FE Awakening: Interconnected Bloodlines Theory [spoilers for multiple games]

[VincentASM]

I'm guessing a few people know that I love digging through the Fire Emblem lore to unearth secrets or get to the bottom of things.

After the two surprising revelations in Echoes--about the origins and Mila and Duma, as well as the creation of the Fell Dragon Grima, I was inspired to review some theories I once had, this being one of them.

Awakening is renowned for tying together many of the Fire Emblem worlds, often shakily via the Outrealms. However there are some mysteries inherent in the Awakening world that never really get expounded one.

Firstly, we're told on numerous occasions that it was Ylisse's First Exalt who sealed away Grima when it first appeared 1000 years ago. Prior to Awakening, the First Exalt and Grima had never appeared. We also learn from Tiki and others that Marth the Hero-King existed 2000 years prior, so the battle between the First Exalt and Grima occurred around 1000 years after Marth saved the world.

Unfortunately, never do we learn a thing about this First Exalt, except he was accompanied by a Pegasus Knight with a wing-shaped spear, which alludes to Marth and Caeda. But it can't be that exact pair since the times don't match and Marth is never called the First Exalt and vice versa, so they are almost definitely different people.

Secondly, we also learn from Tiki that Chrom has another ancestor beyond Marth, from approximately 1000 years prior to Marth's era. The "obvious" conclusion is that Tiki is talking about Anri, Marth's legendary ancestor who first defeated Medeus. Except he did it 100 years before Marth was born. 1000 years and 100 years is a huge difference and I don't think it was a mistake.

The only other thing we know is that this unknown ancestor resembles Chrom, more so than Marth. Like Chrom, he was more direct and believed in his ideals. Sadly, that's not a lot to go on and many of Fire Emblem's protagonists fit that description, although some more than others.

The second mystery is probably the easier one to break down. Approximately 1000 years before Marth's time, just before Tiki was born, there was a huge war between the Divine Dragons and Earth Dragons recorded in Archanean scripture as the Guardian God Naga's war. To our knowledge, based on Kaga's words, this war aligned with the Miracle of Darna at Jugdral.

Doing the Maths, the in-game events of Genealogy and Thracia take places around 1000 years before Marth's adventures begin. So it's possible in theory for, say, Sigurd and Seliph to be Marth's ancestor. However, while the circumstances certainly align, I don't think this is the right direction.

Rather, I believe there's another mystery that needs to be acknowledged first and one hidden in plain sight since the beginning of Shadow Dragon and Mystery of the Emblem. The question being, why was Anri chosen to wield the Falchion? This blade forged from Naga's fang does not seem to choose its wielder by nature, but by bloodline if Cornelius and Marth are to go by.

According to Kaga, the Falchion, Starlight and Jugdral's 13 divine weapons (including Loptyr) all possess Dragon Gems (such as the Starsphere, Lightsphere etc.). Normally one must form a blood pact with a dragon to use a dragon gem, unless the power of the pact has weakened. Although we don't know if the pact on the Falchion has weakened, the fact it can only be used by certain people suggests the pact is still in effect.

So the question evolves into when did Anri form a blood pact with a dragon? When he traveled to the Ice Dragons' Shrine to obtain the Falchion, Naga was already dead or asleep. While it's possible Anri formed a pact with a weakened Naga, akin to the Rite of Awakening performed by Chrom and Lucina, I think there may be a simpler explanation.

But first, another mystery, because you can never have enough, although this one may be stretching it. In the opening of Mystery of the Emblem, we see imagery of the Guardian God Naga who saved mankind with the Falchion and Binding Shield. This Naga is depicted as a man, but Genealogy and Awakening (and Nagi in the remakes) reveals that Naga is and has always been a woman. (Localisation handwaves aside.)

Nevermind the issue of gender, it's possible historians simply romanticised Naga into being a heroic male. Why on earth is Naga, the ruler of the Divine Dragons with the ability to wield a dragonstone to control her draconic urges, fighting with what is essentially a broken tooth? What I think the tapestry is depicting is not Naga, but rather Naga's chosen warrior. One she formed a blood pact with just like she formed a blood pact with Saint Heim over in Jugdral.

After the war, this chosen warrior probably disappeared into the shadows, but his bloodline continued. 1000 years later, when Medeus decided to go rogue, perhaps Gotoh tried to seek the warrior's descendant and that's when he found Anri trying to protect Artemis. By this time, the pact had probably weakened a little so Anri and his descendants didn't have a Brand, but the weapon was still tied to their bloodline.

As for who this chosen warrior was, as well as the identity of Chrom's ancestor from 3000 years ago, I have a sneaking suspicion it could be the strongest hero of them all--Ike. Now this might seem out of nowhere, but the developers admitted that Chrom borrowed many elements from past heroes, namely the heritage of Marth and the appearance/personality of Ike. But what if Chrom borrowed more than just that?

For one, Chrom and his female descendants are able to wield Aether, which was previously unique to Ike. Although thanks to Outrealm shenanigans in Fates, anyone and their mother can learn Aether, but doesn't it seem awfully suspicious for Chrom to be the only other person--at that time--to also known Ike's special skill? Of course, we already have an Ike descendant in Awakening in the form of Priam. However, oddly, Priam doesn't know Aether, merely Sol and Luna.

Perhaps Priam came from a branch family that by chance inherited Ragnell over Aether. A similar scenario has happened before; Marth isn't actually directly descended from Anri, but Anri's brother. The only spanner in the works is that Marth himself doesn't know Aether. Although in the games where he has skills, he prefers to triple wield Astra, Sol and Luna. Combined with his title "Lodestar", he at least has some vague connection to Aether aka "The Heavens" in the Japanese version.

The other issue is that when Chrom and Ike meet, they don't acknowledge each other as distant relatives. Still, this can be easily handwaved by Ike's heroic deeds in Archanea being blurred by history. Plus Ike was never the type to receive fame for anything he did. Finally, it has been 3000 years and Ike wouldn't know a thing about Chrom anyway.

That's the first theory; what about the first Exalt? Well, before that, here's another stretch of the imagination. One issue with Awakening combining Archanea and Valentia into Ylisse and Valm is the complete absence of Valentia's Falchion or even the whereabouts of Alm and Celica's descendants. Walhart is said to be the second coming of Alm, but Reinhardt was also the second coming of Tordo and he's not a descendant.

Even way back, it always bothered me how Alm shared the same title as the First Exalt: "Holy King", which for Chrom, Emmeryn and (of course) the First Exalt was translated to "Exalt". For Alm, however, it was translated to "Exalted King", but the idea is still there. Therefore, what if the First Exalt was not a descendant of Marth, but actually a descendant of Alm? This would explain where Valentia's royalty went and possibly even their Falchion.

Now you may be wondering, wasn't the First Exalt a descendant of Marth? Did Marth's and Alm's descendants meet and marry some time before Grima appeared? Possibly, but I don't think so. Thing is, I am pretty sure it's never stated that the First Exalt is a descendant of Marth. Rather, Chrom is said to be both a descendant of Marth and the First Exalt. Which means the First Exalt doesn't have to be descended from Marth.

To complete the dots, I theorise that the pegasus knight companion to the First Exalt is in fact the descendant of Marth (and Caeda). So that is the point when Archanea and Valentia's royal families combine. Finally, to finish the puzzle, I'm going to make a wild guess and say there was a Marth descendant at the time who wielded Falchion, but perhaps he/she was slain by Grima and the Falchion lost or damaged.

That's why the First Exalt needed to perform the Rite of Awakening, to unlock the true power of the Falchion--possibly Valentia's Falchion--since the regular Falchion was too weak to combat Grima. That is of course when the Mark of Naga (the Brand) started appearing in the Ylissean royal family. Sadly, there's no evidence to suggest which Falchion Chrom's Falchion is due to the nature of the Falchion--how both the blade and hilt can change throughout history.

Anyway, that was a lot of explaining for what is merely a theory. It's because these mysteries continue to evade us that I really, really hope Nintendo releases a history book for Fire Emblem one day. Even if my theories are wrong, I would love to find out why they're wrong and what the truth is.

Edited May 14, 2017 by VincentASM

[VincentASM]

Footnotes

The fact Marth isn't directly descended from Anri could be further evidence that a blood pact was forged earlier in the past. That said, it appears blood pacts are magical things that work retroactively. Galle didn't have any descendants who survived and it was his brother Mara who continued the Loptyr bloodline, despite Galle being the pact-maker.

Another possible reason for an Alm descendant to seal away Grima could be related to the Labyrinth of Thabes in Echoes, although one could argue it's non-canon. 1000 years prior to the Schism, Grima was waiting and getting stronger underneath Thabes, when suddenly Alm and his friends accidentally released the seal on Grima's domain.

Apparently the seal cannot be broken, but Alm and Celica manage it easily, possibly suggesting only one with divine dragon blood can release the seal. Oops. This could also be a subtle nod to the Fane of Raman, where a divine dragon seal was placed, yet Adrah managed to loot the Binding Blade anyway... In any case, a descendant fixing an ancestor's mistake would be extremely fitting.

Edited May 14, 2017 by VincentASM

[Acacia Sgt]

Interesting theory.

But I would question if the Falchion really was already under a blood pact before Anri. As I looked over the Designer's Notes, I also saw this:

Quote

Meanwhile, to protect the most powerful spells, like Aura or Excalibur, Gotoh attached a contract to them so that only the user could wield them. The same kind of protection was also placed on the Falchion.

The fact the Falchion is mentioned apart, I'm not fully sure if it means that Gotoh did it as well as the magic tomes, or is comparing what Gotoh did to Aura and Excalibur to what was done to the Falchion. After all, if the Falchion already had the blood thing, why would Gotoh place a redundant restriction? Gotoh was the one who guided Anri, perhaps he's the one who binded the sword to him, if it was him who did to the sword what he did to the tomes.

Either way, another thing that comes to mind, is that it's not stated Naga back then locked stuff to bloodlines, Heim's aside. In fact, SoV has evidence of the contrary. She did no such thing to the Valentian Falchion, because it was meant to be used on Duma and Mila if needed. So limiting the amount of people that could use it would be counterproductive. In the end it was Duma who locked it to the Rigelian Royalty bloodline. Considering the Archanean Falchion was made for a similar purpose, I would doubt its case would be different. Would Naga really choose a "champion", in that case?

In fact, I am also not sure if there is evidence pointing to humans participating in the dragon war, other than being victims to the degenerated dragons. Come to think of it, do we even know when exactly the Archanean Falchion was created? The Shield was made for the seal, which... actually, wouldn't that already invalidate the mural of that guy (Naga or otherwise) wielding the shield during the war? Could the sword be in the same case?

Edited May 14, 2017 by Acacia Sgt

[Pikappa93]

Oh, I love this kind of topics, it was so much fun reading this all! Very interesting read.

35 minutes ago, VincentASM said:

As for who this chosen warrior was, as well as the identity of Chrom's ancestor from 3000 years ago, I have a sneaking suspicion it could be the strongest hero of them all--Ike. Now this might seem out of nowhere, but the developers admitted that Chrom borrowed many elements from past heroes, namely the heritage of Marth and the appearance/personality of Ike. But what if Chrom borrowed more than just that?

For one, Chrom and his female descendants are able to wield Aether, which was previously unique to Ike. Although thanks to Outrealm shenanigans in Fates, anyone and their mother can learn Aether, but doesn't it seem awfully suspicious for Chrom to be the only other person--at that time--to also known Ike's special skill? Of course, we already have an Ike descendant in Awakening in the form of Priam. However, oddly, Priam doesn't know Aether, merely Sol and Luna.

I always thought about this not being a coincidence, also because Ylissians seem to have at least some kind of knowledge of Tellius lore, suggesting the continent is in the same world (maybe Tellius was some of the continents we couldn't see in full in the Awakening wolrdmap? I always found that so annoying btw). The Taguel could also be Laguz descendants, I remember Panne claiming that rabbits weren't the only ones. I was wondering, is it possible that the Tellius games came before every other title in the timeline? Thing like Ashunera being the only non dragon-related goddess while dragon Laguz being a thing (possibly evolving into Jugdrali/Archanean dragons over time?) got me thinking: was this the origin of the entire FE world?

[The DanMan]

47 minutes ago, VincentASM said:

To complete the dots, I theorise that the pegasus knight companion to the First Exalt is in fact the descendant of Marth (and Caeda).

When was that mentioned?

47 minutes ago, VincentASM said:

It's because these mysteries continue to evade us that I really, really hope Nintendo releases a history book for Fire Emblem one day.

Hopefully not anytime soon, what with IS' track record.

[RJWalker]

But Gotoh didn't seek out Anri specifically. It's mentioned in the script that Gotoh spoke to the humans of the resistance (which Anri wasn't a part of at that time) of a divine blade that could defeat. Anri's whole deal is that he was some nobody whose strength and will proved him worthy, not his bloodline.

[VincentASM]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Interesting theory.

But I would question if the Falchion really was already under a blood pact before Anri. As I looked over the Designer's Notes, I also saw this:

The fact the Falchion is mentioned apart, I'm not fully sure if it means that Gotoh did it as well as the magic tomes, or is comparing what Gotoh did to Aura and Excalibur to what was done to the Falchion. After all, if the Falchion already had the blood thing, why would Gotoh place a redundant restriction? Gotoh was the one who guided Anri, perhaps he's the one who binded the sword to him, if it was him who did to the sword what he did to the tomes.

Either way, another thing that comes to mind, is that it's not stated Naga back then locked stuff to bloodlines, Heim's aside. In fact, SoV has evidence of the contrary. She did no such thing to the Valentian Falchion, because it was meant to be used on Duma and Mila if needed. So limiting the amount of people that could use it would be counterproductive. In the end it was Duma who locked it to the Rigelian Royalty bloodline. Considering the Archanean Falchion was made for a similar purpose, I would doubt its case would be different. Would Naga really choose a "champion", in that case?

In fact, I am also not sure if there is evidence pointing to humans participating in the dragon war, other than being victims to the degenerated dragons. Come to think of it, do we even know when exactly the Archanean Falchion was created? The Shield was made for the seal, which... actually, wouldn't that already invalidate the mural of that guy (Naga or otherwise) wielding the shield during the war? Could the sword be in the same case?

Ah, thanks for jogging my memory. In that case, a blood pact isn't necessary. Although Gotoh's seal does seem to follow the rules of a blood pact, with Elice unable to wield it suggesting her blood isn't strong enough. Or maybe the seal is just picky...

Actually, according to the Valentian Revelations, Mila and Duma performed a blood pact with the Rigelian and Zofian rulers.

Chapter 37

Duma and Mila granted two heroes with the blood of the Divine Dragon, giving them the rights to build their own nations.

I'm confident this extends to the Falchion, or Alm wouldn't be the only person using it. (You could argue a case for Celica, but I assume it's like Lyn being unable to wield the Durandal due to gameplay reasons.)

While it seems counterproductive, the dragons and Gotoh wanted to keep Falchion's power away from evil too. For example, from the likes of Gharnef and Medeus.

It's not stated when the Falchion was forged, but it was probably between the degeneration of dragons and before Naga died. Which encompasses 500 years, so not a lot to go on.

1 hour ago, Pikappa93 said:

Oh, I love this kind of topics, it was so much fun reading this all! Very interesting read.

I always thought about this not being a coincidence, also because Ylissians seem to have at least some kind of knowledge of Tellius lore, suggesting the continent is in the same world (maybe Tellius was some of the continents we couldn't see in full in the Awakening wolrdmap? I always found that so annoying btw). The Taguel could also be Laguz descendants, I remember Panne claiming that rabbits weren't the only ones. I was wondering, is it possible that the Tellius games came before every other title in the timeline? Thing like Ashunera being the only non dragon-related goddess while dragon Laguz being a thing (possibly evolving into Jugdrali/Archanean dragons over time?) got me thinking: was this the origin of the entire FE world?

I do believe Tellius predates most games in the series primarily for being the one game to touch on the origin story of the world. Even Fates seems to appear afterwards since it features a Black Dragon King's remains as Fort Dragonfall.

That said, from my perspective, there's a massive gap between Tellius and every game that really needs explaining. Fates kind of tried a little, but it's still really difficult to determine the number of years between the Tellius arc and everything else.

Also, I am not sure if Tellius exists in the same world, but it's possible what with the many continents surrounding Ylisse and Valm (at least three). One thing that seems to disprove this is Ike apparently hailing from "another world" during the chapter you recruit Priam.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Ike found an Outrealm Gate at the end of Radiant Dawn and that's why he was "never seen again". By the way, there's an Outrealm Gate south of Archanea/Ylisse, so maybe that's when he stumbled upon the Earth Dragon war...

58 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

When was that mentioned?

Hopefully not anytime soon, what with IS' track record.

In Cordelia and Donnel's supports, maybe another.

When you hear it, really really sounds like Caeda.

Actually, reading it again, it doesn't really sound like she's royalty. I suppose they don't even need to be partners, especially if Cordelia's looking up to her. Maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board...

44 minutes ago, RJWalker said:

But Gotoh didn't seek out Anri specifically. It's mentioned in the script that Gotoh spoke to the humans of the resistance (which Anri wasn't a part of at that time) of a divine blade that could defeat. Anri's whole deal is that he was some nobody whose strength and will proved him worthy, not his bloodline.

Indeed, that sounds familiar. In that case, I guess there's nothing supporting Anri having a heroic bloodline by merit of the Falchion. Still, I would not be surprised if his strength and will came from a distant ancestor.

[Armagon]

Man, this reminds me of a similar theory i thought of like 2 years ago. My theory suggested that Chrom and the rest of the Ylissian royal family is descended from Julia. My basis for that theory was that, only those with the Brand of the Exalt could use the Falchion, and even then, only certain people could actually use the Falchion, and it reminded me of how descendants of the Twelve Crusaders can sometimes have Minor Holy Blood, and iirc, having Minor Holy Blood wouldn't allow you to use the Divine Weapons, and i thought that was the case with the Falchion as well.

 

 

2 hours ago, VincentASM said:

To complete the dots, I theorise that the pegasus knight companion to the First Exalt is in fact the descendant of Marth (and Caeda). So that is the point when Archanea and Valentia's royal families combine. Finally, to finish the puzzle, I'm going to make a wild guess and say there was a Marth descendant at the time who wielded Falchion, but perhaps he/she was slain by Grima and the Falchion lost or damaged.

That's why the First Exalt needed to perform the Rite of Awakening, to unlock the true power of the Falchion--possibly Valentia's Falchion--since the regular Falchion was too weak to combat Grima. That is of course when the Mark of Naga (the Brand) started appearing in the Ylissean royal family. Sadly, there's no evidence to suggest which Falchion Chrom's Falchion is due to the nature of the Falchion--how both the blade and hilt can change throughout history.

Alright, going off of this theory, seeing as how Alm and Celica did have the Brand (albeit, Duma and Mila's Brands respectively), i can definitely see how it's possible that the First Exalt was a descendant of Alm and Celica. There's also another interesting thing around the time Grima first appeared: the Schism. A lot of things happened during the Schism: the Fire Emblem's Gemstones being scattered, Grima rising, but probably the biggest change of all, the separation and renaming of Archanea to Ylisse, as well as the countries within them. While Archanea has always been made of several countries, Valentia was different. Valentia was one unified country at the end of Gaiden/Echoes and it wasn't until the Schism that it split into several. And another thing: While Archanea was renamed to Ylisse during the Schism, Valentia was renamed to Valm by Alm and Celica's immediate successor. So Valentia existed as Valm long before Archanea was renamed to Ylisse. So why did it split during the Schism? Could it be that the First Exalt (being Alm and Celica's descendant), married the Pegasus Knight (who is Marth and Caeda's descendant) but instead of returning to Valm with her, he instead decides to rule Ylisse with her, and because of this, Valm, having no heir to the throne (assuming there was no one else), ended up splitting into several countries. Because remember, the unification of Valm was a recent thing in Awakening's time; Walhart was doing it during while Chrom and Gangrel were at war.

1 hour ago, Pikappa93 said:

Oh, I love this kind of topics, it was so much fun reading this all! Very interesting read.

I always thought about this not being a coincidence, also because Ylissians seem to have at least some kind of knowledge of Tellius lore, suggesting the continent is in the same world (maybe Tellius was some of the continents we couldn't see in full in the Awakening wolrdmap? I always found that so annoying btw). 

I want to add to this part. Not only do Ylissians have knowledge of Tellius lore, but Magvellian and Elibe lore as well (as well as Jugdrallian lore but Jugdral is already known to be in the same world as Archanea and Valentia), and even Fatesland lore, except for them, Fatesland is a myth. Now, it's possible that Magvell and Elibe are also myths to Ylissians. Of course, everything could just be tied together with Outrealms. 

 

Edit: "In Cordelia and Donnel's supports, maybe another.

When you hear it, really really sounds like Caeda.

Actually, reading it again, it doesn't really sound like she's royalty. I suppose they don't even need to be partners, especially if Cordelia's looking up to her. Maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board..."

Oh, well there goes my theory on why Valm split. (I can' seem to add quotes into edits so i had to do it the hard way)

Edited May 14, 2017 by Armagon

[RJWalker]

I genuinely think there was some miscommunication between the various writers for Awakening when it comes to the identity of the First Exalt. Several supports seem to imply that the First Exalt was Marth. It could just be common themes between Marth and the First Exalt but things like Tiki supposedly being friends with the First Exalt and the Pegasus Knight lover that won allies to her side with her charisma and even what looks like a reference to Caeda's Wing Spear with the line about the slow, heavy knights feared her aerial dance makes it seem like more than just coincidence. Pair that with some of the other inconsistencies in Awakening supports such Panne saying she never knew her mother or any other Taguel in one support yet saying she was raised by her mother along side other Taguel in a different support makes you wonder.

And yet, the main story makes it clear that Marth and the First Exalt are different people. 

[The DanMan]

4 hours ago, VincentASM said:

In Cordelia and Donnel's supports, maybe another.

When you hear it, really really sounds like Caeda.

Actually, reading it again, it doesn't really sound like she's royalty. I suppose they don't even need to be partners, especially if Cordelia's looking up to her. Maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board...

On top of that, weren't Awakenings supports largely written by random members of the dev team, due to the sheer quantity of them?