Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Compilation

The easy-reference list for Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones!

• Opening + Prologue
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3 - Supports
  
• Chapter 4 - Supports
• Chapter 5 - Supports
• Chapter 5x
  
• Chapter 6 - Supports
• Chapter 7 - Supports
• Chapter 8 - Supports
• A New Journey
  
• Act 1 Review
  
• Chapter 9 Eirika - Ephraim Part 1 - Part 2 - Supports
• Chapter 10 Eirika Part 1 - Part 2 - Ephraim Part 1 - Part 2 - Supports
• Chapter 11 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
• Chapter 12 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
• Chapter 13 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
• Chapter 14 Eirika Part 1 - Part 2 - Ephraim Part 1 - Part 2 - Supports
• Chapter 15 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
• Act 2 Review
  
• Chapter 16 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
• Chapter 17 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
• Chapter 18 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
• Chapter 19 Eirika - Ephraim - Supports
• Chapter 20 Eirika - Ephraim Part 1 - Part 2 - Supports
• Endgame Eirika - Ephraim
• Epilogue
• Act 3 Review
• L'Arachel
• Lyon
• Sexism
  

The Sexism of Sacred Stones: Victims of Tradition

Fire Emblem's classic games have a bit of a problem when it comes to representing women. The oldest games leaned hard into this, with many of the women you met either starting in distress, spending the story waiting for men to help them with their problems, or end the story giving up their dreams or powers to men. Starting around the GBA, they slowly began getting better at this- Lyndis was a landmark in that regard- but it is still clearly present in the game's DNA, and it wouldn't be until worlds like Tellius and Fodlan that women were allowed their own narrative arcs, thrones and general agency. I feel it may be a disservice to leave it there, so let's unravel it a bit, shall we?

Darkness Within and Peril Without: Prince Lyon

Lyon is one of Fire Emblem's most interesting villains by far. Or rather, "the villain of Sacred Stones" holds that title. Lyon alone, while still incredibly fascinating, can only offer so much to set him apart from other beloved villains like Nergal, Lehran and Rhea. No, what Sacred Stones does to set itself apart is combine Lyon with Fomortiis, and does so to such a close extreme that it is, in some respects, impossible to truly say for certain whether some actions are to be credited to Lyon, Fomortiis, or the two teaming up. Obviously, not everything, but who's to say where the line is drawn?

A Jewel Without Price: Princess L'Arachel

L'Arachel is my favourite character in Sacred Stones, and a candidate for my favourite overall across Fire Emblem. Her enthusiasm is infectious, she's beautiful, and she loves to become an amazingly gifted unit to use on the battlefield. It would be easy to stop there and say she's one of Fire Emblem's greats from that alone, but underneath the surface lurks a very vulnerable girl.

Act 3: The Demon Prince

While Act 2 may end anywhere between Chapters 14 and 16, the primary thesis of Act 3 definitively means that it starts in earnest with Chapter 17, and any unaccounted for chapters are transitional or setup. That is because Act 3 is about Prince Lyon, what makes him tick, with the Grado conflict that has defined the plot thus far being over. Literally over- Ephraim captured the capital, hostilities with Grado are formally over, and the Grado Army we fight in two of the chapters are Remnants loyal to Lyon personally.

While the maps are identical between routes, the stories are not. Eirika route focuses on the tragedy of Lyon falling into darkness- the man who once made his priority the safety and well-being of his people is now their greatest enemy. Ephraim route focuses on the tragedy of Lyon turning to darkness- the man who believed in strength of character has forsaken his own and became the very darkness he was once the direct antithesis of. At both ends, the core conflict is the same: Lyon should have been a great man, but he is no longer able to be that man because of his circumstances and actions.

I want to make this more about the structure of the story than Lyon, since he's getting his own piece, so my first observation is the fact that the plot does change priorities rather sharply between Acts. Act 1 is focused on Grado's feverish hunt for the Solar and Lunar Bracelets, which would allow them to seize the Stone of Renais. Act 2 seems to have abandoned this plot thread, switching instead to the intrigue of the Dark Stone, the world stage of Carcino and Jehanna, and the uncertainly sown among the ranks of the Grado Empire. Act 3 abandons all of these threads to focus on Lyon's nature (...OK, this is technically the Dark Stone, but the object of doom isn't mentioned at all to focus on the consequences). On one hand, this is a sensible decision- all these proper nouns are no longer relevant once their focal Acts are over. On the other hand, the transitions are jarring, especially for the Bracelets, which get brought back in Chapter 16. It speaks to the weak links in the chain that come with this game's status as a side project where passion takes precedence.

How is this Act mechanically? It's... a bit of a mess. Chapters 16 and 17 are solid progressions, but then it comes to Chapter 18 and it's an EXP bonanza that poses little in the way of challenge. Chapter 19, by contrast, is a difficult mission due to an onslaught of enemies that even Normal mode can find challenging due to the sheer volume. And then it's Chapter 20 and... monsters aren't that scary anymore. Stone from the Gorgons is always horrifying, and Shadowshot might knock out your Cormag or whoever, but monster armies just somehow lack the bite of human ones. I'm not sure if that's lack of variety or actual stats, but the monster hordes just don't quite match the threat levels presented in the narrative. And then there's the Demon King himself: Poor Lyon is rendered powerful but ineffective due to his poor AS thanks to Fenrir and Naglfar's weight, while the Demon King himself suffers from the issue of not having enough to distract your team. Considering defeating him is a wincon, perhaps that is to be expected, but there's no real reason not to beat him in two turns, and thus miss out on that awesome Ravager animation. I feel like they expected monsters to make more of a splash than they did- instead, monsters are the breather sections and the whole gameplay pacing is thrown asunder.

Sacred Stones Epilogue: Ephraim Becomes the Good King

Thankfully, the epilogue for both routes is... more or less fully converged, since nearly everything that was route-dependent is no longer a factor. We do get one extended scene that differs, but I can squeeze it all in one update.

L'Arachel says this and believes this is enough. Just as she has the grandest ambitions of following in her ancestor's footsteps, so too does she have the smallest ambitions of stopping there.

Innes takes the exact opposite position: We destroyed the Demon King's body, a feat that I'm fairly sure the heroes did wind up doing, but Innes is confident that doing so was enough for the Demon King to be gone for good. I'd like to take him at his word, but I truthfully have no idea how that works out for him.

Whatever we did, we can directly thank everyone here. Except Seth. He knows what he did.

Ephraim's turn for praise.

We have their weapons, but nothing about this adventure has really "made" us Heroes like them. I wonder if they felt the same way.

Tana and L'Arachel will go down in history.

...Well, L'Arachel. Tana'll be a footnote about how Ephraim has descendants.

SS Endgame Ephraim: Dark Emperor

So Eirika found the final boss to be a little too easy. Let's see if Ephraim has a little more trouble.

But first, time for Ephraim's last goodbye with Lyon.

He has far less patience for Lyon's pessimism that two friendly princes might not meet again.

Lyon is only somewhat reassured.

He's readying himself for the possibility that the two nations will meet in unfriendly circumstances.

Ephraim has the same question I do: What tense circumstances? Ephraim's not interested in picking a fight, Lyon's not interested in picking a fight, what's going to change?

That's Ephraim's good side. He doesn't mince words, for good and for ill.

Lyon, that's not something every prince worries about.

I'm starting to wonder if Lyon had some dark ambitions before opening the Stone here.

Ephraim says this, although I'm still very curious where all the wars that the knights are in and castles like Rigwald and Renvall are built for. They use this sort of thing as a backdrop and don't seem to consider the reasons why it exists. That's honestly a bit of a weakness in FE in general, though.

Assuming neither of you are the ones responsible for this sudden shift. Lyon.

As much as it's Lyon hoping desperately, and vainly, for this to be true, ultimately, Ephraim was the one more hurt by this not turning out as promised.

I don't think anything short of death was going to stop that happening any way.

Although right now, that isn't a pleasant prospect for Ephraim.

SS Endgame Eirika: Demon King

Win or lose, it'll be all down to Rausten's last treasure.

But first, we get one last flashback.

Lyon and Eirika's last goodbye.

It's... kinda weird. They treat this friendship as significant, but they also kinda treat them as having only visited one time and stuffing as much of their character journey as possible in that one visit. The imagination fills a lot of gaps here.

I hope you two will, you seem to have a thing going.

The less you think about the specifics of this part, the better, I think.

Especially considering this element feels like it needs two visits- a first encounter to inspire him and a second to bear fruit.

...Actually, it's explicit. Eirika had to know Lyon before he started his experiments.

Not literally, but the sentiment was there. Eirika was the main person giving Lyon any sort of encouragement to help him reach his many goals. Ephraim, too, but he's less active about it than Eirika is, and I think the nature of his respective bonds means it doesn't mean as much coming from him.

Truly a platonic friendship there.

Things Innes and Lyon have in common: For some reason, you're not allowed to marry Eirika unless you're badass enough to beat Ephraim on his turf.

Eirika thinks this obsession with Ephraim's spear is utterly ridiculous and wants no part of it. How fitting, then, that her ultimate love interest is someone with self-esteem to spare, who wouldn't dream of partaking in this ridiculous ritual because she's already well assured that she is better than him.

The fact that Lyon won't actually come out and propose until he's "conquered" Ephraim is the only reason Eirika didn't walk out of Grado with a ring and a whole lot more anxiety over the war than she already had. Honestly, it was probably a mercy in hindsight.

You already were, Lyon.

Now, though?