The Fire Emblem series has always supported its gameplay with a strong storyline. Each game has a unique plot with its concepts and themes, even though the series had been aesthetically similar throughout its run. This momentary plot, though, is always backed up by lore and a backstory that details how and why the world of each game came to be.

The most interesting part of each title's lore interacts with previous releases. Some, like Awakening, factor in the stories of previous games into their backstory, while others, such as Three Houses, are disconnected from the established setting and history of the franchise. This can give similar games completely different conceptual backgrounds.

10 Mystery of the Emblem Re-Introduces The Franchise's Origins

This Title Dives Back Into Early Lore and Expands On It

As one of the earliest games in the Fire Emblem series, Mystery of the Emblem doesn't stray far from the franchise's inspirations. This doesn't make it less interesting than other games, but it is much simpler compared to later titles. Mystery of the Emblem tells two stories, the first a remake of the first Fire Emblem game. This introduces Marth as the sole survivor of a kingdom wiped out by Medeus, an evil dragon, and Marth's quest to recover a holy sword.

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The second half, the titular Mystery of the Emblem, has a similar concept behind its story. The king of the empire set up in the first part of the story falls under the influence of an evil artifact, and Marth has to find its counterpart in an ancient temple to stop him. Along the way, the player discovers the history of many concepts found throughout both games, tying everything neatly into the original lore of Fire Emblem.

9 The Blazing Blade Explores the World of its Predecessor

This Title Expands On Every Part of its Prior Release

Promotional art featuring the cast of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

As the first Fire Emblem game on a hand-held console, The Binding Blade didn't concern itself much with developing the backstory of its world. Its sequel, The Blazing Blade, did a lot of work to give more details and flesh out its setting. The history of Elibe is completely separate from prior games, and naturally needed some explanation. This mainly came from the second plotline of the game, following Eliwood's journey to find the titular Fire Emblem.

Along the way, he gets involved in a conflict with a guild of assassins led by an evil sorcerer. While there's plenty of backstory and explanation of the setting in The Blazing Blade, it doesn't all make much of an impact. The main characters don't interact much with the lore, which mainly creates a sense of intrigue for the villain. This causes the backstory to feel closer to an after-the-fact explanation for the main storyline.

8 Shadows of Valentia Details a Believable War

History Repeats Itself as the Lore Impacts the Plot

Alm and Celica reuniting in Fire Emblem Shadows of Valentia

In its backstory, Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia mainly focuses on an initial conflict between what would later become the center of the main storyline. Two gods disagree on how to rule over their people, so they split the continent of Valentia between them with neither interfering in the other's territory. This ends up being much worse than the disagreement itself, as the lack of checks on each other's influence causes more problems than it solves.

The interesting aspect of Shadows of Valentia's backstory is how easily it explains the plot's main conflict and mirrors the central characters. By focusing on a lack of unity, the game gives a specific issue that organically becomes the reason for the main storyline. This causes players discovering the lore of Valentia to feel as though it's justified and not arbitrary, as it directly impacts what players are doing throughout the game.

7 Path of Radiance Creates Realistic Struggles

The Right Backdrop Causes Fantasy to Give a Message

Ike and Elincia on the front cover of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

Like many other Fire Emblem games, Path of Radiance has a backstory that mainly exists to give context to the war the game follows. In this case, players discover various details about the political struggle on the continent of Tellius, which has been building since time immemorial. This conflict mainly focuses on interactions between humans and the shape-shifting Laguz. By using a setting with a long-simmering problem, Path of Radiance can make its lore directly pertinent to the main storyline.

original Fire Emblem, Fire Emblem Three Houses, and Fire Emblem Awakening
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While it doesn't have the most lore in the series, Path of Radiance is interesting due to the themes of its world-building elements. The way each character is affected by their past is clear and about as realistic as Fire Emblem can get. This causes Path of Radiance to tell a more real-feeling story due to how its lore and history interact with the game's main plot.

Fire Emblem_ Path of Radiance
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Tactical
RPG
Adventure
Platform(s)
GameCube
Released
April 20, 2005
Developer(s)
Intelligent Systems , Nintendo SPD
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
ESRB
t

6 Fates Makes Lore Key to Its Key Characters

A Main Character's Experience Colors the Game's Paths

The main cast of Fire Emblem Fates game facing each other.

While it mainly focuses on the player's impact on the world, Fire Emblem: Fates supplements this by having its lore directly change the main character's mindset and choices. The unnamed continent is the setting of a war between the nations of Hoshido and Nohr, which both have sympathetic aspects presented. Interestingly, the protagonist has ties to both nations, born in Hoshido but raised in Nohr.

This makes Fates' built-up conflict deeply personal to the main character, impacting the player's choices throughout the game. The history of both nations plays a part in the main storyline, which adds a level of intrigue that factors into player decisions. This direct effect of the lore on the player makes Fates feel like it expects players to make educated choices due to providing ample reasons for each option, using the lore of the setting to inform each decision.

5 Three Houses Makes its Backstory Recent

Recent History Can Be Plenty of Lore

Uniquely among other entries in the series, Fire Emblem: Three Houses primarily focuses on immediate backstory. By giving chronologically recent events the same level of respect as lore in other games, Three Houses creates multiple mysteries that players need to unravel to understand the main plot. This approach to lore gives the game a different feel from other titles, as though it and its immediate history and future are the legends that would otherwise be simple backstories.

As a title that completely focuses on player choice, Three Houses uses recent history and key characters in its setting to inform each player's decisions. Each player will learn different information on the lore based on their chosen route. However, the conclusions players can reach differ regarding how each character fits into the backstory and the future of Three Houses' world.

4 Engage is Entirely Reacting to its Lore

Lore and the Plot Can Be One and the Same

Engage Marth and Alear in Fire Emblem Engage

Through an amnesiac protagonist as a plot device, Fire Emblem: Engage cleverly makes the game about discovering its lore. This creates a satisfying experience where players can uncover new details about the main character's role in history as they play, making each reveal feel significant for the entire storyline. By revolving the main plot around the game's lore, each story beat feels like coming closer to understanding the entirety of the setting's context.

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With the premise of history repeating itself, Fire Emblem Engage can keep its single storyline feeling mysterious despite not giving players significant choices. This makes the lore feel much more important than many other games in the franchise, as it makes up the entirety of the game's plot. Every new piece of the game makes players feel like they're solving a narrative puzzle, rather than figuring out information that doesn't matter much.

3 Awakening Uses Prior Games as a Backdrop

A Strong Foundation Gives Backstory Needed Presence

Fire Emblem Awakening game art with the cast

The most interesting aspect of Fire Emblem: Awakening's plot is its use of older titles as ancient history in the setting. This makes discovering the backstory exciting for new players and serves as fanservice for older ones. It also gave the game's writers plenty of opportunities to use detailed lore and ground the setting with a well-thought-out backdrop.

This leads the use of backstory in Awakening to be some of the best in the series, as it feels much more considered and impactful than other titles where the lore is occasionally arbitrary. Using older games as a foundation, Fire Emblem: Awakening could create an original story using older, fleshed-out concepts. This technique was put to great effect by making its setting feel lived-in, with thousands of years of pre-built history that can affect its modern day.

2 The Sacred Stones Creates Legends for its Story

Myths are the Center of This Game's Lore

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones key art featuring the main cast in uniform for battle.

Unlike other titles in the series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones uses aspects of its setting that aren't necessarily aligned with its history. Mainly, its antagonists include monsters of local legends from the game's world, making it feel uniquely populated in the sense that people live and tell stories within it. This level of worldbuilding is unprecedented in many other titles, giving Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones an interesting, almost Dungeons & Dragons-like aesthetic.

The stories told in a setting are often more important than having years of political history to look back on. After all, the commoners make up most of a setting and would have the most impact on day-to-day life. This unique perspective is used in The Sacred Stones to make its antagonists feel like a product of the setting rather than an arbitrary opposing force for the player.

1 Genealogy of the Holy War Delves Into Previous Games' Lore

Explaining Earlier Games Causes This Release to Embody Backstory

Unlike other Fire Emblem games that use lore as an impetus for the main story, Genealogy of the Holy War exists to directly show the worldbuilding of the series' origins. Players take the role of characters previously named in other games as ancient heroes or the namesakes of locations found in other titles. By taking advantage of previous games in the series, Genealogy can structure itself entirely around explaining prior events in the world.

split image of Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, Three Houses, and Sacred Stone
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Genealogy has a unique feel among other games of its franchise thanks to its nature as a prequel. Unlike other games, players are intentionally playing through the actual lore of previous games, in a way that developers can make intentional references to. This directly impacts sequels mentioning prior events, giving new context to older titles.