Heroes' Relics

“A long, long time ago, the goddess bestowed divine weapons upon 10 heroes, which were passed down to their descendants.”
—Catherine

The Heroes' Relics (英雄の遺産 Eiyū no Isan) are a series of weapons important to the Fódlan Series. They are said to be weapons gifted to humanity by the Goddess, the Heroes' Relics were used by Nemesis and the Ten Elites in the War of Heroes.

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The Heroes' Relics hold immense power. Each Relic is powered by a Crest Stone, which makes the weapon have organic qualities and appear to be alive (such as the Lance of Ruin twitching in their in-game models). Each Relic has a particular affinity for a specific Crest, and an individual who has the corresponding Crest is able to draw out the Relic's full power.

While Relics can be used by anyone who is able to acquire them, if an individual lacking the resonating Crest attempted to wield it, they would risk being consumed by the malevolent energy inside the Relic, transforming them into a Demonic Beast. It is less likely for the transformation to occur if a person has a Crest, even if the Relic is not compatible with it, but it will simply work as a regular weapon.

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The tale behind the Heroes' Relics is a partial distortion of their true origins. In reality, they were crafted from the corpses of the Nabateans - the Children of the Goddess - who were slaughtered at Zanado by Nemesis. Their bones were used to create the weapons, and their hearts became the Crest Stones that imbued the weapons with mystical powers, though the Elites would be ignorant of the truth. Nemesis and his Elites consumed their blood to gain their Crests and the immense power that came with them. However, this lead to one of the members - Maurice - to transform into a hideous beast and his Relic, Blutgang, remains with him to this day.

Seiros, the only survivor of the slaughter at Zanado, launches a campaign against Nemesis and the Ten Elites to exact revenge for their destruction of Zanado. This will later be known as the War of Heroes. Eventually, Seiros emerges victorious and recovers the Sword of the Creator, the Hero's Relic crafted by Nemesis from her mother, Sothis. She keeps the sword in a coffin in the Holy Mausoleum and keeps the Crest Stone with herself, attempting to find a way to resurrect her mother with it. The rest of the Heroes' Relics were given to the descendants of the Ten Elites after executing them for aiding Nemesis, and history is rewritten by the Church of Seiros to portray the Ten Elites as heroes who fought alongside Seiros, and that the goddess was the one who gave them the Relics.

There are many legends that suggest that there were more Crest Stone weapons beyond from the twelve Heroes' Relics. This includes a pair of gauntlets and an accessory crafted from the remains of two of the Four Apostles, and an axe crafted through other means. The exact details on the creation of these weapons are left ambiguous.

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Academy Phase

During an attack at the Holy Mausoleum, members of the Western Church attempted to steal the bones of Seiros. Though they were able to break the seal placed upon the coffin, the mage finds only the Sword of the Creator in the coffin, without its Crest Stone. Byleth attempts to stop the mage, and in a panic attempts to use the sword to block the attack. Instead, Byleth parries the mage and the sword flies out of their hand, landing into Byleth's. Despite its missing Crest Stone, Byleth is able to unleash the sword's power and slays the mage easily.

In-Game

Three Houses

With only an E-rank for their respective weapon skill, any of the Heroes' Relic can be wielded by any character. However, their powers are influenced by what Crest the wielder has, if any at all.

• If the character has no Crest, they will take 10 damage after every round of combat they engage while having a Relic equipped, even the accessories.
• If the character has a Crest but not the associated Relic's Crest, they will not take any damage from it but lack the ability to use the Relic's specific powers. In the case of weapons this means that they cannot use its Combat Art, while for accessories they do not benefit from the in-built Aegis and Pavise effects.
• If the character has the same Crest associated with the Relic, then not only will the character not take any damage from it, but they will also gain access to the Relic's powers. Unlike the Sacred Weapons, the effects are not dependent on whether the wielder has a Minor or Major Crest. They do, however, influence how much Durability the Combat Art consumes when used, taking -3 for Major Crests, -4 for Minor Crests and -5 for Crest Signs.

The Sword of the Creator, however, does not follow this pattern; Byleth alone can use the Relic's full potential. While any other character can equip it, the Sword of the Creator lacks the 1-2 range and gains +10 weight, similar to a broken weapon. Curiously, this even applies to other characters with the Crest of Flames, as the Sword of the Creator is missing its Crest Stone.

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This is because the Sword of the Creator's Crest Stone is substituting Byleth's heart, therefore making Byleth the only one who can truly use the Sword of the Creator. Byleth's mother Sitri was the previous bearer of the Crest Stone of the Sword of the Creator and thus asked Rhea (who was using the Crest Stone to revive Sothis into a new body) to transplant the Crest Stone into Byleth after they were born a stillborn.

"End of spoilers. It's a pleasure doing business with you!"

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Three Hopes

While the Heroes' Relics are still have a Rank E rating and thus everyone can wield them, weapons are once more class restricted, meaning that for the Relics that are weapons, characters have to be of the appropriate class in order to wield them, e.g., Hilda must be in an axe-wielding class like Armored Knight or Wyvern Rider to use Freikugel while Catherine must be in a sword-wielding class like Thief or Swordmaster to use Thunderbrand. As before, their powers are influenced by what Crest the wielder has, if any at all.

• If the character has no Crest and have a Relic equipped, they will take continuous damage while deployed, even from the accessories. The game will notify the player if the unit in question has no Crest if purposefully outfitted with a Relic. It will not show up if the Relics were auto-fitted should a unit swap between classes, e.g. Dedue may get Blutgang or Thunderbrand equipped should he change into Myrmidon.
• If the character has a Crest but not the associated Relic's Crest, they will not take any damage from it but lack the ability to use the Relic's specific powers. In the case of weapons this means that they cannot use its Combat Art, or spell in the case for tomes, while for accessories they do not benefit from the in-built Aegis and Pavise effects.
• If the character has the same Crest associated with the Relic, then not only will the character not take any damage from it, but they will also gain access to the Relic's powers.
  • Combat Arts/Spells provided by Relics have a golden plus marking on their icons.

Unique to Three Hopes are Unleashed Attributes, special passive abilities that can be obtained after upgrading Heroes' Relics at the Blacksmith once the "Research Crest-Based Smithing Technique" upgrade in the Facility Manager is purchased. Once unleashed, that Hero's Relic doubles in Might and Durability, and all units will benefit from the unleashed trait, though Crestless units still need a Dragon Sign to use Relics safely.

List of Weapons

Heroes' Relics

Heroes Relic	Associated Crest
Areadbhar	Crest of Blaiddyd
Aegis Shield	Crest of Fraldarius
Blutgang	Crest of The Beast
Crusher	Crest of Dominic
Failnaught	Crest of Riegan
Freikugel	Crest of Goneril
Lance of Ruin	Crest of Gautier
Lúin	Crest of Daphnel
Rafail Gem	Crest of Lamine
Sword of the Creator	Crest of Flames
Thunderbrand	Crest of Charon
Thyrsus	Crest of Gloucester
Ichor Scroll	Crest of Lamine
Suttungr's Mystery	Crest of Charon

Other Relics

Relic	Associated Crest
Aymr	Crest of Seiros
Fetters of Dromi	Crest of Aubin
Vajra-Mushti	Crest of Chevalier
Hrotti	Crest of Timotheos

Non-Canon Appearances

Super Smash Bros.

Four of the Heroes' Relics appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as weapons wielded by Byleth, each designated to a directional input with their attacks.

• The Sword of the Creator is Byleth's default weapon, designated to their upward attacks. Unlike the rest of the Relics, Byleth also uses the Sword of the Creator for additional moves such as jabs, tilts or throws. The Sword of the Creator has unique properties when used as Byleth's upward special: when it latches onto an opponent at 50% damage and above, the move spikes them; less than that, they are popped to the side,
• Areadbhar is a lance wielded by Dimitri, designated to Byleth's sideward attacks, specifically their forward aerial, backward aerial, and side smash attacks. Similar to Marth's Falchion, Areadbhar includes a tipper mechanic, where the lance deals more damage and knockback when the hit is from the tip and less when from the shaft. If the side smash attack input is made after making the side special input, the travel distance of the resulting attack is extended.
• Aymr is an axe wielded by Edelgard, designated to Byleth's downward aerial, down smash, and down special attacks. Though it suffers from slow startup and ending lag, Aymr deals incredibly high damage and knockback, with great shield breaking properties, especially when used as Byleth's down special move, which also has super armor frames. Aymr also has spike frames when used as Byleth's downward aerial.
• Failnaught is a bow wielded by Claude, designated to Byleth's neutral attacks, though this only refers to Byleth's neutral aerial and neutral special. During its usage as Byleth's neutral special, Failnaught has two tier of attacks that need time to charge to use. The first tier can be canceled out of and can change direction, but the second tier, which is a long charged, committing attack, is noncancelable. The second tier glows gold and fires a powerful shot that can shatter weaken shields.

The four weapons also appear with their respective owners for their spirits' Enhanced forms, which has them in their War Phase designs.

Gallery

Concept art of the Aegis Shield.

Concept art of the Thyrsus.

Concept art of the Rafail Gem.

Concept art of the Sword of the Creator.

Concept art of the Aymr.

Concept art of the Lance of Ruin.

Concept art of the Failnaught.

Byleth's non personal Heroes' Relics as they appear in their Super Smash Bros. Ultimate reveal trailer.

Male Byleth using Areadbhar against Robin.

Female Byleth using Aymr against Zelda's Phantom.

Male Byleth fully charging Failnaught.