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?
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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!
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