Part 2: Prologue 2: Enter The Frey

Prologue 2: Enter The Frey

Welcome back. Last time we met our hero, Prince Marth, as his sister told him to find Jagen and escape the castle. Today we’re going to find Jagen and escape the castle.



The bottom screen is blank during these prologue titles. I wanted to show that off, and this was definitely not a cropping error.




These two men on horseback run up to Marth as soon as he enters the scene.






: Sire, we must be quick. Sir Jagen awaits us at the gates.


There’s no actual time limit here, but I’m sure you don’t want to keep Jagen waiting.




Seems things won’t be that easy, though. Jagen may be at the gates, but he has no trouble letting enemies just run on through.




: Jagen and the others will be caught like mice...we need to seize the gates and secure the area, immediately.




It’s not immediately obvious where “the gates” are, but if you check the map, you can helpfully see the objective tile highlighted in yellow.





By the way, just like you can see allied movement ranges, you can check that for enemies too. We don’t want any of our units getting ganged up on, or hit with an attack you don’t think they can take, so this can be extremely helpful.




That said, I’m just going to charge these dorks because they’re awful.

Abel is honestly one of the strongest all around units in the game. He has the most availability possible (except Marth on Normal), and respectable growths in pretty much all his stats. Growths are your chances to gain a point in each stat on leveling, and they vary for each character and class. He also starts able to use the Javelin, a 1-2 ranged weapon. It’s hard to go wrong with Abel.




For example, he immediately doubles this Soldier, killing him without taking a counterattack, like you normally would between hits. That’s the power of the Javelin!

This is probably a good time to introduce the Cavalier as well. Abel and Frey are both Cavaliers. They have extremely high movement and access to Lances and Swords. They’re well rounded, and honestly one of my favorite classes. Hopefully they’re one of yours too, because Shadow Dragon vomits Cavaliers at you.




Against the fighter, I’m sending Frey. Frey is like Abel but even better. He’s got better growths in almost everything.

Oh, he’s also not available on any mode but Normal. So...that hurts.




Sadly he can’t double the fighter for all of his HP, but I’ll scoop up the kill during the Enemy Phase.




: Ho ho… What’s this? I spy the Altean prince. Oi, listen up, you lot! Bag the prince! Dead or alive, he’ll fetch us as sweet a reward as the mind can conjure.

: Sir Jagen, did they really all have that accent?

: Do you really still have all that shit on your head?

: …




The fighter goes for Abel and does some damage, but he dies for his trouble.




We’ve still got four enemies left on the map, though. Two soldiers and




Yeah, archers.



Archers exclusively use Bows, and can only hit from 2 squares away. This makes them easy to avoid counters with, but they have trouble countering themselves. Their high Skill makes for good hit rates and lots of criticals, but you have to be very careful with these units, or they’ll get destroyed on the front lines.




I’m using Frey down there to lure in the last soldier.




It worked out splendidly!




Now I do the same thing, but with Abel and the archer. Honestly, these enemies aren’t dangerous, you could just bum rush the boss, but I want to show off some strategy in the early parts of this strategy game.




Now you see him.





Now you don’t. Abel got a critical there, you can tell when the screen flashes yellow and your character has a special attack animation. It’s quick and hard to capture with Javelins, so I’ll try to grab a better shot later.




While Abel goes to deal with the second and final archer, Frey is taking on the “boss”, which is just a normal soldier who won’t move off of the point.




Again, really not much in these Prologue goons.




Abel did get a hit off on the archer, filling up his EXP bar and getting him his first level!




And it’s terrible. Don’t get me wrong, Speed’s a good stat, you just...hope for more than just that and HP, especially on someone as good as Abel is.




Frey also rides over to kill the archer, so I can try my luck at the Level Up wheel one more time.




Oh, this is a bad, bad omen.




I’m leaving these damned halls. I will flee the bad RNG, but it could always linger.




Glad to know Jagen is always rocking those ridiculously dangerous shoulderpads.




This guy wasn’t here for the Chapter itself, he just shows up in this cutscene.







Marth says “Yow!” a lot. Hopefully it’s a habit he’ll grow out of.

: Sire, it’s really you...I feared the worst. That his message would go undeliv...Agh…

: In that state I don’t know how you even stayed ahorse.

He’s not a horse, he’s a Cain

: Those gashes must be treated at once-


: No, sire, Not until we’ve escaped.




There’s the Jagen I know and love.


: Of course, sir...I aim to please…




This is a really minor nitpick, but the Throne Room of Castle Altea looks nothing like this. There are like, three different throne room maps spread across the two games in this duology for this one castle. Maybe they just remodel a lot.

: No, Malledus, I am staying here.

: S-staying here?! What madness is this?

: Too many people have died to keep Altea and its castle safe. I cannot abandon what so many lives have brought. With Father and Mother unaccounted for, I am the natural choice to remain with Altea’s people. And besides, by staying, I can buy time for the rest of you to escape.

Elice making the bold choice of assuming they won’t just immediately stab her like they did her dad.


: Nonsense. Just gather your things, and-”

: Malledus. I am not suggesting. I am commanding. If something befalls Father, Marth will become the last person in the entire world worthy of wielding the Falchion. I want you to guide him, Malledus- even when the rest of us no longer can.

Little bit fatalistic there.


: Princess...I will try my best.

: There’s not much time. Go, Malledus, go!




And he went.


So, since these updates are fairly short, I figure a bit of bonus content’s in order. In Japan, the Fire Emblem Card Game, known as Fire Emblem Cipher or Fire Emblem 0, has been picking up steam. Because of that, we have lots of cards of our favorite characters, even from Shadow Dragon! So I’ll try to show some of them off, since the art is available online. Credits to the Fire Emblem Wiki for that. Today, we’ll go with our new pal, Abel.



The Green Knight, Abel

I’m not sure why everything around him is on fire. I also don’t know how to play the card game, although evidently you get some sort of bonus for playing Cain and Abel at the same time!