Alternate route

In some Fire Emblem series games starting from Fire Emblem Gaiden, the player is confronted with a branching set of alternate routes, in which the story and gameplay progresses in one of two distinct directions. The player chooses between the two routes, either explicitly through being given the option or implicitly through meeting certain statistical criteria, setting them on one of two paths of successive chapters which they will exclusively follow until the two routes converge back into a single chapter progression. When taking a route, the player is never able to visit the other route during the same playthrough, often resulting in certain characters being available solely based on a player's choice of route.

It should be noted that the "A" and "B" designation lettering is a colloquialism applied by the fandom to simplify talking about such split routes; the games themselves never refer to route-specific chapters by this letter designation, with equivalent chapters in a route instead bearing the same chapter number. The letter designations are, however, used officially on the website for Thracia 776, in the same fashion as the fandom's usage.

Alternate routes by game

Fire Emblem Gaiden and Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Alternate routes in Gaiden and Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Root map	Northern route	Southern route	Notes
	Access criteria
	Characters recruited in or as a result of this route
Attack on the Desert Stronghold	Northern Desert Battle	Southern Desert Battle	--
	Take the northern path from the Desert Stronghold.	Take the southern path from the Desert Stronghold.
	Sonya	Deen

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Alternate routes in Thracia 776
Root chapter	Split route A	Split route B	Notes
	Access criteria
	Characters recruited in or as a result of this route
15: Two Paths	16A: Norden Line 17A: The Gates of Leonster	16B: Dark Forest 17B: The Gathering Storm	--
	In Chapter 15, escape the map via the west escape point or select the "Fort Norden" option when Leif talks to the priest.	In Chapter 15, escape the map via the east escape point or select the "Millefeuille Forest" option when Leif talks to the priest.
	Ilios, Sleuf, Misha, Sara, Amalda	Shannam, Miranda, Sara, Conomor

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Alternate routes in The Binding Blade
Root chapter	Split route A	Split route B	Notes
	Access criteria
	Characters recruited in or as a result of this route
9: The Misty Isles	10A: Western Resistance 11A: The Hero of the West	10B: Amidst a Struggle 11B: Flight Toward Freedom	Gonzalez is at level 11 when recruited on the B route, but at level 5 on the A route.
	In Chapter 9, do not visit the top-right village.	In Chapter 9, visit the top-right village.
	Larum, Echidna, Geese, Gonzalez, Klein, Thea	Elffin, Bartre, Geese, Gonzalez, Klein, Thea
16: Storming the Capital/ 16x: The Glorious Ascension	17A: Ocean's Parting 18A: The Frozen River 19A: Bitter Cold 20A: Ilia's Salvation 20Ax: The Freezing Lance	17B: The Bishop's Teachings 18B: The Laws of Sacae 19B: Battle in Bulgar 20B: The Silver Wolf 20Bx: The Bow of Swift Wind	Experience gained by dead characters counts toward the threshold. In Chapter 21, Yoder will join with the divine weapon from the route the player did not visit – Mulagir if the player took the A route, and Maltet if the player took the B route.
	At the end of Chapter 16/16x, Shanna and Thea's total experience gained ≥ Sue and Sin's total experience gained.	At the end of Chapter 16/16x, Sue and Sin's total experience gained > Shanna and Thea's total experience gained.
	Niime, Juno	Niime, Dayan

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

Alternate routes in The Blazing Blade
Root chapter	Split route A	Split route B	Notes
	Access criteria
	Characters recruited in or as a result of this route
22E/23H: Living Legend/ 22xE/23xH: Genesis	23E/24H: Four-Fanged Offense (Linus version)	23E/24H: Four-Fanged Offense (Lloyd version)	In Chapter 27E/29H, the boss of the chapter will be whichever boss of Ch.23E/24H was not fought – Lloyd if the Linus version of the chapter was completed, and Linus if the Lloyd version of the chapter was completed.
	At the end of Chapter 22E/23H/22xE/23xH, Eliwood, Hector, and Lyn's current levels total 50 or more.	At the end of Chapter 22E/23H/22xE/23xH, Eliwood, Hector, and Lyn's current levels total 49 or less.
	Geitz	Wallace
24E/26H: Unfulfilled Heart	25E/27H: Pale Flower of Darkness (Kenneth version)	25E/27H: Pale Flower of Darkness (Jerme version)	The experience gain requirement does not count any eperience gained by any of the relevant characters in Lyn's tale, if it was completed. Dead characters count as 0 experience toward the threshold.
	At the end of Chapter 24E/26H, Erk, Serra, Priscilla, and Lucius's total experience gained ≥ Dorcas, Bartre, Guy, and Raven's total experience gained.	At the end of Chapter 24E/26H, Dorcas, Bartre, Guy, and Raven's total experience gained > Erk, Serra, Priscilla, and Lucius's total experience gained.
	Harken or Karel	Harken or Karel

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Alternate routes in The Sacred Stones
Root chapter	Route A (Eirika)	Route B (Ephraim)	Notes
	Access criteria
	Characters recruited in or as a result of this route
A New Journey (Interlude following Chapter 8)	9A: Distant Blade 10A: Revolt at Carcino 11A: Creeping Darkness 12A: Village of Silence 13A: Hamill Canyon 14A: Queen of White Dunes 15A: Scorched Sand	9B: Fort Rigwald 10B: Turning Traitor 11B: Phantom Ship 12B: Landing at Taizel 13B: Fluorspar's Oath 14B: Father and Son 15B: Scorched Sand	The characters of each route are also recruited automatically in the opposite route's Chapter 15, as the sole members of the retinue of the other Lord character.
	Select "Go with Eirika to Rausten".	Select "Go with Ephraim to Grado".
	Innes, Saleh	Duessel, Knoll

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem

Alternate routes in New Mystery of the Emblem
Root map	Route A	Route B	Notes
	Access criteria
	Characters recruited in or as a result of this route
Prologue 3: Training Begins	Prologue 4A: New Companions (Jeorge)	Prologue 4B: New Companions (Athena)	The exclusivity of the characters is only present in the Prologue chapters.
	Choose the "No" option during the conversation with Jagen.	Choose the "Yes" option during the conversation with Jagen.
	Gordin	Athena
Prologue 5: March Duty	Prologue 6A: Bonds (Ogma)	Prologue 6B: Bonds (Draug)
	Choose the "No" option during the conversation with Katarina.	Choose the "Yes" option during the conversation with Katarina.
	Ogma	Draug
Prologue 6: Bonds	Prologue 7A: The Final Test (Est)	Prologue 7B: The Final Test (Cain)
	Choose the "No" option during the conversation with Katarina.	Choose the "Yes" option during the conversation with Katarina.
	Est	Cain

Fire Emblem Warriors

While Fire Emblem Warriors's gameplay structure ultimately allows players to play all of the game's chapters, there is one situation in the story mode that plays in a somewhat similar fashion to an alternate route branch. Unlike alternate paths from the mainline Fire Emblem games, both paths must be played to progress, instead of it being one or the other.

In this situation, the game's main characters, Rowan and Lianna, split up their forces and each seek out one of the two rival factions from the world of Fire Emblem Fates. In storyline playings of these chapters, characters who are on the opposite side of this split cannot be deployed, but this restriction is removed in free play mode.

Alternate routes in Warriors
Root chapter	Hoshido route	Nohr route	Notes
	Characters initially embarking on path
	Characters recruited on path
5: The Dragon's Table	6: Hoshidan Princess 7: Hoshidan Prince 8: High Prince Ryoma	9: Nohrian Princess 10: Nohrian Prince 11: Crown Prince Xander	Rowan is not usable in storyline playings of Chapter 7 due to storyline reasons that develop on his route; there is no counterpart situation on Lianna's route. DLC characters are not restricted by this split, despite the storyline implying otherwise in the case of Owain, Oboro, and Niles.
	Rowan, Chrom, Robin, Frederick, Lucina	Lianna, Lissa, Cordelia (Darios joins this path as an NPC)
	Hinoka, Takumi, Sakura	Camilla, Leo, Elise

See also

• Side quest
• Multiple endings
• Fire Emblem Fates, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes; games which feature branching, completely divergent routes.