Developers Discuss Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave in New “Ask the Developer” Interview
In the 23rd volume of Nintendo’s “Ask the Developer” interview series, the creative team behind Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave—a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive launching Thursday, September 17, 2026—discuss the game’s narrative structure, world-building, and character design. The interview was conducted before the game’s release.
Meet the Development Team
Four key developers participated in the conversation:
- Toshiyuki Kusakihara (Intelligent Systems) – Director on the Intelligent Systems side, also directed Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
- Masahiro Higuchi (Intelligent Systems) – Producer on recent Fire Emblem titles, producer on the Intelligent Systems side for this game.
- Genki Yokota (Nintendo) – Producer on Fortune’s Weave; previously directed Three Houses and produced Fire Emblem Engage.
- Kenta Nakanishi (Nintendo) – Associate producer, coordinating development flow and proposing design and gameplay ideas.
Game Overview: Four Parallel Paths Converging
Yokota opened with a high-level summary of the tactical RPG:
Sure. The Fire Emblem series is part of the tactical RPG genre. It combines RPG-style character development, shaped by the player’s choices, with turn-based battles in which players move characters across a grid-based battlefield and command them in battle. A defining feature of the series is that every choice the player makes affects the characters’ growth and how the battle plays out. In Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, the story unfolds across four parallel paths, each told from the perspective of a different protagonist. Players can freely change between the four paths as they gather allies, build their own ultimate team, and take on their enemies.
Kusakihara expanded on the setting and narrative framework:
The story of this title takes place on the continent of Dagda, which lies south of Fódlan, the setting of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. There, the Dagdan Empire stands as a massive nation ruled by gods. In the first half of the game, warriors from various lands gather in its capital, Dagsion, to compete for victory in the Heroic Games. As Yokota-san touched on earlier, the game has four paths. Through them, players follow the stories of four warriors from different lands, with each story told from its protagonist’s perspective.
Nakanishi described how the paths unite in the second half:
In the latter half of the game, the characters that players have recruited across the four paths ultimately come together as a single force, moving toward one common goal. In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, players choose one of three houses, each associated with one of three major powers, and develop the characters in that house. Ultimately, those three nations come to stand opposed to one another.
Connected World, Standalone Experience
Asked whether Fortune’s Weave is a sequel to Three Houses, Higuchi clarified the relationship:
That’s right. While this title is set in a world connected to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, both the time period and the region are different. We developed the game with the guiding principle that players should be able to fully enjoy it as a standalone title, even if they aren’t familiar with Fire Emblem: Three Houses. So rather than thinking of it as a sequel, we’d like players to see it as a new title.
Kusakihara added that the team felt significant responsibility after Three Houses‘ success:
We were very fortunate that so many players enjoyed Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but at the same time, we had an enormous sense of responsibility. We spent a lot of time wondering how we could create something that would surpass it. So initially, we came up with the bold idea of increasing the number of story perspectives from three to eight. The three powers in Fire Emblem: Three Houses are fundamentally at odds with one another. This time, we decided to take the opposite approach, with the stories unfolding along each path ultimately coming together into one. From there, we worked to refine the concept.
Yokota noted the practical challenges of eight protagonists:
Suddenly going from three perspectives to eight is a pretty big jump. Kusakihara-san had really developed a clear theme for each protagonist, and I felt it could lead to something really interesting. But with eight protagonists, there was almost too much we could do… It seemed like players would have a lot to keep track of, which could make the game feel complicated. So, we decided to put the focus on four of those protagonists instead.
Building Dagda: A Contrast to Fódlan
The developers detailed how they crafted Dagda’s distinct identity. Yokota emphasized the goal of a “completely different feel” from Three Houses.
Kusakihara elaborated on the thematic and visual contrast:
Right. Fódlan, the setting of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, was a strict world that placed great importance on doctrines. In contrast, with Dagda, the setting of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, we aimed to create a place filled with freedom and vitality, where people live energetically under blue skies and the blazing sun. We wanted to capture the kind of life force and energy often associated with people from an earlier age. For the building designs, Fire Emblem: Three Houses was inspired by Eastern Europe from the medieval period onward, while this title drew inspiration from the ancient Mediterranean region. I think another major difference from Fire Emblem: Three Houses is that in Dagda, people worship multiple gods, and those gods also coexist with humans.
Nakanishi highlighted a structural element carried over from Three Houses:
At the same time, there are also elements from Fire Emblem: Three Houses that we carried over. Traditionally, Fire Emblem games have been structured so that the story starts with a small group, and the cast gradually grows over time. By contrast, in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, almost all of the characters are introduced in the early stages of the game, and players build their team by choosing allies from among them. We thought this structure, where almost all of the characters were introduced in the early stages of the game, was one of the things that worked well in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. So, we tried to carry over that approach as much as we could for this title.
Kusakihara summarized the narrative ambition:
What I wanted to depict in this title was how people choose to lead their lives, almost like a grand historical drama in which the intentions of many different people and nations intertwine and set history in motion. That’s exactly why I wanted to increase the number of perspectives from which the story is told. This title features a wide variety of people with different backgrounds, including age, origin, and ethnicity. The arena, an important setting in this title, is where all these people come together.
Higuchi noted the arena’s narrative utility:
The Fire Emblem series has often featured arenas as places where unique characters gather and strive toward a shared goal. In this title’s Heroic Games, many different people, including the four protagonists, each fight for their own reasons. I think the arena also works very well as a setting that helps drive the story.
The Four Protagonists
Kusakihara introduced the four central characters whose paths players can follow:
Many people gather for the Heroic Games of the Dagdan Empire, but the four protagonists are: Cai, a boy from the peaceful village of Ribeira; Dietrich, a swordsman from the foreign land of Fódlan; Theodora, the young queen of the Kingdom of Saramis; and Leda, a bard whose homeland was taken from her. Cai leaves his village with his childhood friends to unravel the mystery of his birth and grows significantly through the battles of the Heroic Games. Dietrich is an exceptional swordsman who happens to wash up in Dagda after surviving a shipwreck. He lives for battle, so when he hears about the Heroic Games, he leaps at the chance to take part. Dietrich’s story is about a man with a kind of self-destructive impulse, someone who only feels alive in the midst of battle, and how he comes to discover bonds with others in the land of Dagda. The Kingdom of Saramis, ruled by Theodora, was founded through a complex history involving the Dagdan Empire and the gods. She joins the Heroic Games with the aim of fulfilling a long-held wish of her people. Leda, meanwhile, is a passionate woman who has devoted herself entirely to revenge. After discovering that the person who killed her father and destroyed her city is still alive in Dagsion, she enters the Heroic Games to carry out her revenge. As each of the protagonists takes on the Heroic Games, the motives and conspiracies of those around them become intricately intertwined, driving the story forward.
The Player Character: Eshmel
The game begins with the player controlling Eshmel, a character added late in development. Kusakihara explained the reasoning:
Eshmel plays a slightly different role from the four protagonists. The game begins with the player controlling Eshmel, but to be honest, this character didn’t even exist until partway through development. Eshmel was another protagonist we added right at the end. Our initial idea was that players would choose whichever of the four protagonists they liked and then keep fighting with that protagonist through to the end. But something about that never quite felt right to me. The issue was that it didn’t really feel like the four stories were coming together into one in a satisfying way. As I mentioned earlier, once the game reaches its second half, the story comes together into one, and the four protagonists gather in one place. But even after that, if we continued to follow the story through each of their individual perspectives, it just wouldn’t have felt like it matched the concept of multiple stories converging into one. That led us to realize that we needed another character who could take a broader view of all four protagonists. So, our thinking was, “If we just had one more person, all the stories would come together nicely!” And that’s how Eshmel was born. We were already halfway through development, but I went to the team and said, “Sorry, but we’re adding one more character.” (Laughs)
Nakanishi compared Eshmel to the professor role in Three Houses:
Having each path’s protagonist lead the way toward the final battle would’ve been interesting, too. But we needed a character who could look at the whole picture, like the professor in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I think adding that character made the overall structure easier to understand, with the idea that Eshmel helps the four protagonists rebuild a world that has fallen apart.
Yokota confirmed the time-travel element was introduced with Eshmel:
Before Eshmel came into the picture, the story wasn’t built around returning to the past, right?
Kusakihara affirmed:
Right. Back then, it was just a story that moved toward the future. But once Eshmel was added, we had a clear purpose. Eshmel would go back in time, gather information and experiences from the past, and ultimately bring the four protagonists’ stories together into one. In that way, the idea of “weaving everything together” became part of both the gameplay and the story, and I think we were able to make the two fit together really well.
The interview continues in Part 2: “Weaving experiences into a single outcome.”
Content rating: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol. In-Game Purchases.
