History VideoGame / FireEmblemPathOfRadiance

* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: Ragnell, the true personal weapon of Greil then later Ike. With the best combination of Might, Hit, and Crit in the game, +5 Defense, (non-Wrath) critical hit negation, unlimited uses, and ''1-2 Range'', it's by far and away the best sword in the game, but you only have it for more two chapters. To say nothing of its ability to actually harm the [[NighInvulnerable Ashera-blessed]] bosses of the Endgame.

* ArmorOfInvincibility: The Black Knight and King Ashnard have armor blessed by the goddess Ashera, making them impervious to all damage except from [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ragnell]] and certain extremely powerful Laguz.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: Ragnell, the true personal weapon of Greil then later Ike. With the best combination of Might, Hit, and Crit in the game, +5 Defense, (non-Wrath) critical hit negation, unlimited uses, and ''1-2 Range'', it's by far and away the best sword in the game, but you only have it for more two chapters. To say nothing of its ability to actually harm the [[NighInvulnerable Ashera-blessed]] bosses of the Endgame.

* ThatBattleDidntCount: Chapter 8 is a defend mission where the Greil Mercenaries are completely surrounded by Daein, leading to a cutscene where they are saved by Lethe and Mordecai. Even if you fight your way out of the fortress and rout the enemies, their reinforcements, and/or their boss, yet more reinforcements will show up on the final turn and Ike will sound the retreat, leading to the same cutscene.

* RapunzelHair: The Heron tribe have hair between waist-long (males) and feet-long (females). Aside from members of this tribe, others such as Jill, Sanaki, Titania and Naesala also have it to varying degrees.

%%* PantyShot: The 3D models for battle result in a few, primarily Ilyana.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Ike himself has the blue hair common to the majority of ''Fire Emblem'' lords, as do Geoffrey and Lucia. Several other characters have green, pink, and purple hair.

** It's explained that Laguz refuse to stoop to using crude Beorc weapons, as they consider themselves living weapons with no need for them. While it makes sense balance-wise, there seems to be little reason besides stubborn pride for them standing around and letting themselves be helplessly attacked in untransformed mode without even hitting back unarmed. It's especially odd since they ''have'' the capacity to use Beorc tools- Lethe freely uses a knife to cut her food out of combat- and their weaker untransformed stats are still good enough to wield weapons.

* ThatBattleDidn'tCount: Chapter 8 is a defend mission where the Greil Mercenaries are completely surrounded by Daein. Even if you fight your way out of the fortress and rout the enemies, their reinforcements, and/or their boss, yet more reinforcements will show up on the final turn and force Ike to fall back and need to be rescued.

* ViolationOfCommonSense: Normally in Fire Emblem, you need to talk to a recruitable enemy unit or occasionally [[DefeatEqualsFriendship defeat them]]. The exception is Shinon, who needs to be talked to (with Rolf specifically, talking to him with another logical person doesn't trigger recruitment) ''then'' you need Ike to beat the snot out of him. The worst part may be that Shinon doesn't even join you immediately, he appears to die and only shows up again NotQuiteDead at the end of the chapter.

** An unusual variant in that Leanne is incapacitated for all of Chapter 17, but unlike previous installments where she's a stationary NPC to protect, Ike insists on carrying him for parts 3 and 4, basically hampering his stats by using Rescue on her and not being able to put her down or give her to anyone else.

* EleventhHourRanger: During the final battle, you can get help from one of the following: Tibarn, Giffca, or Naesala (only for the second part on Hard). If your army has lost its heavy hitters and your Ike is lacking, any of them (the former two especially) can eventually take down Ashnard with some support.

-->'''Jill:''' ...Ashnard... Ashnard!! ASHNARD!! [[ThisIsUnforgivable I... will never forgive you! NEVER!!!]][[note]]Unfortunately for Jill, Ashnard is ''way'' too decked with protection and defenses, plus his goddess-blessed armor, that she could never even harm him despite her rage[[/note]]

* EasyLogistics: Played straight with regards to the Convoy, but averted prior to Chapter 8 when the Greil Mercenaries don't have a Convoy and can't access it between the 4 parts of Chapter 17 (though your own reinforcements can take from the Convoy before you send them in).

** Later, during the march on Daein, Ike's company comes across 50,000 gold that Daein was planning on paying [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Kilvas]]. Seeing as it captured spoils,

** In the first arc of the game (rescue of Elincia and flight to Gallia), the pre- and post-chapter dialogue changes if any of the Greil Mercenaries have died, and Ike expresses concern at his ability to lead if enough of them get killed. To a lesser degree, the post-chapter dialogue in other chapters changes mildly depending on who was recruited/stays alive.

* EleventhHourRanger: During the final battle, you can get help from two of the following: Tibarn, Giffca, or Naesala (only for the second part on Hard). If your army has lost its heavy hitters and your Ike is lacking, any of them (the former two especially) can eventually take down Ashnard with some support.

The game stars mercenary Ike, the first main character in the series to not be nobility or royalty, as he aids Princess Elincia in reclaiming her kingdom of Crimea (no relation to real life peninsula) after its fall to the suddenly-aggressive nation of Daein. However, the way to gain a force strong enough to oppose the Daein Army is far more complicated.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Daein's citizens see the combined Crimean/Begnion army as nothing more than an invading, bloodthirsty force, when they don't realize that it's trying to do the exact '''opposite''' since that former is what the tyrannical Daein army has done to Crimea and the poor nation is merely trying to eliminate the tyrannical Mad King Ashnard from committing any more blood-crazed atrocities that further his [[ForTheEvulz ruinous goals]] and bring an end to them for the good of everyone else. Despite this, the citizens of Daein just [[UngratefulTownsfolk continuously keeps thinking that the combined army is there to bully/burn their nation to the ground]], when it's the complete opposite of that fact.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Daein's citizens see the combined Crimean/Begnion army as nothing more than an invading, bloodthirsty force, when they don't realize that it's trying to do the exact '''opposite''' since that former is what the tyrannical Daein army has done to Crimea and the poor nation is merely trying to eliminate the tyrannical Mad King Ashnard from committing any more blood-crazed atrocities that further his [[ForTheEvulz ruinous goals]] and bring an end to them for the good of everyone else. Despite this, the citizens of Daein just [[UngratefulTownsfolk keeps think that the combined army is there to bully/burn their nation down]], when it's the complete opposite of that fact.

* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: After Greil's death and the decision to make Ike the new leader of Greil's Mercenaries, an enraged Shinon promptly leaves, and his HeterosexualLifePartner Gaitree leaves with him.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Several characters, such as Lekain and Hetzel, make minor appearances in ''Path of Radiance'', but aren't relevant to the plot until ''Radiant Dawn''. Hetzel and Gareth are the most prominent examples, as they have a grand total of one and two lines respectively, with essentially no content, but are still clearly important enough in the grand scheme to get special sprites and official names.

* BlackKnight: Its worth mentioning that the game actually has'''two''' distinct characters that fit the Black Knight persona to different degrees and in their own ways; besides the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Black Knight"]] himself, there is also Bertram.

* HiddenBackupPrince: Princess Elincia's existence isn't widely known prior to Daein's invasion, [[RealityEnsues so everyone is skeptical that she's actually who she claims to be]].

* HarderThanHard: The Maniac Mode difficulty that was DummiedOut of the English release features a noticeable increase in both enemy stats and enemy number. This can get to ridiculous levels such as in the infamous Maniac Mode version of ''Clash'' which can potentially have upwards to 100 or so enemies on the map.

* TheDarknessBeforeDeath: If Nephenee [[FinalDeath is killed]], the following are her dying words:

* AChildShallLeadThem: [[TheEmpire The Empire of Begnion]] is ruled by the 10-year-old Empress Sanaki.

* EleventhHourRanger: During the final battle, you can get help from two of the following: Tibarn, Giffca, or Naesala (only for the second part on Hard). If your army has lost its heavy hitters and your Ike is lacking, any of them (the former two especially) can eventually take down Ashnard with some support.

* ActuallyADoombot: After the climatic confrontation against [[spoiler:The Black Knight]], said character reappears alive in Radiant Dawn, whether or not Ike defeats and seemingly kills them. The Japanese version explains that the opponent Ike fights was actually [[spoiler: a sort of Black Knight "ghost" caused by malfunctioning Warp Powder]], while the localized versions opt for an ILetYouWin explanation.

* ArmorOfInvincibility: The Black Knight and King Ashnard have armor blessed by the goddess Ashera, making them impervious to all damage except from [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ragnell]] and certainly extremely powerful Laguz.
* ArmorPiercingSlap: In a [[EasterEgg hidden cutscene]], after Boyd makes fun of Mist's weight, she shoves him double-distance ("smites" him). In most situations, Mist is too light to shove Boyd at all.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The titular Fire Emblem, also known as Lehran's Medallion.

** Anyone who knows anything about [[PerfectPacifistPeople Heron laguz]] finds it preposterous that they could have been responsible for any kind of assassination at all, let alone the Apostle of Begnion. Unfortunately, the ignorant Beorc mob ''didn't'' know anything about them, and were eager to take "revenge" on them when pointed in that direction.

-->'''Jill:''' ...Ashnard... Ashnard!! ASHNARD!! [[ThisIsUnforgivable I... will never forgive you! NEVER!!!]][[note]]Unfortunately for Jill, Ashnard is ''way'' too decked with protection and defenses that she could never even harm him despite her rage[[/note]]

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Many of the skills that characters start off with reflect their personality or backstory. For instance, Tomrod has Celerity (+2 movement each turn) because a tiger laguz taught him how to run, and Shinon has Provoke (increased chance of DrawAggro) because he's such an asshole.

* HardModeFiller: One reason why the Japan-only Maniac Mode is so difficult is the sheer number of added enemies to the map, combined with slashing EXP gains across the board. You're essentially forced to fight many more enemies with fewer units, making chapters drag on for longer.