WMG / Fire Emblem Engage

Per wiki policy, WMG pages are Spoilers Off.

Pre-Release

Alear and the Fell Dragon were partners once

• He was another Divine Dragon, older than Alear, and was also a protector of Elyos. But, as is inevitable with dragons in Fire Emblem, his age eventually caught up with him and he degenerated. He refused to become a Manakete like Alear because his ego wouldn't allow him to be as weak as the people he was supposed to protect, and he fully descended to madness.
  • Jossed by "The Divine Dragon Awakens" trailer. Sombron has a humanoid form and seemingly attacked Elyos out of the blue.

Alear IS the Fell Dragon

• And them waking up after 1000 years is them getting unsealed. And they have to fight people using the heroic rings at one point or another. Notably, promotional art appears to have the cobra dragon in a clear blue background while the white Divine Dragon is in a darker orange background. The first reveal trailer is also titled "The Fell Dragon Rises" with the final shot heroes facing off against it showing that it has red and blue highlights on its hood...
  • Jossed. Alear and Sombron are different beings, but Alear is Sombron's child.
    • Being his child ‘’does’’ mean that Alear is a Fell Dragon, so that part is confirmed, at the very least.

Alear is only half-Divine Dragon

• Lumera was a Divine Dragon, but Alear's father was human. This would explain why they don't have pointy ears as many half-dragons in the franchise don't exhibit pointy ears as well. It could also be the reason why they seemingly prefer to fight in human form.
  • Confirmed on them being half-Divine Dragon, but jossed on them being half-human. They're actually half-Fell Dragon.

Alear can't access their dragon form for some reason.

• Alear is only exclusively seen fighting with a sword despite being a Divine Dragon. Even in the depiction of Alear defeating the Fell Dragon a thousand years ago, they are shown doing so with Libération.
  • Apparently, that was Marth stabbing Sombron, not Alear.
  • Somewhat confirmed. Their dragonstone was in Veyle's possession the whole time.

Libération has Alear's dragon powers sealed into it.

• The sword is noted to be exclusively for Divine Dragons in its item description. Since every protagonist's unique sword tends to be important, this could be the source of Libération's power and why Alear seemingly doesn't transform into a dragon.
  • To expand on this, Libération was carved from the same kind of stone Dragonstones are made from, but made into a sword so Alear could fight in their human form, leaving their dragon form as a last resort.
    • Jossed. Veyle had Alear’s Drsgonstone after they gave it to her as a way to remember them before it was destroyed.

Alear's hair and eye color will change at one point in the story.

• Just a minor guess. One reason why Byleth was given a fixed appearance was because their hair and eye color change during the story, so Alear might follow the same path.
  • One possibility is their hair turning entirely red or entirely blue.
    • Somewhat confirmed, somewhat jossed. Alear's fully-red hair was their natural hair colour and was changed into the dual-coloured hair we see when Lumera infused them with their essence, though Alear's hair can become fully blue when they transform into the Fire Emblem.

There will be a Karma Meter.

• And Alear's hair color is an indication of it, if the end of the Official Trailer depicting M!Alear against a burning backdrop with a Psychotic Smirk on his face and fully red hair is evidence enough.
  • As to how it works, engaging in Video Game Caring Potential causes Alear's hair to turn fully blue, whereas indulging in Video Game Cruelty Potential leads it to become fully red. The former leads to the main plot and the Golden Ending, the latter leads to a horrific Demon Path-esque alternate route and a Downer Ending.
    • Jossed. Alear's hair is naturally red, due to Sombron being their father, it becomes dual-coloured when Lumera infuses her essence into them, though it does turn fully blue when they transform into the Fire Emblem, and can return to being red in the Non-Standard Game Over should Alear fall at Sombron's hands, as they are re-corrupted.

Alear is a Fusion Dance.

• The result of a person with red hair and eyes and a person with blue hair and eyes merging together, which is why their hair and eyes are like that.
  • Jossed. They're Sombron's child.

Sigurd's ring will lower resistance to Fire magic.

• Because of the obvious opportunity to joke about his infamous demise.
  • Jossed; none of the Emblems cause their wearer to gain additional weaknesses.

Alear was half-corrupted by the Fell Dragon.

• Their mother has a shade of blue hair and Alear's blue eyes, but Alear's red hair and red eyes match with the Fell Dragon's.
  • Jossed. In reality, Alear is biologically Sombron's child, and the blue comes from Lumera infusing them with her essence, so if anything it would be Lumera who did the "corrupting".

There will be a recruitable traitor.

• The summer leak shows Mauvier from the Four Hounds is playable. However, as his translated Vander support implies he's looking for work, it's possible he joins early, under the false impression of being a free agent, and later betrays the party.
  • Jossed; although Mauvier does indeed eventually join the party, he does not betray them later, nor does any other character (at least willingly, if you include the Emblems).

Like Aversa, a member of the Four Hounds will have a Heel–Face Turn

• Whoever this member is, they will have misgivings about Sombron's return to full power, but continue serving him anyway, until the heroes prove Sombron's return would be bad for everyone. Horrified, they will try to convince the other Four Hounds that they're making a mistake, only for them to reveal they already knew Sombron's plan, and were gleefully helping bring about the end. Seeing them for what they truly are, this member will join the heroes to save the world, delivering them an Emblem Ring as proof of their intentions.
  • All but confirmed regarding the mounted Mauvier, thanks to the initial leak, unless the traitor theory holds out.
    • The reasons aren't quite correct, but this is Confirmed. Though actually, two of the Four Hounds have Heel-Face Turns. Or rather, one successfully does, and the other has a Heel–Face Door-Slam. Marni defects in an attempt to save Veyle's good half, but is fatally wounded by Zephia. This enrages Mauvier into switching sides.

If Alear has a dragon form, it's not going to show up until the end of the game.

• Possibly with their memories coming back, or gathering all the Emblem Rings.
  • Jossed; Alear's dragon form is never revealed, and gathering all the Emblem Rings instead gives them an Emblem Form.

Elusia runs on Asskicking Leads to Leadership

• Elusia was formerly a neutral kingdom. Then, the Fell Dragon took over, killed Elusia's rulers and forced them to worship him. When he was defeated, an Elusian who fought in the war took the throne, inadvertently establishing a pattern of people of strength leading them. Thus, Elusia sees no problem with Sombron's return, since in their eyes, he deserves to rule Elyos as the strongest being.
  • Consequently, should an Elusian be defeated in combat, they will offer to join the one who defeated them, because they've proven to be of greater strength than them. This is how the playable Elusian units will be recruited.
    • Jossed. Elusia primarily worshiped the Fell Dragon for their religion, with the defection of the Elusian units (Ivy, Hortensia and their retainers) being due to them realising that serving Sombron would lead to Elusia's destruction, joining the heroes.

Alear isn't the Divine Dragon that defeated the Fell Dragon

• Rather, it was their mother, Lumera who defeated him. She sacrificed a large portion of her power to do so, which is why Sombron has her killed first, so she can't be a problem again.
  • Confirmed by the official site.
    • Jossed: Alear was the one who defeated Sombron the first time around, though they were mortally wounded in the process, and Lumera put them in a healing coma to recover. Though Alear was not a Divine Dragon at this time- they were a pure-blooded Fell Dragon, and only became half-Divine when Lumera infused her essence into them.

The Fell Dragon wasn't evil, the Divine Dragon is. The Divine Dragon just covered it up.

• For a twist on the formula, perhaps THIS Fell Dragon isn't actually a villain and history was falsified to blame him for the Divine Dragon's crimes.
  • Jossed. Sombron, while his origins were tragic, is undoubtedly evil, and Lumera and Alear are undoubtedly good.

Lumera is going to be revealed to not only survive the attack shown in the trailers, but be playable.

• One of the advertisements showns Lumera in a similiar situation to Mikoto's death, to keep her survival and playablility a surprise.
  • Jossed. Lumera's dead for real. She even comes back as an undead boss later.

Emblems are not the spirits of the people they resemble, but an advanced form of the Fabrication magic given some degree of sapience and similar powers to the original and the ability to manifest outside training grounds

• As shown in the Welcome to Somniel trailer, the Fabrication enemies faced in the Tower of Trials all have glowing blue eyes, just as the Emblems all have bluish eye colors. This would also help explain why the Emblems mostly take on forms that look younger than they canonically died at. They are fabricated beings meant to mimic certain famous people from other universes.
  • This is confirmed. Emblem Marth explicitly notes that they are not the heroes they are modelled after, though they do share their skills, experience and memories.

Sombron is Alear's father

• It is heavily implied that there is a plot reason for Alear's two-toned hair and heterochromia, with the second trailer and the opening cutscene showing an evil-looking fully red-haired and red-eyed Alear giving a Psychotic Smirk and a Slasher Smile, respectively. If Sombron turns out to be Alear's father, that would mean that Alear is both a Divine Dragon AND a Fell Dragon, with their two-toned hair and heterochromia likely being reflective of their mixed-heritage.
  • Confirmed, though Alear is biologically not Lumera's. Lumera infused her essence into Alear after adopting them.

Alear is an Emblem

• In a couple of trailers, we see Emblems can be corrupted and turn red, with a dark or bright red tone and generally seeming a lot more dangerous. Also in several trailers, and even the game's opening, we see Alear with full red hair, red eyes, and a Slasher Smile. This troper believes that at one point in the game, likely towards the end, Alear is going to be revealed an Emblem, brought to the land many years ago to fight the Fell Dragon but was half-corrupted in the fight and sent to sleep to hold it in, and is corrupted by the Big Bad. The reason Alear is solid rather than the misty, spirit like look of the other Emblems is likely to do with his heritage as a Divine Dragon, as well as possibly partly a Fell Dragon (Which would explain why, in the planned DLC, Tiki won't have the same benefit beyond simply to avoid spoilers) if the theory above is to be believed.
  • Somewhat jossed, somewhat confirmed. Alear is actually Sombron's child infused with the essence of Lumera, making them half-Divine Dragon, half-Fell Dragon, and they don't start the game as an Emblem. However, after their death at Sombron's hands, the Emblems combined their powers to revive Alear as a thirteenth Emblem, the Fire Emblem.

Male Corrin and Female Byleth, if they don't appear as ring skins, will only be represented by amiibo outfits.

• If amiibo outfits for characters like Corrin and Byleth are going to be different depending on the gender of the character wearing the outfit, male characters using Corrin's amiibo outfit would be put in Male Corrin's outfit and the same with females using Byleth's amiibo outfit if they're not going to be represented as a unlockable option for their Rings.

Post-Release

The identity of the Emblem of Foundations

• Possible guesses include:
  • Naga
  • The First Exalt
  • Heim
  • Arvis
  • One of the First Dragons
  • Sothis
  • Emperor Wilhelm I
  • Epimenides
  • Surtr^note Given how the invocation has the word "burn" in it.
  • The First Anna
  • Anri^note  Their title implies primacy, and if it isn't Marth, then it's probably the hero-king he himself followed in the footsteps of.
  • The King of Shōgi ^note Now this is a Wild Mass Guess. Some mechanics of shogi seem to have laid the groundwork for mechanics in Fire Emblem, like piece promotion and turning pieces to your side, which means there's a non-zero chance the EoF is a Sengoku nobleman. No telling what this would imply for Fire Emblem Heroes.
  • An all-new character we haven't seen before
  • Going off the above, the protagonist of the next game.
  • Going off of the two above, if not the protagonist of the next game then the protagonist of a later game.
  • Shouzou Kaga himself, creator of the Fire Emblem franchise.^note HIGHLY unlikely, given the bad blood between him & Nintendo / Intelligent Systems.
  • Sommie^note Sommie's faction affiliation is listed underneath Gradlon with Veyle and Mauvier instead of Lythos "The Emblem of Foundations" is certainly a suitable name for an Emblem which creates other rings. Sommie creates Bond Fragments. Bond Fragments create rings. Marth's "no Emblem should be able to survive going to another world" comes with a loophole, because physical Emblems (Alear) are possible and may survive this process. Alear is regarded as unique, but this uniqueness may only be for Emblems of Elyos and not of other worlds. Zero Emblem would need to be a long-lived physical Emblem, the only candidates for this would be Sommie, Alear, or Veyle, the latter two are disqualified on account of being born in Elyos. Sombron is unable to locate Sommie because Sombron was never able to visit Somniel. Sommie lives in Dark Grotto, and is first found upon an Emblem Pedestal. Sommie existed over a thousand years ago, and only recently reappeared, in line with the other Emblems returning. Lumera met Sommie when she was young and alone; "A solitary warrior like that would know how hard it is to be alone."
  • Kelik
  • NES/Pantsless Marth^note Yeah I know Marth is in the game already, but that Marth is just Modern Marth from the DS Remakes. I thought it would be neat if both NES and modern Marths coexist in the same universe.
  • Sho Minazuki ^note Fire Emblem and the Persona series have had crossovers, and Sho is a character who is practically defined by his hatred of and disgust for bonds.
  • We didn’t see the person, so it must be Kellam
  • Galeem and/or Dharkon

The fourth wave of DLC will be related to the Emblem of Foundations

Official sources state that the fourth wave of DLC, due around December 2023, will feature a new story and characters separate from the main game. The Emblem of Foundations is only ever mentioned at the end of the main game as part of the backstory. It's not that unreasonable to think that the developers were dropping hints.

• Jossed.

Future DLC Emblem Rings

While datamining has indicated who the DLC Emblems will be, let's get our creative juices flowing just in case.

• Hector
  • Confirmed for Wave 2!
• Eliwood
• Alm
• Seliph
• Robin
• Chrom
  • Chrom and Robin confirmed for Wave 3!
• Xander
• Ryoma
• Shez
• Rowan and Lianna
• Alfonse and Sharena
• Kiran
• Veronica
  • Confirmed for Wave 3!
• Itsuki Aoi
• Soren
  • Confirmed for Wave 2!
• Lilina
• Ninian (Might be paired with Nils if possible)
• Reinhardt
• Al
• Arvis

Fourth Wave of DLC Playable Characters

Official sources state that the fourth wave will introduce new playable characters. Potential candidates are as follows:

• The remaining Four Hounds that do not join in the main story (Zephia, Griss, and Marni), from an alternate timeline where they do not die.
  • Confirmed. They may have different names and personalities, but we still get them through Zelestia, Gregory and Madeline.
• Eve, the Queen of Firene
• Sephoria, the Queen of Solm
• A group of completely new characters, like the Ashen Wolves in Three Houses. Said group of characters may be related to the origin of the DLC Emblem Bracelets.
  • So far, slightly confirmed as the footage shows a new character being playable.
    • Confirmed, as we get Nel and Rafal. They come from the same world as the Bracelets too.

The Non-Standard Game Over on the final chapter is not actually happening, but is Alear's dying thoughts.

• Sombron made clear he had no desire to use either Alear or Veyle further, stating he would forget about them after the battle. Perhaps this is what Alear sees or thinks as they die in battle.

The Fell Xenologues will feature alternate evil versions of the royals.

• The trailer for the Fell Xenologue features a hooded man wearing what seems to be Fogado's necklace, with Corrupted at his side. Further evidence to support this is Hector's Bond conversation with Céline, mentioning how she is much kinder than the Céline he knows from his world's Firene, and Camilla's Bond conversation with Timerra mentioning how she's much more cheerful than the Timerra Camilla knows in her world's Solm.
  • One of Soren's conversations mentions that he was originally entrusted to an Elusia from another world, perhaps hinting that this alternate reality uses bracelets rather than rings for its emblems.
    • Confirmed.
• Additionally, this could also mean there will be alternate heroic versions of Zephia, Griss, and Marni who may become playable.
  • Confirmed!

What the last Divine Paralogues will be based on

• For one option, Chrom and Robin’s will be probably based on the “Invisible Ties” chapter.
  • Confirmed.

If more Fair Folk are encountered, they will be named after types of wine

• Rosado is implied to be non-human, and hails from a village of people that are as ethereally beautiful as he is In-Universe. Rosado sounds like an Elusian name as it sounds similar to the word "Rose", but a Rosado is also a Spanish rosé. If the DLC story has another character like Rosado, they could have a name that evokes a type of wine.

Completing the Fell Xenologue will give Alear and/or Veyle a dragonstone

• Yes, I am completely aware that it would break the lore in more ways than one. With the Fell Xenologue being this Engage's Cindred Shadows, it feels fitting dragonstones would be Engage's Challace of Beginnings in being a competely game- and lore-breaking item.
  • Zig-zagged. We ‘’do’’ get dragonstones by completing the Xenologue, but only Nel and Rafal can use them.

The Fell Xenologue will end with some form of Stable Time Loop and possibly memory erasing

• Dark Emblems are noted to suffer a general lack of awareness of what they do while active in that state, and the Bracelet Emblems seem to not have many clear memories of what happened. Emblem Tiki in particular can't recall how the battles she was involved with in the other world even ended. So basically, the idea here is that Alear (or possibly Nil/Nel) is the "kind" person Tiki mentioned who put the Emblems into dormancy and sent them to the main Elyos of the game and they will do this at the end of the events of the Fell Xenologue to keep them from being fought over in the other Elyos. Perhaps them going into the past (if you recruit Bracelet Emblems before doing the Xenologue) will be explained as some kind of unstable time relation between the two versions of Elyos. The Emblems dimmed consciousness during the Xenologue will explain why they react like they are meeting Alear for the first time. This still leaves the question of why Alear doesn't recognize them (if they recruit the Emblems after doing the Fell Xenologue), so perhaps they and the party will somehow lose their memory of what happens during the Xenologue. Alternatively the recruiting dialog for the Emblems will change if the Xenologue is already done. This all assumes the events are part of one continuity (implied given you get to use whatever Emblems you currently have in the main game), rather than the alternate route like Cindered Shadows was.
  • Given that the characters receuitable from the Xenologue are implied to have joined after the death of the Four Hounds (making them canonically join after Chapter 23 at the very least), yet still have dialogue when fighting against them may mean that we’ll never get an explanation concerning Divine Paralogues.

Nel and Nil are the Alternate Elyos equivalent of the younger sister and brother Past Alear mentioned

• The way Past Alear mentioned the two younger siblings made it sound like they were together when they died. And Past Alear mentioned the sister first, then the brother, possibly hinting that she, like Nel, was the older of the two.

Veyle's evil personality was summoned from an alternate Elyos

• Considering that she's not only evil and sadistic where the real Veyle is kind, but hates spice and loves sweets where Veyle hates sweets and loves spice, it's possible that the magic Sombron used to create Evil Veyle brought her spirit from another Elyos (maybe not the one in the Fell Xenologue) where her personality is the opposite of the Elyos the main game takes place in.

Alfred has a severe case of Soft Tissue Sarcoma

• It isn't quite clear what kind of illness that Alfred has, but all we know is that he had it since he was a young child, and the only reason that he was able to survive as long as he had is because of nonstop exercise. I like to think that this means that his illness seems to be affecting his muscles. I looked it up, and the closest thing I could find to a real-world counterpart is Soft Tissue Sarcoma, a type of cancer that causes abnormal growths in the muscles. Perhaps these growths are maintained by Alfred's workouts. In modern medicine, Soft Tissue Sarcoma can be maintained with surgeries, but remember, that this franchise is historical fantasy, making it highly unlikely that that is an option for him, which is why the illness ultimately kills Alfred.

The Emblem of Foundations never existed in the first place.

• Prolonged isolation can do very unpleasent things to one's mind, especially when it happens at a very young age at the wake of extreme trauma, like with what happened with Sombron. The end result is that he saw a simple ring and became convinced it was actually an Emblem ring, one with a special emblem that coincidentally happened to echo every single one of his own feelings and sentiments that also tells him EXACTLY what he wants to hear despite Fell Dragons not being able to bring out any sentience within an Emblem ring. And despite it being supposedly "the most powerful Emblem of all", no one in his world even noticed it was stolen by a child. This could also explain why the ring vanishes after Sombron's death rather than remaining behind like all the others - it had no real power and was just a perfectly ordinary ring. When we're shown what he sees near his death, he's reacting to something that isn't there like he's hallucinating it's prescence. It would be too much of a stretch to assume it's only magically visible to him and absolutely nobody else with plenty of precedent for such a situation. It also fits with the overall theme of the power of bonds the Fire Emblem series uses, given that Sombron effectively doomed himself by scorning any bond save for what is essentially an imaginary friend. Even when he had everything he wanted in front of him, he was too fixated on his fantasy to recognize that fact and died chasing a phantom. The only real gap is how exactly the Emblem could have vanished after he was discovered by the village he mentioned. The shock of seeing and interacting with real people was nearly enough to snap him back into reality, however he had been convinced of his reality with his Emblem that he never realized it was nothing more than the figment of his imagination and his reunion could not happen anywhere outside of his own broken mind.

Rosado, and by extension the other Fair Folk, are nonbinary, and Rosado simply uses he/him pronouns because it's his preference.

• Rosado's generic class outfits, and his Somniel outfits, all default to the female variations, even to his swimsuit, which includes what appears to be shapewear under it; one of the Solm nobility outfits that can be unlocked shows that he has very slight cleavage, even though his chest is quite flat in his default outfits. His beauty is already considered practically ethereal, to Ambiguously Human levels. Many sorts of Fair Folk in mythology don't adhere to gender binaries as it is; given that his village is outright called the Village of the Fair Folk, he could well be a literal fae and not adhere to any gender norms. He just uses he/him because he chose to, and it has no impact on his love of cute things or who he is.

Alear is actually half-Divine Dragon, just not from Lumera.

Lumera is said to be the last one, but it's possible there were some that lived during the period of war with Sombron. It's possible he took some Divine Dragon mates (whether by force or by manipulation) with the idea of eugenics to produce powerful offspring (and said mates and children were killed off due to disappointing him). Alear was one of them, and when Lumera transferred her life energy to Alear, it also awakened the Divine half of Alear's blood.

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