A Plague Tale: Phoenix Theory
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ย. 2024
- The world of the Plague Tale series is a dangerous yet fascinating one. From rats that eat anything in sight to ancient diseases that date back to the dawn of time, there's nothing about this world that isn't interesting.
But today, I want to spotlight one creature of interest in particular: the Phoenix. This bird has been a constant presence throughout both games, and it's time we finally take a closer look.
Original Reddit post: www.reddit.com...
Thumbnail credit: "Hunky" from the Focus Entertainment Discord server
Definitely interesting point of view, but we can only wait and see what the studio does with this gem of a story
I wish maybe that in APT 3 that hugo is still alive and they find a cure at the end and at the same time show that the macula cannot be fully defeated but only delayed thus it will appear in the future and amicia and hugo will use their knowledge of the macula to help the future carrier and protector how to deal with it. Because i find it weird that in the first one the macula origin was a big part but in the second it was almost put aside, i can understand that the main focus was to help hugo because he was near the last threshold but i would like to have some in depth story about the macula and eventually if we can defeat it in the future.
Whatever you think of the theory, it underscores the multiple layers the story of "A Plague Tale" offers for interpretation. Which is a sign of a masterpiece in allegorical story telling, as this type of story telling allows multiple interpretations to provide new perspectives on the themes and issues the story and its characters tackle.
I've been looking forward to this...
BTW from my point of view the Macula is a metaphor for sociopathy and Hugo is a metaphor for individuals who are easily affected by a violent (psychopathic) environment and their personality easily shifts towards sociopathy as defense mechanism of their psyche (which is genetical supported, which the de Rune blood is the metaphor for) and then their influence becomes massively destructive, as their sociopathic response is directed against everyone (the rats being the metaphor for that and Hugo going "nuclear" at the end). In real life these individuals would not become sociopathic and as result destructive towards others if they would grow up in a peaceful environment. So the "cure" for the Macula to stay away from people, far away on a mountain, as suggested by Amicia, is also a "cure" for individuals prone to sociopathy due to a psychological weakness in response to a violent environment, as keeping them away from violence would prevent them becoming sociopathic.
Interesting theory, that there was actually a cure and they were led away from it into despair and loosing all hope. That would be very sad indeed. I'm not sure if that's worse than having the hope that Amicia had in the face of a certain outcome. It's definitely sad for Hugo who succumbs to the outcome before her and accepts his fate after coming to terms with it.
I still haven't come to terms with it myself. I wanted a 3rd game at least where Amicia and Hugo are still alive and playing in lush scenery and making new friends. Sadly that won't happen. Still waiting for the TV show too which seems to be on ice after being announced 2 years ago.
This one is better
My running theory right now is that the Macula is the curse resulting from the murder of a (possibly the only, as many legends have phoenixes as singular beings who don't reproduce) phoenix in ancient times.
Partly because we get the symbolism of the phoenix everywhere -- it's the symbol of the Order, it's in the vision the Macula gives to Hugo, the statues are in the Nebula, etc. But also because as the games go on, the Macula is more and more associated with flames going out, the sun dying, and cold ash.
There's the whole Child of Fire/Child of Embers thing that seems to be drawn at least partly from Order teachings, just twisted for the Count's benefits; there's the fact that rats are corpse-eaters; the one line we get from the Macula itself is 'it will kill the sun' and the structure Hugo is in at the end even resembles a black sun; there's the symbolism of the Phoenix's pond from Hugo's vision now being stagnant; there's the rats being frightened of fire; and there's the fact that the Nebula is a cloud of cold, emberless ash.
All of it points to a narrative: There was a flame, like the sun, and it could revive itself from embers, but it can't because the fire is long dead, the ashes are already cold.
(There's a parallel with Hugo and Amicia there: Amicia has hope, she sees proverbial embers from which the fire of a happy life can be rekindled -- but at the end, she has to accept that it's hopeless, and it always has been. She has to reject the Phoenix, and then she has to snuff out the flame.)
All of that seems to point to an original sin of sorts: Once there was a Phoenix, and for whatever reason, someone killed it, not just temporarily but permanently. The backlash from that crime lives on in its murderer's bloodline, and just like a Phoenix, the Macula returns again and again. It's retribution for this crime given substance, and fittingly, its final threshold is blotting out the sun, smothering the world in ash, and sending rats to feast on everything: As if the death of a phoenix and rats eating its body is being inflicted on everything else.
(There's another parallel with Hugo there. If he'd been left alone, and allowed to be a child with innocence, the Macula might have never grown in power. Other people's fear and greed is what took away that innocence, though, and the Macula responded -- and it keeps happening, because every time Hugo gets peace, someone transgresses, and denies him his innocence. It's the one consistent cycle in the games: Hugo and Amicia could be happy, but someone else's agenda or wrath always takes it away from them. It makes it seem thematically appropriate that the 'first corruption' of the Macula resulted from a similar crime against an innocent creature (and even a representation of innocence, since the Phoenix is so heavily associated with purity)).
Kevin Choteau: No, basically we had an idea for a story and it made a franchise. When we started to think about what we are going to tell if we do a sequel, it was basically an idea between us. When we found out that there was a good story to tell, we said, “okay, we’re going to go for a second one”. If we haven’t found a good story, I think we would have said, “okay, let’s stop with A Plague Tale and do something else”, because it’s very narrative driven, and without a good story, it wasn’t a good idea to continue it. But there’s still a lot of things to explore in this universe, so we’ll see.