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Ashnard is the main antagonist in the game Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (for Nintendo Gamecube), and the king of Daein. Ashnard is unique amongst the Villain within the game in that he is racially equalitarian, however, he is devoted to his elitist ideaologies and he believes the strong must rule over the weak, evident in the treatment of his units, and the formation of the four riders (in which they are ranked according to ability). His attitude towards life remains constant throughout, even until his death. Ashnard remains relatively unperturbed in the events preceding his death, despite the warnings of his subordinates.

Character and history
Before the final chapter, (Repatriation) Ashnard confesses to Bryce that he had slaughtered all legitimate heirs to the Daein throne to inherit kingship. This supplements the doubts of a legitimate king, as, beforehand, it is remarked that it would be extremely unlikely for him to gain kingship as a result of the more eligible heirs. Through his reign, Daein has become like a dictatorship and a restless country. He is considerably ruthless and cunning, as he is widely reputed for being an excellent warrior (see battle statistics), tales of single-handed mass slaughter are often reverberated which only enhance his notoriety and perhaps accentuates the fear of him. In Hard mode, if Ashnard is defeated, he will touch Lehran's medallion, suprisingly, instead of becoming totally beserk (as predicted for all "unbalanced" people) his battle statistics grow to make a more difficult unit, he is then becomes "Mad King Ashnard."

Role in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
In the beginning of the game, Ashnard wages war upon Crimea, and subsequently captures the land and slaughters Lord Crimea. Crimea is then placed under Daein rule. Ashnard's main goal is to embroil the whole of Tellius in to war and battle, and ultimatley, chaos.

To achieve this, he has gained control over Nasir, via the capture of his grand daughter, Ena, whom Ashnard has employed as a General, despite her Goldoan heritage. He wishes to use Nasir as a double Gallian-Crimean decoy to discover the whereabouts of Lehran's medallion, and to pilfer it for Ashnard. Ashnard wishes to conjure an ancient spirit within the medallion that sealed a long time ago. Furthermore, he co-ordinates the capture of the two Herons, Leanne and Reyson to achieve his aim of the renewal of the legendrary spirit. Ashnard is fortunate in being gifted the skills of the enigmatic Black Knight, who can utilise his arcane powers to teleport at will (although it drains the Black Knight's powers). The Black Knight then captures Leanne despite the protection and vigil of Tibarn and the Hawks. However, his plans are marred when Ike's mercenaries (and allies) perform an invasion on Daein which spans most of the chapters. Eventually, after the consecutive defeat of the four riders (or three, at the exclusion of Bryce, depending upon the player) Ashnard is eventually defeated by Ike's group with the help of either Giffca, Tibarn or Naesala. It is later revealed that Ashnard's supposed stead, Rajaion, was actually a Goldoan dragon who has befriended Ena. Ashnard fulfills the Archenemy archetype in attempting to summon an incredible being, like Lyon and Nergal.

Battle Stats
HP:60 Strength:35 Magic:16 Speed:27 Skill:27 Luck: 0 Def:35 Res 26

As a base unit, he is roughly on par with the Black Knight, being inferior in skill, yet superior in strength. Ashnard remarks to Petrine how he would like to test his strength against the Black Knight one day. He and the Black Knight seem to have the greatest statistics of any human in the Fire Emblem series. Like the Black Knight, Ashnard's armour is impervious to ordinary weapons.

Trivia

 * Ashnard is accessible in the trial maps if the player completes the game 15 times
 * Ashnard wields the Sword Gurgurant