An idle thought, but they've really been doing FE4 some good justice eh? There are 19 characters after Elewen comes out, and not a single one is an alternate!
Contrast with FE5, which has 8 characters, had to wait significantly longer to get more than FE4 did, and 2 of which are alternates.
FE6 has 14 distinct characters + 3 alternates. The alternates are the only new additions FE6 has gotten since Klein....even awakening & fates got new non-alternate characters eventually (still waiting on normal Inigo & Charlotte, though, much less Noire).
FE13 has ~20 alternates. FE14 has ~22 alternates. The numbers are a little iffy, and higher, depending on how lenient you are on the Robins, Corrins, Kana,s Morgans and the Grimas. But still, so many alternates....
Shout out to the weird way they count the archanea crew, while I'm here. Wrys is the only FE1-distinct character, because he is the only one currently in the game who was in FE1 but not FE3 (he was brought back in FE12). Luke & Roderick are labeled as New Mystery characters despite being in FE3 theirself (& unlikely to get alts labeled as such). New Shadow Dragon is ignored completely since, I guess, no one notable in that game did not show up in the following game. If Lorenz ever gets into the game, I bet he's still Mystery or New Mystery despite not being playable.