#black fatalis

[apathmakerstale]

MONSTER HUNTER WILDS ENDING SPOILERS

I was right! Well half right so far! There was not a war fully, at least they have yet to confirm as they do make a mention as to WHY Wyveria would need to create guardians but Wyveria was destroyed by a wyvern they made, Zoh Shia!

Zoh Shia is the Equal Dragon Weapon!

It's not one to one obviously since the EDW was concept only and not even canon, but it is absolutely based off of the EDW and that concept brought to realization. It's an artificial Elder Dragon.

Wyveria is the Ancient Civilization obviously and are even flat told it's them, and have all the hallmarks of the old lore. They abused the ecosystem, perverted the natural state of life, and committed various violations of the laws of nature that led to some of their descendents taking up a repentant mantle.

Zoh Shia is an absolutely monster in comparison to any other Elder Dragon wyvern. It doesn't even have eyes! They're just blank holes! And it undergoes a painful transformation when pushed far enough that it's outer shell literally blows out of it's skin and it's head and body becomes Fatalis and Black Dragon like and then starts pulling out it's moves!

It was feeling so familiar and that's because it's made out of Black Dragons! The Hunter even panics when it's mentioned! It rears up like Fatalis does and fires off blasts of fire that explode, red lighting and meteors, does a weakened nova that burns away everything, it has Alatreon's explosion and chaotic elemental shift and causes explosions, and even has Gore Magala and Dire Miralis's arms that come out of it's back and tail and stuff!

It even has parallels to Xeno and Safi as it can absorb energy and change entire ecosystems!

That's why it rebelled! Wvyeria attempted to harness the power of the Black Dragons and were destroyed by it.

This may be why Fatalis hates humans so much as it has seen what humans did to it's kind and kin!

I'm just so happy they made it canon since this was literally my fav part of the old lore.

[toasterteostra]

inktober day 14, "castle"

"My grandfather always told me the story of a dragon destroying a kingdom in only one day. But that's only this: a story, right?"

[sabrerine911]

"Big Berserker Lady Slaying the big Evil, with still no way back home" (MHW)

Featuring my "halfgiant" Beth Ravencoft, her Palico Solveig, and a dead Fatalis

Wanted to celebrate my first Fatalis clear and solo, so I sketched this up, might color later.

(for context usually my characters aim for openings to return to their setting, usually by killing very cataclysmic/evil enteties)

From a non-lore standpoint, Fatty was one of the toughest things I cleared in a game, I was SWEATING on that timer XD

not looking forward to redoing it with my other 2 alts, Ill probably SoS with them tbh XD

Solo was...an experience

[superrexa]

Art of the legendary dragon "Fatalis" from Monster Hunter franchise ,that I made for a commission on deviantart.

[animalstamp]

Day 31 (The Last Day): Fatalis

You know my name.

I am something that can’t be slain.

Take your last breath.

I am death.

Fatalis

[kaijuthespacemaniraptorian]

The Black dragons playing fortnite

idk what i was doing but have this shitty animation

[the-nerd-beast]

"End of All Things" - The Ultimate Fatalis Song | Monster Hunter Wilds Tribute

[puppetmaster13u]

Batman & Monster Hunter Crossover

So if anyone knows the monster Fatalis, there's a bit of lore on it and the White Fatalis, specifically the armour. There's a legend in-world that the person who wears the armour slowly turns into Fatalis, the calamity being reborn in them.

Small lesson over, imagine if Bruce were to use this legend to his advantage in a realm where the two fandoms are combined into one world. A Batman who mimics the dragon and well, everyone knows the legends. Everyone knows the dragon that wiped out an entire civilization in one night.

And now they remember the tales of those that have defeated such creatures, who are slowly consumed by the rage and bloodthirst until their humanity is gone.

[soggyskinflaps]

What a pretty kitty

[ognimdo2002]

Fatalis (Obscuravormis dominus) – Black Wyvern of Demise

Fatalis is the Elder Dragon introduced in Monster Hunter.

It was most dangerous of all known animals in Monster Hunter series. Due to destruction of Castle Schrade caused by the Black Dragon and some of people migrate and settled in what now Dundorma, Kokoto, and Astera. Fatalis' habitat origin was truly controversial.

Fatalis was undefeated and that's a reason to kill its opponents using fire, explosive, and the dragon energy. The Fatalis is the most intelligent, but dumber than any Elder Dragons. Their skin was nearly unbreakable, and fire resistant. Their eyes aren't real, there are made of unknown materials that Fatalis is full sighted and similar to binoculars or spyglasses that increase or decrease the vision or view of this species.

Unlike the dragons, the Fatalis cannot break the tail, and it was a featured. Fatalis can kill poachers, loggers, and even enemies to supervillains thanks for their powerful abilities.

Lore

Fortunately, Fatalis was a natural disaster and an animal, and doesn't affected by Thanos' snap. Thanos was possibly defeated by Fatalis. Possibly the Avengers noticed that the war between Rathalos and Rathian against Fatalis was on what now Germany on their cave paintings.

Fatalis wasn't affected by obedience of Isu's Piece of Eden, except for dragon energy infused weapons from Hephaestus or Peter the Apostle.

Fatalis – © Capcom, Marvel Studios

[luvsavos]

Hey, it’s the Aiden anon again! I’m sorry bro, but I don’t have Discord, but I’m STILL SUPER interested on your thoughts on Aiden. PLEASE I’m begging you Mr. Martin, I need a MASSIVE text post from you about him. And honestly it’s for my friend too. Aiden is her babygirl. She has been in love/loved him since 4U and we both are always so excited to see him.

oh hello again!! it's no worries that you don't have discord, i definitely do Not at ALL mind going on a ramble about my boy, though i absolutely apologize in advance for the length of this post LMAO

for the most part until after the events of iceborne, my interpretation of him is fairly close to canon, though there is Some differences or original things here and there so disclaimer in advance since i'm maintagging this for canon divergence, this is my own little au that i am completely normal and not at all insane about; all of the stuff post-fatalis is based on rps with a friend so there's a Lot

if you/whoever's reading this just want my general Thoughts on aiden as a character and not my whole batshit insane au lore stuff, that'll be at the bottom of the post! (sorry)

when he was a kid, he was pretty carefree as you'd expect, he loved to help out around the village when he wasn't off playing with the other kids or his little sister (i don't think we ever got anything about his bio family in canon so this was entirely just me making things up LMAO). when the elder dragon activity caused the monster stampede that destroyed his village when he was only 7, he tried desperately to save people (specifically his sister) but, of course, failed, and i BELIEVE i'd headcanoned that he watched At Least One of his family members actively get gored/trampled by some monsters?

obviously the entire experience left him with a fear of monsterkind, and even into adulthood it still weighs heavily on him and likely occasionally causes nightmares and the likes. running blindly from the stampede with absolutely no sense of direction nor semblance of anything to help him survive in the wilderness, it's a miracle that he came across timben when he did, and naturally the people there took him in. though still weighed down by his trauma, aiden did his best to be as helpful around the village as possible, and he quickly became popular among the villagers for his willingness and readiness to help out wherever he could, and for his cheerful, outgoing personality. eventually, he decided he was tired of being frightened of monsters, so he took to studying them and making puns of their names as a way to cope and make himself less afraid of them. all this is pretty much just canon so far, from the legends of the guild movie (save for the parts about his old village, other than the stampede thing; i think that's the only real details we get about his home village?)

and then, of course, when he was fifteen (this isn't his canon age, i don't entirely know how old he's supposed to be in lotg? i THINK 17-18 but cmon he gives me the vibes of Unmedicated Adhd Teenager. fun fact julius is only 4 years older than aiden so that makes him 19 in this so that doesn't make a ton of sense but its fine i can ignore that, bro's already stressed himself to the point of white hair LMAO i think i'd make him a bit older than that though, maybe in his mid-late twenties?) came the elder crossing, and with it came julius, to warn timben of an oncoming lunastra that was headed in their direction. honestly idk why i'm recapping this canon stuff but listen i love talking about aiden okay ahdnsbfjgn

since the villagers refused to budge, aiden accompanied julius to go see the elder dragon for himself so that he can tell the villagers so they'll evacuate, and of course imprinted onto julius like an orphaned (ha bad joke) duckling along the way

don't need to recap all of lotg since it all plays out the same way; he admired everyone that helped try to fight off the lunastra, but he particularly looked up to mae like an older sister (this would later lead him to naming a kinsect paisley in honour of her's), and he still in present-day keeps her journal. the entire experience was... rough on him. he didn't feel any sense of victory, just a sort of hollowness and guilt---he blamed himself for mae and ravi's deaths, considering it was his impulsive suggestion to fight the lunastra rather than run that got them killed. it also left him with a permanent terror of lunastra specifically (this will come into relevance somewhat a bit later), and it solidified his resolve to become a proper hunter, so that he could learn how to properly fight monsters and protect people like he wanted to, and ensure nothing like that would happen again.

now here's where we start to get a Liddol Bit of canon divergence; anyone who's talked to me about my au knows that i REALLY like the idea of the guild being not as clean and morally sound as they like to seem---i really like exploring the concept of corruption within it, and the shady practices they keep under wraps. after all, power tends to breed corruption, and even if it's run by wyverians and Is primarily dedicated to genuinely trying to preserve the balance, the guild IS an incredibly powerful and influential organization (if not the single most powerful/influential one in the mh universe), and that's likely going to inevitably attract people who don't exactly have the best intentions in mind.

so! the guild. guild knights. we know that the knights are sent out to deal with poachers and the likes via apprehending them and/or killing them. that already means that, more than likely, our sweet boy aiden has human blood on his hands. so why not delve into that? aiden tended to prefer to stick to just helping protect and maintain the safety of places rather than do the whole Killing People thing, as i don't doubt that the concept of taking another human/wyverian/etc life upsets him. HOWEVER. early on into his days as a knight, he was sent out with a group of unfamiliar knights to deal with a velocidrome that was "causing problems" in a small village. the problems? it had been injured, and an old woman that lived some distance away from the village had taken it back to her house and nursed it back to health, and it chose to simply Stay, and that made the villagers uneasy. honestly, it wasn't really causing any genuine issues---it was just existing and choosing to stay with the person that had saved its life. the orders were clear cut: deal with "the problem" by any means necessary. aiden was gentler than the others (who were far more shady and... much less well-intentioned than him), but the woman was resolute in that she wouldn't let them kill the drome. so, as a "rite of passage," so to speak, the other guild knights forced aiden to kill not only the velocidrome, but the old woman as well. Guild Trauma, Babey!

the experience left a lasting mark on him, and he never told julius or the other ace hunters what exactly happened, but they could all tell that Something had based on how quiet and somber he was for several days after the incident. that was the first human life he took, and while he's undoubtedly had to kill poachers and other people who genuinely Were in the wrong, knowing that he has innocent blood on his hands has remained with him even long after he left the guild to join with the research commission. i'm nice to my faves i swear (<- lying)

so! fast forward to the commission, since there's not much else of importance for his guild days (yet, once i play 4u/gu this might change). this is where things really start to get divergent as they involve my ocs so buckle up lads we're going on An Adventure™️

like i said, really things are Mostly the same until post-iceborne; rather than a proper hunter, my player character oc is a "rider" that was raised by an anjanath so rather than kill all the monsters (though he doesn't have much issue with doing so) in the story some were simply communicated with and/or relocated if necessary, ie the agitated pukei, vaal hazak ("without a vaal hazak the entire rotten vale ecosystem would collapse!" [kills vaal hazak anyways] thank you monster hunter very cool!)

aiden takes a liking to the field team leader (achilles, as my friend i rp with named him<3) and they grow closer throughout base world, enough so that aiden ends up his second-in-command in seliana (this appears to be canon? idk he can be seen giving out more direct orders during the defense of seliana quest while ftl gives out generalized ones and theyre Always Seen Together except for in One (1) cutscene, post-velkhana death (i'm normal about them i promise) and theyre both at the council table right next to each other.....), things are Nice, everything's Great

and then Fatalis Happens. canonly, as i recall, aiden Nearly Died because of fatalis. like. lea/serious handler talks about how if he'd died she doesn't know how she would've kept going, aiden talks about how thinking about julius and ftl gave him the strength and willpower to keep fighting (totally normal bro things to say just guys being dudes am i right) and Not Die, it's a whole Thing. so my interpretation of aiden has a TON of absolutely AWFUL burn scars across the right side of his body from that. they're obviously nowhere near as bad as they COULD be, since i'm assuming he had some fire res on his build (that feels weird to say when not talking about gameplay), but they're still Bad because. well. fatalis LMAO

fast forward an indeterminate amount of time (i don't think my friend and i ever decided on how far after fatalis our stuff is💀) and everything's Great. here's where the balls to the wall canon divergence starts btw! shang, my "rider" oc, has helped people learn that some monsters can be reasoned with, and the monsters he's befriended are allowed about the base and the reach as they please (even if some AHEM VUGEL (my bastard of an ebony odogaron) COUGH are an absolute hindrance on purpose). aiden and ftl have gotten together by this point. shang's taken in a lot of orphaned monsters, one of which is a little lunastra that he's named chang'e, that seems to sense aiden's unease and tries to capitalize on it, but shang (halfheartedly) tries to hold the young elder dragon back from doing so.

one particularly notable monster around base is a gold-crown sized namielle, "nami," who's pretty much adopted shang. she's warm, motherly, and after the initial unease of having An Entire Elder Dragon around wore off she quickly became a familiar and welcomed face. another is the mountain god, shara ishvalda themself, having chosen to try to aid the commission as a way to "apologize" for the damage and chaos their presence in the everstream caused. nami's presence attracts a tall, foreboding man, with white hair and a beard, scars across his face, a permanent resting glare, and piercing golden eyes---he speaks very little, and when he does it's in a low mutter, and he seems to be observing the people of seliana. his presence is dread-inducing and sparks much unease, but nami is ecstatic to see him, stating he is an old friend who she hasn't seen in ages. for some time, things continue normally---until an argument between shara and nami breaks out, and the imposing stranger reveals his true nature as a dire miralis-sized white fatalis; the destroyer moon, alaakiilah, he who wiped out the ancients in a single night, in order to get the pair to cease their bickering.

aiden ends up being absolutely fascinated by al---sure, he's scared shitless of fatalis, but all the same... a fatalis, there, IN seliana, the fatalis of legend, and he's... not attacking them. granted, it's because he knows nami is fond of the mortals there, and he begrudgingly promised her that he wouldn't do anything to them, but still. the moon god is begrudgingly tolerant of aiden, and eventually achilles as well, as the pair typically don't stray far from one another (unless they Do, but that's not relevant right now), and eventually, through sheer persistence in his fascination, aiden (and achilles) are allowed the one single highest honour one can have: the permission to touch alaakiilah's beard. much as he might disdain to admit it, al ends up being genuinely, albeit begrudgingly, fond of aiden, and aiden's all but dadopted him (he's collecting white haired father figures, isn't he?). this comes into more relevance later.

after some time, al comes across an abandoned fatalis egg (i have my own whole Thing on fatalis eggs and reproduction in general but that's its own post LOL), which he brought back to the supply cache (after achilles offered to let him nest there with the egg) to incubate, and after a day, it hatches, into a tiny, defenseless, harmless baby female fatalis, which namielle names yunhind---that translating to "new hope," in honour of how no fatalis in recorded history has ever been raised in proximity to mortals before, and the destroyer moon's decision to trust in the commission to not fuck things up. the little one immediately takes a liking to aiden, and though he's more than a little nervous at first at the prospect of babysitting the destroyer of humanity's adopted child, he quickly becomes more confident in it as she grows and he becomes more attached to her---it makes him think back to his younger sister, and his inability to protect her, and he's determined to make sure absolutely nothing happens to yunhind.

there's a whole Thing that happens with the guild, having learned of the abundance of monsters around seliana, threatening achilles to try and pressure him into killing and/or relocating them all to "protect the people," then taking matters into their own hands when he refuses---this entire debacle (affectionately dubbed The Guild Arc, Part One) leaves aiden shaken up as it confirms a lot of his fears and doubts that have been building under the surface for years on end now.

fatalis mature quickly, even when naturally hatched, and within a few months, yunhind is a fully grown and wholly unique fatalis, dubbed an "ashen fatalis" due to adapting to her surroundings and taking on the properties of ice element as well as fire (they're interchangeable, though her ability to use both at once is somewhat limited), and the unique ability to transfer energy to heal others, and her scales being an ashy grey colour. she spends most of her time in her human form, and she views aiden like an older brother. things settle back down around base, and everything is okay again.

until it's not, of course<3

achilles goes missing, which stresses aiden out, naturally--and then vodrem happens, because nothing good lasts forever. well, vodrem happens Again, but i hadn't started rping aiden by the first time, so uhhh. idk he was on a vacation in the old world i guess?? that was an entire Year before the second Vodrem Event

now, dear reader, you're probably wondering, "martin who the fuck is vodrem", which is a VERY good question! vodrem is my nonfandom/multiverse god of chaos oc, who's part of his own little original oc bubble, though they're all based on monhun monsters; vodrem in particular is based on nergigante and morodumunto, though he usually takes the form of a not-quite-right nergigante

he makes a habit of consuming entire universes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and psychologically tormenting people just for the hell of its. he's power hungry, immensely dangerous, and cunning.

in his wake, he leaves "instabilities"; where the very fabric of reality itself gets fucked up, and these can have a variety of effects on anything that enter the area, but the most common has been people getting turned into monsters. the five were INCREDIBLY meticulous about mending any left behind after the first vodrem event, and they made absolutely certain to mend them all.

but a new one appeared. one which aiden wandered into---the change wasn't instantaneous, it started with just feeling sick and feverish, with heat specifically concentrated in his chest, to the point that it would get unbearable and he'd have to lay in the snow just for some relief, and finding his temper to be increasingly short and explosive. then came the headaches and soreness of the throat, and tiny black scales forming across his skin. then the desire to find some small space outdoors, perhaps a cave or the likes, though he ended up seeking comfort (ironically) in the destroyer moon's presence. i'm sure you can see where this is going, yes?

of all the monsters in the world, it had to be a fatalis. because of course it would be. as you'd expect, this caused him an IMMENSE amount of distress on top of the distress he already had from achilles' absence. for some time, there were no other signs of vodrem, and yunhind and al (mostly yunhind) helped aiden learn How To Fatalis.

and then all hell broke lose, as it does with vodrem. he claimed to have killed achilles, and though aiden had been trying his absolute damndest to suppress the fatalis rage and instincts, he let them overtake him---he went after vodrem, intending to unleash an ocean of flame upon him... didn't SUCCEED, all he got was speared through the lung and his back torn into by vodrem, the wounds afflicted with what was dubbed as "tarblight"; a corrosive, highly painful substance that vodrem secrets that seems to only be able to be cured by vodrem himself or his much more well-intentioned brother, vodinok. for the rest of the fight, aiden was simply unconscious, so he doesn't have much relevance for the rest of it. as i recall, one of the five managed to transform him back into a human, and vodinok cured the tarblight while yunhind healed his wounds.

unfortunately for my poor darling aiden, the form of the fatalis is not one so easily controlled, and so despite the five's best efforts, that part of him never really left---strong negative emotions still cause spontaneous transformations, and he's typically very skittish and nervous in this form because of how hard it is to suppress the fatalis instincts. the transformations take a LOT of energy out of him too, and while he CAN force a transformation back, that takes even more energy, so he's usually just kinda Stuck like that for a few days, which he usually spends hunkered in the supply cache, because for as good as he's gotten at maintaining his usual demeanor, the innate rage and violent instincts are always just a breath away from the surface, bubbling and boiling, like a pot of water just seconds away from boiling over. Not at All a fun experience for him!

after this the Guild Arc Part 2 happens, with aiden traveling to the old world with al to retrieve achilles from the corrupt and shady part of the guild who'd come to seliana in the first place; that's a whole Thing in of itself as well, and aiden ends up having to take a few more lives, though the guilt and emotions of, well. Everything, really, don't set in until after its all said and done, considering this entire thing takes place only maybe a few days after the vodrem event, if i recall correctly, so aiden's still more than a little out of it, and the dissonance of everything that happened there only made him even More out of it.

aaaaand i Think that's It? i don't believe i've had him be involved in any major plot stuff since then (aside from the temporary vampire event that was for halloween), so he's finally gotten to have the break that he oh so DESPERATELY needs and deserves... for now! i would like to involve him with more things again in the future (i never did get to write out a storyline where he briefly looses himself to the fatalis instincts---even just using the elemental abilities tend to have that effect on him, so using too MUCH would be Bad---and has to be brought back down from them...), so who knows! maybe he'll end up Going Through It a little bit more, as a Treat<3 the amount of suffering i put my faves through is proportional to how much i like them☺

now then! for my thoughts on aiden as a character; i love him. he's a sweet, caring and well-intentioned person, and i see a lot of myself in him (namely with the Incredibly Obvious adhd). it makes me happy to see a character like him (again, adhd) not treated like the butt of a joke, and instead be shown to actually be incredibly competent and important to the commission. i really hope we see him again in another game in the future, even if it's just as a cameo (he and the field team leader WERE planning to take that vacation to the old world so aiden could introduce ftl to julius........) and nothing else. of all the wonderful characters mh has to offer, i think aiden is by far my favourite i am so incredibly normal about him (this is by far the longest ramble post i have ever made LMAO) and he is just. absolutely Wonderful. my darling beloved my son my everything etc etc. i hope that if he does come back in a future game, if he's Not Just a cameo, we get to do another hunt properly with him; fatalis was obviously the testing grounds for the npc followers in sunbreak, so i'd love to get to do a proper hunt with him now that that's A Thing, if they choose to keep it going forward (and i don't see why they wouldn't, given the positive reception it got). i think that the duality of him being so bubbly, positive and outgoing even despite everything he's been through is interesting, and i find the concept of exploring that trauma to be fascinating because, let's be real, poor guy has definitely been through some shit. NORMALLY if my faves don't have a backstory i come up with one for them but i didn't even Have To give him a traumatic backstory capcom did that for me LMFAO

anyways. thank u for the ask nonnie i am SO incredibly sorry for the length of this post the tism took the wheel, i know i went on a few tangents that weren't that related but ahdkdhfjd i just have A Lot of lore for my au and aiden's been involved in a fair bit of it

[botanist-cool]

I’ve been painting an Adult Red Dragon mini in the Style of the Black Dragon Fatalis! I can’t hunt you well, BUT I CAN PAINT YOU!

Watch the Video Here!

[singleactionjack]

Just some MH theory shit but

(MH WILDS SPOILERS)

Anybody feeling like the Dragontorch is probably an even bigger monster that we haven't been fully privy to? Like, it feels like a reasonable approach to handle the lore and plot that has been built up so far. Hear me out. I'm calling this the Wyrm Mother theory

So on the one hand, we have Zoh Shia (and the black dragons in the greater MH lore). Zoh seems to be an artificial black dragon made by Wyveria as a tool of war/protection? I feel a lot of fans have looked at Zoh as both a canonization of the Equal Dragon Weapon from the old MH concept art book as well as implicit justification of Fatalis' role in the series.

Fatalis' in some flavor text is said to hate humanity, showing a level of intelligence and hostility to humans unseen in other monsters. It's nature and local is as shrouded as the ancient civilization that has been lost to time. It's such a dangerous creature that killing it doesn't kill it; that crafting gear from it risks you turning into one, or weapons continuing to grow and regenerate.

Something a lot of us have thought is that the ancient civilization lore from the art books is why Fatalis seems to hate humanity; that they committed acts of atrocity on monsterkind. The scrapped lore seemed to suggest mankind slaughtered countless dragons to build their towers into the heavens. The EDW being an idea of them even turning corpses of dragons into living weapons that they had control over.

Fast forward to Modern Day, Zoh Shia (and the other guardians) seem to be a clear reimagining of these concepts. Guardians are sterile, artificial monsters that exist to protect Wyveria, even long after Wyveria fell. A textual affront to nature, creatures with no reproduction systems and underdeveloped organs who exist as tools for mankind. Monster Hunter as a series has strayed from high fantasy since its beginning, and the idea that a powerful dragon would be disgusted by affronts to nature like that seems like a reasonable justification. Especially Zoh Shia.

Zoh Shia seems to be even more of an affront that the other guardians. Where the others appear to be flat recreations of preexisting monsters, Zoh seems to be a contained amalgamation of the anatomy and abilities of several black dragons. It visually has moves from SafiJiva, Alatreon, Shara Ishvalda and Gaismagorm. But it also has directly ripped abilities from all 3 known Fatalis subspecies, having Fatalis' fire breath, Crimson Fatalis' leaping lava, and White Fatalis' dragon lighting. It seems to be a sort of Swiss army elder that imitates Fatalis, even sharing similar body parts (like eyes). They say that Wyveria fell, not from the impending threat of war, but from their own creation.

BUT

On the other hand, all of the guardians and Zoh Shia are connected by one factor. A factor that seems to reach throughout the entire region.

Wyvern Milk ( or Wylk) is present in some form throughout basically the entire gameworld. Springing up and crystalizing in places all over. In the end of the low rank story, you find out that the Dragontorch, this source of seemingly endless energy, rests beneath Wyveria, and it feeds energy (and wylk) throughout the entire region. Their cycle of seasons, thriving ecosystems, all of it, are all directly fueled by the Dragontorch.

Why does that matter? I'm convinced we may be in store for an even bigger threat in Wyveria.

Recently I saw someone on YouTube point out the oddness of the titles you unlock from beating 20 Zoh Shia:

Specifically, it unlocks Savior, Promise, and Innocent. While Savior makes sense with what we have so far (possibly being the Savior of Wyveria by design), Promise and Innocent seem strange. Promise to who? And innocence, how? The story so far seems to suggest Zoh Shia was syphoning off energy from the Dragontorch, which was negatively effecting the lands around. How is that innocent?

My first thought is...when else is it natural to drink the milk? When you are an innocent child drinking from your mother.

I looked at the games Logo, and noticed some potential symbolism:

The logo shows 6 dragons, four in circles on the side, but two wrapped around each other in the middle. Notably, one is white and solid, while the other is sort of hollow and drawn with only outlines, with its mouth closed. All are connected with solid white to the two center dragons.

I think that the four side dragons represent the cycles of the four main biomes, Desert, Jungle, Tundra, and Volcano, with their circles of life reflected in wrapping circular dragons. Drawing something (I think Wylk) from the dragons at the center. But the two dragons in the center I think are more important.

I think they represent the guardians (and more specifically Zoh Shia) and the Dragontorch. The all white dragon, mouth open, reflects the guardians, specifically Zoh and Arkveld, intertwined with Wylk but opening their mouths to return to what nature intended (To eat for Arkveld, to bellow it's flame for Zoh, and to behave as monsters do for the rest of the guardians).

In contrast, the hollow dragon facing downward represents the Dragontorch, pointed deep below the land. It's essence milked dry into the nearby lands, leaving it empty. But this begs another question: why would it be depicted as a dragon?

I think the game may be building up to a reveal that the Dragontorch is the true atrocity that led to Wyveria's destruction, to Fatalis' hatred of humanity. I think the Dragontorch may be an actual dragon, likely an elder dragon (or black dragon of its own), that was somehow confined by the ancient civilization and syphoned off of to create the infrastructure and resources that Wyveria used to grow in power.

The true reimagining of the ancient civilization concepts, whose entire land rests and thrives on the exploitation of an elder dragon, guarded by facsimiles of nature, destined to destroy themselves in hubris. This is where Zoh Shia comes in again.

The game says Zoh was Wyveria's secret weapon in case of war, but that it brought them to the brink of destruction. And after this calamity, it nestled itself into the Dragontorch to "syphon" energy, leading to chaos in the present. But perhaps that's not what it's doing? What if it's not malicious?

What if, in the Wylk, in this lifeblood, it (along side other guardians) Zoh Shia was being given it's agency back? Just as Arkveld gained it's predation back, and as all other guardians seem to fight each other if through instinct? What if Zoh was given it's agency and it fought back against Wyveria?

Or even more compelling, what if it brought the kingdom down to protect something? What if, this "promise" was to protect the Dragontorch?

I think the team making it Wyvern "Milk" and not essence or blood is intentional. Maybe, upon it's creation, as an artificial black dragon, unstable and chaotic, it was steeped in Wylk, and became aware? A beast now seeing itself be used by mankind, sure, but also seeing how they use the Dragontorch as well. And it fights back, returning to the Dragontorch.

I think perhaps Zoh wasn't drawing power away from the Dragontorch, but instead was consolidating it's power, keeping it present and concentrated. Perhaps the Dragontorch isn't endless, perhaps it is like Fatalis, able to regenerate slowly over time. And Zoh doing what it did prevented the Forbidden Lands from draining the Dragontorch completely.

Maybe that's Zoh's "promise". And its innocence is like any other's; trying to protect its mother. A mother powerful enough to power an entire nation, it resting on her back, but not powerful enough to free herself from bondage. It brought down a kingdom in its hubris, returned to the Dragontorch.

In the same way Arkveld was an extinct species, brought back to life as a puppet who cut their own strings, removed their own chains.

Zoh Shia was a black dragon, made in the image of mankind's devils. Then, it was coddled, fed on mother's milk, dressed in white. It went to stop those hurting its mother, and when done?

It returned, nestled in Wylk. Cradled in it's mother's arms, promising to protect it from mankind. Devil no more, mommy's little angel draped in white wings.

[simon-newman]

And on the very day I've added to this post I've finally did it!

And yet I didn't get enough eyes.

Well then...

[sneksnack]

Year of the Black Dragon, Fatalis! 🖤🐉

[roukabi]

hi sorry I'm relatively new to mh. what in the world is an edw

SPOILERS FOR MHWILDS UNDER THE CUT

the edw (short for Equal Dragon Weapon) is none other than THIS BAD BOY

Ain't she a beauty? This is the original concept art for the Equal Dragon Weapon (Wyvern Machine Soldier in Japanese, an equally badass name). It was an idea creating during development for the first Monster Hunter game, back when it was a generic fantasy rpg. Splash text next to this image reads,

"The Equal Dragon Weapon was discovered in some ruins, an ancient storage facility. It is possibly the only remaining weapon of war from the age of the Great Dragon War. This man-made dragon was pieced together using parts harvested from over thirty mature dragons.

"However artificial, the Equal Dragon Weapon boasts a might comparable to any living dragon. Its physical strength, endurance, and firepower are said to have posed the most relevant threat to the dragons during the ancient war.

"The technology behind crafting an Equal Dragon Weapon reached its pinnacle during the Great Dragon Wars, but that technology, along with the great dragon hunters of the day (ancestors of the modern day monster hunters), were not destined to last. The humans engaged the dragons in a war of epic scale, with both sides fighting valiantly and viciously until they were simultaneously brought to the brink of extinction."

It's a lot to take in that only scratches the surface of the Ancient Civilization, but most MH fans didn't worry about it. While the Ancient Civ gets mentioned from time to time in-game (Artian armor, Tower map, the Dragonator, etc), the EDW was only a concept created back during Monster Hunter's generic fantasy era. The thing itself was never mentioned in any of the games, nor the Great Dragon War. It was just kind of a white whale for lore lovers to cheer about whenever a glimpse of a mechanical monster appeared (see Ahtal-Neset, and how fans wondered if this was the EDW, when it was in fact the second phase of Ahtal-Ka's fight). Furthermore, with the ecologically-driven direction MH took post-MHGU, something as gruesome and fantastical as the EDW just didn't seem to fit. I had hope, though. The idea of this horrific, unnatural 'monster', without so much as a face, strewn together by parts from entire families of dragons, lying dormant as an ultimate weapon, is freaky as fuck. It's freaky for a generic fantasy game and even FREAKIER for a Monster Hunter game in which every animal you see is rooted in some kind of realism. I guess it's the grossness of it all that captivates me.

Now that was 21 years ago. Flash forward to the week of February 28th, 2025.

With the release of Wilds, pretty much everything about the Equal Dragon Weapon, from the War to the Ancient Civ's treatment of monsters, is mostly canon. 'Mostly', as in, the same lore with a fresh coat of paint. This is what our Equal Dragon Weapon looks like now:

It's an interesting combination of an angel/demon dichotomy and what appears to be an undercoat of Fatalis parts. During the fight, the player's Hunter reacts in horror to Zoh Shia's black flesh, implying that Zoh Shia is an amalgamation of Black Dragon parts (and further implying that the player's Hunter has fought a Black Dragon before). Notice how there are no mechanical parts on Zoh Shia; as previously mentioned, MH is taking a more ecologically-sound direction and therefore the creation of constructs like Guardians and Zoh Shia are more natural. Instead of steel and metal, the Ancient Civilization used Wylk/Wyvern Milk.

I'll admit I miss the graphic frankenstein'd metal monstrosity, but Zoh is still pretty awesome. And all the lore that people said was from a bygone era of MH? Canon. Canon canon canon! It's so Wild(s) checking back on the MH Wiki and seeing the Ancient Civilization page get updated with canonizing information.

So that's the EDW! Short for Equal Dragon Weapon, shorter still for 'Creepiest thing the games will ever come up with, unless the expansion shows us something SUPER fucked up. Like, idk, the OG Equal Dragon Weapon.' If you wanna read more, the MH Wiki has a page: https://monsterhunter.fandom.com/wiki/Ancient_Civilization#The_Forbidden_Act