Recruitment is a gameplay concept found throughout the Fire Emblem franchise.
Overview[]
In the Fire Emblem series, the player starts with a small roster of characters that they may use in battle. However, as their wars drag on, the need for more allies arise, leading the Lords of each game to meet many people of various backgrounds and motivations. By engaging these characters, the player can bolster their ranks with these individuals, providing a greater boost to their overall army strength. However, not all characters join automatically as some may require some level of convincing to join.
Story Recruitment[]
Some characters join automatically without needing the player's input. These are considered mandatory recruits as their only condition in recruitment is the general progression of the story. This can occur in between chapters or after a certain turn count on a map.
Talk Recruitment[]
In the middle of battle, a player character may have the option to speak with an enemy or neutral, non-player ally using the Talk command. The Lord character is generally the one to do this, though a few characters that have narrative ties may have this ability as well. Either way, doing so will initiate a conversation that will conclude with the unit spoken with joining the player's force. On rare occasions, a Boss character may even be recruited using this method.
In some games, including Fire Emblem Gaiden, its remake, and the Tellius Series, some characters are recruited outside of battle should the player talk with them. In Gaiden/Shadows of Valentia, this may occur in one of the game's towns or a similar location, while recruitable units in the Tellius Series may join after engaging in a conversation from the Base menu. Some characters are recruited by visiting a Village on certain maps. Some of these require a specific character to visit in order to recruit said character, functioning similarly to the Talk command.
Conditional Recruitment[]
Some characters require a unique or an additional set of conditions to be met in order to be recruited. The most common is for the player to pay a high amount of Gold to enlist them, such as Beowolf demanding 10,000 Gold in payment in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. There are numerous, much more complex set of conditions that are required to recruit certain individuals such as:
- In Mystery of the Emblem and its remake, Sheena requires the player to not kill any Gra enemy soldiers before talking to her during her battle map.
- Zeke, who is an enemy boss in Gaiden and its remake, can only be recruited if the player had previously completed an optional battle ahead of time and rescued Tatiana. Zeke will join the player's force when he learns Tatiana is safe.
- In The Blazing Blade, Karla can only be recruited if Bartre is at least a Level 5 Warrior at the start of Hector's Chapter 31(x). Bartre must interact with Karla at an Arena and both must fight and survive their duel to recruit her.
- In Radiant Dawn, Oliver, who is as an enemy boss, requires Rafiel to stand within his movement distance, in which case he will approach Rafiel, initiate a conversation, and invite himself into the player's army.
- In Awakening, Severa, an NPC in her Paralogue, needs to talk to Holland at a specific point in the map. If the player kills him, she becomes hostile and cannot be recruited.
- While not a Recruitment related condition, Kaze permanently leaves the player's forces at the end of Chapter 15 of Fire Emblem Fates Birthright unless he has at least an A-Support with Corrin.
Replacement Recruitment[]
Exclusive to Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem, if the player's roster size falls below a certain threshold, the player will be granted replacement characters to fill out their ranks. These characters are generic and randomized with no story relevance, and they often poor overall potential compared to a fully realized character. There are similarly full characters such as Athena who only become available for recruitment should the player lose enough units.
Logbook Recruitment[]
This optional recruitment method, available only in Fire Emblem Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates, allows players to add other players' Avatar units to their in-game logbook. The player can then summon avatar units from the logbook for a fee of gold that varied depending on the strength of the unit. Avatars drawn from the logbook have no narrative impact and cannot form supports with other units. This feature requires use of the Nintendo 3DS's StreetPass functionality.
Capture/Kidnap Recruitment[]
Exclusive to Fire Emblem Fates, Orochi and Niles can use their personal skills to capture enemy forces if the player has a Prison in their My Castle. Players can spend resources attempting to recruit them as generic playable characters. Similarly to Logbook recruits, these characters have no narrative impact and cannot form supports. This recruitment method also works on certain bosses such as Candace or Nichol.
Tutoring Recruitment[]
In the academy phase of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the player may recruit students from the rival houses. Recruiting a student to Byleth's house requires Byleth to sufficiently raise their proficiency in the desired recruit's preferred subject, as well as having raised a preferred stat accordingly. Aside from units that join the player's force during the story, this is the only way to recruit units. Select units that the player recruits in this manner will need to be spoken with when faced as enemies during the war phase in order to rejoin the player's side after the game's timeskip.
Themes[]
Throughout the series, a character's recruitment is typically accompanied with a common musical theme, though the theme varies between games.
- Story 5 - Theme of Encounter (Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Mystery of the Emblem)
- Encounter (Fire Emblem: Gaiden)
- Joining a Group (Fire Emblem: Thracia 776)
- Join Us! (Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade)
- Together, We Ride (Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade)
- With Us! (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance)
- Come, Join Us! (Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem)
- Arrive in a "killan" way (Fire Emblem: Awakening)
- Guest of Light/Shade (Fire Emblem Fates)
- Unity (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)
