—Jake in Shadow Dragon
Jake is a player character that first appeared in the original Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, as well as its remake, and New Mystery of the Emblem. He has also made sporadic appearances in the series as a non-player character.
Jake is one of the very few characters to make recurring appearances across the series outside of direct game sequels and remakes. In the games in which he appears, his love interest is Anna.
Unlike Anna, Jake's physical appearance varies between games. In particular, in Genealogy of the Holy War, one of the games in which Jake appears but is not playable, he is depicted with a generic townsfolk portrait. In The Blazing Blade, he has brown hair and wears red, while in Shadow Dragon, he has purple hair and clothes of a similar color.
Quick Answers
What role does Jake play in The Blazing Blade?
How does Jake's appearance change in Shadow Dragon?
Why does Jake use a generic portrait in Genealogy of the Holy War?
Who is Jake's love interest in Fire Emblem?
How does Jake's look differ in Shadow Dragon and The Blazing Blade?
Profile
Jake appears in the very first game, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light as a playable Ballistician, he is recruited by having Caeda talk to him after someone has visited the house where Anna resides. In the remake, Mystery of the Emblem, he was omitted (along with numerous other characters).
He next appears in Genealogy of the Holy War, where he appears in front of Linda at the source of the Thracian River, originally intending to join Seliph's Liberation Army but got lost along the way and wounded, eventually deciding to return home to Anna. Linda, whom Jake notes as having a familiar name, sets him on the right path and in return he gives her an amulet. He later gets lost again and runs into Amid, who reveals himself as Linda's brother. Amid sets Jake back on the right path and Jake in turn gives him another amulet. He thanks the two for their kindness, claiming that when he gets home, he and Anna will have children just like them.
Jake's next appearance was as a cameo in The Blazing Blade, where he was a member of Fargus' pirates. He appears to greet the ship's passengers if somebody visited Anna at the inn in the Port of Badon and tells you about the shops aboard the ship.
His ending in Shadow Dragon notes that he and Anna always dreamed of traveling to far off continents, perhaps referencing to their status as recurring characters.
Personality
Jake is a man who, despite being a unit in some games, seems to dislike fighting, as shown in Shadow Dragon, where he states that he "isn't cut out for the military". He also is smitten with Anna (and vice versa), and their relationship is shown frequently throughout the series. Although he does flirt with other girls, Anna does not seem to mind this very much, even recommending that Marth use this to his advantage. In Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem, he also shares some sort of friendship with Beck, the other Ballistician. At the conclusion of the War of Heroes when Jake asks Beck where he would be going now that the war is over, Beck responds that he plans on returning to wandering and one day they should meet up again in Anna's shop, hinting that the two may have developed some sort of friendship since the War of Shadows.
In-Game
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
Base Stats
| Starting Class | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ballistician | |||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Wlv | Mov |
| 1 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 3 | Varies | 14 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
| Ballista | Arrowspate | ||||||||
Growth Rates
| HP | Str | Skl | Spd | Lck | Wlv | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | 30% | 50% | 20% | 50% | 50% | 10% | 0% |
Overall
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Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.
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Jake is the first ever Ballistician unit introduced in Fire Emblem, and one of only two available within the game (the other being Beck). Unfortunately for Jake, the class is not particularly useful in the NES version of the game.
While he is certainly usable, Jake comes saddled with problems. To start with, Jake starts with bad stats in everything other than Defense and he has pretty average growths to go with it, but they are all focused in secondary stats. On average, he will never gain enough Speed to break 0 adjusted speed, even at max level with the lowest Weight Ballista. He is also incapable of ever Promoting, leaving him with unimpressive stats even at max level. This will become a problem later in the game as enemies get stronger and begin to break his high starting Defense. Even if you attempt to fix this later in the game with stat boosting items, Jake cannot fix his Movement. Ballisticians have a crippling Movement of 4 and a Range of 2, meaning that unless you plan to waste turns waiting up for him or use very defensive strategies, it will be a pain just to get him to attack anything. This becomes particularly apparent if a map is Terrain heavy, which severely hampers his capability of getting anywhere. You could give Jake Boots to try and alleviate this, but other characters can make much better use of the item.
On the upside, Ballisticians can deal huge single hit damage to targets and can obtain weapons that can tear through enemy Ballisticians or flying units. If used defensively, they are very good at weakening enemy units into kill range. However, when taken in as a whole, Jake's lack of mobility, inability to promote, unimpressive stats, and mid-game Level 1 recruitment status mean that he is really not worth using.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Base Stats
| Starting Class | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ballistician | |||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Mov |
| 1 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 4 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
| Ballista |  Arrowspate | ||||||||
Growth Rates
| HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40% | 30% | 0% | 50% | 20% | 50% | 20% | 0% |
Overall
|
|
Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.
|
Jake is the first Ballistician the player receives and provides a unique play style. Unlike other units, he has a low movement but can equip siege weapons giving him 3-10 range. This enables Jake to fulfill a unique role sniping out enemy units from afar, flying and magic units are good targets for Jake. Ballistas can be forged to further increase their power, accuracy and critical.
Jake has supports with Caeda, Lena, Minerva, Maria and Linde, meaning Jake's accuracy and critical will noticeably improve if they are within 3 spaces of him. This can be used to help Jake hit more accurately. In chapter 13, Beck's Thunderbolt can easily be passed to Jake by another unit, to help defeat the boss, Grigas.
Compared to the other Ballistician, Beck, Jake has a lower skill base, but higher growths in Strength and Skill. Due to the way Ballisticians work it is easy to deploy Beck and Jake together. The two can stay within each other's movement range and trade weapons. Xane can be also deployed to create a third ballistician.
All in all, Jake is a unique unit with a unique purpose and should not be overlooked.
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem
Base Stats
| Starting Class | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Warrior | |||||||||
| Level | HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res | Mov |
| 1 | 35 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 7 |
| Weapon | Starting Items | ||||||||
 Axe - C Bow - C |  Killer Bow Steel Axe | ||||||||
Growth Rates
| HP | Str | Mag | Skl | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | 90% | 0% | 65% | 80% | 70% | 35% | 5% |
Support Relationships
Supports
Supported by
Overall
Jake has undergone some odd changes in New Mystery of the Emblem. All of his growth rates have increased quite a bit, but in turn, he is a pre-promoted Warrior with very poor base stats in most areas, barring Resistance, which may seem low, but all the other potential Warriors have a base Resistance of 0 and gain 1 point of Resistance upon promoting (Ymir already comes with this due to being a pre-promote), as well as having a 0% Resistance growth, compared to Jake's extra 2 points in the stat and a small 5% growth in the stat, although he should not be sent into a pack of Mages. It is also worth noting that Jake is probably the only Warrior in your army that can reach A-rank bows reliably (unless you abuse chapters like 10x, 22, 23 or the Endgame, or you use a lot of Arms Scrolls), as he comes in Chapter 11 with a C-rank in bows, at the point where your Warriors (if you have any) will probably only have E or D rank in bows, and his joining chapter, as well as the next chapter, are full of flying units.
Some good reclassing options for Jake are General, Berserker, Hero and Horseman. With General, he trades some speed for more Defense, and his extremely high Speed growth rate will bring his speed back up to par soon. Hero and Berserker will both give him higher speed and keep his access to axes. Horseman will basically be the same as Hero, but with bows, more movement and a higher Speed cap.
Despite these upsides, Jake's terrible base stats hamper his usefulness and he joins in the mid-game, where your army may have surpassed him already, although, unlike the Wolfguard, his base level is low enough to the point where he can easily become viable due to his fantastic growth rates, he may become on par with your other units, and his C-rank Bows for a Warrior in the mid-game is nothing to scoff at.
Quotes
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
Pre-Battle
—Jake's pre-battle quote as an enemy
Recruiting
- Caeda: Hello, soldier of Grust. You're Jake, aren't you?
- Jake: Who are you? Don't you know it's not safe here.
- Caeda: As a girl from this town told me, it seems there are good men among Grust's forces. You know a girl called Anna, don't you?
- Jake: Oh, you heard about me from Anna? That's good! What did she have to say?
- Caeda: She said that if you fought for the people of this land, she would follow you anywhere.
- Jake: Really?! Well, honestly... I don't like seeing the people of this land suffer like this. All right. I've made up my mind! I'm ready to fight for you, and for Anna! I'll show you what I can do!
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Pre-Battle
—Jake's pre-battle quote as an enemy
Recruiting Jake (must have visited House 6 first)
- Caeda: Hail, ballistician of Grust! Are you the one they call Jake?
- Jake: Hail yourself, sugar! What's a fetching lass like you doing out here on the battlefield? And how do you know my name?
- Caeda: I am Caeda of Talys. An Archanean woman by the name of Anna told me about you.
- Jake: Really? Anna mentioned me? ...In a good way, right?
- Caeda: She's very worried about you. She wants to know why such a good man is fighting for the wrong side.
- Jake: Wrong side? Hmm... Well, I have to admit, I'm not too keen on kicking Archanea while they're down...
- Caeda: They why not fight for Archanea instead? Help us defeat Grust and Dolhr, and set the world right.
- Jake: Well...I don't know. I don't think it's that simple... Hmm...
- Caeda: Anna would love you for it, I'm sure.
- Jake: She would? Hmmm... All right, you win. But I'm doin' it for Anna- " just to be clear!
Conversation Marth and Jake
- Jake: Are you the Altean prince? The name's Jake. I just joined up.
- Marth: Many thanks, Jake.
- Jake: You know, I've been to Altea once. Have you uh... Ever paid a visit to the ecret-say op-shay there?
- Marth: The what?
- Jake: The secret shop! Didn't you know there are secret shops hidden all over the continent? Well, there's one in Altea, too.
- Marth: Oh, really? Where exactly?
- Jake: If I told you, it wouldn't be much of a secret, now would it? The entrance is disguised so you can't find it.
- Marth: Disguised?!
- Jake: And they don't let anybody in without a VIP card. So don't expect to waltz through the door by accident.
- Marth: But how do they stay in business?
- Jake: Who knows! Last I heard, they were desperate for customers.
- Marth: Then maybe they should reopen as a "tell your friends " shop.
- Jake: Ha! Very clever. Anyway, you should drop by when you're in the neighborhood.
- Marth: But I don't know- Ugh. Never mind.
Defeated
—Jake's death quote in Shadow Dragon
Endings
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
- Works to reconstruct villages destroyed in the chaos of war.
Shadow Dragon
- Anna's Love
- Jake helped rebuild a town destroyed during the war. He and his lover Anna always dreamed of traveling to far-off continents.
New Mystery of the Emblem
- Anna's Love
- Jake spent his days helping his girlfriend, Anna, manage her shop. The two dream of leaving for a faraway continent someday.
Non-Canon Appearances
Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)
Jake is illustrated in the trading card game with the following cards:
Choose Your Legends Placement History
| Round | Placement | Character Version | Votes |
|---|
| CYL1 | 554 |  Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon |
260 |
| 735 |  New Mystery of the Emblem |
49 | |
| CYL2 | 598 ↓44 |
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon |
133 ↓127 |
| 782 ↓47 |
New Mystery of the Emblem |
26 ↓23 | |
| CYL3 | 437 ↑161 (From highest) |
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon New Mystery of the Emblem |
242 ↑83 (From combined) |
| CYL4 | 444 ↓7 |
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon New Mystery of the Emblem |
171 ↓71 |
| CYL5 | 396 ↑48 |
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon New Mystery of the Emblem |
114 ↓57 |
| CYL6 | 391 ↑5 |
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon New Mystery of the Emblem |
132 ↑18 |
| CYL7 | 349 ↑42 |
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon New Mystery of the Emblem |
84 ↓49 |
| CYL8 | 353 ↓4 |
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon New Mystery of the Emblem |
89 ↑5 |
| CYL9 | 320 ↑33 |
Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon New Mystery of the Emblem |
79 ↓10 |
Etymology
Jake is a short version of Jakob or Jacob, which is of Hebrew origin, meaning "holder of the heel" or "supplanter". It's the name of the patriarch of the Israelites in the biblical book of Genesis.
Trivia
- Jake and Beck share very similar portrait art in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
- In New Mystery of the Emblem, if Jake is re-classed to a class that doesn't wear headgear, Jake's sprite art uses brown hair instead of purple.
- Jake has three different starting classes across all of the games he appears in: Ballistician, Pirate and Warrior.
Gallery
