Lances beat swords. Who will win this fight? Oh well, it’s dramatic tension.

This is from the very beginning of Fire Emblem 8: The Sacred Stones, which is a stand-alone in the Fire Emblem series. It follows the quest of Princess Eirika (above, left) of Renais, her twin brother Ephraim, the Commander of Renais – his name is Seth, and he’s the guy getting skewered – don’t worry, it’s not lethal – and various other folks. Eirika is a gentle soul but a great fencer, Ephraim is a super-cool lanceman, and Seth is the first Jeigan character (old, ugly, EXP hog, and useless stats) to be young, handsome, and have useful stats! He’s still an experience point hog at the beginning, but only because he begins as a powerful unit whereas Princess Eirika is level 1.

In this picture, the insane enemy general Valter Moonstone is intent on capturing the terrified princess, but dutiful Seth charges to the rescue. The swirls on the right are more wyverns – dragonlike creatures – and the smoke behind the hill is the burning of Castle Renais.

Also, this means I should start posting my super-sappy Eirika story. Here.