History VideoGame / TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky

--> "Did you know? Ein's name was originally translated as 'Anne' in the novel Carnelia, but this name dropped the meaning to her name, which is 'One' in German. That's why it's respectfully back to 'Ein' now."

---> "Did you know? Ein's name was originally translated as 'Anne' in the novel Carnelia, but this name dropped the meaning to her name, which is 'One' in German. That's why it's respectfully back to 'Ein' now."

** Two of the empty chest messages added to the English-language localization of ''Sky SC'' reference ''Ys'':
--> "You see a heart carved around 'Adol + Dogi.' Where did this chest COME from?"
--> "Dogi the Wall Crusher's got nothing on Estelle the Treasure Taker."

* ShoutOut:
** Matron Theresa is obviously one to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa Mother Teresa]].
** In the English version, during the ending walkabout sequence in Grancel, one NPC is taking a picture of his daughter and says "Okay, say [[Videogame/EarthBound "fuzzy pickles"!]]"
** A lot of the treasure chest quotes are these. For example, in The 3rd: "*lid creaks* [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} TEN THOUSAND YEARS WILL GIVE YOU SUCH A CRICK IN THE NECK.]]"
** One of the options for a password near the end of SC is "Olorin"...one of the names of a character far better known as ''[[Literature/LordOfTheRings Gandalf.]]''
** The "Knuckle Spider" monster from the final area of SC is basically a [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Facehugger]] in all but name.
** In The 3rd, when [[spoiler:Kevin indicates that he wants to change his Dominion title]] the name suggestions include Black Arrow (which could be a nod to either the famous arrow of Bard from ''Literature/TheHobbit'' or the Creator/RobertLouisStevenson book) and Blue Comet (a color-shifted reference to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Char Aznable the Red Comet]]).
** Kurt's description of a book he's reading in the prologue of SC is suspiciously similar to ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}'', and Nial outright quotes Sun Tzu in FC.
** A handgun you can acquire in The 3rd is named Literature/MobyDick.
** A book mentioned in The 3rd is called [[Film/DollarsTrilogy The Man Without A Name, Volume 4]].

** [[spoiler:Richard]]'s FatalFlaw is that he idolized Cassius Bright as one of these, to the point that when he left the military, he thought himself too weak to ever live up to his legacy and believed that relying on a miracle, i.e. [[spoiler:The Aureole, an ancient superweapon]], was the only way he could protect his country. In other words, his misguided idealization of Cassius causes him to commit to a course of action that, as shown by happens to [[spoiler:Crossbell and North Ambria]] in the following two arcs, would likely have ''massively'' backfired had he been in charge when [[spoiler:the Tetracyclic Towers were brought down]].\\\

** [[spoiler:Richard]]'s FatalFlaw is that he idolized Cassius Bright as one of these, to the point that when he left the military, he thought himself too weak to ever live up to his legacy and believed that relying on a miracle, i.e. [[spoiler:The Aureole, an ancient superweapon]], was the only way he could protect his country. In other words, his misguided idealization of Cassius causes him to commit to a course of action that, as shown by happens to [[spoiler:Crossbell and North Ambria]] in the following two arcs, would likely have ''massively'' backfired had Estelle not intervened and [[spoiler:the Tetracyclic Towers]] not stopped him.\\\

** [[spoiler:Richard]]'s FatalFlaw is that he idolized Cassius Bright as one of these, to the point that when he left the military, he thought himself too weak to ever live up to his legacy and believed that relying on a miracle, i.e. [[spoiler:The Aureole, an ancient superweapon]], was the only way he could protect his country. In other words, his misguided idealization of Cassius causes him to commit to a course of action that, as shown by happens to [[spoiler:Crossbell and North Ambria]] in the following two arcs, was likely doomed to ''massively'' backfire from the beginning.\\\

** [[spoiler:Richard]]'s FatalFlaw is that he idolized Cassius Bright as one of these, to the point that when he left the military, he thought himself too weak to ever live up to his legacy and believed that relying on a miracle, i.e. [[spoiler:The Aureole, an ancient superweapon]], was the only way he could protect his country. What happens to [[spoiler:Crossbell and North Ambria]] in the following two arcs shows that this course of action was likely always doomed to ''massively'' backfire. Estelle chews him out for this, pointing out that her father didn't single-handedly win the war by himself. People from all over the country working together were essential to make his plan work, and she even points out that he himself was one of them. And that, to her, [[ThePowerOfFriendship was the real miracle]].\\\
[[spoiler:Cassius himself shows up after the final boss fight to chew out Richard for giving him undeserved credit even though he was a flawed man who ran away when things got tough.]] [[https://lparchive.org/The-Legend-of-Heroes-Trails-in-the-Sky/Update%2072/ This Let's Play]] annotates the game's dialogue with explanations of how it argues against the notion of the lone hero, and how its rich backstory shows that the deconstruction is more than just talk.

* {{Ubermensch}}: ''FC'' and ''SC heavily {{deconstruct|edTrope}} this trope through their main antagonists.
** [[spoiler:Richard]]'s FatalFlaw is that he idolized Cassius Bright as one of these, to the point that when he left the military, he thought himself too weak to ever live up to his legacy and believed that relying on a miracle, i.e. [[spoiler:The Aureole, an ancient superweapon]], was the only way he could protect his country--a course of action which, as shown by what happens to [[spoiler:Crossbell and North Ambria]] in the following two arcs, was likely doomed to ''massively'' backfire. Estelle chews him out for this, pointing out that her father didn't single-handedly win the war by himself. People from all over the country working together were essential to make his plan work, and she even points out that he himself was one of them. And that, to her, [[ThePowerOfFriendship was the real miracle]].\\\

* {{Ubermensch}}: DeconstructedTrope. [[spoiler:Richard]]'s FatalFlaw is that he idolized Cassius Bright as one of these, to the point that when he left the military, he thought himself too weak to ever live up to his legacy and believed that relying on a miracle, i.e. [[spoiler:The Aureole, an ancient superweapon]], was the only way he could protect his country. Estelle chews him out for this, pointing out that her father didn't single-handedly win the war by himself. People from all over the country working together were essential to make his plan work, and she even points out that he himself was one of them. And that, to her, [[ThePowerOfFriendship was the real miracle]]. [[spoiler:Cassius himself shows up after the final boss fight to chew out Richard for giving him undeserved credit even though he was a flawed man who ran away when things got tough.]] [[https://lparchive.org/The-Legend-of-Heroes-Trails-in-the-Sky/Update%2072/ This Let's Play]] annotates the game's dialogue with explanations of how it argues against the notion of the lone hero, and how its rich backstory shows that the deconstruction is more than just talk. Estelle gives a similar speech against the true BigBad, [[spoiler:Georg Weissmann, who, unlike Richard, [[ContrastingSequelAntagonist does consider himself this]] and claims he needs the Aureole to control humanity and save it from itself. Estelle denies this, countering that she's seen how people would work together to deal with a nation-wide power outage, and that they don't need a higher power to survive, just the ability to care for each other. Besides, to her, a life being purely governed by Ubermensch intelligence without the bonds shared with each other would be awful.]]

* UnderestimatingBadassery: In the final chapter in FC, when Estelle, Scherazard and Kloe [[spoiler:rescue the Queen during the coup d'état]], they encounter Lieutenant Lorence. Estelle, who defeated his team during the tournament, confidently states that even though he is strong, there is no way he can take the three of them all by himself. As she realizes after fighting him, she's wrong. [[OpenEndedBossBattle Actually winning the fight is optional]], and even if you manage, he doesn't go down.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: In the final chapter in FC, when Estelle, Scherazard and Kloe [[spoiler:rescue the Queen during the coup d'état]], they encounter Lieutenant Lorence. Estelle, who defeated his team during the tournament, confidently states that even though he is strong, there is no way he can take the three of them all by himself.

** Scherazard Harvey, a.k.a. Silver Streak

** [[spoiler:Aureole]], the Shining Ring

* TheEmpire: Perhaps not too surprising for a Japanese RPG. Their being billed as fairly obvious villains and an external threat is not very surprising at all. [[spoiler:The fact that, ultimately, you have to save them from full-scale slaughter alongside everyone else, however, may be rather more surprising! Or the fact that one of your party members is their ''prince''! Or that if you keep playing the series, you eventually play as a full party of ''them'' and that things are much more complicated than first seems.]]

* CentralTheme: ''Trails'' is unrepentant about wearing its theme on its sleeve, that theme essentially being: "No one person, no matter what they've done in the past, no matter what they've done with their lives, is completely beyond love and redemption. Any life can be given meaning so long as you're willing to reach out to a person." [[spoiler:Joshua, Renne, Kevin, Olivier, and Loewe all have major story arcs about coming to terms with this, and Kloe, Scherazard, and Josette all face the concept to some degree as well.]]

* GratuitousGerman: Many characters and places here have German names, but of particular note is a misty forest called... Mistwald Forest. Falcom appears to have assumed that the German word ''Mist'' means the same thing it does in English; it does not. Rather, it's actually German for "Crapwood".

* PlotHole: A minor one. In FC, Kloe explains that Jill was the one who first gave her her nickname; however, in The 3rd, a flashback to when Kloe first started attending the Jenis academy showed that she was already going by that name before she ever met Jill. Notably, this is only present in the English version, as the original Japanese text simply stated that the nickname was a portmanteau of Kloe's first and last names, with no mention of Jill as the source.

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Lucciola survives her fall from the Axis Pillar after her boss fight in SC, as revealed in ''Azure''. The fortune teller in Mishelam? It's her.]]

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Lucciola survives her fall from Axis Pillar after her boss fight in SC, as revealed in Ao. The fortune teller in Michelam? It's her.]]

** Captain ''Kanone'' Amalthea's first name (german for "cannon") is unlikely to be an accident given her tendency to rely on heavy firepower.

*** The GuestStarPartyMember in the first part of Chapter 2 (for {{AToV}}) or whole Chapter 2 (for FC) are another senior Bracer/Adventurer (Douglas and Agate) and a girl who develops a crush on one of the main duo (Archem and Kloe). When they were party members, the party must deal with the corrupt leader of the region who threatened the well-being of the girl's precious things (Meefas and Mercia Orphanage).

* ConsummateLiar: The first half of the prologue of the 3rd is retrieving an Artifact that makes it's bearer one, able to convince anyone of all but the most outrageous of BlatantLies.

* TakenForGranite: Kind of. [[spoiler:Weissmann was shot with a Salt Bolt that effectively worked like this, except transforming him to salt instead of stone. On his way out after retrieving some 'lost property' Campanella [[KarmicDeath stopped to to break Weissmann's now-petrified body into pieces]].]]