Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade is a Japanese tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. The game was released on March 29, 2002 in Japan, is the sixth game in the Fire Emblem series, and the first of three games in the series released on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance handheld.

It was the last Fire Emblem game to be released exclusively in Japan until the release of Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem. The Binding Blade was followed by a prequel, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, set twenty years earlier.

Development Edit

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade was the end result of a rocky development cycle that began with the development of the Nintendo 64 project Fire Emblem: Ankoku no Miko, which was cancelled in 2000. This followed internal drama that began the previous year when Shouzou Kaga, creator of the franchise and a principle creative figure in its development since its inception, left Intelligent Systems to found an independent game studio of his own. Nearly all work on Ankoku no Miko was scrapped as development was rebooted and the project was moved from the N64 to the Game Boy Advance. A whole new setting was also devised for the game, separating it from the world and continuity of the original five entries.

Only two characters originally created for Ankoku no Miko, Roy and Karel, survived the transition into The Binding Blade, though not without significant rewrites and revised designs.


See also: Elibe Series.

The game takes place on the fictional continent of Elibe, set twenty years after its prequel, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Starring the son of protagonist Eliwood, Roy.

1,000 years before the events of the game, the land of Elibe was the scene of The Scouring, a brutal war between humans and dragons over the control of the land. Late in this war, mankind forged nine powerful dragon-slaying weapons, the Divine Weapons and the Binding Blade, and gave them to eight powerful fighters who became known as the Eight Legends to use to finish the war. However, the sheer power imbued in the weapons tore apart the balance in the laws of nature when clashed with the dragon's own power, a phenomenon later called the Ending Winter.

After the war, fearing the power of the weapons and the possibility of someone using them to cause a catastrophe, the weapons were sealed away in hiding places across the continent. Over the thousand years, the weapons remained undisturbed, and the continent is mostly at peace.

However, this peace is soon ended when Bern suddenly invades Sacae and Ilia and swiftly takes control of the two countries. They then turn towards the small country of Lycia. Roy then leads the League of Lycia's army against the forces of the militant country of Bern shortly after his father falls ill.










Lilina joins Roy's quest and tells him that she was entrusted with information as to the whereabouts of the legendary sword, Durandal, by her father. So they head to the cave it is kept in to retrieve it.




Roy heads to various areas on the Isles to help the citizenry, where he meets the bard Elffin and the dancer Larum, along with other members of the force resisting the Etrurians on the islands, who confirm that this is indeed the case. And so Roy heads to the capital, Jutes, to end the oppression. It was here where Roy first saw for himself one of Bern's Dragons.


Cecilia is gathering an army to fight Roartz in Missur, but Bern's armies are closing on her position, so Roy immediately heads to help her. But it seems they are too late, as King Zephiel defeats Cecilia in one hit, seriously injures her, and captures his sister Guinivere.









Roy drawing the Binding Blade


Upon returning to the surface, Roy proceeds to the altar containing the Binding Blade and places the Fire Emblem into the handle, unsealing the sword. Through its power, he is spontaneously promoted to Master Lord.


Roy battling against Zephiel





Demon dragon

Roy fighting Idunn in the final battle



Idunn was taken to Arcadia, where the elders restored her soul to her body. Despite this, it was expected that she would never recover from over a millennium as a Demon Dragon. However, that was not true as Idunn smiled and laughed after a fruit fell on Fae's head. After experiencing that, Fae went on to tell Roy that she laughed. As Idunn is following her, she feels a warm breeze.

Characters Edit

See main article: List of characters in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.

Counting both characters available in the game's main story and through the Trial Maps, Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade has a roster of sixty-two playable characters. This statistically gave the game the largest roster among handheld entries in the series until the release of Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem.


See main article: Chapters (Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade).

Classes Edit

See main article: List of classes in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.


See main article: List of Music in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.


Representation in Other Games Edit

Super Smash Bros. Melee Edit

Roy appears as an unlockable character in the Nintendo GameCube brawler Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was originally intended to only be included in the Japanese version of the game in order to promote the then upcoming release of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade alongside Marth, the classic protagonist of the first and third Fire Emblem titles. Both characters were planned to be dummied out of the western release of SSBM, but were kept in at the request of localization and QA staff at Nintendo of America.

The appearance of Roy and Marth in the game can be credited with helping bring Fire Emblem games to North America, beginning with Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. Roy and Marth both speak Japanese in Melee, as neither character had English actors at the time and all voices were shared between regions.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Edit

Super Smash Bros. Brawl includes a gameplay feature involving collectible in-game stickers that can be used to customize the stats of characters by applying them to the given character's trophy base. Several stickers that appear are of characters from The Binding Blade, including Roy, Lilina, Rutger, and Dieck.

Roy did not return in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and was swapped out with Ike from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. However, data found within SSBB shows that he may have originally been intended to return. One reason that Roy's inclusion in Brawl may not have been prioritized is that he was designed as a "clone" character of Marth that shared many of Marth's attacks and animations, and his original inclusion in Melee was meant to promote The Binding Blade.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Edit

Roy once again became a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as post-launch DLC for the game.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Edit

Roy is once again a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a member of the default release roster.



External links Edit
