#iron will

[mlpoutofcontext]

[mediumsizetex]

Sunny's team by RowanKitten

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

talk about iron will's importance. now

Iron Will's importance to the series is kinda threefold, tbh.

On one level, it's clearly a reference to the Dragonslayer of Berserk fame, and therefore one of Taro's clear inspirations for especially the first Drakengard, where it appears as Hymir's Finger*.

Consequently, it's also tied in to Caim as the 'discount Guts' of the Drakenier universe***, which is extremely important to the events of Nier. See, I may be wrong about this, but aside from the Nameless Blade you get at the start, Iron Will is I think the only weapon the game... gives you? Like, there's weapons you get in the course of the story, but Iron Will is the only weapon the game itself hands you in a cutscene, and as such is kinda... by necessity relevant? Like, active thought had to go into handing you that sword at that point in the story, and considering that this is very early into Act II of the game, where our protagonist takes a darker turn along with the rest of the story... well, I may be too far up Mr. Yoko's thematical backside (please see next paragraph for evidence of that), but... I don't think it's an accident that you get given a weapon so closely associated with Caim at this point in the story, especially when the conversation immediately following Iron Will's completion ends with Nier resolving to help Gideon's mad quest for revenge purely because he gets to kill a single Shade at the end of it.

On a level deeper than even that load of nonsense, the evolution of the Iron Will as a weapon kinda mirrors the evolution of the series itself? As presented in Drakengard 1, the weapon story is about the weight of death, with the unsettling implication at the end that perhaps the sword has found a wielder who is unconcerned with death, a perfect microcosm of Taro's then-philosophy of 'you have to be pretty fucked up to kill people'. This evolves down to Nier, where the sword begins by boasting of the people it kills, but in the final part of the story admits that it dreams of things beyond its status as a weapon of slaughter. Then Drakengard 3 portrays it as a thing that despises its own existence as a weapon, consumed by bloodshed and longing for something it cannot have - kinda like Zero, eh? And finally**** Nier Automata, where the Iron Will is rusted, useless and abandoned, but dug up regardless to engage in unceasing pointless war, over and over again. That's the inherent advantage of the Iron Will, I think - it allows Taro to present the theme of the games in microcosm, because the weapon itself does not need more explanation than 'Dragonslayer at Home'.

Soo... yeah. I think the Iron Will is really important to the themes of Drakenier, and I'm really exited to kill all of humanity wielding it this time around the Replicant train.

*whose name, incidentally, plays into the 'reverse religious morality' thing that Drakengard 1 has going on thematically - in much the same way that the final two routes are the literal Red Dragon of the Book of Revelations fighting the literal angels of heaven alongside a man named after a literal demon, you do it wielding a sword named after what might be interpreted as either the creator god or the father of evil from Norse Mythology.**

**Which, in a weird way, also plays back into the Berserk influence - Guts in that series is fighting against something called The God-Hand, after all, but we're not here to get into Berserk right now.

***I don't know for sure if it's the sword Caim uses in Drakengard 2 - looking at the video of his arrival now I can't tell if it's Broken Iron or his own personal sword - but honestly it feels like it should be Broken Iron, so I'm counting it.

****I know what the DOD2 and Reincarnation stories say, but Drakengard 2's is about as bland as everything else about that game, and Reincarnation has the inherent problem of being a LiiiiVe SeeeRvICE, so you can't easily sum up the themes of every single story in it.

[random-xpressions]

If you ever undertake a mission, no matter how small or big, how significant or insignificant it be, remember to always burn the bridges. Psychologically nothing helps as much as this. It is to bend your mind to the idea that now there's no turning back whatsoever. Either you meet death in your mission or you accomplish the task. Without such firmness in your purpose, you wouldn't even last a day. So stick it well inside your head, to burn every bridge, there's simply no going back...

Random Xpressions

[kindheart525]

Iron Will would totally start an Andrew Tate-style scheme as another one of his many scams if we're being honest here

[leigh-riko]

Some goat characters~

Lusine ( Moon goat ) - Gaziter

Baphomet ( Goat demon ) - Grizz

[ewoudcponies]

Trying out a more "rushed"/"playful" style today.

[kitkeithkat]

Iron will

[shadowlegacy3000]

[MLP Comic Dub] Fluttershy's Strange Dream (saucy comedy)

[damailbox]

Disney Adventures, February 1994

[mlpoutofcontext]

[likehalfofuswillmakeitidk]

[glapplebloom]

((I really need to use Iron Will...))

[theohnocorral]

Corrals at it again party people, what horrors will I unleash?

[lr-scarecrow]

[hypnotickale]

Corruptiom kink? Sorry no. I literally can't be corrupted it's impossible. Why? Because I said so.