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Gotoh
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| “ | I washed my hands of humankind and their foolish ways long ago. But you and your companions have convinced me that was a rash decision. | ” | — Gotoh, to Marth |
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Gotoh (Japanese: ガトー Gato) is the legendary White Sage who assists Marth in his quests.
Biography
Ancient Archanea
Gotoh was a member of the once great Naga clan during the golden age for dragons.[1] When that great era was threatened by degeneration, various dragons sealed their dragon forms into a dragonstone and took on a human form to preserve their sanity, Gotoh included. Meanwhile, the dragons who refused to become human lost their way and brought destruction upon the then smaller human society in Archanea.[2][3] Gotoh and his fellow divine dragons fought under their king, Naga, to fend off the wild dragons in what would be known as the Battle of the Guardian Deity Naga. The divine dragons won,[4] with the cost of them nearly going extinct; Gotoh was one of the few survivors of Naga's clan. After the war, Gotoh had discarded his dragonstone, so he may never take on his dragon form again.[5]
Humanity's ascension and the War of Liberation
Gotoh went on a search for the Binding Shield, which was displayed at the Fane of Raman, before a thief infiltrated the fane and ran off with it.[6] In Gotoh's search for the shield, he only ever came across the five spheres once encrusted upon and placed them back in the fane.[7]
One-thousand, two-hundred and thirty-three years after the Guardian God Naga's War, the War of Liberation had broken out across Archanea; now more human-developed.[8] It was waged by the Shadow Dragon, Medeus, he lead the manaketes of Dolhr and attacked the Holy Kingdom of Archanea.[9] To help humanity, Gotoh appeared before the mere provincial city of Altea; which was currently threatened by Medeus. Once there, he tells the citizens of Altea of a sword blessed by God: the divine blade Falchion. It is a weapon that was capable of destroying the Shadow Dragon. He proposed that someone travel the great and traitorous journey through the Land of God to reach the Ice Dragon Temple and receive it.[10] Anri treads the path and arrived at the temple;[11] Gotoh met with Anri there and gifted him the divine blade Falchion.[12]
Founding of Khadein

Supposedly after the War of Liberation, Gotoh began to introduce magic—powerful technology of the dragons—to the human world of Archanea. He convinced humans that magic harnessed the power of the ancient deities that humanity once greatly worshipped in Archanea to ease them into the dangerous concept. Gotoh also limited notably more dangerous spells such as Excalibur or Hammerne even more by placing a contract system on them: making it so an agreement between others is required for inheritance. This uprising of the ancient deities went noticed by the current King of the Archanea, who in response had an academy built at the Palace capital—known as the Palace Magic Palace—and approached Gotoh, wishing for him to lead the academy. However, Gotoh had refused the offer; so instead, the King sent multiple noble children to train in clergy at the Khadein College Arcane,[13] an academy of magic Gotoh established in year 550 of the Archanean Calendar.[8][14]
Under Gotoh's tutelage at Khadein, his best students were Miloah and Gharnef. Gotoh later on was looking for one to succeed him as Khadein's archmage. With Gharnef's antipathy troubling him, Gotoh ultimately chose for Miloah to succeed him as Khadein's archmage and gifted him the Aura tome.[15] However, this action did not go as planned: Gharenf stole Gotoh's Darksphere and forged the forbidden tome Imhullu out of anger and stormed off,[16][17] while Miloah did not take on Gotoh's position and returned to Archanea where he led the Palace Magic Palace academy instead.[18][19] Likely because of the actions of his two great disciples, and with magic now also being traded and used for warring, Gotoh had found himself disappointed in humanity; vowing to let the world proceed without him.
Presumably before Gotoh's departure from Khadein, he had also trained Elice to become a cleric[20] and provided her the Aum staff.[21][a]
War of Shadows
For a majority of the War of Shadows, Gotoh had followed through on his separation from the human realm. That was until Marth's failed quest at Khadein to retrieve Falchion from Gharnef. Gotoh appeared before Marth as an illusion, and tasked Marth to head to the Fane of Raman to obtain the Starsphere and Lightsphere so that he could forge the tome Starlight to pierce imhullu's dark veil on Gharnef.[22]
After Marth obtained the two spheres, Gotoh tasked Marth to visit him at a village he had been residing at Macedon, also telling him that Gharnef is holding his sister at the Tower of Thabes, Elice,[23] and that he's been protecting her from Gharnef with his power but is approaching his limit.[24][b] Before meeting with Marth, Michalis approached Gotoh's village and warns him of the coming battle; Gotoh tries to convince Michalis into seeing the error of his ways for siding with Gharnef, but Michalis was ultimately not swayed and leaves.[25] After that episode, Marth approached Gotoh's village and hands over the two spheres; Gotoh then created the Starlight tome and gave it to Marth,[c] two then sending him away to the Tower of Thabes upon him seizing the Macedon Aerie with his warp magic.[26]
Upon thwarting Gharnef and rescuing Elice, Gotoh and Marth head for Dolhr Keep to vanquish Medeus and end the war. Inside the Keep, Gotoh meets with Marth, telling him about how he once vowed to abandon humanity for their foolish ways and let the move move without his interference, but with the efforts of Marth and his allies, his hope in humanity was reignited,[27] and he joins in Marth's fight to aid him in defeating those who served Medeus in the final battle of the war.[28][d]
After the war ended, Gotoh sent Tiki, who was one of Marth's allies during the war, back to her slumber at the Ice Dragon Temple.[29][30]
War of Heroes
After the creation of the Starlight tome, the Starsphere shattered into twelve pieces called the Astral Shards.[31] Concerned for the world's well-being,[32] he commissioned for Wendell, Khadein's recently appointed archmage, to set out on a journey to throughout the world collect the shards and aid him in repairing the Starsphere.[33] Eventually, this holy mission was brought to Marth's attention, and soon Marth would seek Gotoh out at Khadein Temple.[34] Gotoh appeared and told Marth about the five sacred spheres and the toll that the Darksphere had on Hardin: changing him and enhancing his negative emotions. He sends Marth on a mission through Anri's Way meet him at the Ice Dragon Temple to receive the Lightsphere that can counter the Darksphere and possibly save Hardin, should heart not be complete corrupted and his will be strong enough.[35]
Marth succeeded passing Anri's Way and approached Gotoh at the temple. As promised, Marth is given the Lightsphere and Starsphere from Gotoh.[36][e] There, he also tells Marth the truth of the Fire Emblem, that of which he had recently realized the truth as well: he reveals it to be the Binding Shield of legend, telling Marth that it was stolen by Archanea's First King from the Fane of Raman, making the shield a symbol of House Archanea and selling the five spheres to fund an army for the holy war.[37][f] With the shield broken, the earth dragons buried under Macedon were soon to rise once again after six-hundred years. Gotoh now tasks Marth with restoring the Binding Shield to put a stop to the world going to ruin; entrusting Marth with Tiki to save her from ruin as well.[38]
Gotoh sends Marth back to Altea, while he investigates the revival of Gharnef.[39] He meets with Marth again after Marth reclaimed Altea from Archanea, telling him that Elice was kidnapped by Gharnef. His investigation taught him that Gharnef was sending his dark bishops to collect women of noble blood. He bets Gharnef's next target was Nyna at the Millennium Court;[40] which was proven as Nyna was no longer at the Palace when Marth got there.[41] After Marth seized the Palace and restored the Binding Shield, Gotoh sends his army to the Dragon Altar to put a stop to the earth dragons' awakening.[42] There he had an epiphany, finally realizing the role Gharnef has for the noble clerics: to sacrifice them for Medeus to ascend in the form of a Shadow Dragon. Upon this realization, he stresses for Marth to make haste for the altar's pinnacle to save the clerics.[43]
Gotoh's last known appearance has him congratulating Marth in saving humanity and the dragonkin after Medeus' final demise.[44] If Marth's fiancée, Caeda, were to pass on during the War of Heroes, Gotoh then expresses sympathy for Marth and his grave loss.[45]
Legacy
Gotoh is commonly given the title of "White Sage" (Japanese: 大賢者 Great Sage).[g] He is also commonly viewed as a deity of sorts to humanity according to Wendell.[46][47] Some also speculate that Gotoh has lived for hundreds of years with the idea that Khadein's founding occurred before year 550.[48]
In Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and Shadow Dragon, Gotoh's character ending which states Nyna appointed him as Archanea's archmage where many approached him for his great teachings. The timing of this new position is not specified, nor brought up during the War of Heroes, making it possible this refers to after said war.[49]
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light
Role
Gotoh first appears to Marth after his failed quest to retrieve Falchion from Gharnef, revealing Gharnef's weakness to Marth and telling him how to obtain it. Later on, Gotoh tells Marth his location and asks him to bring Starlight's ingredients to him. If Marth can bring Starlight's ingredients to Gotoh, he will assemble Starlight; however, if he does not have both, Gotoh will recommend Marth to use powerful weapons such as the Mercurius Rapier, Gradivus, or the Devil Axe to kill Medeus. Gotoh will eventually transport Marth to where Gharnef lies, and ultimately join Marth's side for the final battle against Medeus.
Starting stats and growth rates
| Level | 18 |
|---|---|
| Movement | 6 |
| Experience | 0 |
Analysis
| This character analysis section may not be accurate to every player's experience. |
Gotoh is an excellent pre-promoted bishop, with a solid inventory of tomes, a high enough weapon level to use every tome and staff in the game, and amazing stats in many important categories, namely skill, speed, and defense; he is also the only unit with a non-zero resistance stat. Unfortunately, you don't get the opportunity to take advantage of this for most of the game, as Gotoh doesn't become playable until the final chapter of the game; since he is automatically deployed in Chapter 25, you might as well take advantage of him once you have him.
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

Part One
Role
As in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Gotoh first appears to Marth after his failed quest to retrieve Falchion from Gharnef, revealing Gharnef's weakness to Marth and telling him how to obtain it. If Marth can bring Starlight's ingredients to Gotoh, he will assemble Starlight; Gotoh will eventually transport Marth to where Gharnef lies. Unlike in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Gotoh will not join Marth's party as a playable character.
Part Two
Role
Gotoh first appears to Marth in Khadein to tell him about Hardin's sudden change, revealing the cause and how to overcome it; he then tells Marth to visit him at the Ice Dragon Shrine. Once Marth makes it there, Gotoh asks Marth to hand over all of the Star Shards the party has collected. If all twelve Star Shards have been successfully collected, he will restore them into the Starsphere and tasks Marth into restoring the Binding Shield, allowing him access to Tiki in the process; if even one Star Shard is lost, Gotoh will take the shards the party has but not allow access to Tiki. Gotoh then warps the party away to Altea soon afterward, later warning Marth of Gharnef's return as well as his plan for the kidnapped clerics.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Role
As in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Gotoh first appears to Marth after his failed quest to retrieve Falchion from Gharnef, revealing Gharnef's weakness to Marth and telling him how to obtain it. Later on, Gotoh tells Marth his location and asks him to bring Starlight's ingredients to him. If Marth can bring Starlight's ingredients to Gotoh, he will assemble Starlight; however, if he does not have both, Gotoh will recommend Marth to use powerful weapons such as Mercurius or Gradivus to kill Medeus. Gotoh will eventually transport Marth to where Gharnef lies. Should the player have kept either Tiki or Falchion intact, Gotoh will ultimately join Marth's side for the final battle against Medeus as in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light; should the player have lost both Tiki and Falchion, Gotoh will instead send Marth's party to an intermediate destination to acquire alternate means of taking on Medeus and will not join Marth's side for the final battle.
Starting stats and growth rates
Growth rates when reclassed
Gotoh joins the party at the start of Turn 1 in the Endgame, after the conclusion of the preparations phase. Thus, the only time Gotoh can make use of reclassing is in the multiplayer mode, using a cleared file, and thus too late to level up and make use of any alternate growth rates; however, he does indeed still have growth rates for his alternate classes, and thus has these as his unused alternate growth rates.
Paladin Dracoknight Sniper Swordmaster
| Class | HP | Str | Mag | Skill | Spd | Lck | Def | Res |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paladin | 80% | 15% | 0% | 55% | 50% | 80% | 15% | 5% |
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem

Role
Gotoh first appears to Marth in Khadein to tell him about Hardin's sudden change, revealing the cause and how to overcome it; he then tells Marth to visit him at the Ice Dragon Shrine. Once Marth makes it there, Gotoh asks Marth to hand over all of the Star Shards the party has collected. If all twelve Star Shards have been successfully collected, he will restore them into the Starsphere and tasks Marth into restoring the Binding Shield, allowing him access to Tiki in the process; if even one Star Shard is lost, Gotoh will take the shards the party has but not allow access to Tiki. Gotoh then warps the party away to Altea soon afterward, later warning Marth of Gharnef's return as well as his plan for the kidnapped clerics.
Although Gotoh retains his NPC role, unused assets indicate he may have been intended to be playable at one point in development.
Fire Emblem Heroes
- Main article:
Gotoh/Heroes
There are two different variations of Gotoh available in Heroes.
Personality
This section has been marked as a stub. Please help improve the page by adding information.
Supports
Shadow Dragon
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Endings
Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light
Gotoh
At Nyna's request, he becomes the archbishop of Archanea. The people line up to hear his words.
Shadow Dragon
Gotoh, White Sage
At Nyna's request, Gotoh became archmage of Archanea. The world never knew a better teacher.
Quotes
Death quotes
| “ | The end...was so close... | ” | — Gotoh, in Shadow Dragon. |
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| “ | To think... I would fall here... | ” | — Unused quote intended to be Gotoh's death quote in Classic Mode of New Mystery of the Emblem. |
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| “ | To think I'd be cornered like this... My sincerest apologies, but I must withdraw... | ” | — Unused quote intended to be Gotoh's retreat quote in Casual Mode of New Mystery of the Emblem. |
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Heroes quotes
- Main article:
Gotoh/Quotes (Heroes)
Other appearances
Fire Emblem Cipher
Gotoh is featured on one card in Fire Emblem Cipher.
| Fire Emblem Cipher data for Gotoh | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Sage, Gotoh | |||||
| "The gods have chosen you, Marth, prince of light. Go now, and win back a future for us all." | |||||
| Attack: 60 | Support: 20 | Range: 1-2 | Deploy Cost: 5 | ||
| Class: Sage | Tier: Advanced | Class Change Cost: 4 | |||
| Legendary Archsage: [Always] If your opponent's lord's deployment cost is 5 or higher, this unit gains +20 attack, and cannot be destroyed as the cost or effect of a skill. Powerful Warp Magic: [Activate] [Once per turn] [ | |||||
| Card #B13-081HN • Artist: Ippei Soeda | |||||
| Some card information translation provided by Serenes Forest. For more detailed strategic information on these cards, see their TCG wiki article on Gotoh . | |||||
Flavor text
| Game | Text (English) |
Text (Japanese) |
|---|---|---|
| New Mystery of the Emblem | The White Sage who governs all magic of Archanea.
Lent his aid to Marth in several ways during the War of Shadows. |
白き大賢者。アカネイアの魔道を司る。
暗黒戦争では、多岐に渡りマルスの戦いを支援した。 |
Trivia
- Gotoh is the only character from Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light who was cut from a playable role in Part One of Mystery of the Emblem to still appear in that book as an NPC character.
- In Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, Gotoh has unused death and retreat quotes. Due to Gotoh not being a playable character in the game, these quotes cannot be seen during normal gameplay.[50]
- In TearRing Saga: Yutona Heroes War Chronicles, there is a backstory character named Morse who is very similar to Gotoh.
- Being playable for only one chapter, Gotoh has the worst availability in the Archanea series and ties with Athos and Lehran for the worst availability in the franchise, if one does not count the first and second parts of The Blazing Blade's final chapter as separate chapters.
- Whilse Gotoh refers to Naga as the "Divine Dragon King" (神竜王) in the Japanese version of Fire Emblem Heroes, the English version translates this term as simply "Divine Dragon". This makes little sense for Gotoh to use as a title for Naga, as he himself is also a divine dragon.
Etymology and other languages
| Names, etymology, and in other regions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Language | Name | Definition, etymology, and notes |
| English |
Gotoh |
|
| Japanese |
ガトー |
Officially romanized as Gato. Likely from the Spanish word gato, meaning cat. Could also be derived from Cato, a Latin name meaning intelligent. Possibly named after Cato the Elder, a Roman statesman known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization, fearing it would damage the Romans' simplistic way of life. |
| Spanish |
Gotoh |
-- |
| French |
Gotoh |
-- |
| German |
Gotoh |
-- |
| Italian |
Gotoh |
-- |
| Portuguese |
Gotoh |
-- |
| Traditional Chinese |
迦圖 |
Gato |
Gallery
| Sprite Gallery | |||
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Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light
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| Mystery of the Emblem
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Shadow Dragon
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New Mystery of the Emblem
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Official artwork
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Artwork of Gotoh and Marth from APE's Mystery of the Emblem guide.
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Artwork of Gotoh from the Trading Card Game.
CG images
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CG image of Gotoh and Tiki in Mystery of the Emblem.
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CG image of Gotoh in New Mystery of the Emblem.
Heroes artwork
Character artwork
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Artwork of Gotoh: White Sage.
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Artwork of Gotoh: White Sage.
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Artwork of Gotoh: White Sage.
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Artwork of Gotoh: White Sage.
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Artwork of Gotoh: Apostle of Naga.
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Artwork of Gotoh: Apostle of Naga.
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Artwork of Gotoh: Apostle of Naga.
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Artwork of Gotoh: Apostle of Naga.
Meet some of the Heroes artwork
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Artwork of Gotoh: White Sage.
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Artwork of Gotoh: White Sage.
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Artwork of Gotoh: White Sage.
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Artwork of Gotoh: White Sage.
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Artwork of Gotoh: Apostle of Naga.
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Artwork of Gotoh: Apostle of Naga.
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Artwork of Gotoh: Apostle of Naga.
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Artwork of Gotoh: Apostle of Naga.
Other artwork
Cipher artwork
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Artwork of Gotoh.
Notes
References
| This article is part of Project Characters, a project focused on writing articles for every character present in the Fire Emblem series. |
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