Excellus is a major antagonist in Fire Emblem: Awakening and arguably the driving force of the Valm Arc. Excellus is the tactician of Walhart, but is secretly a spy working for the Grimleal and Validar to buy time for Grima's revival.
Excellus is voiced by Shinobu Matsumoto in the Japanese version, and by Spike Spencer in the English version.
Contents
Biography
As revealed in supports, Excellus is a believer of the Grimleal religion and like the other followers of the vile religion, is a fanatic willingly to do anything to further their master's return. Upon hearing of Walhart, a conqueror in the neighboring continent of Valm, plan to invade Ylisse and eventually Plegia, so he could destroy the Grimleal.
Worried about their plans to resurrect Grima being disrupted, Excellus was dispatched by the Grimleal to act as their spy. The clever and greedy Excellus also made a deal with Validar, through his personal slave, Aversa, where Excellus would get the throne of Plegia if they obtained the Fire Emblem first. Excellus managed to become Walhart's tactician, though the conqueror never fully trusted his new tactician. Excellus managed to subtly manipulate Walhart into believing he needed to first obtain the Fire Emblem from the Kingdom of Ylisse before he could unite the world into invading Plegia and destroying the Grimleal.
As Walhart's tactician, Excellus blackmailed many innocent people into enrolling in Walhart's Valmese army by threatening their loved ones, including Yen'fay of Chon'sin. These tactics made Excellus reviled by the more honorable generals in Walhart's army such as Pheros, who refused to accept help from Excellus. After Yen'fay's death, Excellus mocked his sister with the truth.
However the tide started to turn against Excellus, as Yen'fay soldiers eventually rebelled and joined with Chrom, no longer having a reason to obey Excellus now that their master was dead. Trying to flee, Walhart stops Excellus and reveals he has found out about Excellus' acts of betrayal. Forced to fight for Walhart, Excellus engages Chrom's army in battle and is slain. However, though Excellus was dead, their mission to buy time for Grima's resurrection had succeeded, paving the way for the third and final story arc.
Other Media
Tokyo Mirage Sessions
Excellus appears in Tokyo Mirage Sessions as a mirage that possess famous director, Kuen Tarachino. Excellus' attempts to kill Tsubasa Oribe under the guise of testing her, but is slain instead. Excellus is later revived by Medeus.
Personality
Excellus is extremely untrustworthy as well as cruel, Walhart describes Excellus as fanatically loyal to Grima. Despite Excellus' loyalty, unlike other Grimleal, Excellus strikes a hard bargain as they made a bet with Validar for the throne of Plegia.
Though sharp and cunning, Excellus was not as smart as they thought, as shown by Walhart ultimately figuring out their manipulation of him.
In Japanese, Excellus uses female pronouns and other speech used by women. This is also adapted to Tokyo Mirage Sessions, where Excellus' Mirage counterparts has prominent breasts. However in the English version, Excellus identifies as male, though is noticeably effeminate and is implied to be a Eunuch.
Trivia
- Walhart says if he had met Robin instead of Excellus, his campaign to destroy the Grimleal would've succeeded.
- Excellus is the second highest ranked member of the Grimleal after Validar.