Mythology Gag / Fire Emblem Engage

Shadow Dragon/Mystery of the Emblem

• Marth, being the first Lord in the franchise, is the first one players interact and familiarize themselves with, and his first bearer is naturally the main character of this game, Alear.
• The mural depicting the Emblems shows Marth wearing the same outfit he wore on the box art for Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
• Mercurius being Marth's Engage weapon, and its effect (doubling experience gain) are references to how it is exclusive to Marth in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and its effect in Mystery of the Emblem.
• Lucina's Parthia also doubles experience gain, just like how it does in Mystery of the Emblem.
• Marth's trial is based on Chapter 17 of Shadow Dragon, "Star and Savior", in which Marth took back his family's castle and liberated his homeland. While other trials copy the map's look from their base game as close as possible, this iteration of Castle Altea combines elements from Mystery of the Emblem (namely the statues) and Illusory Dolhr in Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE (the tilesets).
• Tiki's Divine Paralogue is based on "A Mystery Revealed", Chapter 14 of Book 2 from Mystery of the Emblem, in which Marth had to reawaken Tiki. A Silver Card, which permanently reduces shop prices, can be obtained on the same square that one of Anna's Secret Shops was located in the original version.
• Wyrm breath attacks ignoring Def/Res and Tiki's breath weapons halving Def/Res references how Breath weapons in Mystery of the Emblem ignore Def against non-Dragon targets.
• Tiki's "Sphere" skills reference four of the five spheres of the Binding Shield. While Starsphere, Lightsphere, and Lifesphere grant roughly the same effects as in Mystery of the Emblem (improves growth rates, reducing critical chances, and Regenerating Health, respectively), Geosphere's effect is completely different (boosting defenses instead of damaging enemies or increasing critical chances).
  • Lifesphere's healing starts at 20 HP, the same amount it heals in New Mystery of the Emblem.
• Tiki's breath weapon changing depending on Battle Style references how Tiki can transform in different types of dragons. Said breaths preventing the character from doubling also references Breath weapons having enough weight to reduce Tiki to 0 speed regardless of how high it is in Mystery of the Emblem.
  • Fire Breath being used on multiple battle styles (Backup, Cavalry, Covert, or Qi Adept) is a reference to how Fire Breath was the most common Manakete attack.
  • Similarly, Flame Breath being used on Flying units references how the flying Wyverns also used Fire Breath to attack.
  • Fog Breath being used on Dragon units references how it was exclusive to Divine Dragons in Mystery.
  • Dark Breath being used on Mystical units may be a reference to Medeus' association with the dark mage Garnef. Effect-wise, it instead resembles the Mage Dragons dealing magical damage with their Fire Breath (in Mystery) or Magic Breath (in New Mystery).
• Tiki's Draconic Form skill increasing stats references the Dragonstones' ability to boost her stats while equipped. Its ability to give an additional +5 Res to Mystical units is likely a reference to the Magestone granting immunity to spells. Its functionality references how Dragonstones were used to transform outside of battle in the original Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Mystery of the Emblem, for a limited duration in the latter.
• The Caeda S bond ring gives the skill Sympathetic, whose name references the fact that she recruits quite a few units in that game.
• The Navarre S bond ring gives the skill Deadly Blade, which boosts the critical rate of swords as a reference to his being the basis for the Myrmidon class^note his starting class was Mercenary in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Mystery, but his Fragile Speedster nature that distinguishes him from Ogma is said to inspire the creation of Myrmidons in Genealogy of the Holy War and its Divergent Character Evolution from Mercenaries in Binding Blade, and indeed, when the remake Shadow Dragon was released, Navarre was changed to start as a Myrmidon, which in many games has a boosted critical rate once promoted to Swordmaster.

Gaiden/Echoes

• Celica is first introduced when the player is being introduced to the Kingdom of Firene, a region which advocates for peace and helps others in need. Like the kingdom, she is known for her pacifistic behavior and her eagerness to help others, traits that do drive a wedge between her and Alm regarding how to resolve the conflict in Valentia.
• Céline is the first to use Emblem Celica, and her personal class can use both swords and magic, just like Celica's Priestess class.
• Celica's Engage weapons are all spells she can learn in Gaiden/Echoes. She even gains them in the same order she learns them in the game (Seraphim, followed by Recover, followed by Ragnarok). She doesn't carry the weapons/staves for them as a unit because, in Gaiden/Echoes, spells are innate.
• Warp Ragnarok references the ability Warp in Gaiden, often used by enemy Witches to teleport anywhere on the map. Celica having it might be a reference to her being briefly transformed into one. Its animation is based on the Ragnarok Ω combat art in Echoes.
• Her Resonance skill causing its user to lose 1 HP to power up their spells references the fact that spells are Cast from Hit Points in Gaiden/Echoes.
• Celica's Seraphim engage weapon and Holy Stance skills make her uniquely well suited to fighting corrupted, which makes sense as Gaiden was the first game in the series to feature monster enemies, to the point that Celica's first battle is against monsters as well.
• Celica's Favorite Food skill is a reference to the Provisions system introduced in Echoes, and how consuming food items replenished a unit's stamina in dungeons. In this game, it allows boxed lunches to replenish the Engage meter.
• If Celica faces the Dark Emblem of Duma in the final battle, she uses the quote she made when Alm landed the finishing blow on him in Echoes.
• Celica's trial take place in the Seabound Shrine area, the first dungeon area of her game route. There are mages here that summon enemies to represent the Cantor enemies, along with a Phantom Wyrm to represent the Necrodragon there. The enemies summoned by the mages reference the three types of neutral units that the player can Summon with they use the similar Invoke Spell. There are Halberdiers standing in for the Soldiers that Genny summons, Wyvern Knights standing in the for the Pegasus Knights that Tatiana can bring and Swordmasters standing in for the Dread Fighters Silque can invoke.
• The Alm S bond ring gives the skill Windsweep, an Iron Sword combat art introduced in Echoes. Alm S has it because he introduced it as a B Skill to Heroes.
• The Mae S bond ring giving the Great Thunder skill to power up Thunder-based tomes references the fact that she's the only Mage in Celica's starting party to have access to the spell from the start and how she brags about that fact.
• There are two massive statues of the Baron class from Echoes at the end of the Grand Crossing in Chapter 7.

Genealogy of the Holy War

• Sigurd's trial is based on Chapter 10 of Genealogy of the Holy War, "Light and Dark", specifically Miletos and Chalphy separated by a bridge, with Sigurd taking Arvis' place on the map. The location for the paralogue, "River of Light and Dark", also references the chapter name.
  • The Bolganone and Thoron Sages at the southwest corner represent Julius and Ishtar respectively, two antagonists that were stationed on the Miletos side of the map in that chapter. The Bolganone Sage in particular has four health bars when Sigurd has two, to emulate the Loptous tome's damage-halving effect that cannot be pierced at that point in the game.
  • After lowering the drawbridge, Alfred will suggest resting in the fortress. This is a call back to Genealogy of the Holy War, where Sigurd’s army would rest inside fortresses between chapters. The way enemy reinforcements appear after doing so (in a single, massive, group) also references how reinforcements generally appeared in Genealogy.
  • Ending a unit's turn on the peninsula at the top right corner of the map rewards you with a Goddess Icon. In Genealogy, the corresponding area is where Palmark gives Seliph the Tyrfing.
  • After the battle, one of the item drops in the exploration phase is located on the beach south of the Chalphy fortress, where Seliph can trigger a special event where he speaks with the spirits of his deceased parents and granting him a Renewal Ring if he lands the finishing blow on Arvis.
• Sigurd specifically having Canter references the fact that Genealogy is the first game with this mechanic, though the name is different; Radiant Dawn was the first english game to name it, calling it "Canto".
• Leif granting a massive amount of weapon proficiencies references his promoted class in Genealogy, Master Knight. Almost all proficiencies he grants are something he can use as a Master Knight (with knives replacing magic).
• Leif's Adaptable skill (automatically switch weapons when attacked) references a mechanic present for enemies in this game, though enemies only switch weapons to account for range, not other factors.
• Leif providing Vantage references both Genealogy (where it first appeared), and how broken it was in Thracia 776.
• The Deirdre S and Finn S bond rings give the skills Renewal and Miracle, respectively; both skills debuted in this game and were part of their base skills.
• The Seliph S bond ring gives the Battlewise skill, which gives +1 Crit for the rest of the map every time its user defeats an enemy, which references the "fifty kills" mechanic, where once a weapon was used to defeat fifty enemies, it received the Critical skill, and subsequent kills increase the weapon's crit rate.

Thracia 776

• Leif is first introduced with Ivy, a wyvern riding princess of Elusia, a country embroiled in war with another: Brodia. A possible reference to his sister Altena, and the similarities in the struggle between North and South Thracia.
• While in the Somniel, Leif will talk about a potion that relieves fatigue. This is a reference to Thracia 776's fatigue mechanic, where using a character too many times without giving them a break would cause them to get fatigued, which would force them to get benched for one chapter. A stamina potion could be used to relieve them of their fatigue.
• All of Leif's Engage weapons reference Thracia 776: Killer Axe first appears in this game, Master Lance appears exclusively in this game, and Light Brand is Leif's personal weapon in this game.
• A multifaceted reference comes in the form of Leif's Engage Attack. When used by a covert unit, it has a chance to make the opponent drop gold, which is a reference to Leif's Blade from Awakening (which has the chance to do the same thing), which in itself was a reference to the fact that the only way to earn money in Thracia was by capturing enemies and pawning off the gear you stole from them.
  • The bow used when using Leif's Engage Attack is Master Bow, which exclusively appears in Thracia, and is also used by Leif's Legendary variant in Heroes under the name Meisterbogen.
• Leif providing Vantage references both Genealogy (where it first appeared), and how broken it was in Thracia 776.
• Leif granting Build-increasing skills references how Thracia 776 introduced the stat, and that it's the only game besides Engage where Build can grow on level ups.
• Leif's trial is based on Chapter 22 of Thracia 776 where he crosses the river Thracia and faces off against Saias and Reinhardt. Leif himself takes Reinhardt's place, while a High Priest behind him represents Saias. There's also a General in the northeast corner of the map who has a Meteor tome and Fracture staff despite being unable to use them that aren't dropped either. This is in reference to Cohen, a Baron who was the final boss of the chapter and how in Jugdral, Barons were an enemy only armored class that could use almost every weapon type including most types of magic and staves. The map also has Leif replicate Saias' trap of destroying one of the bridges once it's crossed in order to trap you between the water and enemy forces.
• The Olwen S bond ring gives the skill Dire Thunder, which effectively transforms Thunder tomes into her signature weapon by letting them strike twice when initiating combat.
• The Finn S bond ring gives the skill Miracle, specifically the version of it that (until now) appeared only in Thracia 776. Finn also had Miracle in Genealogy of the Holy War, but it worked very differently, only providing total protection at 1 HP but making attacks miss for a full turn.
  • Miracle's maximum triggering rate of 50% in Engage, while probably there for balancing reasons, isn't far from its effective rate cap of 60% in Thracia (from Luck being capped at 20 for player characters).

The Binding Blade

• Roy is first introduced during the backdrop of the Brodia/Elusia conflict, not too dissimilar to the invasion set out by Zephiel which kickstarts The Binding Blade's events.
• When Engaging with Roy, he assumes the same pose as from the cover art of The Binding Blade
• Roy occasionally holds the Binding Blade in Reverse Grip, just like how he does in The Binding Blade.
• Roy's portrait has him pose the same way as his official art from The Binding Blade. The only difference is that he is smiling.
• Lancereaver being one of Roy's Engage weapons references the fact that The Binding Blade is where it first appears.
• Roy has a Wyrmslayer as his Level 10 Engage weapon because he's given one in Chapter 10, by either Larum or Elffin (depending on the route). It also shares the design of the Wyrmslayers from that game, albeit lengthened to realistic proportions.
• The animation of Roy's Blazing Lion skill references Roy's critical hit animation when using the Binding Blade. Notably, it also somewhat resembles Zephiel's attack animation.
• Roy's trial takes place in Chapter 21 of his game, "The Binding Blade", where he fights Murdock to retrieve the titular blade. Notably, Roy's main backup in this chapter are Wyvern Knights, representing how the original had most of the enemy units be Wyvern fliers.
  • The flock of reinforcements from the house is led by a Wyvern Knight representing Galle.
  • The sage wielding Meteor in the shrine represents Roy's childhood friend Lilina and her association with fire magic. This sage replaces the one using Bolting from the original map.
• Lyn's trial takes place in Chapter 20Bx, "The Bow of Swift Wind", where Roy must search for the Mulagir in one of the six tents on the map. The paralogue's reinforcements coming from the tents inverts a mechanic from the chapter: while reinforcements will be stopped by defeating the fabrication representing the Djute tribesman guarding it, in The Binding Blade capturing the wrong tent will trigger the reinforcements from that tent instead.
• In Chapters 17 and 19, Marni, an Armored Knight, is equipped with Emblem Roy, which alludes to the former's relationship with Hector (also armored). Similar to Hector, Marni also ends up succumbing to her injury in Chapter 21.
• The Lilina S bond ring gives the Raging Fire skill, referencing her association with Fire magic, and the S-rank Anima magic, Forblaze.
• The Sorceress leading Zephia (Veyle) is dressed like Idunn, the game's secret final boss, wearing the only outfit you see Idunn in if you were ineligible for the Golden Ending.

The Blazing Blade

• Before the player obtains Lyn's Emblem, it's in the possession of King Hyacinth, who bears a resemblance to Lyn's Evil Uncle Lundgren from The Blazing Blade.
• Lyn is the first Emblem activated when all the rings are on the other side. Much like how The Blazing Blade was the first Fire Emblem localized after all the others were Japan-only.
• When the player obtains Lyn, she is first used by Ivy, a flying unit. The chapter of The Blazing Blade that reintroduces Lyn into Eliwood's and Hector's stories starts off with Florina, a flying unit, who is looking for Eliwood and Hector to inform them that Lyn and her army wish to join up with theirs.
• Lyn's Call Doubles Engage skill references her critical hit animation, where she similarly appears to have four doppelgangers.
• The Nino S bond ring gives the skill Giga Excalibur, named after an S-rank tome only available in Blazing Sword (although it was just called "Excalibur" then). The fact that it's on her specifically is a reference to the fact that it's the signature weapon of her pegasus version in Heroes.
• Lyn's Engage Weapons are the best bow you can reasonably get her to use in her game^note  since only her promotion can use Bows, said promotion is story-gated, and better bows outweigh her Constitution, the Sword of Plot Advancement from the portion of The Blazing Blade set aside just for her, and the Legendary Weapon of her homeland, respectively. Lyn never actually uses her third Engage Weapon in The Blazing Blade, but she has it in Heroes.
• Hector's Engage Weapons are his personal weapon (essentially an Axe version of the Rapier), a dark sword you only get via a Secret Level in his Mode of his game, and the Divine Axe used as his special weapon for the tail end of the game, respectively. Technically, only the first of these is exclusive to him in the series, as the third Engage Weapon is usable by anyone with S-rank in Axes in Binding Blade.
• Hector's Trial is based on Chapter 30 of Hector Mode, "The Berserker" in Blazing Blade, where he goes through a trial to obtain Armads. Like in the original level, there are poison traps coming from the walls.
  • A Thief and a General appear next to Hector, as stand-ins for Matthew and Oswin.
• Hector in The Somniel mentions that Alear's blue side of their hair reminds him of his daughter (Lilina) in one of his dreams, which is a reference to his B-Support with Eliwood in The Blazing Blade.
• In the Fell Xenologues 1 and 6, Alternate Alfred is equipped with Hector, referencing the latter's friend Eliwood, who, like Alfred, rides a horse (at least when promoted). In Fell Xenologue 5, he is wielded by Alternate Hortensia instead, therefore referencing his daughter Lilina, as both she and Hortensia are mages.

The Sacred Stones

• Eirika is introduced in the desert lands of Solm with Rosado and Goldmary, the final retainers you recruit in the game, who reunite with their liege Hortensia. In Sacred Stones, Eirika and Ephraim also reunite in a desert map. In said map, the twin whose route you did not choose will join you with two characters exclusive to his/her route.
• Eirika's Lunar Brace and Ephraim's Solar Brace both reference the two bracelets that were originally used to promote the twins to their promoted class. Their effects instead reference Heroes.
• Eirika's trial takes place in the final battle of her game, in the tomb where Fomortiis was defeated. Inside are two Phantom Wyrms to represent the Draco Zombies there, and players start from where Lyon was located in the level
• Eirika's Engage weapons are the Rapier on her game's box art, the extremely-rare magic sword you sometimes get for clearing the final level of her game's main story's Bonus Dungeon, and her Infinity -1 Sword (whose model appears to align with Wada Sachiko's design for it in one of Eirika's Cipher cards) respectively. Ephraim's Engage weapon is the "Sacred Twin" of Eirika's third Engage weapon.
• Similarly to Celica's ring, the Ring of the Azure Twins grants its user access to weapons and skills that are particularly effective against the corrupted, which makes sense when you consider that The Sacred Stones gives the most focus to monster units besides Gaiden.
• The Innes S bond ring gives the Sure Strike skill, which Snipers (and, by extension, Innes) had in The Sacred Stones.
• The Marisa S bond ring gives the Lethality skill, which is an innate skill of Assassins in many entries. The class itself is one of the promotion branches for Myrmidons in The Sacred Stones.

Path of Radiance

• In Chapter 13, the first map where Ike's Emblem is usable, a bandit unavoidably destroys a village on the first turn (it's too far away for any of your units to prevent). This was also the case in Ike's first real battle in Path of Radiance.
• Ike providing Resolve and Wrath skills references a popular build for him involving those two skills, as he is one of the few characters who can equip both. Resolve is also exclusive to the Tellius games.
• Ike's trial takes place in Chapter 8, "Despair and Hope", when he officially took command of the Greil Mercenaries following Greil's death. The Sage that drops Elthunder represents Ilyana, who is recruited in this chapter, while the units with gold are a Swordmaster (Mia), a Martial Master (Rhys), a Berserker (Boyd), and a General (Kamura, the boss of the chapter).
• Soren providing knife and staff proficiencies references Sages being able to get either knives or staves as their secondary weapon choice upon promotion.
• Soren's Assign Decoy skill references the Shade and Provoke skills that debuted in the Tellius games, in that it makes the user less likely to be attacked and makes a specific ally more likely to be attacked.
• Soren's Reflect staff references the Counter skill the way it debuted in the Tellius games, where it had a chance to reflect half the damage dealt but only if its user can counterattack.
  • Its spammable nature as an EXP-generator possibly references the Ward staff (or the Barrier staff in games before Path of Radiance), which was a commonly-used leveling tool since it didn't require the target to be injured.
• The Soren S bond ring gives the skill Wind Adept, which references how he's a wind mage and has the Adept skill. Similarly to Adept, it gives its user a chance to attack twice based on Dex, but only when using Wind tomes.
• The Mia S bond ring gives the skill Shove, referencing the mechanic that was introduced in Path of Radiance.
• The Corrupted that holds the Dark Emblem "Mad King" (Ashnard) is a Halberdier, a class introuced in Path of Radiance itself as a playable class and promotion to the Soldier class which was made playable in that game. Engage has both of these classes as playable, but none of the playable characters start in that class, meaning these classes can only be accessed by reclassing characters into them, which also represents the rarity of the instances where the Soldier class is playable in the Fire Emblem series as a whole due to being used for Mooks in most appearances.

Radiant Dawn

• Micaiah giving the ability to use Staves might be a reference to her being the only "lord" character able to use them in their home game without needing to reclass.
• Micaiah granting Knife proficiency references her closeness with Sothe, and that Radiant Dawn was the first game to give Knives their own weapon rank.
• Micaiah's Engage weapons (Shine, Nosferatu and Thani) are all Light magic spells in Radiant Dawn, with Thani in particular being Micaiah's exclusive tome.
• Micaiah's Great Sacrifice skill references the exclusive Sacrifice skill she had in Radiant Dawn, except much, much stronger.
• Chapter 6, the map where you obtain Micaiah's ring might be a reference to the first cutscene of Radiant Dawn with both the cutscene and chapter taking place at the dead of night and featuring Micaiah and a rogue/thief fighting side by side.
• Micaiah's portrait has her pose the same way as her official art from Radiant Dawn. The only differences are that her mouth is closed and Yune is absent.
• One of Ike's Engage weapons being a Hammer references how easy it is to beat the Black Knight by having Ike use a Hammer, rather than Ragnell.
• Another one of Ike's Engage weapons, Urvan, is an axe used by Ike's father Greil.
• Micaiah's trial takes place in Chapter 3-13 where she fought Ike. She is accompanied by a thief, an obvious reference to Sothe. Reinforcements appear later in the map, mirroring the original map's reinforcements where Ike brings the Greil Mercenaries as his backup. Here, stand-ins for the rest of the Dawn Brigade appear as Micaiah's reinforcements, with a Sniper, Hero, Swordmaster, Warrior, Wyvern Knight and High Priest all representing Leonardo, Edward, Zihark, Nolan, Jill and Laura respectively.
• Soren's Trial is based on Chapter 3-8 of Radiant Dawn, "Incandescent Glow", where the group goes through the Kauku Caves to escape their enemies. Soren is located where the boss was, and like in the original level, there are active volcanos that can serve as hazards.
• Soren's Flare Engage Skill recovers HP when attacking with magic, which is only seen in its Radiant Dawn version.
• The final part of Cataclysm's animation, where the engaged unit attacks with a massive Rexcalibur, references Flare's animation in Radiant Dawn, and Rexcalibur's increased size calls back to the grander scale seen in its animation there.
• Soren's Block Recovery skill may be a reference to the Disarm skill exclusive to Radiant Dawn, in that while Disarm forced a unit to unequip their weapon to prevent counterattacks for a turn, Block Recovery causes them to stay broken and unable to counterattack the following attack.
• The Sothe S bond ring gives the skill Bane, which is the mastery skill of the Whisper class which Sothe automatically promotes to as part of the story.
• The Elincia S bond ring gives the skill Mercy, which she gains after Part 2 to many a player's surprise if they try to use her afterwards without checking her skill list beforehand and removing it.
• The backstory that Yunaka gives you is that she is an orphaned street rat who has to steal to survive. Furthermore, her big adventure starts when a mysterious voice in her head tells her to seek out a royal character of draconic descent. Fittingly enough, she is introduced with Micaiah’s Emblem Ring.

Awakening

• While being summoned, Lucina poses in the same way as her official artwork. Alear also mistakes her for Marth after being summoned, which is a reference to the "Marth" persona Lucina originally adopted.
• Lucina is introduced in the middle of the game's Darkest Hour as part of a Hope Spot courtesy of Ivy. This was Lucina's mission in Awakening: to give hope to the Bad Future she came from.
• Lucina providing bonuses to Chain Attacks references the fact that Awakening is the first game where such attacks first appeared as Dual Strikes through the pair-up mechanic. Appropriately, Lucina's exclusive skill to allow a non-backup unit to chain attack is named Dual Strike.
  • Similarly, Bond Shield allowing the user to prevent damage to their allies is yet another nod to Awakening's pair-up mechanic, specifically Dual Guards.
  • Dual Support likewise references the Dual Support mechanic, which granted a unit bonuses to hit rate and avoid based on their total support level with their pair-up partner and adjacent allies.
• The Chrom S bond ring gives the skill Rightful Ruler, referencing the Great Lord's Rightful King skill, and likewise increases the activation rates of skills.
• The Lissa S bond ring gives the skill Healtouch, a Cleric skill that only appears in Awakening that increases the potency of staves.
• Solm's Sentinels are a near dead-ringer for the Shepherds from Awakening, being a royal-led militia group that roams the country, dealing with bandits and monsters. The filenames of their music tracks even refer to them as "vigilantes", the same term used for the Shepherds in Japanese. Lucina even brings attention to the resemblance in her bond support with Fogado.
• Lucina's trial is based on Chapter 4 of Awakening, "Two Falchions", taking place in a rough approximation of Arena Ferox, where Lucina (under the guise of "Marth"), fought Chrom. Like in the original game, you could only bring in six units to the battle.
• Veronica's Summon Hero can summon Lucina with a Brave Lance, a reference to her Great Lord promotion, which can wield lances.
• When Emblem Chrom is summoned, he first appears in a pose based on his appearance on the Awakening box art before taking his official artwork pose.
• Chrom and Robin's trial is based on the "Invisible Ties" chapters in Awakening, where the final fight with Validar took place. Chrom and Robin are initially protected with a barrier like in the original game where they were cut off from the rest of the party.
  • Skirmishes at this location have units deployed on the left side of the map, with two deployment locations on the other side of where the barrier was, imitating Chrom and Robin's original locations relative to the rest of the army.
• Robin's Levin Sword and Thoron have the same stats that those weapons had in Awakening, as opposed to their Engage counterparts.
• Chrom's Charm skill increasing the accuracy of chain attacks references its ability in Awakening to increase the accuracy of allies within 3 spaces.
• Chrom's Other Half Engage Skill references the Pair Up mechanic by treating the Engaged unit as if they are paired up with Robin, granting them +10 Magic as his "pair-up bonus" and causing him to participate in Chain Attacks. He can't Dual Guard to block attacks for you, though.
• The animation of Chrom's Giga Levin Sword references the attack Chrom uses against "Marth" (and vice versa) in Awakening's Chapter 4.
• The Type Bonus that Dragon or Mystical units give to Giga Levin Sword is that it deals additional damage equal to half their strength or magic stat, respectively, which is the same effect Robin's Ignis skill had in Awakening when using magical or physical weapons, respectively.
• Marth's Engage Attack, Lodestar Rush, is a reference to the Lodestar class introduced in Awakening exclusively for his appearances in Spotpass and DLC.
• The Corrupted Wyvern Knight holding the Despair (Grima) Dark Emblem in the final chapter has a Brave Axe and a Spear, which references the weapons that the Wvyern Lord class can use in Awakening. Additionally, in-game data reveals that this enemy counts as a female for gender purposes, which also references to the Female Morgan in The Future Past 2 Xenologue.

Fates

• Corrin's Emblem Ring is located in a remote, isolated fortress, not unlike where she grew up. As a bonus, both fortresses are the Northern Fortress of their respective kingdoms.
• Corrin is first used by a unit who can grant Extra Turns, just like Azura.
• Corrin's Engage weapons all reference Fates—Dual Katana and Wakizashi are weapons that only appear in those games and have the same properties (Dual Katana reversing Weapon Triangle and Wakizashi being a 2-range only throwing sword), while Yato is Corrin's personal weapon.
• Corrin's Draconic Hex skill is one she can learn in Fates by promoting to Nohr Noble.
• Corrin's Pair Up skill negating enemy Chain Attacks references how having two characters enter Guard Stance makes them immune to extra attacks from enemies using Attack Stance.
• Corrin's Quality Time skill is likely a reference to the infamous face-rubbing minigame in their Private Quarters.
• Corrin's trial takes place in Chapter 6 of Fates, "The Path is Yours", the starting points for all routes in her game. Mid-trial, she uses her dragon vein skills to turn the water there into fire, just as she could in the original level. Notably, the enemy units that give gold are all stand-ins for the royal family members.
  • On the left side are the Nohr family stand-ins: a Paladin for Xander, a Mage Knight for Leo, a Wyvern Knight for Camilla, and a Royal Knight for Elise.
  • On the right side are the Hoshido family stand-ins: a Swordmaster for Ryoma, a Sniper for Takumi, a Griffin Knight for Hinoka, and a High Priest for Sakura. Notably, the Ryoma stand-in has a Levin Sword to represent the Raijinto.
  • In the middle is a Halberdier, who is a stand-in for Azura, who is also a lance-locked infantry unit, and joins Corrin on every route.
  • If Alear fights Corrin, she uses the dialogue used by Xander during her practice battle with him in Chapter 1.
• Camilla's Lightning Engage weapon being a brave-effect tome references the fact that it was indeed a brave-effect tome in Fates only.
• All retainers share one critical hit quote with their lieges, just like the Hoshidan and Nohrian retainers do.
• The Ryoma S and Xander S bond rings give access to their personal skills, Bushido and Chivalry respectively.
• When Camilla is first summoned, her first poses are taken from her personal cutscene in the game.
• Camilla's trial takes place in Chapter 23 of Birthright, "Camilla", where Corrin faced their sister in her second boss fight of that route. She's accompanied by a Bow Knight and Wyvern Knight that serve as stand ins for her retainers Selena and Beruka respectively, and a Phantom Wyvern at her original location to represent Corrin.
• Camilla's Decisive Strike may be based off Savage Blow and Poison Strike, two skills in Fates that deal damage after combat. Her Malig Knight class also has access to the former.
• More explicitly, Dragon units engaged with Camilla cause her Soar Engage skill to have the same effect as Savage Blow, albeit watered down to 10% of enemies' max HP instead of 20%.

Three Houses

• All of Byleth's skills other than Luck boosters reference something from Three Houses
  • Divine Pulse references the mechanic from Three Houses though it works differently from how it works in either Three Houses or Warriors: Three Hopes.
    • Its actual effect references "True Hit", the Hit-rate RNG that last saw use in Three Houses, which rolled the d100 twice and took the average result. This offered the most accuracy for swings with above a listed 50% chance to hit in the series.
  • Mentorship references Byleth's personal skill, Professor's Guidance.
  • Skills improving Arts reference Brawling being introduced in Three Houses, as well as Byleth being good at it.
  • Lost & Found references the mechanic where Byleth can return other character's lost possessions to them to gain Support points with them.
  • Goddess Dance references the Dance of the Goddess gambit on the Blue Lion Dancers and Opera Co. Volunteers battalions.
• All of Byleth's Engage weapons are Heroes' Relics from Three Houses.
  • He gives Cavalry units access to Areadbhar, Dimitri's weapon. Riding is Dimitri's Budding Talent, and he's a Paladin in Cindered Shadows.
  • He gives Flying units access to Lúin, obtainable from a paralogue involving Ingrid, who promotes to Pegasus Knight if you don't recruit her.
  • He gives Covert units access to Failnaught, Claude's weapon. Covert battle style corresponds to Archers and Snipers (and Thieves), and Claude has those as his preferred class, including being able to reclass into Sniper in Cindered Shadows.
  • He gives Mystical units access to Thyrsus, which is also heavily associated with Lysithea due to her having Crest of Gloucester. Lysithea is pretty much the epitome of an offensive mage in Three Houses.
  • He gives Qi Adept units access to Rafail Gem, obtainable from a paralogue involving Mercedes, who is the most healing focused character in the game.
• One of Byleth's lines in the Somniel is "Nothing to report!", the signature Catchphrase of the Gatekeeper at Garreg Mach.
• When an Engaged unit lands a critical hit with a bow, they jump and fire while upside-down, just like Claude.
• When Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude are summoned, they strike a pose similar to the box art cover of their original game.
• When using Three Houses while adjacent to a unit synced with Byleth, Emblem Claude fires Failnaught into the air and the arrows rain down after a delay, just like he does against Nemesis at the end of Golden Deer.
• Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude's Gambit command skill references a mechanic from Three Houses.
  • Edelgard's Flame Gambit references the Raging Flames gambit, which is exclusive to the Supreme Armored Co. battalion that Edelgard is equipped with in Chapter 12.
  • Dimitri's Shield Gambit references the Sacred Shield gambit, which is exclusive to the Kingdom Heavy Knights battalion exclusive to the Blue Lions route.
  • Claude's Poison Gambit references the Poisoned Arrows gambit, which is primarily seen on the Alliance Archers battalion exclusive to the Golden Deer route.^note It's also available on the Sauin Militia, obtainable from the Legend of the Lake paralogue, but that also happens to require Leonie, who starts in Golden Deer.
  • The inheritable Assembly Gambit references the gambit with the same name, which is available in all routes because each has a battalion that can use it.
• Their Combat Art skill and its effects are also all reference the mechanic from Three Houses, with Raging Storm granting an Extra Turn, Atrocity doubling weapon Might (an approximation of Atrocity dealing Effective damage to everything) and Fallen Star giving perfect evasion (though only for one combat, not until the start of the next player phase).
• The inheritable Lineage skill also refers to each of the house leaders personal skill, Imperial/Royal/Leicester Lineage all of which share the same function of increasing the units exp gain. Notably the Lineage skill lacks the secondary effects that their personal skills gain after the timeskip as these are the incarnations of the house leaders from before the timeskip.
• S-rank bond rings based on the three likewise give skills based on their class mastery combat arts: Edelgard's Flickering Flower, Dimitri's Paraselene, and Claude's Wind God.
• If Edelgard is summoned using Veronica's Summon Hero Engage Attack, she will have an Armored unit type (though her battle style is still Backup), referencing the fact that her exclusive classes are armored.
• In her A bond with Byleth, Céline offers him a flower as a gift, just as Byleth can do to others in his game.
• Byleth's trial takes place in the Holy Tomb area of Chapter 11, where the Flame Emperor made an attack there and their true identity was revealed, marking a massive turning point in the game. Byleth also gives the side objective of preventing crystals from being destroyed for rewards, like how in the original game he had a side objective to stop the enemy from making off with the Crest Stones there.
  • Byleth is also surrounded by a Wyvern Knight representing Claude, a Halberdier representing Dimitri, and an axe General representing Edelgard. Two Phantom Wyrms stand by to represent the Demonic Beasts. The Sage in the middle of the stage represents Hubert.
• When a character engaged with Byleth uses Goddess Dance, they recite one of Byleth's critical hit quotes from Three Houses, specifically, "Allow me to demonstrate." or, "Let the lesson begin!"
• Edelgard notes how much Alcryst reminds her of Bernadetta.
• The cutscene still when the Four Winds destroy the pillars of Solm Palace to kill the Corrupted inside is split into four sections down diagonal lines, with each section containing one of the Winds striking a pose, not unlike Gambit Boosts from Three Houses.

Heroes

• Leif and Celica's portraits have them pose the same way as their non-respledent regular variant's normal artworks. In Leif's case, the only difference is that he is smiling, and in Celica's case, the only differences are that her head is facing left and her mouth shut.
• Naturally, Fólkvangr, Fensalir, and Nóatún approximate the skills of their Heroes counterparts: Fólkvangr temporarily increases Attack at the start of the turn if its user has less than 50% HP, Fensalir reduces adjacent enemies' Attack at the start of the turn, and Nóatún temporarily increases Movement at the start of the turn if its user has less than 40% HP.
• Alfonse, Sharena, and Anna's bond rings grant their users their C skills: Spur Attack, Fortify Def, and Spur Res, respectively.
• Tiki's Geosphere skill seems to imitate her "With Everyone!" C skill on her Legendary and Harmonic variants.
• Lyn having Mulagir as one of her engage weapons is a reference to her Brave and Legendary variants from Heroes, particularly the Brave variant.
• Ike's usage of Urvan likewise references his Brave variant.^note While Ike can in fact wield the SS-Rank Urvan in Radiant Dawn, players rarely train his Axe rank high enough to do so, considering how late he promotes to Vanguard (required for him to use axes at all) and the opportunity cost of using an axe instead of Ragnell. His Laguz Friend ability also provides 50% Damage Reduction, similarly to how Urvan can also heavily mitigate damage (40% on the first hit, 80% on subsequent hits).
• Similarly, Lucina having a bow as an Engage Weapon at all references her Legendary version in Heroes using a bow, although she uses Parthia here instead of Thögn.
• Hector's Quick Riposte skill references the effect Armads had in Heroes.
• Soren's Cataclysm Engage Attack deals damage to a target and adjacent enemies, similar to his Rising Wind skill in Heroes. When adjacent to Ike, it grows in range, not unlike the Growing Wind skill he can upgrade it to.
• Veronica's trial seems to be loosely based on the setting for Aether Raids, as they take place on floating islands. Your units are split into two groups of four and arranged in a square formation, a common formation for the four-unit teams in Heroes, and right below each group is a fortress, a catapult, and an escape ladder, common structures used in Aether Raids. The activation tiles that are used to access Veronica's island visually resemble the traps in Aether Keeps, but without any negative effects.
• Veronica's Reprisal skill references a special available on her Legendary variant. When upgraded to Reprisal+, it deals 50% of missing HP, just like Vengeance.
• Veronica's Hliðskjálf is an offensive staff used by her Brave variant, and likewise prevents counterattacks.
• Although Fortify+ is not a skill in Heroes, its name references the naming scheme used for staff skills for 5-star units in that game, i.e. Recover upgrades to Recover+, Physic upgrades to Physic+, etc.
• Élivágar nullifying buffs on the enemy references the Panic effect it had in Heroes which reversed stat buffs.
• Veronica's Level Boost and SP Conversion skills reference the EXP and SP mechanics in Heroes, where defeating a higher-leveled enemy virtually guaranteed a level up, and SP was primarily gained from defeating enemies.
• Veronica's Book of Worlds skill references the various books that highlight the worlds the heroes travel to, and each effect references the first five books before she completes her Heel–Face Turn.
  • Stage I - Seal: Freezes the enemy, referencing her own power of enclosure, as she was the major antagonist in Book I.
  • Stage II - Flame: Sets the tile on fire, referencing Surtr, the antagonist of Book II.
  • Stage III - Death: Deals additional damage, referencing Hel, the antagonist of Book III.
  • Stage IV - Dream: Heals the unit, referencing Ljósálfheimr, the land of dreams in Book IV.
  • Stage V - Science references Book V taking place in Niðavellir, a land filled with Magitek.
• Veronica's Summon Hero can summon Hector with a Brave Lance, referencing his Brave variant.
• Another result of Summon Hero is another Veronica, referencing the fact that it's possible to summon duplicates of already owned Heroes.
• After the battle or skirmish in Veronica's Divine Paralogue, one of the animals that can be found and adopted there is an Iris Owl, which is a reference to Feh the owl.

Other/Multiple Fire Emblem Related Games

• The statues of Emblems in the Lythos' Ring Vault are in the same poses as their official art - most easily seen with Celica's, Marth's and Sigurd's statues. Exceptions are Leif (resembles the art from TREASURE artbook, not the official art for Thracia 776), Lyn (whose pose resembles the attack art of her Legendary variant from Heroes) and Ike (whose pose is the same as in his Super Smash Bros. Brawl render).
• There's quite a few to Super Smash Bros.
  • When Roy is summoned, he strikes a pose that's identical to his up taunt in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Similarly, Ike poses in the same position as his artwork from the same game.
  • When engaged to any of the Emblems that appear in Smash, characters may say their victory quotes when they win a battle. ("I fight for my friends", "Now the true battle begins", "I live to fight again", etc.)
  • Whoever is engaged to Corrin may say "Out of the way!" when they activate Torrential Roar, which is what male Corrin says when he activates his Final Smash.
  • When activating Great Aether, a character may say "Don't stand in my way", which is one of Ike's victory quotes in Ultimate.
  • Aymr being the Smash weapon for Byleth references his Down-Special in Ultimate, which is especially slow but easily capable of knocking anyone off-screen.
• When using Marth's Lodestar Rush, the character can say "Fate has brought us here!" or "My prayers are with you!", which were his critical quotes as an amiibo unit in Fates and were later reused in Heroes.
• Almost all of the Emblems say that Anna looks familiar to them in their bond conversations with her, referencing how Anna (or her sisters) is a recurring character, typically as the shopkeeper for secret shops. The Emblems that recognize her by name are the ones whose games had her as a playable character (like Byleth, Corrin, and Lucina), and the ones that have her just as a shopkeeper will note some familiarity but not much beyond that (like Leif, Lyn, Hector). Celica is one of the exceptions, which is appropriate when you consider that Gaiden and its remake are the only mainline Fire Emblem games where Anna makes no appearance. Similarly, Ike, Micaiah and Soren don't comment on her familiarity, because Anna's presence in the Tellius games was relegated to a tutorial and has no presence in the game proper.
• Leif and Roy's Emblems are introduced in the same chapter, befitting the fact that they're both from the second generation of their respective sagas.
• Lyn and Lucina's Emblems are obtained during the story's Darkest Hour as a Big Damn Heroes moment. Both of their home games can be credited with revitalizing the Fire Emblem franchise in some way: Blazing Blade was the first released outside Japan, while Awakening was the first to achieve mainstream success.
• Framme and Boucheron's supports reference Fates and Three Houses as storybooks. Fates is mentioned in the C support as a story that made Boucheron cry because it's about siblings that were separated in childhood and then had to go to war against each other; Boucheron later recommends a story set in an officer's academy and praises its political intrigue and deep characters, which is exactly what Three Houses was famous for.
• Whenever one of the Dark Emblems are defeated, they use one of their quotes from their game of origin.
• Camilla's Dark Inferno is based on her special attack animations in Fire Emblem Warriors.
• One of the credits illustrations has Anna reunite with two of her sisters, which both resemble the playable Annas from Awakening and Fates.

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