The first king didn’t hate the ancients so he raised Nymphilia and saved the future as a result The umbra knight needed those words as he almost definitely hated the people who destroyed his land and people but he had decades to forgive
I was almost brought to tears by the end of this video. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it's because after playing the game and knowing the events without really being able to put the pieces together myself, watching this video and having you explain it to me in a clear way brought some kind of connection, or something? Yeah I'm not too sure how to explain it. The part about Silva was really touching to me as well. I know what unworthiness feels like, though to a much lesser extent than Silva I'm sure. It blows my mind how beautiful this game is with it's storytelling and the emotion that the characters and their own stories convey. Thank you very much for all of your findings through the world of ENDER LILIES, each of them are important and you often bring us a positive message to go with it which I'm sure many of us, including me, appreciate. Thank you.
I'm so happy to hear that! While there are certainly other games out there that feature a "light in the darkness" type story, I think one of the reasons Ender Lilies is so captivating (at least to me) is that its darkness feels so real, so oppressive and soul-crushing. It's a really sad world. BUT that makes the light - the Lily's, the small sacrifices everyone makes - shine so much brighter, like they really MEAN something. So I try to make an effort to focus on that light where I can find it, and I'm so glad to hear that it's noticed and appreciated. Thank you! 😊
To add on, there are a few other small stories of character's dealing with hate in positive and negative ways throughout the game, and just as you say, those who succumb to it are often shown in a more negative light while those who resisted are shown more positively. For the positive side, one is Gerrod, as his memory opens with him talking about how he knows the Villagers have begun to fear him, yet despite that he swears to protect Fretia from more suffering by refusing purification, and continued to protect the Hamlet until he finally fell to madness which Ferin praises him as "A brave warrior indeed" for. Another is Ulv, as he's a fairly tragic character who didn't deserve much of what happened to him similar to Fretia. The Forsaken Fellwyrm reveals that "forsaken" children were often brought to the spires, suggesting Ulv was likely one of those children, and given how he said he "struggled to speak", the notice warning about him being quick to anger and hard to reason with, and his incredibly powerful love of flowers, I wouldn't be surprised if he was neurodivergent to some degree, and that was the reason he was considered "forsaken". Then add on in his memory he laments how the defense of the Bastion was the longest and most grueling fight he'd ever experienced, and how now he was trapped in an immortal body that would never die, and all of it for a land that didn't have anyone left to thank him for his sacrifice. Similar to Fretia, I don't think anyone would blame him if he were to abandon the kingdom or betray it. Yet despite it all, he stayed unflinchingly loyal, not to the corrupt kingdom that used and abused him, but to the sweet and innocent White Priestess, even going as far as to befriend the Lily Clone he was given according to her practice letter. And to a lesser degree, there's Bale, the fast travel horse Blighted. While he has lost his mind according to Ferin, despite that he didn't give into the mindless hate of the Blight and instead remained unquestionably faithful and loyal to the White Priestesses, coming to aid Lily because of her amulet. Ferin even notes "Hold, something approaches. Or rather... it follows...", which strongly emphasizes Bale's loyalty towards the Priestesses. Both characters are people who were neglected and/or hated by others in spite of all they did to help them, and even in madness they never gave in to their hate and remained loyal to Fretia and the White Priestess clones. On the negative side, there's Hoenir, which I mentioned in a comment on the big lore video. In his 2nd entry he talks about how his sister "must have" hated him, yet also mentions how she was smiling happily until her death in his third entry. That paints the picture that Hoenir was so afraid of what she'd think, knowing her brother was involved in such horrible things that he assumed that she HAD TO have hated him, despite that she didn't hate him at all and even loved him enough to feel safe entrusting Julius to him rather than the King, causing him to waste what little precious time they had left together. Yet in a strange contrast, when given protection over Julius, who was the result of the love affair that revealed his job to his sister, and also who's birth was likely the reason for his sister's death, he doesn't hate Julius for causing so many problems in his life, but swears to protect and support him no matter what. Characters who had all of the opportunities to give into their hate and fear, yet didn't, are consistently shown as "better" than those that didn't. Sometimes it's more sympathetic, like with Gerrod being so stalwart as to never stop protecting those that hated him, and sometimes it's more purely "good", like Hoenir choosing to break his vow to the twisted and corrupt king and kingdom to protect his nephew. Meanwhile those who did give in to their hate and fear, like Hoenir wasting his limited time left with his sister because of his assumptions, or all you say about Julius and Silva, are shown in a more negative light, either as foolish and pitiful like Hoenir and Silva, or tragic like Julius.
I love that you keep this awesome game relevant. About the message, apart from what you mentioned about " time " and how short we have of it I didn't thought that there was another theme on it, but actually the fact that it is not as prominent is the proof of how important it is. Good findings!
Maybe one day i may be able to play Ender Lilies and experience all the things i've seen through analysis and full gameplays. Thank you for making videos of this wonderfull game, showing the dephts of the themes and characters which are so unique, and keeping the community so alive to continue the theories and everything. Thank you for dedicating your time for this game which motivates me begin to write and see another perspective of life. I can't be able to put in words how grateful i am for this game to exist and you for making all this Ender Lilies videos. Sorry if my english grammar is bad. I'm not an English major - i think is spelled like this. Im Brazilian. I just want to thank you and keep doing the thing for this game and community. You deserve the sucess you have and i hope, in the future, you'll get more recognizement. Thank you again. :)
I guess the Blight blooms were where concentrated amounts of hate lay. The Tower in the Twin Spires is easy as it's Julius' hate but what about the other spore blooms. What type of hate could get them to bloom there?
Not sure about the various blight blooms. But, there is one other unique "bloom" in subterran lab b3 in verboten. It is full of blooming white fungus and containers for growing clone priestesses. It is speculated by some lore scholars that Miriel or some other benevolent researcher who out of kindness and love tried to help the white priestess accidentally fed the blight positive emotions instead of negative and created the white fungi. Which where used in making the clone priestesses. The blight is according to speculation not inherently destructive. It is a magical, reanimating, spirit binding, hive minded mushroom network. By genociding the ancients who where connected to the network all their grief and anger festered in it and with no priestesses to manage the network and spirits contained within it lashed out against the living to spread their missery to the people they felt had wronged them. As the priestess said it was the hate of her ancestors that was the burden she was struggling under.
I'm so glad! This was actually one of my first video ideas for Ender Lilies, it just took a while to get it fully written & recorded. One of my favorites as well :)
@@indiexplorergames I can see why, looking at Ender Lilies from a thematic standpoint is really interesting! I really appreciate you talking about this game, the fanbase is lucky to have you :)
Sorry about such a late comment, but it has been so long since I have felt so invested in a story. I can't help but write out my thoughts. Hope you or anyone else could read this and discuss with me for a bit. (Reddit might have been the surest spot for discussion but my country blocks reddit so...) I'm just too fixated on wanting a happy ending for lily and Fretia, so I was pondering what exactly happened in the cannon ending C. It suddenly struck me of the possibility that Fretia may truly still be together with lily. Remember that in ending B, Lily and Fretia became as one, never to be apart. This should mean that they merged together in some way right? Just like that note the crazy mages wrote that under specific circumstances blighted bodies can merge together (they also pondered themselves, what happens to the souls then? HMMM). If ending B has Lily FAIL to purify Fretia and ends up merged with Fretia, could it be possible that in ending C where Lily SUCCEEDS in purifying Fretia, Fretia herself might end up merged with Lily?? It aligns with your other video where you mentioned there was no grave for Fretia, so where was her body then? It's so ambiguous what this whole merging process is, since ending B ends so abruptly. Do their bodies and/or soul fuse? DO they both retain their consciousness or not? A white priestess' soul is immune to blight but their body isn't, so we can maybe infer some details, maybe lol. I admit this might be me convincing myself, but the lore of EL requires this anyway so here goes: 1. In ending C, Lily's initial attempt to purify Fretia was rebound and she ends up HEAVILY blighted before her luminant aegis curio lights up and her 8 sisters show up (for moral support or else what btw?). However, after her second attempt which was a success, we see in the final cutscene that Lily REGAINED a large portion of her pure appearance (only several blighted appendages on her hair and some bulging veins remain, which should be around middle levels of blight on her body I guess?). This is a big hint, because all logic dictates that since she was already heavily blighted before repairing the luminant aegis curio and saving Fretia + the insane levels of blight on Fretia herself, lily should have gained even more blight reflected on the state of her body, not less blight instead. The Luminant aegis curio lessens the burden of purification, but neither does it completely negate it or reduce the blight already in a priestess (?). Could it be that Lily's restored appearance is due in some way to merging with Fretia? 2. What happened to Fretia's body after being purified? She didn't seem to have a grave in the final cutscene. 3. In the final scene between Lily and Fretia, she says 3 final lines: "It's time I should be leaving. I'll be watching over you..." (NOOOO, RIP... Lily, don't cry!). Suddenly though, the screen lights up into pure white! "We'll always... be together...". There are multiple ways to interpret the meaning behind these lines. Is Fretia merely trying to console Lily with empty words? If she means what she said, that they can still be together, why did she say: "It's time I should be leaving." Why did they deliver her final line with that pure white backdrop? Does it imply her leaving for "heaven"? Or being super speculative, is it that when Fretia's soul faded away, her soul MERGED with Lily, lighting up the location they were (probably mentally) conversing in, which could have been Lily's deep consciousness/soul. 4. In the final cutscene, Lily seems to have grown up a fair bit. Not sure how much time passes since her success, but gathering her sister's body and burying them should not have taken too long. Perhaps a month at most. Of course this point is weak and unclear, but still, another potentially sudden change to her body. 5. As Fretia's clone, Lily should have an even closer & greater affinity and compatibility towards Fretia than if Lily were her child (I have no clue scientifically speaking though). Not just her body, but her soul too. She developed her own soul, but it was based off of Fretia right? It would be truly poetic if the original (Fretia) merged into the clone (Lily). Perhaps Fretia stressing this point to Lily, that she is her own person, is also to assure Lily and us players in this regard that she is truly worthy. If that is indeed so that Fretia is aware she merged into Lily, she would have saved a lot of tears if she just outright explained it to us XD. What I want is that they can still accompany each other, talk with and spend time with each other. After seeing what they both went through, I just want them to get another chance to properly live, be happy. I guess it's good enough for me if they merged like I speculated. Perhaps Fretia might even awaken after some time and truly reunite with Lily, spending time with and existing alongside Lily like Ferin does? I would have a hearty, teary laugh if Ender Lilies 2 follows Lily again and my speculation turns out right! At least, I hope it continues Lily's story. Man, writing this was fun!
I always hoped for the same... Like why did the sisters show up were they part of Lily? And if they became part of her and came out to help her... Would it mean Fretia too is now within Lily like her sisters seemed to be? I hope they're all existing happily within Lily and keeping her from being lonely.
same, I fr wanna look into the lore myself just to parse what I can from it and wanted a place to start if only I could find an active community that still cares about this game
If there's a character that should have hated everything about his situation and future it should have been the Umbral knight, and yet he seeks to safe Lily and accomplishing his mission. My thoughts at least.
I kind of wish that the Umbral Knight wasn’t methodical and was instead a pessimistic character that didn’t really like Lily at first and would’ve actually left her out in the rain because he sees no point in life anymore. Then we see him grow close to her and start to care about her, giving him a great character arc.
you, underrated, such low views, how come of that? i like the story of silva and siegrid so much that i have both of them in the same party and just sit in the save room so they can be with each other
People that say "hate is a disease that eats at you" are people that haven't had a real reason to hate someone. Hate is an emotion you feel when you feel threatened and when extreme injustice has been done to you. It is a very potent driving force towards justice, there is no justice without corresponding hate. And true revenge is satisfying. People that chose to "forgive and walk away" are cowards, cowards that claim their weakness is strength. It is not.
The first king didn’t hate the ancients so he raised Nymphilia and saved the future as a result
The umbra knight needed those words as he almost definitely hated the people who destroyed his land and people but he had decades to forgive
I was almost brought to tears by the end of this video. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it's because after playing the game and knowing the events without really being able to put the pieces together myself, watching this video and having you explain it to me in a clear way brought some kind of connection, or something? Yeah I'm not too sure how to explain it. The part about Silva was really touching to me as well. I know what unworthiness feels like, though to a much lesser extent than Silva I'm sure. It blows my mind how beautiful this game is with it's storytelling and the emotion that the characters and their own stories convey. Thank you very much for all of your findings through the world of ENDER LILIES, each of them are important and you often bring us a positive message to go with it which I'm sure many of us, including me, appreciate. Thank you.
I'm so happy to hear that!
While there are certainly other games out there that feature a "light in the darkness" type story, I think one of the reasons Ender Lilies is so captivating (at least to me) is that its darkness feels so real, so oppressive and soul-crushing. It's a really sad world. BUT that makes the light - the Lily's, the small sacrifices everyone makes - shine so much brighter, like they really MEAN something. So I try to make an effort to focus on that light where I can find it, and I'm so glad to hear that it's noticed and appreciated. Thank you! 😊
For such dedication for the game, you deserve more attention.
To add on, there are a few other small stories of character's dealing with hate in positive and negative ways throughout the game, and just as you say, those who succumb to it are often shown in a more negative light while those who resisted are shown more positively.
For the positive side, one is Gerrod, as his memory opens with him talking about how he knows the Villagers have begun to fear him, yet despite that he swears to protect Fretia from more suffering by refusing purification, and continued to protect the Hamlet until he finally fell to madness which Ferin praises him as "A brave warrior indeed" for. Another is Ulv, as he's a fairly tragic character who didn't deserve much of what happened to him similar to Fretia. The Forsaken Fellwyrm reveals that "forsaken" children were often brought to the spires, suggesting Ulv was likely one of those children, and given how he said he "struggled to speak", the notice warning about him being quick to anger and hard to reason with, and his incredibly powerful love of flowers, I wouldn't be surprised if he was neurodivergent to some degree, and that was the reason he was considered "forsaken". Then add on in his memory he laments how the defense of the Bastion was the longest and most grueling fight he'd ever experienced, and how now he was trapped in an immortal body that would never die, and all of it for a land that didn't have anyone left to thank him for his sacrifice. Similar to Fretia, I don't think anyone would blame him if he were to abandon the kingdom or betray it. Yet despite it all, he stayed unflinchingly loyal, not to the corrupt kingdom that used and abused him, but to the sweet and innocent White Priestess, even going as far as to befriend the Lily Clone he was given according to her practice letter.
And to a lesser degree, there's Bale, the fast travel horse Blighted. While he has lost his mind according to Ferin, despite that he didn't give into the mindless hate of the Blight and instead remained unquestionably faithful and loyal to the White Priestesses, coming to aid Lily because of her amulet. Ferin even notes "Hold, something approaches. Or rather... it follows...", which strongly emphasizes Bale's loyalty towards the Priestesses.
Both characters are people who were neglected and/or hated by others in spite of all they did to help them, and even in madness they never gave in to their hate and remained loyal to Fretia and the White Priestess clones.
On the negative side, there's Hoenir, which I mentioned in a comment on the big lore video. In his 2nd entry he talks about how his sister "must have" hated him, yet also mentions how she was smiling happily until her death in his third entry. That paints the picture that Hoenir was so afraid of what she'd think, knowing her brother was involved in such horrible things that he assumed that she HAD TO have hated him, despite that she didn't hate him at all and even loved him enough to feel safe entrusting Julius to him rather than the King, causing him to waste what little precious time they had left together. Yet in a strange contrast, when given protection over Julius, who was the result of the love affair that revealed his job to his sister, and also who's birth was likely the reason for his sister's death, he doesn't hate Julius for causing so many problems in his life, but swears to protect and support him no matter what.
Characters who had all of the opportunities to give into their hate and fear, yet didn't, are consistently shown as "better" than those that didn't. Sometimes it's more sympathetic, like with Gerrod being so stalwart as to never stop protecting those that hated him, and sometimes it's more purely "good", like Hoenir choosing to break his vow to the twisted and corrupt king and kingdom to protect his nephew. Meanwhile those who did give in to their hate and fear, like Hoenir wasting his limited time left with his sister because of his assumptions, or all you say about Julius and Silva, are shown in a more negative light, either as foolish and pitiful like Hoenir and Silva, or tragic like Julius.
I love that you keep this awesome game relevant. About the message, apart from what you mentioned about " time " and how short we have of it I didn't thought that there was another theme on it, but actually the fact that it is not as prominent is the proof of how important it is. Good findings!
Maybe one day i may be able to play Ender Lilies and experience all the things i've seen through analysis and full gameplays.
Thank you for making videos of this wonderfull game, showing the dephts of the themes and characters which are so unique, and keeping the community so alive to continue the theories and everything. Thank you for dedicating your time for this game which motivates me begin to write and see another perspective of life. I can't be able to put in words how grateful i am for this game to exist and you for making all this Ender Lilies videos.
Sorry if my english grammar is bad. I'm not an English major - i think is spelled like this. Im Brazilian. I just want to thank you and keep doing the thing for this game and community. You deserve the sucess you have and i hope, in the future, you'll get more recognizement.
Thank you again. :)
I guess the Blight blooms were where concentrated amounts of hate lay. The Tower in the Twin Spires is easy as it's Julius' hate but what about the other spore blooms. What type of hate could get them to bloom there?
Not sure about the various blight blooms. But, there is one other unique "bloom" in subterran lab b3 in verboten. It is full of blooming white fungus and containers for growing clone priestesses. It is speculated by some lore scholars that Miriel or some other benevolent researcher who out of kindness and love tried to help the white priestess accidentally fed the blight positive emotions instead of negative and created the white fungi. Which where used in making the clone priestesses.
The blight is according to speculation not inherently destructive. It is a magical, reanimating, spirit binding, hive minded mushroom network. By genociding the ancients who where connected to the network all their grief and anger festered in it and with no priestesses to manage the network and spirits contained within it lashed out against the living to spread their missery to the people they felt had wronged them. As the priestess said it was the hate of her ancestors that was the burden she was struggling under.
This is my favorite vid of yours so far, it’s really well done
I'm so glad! This was actually one of my first video ideas for Ender Lilies, it just took a while to get it fully written & recorded. One of my favorites as well :)
@@indiexplorergames I can see why, looking at Ender Lilies from a thematic standpoint is really interesting! I really appreciate you talking about this game, the fanbase is lucky to have you :)
Great analysis as always. I truly appreciate your efforts. Thank you for shedding lights on Fretia and delivering such a moving message.
Sorry about such a late comment, but it has been so long since I have felt so invested in a story. I can't help but write out my thoughts. Hope you or anyone else could read this and discuss with me for a bit. (Reddit might have been the surest spot for discussion but my country blocks reddit so...)
I'm just too fixated on wanting a happy ending for lily and Fretia, so I was pondering what exactly happened in the cannon ending C. It suddenly struck me of the possibility that Fretia may truly still be together with lily. Remember that in ending B, Lily and Fretia became as one, never to be apart. This should mean that they merged together in some way right? Just like that note the crazy mages wrote that under specific circumstances blighted bodies can merge together (they also pondered themselves, what happens to the souls then? HMMM). If ending B has Lily FAIL to purify Fretia and ends up merged with Fretia, could it be possible that in ending C where Lily SUCCEEDS in purifying Fretia, Fretia herself might end up merged with Lily?? It aligns with your other video where you mentioned there was no grave for Fretia, so where was her body then?
It's so ambiguous what this whole merging process is, since ending B ends so abruptly. Do their bodies and/or soul fuse? DO they both retain their consciousness or not? A white priestess' soul is immune to blight but their body isn't, so we can maybe infer some details, maybe lol. I admit this might be me convincing myself, but the lore of EL requires this anyway so here goes:
1. In ending C, Lily's initial attempt to purify Fretia was rebound and she ends up HEAVILY blighted before her luminant aegis curio lights up and her 8 sisters show up (for moral support or else what btw?). However, after her second attempt which was a success, we see in the final cutscene that Lily REGAINED a large portion of her pure appearance (only several blighted appendages on her hair and some bulging veins remain, which should be around middle levels of blight on her body I guess?). This is a big hint, because all logic dictates that since she was already heavily blighted before repairing the luminant aegis curio and saving Fretia + the insane levels of blight on Fretia herself, lily should have gained even more blight reflected on the state of her body, not less blight instead. The Luminant aegis curio lessens the burden of purification, but neither does it completely negate it or reduce the blight already in a priestess (?). Could it be that Lily's restored appearance is due in some way to merging with Fretia?
2. What happened to Fretia's body after being purified? She didn't seem to have a grave in the final cutscene.
3. In the final scene between Lily and Fretia, she says 3 final lines: "It's time I should be leaving. I'll be watching over you..." (NOOOO, RIP... Lily, don't cry!). Suddenly though, the screen lights up into pure white! "We'll always... be together...". There are multiple ways to interpret the meaning behind these lines. Is Fretia merely trying to console Lily with empty words? If she means what she said, that they can still be together, why did she say: "It's time I should be leaving." Why did they deliver her final line with that pure white backdrop? Does it imply her leaving for "heaven"? Or being super speculative, is it that when Fretia's soul faded away, her soul MERGED with Lily, lighting up the location they were (probably mentally) conversing in, which could have been Lily's deep consciousness/soul.
4. In the final cutscene, Lily seems to have grown up a fair bit. Not sure how much time passes since her success, but gathering her sister's body and burying them should not have taken too long. Perhaps a month at most. Of course this point is weak and unclear, but still, another potentially sudden change to her body.
5. As Fretia's clone, Lily should have an even closer & greater affinity and compatibility towards Fretia than if Lily were her child (I have no clue scientifically speaking though). Not just her body, but her soul too. She developed her own soul, but it was based off of Fretia right? It would be truly poetic if the original (Fretia) merged into the clone (Lily). Perhaps Fretia stressing this point to Lily, that she is her own person, is also to assure Lily and us players in this regard that she is truly worthy. If that is indeed so that Fretia is aware she merged into Lily, she would have saved a lot of tears if she just outright explained it to us XD.
What I want is that they can still accompany each other, talk with and spend time with each other. After seeing what they both went through, I just want them to get another chance to properly live, be happy. I guess it's good enough for me if they merged like I speculated. Perhaps Fretia might even awaken after some time and truly reunite with Lily, spending time with and existing alongside Lily like Ferin does? I would have a hearty, teary laugh if Ender Lilies 2 follows Lily again and my speculation turns out right! At least, I hope it continues Lily's story. Man, writing this was fun!
I always hoped for the same... Like why did the sisters show up were they part of Lily? And if they became part of her and came out to help her... Would it mean Fretia too is now within Lily like her sisters seemed to be? I hope they're all existing happily within Lily and keeping her from being lonely.
Great Playlist. Hope another Ender Lilies game/content come out soon!
I just binged the Playlist and a lot of fun in it
I liked the game so I like thinking on it.
same, I fr wanna look into the lore myself just to parse what I can from it and wanted a place to start
if only I could find an active community that still cares about this game
If there's a character that should have hated everything about his situation and future it should have been the Umbral knight, and yet he seeks to safe Lily and accomplishing his mission. My thoughts at least.
Yup but he’s had more than enough time across the ages to overcome that hate
@@nickchua5772 I would say that the reverse applies too. He would have also all that time to keep loathing his duty turned curse. Good though
I love your dedication
i done watch all your ender lilies video, keep it up! i love it.
I kind of wish that the Umbral Knight wasn’t methodical and was instead a pessimistic character that didn’t really like Lily at first and would’ve actually left her out in the rain because he sees no point in life anymore. Then we see him grow close to her and start to care about her, giving him a great character arc.
Great theories, finished the game and binged all the videos lol, hope that they do a sequel or prequel
you, underrated, such low views, how come of that?
i like the story of silva and siegrid so much that i have both of them in the same party and just sit in the save room so they can be with each other
Amazing video
You should take a crack at The Talos Principle
People that say "hate is a disease that eats at you" are people that haven't had a real reason to hate someone. Hate is an emotion you feel when you feel threatened and when extreme injustice has been done to you. It is a very potent driving force towards justice, there is no justice without corresponding hate. And true revenge is satisfying. People that chose to "forgive and walk away" are cowards, cowards that claim their weakness is strength. It is not.