Lhyonnaes

All I want is a Fire Emblem game that has more than tangental references to the overall mythology of the series. Just give me a nice long chat with Naga and Forseti about the true history of the Dragon Tribes and their interactions with humans throughout ages and continents, and I will be a happy man. Of course, that will never happen. Alas. I'm also a bit hesitant - as much as the First Exalt seems like a great possible protagonist for a prequel, Fire Emblem has a long and stories history of introducing a good cast of semi-mythologized previous heroes who remain semi-mythologized for good. Anri, the Twelve Crusaders, the Eight Generals (even though Athos shows up, he doesn't give any historical details at all), whatever the Magvell heroes were called, etc. I would be surprised if we ever saw him around. There certainly could be room for a FE7-style prequel, though, where no significant wars break out and there are no staggering political changes. Who knows, maybe Chrom's dad could pull a Zephiel and show up as a well-adjusted and peaceful ally.

Exactly. And think about it this way - after the events of Genealogy, Medeus and Loptyr are the only two un-sealed Earth Dragons in the world. Loptyr no longer has a physical body or any vessels he can possess, but as we see in Awakening, sufficiently powerful dragon spirits seem to be able to pull of some sort of limited manifestation in the presence of those associated with their power (Naga post-Awakening ritual, maybe Grima when he resurrects Validar). I think it's reasonable to assume that Loptyr can, at least in part, hang out with Medeus. So we get the situation where, for around about 1000 years (until the seal on the earth dragons is re-made at the end of Mystery of the Emblem), Medeus has to put up with Loptyr hanging around and annoying him - Loptyr has literally nowhere else he can be, and Medeus has no possible way to get rid of him. No wonder the Earth Dragon Prince goes crazy. Hell, you could even theorize that it was Loptyr's intention all along for Medeus to get killed by Anri and Marth, because it allowed him to, over the course of two resurrections, co-occupy and eventually hijack a dragon's body. So when you encounter Dark Dragon Medeus in Mystery of the Emblem, it's really Loptyr having taken over Medeus's body. He's stopped before he can consume the power of all the earth dragons emerging from their seal, but that doesn't stop him from eventually assimilating them while locked away for a thousand years. ...Any obvious logical flaws come to anyone's mind?

You'd think it would have something to do with the Avatar, but remember that the Grima from the present is not the result of any "ascension" by the Avatar. I suppose you could argue that it's a result of the massive quantities of human quintessence used by Future Grima to revive him... Actually, there's an interesting though - don't we see the 1000-year-old skull of Grima near Plegia Castle? That would seem to imply that Grima's human face is new this time around, wouldn't it... Hrmmmmmmmm...

Sety, all the way. ...provided I don't have to hang out in Thracia. With my luck, a fog would blow in, and I'd spend the whole day bumping into walls. Or worse.

I'm generally in favor of leaving Virion and Ricken to fend for themselves. Though it seems that Kellam is quite unpopular, and he's certainly not apt to see much battlefield usage under my command, I still think he's a better father then those two clowns (though I suppose Ricken could perhaps be justifiable for certain children setups).

There's some validity to that speculation, I'd say. Personally, I hold a bit of what you could call a Loptyr-centric view of the whole deal - I suspect that Loptyr's spirit might have been the reason why Medeus became evil, and believe that he is paramount in the fusion of the earth dragons into Grima - he could have perhaps even orchestrated it, though that may be giving Loptyr a bit too much credit. However, regardless of those thoughts, I think it's certainly feasible the Medeus was in some way used as the center of Grima's physical form, though obviously it's essentially impossible to speculate as to how exactly the mechanics of fusion work. Certainly it's the best explanation I've heard for the humanoid face.

My primary complaint about the Valm arc is that Walhart and Yen'Fay don't get enough screen time. It's only after the Valm arc is over that we learn that Walhart knows about the potential danger posed by the Grimleal with their plans for the resurrection of Grima - learning that earlier would have at the very least made for some more interesting character interactions, where Chrom and Co. argue with Walhart about his philosophy of using violent and oppressive conquest of the world as a means to avoid potential destruction of the world. We get a little bit of that sprinkled here and there, but it could have been so much better done, in my opinion. Tied to that, and more infeasible, are the comparisons that can be drawn between Walhart and Alm. I won't get into all the connections at present, but especially given Alm's characterization in the DLC, Walhart always seemed to me like an Alm without Celica's more moderating influence. That's one thing I really like about his character - his rejection of supposed divinity (tragically only really witnessed in one conversation) is a direct echo of Alm's views and really resounds with the war-torn history of Archanea, Valm, and Jugdral - and really the entire Fire Emblem series as a whole. Alas. EDIT: Also, Owain, I wholeheartedly agree with your idea from two posts back.

Well, to be more specific, as far as I can tell the Awakening is just a ritual that... well... Awakens any sealed/sleeping/otherwise dormant dragon spirits in the area. Nothing more, nothing less. (This after all ties into its original purpose as the Shield of Seals). This is why it's location specific - Grima's spirit is lying dormant at the Dragon's Table, and Naga's at her shrine at Mount Prism. I'd like to see what happens if you performed the Awakening at the Ruins of Time or what remains of the Fane of Raman or the Ice Dragon Temple, but that's beside the point. If Tiki is oversleeping you might even be able to Awaken her with it, though who knows how complicated the ritual actually is (though if Chrom can perform it, it can't be that magic-intensive). But that's a bit beside the point.What's hasn't been much addressed here is that the characters care about the Fire Emblem because it's a supremely important traditional and religious artifact in Ylisse - it's essentially a symbol of the Exalt's power. To give it up would be a symbolic surrender of the legitimacy of Ylisse's government (keep in mind that for as long as there has been substantial human civilization on the continent, the rulers of the land that was once Archanea and is now Ylisse have held the Fire Emblem.

I like to think of it something like this... Why is there not an Einherjar of Kris? (Beyond the obvious gameplay explanation?) Because he (or she) was effectively forgotten by history. The Einherjar are not literally the spirits of the dead. Rather, they are more snapshots of characters at a specific point in time, in a way manifestations of them as they appear in the most prominent stories (this also explains while all characters appear at the ages we as players are familiar with them at, and why, for instance, Arvis appears as he does circa the Battle of Belhalla and not at a later point in the game). Thus, Tiki shows up as an Einherjar because her contribution to Marth's cause has already passed into legend. She has, in effect, outlived the Einherjar "incubation period", if you will. Her continued survival is irrelevant. This also leads to an interesting theory, that perhaps the Outrealms as a whole are effectively a dream-world shaped by the shared myths and legends of humanity. It would certainly explain why many of the battles take place on such historic fields.

Anri vanquished Medeus and founded Altea only around 100 years before Marth's games. He's Marth's great-grandfather's brother. Given that the Earth Dragon / Divine Dragon war ended around 1100 years before Marth was born, and taking into account that Galle's pact with Loptous probably has to take place at some point during the war, it comes out that the events of FE4 and FE5 are more or less 1000 years before FE1, give or take a century or so. I don't think the game ever explicitly stated that the first Exalt was descended from Marth, no. But he did possess the Falchion and the Fire Emblem and came to rule over what was once Archanea, so I think it's a reasonable assumption to make. I think it's also implied that he had the Falchion before performing the Awakening, and like Chrom got it upgraded to the Exalted Falchion, but again, we don't know for sure. However, until more information surfaces that provides an argument that the first exalt is not Marth's descendant, I will assume that he is.

Avatar x Lucina After his return, Avatar oversaw the restoration of Plegia, shattered by Grima's resurrection. Empowered by Lucina's endless determination for a better future, he assumed the throne as the first king of New Altea. Through their tireless efforts, the broken land regained a long-awaited peace and prosperity.

Well, Grima probably ate a good half of Plegia, and probably all of the higher-ups were ranking members of the Grimleal, appointed by Validar. So they probably got stabbed at some point. Thus, it's probably safe to assume that Plegia is now effectively without any sort of central government at all. And the other nations are probably pretty tied up with rebuilding, themselves. Also, the Avatar just happens to be the only child of the last king of Plegia, even if that last king was pretty much the worst guy ever. (And let's face it, nobody is going to let Gangrel take over the country again). Thus... All Hail Avatar, First King of New Altea! (or New Plegia, but I would imagine that this might be a situation in which a clean break with the history of that name might be appreciated). Incidentally this also gives all the children characters with something to do that's not wandering off aimlessly. A country can't rebuild itself, after all.

Marth lived around 2000 years before Awakening, and the First Exalt founded Ylisse 1000 years before Awakening (One gets the vague sense that Marth's lineage continued to rule the continent until Grima's cataclysmic arrival, and that after Grima's defeat Archanea was carved up into Ferox, Plegia, and Ylisse, as central government was no longer feasible in the devastated continent. As far as I know, though, this is never confirmed, but seems to be the most likely outcome with the hints we are given). He does seem a lot like Marth, but that's Fire Emblem for you. As far as Grima, I think the strongest theory (I believe it originated on these forums a month or a month and a half ago) is that he's essentially all the Earth Dragons sealed in the Dragon's Altar, merged into one being over a thousand years of all being stuck in one incorporeal location. This explains why no Earth Dragons are encountered or mentioned in Awakening despite the Dragon's Altar playing a major part in the story, why Grima is a ginormous eldritch abomination dragon thing, and why a previously unmentioned dragon became a being of such immense power (also I believe that in the Knights of Iris book, it states that Grima is in some way connected to the Earth Dragons, though I'm unsure as to the specifics, as this is just hearsay on my part and I don't speak/read Japanese). In terms of power and scale, Grima simply can't be Medeus or Loptous or any other Earth Dragon. But it makes a lot of sense for him to be all of them, at once.

If Walhart is related to any previous Fire Emblem character, he's a descendant of Alm, given his birthplace and his rather similar attitude concerning the relation between gods and men. I suppose, if you believe that Elibe is in the same world as Valm, that Walhart could theoretically be related to the Bern royal family through Guinevere. But there is no particular reason beyond similar character archetypes to believe this, and at the bare minimum the games are separated by great distance and 2000 years or so (I personally believe it's more like 4-5000 years, but that's irrelevant at present). Similarly, it could theoretically be the case that Walhart is somehow descended from Ephraim. But without anything else to go off, cross-continent relationships based on similar personalities are extremely tenuous. After all, Fire Emblem loves its archetypes. Now, if it was ever mentioned that Walhart had particularly notable ancestry, then things would be entirely different. But as far as I can recall, he does not.

Good stat caps, probably. In general, though, it seems like some part-dragons (Nah, Nils, Ninian, Morgan) can use dragonstones just fine, whereas others (Sophia, kinda Soren I guess but let's not get into that) can't. Though in Morgan's case, she's either legitimately half dragon or the daughter of MU and a half-dragon, and MU might get to cheat and count as part-dragon for the purposes of inheritance. Who knows. Or maybe, as was mentioned, there is something with the relation between Manakete and Dragonstones that effects transformation. Who knows.

The problem that I see here is that if you rate all the kids with the Avatar as their parent, then you're really just rating the kids based off their mother's starting stat contribution, growth contribution, starting class contribution, and inheritance. It's thus effectively rating the kids solely based on their mothers, except you're completely discounting the class selection restrictions that they would have if their father was anyone other than the avatar. So basically rating kids with Avatar as a parent is not going to produce actually useful results. Though I guess in that case you do have to stipulate that kid X gets a lot better with access to class Y, but it's a worthy tradeoff.

So, you theorize that Elibe is a different continent on the same world as Archanea, and the Dragon's Gate leads... to somewhere else, I suppose? I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I suppose there's nothing that sticks out as immediately contradictory. If nothing else, I think the dragon's gate connecting from Elibe to Archanea can make for a better overall story. As far as FE8, Eirika and Saleh's B support implies that someone wielding the Falchion at one point showed up in Magvell, which would put it somewhere between FE3 and FE13.

Oh, yes. Everyone knows that the RNG prefers weapons with names. Some examples... Lucina's brave sword is Illuminance (a play off her name, due to her forge quote) Caelestis, Lunaeris, and Astraelis, a forged Alm's Blade, Killing Edge, and Superior Sword Arcanus and Stargale, a forged Aversa's Night and Celica's Gale Nothing fantastic, but... meh. I like 'em.

Mounts play on Casual Mode. Don't worry.

To go off on a slight tangent from the intended subject of this topic, I will take the opportunity to say that I have secured the name Lucina Ylisse in Guild Wars 2, and am currently (and slowly, mind you, given that I'm playing lots of Fire Emblem) working on making her look as much like Lucina as I can. Attached is her in current gear, loosely based off her Great Lord outfit. ...Actually, this leads me to another point of note - aside from the Lowell surname in the anime adaptation, are there any other cases of Fire Emblem nobles having a last name that is NOT the country that they hail from (Elincia Ridell Crimea, Seliph Baldus Chalphy, etc.)? This is assuming that, say, Hector of House Ostia would be Hector Ostia.

I was actually just going to reference the Mists myself. It's a very good parallel. That being said, I think it's important to note that the DLC episodes should still be viewed as canonical, because they have so far given us some interesting information to consider - for instance, that several fairly good historical accounts of the events of FE4 and FE5 remain by Awakening's time period, though they are rather slanted in the favor of the victors and do not portray Alvis in a sympathetic light.

As both a terrible person and a lover of puns, I must commend you, good sir. In other news, where did you find that Emmeryn starbucks logo? Speaking as someone from Seattle, it is phenomenal.

Hrmmm. A thought worth considering, though it might be disprovable. In the Elibe games, Divine Dragons, Fire Dragons, and Ice Dragons all make an appearance. To the best of my knowledge, however, Earth Dragons do not. Perhaps at some point far before the Scouring, either the Earth Dragons left Elibe for Archanea or the other three types of dragons left Archanea for Elibe. Thus, the Earth Dragons ever experienced the Scouring and the Ending Winter, and thus refused to give up their dragon forms with the other three dragon tribes. The Elibean dragons would thus have settled in the north probably establishing the city of Thabes close to the Dragon's Gate, before expanding outwards over time (I believe that the Ruins of Time are the most likely location of the other side of the Dragon's Gate). The Earth Dragons probably lived in the Dohlr area primarily, but it's not unlikely that the majority of their civilization was destroyed in the Dragon War. Of course if the Elibe games ever talk about Earth Dragons, this theory is kinda shot. And I'm too lazy to look through the whole script for FE6 and 7 right now.

That could be possible, but it runs into an odd problem later. Because with that theory, then when the Archanean disaster happens, the dragons are well aware of what is going on. So why then to the Earth Dragons refuse Manakete form, knowing full well that they are throwing away their sanity in the process? Though who knows, they could just be really stubborn. Though there's really no canonical basis for this, my explanation for the war is as follows - after 3000 years of happiness in Archanea, the dragons notice that the magic levels are starting to degenerate.Furthermore, humanity in on the rise on the nearby continent of Jugdral, though in Archanea they're still only sparse and scattered tribes. Remembering the Scouring and the Ending Winter, the dragons decide that it's in everyone's best interests for the dragons to willingly take on Manakete form. The Earth Dragons, though, refuse, probably seeing it as akin to surrendering to the hated humans. War breaks out between the dragons, which ironically really does a number on the already degenerating magic levels. Though this admittedly doesn't fit with the given descriptions of a great disaster... but maybe Xane thought that it would be better just to summarize.

And here I was, about to go to sleep. This is the way that I see things. Chronological order is 9, 10, 7, 6, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 8, 13. The Tellius games contain the only legitimate examples of divinity in the series, and it more or less goes away. Ashyunera shows back up 1200 years later or so, but that is a bit hard to base anything off of because we have no idea as to the conflict in question, and it seems like Ashyunera isn't going to take much of an active role anyways. Also if you want to believe that the Manakete are descended from the Dragon Laguz, then the Tellius games need to go first. The Elibe games go next. In the Scouring, following the Ending Winter, the dragons, forced into Manakete form, ventured through the Dragon's Gate to the continent of Archanea. (I currently suspect that the Ruins of Time are the other side of the Dragon's Gate). One thousand or so years later, Nils and Ninian are called by Nergal back through the gate. They explicitly mention at this point in time they live in a dragon civilization, where there are few humans and where they do not need to take on a Manakete form (consolidating their power into Dragonstones and the associated magic-level related shock is what enables Nergal to capture them in the first place). Thus, the Ending Winter cannot be the cause of the downfall of the dragon tribe in Archanea because 1000 years later they are still in their "golden age", so to speak. This seems to reinforce the belief that the Dragon Tribe originally comes from Elibe. Around 2000 years after the events of FE7, some bad thing happens in Archanea. It's largely unspecified but it leads to the dragons deciding that they need to assume a manakete form once again. The earth dragons disagree and war breaks out. At some point Bishop Galle sails to Archanea from Jugdral and makes his pact with Loptous. I suspect that this happens later in the war, as making his pact gives Loptous an ingenious way to avoid getting sealed away with the rest of the earth dragons (having a floating homeless Loptous spirit bothering him later also could help explain why Medeus turns evil, but that's beside the point). Around 200 years after that, the Miracle at Darna happens, and around 100 years after that, FE4 and FE5 happen. Depending on when exactly the pact between Loptous and Galee took place, FE1, 2, and 3 take place around 900 years after FE4 and 5, give or take a century. Some time after this the events of FE8 happen. Why after this? Magvel doesn't have many explicit connections, but it does have one. In Saleh and Eirika's B support, Saleh comments that Eirika reminds him of a folk heroine from Caer Peyln, who wielding a slim sword made from a dragon's fang. This seems to imply that Magvel at some point in history had contact with a user of the Falchion (Unrecorded Archanean interference would also explain why there is an unsustainably-sized population of Manakete living in Darkling Woods, also fit in line with potential speculation about the Demon King's origins) Keep in mind that Awakening is still chronologically the last game in the series, so FE8 falls somewhere in the 2000 years before FE13 and after FE3 (I suspect that it falls decidedly on the FE13 side but that's a bit too speculative for here). I personally don't believe that there is any "continental overlap", shall we say, as discussed by previous posters. I don't see any particular evidence for it, though the exact nature of Tellius is still a bit confusing (especially considering that Panne has seen limited numbers of other animal shapeshifters before, and the whole deal with Priam showing up). There is a bunch of other theoretical connections between games that I could pull out, but I'll hold off on them for now.