Fire Emblem: Sword of the Conqueror (2004)

[ファイアーエムブレム 覇者の剣]

Volume 8

Author: Hiroshi Izawa
Artist: Kotaro Yamada
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Cecilia and Percival unite under Prince Myrddin and move to expel the Bern occupiers from the capital with the help of Roy's forces.

Story/Characters:
It's Etrurian vs. Etrurian with some help from Bern stoking the fires. We have several setups for tragic sacrifice, but Al can't spoil all of them because there's only one of him. Unlike the Cruzado fight, his intervention can't wholly undermine the dramatic weight of the situation. I particularly like the clash between Percival and Douglas. It's also fun watching Narcian break down. All told, it's a fairly solid way to wrap up the Etrurian civil war. We close on a pretty good cliffhanger for the final arc of the story.

Art:
A lot is thrown into the big battle, especially Percival's duel with Douglas and Kilmer's confrontation with Jemmie. What's likely to really stick with you is for increasingly deranged Narcian looks as things start to fall apart for him. Yamada had a lot of fun with the expressions. The two-page spread for the cliffhanger at the end of the volume is awesome.

Other:
We get character sheets for Narcian, Percival and Douglas, fanart, the Q&A column, the afterword comic, and an illustration of Hugh and Garret.

Conclusion:
We've got a rather good battle going on with solid character moments. This one is a bit of a borderline case. It's one of the better volumes in the series, but I don't know if it quite qualifies as a must-have. It's definitely worth a read, though.

Rating:
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