Am editing the Three Houses update right now and I may have gone overboard with the listening music in a couple places...
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Curse you zenphoenix, you're making me want to play a game that doesn't exist. Bittersweetness aside, that was fantastic. A clever use of characters that had to be cut from Awakening and sprinkling of Fates' to help tell the prequel's tale.
As with Gangrel, your take on Walhart is fantastic. Same conqueror mentality with a much more reasonable, sympathetic logic behind it. The stars of this however are of course Alyssa and Cassie. Alyssa's arc is wonderful, and a dash of tragic love is good.
Journey of the Three Heroes though, eh? I adore FE3H so that's been the one I've been most anxious to read.
As with Gangrel, your take on Walhart is fantastic. Same conqueror mentality with a much more reasonable, sympathetic logic behind it. The stars of this however are of course Alyssa and Cassie. Alyssa's arc is wonderful, and a dash of tragic love is good.
Journey of the Three Heroes though, eh? I adore FE3H so that's been the one I've been most anxious to read.
Glad you enjoyed that one. I had some trouble writing that due to the personal issues I mentioned a couple months ago, especially Alyssa and Cassie's relationship and some gameplay details, but I think I did the best I could.
I decided it was better for the Valm arc to be its own game, which meant I had to move all of the Valmese characters to that game as well. I then threw in a few Fates characters I liked and wanted to keep in this new game (especially Mozu because she was my MVP in Birthright). Fortunately I had Chon'sin as a place to put the Hoshidans.
Walhart already had a lot of potential in Awakening, but the compressed Valm arc there and the need to go back to Plegia and Validar didn't do him justice. Making him the "main" villain here and tying his war more closely with Grima (as it was in Awakening) opened up a lot of chances to explore his character and tie in with Gaiden/Shadows of Valentia. And giving him the Valentian Falchion to use against the Archanean Falchion was a missed opportunity in Awakening.
I really like Elincia in the Tellius games and used her as a major inspiration for Alyssa. I didn't want to make her a stereotypical sword-using lord, so I took some elements from both Elincia's and Corrin's backstories and made her a sheltered princess on top of making her a healer. A healer lord, at least in the first half of the game, would also translate into unique gameplay strategies as well as room for character growth as she becomes comfortable with her new role and steps into her destiny as the First Exalt. Her bond with Cassie is what drives her through all this chaos, spurring her to push on and do her duty to the world, even if she knows they can't be together. It's probably my favorite take on the Catria archetype.
Oh boy, I just finished another round of editing on that and it is very content heavy, both in terms of gameplay changes and story details. Expect that on Friday.
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Fire Emblem Waiyun / Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Fire Emblem Waiyun (“Side Story” in Chinese) is a loose sequel to Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light, released in China on the RUS in 1992. It is mostly known for its large number of unique mechanics and gameplay styles which are not found in most later games. A remake, titled Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, was released in 2017. The setting of Valentia, a continent to the west of Archanea, is revisited in the games Awakening and The Exalt’s Duty. In a way, this is a prequel to those two games and the final entry in the 3DS' “Archanea and Valentia” trilogy spanning the two continents between Marth’s and Chrom’s times.
Waiyun is set in Valentia in between the events of the first and third games and before the events of The Exalt’s Duty and Awakening. The continent has long been divided in two as a result of an ideological feud between two sibling dragons, Mila and Duma, who are worshipped as gods. Mila, who believes humans should be free to pursue lives of happiness and pleasure, is the patron goddess of the pacifistic Kingdom of Zofia, which since its founding has degenerated into hedonistic decadence and corruption. Duma, who believes power and strength are the only meaning in life and humans should be guided towards this goal, is the patron god of the militaristic and authoritarian Rigelian Empire. However, due to political developments in Zofia, the peace between the two is shattered, and Zofia finds itself under Rigelian occupation. A young farmboy turned soldier, Alm, rallies the remains of the Zofian army under his leadership to fight back against Rigel, while his childhood friend, the priestess Celica, journeys across the continent to find the missing Mila and ask her to end a cripping famine sweeping across Zofia. Their two missions ultimately converge onto a single path in opposition to the cult of Duma, which now follows a warped interpretation of the dragon’s teachings.
Development
In an interview following the release of Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light, Zhao Jiahe explained he felt the game was very linear and did not allow for many opportunities for players to branch out with. As a response, he came up with the idea to split the plot into two halves focusing on Alm and Celica while introducing traditional RPG elements to allow the player more freedom without sacrificing the story.
Waiyun’s development began following the commercial success of the first game in 1990, with the development team led by Zhao again as a story writer, director, and lead developer. The game's title, "Waiyun", is a Chinese term for a side story related to a larger work, denoting the game's status as a secondary adventure set in the same continuity as the first game.
The world maps of Valentia in Waiyun and Shadows of Valentia
Zhao designed Waiyun to address issues raised with the first game, such as tedious elements of map navigation. The first game’s system was used as base for various improvements to aspects such as enemy AI. These elements included an explorable overworld and more traditional RPG elements, along with the introduction of the class promotion system. Balancing these elements and managing memory capacity proved challenging for the team. For the story, Zhao wanted to deepen the relationship between the player and their units, represented through the growth of the characters through their battles. To create a stronger and broader central narrative, he created Alm and Celica as duo protagonists. An overt reference to the previous game was made in the form of the Whitewing sisters showing up.
Celica exploring a village in Waiyun
Alm exploring a dungeon in Shadows of Valentia (pretend the English is German or something)
The premise of Valentia being divided into two nations slowly marching towards conflict is inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Chinese saying that “the empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide,” while the game’s very anti-clerical theme is inspired by Friedrich the Great’s restoration of the Reich (although Friedrich the Great was hardly an atheist, Zhao admits) and Zhao’s personal opposition to the junta’s close ties with politicized Shendao institutions. The cult of Duma is depicted like a Chiang-era secret police. Its leader, Jedah, looks as human as regular Rigelians (although others embrace draconic physical features for more power), but he promises Rigelians the strength and power to survive and thrive according to Duma’s teachings. The most zealous followers sell their souls to Duma for more power, while opposing politicians are covertly assassinated. The cult occasionally kills its own “rampaging” monsters to portray themselves as heroes, murdering all other witnesses. Rigel’s Emperor Rudolf, a loose stand-in for the Xuantong Emperor, is depicted as being unable to stand up to the cult and its immense influence, even as it strays far from Duma’s original teachings and just becomes a vehicle to advance Jedah’s personal power. The setting was moved from Archanea to Valentia as Zhao wanted to show there is a world outside of Archanea, and Marth’s journey is not the only one happening at the time.
Development for Shadows of Valentia began following the completion of The Exalt’s Duty. The developers thought about developing a Fire Emblem game for the Switch home console but considered it too early as the console's specifications were still being decided upon. Several Intelligent Systems staff said they wanted to implement features that had to be cut from The Exalt’s Duty in a remake of Waiyun. As Waiyun has received little attention up to this point, some thought they could quickly develop a remake and release it before the Switch's release. An alternative plan was creating an all new game, but early planning was already in place for the planned Fire Emblem title for the Switch, Journey of the Three Heroes.
Developers who were familiar with the original game were elevated to director positions. Rather than calling it "New Waiyun," the team chose the subtitle "Echoes" to give it worldwide appeal, enable its differentiation from the other side story projects within the Fire Emblem series like Fire Emblem Warriors and as the potential branding for a new series of remakes (many developers expressed their desire to work on a Crusaders of Light remake next). In China, the game was tentatively called “Another Hero-King” before developers settled on “Journey of the Saint-King” in the end. Following the canning of a proposed fourth 3DS game due to time restraints and Journey of the Three Heroes’ upcoming release (remembering the fate of The Sacred Stone on the GBA many years ago), Shadows of Valentia was intended to be the culmination of the series on the 3DS. The characters were redesigned by the artist Zuo, chosen due to many developers frequently praising his work. Intelligent Systems had tried to hire Zuo to work on both Awakening and the Cipher TCG, though he was too busy with other projects then. For Shadows of Valentia, a meeting was set up well in advance and Zuo made time to work on the game. Zuo’s first character design was the protagonist Alm, whose original artwork wildly varied (other characters had similar issues); he underwent four redesigns, which enabled Zuo to get a handle on the game's art style and design the rest of the cast. The game features animated cutscenes by Studio Khara, no longer motion-capture cinematics as had been in the Ylisse duology but scenes like those from a Chinese donghua (some of which were later reused in the actual donghua).
An example of one of the cinematics for this game
The lead developers believed the original story was underdeveloped compared to later titles, as Alm’s varying designs showed. The remake enabled them to redesign the narrative to suit the tastes of modern players. The story of Waiyun was expanded significantly with the inclusion of the core conflict between the two nations that was previously confined to Waiyun's manual due to hardware limitations. Another issue they wanted to address was the original game's poor character writing, especially with regards to Celica and other female characters. The theme of royalty and its impact on the characters was one of the story's new elements. To further emphasize the theme, the characters Berkut and Rinea were introduced, who expanded upon the original themes of duality by acting as opposites to Alm and Celica. Berkut was designed as a foil for Alm, with Alm’s common roots contrasting with Berkut's royal lineage. The original characters also underwent both subtle and grand alterations. The team decided to focus on Alm and Celica like they did with Alyssa rather than incorporating an avatar as Awakening and Pokemon Conquest had.
The gameplay was rebuilt from the ground up based on the technology developed for the Ylisse duology and Pokemon Conquest, with its redesign being seen as a necessity with remaking the story due to the original version's "obtuse" mechanics. Rather than bring the game more in line with the rest of the Fire Emblem series, they preserved the role-playing elements and combined them with more recent Fire Emblem mechanics. While the team considered adding the Weapon Triangle which was only introduced in Crusaders of Light, it would have required adding more characters (like axe users) or altering the original cast, going against the team's intentions. Although some new playable characters were added, they were given already existing classes. The marriage system from Awakening was similarly not included as it would have disrupted established character relations too much, with the resulting system a hybrid of The Exalt’s Duty’s and Pokemon Conquest’s. S supports were completely removed in favor of canonical pairings (causing one reviewer to complain they couldn’t S support Celica with the mercenary Saber), although Alm and Celica’s support bonuses are boosted to the level of an S support. Nevertheless, the series' established support system was added to properly flesh out characters. The pair-up mechanic of the previous three games was removed to be more faithful to the original.
The game's music was composed and arranged primarily by the previous game’s composers. The official soundtrack was released by music label Symphony No. 5 on October 25, 2017. It covered five discs of music, with the fifth being a data disc. The team used the original’s music, composed by Yuka Tsujiyoko, as a starting point for their work. They attempted to incorporate as many live instruments as possible into the soundtrack. The vocal ending theme, intended to be the successor of “A Heroine’s Destiny,” was called "The Heritors of Arcadia." The song’s lyrics were written from Mila's point of view after the events of the main story. It was sung in both the German and Chinese versions by the voice actors of Silque, a priestess of Mila.
Gameplay
In a way, Waiyun follows the tradition of RUS sequels which dramatically differ from their predecessors set by the likes of Zelda II: The Legend of Link and Super Mario Brothers 2. The the same fundamental turn-based battle tactics gameplay of its predecessor is still the focus, it is surrounded by mechanics more like what is found in traditional CRPGs. Due to these changes, Waiyun came to be considered the black sheep of the series, with many of its new elements being dropped for subsequent entries, although future games occasionally borrow some of them. Waiyun features a fully traversable world map and explorable villages, castles, and dungeons. The player returns to the map after every battle and can move Alm and Celica around freely, allowing them to either move to their objective or backtrack to older locations to do sidequests or train up. Alm and Celica can explore and freely move around villages and allied castles much like in other traditional CRPGs, where they can interact with locals or find treasure chests with weapons and items. Weapon durability, where a weapon can only be used a certain number of times before breaking and being deleted from the inventory, is removed, but weapons are made very rare and each character can only equip one item. If a weapon is not equipped, a character can still attack with a weak default weapon. Instead of tying magic to tome items which also use weapon durability, mages learn spells on level up, and each spell costs HP to cast. The explanation is Valentian mages haven’t learned to tie spells and their energy requirements to tomes to offset the HP cost as in Archanea.
Shadows of Valentia maintains the same gameplay mechanics as the original Waiyun, including a fully explorable overworld, only remastered with 3DS graphics and updated with recent quality of life additions. A new feature called combat arts is added. Combat arts are HP-costing abilities learned from equipped weapons and shields by using that weapon often. “Memory prisms” found across Valentia provide backstories for various characters and important events, like Duma and Mila’s argument and Celica’s childhood. Playable characters are given new designs and more characterizations through support conversations and overworld interactions. A postgame in which Alm and Celica can travel to Archanea to take on a challenging dungeon was added.
Release
The cover of Waiyun, with Alm's...awkward armor and the non-protagonist recruitable armor knight Valbar appearing for no reason
As of 2002, Waiyun had sold 3,246,990 units. This made it the fourth best-selling title in the Fire Emblem series to that date. While the majority of Waiyun’s new gameplay elements would be discarded in later entries, the concept of class promotion was retained in following entries. The concept of a navigable overworld map and towns the player could visit was later explored in The Sacred Stones before fully returning in Awakening, Pokemon Conquest, and The Exalt’s Duty. As Waiyun was never released overseas, Shadows of Valentia’s release in 2017 marked the first time a form of the game was released elsewhere.
The cover of Shadows of Valentia
Shadows of Valentia was first announced in January 2017 during a Rentiantang Direct dedicated to the Fire Emblem series. In China, multiple versions of the game were released. In addition to the standard release, there was also a limited edition with a special soundtrack, and a "Valentia Complete" edition featuring the contents of the limited edition with added items, including an official artbook. Amiibo figures of Alm and Celica were released alongside the game. The game features full voice acting—a first for the Fire Emblem series—for all but minor NPCs. The game's localization was handled by 8-4.
During its first week on sale in China, Shadows of Valentia sold 1,351,950 units, topping gaming charts and selling through 80% of its initial shipment. Not even a full week into its release it became number one on China’s sale charts. In Europe, Shadows of Valentia reached seventh place in the all-format gaming charts. Rentiantang reported the release of Shadows of Valentia prompted a rise in 3DS and 3DS-like handheld console sales.
Reception
Famitong gave Waiyun a score of 28 out of 40. In their review, critics noted that its gameplay changes meant it could not be compared to its predecessor, with one critic enjoying its gameplay and calling it better than the original game. Another critic noted that it was fairly easy during the first half, then became rapidly more difficult during the later stages. Another reviewer noted that, while the number of maps had increased, the strategic elements had become noticeably weaker (notably in some maps becoming as simple as an open field divided by a river with a bridge). Fan reception was positive: in a poll taken by Family Computer Magazine, it received a score of 24.3 out of 30, indicating a large popular following. Some reviewers compared Waiyun’s radical and short-lived shift in gameplay to that of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link as well as Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.
Famitong praised the voice acting and more action-oriented story scenes of the remake, saying it made the story more entertaining and dramatic. Chris Carter enjoyed the grand scope and grounded nature of the narrative despite a weaker cast than previous titles. Some called the narrative "your typical Fire Emblem tale of kings, queens, dragons, and magic", while others said the narrative and Alm and Celica’s story were the main reason they continued playing. Heidi Kemps praised the balance between dialogue and combat when portraying the characters, and Chris Schilling enjoyed the narrative and singled out Celica's storyline as the better one, though he liked how the anti-clerical themes and comparisons to the later Chiang-era dictatorship were handled in Alm’s part. VSN, while noting the game's very familiar premise, said that the overall story "makes for a good soap opera". Daan Koopman admired its scope and the dynamic between the two protagonists' contrasting views on the war.
Famitong positively noted the general presentation and its impact on the experience, as well as the new cinematics and character portraits. Many enjoyed the cutscenes and battle animations, some positively comparing the art style to visual novels. Others praised the graphical variety and the opportunities to see environmental details. Visuals were generally considered the game's greatest improvement over earlier 3DS titles. The voice acting, art style, music, and overall presentation also received general praise for their quality and scope.
Famitong praised the gameplay for both introducing new elements and updating the mechanics of Waiyun, saying it helped elevate the game above its previous black sheep status. Carter enjoyed the gameplay flow despite finding some of the mechanics underdeveloped. Some reviewers noted a lack of variation in victory conditions and map design (a problem with the original Waiyun as well). Others enjoyed the gameplay and new additions such as Mila's Turnwheel as well as gameplay refinements. The new dungeon crawling segments were generally praised by critics. The omission of Weapon Triangle mechanic also raised comments, with several noting players would take time to get used to it.
Plot (Shadows of Valentia version)
In the prologue, Alm is a young boy of Ram Village, the grandson of the retired general Mycen. One day, Mycen brings to the village a girl named Celica, and the two immediately gravitate to each other. They become close friends, to the dismay of Alm’s other friends Tobin, Kliff, and Gray. Alm notices Celica has a strange mark on her hand, similar to a mark on his own hand, but he thinks nothing of it. The two vow to never leave each other.
Several months later, a Zofian battalion led by General Slayde arrives in the village, demanding to be sheltered in the villagers’ homes. After an altercation sparked by Alm and the village children, the soldiers attack and are singlehandedly driven off by Mycen. However, Slayde notices Celica and promises to alert Dozer, the greedy and ambitious chancellor of Zofia. Worried, Mycen calls in a favor from a friend and escorts Celica out of the village, Alm tearfully saying goodbye to her.
Act 1: March to Deliverance
An older Alm
The story picks up many years later with Alm, now a young man, finishing the day’s sword training with Mycen. His friends notice a commotion in the town square, where the soldier Lukas has arrived. Lukas informs them Dozer has murdered the incompetent King Lima and seized the throne for himself with the backing of Rigelian troops, who have occupied Zofia. Lukas is part of an anti-Dozer liberation force, the Deliverance, and has been sent to Ram Village to ask Mycen to lead them. However, Mycen refuses and leaves. Undeterred, Alm tells Lukas he will join in place of his grandfather. Accompanied by Lukas and his friends, they set out for Zofia Castle, with several skirmishes against bandits and Zofian troops along the way. Alm rescues a cleric, Silque, who explains she was heading to Ram Village to deliver something to Mycen. She instead gives the item, Mila’s Turnwheel, to Alm, allowing him to view possible future events and plan accordingly. In-game, the Turnwheel allows players to rewind to previous turns in battles if they want to fix a mistake or prevent a character death. Alm continues on and liberates the Southern Outpost, one of the Deliverance’s main strongholds, from Zofian forces. There, the pegasus knight Clair, sister to the Deliverance leader Clive, joins Alm’s army.
Alm continues on to the Deliverance’s headquarters, hidden in the monster-infested Zofian royal mausoleum, and meets Clive and his second-in-command Fernand. Clive is dismayed to hear Mycen refused to lead the Deliverance but is happy Alm joined instead. Deciding the grandson of a hero could be just as inspiring as the hero himself, Clive asks Alm to replace him as the Deliverance’s leader, as his backstory can inspire their ragtag troops, drawn from all walks of life and all corners of Zofia. Clive admits he only became leader because of his noble birth and knows he is not qualified. This infuritates the noble Fernand, who refuses to follow a commoner. Clive insists in such desperate times, the Zofian people must move on from their old ways and encourage people to advance based on merit. To assuage Fernand, Clive explains Mycen had received a noble title as well. But Fernand is not convinced. Mycen was still born a commoner, and Alm is just a farmboy with no combat experience compared to Fernand, with his aristocratic background and distinguished service in the Zofian knighthood. Fernand says he is disappointed in his former friend and quits the Deliverance. Meanwhile, Alm reluctantly accepts the mantle of leadership and promises to do his best to inspire the troops.
Prince Berkut
Clive goes over the military situation in northern Zofia. Dozer has fortified Zofia Castle with loyal troops led by Slayde and Rigelians led by Emperor Rudolf’s nephew and heir Berkut. Surprised to hear the Rigelians crossed the border, Alm remembers this violates the Divine Accord Duma and Mila agreed to when founding Rigel and Zofia. Mila, Zofia’s patron goddess, would never allow Rigel to violate the Accord. Clive heard rumors Mila has vanished, which may explain the appearance of monsters like those in the mausoleum. Alm decides their next course of action is to retake Zofia Castle. The Deliverance marches north and engages the Zofian army outside the castle. While Berkut stands back and watches the fighting, hoping to be entertained by the Deliverance’s “farmboy leader,” Dozer and Slayde take to the field. Alm routs their army, forcing them to retreat further to near the Rigelian border. Amused by Alm, Berkut withdraws as well, not bothering to reinforce Dozer. The Deliverance liberates the castle, and Alm greets the citizens of the capital, who hail him as their savior. Hearing their pleas and unexpectedly running into Mycen, Alm vows to finish off Dozer.
Act 2: With Mila’s Divine Protection
An older Celica
The story shifts to a priory on Novis Island, off the east coast of Valentia, where Celica finishes the day’s magical training under Bishop Nomah, Mycen’s friend. It is revealed Celica is the sole surviving daughter of King Lima, having been hidden away in Ram Village and Novis Island for her safety when Dozer murdered the rest of Lima’s children. Wanting to make a difference in the world, she talks to Nomah about leaving the priory and investigating Mila’s disappearance. Many of the mages in the priory, whom Celica had befriended in the last few years, join her on her quest. Resting up one more time before leaving, Celica has a nightmare where she foresees Alm fighting Rigel’s Emperor Rudolf, with the experienced emperor brutally impaling Alm on his lance.
The next day, Celica and her friends head to Novis Port, where they recruit the mercenary Saber to help fight the pirates infesting the waters between the island and the mainland. Landing in Zofia Harbor, she runs into the Whitewings Palla and Catria, who are looking for their sister Est. Following Medeus’ defeat, Est and the Altean knight Abel planned to marry (to Palla’s dismay, as she also had feelings for him), but Est was captured by pirates and taken to Valentia. The sisters ask Celica to help them rescue Est. Celica agrees, but first she goes to Zofia Castle, which she hears has been liberated. At the castle, she runs into Alm, and the two have a heartfelt reunion. After catching up on what they were doing since being separated, they talk about their plans. Alm explains he wants to kill Dozer and take the fight to Rigel, acknowledging with the Divine Accord broken and Zofia in disarray, there’s no stopping Rigel from sending another army. Therefore, he must eliminate the threat at the source and conquer Rigel. That is the only thing Rigel and Rudolf will respect, his own strength. However, Celica urges him to try diplomacy. The only reason Rigel invaded was because Dozer asked for Rudolf’s military aid, and the only reason tensions between the two countries is already so high is because Lima continued partying and refused to send aid while Rigel suffered from a famine. Rudolf might be open to talks. Celica reveals she is the heir to the Zofian throne, and with herself as queen, she will try her best to repair relations, but Alm’s quest for revenge will only permanently sever ties with Rigel, not to mention most likely get him killed as her vision showed. She doesn’t want to lose him again after they finally reunited. Relenting when he sees how his words affected Celica, Alm relents, promising instead to end his crusade when Dozer is dead and the Rigelians are pushed back to their side of the border. Clive reminds Alm every moment spent dawdling gives Dozer time to escape over the border, while the Whitewings remind Celica that Est will likely disappear into the slave trade the more they wait. The two reluctantly part ways again, promising to meet again once their goals are met.
Act 3: What Lies at the End
The two set out from Zofia Castle, with Alm heading west towards Dozer and Celica heading northeast towards the Temple of Mila. As Celica heads along the earthquake-prone coast, an unexpected rockslide destroys the road behind her, cutting off her path back to Zofia Castle. Meanwhile, Alm fights his way through Rigel’s conventional army as well as the Duma cult’s many sorcerers. As he pushes towards Dozer’s stronghold, he is suddenly ambushed by Berkut and Fernand. Fernand reveals he has defected to Rigel, saying the Zofia he knows is dead, trampled in the mud like how his family was slaughtered by peasants, and at least Rigel still believes in its values. Berkut charges straight at Alm. Alm fights him off, which angers Berkut as he was assured of his own innate superiority as a royal. The crown prince then notices Alm’s mark and is alarmed, recalling a prophecy where a man and woman with the mark will bring about the end of both Rigel and Zofia. He and Fernand retreat to Rigel, abandoning Dozer, but not before Fernand claims Mycen never had any children, much less grandchildren. Alm storms Dozer’s stronghold and kills him, rescuing his hostage, Clive’s wife and fellow Deliverance knight Mathilda. With his dying breath, Dozer curses Mycen for being the one who really sold Zofia out. These words, combined with Fernand’s, trouble Alm and cause Clive to have serious doubts about ceding leadership. Regardless, Alm pushes on to the border, stopping a Duma cult plot to flood Zofia by shutting the sluice gates regulating the river dividing the two countries. He also rescues several hostages taken from nearby villages, some of which join the Deliverance.
Berkut appears before Rudolf, who is displeased he has not suppressed the Deliverance. Berkut successfully convinces his uncle to give him more soldiers if the Deliverance crosses the river. As he departs, the high-ranking Duma cultist Nuibaba offers to bless him with Duma’s power. Berkut refuses, intending to defeat Alm with his own power alone. Nuibaba nevertheless gives him a magic mirror infused with Duma’s power he can break to use should he reconsider, but warns it will come at a heavy price.
On the other side of Valentia, Celica crosses through Chon’sin, the part of Zofia hardest hit by the famine, where various autonomous city-states and bandit groups fight for control over the arid region. Here, her diplomatic skills are put to the test. The city-states have been suffering from the famine affecting the rest of Zofia, as well as the constant bandit attacks abducting many to be enslaved. But some of the city-states are not as friendly as they appear, either viewing Celica as a threat or even being centers of the slave trade. Although some bandits are slavers like the ones that abducted Est, others are just poorer Zofians who turned to thievery to survive. A few bandit groups are even quasi-democratic, choosing their leaders with a vote, although there are always ambitious individuals who bribe or cheat or even try to seize power for themselves, as one bandit tries to pull off while his group is negotiating with Celica. Eventually, she assembles a coalition of city-states and bandit groups she convinced to support her, and together they march on the stronghold of the final and most powerful bandit group, which is responsible for capturing Est and many other Zofians. There, Celica frees Est and the other hostages. Reunited, the Whitewings execute their signature Triangle Attack against the bandit leader. In gratitude, the three sisters decide to help Celica on her journey before heading home to Archanea. Celica leaves Chon’sin in the hands of her allies, who establish a new government to restore order. She arrives at the temple, finding it occupied by Rigelian troops and Mila still missing. She learns Emperor Rudolf personally led the attack on the temple and captured Mila after critically wounding her with a Falchion similar to Marth’s.
Rudolf, armed with the Valentian Falchion, storms the temple to challenge Mila
Mila was taken to Duma Tower, the seat of Duma’s cult. Celica decides Alm wasn’t that wrong after all in invading Rigel. She vows to bring Mila home. The surviving temple priestesses give Celica her mother’s tiara, a crown of Zofian royalty. Her birth name was Anthiese Lima, and it is time she embraced that. Donning the tiara, Celica accepts her birthright as the queen of Zofia. The priestesses then bid Celica to seek the aid of Halcyon, a blue-skinned Duma priest who rejected the corruption of the mainstream cult, in the Sage’s Hamlet further to the north. Celica then opens the sluice gates in eastern Valentia, averting the flooding of Zofia.
Princess Celica
Act 4: The Sacrifice and the Saint
Alm looking over the opened sluice gates
As he promised to Celica, Alm sends messengers to Rudolf offering peace, with Zofia’s independence restored and Rigel left untouched. However, the messengers are all killed by the Duma cult, which covers up their involvement. Blaming Rudolf for the deaths, Alm goes ahead with his plans to invade Rigel. Berkut, noticing the Deliverance’s movements, recklessly strikes across the river first.
As always, Alm fights him off. In desperation, Berkut swallows his pride and smashes Nuibaba’s mirror, which sacrifices the lives of everyone in a nearby village to summon an army of monsters which attacks the Deliverance. Realizing the dishonor in such tactics, Berkut and Fernand are immediately disgusted. The Deliverance fight off the monsters, though. Berkut and Fernand retreat to Rigel Castle again, where Rudolf berates Berkut’s constant failures. The prince rages at his inability to defeat Alm, while his wife, Rinea, tries to calm him down. He instead focuses on a voice at the back of his head, beckoning for him to accept Duma’s power.
Alm is told by sympathetic Rigelians the dark magic responsible for the army of monsters and the village massacre was provided by Nuibaba, a feared Duma cultist who terrorizes Rigelians as much as Zofians. Realizing killing Nuibaba would earn him the support of many Rigelians, he marches on Nuibaba’s hideout and kills the cultist, freeing the priestess Tatiana, who had been taken hostage to ensure the loyalty of her lover, the amnesiac general Zeke. Once he learns of Tatiana’s safety, Zeke immediately defects to the Deliverance with his troops, significantly weakening the Rigelian army. Noticing Alm’s mark, he explains he was ordered by Rudolf to help him despite meaning it would betray Rudolf. Although Zeke was not born in Rigel, having been found on the eastern coast of Rigel badly wounded by Tatiana several months ago, he felt it was his duty to serve Rudolf until Rudolf said his destiny was to help Alm. However, the Deliverance meets a dangerous roadblock not far ahead when they are trapped in the Dragon’s Maw volcano and constantly attacked by more necrodragons sent by the Duma cult. In-game, this manifests in Alm’s icon permanently stuck on the Dragon’s Maw and dragged into a battle with necrodragons for every movement Celica takes in the overworld, encouraging the player to hurry up with Celica’s part of the story.
Celica marches towards Duma Tower, trekking through poisonous swamps infested with waiting Duma cultists and the monsters they summon. She gains a brief respite from the attacks at the Sage’s Hamlet hidden in a dense forest. There, Halcyon explains he was formerly the high priest of the Duma cult before the charismatic zealot Jedah overthrew him and took the cult in its current direction. He tells her about the marks she and Alm have, saying it is their destiny to save Valentia from the chaos plaguing it currently. He uses his magic to allow Celica to briefly talk with Alm. Although he is presumably very busy dealing with necrodragons and the dialogue changes if he is stuck on the Dragon’s Maw, Alm makes time to reconnect with Celica, and the two agree that they must do something to stop the Duma cult and bring lasting peace to Valentia. Halcyon gives Alm some of his power, allowing him to promote.
Hero Alm
Moving on from the Sage’s Hamlet, Celica enters the heart of the Duma cult, storming the fortresses around Duma Tower and then fighting her way up the tower. However, when she attacks Jedah at the top, she finds that Duma’s power has made him completely invincible (except on every fourth attack, but the player reasonably won’t figure this out yet). Jedah reminds her Alm is stuck in the Dragon’s Maw under constant assault from his necrodragons. Even with the power Halcyon gave him, there is only so much he and the Deliverance can take before they are overwhelmed. Jedah offers a deal. He can call off the necrodragons in exchange for Celica giving her soul to Duma. He explains Duma and Mila, as incredibly old dragons, are mentally degenerating, as Medeus had for generations in neighboring Archanea. The sacrifice of a soul bearing Celica’s mark could in theory reverse the degeneration and restore the two gods to their senses. The player is locked at the top of the tower, able to move around and save but not leave. The only way to progress the plot is to approach Jedah and accept his offer only if Alm is trapped at the Dragon’s Maw, upon which Celica’s friends and allies are all teleported away to Duma’s lair, deep under Rigel Castle, to be painfully slaughtered by Duma and his most powerful monsters. Celica is left behind, and Jedah shows her Mila’s decapitated dragon corpse, lying dead in Duma’s lair. Jedah uses dark magic to brainwash her. Before she passes out, Jedah says he will keep his word. Now, every few steps Alm takes in the overworld or in dungeons results in Celica’s party taking damage, which can kill them if the player takes too long.
The necrodragons suddenly stop attacking, allowing Alm to continue to Rigel Castle. The Rigelian army puts up significant resistance every step of the way, and at the Last Bastion, the empire’s last line of defense before Rigel Castle, Alm shatters what is left of the enemy army and kills Slayde for good. He besieges Rigel Castle, where Rudolf challenges Alm to a duel for the future of Rigel. Although the battle initially proceeds as Celica had foreseen, Alm gets the upper hand and fatally wounds the emperor.
Dying, Rudolf orders his men to surrender to Alm, saying the Deliverance is honorable and will treat them with respect. He then reveals he is Alm’s father, which shocks Alm. He explains he is aware of Mila and Duma’s degeneration as well as the prophecy of the marks, and the war was declared to set in motion a chain of events that would lead to the gods’ deaths, the destruction of Jedah’s corrupted cult, and humanity’s freedom to decide its own destiny. He begs Alm to finish what he started and use Falchion to kill Duma. Distraught and confused, Alm oversees Rudolf’s funeral, ordering the Deliverance to give the late emperor the dignity he deserves. He is even more confused when Rudolf’s bodyguards immediately proclaim him the firstborn heir of Rigel and the new emperor. The captain of the guard directs him to Mycen, who reveals he was once the commander-in-chief of the Rigelian army and a close friend and advisor to Rudolf. When Alm was born, Rudolf immediately knew the prophecy of the mark had begun, and it would end with the two nations being destroyed. To protect him from the Duma cult, which due to its significant influence over Rigel he couldn’t directly fight, he entrusted Alm to Mycen and launched the war and killed Mila to portray himself as a tyrannical conqueror so someone would eventually be the hero to rise up, save Valentia from him, defeat Jedah, and kill Duma, sweeping away the gods and the old order to set humanity truly free. Mycen tells Alm he must now fulfill the prophecy and put Duma to rest before he degenerates further, opening a secret passage in the palace leading to Duma’s lair.
Act 5: Twilight of the Gods
Berkut does not take the news of his surprise disinheritance well, to put it lightly. Completely broken by the fact the farmboy who had constantly humiliated him is actually the true heir of Rigel and not him, he goes to Duma’s lair, blaming himself for his weakness in allowing the world to conspire against him. Rinea attempts to comfort him, saying she will still love Berkut even if he won’t be emperor. But in his fragile state of mind, Berkut interprets this as an admission she conspired with Alm. Enraged, he murders Rinea and sacrifices her soul to Duma in exchange for more power. Fernand, who followed Berkut into Duma’s lair, discovers a completely unhinged and Duma-powered Berkut, who orders Rinea, now a fiery spirit, to attack him.
Alm enters Duma’s lair and finds the mortally wounded and terrified Fernand, who reconciles with Clive, warns the Deliverance about Berkut, and then dies. Continuing on, Alm finds Mila’s headless draconic corpse, learning the goddess of Zofia is truly dead. Jedah gloats without Mila, the spoiled Zofians will not know how to live on their own, as shown by Lima’s incompetence, Dozer’s cruelty, and the crippling famine. Alm rejects this idea, saying the time has come for humanity to take back its destiny. He acknowledges there will always be people like Lima and Dozer, but there will also be people like Celica and Clive, who will not hesitate to set things back on the right track. Humanity has grown since the Divine Accord was signed, and they no longer need the gods. Interested, Jedah retreats deeper into the lair, beckoning Alm to continue further and prove himself.
Alm comes across Berkut. Not wanting to kill his cousin, Alm offers him forgiveness, saying they can work together to rebuild Valentia. However, Berkut laughs and rejects his offer, saying that the only thing that matters is raw power. He and Rinea attack him, and in the next battle, they gain stat bonuses equivalent to those given by an S support, making them a serious threat. Alm barely wins again, mortally wounding Berkut and destroying the fire spirit that was formerly Rinea. Rinea briefly regains her senses and appears to Berkut, who forgives him despite what he did, saying she never cared about power. She repeats she was always happy just being with Berkut. Realizing the suffering he caused, Berkut has a moment of clarity, breaking down in tears and apologizing to first her and then Alm. He acknowledges Alm as the rightful heir of Rigel, asking him to lead Valentia to the new future he promised. Rinea’s spirit fades away, and Berkut dies at peace.
The Valentian Falchion
Continuing on, Alm enters the inner sanctum, where they discover the Rigelian imperial family’s treasure vault, where Jedah has stored Mila’s head, Falchion still stabbed through it. The vault is magically warded to allow only Rudolf’s family to enter, forcing Alm to continue alone. He fights through hordes of monsters to reach the heart of the vault, where Mila’s dragon head, Falchion, and Celica await him. Alm is overjoyed to see Celica, but Celica, now brainwashed by Jedah, attacks him and breaks his sword, forcing him to pick up Falchion and fight back. However, although the player must order Alm to attack to advance, Alm refuses to land the killing blow against Celica. After several turns, Alm will apologize and do so. In the following cinematic, Alm impales Celica with Falchion, mortally wounding her. As her life fades, Celica apologizes to Alm, saying she won’t be able to fulfill their promise to stay together. As Alm screams in anguish and holds Celica in his arms, he notices his mark resonating with Celica’s mark. Mila’s spirit appears before them. The goddess explains although her degenerating physical form is dead, her spirit has lingered, wanting to see the prophecy fulfilled, and uses what little life force she has left to revive Celica. Disappearing, Mila urges the two of them to put Duma out of his misery and restore peace to Valentia.
Returning to the Deliverance with Falchion, Alm and Celica reach Duma’s altar, where Jedah used his power to awaken Duma’s dragon form, which has degenerated so much that it resembles a rotting melting one-eyed dragon-shaped corpse. The Deliverance unites with Celica’s party (the Whitewings saying they recognize Zeke from Archanea, who claims he doesn’t know who they are), and the united army faces down Duma. Everybody says a few words to Duma, in a homage to the cast of The Blazing Blade doing their same in their final battle. When Celica appears to be worried, Alm turns to her and says, “Don’t worry Celica, I’ll crush these dastards.”
The mad god Duma
The battle begins, and Jedah throws his strongest sorcerers and monsters against Alm and Celica’s forces, only for them and even Jedah to fall. Duma is far more powerful than the cultists, being invincible to all weapons except Falchion (and the Nosferatu spell, due to a glitch that was legitimized in the remake). Nevertheless, Alm gradually wears him down and prepares to deliver the final blow. He declares the reign of the gods is over and it is time for humanity to decide its own fate. Celica thanks Duma and Mila for their guidance and contributions, but humanity has grown up, and it's time they got the rest they deserved. Alm dramatically tosses aside his shield, jumps up, and plunges Falchion right through Duma’s eye, putting an end to the god. With his dying breath, Duma briefly returns to his senses and acknowledges Alm’s victory, entrusting him and Celica with the future of Valentia as is the right of the victors.
Several months later, Alm and Celica are married and crowned the joint rulers of the newly declared One Kingdom of Valentia, vowing in their coronation speeches they will forge the continent into a new nation created by and for humanity. The two countries are absorbed into the new kingdom, and the religious institutions dedicated to worship of Mila and Duma are merged into one through the work of Nomah and Halcyon, although in the aftermath of their gods’ deaths many Valentians turn instead to worshipping Naga. The Valentians struggle without the guidance of their gods, but they hold onto the hope of overcoming any of their challenges in the future. Mila and Duma’s remains are buried with reverence in central Valentia, where over the next few centuries their draconic energy leads to the growth of a giant tree that will become the central religious site of the new Valentian faith.
The Deliverance disbands, and Celica’s party go their separate ways. The Whitewings, aware of increasing tensions in Archanea due to recent developments in Emperor Hardin’s rule, decide it is time to go home, urging Zeke to join them. Although Zeke plans to marry Tatiana and retire, he relents, on the condition he wear a mask. Ram Village, now famous for having raised Alm and Celica, becomes a major city in the new kingdom, with its inhabitants lifted out of poverty under the leadership of Gray, who married Clair (the future character Sofia resembles both of them). Novis Island becomes a major pilgrimage destination. Investments in Chon’sin lead to it becoming a major commercial center in the new kingdom under the mercenary Kamui, who served under Celica (his descendant is implied to be Say’ri), while the neighboring province of Rosanne is tasked with watching over the Mila Tree under the leadership of Tobin (who resembles Virion). With his work done, Mycen retires and spends the rest of his days as a advisor to the king and queen. Alm and Celica’s successor would eventually rename the One Kingdom of Valentia to the Empire of Valm in Alm’s honor, with the continent also renamed as such, and their dynasty would reign for a thousand years.
During the credits, The Heritors of Arcadia plays. Mila sings her farewells to humanity and urges them to stay strong, knowing they have what it takes to lead themselves. The Mila Tree is seen growing in a timelapse while towns and cities rise and fall in its shade. The timelapse briefly stops when Alyssa visits the tree and meets Tiki, followed by Grima’s arrival in Valm and Walhart settling there. It resumes and shows the people of Valm rebuilding after the Schism before finally ending on Chrom and (female) Robin visiting to seek the help of Anselm, the distant descendant of Alm and Celica.
The Mila Tree at the end of the timelapse
Act 6: Forbidden Sanctuary (Shadows of Valentia only)
Following their wedding and coronation, Alm and Celica embark on a tour of the kingdom, visiting all parts of the continent, no matter how distant. While visiting Zofia Harbor, they come across a distraught merchant asking for a naval escort to help him traverse the pirate-infested waters to Archanea. Although the Whitewings and Zeke offer to provide the escort as they are heading to Archanea already, Alm and Celica decide to personally escort the merchant, calling up their other allies for one last quest. The mission is more difficult than expected, as the sea routes to Archanea are infested by not only pirates but also rogue Duma cultists, cult monsters, and even sea dragons. Confused as to why the seas are even more dangerous than normal, the merchant only says he has heard of rumors of a malevolent magical power near Port Furia, his destination in Archanea, awakening the monsters and dragons.
Western Archanea
The party arrives in Port Furia, and Alm and Celica decide to investigate the magical power. The Furians are aware of the power, which they say originates in the ruins of Thabes, whose inhabitants dabbled in powerful magic so much it led to their downfall. There is a prophecy that one day, the magic of Thabes will emerge again and threaten the world, so the people of Port Furia constantly train to prepare for this future threat. Alm and Celica decide to go to Thabes and end the threat for good, despite the locals’ warnings. They run into Marth and Caeda, who coincidentally were also visiting Port Furia for their honeymoon. Caeda is happy to see her friend and sparring partner Catria again, while Marth recognizes Zeke and is shocked to see he is still alive, although Zeke claims he doesn’t recognize Marth at all. The Alteans decide to go with the Valentians to Thabes, and Marth and Caeda become playable.
(Marth and Caeda in New Mystery since there are no actual portraits of them in this game)
The two Alteans have supports with the main cast. Marth has several support and base conversations with Alm and Celica, both talking about the events of their games, the origins of their two Falchions, the recent actions of Emperor Hardin, and their different worldviews. Caeda’s main support and base conversations are with the Whitewings. The pegasus sisters explain their visit to Valentia, their work with Celica, and plans for the future like Est’s wedding to Abel (much to Palla's continued dismay). Catria then asks how things are with Marth, and Caeda blushes, while Catria sighs. Zeke refuses to talk to Marth until the Altean prince literally corners him and demands to know what he, General Camus of Grust, is doing in Valentia, especially after Marth (canonically) stabbed him several times during the war against Medeus. Zeke doesn’t know how he survived or unconsciously floated all the way across the sea to Valentia, but he doesn’t care as it happened and he is here now. When asked if he regrets his predicament, Zeke says he doesn’t, having met Tatiana there. Marth asks about Princess Nyna, and Zeke says he doesn’t remember her, but he will try to as she appears to be really important to him. Heading back to mainland Valentia with Marth and Caeda also unlocks extra base conversations with them at certain locations.
The combined party arrive in Thabes and head for the labyrinth Gharnef formerly hid in, as that is the source of the mysterious power. The upper floors of the sprawling ruins are filled with regular bandits hoping to find treasure, which the team easily defeats. But as they descend, the enemies grow more powerful. Stronger variants of Valentian monsters start appearing, which worry Alm and Celica. Scattered throughout the ruins are tablets left by, surprisingly enough, Duma cultists as warnings to treasure hunters, strongly urging them to turn back. Centuries ago, the labyrinth was the personal laboratory and testing ground of an alchemist named Forneus, who after his wife’s death turned to increasingly unethical experiments to create the perfect life form and raise the dead. As his experiments became more dangerous, Duma learned of them. With Mila’s help, he personally descended on Thabes and laid waste to the city, but before he could destroy Forneus and his creations he was assailed by an unknown magical power that inexplicably surpassed his own. Unable to end the threat, he instead sealed it away at the heart of the labyrinth with a powerful magical seal and ordered several powerful dragons to guard the entrance. Disapproving of Duma and Mila’s actions, Naga exiled them to Valentia, giving them the Valentian Falchion to use against themselves when they inevitably degenerated. Alm and Celica reach the end of the labyrinth and prepare to turn back, only to be ambushed by the dragons. The party fights off the dragons. During the battle, Duma’s magical seal is accidentally broken, opening a path deeper in. Although the Alteans want to turn back, Alm and Celica press forward into Forneus’ laboratory proper, with Celica curious about the history of the place and Alm wanting to kill the thing that fought Duma.
This part of the labyrinth is overrun with shadowy zombies, called in Forneus’ notes scattered across the lab as the “Risen.” Although the corpses appear to be those of villagers, armed with common farming tools, they are immensely strong. Reading more of Forneus’ notes, Alm and Celica find despite Duma’s intervention, Forneus continued his work deep underground, improving the “Creation” that had unexpectedly injured Duma so much as well as the Risen, which he created with a mix of ancient Jugdrali magic and a certain magical insect he had found. Concluding its success against Duma was because of the Divine Dragon blood he had injected into it previously, Forneus injected the Creation with more Divine Dragon blood shed by Duma during the battle, which boosted its powers even further and allowed it to absorb quintessence from nearby life forms to continue increasing its power. The last note ends abruptly with Forneus writing he hears the Creation’s voice in his head, repeating a familiar name it gave itself.
Alm, Celica, Marth, and Caeda enter the heart of the labyrinth, where Forneus' "Creation" awaits them, slowly gaining more and more power. Its monstrous form has six wings, six eyes, something resembling a human face on the back of its head, and no legs, looking unlike any dragon the party has faced. Upon noticing them, it magically locks the only door out and lets out an eldritch roar, summoning an army of the most powerful Risen and necrodragons to aid it, led by a reanimated Forneus. The dragon telepathically announces itself: “I AM THE WINGS OF DESPAIR. I AM THE BREATH OF RUIN. I AM THE FELL DRAGON, GRIMA.”
"Forneus" and "The Creation." The boss battle theme playing here is a remix of the same theme that played in the Medeus boss fights in both New Mystery of the Emblem and Awakening.
Realizing the severity of their mistake, the party prepare for battle. Even though it doesn’t look fully developed and is only slightly larger than Minerva’s wyvern, it is still extremely dangerous, with its dark magic attacks Dark Spikes and Expiration dealing massive damage and each of the Risen themselves a serious threat. However, Marth’s and Alm’s Falchions are both effective against the Fell Dragon, as it is still a dragon like Medeus and Duma. The two lords are best equipped to deal with Grima.
If Alm attacks Grima, he remarks this is the thing Duma was so scared about to level an entire city. Grima observes Alm and has a feeling his bloodline will be much more important to it later. It sees quite an interesting future for Alm’s descendants. Alm orders it to shut up, declaring he won’t let it leave the ruins. Grima warns Alm can’t rewrite what has already been written. Valentia’s future will be full of death and destruction, and he can’t change that fate. If Celica attacks, Grima remarks she is one of the chosen of Mila. Celica tells it to shut up and not speak her name, calling it an abomination. Grima laughs, saying she will be one as well when she is reanimated as a Deadlord. Celica is not intimidated. She has no desire to end up like that, after being under Jedah’s control. If Caeda attacks, Grima wonders if she will end up like the other villagers making up its Risen army. Caeda scoffs. She defeated many dragons before, and she can do it again in the name of her love. Grima laughs, believing love is useless against raw power and inevitable fate. Caeda raises her Wing Spear and dares it to say that again. If Catria attacks, Grima mocks her for being constantly ignored by Marth. It gloats this won’t be limited to her. Her descendants will also be similarly cursed and will never be truly happy with the descendants of Marth. But Catria has made her peace with Marth being with Caeda. She is happy for them, and that’s all that matters. As for herself, she will focus on defeating this monstrosity. It’s the least she could do for Marth. And she has hope at least one of her descendants will eventually break the curse. If Marth attacks Forneus, he notes a strange sense of familiarity. Forneus says nothing. If Marth attacks Grima, he remarks it is nothing like Medeus or the manaketes of Dolhr. Grima observes Marth and has a feeling his bloodline will be even more important to it than Alm’s in the future. His troublesome descendants will be a major thorn in its side. Perhaps it should just eliminate Marth now to avoid that. Marth does not yield, saying there is no way he will let Grima survive. Grima laughs. It will survive this battle. And when it returns, it will get its revenge against the heirs of the Falchions. While Valentia’s future will be full of death and destruction, there will be nothing left of Archanea. There is nothing Marth can do to change that. But Marth doesn’t give up. He insists that is no reason to give up. He will do what he can and hope his descendants are up to the task. Such is the duty of a prince of Altea and heir of Anri, inheritor of Falchion.
Grima falls against the might of the two Falchions, with one of the blades plunged into a weak spot on the back of its neck. As its body falls to the ground, Grima laughs again. It is surprised by the power of humanity. But it warns the party that it will rise again, and when it finally does, nobody will be able to stop it. Someday, the Fell Dragon will get its revenge. It will remember the two wielders of Falchion who defeated it. With Grima apparently dead, the Risen crumble, and the magical energy emanating from the monstrosity disappears, allowing them to escape. Marth promises to ask Hardin and the Furians to seal the labyrinth. At Port Furia, the Archaneans and Valentians part ways and plan to open diplomatic relations at home. Alm, Celica, and their friends return to Valentia, while Marth, Caeda, the Whitewings, and Zeke go to Altea. Alm and Celica decide to pass down the story of Thabes to their descendants, so they will be ready when the Fell Dragon awakens again. Marth and Caeda have a similar idea, although they are more focused on ruling for now. The credits roll again, during which a feast is seen being held at Altea Castle. Marth presents a sapphire gem to Catria as thanks for her support in this latest adventure as well as the war against Medeus, but Catria refuses the gift, saying with the state of things in Archanea, it looks like their job isn’t done yet. Zeke secretly leaves, Sirius’ soon to be iconic mask covering his face.
The game may be over, but the story is only just beginning...
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Edit 1/11/22: Changed Youtube links to not embed previews, as they make this page hard to load.
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The black sheep of its family, even here. I appreciate its new elements even if it makes it feel not quite like a Fire Emblem game. Still an enjoyable story.
In a way, that's kind of the charm about this game. While it was very jarring going from games like Awakening and Fates to this, I had one of my favorite experiences playing any Fire Emblem game here.
Fire Emblem Warriors
Fire Emblem Warriors, known as Fire Emblem Unrivaled in China, is a Fire Emblem crossover with the Dynasty Warriors series. It is Rentiantang’s second crossover with Dynasty Warriors, with the first being Hyrule Warriors, and Fire Emblem’s second major crossover, the first being Pokemon Conquest. It was released on both the Switch and the 3DS systems in Fall 2017. This crossover features a cast of Fire Emblem characters in the gameplay style of Dynasty Warriors. Warriors is a hack and slash action RPG published by Guangrong Keji in association with Intelligent Systems and to a lesser extent Game Freak (developers of Pokemon) due to the presence of Pokemon Conquest characters. The game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the combination of Fire Emblem and Dynasty Warriors gameplay and drawing favorable comparisons to Hyrule Warriors.
Gameplay
Fire Emblem Warriors is a hack-and-slash action role-playing game similar to the Dynasty Warriors series in which players control Robin or Kris, who serve as viewpoint characters, and direct characters from several Fire Emblem games. All games are represented except Crusaders of Light and the Magvel duology due to time restrictions. The player defeats enemies with any character, accomplishing specific goals to beat maps. Generally, killing all enemies is not the goal, and win conditions are often things like capturing enemy fortresses or defeating enemy commanders. Warriors features hack and slash gameplay of a single character against many enemy units at once in real time. In addition to hack-and-slash combat, the game includes the ability to give tactical commands to units through Robin or Kris.
The game has several gameplay mechanics inspired by Fire Emblem titles. The weapon triangle has a large effect on how much damage is done to combatants. As in The Exalt’s Duty, use of gunpowder weapons and certain powerful spells can cause changes to the map such as opening new paths or removing hazardous terrain. Pair Up is also featured in the game in a similar way as in Awakening, Pokemon Conquest, and The Exalt’s Duty. Weapons in the game include axes, lances, swords, bows, tomes, guns, and dragonstones. When characters assist, heal, or fight alongside each other in battle, their bond strengthens. Like in Fire Emblem games, if two characters' bond increases enough, a support conversation is unlocked. The game utilizes all existing Fire Emblem Amiibo figurines, which give weapons related to the character represented by the Amiibo used. Data transfers from Awakening, Pokemon Conquest, and The Exalt’s Duty also give unique weapons and unlock special cutscenes.
The game's roster focuses on the Archanean/Ylissean and Elibean casts, with the Archaneans/Ylisseans having the most representation due to being the most recent games. The developers aimed for a cast which was well balanced instead of being dominated by swordfighters as Fire Emblem and Dynasty Warriors were stereotypically seen as. Pokemon Conquest characters operate on a unique set of mechanics incorporating their partner Pokemon. The roster includes:
Marth, Caeda, Tiki (child)
Archanea: Marth, Caeda, Catria, Palla, Est, Jagen, Cain, Abel, Minerva, Navarre, Linde, Merric, Wrys, Tiki (child)
Celica
Valentia: Alm, Celica, Clive, Clair, Lukas, Silque, Kamui, Saber, Mae, Boey, Gray, Tobin, Kliff
Jugdral (Thracia): Leif, Mareeta, Finn, Nanna, Altena, Ced, Asbel, Shiva, Karen
Lyn
Elibe: Roy, Lilina, Sue, Eliwood, Hector, Lyn, Florina, Farina, Fiora, Shanna, Fir, Karla, Dorcas, Ninian, Nils, Rath, Nino, Jaffar
Tellius: Ike, Elincia, Soren, Micaiah, Pelleas, Sothe, Titania, Mia, Jill, Haar, Tanith, Marcia, Sanaki
Chrom, Lucina, Robin
Ylisse: Chrom, Lucina, Morgan, Owain, Severa, Inigo, Lissa, Cordelia, Frederick, Sully, Stahl, Donnel, Anselm, Juliana, Priam, Elina, Tiki (adult)
Kalos: Katarina (with Meowstic), Frey (with Mega Kangaskhan), Harmonia (with Zoroark)
Hinoka
Schism-era Archanea/Ylisse: Alyssa, Cassie, Cynthia, Mozu, Hinoka, Say'ri, Walhart, Calla (a descendant of Palla), Tiki (teenager)
Robin (female) and Kris (male) serve as player “avatars,” although they can’t be customized beyond choosing who to play as at the start of the game. The other will be AI controlled.
Later DLC packs added the following characters as well as more to the above rosters.
Jugdral: Sigurd, Deirdre, Seliph, Quan, Ethlyn, Eldigan, Lachesis, Ares, Julia, Lex, Ayra, Larcei, Ulster, Dermott, Lewyn, Erin, Fee
Magvel: Eirika, Ephraim, Seth, Tana, Vanessa, Syrene, Innes, L’Arachel, Joshua, Marisa
The Triangle Attack can be executed by the Whitewings/Caeda, the Elibean pegasus sisters, Lilina/Shanna/Farina, Tana/Vanessa/Syrene, Elincia/Marcia/Tanith, Cordelia/Sully/Stahl, Alyssa/Cassie, Hinoka/Mozu/Say'ri, Cassie/Calla/Cynthia, and all three Tikis.
The game also has History Mode, an alternate scenario mode featuring many battles. When entering History Mode, the player can choose from a selection of scenarios to play, most of them being remakes of maps from previous Fire Emblem titles. A History Mode scenario consists of a picture of a map from that the game it is based on and an interpretations of the map and its enemies with Warriors mechanics in mind. Music and sound effects are used from the games the maps originally came from. For example, a History Mode scenario reenacting Marth’s showdown with Gharnef in Thabes in the first game uses a screenshot of that map, features an HD recreation of that map the player traverses while fighting enemies, and uses original RUS music and sound effects.
Battles in History Mode are represented by enemy sprites on the map. The player character can only walk through defeated battles, which are indicated by the sprites becoming dim and no longer animated. Each mission features one of several types of objectives; battles may also have various requirements and restrictions, such as only being able to use characters from a particular game or characters who use a certain type of weapon. Battles in History Mode are also ranked, based on completion time, total number of enemies defeated, and total damage taken. History Mode battles can be completed in almost any order, though for certain scenarios there are requisites that must be met to unlock more battles or make them appear. Upon defeating the penultimate battle, there will typically be a few extra battles that appear and are a very high level compared to the rest of the map. In most maps, these appear as Outrealm distortions.
History Mode maps contain a wealth of references to the games the scenarios are from, and also other games. For instance, one of the Outrealm distortions in the Together to the End map partially reenacts a secret event in Crusaders of Light, where Lex drops his axe in a pond and is gifted a Brave Axe by a mysterious woman in the lake after honestly stating the gold and silver axes she had offered him were not the ones he dropped. Scenes typically use stand-ins for characters not in the game, with Lex being represented by Dorcas and the mysterious lady of the lake by Micaiah (unless DLC is added, in which case Lex represents himself). Numerous scenes from other games are also represented in this fashion. There are also references to memes and in-jokes created over the course of the series, like Dorcas’ poisoned mutton, Wrys’ deletion, numerous jokes from fan translations of China-only games (like Kempf saying "they fell right into my trap, IN RHOMANIA") and bad early translations of the donghua series (like "BUT MAAARRRRSSSSSS"), and the 3-13 archer.
Development
Fire Emblem Warriors is known to have began development some time in 2015, and was initially planned to release solely for the 3DS. When the game first started development, Hyrule Warriors was used as a base. They used Link from The Legend of Zelda as a playable test character in the earliest versions of the game (his data can still be found hidden in the code). It was only later that the game was moved to the Switch as well. The game was pitched after the successful development of Hyrule Warriors, and the developers eagerly wanted to make use of their idea of a cast drawn from previous Fire Emblem games as was the original plan for Pokemon Conquest.
The developers stated there was substantial conflict over the game's roster, to the point some developers threatened to leave the project, relating to how many games and what characters should be represented. They eventually settled with a focus on the Ylissean duology due to, at least partially, having the most 3D references for those characters and being the most recent games in the series. They began the game's roster with Celica but wanted to imitate the prerendered cutscene style used in Awakening and The Exalt’s Duty, so they worked on Chrom right afterward. For some reason, in prerendered cutscenes Celica is shown wielding the Marth-era Archanean Falchion.
Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light was chosen next due to the developers feeling "a Fire Emblem without Marth is not a Fire Emblem after all." Afterward, the Elibe and Tellius duologies were chosen due to their high popularity among veterans and Super Smash Bros players. As a bonus to longtime veterans, several Thracia 776 characters were added, including Leif due to his appearances in Super Smash Bros. Unfortunately, due to hardware, budget, and time restraints, the developers were unable to add characters from Crusaders of Light (although Leif, Finn, Nanna, Altena, and Ced are also Crusaders of Light characters) or the Magvel duology until DLC was released for them. The developers briefly considered not including Lucina in the roster due to the large amount of characters, sword users in particular, shaping up to be in the game, and how the casual audience, Super Smash Bros players, and even Fire Emblem fans already stereotyped Fire Emblem as being full of sword users. But they decided removing Lucina was impossible after discussing it with Intelligent Systems. Eventually they got around this problem by simply adding more non-sword using characters. Ironically, in initial marketing, the game heavily promoted the sword users Lyn and Roy, the two lords most popular overseas due to their inclusion in Super Smash Bros, as well as Lucina, Marth, Chrom, and Alyssa, all sword users (although Alyssa’s gameplay is more focused on healing).
Wanting to take advantage of the multi-game cast to write interactions between characters who would never have the chance to interact otherwise, the developers gave every support pair in the game a relevant conversation chain. All information in support conversations aside from that related to Warriors’ story is considered canon to mainline Fire Emblem. However, this came at the cost of not being able to implement Crusaders of Light or Magvel duology characters due to development strain. Those characters would be added in DLC alongside more developed support conversations, all of which were voice acted. Developers had some issues with rendering the Risen enemies used in the game, and although they managed to overcome these issues and make the Risen look adequate in HD, this left them no time to implement other monsters they planned to feature like those from Valentia and Magvel.
Release and reception
Warriors is reported to have sold through 50% of its initial shipment in China at release. In late April 2018, Guangrao Keji announced both the 3DS and Switch versions shipped a combined ten million copies to retailers internationally.
Reception varies somewhat depending on console. The 3DS release is rated slightly lower than the Switch release on various game review sites. Common complaints with the 3DS version are the system's limits significantly reducing the amount of enemies onscreen and downgrading the graphical fidelity of environments and characters. The 3DS release also lacks the co-op mode featured in the Switch release. Game instability, resulting in crashing, has been reported for both versions of the game though patches have been released to rectify this. The broad focus of the game's roster (and initial lack of Magvel or Crusaders of Light characters) was also received negatively by some outlets. The large amount of duplicate movesets, with even DLC characters sharing movesets of characters in the base game, was received negatively. The story was considered very generic compared to those of Pokemon Conquest and The Exalt’s Duty. The Switch release's graphical options allowing for performance over graphics or vice-versa was praised though.
Plot
The game starts with the player choosing their main viewpoint character as either Robin (female) or Kris (male), with the one not chosen being an NPC. The story begins with Robin and Kris waking up in an unknown location. While they ask each other who they are and briefly fight, strange portals appear and monsters emerge. Robin identifies the monsters as Risen from her world and the portals as resembling the Outrealm portal on the Talys archipelago. The monsters attack, and Robin and Kris join forces. Robin notices how Kris fights with a strange creature at his side, which Kris introduces as Eevee, his Pokemon. Robin doesn’t know what a Pokemon is. After fighting off the Risen, Kris wonders where they are. Robin suspects they may have fallen into an Outrealm, or someone dragged them there.
While they travel through this Outrealm, they come across others in similar situations, dragged from other worlds. Robin reunites with some of the Shepherds, particularly her husband Chrom and daughters Lucina and Morgan. All of them don’t know how they ended up here. Kris reunites with Katarina, his closest friend from Kalos. Fighting off more Risen, Robin suspects someone is directing them. If they defeat their leader, the Risen would dissolve back into shadows and they might be able to go home.
Robin and Kris run into more heroes brought to the Outrealm, among them the Greil Mercenaries, Lycian League, Leonster resistance army, the Deliverance, and Alyssa's Archanean/Valmese army, all taken from their worlds at some point in their adventures. Confused just like Robin and Kris were, they initially fight with each other before Robin and Kris convince them to join forces and protect the people native to this Outrealm.
As they continue fighting the Risen, they figure out their source, an “astral dragon” named Anankos and his servant Iago. Anankos wanted to bring the heroes here so they could fight for his amusement, with the winners being brainwashed into becoming the vanguard of an army to conquer the Outrealms. Iago uses dark magic to bend Robin to his will and use her Fellblood to power up Anankos, but she kills Iago, having feigned the mind control.
They then confront Anankos and after an epic battle, the heroes of Archanea/Ylisse, Valentia/Valm, Jugdral, Elibe, and Tellius bring down the dragon. Its death opens up Outrealm portals back to their worlds, and the heroes go their separate ways. They generally forget the events of the game when they wake up at home, aside from a few vague details. Waking up in their home continuities, Robin and Kris find a final gift from the other: a Thunderstone for Robin and one of Robin’s tomes for Kris.
Alyssa and Cassie stay in the Outrealm a little longer to help the locals and spend some time with each other. Their portal will stay open until they leave and will return them to the exact moment and age they left, anyways. More importantly, here they don't have to worry about the responsibilities and pressures of their home world. They could spend a lifetime here, finally together.
Some support conversations
Marth and Caeda with Alyssa, Chrom, and Lucina - Alyssa is nervous to be in the presence of her ancestor, not believing she is worthy of living up to the Hero-King, but Marth doesn't mind. There was a time when he was just like her, and she did fine given her situation. Chrom sees little resemblance with Marth, Caeda, or Alyssa, but Alyssa just tells him to be himself and find his own way as an heir of Falchion, like she did. Marth is a little flattered Lucina used his identity as a disguise and was doing pretty good at it.
Tiki (child) with her older selves - Child Tiki is amazed with what her older selves get to do and the friends they have made. Teenage Tiki isn't so amazed, but she is secretly desperate to show her other selves she is not a child. Adult Tiki laughs at her younger selves' banter and fondly remembers when she was their age and the friends she had back then.
Alm and Celica with Walhart and Anselm - Celica gives Walhart the advice he had been missing his entire life, helping him find another perspective and worldview beyond just brute strength. Walhart tries to get validation from Alm, but Alm sees he's lost his way and resolves to set him on the path of the Saint-King. Although Anselm holds Walhart responsible for the destruction of Valm and their family's failure to stop Grima, he doesn't hold it against him.
Ike and Elincia with Priam - Ike doesn't believe he ends up with Elincia and Priam is his descendant, but he slowly comes around to it. Elincia wants to know why Priam or one of his ancestors left Tellius and what the place is like in the future, specifically Crimea. Priam just wants to duel both of them to see if they really are as strong as the legends say.
Palla and Est with Calla, Stahl, Cynthia, and Sully - Palla and Est are both confused as to how Calla and Cynthia inherited their personality traits so closely, and yet Stahl and Sully are very different. Palla is shocked to learn she ended up with Cain instead of Abel. Est finds it hard to accept she has distant descendants, especially these descendants, when she doesn't even have children of her own yet.
The Whitewings with Florina, Farina, and Fiora - The two pegasus sister trios compare their fighting styles and Triangle Attacks. Farina wonders how Palla makes enough money to support her sisters. Fiora feels sad for Catria's situation, but Catria would prefer they move past that. Florina and Est hit it off, and the more cheerful Est brings the timid Florina out of her shell.
Catria with Cassie and Cordelia - Catria is dismayed her descendants inherited her bad romantic prospects as well as her blue hair. Cordelia is shocked her ancestor Catria isn't fully perfect. Cassie resolves to learn as much as she can from Catria to better defend Alyssa. Noticing Cordelia no longer has Marth's sapphire gem, Catria wonders who has it, and Cassie wonders if it is still in the Hero-King's family.
Roy, Lilina, and Sue with their Binding Blade-era parents - Eliwood and Roy notice they look almost exactly the same, only Roy has Ninian's eyes, slightly pointed ears like a dragon, and a new headband. Lilina tearfully reunites with Hector, who youthfully boasts he wouldn't lose like that, but he would do it in a heartbeat if it meant protecting his friends and family. Sue trains with a younger Lyn, who encourages her to separate herself from the expectations placed on her.
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I’m not going to focus too much on the story here, as I was more focused on the gameplay, updated roster, and the support conversations.
Edit 1/11/22: Removed all but one Youtube link to improve this page's loading speeds.
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A bigger roster is nice on paper, but even this acknowledges that it leads to many characters playing similar to each other. Still, I quite like Kris being included; Fire Emblem always never seems to know how to treat their spinoffs moving forward.
And hey, at least here Alyssa and Cassie can have a life together. Helps dull that bittersweet feeling I'm sure fans would have had.
I must admit, I wasn't expecting you to cover this game. At this rate, I'm half-expecting a chapter on Heroes or Tokyo Mirage Sessions.
And hey, at least here Alyssa and Cassie can have a life together. Helps dull that bittersweet feeling I'm sure fans would have had.
I must admit, I wasn't expecting you to cover this game. At this rate, I'm half-expecting a chapter on Heroes or Tokyo Mirage Sessions.
Definitely, although at this point Pokemon Conquest blurs the line between main series and spinoff by hewing so closely to the traditional FE formula. And I couldn't leave him out when I wanted representation from every game (eventually), even if that would cause gameplay and production issues. The real focus is on the support conversations which I had fun imagining.
I couldn't just leave them like that after their game ended. They deserve the best.
Unfortunately, Pokemon Conquest replaced TMS here since in real life the original Pokemon x Fire Emblem idea was scrapped and turned into TMS due to the real Pokemon Conquest being developed. As a result, I'm not going to be doing TMS, and I honestly don't know how to write an SMT/FE crossover since I'm not that familiar with SMT outside of Persona 5. And I'm not going to touch Heroes since I don't play it and know nothing about its story or gameplay. I did try to replicate its "characters from every game meet up and have otherwise impossible interactions" idea here in Warriors though.
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Fire Emblem: Journey of the Three Heroes
The Fire Emblem theme in this game
Journey of the Three Heroes was co-developed by Intelligent Systems and Guangrao Keji for the Switch and published worldwide by Rentiantang in summer 2019. It is the sixteenth entry in the series and the first for home consoles or in a new continuity since 2007’s Radiant Dawn.
The game is set on the continent of Fódlan, divided between three rival nations now at peace, connected through the Garreg Mach Monastery and its Church of Seiros. Taking the role of a former mercenary turned combat instructor at Garreg Mach, Byleth, the player instructs the current class of nobles and commoners enrolled at the monastery drawn from all over Fódlan, with circumstances over the course of the story pushing them to choose a faction to support. The second half of the game features multiple story routes based on which faction Byleth chooses. The game carries over the turn-based tactical gameplay of earlier Fire Emblem titles while incorporating social simulation and time management elements like in traditional Chinese RPGs such as Persona. Fans have especially noted many similarities in both gameplay and story themes with Persona, particularly the most recent fifth entry (which shares a lot of voice actors with this game).
The game's production was challenging for Intelligent Systems, who attributed its success to Guangrao Keji, who had previously partnered with the company for Fire Emblem Warriors. The staff wanted something entirely new for the series' debut on HD home consoles, birthing the school life mechanics and expansions to battle. The game's school system and other mechanics such as Crests and the ability to repair weapons took inspiration from Crusaders of Light.
The game released to critical acclaim, with critics praising the integration of the school system and battalion mechanics, narrative, characters, replay value, and soundtrack. Some criticisms were directed at the game's easier difficulty compared to past installments as well as some visual and technical problems including graphics and animations. The game won Best Strategy Game and the Player's Voice Award at The Game Awards 2019. As of March 2020, the game sold over 28.7 million copies worldwide.
Setting
After years of games set in the Archanea/Valentia/Jugdral/Elibe continuity, particularly the "Archanea and Valentia" 3DS trilogy which dominated the decade, Journey of the Three Heroes is the first game since Radiant Dawn to be set in a new continuity from previous games. The new Fódlan continuity would be the third non-Archanean continuity introduced. It takes place largely on the continent of Fódlan, which is split between three major powers.
The Adrestian Reich is very obviously based on the medieval Reich, particularly the Reich during and in the centuries following the Restoration. Its insignia, a double-headed black eagle bearing the Crest of Seiros, is clearly based on the Hohenzollern imperial eagle. It also takes some design and thematic influences from other “empire” countries in previous games such as the Begnion Empire and the Empire of Valm. The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is based on medieval Scandinavia. Its geography and climate are mountainous and cold like Scandinavia, and its national insignia, a blue lion, is designed like a traditional Norse banner. It is a deeply religious and military-focused country. However, instead of longboats and berserkers, the military of Faerghus is instead focused on knights. Faerghus is also inspired by “kingdom” countries like Altea, Leonster, Renais, and Crimea which protagonists like Marth, Leif, Eirika and Ephraim, and Ike and Elincia hail from. This is most notable in the Faerghus knights’ code of chivalry and its people’s unhealthy cultural fixation on honor and justice. The Leicester Commonwealth is based on the 17th century Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth. Like the real life Commonwealth, it is a relatively weaker power wedged between many larger ones like Adrestia, Faerghus, and the neighboring Almyra (based on Persia and Central Asia), all of which have territorial grievances against it. Its military forces excel in unconventional warfare, taking advantage of the country’s forests to repel all invaders. Internally, it resembles the Lycian League from the Elibe duology as it is a noble republic. Dagda has no direct inspirations other than generally 19th century designs its characters wear, while the country of Brigid has heavy Hibernian as well as some Nahua and Mayan influences. The three nations’ territories converge on the neutral Garreg Mach Monastery at the center of Fódlan. Garreg Mach is the headquarters of the Church of Seiros (based on the Catholic Church as well as the post-Schism Orthodox Church of the 17th century), a religious institution overseeing the continent’s dominant faith led by the Archbishop Rhea. In free-roaming mode, the player controls Byleth, son of the mercenary Jeralt Eisner. Byleth has recently been appointed as a combat instructor for the current class of Garreg Mach.
Fódlan is shown to be more technologically advanced than most other Fire Emblem settings. It is slightly ahead of Schism-era Valm and only behind Ylissean-era Elibe. Garreg Mach, Byleth’s primary base for the early game, as well as his bases in later parts of the game, shows many examples of this. The continent’s societies are designed around the presence of magic and creatures like pegasi and wyverns. Pegasus riders deliver mail to and from the monastery, informing Byleth of developments around the continent. Magic is used to provide electricity and other utilities for the monastery, although other places aren’t so fortunate. Later Renaissance and early Enlightenment technology is commonly used in the Adrestian Reich, although some other technologies are suppressed by the Church in the name of stability. Gunpowder weapons are more powerful and accurate than in Valm, with the fleets of countries like Brigid, Dagda, Leicester, and Almyra utilizing cannons on their ships (which can be used in naval battles). The neighboring country of Dagda is said to be more advanced, although Byleth never visits it and only hears of it through the Dagdan Shamir, another instructor and Church mercenary, and some Dagdan enemies encountered during the story.
Gameplay
Journey of the Three Heroes does not have an avatar character. The developers recognized an avatar would not fit with the focus on the story they intended. Byleth is instead a viewpoint character much like Alyssa, Alm, and Celica. Although he doesn’t speak as much as these three initially, there is a story reason for that. At the start of the game, Byleth begins teaching at Garreg Mach, which acts as an initial hub for game activities, and gains access to a large roster comprising of all of the students and possibly even the instructors. It is a massive expansion of the base camp seen in Awakening, Pokemon Conquest, and The Exalt’s Duty, with many more features and explorable areas taking advantage of the Switch’s capabilities. Although Garreg Mach is already quite large and full of different locations to explore, Byleth can also explore the nearby town. Depending on which faction Byleth follows in the late game, a new base (in the capitals of Enbarr, Fhirdiad, or Derdriu) opens up, and Garreg Mach might become unavailable for part of the remaining story. The player's time is divided between story-based battles that advance the main narrative, free-roaming periods in Garreg Mach where they interact with students and staff members there, and periods of class instruction in between. After Byleth picks a side, class instruction is replaced with training, and free-roaming can also be done at the other bases. A calendar system similar to Persona is implemented to keep track of the number of days before the next story battle. Although the developers initially wanted each story battle to happen at the end of the month for ease of gameplay, they decided that was unrealistic. Story battles were chosen to happen at any time in a month, with the number of days until the next story battle shown on screen. This encourages the player to make use of the free time and instruction given. Certain special events, like holiday celebrations and birthdays, are marked on the calendar and provide a variety of benefits ranging from stat bonuses to support/trust building. All cutscenes are now fully animated in-engine instead of using portraits and sprites with dialogue boxes.
During free time when not instructing the students, the player can do a variety of minigames like farming, fishing, hunting, and cooking. Byleth can improve his skill at these minigames as his stats increase, he does them more, or he finds appropriate partners to help him (for example, Dedue is good at cooking, while Leonie can hunt, and Seteth can fish). Byleth can also socially interact with the students and other instructors to improve their likelihood of passing their lessons and learning new skills, although he is excluded from the support system. Each student and instructor has a trust level which tracks their trust in Byleth, building on Pokémon Conquest’s system. This meter increases when Byleth gives gifts, invites them to tea, or chooses correct dialogue options and decreases if they are not deployed in battle, are defeated in Casual mode, or Byleth says the wrong thing, among other things. This becomes very important when Byleth chooses a faction. However, S supports remain removed, with only certain A supports (only teacher/teacher and student/student ones) resulting in marriage in the epilogue and most others being purely platonic. If multiple A supports are achieved, one paired ending is chosen based on how much that pair interacted relative to others. As in The Exalt’s Duty, there are multiple options for same-sex marriage endings, mostly involving the Black Eagles due to Adrestia’s greater tolerance of such relationships. Byleth's ending is canonically determined by the ending of each route, so he doesn't have any marriage options.
Journey of the Three Heroes uses a turn-based battle system as in previous games. Players pick a certain number of students out of the roster to deploy. They move across a grid, transitioning from a top-down perspective to a third-person view when combat begins. A new feature allows player to hire Battalions, additional troops that can support the character they are assigned to. Battalions have passive abilities which grant stat boosts to their assigned character and can perform special moves called Gambits, which can range from healing multiple units to stunning or pushing powerful or multiple enemies. Enemies will also make use of Gambits wherever possible. Due to Guangrao Keji developing the game on a modified version of the Fire Emblem Warriors engine, players can also zoom in to assess individual battalions and see details of the battlefield up close. As with other entries, there is a Classic mode where characters permanently die and a Casual mode where defeated characters only retreat. The player can also use a mechanic known as Divine Pulse, which like Mila’s Turnwheel allows players to rewind and undo a set amount of actions per battle.
Each student starts in either the Noble or Commoner class depending on their social background. These are default classes which the player is encouraged to promote them out of quickly. The promotion system is opened up and all gender restrictions on class are removed, allowing any character to promote to any class if they meet the corresponding weapon proficiency ranks, which can be increased by class instruction or through combat. During class instruction, Byleth puts together lesson plans to manage each character’s growth. There are several group assignments that can be given to pairs of classmates to build their support levels as well as weapon ranks. After class instruction ends, basic training replaces it. There are no more lesson plans but rather practice battles and group activities which fill in the same roles. The number of days for class instruction is reduced to give the player more free days, although they can simply skip straight to the story battles.
The Weapon Triangle remains removed from Shadows of Valentia and is replaced with certain skills (Swordbreaker, Lancebreaker, Axebreaker) that can be learned and equipped by characters over the course of the game. Combat arts make their return from Shadows of Valentia, but they are slightly different. Unlike their first appearance, they no longer cost HP and instead consume multiple points of durability of the weapon used. Additionally, combat arts are learned as the unit becomes more proficient with certain weapon types, instead of being learned from and connected to specific individual weapons. As in the previous game, they come with unique animations. Enemies can make use of combat arts now on all difficulties. As in Shadows of Valentia, magic no longer uses weapon durability, but each spell now has a number of uses which replenish after battle. The pair-up mechanic from the Ylisse duology returns in its Exalt's Duty form, only it is slightly weakened and only a maximum of three pairs can be paired up at each time.
Weapons can now be repaired at a cost as in Crusaders of Light. Any character can use any weapon other than magic or gunpowder weapons, which only mages and gunners can use. A new weapon type, the gauntlet, is introduced, with several brawling based classes added to make use of gauntlets. Cavalry, flying, and gunpowder weapon units are unable to use gauntlets, but all other classes can. Gunpowder weapons are made a little more powerful and accurate than in The Exalt’s Duty. Cannoneers still cannot counterattack and take one turn to reload, but their ammunition choices are expanded, allowing them to fire projectiles like explosives (for walls), chains (for cavalry and fliers), or fireballs (for fire damage). Arquebusiers also have the same restrictions but can now counterattack with bayonets, which are weak weapons considered lances for gameplay purposes. Only these classes may use guns.
Many features first introduced in the Jugdral duology return or are continued here. Crests are a new feature akin to Holy Blood from Crusaders of Light. Several characters, descended from ancient heroes, possess Crests that grant them particular abilities during combat such as increased damage or the ability to nullify counterattacks. They can also unlock the full power of legendary weapons known as Heroes’ Relics, allowing them to use special combat arts tied to them. Other legendary weapons known as Sacred Weapons provide a healing effect for their wielder. Heroes' Relics and Sacred Weapons can be found either over the course of the main story or in optional paralogue mini-arcs. As a non-canon easter egg, the Archanean royal regalia weapons—Hauteclere, Parthia, Gradivus, and Mercurius—from the Archanea, Valentia, and Ylisse games can be found as rare enemy loot. The dismount feature returns from Thracia 776, allowing cavalry and flying units to dismount whenever they choose. It is not required in indoor maps and does not lock the character into a certain weapon type. Skills/abilities, first introduced in Crusaders of Light, return in their Exalt's Duty form, and each student and instructor now has a unique skill of their own.
The world map returns as a feature, but it is closer to Awakening’s version where Byleth can travel around an overworld to conduct skirmish battles and advance the plot. At certain points of the story, it is made unavailable and the player is forced to continue to the next story battle without going to the world map or the base camp. Other villages and towns besides Enbarr, Fhirdiad, or Derdriu (as a secondary base) cannot be explored aside from buying and selling items or fighting skirmish battles there.
New Game+ is introduced as a feature that can be unlocked after completing one route. Playing subsequent games on New Game+ allows the player to carry over certain inventory items, unlocked classes, learned skills, and stat bonuses influenced by a previous save file. Support ranks and trust levels can be boosted to where they were at the end of the previous game to make it easier to recruit people. Extra dialogue and new explorable locations providing extra lore, such as a new section of the Garreg Mach library, are also unlocked. Sometimes characters might make meta references to the other routes or get a feeling of deja vu.
Amiibos and data transfers allow the player to recruit non-canon students and instructors: Robin, Morgan, Chrom, Lucina, Alyssa, Cassie, Roy, Lilina, Sue, Lyn (Blazing Blade era), Marth, Caeda, Tiki (child), Tiki (adult), Ike, Elincia, Micaiah, Pelleas, Alm, and Celica. Robin, Chrom, Ike, Lyn, Elincia, and Tiki (adult) are instructors. Alm has a particularly humorous interaction with the Gatekeeper NPC, as they share the same voice actor. They have supports but not paired endings with the main cast and will stay with whatever faction the player chooses. Each pair comes with a remix of a track from their original game, except for Alm and Celica or Micaiah and Pelleas, who use the original tracks from their games (Alm and Celica have two tracks, their battle themes). Setting Alm’s battle theme as the track for optional battles unlocks a secret conversation between the Gatekeeper and Alm. It is not explained how or why they are here other than to study or teach at Garreg Mach, and very few people question their presence, but it is implied they took Outrealm portals. If they are defeated in Classic Mode, they are not killed but only retreat and will be unavailable for the rest of the game. Regardless of what happens, they will go home after the end of the game.
On the Golden Deer route, Lyn notices similarities between her background and Claude’s, and she is drawn to Almyra's nomadic lifestyle, which reminds her a lot of Sacae. Sue enjoys Leicester’s culture of archery and gets into a friendly rivalry with Claude and the other Golden Deer archers. Roy sympathizes a lot with Claude's goals and ideals, and he sees Leicester as closely resembling Lycia. Lilina befriends Lysithea, who is jealous Lilina achieved so much more than her although they are the same age. Edelgard reminds Lyn of Zephiel, for some reason.
On the Blue Lions route, Chrom sees many similarities between him and Dimitri, notably in their childhoods and their unusual strength. Dimitri, meanwhile, wants to know how Chrom grew up and how he coped with tragedy in his childhood. On the Black Eagles route, Lucina sympathizes with Edelgard’s desire to simply be herself and change her fate. Edelgard admires Lucina's determination and unwillingness to accept destiny. Morgan is an overachieving student who tries to answer every question, to her mother’s frustration. She frequently competes with Lysithea for the highest grades in the class and joins the other Golden Deer in pulling pranks on the other houses and the faculty. Robin is more sympathetic to Edelgard and her plight, having been in a similar situation in her past, and tries to help her move past her childhood trauma. If data is transferred from an Awakening save where Robin and Chrom married, Robin and Morgan have extra interactions involving Chrom and Lucina. Chrom, Lucina, and Alyssa wonder if their Brand of the Exalt is like a Crest. In-game, the Brand of the Exalt and the Fellbrand are represented using the same mechanics as Crests, allowing them to occasionally double their attack power or heal some HP from attacks.
As in Fire Emblem Warriors, Alyssa and Cassie realize they no longer have the pressures of their home continuity upon them, which means they can be together, at least while they study here. They are glad this society, particularly Adrestia and the Black Eagles, is more welcoming of their relationship. On the Black Eagles route they will stay in Fódlan after the others from other worlds have left, wanting to spend some more time in Adrestia with each other. Together, they can execute their signature two-person Triangle Attack, which impresses the pegasus knights studying at Garreg Mach.
On the Blue Lions route, Marth draws parallels between him and Dimitri, and Caeda passes on what Catria taught her to Ingrid. Sylvain finds his womanizing skills are nothing compared to Caeda's charm and charisma. The Blue Lion Ashe looks up to Marth as a paragon of justice and honor. Dedue, Dimitri's bodyguard and retainer, can't get enough of Marth's stories about Jagen. Felix wants to know more about Navarre so he can learn from the Scarlet Swordsman.
Ike and Byleth bond over them both being mercenaries, and Ike sees a lot of his father Greil in Jeralt. Elincia likes taking care of the pegasi along with Marianne and competes with Caeda over who gets to mentor Ingrid. She also quickly befriends Alyssa, finding they have much in common, and practices with Cassie. Ike also finds out Chrom, Lucina, and Alyssa also have the Aether skill he and Greil developed, wondering how it got into the Exalt's family. He also makes common cause with both Alm and Edelgard. Micaiah is drawn to Claude due to her background and is a little flattered there is an Adrestian fortress nicknamed the Silver Maiden. Pelleas is more drawn to Dimitri, initially seeing him as an ideal ruler, but later in the game he begins strongly disagreeing with his methods. Hubert, who is experienced in dark magic, takes an interest in Pelleas and offers to mentor him. Micaiah has a special ability which allows her to heal allied units by sacrificing her own HP, just like in Radiant Dawn. The instructors constantly ask for her permission to run tests on her Heron brand to see if it is like a Crest.
Adult Tiki finds it weird her younger self is her own student, and much of her own knowledge (including a particularly meta incident about the nonexistence of the Weapon Triangle) is outdated. Child Tiki makes friends with Flayn, the sister of Church administrator Seteth, finding they have much in common (despite Flayn's insistence they don't), like their tendency to sleep a lot. Seteth and Rhea are very suspiciously interested in adult Tiki's background and abilities.
Alm of course has his interactions with the Gatekeeper, but on the Black Eagles route he heavily sympathizes with Edelgard’s goals. Celica is unnerved by the voices of Dimitri and Rhea (who share the same voice actors with her friends Boey and Mae but are nothing like them) and also sides with the Black Eagles.
On the Blue Lions route, Chrom sees many similarities between him and Dimitri, notably in their childhoods and their unusual strength. Dimitri, meanwhile, wants to know how Chrom grew up and how he coped with tragedy in his childhood. On the Black Eagles route, Lucina sympathizes with Edelgard’s desire to simply be herself and change her fate. Edelgard admires Lucina's determination and unwillingness to accept destiny. Morgan is an overachieving student who tries to answer every question, to her mother’s frustration. She frequently competes with Lysithea for the highest grades in the class and joins the other Golden Deer in pulling pranks on the other houses and the faculty. Robin is more sympathetic to Edelgard and her plight, having been in a similar situation in her past, and tries to help her move past her childhood trauma. If data is transferred from an Awakening save where Robin and Chrom married, Robin and Morgan have extra interactions involving Chrom and Lucina. Chrom, Lucina, and Alyssa wonder if their Brand of the Exalt is like a Crest. In-game, the Brand of the Exalt and the Fellbrand are represented using the same mechanics as Crests, allowing them to occasionally double their attack power or heal some HP from attacks.
As in Fire Emblem Warriors, Alyssa and Cassie realize they no longer have the pressures of their home continuity upon them, which means they can be together, at least while they study here. They are glad this society, particularly Adrestia and the Black Eagles, is more welcoming of their relationship. On the Black Eagles route they will stay in Fódlan after the others from other worlds have left, wanting to spend some more time in Adrestia with each other. Together, they can execute their signature two-person Triangle Attack, which impresses the pegasus knights studying at Garreg Mach.
On the Blue Lions route, Marth draws parallels between him and Dimitri, and Caeda passes on what Catria taught her to Ingrid. Sylvain finds his womanizing skills are nothing compared to Caeda's charm and charisma. The Blue Lion Ashe looks up to Marth as a paragon of justice and honor. Dedue, Dimitri's bodyguard and retainer, can't get enough of Marth's stories about Jagen. Felix wants to know more about Navarre so he can learn from the Scarlet Swordsman.
Ike and Byleth bond over them both being mercenaries, and Ike sees a lot of his father Greil in Jeralt. Elincia likes taking care of the pegasi along with Marianne and competes with Caeda over who gets to mentor Ingrid. She also quickly befriends Alyssa, finding they have much in common, and practices with Cassie. Ike also finds out Chrom, Lucina, and Alyssa also have the Aether skill he and Greil developed, wondering how it got into the Exalt's family. He also makes common cause with both Alm and Edelgard. Micaiah is drawn to Claude due to her background and is a little flattered there is an Adrestian fortress nicknamed the Silver Maiden. Pelleas is more drawn to Dimitri, initially seeing him as an ideal ruler, but later in the game he begins strongly disagreeing with his methods. Hubert, who is experienced in dark magic, takes an interest in Pelleas and offers to mentor him. Micaiah has a special ability which allows her to heal allied units by sacrificing her own HP, just like in Radiant Dawn. The instructors constantly ask for her permission to run tests on her Heron brand to see if it is like a Crest.
Adult Tiki finds it weird her younger self is her own student, and much of her own knowledge (including a particularly meta incident about the nonexistence of the Weapon Triangle) is outdated. Child Tiki makes friends with Flayn, the sister of Church administrator Seteth, finding they have much in common (despite Flayn's insistence they don't), like their tendency to sleep a lot. Seteth and Rhea are very suspiciously interested in adult Tiki's background and abilities.
Alm of course has his interactions with the Gatekeeper, but on the Black Eagles route he heavily sympathizes with Edelgard’s goals. Celica is unnerved by the voices of Dimitri and Rhea (who share the same voice actors with her friends Boey and Mae but are nothing like them) and also sides with the Black Eagles.
To promote Journey of the Three Heroes, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude were added to Super Smash Bros Ultimate using Pokemon Trainer’s mechanics. In the background, Byleth deploys one of the lords to fight at a time and can switch to the other lords at will. Fans continued complaining Sigurd or Seliph were still not in Smash, 23 years after their games were released.
As part of a free “joke” update several months after release, Mozu was added as another data transferred student, but fans complained she was too powerful and broke gameplay balance, easily soloing entire endgame maps at times. In the next "joke" update, Mozu was significantly weakened and Anna was added as well.
Development
Following the miraculous success of Awakening, which saved the series from cancellation after flagging sales of entries dating back to The Sacred Stone, the Fire Emblem series gained renewed commercial value. Subsequent successes pushed it closer to top tier status within Rentiantang’s informal hierarchy of franchises and mainstream recognition by the general public. Intelligent Systems and Rentiantang decided it was time to bring the series back to its roots on home consoles for the first time since Radiant Dawn in 2007. Concept development began in 2015 alongside Pokemon Conquest and The Exalt’s Duty. It was intended to be another 3DS title, but this was scrapped when production on Shadows of Valentia and another 3DS game (which some fans suspect was a Crusaders of Light remake based on developer interviews) began. The other 3DS game was ultimately scrapped, and when the team learned of the Switch, they decided to make Journey of the Three Heroes for it as they wanted to make the game the biggest and best in the series, with both a radical innovation in the traditional series formula and a greater appeal to both veterans and newcomers. Like with Awakening, it was to incorporate references and gameplay mechanics from many older games in the series. But the current team of developers had little experience with working on home consoles, since Radiant Dawn was 12 years ago, especially the Switch, so they sought help from Guangrao Keji, their partner on Fire Emblem Warriors. Guangrao Keji was deeply concerned with bringing the series to an HD console, a series first, and how the developers appeared to struggle with doing so. Full production began in 2017 when Shadows of Valentia was finished.
The game's scenario and social elements were written by Guangrao Keji writers who had previously worked on the scenario for Warriors. The narrative was written in the vein of a dark and realistic fantasy, with more mature aspects of the narrative, such as the effects of warfare on young adults and the natural cultural evolution of the Crest system, showing through later parts of the story. As every line of spoken dialogue in the game was fully voiced, voice recording took three months, with five times more dialogue recorded than in Shadows of Valentia. By the admission of the developers, the game ended up twice as big content-wise compared to what they initially expected, and even more content had to be cut and moved to DLC or player guides due to hardware and time restraints.
Many story and gameplay elements were directly inspired by 1996’s Crusaders of Light. Lead developers also acknowledged influences from the Chinese epics Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Romance of the Four Empires as well as Guangrao Keji’s adaptations of them in Dynasty Warriors. These influences led the developers to decide on the title “Journey of the Three Heroes,” similar to Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The cultures and political systems of the three nations of Fódlan were taken from real life medieval and early modern inspirations and from countries in previous Fire Emblem games. The three lords Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude are based on character archetypes from previous games, and their primary weapon types—axe, lance, and bow—stemmed from a desire to create unique protagonists who weren’t just more sword users (although Byleth ironically still uses swords). Their character backgrounds also took loose inspiration from the leaders of the three faction in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Kaiser Wilhelm Paul I von Hresvelg, Edelgard’s ancestor, was inspired by both Friedrich the Great and Friedrich the Glorious as well as Anri from the Archanea games. Saint Seiros took inspiration from Saint Gunhilda and Saint Wilhelmina as well as Saint Heim in Crusaders of Light and Saint Elimine in the Elibe duology. Many characters were based on traditional character archetypes but with a new spin or subversion of the original tropes. Sylvain is a womanizing knight much like Sain and Abel, but his womanizing is just an act for his insecurities about his Crest and the social pressures that come with it. Felix is an edgy sword-using myrmidon like Rutger and Navarre, but his edginess and obsession with training are fronts for his own trauma over losing his older brother and sparring partner in a pointless conflict his father later romanticized. Even the background character of Nemesis was intended to be a subversion of the “tutorial bandit” and ancient hero archetypes.
The idea to have multiple scenarios in one game had been brought up during Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light’s development, were constantly seriously proposed since Path of Radiance, and partially implemented in Thracia 776, The Blazing Blade, the Magvel duology, and Waiyun/Shadows of Valentia, but only now did the developers think it was finally time to implement drastically different story scenarios as it fit with the themes they wanted. They made sure each of the three routes were equal in story content and gameplay length. In addition, they rejected the idea of a “canon” or “golden” route which would invalidate the other routes or bring all three lords together as that would go against the themes they wanted. However, they intended the Black Eagles route to be played last, after gaining the context of the other two routes, for the “best experience.”
While Intelligent Systems staff handled the weapon and world design, freelance illustrators were brought in for other parts as the team wanted a new art style. Like with Shadows of Valentia, most cinematics are rendered by a traditional Chinese donghua studio, although some are rendered with in-game models in the style of Awakening’s and The Exalt’s Duty’s cinematics due to a change in art direction during production. As had been the case since The Exalt’s Duty, a song was composed for the credits, while the rest of the music was composed by people who had worked on the 3DS games’ music. It was called “The Girl of House Hresvelg” in Chinese and “Edge of Dawn” in German, with its lyrics sung from the point of view of Edelgard reflecting fondly on her time at Garreg Mach after the events of the game.
In an interview with the lead developers, Journey of the Three Heroes in its released form would have been difficult to make without Guangrao Keji’s help. The directors particularly cited Guangrao Keji’s experience developing large-scale battles for Dynasty Warriors. This experience allowed large numbers of characters to be shown on screen during zoomed in one on one combat for the first time. While Guangrao Keji helped with much of the technical and programming side, Intelligent Systems still took the lead on design and other core aspects of development. The school setting allowed the team to considerably expand on many RPG mechanics.
The Weapon Triangle, a recurring system for most of the series, remained removed from Shadows of Valentia due to it being a "stylized" system. A new weapon-based skill system was designed to be more realistic and increase player choice. Due to its status as the first home console entry in twelve years, the team was pressured to create something new and exciting. This led to Battalions which call back to the sheer scale of maps in Crusaders of Light. While online features such as those seen in Alyssa’s Tor were considered, Garreg Mach, its town, and the secondary bases were so expansive and their histories deep enough that such customization and sharing options would be impractical to implement, so they were ultimately left out.
In a Famitong interview, it was mentioned the direction each faction’s students would take character-wise was planned from the beginning of development. The Black Eagles, representing the noble and commoner citizens of the Adrestian Reich, would have more challenging backgrounds. The Blue Lions, representing the mostly noble subjects of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, would have more traditional characters like those from previous games. The Golden Deer, representing inhabitants of the Leicester Commonwealth, would have the most commoners and are “full of misfits,” leading to fans jokingly calling them the “meme class.” Claude's upside down portrayal on the cover of the game soon became a meme along with the Gatekeeper's iconic saying "Greetings Byleth! Nothing to report!"
In another interview with Rentiantang Dream, the developers stated the school segment and story content focusing on Adrestia, Edelgard, and the Black Eagles were created first to serve as the basis for Fódlan’s worldbuilding, with the scenario team working on content for the other two factions and lords afterward. Edelgard’s personal arc was considered the main driving force of the overall narrative. The developers stated the themes they associated with her were freedom, fairness, and independence. Dimitri’s themes were righteousness, justice, and forgiveness. Finally, Claude’s themes were truth, tolerance, and friendship.
Release
Rentiantang first announced a new mainline Fire Emblem game was in development for the Switch in January 2017 during a Direct which announced Shadows of Valentia, with a projected release date in 2018. The next new information was at an E3 2018 presentation. The stated release slipped into early 2019, but the game's name was announced and video footage shown. In February 2019, the game was showcased in another Direct alongside the reveal of Pokemon’s Generation 8, where new game and story details were revealed along with a second delay to the summer and the confirmation of Guangrao Keji’s collaboration. Another story trailer was showcased at the E3 2019 Direct.
In July, Rentiantang revealed the game would be receiving multiple DLC packs which would be released over the next few months. The first wave saw the return of the Lunatic difficulty level in a free update as well as various cosmetic options. Following a controversy involving Byleth’s voice actor, Byleth also received a new voice actor. Later waves of DLC added more playable characters such as Anna, additional activities at Garreg Mach, and several canon mini-campaigns expanding on lore like the life of Byleth’s mother, Claude’s childhood, and Shamir’s life during a war between Dagda and Adrestia over Brigid. At launch, along with the base game, several special editions of the games were released known as the Fódlan Collection in China and Seasons of Warfare Edition internationally.
Plot (school segment)
Emblem of the Church of Seiros
The game opens with a cutscene set in the Adrestian year 91, where the early Adrestian Imperial Army clashes with the forces of a warlord named Nemesis. Although their forces are clearly outnumbered and outmatched, Nemesis and several others draw their Heroes’ Relics and unleash their power. With the Relics activated, they easily take on dozens of enemies at once. This concerns the Adrestians’ leaders, Kaiser Wilhelm Paul I and his tactician, Saint Seiros. He is worried all they have been working for rides on their success in this battle. Seiros simply says she wants revenge. Wilhelm Paul consoles her, saying they all want revenge. Seiros promises they will take down Nemesis together, just like they promised. The two ride into the middle of the battlefield. The Kaiser charges ahead on his magnificent horse, cutting down enemies with his sacred axe Aymr, while Seiros covers him from behind. The warrior woman cuts down all foes in her path with her sacred sword, while her sacred shield heals any injuries she suffers. Noticing the duo, Nemesis turns to face them. He brandishes his weapon, the Sword of the Creator, and launches it at them, its golden blade extending like a whip and summoning a shockwave of red energy.
Seiros ducks under the blade while Wilhelm Paul jumps above it. While Nemesis retracts the Sword of the Creator, Seiros strikes first. Her sword’s sacred blue energy clashes with the Sword of the Creator’s legendary red energy. Spotting an opening, Wilhelm Paul attacks with Aymr. Nemesis disengages and moves out of the way in time. The Kaiser and the Saint complement each other perfectly in the battle. Wilhelm Paul provides raw power to counter Nemesis’, while Seiros darts around the warlord with her speed and gradually exhausts him as he tries to hit her. Eventually he extends the Sword of the Creator again, hoping to catch both of them in the same attack, but Seiros uses her sword to tangle it. She tosses away both swords. Now unarmed, Nemesis can’t defend himself against Wilhelm Paul’s next strike with Aymr, which knocks him onto the ground. Seiros approaches, drawing a dagger. Pure fury in her eyes, she asks if Nemesis remembers the Red Canyon. Not waiting for an answer, she stabs him to death, angrily vowing he will pay for what he did.
In the Adrestian year 1180, Byleth’s dream changes. He is now in a room where a woman his age with green hair sits on a throne. After exchanging some words, he wakes up to Jeralt ordering him to prepare for battle. They are in Remire Village, in the south of Faerghus, and the villagers tell them a group of young nobles is being attacked by bandits just outside. Jeralt and Byleth rush to their aid and drive off the bandits. The nobles introduce themselves as Edelgard von Hresvelg, Crown Princess of the Adrestian Reich; Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, heir to the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus; and Claude von Reigan, grandson of the Grand Duke of Leicester through his mother.
Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude
However, one of the bandits is still alive and attacks Edelgard. Byleth jumps in the way of the attack and is killed. But the girl from his dream, who introduces herself as Sothis, temporarily stops time and then reverses it, allowing Byleth to prevent the bandit’s attack and giving him the ability to use Divine Pulse. The nobles are impressed by Byleth’s combat prowess. Their chaperones, Alois and the Knights of Seiros holy order he leads, catch up. Alois recognizes Jeralt as his old mentor and predecessor as the Knights’ leader and pressures him and Byleth into returning with them to Garreg Mach. Noticing how Byleth is confused by everything, Jeralt explains Garreg Mach is the headquarters of the Church of Seiros, Fódlan’s dominant religion dedicated to the worship of an unnamed goddess and its prophet, Saint Seiros.
Rhea
Rhea, the current Archbishop and the Church’s leader, welcomes them to Garreg Mach, although Jeralt privately warns Byleth not to trust her. Jeralt reluctantly rejoins the Knights as an advisor to Alois, who recommends Byleth as a combat instructor due to his skill in the previous battle and because their previous combat instructor was killed by the bandits. Despite the objection of Seteth, Garreg Mach’s administrator and a close friend of Rhea, Rhea gives Byleth the job.
Byleth begins teaching the students of Garreg Mach, drawn from various walks of life across the three nations. The class is full of colorful personalities. The Adrestian noble Ferdinand von Aegir proudly boasts about his nobility, proclaiming "I am Ferdinand von Aegir" to everyone around him, and considers Edelgard his friendly rival. The sharp-tongued commoner Dorothea pulled herself out of the slums with her beautiful singing voice but recognizes it won’t last and wants to find someone who can love her for who she is. The paranoid girl Bernadetta von Varley hides in her room as a result of abuse by her father. Petra, a princess of Brigid (its name a nod to Bridget) held hostage by the Reich after it fought a war with Dagda (a reference to Dagdar) over Brigid, has difficulty speaking the language. Hubert, Edelgard’s retainer, is unflincingly loyal to Edelgard, even to the point of doing sketchy things to “protect” her. Caspar is the second son of Minister von Bergliez and won’t inherit his father’s responsibilities, leaving him aimless and wondering what he can do in life. Linhardt is in a similar situation and devotes his time to research and sleeping. The Faerghus noble Sylvain is a notorious womanizer who only puts it up as a coping mechanism for his family’s expectations of him to carry on his Crest. He is kept in line his friend Ingrid, who refuses her father’s constant attempts to set her up with suitors so she can carry on her Crest, instead wanting to serve as a pegasus knight. Their normally cold friend Felix developed his current training-obsessed attitude after losing his brother and sparring partner in a tragedy and having a falling out with his father Rodrigue, who romanticized the death, but he mellows out in the presence of the cheerful overachiever Annette. Annette’s father Gilbert, serving as a Knight of Seiros, refuses to talk to her out of shame for failing his duties as a knight in that same tragedy. Dedue, Dimitri’s Duscurian bodyguard, swears to protect him in gratitude for saving his life during that tragedy. The Golden Deer’s Claude has a reputation as a trickster, schemer, and unconventional tactician. Lysithea, one of the youngest students, is a prodigy who insists on being treated like an adult and hides the fact that she has two Crests instead of one. Hilda acts lazy although she is more than capable of doing work, not wanting to raise people’s expectations of her. Leonie was a poor villager who barely managed to come up with the money to pay for Garreg Mach’s tuition and wants to make the most of her time here, seeing Jeralt as a role model to live up to. Marianne is depressed and downright suicidal at times because she believes her rare Crest is a curse that will only cause suffering.
The masked Flame Emperor chides the bandits’ leader, Kostas, for attacking the nobles and trying to kill them. Their objective was just to kill or intimidate the instructor so he could get his preferred candidate installed. He cuts ties with Kostas, saying he has served his purpose.
With Sothis occasionally providing advice in his head, Byleth hones the students’ combat skills in both practice battles against the Knights of Seiros and real battles against bandits like Kostas. The students defeat Kostas in an abandoned region known as the Red Canyon, and Sothis wonders why it got the name, while Byleth is interested in the ruins scattered around it. Subsequent battles become more serious. Rhea tasks them with backing up the Knights on actual missions throughout Fodlan, such as against the nobleman Lonato, who rebelled against the Church for some reason. Byleth finds a message on Lonato’s body which detail an assassination attempt on Rhea. Deducing the message was a diversion, he figures out the real plot is to sneak into Garreg Mach’s Holy Mausoleum to steal Seiros’ remains. He and the students stop the plot and find Seiros’ remains were never in the mausoleum at all, but rather the Sword of the Creator, which reacts in Byleth’s hands and allows him to use its full power.
The Sword of the Creator
Upon further investigation, the other instructors learn Byleth has the Crest of Flames, or the Fire Emblem, the same Crest possessed by Nemesis, the King of Liberation, a thousand years ago. The goddess had bestowed the Crests and Heroes’ Relics upon Nemesis and ten other worthy individuals to lead the people of Fódlan into a new age, but they were corrupted by power and greed and turned evil, only put down by the combined forces of Kaiser Wilhelm Paul I von Hresvelg and Saint Seiros. The innocent descendants of the Ten Elites were shown mercy and founded the oldest noble houses of the continent, charged with continuing their Crests and protecting their Heroes’ Relics, while Wilhelm Paul and Seiros married and began the ruling dynasty of the Reich, passing Seiros’ Crest down to future Kaisers of the Adrestians. But Nemesis died without children, so there is no way Byleth could have inherited the Crest of Flames. It also doesn't explain why Byleth doesn't have a heartbeat either.
The students’ next task is to apprehend Miklan, Sylvain’s older brother. He had been disinherited from the family for not having a Crest like Sylvain, but he recently rebelled and took the family’s Relic, the Lance of Ruin, with him. Rhea orders Byleth to take the Lance of Ruin back at all costs. The mission initially gets off to a good start as Byleth and the students storm Miklan’s hideout and defeat his gang. But unexpectedly the Lance of Ruin engulfs Miklan and turns him into a hideous monster, which the students struggle to defeat.
The monstrosity that was formerly Miklan
At Garreg Mach, Rhea takes the Lance of Ruin and warns this is exactly the situation she was trying to avoid. Nobody is to speak of Miklan’s fate. If news were to get out, it would destroy the people’s faith in the nobility and Crests. Byleth feels unnerved by Rhea’s suddenly cold behavior. He shares his thoughts with the other lords. Edelgard agrees it is unfair Miklan was disinherited just for not having a Crest, and nobody should have to end up like he did. Dimitri does concede Miklan met a terrible fate, but the excesses of the Crest system can be restrained with better laws. Claude believes the problem is people are too obsessed with Crests, unlike elsewhere in the world. In other words, the “crests are to blame.”
One day, Seteth’s little sister Flayn goes missing. Fearing the worst, Seteth begs the students to help him search for her. The students find clues pointing to an underground tunnel, where they encounter and defeat the Death Knight, a minion of the Flame Emperor. They rescue Flayn as well as another missing student, Monica. Next, Byleth returns to Remire Village after hearing its inhabitants have gone insane and attacked each other. He finds a mysterious group of noblemen armed with strange technology responsible, but they leave before he can identify them. Dimitri angrily orders the students to slaughter those responsible for these heinous actions, but Byleth convinces him to stand down while they help the villagers. On the way back to Garreg Mach, the Flame Emperor briefly appears to Byleth and apologizes for the incident at Remire Village, insisting he did not authorize the attack. At Garreg Mach, Byleth learns the goddess’ name is actually Sothis. Sothis, in his head, is confused as she doesn’t remember anything about herself, let alone being a goddess. He also asks Dimitri why he had a sudden outburst at the village and learns he and Dedue were the sole survivors of the assassination of his late father and everyone around him, known as the Tragedy of Duscur, and the ensuing genocidal retaliation again Dedue’s people, the Duscurians, who were blamed. Dimitri hasn’t been the same since that day. He tells Byleth he knows the Duscurians were framed for the assassination, and his goal in studying at Garreg Mach is to uncover the true culprits and get revenge. He suspects the Flame Emperor and the noblemen at Remire Village were involved in the assassination.
An annual feast commemorating the end of the War of the Eagle and Lion, the war in which Faerghus gained its independence from Adrestia with the Church’s backing, is held. It is accompanied by a mock battle in which the three houses fight each other at Gronder Field to show off what they have learned. Byleth temporarily chooses one of the houses, with students from other houses joining if they have a high trust level, to defeat the other two, gaining a boost to trust with that house’s students. At the feast, Claude tells Byleth his dream of seeing the unity and friendship between the three houses extended to all of Fódlan and its neighbors, especially the belligerent kingdom of Almyra. He hopes the people of Fódlan and Almyra can overcome their differences and become friends. But he acknowledges this may not happen as long as Fódlan is stuck in its old inward-looking mindset, encouraged by the Church and the Crest system. Something has to change and soon. At the conclusion of the feast, the students make a promise to return to Garreg Mach in five years to celebrate a festival commemorating the monastery’s 1000th anniversary.
Students start going missing, and Byleth and Jeralt investigate, only to find they were turned into monsters which then attack the monastery. They defeat the monsters, but Monica, secretly a double agent, kills him while Byleth is busy elsewhere and unable to Divine Pulse in time. The monastery mourns him, while Byleth takes a break from teaching. Reading Jeralt's diary, Byleth discovers Jeralt fled the Church due to Rhea's plans for Byleth when he was born. The "Sothis" within Byleth is the goddess herself, implanted by Rhea into Byleth as a baby with the Sword of the Creator’s Crest of Flames stone so Sothis would be reborn, explaining why she appears to be the same age as Byleth. This resulted in his mother’s death in childbirth and Byleth's difficulty emoting or talking, as well as causing him to not have a heartbeat. Byleth is angry at Rhea for having used him like this and hidden the truth, but he suppresses that feeling for now.
Later, Byleth runs into Edelgard. She offers her condolences for Jeralt’s death. She knows what it is like to lose people dear to her. As a child, her father, Kaiser Ionius IX, attempted to reduce the power of the Adrestian nobility. The nobles launched a coup in response and rendered Ionius politically irrelevant. Some of them, led by her own uncle and regent Volkhard von Arundel, then took her and her siblings hostage and experimented on them with forbidden technology. All of her siblings painfully died in the process. She went from the ninth of Ionius’ eleven children to his only child. The experiments were successful on Edelgard, who gained the Crest of Flames in addition to the Crest of Seiros she was born with. She was never the same after that. Since then she has vowed vengeance against Arundel, but she is in no position to challenge him as long as he remains in control of Adrestia. She believes he is the culmination of everything wrong with Fódlan and its Crest system. Because he was so obsessed with the Crest of Flames, her siblings died and her father was reduced to a shell of his former self. And the Church did nothing but watch it unfold. When she is crowned Kaiser of the Adrestians, she promises to dispose of Arundel and rebuild the Reich so it no longer is obsessed with Crests. It is her hope that under her reign, people are judged by their merits instead of their birth. She admits she hasn’t shared this dream with anyone before. She has been unable to trust people after what Arundel did to her. But somehow, she can open up to Byleth. She feels at ease around him. With him around, she knows she can stay on her path.
Hearing of Edelgard’s trauma at the hands of Arundel spur Byleth to action. Although she urges him to show caution around someone backed by Arundel, Byleth goes after Monica the next day. Pursuing Monica to a nearby forest, he recklessly charges into battle before the Knights or students can follow him. Monica and her supporters overwhelm him and use technology which disables Divine Pulse. Just when he is about to die, Sothis grants Byleth more of her power, weakening her in exchange for powering him up and turning his hair green. With his new power and an enhanced Sword of the Creator, Byleth defeats his attackers. Returning to Garreg Mach, the other students are surprised to see his change, with Edelgard most shocked.
Rhea takes Byleth to the Holy Tomb, in the catacombs of Garreg Mach, where Sothis once sat on a throne resembling the one from Byleth’s dreams. She intends for Byleth to receive a divine revelation which will allow Sothis to awaken and assume control of him, completing her revival. But nothing happens, and Sothis awkwardly asks if something is supposed to happen. The Flame Emperor appears, aided by Adrestian soldiers, and Byleth is shocked to see “he” is none other than Edelgard. She accuses the Church of corruption and hypocrisy in holding back Fódlan with the restrictive Crest system, which the Church is built on. Because of the Crests, people like Miklan suffered because of their birth. She can’t stand by that any longer. The Adrestian army will occupy Garreg Mach and dissolve the Church as an institution. She will show Rhea and the other Church leaders mercy if they turn themselves in, but she will not hesitate to kill them if they refuse. Rhea, enraged, calls her a heretic who betrayed her ancestor Saint Seiros. She orders Byleth to apprehend her. Byleth is now forced to choose a lord and faction. The story diverges into three routes, one for each faction, at this point. All characters, especially the students, who no longer have to wear their school uniforms, will get updated outfits in the second part of the story.
It is here the students’ trust levels with Byleth is most important. Although the students in the faction Byleth chooses will generally stay with Byleth, some may leave if their trust is too low (for example, the Blue Lions Annette and Felix may leave even if Byleth picks the Blue Lions). Students outside that class may join Byleth if they have high trust. Byleth must have a certain trust level with the lords to unlock the option to choose their faction, else the only option they will get is the faction of the lord with the highest trust level. It is extremely difficult to unlock Edelgard’s route as she requires maximum trust and there are very few ways to raise her trust. Alternatively, the player can just skip straight to this decision from the main menu on New Game+ if they don’t want to go through the school arc each time. If they don't use New Game+ to raise trust levels, they will only recruit the students belonging to the class they choose, all coming with preset stats and weapons. Byleth will also come with preset stats and weapons if data isn't transferred.
Byleth sides with Dimitri and the Blue Lions. Edelgard acknowledges his decision, having expected him to do so since he received Sothis’ blessing. Dimitri maniacally laughs as he process the fact that Edelgard is the Flame Emperor and connects her with Remire Village. He then connects her to the Tragedy of Duscur, and his sanity snaps. He goes on a rampage, his lance cutting down dozens of Adrestians as he cuts a bloody path to Edelgard, who blocks his attack with Aymr. Dimitri vows he will get revenge for all those killed—his parents, his knights, the Duscurians—in Duscur, starting with Edelgard. Edelgard denies her involvement, as the incident happened when she was a child. But Dimitri refuses to listen to reason, his mind already set on killing her in the name of the dead. Edelgard has Hubert teleport them out, ordering her soldiers to seize the Crest stones in the tomb and occupy the monastery. Byleth and the Blue Lions drive the Adrestians and the Black Eagles out of the tomb, and the conflict spills out into Garreg Mach. The main Adrestian army marches into the monastery, led by a returning Edelgard and Arundel. The Blue Lions fight fiercely, but the Adrestians counter their determination with sheer numbers. Edelgard herself is a significant threat with Aymr, and she single-handedly pushes the monastery’s defenders back to the gates. Rhea steps forward, telling Byleth to lead the students and civilians to safety. She will sacrifice herself to protect them. Seteth and Byleth refuse to let her do so, but Rhea overrules them. She then transforms into a dragon and attacks the Adrestians.
While the main army is distracted by Rhea, Byleth leads the students out of the monastery, only to run into Arundel and his soldiers. Byleth tells Seteth and Dimitri to take the others away while he handles Arundel. He draws the Sword of the Creator and approaches Arundel, who addresses him the reincarnation of Sothis. A shame he has the Sword of the Creator, as Arundel’s original plan was to give it to Edelgard. She was to be the second coming of Nemesis, and with the sword’s power she would restore the Adrestians to their place as the sole rulers of Fódlan. But Byleth will not live to see that. He unleashes the forbidden spell of Zaharas, which plunges Byleth into a dark void before he can even attack. Dimitri turns around just in time to see Byleth disappearing into the void. Enraged, he hurls his lance at Arundel, but it bounces off an energy shield surrounding him. Arundel laughs, saying the goddess is dead once again, and there will be no stopping his plan.
Byleth, meanwhile, is stuck in the void. Sothis appears and chastises him for being stupid enough to fall for Arundel’s trap. Now they will likely be stuck here for all eternity, unable to do anything while Fódlan burns. Byleth asks if there’s anything they can do to get out. Sothis thinks for a little bit. There may be one thing she can do. She can give the rest of her power to Byleth and maybe that would be enough to cut a path out of the void, but she would disappear and be unable to advise Byleth. If it fails, he will be completely alone in the void. Byleth decides it’s better than nothing and asks her to try. Sothis’ form dissolves into light and merges with Byleth, who feels more divine power surging through him. He uses this power to cut a hole in the void with the Sword of the Creator and climb back out into reality.
Byleth finds himself in Remire Village. The villagers don’t recognize him. He asks for directions to Garreg Mach, but the villagers say it has been abandoned the last five years following the battle. There are also rumors of a demon who brutally slaughters anybody who enters the monastery. Byleth realizes he was stuck in the void for five years, and the festival he had been planning to attend is in a few days. He hurries back to Garreg Mach, finding it overrun with bandits and thieves. There, he reunites with Dimitri, who had lost an eye and believes him to be a ghost here to haunt him like the dead at Duscur. Once Byleth convinces him he is alive, Dimitri explains he had barely escaped a coup by pro-Arundel loyalists, who allowed Adrestia to annex most of Faerghus. Edelgard, now Kaiser of the Adrestians following Ionius’ death, had declared a war against both Faerghus loyalists and Leicester with the intent of unifying the continent under her rule. While the Faerghus loyalists are divided and control little territory, Leicester managed to hold off the numerically and technologically superior Adrestian army with Claude’s unconventional tactics. Dimitri has become bitter, disillusioned, and unstable as he is haunted by visions of his deceased family and driven to kill Edelgard at any cost, still believing her to be responsible for Duscur.
Seteth, Gilbert, the other Blue Lions, and the remains of the Knights of Seiros meet Byleth and Dimitri at Garreg Mach. They drive out the bandits and begin restoring the monastery as their base. Learning Rhea had gone missing and was likely captured by Edelgard, Byleth makes plans to head to Enbarr, the Adrestian capital, to rescue her. Dimitri agrees, wanting to kill Edelgard on the way. The other Blue Lions and Church leaders reluctantly follow them despite Dimitri’s increasingly unhinged behavior. The Adrestians, having noticed the restoration of Garreg Mach, send an army to crush the resistance army, but the Blue Lions repel the attack, and Dimitri brutally tortures the enemy commander, Randolph von Bergliez, to death.
They next meet up with Rodrigue, Dimitri’s former advisor, who rallies the Faerghus loyalists and gives Dimitri his father’s Heroes’ Relic, the lance Areadbhar. Byleth sends diplomats to seek Claude’s aid. But before Claude replies, Dimitri orders the Blue Lions to march south to Enbarr and decapitate the Reich at its source. Monitoring the Faerghus troop movements, Hubert manipulates the Blue Lions and Golden Deer into turning on each other by murdering their diplomats and implicating each other. When Dimitri arrives at Gronder Field to meet Edelgard’s main army (backed up by Arundel’s advanced technology), Claude’s army shows up hostile to both sides.
"KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"
The objective here is to completely rout the enemy and defeat all enemy units, including the Golden Deer. In the ensuing battle, Dimitri brutally cuts down all of the former students in his path, including Golden Deer students, angrily screaming “OUT OF MY WAY!” as he delivers each blow. Every character defeated here, except Edelgard, Hubert, and Claude, permanently dies. Suffering heavy casualties, Edelgard retreats. The Leicester army is annihilated, Claude seriously injured, which exposes the Commonwealth to an invasion led by Arundel. Dimitri orders the Blue Lions to pursue Edelgard and finish her off while they can, but Rodrigue insists their army is also at its breaking point. While Byleth is busy trying to find and save any surviving students with the help of the Knights of Seiros, Randolph’s sister attacks Dimitri to avenge him. Dimitri, realizing he is perpetuating the cycle of vengeance started at Duscur, does not defend himself. Rodrigue pushes him out of the way and takes the blow. Byleth returns too late to Divine Pulse, finding the woman dead and Rodrigue fatally wounded. Dimitri begs Rodrigue to not die, not wanting to lose another important person in his life and get another voice in his head demanding vengeance. Rodrigue, with his dying breath, asks him to stop living for the dead and start living for himself and his people.
Reassessing his priorities and regaining some degree of sanity, Dimitri vows to atone for his sins and become a worthy king. He abandons his reckless quest for revenge and ends the push towards Enbarr. Instead, he heads back to Fhirdiad. There, the leader of the occupation, Cornelia, deploys an army of mechas and laser turrets supplied by Arundel to stop him, but Dimitri prevails and kills her. In a nod to Marth’s return to Altea, Dimitri appears on a balcony before the cheering citizens of Fhirdiad and declares Faerghus’ independence, although he privately doubts he is worthy of ruling. Fhirdiad is unlocked as a secondary base of operations.
His next course of action is to undo his mistake in destroying the Leicester army. By now, Arundel’s forces, consisting of both monsters and mechas, besiege Derdriu, where the surviving Golden Deer hold out despite being outmatched and outnumbered. With the arrival of the Blue Lions and, to everyone’s surprise, an allied Almyran fleet, Arundel is killed. Claude and the Golden Deer thank Dimitri for his help, but they are unable to return the favor because they are needed to stabilize Leicester and rebuild the country.
With both Faerghus and Leicester saved, Dimitri and Byleth decide it’s time to march on Enbarr. Wanting to make peace with Edelgard, Dimitri arranges a meeting with her to discuss their ideals and the Tragedy of Duscur. Byleth learns Edelgard once visited Faerghus as a child during Arundel’s coup and shortly before the Tragedy of Duscur. She befriended Dimitri, who gave her a dagger as a gift and urged her to use it to cut a path to her future. Dimitri asks why Edelgard started the war and caused so much suffering. Edelgard insists this is the only way to achieve a new Fódlan. Keeping the Crest system would only spread the suffering out over eternity, while this war will be painful but quick. Dimitri urges her to reconsider. He offers peace. There is still time for them to work together and try to reform the system from within instead of violently overthrowing it. Perhaps they can be friends again like they used to. Edelgard acknowledges that would be nice, but she is set on her path, and as much as she wants to avoid bloodshed, she believes there is no other way. They can only achieve their goals with each other’s death. The meeting ends, and the two leaders leave each other for the last time.
The Blue Lions and the Knights of Seiros march into Enbarr, where the surviving Black Eagles sacrifice themselves to defend the ancient capital. But Byleth and Dimitri push on through the Black Eagles, the remains of the imperial army, and more of Arundel’s mechas, as his faction remains a threat even after his death. They storm into the imperial palace and cut a path to the throne room. There, Dimitri is horrified to see Edelgard having abandoned what is left of her humanity to draw on the power of her two Crests, turning her into a monstrous abomination. After a lengthy battle, Byleth and Dimitri defeat the monster, and Edelgard reverts back to her human form. Dimitri makes one last attempt to reconcile with her, but Edelgard stabs him with the dagger from their childhood. The wound is relatively minor, and left with no other choice, Dimitri executes her with Areadbhar.
Edelgard’s death marks the end of the war. Leicester and Faerghus slowly rebuild, with Claude and Dimitri now returning to their capitals to truly rule. The death of the last surviving members of House von Hresvelg leaves the Adrestian throne vacant, and the empire is dissolved. Its territories are placed under direct Church rule. After rescuing Rhea from a dungeon in Enbarr, she retires from her religious duties and appoints Byleth as the next Archbishop. Byleth spends his tenure as Archbishop constantly putting down rebellions from Arundel’s supporters, who persist even after the Adrestian Reich is completely destroyed. Claude opens negotiations with neighboring Almyra but is unable to get much done due to Leicester’s severely weakened military and political influence. Dimitri leads Fódlan into an age of peace and rebuilding, becoming known as the Savior-King. He spent the rest of his life establishing a representative quasi-democratic government in Faerghus, although progress was slow, and reckoning with his trauma.
Byleth sides with Claude, fearing the Golden Deer would be caught up as collateral damage in the brewing fight between Dimitri and Edelgard. Edelgard acknowledges his decision, having expected him to side against her since he received Sothis’ blessing. Dimitri, processing the fact that Edelgard is the Flame Emperor, calls her a murderer. He goes on a rampage, his lance striking down dozens of Adrestians as he cuts a bloody path to Edelgard. She has Hubert teleport them out before he gets close. Her soldiers begin looting the Crest stones in the tomb and attempt to occupy the monastery. Although the Golden Deer expel the Adrestians from the tomb, they find reinforcements have arrived outside. Byleth meets with the Knights of Seiros, and together they form a defense against the Adrestians, hoping to turn the battle into one of attrition. But the arrival of Edelgard and Arundel breaks the stalemate, and soon they are pushed back to the gates. Rhea steps forward, telling Byleth to lead the students and civilians to safety. She will sacrifice herself. Seteth and Byleth refuse to let her do so, but Rhea overrules them. She then transforms into a dragon and attacks the Adrestians.
While the main army is distracted by Rhea, Byleth leads the students out of the monastery, only to run into Arundel and his soldiers. Byleth tells Seteth and Claude to take the others away while he handles Arundel. He draws the Sword of the Creator and approaches Arundel, who addresses him the reincarnation of Sothis. A shame he has the Sword of the Creator, as Arundel’s original plan was to give it to Edelgard. She was to be the second coming of Nemesis, and with the sword’s power she would restore the Adrestians to their place as the sole rulers of Fódlan. But Byleth will not live to see that. He unleashes the forbidden spell of Zaharas, which plunges Byleth into a dark void before he can even attack Arundel. Claude turns around just in time to see Byleth disappearing into the void. In anguish, he fires an arrow at Arundel, but it bounces off an energy shield surrounding him. Arundel laughs, saying the goddess is dead once again, and there will be no stopping his plan.
Byleth, meanwhile, is stuck in the void. Sothis appears and chastises him for being stupid enough to fall for Arundel’s trap. Now they will likely be stuck here for all eternity, unable to do anything while Fódlan burns. Byleth asks if there’s anything they can do to get out. Sothis thinks for a little bit. There may be one thing she can do. She can give the rest of her power to Byleth and maybe that would be enough to cut a path out of the void, but she would disappear and be unable to advise Byleth. If it fails, he will be completely alone in the void. Byleth decides it’s better than nothing and asks her to try. Sothis’ form dissolves into light and merges with Byleth, who feels more divine power surging through him. He uses this power to cut a hole in the void with the Sword of the Creator and climb back out into reality.
Byleth finds himself in Remire Village. The villagers don’t recognize him. He asks for directions to Garreg Mach, but the villagers say it has been an Adrestian military base for the last five years, used to coordinate the campaigns in Faerghus and Leicester. Byleth realizes he was stuck in the void for five years and all-out war has consumed Fódlan. At the village, he reunites with Claude, now the Grand Duke of Leicester, armed with his family’s Heroes’ Relic, the bow Failnaught, and flying on an albino wyvern.
Claude is happy to see his old teacher is still alive. The other Golden Deer students and surviving Knights of Seiros show up as well to commemorate the festival in the village as it is impossible to get into Garreg Mach. Claude explains he had been spending the last five years consolidating power in Leicester and proving his legitimacy to the other noble houses while also keeping the Adrestians in a stalemate. But with Byleth back, he believes it is time to break the stalemate and go on the offensive. They have no choice. Edelgard, Kaiser of the Adrestians, had annexed Faerghus following a coup which killed Dimitri, leaving Leicester the only faction still resisting her rule. They have to take the fight to Edelgard before she kicks in their door. Byleth is more focused on rescuing Rhea, who is apparently in Edelgard’s custody. Claude agrees, if only to ask Rhea more questions about the Crests and her own background. First, they have to defend Leicester from an Adrestian assault. The Golden Deer retreat to the Great Bridge of Myrddin, which they defend against the main Adrestian army. They join forces with Lady Judith of Daphnel, Claude’s strongest noble supporter. Judith becomes a playable character and Derdriu is unlocked as a base. In the next chapter, Byleth and Claude retake Garreg Mach from its Adrestian occupiers, led by Randolph, and regain the monastery as a base.
Their position secure, the Golden Deer march south into Adrestia proper. They confront Edelgard’s main army at Gronder Field but are also surprised to see Dimitri still alive, now completely insane and leading the ragtag Blue Lions. Claude attempts to reason with Dimitri, but he refuses to listen and orders the Blue Lions to attack both sides. To make matters worse, Edelgard’s mages cast a spell which covers the area in a deep fog. Although the player's objective is just to defeat Edelgard, all three factions suffer heavy casualties. In a cinematic at the end of the chapter, Dimitri is last seen charging into the ranks of the Adrestian soldiers in a last ditch attempt to reach Edelgard, only to meet his end on their blades. Edelgard retreats.
Setting aside some time to mourn the dead students, the Golden Deer push deeper into Adrestia, hoping to end the war before more lives are lost. Their next target is Fort Merceus, the Reich’s last line of defense before Enbarr. Realizing its garrison, including the Death Knight and several Black Eagles, is too powerful to fight in a direct assault, Claude devises a scheme to sneak into the fortress and attack from within, in tandem with an Almyran army which nobody is aware of until the battle begins. He announces his desire to open Fódlan’s borders to the outside world and end the continent’s isolationism and xenophobia (mirroring Roy’s speech about bringing dragons and humans together), and this battle will be a testament to what the people of Fódlan and Almyra can accomplish together. The fortress falls under the unconventional assault. The Death Knight escapes but gives Byleth a message warning him of an attack by Arundel’s forces. This gives Byleth enough time to begin evacuating the fortress before it is obliterated by a nuclear missile. The Golden Deer survive the blast thanks to their mages casting protective spells in time, but they are shocked Arundel and the Reich possess such powerful technology.
With Merceus neutralized, though not in the way they expected, Byleth and Claude next march on Enbarr, where they defeat the remaining Black Eagles and the Death Knight again. They storm the palace and confront Edelgard in the throne room. Unlike in the Blue Lions route, Edelgard remains human and fights with her own power as best as she can, but she falls. A cinematic plays, and Byleth approaches Edelgard, the Sword of the Creator raised. Edelgard acknowledges his victory. She regrets having to fight Byleth, but she admits neither of them had much of a say. Arundel and Rhea both gave them their destinies, and by now there is no deviating from them. She puts down Aymr and asks him to kill her, as it will end the war faster. Byleth obliges, and in her final moments, Edelgard muses on what they could have done differently to avoid all this. If Lysithea battles Edelgard, Edelgard recognizes Lysithea as having also been a victim of Arundel's experiments, which gave her the two Crests, and Lysithea promises she will defeat Arundel in her memory.
Rhea is rescued from a dungeon under the palace and thanks Byleth for rescuing her. Byleth receives a posthumous letter from Hubert. He and his mages had been monitoring the attack on Fort Merceus and traced the missile back to its origin, believing that to be where Arundel’s main base is. They seem to have not fired another missile because their stockpile is limited and they don't know how to make more, meaning they must conserve their uses. He urges the Golden Deer to put an end to Arundel and his faction for good before they fix it and lay waste to Fódlan.
Following Hubert’s letter, Byleth and Claude lead the Golden Deer to an underground bunker, Area 17 (Shambhala) in Leicester territory. Area 17 looks like nothing seen in Fódlan. Its walls are made of concrete and the lights are electrical but not generated by magic. This is a modern nuclear bunker, designed to hold thousands of people for extended periods of time. Reading the archaic writing on the walls and in ancient books on the ground, Claude learns Fódlan was once home to an advanced civilization, Agartha, which was destroyed in a nuclear war around the time Sothis appeared in the historical record. He suspects that isn’t a coincidence. Arundel’s supporters, operating advanced Agarthan laser guns, mechas, missile launchers, and armored vehicles (all intended to be technologically advanced mirrors to the regular character classes), fight back fiercely, but the Golden Deer prevail.
They confront Arundel at the heart of the bunker. Arundel explains he happened upon the bunker in his youth and realized he could use Agartha's advanced technology to restore Adrestia’s hegemony, with Edelgard and the Crest of Flames as a symbol of Fódlan's new era. His dream is over now that Edelgard is dead, but the Golden Deer won’t get to enjoy their victory. He fires the entire nuclear stockpile at the bunker, hoping to obliterate everyone with him. Rhea intercepts the missiles in dragon form but takes the brunt of the blast and is seriously injured in the process. Arundel and his followers are killed when the bunker collapses.
The Golden Deer take Rhea to Garreg Mach, where she begins recovering from her wounds. Seteth tells Byleth that as the reincarnation and chosen of Sothis, Rhea would want him to succeed her as Archbishop. He reluctantly accepts his new roles, and Seteth begins teaching him the responsibilities of the job. The Golden Deer begin heading home now that the war is over, but Claude convinces them to stay until Rhea recovers. After a month, Rhea recovers enough to regain consciousness. Fearing she may not have much time left, she decides to share her life story with Byleth and Claude. Byleth already knows he was created by Rhea to be the reincarnation of Sothis. But he doesn’t know Sothis was actually Rhea’s mother. Sothis had created many manaketes, the Nabateans, in her likeness when she first arrived in Fódlan. They created a flourishing civilization, but the native humans grew jealous and fearful. They eventually turned on Sothis and tried to kill her with the missiles and other technology, only for their own civilizations to be wiped out. Sothis used most of her life energy to restore life to the irradiated continent and then went to sleep in the Holy Tomb to recover. During this sleep, a common bandit broke into the tomb and killed her. He drank her blood to gain the Crest of Flames and forged the Sword of the Creator from her spine. Taking the name Nemesis, he and eleven of his fellow bandits then went to the Nabateans and slaughtered them to also gain Crests and forge Heroes’ Relics from their bones, becoming the King of Liberation and his Ten Elites. The dragons’ bloodstained home became known as the Red Canyon.
Rhea, Sothis’ youngest direct child, was the only one of her siblings to survive. Only Seteth, Flayn, and a few other Nabateans also survived due to not being in the Red Canyon at the time, and most abandoned their draconic forms and hid among the humans to protect themselves. As Nemesis grew in power, Rhea wandered Fódlan, seeking revenge. Adopting the name Seiros, she performed miracles using her draconic powers. With the help of Seteth and Flayn, she built a religious movement that became the Church of Seiros. She saved a young man, Wilhelm Paul Hresvelg, from being killed by one of Nemesis’ soldiers, earning his gratitude and eventually his love. She forged a sacred axe for him named Aymr. Together, the two of them rallied an army from all over Fódlan, drawing together people dissatisfied by the King of Liberation’s reign. Wilhelm Paul’s political acumen and Rhea’s religious leadership combined to create the Adrestian Reich. In Enbarr, then a minor town far from Nemesis, Wilhelm Paul was crowned Kaiser of the Adrestians, and Seiros was declared a saint and the prophet of Sothis. To seal the deal, Seiros gave Wilhelm Paul some of her blood, granting him the Crest of Seiros and an extended lifespan, and the two married. They waged a decades-long war against Nemesis, culminating in a battle on the Tailtean Plains near what is now Fhirdiad, where Wilhelm Paul and Rhea finally killed Nemesis.
Suddenly, Rhea has a mental breakdown and loses control of herself. She uncontrollably transforms into her draconic form, the Immaculate One. With a heavy heart, Seteth realizes Rhea’s draconic degeneration was accelerated by the wounds she sustained at Area 17, and they have no choice but to put her to rest. Byleth calls up the students, instructors, and Knights for one last battle to save Fódlan. Eventually, Rhea is defeated. With her last bit of willpower, she collapses and reverts to human form. Byleth rushes to her, and she briefly sees Sothis in him. She thanks her mother for coming back to her at the very end.
In the aftermath, Fódlan enters a new period of peace. With the leadership of both Adrestia and Faerghus completely wiped out by the war, the two nations are dissolved and their lands annexed by Leicester. Claude grants all of the major noble families of the other two nations equal representation in Leicester’s Roundtable of Lords. The Commonwealth is renamed the Fódlan Federation, a republic led by the noble houses. Byleth becomes the new Archbishop of the Church of Seiros and works closely with Claude to rebuild the continent and move forward from Fódlan’s bloodstained history, although he spends most of his time fighting against highly organized rebellions from Arundel’s followers, who even come closer to overthrowing and killing him multiple times. The walls built on the Almyran border are torn down, and formal diplomatic relations are established with foreign nations, with Claude’s until now hidden status as the heir and now king of Almyra (through his father) helping bridge the gap between Fódlan and Almyra, although cultural differences ensured progress was slow. Claude’s dream of an open and tolerant Fódlan gradually becomes a reality, but it will take many generations.
Edge of Dawn plays over the credits of the Blue Lions and Golden Deer routes. It is sung from the point of view of a dead Edelgard fondly reflecting on her time at Garreg Mach and being free to be herself but also knowing it won't last.
(Credit to @HIMDogson for the scenario which inspired my take.)
Against all odds, Byleth sides with Edelgard and the Black Eagles. Everyone is surprised. Sothis doesn’t know why Byleth made his decision, but she will support it regardless. Edelgard, having expected Byleth to side against her, is shocked he hasn’t done so. Dimitri asks why Byleth would side with someone who worked with those who killed Jeralt. Claude says nothing, still assessing the situation. Rhea is enraged. She calls Byleth not only a traitor against the Church but also against herself, not worthy of being the chosen of Sothis. Her own sanity snapping, she calls him just another failed experiment to resurrect her mother and will kill him herself. Sothis asks her to calm down, but only Byleth can hear her. Rhea transforms into a dragon on the spot and attacks. The Black Eagles, unable to fight such raw power at this point, help the other students escape the tomb before she destroys them all. Back at the monastery, Edelgard delays the arrival of the Adrestian reinforcements to allow the other students—including the Blue Lions—to escape, not having any quarrel with them. The Knights of Seiros arrive to apprehend her, but Hubert warps them away. Rhea, reverting to human form, vows to rip out Byleth’s heart and the Crest of Flames stone to “rescue” her mother.
The Black Eagles regroup at the Adrestian army’s camp outside Garreg Mach, where Edelgard again asks the students if they really wish to fight with her. She offers them the chance to leave without any punishment and not get caught up in the war, but most remain with her. She privately confides to Byleth that she didn’t expect him or any of the students to do so. She had feared all of them would eventually turn on her, like Arundel did. She thanks Byleth for his support. With him at her side, she knows she can stay on her path instead of throwing away her humanity and becoming a cold puppet of Arundel. Arundel shows up to congratulate Edelgard on confronting the Church and opening hostilities, but she rebuffs him, placing the army under her direct command. The commanders Randolph (revealed to be Caspar’s uncle), Ladislava, and the Death Knight himself (going by his regular name now) become playable. Garreg Mach becomes unavailable as a base. Sothis warns Byleth to beware Arundel. Now that they are both on the same side, he will be ever present nearby. Byleth must be careful not to reveal his hand.
The Church heavily fortifies Garreg Mach, having been given extra time due to Edelgard delaying the attack. Deciding it is too costly to take the monastery now, Edelgard orders the army to retreat to Adrestia. She and the Black Eagles take up residence in Enbarr. There, Byleth is invited to a private meeting between Edelgard and Kaiser Ionius IX. With Byleth (and Sothis) as a witness, replacing the usual witness, the Archbishop, Ionius willingly abdicates to Edelgard, who is proclaimed Kaiser of the Adrestians (in other routes, Seteth claims Edelgard forced Ionius to abdicate).
In her coronation speech to the citizens of Enbarr, Kaiser Edelgard I denounces the corruption of the Church and vows to liberate all of Fódlan from the Crest system and its Church backer. All of the commoners in attendance cheer for her, realizing they have a new champion against the depradations of the nobility, which had tormented the people of the Reich after seizing power in the coup. Her first order is to place all of those involved in the coup against Ionius—many of the Black Eagles’ parents—under house arrest, despite Ionius urging her to outright execute them. She exempts Arundel from the purge for now, as he still wields significant influence over the Adrestian government and military.
This provokes a rebellion from Church-minded nobles, including Count von Varley, Bernadetta’s abusive father. Led by Varley, they storm Enbarr and quickly seize multiple barracks and government buildings, scattering the Black Eagles across the city. The Black Eagles push through the city and link up with each other. Once they reunite, they push back with significant support from Enbarr’s commoners, who were rallied by Ferdinand and Hubert and adore Edelgard for her meritocratic vision. After Varley’s death, the other nobles surrender, realizing resistance is useless. Edelgard again shows mercy, deciding to only reduce their privileges and revoke some of their titles. Sothis is surprised by Edelgard’s act and commends Byleth for being a good influence on her.
Kaiser Edelgard dons the imperial armor
With her home front consolidated, Edelgard turns back to the war she has begun. She immediately sidelines Arundel and his faction even though their advanced technology would immensely help her. This leads to the front lines stalling, giving Faerghus and Leicester time to form an alliance and united front against her, led by Dimitri and Rhea. Claude, having taken over from his grandfather, only commits as many troops as needed to defend Leicester’s border, trying to keep the country out of the war as much as possible. Edelgard plans to offset the loss of Arundel’s resources with reinforcements from Brigid. Petra offers to lead a delegation to the western island archipelago, as she can convince her grandfather, the king, to form an alliance with Adrestia. When Byleth asks if Petra’s status as a hostage of the Reich may sabotage negotiations, Petra insists being educated in Adrestia has given her a new appreciation for its culture and ideals. Edelgard then formally ends Petra’s hostage status, wanting the two of them to treat each other as equals. The Black Eagles set sail for Brigid, fighting Church- and Faerghus-allied fleets along the way. In Brigid, they fight against more Church forces attempting to kill Petra or pressure the king into siding with them as well as invading Dagdan forces taking advantage of Adrestia’s focus on Fódlan to bring Brigid back into its sphere of influence. Petra ultimately secures the aid, and Brigid sends troops to mainland Fódlan. The new troops allow Edelgard to bolster her ranks and consolidate the front lines, but a breakthrough remains elusive. Dimitri’s knights and Claude’s unconventional tactics are evenly matched with Edelgard’s superior manpower and firepower. Arundel suggests using some of his personal troops, showing Edelgard some of the monsters he created by exposing Crest-less prisoners to Crest stones (like what happened with Miklan) in addition to mechas and other Agarthan technology, but Edelgard refuses, insisting she must win this war with her own power. Arundel gradually becomes suspicious of her actions. Sothis feels unnerved by the Crest-derived monsters.
Hubert suggests using espionage to weaken Dimitri and the Faerghus leadership, but Ferdinand objects to the plan, saying it is dishonorable and would only harm their cause. He instead suggests committing the bulk of their forces to an invasion of Leicester. He suggests a fast “lightning war” making use of their wyvern and pegasus knights and Warp spells to push to Derdriu and decapitate the Commonwealth as soon as possible. This way, they can both knock Leicester out of the war, exposing Faerghus to attack from the southeast, and minimize both enemy and civilian casualties. Edelgard agrees, but to project power into eastern Fódlan, they must seize Garreg Mach first.
The Church throws everything it has at the Adrestian army once Rhea realizes Edelgard intends to capture the monastery. The Knights of Seiros preemptively strike the Adrestians on the plains to the west of Garreg Mach, planning to catch them by surprise. Alois and the zealous knight Catherine, armed with her Relic sword Thunderbrand, engage Randolph and Ladislava while the Black Eagles fight the rest of the Knights. After a pitched battle in which Randolph and Ladislava are severely injured due to underestimating Thunderbrand’s power, the Adrestians prevail. Alois and Catherine retreat to Garreg Mach. Edelgard stalls her advance to allow the students and civilians still at the monastery to evacuate. Then she launches her assault. Alois, Catherine, Seteth, Flayn, and the remaining Knights of Seiros form a defensive line, led by Rhea, who has put on a warrior’s outfit and taken the name Seiros again, intending to fight in human form.
The return of Saint Seiros
As the Black Eagles gradually advance through the monastery, Alois sacrifices himself to detonate multiple incendiary mines hidden throughout Garreg Mach, leveling multiple buildings and setting much of the monastery on fire. Edelgard and Sothis are appalled the Knights would resort to such destructive tactics, realizing their zeal and devotion to Rhea has caused immense destruction to the monastery (ironically, on the Blue Lions route, Edelgard may order a similar incendiary attack at Gronder Field, which would burn many of her own Black Eagles to death). Seeing the Adrestians’ advance stalled by the flames and debris, Rhea calls her trump card, magical golems made with ancient Nabatean magic not even Seteth and the others knew about. Despite all this, the Black Eagles press on. Hubert develops a countermeasure against the golems, while the other mages in the army put out the fires.
Edelgard defeats Rhea with Aymr, but she turns into her draconic form in a last ditch attempt to drive the Adrestians back. At that moment, Arundel arrives, and his soldiers hit Rhea with powerful spells and Agarthan technology which are surprisingly effective against her. Catherine convinces her to retreat to Faerghus, where Dimitri will welcome them, while Seteth, having been disgusted by Alois’ attacks and Rhea’s behavior, resigns from the Church and heads off on his own. However, the Church is forced to leave Flayn behind, and she is captured. Arundel turns to Edelgard and chides her for underestimating Rhea. After all, this is the dragon responsible for manipulating and controlling humanity for well over a thousand years. Edelgard should know better than to just barge into her house and try to kill her. Edelgard holds her temper and feigns gratitude for Arundel arriving in time to back them up. Arundel simply asks for Flayn to be turned over to his custody to repay him. Edelgard and Byleth both lose their calm immediately and point Aymr and the Sword of the Creator at him. Arundel’s soldiers respond by pointing their guns and mecha turrets at the Black Eagles. Arundel laughs. He had suspected Edelgard was being problematic ever since the purge of the nobility, and now he has proof. That boy Byleth had definitely gotten into her head and strayed her from her chosen path. Edelgard replies she has rather stayed on her own path instead of the one Arundel chose for her. Even so, Arundel reminds her he still has the entire Reich at his command, not to mention the Black Eagles completely surrounded and outgunned. It would be a shame if Edelgard were to “heroically die in battle against the mad dragon tyrant.” It would be just what he needs to take the throne for himself and begin new experiments on the next generation of children. Perhaps with data taken from Flayn. Although Flayn protests and screams, Edelgard and Byleth are powerless to stop her from being taken away with Arundel, who thanks them for their cooperation and partnership.
Edelgard is distraught over this, having failed to save Flayn from a fate much like her own. She confers with Ferdinand, Hubert, and Byleth about this and tells them more about the experiments. She angrily vows to kill Arundel and rescue Flayn. Hubert points out it will be difficult to take down Arundel due to his political and military connections and the advanced technology he possesses, and they should wait until he makes a mistake. Ferdinand has none of it and urges Edelgard to strike quickly while they can; if the whole reason she was fighting this war so nobody will end up like her again, she must make good on that. Byleth believes a victory over the Church without defeating Arundel is no victory at all. They should eliminate Arundel before his power extends to the other nations. He has already heard of a pro-Arundel rebellion breaking out in southern Faerghus, led by a woman named Cornelia. It’s only a matter of time before a similar revolt happens in Leicester. Edelgard listens to their suggestions and agrees. She asks them to come up with a secret plan to eliminate Arundel while she and the others focus on the Church. Garreg Mach becomes available again as a base, although in a vastly reduced capacity due to the damage it suffered.
With Garreg Mach secure, Edelgard resupplies her army and marches east to Leicester as soon as she is ready. Overwhelming several Leicester militias which harass her with guerrilla tactics, she reaches the Great Bridge of Myrddin, where Lady Judith of Daphnel and several Golden Deer students await them. Although Edelgard tries to minimize casualties and take the bridge as quickly as possible, a few Golden Deer are killed, along with Judith. Taking some time to mourn her fallen classmates, she presses on. The Commonwealth doesn’t turn out to be as stable as she previously thought, most of it having been a front Claude put on. In reality, Leicester’s noble families organized into pro- and anti-Adrestia factions, with only Claude’s leadership and manipulation of the two sides preventing all-out civil war. Hubert spots an opportunity. If they can eliminate Claude and take Derdriu, that would gain them the support of the pro-Adrestian faction, and the anti-Adrestian faction would surrender due to being outmatched. Ferdinand warns this would only escalate the power struggle in Leicester into civil war. They must get a surrender from Claude instead, as only the Grand Duke’s orders would convince the anti-Adrestian faction to also stand down. Following Ferdinand’s lightning war strategy, Edelgard pushes to Derdriu faster than the Leicester armies can react, and before she knows it she is at the Aquatic City’s front gates. Claude commends the Black Eagles’ cleverness, but he then reveals his own surprise in the form of an Almyran navy, whose “claws and fangs the Commonweath fears so much will now be its salvation.” The Golden Deer sortie out of the city alongside the Almyrans, but the Black Eagles push them back.
Edelgard confronts Claude. Dodging Aymr and readying Failnaught, Claude points out Edelgard’s war is hurting the people she claims to protect. He also doesn’t like the Church, but he wouldn’t have had to start a war to get what he wants. Edelgard counters he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without starting a war. The Church and the Crest system are too entrenched in Fódlan’s society, and only a violent revolution can fully dislodge them. Things will be very painful in the short term, but they will be much better in the long term. Claude counters she doesn’t know that. What happens after she establishes her meritocracy? Who’s to say it won’t just become another stratified society where an elite rule over the rest? People will just keep valuing the Crests because they aren’t going away anytime soon unless she kills all Crest-bearers. And she isn’t focusing on the bigger picture. The Church and the Crest system are only a symptom of the much larger problem of Fódlan’s isolationism and xenophobia. The Crests are valued so highly because Fódlan’s people don’t know places which don’t care for them. The Church is entrenched because Fódlan’s people only know the faith of Sothis and not the faiths worshipped outside the continent. Opening up the continent’s borders and interacting with Fódlan’s neighbors will go a long way to breaking down the Church and the Crest system.
Edelgard acknowledges his complaints. She concedes meritocracy is not one and done. She will have to keep fighting for it as long as she reigns. She will constantly work hard to make sure her new society is free and fair and stays that way, even with the Crests still existing. And she has no problem with opening Fódlan up. If anything, she welcomes it. Once the war is over, she promises to begin diplomatic relations with Almyra as well as Dagda and the other countries. They resume their fight, and Edelgard wins. With some convincing from Byleth, Claude agrees to surrender. The Leicester Commonwealth is dissolved and split into imperial provinces, as it was before it declared independence following the War of the Eagle and Lion. Its nobles are allowed to swear fealty to Edelgard, who promises to respect their autonomy for now. The surviving Golden Deer are allowed to either join Edelgard (only a few like Lysithea, due to also wanting to get revenge against Arundel for his experiments, become playable) or follow Claude into permanent exile in Almyra. Claude renounces all claims on Leicester, intending to never return to Fódlan.
Only Faerghus remains opposed to Adrestia now, but it is a formidable foe, even with a substantial portion of it in rebellion. Its revered knights, joined by the Blue Lions and the remnants of the Knights of Seiros, hold the line against the Adrestian army, keeping the front near the border despite Cornelia’s rebellion threatening to cut off their supply lines. Arundel suggests letting Cornelia’s rebellion progress further and encircle the Faerghus army, which would collapse the front and annihilate the bulk of the kingdom’s troops in one battle. Then Faerghus would be easy to conquer. Realizing this would only let Cornelia and by extension Arundel take over the remains of Faerghus, Edelgard does not want that to happen. While she stays behind and outwardly tells Arundel she will wait for Cornelia, Hubert covertly sends the Black Eagles to infiltrate Cornelia’s stronghold at the fortress of Arianrhod, known as the Silver Maiden (in a nod to Micaiah), and kill her. This proves harder than expected as Cornelia had secretly reinforced Arianrhod with Agarthan mechas and laser turrets which remove their element of surprise. Byleth defeats Cornelia, and Hubert forces her to reveal the location of Area 17. As she dies, Cornelia laughs and says Arundel won’t forget this. Realizing Arundel is onto them, Hubert warps the Black Eagles to a safe distance just as a nuclear missile obliterates Arianrhod.
Regrouping with Edelgard, the Black Eagles march straight to Area 17. Hubert puts out a manifesto declaring Arundel a traitor to turn the general public against him. Despite this, many Adrestian troops remain loyal to him. Randolph and Ladislava temporarily leave the party to put down a second rebellion in Enbarr while the rest march to Area 17. They storm into the bunker and fight Arundel’s troops, countering their advanced weapons with Byleth’s tactics and Edelgard’s determination to confront her childhood trauma. Along the way, they run into Seteth, who had found Area 17 on his own and snuck inside to rescue Flayn. Temporarily joining forces, they storm the heart of the bunker, where Arundel has been operating on Flayn and taking her dragon blood to extract her rare Crest.
Arundel taunts Edelgard as she approaches and cuts down the enemy soldiers in the room, claiming he gave her the power to stand against the gods controlling Fódlan and that he made her who she is today. As she draws closer and kills more of his men, he gets more desperate. Eventually he reverts to his persona during Edelgard’s experiments, demanding Edelgard kneel before him, as the true power behind the Reich, and thank him for the Crest of Flames, which made her into a new Nemesis. Edelgard decapitates him with Aymr, declaring: “I will never be what you made me.” She stares at his corpse for a long time, Seteth comforting Flayn in the background. She is able to turn and move on from her past when Byleth places his hand on her shoulder and tells her it’s over. Now that their common enemy is dead, Seteth expects Edelgard to turn on him, as it is quite obvious now that he and Flayn are Nabateans like Rhea. But Edelgard doesn’t. They have a conversation about the Agarthans, and Edelgard learns about Sothis and the Nabateans, how they were killed by Nemesis, and how Seiros and Wilhelm Paul defeated him. She realizes it is similar to the story she was told as a child, only it claimed Nemesis was a good king before Seiros killed him and imposed the Church on Fódlan. Thinking back on it, she realizes Arundel told her that story. She realizes Arundel had been lying to her for a long time, molding her into his personal weapon. But she won’t do that anymore. Arundel is no longer in control. She is. And she will make sure her dream, not Arundel’s, is what will be realized at the end of this war. Seteth scoffs. Disillusioned by the Archbishop’s actions, he believes Edelgard will just end up like Rhea when the war is over. Perhaps she may even declare herself a goddess to replace Sothis (as Seteth claims Edelgard did in the other routes, without evidence). Edelgard insists she will not be like Rhea, but she won’t try to convince Seteth. She tells him and Flayn they can go and live their lives in peace as long as they don’t fight her. Seteth thanks her and leaves with Flayn, only turning back to tell Edelgard he doesn’t want her to win. He just wants Rhea to lose. She's gone mad and must be defeated for the sake of their future.
Arundel’s death causes a brief period of instability in the Reich, but Faerghus can’t capitalize on it because it too is in a volatile situation. Cornelia’s death causes the implosion of her rebellion, and Faerghus knights are redeployed to clean up the remaining rebels. Both sides’ front lines are now exposed, and whoever resolves their own internal issues first will gain an advantage. Byleth decides to go on the offensive. He makes a plan to march north from Area 17 through northern Leicester into southern Faerghus and then swing west towards Fhirdiad, where they will defeat Dimitri and Rhea and end the war. Randolph and Ladislava back them up by launch an offensive along the main front, catching Faerghus’ knights by surprise and putting them on the defensive. Dimitri, realizing what is happening, mobilizes his elite troops and marches out of Fhirdiad with Rhea, intending to meet the Adrestians on the Tailtean Plains (a reference to Tailtiu). The Black Eagles are aware of the plains’ symbolism in addition to its strategic importance. It was here that the War of the Eagle and Lion ended when Loog Blaiddyd, the first King of Lions, and his tactician Pan defeated the Kaiser of the Adrestians and won Faerghus’ independence. And long before that, Rhea and Wilhelm Paul defeated Nemesis there. It seems Dimitri wants to pull off another symbolic and decisive victory here to save Faerghus, this time with himself in the role of Wilhelm Paul and Loog and Edelgard in the role of Nemesis and her ancestor.
As the Black Eagles approach the Tailtean Plains, Byleth finds Edelgard despondent and doubting herself. She feels guilty with what happened to Flayn. She couldn’t make it before the experiments began. She couldn’t save Flayn from suffering the same fate. What good is she if she can’t save one person? What does it mean for her ideal? Byleth pulls her out of it, telling her she did save Flayn in the end. And she’s saved many other people. Arundel is dead and his clique destroyed. They won’t torment anybody else. She is free to lead Adrestia and Fódlan into a new future on her own terms. This war has claimed many of their old friends, but they must make their deaths meaningful, in a way. She must push on and win for the sake of her dream. Otherwise, they will have died for nothing. Edelgard wonders how she'll be able to make up for the suffering she's caused or contributed to. Ferdinand tells her to make it worth it, to be the ruler and leader Rhea wasn't.
Dimitri, who still has both eyes
Acting on that, Edelgard contacts Dimitri, hoping to form an alliance against Rhea to avoid further fighting. Dimitri asks why Edelgard started the war. Edelgard insists this is the only way to achieve a new Fódlan. Keeping the Crest system would only spread the suffering out over many centuries, while this war will be painful but quick. And they can reduce the war’s pain even more by ending it faster. She offers a truce. There is still time for them to work together against their true enemy, Rhea, the one responsible for holding Fódlan back with the Church and the Crests. Her quarrel is with Rhea, not the Blue Lions. She doesn’t want to kill anymore of her former classmates. And perhaps they can become friends again, like they were as kids. Dimitri acknowledges that would be nice. But he is unable to forgive her for everything that has happened since those days. Duscur, Garreg Mach, the Flame Emperor, Arundel and Monica, and this whole war…he can’t forgive her. And he is still a man of faith. He can’t just turn on the faith he grew up in that easily. Edelgard realizes the two of them are set on their own paths, put on an inevitable collision course with each other. As much as they both want to avoid bloodshed, there is no other way. They can only succeed with each other’s death. The meeting ends, and the two leave each other for the last time.
The Adrestian army charges across the Tailtean Plains
The Battle of the Tailtean Plains begins, filled with tragedy. As a heavy rain pours down, turning the ground into mud, the Blue Lions and Knights of Seiros sacrifice themselves in the name of their king and Archbishop. The Black Eagles try to avoid fighting them, but they ultimately have no choice but to reluctantly cut down all of their former friends. Watching his classmates go down, Dedue vows to take out as many Adrestians as he can and activates his failsafe. He and many other Faerghus soldiers transform into monsters using Crest stones stolen from the royal vaults of Fhirdiad, shocking even Dimitri, who had not been told of the plan. But the Black Eagles defeat the monsters and put Dedue out of his misery. Edelgard confronts Dimitri on the battlefield, and the king of Faerghus challenges her to a duel. As Areadbhar and Aymr clash, Dimitri demands, "How much will you continue to conquer? Continue to kill?" Edelgard replies, “Whatever it takes, and nothing more.” After an intense battle, Dimitri falls to his knees, defeated. Edelgard makes one last attempt to show mercy, but Dimitri attempts to stab her with Areadbhar while her guard is down. He is unable to pierce her armor in his weakened state, and left with no other choice, Edelgard executes him with Aymr. The “Tempest King” Dimitri dies a hero, fondly remembered as not an insane madman but a just ruler who only wanted the best for his country, only to end up on the wrong side of the war (much like Camus and Eldigan).
The surviving Faerghus soldiers surrender upon learning of the death of their king and the Blue Lions. Across Faerghus, local nobles and generals also begin surrendering, realizing there is no point in further resistance with Dimitri dead and Blaiddyd dynasty extinct. Fhirdiad, under Rhea’s control, holds out. By now, Rhea has gone completely mad from the constant string of betrayals and failures she suffered combining with her draconic degeneration. She now considers all of humanity as ungrateful traitors unworthy of redemption, repaying her with rebellion and murder after she did so much to lift them out of Nemesis’ barbarism. As the Adrestian army closes in, she orders Catherine to set the city on fire. Although Catherine questions her logic, she dutifully carries out her orders. As with in Garreg Mach, incendiary explosives hidden around the city are detonated, engulfing Fhirdiad in flames. Rhea takes on her draconic form, the Immaculate One, once again, and activates her most powerful Nabatean golems. Her most loyal Church followers and Knights of Seiros, including Gilbert, swear to defend her with their lives.
Fhirdiad burns
At the gates, Edelgard’s generals, as well as Randolph and Ladislava, urge her to pull back and let the fire destroy Rhea and her forces with minimal Adrestian casualties. But Edelgard refuses to do so. The people of Fhirdiad are her people as well. She has no issue with them, but Rhea clearly does. It is her duty to save them and put an end to this mad dragon menacing Fódlan. She realizes she did save Flayn after all. And if she saved Flayn from Arundel’s experiments, she can save the people of this city. That is her duty as the Kaiser of the Adrestians. Sothis is nervous about fighting Rhea. She doesn’t want to participate in killing who should be her own daughter, but she acknowledges the path Byleth has taken.
(Yeah, I know the below music link doesn’t fit here, but I didn’t want to delete thisgod-shattering amazing track.)
The final battle begins. The Church leaders and the Knights of Seiros make their last stand against the Black Eagles, who refuse to be slowed down other than to rescue civilians. Catherine zealously cuts down many Adrestians with Thunderbrand, but she eventually falls as well. The Black Eagles slowly make their way to the heart of the city, where Rhea, as the Immaculate One, waits in front of the royal palace. Edelgard turns to Byleth. She is aware all they have been working for so far rides on their victory now. Byleth simply says he wants peace. Edelgard agrees with him. They all want peace. Byleth promises they will take down Rhea together, just like they promised. The two advance on Rhea.
Edelgard charges ahead in her ornate red and gold imperial armor, cutting down enemies with Aymr, while Byleth covers her from behind. The mercenary cuts down his foes with the Sword of the Creator. Rhea turns to face them. She lets loose a blast of draconic energy from her mouth. Byleth ducks under the blast while Edelgard jumps above it. While Rhea recharges, Byleth strikes. The Sword of the Creator’s red energy cuts through the Immaculate One’s ancient scales, and the dragon roars in pain. Spotting an opening, Edelgard aggressively attacks with Aymr. Rhea knocks her aside with her wing. The Kaiser and the chosen of Sothis complement each other perfectly in the battle. Edelgard provides raw power with Aymr while Byleth darts around the larger dragon with his speed and gradually exhausts her as she tries to hit him. Eventually, Rhea fires another draconic blast, hoping to catch both of them in the same attack, but Byleth raises the Sword of the Creator to take the blast and shield him from it. Distracted, Rhea can’t defend herself against Edelgard’s next strike with Aymr, which exposes her head. She nods to Byleth, and the two plunge their weapons into Rhea’s head, putting an end to the mad dragon. The Immaculate One had once struck down the wielder of the Sword of the Creator over a thousand years ago. Now, the wielder of the Sword of the Creator returns the favor.
As soon as Rhea falls, Byleth also collapses. Edelgard rushes to his side, begging him to not leave her like so many people had in the past. In his mind, Byleth talks to Sothis. Sothis tells him he and Rhea have a deep connection as a result of the experiment that killed his mother, reincarnated Sothis, and gave him the Crest of Flames. And now that Rhea is dead, that connection is cut, and he will die. Byleth asks what can be done to stop this. Sothis admits there is only one way to save Byleth: sacrificing her remaining life energy, giving herself up in exchange for Byleth. Byleth refuses to let Sothis go, but Sothis tells him not to worry. He’s done fine so far, and he no longer needs her. It’s time he started living for himself instead of as the chosen of Sothis as Rhea wanted. As she fades, she tells Byleth to look after Fódlan for her. The Crest of Flames stone attached to Byleth's heart dissolves, and it begins beating again. Byleth’s hair reverts to its original color. He loses the Crest of Flames, rendering the Sword of the Creator unusable, as well as the ability to Divine Pulse (not that it matters at this point since the game is over). He becomes fully human again. Edelgard is overjoyed to see him wake up, telling him a new dawn has arrived in Fódlan.
The war, later known as the Adrestian Restoration, is over in 1181, about a year after Edelgard stormed the Holy Tomb (as opposed to raging for 5 years and ending in 1185 in other routes). Fódlan enters a new golden age under a resurgent Adrestian Reich, which annexes both Faerghus and Leicester and returns to its greatest size. The noble families are given a grace period to transfer power to meritocratically appointed governors but are allowed to keep their properties and wealth to a certain degree. Although the Church as a religious institution is dissolved, Edelgard leaves the religion itself alone, believing there is much the faith can still contribute without Rhea’s influence. With Dorothea always providing advice and support as his wife, Ferdinand works to establish a bureau of qualifications to oversee exams as well as reform the Adrestian education system to educate all children equally. Hubert covertly eliminates anybody who might pose a threat to this new order, although his number of targets gradually dwindles as meritocracy becomes more stable and Arundel’s clique is permanently destroyed with no chance of a revival. Petra becomes queen of Brigid, opening diplomatic relations with Adrestia as equals and providing a bridge between Fódlan and Dagda and later the other western nations. Bernadetta takes over her late father's estate and becomes a popular writer, having come out of her shell thanks to her friends' efforts. Linhardt becomes the Reich's leading scientific and magical researcher, developing technology and magic which could do the work of Crests and use their abilities in peacetime. Working with Lysithea, he found a way to undo Arundel's experiments, removing Lysithea's two crests and Edelgard's Crest of Flames so they could live full lifespans again. Caspar accepts an appointment as War Minister. Edelgard reigns for many decades, during which she spends most of her time making sure the meritocratic system works exactly as she intended and putting it back in line when needed. She sent researchers to explore Agarthan ruins and uncover the forgotten history of Fódlan. At the end of her reign, instead of passing the throne to one of her children, she abdicated to a worthy successor who would continue her work, voluntarily transitioning Adrestia from a hereditary monarchy to a fully meritocratic society. Byleth returns to being a mercenary and using regular weapons. After attending a reunion with the other Black Eagles at Garreg Mach in 1185 just as they promised before the war started, Byleth reunites Jeralt's old mercenary band, recruits many war veterans (including the Gatekeeper), and travels around Fódlan doing what he does best: making a living by protecting the weak and innocent.
It was said instead of becoming the reincarnations of Nemesis and Sothis destined to fight each other, Edelgard and Byleth defied the destinies chosen for them. In the centuries to come, people began to see them as the second comings of Wilhelm Paul von Hresvelg and Saint Seiros, a fated pair who brought lasting change to Fódlan.
“Edge of Dawn” doesn’t play here because Edelgard can finally be herself again.
Against all odds, Byleth sides with Edelgard and the Black Eagles. Everyone is surprised. Sothis doesn’t know why Byleth made his decision, but she will support it regardless. Edelgard, having expected Byleth to side against her, is shocked he hasn’t done so. Dimitri asks why Byleth would side with someone who worked with those who killed Jeralt. Claude says nothing, still assessing the situation. Rhea is enraged. She calls Byleth not only a traitor against the Church but also against herself, not worthy of being the chosen of Sothis. Her own sanity snapping, she calls him just another failed experiment to resurrect her mother and will kill him herself. Sothis asks her to calm down, but only Byleth can hear her. Rhea transforms into a dragon on the spot and attacks. The Black Eagles, unable to fight such raw power at this point, help the other students escape the tomb before she destroys them all. Back at the monastery, Edelgard delays the arrival of the Adrestian reinforcements to allow the other students—including the Blue Lions—to escape, not having any quarrel with them. The Knights of Seiros arrive to apprehend her, but Hubert warps them away. Rhea, reverting to human form, vows to rip out Byleth’s heart and the Crest of Flames stone to “rescue” her mother.
The Black Eagles regroup at the Adrestian army’s camp outside Garreg Mach, where Edelgard again asks the students if they really wish to fight with her. She offers them the chance to leave without any punishment and not get caught up in the war, but most remain with her. She privately confides to Byleth that she didn’t expect him or any of the students to do so. She had feared all of them would eventually turn on her, like Arundel did. She thanks Byleth for his support. With him at her side, she knows she can stay on her path instead of throwing away her humanity and becoming a cold puppet of Arundel. Arundel shows up to congratulate Edelgard on confronting the Church and opening hostilities, but she rebuffs him, placing the army under her direct command. The commanders Randolph (revealed to be Caspar’s uncle), Ladislava, and the Death Knight himself (going by his regular name now) become playable. Garreg Mach becomes unavailable as a base. Sothis warns Byleth to beware Arundel. Now that they are both on the same side, he will be ever present nearby. Byleth must be careful not to reveal his hand.
The Church heavily fortifies Garreg Mach, having been given extra time due to Edelgard delaying the attack. Deciding it is too costly to take the monastery now, Edelgard orders the army to retreat to Adrestia. She and the Black Eagles take up residence in Enbarr. There, Byleth is invited to a private meeting between Edelgard and Kaiser Ionius IX. With Byleth (and Sothis) as a witness, replacing the usual witness, the Archbishop, Ionius willingly abdicates to Edelgard, who is proclaimed Kaiser of the Adrestians (in other routes, Seteth claims Edelgard forced Ionius to abdicate).
In her coronation speech to the citizens of Enbarr, Kaiser Edelgard I denounces the corruption of the Church and vows to liberate all of Fódlan from the Crest system and its Church backer. All of the commoners in attendance cheer for her, realizing they have a new champion against the depradations of the nobility, which had tormented the people of the Reich after seizing power in the coup. Her first order is to place all of those involved in the coup against Ionius—many of the Black Eagles’ parents—under house arrest, despite Ionius urging her to outright execute them. She exempts Arundel from the purge for now, as he still wields significant influence over the Adrestian government and military.
This provokes a rebellion from Church-minded nobles, including Count von Varley, Bernadetta’s abusive father. Led by Varley, they storm Enbarr and quickly seize multiple barracks and government buildings, scattering the Black Eagles across the city. The Black Eagles push through the city and link up with each other. Once they reunite, they push back with significant support from Enbarr’s commoners, who were rallied by Ferdinand and Hubert and adore Edelgard for her meritocratic vision. After Varley’s death, the other nobles surrender, realizing resistance is useless. Edelgard again shows mercy, deciding to only reduce their privileges and revoke some of their titles. Sothis is surprised by Edelgard’s act and commends Byleth for being a good influence on her.
Kaiser Edelgard dons the imperial armor
With her home front consolidated, Edelgard turns back to the war she has begun. She immediately sidelines Arundel and his faction even though their advanced technology would immensely help her. This leads to the front lines stalling, giving Faerghus and Leicester time to form an alliance and united front against her, led by Dimitri and Rhea. Claude, having taken over from his grandfather, only commits as many troops as needed to defend Leicester’s border, trying to keep the country out of the war as much as possible. Edelgard plans to offset the loss of Arundel’s resources with reinforcements from Brigid. Petra offers to lead a delegation to the western island archipelago, as she can convince her grandfather, the king, to form an alliance with Adrestia. When Byleth asks if Petra’s status as a hostage of the Reich may sabotage negotiations, Petra insists being educated in Adrestia has given her a new appreciation for its culture and ideals. Edelgard then formally ends Petra’s hostage status, wanting the two of them to treat each other as equals. The Black Eagles set sail for Brigid, fighting Church- and Faerghus-allied fleets along the way. In Brigid, they fight against more Church forces attempting to kill Petra or pressure the king into siding with them as well as invading Dagdan forces taking advantage of Adrestia’s focus on Fódlan to bring Brigid back into its sphere of influence. Petra ultimately secures the aid, and Brigid sends troops to mainland Fódlan. The new troops allow Edelgard to bolster her ranks and consolidate the front lines, but a breakthrough remains elusive. Dimitri’s knights and Claude’s unconventional tactics are evenly matched with Edelgard’s superior manpower and firepower. Arundel suggests using some of his personal troops, showing Edelgard some of the monsters he created by exposing Crest-less prisoners to Crest stones (like what happened with Miklan) in addition to mechas and other Agarthan technology, but Edelgard refuses, insisting she must win this war with her own power. Arundel gradually becomes suspicious of her actions. Sothis feels unnerved by the Crest-derived monsters.
Hubert suggests using espionage to weaken Dimitri and the Faerghus leadership, but Ferdinand objects to the plan, saying it is dishonorable and would only harm their cause. He instead suggests committing the bulk of their forces to an invasion of Leicester. He suggests a fast “lightning war” making use of their wyvern and pegasus knights and Warp spells to push to Derdriu and decapitate the Commonwealth as soon as possible. This way, they can both knock Leicester out of the war, exposing Faerghus to attack from the southeast, and minimize both enemy and civilian casualties. Edelgard agrees, but to project power into eastern Fódlan, they must seize Garreg Mach first.
The Church throws everything it has at the Adrestian army once Rhea realizes Edelgard intends to capture the monastery. The Knights of Seiros preemptively strike the Adrestians on the plains to the west of Garreg Mach, planning to catch them by surprise. Alois and the zealous knight Catherine, armed with her Relic sword Thunderbrand, engage Randolph and Ladislava while the Black Eagles fight the rest of the Knights. After a pitched battle in which Randolph and Ladislava are severely injured due to underestimating Thunderbrand’s power, the Adrestians prevail. Alois and Catherine retreat to Garreg Mach. Edelgard stalls her advance to allow the students and civilians still at the monastery to evacuate. Then she launches her assault. Alois, Catherine, Seteth, Flayn, and the remaining Knights of Seiros form a defensive line, led by Rhea, who has put on a warrior’s outfit and taken the name Seiros again, intending to fight in human form.
The return of Saint Seiros
As the Black Eagles gradually advance through the monastery, Alois sacrifices himself to detonate multiple incendiary mines hidden throughout Garreg Mach, leveling multiple buildings and setting much of the monastery on fire. Edelgard and Sothis are appalled the Knights would resort to such destructive tactics, realizing their zeal and devotion to Rhea has caused immense destruction to the monastery (ironically, on the Blue Lions route, Edelgard may order a similar incendiary attack at Gronder Field, which would burn many of her own Black Eagles to death). Seeing the Adrestians’ advance stalled by the flames and debris, Rhea calls her trump card, magical golems made with ancient Nabatean magic not even Seteth and the others knew about. Despite all this, the Black Eagles press on. Hubert develops a countermeasure against the golems, while the other mages in the army put out the fires.
Edelgard defeats Rhea with Aymr, but she turns into her draconic form in a last ditch attempt to drive the Adrestians back. At that moment, Arundel arrives, and his soldiers hit Rhea with powerful spells and Agarthan technology which are surprisingly effective against her. Catherine convinces her to retreat to Faerghus, where Dimitri will welcome them, while Seteth, having been disgusted by Alois’ attacks and Rhea’s behavior, resigns from the Church and heads off on his own. However, the Church is forced to leave Flayn behind, and she is captured. Arundel turns to Edelgard and chides her for underestimating Rhea. After all, this is the dragon responsible for manipulating and controlling humanity for well over a thousand years. Edelgard should know better than to just barge into her house and try to kill her. Edelgard holds her temper and feigns gratitude for Arundel arriving in time to back them up. Arundel simply asks for Flayn to be turned over to his custody to repay him. Edelgard and Byleth both lose their calm immediately and point Aymr and the Sword of the Creator at him. Arundel’s soldiers respond by pointing their guns and mecha turrets at the Black Eagles. Arundel laughs. He had suspected Edelgard was being problematic ever since the purge of the nobility, and now he has proof. That boy Byleth had definitely gotten into her head and strayed her from her chosen path. Edelgard replies she has rather stayed on her own path instead of the one Arundel chose for her. Even so, Arundel reminds her he still has the entire Reich at his command, not to mention the Black Eagles completely surrounded and outgunned. It would be a shame if Edelgard were to “heroically die in battle against the mad dragon tyrant.” It would be just what he needs to take the throne for himself and begin new experiments on the next generation of children. Perhaps with data taken from Flayn. Although Flayn protests and screams, Edelgard and Byleth are powerless to stop her from being taken away with Arundel, who thanks them for their cooperation and partnership.
Edelgard is distraught over this, having failed to save Flayn from a fate much like her own. She confers with Ferdinand, Hubert, and Byleth about this and tells them more about the experiments. She angrily vows to kill Arundel and rescue Flayn. Hubert points out it will be difficult to take down Arundel due to his political and military connections and the advanced technology he possesses, and they should wait until he makes a mistake. Ferdinand has none of it and urges Edelgard to strike quickly while they can; if the whole reason she was fighting this war so nobody will end up like her again, she must make good on that. Byleth believes a victory over the Church without defeating Arundel is no victory at all. They should eliminate Arundel before his power extends to the other nations. He has already heard of a pro-Arundel rebellion breaking out in southern Faerghus, led by a woman named Cornelia. It’s only a matter of time before a similar revolt happens in Leicester. Edelgard listens to their suggestions and agrees. She asks them to come up with a secret plan to eliminate Arundel while she and the others focus on the Church. Garreg Mach becomes available again as a base, although in a vastly reduced capacity due to the damage it suffered.
With Garreg Mach secure, Edelgard resupplies her army and marches east to Leicester as soon as she is ready. Overwhelming several Leicester militias which harass her with guerrilla tactics, she reaches the Great Bridge of Myrddin, where Lady Judith of Daphnel and several Golden Deer students await them. Although Edelgard tries to minimize casualties and take the bridge as quickly as possible, a few Golden Deer are killed, along with Judith. Taking some time to mourn her fallen classmates, she presses on. The Commonwealth doesn’t turn out to be as stable as she previously thought, most of it having been a front Claude put on. In reality, Leicester’s noble families organized into pro- and anti-Adrestia factions, with only Claude’s leadership and manipulation of the two sides preventing all-out civil war. Hubert spots an opportunity. If they can eliminate Claude and take Derdriu, that would gain them the support of the pro-Adrestian faction, and the anti-Adrestian faction would surrender due to being outmatched. Ferdinand warns this would only escalate the power struggle in Leicester into civil war. They must get a surrender from Claude instead, as only the Grand Duke’s orders would convince the anti-Adrestian faction to also stand down. Following Ferdinand’s lightning war strategy, Edelgard pushes to Derdriu faster than the Leicester armies can react, and before she knows it she is at the Aquatic City’s front gates. Claude commends the Black Eagles’ cleverness, but he then reveals his own surprise in the form of an Almyran navy, whose “claws and fangs the Commonweath fears so much will now be its salvation.” The Golden Deer sortie out of the city alongside the Almyrans, but the Black Eagles push them back.
Edelgard confronts Claude. Dodging Aymr and readying Failnaught, Claude points out Edelgard’s war is hurting the people she claims to protect. He also doesn’t like the Church, but he wouldn’t have had to start a war to get what he wants. Edelgard counters he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without starting a war. The Church and the Crest system are too entrenched in Fódlan’s society, and only a violent revolution can fully dislodge them. Things will be very painful in the short term, but they will be much better in the long term. Claude counters she doesn’t know that. What happens after she establishes her meritocracy? Who’s to say it won’t just become another stratified society where an elite rule over the rest? People will just keep valuing the Crests because they aren’t going away anytime soon unless she kills all Crest-bearers. And she isn’t focusing on the bigger picture. The Church and the Crest system are only a symptom of the much larger problem of Fódlan’s isolationism and xenophobia. The Crests are valued so highly because Fódlan’s people don’t know places which don’t care for them. The Church is entrenched because Fódlan’s people only know the faith of Sothis and not the faiths worshipped outside the continent. Opening up the continent’s borders and interacting with Fódlan’s neighbors will go a long way to breaking down the Church and the Crest system.
Edelgard acknowledges his complaints. She concedes meritocracy is not one and done. She will have to keep fighting for it as long as she reigns. She will constantly work hard to make sure her new society is free and fair and stays that way, even with the Crests still existing. And she has no problem with opening Fódlan up. If anything, she welcomes it. Once the war is over, she promises to begin diplomatic relations with Almyra as well as Dagda and the other countries. They resume their fight, and Edelgard wins. With some convincing from Byleth, Claude agrees to surrender. The Leicester Commonwealth is dissolved and split into imperial provinces, as it was before it declared independence following the War of the Eagle and Lion. Its nobles are allowed to swear fealty to Edelgard, who promises to respect their autonomy for now. The surviving Golden Deer are allowed to either join Edelgard (only a few like Lysithea, due to also wanting to get revenge against Arundel for his experiments, become playable) or follow Claude into permanent exile in Almyra. Claude renounces all claims on Leicester, intending to never return to Fódlan.
Only Faerghus remains opposed to Adrestia now, but it is a formidable foe, even with a substantial portion of it in rebellion. Its revered knights, joined by the Blue Lions and the remnants of the Knights of Seiros, hold the line against the Adrestian army, keeping the front near the border despite Cornelia’s rebellion threatening to cut off their supply lines. Arundel suggests letting Cornelia’s rebellion progress further and encircle the Faerghus army, which would collapse the front and annihilate the bulk of the kingdom’s troops in one battle. Then Faerghus would be easy to conquer. Realizing this would only let Cornelia and by extension Arundel take over the remains of Faerghus, Edelgard does not want that to happen. While she stays behind and outwardly tells Arundel she will wait for Cornelia, Hubert covertly sends the Black Eagles to infiltrate Cornelia’s stronghold at the fortress of Arianrhod, known as the Silver Maiden (in a nod to Micaiah), and kill her. This proves harder than expected as Cornelia had secretly reinforced Arianrhod with Agarthan mechas and laser turrets which remove their element of surprise. Byleth defeats Cornelia, and Hubert forces her to reveal the location of Area 17. As she dies, Cornelia laughs and says Arundel won’t forget this. Realizing Arundel is onto them, Hubert warps the Black Eagles to a safe distance just as a nuclear missile obliterates Arianrhod.
Regrouping with Edelgard, the Black Eagles march straight to Area 17. Hubert puts out a manifesto declaring Arundel a traitor to turn the general public against him. Despite this, many Adrestian troops remain loyal to him. Randolph and Ladislava temporarily leave the party to put down a second rebellion in Enbarr while the rest march to Area 17. They storm into the bunker and fight Arundel’s troops, countering their advanced weapons with Byleth’s tactics and Edelgard’s determination to confront her childhood trauma. Along the way, they run into Seteth, who had found Area 17 on his own and snuck inside to rescue Flayn. Temporarily joining forces, they storm the heart of the bunker, where Arundel has been operating on Flayn and taking her dragon blood to extract her rare Crest.
Arundel taunts Edelgard as she approaches and cuts down the enemy soldiers in the room, claiming he gave her the power to stand against the gods controlling Fódlan and that he made her who she is today. As she draws closer and kills more of his men, he gets more desperate. Eventually he reverts to his persona during Edelgard’s experiments, demanding Edelgard kneel before him, as the true power behind the Reich, and thank him for the Crest of Flames, which made her into a new Nemesis. Edelgard decapitates him with Aymr, declaring: “I will never be what you made me.” She stares at his corpse for a long time, Seteth comforting Flayn in the background. She is able to turn and move on from her past when Byleth places his hand on her shoulder and tells her it’s over. Now that their common enemy is dead, Seteth expects Edelgard to turn on him, as it is quite obvious now that he and Flayn are Nabateans like Rhea. But Edelgard doesn’t. They have a conversation about the Agarthans, and Edelgard learns about Sothis and the Nabateans, how they were killed by Nemesis, and how Seiros and Wilhelm Paul defeated him. She realizes it is similar to the story she was told as a child, only it claimed Nemesis was a good king before Seiros killed him and imposed the Church on Fódlan. Thinking back on it, she realizes Arundel told her that story. She realizes Arundel had been lying to her for a long time, molding her into his personal weapon. But she won’t do that anymore. Arundel is no longer in control. She is. And she will make sure her dream, not Arundel’s, is what will be realized at the end of this war. Seteth scoffs. Disillusioned by the Archbishop’s actions, he believes Edelgard will just end up like Rhea when the war is over. Perhaps she may even declare herself a goddess to replace Sothis (as Seteth claims Edelgard did in the other routes, without evidence). Edelgard insists she will not be like Rhea, but she won’t try to convince Seteth. She tells him and Flayn they can go and live their lives in peace as long as they don’t fight her. Seteth thanks her and leaves with Flayn, only turning back to tell Edelgard he doesn’t want her to win. He just wants Rhea to lose. She's gone mad and must be defeated for the sake of their future.
Arundel’s death causes a brief period of instability in the Reich, but Faerghus can’t capitalize on it because it too is in a volatile situation. Cornelia’s death causes the implosion of her rebellion, and Faerghus knights are redeployed to clean up the remaining rebels. Both sides’ front lines are now exposed, and whoever resolves their own internal issues first will gain an advantage. Byleth decides to go on the offensive. He makes a plan to march north from Area 17 through northern Leicester into southern Faerghus and then swing west towards Fhirdiad, where they will defeat Dimitri and Rhea and end the war. Randolph and Ladislava back them up by launch an offensive along the main front, catching Faerghus’ knights by surprise and putting them on the defensive. Dimitri, realizing what is happening, mobilizes his elite troops and marches out of Fhirdiad with Rhea, intending to meet the Adrestians on the Tailtean Plains (a reference to Tailtiu). The Black Eagles are aware of the plains’ symbolism in addition to its strategic importance. It was here that the War of the Eagle and Lion ended when Loog Blaiddyd, the first King of Lions, and his tactician Pan defeated the Kaiser of the Adrestians and won Faerghus’ independence. And long before that, Rhea and Wilhelm Paul defeated Nemesis there. It seems Dimitri wants to pull off another symbolic and decisive victory here to save Faerghus, this time with himself in the role of Wilhelm Paul and Loog and Edelgard in the role of Nemesis and her ancestor.
As the Black Eagles approach the Tailtean Plains, Byleth finds Edelgard despondent and doubting herself. She feels guilty with what happened to Flayn. She couldn’t make it before the experiments began. She couldn’t save Flayn from suffering the same fate. What good is she if she can’t save one person? What does it mean for her ideal? Byleth pulls her out of it, telling her she did save Flayn in the end. And she’s saved many other people. Arundel is dead and his clique destroyed. They won’t torment anybody else. She is free to lead Adrestia and Fódlan into a new future on her own terms. This war has claimed many of their old friends, but they must make their deaths meaningful, in a way. She must push on and win for the sake of her dream. Otherwise, they will have died for nothing. Edelgard wonders how she'll be able to make up for the suffering she's caused or contributed to. Ferdinand tells her to make it worth it, to be the ruler and leader Rhea wasn't.
Dimitri, who still has both eyes
Acting on that, Edelgard contacts Dimitri, hoping to form an alliance against Rhea to avoid further fighting. Dimitri asks why Edelgard started the war. Edelgard insists this is the only way to achieve a new Fódlan. Keeping the Crest system would only spread the suffering out over many centuries, while this war will be painful but quick. And they can reduce the war’s pain even more by ending it faster. She offers a truce. There is still time for them to work together against their true enemy, Rhea, the one responsible for holding Fódlan back with the Church and the Crests. Her quarrel is with Rhea, not the Blue Lions. She doesn’t want to kill anymore of her former classmates. And perhaps they can become friends again, like they were as kids. Dimitri acknowledges that would be nice. But he is unable to forgive her for everything that has happened since those days. Duscur, Garreg Mach, the Flame Emperor, Arundel and Monica, and this whole war…he can’t forgive her. And he is still a man of faith. He can’t just turn on the faith he grew up in that easily. Edelgard realizes the two of them are set on their own paths, put on an inevitable collision course with each other. As much as they both want to avoid bloodshed, there is no other way. They can only succeed with each other’s death. The meeting ends, and the two leave each other for the last time.
The Adrestian army charges across the Tailtean Plains
The Battle of the Tailtean Plains begins, filled with tragedy. As a heavy rain pours down, turning the ground into mud, the Blue Lions and Knights of Seiros sacrifice themselves in the name of their king and Archbishop. The Black Eagles try to avoid fighting them, but they ultimately have no choice but to reluctantly cut down all of their former friends. Watching his classmates go down, Dedue vows to take out as many Adrestians as he can and activates his failsafe. He and many other Faerghus soldiers transform into monsters using Crest stones stolen from the royal vaults of Fhirdiad, shocking even Dimitri, who had not been told of the plan. But the Black Eagles defeat the monsters and put Dedue out of his misery. Edelgard confronts Dimitri on the battlefield, and the king of Faerghus challenges her to a duel. As Areadbhar and Aymr clash, Dimitri demands, "How much will you continue to conquer? Continue to kill?" Edelgard replies, “Whatever it takes, and nothing more.” After an intense battle, Dimitri falls to his knees, defeated. Edelgard makes one last attempt to show mercy, but Dimitri attempts to stab her with Areadbhar while her guard is down. He is unable to pierce her armor in his weakened state, and left with no other choice, Edelgard executes him with Aymr. The “Tempest King” Dimitri dies a hero, fondly remembered as not an insane madman but a just ruler who only wanted the best for his country, only to end up on the wrong side of the war (much like Camus and Eldigan).
The surviving Faerghus soldiers surrender upon learning of the death of their king and the Blue Lions. Across Faerghus, local nobles and generals also begin surrendering, realizing there is no point in further resistance with Dimitri dead and Blaiddyd dynasty extinct. Fhirdiad, under Rhea’s control, holds out. By now, Rhea has gone completely mad from the constant string of betrayals and failures she suffered combining with her draconic degeneration. She now considers all of humanity as ungrateful traitors unworthy of redemption, repaying her with rebellion and murder after she did so much to lift them out of Nemesis’ barbarism. As the Adrestian army closes in, she orders Catherine to set the city on fire. Although Catherine questions her logic, she dutifully carries out her orders. As with in Garreg Mach, incendiary explosives hidden around the city are detonated, engulfing Fhirdiad in flames. Rhea takes on her draconic form, the Immaculate One, once again, and activates her most powerful Nabatean golems. Her most loyal Church followers and Knights of Seiros, including Gilbert, swear to defend her with their lives.
Fhirdiad burns
At the gates, Edelgard’s generals, as well as Randolph and Ladislava, urge her to pull back and let the fire destroy Rhea and her forces with minimal Adrestian casualties. But Edelgard refuses to do so. The people of Fhirdiad are her people as well. She has no issue with them, but Rhea clearly does. It is her duty to save them and put an end to this mad dragon menacing Fódlan. She realizes she did save Flayn after all. And if she saved Flayn from Arundel’s experiments, she can save the people of this city. That is her duty as the Kaiser of the Adrestians. Sothis is nervous about fighting Rhea. She doesn’t want to participate in killing who should be her own daughter, but she acknowledges the path Byleth has taken.
(Yeah, I know the below music link doesn’t fit here, but I didn’t want to delete this
The final battle begins. The Church leaders and the Knights of Seiros make their last stand against the Black Eagles, who refuse to be slowed down other than to rescue civilians. Catherine zealously cuts down many Adrestians with Thunderbrand, but she eventually falls as well. The Black Eagles slowly make their way to the heart of the city, where Rhea, as the Immaculate One, waits in front of the royal palace. Edelgard turns to Byleth. She is aware all they have been working for so far rides on their victory now. Byleth simply says he wants peace. Edelgard agrees with him. They all want peace. Byleth promises they will take down Rhea together, just like they promised. The two advance on Rhea.
Edelgard charges ahead in her ornate red and gold imperial armor, cutting down enemies with Aymr, while Byleth covers her from behind. The mercenary cuts down his foes with the Sword of the Creator. Rhea turns to face them. She lets loose a blast of draconic energy from her mouth. Byleth ducks under the blast while Edelgard jumps above it. While Rhea recharges, Byleth strikes. The Sword of the Creator’s red energy cuts through the Immaculate One’s ancient scales, and the dragon roars in pain. Spotting an opening, Edelgard aggressively attacks with Aymr. Rhea knocks her aside with her wing. The Kaiser and the chosen of Sothis complement each other perfectly in the battle. Edelgard provides raw power with Aymr while Byleth darts around the larger dragon with his speed and gradually exhausts her as she tries to hit him. Eventually, Rhea fires another draconic blast, hoping to catch both of them in the same attack, but Byleth raises the Sword of the Creator to take the blast and shield him from it. Distracted, Rhea can’t defend herself against Edelgard’s next strike with Aymr, which exposes her head. She nods to Byleth, and the two plunge their weapons into Rhea’s head, putting an end to the mad dragon. The Immaculate One had once struck down the wielder of the Sword of the Creator over a thousand years ago. Now, the wielder of the Sword of the Creator returns the favor.
As soon as Rhea falls, Byleth also collapses. Edelgard rushes to his side, begging him to not leave her like so many people had in the past. In his mind, Byleth talks to Sothis. Sothis tells him he and Rhea have a deep connection as a result of the experiment that killed his mother, reincarnated Sothis, and gave him the Crest of Flames. And now that Rhea is dead, that connection is cut, and he will die. Byleth asks what can be done to stop this. Sothis admits there is only one way to save Byleth: sacrificing her remaining life energy, giving herself up in exchange for Byleth. Byleth refuses to let Sothis go, but Sothis tells him not to worry. He’s done fine so far, and he no longer needs her. It’s time he started living for himself instead of as the chosen of Sothis as Rhea wanted. As she fades, she tells Byleth to look after Fódlan for her. The Crest of Flames stone attached to Byleth's heart dissolves, and it begins beating again. Byleth’s hair reverts to its original color. He loses the Crest of Flames, rendering the Sword of the Creator unusable, as well as the ability to Divine Pulse (not that it matters at this point since the game is over). He becomes fully human again. Edelgard is overjoyed to see him wake up, telling him a new dawn has arrived in Fódlan.
The war, later known as the Adrestian Restoration, is over in 1181, about a year after Edelgard stormed the Holy Tomb (as opposed to raging for 5 years and ending in 1185 in other routes). Fódlan enters a new golden age under a resurgent Adrestian Reich, which annexes both Faerghus and Leicester and returns to its greatest size. The noble families are given a grace period to transfer power to meritocratically appointed governors but are allowed to keep their properties and wealth to a certain degree. Although the Church as a religious institution is dissolved, Edelgard leaves the religion itself alone, believing there is much the faith can still contribute without Rhea’s influence. With Dorothea always providing advice and support as his wife, Ferdinand works to establish a bureau of qualifications to oversee exams as well as reform the Adrestian education system to educate all children equally. Hubert covertly eliminates anybody who might pose a threat to this new order, although his number of targets gradually dwindles as meritocracy becomes more stable and Arundel’s clique is permanently destroyed with no chance of a revival. Petra becomes queen of Brigid, opening diplomatic relations with Adrestia as equals and providing a bridge between Fódlan and Dagda and later the other western nations. Bernadetta takes over her late father's estate and becomes a popular writer, having come out of her shell thanks to her friends' efforts. Linhardt becomes the Reich's leading scientific and magical researcher, developing technology and magic which could do the work of Crests and use their abilities in peacetime. Working with Lysithea, he found a way to undo Arundel's experiments, removing Lysithea's two crests and Edelgard's Crest of Flames so they could live full lifespans again. Caspar accepts an appointment as War Minister. Edelgard reigns for many decades, during which she spends most of her time making sure the meritocratic system works exactly as she intended and putting it back in line when needed. She sent researchers to explore Agarthan ruins and uncover the forgotten history of Fódlan. At the end of her reign, instead of passing the throne to one of her children, she abdicated to a worthy successor who would continue her work, voluntarily transitioning Adrestia from a hereditary monarchy to a fully meritocratic society. Byleth returns to being a mercenary and using regular weapons. After attending a reunion with the other Black Eagles at Garreg Mach in 1185 just as they promised before the war started, Byleth reunites Jeralt's old mercenary band, recruits many war veterans (including the Gatekeeper), and travels around Fódlan doing what he does best: making a living by protecting the weak and innocent.
It was said instead of becoming the reincarnations of Nemesis and Sothis destined to fight each other, Edelgard and Byleth defied the destinies chosen for them. In the centuries to come, people began to see them as the second comings of Wilhelm Paul von Hresvelg and Saint Seiros, a fated pair who brought lasting change to Fódlan.
“Edge of Dawn” doesn’t play here because Edelgard can finally be herself again.
Some DLC mini-campaigns
Some downloadable content adds several mini-campaigns to the main story. These resemble Awakening’s three-map special paralogues and take up multiple days on the calendar. Four are locked to before the route split and introduce new students, and completing one of these unlocks a new explorable area under Garreg Mach called the Abyss, a network of ancient tunnels where those rejected by mainstream society reside. The victory conditions for these maps are more unique than in the base game.
(Placed in spoilers for readability, and they have some spoilers for all routes.)
The Imperial Summit (before route split)
Edelgard summons the Adrestian Reich’s major dynatoi to a conference in the town of Nuvelle to discuss various political matters on behalf of her ailing father (later revealed to be laying the groundwork for her purge of the nobility in the Black Eagles route). She asks Byleth, Bernadetta, and Ferdinand to attend the conference with her. There, Byleth meets with many of the dynatoi, including the Black Eagles’ parents like Count von Varley, Minister von Bergliez, and Chancellor von Aegir. Depending on how he interacts with the parents, he can increase or decrease the trust of the students. For example, saying things Count von Varley likes decreases Bernadetta’s trust, while saying things that Chancellor von Aegir does not like will increase Ferdinand’s trust. Caspar has some interactions with his father as well as Randolph, where they talk about Caspar’s inheritance (or lack of it) and what he plans to do with his life.
Setting the conference in Nuvelle draws the attention of the student Constance, the last living heir of House von Nuvelle, which was wiped out in a Dagdan invasion during the war between Adrestia and Dagda when she was a child. As a result of her trauma, she developed a split personality, being her usual haughty and ambitious self when indoors but becoming timid and meek when outside. She asks the assembled dynatoi to back her house’s restoration, but nobody listens to her as she has little wealth or prestige. However, Edelgard takes an interest in Constance’s ambition as well as her magical talents, noticing how she constantly experiments with spells to either improve their efficiency or find new uses for them. Suddenly, assassins attack the conference, attempting to kill the dynatoi. Byleth, Edelgard, Constance, Bernadetta, and Ferdinand hastily grab their weapons and fight back. The maps here take place both inside the conference building and outside on the streets of Nuvelle, with the goal to protect the NPC dynatoi units until they reach an escape point. After rescuing the nobles, who thank Byleth in various ways (or not at all in some cases), Constance again brings up the issue of her house. Edelgard promises to look into it and offers to let her join the Black Eagles, wanting to make use of her skills. Constance becomes a new member of the class and will side with the Black Eagles during the route split. Back at Garreg Mach, Byleth and Sothis wonder who sent the assassins, although if the player has finished every route, it is quite obvious Arundel sent them.
Hilda’s Day Off (before route split)
Hilda goes home to visit her family, Leicester’s House von Goneril. Byleth and Claude tag along and invite their classmates Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, Leonie, and Lysithea. There, they meet Hilda’s legendary brother Holst, a graduate of Garreg Mach and now Leicester’s best general, tasked with defending the border fortress of Fódlan’s Locket against Almyran attacks. Lorenz, who is almost as obsessed with noble customs as Ferdinand is, believes he is unworthy of being in Holst's presence. Leonie feels left out for being the only commoner besides Byleth there, and she is surprised when Holst agrees to help her train. Claude looks at the impressive fortifications of Fódlan’s Locket but considers them an obstacle to the continent’s progress, telling Byleth he desires a day where it would no longer be necessary.
The first map of this paralogue series is to help Holst defend against an Almyran raid. Afterward, a burly young man appears on the doorstep of Goneril Castle asking for help. Holst recognizes him as his old classmate Balthus, who had dropped out before graduating. Hilda asks why Balthus has shown up now after disappearing for many years. Balthus replies he is on the run for quitting a job he did not want to do. On cue, the people he is running from attack, led by Lorenz’s father. Count Gloucester demands Holst hand over Balthus as he was hired as a tax collector. Balthus tells Holst and Hilda he was never paid for his work, during which he was ordered to beat up innocent civilians to take their money as taxes. Byleth and Claude man the castle’s defenses and drive off Count Gloucester’s men. Afterward, Lorenz goes out and convinces his father to stand down, promising he will ask Claude to talk to his grandfather to mediate a settlement. The group sets out for Derdriu to meet Claude’s grandfather, but they come under attack from Count Gloucester’s men again, now attempting to kill Balthus under the cover of a bandit attack. They escape the ambush and go to Derdriu, where the Grand Duke reprimands Count Gloucester for his actions. To avoid a situation like this happening again, Balthus is re-enrolled in Garreg Mach as a Golden Deer student. Back at Garreg Mach, Lysithea thinks back about Count Gloucester’s actions and wonders what it means for her to have the Crest of Gloucester, even if she isn't a member of House Gloucester.
Alma Mater (before route split)
Annette asks Byleth to go with her to Fhirdiad. The Church of Seiros has been negotiating a partnership between Garreg Mach and Fhirdiad’s School of Sorcery, one of the most prestigious schools for mages in Fódlan, and Seteth wanted Annette, a School of Sorcery graduate, to go to Fhirdiad in support of these efforts. Mercedes, Annette’s friend from the School of Sorcery and a fellow Blue Lion, offers to go with her, as does Dimitri. Arriving in Fhirdiad, Byleth isn’t used to the chilly weather, but the others don’t have a problem with it. They head to the School of Sorcery and meet Cornelia, the new headmistress. Dimitri recognizes her as a renowned court mage who cured a terrible pandemic sweeping across Faerghus fifteen years ago. Byleth feels unnerved by her for some reason. The Blue Lions engage in a practice battle with the students and learn more about the school. Annette and Mercedes reflect on their time at the school but soon learn students have been disappearing at night lately. Digging deeper, they find the disappearances began around the time Cornelia and several other faculty members arrived.
While snooping around at night to try and find the culprits, they run into a girl named Hapi who wants to kill Cornelia. She explains she was once captured by Cornelia, who conducted painful Crest experiments on her for eight years. This gave her the ability (or curse) to summon monsters every time she sighs. Now she wants revenge. They encounter the new faculty in the process of abducting students and wake Byleth and Dimitri, who help protect the students and fight them off. The next day, they confront Cornelia, who denies knowledge of the abductions. Annette digs into the school’s records and asks Hapi to recall anything about the experiments run on her, with Mercedes’ kindness helping Hapi push through her trauma. They find where the missing students are being held and free them. But when they return to the school, Dimitri learns Cornelia has resigned as headmistress, and his uncle, the regent, refuses to conduct an investigation into the matter due to not wanting to cause public outcry over accusations targeting a beloved national figure. After stationing a trustworthy division of Faerghus knights at the school for the students’ protection, the Blue Lions return home. Dimitri, knowing what it is like to want vengeance for something, sympathizes with Hapi’s plight and enrolls her as a Blue Lion. Byleth and Sothis wonder if Cornelia’s abduction of students isn’t an isolated incident due to clues they picked up on. And there is something suspicious about how Dimitri's uncle is protecting Cornelia...
Cindered Shadows (before Jeralt’s death, after Hapi, Constance, and Balthus’ paralogue series are completed)
This paralogue series, although it takes place in the span of a couple days, has six chapters instead of the usual three.
Constance, Balthus, and Hapi are having trouble integrating into their classes, and they are not doing well in practice battles. Sothis suggests giving them real combat experience, and Byleth asks Jeralt to help him, bringing along the three house leaders just in case. Although they were planning to go to the nearby mountains to fight some bandits, they spot a suspicious looking group of people attacking the Abyss. Byleth leads the group into battle and defeats the enemies, meeting a former student named Yuri who leads a militia defending the tunnels. Yuri explains the Abyss has been attacked by the same mysterious group for a while now. Byleth promises to figure out who is attacking the Abyss. The group searches for clues throughout the tunnels. Yuri ambushes the attackers and defeats them. A straggler attempts to kill Yuri, but he is rescued by Aelfric, a Church cardinal. Jeralt recognizes Aelfric, and Aelfric tells Byleth he was a friend of his parents. Yuri interrogates the surviving attackers and learns they are searching for something. Aelfric theorizes they seek the Chalice of Beginnings, an artifact created by Saint Seiros that can supposedly resurrect one dead person through the Rite of Rising. Yuri convinces the others to search for the Chalice, and they search ancient Church records to find its last known location. They eventually find the Chalice but also an army of phantom soldiers, which they escape.
Aelfric is abducted by the mercenaries, who send a ransom note demanding the Chalice. Constance realizes they wouldn’t have known about the Chalice, which means they must have been betrayed. Yuri contacts the Church, which sends Alois and Catherine. Claude and Hapi dig through more records and learn the Rite of Rising was done once before, carried out by four apostles in Saint Seiros’ time. Although the ritual failed, Claude notices the apostles’ names correspond to the Crests of Yuri, Balthus, Hapi, and Constance. Yuri reveals he is only in the Abyss because he was wrongly accused of murder. Byleth, Jeralt, and the students confront the mercenaries but don’t hand over the Chalice. Hapi sighs, summoning monsters which attack, while Alois and his knights recover Aelfric. But Yuri then turns on the others, revealing he was working for Aelfric to get him the Chalice. Jeralt demands to know what Aelfric wants with it, but Aelfric teleports himself, Yuri, Constance, Hapi, and Balthus away. Byleth talks to Rhea, who has put together the pieces. Aelfric wants to use the blood of the four students to carry out the Rite of Rising. He will likely do it in the Holy Mausoleum, so Byleth, Jeralt, and the others head there.
In the Holy Mausoleum, Constance, Hapi, and Balthus find they have been restrained and their life forces are slowly being drained as part of the ritual. They notice Yuri is also restrained. When he is asked why he is going along with this, Aelfric explains he has Yuri’s mother held hostage to ensure his compliance. Balthus asks why he is doing this, and Aelfric reveals his goal is to resurrect Sitri. Byleth and the others storm the mausoleum and free Yuri’s mother in a nearby room. Yuri then turns on Aelfric and breaks free. Byleth and the house leaders free Constance, Hapi, and Balthus while Catherine fights off Aelfric’s minions. Jeralt corners Aelfric and demands to know what he wants with Sitri. Rhea arrives minutes later and asks the same thing. Aelfric explains he found Sitri’s corpse ten years ago, decaying much slower than normally, and became obsessed with resurrecting her. He accuses both Jeralt and Rhea of being responsible for her death and escapes to the cathedral. Byleth and Jeralt reach the cathedral first, where Aelfric recalls his history with Jeralt and Sitri and reveals he was always jealous Sitri loved Jeralt more, and it pained him to see her die so young. Rhea arrives next and attempts to convince him to stop, warning the Chalice cannot restore Sitri’s soul, but Aelfric doesn’t listen. He uses his own blood to finish the ritual, and the Chalice absorbs both him and Sitri’s body into a monstrous vaguely draconic abomination. The students and Alois and Catherine finally arrive and help Byleth and Jeralt defeat the monster.
Afterward, Rhea clears Yuri’s record, allowing him to become a regular student again (he will join whatever faction Byleth chooses). Constance, Hapi, and Balthus, having gotten experience, start doing better at practice. Later, Byleth finds Jeralt paying his respects at Sitri’s grave, and they exchange a few words about Sitri. Sothis wonders what is the deal with Sitri, because it seems like Aelfric wasn’t lying when he said Rhea did something to her.
Ashe and the Faerghus Four (after route split, Blue Lions)
Sylvain convinces Felix and Ashe, the only commoner in the Blue Lions, to join him in a night of fun in Fhirdiad to take their minds off the war. One thing leads to another and they get wrapped up in an unauthorized campaign to both defeat the remains of Miklan’s old gang, during which Sylvain reflects on his childhood and his father’s heavy expectations of him as the family's only Crest bearer, as well as Arundel’s spies, who remain hidden throughout Fhirdiad. Ingrid soon joins in, at Felix's request, and also confronts her own father's expectations of her as their financially challenged family's only Crest bearer. Ashe, meanwhile, remembers his own childhood on the streets and how he left behind a life of thievery and poverty when he was adopted by none other than Lonato. He wonders how the Lonato who adopted him turned into someone who would rebel against the Church. If Yuri is recruited, he reveals he was also adopted by Lonato.
Khalid of Two Worlds (after route split, Golden Deer)
Claude recounts to Byleth what he was doing while Byleth was missing, as well as elaborating on a lot of his backstory. After the fall of Garreg Mach, Claude returned to Leicester with the Golden Deer to shore up its defenses against an inevitable Adrestian invasion. His grandfather passed away from old age, passing the title of Grand Duke to Claude. This caused significant outcry from many noble families represented on the Roundtable of Lords, many of whom don’t want a half-foreign Grand Duke, even if he has the Crest of Reigan. Although Lorenz initially appears like he doesn’t consider Claude a worthy leader, he is in fact extremely loyal and only wants Claude to be the best ruler he can be. He convinces his shifty father to side with Claude instead of joining Adrestia (as happens on other routes). With the support of Houses Gloucester (Lorenz), Daphnel (Judith), Ordelia (Lysithea), and Goneril (Hilda), Claude builds up a strong power base. But other houses, some backed by Arundel and the Adrestian government, refuse to acknowledge Claude’s rule. Claude must proceed carefully to avoid civil war or even the appearance of instability. He instead wages a war in the shadows to neutralize his threats. He plays off his enemies against each other and targets their weak spots, making use of any advantage he can get.
Once his position is secure, he covertly travels to Almyra, having Hilda and Holst pretending they are hosting Claude for an extended period of time. In Almyra, he meets his father, the king of Almyra, and tells him what he has been up to in Fódlan, hoping to convince him to make him his heir. It is revealed Claude’s birth name is Khalid, and he is one of a number of siblings by different mothers. While the king is impressed with the power he has amassed, he is still not convinced Claude should be heir as he is half-Fódlan, although he loves Claude’s mother. Nor does he believe in Claude’s open-minded tolerance; he wants to use Claude’s new power to give Almyra the advantage in an upcoming invasion. Claude refuses to do so, and the king threatens to completely disown him. To resolve this, he challenges the king to Almyran ritual combat: they and several champions will duel, and the winner will become king. The king laughs, as ritual combat requires the two leaders to ride on wyverns, and Claude doesn’t have one. Claude then goes out, and with the help of the Golden Deer students Marianne, Ignatz, and Raphael he tracks down a wyvern horde. Although he can easily go after the largest and fastest wyvern, his attention is drawn to a weaker albino wyvern lagging behind, which he eventually decides to tame and ride. He returns to the Almyran capital on his new wyvern, Pasha, and starts the duel. The king and many of Claude’s brothers arrive on their own wyverns to face Claude, on Pasha, and Marianne, Ignatz, and Raphael, who don’t have wyverns of their own. Although the king’s forces are very powerful, Claude uses clever strategies he picked up on in the Leicester power struggle as well as the bonds he has with his friends to win. To a shocked audience, the king reluctantly concedes the throne to Claude. Claude’s first act as king is to call off the invasion. But the troops raised already are placed under the command of Nader, who is given orders to covertly ready them for action at Claude’s command (which in the main story would be the attack on Fort Merceus in Golden Deer or the intervention at Derdriu on other routes). Claude returns to Leicester with the resources of another country secretly under his control, ready to break the war’s stalemate.
Fulfilling both this and Hilda’s paralogue series will result in Holst being recruited after a certain point in the main story. On Black Eagles, if Hilda’s paralogue series is completed, Holst will appear as an enemy in certain maps in Leicester, and on Blue Lions, Holst will appear as an enemy at Gronder Field.
The Mercenary from Dagda (after route split, Black Eagles if Shamir has been recruited)
During the Brigid subplot, Shamir fights against many fellow Dagdans, including some she recognizes from the area she grew up in. Noticing her discomfort, Edelgard attempts to negotiate a ceasefire with Dagda, as she has no quarrel with them, without compromising Brigid’s independence in the process. She enlists the help of Byleth and the Black Eagles Petra, Dorothea, and Linhardt to lead a delegation to the Dagdan capital, where they hope to negotiate a treaty to stop war from breaking out. Along the way, they fight rogue Dagdan armies as well as assassins sent by the Church and Arundel, but they eventually reach the capital and convince the government to sign a temporary ceasefire until the war ends. Shamir tells Byleth he reminds her of her old mercenary partner, with whom she had fought alongside in the last war, where he was killed in battle. She also dreads having to eventually fight Catherine, her partner while contracted to the Knights of Seiros and now a close friend of hers.
Edelgard summons the Adrestian Reich’s major dynatoi to a conference in the town of Nuvelle to discuss various political matters on behalf of her ailing father (later revealed to be laying the groundwork for her purge of the nobility in the Black Eagles route). She asks Byleth, Bernadetta, and Ferdinand to attend the conference with her. There, Byleth meets with many of the dynatoi, including the Black Eagles’ parents like Count von Varley, Minister von Bergliez, and Chancellor von Aegir. Depending on how he interacts with the parents, he can increase or decrease the trust of the students. For example, saying things Count von Varley likes decreases Bernadetta’s trust, while saying things that Chancellor von Aegir does not like will increase Ferdinand’s trust. Caspar has some interactions with his father as well as Randolph, where they talk about Caspar’s inheritance (or lack of it) and what he plans to do with his life.
Setting the conference in Nuvelle draws the attention of the student Constance, the last living heir of House von Nuvelle, which was wiped out in a Dagdan invasion during the war between Adrestia and Dagda when she was a child. As a result of her trauma, she developed a split personality, being her usual haughty and ambitious self when indoors but becoming timid and meek when outside. She asks the assembled dynatoi to back her house’s restoration, but nobody listens to her as she has little wealth or prestige. However, Edelgard takes an interest in Constance’s ambition as well as her magical talents, noticing how she constantly experiments with spells to either improve their efficiency or find new uses for them. Suddenly, assassins attack the conference, attempting to kill the dynatoi. Byleth, Edelgard, Constance, Bernadetta, and Ferdinand hastily grab their weapons and fight back. The maps here take place both inside the conference building and outside on the streets of Nuvelle, with the goal to protect the NPC dynatoi units until they reach an escape point. After rescuing the nobles, who thank Byleth in various ways (or not at all in some cases), Constance again brings up the issue of her house. Edelgard promises to look into it and offers to let her join the Black Eagles, wanting to make use of her skills. Constance becomes a new member of the class and will side with the Black Eagles during the route split. Back at Garreg Mach, Byleth and Sothis wonder who sent the assassins, although if the player has finished every route, it is quite obvious Arundel sent them.
Hilda’s Day Off (before route split)
Hilda goes home to visit her family, Leicester’s House von Goneril. Byleth and Claude tag along and invite their classmates Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, Leonie, and Lysithea. There, they meet Hilda’s legendary brother Holst, a graduate of Garreg Mach and now Leicester’s best general, tasked with defending the border fortress of Fódlan’s Locket against Almyran attacks. Lorenz, who is almost as obsessed with noble customs as Ferdinand is, believes he is unworthy of being in Holst's presence. Leonie feels left out for being the only commoner besides Byleth there, and she is surprised when Holst agrees to help her train. Claude looks at the impressive fortifications of Fódlan’s Locket but considers them an obstacle to the continent’s progress, telling Byleth he desires a day where it would no longer be necessary.
The first map of this paralogue series is to help Holst defend against an Almyran raid. Afterward, a burly young man appears on the doorstep of Goneril Castle asking for help. Holst recognizes him as his old classmate Balthus, who had dropped out before graduating. Hilda asks why Balthus has shown up now after disappearing for many years. Balthus replies he is on the run for quitting a job he did not want to do. On cue, the people he is running from attack, led by Lorenz’s father. Count Gloucester demands Holst hand over Balthus as he was hired as a tax collector. Balthus tells Holst and Hilda he was never paid for his work, during which he was ordered to beat up innocent civilians to take their money as taxes. Byleth and Claude man the castle’s defenses and drive off Count Gloucester’s men. Afterward, Lorenz goes out and convinces his father to stand down, promising he will ask Claude to talk to his grandfather to mediate a settlement. The group sets out for Derdriu to meet Claude’s grandfather, but they come under attack from Count Gloucester’s men again, now attempting to kill Balthus under the cover of a bandit attack. They escape the ambush and go to Derdriu, where the Grand Duke reprimands Count Gloucester for his actions. To avoid a situation like this happening again, Balthus is re-enrolled in Garreg Mach as a Golden Deer student. Back at Garreg Mach, Lysithea thinks back about Count Gloucester’s actions and wonders what it means for her to have the Crest of Gloucester, even if she isn't a member of House Gloucester.
Alma Mater (before route split)
Annette asks Byleth to go with her to Fhirdiad. The Church of Seiros has been negotiating a partnership between Garreg Mach and Fhirdiad’s School of Sorcery, one of the most prestigious schools for mages in Fódlan, and Seteth wanted Annette, a School of Sorcery graduate, to go to Fhirdiad in support of these efforts. Mercedes, Annette’s friend from the School of Sorcery and a fellow Blue Lion, offers to go with her, as does Dimitri. Arriving in Fhirdiad, Byleth isn’t used to the chilly weather, but the others don’t have a problem with it. They head to the School of Sorcery and meet Cornelia, the new headmistress. Dimitri recognizes her as a renowned court mage who cured a terrible pandemic sweeping across Faerghus fifteen years ago. Byleth feels unnerved by her for some reason. The Blue Lions engage in a practice battle with the students and learn more about the school. Annette and Mercedes reflect on their time at the school but soon learn students have been disappearing at night lately. Digging deeper, they find the disappearances began around the time Cornelia and several other faculty members arrived.
While snooping around at night to try and find the culprits, they run into a girl named Hapi who wants to kill Cornelia. She explains she was once captured by Cornelia, who conducted painful Crest experiments on her for eight years. This gave her the ability (or curse) to summon monsters every time she sighs. Now she wants revenge. They encounter the new faculty in the process of abducting students and wake Byleth and Dimitri, who help protect the students and fight them off. The next day, they confront Cornelia, who denies knowledge of the abductions. Annette digs into the school’s records and asks Hapi to recall anything about the experiments run on her, with Mercedes’ kindness helping Hapi push through her trauma. They find where the missing students are being held and free them. But when they return to the school, Dimitri learns Cornelia has resigned as headmistress, and his uncle, the regent, refuses to conduct an investigation into the matter due to not wanting to cause public outcry over accusations targeting a beloved national figure. After stationing a trustworthy division of Faerghus knights at the school for the students’ protection, the Blue Lions return home. Dimitri, knowing what it is like to want vengeance for something, sympathizes with Hapi’s plight and enrolls her as a Blue Lion. Byleth and Sothis wonder if Cornelia’s abduction of students isn’t an isolated incident due to clues they picked up on. And there is something suspicious about how Dimitri's uncle is protecting Cornelia...
Cindered Shadows (before Jeralt’s death, after Hapi, Constance, and Balthus’ paralogue series are completed)
This paralogue series, although it takes place in the span of a couple days, has six chapters instead of the usual three.
Constance, Balthus, and Hapi are having trouble integrating into their classes, and they are not doing well in practice battles. Sothis suggests giving them real combat experience, and Byleth asks Jeralt to help him, bringing along the three house leaders just in case. Although they were planning to go to the nearby mountains to fight some bandits, they spot a suspicious looking group of people attacking the Abyss. Byleth leads the group into battle and defeats the enemies, meeting a former student named Yuri who leads a militia defending the tunnels. Yuri explains the Abyss has been attacked by the same mysterious group for a while now. Byleth promises to figure out who is attacking the Abyss. The group searches for clues throughout the tunnels. Yuri ambushes the attackers and defeats them. A straggler attempts to kill Yuri, but he is rescued by Aelfric, a Church cardinal. Jeralt recognizes Aelfric, and Aelfric tells Byleth he was a friend of his parents. Yuri interrogates the surviving attackers and learns they are searching for something. Aelfric theorizes they seek the Chalice of Beginnings, an artifact created by Saint Seiros that can supposedly resurrect one dead person through the Rite of Rising. Yuri convinces the others to search for the Chalice, and they search ancient Church records to find its last known location. They eventually find the Chalice but also an army of phantom soldiers, which they escape.
Aelfric is abducted by the mercenaries, who send a ransom note demanding the Chalice. Constance realizes they wouldn’t have known about the Chalice, which means they must have been betrayed. Yuri contacts the Church, which sends Alois and Catherine. Claude and Hapi dig through more records and learn the Rite of Rising was done once before, carried out by four apostles in Saint Seiros’ time. Although the ritual failed, Claude notices the apostles’ names correspond to the Crests of Yuri, Balthus, Hapi, and Constance. Yuri reveals he is only in the Abyss because he was wrongly accused of murder. Byleth, Jeralt, and the students confront the mercenaries but don’t hand over the Chalice. Hapi sighs, summoning monsters which attack, while Alois and his knights recover Aelfric. But Yuri then turns on the others, revealing he was working for Aelfric to get him the Chalice. Jeralt demands to know what Aelfric wants with it, but Aelfric teleports himself, Yuri, Constance, Hapi, and Balthus away. Byleth talks to Rhea, who has put together the pieces. Aelfric wants to use the blood of the four students to carry out the Rite of Rising. He will likely do it in the Holy Mausoleum, so Byleth, Jeralt, and the others head there.
In the Holy Mausoleum, Constance, Hapi, and Balthus find they have been restrained and their life forces are slowly being drained as part of the ritual. They notice Yuri is also restrained. When he is asked why he is going along with this, Aelfric explains he has Yuri’s mother held hostage to ensure his compliance. Balthus asks why he is doing this, and Aelfric reveals his goal is to resurrect Sitri. Byleth and the others storm the mausoleum and free Yuri’s mother in a nearby room. Yuri then turns on Aelfric and breaks free. Byleth and the house leaders free Constance, Hapi, and Balthus while Catherine fights off Aelfric’s minions. Jeralt corners Aelfric and demands to know what he wants with Sitri. Rhea arrives minutes later and asks the same thing. Aelfric explains he found Sitri’s corpse ten years ago, decaying much slower than normally, and became obsessed with resurrecting her. He accuses both Jeralt and Rhea of being responsible for her death and escapes to the cathedral. Byleth and Jeralt reach the cathedral first, where Aelfric recalls his history with Jeralt and Sitri and reveals he was always jealous Sitri loved Jeralt more, and it pained him to see her die so young. Rhea arrives next and attempts to convince him to stop, warning the Chalice cannot restore Sitri’s soul, but Aelfric doesn’t listen. He uses his own blood to finish the ritual, and the Chalice absorbs both him and Sitri’s body into a monstrous vaguely draconic abomination. The students and Alois and Catherine finally arrive and help Byleth and Jeralt defeat the monster.
Afterward, Rhea clears Yuri’s record, allowing him to become a regular student again (he will join whatever faction Byleth chooses). Constance, Hapi, and Balthus, having gotten experience, start doing better at practice. Later, Byleth finds Jeralt paying his respects at Sitri’s grave, and they exchange a few words about Sitri. Sothis wonders what is the deal with Sitri, because it seems like Aelfric wasn’t lying when he said Rhea did something to her.
Ashe and the Faerghus Four (after route split, Blue Lions)
Sylvain convinces Felix and Ashe, the only commoner in the Blue Lions, to join him in a night of fun in Fhirdiad to take their minds off the war. One thing leads to another and they get wrapped up in an unauthorized campaign to both defeat the remains of Miklan’s old gang, during which Sylvain reflects on his childhood and his father’s heavy expectations of him as the family's only Crest bearer, as well as Arundel’s spies, who remain hidden throughout Fhirdiad. Ingrid soon joins in, at Felix's request, and also confronts her own father's expectations of her as their financially challenged family's only Crest bearer. Ashe, meanwhile, remembers his own childhood on the streets and how he left behind a life of thievery and poverty when he was adopted by none other than Lonato. He wonders how the Lonato who adopted him turned into someone who would rebel against the Church. If Yuri is recruited, he reveals he was also adopted by Lonato.
Khalid of Two Worlds (after route split, Golden Deer)
Claude recounts to Byleth what he was doing while Byleth was missing, as well as elaborating on a lot of his backstory. After the fall of Garreg Mach, Claude returned to Leicester with the Golden Deer to shore up its defenses against an inevitable Adrestian invasion. His grandfather passed away from old age, passing the title of Grand Duke to Claude. This caused significant outcry from many noble families represented on the Roundtable of Lords, many of whom don’t want a half-foreign Grand Duke, even if he has the Crest of Reigan. Although Lorenz initially appears like he doesn’t consider Claude a worthy leader, he is in fact extremely loyal and only wants Claude to be the best ruler he can be. He convinces his shifty father to side with Claude instead of joining Adrestia (as happens on other routes). With the support of Houses Gloucester (Lorenz), Daphnel (Judith), Ordelia (Lysithea), and Goneril (Hilda), Claude builds up a strong power base. But other houses, some backed by Arundel and the Adrestian government, refuse to acknowledge Claude’s rule. Claude must proceed carefully to avoid civil war or even the appearance of instability. He instead wages a war in the shadows to neutralize his threats. He plays off his enemies against each other and targets their weak spots, making use of any advantage he can get.
Once his position is secure, he covertly travels to Almyra, having Hilda and Holst pretending they are hosting Claude for an extended period of time. In Almyra, he meets his father, the king of Almyra, and tells him what he has been up to in Fódlan, hoping to convince him to make him his heir. It is revealed Claude’s birth name is Khalid, and he is one of a number of siblings by different mothers. While the king is impressed with the power he has amassed, he is still not convinced Claude should be heir as he is half-Fódlan, although he loves Claude’s mother. Nor does he believe in Claude’s open-minded tolerance; he wants to use Claude’s new power to give Almyra the advantage in an upcoming invasion. Claude refuses to do so, and the king threatens to completely disown him. To resolve this, he challenges the king to Almyran ritual combat: they and several champions will duel, and the winner will become king. The king laughs, as ritual combat requires the two leaders to ride on wyverns, and Claude doesn’t have one. Claude then goes out, and with the help of the Golden Deer students Marianne, Ignatz, and Raphael he tracks down a wyvern horde. Although he can easily go after the largest and fastest wyvern, his attention is drawn to a weaker albino wyvern lagging behind, which he eventually decides to tame and ride. He returns to the Almyran capital on his new wyvern, Pasha, and starts the duel. The king and many of Claude’s brothers arrive on their own wyverns to face Claude, on Pasha, and Marianne, Ignatz, and Raphael, who don’t have wyverns of their own. Although the king’s forces are very powerful, Claude uses clever strategies he picked up on in the Leicester power struggle as well as the bonds he has with his friends to win. To a shocked audience, the king reluctantly concedes the throne to Claude. Claude’s first act as king is to call off the invasion. But the troops raised already are placed under the command of Nader, who is given orders to covertly ready them for action at Claude’s command (which in the main story would be the attack on Fort Merceus in Golden Deer or the intervention at Derdriu on other routes). Claude returns to Leicester with the resources of another country secretly under his control, ready to break the war’s stalemate.
Fulfilling both this and Hilda’s paralogue series will result in Holst being recruited after a certain point in the main story. On Black Eagles, if Hilda’s paralogue series is completed, Holst will appear as an enemy in certain maps in Leicester, and on Blue Lions, Holst will appear as an enemy at Gronder Field.
The Mercenary from Dagda (after route split, Black Eagles if Shamir has been recruited)
During the Brigid subplot, Shamir fights against many fellow Dagdans, including some she recognizes from the area she grew up in. Noticing her discomfort, Edelgard attempts to negotiate a ceasefire with Dagda, as she has no quarrel with them, without compromising Brigid’s independence in the process. She enlists the help of Byleth and the Black Eagles Petra, Dorothea, and Linhardt to lead a delegation to the Dagdan capital, where they hope to negotiate a treaty to stop war from breaking out. Along the way, they fight rogue Dagdan armies as well as assassins sent by the Church and Arundel, but they eventually reach the capital and convince the government to sign a temporary ceasefire until the war ends. Shamir tells Byleth he reminds her of her old mercenary partner, with whom she had fought alongside in the last war, where he was killed in battle. She also dreads having to eventually fight Catherine, her partner while contracted to the Knights of Seiros and now a close friend of hers.
Reception
Journey of the Three Heroes has received "generally favorable" reviews holding an aggregate score of 89/100 on Metacritic based on 101 reviews. According to the site, it is the fourth highest-scoring Switch game of 2019 and the highest-rated Switch exclusive.
The four reviewers for Famitong all gave praise, with one giving it a perfect score of 10 and the others a 9. Reviewers praised the game's ambition and willingness to take risks with the traditional series formula. Aron Garst of GamesRadar gave the game a perfect score, praising how the game kept him invested in its characters, with his main criticism of the gameplay being its low difficulty.
A reviewer for VSN felt the depth of characters and tactical options more than justified replays, particularly praising its narrative as being an improvement over The Exalt’s Duty already great one. However, the DLC mini-campaign narratives, while enjoyable, weren't as well written, particularly Cindered Shadows despite some good moments involving Jeralt and Sothis. As always, the interactions of the data transferred characters, particularly the continuation of Alyssa and Cassie's character arc, was well received by both fans and critics. Many fans noted the three lords were not only based on the traditional protagonist archetypes (Edelgard with Alm's anti-clericalism and Hector's determination, Dimitri with Marth's sense of justice and Chrom's strength, and Claude with Robin's tactical thinking and Roy's open-mindedness) but also on traditional antagonist archetypes (Edelgard as the "red emperor" with Arvis, Zephiel, and Walhart, Dimitri as the "mad/vengeful leader" with Ashnard, Sephiran, and Gangrel, and Claude the "untrustworthy schemer" with Michalis, Travant, and Naesala). Rhea also has parallels with previous villains and final bosses in the series such as Medeus, Gharnef, Jedah, Ashera, and Validar.
The scenario was met with praise, being cited as a mature and ambitious narrative with strong character interactions, with many lauding the choices presented when ultimately choosing a faction to follow in the later parts of the game. The two interacting gameplay styles were also positively received, with many noting the social elements as a welcome tactical addition, although some felt they brought down replay value substantially. The game's graphics saw a mixed response, with several websites faulting them as low-quality despite strong artistic design. The music and voice acting met with a strong positive response in both versions.
Journey of the Three Heroes was the bestselling game during its first week on sale in China, with 1,431,300 copies being sold. SuperData Research estimated it sold 8,000,000 digital copies through the eShop in its launch month of July 2019. In August 2019, the NDP group shared the ranking of best-selling games for the month of July in Europe, and Journey of the Three Heroes was in second place, counting only physical sales. As of March 2020, the game sold 14.7 million copies worldwide, firmly cementing Fire Emblem’s place as a mainstream franchise. The game won the award for "Best Switch Exclusive" and People's Voice at the VSN Game of the Year Awards 2019.
Legacy
After Journey of the Three Heroes' success, more Fire Emblem games were made in both the Fódlan continuity as well as with the modified Warriors engine:
Fire Emblem Echoes: Genealogy of the Holy War (2021) - The long awaited remake to the punishing but beloved fourth entry in the franchise finally came on Crusaders of Light's 25th anniversary, and the hype and publicity generated from its highly anticipated reveal overshadowed even the announcement of Pokemon Adamant Diamond and Lustrous Pearl for a time. And fans (at least Fire Emblem fans) were finally pleased to learn both Sigurd and Seliph would be added as DLC fighters to Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, after many years of waiting.
Fire Emblem: Eagle and Lion (2022) - The next mainline Fire Emblem game is set during the War of the Eagle and Lion. It brings back a fully customizable player avatar for the first time since Pokemon Conquest in the character of Pan, a tactician and close advisor to Loog, the King of Lions. While Loog fights for the freedom of Faerghus from Adrestia, Pan travels around Fódlan searching for aid and exploring Agarthan ruins to get any advanced technology they can use for the war effort, though they may also come across ancient evils just waiting to be unleashed...
Fire Emblem Warriors: War of Liberation (2023) - A "proper sequel" to Fire Emblem Warriors, at least in terms of a hack-and-slash game with the Warriors name, War of Liberation was inspired by the success of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. It features two scenarios exploring different sides of the same story. At the start of the game, the player chooses to either view the story from the perspective of Saint Seiros, the last Nabatean hellbent on avenging her mother and family by killing Nemesis, or Wilhelm Paul Hresvelg, a farmer from a nameless village caught up in the war who inadvertently becomes a symbol of resistance to Nemesis and finds himself leading a resistance to the King of Liberation. The two stories are essentially the same, but viewed from two very different perspectives which gradually converge as Seiros and Wilhelm Paul grow closer, culminating in the final battle on the Tailtean Plains.
It was now clear Fire Emblem had entered a new golden age. From a humble passion project Zhao Jiahe and his team created just a year after the restoration of Chinese democracy to the golden SRUS and GBA age to the years in the wilderness to its revitalization in the 3DS era, Fire Emblem endured over the years, telling many different stories through the lens of people, both ordinary and extraordinary, fighting medieval wars. It told stories of redemption and coming into one's own like with Marth, Seliph, Leif, Hector, Lyn, Sue, Eirika and Ephraim, Elincia, Alyssa, and Dimitri.
Marth said:
Alyssa said:
It told stories of rising to greatness even without noble blood, like with Ike and Kris.
Kris said:
Ike said:
It told stories of rebelling against the gods and taking fate into one's own hands, like with Alm, Celica, Ike (again), Micaiah, Chrom, Lucina, Robin, and Edelgard.
Alm said:
Edelgard said:
It told stories of love—Marth and Caeda, Sigurd and Deirdre, Eliwood and Ninian, Roy and Lilina, Chrom and Robin—as well as heartbreak—Alyssa and Cassie.
Roy said:
Alyssa said:
It told stories of striving towards fairness and togetherness, as Claude, Roy, and Ike (yet again) fought for. Most importantly, although it was a war-based strategy game at its core with wildly varying stories and mechanics at times, all games had one unifying theme: that when people join forces and work together, they can achieve anything.
Robin said:
Claude said:
Just like how the many teams working on the franchise's many games achieved what they did over the years. The franchise had always brought the best together to overcome the odds. After all, the motto of the franchise has always been "Together we ride!"
Only time would tell where it would ride to next.
---
We've finally reached the end of this series! Took me the last few hours just to edit this one and make sure it was done right. I had a lot of fun writing these, but all good things have to end. There's still that other secret cultural update I have yet to post and am excited to share, so be on the lookout for that since it'll be released in a similar deal with multiple parts and multimedia, hopefully. We'll be returning to the normal story arc on Saturday and after that, depending on my schedule, I may upload that 1-3 times a week.
Edit 1/11/22: Changed or removed all Youtube links to not embed previews as they're making this page almost impossible to load.
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Oh boy, they definitely are since we've got Marth, Leif, Roy, Lyn, Ike, Chrom, Robin, Kris (officially Pokemon), Alyssa, Edelgard/Dimitri/Claude, Sigurd, and Seliph now (but no Corrin or Byleth so there's that). Hopefully their movesets are varied enough.
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As good as I expected. You definitely threw me for a loop with Byleth not having any support conversations, but that hardly spoils my fun here. A minor change, but I also got a good laugh out of Sothis being Byleth's age instead of younger.
The change of having the route split be in the middle of the game is an interesting one, though if nothing else I imagine that would lead to many players curbstomping most Part 1 maps with three lords plus Byleth only to realize midway that they're going to regret neglecting their other units.
The Blue Lions campaign and the Golden Deer campaign more or less playing out the same makes sense, though the change of Claude's final boss being Rhea and not Nemesis is another amusing alteration; that final boss is narratively pretty dumb, but a fun map so it's a bit of a coin toss for me.
Edelgard's is easily the biggest departure, not even having the timeskip being the most obvious. I quite like imagining how Sothis would react to Edelgard and Byleth defying their destinies, how she'd feel seeing Rhea degrade more and more. Clearly a more fanatical Alois too, did not see that coming.
The Amiibo support is as nice as ever and I like your approach to the mini-campaign DLCs. The Ashen Wolves are a fun addition to the cast and it's nice to see them here.
Your hopes for the future titles of Fire Emblem are mighty nice (believe me, I've got big hopes for some remakes and whatever follows Three Houses myself). Your closing words on the series was touching, a clear sign of what the franchise means to you. It's the perfect finale to its series here.
The change of having the route split be in the middle of the game is an interesting one, though if nothing else I imagine that would lead to many players curbstomping most Part 1 maps with three lords plus Byleth only to realize midway that they're going to regret neglecting their other units.
The Blue Lions campaign and the Golden Deer campaign more or less playing out the same makes sense, though the change of Claude's final boss being Rhea and not Nemesis is another amusing alteration; that final boss is narratively pretty dumb, but a fun map so it's a bit of a coin toss for me.
Edelgard's is easily the biggest departure, not even having the timeskip being the most obvious. I quite like imagining how Sothis would react to Edelgard and Byleth defying their destinies, how she'd feel seeing Rhea degrade more and more. Clearly a more fanatical Alois too, did not see that coming.
The Amiibo support is as nice as ever and I like your approach to the mini-campaign DLCs. The Ashen Wolves are a fun addition to the cast and it's nice to see them here.
Your hopes for the future titles of Fire Emblem are mighty nice (believe me, I've got big hopes for some remakes and whatever follows Three Houses myself). Your closing words on the series was touching, a clear sign of what the franchise means to you. It's the perfect finale to its series here.
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A fitting conclusion to the Fire Emblem summaries. Dimitri and Claude's routes may be more or less the same as OTL (which I don't mind since I really like Dimitri's character arc in Azure Moon), but the changes to Edelgard's route make it worth it. While I do like the idea of having a Church route, I think you made a good call cutting out in order to focus more on the other routes, especially Edelgard's. Anyways great job with these updates, I'm looking forward to the Forum arc and the secret cultural updates.
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While I do like a few of Byleth's supports, the rest are quite one-sided since Byleth barely says anything outside of dialogue choices. I think I balanced it out by having more inter-house supports, particularly some supports between the three lords (which probably only go up to C or B).
I think having Sothis be the same age as Byleth was more realistic, since she was reborn when Byleth was given life. And I was never really a fan of characters like Nowi in previous games, although Tiki, Fae, and Myrrh were fine.
Yeah, definitely. While the deployment size is generally more than four units, most newcomers would probably prioritize spamming Byleth and the three lords, but then the trust system comes back to bite them in Part 2. I moved the route split to the middle of the game (similar to Fates' setup) instead of at the very beginning so I could have more interactions between the three houses and their leaders. Players would get to bond with all of the students at once, making their decision to choose a side at the route split (and then have to kill most of those who didn't join them) very heart-wrenching. Instead of just being like picking a starter Pokemon, the choice of a side becomes really important and emotional.
Nemesis definitely opened up a big can of worms especially with regards to Silver Snow's ending, but on the other hand I had a lot of fun
Sothis initially would've had some questions about Byleth siding against Rhea, since at that point all she would know is Rhea is her daughter. But then she sees how Rhea goes crazier and crazier as things escalate and start sympathizing with Edelgard more. She feels sad to see her daughter like this, even if she barely remembers her, and she wishes there could be another way, but there's nothing they can do once the battle lines are drawn. The best she can do is help put Rhea out of her misery and protect the land she watched over that way.
After remembering how fanatical Catherine turned out to be, I thought Alois would be something similar. It would be a shock for the player to meet Alois as a cheerful family man with bad jokes in Part 1 only see him sacrificing himself to blow up the monastery in Part 2. It goes to show just how devoted some people can be to Rhea and the Church, and it may not always be obvious at first.
I got the idea to bring some older characters into the game from both my previous entries and the data transfer mechanic (obviously) but also some fan arts I've seen of older characters in Three Houses uniforms, sometimes with stats and characterization. Although I don't have any Amiibos, I felt they should at least have done more than just unlock extra music tracks. And Cindered Shadows had so much potential that I wanted to make it even better here.
Also, did you really think I was going to leave Alyssa and Cassie
I wanted to end this series on a high note and pay tribute to what I liked most about it. I got into the franchise with Three Houses last year and really loved playing that game. From there I played every game from Genealogy on, and a couple months ago I got the idea to do this series since I've been using a lot of story beats and themes for the main story arcs both here in NWO and Stellaris. And with the Reich going through these difficult times, its people should remember how the nation got started a thousand years ago, with a man bringing together the many peoples of Europe so they could achieve something greater together. I think I even had Friedrich the Great or Wilhelm paraphrase Claude's quote in one of their flashbacks.
Dimitri's character arc in Azure Moon is phenomenal, agreed, and outside of a few small details (Rodrigue) and gameplay changes (like the victory conditions at Gronder Field differing between Blue Lions and Golden Deer), I decided to keep it mostly the same. Verdant Wind is also mostly the same, but I deleted Thales and the Agarthans because I felt like bucking the trend of "evil dark cult does evil stuff" and just have Arundel and a group of humans use technology they barely understand to further their ambitions. There was also a lot problematic about their arc that I didn't want to repeat here. Crimson Flower had a lot of potential but was held back by production issues and a limited timetable. That was a shame since it was my favorite route and Edelgard is my favorite of the lords, so I wanted to do her story justice. As for Silver Snow, while it did have some good elements, it shared a lot of content with Verdant Wind, and I could easily transfer the rest of the exclusive content without that much of an issue. And having just three routes for the three lords allowed me to focus on those instead. In-universe, the developers probably had more time to spend on the other routes, especially Crimson Flower, without having to worry about the Church route (even though the Church route was the first one done in OTL, but here Crimson Flower was done first).
I'm definitely excited to post the secret cultural updates, as I used a similar writing style to the FE updates there and it's about something I really like that was also screwed over by production issues in real life. Its main character has also received a...should I say...lively reception similar to that Edelgard had, and I did throw in a comparison to Alyssa and Cassie somewhere too.
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I've really liked reading all of the FE stuff here- and I'm honored when you included my ideas. Really hoping your predictions for the future of FE hold true, a Jugdral remake would be epic. One suggestion:
Here, I actually thought up a new thing for Edelgard to say as Arundel/Thales is taunting her. In response to him telling her that he made her who she is so she should thank him, she'd say "I will never be what you made me" before killing him. This would work very well as the climax of her character arc; here she decides that she will not be Arundel's puppet Empress, that she will be a good ruler, and that her life will not be defined by the traumas he inflicted on her. So yeah, I'd add this line in.
Good idea. I'll change that then.
Also Arundel isn't Thales here because Thales was deleted. He's just normal human Arundel with a new motivation to use Agarthan technology to increase his own power.
I imagine the reaction to the Edelgard/Dimitri/Claude reveal would be even worse than the Byleth reveal.
The Drivers of Change
Temple of Solomon, Jerusalem - January 1, 2016, 9:05 AM Jerusalem time
Theresa Novak and Anders Humboldt sat near the back of the crowd, listening as Thierry Baudet continued describing his new party’s platform.
“So we should put aside our differences and work together to effect actual, lasting change,” Thierry concluded, “Thank you very much.”
Thierry stepped away from the platform as the reporters leaped out of their seats, walking down the stairs and joining the other CB leaders in the back. Anders turned to Theresa.
“So, what do you think?” he said.
“I don’t know,” Theresa said, “It’s too early to tell.”
“They’re certainly different,” Anders said.
“You know Baudet,” Theresa said, “You covered him during the examinations last year, right?”
“To be fair, I was more focused on bin Laden,” Anders said, “Thank God he never got far.”
“Now a bin Laden administration would be a serious problem,” Theresa said.
“Instead, we got these preachers,” Anders said, “They sound fairly harmless.”
“Anders, remember,” Theresa said, “Don’t underestimate anybody.”
“Of course,” Anders said, “Learned that the hard way in the Athanatoi.”
"Really?" Theresa said. "Because it sounds like you've softened up since you left."
"Keyword is 'sound'," Anders said.
Theresa jotted down her last notes and stood up.
“Let’s head out,” she said.
As they made their way to their car, Anders looked back and noticed Thierry talking with Elias and Gertrude Anhorn.
“Who are they?” Anders said.
“Oh, the guy with the eyepatch?” Theresa said. “That’s Elias Anhorn. A veteran. He bought out Swords to Ploughshares a couple weeks ago.”
“Swords to Ploughshares was sold?” Anders said.
“I thought Gustav told you,” Theresa said.
“No, that’s more Angie’s side,” Anders said, “And who’s the woman?”
“That’s his wife, Gertrude Anhorn,” Theresa said, “The bestselling author of all twelve volumes of The Fundamentals.”
“I’m surprised somebody bought that book,” Anders said.
“Well, I didn’t,” Theresa said.
They got in their car, and Theresa started the engine.
“Why not?” Anders said.
“When you’ve been in this business as long as I have, Anders, you won’t be surprised by anything that happens these days,” Theresa said.
They drove off.
“Want to stop by Jerusalem University while we’re here?” Theresa asked. “I mean, it’s your alma mater, after all.”
“I’m good,” Anders said, “I’ve done enough in this city.”
Hofstadter Junior High School, Megarhevma - January 4, 2016, 8:20 AM
Anders stopped the car at the curb, behind a row of other parents dropping off their kids, and unlocked the door. Thirteen-year-old Alex slung his backpack over his back and climbed out.
“You good?” he said.
“I’m good,” Alex said.
“Have fun,” Anders said.
“Thanks, Dad,” Alex said.
Anders drove off. One of the bells rang, warning Alex he had ten minutes to get to class. He hurried inside and reached his locker. As he put his backpack away and took out his supplies, he heard footsteps approaching, followed by three older boys surrounding him.
"Well, well," a zit-covered leather-clad teenager said, a smug look on his face.
Josh was a few inches taller than him. He wore a leather jacket and torn jeans, though his blond hair was neatly combed, which was a weird complement to the edgy and chaotic aura his clothes gave off.
"Go away, Josh," Alex said, not looking at him.
One of Josh's friends slammed the locker shut, hitting the side of Alex's head. Another grabbed his shoulders and turned him toward Josh.
"Now there, that wasn't nice of you," Josh said, "Remember who you're talking to. Oh, right, you think I'm just another peasant to boss around, huh?"
Alex looked at the floor. "Stop it."
"Or what?" Josh said, mockingly. "Your mommy's going to bring down the Athanatoi on me? Where is she now, huh?"
He leaned in closer to Alex. "She's a coward, you know, a stupid coward. Her own agents don't even respect her. Why would they?"
Alex shook off the other boy's grip on his shoulders and began walking away.
"Why would they?" Josh repeated. "They're all bigger than her. She couldn't beat any of them in a fair fight! She's always so shrill and annoying too!"
Although he clenched his fists, Alex didn't pay him any attention.
"She never loved you, alligator!" Josh said. "That's why she sent you to live in the woods!"
He and his friends cackled and patted each other on their backs. Alex headed into a classroom and sat down just as the bell rang. The teacher wasn't here yet. The short glasses-wearing boy next to him, Manfred, looked over and noticed Alex's deadpan face.
"Josh again, huh?" he said.
"Again," Alex muttered.
"Remember, Alex," Manfred said, "He's not worth it."
"I know, I know," Alex said.
"They'll be gone soon," Manfred said, "I just know it."
"Easy for you to say," Alex said.
The door swung shut, and Herr Oskar walked over to his desk, a stack of papers in his hand. Oskar was a tall bald man with wide shoulders and an imposing gray beard complementing his spectacles and thick eyebrows, but he didn't give off an air of intimidation. Instead, he clasped his hands and broke into a smile.
"So, welcome back, class," Oskar said, "School's back in session. How'd you spend your break?"
The students murmured a general "great" back to him.
"I see you're still tired," Oskar said, "Why don't we start slow today...but then again, history already moves slowly."
The students groaned.
"I know, I know, bad joke," Oskar said, "It's not even half accurate. Yes, it feels like the days drag on sometimes. But remember this moment twenty years from now, and ask yourself it the past didn't fly by in a flash. History moves by in a flash. Moves by much faster than you'd think. And that is something I think we are never prepared for."
He put a slideshow on the smart board. It was titled "Roman History post-Restoration.”
"Now, we all know the eleventh and twelfth centuries were full of rapid sweeping changes which created the Reich as we know it," Oskar said, “But it wouldn’t be fair to just leave it at that. The Reich hasn’t been sitting in a vacuum since then. Not all of the changes that led to making our country what it is today were made in those early centuries. Obviously the Industrial Revolution didn’t happen during the reign of Saint Wilhelmina, though that would be a fun hypothetical. I think it’s more accurate to look at our history as a whole as full of changes both major and minor. History is change, after all.”
He moved to the next slide, which showed a Renaissance-era painting of Friedrich the Great. Alex had seen the painting many times before, mostly in TV documentaries and museums. The founder of the Reich looked majestic on his horse, with his sword Enonon pointing skywards and his purple cloak billowing behind him, as he charged across the battlefield.
“We have to ask ourselves, how did this nation come to be?” Oskar said. “Not only that, but why did the Reich arise? And building off that, how and why did it stay together? History is full of examples of large, centralized, continent-spanning empires eventually crumbling and collapsing for various reasons. And yet the Reich has not only persisted but provided the model for many other empires around the world to follow in its example, like China for instance.”
Alex had never thought of it that way. He had always wondered why large empires had persisted after the Restoration when every large empire in classical antiquity had splintered or collapsed. Oskar looked around the classroom, noticing the boredom on many students’ faces. One boy had even taken to texting on his phone. Alex didn’t care. He wasn’t the type to rat out his friends.
“I see you’re interested,” Oskar said.
Everyone laughed.
“I know this is history class,” Oskar said, “I know you think you’re not going to need this information for your job. But please, hear me out. Knowing the history of this country helps you understand how we are all here today, how the country runs, and what underlying trends and ideals drive us forward.”
Manfred raised his hand.
“Yes, Manfred?” Oskar said.
"Herr Oskar, how does this relate to Roman history?" Manfred asked. "Shouldn't we be focusing on our chancellors and generals and Kaisers instead? They were the ones who led our country and shaped it, didn't they?"
"Good question," Oskar said, "You're right. Our leaders were very important for the development of the Reich. The wars they fought also helped direct our country’s future. But they were not the be all and end all of this country's development and achievements. Our nation isn't defined solely by its military victories alone. No nation is. We've talked plenty about who these great men were and what they did, so much that we think they themselves and only they can forge a nation's destiny. The truth is, they're only there and they only did what they did with the help of the rest of us, the rest of the people. The Reich isn't just about the Kaiser and his inner circle. They don't sit around in a dark room deciding what the latest trends are, what will be cultural touchstones. We do that ourselves. The Reich was built by all of us, together, from the poorest farmer up to the Kaiser. And we shouldn't forget about the rest of us."
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