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The fourth and fifth ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' games, which constitute the second timeline and canon of the franchise. It's the only other canon with ties to another, being set in the distant past of [[Fire Emblem Akaneia|Akaneia]] according to [[Word of God]]; in practice the only real tie between the two is the Divine Dragon God Naga. The two are quite the [[Ensemble Darkhorse|fan-favorite games]] [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|among the English fanbase]] as a result of their radical but effective changes and differences, as well as their deeper and darker story.
* '''''Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War''''' (1996, [[Super Famicom]]) is a game that spans decades and generations —: after several chapters with one party, the game continues with the children of the original characters. The game is quite unusual elements for the series -: its chapters are enormous, requiring the capture of multiple castles, and [[Shipping]] is a ''gameplay mechanic'' upon which the ability to use several [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity +1 Swords]] hinge. Even so, it's consistently popular among the base and is argued by many to be the best game in the series as a result of its engrossing plot and deep character development system.
* '''''Fire Emblem: Thracia 776''''' (1999, [[Super Famicom]]<ref>thisThis was actually one of the last games released for the Super Famicom.</ref>) is a [[Midquel]] taking place toward the end of ''Genealogy of the Holy War'''s decade-long [[Time Skip]]. It's both more like a normal ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' game than its predecessor and quite different to most others -: it returns to normal-sized chapters and maps, but it implements a few new gameplay mechanisms including the now-standard [[Fog of War]], and the completely-forgotten fatigue meter. It's also notoriously [[Nintendo Hard]], even by the standards of the franchise as a whole.
There are also two prominent manga adaptations of ''Genealogy of the Holy War'', one by Mitsuki Oosawa and one by Nuts Fujimori. Both offer rather different interpretations on the events of the game, and both contribute to filling out the backstories and characterisations of numerous characters.
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{{tropelist|page=Genealogy of Holy War}}
* [[Absurdly Youthful Mother]]: Most of the first-genFirst Generation females, if you pair them up. Even if we assume that there are years between chapters, it seems unlikely that all of them were even 18 by the time they gave birth. [[Truth in Television]] though when we consider the more [[The Dung Ages]]-like approach this games takes in comparison to other FE''Fire Emblem'' titles.
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: The Oosawa manga covers a lot of characterization of the side characters, and goes into more detail on what happens within the countries where the battles happen. For instance, it creates a rather big subplot on the...[[Brother-Sister Incest|unique]] [[Star-Crossed Lovers|situation]] between Eltoshan and Lachesis... though at the cost of making Elto's wife a [[Ron the Death Eater|jealous bitch]].
* [[Alas, Poor Villain]]: Alvis clearly becomes one of the major antagonists...and yet at the same time, actually isn't ''that bad''. Despite {{spoiler|killing Sigurd and taking his wife (who was unknowingly ''related'' to him)}}, he nonetheless wanted to make a much more peaceful empire out of everything, and despite that his son and Manfroy had gone mad, he still tried to stop the casualties of the child hunting. There was a good reason Celice said that Alvis does not deserve hatred. Of course, this doesn't excuse all the evil Alvis did, and proved he was very willing to do, just to seize power and create his utopia.
* [[Aliens Made Them Do It]]: Manfroy's plot involves quite a bit of this.
* [[Alternate Show Interpretation]]: Depending on which version of the manga you may read. Mitsuki Oogawa's is more [[Darker and Edgier|dark, tragic and character-driven]] (and [[Hotter and Sexier|somewhat sexually-explicit]]); Nuts Fujimori's is [[Lighter and Softer|more gag-based, wacky, and lighthearted.]]
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: It's a war story. What do you expect? {{spoiler|The game even kills off the main character, rather suddenly.}}.
* [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]: One of only two games in the series to [[Averted Trope|avert this.]] You will have up to 24 characters at a time and can use every one of them. This, of course, means that the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' fanbase’sfanbase's obsession with [[Character Tiers]] is shifted to long, tortuous debates about [[Shipping]] instead.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: The Holy Weapons are unspeakably powerful but are very expensive to repair, making their general use highly impractical. Generally, stronger weapons are more expensive, so the high price tag associated with repairing the better weapons usually leads players to reserve the stronger stuff for more powerful opponents.
* [[Awesome Yet Practical]]: The Holy Weapons are expensive to repair, yes, but so powerful, they kill in 1 or 2 hits, regardless of what you fight with them. Money won't be much of an obstacle if you're keen on gameplay, and every character with them will be [[Game Breaker|a freaking God of Death.]]
* [[Bag of Sharing]]: As averted as possible. Each character even has his or her own money. The only way to trade items between units is to sell an item to the pawn shop and then buy it back with the other unit. Thieves can give their money to any unit, but otherwise, only lovers can trade money with each other.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Sure, you {{spoiler|killed the vessel of a deadly dragon, ended the oppression of an empire and have had your leader crowned as a benevolent Emperor}}, but {{spoiler|the schism that lead to the empire's rebirth means that no fewer than 2 holy weapons <ref>Assuming Cyas will eventually inherit the Falaflame.</ref> will be unable to be used for at least a few generations.}}.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Happens to several characters in the game, but most prominently the (seemingly) unbreakably cheerful Tailto. After watching almost all of her comrades (and likely her love interest, depending on who she's paired with) get slaughtered during {{spoiler|Alvis's betrayal}}. Tailto is forcibly separated from her son, and spends the late years of her life enduring brutal mental/physical abuse by the hand of her own family, partially to protect her young daughter. It's hinted that in her final days, she [[Death by Despair|simply lost the will to live.]] Ouch.
* [[Brother-Sister Incest]]: While other games have it relegated to subtle subtext at best, this game actually has it happen as a major plot point, occurring no matter what you do.
** To be fair, the main brother-sister couple in the game didn't know they were (half-)siblings.
** This is the only game that makes two of the potential couples cases of [[Brother-Sister Incest]] and [[Kissing Cousins]] at the same time, if you pair up a kid of Adean with one of her twin sister Briggid.
** A glitch in the [[Relationship Values]] system allows the player to potentially pair up the main character of the second generation with his [[Mysterious Waif]] half-sister. {{spoiler|Said sister is the result of even further [[Brother-Sister Incest]].}}. This is actually a pretty popular pairing among the fans but it’s not otherwise possible, plot-wise.
* [[Cain and Abel]]: If a party member is stated to have a sibling and that sibling doesn't eventually join your team, they will show up as an enemy. ▼* {{spoiler|[[Cavalry Betrayal]]: Alvis's [[The Plan]] in Chapter 5.}}.
▲* [[Cain and Abel]]: If a party member is stated to have a sibling and that sibling doesn't eventually join your team, they will show up as an enemy.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: And ''how''. Both of the Jugdral games deconstruct a lot of the tropes prevalent in the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series (not to mention what happened in the middle of ‘’Genealogy’’''Genealogy of the Holy War''). They also house a LOT of [[Complete Monster]] villans.
** * Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in the Oosawa manga, which has lots of [[Melodrama]] and plot twists. A way of seeing the whole plot can be as a deconstruction of a crusade or holy war; the good guys ''are'' good, yes, and the ultimate bad guys ''are'' bad, but most of the antagonists aren't genuinely opposed to whatever it is the protagonists intend to do more than they're frightened that the protagonists are going to crush them into the dirt. Politically, the earliest aggressive act that prompts Sigurd's initial sortie, the invasion of southern Grandbell by Verdane, is apparently because the king of Verdane has seen enough evidence (admittedly manufactured by [[The Chessmaster|Manfroy]]) that Grandbell intends to subjugate Verdane. The whole first half of the game follows the good guys across half the continent as they inadvertently (or consciously) destroy every government they come across. In his relentless quest of self-defense, Sigurd conquers Agustria and Verdane, destroys the entire military of Silesia, then invades his own country to prove himself innocent. Throughout the latter half of the game, villains are repeatedly shown considering what is best for their people, even if their decisions have led to oppressing others. There definitely are good guys and bad guys in the game, and protagonists are definitely the good guys, but viewed in an independent light their actions aren't any different from those of their enemies. No matter how peaceful or well-intentioned Celice might be, he (once victorious) parcels up sections of the now-conquered empire amongst his supporters, which is ''exactly the same thing'' Alvis did when he took the throne. ▼** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in the Oosawa manga, which has lots of [[Melodrama]] and plot twists.
* {{spoiler|[[Dead All Along]]: Levin in the second half is heavily implied to be this, with the Wind Spirit, Holsety, allowing his spirit to inhabit his body .}} .▼▲*** A way of seeing the whole plot can be as a deconstruction of a crusade or holy war; the good guys ''are'' good, yes, and the ultimate bad guys ''are'' bad, but most of the antagonists aren't genuinely opposed to whatever it is the protagonists intend to do more than they're frightened that the protagonists are going to crush them into the dirt. Politically, the earliest aggressive act that prompts Sigurd's initial sortie, the invasion of southern Grandbell by Verdane, is apparently because the king of Verdane has seen enough evidence (admittedly manufactured by [[The Chessmaster|Manfroy]]) that Grandbell intends to subjugate Verdane. The whole first half of the game follows the good guys across half the continent as they inadvertently (or consciously) destroy every government they come across. In his relentless quest of self-defense, Sigurd conquers Agustria and Verdane, destroys the entire military of Silesia, then invades his own country to prove himself innocent. Throughout the latter half of the game, villains are repeatedly shown considering what is best for their people, even if their decisions have led to oppressing others. There definitely are good guys and bad guys in the game, and protagonists are definitely the good guys, but viewed in an independent light their actions aren't any different from those of their enemies. No matter how peaceful or well-intentioned Celice might be, he (once victorious) parcels up sections of the now-conquered empire amongst his supporters, which is ''exactly the same thing'' Alvis did when he took the throne.
* [[Deader Than Dead]]: Par for the course for the ‘’''[[Fire Emblem]] ’’'' series: when anyone is defeated in battle, they die forever, [[All Deaths Final]]. However, there's exactly ONE way to bring back a dead unit: The Valkyrie Rod. It has one use before it breaks and can only be used by someone with Major Blagi blood ; (i.e. Claude, and either Sety or Corple if Claude is their father ). Still, [[Continuing Is Painful]], since the Valkyrie Rod is outrageously expensive to repair (30,000 gold per use). ▼▲* {{spoiler|[[Dead All Along]]: Levin in the second half is heavily implied to be this, with the Wind Spirit, Holsety, allowing his spirit to inhabit his body.}}
▲* [[Deader Than Dead]]: Par for the course for the ‘’[[Fire Emblem]]’’ series: when anyone is defeated in battle, they die forever, [[All Deaths Final]]. However, there's exactly ONE way to bring back a dead unit: The Valkyrie Rod. It has one use before it breaks and can only be used by someone with Major Blagi blood; i.e. Claude, and either Sety or Corple if Claude is their father. Still, [[Continuing Is Painful]], since the Valkyrie Rod is outrageously expensive to repair (30,000 gold per use).
* [[Death Equals Redemption]]: The more sympathetic villains are generally shown to regret some of their worse acts, and usually predict their own demise before the engagement that confirms it.
* {{spoiler|[[Decapitated Army]]: It's unclear exactly how many members of your army die in the Battle of Barhara; in fact, it’sit's quite possible that the vast majority of them somehow survived. Yet, with Sigurd dead, they scatter to the four winds rather than try to renew the fight, claim their inheritances, or clear their names.}}
* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: Averted, as with most ''Fire Emblem'' games. Defeat usually means no-frills death when it doesn't mean "now I'm running away and you'll have to fight me again."
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Meta-example. This is the only canon to have almost no representation whatsoever in ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]''. All other sets of games (Akaneia-Valencia, Elibe, Magvel, Tellius) have trophies, stickers, songs and either a playable character or an [[Assist Character]]. The ''Judgral'' games? A [[Palette Swap]] of Ike vaguely resembles Siglud and one of Marth vaguely resembles Leaf. '''''That's it.'''''
** In the Oosawa manga, this applies to the three knights Siglud starts the game with, as well as Holyn and Beowulf (who don't appear at all), probably due to mainly being fighter characters without too big of an impact on the storyline or particularly notable connections to other characters.
* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: If you manage to kill {{spoiler|Julius}} in chapter 10, {{spoiler|he says "Playtime is over - I'm going home."}}
** If you hack Gungir into your inventory, the item description asks how you got it.
** Which is not that hard, since he doesn't have Awareness. It's possible to one-turn kill him with Lakche and Shooting Star Sword, plus 100* Hero sword.
** The [[Final Boss]] is supposed to be beatable by only either {{spoiler|Julia with the Naga tome, or Seliph with the Tyrfing via [[Cherry Tapping]]}}, and there is a different quote depending on whose hand the [[Final Boss]] died to. But there is a quote programmed for literally anyone else ''but'' the mentioned two... if for some reason you manage to get someone like Sety to do it.
* [[Did Not Do the Research]] / [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Both averted and played straight. To say that the game borrows a lot of names from Norse mythology is like saying ''Thracia 776'' is mildly difficult and [[Shown Their Work|more than a few named-after items are spot-on]]. On the other hand, the official spellings for them are abominable even by [[Engrish]] standards. A weapon that is very obviously meant to be the Tyrfing, to provide the most egregious example, has been spelled as "Tailfang" and "Tyrhung]]. The [[Flip-Flop of God|Flip Flops Of God]] do not help.
* {{spoiler|[[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: "Welcome to the party we're throwing for you, Siglud! Meet my wife, who ''was'' your wife before she was kidnapped and brainwashed! Now we're going to drop huge flaming rocks on you."}}
* [[Eighties Hair]]: The artstyle of this game's character portraits was angled rather strangely and in particular fluffed up the front parts of everyone's hair to absurd degrees, giving almost everyone this look. ''Thracia 776'' stopped doing this and any characters who returned from ''Genealogy'' were all redrawn with normal-looking hair.
* [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]]: {{spoiler|Julia with Narga.}}.
** {{spoiler|Also Sigurd and Celice with Tyrfing-: if not quite as awesome, it does have a good deal more availability. Narga is closer to Eleventh Hour and Fifty Minutes [[God Mode]] since you get it solely for the last castle of the last chapter.}}.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: {{spoiler|Langbalt}} is disgusted by Andrey killing his father without remorse.
** {{spoiler|Langbalt}} is disgusted by Andrey killing his father without remorse.
** Likewise, Blume is pretty okay with {{spoiler|letting Hilda torture Tiltyu (or Ethnia) to death}}, but he doesn't support {{spoiler|the child-hunting}} whole-heartedly, and is somewhat kinder to {{spoiler|Tiltyu/Ethnia's daughter, Tinny/Linda}}.
** {{spoiler|'''Alvis''' himself hates the child hunts. So much that he deploys a small [[Batman Gambit]] to stop them, with some help from Yurius's girlfriend Ishtar.}}.
* [[Everyone Is Related]]: Many members of the first-generation party are either nobility or royalty, and these nobles and royals end up breeding with one another to create a second-generationSecond Generation rebel army whose members are related not only everyone else on their own side but are also related to everyone on the other side, too. It's like one huge [[Family Feud|Familyfamily]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Feudfeud]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131203070324/http://serenesforest.net/fe4/family.html Here's the family tree].
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131203070324/http://serenesforest.net/fe4/family.html We have a family tree!]
* [[Evolving Weapon]]: Kill 50 units with the same weapon, even if it's a holy weapon, and the weapon will gain the Critical skill, with the critical chance increasing by 1% with each additional kill up to a maximum kill count of 100 ([[Game Breaker|a +50% critical bonus]]).
* [[Face Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Alvis. Pretty much all the information given about him states that he's an intimidating but upstanding and well-intentioned servant of the crown. He even appears as a guest character in the first chapter and gives Sigurd a Silver Sword from the king.}}.
** Hell, this never ''stops'' being true. While he might veer into [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] territory, he's only doing what he does because he's sure it's for the best.
*** {{spoiler|Less controversial of an example: Eltoshan's first seen being the very best of friends with Sigurd, and even prevents another Augustrian lord from attacking Sigurd from the rear; see [[Honor Before Reason]] for the turn.}}.
* [[Genki Girl]]: Tailtiu, Silvia, Fee and Patty are all super cheery girls.
* [[Genki Girl]]: Oh dear God, deconstructed so HARD. Tiltyu starts out as a super cheery girl. Then, {{spoiler|she later [[Kill the Cutie|passes away]] as a shell of the [[Genki Girl]] she used to be after [[Break the Cutie|tons of abuses and torture from Hilda]].}}
* [[Guide Dang It]]:
** Sylvia is also one. {{spoiler|Also deconstructed, as she leaves Leen and Corpul in an orphanage and disappears.}}
* [[Guide Dang It]]:* Even though the word "genealogy" is in the title, it isn't obvious (or, Hell, even implied) what you're supposed to do in terms of pairing people up. Without prior knowledge one is more than likely to only have half of their possible moms produce kids, the other half dying childless, and the entire process can look remarkably scripted unless you're lucky enough to have been placing your units so an unusual pairing brews. ThisSome canof resultthe invillagers mostdo ofgive hints about how the bestmechanics stuffwork, frombut they make absolutely no sense unless you are already aware of the firstmechanics generationin beingthe [[Lostfirst Forever]]place. "Sons tend to inherit characteristics from their fathers, and daughters tend to inherit traits from their mothers" sounds like meaningless gibberish unless you know what’s coming.▼** And then it's ''reconstructed'' with Phee and Patty and their replacements Femina and Daisy. They also go through quite the crap, but manage to keep their cheeriness.
** There are many hidden events in the game in which the game never tells you about in advance. For example, the event where Lex can acquire the Brave Axe requires to go to a cliff on the lake while holding an Iron Axe in Chapter 1. In addition, many of the events are exclusive to the substitute characters so many of them are inaccessible if you paired up many of the female characters.
** There's also a Genki First Cousin Adjutant Who Looks Like A Girl in first-gen Oifaye. He's pretty relentlessly upbeat, and he naturally believes that [[Hero Worshipper|Sigurd can do anything]]. Later implied to have been deconstructed and partially reconstructed in second-gen Oifaye, the only character who has been part of the group (even if he hasn't been playable) since the absolute very beginning.
** There is a specific AI quirk that is difficult to figure out without trial and error where the enemy commander retreats to their castle to bring reinforcements if most of their squad were killed. They will retreat without regard to enemies on their way, even when they were blocking the castle entrance. Hannibal in Chapter 9 is one of these types of commanders and exploiting this quirk is the only way to make him easier to recruit.
▲* [[Guide Dang It]]: Even though the word "genealogy" is in the title, it isn't obvious (or, Hell, even implied) what you're supposed to do in terms of pairing people up. Without prior knowledge one is more than likely to only have half of their possible moms produce kids, the other half dying childless, and the entire process can look remarkably scripted unless you're lucky enough to have been placing your units so an unusual pairing brews. This can result in most of the best stuff from the first generation being [[Lost Forever]].
** Some of the villagers do give hints about how the mechanics work, but they make absolutely no sense unless you are aware of the mechanics in the first place. “Sons tend to inherit characteristics from their fathers, and daughters tend to inherit traits from their mothers” sounds like meaningless gibberish unless you know what’s coming.
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Many characters (including one or two of the best) start off as enemy units who can be somehow convinced to join your cause.
* [[Heel Realization]]: {{spoiler|Alvis and Trabant each have one.}}.
* {{spoiler|[[The Hero Dies]]: Sigurd, the main character of the firstFirst generationGeneration, is betrayed and murdered halfway through the game.}}.
* [[Heroic Lineage]]: As the title implies, ''Genealogy of the Holy War'' does more with this trope than even most ''Fire Emblem'' games, applying it to much of the cast and even [[Gameplay and Story Integration|making it a game mechanic]].
* [[Hot Chick with a Sword]]: Ayra is probably the first and most well-known in the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series.
* [[Hotter and Sexier]]: The Oosawa manga gets away with cranking up the sexiness in the storyline quite a bit, with several scenes in which theinvolving charas are shown eithercharacters having sex (nothing ''that'' graphic, though, more like R-rated), in the middle of sexual afterglow, or having rather saucy fantasies about their romantic prospects. For example, the scene in which Deirdre and Sigurd confess their mutual love has Deirdre naked since she was bathing in a river before he came in, and they go through [[Their First Time]] right after their marriage ceremony.
* {{spoiler|[[I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin|I'm Dying, Please Take My Infinity +1 Sword]]: How Sigurd gets the Tyrfing from his father .}} .▼** Some examples: the scene in which Diadora and Sigurd confess their mutual love has Diadora naked since she was bathing in a river before he came in, and they go through [[Their First Time]] right after their marriage ceremony; Lex and Ayra are naked in bed and clearly in the afterglow when {{spoiler|Lex both explains his issues with Langobalt ''and'' proposes to Ayra}}; {{spoiler|Lachesis and Eltoshan are ''this'' close to have sex after recognizing their feelings for each other, but he decides not to "taint" her and the settle for a [[Last Kiss]]}}; and {{spoiler|Lachesis and Fin have sex right after their love confession, though this one is more understandable [[You Don't Want to Die a Virgin, Do You?|since it happens right before Fin leaves for Lester not knowing if he'll ever be back to her]], and both of them were ''very'' emotionally exhausted after Eltoshan's death.}}
* [[Inconsistent Dub]]: Parts of the fan translation -: for example, Ira is called "Ira" in gameplay, but a conversation with Cuan refers to her as "Ayra" . Not even ''this page'' can agree about the spellings for most of the names. ▼▲* {{spoiler|[[I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin|I'm Dying, Please Take My Infinity +1 Sword]]: How Sigurd gets the Tyrfing from his father.}}
▲* [[Inconsistent Dub]]: Parts of the fan translation - for example, Ira is called "Ira" in gameplay, but a conversation with Cuan refers to her as "Ayra".
** Not even ''this page'' can agree about the spellings for most of the names.
* [[Infant Immortality]]: Averted. Hard. Hell, in a certain "Protect the Civilians for free levels" event, the civilians are little children of the "child" class (which is Civilian, except, justifiably, weaker). The enemy also explicitly kills children in the plot.
* [[Inferred Survival]]: How did the secondSecond generationGeneration children get their hands on extremely powerful, unique artifacts, if the previous bearers of said artifacts {{spoiler|all perished in an ambush?}}?
** {{spoiler| Gameplay Mechanic only, really. Not to say there weren't survivors of the Battle of Barhara, but where the kids got their gear has no meaning on that outcome.}}.
* [[Infinity-1 Sword]]: Sigurd gets one of the best generic swords in the prologue chapter, a Silver Sword (it's the only rank-A weapon you will have until at least chapterChapter 2). If used even sparingly over the next few chapters, this Silver Sword will probably rack up the necessary fifty-plus kills to give it Critical. Once it’s passed on to Celice (or any sword-user) in the second generation, it's overwhelmingly powerful. If it’s given to Lakche or Skashaher, either of them can usually wipe out armies from the very beginning of chapterChapter 6.
* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: The Holy Weapons ;: each provides magnificent onscreen bonuses to the Major-Blood characters wielding them ''and'' are always the best (or, since Swords and Spears have multiple Holy Bloodlines, second-or-third best) weapons of their class. This is ignoring the usual free Skill or Skills that these weapons provide. ▼** Any character with Major Holy Blood can count, really. PCs in general have much better stats than [[Mooks]], and Holy Blood gives stat-rate boosts as well as increasing the inherent bonus of that bloodline's weapon type, as much as doubling said bonus for Major Blood. Said characters will have higher stats ''as well as'' a hefty invisible bonus. This is not, however, enough ''in itself'' to make any Major-Blood character unstoppable.
* [[Interface Spoiler]]:
▲* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: The Holy Weapons; each provides magnificent onscreen bonuses to the Major-Blood characters wielding them ''and'' are always the best (or, since Swords and Spears have multiple Holy Bloodlines, second-or-third best) weapons of their class. This is ignoring the usual free Skill or Skills that these weapons provide.
* [[Interface Spoiler]]:* On the Holy Blood Screen, Deidre has a small, purple spot in the middle of the circle which isn't present with normal units, indicating her Lopt Blood without spelling it out by name. ▼** [[Cool Sword|The]] [[Katanas Are Just Better|Balmung]] Sword and especially [[Spell Book|The]] [[Blow You Away|Holsety]] [[Razor Wind|Tome]] cross into [[Disc One Nuke]] territory due to how early it is possible to get them and their whopping +20 speed bonuses. Shanan can pick up the Balmung on the first turn of [[Shifting Sand Land|Chapter 7]], right after you recruit him. Levin has to wait until the penultimate chapter of the first half to pick up Holsety, but if you pair him with Tiltyu, then you'll get the tome again about the halfway point of Chapter 6. However, the extremely high prices for repairing these weapons can make them [[Too Awesome to Use]].
*** Levn ''himself'' can qualify as an Infinity Plus One Sword. He joins as a fairly low-level best Mage first class (the Bard) with Major Sety blood and better-than-average stats which go up at an alarming rate. Sety blood, in addition to providing a boost to Speed growth rates (Levin will probably max out Speed ''very'' early) means extra bonuses for using Wind tomes (in this case, extra Speed), and Wind tomes are among the lightest weapons in the game, providing very little in terms of a Speed or Technique penalty for their use. This translates to (''without taking his very good Skill-set into account'') Levin almost always very accurately attacking twice with magic against enemies whose magic defenses are lacking when they aren't nonexistent, and routinely (if not automatically) dodging the attacks that would hurt him the most ''when you get him.'' He only gets more powerful from there.
▲* [[Interface Spoiler]]: On the Holy Blood Screen, Deidre has a small, purple spot in the middle of the circle which isn't present with normal units, indicating her Lopt Blood without spelling it out by name.
** Any character you can recruit will have a Luck score higher than 1.
** Units occupy set spaces in the castle screen, usually in order of when they're acquired; if you have a visible empty space surrounded by units, you're either going to recruit someone very soon or you missed someone.
** [[The Long List|(takes deep breath)]] Patty and Lester & Faval and Rana (Their mothers Briggid and Adean were not only sisters, but ''identical twins''); Holyn and Arya (both part of the royal house of Isaac, and so are distantly related); Shanan and Lakche; Aless and Nanna; Johan/Johalva and Lex's daughter; Azel's son and Julia; Claude and Sylvia (who are also distantly related).
* [[Lawful Stupid]]: Poor Eltoshan. His King is obviously a thick-headed idiot and tyrant, and always treating him lowly, yet he insists on serving him like a faithful knight or just resorting to persuasion rather than flat out renouncing him for great justice. [[What an Idiot!|It bit Elto in the ass HORRIBLY, as said king executed him.]]
* [[Lethal Joke Character]]: Dew, from the first generation. Starts at level one, with almost no offensive capabilities whatsoever, and he has without a doubt some of the best (base) growth rates in the first generation (sans HP). He's not [[Can't Catch Up|likely to contribute meaningfully to battles in the first generation]]; instead, his usefulness lies in the fact that he is one of the best [[Kidanova|fathers]] in the game because of those growth rates' being passed down, in addition to the Bargain skill. His biggest flaw, his low HP growth, is mitigated by the HP growth bonuses granted by all degrees of Holy Blood; he is one of the best to pair with Briggid, and he is a strong contender for other mothers of physically-oriented children such as Ayra or Lachesis, all three of whom pass some degree of Holy Blood onto their kids. Though it's true that Dew passes on some very good growths, Bargain (everything's half price), and Sun Hit (absorb damage dealt as HP), he's still usually considered inferior to other partners such as Lex or Holyn for Arya (both give Arya a Hero Sword to pass down, Lex gives Arya's kids Minor Neir blood, Elite (double experience gain) and Ambush (always attack first when HP is lower than 50%), though Lex doesn't pass any weapons onto Skasaher since Skasaher can't use axes, and Holyn gives Arya's kids Major Odo blood, giving them twice the stat bonuses of their usual Minor Odo blood as well as twice the benefit for using swords, which are the only weapons Arya's kids can use, and gives Skasaher his inventory; he also passes down Moonlight Hit, which is a mixed blessing since it competes with Arya's Comet Hit (which, 98% of the time, is much better) for activation) and Beowulf and Finn for Lachesis (both remedy Lachesis' lack of skills to pass onto her kids, providing them with Pursuit and, in Beowulf's case, Charge, both skills considered vitally necessary as they give units more attacks per battle; Delmudd is also able to inherit Beowulf's equipment).
* [[Lord British Postulate]]: Of the "If it has health, he can be killed" variety. {{spoiler|Julius}} appears in chapter 10 and can actually fight you. If you're lucky enough to score some criticals (or get a couple good shots with Holsety) or just [[Cherry Tapping|Cherry Tap]] {{spoiler|Julius}}, you ''can'' beat {{spoiler|him}} . Data also suggests that {{spoiler|Julius}} was intended to be fightable in ''Thracia 776'', meaning that we could have had a true example of this. ▼** Though it's true that Dew passes on some very good growths, Bargain (everything's half price), and Sun Hit (absorb damage dealt as HP), he's still usually considered inferior to other partners such as Lex or Holyn for Arya (both give Arya a Hero Sword to pass down, Lex gives Arya's kids Minor Neir blood, Elite (double experience gain) and Ambush (always attack first when HP is lower than 50%), though Lex doesn't pass any weapons onto Skasaher since Skasaher can't use axes, and Holyn gives Arya's kids Major Odo blood, giving them twice the stat bonuses of their usual Minor Odo blood as well as twice the benefit for using swords, which are the only weapons Arya's kids can use, and gives Skasaher his inventory; he also passes down Moonlight Hit, which is a mixed blessing since it competes with Arya's Comet Hit (which, 98% of the time, is much better) for activation) and Beowulf and Finn for Lachesis (both remedy Lachesis' lack of skills to pass onto her kids, providing them with Pursuit and, in Beowulf's case, Charge, both skills considered vitally necessary as they give units more attacks per battle; Delmudd is also able to inherit Beowulf's equipment)
▲* [[Lord British Postulate]]: Of the "If it has health, he can be killed" variety. {{spoiler|Julius}} appears in chapter 10 and can actually fight you. If you're lucky enough to score some criticals (or get a couple good shots with Holsety) or just [[Cherry Tapping|Cherry Tap]] {{spoiler|Julius}}, you ''can'' beat {{spoiler|him}}.
** Data also suggests that {{spoiler|Julius}} was intended to be fightable in Thracia 776, meaning that we could have had a true example of this.
* [[Lost Forever]]: Several characters if you don't recruit them, accidentally kill them, or don't manage to rescue them from the far-more-powerful-than-they mooks who spawn near them. ''Thracia 776'' even makes some characters become dark warlords if you miss them.
** Sometimes requires a great deal of effort to avoid losing recruits, such as in [[Fragile Speedster|Arya's]] case: you must avoid damaging her since you might inadvertently kill her (she has the fewest HP you have yet seen on any enemy unit as well as the lowest defense), she's unbelievably dangerous insofar as she has the opportunity to one-shot literally everyone in your party, ''and'' you can't recruit her until you take the castle she's guarding, being physically in your way. It's necessary to lure her away from the castle so you can kill the guards and take it, then run up to her and talk to her, all while being very careful never to engage her lest she pull off one of her relatively common ten-hit combos or lest
* [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|Mad Dictator's Handsome Son and Mad Scientist's Beautiful daughter]]: Lex and Tiltyu, the kids of Langbalt and Reptor, respectively, in the first generation. Second Generation has one of Danan's kids, Johan/Johalva (depends on which one you recruit, though the other isn't that bad either compared to others), and {{spoiler|Trabant's}} son Areone can end up {{spoiler|joining with Celice because of his love for Altenna}}.
* [[Magikarp Power]]:
* [[Magikarp Power]]: A surprisingly large number of party members (especially [[Hot Chick with a Sword|Arya]] and [[Video Game Stealing|Dew]]) in the first generation start off slightly too weak to qualify as [[Glass Cannon|Glass Cannons]]; they require some leveling to be anything other than nerve-wracking to use in open battle, as they have few HP and relying on their defenses turns their use into a [[Luck-Based Mission]] ''at the best of times''. Therefore, without some tender, loving care, they'll have to remain behind the more solid characters. Once they rack up some levels, though, they pass almost immediately from terrifyingly fragile to remarkably solid (usually, at least in the case of the Magikarp-struck Mages, when they promote to their second class, though all Arya and Dew really need are a few levels, Arya to cement her speed advantage, and Dew to enjoy his remarkable stat growth, though admittedly Dew's prowess as a fighter truly comes to the fore when he promotes since he then gains other useful battle Skills) and, rarely stopping there, then travel directly into the lands of wickedly powerful. This is usually averted in the second generation, as even though most characters start off weak, enemies are ''also'' generally weaker to begin with, making it a much more level playing field.
** Dew the Thief starts heavily under-leveled with almost no offensive capabilities whatsoever, but he has some of the best stat growth rates of the First Generation. Once promoted he will contribute substantially to battles, and if he gets married he will pass his high growths down to a Second Generation character.
** The other Magikarp Power, Arden, requires intense care and planning to use as he moves too slowly to consistently hit his enemies (even when not screwed by the [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|Weapon Triangle]], as he can only use swords to begin with) and his movement range is smaller than literally everyone else's, in some cases by a huge margin. Not only that, but his defenses aren't rock-solid enough for the hits he's going to take to be manageable. At class-up, his weapon choices expand dramatically, vastly increasing his ability to adapt to different kinds of enemies, he gets the skill Big Shield which flatly negates a percentage of incoming attacks, his defenses against all types of attacks have solidified remarkably, and since he possesses the Skill Awareness, he's immune to target-oriented special effects (such as armor-piercing weapons) and critical hits.
*** This forgets [[Badass Princess|Princess]] [[Combat Medic|Lachesis]]. The Prince/Princess/Lord class had, for the most part, usually been a rather bad one in Fire Emblem; they were extremely plot important and were required to do certain things such as take castles or convert enemy units, but were otherwise [[The Load]] in battle, and Lachesis is no exception. She's able to use C-ranked staves and up to A-ranked swords (thanks to her Hezul blood), but herhas piddling nativestating stats and stat growth, low HP, and lack of combat-related Skills makes using her to fight a losing proposition; this is not helped by the fact that, when you get her, swords are the worst weapon to be using (since most enemies are using either lances or swords, making a weapon advantage impossible) and LachesisRaquesis can't use anything else. When she classesClasses up,Changes she changesbecomes to thea Master Knight, which is ''by far'' the best obtainable Player class and is possibly the best class in the game, its only competition being the enemy classes Queen and Emperor. Master Knights can use A-rankedalmost ''everything''every (well,weapon excepttype forat Lightan Magic, which is CA-ranked, and Dark Magic, which is unobtainable anyway)rank, gets a massive boost to ''all'' of her stats (including movement range, whichand goes fromgains the "onSkill foot" range, the second-shortest (with Pursuit"heavily armored" being the shortest), to "riding a thoroughbred warhorse," the longest save "riding a ''flying'' thoroughbred warhorse,") and gains as class Skills all of the Skills necessary to equal or surpass any of the normal front-liners in hand-to-hand combat whose lack prevented Lachesis from kicking much ass as a Princess. Because of her '''fantastic''' second class, Lachesis is one of the few (ifalways notdouble theattack only)when firstattack generation characters whospeed is not surpassed by her offspring; neither her daughter Nanna, whose statistical growth is by default betterhigher than herthe motheropponent's, nor her son Delmudd, who gets one-half of Lachesis' stat growth on top of whatever growth rates his father had, are pushovers, and neither child them have particularly bad classes (well, Delmudd's is pretty bad, though not atrocious), yet the two of them ''combined'' aren't as useful an addition as Master Knight Lachesis. While [[Warrior Prince|Prince]] [[Generation Xerox|Leaf]] also gets to bemake a Master Knight, he's still useful asher a Princedangerous due to his awesome parentage bequeathing him a decent Skill set and good stat growthunit.
* [[Nintendo Hard]]: It's part of Nintendo's long-running Fire Emblem series, noted for not being terrifically forgiving.
* [[Non-Lethal KO]]:
* [[Non-Lethal KO]]: Mostly averted; when characters are defeated on the battlefield, they almost always die. Diadora is... well, interesting in this regard. Every time she "dies", she'll come back at the end of the chapter, unscathed because the enemy merely captured her. This is justified: The bad guys NEED her alive and well in order to {{spoiler|marry her to her half-brother and thus create an evil god.}}
** Arena defeats don't result in character deaths; instead they reduce the character's HP to 1.
** Sorta happens with Yuria too, since {{spoiler|Yurius initially wants her dead, but eventually comes to want her alive so she can be brainwashed into becoming his follower and use the Naga tome against Celice.}}
** Every time Deirdre falls in battle, she'll come back at the end of the chapter, unscathed because the enemy merely captured her.
*** Although, {{spoiler|[[That One Boss|Prince Arione]] CAN in fact kill Yuria, unlike most enemies. This can cause some weird glitches, because she's not supposed to die, unless killed as an enemy or after getting her back on the final chapter...}}
** When Quan, Ethlyn, and Finn join Sigurd's army, they're protected by a special script that causes them to go back to Lenster in the event that they are defeated. {{spoiler|The special script stops working when they leave for good at Chapter 4}}.
* [[Overlord, Jr.]]: Adean, Briggid, Lex and Tiltyu have not so nice older or younger brothers that took after their dads and then have villainous kids of their own. {{spoiler|And the [[True Final Boss]] is Alvis's [[Demonic Possession|power]]-[[Brainwashed and Crazy|mad]] son Yurius}}.
** Or [[Anti-Villain|antivillainous]] in the case of Johalva, Johan, Burian, Areone, Ishtar and Ishtore. The first two can be recruited (though only one at the time), and {{spoiler|Areone can be made into an allied unit (not under your specific control, but fights for your side anyway) by Altenna.}}.
* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Some villagers in the first half speak of periodic hunts declared by nobility to kill those accused of being of Loptous descent. {{spoiler|You witness a major justification in the second half.}}.
* [[Pseudo Crisis]]: Turn-based game variation: in Chapter 1, after subduing Genoa Castle, Elliot arrives from Agustria to the north leading a large squad of knights with the intent to take on Siglud's army for daring to invade Verdane, and his knights start moving toward Evans Castle, Siglud's home base for the chapter. At this point, the bulk of the player's forces are probably way to the south, dealing with the enemy castles down there, so even with Ethlin's new Return staff it looks like you're doomed and you're probably panicking while trying to do something about it in your turn... {{spoiler|until after the next turn's enemy phase, where Eltshan leads the Cross Knights from Nodion and curb stomps Elliot's forces.}}.
* [[Recurring Boss]]: You'll see the [[Tor Hammer]] used against you more times than you'll care for, spanning ''three'' generations of users.
* [[Redshirt Army]]: {{spoiler|The Lenster knights that get killed along with Cuan and Ethlin. Mahnya's pegasus knight squadron that gets killed by the Beige Ritter.}}.
** Quite likely also the remnants of Johan's or Johalva's armies after you recruit one of them to your side.
* {{spoiler|[[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]]: The ending of Generationthe 1First Generation, or Chapter 5. It's even worse when you consider that they're dying to Meteor, so nearly your entire First GenGeneration party is killed by rocks -... though Sigurd is killed by Alvis himself .}} .▼* [[Self-Made Orphan]]: Chagall and Andrey killed their fathers for power. {{spoiler|Julius killed his mother in a fit of madness (and almost kills his sister Julia, but Mom manages to save her before dying) and later leaves his father to die.}}. [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|The player can make]] Lex, Tiltyu, Johan, and Johalva do in their fathers.
▲* {{spoiler|[[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]]: The ending of Generation 1, or Chapter 5. It's even worse when you consider that they're dying to Meteor, so nearly your entire First Gen party is killed by rocks- though Sigurd is killed by Alvis himself.}}
* [[Shades of Conflict |White vs Grey and Black Morality]]: While the player characters are the clear good guys here, the villains are either [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]] (Burian, Ishtar, Ishtore, Areone, {{spoiler|pre-recruitment Altenna}} and several minor bosses) or [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]] ({{spoiler|Alvis ,}} , Trabant, though YMMV) who are mixed in with [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]] (Hilda, Manfroy, Lopto-possessed!Julius). ▼* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: The most notable and soonest example istale of {{spoiler|Sigurd and Diadora,Deirdre}} whois a tragic one. They get married and did have a young child, but Diadorathen was{{spoiler|Deirdre gets kidnapped, and brainwashed into marrying her half-brother only to bear children that would have major LoputosuLoptous blood. Finally Alvis shows her beautiful wife toThen Sigurd onlygets a moment before killing him.killed}}.
** There's also almost {{spoiler|any couple coming from the first generation as well. Ethlin and Cuan perish in the desert during the [[Dragon Rider]] ambush, all the males over 15 years old except for Fin die in Barhera alongside Sigurd (and Levin, but then he's [[Back From the Dead]] via Holsety), and the girls either are missing (Ayra, Bridget, Lachesis, Sylvia), retired (Aideen), or dead (Tiltyu, Fury) as well.}}
* [[Storming the Castle]]: While many ''Fire Emblem'' games do this, every chapter in ''Genealogy of the Holy War'' literally involves storming multiple castles.
* [[Strong Family Resemblance]]:
** [[StrongA Familynumber Resemblance]]:of Overcharacters manyresemble generations, apparently. Take a look at thetheir [http://images.wikia.com/fireemblem/images/9/9e/Crusaders.jpg Holy Crusaders]{{Dead link}} and try telling me thatancestors. Shanan doesn'tlooks resemblelike OdoOd, that Levin doesn'tLewyn looklooks like Sety, orNjörun thatlooks Falalike doesn'tAltena, remindand youFjalar alooks little oflike AlvisArvis. It's less obvious with the rest, but there are still a few traits that the main characters obviously got from their Crusader ancestors.
** Ares is a spitting image of his father Eltoshan.
** In-game portraits of some child characters are slightly edited version of their fixed parent. Larcei is essentially Ayra with short hair while Ares is Eldigan with slight facial differences.
* [[Take Care of the Kids]]: {{spoiler|Sigurd says this to Oifaye and Shanan after capturing Luveck, and they take baby!Celice to Isaac to keep him safe. It's debated how many of the other kids join them at that point, or if it's just Celice and the other children are dropped off later.}}
* [[Take Care of the Kids]]: {{spoiler|Sigurd gives baby Seliph to Oifey and Shanan after capturing Luveckto keep Seliph safe}}.
** Also, more than one of the love talks in Chapter 5 involve this.
* {{spoiler|[[Time Skip]]: After chapterChapter 5}}.
* [[Too Awesome to Use]]: The Holy Weapons are very powerful, and anyone using one is granted numerous bonuses to their stats in addition to the high numbers attached to the weapon itself. It also does not take much work to wear them down, as it is not unusual for a player character to attack twice or three times per exchange, and Holy Weapons are painfully expensive to repair. Using one to fight in the arena will usually involve a repair bill swallowing up at least half the prize money, and using one to fight [[Mooks]] is overkill to the point of waste, especially in the case of the faster Holy Weapon users who trade harder hitting for more attacks. As such, Holy Weapons tendare notbetter toleft seeoff muchbeing useused outsidesparingly ofagainst bossstrong battlesopponents.
* [[Updated Rerelease]]: Fan-made example, unfortunately. [http://www.feuniverse.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17 Fans from the fansite FEUniverseFire Emblem Universe have decided to hack ''Fire Emblem 7 '' for the GBA to make it akin to FE4''Fire Emblem 4'', with updates, features, et cetera.] It has, sadly, been dead for quite some time now, [[Trolling Creator|as revealed by the creator of it in the April 2nd "release"]]. ▼** The one big exception to this is Altenna, since she's very physically strong and the Gayborg is very powerful in its own right, she'll wear it down less quickly while doing a similar amount of damage.
* [[Wham! Episode |Wham Chapter]]: {{spoiler| At the end of Chapter 5 . After, Sigurd fights his way to his home , Alvisand Arvis welcomes him with open arms... and then his entire army -Sigurd and hehis -army isget massacred .}} . ▼▲* [[Updated Rerelease]]: Fan-made example, unfortunately. [http://www.feuniverse.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17 Fans from the fansite FEUniverse have decided to hack Fire Emblem 7 for the GBA to make it akin to FE4, with updates, features, et cetera.] It has, sadly, been dead for quite some time now, [[Trolling Creator|as revealed by the creator of it in the April 2nd "release"]].
▲* [[Wham! Episode|Wham Chapter]]: {{spoiler|Chapter 5. After Sigurd fights his way to his home, Alvis welcomes him with open arms... and then his entire army - and he - is massacred.}}
▲* [[Shades of Conflict|White vs Grey and Black Morality]]: While the player characters are the clear good guys here, the villains are either [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]] (Burian, Ishtar, Ishtore, Areone, {{spoiler|pre-recruitment Altenna}} and several minor bosses) or [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]] ({{spoiler|Alvis,}} Trabant, though YMMV) who are mixed in with [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]] (Hilda, Manfroy, Lopto-possessed!Julius).
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