Aran

Not to be confused with Arran, a playable character from Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and Mystery of the Emblem.

Aran Artwork of Aran from Radiant Dawn. A childhood friend of Laura's. He is an orphan of Daein who was adopted by a Begnion merchant. He has returned to Daein as a member of the Imperial Occupation Army.

Gender Male Race Beorc Nationality Daein Starting class Soldier Appearance(s) Radiant Dawn

“	Then...from now on, I'm fighting for what's right...just like the abbot taught us. Come on. Let's get you--and everyone else--out of here!	”	— Aran

Aran (Japanese: ブラッド Brad) is a citizen of Daein and a childhood friend of Laura. He appears in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn as a recruitable enemy unit.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Role

Aran is a soldier guarding a Begnion-controlled prison in Daein. When Laura is imprisoned there along with Micaiah, Aimee, Kurth, and Ilyana, Aran lets the Dawn Brigade in through the back, allowing them to rescue their friends. While fighting their way out, Aran is called in as a reinforcement to stop the intruders. However, Laura convinces him to switch sides and join the Dawn Brigade. He then serves as a simple soldier in the Dawn Brigade, then the Daein Liberation Army, and finally the restored Daein military.

Starting stats and growth rates

Soldier
Level	7
Affinity
Constitution	11

Recruitment: Part I, Chapter 3, talk to with Laura

Stats Growth Rates

Max HP	24	Speed	10
Strength	10	Luck	6
Magic	0	Defense	11
Skill	12	Resistance	2
Movement	6	Weight	15

Max HP	50%	Speed	35%
Strength	75%	Luck	35%
Magic	10%	Defense	70%
Skill	75%	Resistance	25%

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Inventory	Skills
Javelin  Iron Lance  Vulnerary	Shove
Weapon Levels -- D -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Biorhythm
Best
Good
Normal
Bad
Worst

Promotion stat gains

Class	HP	Str	Mag	Skill	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Con	Mov	Skills	Weapon level
Halberdier	+2	+1	+2	+1	+1	+0	+1	+2	+1	+1	Critical +5	(x to D)
Sentinel	+4	+2	+4	+2	+2	+0	+2	+4	+0	+0	Critical +10*  Impale	(x to A)

Availability

Part I	Part II	Part III	Part IV
P	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	E	P	1	2	3	E	P	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	E	P	1	2	3	4	5	Endgame
1	2	1	2	3	4	5
			F	A	A	A	A	A	A		A												A	E					A	A	E	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
Legend R: Required for deployment A: Available for deployment E: Appears as an enemy unit N: Appears as an NPC unit P: Appears as a partner unit S: Available if selected into the relevant army F: Joins after preparations U: Cannot be deployed, but inventory can be managed

See Availability chart/Radiant Dawn for more details on availability.

Analysis

This character analysis section may not be accurate to every player's experience.

Aran is the first playable soldier in Radiant Dawn. He has mediocre bases all around, his only higher base stats being skill and defense. His base health is too low for him to be a solid physical tank early on despite his defense, and he is frequently doubled by enemy units on harder difficulties. His initial base bulk can be significantly improved with a Seraph Robe, as it complements his defense base and growth. As a lance user, he has 1-2 range combat, though his hitrates in earlygame will be unreliable due to low level, luck, and higher enemy stats. Furthermore, he struggles to deal meaningful damage; if he uses stronger lances, he will frequently be weighed down, so he relies on forges early on. He has low luck compared to other units, and is prone to getting crit'd by enemy units.

Aran has extremely high growths in strength, skill, and defense, but due to his weak bases it will take several levels for these growths to kick in. Despite his high defense growth, his health growth is relatively low, limiting his abilities to tank in late Part I and onward. His speed, luck, and resistance growths are very low, so he is weak to magic and has doubling issues, while his speed is so poor that even trained enemies can double him and pierce his defenses in Part III on Hard difficulty. Additionally, he will not cap stats quickly enough in his tier 1 class to use BEXP to fix his speed issues; on average with no boosters he'll cap skill at level 18, cap defense at level 20, and usually cap strength at level 20, so it usually won't be until nearly midway into his tier 2 class that he can start utilizing BEXP to get speed levelups, leaving him with no room to exploit BEXP levels to get out of his speed hole in Part I and 3. Being given the Speedwing from 1-E will be far from enough to push him into doubling range, with it at most just likely saving him from being doubled in Part III. In the long run, in tier 2 and 3, Aran is extremely reliant on capping strength, skill, and defense quickly so he can fix his speed issues with BEXP.

For Part IV, Aran functions best on Ike's or Tibarn's team. Micaiah's team has a desert chapter that will make Aran unusable, though her first chapter has many horse units which Aran can abuse the Horseslayer on. In general, his high long-term bulk and 1-2 range allow him to have a productive enemy phase, though he may still have doubling issues even with investment, significantly limiting his damage output. For endgame he is a mediocre choice, as he will struggle to one-round the abundant Generals in 4-E-1, his low resistance makes the abundant powerful magical enemies dangerous to him, and his 33 speed cap puts him just shy of the 34 speed needed to be able to double everything from 4-E-3 onward.

Aran has no skills upon joining. As his speed is poor for the majority of the game, he does not make good use of skills like Adept, Cancel, and Vantage. Wrath and Resolve help improve his offense and avoid being doubled, and he has the physical bulk to survive on lower health. Aran is more vulnerable to enemy crits due to his low luck base and growth, so Fortune can fix this.

Aran has a thunder affinity which gives a light boost to defense and avoid, which he appreciates to tank better. Jill has a thunder affinity which allows them to build a +3 defense +15 avoid boost; however, Jill is a wyvern and is usually best not held back by Aran's lack of mobility. Nolan, Zihark, and Volug are grounded units with earth affinities that help Aran with more avoid, though all three of them would prefer to support other earth affinity units. Leonardo's water affinity complements Aran's thunder affinity, and plays the role of attacking behind tanks.

Personality

Aran is a relatively simple individual, attempting to do good as far as possible. He appears to be sensitive and kind, especially in regard to Laura. This can be seen in the events of Part I, Chapter 3, where he is confronted by Laura about his choice to serve in Begnion's army. Aran ultimately heeds Laura's advice, and opts to defect to the Dawn Brigade.

Supports

Bond supports

Aran Soldier Default bonds: None. [[{{{supportd1}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd1}}} [[{{{supportd2}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd2}}} [[{{{supportd3}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd3}}} [[{{{supportd4}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonusd4}}} Extra bonds:* None. [[{{{supporte1}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse1}}} [[{{{supporte2}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse2}}} [[{{{supporte3}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse3}}} [[{{{supporte4}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse4}}} [[{{{supporte5}}}]] Bishop Bonus: {{{bonuse5}}}

See Support § Radiant Dawn for more details on supports.

Endings

Aran, Loyal Halberdier
Aran served for many years as lookout in his hometown. Everyone relied on him for his honest, if clumsy, work.

Quotes

Battle quotes

“	Numida: Aargh! Where are my guards? Why do I have to be the one to fight?! Aran: That's right, I remember who you are. You let others do your dirty work while you run for safety. Looks like you're running out of places to run, Senator.	”	— Aran, when fighting Numida in Part IV, Chapter 3 of Radiant Dawn.

Death quotes

“	I'm not a hero... I'm just a soldier. There's no lesson in this... I knew that's... how it would be... But still... I...	”	— Aran, in Radiant Dawn.

“	Be careful! They're much stronger than any of the foes we've encountered! They defeated me, as well... I'm falling back temporarily.	”	— Aran's retreat quote in Part III, Chapter 7 in Radiant Dawn.

“	I'm wounded. I must retreat for now. Tell the general... our front line of defense is collapsing.	”	— Aran's retreat quote in Part III, Endgame in Radiant Dawn.

Other appearances

Fire Emblem Cipher

Aran is featured on four cards in Fire Emblem Cipher.

Fire Emblem Cipher data for Aran
	Champion of Faith, Aran
	"As the priest's teachings say, follow the path you believe is right."
Attack: 60	Support: 10	Range: 1	Deploy Cost: 3
Class: Halberdier	Tier: Advanced	Class Change Cost: 2
Lance of Faith: [Always] While this unit is attacking an enemy besides the Main Character, until the end of the battle, this unit gains +20 attack. Spear: [Activate] [Once per turn] [] Until the end of this turn, this unit gains +10 attack and this unit's range becomes 1-2 ( This skill becomes active while this unit's stack is at least 3).
Card #B05-064HN • Artist: BISAI
	Warm-hearted Spearman, Aran
	"Go! I might miss one of you if you do."
Attack: 40	Support: 10	Range: 1	Deploy Cost: 1
Class: Soldier	Tier: Base	Class Change Cost: --
Empire's Spear: [Always] While this unit is attacking an enemy besides the Main Character, until the end of the battle, this unit gains +20 attack. Attack Emblem: [Support] Until the end of this battle, your attacking unit gains +20 attack.
Card #B05-065N • Artist: BISAI
	Holy Spear of Faith, Aran
	"That's right, I remember how you are. You let others do your dirty work while you run for safety. Looks like you're running out of places to run."
Attack: 70	Support: 10	Range: 1	Deploy Cost: 5
Class: Sentinel	Tier: Advanced	Class Change Cost: 3
Valiant Spearman: [Activate] [Once per turn] [Flip 1 bond card face-down] Until the end of the turn, this unit gains +30 attack. Piercing Faith: [Trigger] When this unit Growths, until the end of the turn, the number of Orbs that this unit's attacks will destroy becomes 2. Proximity to Impale: [Trigger] When this unit uses Valiant Spearman, you may choose 1 enemy in the Back Line, and move them. ( becomes usable if a total of 4 or more cards are stacked with this unit.)
Card #B20-064HN • Artist: Kyo Uda
	Open-minded Spear Soldier, Aran
	"Come on. Let's get you - and everyone else - out of here!"
Attack: 40	Support: 10	Range: 1	Deploy Cost: 1
Class: Soldier	Tier: Base	Class Change Cost: --
Childhood Friend Cleric: [Always] If this unit is being supported by "Laura", this unit gains +20 attack. Attack Emblem: [Support] Until the end of this combat, your attacking unit gains +20 attack.
Card #B20-065N • Artist: Kyo Uda
Some card information translation provided by Serenes Forest. For more detailed strategic information on these cards, see their TCG wiki article on Aran .

Flavor text

Game	Text (English)	Text (Japanese)
Radiant Dawn	A childhood friend of Laura's. He is an orphan of Daein who was adopted by a Begnion merchant. He has returned to Daein as a member of the Imperial Occupation Army.	ローラの幼馴染の闊達な青年。 元はデイン出身の孤児だが、 ベグニオンの商家に引き取られたため、 ベグニオン軍人となっていた。

Choose Your Legends placement history

Round	Placement	Character	Votes

CYL 1 (2017)

311

Aran Radiant Dawn

648

CYL 2 (2018)

371

Aran Radiant Dawn

499 (−149)

CYL 3 (2019)

391

Aran Radiant Dawn

427 (−72)

CYL 4 (2020)

397 (−18)

Aran Radiant Dawn

315 (−112)

CYL 5 (2021)

312 (−85)

Aran Radiant Dawn

285 (−30)

CYL 6 (2022)

299 (−15)

Aran Radiant Dawn

320

CYL 7 (2023)

253 (−46)

Aran Radiant Dawn

247 (−73)

CYL 8 (2024)

280

Aran Radiant Dawn

222 (−25)

CYL 9 (2025)

213 (−67)

Aran Radiant Dawn

260 (+38)

CYL 10 (2026)

170 (−43)

Aran Radiant Dawn

217 (−43)

Total results		This character has 10 entries across all Choose Your Legends polls.	3,440

Trivia

• Aran is the only playable character to lack a unique character model; his models as a Soldier and Halberdier are the same as those used by the generic units in the game while his model as a Sentinel is identical to Levail's.
• According to Tellius Recollection, Aran was designed with an apparent age of 22.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Aran	A variation of the Hebrew name Aaron. Aran itself means "mountain of strength", which could refer to his high strength growth rate.
Japanese	ブラッド	Officially romanized as Brad.
Spanish	Aran	--
French	Aran	--
German	Aran	--
Italian	Aran	--
Portuguese	Aran	Used in the Choose Your Legends polls in Fire Emblem Heroes.
Traditional Chinese	布拉德	Brad

Gallery

Official artwork

• 
  Artwork of Aran from Radiant Dawn.

Portraits

• 
  Portrait of Aran in Radiant Dawn.

Screenshots

• 
  Aran as a Soldier in Radiant Dawn.
• 
  Aran as a Halberdier in Radiant Dawn.
• 
  Aran as a Sentinel in Radiant Dawn.

Cipher artwork

• 
  Artwork of Aran.
• 
  Artwork of Aran with Laura.
• 
  Artwork of Aran.
• 
  Artwork of Aran.

References

This article is part of Project Characters, a project focused on writing articles for every character present in the Fire Emblem series.