Chests are objects present predominantly on indoor maps which contain treasures locked within them. During the course of battles, the player has a chance to have theirunits loot chests to claim freeitems orgold, but will often have to compete with enemy bandits to claim the contents of treasure chests first. Most units needa key to unlock a chest and take its contents, butThieves and related classes have the ability to open chests without keys.

Since it is set entirely outdoors,Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is the onlyFire Emblem game which has no chests at all. InFire Emblem Gaiden andEchoes: Shadows of Valentia, chests only appear when exploring locations and do not show up in battlefields.

Mechanics

There are several ways to unlock chests. The most common one, available to all units, is to obtain aChest Key (or the more powerfulMaster Key) and use it on the chest, which costs onedurability point from the key. The other way is through the use of members of theThief class and related classes (Thief Fighter,Assassin,Rogue,Whisper,Trickster,Outlaw,Adventurer), who as part of their trade are able to reliably open locks without needing to find and use keys. Depending on the game, Thieves use either theLockpick item to open chests, again costing one durability point from the Lockpick, or have a skill such asLocktouch which allows them to unlock chests without needing to use items at all. Additionally, depending on the game,staff-wielding units are able to use theUnlock orThief staves to open them, both of which have the unique advantage of being able to open chests from far away.

InFire Emblem: Path of Radiance, the playable ThiefVolke uniquely charges 50gold for every lock he unlocks, including chests. The fee is automatically subtracted from the player's gold supply after unlocking a lock, and the player is not warned and notified outside of the conversation when he is recruited; if the player does not have enough gold left, Volke will refuse to unlock the chest. The other playable Thief,Sothe, is not affected by this, and no similar system exists in any otherFire Emblem game.

The chests inGaiden will automatically open whenAlm orCelica walk up to them and have no special requirement to be unlocked. InShadows of Valentia, chests must be hit to open them, but otherwise have no special requirement as well.

The 2DFire Emblem games treat chests as "terrain" that units have to walk on top of in order to open them, while the 3DFire Emblem games have their chests be uncrossable "terrain" which are opened by standing next to them.

Enemy thieves

During many battles, enemyThieves who are not connected to the main enemy force will appear to take advantage of the confusion of war to loot the map's chests for themselves. Ideally the player will manage to get their own Thieves to the chests first, but if they cannot, the enemy can be forced to surrender the item by killing them, which will usually make them drop the stolen items (with the exceptions ofShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light,Thracia 776, andThe Binding Blade, where items do not drop), or they can be stolen back from the enemy without killing them using theSteal skill of the players' own Thieves. However, gold taken from a chest by a Thief cannot be recovered at all (except inMystery of the Emblem).

Lists of chests and rewards

Other appearances

Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE

Chests appear inTokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE. Most are not locked, unlike main series games. However, some are locked, appearing with a red overlay, and require a Treasure Key to open.

Fire Emblem Warriors

Chests appear inFire Emblem Warriors. Most chapters of the Story Mode feature locked chests that require a Chest Key to open. Those keys are dropped by an enemy general, who sometimes appears as reinforcement.

Fire Emblem Shadows

Chests appear inFire Emblem Shadows. Unlike in in the main series games, they are treated as item drops rather than map objects. A maximum of three chests are obtained each battle. Brown chests are obtained from either defeating enemies as a disciple of light or killing allies as a disiple of shadow, and usually contain basic items such as crystals. One brown chest is upgraded to a red chest per title the player receives at the end of each battle, containing stronger weapons, medals, and souls.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

• 
  A chest when usingThief inMystery of the Emblem.
• 
  Four chests inThe Binding Blade. One of them has been opened byCath.
• 
  Three chests inPath of Radiance. One of them has been opened byVolke.
• 
  A chest inEchoes: Shadows of Valentia.Alm has found it in a dungeon.

References

See also

• Village