New Archetype in Town: The Knoll

[amielleon]

And I can hear all of you who aren't following me on Tumblr go "what? knoll?"

OKAY BUT LOOK HERE

Trait	Knoll	Pelleas	Etzel	Henry
Wanting to Die	Knoll/Duessel A Duessel: You're tired, aren't you? Worn to the bone. I understand how you feel, but on the battlefield, this only invites death. Knoll: You are probably right... And yet that might be best.	3-13: "I want you to kill me."2 3-14: "Thank you for telling us. It makes my decision much easier. I will save Daein... [...] I'm sorry, Mother. My mind is made up. This has to happen." 4-2: Tibarn: Listen, I don't know what she's been telling you, but don't throw your life away.2	FE12, B Support with Chris: "If [Ursula is indeed living peacefully in heaven], if I died... I might be able to see her again."1 A Support Chris: Sometimes the way you fight... it looks like you're seeking to die. Etzel: ... Sorry, it's a bad habit of mine. Sometimes even in the midst of battles, it seems that no matter what I do, I remember her.1	Recruitment: "If you can't trust me, you can just kill me you know~" A support with Maribelle: "Put like that, well... I'm not particularly afraid of death. [...] Dying isn't sad~" S support: Maribelle: You said things, you know. About not being afraid to die. Looking at the way you fight, I realized that it was no bluff. That's why I'm worried. You have no concern for your own life... Future of Despair DLC, father to Owain:1 "I also used to think that it would be okay if I dropped dead~ If I could die in the middle of an awesomely fun fight, that was fine by me~ ... I thought." If Chrom struck the last blow and Henry is married to Avatar:1 "If you die, then maybe I'll die too, together with you~"
Crushing on Silver-Haired Maidens	Knoll/Duessel C: "Prince Lyon no longer holds the capital. My reason for remaining is gone..." Knoll/Duessel A: "I once studied dark magic alongside Prince Lyon. He was such a gentle soul. You could see it--he was too kind to survive. Prince Lyon dreamt of finding happiness for all of Grado's citizens. [...] And now, Prince Lyon is no more. I have lost everything."	1-9: "My job is to be the symbol of Daein's liberation. But the Priestess of Dawn is no mere symbol. For her, the soldiers will gladly give their lives. ... Oh, don't worry, Sothe. I'm not jealous, if that's what you're thinking. It isn't like that. Although I have to admit, I do envy her from time to time." 3-13: "Micaiah. It's your caring soul that I admire. That's why I want it to be you."	[an exception, although I'd gladly headcanon Ursula as silver-haired]	Fighting Dierdre in Champions of Yore 1: "Wow, what a pretty person! Hey, fight with me~"1 Fighting Micaiah in Rogues and Redeemers 3: 1 Henry: Hey, if you're going to give up now's the time, you know~? It would be a shame for a mysterious girl like you to fall in battle~ Micaiah: I can't do that. Besides, I'm not the only one who could be defeated. Henry: Woaaaah~ how confident. Well then, I'm going to get serious too~
Gloominess	Uh, when is Knoll *not* gloomy?	Pretty much all of Part 3, and some of Part 4 too.	B and A support with Chris in FE12	Harvest of Bonds1 Ricken: Woah... this feels weird... It's this weird... gloominess? I feel like my mood just plummeted. ... Is this going all right? Henry: Yup, everyone feels like that at first~ As you get used to it, it'll just be normal for you, so bear with it~
Dark Mage?	Check	Check	Sorcerer, but that just means he's a prepromote	Check
Recruited frustratingly late?	Chapter 15 of 21 (16 of 22 counting the prologue)	Chapter 4-2 (which is 34 of 42, counting endgame as 5 chapters and 1-6 as 1)	Chapter 17x of 25 (which is 24 of 34 counting prologues and gaidens)	Chapter 13 of 26 (comparatively early, but in context, he is the last non-Avatar-only parent character you get)

Notes:
¹ Translation mine. (In Henry's case, some of these are Japanese-exclusive.)
² Pelleas's evidence for not liking life very much looks less incriminating in context. But for a time there, he's still very quick to offer himself as a sacrifice or run into dangerous situations.

By the way, that's one of these guys every single world since Knoll.

So yes, I think The Knoll is an archetype. It is an excellent archetype.

EDIT: Arguable cases:
Alvis. He's not a dark mage, but he has the genetic aptitude to use dark magic if he weren't forced to hide it. He is quite resigned to death by Ch 10, and was indeed into a silver-haired maiden. Not recruitable though.
Sephiran. Capable of using dark magic, quite suicidal and gloomy, and the latest recruitment ever. Was into an indigo-haired chick though.

EDIT2: raphiael pointed out that they also all share their hair color with a major villain. Including the two arguable cases. Quite funny.

Comments

[kyusil]

Hahaha! The ironic thing is that probably the last thing poor Knoll wants is to be immortalized in this manner.

[amielleon]

Right? What a thing to be remembered for.

[raphiael]

I still find this delightful. If it's intentional, the characters are different enough that it's interesting still. If it's not? It's a hell of a coincidence.

[writerawakened]

I think all this doom n' gloom stuff might be more a reflection on the nature of evil magic as used by good characters than on the characters themselves. Then again, maybe the same could be said about Dutiful Knights (tm) being more reflective of the burdens of knighthood than the characters themselves.

That being said, my gut feeling says it's weird to lump Knoll, Pelleas, and Henry together. :P I mean, what a crew; between Pelleas puking on his shoes, Henry smiling inappropriately, and Knoll unabashedly navel-gazing.

[amielleon]

It's precisely because the lumping is to weird and the characters are so different that this delights me. I agree that dark mage probably entails gloomy and suicidal as part of the stereotype about that kind of magic and people who use it, and it probably ties into mechanical reasons for coming late too. But Silver-Haired Maidens??? That's when I decided this was hilarious and needed to be seen.

[raphiael]

Don't judge; Knoll's navel still smells vaguely of Lyon.