Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Template:GameInfo Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi (ファイアーエムブレム　封印の剣, Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals), is a Game Boy Advance game released in 2002. It is the sixth installment in the Fire Emblem series, the first for Game Boy Advance and on a handheld platform, and was the last title to be released only in Japan until Shin Monshou no Nazo. It was this game which sparked international interest in the franchise, caused by the appearance of protagonist Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, paving the way for successive titles to be translated and exported to other countries. It was also the first installment to be made without the involvement of Shouzou Kaga, a prominent figure in the series' creation and the director of every installment through to Thracia 776, who had left Intelligent Systems after Thracia.

The game is set in a new and separate world from its predecessors, the continent of Elibe, a land once wracked by a fierce war between humans and dragons. One thousand years after that conflict, the misanthropic King Zephiel, of the militaristic nation of Bern, has freed the infamous Demon Dragon and engaged the rest of Elibe in a full-scale war with the intent of "freeing" the world from mankind and returning it to its "rightful" dragon owners. In response, Roy, the young heir of Pherae, leads the forces of Lycia in combatting Bern in lieu of his ill father, Marquess Eliwood.

The game was followed up by Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, a prequel set twenty years prior, dealing with Roy's father Eliwood in his youth. That game helps flesh out Zephiel's history, and sets up and elaborates upon other aspects of the world of Elibe, some only barely touched upon in Fuuin.

Plot

Template:Spoiler 1000 years before the events of this game, the land of Elibe was the scene of The Scouring, a brutal war between humans and dragons over the control of the land. Late in this war, mankind forged nine powerful dragon-slaying weapons, the Divine Weapons and the Sword of Seals, and gave them to eight powerful fighters who became known as the Eight Generals to use to finish the war. However, the sheer power imbued in the weapons tore apart the world's balance and laws of physics when clashed with the dragon's own potent power, a phenomenon later called the Ending Winter. After the war, fearing the power of the weapons and the possibility of someone using them to cause a catastrophe, the Generals sealed the weapons away in hiding places across the continent, protected by a powerful seal established by one of their number, Bramimond, and once guarded by the lingering spirits of warriors from the war. Over the thousand years, the weapons remained (mostly) undisturbed, and their power - while still formidable - depleted over time.

Chapters

Main article: List of chapters in Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi

In an average playthrough, the game is 25 chapters long, not counting any of the sidequests, of which there are six. At two points in the game, the story diverges into two separate routes before later converging to rejoin a single story route, covering a span of six chapters and one sidequest. The game features a total of 39 distinct map chapters, including sidequests and the branched routes. Furthermore, the maps of Fuuin no Tsurugi are widely known for being significantly larger than those of the other Game Boy Advance installments, putting a greater emphasis on the ability to quickly cross the field.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi

The main story mode of Fuuin no Tsurugi features 54 playable characters, the largest playable cast of the three Game Boy Advance games and one of the largest of the series as a whole (behind Radiant Dawn and Shin Monshou no Nazo. However, on an average playthrough only 51 can be encountered and recruited, as the game's forked routes at two points in the game result in pairs of characters appearing only in one route or the other (Lalam/Elphin, Ekhidna/Bartre, Dayan/Juno). A further eight characters can be unlocked to be used exclusively in the game's Trial Map mode, bringing the total playble cast to 62.

Support Conversations

Main article: List of supports in Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi

Fuuin no Tsurugi introduced the support conversation system, an extension of the more rudimentary, behind-the-scenes support systems present in Monshou no Nazo and Thracia 776. With this system, support bonuses are now obtained by, after characters accumulate the required number of points, having the characters talk to each other, after which their support level increases. This system allowed for a greater level of insight and depth into army members of lesser importance and to their connections and relationships, compared to prior installments where they were by and large left flat and un-fleshed out.

Trivia

Prerelease information

• At an early point in the game's development, the game was titled Fire Emblem: Ankoku no Miko (ファイアーエムブレム 暗黒の巫女, Fire Emblem: Maiden of Darkness); this title was also applied to the ill-fated "Fire Emblem 64" late in the development of said game. The title was likely intended to refer to Idenn, who is referred to by that title in the course of the game and her theme music is named as such.

Gallery

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  Japanese boxart

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  Japanese boxart inverse

In other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade	The game is referred to by this title in the NTSC English version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
English (unofficial)	Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals Fire Emblem: Sealed Sword	The Japanese phrase "封印の剣" is somewhat open to interpretation, resulting in several variations in translations of the name.