Fitting TearRing Saga's lore into FE

[VincentASM]

As some people know, TearRing Saga (when it was still known as Emblem Saga) was intended by Shouzou Kaga (the series creator) to succeed/continue the Fire Emblem series. After the issues with the lawsuit, TRS underwent many changes, but is it still possible that the storyline ties to FE are still there somewhere?

The first thing I'll mention is the story that was originally planned.

The game was to take place in the continent of Forceria (which became Lieberia) and the main focus was going to be on the land's Mamkutes. I am unsure of the exact details, but it seems the story goes that the Mamkutes, citizens of the ancient dragon tribes, were an advanced and prosperous civilisation. However their civilisation eventually came to ruin, and humans ruled the lands instead. The Mamkutes hid their form on the earth, in order to find eternal sleep. However the Mamkutes had a grudge against humans and, so that evil humans may not use their powers, they sealed their powers within temples guarded by Holy Guardian Dragons. These Guardian Dragons become key to the story of the game (and they did appear in the final game).

(From an interview with Kaga in Famitsu)

Actually, the story managed to make it into the final game more or less intact. Mamkutes had to replaced of course (IS also filed a trademark for the word Mamkute), so they just changed the name to Emiyus (it should be read as "Emu", as in Emulator).

Here's a summary that I wrote about the Emiyus for Fire Emblem Wikia.

The Emiyu race is an advanced civilisation of dragons that existed thousands of years before the beginning of TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga. Their properties and history are almost identical to the Manakete race in the Fire Emblem series. The Emiyu possessed immortal flesh, could harness advanced magic and had lifespans of several thousands of years. However 1500 years ago, humans started appearing and the Emiyu race began to die out. The king of the Emiyu declared that humans were the rightful sucessors of the world and decided to seal his race's power, by sending them to sleep deep within the earth. To prevent rebel factions from obtaining his daughter's great power, he secretly sent her away to another continent to sleep. So the princess of the Emiyu, Miradona, left for the continent of Lieberia along with four servants. She slept within the Shiero Mountain and guardian beasts were created to deter trespassers. 500 years later, Kalbazan of the Zoa tribe ignored this threat and drank from Miradona's blood to become the Dark God Gerxel.

As you can see, their history is identical to that of the Mamkutes. Which probably isn't all that surprising since they were supposed to be Mamkutes in the first place.

Now, the interesting bit (for me anyway) is the mention of another continent where the Emiyus (I think I'll just call them Mamkutes now...) originated from. It's not mentioned here (I think), but the TRS Mamkute's continent exists to the north of TRS's continent of Lieberia. In FE lore, it seems the Mamkutes originated from Akaneia (well, it's not certain, but the Mamkutes/Gods of Jugdral came from Akaneia and the Akaneian ones seem more advanced that the Elibe/Magvel ones).

The actions of TRS's Mamkute king are almost identical to Narga's actions in FE3. Heck, he even sent an Archsage (known as the White Mage...) over to Lieberia to watch over his daughter. However, his daughter's name isn't Tiki, so the king might not be Narga him/herself (at least not anymore). If this king does indeed reside at Akaneia, I'd have to surmise that he ruled at a different time to Narga. I'm not completely sure about this, but the decline of Mamkutes occured in -1000 of the Akaneian calendar, while Narga is first mentioned in -740. It could be possible for somebody else to rule somewhere in that 250 year period.

Also, a little bit about Miradona and Utna.

Miradona, the Earth Goddess, is the mother of Utna. After the ancient Emiyu race became extinct, Princess Miradona traveled to the continent of Lieberia to the south along with her four followers and slept within Lieberia's ground for several hundred years. Kalbazan, the young elder of the Zoa tribe entered the temple where Miradona, a gigantic white dragon slept, thinking she was the fabled Dark God, Gerxel and drank from her blood, becoming Gerxel himself. Later, Utna was sent to the temple to be sacrificed to Gerxel, but Miradona saved her and gave her blood to drink, as well as Emiyu treasures to save humanity.

According to legends Utna is a sacred goddess, following a white dragon, and the daughter of Earth Goddess Miradona. In truth she was a slave sent to the Dark God's Altar as a sacrifice for Gerxel. Before she was killed, she heard a voice from Miradona. She was given Miradona's blood to drink, as well as Emiyu blades and rings to aid humanity. After escaping from the altar, she fell in love with the hero Garruon and aided him in his quest to vanquish the Zoa Empire. Afterwards, she became the Empress of Reeverant and gave birth to four sacred dragons - Muse, Rakis, Neuron and Granion. When Garruon died, her four children became the priestesses of their own temples and Utna herself hid away in the underground temple undernearth Shiero Mountain.

After drinking Miradona's blood, Kalbazan became Gerxel, a Dark Dragon (same name as Medeus). There is also an unused class called Narga Dragon, which looks the same as a Dark Dragon, but is coloured white. From the storyline, I'm guessing this was meant to be Miradona's class, so Miradona may have been a Divine Dragon. (This reminds me of the Demon Dragon in FE6 originally being a Divine Dragon.)

Utna's children also inherited holy markings, which resembles the idea from in FE4/5.

Finally(?), back to the subject of the continents.

Lieberia is the continent where TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga takes place. It is an island continent situated in the Moraton Sea. To the north lies an unnamed continent where the ancient Emiyu race originated from, while to the east lies the continent of Jugd. It is comprised of four main kingdoms - Canaan, Salia, Reeve and Leda.

The people of Jugd migrated to Lieberia and formed many nations towards the east. Jugd is just Jugdral without the "ral" at the end (like how Jugdral is missing a "si" needed to make it "Yggdrasil"), so perhaps Jugd was originally meant to be Jugdral. Tying all the continents together, we have:

Northern continent
Akaneia?
|
|
|
Lieberia ----------- Jugd
                    Jugdral?

Obviously, I've made some large assumptions, but hopefully they're reasonable ones.

Now, I'm about to make an even stranger assumption. It's a fact that Akaneia is located to the distant east of Barensia (mentioned by Palla or Catria in FE2). The ending of FE2 also mentions an unknown southern continent. If we put Barensia west of Akaneia, there isn't any named continent south of Barensia. However, what if Barensia is so far west that it wraps around the Earth and appears east of Akaneia? This is a bit of a stretch, but FE: The Complete seems to have Barensia located east of Akaneia - I always thought it was a mistake, but maybe it was right all along?

Northern continent
<--Akaneia?           Barensia------>
  |
  |
  |
  Lieberia ----------- Jugd
                    Jugdral?

Now all the four Kaga continents fit in nicely : )

There is also a really ancient rumour that Akaneia is located north west of Jugdral, which fits in with this theory. However, I have no clue where this rumour came from (I haven't seen it in any Japanese sites), so... Hmm, I wonder if that rumour stemmed from this theory?

[Thief]

It's been so long since I've read your posts, Vince. (Guess I ended up de-lurking after all, to post this...)

I'm really digging all the hinted references to Kaga-era Fire Emblem continents mentioned. Would that mean Lieberia and Jugdral are linked by land? Also, while everything fitting into a square would be nice, I don't see why Barensia being to the west of Akaneia wouldn't work just fine with your theory.

Speaking of which, any idea how Berwick Saga's lands fit into the Kaga theory? Or at least Lieberia?

[VincentASM]

Hey, it's been a while : P

I was also thinking that Lieberia and Jugd might be connected by land, since we don't see all of eastern Lieberia. However the opening of TRS states that Lieberia is an island continent. The reason I want Barensia to the east of Akaneia is to resolve the identity of the unnamed continent to the south of Barensia, which is mentioned in Gaiden. I suppose it doesn't have to be Jugdral and could have been the setting for the sequel to Gaiden.

I haven't played Berwick Saga all the way, so I'm not completely sure about its lore. However, I've heard a theory from some Japanese fans who suggest that Berwick Saga takes place a long long time after the original TearRing Saga. In one of the optional missions, Tiana (I forgot her name, she's Reese's secretary) mentions a legend about a golden-haired hero who traveled with a dragon princess - a possible reference to Holmes and Katri.

[Thief]

Sequel for Gaiden? That would be absolute rad. Though some claim that TRS is really the sequel to Gaiden after all, yes?

Now that I think about it, Barensia isn't all that big, particularly compared to the whole expanse of Akaneia or even Jugd(ral). Perhaps Lieberia could be big enough to be both the south of both Akaneia AND Barensia? With Jugd to the southeast of everything?

As for Berwick Saga, that's an interesting thought, what's with Holmes and Katri gaining legendary status and all.

(Poor Runan is forgotten though)

Speaking of Holmes, the name escapes me at the moment, but isn't there a recruitable character that is said to resemble him in a large way? Hmmm, maybe he is a distant descendant then.