A story about overcoming the past. An analysis of awakenings story

[Emperor Hardin]

4 hours ago, Ottservia said:

 You must acknowledge your past and all the mistakes of it to truly move past it and towards a future, you can be proud of.



They didn't do that at all.

For example, Chrom never acknowledged his poor handling of Plegia led to a significant portion of its population being forced into the Grimleal and sacrificed to revive Grima. 

Edited May 29, 2019 by Emperor Hardin

[Ottservia]

35 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

They didn't do that at all.

For example, Chrom never acknowledged his poor handling of Plegia led to a significant portion of its population being forced into the Grimleal and sacrificed to revive Grima. 

1. while true, that is a very minor detail in the grand scheme of things. Granted they could've thrown a line or two in there about it but still.

2. yeah they kinda did. I mean that's exactly what Grima is supposed to represent within the context of the narrative. He is a physical manifestation of all the mistakes you've made in the past. I mean if not for Chrom's mistake Grima wouldn't have resurrected himself, now would he? and that's the entire point.

Edited May 29, 2019 by Ottservia

[eclipse]

And what, exactly, did the cast learn from their encounter with Grima?

[Ottservia]

5 minutes ago, eclipse said:

And what, exactly, did the cast learn from their encounter with Grima?

Nothing really. Grima is the final boss of this story and as I said acts as a culmination of all the themes this narrative represents. Grima isn’t so much there to teach as he is a final test. He tests what our heroes have learned about overcoming the past from their previous battles with both Walhart and Gangrel. Gangrel taught us not to let the past consume you while Walhart taught us not to discard the past lest we repeat it. Both of these are tested in a meaningful way by Grima. Grima is a reminder of our past that we cannot escape and it fills us with despair though with the help of our friends we are able to fight it and not be consumed by the failures of our past.

[eclipse]

7 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

Nothing really. Grima is the final boss of this story and as I said acts as a culmination of all the themes this narrative represents. Grima isn’t so much there to teach as he is a final test. He tests what our heroes have learned about overcoming the past from their previous battles with both Walhart and Gangrel. Gangrel taught us not to let the past consume you while Walhart taught us not to discard the past lest we repeat it. Both of these are tested in a meaningful way by Grima. Grima is a reminder of our past that we cannot escape and it fills us with despair though with the help of our friends we are able to fight it and not be consumed by the failures of our past.

. . .that's not exactly a lesson!

Overcoming the past also means learning from it.  Otherwise, it's merely dealing with it.

[Ottservia]

On 5/29/2019 at 12:30 AM, eclipse said:

. . .that's not exactly a lesson!

Overcoming the past also means learning from it.  Otherwise, it's merely dealing with it.

Well I guess when you put it like that I suppose the main take away from Grima is that you have to truly face your past and deal with it in order to move forward. You can acknowledge it and grow from it but you can’t truly do that without truly facing those mistakes head on by yourself. You must accept those things as a part of you. You can’t have other people just take care of the problem for you with sweet and comforting words. No, you have to deal with it yourself or else those feelings of doubt and despair will never truly go away. At the end of the day no matter how much your friends assist only you alone possess the power to overcome your own past. In a sense it’s a literal way of facing your past and the mistakes of it. You can’t just rely on your friends for everything cause you’ll have to face these feelings by yourself at some point so that’s what you do. You face those feelings and truly get rid of them for good.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Ottservia

[MGrizzly]

You've done a very good job with this analysis, particularly your analysis of Chrom. One reason I've always liked him is the emphasis the story places on how he would have gone down a darker path had he not been surrounded by his positive influences (I believe it's also implied that he understands this, and is one reason the Shepherds exist). The scene in the second half where he and Lucina truly meet for the first time is a great example of his growth into a more responsible and mature person. He immediately understands that for whatever purpose she might be there, she's ultimately there because he failed her in some way, and he immediately takes responsibility for it: "You deserved better from me than one sword and a world of troubles...." Such an affecting moment!

I agree with the idea that learning from the past through bonds is the primary theme, and you pointed out a few things I didn't notice. I haven't replayed Awakening again since SoV, but maybe I should now.  I've always thought Walhart was a fun antagonist, but I didn't appreciate how his worldview was a dark mirror of Alm/Rudolf's ideals. (This is especially interesting  to me because even at the end of the SoV I felt that Alm held an matured yet somewhat simple view of the conflict with the dragons, which contrasts with Celica's more nuanced view of the entire situation in the final battle)

To be honest, my appreciation for what IntSys says in this game just grows and grows. From the themes to the gameplay, Awakening is a heartfelt love-letter to this entire franchise from people who've had a long history with it. I remember the Iwata Asks interview with some of the developers where they mentioned wanting to make this game as if it would be the last in the franchise. Initially, I just thought that referred to how much content was in the game, but I've come to understand and appreciate that the idea was to present something fun, a bit lighter, and warm-hearted.

[eclipse]

On 5/29/2019 at 6:28 PM, Ottservia said:

Well I guess when you put it like that I suppose the main take away from Grima is that you have to truly face your past and deal with it in order to move forward. You can acknowledge it and grow from it but you can’t truly do that without truly facing those mistakes head on by yourself. You must accept those things as a part of you. You can’t have other people just take care of the problem for you with sweet and comforting words. No, you have to deal with it yourself or else those feelings of doubt and despair will never truly go away. At the end of the day no matter how much your friends assist only you alone possess the power to overcome your own past. In a sense it’s a literal way of facing your past and the mistakes of it. You can’t just rely on your friends for everything cause you’ll have to face these feelings by yourself at some point so that’s what you do. You face those feelings and truly get rid of them for good.

Remember the two "choices", if you will.  If Chrom uses Falchion, Grima becomes a distant future problem.  If Robin seals the deal, he/she risks dying.

Others can help you with your issues, but in the end, you'll have to put yourself on the line to truly deal with them.

[Ottservia]

11 hours ago, eclipse said:

Remember the two "choices", if you will.  If Chrom uses Falchion, Grima becomes a distant future problem.  If Robin seals the deal, he/she risks dying.

Others can help you with your issues, but in the end, you'll have to put yourself on the line to truly deal with them.

Exactly which is what I was eluding to when I said "Friends can help of course but that would only be running away from the problem". Maybe I could've been more clear cut about that in my wording. But yeah that's exactly right and is exactly what awakening's story is all about.

20 hours ago, MGrizzly said:

You've done a very good job with this analysis, particularly your analysis of Chrom. One reason I've always liked him is the emphasis the story places on how he would have gone down a darker path had he not been surrounded by his positive influences (I believe it's also implied that he understands this, and is one reason the Shepherds exist). The scene in the second half where he and Lucina truly meet for the first time is a great example of his growth into a more responsible and mature person. He immediately understands that for whatever purpose she might be there, she's ultimately there because he failed her in some way, and he immediately takes responsibility for it: "You deserved better from me than one sword and a world of troubles...." Such an affecting moment!

Yeah Chrom is just a great character all around. Also it's not really so much implied as it is outright stated when you confront Gangrel in chapter 11 where the exchange is as follows:

Quote

Gangrel
Good day, my little princeling! Still dreaming of your squashed sister?
 

Chrom
No more talk, Gangrel. Today you die, and peace returns to Ylisse and Plegia.
 

Gangrel
Pah! Such hypocrisy! You despise me, wretch! You want to cut me down! You don't know the first thing about peace. No man does!
 

Chrom
I know more than you ever will.
 

Gangrel
More than me? More than ME?! Bwa ha! ...You ARE me! When life asks you a question, you answer with blood!
 

Chrom
Maybe you're right... I will never be my sister. I cannot forgive men like you—men who sow nothing but evil. All I have left are her words, and her memory. Were I alone, I might be driven to madness. ...Or worse. But I'm not alone. My friends and brothers-in-arms stand behind me.

So yeah, Chrom is very aware of what he could've become had it not been for the positive influences in his life. 

20 hours ago, MGrizzly said:

I agree with the idea that learning from the past through bonds is the primary theme, and you pointed out a few things I didn't notice. I haven't replayed Awakening again since SoV, but maybe I should now.  I've always thought Walhart was a fun antagonist, but I didn't appreciate how his worldview was a dark mirror of Alm/Rudolf's ideals. (This is especially interesting  to me because even at the end of the SoV I felt that Alm held an matured yet somewhat simple view of the conflict with the dragons, which contrasts with Celica's more nuanced view of the entire situation in the final battle)

Yeah that's something I didn't realize until my most recent playthrough(After having played through SoV twice anyway). Honestly the themes of the Valm arc in general are just a weird twisted retreading of the themes found in SoV now that I think about. though the message at the end is pretty much inverse to conclusions reached by SoV.  Now I have my own thoughts on Sov's story and how it handles its themes but that's a discussion for another time.

20 hours ago, MGrizzly said:

To be honest, my appreciation for what IntSys says in this game just grows and grows. From the themes to the gameplay, Awakening is a heartfelt love-letter to this entire franchise from people who've had a long history with it. I remember the Iwata Asks interview with some of the developers where they mentioned wanting to make this game as if it would be the last in the franchise. Initially, I just thought that referred to how much content was in the game, but I've come to understand and appreciate that the idea was to present something fun, a bit lighter, and warm-hearted.

Agreed wholeheartedly and if you wanna look at it from a meta perspective this game's story can actually be seen as a symbolic representation of the FE franchise as whole. Emmeryn's sacrifice could represent what it was like when Kaga left IS to go to do his own thing. It's interesting food for thought anyway. 

[Ottservia]

Part 5: Future Past. I feel like there's something missing from this part but eh

Spoiler

I’d like to take a quick minute to talk about the future past cause it may be DLC but the story it tells acts as very natural extension to the themes found in awakening. I said before that the future kids are pretty much a physical reminder of the failures of the former generation and that them coming to the past allows for their parents a second chance of trying to undo the mistakes they made that lead to the trauma they’ve been through. Future past is basically an expansion on that idea. In almost every special conversation the kids have with their parents; they are trying to reject their parents’ help either out of fear of feeling the pain of losing them again or loathing for leaving them to suffer alone. If not either of those, then the parents still help them work through their personal struggles in one way or another. It is a very literal showing of the past aiding the future. The kids struggle now due to the failures of their parents and it is because of that they are unable to succeed. They’ve lost hope due to being consumed by the past which is an idea I’ll get to later. It is only after their parents help them work through these struggles and rectify their mistakes that they are able to win and move past it to work towards a brighter future.

 

Now let’s talk about the villains for second those being both Morgans as well as our ever lovable Grima. Morgan is an interesting case here. It is implied through their dialogue when you approach them with Robin that the reason they joined Grima was because well that’s their parent. Grima even admits to it by saying “So much for manipulating the child sympathies”. Now, the way this can be interpreted is that Morgan fights for Grima because they are consumed by the past(just like Robin himself in this instance but I’ll get to that in a minute). Morgan is so afraid of losing their parent that they haven’t realized they already have. They’re so loyal to the Robin they once knew that they fail to realize that they aren’t serving the “real” Robin(which can actually be viewed as a foil to the other kids who question why their parents are suddenly alive again when they aren’t they’re “real” parents). It’s an interesting relationship. Now let’s talk about Grima or more specifically Robin here because there’s a couple of lines in the bad ending of future past that sticks out for me which is:

 

“...I am Grima! There is nothing human about me!”

 

“...I have always been the fell dragon... ...since the day I was born... ...I wish that I were human! That I could have lived a normal life with you! ...But I'm not, and I can't…”

 

“...No. As I said, Grima and I are one... ...I can speak my mind like this because we are weakened... ...but that does not mean my mind is free... ...Put aside your sympathy and finish me…”

 

“...Rrgh! *Huff, huff* ...You see? ...Grima is my true nature... ...We cannot be separated…”

 

This Robin is different at least different from the one at the end of awakening. This Robin has been consumed by the failures of the past. He gave in to Grima. He believes that he and Grima are one and the same. He believes he was the same person who made those mistakes in the past. However, the message at the end of awakening is the exact opposite. You aren’t the same person you were back then which is proven in this story when the parents insist on helping their children. The children fear their parents on them like they did before. They fear they will make the same mistakes they did before but these aren’t those same parents that failed them. These parents are able to learn from the mistakes made by their other selves and truly help their kids this time. It is through accepting that that the kids are able to succeed and do what their parents could not do. This again is represented by Tiki becoming the new Naga. Naga in this timeline has failed like the kids’ parents and can only aid the world by enlisting help from another world which does help by allowing figures of the past to help aid the future. Naga is similar to the parents in that she is part of the past to help the next generation overcome the past and do what she could not. Once again they beat Grima by overcoming the mistakes of the past.

 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Ottservia

[Emperor Hardin]

2 hours ago, Ottservia said:

Part 5: Future Past. I feel like there's something missing from this part but eh

  Reveal hidden contents

I’d like to take a quick minute to talk about the future past cause it may be DLC but the story it tells acts as very natural extension to the themes found in awakening. I said before that the future kids are pretty much a physical reminder of the failures of the former generation and that them coming to the past allows for their parents a second chance of trying to undo the mistakes they made that lead to the trauma they’ve been through. Future past is basically an expansion on that idea. In almost every special conversation the kids have with their parents; they are trying to reject their parents’ help either out of fear of feeling the pain of losing them again or loathing for leaving them to suffer alone. If not either of those, then the parents still help them work through their personal struggles in one way or another. It is a very literal showing of the past aiding the future. The kids struggle now due to the failures of their parents and it is because of that they are unable to succeed. They’ve lost hope due to being consumed by the past which is an idea I’ll get to later. It is only after their parents help them work through these struggles and rectify their mistakes that they are able to win and move past it to work towards a brighter future.

 

Now let’s talk about the villains for second those being both Morgans as well as our ever lovable Grima. Morgan is an interesting case here. It is implied through their dialogue when you approach them with Robin that the reason they joined Grima was because well that’s their parent. Grima even admits to it by saying “So much for manipulating the child sympathies”. Now, the way this can be interpreted is that Morgan fights for Grima because they are consumed by the past(just like Robin himself in this instance but I’ll get to that in a minute). Morgan is so afraid of losing their parent that they haven’t realized they already have. They’re so loyal to the Robin they once knew that they fail to realize that they aren’t serving the “real” Robin(which can actually be viewed as a foil to the other kids who question why their parents are suddenly alive again when they aren’t they’re “real” parents). It’s an interesting relationship. Now let’s talk about Grima or more specifically Robin here because there’s a couple of lines in the bad ending of future past that sticks out for me which is:

 

“...I am Grima! There is nothing human about me!”

 

“...I have always been the fell dragon... ...since the day I was born... ...I wish that I were human! That I could have lived a normal life with you! ...But I'm not, and I can't…”

 

“...No. As I said, Grima and I are one... ...I can speak my mind like this because we are weakened... ...but that does not mean my mind is free... ...Put aside your sympathy and finish me…”

 

“...Rrgh! *Huff, huff* ...You see? ...Grima is my true nature... ...We cannot be separated…”

 

This Robin is different at least different from the one at the end of awakening. This Robin has been consumed by the failures of the past. He gave in to Grima. He believes that he and Grima are one and the same. He believes he was the same person who made those mistakes in the past. However, the message at the end of awakening is the exact opposite. You aren’t the same person you were back then which is proven in this story when the parents insist on helping their children. The children fear their parents on them like they did before. They fear they will make the same mistakes they did before but these aren’t those same parents that failed them. These parents are able to learn from the mistakes made by their other selves and truly help their kids this time. It is through accepting that that the kids are able to succeed and do what their parents could not do. This again is represented by Tiki becoming the new Naga. Naga in this timeline has failed like the kids’ parents and can only aid the world by enlisting help from another world which does help by allowing figures of the past to help aid the future. Naga is similar to the parents in that she is part of the past to help the next generation overcome the past and do what she could not. Once again they beat Grima by overcoming the mistakes of the past.

 

Robin is Morgan's parent, not Grima.

[Ottservia]

Just now, Emperor Hardin said:

Robin is Morgan's parent, not Grima.

that is correct and that is what I said, did I not? Grima uses their parents' body to manipulate them to do his bidding. They're so loyal to Robin that they'll follow even Grima using Robin's body because they've lost sight of who Robin truly is because of Grima.

[Emperor Hardin]

Just now, Ottservia said:

that is correct and that is what I said, did I not? Grima uses their parents' body to manipulate them to do his bidding. They're so loyal to Robin that they'll follow even Grima using Robin's body because they've lost sight of who Robin truly is because of Grima.

Right, you do say that in the later portion.

[eclipse]

And Future Past is once again unreadable on Night Forest (the default theme gives me a headache).

[Ottservia]

3 minutes ago, eclipse said:

And Future Past is once again unreadable on Night Forest (the default theme gives me a headache).

Alright I think I figured out the problem and I fixed it. The problem was that I was copying from google then into word then to SF when I should just download as word doc and copy paste from there.

[eclipse]

Huh, thanks!

Though the kids rejecting their parents at first feels more like the kids refuse to learn from the past, so are doomed to make the same mistakes their parents did.

[Ottservia]

2 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Huh, thanks!

Though the kids rejecting their parents at first feels more like the kids refuse to learn from the past, so are doomed to make the same mistakes their parents did.

Oh I didn't think about that. That's a very interesting observation and one I'll be sure to note down.  It actually in a way makes the connection with Morgan even deeper because Morgan refuses to reject the past in favor of being consumed by it. It's an interesting foil relationship.

[Ottservia]

Part 6: Conclusions, Addendums, and Overall thoughts.

Spoiler

So yeah that’s awakening’s story, I’d say overall it isn’t bad. It has a few bumps here or there but ultimately I believe it does do at least a decent job of telling the story it wants to tell. Now that isn’t to say the story is perfect. It most certainly has its flaws. One of the biggest ones being it’s world building. Honestly awakening could really benefit from a prequel(multiple actually) of some kind either as some kind of spin-off or anime/manga/Light novel adaptation or as it’s own full fledged game. One prequel story about Chrom’s father would be nice as well as one about the first exalt from 1000 years ago just to help better connect it to Shadow Dragon and New Mystery. Overall though I feel like that’s a small thing that doesn’t really affect the story being told all too much. Also some story beats in awakening do feel rushed like the transition from the end of the Valm arc to the Final arc. It just kinda happens a little bit and then there are some scenes that just kinda jump straight to the conflict just cause like in chapters 21 and 23. Now chapter 23 is much better than chapter 21 but it still feels a little like they were trying to wrap things up too quickly. Another one of awakening’s biggest issues is its presentation. For the most part it’s not much of an issue but more story CGs/cutscenes for stuff like Emmeryn’s backstory as well the first Ylisse-Plegia War instigated by Chrom’s father would’ve done wonders for getting the player invested into these characters and the conflict at hand.

 

And just like how this story isn’t perfect, I, too, am not perfect. There are certainly some things in this analysis I could’ve explained better. For example I probably leaned more into the whole “consumed by the past” theme in the first arc and explained it better but I focussed a little too hard on Chrom(though his arc throughout that entire thing is pretty much not to let the past define and consume you). Like I said, I probably should’ve delved more into that and explained it better. My analysis of the Valm arc is better but one thing I did notice about Walhart(or had someone point out to me) is that in a way he’s similar to Chrom’s dad in that they wanted to do the same thing but ultimately ended doing more harm than good. Chrom defeating Walhart can really seen as the end of his character arc and I probably could’ve explained that more cause the foil relationship between them is very interesting. This relationship is explored even further in Walhart’s spotpass map where Walhart tells Chrom the difference between the path of kings and the path of conquerors. Another thing about Chrom’s father I probably could’ve explained better is that the role he plays is more along the lines of making mistakes along the right path rather than being in the wrong himself. Cause Chrom’s dad wanted to do the right thing as far as we know anyway but he went too far and again only ended up doing more harm than good. Emmeryn witnessed the mistakes of her father and tried to undo the damage and pass that message onto to Chrom which she died by sacrificing herself but yeah. Really the whole point of it was to showcase learning from the mistakes of those that came before which I probably should’ve made more clear. Overall though I think I did a decent job of explaining my points and I would appreciate any feedback if you have any.

Overall I'd probably rate Awakening's story about a 7.5/10 Almost great but just not quite there.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Ottservia

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

E

Edited February 13, 2021 by Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[IEatLasers]

Awakening is 3 acts! 
 

Act 1 is Chrom overcoming his past va the mad king Gangrel 

 

act 2 is Chrom overcoming his present by fighting his foil, Walhart 

 

act 3 is Chrom overcoming his fate/the future, facing his own death and surviving and then beating fate yet again in the epilogue 

[Ottservia]

1 hour ago, IEatLasers said:

Awakening is 3 acts! 
 

Act 1 is Chrom overcoming his past va the mad king Gangrel 

 

act 2 is Chrom overcoming his present by fighting his foil, Walhart 

 

act 3 is Chrom overcoming his fate/the future, facing his own death and surviving and then beating fate yet again in the epilogue 

Now there’s a much simpler way to put it I didn’t think of before. 

[IEatLasers]

I’m obsessed with awakening hahaha