| “ | I am Linus Reed! Son of Brendan Reed, head of the Black Fang! Evildoers! Prepare to receive the Fang's justice! | „ |
| ~ Battle quote |
Linus Reed is an antagonist in the game Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (originally called Fire Emblem in the United States and Europe, Rekka no Ken in Japan). He and his older brother Lloyd make up two of the Four Fangs in the assassin guild Black Fang, which was founded by their father, Brenden Reed.
Synopsis
Little is revealed about Linus prior to the formation of the Black Fang, but what is revealed is that after its formation, he and his brother quickly climbed up the ranks and became apart of the legendary Four Fangs. Mainly due to Linus's personality, his brother would often keep him in check and resulted in the two of them to be inseperable. He served his father and guild loyaly, to the point where he didn't believe that his father could make any mistakes, but when Nergal and Sonia took over the Black Fang, he began to distrust some of the actions that were taking place.
After Nergal suffered injury at the hands of Lord Elbert, Sonia gathered Linus and the rest of the Four Fangs and ordered them to kill the Lycian lords, Eliwood, Hector and Lyndis, by falsly declaring them to be corrupt nobles. Despite the suspicion that he, his brother and fellow Four Fangs memeber Ursula feel, they comply with Sonia's orders and begin the hunt for the Lycian lords. Depending on how well the player leveled up the lords (their combined levels exceed 50), determines when Linus will encounter the lords, as well as alter his emotions toward them before and after his encounter with them.
- If the lords' levels do in fact exceed 50, then Linus will confront them in a small town outside of Bern. Once he notices the lords, he tells all the people in the town to get inside their homes and not to come out until the "evil" lords have been dealt with. Linus is unsuccessful in killing the heroes, but he is also spared by them, so he decides to hear what they have to say. They explain to him that he has been told lies and that they truely are good-natured nobles that intend to put a stop to Nergal's treachery. Upon hearing this news, Linus believes their cause and rushes to relay this information to Lloyd. However, he is intercepted by one of Nergal's morphs, Limstella, and is killed in his tracks. Limstella then informs Lloyd that his brother had been killed by the Lycian lords, which causes Lloyd to swear vengeance upon them.
- If the lords' levels do not exceed 50, then Lloyd is the one to encounter the lords outside of Bern, where the same events play out except Lloyd dies in place of Linus and Linus swears vengeance upon the lords. Linus eventually confronts the lords while guarding the Bern shrine, blinded by rage and refusing to listening to reason. Linus is so far gone that he even intends on killing his beloved step-sister, who has joined the lords by this point. Despite his best efforts, Linus is killed without ever learning the truth of what happened to his brother.
During the lords' final confrontation with Nergal, Linus is resurrected as a morph to combat the lords. He is eventually slain by them and his soul is allowed to finally rest in peace.
Personality
Linus is a very rash, hot-headed, and impulsive individual who values his family and loved ones above all else. Despite his impulsiveness, he still abides by the orders of his father and brother, which help keep him in line. As exhibited during the fight in the town outside Bern, Linus legitimately believes in the cause the Black Fang originally stood for, since he makes a very active effort to get the civilians to safety before the fighting breaks out. Not to mention, he begs for amends for going after the wrong kind people and hopes that Lloyd would get his message moments before he is killed by Limstella. After his brother's death, however, Linus loses the ability to reason and throws away all values in his pursuit of the Lycian lords, he even attempts to kill his step-sister, Nino, despite how well they got along during more peaceful times.