Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (Mitsuki Oosawa manga)

Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu manga (translated as Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War) is one of the three manga adaptions of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu.

Technical information
This manga is written and illustrated by shoujo manga author Mitsuki Oosawa, and it was published from 1999 to 2001 by Media Factory. It reaches from Chapters 1 to 10 of the game, and it has 16 volumes as well as an artbook named "Gekka Ginyu" published in 2000.

Volumes
Author: Mitsuki Oosawa Illustrator: Mitsuki Oosawa Publisher: Media Factory Volumes (ISBN):
 * Vol. 1: 23rd October 1999 (4-88991-732-2)
 * Vol. 2: 23rd October 1999 (4-88991-733-0)
 * Vol. 3: 23rd October 1999 (4-88991-734-9)
 * Vol. 4: 23rd October 1999 (4-88991-735-7)
 * Vol. 5: 23rd October 1999 (4-88991-736-5)
 * Vol. 6: 23rd October 1999 (4-88991-737-3)
 * Vol. 7: 23rd October 1999 (4-88991-738-1)
 * Vol. 8: 24th January 2000 (4-88991-746-2)
 * Vol. 9: 24th April 2000 (4-88991-748-9)
 * Vol. 10: 23rd July 2000 (4-88991-754-3)
 * Vol. 11: 23rd October 2000 (4-88991-764-0)
 * Vol. 12: 23rd February 2001 (4-88991-774-8)
 * Vol. 13: 23rd April 2001 (4-88991-783-7)
 * Vol. 14: 23rd July 2001 (4-88991-789-6)
 * Vol. 15: 23rd September 2001 (4-88991-797-7)
 * Vol. 16: 31st October 2001 (4-8401-0405-0)
 * "Gekka Ginyu" Compilation: 23rd August 2000 (4-8401-0131-0)

Differences from the game

 * Characters like Holyn and Beowolf were excluded from this manga, with Oosawa allegedly admitting that she didn't include Beowolf because he was her least favorite character. She still included artwork of both of them.


 * On the other hand, Aless's mother Grahnye is renamed Iria and looks different from her art in the Fire Emblem: Treasure. She is, portrayed in an extremely unsympathetic manner, shown as a very clingy and cruel woman who is deathly jealous of Eltshan and Rackesis' closeness and gives Rackesis permission to join Siglud's case solely because she wants her sister-in-law to die in battle.


 * A good part of the story is driven by the consequences that the fighting among nobles and military has on the common people. Many scenes show the commoners being abused by their evil or apathetic lords, specially in the Zaxon arc where a little boy is injured by a soldier to try prove a point, and he dies of his wounds despite Ferry's desperate attempts to help him.


 * Diadora is given a larger role and characterization than in the game. She is portrayed as being very confident in her magical abilities, and even managing to win a fight almost by herself (against Clement, whom she first depowers with her Silence staff, then puts to sleep with a Sleep staff alongside all of his guards). The scene in which she is kidnapped and brainwashed is expanded as well, and she's caught by Manfroy while trying to protect Shanan, Oifaye, baby Seliph and Arden (among others) from him. She also regains her memories when Siglud visits Alvis during the climax and she tries to talk Alvis into peace but ends up watching Alvis incinerate Sigurd.


 * Siglud's character is also greatly changed. While he remains honor-bound and compassionate, he has a far more hot-blooded and impulsive side, which is portrayed as an almost fatal flaw. In example, in the fight with Sandima he's consumed with revenge due to Noish and other knights being on the brink of death due to the Fenrir spell, so he commits critical mistakes that almost cost him his own life, with Prince Jamka's timely intervention being what saves him.


 * In the game, it's mentioned that Victor (Alvis and Azel's father) hung himself after learning of Cigyun and Kurth's affair. In the manga, however, he is seen laying on a dark pool on the floor, therefore it's not clear if he either drank poison and thus vomited blood and other fluids as he died, or if he stabbed himself and said pool is his own blood.
 * There's also a big emphasis on Alvis and his own issues, specially his relationship with Azel and his idealization of Cigyun. In regards to Azel, we have flashbacks of the time when a seven-years-old Alvis takes a newborn Azel into the Velthomer court; regarding his mother, when he meets Diadora for the first time, for a second he actually sees her as Cigyun. Towards the end of the series, Alvis realizes his fault and basically allows Seliph to kill him, only throwing one blow towards him then feigning defeat.


 * In game, Ira's fate is not clear. The manga states, however, that she escapes the battle with Lex and seek refuge with his brother Danan after giving him the Swanchika. However Danan turns on them, kills Lex and Ira is assumed to be dead as well.
 * The incident that finished with Prince Kurth's death is expanded, as it happens when he, Vylon and Ring are traveling together. It gives some more insight in Kurth's own personality and motivations, revealing that right before his murder he was in process of searching for his daughter and heiress Diadora (in the game we only learn that Diadora had been found, but not whether Kurth or Azmur ordered to have her taken to Grandbell). Ring also gets some more spotlight: he's shown as a reasonable authority figure and a foil to his old friend Vylon's temper, but this isn't enough to prevent his death.


 * While the romantic couples in the game can be sorted by the player's tactics, Oosawa made them set on stone in the storyline. Here are some of the match-ups: Siglud/Diadora, Adean/Jamka, Lex/Ira, Azel -> Adean, Azel/Tailto, Sylvia -> Levn, Levn -> Mahnya, Ferry/Levn, Eltshan/Rackesis (doomed due to the circumstances), Fin/Rackesis, Sylvia/Claude. After Barhara Briggid escapes with both Dew and Midayle although the manga does not specify who she ends up with.
 * Sylvia's portrayal is extremely sympathetic, in an odd contrast of what was done to Eltshan's wife Grahnye/Iria. She explains to Ferry that when she became a dancer, people treated her badly despite her beauty and skills due to her uncertain origins. At some point Sylvia met and befriended Levn, who did not care about her identity, ultimately offering her to be his partner; she fell for him since nobody had treated her with such kindness before.


 * The subplot about Eltshan and Rackesis's possible incestuous bond becomes much more blatant. Their romantic vibes come from the time they met, when a 12-year-old Rackesis (daughter of the Nodion lord and a former servant/retainer) is brought into the Nodion court after her mother's passing, and a young and still unmarried Eltshan saves her from Elliot's bullying. Right before he confronts Chagall, Eltshan does openly tell Rackesis that he loves her in a non-brotherly way; he refuses to have sex with her when she offers him her virginity, however, but gives her a first and last kiss before leaving. When Eltshan dies, Rackesis temporarily falls into despair and self-harm, ultimately getting better and then hooking up with Fin after he helps her to get through said issues. Few after Fin leaves to Lenster with Cuan and Ethlin, Rackesis finds out that she's pregnant with her first child, Delmud.
 * While King Chagall never was the more sympathetic character, his cruelty and cowardice are made especially clear, which earns him mocks from Trabant. When Eltshan is executed by his orders, Chagall has his severed head sent to Siglud and Cuan's base, horrifying everyone and making Rackesis fall into the aforementioned period of self-harm and despair. He's so afraid of dying that he commits suicide by jumping off the top of his castle when Siglud comes to battle with him.
 * On the other hand, Mahnya's rival Pamela is given a extended and complex characterization. She is said to be driven by her envy and feelings of inferiority towards Mahnya, but without reaching the extremes of evil that other characters fall into. In example, after killing Mahnya in battle she doesn't behead her corpse (which earns her rebukes from Andorey) and instead she takes her body back to Silesia for a proper burial, also refusing to take Mahyna's Silver Lance for herself. Pamela also says farewell to Siglud and company after they leave Silesia to head to Grandbell.
 * While in the game The Battle of Barhara was said to have killed off many of Siglud's compainons, in the manga it's not as true. Arden, Alec, and Noish die in the battle, Levn is killed by Manfroy, Ferry fights her way to Levn's body then escapes, to avoid fighting the soldiers Azel and Tailto jump into a river, Rackesies and Aidean go with Oifey and Shannan to Isaac, Ira and Lex survive and go to Isaac after the battle. Midayle, Dew, Briggid, Claude, and Sylvia are seen at the end leaving the field unharmed which leaves specualtion on Jamka.