So admittedly this may be an odd start to this whole recommendation and or inspiration thing, but given the recency of the news I couldn’t help myself. I want to make sure to get my two cents in before too much time passes (Footnote 1). And what news might that be, you ask? Well the first bits of information about Ys X of course. Now I’m sure some of you are asking what’s an Ys? (Footnote 2) Other than, put rather simply, the rough Bretonic equivalent of Atlantis, Ys is the title of a series of games by the company Nihon Falcom. And a rather long running one at that. Putting aside the number of the upcoming entry, the series has been active for well over thirty years. The series also happens to be a heavy contender for one of my favorite series of all time, video game or otherwise. As such, I have a lot that I could say and plan on saying in the future about this series. To the tune of: I can think of a solid nine more articles on the subject I have in mind. Right now. But all of that is beside the point. Because today we’re talking about Ys X: Nordics. To make it effusively clear, this should not be considered any solid information. It’s nothing more than theory-crafting by some random guy that has way too much time on his hands and gets way too invested in stories. So take everything with a grain of salt. An ocean of salt (Footnote 3). And with that out of the way, I’d like to start things off by outlining the plan of attack for this theory-crafting, just so you know what to expect and can skip over anything that might not interest you. We’ll start off by inspecting the known information on Ys X, combining both the most recent news and the previous information given. Which admittedly isn’t much, but oh well. Then we’ll go over the previous games, inspecting what dangling plot threads, characters, and potential connections they might have. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but consider this a preemptive warning that there might be some regardless. Finally, I’ll go through a few cases of tying all the information together to form a few potential predictions on what we might get. Pretty simple, eh? And with that out of the way, let’s begin.
So. The current information on YS X. Again, admittedly not much, but I do think there’s some rather choice tidbits in there, totaling five-ish particular details for this discussion. The first – the ‘ish’ detail – is the place in the timeline; namely between Esteria and Celceta. I file this one under ‘ish’ because it’s nice to know, but not particularly relevant in parsing down what to expect from this game. The most it really tells us (without some serious extrapolation and assumption) is that we shouldn’t expect to see that many character references to other games, since most of the people we know Adol explicitly hasn’t met yet. It does have some implications in terms of lore, but… I’ll get to that when discussing plot threads from other games. Now the first real new information is the region the game takes place in itself. Predictably from the title, it takes place in the Ys equivalent of vaguely Scandinavia (I think). All we really know about it is that the region of Obelia Bay – the in-game name (though pre-localization at this point (I think)) – is to the north of the Eresian continent. North enough that we can’t actually place it on the map. And I’m sure that there probably is a real-world connection to a bay with an island chain that I’m just out-right missing, but oh well. This detail is rather interesting because Monstrum Nox just introduced the Nors faith. And while I don’t want to generalize all of Scandinavia into ‘Norse Myths and vikings’, I do think that the temporal locality between the two games is enough to say this isn’t a coincidence. Especially because of how little Monstrum Nox really gave us on the Nors itself, beyond a few plot points relating to one of the principal deities and the eventual fall of the faith itself. But that will suffice for now. Kind of. Because the second big reveal is that Adol’s main point of contact in Ys X will be with a tribe known as the ‘Normans’. Which. Given the historical Normans lived in France, the real-world equivalent of Gllia, where Monstrum Nox took place, this seems to indicate the connection is even stronger. Again, not a sure thing – Norman was a contraction of ‘North-man’ which was used in reference all over the place for the Norse (another word I believe is just derived from ‘North’) – but it’s too close to be coincidence. The third detail is closely related, but less useful (at least to me) and that is the name of the Normans, primary enemy and seemingly the main antagonists of the game: the Griegers. I simply don’t recognize the term, if it is something that has been used before, and thus have nothing to say about them. Kind of. The fact that they’re apparently undead warriors is interesting, but I think analysis on that can wait until the end. The fourth big news is that this game will prominently feature sailing from place to place as a game mechanic, another detail I have little to say about until the analysis, but keep that in mind (Footnote 4). And the final tidbit is one of the key visuals which shows a ship (I assume Adol’s) in between two fleets, one backed by an icy mountain and the other by an erupting volcano. There’s also a whale, but that’s not important (Footnote 5). The important part of this is that it seems to imply the Norman and Grieger fill in the roles of Niflheim and Muspelheim if the Nors faith theme is in fact continued into this game. Respectively even, if the framing about which looks more menacing means anything (Footnote 6). Which ties together with all of the above in some real interesting ways. I suppose I could also talk about the whole apparent secondary protagonist in the girl accompanying Adol, but I don’t have enough to go on for her. Thus, put a pin in all of this and we’ll move on to past games.
To start off, we’ll talk about the Esteria-Ys related games – namely 1, 2, and Origin. These games are also the most important to discuss relating to X, since they’re the only ones that have happened chronologically. But on the other hand, they’re also kind of unimportant because their stories are fairly self-contained and resolved. Effectively, the plotline about Ys itself is pretty much resolved and I doubt we’ll see more from the Twin Goddesses ever, beyond small references and cameos. Their part in the story is fairly permanently done. So there aren’t really any dangling plot threads to speak of. Kind of. The only thing that does come to mind is the Darklings, the specific group of the Clan of Darkness comprising of Dalles and his cohorts (Footnote 7). While they’ve been rather thoroughly dealt with, there is the lingering question of where they came from / where Darm (Footnote 8) found them. Because while a lot of the lore surrounding the Clan of Darkness seems to have been dealt with between Memories of Celceta and Ark of Napishtim, it’s not precisely clear if Dalles’ group actually relates to that subset of lore. Put simply, Danan village is all about atoning for their ancestors’ mistakes and so the exiles stand out in comparison. But Dalles and his crew certainly weren’t atoning, but didn’t really feel like they matched with the general feel of the exiles either. And there’s the question then raised: if Dalles wanted the Black Pearl, why not just go after Almarion instead? So it seems as though there may be (at least) one more settlement of the Clan of Darkness’ descendants aside from Danan Village, one with more ‘take over the world and seek power’ goals. But that’s just speculation and I’m not sure I’d really call it a dangling plot thread.
As for characters from the Esteria games, there aren’t really all that many I feel would fit into the presumed narrative of Ys X. There’s Dogi of course (Footnote 9), but otherwise? I believe Raba can’t show up because I think he doesn’t meet Adol again until Ark of Napishtim and the rest of the cast is somewhat unimportant. Conceivably I could see Slaff eventually showing up in another Ys game since he expressed interest in Adol’s travels and had something of a rapport with our protagonist, but I wouldn’t be surprised if even the people who played Ys 1 have no idea who I’m talking about (Footnote 10). Likewise, Sada and Goban are relevant enough characters with enough apparent strength to fuel a bit of adventuring, but it feels like they would have enough on their plates dealing with the aftermath of the demon attacks to go gallivanting across the world. Tarf could be a potential include for waaaaay later down the line, since he can grow stronger in game and has a bit of a rowdy spirit, but he’d be too young at the moment and feels more like a potential call-back include for a game set when Adol is nearing the end of his adventures. The only other one I can think of is, one of my rising favorite characters the more I think about him, Keith Fact. He stands out to me as a character that has a lot of potential for future use. To wit, both of the old versions of Ys 4 included him in some capacity; as a cameo in one and relatively major part of the plot in the other. The fact that he could still possess a demonic essence shows that he could be a potential actor in future conflicts and that, as well as potential lingering feelings of vengeance in regards to his sister, could spur him to action if the Darklings were involved in a future Ys plot (Footnote 11).
Finally, in regards to the Esteria games, are simple generic connections. As best I can tell, there isn’t anything solid here. In terms of geography, Esteria should be far enough from Obelia that there isn’t any crossover. Though, again comparing to real world equivalents, Esteria would be in Brittany which neighbors Normandy. So there is that. The only other connection I could see pertains to the Eldeen, which is a very, very broad range. I would love to see more inclusion of the Eldeen, since the past few games have taken somewhat different directions with their plots, but I don’t know that there’s enough to predict with certainty. The best I can put together is that – riding on the assumption Ys X will feature the Nors faith – Valkyries sometimes feature – particularly in more modern depictions – wings. So it isn’t that much of a stretch to think we could see one of the Eldeen posing as a kind of Valkyrie figure. Especially, if we continue this thread, given the imagery of Adol and his new companion connected by a thread around their wrists, perhaps indicative that there’s some kind of reference to a Valkyrie’s role as a chooser of worthy warriors and a bond resulting from Adol’s being chosen. A thin theory, but potential nonetheless.
Moving on from Esteria, we have Felghana. Felghana I again doubt will have much of a connection in any regard. There aren’t really any lingering plot threads for Oath in Felghana – the best I can figure circles back to the Darklings insofar as ‘if Galbalan was a weapon made by the Darklings, were they the ones that brought it to Felghana or did it just end up there on its own’. But that’s a very thin, artificial analysis. And the characters similarly are mostly self contained; there aren’t really any that would have any business outside of Felghana, especially before Adol visited. I could see Elena showing up in a future game as a knight following in the footsteps of Chester – particularly if it’s a game in which Adol more directly confronts Romn – but this is not a future game in that sense. Which leaves only what thin connections can be formed from the lore itself. Geographically, Felghana should be the closest setting we’ve visited to Obelia, but that’s a very relative term. I don’t think closest equates to close in this case. And then the main lore of Felghana mostly revolves around Galbalan and – kind of – the Romun Empire. But the only connection Galbalan could really have is – again – through the Darklings, given the nature of what it actually was. And most of that was addressed more fully in Celceta and Napishtim anyway. Theoretically there could be some sort of connection through the Hieroglyph Church, mirroring the way in which Christianity interacted with the Norse religion, but that has little to do with Felghana itself. Especially since the Hieroglyph Church seems fairly related to Romn and it seems unlikely the Empire will have any presence in Obelia. Unless they decide to expand some of what Romn’s influence is to the Byzantine Empire and go with a Varangian guard kind of thing, but that’s really a proof of how not all ‘viking’ cultures can be equated since the Varangian Guard were Rus. So not only do I feel like there’s little lore connection between Felghana and Obelia, but as a bonus I don’t think there’s any to the wider Romun plotline of the series. Plus, if there was a connection to the broader narrative of Oath in Felghana, one would have expected Adol to go there next and not Celceta. Speaking of…
Memories of Celceta… Could have some relevance simply because it is the next game chronologically after X. But with that being said, I don’t know how much of a connection there really is. Memories of Celceta doesn’t necessarily have any dangling plot threads, at least none that immediately come to mind or could be addressed in this game. Kind of like Felghana, I think that most of what we could expect to see from any further references to Celceta would be in a more Romun themed story. There is something of a Darkling thread, but Celceta’s tie to that plotline in particular is very much finished since all of the characters related to Danan Village are accounted for. And speaking of characters, I don’t really think there are any that could be ‘foreshadowed’ here. Potentially the inhabitants of Danan Village, if the game wanted to imply they were keeping their eyes on Adol for a bit longer than expected, but that’s a bit much. Especially since I don’t know that they started paying attention to Adol until Eldeel took interest in the adventurer. Admittedly, that could be a potential reason for why Adol traveled to Celceta in the first place – that he realized someone was spying on him and tried to track them down – but… again, somewhat loose. Alternatively, moving on to lore topics, it is possible that they could put in threads of Eldeel’s influence as a way to nudge Adol toward Celceta. Since it’s established he granted knowledge to quite a few people, it’s not impossible to believe we could see one of those recipients in Obelia. Especially since one of the screenshots has Adol’s new companion – screw it, I’m calling her Hilda until we get an actual name because it ends in an ‘a’ and fits the regional theme (Footnote 12) – ‘flying’ on some sort of surfboard looking thing. And as Eldeel liked to say (Paraphrased since I can’t remember the exact quote) ‘One day mankind will fly on wings of their own making’. So that is a potential lead, but I think just about all they could conceivably shove in there. I do like that idea though, since it would continue a line of natural development for how Adol went from one place to the next. Meeting the Twin Goddesses led him to Eldeel in Celceta, fighting the Galba in Elduke led him to Galbalan in Felghana, ignore Kefin, Lacrimosa of Dana wasn’t really an adventure of his own volition, and then Galbalan led him to uncovering the truth behind the Eldeen and Ash Emelas in the Canaan Islands. So yeah, could be cool.
Speaking of which, Kefin. I’ll admit that I don’t know all that much about Kefin. Still haven’t played it because there’s no localization and… well, it’s Kefin. With that being said, I do think it’s a bit unfortunate since Kefin’s influence did just show up in Monstrum Nox. And if patterns follow, there could be a remake of Ys V coming up after X, meaning it would be natural for them to include references to it in X to foreshadow. But, I can’t really speak to that as I stand ignorant. And all of my theories in that regard pertain more to Monstrum Nox anyway. And with characters, the only two I know are Terra and Ladoc, and I’m not even sure the latter actually was in Ys V. So I’ll talk about him in the next segment. Better off moving on anyway.
I don’t think there’s really all that much to go on with Ark of Napishtim, unfortunately. Its story was fairly resolved and I think the big lingering plot hook is all Romun anyway. Especially since I don’t think they could even stretch for there being another tribe of Rehda that somehow ended up in Obelia, since from what I remember Adol hadn’t seen their like before Ys VI. And that would be a little weird anyway. I think it’s established the Rehda in the Canaan Islands are the only descendants of Alma’s servants. Which conveniently ties up most of the characters too. I do think that Ladoc could show up, since we don’t precisely know how he and Adol met (unless that was in Kefin) and it’s entirely conceivable that a famed pirate would show up in the nautically themed Ys game. Could even make for a potentially interesting boss at some point, if there are going to be naval boss fights. And he could foreshadow / reference both Ark of Napishtim and Kefin, kind of pointing Adol in their respective directions through an encounter here. Which I think could be a point in Ark of Napishtim’s favor in general. If ever we were going to hear references to the Great Vortex, it would be in the boat game. If that’s in an actual character, on the other hand, who can say. The only other characters that I feel have potential plot relevance – albeit not necessarily for this game – are Auguste and Emilio, oddly enough. The former simply has a lot of knowledge about the Eldeen and gives Adol an item related to them, which is quite interesting. Especially since – from what I remember – he talks about the punishment and atonement due to the Clan of Darkness in a strangely personal manner. But I don’t know how long he was trapped in the Great Vortex nor what he would be doing in Obelia if he wasn’t trapped there in 18 AC. And why Adol wouldn’t recognize him, for that matter. As for the latter, his potential plot relevance revolves entirely around one curious detail: the Daylight Stone. He gives that item to Adol and, I believe, says it was a charm given to him by his mother (might want to check me on that). What makes this interesting is that the Daylight Stone has been seen precisely one other time, albeit under the name Daybreak Talisman: given to Hugo Fact by Epona in Ys Origin. Which may indicate Emilio has some ties to the Darklings. But if that somehow comes up here, it really just means the Darklings are brought up as a plot point, not Emilio himself. He isn’t really important anyway. The rest of Napishtim’s general lore I can only really see as relating in the sense of boats and similar themes, so probably not much to go on. They’re just too separated in terms of geography to really have that much of a connection.
Moving on to Ys Seven, I’ll simply say that I don’t think there’s all that much there. Ys Seven very much stood out on its own addressing the longstanding series plot point of Adol’s desire to visit Altago. So a lot of its lore is very much intentionally separate from the rest of the series. There’s just no way that the Five Dragons could relate to Obelia and that covers just about all of Ys Seven’s plot and lore. Theoretically we could get another tie back into Tritheism – either Grattheos again through nautical themes or Horu as the one who hasn’t been mentioned – but I kind of hope not since I… didn’t especially like the last time they tried including Tritheism. Didn’t like it enough that I could write an entire essay on why (Footnote 13). So… yeah. And in any case, I feel like it would be kind of weird for such a distant land to arbitrarily share a religion with Altago. And, and, it makes more sense for Horu to show up in a potential Kefin remake since Kefin is set in an analogue to Egypt (I think) and Horu seems to be based on Horus, going by name if nothing else. So yeah. I don’t really think there’s all that much that can be connected to Ys Seven. Not in terms of characters, lore, or plot. Which of course means that I’ll be wrong in every regard, but oh well.
Honestly, I’m kind of in the same boat with Lacrimosa of Dana. As I stated earlier, the fact that it’s not really an adventure Adol chose, but one he had thrust upon him makes it harder to connect to the series at large. Insomuch as I would actually say that it’s a weakness of the game that it doesn’t really feel like it connects to the broader lore of the series. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great game and a respectable contender for the best Ys game, but for a lore discussion… I don’t see how any characters from it could show up in X, since they were all from around the Medo Sea which is on the entire other side of Eresia. Or lived millennia ago. Theoretically there could be some sort of inclusion of Primordials or something being frozen in the ice up north – or even something from Minos’ era that survived far longer than it had any right to through accidental cryogenic means – but I think that’s a stretch. And in that same way the plot really centers around people and things very much unique to Seiren. The best I can do is bemoan how 8 already used Dainsleif and Mistilteinn, so neither of those will be the ultimate sword. Thus: moving on.
Monstrum Nox is honestly probably ninety percent of the reason I wrote this article (Essay? Diatribe? Rant?). More than any other game, I think it’s the mostly likely to have references in X, both because of its recency and a lot of the themes it brought up. As I already discussed, the simple fact that there’s so much room to work with in regards to the Nors faith means (in my opinion) there’s a good likelihood that’s what we’ll get here. Especially since Monstrum Nox only really has half of the story in its lore on the Nors. This does come somewhat close to spoilers, so be warned, but a critical part of the backstory of Monstrum Nox relates to the ‘Twilight of the Gods’ occurring in the Hundred Years’ War and how Grimnir’s influence in that war persisted in Balduq even after his death. Even the fact that the gods of the Nors faith had an apparent degree of mortality to them is fascinating, but this leaves open the question: what about Luki? While Luki was supposed to be the patron of Britai and should have perished in service to that nation, the simple fact is we don’t know what his gift to the warriors of Britai was like Grimnir’s in the Egg of Draupnir (spoilers, but in such a way that it won’t really have relevance until you already know anyway). And when you consider that Britai is the equivalent of Britain which was invaded by the Norse so hard that the modern nation originally formed when the Norse invaded and conquered it from the Norse (put very glibly), it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that maybe, just maybe Luki’s influence stretched a little bit beyond just that one island. And Grimnir’s, for that matter. While I don’t think we’ll get more alchemy in X, simply because it doesn’t feel like the right time or place for it, (Footnote 14) I think there’s a good chance X will, in some capacity, show off what Luki was doing at the time of the Hundred Year’s War. And that actually covers pretty much both plot and lore, which leaves us with only characters. And… I don’t really think there’s a good chance we’ll see any character shout outs to 9. Too early in the timeline and the precise nature of 9’s plot makes it a little odd for its characters to show up elsewhere. At least prior to it occurring.
So with all of that done, there’s only analysis to be done. To start with, there’s what I feel to be the most likely prediction: a Nors plotline. As stated above, the way in which Monstrum Nox left the plotline of Luki open seems too deliberate to be coincidental. All the more when you consider the nautical theme of X and the Griegers. To explain, the description of the Griegers establishes they’re undead. And in Norse mythology, there are roughly three ‘undead’ creatures I can think of. The first, and perhaps most notable to a modern audience (Footnote 15), are the Draugr or Barrow-wights. And I could believe the Griegers are meant to evoke the same feeling, but as a creature, Draugr are fairly generic. Or more to the point, there are few specific legends about them, aside from a few specifically named ones. Thus leading me to believe there’s probably more at play here. The second instance is… odder. I’m willing to bet very few people have heard of Hrólfs Saga Kraka – quite frankly, I know very little of it except for the specific character I’m about to mention. For context, the story is somewhat related to the story of Beowulf; a similar saga with a few shared characters. And one of the antagonists (I think) of the story is Princess Skuld. She has a lot going on, but the relevant note is that in a grand fight against the protagonist (I think), Hrólfr, she casts a spell that seems to reanimate her fallen soldiers as undead warriors. So there’s that, but it’s more an interesting bit of mythology than a tie here (I think). The last ‘undead’ creature I can think of in Norse mythology is the most relevant, however, specifically because of how it ties to the rest of the details surrounding Ys X. You see, for those of you unfamiliar with the stories, at the time of Ragnarok, Loki enters the fray on a ship called Naglfar (Footnote 16), filled with monsters and the people of either Muspelheim or Hel. So given this, I’m almost willing to bet that the Ys equivalent of Naglfar will feature prominently in the game as the force behind the Griegers, something like Luki’s equivalent of Grimnir’s Egg of Draupnir. Especially since the Ys world’s equivalent to Ragnarok happened in the Hundred Years’ War, which featured prominently in the lore of Monstrum Nox. And I’d go a step further to say it’ll probably be either the second or third to last boss, assuming naval battles are a thing. Going off of this logic, I’d say there’s also a fair chance that Hilda (Footnote 17) will be in some way related to the Eldeen, so as to keep the kind of tie to Norse mythology in her role as a Valkyrie ‘chooser’ bound to Adol after he ends up chosen to stop Naglfar. The specific tie to the Eldeen I would guess amounts to something like how Olha and Isha are tied to Alma. Unless of course it turns out the Nors gods were Eldeen all along, but… I think that’s a bit unlikely (Footnote 18). The only other relevant note I can think to mention is that there will probably be some sort of ‘Surtr’ figure at the head of the Griegers since they seem to be the ones living in the Muspelheim themed half of that key visual and Surtr… fought on Loki’s side at Ragnarok? Kind of? He just kinda shows up and burns everything down, from what I remember. But! I bet he’ll be in Ys X as some degree of important villain and or boss, perhaps either the one who spurred Luki into conflict with Grimnir and supplied him with the power to do so or a champion of Luki who persisted after the god fell, depending on how they want to play things within the story (Footnote 19).
Now with the most likely out of the way, we have my two shakier guesses that all end up in roughly opposite sides of the same thought. First: The idea of a Darkling themed plotline. I really don’t necessarily think this is especially likely, given the current state of the series narrative. Recent games have been going further afield than the Eldeen and Darklings, so it wouldn’t make all that much sense for them to include that plotline here unless they intended to circle back to them for something big. At the same time, however, I do think the direction the series narrative is taking us is towards an eventual grand conflict with the Romun Empire, but I don’t really see that coming up here either (Footnote 20). But as mentioned before, the inclusion of the Darklings here could be a good way to kind of lead into Adol’s next adventure in Celceta if it was done in such a way that hinted at the existence of Danan Village and its location in Ispani. With this in mind, it’s probably required that there would have to be someone from Danan Village in conflict with whatever Darkling force is in Obelia to give this kind of context, but… I mean, there’s a low chance Hilda is either Darkling or Danan since she seems to use an axe, not a halberd. And if there’s anything Epona, Kishgal, Frieda, and Geis taught me, it’s that the Clan of Darkness liked their halberds. The only other way I could tie it in is that the Darklings have shown prior relation to necromancy in regards to Dalles and Zava (Footnote 21) coming back from the dead between Origins and Ys II. But as that was more related to the Black Pearl than the two individuals, it doesn’t seem like it should connect to whatever reanimating force is behind the Griegers. But it would be cool. As a kind of secondary guess of what this plot could be about, the best I can put together is something along the lines of one or more of the Darklings mucking about with an Eldeen and or Nors artifact in Obelia which resulted in the resurrection of the Griegers, perhaps even another artifact composed of Black Emelas since I don’t think only the Black Pearl had to be made of it. That could fit in with the Nordic theme as well, since a lot of the myths in that region do like their evil sorcerers and witches, which would fit pretty naturally in with the vibe of the Darklings. Then in terms of addressing the apparent bond between Adol and Hilda in that thread thingy… I’m not sure. It could be some kind of curse put upon them by the presumed Darkling force behind the Griegers, but I don’t exactly know why the villains would do that. Unless it had to do with some kind of sacrifice thing where they expected Adol to be a problem and so bound his fate to someone they were going to sacrifice a la the people of Ys in the Campanile of Lane. Thus a major driving force in the game is Adol and Hilda trying to race against the clock and beat their fate before they both die. But I find that an unlikely explanation for the bond given the opening narration about freedom and obligation. It feels like the bond is something the protagonists will accept through their own will as a matter of duty. Really, if there’s anything you should take from this, it’s that I’m seriously looking for a connection here. I sincerely doubt that the Darklings will feature in the story and only bring it up as a possibility because of the location in the timeline.
And speaking of unlikely explanations, we have the thought of an Eldeen plotline. It does fit in well with the timeline, but otherwise I don’t know that there’s enough to form a solid answer. I definitely think there’s a fair shake there will be some sort of Eldeen as Valkyire behind the bond between Adol and Hilda, but that’s not especially based on evidence. More so connections drawn between aesthetics and theming. And similarly, I do think Hilda’s weird sky-surfboard thingy is a decent point of evidence towards Eldeel, as mentioned above with his whole flight thing, but that still has very little evidence behind it and depends on a lot more that we haven’t seen yet. In order for that to happen, I think there would need to be some sort of major shift in Obelia resulting from Eldeel passing knowledge on to one of its inhabitants. This would help drive why Adol comes to Obelia, the plot itself, and why he then heads off for Celceta, but we don’t have any indication that’s happened as of yet. And with the Griegers as the main conflict we know of thus far, it feels like that kind of technological / scholastic shake up wouldn’t drive the story. Which leaves the last possibility of a native Eldeen we know nothing about or the figures of the Nors faith being Eldeen all along (Footnote 22). I’ve already mentioned that I find the latter unconvincing, if possible, but here could be something to the former. There’s no evidence one way or the other, but it could help explain a little bit about the Nors deities if they did have one of the Eldeen backing them all along. And, I suppose, the volcano in the key art could be a deliberate reference to Memories of Celceta’s Mount Vesuvio (Footnote 23), but that’s just about the thinnest of thin connections I’ve made here.
And that’s all I’ve got for the moment. I look forward to getting proven horrifically wrong on all accounts when the game gets released, but until then I can keep putting together chalkboard theories until the cows come home. As stated before, this won’t be the last time I visit Ys (I’ll probably do a full series article in a month or so to give you a bit of a break), but next time will be a more on topic discussion. Likely literature, probably the book series that really spurred me into writing to make a good start. Until next time!
Footnotes and assorted snide remarks:
Footnote 1: Yeah, it’s been a bit since the news dropped at this point, but with Christmas and New Year’s and way too many board game nights with my family, I had to push all of this to the January (Footnote 1a).
Footnote 1a: It’s certainly not because I wanted to make sure payment cycles on the website were neat and tidy. No siree.
Footnote 2: I am fairly certain ‘an’ is the proper article, given the pronunciation
Footnote 3: A Weissmann of salt.
Footnote 4: If Adol getting shipwrecked isn’t a game mechanic, we riot.
Footnote 5: Oh, I’m sure I’ll be eating these words later.
Footnote 6: If I had a nickel for every time a long running JRPG series featured a plot revolving around the protagonist helping a girl from a Niflheim themed nation defend her home from invading Muspelheim themed forces… I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
Footnote 7: I’ve never been quite sure if Darklings refers to all of the people of the Clan of Darkness, just these ones, or just those outside of Danan Village.
Footnote 8: Yes, I know who he is. No, I’m not going to spoil it for those who don’t know.
Footnote 9: If the pull a Celceta and remove him from X, we riot.
Footnote 10: He’s the guy that gives you the Shortsword (Footnote 10a).
Footnote 10a: And Talwar, if you know what you’re doing.
Footnote 11: Honestly, this should probably be an article in itself, but I would absolutely love a spinoff game focusing entirely around Keith. I think there’s a lot of potential for a story there in how he lives after the fall of Darm. If we go by the assumption he still has the Demonic Essence within him, then it could have a kind of mirrored plotline to Origin’s Claw-man (Footnote 8). Something like a journey to try and cure himself of the Demonic Essence and or track down the origins of the Darklings responsible for the death of his sister. And the gameplay could go a few ways too. I could definitely see something like a Napisthim Engine and a half game like Dana’s segments in 8 (except with better balance between the forms) and a transformation into a demonic form during Boost like Claw-man. Alternatively, since Keith has no apparent prior combat training (Footnote 11a), it could be a more stealh-ish game in which you can only fight while in Boost mode and therefore demonized, making the game more about trying to avoid combat for the most part and picking your battles. To this end, I think it would be interesting if the game (Here I am talking about it like it actually exists) kind of borrowed a bit of the vibe of a Castlevania game, making combat far less important in favor of exploring the region and uncovering secrets — something already present in Ys, but in a far more detailed manner. Maybe something like several areas with exploration like Balduq connected by an overworld a la 8?
Footnote 11a: Honestly, it could go either way. There’s nothing to say he didn’t either and Dalles (I think) presumably had a reason for forcibly demonizing him. It could easily be that he was a member of the town guard and did try to fight back when they attacked him and his sister, but just couldn’t outlast the Solomon Shrine forces. I mean, other than Adol, Sada needed a Cleria Sword to keep up with the Demons of Solomon Shrine. So it’s believable, especially with Dalles proclivity for being a massive jerk, that Keith got turned specifically because he did try to fight back.
Footnote 12: Why do I do this to myself? I’m sure I’ll catch no end of flak for this nickname.
Footnote 13: Hint hint, nudge nudge.
Footnote 14: Though now that I think about it, there is a good amount of the signature green glow of Gllian alchemy in the prerelease images.
Footnote 15: Skyrim and Fellowship, if you don’t know
Footnote 16: Means something like ‘nail farer’ because it’s made of the nails and hair of the dead
Footnote 17: Adol’s unnamed companion. Keep with the program.
Footnote 18: Specifically, the point in favor of this is the relative mortality of the deities, something that would indicate they’re more ‘human’ like the Eldeen instead of ambiguously defined spiritual beings or true deities like (seethes internally) Maia. On the other hand, the fact that at no point were Grimnir or any of his champions depicted with wings seems a rather striking point against them being Eldeen. The only other thing that might lead that way is how a mural depicting Grimnir in Monstrum Nox has the wind (I think) represented two women blowing in either direction which could be a reference to the Twin Goddesses. I think it’s just artistic affectation, however (Footnote 18a).
Footnote 18a: There’s also the discussion to be made over what the heck the Egg of Draupnir actually was and how it was made / what it was made from, but there’s nothing to indicate it was made from any sort of Emelas.
Footnote 19: Related, fair shake Laevateinn ends up the ultimate sword of this game. Or maybe penultimate. It would be funny to keep in the tradition of the Flame/Battle Sword being the not quite best weapon. Alternatively, I’d guess either Tyrfing or Gram / Balmung.
Footnote 20: I think it’s very likely that’s the plot we’ll get for the kind of ‘climax’ of Adol’s adventures in his younger days. Or, depending on how you look at it, his early adult adventures. For instance, Ys Seven was in many ways the climax of all the games that came before it – it delivered on a longstanding plotline and did so in a way that played around with the series tropes. And it seems like that game more than most instilled a kind of change in Adol as a result of his role in everything. One need only look at the Lost Sword and how he felt about Caliocerion to see how important the events of Ys Seven were to him (Footnote 20a). With this in mind, I would think that eventually Adol needs to visit Romn, both as a part of his adventures all around Eresia and to actually deal with all the dangling plot threads relating to it. And it would be a good opportunity for a kind of curtain call of the characters from most of the games prior. Griselda and Leo from Celceta, Euron and Kathleen at least from Lacrimosa of Dana, Geis probably because of Ernst and therefore Credo since they’re traveling together, possibly Elena from Felghana, there’s a lot to draw from there and I’m really, really hopeful for a game like that.
Footnote 20a: Ignoring the yeeting at a bird.
Footnote 21: Maybe Kishgal as Tyalmath, but that’s unconfirmed.
Footnote 22: It’s the perfect analogy. Nors as Eldeen.
Footnote 23: In hindsight, it really bothers me that apparently the Ys world’s equivalent to Vesuvius is in upper Spain instead of Italy.
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