Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
"Everyone you care about... they are all dead."
Even though Engage may look on the surface to be one of the more light-hearted Fire Emblem games, beneath that cheerful veneer lies a lot of darkness.
Examples:
- The appearances of Past Alear in their nightmares; their Red and Black and Evil All Over color scheme, deranged grin and perpetually being in a blazing corridor making them look like they came from Hell itself.
- Then we actually meet Past Alear themselves, revealing that the nightmare was not a hint of things to come, but something that has already occurred. We find out about their grim backstory: they would regularly watch their siblings be brutally killed, ranging from being drowned to being burned alive to being torn apart by the Corrupted. They say all of this with a flat face and Creepy Monotone almost as if they are used to it.
- The flashback at the start of chapter 22 shows Past Alear a bit too happy and eager to turn on and fight against their father's forces. Their tone of voice is clearly wavering between breaking down crying or snapping entirely as they giddily exclaim to Lumera that they've won. Then Sombron shoots them straight through the chest just before he's sealed away.
- King Hyacinth's death. After he's defeated in Chapter 10, Sombron wakes up, and King Hyacinth celebrates his return, demanding that he devour the heroes. However, Sombron gives a Psychotic Smirk and demands that only sovereign blood will suffice for him. He proceeds to transform into his dragon form, prompting King Hyacinth to try to run away, but he quickly gets snatched up by Sombron's claw, and then he drags the screaming king towards his mouth…before suddenly lunging towards the screen. All Hortensia can do is scream in terror at her father's undignified demise, while Veyle just laughs it off like it was a spectacle to her. And it only gets worse from there...
- The moment the villains take the Ring Emblems and corrupt them to their side during Chapter 10 is anything but amusing. You work with them all that time and while you did face corrupted Emblems before this point at that moment it nearly felt All for Nothing, the Fell Dragon corrupts them right in front of your eyes and you cannot do anything to stop this from happening. It is even worse during the bad ending as, with Alear having become an Emblem themselves, we are treated to a shot of Veyle in her evil state wearing their ring and with Alear sporting their original Fell Dragon colors, meaning that Alear is forever bound to their "sister" and Sombron's wishes just like the other Emblems but being fully conscious and aware of what is going on.
- Sombron has always been bad news however, when he directly interacts in the story he created the Darkest Hour of Engage. When Sombron was about to kill Veyle after she planned to return Marth's ring, Alear defends Veyle and dies moments later. For a few minutes, Sombron won.
- How much of a horrifically abusive father Sombron was to all of his children - not only sending them out to regain the Emblems and not caring in the slightest when they died, but also personally murdering several of them for the "crime" of being a "defect".
- Several of the Corrupted remind you of the fact that they used to be people you know for both tragedy and horror.
- In particular, Morion is reduced to a shambling wretch barely able to recite the creed of his home country, with both of his sons agreeing that he must be put down for his own good.
- Of the Four Hounds, Griss is perhaps the most disturbing of them all - his behavior and dialogue making it perfectly clear that he is enjoying hurting and being hurt by other people.
- Picture this situation: You often find yourself blacking out and waking up in the most unexpected places, with no memory as to how you got there, and often with wounds on parts of your body. Then you meet the Divine Dragon and quickly become good friends with them, even actively helping them along the way. But after you guide them to Destinea Cathedral in Elusia, you black out once again, and wake up all the way in Solm. And then, once you meet the Divine Dragon and their friends again, you notice that they now utterly loathe you for what you seemingly did to them as they and their allies accuse you of numerous horrific crimes, even though you genuinely have no idea what you actually did to hurt them. Your surrogate family comforts you by claiming they were lying, and that you would never do such things, encouraging you to meet the Divine Dragon again. And once you do meet again, Zephia casually reveals that you have a viciously evil split personality she implanted in you who committed all of those atrocities, to your complete horror and guilt, right before said evil personality takes over again. Afterwards, your surrogate family (except for Mauvier, who still genuinely cares for you) drops all pretense of being caring people and coldly refer to you as a "filthy defect", plotting to get rid of you once and for all. Oh, and the Divine Dragon your evil side tried to kill multiple times is the older sibling you've been trying to find this whole time. That's what Veyle has had to go through throughout the game, and that's only the times you see on-screen.Good Veyle: I stole rings? I killed people?! But why would I do such things?!
- In Chapter 20, it's mentioned that when a Fell Dragon summons an Emblem, they're unable to communicate (vocally or non-vocally) and have no free will. This adds a lot of Fridge Horror to your earlier encounters with Corrupted Emblems. Imagine how things must feel from their perspective. However, Leif mentions in some of his bond conversations that when Emblems aren't summoned properly they're in a sleeplike state, softening the blow in a way.
- Rather remote, but a unique Game Over screen
plays should you get one during the final chapter. Alear wakes up to the sight of Sombron's manakete form, who wastes no time in telling you that everyone else is dead. We then turn to Veyle, once again Brainwashed and Crazy, showing off Alear's Emblem Ring on her finger. Alear then notices their reflection behind Veyle: They've been summoned as a Dark Emblem. Cue Evil Laugh from Sombron. - The entire encounter and battle with Past Alear in Chapter 24 is unnerving due to how...off Past Alear is. After spending the entire game hearing how vibrant and emotional Alear is, seeing them as an emotionless, almost robotic borderline Empty Shell is unsettling to say the least. And then there's the reason why they're like this: Its all but stated to be both a coping mechanism and a way to keep themselves safe from their father’s wrath. Past Alear has seen so many of their siblings brutally murdered by Sombron (in particular having watched some be torn apart by Corrupted) for being "defective" in one way or another that they've quietly resigned themself to being their father's enforcer, doing exactly what they're told and obeying every order, otherwise they know they'll be killed and discarded like so many of their siblings were. All the while they know deep down that it is inevitable that Sombron will eventually kill them regardless.
- Corrupted Lumera is incredibly unsettling. She is Alear's loving mother but twisted to serve Sombron, tries but fails to imitate her former kindness, and when that doesn't work, starts wildly swinging between Evil Is Hammy and Dissonant Serenity. If you fight her with Alear, she even starts repeating her dialogue from Chapter 2's training battle, before realizing to herself it makes no sense... and they are doing it again. She's a fundamentally broken person who comes across as The Mentally Disturbed, and it's possible Sombron made her that way just to twist the knife further.
- Her interactions with Veyle moments prior are arguably worse. While she is first motherly to Veyle as she is to Alear, her demeanor changes instantly when she blames Veyle for denying her a proper reunion with Alear, followed by mocking her for trying to kill her the same way she did before, and finally calling her a defect with an unnerving evil grin on her face. Whatever feelings Lumera might have had towards Veyle, Corrupted Lumera twists and distorts them to the point where she's not that much different than how Sombron looks at his children, save that Corrupted Lumera is driven by her twisted love for Alear.
- The Alternate Elyos the Fell Xenologue DLC takes place in is one giant Crapsack World, for lack of better words. Despite Sombron having been defeated twice, the four nations are at each other's throats since the Alternate Alear was the sole glue holding everyone together. Without them, they quickly devolved to fighting amongst themselves. Worse still is what the most recent war has shaped the royal siblings of this world into, who have not only lost their parents, but even their trusted friends and retainers. The Alternate Céline wants to go to war with Brodia, who in this world is a peaceful (in an extremist manner) nation whereas Firene is vengeful and in the midst of a lack of resources, and Alternate Ivy is The Caligula who wants to revive Sombron and killed almost all of her siblings, even offering Hyacinth as a sacrifice for Sombron's resurrection. It's equal parts horrifying and tear-jerking to realize this might be what the player's Elyos will become if they fail.
- Somehow, the state of the Alternate Elyos just gets even worse. In Xenologue 4, Nel reveals that the royals you've fought up to this point? They were all Corrupted. Not just them, but the soldiers under their command, and even the civilian townsfolk making up the towns and villages on the continent. With the exception of the Fell Dragon twins, the Four Winds, and Alear, EVERYONE in the Alternate Elyos is dead. The idea that a whole continent now consists of zombies, almost all of whom having no idea they are actually dead, is guaranteed to put shivers down your spine, especially when you realize that even Sombron, arguably the most vile villain in the history of Fire Emblem, managed to accomplish this feat. What's more, it's never clarified just how this happened. As normal as these Corrupted appear, there are signs they are beginning to mentally degrade, foreshadowed by Alternate Alfred suddenly declaring how happy they are that their Alear came back to life, despite having been explicitly told shortly before the one in front of him is from another world.
- The Fogado of this world is unnerving as while he has the same smile, he does various cruel acts and unlike any other Royal, he's aware of his nature as a Corrupted and has embraced it, saying it enabled him to indulge his impulses without annoying things like remorse. He is all too eager to kill his retainers and is only upset about his sister dying only because he wanted to kill her himself. Though what is particularly horrifying is his reaction to seeing the main timeline version of himself: he gets the idea to try to Kill and Replace him as to go about terrorizing a whole other world. Worst of all is that unlike every other Royal, who are made Ambiguously Evil due to their natures as Corrupted, it's implied that Alternate Fogado was always this evil.
- The royals are all re-summoned in Xenologue 6 (which is something Veyle and even the Emblem-powered Sombron of Alear's Elyos can't do), and their reactions to it are mixed. Fogado is emboldened by knowing he's died twice before while Celine is thrilled at being able to cut loose without anything holding her back, Ivy is empty from seeing her plans come into fruition, Timerra and Alcryst think Fell Nil will let them back to their Kingdoms if they win, and Alfred is thrilled to see people who can kill him and send him back to the afterlife again. Diamant and Hortensia, meanwhile, are mortified that no one can or will make things right...
- What makes the Fell Xenologue so horrifying is that unlike other Darker and Edgier Fire Emblem titles such as Genealogy of the Holy War and Three Houses due to the Crapsack World they live in, there is still at least a shred of hope to make their world a better place. The Alternate Elyos's world, on the other hand, is a post-apocalyptic wasteland where everyone is already dead, and plants and animals have begun dying out. There is absolutely no hope for this world, as the damage done was irrepairable, and Alear even says that the world is beyond saving. Once Nel, Rafal, and the Four Winds leave the Alternate Elyos, the human race officially becomes extinct, leaving the world a shell of its former self. The worst part? All of this comes from a game that is one of, if not the most lighthearted game in the Fire Emblem series, meaning the seemingly innocent and silliest game in the series is also home to what is arguably the darkest moment in the entire franchise.
Manga-exclusive Examples
- Alear's first reaction to the Corrupted is far less Played for Laughs than in the game. Specifically, once he sees them, Alear wonders why his body is paralyzed before suddenly grabbing his head with a scarily expressionless face.
- Alear's nightmare in Chapter 4. He's seen in the middle of a battlefield while all his friends are dead around him. And then it shows Alear dead among them as well. What is really haunting is the fact that you see all of their corpses bloodied and with weapons sticking out from them. And from that scene you realize that despite its goofy moments, the manga is far darker than the game.
- The manga-only character Count Lavulite is this once he turns out to be a worshipper of Sombron. From there, his face is always twisted in a truly terrifying Nightmare Face and gloats on how he'll sacrifice Alear and his allies for the Fell Dragon. Furthermore, when they find the hidden church, the body of dead person hanged to a cross can be seen. Alear immediatelly recognizes it as a sacrifice.
- Furthermore, the next chapter reveals the count was about to use children as sacrifices for a ritual.
