Aether
Aether(天空 Tenkū, lit. "Sky") is Ike's up special move in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He first throws his sword in the air and crouches. During this time, he gains super armor. After the sword hits the apex of its trajectory, he jumps up, catches it, and hurtles toward the ground. It appears functionally similar to Kirby's up special 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 good follow-up to his down throw, and its disjointed hitbox can be used 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, although Ragnell is capable of doing so in the Fire Emblem games. However, it still makes sense, because the Skill Aether could only be activated at close range in Fire Emblem.
Origin
Aether is a Skill made available to Ike once promoted in the Fire Emblem games. It is described as a combination of the Master Skills Sol and Luna. 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 (the effect of Sol), followed by a second rising strike that is performed as Ike puts space between himself and his opponent, which halves/ignores the foe's Defense score (the effect of Luna in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn respectively). However, neither effect is applied to Aether in Brawl, and the second strike is omitted completely.
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.
Glitch
If Ike is hit while throwing Ragnell in the air and is still on the ground when under the affect of the Timer, he might perform his landing animation for Aether while Ragnell is still in midair, creating 2 Ragnells. He will be stuck like this until Ragnell lands on the ground. Ike will then pick up the Ragnell he held and the duplicate will disappear. Note that sometimes, Ike will simply just stop or Ragnell will instantly land without spinning.
Trivia
- Aether originally was the personification of the "upper sky", space and heaven, in Greek mythology.
- 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.
