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Anima
Anima magic or nature magic (Japanese: 理魔法 elemental magic) is a weapon category in the Fire Emblem series and one of its three primary types of offensive magic. This magical discipline is centered around communion with and mastery of the forces of nature itself, is chiefly associated with Mages and Sages, and its structure and approach to spell-casting is described by Canas as being elegant and refined with a sense of freedom to it.[1] Anima magic can be further divided into three types of magic: fire, thunder and wind (which in turn includes ice-based magic such as Fimbulvetr).
The anima weapon category in and of itself exists only in the three Game Boy Advance Fire Emblem games: The Binding Blade, The Blazing Blade and The Sacred Stones. Otherwise, anima magic exists primarily as its three subcategories - fire, thunder and wind - in Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. In the Game Boy Advance games, the anima hierarchy is comprised of a selection of tomes from all three of its subcategories, and statistically are differentiated from the rival schools of light and dark magic by the average stats of each anima tome: anima tomes are balanced in their might, weight and hit and thus are fairly simple and straightforward to use, in this regard being something of a magical counterpart to lances.
Both as its own weapon category and in the form of its three separate subcatagories, anima magic is affected by the trinity of magic determining weapon type superiority. In the Game Boy Advance games and Radiant Dawn, all anima spells share the same Trinity relationship with light and dark magic: anima spells have an advantage over light spells, but are disadvantaged against dark spells. Additionally, the three subcategories are governed by their own trinity structure in Genealogy, Thracia 776, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn: wind beats thunder, thunder beats fire, and fire beats wind. In Radiant Dawn, both Trinities of Magic come into play simultaneously for anima magic.
Anima magic in the Fire Emblem series
Note: This table lists all appearances of the weapons in question. They are only classified solely as anima magic in The Binding Blade, The Blazing Blade, and The Sacred Stones; only their special properties relevant to their appearances solely as anima are listed, and their classifications in other games are noted.
Weapon | Available in: | Notes | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FE01 | FE02 | FE03 | FE04 | FE05 | FE06 | FE07 | FE08 | FE09 | FE10 | FE11 | FE12 | FE13 | FE14 | FE15 | FE16 | FE17 | ||
Aircalibur | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Bolting | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Elfire | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Excalibur | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | -- | ||
Fimbulvetr | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | -- | ||
Fire | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | -- | ||
Forblaze | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Thunder | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | -- | ||
A ✓ means that the weapon is available in that game, while a ✗ indicates the contrary. |
Classes capable of using anima magic
There are 8 different classes which have been able to wield anima magic as a distinct weapon type at any point in the series.
Class | Wields anima magic in: | Notes | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FE01 | FE02 | FE03 | FE04 | FE05 | FE06 | FE07 | FE08 | FE09 | FE10 | FE11 | FE12 | FE13 | FE14 | FE15 | FE16 | FE17 | ||
Mage | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Sage | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Valkyrie | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Archsage | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Dark Druid | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Pupil | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Mage Knight | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
Druid | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | -- | ||
A ✓ means that the class wields anima magic in that game, while a ✗ indicates the contrary. |
Trivia
- Although it is actually comprised only of fire, thunder and wind spells in the games themselves, the North American manual for Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade claimed that the anima category also contains rain-related magic, which does not exist in any Fire Emblem game.[2] The equivalent Japanese text says "ice" instead of "rain", and it presumably refers to Fimbulvetr.
Etymology and other languages
Names, etymology, and in other regions | ||
---|---|---|
Language | Name | Definition, etymology, and notes |
English |
• Anima |
• Latin: life. This name is used in dialogue, the help description of the weapon level, and weapon help descriptions in The Sacred Stones. |
Spanish |
Ánima |
Anima |
French |
Nature |
As above. |
German |
Natur |
Nature |
Italian |
Anima |
As above. |
References
- ↑ "Canas: ...Ahh, anima magic is quite wondrous... Its polished magic system and refined theory are quite elegant...
Nino: Oh yeah?
Canas: My wife and I are magic users like yourself. When I look at one of my wife's tomes, it truly lightens my heart... Anima is the magic of nature... This communion with the spirit of all things unleashes the heart. This magic makes us feel free..." — Canas and Nino, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade - ↑ "Anima is made up of fire, thunder, wind, and rain." Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade North American manual, page 35. (Page 39 of the The Sacred Stones manual has a similar note, but with ice replacing the non-existing rain one.)
See also
Weapon types | ||||||
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Anima magic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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