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. Although 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 edgehog 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 and descends with the final hit canceling the spike. Also, this move can be used as an effective edgeguard. Stand on the edge facing away from the platform and perform Aether. Instead of falling off the stage to his death, he turns around and grabs the edge, sending the opponent downwards quickly, often to their death, as few characters have a good enough recovery. However, due to being unable to grab the edge until descending it can be easily edge-hogged. Aether is also a great follow-up 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 Quark Mines in the Subspace Emissary.

Although this move is functionally similar to Kirby's Final Cutter, it does not give off a shock wave upon landing, even though Ragnell is capable of doing so in the Fire Emblem games. However, it still makes sense, because the move Aether could only be activated at close range in Fire Emblem.

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 halves/ignores (in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, respectively) the enemy's Defense score. However, neither effect is applied in Brawl. Additionally, in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, there is a secondary, rising slash after Ike lands his descending blow which is omitted in Brawl.

Trivia

• Aether originally was the personification of the "upper sky", space and heaven, in Greek mythology.
• When Ike's size is changed, Aether will go higher (smaller) or lower (giant) than he throws Ragnell. This gives Aether the same height for any size.
• Ike uses Aether in The Subspace Emissary to prevent the Ancient Minister from dropping a Subspace Bomb. Oddly enough, Ike shouts "Great Aether" as he attacks, although he is clearly not using said Final Smash.
• Despite its lack of power in Brawl, in the Fire Emblem games Aether was actually a very strong atttack.
• In the Metroid series, there is a planet that Samus flies to in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

Notes

• The beginning part of Ike's Aether (when the sword is out of his hand) gives him super armor until Ike retrieves his sword. As such, it is possible to avoid some of the most devastating Final Smashes, as well as him being trapped in freeze frames when his sword strikes a Smart Bomb.
• If Ike uses Aether six times without landing on a platform (i.e. by grabbing an edge after each Aether), he will not be able to grab an edge on the sixth use, and he will simply fall to his death if there are no platforms beneath him. This is to prevent Ike from stalling on an edge, and is important to know when using any technique involving Aether for Cruel Brawl.