Marth and his allies break into the Archanean castle. Jagen reminds him that whoever wants to defeat Hardin must hold the Lightsphere to counter the effects of the Darksphere. In the castle, Midia has been captured, and Hardin tells her that the world is better off without humans. While fighting the enemy troops, Marth speaks to Hardin. Marth tries to get Hardin to see some reason, saying that the Darksphere has consumed his mind. He responds that he despised Marth in the previous war, and hated the decision of Nyna to give Marth the Fire Emblem. He remains convinced that he will kill Marth.
After Hardin is defeated, he returns to his old self for a brief moment. He laments how he couldn't fight the Darksphere's influence, and asks for forgiveness. He begs Marth to save Nyna, whom he loved until the very end. The four abducted princesses suddenly show up, with Nyna expressing her happiness at Marth's return. However, it turns out to be a trick by Gharnef, and the Binding Shield, which is now complete with the addition of the Darksphere, removes the disguises. Gharnef is surprised and signals for a retreat, saying that the Shadow Dragon must be revived. Gotoh then appears in the castle, and applauds Marth for his efforts in restoring the Binding Shield. He warns that the earth dragons will soon rise and cause a cataclysm, and tells Marth to go and seal the dragons before it's too late.
When a unit acts within the throne room (columns 11–19, rows 20–28), the southeast door is opened and the covered area revealed. A unit ending their turn in the area will not cause the door to open; they must actively wait, attack, use a staff, etc. In New Mystery of the Emblem, this excludes Midia's starting location (column 18, row 21), but does not exclude Midia herself from activating the trigger elsewhere; Midia's starting location can activate the trigger in Mystery of the Emblem, and Midia can do so by waiting.
• Outside the castle during preparations, opens the front door and enters the castle during the opening. • Ignores combat; moves to opent chests, then escape to the south
Moves to open the left-most chest of the central treasure room, then moves to escape via the southeast corner of the map; ignores combat, except to attack player units blocking the escape point.
• The one nearest Hardin moves to attack units in range. • The southern one will not move until a player unit is in range of at two of him and the nearby Heroes, at which point they begin moving unprovoked. • The northernmost one moves to attack units in range; returns to his starting position if no one is in range. • The easternmost one begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
• The southern one will not move until a player unit is in range of at two of him and the nearby Hero or Sniper, at which point they begin moving unprovoked. • The second-northern one begins moving moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
• The southeastern one will not act until uncovered, and immediately begins moving unprovoked. • The northern one begins moving if a Warrior, Hero, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Moves to open the left-most chest of the central treasure room, then moves to escape via the southeast corner of the map; ignores combat, except to attack player units blocking the escape point.
• The one nearest Hardin moves to attack units in range. • The southern one will not move until a player unit is in range of at two of him and the nearby Heroes, at which point they begin moving unprovoked. • The northernmost one moves to attack units in range; returns to his starting position if no one is in range. • The easternmost one begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
• The southern one will not move until a player unit is in range of at two of him and the nearby Hero or Sniper, at which point they begin moving unprovoked. • The southwest one moves to attack units in range; returns to his starting position if no one is in range. • The second-northern one begins moving moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
• The southwest one moves to attack units in range; returns to his starting position if no one is in range. • The northern two begin moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
• The southeastern one will not act until uncovered, and immediately begins moving unprovoked. • The northern one begins moving if a Warrior, Hero, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Moves to open the left-most chest of the central treasure room, then moves to escape via the southeast corner of the map; ignores combat, except to attack player units blocking the escape point.
• The one nearest Hardin will not move until a player unit is in range of both him and the nearby Sorcerer, at which point he begins moving to attack units in range. • The southern one will not move until a player unit is in range of at two of him and the nearby Heroes, at which point they begin moving unprovoked. • The northernmost one moves to attack units in range; returns to his starting position if no one is in range.
• The southern one will not move until a player unit is in range of at two of him and the nearby Hero or Sniper, at which point they begin moving unprovoked. • The southwest one moves to attack units in range; returns to his starting position if no one is in range. • The second-northern one begins moving moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
• The southwest one moves to attack units in range; returns to his starting position if no one is in range. • The northern two begin moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
• The southeastern one will not act until uncovered, and immediately begins moving unprovoked. • The northern one begins moving if a Warrior, Hero, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Begins moving if a player unit can be attacked without moving, or if a Warrior, Hero, General, Sniper, or Sage around or between the treasure room and the northwest room is provoked.
Moves to open the left-most chest of the central treasure room, then moves to escape via the southeast corner of the map; ignores combat, except to attack player units blocking the escape point.
No enemy initially present on the map will attack Midia until after a player unit has acted in the throne room (columns 11–19, rows 20–28; excluding column 18, row 21 where Midia starts).
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Reinforcements
Mystery of the Emblem
Upon entering the throne room, continuing until five of each appear
All reinforcements are halted when Hardin is defeated.
New Mystery of the Emblem
Once after a player unit acts in the southwest area (columns 1–10, rows 13–28; and columns 11–13, rows 16–19), the northwest corner (columns 1–10, rows 1–5), or the throne room (columns 11–19, rows 20–28; excluding column 18, row 21 where Midia starts) or—on Hard and higher—after provoking the units around or between the treasure room and the northwest room after turn 6; and again one (Hard and higher) and two turns later
Four (Maniac and lower)/Six (Lunatic) Paladins (one with a Silver Lance, two Spears, one a Silver Sword; an additional one with a Silver Sword and one with a Spear in Lunatic) from the east outside
After a player unit has acted in the throne room (columns 11–19, rows 20–28; excluding column 18, row 21 where Midia starts) or—on Hard and higher—after provoking the units around or between the treasure room and the northwest room or the above reinforcements appear; and again two turns later
One (Maniac and lower)/Two (Lunatic) Heroes, Snipers, Warriors, and Sages from the southeast corner of the map
All reinforcements are halted when Hardin is defeated.
This section details unofficial strategies that may help with completion of the chapter. This may not work for everybody.
In lower difficulties, this chapter is best beaten by warping a strong bosskiller to defeat Hardin and warping Marth afterwards to seize the throne. If the player wishes to get the items on this map, they can warp a thief or use the thief staff. This is recommended as the only brave weapons available in the game (in the remake, at least) can be found in the chests of this chapter.
Playing without the Warp staff, or on higher difficulties, further complicates the chapter.
First, the thief can pose an annoyance as you cannot reach him turn one without dancing or usage of the Anew staff, but he isn't particularly bulky and a trained Katarina or Linde should be able to one-shot him. Another thing to consider is the hallway guarded by two heroes. On the opposite side of the wall, there is a sniper, general, and sage nearby. The heroes have capped skill and can only be doubled by swordmasters with capped speed or berserkers and snipers using the Starsphere. The swordslayer deals bonus damage to them, but be careful as one of the Lunatic-exclusive characters also carries a swordslayer. As it is extremely difficult to take on the enemies on both sides, it is best to bait the sage and sniper first by getting in their range with one of your bulkier units and then finishing each of them separately. In the meantime, be careful with the bishop in the jail cell with Swarm. After crossing said hallway, reinforcements will begin to appear; as they are rather strong, it is best to just ignore them and rush towards Hardin. At this point it is a good idea to rescue Midia as it can be difficult to rescue her otherwise. Now, you must choose between going left or right. Going right is more practical as the enemies there are weaker compared to the Earth Dragon and two heroes, the door makes for a good chokepoint, and there are good items there to take. Now, the final part of this map is the Dark Emperor himself, Hardin. Note that it is only possible to harm him if the unit that attacks him has the Lightsphere in their inventory. However, Hardin is incredibly strong, fast and bulky; he will double Generals, Warriors and Dracoknights, even if they have the Starsphere in their inventory. There isn't a particularly easy way to deal with him and it's best to kill him in a single turn by dancing or using the Anew staff with your strongest unit. After defeating him and seizing with Marth, you will either complete the Binding Shield and unlock the Endgame, or only get the Darksphere and finish the game with the bad ending.
In order to access Chapter 20x, the player must have completed the Binding Shield; they must also have recruited and kept alive at least three of Wolf, Sedgar, Vyland, Roshea, and Midia, or they must clear this chapter in a certain number of turns. The turn count of the latter requirement varies by difficulty, as follows:
Difficulty
Turn Count
Normal
24
Hard
28
Maniac
33
Lunatic
38
Lunatic′
43
Trivia
This chapter uses a modified version of the map from The Ageless Palace.