Xander (Chapter)

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Xander
Game	Fire Emblem Fates
Objective	Defeat the Boss
Units Allowed	Corrin + 15
Units Gained	None
Boss	Xander
Script	Chapter script
Previous	Traitor Revealed
Next	King Garon
[view]

“Leo's aid allows the group to defeat Iago. Close to the throne room, they encounter the most powerful enemy they have yet faced in battle.”
—Opening Narration

Xander (暗夜王子マークス Anya Ōji Mākusu, lit Dark Night Prince Marks in the Japanese version) is Chapter 26 of Fire Emblem Fates in the Birthright Version. This chapter takes place in Castle: Combat Room.

Plot

After the death of Iago by the Hoshidans, Xander, the only person standing between Corrin and Garon, speaks with his retainers, Laslow and Peri and urges Laslow and Peri to stay behind, as he bears no wish for them or anyone else be killed in battle. He leaves to confront Corrin alone.

Corrin and the Hoshidans enter the Combat Room and is confronted by Xander. He tells them they done well to make it this far, but he will not let them kill Garon and he challenges them to a one-on-one duel. However, Elise appears and attempts to talk him out of fighting Corrin. He refuse to listen to reason, unlike Camilla and Leo, and explains that he is Nohr's high prince and he must kill Corrin for the sake of his kingdom. Despte Elise's objections, Xander tells her to stay out of it and proceeds with the dual. Unwilling to lose her family, Elise decides to disobey Xander and do what she must do.

Corrin and Xander engage in a duel, with Xander completely dominating the fight. However, as he swings his blade to finish off his former sibling, Elise runs in and intercepts it, taking the full brunt of the blow. Seized with shock and grief, Xander rushes to cradle his sister in his arms, whereupon she, in her last breath, pleads with him to end the war not just through his strength, but also his own kindness and love. Elise perishes shortly after.

In spite of her death, Xander demands Corrin to continue their duel, much to their incredulous outrage. Heartbroken by their sister's death and their brother's seemingly uncaring feelings towards it, Corrin resolves to end the duel, but Laslow and Peri enter the training grounds, and upon seeing Elise's corpse, they immediately attribute her death to Corrin and promptly summon Nohrian troops to attack the Hoshidan army. Although Xander objects to their interference, the two choose to defy him, asserting that they would rather fight instead of watching him die without taking any action. The Hoshidan army prepare for battle as well as they take out the Nohrian army. Xander express his disgust saying it's not what he wanted, but nonetheless continues his duel with Corrin

Corrin's duel with Xander eventually concludes with Corrin emerging victorious. As Xander lays dying, he reveals that he had not fought at his full strength and he let Corrin win. When Corrin demands an answer of why he didn't listen to them or Elise to stop the fighting, he reveals that he did what he had to do simply because of his position as the crown prince of Nohr and the fact that Corrin sided with Hoshido. After lamenting over the possibility of fighting alongside Corrin in an alternate world, he tells Corrin to stop King Garon as it will be the only way to bring true peace to the world and succumbs to his wounds. Although saddened by Xander's death, Corrin proceeds with confidence and leaves to the throne room to finally put an end to Garon once and for all.

Script

The script for this chapter can be found here.

Items

Dropped Items

• Sun Festal x2 - Maids

Strategy

Subjective: The following part of this article is based upon the editor's personal experiences and opinions, and therefore may not be applicable for all readers.

This chapter can be dealt with in a relatively quickly or long and dragged out depending on the player's desires. The sole mission objective is to defeat Xander, who is facing Corrin in single combat. On Normal and Hard mode, Xander will not attack Corrin (unless the player takes too long), but will retaliate back when attacked. On Lunatic however, Xander will immediately attack Corrin.

Since Xander's stats will be significantly reduced, if Corrin is sufficiently strong, they can finish off Xander in as little as a single turn or two. If Corrin cannot do so, you can have your units defeat the General guarding the door to the dueling chamber and then pick the door open, allowing your units to swarm and defeat Xander. In the meantime, ensure that Corrin can survive a turn or two until you can make that happen. Otherwise, you can fight out the map and slowly gather EXP from defeating various enemy soldiers. If planning on doing so, have Corrin simply avoid initiating battle and have healing items ready in their inventory or in the convoy. Having the Dragonstone equipped also raises Corrin's defenses which may prolong their survival.

Trivia

• At the end of the chapter, while Xander is dying of his wounds, he tells Corrin that "in another world, we could have been fighting together." This could be a reference to the Conquest and Revelation paths.
• Xander's AI in both Normal Mode and Hard Mode is supposed to reflect the fact that he does not truly wish to fight Corrin. In Lunatic Mode, he outright charges at Corrin despite his notably inferior stats. When taking his grief over Elise into account, it can be assumed that he just wanted to die.
• The music track that plays after Elise's death continues to play beyond the cutscene and into the battle Preparations screen.