Fire Emblem: Three Houses Gatekeeper wins Choose Your Legends contest in Heroes – Polygon

Every year, Fire Emblem Heroes — the mobile horny casino version of the Nintendo tactics franchise — holds a contest where fans vote on their favorite characters. The winners then get added to the game as special versions with enhanced abilities.

Usually, the victors that emerge from these democratic proceedings are familiar faces that you’d expect. Last year, winners included Dimitri and Edelgard, two of the main stars of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. But in February, the Heroes community voted for sweet, sweet chaos.

Right now, the game is celebrating its 4th anniversary, which brings with it a new event and summons. The news blast announcing all of this also includes the results of the aforementioned contest, which included major characters like Marth, a protagonist in previous games. You’d think he’d be a shoo-in, especially given that he’s also a part of franchises like Super Smash Bros., but no. Marth lost, handily — and to a character that doesn’t even have a name, or a face!

The Gatekeeper, for those who haven’t played Fire Emblem: Three Houses, became a meme within the fandom shortly after release.

While the character can’t be recruited in Three Houses and doesn’t play a major role, he’s always happy to see you. Whenever you speak to the Gatekeeper, he gives you updates and spreads some cheer. Fans were so taken with him that they drew him in fan art and begged Nintendo to make him recruitable.

And now, years later, that love trounced the power of a main character. The Gatekeeper will become a playable character in Fire Emblem Heroes sometime in the summer, though it’s unclear what powers he’ll have and how strong he’ll be. The Gatekeeper will be accompanied by the fair Marianne, who was voted as the most popular female character this year. The male and female runners up also get new playable versions, so poor Marth will still make a showing, alongside Eirika from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

If you haven’t played Fire Emblem Heroes in a while, now might be a good time — there’s a login bonus for the game’s anniversary, along with a number of other new features, like the ability to customize the main character’s appearance.