The Jagen archetype. He’s the strong invincible juggernaut you rely on in a pinch, but avoid using if you don’t want EXP wasted on him that could benefit units with more room to grow before the Jagen falls off. Some Jagens are too strong, and can solo their whole game. Some Jagens are too weak, and might as well not be there. Some Jagens ruin the hard mode experience by making Fire Emblem into Jagen Emblem.
What are Jagens beyond their ability to kill, and what are they when that falls off or when that’s not something you want them to do? The best Jagens offer party utility outside of their capacity to kill. A rescuer. Perhaps even a healer, flier, or flying healer. Maybe they offer repositioning utility, like a shove skill. An unarmed wall of high HP and DEF can be useful in a few situations, but Jagens are boring when that’s all they’re good for besides slaughtering enemies and ferrying units around. Some units can be useful for reducing enemy HP without killing them, so you can feed HP to your other units. But how good are Jagens at that, when so many of them OHKO all enemies until they start facing foes able to survive one Jagen attack and double Jagens to death?
Here’s an interesting idea… What if there was a Jagen archetype unit who, due to his or her personal skill “Pacifist”, cannot kill? His personal skill procs an aura that gives enemies Miracle++, a skill that ensures they always survive at 1HP, solely for the duration of fights involving him. In combat, he could be the wall that defends your allies, the possibly-flying mount rider who ferries them around and rescues them from dire situations, and maybe even a healer and high-ranked Staff user or proud owner of a useful spell list. But he could not solo enemies at any point, because he cannot kill, and he must rely on his allies for this. There could be a backstory justification like “I’ve killed too many. I’ll never kill again” or “I’ve found religion. The Goddess wouldn’t want me to kill” or just a personality justification like “I’m not the killing type”.
I plan on giving my upcoming Fire Emblem game a Jagen like this who cannot kill and must provide party utility in other ways. I’m not talking about Emblem Wars: Full Frontal Assault, I mean the one I’m making after that with actual characters besides Eirika and Evil Eirika Clone.