Nausicaa's Nature Plot Twist : Worldbuilding Tower
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind has one of the best worldbuildings in all of Ghibli's (and Miyazaki's) filmography - and part of the genius of it is how this world seems to contain both utopia and dystopia and its environment.
In today's video we'll explore how Ghibli used Nausicaa's worldbuilding to provoke this sense of duality in us, and hopefully learn how to do it ourselves.
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Evidently I do not own Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, it is a Studio Ghibli movie:
www.ghibli.jp/
All the gorgeous illustrations you saw in the third part of the video were made by my partner Magda Szymaniec. Check out her instagram for more:
/ magdalenadraws
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If you wanna help me believe this can be a real future for me, here's my Patreon page. For a small creator such as myself, your encouragement means the world.
/ joriamramos
Subscribe here =)
/ @joriamramos
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Soundtrack:
Dwyer - Things Will Probably Get Better from Here
He's an amazing artist! Check his work out: d-w-y-e-r.band...
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Extra footage by:
www.pexels.com/
#worldbuilding #ghibli #miyazaki #ghibliwriting #ghibliworldbuilding
I came because Jill Bearup said you needed a few more subscribers, but I'm staying because your content seems interesting.
Aw, thank you for giving my channel a chance! I'll do my best to keep the waltz raging on! :D
If you enjoyed the world of Nausicaä, i highly recommend reading the manga. It has a lot more info and nuance. Basicaly the anime just covers tbe first two of seven volumes.
The fact that there is a plot twist at the end is a spoiler. Please delete this.
Yes the manga is sooo good ! It's so much deeper. One of the best story I ever read
You know, a couple of people told me this already - but I must admit I've been avoiding it!
Truth is, I'm not very good with comics, it's not the right medium for me. Still, I do believe you (and some other people agreeing with you here below) when you tell me the manga is deeper! I think it's time for me to force myself to eat some comic stuff just so I'm initiated in the Nausicaa mysteries.
Hm I think it's ok :) Necrolord didn't mention what the plot twist was, it's a kind of a hint more than a spoiler
Lots of stuff yeah!
As a Ghibli fan, I'll support you. I've been inspired by Miyazaki's stories to take up writing. Haven't had much success though.
His also my greatest inspiration, even as a novel writer!! :D
Glad to hear I'm not the only one hahaha
Why do you say you haven't had much success? Tell me in which state you're at :)
I'm at that part where every idea seems like it was already done. Actually, I don't know if everyone goes through this or if it's just me. LOL.
I'm keeping at it though so I'll probably progress no matter how slow.
@@paolotan8043 don’t to be too discouraged, I’ve often had the same issue. But pretty much every idea has been touched on by someone somewhere, if you’re always looking for a completely novel idea you’ll go mad. The important thing I’ve found is to work on something that excites you. For example GoT was/is just a vague retelling of the European succession wars with magic thrown in, but it’s still a compelling read nonetheless.
I'm with Jeff on this one, Paolo! Originality is not a what, but a how and a why. If you think Harry Potter, it's just boarding school with very known magic elements mixed in - but together they brewed something that could be loved by so many.
I think it's rather inevitable that you'll get your own originality if you have a large set of influences and you're not shy to draw from all of them all at once :) You can do it!
I'll admit this isn't an entirely new idea of mine, but here goes:
The empress has forged her techno-magical empire (think Ametris) by draining the natural magical energy of all its inhabitants and funneling into the magic-infused weaponry of her states military. Simple spells like creating a fire or levitating a cart that had eased every-day life for centuries simply ceased working wherever her pylons were erected. Training in the arcane arts is strictly regulated and mostly limited to the manfucaturing of said weaponry.
The heroes, lead by exiled mages and wizards, finally infiltrate her fortress and defeat her and her royal guards in combat. With her dying breath she implores them to take up her mantle. The same event that granted her the ability to transfer and store magic also inadvertedly released countless demons that feed on that same magical energy, so her strict anti-magic policy, while benefiting her militarilly, is also necessary to starve the now free but as of yet powerless demons.
...
while writing this I noticed that the originally intended enging to Mass Effect, where the regular purging of spacefaring races would have been explained as necessary to limit the buildup of dark energy, also fits this pattern exactly (while being no less of an ass-pull than the ending we did end up with).
Oh boy... Mass Effect ending... don't get me started!
That being said, I quite like the idea of the techno-controlling empress! Did you come with an interesting reason why she wouldn't tell people about the demons before her deathbed?
That does sound super well structured! If you hadn't mentioned you've been brewing this idea for a while, I'd call you a prodigy haahah
Thanks for sharing your ideas :) love meself some scifi+fantasy mixes
I can imagine what direction it would go if she had been public about the purpose of her acts. That reminds me of the Warhammer 40k imperium of man culture and religion. Because humans (especially psychics) are very susceptible to corruption from chaos and their territory is constantly under siege from aliens and demons, the imperium has an extreme totalitarian and xenophobic grip over its people. They label people heretics for even so much as entertaining ideas other than pure devotion to the emperor and kill them, even entire planets of their people, because it is actually necessary to keep everything from completely collapsing. Belief, willpower, and raw emotion draws psychic power from the warp/immaterial realm and manifests into reality; if their people stop worshipping their emperor as a god (who tragically never wanted that) and worship the chaos gods, his power wanes, their “magic” demon-slaying weapons stop being so effective, and demons multiply and pop into existence everywhere. Necessary evil, because out there in the dark between the stars are worse things than fascism, if you can believe that.
I've posted this in /r/world building, but I'm also posting it here. Sorry in advance for the word dump.
The Dystopia:
Magic exists, and with study and practice anyone could theoretically use it. But it only works within a particular part of the world
In this part of the world the use of said magic is rigidly controlled by the state. Only a few practitioners ordained by the State are allowed to study/perform magic at any given time. Anyone else caught practising magic or even attempting to learn about it are punished with horrendous penalties, such as mutilations and death.
The given reason for this is due to the way magic works.
By giving intelligence to an inanimate subject and then convincing/bargaining with it to change forms to whatever the practitioner is asking for. After this the intelligence is stripped away, leaving the new changed inanimate subject.
But if performed incorrectly the subject granted intelligence can become insane, and continually shifts its form thousands of times. There is also the risk that this now insane inhuman intelligence could also learn magic and replicate the disaster an infinite amount of times.
If for example the subject was a piece of land, you now have an incredibly hostile, intelligent and insane area that continually defies all laws of nature, and could theoretically grow in size exponentially.
In the past whole towns were slaughtered, and on one tragic occasion, the upheaval and relocation of an entire people.
This has created a society where people both hate and are terrified by magic.
World building Plot Twist:
What is not known by anyone outside a select few is that the source of all this magic comes from a creature known as "The Worm", an inter-dimensional leviathan. Once a universe dies the worm devours everything in it and then moves on to another dimension. The worm is trying to break through into this world by causing a tear between the two worlds, and in the process is trying to kill everything in it in order to eat it.
The caveat is that the tear has to grow from the living side, fed by the practice of magic.
The bubble in which magic works is directly tied to the location and size of the tear. The greater the tear, the further away from it magic can work.
So the more magic practised, the greater the tear is, and more people can practice magic, in turn making the tear bigger.
Hidden Benefit:
The state understands the incredible usefulness of magic, but also understand the consequences of overuse. If people were to use magic at will the tear would open rapidly and cause a complete extinction event. They believe that if they use just enough magic to keep the tear open, they can retain the source and still be able to use it sparingly to their benefit without exacerbating the tear.
The state knows that their influence only extends as far as their borders, and so attempts to keep the "bubble" of magic well within those borders. Therefore, they should be able to control and mitigate any damages that exist or may yet exist in the future.
The roaming bands of foul-mouthed, limerick spouting Sycamore trees however, suggest they may have failed in this attempt.
Oh Jeff, this is so cool!
The magic system made me think of Goetian demons and Mushishi. The worm brought me to Magic the Gathering's Eldrazi. And the foul mouthed sycamores sound like right out of a Pratchett novel!
Tell me, when magic is performed and the objects are 'incorporated', do they have a personality? And if so, does the personality come from the magic or from the object itself? (as in, all spoons will have a similarish 'spoon personality'?)
Also, have you already considered what are the absolute top benefits of magic? Something that really is at the core of that society?
Thanks for the comment :)
@@JoriamRamos Ta mate :)
To answer your questions:
1. I'd like to think that the personalities come from the people practising the magic, that they're preconceptions and prejudices affect the personalities that they create. For example if they expect something to be a difficult task, the item becomes stubborn and uncooperative. Which in turn feeds the idea that this particular object will always be troublesome.
So one person's spoons could be really cooperative and just happy to be part of the whole process, whilst another person's might be a surly grump or perhaps even maliciously compliant.
2. I'm still unsure what the maximum impact the magic could have. Technically the possibilities are only limited by the user's imagination, confidence, and of course their ability to effectively communicate what they want with the subject. So any number of things could be achieved. At best the state could use it for public projects like augmenting/bolstering dwindling natural resources in order to remain independent.
At worse, they could use it to enrich themselves, keep themselves in the best health etc.
Perhaps the area of land they are in is protected by sea walls and dykes, which were created and have to be maintained by the magic. Meaning the country's survival is completely dependent on using magic, and in turn keeping the possibility of an apocalypse forever open. (Or do they allow the seawalls to collapse, destroying the country but potentially removing the threat of the worm?)
Mistborn is a dystopia that turns out to be a necessary evil
Btw very cool story you came up with
Halt halt halt! I've only read the Final Empire and I plan to read the other books hahaha please say no more!
Ah, glad you enjoyed the creative bit :) wanna try your hand and create an original worldbuilding?
@@JoriamRamos woops😳
I may have exaggerated a bit
We did this writing exercise on stream today and it was great! Thanks for the awesome idea :)
Oh man, Scott, that's fantastic! I'm just checking your video out as I type and I'm super stoked to see what you came up with.
Super happy to see your enthusiasm and great streaming energy, man!
Ah, also if you ever want to use my imagery/vids in any of your streams, be sure I'll never strike you or anything, we're cool. Though I gotta say I dig your talk-and-file format :)
Just watched the vid, and I absolutely adored both the prompt your watchers gave you, but also what you did with it - the dead MC is such a rich idea, there's so much depth there!
And you came with this in a moment, right? That's some fine worldbuilding!
@@JoriamRamos Hey thanks! I'm always amazed by chat's ability to come up with and help flesh out ideas on the spot :)
The exercise was suggested by a viewer, but I've subbed to you now too. Looking forward to watching your stuff!
...oh, and it appears you make MTG videos too, hehe. Will have to check those out too.
A great video. Thank you!
Oh thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
Very interesting video, really like the idea of the worldbuilding plot twist. Awesome work and keep at it!
You're too kind! Thank you for the encouragement and hope to see you in other vids too :)
I like your story at the end! I hope your channel goes places.
Super glad you liked it!
I'm doing my best :)
Great vids. Led here from Jill bearup. Good recommendation. Thank you.
so much gold in so little time
Thank you for your kind words :) doing my best!
Caraca, que vídeo legal! Que pessoa legal!!! Esse é meu filme favorito do Studio Ghibli, me incentivou a estudar biologia na faculdade. Ameio exercício, minha mente está fervilhando com ideias! Obrigada e continue com o bom trabalho!! Que venham os 5.000, 10.000, e os 1.000.000 de inscritos!
Aaaaaa brigado, Yasmin! E bem vinda ao canal :)
Jura que foi Ghibli que te incentivou a estudar biologia? Que maneiro! De certa forma, só de ouvir isso eu já fico pensando que existem sim bons motivos pra alguém dedicar a vida à arte :D
Espero que os vídeos agradem, e to curioso pra ler suas ideias qnd vc tiver pronta pra compartilhar
great video dude :]
Thanks for the suppooooort :) hope you enjoy the others as well!
This movie needs a part two and three to fill out all of what they covered in the comics
I heard that! I also heard (here in the comment section) that the manga kinda explains many of the mysteries I point out in the video. I should really try to get my hands on it!
Thanks for giving the channel a chance :) glad to have you here!
How come that the sequences of the film are so grainy?
Hey Julika! It's because I apply a filter - it's a bit of a rough fix to the many many images that I use that are low quality (and they just look soooo much better with the filter). But to keep consistency, I apply it everywhere.
idk, it gives them a bit of personality, I kinda like it! Do you find it jarring by any chance?
@@JoriamRamos Yes, I do find it a bit jarring. But now I know why it's there.
Posted on r/worldbuilding
Thank you for that, that's super helpful :)
r/worldbuilding is my 'home' subreddit - and for good reason! It's one of the most supportive and imaginative subreddits out there! :D
posted on r/anime
Oh thank you so so much for that! I'm not super familiar with that subreddit's rules, so I didn't post there :0 that helps HEAPS!
Found your channel as a recommendation while watching Web DM. I love this movie and am happy to subscribe for your content! What do you mean by us doing the exercise in the comments, you want us to give our own ideas for this plot twist in nature/necessary evil?
Hey 17joren! Happy to have you here :)
Yeah, I mean exactly that :D check the comment section here and you'll see other worldbuilders also left completely different takes on the worldbuilding plot twist exercise. Same for the other vids.
I encourage you to comment on other people's worlds, ask questions and - if you feel like sharing - have a crack at the exercise yourself :)
You might practice your creative skills and inspire other people while doing so
@@JoriamRamos I know it’s used a lot, but I like to sometimes see the twist of a deterrent or barrier to something else much worse. An eternal guardian felled by adventurers hoping for fame and wealth, only to find it was there to keep other monsters in their planes or the dead in their graves. Warriors storm a wizards tower and destroy the protective wards as they go, only to realize the wards were tethers keeping a tarrasque or elder evil dormant underground. The great ancient sea beast may have attacked the odd whaler or merchant on the trade route, it was not so often; now that you’ve slain it, what will stop the pirates from moving in or the sea infesting with sharks?
@@17joren I like an idea of a barrier too! I especially love worldbuildings that imbue those barriers with a rich set of mixed feelings - they're bad, but they're good, but they're bad etc
All your little golden nuggets here are great starters. I think you could make any of them work :) which one strikes you as the most interesting?
@@JoriamRamos perhaps the eternal guardian archetype because in a game it is a massive carrot dangling in front of the ambitious adventurers. I’m picturing a great 300ft tall stone golem with a large luminescent “heart” in its chest either dormant or seeming to be aimlessly wandering the region, like a forest or desert. Let’s say it wanders the continent in a circuit. It never goes close to towns but you can see and hear it when it is within a few miles. To take the ball and run with it, there is perhaps a culture sprung up around it, people idolize it to some extent and there is even a holiday “traveling” with it. This is because it takes a year for it to make a complete circuit, so each town celebrates on the day/week it passes by and children born on those days are considered under its protection! Or maybe cursed, like those that die on that day have their souls trapped within.
However, no one alive today truly knows it’s purpose. It typically ignores anything that does not approach with hostile intent, so no one has ever talked to this behemoth, but there is extensive graffiti on its feet. The legends however bring on seekers of fame. If I was running this in a D&D campaign, I would tell the party as much, and then sprinkle rumors in various towns and ancient texts speculating on what is in its chest. A mass of treasure? Magic power beyond imagine? A doorway to paradise? Whatever it is, it can shoot massive lazars and many great adventures has failed before to challenge the behemoth, maybe the PCs are the ones to do it. Then I’d have to decide, let them climb it and approach the chest or head like in Shadow of the Colossus, or they some great weakness that will immobilize it. Either way, destroy the heart, and the skies darken. A portal in the sky opens and tentacles poke through...
Yo you almost quadrupled your objective for last year.
I got lucky!!! A much bigger youtuber (with a similar audience) gave me a shoutout.... and the result was more subs than I was expecting for 2... years hahahaha
That was a good day.
Got here from Jill, but your opening video about a movie I have loved for almost 40 years made me stay. Well played...well played :)
Oh thank you for showing up, Ghibli is definitely my soft spot :)