An Analysis on Fire Emblem Legendaries: Version Valentia
Previous Analysis:
An Analysis on Fire Emblem Legendaries: Version Archanea
An Analysis on Fire Emblem Legendaries: Version Elibe Part 1
An Analysis on Fire Emblem Legendaries: Version Elibe Part 2
I wanted to post this much earlier, but after the Direct, I was really upset, and there was the case of how many threads in the sub ended up being filled with Kirby themed threads. So even though the event has passed, I’ll make this thread that is much smaller than the other ones.
This one will be regarding the Valentian weapons, and as you all know, the Valentian weapons number in some of the least amount in the series, and there is in fact a very good reason for that if you ask me. See, unlike other continents, in the original Gaiden, the opening captions actually exposes something that is very interesting:
Once, there existed "gods"
Upon these lands.
On this remote island
Known as Valencia
Were two sibling gods
Called Doma and Mila.
Valentia was originally known as just an island, not a continent. This explains why it’s even called "Gaiden", which means side story in Japan. Hell, it even lacks an actual Fire Emblem compared to the other series. Because of this, the number of legendary weapons in Gaiden is very small in number. However, even in Gaiden, and then by Echoes, some stuff have been shown to be rather interesting and very powerful, so now there is a rather greater number than before.
Along with that, there are in fact a particular set of skills that are extraordinary. This will be what I talk about.
Royal Sword
Starting off this list, we’ll be going over Alm’s primary signature weapon, the Royal Sword. The Royal Sword is a weapon form Rigel that was given to the Zofians as a sign of friendship. However, the Royal Sword has a special seal on it that prevents anyone that isn’t of Rigelian royal blood from wielding it, making it so that anyone else will find it so heavy that it is impossible to lift it.
Alm, being Rudolf’s secret son, is able to lift it, and it makes him question his lineage somewhat, though he tries to brush it off as merely a superstition.
The case on it being so heavy that only royal Rigelians can lift it reminds me slightly of Thor’s Hammer. Only it works on blood and not inner worthiness. However, one thing that I find interesting is that Desaix had even managed to take this sword with him in a chest. Like, wasn’t it impossible to lift the chest? Maybe this only applies to if you want to wield it, but when it’s stored in some chest, it’s okay. Though it makes you question how they put it in there. Maybe you actually CAN lift it, but the immense weight on it makes it impossible to actually wield in battle. Like maybe it requires several men to lift it properly.
In Gaiden, it’s a decent sword with recovery skill on it. But in Echoes, it can be forged to gain new abilities. The abilities it can learn are Subdue, Double Lion, and Scendscale. Double Lion is definitely a favorite for this skill, as it allows the user to attack like a Brave Weapon, and this skill is probably why Alm got that weapon upgrade to have this particular skill.
In Awakening, you can obtain a weapon called Alm’s Blade, which bears a resemblance to the Royal Sword.
Beloved Zofia
This weapon did not belong in the original Gaiden, but was added into Echoes. This is Celica’s signature weapon that seems to mirror Alm’s Royal Sword, but to obtain it is rather unique.
To get it, you have to actually forge the Golden Dagger that Celica starts off with to 3*, and then forge it again to turn it into the Beloved Zofia. It’s rather interesting really that you need the Golden Dagger when this weapon is given to Saber as payment for his services, yet you can immediately give it back to Celica, which sort of ruins the payment.
Perhaps Saber just felt like giving the weapon back to her because of the conviction that she had. I always liked the way Saber and Celica’s relationship was in Echoes, showing it almost like Saber acted as the father figure that Celica lacked, since her own father was someone that Celica never truly loved.
For some strange reason, Beloved Zofia was not Celica’s personal weapon in Warriors, and is instead replaced with the Ladyblade.
Along with the recovery skill it has, it also has some other skills to learn like Subdue, Swap, and Ragnarok Ω.
Speaking of which...
Ragnarok Ω
Now this is what I meant when talking about skills. The skills in Echoes are just far more pronounced than it is in other games, as you truly get to see some of them performed. Ragnarok Ω is Celica’s most powerful skill in the game, and the most powerful spell in the game, being a much stronger spell than the original Ragnarok here.
The spell works with Celica waving her arms overhead and down while they emit flames. She then holds both hands in front of her and her Mila’s Brand shines through. She waves her hands in the air again, as fireballs begins to surround the foe, before she swings her arms down and a huge explosion takes place where the foe stands.
This skill is immensely powerful and takes a lot of HP to use, best used as a final attack against a tough opponent. And in a game where Res is mostly nonexistent, it’s very useful.
Ragnarok
Underwhelming, but still. This is the original Ragnarok that is without a doubt the strongest black magic spell in Valentia. This spell is only learnable by two characters in the game, being Celica herself in her path, and Delthea on Alm's path.
In Gaiden, this spell was in fact much stronger, having a might of 24, but by Echoes, this was reduced to only 20 now. But still is the strongest spell these two can use, though Celica can use Ragnarok Ω instead.
In Heroes, it's the spell that Celica uses, and when used while at 100% HP, she gains a boost in attack and speed, but then loses 5 HP afterwards.
Kriemhild
This lance belongs to Berkut when you face him in the last act in Echoes. This is when Berkut, in his madness from the feeling of powerlessness, sacrificed Rinea to attain power from Duma. Berkut is truly the epitome of the failings that Rigel has. To teach someone that power is everything, and without it, you are nothing, truly emphasizes the downward spiral that Berkut feels. It would have been better had he had some accomplishments before that.
This lance is incredibly powerful and held a portion of Duma’s own might possibly in it. Along with good might, well accuracy, and even the ability to hit from three spaces away, this lance is incredible. This lance also gives the user a passive skill called Phantasm. This skill combines two other skills at once, those skills being Heavy Armor and Apotrope, which halves the damage from bows and black magic respectively.
With this skill and the lance itself, Berkut truly is a powerful foe, truly showing how much power Duma had given him. But that power without the heart to wield it meant nothing in the end for poor Berkut in the end.
Medusa
This spell belongs to Nuibaba in both Gaiden and Echoes, and has a very unique story to it.
There is a reason why in the story, only Nuibaba is known to possess this spell.
Unlike the other Duma Faithful, this power comes not from Duma at all. Rather, it is indicated that Nuibaba made a pact and had sold her soul to the actual entity Medusa. This is reflected by Nuibaba’s Gaiden quotes:
"...Go forth, Medusa! Now is the time you must fulfill your contract with me!"
And the beginning caption of when we enter Nuibaba’s map:
"If that dark spell he received in exchange for his soul is emitted from his lips just once, all living beings will, without doubt, have death be visited upon them."
There’s even more proof just by looking at Nuibaba’s new appearance. Notice how her skin tone and eyes are in fact much more different than Jedah’s and the other Duma Faithfuls, where the other Duma Faithfuls descend to a more purple color. This shows how the power she received was from another rather than Duma. This might have to do with Nuibaba’s appearance in Echoes. In the original Gaiden, Nuibaba looks like a shriveled old man in a cloak, but then was changed into a more voluptuous woman. She wants Alm and Celica to sacrifice for the sake of attaining eternal youth and immortality, possibly to Medusa.
In Echoes, Nuibaba gives Berkut a mirror that when shattered, summons a terrifying swarm of hands that drags the enemies to the earth to kill them. This may in fact also be a spell from Medusa that she placed into a mirror, but it didn’t work thanks to a charm from Celica, which likely was something that contained power from Mila, which was able to break Medusa’s power.
When the spell is cast, it summons the head of Medusa that goes to the enemy, the eyes shine brightly, and then the enemy is struck, where their HP is immediately reduced to 1 only, almost similar to Sephiroth’s Heartless Angel attack. If she uses it again when your HP is already that low, it’s instant kill obviously. The effect of Medusa is similar to the effect of three other tomes, being Dulam from FE3, Hell from FE4/FE5, and Eclipse from FE6. Eclipse is also in FE7 and FE8, but only reduces the target's HP by half.
With this spell, Nuibaba is a very dangerous foe, but many battles in Let’s Play ends up having Nuibaba being wrecked rather easily.
Interestingly enough, it seems that Gharn, another enemy unit in Gaiden and Echoes, can use Medusa as well, though. You can also encounter Risen Cantor units in the final level in Thabes Labyrinth that can use Medusa as well. It is unknown how either of these have gotten Medusa, though possibly they may have also made a pact with Medusa, or this could just be trying to make the game more difficult. However, Nuibaba is the only one that is mentioned to have Medusa, so these two events could be merely gameplay reasons.
Duma’s Gift
This is a personal skill used by Jedah exclusively. And it is what makes Jedah so dangerous. The effect different depending on the game. In Gaiden, Jedah is impervious to damage in all turns except for turns 4, 8, 12, etc. Meaning that you have to wait it out and attack only on those turns. Although there was a loop in that you can damage him if you attack him from at least 5 spaces away from him, so archers in Gaiden were invaluable.
But on Echoes, this has been changed where he nullifies the first three attacks he receives, but not the fourth one. So it’s best to attack this last part only then. The first time you fight him, it’s tough, as he also has the Dracoshield, that boosts his Def and Res by a substantial amount. The second time though, hit him hard.
Death
This Black Magic spell is pretty much the strongest Black Magic spell you can attain in Echoes. It is unattainable in the original Gaiden, and in Echoes, you need to attain the Overclass Enchantress, who can learn it and the other normally unattainable spell, Mire. This Overclass option is only for those units that are Priestesses, like Sonya, Delthea, and Mae.
Death has no effect other than the fact that it’s very powerful and generally enemy exclusive to the game. When cast, the spell summons a skull that goes to the enemy, and then breathes out fumes that damages the enemy.
Very strange that a spell called Death of all things has no real effect that induce death. Though then that would make it absurdly OP.
Triangle Attack
Okay, I know this skill shouldn’t be generally in here, but since this is the continent where I am including skills, I will actually bring this one up.
The Triangle Attack is THE MOST legendary skill in the entire franchise, as it has been used in several Fire Emblem games, and is even regarded in legend in several of them. Even in Awakening, Cynthia in her non-sibling conversation with Lucina, mentions the Triangle Attack. It just goes to show how legendary this skill truly it.
This is a special skill that was created and most famous by Palla, Catria, and Est, the Whitewings in the Archanea series. Since then, it has been used by many other characters in the series that form into a trio. Generally it is a skill known by Pegasus Knights, but it can be used by others as well. This has been used from FE1-FE4 and then FE6-FE12. If you wish to see all the units that can perform the Triangle Attack, look right here.
To use this skill, you have to move the appropriate units to move into a special formation to surround the enemy. Generally it must be where each unit is adjacent the enemy, where it looks like a triangle. For the Triangle Attack with Boyd, Oscar, and Rolf, it is used with bows, and thus they each must be two spaces away from enemy unit, while still maintaining a triangle formation like the melee units.
So when used, the attack is devastating and can have high crit rate.
One special thing to note is that in Echoes, there’s actually another variation of the Triangle Attack:
- Solo Triangle Attack
This special skill is exclusive to Emma personal weapon Trainee’s Lance (which isn't locked to her, just so you know). Emma is a DLC unit of Echoes that is an original character that comes from the Fire Emblem Cipher card game. When she uses the skill, Emma performs a single rider variation of the legendary skill. With it, she attacks the enemy unit three times, which is her way of using the skill.
However, what is unique is that if you carefully watch the animation of her attack, the lance strokes that she uses consists of one downward slash, follow by an upward one, and then as she backs up, she then strikes you with charging side slash. This means that her attacks consist of making strokes so that it actually forms a triangle. Very unique detail I must admit.
Nosferatu
Why is this spell in this thread? It’s after all, neither legendary nor powerful. You are correct. But I am including this spell here because of how it is used in Valentia.
Nosferatu is a White Magic spell where, similar to it’s Dark Magic version in other games, consists of the cleric damaging the enemy with the spell and absorbing equal or half the HP that was done to the opponent.
What makes this spell so unique is that in the original Gaiden, it always dealt a set damage. And Duma, the final boss, has a state where after it’s HP has been reduced to 52, can no longer be damaged by anyone else unless they carry a special weapon.
… Except Nosferatu.
Yup, the Fell God Duma can be beaten by any cleric with the Nosferatu spell. This is due to a glitch in the system where because Nosferatu deals a set damage, Duma cannot nullify this attack at all. So you can have units like Genny, Tatiana, or anyone that has this spell, to land the finishing blow to Duma instead of Alm.
In Echoes, they purposefully made it so that Nosferatu can do just that to Duma still, making it so that it functions as a reference to that glitch. Now people tend to mock this, but I find it just rather funny, but this in no way undermines Duma’s strength, since he is very powerful still.
Upheaval
This is arguably one of the most powerful spells in the game, and is possible intended to be one of the most dangerous spells in the franchise. Intended being the keyword.
Originally in Gaiden, it was called Megaquake. Once cast, it causes the entire party to suffer damage, but not die from it However, it was a very obscure magic that players would not even see the spell listed on the characters that use it, there only being two, being Duma and Jamil, the latter who attained this spell from Duma. So some players can go through the entire Gaiden game without ever once seeing it.
However, in Echoes, they made this spell into a proper skill that is on the two characters. When used, it deals 8-18 points of damage to all units on the map, but obviously they cannot kill any units. When used, the players are given a heads up on the spell being activated, as the enemy unit is surrounded by a dark aura on the beginning of player phase, and will be cast at the beginning of enemy phase. So you literally have one turn to decide two things. Either attack and make sure you kill the caster, or endure the hit.
It’s very annoying to be hit with this, as because you get damaged at the beginning of the enemy phase, and the damage could go from minor to major at random, it can mess up your gameplay easily. So be prepared.
When the spell is used, a small chant is in fact used:
For Gaiden, it follows with a textbox:
"O, Holy Spirit of the Earth! Respond to my call!!"
The enemy chanted Megaquake!!
And for Echoes:
"Spirits of the earth, heed my call!"
The spell that is used is very unique and greatly resembles the effect of the Geosphere in FE1 and FE11.
Falchion
Here we are, one of the most controversial weapons in Gaiden and Echoes. This is due to how any player knows that Falchion is the legendary weapon that belongs to Marth in the Archanea series, but here we have Falchion be used by Alm as well.
From what I have heard, it was said that this was because Shouzou Kaga himself wanted Falchion to be the ultimate weapon to beat the final boss. He also included Gradivus in Gaiden as well, though only from a treasure chest, so it’s more of a reference than actually in the story, which is for the case for Falchion.
In Gaiden, it is seemingly indicated that it was Duma himself that created Falchion here and gave it to Rudolf for the purpose of sealing Mila. With Mila sealed inside it, the Falchion could also now be used to defeat Duma, which Rudolf entrusted Alm to do after Alm fatally wounded Rudolf.
However, in Echoes, this has been retconned. Instead, now it is revealed that this Falchion is in fact the ORIGINAL and FIRST Falchion forged by Naga herself. Not only that, Mila and Duma became from gods to now Divine Dragons. It was regarded by Mila as the kingsfang, and the one and only godslayer.
Duma and Naga once clashed violently in the past, likely due to their differing views in regards to mankind. However, Naga for some reason gave Duma her fang fashioned into a weapon, which was for the intention for when Duma and Mila will go insane in the future, mankind can use it to end the two gods. It is strange why Duma would even be given this weapon by Naga, as he could easily use it against her, or even that the weapon may not ever go to a human. My theory is that Naga actually foresaw the events beforehand.
Anyways, Rudolf used Falchion and defeated Mila with it, but Mila used herself to seal the weapon with her so that Falchion may not be used against her brother, as despite her own growing madness, she loved Duma too much. Duma felt similarly in the past as well, as it was stated in the amiibo map for Duma, despite his disagreement with his sister, he never once turned Falchion against her.
When Jedah and Duma had mostly turned Celica into a witch, and she fought against Alm, Mila spoke with Alm and told him to grasp Falchion, and with it, strike Celica down. He did, and though Celica had died from this, it seems that Mila’s power or consciousness was within Falchion at the time, and she used her powers to revive Celica. Afterwards, Mila passed after entrusting her will to Alm and Celica.
Falchion in Gaiden is canonically the only weapon in the game to defeat Duma, the other being Nosferatu due to the above mentioned glitch. In Echoes, Falchion is one of the four weapons that can, and this is due to these weapons possessing the passive skill Deicide, which seals Oculus, Duma’s final attack that also has the effect to seal enemy attacks.
The other two weapons in Echoes that can deal a final blow to Duma are the weapons carried by the two amiibo units: Marth and Roy. Marth carries the Exalted Falchion, and Roy carries the Binding Blade, both of which also has the skill Deicide.
Interestingly enough, Lucina’s Parallel Falchion does not possess the skill Deicide, presumably because her Falchion is not at its full power. Exalted Falchion does have its power and is also forged by Naga like Alm’s Falchion is. And the Binding Blade is the strongest Legendary Weapon in Elibe that was specifically used to defeat dragons like Duma.
It is currently unknown what happened to this Falchion after the events of Echoes, as in Awakening, there is no mention of the Valentian Falchion.
Falchion in Echoes has the skills Anti-Terror, where it deals bonus damage to Terrors, a recovery skill, and Scendscale.
In Heroes, Alm’s Falchion can actually be refined to now have the Double Lion skill added into it, so it can act as a Brave Weapon, but only if Alm is at 100% HP, and afterwards, deals 5 points of damage to you.
Scendscale
This is Alm’s most powerful attack, and boy do I love the animation for this. When used, Alm holds either the Royal Sword or Falchion in front of him, as his Duma’s Brand shines. The blade releases a large burst of light that forms into a towering blade as Alm jumps into the air and slashes the opponent with it.
The blade deals massive damage and consumes a chunk of the player’s own HP, but it can hit at a range as well. I personally don’t get why Alm’s Royal Sword and Falchion both have this ultimate skill, but perhaps this is due to how they are Alm’s signature swords
One interesting fact to also have is that when Lucina in Warriors performs a Dual Special with her in the lead, she actually performs the attack in a similar fashion to Alm’s Scendscale. Even has a thing where Lucina’s Brand of the Exalt is shown to resonate when she makes the attack. Probably Lucina is intended to be a reference to Alm’s Scendscale. Celica probably couldn’t because she’s more magical based, and the fact that her Brand is on her palm.
And that’s it folks. That was all the weapons, spells, and special skills in Valentia that I managed to dig up. Not sure how it will be received, but I feel this was not that bad at all. Making the barebones of weapons in Valentia to now also have a longer list here that can be informative to you all.
I know some of you want Jugdral or other continents, but I intend to get to them when I can. In the meantime, please continue to support and comment about what you learned here if you want to.
Until next time.
Posted Mar 12, 2018, 9:26 PM UTC · edited