Fire Emblem Awakening

Fire Emblem Awakening (ファイアーエムブレム覚醒, Fire Emblem: Kakusei) is a Japanese tactical role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. The game was released on April 19, 2012, in Japan, February 4, 2013, in North America and April 19, 2013, in Europe. It is the thirteenth game in the Fire Emblem series. It is also the first to take place on two continents, Ylisse and Valm, the future forms of Archanea and Valentia respectively.

The story follows Prince Chrom of the Halidom of Ylisse and his companions as they struggle during a turbulent era. Players are able to combine the might of nearby allies using Pair Up and enter dual battles using the Dual System to defeat enemies. The traversable world map, last seen in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, and special skills like Astra from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn return. This game also features a playable character that can be customized, a feature last seen in Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~. Just like in the previous game, the player can choose between Classic Mode and Casual Mode.

Release
Fire Emblem Awakening was announced at Nintendo's 2011 3DS Conference ahead of the 2011 Tokyo Game Show.

On June 6, 2012, directly after the Nintendo 3DS software showcase at E3 2012, president Reggie Fils-Aime from Nintendo of America revealed that the game would be coming to Nintendo of America under the title Fire Emblem Awakening; this was later confirmed through Nintendo of America's official Twitter account.

On June 22, 2012, during a Nintendo Direct showcase, it was revealed that the game was set for a 2013 release in America. An American trailer for the game was released on October 25, 2012. In the Nintendo Direct trailer from December 5, 2012, it was confirmed that Fire Emblem Awakening would be released in North America on February 4, 2013, in Europe on April 19, 2013, and in Australia on April 20, 2013.

GameStop offered an artbook as a pre-order bonus prior to the game's release; this offer was only available in the United States and Canada. The game's Nintendo e-Shop listing was added on January 5, 2013, and it was made available for digital download in the United States and Europe the same day the game was released at retail. The game was not available on the Japanese e-Shop despite availability in the United States and Europe. However, it was later made available for digital download to Japanese consoles on January 30, 2013.

The Demo version of the game became available on the North American eShop on January 17, 2013. It only allows play in Casual Mode, as opposed to Classic Mode, allows for Normal, Hard, and Lunatic difficulties to be selected, and features two chapters from the beginning of the game (Prologue and Chapter 1, skipping the initial Interlude). The demo does not feature Avatar customization in a substantial way; you may only change name, birthdate and emphasized stats, while using the default male Avatar.

Setting
The game takes place on the continents of Archanea and Valm, approximately 2,000 years after the events of Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi. A millennium prior to the events of Awakening, when the nations of the continents were being formed, the Fell Dragon Grima attempted to destroy the world. To stop Grima, the Divine Dragon Naga chose the ruler of the Halidom of Ylisse (known as the Exalt) and granted him her power through two magical objects: Falchion, a sword with the power to slay dragons; and the Fire Emblem, a magical shield. Using these, the Exalt struck down Grima, sending it into a long slumber. By the present time, the land of Archanea is divided between Ylisse, which continues to worship Naga, and is ruled by Exalt Emmeryn and defended by her brother Chrom; the kingdom of Plegia, which worships Grima; and Regna Ferox, a country whose rulers periodically fight for dominance. Fifteen years prior to Awakening, Plegia and Ylisse waged a religious war, which greatly damaged Ylisse and left bitterness on both sides; Ylisse has slowly recovered from the war thanks to Emmeryn's peaceful actions.

Story
The story begins where Chrom and Avatar engage in a battle against Validar. After a great battle, Validar is defeated, only to get up and fire one last spell at them, which Avatar pushes Chrom out of the way and gets struck instead. As Chrom helps Avatar up, who is seemingly unharmed, they watch as Validar vanishes, with Chrom happy to see that their battle was over. However, Avatar begins to act strangely as their eyes begin to glow red. Chrom tries to tell Avatar to get a hold of themselves, only to suddenly be stabbed by a spear of electricity from Avatar. As Chrom stumbles back, he pleads the Avatar to promise him not to blame themselves as it wasn’t their fault, before collapsing, a cold laughter filling the air.

The Avatar then wakes up on a strange field, awoken by Chrom and Lissa. As Avatar reaches their hand to grab Chrom’s, a mark is shown on the back of their hand. Avatar seems to have lost all their memories and cannot remember their name, but seems to remember Chrom's, even though they never met, which makes Frederick, Chrom’s knight, suspect Avatar. Avatar cannot defend themselves even though they speak the truth, and Chrom decides to bring Avatar in just to check that he’s no threat to Ylisse. As they walk a bit, Avatar remembered their name, before noticing the town they were nearing being raided by brigands.

The group head into town and battles the bandits, where Avatar shows a mastery of tactics and aided Chrom to victory. This earned his trust, who felt that Avatar’s skill in tactics would be a great asset. They then camp out in the woods, when Chrom and Lissa later separate that night. An earthquake suddenly occurs and fire begins to erupt from the ground and engulfs the forest in an inferno. Soon a mysterious portal opens up in the sky and from there, two grotesque humanoid shaped creatures fall down from the portal and fight Chrom, to which Chrom noticed that they were no ordinary creatures, but managed to kill them nonetheless. However, another one had cornered Lissa and was about to kill her, until a mysterious stranger with a mask arrived and saved Lissa.

As more creatures emerged, Chrom and the others fought against them and managed to repel them. They then greet the stranger, who says that their name is “Marth”, after the Hero-King of legends. “Marth” then warns them that what they had witnessed was just a prelude to a great cataclysm that is to come, before leaving.

Ylisse-Plegia War
The next day, the group reaches Ylisstol, where Avatar meets with Emmeryn, the Exalt and sister of Chrom and Lissa, and the rest of the Shepherds. They decide to march to Regna Ferox and recruit help from them to help deal with Plegia, who had been using bandit attacks to instigate a war with Ylisse, and the new monsters that appeared that were called Risen. While they had a shaky start at the Feroxi borders, due to Plegia attacking Regna Ferox to try and turn them against Ylisse, Chrom managed to earn their trust. However, to get Regna Ferox’s help, they needed to help Khan Flavia become the ruling Khan of Regna Ferox by winning the tourney for her as her champions. Chrom faces against Basilio’s, the West Khan, champion, who is revealed to be “Marth”, and to Chrom’s even further shock, “Marth” carried a sword that was identical to his own, the Falchion, which shouldn’t be possible. Along with that, “Marth” even fought in a similar style of fighting as Chrom, to which “Marth” claimed to have learned it from their father. After defeating “Marth”, Chrom received Flavia’s support, and “Marth” had once more disappeared.

After returning to Ylisstol, they learned that Maribelle had been kidnapped by Plegian soldiers and taken across the border, where the Mad-King Gangrel is claiming that Maribelle was invading his country. Emmeryn attempted to parley with Gangrel, much to Chrom and Phila’s disapproval. When speaking to Gangrel and his aide Aversa, they continue to claim that Maribelle was the invader and they had merely wished to escort her home. When Emmeryn asks for Maribelle’s return, Gangrel demands the Fire Emblem, the treasure of Ylisse, in exchange. Despite the Fire Emblem’s noble purposes, Gangrel claims that he would use it to wipe out every last Ylissean, which should be a noble reason enough, as they are justified, before speaking of the actions of the former Exalt and Emmeryn’s father.

Despite the demand, Chrom defends Emmeryn, and Gangrel takes Chrom’s actions as a declaration of war, before leaving to prepare, as Chrom handles Gangrel’s soldiers. As they return to Ylisstol, Chrom talks to Avatar that night and explains that Gangrels words were not completely lies. He explains how in the past, Chrom’s father had indeed committed atrocious actions where he launched a crusade against Plegia that lasted many years and ended only with his death 15 years ago, and Emmeryn had assumed the position of Exalt before she was even 10. Chrom claims that while Plegia is right to hold a grudge, Ylisse had suffered as well, as many farmers were forced to conscribe to the war. The Ylisseans held hatred towards Emmeryn because of her father’s legacy, having thrown insults and even stones at her, but she never resented them and managed to bring in peace. While Chrom cannot be as kind as he sister, he is resolved to protect her from men like Gangrel.

“Marth” then arrives, having snuck in through a hole that Chrom had made in the past, despite his attempts to hide it. “Marth” warns them that Emmeryn was to going to be assassinated. Despite Chrom being skeptical, as Emmeryn is guarded at all hours, “Marth” claims that they had seen this all happen in the future, and to prove it, they cut down an assassin that had been hiding. However, there was a second assassin that emerged and attacked. “Marth” had not realized that and tripped over a sword, which let the assassin cut "Marth's" mask, revealing “Marth” to be a woman. Aftering taking care of the remaining assassin, they then head to Emmeryn, where they defeat Validar, who was shocked to see them somehow arrive, but took notice of Avatar, whom Validar recognized. After being defeated, Validar stumbles back while nearing death, and sees a mysterious person, who called themselves “Grima”, who claims that Validar is not meant to die here, as it was not written in fate.

After the assassination attempt was over, Chrom insists that Emmeryn relocate herself in another castle to stay safe, despite Emmeryn’s desire to remain by her people’s side. Despite the precaution, the Hierarch, a man that helped Emmeryn during her early years as Exalt, had revealed to have betrayed them out of fear of his own life, and informed Plegia about their movement, thus allowing Plegia to intercept them. However, despite this, the Hierarch was murdered by Plegia for his cowardice. After defeating the Plegian soldiers, they learn from Cordelia that Gangrel had broken through the borders from a charge he led, and Cordelia had only managed to get to them because her fellow Pegasus Knights gave their lives to help her escape.

Realizing the direness of the situation, Emmeryn entrusted Chrom with the Fire Emblem and then returned to Ylisstol to support her people, while Chrom would go to get aid from Regna Ferox.

In Regna Ferox, they then learn the terrible news from Basilio: Ylisstol has fallen. Gangrel had captured Emmeryn and would have her publicly executed in Plegia “within the moon”. This was clearly a trap to lure out Chrom and the others, but Chrom still intended to march into Plegia. However, Avatar insists that Chrom not lose to his emotions and that they would devise a strategy to save Emmeryn, while still keeping the their lives intact. By the time they finally make it to Plegia, Avatar’s strategy is put to the test, as they stopped the execution, and then defeat Gangrel’s men. When the skies were clear of Gangrel’s Wyvern Riders, Avatar had Phila and her Pegasus Knights, who were imprisoned but escaped thanks to Basilio’s men, to take Emmeryn and escape. However, their victory was short-lived, as Aversa displayed an unexpected ability, where she summoned Risen archers all of a sudden, who quickly shot down Phila and the remaining Pegasus Knights, once more giving Gangrel the advantage.

Gangrel then offers Chrom a choice: to give the Fire Emblem in exchange for Emmeryn, or to let her die. Despite the choice that Avatar tells Chrom to make, Chrom intended to give the Fire Emblem up. However, Emmeryn decides to instead gather the Plegian’s attention and then speaks her words to them, before she jumps from the execution stand, which was from a tall cliff, thus plummeting to what would be her death. After Emmeryn’s sacrifice, Chrom and the others are forced to escape before Gangrel soldiers can overtake them. "Marth" arrives, and with great despair speaks of how Emmeryn's death once more brings about a bleak future, where darkness awaits.

Following their crushing defeat and the failure to save Emmeryn, Chrom and the others are in despair, but still fight on. However, it is soon realized that Emmeryn’s actions was not in vain, as she had become a martyr in Plegia, leading to a mass desertion in the army, as the soldiers began to desert while chanting Emmeryn’s name. With renewed determination, Chrom faces Gangrel in his last stand, and finally defeats him. With Gangrel’s defeat, the war ends with Ylisse’s victory.

After the war, Chrom got married (Female Avatar, Sumia, Sully, Maribelle, Olivia, or an unnamed woman), and had a daughter named Lucina, who carried the Brand of the Exalt in her left eye.

Conquest of Valm
Two years after the Ylisse-Plegia War, Chrom learned in Regna Ferox from Virion, a man that he had encountered the first time Risen appeared and has since joined the Shepherds, that he is a noble from Rosanne in the continent of Valm. He and his retainer Cherche inform Chrom that the country that shared the same name as the continent had been led by Walhart the Conqueror, who unified the entire land. Now that Valm was under his rule, Walhart set his sights on Ylisse as well, and soon his soldiers will have reached a port in the western region.

This becomes so, and Valm demands nothing but unconditional surrender from Ylisse, and even makes an example of anyone that would say otherwise, killing an innocent townsperson that tried to reason with them. The Shepherds fought and defeated them, but they had been nothing but the vanguard, and many more would soon arrive.

Forced into another war against a powerful empire, Basilio suggests that they receive aid from Plegia, who have warships and gold to utilize that would allow Chrom and the others to battle Valm in the sea and reach their lands to try and stop them. Despite not liking it, Chrom decides to try and negotiate with the new king of Plegia, who happens to be none other than Validar, who by all means should have been killed in the failed attempt to assassinate Emmeryn during the last war. Surprisingly, Validar is more than generous with Chrom, as he provides 800 warships and 200 transports, and was willing to fully fund the campaign against Valm, but would not be able to provide soldiers due to the last war. Regardless, Chrom received more than adequate help, and accepted. Validar then introduces the hierophant of Plegia, a person who is revealed to be the spitting image of Avatar, and even has the same name as them. Despite this, Chrom is unable to get any answers, due to time being of the essence.

Later on, during the night when they were on Carrion Isle, Avatar has trouble sleeping and then soon encounters Validar, who projected himself into Avatar’s mind, and made a shocking revelation: Avatar was Validar’s child. Validar tried to convince Avatar to leave the others that serve Naga and return to him, but their conversation couldn’t continue as Chrom arrived, forcing Validar to leave Avatar’s mind. Avatar speaks to Chrom and is terrified at the idea that they might be Validar’s child, and they are suspicious that the hierophant might be Avatar’s twin. However, they are then ambushed by Risen, whom they suspect was sent by Validar. After making it through the ambush, Chrom is nearly killed by a sudden Risen that appeared out of nowhere, only for “Marth” to arrive, calling Chrom “father”, before stopping the surprise attack, forcing the Risen to escape.

Confused by “Marth” calling Chrom “father”, Chrom wishes for answers, and “Marth” shows him the answer by making him see into her eyes, where her left eye has the Brand of the Exalt, identical to his newborn daughter’s. Chrom finally realizes that “Marth” is in fact an older Lucina, which makes even more sense when she carries the identical Falchion. Lucina reveals that she is from the future, more than 10 years later, where the Fell Dragon Grima had been resurrected and had laid waste to the world. Lucina had in fact journeyed to the past, along with companions who are the children of other members of the Shepherds, to try and stop the return of Grima from happening.

As Lucina joins their group, they make their voyage to Valm and try to learn more about the future from Lucina. Lucina explained that she believed that stopping Emmeryn’s assassination was enough to avert the crisis, but explains that time simply found a way to make her death still happen. She also explains that while she never witnessed Chrom’s death, she learned from rumors that Chrom was in fact betrayed by his closest friend. This caused Avatar to experience a mild headache, before Lucina continued on why she chose the name “Marth”, the reason being that she desired to hold a piece of the strength that the Hero-King once had, but was now resolved to return to her original name, the name given to her by her parents.

They are then informed that a Valmese fleet is approaching them, with equal amount of ships, but vastly superior number of soldiers. However, thanks to Avatar’s quick thinking, they managed to decimate the fleet without suffering casualties, save for losing half their own ships.

After reaching Valm, they run into Say’ri, a swordswoman that was being chased by Valm soldiers. After saving Say’ri, they learn that she had been trying to form a Resistance that would help defeat the Valm Empire, but she cannot unify them because of how the people are overcome with greed, jealousy, sloth, and the other weaknesses of man. Not only that, but the Valmese Empire commands over a million men, much to everyone's shock. However, Say'ri states that the achievements Chrom and the Shepherds from with decimating the Valmese fleet spread great inspiration among the mass. Furthermore, Say’ri also had an idea to help, which involved saving Tiki, who is worshipped as the Divine Dragon Naga’s oracle, and saving her from Valm’s clutches would unite the Resistance around her.

Entering the Mila Tree, they manage to save Tiki, who awakens from her slumber, and mistook Lucina for Marth, due to their similar appearances and outfit. She then informs them that Grima’s life force was growing stronger, and others were attempting to resurrect him, and thus Chrom must perform the Awakening, and to do that, Chrom must place the fIve Gemstones: Argent, Azure, Gules, Vert, and Sable, which were scattered during the Schism 1000 years prior, with Chrom being in possession of Argent, while Tiki held Azure. To obtain Vert, though, they have to defeat Walhart, as Vert was in Chon’sin, Say’ri’s home that Walhart conquered.

With their mission in mind, they focus on trying to defeat Walhart’s forces. They decide to try and seize Fort Steier with a small, elite squad, while the majority of the army be sent to the northern and southern areas to distract Walhart and Say’ri’s brother Yen’fay, who had sided with Walhart despite Walhart’s actions.

Chrom and his allies infiltrate Fort Steiger, but much to their shock, their Resistance allies had ended up siding with Walhart, as Excellus, Walhart’s tactician, had used underhanded tactics such as threatening them or their families, which scares them enough into turning on Chrom. Despite still taking Fort Steiger, Chrom’s army was in danger of being flanked from both sides, where victory would be completely lost. Avatar suggests that they retreat immediately, as the Resistance that surrounded them would not put too strong of an effort to stop them. Meanwhile, they would need to take out either Yen’fay or Walhart, but for it to succeed, they need to attack both, where one leader would take a small force to face against Walhart’s forces to buy time while Chrom would try and attack Yen’fay. Basilio volunteers for the mission to lead the small group to face Walhart, but Lucina tries to stop him, as she explains that in the future, Basilio dies in the fight against Walhart, slain by the Conqueror himself. Despite her protests, Basilio still goes, with Flavia by his side.

In the battle against Walhart’s forces, Basilio faces Walhart, and with two strikes, Basilio was nearly downed, barely able to hang on, earning Walhart’s praise for surviving more than a single strike. As Walhart moves to attack again, Flavia jumps in and helps block an attack, giving Basilio a chance to deliver a powerful strike, only for Walhart to strike back with even greater force, defeating Basilio. Defeated and in near death, Basilio quickly gives Flavia the Gules Gemstone and tells her to escape with it and give it to Chrom. Despite not wanting to leave him, Basilio manages to get Falvia to obey and flee the battle.

Meanwhile, Avatar devises a strategy to face Yen’fay while preventing the Resistance from attacking them as well, by going on the active volcano in Demon’s Ingle. There, they make their stand against Yen’fay, where he is defeated and killed. However, Excellus reveals himself and states that Yen’fay had in fact sided with the Empire for the sole purpose of protecting Say’ri, whom Excellus could have killed at any given notice but didn't because of Yen'fey's allegiance, a fact that devastates Say’ri. Though she seemed to have lost hope, Avatar convinces her that the fight was not yet over.

Taking a moment to rest, they learn that Basilio had been killed, just as Lucina had stated he would. Flavia explained what happened and also gave Chrom the Gules Gemstone, thus making Chrom have 3 out of 5. They then make their way to face Walhart in the capital.

Despite Excellus confidence that the Resistance would take care of Chrom and the others for them, the opposite happens. After Walhart is forced to retreat into his palace, all the dynasts in Valm rally under Chrom, as they had learned that Yen’fay had perished, his death acting in a manner similar to Emmeryn’s sacrifice, as it was Yen’fay they had truly feared, not Excellus.

Walhart makes his final stand in his palace as he faces against Chrom and the Resistance. Despite Chrom trying to convince Walhart that there were other ways besides force, Walhart would not be deterred, thus forcing Chrom to battle him and soon defeat him. With Walhart’s defeat, Say’ri is able to retrieve the Vert Gemstone and present it to Chrom, thus giving him 4 Gemstones, with only Sable being the remaining one, which was held in Plegia.

Fate of the World
After returning to Ylisse, Chrom is later given a message by Validar that they would give Chrom the Sable Gemstone if Chrom were to visit them. However, Chrom doesn’t believe that Validar is telling the truth, but opts to keep the Fire Emblem with him as it would be safer with him than anywhere else. As they enter the Plegian Castle, Avatar notices that Validar has prepared an ambush against them, and thus had an escape route made. Validar at first tries to speak formally, but when Chrom rushes him and Lucina speaks, Validar reveals his true colors and demands that Chrom hand him the Fire Emblem. Avatar manages to help them escape, but as they neared the exits, Validar intercepts them and injures Chrom. Validar then somehow takes control of Avatar and forces him to take the Fire Emblem from Chrom, despite Avatar’s attempts to resist. With the Fire Emblem in his hands, Validar places the Sable Gemstone in the Emblem and thus completes it, before making his way to the Dragon’s Table.

Ashamed and horrified by their actions, Avatar is unable to trust themselves, though Chrom tries to assure them that Avatar can resist Validar’s attempts to control them, but Avatar was unsure, as Lucina watches silently. Later on, Lucina speaks to Avatar alone and talks of her past with Chrom and how she would do anything to keep him safe, which Avatar agrees to, but much to their horror, Lucina points her Falchion at Avatar, and declares that Avatar had to die, as it was them that had killed Chrom in the future.

Lucina admits that while she was wary of Avatar in the beginning, she realized that Avatar would truly never mean to harm Chrom due to the powerful bond the two shared, but seeing how Validar was able to take control of Avatar made it clear that it was Validar that forced Avatar to kill Chrom. Thus, to protect their future and ensure that the tragedy of her future was averted, she had to kill Avatar, where Avatar can choose to accept or reject Lucina’s judgment. If Female Avatar is Lucina’s mother or Male Avatar is Lucina’s husband, regardless of the decision, Lucina is unable to go through with killing them, as she loves them too much. If the Avatar is neither of those, then Chrom will stop her from killing Avatar or stopping the two from going into a death battle, having been listening in on their conversation. Chrom assures Lucina that the bond he shared with Avatar was unbreakable, as they were two halves of one whole, and they could overcome their destiny, to which Lucina chose to believe in those bonds, and asks Avatar for forgiveness.

At the Dragon’s Table, they see many people who appear to be in a trance, before the group confronts Validar and Aversa. The two explain that everything that Chrom and the others did were always destined to occur: from defeating Gangrel to defeating Walhart. Even stopping the assassination of Emmerym was nothing but delaying the inevitable. Not only that, but Walhart was also aware of Grima’s return and intended to stop it, so Validar and Aversa helped Ylisse defeat him, and also baited Excellus to destroy the Valmese Empire from the inside should Ylisse fail. Aversa then summoned the Deadlords to delay Chrom as Validar prepares.

Having broken through Aversa’s forces, Chrom and Avatar confront Validar, where Validar reveals exactly what Avatar was: Avatar was born from Validar and was the only one to have had pure enough Fell Blood to possess the Heart of Grima, where Avatar would serve as Grima’s vessel as the soul of the Fell Dragon sleeps inside Avatar. However, Avatar was saved by their mother when they had been a newborn by taking them away one night, and Validar had been unsuccessful in finding Avatar since, until now. Despite overcome with fear and doubt, Chrom’s words made Avatar stand their ground and face Validar.

The battle played much like the dream Avatar experienced before they had been found by Chrom. After defeating Validar, everything played exactly as the dream did, with Chrom being struck down by a possessed Avatar. As Lucina despairs at how she failed to change anything, Basilio arrives all of a sudden, revealing to have been alive the entire time. Lucina’s warning had made Basilio choose to play dead after his defeat against Walhart, rather than stand and fight as his pride would have forced him to. While Validar didn’t seem to care as Basilio can be killed now, Basilio then reveals something else: Validar had been tricked. Avatar had already foreseen these events in a dream, and when Avatar saw Flavia give Chrom the Gules Gemstone, Avatar understood that the Fire Emblem mustn’t be completed against Validar.

Validar calls Basilio’s bluff, as he had been keeping tabs on Chrom and his army since Carrion Isle, but Basilio revealed that Validar’s spies could only keep track of the living people, not the dead, namely Basilio. The Fire Emblem in Validar’s was never complete, as one or more of the Gemstones had been switched with forgeries by Basilio, much to Validar’s fury. Validar tried to believe that destiny was still set in stone and Chrom was dead, but all of a sudden, Validar turned around and was struck by a spell from Avatar, wounding Validar, while Chrom got up, revealing to have survived as Avatar had managed to control themselves just long enough to weaken the power of the spell used to strike Chrom. Furious, Validar makes his final stand against the Shepherds, but was finally brought down for good.

However, the hierophant that was identical to Avatar emerged, and revealed a shocking truth: they are the same Avatar, but from the future that Lucina came from, the one that had murdered Chrom and became Grima. Grima explains that after learning that Lucina and her companions went back in time, Grima realized that if they stopped Grima from being resurrected in the past, they would cease to exist, so they went back in time as well. After Grima arrived back in time, they tried to pour their memories into their present self, but Avatar’s Heart of Grima was too weak to contain it, and thus resulted in Avatar losing their memories. The headaches and voices Avatar had been hearing at times were Grima’s work as well. Grima then revealed that they had revived Validar back then after he had been defeated from his assassination attempt.

Though disappointed by Avatar’s choice to not become a god, Grima decides to return to their dragon form once more by using the life force of the human sacrifices ready for him in the Dragon’s Table. As Grima returned to their dragon form, and Lucina seemed to lose all hope, Chrom and the others realized that the only chance of defeating Grima was to perform the Awakening, but the Fire Emblem was lost when the Dragon’s Table fell. However, Avatar arrives and reveals the Fire Emblem that they had stolen back, with the completed set of Gemstones that glowed with power when in Chrom’s hands.

With the completed Emblem, Chrom and his party makes their way to Mount Prism, where they would perform the Awakening. Though Grima sent some Risen forces to stop them, they were quickly dispatched, and Chrom entered the ruins where the Awakening ritual would be performed. There, Chrom initiates the ritual and as he is bathed in Naga’s holy flames, and Chrom’s convictions prove stronger than the fire he is engulfed in, thus completing the ritual. Naga then emerges, where she unlocks the full power of Falchion.

However, Naga reveals that even with it, they would not be able to kill Grima, as neither she nor Grima were gods, possessing neither the power of making nor unmaking, and that neither can destroy the other utterly. Instead, the Exalted Falchion would only put Grima to sleep for another 1000 years, should they strike Grima after weakening the Fell Dragon first. Chrom asks if there was a way to kill Grima for good, not wanting to put the burden of handling Grima to the future generations, but Naga explains that the only power that can perform that would be Grima’s own, which was clearly an impossibility.

Naga then explains that they must go to Origin Peak, where Grima was at. As the party makes their way there, Naga reminds them that she cannot kill Grima, to which Avatar finishes that she can only seal him. Naga confirms this, and called Avatar "Fellblood", due to Avatar possessing power similar to Naga’s own, and knowing of Avatar's origins. Avatar then realized that if they and Grima were one and the same, then if Avatar were to kill Grima, then it would be the same as being killed by Grima’s own hand.

Hearing that, Chrom realizes that they can end the battle at last, but Naga warns them that such a thing would have dire consequences: because Grima and Avatar are linked to such a degree, killing Grima like that would most certainly kill Avatar as well. Though she adds that the bonds that Avatar forges can possibly return Avatar to the mortal plane, the odds are so little that Avatar was very likely to cease to exist.

Realizing the price to kill Grima, Chrom immediately rejected the idea, not wanting to sacrifice Avatar at all, and tries to get Avatar to promise him that they won’t sacrifice themselves, to which Avatar can agree to or not.

They are then confronted by Aversa, who makes her last stand to delay them, and as revenge for killing Validar. As she faces them for the last time, she is soon defeated, and the the Fell Dragon emerges. Despite how it seemed impossible to even know where to strike Grima due to its monumental size, Naga explains that Chrom must strike at the nape of the neck, where Grima is weak at, but Grima will have forces ready to protect that area. Naga offers to send everyone onto the Fell Dragon’s back for their final battle.

After Naga teleports them onto Grima’s back, Grima instantly uses their power to critically wound everyone in an instant. Grima then speaks to Avatar by creating a physical manifestation of Avata’s form. After mocking them, Grima then offers Avatar a chance to spare them if Avatar were to become one with the Fell Dragon. Regardless of the choice, Grima had no intention of sparing Chrom and the others, before Grima drags Avatar into a black portal, where Avatar would be absorbed into the Fell Dragon. Despite trying to resist, Avatar becomes slowly consumed by the darkness the Fell Dragon unleashed on them. As Avatar slowly began to fade away, Avatar then heard the voices of all of their companions, and with a burst of power, broke free of the Fell Dragon’s grip, returning to reality. Naga then uses her powers to restore everyone’s strengths, as they then faced Grima and the army of Risen that Grima unleashed.

Through a great and grueling battle, Grima is finally weakened, with Chrom preparing to finish Grima off. Avatar is forced to make the ultimate decision of whether to allow Chrom put Grima to sleep, or to sacrifice themselves to forever kill Grima. The choice will trigger one of two endings:


 * Grima Sealed: Avatar allows Chrom to finish Grima off, thus Grima returns to sleep for another 1000 years. However, Avatar will regret the decision, despite being assured by Chrom (and Avatar’s possible spouse and child) that Avatar made the right choice and that they would one day learn of a way to stop Grima for good without the need to sacrifice anyone.


 * The Avatar's Sacrifice (Canon Ending): Avatar decides to end Grima once and for all, and channels Grima’s power and creates a dark energy sphere. As Grima questions Avatar’s actions, Avatar thanks Grima for giving Avatar the connection, as that meant that Avatar could sacrifice themselves to put an end to Grima. Grima states that Avatar would not dare, but Avatar confirms that they would, as they share the blame together, and thus must face their end together. Grima is horrified by this and screams out in despair as Avatar fires the spell that destroys the manifestation of Grima and Grima begins to die. Avatar then begins to fade away as well, before Avatar turned around and thanked Chrom and the others for everything, before Avatar finally ceased to exist. Despite the Fell Dragon being gone for good, everyone grieves over Avatar’s sacrifice, but Chrom and the others then decide that Avatar was not dead, and would return, as their ties would assure that. Some time passes and Avatar wakes up in the field to see and hear Chrom and Lissa standing over them, mirroring how they had first met. As Avatar reaches for Chrom’s hand, Avatar’s hand lacks Mark of Grima, signifying that Grima and Avatar no longer shared a connection. As Avatar stood up, Chrom welcomes back his friend.

Characters

 * See main article: List of characters in Fire Emblem Awakening

Chapters

 * See main article: List of chapters in Fire Emblem Awakening

Classes

 * See main article: List of classes in Fire Emblem Awakening

New Features

 * Units being able to pair up and engage an enemy and receive bonuses.
 * Characters have a cut in when performing a Critical Attack or activating a Skill.
 * Downloadable content, consisting of maps, episodes, and characters from previous games.
 * Paid downloadable chapters with unlockable characters. Current available characters are:
 * Prince Marth from Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi
 * Est from Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi
 * Catria from Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi
 * Palla from Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi
 * Alm from Fire Emblem Gaiden
 * Celica from Fire Emblem Gaiden
 * Seliph from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
 * Eldigan from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
 * Leif from Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
 * Roy from Fire Emblem: Binding Blade
 * Lyn from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken
 * Ephraim from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
 * Eirika from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
 * Ike from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
 * Elincia from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
 * Micaiah from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
 * Katarina from Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~.
 * Free downloadable characters via SpotPass. Available characters are:
 * Prince Marth, Caeda, Ogma, Navarre, Merric, Nyna, Linde, Minerva, Tiki, Gharnef, and Camus from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.
 * Alm, Celica, Clair, Valbar, Clive, Boey, Luthier, Nomah, Deen, and Mycen from Fire Emblem Gaiden.
 * Sigurd, Deirdre, Quan, Ethlyn, Arden, Ayra, Jamke, Raquesis, Lewyn, Arvis, Seliph, Julia, Larcei, Ulster, Arthur, Fee, Ced, Ares, Altena, Julius, Ishtar, and Travant from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.
 * Leif, Finn, Nanna, Eyvel, Dagdar, Mareeta, Salem, Olwen, Saias, and Raydrik from Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.
 * Roy, Lilina, Wolt, Shanna, Lugh, Raigh, Cecilia, Sophia, Perceval, Zephiel, and Narcian from Fire Emblem: Binding Blade.
 * Eliwood, Lyn, Hector, Florina, Matthew, Serra, Karel, Nino, Jaffar, Nergal, Ursula, Lloyd, and Linus from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken.
 * Ephraim, Eirika, Seth, Moulder, Lute, Amelia, Innes, Marisa, L'Arachel, Lyon, and Selena from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.
 * Ike, Elincia, Titania, Soren, Mist, Mia, Zihark, Lucia, Geoffrey, Ashnard, and Petrine from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
 * Micaiah, Sothe, Edward, Leonardo, Brom, Nephenee, Sigrun, Sanaki, Sephiran, The Black Knight, and Oliver from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
 * King Marth, Katarina, Catria, Norne, Etzel, Horace, Malice, Athena, Legion, and Hardin from Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~.

Trivia

 * This is the first Fire Emblem title to have a relation to more than one other set of games in the series. The Deadlords and Holy Weapons found in the Jugdral Series appear, and Priam claims to be a descendant of Ike from the Tellius Series.
 * There is a glitch with the Voice Language in the US version of the game. Whenever the Voice Language is set for Japanese, soft reseting the game (L+R+Start) oddly causes the voices reset back to English except in Theater Cutscenes. However this can be fixed if the player changes the Language to English then to Japanese again.
 * Additionally, if the Voice Language is set to Japanese, the female Einherjar characters will use Voice #1. This bug did not exist in the original Japanese release, but was fixed for the European one.
 * In the demo for Awakening there is an oversight that causes the game to freeze. If a unit obtains Leif's Blade through an Event Tile, then uses Leif's Blade to attempt to obtain a Bullion the game will freeze. This is most likely because the data for the Bullion was removed from the demo to reduce file size, yet the sword wasn't tweaked to never grant a Bullion.
 * Awakening has the most amount of playable character representation of any Fire Emblem game in the Super Smash Bros. series with two characters.