A new rumor has cropped up on the internet suggesting that Tharja was removed from Super Smash Bros. as a trophy because Nintendo wanted to avoid the ESRB giving the game a higher rating. The game is currently rated as E for everyone, but had Tharja been includes it’s speculated that the ESRB would have wanted a more mature rating for the game. Tharja was not supposed to be a playable character within Super Smash Bros., but rather a trophy.
This is evidenced by the fact that a scene from Fire Emblem: Awakening revealing the character in the North American version of the game has been censored. You can see the censor below for that game:
While it didn’t take much to censor the game for release in North America, the trophy version of Tharja would be much harder given that they’re actual 3D models. Here’s a few of the images that seem to hint that this rumor could be true:
