"Just a book theory interpreted by the reader" Theory

[CatManThree]

A few weeks back I discovered a dude on miiverse who purposed the

idea that the entirety of fire emblem awakening is just a book being read.

While this theory wasn't exactly original he did purpose a few ideas that

were very interesting to say the least. For example, he pointed out that

this would explain the existence of the beach DLC's swim suits and

the variations of Avatar creation. Other things that kinda support this idea

that all of the nearly every regalia weapon from previous games is

obtainable in awakening.

Most of this theory according to him sparks from

the post credits image that depicts a book on a desk. I thought it was pretty

interesting concept and I want to hear other people's opinions on this.

[Vascela]

The Fates DLC "Before Awakening" shows that the actions happening in Awakening are real (as Corrin interacts with Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick).

[CatManThree]

The Fates DLC "Before Awakening" shows that the actions happening in Awakening are real (as Corrin interacts with Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick).

The theory never states that awakening never happened, it just states the events of the game take place

in the mind of a reader of a book written about the events of awakening.

[Darros]

Sounds similar to the "Literal Legend" explanation of the Legend of Zelda series. It works pretty damn well but I don't think it's what the creative team had in mind when they were writing. It's too subtle.

[Vascela]

The theory never states that awakening never happened, it just states the events of the game take place

in the mind of a reader of a book written about the events of awakening.

It's just not happening. You can't explain Fates or the outrealm gate (see Priam as Ike's descendant). There's so many ways that Awakening is connected to other games that calling it a book would be ignoring so many elements.

[Parrhesia]

You're saying that the events of FE13 still happened as portrayed in the game. This changes literally nothing.

[Vascela]

You're saying that the events of FE13 still happened as portrayed in the game. This changes literally nothing.

How can Corrin and Ike interact with the story if it's just a book?

[Hero of the Fire Emblems]

Let's also get into the fact Chrom doesn't even seem to say Ike is from another world in the Japanese script as far as I know, meaning Chrom literally just says Ike is an ancient hero (making Archanea/Jugdral and Tellius one world). The only games this theory really comes close to flying for is FE1 and FE3, due to them not being considered canon by the 3DS games but matching the events MU12 said he/she would make up as a falsified version of the events. (Fates also takes special care not to explicitly say "Robin" is canon, meaning it could very well be considered canon that your avatar in Awakening is a girl named Saraphina for example and it wouldn't even cause problems with Fates! (Serena only says Robin "is dressed like someone I know" and is an imposter, taking special care NEVER to name or give a gender to the "someone I know", and Before Awakening has the same gender neutral, portraitless intro as Awakening meaning the avatar isn't mentioned and thus makes Before Awakening seem pretty canon)

That still has holes in it, though, because if it were a book and that was the version circulated it wouldn't explain why Chrom and Co. know about Katarina and Legion, who are both remake exclusive, as well as some aspects of characters like Minerva and Hauteclere, so I don't even think 1 and 3 are literally books (at best, alternate canons to the 3DS games)

It's made clear in Awakening and Fates that, somehow, Hoshido/Nohr, Tellius, Jugdral, Archanea, and Awakening are all a single world. The translation flubs this up a little with Tellius, but keep in mind Panne also says Laguz existed in the world at one point which is a concrete connection between Archanea and Tellius along with Chrom being familiar with Ashera and there being ruins of a sect devoted to Ashera in one paralogue iirc.

I think Fates predates Tellius, and Chrom doesn't have evidence of Fates like he does Tellius because the flood destroyed Hoshido and Nohr, but I'm getting off topic now.

Awakening doesn't seem to be a storybook, Fates if anything simply implies every single save file is a slightly different parallel universe (the same stunt Pokemon pulled with Sun/Moon)

[Parrhesia]

How can Corrin and Ike interact with the story if it's just a book?

... wait, the crossover shit's canon?!

[Roflolxp54]

Seen Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem? It's split into Books 1 and 2. But in all seriousness, it's just made to look like a historical journal or something for players and presumably future generations, such as how Chrom knows about the lore of previous games and the lands of Hoshido and Nohr but sees them as old legends and myths.

[CatManThree]

Btw I don't believe this theory is actually true, I just thought it was interesting.

[Hero of the Fire Emblems]

... wait, the crossover shit's canon?!

Seems to be canon in the most absolute sense possible. Before Awakening even explicitly ends with the intro of Awakening, with identical dialogue and even never showing the Avatar so that whatever avatar chosen in Awakening can still be canon. Fates jumps through a ton of hoops to never say "Robin" is the canon avatar (even going as far as to say Amiibo Robin is an imperfect imposter, even insinuating there's a possibility both name and gender of Robin are wrong with Amiibo Robin compared to Chrom's Tactician), which they wouldn't have any reason to do if it wasn't canon. Not to mention Before Awakening is in the exact same Ballpark as Hidden Truths, which provides pretty much the only canon backstory for Valla. So yes, DLC and Amiibos seem pretty canon to the series overall.

It also seems to be canon that Fates, Tellius, Jugdral, Archanea, and Awakening are all a single world while the GBA games (Elibe and Magvel) are insinuated by Awakening's DLC to be a parallel version of Archanea and Valentina/Jugdral (sort of like an alternate version of the same history).

The timeline of how Fates fits together with Tellius is up for debate, but I am firmly in the camp that Fates predates the flood and the flood (literally) washed away Hoshido and Nohr's history, which is why Chrom doesn't believe Hoshido and Nohr actually existed by accepts Tellius, Ike, and Ashera as historical world history. Because Hoshido and Nohr were wiped out by the flood, while Tellius survived. But that's just a theory; in any case, they fit together in some way. Chrom treats Jugdral and Tellius both as irrefutable and hostorical facts, while he regards only Hoshido and Nohr as a myth but his knowledge of them seems to validate their existence in the same world, as well as the Awakening children traveling through time to go to Fates' time period.

Tellingly, Chrom has absolutely no knowledge of Elibe or Magvel or anyone from there, being the only nations that are loosely explained to him by Old Hubba.

Radiant Dawn's ending can also be seen as Ike and Soren/Ranulf going to Archanea (or at least what would become it), which is why Priam winds up in Yllise/Valm.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Hero of the Fire Emblems

[CatManThree]

So yes, DLC and Amiibos seem pretty canon to the series overall.

Not to divert the topic or anything, but I really don't think the Amiibos are canon since ever one of them is the version of each of the character

from in Smash 4. If they were canon then that would mean Smash Bros would be canonically connected to fire emblem which totally sounds ridiculous.

Edited December 21, 2016 by CatManThree

[Hero of the Fire Emblems]

Not to divert the topic or anything, but I really don't think the Amiibos are canon since ever one of them is the version of each of the character

from in Smash 4. If they were canon then that would mean Smash Bros would be canonically connected to fire emblem which totally sounds ridiculous.

Not at all when you stop and consider Smash Bros is also canonically connected to Kid Icarus and Pokemon, in addition to probably other franchises. Fire Emblem has a multiverse anyway; it's not to say Smash takes place before or after Fates in the same continuity. Not at all. On the contrary dialogue relating to the Amiibos in FE14 confirm Smash is yet another dimension in a multiverse, and Smash isn't directly connected to any of those franchises either- it's connected in a multiversal sense. This is also strongly alluded to being the case with amiibo in Zelda, and to an extent the Mario series.

Nintendo has even insinuated Smash Trophies and Amiibos are one and the same- in the literal sense (as in these are the same trophies Master Hand uses). So multiversally speaking it's not at all far fetched for Smash trophies to pop up whenever you use them (as amiibos) in a game, once you take a step back to analyze how Amiibos work.

The Robin amiibo ironically enough even alludes to the fact there's no canon setting for any player avatar (canon for them pretty much varies by player canonically) by pointing out Robin might not even look like or be the same gender as Chrom's tactician while not saying either way.

What they say about the amiibo units also lines up with the events of SSBB and the Trophies in that game's story mode.

Edited December 23, 2016 by Hero of the Fire Emblems