War of Heroes (Archanea)

The War of Heroes (Japanese: 英雄戦争 War of Heroes) was a war lasting one year on the continent of Archanea, depicted by Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem Book II and Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem. It began over one year after the War of Shadows ended.

The War of Heroes formally began with the invasion of Altea by Archanea (led by Emperor Hardin) after Marth's turning on General Lang of Archanea.

Note that this article assumes the player obtains all orbs and shards of the Starsphere and proceeds to the game's true ending.

Background

The War of Shadows was fought from years 600 to 605, and greatly weakened each country involved;^[1] the leaders of many countries were killed in the war, including Cornelius of Altea, Michalis of Macedon, Jiol of Gra, and much of the royal family of Archanea. Princess Nyna, the last of Archanea's royal family, was wed to Prince Hardin of Aurelis;^[2] over the following year, Hardin quickly restored Archanea as the most powerful country on the continent and reformed it into an empire, declaring himself emperor.^[3] Though Hardin loved Nyna, Nyna was in love with Camus, a general of Grust who was killed in the War of Shadows. Due to the lack of love in his marriage, Hardin fell into a depression, allowing Gharnef to corrupt him using the Darksphere.^[4]

Start of the War

In 607, an insurrection began in Grust led by General Lorenz,^[5] as a response to the harsh Archanean domination of the region under General Lang.^[6] Hardin sent Prince Marth of Altea to suppress the insurrection, which he could not refuse due to Archanea's power over Altea.^[7] In Grust, Marth finds Lorenz, who explains that Archanea instigated the insurrection and asks that Marth assume protection of the Grustian heirs, Princess Yuliya and Prince Jubelo, before succumbing to his wounds.^[8] In spite of Marth's objections, Lang imprisoned Yuliya and Jubelo, then orderd Marth to put down a military coup in Macedon that had ousted and imprisoned Minerva,^[9] after she had attempted to reform the military.^[10]

Minerva, imprisoned.

Marth and his army successfully subdued the coup, but could not locate Minerva.^[11] During this fight, Marth met with Julian and learned that Lena and Princess Maria had vanished.^[12] He also encountered Linde, who gave him the Fire Emblem on the orders of Nyna.^[13] Lang's next order to Marth was to recapture the Grustian heirs, who had been freed, but Marth refused to do so.^[14] This refusal of Archanean orders gave Hardin the excuse he needed to declare war, invading Altea.

Invasion of Altea, freeing Grust, and Khadein

After Marth refused to capture Yuliya and Jubelo for Archanea, he took the Grustian heirs into his company.^[15] At the same time, Altea was invaded by Hardin, resulting in the capture of Princess Elice; Princess Caeda escaped and informed Marth of the events.^[16]

Lang in Olbern Keep.

Marth and his army then turned to Olbern Keep, Lang's stronghold in Grust, and conquered it, effectively freeing Grust with the defeat of Lang.^[17] Marth found Wendell imprisoned within, who told him of his quest to recover the Astral Shards of the Starsphere to prevent the world from falling to ruin.^[18] On their return to Altea, Marth investigated the Fane of Raman, but it had been pillaged by thieves.^[19] Marth then moved to Chiasmir to escape Grust by bridge, but was attacked by the Archanean army, lead personally by Hardin; Marth learned of the magic protecting Hardin^[20] and of his intent to crack down against all dissent against him,^[21] and was forced to flee by boat to Khadein.^[20]

As he passed Khadein, Marth was attecked by Khadein's mage corps, who had allied with Archanea;^[22] as they fought into the city, they encountered Merric fighting his former classmate Arlen^[23]—who had seized control of Khadein—but they were talked down by Wendell.^[24] Marth also found Minerva, who had been rescued by her brother, Michalis, with the intent of joining Marth to fight Hardin.^[25] Once the fighting stopped, Gotoh appeared to Marth, telling him of Hardin's fall to the Darksphere and instructing him to travel to the Ice Dragon Temple in the north to collect the Lightsphere, the only instrument capable of piercing the Darksphere's protection.^[26]

Anri's Way

Tiki's enchanted sleep.

Guided by Xane, Marth and his army made the difficult journey on foot along Anri's Way, the path which Marth's ancestor had once traveled. They traveled through the Mamorthod Desert to the Tower of Thabes;^[27] the Flame Barrel, the graveyard of the Fire Dragons;^[28] and the frozen northern reaches before reaching the Ice Dragon Temple.^[29] Upon their arrival, Gotoh reconstructed the Starsphere, giving both it and the Lightsphere to Marth to fight Hardin.^[30] They were also joined by Tiki, who was awoken from her enchanted sleep by Gotoh on the condition that Marth collect all five of the Fire Emblem's spheres to restore its true power as the Shield of Seals and allow Tiki to survive.^[31]

End of the War

Marth returns to Altea.

Gotoh then returned Marth and his army to Altea with Warp magic,^[32] whereupon they were able to free the country from Archanean control, gaining control of the Geosphere in the process, but unable to find Princess Elice.^[33] After the battle, Gotoh once again appeared to warn Marth that Gharnef had returned and was behind the abduction of Elice, Maria, and Lena for unknown reasons, and was likely preparing to abduct Nyna next.^[34] Marth then fought through Archanea-occupied Gra, freeing it and allying himself with its leader, Sheena.^[35]

Marth's army assaults Pales.

Marth then led his army through Adria Pass, where they encountered the Coyote's Men. However, after a brief standoff, the King of Aurelis ordered them to stand down, siding with Marth and giving him the Lifesphere.^[36] The Altean army then moved to the Archanean capital of Pales, fighting once again against the Coyote's Men and freeing the knight Midia.^[37] During the fight, the Coyote's Men defected to Marth's army.^{[Note 1]} After a long campaign, Hardin fell to Marth, and returned to himself as he died, begging Marth to save Nyna and stop Gharnef.^[38] With the Darksphere, Marth was able to return the Fire Emblem to its original form: the Binding Shield, originally used to seal the Earth Dragons away in the Dragon Altar.^[39] The four missing clerics appeared, but were revealed to be an illusion cast by Gharnef; Gotoh appeared once more and informed Marth that Gharnef was attempting to use the four clerics to resurrect Medeus at the Dragon Altar.^[40]

The Dragon Altar, site of Medeus's resurrection.

Marth and his army moved to the Dragon Altar at the Macedon–Dolhr border region. En route, he visited a village and encountered a severely wounded Michalis, who had stolen the Starlight tome from Gharnef, and gave it to Marth's army to defeat him.^[41] In the Dragon Altar, Marth's army fought and killed Gharnef using Starlight, allowing Marth to retrieve the holy sword Falchion.^[42] The revived Medeus waited in the next chamber, surrounded by the four clerics hypnotized into serving him; Several of Marth's allies worked to awaken the clerics, at which point Marth was able to kill Medeus for the second and final time, bringing the war to a close.^[43]

The war ended in the year 608.

Aftermath

With the War of Heroes finally over, most of Archanea's noble houses were left in ruins. Almost all of its surviving rulers ceded sovereignty of their territories to Marth, including Minerva^[44] and Sheena,^[45] and so Marth united the continent as the Archanean Alliance, serving as its first king with Caeda as his queen.^[46][47] Under Marth's reign, the continent experienced a golden era of peace and its wounds began to heal.

Etymology and other languages

Notes

References