Who do you believe is the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Awakening? (Feel free to explain why!)

[underthedorktree]

Personally, I'd have to say Lucina from a story standpoint, but if we're talking game then definitely Robin.

[Interdimensional Observer]

It rotates:

Plegia-Gangrel Arc: Chrom. Robin is quite negligible here.

Valm-Walhart Arc: Equality of Chrom and Robin.

Grimleal-Grima Arc: Robin. Chrom has a role that is greater than Robin's in Plegia-Gangrel.

Extant from beginning to end, but never exerting sustained hegemony on the narrative's focus and therefore always a supporting actress- Lucina.

[Yexin]

chrom, and consequently lucina

they wouldn't have advertised fates' avatar as the main character if they thought robin was awakeing's protagonist

[Etrurian emperor]

10 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It rotates:

Plegia-Gangrel Arc: Chrom. Robin is quite negligible here.

Valm-Walhart Arc: Equality of Chrom and Robin.

Grimleal-Grima Arc: Robin. Chrom has a role that is greater than Robin's in Plegia-Gangrel.

Extant from beginning to end, but never exerting sustained hegemony on the narrative's focus and therefore always a supporting actress- Lucina.

Pretty much that. 

The Gangrel arc is most definitely Chrom's story. Its the tale involving his family and he's the one that grows during this arc. Robin makes some plans but he's a second fiddle to Chrom.

In the Valm arc I'd say Chrom is still the main character. There's a contrast painted between him and Walhard, and Robin doesn't really fit into this dynamic. 

Its only in the Grima arc that Robin becomes the real protagonist. 

[Bloom]

Chrom in the beginning, then it switches to Robin once Gangrel is defeated.

Lucina is just there in the background making the story progress.

[Ottservia]

35 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Pretty much that. 

The Gangrel arc is most definitely Chrom's story. Its the tale involving his family and he's the one that grows during this arc. Robin makes some plans but he's a second fiddle to Chrom.

In the Valm arc I'd say Chrom is still the main character. There's a contrast painted between him and Walhard, and Robin doesn't really fit into this dynamic. 

Its only in the Grima arc that Robin becomes the real protagonist. 

As someone who has played through awakening multiple times and wrote a thematic analysis on its story, I have to agree with this. What I find most interesting about this whole dynamic though is how the roles of both characters within their respective stories kinda swap. Like Chrom for the most part is a dynamic protagonist that changes quite a bit over the course of the story while Robin acts as a vehicle to help perpetuate that change and development(in this instance Robin is a flat arc character). After Valm however, the roles are reversed where Robin is the one faced with adversity and challenge to overcome and grow from while Chrom is the vehicle that helps perpetuate that growth(thereby becoming something of a flat arc character himself). It really adds to the whole “two halves of a greater whole” dynamic they have going on which helps perpetuate the over arching theme of “friends help each other overcome hardships” that awakening explores.

[Kiran_]

I would say all three of them. But honestly Chrom & Robin are the protagonists. You can have multiple protagonists and I think each one is a protagonist during their own part of their story. I would say Lucina can definitely be argued either way, but without a doubt is the least protagonist of the 3, but Chrom and Robin are both definitely the protagonist depending on the arc of the story itself.

Lucina is only the true protagonist of her own story in Days of Future Past. In Awakening itself I think she falls behind Robin & Chrom especially in the last arc, which is all about bonds and the bond between Robin & Chrom is focused on as they share dual spotlight. I think that's what makes it so powerful of a story is that we get two equal protagonists, and that you can't just have ONE person. You need multiple people to overcome darkness. That's the only reason I might argue for Lucina being a protag in her own right.

[stk5]

I agree that Chrom & Robin are effectively equals in driving the main story. The level of focus varies between them, but never so significantly that I'd say either was less important than the other. If I had to put the characters into roles, then this is what I'd go with:

Protagonist: Chrom — leader, inheritor of a divine legacy
Deuteragonist: Robin — vital to Chrom, inheritor of… another plot element
Special Guest Star: Lucina — important, but not quite a keystone for most of the events in the story

[Ottservia]

In regards to Lucina, her role in this story(like all the other future kids) is to act as a physical reminder of Chrom and Robin's mistakes and failures. In a way she's supposed to act as a foil/parallel to Grima who represents more or less the same thing. Lucina would have never have had to face the struggles she had if her father never failed. If Robin never failed. The same is true of Grima as he would have never resurrected if not for the failures of Robin and Chrom. Both of them are supposed to represent the failures of the past in some way. Lucina is supposed to represent doubt. Doubt in oneself to be able to do anything about those mistakes and move beyond them. Grima represents that and then some. You could read my full thoughts on the matter in my analysis which is linked in my signature but tl;dr Grima is representative of the idea of being unable to truly overcome the failings your past and it is only through confronting those mistakes on your own that you can truly be free from the shackles of your past once and for all. Awakening's story is pretty good.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Ottservia

[IEatLasers]

On 7/8/2019 at 8:27 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

Pretty much that. 

The Gangrel arc is most definitely Chrom's story. Its the tale involving his family and he's the one that grows during this arc. Robin makes some plans but he's a second fiddle to Chrom.

In the Valm arc I'd say Chrom is still the main character. There's a contrast painted between him and Walhard, and Robin doesn't really fit into this dynamic. 

Its only in the Grima arc that Robin becomes the real protagonist. 

Ooh that’s not true though. Even that arc revolves around Chrom’s choices and reactions and emotions about the reveal; even still when Robin’s identity is discovered the game revolves around what Chrom does with the information 

 

case and point; the two scenes Robin has of his own. 
1. he’s got headaches and validar is whispering to him. Chrom says “you are you before you are any man’s son” and it’s a callback to Gangrel taunting Chrom for his own identity crisis in learning who he should be. This shows Chrom’s growth more than it shows robin. 
 

2. Lucina’s confronting of Robin. The end of this scene is Chrom showing up and saying that it’s his own life, his own fate, and his risk and choice to make. 
both of Robin’s big scenes revolve around Chrom’s lines, decisions, emotions, and growth.