TheAed Desert (Japanese:イード砂漠Yied Desert) is a desert covering the center-east ofJugdral. It is bordered byGrannvale to the east,Isaach andSilesse to the north, and theMunster District andMiletos to the south. Largely inhospitable and harboring only a small few settlements, for centuries it was the primary haunt of the exiledLoptr Church, making it exceptionally dangerous to travel through.

History

Following theLoptrian Empire's downfall, theLoptr Church and other prominent former members of the Empire retreated into hiding within the Aed Shrine, living there for centuries to avoid persecution;Lewyn theorized that this trapped experience came to corrupt their descendants who would otherwise have been normal people.^[1]. For most of their existence in hiding in the Shrine, the Loptrians kept their presence a secret.

In Grann 760, the Aed Desert experienced two prominent skirmishes. The armies ofGrannvale marched on the western region of the desert and occupied the city of Phinora in their efforts to close in onSilesse to arrest the fugitiveSigurd; while the armies ofLombard andAndrey set up in Silesse's Lubeck Castle, aVelthomer army led byVaja occupied Phinora as a base of operations, withMeteor wielding Velthomer mages posted atop the desert's cliffs to bombard Sigurd's army as they passed. Sigurd's army successfully defeated Vaja's forces, liberated Phinora and continued on to Grannvale itself. Meanwhile, in the desert's south, PrinceQuan ofLeonster, his wifeEthlyn, daughterAltena and a group of Leonster'sLanceritter knights marched toward the north, seeking to reinforce Sigurd; however on their way through the desert, they were ambushed by a detachment ofThracia's army led byTravant and assaulted, an event known as theAed Massacre. Hindered by the desert sands, Quan's group was quickly slaughtered, leaving behind only Altena, who was adopted and taken away by Travant.

In the aftermath of theBattle of Belhalla and the ascension ofArvis to the Grannvale throne, the Loptrian inhabitants of the Aed Shrine began to emerge and unofficially had full rein of the entire desert itself. Loptrian mages took to wandering the desert, preying on innocent travellers, leading to numerous disappearances;^[2] One of their presumed victims wasLachesis ofNordion, who disappeared after departing theMunster District to find her sonDiarmuid inIsaach; her route would have taken her through the Aed Desert, making this her most likely fate according to Diarmuid.^[3]

In Grann 777, the Isaach liberation army led bySeliph crossed the eastern region of the Aed Desert en route to theMunster District to provide reinforcements for Seliph's cousinLeif; at the same time, Isaach's PrinceShannan and the thiefPatty/Daisy were fighting at the Aed Shrine after stealing theBalmung, Shannan's birthright, back from it. Seliph's group joined up with Shannan and cleared out the Loptrian occupation of the Aed Shrine, then moved on to fighting at Dahna and Fort Melgen.

Notable locations in the Aed Desert

Dahna

Main article:Dahna

Dahna is a fortress city, considered a sacred site to the people ofGrannvale as the place where theMiracle of Dahna occurred during the era of the Loptrian Empire.

Aed Shrine

The Aed Shrine is a temple in the desert's north-east which has long housed theLoptr Church in hiding from the downfall of theLoptrian Empire; every known Loptrian active in Jugdral presumably grew up in the Shrine. In the aftermath of theGrannvale-Isaach war, the divine blade of Isaach,Balmung, was hidden in the treasury of the Aed Shrine as a trophy. It is theorized byAugust that the Aed Shrine is also used to house thepetrified victims ofVeld and other Loptrians wielding the Stone spell, and that these captives may include survivors from theBattle of Belhalla.^[4]

Phinora

A city located in the north-west of the Aed Desert. It was used by theVelthomer army underVaja as a staging point in their fight against Sigurd.

Characters from the Aed Desert

Character	Description	Appears in
Kutuzov	ALoptrian bishop administrating the Aed Desert from the Aed Shrine.	Genealogy of the Holy War

Gameplay

The Aed Desert is present in two chapters ofFire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War: its western half is part ofChapter 5 as Sigurd's army crosses it to return toGrannvale, and the eastern half comprises the bulk ofChapter 7, depicting Seliph's army's liberation of the Aed Shrine and quest to reachLeonster.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

• 
  Artwork of the Aed Desert from theFire Emblem Trading Card Game.
• 
  The western Aed Desert, plus parts of Silesse and Grannvale, as depicted inChapter 5 ofGenealogy of the Holy War.
• 
  The eastern Aed Desert, plus parts of theMunster District, as depicted inChapter 7 ofGenealogy of the Holy War.

References