This article was originally published: june 15th, 2007 .

Nino is one of the most interesting characters in blazing sword…not only is she one of those above average types, but she’s also got a great personallity.shes also one of those unfortunate types that pop up so often in fire emblem. im sure you know the type, just think of your favorite characters .   when Nino first comes she dosnt seem sad…but that’s only because she’s under the false impression that she has a loving mother and father…Brendan Reed and Sonia. Well, im not sure about the father, but I know the mother dosnt fit that description very well.

Sonia is often referring to nino as things such as garbage or useless (look whose talking :p ) behind her back .The reason being-besides the fact that Sonia hates everyone and everything (save perhaps Nergal)-is that Sonia isn’t Ninos real mother. Likewise Brendan Reed isn’t Ninos real father either.

Years before the time blazing sword takes place, Sonia was sent to Ninos real family with a clear mission…she was to destroy the entire household. Sonia says she dressed in rags and held a child in her arms and the family opened their doors for her…in other words she tricked them into letting their guard down (I dont have any idea who the child was though…perhaps Nino?).she says,or boasts,that she destroyed the members of the family one after the other…and all that remained was Nino.Sonia would have destroyed her as well, if it wern’t for Nergal actually being a smart character! he said that he could sense great potential in Nino,and that it would be wise to train her to work for him.Nergal could have been talking about the magical essence that Lute and Callil are always taking about. so anyways,Sonia got a daughter! a daughter she obviously didn’t want…I almost laugh every time I hear her say how much she hated the idea ^_^ .

much time after the family was destroyed-and much to Sonia’s dismay-Nergal infiltrates the black fang by making Sonia become Brendan reeds wife (it just keeps getting better =’D ) . as a result Nino,Sonias “daughter” , becomes Brendan Reeds daughter as well.why did Brendan Reed marry Sonia in the first place? either 1) he was desperate for a wife (really desperate), or 2) he was afraid of what Sonia’s power could do. Either way he never trusted Sonia as he had his people do a background check on her.thats when he found out about Ninos family. he received a pendent from one of the houses servants and was told to give it to Nino.

now heres the strange thing…why did Nergal have Sonia destroy Ninos family? surely it wasn’t all for Nino.Sonia says that Nergal found her…she dosnt say he was looking for her.and it couldn’t have been a blackfang assignment either.it would have fit perfectly in the plot if that were the case, since the blackfang was supposed to be targeting anyone they were hired to eliminate,even nobles. It could have been possible that Nino came from a very noble family and became a target.however,the assassination of Ninos family happened years before Sonia joined the blackfang,thus making it impossible for it to have been a blackfang assassination. so then who could Ninos family have been that they were so high on Nergals priority list?

Ninos father was named Juge, and her mother was named Iris.Nino also had twin bothers, however she only says one of their names, which is Kai.why she never says the name of her other brother im not sure.Ninos family certainly wasn’t poor…it sounds to me that they could have had servants to spare. though there is no proof, its just the impression I get when Jan says that Brendan Reed got to talk to “one” of the households servants.its very possible that Ninos family were nobles of sorts.but why would Nergal simply target nobles? well,this gives a hint why:

“Canas: But…this Iris… How interesting…
  Nino:   How so?
  Canas:  Well, my wife had a sister named Iris. Unfortunately, I heard that she
        had died...”

this appears to show that Ninos family had some blood connection to canas’ wife! or at any rate canas’ wife’s family.regardless,canas’ wife was a still a sage, and a good one at that (she is mentioned in sword of seals).so needles to say her sister would have also had great magical abilities just like her.now remember that magical essence thing I mentioned earlier? what it is is that anyone can use magic, however only some can exell at it. those that can are the ones with a magical essence…or something.anyways,its possible that Iris’s family all possessed such a quality. that being the case,Nergal could have targeted Ninos family with the intent on harvesting their quintessence…it would make plenty of sense since nils says that stronger people have far more quintessence than average people. it would also explain why Sonia couldn’t just kill the family out right, she needed to trick them because she wasn’t strong enough to beat them all.

who ninos family really were, or what they were really like will never be known for sure…its one of those things that will never be answered for sure.regardless-based on Nino-you can kind of guess what they would have been like.

by Saint Of Swords.