's and Micaiah's team, due to high movement through ledges, forests, and desert.

Volug has the Wildheart skill which allows him to stay transformed with only half of the transformation boosts. This is only removable in Part III but again, it is best to keep it equipped due to relative lack of laguz supporting items. He also has Howl but this skill is situational and unreliable. Volug is relatively low level and will remain low leveled for Part IV, so he needs significant investment to be able to use a Satori Sign to learn Savage and boost his offense. His extremely high health base makes him a decent user of Wrath or Resolve, boosting his offense and avoid respectively.

Volug has an earth affinity which gives a massive avoid boost. When paired with other earth affinity units in Part I like Nolan, Zihark, or Fiona, this can potentially give both units a +45 avoid boost, dramatically boosting their durability which is invaluable. A unit with a thunder affinity like Jill or Tauroneo work well too. Due to Volug's nature as a strong unit in Part I and III but weak in Part IV, it may be difficult to find a partner that fits a similar role as him with the same availability.

Personality

Volug is a dutiful and determined servant to Nailah and, later, Micaiah. He is a native speaker of theancient language and, unlike Nailah, made little progress learning the common Tellius language. This led him to be remain almost perpetually silent, rarely speaking, because he felt that there was no use speaking a language that few around him could.^[4] Almost all of his dialogue presented inRadiant Dawn is spoken in the ancient language and cannot easily be read, but if deciphered his generic support lines reveal a completely different side to Volug: he has an offbeat and even morbid sense of humor, sometimes wondering how enemies would react if he were to eat his foes,^[5] poking fun at his own reticence,^[6] and possibly jokingly claiming to be incredibly charming despite rarely speaking.^[7] He prefers to remain near constantly half-shifted into his wolf form, as he feels it is more comfortable than his humanoid shape.^[8]

Supports

Bond supports

Volug Wolf Default bonds: None. [[{{{supportd1}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd1}}} [[{{{supportd2}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd2}}} [[{{{supportd3}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd3}}} [[{{{supportd4}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd4}}} Extra bonds:* None. [[{{{supporte1}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse1}}} [[{{{supporte2}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse2}}} [[{{{supporte3}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse3}}} [[{{{supporte4}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse4}}} [[{{{supporte5}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse5}}}

Endings

Volug, Black Wolf of the Sands
Strangely, Volug was still in wolf form on the day he went home. Asked why, he said only, "It's more comfortable".

Volug (Nailah died)
Volug returned toHatari to tell of Nailah's hopes and the great war. He hoped to migrate the whole nation.

Quotes

Battle quotes

Death quotes

Other appearances

Fire Emblem Cipher

Volug is featured on two cards inFire Emblem Cipher. He is one of two characters whose card quotes are written in theancient language, the other beingLeanne.

Fire Emblem Cipher data for Volug
	Reticent Fang, Volug
		"(Do not take me lightly...!)"
		Attack: 60	Support: 30	Range: 1	Deploy Cost: 3
		Class: Beast Tribe		Tier:Special	Class Change Cost: --
		Shift:[Always] When this unit is in the Vanguard, this unit gets +10 attack and can attack enemy units in the Rearguard regardless of range. ( skills are active if 2+ cards are stacked with this unit.) Wild Sense:[Always] When this unit is in a battle with an enemy unit in the Rearguard, this unit gets +20 attack.
	Card #B05-067HN • Artist:Nejita
	Black Wolf of the Sands, Volug
		"(...Leave it to me.)"
		Attack: 40	Support: 10	Range: 1	Deploy Cost: 1
		Class: Beast Tribe		Tier:Special	Class Change Cost: --
		Warrior of Hatari:[Always] When this unit is supported by a unit, this unit gets +10 attack. Attack Emblem:[Support] Until the end of the attack phase, your attacking unit gets +20 attack.
	Card #B05-068N • Artist:Nejita
Some card information translation provided by Serenes Forest. For more detailed strategic information on these cards, seetheir TCG wiki article on Volug .

Flavor text

Choose Your Legends placement history

Round	Placement	Character	Votes

CYL 1 (2017)

265

Volug Radiant Dawn

838

CYL 2 (2018)

271

Volug Radiant Dawn

839

CYL 3 (2019)

216 (−45)

Volug Radiant Dawn

1,100 (+261)

CYL 4 (2020)

235 (+8)

Volug Radiant Dawn

684 (−416)

CYL 5 (2021)

194 (−41)

Volug Radiant Dawn

507 (−177)

CYL 6 (2022)

119 (−76)

Volug Radiant Dawn

822 (+315)

CYL 7 (2023)

115 (−4)

Volug Radiant Dawn

576 (−246)

CYL 8 (2024)

148 (+33)

Volug Radiant Dawn

482 (−94)

CYL 9 (2025)

146 (−2)

Volug Radiant Dawn

396 (−86)

CYL 10 (2026)

107 (−39)

Volug Radiant Dawn

351 (−45)

Total results		This character has 10 entries across all Choose Your Legends polls.	6,595

Trivia

• According toTellius Recollection, Volug was designed with an apparent age of 21.^[9]

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

Official artwork

• 
  Artwork of Volug fromRadiant Dawn.

CG images

• 
  CG image ofRafiel,Yune, Volug, andNailah inRadiant Dawn.

Portraits

• 
  Portrait of Volug inRadiant Dawn.
• 
  Portrait of Volug inRadiant Dawn.

Concept artwork

• 
  Concept artwork of Volug as a shiftedWolf fromTellius Recollection: Volume 2.

Screenshots

• 
  Volug as an unshiftedWolf inRadiant Dawn.
• 
  Volug as a shifted Wolf inRadiant Dawn.

Cipher artwork

• 
  Artwork of Volug.
• 
  Artwork of Volug.

References

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