The latest official Fire Emblem Heroes popularity poll wasn’t won by Marth or Chrom or any of the other pretty-boy main characters from the franchise’s history. No, fans overwhelmingly voted for the unnamed Gatekeeper that guards the entrance to Garreg Mach Monastery in 2019’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
Nintendo revealed the full results of the fifth “Choose Your Legends” poll yesterday (h/t Polygon), showing that Heroes players threw a ton of weight behind the Gatekeeper, who by virtue of his victory will be added to the game as a playable character this summer. He earned 72,267 votes compared to 46,699 for original Fire Emblem protagonist Marth. Three Houses’ Marianne and Sacred Stones’ Eirika were the top two characters on the women’s side.
The Gatekeeper — a nameless NPC who only exists to greet the player as they enter the monastery — became something of a meme in the Fire Emblem community after Three Houses arrived on Switch in 2019, despite the fact that he couldn’t be romanced or even recruited by the main character. Still, his cheerful disposition warmed the hearts of Fire Emblem fans, who produced a ton of fan art and even found a way to mod him into the game as a usable unit in battle. Predictably, the Gatekeeper’s charm stat was off the charts.
Fire Emblem Heroes has seen steady updates since arriving on mobile platforms in 2017. Previous polls in the “Choose Your Legends” series have seen the community vote for characters like Three Houses’ Dimitri and Edelgard, Gaiden’s Alm, and Radiant Dawn’s Micaiah to appear in-game with special outfits. This was the first year the Gatekeeper was included as a voting option.
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