Several years ago, the Lord of Dark kidnapped the now-late Queen of Lucrece and was slain by Hasshe and Uranus. When the foul archon rises again to abduct Princess Alethea, the heroes are nowhere to be found. Thus her betrothed Oersted and his Childhood Friend Streibough set off to defeat the archon...you know how this ends, right?
But, could fate be diverged from its intended course...?
Forgotten Wings is Nago Mie's reimagining of the Middle Ages chapter of Live A Live made entirely in RPG Maker VX. This animation was posted in episodic form
from 2009 to 2012 on Nico Nico Douga.
Spoilers for the original Middle Ages chapter are unmarked.
Forgotten Wings provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: In general, the Middle Ages chapter is extended into something resembling a full-length game.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Advent of the Lord of Dark's Radd and Caesar are separate from their canon counterparts and thus never share their fates.
- Streibough redeems himself unlike his canon fate, joining the party for the final dungeon.
- Age Lift: Unlike the original, the slaying of the Lord of Dark happened 15 years ago, and thus "Lucrece Trio" are teens instead.
- Art Evolution: The battle sprites have improved since the later videos' release. Especially Alethea's attire, with her dress being simple in the early episodes.
- Asshole Victim: The Minister, who had planned to usurp power from the royal family and take over Lucrece, ends up killed by Streibough.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lucrece is saved, while Oersted vanishes for sometime but manages to return to his beloved ones in the end. Although Alethea loses her original body to the Lilium-Odium fusion, Cecilia selflessly gives up their existence to save the former by lending the body of Alethea Prime. Unfortunately, Sabrina/Odio/Oersted Prime is angered over his "Alethea" vanishing from him again and swears revenge.
- Bookends: The series starts and ends with a tournament in Lucrece's courtyard.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Hygrophobia, or Lauressa as she was once called, was betrothed to her childhood friend Radd, who Oersted resembles. Unfortunately, her jealous sister Tristia (who became Scotophobia) ruined their special day, resulting in Radd's death and the sisters demonified into the Phobias.
- Combat Medic: Melmern learns a bunch of healing spells, replacing the deceased Uranus.
- Death by Adaptation: Radd (also known as Oersted's counterpart in the R:Mix continuity), died sometime ago before the tournament began.
- Demoted to Extra: Radd (Oersted) and Caesar (Streibough) from the stage play Advent of the Lord of Dark make an appearance among their canon counterparts, abet with reduced roles.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: The Minister, implied to have died to Odio's sword in the original is instead vaporized by a disguised Streibough.
- Disc-One Final Dungeon: Turns out Archon's Roost, despite being longer on the second trek, wasn't their final destination...
- Five-Man Band: During the final battle, Alethea joins the quartet as support.
- Gender Flip: Scotophobia is The One Guy of the Phobias in the original game, but female in this story.
- Gentle Giant: Gilgot the jotun is said to have a calm nature compared to his bestie.
- Happily Adopted: Oersted was a orphan raised by Streibough's parents.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Hygrophobia aka Lauressa takes a blow meant for Oersted, reminded of Radd and her previous life as a human.
- Alethea decides to give up her body so it can be used to seal away both Lilium and Odium, though she survives.
- Cecilia sacrifices their existence to give Alethea's soul their body. Sabrina - or rather Odio doesn't take it too well.
- I Will Wait for You: It's implied that Queen Alethea and the others had awaited Oersted's return for a year in the ending.
- Identical Stranger: Radd and Oersted. What sets them apart is their differing clothing and personality.
- In Spite of a Nail: Hasshe, Uranus and the Lucrece King still die their canon deaths.
- Infinity +1 Sword: The ultimate weapons for Melmern and Gilgot require facing off against an Optional Boss each time.
- Karmic Death: Tristia/Scotophobia was responsible for attempting a Deal with the Devil after her jealousy over Radd choosing Lauressa/Hygrophobia. The result? The guy dies, she and her sisters are turned into demons, and when Oersted defeats her, she loses control over her power seeing the knight's resemblance to the man she pined for and dies screaming his name, compared to Lauressa going out with more dignity.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Hygrophobia traps Oersted with an illusory Lucrece, away from his allies, while disguised as her human self.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- An epilogue to the story reveals the Boy from Fugalia's name is Joshua.
- The original Lord of Dark (who's still around, by the way) went unnamed. Here he reveals his true name when assimilating Lilium into himself - Odium.
- One-Man Army: Defied, as Oersted gets two new allies on his second trip through Archon's Roost.
- Our Elves Are Different: It is unspecified on what kind of elf Melmern is, but due to her skills with a bow and magic, she might be a Wood Elf.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: Downplayed. Gilgot the jotun is just a head taller compared to everyone else, which might mean the same of his species.
- Original Generation:
- Melmern, the elf archer and Gilgot, the jotun axeman are new playable characters created for this reimagining of the story.
- Subverted with Sabrina and Cecilia, who is Odio/Oersted Prime in disguise and a revived Alethea Prime...with Oersted Prime's original mindset.
- The Final Boss is Lilium, a goddess.
- Posthumous Character: Radd, a man resembling Oersted and the Childhood Friend of the women who became the Phobias. No wonder Lauressa/Hygrophobia felt sentimental...
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The fused abomination that is Lilium and Odium is ultimately banished within Alethea's body, with Ragnarok slashing the latter's existence in the human world, which nearly costs the princess' life until Cecilia sacrifices themselves.
- Shout-Out:
- Melmern and Gilgot are an elf-and-jotun duo whose homes have been in conflict, one to Mabinogi as a whole.
- Oersted's appearance being based off the Fighter/Warrior of Light from the first Final Fantasy I is taken to its logical conclusion with his class change, the Knight being the Cosmic Armor set alongside Ragnarok upon the final battle.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the end, Oersted, Streibough, Alethea and the Lucrece smallfolk are ultimately spared from their deaths, one way or another.
- Sword of Plot Advancement: Brion is used to open the gate of the Archon's Roost, as usual. It upgrades to Ragnarok during the final battle.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Lilium's Realm, a dimension resembling Heaven.
- Was Once a Man:
- The four Phobia women were once human, and were turned when Tristia ruined Lauressa's engagement with Radd.
- Sabrina turns out to be Odio/Oersted from the original game.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Once Lilium possesses Alethea, she steals the souls of the Lucrece smallfolk.