Taking Leave

Taking Leave

Location Pherae New units Eliwood, Lowen, Marcus, Rebecca, Dorcas, Bartre Boss(es) Groznyi Previous chapter(s) The Distant Plains Next chapter(s) Birds of a Feather

“	Father is alive, I know it. I vow that I will find him and return him to your side.	”	— Eliwood to Eleanora

Taking Leave (Japanese: 旅の始まり The Beginning of a Journey) is the eleventh chapter in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, and the first of Eliwood's tale.

Plot

Main article: Taking Leave/Script

A year has passed since Lyn reclaimed Caelin from her granduncle Lundgren. In that time, Marquess Pherae has disappeared along with Pherae's best knights. Eliwood believes his father is still alive and sets out to find him along with two of Pherae's remaining knights, Marcus and Lowen. While Lowen is scouting the nearby village for extra men to accompany Eliwood on his journey, a group of bandits led by Groznyi take over the village. Lowen manages to escape with the daughter of the village magistrate, Rebecca, who pleads with Eliwood to save her village; Eliwood agrees to lend his aid. Rebecca insists that she help as well, given her skill with a bow. If the tactician is present, Lowen reveals that he also received an offer of help from a tactician who was staying at a nearby inn. Eliwood is pleased to have a proven strategist by his side and asks that they lend their aid against the bandits. During the battle, Bartre and Dorcas emerge from a nearby village to see Eliwood's efforts to liberate Rebecca's village, and decide to aid him.

After Groznyi is defeated, the village elder thanks Eliwood and his group for their gracious help. The elder also reveals that Darin, the Marquess of Laus, is making preparations for war. Marcus speculates that Darin's war preparations might be related to Elbert's disappearance, and Eliwood decides to head towards Laus to seek out any leads on his father's whereabouts.

Outside of the village, if the tactician is present, Eliwood requests that the tactician accompany him on the rest of his journey, to which they accept. If Rebecca survived the battle, she begins to follow Eliwood once he leaves, but is stopped by her father; he tries to dissuade her from travelling with Eliwood, but Rebecca insists, both to repay Eliwood for saving her life and for the chance that she may encounter her brother. Her father relents and allows Rebecca to join Eliwood's group.

Chapter data

Normal Hard

Chapter Data
Conditions	Unit Data
Victory: Seize the gate	Player	Partner	Other	Enemy	Third
Defeat: Eliwood dies	4+2	{{{partner}}}	{{{other}}}	10	{{{third}}}

Chapter Data
Conditions	Unit Data
Victory: Seize the gate	Player	Partner	Other	Enemy	Third
Defeat: Eliwood dies	4+2	{{{partner}}}	{{{other}}}	13	{{{third}}}

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Character data

Characters
New Units
Eliwood Lord HP 18 Inventory Rapier Vulnerary Level 1 Automatically from turn 1 Marcus Paladin HP 32 Inventory Steel Sword Steel Lance Level 1 Automatically from turn 1 Lowen Cavalier HP 23 Inventory Iron Sword Javelin Level 2 Automatically from turn 1 Rebecca Archer HP 17 Inventory Iron Bow Vulnerary Level 1 Automatically from turn 1 Dorcas Fighter HP 30 Inventory Steel Axe Energy Ring Level 3 Automatically on turn 2 Bartre Fighter HP 29 Inventory Iron Axe Hand Axe Level 2 Automatically on turn 2
Available Characters
None

Item data

Items

Name Obtainment Method Dragonshield Visit village

Shop Data

Armories and vendors

Swords Lances Axes Bows Anima Light Dark Staves Items Secret

None

None

None

None

None

None

None

None

	Name	Cost
	Vulnerary	300

None

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Enemy data

Stats with two figures separated by a ~ are presented as a range, representing stats that vary due to random growths. The figures to the left and right of the ~ are the stat's minimum and maximum possible values respectively.

Normal Hard

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str/Mag Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Con Mov Inventory and Skills Bandit Archer 1 1 18 4 3 3 0 3 0 7 5 Iron Bow Moves to attack units in range. Bandit Brigand 2 2 20~21 5~6 1~2 5~6 0 3~4 0~1 12 5 Iron Axe Moves to attack units in range. Bandit Brigand 1 4 20 5 1 5 0 3 0 12 5 Iron Axe The easternmost one and the one three tiles east of Groznyi move to attack units in range. Bandit Brigand 3 1 21~22 5~7 1~2 5~6 0 3~4 0~1 12 5 Iron Axe -- Bandit Archer 2 1 18~19 4~5 3~4 3~4 0 3~4 0~1 7 5 Iron Bow -- Groznyi Brigand 5 1 25 7 4 4 1 4 2 12 5 Iron Axe Does not move; stands on a gate, the chapter's seize point.

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str/Mag Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Con Mov Inventory and Skills Bandit Archer 1 1 18 4 3 3 0 3 0 7 5 Iron Bow Moves to attack units in range. Bandit Brigand 2 2 20~21 5~6 1~2 5~6 0 3~4 0~1 12 5 Iron Axe Moves to attack units in range. Bandit Brigand 1 7 20 5 1 5 0 3 0 12 5 Iron Axe The easternmost one and the one three tiles east of Groznyi move to attack units in range. Bandit Brigand 3 1 21~22 5~7 1~2 5~6 0 3~4 0~1 12 5 Iron Axe -- Bandit Archer 2 1 18~19 4~5 3~4 3~4 0 3~4 0~1 7 5 Iron Bow -- Groznyi Brigand 5 1 25 7 4 4 1 4 2 12 5 Iron Axe Does not move; stands on a gate, the chapter's seize point.

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Boss data

Main article: Groznyi

Brigand Level 5 Affinity --

Stats Max HP 25 Luck 1 Strength 7 Defense 4 Skill 4 Resistance 2 Speed 4 Constitution 12 Movement 5 Aid 11

Inventory Iron Axe Weapon Levels -- -- D -- -- -- -- --

Strategy

This section details unofficial strategies that may help with completion of the chapter. This may not work for everybody.

The easiest way to clear this chapter is to charge forward with Marcus as he can one round every single enemy with the Steel Sword. By contrast, to secure a kill with your other units often requires that the Brigands be weakened by two other units. If you decide to let Marcus take the majority of the kills, make sure Eliwood keeps pace with the rest of the group by rescuing him with Lowen. Such a strategy may seem like it will deprive your other units of experience, but Marcus will not be able to kill everything as he smashes his way to Groznyi so let your other units pick up experience from those units along the way. Even if you decide to focus on feeding experience and kills to your unpromoted units, do not be afraid to use Marcus. The ability to eliminate any enemy in a single turn is invaluable and can often save your weaker units from facing unnecessary risk

Groznyi is barely stronger than the other Brigands on the map, meaning Marcus can take him out in one round, and he gains a decent chunk of experience if you let him take the kill. You can give the kill to your weaker units but the non-sword wielders will have somewhat unreliable hit rates; additionally, Eliwood and Lowen cannot double Groznyi, so expect to take at least an additional turn to finish the map.

As long as Eliwood uses his full movement range every turn or is rescue dropped on turns he cannot, Eliwood should be able to seize the gate by turn 5 or 6.

The only difference in hard mode is that there are three extra Brigands. None of them are particularly strong or threatening and can be taken out by Marcus in one round.

Trivia

• There is a translation error present in the opening dialogue of this chapter. The wording of the narration makes it seem as though Elbert has only been gone for a month; however, Erik later reveals in Chapter 14 that Elbert came to Laus to throw his support behind Darin and Nergal six months prior. Looking at the Japanese script, it becomes apparent that intended meaning of the line was that a month after Elbert disappeared, he was rumored to have died.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Taking Leave	--
Japanese	旅の始まり	The Beginning of a Journey
Spanish	Despedida	Farewell
French	Départ	Departure
German	Der Aufbruch	The Departure

Gallery

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References

← The Distant Plains •	Taking Leave	• Birds of a Feather →