Fire Emblem Heroes popularity contest names its rightful victor

Fire Emblem Heroes’ recent Voting Gauntlet event was a veiled popularity contest, asking players to throw support behind one of six beloved men and women from the series in a worldwide test of strength. The results of the weeklong campaign are now in, and Fire Emblem: Awakening’s Lucina has emerged victorious.

What makes this achievement notable is that the Voting Gauntlet wasn’t just a simple “vote for your favorites”-type event, like the one Nintendo had pre-launch. Instead, Fire Emblem Heroes players actually had to fight in their chosen hero’s honor, winning three-on-three battles against other users across the world. Doing so would give them the chance to throw added weight behind their mascot.

Lucina’s fanbase was the biggest, giving her some extra heft in the arena. Still, her supporters are both ardent and skillful, winning enough matches to carry her to victory.

As a reward, anyone who pledged their support to Lucina will get a number of Hero Feathers for their trouble. The coveted items are used for increasing the stats of a player’s arsenal, which should bode well for any future Voting Gauntlet.

Nintendo will also give away five Orbs, Heroes’ in-game currency, as a special Twitter campaign to celebrate Lucina’s win. Pending the tweet below’s 50,000th retweet, all players will receive the bonus orbs sometime after March 14.

To big fans of the series, Lucina’s popularity shouldn’t come as a surprise. The talented swordswoman has long been one of the most popular characters in the Fire Emblem universe. She won a place in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS in 2014, following the success of Fire Emblem: Awakening. Her companion amiibo was regularly out-of-stock as well, although a “vintage” reprint last October replenished supply.