Soul Eater Essay
Since I have extra time before class, it's time for an essay! I have a more general essay on runes over at Hugo's journal buried under the memes and crap, but I'm too lazy to link to it. This essay is specifically on Tir's rune and the lovely things it does.
Quick recap: runes are how the Suikoden world uses magic. They're usually crystal-like things that are embedded in the flesh (on either hand or the forehead) and look like tattoos when inside a person. There are innumerable lesser runes and 27 True Runes. These True Runes are the source of the lesser runes and the controlling forces of the world. Basically, they're gods. Parasitic gods that live inside the flesh of their bearers, but gods nonetheless.
Tir holds one of those runes. Officially it's called the "True Rune of Life and Death," but it's more commonly referred to as "the Cursed Rune" or "the Soul Eater." As you can probably guess by those names and its shape (grim reaper, much?), it's not a very desirable rune to bear.
On the one hand, it's amazingly powerful. If a bearer really knows how to use it, they can instantly kill just about anything. And even if they can't, the damage it does to a person or creature is done directly to their life force and therefore very difficult to heal. The bearer of the rune is, basically, the avatar of the god of death.
Of course, there's a downside to all this power, which is the reason behind the titles given to the rune. The rune is, as I've said in the past, basically a really horrible and possessive boyfriend. It will eventually kill everyone the bearer is close to. Friends, family, lovers, everyone. And once it does, it absorbs their souls into the body of the rune. Throughout the course of the game, it does this to four people Tir cares deeply about. The idea that the Soul Eater can't take what belongs to other True Runes--basically, other bearers of True Runes can't be affected by it--isn't canon, but it makes sense, so that's how I'm playing it.
What does this mean? Basically, Tir is used to not getting close to people. Ever. He canonically travels from place to place in order to keep from affecting anyone with the rune's curse. If you talk to him a lot, he will probably start to try to avoid you after a while. The extent of the Soul Eater's effect in camp will probably be less... dramatic than it is in canon, because obviously Tir can't leave and therefore can't protect people from it, but I'm assuming there's something still there.
So people who are sensitive to curses and that kind of thing will probably notice it. Especially because, uh, there are lots of souls stuck inside the rune. Previous bearers and those close to them and a whoooole lot of people. The rune has been around since the beginning of creation, so it's had some time to get around.
Quick recap: runes are how the Suikoden world uses magic. They're usually crystal-like things that are embedded in the flesh (on either hand or the forehead) and look like tattoos when inside a person. There are innumerable lesser runes and 27 True Runes. These True Runes are the source of the lesser runes and the controlling forces of the world. Basically, they're gods. Parasitic gods that live inside the flesh of their bearers, but gods nonetheless.
Tir holds one of those runes. Officially it's called the "True Rune of Life and Death," but it's more commonly referred to as "the Cursed Rune" or "the Soul Eater." As you can probably guess by those names and its shape (grim reaper, much?), it's not a very desirable rune to bear.
On the one hand, it's amazingly powerful. If a bearer really knows how to use it, they can instantly kill just about anything. And even if they can't, the damage it does to a person or creature is done directly to their life force and therefore very difficult to heal. The bearer of the rune is, basically, the avatar of the god of death.
Of course, there's a downside to all this power, which is the reason behind the titles given to the rune. The rune is, as I've said in the past, basically a really horrible and possessive boyfriend. It will eventually kill everyone the bearer is close to. Friends, family, lovers, everyone. And once it does, it absorbs their souls into the body of the rune. Throughout the course of the game, it does this to four people Tir cares deeply about. The idea that the Soul Eater can't take what belongs to other True Runes--basically, other bearers of True Runes can't be affected by it--isn't canon, but it makes sense, so that's how I'm playing it.
What does this mean? Basically, Tir is used to not getting close to people. Ever. He canonically travels from place to place in order to keep from affecting anyone with the rune's curse. If you talk to him a lot, he will probably start to try to avoid you after a while. The extent of the Soul Eater's effect in camp will probably be less... dramatic than it is in canon, because obviously Tir can't leave and therefore can't protect people from it, but I'm assuming there's something still there.
So people who are sensitive to curses and that kind of thing will probably notice it. Especially because, uh, there are lots of souls stuck inside the rune. Previous bearers and those close to them and a whoooole lot of people. The rune has been around since the beginning of creation, so it's had some time to get around.