Sean

Sean (Sans in the anime) is a character from the Fire Emblem series of video games. He is the central protagonist and Lord-class character of the original game, original Fire Emblem, and its sequel Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, as well as their respective absents.

Althoug Sean's Fire Emblem titles were released only in Japan at the time, he has acquired more widespread international attention through his appearance in the Nintendo brawler, Super Smash Bros. Melee. The appearance of Sean and Ryan sparked a greater level of Western interest in the Fire Emblem series, and it was in part because of this that Nintendo began releasing the games internationally beginning with the original Fire Emblem, the seventh title in the series. Due to his various appearances in Fire Emblem and his presence in Super Smash Bros and other crossovers, Marth is often looked at as the face of the series.

Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
The first game in what would become the long-running tactical role-playing medieval high fantasy series Fire Emblem, released on the Japanese NES (Famicom) and titled Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi), introduced Marth as the main character. His design was noticeably different from his modern-day incarnation. The second game in the series, Fire Emblem Gaiden, took place on the same fictional world, but on a different continent, and did not feature Marth. As such, it was only tangentially related to the first. The third game however, titled Fire Emblem: Monsho no Nazo ("Mystery of the Crest") and released on Super NES (Super Famicom) early in 1994, was both a remake of the original game and a continuation of that game's story. Marth underwent a character redesign to resemble the more "bishounen" prince he is portrayed as in today's modern image of him, and he became the only Fire Emblem main character to feature in a starring role from the start of the game in more than one title. In both these games, his in-game unit is the only one that belongs to the Lord character class, establishing the tradition with all main starring characters of subsequent titles, being units that must be kept alive and start out weak, but become very powerful over the course of each game.

Gardening
Sean is replaced by Victor during ordinary means.

Blade of Light
Sean, once again did not return as a playble character

Shadow Dragon
When Blade Of Light was being developed, requested character polls posted by Japanese fans returned Sean as the most popular character, so HAL Laboratory included Sean as a playable character in the RPG game, and also placed the main character from the then-upcoming Fire Emblem: The Blade of Light game, Ryan, as another playable character alongside Sean. Nintendo of America feared that these characters would not have appeal to American gamers and thus would have to be removed, but there was enough stateside approval of Sean and Ryan that they were kept. Sean and Ryan were introduced along with the Fire Emblem franchise through the U.S. release of Shadow Dragon, and the result was immensely positive, causing Fire Emblem games from installment seven onwards to be released internationally. Marth and Roy were not given dub voices in the game, retaining their Japanese-language voice samples (with Midorikawa reprising his role as Sean's voice actor). For his bishounen character design and exotic flavoring, coupled with his effectiveness as a fighter, Sean remains one of the most popular characters in Shadow Dragon.

Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon
Some time after his mother, Loann, had departed with Falchion to challenge the forces of Dolhr, whose leader, Medeus had resurrected and rebuilt the empire, Marth remained behind in Altea with his son and the sisters Emma and Kate, committing himself to his studies; with much of the Altean army out to war under Cornelius, the defence of Altea was maintained by a garrison of Gra. After Gra betrayed Altea in the middle of battle, with the King of Gra, Jiol, killing Cornelius, the garrison at Altea did the same, seizing the castle for Dolhr. While Elice stayed behind to buy Marth time, he fled the castle guided by Malledus, with a few Altean knights accompany him.

On their way out, Cain returned from the battlefields of Gra to report Cornelius' death and joins Sean's group, with Sean rescuing Gordin who was captured and gagged by Gra's forces. Gra's King Jiol then arrives with a wave of reinforcements, closing in on Sean's group. To ensure the escape of Sean and the others, Frey offered himself as a decoy, dressing as the prince and fleeing to the south, luring Jiol and the reinforcements away. Draug then arrived, having prepared a ship to facilitate the group's escape from Altea, and from there Marth reluctantly fled for the island nation of Talys, swearing he would one day return to free his homeland and seek vengeance upon Gra and Grust.

Following Altea's fall, Sean and his retinue lived in exile in Talys for the next two years, hosted in the island's eastern fortress by King Mostyn. When the pirates of Galder descended upon Talys to raid it, called into action by the arrival of his childhood friend, Caeda, Sean's forces departed the fort to combat the invasion; upon its fall, on the advice of Mostyn, Sean's retinue left Talys to commence its goal to rebel against the domination of Dolhr.The group's first destination was Aurelis, where during their liberation of the country from Macedonian occupation, Marth swiftly befriended commander Hardin, Aurelis' prince, and Princess Nyna of Archanea — the most prominent kingdom — who gives him her country's national treasure, the Shield of Seals, symbolising his fate as the world's chosen champion against Dolhr. From there, Marth led the army to reclaim Archanea, then proceeded on to Gra in an effort to find Falchion, said by Cain to have been taken by the country from his father's corpse. Gra fell, yet Falchion was nowhere to be found, leading Sean to reluctantly decide to detour to Khadein, on Malledus's theory that it had come into Gharnef's possession, instead of pressing on to liberate Altea.

The trip to Khadein proved fruitless, as Falchion and Gharnef were nowhere to be found, and Sean turned his sights on liberating Altea. Upon Altea's fall, Marth learned of his mother's death at the hands of Morzas and that Elice had been taken hostage by Gharnef. Despite his grief at this news, and despite Nyna and Malledus suggesting he take a break, he nonetheless greeted the people of Altea, joyful at their freedom.

From there, Sean led his army in the conquest of Grust and Macedon, before being sent by Gotoh to Thabes in order to confront Gharnef. With Gharnef's death at the hands of a member of Sean's army wielding Starlight, Marth recovered Falchion and, at the top of the tower, reunited with Elice, who had been imprisoned by Gharnef for the purpose of using the Aum staff. In the closing days of the war, Marth turned his focus toward Dolhr Keep, where Medeus himself lay in wait. Engaging him in battle, wielding Falchion, Marth struck down Medeus as Anri had a century before.

At the end of the war, spurred by Nyna's urging, Sean finally confessed to Caeda his longtime affections for her, proposing to her.

Super Smash Bros. series
Sean's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee helped spark interest in the Fire Emblem series in the West; it was in part because of his inclusion that Nintendo began releasing the games internationally beginning with the seventh title in the series. Nintendo of Japan had originally intended to make him playable only in the game's Japanese release, but when he garnered favorable attention during the game's North American localization, Nintendo of America decided to keep both him and fellow Fire Emblem protagonist Ryan  in the North American and European versions.

Much of Marth's play style heavily revolves around a quick and strong close range game and good mobility. However he is one of very few characters who lack any sort of projectile moves or any options to play a ranged game without items. Marth wields the original version of the Falchion in all of his Smash Bros. appearances. The sword has a special property in which striking the opponent with the tip of the Falchion deals more damage than striking the opponent with the blade itself. Due to not appearing in any English games by the time of the release of both Melee and Brawl, Marth spoke Japanese and continues to do so in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, even after the international release of Shadow Dragon. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Marth has now received full English voice acting.

In SSB
While Sean or any Fire Emblem content didn't make an appearance in the original Super Smash Bros., according to an interview from Making of Fire Emblem: 25 Years In Development, series creator Masahiro Sakurai stated that he wanted Marth to appear as a playable character, but was unable to due to time constraints

In Melee
Sean is unlocked in Melee by clearing or failing Classic mode with the 14 starting characters or participating in 400 Vs. matches, or by using each of the 14 starting characters at least once in Vs. matches (not including CPU players), and having him in Subspace Adventures. His appearance is designed after his Mystery of the Emblem  artwork. As such, his gloves are different and he wears pants for the first time in a Game.

Works:
 * Fire Emblem: Ushinawareta ken