With a sprawling cast of more than 60 playable characters, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is positively stuffed with dramatic moments and unexpected plot twists. And perhaps the very best of them comes in the final chapter of Dietrich’s Part One route, as the battle-loving warrior faces his most daunting enemy yet. During this showdown, there’s a jaw-dropping exchange between Dietrich and his right-hand man, the eccentric scholar Fabio. (If you’ve seen it, you’ll know the one I’m talking about.
And don’t be surprised if we continue talking about it through awards season.) Actor Jimmie Yamaguchi, who plays Fabio in Fortune’s Weave, took Polygon behind the scenes of this memorable moment in a recent interview. While Yamaguchi vividly remembers his time in the recording booth as Fabio, he hasn’t experienced the final product just yet. I still want it, but you know, it's so rare now.” [Ed. note: Spoilers follow for Part One of Dietrich’s route of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave.] Anyway, let’s set the scene.
Ahead of the final-round match between Dietrich and Theodora, the queen of Saramis is forced to withdraw from the Heroic Games due to unrest back home. That means Dietrich wins by default — a very undesirable outcome for one so obsessed with the thrill of combat. When the Divine Sovereign asks Dietrich what he wants as a reward for his victory, Dietrich makes a surprising request: a duel to the death with Mars, the god of war.
Intrigued by Dietrich’s ability following a previous clash, Mars accepts. After Dietrich and his companions defeat Mars, the boss activates his second phase and transforms into a dragon. Dietrich faces off against Mars alone, while the rest of his team fends off reinforcements. (If you try to attack Mars as anyone but Dietrich, intense waves of enemies will spawn in.) Dietrich eventually defeats Mars in his dragon form, but the god will not be felled.
To gain a last measure of power, Dietrich begins to surrender his will to the demonic power contained within his sword, Answerer. Black tendrils of evil energy swirl around his face and body, threatening to transform him from a human into a beast. It’s then that Fabio launches into an impassioned speech, reminding Dietrich of his innate goodness.
During their first meeting, Fabio addresses him as “beautiful stranger,” and he frequently squabbles with Esmeralda over which of them is truly the object of Dietrich’s affection. (I happen to think it’s both of them.) It’s to Fortune’s Weave’s enormous credit that this romance is never once played for laughs; indeed, Dietrich seems to return Fabio’s love, as evidenced by dialogue in their A- and B-level support conversations. It pulls him back from the brink of destruction, after all. And it’s Yamaguchi’s all-out performance as Fabio that makes this confession so powerful.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
