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FE4 Volume 1 Cover Oosawa Manga

Cover of the first volume of the Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War manga by Mitsuki Oosawa.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War manga is one of the four manga adaptations of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.

Technical information[]

This manga is written and illustrated by seinen 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: 23 October 1999 (4-88991-732-2)
  • Vol. 2: 23 October 1999 (4-88991-733-0)
  • Vol. 3: 23 October 1999 (4-88991-734-9)
  • Vol. 4: 23 October 1999 (4-88991-735-7)
  • Vol. 5: 23 October 1999 (4-88991-736-5)
  • Vol. 6: 23 October 1999 (4-88991-737-3)
  • Vol. 7: 23 October 1999 (4-88991-738-1)
  • Vol. 8: 24 January 2000 (4-88991-746-2)
  • Vol. 9: 24 April 2000 (4-88991-748-9)
  • Vol. 10: 23 July 2000 (4-88991-754-3)
  • Vol. 11: 23 October 2000 (4-88991-764-0)
  • Vol. 12: 23 February 2001 (4-88991-774-8)
  • Vol. 13: 23 April 2001 (4-88991-783-7)
  • Vol. 14: 23 July 2001 (4-88991-789-6)
  • Vol. 15: 23 September 2001 (4-88991-797-7)
  • Vol. 16: 31 October 2001 (4-8401-0405-0)
  • "Gekka Ginyu" Compilation: 23 August 2000 (4-8401-0131-0)

Differences from the game[]

  • Characters like Chulainn and Beowolf were excluded from this manga, with Oosawa allegedly admitting that she did not include Beowolf because he was her least favorite character. Regardless, she still included artwork of both of them.
  • Due to Beowulf being cut, Voltz only appears in an artwork alongside Beowulf.
  • Ares' mother Grahnye is renamed Iria and looks different from her art in the Fire Emblem: Treasure. She is depicted as deathly jealous of how close Eldigan and Lachesis are and gives Lachesis permission to join Sigurd's army solely because she wants her sister-in-law to die in battle. When she's notified of Eldigan's execution and decides to go back to her homeland with little Ares, she's calm on the outside but gloats about Lachesis' unhappiness on the inside.
  • 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, especially in the Agusty arc where a little boy is injured by a soldier to try prove a point, and he dies of his wounds despite Erinys's desperate attempts to help him.
  • Deirdre is given a larger role and characterization than in the game. In the past she was raised in a small village inside the Forest, and when her Mark of Naga appeared on her forehead, everyone save for her grandmother and caretaker shunned her, which greatly damaged her self-esteem. In the present 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 debilitates 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 is caught by Manfroy while trying to protect Shannan, Oifey, baby Seliph and Arden (among others) from him. Her days as the Princess of Grannvale are also depicted: she gets along very well with her grandfather Azmur, worries a lot for his declining health, and is beloved by the crowds for her kindness and beauty. She also regains her memories when Sigurd visits Arvis during the climax: she tries to talk Arvis into peace, but ends up watching the emotionally shattered Arvis incinerate Sigurd and mentally collapses.
  • While Sigurd 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 is consumed with revenge due to Naoise 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 Jamke's timely intervention saving him.
  • In the game, it is mentioned that Victor (Arvis and Azelle'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 and with a cup of wine near his corpse, implying he drank poison instead. It's also said that he beat Cigyun on top of cheating on her, and that his will included a curse on the Belhalla Royal Family; Cigyun ran away out of guilt and a desire to protect Kurth from said curse.
  • There is also a big emphasis on Arvis and his own issues, especially his relationship with Azelle and his idealization of Cigyun. In regards to Azelle, there are flashbacks of the time when a seven-years-old Arvis first resolves to hate the newborn Azelle into the Velthomer court, but deciding to take him under his wing instead after meeting him. Regarding his mother, when he meets Deirdre for the first time, for a second he actually sees her as Cigyun, and falls in love with her half due to that and half due to her kindness to everyone. Still, he does not know that Deirdre is his half-sister until she tells him that she is found out and even calls him "Brother" right before dying at Julius' hands. When he sees Sigurd with Deirdre in the middle of the Battle of Belhalla, Arvis suffers a nervous crisis and starts begging her not to leave him, revealing his backstory to the two; but when Sigurd attempts to reach for him, he snaps again and attack him, killing him. Towards the end of the series, having learned of his and Deirdre's shared bonds and then lost everything, Arvis realizes his fault in all of this and basically allows Seliph to kill him, only throwing one blow towards him and then feigning defeat.
  • In game, Ayra's fate is not clear. The manga states, however, that she escapes the battle with Lex and, after months of being on the run, the two seek refuge with his brother Danann after giving him the Helswath. However Danann turns on them, kills Lex and Ayra is assumed to be dead as well. She is last seen fighting Danann's guards.
  • The incident that finished with Prince Kurth's death is expanded, as it happens when he, Byron 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 Deirdre (in the game it's said that Deirdre had been located, but not whether Kurth or Azmur ordered to have her taken to Grannvale). Ring also gets some more spotlight before being killed by Andorey: he is shown as a reasonable authority figure and a foil to his old friend Byron's temper.
  • While the romantic couples in the game can be sorted by the player's tactics, Oosawa made them set in stone during the storyline. Here are some of the match-ups: Edain/Jamke, Lex/Ayra, Azelle/Tailtiu, Erinys/Lewyn, Eldigan/Lachesis (doomed due to the circumstances), Finn/Lachesis, Silvia/Claud. After Belhalla, Brigid escapes with both Dew and Midir, but ultimately ends up with Dew.
  • The treatment of Silvia and Erinys' conflict over Lewyn portrays Silvia more sympathetically. Instead of Silvia simply challenging Erinys for Lewyn's love, it has Erinys speaking carelessly about Silvia's dancer career, leading Silvia to bitterly dispel these assumptions. She explains that when she became a dancer, people treated her badly despite her beauty and skills due to her uncertain origins; at some point she met and befriended Lewyn, 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. Silvia then runs away crying, leaving a stunned and also tearful Erinys behind, but later they apologize to one another and become friends.
  • The subplot about Eldigan and Lachesis' incestuous bond is much more blatant. Lachesis is the daughter of the Nordion lord and a beautiful handmaid, conceived few after the passing of Eldigan's mother; her mother ran away from the court when she found out that she was pregnant, but the lord sincerely loved her and spent years looking for both her and the child. Both mother and daughter are located and summoned into Nordion when Lachesis is 12 years old, then the Nordion lord married his once lost love and acknowledged Lachesis as his second child and the Nordion Princess. A still unmarried 17-year-old Eldigan helps Lachesis to get used to the court, then rescues her from Elliot's bullying. Both are aware of how they cannot be together, and this also leads to momentary friction between father and son, and later permanent one between Eldigan and Iris/Grahnye, Right before he confronts Chagall, Eldigan does openly tell Lachesis 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 on the lips before leaving. Finally, Eldigan's execution is depicted differently than in lore: Chagall first strikes him down with his sword, then has his corpse beheaded AND sends his head to Sigurd.
  • There are also more details regarding Lachesis and Finn. Quan assigns Finn to be Lachesis' bodyguard, and while she's polite to him at the start, she keeps him somewhat at arm's length while he near immediately crushes on her, even realizing and secretly questioning her feelings for Eldigan plus his own, since he's just a knight and she's a princess. When Eldigan dies, Finn is the first one to find out and has to relay the news, which makes Lachesis emotionally collapse and even more when he tells her about his head being sent to Sigurd and Quan. For a short but intense time she falls into despair and self-harm (with the Earth Sword given to her by Eldigan); Finn decides to help her to get through said issues, even stabbing himself with the Earth Sword to make her react. Few after Finn leaves to Leonster with Quan and Ethlyn, he and Lachesis spend the night together and he promises to earn enough land and recognition to be able to properly marry her; soon she finds out that she is pregnant with her first child, Diarmuid.
  • While King Chagall never was the more sympathetic character, his cruelty and cowardice are made especially clear, which earns him mocks from Travant. When Eldigan is executed by his orders, Chagall has his severed head sent to Sigurd and Quan's base, horrifying everyone and making Lachesis fall into the aforementioned period of self-harm and despair. When Sigurd comes to battle with him, Chagall is so afraid of dying that he commits suicide by jumping off the top of his castle. Travant witnesses this and immediately withdraws his troops, unwilling to face Sigurd and Quan alone.
  • On the other hand, Annand's rival Pamela is given an extended and complex characterization. She is said to be driven by her envy and feelings of inferiority towards Annand, but without reaching the extremes of evil that other characters fall into. In example, after killing Annand in battle she doesn't behead her corpse (which earns her rebukes from Andorey) and instead she takes her body back to Silesse for a proper burial, also refusing to take Annand's Silver Lance for herself. Pamela also says farewell to Sigurd and company after they leave Silesse to head to Grannvale.
  • Several villains were also tweaked to have deeper, more complex personality:
    • Duke Daccar, while staying in-character when he lived, has a far more sympathetic death scene. Lewyn came personally to him and, rather than fighting him, played soothing music, which reminded Daccar of his evil acts. To atone for his sins, he stabbed himself and died in Lewyn's arms, entrusting Silesse's future to him.
    • Andorey is portrayed as a troubled man who felt crushed under the pressure of succeeding Duke Ring in the absence of his sisters. This changed him from a gentle boy with an angelical smile (in Brigid's own words) into a cold-hearted young man that commits atrocities so Brigid would witness them, hate him and then eventually kill him, releasing him from the burden of responsibility.
    • Duke Lombard is quite similar to his game counterpart, but the origin of his greed for power were expanded: He felt that it is unfair that during the war, the Twelve Crusaders were treated as equals, and in the present day, they are playing favorites. He also used to be a loving father to Lex, but when he was asked about that unfairness, that was the point Lombard became cold and distant to Lex, driving a wedge between them. By the end of his life, Lombard came to accept that Lex can move on as his own man, and warns him that if he ever turns back from his path, he will be waiting in Hell, a far cry from how minimal the in-game confrontation went and how Lex felt no remorse in killing his father.
    • Duke Reptor is also a much more sympathetic figure. While he did commit some heinous acts, he only had the interests of Grannvale in his mind, and was also a loving father for his family. When he heard Lombard fell and Tailtiu accused him of only seeing her as a pawn for his games by putting her in Sigurd's ranks, instead of letting her die to preserve House Friege's name, Reptor realized how far he had fallen and embraced his daughter as an apology, and agreed to admit his crimes to King Azmur. When Aida, under Arvis' command, betrayed him (by having him willingly give the Mjolnir tome as a proof of his repentance), Reptor focused his retreat to protect a wounded Tailtiu, praying for a chance of redemption by having him die and letting his daughter live on. Upon meeting Azelle for the first time, Reptor trusted someone else, and entrusted Tailtiu to Azelle as he faced his pursuers and died in the process, showing the heroism he inherited from Thrud and how his prayers were fulfilled.
    • While Manfroy is as cruel as he was in the games, he explains his troubled past to Lewyn and Erinys during the Battle of Belhalla. He once was a naive boy raised in the underground Loptyr cult and hidden from the world, who always wished to see the outside. The time he and his just as sheltered best friend/adoptive sister attempted to go outside, they were captured and set for execution: his parents tried to save them but failed, and the four were burned at the stake. Somehow young Manfroy survived, but was severely wounded and scarred (his bald head is covered in scars); from then on he grew angry and bitter, willing to destroy the world that never accepted him and his family. Manfroy even sheds tears as he finishes explaining himself and attacks Lewyn, who is so stunned by the truth that he cannot properly fight back and soon dies at Manfroy's hands.
    • King Danann isn't given a sympathetic treatment in-story, but his specific reasons to hate Lex are explained. When they were young, Danann was not only neglected by Lombard, who saw him as a failure, but he witnessed how Lombard doted on little Lex (before their fateful disagreement). The Danann that appears in the second half is an envious, miserable, self-hating and bitter man who refuses to let go of his unfair loathing of his younger half-brother, even after having personally executed him for treason; he also projects said envy and bitterness on Lex's children, Ulster and Larcei.
  • Travant is portrayed as having one-sided romantic feelings for Ethlyn, who finds him in a river and saves him from death some time before the Aed Massacre. Unaware that she is Quan's wife, he attempts to kiss her, and she responds to this by becoming upset and fleeing. This results in Ethlyn being terrified of him, and in the end, she never tells Quan about Travant's romantic pursuit of her. It is also established that his son, Arion, was born from a "fit of passion" and mothered by a woman who was not married to him, and that the only reason that Travant claimed him is that the markings of Dain appeared on his body. During the Aed Massacre, Travant did not personally take Altena hostage or demand Quan to drop the Gae Bolg. A random Wyvern Rider did the first deed while Quan offered to do the latter by himself instead of being threatened. A mentally-crushed Ethlyn, who had previously had lots of misgivings over handing the Gae Bolg to Quan, was completely shattered by the guilt she felt AND feared that she'd still be used as a hostage even after all of this, so she lost it and committed suicide with Quan following her. Moved by this act, Travant decided to honor her death by adopting Altena and raising her as his own daughter, unlike in the game where the only reason he'd raise Altena was so he could have someone using the Gae Bolg on his side.
  • While in the game, the fates of Sigurd's companions after the Battle of Belhalla are unknown, the survivors are shown in the manga. Arden, Alec, Naoise and Jamke die in the battle; Lewyn opens a path for the others to escape and confronts Manfroy, which leads to his discovery of Manfroy's past, then to his defeat and death; Erinys fights her way to Lewyn's body and then escapes; to avoid fighting the soldiers, Azelle and Tailtiu jump into a river separate from the rest of the group; Lachesis and Edain go with Oifey and Shannan to Isaach long before the group are invited into the capital; Ayra and Lex survive and go to Isaach some time after the battle, but while Danann initially welcomes them, he suddenly turns on them and Lex is killed while Ayra is last seen fighting Dannan's guards, strongly implying that she died there too. Midir, Dew, Brigid, Claud, and Silvia are seen at the end leaving the field unharmed.
  • Julius is given the Loptous tome at age five by Manfroy, and is soon consumed by it. Deirdre immediately realizes the change in her son and secretly sends Julia away for her safety. When Julius finds out he faces both of his parents and accuses Deirdre of both plotting against him and loving Julia more. Deirdre stands her ground, explains to Arvis that she eventually realized their actual relation (even referring to him as "Brother"), and dies fighting her possessed son to save Arvis. As she perishes, her last thoughts are of the long-dead Sigurd.
  • Out of the substitute children, only Creidne and Dalvin appear. They are portrayed as older than the canon children and as sibling-like friends to them. Creidne was murdered (and strongly implied to have been raped before her execution) some time before the action properly started after she saved Seliph, Lana and Larcei from Dozelian troops at the cost of her life. Years later, Dalvin is so emotionally shattered by her death AND by being the sole survivor of his own squad that he completely loses his faith in Seliph and Shannan's rebellion and sells them out to Dozelian troops. Seliph decides to execute Dalvin as punishment, especially since his treason led to a whole village to be exterminated, but not before promising him and everyone that he will release the continent from the empire's tyranny. Dalvin accepts this and dies in peace as he recalls his last talk with Creidne, where she told him that she believed in the resistance movement and in Seliph.
  • Both Iucharba and Iuchar are spared, rather than only one of them. On the other hand, Brian isn't in the story itself. Iucharba explains to Larcei and Scáthach what happened with Ayra and Lex, since he and Iuchar were present when Danann betrayed the two.
  • As Scáthach and Larcei are the children of Ayra and Lex, their involvement in the Isaachian/Dozelian affairs is deeper: Scáthach desires to restore the lost honor of the House of Nál while Larcei wants to kill Danann for betraying and killing their parents. After learning the truth from Iucharba she attempts to sneak into Danann's castle, but is captured and set for public execution. She is rescued by Seliph and his group, and then both she and Scáthach team up to fight Danann together. Since Brian is not included in the story, Danann fights them with the Helswath but has difficulties with its weight; still, he severely wounds Scáthach and almost kills him, before he brings himself back with Larcei's help and they manage to kill Danann.
  • Arthur and Fee appear first when Larcei is about to be executed. Fee is horrified and wants to jump in and rescue her, but Arthur tells her not to since they would be easily overpowered and because, since Larcei has not given up on life, it would be an insult to her.
  • Scáthach and Lana have mutual feelings in the story. After he barely survives the fight with Danann, she eagerly takes care of him and their friends (especially Larcei and Seliph) begin to speculate on whether they like one another romantically or not, much to Lester's chagrin.
  • Julia is a very peaceful girl, and it takes her quite a while to get used to fighting. When she's given the Nosferatu tome, she has a crisis over killing others to survive until Seliph has a pep talk with her and reassures her.
  • Dew survives to adulthood and marries Brigid, fathering Febail and Patty with her. However, Brigid goes missing some time after Patty's birth. Dew believes her to still be alive, and raises their children in her name. He and Patty teamwork to save a bunch of children captured in the Child Hunts and taken to the Loptous temple where the Balmung is stored, and meet an adult Shannan who is about to retrieve the sword, which Patty has found. The Loptrian priests catch them and try to force the two to fight for the Balmung, but Shannan wins by default as Patty tries to use Balmung on him but cannot. Then the three keep struggling to take the kids to safety, and Dew is fatally injured saving Patty from an enemy. He recognizes Shannan and asks him to take care of Patty (and the other children) before dying.

Gallery[]

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