Mythology’s Most Heartless Villain (literally)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2021
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Some villains are absolute geniuses, able to engineer the world around them to their benefit. Some… not so much. Koschei the Deathless, a famous wizard from Slavic Folklore, is one such figure. In trying to escape the thing he fears most in the world, he actually brought himself closer to it than ever.
And he’s not alone. You’d be surprised how many villains are foolhardy enough to follow the same path.
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Go see the EXTENDED VERSION OF THIS VIDEO! We go into a little discussion about phylacteries, amulets, and all the regional variants of this story! curiositystream.com/talefoundry
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I signed up for them but the video on nebula is shorter than the video here on youtube. I'd like to watch the full thing.
It doesn't have advertisements! That's why it appears to be shorter. But it has more actual content, it's just seeded throughout rather than tacked onto the end!
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Say, have you made any video about revenant? They basically, unlike brain dead zombies, rise from dead to seek revenge. I guess Jason Voorhees is good popular culture example.
The ice king from adventure time is basically Kashe, and its interesting that his villainous character is really just loneliness
Death is not a myth. I have felt his cold embrace and kissed him before walking away.
Fear him if you must, because you have not experienced yourself then. You have your own demons to deal with.
If I was an immortal litch with my soul encapsulated in a fragile physical vessel, the destruction of which would instantaneously kill me, I would simply not tell anyone what or where it was.
And you would be smarter than many lich, who get overconfident in their undeath.
Make it something you see everyday and then lock it away within your home and never tell anyone about it, continue to take care of your undead body with preservatives and perfumes to prevent people from finding out what you are
Honestly if I was a lich I would make mine a single gold coin in a gigantic scrooge mcduck coin pit
@@yellowpig1026 it has to be something you can carve runes into, and place your soul within, boxes are the most common, some people use phials, or bottles, others use lockets. But it has to have something that your soul can be interred within, some space within the object. So if you used a hollow coin it could work as long as you could still carve the necessary runes into it
@@carna-9501 it would be difficult to get the tiny runes on a hollow coin without just breaking the thing but it definitely sounds possible and if you got it all set up it would be almost impossible to find the right coin buried in thousands of other coins that look identical at a glance
It’s kind of ironic how all the famous stories about Kosche the “Deathless” is about him, well, dying.
Notice how he us called deathless, not "immortal" (although more often you can see translation of the russian word бессмертный as immortal/undying), the deathless is very suitable in this case because he can live indefinitely until killed, unlike mortals who die of old age or illness).
us->is
@@enricofermi3471 it's the issue of translation. In Russian there is one word for both Immortal and Deathless - just difference of languages.
"People that spend their life avoiding death are already dead. They're also rich, and I like to spend my life with their money." -Rick Sanchez
Well he right I am such person and its very sucks like I don't risk I afraid death I afraid ppl what they will say and think about me its sucks to be me
So Bruce Lee was right
Ironic coming from a dude who is basically batman with Reed Richards mind when it comes to being able to not die
Lmao you're actually quoting Rick
@@jesusrodriguez3728 haha Rick and morty cringe amirite gamers 🤪
One of my favorite examples of this is Father from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. He seems like a invincible god for most of the story, but then you learn that in reality he’s simply a small black ball that can’t exist without being inside a flask. They even reference this in the show, saying that even though he has a physical body, his flask is only bigger and not nonexistent. At the very end he appears before Truth as his small fragile form as he cries for mercy. Good stuff.
I like how, in the end, Truth punishes him by doing the one thing Father feared more than all else - being forced back into the void to be just another particle in the great black sea of thought and knowledge, to lose all power and individuality and return to the Nothing he once was.
@@WobblesandBean and at the same time, exactly what he wanted, to be ‘god’
@@samakiraroyjanssen6326 All is one, one is all.
I’ve heard that Koshei was the inspiration for the litch since he’s a wizard and nearly unkillable unless you destroy a specific thing (like a litch phylatery)
Also would Davy Jones from pirates of the Caribbean be considered a form of this trope since he literally ripped his heart and buried it
Davy Jones from PotC is generally considered a lich, yes; Voldemort too. Koschei is one of the oldest and most popular liches, but there’s a surprising amount of similar stories in other cultures, though authenticity is frequently debatable.
Its interesting how the trope is so common in popular media but Koschei never caught on like Baba Yaga
@@maunderbrainsplasticity1409 I would argue that it has, but the identity has changed in modern retellings. BabaYaga and Koschei are generally two sides of the same coin: the incarnate evil of the older generation. While Koschei (and by extension modern liches like Voldemort, Davy Jones, Darths Vader and Sidious, etc) are male and wilderness aspected (marauding, violent and commanding), Baba Yaga is more domestic and, obviously, female aspected. Most of the time, she is found by the MC (rather than her finding them) at her house. Even some of the weirder aspects of her description (like sleeping on an oven) are rooted in domestic life in Russia. It’s an interesting dynamic.
@@c.michlschneider3928 how tf is Vader a lich
When you said that there was a connected theme throughout the stories, I at first saw a different theme: Koschei puts himself at risk by kidnapping other people, making everyone's life worse, while the protagonist puts themselves at risk by saving other (in this case) animals, making their life better. In the end, Koschei is defeated because he kidnapped the wrong person, while the protagonist is saved because they saved the right animals.
Ah yes, the power of friendship.
@@techstuff9198 tbh the power of friendship makes sense here since the animals help in a realistic way the MC compared to most cartoons that the power of friendship becomes a laser
Well, you're not wrong. Lack of heart does lead to making callous decisions...
Yin and yang. Complete opposites
My favorite version of Koschei the Deathless is in Igor Stravinsky's Firebird. One day I hope to actually see it live. And yes, please do a video on liches and other types of undead other than zombies and vampires. That sounds like a lot of fun.
Ey, no need to knock the classics man, you can learn some interesting stuff. For example do you know the origins for zombies and vampires? I mean the irl origins. Deranged voodoo witch doctors and neadles with frog venom lobotomizing victims and using them as brain dead slaves and people not understanding how death and decomposition works. I highly recommend you read up on those as they are incredibly interesting despite their overuse in popular culture. Though other undead and monsters are pretty damn interesting as well. Thinking my favourites would be the banshee, dullahan, charon type of archetype, carrying the souls of the doomed into the afterlife willingly or not.
@@JohnSmith17048 I think the official term for the "charon type" is a sychopomp.
Yess Firebird
@@JohnSmith17048 Can you give me a source for that, that sounds really cool.
The only articles I’ve read go back to Haiti and the French occupation of slavery there. Death being looked upon as freedom and suicide being looked a upon as a way to spend the rest of existence working on the plantation...
Then they talk about Voodoo, but they don’t mention lobotomy. I’d be interesting to hear about early lobotomy, imo...
I performed the orchestral suite a few years ago but I'd love to see the full ballet
I think it's also interesting to point out that eggs are a symbol of new life. SUCH a cool story!
Things to do with Magic and an English degree
I like how emaciated Koschei looks in this video. I'm pretty sure his name actually means 'Boney' or 'Gaunt' or something like that.
It does. Bone in russian is kost', so koschei can be read as "boney"
@@user-vq8lp3nc4j It's the same in my language.
Life of the villain being attached to a needle is also used for Koshchey in some stories.
"There's a tall oak, on top of it is a chest, inside of that chest is a hare, duck inside hare, egg inside the duck, needle in the egg, and at the edge of that needle is the death of Koshchey"
(I hope I spelled his name correctly in English)
That's the version I was told!
So, Kashe is literally a litch. The egg is his philactory.
Unknown if he feeds on souls, like the ones in D&D, but he's still technicly a litch.
He's the inspiration for Liches in D&D.
Or the Giant who had no heart in his body, a Norwegian tale.
In d&d this might make him an emperyean
Villains are the very best! Who else can boast such mustaches!
No one boast like Gaston!
Hercule Poirot has the best moustaches and he is no villain.
Escanor is no villain
And they have the best laughs.
Burt Reynolds
"The monster with it's heart in an egg" is a a good example of a story used to highlight a specific virtue.
No matter how large the undertaking if you have that virtue you can succeed. In both stories the hero showed kindness to others, and that kindness was repaid. There are generally universal virtues, like karma, courage, wisdom, etc. That's why nearly identical stories exist all over the world. Each group has made their own story to pass on their virtues through generations.
Very well said!
Funny thing, the show Hungarian Folk Tales(which has it's own channel on TH-cam) actually has a take on Tzarevich Petr. The Man with a Heart of Stone. The story is a bit lighter in tone, as the old man is not specifically stated to be Koshchei. However, I suppose Hungarians may have had a lighter idea around him perhaps. Even though they've got plenty of brutal stories themselves. Petr is a young child in the story, he has three brothers as opposed to two. Instead of his Mother, it's one of the three maidens at the old man's side.
Essentially for anyone too lazy to look up the channel or something, I'll summarize it here. As best I can anyway...
The three elder brothers leave their Mother's home one day as they're discontented with the girls in their village, finding none to their liking. When they leave they eventually come to rest at the old man's cottage. He allows them to do so, but the next morning tells the men they'll return there again another time. He then asks that the young men bring him a wife to wed. The three foolishly laugh about this request, but keep it to themselves.
They then come into the King's service and he gives them his three daughters as wives. The men later make the trip home to reveal to their Mother whom they've decided to marry. As the old man said however, they did have to pass by his home again. He greets them readily and upon seeing no maiden for him, he cursed the men and two of the princesses. Turning each one to stone. Leaving only one for himself to be his wife. After some time she sees the old man in high spirits and asks him why he turned everyone to stone. His response is because his heart is made of stone too. She asks where it is and he states it's within his bedsheets. She makes a garland for the heart to know joy and places it where he said it was. The old man recognizes the kindness of the gesture after a good laugh. In this case, he explains his heart is in a little bird. This bird naturally is in a big rock, and is quite the speedy thing apparently.
Years pass by and Petr is born to the Mother, and upon learning of his siblings' disappearance, decides to find them. The boy stops twice on his journey to eat and hollers out the same offer to join him twice as well. Both times animals join him, the first is a ram who gives the boy one of his hairs to call upon him with. The second is a dove who offers a feather to call upon them with as well. He comes across the same house in time, but only the maiden is home. She explains everything to him, leading the boy to seek out the little bird. Calling upon the ram to bust open the rock, and asking the dove to catch the fast bird as it flees. The boy faces no other trials as he returns, but the old man seemingly begins to feel emotions again. He describes to the maiden that he feels warmth as the boy approaches, then begins to shed tears just as the boy returns. Upon taking his heart back from the bird(which somehow does no harm to the bird) the old man is finally convinced by the maiden to restore everyone to life. The old man does this and lets everyone leave. The story ending on a happy note this time around.
Thank you! I'll have to check that channel out.
Yeees, I was just about to comment that I know a hungarian version of this! :D
Sry too long
Then go look up the episode? Not like you're forced to read it. Hungarian Folk Tales, The Man with a Heart of Stone. There gave ya the search words to use.
this reminded me of Witcher, a game I only know because my dad plays it and I like the theme of the character I'm thinking of (Forgot his name unfortunately)
Funny how you mentioned Darth Vader at the start, since his was also a self - fulfilled prophecy: fearing the death of his loved one, he was the one who caused it.
In a way Dorian Grey's life is in his portrait. When he stabs the portrait he dies. In the TV show "Penny Dreadful" Dorian is a monster because he is heartless. Old and yet eternally immature, easily bored and utterly lacking in empathy.
I've always considered Dorian Grey to be a protolich.
My favorite of the pathetic villains is Davy Jones. He doesn't want people to stab his heart and kill him, but he also doesn't want to have it with him because he refuses to accept he's still in love with Calipso.
I also like Sauron from Lord of the Rings because he's like a morphed and distorted version of this trope. He puts his life and power in a Ring, not because he's afraid, but because he wants to become even more powerful. In his ego, Sauron believes no one would dare damage the Ring, and this is proven right when in the end, the Ring is destroyed by sheer luck or grace of god.
Good Point. It's an interesting twist on the trope.
This story reminds me of the villain Tubba Blubba from Paper Mario the N64 game. His weakness was his heart and it was sealed away too. He becomes easy to beat once his heart reunites with him. I wondered if Nintendo took inspiration from this story
Thought the exact same thing!
The way I remember my liches, they're not reanimated after death. They're different from all the other undead monsters: zombies are mindless brutes that either rampage driven by hunger or created and controlled by a necromancer. Vampires have a powerful mind, but even they don't choose to be vampires, they are created by other vampires "siring" them.
But liches are not only possessed of a powerful mind (the mind of a sorcerer or similar spell slinger), they aren't created. They create themselves. Intentionally. They go through an absolutely vile ritual while they are still alive, transforming themselves into liches by sealing their soul away in the phylactery. The phylactery also assures that they will always return when slain, so you must destroy it before you can get rid of the lich for good. But that means you must find it first...
If you want a villain who is everything you described then you really should look up "The Beast" from Over The Garden Wall.
What is actually interesting in the second version of the story is the fact the Kostej is not killed by hero, but rather by his own love and trust. As long as he stays paranoid and does not share information about his weakness, he is protected. In the moment he reveals it he is basically done. The attempt to become more human actually kills him.
Koschei presumably tended the mares without any help. That's why I admired villains: their individual power, their ability. Heroes always get help, they always serve as a lesson in cooperation for the reader, but the villain is always singularly stronger!
8:07
SEE VOLDEMORT!! This is how you actually hide a Horocrux.
Trivia: Koschei is also the name used for Racter's AI-driven drone in Shadowrun: Hong Kong.
Because that Koschei (who is an adorable spider bot in my opinion) has a self repair programm, thus making him immortal in it's own way!
I wanted to comment that :D
But eyyyyyyyy, someone else who knows SRHK! Cool!
Acererak from the Tomb of Horrors is such a perfect example of these themes. Reduced to little more than a jewel-adorned skull, so afraid is he of death that he has buried himself deep in a mountain, surrounded by impenetrable defenses and deadly traps, he spends eternity in solitude.
The Lich is so cool. The mere act of becoming a lich requires such heinous acts you're essentially trading in your humanity.
One of my favorites is the story of the man who held the devils heart and listened to its secret weakness. I think it was in the Grimm Fairy Tales. Basically, there was this woodsman who would turn into a monster frequently when his heart swapped with the devil's, meanwhile, the wise man was walking the woods with his young students when the woodsman attacked. I don't remember how, but somehow he ended up with the black heart in his hands, held it up to his ear and heard it's weakness. And then against the urging of the students, instead of destroying it, he gave it back. The absolute chad.
I wish I could find this one again, but I don't remember the title, it just stuck with me.
The Wizard from the Wizard of Oz is a perfect example of this trope. An intimidating ruler turning out to be just a regular person; a fraud, an illusion of absolute power
Kashchey, alternatively Koshchei, appeared as an NPC in the mobile tower defense game Arknights and is one of the main antagonist. He is a duke and part of Ursus aristocracy (Ursus is equivalent to Russia). He turned out to have the ability to transfer his consciousness to other bodies, effectively "possessing or dominating" them, which allow him to live for a very long time after "dying" countless times. So far the "egg" has not been found nor is his original body (if he still has one).
an interesting theme is that Koschei seems to always repay kindness towards him, which makes you feel bad for when that kindness comes back to bite him
I think there's a story called, John the Heartless
the story is about a John who has his heart in a bucket, John is either a wizard or just a very rich man, John having "no heart" is also cold and indifferent to the rest of humanity.
One day while fishing for his dinner, a water spirit steals his heart from the bucket, John begs the spirit to return his heart, said spirit agrees if he uses his power/wealth to help others in need.
John agrees and spend the next days/weeks/years helping others, when returns to the spirit not only returns his heart but also turns into a beautiful woman who John than marries.
reminds me of "the stone heart", where a poor lumberjack makes a deal with a spirit at a river in the forest. in exchange for great power and wealth the spirit takes his heart, and fills the gap with a random stone picked up from the river. his wife is heartbroken by how much he changed and seeks out the spirit to beg for the return of his heart. the spirit mocks her that she is free to take it back but will never find it; because just like his heart was replaced by a stone from the river, the heart is now another stone in the river. she then spends a very long time (3 years?) picking up every stone in the river until she finds the one that is his heart. not sure about the ending, but in the version that run on tv he got to keep his wealth since the deal was not broken when his wife was the one to take back the heart.
That first story reminds me of something that I heard back in my youth.
A young prince or some well meaning individual is sent to save a princess with under an enchanted spell and inside of a castle, keep, or Tower (I forget which) when the hero of the story arrives he cannot figure out how to free her. However in the same Tower is a being bound with chains. This being begs for water and in exchange promises to use his knowledge to free the princess from her enchantment. The individual uses a ladle to give the being two drinks of water and then to pour water over the chains. The being shatters the chains grows a pair of wings scoops up the princess and flies away.
Unfortunately I can't remember the rest of the story and what little I have been able to remember is very fragmented as you can see above. Anybody have any idea what the name of the story is.
That first part of the story reminds me of one of my favorite Twilight Zone stories, The Howling Man. Shows how deep Rod Serling was willing to go with themes
I thought the same thing
The second story reminds me of an episode of jim hansons: the story teller where a heartless giant revealed that his heart was also in a similar location if not the same
"A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not on the branch but on it’s own wings. Always believe in yourself"
Koschei: Nuh Uhhh
You know it's funny I find this and you mention how liches are the modern version of this fragile villan, then talk about how we should make our own, because I already have one! In my current D&D game I'm playing a blood-wizard named Jimblic. He was born a gnome but was raised by Ogres, which made him hateful and prejudiced towards other short people and jealous of height. He attempted lichdom many years ago, but failed, instead horribly deforming his body. Now he's on a quest to try it again, and already is forming plans on how to secure his immortality.
And even more coincidental, we're using the Grimhollow homebrew for much of this, and one of the images you used for lich was from Grimhollow!
The Ice King from Adventure Time could also be viewed as an interpretation of Koschei
Might I ask why?
@@comment-chan8750 The ice king was a normal human man who wore a crown crafted by an ancient magician. By wearing the crown, you are slowly turning yourself in the ice king: a mad, powerful magician who has powers over ice and can live forever. Technically, by wearing the crown, you become immortal, but your personality is slowly eroded until nothing of your former self is left. You just become a mad but powerful idiot until the end of time.
Morgoth is probably my favorite pathetic villain. He gave in to envy, pride, hatred, ended up being a shadow of his former self. Once glorious, the mightiest and most beautiful among it's siblings, melkor, now a Towering figure, of metal, fire and shadow, sitting in his dark throne, paranoid, and constantly afraid, for even the most feeble of his enemies posed great threat to him, the only one of the Great Valar to know fear!
FINALLY SOMEONE MENTIONED HIM. Yes I'm a year late, buuut it's never late to express fan-boyness towards Tolkien's (first) dark lord. I honestly expected this video to mention Sauron, since he fits the theme: he put part of his spirit into the Ring (this story's version of the Deathless's egg) and made it indistructible, however, literal God (Eru) stepped in and indirectly destroyed it. Morgoth did the same with Arda itself, which is why during the Dagor Dagorath, when Arda is effectively destroyed, Morgoth is also killed (and for good this time). These villains are ironically insecure in a way, they long to find a sense of security in something that isn't directly themselves, be it an egg, a ring or an entire planet.
One of the incarnations of "The Master" from Dr. Who went by the alternate name of Koschei when he needed to hide his actual identity.
Also I see a tie to Samson in that Peter's mom tricks Koscheii into giving away the source of his power after he lies to her several times.
Wonderful video, it was nice to revisit childhood fairytales from a different angle. The only thing - Koshey’s death was actually on the end of the needle that was inside the egg, so it was even more miniscule
I think another good example of the wizard whose soul is in an egg would be (spoiler alert!) the magical girls and soul gems in Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
But can their gems be destroyed like a phylactery? Because as far as I remember, they can only blacken if the character turns into witch, and maybe self-destruct after the witch dies?
@@enricofermi3471 They can be devoured by a witch
so, i kind of disagree with the characterisation of koshei as one afraid of death.
Koshei appears in A Lot of russian folklore and fairytales, two of the most well-known being The Frog-Tsarine and the poem The Oak at Lukomor'ye (A. Pushkin - introduction to Ruslan and Ludmila). His main characterisation is not fear of death - in fact, from a certain angle Koshei is viewed as "constantly dying", never alive, and an embodiment of death of sorts - that's actually why he isn't really given an explanation to his existence as a lich. His main themes are greed (he has a lot of gold and tries to impress/bribe people with it) and a penchant for kidnapping pretty women (usually of royal blood). His relation to death is never the main focus of the stories, his greed, arrogance and pride are. The whole being undead thing is just a gimmick.
Other than that, great video! I really enjoyed your dissection of liches in modern culture.
Wow you have a great knowledge of russian culture!!!😃😃😃🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺
If anyone interested in similar stuff, I will recommend Wildbow's Pactverse' Heartless magic.
It's like the sorcerer's deathless magic, but push it to the creative extreme.
This reminds me of a hungarian folktale video I watched where the villain, a dragon, puts his true strength in a box of wasps which was inside a rabbit, which was inside a bear and the hero in the hungarian folktale destroyed them all causing the dragon to be weaker than a fly. However, this is different to a villain entrusting their life to something small like a egg, but I think its a little similar.
Here's a little thing about those who choose to become a lich, the majority of them are afraid not of death but not fulfilling what they've made their life goals or they do not wish to die before they obtain all the knowledge and wisdom they can.
Yeah Voldemort is actually the odd one out with his fear of death. Most of them are motivated by greed (for knowledge mostly).
I feel that the matryoshka version of Koschei is more on the nose than you give it credit at first blush. That's what he did with his death in that version of the tale, after all.
I've read about Koschei. Such like he have been written by Charles de Lint in his "Drink down the Moon" story, Barry Hughart's novel "Bridge of Birds" and, of course, J.K. Rowling's Lord Voldemort. I believe the original "Child's Play" movie features a similar take when the doll confronts the man who instructed him how to put his soul into a doll in the first place. While Koschei is a famous story, you can probably find even older incarnations if you dig hard enough.
GOD, that Little Einsteins reference felt like a nostalgic punch in the face
I know the Kashé the deathless one as " His soul is hidden in an egg, hidden in a duck, hidden in a hare,hidden in a fox, hidden in a bear,hidden in a log floating in a faraway ocean"
In some ways I am a little surprised you did not mention another iconic villain.
While most would think of him as more of a symbol of terror than being fearful, this villain fits this description better that one might think.
When his master was defeated, he chose to bide his time and prepare.
When first defeated and captured, he corrupted the hearts and minds of the kingdom that subdued him, ultimately dooming the entire realm to an end beneath the waves.
He used his gifts of craftsmanship to fashion an artifact that would house much of his life energy and power into one condensed space; one which would subdue all others like it.
When he was defeated a second time and supposedly slain, his spirit endured and sought out his lost power.
And three millennia after that, Sauron went into full-on panic mode sensing Frodo putting his Ring on in Mount Doom realizing exactly what their plan was.
No matter his power, even a fallen Maiar like Sauron was not above fear.
If i got offered this deal for eternal life to become a a heartless monster I'd take that deal in a heart beat ;)
*davy jones would like to know your location*
Haha
Too bad your heart wouldn't beat after that
@@fulana_de_tal THIS
Stith Thompson. Reminds me of the good old days when I got to study Folklore Studies in Ireland for a year. =) As usual, brilliant job on the video! Keep up the good work!
I enjoy the story of “The Giant with No Heart” it was more versions, even one where they MC gives the heart back, and the Giant realizes what he’s done and vows never to do it again.
Or “The giant with bi heart in his body” from norway, where someone’s wife gets kidnapped. The hero saves some animals while on his way to rescue their wife from the giant who is unkillable.
The hero has to hide under the bed while his wife tries to find out how the giant is immortal, the hero runs away to destroy the object that just so happens to hold the giant heart. And saves his wife.
I heard about this character when I was playing the Scion ttrpg and came across a Rus pantheon book pdf a few years ago. It inspired me to learn more about him. Such a great character
I may have heard or read another story about liches. That they would be dead, but without the act of dying. That they would have given their life to allow themselves to avoid dying, and often gain power through a stronger link to the depth. Maybe through some ritual or using some artifact that would lock away their life, that I can't tell. Although I cannot give any source, that sole idea, of being unalive without dying, is really interesting.
You know, that second tale of Koschei reminds me of Tubba Blubba, if any of you know who that is. (In case you don’t, he’s the Invincible monster boss of chapter 3 of the popular Nintendo 64 game Paper Mario, and like Koschei, he has his heart, his only vulnerability, locked away in a windmill, and he’s invincible as long as his heart and body aren’t together. So, pretty similar, no?)
Oh yeah, and isn't he also shown to be like, a huge wimp who plays up his strength, similar to these flawed villans?
@@mindlessscientist3772 yes! (And the Boos used to scare him a lot too.)
I was thinking that.
'Voldemort is a lich' is not where I expected this to go, but I cannot argue it's wrong
Wonderful, as always! This was really cool, and I love the deeper look into this particular villain
After watching this video I’m reminded of Tubba Blubba from the first paper mario and how he became invincible by removing his heart, but the heart was returned and it left him vulnerable again
Oh yeah, an episode on liches would be interesting. But remember something else: "Zettra doesn't kneel!"
Villains can be so much more fun than the heroes
Just make sure you do not glorify them or make them the protagonist for the sake of it. People who just want to fun are getting sick of them being trendy.
"Stop Glorifying Villain Protagonists": th-cam.com/video/2CDnhvbnGBA/w-d-xo.html
"Enough with the Villian Protagonists": th-cam.com/video/VuL0-LxnifE/w-d-xo.html
For me, its both. They're character, if the author do them right and well then they're fun. If not then the author are just trash.
@@warrenbradford2597 thanks man, those are great content.
@@valhatan3907 You're welcome.
As a writer of Fanfiction as well as other stuff that I just post online, I can’t tell you enough how bits and pieces of some of the stuff that you talk about and say in these videos on here inspire me a great deal- even if I never heard of some of these thing you are discussing with us before and I personally thank you for that. Although, sometimes I’ve never ever heard of these things such as what you discussed in this video, after you explain it in such a simple and easy to understand way that you somehow seem to do I am able to successfully make that connection as in what the content of this video is trying to tell me and how it applies to/in other media (forms); when you compared this video content to the thing with Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter I instantly thought of what happened with The Beast in the Over the Garden Wall sort of mini series that premiered/aired on Cartoon Network around October or so a few years back when tha entirely of The Beast life and soul was contained in that of a single lantern and as long as that lantern always stayed lit and burning brightly The Beast’s life and soul would remain in tact, and only wham the lantern was smashed did The Beast wither away and die.
I love the Frolo example. You can see him struggling with the realization that he's not as righteous and holy as he REALLY believed he was.
And you can see him embrace it near the end of the song, which has a slight tonal shift when he does.
*chef's kiss*
Your TH-cam channel is a treasure!! I'm so delighted to find you! And extra delughted to find you talking about Koeschi the Deathless!!
I am so happy that someone has a video about Koschei the Deathless! I have a fascination with Slavic Fairy Tales and Folklore because of their uniqueness of their villains. I mean just look at Baba Yaga who doesn’t necessarily want to kill the heroes in the stories and sometimes actually helps them out! Those stories are just wonderful! I would highly recommend checking out The Golden Fish as well :)
Thank you again for the wonderful video!
I’m just thinking of one quote from Star Trek: Voyager. “You know as well as I do, fear only exists for one purpose: to be conquered.”
On another note… Ivan really did a turnaround there, though. Staying at home while his wife goes to war, then desperately trying to rescue her and risking his own life. Good on you, Ivan. 👍🏻
This reminds me of the fairytale of the freed giant with his heart hidden in a well in an island, in the middle of a lake.
It's been a long time, but I remember there being a Koschei-like character in one of the books from the Prydain Chronicles, Taran the Wanderer, I think. Only his life was hidden in a nail instead of an egg.
Interesting! I now see a version of this deathless wizard (who hides his heart) appears in The Bridge of Birds - he’s a pupil of the Old Man of the Mountain. “His secrets are not sold cheaply. It is perilous to waste his time.”
Me as the intro is being read: hm, TaleBot, I have to agree with you and also I'm pretty sure this is-
TaleBot: Koschei the Deathless
Me: CALLED IT
The second I saw the title I thought "oh I hope this is about old Koshei" and was delighted to find out it was
Dang it, thanks for the motivational speak at the end, it really touch me because the fear of death is something I can relate to.
personally, i dont think villians need this complex ass backstory to make them a good villian,
i think there should be more not based around their sad and depressing backstory but more ones that just exist to cause nothing but chaos
Love this art style so much
"His wife was out warring...you know, as you do. It's interesting how they treat it the same way as buying groceries or something" Earlier you mentioned the story's from Russia xD
Thanks. I vaguely recall a movie I saw when I was a kid. It was one of those Sinbad knockoffs. The hero had to find the soul of the monster (or bad guy... I don't remember which), that was kept like an egg by a giant Roc. It was a kind of blood-red crystal thing. He got it, took it back, and broke it in front of the baddie, which killed him/it. TLOTR is also that kind of tale. The ring is the symbol and source of much of Sauron's power. tavi.
"Captain Sindbad" (alternate spelling of the character's name). Starring Guy Williams of later Lost In Space fame. A remake with updated special effects would be a great movie.
This is cool. I really like the deconstruction of stories and archetypes. To think that I even found your channel by watching SCP stuff lol. Sometimes the “algorithm” does what it’s designed to do and to that I’m thankful. Count me in as a subscriber friend!
This is reminding me of The Heartless Giant from Jim Henson’s
The StoryTeller
As soon as I saw this videos title, I immediately thought of Koschei. One of my favorite stories from folklore ❤❤
It's nice to see Talebot hasn't been left to rust. Anyways, I'd actually like to see you do this with famous characters in media, looking at their backstory and seeing if they're connected to stories of the past.
How the hell did i know this video was gonna be about koschei the deathless.
When I first learned of Koshei the deathless, he was attributed as the very first lich in literature. I'm glad to see he's getting much needed attention.
Oooh I love the Winternight Trilogy. The heavy element of folklore is one of my favourite things about it but the characters are why is among my favourite series of all time. This is how I knew of Kashei the Deathless.
In the version of the first one I heard, his body was separated and thrown in a barrel in the ocean like he did to the hero. Regardless, he still could not be killed because his soul was elsewhere. I was wondering if there was a part 2 where someone actually got to where his soul was. Now that villain's actually taken care of and not just lurking around in a weakened state with the possibility of coming back.
Fantastic topic! I love this channel.
Yeah I have a couple of villains I think fit into this category
One is an imposing Tyrant who seems to be able to do anything! He Welcomes Challengers to try to fight him one on one in an arena so that he can make an example of them and prove that he is unbeatable but his only power is making people believe he is powerful through illusion and stage magic. All of his fights were rigged from the start because even though he is treated as a big deal on his island he's really just a small king, in a small castle, on a small island surrounded by Empires.
Eventually he is defeated by his own daughter showing everyone that there was never anything to fear because his powers are all just a show, and no matter what he tries to do to her it just passes right by. Not that he's not trying to kill his own daughter, if it meant keeping his illusion of power safe he would kill all of his children but She and her friend figured out his secret and sabotaged his stage ahead of time. With his trick revealed the people quickly rebel against his tyranny and make his daughter their new queen.
Koschei also influenced the Doctor's rival and enemy the Master from the Show doctor who as the Masters name in the community is Koschei
Tale Foundry, I greatly enjoy your videos.
Can you please make some videos about the mythologies, especially the Fairy Tales, of Spain? I greatly enjoy such things, but have struggled finding any information on those of my ancestors' land.
When I clicked on the video I thought you were gonna talk about Davy Jones
WHEN HE BROUGHT UP THE OGRE IN LITTLE EINSTEINS I LEGITIMATELY HAD TO DO A DOUBLE TAKE I GREW UP ON THAT SHOW AND REMEMBER THAT SPECIAL SO CLEARLY
I wish it got a reboot...
@@radogoji7031 absolutely not
@@boomfanfic-a-latta8996 What do you mean?
@@radogoji7031 You've likely never seen the early promo footage of Little Einsteins, so let me just say: the show was almost REALLY weird (in a negative way)
@@boomfanfic-a-latta8996 I've seen it, and TBH, Rocket looked closer to the Dwarf Planets Haumea and Varuna than an actual Rocket.
So how did we go from a phylactery being a Hebrew prayer box worn on the body
To being the container of a liches mortality and the proponent of their immortality?
We touch on it in the extended version on Nebula :)
I've actually looked into that, and it's basically a long line of mistranslation and semantics! In fact, it was never even supposed to mean the Hebrew prayer box, that was due to a mistranslation in the Greek version of the bible. Then in 1st edition D&D they used the original greek meaning (that being "a protective amulet or charm") and it slowly got confused into the new meaning
@@mindlessscientist3772 that’s actually pretty interesting! Thanks for the insight. I find information like this fascinating but have no clue how to research stuff like that on my own.
I just have to say I really like your character design and art style.
That Russian folklore tale has a strangely happy ending
i think i saw something like this in Paper Mario with the villain, Tubba Blubba. he hear that he is invincible but we later see how that's gained. he became invincible when Bowser removed his heart. we find his heart in the windmill in Gusty Gulch. now this is only a abridged version of this trope and Tubba Blubba doesn't die but rather runs away crying but in this case it's the heart in the windmill does this villain have the ability to not be defeated. did i also mention that he's a sensitive guy and is scared easily?
As a kid back in the late eighties there was a show that dealt with folklore.and fairy tales I remember this story from then
This actually kinda reminds me kamen rider ghost. You see though the main character is dead, he's still about to interact with the physical world due to his soul being sealed inside of an eye shaped device known as an eyecon. He needs to eyecon to assume his hero persona, but his soul well seice to exist if his eyecon is destroyed.
This reminds me of an undead monster that has his death in a painting. If he were to look at the painting his youthful visage would leave his body and into the painting while his death would escape the painting and enter his body. I think I first saw this in the movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and it feels like to me it's based on some fairytale or myth.
Dorian Gray
"I'm alive, but at what cost?"
-me every day
I bet you as soon as she was kidnapped, his wife was like "God damn it."
I once read a very similar version of the first story, but instead of a wizard, it was the knight Bluebeard who was the villain.
"No Frodo, the spirit of Sauron endures, his lifeforce is bound to the ring and the ring survived"