Tome (魔道書, Madōsho, Grimoire) is a general term for magical weapons, excluding Staves.
Overview[]
Tomes are spellbooks that function as weapons for mages and similar offense-focused magic classes. They appear in most every Fire Emblem title save for Fire Emblem Gaiden, its remake, and Three Houses, which use magic systems not reliant on tomes. An equipped tome is capable of casting only one specific spell, such as Wind or Fire, and is subject to the same durability limitations as other weapons. To cast more than one kind of spell, a caster must therefore hold at least one tome for each of the spells the player wishes for them to use in their inventory.
In Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (and by extension Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light), tomes and staves are created by focusing energy into them then using it from the object freely.
In the later games Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, it is stated in several instances that tomes are written in "Old Speech", the original language of the continent these games take place on, Tellius. Old Speech is not mentioned in any other Fire Emblem games, however, a few games state that tomes are written in a lost ancient language. A few characters in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn can speak Old Speech, most notably the Heron laguz.
Gameplay[]
Main Series[]
Tomes are used to cast magical attacks. They usually weigh very little to reflect the low strength of magic users. In the GBA titles there were three types of tomes: Anima, Dark, and Light. These three types of magic form a triangle similar to the Weapon Triangle, known as the Trinity of Magic: Anima beats Light, Light beats Dark, and Dark beats Anima.
In Path of Radiance, Anima magic was further divided into three separate magic classes (Wind, Fire, and Thunder) which form the Anima Triangle: Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Thunder, and Thunder beats Fire. Many new tomes were created for each of these classes. As a result, Dark magic was completely removed so as not to overwhelm the player with too many spells. Light magic is still present in this game, however, unlike in the earlier games, it is neutral against Anima (and vice versa).
In Radiant Dawn, the original magic triangle returned alongside the newer Anima triangle. Dark magic is effective against all three types of Anima magic, which are in turn effective against Light magic.
In Fire Emblem Awakening, only Anima and Dark magic exists and no light magic exists, except for Book of Naga. No form of the magic triangle exists in the game meaning all tomes deals neutral damage to other tome wielding units.
In Fates, a new type of weapon is introduced as the Hoshidan counterpart of the traditional Tomes that are used in Nohr. They are known as Scrolls (呪 lit. Spells), and instead of invoking the elements, Scrolls summon ancient spirits to attack enemies, with the animals of the first ten earth branches of the Chinese Zodiac forming the main hierarchy. Scrolls take the form of long, thin pieces of wood with magic symbols inscribed onto them, and are bundled in groups of four or eight. More expensive Scrolls are known to be manufactured from higher-grade materials and embellished with more decorations.
The most dramatic change made to magic and tome use in Fire Emblem Fates is the game's revised weapon triangle. Magic is grouped with swords, making all tomes strong against axes and bows, but weak against lances and shuriken.
In Engage, magic is no longer part of the weapon triangle as it was in Fates. However, tomes are now part of a second relationship in which tomes, bows, and daggers are weak to arts.
Other games[]
In Fire Emblem Heroes, tomes have undergone yet another restructuring. Dark, Light, and Anima tomes are consolidated into Red, Blue, Green tomes, which correspond to swords, lances, and axes respectively. Fire and Dark tomes are typically Red. Wind tomes are typically Green. Thunder tomes are typically Blue. Light tomes are both Green and Blue. Anima mages that had no previous elemental affiliation (such as Nino and Lilina) are assigned an arbitrary element.
In the action game spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, the majority of the tomes that appear do not conform to traditional anima relationship or light/dark magic. The strength of these tomes are based on the metal-based ranking of other weapon types, such as the Bronze Tome and Iron Tome. There are also unique tomes based on those found in other games, such as Moonlight and Brynhildr in Fire Emblem Fates.
Spells function in a unique way in Three Hopes, as while spells appear as part of a tome class's Strong Combos, specific spells are also treated just like Combat Arts, where casting spells such as Fire or Mire drains the Durability of a playable unit's weapon if they're in a magic-capable class, and as such, up to only two spells can be equipped at a time, but can be leveled up from Lv. 1 to 3 to increase Might and reduce Durability cost.
Another unique trait Tome units in Three Hopes have is like Fates, tome classes are featured in its own weapon triangle with an advantage over bow classes, but are weak to classes that use gauntlets, as well being compatible with magic-proccing Crests, either through using tomes or casting magic.
Those who bear the Crests of:
- Ernest/Aubin will have an x% chance to trigger a critical hit with their Strong Combo attacks. Increasing Yuri's Crests levels increases the proc rate.
- Macuil/Gloucester will have a fixed percent chance to increase the power of a offensive spell, with Major Crests have a 40% chance and Minor Crests having a 20% chance. Increasing Monica, Lysithea, and Lorenz's Crest levels increases the power of the Crest's effects when they are proc'd.
- Dominic/Noa will have an x% chance when their offensive magic cost 0 Durability out of their weapon. Increasing Annette and Constance's Crest levels increases the proc rate, which is dependent of the user having a Major Crest or Minor Crest.
- Fraldarius & the Beast/Maurice will have a set percent chance to have the power of their Strong Combo attacks boosted, with Major Crests have a 20% chance and Minor Crests having a 10% chance. Increasing Felix, Rodrigue and Marianne's Crest levels increases the power of the Crest's effects when they are proc'd.
- Cethleann will have a fixed percent chance to increase the power of a recovery spell, with Major Crests have a 50% chance and Minor Crests having a 25% chance. Increasing Flayn and Linhardt's Crest levels increases the power of the Crest's effects when they are proc'd.
- Timotheos/Lamine will have an x% chance when their recovery magic cost 0 Durability out of their weapon. Increasing Hapi, Mercedes, and Jeritza's Crest levels increases the proc rate, which is dependent of the user having a Major Crest or Minor Crest.
- Flames will have an x% chance of restoring their health with Strong Combo attacks. Increasing Edelgard, Byleth and Sothis's Crests levels increases the proc rate.
Etymology[]
The term 'Tome' is an archaic English word literally meaning 'book'.