[Tin Foil Rambling] Slaine, World Class Items, Cyanide Resurrection, and Dark Death

Ahoy hoy: it's dat boi Ziggy (do kids even say dat boi anymore?)

Tin foil rambling is just random projections of ideas in Overlord. There are some mythological factoids in this but if you hate talking about ideas feel free to ignore this. 

Ziggy's on a real Six Great Gods bent recently. So why not talk about the elephant in the room - besides random theories like if the name of Slaine is actually "S.L.A.I.N.E." What could be more mysterious than circumstances about why the Six Great Gods came to the New World.

A long-standing theory later supported by later volumes is that World Class Items are connected to how YGGDRASIL Players come to the world. Slaine possessing one such item - the Downfall of Castle and Country supports this as does descriptions of the Nameless Spellbook, DDDL killing a Player for a Twenty, Ainz coming with a World class item as Satoru even in the side story time line, Nazarick coming alone, and so forth. 

Part of this theory was a debate however was - only one plausible world class item is ever associated with the Greed Kings yet they had a guild base (so might have followed the Guild Base transfer rules). No such structure like a Guild Base is associated with the Six Great Gods. And thus a question appears - how many World Class Items does Slaine actually possess?

At the time, many people assumed that all six were friends and came together due to proximity to the World Class Item. Nonetheless a minority always advocated that isn't also possible all six came separate with their own World Class Items? After all we later see Satoru come alone with his while the guild base never brought any outside monsters near it only itself. 

This mystery has gone mostly unaddressed in the novels up until recently. 

For now let's talk about the cases.

Base Case - the Six Great Gods all came together and the only World Class Item they had is the Downfall of Castle and Country

A very boring case but one we cannot outright disprove though circumstantial evidence suggest that this case is most likely untrue. Basically one of the six discovered the world class item and that's that. 

Individual Item Case - The Six Great Gods all came separately and each possessed a World Class Item. 

Ziggy finds this the most likely outcome ( after all we have proof Satrou came alone with just one World Class Item) and there is no precedent for the group transfer theory yet beyond guild base transfers. If we presume this is true we have some problems to address - if Slaine possesses Six World Class Items, where are they and what happened to them? We know of Three of the Six Great Gods:

God of Life - Alah Alaf

God of Death - Surshana

God of Wind - Nekonyan

God of Water - ???
God of Earth - ???

God of Fire - ???

Donwfall so far is the only confirmed World class Item. Why and how it was obtained is a mystery. As is who it would of belonged too (given it's a female looking item named after beautiful women who corrupted Kings however, if one of the Gods is a woman then likely it belonged to her). So we know it's a world class item but how was it discovered? Well the most likely is someone found it. But that's boring. An old theory was it was a reward for a beauty contest in YGGDRASIL where whoever created a character voted the most beautiful would acquire it. Ziggy likes that idea for how it was originally discovered though Momonga nor Ainz ever mention such contests. And it doesn't mean the God who had this item won that contest  - just that that was how it was first discovered. 

Of these six, we do have a tiny hint about a World class item besides the Downfall one - in Isekai Quartet's movie, Nekonyan actually possessed a crafting item of some sort that was used to create the golem girl. He called this a strange name, however, it's power effectively made an NPC loyal to him if we analyze it in isolation. Ziggy's suspicion is that this was Nekonyan's World Class Item. Many haven't seen the Isekai Quartet movie but the tie in to the Slaine arc and how strange it was the golem girl didn't actually call her true creator her master can be answered if the item responsible for her sapience was this theoretical World Class Item. Nekonyan was a Paladin after all, not a crafter and Slaine has no history of golems to our knowledge.

So what does this possible World Class Item do?

Most likely, it's a crafting item - it's real name is unknown, but it seems to convert golems into trainable NPCs or at least a Mercenary monster type NPCs(it makes it into a being that is self aware under isekai logic). That would be something in the purview of World Class Items at least. There are thematic and narrative reasons for that if we consult the inter texts which inspire Overlord. However from a YGGDRASIL game design perspective, this would theoretically let you have a "partner" a guild base style NPC that follows you around like a Mercenary. The value of that cannot be understated though we do not know how they would function in parties (do they take up a slot?). You could think of it as a scrapped design idea (likely because it can be abused too easily to make a World Disaster turret or MP slave you siphon all the Mp from going against YGGDRASIL game design). 

One idea regarding this is Rufus might actually one of these golems, like a status of Surshana, brought to life by such a world class item. So if Surshana was a Player, this would be like him leaving an NPC behind. 

But then, how did he acquire this item? Did he just find it? Get it as a gift from someone else? Perform some feat worthy of getting it as a gift from the devs? It's hard to say. One theory for example is Nekonyan is part of the Neko Kingdom guild and he may have been the last member who held onto a World class item they got for roleplaying their guild filled with cat NPCs and possibly cat names. If we see this World class item as a crafting reward, it would have been acquired then by thematically tying their guild name to not only membership names but even the NPCs. By constraining themselves to tightly, they got a world class item that frees a creation from some constraints. There's an elegance and poetry to that theory at least even if you dislike it. The most likely explanation however is the item was left to him by someone who left the game - since most world class items would of been found either in the last days of the game or legacies of other Player's adventurers based on pure probability. Nekonyan's name and the way his even named this item does suggest maybe there is some truth in their severe role playing being part of why they got a World Class Item however. 

 

It's fairly possible some other item could of been his theoretical World Class Item (like the theorized world item used for auto translation).  Ziggy just thinks his purring eyeball thingy is most likely given his roleplaying name, title, appearance, and connection to role players.

Anyway, that's the end of all the most likely World class items. 

If we're talking about World Class Items from Slaine, an extremely old theory was the Black Scripture Captain's spear was a World class item. This stemmed from it's strange appearance. Though many correctly counter that it could of been a PVP item to appear weak but is actually strong. The rebuttal here was people made theories on it's anime appearance and claimed it may have been Longinus bringing this theory back to life. To make a long story short, the people would argue it's a Pilum or Sarissa with arguments about the design. To be honest it was a bit too flimsy but many argued Slaine having many romantic (mainly French) names suggested a connection to Rome even back then. That has always supported the idea that maybe one of the Six Great Gods had a possibly Roman inspired world class item and hence the reason those names exist - and the only confirmed Roman World class item was Longinus.

Mini history tangent, Longinus is often the spear associated with the execution of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ to some, by the Roman authorities due to the politics at the time and some issues with the Rabbiatic clergy due to the divergence in Jewish belief Jesus preached. Depending on if you use the bible as historical basis or not will change the exact details. Still you get the idea how Longinus bears a Roman connection and why people would think Japanese Players would somehow influence a nation to have Roman names if they had a Roman World Class Item? If you combine two ideas - Neko Nyan was a role-player who believed in naming things after a theme like his own name suggests, then likely he could of been the one to push for using Roman names in the first place. 

If we infer through archaeology, we know that Roman numerals exist in the New World. As do clocks which use a 12 number format (12 couplings of 5). The clock tower in Re-Estize used Roman numerals (at least in the anime) after all meanwhile Climb had a pocket watch with a twelve-number dial. The anime as well has a scene of the clock tower in Re-Estize using roman numerals.

The Goal of All Life Is Death creates a clock with ROMAN numerals after all right? (see volume 16 for the illustration).

The magic item in his pocket vibrated, and Climb took it out. It was a pocket watch, just large enough to fit into his palm, with three hands ― the hour, the minute, and the second ― which traced a halo of twelve numbers. While large mechanical clocks existed, personal watches only existed within the Kingdom as magic items. As pocket watches were closely linked to everyday life, they were fairly cheap, as far as magic items went. That said, they were still not something a commoner could afford. Climb had borrowed the pocket watch which he now bore, and so it differed from regular magic items in that it possessed a magical ability. The name of the watch was Twelve Magical Power. Once per day, when the watch reached a set time, it would unleash its magic. However, one would need to have carried the pocket watch for at least a full day in order to enjoy that ability, so Climb ― who had just obtained this watch ― could not make use of its magic.

[V10]

 Of note is the clock in the meeting between Ainz and Demiruge. It audibly uses gears of some kind, just as likely the clock tower was a mechanical clock. Re-Estize doesn't practice large-scale magical engineering after all, though we know they did have a few examples of magical engineering (though less than Baharuth). 

The key point here though is ROMAN numerals were taught to the people of this world somehow. The most likely case is via Slaine as we can prove Surshana, one of their Gods, used the The Goal of All Life is Death (or had the capacity to do so). If anyone from the past saw this, they might have pondered the symbol of the clock and it's characters - and since the Great Gods passed on Earth knowledge, it would of been simple to pass on the idea of clocks and time telling. The Minotaur Sage passed on knowledge of appliances and such, so the knowledge could of even come from him though time telling isn't something that requires magic  - and typically it becomes culturally ingrained rather than innovated easily. IE the practice of mechanical clock work (possibly without magical engineering) already existed in the world. So it's difficult to tell WHERE or WHEN it originates. 

For example, the Kingdom has ties to a culture before the Demon Gods, so it might be a hold over from then. Or it might not. We know Nigun used a watch of some kind, though we do not know the style it originates from - only it seems to be inspired by YGGDRASIL watches that use Arabic numerals like most modern mathematics and even YGGDRASIL which used Arabic numerals for it's time system ( at least in the anime). Arabic numerals being 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0. We also know at least in the manga, that it seems New Worlders can read Arabic numbers. 

“It seems to be a stone plaque with symbols that look like language inscribed on it.” “Thou say’st the word ‘like’ in a vague sense…?” “Nobody understands that language. It’s not from the Kingdom or the Empire’s language, and neither does it seem to be any of the old languages from around here. It might not even be a human language. However, we did understand the number 2.0.”

[V7]

But how can we be certain the Six Great Gods taught anything like writing to Slaine? Well Eryua, in the anime and sobin character design, has the Japanese kanji "heaven/divine" written on his small chest plate. The most likely case is a few symbols or kanji were taught by the Six Great Gods though he does use a katana, something associated with the Greed Kings. It stands to reason the Six Great Gods tried to teach a bit of Japanese to the people though it was likely too complicated - especially with auto translate (which may or may have existed back then). Still, just as nations use symbols, a few kanji may have passed into culture based on association with their meanings or as symbols used by Players. Supposedly Nekonyan had a harem before he died, so the symbol of Heavenly and harems might be related in Theocracy culture based on the kanji in his own name.

Zesshi put on her helmet again and activated the power she was born with. By guiding that power into the weapon once held by a god, she could use the greatest power wielded by the god of death Surshana. And so — —– [—-The goal of all life is death] A clock manifested behind her immediately.

[V16]

Zesshi's interpretation of the The Goal of All Life is Death being a clock and being tied to Surshana would, just like Rufus's name, prove a connection between Roman numerals, latin, and clocks. Though you might interpret it differently.  You are always free to come to your own conclusions.

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Well anyway, back to the other Great Gods. 

Surshana is the next God we know anything about. What we know is he was an Eclipse class holder and thus acquired it in a manner similar to Ainz did in YGGDRASIL. We also know Zesshi used a scythe he used, a war spear which had many functions like a staff (and that Decem considered a staff with scythe bits slapped on instead). 

Many people presume Surshana was thus an Arcane magic caster who role-played with a scythe. However if you analyze the text of the Eclipse class, it says nothing about needing to be an Arcane caster only a Necromancer. And thus it's equally likely Surshana was a Divine casting variant of a Necromancer who role-played a God of Death. After all, that would make more sense to have a staff with melee stats if he was a Divine caster (and thus a caster with higher physical stats than an Arcane caster). 

One theory as to how he acquired a World Class Item is he met the requirements for the prestige class via pure role play and so the devs awarded him one on that basis (Eclipse being intended for Arcane casting undead necromancers since that is the natural progression). One explanation for the favoritism is as an undead divine caster, like a Death Priest, to focus on Necromancy means he likely could not use certain support spells normally associated with divine casters while still relying on summons and typical necromancy. Thus unlike an Arcane Eclipse, things like spell selection would of been a problem (being an Overlord would give him some Create Undead skills and high MP but Dark Wisdom may not work for Divine spells for example since Ainz doesn't appear to know a single healing spell). Therefore, Overlord which lack physical stats(since they are more a caster race) cannot fully utilize Cleric builds either, as they rely on physical stats  in addition to the weakness to bludgeoning it gains making it ill suited for the build. 

Still, technically, an Overlord with Necromancy as a Divine caster can still meet all the requirements for Eclipse(you just need to be an Overlord that practices necromancy in favor of anything else). Perhaps it wasn't originally possible, but the Devs allowed the change via a patch upon request once it was proven it was possible. For all we know, someone could of misunderstood a vague description of another Eclipse class holder and thought any Necromancy school worked leading to the eventual bestowal of a World Class Item for being the first to do so using an alternate and less viable route. 

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 In normal games, most people would spread the news of a newly discovered class on walkthrough sites to share with others. However, games like Yggdrasil put a very high premium on information. For instance, few people would share news about a World Class Item with others without charge. This was especially true for classes with trump cards. The class in question was called “Eclipse.” The class description stated, “Only an Overlord who is truly dedicated to the pursuit of Death may obtain this class, which swallows up all life like an eclipse.” The move Ainz was planning to use was one which was only available after reaching the maximum level (fifth) in Eclipse, a skill which could only be used once every hundred hours. It was the trump card of the Eclipse class. That skill was called [The Goal of All Life is Death]. In that moment, a clock face appeared behind Ainz, its hands indicating 12:00. Then, he cast a spell.

[V3]

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Obviously, he could of just gotten a World class item from a friend or found one as well. Then in that case it could be anything. 

If Surshana was gifted or found a World class item then it could be anything. However, if he was rewarded one, then the most likely cause was either related to his Eclipse class or some other feat (like perhaps using Dark Wisdom to learn all spells or something). Ziggy's take on it is since Surshana seemed to roleplay as a God of Death and acquired Eclipse as a result of this, likely as a reward he might have gotten a scythe or other God of the underworld type gift of some kind. A hint might exist in the fact that Surshana's scythe was called "Charon's Guidance". If you understand Greek mythology you would know that Charon was not actually a God of Death but instead a ferryman for the dead (one who guides the dead after death ie a psychopomp). 

Now in various games Charon is a powerful figure, and since this was likely a Player item (though it might have been a dropped Artifact) Charon either came from someone not as educated in literature or from the Devs themselves. Likely, the person who named it was Surshana given the roleplay aspect (and YGGDRASIL was more nordic themed in names or design on the dev side). A war scythe at least seems like a Player choice to appear cool rather than accurate to Greek culture or even reapers, as a true Grim Reaper scythe is not a war scythe.

Irregardless, the spells of Charon Guidance do have a Greek theme, Spartiates or Spartans for example are a rare monster that are extremely weak compared to the scythe's ability to cast Death.  That incongruous difference between Spartans and the tier of Death support the Player-side idea: though Artifacts can also drop with a wild difference in what they can summon like the jewels of the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown which can summon Primal Elementals or Level 20 creatures. In addition, Spartiates seem like special undead summons supporting the idea the War Scythe may have been an Artifact. Another point is how many of the support abilities the scythe has are not specialized but fit a broader theme like pestilence and not instant death itself.  

 

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Zesshi glanced at the great scythe in her hands for a moment. Used by the god Surshana in the past, [Charon’s guidance], was made from a metal that wasn’t yet discovered by the theocracy. Its extreme toughness and killing power was suitable for being a god’s weapon. It also enabled the wielder to cast [Death] two times every eight hours. And there’s even more. [Undead Flame] that added negative energy damage to the attacks. [Undead avoidance] that protected the wielder from the undead without intelligence. [Create Undead] that literally created undead. [Disease] that could cause illness. [Sleeping to the death] that triggers a chance to destroy the undead without turn resistance in a single hit. [Evil Eye] that lets you select an ability from the different gaze effects. [Death mask] that defended the wielder from sight attacks while strengthening the fear effect. [Hand of glory] that could be used in two ways. She could choose among them and use it five times every four hours. Other than this it could also summon the special undead [Spartiate]. It was similar in ability to the fifth tier summon [Heavy skeleton warrior] but with superior gear. But they were also weaker in a sense because the buffs from special skills won’t affect them. This scythe could create a total of 30 every 24 hours, with a limit of 5 being active simultaneously

[V16]

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 One caveat to all of these abilities is they introduce an interesting possibility - any feat associated with Surshana could of been a product of the scythe's own abilities. Surshana may have been an Eclipse class holder yet that does not mean he got it via Divine magic or how Ainz got it either. 

The more observant people, like Decem, might argue Charon's Guidance is actually a Staff not a proper War Scythe. And thus it's less a roleplay item and more an item used in deception. An interesting aspect of illusion magic is how the strongest illusions can create tangible effects. And so the theory goes that a tiny group postulate that Surshana may have actually been a strange illusionist hybrid class with necromancy after Ainz thought an Overlord illusionist might exist. It would effectively be an Overlord that took only Necromancer and then Illusionist spells for it's racial levels letting it prestige into illusionist classes that enable dealing damage or beyond. Or rather, it could of been someone who wanted to roleplay a monster that didn't exist - an Overlord Illusionist. 

PVP was often predicated on the idea of deception after all. 

There is some textual evidence which inspired this idea:

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“Is shapeshifting a form of illusion? I’m more familiar with petty tricks like illusions.” 

“For starters, shapeshifting is vastly different from illusions, but explaining that will take a long time so I’ll skip it for now. However, looking down on illusions is very dangerous, you know? Illusions are a fearsome type of magic that become scarier the more skilled the caster is. Also, there are those illusionists who aren’t satisfied with a surface understanding and choose to specialize along that path.” “So it’s when they specialize?” 

“Ahh, yes. For example, there are spells like [Perfect Illusion] which can defy all five senses. And beyond that, there are those who have refined their illusions to the utmost limit, who can use a certain skill once every few days to deceive the world itself.” 

An illusion that could deceive a world was beyond her capacity to imagine. 

“Ah, how exactly does that worldly illusion work?”

 “From what I know, it’s a spell that lets you rewrite any aspect of the world, I think. Well, simply put, using an illusion like that could even bring the dead back to life?” 

“Eh?! You’re talking about an illusion, right?”

 “Oh yes. An illusion which tricks the world — the ultimate secret of illusions. By deceiving the world itself, an illusion can be made real.”

[V12]

Albedo said destroying the Kingdom would take about two years of preparation. Should I collect information until then? Expanding one’s nation means expanding contact with the outside… I ought to throw these questions at Albedo and Demiurge and get their opinions. Hm ― illusions seem to be surprisingly powerful, it might be very bad if we don’t watch out for them. It feels like you could do a lot with them if you were smart. If I meet a skilled illusionist, I should probably treat them well in order to recruit them. Fluder ― whoa

[V13]

“Is, is it dead?” 

Impossible! Suzuki Satoru thought. That single attack could not have beaten an Overlord. Could it be an illusion? Suzuki Satoru immediately ruled out that notion. Anything short of special illusions or specialized class skills were useless against undead beings like himself. Therefore, it was most likely not an illusion. No, wait, could this be something unique to this world, an illusion-specialized Overlord? Something which doesn’t exist in Yggdrasil? If we go by the basic principle of losing something to gain something else, then is it possible that it lost the ability to dominate other undead as a price for its abilities? It’s not impossible, right?

[KBA]

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 The question remains - could a person even get Eclipse by being an Illusionist? Intuitively that sounds unlikely, but let's suppose Surshana balanced all his undead racials and focused on illusions. To meet the requirements of Eclipse there had to be a focus on 'death'. All the racial levels if there was ever wiggle room as Wizard spells could have then used any extra room for illusions - he just needed to cap out on all the necromancy. Similarly he could of leanred many illusion spells via Dark Wisdom via PVP.

So what possible evidence is there beyond Ainz and Satoru's ramblings?

Well there is one overarching mystery involving Slaine that never comes up and has never been answered. How did Slaine kill the Sunlight Scripture members after they leaked secrets? Ainz had his own ideas. 

However, an interesting theory that was created far later was: what if Surshana was an illusionist who brings back the dead Theocracy members? Rather than people dying when they are questioned, they might actually inadvertently be "betraying" Surshana or Rufus(if he's using an item to do it) and thus this undoes the resurrection just like any "harmful action " undoes Perfect Unknowable. Basically, by betraying the Theocracy and answering questions, they 'undo' the illusion of their own resurrection from death.

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.

Wild right? That's Ziggy's own inference, but the complexity of the spell needed (something that seemed simple to Ninya and isn't widely explored given resurrection magic is rare) would indicate that few nations besides Slaine could even study such a thing. Because Ziggy believes in the Rufus = True God of Death Surshana = Body Double theory, if Rufus truly is the Guardian deity of Slaine, then as the true Player undead among the Six Great Gods, him being an Illusionist makes sense thematically AND mechanically. 

After all, he's the man who sold the world (on the idea his summon was the Player and he was the summon). 

Mechanically, if whatever form of resurrection Scripture members receive actually comes from the Guardian Deity (ie Rufus) and he's an Eclipse Player, rather than Raise Dead if he was an illusionist then all these pieces of the puzzle would click together. After all, all Illusion style spells have built-in safe guards which 'deactivate' the spell. The strange arbitrary rule of answering three questions might be a hold over of Control or Dominate spells of YGGDRASIL - depending on how the game was programmed. After all, if someone from Slaine invented a resurrection spell or method to kill people who betray the nation, wouldn't they do normally program to trigger off a single question not three?

Feel free to laugh about Ziggy's schizoid inane ramblings like a fever dream. Though rather than an Illusionist Overlord it might be related to an item instead. Dark Wisdom also makes it possible it was a learned spell outside the rules. Like, we can just as easily claim Surshana was an Overlord who accidentally kept fighting an Illusionist friend in PVP and over time mastered every Illusion spell using Dark Wisdom. And so he could of mastered all of a single school's magic and gotten a World class item that way.

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Ainz did not view humanity as an enemy, but he could kill human beings with no hesitation for the sake of his goals. Even so, he wanted to avoid conflict with other Players. “Well, that was a waste.” “What was a waste?” “I’m talking about how we lost Nigun so easily. He had a lot of information, but he perished under such simple questioning.” There were roughly ten people still alive from the members of the Sunlight Scripture captured at Carne Village. The rest died during questioning and became media for Ainz to summon undead with his skills.

[V2] 

“People who have been charmed or dominated by magic might reveal the information they carry. Is there a magical countermeasure that causes people to die after being questioned several times?” 

“I’ve never heard of a spell like that.” Ainz turned, and his helmet faced Nfirea. 

“Me neither. There are ways to modify a spell so it activates at a certain time, but I don’t think they’re as elaborate as what you describe.” 

“…I see.” 

Ainz was slightly disappointed when he did not get the answer he was looking for. If that was the case, he would have to worry about how to deal with the surviving members of the Sunlight Scripture later. Since there were so few survivors left, it would be a waste to expend them to no effect. In order to discover why they vanished after death, he had vivisected them with magical medical techniques, but it had ended up as a bust. If they died from that, should he continue prying information from them? After all, losing one man meant losing the chance to ask three questions. Even more regrettable was the case of Nigun, who had been the first to die. They had lost Nigun, who knew the most, for the sake of a few simple questions. Still, that loss let Ainz know that he could not take on this world with his knowledge of Yggdrasil alone, so that could be counted as a lesson learned. At the very least, they had learned how to proceed from that failure.

[V2]

Ainz watched Crusch’s eyes as his words slowly got to her. It felt like he was about to clinch a sale. After this, Ainz would need to impress upon Crusch that the miracle he provided did not come free of charge. After all, people would suspect free things, but their suspicions would be eased if there was a reasonable fee attached to them. “I want you to secretly observe your fellow Lizardmen. Depending on how things turn out, you may be faced with a dangerous choice. In addition, to guard against your treachery, I will cast a certain spell on Zaryusu when I resurrect him. It is a spell that will instantly kill Zaryusu if I judge that you have betrayed me. It might be hard on you, but it ought to be worth it if you can get Zaryusu back, am I wrong?” That said, there’s no such spell.

[V4] 

[Perfect Unknowable] gets dispelled when you attack someone. No, to be more precise, it’s when you do something that can be considered harmful. In that case...would lifting the skirt a bit and peeking under it be considered an attack? Such a doubt never came to Ainz’s mind until now. Ainz took a quick glance at Mare’s face.

[V15]

“Well, I don’t mind if you don’t understand it yet. Let’s go.” 

He was unsure what Decem was thinking, but he approached the twins who stood rooted to their place and extended his hand towards Aura. — Ainz brushed that hand away. Determining the action as an attack, [Perfect Unknowable] got dispelled. Before Decem could turn to look at Ainz in surprise, his bony fist planted itself in Decem’s face. Decem flew away, sprawling on the ground.

[V16]

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If you would entertain the following idea however, something curious about Slaine is the title of Surshana. Though considered a God of Death, his proper sect is called Darkness, not Death hence why his Cardinal is the Cardinal of DARKNESS. Everyone calls Surshana the God of Death, and even the Web Novel had him as the God of Death but mysteriously the Light Novels altered the proper term to Darkness.

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 The Cardinal of Darkness — Maximilian Oreio Lagier.

[V10] 

“Impossible. The oral traditions state that the God of Death, Surshana-sama, was slain by the damnable Eight Greed Kings. This must be something else. And if Surshana-sama had actually descended once more, that person would surely have told us. After all, that person is Surshana-sama’s first follower.”

[V10] 

Zesshi put on her helmet again and activated the power she was born with. By guiding that power into the weapon once held by a god, she could use the greatest power wielded by the god of death Surshana.

[V16] 

Six Great Gods descended to the world 600 years ago. Representing light(life), darkness(death), ϐire, wind, water, and earth. They created the foundations of the Slane Theocracy. The items they left behind are known as sacred relics and are kept securely locked up

[Manga]

The first priests clad in white were those who believed strongly in the god of life—-Alah Alaf. And in opposition, the priests clad in black worshipped the god of death—-Sulshana

[WN]

“….Could it be that he is a god?” When she first heard it she thought it was a joke. That the master of Nazarick looked similar to the God of Death [Surshana]. “This will be trouble. At worst it could cause a theological split.”

[WN]

The Vice-Head Priest of the Water God’s body shook. She then prayed. Not to her god, but to the God of Death [Surshana]. As if saying, please do not punish us.

[WN]

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Though distinct the Slaine people as well have interpreted Darkness as Death, and Light as Life. What's most telling is how the titles of their offices (and by transitivity their sects) however retain the Elemental nature of the God not the popular duality of Life and Death. 

Such deviations occur over time as symbols and figures are reinterpreted and new ideals or images are projected onto them. We cannot say what the ancient people of Slaine saw in the Six Great Gods,, but already have proof in 100 years their beliefs can radically change based on inclusive values after one historical event.

Ziggy's argument is that just like only humans not humanoids became the sole benefactors of dogma, that the possibility the God of Death was originally only the God of Darkness. The main support is the title of the God, however, the Six Great Gods being Japanese or at least Players supports the categorization as well. Often in media and games Light and Dark are "elements" alongside the primary four if the source does not use the Five Elemental model. 

Should Surshana have been an Overlord Illusionist, there actually is a connection between Darkness and illusion magic.  Darkness and Shadows are linked but so too are Shadows and illusion. Shadow Illusions are illusions that harm others, doing damage, by being believed to be real or being made real via magic even though it's also an illusion. So we could interpret his title as rather than elemental darkness it's Illusion Darkness as in the shadowy nature of higher tier illusion spells.

 Personally, Ziggy thinks that the idea Surshana was a Divine Necromancer is more viable mechanically. However, the Overlord Illusionist idea is compelling for the twist in Darkness and mechanically we have one possible example of top tier illusion being used that hasn't been explained yet. The fly in the ointment here is how to reconcile the Eclipse nature of Surshana with the Illusionist path. The only path that seems viable was to focus on necromancy and illusions, and specializing in Illusions with instant death effects. But would that be it's own pathway? There might be some spells that works for but most illusions are either non-combat or non-damaging.

The possibility Surshana was a Divine casting necromancy with a minor specialization in Illusions is possible as well - if Divine magic has less necromancy spells than Arcane magic, then Surshana would of had to select another path to fill in his spell lists. The theoretical aspects remain a subject for debate. Though both have their merits. Many will prefer that Surshan remain an Arcane Necromancer to be consistent with Ainz. 

We know that Surshana is an Eclipse user. Back to our original topic, the idea of how he may have acquired a World Class Item not by random chance is possibly related to that. Ziggy's preferred idea is he somehow found an alternative but legal way to unlock Eclipse outside the Arcane pathway. The idea he mastered more spells than anyone is also possible however, ie Surshana kept using Dark Wisdom to learn more spells even than Ainz - and thus my have been awarded a World Class Item as a result. That's just as viable and makes more sense if you believe Ainz acquired his own XXXX of Momonga the same way. It would also explain how Surshana might be using a top tier Illusion spell without being an Illusionist - he managed to acquire it via the Dark Wisdom method.

In that case however, how do we explain the discrepancy in what the world class items could be?

We don't know how or what requests Momonga might have made when getting his red orb, or if he even had a say, so it's difficult to project what Surshana might have gotten if he was in the same situation. 

One plausible idea was just as Surshana was using a Greek inspired Scythe named after Charon with Spartan summons, he may have been awarded a Greek-inspired World class item. If you know your mythology, one possible item might be the flint scythe of Kronus. If Charon's Guidance was an Artifact, it might have given a hint at roleplaying a god of death despite being a sub-standard weapon or staff war scythe. A scythe of Kronus could have possibly superior implanted summons, spells, and stats for example. Given how YGGDRASIL connected chronos and Time there is possibly some connection there as well though Chronos and Kronus are not necessarily the same being. In Latin culture they are the same at least. Kronus is also related to the God of Abraham as well so that would be  tie-in to the roman-like faith of Slaine.

That introduces the possibility that Surshana was roleplaying not to just be an edgelord but rather to match an item's description. Charon's Guidance, the item's name, might be a hint for example to follow it's own guidance. Of note, Kronus and his scythe predate the idea of the Grim Reaper, and so his scythe retained the meaning of a farming implement though he did use it to castrate his own father. 

Just because Surshana had a scythe doesn't mean it unlocked another Scythe. For example, it's fairly possible that following Charon's Guidance could unlock the Helm of Hades as well. Given Hades is the God of the Underworld. It could even lead to getting the Bident of Hades, a two pronged trident.  The Helm of Hades introduces an interesting possibility - in myth it was just a helmet that conferred invisibility, but given Hermes used it for trickery, it also carries with it notions of subterfuge. One possible mechanic a World Class Item version a Helm of Hades could confer is it allows one to use all Illusion spells as if they were a dedicated Illusionist. After all, Surshana's World class item could of been earned purely by solving some riddle hidden in Charon's Guidance and the reward could be thematically linked to that item or another scythe variant. 

Curious no? Ziggy thinks so at least, given by sheer coincidence we can find another glimmer of illusionist theming when trying to ponder what World Class Item Surshana might have. That would resolve the discrepancy in Surshana being an Eclipse user but possibly using one of the top tier illusion spells. But what do you think?

For the Gods of Fire, Water, and Earth we have very little to go on. Almost nothing in fact. The God of Light as well. Maruyama does mention that Zesshi could possibly use two Einherjars, so some interpret that one of the Six Great Gods was a Valkyrie as well though her Talent could also work for her own weapons. IE since she can use Einherjar, any weapon she has used to be used to tap into her own Trump card again to summon a second Einherjar. Given the hax nature of this, she might not have figured that out though given her age we do not know how she knows an item has trump cards she can use. 

We do know one of the Gods had long black hair and was probably a polearm user given Zesshi and the Captain's preferences, and Zesshi's mother used healing magic. The inference is that one of the Six Great Gods was a Fighter Cleric hybrid of some sort. If we assume that God didn't get their world class item randomly, then the fact they may have been a spear user suggest that the theoretical Longinus was their world class item but that could just be a coincidence. 

Returning to the list:

God of Life - Alah Alaf -???

God of Death - Surshana - Helm of Hades/Kronus Scythe

God of Wind - Nekonyan - Crafting Item

God of Water - ???-???
God of Earth - ???-???

God of Fire - ???-???

-Downfall of Castle and Country; Longinus?

 

We can account for four of the possible six world class items. 

An interesting tangent to Nekonyan's crafting item is the theory that Rufus, the guardian deity of Slaine, may be an NPC crafted using that item instead of a body double. So rather than a Player or Undead Adjutant, Rufus would be an NPC created by Surshana possibly after the other Gods died to protect Slaine should something happen to himself. Given how the item was used in isekai quartet, that is a possibility even if many might not want to admit it. Ziggy prefers Rufus = Player theory using the Surshana body double more based on other details, but an NPC created with a world class item is a compelling idea that also answers the mystery as to why Rufus can sense Surshana's return.

Ziggy likes the Helm of Hades world class item for several reasons. The first is it would explain the problem with the Illusion resurrection and his own build without argument. However thematically, the Helm of Hades also connects it to Hades (duh). That's worthwhile because in mythology, one idea about Hades is that he didn't used to be so possessive (like of Persephone) and dour, but became that way over time.... almost as if inhabiting the role he was given by his younger brother Zeus. That fits the idea of Ainz becoming the role Satoru Suzuki plays as well and he himself being a Skeletor Sauron esque type figure. It also helps that the Helm of Hades is also called the Helm of Darkness and Ainz is the King of Leading Darkness (kappa). 

Ziggy would be happy if none of these come true, but if they do, that just shows Maruyama does factor in themes into how he constructs his own writing. The Helm of Hades just feels right however. It could be the Crown Ainz wears at the end of the series, being a Crownless King no longer (his hood being character design foreshadowing). Well, Ainz has crowns, but nothing so powerful and fancy. he would really be the "Undead King" or Sorcerer King at that point, wearing a World class item crown. And it would also be a way to tie Slaine to Nazarick (in an ending that isn't a retread of Re Estize). But most of all, it would introduce a loop hole for Ainz to get even stronger without breaking any rules - getting stronger gear always strengthens people after all.

 Ziggy thinks the idea of a World Class Item or powerful YGGDRASIL artifact being responsible for the Sunlight Scripture "deaths" would explain a lot at least. The Helm of Hades and top tier Illusions seem to be the most likely YGGDRASIL origin for such a contingency resurrection using the Illusion rules in an interesting twist. What do you think though?

==========================================================================

Anyway, most of that is thematic and thread knotting rambling (though Ziggy is pretty open this is all tin foil nonsense). Talking about ideas can be fun though... Ziggy thinks so at least. Still, head canon will remain head canon, a truth that is probably not fact. If Rufus does have a Crown or Helmet of hades though, rather than being random it might just be proof Maruyama does think ahead and uses themes. he did claim he hasn't deviated from the story he has written. Maybe if that comes to pass people won't criticize him as harshly.... If nothing else, hopefully your eyes are more open to how various mechanics like illusion rules might have been adapted into the New World.

Happy head canoning though!

[Poorly Translated Lyrics] Overlord Mass for the Dead - Mass for the Dead(original opening song)

 

果てまでFalling to the dark　何も構わない[I don't mind at all completely FALLING TO THE DARK ]

暗中の未来を掴めよ[I'll grasp the future that lies within this darkness]

罅(ひび)割れては溢れ出したChaos and taboo [It's become clear these cracks have begun to overflow with CHAOS AND TABOO]

混沌の模様はToo gross[The pattern of Chaos is just TOO GROSS]

We are the irregulars?　真実(こたえ)はバグだらけで[Or perhaps WE ARE THE IRREGULARS? Reality is riddled with bugs. ]

こんなCrazyなThis world [THIS WORLD is CRAZY like that]

悪欲の行為が　正義を為すのなら [if the an evil person's acts succeed it's called justice, ]

What the hell! In this hell [WHAT THE HELL! IN THIS HELL]

果てまでFalling to the dark　何も構わない [I don't mind at all completely FALLING TO THE DARK ]

善悪捨てて　己のChoiceを[Cast aside Good and Evil for my own CHOICE now]

Falling to the dark　止めさせはしない [I can't stop FALLING TO THE DARK ]

暗中の未来を掴めよ[I'll grasp the future that lies within this darkness]

異形の者が交わるならThe war must happen[THE WAR MUST HAPPEN should we cross paths with the grotesque(heteromorphic)]

罅割れてくThis world [THIS WORLD fractured with cracks]

最後に残る者が　正義と言うのなら [The last person standing shall be called justice]

Winner is you? Winner is me? [WINNER IS YOU? WINNER IS ME? ] [Are you the winner? Am I the Winner?]

晒されBlowing in the wild　誰も応えない [Not everyone is burdened by what is exposed about them BLOWING IN THE WILD]

孤独を極め　一つを選べ [One can resolve to bear the solitude until the end]

Blowing in the wild　賛同も否定もない [Do not deny someone's approval of BLOWING IN THE WILD]

心中の声を追いかけろ [Chase after the voice in your heart]

It’s a booby trap　そう探すほど迷いは終わらない [IT'S A BOBBY TRAP, so long as you keep searching you will continue to lose your way]

It’s a monkey dance　さあ愚かでもただ進むしかない [IT'S A MONKEY DANCE, it is foolish but nonetheless there is no choice but to move forward ]

果てまでFalling to the dark　何も構わない [I don't mind at all completely FALLING TO THE DARK ]

善悪捨てて　己のChoiceを [Cast aside Good and Evil for my own CHOICE now]

Falling to the dark　止めさせはしない [I can't stop FALLING TO THE DARK]

暗中の未来を掴めよ [I'll grasp the future that lies within this darkness]]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EuQGFDE7Hk&ab_channel=MFTDVN

Song Link

ZN: Bugs is tongue in cheek for vermin and computer glitches.

[Poorly Translated Lyrics] Cracked Black - Overlord Mass for the Dead Song

 

No one there if I go back

Nothing here it's only black

何処に光など在ろう[Where could the light be]

罅より溢れ出す非情 全てを...[The cracks are overflowing with callousness...]

嗚呼、それは尊き夢と 築き上げてきたもの [Oh, it derives from the precious dreams I had built up]

Down in this sad and cracked affair

Drowning in mad and cracked despair

今よ悪魔たれと願う[Now I only wish to be the Demon instead]

Down in this sad and cracked affair

Drowning in mad and cracked despair

残滓に粒の光 探す Where is my...？[WHERE IS MY remaining droplet of light I am searching for ....?]

掻き集めるこの手 深く傷つき[These deep, stinging wounds amass when raked up]

滴り落ちるは 涙だけで足りない痛み[Even the trickling down tears do not measure up to the pain]

Down in this sad and cracked affair

Drowning in mad and cracked despair

進むほど覗く暗闇 [As we deteriorate we quickly glance into the darkness]

Down in this sad and cracked affair

Drowning in mad and cracked despair

時が絶望を指し止まる[To be confined face-to-face with the days of despair]

No one there if I go back

Nothing here, it's only black

何も見えぬまま[Nothing's in sight with how things are]

Down in this sad and cracked affair

Drowning in mad and cracked despair

今よ悪夢たれと願う[Now I'm praying it's merely bad dreaming]

Down in this sad and cracked affair

Drowning in mad and cracked despair

残滓に粒の光 探す Where is my...？[WHERE IS MY remaining droplet of light I'm searching for....? ]

Down in this sad and cracked affair

Drowning in mad and cracked despair

No one there if I go back

Nothing here, it's only black

灰を握りしめ誓う[And so I pledge myself to these ashes I've latched onto]

Full Song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os-x4sBUWfc&ab_channel=Nix77

[ZN: Rake up is a real expression: "revive the memory of an incident or period that is best forgotten".]

[ZN: Demon and Dreaming lines are supposed to relate to each other with a slight variation as the kanji for Nightmare and Demon are similar in design and sound similar in Japanese]

[Article] Our Sus Lord and Sus

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/336onlvj8oyn4gh/BearsAndLords.pdf/file

ttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1gMAef69U_mpGHoILcQUN1imYxoz8XqK1/view?usp=sharing

[Article] Can God File A Cease and Desist For Intellectual Property Infringement

https://www.mediafire.com/file/okedtgu0uvvlyna/Tin_Foil_Rambling_-_Can_God_File_A_Cease_and_Desist_For_Intellectual_Property_Infringement_.pdf/file

 

 Ahoy hoy, Ziggy-desu. You all know about the Theocracy Civil War and Ainz usurps Surshana ideas for the resolution of the Theocracy arc right? THE “RETURN” OF THE GOD OF DEATH, THE SECOND CUMMING OF SURSHANA!! >Ainz exists; Ainz seethes at Slaine for Shalltear >Ainz coincidentally resembles Surshana >Ainz walks into Slaine, a place where Surshana is worshiped >Slaine instantly bends the knee with little resistance >Ainz_Confused.flac >Sasuga_Ainz-sama.wav Lots of people discuss those ideas foreshadowed in the web novel. After all given how many people accuse Maruyama of being lazy (not seeing all the effort he goes through) they want and expect him to just reuse all those plot threads for the resolution of the Light Novel. The path of least resistance and what not. ===================================================================== Written in the scriptures as stronger than both the god of life and the other four gods, as humans could not escape the scythe of death. And that was more than life, a god that absolutely exists. The god that can control fear, death and disease, normally he would be considered an evil god. Most of the smaller gods he had as subordinates would be quite wicked. But, weirdly he fell to the earth, and was not a god that would freely spread vice. It anything, it was more like the smaller gods belonged to other gods The reason why the people of this country worshipped this god which could be called an evil god, was as to beg him to not bring down his power of vice on them. And then the image of this god being the problem, was the reason why several people had assembled in this room…. “Then, we are still saying that it is like this?” “Yes……” “However you only saw one person right?” “The number is not the problem. The problem is what is this person.” “It is just as you say but……” The men clad in priest robes exchanged their various opinions. As they believed in the same religion, the discussion continued smoothly. One did not look for the ideas from an individual, but instead got them from the entire group. And so to get unified contents, the need to search for everyone’s ideas with good questions was recognised by everyone. And time passed, one thing seemed to have been decided. The meeting which had reached its climax had returned back to its original calm state. “……There is no need to panic. There is a chance that he has adopted a figure similar to that of our god to confuse us.” “The possibility is high. What a terrible guy.” “Then we don’t mind the first thing we do being collecting information.” “Umu, I do not mind.” [WN] The divination target was in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. Their goal was an investigation of the god-like being who resided there. … “….Could it be that he is a god? When she first heard it she thought it was a joke. That the master of Nazarick looked similar to the God of Death [Surshana]. “This will be trouble. At worst it could cause a theological split.” The Slane Theocracy believed in the Six Great Gods, worked together as an organisation, and built a country. Thus while they had different gods, they had the same goal could work together on them. Then what would happen if only one of the gods descended? At worst, there was the possibility that the power balance within the temples would crumble. However she could not erase what had happened. It was not because sealing everyone’s lips was difficult, but because of the worry of what would happen in the future should she hide this. No, her heart might only be filled with fear. Should a god truly appear, she would fall on her knees. In front of a being that she should obey. However what was scary was that the being looked like [Surshana]. The god that granted eternal peace to those with life, and the god that granted eternal despair. And the god that was stronger than the other five. If it was true— The Vice-Head Priest of the Water God’s body shook. She then prayed. Not to her god, but to the God of Death [Surshana]. As if saying, please do not punish us. [WN] “My lord god!” Ainz’s nonexistent heart skipped a beat.The loud shout of a man rang through the area.Forgetting to hide his real face, Ainz searched for the source of the sound. His line of sight led to right beside the Gigant Basilisk. A man appeared next to the powerless body. “My lord god!” The man crawled out from a hole and repeated himself. From the fact that he was staring right into Ainz’s undead face, the “god” he was referring to was no doubt Ainz himself.It was extremely strange to see such a well-dressed man appear in such a place, and Ainz had no memory of him. However, from his words, Ainz could guess who he was. [WN] “Yes. I am your god.” “Just as I thought!” The man approached Ainz and got down on one knee in a display of loyalty. “So all that about being exiled by those great sinners were nothing but false tales!” (….Hmm?) The man’s words made no sense to him, but a god like Ainz could not ask for clarification. “Yes. Your god is here.” As if waiting for these words from Ainz, the man’s eyes began filling with tears of joy. “Oh, my lord.” In contrast to the man lowering his head, Ainz was taken aback. But he still had to put up his facade. Lifting the chin of the kneeling man, Ainz peered into his eyes. (Driven mad by religion… that seems right.) Ainz felt a slight chill run down his spine. Within his eyes, Ainz could see a terrifying light. He felt that if he ordered it, this man could easily throw away his own life. In some way, he was just like Ainz’s subordinates in Nazarick.. (But because he is insane, I can easily control him.) “I am done with my tasks here. Do your best to please me. If you do, I will grant you miracles.” “Haha! My god! I have received your words.” Taking a quick glance at the man still bowing, Ainz stood up. Deactivating the spell, he felt the throne disappear. [WN] ===================================================================== So why not talk about a different take on the possible ending for the Theocracy, eldest of human nations in this region, besides what is so commonly tread using web novel hooks? Get your tinfoil sombreros on lads (and ladettes). It’s time to talk about inconsequential bullshit!THEMES, SYMBOLISM, and MOTIFS!!! Foremost Slaine is proactive, militant, religious, and technologically advanced. Even how they project power is strange given humans aren’t exactly a strong race but they have no issues being standoffish and open about their agenda as human supremacists. Given their methods such a thing seems almost incongruous - they openly assert their desire but operate covertly mostly. What could explain this? They are open about their beliefs yet seldom act openly on crusades, preferring to operate in the shadows - even their culling efforts in the Abelion Hills are lack luster. What’s strange is others notice how the Theocracy’s actions of being openly human centric and have the power to persist despite the issues that would result in politics. ==================================================================== “…To think someone like you would actually say something like that.” The Slaine Theocracy was a human-centric country. No, it would be better to say that they looked down on the countries of other races. They were a nation that could still exist in a world filled with various races after advertising that fact. One had to hand it to them. Or rather, one could say that uniting a species was a condition of building a strong nation. “That’s just my personal opinion. It doesn’t reflect on my country. Well, that’s enough chit-chat for now, Your Majesty. Can I have your reply? [V10] There was a man raising a single hand, either from lack of motivation or from embarrassment. If the earlier knights were glittering in the sunlight, this being himself was shining like the sun itself. Wearing a cap embroidered with countless gemstones, a plain silver mask hid his face. The white robe enveloping his body was covered in golden patterns. His white gloved hands grasped a staff with a giant diamond at the tip. It was— A being of light. If there were people of the modern age present, they might see such a figure as gaudy or cringy. However, all of those people who saw Ainz thought none of those things. They were simply entranced by his power. There was countless types of power. Charm, authority, physical ability, and the wealth that Ainz was displaying— Living creatures had the tendency to be attracted to power. Well, most creatures in this world had some level of this attraction, but it was particularly strong in weak creatures like humans. The brittleness of their race— It would be most obvious if one compared them to dragons. They lived in a dangerous world filled with monsters that could kill them in an instant. In such an environment, their desire and instinct to find a safe place to live was stimulated. And for the weak, the easiest thing to do was to hide in the shadow of the strong. And that was why they were attracted to power. Of course, there were many whose instinct was weak. Citizens of countries like the Slane Theocracy who were firmly protected had little desire. And there was an acceptable range. An overwhelming power would only become the target of fear. Similar to how Ainz was treated after he cast the Super Tier spell. However, all those present had that desire in them forcefully awoken. Who was that person in the carriage? Is he a great noble from somewhere? [WN] ==================================================================== The symbols the Theocracy uses to represent themselves is fairly curious especially in the context of the nations of the New World is an interesting subjects but there’s something extremely off about the Theocracy flag. Perhaps analyzing the symbol they use to represent themselves will yield a solution to their beliefs. When talking about faith and scripture, the symbols of religion, we must not forget all the other symbols that represent culture. Flag symbolism in the New World typically depicts supernatural things - Re-Estize’s flag depicts a dragon by some accounts(though that’s not universally agreed upon - most people have no idea what the hell it is actually), Roble’s seems to depict the Dominion of Authority (correlating with the story of a Dominion of Authority killing a Demon God long ago), Bahaurth has a pair of Hippogryph, and the Dragonic Kingdom’s seal(not a flag but muh) shows a Dragon Lord symbol of some kind even Tsa uses on his Platinum armor. And what is Slaine’s symbol they use to portray themselves to the world? It’s a candlestick with six arms and an olive branch. OH MER GAWD! Something’s fishier than using a fish to represent a carpenter. And do you want to know why it’s fishy? ===================================================================== Would it surprise you that the sus culture and strange flag comes from the nation with a confirmed and blatant isekai influence from amateur country building dorks? It’s actually reminiscent of a pre-existing symbol from Earth, our Earth, with inverted colors but it’s fundamentally extremely similar. Likewise, it has a similar design to the flag of that culture as well. So if you didn’t know, this lamp symbol comes from Israel and contains a symbol of the Judaic faith. What a coincidence! Why would Maruyama do this? Does he think the Jews are sekretly running black ops all over their sphere of influence? Does he think Jesus is real and came from an MMO? Does Jerusalam have descendants of Moses waiting in wings with indestructible tablets of the Commandments ready to bonk people into atoms with their uber MMO hax stats? Is the Holocaust Scripture some kind of sick form of Dark Humor from Maruyama? Does Kadokawa think the Hebrew people are genetically superior to all other humans? The implications of Maruyama’s potential stereotyping and prejudice are up to your imagination. Though the likely intended feeling isn’t some grand conspiracy but instead to evoke the same idea of humanity suffering a great deal before forming a highly militarized state built with militant aspects. The simplest explanation for why the two stripes and the star are there is to inspire comparisons between the Theocracy and Israel. Maruyama often inspires these associations and we know he does it for the audience to be involved - if you look at the character sheets he often uses vague names for classes to reveal how mechanics work in various ways. Anyway as a symbol of Israel this is linked to Judaism and Jewish culture, and thus the Old Testament as well as Jewish folklore and Rabbiatic study. The candle stick is called a [Menorah] or [רהָוֹמנ .[ ְSo first before we consider why Slaine uses a Menorah like object, why does Israel use a Menorah with olive branches to represent their nation in OUR world? Well, the olive connection is actually practical first - these branches are connected to the fuel of the Menorah - olive oil. As Israel was near the Mediterranean sea that makes logical, logistical sense in OUR world. The symbolic reason is olive oil actually burns cleanly - the same reason olive oil is healthy is it’s processed and breaks down efficiently by heat similar to how metabolism works with it. It’s more a statement to it’s chemistry but the main fact was it produced light without smoke, without byproducts or fumes or smoke like incense. Basically it’s mainly used for light and purity symbolism. It burns cleanly basically, and remember religion likes notions of purity and cleanliness. If you wish to disregard the religious and practical reason to use the olive branches as symbols of peace, it could also be purposeful design inspirations from the flag of the Roman Empire but so many cultures used the olive wreath it is difficult to conclude. The romantic nature of Theocracy names does suggest the Roman motif isn’t inherently wrong however. Slaine names are often considered French but you could interpret that more as purposeful as well - older Slaine names might be more directly Roman meanwhile newer Slaine names are Romance language inspired - is Rufus, a Roman name, not some undead guardian deity of the Theocracy? A gag for this is how Charon’s Guidance, a weapon of Surshana, also shows the series of inspirations where Rome often looked to the ancient Greeks for ‘guidance’ be it for religion, architecture, and so on. What a coincidence Slaine follows similar naming trends! So why a Menorah though? It’s actually a super, hyper specific symbol detailed in the Old Testament. Not trying to stereotype or belittle,if you bother to understand the Hebrew scriptures and culture you’d stumble on it and how explicit a symbol it truly is: ===================================================================== “You are to make a menorah of pure gold. It is to be made of hammered work; its base, shaft, cups, ring of outer leaves and petals are to be of one piece with it. It is to have six branches extending from its sides, three branches of the menorah on one side of it and three on the other. On one branch are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a ring of outer leaves and petals; likewise on the opposite branch three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a ring of outer leaves and petals; and similarly for all six branches extending from the menorah… Make seven lamps for the menorah, and mount them so as to give light to the space in front of it.” Exodus Chapter 25 Verses 31-37 ===================================================================== So the Menorah in the bible has Seven branches but Slaine’s has Six. What a strange divergence while keeping with the broader silhouette and color scheme. Still symbols have forms and these forms encode meaning. However, for the Jews, Seven has several religious representations. First, weeks have 7 days because God said so. Likewise, at the time, there were only 7 known celestial figures - the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter. The Six Arms are supposed to come from the central one on purpose. The Six off-branches represent the seven days of creation while the seventh is the holy day - symbolic of how religious observation should be the core to one’s week not the end or beginning basically. On Theocracy symbolism - aren’t names coming in triples a sign of either nobility or Theocracy culture? Low and behold Ainz Ooal Gown fits the naming standards of nobility and Slaine’s baptismal name system. It’s funny how someone saw how powerful items Ainz Ooal Gown hands out where and just his name and came to the conclusion he had to be from the Theocracy like when Enri was detained for her horn *doot doot*. On an anthropological tangent, we know Slaine has practiced Baptismal naming for a long while. Thus humans having three names being considered either titled or noble would suggest human society emulated the practice perhaps to emulate Theocracy naming. That is, Slaine has been advanced for a long time and their dedication to their faith and military would suggest when people met them, the naming culture they have might have inspired the perceptions and expectations of the aristocracy long, long ago. That’s why anyone with “three” names is noble not just by blood but potentially originally it was nobility of character. Conferring a “name” in a baptism is also somewhat how the Empire and Kingdom bestow nobiliary names or titles. Di, Dale, Ryle, names like that. In a sense, being “titled” could be culturally related to how other human populations perceived baptism in Slaine bestowing additional names as a practice to emulate. That remains conjecture but the fact Dale is a baptismal name suggests it originated in Slaine and either through hereditary descent stronger and more educated emigrants from Slaine became the first nobles or it was the people copying the practice and names with a new meaning. ==================================================================== “Well, anyone who hasn’t seen that power would think so~ Well then, let’s get down to business, Khajiit Dale Badantel — are you willing to help me out as a fellow member of the Twelve Executives?” The girl’s tone finally changed. “Oh, showing your true face at last, oh fragment of Quintia? But don’t call me Dale. I’ve cast away that baptismal name.” [V2] “If that’s the case, could it be that the suspicious magic caster who aided the Warrior-Captain is a man from the Empire? Perhaps he intends to infiltrate us as a spy.” “Ah, I see. You’re right. They say the Empire has an academy which trains magic casters, so that’s very likely.” “The people of the Slaine Theocracy have a given name, a baptismal name, and a surname. However, what if his name is an alias?” [V3] Apparently, Eruya had been born in the religious nation that revered humanity as the greatest of all races; the Slaine Theocracy. The citizens of that country often viewed people with nonhuman ancestry as second-class citizens. From that man’s point of view, having a Half-Elf like Imina working on an even basis with him must be very upsetting. That part of him lends truth to the rumors… however, if he really was born in the Theocracy, then he ought to have a baptismal name. There’s also a rumor that he abandoned his baptismal name. [V7] “What the devil are you! Don’t try to trick me!” The magic caster’s sudden change in attitude took the soldiers by surprise, and Enri was no exception as her eyes widened. “No, I’m just, I’m just a normal person! A simple village girl! Really!” “ A village girl? You, why, are you lying? Then, how could you have obtained a magic item like this? If you really are a simple village girl, how could you have gotten something like that?!” “Eh? This, this is a gift from the one who saved our village, Ainz Ooal Gownsama―” “Lies again! A priest from the Theocracy must have given it to you!” “Eh? What’s that about the Theocracy?” [V8] “Then… what connection would that hero have with that village girl?” “Hell if I know. Momon-dono told me what I told you, he vouched for her and asked that we let her go.” “Then, another question. That Emmot girl. Do you really think she’s just a village girl?” “Certainly not. There’s no way she could be a simple village girl, otherwise why would a great hero like him help her? And it wasn’t a coincidence she was carrying that item… Could it have something to do with the Theocracy?” “That Ainz What’s-his-face fellow. If he’s from the Theocracy, shouldn’t we let the brass know?” [V8] Zanac straightened up, and then a problem presented itself. Though he had learned her name was Albedo through conversation, was that really all? In the Kingdom ― and in the Empire ― commoners had two names, nobles had three names, and titled people had four names. For the royal family, they had four names ― plus their titles for a total of five names. This was why Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix and his four names were mocked for not being an actual member of royalty. However, a name like Albedo sounded like an alias, or a nickname. One could not possibly be as foolish as to address a member of the nobility by such a moniker. [V10] ==================================================================== But something new Ziggy learned was Six-candle Menorahs did exist. They were used out of respect for the original seven due to a tradition. This tradition honors the loss and pillaging of their temples and so the leaders of Judaism for a time did not use seven candles to remember this pain and loss and the loss of the original seven-candle Menorah from their temple or some other special treasure. That might seem weird to some given the icon has religious symbolism but even non-religious people retire jersey numbers for athletes right, so could you understand it as a gesture of goodwill and remembrance and respect? The intent may differ but the overarching idea is to convey a particular feeling if that makes sense. In general humans can have a strange relationship with numerical superstitions - like not using certain numbers for floor numbers, unlucky numbers, or there being double meanings behind numbers. Respect for the person or thing associated with a number is a positive superstition of lamentation - like how some cultures cut their hair to honor the dead. Another divergence - the Slaine Menorah doesn’t have the candles ideographically identical - the Israel and traditional Menorah tries to have all the candles level, but Slaine’s is staggered downward on both sides. That staggering could represent many things. Perhaps all the symbolism is circumstantial… Though that’s unlikely. After all symbols usually represent things for the people who use them. Most notably distinct is the fact Slaine’s Menorah has a six-point star above the six-armed Menorah. The fact it is six-pointed is likely intentional. Now why there are two symbols with six symbolically on the flag is questionable. Though it could represent the polytheism or divinity using the star (Six Gods being heavenly as stars are heavenly bodies) meanwhile the Menorah is a representation of emulation - something with six-pieces crudely emulating that divinity - hoping to bring light just as the Six-Pointed Star did. That could be seen as allegorical for the Gods and the Six Sects - the Menorah being the Six sects striving to “enlighten” just as the Six-pointed star (the six divinities) “enlightened” humanity so many centuries ago. Though both “enlighten” one is clearly heavenly (as in of a higher plane of existence or a different quality of light) though the flames of the Menorah can still enlighten just through more mundane means. In our world, our story, six-pointed stars are quite rare compared to five-pointed stars. The reason for that is Egypt used five-pointed stars and for the most part that motif stuck - you traditionally write stars just as they did in their hieroglyphics. It’s like how explosive barrels are red - they don’t have to be but that’s what people got used to. Six-pointed stars in contrast, though not always, tend to be associated with the Star of David as it’s a recurring symbol of their faith and Western centrism. Though, several other nations also used the six-pointed star. If we attribute the five-pointed star as descending from Egypt, then based on the culture who used the symbol the longest, its not wrong to say six-pointed stars evoke the Jewish sentiment. After all, did Moses not lead the Jews away from Egyptian oppression - the same culture that used the five-pointed star? So what does the Star of David evoke? Well, if we are viewing these symbols in the lens of Judaism, then should we not just look at their interpretations of their own symbols first? Did you know, the Star of David is known as the SHIELD of David in Hebrew? It was however, not always a symbol of the Jewish people they used on flags - rather it became that later on far after the exodus from Egypt. Originally, as a symbol, it was more associated with alchemy and Kabbalah. Given the mystique of astrology, it’s not surprising people practicing esoteric magic in the past would use stars as symbols - be they pentagrams or the Star of David. Originally it probably was meant to represent celestial or divine power before taking on it’s more alchemical symbolism - if God lies in heaven, well the stars are also in the heavens, ergo the stars may be of God. Symbol interpretations change, but in the past the Egyptians saw stars this way so likely it was not an uncommon perspective before the cult of science changed perceptions. China for example, often saw the stars of the heavens bearing divine associations, and saw things like Eclipses, which blocked the sun, as ominous signs. KOFF Ainz’s job class KOFF. One issue with symbolism association is many people can reinterpret what symbols mean. After all, if Communist use the five pointed star does that mean that all five-pointed stars represent communism? Thus the Ancient Egyptians were communists! No wonder Moses had to save the Jews from them - he foresaw the benefits of capitalism and the Jewish people’s future and even would leave notes behind to use a six-pointed star to make sure no one ever saw them as Communists!! Kek. Anyway, hopefully that jest illustrates Ziggy’s point. Symbolism is not a path without obfuscation due to cultural perspectives clouding what symbols may or may not mean. Still, there is so much extremely similar between the Theocracy and Israel in terms of flag symbolism that hopefully you see the inspiration. Likely, given the Six Elements, Maruyama may have recalled the Star of David and it’s association with magic and drew inspiration from Judaic elements when designing the Theocracy though we cannot say for certain without asking the man himself. Interpreting symbols is always prone to disagreements but if you had absolutely no context for the symbolism, it can serve as a basis for discussion. The symbolism of “enlightenment” may be subject to interpretation but the idea connects to another, giving weight to that association. For is the nation not a “Theocracy”*? *Ziggy will elaborate on later on ===================================================================== Let us pursue that motif - the Six-candle Menorah - further however. It is meant to be a Seven-candle Menorah given the Judaic Menorah either has Seven or Nine. There’s no seven candle version in Overlord. Recall: The Gods of Slaine (the Six Great Gods) represent- Dark, Light, Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water. It’s pretty simple to infer (though not confirm) that six candles on the Theocracy’s flag each represent the Six Great Gods (they could always just count each century since the nation’s founding given how supposedly the Dwarven seal changes by era). The chief evidence being how each sect leader also possesses governmental power with seats on the uppermost council and each God has a special forces Scripture named after them - even the Rubik’s cube has six colors to likely signify the six distinct Gods just as there are Six Cardinals and Six Scriptures. Six is special basically for pretty obvious reasons in Slaine. If you look at the name of Slaine you might also notice something: スレイン or Surein written phonetically also can be written with six symbols instead of the four the Japanese phonetics convey. Why is this important? Well we know the names of some of the Six Great Gods - there is Surshana, the God of Death, and then there is Nekonyan the God of Wind. What if the name of the country is not Slaine or Surein but S.U.R.E.I.N.? That is, it’s an acronym built from an initial of each of the Six Great Gods? If you look at this in Japanese, the sounds are Su.Re.I.N. an equivalent acronym with only four pieces. For a moment please consider - what if someone recorded the Gods discussing what to name their country and they decided on an acronym. Being Japanese naturally they would use “letters” like “su” or “re” but that would leave the word with only Four Symbols not Six to represent them. And so what if someone suggested to use Roman letters and break up the doublet lets of Su and Re into S.U. and R.E. ? What would people, unable to understand auto-translate parse from this discussion on linguistics for languages they do not even know or hear? What context could they infer for why their nation is named what it is? The theory goes the ideological split between the Six Great Gods and Four Great Gods may be found in choosing to read this discussion as “theology” instead of just a matter of linguistics in conversations between the gods. What a silly theory no? There’s clearly other distinctions in the faiths between the Six and the Four, like the nature of the divinity of angels. And did you notice the peculiarity in the theory? The fly in the ointment? What of the God of Life - Alah Alaf? Just to stress, Alah Alaf is still the God of Light’s name even in the mobile game, Mass for the Dead released years after the web novel and light novel were out so that name likely hasn’t changed. If you didn’t catch on, that also mirrors how the faith of the Six Great Gods became the faith of the Four Great Gods elsewhere in some undiscussed schism. The reason for this ideological split is never stated though some infer it may have to do with the doctrines of the Life and Death Gods. However, if you consider how Slaine’s name can be represented by either Four Symbols or Six Symbols a conjecture might arise - did people read about the naming of the Theocracy between the Gods and misunderstand the conversation of an acronym as instead a questioning of the fundamental tenets of the faith? Think about that for a moment. For the Theocracy such a thing would be easily understood as the Six Gods each had a sect so of course you shouldn’t interpret it as a dismissal of two of the Gods. But for people centuries removed from the context, and perhaps centuries of cultural discussion on this, there may be a chance the nature of the conversation changed from just the name of the nation to the pantheon itself - rather than four or six letters representing each God, it was whether there should be four or six Gods for the faith itself. For example, Slaine considers all the angels it summons as divine emissaries. However, the Four Great God faith holds these beings to be no different from other monsters. They may be holy beings, however fundamentally they are monsters. So is it not possible that they interpreted the creation of an acronym to describe the faith’s name as scripture about which gods to worship? What merit would they see in worshiping a God of Death mainly worshiped out of appeasement and fear when undead are normally reviled? The context here is that it’s very convenient to interpret direct scripture about the origins of the Theocracy and the Gods in this way to remove one of the Gods that would be typically unpopular. Especially as there is evidence the Four Great God faith is more mechanical and rational (judging all monsters the same rather than making distinctions for angels ). There could have been political factors at work (for example the state had some influence or people removed from the faith found it more beneficial to consolidate the faith down to Four Great Gods to match the Elements instead of six great beings with personable names). As most priests or clerics can use healing magic for instance, we can theorize that the God of Life was discarded not out of hostility but rather from a mechanical interpretation of Divine magic - if every divine magic user can use healing spells or turn undead, isn’t that a sign the God of Life or positive energy control is a universal of the system? Effectively, the Four Great Gods MAY, keyword MAY, have been a broader movement to normalize magical understanding and faith. Alone that may not suggest much but together you can extrapolate further this movement may have used the vague interpretation of the scriptures, the origin of the Slaine name, and the strange relationship between life and death or positive and negative energy, in addition to the vague Elemental notion of the Four Great Elements, to construct a new perspective. After all, one could take the fact Slaine can be spelled with only four letters as only four gods really matter which is justified by the Four Great Elements (something older elven populations also understand to an extent yet have no Light or Dark Elementals). If you interpret things from that angle, we can hypothesize that the mechanics, the history, and even the scripture itself supported this movement’s interpretation of religious canon. And can we not also understand why Slaine did not follow them? They had encountered the gods before the mechanics were widespread (after all, we don’t even know if tier magic was possible for others until the Eight Greed Kings). Thus, rather than being irrational, they were following the exact instructions of the Gods themselves before writing religious canon, and so less sophisticated understanding went into their dogma. Hence why they saw angels not as summons but something distinctly religious. And the Gods, for a similar reason, are named beings because they were at one time walking amongst the people, passing on decrees like the age of majority was 20. The reason the Slaine faith, the older one, isn’t as esoteric or theoretically based is likely because the original population of humans was not nearly as educated and what the Gods said was what was implemented with no basis on fundamental principles related to the logic of YGGDRASIL’s mechanics. After generations however, more isolated believers would become more likely to gravitate toward the Four Elemental God perspective - after all, it’s rooted in fundamental logic more than history. And some of the conventions of Slaine are not useful to less developed nations - the age of majority being so high can be detrimental to a less developed culture. Modern sensibilities and conditions would make the Six Great God faith seem out of touch. It doesn’t help one of the Great Gods was a God of Death, a being that looks undead. The undead are universally reviled so why would anyone worship such a thing? For the Six Great Gods it wasn’t about symbolism - there literally was a God of Death who protected them and guided them. He was no Psychopomp at first, he was a being who stood in the time of even the Eight Greed Kings, beings who few even think were historical figures in the current era of Calcium. Basically Ziggy says the government is purposely censoring the truth about the Greed Kings! Censorship bad!! All hail our simping overlords the Eight Greed Cucks!! But anyway, if a world changing group of people like the Greed Kings can get forgotten from history becoming only folk tales, isn’t it just as easy for people to forsake the Six Great Gods despite the proximity they have to tangible proof of their existence? You could say it was inevitable the Six Great God would fall out of fashion - Judaism didn’t spread to more people because it became grounded on the original galvanizing force of the Hebrew ethnic perspective. Originally the intent was to probably unite these oppressed people as they underwent the same oppression constantly. However by being ethnocentric, it also becomes insular and it becomes difficult to expand the faith if we view religion not as a set of practices but more like a business or nation. In the short term it helps, though it makes far more sense the reason the Hebrew people were united with that principle is due to being able to understand each other’s plights organically and how they were constantly alienated. Was the humanity of Overlord originally in a similar situation, a weak, frail race with little to offer oppressed by the stronger races? It’s difficult to say, these are complicated subjects with some basis on events in our world juxtaposed to dumb fantasy Maruisms. ==================================================================== “In ancient myths — little more than legends — there was mention of beings known as the Eight Greed Kings. They were known as people who had stolen the power of gods, and the tales speak of how they once ruled this world with that absolute power.” Climb had heard the story of the Eight Greed Kings. While they were not too popular, given that they were only children’s tales, anyone with a little bit of knowledge would know of them. In summary, the beings known as the Eight Greed Kings appeared 500 years ago. Some said that they stood as tall as the heavens, some said they looked like Dragons, but in any case, the Eight Greed Kings devastated the nations in an instant, dominating the world with their power which could move mountains and part the seas. However, their desires ran deep, and they fought each other for their possessions, resulting in their mutual extinction. This story was not popular for obvious reasons, but debate raged over whether or not it was merely a children’s fairytale. Climb personally felt that it had been greatly embellished. However, a small group of people among the adventurers believed that the Eight Greed Kings existed — and that they commanded powers beyond those of any in this modern age. The proof of that was a city within the deserts far to the south. Rumors said that it was the capital built when the Eight Greed Kings conquered the continent. [V5] Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself She was the Kingdom’s third princess, who inherited the sparkling beauty of her mother, Renner. 17 years old. An adult, and an age where it would not be weird to be married. A point which the nobles constantly brought up. [WN] ===================================================================== Let’s elaborate on the Four Great God faith’s normalization - or rather the more mechanical or rational approach they seem to have taken to step away from the Revealed Religion nature of their religion. The only confirmed aspect of this is the perspective the church has on angels as magical beings and nothing more. If we examine how the Four Great God’s church names the Four Great Gods as Elemental godheads however, we begin to see a pattern - they dehumanized the very Gods they believed in as just Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth. Basically, these gods are never named with a personable name to people outside the Theocracy. The God of Wind is never referred to as Nekonyan for example. That could be a sign of respect, however we can also see it as part of a broader movement to abstract the faith, removing the cultural geographic features like these specific people who appeared at a specific place at a specific era. That may be drawing a hasty conclusion however it does fit a correlated pattern - the Four Great Gods faith was changing aspects of the Six Great God faith for some reason, removing ties to specific things. Politically this makes sense because it would enable these derivative churches to assert more independent control by removing the connections to people and beings tied more closely to Theocracy controlled regions. So is there any anthropological evidence of these claims? Well yes, no other people, not even the faithful of the Four Great Gods, practice the usage of baptismal names (though noble naming conventions mirror them, they are known as distinct, and nobles typically also bear their titled names). Likewise, there is never mention of pilgrimages to the Theocracy which should be considered a holy land of a sort if emphasis was placed on where the Gods first spread their influence. Notably, the Four Great God places pressure on the government and guilds to enforce their mandates against healing - leveraging their influence to control who can receive healing using payment models. That may not be a product of faith, but a product of politics to remain independent. But the conclusive result is they have a revenue model built to ensure autonomous action from the Theocracy government. The most strange thing of all is how in the web novel arcs, a group of Imperial nobles took to a Zuranon scheme around an Evil God stylized after Surshana. The specific token here is how they interpreted the God with similarities to Surshana as “Evil”. It’s subtle, but Slaine never saw Surshana as ‘Evil’ but rather a God just the same as the others. What does that mean anthropologically speaking? That is, the values associated with Surshana became ‘Evil’ during the transition between the Six Great Gods and the Four Great Gods. It’s important to note how the false Evil God of Zuranon was ‘nameless’. For whatever reason, Zuranon decided to not use Surshana’s name for their farce. Strange isn’t it? Perhaps the ideological schism is so great between the Six Great God and Four Great God faiths that the idea of named Gods is subject to skepticism from the Four Great God faith? Like how iconoclasms were grounds for disputes between religions, that is the destruction of religious idolatry for various reasons(iconoclasm vs iconoclasts), Onomaclasm, is similar but it revolves around the divinity of God’s name itself as it is depicted on icons. It’s a real ideological issue in Christianity actually - where the perspective of icons may or may not contrast with the idea behind the icon. Ziggy won’t dwell too long on these, however, you can read further about these topics in a few essays like “The Icon and Its Veneration (A Dogmatic Essay)” or the book which complies his thoughts on schisms in the Orthodox church “Icons and The Name of God” by Sergius Bulgakov gives a concise breakdown of it. The larger point here by Sergius was icons stop being tools for the faith once they take on distinctions from the ideal they represent. Basically what you need to understand is there was a pedantic argument of Platonic Ideals and Idealism (ideas vs their crude approximations in reality) in the Orthodox church. Basically the ‘Heavenly Cross’ is the ideal or image of the cross as representing a concept, meanwhile the literal crucifixes are symbols of this ideal. Don’t worry if that is too galaxy brain for you. ===================================================================== The cross is the figurative inscription of the Name of God, working miracles and manifesting powers, like the Name of God revealed to Moses. The cross is the symbol of the Most Holy Trinity, the holy sign of God-Love, consuming in fire unlove, malice, and hatred. This Heavenly Cross was revealed to us, human beings, in Christ's cross, in that all-blessed tree whose image we venerate and kiss in awe. As Christ's warriors, we wear this cross; we bear it on our breast and in our heart. For the Christian is essentially a cross-bearer. Just as, according to tradition, the most sweet Name of Jesus was found inscribed in the heart of St. Ignatius of Antioch, so in the heart of every Christian burns the Lord's cross, wounding it forever. [The Power of the Cross - Sergius Bulgakov] ===================================================================== The schisms between the Six and Four Great God faiths resemble these schisms was the point Ziggy is poorly making. It’s super pedantic and semantic, but the distinction between angels as monsters or as divine emissaries does have a rational basis in the mechanics of the world itself. The issues between icons and as conduits for faith and as idols for faith is a pretty subtle distinction which mirrors this idea. Theological disagreements often come down to interpretations of religious motifs. KOFF KOFF KOFF If this is getting too esoteric, Six Great Gods - A Revealed Religion (based on ‘revelations’ from divine figures) Four Great Gods - A Natural (Philosophy) Religion (theoretically it’s a mechanical naturalism) The Six Great God faith effectively has literal records of their Gods as well as treasures that prove their ‘divinity’. And that’s why some of their practices seem unnatural or illogical with the world - they are social conventions of another world passed onto them as divine revelations of how a country ‘should’ be. IE principles they should ‘model’ society after. The Four Great God faith, in contrast, is rooted in logic and mechanical understanding first - just as people can easily accept the existence of the Four Great Elements, having these four ‘forces’ actually be ‘Gods’ makes more ‘sense’ as an explanation for why the world is the way it is. Let us call this Mechanical Understanding of Religion as the Mechanist perspective. Elementalists can harness these forces, as can Priests. By coincidence, the forces of the God of Life and Death due to the mechanics of YGGDRASIL, are not so lucky and because of the possibility even Slaine scripture can be interpreted to reject two of the Gods, they get the short end of the stick. Even if that is not so, the fact remains the God of Death is an incredibly difficult being to teach adherents to abide by due to the undead similarity in a world where undead are despised by most of the living almost instinctively. The God of Life likewise is not explained to us the readers, but we can extrapolate that positive energy was likely attributed to him, and possibly angels as well given the Sunlight Scripture, but these are potentially things ANY priest can acquire and angels, in the Mechanist perspective. If we extrapolate that Priests of the Gods of Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind also existed using positive energy and angels, it stands to reason that historically there was no need to tie angels and healing to the God of Life. It doesn't fit the naturalism of the Four Great Elements either - have YOU seen a Holy Elemental? The same applies to the God of Death - where are the Death Elementals if the God of Death is truly a God then just like the other Four forces, shouldn’t there be elementalists for it? Angels after all are treated as ‘summons’ by all the ‘rules’. Ergo, if random priest D never ever saw a Life or Death Elemental, what basis is there for even naming two of the Six Great Gods as being similar to the Four Great Gods who do have Elementals? After all, isn’t white and black shades not colors themselves? It’s sort of that idea - it’s not that they might have denied the existence of healing or necromancy or whatever. It’s rather these things are closer to polarities instead of things more tangible - and the limited scope of the mechanics they can see would reinforce that argument. Now, as readers, we know that isn’t necessarily an airtight argument - it could be locked behind some obscure summoner class. Hopefully you get Ziggy’s point here - the Mechanists have justification for their split from the Theocracy - their magic still worked even when they rejected the names of the Six Great Gods, their logic was mechanically sound, and natural paradigms like the Four Great Elements circumstantially justified their rejection of Life and Death as stand alone forces. The priest of any God can heal so why have a separate Life God? For the wiliest ladettes amongst you, might notice the inherent hypocrisy of the Mechanist perspective. Sure the God’s name may not matter but why are the Four Elemental Forces being used? The Spiritual casters work magic with FIVE Elements. Thus you could argue that the Four Elemental model does not correctly model reality so easily. Rather, this would prove a model of Four Gods is inherently flawed. A model of Five Elements works perfectly. It may not be Elementalism, but it still works rationally as well. Perhaps chalk this up to having limited exposure to Spiritual Five Elements magic. We do not know if such arguments were ever used, the human nations have a strange lack of Spiritual casters, and the fact we know of some non humanoid Spiritual casters might have justified Slaine’s rejection of them and thus the lack of their presence in the human realms. Perhaps such things were seen as pagan and viciously undermined as much as Slaine could exert it’s influence. Likely they would not want to rely on pagan mechanical understanding to justify their own faith in that case - especially as a revealed religion OBVIOUSLY they are right - here’s Surshana’s scythe and notebook if you don’t believe us. When you grow up away from the Theocracy however, and away from the historical influence of the Six Great Gods, their precepts lose weight with the realities of the world and politics and even physics. After all, if a priest of the Water God and the Fire God can both heal without praying to the God of Life, then what gives? And why do you need to be 20 to be an adult? People like Nfirea and Climb are pretty high level well before the age of 20, and even the Black Scripture captain was ridiculously strong yet not an adult under the rules of the God’s ‘model’ for what determines adulthood. In a Revealed Religion these are specific rules introduced by figures of great respect, be they prophets or the Gods themselves. That is why many people followed the Commandments of Moses or the teachings of Muhammad after all. You can be pedantic and argue these rules are arbitrary in isolation, but the religious context was these rules were handed down by God Himself and thus were the ‘proper’ way to live and ‘model’ your life on. ===================================================================== However, it was the winged monsters floating beside them which confirmed their vocations. Angels. Angels were monsters summoned from another world, and many people — particularly, the citizens of the Slaine Theocracy — believed them to be messengers of the gods. However, the priests of the Kingdom ruled that these so-called angels were merely summoned monsters. While these religious disputes were part of the reason why the countries were set against each other, Gazef felt that their status as divine messengers was secondary to their strength as monsters. [V1] Under normal circumstances, healing magic was handled by the temples, and a patient would need to make a donation before the temples would cast a spell on him. If an adventurer disregarded that point and provided free healing, he would be taking the temples’ business. Therefore, the temples made a strongly worded request to the Guild to curb such activities. If one could not accept these rules, then one would have to be a Worker. This might sound like malice on the temples’ part, but it was because they could profit from their spells that the temples could render service unto the people without having to worry about outside interference. In addition, it was these donations which paid for the raising and training of priests, the exorcism of the undead, the development of new healing spells, all in order for people to lead safer and happier lives. If adventurers cast healing spells for free, the temples might be forced to become more secular, and slowly abandon their ideals. [V7] The being before him was the King of the Dead. A god from the realm of myths. The Evil God they worshipped, was a nameless god, said to be one with death and darkness. He built his palace in a land of freezing cold, where he held dominion over the frozen souls of the dead. Then, what he just did, was most definitely the release of a breath that could freeze their souls. The man felt, slightly, ever so slightly, relieved. Despite the actions of their god, not a single person had died. Their lord and saviour did not wish for it. Slow, careful, and terrified, he looked towards his god. …. “No, I’m extremely shocked. However, I have done my best to fulfill my role for the sake of the Great One.” “Hmmm….” This cult was originally created to be a subsidiary of Zuranon. The God of Darkness was a being worshiped by the Slane Theocracy and they used it as a base to fabricate the Evil God. The ritual was done willy-nilly. They simply needed the nobles to kill people to gain dirt on them. “For the real thing to appear.” “And what should we do? We cannot face the Great One like this.” [WN] ===================================================================== But perhaps, you might understand why Ziggy is bringing up the current idea after Volume 16. Isn’t a Revealed Religion’s Precepts similar to a society which values etiquette? After all, etiquette is normalized behaviors which are expected but are not rooted in natural behavior or norms. Status may always exist in society, but there are plenty of human social models which have status associated with various values and practices (e.g. monetary status for honor culture status versus artistic acclaim). Merchants may be valued now in the modern era, however, merchants did not always have such prestige, where not industrialists, entrepreneurs, dynamos, etc are all lofty names that command respect in the business world. If that isn’t specific enough, basically the meta reason Maruyama dwelled on the Dark Elves was to illustrate how a basic humanoid society can look like and struggle between the ‘norms’ of the world and ‘social’ aspects - in the grander context this is also potentially why the Six Great Gods and Four Great Gods split. The Dark Elves basically drifted away from the precepts of etiquette because the survival of their society was more dependent on quantitative boons more than social graces. In a diplomatic setting however, someone like Decem might have lived if he had any sense of decorum or etiquette - after all etiquette and manners are mainly used to not upset those with more power or authority. Ziggy’s hypothesis is the Four Great vs Six Great schism was founded on the more ‘model’ behaviors falling out of favor in the world under rational scrutiny. When survival rates are low in villages and so on, a higher age of majority would be detrimental to the functioning of society. It’s only in the sphere of influence of somewhere like the Theocracy which values modeling these behaviors on the principle of doing as their Gods decreed such a practice would persist. For a Mechanist, they would not see the value of etiquette for etiquette’s sake, or following a rule not based on rational (though limited) understanding of the world around them. Following an arbitrary rule holds weight in a society where such a rule is connected to values like piety or proper conduct. Effectively, so long as the practice is related to a tangible benefit or reason it can persist, but in a religious context the practice doesn’t need to be so profitable - as ritualized behavior is core to religion to begin with. Ziggy will explain why ‘model’ is constantly being used later as well if you wondered. Does that make sense? Etiquette has it’s uses but in a remote setting it fails to persist when basic needs are most important. Likewise, Ritualized Behavior and Precepts are Etiquette by another name. Though these behaviors may persist the Six Great God and Four Great God schism illustrates how a Mechanist perspective can even erode the Etiquette of Religion in following behaviors they are expected to model. Basically, the common sense of people will tend toward Mechanist understanding as that is the rational way to interpret the world around you in the New World. Though we do not know every single reason for the schism, evidence suggests Mechanism either by philosophy or persuasiveness was an effective tool to result in a true schism of belief. This was so final and total that the religion of the Four Great gods is no longer a true Revealed Religion, with the revelators, the Six Great Gods, losing much of their iconography, names, and some members in the pantheon. As such, most of the modeling behaviors expected of the faith did not survive as well. Ideologically, you could suppose the Four Great God faith was never connected to the Six Great Gods given the stark differences they each possess. Uneducated people may take to the Four Great gods better, but as a Revealed religion with artifacts documented by others, the divinity of the Six Great Gods is not so easily dismissed. Yet split they are. But why? ==================================================================== Six Great Gods descended to the world 600 years ago. Representing light(life), darkness(death), fire, wind, water, and earth. They created the foundations of the Slane Theocracy. The items they left behind are known as sacred relics and are kept securely locked up The Slane Theocracy is a religious nation that believes in the Six Great Gods. The other countries in this region, such as the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Bahururth Empire, believe in the Four Elemental Gods. There is, of course, a reason for this, which will be disclosed later. [Manga] “...Leaving that aside, I want to borrow your help in our excursion to the Elven country. I want you to act as guides, if possible. Of course, Aura and Mare will also come with us. It’s just that we’re not familiar with Elven etiquette so it would help if you were to act as our intermediaries.” The elves looked at each other and shook their heads. “Forgive us, but we don’t have confidence in acting as guides. As for being intermediaries...although we have traveled around our village, we are also not sure about things like etiquette...” [V15] “ — As was just said a moment ago, don’t jump into a briar patch. If we decide to distribute his gifts, the necessity of directly signaling our gratitude to him would emerge, whether we like it or not. If that were to happen, we would probably have to convey our gratitude in a form that followed the rules of proper etiquette after all.” “. . . That means in the event that the other party placed a lot of importance on etiquette, they might regard us as boorish or they might interpret it as us being dissatisfied with their gifts, correct?” If he were to think that as the village elders they should know the proper etiquette, then how would he react if he was to see their ill-mannered attitude? When falling from a great height, the higher you were, the bigger the damage would be. Moreover, when one received a magnificent gift from a visitor, one could no [V16] It was the youngsters who opposed the elders. The reason they — if you were forced to call them something, it would be the Youth Faction — were rebelling against the elders was because their very own principles opposed those of the elders. Since they lived in the forest (a dangerous place) they held the opinion that for the sake of the village, they should yield to those who possessed superior abilities. Even if you were long-lived, you should give up your seat to someone else if you were inferior in ability to the younger generation. It was the elders’ respect for convention and tradition versus the Youth Faction’s belief in ability supremacism, so to speak. … However, something had shaken things up here. It was the existence of Aura. The magnificent and outstanding ranger. Even bearing in mind that she was a traveler, Aura’s words carried serious weight among them. Her words were equal to, or above, those of the four people in the village who had gained their confidence up till now. They couldn’t help having Aura’s opinion weigh on their minds. Incidentally, those who had extreme views, even among the Youth Faction, were the Dark Elf zealots. … It was a set of circumstances where that opinion formed. As expected, this was related to Aura, who they revered. When Aura came, she hadn’t shown them the etiquette passed down through her own tribe. Due to that, they got a sense that their ideology was being vindicated, that those sorts of things had been abandoned outside of the forest, or that capable people didn’t worry about such things. However, at the appearance of Aura’s uncle — Ain Bell Fior — doubts about those ideas arose. The greetings of the dark elf who was her uncle — who seemed to have a little Elf blood mixed in him — were incomprehensible to them. Since he wouldn’t have said something meaningless in a situation like this, there was no doubt that it was what the elders would call a greeting that obeyed proper etiquette. The one who came first, Aura, hadn’t displayed that sort of attitude. Yet, the one who came later, the uncle, respected such manners. Where did this difference come from? Although they wouldn’t say it out loud, everyone had already deduced the answer. It was the difference between children and adults. He, the uncle, had made the request for the children to please look after the two of them. In other words, it meant that he was treating Aura, who possessed that much strength, as a mere child. It was inconceivable … Certainly, when living in the forest (a harsh place) the first important thing children should learn wasn’t politeness. There were plenty of other things that were more important than that — it was necessary to drill into them the things related to survival. Therefore, it was no wonder that the children would be totally unacquainted with the rules of etiquette, even the elders had never shown any signs of trying to relentlessly drill it into the children. Based on that, what became a problem for them was why Aura’s uncle hadn’t shown a courteous attitude until the elders came. Was it because Aura’s uncle viewed everyone gathered at that place as children just like her? Not just the ones in the Youth Faction, no one there had shown the proper courtesy to the uncle. What sort of attitude would an adult take toward children who didn’t know about that sort of etiquette? Certainly, the adult wouldn’t extend a greeting that followed the rules of etiquette. They would look at them in the same way they do children and treat them as such. That etiquette stuff they had dismissed as meaningless until now suddenly had meaning. It was code used to show respect to the other party, and he had only shown it to the elders. That was the answer they arrived at. [V16] ==================================================================== One could argue part of the reason Ainz felt so comfortable in the Dark Elf village was because their etiquette matched Japanese sentimentalities. So in an ironic sense, one of the most valuable skills to learn in the New World when dealing with Players isn’t power but simple etiquette. The failing of the Mechanist perspective is precisely the fact the New World’s mechanics are typically far inferior to YGGDRASIL alternatives. It’s actually the simplest things like etiquette, smell, intelligence, etc which more easily can inspire respect toward Players due to their own glaring weaknesses (smell and intelligence are things they would suffer for despite all their power). There is grounding for this in reality - Dame Sibyl Hathaway during the second world war was able to use feudal conventions of dignity and class to ‘appeal’ to the Nazis occupying her land via psychological warfare who also were led by many sheltered Nazis sensitive to old noble deference to assert control on the island. Go read about that instead of this shitty trash. What are you doing with your life reading this garbage anyway? Anyway, back to our main idea - the idea of what was Evil and was malevolent yet Divine also mirrors how religions evolve. Sticking with Christianity (since Ziggy is a filthy Murican), there is a gradual deviation in the faith of the God of Abraham from the Judaic faith, the Christian faiths, and the Islamic faiths. It’s all the same god but how worship is conducted toward the god is the nuance that is most striking at first - ideological differences are then what one notices second. In an extreme example, Abraham himself tried to sacrifice his child to placate God yet sacrifice was something the Christian Catholics condemned the native americans for in the Aztec culture for example. The Great power of religion was how etiquette and divergence from etiquette carries with it connotations of civility and proper conduct. Divergences could be used as grounds to obliterate or enslave ‘lesser’ people who by their own customs did not mirror the customs of the ‘enslavers’ despite the ideological differences requiring far more nuance - the superficial differences are all that is needed to condemn. Just as if you fail to follow Dark Elven etiquette one can be seen as a child or uncultured, following etiquette impresses culture onto others and status and respect in various ways. For Slaine, by being enlightened and a ‘model’ they impress their culture onto all of humanity as something to follow. A model or exemplar is something to emulate after all. ==================================================================== “I can’t deny what she’s seen any more. This is magic of the gods. Eleventh Tier magic, I believe? That should be it.” “The advent of the gods.” “What’s written here is similar to the description of that god… is it possible he has descended from the heavens once more?” “Impossible. The oral traditions state that the God of Death, Surshana-sama, was slain by the damnable Eight Greed Kings. This must be something else. And if Surshana-sama had actually descended once more, that person would surely have told us. After all, that person is Surshana-sama’s first follower.” [V10] Zesshi was wearing the armor of the one known as the god of the wind. Despite that, she took enough damage to make her legs unstable. It had been a long time since she was wounded to such an extent. [V16] The first priests clad in white were those who believed strongly in the god of life—-Alah Alaf. And in opposition, the priests clad in black worshipped the god of death—-Sulshana. [WN] Perhaps they are messengers of Alah Alaf, God of Life.... Sent to rescue us in our time of need. [Mass for the Dead - Ian] ==================================================================== Returning back to the Acronym Theory(damn does Ziggy ramble off topic Har Har Har): S. = Surshana U. R. E. I. N. = Neko Nyan However: What if the intended acronym isn’t phonetic? After all you can romanize things in different ways in Japanese. Ziggy personally thought the lack of A was a serious counter to the theory at first. However, one of the Japanese guys pointed out the fact the romanization could be different from the phonetic romanization because the Japanese,he pointed out, don’t think how we do with sounds and letters. That’s just how the language is when you have three “alphabets”, two for sounds, one with just symbols. Basically - though it’s sounded out as Surein, it could be spelled Surain. Aren’t Rain and Reign spelled differently but sound the same? Theoretically, whoever the “e” in Slaine could also be a name starting with “a”. After all, can’t Ainz also be spelled Einz? It’s not supposed to be spelled that way of course, but you get the idea. Because New Worlders mostly don’t read Japanese and auto translation messes stuff up, these things happen. Look at Tsuare’s name, which is actually officially Tuare. The sound doesn’t always match the spelling. Well Slaine could also be spelled Suraen in theory. Since there are two different ways to use Alah Alaf in an acronym, on pure random chance that is more likely than the spelling with an E. Though if you disagree, you have a point to argue that based purely on sound to letters it should be an E. Then again if they named the country after the acronym’s appearance and sound there is bound to be a problem or two. Naturally there are other ways to write it. But there is a reason to want to write it these ways. S.U.R.E.I.N. vs S.U.R.A.I.N. vs S.U.R.A.E.N S. = Surshana = Darkness U. = ??? R. = ??? A.= Alah Alaf = Light I. = ??? N. = Nekonyan = Wind If Japanese people sound these out, you would write it out phonetically as Surein for all three and that’s how it would sound in auto translation. Thus, theoretically you cannot dismiss the Six Great God Slaine Acronym theory using Alah Alaf’s name starting with an A. But that might be a deal breaker for some of you. Also some would point out Nekonyan’s full name starts with Glittering Angel, however as a Player it’s debatable if he would insist on using his entire player name in the first place or just a shortened version of his name, but it depends. It’s also an adjective more than the other half of his name but your mileage may vary. People use all sorts of nicknames based off their own names. No one will probably want to admit this, but if you play with SURAIN as an anagram you get - ARINSU. IMPOSSIBLE! INCONCEIVABLE!! THIS IS MADNESS!!! THIS CANNOT BE!!!! Shalltear is the Six Great Gods, confirmed. SHE PLAYED US ALL LIKE A DAMN FIDDLE!! Jokes aside, you might not realize this, but Overlord is filled with stupid jokes like this - try understanding dragon names - it’s enough to make a man mad. The joke here by association, if Ziggy understands Maruyama’s sense of humor, is that Shalltear worships the first vampire in her settings, which reflects how Slaine worships an undead being as well, a very sussy relationship by normal conventions. Aren’t coincidences scary, arinsu? What about A-Ri-Ma-Su? It could always just be a coincidence though! If you hadn’t surmised from the ‘coincidence’ of Jircniv running into Ainz in the arena, Maruyama finds such confluences of circumstance funny. Some argue that (in Japanese) however, the name isn’t Surein if you spell it SURAIN. Using Japanese sound rules, you would pronounce it - SU-RA-I-N. Slime is spelled SU-RA-I-Mu in Japanese after all and so Surain should have a similar pronunciation, discrediting the theory above. And so many people thought Slaine was named after the English word SHRINE. Which in Japanese linguistics would be Shu-Ra-I-n(シュライン) - Rai is pronounced Rah Ai instead of Rah Ey. The Japanese word for shrine can be Jinja so there likely isn’t a Japanese basis for the word, and it sounds most like the English word Ginger. So why use the English word Shrine as a basis? Well you see in the Japanese translation of the bible, Shu is used to mean LORD or God. That’s the true proof the Six Great Gods were Japanese - World class items, NPCs, YGGDRASIL equipment? Nah, they named their country using Japanese puns. REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. KOJIMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAA! Tangent aside, the fact the Theocracy flag uses a Menorah makes a bit more sense now if you factor in even the name Slaine might be a Japanese bible reference - linking the country’s name to the God of Abraham. The string of logic being the coincidence behind the letters of their names via anagrams and biblical meanings. Shrine is just one way that also holds deific coincidences. Ziggy personally likes the Acronym theory all things considered (since it actually explains where the name from a nation founded from Players came from and ties into the auto-translation shenanigans that can happen). Likewise, religious texts hiding disguised ideas is nothing new. In the Hebrew Bible, several words are ‘censored’ using a specific cipher, the Atbash Cipher. Look it up, it’s pretty galaxy brain. Looking to the anime of all places you can actually find an alternative to this idea in how the Gods are ordered. From Left to Right: Wind - Fire-Light-Darkness-Water-Earth Green - Red - Yellow - Purple - Blue - Orange Using the Acronym theory we get: Wind - Fire-Light-Darkness-Water-Earth N-?-A-S-?-? If you look at the pattern however, you see that there is a theme to the ordering. Light and Dark are next to each other. Then you have Fire and Wind (energy or forces) on the Left, with Water and Earth (matter) to the right. This bears mentioning because in Volume 10 Jircniv met with the Fire and Wind Head Priests of the Empire. It’s circumstantial, but Roberdyck also was of the Fire God faith in the Empire. Meanwhile in the Kingdom, Lakyus served the Water God, the Head Water God Priest was a member of 8 Fingers, and Lilynette, the shota molestor, was a priestess of the Earth God. Light and Dark don’t really need any explanation as Slaine is the only place that worships them. Thus of the formerly three human nations in this region with a claim to E-Rantel, there is a cultural emphasis on specific pairings in at least some parts of those countries for some reason. Though it might just be diversity bread-crumbing. Hopefully you see a theme here of why these pairings of Gods might be significant at least for some geographical reason if not symbolic representation. If we consider the pairings might hold meaning, couldn’t the entire order bear meaning as well? If you want a gigabrain explanation filled with copium, notice how Wind or the Nekonyan symbol is at the far LEFT. The ending letter of the S.U.R.A.I.N. acronym is on the LEFT. As an English speaker this might not have ‘dawn’ (kek Maru wrote Dawn kek) on you but for Japanese speakers isn’t that where it should be since Japanese is written Right to Left instead of how English is written Left to Right? Thus in Japanese the Acronym for Slaine could be written: N.I.A.R.U.S. Where you read it Right to Left. N.I.A.R.U.S. Now look at the symbol’s ordering of the Great Gods and the acronym: Wind - Fire - Light - Darkness - Water - Earth Neko Nyan - ? - Alah Alaf - Surshana -? -? So besides Japanese being read Right to Left, is there anything else to suggest that is the proper way to read the Order of the Six Great Gods? Well, actually, yes. Recall of the Six Sects, each with a Cardinal, that it is Raymond, the youngest Cardinal who is in charge of the Six Scriptures. In a society that values tenure (as mentioned in the mobile game at least) is that not strange? Now, the rebuttal is Raymond is a former Black Scripture member and so that isn’t that strange. And that was the end of it. However, if we reexamine the Order of the Six Great Gods - when read Right to Left, Earth is the FIRST God, or S.. Thus Earth having some other role might be appropriate - either retroactively for being the first letter or due to some other factor like the Earth God being the original leader of the Six Great Gods?. Keep in mind the Ashen Dust Scripture also exclusively defends one location to our knowledge. So the Earth Cardinal managing the Six Scriptures might be a compromise of sorts. Or there is some meaning to Earth running things - it might be the Earth God was the one who handled those tasks when the Six Great Gods were around and so it’s grandfathered in as a practice. It’s not revealed yet, but Earth carries a special meaning. Perhaps it’s how the name of the planet Players came from was Earth hence why it was ordered first. Looking at the Japanese days of the week = Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth, Fire and Water not being connected as well as the Wood and Metal Elements suggests the Six Great Gods didn’t use their own names for the days of the week when selecting the order from the anime at least. There’s many ways to articulate why the Earth Cardinal might lead the Six scriptures, but the connection between Earth being the rightmost symbol, Japanese being read right to left, and the letters of the known Great Gods matching some of the word Slaine suggest a few ideas. But what do you think? ===================================================================== The Cardinal of Earth — Raymond Zarg Lauransan. … Raymond, who commanded the Six Scriptures, reported these details in his capacity as the meeting’s organizer. Just then, someone spoke out. [V10] “We’ll evacuate some of the citizens. To the land of hope. No, to the ends of despair” They may call it an ‘evacuation,’ but the Theocracy didn’t know of any other country that’d take their citizens in. Therefore, they weren’t planning to make them refugees. The Theocracy had a single shelter outside its borders. You could call it a hidden village, but originally — 600 years ago, it was where humans lived when they only knew fear and flight. It was guarded by one of the Six Scriptures, the Ashendust Scripture. [V15] ===================================================================== Observe, however, how R is used for the God of Darkness on the anime’s ordering if we spell Slaine backwards using SURAIN. Alah Alaf and Nekonyan’s names match the pattern but Surshana’s clearly does not. We don’t know the other God’s name but recall the Body Double Surshana theory - That is, Rufus, the undead of Slaine implied to be the Guardian deity of the nation is the true God of Death and Surshana was just a summon or Undead adjutant of his - effectively, Surshana was the Pandora’s Actor to Rufus, the Ainz. . If we say, just for example, this is true, then the God of Death should be Rufus not Surshana. Now look- that actually solves the mystery here with the Slaine Acronym theory by sheer coincidence. Or was it planned? N.I.A.R.U.S. END—-----Beginning Nekonyan - I. - Alah Alaf - Surshana - U. -S. Nekonyan - I. - Alah Alaf - Rufus - U. -S. If we assume that the Six Great Gods came together to name the Slaine Theocracy, using an acronym of their names, and this same acronym is related to the order on the Slaine crest in the anime… that implies Death and R are related. Not Death and the letter S. That’s SUPER tin foil. However, it’s crazy that it even is plausible. Almost… as if….. It was planned. Dun dun duuuuuun. What do you think though? Random coincidence? Do you just hate the Surshana = Body Double theory? Why base a theory contingent on some obscure symbol in the anime? All of these are fair points. Still, since we are analyzing symbolism, and the Slaine Theocracy has Six Great Gods, how they order these Gods at least on the Menorah should hold some sort of meaning. The flag itself however doesn’t yield insights into the ordering, so the next closet symbol is the one from the anime. There we see all six crests of the Six Great Gods arranged in a specific configuration. Now if we combine the anime symbol with the Acronym theory it actually gives a reason behind the ordering tied to the name of the country as well. That sounds all coincidental but remember all these symbols could have come from the same Six people. It’s not a stretch the two symbols, the name and the ordering, are related. In this case, the ordering itself represents how they named the country in the first place, theoretically. It’s fine to argue it is a coincidence, but if you aren’t sure you have to analyze it with equal weight as either a coincidence or intentional. But some people will never be placated by anything but explicit evidence. Which has it’s merits and demerits as does everything in life have good and bad aspects. It’s one possible way to reconcile Acronym Theory and coincidentally legitimizes Body Double Rufus theory. ===================================================================== Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. [Ian Fleming] ===================================================================== But you might also consider something odd Decem said. When Aura and Mare ‘summoned’ Ainz, Decem thinking they were his grand children for some reason thought it wasn’t abnormal. But why? Rather, there was an implication in his mind between Necromancy and Summoning control. The common interpretation is Decem equated his talent for controlling powerful beings as something his ‘grand children’ inherited. ===================================================================== “ — An U-undead! Why, here, and so suddenly.” He turned his gaze to the twins. “Is one of you a necromancer!?” Ainz answered before the two could speak. “Just like you have surmised. These two are peerless necromancers, and I am their guardian who was born from the power of these two and their parents, from the combined powers of four people. I will definitely not allow the weak to touch them. I wouldn’t mind you taking them away on the dawn of the day you defeated me but — ” Ainz used his full effort to laugh scornfully, trying to anger the opponent. “ — Well, I think that’s impossible for you, right?” “Hoo...” Decem removed his hand that had been pressing down on his nose. It seemed like the bleeding had already stopped. “I am a little surprised. To make me bleed...how many decades, no, centuries has it been? I see. You are strong enough to match your boast, but that’s not the way to speak to a king. That said, this is rather fortunate. Rejoice, I shall teach you the difference between our strengths and discipline you.” He said those words while looking at Aura and Mare. It looked like he really believed Ainz. So, Ainz continued to think. Why did it look like Decem believed his (the enemy’s) words without a doubt? Did he really not have any abilities that could see through invisibility? If he had any, it should have crossed his mind that Ainz suddenly appearing was not because he was summoned, but because he was hiding using something like [Invisibility]. If he really didn’t, then he was probably a specialized druid like Mare … Ainz felt like he had made a mistake. He wanted to spend a little more time buffing himself, but there was no way he would let a pervert like that touch Aura. The elf also could have had skills to force teleportation that Ainz didn’t know about, which would have been dangerous if he had let him touch her. “The sight now — the sight of you two commanding an undead made me sure that you are my grandchildren.” Then, the floor moved. Like waves receding back from the beach, the soil roiled towards Decem. Ignoring it, Ainz took out a scroll from under his clothes with deliberate movement and activated it. It was extremely wasteful, but he had no other choice. Until he knew how much the opponent knew, he couldn’t let the enemy get cautious. The activated magic was the Eighth-Tier spell, [Dimensional Lock] [V16] ===================================================================== If you look further at his logic however, he comments on how he didn’t take after his own father. That implies there was some connection between Necromancy and Druidic Summoning in his head then. Just instead of Elementalism and Elementals the focus was on the undead. ==================================================================== “I see! I thought they were my grandchildren — –children, but if they are blood relatives there’s another possibility! Maybe they are my father’s. . . ..! Impossible! These are my step siblings!?” Wasn’t that the most logical answer to all of this? His father was the elven hero who was the strongest light warrior. They were called eight greed kings not as a praise but in scorn. And this scorn was because they were stronger than anyone else. The weaklings tried to paint over their great deeds and destroy their glory through such petty actions. Decem didn’t manage to inherit the light warrior’s talent from that great blood but maybe this woman here did. [V16] ===================================================================== As a side note, it shows that to a certain extent Aptitude isn’t intrinsically tied to Awakening, at least to how Decem categorizes it. That is the level cap and aptitude are operating off separate variables. Though practically that matters little to most people…… Anyway, based on his emphasis and practical experiments, he had to have some reason to associate the ability for the children to summon undead and his own bloodline independent of his father. Or perhaps his father also used Necromancy? Given no statements about it and no examples of necromancy being valued by the elves, in fact they resent undead, the logical conclusion is he saw summoning itself as the key feature that linked himself to the Twins. The conclusion in particular being how powerful the ‘summon’ was. Naturally, Decem’s conclusion was a bit faulty as his own daughters were not summoners though only one of them was ‘Awakened’ - Zesshi(Antilene) didn’t take after his summoning or Druid talents at all. Meanwhile, Rugi was a Ranger of some sort. In fact, Zesshi being both a Fighter and a Rogue would take after her grandfather more than Decem - as Light Warriors or Fencer tend to fight similar to that those styles combined - a critical hit fishing type style like Out-Fighters in boxing. This also illustrates his hypocrisy, he saw the fact the twins could summon like he did as proof they were his heirs in tandem with their heterochromia, yet he himself did not take after his father’s Aptitude yet considered himself a rightful heir. ===================================================================== …I see. If we do them a favor… but will we be accepted, as demi-humans? The Sorcerer Kingdom is a nation of humans, is it not?” “No, it is not. The Sorcerer Kingdom is a nation ruled by one of the undead.” “The undead?!” Both the prince and the Zern surrounding him exclaimed as one. “Are you telling us to go to such a dangerous place?!” Every race harbored a strong hatred of the undead. Even Neia had been that way before she had come to understand the Sorcerer King. She was moved by the realization that the people before her were similar to how she had been not too long ago. [V13] “Human, did you know? That fighting with the strong, with one’s life on the line, is the fastest way to become stronger? Though I took her away from her mother and threw her into the battle immediately, thinking that she was a success...” The voice sounded disappointed. The elf looked at the girl’s dead body with scorn. “You useless shit. You are even worse than the other failures for wasting my time. As I thought, people who don’t have the king’s countenance are no different from trash” Schoen already understood who the elf was. His heterochromatic eyes were clear enough proof. The final target of the Theocracy. A deplorable criminal. It was the Elf king. An existence that even heroes couldn’t win against, never mind Schoen. Someone above even the Outliers. [V15] “...by the way what about the undead?” “Enemies that sully the forest.” “Disgusting beings.” “We rarely encounter any though.” “Ah, yes.” Immediate answers. While Ainz wondered why they weren’t taking into consideration the feelings of the twins’ master, he couldn’t say that out loud. He certainly asked them to speak honestly just now, but this was too honest. These girls were the type who would get fired because they truly believed in the CEO’s words when they were told to be informal. [V15] “The sight now — the sight of you two commanding an undead made me sure that you are my grandchildren.” [V16] The royal bloodline is a precious thing, so it should be considered a blessing to inherit it; and indeed, many think of it as such. However, the weak are not recognized as members of the royal lineage, and since these children are sent to dangerous places where they can easily die, there are no surviving children. [V16] ===================================================================== As a minor digression, it’s made comical how Decem seems to be able to actually see the truth for what it is but comes to false conclusions. For example he sees through Aura and Mare’s cross dressing, saw past the twins terrible acting, is one of the few people who can read Zesshi’s emotions correctly, could surmise Zesshi’s heritage correctly, and if you believe the theories about Charon’s Guidance being a staff first and a scythe second, Decem actually notices it’s not a scythe but a Staff. That may not be much, but Ziggy likes that theory so let Ziggy force circumstantial patterns down your throat. Also it ties into how he had ‘freakishly good’ perception as Shuen mentions. ===================================================================== [Silent Magic - Invisibility] Shoen panicked, immediately activated the spell, and moved a short distance. Yet, the Elf king’s eyes followed him. Even though he just moved a short distance from the place where he cast [Invisibility], the elf king clearly saw him. The moment he realized that, Schoen ran with his back turned to the Elf king. He can’t hide the grass being trampled by him even if he was using [Invisibility] and [Silence], but he couldn’t stop running. Still, the elf king didn’t shift his gaze even a bit from Schoen. It didn’t seem like he was using [See Invisibility] to see him perfectly. He was seeing through [Invisibility] and [Silence] with just his extraordinary sight [V15] “What is this odd question — There’s no way you don’t know who I am, right?” “We know, we know.” “Y-yes. We know.” “The two of you are shit at acting!” Their perfunctory attitude and the monotone reply were enough to make Ainz retort unintentionally. The elf didn’t believe them either, opening his mouth in surprise. “T-to think that you didn’t know. . . It’s impossible. . . good grief. I heard Dark Elves live near the borders but to think you are so uncultured. . . ” [V16] “You too,” Decem turned his gaze to Mare. “After the women become pregnant, it takes time before they can bear a child again. I expect more from you on that account. You will also be making multiple children alongside me. I assume the blood will be further diluted, but seeing how it awoke in the grandchildren’s generation, it should be possible for the great-grandchildren as well. I should take time to experiment. Aah, it will be troublesome but I will probably have to take some people along with us to become your partners. But...why are you wearing a female’s attire even though you are a boy? Is it the Dark Elves’ tradition? Honestly, the fact that you are not a pure elf(wood elf) is a bit irritating, but it’s far better than extending my hand to all the humanoid races.” [V16] He didn’t know her. She wore a splendid looking set of full armor, carrying a helmet in one hand and the other holding a mysterious looking staff with three curving blades drenched in blood at the end of it. He couldn’t understand what method of use the creator of this weapon had in mind when they made it. The woman didn’t look like an elf to him. But at the same time her face had hints of elven characteristics. So was she an elf? And most of all, those eyes — – “Yo — –pleased to meet you, father” The woman grinned with clear scorn. He finally arrived at the only possible conclusion. “I see. So that’s how it is. . . . . . so you are those kids’ mother. . . .” The woman’s expression went stiff for a moment before returning to a smile immediately. [V16] ===================================================================== The evidence for this side theory is a bit lacking but one idea was Awakened people and Direct Player Descendants are distinct - Direct Descendants are not guaranteed to take after the ‘Player’ they just get gigantic level caps but follow the normal Talent or Aptitude rules and thus cases like Decem who do not take after the Player. Theoretically, Zesshi shows leanings toward divine magic but she seemed to favor martial and agile combat - things she likely would share with her Elven Grandfather. She didn’t inherit the Fencer(Light Warrior) classes, but her affinity for the same combat style as her Elven Grandfather would suggest just like her hair and eyes she took after him the most. She doesn’t show any affinity for summoning in contrast, contrary to Decem’s logic. So why would he conclude that the twins being able to summon that they had to take after him? If he, himself, did not take after his own father? Is it bad writing? We do not know the Great God class affinities to inherit after all so it could just be a coincidence that Zesshi was an agile Fighter type. Decem’s high level cap but lack of affinity for his father’s build however suggest Awakening might be more complicated. Recall a small line from Maruyama: ===================================================================== No there are existences that can be quite strong guys [kekkou shii yatsu] who are beings of this New World. Supposing a Player leaves behind children, in that case I believe you can begin to understand. [Blog] ===================================================================== Normally, this was originally thought to mean Awakened Player Descendants. However, perhaps Direct Player Descendants fall into another category? To be ‘Awakened’ would require not only level cap but also affinity then. Affinity or Aptitude would typically be a rare thing to match with a great ancestor - even Gondo did not take after his family members so easily. Neia however took after quite easily after her own father - inherit his scary eyes and Archer style affinity. Decem should, by that logic, take after his father if the link was phenotype alone - Krusch even says the special aptitude was associated with the appearance - and she is AWAKENED. What gives? ===================================================================== Crusch began to realize the answer to that question. “…Please look at me. Sometimes, people like myself appear in the Red Eye tribe. When they grow up, they develop some form of special ability — in my case, I was talented at priestly magic. Therefore, I was in the running to be the next tribal chief… and so I raised my banner in revolt against the chief. That battle split the tribe in two, but we won because we were stronger.” [V4] ===================================================================== The logic from Decem’s statements and Krusch only make sense if ‘regular’ Awakening doesn’t factor in taking after the powerful ancestor. IE it’s a Lesser Awakening. The question is are all direct Player descendants Lesser Awakened? Decem being in the 70s and not taking after his father makes more sense if he’s not truly ‘Awakened’. Though the tradeoff is direct descendants might have higher chances of producing powerful offspring. The Theocracy Cardinals imply this is how it works and we can infer from Zesshi’s statements there is truth in this - she herself was the daughter of a Godkin after all. Krusch’s own child took after her phenotype as well though that doesn’t confirm it’s Awakened it’s highly likely. ===================================================================== After all, the Six Scriptures were a secret organization, so they led double lives, going undercover within the Theocracy. Speaking of his personal life, he had to get married — and to multiple partners. Currently, there were only three awakened God-kin within the Slaine Theocracy, and so the higher-ups had hinted that he had to do his patriotic duty and reproduce [V4] “Thank you for your kind reminder, but as for you… don’t you want to get married?” He asked that question because she might have looked young, but her appearance did not match her actual age. “Hmm, well, I could marry a man who could defeat me. I don’t mind if he looks ugly or has a bad personality… or even if he wasn’t human at all. After all, he’s the man who beat me. How strong would our children be?” The girl was all smiles as she placed her hand on her lower belly. He was quite confident that the answer meant that she would never marry. [V4] “Now then, how is Zaryusu? I understand he has remained within the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick as of late?” “Indeed! By Your Majesty’s grace, he is in good condition. He is the father of a healthy child, and his relationship with his wife is similarly excellent.” “Oh, is that so! I permitted him to return because his child was about to be born, and now it has. I see, I see. Well, it is good that the happy couple is getting along.” There were married people within the guild Ainz Ooal Gown. Ainz could not help but remember them. “My wife’s feeling kind of grouchy” became a magic word that allowed anyone to disconnect in the middle of a game, and no one would be able to find fault with them for that. Smiling from the memories of the past — although his expression did not change — Ainz continued asking questions. “Was the child white as well?” Zaryusu’s wife was the white Lizardman. Being that she was a very rare breed of Lizardman, she aroused the collector’s spirit within Ainz, and left a deep impression on him. “Yes, Your Majesty. It is as Your Majesty has surmised. While the child will assuredly be a superior individual regardless of whose bloodline it inherits, it would seem it has tended toward its mother’s ancestry, being that its scales are snow white.” [V11] ===================================================================== Basically, whatever Neia is to Pavel is slightly different from what Decem is to his own father - you take after the parent strongly, even sharing some features but there is a divergence - Decem has a huge level cap despite lacking his father’s affinity, meanwhile Neia didn’t appear to have a high level cap but she did inherit some of her father’s Aptitude; perhaps even some from her mother. Krusch’s case thus reflects Neia’s case a bit. But it also reflects Decem’s case - there seems to be some variability to the Elder Blood Lizardmen in terms of Aptitude - Decem had Aptitude for Druid magic and summoning in particular. If we factor in Gondo as well, he had Aptitude for Runesmithing just barely but he didn’t inherit Level cap at all. The issue here is how we can categorize these different forms of ‘awakening’. Clearly there is a need right?’ Clementine’s web novel speech also pointed out that fact - some people take after the Gods in some ways but they are distinct from the Awakened Godkin. ===================================================================== The Slane Theocracy believed in beings called the 6 Great Gods [daijin], among some of the nation there are people who inherited[hiku] blood of the gods [which] was thick, or thin [kami no chi wo—koi,usui]. Those kind of people had the possibility of having strong potential. It could be said that Clementine inherited traits from her ancestor Gods [kami nochiwohiite] in a sense as well. However that is only meant they inherited traits but did not surpass their ancestors, beings called Godkin [jinin] differed. Amongst all those descended from the Gods, those who awaken [mezameta] the power of the Gods [kami no ryoku] are called the term God-kin [jinin]. [WN] ===================================================================== The things Awakening clearly passes down is phenotype and Aptitude. Level Cap can be passed down but it appears to be lackluster and not required for Awakening given the Awakened Lizardmen. ‘Godkin’ thus might be a special categorization of Awakening - one where the Level Cap is also factored in. Direct Player Descendants are unique in they do not have the Aptitude of the parent but perhaps the level cap is so huge from their parent even a fraction of that is outstanding. This also would reveals a mystery many questioned - how come Decem’s countless children never awakened? It was in fact only Zesshi(Antilene). That should be strange given the Godkin imply it’s not that strange for someone Awakened to pass on an Awaken child. Zesshi was proof, and Slaine’s knowledge supports this with the Black Scripture Captain. Many thought Decem’s absurd level cap was proof he was Awakened. But as a Direct Player Descendant, it’s possible that he actually IS NOT Awakened. Rather he’s just benefiting from his father’s powerful bloodline, taking after him but not inheriting his Aptitude for instance. As he’s NOT awakened (truly), he doesn’t get the bonus to Awakened children the Awakened Godkin get. In theory. Given Krusch’s village produced Awakened lizardmen regularly and she had one easily, interbreeding helps increase these odds but Decem’s offspring kept dying due to him not understanding this. Thus he never saw the potential of interbreeding - and rather he mistook his own power for ‘true’ Awakening. That seems contrary to the popular opinion but don’t Decem’s countless failures make more sense if Direct Player Descendants can be absurdly powerful but not be Awakened? Gondo and Neia are proof you can take after your ancestors in minor ways via ‘Lesser’ “Awakenings” but couldn't level cap just be one of the things you can take after without being a True Awakening? Phenotype Aptitude Level Cap Influence Krusch O O X? Gondo X? O X Neia O O X? Decem O X O Inherited Godly Traits O? O? X? Godkin O O? O *Phenotype + Aptitude gives inheritance bonuses of some kind - they are more likely to produce more of their own kind. **Decem has the power of an Awakened but he lacks the ability to consistently produce heirs which may be because he is a True False Awakening descendant. Though his power is true, he cannot escape his Awakening is False - the missing factor is he lacks his father’s Aptitude. ***Inherited Godly Traits are people Clementine mentions and for example the Blue Haired Black Scripture member might have inherited her hair color from the God of Wind Nekonyan. Likewise we know her title is Infinite Magic so she may have inherited extremely high amounts of MP due to her heritage. Most information about them is unknown but they are the more numerous examples of Player Descendants Repurposing the True, False, True False, False True system: False Heir - False Yet True Heir - Neia; Gondo? Literal ‘Awakened’ Heir - Krusch; any Awakened Demihuman racial class holder True Yet False Heir - Direct Player Descendants True Awakening - Awakened Godkin; any Awakened Player Descendant True heir is effectively a resemblance matters the most, be it looks and aptitude or some combination. For True False Heirs, Power matters most, just as being able to use wild magic is enough for Draudilion to bear a Dragon Lord title despite her frailty, since it was power that shapes the world and to an extent they inherited power, but they remain False heirs by lacking what matters most for breeding purposes. Don’t conflate the two systems however, a True False Dragon Lord didn’t inherit the level cap of a dragon lord, but instead they inherited the fundamental, self evident, power that cannot be mistaken. It’s fine if you would prefer to use another system to label these cases. Ziggy likes this because the X-Y Heir scheme has the Y part represent if an heir can successfully pass on the bloodline and it’s talents(aptitude). Ie True Heirs. It also adds a layer of dark humor because despite how arrogant Decem was, he is in fact less true of an heir than X-True Heirs. It’s only because he has the superficial traits and power that he thinks he is a True heir. But his inability to breed easier, something at odds with how True Awakening seems to breed out easier, reinforces the irony in all of Decem’s actions. If you want a more descriptive naming scheme: Divaricate Heir - Similitude Heir - Neia; Gondo? Literal ‘Awakened’ Heir - Krusch; any Awakened Demihuman racial class holder Privileged Heir - Direct Player Descendants Uncanny Awakening - Awakened Godkin; any Awakened Player Descendant Awakened Heirs and Uncanny Awakenings are specifically distinct and Ziggy is not using ‘heir ’ for Godkin. The reason is, that person’s power is more a product of some uncanny factor and they are not just a descendant that resembles an ancestor or has power similar to them - the resemblance to their great ancestor is ‘uncanny’ if you know the adage. Krusch’s case is an ‘Awakening’ given the name of her Racial Level, though superficially it shares things in common with Neia’s case, but something Decem’s case lacks. Gondo’s case is the more unlucky possibility but the blood still runs in his veins. Anyway, these are just some throwaway names for all these cases. Feel free to throw them away and use whatever you want. The point for Ziggy here is Direct Player Descendants may not be Awakened and the evidence suggest this is not that strange - in fact Awakening might just be you hit the jackpot and inherit all the bonuses at the same time and that’s why it’s so special, why Decem failed to breed better results, and why Direct Player Descendants (True Yet False Heirs) can be so strong. It also points out a flaw in Decem’s logic - he was so conceited he never bothered to think his experiments always failed perhaps because his criteria was lacking - he may have been powerful but what about an heir who had the same talent as his father? Now, in Decem’s defense (cringe Ziggy knows) Maruyama explains that he came out looking like Papa Greed King and was super powerful so shouldn’t the appearance be the sign, implying all his father did for himw as throw him into battle as well to level up fast? ==================================================================== “…How surprising. Are you at your wits’ end because you are all weaklings? This is truly a country of idiots. All the children that I sired turned out to be nothing but useless.” People born in wartime were stronger than those born in peace. That being the case, warfare was an opportunity to awaken the power latent in all living things. However, he had not heard about anyone whose power had awakened so far. Still, he should not hold the people solely to blame. His many children had turned out that way as well. Their true number meant nothing to him so he paid it no heed; why would anyone bother counting pieces of garbage? It was probably because their mothers’ blood was too strong. None of the offspring he had bred from them possessed even a fraction (half) of his power. [V11] The children born of weaklings would only be weak. Thus, he needed strong mothers. That was why he had sent the women to the frontlines during the Theocracy’s invasion. This war might have allowed those weaklings to grow. “And they fell short of my expectations.” However, nobody had become as strong as him. Or rather, they would only be born later. [V11] Elves were a splendid race. His father was the proof of that fact, that they were a race that could become stronger than anyone else. If Decem was a special type of Elf like a High Elf or an Elf Lord, he would have concluded that the others were just worse and that would be the end of it. However, that wasn’t the case. His father was also just an Elf. This meant any Elf could become strong. That’s why he couldn’t understand why the others were so weak. How could he prove that Elves were the greatest race? He just had to achieve something that others could see. He just had to make this world the dominion of the Elves — of him who held such a revered bloodline. He required excellent — strong females for that. But, he couldn’t be sure which females had superior wombs until the children were nurtured. So, he sent all of his children to fight in the war but almost none of them managed to return. He was bothered by the fact that even after doing this for such a long time, he had no results to show for it. [V15] The royal bloodline is a precious thing, so it should be considered a blessing to inherit it; and indeed, many think of it as such. However, the weak are not recognized as members of the royal lineage, and since these children are sent to dangerous places where they can easily die, there are no surviving children [V16] ==================================================================== It’s comical in a dark way, because he sort of understood his methods were not working, hence the trouble. After all, his father had him pretty easily, but why aren’t any of Decem’s children Awakening? Decem settled on the factor was the eyes. And in Zesshi’s case she did inherit his eyes so that seems to hold some truth. But what do you think? Does all this Awakening talk seem like needlessly convoluted drivel? Or does it make sense in the context of events? Ziggy personally feels why Heroes do not always breed out other heroes but there might be one or two generations that are strong. The problem is True Yet False Awakenings blind people to the traits that actually matter for bloodline awakening. Decem may be powerful, but someone weaker breeding more might have actually made more Awakened children than him - he’s dumb muscle not someone fit to sire a generation of elves to conquer the world. It’s so ironic. It also fits with the dilemma between Mechanists and culture - Mechanists would mechanically argue power or level cap is what matters most but this actually may forsake efforts to secure a bloodline. And militarily it makes sense for True Yet False Awakenings to slaughter off the other competition. But they actually don’t ‘breed’ true as easily as False Yet True and True Awakenings do. Most of all though, it adds an explanation as to why Decem failed so hard yet Slaine rationalized what they were doing with breeding. It would also paint a light on the failings of the younger Dark Elves - if you only prioritize power, you limit the potential of the race. In terms of eugenics you would normally think ‘strong blood’ = ‘strong offspring’. However, Awakening isn’t exactly purely biological given the weird magical cheat hax involved. It’s almost like meta commentary on how Awakening works if you look at Elven society - just as Decem’s attempts failed, so too did his society stagnate neither advancing much. Decem’s logic works when two Awakened people breed, but it falls apart in a normal model of breeding. That same superficial failing is also why eugenics seems to work inconsistently in the New World - strong bloodlines exist but they typically fail to recapture the glory of the one who founded their greatness. Random tangent - Krusch is a False Yet True Awakening meanwhile Zaryusu is someone who has a high level cap(rivaling hero tier Vampire Brain), so theoretically their matings could produce a True Awakening of whatever the Elder Blood Lizardmen are. That might be the meta reason they got together - to show how True Awakenings can manifest by reconciling the dichotomy of Awakening. Basically, whatever grants SUPER RNG LEVEL CAP GO BRRRR is a sort of specific trait. That’s why sometimes super powerful people come from simple farmers and not some illustrious family. ===================================================================== Zaryusu is a hero of the lizardmen. He has the potential to become splendidly strong if he trains. Compared to the currently turned Vampire Brain…there is potentially a small distance [between their strength]. [ARC] ===================================================================== ===================================================================== Let us examine another possible order: Here we have Earth-Fire-Water-Wind-Light-Dark. If we assign letters based on the name of each sect’s God: ?-?-?-N-A-S What we can notice is this doesn’t follow the order of the crest nor does it seem to have an acronym meaning. But it does frontload the three Cardina’s with unnamed Gods. It’s not organized by age or gender at least. It could be the order of who joined the Cardinals but we don’t have enough information for that. The other obvious order is it is the Four Elemental Gods followed by the two Slaine exclusive Gods. The strange aspect is how the pairings of the giant crest, Wind-Fire and Earth-Water are not followed here. Perhaps there is another reason for this - but for now it eludes rationality at least with evidence we have. That or Ziggy is too dum dum to notice what it could be. If we reexamine the Japanese phonetics - スレイン or Su-Re-I-N, what we see in the revere order is that it’s the God of Water and the God of Light who are subsumed by linguistics instead of using latin script. There isn’t much to understand from that based on context. But the fact four symbols cannot represent six people may be why they have six distinct symbols and sects. That’s why Ziggy likes the Latin script variation more. By sheer coincidence, using the order of the symbols at least two of the Gods have names which fit both the pattern and the name of Slaine - Alah Alaf and Neko Nyan at least. Most people probably don’t like the Rufus - Surshana theory but in this specific case, we independently find a connection between all of these names and another independent theory. Coincidences sure are scary! It’s okay to ignore that. “The god of death has always been Surshana! Why only change his name to fit this theory!!!!” That’s a very reasonable complaint Ziggy just thinks it’s neat this might be a hint to that possible reveal and the origin of Slaine’s name. ==================================================================== The sound he had heard came from the toy in her hands. In the Slaine Theocracy, it was called a “Rubik’s Cube,” and it had apparently been handed down from the Six Great Gods. The girl’s voice blended with the clack-clack-clack of its motions. “One face is simple enough, but getting two faces right is hard.” It was not difficult for him, but he had no idea if he should tell her that. In the end, he chose to smile bitterly by way of response. The girl did not seem to care about his answer and nonchalantly continued: [V4] ==================================================================== Considering the Great God’s symbolism with the Menorah- in particular enlightenment- makes more sense given the original Menorah’s symbolic meaning and the meaning behind the name of the Theocracy: ===================================================================== And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. [Zechariah 4] ===================================================================== That’s a lot of ye olde gibberish trying to translate ancient Hebrew, for any ESL’s reading this. But basically the Menorah is meant to symbolize the role of the Jewish people. Effectively, the Jews were to serve as an example or exemplars(“by my spirit”) of God’s greatness through piety not by conquest(“not by might”) or military supremacy intimidation (“nor by power”) like many older faiths. An example…. That might seem strange based on how the Theocracy operates now in the present Calcium era. But we learn in Volume 16 this was not always the case. At least they were not always hostile to the other humanoids as they are now. So why does Ziggy bring this Menorah symbolism up? ===================================================================== Different humanoid races could make children between them but that kind of thinking was taboo in the theocracy. For the theocracy, which thought that only humans should flourish, every other race was an enemy even if they were humanoids. But that policy was comparatively new and had only been practiced for a century and a few decades. Before that, the theocracy also took the other humanoid races into consideration a bit, the policy being that they should join hands together and fight against the other races [V16] ===================================================================== The candle-thingy is symbolic of illumination or bestowing light, or piercing darkness. It’s a symbol of ENLIGHTENMENT not of projecting power via symbolism of a powerful creature or of economic capability. It’s ironic given how Slaine’s own religious leaders lie to the people however. But you too have been lied to as readers of Overlord. But sometimes a lie is more convenient than the truth. Lies roll off the tongue easier and sometimes don’t require much contemplation. A simple lie is easier than a complicated truth. Just as the Theocracy has been lied to about the nature of Surshana’s death, where he is said to have been banished, so too have you as fans been lied to about the Theocracy’s fundamental name: 法国. That is NOT the name for a Theocracy in Japanese. There’s actually two common LITERAL names for a Theocracy (and we’re not going to debate how the Emperor is an aspect of divinity and a government overseen by Him (one who houses a divine kami literally or by descent) is technically a Theocracy yada yada sophistry right now). The actual name wasn’t translated correctly which isn’t your fault for your ignorance of this - it honestly wasn’t too relevant of a mistake. At the time it seemed to fit and none of the translators deemed it egregious enough to warrant changing all the terms in the past and going forward. Theocracy just sounds nicer to as a name for a nation’s organization. First there is 神政, which translates literally to a “government or rule via/under God”. The other is literal name for a Theocracy 神権政治.(feel free to google translate these three terms and see for yourself!) Which is literally “the government/rulers derive authority from God”. The “Theocracy” from Overlord is called the “法国” or “Country of Principles/Laws”. “法” is actually the word used in part of the name for magic as well, hence why it also has definitions that loosely translate to “method” or “system”. But there is one more common definition: model. Just in case, this character is read “Ho”, not like HoHoHo like Santa or Ho like in Vietnam, but Ho as in MaHo. Sometimes spelled Hou. The romanization doesn’t matter as much. Rather, you’ve likely heard this specific character a lot. Slaine would literally be “the model country” which would evoke smirks if one did not recall that many of Slaine’s practices are derived from sayings and norms of the Six Great Gods, such as the age of adulthood being twenty (a clear reference to adulthood in Eastern Asian societies like Korea as well as Japan) meanwhile in other human nations around it the age of majority is several years lower. Likewise, Slaine is considered technologically superior and possesses greater infrastructure than the nearby human nations - thus being an inspiration of what humanity can achieve. It is sort of meant to parallel Japan in the sense of how they see themselves, though the fact the “Theocracy” has an executive council where 7 out of 12 seats are religious sect leaders does debunk how it might parallel modern Japan in the normal trite and lazy way to emulation. Even if you don’t read moon runes, there isn’t a literal word for God(Kami=神) in Overlord’s “Theocracy” unlike in the actual names in Japanese for the other two literal Theocracies. “Theocracy”, the “Country of Principles” or “model country”. With the context of the flag and parallels that follow, would you not agree that “model country” is closer to the intended name than Theocracy? It’s a model for enlightenment made manifest with the symbolism of their flag and even if the nation of today has deviated from the values of their dogma. How they managed to twist matters of a religious nation to forsake countless races they once were not on bad terms with seems rather difficult. If you think about their flag having a Menorah, it seems extremely likely they used the Menorah on purpose to evoke the mission statement of the Theocracy to be the “model” others should aspire to emulate via ‘enlightement’. The Judaic connection here is the Six Great God faith has derivative faiths in the form of the Four Great or Four Elemental Gods of the other human nations. If you don’t live in a box binging exclusively Japanese media then you should understand how Judaism relates to Christianity. Now how does this tie into discussions about alternatives to Ainz going to Smurf as Surshana to take over the Theocracy due to all their coincidental similarities? Here’s the thing - what if the web novel set up is still valid but what if the Light Novel is foreshadowing a different development? And one such development is depicted on the Menorah of the Theocracy’s flag - there’s six candles but a light shines in between all six where no candle is. But what if the intended development for the Slaine arc is Ainz becomes a new Great God and completes the Menorah allegory as a seventh pillar or candle completing the allusion rather than replacing the sixth candle as the new God of Death or the return of the God of Darkness? That or Ainz is the star depicted on the Theocracy’s Menorah. We’ve gotten plenty of perspectives from the upper echelons of Slaine and their hostility against the Sorcerer Kingdom. But recall the common layperson in Slaine isn’t as religious or strong willed and as informed as they are about matters. Likewise, there are many coincidences involving Ainz and Surshana, the most notable now being Eclipse was a class they both had. ==================================================================== However, there were very few of these men, who were the most involved of the Six Scriptures in combat. There were only around a hundred of them in total. This was because the recruitment standards for the Sunlight Scripture were very strict. Entry required the ability to cast third-tier divine magic, which was also the highest tier of magic that ordinary magic casters could reach. In addition, prospective recruits had to be in excellent physical condition, and they had to possess a strong will and deep faith [V1] They are planning to wipe out the soldiers deployed here and declare war? It’s true that there were some people who say that there’s no problem no matter how many weak soldiers died. A person who stepped into the realm of heroes was strong enough to surpass a few thousand soldiers. But that’s the thinking of a strong person and not what an ordinary citizen would think. The theocracy extolled human supremacy and united the country with that notion. The intention behind it was that unless the weak humans united and made the first move against non-humans they would be the ones to get destroyed instead. And there was a good example in the Draconic kingdom which bordered the beastmen. But were the common populace strong-willed enough to continue fighting if they realized that they were about to be destroyed by this hypothetical person with tremendous power? After hearing of their failure destroying their arch enemy, the elven kingdom, and that their soldiers were wiped out instead? Z [V16] Zesshi put on her helmet again and activated the power she was born with. By guiding that power into the weapon once held by a god, she could use the greatest power wielded by the god of death Surshana. And so — —– [—-The goal of all life is death] A clock manifested behind her immediately. This was one of her trump cards that she could only use when she wielded this great scythe. The skill that brings certain death. [V16] Also consider the developments or “experiments” about Ainz beng worshiped as a God that have propped up. Carne Village’s future seemed very bright indeed. All of this was thanks to Ainz Ooal Gown, who had saved the village and helped it in many ways. In addition, the Dark Warrior Momon had subdued the Wise King of the Forest. Many people in the village gave thanks to the two of them, and some even prayed to them over breakfast, revering them in the same breath as they did the gods. [V9] “Support anything Neia Baraja does with everything your position affords you. Do so in the name of giving thanks to Ainz-sama. That ought to further accelerate the conflict between North and South... I will soon hand you plans on what to do if someone tries to interfere with that girl. Until then, act as we have discussed.” “Yes! ...But what will become of that girl? Do you intend to make her the next Holy King?” In that case, he would need to make the appropriate preparations. That said, Demiurge had said he would be giving him exact instructions, so it would be best to do as he was told. “That is not a bad idea, but it would be better to give her another mission. While there is no telling if Ainz-sama wishes to be regarded as a god, if he does intend that, then it would be better to prepare for it. The experiment of worshipping Ainz-sama as a god will surely be useful in that case.” [V13] What was led by the Faceless One was more of a community than a religion. Because of that, the Four Great Gods were still being worshipped as usual and problems with religious institutions never arose. At the same time, the newly crowned Holy King gave his acquiescence to the group, further dividing the north and the south. [V14] ==================================================================== Thus precedence and symbolism already are established for the idea of Ainz impersonating Surshana by Maruyama. But rather than usurping one God, think of the other feats and facets. But what if we explore an alternative idea? Does the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown not have seven colored gems? Did Ainz not demonstrate he can summon angels to the world, summon demons, resurrect the dead, provide humanitarian aid, step up to stand against demons, punish crimes, grant protection to those under his banner, and establish peace under his reign between the races? Likewise did Ainz not master many spells and could conceivably cast spells to perform various functions related to the Six Great Gods? Let us explore the Seventh Great God foreshadowing. ==================================================================== Momonga’s voice was more animated and proud when he spoke: “The seven gems in the Staff’s snake mouths are all divine class artifacts. Since they all belong to a set, having them together unlocks even greater power beyond their base abilities. [V1] It told him that his plans to unify the races were progressing at a steady pace. If this was the case, I would really like to enact policies that could speed up the process of uniting them all… [V14] If they managed to steal the earth elemental here, then that was the same as usurping this country. The girl had the mark of royalty—her eyes. If the elves were shown that as the proof of royal lineage and the earth elemental used by the elf king obeying the girl, they would surely bend the knee. If they also fought us back they would be highly popular as well. . . . . . . what a perfect timing. … If the elemental before them was the one used by the elf king, destroying it would be destroying one of the symbols of royalty as well. Maybe that would slow down the sorcerer kingdom’s plan by a bit. [V16] ================================================================== Of these coincidences is the fact the Theocracy color-coats the Six Great Gods. But notice - Rainbows typically seven primary colors and Ainz’s staff has seven distinctly colored jewels. That may just be color symbolism, but keep in mind YGGDRASIL has an Elemental Paradigm of Seven which the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown draws upon (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Sun, Moon, and Time). Thus the allegory of the missing color of the rainbow and the missing arm of the Menorah inspire the idea Maruyama might subvert the web novel in favor of the Light Novel’s tone. After all, wouldn’t Ainz becoming A God Amongst Gods not wank him more than just coincidentally looking like Surshana? If you look at the Menorah as foreshadowing, then the fact the six-pointed star lies between the six candles, and specifically the third and fourth candles which could represent the God of Light and the God of Darkness might also represent how Ainz can be seen as both virtuous and idealistic but also frightening and someone to be worshiped out of appeasement. The Night Sky being a vast stretch of darkness with points of light in it sharing motifs of both Light and Dark is probably just a coincidence. That’s like saying a God of Stars lies between the extremes of Light and Dark. ==================================================================== As though it were another Suzuki Satoru, the staff selected the most appropriate spell. The staff was socketed with seven divine-class gemstones, with the elemental alignments of Sun, Moon, Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Time, with the ability to use each of the spells sealed within each jewel. [KBA] The Guild Staff cast the spell imbued within the Sun Gem — [Shining Blast]. This was an area-of-effect attack spell, which did extra damage to evil creatures and the undead, with more damage the lower their karma value was. In turn, as their targets’ karma increased, it would do less or no damage to them. [KBA] ===================================================================== The idea is if YGGDRASIL had a paradigm of 7 distinct gems for 7 distinct concepts which could be considered a set, and there are other coincidental set of 7 in the setting(the Pleiades Seven Stars - the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown with Seven Gems, seven sources of light on Slaine’s flag, rainbows bearing 7 major colors), the logic is Slaine may have some Seventh set of values and values that are unclaimed by the other Six Great Gods. The most obvious is the Time elemental aspect - something distinct from Sun and Moon, or Life and Death or Light and Dark. But what could that be? We can confirm the Sun aspect is basically Goodness anti undead and sun stuff basically. Given how undead benefit from the night and fear the sun as well as how Eclipse was named, clearly Night and Moon are other aspects. Ainz did mention holy and defiled elementals exist after all - expies for sun and moon. ===================================================================== “U, um, Ainz-sama. It’s about time I returned this to you.” Around the time the preparations were finished, what Mare held out was the Orb Ainz had given him a short while ago. It was a top-quality magic item he had named Elemental Gacha. Inside the transparent, glass-like sphere were four lights moving around in circles Four times a day you could summon and use an elemental for one hour. The types of Elemental that could be summoned were fire, water, wind, and earth. There were also the composite Elementals of fire + earth = magma, water + wind = blizzard, earth + water = bog, fire + water = hydrothermal, earth + wind = sandstorm, fire + wind = firenado, and more. (T/N: “hydrothermal” was in JP which is hard to TL. The original suggests water with a temperature range between a hot spring and a deadly caldera, but “scalding elemental” sounds weird) Among these, the elementals of fire, water, wind, and earth could manifest as high-ranking elementals with levels in the low-40s, mid-rank elementals with levels in the mid-20s, and as lower-rank elementals with levels in the single digits. On these occasions, a single high-ranking elemental was summoned. The number of mid-rank elementals was random but between 1 and 3 were summoned, the number of lower-rank elementals summoned was also random, but a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 6 were summoned. In regards to the composite elementals, they could manifest as high-ranking elementals with levels in the mid-50s, mid-rank elementals with levels in the low-30s, and as lower-rank elementals with levels in the low-10s. However, the number of composite elementals summoned in all cases was one It was far too strategically useless to not be able to summon something that suited the opponent or situation. If you summoned an earth elemental when flying in the sky, all you could do was watch it drop like a rock. In fact, they had to use the item three times until Mare could summon a wind elemental. “No, there’s no need for that. I’m giving it to you, Mare. As you are aware, the item is a little iffy, so I’d be happy if you would hold onto it for me if you don’t mind. Although it would be a little different if it could summon, say, the highest ranking elementals, defiled elementals, or holy elementals... Furthermore, it was originally restricted so that only druids could use it. If Mare doesn’t have it, then its only role as an item would be decorating the Treasure Hall.” [V15] =================================================================== So given the pidgeon-hole principle, if Ainz is going to be the final seventh god in this paradigm, he’d have to be whatever is Time, which lacks as easy of a description. However, recall that we actually heard of five other types of Primal Elementals, four of which are obvious, but one sticks out not only for it’s oddity but for being slightly superior to the others: ==================================================================== After healing everyone else, Yamaiko announced her next move to the vanguards and then cast [Greater Lethal] on Momonga. While Momonga was healing up, the frontliners stopped attacking and took defensive stances, healing their wounds with potions. This was so that they did not complicate the hate management. All the weapons the boss was holding rose into the air, orbiting around it. Given these special effects, there was no doubt that it was preparing for something big. “To think you have made it this far! It appears I have underestimated you! In that case! Come forth, my minions!” The floating weapons arranged themselves into the points of a five-pointed star, and then thrust themselves into the ground. Five monsters appeared from those places. Level 87: Primal Fire Elemental Level 87: Primal Water Elemental Level 87: Primal Air Elemental Level 87: Primal Earth Elemental Level 90: Primal Star Elemental Each of them was the same size of the boss, and they were monsters of equivalent level to Momonga and the others. The six of them, including the boss, would surely crush the party into a paste. [Prologue] ===================================================================== You may probably notice the odd elemental out - Star. Wait…. A minute…. Nah, it’s probably just a coincidence… If Sun or Solar is probably Holy, and Moon is probably defiled, then wouldn’t Star have to be Time given the limitations of the seven-folded paradigm with the theme of Elementals? Well someone might pedantically argue the Sun is a Star but you get the point it’s not about chemical or molecular composition but rather more about the role in the heavens - the Sun and Moon being things closer than the Stars and life being attributed to the sun in particular due to it’s role warming the planet. The Stars are in contrast distant pinpoint so light in the sky, mysterious and not as associated with life in particular. Here’s why Ziggy thinks Maru was clit teasing this - recall the literal emphasis on stars in Volume 1: ===================================================================== “[Fly].” Freed from the shackles of gravity, Momonga floated lightly into the sky. He rose upward in a straight line, gaining speed as he did. Although Demiurge was frantically trying to catch up, Momonga paid him no heed and ascended steadily. Before he knew it, he was several hundred meters in the air. Only then did Momonga’s body slow down. He forcefully cast aside his helmet, and said nothing — no, as he looked down at this world, he could not say anything. The blue-white light of the moon and stars chased away the darkness of the land. The grasslands, ruffled by a gentle wind, seemed to be glowing. The countless stars and the moon gave off their own radiance as well, shining brilliantly against the light coming from the earth. Momonga could not help but sigh: “This is beautiful… no, beautiful would not begin to describe this… what would Blue Planet-san say if he were here?” What would he do if he saw this world whose air, land, and water had not been polluted? Momonga recalled his comrade from the past, the man who had showed up for the guild’s offline meetings, whose stony face had broken into a delicate smile when he was praised as a romantic — that gentle man who loved the night sky. No, he loved nature, which had been polluted and almost completely destroyed. He played Yggdrasil because he appreciated those scenes which no longer existed in reality. He had built the Sixth Floor with his sweat, blood, and tears. Its night sky was his personal design, and it was a reproduction of the idealized world in his heart. That man who loved nature was always particularly excited when the topic came up. Some might even call it an obsession. How excited would he be if he could see this world? How passionately would he declare its glories in his baritone voice? Momonga suddenly realized that he missed his old friend very dearly. Hoping to hear him expounding his wide knowledge again, he looked to the side. There was nobody there. There could not be anybody there. The somewhat hurt Momonga heard the flapping of wings, and the transformed Demiurge appeared before him. This was Demiurge’s half-demon form, with a pair of large black leathery wings growing from his back and the face of a frog. Certain heteromorphic creatures had multiple forms. In Nazarick, Sebas and Albedo had other forms as well. Although it was troublesome to train up levels in heteromorphic racial classes, they were very popular because they had different forms like final bosses in a game. In particular, people were fond of how these heteromorphic beings were weaker in their human and demi-human forms, but more powerful in their fully monstrous forms. Momonga turned away from Demiurge, who was partially transformed into a demon, and looked to the sparkling stars in the sky once more. He spoke softly, as though to his absent friends: “…To think one could see so far just by the light of the moon and the stars… it’s hard to believe that this world is real. Blue Planet-san… this world is like a chest of jewels.” “Perhaps it is. I believe the beauty of this world exists to adorn you, Mo— Dark Warrior-san,” Demiurge said in a reverent voice. The sudden statement sounded like it was finding fault with his memories of his comrades, and it upset Momonga. However, the angerfaded as he gazed upon the beautiful sight before him. In addition, the act of overlooking this world, which seemed so tiny before him, made him feel that perhaps it was not a bad idea to play the role of an evil overlord. “Indeed, it is beautiful. You say these stars exist to adorn me… perhaps that is so. Perhaps the reason that I have come here is to claim this chest of jewels which belongs to nobody else.” [V1] ===================================================================== There we go. There’s the star motif and some of it’s symbolism in the story. Even OBAMA the mobile game remembered this very loose connection to the stars and Ainz with Albedo’s dress in one of her wedding dress variants: ===================================================================== [漆翼の花嫁] Bride of the Seven (Stellar) Wings *hard to translate but “wings” here has a double meaning of being wings but also being connected to constellations which fits the theme of her dress more than having seven literal wings. The dress she wears this time evokes looks as if the clear dark night sky itself was sundered, as there are sequins decorating this original-custom wedding dress which would be appropriately called the “Queen of the Night” The sparkling of the constellations on the dress’ skirt draws one’s eyes to the inner parts of the dress, the tantalating bare feminine legs within, an intentional ploy at seduction. —- そんな彼女が今回身に纏うのは、夜空を切り取ったかの ような透き通る黒に、星座のようなスパン コールが あしらわれた「夜の女王」とでも呼ぶのが相応しい 独創的なウェディング・ドレス。 加えて、スカートにきらめく星座に興味を惹かれ視線を やると、その奥の脚線美に目を奪われるとい う魅了の 罠も用意。自作ならではの工夫の凝らされたものと なっている。 “Queen of the Night” ===================================================================== Obviously the ploy here is Albedo recalls what Ainz said to Demiurge about the stars. ===================================================================== “Everyone, please act as Ainz-sama orders. After that, I have something to announce.” Albedo’s eyes were fixed on the flag of Ainz Ooal Gown that hung behind the throne. The NPCs and servants behind her were also looking at it. “Demiurge, tell everyone what Ainz-sama said to you.” “Understood.” Demiurge was kneeling with everyone else. However, his voice could clearly be heard by everyone present. “Ainz-sama looked to the night sky and told me, ‘Perhaps the reason that I have come here is to claim this chest of jewels which belongs to nobody.’ After that, he said, ‘No, this is not something I can claim for myself. Perhaps these jewels are meant to adorn the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick; myself and my friends from Ainz Ooal Gown.’ The chest of jewels here refers to the world. This is where Ainz-sama’s true ambitions lie.” Demiurge smiled, but it was filled with something other than kindness. “Finally, Ainz-sama said, ‘However, conquering this world might be quite interesting.’ In short, that means…” The looks in everyone’s eyes turned razor-sharp. It represented their iron will and determination. [V1] ===================================================================== Basically as Ainz expressed to covet the night sky, Albedo, almost in a child-like gesture, tries to catch his attention by ‘wearing’ the night sky on a wedding dress, something he wants to ‘claim’. You get the idea right? Basically the ‘sky’ he wants to claim is right in front of him ready for him to On a side note, the anime director once mentioned in Season 1 how Maruyama shared things about the ending to Overlord with him. One of the strangest additions to the anime wasn’t an anime original scene from which there are many. Rather it was a very subtle and foreboding cut away in the Throne Room when Momonga finishes naming the flags of the guild members. There always felt like there was something more to this scene… One of the popular theories was it was hinting at how Satoru was ‘uploaded’ or copied from that point right before he closed his eyes and came to terms with YGGDRASIL ending. That is, the data of him that came to the New World was on the cusp of acceptance but by a cruel joke of fate he got sent to the New World with a tiny glimmer of hope in his heart for something that was never to be. That’s… thematically fine? Still why did YGGDRASIL’s game block out but the HUD remained? For context, even Season 4 has stylized shots like Zanac and Ainz’s meeting where it’s shot with the themes of Overlord in mind - even using those two butterflies and the stump symbolically. The Brain vs Cocytus episode just oozes thematic symbolism as well. Even Neia had her eyes closed by Ainz, and Ainz covered Gazef’s eyes after he died. It feels like there is symbolism here for Momonga closing his eyes at those last moments. It’s almost symbolic of one’s troubles ceasing to be - either by death or by some other method. The difference here is Ainz covered Neia’s Ainz out of fear of her gaze. Meanwhile, Gazef’s were closed after he died. Was closing Gazef’s Ainz a metaphor for how the Kingdom was already doomed to collapse and was like a corpse which eyes were still open? In that case closing Neia’s eyes meant what? Blinding the Holy Kingdom? It’s too abstract and not as prevalent to say much. Though there is something similar in these actions. ===================================================================== However, Brain’s earnest hope was coldly denied. “He is dead.” Respectfully, perhaps even reverently, the Sorcerer King Ainz laid Gazef upon the ground. After that, he slowly closed the man’s wide-open eyes. While looking at Gazef’s face, he spoke to the two people nearby. “…Seeing how he made a challenge with no chance of winning reminded me of that time. As a sign of respect for the Warrior-Captain, I will call off the Dark Young. His body will be returned to you after it is properly prepared.” [V9] “I’m a little tired, but more importantly, my heart has cleared up. I am absolutely certain that Your Highness is justice!” “No, nono, I said so back then, but I’m not justice. Look, what they call justice ought to be something like protecting the weak is common sense, that kind of… uh, abstract concept. Right? I mean, normally speaking.” “No. Justice without power is meaningless, but power like what Jaldabaoth possesses is not justice either. Therefore, being strong, and using that strength to aid others is truly justice; in other words, you are the incarnation of justice, Your Majesty!!” As Neia’s eyes went wide while she spoke, the Sorcerer King suddenly raised his hand, and then placed it over Neia’s eyes like he was coaxing her to sleep. The pleasant coolness of his fingerbones made Neia’s cheeks relax. “…Ah. If you shout too loud, won’t it make your wounds hurt? After this, we can slowly continue what you were talking about just now.” [V13] ===================================================================== Well anyway, back to the Seven Great Gods head canon! Yay head canon schitzo posting theories!! One problem with this flimsy theory is what is even covered under the facet of “time” in this seven pillar model? Time as an element is very nebulous after all. Ba Dum TsT :drums: Har har har har. Gefun Gefun What ‘time’ includes is most likely Time Stop and Dimensional Lock. Dimensional Lock is another Pidgeon Hole Principle conclusion because it doesn’t really fit the themes of Sun and Moon. In this case, we might suppose ‘Time’ in the Seven Elements Model includes Stars, Time, and Trans-dimensional manipulation. So Teleportation and things of that nature as well. Depending on how you think about it, Summoning is a form of trans-dimensional manipulation using the data of YGGDRASIL with mana but that might be too esoteric. If we are feeling generous, Ainz being the God of Time, would basically be the God of these more esoteric but fundamental forces. Though the darkness of the void where stars dwell is probably a more poetic way to see it. As the Undying King, just like the stars, even after all life dies, he will still be there - a distant brilliance that still can shine light in the darkness. But if we are not generous? How do we reconcile his image as the Undying King and Sorcerer King? That’s where theories like this sort of hit a snag. Ainz does have powers beyond Necromancy however - and doesn’t Fluder call Ainz the Lord of the Abyss? What abyss is more realistic than the void of space itself? And doesn’t Ainz have a squad of maids named after a constellation, the Pleiades? If you remember, Quintia in the Web Novel bowed to Ainz due to his showcase of Death. Likewise, Charon’s Guidance also contained the Death spell. So if we try to engineer what powers Ainz might use to earn the title of God of Time and Stars(and not using the Staff because he probably wouldn’t bring it with him and it sort of defeats the purpose of what trademark spells Ainz can use): -Astral Smite -Black Hole -Dimensional Lock -Fallen Down -Meteor Fall -Nuclear Blast -Reality Slash -Temporal Stasis -Time Stop -Vermillion Nova -Whatever that giant spirit Bomb Super Tier magic is in mass For the Dead Thought of abstracting, The Goal Of All Life Is Death could be interpreted as entropic decay in a sense. All things head toward death basically even at the galactic and universal scale. However, want to learn another little coincidence? If we assume SURAIN is the intended romanization, if we add another A to that in the Seven Great Gods Ending hypothesis - you can spell: U - R - Rufus A - Alah Alf N - Neko Nyan I A - Ainz S Urania is the Goddess of Stars and Astronomy - though it also can just mean something celestial or heavenly. And what a coincidence, the letters NIA are inside this name related to a Goddess of Stars! Uranus is named for similar reasons as he was a God of the heavens above. Har har har. Coincidences sure are scary! Then again, Aurian is another word using these letters that means “gold bearing ores” or effectively gold hidden inside dirt. That’s almost allegorical for how within all the dirt or weak stuff of the New World, there are nuggets of gold or innovative ideas. Maybe it’s just gap moe? Or… a coincidence! NIA isn’t how Neia(ネイア) is spelled exactly either. Though they sound identical. Fun fact: Urania’s son was Hymen. Kek. Hymen was the God of Marriage and Weddings. That’s a lot of Greek and Mediterranean lore dumps. Weren’t we talking about the Menorah? Why yes, however, remember the Slaine flag does have the olive branches on them ( or a very similar plant like them). If people were creating a society, they might draw inspiration from Hellenistic culture. Plenty of other cultures did. Based on the Slaine Acronym theory, you can also write SURAIN as: U R A - Alah Alf N - Nekonyan I S - Surshana URANIS does resemble Uranus. Though here the name order doesn’t really suggest as much as in SURAIN and the anime order. And also, in Japanese, Uranus is typically written as Yurenasu. Urania is written as Yureinia. Though it can also be spelled Urania ウラニア or ウーラ ニアー . If you believe in the Ainz will take over Slaine by replacing Surshana you actually can take note that: U R A - Alah Alaf N - Neko Nyan I A - Ainz Is a new way to name Slaine and replace Surshana AND ignore the Rufus theory. You get the best of both worlds - you can reject the Rufus head canon AND use all that star symbolism to support your theory instead of this schizo bullshit Ziggy always posts! Aren’t coincidences scary! Never say Ziggy won’t poke fun at his own ideas. In this case, all that star symbolism is fine but the anime Six Great God ordering doesn’t amount to much. Then again, if you hate relying on anime designs for theories then that’s actually a good thing! Anime was a mistake anyway! ===================================================================== However, Ainz would not permit a second attack. “…Now, it’s my turn… know despair. [Black Hole]!” A small point appeared on Dominion Authority’s shining body. It slowly enlarged into a yawning black void. The black hole swallowed everything. It was so underwhelming that it made them stare in dumbfounded silence. It might even be laughable. But they could no longer see it. As the radiance of Dominion Authority vanished, the light drained from the surroundings. There was only the sound of the wind blowing across the plains. And then a hoarse cry broke the silence. [V1] ===================================================================== Black Hole seems to be the most appropriate as what might show off the power of Ainz in a way distinct from death. Afterall, it’s horrific yet also fits his theme as the Sorcerer King (King of Leading Darkness) in a way distinct from Elemental Darkness or Shadow. That power embodies the cosmic horror of Ainz as a looming threat. Yet it also fits the motif of cosmic horror for Maruyama’s self insert probably because Maruyama is fond of those ideas. That is a meta justification but is it not also appropriate? So it’s cosmic yet also related to space-time. Shame he doesn’t use it more. However, why have an undead not be the God of Death? Well, that’s because it can paint undeath in a new light - rather than life and death being two extremes, there’s another way to look at it. Overlord as a series likes to show the different sides of things - from the duality of people and their masks(alternate identities or personas), the good and bad of nations, or the recurring idea of people are different than what they seem like (Zanac seeing Ainz as more human than he looks, evil looking people being not so evil like Raven, nice looking people being terrible like Renner or Blumrush, or someone handsome and confident like Jircniv nursing a broken heart he hides from everyone). That is Ainz is not just an Undying King - he is an Immortal King. Does that make sense, the focus isn’t a connection to undeath but rather eternity? Even stars are fated to die one day are they not? But undead will live on even once all other life dies out. In a sense that embodies something that has escaped the cycle of life and death in some senses. And aren’t dreams things in the sky, like stars normally out of reach? Lying outside the cycle of life is important to emphasize because that’s exactly the ‘black magic’ or ‘sorcery’ that is ‘evil’ to the Buddhist lens. It’s like the darkness of the things that go bump in the night, those who dwell in the abyss. ‘Lying outside’ thus has several meanings - the Buddhist sense, the celestial sense, and the cosmic horror sense. Ziggy is using those words VERY purposely. This isn’t the most concrete idea, but there is a common theme in Overlord of stars and dreams. It comes up in fights or in things Ainz does for example like Volume 1 or with Keno. It’s almost a recurring motif of the series - stars are dreams that shine yet are always out of reach. Yet people can’t but help to reach for them. But maybe you see it differently? Ziggy is no literary professional afterall, just an autistic nobody on the internet. Anyway, stars are effectively symbolic of aspirations or dreams, or perhaps yearnings. ==================================================================== The countless stars and the moon gave off their own radiance as well, shining brilliantly against the light coming from the earth. Momonga could not help but sigh: “This is beautiful… no, beautiful would not begin to describe this… what would Blue Planet-san say if he were here?” He played Yggdrasil because he appreciated those scenes which no longer existed in reality. He had built the Sixth Floor with his sweat, blood, and tears. Its night sky was his personal design, and it was a reproduction of the idealized world in his heart Momonga turned away from Demiurge, who was partially transformed into a demon, and looked to the sparkling stars in the sky once more. He spoke softly, as though to his absent friends: “…To think one could see so far just by the light of the moon and the stars… it’s hard to believe that this world is real. Blue Planet-san… this world is like a chest of jewels.” “Perhaps it is. I believe the beauty of this world exists to adorn you, Mo— Dark Warrior-san,” Demiurge said in a reverent voice. The sudden statement sounded like it was finding fault with his memories of his comrades, and it upset Momonga. However, the angerfaded as he gazed upon the beautiful sight before him. In addition, the act of overlooking this world, which seemed so tiny before him, made him feel that perhaps it was not a bad idea to play the role of an evil overlord. “Indeed, it is beautiful. You say these stars exist to adorn me… perhaps that is so. Perhaps the reason that I have come here is to claim this chest of jewels which belongs to nobody else.” [V1] Ainz did not know how to answer Nfirea’s question, but right now, he had no need to make up some strange excuse to cover it up. “We probably didn’t count as… adventurers.” He could not help but take a somber tone as he thought about his past friends. After all, he still had emotions — even though his body was undead — and his friends were the people that Ainz treasured most. Sensing Ainz’s difficulty in answering, nobody pursued the matter, and silence fell upon the group. Amidst this quiet, so deep and so total that it felt like they were the only people in the world, Ainz unconsciously raised his head and looked into the starstudded night sky. “When I was still a weakling, a paladin of pure white with sword and shield in hand saved me. Through him, I met four more comrades. And so, we formed a team that numbered six people, including myself. In addition, after that, we met three more weak people like ourselves, and we ended up as a team of nine people. [V2] “It can’t be helped if you don’t know how high the stars are, right? Childish thoughts like being able to touch the stars by reaching out for them are best left for a girl with childish sentiments like Aura. They’re disgusting when you hear them coming from an adult.” “And why can’t such a person exist? What would a little girl like you know about a man’s dreams?” [V3] “…Runes, huh.” Bits and pieces of knowledge from Yggdrasil were scattered throughout this mysterious new world, like stars glittering in the night. He had found traces of other Players, the existence of World Class Items, and so on [V11] As the group neared the edge of the forest, the trees gradually grew shorter, and the sun began falling behind the mountain. The blue sky was dyed a madder red, and then it passed into night. The silhouette of the mountains against an endless sea of stars could only be described as majestic. The knowledge that even this magnificent view was but a fraction of this world made Ainz feel like nature itself was bearing down on him [V11] “Hey! Look! The sky!” As though drawn by Keno’s voice, Suzuki Satoru, Crystal — who had poked his head out of Suzuki Satoru’s robe — and probably Nurunuru as well, all looked up to the heavens. The night sky came into view, but this was not like an ordinary night sky. The stars seemed very close to them. It was just like in childrens’ fairy tales — the big, bright shining stars looked as if they could just reach out and touch them. It made him think of the past — when they had stood on the summit of the highest mountain on the continent — no, the distance to the sky made him feel like the peak he had ascended had been even higher. “But why? Why do the stars look like they’re so close to us?” In the end, Keno sat on the sand and slowly lay down. Suzuki Satoru sat down beside her, and then lay down beside her. “The stars are so big.” “Yeah, they’re really big.” If only his companions — his friends from Ainz Ooal Gown could see this marvelous sight. [KBA] No, for Level 80s there are various ways to close the gap! If a person is not from YGGDRASIL, even the stars would be within reach! [WN] The color of the MMO is thin. However this is an important setting being settled Ainz’s course of action. If the guild hadn’t existed, and Momonga had come to this world alone, he would go around the world may be the story. Gazing at the stars atop mountains no one has set foot upon. [ARC] ==================================================================== There is beauty though in the stars right? But given how Maruyama portrays stars, it paints a sadder picture for Albedo in her girlish plan. Stars are things never to be claimed only to be seen from afar after all. Maybe not the best thing to dress up with despite what Ainz says. At least, it’s at odds with what she wants but instead tries to be what she thinks Ainz wants to receive his affection. That’s strangely realistic in the floundering dances people do in life for those they covet either at work or the bar. If we reexamine Ainz with that idea in mind, then a God of Stars and Time would be ‘out of reach’ of mortals. Isn’t that basically what Ainz’s immunity skills do, neutering most opposition to him? They effectively neuter all attacks from ALL Heroes, Outliers, and even Night Liches. Go Gin’s defeat basically showed what that looks like - only the chosen have the right to even attempt to face Ainz or put more poetically, to challenge the stars - it’s such a dream, it’s foolish to even think about flying amongst the stars normally. Even the legendary Landfall was no match for the Pleiades under Ainz after all, she could just barely match one of them with help. ===================================================================== “Shut up! You sit there and watch, coward! —Ugooooooh!” An explosive series of slashes rained down on Ainz. The combination attack was made using physical strength that far surpassed the capability of the human body, and it was among the most destructive assaults Ainz had ever faced from the inhabitants of this world. However, his strikes could not blow away a castle wall, and neither could it scar the land. How could it possibly harm Ainz? The greatsword’s edge sliced through the wind, and Ainz took it full on his body. “Good grief. Could you not crumple my clothes?” …. “Abbbahhhhhhhhh!” Guu’s piteous wailing sparked fear in the hearts of his underlings as they watched the battle. “Well, that’s a Troll for you; with their regeneration, they can even come back to life after being reduced to mincemeat. Still, pain does seem to hurt. That was the weakest attack you made so far. All you were thinking of was protecting yourself. You feared being hit by me. It was a coward’s swordsmanship.” Before Ainz was Guu, whose head was half its normal thickness. A normal creature would have died long ago, but his head was slowly returning to its normal shape. Guu’s restored face was twisted into an especially disgusting shape. It was etched with terror. He was even more afraid than before; it was the reaction of one who had been broken by fear. “You… what, what are you? Why couldn’t I do anything to you?” Ainz tilted his head, and then slowly spread his arms. “…I am Death. I am he who brings death to you.” “You… you lot! Kill him!” “Good grief… I expected nothing less of a coward, to renege on the terms of our duel… still, it does suit your name. So I will forgive you.” Ainz seemed very happy as he said this. Guu’s minions were scared stiff by this mysterious monster, and so they remained still. That was because despite their stupidity, they could feel the sheer power of Ainz, and they had certainly witnessed enough of it. They were probably wrestling with themselves, unable to decide who was more fearsome. Nobody dared to move; they simply looked back and forth between Ainz and Guu. “Hurry!” But they still did not move. They could not move. The same applied to Ainz. There was a delicate balance here, one which rooted everyone in place. If Ainz made a move, this balance would collapse, and they would all flee for their lives [V8] “What a marvelous sword.” Ainz returned the sword to Gazef hilt-first, the same way it had been given to him. “Stronoff-dono. How much of this sword’s power do you know?” “I fully understand it. This sword has an unreal sharpness that can cut metal like paper.” “Incorrect. That is only a fraction of the sword’s power.” “—What? What do you mean, Sorcerer King-dono?” “Well, in short, this sword is a weapon that can kill me. Something like that is the absolute minimum condition for a duel. Without a weapon that can harm me, this would be nothing more than an execution.” “Sorry for comparing you to the rats that entered my fortress.” Ainz muttered as he suddenly produced a shortsword out of thin air. Without hesitation, he dragged the edge of the gleaming blade across his face in a forceful slice. However, it did not leave so much as a scratch. “Weakly enchanted objects like this cannot harm this body of mine. Incidentally, this shortsword is imbued with about as much data — or rather, as much mana — as that sword you bear, Stronoff-dono. However, your sword can harm me, in clear defiance of what I know to be true. Could I request that sword after I win?” [V9] “―Your Majesty, Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown. At the very end, please show me ― even if it is just a fraction ― of your true power. Allow me to experience the zenith of might!” The Martial Lord forcefully brandished his weapon. “Really now… Very well. Then I shall reveal the pinnacle of power to you.” Ainz activated his skill, and strode forth. He entered the Martial Lord’s attack range. The Martial Lord swung down. It was completely different from the speed at which he had raised it. He might have used martial arts to accelerate it. Still, it was nothing compared to the speed before he had his abilities penalized. It was far too slow. The club swung down on Ainz’s body, but Ainz paid it no heed. The attack could no longer harm Ainz’s body. Ainz walked through it, as though caressed by a gentle wind. He took blow after blow, but Ainz continued advancing, looking straight into the Martial Lord’s eyes. The Martial Lord smiled, as though giving up. Ainz plunged his stiletto into the Martial Lord’s unresisting chest, and then released the spell imbued within. [V10] “I won’t accept this! To think the person who killed Father is actually — what?” Ainz walked in front of the roaring Dragon. Then he smiled, and beckoned with his hand, as though to say “Give it your best shot.” The Dragon swiped its claws at Ainz. They were fast, but not as fast as the Troll he had fought recently. Ainz did not dodge them. He took the Dragon’s attack head-on. The Dragon — who thought Ainz could not evade in time — grinned broadly, but when he realized that Ainz had no need to dodge, that grin froze on his face. After making sure that the Dragon knew that, Ainz cast a spell. “[Grasp Heart].” Ainz’s gaze moved from the Dragon who had collapsed like his father, and turned to the others. “Is there no one else?” After that quiet query, the Dragons were bowed even lower than they had been earlier, as though they were trying to lie flat on the ground. Nobody here doubted Ainz’s power anymore. [V11] The Sorcerer King spread his arms and approached. The swords in his hands vanished like smoke. “Watch—” Buser had already stabbed that unprotected body faster than Neia could shout. And then— “…What?” Buser frantically, repeatedly swung his sword. “Why! Why!! What is this?!” He shouted with every swing he took. That was because the Sorcerer King was unharmed despite taking every blow. “In that case—” Buser braced his shield and used a martial art. Yet, the Sorcerer King remained unmoved despite taking a shield bash. Instead, it was Buser who stumbled back. “Why… wh-why…” Humans had a hard time reading demi-human expressions, but right now it was very easy. His face now showed terror and despair. [V12] Climb stared at the Sorcerer King without raising his guard while he picked up Razor Edge. To have left openings in this moment could not have been helped. He thought about Gazef’s duel. Right before the fight began, the Sorcerer King had said himself that weapons without adequate enchantments could not damage him, but also that this sword could kill him [V14] =================================================================== For the fans of the Second Cumming of Surshana, most of the symbolism in the songs of Overlord bring up darkness, sleep, and night but there is symbolism with stars and the sun as well. Just in case you want to argue the themes of night and stars is all just elaborate head canon… Sure you could argue that… but at least the song writer for the anime tends to agree with Ziggy about the thematic importance of these motifs. =================================================================== A pitch black sky, a cold Midnight. The darkness of night always drives me mad. Where is the star now? I found the star now. But it's so beautiful. I'm so doubtful. [Overlord Opening 1] Straight to you, pure heart fly. Above the star and sun so fucking wonderful [Overlord Ending 1] Everything of this world lies in this mouth cavity Now come on lets have a dinner party within the darkness. [Overlord Opening 3] Lost in the darkness, vanished without a sound. It's a deep and silent night. Unable to hear anything, everything fell asleep. How much more must I repent before I'm forgiven. And who is the person who will grant that forgiveness? Good and evil and God and emotions, they were all tossed aside at some point in the dark and dirty light. running wild my filthy self is once again confronted with the silence the punishment of loneliness. Unable to hear anything, everything fell asleep [Overlord Ending 3] This hand that holds everything in this world I've got... I've got... only my bones! Oh, I'm crying to the darkest sky there's no light in this lonely night. Even if I don't have what I want anymore, why can't I stop getting all The future lost at the top of the fortress of glory and fiction La ta ta it's a dream that won't wake up la Ta Ta get away hurry hurry Lat ta ta endless dark night la ta ta broken oh no I'm falling down! In my sight I can't see no life hold me tight i wont' be alright Ambition that invites you to sleep don't give me more power Even a faint hope is a far away like that star I reach out my hand knowing it won't reach Just give me more power let's dance forever ah chasing after empty cravings Let's dance with all our guilt even if we're swallowed by emptiness [Overlord opening 4] The flower was blooming my outlook was shining but the sun is shaded and the loven is staying in the dark Dreamed a lie and was left behind left in loneliness and lost in the dawn I don't need anything If I lead in the dark My everything, my everything I have loved, where's everything Let me hear your answer even if my tears are dried up before I realized there was a world I loved more than anywhere else still remember the old days what beautiful memories but that doesn't' remind me more than anything else Memories betrayed me and tore me up there's not a single importance thing left Stay by my side if you are still alive My everything my everything that I embraced if it doesn't come true I won't wish for it anymore I wish I can even throw away my hope and disappear if the pain like this continues forever more Oh beloved world it enveloped me entirely my everything my everything i have loved with everything Closing my eyes makes it feel like we're both falling asleep together while embracing the precious world in my heart [Overlord ending 4] Crazy Scary Holy Fantasy The Kind of Nightmare This Will Be. Do What Do What Do What you want to. All depends on my wicked imagination. Nothing to do, just killing time. Hello hello this world is askign for a massacre. Steal or be stolen from... Eat or be eaten... a principle of exploitation divided into upper and lower halves Good and Evil Don't Exist That's The one and Only Answer. Don't you think it's fair? That is all. No one, no one feels the same way? Hello hello who in the world would call this madness? Crazy scary holy fantasy. The kind of nightmare this will be. All depends on my mood at the time. [Overlord Movie 1 Ending] Singing to the Darkness with a crackling sound. I can not stop into the darkness that echoes in my skull. THE END OF DESPAIR. KNOWING THE TRUTH HAS NO SENSE GO CRAZY RESONATE IN THE VOID [Overlord Movie 2 Ending] =================================================================== Reconsidering Six Great God Acronym theory, we can speculate about other implications of a Seventh Great God joining the pantheon of Slaine. Would the flag change? Or is the fact there are already seven sources of light (enlightenment) on that flag prophetic? Well there is the Six-pointed star and then the six candles. It is almost assuredly a coincidence, but it’s humorous you can reinterpret that flag in the context of the Seven Great Gods Overlord Ending Theory - Ainz becoming that enlightening guiding star to the Six Great Gods burning flame which has long since burned out. . For starters - Would the Slaine Theocracy become named something else? Slaine = SURAIN Theoretically Slaine could be named after an acronym of the names of the Six Great Gods. So the pattern follows if Ainz is added to this pantheon Slaine may gain a new name to reflect this change. Since Ainz’s name is well Ainz, or Ainz Ooal Gown, we can try adding those letters to create new names for the Theocracy (under the blind assumption it won’t be obliterated into nothingness). Six Great Gods SURAIN Seven Great Gods - Possible New Theocracy Name Based on Acronym Theory SURAINA ASURAIN AOGSURAIN SURAINAOG The one of note here is ASURAIN First, because it resembles Ashura (and remember the Shrine origin of Slaine). Ashura is sometimes written as Asura. Asura normally relates to Buddhist ideas but it’s also used in expressions expressing bloodbaths or body horror. Secondly, however, is ‘A’ can be used like in Demihuman (aijin) to mean “demi”. Thirdly, Asuran without an “I” means ‘Demon’ Suraina is a name that can mean ‘heroic or exalted’ as well. Do you recall how people would bicker over the translation of Ainz’s title in Overlord? That is, as the Sorcerer King versus the King of Darkness? There’s a reason for both translations but one of them is related to Buddhism, which is also tied to the Theocracy’s name. Effectively, the Madou is the King of the realm outside the other six ‘realms’ of the Buddhist faith or reincarnation cycle. Now its thought to be filled with evil spirits, but didn’t Renner abandon her humanity to escape the despair of mortality, so she can abuse and peg her boytoy for eternity? And isn’t Nazarick filled with ‘evil’ beings who are immortal who also lie outside the normal cycle of life? Hopefully you see the broader theme here at least right? What Ziggy wants is just for you to consider that Maruyama is going for something artsy fartsy here. After Season 4 and how they translated the name of Ainz’s nation as the Nation of Leading Darkness, there is more reason to consider the literary aspects of the word he used - and aren’t we already contemplating religious symbolism and iconography? It’s not Darkness as literal Darkness however. It’s more like the darkness as in evil of temptations, as that is how Buddhism defined evil in their doctrine. In a sense, isn’t the most evil desire the things we are willing to do to protect those we love? Or rather, the manic side of love and desire? They say if you truly love something, you have to be willing to set it free, but life is filled with people unable to move on, people who are cages to the birds they love, which should they have no bird they would be empty and devoid of song, color, and life itself. That’s a bit sad. On an unrelated note we don’t actually have a name for people at the Landfall power level of the 50s in Overlord. Heroes are those in the 30s, Outliers in the 40s, but what of those in the 50s? Well if we see the 60s as those who have the right to challenge Ainz, then someone in the 50s would be those on the cusp of the stars - the boundary to the heavens themselves. Though just because you have entered the heavens doesn’t mean you are close to the stars, you are just closer than those on the ground. The stars lie farther away than even the sun and moon after all. Who knows what Maruyama wants to call it himself, if he ever does name it. Just a whimsical tangent to ponder. But shouldn’t we look at star motifs in the story due to the obvious Star Elemental mystery? To Ziggy it feels like Space-Time is what “Time” is in YGGDRASIL at least. If we return to the beginning, the flag of Slaine, and it’s six-armed Menorah. Har har, Six Arms… That probably doesn’t mean anything. Probably despite what the Web Novel hinted at. Anyway, the Menorah. If we look at Star symbolism there, couldn’t we see the central light, similar to the flames of the other six-arms? But unlike them, the star’s flame is not so easily extinguished and burns far longer than simple olive oil flames. Maybe that yearning for a light that will not fade is something in the culture of Slaine… after all, did they not lose their last flame, the God of Death to exile/murder? The loss of all the Gods created a balance in the politics of the sects. However, that also meant the words and values of the Gods slowly warped with time as they could no longer speak for themselves and culture changed. Volume 16 touches on this, how the theocracy at one time was more inclusive than it was now in the present. Effectively, the Cardinal Council and their predecessors began using the military to enact vengeance and manipulate the populace for their agenda to justify their actions. There’s a theory that the Former Cardinal the Theocracy higher ups were worried about was something of a religious fundamentalist. Why would the Cardinals fear such a man? That is because he is true to his beliefs, that is the dogma itself, he was against the modern politics of what they were doing trying to murder the Elf King. Now was he against vengeance? Not necessarily, however, the problem is religious rhetoric and culture has deviated from what Slaine once was- and likely those were the original teachings of the Gods. Why else was it so common to practice tolerance for other humanoids only up to the Elf King’s transgressions? Also the Cardinal Council understands that what they are doing is something of an “abuse” of their authority. ==================================================================== These 12 people comprised the highest executive authority of the Slaine Theocracy. … “Our world is as fragile as a little boat which has been tossed into the ocean. The fewer people who know about it, the better. After all, there might be a typhoon every 100 years or so. Do you think people could sleep easily if they knew that? The fact is, the powerful cannot hide in the shadows for long. They will be very obvious, even if they try to live a normal life.” “If that’s the case, what do you think that former Cardinal-dono will do?” They all had complicated expressions on their faces. “I’m not quite sure, but there’s a very high chance of movement… Perhaps there’s some kind of trump card in store.” [V10] “That child—” After saying this, the old man smiled bitterly. He treated her as a child because of her appearance, but the fact was that she was older than anyone in this room. “—How is she?” “In the same room nearby, as always.” “Umu, we need to give her a chance to avenge her mother.” “Yes, otherwise it would be far too unfortunate. Her heart should probably be at ease after taking her revenge.” Pained looks appeared on the faces of everyone present. “…Frankly speaking, I take offense with the priests of the time. They raised a poor little girl with that sort of personality.” “Well, if you want to say that, you might as well blame the barbarians of the forest. The Cardinals didn’t think it was good to snatch her away from her mother’s side.” “…What a troublesome topic.” … There were no objections. Everyone here was deep in introspection. “Fufu—” A quiet chuckle rang out, and everyone’s eyes went to the person who made the sound. “Fufu. Now that the people who knew the situation back then are all dead… well, you lot are quite a compassionate bunch.” Those words might have felt insulting, but the tone was otherwise. “…Our aim is to defend all of humanity from the other races, and all of humanity includes that girl. I think we can be forgiven for a little abuse of our offices if it’s to save a comrade.” “…I have no reason to object if this does not result in any deaths. [V10] Different humanoid races could make children between them but that kind of thinking was taboo in the theocracy. For the theocracy, which thought that only humans should flourish, every other race was an enemy even if they were humanoids. But that policy was comparatively new and had only been practiced for a century and a few decades. Before that, the theocracy also took the other humanoid races into consideration a bit, the policy being that they should join hands together and fight against the other races. The person inside this tent was considered one of the reasons for the change. [V16] ===================================================================== Hopefully you understand why some people would theorize about the Former Cardinal - after all, sometimes when they self-purify, the most virtuous can be troublesome precisely because they have absolute faith in the dogma. Some might spurn them, but if they remain true to their beliefs they are also terrifying because those types are often the types willing to die to uphold what they think is right and they instill doubt into others by making them question their own beliefs. It’s a bit different from idealism - rather it’s basically someone who follows all the rules even the old ones most other people do not. Ziggy personally thinks if Slaine gets conquered, not wiped out to the last child, someone like the Former Cardinal would be who would rebuild the Theocracy to the way it used to be. Ziggy likes the idea of someone so devout they would ‘betray’ their nation’s rulers, as a strange karmic retribution fo the nation being controlled through religious indoctrination sometimes for selfish means- they inadvertently ===================================================================== Complaining about a lack of wages was a private joke for them. In the Theocracy, salaries fell off after one rose past a certain rank. This was a form of self-purification, in order to ensure that people would not be motivated to rise through the ranks by greed. Thus, many of those who took high office did so because they were moved to serve their nation. [V10] ===================================================================== Ziggy hopes you had some fun considering all these separate threads tied together in something more cohesive. Even if you disliked it, hopefully you learned something new like about the Menorah or how to reinterpret some scenes. . One fridge thought would be Ainz proclaiming he was the Original Great God and the other Six came after and only 600 years later(super conveniently) could he return. Could even be the god who was sundered to form the other Six and upon their deaths he could return. There are countless ways to try to put all these details together. The one given here is just one of many. If nothing else, give some more thought on stars and what they mean in Overlord. It’s clearly an intentional motif from the first volume and something of a thematic allegory for Maruyama. Tying that theme to Ainz and this theory of God of Time and Stars might be reaching a bit too far, but what are dreams if not attempts to reach for the stars above? There’s a certain elegance in using the theme of Stars and the missing attribute of Time in Slaine’s pantheon. That and Ziggy wouldn’t put it past Maruyama to use Time as the Eldritch horror pillar of magic and we all know Ainz is a derpy Nyaroltotep. If you recall, even Roberdyck, a very pious man was awed by Ainz using Time Magic. ===================================================================== “What did you do to her?” Roberdyck asked his question in a trembling voice, as his eyes went from the collapsed Imina to Ainz, who stood by her side. “Was that a surprise? It’s nothing special.” Ainz proceeded to explain in such a way as to break Roberdyck’s spirit. “It was almost the same as just now. After casting a silent[Time Stop]I moved over here and cast the same spell I used on that man, [Touch of Undeath]. And then, I just touched her.” The air between them froze into silence. The sound of Roberdyck swallowing was exceptionally loud in comparison, “…You stopped time…” “Oh yes. Anti-[Time Stop] countermeasures are very important, don’t you know? You’ll need to have them by the time you hit level 70. Oh well, you’re going to die here, so in your case, it’s largely academic.” Roberdyck ground his teeth. He was lying. If only he could say that. If only he could deny everything this monster — this god — was saying. It would be better if he fell to his knees and clutched his ears to shut the words out. He understood that Ainz was very powerful. However, even with that considered, stopping time and the like was something that should not exist in this world. The march of time was a flow that could not be mastered or controlled by humanity. What could he do against a foe who was capable of such a feat? Cutting down an entire forest with a single sword would be an easier goal in comparison. Ainz Ooal Gown. He was a being that the human race could never defeat. He was a man who stood in the realm of divinity. He gripped his mace in both hands— —and he felt a light tap on his shoulder. “Ah…” Roberdyck’s body stopped moving. He did not have to look to know who had done it. It was Ainz Ooal Gown — that godlike being who could control the passage of time — who was supposed to be standing in front of him. When had he vanished from his field of vision? [V7] ===================================================================== Wasn’t the scene of Roberdyck unable to deny Ainz’s divinity due to his control over Time not proof that even the most faithful are powerless against things they do not understand? In a world with magic, are “miracles” not just things we do not understand yet but clearly observe and cannot deny? We usually refer to benevolent things as “miracles” however, yet humans also can refer to things they do not understand as Eldritch in their unfathomability and malevolence? And what’s more horrific than facing an enemy that controls Time, at least in some capacity? Or maybe the God of Emptiness itself? That would be an ironic name making fun of Ainz not being a God but being seen as one, while possessing the power of a God. Tongue in cheek as they say? In the event that Ainz truly does become some Seventh Great God, a God of the Stars or of Time, Ziggy hopes that instead of seeing it as an asspull or handwave, that instead of casting away the God of Death ending hinted at in the Web Novel, you might see that Maruyama was actually setting this all up for a long time coming. With how more and more people have become disenchanted and dissatisfied with Maruyama work, Ziggy just wants to offer an alternative perspective. One that not only acknowledges all of his hard work but that he truly isn’t just winging it the whole time. ===================================================================== Q: Are you the creator of overlord ? If you are please don’t let it end it’s the best anime ever. It could even beat dragon ball z in popularity. Make 1000 plus episodes at least. People will love it A: I am making sure while writing to make sure there is an ending to Overlord. [TWTR] ......However, the current flow of the store hasn't changed one bit. That's actually a little bit disappointing. Even though there were characters I wanted to kill that didn't die, the story hasn't actually veered off from what Maruyama intended. Isn't it the case for excellent authors that the story developments or things like that becomes independent of them? I wanted to have that sort of experience...... The flow of the plot hasn't changed one bit...... The story developments I wrote over ten years ago not changing leaves me with a sorrowful face (that means I'm not growing......), but it does not mean there is not any pride in that face though...... [V15+16AT] ===================================================================== However, cosmic horror might be the wrong way to view Ainz. What is the line dividing Eldritch or Cosmic Horror and Miracles anyway? Is it purely intent? Maybe the true cosmic horror is that Ainz, this unfathomable existence is actually human underneath it all yet does what he does anyway for rational reasons. But we, limited in our own capacity, dehumanize things we do not understand. Is it to cope? Are we scared to see the Gods as human, fallible beings for fear of the implications that life and humanity itself could merely be accidents and mistakes? So long as the Gods are perfect and all knowing, and omnipresent, then we can cling to the belief that there is a purpose to our existence, the cold, dark despair of existentialism is merely a nightmare born of lacking faith. Are the heavens above a source of life and light, or a source of aliens and uncaring calamities like meteors? Does the night sky above frighten you or does it comfort you? Do you fear purple potions because they resemble poison? But what if you dare to try it and it heals you instead of harming you? Did you not just judge with preconceptions with narrow-mindedness? This might be too vague… But basically, as a writer we can hypothesize Maruyama had Ainz use the purple potion to heal Neia in her scene to juxtapose how she began to see his darkness not as something scary but something comforting instead. Do you understand that this is a broader metaphor for how things may resemble each other but if you just judge something for what it is you actually had no need to be afraid. Your preconceptions are the only thing harming you - and in fact the thing you choose to reject based on superficial appearance could actually be beneficial instead of just something to fear. “You’re just giving Maruyama too much credit rabble rabble rabble grumble grumble grumble.” Perhaps. However, it’s a bit sad some people do not want to see the broader themes in Overlord this relates to. Or maybe it’s Ziggy’s own limited and fanciful understanding that is wrong… ===================================================================== Nfirea walked forward, withdrawing the potion vial from his robe. “W-wait, what’s this dangerous-looking liquid? Is it poison?” Hostility flashed across the kid’s frightened face as he saw the purple potion. From Enri’s point of view — perhaps even Nfirea’s point of view — this was a natural reaction. The potion looked too much like poison for him to not be on his guard. However, the Goblins were very upset by the child’s words, and they immediately stalked over to him. “―Oi, punk. Ane-san’s the one who decided to save you, along with Ani-san. You’d better watch your words to the people who saved your life… That’s for your own good too, got it?” The kid turned to look at the blades brandished before him. Although he was only a child, he still knew that the Goblins before him were very angry. He shrank before their eyes. Enri felt that it would be better if they did not have to intimidate the kid, but she knew the Goblins had their own rules which they followed. It would not be a good idea for her to butt in with her human sensibilities. “I-I’m very sorry.” “Ah, it’s all right. Don’t worry.” As he answered, Nfirea poured the potion on the kid’s body. The wounds were visibly closing up. “Uuuoooh! What’s this? The color’s so gross but it’s so amazing!” [V8] It looked like darkness. It was not the darkness a child would fear, but the darkness which granted peace to those who were tired. It was the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown [V13] The Sorcerer King reached into the sleeve of his robe and, after a brief delay, he withdrew a purple, poisonous-looking potion. Normally, potions were blue. Neia did not question the Sorcerer King even as he poured that poisonous looking potion on her. What the Sorcerer King did must surely be correct. Reality turned out as she had imagined it. The purple potion that he poured on Neia’s body instantly healed all of her wounds. It would seem the Sorcerer Kingdom’s potions were of a different color. “While it seems a full recovery will be a long way off, you should recover your energy before that ― what a pain. Tch. The militiamen are all dead… looks like there’s a few left over there. In that case…” [V13] ===================================================================== The vastness of space may appear horrifying, but within that frightening vastness which belittles your own existence uncaringly, can life not be born under miraculously rare conditions? Though stars may die, did the universe itself not possibly originate from the “death” or Big Bang of something? It almost mirrors martyrism if you choose to view it romantically or possess a deeper meaning. Vastness itself can be seen as a possibility as well. Fun fact, did you know, in Hebrew, Ein can mean ‘without’ and ‘Ayin’ means ‘nothingness’. Here ‘nothingness’ is related to the primordial void, that which came before all else. When put into practice as a virtue - given that it was from nothing God then came, this is effectively why humility is not looked down upon. To practice humility is to attempt to embody Ayin. Interpreted cynically, you are merely a cog in the great work of God, nothing more. However, you can also see it as from the emptiness God came and all that came after is of God. In a sense, existence itself is proof of divinity, or so they say. Now that’s Kaballah thinking, a subset of Judaic belief but Ziggy finds it interesting. Afterall maybe Ayin was part of the inspiration behind Ainz. Ainz is pretty humble internally. Now we are told it’s origin is “Nines” but as a writer it wouldn’t be surprising if that was a retroactive explanation to hide this Hebrew inspiration. “But Ziggy, how can nothingness be seen as positive? THAT’S A CONTRADICTION REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”” Perhaps, but there are other ways to see things, there usually are. Nothingness however isn’t always just a void, an absence can be seen positively. A “clean” record is a blemishless record afterall, one without sin or faults. And for warriors, a clear, empty mind isn’t bad either - it’s seen as a requirement for absolute focus. Well those are Buddhist ideas, but there is a pattern here where “nothing” can have positive implications in the right context. Ayin is also used in words like Blind which is strangely fitting for Ainz as well all things considered. ===================================================================== He could not sense anything from Momon. His arms drooped down, he looked completely unguarded, and he did not look like he was about to fight a duel of blades. He was as composed as an adult looking at a child holding a sword. “Amazing, he’s not reacting even in the face of such powerful bloodlust. There’s no way he couldn’t have sensed his opponent’s killing intent. So this is what the supreme perfection of warriorhood looks like. In other words, the supreme perfection of emptiness!” “Is this what they call no-heart? Or the realm of clouds and water? He’s so calm despite the difference in their weapons. He must be extremely confident in his skills… Ah, I want to throw myself down before him in awe.” [V7] AYIN, NOTHINGNESS, is more existent than all the being of the world. But since it is simple, and every simple thing is complex compared with its simplicity, it is called Ayin.THE INNER power is called Ayin because thought does not grasp it, nor reflection. Concerning this, Job said, “Wisdom comes into being out of ayin.”THE NAME OF NOTHINGNESS THE DEPTH of primordial being is called Boundless. Because of its concealment from all creatures above and below, it is also called Nothingness. If one asks, “What is it?” the answer is, “Nothing,” meaning: No one can understand anything about it. It is negated of every conception. No one can know anything about it—except the belief that it exists. Its existence cannot be grasped by anyone other than it. Therefore its name is “I am becoming.” The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism - Ayin: Mystical Nothingness [Daniel Chanan Matt (1996)] ===================================================================== Perhaps it’s merely a coincidence however. Through Cosmic Horror, Ayin, both concepts carry with them implications of spiritual “births” or “appearances” of “powerful” beings. In Cosmic Horror these beings cannot be understood, they are truly unfathomable. Yet, in Judaic belief, this “appearance” is something joyous, or a jovial event. Is it all a matter of projection or how we perceive the actions of greater dimensional beings beyond the yoke of our own existence? That sort of fits the theme in Overlord of how people project onto others whatever they want. Just as humanity projects what it wants onto their beliefs and societies and look away from the less attractive elements of their cultures. We yearn for the past, of bygone days, yet forget the pain and mistakes made then, romanticizing the good we choose to acknowledge. Ziggy hopes you understand that maybe Maruyama was using the Menorah intentionally not as some cultural satire but rather to incorporate this fundamental aspect of Kaballahistic interpretation into Overlord’s broader themes due to his own love of Cosmic Horror. And he almost seemed to portray the sympathetic aspects of Jewish history with the Theocracy. Ziggy isn’t Jewish so maybe they might find it offensive, but it feels like Maruyama was handling the topic sensitively and empathetically when incorporating it into the story he wants to tell. Does Slaine not welcome and adore the “greater dimensional beings” they call Gods as saviors of the human race? Is the ethnic bias of Judaic belief not akin to the human bias of Slaine? Some demonize this behavior as Nazism due to the politics of our current era, however in the setting people like Evileye acknowledge the logic and rationality of the belief - humanity being oppressed by the other races. If one looks to the past, when you hear of the oppression the Jewish people have suffered time and time again throughout history, doesn’t it make sense why that during those hostile eras when they had nothing else but each other that in their shared pain and suffering as an ethnic group would unite them? And isn’t the fact Israel is so militarized evoke a similar feeling to how the Theocracy has such an abundance of military assets? If you reexamine Neia’s new cult in the Holy Kingdom of Roble, you see how in desperation and in pain humans in the New World can turn to powerful beings for solace. As the old adage goes, if God is by your side then you are not truly alone. Even if you find the commentary about how Neia is “brainwashing” people by being an Evangelist disturbing, hopefully you can understand that Maruyama is making a point there about projection. Recall how Maruyama described deification. If we interpret Ainz’s thoughts there to be Maruyama’s own, then perhaps you can see that it’s not the idea of God that bothers Ainz but people taking these beings and using them as excuses for their own practices first- they merely harness the power of the gods carelessly without understanding the truth behind the power they wield. All Divine magic works like that in the New World - the Gods “exist” but people use the fact they can perform “miracles” like healing as justification for their own ends and not in service of the “beings”. Doesn’t the churches of the Kingdom and Empire monopolize healing and actively assassinate other healers? Wasn’t Roberdyck an example of a pious man upset at the fact his own faith and adventuring would not allow him to help and heal the needy? THAT idea is what Maruyama seems to dislike. Likewise, Slaine selflessly protecting humanity, though pragmatic and somewhat horrific, is actually praised by Maruyama as the reason why the weak human nations even are still around. Slaine takes this upon themselves as a noble work and does not ask for anything in return from their charges in their sphere of influence. How you interpret that is up to you, but remember no matter how cynical you are about religion, Maruyama even praises Slaine as allies of justice, at least for humanity. They truly believe in their faith and selflessly carry out their values, to be a ‘model’ and ‘enlighten’ the other human nations. Nothing speaks greater of their humility than how they nurtured the other human nations for so long in the hopes they would breed more heroes for the prosperity of humanity rather than arrogantly think only someone from Slaine could be a protector for human-kind. Basically there is a sincerity to Slaine’s actions and you could see them taking so long to act against the Kingdom as mercy of a sort. Things may have fallen apart there, but perhaps due to their own idealism they thought things might improve with Gazef at the King’s side. Even Raeven expressed dissatisfaction with how little Gazef did despite the politics so the martial tournament might have let them watch longer than they should of hoping for a positive change. ==================================================================== These people — who did not seek the light of the adventurer’s life, but who thirsted for the darkness — were dropouts from the adventuring profession. They were known as Workers, and people spoke that name with mockery and caution. However, one could not say that all Workers were cut from the same cloth. For instance — if there was a heavily wounded boy in a village and an adventurer who happened to be passing by used curative magic on him to heal his injuries free of charge, would the adventurer be in the right or wrong? The answer was that he would be wrong. The Guild rules stated that adventurers had to collect a fixed fee for such treatment, and they could not provide healing for free. Under normal circumstances, healing magic was handled by the temples, and a patient would need to make a donation before the temples would cast a spell on him. If an adventurer disregarded that point and provided free healing, he would be taking the temples’ business. Therefore, the temples made a strongly worded request to the Guild to curb such activities. If one could not accept these rules, then one would have to be a Worker. This might sound like malice on the temples’ part, but it was because they could profit from their spells that the temples could render service unto the people without having to worry about outside interference. In addition, it was these donations which paid for the raising and training of priests, the exorcism of the undead, the development of new healing spells, all in order for people to lead safer and happier lives. If adventurers cast healing spells for free, the temples might be forced to become more secular, and slowly abandon their ideals. There were two sides to every coin, and Workers were no exception. It was because they poached animals for money that cheap drugs could be made, which in turn improved people’s lives. [V7] “As for that, I apologize. There will be no kind fate in store for them. As for you — the subordinate I sent in pursuit is also a divine magic caster, but the god she believes in is completely different from the gods you worship. When it comes down to it, I have no idea what the Four Great Gods you worship are. As such, I need to confirm the details on them. As their subordinates, you have names for them, but whether they’re the Four Gods or the Six Gods, these names are little more than job titles, like the Fire God, Earth God, is that it?” “I, I don’t know about that.” “I see… so they’re not superior beings who possess a mysterious power, they’re nothing more than great men of the past who’ve been deified—” “—Impossible!” “Well, do listen. That’s just my theory. But if that were the case, if you do borrow the power of the gods to work your magic, could dead people provide it to you? Or rather, what are the gods? Do they even exist? Are you really using the power of the gods?” “…What are you trying to say?” “…Have you ever seen the gods?” “The gods are always by my side!” “That is to say, you’ve never actually seen them directly, then?” “No! When we use our spells, we feel the presence of a mighty being. That is our god!” “…And who declared that that presence to be a god? The god himself? Or someone else drawing on that power?” Roberdyck recalled the theological debates he had taken part in. There was no clear answer to Ainz’s questions. Until today, the priests still debated hotly over whether that was the proof of the gods’ existence. Just as Roberdyck was about to speak, Ainz interrupted him. “…Well, supposing these super-dimensional beings — which we shall generously term gods for our purposes — do exist, I wonder if that means they were originally colorless entities. Simply put, they are masses of power. Because drawing on their power dyes them in a different color and changes the thing… well, they do exist in a world with magical laws, I just wanted someone to chat with someone about this. It wouldn’t be funny if there really were gods.” “……” “My apologies. That was off topic. The power of the god you believe in. I think we won’t be able to learn it… so do you want to take part in a human experiment?” “…A human experiment?” “That’s right. For instance, when we alter your memories so the god you believe in is someone else, what will happen after that?” He’s insane. That was Roberdyck’s deepest and most honest thought about the situation. No, he’s undead. It wouldn’t be strange no matter what he did. Ainz took a step back, looking with deep interest at Roberdyck. That look was the way a scholar would examine a laboratory animal, and it made Roberdyck want to throw up. “Why, why do you want to do that?” “To prove that god exists… eh, I’m not going to bother going on with that joke. Truthfully, I want to become stronger by understanding the nature of that power. And if those beings you call gods really exist, I want to know if they have emotions or thoughts. I want to confirm that. As for me, I have never thought of myself as a chosen being. In truth, there are many others like that.” [V7] Roberdyck: He was originally employed as a priest serving the elite, but he chose the career of a worker when he grew frustrated at his inability to help people in need due to bureacratic red tape. He was a good person who gave a portion of his earnings to orphanages and often did jobs in the place of like-minded priests who are unable to act. [V7] Around the present setting, the Slane Theocracy has been trying hard, but the further away from the setting, the more often humans are used as slaves or considered food. If the Slane Theocracy collapses, the Kingdom, Empire, and the Holy Kingdom will fall to monsters soon after! The Slane Theocracy is a champion of justice for human beings. In the case a human goes to the world of Overlord, the Theocracy is the best! One can even make a harem (though other races are excluded)!......There is no end to war between races, so conϐlict will not go away in the New World. Even if one race annihilates all other races winning all wars, differences within that race may result in war as well. To put matters bluntly, is it not the most peaceful if the remaining races continue to exist ruled over by overwhelming power from an immortal master for eternity, or so says Demiurge. [V7AT] The two of them considered their places in the Kingdom, and sighed heavily. Then, they exchanged looks, and laughed. This conversation should have been had elsewhere, not on the eve of the clash of swords and the spilling of blood. “Even if we return home alive, there’ll still be a battlefield waiting there…” “Isn’t that what being a noble’s all about?” “After this is over, I’ll petition the King to raise you to nobility. It angers me that someone who calls himself the King’s sword doesn’t engage with noble society as eagerly as he should.” Although Raeven looked like he was joking, Gazef could tell from the light in his eyes that his anger was sincere. When someone skilled at hiding their feelings revealed them to oneself, it would be a cause for celebration. However, it was a different matter if it was not a positive emotion. Gazef quickly changed the subject. [V9] He wore a strange battle robe called a kasaya. He was a soryo, who were spiritual magic casters that lacked a bit in the healing department, but which showed exceptional power when battling the undead. The Buddha he followed hailed from the far South, and had few followers. Some viewed him as one of the followers of the Four Gods. There was little known about him and there had been no interest in building a temple to such a god within the Imperial Capital. However, Jircniv did know that this man’s existence was considered a nuisance of sorts. Basically, the temples set the price for the use of healing magic. However, when a lone, unaffiliated user of healing magic appeared, how would they deal with him? What would they do if that man was also an adventurer of the highest order ― an adamantite-ranked adventurer? There was no particular link between the Empire’s government and its religion. The fact that Jircniv had no ties to them could be considered good fortune. He did not want to be further embroiled in troublesome issues. However, when checking through the man’s record, he found that he displayed exceptional performance against the undead, which immediately drew Jircniv’s attention. If need be, he might need to apply the necessary pressure to the temples. Of course, that was only if his abilities were really that effective. [V10] “Your Majesty, the guests have arrived. There are six people in total and I’ve met the High Priests before, so I believe it’s them.” “Then, please come in―” Just as he said that, Seyde chipped in. “Whoa, whoa hang on a tick, you guys in the back. Numbers add up, but something’s off? The two of you in the back feel like me. So, you’re from the punishment squad of the temples ― the ones who kill apostate priests? I thought you guys were just supposed to be boogeymen?” [V10] All they could do was acknowledge the point in voices full of fatigue, and then they continued discussing the matter. “What should we do? What is the best course of action for ourselves, as the protectors of mankind? What can we do about 500 monsters, each of which can destroy a nation by themselves?” [V10] “Those idiots in the Kingdom…” Everyone had looks of hatred in their eyes as they heard those words. The Kingdom was the most geographically secure country of all. Because of that, the Slaine Theocracy had assisted them in the hopes that the Kingdom would become the nation which would save mankind. By breeding large quantities of humans on safe and fertile land, many talented individuals would also appear, who could be groomed into heroes that could resist non-human invasions. However, peace and prosperity caused them to fall into degeneracy, and the Kingdom rotted from within. What was more troubling was how they produced narcotics and exported them to the other promising country, the Empire. [V10] Well the Theocracy is the guardian of mankind. There is no lie in this statement. Everything they do is for the sake of mankind as a species. I assure you, Overlord does not have a country looking out for justice (for humans) and their well-being like them. I would be happy if you could discern such feelings from this arc. I hope the Theocracy will be happy in the future! [V10AT] Neia has not yet realized that she is using a special ability to influence the thoughts of others (a.k.a. brainwashing). Currently, her ability only works on people with unhealed emotional wounds, and they see themselves as saved by Neia’s words [V13] ===================================================================== Ziggy is no Rabbi or master of Jewjitsu (for now). But when you think of their plight you cannot help but notice the similarities between the Jewish people and how humanity was as a species in Overlord. Although some people might criticize how Maruyama uses religion in Overlord, perhaps you might see he does not always portray it negatively. It’s ironic how this got so complicated when we were trying to talk about humility… ===================================================================== “Nothingness (ayin) is more existent than all the being of the world. But since it is simple, and all simple things are complex compared with its simplicity, it is called ayin”- David ben Abraham ha-Laban ===================================================================== The Hebrew Letter ‘Ayin’ however can also mean “eyes” or “salvation”. When used poetically, Ayin also can describe a clear, still body of water - typically people would say a spring of water was an eye peering into the heavens above in ancient Hebrew. Still water however, though calm, can symbolize stagnation. How fitting… Ainz being someone who stares at the stars at times, but is also a static, almost stagnant, character. Even Maruyama admitted he cannot grow due to Nazarick. ===================================================================== Let me reiterate that at the end of the day because the NPCs of Nazarick are present he's trapped going round and round in circles unable to grow(mature). ...Up until now he has only been desperately pretending however.... Isn't that right? Maa, only after they have disappeared will there be a development. In the end he is a dead-end protagonist right? But that is impossible. As he is a pitiful person, I would be glad if you pitied him. [V15+16AT] The yearly cycle, from beginning to end ("end enwedged in beginning"), alludes to "the endless cycle," the secret of the letter samech, as explained above. Divine Providence, the "eyes" of God in control of the cycle, is the secret of the following letter, ayin which means "eye." Though the primary revelation of supernatural Providence is in the Land of Israel, the Jew-in-exile is commanded to create something of its sanctity in each of his Diaspora stations by recognizing Divine Providence wherever he is. [https://www.inner.org/hebleter/ayin.htm] ===================================================================== Cringe as that may be, having a Seventh Great God completes the rainbow comparison at least and the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown as well the Paradigm of Seven Elements complement each other. Then again Roble had NINE colors…(though two are white and black which some reject as colors outright). Roble thus has 7 primary colors excluding white and black. Though synergy doesn’t always work out, if nothing else as long as you gave second thought to the Theocracy’s name, the Menorah on their flag, or the Seven Elements Ziggy would be happy. The God of Death imposter theory is still more likely… it just felt oddly appropriate all these other details can build to a new resolution in Slaine. That’s probably just copium for their destiny to become the largest unused parking lot in the New World…. For reference - the rainbow has Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Purple Though some people think Newton named indigo and Blue wrong and instead Aqua is the Blue-Green color and Blue is Indigo the debate is up to you however to interpret - this one makes more sense to Ziggy based on atmospheric optics graphs - you can clearly see a blue green section between green and dark blue so Ziggy leans more toward Newton named stuff funny, maybe he asked some lady to name the color and trying to sound sophisticated she used the word Indigo after hearing about how it was used in clothing and Newton mistakenly connected the two ideas. Or maybe Ziggy has been reading Overlord too long and sees misunderstandings where there are none!: Red Orange Yellow Green Aqua Blue Purple For reference we have the Slaine order in terms of colors not really resembling the Rainbow order at all: Green - Red - Yellow - Purple - Blue - Orange Well anyway, Slaine getting off screened would be the funnier resolution. That way no need to write anymore characters or history! Karmic justice for the Demon Gods wiping out other nations!! Still, besides everyone worshiping Ainz as the Second Cumming(read: Sasuga) of Surshana, hopefully you got a smile reading about something similar but different. With all the different ideas in the light novel, Ziggy cannot help but feel the Second Cumming might be subverted. Maybe that’s why Overlord ends around here - Ainz stops being just an Overlord and becomes a worshiped God. He’s already being worshiped but not at the international stage yet. Being called a God is also a huge target on your back in the New World for the malding Dragon Lords. There’s another reason for this type of ending however - becoming a God, shackled by Nazarick, that would really shatter any possibility Ainz could become friends with anyone even as a ruling King. Sure we could joke about BONES FOR THE BONE GOD, but the existential horror is Ainz will never be able to bond with other people as an equal. We see glimmers of Ainz as the Sorcerer King able to bond with Zanac as a ruler - becoming a Seventh Great God would complete the tragedy of his life - becoming what other people expect of him and need him to be but him not being able to be what he wants to be. He will not be alone but his life of a lie is not likely going to end with him bonding with others like he truly craves in his heart. Ziggy has always seen Overlord as the tragedy of power fantasy. Maruyama once joking said he wanted to call it the Melancholy of Ainz, and there probably is weight to that title beyond a joke. That lonely sadness in Overlord is so recurring however that surely a few of you lads and ladettes see it that way too? If you think literally, something that ‘enlightens’ requires something to be burned as fuel - maybe the price of racial coexistence in the New World on a grand scale requires igniting any hopes of happiness for one lonely man no one knows is lonely. ===================================================================== That reminds me of the time when the book was being printed, when I was called for a subtitle, the masterpiece I shared was ’The Melancholy of Ainz’, it was rejected with a declaration of ’No good’. At that time the depths of Editor-san’s eyes were frightening. [WN] ===================================================================== If we look to the famous bloodlines in the world you can try to extrapolate why they don’t just consistently shart out uber babies. First off the divergence of the Custodios girls might illustrate how two different types of Awakening can happen. One is a Priest and one is a Paladin - which suggests only one is a True Awakening, the other is likely a True Yet False Awakening. One theory is the Custodios bloodline is so powerful because they are descended from one of the Thirteen Heroes. That might seem strange, to just assume every heroic bloodline is related to one of the 13 Heroes. There is, however evidence for the Holy Kingdom and the 13 Heroes to be connected. First, they were founded after the Demon God rampage Second, the Four Holy Swords are thought to be handed down from mysterious metals, mirror Dark Knights swords, and probably are another four of the Twelve Swords of the 13 Heroes era. Third, the Roble crest resembles a Dominion Authority which one was said to have been used to blast a Demon God to bacon bits. Fourth, Roble actually disregards some conventions of the Kingdom and Empire about how leadership is decided - ability or power matter more in Roble, the fact their language differs supports the idea they are from a distinct ethnic group not tied to the practices of baptismal names, nobiliary names, or even titles for their nobles. If we look to how Azuth cast aside his own noble titles, for some reason having only two names is not inherently a demeaning thing based on whatever logic Azuth is using(effectively emulating a heroic figure). The simplest implication is the if the Leader of the Thirteen Heroes was a Player, he likely only had two names and so for a generation influenced by him two names would no longer be seen as shameful. Fifthly, gender roles didn’t matter much for the 13 Heroes and Roble reflects this by militarizing female and males equally as well as appointing women to leadership positions easily unlike in the Kingdom Sixth, two of the famous human 13 Heroes were a Priest and Cleric, and one of these could be the origin of the Custodios blood, able to produce two heroes in a single generation(some people speculate the Aindras were another 13 Heroes bloodline via the ABC Hero Conjecture). The ABC Hero Conjecture: An awareness that amongst the 13 Heroes who are named and possible 13 Heroes bloodlines which are excellent but lack Player descent, the possible family names follow a pattern that is alphabetical in nature. Aindras: Cleric (True Awakening Lakyus; True Yet False Awakening Azuth?) Bessarez: Holy Conjurer (False Yet True Calca) Custodios: Great Priest (True Awakening Kelart, True Yet False Awakening Remedios?) It would make some sense members of the 13 Heroes would go on to found nations or gain political influence. The Holy Kingdom diverging from what should be normal could be attributed to influence from the Leader of the 13 Heroes rather than from following the model of the Kingdom and Empire. Weird ideas like racial collaboration, the Nine Colors, no noble titles, universal military conscription and so on could be inspired by recollections of the 13 Heroes members. The way Roble’s higher ups were ‘racist’ to hate all the demihuman of the hills via propaganda yet also working with Merman makes more sense with the context culturally racial coexistence isn’t bad, but in reality some races cannot get along. None of these ideas are definitive, but the supposition does address a few oddities in the Roble culture and why these bloodlines seem special. Ziggy would prefer if heroic people could just be heroes without needing ties to bloodlines however. On these musings, the Magical(Arcane) Swordsmen of the 13 Heroes is thought to be related to the last four of the 12 Swords and the Magic Swordsmen that rode the three-headed Dragon. ==================================================================== The magic sealed within the crystal could summon the most powerful angel known to man. It was an angel that had single-handedly destroyed a Demon God that rampaged throughout the land two hundred years ago. It was an angel of the highest order, which could easily destroy a city. [V1] The Lizardmen decorated themselves using the paint from the pots. They believed that the ancestor spirits within them were guiding their hands, so they let their fingertips wander freely, tracing designs all over their bodies. Many of them painted their entire bodies, possibly thanks to this “advent.” However, almost none of the Green Claw Lizardmen applied paint to themselves. This was because Zaryusu, Shasuryu and the elite members of the tribes had not done so. In other words, it was a form of idol worship. [V4] A flag hung from the wall. It had a strange crest stitched on it in thread-of gold. The thief and the magic caster knew most of the heraldry used by the surrounding nations, so if they did not recall this particular crest, then it probably did not belong to the Kingdom’s royalty. “Could it be an emblem from nobles before the Kingdom was founded?” “Thou meanst this is a relic from over two centuries ago?” Many countries had been destroyed by the Demon Gods 200 years ago, and so there were surprisingly few nations around here whose history lasted beyond 200 years. The Kingdom, the Holy Kingdom, the Council Alliance, and the Empire had all been founded within the past 200 years. [V7] For that reason, the citizens of the Holy Kingdom were conscripted as a form of national service. All adult citizens, male and female, would spend a certain necessary amount of time undergoing military training, after which they would be assigned to sentry duty on the wall. The hope was that they would become the manpower with which to protect their land in case the demi-humans crossed over the wall. [V12] Before long, the instructions they had followed brought them before a luxurious inn, probably the Shining Gold Pavilion which the gate guards had recommended to them. While its name was written on the signboard, the Kingdom’s script was different from that of the Holy Kingdom, so they could only make a rough guess at what it said. The Kingdom and the Empire had once been the same country, so there were many similarities between them, but the Holy Kingdom had never been tied to either of those countries, so they differed greatly. [V12] While she was as beautiful as the Holy Queen, her eyes contained a cold, razor-sharp look, like the edge of a blade. She was dressed in a suit of silvery full plate armor and a surcoat. These were the traditional vestments of the Paladin Order’s Captain, an ancient article of magical masterwork. The most important thing was the sword at her waist, whose name was known to everyone in the Holy Kingdom. It was renowned as one of the four Holy Swords, the holy sword Safalrisia. One of the Thirteen Heroes, known as Black Knight, was said to have carried four swords — the evil blade Hyumilis, the demonic blade Kilineiram, the blade of rot Crocdabal, and the fatal blade Sfeiz. This was one of the four swords which existed as a counterpart to them. Incidentally, the other three holy swords were known as the sword of law, the sword of justice, and the sword of life. [V12] She used the full might of her body in a massive downwards chop. Jaldabaoth did not block or dodge it. And then — it bounced off with laughable ease. “…Eh?” The sword, made of an unknown metal that was harder than adamantite, bounced off Jaldabaoth’s skin. [V12] Lakyus felt her stomach collapse in on itself. While her uncle was not exactly a bad person, he could not be called a good person either. Overall, what she was certain of was the fact that he was someone who could only be a bad influence on children. When Lakyus had met with him back when she was still a child, he appeared to be normal but that might have been him just hiding his true nature. Perhaps his screw came loose during his adventures? She only had one solution to things that she could not understand — though this was not exactly something the gods would bother with — and that was to pray. Other than that, there was nothing she could do about it. Her uncle was the type to act all honest and upstanding when meeting someone for the first time. He was also the type to spout corny lines like, “if you long for a hero, then it is that hero’s duty to grant your wish.” [V14] Upon hearing what Evileye had said, Azuth put on a displeased expression and stared at her. Though they could feel a sense of pressure from his gaze alone, none of Blue Rose backed down. To Evileye especially, it felt just like a soft breeze. She continued, “…Sigh. From your expression alone I can tell that was a bullseye. They call you a hero but you’re no different than a child. Actually, could it be that the reason why you abandoned your status as a noble and chose the life of an adventurer was precisely because you are this kind of person…? Anyways, this is no attitude to receive your clients. Ladies, begone.” [V14] “Now then, do forgive me for my frankness — let us get down to business, Azuth Aindra-sama and the members of Blue Rose present.” Lakyus squinted her eyes. Her uncle had abandoned his title as a noble, but because he still retained the title of honorary knight, proper etiquette dictated that he must be referred to by his full name. However, Azuth was the type to dislike being called by his full name. Those who were meeting him for the first time and wanted to follow protocol would have fallen into this trap. This gentleman however, managed to avoid this. This meant that this man had done his thorough research, no, it was probably more accurate to say that the people behind this man had done their research. [V14] Azuth Aindra: If one were to address him by his full name, it would take quite a long time (because of his many knighthoods and noble titles), so this character sheet will only introduce him by his preferred name. [V14] No, Remedios is a higher level than Gazef. Kelart is also in the domain of heroes, so the Custodios blood is amazing! [TWTR] “That’s true. The legendary 13 Heroes. One of them, the necromancer Rigrit Bellus Carla. A benevolent person. Ma, there were other magic casters that were good. The remaining four were a dark mage, a magic swordsman, a cleric and a priest.” [WN] The 13 Heroes: A group of mythological heroes. They consisted of people that existed 200 years ago? The members consisted of Necromancer Rigrits Bers Caurau, The Dark Cultist, The Magic(Arcane) Swordsman, The Great Priest, The Holy Magician(Conjurer) [WN] For many people who may feel a sense of discomfort, I have amended things that should not be seen as of yet. The Axe and the 13 Heroes have stories entwined with all sorts of things, the 12 swords, the Evil Gods, ??, and thus ???’s story secretly has wider repercussions. [ARC] ==================================================================== Vijar, from the same saga, was someone who seems comparable to his own father, and Beebeezee also was descended from another Lord class being - though as a Inherited Template Lord, all Zern also come from his father baked on their race. Neia in contrast inherited her father’s Aptitude, and maybe even her mother’s, but lacked the Level Cap Go Brr factors. ===================================================================== Bonus: Here’s a Continuation of the Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold theory Mini Kingdom of Red Gold Discussion You may recall Ziggy mentioning, rambling, and even commissioning art for the weird flag of the Re-Estize royal family(special thanks to Cuddly Kat again for putting up with me on it). The knights located at the front spotted a group of knights at their front wearing skillfully crafted armour. The armour they wore sparkled in the sunlight as if it were silver. Their weapons were of the same mithril and iron alloy as their armour. They were the specially selected troops which only the most persevering could enter, one of the personal guards of the Emperor, the [Royal Earth Guard]. And the flag they held was the Imperial Flag of the Empire. The most respected flag in the Empire, reserved only for occasions where the Emperor himself was within the Imperial Army [WN] ===================================================================== The cultural implications of that are vast. However, the red and gold motif and the fact the Vaiself’s only used it during battle suggest the flag wasn’t some ancient flag - hence why it was never flown inside the throne room. Rather it was more like a Roman Vexillum. Roman Vexillui were red and gold after all. And they were special war time flags banner thingies. So did the Vaiselfs descend from the old Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold hence why the vexillum they use is red and gold? Why does the Empire also use a Vexillum for Jircniv specifically used in military settings? Just for clarity, the Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold is just a nickname for whatever nation was the Kingdom and Empire descended from and the Dwarves traded with. What we do know is the Powered Suit was NOT Greed King or Great Gods in origin. But why is such a thing not remembered in any famous stories? ==================================================================== Azuth: The Powered Suit is strong! He’s only human though. That’s to say he isn’t weak, but but in terms of level he is weak. The weakest on his team. By the way, this Power Suit doesn’t come from Tsa. Where did he get it? Will it get to be revealed...? By the way, the original owner’s name hasn’t been revealed yet. What could that be implying? [V14AT] ==================================================================== Basically, were they actually just from a family of military renown in that nation and hence why they had a Red Gold Standard and made Red Gold armor a national treasure? Perhaps it was someone of some influence in that society, like one the Empire’s Four Knights, perhaps the founding Vaiself was an equivalent in the Imperial Kingdom. So rather than legitimizing themselves by claiming to possess the Red Powered Suit, the armor itself was built in emulation of the Powered Suit even before the Kingdom existed. Hence why no one attempted to assert a claim on Azuth’s Powered Suit - the people probably forgot the cultural significance of it by the Calcium era. The Vaiself’s call the Red Gold armor ‘Guardian’ Armor. So were these great figures called Guardians? Given the Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold traded with the Dwarves, perhaps they were the ones commissioned to craft these suits of armors for the nation’s champions? In the devastation that followed it’s not unlikely the person with the most military clout would assert control of the destitute region - Jircniv seized power in a military coup as well in this generation after all and they were not even destitute. The fact remains the Kingdom and Empire both place emphasis on Red and Gold for the ruler. But the tradition of the Red Gold Vaiself flag and red gold sashes used by Barbro and mini sashes on the armor of Gazef and Bowlrobe suggest a link to that military tradition. Whoever owned the Red Powered Suit(with golden eyes), who isekaied with it as well, possibly inspired the Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold to implement Red and Gold into their military honors and hence why the Vaiselfs and Jircniv still sport red and gold. Well Red and Gold do look good together. Likewise, the streaks of light shot out from the heavy machine gun and bullet casings might have also impressed that GOLD was similar to POWER in the eyes of people in the far past. But maybe it’s all just a coincidence. Ziggy still likes the idea the Powered Suit might have been a symbol of legitimacy back then at some point but like Maple Syrup brought up – why wasn’t it used to slaughter the Demon Gods? Ziggy’s thought was the Powered Suit was lost a long time ago and was something only remembered in stories - hence the theory the Vaiself’s fabricated the Guardian armor to legitimize themselves as no one remembered the armor. Though if we suppose the Red Gold armor was more the armor of champions of the Red Gold Vexillum, the Vaiself’s war standard, then perhaps the Guardian Armor never was a fabricated attempt at legitimacy. Why was the Powered Suit found by Azuth then? Well, why did that random noble have the Holy Sword of Pentachromate? The most likely explanation was Azuth found it in the North. But did someone kill the user? But why not take the suit? A pragmatic answer would be someone hid the armor on purpose, either realizing it was too powerful (it could easily wipe out any army of humans) or a political move to cripple others dependent on it. Did the nobles of Re-Estize not attempt to cripple Gazef by denying him the usage of the Vaiself royal treasures? Who is to say history does not repeat? It seems more logical that the ‘Guardians’ may have been precursors to the Warrior Captain and Four Knights, that Guardians were what the Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold called their champions. The Four Knights have long been a staple in the Empire yet how did Rampossa legitimize Gazef despite the political resistance? Given the nobility of the Empire accepted the Four Knights at some point and even Kingdom nobles accepted Gazef might just be due to power. Though if the Vaiself family was descended from ‘Guardians’ and possibly the El-Nix family as well - then there might be a connection. Though Ziggy thinks Jircniv’s strange name, strange eye color, retconned hair color from the web novel, and usage of bestowing adamantite armor onto the Four Knights suggests he may be descended from a ruling family or nobility of the Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold. The Empire has long had Knights defined their nation after all. And the strangest thing is Jircniv’s family never sought to use five word names or six word names to emphasize their status to the Kingdom despite getting insults for it. That speaks volumes to Ziggy. Why legitimize yourself with the practices of usurpers? Why was the Four Knight system never derided in the Empire? Well if the El-Nix family was continuing the Guardian practice with the Four Knights, then the fact the Emperor can leave a Four Knight with his ‘authority’ might explain why the Vaiself’s chose to become a royal family in the first place. Did Guardian’s hold a quasi-noble military status in the Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold? The way even nobles in the Empire respect the Four Knights and how power matters the most for them might suggest the practice itself is one of respect. We do not know when the Four Knight practice was implemented, but the Empire was originally a Feudal nation as well. We know Fluder was not given much respect by the founding Emperor by being a magic caster at least. However it’s strange how Jircniv’s family not only uses the Four Knights but the Royal Earth Guard sports red capes and Golden colored armor(in the anime) - a clear design decision. Jircniv himself wears Golden armor when does wear armor. That practice might mirror the Imperial Kingdom Guardian armor practice. Though the Royal Earth Guard are not meant to be heroic figures, but elites in a larger military force. The cultural difference here is Knighthood in the Empire is not linked to hereditary elements as much - Imperial Knights are the national soldiers of the Empire and the Four Knights value power first. In contrast, Knights of the Kingdom require heritage. If we suppose the conjecture the Vaiself’s legitimized their rule via blood ties to a martial family, it would make sense why knighthood there is hereditary - a claim to a martial family be the origin of the Vaiself family. If you examine the linguistics of Romanization, the Empire calls the Royal Earth Guard ROYAL, where the kanji used is ‘Imperial household’. And do you remember the Re-Estize nobiliary particle for royalty? It’s RYLE. Yet they are not an Imperial household or Empire. Sure they are spelled differently, but there seems to be a purposeful linguistic connection here that actually supports the idea ‘Guardians’ and the Vaiself family are connected. Was RYLE the noble title of Guardians in the Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold? That practice has fell out of use - at least in the Empire. The Empire still uses the Dale noble title however - but maybe why the Vaiselfs use Ryle as their title name and Jircniv’s family never did is related to why Maruyama romanizes Imperial Household and Royal. Quick refresher - in the Empire and Kingdom usually the second last name is the noble family title name. The last last name is the family name. Eg: Nimble Arc DALE Anoch. Lakyus Alvein DALE Aindra. Ziggy thinks this deliberate romanization is important - the Imperial Guard are specifically referred to with “近衛” which is literally “Imperial GUARDS”. Meanwhile the Earth and Air GUARD is written literally as “ガード” with the kanji “兵団”. The GUARDIAN armor is written as “守護の鎧” yet is also meant to be pronounced “ガーディアン”. The kanji here always differs slightly but the broad idea is GUARDIAN is a very specific title of sorts. The nuance changes but the rest stays the same. Maruyama is the one who keeps forcing this to happen. That or it’s because the class bodyguards to the rulers of the New World seems to be GUARDIAN (ガーディ アン) might explain why. In that case, just as Climb got his White Armor from Renner, was the Vaiself Ryle Guardian in a similar situation rather than a precursor to the Four Knights? The odd thing is why the standard of the Vaiself family matches the armor in red gold however. Flags like that being custom usually is a sign of nobility. Baziwood is also a Guardian however so it might be a mixture of both cases or just one. Pick your favorite. Those who protect royalty become Guardians for their class, even if they are professional soldiers. Likewise, GUARD is a strange term in Overlord because it is used for multiple kanji. ==================================================================== CLIMB CLASS LEVELS: Fighter Lv. ? Guardian Lv. ? { personal character } A boy saved by Renner, the Golden Princess. He wears the pure-white plate armor given to him by Princess Renner and wields a broadsword and shield. [V5] BAZIWOOD CLASS LEVELS: Fighter Lv. ? Imperial Knight Lv. ? Guardian Lv. ? { personal character } A commoner born in a back alley. Although he was very strong he realized that he would end up dead in a gutter if he didn’t somehow improve his standing. Thus, he aimed to join a specialized class of warriors, the knight corps. Through hard work and effort, he eventually distinguished himself and caught the eye of the Emperor. Baziwood was not very loyal to his liege at first, but after spending time around the Emperor he developed a heartfelt respect for him. Baziwood is now probably the most loyal man in the Empire. [V9] However, in contrast, the security around this tower was much stiffer than that around the other buildings. For starters, the knights here were dressed differently. They were not the same as the First Legion knights in other places. They were sheathed in suits of enchanted full plate armor, carrying magic shields, and with magic weapons at their waists. Their crimson capes — which were embroidered with the emblem of the Empire — were also magic items, of course. While the enchantments on their gear were somewhat weak, ordinary knights could not wear such equipment, not even in the Empire. The most important thing was that ordinary knights would never be assigned to such a vital state institution. These ultra-elite knights were part of the Emperor’s bodyguard, the Royal Earth Guard. [V7] The sprawling grounds were encircled with thick, imposing walls, with watchtowers to keep an eye on both the inside and outside. Hand-picked knights from the First Legion — the most elite of the eight Imperial Knight Legions — were mixed with a number of magic casters into several security teams, which were in charge of surveillance. When one looked to the sky, one could even see members of the Emperor’s own bodyguard, the Royal Air Guard, mounted on flying beasts, as well as hightier magic casters using flight magic as they stood on watch. This place was the symbol of the Empire’s power, into which the previous Emperor had channeled the greater part of his efforts and energies — the Imperial Ministry of Magic. [V7] Next were the royal guards, the elites among the elites. It was regrettable that half their number, each the equivalent of a gold-ranked adventurer, had been slain at once. They were equipped with weapons and armor that had been forged and enchanted by the many magic casters of the Empire, a fortune that was worth more than their weight in gold. [V9] here was no knight who did not know who this man was. More importantly, there was nobody who did not know about the full plate armor he wore. It was made of the rare metal adamantite, and further enchanted with powerful magic. There were only a few suits of armor like this in the Empire. The wearer of this armor was one of the highest-ranking knights in the Empire. He was one of the Empire’s Four Knights, “Violent Gale” Nimble Arc Dale Anoch. [V9] After going with it, he idly stroked the suit of snow-white full plate armor which his mistress had gifted him. A quarter was mithril, and the armour had body enhancement magic in it, which made it light, hard and easy to move in. [Blue Rose] had supplied the mithril for its construction at no charge. Climb could not thank them enough for that, however low he bowed. Lakyus stopped Climb who was about to bow. “Don’t worry about it. We simply gave you the leftover materials from making our mithril armor.” [WN] Fluder brought along several of his direct disciples and entered. The magic casters that noticed Fluder bowed and moved out of his way. He occasionally saw the figures of knights on their guard. They were sheathed in enchanted full plate armor, carrying magic shields, and with magic weapons at their waists. Their crimson capes — embroidered with the emblem of the Empire — were also magic items, of course. While the gears were only mildly enchanted, ordinary knights were not entitled to wear it — not even in the Empire. They simply would never be assigned to such a vital state institution. Yes. These ultra-elite knights were part of the Emperor’s bodyguard, the [Royal Earth Guard]. [WN] The knights located at the front spotted a group of knights at their front wearing skillfully crafted armour. The armour they wore sparkled in the sunlight as if it were silver. Their weapons were of the same mithril and iron alloy as their armour. They were the specially selected troops which only the most persevering could enter, one of the personal guards of the Emperor, the [Royal Earth Guard]. And the flag they held was the Imperial Flag of the Empire. The most respected flag in the Empire, reserved only for occasions where the Emperor himself was within the Imperial Army [WN] All eyes fell on a carriage pulled by an eight-legged Slepnir. There were two figures riding it. The first man was a man dressed in gold. He wore a splendid breastplate, and on his face was a smile. His regal figure made him far more memorable than the knights in full armour. The Emperor of the Baharuth Empire, Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix. The person responsible for expanding the Empire. With an air that would enrapture anyone who saw him, he commanded respect. [WN] ==================================================================== Something strange about the Vaiself family is they name their reigning King with a single name - the Calcium era King’s name is Rampossa III. There is not a single noble title, family name, or anything related to that. For a society that values more names as a sign of nobility and looks down on those with fewer names that feels…. Strange. No one denies the King’s reign and the King is a Vaiself at the end of the day. But Azuth for example finds it distasteful to use his titles and extra names - he sticks with just his given name and family name like a commoner instead. That could be evidence in support of their practices - though it contradicts their culture. The Empire isn’t a pure meritocracy either however. Still, the Empire appears to have stopped using the Red Gold practice for agents of the royal family - the Kingdom however uses two red sashes for anyone who acts on the authority of the Crown or Crown Prince. The only people we see with these sashes are Gazef and Bowlrobe. Barbro single sash however mirrors Jircniv’s own sash though the context is different - Rampossa doesn’t wear a sash - so why the discrepancy here? The Empire likewise has no such custom but… if we look to Fluder Paradyne we see he doesn't bear any titled names either and he likely was born in the Imperial Kingdom of Red-Gold given his age predating both the Kingdom and Empire. Ziggy’s supposition here is Azuth’s behavior may not be emulating an old hero. Perhaps he found the legitimacy by name alone distasteful? Fluder was a great magic caster and he never bore a title from the era before the Vaiselfs. As a noble Azuth would have learned some history at least, so it’s possible as someone who valued heroic behavior stories of the past carried weight with him and if you just look to the Holy Kingdom, nobility there finds no need to add names to justify their nobility. Even ancient dragon lords did have excessively long names. And men like Gazef Stronoff and members of the Four Knights need no long names to justify their strength or authority earned by their own hard work and power. If it hasn’t dawned on you yet, the Problem of Two Emperors is basically the idea Maruayma is drawing from for the conflict between the Kingdom and the Empire. The ‘Eastern’ Emperor is the one with more legitimacy to the Roman ‘Empire’ historically. The Roman Vexillum likewise inspiring the Vaiself war standard hints at a Roman influence in this narrative. Fluder tutoring many Emperors might explain why their culture takes after this theoretical Imperial Kingdom of Red Gold - that was how his society was once organized. Well that’s a lot of anthropological speculation with little linked evidence. Maybe some of that can inspire wiser people to reach the truth at least. Hopefully trying to connect all these motifs and symbolism makes sense in the greater context in how Maruyama writes Overlord. ===================================================================== With that, she gracefully vaulted off her horse and landed elegantly in the doorway of the moving carriage. Although she made it look simple, given that she was wearing full plate armor and that both her horse and the carriage were moving at a full gallop, it was proof that she had considerable athletic ability. Still, that was only to be expected of one of the Four Knights that were the pride of the Empire. [V9] In other words, she was the least loyal to Jircniv among the Four Knights. The Four Knights were selected solely on the basis of their fighting ability and not their personality or loyalty. Even so, there was nobody else whose motives were as mercenary as hers. [V9] The Imperial Army was loyal first to the Emperor, and then the generals. The Empire’s Four Knights, its strongest fighters, would often be tasked with carrying out the Emperor’s will. In terms of authority, they would be considered equal to a general. However, in terms of age, experience and prestige, none of them were equal to Kabein. It was very difficult for him to treat Kabein as merely an equal unless an outsider were present. Kabein smiled, as though he relished the disquiet on Nimble’s face. “It itches at me that one of the Four Knights, the Empire’s mightiest warriors, should be so stiff and formal around an old man like myself. How about just dispensing with the honorifics?” [V9] =====================================================================