As promised, this is our analysis of the “The Divine Dragon Awakens!” trailer for Fire Emblem Engage.

Note: I won’t be discussing any leaks in this article (although I may secretly add them later).

This particular trailer is touted as a story trailer, so there’s no gameplay in sight. Also, it doesn’t fully explain the game’s story, but you get the general idea, especially if you watched the debut trailer.

By the way, the trailer opens with an easily guessable, but still pretty big spoiler. So keep that in mind before continuing!

The very first scene starts with a bombshell for Alear: a woman who’s likely his mother perishes in front of his eyes. She hands him a ring and asks him to search for the 12 rings–the mission that Alear mentioned near the end of the debut trailer.

This woman appears near the top-right corner of the special edition artwork.

She hands Alear Sigurd’s ring, which is silver with a clear jewel. This would coincide with Sigurd’s ring suddenly being available in the early Firene maps, which seem to follow after this event.

Jumping ahead a bit. Slightly later on, we return to this same scene, where it shows Alear making a promise.

Anyway, the backdrop appears to be somewhere in the Land of Lythos. I think it’s at the end of the corridor that Alear and company are traveling in Vander’s showcase.

In the distance, you can see the same pillars, windows and torches. Also, there’s an ominous flame in the centre, which I think is where Alear’s “mother” is. As for how she might have died, the next scene offers a clue.

Here, we see Alear clashing(?) with a divine dragon, like the one from the boxart. You can also see the same ominous purple flames. Perhaps the divine dragon is his mother and she’s been corrupted. These same colour flames surrounded the Fell Dragon in the debut trailer.

I’m unsure if Alear is the one who puts her out of her misery. That would be really sad. Or if she ended up suiciding or something. We do see her clothes are extremely roughed up, so she must’ve been through a lot.

Next, we see Alear staring at something in his hand. Likely an Emblem Ring, considering the theme of the cutscenes.

Then we jump to Alear rushing through a room full of soldiers fighting Corrupted, as seen in the debut trailer. This could also be at Lythos, but I’m unsure when. But we’ll get back to that soon.

Afterwards is a confusing scene where a divine dragon (a different one?) is shooting a big laser beam. Looking at the background, this seems to be the same scene of Alear confronting a divine dragon in the debut trailer (screenshot on right).

No clue what the context of this scene is though. Is the dragon attacking Alear or something behind him? Is this even a real event or a dream? The lighting seems rather surreal, almost dream-like.

Moving on, Alear is striking a pose. I think this is at Lythos–more specifically, the beginning of the corridor featured in Vander’s showcase. There are the same kind of crumbled pillars on the ground. Also, you can see the night sky, just barely. I’m guessing this is near the beginning of the map or maybe…

Jumping ahead a bit, there’s a similar scene of Alfred riding through the Lythos interior. I’d wager this is the moment Alfred comes with reinforcements. The corridor map begins with Alear, Vander, Framme and Cramme. Then later on, seen in Etie’s showcase, Alfred, Etie and Boucheron join up from behind.

Perhaps the earlier scene with Alear is when he’s in a bind, then Alfred and co come to assist him.

After this, we return to Alear cradling his dying mother(?).

Following this is a shot of Alear with an Emblem Ring in hand. We saw this exact moment in the debut trailer. This is when Alear is confronting the Fell Dragon with who I’m guessing are the reps of each kingdom (screenshot on right is from the debut trailer).

Alear then summons Marth, although this scene likely occurs at a different time. I suspect it’s at the Land of Lythos, around the time Alear meets Vander, Framme and Cramme. My reasoning for this can be found in Vander’s showcase.

Of note, Marth mentions Alear was able to summon him because Alear remembered. Another thing, Marth makes it clear that he’s an Emblem, by calling himself “Emblem Marth”. You may have noticed a similar thing with the various Twitter posts referring to each hero as Emblem X, like “Emblem Celica”.

A very familiar scene next, of the Fell Dragon and its presumably human form (screenshot from the debut trailer because I’m lazy). At this point, I believe the narrator names the Fell Dragon, but alas I am terrible at ascertaining spoken names. It sounds like she’s saying “Someone” to me.

If anyone has a better idea, please let me know, ahaha.

Update: Anne O’Namus informed me that the European versions of the trailer have subtitles and the Fell Dragon is actually called Sombron. That makes a lot more sense. Although I still can’t hear it, haha. In the Japanese version, their name is Sombre instead.

The next scene has me curious. It seems to depict Alear falling, with Marth’s ring following closely behind.

We then see Alear at Lythos, I think in the room where they awakened (seen here). He asks Marth what he was like in the past. We know that Alear has been sleeping for 1000 years and has since lost (most of) their memory. Meanwhile, Marth has been watching over Alear for all those years.

This implies Marth knew what Alear was like 1000 years ago. Yet, Marth strategically dodges the subject. Factoring in what we saw moments earlier, plus a shot of Alear fiercely thrusting his sword forward amidst the flames, it’s possible something terrible happened to Alear way back…

As Marth continues to talk, we see Alear with a shocked expression. In front of him is the “dragon” girl standing next to the tree–a scene we saw in the debut trailer. There’s a good reason why he’s shocked.

Jumping ahead a bit again. There’s a scene where the girl blasts a fireball at a group of Corrupted pestering Alear. I’m guessing Alear is shocked at the fireball and where it came from. The girl doesn’t reveal much about herself, proclaiming herself to be a passerby. Yeah, very convincing…

After the tree scene, we see a dramatic shot of Alear facing the camera. This is another shot from the debut trailer, during when Alear and Marth Engage.

From here on, it’s all about the 4 nations and some of the characters you’ll meet.

I jumped ahead earlier, but this is when Alfred comes charging in.

It seems the dialogue you can hear is Alfred’s, when he’s trying to convince Alear to come to Firene, his homeland–the verdant realm to the south-west. This conversation likely follows from the one in his spotlight. During this time, there’s a shot of Céline, which I think is from the conversation in her showcase.

Then there’s a nice view of Firene, itself. I think this may be from the same cutscene with the “dragon” girl. It likely occurs in one of the early Firene maps, such as in Marth’s spotlight, since the backdrop is similar. With the windmills and river.

A different male character then talks about an alliance with Brodia, the kingdom of might. This is the north-western kingdom, on the rocky mountains. I’m guessing he’s talking about an alliance between Firene and Brodia.

Three presumably Brodian characters show themselves. The guy on the right with the dark blue hair and bow appears on the special edition poster, to the right of “dragon” girl’s head.

On his left is a pink haired girl dressed in red, wielding a blade. Further left is a light blonde(?) girl holding a tome.

Correction: The girl has pink, not orange hair. I’m not great at identifying colours, but I trust Mason Klaus on this.

The background reminds me of the place where Louis was fighting an Elusian. Mainly because the trees are the same and the time of day also looks similar. Of course, Brodia is probably a big place, so it could be anywhere.

I believe the tome girl is Citrinne, from the debut trailer. She has the same hair and hair accessories. Also, her colours match with the unidentified tome wielder in one of the maps, who I suspected was Citrinne. Now the dots connect perfectly. Remember that she’s Prince Alcryst’s retainer (seen in the right screenshot).

Meanwhile, the blue haired archer also appeared in the same map, above the red-haired guy with Roy’s ring. Admittedly, it’s a little hard to tell, but I think that’s him. He has the same hair colour and his outfit has a mix of blue and red, with a blue cape.

That leaves the unidentified blonde lance cavalry on the left. It’d be convenient if it was the girl with the blade, but the weapons don’t match and the outfits don’t really match either. No big deal.

This guy standing in the centre is Brodia’s crown prince. He’s not named, in the English trailer anyway. But in the Japanese trailer, he’s identified as Diamanté.

Now he’s the guy I’ve kept calling a “redhead”, but you know what, I have a sneaking suspicion I’ve misinterepreted his hair colour. It actually seems to be brown here? To be fair, the scenes where he appeared in the debut trailer were super quick and his red cape is pretty striking.

He also appears in the boxart and special edition art, but the colours there are very stylised. But the more I look at his hair, the more brown they look. So apologies if I misled anyone.

Right, if he’s Prince Diamanté, then who’s Citrinne’s Prince Alcryst? As it happens, this Alcryst fellow has a different name in the Japanese version, but it’s along the lines of Starook–and definitely not Diamanté. So it would seem there are at least two Brodian princes.

You know, this shouldn’t be surprising since Firene has a first prince (Alfred) and a first princess (Céline). It wouldn’t be strange at all if Brodia, or the other two kingdoms, had multiple members of royalty.

This is just a hunch, but maybe the dark blue-haired archer is Alcryst? It would make sense since he appears in the special edition art, along with Céline who’s also royalty. Perhaps those two girls standing next to him are his retainers?

The discussion moves to the southern, desert nation. Not sure what the spelling is, but it sounds like Solm. In any case, it’s described as an open-minded nation that’s friendly with Firene.

Update: Just like the Fell Dragon’s name, the subtitles inthe European versions of the trailer tell us how the names are meant to be spelt. In this case, “Brodia” and “Solm” are correct. I was so sure I was wrong with the latter… Again, thanks to Anne O’Namus for pointing it out.

At this time, we see the brown-skinned lass who looks to be enjoying herself. She’s wearing an Emblem Ring, which is likely Ike’s.

Fast-forwarding a bit, there’s a shot later on where she’s fighting alongside Ike, the Radiant Hero and likely known as the Emblem of Radiance. This is the same scene with Alear running past the soldiers and Corrupted.

Since she features on the boxart with Alfred and Diamanté, it stands that she’s likely the representative of Solm. Perhaps its crown princess or equivalent?

Next, we’re shown a brown-skinned lad with a smile that’s worth diamonds. He’s likely another notable character, since he appears in the special edition art, near the bottom. Perhaps a prince of Solm?

Finally, they talk about Elusia, the 4th kingdom, situated in the snowy north-east. Alear assumes it’s not part of the alliance that Firene belongs to. It would make sense since geographically, Firene and and Elusia are on opposite ends, while Brodia and Solm both neighbour Firene.

Correction: Totally forgot that it’s Elusia, not Illusia, from the debut trailer. Feel like I’ve been working 3 jobs lately…

There’s the same cutscene we saw in the debut trailer where Brodia’s army is approaching an unidentified force. Originally I suspected it was the Corrupted, but on second thought, the soldiers look too organised. In any case, it’s seemingly Elusian troops. Which is logical since Brodia and Elusia share a border.

Leading the Elusian forces is this very friendly-looking chap. He’s the same guy who wears an “evil” Emblem Ring in the debut trailer. Actually, we’ll discuss that eventually…

Besides being snowy, Elusia houses followers of the Fell Dragon.

Above is a building that’s presumably from Elusia. Standing at the front are Alfred, Emblem Marth, Alear, Diamanté and blue-haired archer who I predict is Alcryst. It’s curious that a rep from Solm isn’t here at this point.

Could this suggest the order that Alear travels around Elyos is Firene, Brodia, Elusia and finally Solm? Basically he/she travels clock-wise around the continent.

Meanwhile, standing at the back are the man leading the Elusian army from earlier and a lady who we’ll see in the next scene.

I think we’re at Brodia for this next scene. More precisely, it may be the same scene where archer boy is aiming his arrow. In the distance are Elusian troops wearing green. In the centre are three very conspicuous looking characters.

In the very centre is a girl with pink hair and jester-like clothes. She was standing next to that important Elusian man in the church-like building. So she’s probably important. Please don’t be the actual court jester…

On her left is a brown-haired girl wielding a sword. On her right is a blonde or light-haired girl holding an axe. You know, I’m getting retainer vibes from these two.

As a reminder, the jester girl features in the special edition artwork. So she’s bound to be pretty important. If those two behind her are indeed retainers, there’s a high chance she’s a princess.

Here’s the rep for Elusia, according to the boxart and the confrontation with the Fell Dragon. She appears to be a magic user who rides a wyvern, not disimilar to Camilla (although Camilla mainly wields an axe). She kind of gives similar vibes too.

In the background are Corrupted fighting, I believe, Brodian soldiers.

Things are getting serious now. We return to the Elusian church, where the important Elusian man is meeting with Sombron, the Fell Dragon. From the dialogue, it appears the Fell Dragon hasn’t regained their full strength. If they did, it would probably be an early Game Over…

I’ll skip the next scene and return to it.

The scene after that has a magic user cast some kind of spell around Alear. Behind the magic user, there’s a hallway of pillars that makes me think this is Lythos. There’s also a female statue in the background, perhaps of an Emblem? Or one of the heroes from 1000 years ago? It’s quite stylised, but looks like Eirika from The Sacred Stones.

Two possibilities come to mind. Maybe the magic user is trying to corrupt Alear. If so, maybe his mother tries to step in and gets corrupted instead, leading to her death. Two, perhaps they’re teleporting Alear and the others away. The next scene has Alear standing confusingly outside. But it’s hard to tell if these scenes are connected.

Afterwards, Elusian head honcho shows off his Emblem Ring. I’ll skip this for now as well.

Then we’re back to the robed magic user again. I had a sudden thought… I doubt this will happen, but could this person be the “dragon” girl who shot a fireball earlier? They both seem like short characters and they can both wield impressive magic.

I mean, there’s usually a reason you’d hide your identity. In general, it’s because your real identity is already known to someone.

We’re apparently back at the Elusian church again, where four villainous-looking characters are strutting along. I have a feeling these could be akin to the four generals of Elusia or maybe the Fell Dragon’s cult?

Here’s a closer look at each of their faces. Of note, silver/pale haired woman has pointy ears, like a dragon. She also seems to be the one in charge of the four, with the way she’s behaving.

The guy to the far right seems strangely out of place though–as in he looks a bit too “normal” compared to the outrageous designs of the other three.

Since this appears to be the same church, does this scene occur when Alear and company are confronting the important-looking man and the jester girl/princess?

If so, this has interesting implications. Namely, she claims her group will kill everyone inside the castle. Does that include the important-looking man and the girl next to him? Is this some kind of coup? This would give an excuse for the girl to join, but I can’t see the man switching sides…

The other possibility is that this scene is connected to the one with the man meeting the Fell Dragon. But that makes even less sense. So it’s probably not that.

Oh hey, we’re back at Lythos with Alear among the soldiers fighting the Corrupted. Here, we see Alear actually fighting, rather than running. However, Alear isn’t alone: Diamanté is fighting alongside him with Emblem Roy–also our first proper look at him.

Jumping ahead again. A bit later, we also see that Alfred and the girl from Solm are also here, fighting. As mentioned earlier, the girl is fighting with Emblem Ike. Meanwhile Alfred is fighting with Emblem Lucina, rather than Sigurd, who he used in the debut trailer.

Two things.

First, remember that Alfred has Emblem Lucina for later.

Also, Lucina is wielding her Parallel Falchion here, despite the mural showing her with a bow. On that note, Ike has his Ragnell here, but the mural showed him with an axe. Obviously, we’ve seen that Emblems can equip different weapons, but it’s slightly surprising, still.

Two, I think this scene occurs much later in the game, perhaps at the very end, after traveling across Elyos and collecting the rings. The obvious reason is because Alear is fighting with the reps of Firene, Brodia and Solm. Elusia’s rep isn’t shown here, but I have a feeling she’s here.

Here’s a shot of Celica to break things up. I believe she’s the one doing the talking.

Afterwards is the scene where the “dragon” girl beats up some Corrupted. Apparently she’s looking for someone. Could it be as simple as Alear?

Next, they throw a whole bunch of characters on us in quick succession, some old, some new.

First we have Louis and Céline, then Chloé. I think they’re all in the same place, somewhere in Firene. This is probably related to Céline trying to rescue or reunite with Louis and Chloé. Is this when they reunite? Or maybe it’s when they stay to hold back the enemy, while Céline escapes?

Next is a red-haired girl with stars on her face and hair. A very similar aesthetic to the Elusian “jester” girl. Then there’s a blonde lass wearing heavy armour. In the background is snow, so she’s probably somewhere in Elusia right now. I’m guessing these are both friends, rather than foe.

Alear and Emblem Marth attempt to slice a Corrupted. I think this scene occurs near the start, when Alear first calls on Marth’s aid at Lythos. However the Corrupted dodges expertly. Whoa, did not expect that. They seem scarier than the Risen from Awakening now.

I think these two chaps hail from Solm. Obviously you can see the desert in the background. But also, their clothes are quite unlike those of Firene, Brodia and Elusia. The white clothes with colourful accents is similar to what the brown-skinned “prince” wears. Likewise, they seem like characters you could recruit.

Oh, it’s the cutscene with the soldiers fighting the Corrupted again. This is when we see Alfred and the girl from Solm lending a hand.

Another new thing is that Alear is now running with Emblem Marth. It then transitions to the scene where Alear and Emblem Marth are opening the door at the end of the debut trailer. Is this where the end of their journey takes them?

Just when things seem hopeful, the atmosphere takes a more sinister turn. We see the important Elusian man cowering in front of Sombron’s draconic form. This looks to be the same scene when he’s face to face with Sombron’s human form.

Is this the moment Sombron regains his full strength? It would go against what the narrator said earlier. However we don’t know when it’s said.

Now for a few scenes I skipped earlier…

Here’s the important Elusian man holding an Emblem Ring, with a green jewel. I believe this occurs during the confrontation between Brodia and Elusia. In the background, you can see the sky and falling snow. I think the man puts on the ring before the fight begins.

At some point, the “king” of Brodia tries to attack the Elusian man, but the man grabs his blade. You can see he’s wearing the Emblem Ring at this point. What I think happens next is that the Elusian summons Emblem Lyn to do his bidding. Afterwards, I’m guessing the king perishes.

As the narrator warns Alear, he/she isn’t the only one who can harness Emblem Rings. But you probably guessed that from the debut trailer, when the Elusian man was putting on the ring.

Next, we see Alear confronting a pegasus rider and an evil Emblem Lucina. This occurs at Brodia, with the rocky terrain and autumn trees.

We don’t see the pegasus rider themselves, but it’s not hard to guess who it is from the colour scheme: the jester-like girl. It would also match, since we saw her earlier in Brodian territory. However, that time, she wasn’t on her pegasus and didn’t use her Emblem.

If you recall, Alfred is fighting alongside Emblem Lucina at Lythos. So I think the order of events is Alear somehow reclaims Emblem Lucina, then Alfred is able to summon her later on. The other possibility is that Alear/Alfred obtain Emblem Lucina from somewhere, but she gets stolen and summoned by jester girl.

We do see an Emblem getting stolen though: Emblem Marth gets possessed and turns red coloured like Emblem Lyn and Lucina. This occurs at the Elusian church–you can see the stained glass in the background and also the Fell Dragon.

At this time, Alear seems to have a breakdown watching his close friend transformed before his eyes. There’s a cool effect where another, darker version of Alear is rippling through.

The final scene shows this darker Alear amidst a burning hellscape. The pillars suggest this is Lythos. From the way the scene is cut, is this a look into Alear’s past? Perhaps the reason Alear lost their memory is because they tried to repress this tragic scene?

Marth’s ring falls to the ground, while the narrator ominously tells Alear “everyone you care about… they are all dead.”

Did Alear lose all his friends during the war with the Fell Dragon 1000 years ago? Or is he, shudder, talking about the present?

What’s the significance behind this Dark Alear? His clothes, hair and eyes are all one colour now. In fact, the colour scheme (red and black) is identical to the evil versions of Emblem Marth, Lucina and Lyn.

When they first showed Alear’s design, there was definitely a reason he/she had two hair/eye colours. At first, I wondered if it’s because they’re the conduit between two worlds–the one with Elyos and the one where the Emblems come from.

But could it be more raw than that? Are they an avatar of good (blue) and evil (red)? You could say there’s a fine line between a Divine Dragon and Fell Dragon. In Awakening, Plegia worshipped the Fell Dragon as their Divine Dragon and I bet it’s similar for Elusia. Maybe depending on Alear’s actions, he/she may be viewed as a Divine or Fell Dragon?