From what can be seen in the trailer, it appears as though the villains of the game have the power to corrupt Emblems and wield them against the protagonist. Heroes like Marth, Lyn, and Lucina take on a red aura—in contrast to their typical blue aura—and fight alongside enemies. One enemy even remarks that Emblems aren’t just for the protagonist to use and another can be seen putting on an Emblem Ring as Marth begins to become corrupted. But with Fire Emblem’s long history of iconic villains, it would be a shame if the only Emblems that enemies wield are those of corrupted Heroes.
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The Corrupted Hero is an Overused Trope in Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem has had its fair share of plots that center around the corruption of heroes. Fire Emblem Awakening saw the corruption of the protagonist as the Fell-Dragon Grima and Fire Emblem: Three Houses features the descent of several characters into villainous madness depending on which route is taken. Despite being such a common trope of the series, these plot points worked fine in the context of their original games. However, another corruption-of-the-hero plot would be huge waste of potential, as the introduction of legacy characters as Emblems opens the door not only for classic heroes, but villains as well.
Hero corruption can be a source of tragedy for both the player and the main cast, especially if the heroes have grown and bonded with the rest of the cast. However, it is also a fairly predictable trope for the Fire Emblem series and fans are likely expecting some iteration of this trope to occur. In order to truly demonstrate the power of the Emblem Rings, villains should be able to summon past antagonists from the series. Not only would this be more exciting for longtime fans, but it would add to the gravity of the plot and make the villains of the game much more intimidating.
Fire Emblem Has an Iconic Roster of Villains
The heroes making their appearance as Emblems in Fire Emblem Engage have already been shown off in official artwork of the game, but heroes aren’t the only iconic characters from the series. Villains like the Black Knight from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Gangrel from Fire Emblem Awakening, and Garon from Fire Emblem Fates would all make excellent Emblems for the villains of Fire Emblem Engage to summon. The gravitas these iconic foes carry would be the perfect addition to a roster of fan favorite legacy characters.
Engage could also go for deeper cuts like Gharnef from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon or Lyon from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. Having one villain from each game would mirror the hero Emblems and would make the most sense from a narrative standpoint. This hero versus villain tug-of-war over the Emblem Rings would make for a much more interesting struggle overall by setting Engage’s villains apart. Since Nintendo has not shown any villains returning as Emblems, it is unclear if this will actually be a plot point for the game. However, these iconic villains deserve their chance to shine again just as much as the heroes and hopefully will get some love in Fire Emblem Engage.
Fire Emblem Engage releases on January 20, 2023 for Nintendo Switch.
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