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Heroes do not always look heroic. In fact, some of the greatest heroes of all are the most burdened, the most troubled, the weakest.
Few other pieces of media embrace this idea as well as Dark Souls and the other Fromsoft games, which make death a feature, not a bug.
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Watch our new series WORLDSMITHS! ➤ http://curiositystream.com/talefoundry
Click the link to get the Curiosity Stream + Nebula bundle, which will not only give you access to Nebula (where you can watch WORLDSMITHS, including the new episode about Hidetaka Miyazaki), but also all of Curiosity Stream, all for less $2 per month!
There's a quote from Chainsaw Man: "The ones Devils fear the most aren't the smartest or bravest, they're the ones with a few screws loose." I feel like that applies to souls protagonists as well. Nobody who is sane would continue die over and over as they kill gods in order to link the flame, or to journey into Yharnam and come face to face with eldritch gods.
There are so many tragic heros in the souls games. Honestly, I feel bad for some of the characters in bloodborne, ludwig being one of them.
He thought he was doing the greater good only to be met with a tragic end. He is a legend in so many people's eyes but the hero himself became apart of the scourge. When fighting him in the dlc he fights as a beast and then as a seasoned killer.
check out gingy lore video on mortal shell, it's story is both inspiring and devastating.
This video is the Dark Souls of Video Essays
Hot Take. I don't think "Heroism" is a trait that can be quantified.
No one person has "More" Heroism than another, you either do have heroism or you don't. Heroism is a mindset, one that can be gained or lost as ones perspective shifts, it is a selfless pursuit making the world better regardless of the scale. A child standing up to a bully, or a protestor standing up to a corrupt regime. Maybe you donate some of your food to a shelter, maybe you donate a vital organ to a total stranger whom you may never meet. Heroism is doing the objectively right thing wether or not anyone acknowledges you for it, a hero is someone who answers the call to action regardless of the form it takes.
Link is not less of a hero because his enemies are not as insurmountable as those in Dark Souls or because he has "destiny" on his side. He IS a Hero period because he would still fight even if they were, even when overwelmed by Guardians he stood his ground to the last.
This trope in souls games is actually inspired from Berserk, which this video does a disservice not mentioning given how much the souls series owes to Berserk. Berserk itself got this from Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone. But the trope itself dates back to Norse myth and inspired many other doomed heroes, from wikipedia's page on Elric:
"Moorcock has referred to Elric as a type of the "doomed hero", one of the oldest character-types in literature, akin to such hero-villains as Mervyn Peake's Steerpike in the Titus Groan trilogy, Poul Anderson's Scafloc in The Broken Sword, T. H. White's Lancelot in The Once and Future King, J. R. R. Tolkien's cursed hero Túrin Turambar, and Jane Gaskell's Zerd in The Serpent."
This reminds me strongly of my favorite webnovel Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. It also has many points in common with the stories mentioned in the video: there's no clear prophecy for the main character, he is not strong just has knowledge on his side (which becomes limited later in the story) he has allies that you can consider overpowered as the story progresses but that doesn't make the journey any easier; in fact his allies are his weakness in a brilliant way, he also sacrificed himself in many ways (later on beyond just death ) to achieve what he wanted while going against beings beyond understanding.
It also has a lot of interesting plot twists, I recommend it! I consider many of the narratives used in it to be really imaginative and the fact that (slight spoiler ) it makes the reader part of the story is amazing.
Excellent video man, thank you! Just discovered your channel and subscribed! 👍🏾
One of the best parts of souls is a lot of the time your killing your own predecessors.
I was just watching through 5-6-year-old DS3 content and see this video. yummy content
Hey everyone ik its pretty late but i just wanna tell u all to take it easy, relax, pray to GOD and have and trust in GOD as well as believe in his one and only son Jesus and to repent of your sins- 🙂
If we're to look at the Soulsborne games as narratives, I'd say that the NPCs that die for what they believe in at the end of their storylines are more heroic than the protagonist. Though the lore of these games define ways in which these characters can lose their immortality (giving up or giving in), the protagonist themselves never do and make it to the end because there is no way to "give up" or "give in" in the game mechanics, only in the metacontextual way of the player giving up before beating the game. Even in this case, since the player isn't the character in the narrative, it wouldn't count to equate them giving up as the protagonist in the narrative giving up. Simply because someone stops reading a novel doesn't change the way the novel plays out.
The ragtime music after the intro hit different this video
My favorite type heroes
In Morrowind, Nerevar's Reincarnation, the player, is not some person who was definitely born with a certain name in a certain place to parents of a certain race. Instead, Nerevar's Reincarnation is literally whatever motherfucker got off that boat who was a bad enough dude to specifically be the kind of person who'd narrow in on stopping Dagoth Ur. And even our canon Nerevarine in the greater story has no guaranteed form as a Dark Elf, as by the point of Oblivion he is able to shift between every race of Tamriel. The Reincarnation, the Nerevarine, was just any dude who would fulfill enough of the prophecy, and once they had gone far enough that they could not back out, reality itself changed so that they were always The Nerevarine. After all, the world is a dream, and the world of dreams can shift in an instance if the story calls for it.
some of the best games ever created being talked about on one of my new favorite channels. perfect
"This is not the end of me, this is the beginning."
-We are the Souls, a dark souls song, by the Pruld
Ahhh finally
Been waiting for this colab for a long time
That section of the Dragonslayer vs the child actually pulled my heartstrings, what a great video, in Dark Souls 1 we are known as the chosen undead, but the prophecy itself is fake, set in motion by Gwyn to keep the age of fire going, so indeed we're no one special, and yet we succeeded
>cursed hero video
>mentions Guts
>I’m satisfied 🫶
I've honestly thought of the souls games in a more depressing way. The "heroes" being tricked into it by prophecy, and duty, when in the end they're just a sacrifice. Tricked into maintaining a status quo they can't begin to understand.
The idea of the cursed hero reminds me of Elric of Melnibonè.
Elric is a frail albino who’s frail body is falling apart. He is only kept alive by his sword Stormbringer, that feeds off of souls.
Even though Elric is a cursed, and frail freak, he still persists.
Also knowing how the author used Elric as a metaphor for drug addiction is quite eye opening. Even though Elric is quite the anti-hero, he gives me hope that a person so frail and weak can find strength in persistence and determination.
I would honestly love to hear your thoughts on Elric of Melnibonè
I think something special about Dark Souls(and NOT the other souls games) is the true lack of a higher power responsible for everything. The gods are weak and dying, the universe is dying. There's no higher power that the gods can answer to. No unknowable abstract god that dictated everything intentionally or otherwise. Just the slow gradual entropic decay of the universe.
Perma death in the respective games:
Dark Souls: Dementia+wasting away.
Bloodborne: Lycanthropy.
Elden Ring: The CEO and Board have decided you are no longer of use and aren't worth reviving.