Decoy

“	Sometimes victory on a battlefield requires that someone you care about make a sacrifice. But parting with one comrade may be the only way to meet another. You need to accept your losses in life and move forward.	”	— A villager in the Prologue of Shadow Dragon

Malledus describing the decoy feature with the tile highlighted.

The decoy is a gameplay feature unique to Prologue IV of Shadow Dragon. It is used as a means to progress the story and force the player to essentially kill-off a unit before the start of the main story.

Overview

If the player spares Gordin and recruits him, Gra's main force appears, which makes Malledus suggest to Marth that one of his soldiers should be placed at the fortress terrain at the south of the map to distract the enemy which then allows the player to select a unit as the decoy. If the player kills Gordin as an enemy unit, all subsequent events pertaining to his recruitment will not occur. The chapter itself cannot progress unless either set of conditions are met, even if the player somehow manages to defeat all of the main force.

The unit who is selected as a decoy will disappear from the game entirely after the chapter ends and is even impossible to be revived by the staff of Aum.

Analysis

At this point in the game, the player has five potential candidates to be the decoy: Abel, Frey, Jagen, Cain, and Gordin. Since this event is exclusive to the game's Normal Mode, a need to utilize specific aspects of these units may vary and/or be less crucial compared to higher difficulties, and could easily come down to player preferences. Lances are quite useful, mainly the Ridersbane and its effectiveness against cavalry enemies of which are numerous throughout the game. Abel and Frey are one weapon level away from wielding one at D, while Jagen can wield one immediately. Cain has the lowest possible Lance weapon level when he joins, instead having D in Swords: one rank away from the Armorslayer. Armored enemy units are also common, though due to aspects like the weapon triangle disadvantage and less weapon might, it is less impactful than the Ridersbane. Gordin has a D in Bows, which lets him do decent chip damage with a Steel Bow early on.

Trivia

• It is possible to bypass the decoy even if Gordin is recruited. If all of the player's units are killed—except for Marth—prior the end of enemy phase after Gordin is recruited, Gra's main force will still appear as does the decoy option, but Captain will also open the northern door afterwards giving the player the means to beat the chapter.
• When playing the Prologue IV chapter, "Sire, allow me." is what all decoy candidates will say after the decoy command is selected. This is not the case in the Event Recap, which gives all of them unique lines.
• In the narrative of New Mystery of the Emblem, Frey is described to have taken the role of the decoy.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Decoy

Gallery

• 
  Lord map sprite used for the decoy unit.