This article is about the gameplay mechanic. For the spell, seeDeath (spell). For theHeroes chapter, seeDeath (chapter).

Permanent death (Japanese:ロストloss) is a unique aspect of gameplay in theFire Emblem series. While other role-playing games may allow the player to revive or otherwise heal fallen party members,Fire Emblem is unique in that any time aunit'sHP is reduced to zero, the character completely dies and can no longer fight in-game, requiring the player to restart the chapter if they do not wish to lose the unit. A few games have offered rare and limited ways to revive a deceased unit, and modernFire Emblem games fromNew Mystery of the Emblem onward have allowed the conditions of permanent death to be changed as part of selecting the game's difficulty.

Overview

The presence of permanent death acts as a way of giving clear consequences to the player's actions, giving a clearer reason to make careful tactical decisions to avoid losing units. Despite being regarded as permanent death, some characters that are either essential to the plot (such asL'Arachel andInnes inThe Sacred Stones) or otherwise important to the main character (such asMarcus andOswin inThe Blazing Blade) may stay alive in the game's story and continue to appear in dialogue cutscenes, but for gameplay purposes they are counted as "dead" and can no longer be used in-battle.

The player's units are not the only units affected by permanent death; the same rules apply to enemy armies, which have no way of reviving their lost units, and to the NPC armies who occasionally support the player's forces. However, the deaths of enemies can sometimes also affect the player negatively. Potentiallyrecruitable enemies, such asIlyana andTauroneo inPath of Radiance, are affected by permanent death, and having any of these units killed prevents the player from adding them to their army unless they restart the chapter. On rare occasions, the deaths of enemy units even can even impede the player's progress in the rest of the game; for instance, inThe Binding Blade, killingDouglas when he appears as an enemy inChapter 16 not only prevents the player from recruiting him later, but also results in the player being prevented from accessing aside quest to obtain theAureola tome, which ultimately prevents the player from accessing the game's true ending.

In all games fromShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light toRadiant Dawn (except inGaiden), when a unit dies, their inventory goes with them to their death and is lost forever, and inGenealogy of the Holy War, their personal item storage in the supply convoy becomes inaccessible. InGaiden and every game fromShadow Dragon onwards, when a unit dies, their inventory is put into the convoy the chapter after. Uniquely, inMystery of the Emblem, non-discardable items such as theStarsphere and theSilver Card will be put into the convoy, while every other item will be lost forever. If the convoy is full, the game will prompt the player to discard items to make space.

Merlinus is uniquely "immortal": instead of being undeployable for the rest of the game, Merlinus will return in the next chapter's beginning just as deployable as ever.Deirdre andJulia also have this pseudo-immortality until they leave the army for storyline related reasons.

Game Over

While the game normally continues if a character is felled in battle, the primary exception is if a protagonist character is killed. If this happens, it is an automatic failure of a chapter and causes aGame Over, as the player is unable to continue without such a character.

The deaths of certain other characters occasionally also trigger a Game Over state. In particular, chapters where theobjective is to protect a certain NPC will result in a Game Over if the NPC is killed; examples includeNatalie inChapter 4 ofThe Blazing Blade andMansel inChapter 19 ofThe Sacred Stones. Other defend chapters require protecting a key point—typically athrone or gate—and preventing enemies from seizing it; should an enemy seize it, this will also cause a Game Over.

In a particularly unusual case, if the player attacks the bossFargus inChapter 15xE/16xH ofThe Blazing Blade, this will result in a Game Over, as the chapter's goal was to talk to Fargus to secure passage to continue the lords' quest. Even if Fargus survives the battle, the attack will anger him into withdrawing his offer of aid, ending the game anyway.

During the game over sequence, some games will usually have another character lament a protagonist's death. A few games will also have differing playable characters do this depending on factors such as who is alive, who is deployed, or story progress. For example, inThe Binding Blade,Lilina will mournRoy's death if she is alive and deployed in battle; if Lilina is not deployed or alive,Guinivere will appear instead in certain chapters, andMarcus will in others if he is alive; if all of other characters are not present,Merlinus will speak. InEngage, theEmblem thatAlear currently has equipped will be the one to lament their death.

If the player achieves a Game Over duringChapter 26 ofEngage, the player will get a bad ending, whereinSombron has taken over the world, a slightly olderVeyle is once again put under his influence, and Alear has become a fell dragon, before the game ends.

Exceptions

Revival

Even though permanent death has been present in the series from the beginning, ways to avert it have also been present from the beginning.Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light introduced theAum staff, which can be used to revive a single deceased unit. Later games introduced similar staves, withFire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War featuringValkyrie andFates introducingBifröst.

There are numerous restrictions placed on the use of these staves to counteract their appealing power. Both Aum and Valkyrie have a very limited set of users; Aum is only usable byElice andYuliya in the original games (withMaria,Caeda,Minerva,Sheena, andNyna being added in the remakes), and Valkyrie is only usable byClaud and hisstaff-wielding son. InShadow Dragon & the Blade of Light andMystery of the Emblem Book I, Aum can only be used at the altar inChapter 24, and inShadow Dragon, it cannot be used to revive the character who was sacrificed as adecoy in the game's prologue. Bifröst can only revive the most recent unit who died on the map it is used in, and cannot revive anybody who died before then. All three of these staves can only be used once before theybreak, and although Valkyrie can be repaired through theweapon repair shops present inGenealogy of the Holy War, doing so is extremely expensive.

Fire Emblem Gaiden andFire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia have a similar mechanic with the lion-head statues found in the game'sMila Shrines. The lion heads at three of the game's shrines allow the player to revive characters, with each being able to revive just three characters. Owing to the split paths ofAlm andCelica, the player cannot combine the use of these statues. InGaiden, the lion heads technically allow the player a way to transfer units between the two parties, as a unit that dies in one party can be revived by the other—this is not possible inShadows of Valentia.

Story requirements

Occasionally, due to plot importance or the structure of the game's story modes, characters may not permanently die if they are defeated.

InGenealogy of the Holy War,Deirdre andJulia will be captured by the enemy if their HP is reduced to zero, rather than being killed, andSigurd orSeliph will find them at the final castle at the end of the chapter. However, this does not apply to Julia when she is recruited again in theendgame, and her death under these circumstances will be permanent.

Genealogy has a third character who circumvents permanent death:Finn will always reappear inChapter 7, even if he was defeated during the first generation; he will also retain his inventory (unless he wasmarried),promotion, and stats when he returns. However, should he run out of health in the second generation, he will die permanently.The Blazing Blade,The Sacred Stones, andNew Mystery of the Emblem feature similar cases to Finn. InLyn's story ofThe Blazing Blade, any characters who have their HP reduced to zero can still return inEliwood's orHector's stories, though they will not retain their stats, and will be unusable if they are felled in these stories. In the mandatory side questChapter 5x ofThe Sacred Stones,Forde andKyle can be defeated but will still be playable when they return inChapter 8;Orson also will still appear as the boss ofChapter 16, regardless of what happens to him in Chapter 5x. InNew Mystery of the Emblem, any characters that were defeated in the prologue chapters will return inChapter 1 if they do not leave, or as normal in the chapter they would normally rejoin in if they do; they retain any stat changes in both cases, and retain their inventories in the former.

The four-part structure ofFire Emblem: Radiant Dawn results in a case similar to the above games. Due to the fact that the game takes place over four parts, some characters, both playable and NPC, can be defeated in combat, but still return in later chapters. Playable characters who are defeated in combat while outside the player's control (for example,Ike as the boss ofPart III, Chapter 13) will not suffer permanent death, except those that defect from the player to the enemy mid-battle, who will die permanently.

InFire Emblem: Three Houses, three battles in the main story "disable" death upon defeat: theChapter 1 mission, theChapter 2 auxiliary battle, and theChapter 7 mission; each of these battles is a mock battle or exercise between the students and staff ofGarreg Mach Monastery. Additionally, battles related to the questsThe Best of the Best,Something to Prove, andThe Cream of the Crop similarly disable permanent death.

Similarly, inFire Emblem Engage, anySkirmish that spawns at Firene Castle, Brodia Castle or Solm Palace will have permanent death disabled for the duration of the battle. Skirmishes fought at these locations are training battles fought against soldiers of the respective nations, and as such, defeated units are not lost permanently.

Gameplay modes

Main article:Gameplay modes#Classic and Casual Mode

Main series games fromFire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem onward featureCasual Mode as an optional part of the difficulty settings of the games. If the game is being played in Casual Mode, units will be removed from the chapter when their HP is reduced to zero, but they will return as playable units in the next with no penalties; the opposite of this is Classic Mode, where traditionalFire Emblem death rules apply as normal. All of the respective games' difficulties can be played in Casual Mode or Classic Mode with no restrictions. In all games exceptFates andThree Houses, the defeat of a main character still causes a game over in Casual Mode.

Exclusive toFates isPhoenix Mode as an alternative to Casual or Classic Modes; in Phoenix mode, units reduced to 0 HP return to the map on the following turn. Unlike Casual or Classic Modes, Phoenix Mode can be played only on the lowest difficulty.

Gallery

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  Lifis dying inThracia 776.
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  Sue dying inThe Binding Blade.
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  Laura dying inRadiant Dawn.
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  Lorenz dying inThree Houses.
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  Kagetsu dying inEngage.
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  Felix dying inWarriors: Three Hopes.
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  A game over inGenealogy of the Holy War.
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  A game over inThracia 776.
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  A game over inThe Binding Blade,The Blazing Blade, andThe Sacred Stones.
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  A game over inPath of Radiance.
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  A game over inRadiant Dawn.
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  A game over inShadow Dragon.
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  A game over inAwakening.
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  A game over inFates.
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  A game over inEchoes: Shadows of Valentia.
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  A game over inThree Houses.
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  A game over inEngage.
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  A game over inWarriors: Three Hopes.

References