Editing Palutena

{{forfighter|SSB4=y|SSBU=y}}

|image        = [[File:Palutena Uprising.png|250px|Palutena]]

|caption      = [[File:KidIcarusSymbol.svg|50px|class=invert-dark]]

|lastappearance = ''{{iw|mariowiki|Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition}}'' (2024, cameo)

'''Palutena''' ({{ja|パルテナ|Parutena}}, ''Palutena'') is a [[character]] from the {{uv|Kid Icarus}} series. As the goddess of light and the patron deity to [[Pit]], the captain of her [[icaruspedia:Palutena's Army|Army]], Palutena assists him via {{s|icaruspedia|Powers}} and her vast knowledge in order to protect humanity and maintain celestial balance.

After making cameos in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' as a [[trophy]] and during both [[Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary]] and [[Palutena's Army]] ({{SSBB|Pit}}'s [[Final Smash]]), Palutena transitioned into a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', and remained as such in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''.

[[File:Palutena - KI.png|left|thumb|120px|Artwork of Palutena from ''Kid Icarus''. This design is used for a large statue in [[Skyworld]].]]

Palutena (a derivative of ''[[wikipedia:Athena#Pallas Athena|Pallas Athena]]'', the Greek goddess of wisdom and justice) is the goddess of light from {{s|icaruspedia|Skyworld}}. Not much was known about Palutena's personality in the first two ''Kid Icarus'' games, aside from her wisdom and kindness. She is shown to wield a magical staff and a mirror-like shield. In the plot of the original ''[[Kid Icarus]]'', she is the ruler of {{s|icaruspedia|Angel Land}} along with the Goddess of Darkness, {{s|icaruspedia|Medusa}}. After she punishes Medusa for her hatred of humans by turning her into a monster and banishing her to the {{s|icaruspedia|Underworld}}, Medusa rebels by joining forces with the Underworld Army and attacking Skyworld. A distressed Palutena calls upon Pit as her last hope. As he adventures through the Underworld to Skyworld, Pit gathers the [[Three Sacred Treasures]], defeats Medusa, and rescues Palutena, who rewards him in various ways depending on his performance.

As the goddess of light, she has great power over the element, and therefore is capable of performing powerful magic. One of her most powerful attacks is a giant beam of vaporizing light that can disintegrate enemies. She is also the one who supplies Pit his [[Power of Flight]], alongside his other powers. Another notable trait Palutena possesses is a degree of omniscience, and she demonstrates her godly insight to look into the weaknesses of enemies and even the pasts of total strangers. Aside from this, Palutena has the typical supernatural powers shared by other deities from the ''Kid Icarus'' series, such as the aforementioned telepathy, and the ability to summon large projections of herself.

In ''Uprising'', Palutena's increased role compared to previous installments gave her more significance, allowing her to become a fully-realized character. As a result, she rose in popularity among fans, which is reflected by her being promoted from an ancillary character in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' to a playable fighter in ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' and ''Ultimate''. Palutena is a relatively well-known character as of now, though not to the same extent as Pit.

[[File:Palutena Brawl.png|170px|thumb|Palutena as she appears in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' as part of [[Palutena's Army]].]]

In [[The Subspace Emissary]], {{SSBB|Pit}} is seen in [[Skyworld]] watching {{SSBB|Kirby}} and {{SSBB|Mario}} fighting in the [[Midair Stadium]] courtesy of a Reflecting Pool. When he sees the [[Subspace Bomb]] being detonated, Palutena appears. She gives Pit [[Palutena's Arrow|her sacred bow]] and sends Pit to help save the [[World of Trophies]] from the [[Subspace Army]]. Palutena is the only character in The Subspace Emissary who is neither playable nor an antagonist.

|name=Palutena

|desc=The ruling goddess of Angel Land. Palutena showered the earth with rays of light, using her powers for the good of mankind. But Medusa, who in her hate for mankind was banished to the underworld, makes war on Palutena and wins, capturing and holding the goddess deep within a temple. Palutena entrusts Pit with a sacred bow and the task of defeating Medusa.

|gamelist={{Trophy games|console1=NES|game1=Kid Icarus}}

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{{Trophy

|name=Palutena's Army

|image=Palutena's Army - Brawl Trophy.png

|desc=Pit's Final Smash. An image of the goddess Palutena appears, heralding the arrival of Pit's legions, the Centurions. These flying warriors proceed to attack all enemies with fierce savagery. Once a Centurion strikes an enemy, he falls from the sky, never to fly again. Centurions are so fast that dodging them is very hard. Take heart, Centurions! Your deaths are not in vain!

|gamelist={{Trophy games|console1=Wii|game1=Super Smash Bros. Brawl}}

Palutena was announced as a playable character at E3 2014 during the Nintendo Digital Event. Prior to her announcement, in early 2014, [[List of rumors#Palutena rumor|rumors]] of Palutena being included as a playable character within the game had spread across the Internet, consisting of [[Media:Smash.4 - Palutena Rumor.png|two images]] of her in the [[Nintendo 3DS]] version. However, the images were eventually proven false when it was revealed that they were created in an external program and digitally manipulated to resemble those from ''Super Smash Bros. 4''.

However, custom moves were an object of controversy at tournaments, most notably at [[EVO 2015]], due to how they gave most fighters unfair advantages, and as such, they have been banned from tournament play. Due to this, Palutena cannot make use of them to compensate for her weaknesses, including the limited utility of her default special moves. Outside of this, Palutena's very poor frame data (most notably her grounded and special moves), unimpressive KO potential, and vulnerability to juggles, combos, and being KO'd early.

Although Palutena possesses some notable strengths, such as her very solid air and grab games granting her good combo and spacing capabilities, her weaknesses mostly outweigh these strengths. This has been reflected by her suffering from poor tournament representation and results, although the latter have improved over time. As a result, Palutena is ranked 45th out of 55 characters on the current [[tier list]], which places her in the E tier and posits her as the lowest ranked mid tier character.

{{main|List of SSB4 trophies (Kid Icarus series)}}

|desc-ntsc=In Kid Icarus: Uprising, the goddess of light uses telepathy to communicate and grants miracles to support Pit on his adventure. In Smash Bros., she has special moves like Warp and Heavenly Light at her disposal. She's very adaptable—you can customize her into a long- or close-range fighter!

|desc-pal=Said to be able to perform miracles, this goddess supports Pit in battle, using telepathy to communicate with him. She's no slouch on her own, either. She has a huge variety of moves you can customise and use to your advantage. Short or long range, the sky's the limit! Or maybe not. After all, she can teleport.

|gamelist-ntsc={{Trophy games|console1=NES|game1=Kid Icarus|release1=08/1987|console2=3DS|game2=Kid Icarus: Uprising|release2=03/2012}}

|gamelist-pal={{Trophy games|console1=NES|game1=Kid Icarus|release1=02/1987|console2=3DS|game2=Kid Icarus: Uprising|release2=03/2012}}

}}

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|name=Palutena (Alt.)

|image-3ds=PalutenaAltTrophy3DS.png

|image-wiiu=PalutenaAltTrophyWiiU.png

|desc-3ds-ntsc=Palutena's Reflect Barrier side special deflects any attacks and projectiles that come at her from the front. Unlike other reflective moves, you can leave this barrier in place and it will keep reflecting. If you really want to ruin someone's day, you can push them over an edge using this move.

|desc-wiiu-ntsc=Palutena's Reflect Barrier side special deflects any attacks and projectiles that come at her from the front. Unlike others' reflective moves, she can move a bit while this barrier is active. If you really want to ruin someone's day, you can push him or her over an edge using this move.

|desc-pal=Palutena's Reflect Barrier special deflects any attacks and projectiles that come at her from the front. Unlike other fighters' reflective moves, you can deploy this barrier and then leave it to its own devices. You can also push opponents with it, so use it on someone who's teetering on the edge of the stage to push them off.

|gamelist-ntsc={{Trophy games|console1=NES|game1=Kid Icarus|release1=08/1987|console2=3DS|game2=Kid Icarus: Uprising|release2=03/2012}}

|gamelist-pal={{Trophy games|console1=NES|game1=Kid Icarus|release1=02/1987|console2=3DS|game2=Kid Icarus: Uprising|release2=03/2012}}

Palutena returns in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', as with all previous fighters. Like most characters in ''Ultimate'', Palutena is an unlockable character. Notably, she is one of very last characters to be unlocked, with the {{SSBU|Classic Mode}} placing her as the final character in Kirby’s unlock tree, [[Versus Mode]] always resulting in her being the final unlockable character and in [[Adventure Mode: World of Light]] she is one of the four characters found in the last area, [[The Final Battle (World of Light)|The Final Battle]], guarding the pathway leading to [[Galeem]].

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*Despite not being a playable character in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', Palutena is featured in more trophies than Pit, appearing in her own trophy as well as the [[Palutena's Army]] trophy.

*Palutena is the first fighter to become playable after debuting in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series via another character's Final Smash. The second is [[Chrom]], who appears in [[Pair Up]] ({{SSB4|Robin}}'s Final Smash).

*Palutena is the only playable character in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series who, despite always carrying a shield, does not use it [[Passive shield|passively]]. Prior to ''Melee'', this applied to {{SSB|Link}} as well.

**This is not counting a small number of [[Mii Fighter]] costumes that feature shields.