Shout Out / The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

To The Lord of the Rings

Somebody at Falcom must have been a Tolkien fan, as the Cold Steel games are filled with references to his work.

• Giliath Osborne and Osgiliath Basin are named after Osgiliath.
• Lechter Arundel's surname is a variant spelling of Eärendil (Tolkien himself actually made use of "Arundel" as a reference to Eärendil in The Notion Club Papers).
• Another of the many spellings of Lechter's surname Falcom has used officially is "Arandor", the name of a region of Númenor.
• The imperial family, the House of Arnor, is named for one of the fallen kingdoms of Men.
• The Eisengard Range separating Erebonia from the Nord Highlands is a variant spelling of Isengard.
• Gamgee's Pub in Heimdallr is named after Samwise Gamgee.
• The Anor River that flows through Heimdallr is named after the Sindarin word for the sun.
• One of Fie's weapons in Cold Steel I and IV is named Strider, one of Aragorn's names.
• Valimar shares his name with the capital of Valinor.
• The manager of the Phoenix Wings in Ymir is named Baggins.
• Emma's Cold Steel III S-Craft, Palace of Eregion, is named after the Elven kingdom of Eregion.
• There is a Hotel Valar in Heimdallr.
• The village of Eryn has several dwellings built into the hills that look exactly like Hobbit Holes, both in their structure and the design of the exterior.
• One of the aforementioned Hobbit Holes is Gandolf's Orbal Factory.
• The pilot of the Merkabah 8 is named Elrond.
• One of the sheep in Alster is named Gondor.

Dialogue

• One of the miners in Sachsen Iron Mine in Cold Steel I says "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho...!".
• Vulcan states before the party faces him in Chapter 6 of the original Cold Steel that "better to burn out than fade away," which is close to a line from the Neil Young song "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)." ("Rock and roll is here to stay / It's better to burn out than to fade away.")
• Towards the end of the first game, "Dost thou desire the power?" is said by Valimar.
• In Emma's bonding event in Roer in Cold Steel II, she mentions reading a book about "sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic." Or, in other words, Clarke's Third Law.
• At one point in Cold Steel II, Fie says "And knowing is half the battle."
• In Cold Steel III, one NPC in Ordis says "I, too, love big boats. I cannot lie."
• In Cold Steel III, another NPC in Ordis says "I guess it just goes to show that with great power comes a great many headaches."
• In Cold Steel III, a girl in Heimdallr chants "One of us! One of us!"
• After the party gains use of the Merkabah 8 in Cold Steel IV, Rean finds Celine hanging out in the cabin area drinking from a bowl of milk. He comments "Uh... Got milk, Celine?"

NPC or monster names

• The chef at Thors' Student Union is named Ramsay.
• Hector was a legendary hero of dark ages Erebonia and was defiled by his enemy after his death, much like Hector from The Iliad.
• You can fight the Hypnotoad in Cold Steel III.
• In Cold Steel III, you can meet a best-selling novelist in Heimdallr named Crichton.
• As a Take That! to Pokémon, one enemy you can encounter on South Ostia Highway in Cold Steel III is the "Hz Maus", a yellow mouse-thing with dark markings and a zig-zag tail described in-game like this:
  A hateful rodent that discharges electricity when angered. It apparently tries to follow children around.
• The above is followed up in Cold Steel IV, with the MKE Maus enemy, which lives in "damp habitats" according to its description. The running gag extends into Trails Into Reverie, where the MKE Maus makes its return along with a new description that lampoons how overprotective Disney is of its IP.
• Gnomish names are mostly references to The Ring of the Nibelung: Alberich, Siegfried, Rossweisse.^note Yes, two of them are only brainwashed by the Gnomes and not born Gnomes, but they were still given Gnomish names as part of their brainwashing.
• One of the Trial Chest enemies in Cold Steel IV is called Magnum Dong.

Quest names and descriptions

• A sidequest in chapter 1 of Cold Steel I is named "Story of Seasoning".
• A sidequest in chapter 6 of Cold Steel I is named "Can You Hear Me Now?", referencing an advertising campaign by Verizon Wireless.
• In chapter 4 of the first game there is a quest named "Made for Walking" which involves walking around in a new pair of shoes, a reference to Nancy Sinatra's song "These Boots are made for Walking".
• A sidequest in act 1, part 2 of Cold Steel II is titled "Zats Amore".
• A sidequest in act 2, part 3 of Cold Steel II is titled "Gone Air". Like the movie it references, it's about an airship hijacking.
• In the second game there is a quest called "I'll Make a Mech Out of You", a reference to the Mulan song "I'll make a man out of you".
• The set of sidequests from Prince Olivert in the finale of Cold Steel II include the following:
  • One of them is "My Jormungand Don't Want None", a reference to the line "My anaconda don't want none" from "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Jormungand is the name of the quest boss, which is indeed a serpent like the anaconda, and doubles as a reference to Norse Mythology.
  • Another is "Ymir, Far, Wherever You Are", which references the line "Near, far, wherever you are" from "My Heart Will Go On" by Céline Dion which was used in Titanic (1997).
  • Another is "Nord by Nord-east," which is a nod to an annual Canadian music festival, North by Northeast. The quest description begins with "The hills are alive, dear Rean, with the sound of monsters."
• An early sidequest in the third game which involves helping out with a certain spice is simply called "The Spice Must Flow".
• One sidequest in chapter 1 of Cold Steel III is titled "The Wonderful, Wonderful Cat", referencing the theme song of Felix the Cat. To hammer the reference home, the quest has you look for a missing cat named Felix.
• A sidequest in chapter 2 of Cold Steel III is titled "The Great Crossbell Bake Off".
• A sidequest in chapter 4 of Cold Steel III is titled "Where's the Rum Gone?"
• In Cold Steel IV, there's a quest titled "I Want to Believe." Given that the quest involves fighting a cryptid Stock Ness Monster, this is almost certainly a shout-out to the film The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
• A sidequest in the finale of Cold Steel IV is titled "Saving Officer Alan".

Achievements

Named after popular songs

• In Cold Steel I, the achievement for cancelling an enemy's arts and crafts 50 times is "Can't Touch This."
• The one for seeing Laura's final bonding event in Cold Steel I is titled "Here With You To Knight", referencing the name of a song by Robert Palmer.
• The one for seeing Fie's final bonding event in Cold Steel I is titled "More Than a Fie-ling."
• The one for seeing Gaius's final bonding event in Cold Steel I is titled "Wind Beneath My Wings."
• The one for seeing Crow's final bonding event in Cold Steel I is titled "Bad Crowmance."
• The one for seeing Sara's final bonding event in Cold Steel I is titled "Hot for Teacher." Gets referenced again in Cold Steel III, where the one for seeing Musse's final bonding event is titled "Hot for Teacher MKII."
• The one for using Burst 50 times in Cold Steel II is titled "Smells Like Team Spirit."
• The one for seeing Emma's final bonding event in Cold Steel II is titled "Witchy Woman."
• The one for seeing Sara's final bonding event in Cold Steel III is titled "My Funny Valestein."

Named after other works

• The achievement for seeing Millium's final bonding event in Cold Steel I is titled "The Young and the Reckless."
• The one for seeing Emma's final bonding event in Cold Steel III is titled "Emma Enchanted."
• The one for seeing Altina's final bonding event in Cold Steel III is titled "Allie-oop."
• The one for seeing Fie's final bonding event in Cold Steel III is titled "High Fie-delity."
• The one for seeing Gaius's final bonding event in Cold Steel III is titled "Found with the Wind."
• The one for filling the cards section of the notebook in Cold Steel III is titled "King of Games."
• The one for raising any two characters to link level 5 in Cold Steel III is titled "Links Awakening."
• The one for getting all lost arts quartz in Cold Steel IV is titled "Raiders of the Lost Arts."
• The one for using Burst 50 times in Cold Steel IV is titled "Teamwork Makes the Fiends Hurt", which comes from Teamwork Makes the Dream Work, the title of a 2002 book by John C. Maxwell.
• The one for using Rush 100 times in Cold Steel IV is titled "Dynamic Duo."
• The one for seeing Elise's final bonding event in Cold Steel IV is titled "Family Ties."
• The one for receiving the highest special ops rank in Cold Steel IV is titled "The Magnificent Class VII."

Environmental/Worldbuilding

• One book that is prominently displayed in numerous bookshelves throughout the game is titled Christ, Who's Gonna Die First?, which is the name of a 1991 album by the J-Pop band Moonriders.
• The Red Moon Rose books you collect in Cold Steel I feature vampires. The collective name of their most powerful members? True Ancestors.
• One quest in Cold Steel I has you gather "Epona Grass" in order to make horse medicine.
• The Panzer Soldats bear a great resemblance to the Knightmare Frames of Code Geass. The resemblance is enhanced by the fact that C and Zero apparently use the same tailor.
  • The resemblance is made even stronger when, during their first appearance in the first game, the cutscenes actually shows them lowering some wheels next to or behind the Soldats' feet to allow them to skate around instead of having to walk really slowly.

Abilities and equipment

• In the Japanese script, Angelica's S-Craft was called Dragonar Hazard. This was taken out of the English localization, which simply calls it Dragon Kick instead.
• One of Crow's weapons in Cold Steel I is called Shadow Jack.
• Laura has two weapons referencing A Midsummer Night's Dream: Titania in Cold Steel I and Oberon in Cold Steel II.
• One of Jusis's weapons in Cold Steel II is named Hauteclere. It appears again in Cold Steel IV (written with the same katakana as in II) but is mislocalized as "Auto Krehl".
• Many weapons are named after Arthurian legend:
  • Millium's ultimate weapon in Cold Steel II is named Lionel. The name returns in Cold Steel IV as Ines's weapon, Lionel the Ax.
  • One of Laura's weapons in Cold Steel II, III, and IV is named Pendragon.
  • One of Jusis's weapons in Cold Steel II is named Caledfwlch. The name returns in Cold Steel III as Lechter's weapon.
  • One of Jusis's weapons in Cold Steel III is named Aerondight.
  • One of Laura's weapons in Cold Steel IV is named Gallatin (a misspelling of Galatine).
  • One of Fie's weapons in Cold Steel IV is named Carnwennan.
  • One orbal staff in Cold Steel IV is named Mabinogion. Another orbal staff, Branwen, references one of the non-Arthurian parts of the Mabinogion.
  • One of Gaius's weapons in Cold Steel IV is named Rhongomyniad.
• An earth art in Cold Steel III and IV is called Gravion Hammer.
• A fire art in Cold Steel III and IV is called Zeruel Cannon.
• Musse has two crafts that reference works that take place in France: Moulin Rouge, named after a 2001 film that takes place in 1899 Paris, and Oiseau Bleu, named after the 1697 French fairy tale L'oiseau bleu.
• One of Emma's crafts introduced in Cold Steel III is called Vorpal Flare. Likewise, Crow's second S-Craft in Cold Steel IV is named Vorpal Slayer.
• The concept art for Gaius's S-Craft Howling Heavens has notes explicitly saying it's based on the scene in Neon Genesis Evangelion where Rei chucks the Spear of Longinus into orbit.