Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Wii home console. It is the tenth entry in the Fire Emblem series,[b] and acts as a direct sequel to the 2005 GameCube title Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. It was released in 2007 in Japan and North America, and 2008 in Europe and Australia.
Radiant Dawn's' plot begins in the war-torn nation of Daein with the main character Micaiah and her allies, the Dawn Brigade, rebelling against the oppressive Begnion Occupational Army. The story is divided into four parts, and changes perspective between different factions within the continent of Tellius. The gameplay is similar to Path of Radiance and previous Fire Emblem titles, with units moving across a grid-based map in turn-based battles, and characters unrelated to the core plot being subject to permanent death if defeated.
Radiant Dawn began development in 2005 for the Wii after the success of Path of Radiance. Continuing the trend of developing for home consoles after a period on portable devices, it was intended to be released close to the Wii hardware's release so as to boost sales for both game and hardware. Radiant Dawn received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the core gameplay, with some criticism directed at the game's lack of motion controls and high difficulty, while the changes to support conversations received negative reception.
Synopsis[]
Radiant Dawn is divided into four parts, each of which begins with a prologue chapter that introduces the situation, followed by a series of chapters that is resolved with an "Endgame" chapter.
Three years after the Mad King's War, detailed in Path of Radiance, Daein, the war's instigator and eventual loser, and the victorious nation Crimea are still in the process of rebuilding. Although Crimea is ruled by Queen Elincia, Daein lacks a proper successor and is instead ruled by the corrupt and oppressive occupation forces of the Begnion Empire. A group of Daein rebels named the Dawn Brigade, headed by Micaiah and Sothe, act as vigilantes to provide some measure of hope against the oppressors. After being driven from the capital, the Dawn Brigade flees into the northern desert. There they encounter the heron prince Rafiel and the wolf laguz queen Nailah, whose people have not been seen in Tellius for millennia. Soon after, the Dawn Brigade locates and allies with the late King Ashnard's orphan son Pelleas, his scheming and ruthless adviser Izuka, and the former general of Daein known as the Black Knight. The group launches a guerrilla war against the occupation army, liberating former soldiers of Daein from prison camps and gaining the loyalty of the people. Micaiah's efforts become legendary during these campaigns, with the people of Daein dubbing her the "Silver-Haired Maiden." Word of the plight of the Daein people eventually reaches Empress Sanaki of Begnion, who sends her trusted advisor Sephiran to Daein to reign in the occupation army. The senate disavows and scapegoats occupation leader General Jarod, who is overthrown and killed by the liberation army in an assault on the capital. Unbeknownst to them all, Izuka tricks Pelleas into signing a contract known as a blood pact with the head of the Begnion senate, Lekain, which will kill increasingly large numbers of Daein citizens when triggered.
Word of Pelleas' ascension reaches Crimea, and Queen Elincia's recognition of Pelleas as Daein's rightful ruler outrages the Crimean nobility. Fear that Crimea's hated enemy is rebuilding creates discontent throughout all levels of Crimean society. A Crimean noble named Ludveck takes advantage of the tension to organize a rebellion in order to claim Crimea for himself. Alerted to Ludveck's plan, the Crimean Royal Knights attack and capture Ludveck's castle. However, this is a diversion, and Ludveck's troops lay siege Elincia's castle, but they are repelled and Ludveck is captured. He attempts to force Elincia to release him by holding her friend Lucia hostage, but she is rescued by Ike and the Greil Mercenaries. Before Ike leaves, Elincia reveals the Black Knight's return in Daein.
When Ike returns to his headquarters, he is hired by the Laguz Alliance, consisting of the hawk nation of Pheonicis, the raven nation of Kilvas, and the beast nation of Gallia. Their representative, Ranulf, explains that Rafiel has revealed that the Begnion senate was responsible for assassinating the previous apostle of Begnion and framing the heron clans for it, resulting in their near annihilation. This has led to the Laguz Alliance declaring war on Begnion. Ike leads the Alliance into battle against the Begnion forces, commanded by the veteran general Zelgius. The situation quickly escalates, threatening to become a world war that will awaken the god of chaos Yune who will supposedly destroy the world. Begnion coerces Daein into joining the war on their side with the blood pact and uses another blood pact to force Kilvas to betray the Laguz Alliance. Pelleas asks Micaiah to kill him to free Daein from the blood pact, but even if she does, it simply results in the blood pact transferring to her. Nailah and Prince Kurthnaga of the dragon nation of Goldoa learn of Daein's plight and also side with them. Meanwhile, Begnion begins raiding Crimean villages for supplies, drawing Crimea into the conflict on the Laguz Alliance's side, and Empress Sanaki escapes the senate's clutches and joins the Alliance along with the faction of Begnion soldiers loyal to her. A massive battle ensues, and the chaos begins to awaken Yune; Micaiah is forced to prematurely awaken her with the galdr of release. Yune's awakening also awakens the goddess of order Ashera.[7]
As punishment for bringing the world into chaos, Ashera subsequently petrifies Tellius; only the most powerful warriors and human-laguz half-breeds survive. She decides that humankind is unworthy of survival and must be eradicated, and recruits the Begnion senate to this end. Guided by Yune, who sides with humanity, Ike, Micaiah, and King Tibarn of Pheonicis lead three groups in an assault on the Tower of Guidance where Ashera lies. Their journey brings about several revelations about the world and the previous conflicts. Ranulf reveals that the Black Knight's true identity is Zelgius; if Pelleas survived, Izuka reveals that he was not Ashnard's son, but an unwitting dupe used to place Daein further under Begnion's thumb; Yune reveals that the old claim that human-laguz half-breeds are a crime against the goddess and the subsequent persecution against them are based on a lie. In the Tower of Guidance, the group kills the corrupt Begnion senators and frees Daein and Kilvas from the blood pacts while Ike defeats Zelgius in a duel to the death. At the entrance to Ashera's chambers, the group encounters Sephiran, who reveals himself to be the ancient heron Lehran. Sephiran admits that the massacre of the heron clans destroyed his faith in humanity, and that he has since engineered both the Mad King's War and the Laguz-Begnion conflict in order to destroy the world. After defeating him, Yune empowers Ike with godlike power, and he defeats Ashera and restores peace to Tellius.
In the aftermath, Micaiah learns that she is Sanaki's long-lost and presumed-dead older sister, but leaves to take the throne of Daein with the approval of Pelleas (if he survived) and the Daein citizenry. Ike departs the continent and is never seen again. Hundreds of years later, Yune and Ashera combine to again become the goddess Ashunera, creator of Tellius. On a second playthrough onward, Lehran can be spared and redeemed; in this case, he greets Ashunera and reveals that the continent is once again about to go to war, and Ashunera resolves to protect the people.
Cast[]
| Character | Seiyū | Dub Actor |
|---|---|---|
| Micaiah | Natsuko Kuwatani | Lani Minella |
| Ike | Michihiko Hagi | Jason Adkins |
| Sothe | Junji Majima | Jeff Minerly |
| Mist | Miho Miyagawa | Lani Minella |
| Ranulf | Tatsuhisa Suzuki | Ed Bednarzik |
| Shinon | Junji Majima | Joey Pepin |
| Skirimir | Teruyuki Tanzawa | James A. Parker |
| Mia | Yū Asakawa | Lani Minella |
| Tibarn | Tatsuhisa Suzuki | Joey Pepin |
| Boyd | Tadahisa Saizen | ¿? |
| Black Knight | Junji Majima | David Frederick White |
| Rolf | Yū Asakawa | Lani Minella |
| Dheginsea | Takashi Nagasako | Ed Bednarzik |
| Ashera | Kumi Sakuma | Janet Day |
| Sephiran | Kazutaka Ishii | Ed Bednarzik |
| Yune | Kumi Sakuma | Mik Khulman |
| The Narrator | Takashi Nagasako | Lev Liberman |