Villains Have Rarely Been As Relatable As They Were In Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is celebrating its 20-year anniversary at this time, Might 23, 2025. Beneath, we glance again at how its villains have been unusually sympathetic, lending weight to the story.

It is one of the crucial haunting scenes in any Fire Emblem recreation. A soldier and non permanent king, Orson, is seen speaking with the reanimated corpse of his spouse, Monica. She solely says one thing–“darling”–over and over once more.

Orson, one of many many antagonists in Fire Emblem Sacred Stones, was a person dedicated to Monica lengthy earlier than the marketing campaign of the sport started. He is solely current throughout a brief a part of the story, however he leaves a serious impression as soon as the credit roll after the sport’s 30 chapters come to an in depth. When you’ll first meet him as a playable character, he ultimately betrays Ephraim, Eirika, and the opposite heroes with a view to (as he believes) save his spouse’s life.

Although this story performs out solemnly on a 2.5 inch Sport Boy display, it packs a punch that continues to be one of the crucial memorable elements of Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. Orson’s story, together with these of the opposite villains in Sacred Stones, exemplifies the kind of private story that units the Fire Emblem collection other than different technique video games. It gives a private, intimate have a look at enemies earlier than we combat them on the battlefield.

Orson’s betrayal comes as a shock. When the concept of a turncloak hiding in Eirika and Ephraim’s forces is introduced up by an enemy commander, it isn’t instantly clear who he is referring to. We discover out when Orson tries to trick Eirika into handing over one of many keys to the video games namesake, the sacred stones, whereas main her proper into the arms of the enemy. Then, he is dismissed and almost disappears from the story.

We see him 9 chapters later in a horrible state, residing for nothing however the reanimated corpse of his spouse. We witness transient scenes the place he brings her presents and lashes out on the individuals round him for the mere act of interrupting their time alone. These moments are quick, intimate appears to be like at an unwound man who has forsaken the whole lot in his life for the reminiscence of his love. Our final have a look at Orson comes from fight dialogue proper earlier than he’s killed.

“For the one I like, I betray the whole lot,” Orson tells Eirika earlier than they cross swords close to the midway level of Sacred Stone’s marketing campaign. “My nation, my lord and grasp… the whole lot.”

Whereas few would endorse his actions, it is simple to know why Orson made them. Laying the scene out earlier than us–as unsettling because it is–puts him within the highlight as if he was one of many video games’ protagonists.

We get a equally private have a look at Lyon, the prince of Grado who serves because the secondary antagonist in Sacred Stones, that provides loads of weight to his villainy. Like Orson, one among Lyon’s main drivers is saving somebody near him via experimentation with harmful magic. He makes use of the sacred stone, which is a seal that helps include a robust demon, to push therapeutic magic, which is not identified to assist with grievous accidents on the planet of Sacred Stones, additional than it is ever been pushed earlier than.

“If I can simply press my research a little bit tougher […] I believe I’d be capable to use it to heal my father’s sickness,” Lyon says at one level within the story. “If that works, there’s no telling what number of different individuals I will help as properly.”

As you might need guessed, Lyon’s experimentations backfire. He ultimately loses management and is influenced by the demon sealed via the sacred stones, earlier than being lastly satisfied that the one technique to forestall a cataclysmic occasion is to free the demon.

We see the backstory of Lyon’s father illness, his childhood relationships with Ephraim and Eirika, and his struggles along with his poor well being and lack of self-confidence all through the sport. Flashbacks, fight dialogue, and story sequences lay out the motivations of a ruler in full despair.

Getting such a honest have a look at the villain’s perspective is one technique to persuade us that Ephraim and his military aren’t simply chopping down evil, faceless enemies. The scenes with Orson and Lyon all through the marketing campaign overshadow the fantastical demonic villain that enters the fray in a while.

Fire Emblem is a franchise that wishes you to care concerning the models you combat with and in opposition to. You are not sending anonymous troopers to their deaths, you are sending characters that you’ve got recruited, skilled with, leveled up, and grown nearer to over the course of the sport. It is not unusual for followers of the collection to abort missions and begin over as quickly as one among their heroes falls on the battlefield. The considered happening with out them is an excessive amount of.

Sacred Stones exemplifies this a part of the franchise. Moulder, a delicate priest who acts as a father determine to different models and Joshua, a gifted swordsman with an unhealthy obsession with playing, are simply two of the 30 models that you may find out about as you watch them work together with each other earlier than every mission. Constructing out your go-to squad is like selecting which associates you wish to spend time with over the course of the video games’ story.

Orson and Lyon–villains which might be solely roadblocks within the path to the sport’s major demonic antagonist–serve as sobering examples of villains who’re tragically relatable. We see why they do what they do firsthand, giving them simply as a lot of a narrative as every other character within the collection.

Later Fire Emblem video games have constructed on what entries like Sacred Stones established for the franchise. Fire Emblem: Interact and Fire Emblem: Three Homes gave us extra methods to construct relationships with our troopers on the sphere. Few video games, nonetheless, have given us an equally as disturbing look into what would drive good individuals to commit horrible crimes.