Volke

Class

In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Volke first encounters the mercenaries in a prison. If the player chooses to hire him, Volke will join the mercenaries as a thief. Thieves are useful for opening doors without breaking them. In addition to that, they can also open chests without keys, and they come with a preassigned and locked skill, steal. He also comes with a pre-assigned Shade skill.

In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Volke appears very late in the game and belongs to the class of assassins which is unique only to him in this game. He also comes with a preassigned and locked Critical 25 skill, pre-assigned and locked Lethality skill, and a preassigned but not locked Stillness skill. Stillness is a step-up from the Shade skill, and he is the only character to have those skills.

Personality

"You there, in the bushes. You have until the count of five to show yourself before I start throwing sharp objects. One...two...four..." -- Volke, in his C support with Bastian (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance)

He is very mysterious and secretive. And whenever he is asked something, he usually demands gold no matter how big or small the request is. He is also not used to being thanked, as he gets embarrassed when Ike thanks him in Radiant Dawn and quickly leaves. His morals are questionable because he does any job no matter what that job is for money. He also dislikes crowds and prefers to spend his time alone.

Story

Volke demands 50,000 gold from Ike if Ike wants the information that Greil requested from Volke before Greil died. If the player chooses to hire him, then he tells Ike that he can be reached if they go into any bar and ask for a "fireman". He also charges 50 gold for every lock he picks in the prison they are in. Later, when Ike is able to pay Volke the 50,000 gold, he tells Ike how Elena really died, Lehran's medallion will drive anyone crazy with rage except for Elena and Mist, and that he was hired by Greil as an assassin to kill Greil if he ever went insane again. Then, Ike receives an offer to renew Greil's contract with the 50,000 gold. If the player chooses to hire Volke a second time, then Volke will promote to the assassin class.

In the sequel, Volke does not play a major role in the storyline. He appears in the chapter just before the Endgame and can be hired by Bastian or Elincia for 3,000 gold. He is still an assassin. Later on in the story, one of Volke's jobs is revealed when Bastian decides to tell Elincia about her uncle. Elincia's uncle, Renning, was given a drug that made him stronger, but also destroyed his mind, so Volke was hired to investigate a cure for him. Volke found out that the drug was created by Izuka, so they interrogated him. Unfortunately, they had no success, and Izuka had escaped. Bastian decided that Izuka was a monster anyway, and discovered that there was a better way to cure Elincia's uncle. With that, Volke watches Reyson perform the galdr of rebirth with the others. Later, at the base, Volke pays Ike 20,000 of the 50,000 gold he received in Path of Radiance because that was how much he thought his services were worth.

Military Affiliation

He sides with whoever holds his contract, and he is determined to finish the job he was assigned before taking on new jobs. Because of this, he will not ever be recruited to anyone else's side unless he finishes his job. In Path of Radiance, he serves under Greil, and after Greil's death, he served under Ike in the Greil Mercenaries.

In Radiant Dawn, he did work for Bastian, but after the job was done, his contract would have to be renewed when he is recruited by Elincia or Bastian again. He never gives his reason why, but he does need money, and they player will have to pay him 3,000 gold to hire him in this chapter. In Part Four, he is able to fight against feral laguz and can be chosen to fight in the Endgame.

Supports

In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Volke has an amazing total of one support: Bastian. With only one detailed support conversation, there really isn't much known about Volke. A true man of mystery. It has been suggested that it was planned for Volke to have supports with Sothe (considering that they're both thieves), Mist (because on a ship, she never saw him eat and tried to find him and offer a plate of food, but never succeeded. Volke didn't eat with everyone else because he hated crowds which resulted in Mist wondering if he was starving to death), and Tanith (probably because it's her job to know what her soldiers are like). For whatever reason, those supports were cut out. The guess would be that it would not work for his mysterious character to interact with more than one person. Volke is the only character in Path of Radiance to forge a support with only one character.

In his conversation with Bastian, they appear to have known each other for a long time. Volke says that Bastian's always been a good employer, paying on time and in full each time, so Bastian must have hired him before. Bastian also questions Volke's military affiliation, to which, Volke says he serves no nation, just Ike. Bastian also attempts to hire him for a job for 20,000 gold, but Volke declines because he hates taking two jobs at once, and his job with Ike isn't complete yet. He does say that he will take the job after he is done with his current work, however.

In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Volke is allowed to have a support with any character he has spent a long time with. However, since the support conversations are less detailed and more simplified, there is still not much known about Volke. In the C support, Volke says that he's here if the unit needs help, and "I don't care what you do, just stay out of my way." In the B support, Volke says "Let me guard you. Don't ask why. It's none of your concern." In the A support, Volke says "Live through this. I won't charge you for it."

As it turns out, there is some unused content on the support system for Radiant Dawn. If Volke were to have a support with certain characters, then he would have a full-length support conversation in the A support conversation only. Of course, the full-length support conversation for the A support was cut out. This may be due to Ike and Micaiah having an immense amount of potential A support conversations...and either of them alone would be too many.

The characters that were planned to have the special support conversation with (and the possible reasons) were:

• Heather and Sothe (all are thieves; not surprisingly, Sothe's support conversation with Volke is cut yet again...)
• Ike (previous employer)
• Makalov (Makalov had a support with Bastian too. Perhaps Volke would warm up to someone Bastian conversed with?)
• Nasir (both have worked as spies)
• Tauroneo (neither join the opposing side in the middle of battle)
• Bastian (Volke's only support in Path of Radiance. Not surprising and obvious)

Unit Data

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Base Stats

• Starting class: Thief
• Affinity: Wind
• Level: 10
• HP: 25
• Strength: 12
• Magic: 0
• Skill: 13
• Speed: 13
• Luck: 7
• Defense: 7
• Resistance: 3
• Constitution/Build: 11
• Weight: 11
• Movement: 7
• Weapon Grade: Knives - N/A

Growth Rates

• Health: 65%
• Strength: 50%
• Magic: 5%
• Skill: 55%
• Speed: 65%
• Luck: 35%
• Defense: 20%
• Resistance: 10%

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Base Stats

• Starting Class: Assassin
• Affinity: Unchanged (Wind)
• Level: 13
• HP: 55
• Strength: 32
• Magic: 5
• Skill: 38
• Speed: 37
• Luck: 19
• Defense: 28
• Resistance: 24
• Constitution/Build: 11
• Weight: 11
• Movement: 7
• Weapon Grade: Knives - SS

Growth Rates

• Health: 50%
• Strength: 50%
• Magic: 5%
• Skill: 60%
• Speed: 65%
• Luck: 20%
• Defense: 45%
• Resistance: 15%

Ending

Volke has one (very appropriate) ending at the end of the game. It is as follows:

Man of Many Mysteries - Volke

After finishing his contract, Volke went back to the shadows he knew so well. He was a man of mystery to the end.