Fire Emblem: Champion's Sword (also known by its untranslated Japanese name, Hasha no Tsurugi) is an 11 volume manga adaptation of the game Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, published in Japan between 2001 and 2005.
The manga revisits and modifies the plot of its source material through the point of view of four original characters exclusive to this manga: Teen swordsman Al, Princess Tiena of Tania Castle, her loyal knight Gant, and Master Swordsman Kilmar.
They help Roy and his troops in the war against Bern while on their own quest: searching for the Fire Emblem.
Fire Emblem: Champion's Sword contains examples of:
- Adapted Out: Though a majority of Binding Blade's cast do show up in the manga, some are completely absent from the story, most notably Karel and Jahn, given the Manga only covers the story up to the bad ending.
- Advertised Extra: Roy is treated as one of the main protagonists of the Manga in a number of advertisements, even appearing often on the cover of some volumes and has a section in the character introduction of each one from volume 5 onwards, but in reality, he is not as important of a character in the manga as in The Binding Blade, since the primary focus of the story is Al himself. While he does contribute to a couple of plot-relevant events that occur throughout the story, said events are mostly based on those from the original game and not those made specifically for the Manga, therefore not doing much to alleviate this trope. He falls off of the plot after volume 10, though ironically, in the 11th and final volume, he is still featured in its character introduction despite no longer being of importance by that point.note
- Arc Words: "Fire burns everything, but it then gives birth to something new."
- Black Magician Girl: Jemmie, younger sister to Wyvern Rider Zeed, whose magic is much more destructive than most other mages seen in the original game. Practically borderlines on Ax-Crazy.
- Canon Foreigner: Al, Princess Tiena, Gant, and Kilmar are exclusive to this manga adaptation and are not present in the source material.
- Cool Sword: Al's sword, which besides its unique design, has an important significance later on.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the game, Arcard and Roartz are both fought as bosses and killed by Roy's army, Arcard the chapter after retaking the Etrurian capital and Roartz at the end of the Sacae/Illia arc. In the manga, Canon Foreigner Jemmie incinerates them both during the siege of Etruria.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Tania Castle is rebuilt, and Al marries Tiena in the end, the latter wearing a Fairytale Wedding Dress.
- Foreshadowing:
- Several times Al shows extreme displays of strength and traits not seen in other protagonists, such as blocking Kruzard's BFS twice, cutting through Jemmie's super-charged Elfire, and blocking Zephiel's Eckesachs (which is an even bigger BFS). He's also able to ride one of the wyverns used exclusively by Bern's Wyvern Riders with ease, something which only those that train extensively to be Bern's wyvern knights are able to do. All of this points to his half-dragon heritage.
- Though Lilina and Elffin are both alive and well* , Roy does not have Durandal and/or Armads in his possession. Several chapters later, it was revealed that the weapons were already stolen by the Black Bone Clan.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Al is half-dragon courtesy of his mother, being one of the last arch-dragons.
- Heroic RRoD: The first time Al Class Changes to Dragon Lord due to the Fire Emblem's influence, he's not able to maintain his form for long and almost dies from the unexpected power usage.
- Idiot Hero: Al has a habit of forming many Indy Ploys out of nowhere that sound ridiculous on paper, but actually work. While he's usually called naive or a fool early on, due to having lived on a mountain for much of his childhood, he matures as the story progresses and some of the other characters actually gain some of his enthusiasm.
- It Was a Gift: Al's sword was given to him by his father, a blacksmith, before he left his mountain home, and Al mentioned that his father was always tempering it in the forge. In reality, Al's sword is more of an Ancestral Weapon because it was born from his mother's body after she died protecting son and adopted father during their escape years ago and is the titular "Champion's Sword".
- Made of Iron: Al, Gant, and Kilmar get horribly injured on multiple occasions, yet they still keep going despite the fact that their wounds should have killed them.
- Modest Royalty: Princess Tiena is shown dressed somewhat plainly as a child in a flashback.
- No Social Skills: Al in the early volumes tends to act What's Up, King Dude? to several high-ranking folks, much to Tiena and Gant's horror, but he grows a bit out of it later on.
- Noble Fugitive: Tiena becomes this after her home castle is taken over by Bern's forces in the early chapters, forcing her to flee with Gant and be on the road for much of the story's duration.
- The Not-Love Interest: Gant and Tiena are Childhood Friends who are deeply protective of each other, and their relationship is purely platonic.
- The Reveal: Al is the son of a dragon mother and human Harmut, one of the Eight Legendary Heroes who founded the country of Bern, surprising everyone, including Al himself.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Tiena provides magic support on the front lines.
- Save the Princess: Gant and Al have to save Princess Tiena on multiple occasions.
- Sealed Good in a Can: Al was originally sealed as a child some time after The Scouring by his own father, Harmut, but was later unsealed alongside his mother some time after The Blazing Blade takes place, as he's roughly the same age as Roy is.
- Transformation Trinket: Like Fae, Al requires a Dragonstone if he needs the extra power - it allows him to access his Dragon Lord class without killing him.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Zephiel was a talented youth who did his best to win approval from his father, the king of Bern. But the harder he strove, the more distant his talentless father grew, and the fact that he was born from a loveless marriage didn't help either. The final straw came when the king poisoned his heir's drink, several years after a first assassination attempt failed. Zephiel's closest retainer, Murdoch, came up with the idea of faking his death to get him out of there. However, the king opened the casket, causing Zephiel to finally snap and stab him. According to his half-sister, Guinevere, Zephiel never smiled again. Years later, he (now king of Bern) was stirring up quite a bit of trouble in neighboring countries, trying to offer the land back to its rightful owners because Humans Are Bastards. He had to be killed... with his crestfallen sister's help, no less.
