Military Strength in Magvel
The military capabilities of Magvel’s countries are lightly touched upon in-story, with Grado being known for having the strongest army and Frelia’s military keeping Grado’s at bay “against all odds.” How does each country’s military hold up, given what we see of their armies? It’s time to find out.
Grado
As Grado is noted in-story to have the strongest military might, let’s start with them. To begin with, one of their greatest advantages is sheer numbers. Even in his own campaign, Ephraim avoids engaging Grado’s main force directly because their numbers are just too overwhelming, even with Frelia’s army backing him up.
On top of sheer numbers, they also have one of the most well-rounded armies of any country. They have swordfighters, lancer, axe users, magic users, healers, fliers, archers, cavaliers--you name it. As a result, they also have a wide breadth of tactics available to them. With long-range tome users and fliers, they can make quick assaults on enemy forces, ambushing and scattering them. Cavalry could continue the rout and pursue fleeing enemy forces, while invasion of fortified strongholds could be carried out by mages, archers, and soldiers.
To reinforce how dangerous their fliers are, let’s take a look at the world map.
Cormag is able to fly from Grado Keep (14) to Hamill Canyon (18) in the span of the beginning of the chapter to Turn 5. Valter is also able to get from Bethroen (11) to Teraz Plateau (16) in the time between the beginning of Chapter 10B to the end of 10A. That’s just about half the continent in a pretty short time frame, as Eirika and Ephraim’s chapters occur around the same time as each other’s.
Having speedy travelers like them is probably necessary for Grado to maintain order, considering the country covers nearly half the continent on its own, but this also makes invasion really easy for them. They can fly over any rough terrain, and unless you have some really good countermeasures, there’s not much stopping them from invading, either. (Their only downside is that wyverns seem to be difficult to train and thus, Grado’s wyvern division is likely relatively small and elite by nature. Unlike cavalry or infantry, they cannot be deployed en masse; if you notice, we don’t fight a lot of wyvern riders in the game. In a single playthrough, only three chapters of the game have wyvern rider enemies.)
Once they’ve broken through the front lines, with their superior numbers, the cavalry and foot soldiers can just swarm the area and crush the opposition with brute force. Probably anyone who’s struggled with Chapter 19 knows that when the Grado army swarms, they swarm. If you can’t hold up a strong choke point, you can’t hold them back for long.
(I personally maintain that much of the Grado forces we face in the story were purposely arranged by Lyon/the Demon King so that we can beat them. For example, Glen in Chapter 5 is given orders to put Saar in charge of capturing Eirika at Serafew. Riev bows out of Chapter 6, leaving Novala on his own. Riev extracts Caellach from Taizel before he can actually fight us, and replaces his presence with monsters. When Selena is in Za’albul Marsh, she’s there on a supposedly-quick errand and likely doesn’t have a full, proper army with her. Thus, the only times we really fight close to the Grado army’s full potential are in Chapters 15 and 19.)
Renais
Renais’ military strength lies in, without a doubt, its cavalry. I saw part of a documentary called Guns, Germs, and Steel, and their coverage on the Spanish Jinete style is just about what I’d imagine Renais’ army’s style to be like. (Not to mention that Spain also made some really good rapiers, and guess what Eirika’s signature early-game weapon is?)
Jinete riders favor maneuverability, precision, and speed; it goes to explaining how Franz reached Frelia while evading detection, and how Forde and Kyle could shake off Grado after Renvall (Valter letting them escape notwithstanding). Because it takes more discipline and time than other cavalry techniques, it’s probably a style that would be found in Renais, moreso than Grado where they’d likely prefer a style that is easy to learn because of the sheer number of troops and recruits they have.
While Renais is most prominent for its cavalry, they also have Fighters, as evidenced by Garcia, a retired Renais general. Those in the Fighter and Brigand classes are good in mountainous regions, which Renais is surrounded by. They have cavalry for the valleys, traveling to other countries for business, and protecting villages. Fighters, meanwhile, could scale mountains more easily to hunt down brigands and protect more remote areas. They likely had some archers, but not as much as they’d hoped; at one point, they tried and failed to recruit Zethla, Neimi’s grandfather and a legendary archer.
Unfortunately, their military, while quite formidable with their cavalry, proved no match for Grado’s concentrated forces, especially since the invasion was basically Magvel’s version of a blitzkrieg. None of Renais’ cavaliers have Resistance as a particularly strong suit, and fliers again have terrain advantage. Without any particular counters for Grado’s strong suits, there was little Renais could do to stop the invasion.
Frelia
When Innes tells Ephraim that Renais fell because “you provided Grado the opportunity to strike,” he isn’t completely full of hot air. Frelia, whether by coincidence or no, has something that no other country in Magvel does: counters for Grado’s army. I’ve had my theories on the reason why Frelia’s military is the way it is, but as it stands, they’re the only army in Magvel that actually stands up to Grado on their own (without the help of our party) and comes out superior.
On at least a superficial level, Frelia and Grado’s stand-off is not unlike Britain and Germany during WWII. Because of Frelia’s Pegasus Knights, Grado loses the automatic air superiority that they have over every other country. Because of pegasi’s natural magical resistance, they can also be used to counter the mages that Grado uses to demolish the knights and soldiers of other countries. On top of that, the fact that Innes and Hayden are both archers suggest that Frelia has a rather strong archery division in their army, which again serves as a counter for Grado’s fliers, mages, and archers. Their knights and cavaliers can probably fend off attacks from cavalry or soldiers, thus making for a solid line of defense as long as mages can be dealt with.
From Franz and Gilliam’s supports, we learn that Frelians use a training regiment that has them train each muscle, even in their fingers, to build resistance and strength. Inferring that each soldier goes through that regiment, then it’s possible that in a battle of attrition, then Frelia may win out there as well because of sheer force of endurance. If Amelia is any indication, then many of Grado’s newer recruits aren’t very well trained, and they’re still being deployed on the front lines. A human wave attack may not be very effective against Frelia, and if that’s what Grado indeed attempted, then it’s probably why Frelia was able to drive them back to Fort Rigwald.
Furthermore, Frelia is the only country to have a known spy network. Like with Britain’s radars allowing them to detect air strikes, and later their code-breaking, holding an intelligence advantage over Grado could turn battles to their favor. That Innes seemed to have no intel on Grado preparing to invade the Tower of Valni, nor was there any indication that their border was crossed, seems to indicate that Grado’s forces probably were teleported directly to the Tower. Without proper preparations and skilled command, Frelia’s forces can still be easily overwhelmed by Grado’s. On an even playing field, however, Frelia can fend off Grado as long as they keep the vanguard steady.
Carcino
As Frelia and Carcino are neighbors, I figured I may as well talk about them while I’m at it. It doesn’t seem like Carcino has much of a military force of its own, as Pablo’s forces all consist of mercenaries that he used his vast fortune to hire. As a merchant nation, it’s more likely that individual merchants hire mercenaries to protect them.
Notably, Carcino has Pegasus Knight mercenaries; it means that Frelia doesn’t have a monopoly on pegasi like Grado does wyverns. (Unless you promote Vanessa or Tana into Wyvern Knights. I guess we steal some from Grado’s army or something?)
We only see three, possibly four Carcinan characters (if you consider Caer Pelyn its own territory). Of them, the only recruitable unit is Rennac, a Rogue. Pablo, whom we fight, is a Sage, while Klimt’s class is never seen in-game but is listed as Bishop in data files. (Interestingly, both their classes are possible promotions of the Monk class.) Binks is a mercenary of unknown origin, but if we consider him Carcinan, then he is another physical attacker as he is a Warrior.
However, since Carcino has no military of its own and mercenaries are, well, mercenaries, it’s hard to tell how many of them are actually Carcinan and how many come from other countries like Jehanna. And, being a merchant country, whether they allied with Grado or fought against them, it would likely avoid direct confrontation in favor of using negotiations and sending support/provisions. Probably the only good reason they’d have for going into battle would be to protect their merchants/interests, for which they’d naturally prep to deal with their specific enemies to lower casualties on their side.
Jehanna
Contrary to my initial belief, Jehanna actually does have an army; in chapter 13, Eirika tells L’Arachel that “We're going to break through the Grado lines and join the army of Jehanna.” Carlyle is described as Jehanna’s “most decorated commander,” which further lends to that. (While Ismaire is stated to be commander-in-chief, it’s Carlyle who leads the army.)
As Jehanna is known for having many mercenary guilds, having apparently little other trade to deal, most of the units we meet are mercenaries (or former mercenaries). That doesn’t quite reflect what Jehanna’s army is like, but given Carlyle and Ismaire’s Swordmaster class, it’s probably not too far off the mark. This means that a lot of Jehanna’s army are likely sword-wielding infantry, like Myrmidons or Mercenaries, and their respective promotions.
For how much of Jehanna is desert, you’d think you’d get more mages from this country, seeing how mages have no movement penalty in the desert. The only mage from Jehanna we see is Ewan, and he’s training under Saleh from Caer Pelyn (which is considered either its own territory or in Carcino’s territory). Also bizarre is that Aias, a Great Knight, hails from Jehanna when the desert sand would be brutal for him. Given that he’s a mercenary, it’s pretty likely that he spent most of his time in other countries and thus could move faster on horseback to his next job. (It’s probably also why he encounters us in Hamill Canyon, where it’s flat/mountainous regions.)
With the scarcity of ranged swords and few mages, Jehanna’s army would likely be at a massive disadvantage against Grado’s army. Or, perhaps it’s better to say that a good portion of Grado’s elite forces can completely bypass Jehanna’s natural defenses. Their fliers and mages would ignore the desert entirely, allowing them to quickly flank and pick off those encumbered by the desert sand. Wyvern Riders have access to lances, which have an advantage over swords, and mages can only be countered by Heroes with hand axes or Rangers with bows. Rangers in Jehanna’s army would be unlikely, because cavalry-mounts are ineffective in the desert.
Rausten
As I’ve ranted about previously, what we see of Rausten’s military makes no sense for the country’s background and terrain. We see a number of horse-mounted units: L’Arachel for one, plus the reinforcements from the Rausten army at the end of 13A. But given that Rausten has both mountains and dense forests, horses would actually be more of a hindrance for soldiers than help. Horses would have improper footing on mountains, and their maneuverability would tank in forests.
(Given L’Arachel’s low joining level, it may be safe to assume that she got her horse after arriving in Port Kiris, where she most likely started her journey from given that she hired Rennac and was familiar with the town when we meet her there. In that case, it makes more sense for her to be riding a horse, much moreso than the Paladin and Cavaliers.)
From what L’Arachel indicates in her supports with Eirika, Rausten is under greater threat from the monsters in Darkling Woods than any other country’s attack (at least prior to the war). So if anything, their military should be geared towards fighting monsters. Yet the only Bishop we see is Riev, who defected (I suppose they were all away/asleep in Chapter 19), and in Chapter 19, the only soldiers on watch are Knights and a General. They wouldn’t be terribly effective against Mogalls, who are known to spawn in Darkling Woods. Maybe they’d last longer against the physical-attacking monsters, but certainly not with those stats.
So, as I repeat from my rant, Rausten’s military makes no sense. Almost definitely wouldn’t hold up against Grado’s forces even if they were on an even playing field.
Caer Pelyn
Even though Caer Pelyn is a tiny territory within the mountains of Carcino, it’s suggested that they at least used to have a prominent military force (there’s the abandoned fortress seen in Chapter 11A and the legend of Nada Kuya).
While Nada Kuya was said to use a sword created by a fang of the dragonkin (I guarantee that an FE8 remake would make it another Falchion and Eirika gets it when she visits Caer Pelyn), Caer Pelyn now does not seem to have any sword users. Dara (Saleh’s grandmother) is a Druid while Saleh is a Sage (likely a call back to Niime and Hugh; Saleh even has no known living parents!), and the village has a Shop but no Armory. It falls in line with the practice of Valega, which seems to be practiced exclusively by Caer Pelyn’s residents (and people who learn from them, such as Ewan and Eirika if they support with Saleh).
Given that Caer Pelyn was able to drive back an invading force in the past, it’s likely that the invaders were either from the west (from Frelia/Carcino) or the south (Jehanna/Grado). We don’t know how far in the past this event was, so it’s difficult to say which country did it, or if it was from even before the first war against the Demon King. Either way, they likely had to deal with fliers, so it’s not unlikely that Nada Kuya’s sword dealt effective damage against fliers, or they’re hiding a tome that’s effective against them. Should they still be able to use such a weapon, if Grado decided to attack them for some reason, they would be able to mount a decent defense against at least the initial wave. Due to their altitude, a land invasion would be difficult for the Grado forces that are unaccustomed to it. Again, their best bet would be their wyverns, but if Caer Pelyn’s residents can counter them, then attacking them would yield no profit for Grado.
