Dismount

Dismounting is a command and gameplay mechanic present in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, Genealogy of the Holy War, Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga and Thracia 776. It revolves around mounted units - those riding horses, pegasi or wyverns - getting off their mounts and continuing to fight on foot, either out of necessity or to get a tactical advantage.

Dismounting is typically compulsory on interior maps or when entering structures on exterior maps, and presents a small handful of advantages. Being dismounted removes the unit's type vulnerabilities and, for Cavaliers and similar horse-riding units, removes the mounted terrain penalties which cause horse-riding units to struggle to cross forests and mountains. Dismounting also presents distinct disadvantages: in most cases being dismounted limits a unit's access to their usual weapons, lowers their movement by a substantial degree and, for flying units, removes their flight ability and total immunity to terrain penalties.

In Mystery of the Emblem and Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga

Mystery of the Emblem - and by extension, BS Archanea War Chronicles, which uses the same game engine - features the original incarnation of dismounting. When the Dismount command is selected, the mounted unit is reclassed into a different class which acts as a dismounted equivalent to it, and stats are subtracted as per the table below; the stats are restored once the player chooses the Mount command to have the unit remount. On outdoor maps, dismounting and mounting can be done freely at any time; however, if a map is set indoors, all mounted units are forced to be dismounted.

With the exception of the Horseman, all dismounted units are forced to use swords instead of their usual lances; however, this is less of a problem in Mystery of the Emblem and BS Archanea War Chronicles as, unlike its successors, its weapon level stat causes the units to be equally competent in sword and lance usage without any extra effort. The Horseman instead continues to use bows when dismounted.

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="70%" colspan="4"|
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222;" colspan="2" rowspan="2"| Mounted class	Dismounted class		style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" colspan="6"| Stat difference (see Note)
Str			Skl	Spd	Def	Res	Mov
	Cavalier		Knight	+0	+0	+0	+0	+0	+3
	Paladin		Knight	+2	+3	+3	+2	+6	+4
	Horseman		Hunter	+0	+2	+0	+2	+0	+3
	Pegasus Knight		Knight	+0	+3	+3	+0	+6	+2
	Dracoknight		Knight	+3	+3	+3	+4	+0	+4
colspan="10" style="Template:Roundb; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="100%"|Note: The above stat differences are expressed as gains by mounting; for dismounting, subtract these same values from the mounted form's stats.

In Genealogy of the Holy War

Dismounting exists in Genealogy of the Holy War in a limited form: the only character capable of it is Seliph, after promotion to Knight Lord. It serves no meaningful function, and is openly admitted by the developers to be for purely cosmetic purposes. It has also been stated that during the development of Genealogy of the Holy War dismounting was an intended feature in full, but had to be cut for space reasons. Dismounting Seliph works on the same basis as in Mystery of the Emblem: it reverts him to being a Junior Lord and changes his stats accordingly. As Genealogy of the Holy War is set entirely on outdoor maps with no indoor components, there is no requirement for Seliph to dismount in order to traverse indoor terrain, nor is his ability to enter or seize castles hindered.

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="70%" colspan="4"|
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222;" colspan="2" rowspan="2"| Mounted class	Dismounted class		style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" colspan="7"| Stat difference (see Note)
Str			Mag	Skl	Spd	Def	Res	Mov
File:Ma snes02 lord knight seliph playable.gif	Knight Lord		Junior Lord	+5	+0	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3
colspan="11" style="Template:Roundb; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="100%"|Note: The above stat differences are expressed as gains by mounting; for dismounting, subtract these same values from the mounted form's stats.

In Thracia 776

The Thracia 776 dismounting system is somewhat more refined than its predecessors. This time, all mounted classes have mounted and dismounted versions which share the same name, ensuring that a dismounted Paladin, for example, is still a Paladin in name. Several Thracia 776 chapters feature mixed indoor and outdoor terrain; in these cases, the unit can be mounted outdoors, but must be dismounted before entering the indoor segments. Additionally, inflicting Sleep status on a mounted unit will force them to dismount; this is necessary in order to capture mounted units and, by extension, recruit Misha.

All classes are forced into using only swords when dismounted, except for Arch Knights, Bow Knights, female Paladins and Mage Knights, all of whom retain access to their usual mounted weapons when dismounted. Under the new lettered weapon level system, those units which are not usually sword users but are forced to wield swords when dismounted have a separate weapon level for swords, which is typically significantly lower than their primary weapon's level and thus cripples their effectiveness indoors.

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="70%" colspan="4"|
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222;" colspan="3" rowspan="2"| Class	Stat difference (see Note)					style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" colspan="5"| Weapons
Str	Skl	Spd	Def	Mov	Mount.	Dismtd.
	Cavalier		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Paladin (male)		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Troubadour		+1	+0	+1	+1	+3
	Paladin (female)		+1	+0	+1	+1	+3
	Free Knight	File:Ma snes03 dismounted free knight, dragon rider playable.gif	+1	+0	+0	+1	+3
	Ranger	File:Ma snes03 dismounted ranger, wyvern rider playable.gif	+0	+0	+0	+1	+3
	Lance Knight		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Duke Knight		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Axe Knight		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Great Knight		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Arch Knight		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Bow Knight		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Mage Knight		+1	+1	+1	+1	+3
	Pegasus Rider		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Pegasus Knight		+1	+1	+1	+2	+3
	Dragon Rider	File:Ma snes03 dismounted free knight, dragon rider playable.gif	+3	+2	+2	+5	+3
File:Ma snes03 wyvern rider playable.gif	Wyvern Rider	File:Ma snes03 dismounted ranger, wyvern rider playable.gif	+3	+2	+2	+5	+3
colspan="10" style="Template:Roundb; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="100%"|Note: The above stat differences are expressed as gains by mounting; for dismounting, subtract these same values from the mounted form's stats.

Trivia

• There is evidence in the internal data of Shadow Dragon that the game was intended to feature dismounting at some stage in its development, but the idea was scrapped.
• In Mystery of the Emblem and Thracia 776, the majority of lance-wielding units are mounted and accordingly are forced to wield swords instead when dismounted in indoor chapters. As such, the number of units which have access to lances indoors are severely limited - Draug, Dolph, Macellan and Sheena in Mystery of the Emblem, and Dalsin and Xavier in Thracia 776 - and in the former game, Gradivus has very little use as a result, since by the time the player obtains it the majority of the subsequent chapters are set indoors.