The Scouring

The Scouring was a war that took place 1000 years before the events of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (980 years before the main story of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade). The war was fought between mankind and dragons, and while the details of what exactly caused the war are uncertain, what is known is that man was the one who initially declared war.

Most people of the universe of Elibe know the story of the Scouring, but the actual events occurred much differently than those stories that had been passed down. Most of these misconceptions are set straight when Roy confronts Jahn in the Dragon Temple during The Truth of the Legend, Chapter 24 of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.

Early Stages

When mankind declared war on the dragons, all of the dragon clans save for the Divine Dragons retaliated In the initial stages of the war, while the dragons were indeed immensely powerful, mankind had one great advantage: the ability to reproduce (comparatively) very quickly. Eventually, the dragons began to lose due to the sheer numbers of humans they faced.

The Demon Dragon

In order to counter the human advantage of fast reproduction, the dragons searched for a way to produce more dragon soldiers. Eventually, they sought the help of the Divine Dragon clan, who had remained neutral, for a sacrifice that they may turn into a Demon Dragon, who would be capable of spawning "artificial" War Dragons. The Divine Dragons refused, and they fled to the Nabata Desert in order to avoid conflict. While they fled, however, a Divine Dragon priestess named Idoun stayed behind, hoping that she would be able to keep the peace between the Divine Dragon clan and the other dragon clans. Idoun, however, was captured by the dragons and transformed into the Demon Dragon.

Even after her transformation, however, Idoun refused to obey the dragons' commands, and so, to nullify her resistance, they destroyed Idoun's soul. With the War Dragons created, the dragons began to turn the tides of war against the humans.

The Divine Weapons

When the humans realized that their advantage was lost due to the Demon Dragon's powers, they decided to put all of their greatest forging and magical capabilities into the creation of the eight Legendary Weapons. These weapons, wielded by the Eight Heroes, were designed with a single purpose: to slay dragons. They could pierce the dragon's hard scales with ease, and they would guide their users' attacks to where they could be most deadly. With these weapons in hand, the Eight Heroes advanced into what would become Bern, where the Demon Dragon and the leader of the dragons were. When they charged upon the Dragon Temple, however, a terrible calamity occured.

Ending Winter

This calamity was the Ending Winter. The enormous amount of power present in the (true) dragons at the Dragon Temple combined with that of the Legendary Weapons put such a strain on the universe that the laws of nature were warped. Natural catastrophes became common. Snow fell in the middle of summer. The stars shone even during the day. So much energy was drawn out of the universe in its attempt to restore the balance that it became impossible for dragons to remain in their large, powerful states. The dragons had to seal their power into Dragonstones and take the form of humanoid manaketes. Humans, on the other hand, were mostly unaffected, as they simply adapted to the changes. The only change that affected them negatively was a slight loss in the power of the Legendary Weapons.

Surrender and Aftermath

The manaketes, who in their untransformed state were far weaker than any human warrior, were slaughtered by the humans, and, defeating the leader of the dragons, they proceeded to find the Demon Dragon and put a stop to the war. When they found Idoun, however, they found her in her human form, blankly staring into space, as she had no more orders to follow. As Jahn put it,

"The Demon Dragon had its soul destroyed to follow our leader's commands. Since our leader had been killed, there were no further commands to follow... The Eight Heroes naturally hesitated. They had expected to face the most powerful Dragon in existence, but all they saw was a girl who wouldn't respond to them even if spoken to... But the Dark Dragon still had to be defeated, so the Eight Heroes prepared for battle. Idoun then must have reacted to their attacks. She changed into the Dark Dragon and fought back, just like her War Dragons who had no heart."

Drawing the Binding Blade, a weapon even stronger than the Legendary Weapons, and, sensing Hartmut's desire not to kill Idoun, it changed its powers and instead of killing her, it sealed her in sleep. Hartmut convinced his companions to spare her, and he had a temple built in the forests of Bern, where he fully sealed her away using the Binding Blade locked the seal with a magic gemstone that would become known as the Imperial Seal of Bern, the Fire Emblem.

Having been defeated, the manaketes were banished through an otherworldly gate on Valor Isle that led into a different dimension. With dragons gone from the realm, mankind rebuilt and dominated the continent. Six of the Eight Heroes went on to found countries (or in Durban's case, a settlement) across Elibe.

Trivia

• During Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, the following living persons were also alive during the Scouring: Athos, Bramimond, Jahn, Nergal, Ninian, Nils, and Idoun.
• During Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, which takes place 20 years later, the following of the previous list are known to have died: Athos, Bramimond, Nergal, and Ninian (if she stayed with Eliwood).