Lady of the Forest (Japanese:精霊の森の少女Girl of the Spirit Forest) is the first chapter ofFire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War followingits Prologue. It depictsSigurd's invasion ofVerdane to rescue the captured LadyEdain, his first meeting withDeirdre and his first encounter with theLoptr Church as it manipulates Verdane into war.

Plot

Main article:Lady of the Forest/Script

Having taken Evans Castle past theGrannvale/Verdane border, Sigurd is visited by his old friendEldigan ofNordion, who pledges his support in protecting Evans from the warmongering lords ofAgustria. Meanwhile, at Verdane's Genoa Castle, the errant PrincessAyra ofIsaach is forced byCimbaeth to fight under his command with her ward, Crown PrinceShannan, held hostage by him. Elsewhere at Marpha Castle, Edain is released from imprisonment by PrinceJamke, who disagrees with Verdane's actions and seeks a peaceful resolution, along with the thiefDew; Jamke returns to the Verdane capital to attempt to dissuade his father again. After killing Cimbaeth and seizing Genoa, Sigurd learns of Ayra's plight from Shannan and convinces Ayra to stand down and ally with him, despite their status as scions of mutual enemy nations.

While Sigurd's army is out in the depths of Verdane, the malicious LordElliot of Heirhein in Agustria seizes upon the opportunity to assault Evans behind Sigurd's back, but is stopped by Eldigan and hisCross Knights. Edain and Dew rejoin Sigurd's army, which assaults Marpha Castle and kills Prince Munnir. Inside Marpha, Sigurd rescuesDeirdre from harassment by a ruffian, but she flees Marpha to return to the Spirit Forest.

At the Verdane capital, Jamke's efforts to dissuade KingBatu from the conflict fall on deaf ears, such is the sway of his advisor,Sandima of the Loptrians. Jamke is forced to lead a troupe of warriors into the field to stop Sigurd, but Batu begins to question Sandima's hold on him, for which he is mortally wounded. As Sigurd's army passes through the Spirit Forest, Deirdre approaches them again, telling them of Sandima's power and her ability to stop it with aSilence staff, and she and Sigurd confess their mutual attraction. Edain talks to Jamke and convinces him to ally with Sigurd to put an end to Sandima's hold on Verdane.

Upon killing Sandima and seizing Verdane Castle, Sigurd finds a dying Batu, who with his last words warns Sigurd of the rise of the Loptr Church and its hold on his and other nations.

Chapter data

Chapter Data
Conditions	Unit Data
Victory: Seize Verdane Castle Defeat:Sigurd diesor Evans Castle is seized	Player: 10+5 Partner: 0+9 Other: 1−1 Enemy: 20+66−2+∞
Chapter Map InitialTurn 2After GenoaAfter MarphaBlank {{{content6}}} {{{content7}}} {{{content8}}} {{{content9}}} {{{content10}}} {{{content11}}} {{{content12}}} {{{content13}}} {{{content14}}} {{{content15}}}
Map dimensions: 62 columns by 62 rows

Character data

Characters
New units
Edain Priest HP 28 Inventory Mend 5,000Gold Level 3 Automatically from turn 2 Dew Thief HP 28 Inventory Iron Sword 15,000Gold Level 1 Automatically from turn 2 Ayra Sword Fighter HP 32 Inventory Iron Blade 3,000Gold Level 4 Enemy, talk to withSigurd after seizingGenoa Jamke Bow Fighter HP 36 Inventory Killer Bow 5,000Gold Level 6 Enemy, talk to withEdain Deirdre Shaman HP 26 Inventory Silence Aura Circlet 1,000Gold Level 3 Automatically after entering the Spirit Forest
Available characters

Item data

Items

Name Obtainment Method Hand Axe Dropped byCimbaeth Skill Ring Dropped byMunnir Magic Ring Dropped bySandima Return Event:Edain talks toEthlyn Warp Event:Dew talks toEdain after seizing Genoa Castle Brave Axe Event:Lex waits on the peninsula south-east of Verdane Castle with anIron Axe in his inventory

In addition, threevillages are present on the map, which can be visited to obtain up to 5,000gold each.

Castle data

Castle facilities

VendorArena enemies

	Name	Cost
	Slim Sword	3,000
	Iron Lance	1,000
	Javelin	3,000
	Steel Axe	3,000

No.		Name	Class	Lv	HP	Str	Mag	Skl	Spd	Lck	Def	Res	Inventory
1		Gazzak	Axe Fighter	1	36	8	0	3	10	0	8	0	Iron Axe •Hand Axe
2		Crotor	Mage	4	30	0	8	7	7	0	1	6	Fire
3		Wiseman	Lance Knight	7	37	9	0	8	8	0	8	0	Iron Lance •Javelin
4		Shark	Sword Fighter	10	40	10	1	13	13	0	8	1	Steel Sword Follow-Up
4		Hood	Hunter	10	45	10	0	3	10	0	8	1	Steel Bow
5		Bacchus	Axe Armor	13	53	12	1	8	6	0	13	1	Steel Axe •Hand Axe
6		Emir	Wind Mage	16	42	1	11	10	13+5	0	2	9	Elwind •Speed Ring
7		Dice	General	19	59	15	1	11	10	0	17	4	Steel Blade •Steel Bow Pavise

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Event data

Events

Initiator Recipient Criteria Reward Quan Finn -- +1 tostrength,skill, anddefense for Finn Anyone Neutral Nordion Cavalier Neither Genoa nor Marpha seized -- Sigurd Edain Edain recruited -- Azelle orMidir Edain Edain recruited 100 love points between the pair Edain Ethlyn Edain recruited Return for Ethlyn Dew Edain Genoa or Marpha seized Warp for Edain, 50 love points between the pair Sigurd Ayra Genoa seized Ayra joins Ayra Quan Ayra recruited -- Edain Jamke Genoa and Marpha seized Jamke joins Lex -- Lex waits at the end of the central peninsula with the Iron Axe in his inventory Brave Axe for Lex

Unit data

Genoa

The Genoa army is present at the start of the chapter.

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Verdane Barbarian 1 5 36 5 0 0 7 0 5 0 6 Iron Axe Authority: Cimbaeth Verdane Hunter 1 4 36 7 0 0 7 0 5 0 6 Iron Bow Authority: Cimbaeth Verdane Axe Fighter 1 3 36 8 0 3 10 0 8 0 6 Iron Axe •Hand Axe Authority: Cimbaeth Verdane Axe Fighter 1 3 36 8 0 3 10 0 8 0 6 Iron Axe •Hand Axe Authority: Commander Moves to attack if a player unit is in range of any unit under the Warrior Commander's authority; moves to Genoa castle otherwise. Commander Warrior 10 1 50 14 0 8 15 0 13 4 6 Hand Axe Authority: ★ Does not move; guards Genoa Castle. Cimbaeth Warrior 10 1 50 14 0 8 15 0 13 4 6 Silver Axe •Hand Axe Authority: ★★ Begins retreating to Genoa Castle upon reducing the number of units under his authority to 2 or less or receiving severe damage; upon reaching the castle, returns healed the next turn with reinforcements.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Verdane Barbarian 1 ∞ 36 5 0 0 7 0 5 0 6 Iron Axe Authority: Cimbaeth Verdane Hunter 1 ∞ 36 7 0 0 7 0 5 0 6 Iron Bow Authority: Cimbaeth Verdane Axe Fighter 1 ∞ 36 8 0 3 10 0 8 0 6 Iron Axe •Hand Axe Authority: Cimbaeth

Reinforcements

• One turn afterCimbaeth reaches Genoa Castle
  • 5Barbarians, 4Hunters, 3Axe Fighters, and Cimbaeth emerge from the castle

Marpha

The Marpha army appears at the start of turn 2; additional forces appear to replace the commander and his subordinates if any of them are killed in a region northeast of where Edain and Dew appear.

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Verdane Barbarian 5 9 40 6 0 1 8 0 6 0 6 Iron Axe Authority: Commander Commander Axe Fighter 10 1 45 11 0 6 13 0 11 1 6 Steel Axe Authority: ★ Verdane Barbarian 5 7 40 6 0 1 8 0 6 0 6 Iron Axe Authority: Munnir Begins moving if any unit underMunnir's authority is provoked. Verdane Hunter 5 3 40 8 0 1 8 0 6 0 6 Iron Bow Authority: Munnir Begins moving if any unit underMunnir's authority is provoked. Munnir Warrior 20 1 60 17 0 11+5 18 0 16 5 6 Hand Axe •Skill Ring Authority: ★★ Does not move; guards Marpha Castle.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Verdane Barbarian 5 9 40 6 0 1 8 0 6 0 6 Iron Axe Authority: Commander Commander Axe Fighter 10 1 45 11 0 6 13 0 11 1 6 Steel Axe Authority: ★

Reinforcements

• Upon killing the Marpha commander or any of his subordinates in the region northeast of where Edain and Dew first appear
  • A number ofBarbarians and anAxe Fighter commander to replace each of those killed in the previous squad; up to 9 and 1 respectively

Verdane

The Verdane force commanded byAyra is present at the start of the chapter. The army underSandima appears once Marpha has been seized.

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Ruffian Brigand 1 2 36 5 0 0 7 0 5 0 6 Iron Axe Prioritizes raidingvillages. Ayra Sword Fighter 4 1 32 11 0 16 17 3 7 1 6 Iron Blade Follow-Up •Nihil •Astra • Moves to attack any player unit in range of the nearbyAxe Fighters. • Prioritizes seizing Genoa Castle onceSigurd seizes it, then prioritizes attacking Sigurd.

Reinforcements

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Verdane Barbarian 10 11 45 8 0 3 10 0 8 1 6 Iron Axe Authority: Jamke Verdane Barbarian 10 2 45 8 0 3 10 0 8 1 6 Iron Axe Authority: Sandima Begins moving if any unit underSandima's authority is provoked. Verdane Hunter 5 8 40 8 0 1 8 0 6 0 6 Iron Bow Authority: Sandima Begins moving if any unit underSandima's authority is provoked. Jamke Bow Fighter 6 1 36 11 0 14 14 4 9 0 6 Killer Bow Follow-Up •Adept •Accost Authority: ★ Will not attackEdain. Sandima Dark Mage 10 1 40 1 13+5 11 11 0 8 13 5 Fenrir •Jormungand •Magic Ring Authority: ★★ Immobile; guards Verdane Castle.

Nordion

The neutral Nordion army is present at the start of the chapter. The partner army appears once the Heirhein army has.

NeutralPartner

Other Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Cross Knight Cavalier 20 1 50 13 2 12 12 0 12 2 8 Steel Sword •Javelin Will not move until the arrival of Heirhein, at which point he retreats to Nordion castle.

Partner Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Cross Knight Cavalier 20 8 50 13 2 12 12 0 12 2 8 Steel Sword •Javelin Authority: Eldigan Leaves the map via Nordion castle upon defeating Heirhein. Eldigan Paladin 20 1 60 15 7 15+20 15 0 15 15+10 9 Mystletainn •Steel Lance Authority: ★★★★★ Leaves the map via Nordion castle upon defeating Heirhein.

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Heirhein

The Heirhein army appears once Genoa has been seized.

Enemy Units

Name Class Lv # HP Str Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Wlv Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills Heirhein Lance Knight 1 11 31 7 0 6 6 0 6 0 8 Steel Lance Authority: Elliot Elliot Duke Knight 1 1 41 12 0 7 7 0 8 3 9 Silver Lance •Javelin Authority: ★

Major units

Genoa

Main article:Cimbaeth

Warrior Level 10 Holy Blood -- Movement 6 Authority ★

Stats Max HP 50 Speed 15 Strength 14 Luck 0 Magic 0 Defense 13 Skill 8 Resistance 4

Inventory Skills Silver Axe Hand Axe 3,000Gold -- Weapon Levels -- -- A B -- -- -- -- -- --

• Cimbaeth is the boss of Genoa.

Marpha

Main article:Munnir

Warrior Level 20 Holy Blood -- Movement 6 Authority ★★

Stats Max HP 60 Speed 18 Strength 17 Luck 0 Magic 0 Defense 16 Skill 11+5 Resistance 5

Inventory Skills Hand Axe Skill Ring 3,000Gold -- Weapon Levels -- -- A B -- -- -- -- -- --

• Munnir is the guardian of Marpha Castle and the boss of Marpha. He and the Marpha army emerge at the start of the second turn.

Verdane

Main article:Jamke

Bow Fighter Level 6 Holy Blood -- Movement 6 Authority ★

Stats Max HP 36 Speed 14 Strength 11 Luck 4 Magic 0 Defense 9 Skill 14 Resistance 0

Inventory Skills Killer Bow 5,000Gold Follow-Up Adept Accost Weapon Levels -- -- -- A -- -- -- -- -- --

• Jamke is a sub-boss affiliated with Verdane. He and the Verdane army appear after Marpha is seized.

Main article:Sandima

Dark Mage Level 10 Holy Blood -- Movement 5 Authority ★★

Stats Max HP 40 Speed 11 Strength 1 Luck 0 Magic 13+5 Defense 8 Skill 11 Resistance 13

Inventory Skills Fenrir Jormungand Magic Ring 3,000Gold -- Weapon Levels -- -- -- -- B -- -- -- -- B

• Sandima is the guardian of Verdane Castle, and boss of Verdane. He and the Verdane army appear after Marpha is seized.

Nordion

Main article:Eldigan

Paladin Level 20 Holy Blood Movement 9 Authority ★★★★★

Stats Max HP 60 Speed 15 Strength 15 Luck 0 Magic 7 Defense 15 Skill 15+20 Resistance 15+10

Inventory Skills Mystletainn Steel Lance 3,000Gold -- Weapon Levels ★ B -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

• Eldigan is the boss of Nordion. He and theCross Knights emerge after Heirhein does, and retreat upon its defeat.

Heirhein

Main article:Elliot

Duke Knight Level 1 Holy Blood -- Movement 9 Authority ★

Stats Max HP 41 Speed 7 Strength 12 Luck 0 Magic 0 Defense 8 Skill 7 Resistance 3

Inventory Skills Silver Lance Javelin 3,000Gold -- Weapon Levels -- A -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

• Elliot is the boss of Heirhein. He and the Heirhein army appear after Genoa Castle is seized.

Strategy

Castle Genoa and Ayra

Once you start this chapter, you find out that everyone starts in the final castle you seized last chapter. This holds true for most of the chapters in the game. There are several things you can do in a castle, which allows you to enter the town: buying weapons, repair them at the blacksmith, selling them and letting another unit buy them at the pawn shop, putting them in the supply convoy, go to the arena and visit the augury. The augury will provide clues about thelove system, which is important later on in the first generation, as the old man will make a comment about the unit who visits and the opposite gendered unit with the most love points with said unit. The arena is important, as you will be able to fight up to seven enemies. If you win, you can get experience and gold which are definitely needed, but you need to know your limits: your units don't die if they lose, but they end up with 1 HP, so equip your units well to deal with the matchups, but don't be too greedy and stop when you think that your unit doesn't stand a chance.

To start the chapter, head south to fight the Barbarians, Axe Fighters and Hunters. There are forests in the area that improve your evasion, but also lower your movement. Defeat them with your units and go down to fight the first boss,Cimbaeth, a promotedWarrior. He's surprisingly fast, has aSilver Axe that will severely injure even Sigurd and aHand Axe that he drops when defeated. Take him out as fast as possible and possibly finish him off withLex, as he's the only unit who can use axes.Quan also has a conversation withFinn that gives the latter a +1 bonus to strength, skill and defense, so don't forget that.

At turn 2, you get introduced to two new characters, Edain and Dew.Edain is a cleric with no skills who starts with theMend staff, whileDew is a level 1Thief. Both of them are chased by the enemies and won't last more than one hit. Both of them have good avoid, as Dew has very high speed and luck, while Edain can't use weapons, which would weigh her down. Escape with Edain and keep her and Dew protected while keeping in mind that forests reduce movement. Being a thief, Dew can steal gold from enemies he hits, but he has no Follow-Up and doesn't get it until promotion. Instead, he has Sol, but because of his very low strength and unimpressive skill base, it won't make much of a difference. Thanks to his weapon type advantage, Dew's speed and avoid are high enough that he will never get hit if he's on a forest or in village in this chapter, so it may be a good idea to leave him in the nearby village once he visited it, as he will be surrounded by enemies he can always dodge, which will safely net him some well-needed experience points to reach his future promotion later on. However, if you use this strategy, keep an eye on the number of uses left for hisIron Sword: while weapons outside of some staves have a generous maximum amount of uses with 50 uses and you can fix them all at the blacksmith, they become extremely heavy, weak and inaccurate if they break, so be sure not to take too long in reaching him. If the sword breaks, you can repair the weapon later. Dew also has an exclusive skill, as he will steal gold if he successfully hits an enemy, and he can give all his gold to an ally at any moment, while other units can only give each other gold if they're married. Doing so will give him 10 EXP at a time, and this will be very important for units that are not strong enough to clear the arena and for healers like Edain, who cannot fight until they promote. He starts with 15000 units of gold, so it's best to give his gold to Edain so that she will be able to buy and repair staves.

As you head to Castle Genoa, you will findAyra here. She is a very dangerous enemy with very high skill and speed, decent strength, a powerfulIron Blade whose low accuracy is compensated by her high skill, and has both Follow-Up andAstra, so she will double almost everyone in your army. She is forced to fight for Verdane because Cimbaeth held PrinceShannan, her nephew, hostage, and she will attack you whenever she can. With her very high skill, she will have a 16% chance to proc Astra in a hit, and since it has five hits, not even Arden could withstand that much damage if his durability hasn't received improvements. You have to get past the enemy axe-weilding enemies and seize the castle, which is guarded by a generic Warrior, and there are a bunch of enemies around Ayra, who you have to distract so that Sigurd can seize the castle, but as her durability is lackluster, Sigurd and Quan will kill her if she fights them, and few units can distract her effectively:

Alec is a good option, as he has the skillNihil. Nihil blocks enemy skills like Astra, preventing it from activating, but he won't be able to take more than two hits at full HP. If he's the one distracting Ayra, be sure to heal him up with Ethlyn.

Ethlyn herself can distract Ayra better than other thanks to her speed: Ayra has 11 attack speed, and Ethlyn joined in the previous chapter with aSlim Sword and with 12 base speed. As a result, her attack speed is the same as Ayra at base with her starting Slim Sword, being just fast enough to avoid getting doubled by her, and she can survive one hit from her. However, watch out for Astra, because if it activates, Ethlyn will be likely defeated, and even though forests give a 20% boost to her avoid, it will still be quite risky.

Arden can easily take two hits from Ayra even if he has just a little more then half of his HP. However, he will be doubled, his avoid is too low to dodge well, so he needs to rely on the forests to keep her at bay, and Astra may overwhelm even him.

Counterintuitively, Finn can also stall Ayra with a high degree of safety, but this technique only works once. By carefully manipulating his HP based on his current DEF stat, Finn can ensure that no matter how many times Ayra attacks him, he cannot die, as should he be hit too many times due to Astra, aMiracle of sufficient potency will force all remaining attacks to miss. Equipping hisIron Lance and standing on a Plain Finn needs to be left at 4 HP or lower; on a Forest, Finn can have up to 2 more HP than what is necessary for a Plain tile. The HP thresholds are as follows: for 7 DEF (base, no Quan event), Finn's HP needs to be between 17-20 or 33-36; for 8 DEF (base + Quan event), Finn's HP needs to be between 16-19 or 31-34; for all subsequent DEF stat gains, per point of DEF gained, subtract 1 from the floor and ceiling of the lower range, and 2 from the floor and ceiling of the upper range. If Finn's HP is outside of the threshold, he can still try to manipulate it back into either of the functional thresholds by letting himself be hit by enemy attacks, or being healed by Ethlyn. Regardless, this only works for a single turn, as Miracle will wear off, and Finn will have likely damaged Ayra too much for her to take a second hit.

The Warrior only has an Hand Axe, but attacking him from the distance with Quan or Finn is not very effective even with Sigurd's authority bonus, as Javelins are inaccurate and even more penalized by the strong weapon triangle bonuses. Just take him out quickly and seize the castle to save Shannan. Once the castle is seized, Ayra will try to return back to it, and that's when you can talk to her with Sigurd and recruit her, but make sure that she's far enough or she will get herself killed.

Marpha Castle

As previously mentioned, Ayra is a very powerful Sword Fighter. She will easily take care of enemies, but don't be too reckless when using her, as her defense is rather low, so she may be killed if you are not careful. Head to the west to reach Marpha Castle, and in the meantime, there are some noteworthy conversation with Edain: talking with Ethlyn will give her theReturn staff, and having Dew talk to Edain will give her theWarp staff. In the meantime, some enemies from Nordion will attack the home castle from the west, but don't worry about it, asEldigan and his knights will get the job done. Munnir has high stats, but he only has a Hand Axe, so he's not too difficult to fight against once you know what to do. Keep attacking him with your units and take him out to get hisSkill Ring. Once you seize the castle, there will be an even where Sigurd meets and rescuesDeirdre, who will appear later on.

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Trivia

• Ayra has special code that was intended to prevent her from targeting Sigurd. However, the code in question is rendered unused due to an oversight, as this special targeting only applies to units with the group leader flag which Ayra lacks.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

• 
  Map of the chapter