Despite its technical status as a prequel separated by several hundred years in-universe, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave proudly positions itself as a follow-up to Fire Emblem: Three Houses. With seven years of waiting between releases, Three Hopes and Engage not withstanding, the developers at Intelligent Systems had plenty of room to try and surpass their opus. In terms of the sheer size and scale of the content on offer, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave doesn’t disappoint.
Fortune’s Weave takes its predecessor’s eponymous three Lords and raises the count to four, each of which has a complete story that rivals the size of any previous entry in the series. In other words, Fortune‘s Weave is about the size of four games wrapped into one, and that’s without counting the near-endless supply of side content provided by managing free time between chapters. There’s resource management, dungeon delving, overworld travel, and plenty of skirmishes to boot. Despite the abyss of playable challenges to unpack, there’s one glaring omission throughout; one which Fortune’s Weave‘s upcoming DLC promises to correct.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave DLC Gives a Second Chance to Its Best Rivals
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave has become almost infamous for its overwhelming number of challenges to overcome, but its already gargantuan state was originally intended to be even bigger. The four simultaneous routes players can go down is actually a compromise from an originally intended eight, which are rumored to have been cut in half partway through the game’s development cycle. The remnants of this former structure are clear to see, with four “rival protagonists” to complement the existing quartet of Flame Lords.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Playable Lords At Launch
- Cai
- Dietrich
- Theodora
- Leda
New Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave DLC Lords
- Orchel
- Anatolia
- Talimun
- Bertrand
The Flame Lords included at launch are the playable protagonists, and therefore the primary driving force of the narrative. However, the other four finalists in the Heroic Games maintain a surprisingly significant presence throughout. Many players come on the other side of Fortune’s Weave with one of the four Rival Lords as a personal favorite. For my money, Orchel is the standout, but many players have gravitated to Talimun as the true fan favorite. Meanwhile, Anatolia rivals Dietrich and Theodora for her deep attachment to the game’s lore. Bertrand serves as the perfect cherry on top then, as the direct nemesis set up by Leda’s quest for revenge.
There are some people who might argue that the exclusion of these four was for better, not for worse. Undoubtedly, the strongest point in their favor is that Fortune’s Weave can feel overstuffed as it is. If the game really was twice the size from launch, completing the narrative at any reasonable pace would’ve felt insurmountable. The developers clearly recognized this, since even the DLC doesn’t seem ambitious enough to extend their inclusion to four new playable routes. Instead, reporting from Nintendo’s official website describes the DLC as “New story content featuring four familiar warriors fighting in the Heroic Games—Bertrand, Talimun, Orchel, and Anatolia . . .” This suggests that their role will still be reduced compared to the main Flame Lords, but the promise of unrevealed “additional details” lingers for hopeful fans of the four.
How Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave DLC Could Reshape the Heroic Games
There’s no doubt that bringing these four to the forefront in place of their counterparts is a premise jam-packed with potential, but the exact nature of their inclusion is yet to be revealed in full. If previous entries in the series remain any kind of precedent to measure, then the upcoming Fortune’s Weave Story Expansion may take a similar shape to Three Houses‘ Cindered Shadows DLC. Players are treated to new protagonists in the form of the Ashen Wolves, who dwell in a new hub area of their own, with all sorts of little features to delve into. However, these new heroes are mostly relegated to a short self-contained story rather than a full-scale route.
Wave 3 of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave‘s Expansion Pass rollout arrives in 2027 and will introduce new story content focusing on Bertrand, Talimun, Orchel, and Anatolia, plus new recruit-able allies and classes.
With that said, Cindered Shadows did still manage to pack in a whopping seven chapters. This could take players up to ten hours to beat, and it’s likely Fortune’s Weave will aim for the same ballpark. In all likelihood, the expansion may stay in keeping with the rest of the game’s scale, and actually try to outmatch the already impressive scale set by Three Houses‘ DLC. Regardless, this should allow for plenty of time with Fortune’s Weave‘s previously snubbed dual protagonists.
Between the maximum potential of four new playable routes, and the bare minimum of a couple chapters, a Cindered Shadows-sized DLC could be a happy middle ground. Between Bertrand’s imprisonment and Anatolia’s frequent duties to the Pale Raven, there may have been some logistical issues in giving some characters a playable route to begin with. It may even be better to set the expansion’s story right after the Heroic Games, when the world becomes more dynamic before breaking into the final act. The last thing this game needs is to bloat further out of control, but the prospective new protagonists of Fortune’s Weave deserve some real time in the spotlight.
- Released
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September 17, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen / Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, In-Game Purchases
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
