Fire Emblem Awakening

"Two sleeping dragons—one a sacred ally of mankind, the other its sworn destroyer. Two heroes marked with the symbols of the dragons. Their meeting heralds the dragons' awakening—and the world's ending."

- Japanese tagline

Fire Emblem Awakening (ファイアーエムブレム, 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 in Japan on April 19, 2012, in North America on February 4, 2013, and in Europe on April 19, 2013. 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: New Mystery of the Emblem. Just like in the previous game, the player can choose between Classic Mode and Casual Mode.

Development
Intelligent Systems was green lit to create the thirteenth title of the Fire Emblem series in 2010. However, the Fire Emblem franchise had somewhat low sales and the development team was told that if the thirteenth title did not sell at least 250,000 units, the franchise would be permanently shelved.

The development team designed Awakening with the intention of giving the franchise a proper farewell if they were ultimately unsuccessful in selling enough units. They explored many different concepts, including placing the story in a modern-day setting and even placing the story on Mars. Ultimately, the team decided that keeping the story in its medieval roots would be the best route to take. To further celebrate the series, the team pulled various tactics and features from numerous previous titles such as Skills, Promotion Branching, and Supports. Along with the story, the team decided to focus on the individual units themselves, fleshing out their characters with quirkier personalities and emphasized the formation of bonds between units, ultimately factoring in the feature of having children characters. The game was also developed early on with an international release in mind.

Ultimately, the game met its goal of selling 250,000 units, almost reaching it on its first week of release in Japan at 242,600 units. Awakening had achieved the highest sales of any Fire Emblem game at the time. Many have attributed a higher advertising attention by Nintendo themselves to the games overall success. Internationally, similar trends appeared with over 180,000 units sold in the first month in North America, 63,000 of which were purely from eShop sales. By April 2013, the game had sold over 240,000 units in North America alone, later reaching 390,000 in September 2013. The success of the game led to a revival of interest in the series and green-lit two games immediately; Awakening's successor game, Fire Emblem Fates, and an enhanced remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, eventually being named Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

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

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 eShop 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 eShop 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 approximately 2,000 years after the events of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. In ancient times, 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 First Exalt), and granted him 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. In the intervening period, the continents of Archanea and Valentia became known as Ylisse and Valm.

By the present time, the land of Ylisse is divided between the Halidom of 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, the last Exalt of Ylisse, Emmeryn's father, waged a religious war against Plegia, which greatly damaged Ylisse and left bitterness on both sides. Ylisse has slowly recovered from the war due to Emmeryn's peaceful actions.

Story
The story begins as Chrom and the 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 the Avatar up, who is seemingly unharmed, they watch as Validar vanishes, with Chrom happy to see that their battle was over. However, the Avatar begins to act strangely as their eyes begin to glow red. Chrom tries to tell the Avatar to get a hold of themselves, only to suddenly be stabbed by a spear of electricity from the Avatar. As Chrom stumbles back and falls from his wounds, he pleads the Avatar to promise him that it wasn't actually their fault. A cold laughter fills the air, and the scene ends.

Awoken by voice, the Avatar is greeted by Chrom and his younger sister Lissa. Despite losing all memory, the Avatar is able to remember their name and Chrom's name, despite being their first interaction. Though Chrom and Lissa's retainer, Frederick expresses some doubt in the Avatar's mysterious origins, Southtown is suddenly attacked by bandits. Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick head to the town to quell the attack. The Avatar follows and reveals that they have tactical knowledge and helps guide them through the battle. At the end of the battle, Frederick continues to cast suspicion in the Avatar, but Chrom feels a great amount of trust in them and asks that they join his Shepherds, a vigilante force of Ylissean soldiers that defend Ylisse from their warring neighboring nation, Plegia.

That night, the group is attacked by a series of corpse soldiers but is ultimately rescued by a mysterious masked man claiming to be the Hero-King Marth. After thanking him for his help, Marth leaves, warning them that the battle was only a prelude of a greater danger to come.

Ylisse-Plegia War
The next day, the group reaches Ylisstol, where the Avatar meets with Emmeryn, the Exalt of Ylisse and sister of Chrom and Lissa, which in turn reveals that the two are royalty. They are also formally introduced to most of the other Shepherds at their private barracks. Emmeryn has been informed of the new threat that Chrom, Lissa, and the Avatar faced which are dubbed the Risen. However, to make matters worse, Plegia's continuous attacks spur her to seek help from their neighboring country to the north, Ferox. Chrom volunteers to take the Shepherds to Ferox to seek assistance. Despite some initial doubts of Chrom's forces, due to numerous attacks by Plegian bandits claiming to be Chrom, Ferox ultimately allows them audience and the Shepherds meet the East-Khan, Flavia, who agrees to help them, so long as she is the ruling Khan. She tasks Chrom in representing her in the upcoming tournament to decide the new ruling khan and defeat the West Khan, Basilio, and his own selected champion. At the tournament, Chrom's rival is none other than "Marth", whom he manages to defeat after a tough fight. With Flavia now ruling Ferox, she gives Ylisse the full support of Ferox in defending them from Plegia.

After returning to Ylisstol, they learned that Maribelle had been kidnapped by Plegian soldiers and taken across the border, where the Mad-King Gangrel, ruler of Plegia, claims that Maribelle was invading his country. Emmeryn attempts to parley with Gangrel and his advisor, Aversa, but refuses to give the Fire Emblem to Gangrel in exchange. Despite a successful rescue of Maribelle, Gangrel uses the incident to formally declare war against Ylisse, prompting Emmeryn to take precautionary action. Later that night, Marth appears in the Ylissean Castle where he strikes down an ambush attempt against Chrom, using it as a example of his intentions. Suddenly, another hidden assassin appears and Marth narrowly avoid the strike. Though Chrom strikes the assassin down, "Marth's" mask is destroyed is revealed that "Marth" is a woman. However, Chrom is not given much time to process this revelation as a rumble comes from the castle as a small Plegian force, led by Validar, is attempting to assassinate Emmeryn. During the battle, Validar notices the Avatar, but is struck down and killed by Chrom's forces. In a dark abyss, Validar's soul is approached by a dark figure calling themselves "Grima". Though close to death, Validar still clings to life and is revived by Grima for a greater purpose.

The assassination attempt raises concern for Emmeryn's safety and Chrom, Frederick, and Phila recommend that she be moved from the capital for her safety. While she reluctnantly agrees, Emmeryn and the Shepherds barely leave the capital when news arrives from Cordelia that Ylisstol has been attacked by Plegia. Realizing the direness of the situation, Emmeryn entrusts Chrom with the Fire Emblem before heading back to Ylisstol for one last attempt at parleying with Gangrel. The Shepherds are forced to retreat to Regna Ferox where news comes in than Ylisstol has fallen and Gangrel has captured Emmeryn and plans on executing her publicly in a few days in Plegia.

With no time to spare, Chrom's forces quickly head over to Plegia and eventually makes it to Plegia Castle. Gangrel offers one last ultimatum to relinquish the Fire Emblem or watch Emmeryn die. Chrom refuses both and nearly succeeds in rescuing Emmeryn. However, their rescue effort lead by Phila is struck down immediately when Aversa summons archers who slay the Pegasus Knights. Seeing that the Fire Emblem is too precious to give to Gangrel, Emmeryn willingly flings herself from the cliff over the castle. Emmeryn's sacrifice causes great despair amongst the Shepherds who are forced to retreat. Behind the scenes, "Marth" laments that despite her efforts, history is still proceeding in similar fashion.

Despite the crushing defeat and their failure to save Emmeryn, Chrom and the others resolve themselves to fight on, despite their loss. However, Emmeryn's sacrifice begins to have an effect on the Plegians, causing mass desertions of the Plegian soldiers who have lost the will to fight on after hearing Emmeryn's words. With the Plegian army severely weakened, Chrom fights Gangrel one last time at Border Wastes. Through the Avatar's tactics and the support of the Shepherds, Chrom ends the Mad-King's tyranny by supposedly killing him in battle.

The Ylisse-Plegian war ends with the remaining Plegian forces surrendering. With the death of Emmeryn, Chrom ascends the throne and becomes the new Exalt. During this period, Chrom is married (either to the female Avatar, Sully, Sumia, Maribelle, Olivia, or an unnamed village maiden). He also become the father of a newborn daughter, Lucina, who bears 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 the 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, the Avatar has trouble sleeping and then soon encounters Validar, who projected himself into the Avatar’s mind, and made a shocking revelation: the 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 the Avatar’s mind. the 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 the 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 the 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 the 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 Valmese Empire, but she cannot unify them because of how the dynasts are overseeing their own agendas. Not only that, but the Valmese Empire commands over a million men, much to everyone's shock. However, Say'ri states that the achievements from Chrom and the Shepherds with decimating the Valmese fleet spread great inspiration among the masses. Furthermore, Say’ri also had an idea, 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 Steiger with a small, elite squad, while the majority of the army is 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 the fort, 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, scaring them enough into turning on them. Despite still taking Steiger, Chrom’s army was in danger of being flanked from both sides, as the rest of their forces were decimated by Walhart and Yen'fay, and most of the survivors had joined the enemy's ranks. This leads the Avatar to suggest that they retreat immediately, as the turncloaks that surrounded them betrayed out of fear for the empire and 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 Flavia to obey and flee the battle.

Meanwhile, the 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, the 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 three out of five. 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, the southern dynasts 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 and defeat him. With Walhart’s defeat, Say’ri is able to retrieve the Vert Gemstone and present it to Chrom, thus having gathered four 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, the Avatar notices that Validar has prepared an ambush against them, revealing the monarch's intentions. 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. The Avatar manages to help them escape, having an escape route prepared earlier, but as they neared the exits, Validar intercepts them and injures Chrom. Validar then somehow takes control of the Avatar and forces him to take the Fire Emblem from Chrom, despite the 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, the Avatar is unable to trust themselves, though Chrom tries to assure them that the Avatar can resist Validar’s attempts to control them, but the Avatar was unsure, as Lucina watches silently. Later on, Lucina speaks to the Avatar alone and talks of her past with Chrom and how she would do anything to keep him safe, which the Avatar agrees to, but much to their horror, Lucina points her Falchion at the Avatar, and declares that the Avatar had to die, as it was them that had killed Chrom in the future.

Lucina admits that while she was wary of the Avatar in the beginning, she realized that the 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 the Avatar made it clear that it was Validar that forced the Avatar to kill Chrom. Thus, to protect their future and ensure that the tragedy of her future was averted, she had to kill the Avatar, where the Avatar can choose to accept or reject Lucina’s judgment. If the female Avatar is Lucina’s mother or the 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 the 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 the 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 the 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 schemed from both sides by allying Plegia with Ylisse to defeat him, and 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 the Avatar confront Validar, where Validar reveals exactly what the Avatar was: the Avatar was born from Validar and was the only one to have had pure enough Fell Blood to possess the Heart of Grima, where the Avatar would serve as Grima’s vessel as some of the power of the Fell Dragon sleeps inside the Avatar. However, the 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 the Avatar since, until now. Despite overcome with fear and doubt, Chrom’s words made the Avatar stand their ground and face Validar.

The battle played much like the dream that the 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. The Avatar had already foreseen those events in a dream, and when the Avatar saw Flavia give Chrom the Gules Gemstone, the Avatar understood that the Fire Emblem shouldn’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. Thus, the Fire Emblem in Validar’s hands 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 argue that destiny was still set in stone as Chrom was dead, but all of a sudden, Validar turned around and was struck by a spell from the Avatar, wounding Validar, while Chrom got up, revealing to have survived as the 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 the 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 due to possession by 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 the Avatar’s Heart of Grima was too weak at the time to contain it, and thus resulted in the Avatar losing their memories. The headaches and voices that the 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 the Avatar’s choice to not become the dragon's vessel, Grima decides to resurrect the Grima of the present by using the life force of the human sacrifices ready for him in the Dragon’s Table. As both Grimas appeared, 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, the 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 the Avatar finishes that she can only seal him. Naga confirms this, and called the Avatar "Fellblood", due to the Avatar possessing power similar to Naga’s own, and knowing of the Avatar's origins. The Avatar then realized that if they and Grima were one and the same, then if the 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 the Avatar are linked to such a degree, killing Grima like that would most certainly kill the Avatar as well. Though she adds that the bonds that the Avatar forges can possibly return the Avatar to the mortal plane, the odds are so little that the 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 the 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 the Avatar by creating a physical manifestation of Avata’s form. After mocking them, Grima then offers the Avatar a chance to spare them if the 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 the Avatar would be absorbed into the Fell Dragon. Despite trying to resist, the Avatar becomes slowly consumed by the darkness the Fell Dragon unleashed on them. As the Avatar slowly began to fade away, the 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. The 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: The Avatar allows Chrom to finish Grima off, thus Grima returns to sleep for another 1000 years. However, the Avatar will regret the decision, despite being assured by Chrom (and the Avatar’s possible spouse and child) that the 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: The Avatar decides to end Grima once and for all, and channels Grima’s power and creates a dark energy sphere. As Grima questions the Avatar’s actions, the Avatar thanks Grima for giving the Avatar the connection, as that meant that the Avatar could sacrifice themselves to put an end to Grima. Grima states that the Avatar would not dare, but the 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 the Avatar fires the spell that destroys the manifestation of Grima and Grima begins to die. The Avatar then begins to fade away as well. The Avatar turned around and thanked Chrom and the others for everything, before finally ceasing to exist. Despite the Fell Dragon being gone for good, everyone grieves over the Avatar’s sacrifice, but Chrom and the others then decide that the Avatar was not dead, and would return, as their ties would assure that. Some time passes and the Avatar wakes up in the field to see and hear Chrom and Lissa standing over them, mirroring how they had first met. As the Avatar reaches for Chrom’s hand, the Avatar’s hand lacks Mark of Grima, signifying that Grima and the Avatar no longer shared a connection. As the 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

 * Playable units able to Pair Up and fight alongside allies through the Dual System.
 * 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: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
 * Est from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
 * Catria from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
 * Palla from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
 * 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: The Binding Blade
 * Lyn from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
 * 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: New Mystery of the Emblem.
 * 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, Lachesis, 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: The Binding Blade.
 * Eliwood, Lyn, Hector, Florina, Matthew, Serra, Karel, Nino, Jaffar, Nergal, Ursula, Lloyd, and Linus from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.
 * 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: New Mystery of the Emblem.

Collector's Edition
A limited edition Fire Emblem Awakening 3DS hardware bundle was released the United States and Canada. The bundle includes a pre-installed copy of Fire Emblem Awakening and a specially designed 3DS featuring artwork based on the game.

The same limited edition 3DS was released in Japan alongside the release of Fire Emblem Awakening in the region.

Voice Cast
See: List of Voice Actors in Fire Emblem Awakening

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.
 * The several Einherjar bonus teams are mostly comprised of generic units classes who relate to the Einherjar. For example, Ike's team is reminiscent of the Greil Mercenaries while Nino's references the The Black Fang.