Thoughts about the story (join in, I'm very curious about other opinions)

[Kitten Shady]

Even after reading the manual, I somehow didn't get the full picture of what was happening. As I understand it, the foxes' discovery of some kind of power and their worship of it eventually led to a war with creatures from another world - mechanical monsters with tentacles and three colored eyes? Why did this prompt the foxes to imprison the very first Heir in the temple? It wasn't just so that he and the hero would forever switch places, right? If Heir’s imprisonment was for him to be some kind of guardian/keeper/barrier between two worlds, then did this need so easy disappear as soon as we showed him the manual? Seriously, that's it?
So, there was some problem, it was solved by imprisoning the fox in a golden temple, which (for some reason) was supposed to periodically find a successor (moreover, the successor's decisions were not controlled in any way - they could refuse and leave, die (scarlet spirits in the cemetery) or decide not to be the successor, but collect the manual and free them both), but this whole chain automatically became unnecessary as soon as the new hero decided not to fight the Heir, but to bring the manual and find magic items. Why? Did the original problem, for which the first Heir was imprisoned, disappeared by itself or what?
To be honest, I don't see any point in forcing each hero to level up and improve his combat skills just to be locked in the temple to wait for a single fight with the next hero.

Furthermore, I am extremely interested by the underground factory where obelisks with souls inside are made. It’s unbelievably huge, and I very much doubt that all this is for the provision of one small island. Even if each new hero was tested in one day for 365 days a year, that many obelisks would be too many. Besides, it seems to me that factory’s technology is very much sci-fi, even computerized, while foxes’ technologies, judging by the remaining ruins, was at most medieval with strong magic replacing modern technology - that is, they were somewhere at the level of Zelda world. Foxes do not even use so much metal. Moreover, the factory, it seems to me, is completely automatic and is not controlled by the imprisoned Heir; which is logical, because it was built long before all the previous heroes/Hairs came, and the fact that each of them visited it does not mean that they immediately understood how it works. So, if it is not controlled by the Heir, but a program, or the Librarian, or even someone unknown, then did it really stop working after we freed the Heir?.. And what happened to the souls of the foxes that are already inside the obelisks? As well as the one soul in the Cathedral and little zombified foxes there?

And finally, the Scavengers. I was interested primarily in the fact that they were breaking obelisks in the Quarry. But why? Are they fighting the one who created all this technology? Do they want the factory to stop working? It is doubtful that they are doing this for the crystals, because there are plenty of them in the Quarry, as well as pure liquid energy (but if it’s so when rises up a question “Where they use this energy?”). If they wanted to free the souls or the Heir in this way, then for some reason they are not going to help our hero. To be honest, I do not understand at all why, out of the entire fox race, Scavengers remained on the island in the largest number and what they are doing there at all. But at least they clearly have access both to the mechanical door of the Quarry and to the depths of the factory, which - if it is computerized, - was probably hacked by them, or they have the keys to it, because they used to work there. That is, the foxes are not as medieval-magical as the main interiors of the island try to show us.

Honestly, after completing the game, I feel an incredible desire for more NPCs to talk to us, because they clearly must have some kind of opinion on this whole world and situation.

[Sapphiet シャイ]

I've got a LOT to say here, so it'll definitely be a tl;dr, but this is just for fun, and is built on sheer enjoyment of TUNIC. I'll be spoiling my input here, as this is super-spoiler territory and I truly don't want anyone getting this game for the holidays to be spoiled;

The first thing to note, is that TUNIC's story is fairly cut and dry. The story happens like this:

The world was founded upon a civilization that came together to build a city, and the city contained a palace. They built the palace to enshrine the powers and secrets of Holy Cross; this power was one they had come to an intimate understanding with, but the first 'Hero' of the world (identified by the Hero's Laurel over their head in the depictions) had traveled into the realm of the Far Shore, in which they uncovered a power with dark origins; they had stumbled upon 'Fossils of Self' which, when buried, will release its' potential, becoming an overwhelmingly robust power source. The civilization had speculated with great interest that this might very well be a level of immortality, or the 'Power to Defy Death'.

In this foolish realization based on an assumption without understanding, that Hero had brought about a series of events that transformed them from the once-holy, venerated Heroes of the world, into a dark, cruel, malevolent figure of occult worship: That series of events cascaded into an ultimate climax revolving about them thrusting open the forbidden doors of the Cathedral, where they had discovered the true origins of the Fossil of Self; the power sources they had been using were beings much like themselves, tortured and ensnared to a life of misery. The Hero had recognized this pointless existence, and had interpreted that this was the 'true' origin of life. As a result, they had encouraged all faithful worshippers to consume the very same liquids that produced such overwhelmingly empty feelings, and those who were faithful were granted the gift of 'holy oblivion'; likely to become one of the very things they had been worshipping and spend their 'lives' entombed in the obelisks for all time. Truly, it was the power to defy death-- as one could not die in this way. But it was no way to live.

With this obscene practice resulting in such an overabundance of cursed energy, unnatural and all-too-powerful-- a being from the darkness attacked. It's unknown whether this is a dark creature of its' own origin, or if this was a once-worshipped being turned bad due to the foolish choices of the beings it had previously protected (being very visibly similar to the Golden Energy they worship on the first illustration) but, either way, the dark being issued an attack against the civilization and the world; the assault ravaged and punished the Heroes and the people for their foolishness and their decisions to worship such avarice, that they would go against the very nature of the world to achieve things that should have REMAINED impossible.

In an attempt to display punishment, the Hero became the Heir, imprisoned within an unbreakable prison, and destined to lure in their own lineage; a Ruin Seeker, free of the history, greed and ethics of the established world, who will inevitably chase after the Heir and pursue the path of revenge.. A form of self-punishment, as the Ruin Seeker and The Heir are one and the same. The Ruin Seeker is destined to defeat The Heir without fail, and when they inevitably do, they will replace the Heir, taking their cycle and teaching them the punishment of death, over and over.

This cycle will persist for all time, until the Ruin Seeker shows their true worth as a real Hero: if they hold true the Golden Path and resist the overwhelming need for revenge against The Heir, the pages of the manual and Holy Cross will lead them to end the cycle. But it doesn't take just strength of will and words of wisdom to break the wicked cycle; it takes very specific attributes that the original Hero had not known in their time; things like kindness, forgiveness, and a selfless desire to save any who are in trouble, like any true hero would. Only then will the cycle of the Heir be broken, and the world can begin to heal from the unnatural burns it sustained... as the ominous black creature watches intently from the distance, choosing not to interfere, simply content to observe as the Ruin Seeker chooses between a true end, or to accept their inevitable, contrived fate.

This is the backstory: the events of TUNIC are quite cut and dry as well:

The Siege Engine was one of the last machinations of War, and was used to fight against the assault in the original timeline. Its' existence is a relic of a war that was never able to be won, and with this in mind, the Siege Engine was entrusted with the Red Key and reprogrammed, being sent to sleep in the depths of the Eastern Vault. Its' goal: to destroy the very creatures it had initially been built to protect.

The Librarian's story is one of much heated debate, so this is not fact; this is merely opinion.

The Librarian bears many similarities to a Ruin Seeker, and I personally believe him to have been a former Ruin Seeker himself. I believe he had decided to turn his back on the Manual and the Golden Path-- but I also believe he couldn't bring himself to destroy the Heir. Instead, he had been trying to save the world in his own way, believing the curse of the Heir to be locked away in the Cathedral. In order to gain more knowledge to the Cathedral, he chose to turn to the Manual, which had turned its' back on him much like he had turned his back on it. As a means to collect the pages, the Librarian decided to steal the Green Key from the Frog's domain, hoping to attract Ruin Seekers to challenge him for it, so he could steal their pages. The Librarian had either decided that the Green Key was safer with him than with the Frogs (who don't seem to care one bit that it's gone, even enshrining their own deities instead, moving on from The Hero) or, the more likely reason being that he knew the Ruin Seeker would come for him, bringing pages directly to him, which would grant him knowledge to access the Cathedral. It likely wasn't personal against the Ruin Seekers; he just needed that information, and he had all the time in the world to wait for it to come. All in all, I truly believe he just wanted to save the world, in his own way, though flawed it may be.

The Scavenger Boss' story is very simple; the Scavengers had been mining out the Quarry, once a former temple of worship. The Quarry is covered in crystals which sap energy and willpower from those unprotected from it. The Obelisks, when broken, do this very same thing, and this effect of hopelessness is likely what was being worshipped so heavily by the original Hero and their followers. We see these crystals later on in Cathedral, being wielded by the clone-foxes as swords, and even used on walls as decorations and ceremonial fixtures; one can assume that these crystals were being mined and transported for use in the Cathedral by the Scavengers, but the Scavengers had their eyes on something else; the Scavenger Boss had discovered and unearthed the Zigurrat, and as we can see in the entryway, they had broken through the side of the Zigurrat forcefully, breaking down the holy Golden Doors, and making their way downwards into the depths. Unmoved by the dark automations of the Fossils of Self, the Scavenger pushed on towards the Blue Key, likely believing it to be a great source of power, or at the very least-- a great piece of leverage for ransom against anyone who wants it for themselves. She was so hellbent on getting the Blue Key and having it for herself, that she outright killed her own Scavenger crew once she had it in her sights. She waits and is just about to touch it and take it for herself... until the Ruin Seeker arrives.

This is all fairly clearly expressed in the story, though no answer is the 'right' one; TUNIC is a robust world full of storytelling, so it's up to you to decide what you believe. :)

[Kitten Shady]

Originally posted by Sapphiet シャイ:

I've got a LOT to say here, so it'll definitely be a tl;dr, but this is just for fun, and is built on sheer enjoyment of TUNIC. I'll be spoiling my input here, as this is super-spoiler territory and I truly don't want anyone getting this game for the holidays to be spoiled;

The first thing to note, is that TUNIC's story is fairly cut and dry. The story happens like this:

The world was founded upon a civilization that came together to build a city, and the city contained a palace. They built the palace to enshrine the powers and secrets of Holy Cross; this power was one they had come to an intimate understanding with, but the first 'Hero' of the world (identified by the Hero's Laurel over their head in the depictions) had traveled into the realm of the Far Shore, in which they uncovered a power with dark origins; they had stumbled upon 'Fossils of Self' which, when buried, will release its' potential, becoming an overwhelmingly robust power source. The civilization had speculated with great interest that this might very well be a level of immortality, or the 'Power to Defy Death'.

In this foolish realization based on an assumption without understanding, that Hero had brought about a series of events that transformed them from the once-holy, venerated Heroes of the world, into a dark, cruel, malevolent figure of occult worship: That series of events cascaded into an ultimate climax revolving about them thrusting open the forbidden doors of the Cathedral, where they had discovered the true origins of the Fossil of Self; the power sources they had been using were beings much like themselves, tortured and ensnared to a life of misery. The Hero had recognized this pointless existence, and had interpreted that this was the 'true' origin of life. As a result, they had encouraged all faithful worshippers to consume the very same liquids that produced such overwhelmingly empty feelings, and those who were faithful were granted the gift of 'holy oblivion'; likely to become one of the very things they had been worshipping and spend their 'lives' entombed in the obelisks for all time. Truly, it was the power to defy death-- as one could not die in this way. But it was no way to live.

With this obscene practice resulting in such an overabundance of cursed energy, unnatural and all-too-powerful-- a being from the darkness attacked. It's unknown whether this is a dark creature of its' own origin, or if this was a once-worshipped being turned bad due to the foolish choices of the beings it had previously protected (being very visibly similar to the Golden Energy they worship on the first illustration) but, either way, the dark being issued an attack against the civilization and the world; the assault ravaged and punished the Heroes and the people for their foolishness and their decisions to worship such avarice, that they would go against the very nature of the world to achieve things that should have REMAINED impossible.

In an attempt to display punishment, the Hero became the Heir, imprisoned within an unbreakable prison, and destined to lure in their own lineage; a Ruin Seeker, free of the history, greed and ethics of the established world, who will inevitably chase after the Heir and pursue the path of revenge.. A form of self-punishment, as the Ruin Seeker and The Heir are one and the same. The Ruin Seeker is destined to defeat The Heir without fail, and when they inevitably do, they will replace the Heir, taking their cycle and teaching them the punishment of death, over and over.

This cycle will persist for all time, until the Ruin Seeker shows their true worth as a real Hero: if they hold true the Golden Path and resist the overwhelming need for revenge against The Heir, the pages of the manual and Holy Cross will lead them to end the cycle. But it doesn't take just strength of will and words of wisdom to break the wicked cycle; it takes very specific attributes that the original Hero had not known in their time; things like kindness, forgiveness, and a selfless desire to save any who are in trouble, like any true hero would. Only then will the cycle of the Heir be broken, and the world can begin to heal from the unnatural burns it sustained... as the ominous black creature watches intently from the distance, choosing not to interfere, simply content to observe as the Ruin Seeker chooses between a true end, or to accept their inevitable, contrived fate.

This is the backstory: the events of TUNIC are quite cut and dry as well:

The Siege Engine was one of the last machinations of War, and was used to fight against the assault in the original timeline. Its' existence is a relic of a war that was never able to be won, and with this in mind, the Siege Engine was entrusted with the Red Key and reprogrammed, being sent to sleep in the depths of the Eastern Vault. Its' goal: to destroy the very creatures it had initially been built to protect.

The Librarian's story is one of much heated debate, so this is not fact; this is merely opinion.

The Librarian bears many similarities to a Ruin Seeker, and I personally believe him to have been a former Ruin Seeker himself. I believe he had decided to turn his back on the Manual and the Golden Path-- but I also believe he couldn't bring himself to destroy the Heir. Instead, he had been trying to save the world in his own way, believing the curse of the Heir to be locked away in the Cathedral. In order to gain more knowledge to the Cathedral, he chose to turn to the Manual, which had turned its' back on him much like he had turned his back on it. As a means to collect the pages, the Librarian decided to steal the Green Key from the Frog's domain, hoping to attract Ruin Seekers to challenge him for it, so he could steal their pages. The Librarian had either decided that the Green Key was safer with him than with the Frogs (who don't seem to care one bit that it's gone, even enshrining their own deities instead, moving on from The Hero) or, the more likely reason being that he knew the Ruin Seeker would come for him, bringing pages directly to him, which would grant him knowledge to access the Cathedral. It likely wasn't personal against the Ruin Seekers; he just needed that information, and he had all the time in the world to wait for it to come. All in all, I truly believe he just wanted to save the world, in his own way, though flawed it may be.

The Scavenger Boss' story is very simple; the Scavengers had been mining out the Quarry, once a former temple of worship. The Quarry is covered in crystals which sap energy and willpower from those unprotected from it. The Obelisks, when broken, do this very same thing, and this effect of hopelessness is likely what was being worshipped so heavily by the original Hero and their followers. We see these crystals later on in Cathedral, being wielded by the clone-foxes as swords, and even used on walls as decorations and ceremonial fixtures; one can assume that these crystals were being mined and transported for use in the Cathedral by the Scavengers, but the Scavengers had their eyes on something else; the Scavenger Boss had discovered and unearthed the Zigurrat, and as we can see in the entryway, they had broken through the side of the Zigurrat forcefully, breaking down the holy Golden Doors, and making their way downwards into the depths. Unmoved by the dark automations of the Fossils of Self, the Scavenger pushed on towards the Blue Key, likely believing it to be a great source of power, or at the very least-- a great piece of leverage for ransom against anyone who wants it for themselves. She was so hellbent on getting the Blue Key and having it for herself, that she outright killed her own Scavenger crew once she had it in her sights. She waits and is just about to touch it and take it for herself... until the Ruin Seeker arrives.

This is all fairly clearly expressed in the story, though no answer is the 'right' one; TUNIC is a robust world full of storytelling, so it's up to you to decide what you believe. :)

With your explanation it became much clearer! Thank you! Before that I had a rather schematic idea of ​​what happened there in the past.

Also about the Heir: discovered an unexpectedly interesting detail - at least two NPC ghosts are not at all happy that we are freeing him. The one in the temple of 3 keys seems to be completely horrified and is on their knees lamenting why foxes did not create the 4th key.

And the Librarian's ghost called our hero an idiot because he came to the point where he need to fight or save the Heir, and called the Hair "it" as if he is something not alive. Whatever the Librarian was studying there, he clearly was not going to help either him or the arriving heroes.

Looks like that the foxes imprisoned the first Heir because so much happened due to his fault, and they are afraid of him, they do not want even his "replacements" to be freed.

It was completely unexpected.

I bet there is a transmigration of souls - apparently, due to some magical reasons, it was not possible to kill the First Hero, nor to imprison his spirit without a body, so they used other bodies to keep him imprisoned.
And here the question arises: "If the option of not fighting the Heir but freeing him is not pleasing to either the foxes who imprisoned him (moreover, the foxes are surprised that someone collected the keys and defeated the Siege Engine), or even the Librarian, then who left this option???" Intrigue! :)