Fire Emblem
Fandom | |
---|---|
Name: | Fire Emblem (ファイアーエムブレム, Faiā Emuburemu) |
Abbreviation(s): | FE |
Creator: | Intelligent Systems/Nintendo |
Date(s): | 1990- |
Medium: | video games |
Country of Origin: | Japan, United States |
External Links: | Official Site, Official Japanese Site |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Fire Emblem is a series of role-playing video games released by Nintendo.
Background
The first Fire Emblem title, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light), was released in Japan in 1990. The seventh game in the series, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (originally titled simply Fire Emblem) was released in 2003 and was also the first game to be released outside of Japan. Subsequent games have all been released internationally, barring Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem on the Nintendo DS.
As of 2019, there have been eighteen total Fire Emblem titles released on a variety of platforms.
Several official adaptations of the series exists, including a two-episode anime and several manga versions.
Games
The Fire Emblem franchise consists of the following titles (all are video games unless otherwise noted):
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon (remake)
- Fire Emblem Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (remake)
- Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem/Heroes of Light and Shadow (remake)
- Fire Emblem OVA (2 episode OVA anime)
- Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
- Mitsuki Oosawa's Seisen no Keifu (manga)
- Nuts Fujimori's Seisen no Keifu (manga)
- Nea Fuyuki's Light Inheritors (manga)
- Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
- Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (first game released outside of Japan)
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
- Fire Emblem Awakening
- Fire Emblem Fates
- Fire Emblem Heroes
- Fire Emblem Warriors
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses
- Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
- Fire Emblem Engage
Additionally, many fans consider the TearRing/Vestaria Saga games to be part of the FE franchise in some capacity. The TearRing/Vestaria Saga games were designed in part by Shouzou Kaga, who played a major role in the developments of the first five FE games before leaving Intelligent Systems. After leaving IS, Kaga helped to found Timanog, the studio behind the TearRing games, which play extremely similarly to Fire Emblem games. In fact, the original name for the series was Emblem Saga. The high amount of similarities caused Nintendo to pursue legal action against Timanog. Ultimately, the first TearRing Saga game did make it to store shelves (released for Sony's PlayStation 1) and spawned a series of four games. Due to the involvement of Kaga (and other veteran developers of FE) and how overwhelmingly similar both series are in terms of gameplay, many fans include the TearRing/Vestaria Saga games (often called the "Kaga Saga games" among FE fans) in discussions about Fire Emblem games. Both the NIWA-affiliated Fire Emblem Wiki and the Fandom-affiliated Fire Emblem Wiki have articles on the TearRing/Vestaria Saga games.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
As of April 2025, the TearRing/Vestaria Saga games include:
- TearRing Saga: Yutona Heroes War Chronicles
- TearRing Saga Series: Berwick Saga
- Vestaria Saga I: War of the Scions
- Vestaria Saga II: The Sacred Sword of Silvanister
Fandom
Many western fans were first introduced to Fire Emblem in 2001 via Super Smash Bros., two years before the first Fire Emblem would be released outside of Japan, as Marth and Roy were both playable fighters. This has lead to some jokes within the fandom, Marth is sometimes referred to as "Marth from Smash Brothers" and when new Fire Emblem were announced many would jokingly ask if Marth and Roy were playable. Awakening finally answered the joke by offering both characters as downloadable content. While they could not speak or support due to DLC characters being portrayed as collectible cards, as units they could be reclassed and given weapons and stat boosters if the player wished to use them on their main team.
The fandom is split into two main camps of "story vs. stats", with a smaller group taking a third option by seeing the value in both. Stat-focused players will devote their time to creating optimal teams, units, and supports. Genealogy of the Holy War, Awakening, and Fates allow them to take this to an extreme by breeding what the fandom calls "designer babies" by pairing certain characters together so their child or children will inherit the perfect skills, class sets, and weapons.
The story-focused group is heavily into Transformative Fandom, providing much of the fandom's fic and art. They care less about stats and breeding than they do about character chemistry and personalities, going so far as to use units considered "bad" by the stat side simply because they like them as a character or ship them with someone.
Needless to say, both sides have engaged in quite a few fandom kerfluffles over the years, especially in Genealogy of the Holy War fandom when it came to pairing Prince Lewyn with one of three girls whose son could inherit his holy weapon[10] or people who actually liked to use the slow armor knight Arden despite his class and low range being a liability on the large maps.
Characters and Pairings
The series is noted for having loads of characters in each game, each with their own personality (or some defining trait in the early games). From the fourth game onward, there was much focus on building relationships; most of them were romantic but there were also strong family and platonic bonds to explore, as well as antagonistic relationships. The characters each had their own last words should they fall in battle, driving the player to try their hardest not to lose them.
There are very few characters who are universally loved or universally hated among fans, and a good chunk of them are very polarizing. It is usually best to broach this subject with caution, as fans can get quite adamant in their feelings. This applies to both the characters' personalities and their use as units.
Shipping
Due to the Support Conversations feature starting in the 6th game and the marriage mechanic of the 4th, 13th and 14th, shipping is a big deal in Fire Emblem fandom. Starting with Awakening, the player could marry any male to any female character and Fates introduced same-sex marriage options for the player avatar. Fire Emblem Heroes takes this up to eleven when "Ally" and "Summoner" supports were added in the game as of August 2007, where any character can support regardless of what their role was in their home games.
The most popular ships are, to date:
- Hector/Lyn (The Blazing Blade)
- Hector/Eliwood (The Blazing Blade)
- Eliwood/Ninian (The Blazing Blade)
- Raven/Lucius (The Blazing Blade)
- Eirika/Lyon (The Sacred Stones)
- Seth/Eirika (The Sacred Stones)
- Eirika/L'Arachel (The Sacred Stones)
- Ephraim/Innes (The Sacred Stones)
- Ike/Soren (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn)
- Lethe/Jill (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn)
- Reyson/Tibarn (Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn)
- Robin/Chrom (Awakening)
- Robin/Lucina (Awakening)
- Lucina/Severa (Awakening)
- Inigo/Owain (Awakening)
- Corrin/Xander (Fates)
- Leo/Takumi (Fates)
- Corrin/Takumi (Fates)
- Corrin/Niles (Fates)
- Corrin/Azura (Fates)
- Niles/Leo (Fates)
- Xander/Ryoma (Fates)
- Laslow/Xander (Fates)
- Laslow/Odin (Fates)
- Python/Forsyth (Echoes)
- Alm/Celica (Echoes)
- Berkut/Rinea (Echoes)
- Summoner/Alfonse (Heroes)
- Dimitri/Byleth (Three Houses)
- Sylvain/Felix (Three Houses)
- Felix/Dimitri (Three Houses)
- Hubert/Ferdinand (Three Houses)
- Byleth/Edelgard (Three Houses)
- Claude/Byleth (Three Houses)
- Byleth/Seteth (Three Houses)
- Felix/Annette (Three Houses)
- Shez/Byleth (Three Hopes)
- Alfred/Alear (Engage)
- Alear/Ivy (Engage)
- Diamant/Alear (Engage)
- Alcryst/Alear (Engage)
Due to the nature of the support system, there are very few set-in-stone canon pairings. Very often the game will seem to hint more towards certain ships in the narrative; the 7th game hints strongly at Hector/Lyn, but both characters have multiple paired endings; the player can have Lyn marry Kent or Hector marry Florina with no consequences or alterations to the overall storyline. In the same game, Eliwood and Ninian are strongly hinted and if they marry, it does change a scene in the final chapter; however, the player receives no consequence for marrying Eliwood to Fiora or Lyn.
In Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, the pairings are set in stone. The supports exist to flesh out the relationships; a complaint about the original Gaiden was that the romantic endings felt out of nowhere.
The "pick and choose" nature of the supports leads to vast Shipping Wars, with all sides often becoming defensive of their preferred pairing and wanting to see it as the "true canon."
The only set-in-stone canon pairings between playable characters are, to date:
- Marth/Caeda (Archanea)
- Astram/Midia (Archanea)
- Samson/Sheena (Archanea)
- Abel/Est (Archanea)
- Julian/Lena (Archanea)
- Merric/Elice (Archanea)
- Nyna/Hardin (Archanea)
- Nyna/Camus (Archanea)
- Alm/Celica (FE Gaiden/Echoes)
- Clive/Mathilda (FE Gaiden/Echoes)
- Boey/Mae (Gaiden/Echoes)
- Gray/Clair (Gaiden/Echoes)
- Zeke/Tatiana (Gaiden/Echoes)
- Sigurd/Deirdre (Jugdral)
- Quan/Ethlyn (Jugdral)
- Glade/Selphina (Jugdral)
- Juno/Zelot (FE6)
- Pent/Louise (FE7)
- Bartre/Karla (FE7)
- Callil/Largo (Tellius)
Lewyn/Erinys is a special case. While the official mangas and Thracia 776 canonize the pairing, Geneaology of the Holy War allows the player to pair the characters with others with little consequence to the plot. Heroes furthered it not being set in stone via its multiverse setting, where FE5 character Karin knew Erinys as Queen of Silesse but Erinys herself was unattached and didn't wish to know who she'd marry in her own world.
Prince/Avatar Shipping Patterns
Starting with Awakening, fans have flocked to the ships involving the player character and the game's lead prince, be they the actual protagonist or a deuteragonist of the story to the avatar's main character.
- Chrom/Robin (Awakening)
- Corrin/Xander, Leo, or Takumi (Fates)
- Dimitri/Byleth (Three Houses)
- Alfonse/Kiran (Heroes)
- Alear/Alfred or Diamant (Engage)
These pairings all feature a handsome prince struggling with burdens and confiding in the player, only for the player to receive comfort from them in their time of need later on. The game puts strong emphasis on the bond between the prince and the Avatar, with a female being able to marry him in the main games. (Kiran's gender is purposely left ambiguous in the story of Heroes).
Three Houses takes this dynamic a step further by having Dimitri canonically broken and Byleth being the first one to reach for him and help him start healing.
Engage removes some of the usual conventions via either gender Alear being able to S-rank Alfred or Diamant, though the game's endings are less overtly romantic than past entries.
The M/F variations of these pairings are largely kid fic due to Fates and Awakening's child mechanic, while many Dimitri/Female Byleth fans give them a fanmade child (usually a son). If the M/M variant is used, mpreg is usually involved.
Character Popularity Polls
In June 2015, the popular Japanese video game magazine, Famitsu, conducted a character popularity poll among readers. The top ten most popular characters were determined to be:[11]
- Ike (FE9/FE10) - 342 votes
- Marth (FE1/FE3/FE11/FE12) - 271 votes
- Lucina (FE13) - 174 votes
- Lyn (FE7) - 153 votes
- Robin (FE13) - 125 votes
- Chrom (FE13) - 92 votes
- Tiki (FE1/FE3/FE11/FE12/FE13) - 85 votes
- Hector (FE7) - 80 votes
- Finn (FE4/FE5) - 74 votes
- Ephraim (FE8) - 71 votes
Additionally, the 2015 Famitsu poll asked characters about their favorite game (FE13 won by a wide margin) and class (Pegasus Knight won narrowly over Swordmaster).[12]
Leading up to the launch of Fire Emblem Heroes, Nintendo held the first "Choose Your Legends" character popularity poll in 2017, wherein fans can vote for their favorite FE character. These polls have been held annually ever since. Pretty much all characters are on table, including NPCs both major and minor. Rankings vary greatly between years, with the release of new games (or the addition of new characters to Heroes) typically impacting the results of the poll. The top two male and female characters are declared the winners of the polls, given special outfits in Heroes, and are taken out of future polls.
Results of the "Choose Your Legends" polls as of 2025:
- 2017- Overall Winner: Lyn (FE7)/Ike (FE9/FE10) (Disputed)
- 2017 had no clear first place winner. In this poll, Ike's portrayals in FE9 and FE10 were split across two separate entries (despite them being the same character), thus splitting Ike's vote. Totaling FE9 Ike and FE10 Ike's votes shows Ike as a whole received over 50,000 votes. Lyn, meanwhile, had only one entry and received 49,917 votes total. The results surprised the developers at Intelligent Systems, who anticipated Lucina winning (Lucina instead finished second in overall votes, or third if one totals Ike's votes). Super Smash Bros. seems to have affected the results, as all playable FE characters in Smash ranked highly. Ike and Lucina scored in the top three, Roy and Corrin were in the top ten, and Marth and Robin were in the top twenty. It's also worth nothing that Lyn appears in Smash Bros. as an assist trophy. The overall winners who received special costumes were Lyn, Ike, Lucina, and Roy. Tharja beat Roy, but did not receive a costume because she ranked third in terms of female characters.[13]
- 2018 - Overall Winner: Hector (FE7)
- Another FE7 protagonist, Hector, won by about 2,000 votes, beating out Celica, one of the protagonists of Echoes (the most recently released FE game at the time). Ephraim from FE8 placed third, followed by Veronica, a Heroes original character.
- 2019 - Overall Winner: Alm (FE2/FE15)
- Alm, the other protagonist of Echoes alongside Celica, won by around 8,000 votes. Micaiah, one of FE10's protagonists, got second; Camilla from Fates got third; and Eliwood, the third FE7 protagonist, won fourth.
- 2020 - Overall Winner: Edelgard (FE16)
- This was the first "Choose Your Legends" poll to be held after the release of Three Houses, the best-selling game in the franchise. The game's three protagonists took the top three spots. Edelgard got first (winning by around 5,000 votes), Dimitri got second, and Claude got third. Marth earned fourth place, but as he was ranked behind two male characters, the fourth winner selected to receive a special outfit was the fifth place finisher, Lysithea, another Three Houses character.
- 2021 - Overall Winner: The Gatekeeper (FE16)
- The winner of this poll was the Gatekeeper; a minor, nameless NPC in Three Houses who became a meme among fans. He beat out the second place finisher, Marth, by around 25,000 votes. Chrom from Awakening earned third, but as he was third among male characters, he did not get an outfit. Instead, outfits went to the fourth and fifth place finishers, Marianne from Three Houses and Eirika from FE8.
- 2022 - Overall Winner: Chrom (FE13)
- Chrom won first place by around 3,000 votes. Tiki from FE1/FE3/FE11/FE12/FE13 earned second; Seliph, one of FE4's protagonists, won third; and the female version of Byleth, the avatar character from Three Houses, won fourth.
- 2023 - Overall Winner: Male Robin (FE13)
- The male version of Robin, the avatar character from Awakening, won narrowly, by under 400 votes. Soren, a major FE9/FE10 character, earned second and Gullveig, a Heroes character, earned third. Felix from Three Houses, earned fourth but did not receive a costume as he was the third ranked male character. The costume instead went to the fifth place finisher; the female version of Corrin, the avatar from Fates.
- 2024 - Overall Winner: Bernadetta (FE16)
- Bernadetta from Three Houses won by around 6,000 votes. Alfonse, a major character from Heroes, earned second; the female version of Robin earned third; and Felix earned fourth.
- 2025 - Overall Winner: Eikþyrnir (Heroes)
- Eikþyrnir won by about 1,000 votes, becoming the first overall winner not from a mainline game. The male version of Byleth won second; Sharena, another Heroes character, won third; and Baldr, a third Heroes characters won fourth.
All data from the above section was sourced from Fire Emblem Wiki.[13]
Despite coming out in January 2023, no characters from Fire Emblem Engage received one of the four winning slots in a "Choose Your Legends" poll as of 2025. Engage's protagonist, Alear (both male and female versions) as well as Sigurd from FE4 and Leif from FE5 are the only FE protagonists from mainline games never to have placed in one of the four winning slots. Looking at overall winners only (counting both Lyn and Ike from the 2017 poll), we see that; FE16 houses three overall winners (2020, 2021, 2024), FE7 has two (2017, 2018), FE13 has two (2022, 2023), FE9/10 has one (2017), FE2/FE15 has one (2019), and Heroes has one (2025).
The lowest ranking characters on the polls are generally minor NPC characters. Barth (a minor boss character from FE2/FE15) and Veld (a major antagonist of FE5) were the lowest ranking characters in the 2025 polls, both receiving two votes.
Character Archetypes, Archetype Debate, and "Bases vs. Growths" Debate
Fans have a tendency to classify characters into "archetypes", noting recurring character design choices and themes across various games. For instance, one of the most prominent "archetypes" noted by fans is the "Cain and Abel archetype" (also known as the "Christmas Cavalier archetype"). Modeled on the Cavaliers Cain and Abel from FE1, this archetype typically consists of a pair of characters who share the same class (usually Cavalier) with slightly different stat/growth spreads, contrasting red and green color schemes, and clashing personalities. Examples of other "Cain and Abel archetypes" include Alen and Lance from FE6, Kent and Sain from FE7, Sully and Stahl from Awakening, and Kaze and Saizo from Fates (referred to as the "Christmas Ninjas", because they both share the Ninja class rather than the archetypal Cavalier class). Other prominent archetypes include the "Jagen archetype" (a pre-promoted unit, typically a Paladin, who joins early in the game who is theoretically designed to be eclipsed by other units with more growth potential later on) and the "Est archetype" (typically defined as weak units with high growths who join near the end of the game). While most archetypes center on gameplay, others are "story-based" (such as the Camus archetype, a morally-ambiguous anti-hero who opposes the player's army out of a deep sense of duty for their country).[14][15][16][17]
There has been much debate among fans regarding which characters belong in which archetypes. Fans have debated, for instance, who the "Jagen" of the three routes of Fates might be, or which characters specifically qualify as members of the "Est" archetype. There has been backlash among some fans about the archetype framework, with some claiming that certain archetypes do not actually exist and are the result of over-eager fans looking for patterns where they might not be any. Additionally, the lines between where one archetype ends and another begins is debated. Traditionally, fans have drawn distinction between the "Jagen archetype" and the "Oifey archetype" (Jagens are typically defined as early-joining pre-promotes with bad growths who fall off in usefulness, while Oifeys are defined as early-joining pre-promotes with good growths who keep pace with the other units in the player's army), though many now question the usefulness of this distinction, arguing that characters traditionally seen as "Jagens" (such as the archetype's namesake, Jagen, from the Archanea games, or Marcus from the Elibe games) do not actually "fall off" in usefulness, while units seen as "Oifeys" (such as Oifey himself from FE4) actually do "fall off." While some fans cling to the "Jagen vs. Oifey" distinction. others now see it as a relic of the early "GameFAQs" days of the fandom.[16][18][19][20][21][22]
The archetype debate relates to an equally large and contentious debate in FE fan circles: bases vs. growths. Traditionally, FE fans (at least in the west) have emphasized growth rates over base stats. "Jagen" units (pre-promotes with low growth rates) were deemed "EXP thieves", with fans cautioning each other not to use them and instead focus their investment on "growth units" (such as "Est archetypes", embodied by units like Nino from FE7). There has been significant backlash to this argument in recent years. Many fans now consider "Jagens", "Oifeys", and other pre-promoted units to be among the best units in any given game, with growth units no longer being seen as de facto superior to them. Using FE7 as an example, players now generally agree that the early-joining Paladin Marcus is among the best units in the game (if not the best outright), while the late-joining, un-promoted Mage with high growth rates, Nino, is considered one of the worst units in the game. Additionally, while traditional wisdom among players maintained that all units should be raised to Level 20 before promotion, nowadays it's much more common for fans to endorse "early promotion" (promoting units between levels 10-15).[23][24][25][15][18][26][27][28]
English-speaking, western FE fan spaces have been accused of having a bias for the GBA games in discussions about unit viability. For example, many western fans maintain that bow-wielding units like Archers are usually among the worst units in any given FE game, as they forced to attack from two tiles away, making them vulnerable on enemy phase. However, some fans have pushed back against the "bows are bad" sentiment, arguing that bows are actually quite good in many non-GBA games (especially in games such as Gaiden/Echoes and Three Houses, where bows are not locked to two-range), and that the narrative about bows being the worst weapon type is the result of FE7 and FE8 (where bows are at their worst) being the first games released in the west.[29][30][31][32]
Fandom Incidents
Tedius Zanarukando
A notorious troll from the Fire Emblem Sanctuary of Strategy forums (FESS). In the 4th game, the female characters would bear two children each unless one of them died or was single by a certain point, in which case the player would get substitute characters. Tedius preferred Linda, the substitute for Tailtiu's daughter Tine, and made a big deal on the forums of how he needed Tailtiu dead so he could get his preferred character. Many other forum-goers called him on his character bashing and told him it was possible to get Linda without losing a valuable unit, but Tedius was set in his decision. His declaration "I kill Tailtiu for Linda" quickly became memetic.
Later on, his Wikipedia page and other online profiles were discovered along with his controversial views on women and marriage.[33] He had a reputation for being somewhat cold and robotic in his mannerisms despite his inflammatory words; this made him infamous among the fandom even after his presence seemed to fade.
Juigi Kario (aka MasterKnightDH)
Another infamous troll who started out by harassing members of FESS, but eventually became far more known for his hatred of the female gender and constant ranting about being the youngest child in his family.[34] His Livejournal account was a dumping ground for character stats and gameplay calculations, which he would obsessively share with other fans to the point of boring them, even the fans who did pay close attention to such things. He was infamous beyond Fire Emblem fandom for his horrible Let's Plays and hateful rants.
The Binding Blade "Remake"
In January 2023, a user on the fansite Fire Emblem Universe, ZeN2002, posted a ROM for a fangame entitled "Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade 'Remake'", an attempt to port FE6 into the FE8 game engine, with updates to the game play and dialogue. The "Remake" quickly garnered controversy for the un-credited use of assets and text created for another FE6 remake fangame, "Project Ember." The "Remake" was additionally criticized for its changes to gameplay and to the story. ZeN2002's declarations that he was "the Binding Blade guy" and that he "literally pulled a Thanos on Nintendo" have since become often-quoted memes in Fire Emblem fan spaces. The controversy surrounding the FE6 "Remake" was documented in a widely-viewed video by FE YouTuber, Shark3143.[35][36]
"Old Guard" vs. "New Blood"
This ongoing war between the factions started in 2003, when Blazing Sword was brought to the United States and expanded the fanbase. Until then, Fire Emblem fandom had been a cozy club of fans who prided themselves on lengthy discussions of the stories as they played ROMs or translated their Japanese copies of the games. So far the only problem the fandom felt they had were Smash Bros. fans who came in because of Marth and Roy, but the release of the U.S. Blazing Sword pulled in a bumper crop of newbies, for whom the game was their first exposure to an actual Fire Emblem title. While some of the old guard welcomed the new fans, others feared the destruction of their cozy club via badfic (especially Mary Sues due to the Tactician character). Some even rebelliously called the characters by their Japanese names and disdained what they thought was a bad localization.
There was a small resurgence of this when the Tellius games overtook the fandom, pushing the GBA and SNES era into the background. The Ike/Soren pairing was accused of causing a sudden influx of horribly cliched yaoi fanfics, especially when the 10th game gave them a paired ending.
The release of Awakening, however, really set the fanbase on fire. As Awakening was the first US-released game to feature an Avatar, marriage-and-children mechanic, and Casual Mode (the option to turn off permanent death),[37][38] longtime fans were offended and horrified. The DLC content giving older characters new officially translated names that didn't match fan translations as well as new outfits and designs only fanned the flames, particularly Eirika from The Sacred Stones as a battle bride in a frilly dress. The flames only grew stronger when Fates came out and not only re-used the Avatar and marriage-and-children features, but offered a hot spring, face-petting in the Japanese version, and Phoenix Mode (the option for fallen characters to instantly revive on the next turn of a map).
Nowadays, the worst of the "Old Guard" consists of anyone from the pre-3DS era, as they've bonded over a common "enemy" in anyone who came into the franchise with Awakening or Fates; these fans not only bashed the games themselves, but attacked and harassed fans of the games for their personal tastes and loudly proclaimed that Awakening and Fates "weren't true Fire Emblem games."[39][40] This has caused backlash from the "New Blood," who absolutely refuse to give the older games a chance and even bash them.[41] Others believe the hate for the newer games comes from fandom's tendency to jump on a bandwagon of complaining about anything new simply because it's new.[42]
In 2019, Three Houses was divisive, but more well-received than the last two non-remake games due to its more realistic tone, moral complexity, and lack of a perfect "golden ending". Thus, when Engage was released in 2023 and clearly designed to be more colorful and have a clear-cut Good vs Evil storyline with a happy ending, fans immediately criticized it for being "too anime"[43] or "a step backward" compared to Three Houses[44], with the protagonist's dual-colored hair being the subject of much derision.
Fanworks
Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fangames, ROM hacks & mods
Fire Emblem has fairly a dedicated modding community. ROM hacks of the Game Boy Advance titles are particularly popular with projects ranging from fanmade prequels and sequels to original stories with new characters.
ROM hacks
- The Last Promise (2009) - built on FE7, The Last Promise is now considered one of the first prominent ROM hacks and a quintessential example of the medium. Opinions are largely divided on the hack today. It was popular enough to receive a Japanese translation patch.[45]
- The Immortal Sword (2009)
- The Road to Ruin (2011)
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones: Restoration Queen (2014) - Script edit focused on bringing Eirika and other female characters to the forefront of the story.
- Fire Emblem Sacred Stones: Sibling Swap (2018) - Swaps Eirika and Ephraim's story roles and personalities.
- Vision Quest (2018)
- Project Ember (2019) - A fan remake of FE6
- Sword of Heaven and Earth (English translation completed 2021) - a translation of an older Japanese hack which serves as a sequel to FE7, following the daughter of the protagonist, Lyn.
- The Morrow's Golden Country (AKA Two Milkmen Go Comedy) (2022) - based on the FE8 engine; tells an original story with Original Characters
- Fire Emblem Fates: Shadow Dragon (2023) - A remake of FE1/FE11 in the Fates (FE14) engine.
- Sacred Echoes (2023) - A demake of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for the GBA.
- Gay Fates (2025) - A mod for Fates that greatly expands the support conversations (all fully written by fans) between units, notably allowing for more same-sex romance options.
- Archanea Reimagined (2025) - A remake of FE1/FE11 in the FE8 engine.
Visual Novels
- Gift for Lucina (2016) - Based in the Super Smash Bros. universe.
- In Peaceful Days (2020) - Post-Crimson Flower Edelgard/f!Byleth, created for NaNoRenO.
- Promise Promise (2022) - Niles/m!Corrin.
Board Games
- Anna's Roundtable (2020)
Zines
See also: List of Fire Emblem Zines
- SCORPACCIATA
- Spotlight (Fire Emblem zine)
- Together We Ride
- March to Deliverance (art zine)
- LODESTAR.sys, the sciFE-zine - a for-profit Fire Emblem zine. Tumblr Carrd Twitter
Resources
- Fire Emblem stories and crossovers at Fanfiction.net
- Fire Emblem Series fanworks at SquidgeWorld Archive
- Fire Emblem Series fanworks at AO3
- Fanfic Recs: Fire Emblem on TV Tropes
- No Place Like Home, a Tibarn x Reyson ship manifesto by the_tox
Communities & Fansites
Events
Fansites & Forums
- Communauté Fire Emblem
- Fire Emblem Empire
- Fire Emblem Planet
- Fire Emblem: Sanctuary of Strategy
- Fire Emblem Shrine
- Fire Emblem Sword of Seals
- Fire Emblem Universe
- Fire Emblem Wars of Dragon
- Serenes Forest
Journal Communities & Challenges
- fireemblem
- doodle_emblem
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References
- ^ https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/TearRing_Saga:_Yutona_Heroes_War_Chronicles
- ^ https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/TearRing_Saga_Series:_Berwick_Saga
- ^ https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Vestaria_Saga_I:_War_of_the_Scions
- ^ https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Vestaria_Saga_II:_The_Sacred_Sword_of_Silvanister
- ^ https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/TearRing_Saga:_Utna_Heroes_Saga
- ^ https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/TearRing_Saga:_Berwick_Saga
- ^ https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Vestaria_Saga_I
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/q2kbm6/isnt_it_weird_that_kaga_sagas_arent_being/
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/17fybt7/would_it_be_ok_to_discuss_the_tearring_games_in/
- ^ [1]
- ^ https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2016/06/09/fire-emblem-famitsu-overall-favorite-character-poll-translated-june-2015/
- ^ https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2016/06/10/fire-emblem-famitsu-fe-series-reader-poll-translated-june-2015/
- ^ a b https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Legends
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/8t4jiu/archetype_discussion_3_cain_and_abel/
- ^ a b https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF-h46JnZmc&ab_channel=DaniDoyle
- ^ a b https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/y30ys3/jagens_vs_oifeys_and_why_the_two_archetypes_are/
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/5lq6yt/the_different_subarchetypes_of_camus/
- ^ a b https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xClflephZq0&ab_channel=DaniDoyle
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/8st69y/archetype_discussion_2_est/
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/a0qoje/what_is_your_opinion_on_most_archetypes/
- ^ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/114533-fire-emblem-fates-conquest/73276307
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/ltt58c/the_death_of_the_jagen_archetype/
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/zcuswe/growths_vs_bases/
- ^ https://feuniverse.us/t/bases-or-growths/12945
- ^ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/204445-fire-emblem-three-houses/79420611?page=1
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/571f7y/promoting_early/
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/59v4de/fe6fe7_do_you_use_marcus_up_till_endgame_or_is/
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/35788f/character_discussion_fe7_nino/
- ^ https://feuniverse.us/t/why-are-bows-in-gba-fire-emblem-considered-bad/21427
- ^ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/204445-fire-emblem-three-houses/77905104
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/11w2v8c/in_which_games_were_bows_and_magic_at_their_best/
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SU2wM-vOAE&t=997s&ab_channel=DaniDoyle
- ^ http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/52-This-is-my-story-(the-biography-of-Tedius-Zanarukando)
- ^ https://hated-character.livejournal.com/342283.html#comments
- ^ https://feuniverse.us/t/fire-emblem-the-binding-blade-remake-fe6-in-fe8-complete/18883
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9FS3ZIO73E&ab_channel=Shark3143
- ^ http://snipergys.tumblr.com/post/166446309005/fire-emblem-confessions-the-famous-perma-death
- ^ http://shadowofchaos725.tumblr.com/post/141108964240
- ^ http://shadowofchaos725.tumblr.com/post/143039724285/so-i-got-into-an-argument-with-a-guy-who-was
- ^ http://shadowofchaos725.tumblr.com/post/159888533135/dont-you-love-little-crapheads-like-these-in-the
- ^ https://www.resetera.com/threads/my-hopes-for-fire-emblem-switch-do-more-with-less-characters.13552/page-3
- ^ https://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?/topic/75504-awakeningfates-hate/&page=4&tab=comments#comment-4989288
- ^ https://www.thegamer.com/fire-emblem-engage-three-houses-sequel-story-characters-gameplay-anime/
- ^ https://apptrigger.com/2023/01/26/fire-emblem-engage-review/
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/7k3uii/peoples_actual_thoughts_on_the_last_promise/