The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War (The Legend of Heroes 閃の軌跡 Northern War) is a 2023 Japanese anime miniseries based on the Trails video game series by Nihon Falcom. The series follows a conflict between the Erebonian Empire and the North Ambria State and is set during the ellipsis between the video games Trails of Cold Steel II and Trails of Cold Steel III. It follows Lavian Winslet, who leads a small platoon of Martin Robinson, Iseria Frost, and Talion Drake within the Northern Jaegers mercenary corps.

Northern War was produced by Tatsunoko Production and had twelve episodes aired weekly from early January to late March 2023. The series was licensed and dubbed in English by Crunchyroll. A spinoff mobile gacha game by UserJoy Technology was released in Japan in December 2023 and worldwide in May 2024.

Premise
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War depicts the Northern War, a conflict between the Erebonian Empire and the North Ambria State, and placed during the ellipsis between the video games Trails of Cold Steel II and III. It follows Lavian Winslet, a girl born in North Ambria, a poor country in the northwest of Zemurian continent. She enlists in the Northern Jaegers, the largest mercenary corps in Zemuria to protect her hometown, while distinguishing herself from her grandfather, Vlad, the renounced hero who betrayed their country. Prior to the start of the anime, Lavian assembles a platoon with Martin S. Robinson, Iseria Frost and Talion Drake for a secret mission to Erebonia, an imperialistic country to the south, to gather information about an Erebonian hero that spells a threat to their country.