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Sands of Time

From Fire Emblem Wiki, your source on Fire Emblem information. By fans, for fans.
This article is about the chapter of The Blazing Blade. For the Tempest Trial in Heroes, see Sands of Time (Heroes).
Sands of Time

Cm fe07 29.png

Location

Inside Castle Ostia

Boss(es)

Denning

Previous chapter(s)
Next chapter(s)
Side quest conditions

Battle Preparations is automatically unlocked.

This is a message from Lord Nergal. "I await you on the Dread Isle." This is a message from Lord Nergal. "I await you on the Dread Isle." This is a message...
— Denning

Sands of Time (Japanese: 悠久の黄砂 Eternal Sand) is the twenty-ninth chapter of Eliwood's tale and thirty-first of Hector's tale in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.

Plot

Main articles: Sands of Time/Script (Eliwood) and Sands of Time/Script (Hector)
Athos recounts his and Nergal's studies in Arcadia.

The group arrives in Ostia; a soldier greets Hector and informs him that Uther has departed for a conference in Etruria. Inside the castle, Athos explains his history with Nergal. Athos met and befriended Nergal 500 years ago in the Nabata Desert, when they were in search of knowledge. One day, they discovered Arcadia in Nabata, where dragons lived in harmony with humans. Nergal and Athos erected a magical barrier to hide Arcadia and lived there for centuries, studying in their libraries. In Arcadia, Nergal learned how to steal quintessence and use it as power. Nergal was banished from Arcadia and fled to Bern, where he began making morphs.

Athos is interrupted by a soldier alerting that the castle is under attack. The group concludes that the forces were sent by Nergal and take to defending the throne.

The lead morph, Denning, repeats "This is a message from Lord Nergal: 'I await you on the Dread Isle.'" Lyn tells Eliwood to not overexert himself; Eliwood coldly responds that he is fine. Nils absent-mindedly wanders onto the battlefield before being shuffled off to a safe room.

The group manages to fend off the invaders long enough for reinforcements arrive and repel Nergal's forces. No longer under threat, Athos continues his story. Once Athos discovered how much more powerful Nergal had become, he assumed Nergal's next target would be the dragons of Arcadia, and prepared to defend it. However, Nergal instead went to the Dragon's Gate and called Ninian and Nils through it. Athos tells the group that the legendary weapons are their last hope, and he will go to Bramimond to seek his help in obtaining as many of them as possible to stop Nergal. Eliwood, Hector, and Lyn declare that they will go to Dread Isle to suppress Nergal's army of morphs and prevent him from ravaging Lycia any further.

Before Athos leaves, he ensures that Eliwood and Hector—in his tale—still have Durandal and Armads. They confirm that they still have the weapons, but have been uncomfortable with using them; however, they promise that they will not hesitate to use them against Nergal.

Later that night, Hector confronts Oswin about Uther; Hector threatens to kill him for keeping the secret, but Oswin remains silent. Hector concludes that Uther has died of his illness, and leaves the throne room alone.

Nergal returns to the Dragon's Gate with Ninian's quintessence and her dragonstone; he infuses the dragonstone with Ninian's quintessence, creating a tool which enables him to call dragons from the gate whenever he pleases. Nergal decides to wait and gather more quintessence from Eliwood's forces in order to recover from Athos's attack before calling the dragons, as they may break free of his control and kill him if he is too weak.

Chapter data

Eliwood Normal Eliwood Hard Hector Normal Hector Hard

Chapter Data
Conditions
Unit Data
Victory: Protect the throne for 11 turns Player Partner Other Enemy
Defeat: Eliwood, Hector, or Lyn dies, or an enemy seizes the throne 3–18 {{{partner}}} 7 28+25

Map Secret Shop

Cm fe07 E-29.png

The placement of the two non-main Lords is based on their position in deployment order, which can vary from previous maps.

Character data

Eliwood's tale Hector's tale

Characters
New units

None

Required characters
Eliwood ​Hector ​Lyn ​
Available characters
Marcus ​Lowen ​Rebecca ​Dorcas ​Bartre ​Oswin ​Matthew ​Serra ​Guy ​Merlinus ​Erk ​Priscilla ​Florina ​Wil ​Kent ​Sain ​Raven ​Lucius ​Canas ​Dart ​Fiora ​Legault ​Isadora ​Rath ​Heath ​Hawkeye ​Wallace ​Geitz ​Pent ​Louise ​Karel ​Harken ​Nino ​Jaffar ​Vaida ​
Undeployable characters
Nils ​

Item data

Items
Name Obtainment Method
Is gba swordslayer.png Swordslayer Dropped by enemy Sniper (Normal Mode only)
Is gba longbow.png Longbow Dropped by enemy Sniper (Hard Mode only)
Is gba restore.png Restore Dropped by enemy Druid (Hard Mode only)
Is gba silver bow.png Silver Bow Dropped by enemy Sniper (Hector Hard Mode only)
Is gba antitoxin.png Antitoxin Steal from enemy Sniper (Eliwood's tale) or Knight (Hector's tale) (Hard Mode only)
Is gba antitoxin.png Antitoxin Steal from enemy General (Hector's tale only)
Is gba lockpick.png Lockpick Steal from enemy Thief (reinforcement; up to four)
Is gba dragonshield.png Dragonshield Open left chest in northern room
Is gba white gem.png White Gem Open right chest in northern room
Is gba body ring.png Body Ring Open lone southern chest

Shop data

Armories and vendors

Swords Lances Axes Bows Anima Light Dark Staves Items Secret

None

The secret shop is located in the bottom-left of the map, in the 2×2 plains area outside the castle's walls; requires Warp.

Enemy data

Stats with two figures separated by a ~ are presented as a range, representing stats that vary due to random growths. The figures to the left and right of the ~ are the stat's minimum and maximum possible values respectively.

Eliwood Normal Eliwood Hard Hector Normal Hector Hard

Enemy Units
Name Class Lv # HP Str/Mag Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills
Ma gba sniper enemy.gif Denning Sniper 19 1 51 18 18 18 0 14 22 8 6 Silver Bow Longbow
Moves to attack units in range.
Ma gba sniper enemy.gif Morph Sniper 3 1 27~30 9~12 8~11 6~9 0 6~8 3~6 8 6 Longbow SwordslayerThis item is dropped upon this unit's defeat.
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba sniper enemy.gif Morph Sniper 3 1 27~30 9~12 8~11 6~9 0 6~8 3~6 8 6 Poison Bow
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba sniper enemy.gif Morph Sniper 3 1 27~30 9~12 8~11 6~9 0 6~8 3~6 8 6 Longbow
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba archer enemy.gif Morph Archer 15 12 26~30 8~10 7~10 6~9 0 4~6 1~3 7 5 Poison Bow
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba shaman enemy.gif Morph Shaman 15 3 22~24 8~10 4~7 5~7 0 3~4 7~9 7 5 Flux
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba shaman enemy.gif Morph Shaman 15 2 22~24 8~10 4~7 5~7 0 3~4 7~9 7 5 Nosferatu
• The southern one moves towards the throne.
• The western one moves to attack units in range.
Ma gba shaman enemy.gif Morph Shaman 15 1 22~24 8~10 4~7 5~7 0 3~4 7~9 7 5 Luna
Moves to attack units in range.
Ma gba swordmaster enemy.gif Morph Swordmaster 8 1 29~34 8~11 14~18 13~17 0 6~9 4~7 9 6 Killing Edge
Moves to attack units in range.
Ma gba sniper enemy.gif Morph Sniper 5 1 28~31 10~13 9~12 6~9 0 6~8 3~6 8 6 Silver Bow
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba druid enemy.gif Morph Druid 15 1 28~31 17~21 9~11 9~11 0 6~7 13~16 8 6 Nosferatu Silence
Moves to attack units in range.
Ma gba druid enemy.gif Morph Druid 5 1 24~26 12~15 6~8 6~8 0 5~6 9~12 8 6 Nosferatu Sleep
Moves to attack units in range.
Ma gba sniper enemy.gif Morph Sniper 3 2 27~30 9~12 8~11 6~9 0 6~8 3~6 8 6 Steel Bow
Moves towards the throne.
Reinforcements
Name Class Lv # HP Str/Mag Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills
Ma gba thief enemy.gif Morph Thief 15 3 22~24 3~4 6~9 13~16 0 2~3 2~4 6 6 Poison Sword Lockpick
Ignores combat; moves to open doors and chests, then moves to escape to the south once all doors and chests are open, his inventory is filled, or he lacks a means of opening doors or chests.
Ma gba cavalier enemy.gif Morph Cavalier 15 8 29~32 9~11 6~9 8~10 0 7~9 1~3 9 7 Poison Lance
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba sniper enemy.gif Morph Sniper 3 2 27~30 9~12 8~11 6~9 0 6~8 3~6 8 6 Poison Bow
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba knight enemy.gif Morph Knight 15 2 26~30 9~12 5~7 1~3 0 12~14 2~4 13 4 Poison Lance
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba myrmidon enemy.gif Morph Myrmidon 15 8 24~28 8~10 13~16 13~16 0 3~5 2~4 8 5 Poison Sword
Moves towards the throne.
Ma gba druid enemy.gif Morph Druid 15 2 27~32 16~21 8~12 8~11 0 5~8 12~16 8 6 Luna Eclipse
Moves to attack units in range.

Reinforcements

All reinforcements are halted when Denning is defeated.

Eliwood's tale
  • Turns 2 (Hard Mode)/3 (Normal Mode) – 5
    • 1 Thief from the south stairs
  • Turns 3, 5, 10, and 11
  • Turns 2–8 (Hard Mode only)
    • 1 Shaman from the left northeast stairs
    • 1 Archer from the right northeast stairs
  • Turns 4 (Hard Mode) and 5
  • Turn 6
    • 2 Knights from the east edge of the map
  • Turns 6–9
  • Turn 6 (Hard Mode) and 7
    • 1 Druid from the east edge of the map
Hector's tale

NPC data

Stats with two figures separated by a ~ are presented as a range, representing stats that vary due to random growths. The figures to the left and right of the ~ are the stat's minimum and maximum possible values respectively.
NPC Units
Name Class Lv # HP Str/Mag Mag Skill Spd Lck Prf Def Res Cha Lck Con Mov Inventory and Skills
Ma gba knight other.gif Ostia Knight 10 7 23~26 8~10 4~6 1~2 0 11~12 1~3 13 4 Steel Lance
The middle one of the three southeast of the throne moves to attack units in range.

Boss data

Stats with two figures separated by a ~ are presented as a range, representing stats that vary due to random growths. The figures to the left and right of the ~ are the stat's minimum and maximum possible values respectively.
Main article: Denning

Normal/Eliwood Hard Hector Hard

Portrait denning fe07.png
Ma gba sniper enemy.gif Sniper
Level 19
Affinity --
Stats
Max HP 51 Luck 0
Strength 18 Defense 14
Skill 18 Resistance 22
Speed 18 Constitution 8
Movement 6 Aid 7
Inventory
Silver Bow
Longbow
Weapon Levels
Swords -- Lances -- Axes -- Bows A
Anima magic -- Light magic -- Dark magic -- Staves --

Strategy

The last defend map of the game. The map features multiple Druids armed with status staves as well as quite a few Shamans. On Eliwood mode, you fight a metric ton of Archers, while on Hector mode, some of those Archers are swapped out for Knights. In both modes, there are a lot of poison weapons among the enemy ranks, which is a very good thing. There's one of each status staff on the map, which can spell disaster if your Restore users get targeted by them (EHM throws in an extra Sleep caster for good measure), so it's a good idea to deploy at least 3 staff users that can use Restore.

Deploy your strongest units with strong 1-2 range (for Archers and Shamans) or high firepower (for Hector mode Knights), such as Pent and Louise, Vaida, Harken, Hawkeye etc. into the 4-man "island" away from the rest of the party; they will be responsible for most of the killing, as well as dealing with the boss. One of them (usually Pent), will need to carry Restore and be able to use it. The rest of the party stays up near the throne to start out; they also need at least one Restore caster with staff. It's also a good idea to give one of them a Chest Key to loot the Body Ring chest as they fight their way over.

You can somewhat ignore the green units. Their stats are complete garbage and are lucky to last more than 2 rounds of combat without dying. The most they will do is be a distraction for a few enemies and keeping that fire off of your units, which can even be annoying or bad if using the strategy described below. There's no reward for keeping them alive, so don't bother with them.

The first order of business is to intentionally get as many of your own units poisoned as you safely can. Counterintuitive as it may be, it actually makes the status staff users easier to deal with, as they won't target units already under a bad status effect, which poison counts as. Since poison weapons are weak and poison damage is minimal, this should not pose any significant danger to your trained units. Poison weapons are inaccurate, so units shouldn't be relied on to get poisoned. However, status staff immunity is so useful on this map that it's still advised to try; worst-case scenario you just fall back to using a few more actions to Restore important units. A poisoned Restore caster will never be incapacitated so they can restore those hit by status staves, while poisoned units also can't be Berserked, so there's no risk of their inventory being locked out in case they're holding a Restore for someone else. Likewise, poisoned units can safely be sent away from Restore users, as by the the time the poison wears off, all the status staves will be exhausted.

Your 4-man elite squad deployed away from the rest of the army should immediately rush in and start killing everything in their path. There are a lot of enemies, so it's important they intercept and decimate them before they head further up the map. Additionally, they are likely the only ones able to reach the Body Ring chest in a safe and timely manner, so they should be heading into the fray regardless. They should take care not to pull Denning yet, as while he can be neutralized by boxing him in, killing him stops the reinforcements, which you may want to farm for EXP. If you don't mind losing out on reinforcement EXP however, you can pull him in early and take him out to shut down the reinforcements.

Send Jaffar down the left side of the map with 1-2 units to escort him in order to loot the chests. Bashing the wall in is faster than going through the door, though one of the units going down this lane will need either great DEF or the Iron Rune on Hector Mode, due to a Killing Edge Swordmaster being there. The rest of the throne room units should simply form a 3-wide line behind the green units. The 3 bulkiest units not sent elsewhere should form a horizontal line to limit how many attacks each of them can be exposed to. Use Barrier or Pure Water to overcome magic damage problems, and simply have them stall the enemies there until the timer runs out.

Trivia

  • This map shares portions of and takes place at the same area as Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade's Chapter 8.
  • In the prototype version of this chapter, a door was present in the upper left corner of the map, corresponding to a door that was present in The Binding Blade's Chapter 8, which is also where the secret shop was located.[1]

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language Name Definition, etymology, and notes
English

Sands of Time

--

Japanese

悠久の黄砂

Eternal Sand

German

Der Sand der Zeit

The Sands of Time

Gallery

Prototype

Images from the Fire Emblem 0206 and 0219 prototypes.

References

  1. Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance), tcrf.net, Retrieved: November 3, 2022
← Valorous Roland •
← The Berserker •
Sands of Time • Victory or Death →
• Battle Preparations →
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
Playable characters AthosBartreCanasDartDorcasEliwoodErkFarinaFioraFlorinaGeitzGuyHarkenHawkeyeHeathHectorIsadoraJaffarKarelKarlaKentLegaultLouiseLowenLuciusLynMarcusMatthewMerlinusNilsNinianNinoOswinPentPriscillaRathRavenRebeccaRenaultSainSerraVaidaWallaceWil
Non-playable characters BramimondDesmondElbertEleanoraEphidelFaeFargusGuinivereHannahHausenHelleneHelmanIgorJahnJakeJanKishunaLeilaLilinaMarkMurdockNatalieReissmannRoySophiaUtherZephiel
Bosses AionBattaBaukerBernardBeyardBoiesBoolBrendanBugCameronCarjigaDamianDarinDenningDragonEaglerErikEubansFargusGeorgGlassGroznyiHeintzJasmineJermeKaimKennethKishunaLimstellaLinusLloydLundgrenMaximeMigalNergalOlegPascalPaulPuzonSealenSoniaTeodorUhaiUrsulaVaidaWireYogiZaganZoldamZugu
Background characters AenirAeshaAthosBariganBramimondDurbanElimineHanonHartmutHassarKellesMadelynRoland
Regalia and personal weapons ArmadsAureolaBasilikosDurandalEreshkigalExcaliburForblazeGespenstLuceMani KattiRapierRegal BladeRex HastaRienflecheSol KattiWolf Beil
Chapters Lyn's Tale P: A Girl from the Plains • 1: Footsteps of Fate • 2: Sword of Spirits • 3: Band of Mercenaries • 4: In Occupation's Shadow • 5: Beyond the Borders • 6: Blood of Pride • 7: Siblings Abroad • 7x: The Black Shadow • 8: Vortex of Strategy • 9: A Grim Reunion • 10: The Distant Plains
Eliwood's Tale 11: Taking Leave • 12: Birds of a Feather • 13: In Search of Truth • 13x: The Peddler Merlinus • 14: False Friends • 15: Noble Lady of Caelin • 16: Whereabouts Unknown • 16x: The Port of Badon • 17: Pirate Ship • 18: The Dread Isle • 18x: Imprisoner of Magic • 19: Dragon's Gate • 20: New Resolve • 21: Kinship's Bond • 22: Living Legend • 22x: Genesis • 23: Four-Fanged Offense (Lloyd, Linus) • 24: Unfulfilled Heart • 25: Pale Flower of Darkness (Kenneth, Jerme) • 26: Battle before Dawn • 26x: Night of Farewells • 27: Cog of Destiny • 28: Valorous Roland • 29: Sands of Time • 29x: Battle Preparations • 30: Victory or DeathF: Light (part 1part 2)
Hector's Tale 11: Another Journey • 12: Birds of a Feather • 13: In Search of Truth • 13x: The Peddler Merlinus • 14: False Friends • 15: Talons Alight • 16: Noble Lady of Caelin • 17: Whereabouts Unknown • 17x: The Port of Badon • 18: Pirate Ship • 19: The Dread Isle • 19x: Imprisoner of Magic • 19x pt 2: A Glimpse in Time • 20: Dragon's Gate • 21: New Resolve • 22: Kinship's Bond • 23: Living Legend • 23x: Genesis • 24: Four-Fanged Offense (Lloyd, Linus) • 25: Crazed Beast • 26: Unfulfilled Heart • 27: Pale Flower of Darkness (Kenneth, Jerme) • 28: Battle before Dawn • 28x: Night of Farewells • 29: Cog of Destiny • 30: The Berserker • 31: Sands of Time • 31x: Battle Preparations • 32: Victory or Death • 32x: The Value of LifeF: Light (part 1part 2)
Locations ElibeBern (Shrine of Seals) • EtruriaIliaLycia (AraphenCaelinCornwellKhatheletLausOstiaPheraeSantaruz) • Nabata Desert (Arcadia) • Sacae (Bulgar) • Valor (Dragon's Gate) • Western Isles
Groups, objects and concepts Black Fang (Four Fangs) • Fire EmblemGenerals of EtruriaMorphsQuintessenceThe Scouring
Lists ChaptersCharactersClasses (Class change) • Hidden treasureItemsScriptsSupportsWeapons
Related topics List of version differencesMario Kart: Double Dash!! bonus discName chart • Other games (The Binding Blade) • Pre-release information (Pre-release build 0206Pre-release build 0219Unused content) • Sound RoomTimeline