@@P.o.L Das Lied der Waage is really great (The Song of the Raven in english). The lyrics are quite different from the english translation (and a lot better actually)
What an absolutely insane video man. I love this game to death, by far my favorite game of all time. Such a shame there's so little content about it on TH-cam. This video was very very well made. Thanks a lot.
Me too, didn't love a game this much from when I was a kid. Maybe because one can feel so much love has been put in the game. I am making it my mission to remedy to the lack of content here. There's so many topics I'd like to explore. But it will probably take me ages, no promises 😉
This is incredible!! I can’t believe how disappointing the ratio between cool Enderal lore to explore per video on TH-cam exploring it is. Keep holding this ratio up, you’re doing god’s work.
Whenever the “servant” mentions he had a premonition that they would have company, so he prepared a meal. Only the meat was a little “charred,” I had chills. Nice. Crispy. Piece. Of. Meat. So yea, I roleplayed my character as a vegetarian the entire game…..
lol that's pretty awesome dedication! Did you eat only fruit and vegie food items to recover health? That's honestly pretty impressive seeing as how most long-term health regen items are meat-related.
I think the aged man might be my favorite npc in the game, just because of the potential lore surrounding him. I actually think if you flee the cleansing, you’ll end up just like him in a few cycles. The game has many themes, the more prominent of which is (1) prides comes before the fall, (2) sometimes fighting one’s fate will only hasten it, and (3) people are complex and hear only what they want to hear (Tealor… repeatedly, and even the prophet occasionally). I don’t want to be the person who is like “I saw it coming,” but I actually did guess what was going to happen when I was about 65% of the way through the game. The revelation of the Black Guardian still hit me in the gut, and I also figured he was lying, just because I felt like I had been deceived by EVERYONE and I was not about to trust this giant machine. He did mix the lies with truth, and I feel like what so many take as “truth” is when he mentions that our character is the first being that has broken our cycle. We survived the encounter with the Emperor and the traitor. I don’t believe that. The whole plot of the game was us being overconfident that we would break the cycle, and that we would change the nature of humanity to do so. It’s arrogant. We were not the first fleshless ones to escape the cycle and we won’t be the last. I personally believe the aged man was a prophet, just like us. The woman in the water is his version of Jesper or Calia, suspended in the liquid to keep them preserved. (I haven’t read the book yet, so that’s just me speculating from what’s in the game). “Are we there yet?” She asks. In my second play through, I took that as a “have we succeeded in breaking the cycle yet?” My first play through, he seemed like a mysterious, elder being. My second, he seemed like a cynical man who’d been alive too long and disappointed too many times. As for the mannequins, I believe that he actually uses them to survive each cleansing. We learn that the cleansing destroys every living thing, which is why the black guardian uploaded himself onto a giant metal hard drive (I know I said I don’t trust him fully, but why else would he do that if he didn’t at least believe it himself). I think the aged man uses the strange crystal we find in his workshop to transfer his soul into the mannequin, then from the mannequin back to another physical body after the cleansing is over. We saw Calia’s father attempt some sort of energy/life transfer with that crystal, and we know it’s at least possible because the father did it. That takes a lot of preparation, and it makes sense if he were to figure out what would happen before it actually happened (aka, him being a prophet and seeing the future). One thing I want to know is who was the letter addressed to?? Tealor arantheal maybe?? He seemed to be warning his friend not to make the same mistakes he did, and I always wondered how the keepers knew so much about the cycle in the beginning. I don’t know, just a theory. Also, the first time we actually meet the elder ones, we see that half mannequin on the table. This is right after we pass that test and talk to “Jesper”. Okkkk weird. Why is that?? Regardless, I could go on and on about the endings and why none of them are good. But honestly, I think my favorite is the one where you run away. It seems hopeful. Just like the rest of the game is hopeful you can stop the inevitable. Hopeful just like the Aged man was when he ran away and decided to help future generations avoid the same fate. But fate is tied to one’s decisions, which are rooted in one’s nature. The interesting thing about the elder ones, is they do have some magical abilities it seems, but they’re actually relatively powerless. The ending is 100% a result of the player’s and the other fleshless ones’ actions. They manipulate by preying on the worst impulses of the characters and using their weaknesses against them (ie Tealor’s pride and disgust at his own failures). They taunted him until he could see nothing else but the goal in front of him, just to prove to himself that they were wrong. In the process he doomed everyone. In the case of the prophet (different depending on how you roleplay), you want to be important. You want to make a difference. You want to change the world. As players we approach these games with that kind of arrogance (I mean, it’s not fair to say arrogance bc it’s games and we want to live out our fantasy of being a hero, but that comes across as the pride of the prophet and their ultimate fall). There’s so much more about this game I love, because it’s just so telling. They say just enough, but not too much. The developers pointed out things about human nature but also left it up to our translation of the events. *chef’s kiss*
^^^also I apologize if I repeated anything you said! Your video was so so so good I got so excited halfway through and I had to type up a comment before I forgot anything!! Thanks for such an awesome analysis, and I’d love more videos :)) Just had a thought: could the angel in the fire also be Jespar considering how he dies. By then end of the game, both Calia and he have died, so do you think that has any significance? Angel in the water could also be a reference to the prophet, considering how we die in the beginning.
@@ohmyduck8101 Thank you, thank you! I totally get it, because of the findings I've got so excited halfway through that narrating the second half became a real struggle 😄 And the struggle continues as I'm preparing the next videos, there is crazy crazy stuff going on in Enderal that I had (we have) no idea of, even after reading every possible theory on the internet. So thank you for the comment, knowing others experience the same gives me energy to proceed. Most of your questions I think have an answer in this video. For the rest, I have the same suspicions, like none of the endings being actually good and the High Ones being more powerful than we think, but still in their limits. About Jespar, I think his role is a different one, and that there could be a connection with the Aged Man that I did not see before, but I'm still confused. The half mannequin is a representation of us, the Prophet, of that I'm sure by now and I'll show proof. It just takes so long to put all together in a complete, logical and enjoyable result. The answers are coming, not as fast as I'd like in my own impatience, but soon we are all going to feel the fire 🔥
Great explanation. I think catharsis ending is the 'good' ending. The reason being that it overlaps with the dreamflower elixir ending. The dreamflower elixir is supposed to pull out the perfect reality from the sea of eventualities, except Yuslan claims that it's not real and the real you is comatose. However, this means that in the sea of eventualities, the best result comes from both destroying the beacon and surviving. If we follow that logic, then destroying the beacon should save the cycle.
Thank you! Very interesting, I was thinking yes, but your comment suddenly pushed me in an unexpected direction. We can take the dreamflower elixir and still end up on the Star City, wouldn't it mean that is also a dreamflower ending?
@@P.o.L That's a good question. I guess there's no way to know for sure because anything could happen after either endings. But I think the developers had an important message behind the catharsis ending, and that message would be lost if it were a bad ending.
By Malphas, this video is so good..! I just finished my second playthrough after some years and thought I would have found all the details. But you display even more details than I rigorously try to find. For example the nails in the puppet of the kid Rynéus or the fire under the statue of the angel. Awesome how deep you went into the game and story. And to the theory crafting: I came to the same conclusions about the aged man, independently to you. It just makes a lot of sense. The aged man is a prophet from the times before the black guardian who somehow managed to survive after the destruction of the numinos. That's the only explanation why the black guardian whitnesses this for the first time with us as a player. Also all the other little details like woman in the water, angel statues, wooden figures etc fit to this theory. But my questions still remain, why him and why us? Is it simply an unlikely eventuality come true? Or did the Vailed Woman wanted this to happen? Or both? Maybe we survived by coincidence this time and the Veiled Woman saw this and used the opportunity to send us to the black guardian to get to know the truth? Or did she make us survive? What's her role in everything? How does she decides who should die and who should live? It seems as if she tries to preserve the constant of the cycle. Make it that it happens every time. That's why she kills Calias father, so that she will become a part of the sun temple and helps us survive on our adventures. That's why she resurrects Jaspar because he helps us aswell to survive and find our goal. The goal to make the cycle happen. Is she a goddess that make happyness and meaning possible by introducing the counter forces to that? No good without evil, no light without darkness. No meaning and value of humanity without the cycle? A lot to think about. Also in an analogy to reality. This truly makes the game so great. Thanks for the awesome video man. I love your mystery, calm, thoughtful style and your focus on detail
@@DieBieneFranz I heartily agree on these points and questions, the Veiled Woman seems to keep things going, with little touches here and there to steer all in the right direction. I don't know yet but I am starting to have some ideas 😁 Also just lately I've become convinced that is actually Calia herself killing her father, her first uncontrolled burst of power. Definitely a lot to consider still. Thank you!!
This is a very well-made, in-depth analysis on a very mysterious character. You made alot of good points and help bring to light several details that are easy to miss. The segment on Calia is especially interesting. Enderal is easily my favorite game and I'm happy to see people making content about it!
I can't believe how well-thought and deep this analysis is. Thanks for the video and a reason to play Enderal one more time knowing the truth. Or rather, a small part of the truth.
This is great, I always thought is was a shame there weren't many theories and lore videos for Enderal. The game deserves this for sure so more people can experience it. Thanks for this. I'll be eagerly waiting if you make more stuff about enderal. Have a good one :-)
I'm going to appreciate the fact that Enderal, a mod for Skyrim - a game which has tons of videos assessing its various mysteries and hidden secrets - now has videos about its mysteries and hidden secrets. Looking forward for more.
Amazing video! Needs more views. I'm so disappointed their isn't more Enderal analysis on TH-cam. I'd love to see more of this content, perhaps on the veiled woman or even a discussion on the central themes of the game. One can only hope! Also I think you are right, The Aged Man being a former prophet makes the most sense.
My 2 cents on the veiled woman was always that the veiled woman stands for / or represents the creators of the game itself. They say the veiled woman stands over everything even over the circle and the high ones. She is there so that all things can play out as they have to be... its another "meta stage" for me. And it all makes sense and comes together this way.
Insane video. So incredible. I thought it would be stuff I had already thought about. I was pretty sure after the 4th time of playing Enderal I had it all figured out but that stuff about Calia. It hit hard. You my friend deserve my sub. great video!
Wow, this was an amazing video. I have a small, branching theory I'd like to throw out there based off of it, since the Veiled Woman's words to Calia, "You have no idea how special you are" and the fact that she decided to give her a specific name in the first place, got me thinking about her potential motivations. What kind of role would Calia have to play in her schemes to be considered so unique? The only reason the aged man is still around is Calia. She was able to survive indefinitely in stasis, and instead of withdrawing completely from humanity or ending his own life, he stuck around for her. The lady in the water said: "I still believe in our dream", even though the Aged Man obviously doesn't anymore. The only thing he feels attachment to is her. Was this one of the unique purposes the Veiled Woman has for Calia? Is she instrumental in keeping the Aged Man here, who is in turn, serving as a warning that's instrumental in making sure a prophet eventually sacrifices themselves? Was it an extremely long, cycle-spanning series of events, orchestrated by the Veiled Woman, where one Prophet's wrong choice would finally bring about the right one?
Omg you are totally right!! I was pushing my brain to think how could Calia save Vyn as the Angel in the future, but the Woman in the Water is already saving Vyn as the Angel in the present 🤯 You my friend might have just found the real meaning of the Angel.
Still mind blown about your comment, I really think this is the plan of the Veiled Woman for Calia. I'll have to properly thank you in a future mystery and quote you verbatim, if I may. Your logic is flawless and the explanation perfectly worded.
@@P.o.L Thank you, that would be awesome! Your video really got me thinking about the differences between Jespar and Calia, and I came to the conclusion that one wouldn't be more suited than the other to guide humanity down the right path after the prophet sacrifices themselves. So I just started to think backwards about what lasting differences each companion would have on the prophet if they fled. I just beat Enderal a few days ago, and it was truly one of the most incredible experiences I've had with a game. I've been reading people's theories and speculations on the story constantly since then, glad I could help with it!
@@GainghisKhan Thank you for sharing! I've also read many theories and speculations, yours is the first sensible thing I read about who Calia really is and why. I'll be looking forward to your feedback on the next mysteries, honestly there are so many things I can't still wrap my head around. This video also has various other consequences I only realized afterwards, if you notice them please keep them for now, they are a surprise for mystery #3 😁
The Aged Man may get the change he wants in the next cycle. In Nehrim you fulfill your role as Shadow God and kill the Lightborn, manipulated by Fate to do so. You are supposed to die, but instead you destroy these roles of Shadow God and Fate, meaning that in the next cycle the next group of immortal arcanists that become gods may rule forever, as there will be no Shadow God to kill them, nor will there be Fate to set someone against them. At the very lest the scenario for the next cycle will HAVE to change if it can still be completed at all because 2 main roles have been deleted. If the next Lightborn or whatever they will be called rule forever, then The High Ones may never reawaken as death of the lightborn is their wake up call. If they still awaken anyway, they would have to be way more crafty than usual to trigger to trigger the Cleansing. However I believe that such a change and a challenge from the living is exactly what the Hogh Ones want to happen, because whenever you talk with them they ridicule you for following the scenario as the others before you and say that they're disappointed by it. Even if you look at the endings of Enderal alone you will see that scenario is still not being followed completely, as you can escape the Cleansing, meaning there will be at least 2 surviving Fleshless in the next cycle, or you can sacrifice yourself to at least delay this cycle's end, perhaps stopping it completely. Without the cycle all High Ones will eventually die out as it is said theyre not immortal, they have a long, but limited lifespan.
Still playing Nehrim so I don't know, but I like your suggestion, and your point that the High Ones mock us for just doing the same as previous Prophets and not trying to think out of the box. The High Ones in Enderal are "immortal" though, they don't have a mortal body to kill. Do you mean that the High Ones in Nehrim are not immortal? I am curious but please avoid spoilers because I did not finish the game yet 😜
@@P.o.L High Ones don't have a physical body, but they're supposedly not immortal like the Fleshless. It's not completely confirmed (as a lot of things about the High Ones are left pretty vague), but supposedly the High Ones do not live forever, they just live for a very long time. One of the main events by the end of the cycle is the search for Numinos, an object filled with the essence of a high one (word of the dead). This once again shows that the High Ones either can be killed, sealed, or they simply die eventually after some time. Besides, the High Ones are an amalgamation of the whole civilisation, but even without a body they should still be vulnerable to Psionic magic. Perhaps the beacon simply creates a very powerful blast of Psionic magic that when directed via a Numinos will destroy the High Ones instead of humanity. I also have another theory that would kinda support these ideas in a way: I think the Cycle is NOT natural at all and the first High One was born from a powerful Psionic spell or ritual gone wrong. Perhaps the first civilisation advanced so much they tried to play God, or perhaps it was done by one of the seven immortal arcanists at the time, or maybe after the death of the seven arcanists one of the nations tried to create a superweapon to defeat the others and it backfired (this one is the most likely scenario imo). If we ask the good old "chicken or the egg" question here it should be obvious that High Ones simply couldn't exist before the beacon was lit for the first time so there had to be the first iteration to start it all. There is also the issue of the 4 Fleshless having specific roles. I think that originally these were the 4 people who were to blame for what happened. This would explain even better the mockery by the High Ones, as these 4 always repeat the exact same mistakes all because of their Egos.
@@FerunaLutelou I also think that the Cycle is not natural and there was a time without it, maybe the result of an experiment, a weapon, maybe an accident or on purpose. And that the first High One was born from that, and the Cycle began. I do not see how would the High Ones die of old age, but I do agree they might be susceptible to Psionics or Entropy. And your suggestion that we may be repeating scenes from that time and that the Fleshless are repeating figures based on the people who caused the Cycle in the first place is very intriguing!! This will definitely keep me thinking, thanks!
you made so many valid point and pointed out to many thinks I did not realize when playing. SO, I am going to play again! But, I don't think Calia is the woman in the water. I played enderal many times and to me the woman in the water was always the Aged Man's companion. Just someone who was beside him when the cleansing happen - I am still not sure if he was a prophet or and emperror, or neither. Maybe was someone who say the cleansing and found a way to excape. But he is a fleshless. What if he is a fleshless in a different way? But back to Calia not being the woman in the water. The veiled woman, appears after Calia is reencarnated. So Calia dies. And is reborn. And the woman in the water is alive so she cannot be Calia. But, I think, the Cleansings starts when Calia is reeincarnated. Imagine, the LightBorns lived to thousand of years and nothing. And suddenly, Calia is reeincanated and it beggins. So, what if, Calia is the trigger? And why is she the trigger?
Thanks! I like your thinking, had many similar thoughts before the investigation. But what we find makes clear that the Woman in the Water is the Calia from the Cycle of the Aged Man. About the Veiled Woman, she appears much before Calia is resurrected, and more than once. Mystery #3 clarifies that 😉
Holy shit man... what a great video, loved it all! All the details , research and the conclusions that seems correct. Well done man, whan an underrated video!
Thanks for this video/your research. I noticed a few of these things, I too always thought, that the aged man must have been a previous prophet (or maybe a previous traitor like Yuslan, who has a very strong connection to another person aswell, tho certainly not an Emperor like other people on the internet suggested) but your connection to Calia appears really compelling to me.. Now I feel like I have to play Enderal again as I feel like I condemned my character to a life of eternal agony and resignation by choosing the same ending the aged man chose .. Well, there are worse excuses to make yourself cry again a few times by playing Enderal again.. God I love this game ..
@@P.o.L The circumstances of disappearance of the other emissaries at the end of the cycle are a lot less clear compared to the Emperor, so I just considered it more likely for the others to "escape their fate" in one way or the other. I assume that's just why I for myself ruled the role of the Emperor out for the aged man. :)
@@P.o.L Now, having "benefited" from your take on the aged man and his art, I consider it as a hint at him being a prophet, as a clue that he regrets the ending he chose. His pride and confidence led him to a situation he doesn't want to be in. However, I just adore the depth the writers created for this passion project. It is so rare that you just want to keep speculating and thinking about the world/story/characters a movie/game/book presented to oneself and the fact that a project consisting of only voluntary work manages that, is just mind boggling to me.
@@narve7337 That's a beautiful way of putting it. And yes, the depth and the layers, and the more we dig the more we find, and it actually makes coherent sense, it is all far beyond any expectation for a voluntary project.
Wow. At first I thought it was just a theory, but you straight up nailed it. The funny part is that this reminded me a lot of my favorite jrpg Xenogears, in which [spoiler] the protagonist has special powers much like the Prophet in Enderal, lives many lives through eternal resurrection, has a fated lover that also always resurrects and they always end up together again, and there's even a very similar version of the Aged Man in the story as well. [/spoiler] I feel like both games might have took some inspirations from the same philosophies or religions. Which just makes me love Enderal lore even more.
Thanks! I didn't know about Xenogears, but from what you say I can see the parallels! I'm reading now something about it and it says there are elements of Jungian psychology and there is a mysterious masked man involved in the start, really makes you think of Enderal.
Yea, it's a japanese RPG but it's heavily inspired by western philosophy (Freud, Nietzsche, Jungian) and religion (gnosticism, Jewish mysticism, etc). I played through Enderal but this video really made me notice the similarities between them. Very worth checking out if you like complex stories.
Had to come back to these, although assuming I am right is dumb, I feel pretty right about several thing’s in the Vyn universe theory/lore wise, and you are no less inspired, and prescient as hell in your discoveries and analyses. Can’t wait for the next one, you NAILED this one. I think there is room for thought further concerning The Aged Man- however I also think that what was once a ton of more and more unlikely or tentative idea’s about his identity and place in this narrative has been not only been brought to an agreeable, and seemingly correct position in theory.. but also it is much easier to make such connections to better understand other theories entirely.. conjecture or not, I firmly believe he is a previous prophet (despite many of Enderals references being extrinsic and sometimes accurately similar but wrongly inspired by material such as “sa’ira” being from ça’ira the song of the Valkyrie thing’s in the scene drawn for the executions in the French Revolution.) I know as well many theme’s in the Isle of Kor are based in Gnosticism. I’ve seen you comment that you are citing the Bible for Angel - and honestly, several time’s I have searched thing’s only to trace them back to it. Idk, what I’m getting at is that guessing is much less involved in discerning this world’s mysteries than before. 77% of what exists in Enderal I believe is not arbitrary, not without connection or pertinence in my experience writing these theories as well- a part of a whole, be it narrative, or nothing significant - there is always more to question, and more to discover, and even when that is not the case - Enderal is wild at making you think and take thing’s personally albeit still as the character - My first play through’s were totally engendered by an overarching need to understand my own character. The waters definitely got muddied, but more interesting beneath once they added the hidden books “A strange friend” “conversation with a blind old man” and “mothers pain” (irlanda, tealor, and narathzhul), “Order”, “Temporal fabric of time travel” blah bla, and “concerning the holiness of the Order” Idk, I think those are so interesting because many time’s I’ve fallen back to questioning is this whole thing the dream of an old man, or something along those lines.. Which is ridiculous of course, but as I said, muddied af. (Random, but do you also agree that Jespar is almost certainly not Fleshless? - I see many people preferring that theory, but I don’t believe so myself, I’m not sure exacttttly what Constantine meant by “one day you will understand, you too! Fleshless one..” to us and Jes- but nah I just reject the whole idea that he would become anything more than a replicant of the woman in the water, or more reasonably at that- Calia.) **nvm just got to the point in the video where you alrdy agreed Also you might find Sailing to Byzantium interesting.. It wasn’t material that inspired this - but it is hugely similar thematically to Enderal. anyway- overtired & overly typing - love yr channel lmao
Oh man, you're reading my mind! I so need to show you, it's too unbelievable for words alone, you are going to love the next one. Two weeks and it should be ready 🤞 I need to tighten it up, fix some things, change some scenes here and there, I need it as perfect as it can. Clear the mud, show the path. I'm so very pleased you are seeing it, not just what this video manages to explain but what it doesn't. The cracks in between, the questions arising, the connections. This was just the first step, I'm uber excited. Thanks for the poem tip, loved it. Lately everything I see or hear speaks to me of Enderal, #3 will quote many sources. If you don't know it already, you might like The Metal Opera by Tobias Sammet. Many years that I listen to it, and now it's like hearing it anew. th-cam.com/play/OLAK5uy_lF-B9uiduLZQ2s33AqCXTDgb6KLKTQb4I.html
I just finished Enderal and am sad that there is so little content about it compared to other games. This video perfectly investigated one of the questions that were left open for me, so thanks a lot
I'm very impressed! I played through the whole story of Enderal 4 times and there are still things I missed. For example I never noticed the stone face of the old man. I like your theory it makes a lot of sense. I definitely want to see more like that.
Thats a really great remark. Neuer recognized the Mark at Calia and the statues. And about the age of the old man vs the black guardian. Thanks! The sureai developers said they are impressed that Most people doesn't See the true identity of the old man. Someone thought, that it could be Arkt.
Great video! I'm the biggest Enderal fan and played it many times. That's a possibility I thought of too. An other explanation could be the aged man is a Tel'Ilmatath like the player in Nehrim. The prophecy we got there from Tealor says: "And so the Battle of the Last rages in dispute, conjuring the storm that shall destroy, and Tel'lmaltath, Shadow Messenger, remaining alone." So maybe the aged mans companion is our Kim and he survived in his timeline. I think the receiver of the letter is Arkt and he means that the Tel'Ilmatath of Nehrim survived just like them and without Sarantha there would be hope. Sarantha is most likely an aspect of the veiled woman who could make a difference. Thanks again for your content!
@@P.o.L one of the story writers from SureAI wrote in a german forum that he's surprised many people didn't recognize the aged man. So it has to be a character we met before. The aged man could be also Arkt. I can't argue on that theory well because there are hints in Arktwend but I never played this game.
«On the night when I considered the essence of the God, I became aware of an image: I lay in a dark depth. *An old man stood before me. He looked like one of the old prophets.* A black serpent lay at his feet. Some distance away I saw a house with columns. A beautiful maiden steps out of the door. She walks uncertainly and I see that she is blind. *The old man waves to me and I follow him to the house at the foot of the sheer wall of rock.* The serpent creeps behind us. Darkness reigns inside the house. We are in a high hall with glittering walls. A bright stone the color of water lies in the background. As I look into its reflection, the images of Eve, the tree, and the serpent appear to me.» Carl Gustav Jung. The Red Book (Liber Novus)
Holy crap, what a video. Man, you're doing us a great service by examining this masterpiece of a game. Subscribed and clicked the notification bell, I don't want to miss any future content!
No one ever said a fleshless escaping their cycle makes them any less of a slave to it. In the ending we realize. We never had free will. Never had an actual choice. Fleshless truly are slaves to the cycle. Simply running through the exact same steps, the exact same choices, every cycle. Notice there are no actual choices in the main story. No decisions you can make. Until the very end. You only get one choice. One choice as the cycle had already run its course and is about to end. Only after are we allowed to make a choice. And the choice is a test. A test of humanity. The aged man tells you to think about why you are given these powers. Many people came to the conclusion that he was telling you to stop. But he knows you can't. Because he has as little free will in his actions as you do. The power, the sudden rise to be a hero, the rapidly rising ego that comes with it. Its a trap. A cold, calculated trap by the High ones to make you believe you could be a god. To be the mighty hero that leads the next humanity to its salvation. To make you choose to abandon humanity and let them win. A trap Gajus fell for. Its a trap because you don't get to truly escape the cycle as long as you live. You just become another part. Do you truly believe Gajus would give you the Word of the Dead if he had free will in the matter? All he would have to do if take the box and disappear his mansion and the cycle would be unable to fully unfold. But he can't. Because fleshless are slaves to the cycle, if they survive it or not. That is why he tells you to not let it get to your head. The high ones play off ego and pride. They pretend to be unimpressed by you, to spur you on to prove them wrong. They tell you you are the only real emissary to feed your ego even further. Do you really think they are even capable of emotions? No. They say what they say to manipulate. That and only that. They have no singular identity. They are the merged result of millions of human minds. This means they CHOSE the personality they are interacting with you with. The fact so many people believed they could succeed as a god, fell for the trap, just goes to show how damn good the High Ones are at manipulating, reaching beyond even to confines of the game. There is a bright spot though. Us choosing to be truly selfless and sacrifice ourselves, not in a grand way, not in desire for eternal glory, but a sacrifice only one person will truly remember, that alone may be enough to break the cycle. The high ones are good at their game, but they never had to face actual opposition. The whole time their manipulation was so good, they never had to fight anyone that saw through them. And if the fact the, in the end Calia says the construction of a new beacon almost instantly began somewhere else, is anything to go off, they are desperate now. If the cycle isn't guaranteed broken, it is at the very least shaken enough that the High ones aren't able to rely on their script anymore.
Yeah, when i played it the first time, i didnt ever make the connection, but when i played it again later on, i understood, as soon as he said fleshless eye, yep, hes a former prophet who lost all hope in stopping the cycle, which is why he doesnt answer your questions.
I figured a lot of this - but man oh man you ended the discussion fr.... 10/10 video - just brilliant man.. subbed Also you might’ve missed it, there is a poem the aged man wrote under a curtain in the manor - and there used to be an effect where you would collapse, get a notice of a sharp pain, and the screen would go red if you returned to the manor grounds.
Whhaaat, that's cool!! But yeah it seems they removed both with Forgotten Stories, I'm now looking at every curtain, Gajus probably cannot stand me anymore 😆 I'd be very interested in a screenshot of the poem
@@P.o.L I usually play vanilla and I think it still has it - but I’m not 100% - I’ll try to find it, it was about the rain I think.. so it might’ve implied he’d just wrote it before we arrive. I know also if you try any magic in the area afterwards, or go back and try a scroll, you get a unique message still from the old collapse sequence. (Also after 30 play throughs, I only just now saw Hallys Summerstones hanging??? There was some slight unique dialogue and all.. totally missed it.)
@@liltick102 I did not notice that either! But I might have sent him away with the money in my game, don't remember. Instead I do think I've seen the collapse effect in someone's playthrough, but it might just be a false memory after reading your comment 😄 I suspect it could be connected to another theory I have, so thanks for the tip! I saw your posts on Reddit, you have found quite a lot of interesting things! Sent you a message there.
"The veiled woman likes to crochet" made me laugh, lol. Nice video! I noticed some of these things in my playthroughs and some were new to me. I always thought the 3rd puppet was about Jespar since it would make sense that all black stone quests have one.. Also the title "no compromises" could refer to Adila and also their father. I think when Jespar tells us about him, he also uses these exact words... Are you planning to make more of these videos? I really enjoyed watching :) Would love to see one about Tharaels/the fathers stories and connections to the main plot for example.
Thank you!! Me too, I was so convinced it had to be Jespar that I kept going back to compare the scenes. But Adila sheaths her sword and uses the magic given by the Black Stone, she wasn't a magic user before so that would have been something interesting to show on the statue. It seems something that would be the same in every Cycle. Plus the position of Jespar is different. And the title of the other statue, "White light will shine within your eyes", refers to the Cleansing instead of the subject of the statue. I think the title "No compromise" has more to do with the plans of the Aged Man, becoming a god and everything. But initially I really thought it was Adila taking no compromises in her revenge plans. I do have a plan that looks like the marvel cinematic universe in my mind, with all connections between the videos, probably too ambitious 😂 So I am taking it step by step. Next ones will be two mysteries for which I am very excited, a small and a big one. Then we'll see where it goes.
I'd recently finished Enderal for the 4'th time. Noticed the same conclusions about the Aged Man. One thing you missed to mention is that the voice actress for Calia is the same as for the woman in the Aged Man floating coffin. Also the mythical symbolic for the Angel. They are sexless as a being so it doesn't matter which gender they will choose to be as their flesh. There is a lot about transcendence in the game. This theme was achieved by the Father of the Ralatha. He succeeded with Tharel, transferring his soul to another body. It's also interesting that the Veiled Woman is resurrecting Jaspar for some reason when his sister kills him. So he plays a male version of a coffin angel for the Prophet? Listen to what father has to say about the importance of a gender. And have a look at what happened to the room of paintings after the transcendence took place. Does that mean that both Aged man and the Father achieved transcendence? The Forgotten Stories adds a lot to the lore. Especially about the Veiled Woman. There is another/similar sect that disappeared in the game leaving their bloody rags on the floor in the temple of the Veiled Woman. Esme looking for Tara quest anyone? Mark on this world. Enderal is like a poetry. One final thing I wanted to mention is about the High Ones and other realities. Yuslan has found a way to travel into another reality where his daughter lives. We know that the Veiled woman knows about existence of other plains and that they have cycles over there too. Now we also know what the cycle is for. One big massive harvest of souls and their counsciousness binded into a new being...a new high one. Now the Veiled Woman mentions that she is something more than them. That she is everywhere. But there have to be a reason why she need to create the prophet and why she takes care of the people close to him, making sure that one of them is still alive up until the very end of the game. Calia and Dal Varek both have the black stones in their family. These stones are connected to the beacon. Combining all three together allows it to open up a "veil" in the sky... Just google: what "the veil" represents in the bible. End of something real. End of a dream. End of a realm. Where civilizations are like the new generations for us. The same scenarios are being constantly played out by the different actors. The cycle continues as we speak. Symmetry of our own existence bound to the physical plain of our reality just to make us aware of our consciousness. Our own velied woman within our own reality. Our own world. Our own life. Our own death. The sea of eventuality is endless. Or is it?
This is good inspiration! I am also looking into the angel - bible connections, but I did not think about the veil. About the voice for Calia and the Woman in the Water however, they are different actresses. Just look at the end credits, cast is listed at 2:30 th-cam.com/video/mfVkU-UMXtM/w-d-xo.html
@@P.o.L Well then. Whoever voiced that gal in the coffin did a very good job to sound like Calia to me. Anyhow. I can't imagine what would be if this game's budget was like GTA V or any other triple A. Every time I play Enderal again I see and feel how much potential was simply cut due to limited resources and time.
Very very good ! I love this game so much, it may be my favorite one... Since it is the enderal mystery 1, can we hope there will be others ? Actually I would appreciate a video teaser-like, without (real) spoiler, with good songs, not too long not too short, in order to convince people to try the game.
Thank you! Definitely, I am now working on mystery #2, a small one, and #3, a big big one, something that will shake everything we believe about Enderal. After that I've plans for #4 and #5, but I'll probably do something smaller first, like another 5 tips video or some other ideas I want to explore. The teaser is a nice idea, I'll consider it! But if there's one thing time has taught me, there are things one has to realize for him or herself. I've been talking about Enderal to everyone I know, and no matter how much I tell them that it is not just a game but a life changing experience, a lesson for every human being and a masterpiece of art, I still did not manage to convince even one. Well, some by now might be convinced that I'm totally bonkers.
@@P.o.L Haha actually I had difficulties to be convinced myself... I expected a mod of skyrim. The problem may come from "total reconversion of skyrim"... No, it's a game on its own. Just created with the same tools than skyrim ! That I only understood at the start of my first game, not before... The problem is : Skyrim and Enderal are completely different. One is really funny, nothing is serious and any situation may become hilarious with a bit of pickpocketing : it's a game where you play a character (I can't imagine someone crying in skyrim). The other is so deep in the dialogues, in the story (almost philosophical), that you are immersed, you are no longer a player, you become the character itself. You cry sometimes and every PNJ is so well written that you have respect to them, unlike the puppets of skyrim. But as a game created by skyrim's tools, almost only skyrim players may know of it. Since the games are so different, I can understand that not many people are into Enderal. Fact is I wanted to share a bit this game and I think a good video, with wise words and great music, could be effective. (For exemple, look the last teaser of Skyblivion, it worked like never !).
@@ArtenixBlack Me too, after Skyrim I played various mods, and they were interesting and entertaining, but nothing to lose my sleep on. I installed Enderal expecting something similar and then WOWOWOW, who could have imagined! We are the Prophet and the characters we meet are so real to us. While I was recording the parts with Calia, at some point she said something like "why are you so kind with me? I always fear that people have a second motive" and I felt genuinely bad, as I was using her just to make this video. The writing is so powerful that it has an impact on us, it makes us feel something real, what we experience shapes us. No matter what we think at the start of the game, we end up trying to do our best to help those people, to make everything we can to save everybody, not just because it's the mission of the game but because we want to, we need to. Which in turn makes the ending so more relevant and gripping. Nicolas Lietzau is a genius. I love the new Skyblivion trailer! I never played Oblivion and I so look forward to this release! I'd love to try my hand at something like that for Enderal, I'll have to learn to make better cinematics. No promises, I have more ideas than actual time to realize them 😅
@@P.o.L Exactly. In my case, I do prefer Jespar (I really like his philosophical part), but when I have to choose, it's so painful ! I played Oblivion (and Morrowind) a really long time so I can tell you two things for sure : the two games are really great (even if Oblivion is even more hilarious than Skyrim in most of the case), and the job on Skywind and Skyblivion is so good that it has 0 chance to disappoint me.
The Aged Man's letter is adressed to the prohptet.He knows you will read it, and he writes to you as an old friend because he has seen your incarnation many times. So he warns you not to place your pridce above your sacrifice. You were the intended recipient of the letter
The letter says "I value you as a *man* of strong character". We can be a Prophet or a Prophetess, and the letter is not addressed to the Prophetess, so it is also not addressed to the Prophet. I know it is difficult because the details are so little and so many but they are important. *edited because I sounded like an asshole
I will admit your voice occasionally fooled me into thinking it was a one creepy machine synthesiser trying to pass off as a human I like it I think it fits the theme perfectly. I will subscribe and turn on the bell
Ahahahah! You know, I've never liked my voice (and thick accent). But I really wanted to make the video, so I thought "whatever". Then as I was putting the intro together with the creepy images and music I was like "hey, it's actually not so bad". It kinda (involuntarily) gives that vibe of estrangement that I felt in the manor of the AM, and that I was hoping to transmit. As long as I make Enderal videos it should be ok then, it's mostly creepy, alienating stuff 😆
@@P.o.L you need a better microphone as your voice comes through sounding flat. part of it is cause you're monotonous but i think a better mic sound will help
@@P.o.L None the less, I believe that accent gives your voice its own unique spin. Its not ear bleeding at all, and genuinely interesting. The themes and research are really well done. The video is definitely informative as fuck. All in all. Well done. And may you have a happy new year. And yeah A good mic is definitely in order, it will take your voice over to a new level. I know who I'll be redirecting people to if I ever cover Enderal.
@@P.o.L *Side note* I also think you picked a really good game to cover. Rarely can you find such quality, beauty and interesting narrative design in such a lovely little (and shockingly, free package). Like design-wise I will bet my left testicle that Enderal has thousand times more memorable locations and such.
How I never noticed that that face from the mountain was his face... Also, its scary that everything happens as before, high ones really manipulate it in the same way from the beginning to the end. The only thing that I don't understand is how humanity didn't manage to save ourselves when they knew about everything from The Aged Man. The High Ones changed the course of actions to evade their resistance? It can't be, the actors in the play and the play itself would change. Or It somehow can't be changed? The Aged Man could become a new fake actor. He could just kill all the potential actors, maybe everyone important, and in the end, went to the numinous just with the prophet, prophet couldn't be controlled like the betrayer did, right? Or could he? I don't understand, he could do things by himself after finishing The Machine. He is probably incredibly powerful after all this time. Maybe The High Ones had some other tricks. I think he just gave up too early... I think his pride is still preventing him from struggling again.
That face is haunting me, it opened for me a world of secrets. I must have rewatched my own video 200 times 😆 I think that the plan of the High Ones is very adaptable. And that the Aged Man (and every Prophet) can't actually do much because he is still a puppet of the High Ones. But I suspect that he did try something and I am building a crazy theory for which I did find some unexpected proof that I'm dying to share. It might be hard to believe until I publish that, but after much rewatching I became convinced this video has only scratched the surface...
@@P.o.L There is also Jaél Tanner's Son story. His "path" also started with the dreams, with the veiled woman. He also died and got resurrected as The Angel did in the ritual, and got fire magic similar to Jespar's sister. He got adopted like Rynéus after being abandoned. I think he lied at the book about his childhood. His lie, delusions about normal life could refer to the statue "Dreams" You can connect all the statues from Aged Man Manor to him. "Harvest" "Reaching for salvation" his mother killing his father in, "No compromise" or maybe him killing weak people ignoring their regrets. Him siting with his father listening to his monologues. The fire burning him from within. The Butcher of Ark was like the Angel of Death. He also heard someone else thoughts in his head, took pleasure from killing, been resurrected. Got overwhelmed by the endless cycle of death. All of this surely can't be a coincidence... It can't be me just creating some exaggerated theories. The Rhalâta quest line kind of proved the existence of The Libra and refuted some Chronicler points. Everyone lies in Enderal so it shouldn't be surprise. What was The Libra anyway, who was behind them and what was their part in the story? They were clearly connected in some way.
@@Azai- Even better, Jael consumes memories of his victims, and we consume memories from the memory trees (past/future/parallel reality Prophets?). There are too many similarities to be just coincidences 😉
@@P.o.L Yeah, also the reason of The Black Libra's killings of those girls from the village (Rhalâta questline). Tharaêl said, according to The Father, that the children of those 10 daughters they killed were meant to become "Emissaries of The End". Supposedly the child told them the potential future of the children, like the prophet she could see things. Emissaries, The End? What End? The cycle? What was their reason of the killings? Was their veiled woman different from that we met? She looked different at least according to Jaél's description. I keep thinking what was their stand. Were they trying to find countermeasure to the cycle, correct people? It's like they had their own "cleansing" to prevent. Where they even related to our story?🤯 Heh... The Enderal lore drives me crazy... I think I understand why Constantine Firespark went mad after supposedly learning "everything".😂
Ahaha, currently researching the topic! But I am still connecting the dots, so in the meantime I thought to explore some minor mysteries. And I am excited to say I have something mind blowing for the next investigation video, stay tuned 😉
as far as i understand, the veiled woman is orchestrating the cycles to keep the "game" interesting. she presents struggle as life is boring without chaos and conflict
Yes indeed. Just as the Aged Man probably is a Fleshless like you, but a Fleshless who has lived through many previous cycles, the Woman in the Water could be his spouse who had more vitality than a regular person. Ergo she was sb like Calia (not Calia herself as you suggest but sb analogous to her) who survived the Cleansing with you. Btw. an inconsistent thing plotwise here is that the Old Man is a bit... reluctant to act because he does not influence the plot too much. Would you, as a player who finished a Cycle in Enderal, be as passive as the Old Man in the next cycles? I doubt so! You would rather be more proactive to make humanity progress much more in the following cycle, especially if you were motivated by recurring nightmares of suffering (cf. the wooden statues) and had all the knowledge about the Beacon. Anyway nice Enderal video, there are so many other issues to explore. Fingers crossed for your next vids, a topic could be for example whether the Sunflower secret ending is real or not :)
The theory is that the Aged Man tried to save humanity many times. But he saw he couldn't do anything: "You can't force insight on people... it has never worked and it never will", that's why he became so bitter and passive.
What I don't get is the fact that the Prophet surviving the Cycle is quite unique. Black Guardian tell us that we were supposed to die of our injuries. So how could the Aged Man could escape the Cleansing?
The Veiled Woman saved him, like she saved us. Why him, us and not all the Prophets in between is the real question. I think all the right factors must be in place, so to say. But for now it's just a theory, I hope to give a concrete answer in a future investigation 😁
Do you mean this one by octopussoap? archiveofourown.org/works/46974601/chapters/118336216 I don't know it, but will give it a try. I've read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and really really enjoyed the way it applies logic to the wizarding world.
@@P.o.L No, I mean archiveofourown dot org / works / 20378512 "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" is great! I love "Chapter 16: Lateral Thinking".
I don't know anyone who read HPMOR, so cool! And this Enderal fan fiction, I didn't know about it, very insightful and touching, wow. Ritha, nice that the author picked on that. Thanks for recommending ❤
@@P.o.L No, thank you, finally motivated me to finish Enderal for the first time. I got halfway in your video and you gave the spoiler warning and i was like, ok, time to finish.
@@P.o.L Well the Aged Man says as much himself: "you can't force insight on people, it's never worked and it never will" To me that reads as him admitting he's already tried guiding Humanity to avoid the Cleansing and it failed
Oh yeah I do agree with that! Sorry I was running late to work and my answer was too hurried. What I meant is that the video reaches also some other conclusions and the tl;dw seemed to me too reductive 😅
![fellow fellow - พรุ่งนี้ไม่มีใครรู้ feat. INK WARUNTORN [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QP6JyjYx_W0/mqdefault.jpg)
Holy mother of God... this is so great...
This was my reaction too! Thanks!
@@P.o.L yer welcome
I prefer the original german versions of the songs
Which one is your favourite? I love the Winter Sky
@@P.o.L Das Lied der Waage is really great (The Song of the Raven in english).
The lyrics are quite different from the english translation (and a lot better actually)
What an absolutely insane video man.
I love this game to death, by far my favorite game of all time.
Such a shame there's so little content about it on TH-cam.
This video was very very well made. Thanks a lot.
Me too, didn't love a game this much from when I was a kid. Maybe because one can feel so much love has been put in the game.
I am making it my mission to remedy to the lack of content here. There's so many topics I'd like to explore. But it will probably take me ages, no promises 😉
The fact that the Rynéus doll had nails on it's face and left leg had me SCREAMING, the details are just crazyyy
This is incredible!! I can’t believe how disappointing the ratio between cool Enderal lore to explore per video on TH-cam exploring it is. Keep holding this ratio up, you’re doing god’s work.
Thanks!! I'll give it my very best 🤞
Whenever the “servant” mentions he had a premonition that they would have company, so he prepared a meal. Only the meat was a little “charred,” I had chills. Nice. Crispy. Piece. Of. Meat.
So yea, I roleplayed my character as a vegetarian the entire game…..
lol that's pretty awesome dedication! Did you eat only fruit and vegie food items to recover health? That's honestly pretty impressive seeing as how most long-term health regen items are meat-related.
I’m currently doing the same lol. My character lives on endralian crusty bread, leeks and apples 😂
The devs weren't kidding when they said "The identity of the aged man should be obvious if you look into it"
I think the aged man might be my favorite npc in the game, just because of the potential lore surrounding him. I actually think if you flee the cleansing, you’ll end up just like him in a few cycles.
The game has many themes, the more prominent of which is (1) prides comes before the fall, (2) sometimes fighting one’s fate will only hasten it, and (3) people are complex and hear only what they want to hear (Tealor… repeatedly, and even the prophet occasionally). I don’t want to be the person who is like “I saw it coming,” but I actually did guess what was going to happen when I was about 65% of the way through the game. The revelation of the Black Guardian still hit me in the gut, and I also figured he was lying, just because I felt like I had been deceived by EVERYONE and I was not about to trust this giant machine. He did mix the lies with truth, and I feel like what so many take as “truth” is when he mentions that our character is the first being that has broken our cycle. We survived the encounter with the Emperor and the traitor. I don’t believe that. The whole plot of the game was us being overconfident that we would break the cycle, and that we would change the nature of humanity to do so. It’s arrogant. We were not the first fleshless ones to escape the cycle and we won’t be the last.
I personally believe the aged man was a prophet, just like us. The woman in the water is his version of Jesper or Calia, suspended in the liquid to keep them preserved. (I haven’t read the book yet, so that’s just me speculating from what’s in the game). “Are we there yet?” She asks. In my second play through, I took that as a “have we succeeded in breaking the cycle yet?” My first play through, he seemed like a mysterious, elder being. My second, he seemed like a cynical man who’d been alive too long and disappointed too many times.
As for the mannequins, I believe that he actually uses them to survive each cleansing. We learn that the cleansing destroys every living thing, which is why the black guardian uploaded himself onto a giant metal hard drive (I know I said I don’t trust him fully, but why else would he do that if he didn’t at least believe it himself). I think the aged man uses the strange crystal we find in his workshop to transfer his soul into the mannequin, then from the mannequin back to another physical body after the cleansing is over. We saw Calia’s father attempt some sort of energy/life transfer with that crystal, and we know it’s at least possible because the father did it.
That takes a lot of preparation, and it makes sense if he were to figure out what would happen before it actually happened (aka, him being a prophet and seeing the future).
One thing I want to know is who was the letter addressed to?? Tealor arantheal maybe?? He seemed to be warning his friend not to make the same mistakes he did, and I always wondered how the keepers knew so much about the cycle in the beginning. I don’t know, just a theory.
Also, the first time we actually meet the elder ones, we see that half mannequin on the table. This is right after we pass that test and talk to “Jesper”. Okkkk weird. Why is that??
Regardless, I could go on and on about the endings and why none of them are good. But honestly, I think my favorite is the one where you run away. It seems hopeful. Just like the rest of the game is hopeful you can stop the inevitable. Hopeful just like the Aged man was when he ran away and decided to help future generations avoid the same fate. But fate is tied to one’s decisions, which are rooted in one’s nature. The interesting thing about the elder ones, is they do have some magical abilities it seems, but they’re actually relatively powerless. The ending is 100% a result of the player’s and the other fleshless ones’ actions. They manipulate by preying on the worst impulses of the characters and using their weaknesses against them (ie Tealor’s pride and disgust at his own failures). They taunted him until he could see nothing else but the goal in front of him, just to prove to himself that they were wrong. In the process he doomed everyone. In the case of the prophet (different depending on how you roleplay), you want to be important. You want to make a difference. You want to change the world. As players we approach these games with that kind of arrogance (I mean, it’s not fair to say arrogance bc it’s games and we want to live out our fantasy of being a hero, but that comes across as the pride of the prophet and their ultimate fall). There’s so much more about this game I love, because it’s just so telling. They say just enough, but not too much. The developers pointed out things about human nature but also left it up to our translation of the events. *chef’s kiss*
^^^also I apologize if I repeated anything you said! Your video was so so so good I got so excited halfway through and I had to type up a comment before I forgot anything!! Thanks for such an awesome analysis, and I’d love more videos :))
Just had a thought: could the angel in the fire also be Jespar considering how he dies. By then end of the game, both Calia and he have died, so do you think that has any significance?
Angel in the water could also be a reference to the prophet, considering how we die in the beginning.
@@ohmyduck8101 Thank you, thank you! I totally get it, because of the findings I've got so excited halfway through that narrating the second half became a real struggle 😄 And the struggle continues as I'm preparing the next videos, there is crazy crazy stuff going on in Enderal that I had (we have) no idea of, even after reading every possible theory on the internet. So thank you for the comment, knowing others experience the same gives me energy to proceed.
Most of your questions I think have an answer in this video. For the rest, I have the same suspicions, like none of the endings being actually good and the High Ones being more powerful than we think, but still in their limits. About Jespar, I think his role is a different one, and that there could be a connection with the Aged Man that I did not see before, but I'm still confused. The half mannequin is a representation of us, the Prophet, of that I'm sure by now and I'll show proof. It just takes so long to put all together in a complete, logical and enjoyable result. The answers are coming, not as fast as I'd like in my own impatience, but soon we are all going to feel the fire 🔥
Great explanation. I think catharsis ending is the 'good' ending. The reason being that it overlaps with the dreamflower elixir ending. The dreamflower elixir is supposed to pull out the perfect reality from the sea of eventualities, except Yuslan claims that it's not real and the real you is comatose. However, this means that in the sea of eventualities, the best result comes from both destroying the beacon and surviving. If we follow that logic, then destroying the beacon should save the cycle.
Thank you! Very interesting, I was thinking yes, but your comment suddenly pushed me in an unexpected direction. We can take the dreamflower elixir and still end up on the Star City, wouldn't it mean that is also a dreamflower ending?
@@P.o.L That's a good question. I guess there's no way to know for sure because anything could happen after either endings. But I think the developers had an important message behind the catharsis ending, and that message would be lost if it were a bad ending.
By Malphas, this video is so good..!
I just finished my second playthrough after some years and thought I would have found all the details. But you display even more details than I rigorously try to find. For example the nails in the puppet of the kid Rynéus or the fire under the statue of the angel. Awesome how deep you went into the game and story.
And to the theory crafting: I came to the same conclusions about the aged man, independently to you. It just makes a lot of sense. The aged man is a prophet from the times before the black guardian who somehow managed to survive after the destruction of the numinos. That's the only explanation why the black guardian whitnesses this for the first time with us as a player. Also all the other little details like woman in the water, angel statues, wooden figures etc fit to this theory. But my questions still remain, why him and why us? Is it simply an unlikely eventuality come true? Or did the Vailed Woman wanted this to happen? Or both? Maybe we survived by coincidence this time and the Veiled Woman saw this and used the opportunity to send us to the black guardian to get to know the truth? Or did she make us survive? What's her role in everything? How does she decides who should die and who should live? It seems as if she tries to preserve the constant of the cycle. Make it that it happens every time. That's why she kills Calias father, so that she will become a part of the sun temple and helps us survive on our adventures. That's why she resurrects Jaspar because he helps us aswell to survive and find our goal. The goal to make the cycle happen.
Is she a goddess that make happyness and meaning possible by introducing the counter forces to that? No good without evil, no light without darkness. No meaning and value of humanity without the cycle? A lot to think about. Also in an analogy to reality. This truly makes the game so great.
Thanks for the awesome video man. I love your mystery, calm, thoughtful style and your focus on detail
@@DieBieneFranz I heartily agree on these points and questions, the Veiled Woman seems to keep things going, with little touches here and there to steer all in the right direction. I don't know yet but I am starting to have some ideas 😁 Also just lately I've become convinced that is actually Calia herself killing her father, her first uncontrolled burst of power. Definitely a lot to consider still. Thank you!!
always happy to see more Enderal content on youtube, let alone a theory video
A theory on the dreamflower would be kind of cool - feels under-discussed.
This is a very well-made, in-depth analysis on a very mysterious character. You made alot of good points and help bring to light several details that are easy to miss. The segment on Calia is especially interesting. Enderal is easily my favorite game and I'm happy to see people making content about it!
Thank you 😀
this is a great fan theory
awesome detective skills
Thanks, I'm still amazed myself by the findings 😄
I can't believe how well-thought and deep this analysis is. Thanks for the video and a reason to play Enderal one more time knowing the truth. Or rather, a small part of the truth.
Thank you, and enjoy every second of the replay, it's really a different experience!
Thoroughly enjoyed this.
And thank you for adding subtitles btw.
Thank you! It was such a fun investigation
This is great, I always thought is was a shame there weren't many theories and lore videos for Enderal. The game deserves this for sure so more people can experience it. Thanks for this. I'll be eagerly waiting if you make more stuff about enderal. Have a good one :-)
Side bar: good cut from the Intro audio to the (voiceless) soundtrack version. Well done, good opener for your [already impressive] video.
Thanks for noticing, I'm really proud of that detail even if small!
This game is so criminally underrated it's unbelievable 😢
I'm going to appreciate the fact that Enderal, a mod for Skyrim - a game which has tons of videos assessing its various mysteries and hidden secrets - now has videos about its mysteries and hidden secrets. Looking forward for more.
Indeed, what a strange and surprising world we live in
Amazing video! Needs more views. I'm so disappointed their isn't more Enderal analysis on TH-cam. I'd love to see more of this content, perhaps on the veiled woman or even a discussion on the central themes of the game. One can only hope!
Also I think you are right, The Aged Man being a former prophet makes the most sense.
My 2 cents on the veiled woman was always that the veiled woman stands for / or represents the creators of the game itself. They say the veiled woman stands over everything even over the circle and the high ones. She is there so that all things can play out as they have to be... its another "meta stage" for me. And it all makes sense and comes together this way.
That's kind of my thought too, she is higher than all 😉
Insane video. So incredible. I thought it would be stuff I had already thought about. I was pretty sure after the 4th time of playing Enderal I had it all figured out but that stuff about Calia. It hit hard. You my friend deserve my sub. great video!
I could not hope for more, thank you! 😊
This was a very good video. Even though I have played Enderal and Nehrim many times, you have made me seen so many details that I had missed !
Can't express how happy it makes me to read this! Sending you big hugs 🤗
Wow, this was an amazing video. I have a small, branching theory I'd like to throw out there based off of it, since the Veiled Woman's words to Calia, "You have no idea how special you are" and the fact that she decided to give her a specific name in the first place, got me thinking about her potential motivations. What kind of role would Calia have to play in her schemes to be considered so unique?
The only reason the aged man is still around is Calia. She was able to survive indefinitely in stasis, and instead of withdrawing completely from humanity or ending his own life, he stuck around for her. The lady in the water said: "I still believe in our dream", even though the Aged Man obviously doesn't anymore. The only thing he feels attachment to is her. Was this one of the unique purposes the Veiled Woman has for Calia? Is she instrumental in keeping the Aged Man here, who is in turn, serving as a warning that's instrumental in making sure a prophet eventually sacrifices themselves? Was it an extremely long, cycle-spanning series of events, orchestrated by the Veiled Woman, where one Prophet's wrong choice would finally bring about the right one?
Omg you are totally right!! I was pushing my brain to think how could Calia save Vyn as the Angel in the future, but the Woman in the Water is already saving Vyn as the Angel in the present 🤯
You my friend might have just found the real meaning of the Angel.
Still mind blown about your comment, I really think this is the plan of the Veiled Woman for Calia. I'll have to properly thank you in a future mystery and quote you verbatim, if I may. Your logic is flawless and the explanation perfectly worded.
@@P.o.L Thank you, that would be awesome! Your video really got me thinking about the differences between Jespar and Calia, and I came to the conclusion that one wouldn't be more suited than the other to guide humanity down the right path after the prophet sacrifices themselves. So I just started to think backwards about what lasting differences each companion would have on the prophet if they fled.
I just beat Enderal a few days ago, and it was truly one of the most incredible experiences I've had with a game. I've been reading people's theories and speculations on the story constantly since then, glad I could help with it!
@@GainghisKhan Thank you for sharing! I've also read many theories and speculations, yours is the first sensible thing I read about who Calia really is and why. I'll be looking forward to your feedback on the next mysteries, honestly there are so many things I can't still wrap my head around. This video also has various other consequences I only realized afterwards, if you notice them please keep them for now, they are a surprise for mystery #3 😁
The Aged Man may get the change he wants in the next cycle. In Nehrim you fulfill your role as Shadow God and kill the Lightborn, manipulated by Fate to do so. You are supposed to die, but instead you destroy these roles of Shadow God and Fate, meaning that in the next cycle the next group of immortal arcanists that become gods may rule forever, as there will be no Shadow God to kill them, nor will there be Fate to set someone against them. At the very lest the scenario for the next cycle will HAVE to change if it can still be completed at all because 2 main roles have been deleted. If the next Lightborn or whatever they will be called rule forever, then The High Ones may never reawaken as death of the lightborn is their wake up call. If they still awaken anyway, they would have to be way more crafty than usual to trigger to trigger the Cleansing. However I believe that such a change and a challenge from the living is exactly what the Hogh Ones want to happen, because whenever you talk with them they ridicule you for following the scenario as the others before you and say that they're disappointed by it. Even if you look at the endings of Enderal alone you will see that scenario is still not being followed completely, as you can escape the Cleansing, meaning there will be at least 2 surviving Fleshless in the next cycle, or you can sacrifice yourself to at least delay this cycle's end, perhaps stopping it completely. Without the cycle all High Ones will eventually die out as it is said theyre not immortal, they have a long, but limited lifespan.
Still playing Nehrim so I don't know, but I like your suggestion, and your point that the High Ones mock us for just doing the same as previous Prophets and not trying to think out of the box. The High Ones in Enderal are "immortal" though, they don't have a mortal body to kill. Do you mean that the High Ones in Nehrim are not immortal? I am curious but please avoid spoilers because I did not finish the game yet 😜
@@P.o.L High Ones don't have a physical body, but they're supposedly not immortal like the Fleshless. It's not completely confirmed (as a lot of things about the High Ones are left pretty vague), but supposedly the High Ones do not live forever, they just live for a very long time.
One of the main events by the end of the cycle is the search for Numinos, an object filled with the essence of a high one (word of the dead). This once again shows that the High Ones either can be killed, sealed, or they simply die eventually after some time. Besides, the High Ones are an amalgamation of the whole civilisation, but even without a body they should still be vulnerable to Psionic magic. Perhaps the beacon simply creates a very powerful blast of Psionic magic that when directed via a Numinos will destroy the High Ones instead of humanity.
I also have another theory that would kinda support these ideas in a way: I think the Cycle is NOT natural at all and the first High One was born from a powerful Psionic spell or ritual gone wrong. Perhaps the first civilisation advanced so much they tried to play God, or perhaps it was done by one of the seven immortal arcanists at the time, or maybe after the death of the seven arcanists one of the nations tried to create a superweapon to defeat the others and it backfired (this one is the most likely scenario imo). If we ask the good old "chicken or the egg" question here it should be obvious that High Ones simply couldn't exist before the beacon was lit for the first time so there had to be the first iteration to start it all.
There is also the issue of the 4 Fleshless having specific roles. I think that originally these were the 4 people who were to blame for what happened. This would explain even better the mockery by the High Ones, as these 4 always repeat the exact same mistakes all because of their Egos.
@@FerunaLutelou I also think that the Cycle is not natural and there was a time without it, maybe the result of an experiment, a weapon, maybe an accident or on purpose. And that the first High One was born from that, and the Cycle began. I do not see how would the High Ones die of old age, but I do agree they might be susceptible to Psionics or Entropy. And your suggestion that we may be repeating scenes from that time and that the Fleshless are repeating figures based on the people who caused the Cycle in the first place is very intriguing!! This will definitely keep me thinking, thanks!
you made so many valid point and pointed out to many thinks I did not realize when playing. SO, I am going to play again! But, I don't think Calia is the woman in the water. I played enderal many times and to me the woman in the water was always the Aged Man's companion. Just someone who was beside him when the cleansing happen - I am still not sure if he was a prophet or and emperror, or neither. Maybe was someone who say the cleansing and found a way to excape. But he is a fleshless. What if he is a fleshless in a different way? But back to Calia not being the woman in the water. The veiled woman, appears after Calia is reencarnated. So Calia dies. And is reborn. And the woman in the water is alive so she cannot be Calia. But, I think, the Cleansings starts when Calia is reeincarnated. Imagine, the LightBorns lived to thousand of years and nothing. And suddenly, Calia is reeincanated and it beggins. So, what if, Calia is the trigger? And why is she the trigger?
Thanks! I like your thinking, had many similar thoughts before the investigation. But what we find makes clear that the Woman in the Water is the Calia from the Cycle of the Aged Man. About the Veiled Woman, she appears much before Calia is resurrected, and more than once. Mystery #3 clarifies that 😉
Holy shit man... what a great video, loved it all! All the details , research and the conclusions that seems correct. Well done man, whan an underrated video!
A channel that covers Enderal? I've been missing this. instant sub
Thanks for this video/your research.
I noticed a few of these things, I too always thought, that the aged man must have been a previous prophet (or maybe a previous traitor like Yuslan, who has a very strong connection to another person aswell, tho certainly not an Emperor like other people on the internet suggested) but your connection to Calia appears really compelling to me..
Now I feel like I have to play Enderal again as I feel like I condemned my character to a life of eternal agony and resignation by choosing the same ending the aged man chose ..
Well, there are worse excuses to make yourself cry again a few times by playing Enderal again..
God I love this game ..
I was actually convinced he was an Emperor before making the video. Damn proofless internet theories!
@@P.o.L The circumstances of disappearance of the other emissaries at the end of the cycle are a lot less clear compared to the Emperor, so I just considered it more likely for the others to "escape their fate" in one way or the other. I assume that's just why I for myself ruled the role of the Emperor out for the aged man. :)
@@narve7337 Good point! That "pride was my fall" was for me very misleading.
@@P.o.L Now, having "benefited" from your take on the aged man and his art, I consider it as a hint at him being a prophet, as a clue that he regrets the ending he chose. His pride and confidence led him to a situation he doesn't want to be in.
However, I just adore the depth the writers created for this passion project.
It is so rare that you just want to keep speculating and thinking about the world/story/characters a movie/game/book presented to oneself and the fact that a project consisting of only voluntary work manages that, is just mind boggling to me.
@@narve7337 That's a beautiful way of putting it. And yes, the depth and the layers, and the more we dig the more we find, and it actually makes coherent sense, it is all far beyond any expectation for a voluntary project.
Bro picked up on every detail available in this game. Who the f disliked this masterpiece?
Wow. At first I thought it was just a theory, but you straight up nailed it. The funny part is that this reminded me a lot of my favorite jrpg Xenogears, in which [spoiler] the protagonist has special powers much like the Prophet in Enderal, lives many lives through eternal resurrection, has a fated lover that also always resurrects and they always end up together again, and there's even a very similar version of the Aged Man in the story as well. [/spoiler]
I feel like both games might have took some inspirations from the same philosophies or religions. Which just makes me love Enderal lore even more.
Thanks! I didn't know about Xenogears, but from what you say I can see the parallels! I'm reading now something about it and it says there are elements of Jungian psychology and there is a mysterious masked man involved in the start, really makes you think of Enderal.
Yea, it's a japanese RPG but it's heavily inspired by western philosophy (Freud, Nietzsche, Jungian) and religion (gnosticism, Jewish mysticism, etc).
I played through Enderal but this video really made me notice the similarities between them. Very worth checking out if you like complex stories.
@@kingofbel6499 by Malphas my list of games to play gets longer and longer, but this definitely sounds like a game I would love!
Had to come back to these, although assuming I am right is dumb, I feel pretty right about several thing’s in the Vyn universe theory/lore wise, and you are no less inspired, and prescient as hell in your discoveries and analyses.
Can’t wait for the next one, you NAILED this one.
I think there is room for thought further concerning The Aged Man- however I also think that what was once a ton of more and more unlikely or tentative idea’s about his identity and place in this narrative has been not only been brought to an agreeable, and seemingly correct position in theory.. but also it is much easier to make such connections to better understand other theories entirely.. conjecture or not, I firmly believe he is a previous prophet (despite many of Enderals references being extrinsic and sometimes accurately similar but wrongly inspired by material such as “sa’ira” being from ça’ira the song of the Valkyrie thing’s in the scene drawn for the executions in the French Revolution.) I know as well many theme’s in the Isle of Kor are based in Gnosticism. I’ve seen you comment that you are citing the Bible for Angel - and honestly, several time’s I have searched thing’s only to trace them back to it.
Idk, what I’m getting at is that guessing is much less involved in discerning this world’s mysteries than before.
77% of what exists in Enderal I believe is not arbitrary, not without connection or pertinence in my experience writing these theories as well- a part of a whole, be it narrative, or nothing significant - there is always more to question, and more to discover, and even when that is not the case - Enderal is wild at making you think and take thing’s personally albeit still as the character - My first play through’s were totally engendered by an overarching need to understand my own character.
The waters definitely got muddied, but more interesting beneath once they added the hidden books “A strange friend” “conversation with a blind old man” and “mothers pain” (irlanda, tealor, and narathzhul), “Order”, “Temporal fabric of time travel” blah bla, and “concerning the holiness of the Order”
Idk, I think those are so interesting because many time’s I’ve fallen back to questioning is this whole thing the dream of an old man, or something along those lines.. Which is ridiculous of course, but as I said, muddied af.
(Random, but do you also agree that Jespar is almost certainly not Fleshless? - I see many people preferring that theory, but I don’t believe so myself, I’m not sure exacttttly what Constantine meant by “one day you will understand, you too! Fleshless one..” to us and Jes- but nah I just reject the whole idea that he would become anything more than a replicant of the woman in the water, or more reasonably at that- Calia.) **nvm just got to the point in the video where you alrdy agreed
Also you might find Sailing to Byzantium interesting.. It wasn’t material that inspired this - but it is hugely similar thematically to Enderal.
anyway- overtired & overly typing - love yr channel lmao
Oh man, you're reading my mind! I so need to show you, it's too unbelievable for words alone, you are going to love the next one. Two weeks and it should be ready 🤞 I need to tighten it up, fix some things, change some scenes here and there, I need it as perfect as it can. Clear the mud, show the path. I'm so very pleased you are seeing it, not just what this video manages to explain but what it doesn't. The cracks in between, the questions arising, the connections. This was just the first step, I'm uber excited.
Thanks for the poem tip, loved it. Lately everything I see or hear speaks to me of Enderal, #3 will quote many sources. If you don't know it already, you might like The Metal Opera by Tobias Sammet. Many years that I listen to it, and now it's like hearing it anew.
th-cam.com/play/OLAK5uy_lF-B9uiduLZQ2s33AqCXTDgb6KLKTQb4I.html
I just finished Enderal and am sad that there is so little content about it compared to other games. This video perfectly investigated one of the questions that were left open for me, so thanks a lot
Suuuper interesting. Hoping to see more Enderal videos from you, the game deserves it.
I'm very impressed! I played through the whole story of Enderal 4 times and there are still things I missed. For example I never noticed the stone face of the old man. I like your theory it makes a lot of sense. I definitely want to see more like that.
Thank you for the kind comment, and for being my 200th subscriber! 😊
Awesome theories! I shared the view about the Aged Man, but I didin't notice all the details about his art, I'm so glad you pointed it out ;D
Art allows us to see what our mind doesn't want us to see. And Enderal is pure art 😉
Thats a really great remark. Neuer recognized the Mark at Calia and the statues. And about the age of the old man vs the black guardian.
Thanks!
The sureai developers said they are impressed that Most people doesn't See the true identity of the old man. Someone thought, that it could be Arkt.
It's really impressive how Enderal manages to hide the truth in plain sight, SureAI made a terrific job. Thanks for the comment!
Just subbed cuz, by the face of time, reddit recommended this video and didn't disappoint!!!!
Very happy to hear, welcome to the channel!!
Great video! I'm the biggest Enderal fan and played it many times.
That's a possibility I thought of too.
An other explanation could be the aged man is a Tel'Ilmatath like the player in Nehrim. The prophecy we got there from Tealor says: "And so the Battle of the Last rages in dispute, conjuring the storm that shall destroy, and Tel'lmaltath, Shadow Messenger, remaining alone."
So maybe the aged mans companion is our Kim and he survived in his timeline.
I think the receiver of the letter is Arkt and he means that the Tel'Ilmatath of Nehrim survived just like them and without Sarantha there would be hope. Sarantha is most likely an aspect of the veiled woman who could make a difference.
Thanks again for your content!
Thank you! He could still be, maybe the Aged Man killed the Light-Born of his Cycle and became the Shadow-Born of that time.
@@P.o.L one of the story writers from SureAI wrote in a german forum that he's surprised many people didn't recognize the aged man. So it has to be a character we met before.
The aged man could be also Arkt. I can't argue on that theory well because there are hints in Arktwend but I never played this game.
That I don't know, but I also did not play Arktwend... one day I will 😁
«On the night when I considered the essence of the God, I became aware of an image: I lay in a dark depth. *An old man stood before me. He looked like one of the old prophets.* A black serpent lay at his feet. Some distance away I saw a house with columns. A beautiful maiden steps out of the door. She walks uncertainly and I see that she is blind. *The old man waves to me and I follow him to the house at the foot of the sheer wall of rock.* The serpent creeps behind us. Darkness reigns inside the house. We are in a high hall with glittering walls. A bright stone the color of water lies in the background. As I look into its reflection, the images of Eve, the tree, and the serpent appear to me.»
Carl Gustav Jung. The Red Book (Liber Novus)
The voice acting is so good
Holy crap, what a video. Man, you're doing us a great service by examining this masterpiece of a game. Subscribed and clicked the notification bell, I don't want to miss any future content!
No one ever said a fleshless escaping their cycle makes them any less of a slave to it.
In the ending we realize. We never had free will. Never had an actual choice. Fleshless truly are slaves to the cycle. Simply running through the exact same steps, the exact same choices, every cycle.
Notice there are no actual choices in the main story. No decisions you can make. Until the very end.
You only get one choice. One choice as the cycle had already run its course and is about to end. Only after are we allowed to make a choice.
And the choice is a test. A test of humanity.
The aged man tells you to think about why you are given these powers. Many people came to the conclusion that he was telling you to stop. But he knows you can't. Because he has as little free will in his actions as you do. The power, the sudden rise to be a hero, the rapidly rising ego that comes with it. Its a trap. A cold, calculated trap by the High ones to make you believe you could be a god. To be the mighty hero that leads the next humanity to its salvation. To make you choose to abandon humanity and let them win. A trap Gajus fell for.
Its a trap because you don't get to truly escape the cycle as long as you live. You just become another part.
Do you truly believe Gajus would give you the Word of the Dead if he had free will in the matter? All he would have to do if take the box and disappear his mansion and the cycle would be unable to fully unfold. But he can't. Because fleshless are slaves to the cycle, if they survive it or not.
That is why he tells you to not let it get to your head.
The high ones play off ego and pride. They pretend to be unimpressed by you, to spur you on to prove them wrong. They tell you you are the only real emissary to feed your ego even further. Do you really think they are even capable of emotions? No. They say what they say to manipulate. That and only that. They have no singular identity. They are the merged result of millions of human minds. This means they CHOSE the personality they are interacting with you with.
The fact so many people believed they could succeed as a god, fell for the trap, just goes to show how damn good the High Ones are at manipulating, reaching beyond even to confines of the game.
There is a bright spot though. Us choosing to be truly selfless and sacrifice ourselves, not in a grand way, not in desire for eternal glory, but a sacrifice only one person will truly remember, that alone may be enough to break the cycle.
The high ones are good at their game, but they never had to face actual opposition. The whole time their manipulation was so good, they never had to fight anyone that saw through them. And if the fact the, in the end Calia says the construction of a new beacon almost instantly began somewhere else, is anything to go off, they are desperate now. If the cycle isn't guaranteed broken, it is at the very least shaken enough that the High ones aren't able to rely on their script anymore.
Yeah, when i played it the first time, i didnt ever make the connection, but when i played it again later on, i understood, as soon as he said fleshless eye, yep, hes a former prophet who lost all hope in stopping the cycle, which is why he doesnt answer your questions.
Wow! This adds another amazing layer to my favorite game
I figured a lot of this - but man oh man you ended the discussion fr.... 10/10 video - just brilliant man.. subbed
Also you might’ve missed it, there is a poem the aged man wrote under a curtain in the manor - and there used to be an effect where you would collapse, get a notice of a sharp pain, and the screen would go red if you returned to the manor grounds.
Whhaaat, that's cool!! But yeah it seems they removed both with Forgotten Stories, I'm now looking at every curtain, Gajus probably cannot stand me anymore 😆 I'd be very interested in a screenshot of the poem
@@P.o.L I usually play vanilla and I think it still has it - but I’m not 100% - I’ll try to find it, it was about the rain I think.. so it might’ve implied he’d just wrote it before we arrive.
I know also if you try any magic in the area afterwards, or go back and try a scroll, you get a unique message still from the old collapse sequence.
(Also after 30 play throughs, I only just now saw Hallys Summerstones hanging??? There was some slight unique dialogue and all.. totally missed it.)
@@liltick102 I did not notice that either! But I might have sent him away with the money in my game, don't remember. Instead I do think I've seen the collapse effect in someone's playthrough, but it might just be a false memory after reading your comment 😄 I suspect it could be connected to another theory I have, so thanks for the tip!
I saw your posts on Reddit, you have found quite a lot of interesting things! Sent you a message there.
"The veiled woman likes to crochet" made me laugh, lol. Nice video! I noticed some of these things in my playthroughs and some were new to me. I always thought the 3rd puppet was about Jespar since it would make sense that all black stone quests have one.. Also the title "no compromises" could refer to Adila and also their father. I think when Jespar tells us about him, he also uses these exact words... Are you planning to make more of these videos? I really enjoyed watching :) Would love to see one about Tharaels/the fathers stories and connections to the main plot for example.
Thank you!! Me too, I was so convinced it had to be Jespar that I kept going back to compare the scenes. But Adila sheaths her sword and uses the magic given by the Black Stone, she wasn't a magic user before so that would have been something interesting to show on the statue. It seems something that would be the same in every Cycle. Plus the position of Jespar is different. And the title of the other statue, "White light will shine within your eyes", refers to the Cleansing instead of the subject of the statue. I think the title "No compromise" has more to do with the plans of the Aged Man, becoming a god and everything. But initially I really thought it was Adila taking no compromises in her revenge plans.
I do have a plan that looks like the marvel cinematic universe in my mind, with all connections between the videos, probably too ambitious 😂 So I am taking it step by step. Next ones will be two mysteries for which I am very excited, a small and a big one. Then we'll see where it goes.
this video has been like a father to me
Ahaha thanks! I hope a better one than the Father and Daddy
I'd recently finished Enderal for the 4'th time. Noticed the same conclusions about the Aged Man. One thing you missed to mention is that the voice actress for Calia is the same as for the woman in the Aged Man floating coffin.
Also the mythical symbolic for the Angel. They are sexless as a being so it doesn't matter which gender they will choose to be as their flesh.
There is a lot about transcendence in the game. This theme was achieved by the Father of the Ralatha. He succeeded with Tharel, transferring his soul to another body.
It's also interesting that the Veiled Woman is resurrecting Jaspar for some reason when his sister kills him. So he plays a male version of a coffin angel for the Prophet?
Listen to what father has to say about the importance of a gender. And have a look at what happened to the room of paintings after the transcendence took place.
Does that mean that both Aged man and the Father achieved transcendence?
The Forgotten Stories adds a lot to the lore. Especially about the Veiled Woman. There is another/similar sect that disappeared in the game leaving their bloody rags on the floor in the temple of the Veiled Woman. Esme looking for Tara quest anyone? Mark on this world.
Enderal is like a poetry.
One final thing I wanted to mention is about the High Ones and other realities. Yuslan has found a way to travel into another reality where his daughter lives. We know that the Veiled woman knows about existence of other plains and that they have cycles over there too. Now we also know what the cycle is for. One big massive harvest of souls and their counsciousness binded into a new being...a new high one. Now the Veiled Woman mentions that she is something more than them. That she is everywhere. But there have to be a reason why she need to create the prophet and why she takes care of the people close to him, making sure that one of them is still alive up until the very end of the game.
Calia and Dal Varek both have the black stones in their family. These stones are connected to the beacon. Combining all three together allows it to open up a "veil" in the sky...
Just google: what "the veil" represents in the bible.
End of something real. End of a dream. End of a realm. Where civilizations are like the new generations for us. The same scenarios are being constantly played out by the different actors. The cycle continues as we speak. Symmetry of our own existence bound to the physical plain of our reality just to make us aware of our consciousness. Our own velied woman within our own reality. Our own world. Our own life. Our own death.
The sea of eventuality is endless. Or is it?
This is good inspiration! I am also looking into the angel - bible connections, but I did not think about the veil.
About the voice for Calia and the Woman in the Water however, they are different actresses. Just look at the end credits, cast is listed at 2:30
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@@P.o.L Well then. Whoever voiced that gal in the coffin did a very good job to sound like Calia to me. Anyhow. I can't imagine what would be if this game's budget was like GTA V or any other triple A. Every time I play Enderal again I see and feel how much potential was simply cut due to limited resources and time.
Very nice video, this deserves way more plays.
Very very good ! I love this game so much, it may be my favorite one...
Since it is the enderal mystery 1, can we hope there will be others ?
Actually I would appreciate a video teaser-like, without (real) spoiler, with good songs, not too long not too short, in order to convince people to try the game.
Thank you! Definitely, I am now working on mystery #2, a small one, and #3, a big big one, something that will shake everything we believe about Enderal. After that I've plans for #4 and #5, but I'll probably do something smaller first, like another 5 tips video or some other ideas I want to explore. The teaser is a nice idea, I'll consider it! But if there's one thing time has taught me, there are things one has to realize for him or herself. I've been talking about Enderal to everyone I know, and no matter how much I tell them that it is not just a game but a life changing experience, a lesson for every human being and a masterpiece of art, I still did not manage to convince even one. Well, some by now might be convinced that I'm totally bonkers.
@@P.o.L Haha actually I had difficulties to be convinced myself... I expected a mod of skyrim. The problem may come from "total reconversion of skyrim"... No, it's a game on its own. Just created with the same tools than skyrim ! That I only understood at the start of my first game, not before...
The problem is : Skyrim and Enderal are completely different. One is really funny, nothing is serious and any situation may become hilarious with a bit of pickpocketing : it's a game where you play a character (I can't imagine someone crying in skyrim). The other is so deep in the dialogues, in the story (almost philosophical), that you are immersed, you are no longer a player, you become the character itself. You cry sometimes and every PNJ is so well written that you have respect to them, unlike the puppets of skyrim.
But as a game created by skyrim's tools, almost only skyrim players may know of it. Since the games are so different, I can understand that not many people are into Enderal.
Fact is I wanted to share a bit this game and I think a good video, with wise words and great music, could be effective. (For exemple, look the last teaser of Skyblivion, it worked like never !).
But I do not mean you should change anything you are doing, because this video was really great and I hope to see more of this kind in the future ;)
@@ArtenixBlack Me too, after Skyrim I played various mods, and they were interesting and entertaining, but nothing to lose my sleep on. I installed Enderal expecting something similar and then WOWOWOW, who could have imagined! We are the Prophet and the characters we meet are so real to us. While I was recording the parts with Calia, at some point she said something like "why are you so kind with me? I always fear that people have a second motive" and I felt genuinely bad, as I was using her just to make this video. The writing is so powerful that it has an impact on us, it makes us feel something real, what we experience shapes us. No matter what we think at the start of the game, we end up trying to do our best to help those people, to make everything we can to save everybody, not just because it's the mission of the game but because we want to, we need to. Which in turn makes the ending so more relevant and gripping. Nicolas Lietzau is a genius.
I love the new Skyblivion trailer! I never played Oblivion and I so look forward to this release! I'd love to try my hand at something like that for Enderal, I'll have to learn to make better cinematics. No promises, I have more ideas than actual time to realize them 😅
@@P.o.L Exactly. In my case, I do prefer Jespar (I really like his philosophical part), but when I have to choose, it's so painful !
I played Oblivion (and Morrowind) a really long time so I can tell you two things for sure : the two games are really great (even if Oblivion is even more hilarious than Skyrim in most of the case), and the job on Skywind and Skyblivion is so good that it has 0 chance to disappoint me.
Yeah I figured as much myself. Great video!
Never realised that. Just wow.
The Aged Man's letter is adressed to the prohptet.He knows you will read it, and he writes to you as an old friend because he has seen your incarnation many times. So he warns you not to place your pridce above your sacrifice. You were the intended recipient of the letter
The letter says "I value you as a *man* of strong character". We can be a Prophet or a Prophetess, and the letter is not addressed to the Prophetess, so it is also not addressed to the Prophet. I know it is difficult because the details are so little and so many but they are important.
*edited because I sounded like an asshole
Great job detailing this
Thank you 😄
This is... mind blowing... thank you
I will admit your voice occasionally fooled me into thinking it was a one creepy machine synthesiser trying to pass off as a human
I like it
I think it fits the theme perfectly.
I will subscribe
and turn on the bell
Ahahahah! You know, I've never liked my voice (and thick accent). But I really wanted to make the video, so I thought "whatever". Then as I was putting the intro together with the creepy images and music I was like "hey, it's actually not so bad". It kinda (involuntarily) gives that vibe of estrangement that I felt in the manor of the AM, and that I was hoping to transmit. As long as I make Enderal videos it should be ok then, it's mostly creepy, alienating stuff 😆
@@P.o.L you need a better microphone as your voice comes through sounding flat. part of it is cause you're monotonous but i think a better mic sound will help
@@P.o.L also as a gesture of constructive criticism, gave a like to the video. consider making more in this format
@@P.o.L None the less, I believe that accent gives your voice its own unique spin. Its not ear bleeding at all, and genuinely interesting. The themes and research are really well done.
The video is definitely informative as fuck. All in all. Well done. And may you have a happy new year.
And yeah A good mic is definitely in order, it will take your voice over to a new level. I know who I'll be redirecting people to if I ever cover Enderal.
@@P.o.L *Side note*
I also think you picked a really good game to cover. Rarely can you find such quality, beauty and interesting narrative design in such a lovely little (and shockingly, free package).
Like design-wise I will bet my left testicle that Enderal has thousand times more memorable locations and such.
How I never noticed that that face from the mountain was his face...
Also, its scary that everything happens as before, high ones really manipulate it in the same way from the beginning to the end. The only thing that I don't understand is how humanity didn't manage to save ourselves when they knew about everything from The Aged Man. The High Ones changed the course of actions to evade their resistance? It can't be, the actors in the play and the play itself would change. Or It somehow can't be changed? The Aged Man could become a new fake actor. He could just kill all the potential actors, maybe everyone important, and in the end, went to the numinous just with the prophet, prophet couldn't be controlled like the betrayer did, right? Or could he? I don't understand, he could do things by himself after finishing The Machine. He is probably incredibly powerful after all this time. Maybe The High Ones had some other tricks.
I think he just gave up too early... I think his pride is still preventing him from struggling again.
That face is haunting me, it opened for me a world of secrets. I must have rewatched my own video 200 times 😆
I think that the plan of the High Ones is very adaptable. And that the Aged Man (and every Prophet) can't actually do much because he is still a puppet of the High Ones. But I suspect that he did try something and I am building a crazy theory for which I did find some unexpected proof that I'm dying to share. It might be hard to believe until I publish that, but after much rewatching I became convinced this video has only scratched the surface...
@@P.o.L
There is also Jaél Tanner's Son story. His "path" also started with the dreams, with the veiled woman. He also died and got resurrected as The Angel did in the ritual, and got fire magic similar to Jespar's sister. He got adopted like Rynéus after being abandoned. I think he lied at the book about his childhood. His lie, delusions about normal life could refer to the statue "Dreams" You can connect all the statues from Aged Man Manor to him. "Harvest" "Reaching for salvation" his mother killing his father in, "No compromise" or maybe him killing weak people ignoring their regrets. Him siting with his father listening to his monologues. The fire burning him from within. The Butcher of Ark was like the Angel of Death. He also heard someone else thoughts in his head, took pleasure from killing, been resurrected. Got overwhelmed by the endless cycle of death. All of this surely can't be a coincidence... It can't be me just creating some exaggerated theories. The Rhalâta quest line kind of proved the existence of The Libra and refuted some Chronicler points. Everyone lies in Enderal so it shouldn't be surprise. What was The Libra anyway, who was behind them and what was their part in the story? They were clearly connected in some way.
@@Azai- Even better, Jael consumes memories of his victims, and we consume memories from the memory trees (past/future/parallel reality Prophets?). There are too many similarities to be just coincidences 😉
@@P.o.L Yeah, also the reason of The Black Libra's killings of those girls from the village (Rhalâta questline). Tharaêl said, according to The Father, that the children of those 10 daughters they killed were meant to become "Emissaries of The End". Supposedly the child told them the potential future of the children, like the prophet she could see things. Emissaries, The End? What End? The cycle? What was their reason of the killings? Was their veiled woman different from that we met? She looked different at least according to Jaél's description. I keep thinking what was their stand. Were they trying to find countermeasure to the cycle, correct people? It's like they had their own "cleansing" to prevent. Where they even related to our story?🤯
Heh... The Enderal lore drives me crazy... I think I understand why Constantine Firespark went mad after supposedly learning "everything".😂
@@Azai- I feel you, lately I'm finding it difficult to focus on anything else 🤯😂
This is just insane..... Ty for this!!!!! When the next video about Veiled Woman? haha
Ahaha, currently researching the topic! But I am still connecting the dots, so in the meantime I thought to explore some minor mysteries. And I am excited to say I have something mind blowing for the next investigation video, stay tuned 😉
@@P.o.L I am so excited! Can't wait to see that!
as far as i understand, the veiled woman is orchestrating the cycles to keep the "game" interesting. she presents struggle as life is boring without chaos and conflict
@@Blox117 wow thanks for your theory
@@aelaofariandelle7867 not really a theory. it comes from a quest line.
Yes indeed. Just as the Aged Man probably is a Fleshless like you, but a Fleshless who has lived through many previous cycles, the Woman in the Water could be his spouse who had more vitality than a regular person. Ergo she was sb like Calia (not Calia herself as you suggest but sb analogous to her) who survived the Cleansing with you. Btw. an inconsistent thing plotwise here is that the Old Man is a bit... reluctant to act because he does not influence the plot too much. Would you, as a player who finished a Cycle in Enderal, be as passive as the Old Man in the next cycles? I doubt so! You would rather be more proactive to make humanity progress much more in the following cycle, especially if you were motivated by recurring nightmares of suffering (cf. the wooden statues) and had all the knowledge about the Beacon. Anyway nice Enderal video, there are so many other issues to explore. Fingers crossed for your next vids, a topic could be for example whether the Sunflower secret ending is real or not :)
I meant she is a previous version of Calia, not our Calia!
Not the next video, but the one after that will have some answers 😃
The theory is that the
Aged Man tried to save humanity many times. But he saw he couldn't do anything: "You can't force insight on people... it has never worked and it never will", that's why he became so bitter and passive.
What I don't get is the fact that the Prophet surviving the Cycle is quite unique. Black Guardian tell us that we were supposed to die of our injuries. So how could the Aged Man could escape the Cleansing?
The Veiled Woman saved him, like she saved us. Why him, us and not all the Prophets in between is the real question. I think all the right factors must be in place, so to say. But for now it's just a theory, I hope to give a concrete answer in a future investigation 😁
@@P.o.L I still enjoyed your video, really well done!
Amazing video!
This was incredible
Have you read ″Every Breaking Wave″ fanfic by Keyboardwielding_Squid?
Do you mean this one by octopussoap? archiveofourown.org/works/46974601/chapters/118336216
I don't know it, but will give it a try. I've read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and really really enjoyed the way it applies logic to the wizarding world.
@@P.o.L No, I mean archiveofourown dot org / works / 20378512
"Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" is great! I love "Chapter 16: Lateral Thinking".
I don't know anyone who read HPMOR, so cool! And this Enderal fan fiction, I didn't know about it, very insightful and touching, wow. Ritha, nice that the author picked on that. Thanks for recommending ❤
Incredible
wow. Looks like u nailed it
who is the father?
good job
Thank you!
@@P.o.L No, thank you, finally motivated me to finish Enderal for the first time. I got halfway in your video and you gave the spoiler warning and i was like, ok, time to finish.
That's great! Enderal is such an amazing experience, I would have hated to spoil it up for you. Take your time and enjoy every moment of it 😉
woo great vid
Thanks 😀
прикольно
правда, раз уж ринеус связан с остальными владельцами чёрных камней, то женщину в воде скорее и правда зовут рита, а не калия.
The Veiled Woman seems to just repeat a pattern, I don't see her making up new names at every Cycle 😄
tl;dw Catharsis is the Good Ending because you don't make the same mistake as the Aged Man by fleeing from the Cleansing
I think there is more than that, but I might be partial
@@P.o.L Well the Aged Man says as much himself: "you can't force insight on people, it's never worked and it never will"
To me that reads as him admitting he's already tried guiding Humanity to avoid the Cleansing and it failed
Oh yeah I do agree with that! Sorry I was running late to work and my answer was too hurried. What I meant is that the video reaches also some other conclusions and the tl;dw seemed to me too reductive 😅