Trinity of Magic

The Trinity of Magic (魔法の三すくみ, Mahō no San-sukumi lit. Trilemma of Magic) is an equivalent to the weapon triangle that involves magical tomes. It is featured in the Jugdral series, Elibe series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and the Tellius series. Similar to the more common physical weapon triangle, the Trinity of Magic behaves such that certain magic types have combat advantages/disadvantages when used against other magic types.

Overview

When a tome user has Trinity of Magic advantage over another tome user, the user with the advantage may attack with increased battle accuracy; conversely, the user with the disadvantage may suffer from decreased accuracy. Beginning with Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, the Trinity of Magic may positively or negatively influence the damage output of participating combatants, depending on whether they have the advantage or disadvantage respectively.

The structure of the Trinity of Magic, as well as its advantage relationships, differs between games. Some games incorporate a system in which Anima tomes have an advantage over Light tomes, Light tomes over Dark tomes, and Dark tomes over Anima tomes. In other games, the trinity only involves Anima tomes, in which case wind tomes have the advantage over thunder tomes, thunder tomes over fire tomes, and fire tomes over wind tomes. Still others may include a mix of both with unique rules governing type advantages.

The Trinity of Magic made its first appearance in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and its last appearance in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. In games since Radiant Dawn, magic of different types tends to behave in a neutral fashion toward each other, offering no specific advantage or disadvantage. In Fire Emblem Fates, tomes and scrolls are integrated into the game's universal weapon triangle, which includes all weapons and offensive magics. Similarly, in Fire Emblem Heroes, tomes are included in the game's weapon triangle with all other weapon types. In Fire Emblem Engage, magic is not included in the weapon triangle, but is weak to Arts, as are bows and daggers.

In the Jugdral series

The Jugdral series, which introduced the Trinity of Magic, features a relationship in which the Anima magic types are comprised of a triangular relationship. However, Light and Dark tomes, which are neutral to each other, have advantage over Anima.

Anima Triangle Wind > Thunder Thunder > Fire Fire > Wind

Unidirectional System Light, Dark > Anima

This series notably utilizes an Anima triangle system whose component tomes are weak to to Light and Dark tomes; currently, this is the one case featuring a unidirectional dis/advantage system between weapon types. Here is a table describing the effects of Trinity of Magic dis/advantages in the Jugdral games:

In the Jugdral series, the advantages and disadvantages between magic types are as follows. In these games, the relationships only affect battle accuracy:

Title	Adv.	Disadv.
Genealogy of the Holy War	+20 Acc	-20 Acc
Thracia 776	+5 Acc	-5 Acc

In the Game Boy Advance titles

The three Game Boy Advance titles feature a Trinity of Magic in which all Anima magics are strong against Light, Light is strong against Dark, and Dark is strong against Anima. The individual Anima magic types are neutral toward each other.

In these games, the advantages of the Trinity of Magic relationships are as follows. Beginning with The Binding Blade, the relationships affect damage output as well as battle accuracy:

Title		Adv.	Disadv.
Elibe Series	The Binding Blade	+1 Dmg +10 Acc	-1 Dmg -10 Acc
	The Blazing Blade	+1 Dmg +15 Acc	-1 Dmg -15 Acc
The Sacred Stones		+1 Dmg +15 Acc	-1 Dmg -15 Acc

In the Tellius series

In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, the Trinity of Magic only involves the Anima triangle. Although Light tomes make an appearance in this game, they behave neutrally towards the Anima tomes; incidentally, Dark tomes are completely absent. The trinity components and directions for Path of Radiance are as follows:

• Wind > Thunder
• Thunder > Fire
• Fire > Wind

In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Light and Dark tomes are once again components to the Trinity of Magic system. Additionally, this is the only game to utilize both the Anima-Light-Dark triangle and the Anima-specific Wind-Thunder-Fire triangle, creating two levels of magic relationships.

The advantages and disadvantages are laid out as follows:

Trinity of Magic Anima > Light Light > Dark Dark > Anima

Anima Triangle Wind > Thunder Thunder > Fire Fire > Wind

Here is a table describing the effects of Trinity of Magic dis/advantages for the Tellius games:

The combat advangages and disadvantages for each game are as follows:

Title	Adv.	Disadv.
Path of Radiance	+1 Dmg +10 Acc	-1 Dmg -10 Acc
Radiant Dawn	+1 Dmg +10 Acc	-1 Dmg -10 Acc

See also

• Weapon Triangle