Some questions I have about the Lore of Fire Emblem.

[IceBrand]

1. What gender is Naga? Why does Naga appear as a man in older games but as a woman in later?

2. Who is Nagi? Is she an alternate universe version of Tiki or Naga?

3. Who is the first Exalt? Why does his blood line have markings of Naga?

4. Is Grima related to Loptyr in anyway(both have a following wanting to revive them)?

5. Are the Deadlords in FE4 and 5 the same ones in Awakening?

6. What on Earth is the Outrealms and where did it come from?

[Magical Glace]

1. Naga's gender was kept mostly ambiguous until FE13.

2.There are a lot of theories for this. The most common ones are Future Tiki or Naga's reincarnation.

3. One of Marth's decendants. That's about all we know. It's likely a similar thing to what the crusaders did in FE4 as far as the mark goes.

4. All speculative, but perhaps.

5. The Deadlords are revived bodies of fallen people, iirc. So maybe, but probably not.

6. MAGIC

[VincentASM]

Interesting questions. I should warn you there aren't any conclusive answers for any of them though.

1. I'm of the belief that Naga is female since both the Naga you see in Awakening and the Naga from FE4 are female.

However FE3 kinda throws a kink with its male depiction of Naga in the legends. Personally though, I think the "male" Naga in FE3 is a human borrowing Naga's power, but you never know.

To add to the confusion, the official/unofficial English translations imply Naga is a male because of his/her title: Divine Dragon King. But one thing to note: "King" is gender-neutral in Japanese; it could as well be "Lord" or "Ruler".

Furthermore, the official English site for Awakening says Naga has appeared as both genders, but I'm pretty sure they're just covering their bases. The Japanese official site makes no mention of this (nor any other material).

2. I reckon Nagi is just Naga without her memory. Her internal name "Naga" is really telling...

That said, nobody says she can't be future Tiki too (in fact, in The Future Past 3, Tiki does become the next "Naga"). Although it'd be really weird if Tiki/Naga was her own mother...

3. Some really vague person in Ylissean history. He/she probably formed a blood pact with Naga to get the mark of Naga during Grima's first attempt at world domination. Similar to how the Crusaders of Jugdral received their markings.

4. It's suggested that Grima is related to the Archanean Earth Dragons somehow. Since Loptyr is an Archanean Earth Dragon too, then that means Loptyr and Grima are connected by tribe.

5. Possibly, but not necessarily. The Deadlords aren't always the same people, if FE5 is any indication. After all, way back during Galle's era, the 12 Deadlords already existed. But in FE5, you can see new Deadlords being created from Sara, Dagda and other fallen comrades.

6. The Outrealms is just a fancy name for the collective of alternate universes, which were vaguely foreshadowed in earlier games and then totally throw out into the open in Awakening. It's also used as a noun to refer to a single alternate unvierse.

Edited February 24, 2015 by VincentASM

[Sentacotus]

1. Pretty sure she's female but thats just going off what she looks like (she does have breasts after all) and how she kinda sounds in FE13 plus I don't know just a feeling. I think the dialogue of Chrom performing the Awakening (if he refers to her as Lady Naga might confirm it).

2. I think its just another name for Naga or that they are one in the same.

3. We don't know its never really explained in Awakening except through some dialogue about how they put Grima to slumber and how Chrom resembels a man before Marth by 1000 years (who might be that exhalt this is in Tiki's support with the Avatar).

A better question is that if Chrom is part of Marth's line how come a similar mark is never explained or surfaced on Marth or Sigurd?

4. Don't know too much about this one all I know is that Grima is supposedly an Earth Dragon and so is Loptyr so yes? Maybe?

5. Never played FE4 or 5 so no idea

6. Outrealms is just Awakening's way of putting in multiverses or alternate realities and a way to get DLC that doesn't interefer with the main story.

Edited February 25, 2015 by LordTaco42

[Magical Glace]

The first Exalt was after Marth. Tiki's dialogue is meant to imply Marth and Sigurd having a possible relation.

[Katie]

I'm pretty sure Naga is female, but can take the form of human of whatever appearance she chooses, and she chose to appear as an old man in those FE3 legends.

[lonelyVoxel]

It seems to me like Marth is the "first Exalt," but was given that title retroactively. Of course, that wouldn't make any sense considering Anri was the first king of Altea. Of course, they may have lost that knowledge and only had records dating back to Marth's quests to end Medeus. Then there would have to be some way to make Medeus and Grima the same thing... Blargh. I need to play Awakening all the way through more than once I guess.

[Acacia Sgt]

(The following only takes the English translation into account, on idea how much this changes with original Japanese)

Regarding Nagi, Medeus does says this in about her in Shadow Dragon:

Hmm? So… I am not the only dragon revived. I had heard you perished the last time. No matter; you’ve recovered even less of your power than me. This time, you have no chance!

There is also the matter that the place she is found, the Alterspire, it's stated to be in another world, and indeed the world map places it where the Outrealm Gate is in Awakening (well, this more of a retroactive thing, since SD was made first of course).

And also, at the end of the Alterspire chapter she mentioned that the name Gotoh is familiar to her, and is carrying a version of the Falchion with her.

To me all this quite implies she is either Naga's reincarnation, a dimensional counterpart, or both. Though just implied, I'm still not particularly fully convinced on that.

[RedEyedDrake]

Glaceon pretty much summed it up, Gamer. I'm backing those answers up.

@Forceman: Unlikely, given that the First Exalt lived a thousand years before the events of Awakening while Marth lived two thousand years before the events of Awakening.

Edited February 25, 2015 by RedEyedDrake

[BrightBow]

1. I'm of the belief that Naga is female since both the Naga you see in Awakening and the Naga from FE4 are female.

However FE3 kinda throws a kink with its male depiction of Naga in the legends. Personally though, I think the "male" Naga in FE3 is a human borrowing Naga's power, but you never know.

Unless there are depcitions of Narga being male outside of the Opening, I would go as far as saying that even if that entity really is supposed to be Narga, her depcited gender is still meaningless.

The Openings usually narrate those historical events as they are remembered through human legends, always involving men praying to the gods until a miracle occured and gods granted them their aid to banish the evil. And during the actual game, we always find out that those legends are nonsense and those godly powers were actually given out by dragons and not gods. Except in Sacred Stones, whose origins remains a mistery but even then it's noted that mankind forgot about the involvement of dragons in the fight against the Demon King.

And the opening of FE3 most certaily does the same thing, since a lot of things there are just plain nonsense. Like, it attributes dragons turning to men to the same god that gave mankind "a gift" despite the fact that Narga couldn't comprehend those events either beyond the fact that it meant the end of the dragon tribes.

Edit:

I would say if Narga decided to appear in the form of a young woman towards the crusaders, it is fair to say that she is at least female. I guess it could be possible that she was supposed to be an entity that exists outside of common gender boundaries but considering that her daughter had a clearly defined gender, I can't belive that this was the intention.

Edited February 25, 2015 by BrightBow

[Jotari]

The fact that it specifically states Naga appeared as a young woman in Genaology makes me think it was a choice. I mean if Naga was just a woman then they would have said their goddess took human form and not specify anything because it's unnecessary. Though honestly I just find the idea of a gender hopping god more amusing than a standard benevolent goddess so I might be forcing my logic a bit.

[RedEyedDrake]

Wasn't Naga always refered to with gender neutral pronouns in the Japanese versions of the games?

Also, Tiki isn't Naga but Naga's child. Even if she inherited some of what ever it was that put Naga above regular divine dragons it is apperant that she didn't inherit all of it. In such a case, Tiki being clearly female doesn't mean all that much.

As for Nagi, reincarnating as the other gender is not an unheard of concept. And as stated before in the topic, it isn't until FE13 that Naga got a clear depiction. Not to mention that, given the time gap between Marth's time and Awakening as well as just how incredibly similar they look, the "Naga" that we see depicted in Awakening is likely to be an "ascended" (what ever that might actually mean) Nagi.

The original Naga has been refered to as "The Divine Dragon King" but also appeared in a shape that gave the humans present the impression of "a beatiful maiden". The only way to be actually be certain of Kaga's original intent at this point would be to ask Kaga himself. Even though he might have kept it ambiguous on purpose.

@Jotari: Alternatively, Tiki's daddy was a bishounen in human form. When the twelve dragons appeared at Darna they probably at least somewhat obsucured their appearance and Naga just ended up giving the humans present the wrong impression. I mean, just imagine Naga as a younger looking, green haired version of Libra.

Edited February 25, 2015 by RedEyedDrake

[Katie]

The fact that it specifically states Naga appeared as a young woman in Genaology makes me think it was a choice. I mean if Naga was just a woman then they would have said their goddess took human form and not specify anything because it's unnecessary. Though honestly I just find the idea of a gender hopping god more amusing than a standard benevolent goddess so I might be forcing my logic a bit.

Whoa, why are we referring to Naga as a goddess? She outright says in Awakening that she is no god.

[Jotari]

Whoa, why are we referring to Naga as a goddess? She outright says in Awakening that she is no god.

Because the people of Jugdral viewed the dragons as gods. I thought that was pretty clear given the context.

[Topazd]

Whoa, why are we referring to Naga as a goddess? She outright says in Awakening that she is no god.

I guess what was intended to be illustrated by that line was that Naga is not omnipotent, since there are quite a few ways people define the term 'god'. I'm fairly positive (though not 100%) that the entities with whom the crusaders blood-bonded were referred to as deities in FE4.

EDIT Yeah, and the very fact alone that they were worshiped does make them gods in a fashion, like Jotari pointed out.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Topazd

[Jotari]

Of course the people of Jugdral worship the crusaders themselves as minor gods too.

[RJWalker]

I'm gonna go with Naga simply not having a gender. That Tiki's other parent is never brought up ever supports this, I think.

[Cymbalina's Revenge]

The fact that it specifically states Naga appeared as a young woman in Genaology makes me think it was a choice. I mean if Naga was just a woman then they would have said their goddess took human form and not specify anything because it's unnecessary. Though honestly I just find the idea of a gender hopping god more amusing than a standard benevolent goddess so I might be forcing my logic a bit.

Actually, I believe the literal translation for Naga's form (osonai shoujo) is very young girl (like baby Tiki in FE1) as opposed to a Ninian-type young woman. One of Kaga's interviews even implied Naga and Salamander taking the form of a young girl and an old man was some sort of reference to Tiki and Bantu.

I like the idea of gender-hopping dragons, not least because of Xane, but putting together a coherent picture of Naga is just frustrating.

[Crixler]

1. What gender is Naga? Why does Naga appear as a man in older games but as a woman in later?

2. Who is Nagi? Is she an alternate universe version of Tiki or Naga?

3. Who is the first Exalt? Why does his blood line have markings of Naga?

4. Is Grima related to Loptyr in anyway(both have a following wanting to revive them)?

5. Are the Deadlords in FE4 and 5 the same ones in Awakening?

6. What on Earth is the Outrealms and where did it come from?

I personally think "Naga" is not a name, but the dragon term for king/queen. Nagi might mean something along the lines of prince/princess.

So, perhaps the Naga mentioned in older games was indeed male, but sometime after FE12, Nagi took up the throne and became (a female) Naga. Then eventually, Tiki apparently becomes the new Naga.

The Outrealms... The way they're portrayed in Awakening is almost exactly the same way "the Mists" are portrayed in Guild Wars 2. So I think they're more or less the same sort of thing. Describing the Mists is difficult. To copy/paste from the Guild Wars 2 Wiki...

The Mists is the oldest thing in existence, the proto-reality that exists between the worlds, constituting the fabric of time and space that connects the multiverse together. Within the Mists are worlds (of which Tyria is just one), each with their own realities and histories, floating as islands in the ether. The Mists resonate from the worlds around them, forming bits of their own reality - islands of existence that reflect the histories of their worlds.^[1] Some worlds are enormous, such as the Underworld, the home of the dead; others are simply residences for powerful spirits or deities. At the center of the Mists is the Rift, and within the Rift is the Hall of Heroes, the final resting place of powerful and virtuous souls.

The Mists are accessible only through portals, most of which are temporarily made by channeling the power of a force within the Mists, such as the havrouns calling upon the Spirits of the Wild. There are a few permanent portals as well - these portals were created by the mage Lord Odran, including one in the Tomb of the Primeval Kings. Other known portals in the past included the Door of Komalie, Mouth of Torment, and on the Battle Isles; these four portals have become inaccessible over the past 250 years due to the rise of the Elder Dragons.

The various DLC maps in Awakening, while based on maps from previous games and inhabited by characters from previous games, are some of those "islands of existence that reflect the histories of their worlds" - not the literal locations, but echoes of them. Muddled memories of past events.

One could presumably pass through the Outrealms to reach an actual other world that isn't just an echo, but we don't seem to actually see that happening in Awakening, perhaps with the exception of the Future Past. This may be how a descendent of Ike appears in Awakening (personally, I subscribe to the theory that all FE games take place in one world, however).

I also suspect the Einherjar are, much like the lands they war in, merely confused memories of the actual characters, recollected by the universe itself. The universe apparently remembers Ephraim and Roy as looking much cooler than they actually did.