World map

The world map (Japanese: フリーマップ free map) is a gameplay navigation system used only in Fire Emblem Gaiden, The Sacred Stones and Awakening. In it, as opposed to the linear and uninterrupted chapter progression in most games in the Fire Emblem series, the player can freely traverse the world at their own pace, fighting marauding bands of enemies which appear and visiting shops in between chapters, and starting said chapters whenever they so choose.

Navigating the world map in Awakening.

In all other games except Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, the world map exists only to show where the party is traveling.

Fire Emblem Gaiden

In Gaiden, the player moves both Alm and Celica's parties around the world map, alternating between the two at their discretion. Movement across the world map is achieved by selecting the character, selecting the Move menu option, then picking one of the location's adjoining destinations. Uniquely in the Gaiden system, the world map itself has its own turn count, in which a turn elapses every time either Alm or Celica move, or at command by selecting the Rest menu option.

Every battle within Gaiden is technically a skirmish, with the main story mostly consisting of pre-defined skirmishes against set enemy groups posted at specific locations on the world map. In addition, more enemy groups are spawned from certain locations periodically, and will move at random around the map after a certain number of turns pass; these marauding groups can be fought on their own, and can also join up with other enemy groups (both pre-defined and marauding) and both be fought at once. Skirmishes are initiated by choosing to travel to a location with an enemy group posted on it; conversely, however, enemies can also advance on the player's location and initiate skirmishes themselves.

A small few locations - mostly villages, castles, fortresses and Mila Shrines - can be visited outside of battles, and in these the character in question can freely move around and interact with the locals. Some villages contain item exchange couriers who can send a specific item to the other character's party; however, these are limited in number and have only a finite number of uses.

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="100%" colspan="12"|World map of Fire Emblem Gaiden
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="60%"| Map	Location (Alm's route)		style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" colspan="2"| Location (Celica's rt.)
	Chapter 1		Chapter 2
	1	Ram	1	Cloister
	2	Ram Woods	2	Novis Cemetery
	3	Thief Woods	3	Novis Port
	4	Thief Shrine	4	Sea 1
	5	Ram Valley	5	Sea 2
	6	Southern Fort	6	Pirate Fort
	7	South Zofia	7	Sea 3
	8	South Zofia	8	Sea Shrine
	9	Liberation HQ	9	Sea 4
	10	Zofia Gate	10	Sea 5
	11	Zofia Castle	11	Zofia Port
	Chapter 3
	12	North Gate	12	Zofia Shore
	13	North Zofia	13	East Zofia
	14	Zofia Woods	14	Mountain Graveyard
	15	Grove Town	15	Mountain Town
	16	Grove Town	16	Mila Valley
	17	Desaix's Fort	17	Dragon Shrine
	18	Zofia Forest 2	18	Desert Fort
	19	Forest Temple	19	North Desert
	20	North Forest	20	South Desert
	21	Floodgate	21	Grieth's Fort
			22	Mila's Temple
	Chapter 4
	22	Border	23	Dead Swamp
	23	Rigel Woods	24	Bog Graveyard
	24	Fear Mountain	25	Dolk's Fort
	25	Fear Shrine	26	Lost Woods
	26	Nuibaba's Manor	27	Sage's Hamlet
	27	Rigel Plains/ Rigel Village	28	Duma's Gate
	28	Rigel Valley	29	Duma's Bog
	29	Dragon Crater	30	Tower of Duma
	30	Rigel Falls
	31	Hidden Shrine
	32	Fort
	33	Rigel Castle
colspan="5" style="Template:Roundb; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="100%"|Note: Until Chapter 3 begins, #11 Zofia Port has a route connecting it to #10 Zofia Gate, which is removed once Chapter 3 begins.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

In The Sacred Stones, the player navigates Eirika or Ephraim around the world map by directly selecting their destination. Unlike Gaiden or Awakening, on some occasions multiple chapters will occur on the same world map location and the player is not allowed to return to the world map between each of these chapters. Some locations also offer armories or vendors to be accessed on the world map, usually selling the same items available in the matching shops in the chapter in question; additionally, after the game has been cleared and Creature Campaign mode has been entered, secret shops can also be accessed from the world map, albeit with different stock than what was offered in the original chapters.

After the completion of every chapter from Chapter 8 onward, or after leaving the Tower of Valni/Lagdou Ruins, up to three bands of enemy monsters will randomly spawn on certain locations on the world map. Eirika and Ephraim cannot pass through any location presently occupied by a monster band, and must engage the monsters in a skirmish before they can access or pass through the location again. This will usually not impede the player's ability to travel, especially later in the game, as the world map connects numerous paths between locations and usually provides an alternative.

Access to the Tower of Valni is granted once Chapter 8 has been cleared. Access to the Lagdou Ruins and Melkaen Coast is granted once Chapter 19 has been cleared.

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="100%" colspan="12"|World map of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
style="Template:Round; border:none; background-color:#222222" colspan="9"|
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="1%"|	Chapter	Location		Chapter	Location		Chapter	style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="14%"| Location
1	Chapter 1	Border Mulan	10	Chapter 10A	Teraz Plateau	16	Chapter 16	Renais Castle
--	--	Castle Frelia	11/12	Chapter 11A Chapter 12A	Caer Pelyn	17	Chapter 17	Narube River
2	Chapter 2	Ide	13	Chapter 13A	Hamill Canyon	18	Chapter 18	Neleras Peak
3	Chapter 3	Borgo Ridge	9	Chapter 9B	Fort Rigwald	19	Chapter 19	Rausten Court
4	Chapter 4	Za'ha Woods	10	Chapter 10B	Bethroen	20	Chapter 20 Final Chapter	Black Temple
5	Chapter 5	Serafew	11/12	Chapter 11B Chapter 12B	Taizel	M	--	Melkaen Coast
6	Chapter 6	Adlas Plains	13	Chapter 13B	Za'albul Marsh	T	Tower of Valni
7/8	Chapter 7 Chapter 8	Renvall	14	Chapter 14B	Grado Keep	L	Lagdou Ruins
9	Chapter 9A	Port Kiris	13/14	Chapter 14A Chapter 15A/B	Jehanna Hall	--
colspan="9" style="Template:Roundb; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="100%"|Note: Locations numbered in teal comprise Eirika's route (Route A), while locations numbered in steel blue comprise Ephraim's route (Route B). Locations listed with a Rotten Claw icon in the chart can host skirmishes. Locations listed with an Iron Sword icon in the chart house an armory, locations with a Vulnerary icon house a vendor, and locations with a Member Card icon house a secret shop.

Fire Emblem Awakening

In Awakening, the player directly navigates between locations on the world map by pointing the Circle Pad or directional pad, rather than having to explicitly select a destination; there is also the option to press the Start button at any time to be automatically taken to the location of the next main chapter. All paralogues are exempt from the chapter order and can be challenged at any time and in any order once unlocked. All locations on the map, save for the Outrealm Gate and the Endgame's location, house an armory which is occasionally taken over by the appearance of a traveling merchant.

As with The Sacred Stones, Risen bands periodically appear to create skirmishes, but this time the player is not forced to defeat them to enter or pass the location, although the armory cannot be accessed while a Risen group is present. On rare occasions, two groups of Risen will appear on the same map location and are fought simultaneously, rewarding the player with both a sum of gold and a rare item. Additionally, bonus units and the teams they lead will spawn on the map to be parleyed with when the Nintendo 3DS console receives a StreetPass tag, and SpotPass bonus unit teams can be summoned to the world map at any time through the Wireless menu, with a maximum of ten allowed to be on the fully unlocked map at a time.

Access to the Outrealm Gate - and by extension all downloadable content - is granted after Chapter 4 has been cleared. Access to the six SpotPass paralogues, marked in orange, is granted once Chapter 25 has been cleared and the relevant SpotPass data has been activated on the save file.

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="100%" colspan="12"|World map of Fire Emblem Awakening
style="Template:Round; border:none; background-color:#222222" colspan="12"|
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222" colspan="2" width="4%"|	Chapter	Location			Chapter	Location			Chapter	style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" colspan="2" width="17%"| Location
O		Outrealm Gate		16		Chapter 16	The Mila Tree	7		Paralogue 7	Mila Shrine Ruins
P		Prologue	Southtown	17		Chapter 17	Fort Steiger	8		Paralogue 8	Dueling Grounds
1		Chapter 1	West of Ylisstol	18		Chapter 18	The Demon's Ingle	9		Paralogue 9	Verdant Forest
2		Chapter 2	The Northroad	19		Chapter 19	Valm Castle Approach	10		Paralogue 10	Mercenary Fortress
3		Chapter 3	The Longfort	20		Chapter 20	Valm Castle	11		Paralogue 11	Wyvern Valley
4		Chapter 4	Arena Ferox	21		Chapter 21	Plegia Castle	12		Paralogue 12	The Ruins of Time
5		Chapter 5	Border Pass	22		Chapter 22	Table Approach	13		Paralogue 13	Law's End
6		Chapter 6	Ylisstol	23		Chapter 23	The Dragon's Table	14		Paralogue 14	Desert Oasis
7		Chapter 7	Breakneck Pass	24		Chapter 24	Mount Prism	15		Paralogue 15	Kidnapper's Keep
8		Chapter 8	Border Sands	25		Chapter 25	Origin Peak	16		Paralogue 16	Manor of Lost Souls
9		Chapter 9	Plegia Castle Courtyard	E		Endgame	Grima	17		Paralogue 17	Divine Dragon Grounds
10		Chapter 10	The Midmire	1		Paralogue 1	The Farfort	18		Paralogue 18	Sea-King's Throne
11		Chapter 11	Border Wastes	2		Paralogue 2	The Twins' Turf	19		Paralogue 19	Conqueror's Whetstone
12		Chapter 12	Port Ferox	3		Paralogue 3	Peaceful Village	20		Paralogue 20	Mountain Village
13		Chapter 13	Carrion Isle	4		Paralogue 4	The Twins' Hideout	21		Paralogue 21	Warriors' Tomb
14		Chapter 14	The Searoad	5		Paralogue 5	Sage's Hamlet	22		Paralogue 22	Wellspring of Truth
15		Chapter 15	Valm Harbor	6		Paralogue 6	Great Gate	23		Paralogue 23	Garden of Giants
colspan="12" style="Template:Roundb; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="100%"|

Gallery

• 

  Celica navigating the world map in Gaiden.

• 

  Navigating the world map in The Sacred Stones.

• 

  Navigating the world map in Awakening.

See also

• Skirmish