Summary
Throughout the series' recent explosion in popularity,Fire Emblemhas begun to indulge more and more in social features, with player romance becoming one of the most popular among them. Romance options have only become more diverse over time, with some queer characters now at the forefront of the series. The nextFire Emblemgame should make an effort to push this bar higher than ever before.
ManymodernFire Emblemgamesallow the player to marry another member of the cast. Likewise, they may also nudge romantic relationships between other characters. These romance mechanics were front and center inFire Emblem Awakening, and played a huge role in the series' revival, but it’s the games that followed that have really allowed players to express themselves.
The Next Fire Emblem Needs to Embrace LGBTQ+ Representation More Than Ever Before
DS Fire Emblem Games Experienced Growing Pains With Romance Options
Fire Emblem Awakeningmay have brought romance to the forefront, but it didn’t perfect the mechanics therein. It was really only created for the sake of introducing child units, and in that regard it certainly did its job. Regardless, it cemented romance as a series staple, and subsequent games have allowed players to embrace more diverse options ever since.
However, this movement didn’t arrive all at once, andFire Emblem’s LGBTQ+ representation remained pretty dire for the rest of the DS era.Fire Emblem Fatesis the most controversial offender, as the representation it does include is seen as more of a problem than a benefit. AlthoughFatesintroduced Soleil, a canonical lesbian, her story is sorely mishandled.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentiais certainly less culpable in this regard, as its lack of queer romance can be attributed to its remake status.Echoesstill introduced a number of incredible new characters, and even canonized an existing character as gay. Thanks to this precedent, arumoredFire Emblemremakemay introduce new characters as well, and embrace queer romance more than its original.
Nintendo Switch Era Fire Emblem Made Huge Improvements to Queer Representation
WhileAwakeningmade romance central to the series,Fire Emblem: Three Housesmade representation central to romance. The game has been widely praised for providing the player character with several options for queer romance among both the male and female cast. Many characters beside Byleth are portrayed as openly bisexual as well, and though romance between party members isn’t as ingrained as it was inAwakeningorFates, there are still many implied queer romances within certain paired endings.
Despite making leaps and bounds compared to its predecessor,Fire Emblem:Three Housesisn’t free from controversyeither. Most notably, there were very few gay male options available to players, especially at launch. For example, female Byleth could romance Edelgard, but male Byleth could not romance either Dimitri or Claude. Though this was perhaps a necessary stepping stone, the nextFire Emblemgame should take notes by allowing players to always romance the most important characters, no matter their gender.
Despite being a spinoff game,Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopesmade further improvementsstill. Monica was made playable for the first time, and the developers made it clearer than ever that she was in love with Edelgard. Other characters, such as Sylvain, were now portrayed as bisexual when they hadn’t been before.
Fire Emblem Engagecontinued to push the envelope, arguably even more than its predecessors. The improvement of gay options for either gender was improved, and there is even a character with a queer gender identity. Unfortunately, interpersonal romances that don’t involve the player take somewhat of a backseat, but this doesn’t erase the game’s other efforts.
The Next Fire Emblem Game Can Learn from its Predecessors to Embrace Diversity
Though there have certainly been ups and downs regardingLGBTQ+ representation inFire Emblem, each game provided a valuable lesson no matter its handling of this important matter.Fire Emblem Awakening,Fates, andEchoeseach demonstrated the importance of this issue in their own ways.Three HousesandThree Hopesshowed players just what the series is capable of, andEngagemade it evident that this will remain a priority well into the future.
Avatar protagonists are inseparable fromFire Emblemnow, as they allow players to experience the game’s story as if they were there. Self-expression should be the primary goal of avatar characters such as these, and they can’t truly be perfected unless every player feels represented.Fire Emblemhas made significant progress regarding diversity so far, and the next game should keep up the great work.
Fire Emblem Engage
WHERE TO PLAY
The Divine Dragon awakens: In a war against the Fell Dragon, four kingdoms worked together with heroes from other worlds to seal away this great evil. One-thousand years later, this seal has weakened and the Fell Dragon is about to reawaken. As a Divine Dragon, use rich strategies and robust customization to meet your destiny—to collect 12 Emblem Rings and bring peace back to the Continent of ElyosTeam up with iconic heroes from past Fire Emblem games: Summon valiant heroes like Marth and Celica with the power of Emblem Rings and add their power to yours in this brand-new Fire Emblem story.Engage in a new style of combat: Aside from merging appearances, Engaging lets you use weapons, skills, and more from these legends during battle. The turn-based, tactical battle is back with the brand-new Engage system to add more layers to the strategy.Welcome to Somniel: Explore the paradise of Somniel, your base of operations, located in the sky above the continent of Elyos. It hosts a variety of facilities and activities for the player to prepare for upcoming battles and strengthen bonds.
