Fire Emblem is known far and wide for its wonderful and unique characters, and Engage is certainly no exception. Some leave more of an impression, but the anime style of character design means that multiple units are unfortunately samey.
Engage definitely has several interesting and enjoyable characters, but many of them lack the nuance and depth we're used to from the series. With that in mind, the expansive cast present in Fire Emblem Engage should be more than enough to satisfy you as you recruit and meet more of them.
Warning: There are some minor story spoilers discussed in this list.
9 Anna
All of you Fire Emblem fans will know Anna, and it's great to see her back in Engage in a more meaningful capacity. Anna has always been a cutthroat merchant, and we've loved seeing her different iterations over the years. However, this version of Anna is a contender for the best of the entire series.
It's no secret that Anna from Fire Emblem Awakening is peak Anna, but Engage has turned her into an adorable kid this time around. She's still ruthless, and you should never cross her, but mostly Anna is hilariously cute now. She's small enough to hide in a treasure chest and strong enough to wield a gigantic axe.
8 Kagetsu
Kagetsu could almost be the resident edgelord of Engage, but he's too dang cheerful. You meet him as part of the story as a Swordmaster class pretty early on in the game, and he can throw down make no mistake.
He's armed with the Wo Dao, meaning he's going to crit you when he gets close enough. He's got a joyful personality and considering who he's a retainer for it's suitable for his character. Think Lon'qu, but if he could talk to girls and smile more.
7 Merrin
She rides on a wolf. What could be more awesome than that? Merrin is one of the cooler characters in the entire game. She might have some sort of Furry fetish, considering the fake wolf's tail attached to her, but otherwise, she's a tough customer and a strong unit overall.
Merrin's personality is very knightly, which means she's interested in keeping strong but also maintaining a stylish and neat appearance. It wouldn't be Fire Emblem if she didn't have a unique quirk, and Merrin sure does love animals, but she especially loves rare and shiny little creatures.
6 Yunaka
Yunaka is the first thief we come across, and as such serves that as an introduction to what they can do. She's got the style, the sass, a cool cape, and she's sometimes slightly menacing and excited about murder.
Her support conversation reveals a more gentle and mischievous side, shown through some of her made-up words and nonsense sentences she spouts out. Not to mention, she's voiced by Laura Post, who you might recognise as Kasumi Yoshizawa in Persona 5 Royal, or on the more obscure side, she also voiced Akari Kawamoto in the anime March Comes in Like a Lion.
5 Seforia
Seforia is the Queen of Solm, the desert area of Engage. She's the mother of Timerra and Fogado, but sadly Seforia is not a playable character. We meet her the first time we enter Solm, and she's immediately one of the more interesting characters.
There's a line of dialogue where she's saying if her kingdom gets destroyed, she'd be totally fine with it because it means she doesn't have to stay put and can wander the land. It's such a great little detail that explains so much about her character and how that's influenced her children.
4 Rosado (Minor Spoiler)
Rosado might look like one of the female units in Fire Emblem Engage, but they do not identify as a girl. Rosado uses he/him pronouns, has a male voice, and simply loves cute things. You get to learn a lot of interesting and detailed tidbits of information about him through support conversations after he joins you.
This isn't the Fire Emblem's first foray into this type of character either. Fire Emblem Fates has Leo's child Forrest explore similar themes, who is a 'he/him' but dresses in a more female way. Both of these examples are a step towards positive representation in Fire Emblem, which has been ignored for a long time.
3 Sommie
Sommie is your base's cute little mascot monster. You can find it in the hidden shrine area at the bottom of the map, where you can feed it various things and pet its cute tiny head for eternity. Sommie has no dialogue, but you can name it yourself and give it your own backstory.
Better yet, you can dress it up with humourous accessories to really make it pop. Sommie is just a fun addition to the homebase, it would be better if it was a little bit closer to everything, otherwise you have to really purposefully go and pay him a visit.
2 Goldmary (Minor Spoilers)
Goldmary has an interesting arc, and we're always a sucker for characters who start on the bad guy's side and eventually join your team. It's one of the better storytelling devices if pulled off well, and we love seeing it happen in Engage.
She gives off strong Beatrix from Final Fantasy 9 vibes, especially when it comes to her arrogance. She also has a lovely and caring relationship with Rosado, and it's great to see the two of them interact through the story and help each other out. Not to mention, she's just an all-round badass and can easily be one of your best units.
1 Lapis
You meet Lapis when you first cross over into Brodia territory. She's one of the retainers to Alcryst, who is the younger prince of the nation. She's strong as heck, funny, and she is a fantastic default design in the Sword Fighter class, to the point where it feels almost criminal to ever change her out of that role.
Her dynamic with Rosado is great to see as well. Their support conversations dive into a lot of great details about the two characters, with both of them learning to love and accept themselves for who they are.