The 3 unknown continents exposed

[VincentASM]

If you've played the game, you've probably seem them: three mysterious landmasses found to the very north, south and south-west of the world map.

I'm pretty sure most people suspected they were continents from previous games: Jugdral, Elibe, Magvel and/or Tellius.

However, if you thought of analysing the mysterious continents in detail, to try and play continental match up, then it seems you're out of luck.

Reason 1:

This was brought to my attention by Fëanen here.

If you look carefully at the coastlines of the three continents, you'll discover the coastlines are identical. In other words, the three continents are drawn from the same design.

[spoiler=Exhibit A: North and south]

If you flip the northern continent 180 degrees, you'll find a large area that can be found on the southern continent.

[spoiler=Exhibit B: South and south-west]

Similarly, if you flip the south-western continent 180 degrees, you'll find another area that can be found on the southern continent.

Reason 2:

I was browsing through some old FE13 images when I stumbled upon a combined image of the southern continent, put together by Chinese fans. I didn't notice at the time, but upon glancing the full image, I immediately noticed something veeeeery familiar.

After checking my sources, I could in fact confidentally place an identity on the continent.

[spoiler=Exhibit C: The southern continent is...]

Ylisse version 2.

The coastlines match exactly, except for a bunch of missing tiny islands near the middle and the coastline stretching further to the east in another Ylisse compared to actual Ylisse.

(Note that due to the globe's orientation, the lands appear differently depending on where they are.)

Conclusion:

So there you have it.

It seems safe to suggest the unknown continents are just placeholders. It's likely they're meant to represent existing FE continents, but for some bizarre reason, IS couldn't be bothered drawing completely new landmasses.

Also, I'm totally amused that...

...there are probably 4 Ylisses on the world map!

A special thanks to shadowofchaos for providing clear images of the world map. I wouldn't have noticed the similarities were it not for his screenshots ^^

Edited March 6, 2013 by VincentASM

[shadowofchaos]

However, if you thought of analysing the mysterious continents in detail, to try and play continental match up, then it seems you're out of luck.

Though if it really IS Elibe, I've got some serious complaints to the avatar's chain of thought. I would have NEVER left Elibe *cough*

I'm satisfied.

I'm glad they're just placeholders. XD

[Silver Lightning]

Well, maybe they meant to suggest that there are actually other FE continents regardless of whether they chose to draw new landmasses. But, I could have sworn that one of those coastlines looked like Magvel....oh well....

[Tamanoir]

Isn't this a map witout any N/S and W/E Loop ?

[shadowofchaos]

Or, we're overthinking this.

Ylisse and Valm are the entire world. And like a globe, you just see parts of the landmass once you circle around.

Edited March 6, 2013 by shadowofchaos

[sunshineYON]

Well, maybe they meant to suggest that there are actually other FE continents regardless of whether they chose to draw new landmasses. But, I could have sworn that one of those coastlines looked like Magvel....oh well....

I think the coloration and style made me think of it similar to Magvel as well. I would actually like it that different FEs are from completely different universes, hence the Outgate Realm or whatever it is called. But the 1000+ year gap between FE1-3 and 13 was cool too. We get to see Tiki grow up, etc. Lot of different nuances.

[VincentASM]

I thought about a loop, but I couldn't figure out how you'd get 180 degree flips.

Plus the southern continent has that extra area that's not found on Ylisse (which I'm still trying to identify).

[Melonhead]

Cool, but a bit underwhelming. I was hoping it was Jugdral or Magvel.

[Acacia Sgt]

Or, we're overthinking this.

Ylisse and Valm are the entire world. And like a globe, you just see parts of the landmass once you circle around.

Aren't you forgetting Jugdral? It is also on the same world after all.

[nocturnal YL]

I'd seriously doubt if those continents are actually serving any purpose. If Planet Ylisse is similar to Earth (according to Miriel's suspection that their planet revolves around their sun), those continents would be equivalent to our Antarctica and the Arctic area. We've yet to see FE games featuring continents with most regions being snow-covered.

EDIT - On second thought, polar continents will not be perpetually snow-covered if their planet rotates like our Uranus.

Edited March 6, 2013 by nocturnal YL

[Anacybele]

EDIT - On second thought, polar continents will not be perpetually snow-covered if their planet rotates like our Uranus.

If it did, they wouldn't have the same day and night cycle we do. lol One side of the planet would endlessly be facing the sun while the other remains in darkness.

But this is hilarious, if you ask me. XD

Edited March 6, 2013 by Anacybele

[PapaDragon]

1) We probably weren't intended to actually play continental match-up.

2) If IS were inclined to have distinct continents where the placeholders are, all they gotta do is handwave the map discrepancy by blaming it on drunken cartographers.

[shadykid]

1) We probably weren't intended to actually play continental match-up.

2) If IS were inclined to have distinct continents where the placeholders are, all they gotta do is handwave the map discrepancy by blaming it on drunken cartographers.

it's a video game

they don't need to use logic to explain anything

[VincentASM]

I agree with the hand-waving, but I'd be surprised if IS didn't guess fans would try to match the continents.

We're talking about the developer who encrypted the growth rates in FE12, even though only total nerds would look into them : P

[shadykid]

I agree with the hand-waving, but I'd be surprised if IS didn't guess fans would try to match the continents.

We're talking about the developer who encrypted the growth rates in FE12, even though only total nerds would look into them : P

did they encrypt them in any games before that?

[Othin]

I agree with the hand-waving, but I'd be surprised if IS didn't guess fans would try to match the continents.

We're talking about the developer who encrypted the growth rates in FE12, even though only total nerds would look into them : P

In that case, we can probably interpret this as a preemptive "fuck you" to us, haha.

[Mighty Kamina]

It's kinda disappointing that they are place holders, however I do remember reading that FE4 and FE5 take place in the same world as FE1/FE2/FE3/FE11/FE12/FE13, just a few thousand years before FE1/FE11.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Zelos

[BlueLeafeon]

We all knew they were all generic filler data anyway, right? lol

[nocturnal YL]

IS do anticipate their games getting hacked. There's FE5, for example. Now I'm suspecting that FE12 being Japan only may also be part of what they want, knowing that there will be others doing the job anyway.

Not only is the continent thing surprising, I didn't anticipate the gibberish magic circle of Valflame either, seeing how they paid attention to a lot of other things. But then, paying partial attention is something IS has always been doing.

did they encrypt them in any games before that?

Don't know about FE11. Growths in previous FEs weren't encrypted.

[VincentASM]

FE12 is the first game to have encrypted growths. I was really surprised when I initially couldn't find the growth rates where they were supposed to be X D

IS can be lazy sometimes. The magic circles might be gibberish, but the circle around FE10's final boss isn't, for instance.

[AstroknighticalFeats]

I have a feeling that there *is* another continent, or *are* other continents. We have confirmed that Valm and Ylisse are the updated continents of Valentia and Archanea, and they form the world of Awakening. However, looking at Deen's ending from Gaiden:

"After the war, he unexpectedly disappeared along with the Brave Sword.

Rumors say that he crossed over to a continent to the south in search of new conflicts."

Being that Archanea/Ylisse is lateral to Valentia/Valm, if the rumors are true, the conclusion is that there must be more than just those two continents. Furthermore, the weather patterns of the continents essentially mirror our Northern Hemisphere (south of the map being hot (Plegia especially) generally means we're just dealing with the north side. Generally. I'm well aware I may be looking too far into this), so it also makes sense that at the least, there is one more continent to the south of Ylisse and Valm. They're just using placeholders, but it could very well be that the southern continent could be an updated Jugdral, or another updated continent. (Or, perhaps, even a new one.)

tl;dr - There may be more continents, based on weather patterns and Deen's Gaiden ending. What that continent is, though, is up in the air. They're probably using placeholders for now if they're going to use that for a later game.

Edited May 2, 2013 by Blumpen

[Cereal Bawks]

Kinda disappointing that those continents are just mirrored/mash-up versions of Ylisse. I thought Magvel would be one of those continents.

[Book Bro]

So in Harvest Scramble the conversation between Yarne and Laurent seems to imply one of these is supposed to be Tellius.

They find a stall selling paintings of non-bunny "Taguel" and Laurent tells Yarne they came from a neighbouring continent...

[Acacia Sgt]

Although, it's possible that Laguz lived in other lands in the world that Tellius is in. Unless it was only in Tellius that Ashunera created the Zumana who became the Beorc and Laguz and stuff. They are bound to have gone over to other lands or something considering how long ago it was...

And oh yeah, the Great Flood screwed all that, but if the lands ever resurfaced, it was bound to had both Beorc and Laguz immigrants anyway...

Edited May 2, 2013 by Acacia Sgt

[An Assassin]

Well, in Radiant Dawn, the wolf laguz came from somewhere else didn't they? Hatari? So there's SOME immigration going on.

Edited May 3, 2013 by An Assassin