Aether

The beginning of the move, in which Ike throws the sword upwards.

Aether is Ike's Up B attack in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He first throws his sword in the air. During this time, he can take damage, but cannot flinch. After the sword hits the apex of its trajectory, he jumps up, catches it, and comes hurtling towards the ground. It appears functionally similar to Kirby's Up B move, the Final Cutter. While it gains very little horizontal distance, it is a decent recovery move, for as Ike's sword reaches the top before Ike, it can hit anyone attempting to edge hog and give Ike an opening so he can leap up and grab a ledge. If the attack is initiated in close range, it hits the opponent upwards and sucks them into a multi-hit combo in midair, which finishes with a spike when Ike swings the sword down. Also, this move can make edge hogging very easy. Stand at the edge facing the edge and perform Aether. Instead of falling off the stage to his death, he turns around and grabs the edge. Aether is also a great followup to his down throw, and can be used as an impromptu projectile to hit enemies through solid platforms, interrupt enemies' aerial attacks, or set off bomb-traps in the Subspace Emissary. However, when using the Up Special, keep in mind that he does'nt fall off the stage, as this can be a suicide if he does'nt grab the edge.

Although this move is functionally similar to Kirby's Final Cutter, it does not give off a shockwave upon landing, even though Ragnell is capable of doing so in the Fire Emblem games. Ike's thrown sword is the closest thing that Ike has to a short-moderate range projectile, except that Ike will jump up to where the sword is.

Origin

Aether is a move specific to Ike in the Fire Emblem games. In both games Ike appears in, it involves throwing his sword upward, jumping, catching it and coming down with a spinning cut that heals Ike equal to the damage inflicted, and a second rising strike is performed as Ike puts space between himself and his opponent. This second strike ignores the enemies Defense score. However, neither effect is applied to Brawl. Additionally, in Ike's own games, Aether in fact starts off dashing towards the enemy instead of starting off aerially - but does entail the process of tossing up his sword, etc.

Trivia

• The game Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, one of Samus Aran's games, takes place on the planet Aether. This is probably a coincidence; however, as Nintendo often has its characters make cameos in other games, there's a small chance it's reference from Fire Emblem to Metroid (Metroid Prime 2 was released about a year before Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, in which Ike was introduced).

Notes

• The beginning part of Ike's Aether (when the sword is out of his hand), gives him super armor. As such, it is possible to avoid some of the most devastating Final Smashes as well as him not moving for a while when his sword strikes a Smart Bomb.