{Spoiler} Endings discussion?

[LotusBlade]

There are several problems regarding endings and all of them make no sence at all.

A) You cleanse white flower which represents white priestess soul (consciousness?) then she says 'you are just a kid and don't have to take so much burden, just go away and live your life normally'. Her soul then vanishes by cleansing girl from corruption.

1) So, how is she supposed to live normal life? From early ages girl had only 1 purpose - to cleanse blight. She has no idea how to survive in wilderness, no skills and no protector, since swordsman has to stay behind, no money, no heritage. She will simply get humiliated and then killed by first bandint group.

2) What happened to consumed legions? She still can summon them? Pretty sure the kingdom she will travel to will set a bounty to hunt her down as some sort of monstrocity.

.......

B) You cleanse red flower - body of priestess. Her souls comes from the A ending and says same stuff, but instead of exiting kingdom into death from bandits you stay to die... Is this all to simply reduce corruption in priestess body to an extent where she can try to overcome it somewhere in a future? It is unclear what is a purpose of sharing the burden is.

3) Everyone is already DEAD in this kingdom, there is no point to cleanse anything.

4) Where is an option to simply kill the source of corruption?

.......

C) You cleanse red flower twice by having amulet. Priestess passes away and blight is done for. No more acid rain. But (3) + girl has weird tendrills growing from her head — read (2).

5) What happens to swordsman now? He gonna die cus fulfilled main goal?
6) What about all remaining blighted creatures? They still will spread that crap around.

[Livy]

If i got the story right, it wasn't really the ancient blighted that felled the kingdom (they seemed to be chasing after the first white priestess who was escorted from their domain by the first king), but rather the current king's demand to his mages to make a blight he could personally control (made from the skin of a priestess) that was distributed as a potion throughout the kingdom. So with both the ancient and the king's blight suppressed it shouldn't be spreading any more unless the amulet is broken, as for what would happen if the priestess is hurt is unclear but the implication seems that the blight would just be spreading unchecked.

As for the spirits i in ending A it's not Lily that purifies Foundt but Foundt that purifies Lily so all the spirits would be left behind.

[megaolix]

Originally posted by LotusBlade:

C) You cleanse red flower twice by having amulet. Priestess passes away and blight is done for. No more acid rain. But (3) + girl has weird tendrills growing from her head — read (2).

Welllll... Given it already look better than hair being full darkened, maybe those will fade/crumble/vanish/whatever else over time now that she stop absorbing Blight non-stop? That's what I like to imagine anyway.

[somedude212]

First of all, I don't think you need to spoiler tag comments since the topic already says ending discussion. If anyone complains about getting spoiled, it's his/her fault for clicking on such topic.

Anyway, here's my take on the endings:
A) Well, better late than never. Given how painful the process of taking in the blight is and how Fretia ended up, Lily can at least be free of that. Hopefully, she finds a nice settlement instead of bandits. As for the second point, why would people want to hunt her down? Unless they have a blight problem there as well and she has to absorb that, she is a normal girl and looks like one.

B) Lily wants to be with Fretia regardless of the cost. She chooses to bear the burden so they can be together. Also, there is a point in cleansing as it frees the blighted from further suffering. Fretia at least can hold the current blight at bay so it does not spread any further.

C) Since Fretia explictly shows surprise at Lily's cleansing blight and the rain stops, my assumption is that all other Blight creatures turned to stone just like the bosses Lily personally purified. As for the Umbral Knight, he sticks around with Lily since he exists as long as the line of priestesses remains and his duty is to protect them. Since Lily has all her spirit powers intact in this ending, it is probably not going to end well for anyone who tries to mess with her.

[Saavedra]

A) The process of purifying the Blight is agonizing. It hurts, and it also painfully mutates the White Priestesses. Fretia wants Lily to be free of that agony, so she purifies Lily and has her leave Land´s End. Your complaints about bandits and bounty hunters are kind of silly when you compare that danger to what Land´s End has become (we don´t even know what the other kingdoms around Land´s End are like, you are just assuming they are as lawless or ruthless as the stereotypical fantasy medieval world, but even that is better than a dead kingdom plagued by the Blight).

B) Fretia is, for all intents and purposes, Lily´s mother. It is natural that Lily would want to stay and help her with the burden of purifying the Blight. The way I understand it, Fretia and the Blight Lord have become one, and when Lily tries to take on the burden together with Fretia, it is Fretia herself who fights Lily to push her out of the Abyss, using whetever control over the Blight Lord she has to do so. Ending A is what Fretia wants for Lily, Ending B is what Lily chooses for herself in opposition to her mother´s wishes.

C) In Ending B, Lily wants to help her mother to purify the Blight, keeping it under control. However, in Ending C, Lily has the Aegis Curio, which greatly reduces the effect of the Blight upon the White Priestesses. With this, Lily can do the same work as Fretia does, but without suffering so much, and she also has her spirits to help her. Remember that purifying the Blight is an exhausting, agonizing process that eventually will mutate even the White Priestesses and kill them through sheer exhaustion. Lily decides she is not just going to help Fretia with the burden of purifying the Blight, she is going to take that burden all to herself with the aid of the Curio, and finally free her mother from her torment (which Fretia has been enduring for far too long). All of Fretia´s "children" wanted to do this, they were willing to sacrifice themselves for their mother, but Fretia did not accept this. Fretia, probably sensing Lily´s intentions and seeing the Curio activate, decides to fight even harder to stop Lily from sacrificing herself for her (hence the Blighted Lord´s second phase, with the spirits of the White Priestesses showing up in the background, watching the fight). Eventually, Lily wins the fight, purifies Fretia, and inverts Ending A: instead of the mother freeing her daughter from the horrible burden of purifying the Blight, it is the daughter who frees the mother. In the end, we see that the Rain recedes as Fretia accepts Lily´s determination and is freed, then she looks for the bodies of her dead daughters, giving them all a proper burial.

What happens after that is left to your imagination, but I believe that in this ending, Lily stays in Land´s End to purify the Blight once and for all while Fretia lives her own life, but returns as often as possible to check on her daughter and take care of her. The Umbral Knight will stay with Lily together with Siegrid, Silva, Eleine, Gerrod and all the others, to protect her. Now that the Rain is over, the corruption of the Blight will fade away, either all the way down to the Abyss, or perhaps even completely. Eventually, Land´s End will be free of the Blight, and the White Priestesses will have to carry their burden no more, or do so in a way that does not destroy their lives in the process.

[LuckyToShoot]

Originally posted by Saavedra:

A) The process of purifying the Blight is agonizing. It hurts, and it also painfully mutates the White Priestesses. Fretia wants Lily to be free of that agony, so she purifies Lily and has her leave Land´s End. Your complaints about bandits and bounty hunters are kind of silly when you compare that danger to what Land´s End has become (we don´t even know what the other kingdoms around Land´s End are like, you are just assuming they are as lawless or ruthless as the stereotypical fantasy medieval world, but even that is better than a dead kingdom plagued by the Blight).

B) Fretia is, for all intents and purposes, Lily´s mother. It is natural that Lily would want to stay and help her with the burden of purifying the Blight. The way I understand it, Fretia and the Blight Lord have become one, and when Lily tries to take on the burden together with Fretia, it is Fretia herself who fights Lily to push her out of the Abyss, using whetever control over the Blight Lord she has to do so. Ending A is what Fretia wants for Lily, Ending B is what Lily chooses for herself in opposition to her mother´s wishes.

C) In Ending B, Lily wants to help her mother to purify the Blight, keeping it under control. However, in Ending C, Lily has the Aegis Curio, which greatly reduces the effect of the Blight upon the White Priestesses. With this, Lily can do the same work as Fretia does, but without suffering so much, and she also has her spirits to help her. Remember that purifying the Blight is an exhausting, agonizing process that eventually will mutate rven the White Priestesses and kill them through sheer exhaustion. Lily decides she is not just going to help Fretia with the burden of purifying the Blight, she is going to take that burden all to herself with the aid of the Curio, and finally free her mother from her torment (which Fretia has been enduring for far too long). All of Fretia´s "children" wanted to do this, they were willing to sacrifice themselves for their mother, but Fretia did not accept this. Fretia, probably sensing Lily´s intentions and seeing the Curio activate, decides to fight even harder to stop Lily from sacrificing herself for her (hence the Blighted Lord´s second phase, with the spirits of the White Priestesses showing up in the background, watching the fight). Eventually, Lily wins the fight, purifies Fretia, and inverts Ending A: instead of the mother freeing her daughter from the horrible burden of purifying the Blight, it is the daughter who frees the mother. In the end, we see that the Rain recedes as Fretia is freed, and she looks for the bodies of her dead daughters, giving them a proper burial.

What happens after that is left to your imagination, but I believe that in this ending, Lily stays in Land´s End to purify the Blight once and for all with the help of her spirits, while Fretia lives her own life, but returns as often as possible to check on her daughter and take care of her.

I agree with most of your points, but I don't think Fretia is alive anymore after being freed, I think she did say "it's time for her to go" after you beat blight lord 2nd phase and she vanishes into thin air, which I think implies her mother is dead, but her soul is freed from the blight. The person who Lily looked at in the C ending after the credits, I think is in fact the Umbral Knight. The umbral knight serves the bloodline of priestesses according to the deathless pact. Like sure, while in ending A he couldn't leave Land's End with Lily, I think that is because the Umbral Knight have a deathless pact bound to Fretia, as Fretia is still alive when ending A happened. However, with ending C Fretia is dead, and next priestess that's alive is now Lily, so now the Umbral Knight SHOULD be bound to her, so he now can leave Land's End with Lily. Which should give Lily more than enough protection from anyone who want to screw with her, or help her surviving the outside world in general.

Do kinda wish for another Ender Lilies game just to watch Lily suffer more tho, well not really, but I just want to know more about the world lol.

[Saavedra]

Originally posted by LuckyToShoot:

I agree with most of your points, but I don't think Fretia is alive anymore after being freed, I think she did say "it's time for her to go" after you beat blight lord 2nd phase and she vanishes into thin air, which I think implies her mother is dead, but her soul is freed from the blight. The person who Lily looked at in the C ending after the credits, I think is in fact the Umbral Knight. The umbral knight serves the bloodline of priestesses according to the deathless pact. Like sure, while in ending A he couldn't leave Land's End with Lily, I think that is because the Umbral Knight have a deathless pact bound to Fretia, as Fretia is still alive when ending A happened. However, with ending C Fretia is dead, and next priestess that's alive is now Lily, so now the Umbral Knight SHOULD be bound to her, so he now can leave Land's End with Lily. Which should give Lily more than enough protection from anyone who want to screw with her, or help her surviving the outside world in general.

Do kinda wish for another Ender Lilies game just to watch Lily suffer more tho, well not really, but I just want to know more about the world lol.

I have to admit the ending is kind of confusing, so I am not 100% sure on my own interpretation of it.

On one hand, you may be right. That is Lily at the end, who has grown up as she found and buried every inhabitant of Land´s End (burying them all would take the time necessary for her to grow up as much as we see her at the end). The one talking would be the Umbral Knight, comforting her.

On the other hand, I think that may well be Fretia, having buried her daughters, now talking to Lily.

The main problem in choosing one interpretation or the other is that there is hardly any indication of a timeskip between the end of the game and your interpretation (other than the supposed Lily herself), whereas the art style used to represent the girl at the end makes it difficult to figure out whether that is Lily or Fretia (the girl could be a grown Lily, or Fretia now wearing a lighter dress instead of her heavier ceremonial robes).

Personally, I hate the idea that Fretia had to die to be liberated from her connection to the Blight, but I guess believing in a peaceful, happier afterlife for her and the other victims may be comforting and provide closure.

[Mr. Brokencyde]

"dude wouldn't she just get raped and killed by bandits or bears or whatever though? makes no sense" is such a stupid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ analysis of ending A I'm honestly impressed that you had the confidence to post it as anything but a joke.

Ending the blight frees the entire kingdom from its eternal undead torment, ensures it doesn't spread and allows the land itself to heal. It's not meaningless at all. I don't know that you're supposed to think that's what happens in ending B though. It seems like Lily will at best ease her clone mother's suffering for a time while joining in her grim fate. I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be a good ending even putting aside Lily's sacrifice but maybe I'm mistaken.

[Bankai9212]

I think A would be the worse overall, since with no other priestess Fretia would eventually be consumed by the blight. Eventually it would spread across the land I would imagine. Difference between b and c is b Fretia absorbs lily and c is the opposite or lily just isn’t absorbed.

[Demajen]

Pretty certain that's Lily and the Umbral Knight in Ending C. The dialogue style certainly suggests it is the Umbral Knight talking.

[zoberraz]

My take on Ending C was also that Lily freed Fretia from her burden, which allowed Fretia to pass away. Though I think this wasn't as much of a victory as Lily was aiming for, which is why she knelt and had a bittersweet cry (though Lily could've also been aiming for Fretia's release into death, and still cried afterwards)

I did entertain the idea that Fretia's promise that she would always watch over Lily could be something tangible, such as actually becoming one of her spirits.

My interpretation of the graveyard was that Lily had interred most of the spirits she had, with emphasis on the bosses we thought (which most of the notes and story were about).

I was rather confused on whom was talking. It didn't feel like Lily, it could've been Fretia, and I did not think it was the Umbral Knight. Actually, I found the Umbral Knight oddly silent in the ending, which I found strange because he's essentially the most outspoken source of narration and context in this game.

I probably will be replying the ending, and try to consider the Umbral Knight in the context of that last narration. But my first impression had really been that its Fretia.

...

I kind of wish Ending C wasn't this abstract, but it's kind of cool that it's generating discussion. :)