Fire Emblem Tellius/WMG

"Chris" is Ike, and Soren is "Mark".
Chris is rather similar to Ike(though moreso to FE 9 Ike), and we never see Mark's face. Soren and Ike left Tellius, got split up, and now Ike is helping people out because that's just how he is, while Soren is partly trying to make himself a rep so he can get better answers from nobles and the like about Ike's whereabouts, partly repaying Lyn for saving his life. Would also explain why the Tactician/Mark doesn't do any more tactics after becoming known. As for the supposed sinking/flooding Yune/Ashunera caused, I think it's more likely it simply raised water levels around Tellius(since Ike seems to head for other continents at the end). This theory would put Tellius and Elibe in the same universe as Akaneia, Jugdral and Valencia. And I kind of already believe Magvel and Elibe to be part of the same universe.

The "true rival" that the fortune-teller told Mia about in Path of Radiance is Lucia.
Despite Mia's assumptions that her rival will be male (natural, since all of her life she's heard people tell her that women don't belong on the battlefield), nothing in the prophecy denotes the rival's gender. Bastian's comments when the Royal Knights first arrive on the scene in Chapter 23 suggest that all of them arrived on horseback, even the ones who don't normally battle on horseback, which would be more logical anyway because it's quicker, thus fulfilling the part about the rival "riding towards her"--and, of course, she wears white.
 * You know, that actually does make a lot of sense! It's a shame that the game designers apparently never thought of the same thing, though, if the unused support data in FE9 and FE10 is anything reliable. Lucia x Mia wasn't one of the options considered disappointingly enough. I bet their potential supports would have been hilariously like a genderflipped version of Oscar and Kieran's supports...
 * It was Kieran that she was referring to. Horse + Sword (on Promotion) + White Cape (once he promotes) + the potentially Massive Ham to Ham Combat...
 * Doesn't Zihark change to white clothing? He has a sword and cape at least.

Ike dies at the end of Radiant Dawn.
Because he "Leaves Tellius and was never seen again" just like how my dog "went to go live on a farm".
 * Seems likely, he had to many obligations to just leave and never return, he probably died in an accident with no survivors around to go back and report it while Janaff and Chaos were looking the other way.

Ike leaves Tellius for Super Smash Brothers Brawl to find a worthy opponent.
In much the same way Link left Hyrule to play Soul Calibur II. Ike has yet to find a suitable opponent, though.
 * One Problem: He loses all of his muscle and reverts back to his ranger class in Brawl.
 * Actually, in Brawl, Ike clearly has Ragnell, and at the end of Radiant Dawn, the picture of Ike has him in his ranger outfit.
 * Yeah, he only became a lord because it was expected of him (in order to lead an army), so he could have very well regarded the later outfits the same way.

Soren sent Ike to Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
No matter how you interpret Ike and Soren's relationship, you can't deny that Soren is very, very, clingy and loyal to Ike. Soren is also a Branded and will thus live a lot longer than Ike will - so with his devotion, where does that leave Soren when Ike dies? So Soren finds a way to cheat death by somehow discovering a way to keep Ike young or de-age him as necessary; if he can cling to the hope of finding a kid he met once years after the meeting, then he can do this. Also, Ike's ability to randomly conjure wind in his taunts was taught to him by Soren. There had to be some explanation for it.
 * Soren could be off screen making it blow on cue.

Soren is NOT Ashnard's son
How can you prove fatherhood without a blood test anyway? And did you notice Soren doesn't look anything like Ashnard? No, Almedha had an affair with... Rhys' father! Plot twists!
 * Doesn't Rhys look a little old for what would be 13 PoR 16 (RD) at most? (have Pelleas fight Izuka in 4-5)
 * The guess is that Soren is Rhys' half-brother, not Rhys is Ashnard's son.

Volke, from Path of Radiance, is a Branded.

 * 1) Volke is impersonal, stays hidden in the shadows even if he's not doing his job, and refuses to even converse with somebody unless he gets something for doing so. While this could be because of his job, it does seem eerily similar to how Soren and Stefan do their tasks.
 * Strengthened even further with statements that Micaiah had also been like this in the past.
 * 1) In Radiant Dawn, while most of the support conversations have been reduced to generic openings and closings, some are a tad more personalized. For example, Soren says unique things to Volke that wouldn't be said to others, should they have a link. But, why can Soren do this? He could only bond with Ike & a fellow Branded in the last game.
 * 2) Wearing heavy clothing is a bad idea if you're an assassin, and previous FE assassins haven't even worn enough to cover their stomach. So, why would Volke wear those baggy, brown robes - unless he's hiding something?
 * 3) Remember what a legendary powerhouse Greil is. Also, remember how much MORE power he had when he held Lehran's Medallion and went berserk. If Volke was supposed to kill him if he ever entered this state again, then that would require a lot of power. Branded are known for having at least a little more skill than your regular humans...
 * I could see him as a Raven or Cat Branded. Also, when it comes to Greil, the whole "Cut the tendons in his sword arm" was enough to get him killed by the Black Knight,
 * But in practice, Yune points out ALL the other Branded characters even AMY in any way affiliated with the army, but not Volke. So I would say, no he's not branded, but Stefan is his son with Soan.
 * The other branded were hanging around in plain sight though. Volke was off in the shadows as usual.

Devdan and Danved are not the same person.
Why would he lie?
 * Supporting evidence: Danved doesn't gain any bonuses at all, ever, from a Path of Radiance save file. The obvious reason is that he and Devdan aren't the same person.
 * Actually, I'm pretty sure he does get the stat bonuses. Any stats that Devdan caps changes Danved's base stats, as far as I know, which seems to imply they're one and the same.
 * Calill gets Largo's bonuses; does that mean that Calill is Largo?

Danved is actually the original personality/birth name of the character, not Devdan.
The obvious assumption, based on the fact that Devdan was the first persona we met and that "Danved" (or rather, "Nadved", his Japanese name and a true Sdrawkcab Name for Devdan) was introduced in PoR as Devdan's apparently-imaginary friend, is that Devdan is the real person and that Danved is a character he created and then took on.
 * However, Danved, while Hot-Blooded, seems to be of at least average intelligence, while Devdan is a Dumb Muscle, Gentle Giant type. An explanation for this is that at some point prior to Path of Radiance, Danved suffered a blow to the head that caused a concussion, and due to the temporary loss of brain function, the normally fiery warrior ended up taking on a new, more serene persona--the exact reverse of the usual, hence the backwards name. As he recovered, his original personality reemerged.

Ilyana has a tapeworm.
It would explain her Big Eater habits and apparent anemia.

Ilyana is diabetic.
To quote Wikipedia: "The classical symptoms of diabetes are polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst) and polyphagia (increased hunger)." When you get down to thinking about the rest of it, this is a very possible explanation.

Volke lives directly on money
As in he eats it, and drinks it.

Micaiah and Sothe are the parents of Zexion from Kingdom Hearts.
Or technically Ienzo. But think about it. Her weapon + his "emo" personality + her hair color + his hairstyle + her flair for magic and diplomacy + his rebellion = Zexion.

Amy is Zihark's daughter
He never gives us an exact time frame for when he broke up with his girlfriend. Amy appears to be between 5-7 in Radiant Dawn, so she was almost certainly born before Path of Radiance. Not being able to handle a forbidden relationship may just have been an excuse. If Zihark had gotten his girlfriend pregnant, she and her child would have had to hide from everyone, and she may have hidden it from Zihark to protect him.

Lucia is gay
She's very devoted to Elincia. She is very abrasive to Ike when they first meet. She supports three people in Path of Radiance. Her C support with Illyana starts off with her saying, "Well, well... Look at this cute little thing." In her supports with Janaff, she scares him off by saying she'll need a chaperone on a date. In her A support with Bastian, she says he's "impossible to hate" and that she might consider reciprocating his feelings. "MIGHT." And then blows him off to attend Elincia.
 * She and Bastian do have an affair if they have an A rank support in Radiant Dawn. She could be bisexual.

Lehran's Medallion's exposure causes emotional repression to all but a chosen few
Why else would every single person in the army of Radiant Dawn be about as emotional as a pile of rocks. It also may repress brain activity somewhat, explaining how you can have units saying the exact same thing to each other every time they support in battle...
 * Even if the characters didn't have much depth, they still show emotion. And most of them weren't ever anywhere near the medallion. Plus, since the medallion contains a god of chaos, shouldn't exposure make people more emotional?

Tauroneo is the Grandfather of Boyd, Rolf and Oscar

 * 1) In Path of Radiance Tauroneo mistakes Rolf for his Son, Tauroneo then goes on to explain how his son was injured in battle and crippled many years ago and that shortly after that his wife divorced him and moved to Crimea, where all of the brothers live.
 * 2) In both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn it's heavily implied the three brothers' father was a cripple and/or extremely ill, this would tie in with the story of Tauroneo's son who was crippled on the battlefield and moved to Crimea.
 * 3) Tauroneo stating Rolf's resemblance to his son may have just been a throwaway line to get the support started but in the Fire Emblem series coincidences regarding mentioned family members are very rare.
 * 4) Tauroneo himself bears some what of a passing resemblance to Boyd especially in Radiant Dawn.
 * 5) I'm not sure but I also vaguely recall Boyd mentioning their family came from Daein in a Support or Base Convo in Path of Radiance or Radiant Dawn (Don't quote me though, like I said, very vague.)
 * 6) Considering how much both Tauroneo and the three brothers have been through it wouldn't be the worst thing to see them find family somewhere in Ike's super powered army.

Volke was Ashera's Lover
Even The Gods Want Him.

Volke is a dark god.
Representing Greed and Violence. It's how he always shows up where he needs to be, and why his strength fluctuates so much- sometimes he's just not trying very hard. He just enjoys messing with people too much to see the world destroyed.
 * Wait a minute. Didn't Greil cut the tendons in his sword arm because Volke was afraid of him? So, DarkGod!Volke possibly caused Greil's death?

Haar is a shout out to Kakashi from Naruto.
Think about it. They're both missing eyes, are incredibly lazy, and can go from cool, calm and collected one moment, and deadly serious the next. They both usually have a very bored expression on their faces. Haar was one of the most respected leaders in Begnion's legion of Dracoknights, much like Kakashi is one of the most respected ninja in the Leaf Village. One of the reasons Haar joined Ike's army was to help and keep an eye on Jill, daughter of his late friend, General Shiharam. Kakashi received his Sharingan from his late friend, Obito Uchiha, and visits the memorial stone everyday in tribute. It could even be said that they both have somewhat similar hairstyles.

Tibarn fuses with his jacket when he shifts forms.
Well come on, his hair is Black and Wings Brown in Human form, everyone ELSES Fur/Feathers/Scales matches there hair colour yet Tibarn just randomly turns Green upon shifting, the only explanation is that the green comes from his jacket. How and why does he fuse with it? Hell I dunno.

Nephenee has epic Idiot Hair
We're talking Konata-level epic Idiot Hair, and she's embarrassed by it, which is why she never takes off her helmet.

Ike is Zelgius's son
In a game series wherein hair color denotes family relations, no one thought to wonder why Ike doesn't share his father's hair color. Indeed compare Greil to Ike to Zelgius. Uncanny isn't it. Note that by this train of logic Mist is Greil's daughter (and indeed does have his hair color) and Ike is her brother by adoption.
 * Actually, if you take a look at Greil's OA and Ike's FE10 OA you'll see the resemblance between father and son more. On top of the fact that Ike resembles his mother and takes a different shade of her hairstyle.

Ranulf never left with Ike in their paired ending.
It only says that Ranulf set off on a journey after Skrimir was crowned. Knowing Ranulf's personality, it's quite possible that he left by himself to explore the world at the beat of his own drum.

Canon People to go into the Tower of Guidance:
Ike, Micaiah, Sothe ,Sanaki, Kurthnaga, Ena, Reyson, Soren ,Titania, Elincia, Tibarn, Pelleas, Naesala, Nalaih, Cain, Sigrun and Mist.
 * Wait, isn't Pelleas in the first play through?

Mist was suppose to be the main lord/hero
In the battle with the black knight in Path of Radiance, Mist says "Sniff...sniff... You... you took my brother and my father!" Brother with the implication that Ike is dead!

Lethe was stood up
Ike gives Lethe his word he'll come live in Gallia. (Support conversation) ...Guess what? In fact!

Bryce's killer canonically leaves the Wishblade with his body
Everyone always wonders how Levail got the Wishblade in the second game. Well guess what: just because you took it from Bryce's cold dead fingers doesn't mean the characters did. Ike respected Bryce, and so did Taureneo. I can't see either of them stealing the Wishblade off of his corpse, or letting anyone else do so for that matter. They probably left it with him, and at some point Zelgius came along and claimed it for Levail.

Soren goes with Ike whether they have an A support or not.
According to Soren's non-Ike-A-support ending, he "never used his talents for anyone but Ike." So he either sat in a corner and mooched off everyone, or he just followed Ike. The difference is the A-support makes it explicit, for the fangirls.

Volke and Heather are siblings.
Suggested that Heather's mother is sick: Volke left out to do work, no matter how dirty to get money to cure and take care of his mother. However, being the only man left in the house, getting up to leave and doing some jobs for extended periods of time (Events of Path of Radiance) Heather got upset at men in general for her father and her brother ditching them. Heather then took upon a life of cheating and stealing to get money. Volke might be spending the money to find a cure for their mother, but to no avail so far. After all, he doesn't like to talk about it.

Shinon's hatred toward the Laguz extends all the way back to his backstory (that was never elaborated on) amongst other things that explain his actions in game...
Shinon is one of the few members of the Greil Mercenaries who lacks a backstory (the same could be said for Gatrie, but he comes off as happy go lucky and normal). If you talk to him with the other members of the Greil mercenaries in chapter 19 (hopefully neither him or the other members get killed) as well as pay attention to Janaff's support, Shinon's conversations come off as a roundabout way of telling everyone what he went through in life but given his personality, would never say it out loud.

His support with Janaff, Janaff asks Shinon is he's the type of human that would go making weapons and hunt animals and their kind and Shinon retorts that it's the other way around. Ha! ""We make weapons to protect ourselves from you half-breeds! Only wealthy bluestockings with too much time on their hands hunt for sport!""

Now there's one thing this troper didn't notice originally was that Shinon wasn't lying when he said that. When playing the game, this troper noticed that Shinon hasn't lied once in the game simply because he's a Jerkass and is very blunt with his opinions. What does that mean? This troper believes that Shinon might have been attacked in the past by Laguz hence his hatred for Laguz continues even in Radiant Dawn when all the Greil Mercenaries have gotten use to Laguz. Even Soren who was rather racist toward the beast tribe changed his opinion at least in Radiant Dawn. However, Shinon's refusal to change might not be because he's a Jerkass but because he has a hard time letting go of the past (as prove as every year, he apparently gets drunk whenever the time of Greil's death arrives). This is further shown when he insults Lyre when she wasn't doing anything until she hears him using the term "Sub Human". Even when Kyza apologizes for her, when Kyza leaves, he tells Gatrie that he's worse than Lyre because "he's trying to act like them when he's not." Of course, Gatrie didn't hear him so the brief moment of Shinon actually letting out his frustration that might be about his past out is ignored again.

This troper can conclude that Shinon's reason for hating the Laguz is mainly because of the beast tribe most likely a tiger Laguz given that his attitude toward Kyza was worse than it was with Lyre.

Also, the series makes it seem like the only tribe that will attack Beroc for fun are the ravens mainly because their main personality is that of being stingy. The series makes it seem like the beast tribe are usually easy to get along with once the boundaries are past. What's to say that there are beast Laguz that instigated in the same activities as Beroc? Given that Naesala makes his dealings with the Begnion senators, it wouldn't be a surprise if other Laguz did it as well. After all, Janaff seemed startled at the suggestion that Laguz would do the same thing as Beroc.

Then let's go back to the conversations he can have with the other Greil mercenary members such as Oscar, you find out that he did try to serve the Begnion army after he left the group but apparently his status as a "commoner" (which could range from middle class to poor to slaves) made Begnion reject him as a whole hence he went to Daein where status apparently didn't matter as long as you could fight. Not that this would be related to the Fantastic Racism, but given the WMG, this troper would apply it to his backstory.

Path of Radiance states that Shinon joined shortly after Titania. However, given his age being 27, he would have at least joined when he was a child. After all, Titania is at least in her 30s and has been with Greil for a while despite the fact that he already hooked up with Elena. If the evidence of Shinon being attacked by a beast Laguz and being a commoner above is supported, then that would mean that this past is what made him join Greil.

If he has a support with Sanaki in Radiant Dawn he comments that his mother "wasn't loving" and from Janaff's support in Path of Radiance about hating Ike because he takes everything for granted plus his drunk outburst on Ike. This could imply that he saw Greil as the father he either a.) never had or b.) one he had but lost if his hatred for Laguz runs deep to the point where he says that weapons are made to protect Beroc from them despite Laguz rarely interacting with Beroc. There's no doubt that Ike loves his father but in comparison to Shinon who seems to have to work for everything instead of Ike who had everything handed to him by the person he admired with a passion, it would make sense why he would take his anger out on Ike. And then there's the fact that despite his hatred toward Ike, he never left after being forced back and Aimee simply says that Shinon doesn't like Ike or people in general but is willing to help the Greil mercenaries out in terms of money regardless of all his insults and complaints.

This troper wonders if everything lines up with the timeline...but she thinks this would explain a lot of his actions in the series and why he comes off as more distant than a huge Jerkass everyone labels him as in series and outside.

There will be a sequel to Radiant Dawn.
Maybe 10 years after RD, after the only one who could bring stability to Tellius (Ike) has left for good, there will be another war. The plot will center around Micaiah and Soren (who has not left with Ike). Sanaki will be kidnapped/assassinated and Begnion will fall into chaos. To bring peace back again, Micaiah will use her birthright and take over as the Empress, although she still is queen of Daein. Soren on the other hand will by now have learned of his heritage and hangs around in Goldoa. Micaiah's dual-kingdom-rulership will lead to political tensions in Daein so that Soren instead claims rulership over it as Ashnard's son, finding many supporters in the ranks of Ashnard's former men as well as being backed by Goldoa. So Tellius will fall into a bloody war between Begnion, Goldoa and a divided Daein.
 * They can't just Retcon an ending (Soren leaving) like that.
 * No? Why? It's not like the ending is entirely canonical. It only happens if Soren and Ike share an A-Support. In other FE-Games, that would be the equivalent of marriage for the main char. They never made any of those entirely canon, except for certain cases. They could also say that Soren was about to leave with Ike but then somehow ended up staying for some reason, as to not entirely un-canonize the ending.
 * According to Serenes Forest, Soren's A-Ending is, and I quote, "When peace had settled on the land, Soren packed lightly and set off with the only person he had ever trusted." Now, just because the person he set out with was never seen again, it doesn't mean Soren is also gone forever...very likely, yes, but it's certainly possible that he could leave Ike (or whatever's left of him) and return to Tellius on his own.
 * Spoilers abound, but, actually, the more I think of it, it could work... considering Micaiah and Soren are both going to live a very long time - Sanaki too, maybe, although I'm not sure if she's also a Branded or just has laguz blood that's lying dormant. So it could be Sanaki gets assassinated, or instead dies of old age with no apparent heirs. And while Daein would probably not care about Ashnard's true heir a hundred years after Micaiah's been reigning, a Soren post-Ike would be more than a little crazy and powerful enough (at least in my games he could do it on his own!) to take over, especially if Micaiah's in Begnion at the time. And although most of the heroes (all the beorc ones) would be dead, the laguz would still be around and the conflict could escalate when they start choosing sides. I remember Nasir didn't think three years was long at all, so maybe a fondness for Ike would still motivate some to side with Soren even though they haven't seen him in 100 years?
 * Adding on to that, Soren is King of Goldoa Kurthnaga's nephew, and if Almedha is still in Daein and prompts him, then Kurth will likely side with family. And we all know that King of Gallia Skrimir (Caineghis abdicates right after the war) would side with the little tactician that almost won the laguz war for him back in the day - after all, he makes clear to Micaiah that the only reason he respects her is because she's a vessel of a goddess, and after the war Yune disappears (I think, but everyone talks about living in a godless world...). So that leaves the Bird tribes, which could go either way - Tibarn is their leader and would probably side with Soren, again because of Soren's showing in the war or conversely because Ike was just that awesome, but Reyson might convince him to side with Micaiah out of respect for Sanaki, considering she was the one who gave them back Serenes. Naesala will probably betray whoever they decide anyway, so no one will ask him. Daein will be under Soren's command, Begnion under Micaiah's, and that leaves poor little Crimea, run by Elincia's child or grandchild (with Geoffrey, probably) to try being neutral. Again. (Geez, I've thought about this too much.)
 * What about Stephan's new country?
 * That is a good question. I can see it going a number of ways - if you got an A support between Stefan and Soren in Po R, Stefan sides with him; if not, he sides with Micaiah? But that would be a lot of effort for the theoretical developers to make the game have 2 paths. Or maybe at this point Stefan's country hasn't been founded yet, so whoever makes it to the desert first and steps on a certain square gets him ;) Or maybe his country does exist and he insists on neutrality and spends the game trying to get Micaiah and Soren to knock it off because they're both Branded and need to work together.