MovieChat Forums > Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) Discussion > What religion does each God represent?

What religion does each God represent?

posted 17 years ago by Scimetar_Northerner
14 replies | jump to latest

There are so many things that each ancient could represent. One idea is that they each represent the five elements of ancient belief such as Ulyoth as water, Xeletoth as earth, Chaturga as fire, Mantarok as spirit, and the yellow essence as wind/air (there actually was supposed to be a fifth ancient I heard, but was scrapped due to time contraints but the yellow imagery is still there). Also, each ancient seems similar to a sea creature.

However, I remembered hearing a debate that each ancient represents one of the major religions. It is obvious that Mantarok is some form of Buddhism, but the other three represent one of Islam, Judaism, and Catholicism.

Does any one know what each one represents and why?

[–] general_kaiden 17 years ago

There's a thorough essay on the same topic later in this forum.

[–] Scimetar_Northerner 17 years ago

I've read it, but I wanted to be more specific on what religion out of the three was given to the trinity of ancients. Buddhism is Mantarok I know.

[–] general_kaiden 17 years ago

how do you know?

[–] Scimetar_Northerner 17 years ago

That's what it says in the thread. It's just a theory that the OP came up with, but out of the 4 religions he mentioned, Buddhism was given to Mantarok. Islam, Judaism, and Catholocism were talked about, but it was never specifically applied to any of the three trinity ancients.

[–] general_kaiden 17 years ago

Have you seen the bonus end movie when you finish all three stories?

The statement that Mantorok was symbolic of Buddhism was made without the information given in that movie, which adds a completely different spin to the entire theory.

[–] Scimetar_Northerner 17 years ago

Yes I know that some assume that the ending seems to reveal that Mantarok is in fact evil. I don't know if this was countered in the thread, I'll have to check it out again. Some people actually say it was a set-up for a sequel, which it could have been.

I don't really see Mantarok as EVIL, but not benevolent either. It does seem different than the other ancients being more evil and sadistic. My understanding was that Mantarok trapped the three ancients to have the world to itself. And now it seems that Pious was called and manipulated by the 5th ancient to counter this balance. Any ways he still does break the prison in which the other ancients get some power again (such as their zombies etc. now being in the levels).

Even if Mantarok wants the world to himself, he seems more passive than the other three ancients. He becomes a fertility god in Cambodia and helps the harvest through sacrifice. I don't see any of the other 3 ancients doing remotely any thing like this for humans. And on wikipedia it doesn't give any theories on to how evil Mantarok really is. It just states its more "kinder" personality.

And it does state that Mantarok is dying, so implying an end to all the ancients. Hopefully a sequel can shed more light or we can see more deeply at what really was going on.

It was all theoretical and I did find the long dead thread pretty interesting and well thought out.

[–] general_kaiden 17 years ago

I like to think as none of the Ancients being outright evil, but merely appear so in our eyes.

Like a throwback to the cthulhu mythos, I see them merely as being amoral. In the sense that their intellect, and their mentality exist on such a different level to humans, that we have no way to even understand their morals or the way they think.

I'm glad this forum is coming back. I should get more people involved in it.

[–] Scimetar_Northerner 17 years ago

"I'm glad this forum is coming back. I should get more people involved in it."

Please do!

Yes I agree. I'm just referring to how humans would see the ancients. I'm sure other animals see humans as evil. Even other societies have seen different societies as evil. But now we are getting very philosophical and are talking about the whole morality thing. ha ha

I personally always liked Pious and saw him as a more sympathetic character. Each ancient gives him a new outlook. I just really liked the character, even at the start before he became a liche. At the end when he is on the ground and gasping and then gets stabbed and dies, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him. Is one really supposed to feel that way about such an evil, villainous character like that?

[–] general_kaiden 17 years ago

First time I played ED. And I saw the binding of Mantorok. I observed the dialogue and thought that Pious was a good guy, and Mantorok was evil. And I just loved watching the story unfold, and just discover more and more of the universe.

[–] Scimetar_Northerner 17 years ago

One of my favourite scenes. I like how things weren't in chronological order. It made you think a bit. For example, Karim's level has Mantarok's guardians being summoned throughout the level and you realise that you are in an earlier year and that Mantarok hasn't been bound yet.

I just don't get how Pious got his magick though.

[–] dio52 17 years ago

Evil is a matter of perception. Is a lion evil because it eats antelope? An antelope, if it could speak, might say yes... but the lion would say no. The ancients are evil to humans because they are to us what we are to the animals we eat, but we have an abstract concept of evil while a fish does not.

"The great act of faith is when a man decides he is not God."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

[–] Gplayer 17 years ago

The 3 ancients themselves are very evil in a human fashion of the word. Mantorok however its up to the viewer to decide whether hes bad or not. You can view the ending that hes now free from being the warden and now can rule the world as the sole ancient, now being able to put his full power to his own ends instead of having to use his great power to hold the other 3 at bay. Or that he did genuinely want to help mankind as he did in a way do. His manipulations put everything in perfect order so that the three ancients would destroy each other.

When they say Mantorok's death don't take it too literally, Pious refers to him as dead even when hes still clearly there in the temple. He's bound yes and not quite as powerful as he was before, but hes not dying like a normal person with a disease would. He's not mortal and will probably remain in his state of dying forever. He is the corpse god of death and its only fitting he remain in that state. He may have to suffer from wounds he probably can't clean but they won't kill him and least he did end up as the last man standing.

[–] general_kaiden 16 years ago

Anyway, I think I remember that essay stating which religion represents each ancient... But I can't remember now.

Anyway, In reference to what Gplayer says, the same thing was written in Call of Cthulhu, that Cthulhu lies dead in his city, but he's not dead the way we know it, he's dreaming and awaiting for a star allignment to ressurect him so he can begin his reign, and show humans the joy of his own individual brand of morality (which we consider evil).

Some theorists state that this may be an archaic representation of a state similar to cryogenic freezing... but I digress, going off topic here.

Also to what Gplayer said, there's evidence in the game against Mantorok being evil, in that he lived in a symbiotic relationship with the Khmer people, they worshipped him as a god and brought him sacrifices (I assume animals... but I suppose they served some purpose), and he kept their lands good and fertile. Pious was the one who brought about a change when he denounced him as a false god and brought his own people to rebel against him, thus leading to Mantorok's binding.

This history is outlined in the Khmer temple, bits of it with Ellia and other bits with Edwin.

[–] UESC_Marathon 14 years ago

Since Mantorok is the God of chaos and decay I think the Religious allegory theory is validated by the fact that he is the final ancient, because abondoning religion means embracing the chaotic nature of the universe and the mortality of humanity. Deep game, for sure.