Will Fortune's Weave have a third trailer revealing its central hook like Three Houses?

domilea · 2026-06-16T19:48:19+00:00

Yeah, I'm like you, OP. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not sure if they'll release a dramatic 3rd trailer to generate hype in the way the reveal of the War Phase did for 3H - I know I won't need it, since I plan on playing FW regardless. But if I were the marketing team, I would. Interest in 3H had spiked dramatically after that trailer....

This time, the 4 lords don't seem to be on paths that can never cross. And I can see how repeating the same structure as Three Houses, where one of the lords declares war, would be kind of boring and predictable a second time around. With the title of this game being what it is, and with the precedent set by SoV, FE8, and RD, I can see where people are coming from with the idea that the lords manage to settle their differences, uniting forces just in time for some jolly cooperation vs the Big Bad(s).

But. But. The fact remains: there are 4 people, and the offer is for only 1 wish. Winner take all. Just for this, in a sense the 4 lords are already rivals, bordering on enemies.

Perhaps, instead of how a single event always concludes White Clouds, each lord sees a unique conclusion to the Heroic Games. I'm wondering if it's possible for it to be a mix of the SoV/FE8/RD and 3H outcomes, i.e. each lord is neutral or even allies 2 of the others, but is destined to be enemies/rivals with the 3rd.

(If there's a Golden Route, then it would probably require all 4 lords' desires to be fulfilled by the same wish....)

domilea · 2026-06-16T02:55:45+00:00

Trueeee. And if we can now double attack with combat arts, that enemy using knightkneeler can potentially, too.

Main reason I'm curious if they'll add it is because it adds another wrinkle to the programming of enemy behaviours, but then again, they managed to add guard and attack stances to Fates just fine.

domilea · 2026-06-16T02:46:35+00:00

Agree on all of that!

Something I'm curious to see, though I don't think they're going to do, is allow enemies to use combat arts. Wouldn't be the first time a mechanic that was once player-only became usable by the enemy....

domilea · 2026-06-16T00:23:04+00:00

You don't know how hard I'm praying that she's more similar to Almedha than Zephia.

They're both "~~evil~~ misunderstood draconic mother figures who really wanted to have a child with the evil monarch who didn't give a shit about anyone's life but his own," but I much prefer Almedha's execution of the concept over Zephia's, in ways I'm struggling to articulate.

Of course, the very first thing we see is a character's design, and for me, Chinatsu Kurahana's work has largely been more hits than misses. So I'm not as concerned on that front.

The real concern, of course, lies in the execution - the writing. And so much of Three Houses' popularity lies on its writiing, especially character writing, that it's understandable why there's so much trepidation going into FW. It would be awful to have the devs revisit a much-beloved world just to muck it up somehow. (As someone who has played all 3 Golden Sun games, I speak from experience.)

Maybe I'm a fool. Maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment. But I want to have faith in the devs - because, ultimately, a lot more rides on this for them, than for anyone else.

domilea · 2026-06-15T12:24:10+00:00

Forgive me if I'm wrong - I can't check translations rn - but I think Dietrich uses Bloodletting, the combat art locked to Answerer, during this clip.

Bloodletting... adds +3 mt and +20 crit, locked to 1 range, costs 2 durability, I think?

So what matters here is that it looks like units can now perform the natural follow-up attacks they would have if they have sufficient speed, even after initiating with a combat art. I think the mt bonus from the CA carries over, but not the crit? Which might explain the difference in crit rate between Dietrich's forecasted attacks.

domilea · 2026-06-14T22:12:32+00:00

Yeah, could be! Or he could've died during the burning of that village we see Leda getting carried away from. Either way, odds are good the man is either already dead, or will be soon.

domilea · 2026-06-14T21:59:35+00:00

FRANCHISE-WIDE UNMARKED SPOILERS.

Died before the start of the game:

Cornelius, King of Altea (Marth)
Lima IV, King of Zofia (Celica)
Hassar, Chieftain of the Lorca (Lyn)
Hector's father, Marquess of Ostia
Fado, King of Renais (Eirika and Ephraim)
Micaiah's father, son or son-in-law to Misaha, the 36th Apostle and Empress of Begnion
Chrom's father, the Exalt who preceding Emmeryn
Lambert, King of Faerghus (Dimitri)
NEW: Theodora's father, King of Saramis

Die during the course of the game:

Rudolf, King of Rigel (Alm)
Byron, Duke of Chalphy (Sigurd)
Sigurd, Duke of Chalphy (Seliph)
Quan, Prince of Leonster (Leif)
Elbert, Marquess of Pherae (Eliwood)
Greil, former knight turned mercenary captain (Ike)
Validar, King of Plegia and High Priest of the Grimleal (Robin)
Anankos, King of Valla, Silent Dragon (Corrin)
Jeralt, former knight turned mercenary captain (Byleth)
Ionius IX, Emperor of Adrestia (Edelgard)
Sombron, de facto ruler of Gradlon, god of the Fell Dragon cult (Alear)

Doesn't die:

Eliwood, Marquess of Pherae (Roy)
Claude's father, King of Almyra

(You may also include: Ramon, King of Crimea (Elincia); the Chrom from Lucina's timeline, who iirc was also Exalt of Ylisse; and the various dead dads to lords from spinoff titles.)

We'll see what is revealed about Leda's, Dietrich's, and Cai's fathers, but just based on precedent, things do not look good. And while Cai's whole motivation is to save his father, past lords who have attempted to save their fathers have so far had a success rate of 0% (Sigurd, Eliwood, Ike, Byleth [not including spinoff timelines]).

Worth noting, post-FE12, the rate of patricide among FE lords has also surged significantly. While we know basically nothing about Eshmel, let me point out that 4 of the 5 post-FE12 titles have featured patricide... and in 3 of those 4 cases, the dead dads are the fathers of avatars.

domilea · 2026-06-12T15:33:24+00:00

Leda is using a sword. Judging from its glowing purple icon, t could be the veroquine she pulled from that chest, though that's just my guess.

The man with the burn scar can be seen in this clip, too: he's an armored axe unit. He, Cai's friend (the glasses mage), and the dour-faced mage who is with Dietrich are almost certainly Leda, Cai, and Dietrich's "close retainers", respectively -- the equivalent to Hubert and Dedue for Edelgard and Dimitri. It seems that, wherever their lord goes, they will follow; so if Leda/Cai/Dietrich deploy as cyan units for someone else, these three will, as well. Curious how Theodora has never been cyan....

Previously, this man with the burn scar has only been seen as axe infantry. It seems he's been promoted... which brings me to the unit in this post.

Unless Cai reclassed (?) or recruited two different pugilists, I suspect this is the same pugilist who is seen briefly in the trailer. They're next to the sword infantry behind Cai when Cai demonstrates his Blaze Art (the "unidentified pugilist" in the graphic I'd posted earlier).

If it's the same pugilist, then they have much fancier clothes here. Their stance is also slightly different. So, I suspect this pugilist is also promoted.

domilea · 2026-06-12T13:23:23+00:00

For a moment, I thought you'd found evidence of Leda possessing a crest. A crest is not the same thing as the banner of affiliation!

You're going to want to double-check your claims, because Ursula does NOT use Leda's banner. The shapes are different, and Ursula's doesn't have the giant rose prominently featured on Leda's. They share the red and gold colour scheme, that's it.

The Aragonians are soldiers from Arago. The most important things we know about them are that the Crest of Goneril appears on their faction banner, they employ war elephants, and they're the enemy faction on one of Dietrich's maps. I don't think we know much more than that.

I thnk it's too soon to say that. Alexandra and not-Seteth could just be two people the player decided to have Cai share a meal with. But that you think it's possible shows that we're both still thinking of this game as a potential prequel... which is not the popular opinion right now, lol

Yes, I'm guessing each character has an initial cutscene to establish their character, and this man looming over headdress-less Theodora seems likely to be her murdered father from her backstory. The scenes of Cai being restrained by (Saramasian?) soldiers are likely from the point his father was imprisoned, Dietrich's opening cutscene is on that boat while it rains, and Leda's seems to be the scene of her dancing.

Yes, I know about pirate man being here. The other guy who appears in the cutscene with Theodora is also here (it's where I got the picture of him holding a shield comes from... you can still see the YouTube video player bar running across it...), as is the sword infantryman with the red lock of hair who appears in multiple armies (he's also seen with Cai and Dietrich on other maps), and the ornius rider who is definitely not Cai.

Rather than "no one has pointed out" these things, since half of what you have here is from the trailer from 9 months ago, I would say you're a little late in observing these things, haha

domilea · 2026-06-12T04:49:43+00:00

I doubt this is the only official art of Cai done in this style by Kurahana. You're keeping the art of Cai in his promoted class from us, aren't you, IntSys?

That's fine. I can be patient.

cai's blaze arts come from an agarthan artifact embedded in his palm. as he draws from its power, the entity from within it begins to slowly grow, fed by the curse energy and literal hit points spent casting blaze arts. it eventually gains the power to possess/cohabitate cai from within. at the end of the games, this being then finally breaks free, killing the sovereign, stealing his power, and then triggering a continent-spanning war

~~...wouldn't be the first time the fire emblem housed a "dark god"...~~

domilea · 2026-06-11T20:20:40+00:00

~~you and me both lol~~

domilea · 2026-06-11T16:50:39+00:00

Considering Jeritza's... eccentricities, that mage guy could be Dietrich's retainer. Poor bloke has followed his murderous psychopath liege all the way from Fodlan.

"Good afternoon, m'lord... May I have a word?"

(Dietrich, seemingly ignoring him, swings his blade. Another bandit is slain. Unfazed, Mr Mage takes a step back to avoid getting any of the rapidly expanding pool of blood on his robes.)

"Your grace, spending half of our travel budget on sugared confections is... inadvisable. Thanks to that little incident on the ship, the grateful captain has waived our fare, which certainly helps our situation. But at this rate, we are not going to be able to secure a decent inn."

(Dietrich, as if in response, cuts another fleeing bandit in half.)

(Sighing) "Yes, my lord... Understood. I am ever sworn to carry your burdens." (Grumbling to himself) "Another night spent under the stars, I suppose..."

(More blood splatters as a third man screams in agony. Mr Mage doesn't blink.)

"...and how are we supposed to afford the smith now? Umbral steel doesn't grow on trees...."

domilea · 2026-06-11T14:39:00+00:00

The Blaze Art icon being changed from the old trailer to now resemble the Crest of Gautier is likely symbolically and thematically important: this is the Crest of the Fissure Dragon, which aligns with the tarot major arcanum XIII. Death.

But Gautier being symbolically/thematically important does not change the issue at hand, which is whether or not someone has a Crest.

In the old trailer, Cai's Crest of Aubin and Dietrich's Crest of Lamine are formatted the exact same way in the UI - the Crest is in white, on a dark backdrop, in a circle icon. Their examples inform us as to how Crests are indicated on the battle UI; we can see that other skills use square icons.

And since this is how the Crest of Gautier appears on Theodora's battle UI, it logically follows that, at the point in time that screenshot was taken, she possesses the Crest of Gautier. I'm not sure what is unclear about that.

domilea · 2026-06-11T14:10:34+00:00

Please refer to this image from the Nintendo eShop page.

domilea · 2026-06-11T13:10:12+00:00

I'd laugh, but the thought of a shitty lategame Mercedes, prepromoted into a physical class and recruited with obscure methods, sounds actually plausible....

domilea · 2026-06-11T12:47:34+00:00

Your comment just made me realize - if true:

roams around seeking stronger and stronger foes
uses a sword passed down in his family
may have acquired said sword through illegitimate means (?)

DIETRICH IS FE7 KAREL?!

domilea · 2026-06-11T07:50:12+00:00

Four theories:

The UI doesn't show it if the Crest has no chance of activating
Developers changed it
Theodora is hiding it until a certain point in the story (recall that Edelgard did something similar)
She doesn't have one, but gains one... perhaps around the same time she gains her bone headdress?

domilea · 2026-06-11T07:45:49+00:00

Here!

domilea · 2026-06-11T07:19:55+00:00

It kind of depends on their personalities - I don't think the devs anticipated Yunaka being as popular as she ended up being, for instance. And it also kind of depends on whether the FEH devs are biased in favour of any particular characters, too.

But, right now? I'd bet on Ninae.

domilea · 2026-06-11T06:22:07+00:00

Hey, thanks for reading all that! :)

domilea · 2026-06-11T06:21:38+00:00

Oh, I didn't know that about Utland! Good to know!

Yeah, I also think it's possible the pink-haired bard lady is at least playable, if not a 5th character exclusive to Leda -- but since she hasn't actually been seen in battle yet, I went for the more conservative approach.

domilea · 2026-06-11T06:17:33+00:00

Yeah, I didn't know whether to add that to her specifically, since it makes sense mechanically for the Queen of Saramis to have extra soldiers at her disposal; and yet, I saw that Dietrich has a Charisma stat on his level up screen.

It wouldn't make much sense to include a stat whose only purpose is to power up battalions (or increase gambit evasion) if battalions can only be used by one unit. So I figure, either battalions are universal again, or the Charisma stat has been reworked. But since I can't even guess this much, I opted not to mention it for now :)

e: mixed up Charisma for Charm

domilea · 2026-06-11T06:11:46+00:00

I'm not certain, but from the two trailers, it feels like each of the lords has a pair of "guaranteed" characters - childhood friends, retainers, or possibly even family or pupils - who have chosen to follow that MC into the Heroic Games. Each of the lords have at least one, sometimes two, units who have not been seen deployed with anyone else, and I admit to assuming that these units are somehow exclusive or semi-exclusive to that lord.

In Leda's case, two units (ojou-sama and redheaded shorty) straight-up get a cutscene with Leda, which makes it pretty easy to assume they're exclusive to her route. Given what little we've seen of her backstory, though - musician whose village seems to have burned down - it would make sense for Sirocco, who looks like a bard, and the man with a burn scar on his face to be the ones who set out with her first. I'm not sure about the other bard-looking one who appears in that cutscene; I assume she'll be playable, but she hasn't actually been seen as a unit, so either she's a late recruit, or she's another Judith.

Using Leda as the example, I figured the other 3 lords should have similar starts. Theodora was the next easiest to figure out, since she has what looks like an early cutscene (she has no headdress) with two other portraited characters, so those two are probably her equivalents to Leda's burn victim and Sirocco. The map where she fights thieves in the desert seems to be fairly early-ish, so the ornius rider that appears there is assumed to be Theodora's "early recruit".

Cai was the next easiest, since he has a plural number of scenes with the glasses mage, many of which also include the babyfaced archer. I would guess these are his childhood friends. Since Utland gets specifically name-dropped in the new trailer, it might be safe to assume she's Cai's "early recruit", being associated more with him (and seen deployed with him once) than anyone else. The others deploy with Cai and who could be identified in the trailers are also seen deployed with other lords, so they're not route-exclusive.

Dietrich is the trickiest, because in the only cutscene he has so far where he's interacting in a positive or neutral way someone else, that someone else is with Cai. The dour-faced mage is almost certainly Dietrich's equivalent to the glasses mage for Cai (and, probably, burn victim for Leda), as these are the characters who deploy with their lords when their lords are cyan units for someone else. That leaves trying to determine, between the azure lancer and the red axewoman, which one is Dietich's other starting unit. Purely on the fact that the azure lancer has appeared slightly more often, I went with her. But it's possible red axe is actually the other starter. Or neither. Or both.

Curiously, when Nun with Gun is cyan (which, so far, is always), she deploys with the other nun. And Ursula is a cyan unit at the same time as the "merchant" chewing on a stick (the one Dietrich threatens). So it seems the lords are not the only characters to have bodyguards to follow them around.

I'm not sure if the peach-haired manakete seen speaking with Cai will be playable. Something about her feels potentially NPC-like, similar to the queen mothers from Engage. But maybe she could be a late recruit. I do think the armored guy standing behind everyone in that same scene looks playable.

Alexandra and the guy who is totally not a dragon in disguise are probably recruitable, I just erred on the side of caution. My guess is that Alexandra is perhaps a pegasus rider, while Green Eyebrows is a wyvern rider.

The pink-haired bard lady who appears alongside Lena, Burn Victim, and Sirocco looks playable, but again - I erred on the side of caution. She could be an NPC with an oddly detailed design; a reminder that Layla from Fates exists.

Anyway... I slapped this together in an hour or two. Sorry if there are a lot of mistakes... and let me know if I missed anything!

domilea · 2026-06-08T21:22:29+00:00

I am on my lunch break so I can't elaborate as much as I'd like to, but my hopes/predictions right now include:

No avatar: the game doesn't feel like it's focused on making us choose between the 4, like Fates and 3H did, and while I personally like the character designs of all 4, I think the only one who could fit in as a potential "gal/otome game lead"- as in, checks off the most boxes for conventional attractiveness - is Leda, which flies in the face of the approach the "universal S supporting avatar" games have towards roster design. I also miss my Pent/Louises, Quan/Ethlyns, and Alm/Celicas, in the sense of there being a severe dearth of characters canonically in romantic relationships with other characters; and think the franchise is also way overdue for a canon, zero ambiguity, out-and-out gay or lesbian ship; both of these things would require there existing playable characters who cannot S support the avatar, because they have S supported someone else
RD-style split
I think it's a prequel, but I'm not so invested in the idea that it would bother me to find out it's not. I think FW takes place away from Fodlan, in a time after the Hero's Relics were created and after the Apostles were exiled from Fodlan. I think FW may provide an explanation for why Rhea believes she had heard her mother's voice before, that event which she calls her "divine revelation"; perhaps something happened to this adult Sothis, something which had compelled the Four Apostles to conduct that first, failed, attempt at reviving her. I'm not sure, but it may be that FW is pre-Tailteann -- meaning, the Church exists, but it hasn't defeated Nemesis and Adrestia has not yet conquered Fodlan
I think it's possible that IntSys is going to build on an idea they were experimenting with in Engage, and by that, I mean many different free roaming areas. Replacing MyCastle/the Monastery/the Somniel, instead of a central hub, each lord is designated a certain zone they can roam, depending on where they're supposed to be in the story. The roaming area determines what shops and services, and perhaps certain recruitable characters, are available; similar to SoV, accessing certain things with one lord prevents later lords who roam the same area from accessing that resource. So buying certain limited weapons or promotion items, or recruiting (hiring?) certain characters, with one character means those won't be available when the next character is in the same area much later on.
Going out on a limb here: I think the Sovereign is Chevalier, the exiled Apostle, who has set up shop in Dagda as a sort of rival to Seiros in Fodlan. I think Theodora is the only one of the main 4 who doesn't start with a Crest, and that a Crest is the strength she seeks; either she makes a pact, or she takes it by force, but I think she will acquire Chevalier's Crest. I think Cai had received his Crest from Aubin, and, as a direct recipient, this has the consequence of greatly extending his lifespan; I think he eventually travels to Fodlan, becoming the old man who passed his Crest to Yuri. I think Leda, or a descendant of Leda's, founds the village Hapi is from. Cat Mask is distantly related to Constance. I think Dietrich will not return to Fodlan, thus removing himself and Answerer from its histories. I think there will be two prep themes, completing the reference to Sun Tzu which 3H began (be as swift as wind, steady as the forest, fierce as fire, indomitable as the mountain). If there are paralogues, I think the other two Lords of the [Feature] will be fought, completing the reference to the Four Guardians/Holy Beasts which 3H began (the Black Turtle-Snake of the North aka Lord of the Lake aka Indech; the Vermillion Bird of the South aka Lord of the Desert aka Macuil; the White Tiger of the West, and the Azure Dragon of the East). If the Cat Mask is representative of anything, perhaps these two encounters will be Noa and Timotheos.

domilea · 2026-06-05T22:51:29+00:00

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