#sekiro spoilers

[tciddaemina]

legacy, duty, and generations in sekiro

no but okay, there is absolutely something fundamental and foundational about the way that the different generations of character is sekiro make up part of the plot. i literally cannot understate how important this - the fact that there are multiple generations of characters - and the role of inheritance of duty between generations plays in the core themes, and the core tragedy, of the story.

because like, there are so many of the characters (of the bosses lol) who are these very old people, almost elderly, more than a few retired, who play absolutely fundamental roles within the story. we have owl, wolf’s father and teacher. we have lady butterfly, similarly a very powerful aging figure of the same generation. we have lord isshin, and even the sculptor. all of these figures, they represent old guard of a previous age of glory - a previous generation, who’s stories and legacies are fundamental to the plot. twenty years ago, lord isshin (with the help of people like owl, the sculptor, and others) lead a coup and a revolt that won ashina its freedom, making it an independent state, and the story as it unfolds is the tale of how the next generation is trying to pick up and carry on that legacy. 

and this concept - legacies being passed on from one generation to the next, the duty that the younger generation inherits and how they have to hold it up - is what makes and breaks the main characters of sekiro, namely wolf and genichiro. 

wolf and genichiro are foils of one another, both of whom are in essentially the same situation and who’s parallels are indisputable. because right, they’re both children adopted by the hero’s of that victorious aging generation, brought up to pick up the duty of their line. genichiro is there to be lord isshin’s heir, the next lord of the ashina clan, the next protector of ashina, while wolf is owl’s successor, a weapon created to continue owl’s legacy and to carry out his purpose. 

duty makes and breaks these characters. at their heart, it is their fundamental driving principle. genichiro’s duty is to ashina as a whole, the land itself, and protecting and saving ashina is his singular focus, to the point where he’s tearing himself apart to do it (his fucking arms, my god the lightning burns). he will do anything to protect his homeland, because if it doesn’t it means that he’s failed. his grandfather won ashina’s freedom, and genichiro is the one who has to step into his shoes and protect it in the next war, when history repeats itself and the same forces come back seeking to consume it. his loyalty is to a place, and in his drive to protect it drives him to do terrible things, abandoning his morals in the hopes of finding a way to protect his home, ultimately resulting in him sacrificing his own life - literally putting the sword to his own throat and bleeding himself dry - for the hope that it will be enough to summon a protector who will be able to keep ashina and its people safe. 

wolf, in contrast, has his duty centred on a person. first it is on owl, who raises him and creates of him a shinobi. then it’s on kuro, who owl presents wolf to. literally, it’s the iron code that owl gives wolf: “your father's word always comes first, your master's a close second.” at every point throughout the story, wolf’s first and only priority is in obeying kuro and seeing that he is safe. it’s his driving force, it’s what he does. wolf ultimately isn’t taking part in the war and fighting for the sake of the war itself or any morals or stances he has about it - he fights both members of the interior ministry and members of ashina’s defences, not caring what side they’re on. wolf is ultimately on his own side in the war, an independent party whose sole priority is in seeing kuro through the conflict safely. if wolf cared about the outcome of the war, or about ashina’s defence, the defence of his homeland, then he wouldn’t be ruthlessly slaughtering the main generals in charge of trying to hold the front. 

so, like genichiro, wolf is driven by a singular focus and an all consuming duty centered on one thing. like genichiro, he is willing to tear himself apart and even sacrifice himself in order to see kuro safe. this parallel, if you take the purification ending, is literally one to one, right down to the type of sword each one uses for the act. the black mortal blade for genichiro, sacrificing himself to try and bring back a glorious protector strong enough to see ashina to another age of victory; the red mortal blade for wolf, sacrificing himself in order to free kuro from the curse of his bloodline and finally allow him to live an untethered life. 

what we see throughout the story is the remnants and legacy of a brighter age, one in which the story had a happy ending and ashina’s heros were successful in winning its freedom. the tragedy of the story, the crux of it, is in the handing over of this legacy from one generation to another and the way they try - fuck, genichiro tries so so fucking hard - and fail to carry it forward. the torch is being passed onwards, only to stumble and be guttered out. 

what ultimately makes the difference between wolf and genichiro, however, is the way each one interacts with their given duty and the way that wolf (in some endings) ultimately rejects the legacy that is being handed down to him. 

because okay we have genichiro, who picks up the duty that isshin hands him and burns himself into the ground trying to carry it out. he’s so desperate to uphold his duty and to protect ashina that he is forced to walk willingly down the path to great evil - creating the ogre creatures, kidnapping kuro to try and convince him to give him the immortal oath, everything and anything to create a weapon strong enough to hold back the tide, even if that weapon is himself. he carries out his duty, and it corrupts him, and it destroys him, and ultimately it is all for nothing. 

with wolf, however, this moment comes to a climax with [SPOILERS] owl’s return. he’s carried out his duty so far, he’s protected kuro and he’s followed his orders and he’s kept him safe - all at owl’s behest. remember, the father comes first, the master second. the reason wolf first starts serving kuro is because owl tells him to, and wolf’s duty is to owl. that is the duty he’s inherited - to be a weapon and a tool, to follow owl’s commands, to be a loyal shinobi in his service.

(and there’s something to be said here too, about the fact that wolf and genichiro are both ultimately weapons picked up and shaped by their adopted parental figures for a specific purpose - genichiro as a shield that protects ashina and wolf as a blade to cut down owl’s enemies)

the thing is though, is that wolf does come to care for kuro. he develops as a person, learns compassion, learns mercy, becomes more human than what owl had created him as. when owl comes to wolf and tells him to forsake kuro and hand over the divine heir, seeking to make use of his immortality, wolf has a choice. and its here, in this choice that we see how wolf’s own journey can either mirror or diverge from genichiro’s. 

if wolf obeys - obeys that duty, follows it, holds onto it with both hands and doesn’t let go, doesn’t think, doesn’t question - then he forsakes kuro and becomes a shura. like genichiro, following his duty and not letting go leads to him walking down into darkness and becoming corrupted. he becomes a monster, nothing inside him but violence and hate, the likes of the demon of hatred.

if wolf disobeys - if he rejects his duty, rejects the legacy that owl is trying to pass onto him, to be a true and cold shinobi, heartless and without feeling - then his path diverges from genichiro’s. in rejecting his duty, he frees himself and is able to a get to an (arguably) happier end. he breaks from the iron code and rejects what owl created him to be, ultimately deciding to disobey owl and give his loyalty to another, to choose, in essence to feel and care rather than to be cold and heartless. and yes okay there are variations on what counts as “happy” as far as the severing, purification, and heading away endings, but i think we can say that in any single one of them wolf is happier than he would have been in the shura ending. (okay yes in the severing ending that’s questionable, but at the very least wolf has the absolution of having helped kuro carry out his wish and finally reach peace, knowing his bloodline will no longer be abused).  

and i think its interesting, too, that the fact that wolf’s choice to go with or against owl, to reject or accept the duty and legacy being handed down by the previous generation, hinges on his relationship with kuro, a member of the generation to come. when wofl rejects owl, it is ultimately because he has decided that holding up the legacy of those who have come before is less important than protecting the future of those who are to come. he breaks from his duty to owl in order to provide the chance for kuro to break from his own heritage and the legacy of his bloodline in turn. 

in kuro, we see the third generation entering this scene. we have the glorious vanguard of the past, those aging great heros; we have the middle generation, now grown and struggling to pick up the torch of those who have come before; and we have the youngest generation, who grow up in the shadow of it all, innocents subject to the bloody aftermath of the legacy of their forefathers. 

and i just think it’s interesting, i guess, that for all that duty plays just a driving force in the motives of the wolf and genichiro, that it is ultimately only through rejecting duty and the burdens of the previous generations and choosing to walk his own path that wolf win a chance at happiness. in a story about inheritance, it is in the rejection of the path set out before you by others and in creating a path of your own that the story tells us we will find salvation. 

[wispythreads]

Alright I have cornered my progression with boss battles so I suppose the rest of the game is going to have to wait until I am no longer sick, as I Do Not have the energy for them right now.

On the bright(?) side I eavesdropped on Kuro and instead of hearing something that just revealed more of how much of a sweet kid he is, heard something that seemed as if he was suspiciously keeping information from Wolf. Of course Wolf didn't bring anything up when talking to Kuro directly, but we were able to confront Emma about it, and she revealed that the whole Immortal Severance plan kinda hinges on Kuro's beheading.

Incredibly important information! I would've not been 100% on board with this plan if you'd been straightforward about that crucial detail from the beginning, and you knew it! Kuro!!

Thankfully Emma is on the same page about. Not wanting to do that, so we're gonna sneak around and figure out another way to do the Immortal Severance =)

[kitten-on-the-puter]

LETS GOOOOO SEKIRO SHADOWS DIE TWICE COMPLETE!!!

Immortal severance ending :D I am so sad

[whyyouacknsocraycray]

An incomplete list of things that make me obsessed with Sekiro (spoilers)

The opening shows Wolf leaning on the arm he's about to lose with a single sakura petal sliding off his leg.

Depressed shinobi immediately jumping up because Emma threw a paper airplane at him that says his master isn't dead (yeah yeah I know it was just a normal note).

The way Kuro runs to Wolf, happy to see his friend, only to realize Wolf is unsure and formal.

This child??? Doesn't wear shoes??? Which I realize is probably because he's immortal and doesn't worry about hurting his feet.

Kuro asking if Wolf was injured after "that night" and then them never talking about it even though Wolf goes back to Hirata with the bell charm like Wolf has trauma but imagine Kuro bringing his friend back to life and then losing him for years!

Genichiro thinking he's going to save Ashina by kidnapping the Divine Heir not knowing he's basically unleashed a serial killer on all his men like bye-bye Ashina army!

Also speaking of Genichiro, him just dropping his metal armor to throw lightning like I was not ready. You know a boss battle is about to get intense when the man starts stripping.

Wolf eating raw rice.

The way the game never says out loud that it's Owl who stabbed Wolf in Hirata but shows him trying again at the top of Ashina Castle, only this time Wolf is ready for him.

Wolf would have 100% adopted the Divine Child, he practically does in the Return ending.

Speaking of endings, I hate Immortal Severance so much but the way Kuro grabs the Mortal Blade in a callback to Wolf grabbing the end of Owl's sword as a child, only Kuro is doing it because he trusts Wolf and accepts his fate, it's beautiful. It makes me cry.

Speaking of Immortal Severance, my theory is that Wolf would never have done it if Genichiro hadn't injured Kuro. He would have looked for another way (like you can do in the secret endings) but the siege forced him to act.

The entire Divine Dragon fight is so beautiful. It's not a fight, it's a dance, and I love it.

[maaruin]

Fountainhead Palace again makes me wish that this was a less combat-heavy game so I could have more social interactions in this place. Infiltrating it by pretending to be an immortal or something, instead of slaughtering my way through it. I had the same feeling in Ashina Castle, and now that I think back, I am imagining an alternative version of Senpou Temple in which the wrongness is not obvious but only discovered slowly, after many interactions with the monks.

Maybe I should play the Hitman games at some point to get the kind of experience I seem to be looking for.

[altairattorney]

Shura has come, never to turn back.

The whole world paints itself in blood as the source of his woes, eyes wide and empty, lies in the defeat nobody can return from. The power this monster used to hold is now matched by his helplessness; his mouth open in vain, never to harm again, burns away with grey hair in an all-consuming blaze.

But it is too late for him, even if he is still alive. The name of monster is now his legacy and inheritance. Fate has crushed him into the shape of a demon, and nothing is left but death.

Fire sings his alluring song to him, creeping up his arm with scorching fingers. Every fingerprint they leave reflects on his heart tenfold. His inner screams are loud enough to drown all noise; but outside, irreversibly numb to all pain, his limbs move on their own. A swing, and the hated corpse pitifully splits in half. Another, and a head rolls to the ground. Many, many more set the wood around him alight.

Yet faintly, from beyond, a foreign sound still reaches him. A tangle of screams weaker than his own, but bearing no less anguish. There is something in there, lost yet familiar, and powerful enough to stop him in his tracks.

He falls to the ground, writhing in pain.

The sound grows closer and gentler, like a delicate rain of teardrops. Useless pleas fall onto his deaf ears, horrified calls he can never answer. And slowly, as if to pull his soul back, tender fingers grasp his own in prayer.

A fragment of his soul cries back to it all, desperate. It is no use. There is a delicate balance in the care of those hands, a better path his broken soul had no business following; nothing can rescue the drowning voice calling to it. The fresh touch on his cheek evaporates, eaten by the creeping inferno on his left side.

There could have been something else, in another time and space. There would have been a path outside the darkness.

But here and now, despite the frail voice trying to awaken him, his future has been set in stone.

Nothing is left but death.

Prayer Beads #3 - Thank you @baumroll for the inspiration - [x]

[rocketandonuts]

The thing I love about sekiro isn’t just the gameplay. Ofc the gameplay is fucking amazing. But the thing that really makes sekiro a special in my heart is truly the story and characters. Like, not talking about those usual FromSoft brainrot theories, but the simple story sekiro tells as an rpg

For instance the Demon of Hatred boss fight. That last bit when you realize who you’d been fight against all this time. My soul was shaken the first time I was there and til now it still renders me uncontrollably sobbing every time I replay or watch clips or just think about it for a lil bit too long

And also, the entire character of Isshin. I loved this grandpa so much I kept going back to find him during my first gameplay. The writing in sekiro has a… some sort of softness, comparing to other souls games. Even tho there’s not a lot of dialog it was enough that you can feel that much. He likes you(he gave you the NAME SEKIRO!), he worries and cares about his grandson. He truly sees Emma as a dear friend. That moment when he gives you a little glimpse of his past life when u drink with him… man

I also love Emma ofc. And the Sculptor ofc. Those drinking dialogs were the best fucking part of the game for real

And Isshin as the Final boss when you know he was doing it for his grandkid. And also that he admires you so much you can hear the excitement in his voice that he get to have a real match with you. That’s gotta be the most emotionally pleasing & satisfying final boss I’ve ever had in an rpg. For me it beats fighting a real baddie or a unstoppable god or those sort of things really. The fight was a summary of all things you learned through out the game and to defeat the legend of the story that isn’t painted in anything negative at all. I find that really rare tbh

[elfcow]

Spoilers for Elden Ring AND Sekiro under the cut:

I just had an enormous realization...

Malenia is built, at least partially, on unfinished Lady Tomoe content from Sekiro

Lady Tomoe was built up as their big tragic hero for dlc that they do in literally every game - and then they got screwed over and never got to make Sekiro DLC.

Every aspect of Malenia's combat screams for Sekiro style parries to break her posture. That flying lunge calls for a mikiri counter, that terrifying scissor-blade attack becomes a boon of posture dmg, and waterfowl dance might as well be spiral cloud passage.

I'd bet anything that they were building Lady Tomoe's moveset when they heard the news about the DLC and had to shelve it. And they could just pull pieces they want back out for Malenia.

Of course, it could simply be how their designs and ideas for elden ring have absorbed everything they liked from their previous games, but I 100% believe that there's a little bit of Tomoe living on in Malenia.

[afriendlyirin]

Doing Sekiro’s bad ending and LOLing at everyone coming out of the woodwork to stop me. When the villain kills me 20 times in a row everyone is like “Alas, I can only watch,” but the moment I turn evil suddenly everyone’s a master swordsman. Coulda used your help all those times I got mobbed by 3 ninjas at once, Emma! I was going to feel bad about killing you but now I feel totally vindicated, y’all are dicks.

[halveablock]

i replayed sekiro over the past weekend, so i thought i'd upload some old fanart from 2020

[wispythreads]

Alright, just defeated Owl. I actually really like how his mechanics worked, and whenever I was doing okay-ish at least, it brought about that same flow and rhythm I felt while fighting against Lady Butterfly, which I really enjoyed. It also just sort of made sense, with the two being so close to each other, of course fighting against him would in some way feel similar to fighting against her.

It seemed like it really was going to just be Lady Butterfly's kind of struggle again, where I'd just need to learn the steps and hopefully get my timing down well enough to dance.

But then I did learn the rhythm, and the steps, and would try to do the dance, only for my computer to decide it was no longer going to be accepting any input. I'd know I hit shift or the right mouse button at the right time to avoid a strike, only to watch poor Wolf stand there and get pummeled into oblivion. Because, again, every time I get hit once the staggering effect seems to be so bad that I can't pull him out of it in time before he's getting hit again. (Is there a latent skill I can find somewhere that would help with this...? Am I just underleveled in general? I have six prayer necklaces right now, and 5 healing gourds, but I don't know I feel like I've fought every miniboss I could find at this point... maybe there's some more hidden around...)

So that was very frustrating for a while, knowing I could do this fight and that it should be finished already but. I don't know my computer is kinda janky so I'm not sure if maybe there was a problem receiving the input or if somehow the information from the input lagged so badly that it didn't get processed in time.

But I don't want to be frustrated because it was a cool fight! Emotionally devastating! Poor Wolf! Owl also turned into dust so I'm. Somewhat under the belief that he's not coming back again. I'm hesitant to commit 100% to that belief considering I was pretty sure he was dead last time we saw him.

[melonymint753]

hades 2 hot take that's gonna get me probably excommunicated (underworld end boss spoilers)

the people who complain about the pause disabling feature before even finding out that an in-game way to disable it exists, hit me on the same annoyed bone spot as those who complain about the new dash 3 days into the game. They see an obstacle and the knee jerk reaction is to protest Right Now instead of framing it as a thing that might have a workaround later, either as something mechanically provided, or something they can learn over time.

I'm getting behind the request that pause enabling shouldn't be locked behind winning, but there's enough people wanting it straight up gone that I want to scream.

Accessibility should mean better availability of solutions, not removing the problem.

[whyyouacknsocraycray]

Still a little obsessed with Sekiro's Shura ending because good god what was Emma's and Isshin's plan? Wolf can't die! Were they going to chop off his head and hope for the best? See if Kuro can take his power back? Old man stepping out in his pajamas on his death bed decides to fight a demon and... improvise if he wins???? They literally left Kuro downstairs by himself!

[maaruin]

Question to people who have played several Fromsoft games including Sekiro: Which area, if any, would you say surpasses the Fountainhead Palace in beauty?

[altairattorney]

Even though the story of Sekiro owns my entire soul forever, there is one genuine beef I have with the writing:

So Kuro must be around 12 years old, looks so very tiny and tinier in Hirata. And I mean, to be fair sometimes it does show in his character. Yet somehow A CHILD OF TWELVE already has

enough understanding of power dynamics and his unique position to know that he is constantly in danger and cannot trust anyone to use his “gift”

enough smarts to realize that Owl is a traitor pos the SECOND he shows up, and see through his plan 50 minutes and one whole conversation before his head empty no thoughts shinobi does (this one may be explained if Kuro was hiding and watching all along in Hirata, so take it with a grain of salt)

the emotional intelligence to understand he has to hide his own feelings from his head empty no thoughts shinobi because he’s just on prime directive: protecc, and to end the curse harm to himself is necessary, no matter how much he suffers about it

also the emotional intelligence to know that his beloved shinobi is part a product of his very hard life and part unchangeable golden retriever, so he can trust him and take care of him even if he doesn’t understand anything (head empty no thoughts)

enough compassion and enough of a moral compass to make such a terrible choice of his own volition

reading comprehension sufficient to understand all of the above

devastating insight into the true intentions of everyone around him

Mister Miyazaki-san Kuro is a baby child

so I was telling my wife “how the fuc do I write him in my fics to sound like a baby, he is baby” and she went “he is 70 actually” and I feel that in my soul

[the-damnable-fool]

I love the final boss of Sekiro, dude. The whole game they build Isshin up as this hyper badass warlord that's out murdering ninjas even though he's 93 and has a bad case of boneitis, but then he dies before you can fight him. Then you think the final boss is just gonna be a slightly upgraded version of his cringefail grandson before they go "syke bitch, its Isshin the Sword Saint with a capital S and he's here to liberate the blood from your body. You got good at blocking the Ashina cross back in the castle right? No? Too bad" and then he breaks your fucking knees for thirty straight resurrections.