[Spoiler] Spirit Tree sucks

[Plib ver. Ω]

Spirit Tree killed Kuro's babies just because it wanted to call Ori with that damn light and Kuro had to sacrifice itself in the end to save the damn tree. The tree is definitely the villain in this game for me.

[Big Floppa]

Put a spoiler warning
(edit: Thanks)

[Xryleth]

The Spirit Tree was unaware of Kuro or her hatchlings at the time, meaning killing them was an accident. Kuro on the other hand is implied to have murdered most of the foest sprites in retaliation. She too may not have been aware that the forest would die without the Spirit Tree's light, but that does not justify what she did to the sprites, and as a result of maiming the tree she is also responsible for the deaths of the Gumon, whether she's aware of it or not.

Her sacrifice at the end was likely mostly out of concern for her last child, if she did nothing then it would have also died, and even if she saved it, she likely depended on the forest for food as well. It's also possible she felt guilt for attacking Ori, who had done nothing to her before she had tried to kill it, and who she clearly saw at the end was also a child with a devoted parent concerned for it's well being.

[Kv]

If you're in the mood to read an endless wall of text on the theme, here you go:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/261570/discussions/0/528398719788372987/

[Stormspark]

Originally posted by Xryleth:

The Spirit Tree was unaware of Kuro or her hatchlings at the time, meaning killing them was an accident. Kuro on the other hand is implied to have murdered most of the foest sprites in retaliation. She too may not have been aware that the forest would die without the Spirit Tree's light, but that does not justify what she did to the sprites, and as a result of maiming the tree she is also responsible for the deaths of the Gumon, whether she's aware of it or not.

Her sacrifice at the end was likely mostly out of concern for her last child, if she did nothing then it would have also died, and even if she saved it, she likely depended on the forest for food as well. It's also possible she felt guilt for attacking Ori, who had done nothing to her before she had tried to kill it, and who she clearly saw at the end was also a child with a devoted parent concerned for it's well being.

Yep, it was a huge and tragic misunderstanding on both sides. The tree did not deliberately kill Kuro's babies, it didn't even know they were there.

[shiv]

This is what annoyed me about the game.. I felt really bad, in the end I was basically the bad guy, and the 'villain' was a wronged mother out for righteous revenge for the murder of her children at the hands of an uncaring, selfish monster. Basically the spirit tree is the villain of the story, and ori was its tool.

[Plib ver. Ω]

Originally posted by shiv:

This is what annoyed me about the game.. I felt really bad, in the end I was basically the bad guy, and the 'villain' was a wronged mother out for righteous revenge for the murder of her children at the hands of an uncaring, selfish monster. Basically the spirit tree is the villain of the story, and ori was its tool.

Exactly, Spirit Tree at least should've known that shooting those outrageous bursts of light could hurt other life forms like Kuro.

[Xryleth]

Originally posted by shiv:

This is what annoyed me about the game.. I felt really bad, in the end I was basically the bad guy, and the 'villain' was a wronged mother out for righteous revenge for the murder of her children at the hands of an uncaring, selfish monster. Basically the spirit tree is the villain of the story, and ori was its tool.

Ori is anything but the bad guy though, Ori has one job, and that's to restore life to the forest. While some life is still present when Ori sets out with Sein, it's made pretty clear that if nothing is done Horu will destroy the forest and all of it's life. Ori being kind to Gumo despite him attacking Ori with traps just adds to the fact that Ori is a good being.

As for the spirit tree itself, it didn't appear to even be aware that Kuro and her chicks were in the forest, or could even be harmed by it's light. As is, they were at the fringes, which may explain that. The fact that it used light like that in the first place, along with it's guardian role for the forest suggests that whatever denizens the forest normally has would not have been harmed by the light, meaning Kuro may have originated outside of Nibel.

Even if the tree was ignorant though, Kuro maiming it would have eventually had disatrous consequences, which she was most likely not aware of either, including the destruction of the Gumon and eventual destruction of the forest itself. That in itself does not make her bad per se, as it was not only out of revenge but likely to prevent the light from ever harming her last unhatched chick, though she too was ignorant of what her actions would result in. What was vaillainous, was murdering the sprites as well as attempting to kill Ori, when they had done nothing wrong. Her sacrifice in the end prevented the rest of the forest, including her unhatched chick from dying, and allowed a new generation of sprites to be born, but does not make up for how many she killed both directly and indirectly in the name of vengeance.

So no, the spirit tree is not the villain, it's still Kuro. She may be a distraught mother and have reason to want revenge, but that does not justify what she did.

[大兜]

Originally posted by Stormspark:

Originally posted by Xryleth:

The Spirit Tree was unaware of Kuro or her hatchlings at the time, meaning killing them was an accident. Kuro on the other hand is implied to have murdered most of the foest sprites in retaliation. She too may not have been aware that the forest would die without the Spirit Tree's light, but that does not justify what she did to the sprites, and as a result of maiming the tree she is also responsible for the deaths of the Gumon, whether she's aware of it or not.

Her sacrifice at the end was likely mostly out of concern for her last child, if she did nothing then it would have also died, and even if she saved it, she likely depended on the forest for food as well. It's also possible she felt guilt for attacking Ori, who had done nothing to her before she had tried to kill it, and who she clearly saw at the end was also a child with a devoted parent concerned for it's well being.

Yep, it was a huge and tragic misunderstanding on both sides. The tree did not deliberately kill Kuro's babies, it didn't even know they were there.

The tree as the most ancient life in the world, I don't believe it didn't know its light would kill dark creatures like Kuro and her babies.

Even if the tree did not deliberately kill Kuro's babies, it definitely deliberately killed Kuro. After Kuro restored the core of the tree, it can just hold on a second until Kuro found a safe place to hide from its light burst, but it didn't. The tree decided to kill Kuro immediately. ♥♥♥♥ the tree.

[Kyata]

Originally posted by 大兜:

Originally posted by Stormspark:

Yep, it was a huge and tragic misunderstanding on both sides. The tree did not deliberately kill Kuro's babies, it didn't even know they were there.

The tree as the most ancient life in the world, I don't believe it didn't know its light would kill dark creatures like Kuro and her babies.

Even if the tree did not deliberately kill Kuro's babies, it definitely deliberately killed Kuro. After Kuro restored the core of the tree, it can just hold on a second until Kuro found a safe place to hide from its light burst, but it didn't. The tree decided to kill Kuro immediately. ♥♥♥♥ the tree.

That is what I was thinking. Hell the tree is even sentient enough to be a narrator in this story. It's BS to think it is stupid enough not to realize it's power.

It didn't just kill Kuro's children it decimated the entire forest and cause the apocalypse in the first place which resulted in more dying. Kuro merely gone berserk and kill anyone near enough her territory to protect her last egg.