Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a hack and slash action role-playing game released in 2022. It's developed by Omega Force and published by Koei Tecmo for the Nintendo Switch, with Nintendo handling the overseas publishing. Story-wise it's a part of the Fire Emblem franchise, acting as an Alternate Universe-like sequel to 2019's Fire Emblem: Three Houses but with a gameplay a la Dynasty Warriors, like Fire Emblem: Warriors

The story takes place in the same Fódlan continent of 3 Houses, but with several differences:

• The Player Character, Shez, is a young mercenary who was utterly trounced and defeated by Byleth Eisner, the Ashen Demon and Player Character of Three Houses, some time before the action began. All but left to die, he or she is saved by a mysterious person named Arval and swears revenge. Six months later Shez steps in the attack against the three lords of Three Houses (Edelgard von Hresvelg, Dimitri Alexander Blaiddyd and Claude von Riegan) and joins the Officers Academy where the future Fódlan leaders - as a student, not as a teacher.
• The school year is cut short much earlier than in Three Houses and the Time Skip is much shorter, only lasting two years. Unlike Byleth, who spends these years missing and in a coma, Shez is hired by his or her lord of choice and stays by their side.
• There are three paths: Scarlet Blaze (Black Eagles), Azure Gleam (Blue Lions) and Golden Wildfire (Golden Eagles). They're rather different than the main paths from 3 Houses: here Edelgard decides to attack Those Who Slither... directly alongside opposing the Church of Seiros and invading, Dimitri must deal with the power struggles in Faerghus and especially his uncle Rufus, and Claude goes from opposing Edelgard to dealing with direct attacks from his cruel half-brother on his dad's side, Shahid, for the throne of Almyra
• Since Byleth and his/her father Jeralt never were hired by Rhea, they actually stays as antagonists. While they're not evil, they are hired by people opposite Shez's own lord, plus Shez him or herself still wants revenge for the incident where Byleth almost killed them...
• The Ashen Wolves are no longer just DLC characters.
• Garreg Mach is no longer the headquarters of the chosen army, and is replaced by a normal camp base.
• etc.

This page is under heavy construction, please contribute to it. ALSO, there will be UNMARKED SPOILERS for Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Tropes used in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes include:

• Adaptational Heroism: Dimitri and Edelgard aren't evil to begin with, but in their paths they show less ruthlessness towards their enemies and are more emotionally stable, to the point Edelgard directly opposes Those Who Slither... and Dimitri, while very troubled, does not end up a Fallen Hero.
  • Surprisingly, Miklan can somewhat follow this in Azure Gleam.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Claude, on the other hand, is not a villain either but does show more ruthlessness and willingness to get his hands dirty than in the original game.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • You can buy levels for your characters now. It's not cheap, but it's an alternative to grinding, which some players find boring after a while.
  • The only pre-requisite for advancing classes is mastering a previous one, unlike in Three Houses where a unit needed at least an A-rank in a weapon to pass their certification beyond intermediate, and grinding to that A-rank could be tedious.
  • Being able to replay battles via the Record Keeper to get S-rank awards you missed out on the first time.
• Death by Adaptation: Judith on Golden Wildfire, if the player does not recruit Byleth.
  • Ingrid is a mandatory kill in Scarlet Blaze, as she dies at the hands of the player's army to cover for Dimitri and Dedue's escape. So is Sylvain, during the Ailell battle: Felix, Dedue, Flayn, and Seteth are also major bosses but they retreat, whereas Sylvain dies after covering for Felix's escape..
  • Sylvain's father, Matthias Gautier, either survives Three Houses (Azure Moon) or his fate is left ambiguous (other routes). In Golden Wildfire, though, he's a mandatory kill.
• Demoted to Extra: Hanneman, Cyril, Alois, and Gustave are in the game, but only as NPCs or enemies depending on the route.
• The Dreaded: Byleth, holy shit Byleth, fucking Ashen Demon!
• Guide Dang It: Recruiting Byleth and Jeralt on all three routes requires a step by step process and very specific strategies to pull off. The game gives you some hints, but for a lot of players it's either trial and error or turning to an FAQ. Scarlet Blaze ups the ante by both mandatory defeats being cavalry units, whom you won't defeat in time without Horseslayers or other anti-cavalry weapons.
• Face Heel Turn: Averted - Byleth and Jeralt are antagonists and Byleth is still the Emotionless Person from before, but they're not evil and never were parts of the cast at the start anyway so there's nothing to "turn" for. They can actually be hired / recruited, and in fact it's mandatory to do so to unlock the closest to a Golden Ending in the game and keep some characters alive! Good luck trying it, however.
  • By extension, Sothis. Even more because she senses Arval within Shez and, while not evil (again), she's... unhappy.
• For Want of a Nail: Shez's existence changes every fucking thing in Fódlan.
  • In Azure Gleam, Hubert is killed offscreen between chapters 4 and 9. In Three Houses, this character was a pivotal aspect of Edelgard staying one step ahead of Those Who Slither in the Dark even on the routes where she was undoubtedly the antagonist and would die anyway. Hubert's early death makes it easy for Those... to quickly gain a foothold in the Empire, then turn Edelgard into the puppet they always intended to use her as for the rest of the route.
  • In Three Houses, the ceremony in the Holy Tomb was meant to let Sothis return to life by taking over Byleth's body, overwriting the personality they were beginning to develop. However, all she did was grant Byleth her power and disappear, and the Flame Emperor disrupted the ceremony, unknowingly saving Byleth from such a fate. In an ironic twist, Byleth never coming to the monastery and meeting Rhea allows Sothis to forcibly take over their body in the heat of battle - no fancy throne or ceremony required. And if the player doesn't recruit Byleth, Sothis will overtake them permanently to help them get revenge on Shez for killing Jeralt.
• Hack and Slash: But of course.
• Heel Face Door Slam: Miklan Gautier, in a way. His last big scene has him talking to Catherine and Shamir about how he almost likes the idea of making something of himself, and it almost seems like he wants to give it a shot. Then he dies at Gwendal's hand to buy the army some time, forever closing the door on such a possibility.
• Promoted to Playable: Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius and Holst Goneril. Sothis, the Gatekeeper, and Rhea in her Seiros form are with New Game+ data.
• Spanner in the Works: Monica von Ochs. The one saved by the cast is the real one and not Kronya posing as her, so she blows Tomas/Solon's cover and that leads to Edelgard directly going against Arundel/Thales...
• Spared by the Adaptation: Jeralt can be killed off or being saved. It all depends on the players' actions. If he lives, he and Byleth can join the cast.
  • Potentially, Rodrigue and Randolph. Again, it REALLY depends on how the game's played.
  • Lord Lonato in Scarlet Blaze. In fact, his death is an instant game over as keeping him alive is the mission's main goal.
  • The biggest example is Monica. Even if the player doesn't choose Scarlet Blaze, she survives if defeated in Azure Gleam and must be protected as an NPC in Golden Wildfire.
  • Ladislava in Scarlet Blaze. Unlike Randolph, there are no gameplay stipulations for her survival. Like Lonato, her death is a game over on the chapter where you're supposed to help her.
  • Jeritza von Hrym. He's automatically playable on Scarlet Blaze, can be recruited on Azure Gleam, and while not recruitable on Golden Wildfire, he'll appear as an NPC in the final chapter to convince his sister Mercedes from fighting for the Church's side. If the player is careful, they will both survive.
  • Dedue, big time. In Azure Gleam he has plot armor, opposed to on Azure Moon where he'll be Killed Off For Real if you don't complete his paralogue. On the other routes, he simply retreats from battle once defeated even during the final times the player's army faces him; in Three Houses he's a mandatory kill on Crimson Flower and can potentially die as an NPC in Verdant Wind or Silver Snow.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: In Azure Gleam, Edelgard survives while Thales is killed. But she was Brainwashed and Crazy by him and is hit with quite the case of this when released, and mentally she's the 12-year-old girl she was before being tortured and experimented on by the Slithers. It only disappears when she gets sucked into Zaharas along with Shez, Dimitri, and Claude, returning once she's on the surface again. While the last scene she's in has her still suffering from it, the narrative doesn't suggest it will last forever, implying it may wear off now that Thales is gone.
• Tragic Villain: Arguably Rufus, in Azure Gleam. On one hand he's a very incompetent ruler, he was a huge Resentful Guardian to the younger Dimitri and, at least in this continuity, he did have a hand in the Tragedy of Duscur due to his jealousy of his brother Lambert. On the other he's implied to be The Caligula in part for the huge paranoia and guilt he feels over his Duscur-related actions, and once he's definitely defeated he concedes to Dimitri and lets himself be executed.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: You never find out what happens with Leonie and Lysithea in Azure Gleam, as neither is recruitable. Lysithea is slightly more understandable due to her family supporting the Empire, but even if you recruit Byleth and Jeralt, Leonie is a no-show.
  • Solon, if the player doesn't unlock the secret chapters. If they do, his death is absolute as possessed!Shez is shown in a cutscene sacrificing him to open Zaharas. If not, he disappears from the story without a trace.