Fire Emblem through the ages

The history of the franchise Fire Emblem is a long and winding one, both in-game and out. While many US players discovered the series with the appearance of two main characters in Smash Bros. Melee, we’ve since been given the chance to expand our understanding of the strategy-RPG behemoth. To celebrate the release of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for the DS, the good folks at Nintendo supplied us with this informative set of character bios and histories for all the localized titles.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS)

The original Fire Emblem title was released on NES in 1990 in Japan, and never released in North America. Now, with updated graphics and new features, it’s been brought to North American as the brand new DS title. This gives it the odd distinction of being both the oldest and the most recent FE title.

Marth

Marth is the prince of Altea and a descendant of Anri, the warrior who slew the dark dragon Medeus. Marth uses the Sword of Light, Falchion, as his main weapon in both the Fire Emblem games and Super Smash Bros. series.

Minerva

Minerva is a princess of Macedon, a country allied with Dolhr. In addition to being royalty she is an able commander, she leads Macedon’s dread Whitewings, a group of elite soldiers who ride flying mounts. While she disagrees with the Dohlr’s ambitions and does not wish to help their cause, she is forced to fight for them for the sake of her younger sister Maria who is being held as a hostage by the empire.

Navarre

Navarre is a myrmidon of extraordinary ability who first enters our story as a bodyguard for a group of ferocious bandits. He decides to join Marth’s army after Caeda bravely steps forward to request his help despite his threatening demeanor.

Fire Emblem (GBA)

The second Fire Emblem for GBA, and the first release in North American market. The story follows 3 different characters' view points in each part.

Eliwood

Eliwood, the main character, is the son of the Marques of Pherae. He teams up with other young nobles, Hector and Lyn, to combat Nergal and the Black Fang. His son, Roy, is the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Fuin no Tsurugi and featured in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Lyn

The main character of the first section of Fire Emblem. Her part of the story is treated as a user-friendly tutorial to make the game more accessible.

Hector

Eliwood's best friend, and the main character of the game in the third part. Supposed to be one of the most popular characters in the series, and Ike (see below) shares the same hair color because the creator of Ike discovered that fact.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA)

The story follows twins, Eirika and Ephraim, children of King Fado. As the story advances, the player can pick either character to play, and depending on the character, the story and the battle types change. A first time in the series, there are two types of jobs the player can chose from when the character has the class change.

Eirika

The twin sister of Prince Ephraim and the princess of Renais. She is a competent swordfighter, having learned the art of swordplay from her brother and later from Seth; however, she believes in looking for more diplomatic solutions before relying on strength. She has a very close friendship with both Princess Tana of Frelia and Prince Lyon of Grado.

Ephraim

The crown prince of Renais, and Eirika's twin brother. His skill with a lance is unsurpassed by any other in his country. He wears the Solar Brace which is one of a pair of bracelets that together grant access to Renais's Sacred Stone. Ephraim is passionate and headstrong, and well-liked for his candid, direct manner.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GC)

Another first in the series, the game offers beautiful 3D graphics and movies. There are Easy, Normal and Hard mode to accommodate wide range of audience from FE beginners to hardcore fans.

Ike

The son of Commander Greil of the Greil Mercenaries. The story begins with Ike's last day as a trainee in his father's mercenary company, and follows him as he grows in power to lead a military force for the purpose of restoring an entire nation. Ike was the first central main character in the Fire Emblem series not to be of royal lineage or noble birth. He also appears in Smash Bros. Brawl.

Elincia

Princess of Crimea and only remaining member of the Crimean royal bloodline. After the Daein invasion of her country, she employs the Greil Mercenaries in order to take back the country from Daein. Due to the fear of political fallout that might have occurred if her existence were made public, she was raised in secrecy from birth.

The Black Knight

Daein's most powerful general. He was once a student of General Gawain, Ike's father. He wears a special suit of full-body black armor that has been blessed by the goddess, making it impenetrable to all weapons.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)

The story is set on the same continent in 3 years after the ending of FE: Path of Radiance. After losing at the Mad King's war, Daein was forced to obey the Begnion. The game is divided into 4 parts with different main character in each part, and the player frequently has to switch the character he plays. The largest volume in the series, and the game include more beautiful movies and dynamic battle scenes. The characters can change class twice in this title.

Ike

By this point the returning Ike has grown up and is not the inexperienced officer he started as in Path of Radiance.

Micaiah

She is the first main character of the series who use magic as her weapon. She leads the Dawn Brigade, stealing from the Begnion Occupation Army and giving back to the people of Daein. She was often called as the "Silver-Haired Maiden" due to her signature silver hair.

Sothe

First appeared in FE: Path of Radiance as an orphaned stowaway seeking a lost, unnamed companion. In FE: Radiant Dawn, it is revealed that this companion was Micaiah. Sothe first met Micaiah when he was a young child, and the two eventually formed a close bond, treating each other as brother and sister.

Feb 12, 2009