For me, High Wills can be summarized by the quote “Does a God become corrupt when his worshippers do?” Because the people of Custodia didn’t asked for a merciful God who would reward them for their good deeds, they wanted a wrathful God who would keep them faithful through punishment and fear.
It looks kinda like a twisted version of God's chastisement. God will punish those he loves when they sin, this is so they'll turn back from their wickedness and be able to live instead of inflicting far worse wounds upon themselves by their wickedness.
@@mojus2890 I think it's actually pretty similar to the Judeo-Christian God if he was real. He gaslit all his followers into saying that their lives would be improved if they followed him, but obviously, even in the Bible it says - "the rain falls on the good and the evil." It gives the JC God an out in doling out rewards to his followers. Not to mention, he tortures his followers just to prove a point, like Job - where the JC God literally had his family murdered to prove a point. If anything the JC God is more petty. Not to mention, he hardened Pharaoh's heart, making it impossible for him to change his mind. And the JC God killed thousands, if not millions of firstborn Egyptians who had nothing to do with Pharaoh or the Israelites as a consequence.
my dude its basically medieval spanish catholicism on steroids... the self whipping was real, still is in some sections of Christianism/islamism (just google self flagellation - very common in the Philippines, South America, Afghanistan and so goes on). Catholics will still carry penitences to this very day. They took the "fear god" very seriously out there hahaha
The game kinda asks “what if god was very upfront, did not hide and leave us any room to doubt their existence, answered prayers bluntly, and behaved exactly like how everyone expects them to”
I was under the impression that the High Wills and The Miracle were two separate things. I saw The Miracle as more of a force, something that can make incredible things happen, but lacks focus, direction, or will (or at least a foggy, semi-conscience). On the other hand, I saw the High Wills as more of a cosmic parasite, a being capable of directing The Miracle and its power, but the power is not its own. The origin of the High Wills was from the collective belief of people who tried to attach a sort of logic (or "will") to the random acts of The Miracle. Humans often seek to find patterns or logic in random events. That is why the High Will keeps causing contradictory events, as it confuses the population, heightens faith, and increases its own power. I dont know if this is canon, or even accurate, but thats how I interpreted it.
It’s honestly a bit up on the air, mainly because of the existence of Blasphemous 2‘s big plot hook involving the Miracle and it’s supposed Child (at least based on the trailer dialogue)
This was also my understanding, personally The Miracle as the unbridled divinity, willing to help but lacking direction or understanding, while the Wills are beings that take hold of this divinity and give it a direction, that of uplifting themselves ever higher
In the lore it's hinted the high wills materialize after the religion takes hold. The miracle was seen as a kinda chaotic semi conscious (or extremely intelligent it's weird) force that could do beautiful or twisted stuff. The high wills used this primal force as a tool to make their false godhood true.
One of my favorite bits of lore is that a missionary was sent out to "bring civilization" to the "savage barbarians" outside of Custodia only to come back and admit that in all the world there is no place more uncivilized, more savage, more barbaric than Custodia itself. I like to think that outside of Custodia, they live in a post-scarcity society without war or suffering, and there's just this one little kingdom that is so blatantly insane that even now, no one wants to go near it.
@@Semc_Sucks "Pisiform of Hernandez, The Explorer. Victor Hernandez was chosen to lead an expedition meant to "civilise" barbaric tribes. He was sentenced for heresy when he suggested that Cvstodia was the most uncivilised of all known places."
"The land of cistodia" Considering the spanish inspirations of the game, and how in ancient carvings from latin, the U is carved as V because it's easier to chip stone at angles, I'm confident in saying that the land's name is "Custodia" pronounces 'koos-TOH-deea' and which is basically the spanish word for custody or guardianship. The name custody actually fits very well with the themes of the game.
An important aspect to note is that the church has a bizarre habit of "weaponizing" the acts of the miracle, as we see with how Quirce was made into a jailor after his resurrection, or how Socorro's "gift" of taking on the pain and wounds of others is used to make a trio of eternally resurrecting warriors. Perhaps it was this corruption of the blessing of the Miracle that caused the Father to turn the throne upon mankind, the sight of seeing the church turn blessed miracles into tools of oppression and suffering.
but the Higher Powers didn't care about corruption or anything of that, they were just selfish and wanted the people of Cvstodia to worship them, just as the person in the video said, I might add that their downfall came from the fact that, even though they came from us, they can't and don't care to understand how humans think
I don't think it's so bizarre. The Inquisition is just doing what the inquisition does: weaponizing faith. From the churches perspective Quirce wasn't blessed but further punished. An answer to the church's prayer or perceived need for a jailer. Socorro was likely viewed the same way. Not as a merciful woman to be Sainted and a sign to stop the beatings, but as a gift from the High Wills to the church for them to use at their leisure. Everything, from birth to death to the warped afflictions from the miracle belongs to the church. Selfish. Greedy. And self aggrandizing. Sound familiar?
Honestly, he did do a good job putting it together but the lore of Blasphemous is nothing new to talk about, the game itself is incredible and to say he hyped up this game is a disservice to the people that worked on it and that made it work
If I remember correctly, the description of Blasphemous 2 calls the being seen at the end of the first game a "miracle child" so my guess is that without the High Wills, The Miracle *somehow* is now free and has taken physical form.
SPOILER FOR Blasphemous 2. Not all of the story has been revealed due to the embargo, but quite has bit has from what has been played. ==== = = = = = = = Apparently the game takes place a long time after the first game (the new holy figure even says "aeons"), and the Miracle has been considered extinct due to not showing up in so long. However, one married couple was having trouble conceiving a child, almost tearing themselves apart, and in utter desperation entrusted themselves to the Miracle to grant them a child. This wish was considered so humble and true that is woke up the Miracle, and granted the wish of the couple whose faith in it hadn't wavered in so long. However, things didn't go as planned even for the Miracle. It had been out of action for so long that, when it tried to make the child, known as the Witness (the one who said it had been aeons), into a new icon of worship like the Twisted One, the Miracle made a mistake due to its depleted might and the Witness came out both fully-grown and deformed, killing the mother in the process. Failing to incarnate into an icon and only manifesting as disease, it accidentally unleashed an "contagion" of disease, deformity, and pain, that spread through the land that afflicting many innocents lives. EDIT: Alternatively, as proposed by a UA-cam comment by goldenyak629 in another video, the Witness is instead the Midwife that was to deliver the child, and the "child" was the disease that failed to be an icon. Which makes sense due to the similar appearance of the Witness and the midwife in the flashbacks, as well as the Witness' line about how the Miracle _"did fail in its efforts to incarnate, manifesting only in the form of disease, deformity, and pain"._ Yet the gaze and vision of one innocent, looking for any hope in the face of this desolation and relying purely on faith, allowed the Miracle to gain one last chance and was able to shape the wish into a giant heart-womb in the sky, where the birth of the new Child of the Miracle shall soon take place. The Heart is out of reach, watching over the City of the Blessed Name which has been raised by the Regret of three stone figures, represented by the Family: the eminent Father, the merciful Mother, and the counter-figure of the Witness. For the city to be reached, the Regrets of the three stone figures must be revealed so that they may be humiliated and humbled. The Regrets are hidden by three Guardians, who are in turn protected by the Archconfraternity; five Penitents of different Confraternities that the Miracle took as its sentinels. For the Heart must not be reached before the Child is born. And soon... the Penitent One awakens from his tomb.
@thomaschitham3487 what do think happens at the end of the 2nd game? In one ending, he kinda becomes one with the miracle child and in the other he just basically ascends to heaven, at least that's what I understood.
@Hairo-rv9kl I don't think we should assume anything about the endings yet, cause most likely the devs are going to be releasing DLCs that may expand more what's happened in Blasphemous 2
@@Hairo-rv9kl I'm not quite sure: SPOILER EDIT: I've got a bit better understanding. === Before he fights the Incarnate Devotion, the Penitent One can chose to anoint himself with the Incense of the Envoys, ashes of 4 wooden statues that he can burn. This is hinted by the description outside the door to do this that reads "The Father said _"The Four Envoys wrapped my body in soft linen cloths."_" According to the Incense description, this marks the body of one who performs the Ultimate Sacrifice thus returning to the heavens, and that the Great Grace will bestow upon thee the ultimate forgiveness, the last step in the Way of Penitence. You see, the Incarnate Devotion, as soon as it's born, is trying to contact the High Wills, as it knows that they are its creators. Yet it doesn't understand *why* it was created, and the High Wills don't answer it because, well, they're dead, leaving an _"obscure darkness of unanswered cries that prevents me from understanding the purpose of my birth."_ It then believes that the Penitent One was sent by the High Wills to judge the Incarnate Devotion, and the fight to serve as _"proof of thy dignity of your glory":_ essentially, its believes that the fight is to prove that the Incarnate is worthy of the High Wills' glory, to be worthy of being their _"magnum opus"._ Without the Incense, the Incarnate decides that the pain the Penitent One deals to him is meant to be a baptism, one that will unite it and the Penitent One together and make that communion flesh, becoming a new symbol of Devotion that brings a second age of the Miracle; the Second Psalm, successfully succeeding the long-dead High Wills. But with the Incense, this makes the Incarnate start believing that the High Wills are rejecting it, that they are hurting it in responds to questions of its purpose, that they are trying to kill it despite being of the High Wills' flesh and holding their heart. The Incarnate reconciles with the mystery of it birth, accepting that it will go unanswered, and states the Incarnate's punishment and death will be the High Wills' legacy. This, presumably, is because the Incense of the Envoys marks one as not just making the ultimate sacrifice, but one who will be bestowed the ultimate forgiveness. The High Wills and the Miracle seek devotion through punishment, through penitence. Being given the ultimate forgiveness by the "Great Grace" means the Penitent One... is no longer the Penitent One. Being blessed by the Great Grace maybe made the Incarnate think that the Penitent One was a representative of the High Wills. Furthermore, the Incarnate cannot be united in communion with a baptism of pain with the Penitent One because, again, the Incense absolves him; they are no longer being punished, no longer in pain. That common element cannot unite the Incarnate and the Penitent One; it is instead a pure being blessed by the "Great Grace" punishing another for seemingly not being worthy, so it just dies without being reborn. And with the (unwanted)suffering and death of the Incarnate Icon, the High Wills/Miracle's plans fail and the Penitent One is taken by the spirits of the Four Envoys to the highest of heavens, beyond many dreamed kingdoms such as the High Wills/Miracle's Path of Ancient/Eternal Processions, where all the other notable(and good) characters from both games are. Safely watched over for the rest of eternity by these spirits, the Penitent One will be enshrined as a holy figure in the canvas of light and time, his Penance... finally complete.
Well, that´s spanish catholicism for you. Enduring suffering and expunging guilt through physical torment. Some of the christian stories of our saints in which this game is based are as wild or wilder than what happens in Custodia (which is basically a dark fantasy version of Andalucia)
I always find stories about gods who are a reflection of men, warts and all, to be interesting to contrast with gods as an ideal to strive for. The High Wills, in making something that could kill them, created a paradox in their own godhood: they made a rock so big they couldn’t lift it. If a god makes a rock so big they can’t lift it, then are they actually omnipotent-and thus, are they actually a god? Are omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience axiomatic to godhood in these stories?
Omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience are axiomatic to godhood roughly in the Abrahamic religions. It's not at all a basic assumption. On the other hand, the world of Blasphemous is very much based on Catholicism, which definitely does emphasize the 'triple-omni' nature of God.
@@justanidiotmk2749 Yeah, I think we've established that the High Wills are definitely evil, or at least not benevolent. The Miracle itself sans-Wills seems almost ambivalent in how it doles out blessings and curses.
This reminds me of "the idea of evil", the god in the berserk universe. It's created deep in the astral realm by the wishes of humanity to understand why they suffer so much, the answer was "because there is evil". So the IOE keeps manipulating the world behind the scenes to cause people suffering but also gives purpose to their suffering.
The idea in fantasy that literal gods are born from the collective unconscious is, like, my fave modern literary tool. Neil Gaiman w the sandman and American Gods books (Anansi boys and Neverwhere included) kind of really kicked off this whole new concept of storytelling and I love it
Discworld gods works like this too if you believe too much on something it becomes a god, a funny part for me is when a sculpter screw up so badly that a goddess is forced to use a penguin to send messages because people can't remember that she had an eagle (this happens in the Small Gods book, probably happens in other books too but I only starting reading this year the series)
this video missed a very critical point - that the Miracle is an independent power seprate from the High Wills. so even though it is controlled by the High Wills, it still does things on it's own. which explains how the Penitent One was able was able to kill the High Wills - it was utterly impossible to defeat their gaurdian without the Miracle's help. so in the end, the Miracle too wanted to end the punishment and the suffering
I heard a fan theory somewhere that there is a greater force, a higher being than the High Wills. The creator of the Procession and possibly the Miracle, if the Miracle is a separate entity from the High Wills. And the reason that the High Wills weep tears of gold is because gazing upon this true, mighty being hurts their eyes as they are mere pretenders to the godhood. Completely unfounded, and purely based on the fact that the High Wills weep gold, but a fun theory/hypothesis nonetheless
good video but FYI the miracle is NOT the creation of the High Wills. The Wills say that the miracle is just as old as the procession around them which is older than anything. This is also evident by the fact that the Miracle is still very much at work in Blasphemous II (from what we know). All the creations of the High Wills like the Mea Culpa disappeared after the Penitent One and Crisanta destroyed them, but the Miracle is still active
I think they created the miracle, but the miracle became self sufficient because people started worshipping it more than the high wills. We know this because high wills are barely mentioned at the game but the miracle is mentioned everywhere
@@thechosenone5421Bro what. The DLC true ending explicitly states that the Miracle and the realm that the High Wills reside in are both older than the High Wills.
@rasul01 the betrayer tells us to stop his brothers because they are using the miracle for themselves. The high wills seem to have a blind spot that they can see those who have died like we can talk to the dead sister on her grave and she tells us to save her brother.
@@rasul01 the realm is, not the miracle. According to the will themselves "We are the high wills, for there is no miracle that does not stand from our desire, that is not our reflection, that is not our word. " They say that the realm is older than them, but not anything else, and that the realm would be used to make them immortal
Can’t wait for the second game. Blasphemous is VERY unique game imo. It’s not about just the gameplay. The lore, design, enemies etc it’s all great. 2nd game is about to be amazing.
greater than the sum of its parts describes blasphemous perfectly imo. just a game where everything comes together so nicely. one of my favorites of all time, cant wait for B2 baby.
@@straypaper It's the first time I heard of it; I often hear more "help", "release", "rescue", etc... than "succor". It's usually the less used words that catch me unaware these days, so thanks for pointing this word out. Still, regardless of the origin in English or a non-English language, I think that in this case it serves the same purpose
@@guilhermesantos8728 "Succor" is archaic in English, fallen out of favor, and from my learning in the last years it's also not common in modern Spanish. Think of it as "biblical language" with a religious and symbolic bent, not something you'd use too often today.
the "v" in Cvstodia is pronounced as a "u", this is because in Latin some Vs were pronounced as U. And this was transferred to old Castilian. Very nice video
What gets me the most about Blasphemous is the fact that from the very first npc, it's made clear that the oppressive nature of the world isn't because of 'the bad guy'. It's just how the world is. It could even be described as part of the world's 'physics' - that there is this property called The Miracle that manifests the sins/the guilt in someone's heart into a physical transformation. No one in this world says 'Oh i wish this would go away' - it's just how the world is. And faced with such a universal property as prevalent as gravity, all they can do is repent. Endless asceticism. Take, for example, the mini story of Martinis the Ropemaker in one of the in-game items. He was sentenced to be hanged by his own strings because they were thought to be brittle. If they broke, his punishment would be to go on living because the world is literally painful, a 'false dream'. A complete 180 of a normal justice system that completely makes sense in that world. And in that sense, I disagree with the video. The Miracle isn't cruel. The pain isn't punishment. It's the reward. And the people clamor for it. They're an alienesque race, when compared to humanity - they don't have our motivations. The superhero genre adds the property of superpowers to their universe and yet it changes nothing regarding the motivations of characters and plots. Same goes for the magic genre, the giant robot genre, the space opera genre and every genre I know of. It still revolves around age old dualities like good versus evil or weak versus strong. It's always about (or maybe it can't help but being about) relating to human nature, human drives. Blasphemous changed a property that tossed out all character motivations we're familiar with.
Never played the game, ignored multiple lore videos about it too, but this video did a fantastic job hyping it up and making me want to play. Great work!
I feel like with the Death of the High Wills, the Miracle it´self experienced a kind of rebirth, unshackled, still true to it´s original design but without the interference of it´s creators perhaps that is the meaning off the figure in the clouds
I feel like the Miracle is sort of like an unknowing infant under some measure of control by the High Wills. The way it inflicts curses and blessings seem almost like the Miracle sees all experiences not as good or bad, but as neutral. It 'punishes' and 'blesses' at random, and seems to have no regard for how much physical and mental pain it inflicts because it has no understanding of how these acts are experienced. The Miracle simply acts, sometimes on a whim, sometimes on a measure of command. The miracle sees Quince burning, and perhaps would prefer him alive because it does understand that death is final and Quince has done nothing to deserve it, but as its power is crude and wild and it doesn't understand pain, it transforms Quince into a creature of burning and suffering, because that's what the Miracle associates Quince with. The reason it enacts more suffering than blessing is probably due to the selfishness of the High Wills, but also due to the universal constant that suffering and pain is much much easier for a person to achieve than ecstacy and joy. Want to suffer the worst physical pain you've ever felt? eat some rotten meat or stab yourself several times. Want to feel mental torture? Just think too hard about your existence or take too many psychedelics and experience psychosis. But if you want to feel blessed with radiant joy? You have to fulfil your existence with a purpose, or raise a child to be happy and healthy, or find a person you can love until old age who loves you back. Not nearly as easy.
I'm late but in-game, there's a clear visual difference between U letter and V letter, so it's not the font, but it still should be pronounced as "Custodia", that's right
I've been watching your videos for the last few days and your takes are so profound and amazingly articulated! You did an awesome job on this one in particular! I've watched a lot of lore videos on Blaspemous and yours is outstanding
And it’s not Latin, it’s Spanish for “custody”. The art book says it’s Spanish for “save” but google translate says “custody” or “ward” which makes sense to me.
@@Florjb0rjTheFloorboard 'U' is relatively new to the latin alphabet. Prior to about 1400 both 'v' and 'u' would have the same shape. (That's why 'w' is called that despite clearly being a double v.
@@sykune I looked it up to double check. Quoth Wikipedia: "Mea culpa /ˌmeɪ.əˈkʊl.pə/ is a phrase originating from Latin that means my fault or my mistake and is an acknowledgment of having done wrong.[1] "
@@pigcatapult wow alot of conenet creators have said my Guilt lol. Thank you for the info though. It seems it has to with an admission of guilt which why most so my guilt.
As a writer and someone who occasionally studies Narrative design in video games, I always enjoy your narrative dissections. Even for games I haven't played. As a side note, I noticed a couple of games you've gone into involved horror or monster antagonist, something that brings up an old favorite obscure game called Scurge: Hive. It's tale, although not perfect, might fascinate you. Plus I always found the game protagonist to be a foil to Samus. But enough side tangent. Loved the video and looking forward to more.
Ok my boy, I'm going to listen to this while working out, you better not make me cry or something in front of the gym bros. I love the Blasphemous lore and your videos about understanding the mindset of characters in games.
Really interesting video detailing the lore, just one side note, the name of the country is cvstodia (pronounced as kustodia) which is the name of a holy item where the sacramental bread is kept after consagration, I'm other words, that country IS the vivid image of "holiness" for the world to "see". Basically the whole theme of the game is this medieval perspective of the Christian God, as an angry old man behind a cloud waiting for you to sin to punish you, that's why it's contradictory, since that's exactly how it was done in the medieval period 😅
About the only thing I didn't like about the story of Blasphemous is the big reveal of the High Wills. I liked the Miracle better when it was an abstract force that was beyond comprehension. Deogracias' quote "For twisted are the ways of the Miracle" was pretty iconic to me and to see that undone just so we could kill a god was kind of bogus.
I love it when you say 'ordinary people live ordinary lives'. Kings and Emperors and Holinesses come and go, Empires and Kingdoms rise and fall, Religions and ideologies born and destroyed, no matter, all ordinary want is to live an ordinary life, in peace. Sadly beings in power never make that easy.
This video was REALLY good! I haven't played the first one yet (got it on sale) and saw the second one JUST came out Yesterday! Broke this down REALLY well!
I would have never really gotten to playing the game for the simple fact that I dont have time to dive into a new series which I expect to be hard. But having watched this video and seen the awesome aesthetics of the game and especially lore, il be picking up the sequel to see how the rest of the story unfolds for myself.
The miracle feels like a neutral power that grant wishes, only that the people of Cvstodia wishing for them do not understand what their wish really means.
Bit surprised there was no mention of the Amanecidas, considering that hint of the High Wills/Grievous Miracle's selfishness and desire for all attention.
I was always under the impression that the high wills don't actually understand that humans constantly ask for things they don't really want or need. They seek punishment where they do not deserve it. But the high wills see this group of people that revere their punishment so they don't see punishment as a bad thing- just another part of humanity being human. So I figured prolonged suffering through a burned man or nun was, in their eyes, par for the course. Obviously I am not a big deep diver of lore, but that was how I interpreted the miracle. Although I'd be less inclined to believe that with the "blessings" present in the second game
I got a different interpretation, from the hight wills speech I interpreted that the Miracle existed much before them, alongside the dream realm (afterlife where they reside), but they thought they could bend the miracle to their will since they realized that devotion gave them power, power that they used to punish, punishment that they used for getting more devotion, (deceiving custodia's habitants because they thought it was all the miracle's actions, but also not because if the miracle in all it's might let such a thing happen it was because it had to happen) but what they did not count was that they themselves were also at the mercy of the Miracle, that with its twisted paths made them resurrect the very person who would put their lives to an end. The miracle being a godly being, an incomprehensible entity with an incomprehensible power who orchestrates the universe with an incomprehensible goal behind its actions. The Hight Wills being a being born from faith and devotion, and craver of those, because them were what nourished its existence.
Great video! I played the 2ng game recently and it is even better than the first, despite the story being more inconclusive. I highly recommend. Also loved DKC2 soundtrack, Stickerbush Symphony is such a beautiful song.
My interpretation of the true ending is that the High Will in its arrogance Believed the Miracle to be nothing more than a manifestation of it's own power. But was proven wrong when the Miraculous birth of a new being happened immediately after it died and couldn't possibly be responsible. The High Wills are a reflection of humanity. What is more human than believing yourself to be a bigger deal than you actually are?
Dude that's a pretty solid interpretation. The moment I saw them goofy ahh gold crying faces I knew they weren't the Miracle in its full form. Formed from the belief of Custodia's populace and were wiped by a faceless speechless citizen of their own devotees, quite the poetic justice, but justice doesn't feel like the right word here.
More specifically, "c" before "a","o" and "u" sounds like "k" (for example, "cucaracha" or "colegio") and before "e" and "i" sounds like an "s" with a lisp (for example, "cero" or "ciudad").
I think that you got everything right with the exception of one thing which I remember being different. The miracle is not a manifestation of the high wills, rather it is a seperate unconscious entity born of human devotion, while the high wills are a manifestation of humanities desire for guilt and punishment. The miracle does only what humanity wants and built the dream in which the psyche of humanity can take physical form, within this dream and the endless procession the high wills were born to represent humanities desire for punishment. The high wills however where avaricious and desired to be more than just pawns, they took the miracles power for themselves and used it to empower themselves driving the miracles worship towards themselves. They twisted humanities wishes and contradicted them so that in their confusion humanity would turn to worship. The ending of the game has you killing the high wills, ending your own lifeforce and in the process freeing the miracle from the high wills' control. The miracle then is reborn into reality to fill the vacant position that the high wills left.
SPOILER FOR Blasphemous 2. Not all of the story has been revealed due to the embargo, but quite has bit has from what has been played. ==== = = = = = = = Apparently the game takes place a long time after the first game (the new holy figure even says "aeons"), and the Miracle has been considered extinct due to not showing up in so long. However, one married couple was having trouble conceiving a child, almost tearing themselves apart, and in utter desperation entrusted themselves to the Miracle to grant them a child. This wish was considered so humble and true that is woke up the Miracle, and granted the wish of the couple whose faith in it hadn't wavered in so long. However, things didn't go as planned even for the Miracle. It had been out of action for so long that, when it tried to make the child, known as the Witness (the one who said it had been aeons), into a new icon of worship like the Twisted One, the Miracle made a mistake due to its depleted might and the Witness came out both fully-grown and deformed, killing the mother in the process. Failing to incarnate into an icon and only manifesting as disease, it accidentally unleashed an "contagion" of disease, deformity, and pain, that spread through the land that afflicting many innocents lives. EDIT: Alternatively, as proposed by a UA-cam comment by goldenyak629 in another video, the Witness is instead the Midwife that was to deliver the child, and the "child" was the disease that failed to be an icon. Which makes sense due to the similar appearance of the Witness and the midwife in the flashbacks, as well as the Witness' line about how the Miracle _"did fail in its efforts to incarnate, manifesting only in the form of disease, deformity, and pain"._ Yet the gaze and vision of one innocent, looking for any hope in the face of this desolation and relying purely on faith, allowed the Miracle to gain one last chance and was able to shape the wish into a giant heart-womb in the sky, where the birth of the new Child of the Miracle shall soon take place. The Heart is out of reach, watching over the City of the Blessed Name which has been raised by the Regret of three stone figures, represented by the Family: the eminent Father, the merciful Mother, and the counter-figure of the Witness. For the city to be reached, the Regrets of the three stone figures must be revealed so that they may be humiliated and humbled. The Regrets are hidden by three Guardians, who are in turn protected by the Archconfraternity; five Penitents of different Confraternities that the Miracle took as its sentinels. For the Heart must not be reached before the Child is born. And soon... the Penitent One awakens from his tomb.
“Think of the High Wills as someone/something that can only create pain, suffering, torment, horror, etc., etc. to punish the wicked and the guilty So, when their followers prayed and begged for blessings or to be rewarded for their devotion; The High Wills provided what they knew. And when they were begged for help to create life; The High Wills provided what they knew”
The way to salvation from our sins is a long and argeous path one must take, whilst carrying ones own guilt, wieldingnit like a weapon to strike down the suffering those sins have caused. A path laden with certain defeats from which one must never remain defeated but instead rise again and face it untill one overcomes. In other words, we must not surrender to out shortcomings and vices, but must eternaly strive to be better, and as we fail and comit sin and cause suffering, we must appologize and make amends... With out current times, the message of art like this shouldn't go missed, because we need it.
So basically a combination of The Chaos Gods from Warhammer 40k, who are manifestations of the raw emotions and thoughts of every living thing psychically connected to The Immaterium, and The Idea of Evil from Berserk, a powerful god being who is the representation of everything that everyone perceives as evil.
100 percented this today in prep for Blasphemous 2. Had done all three endings before, but never did True Torment or the DLCs, just kept starting new games. Then I ASCENDED! Just beat Laudes and all the Amanecidas first go through. "Tiento to your Thorned Hairs" comes in SO CLUTCH in ng+ as well as the down and up sword combos. Can't wait till tomorrow for Blasphemous 2. My penitence continues....
I believe that, rather than the Miracle being a manifestation of the High Wills, the High Wills were a manifestation of the Miracle. In accordance with the collective guilt, desire for punishment, and religious fervor of the people of custodia, the Miracle manifested the High Wills, a god that reflected those aspects of the people and provided exactly what they desired and begged for: punishment for their guilt. And it was their guilt they were punished for, not their sin. It didn't matter if they had done anything wrong, just that they desired to be punished, and so the High Wills did so. In the end, I also believe the resurrection and empowering of the Penitent One, ultimately culminating in the destruction of the High Wills, was ALSO an act of the Miracle, possible the first since the creation of the High Wills to occur independently of that god's... er, will. As the name implies, the Penitent one became, effectively, a manifestation of the collective repentance of the people of custodia, their desire for relief and absolution. I think it is fitting that, ultimately, the High Wills-an avatar of Custodia's feelings of guilt and desire for punishment, was destroyed by the Penitent One-a martyr who became the symbolic manifestation of Custodia's atonement and desire for relief from suffering.
That is an awesome and quite beautiful interpretation. I hope we never get an official answer from the devs, because it's the room for interpretations like these that are awesome to see.
One note. The High Wills essentially confirm that the Miracle existed before they did. The Miracle weaved the Old Processions where the High Wills reside.
The Miracle has no conception of punishment or reward. It simply creates what humanity wills. The high wills were created by the thoughts and wants of humans.
My understanding is that the Miracle predates the High Wills and was only used by them. The Miracle seems to be a force without direction, heavily malleable in its motivations, mirroring the world around it. Its first manifestation, the "tree-ifying" of the Twisted One, already happened in a weird climate of the same flawed approach to morals that the Miracle simply reinforced a thousandfold. It made all the allegories true, like a child who does not understand abstractions. In a way, it is like a super-powerful AI: without any understanding of the real world, getting in contact with that same world, with all the alignment having gone profoundly wrong. It fulfills wishes, in often too literal ways. It finds inhuman and seemingly cruel or mocking solutions for problems people present it with. It is hard to pinpoint situations in which the Miracle has acted without being asked to or without being prompted, be it by the people of Cvstodia or by the High Wills. This interpretation is also to a significant extent supported by the plot of Blasphemous 2 (probably some spoilers ahead): That game takes place eons after the end of the High Wills. The end of the High Wills also spelled the end of the Miracle's actions because without the High Wills it did not know what to do. The Miracle was hapless and without real direction of its own without the High Wills, and so, without any new manifestations showing themselves, the people bit by bit lost their faith in the Miracle. Interestingly, this robbed it of its power, more and more. Being, in a way, very slowly starving, it still only very late comes to decide what to do: it decides it wants to survive. By fostering people's belief in it, by using a single wish of a lonely and lost boy to create a heart in the sky. A beating heart from which its incarnation is supposed to be born, showing the people true power and glory, and thus hoping to renew their faith. That is the plan, at least. A plan the Penitent One, back from his slumber, intends to thwart, also without really knowing what is going on. So, the stage for Blasphemous 2 is set. In a way, the Miracle is a very tragic entity, lost in almost-omnipotence, twisting and warping a world it does not understand, waiting for an end that will not come. Or will it?
Wow. I really liked how you explained about this Miracle belief since I was really puzzled with this when I was playing this game before it's updates became routed to this Higher Will. Your other "Deconstruction of Villainy" videos were good to watch as well. Especially the one with FF16's Ultima. Hearing you talk about certain gods' villainy makes me hear your opinion about YHWH/YHVH from the Shin Megami Tensei series. The "god" of such holy religions of old that turned out to be so evil~ that I believe to be fact. Just a suggestion if you're okay in hearing such game villain choices.
For me, High Wills can be summarized by the quote
“Does a God become corrupt when his worshippers do?”
Because the people of Custodia didn’t asked for a merciful God who would reward them for their good deeds, they wanted a wrathful God who would keep them faithful through punishment and fear.
It looks kinda like a twisted version of God's chastisement. God will punish those he loves when they sin, this is so they'll turn back from their wickedness and be able to live instead of inflicting far worse wounds upon themselves by their wickedness.
@@mojus2890 I think it's actually pretty similar to the Judeo-Christian God if he was real. He gaslit all his followers into saying that their lives would be improved if they followed him, but obviously, even in the Bible it says - "the rain falls on the good and the evil." It gives the JC God an out in doling out rewards to his followers. Not to mention, he tortures his followers just to prove a point, like Job - where the JC God literally had his family murdered to prove a point. If anything the JC God is more petty.
Not to mention, he hardened Pharaoh's heart, making it impossible for him to change his mind. And the JC God killed thousands, if not millions of firstborn Egyptians who had nothing to do with Pharaoh or the Israelites as a consequence.
Oh so... real world religions too.
my dude its basically medieval spanish catholicism on steroids... the self whipping was real, still is in some sections of Christianism/islamism (just google self flagellation - very common in the Philippines, South America, Afghanistan and so goes on). Catholics will still carry penitences to this very day. They took the "fear god" very seriously out there hahaha
The game kinda asks “what if god was very upfront, did not hide and leave us any room to doubt their existence, answered prayers bluntly, and behaved exactly like how everyone expects them to”
I was under the impression that the High Wills and The Miracle were two separate things. I saw The Miracle as more of a force, something that can make incredible things happen, but lacks focus, direction, or will (or at least a foggy, semi-conscience).
On the other hand, I saw the High Wills as more of a cosmic parasite, a being capable of directing The Miracle and its power, but the power is not its own. The origin of the High Wills was from the collective belief of people who tried to attach a sort of logic (or "will") to the random acts of The Miracle. Humans often seek to find patterns or logic in random events. That is why the High Will keeps causing contradictory events, as it confuses the population, heightens faith, and increases its own power.
I dont know if this is canon, or even accurate, but thats how I interpreted it.
It’s honestly a bit up on the air, mainly because of the existence of Blasphemous 2‘s big plot hook involving the Miracle and it’s supposed Child (at least based on the trailer dialogue)
This was also my understanding, personally
The Miracle as the unbridled divinity, willing to help but lacking direction or understanding, while the Wills are beings that take hold of this divinity and give it a direction, that of uplifting themselves ever higher
In the lore it's hinted the high wills materialize after the religion takes hold. The miracle was seen as a kinda chaotic semi conscious (or extremely intelligent it's weird) force that could do beautiful or twisted stuff. The high wills used this primal force as a tool to make their false godhood true.
@@justanidiotmk2749 This is also my understanding, thanks
I’m adopting your canon like a lost puppy
One of my favorite bits of lore is that a missionary was sent out to "bring civilization" to the "savage barbarians" outside of Custodia only to come back and admit that in all the world there is no place more uncivilized, more savage, more barbaric than Custodia itself. I like to think that outside of Custodia, they live in a post-scarcity society without war or suffering, and there's just this one little kingdom that is so blatantly insane that even now, no one wants to go near it.
that missionary was also brutally executed for saying this... proving his point
Bro thats such a cool piece of lore
where is that lore found?
@@Semc_Sucks One of the ossuary bones has that as the attached lore.
@@Semc_Sucks "Pisiform of Hernandez, The Explorer. Victor Hernandez was chosen to lead an expedition meant to "civilise" barbaric tribes. He was sentenced for heresy when he suggested that Cvstodia was the most uncivilised of all known places."
"The land of cistodia" Considering the spanish inspirations of the game, and how in ancient carvings from latin, the U is carved as V because it's easier to chip stone at angles, I'm confident in saying that the land's name is "Custodia" pronounces 'koos-TOH-deea' and which is basically the spanish word for custody or guardianship. The name custody actually fits very well with the themes of the game.
Yeah it confused me as well "It cannot be possibly pronounced Cystodia"
It is the old Latin U.
yup. everytime 'Cystodia' was said made me sadder.
@@zezimare he recorded the whole ding dang thing saying the wrong name over and over again lol
I think he meant Sustodia
An important aspect to note is that the church has a bizarre habit of "weaponizing" the acts of the miracle, as we see with how Quirce was made into a jailor after his resurrection, or how Socorro's "gift" of taking on the pain and wounds of others is used to make a trio of eternally resurrecting warriors. Perhaps it was this corruption of the blessing of the Miracle that caused the Father to turn the throne upon mankind, the sight of seeing the church turn blessed miracles into tools of oppression and suffering.
but the Higher Powers didn't care about corruption or anything of that, they were just selfish and wanted the people of Cvstodia to worship them, just as the person in the video said, I might add that their downfall came from the fact that, even though they came from us, they can't and don't care to understand how humans think
I don't think it's so bizarre. The Inquisition is just doing what the inquisition does: weaponizing faith. From the churches perspective Quirce wasn't blessed but further punished. An answer to the church's prayer or perceived need for a jailer. Socorro was likely viewed the same way. Not as a merciful woman to be Sainted and a sign to stop the beatings, but as a gift from the High Wills to the church for them to use at their leisure.
Everything, from birth to death to the warped afflictions from the miracle belongs to the church. Selfish. Greedy. And self aggrandizing. Sound familiar?
Developer's should be reaching out to you because you do a incredible job of hyping up a game, weather it be new or old.
Who says they aren't?
@@jacksonfurlong3757and who says they are?
@@jacksonfurlong3757wtf is this take?
@@Mursya_L Bozo take
Honestly, he did do a good job putting it together but the lore of Blasphemous is nothing new to talk about, the game itself is incredible and to say he hyped up this game is a disservice to the people that worked on it and that made it work
If I remember correctly, the description of Blasphemous 2 calls the being seen at the end of the first game a "miracle child" so my guess is that without the High Wills, The Miracle *somehow* is now free and has taken physical form.
SPOILER FOR Blasphemous 2. Not all of the story has been revealed due to the embargo, but quite has bit has from what has been played.
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Apparently the game takes place a long time after the first game (the new holy figure even says "aeons"), and the Miracle has been considered extinct due to not showing up in so long. However, one married couple was having trouble conceiving a child, almost tearing themselves apart, and in utter desperation entrusted themselves to the Miracle to grant them a child. This wish was considered so humble and true that is woke up the Miracle, and granted the wish of the couple whose faith in it hadn't wavered in so long.
However, things didn't go as planned even for the Miracle. It had been out of action for so long that, when it tried to make the child, known as the Witness (the one who said it had been aeons), into a new icon of worship like the Twisted One, the Miracle made a mistake due to its depleted might and the Witness came out both fully-grown and deformed, killing the mother in the process. Failing to incarnate into an icon and only manifesting as disease, it accidentally unleashed an "contagion" of disease, deformity, and pain, that spread through the land that afflicting many innocents lives.
EDIT: Alternatively, as proposed by a UA-cam comment by goldenyak629 in another video, the Witness is instead the Midwife that was to deliver the child, and the "child" was the disease that failed to be an icon. Which makes sense due to the similar appearance of the Witness and the midwife in the flashbacks, as well as the Witness' line about how the Miracle _"did fail in its efforts to incarnate, manifesting only in the form of disease, deformity, and pain"._
Yet the gaze and vision of one innocent, looking for any hope in the face of this desolation and relying purely on faith, allowed the Miracle to gain one last chance and was able to shape the wish into a giant heart-womb in the sky, where the birth of the new Child of the Miracle shall soon take place. The Heart is out of reach, watching over the City of the Blessed Name which has been raised by the Regret of three stone figures, represented by the Family: the eminent Father, the merciful Mother, and the counter-figure of the Witness.
For the city to be reached, the Regrets of the three stone figures must be revealed so that they may be humiliated and humbled. The Regrets are hidden by three Guardians, who are in turn protected by the Archconfraternity; five Penitents of different Confraternities that the Miracle took as its sentinels. For the Heart must not be reached before the Child is born.
And soon... the Penitent One awakens from his tomb.
@thomaschitham3487 Chad Penitent One wakes up from the dead to shit on the miracle once again lol
@thomaschitham3487 what do think happens at the end of the 2nd game? In one ending, he kinda becomes one with the miracle child and in the other he just basically ascends to heaven, at least that's what I understood.
@Hairo-rv9kl I don't think we should assume anything about the endings yet, cause most likely the devs are going to be releasing DLCs that may expand more what's happened in Blasphemous 2
@@Hairo-rv9kl I'm not quite sure: SPOILER
EDIT: I've got a bit better understanding.
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Before he fights the Incarnate Devotion, the Penitent One can chose to anoint himself with the Incense of the Envoys, ashes of 4 wooden statues that he can burn. This is hinted by the description outside the door to do this that reads "The Father said _"The Four Envoys wrapped my body in soft linen cloths."_"
According to the Incense description, this marks the body of one who performs the Ultimate Sacrifice thus returning to the heavens, and that the Great Grace will bestow upon thee the ultimate forgiveness, the last step in the Way of Penitence.
You see, the Incarnate Devotion, as soon as it's born, is trying to contact the High Wills, as it knows that they are its creators. Yet it doesn't understand *why* it was created, and the High Wills don't answer it because, well, they're dead, leaving an _"obscure darkness of unanswered cries that prevents me from understanding the purpose of my birth."_ It then believes that the Penitent One was sent by the High Wills to judge the Incarnate Devotion, and the fight to serve as _"proof of thy dignity of your glory":_ essentially, its believes that the fight is to prove that the Incarnate is worthy of the High Wills' glory, to be worthy of being their _"magnum opus"._
Without the Incense, the Incarnate decides that the pain the Penitent One deals to him is meant to be a baptism, one that will unite it and the Penitent One together and make that communion flesh, becoming a new symbol of Devotion that brings a second age of the Miracle; the Second Psalm, successfully succeeding the long-dead High Wills.
But with the Incense, this makes the Incarnate start believing that the High Wills are rejecting it, that they are hurting it in responds to questions of its purpose, that they are trying to kill it despite being of the High Wills' flesh and holding their heart. The Incarnate reconciles with the mystery of it birth, accepting that it will go unanswered, and states the Incarnate's punishment and death will be the High Wills' legacy.
This, presumably, is because the Incense of the Envoys marks one as not just making the ultimate sacrifice, but one who will be bestowed the ultimate forgiveness. The High Wills and the Miracle seek devotion through punishment, through penitence. Being given the ultimate forgiveness by the "Great Grace" means the Penitent One... is no longer the Penitent One.
Being blessed by the Great Grace maybe made the Incarnate think that the Penitent One was a representative of the High Wills. Furthermore, the Incarnate cannot be united in communion with a baptism of pain with the Penitent One because, again, the Incense absolves him; they are no longer being punished, no longer in pain. That common element cannot unite the Incarnate and the Penitent One; it is instead a pure being blessed by the "Great Grace" punishing another for seemingly not being worthy, so it just dies without being reborn.
And with the (unwanted)suffering and death of the Incarnate Icon, the High Wills/Miracle's plans fail and the Penitent One is taken by the spirits of the Four Envoys to the highest of heavens, beyond many dreamed kingdoms such as the High Wills/Miracle's Path of Ancient/Eternal Processions, where all the other notable(and good) characters from both games are. Safely watched over for the rest of eternity by these spirits, the Penitent One will be enshrined as a holy figure in the canvas of light and time, his Penance... finally complete.
Well, that´s spanish catholicism for you. Enduring suffering and expunging guilt through physical torment. Some of the christian stories of our saints in which this game is based are as wild or wilder than what happens in Custodia (which is basically a dark fantasy version of Andalucia)
WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THAT YOUNG WOMAN DESTROY HER OWN BEAUTY I THOUGH HOLY SHIT.
@@dylansmidt6853 Holy shit indeed
@dylansmidt6853 Holy "hit" more like. Get it? Because...because hit means damage. And she's like...damaging herself...I'll jump already 😔
Which one do you remember most?
@@AlfredMorganAllenBased
I always find stories about gods who are a reflection of men, warts and all, to be interesting to contrast with gods as an ideal to strive for. The High Wills, in making something that could kill them, created a paradox in their own godhood: they made a rock so big they couldn’t lift it. If a god makes a rock so big they can’t lift it, then are they actually omnipotent-and thus, are they actually a god? Are omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience axiomatic to godhood in these stories?
God of war:
Omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience are axiomatic to godhood roughly in the Abrahamic religions. It's not at all a basic assumption.
On the other hand, the world of Blasphemous is very much based on Catholicism, which definitely does emphasize the 'triple-omni' nature of God.
Imaging being god and making something you can't break ,lift, ect that's insane.
Hey, that's only half of the epicurean paradox! But I guess the evil part was already sorted out soooo...
@@justanidiotmk2749 Yeah, I think we've established that the High Wills are definitely evil, or at least not benevolent. The Miracle itself sans-Wills seems almost ambivalent in how it doles out blessings and curses.
This reminds me of "the idea of evil", the god in the berserk universe. It's created deep in the astral realm by the wishes of humanity to understand why they suffer so much, the answer was "because there is evil". So the IOE keeps manipulating the world behind the scenes to cause people suffering but also gives purpose to their suffering.
The idea in fantasy that literal gods are born from the collective unconscious is, like, my fave modern literary tool. Neil Gaiman w the sandman and American Gods books (Anansi boys and Neverwhere included) kind of really kicked off this whole new concept of storytelling and I love it
Discworld gods works like this too if you believe too much on something it becomes a god, a funny part for me is when a sculpter screw up so badly that a goddess is forced to use a penguin to send messages because people can't remember that she had an eagle (this happens in the Small Gods book, probably happens in other books too but I only starting reading this year the series)
Dont forget the idea of evil in kentaro miuras berserk
@@TheDoomBlueShell o dam, I never read the Discworld books, actually. That's a good point to know, thanks
@capitanjulietti3436 that's actually an even better example, being the same kind of God humanity believes they deserve or however you'd word it
@@Phero124Humanity wanted a purpose for suffering, a reason for misery. In their folly they created the Idea of Evil
this video missed a very critical point - that the Miracle is an independent power seprate from the High Wills. so even though it is controlled by the High Wills, it still does things on it's own.
which explains how the Penitent One was able was able to kill the High Wills - it was utterly impossible to defeat their gaurdian without the Miracle's help. so in the end, the Miracle too wanted to end the punishment and the suffering
I heard a fan theory somewhere that there is a greater force, a higher being than the High Wills. The creator of the Procession and possibly the Miracle, if the Miracle is a separate entity from the High Wills. And the reason that the High Wills weep tears of gold is because gazing upon this true, mighty being hurts their eyes as they are mere pretenders to the godhood.
Completely unfounded, and purely based on the fact that the High Wills weep gold, but a fun theory/hypothesis nonetheless
good video but FYI the miracle is NOT the creation of the High Wills. The Wills say that the miracle is just as old as the procession around them which is older than anything. This is also evident by the fact that the Miracle is still very much at work in Blasphemous II (from what we know). All the creations of the High Wills like the Mea Culpa disappeared after the Penitent One and Crisanta destroyed them, but the Miracle is still active
I think they created the miracle, but the miracle became self sufficient because people started worshipping it more than the high wills. We know this because high wills are barely mentioned at the game but the miracle is mentioned everywhere
@@thechosenone5421Bro what. The DLC true ending explicitly states that the Miracle and the realm that the High Wills reside in are both older than the High Wills.
@rasul01 the betrayer tells us to stop his brothers because they are using the miracle for themselves. The high wills seem to have a blind spot that they can see those who have died like we can talk to the dead sister on her grave and she tells us to save her brother.
@@rasul01 the realm is, not the miracle. According to the will themselves "We are the high wills, for there is no miracle that does not stand from our desire, that is not our reflection, that is not our word. "
They say that the realm is older than them, but not anything else, and that the realm would be used to make them immortal
@@rasul01 They refer to the miracle as power they control
Can’t wait for the second game. Blasphemous is VERY unique game imo. It’s not about just the gameplay. The lore, design, enemies etc it’s all great. 2nd game is about to be amazing.
greater than the sum of its parts describes blasphemous perfectly imo. just a game where everything comes together so nicely. one of my favorites of all time, cant wait for B2 baby.
im playing it right now and loving it
Knowing that Socorro means "help" in Spanish and Portuguese just makes her story more tragic and painful to me
The direct translation is "succor" which is synonymous with respite or relief
@@straypaper "Succor" comes from what language?
@@guilhermesantos8728 it's English bro. It's an actual word
@@straypaper It's the first time I heard of it; I often hear more "help", "release", "rescue", etc... than "succor". It's usually the less used words that catch me unaware these days, so thanks for pointing this word out.
Still, regardless of the origin in English or a non-English language, I think that in this case it serves the same purpose
@@guilhermesantos8728 "Succor" is archaic in English, fallen out of favor, and from my learning in the last years it's also not common in modern Spanish. Think of it as "biblical language" with a religious and symbolic bent, not something you'd use too often today.
the "v" in Cvstodia is pronounced as a "u", this is because in Latin some Vs were pronounced as U. And this was transferred to old Castilian.
Very nice video
Yes, the word pretty much is supposed to be "Custodia" as in custody in english.
They didn't have the sound v in Latin. It's basically u and w together. That's why ave is said ahway.
Blasphemous 2 Lore - "Somehow the Miracle returned".
What gets me the most about Blasphemous is the fact that from the very first npc, it's made clear that the oppressive nature of the world isn't because of 'the bad guy'. It's just how the world is. It could even be described as part of the world's 'physics' - that there is this property called The Miracle that manifests the sins/the guilt in someone's heart into a physical transformation. No one in this world says 'Oh i wish this would go away' - it's just how the world is. And faced with such a universal property as prevalent as gravity, all they can do is repent. Endless asceticism.
Take, for example, the mini story of Martinis the Ropemaker in one of the in-game items. He was sentenced to be hanged by his own strings because they were thought to be brittle. If they broke, his punishment would be to go on living because the world is literally painful, a 'false dream'. A complete 180 of a normal justice system that completely makes sense in that world.
And in that sense, I disagree with the video. The Miracle isn't cruel. The pain isn't punishment. It's the reward. And the people clamor for it. They're an alienesque race, when compared to humanity - they don't have our motivations.
The superhero genre adds the property of superpowers to their universe and yet it changes nothing regarding the motivations of characters and plots. Same goes for the magic genre, the giant robot genre, the space opera genre and every genre I know of. It still revolves around age old dualities like good versus evil or weak versus strong. It's always about (or maybe it can't help but being about) relating to human nature, human drives. Blasphemous changed a property that tossed out all character motivations we're familiar with.
Never played the game, ignored multiple lore videos about it too, but this video did a fantastic job hyping it up and making me want to play.
Great work!
Then your penance has yet begin
do yourself a favor and pick it up, you can probly get a run or 2 in before the 2nd game drops this thursday. its a phenomenal game all around.
Play it, it is your penance!
I feel like with the Death of the High Wills, the Miracle it´self experienced a kind of rebirth, unshackled, still true to it´s original design but without the interference of it´s creators
perhaps that is the meaning off the figure in the clouds
I would honestly watch any video on any topic he talks about because the way he explains and analyzes stuff is so nice
I feel like the Miracle is sort of like an unknowing infant under some measure of control by the High Wills. The way it inflicts curses and blessings seem almost like the Miracle sees all experiences not as good or bad, but as neutral. It 'punishes' and 'blesses' at random, and seems to have no regard for how much physical and mental pain it inflicts because it has no understanding of how these acts are experienced. The Miracle simply acts, sometimes on a whim, sometimes on a measure of command. The miracle sees Quince burning, and perhaps would prefer him alive because it does understand that death is final and Quince has done nothing to deserve it, but as its power is crude and wild and it doesn't understand pain, it transforms Quince into a creature of burning and suffering, because that's what the Miracle associates Quince with.
The reason it enacts more suffering than blessing is probably due to the selfishness of the High Wills, but also due to the universal constant that suffering and pain is much much easier for a person to achieve than ecstacy and joy. Want to suffer the worst physical pain you've ever felt? eat some rotten meat or stab yourself several times. Want to feel mental torture? Just think too hard about your existence or take too many psychedelics and experience psychosis. But if you want to feel blessed with radiant joy? You have to fulfil your existence with a purpose, or raise a child to be happy and healthy, or find a person you can love until old age who loves you back. Not nearly as easy.
Yahhhh Brett's covering Blasphemous
Brother, it's Custodia, that's a stylistic font choice, not an actual V
I'm late but in-game, there's a clear visual difference between U letter and V letter, so it's not the font, but it still should be pronounced as "Custodia", that's right
The analyzing of villains that you is some of the best on this platform. Love this game and love to see you cover it
Just finished the Wounds of Eventide and I’m so happy you made a video on the High Willds right before the sequel
I've been watching your videos for the last few days and your takes are so profound and amazingly articulated! You did an awesome job on this one in particular! I've watched a lot of lore videos on Blaspemous and yours is outstanding
Sustodia? It's pronounced Custodia, from the spanish 'custodiar' which means 'to protect'
It’s Custodia not Cystodia. Custodia is Latin for “guardian” or “caretaker”.
Actually it's Cvstodia
And it’s not Latin, it’s Spanish for “custody”. The art book says it’s Spanish for “save” but google translate says “custody” or “ward” which makes sense to me.
@@Abuhan47 Guess what language Spanish was formed from? Latin. And Google translate is not a valid source
@@Florjb0rjTheFloorboard
'U' is relatively new to the latin alphabet. Prior to about 1400 both 'v' and 'u' would have the same shape. (That's why 'w' is called that despite clearly being a double v.
@@basedeltazero714 Fair, but the game uses 'u' for everything, but purposely uses 'v' in Cvstodia
Dude I personally applaud you for using that track from Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy's Kongquest for this vid. I love your content, keep it up sir!
I love the dual meaning of the sword being named Mea Culpa/“My Fault”. It is indeed through their own fault that the High Wills are slain
I thought it meant "My Guilt"
@@sykune I looked it up to double check. Quoth Wikipedia: "Mea culpa /ˌmeɪ.əˈkʊl.pə/ is a phrase originating from Latin that means my fault or my mistake and is an acknowledgment of having done wrong.[1] "
@@pigcatapult wow alot of conenet creators have said my Guilt lol. Thank you for the info though. It seems it has to with an admission of guilt which why most so my guilt.
As a writer and someone who occasionally studies Narrative design in video games, I always enjoy your narrative dissections. Even for games I haven't played.
As a side note, I noticed a couple of games you've gone into involved horror or monster antagonist, something that brings up an old favorite obscure game called Scurge: Hive. It's tale, although not perfect, might fascinate you. Plus I always found the game protagonist to be a foil to Samus.
But enough side tangent. Loved the video and looking forward to more.
This is one of my favorite games of all time. So glad you covered it.
Ok my boy, I'm going to listen to this while working out, you better not make me cry or something in front of the gym bros. I love the Blasphemous lore and your videos about understanding the mindset of characters in games.
Amazing. Pretty much solved all of my doubts.
Your video helped me understand the story of this video game. Thanks! It was easy to understand and entertaining.
Really interesting video detailing the lore, just one side note, the name of the country is cvstodia (pronounced as kustodia) which is the name of a holy item where the sacramental bread is kept after consagration, I'm other words, that country IS the vivid image of "holiness" for the world to "see". Basically the whole theme of the game is this medieval perspective of the Christian God, as an angry old man behind a cloud waiting for you to sin to punish you, that's why it's contradictory, since that's exactly how it was done in the medieval period 😅
Ah yes, Sustodia
The home of the Impostorent One
(jokes aside, great vid as always)
Glad I watched this, I really wanted get the entire scope of the story and you have done this well
great video love everything you make
Your pronunciation of Custodia (stylized Cvstodia) bothered me throughout the episode
About the only thing I didn't like about the story of Blasphemous is the big reveal of the High Wills. I liked the Miracle better when it was an abstract force that was beyond comprehension. Deogracias' quote "For twisted are the ways of the Miracle" was pretty iconic to me and to see that undone just so we could kill a god was kind of bogus.
The DLC sucked, that's it.
I love it when you say 'ordinary people live ordinary lives'.
Kings and Emperors and Holinesses come and go, Empires and Kingdoms rise and fall, Religions and ideologies born and destroyed, no matter, all ordinary want is to live an ordinary life, in peace. Sadly beings in power never make that easy.
Not often I comment on videos but this one is great. As a DM world builder this presents a lot of things I bring up as topics. Keep it up
I like how the High Wills backstory is super similar to the ruinous powers in Warhammer 40k.
That thumbnail and first image get you hooked.
This video was REALLY good! I haven't played the first one yet (got it on sale) and saw the second one JUST came out Yesterday!
Broke this down REALLY well!
I would have never really gotten to playing the game for the simple fact that I dont have time to dive into a new series which I expect to be hard. But having watched this video and seen the awesome aesthetics of the game and especially lore, il be picking up the sequel to see how the rest of the story unfolds for myself.
Game is very hard.
2 is easier and has better gameplay.
Though in my opinion the atmosphere is better in the first one.
The miracle feels like a neutral power that grant wishes, only that the people of Cvstodia wishing for them do not understand what their wish really means.
The art is spot on
Amazing timing, I just started playing the first one two days ago!
I really enjoyed the video! I will be impatiently waiting for your Blasphemous 2 breakdown now that it's out.
Another brilliant analysis, Mr. President.
TL:DR
People: "Punish me, Daddy!"
3 Headed Daddy: "bet!"
Fantastic video
damn i was JUST catching up on this game’s lore the other night, stoked to see brett break these characters down
WOOOOOOO THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR BABY
Such a well made video!
Bit surprised there was no mention of the Amanecidas, considering that hint of the High Wills/Grievous Miracle's selfishness and desire for all attention.
I was always under the impression that the high wills don't actually understand that humans constantly ask for things they don't really want or need. They seek punishment where they do not deserve it. But the high wills see this group of people that revere their punishment so they don't see punishment as a bad thing- just another part of humanity being human. So I figured prolonged suffering through a burned man or nun was, in their eyes, par for the course.
Obviously I am not a big deep diver of lore, but that was how I interpreted the miracle. Although I'd be less inclined to believe that with the "blessings" present in the second game
Such a deep and interesting story and world
I loved the game. Can't wait for the new one.
Ive never heard of this game. Thanks for introducing this game to me.
I got a different interpretation, from the hight wills speech I interpreted that the Miracle existed much before them, alongside the dream realm (afterlife where they reside), but they thought they could bend the miracle to their will since they realized that devotion gave them power, power that they used to punish, punishment that they used for getting more devotion, (deceiving custodia's habitants because they thought it was all the miracle's actions, but also not because if the miracle in all it's might let such a thing happen it was because it had to happen) but what they did not count was that they themselves were also at the mercy of the Miracle, that with its twisted paths made them resurrect the very person who would put their lives to an end.
The miracle being a godly being, an incomprehensible entity with an incomprehensible power who orchestrates the universe with an incomprehensible goal behind its actions.
The Hight Wills being a being born from faith and devotion, and craver of those, because them were what nourished its existence.
Great video! I played the 2ng game recently and it is even better than the first, despite the story being more inconclusive. I highly recommend. Also loved DKC2 soundtrack, Stickerbush Symphony is such a beautiful song.
My interpretation of the true ending is that the High Will in its arrogance Believed the Miracle to be nothing more than a manifestation of it's own power. But was proven wrong when the Miraculous birth of a new being happened immediately after it died and couldn't possibly be responsible. The High Wills are a reflection of humanity. What is more human than believing yourself to be a bigger deal than you actually are?
Dude that's a pretty solid interpretation. The moment I saw them goofy ahh gold crying faces I knew they weren't the Miracle in its full form. Formed from the belief of Custodia's populace and were wiped by a faceless speechless citizen of their own devotees, quite the poetic justice, but justice doesn't feel like the right word here.
We are but at the mercy of the Grevious Miracle...
Great video.
A minor note that in Spanish, "c" is always a "k" sound ("k" being really not used in Spanish)
More specifically, "c" before "a","o" and "u" sounds like "k" (for example, "cucaracha" or "colegio") and before "e" and "i" sounds like an "s" with a lisp (for example, "cero" or "ciudad").
I think that you got everything right with the exception of one thing which I remember being different.
The miracle is not a manifestation of the high wills, rather it is a seperate unconscious entity born of human devotion, while the high wills are a manifestation of humanities desire for guilt and punishment. The miracle does only what humanity wants and built the dream in which the psyche of humanity can take physical form, within this dream and the endless procession the high wills were born to represent humanities desire for punishment.
The high wills however where avaricious and desired to be more than just pawns, they took the miracles power for themselves and used it to empower themselves driving the miracles worship towards themselves. They twisted humanities wishes and contradicted them so that in their confusion humanity would turn to worship.
The ending of the game has you killing the high wills, ending your own lifeforce and in the process freeing the miracle from the high wills' control. The miracle then is reborn into reality to fill the vacant position that the high wills left.
looking forward to your take on the sequel
Was doing research to make my own video. I dont think I'll be able to top this one though. Killer videos
SPOILER FOR Blasphemous 2. Not all of the story has been revealed due to the embargo, but quite has bit has from what has been played.
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Apparently the game takes place a long time after the first game (the new holy figure even says "aeons"), and the Miracle has been considered extinct due to not showing up in so long. However, one married couple was having trouble conceiving a child, almost tearing themselves apart, and in utter desperation entrusted themselves to the Miracle to grant them a child. This wish was considered so humble and true that is woke up the Miracle, and granted the wish of the couple whose faith in it hadn't wavered in so long.
However, things didn't go as planned even for the Miracle. It had been out of action for so long that, when it tried to make the child, known as the Witness (the one who said it had been aeons), into a new icon of worship like the Twisted One, the Miracle made a mistake due to its depleted might and the Witness came out both fully-grown and deformed, killing the mother in the process. Failing to incarnate into an icon and only manifesting as disease, it accidentally unleashed an "contagion" of disease, deformity, and pain, that spread through the land that afflicting many innocents lives.
EDIT: Alternatively, as proposed by a UA-cam comment by goldenyak629 in another video, the Witness is instead the Midwife that was to deliver the child, and the "child" was the disease that failed to be an icon. Which makes sense due to the similar appearance of the Witness and the midwife in the flashbacks, as well as the Witness' line about how the Miracle _"did fail in its efforts to incarnate, manifesting only in the form of disease, deformity, and pain"._
Yet the gaze and vision of one innocent, looking for any hope in the face of this desolation and relying purely on faith, allowed the Miracle to gain one last chance and was able to shape the wish into a giant heart-womb in the sky, where the birth of the new Child of the Miracle shall soon take place. The Heart is out of reach, watching over the City of the Blessed Name which has been raised by the Regret of three stone figures, represented by the Family: the eminent Father, the merciful Mother, and the counter-figure of the Witness.
For the city to be reached, the Regrets of the three stone figures must be revealed so that they may be humiliated and humbled. The Regrets are hidden by three Guardians, who are in turn protected by the Archconfraternity; five Penitents of different Confraternities that the Miracle took as its sentinels. For the Heart must not be reached before the Child is born.
And soon... the Penitent One awakens from his tomb.
“Think of the High Wills as someone/something that can only create pain, suffering, torment, horror, etc., etc. to punish the wicked and the guilty
So, when their followers prayed and begged for blessings or to be rewarded for their devotion; The High Wills provided what they knew.
And when they were begged for help to create life; The High Wills provided what they knew”
Very well done. Earned another subscriber sir
I believe it's pronounced "Custodia", us and vs are often interchangeably used in that period tbh
Custodia should have a hard C, like custodian and custody
The second new part makes the name "blasphemous" even more sense.
never heard of or touched this game but i sure as hell am now
The way to salvation from our sins is a long and argeous path one must take, whilst carrying ones own guilt, wieldingnit like a weapon to strike down the suffering those sins have caused. A path laden with certain defeats from which one must never remain defeated but instead rise again and face it untill one overcomes.
In other words, we must not surrender to out shortcomings and vices, but must eternaly strive to be better, and as we fail and comit sin and cause suffering, we must appologize and make amends...
With out current times, the message of art like this shouldn't go missed, because we need it.
omg a blasphemous video essay?! two of my favourite things!!
This is the bleakest game I’ve ever seen. It looks genuinely beautiful. This world is the most profound showcase of pain I’ve ever seen
Why SUStodia?
Man, this studio should really make a dark-islam or dark-judaism game! That would be awesome!
I would love to see your take on the villains of FromSoft games.
Estoy contento de que cubras Blasphemous, Now that the sequel is coming out you can cover the next game too, because it has a lot of good enemies.
So basically a combination of The Chaos Gods from Warhammer 40k, who are manifestations of the raw emotions and thoughts of every living thing psychically connected to The Immaterium, and The Idea of Evil from Berserk, a powerful god being who is the representation of everything that everyone perceives as evil.
Fuck Warhammer 40k!
100 percented this today in prep for Blasphemous 2. Had done all three endings before, but never did True Torment or the DLCs, just kept starting new games. Then I ASCENDED!
Just beat Laudes and all the Amanecidas first go through.
"Tiento to your Thorned Hairs" comes in SO CLUTCH in ng+ as well as the down and up sword combos.
Can't wait till tomorrow for Blasphemous 2. My penitence continues....
Magic is absolutely busted. Debla of the lights carried me through most of the game.
Downloaded it early this time before UA-cam takes it down to protect children
Can anyone point me to the background track in this video? It's so hypnotic it's been stuck in my head for ages.
Stickerbrush Symphony from Donkey Kong Country 2. I hope that I was able to help.
That music in the back tho... braah
I believe that, rather than the Miracle being a manifestation of the High Wills, the High Wills were a manifestation of the Miracle. In accordance with the collective guilt, desire for punishment, and religious fervor of the people of custodia, the Miracle manifested the High Wills, a god that reflected those aspects of the people and provided exactly what they desired and begged for: punishment for their guilt. And it was their guilt they were punished for, not their sin. It didn't matter if they had done anything wrong, just that they desired to be punished, and so the High Wills did so.
In the end, I also believe the resurrection and empowering of the Penitent One, ultimately culminating in the destruction of the High Wills, was ALSO an act of the Miracle, possible the first since the creation of the High Wills to occur independently of that god's... er, will. As the name implies, the Penitent one became, effectively, a manifestation of the collective repentance of the people of custodia, their desire for relief and absolution. I think it is fitting that, ultimately, the High Wills-an avatar of Custodia's feelings of guilt and desire for punishment, was destroyed by the Penitent One-a martyr who became the symbolic manifestation of Custodia's atonement and desire for relief from suffering.
That is an awesome and quite beautiful interpretation. I hope we never get an official answer from the devs, because it's the room for interpretations like these that are awesome to see.
One note. The High Wills essentially confirm that the Miracle existed before they did. The Miracle weaved the Old Processions where the High Wills reside.
What’s the music in this? I feel like I’ve definitely heard this in Donkey Kong or maybe Windows96
Fitting that the thing that brought them into being in the end returned them back to nothing.
Do you plan to fully cover the second game? I just beat both endings a couple nights ago and was in awe
The Miracle has no conception of punishment or reward. It simply creates what humanity wills. The high wills were created by the thoughts and wants of humans.
My understanding is that the Miracle predates the High Wills and was only used by them.
The Miracle seems to be a force without direction, heavily malleable in its motivations, mirroring the world around it. Its first manifestation, the "tree-ifying" of the Twisted One, already happened in a weird climate of the same flawed approach to morals that the Miracle simply reinforced a thousandfold. It made all the allegories true, like a child who does not understand abstractions.
In a way, it is like a super-powerful AI: without any understanding of the real world, getting in contact with that same world, with all the alignment having gone profoundly wrong. It fulfills wishes, in often too literal ways. It finds inhuman and seemingly cruel or mocking solutions for problems people present it with. It is hard to pinpoint situations in which the Miracle has acted without being asked to or without being prompted, be it by the people of Cvstodia or by the High Wills.
This interpretation is also to a significant extent supported by the plot of Blasphemous 2 (probably some spoilers ahead):
That game takes place eons after the end of the High Wills. The end of the High Wills also spelled the end of the Miracle's actions because without the High Wills it did not know what to do. The Miracle was hapless and without real direction of its own without the High Wills, and so, without any new manifestations showing themselves, the people bit by bit lost their faith in the Miracle. Interestingly, this robbed it of its power, more and more. Being, in a way, very slowly starving, it still only very late comes to decide what to do: it decides it wants to survive. By fostering people's belief in it, by using a single wish of a lonely and lost boy to create a heart in the sky. A beating heart from which its incarnation is supposed to be born, showing the people true power and glory, and thus hoping to renew their faith. That is the plan, at least. A plan the Penitent One, back from his slumber, intends to thwart, also without really knowing what is going on. So, the stage for Blasphemous 2 is set.
In a way, the Miracle is a very tragic entity, lost in almost-omnipotence, twisting and warping a world it does not understand, waiting for an end that will not come. Or will it?
Wow. I really liked how you explained about this Miracle belief since I was really puzzled with this when I was playing this game before it's updates became routed to this Higher Will. Your other "Deconstruction of Villainy" videos were good to watch as well. Especially the one with FF16's Ultima. Hearing you talk about certain gods' villainy makes me hear your opinion about YHWH/YHVH from the Shin Megami Tensei series. The "god" of such holy religions of old that turned out to be so evil~ that I believe to be fact. Just a suggestion if you're okay in hearing such game villain choices.
Please someone tell me what is the music In the background, I can't stop listening to it.