By Jen Glennon Published Sep 29, 2026, 12:30 AM EDT Analysis Remind you of anyone we know?
Image: Nintendo Add Us Summary Generate a summary of this story Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap It’s very common for RPGs to introduce an off-stage villain who’s been secretly pulling the strings all along. Usually, this is some kind of malevolent supernatural being who doesn’t like humanity very much. After a lot of bloviating about the nature of free will, you and your companions must defeat him with the power of friendship, cool swords , and boob armor.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave adheres to this trope, but its abruptly introduced baddie is so outrageously horrible that it works remarkably well. After all the leisurely gift-giving and friend maintenance of Act 1, Act 2 of Fortune’s Weave grabs you by the collar and tosses you out of an airplane. It’s proof that storytelling tropes exist for a reason, and if they’re executed properly, they can still be incredibly satisfying.
Spoilers ahead for Act 2 of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave .
To begin Act 2 of Fortune’s Weave, the War Arc, you must touch the Strife Obelisk. (Insert Liz Lemon-inspired dating joke here.) Most people will do this after completing at least one of the four Act 1 routes, but it’s technically possible to do it directly after the prologue . From there, the story picks up several months after the pomp and circumstance of the Heroic Games. We learn Raksha — that creepy, green-haired schemer hidden behind a wooden mask — has revived her father, Emperor Dagda, after a 500-year-long slumber. And boy, is this guy an asshole.
Close Screenshot: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo via Polygon Screenshot: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo via Polygon Screenshot: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo via Polygon Dagda makes no pretense whatsoever of being a fair and just leader. He makes Edelgard from Three Houses seem like a saint. Once he’s back on the scene, he immediately murders his himbo son, Solel. He then declares a “war of annihilation” on Saramis, the southern region of the continent that just so happens to be home to a lot of Fortune’s Weave ’s people of color. Finally, he orders that Dagsion’s beloved arena be torn down and replaced with his “cauldron” — more on that later. No more bread and circuses, plebs! Pretty soon, the vibrant capital city we’ve spent so much time in becomes a hellish place, with imperial troops routinely beating up ordinary citizens and stealing their food and money to give to their big evil daddy.
Dagda’s extremism soon rubs some of the Empire’s allies the wrong way, and they defect to join Theodora’s forces on the Saramis side. After a couple humbling defeats at the hands of the resistance, Dagda concludes that the best course of action is to toss every single citizen of Dagsion, all one million of them, into his cauldron. This process — which, mercifully, we do not see — turns their bodies and souls into a slurry known as flamma. Dagda drinks these soul slurpees by the bowlful to restore his strength, or just when he’s feeling a bit cranky (which is always).
Close Screenshot: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo via Polygon Screenshot: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo via Polygon Screenshot: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo via Polygon There’s more than a passing resemblance between Dagda and a certain contemporar…