Tori: Code:Sariel Screenshots~! Just Playing Around. :P Might Open Some IBs Later.

Tori: Code:Sariel screenshots~! Just playing around. :P Might open some IBs later.

The True Identity of Elsword

Now there are several ways I can tackle this post. I can write the entire thing as if no one’s ever read any of my stuff or pretend like everyone read everything I’ve ever written and I don’t need to repeat myself for the 5th time. I decided to do a mix of the two. I’ll briefly explain but link to more detailed explanation found in my previous posts.

Q: Ain seems to have a big interest in Elsword. What exactly is Elsword?

A: Elysion story and Ain’s story have already given you guys hints about what Elsword really is. (laughter) We are planning to continue the story about this through upcoming stories so we would be so grateful if you can have big interest for it!!

from Interview with Developer on Ain: (link)

Since Ain was released, it was heavily hinted that a lot of hints were sprinkled throughout the game, enough for us to figure out what Elsword is.

Let’s quickly recap my Pledge to the Sword post, which was a post all about Elsword and his background/story/relevance to the plot. Read it in full detail if you need any clarification or explanation/citation/source: (link)

Elsword in Story

From the Epic Quest and the animation adaptation, we learn that Elsword has a strong connection to the El, capable of notable feats(?) such as:

Drawing Ain out of Henir’s rift with his innate El power that is very similar to the core of the original El, which is what the Ruben’s El Shard also is.

Needing no one to tell him that the Lady of El is not a legend but a living, breathing, existing person, and cannot recall how he knows that information.

Having the same root as Ain.

Slightly remembering Ain even after Ain ends his intervention (but not completely, right away).

Bringing back Ain’s existence and helps him maintain that existence via his own energy.

Hearing Harnier, the Lady of El, and her voice, who can possibly talk only to him and no one else.

Finding the fabricated El in Elysion, created by Solace familiar because it exudes a similar energy wave as the original El, before its destruction.

Being told by Solace that some of his memories were directly transferred from the El.

Rose’s Source of the Great Disaster

Before I go on any further, we have to revisit the post that started it all: The Source of the Great Disaster (link). Rose is what catapulted us to question, “Wait why is Elsword trying to restore the El? What’s his true connection to it?” in the first place. And here is why:

Through Rose we were able to learn that the El might be the source of the Great Disaster that was unleashed upon Rose’s world. Here is the proof:

When the disaster struck, Imperial Princess Erza conducted a research to locate the source of it… and during Rose’s tutorial, you can see her staring at something none other than the El. In fact, this type of El is something we’ve never seen before. Throughout Elsword the game’s history, El was known to take various different forms depending on the artist’s interpretation but we see this fat angular piece of jewel somewhere before as well. The ERP icon:

The giant El before the explosion looked something more like this:

The El you see in Ain’s tutorial and the one in the Tower of El is the salvaged El after the Nasod War, when it went rampant and almost destroyed the world and the first Lady of El and Ishmael had to quell it. That’s why it looks chipped and… imperfect. But the one in Rose’s tutorial is… perfect.

It’s the restored El? But the El’s not restored yet?

What if the restored El in the future struck Rose’s world and she was sent back in time to stop the destruction from its source. Time traveling in Elsword? Not at all weird. Add has done it on numerous occasions, Ain probably has done it, and Rose has done it at least once, and we know it for a fact:

When Rose first arrives in Elysion, she’s perplexed because she was specifically told to go to Elrios where the source is. But Zero tells her, they’re in Elysion because that’s where the source is… But she says she has to go to Elrios so they go to Elrios… and finds Elsword… concludes that he has some connection to the source and follows him which brings her right back to Elysion for the second time except this time Zero tells her that the second time they visited Elysion is, in fact, an earlier time than when they first arrived. Meaning, if they sat around and waited in the same place, they would’ve seen their past selves jumping right into Elrios.

And her dungeon clear line at the Memory of the Halted Sun is strange.

Rose

I’ve been following him thinking that he’s the closest one to the source of disaster. I haven’t met him personally but just seeing the chaos in his wake I really do feel like he’s a disaster…!!

Note that everyone else is talking about Elsword as their own dungeon clear line and here is Rose… saying that.

Why would Elsword be someone who’s closest one to the source of the disaster in Rose’s hometown?

Let’s recap again. Erza looks at what appears to be an El, albeit a bit different from what we’re used to. From that we concluded that El is the source of the disaster. What is Elsword trying to do? Restore the El.

But does that make it enough for him to be the “closest one” to the El?

I used to think Elsword was just someone very important from the past who was chosen by the Goddess to restore the El in the present time. But that doesn’t explain a lot of things.

If he was chosen by the Goddess to restore the El, then how come he wasn’t granted power from the very beginning, like Ain?

Ain is significantly weaker than he started out to be because of the time he spent in Henir’s rift, but even with his weakened strength he was able to do some pretty amazing things like closing the dimensional rift.

From the Pledge to the Sword post, you learned that the Transcendence Update was Goddess’s test on Elsword to see if he’s worthy of the new power. With that power, he was able to withstand Solace’s attack in the fortress. It also went further to describe his uncanny connection to the El, standing out from the rest of the El Search Party members.

He can do amazing things that no other humans, or even Celestials can do. But he’s not perfect either. There’s always something that’s missing…

What is he? Human? Celestial? What if…

Elsword is a piece of the El?

Now, let’s go back to our list of “unexplained things that Elsword can do” and piece it all together.

Drawing Ain out of the rift

Possible, as a piece of the El

Knowing the Lady of El is not a legend

He probably met a few in his lifetime(?)

Same root as Ain

El was also created by the Goddess

Remembering Ain even after Ain ends intervention

El contains memories that Ain later reads later

Brings back Ain and maintains his energy

El of Earth from Velder did something similar to Ain

Listening to Harnier’s voice

During Halted Sun’s memory Epic Quest, we learn that Harnier can hear the El “calling out” to her. That means she can hear El. Who says she can’t talk to El?

This also explains why she probably couldn’t talk to anyone, not even Solace, during her coma in Elysion.

Thinking the original El energy is familiar and nostalgic

If the original El was a part of you, then you would find it nostalgic and familiar.

Being told by Solace that some of his memories were directly transferred from the El

Of course.

Ain’s “Initial” Obsession with Elsword

It had very little to do with the fact that Elsword was seemingly the only person who can help Ain in his lofty quest of reconstructing the broken El so that he can restore energy to it, but because Elsword was a piece of El itself. If the former was true, then he could’ve thought of just discarding Elsword after restoring the El but judging from his very last line in Elysion Epic Quest, I highly doubt that would’ve been the case since he was thinking of abandoning his quest to be with Elsword and friends. Think about all those times Ain was upset at the thought of the precious El being corrupted by Demons. In fact, the reason why Wanderer became Apostasia is BECAUSE this precious thing called El was tainted and corrupted by demons in Feita, which made him become disappointed with the Goddess’s ineptitude in protecting it:

Wanderer feels despair and fear for his own future after seeing Nasods being discarded in Altera. He decides to go the Altar of Dedication in Feita where he can reach the Goddess. He was horrified to find it overran by demons but he believed that as long as he can reach the Goddess, all of his fear and despair will be washed away, so he fought on… until he found the Dark El.

“To think the Goddess’s own creation could become tainted like this…”

The last shred of faith and hope he had was shattered and he was consumed by the Seed of Chaos.

Nostalgia: Who Are We?

I want to talk more about nostalgia and how Elsword finds the original El nostalgic, but I’ll just quote Vsauce on Nostalgia:

Nostalgia. Fondly remembering the past, what you used to do, and who you used to be, might simply be a way for your brain to answer that question or at least cool down the anxiety it causes.

The word nostalgia is learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of νόστος (nóstos), meaning “homecoming”, a Homeric word, and ἄλγος (álgos), meaning “pain” or “ache”.

Nostalgia is all about you. Your memory, your past, and who you used to be, and consequently, who you are now. Which makes nostalgia an often healthy way to ask, who am I? Well, you are a person who remembers a specific events in the past. You existed in the past and are a continuous being.

Solace, the Master of the Sun

Solace… he seemed to know what Elsword is and who he is.

“Yes, you are the one. The one who can change this world, the one who has the power to choose a new future.” “I am convinced, Elsword, that you are the one with the power and the right to change the future of Elrios.” “…. Now, it is time. O, the one who has the power and the right to choose the future of the world created by El.”

WHO has the power and the right to choose the future of the world created by the El… if not the El itself…?

“… It’s too obvious for you to desire the restoration of El.”

It would be obvious for a fragment of you to be reunited with the rest of … you?

Harnier, the Lady of El

We’ve already discussed that the reason Harnier probably could talk to Elsword was because he is a piece of El, and El was known to reach out to Ladies of El in the past:

“What… what’s going on…?” “Oh no, the Giant El is about to go rampant!” “No… How could this happen… What… what should I do…” “Harnier… Harnier? Where are you going?” “El… El is calling out to me… I must go…” “No… it’s already too late! If you go any closer, you’ll…!”

- Solace and Harnier in Halted Sun’s Memory Epic Quest

Now, for those of you who are asking this question:

“Hey how can a piece of rock become a human? lol”

May I remind you… Illuminos Phenomenon:

“Illuminos. The fate of those who become the Lady of El.

It’s said that those who become the Lady of El not only dedicate the entirety of her life for El, but gradually loses emotions as a human and loses herself… only to become a part of the Giant El.”

- Ebalon in Halted Sun’s Memory Epic Quest

So a human can be chosen by the Goddess… to ultimately become a part of the El. Wouldn’t that mean a part of El could also become… human?

“The chosen few cannot change the world no matter how special they are… The ones that truly maintain and change the world are all of the living beings in this world.”

“I… know that! What we had to sacrifice to come this far. It was thanks to everyone’s sacrifice that I was able to get here… I don’t want any more sacrifices either.”

- Solace and Elsword in Halted Sun’s Memory Epic Quest

Let’s think about people Elsword had to sacrifice to get here… hmm.. Yuno… And… nope, I can’t think of anyone else. Who else did Elsword sacrifice? Why is he so… sensitive about that word…… yeah he’d have to sacrifice his sister… but hey let’s take a moment to think about

How many Ladies of the El was sacrificed to maintain the unstable El.

Rose, the Time Traveler

If Elsword really truly is a piece of the El, and not only that… a core of the El… then that would explain why Rose is so hostile against Elsword when everyone in Elrios + Elysion thinks of him as some sort of great leader/savior figure.

But this won’t change the game balance or the story so much to make Elsword into a God or something because he says this:

“No… to me, I have memories of my sister who’s always been by my side, my friends, and all the people I’ve met and spent time with. Even if there is a part of me that I don’t know… that doesn’t mean I’m going to become an existence for El.”

- Elsword in Halted Sun’s Memory Epic Quest

What did you think?

Will Elsword restore the El? Or will he try something that will fuck something up? I really don’t think Rose can stop the disaster that hit her home world, because that would be a time paradox… Of course the game will need some complications to keep rolling and keep things interesting…

I can’t be 100% sure Elsword WILL restore the El, but I do have a good feeling about this whole Elsword is a piece of El theory. I have thought about his strange connection to the El for a long time but I just couldn’t think deep enough to get to this conclusion for a while. I just thought Elsword = source of disaster, El = also source of disaster, but didn’t think Elsword = El… for some reason. I mean that really does take some kind of thinking to come out and say Elsword is El confidently. I hate to theorize without some empirical evidence to back my claim so this took some time to write.