The Eyes Have It

After being devastated upon the ending of Sen no Kiseki III, I had to stop and take a step back to disengage and get myself together again. Somehow, it seems to help to look at things with a bigger scope than I would have as disaster was happening one after another.

In the process, I came across something that has been around for quite awhile in the series- a pattern that’s been seeded since First Chapter came out.

This theory will cross over much of the entire series- as a result, there will be tags across all the games.

What A Horrible Night to Have a Curse

Sen no Kiseki III delves into this curse at length- a malevolent force that it driving Erebonia to having blood on its hands- leading from wars to disasters. According to the 7th Black Record, this will lead to Great Twilight, which will end the world.

However, there’s interesting usage in calling this a ‘curse’ through Sen III’s endgame events- as it has been mentioned in the series before.

The Eye of Balor

The Eye of Balor is the name of a move used by Azure Siegfried in Sen no Kiseki III.

Let’s first start with what Balor comes from, thanks to wikipedia:

In Irish mythology, Balor (modern spelling: Balar) was king of named Fomorians, a group of supernatural beings. He is often described as a giant with a large eye in his forehead that wreaks destruction when opened. He has been interpreted as a god or personification of drought and blight.

Balor has been brought up in a variety of media throughout the years- my primary awareness of it has been through the times I’ve encountered it in Castlevania. (I’m not a huge Castlevania fan, but those of you familiar with the series should recall you have heard the name.)

But we’re going to start by looking at the ‘large eye’ aspect of it. However, if you were to take into the usual idea of the ‘eye’ you usually think of it in ‘pairs.’ Where there’s a right eye, there should be a left. If you look at the image above with Siegfried, it’s his right eye that’s glowing…

Which I found to be very interesting. Especially when you look at Ash.

Ashen Eye

From this screenshot, we see that Ash is covering his left eye- the opposite eye of Siegfried’s glowing eye in the Eye of Balor move.

When I first saw the move, Acid Rain- I found it interesting. When I saw it again after fighting Siegfried in chapter 4, I started to make connections. Especially when you look back and see everything else happening.

There are multiple points when oddities happen, but I also don’t think we entirely have the privilege with Ash being a ‘main character’ in this case. So things can happen to him that we don’t notice, especially through the start of the game before he joins Class VII.

There are a few scenes when Ash covers his eye beyond the Craft and the inevitable scene when he shoots Eugent.

And in this very damning scene from the screenshot you can see without a shadow of a doubt that there is something with his eye. It proves that the ‘covering the eye’ action is not a quirk at all. Ash shows up in the room and during the scene he begins to take on a similar aura to what we’ve seen from Rean when he uses his ogre power. In this scene, Ash tells both Osborne and Eugent that his eye hurts and that he hears something telling him to kill someone. He concludes this by asking, “who do I have to kill to make this pain stop?”

It’s very clear to me that there is something going on with Ash’s eye, as well. While I had considered this connection to begin with, looking at the similarities between him, and the things with Rean and his heart, I thought there was some relationship there, as well.

More on this part later- but I feel that the scene in Hamel adds to the fact of Rean.

The Unwanted Child

Seventh is the manifestation of northern pale and the unwanted child.

We’re going to take a step to the side, and change to a different topic entirely: Weissmann.

What does Weissmann have to do with this, you ask? Everything, I believe.

We know of Ash to be a child of Hamel, as Osborne has mentioned, but what we have is an interesting aspect of things with this, per Black Records 7. Much like the quote above, the eighth is a direct reference to Hamel.

Eigtht is the sacrificed village and the hunderd-day foreign campaign.

Now, if we look at these things- I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these specific events all leave tools to ensure that the Great Twilight itself occurs- basically, as directed by the curse itself. The curse has an intelligence, or awareness, behind it to ensure that the Great Twilight does happen.

This does, to me, sound a little like the Aureole and how it would protect itself from being sealed away- that perhaps it has a self-preservation ‘reaction’ of sorts. Thus the events depicted in Black Records 7 also leave behind a fail-safe to ensure that the curse continues. Or maybe not. Maybe there’s something else orchestrating it that we have yet to discover that wants the curse’s desire’s fulfilled.

However, I suspect that both Ash and Weissmann were intended to be ‘actors’ or ‘tools’ of the curse to ensure that later steps happen as desired.

To me, Weissmann is most definitely the unwanted child that is mentioned in the Black Records. He is the orphan that was taken in by the Septian Church after the Salt Pale incident. He is also the catalyst that pushed for Hamel to happen, by giving the nudge to Lechter’s father to make the order and have Hamel razed.

What is the biggest piece of evidence that Weissmann is tied to the curse? One simple thing…

The Evil Eye

He is also referred to as Balor Béimnech (Balor the smiter), Balor Balcbéimnech (Balor the strong smiter) and Balor Birugderc (Balor of the piercing eye). The latter has led to the English name Balor of the Evil Eye.

In chapter 4 of Trails in the Sky the 3rd- just before the fight with Astarte, the first thing it does is use Evil Eye on the party. However, after it happens, you get this exchange from Joshua and Kevin:

Joshua: I- is this Weissmann’s Evil Eye?!
Kevin: It’s gotta be from the curse that was based on– a far more powerful version that binds space itself!

Take into account, Kevin is saying that Weissmann’s ‘Evil Eye’ originates from a curse. We know Weissmann most likely dove into heretical practices after his excommunication from the Septian Church, based on his research on the stigma. If he had been tied into all of this curse- due to his connection to North Ambria, then perhaps he was able to figure this out and run with it.

Additionally, it’s more that it was immediately pointed out that Estelle recognized the Evil Eye as Weissmann’s when Joachim uses it on them in Zero no Kiseki. Though Joachim’s was a fake- a mimicry based on what he pulled from their memories- it says a lot that it’s immediately attributed to him, despite the fact that Joshua can use this skill as well. Joshua even has it in his crafts in Zero no Kiseki, but Estelle still refers to it as Weissmann’s skill.

(Though we can present an argument that Joshua is also connected to the curse, due to the fact that he is a survivor of Hamel. While we know it’s more likely that Weissmann taught him the skill, this can’t be 100% ruled out.)

Additionally, Estelle and Joshua have both seen other forces use it as well in Phantasma, yet it’s still attributed to Weissmann. So it’s clear that this is something special he does- a unique trait, per say.

Or is it?

Especially when you look at the design behind Eye of Balor when Siegfried uses it in Sen no Kiseki III.

There Are Eyes Everywhere

But then when you start thinking about eyes in general, you start seeing them in other designs and places everywhere.

Along with it, that red-purple-black’ish aura combined with them seems to represent a sense of evil, or unholiness. We can take Kevin’s use of the Spear of Loa from Trails in the Sky the 3rd to go along with this, looking at the nature of his stigma, reflecting his perspective of it, and the artifact that it has used. He references Loa (and its replicas) as ‘unholy spears of time.’

While we don’t have the eyes here, we can use this to correlate to that particular ‘color’ of aura, at the very least.

If we were to take a look back at the myth of Balor, this makes yet another connection to everything else going on.

The Heart of the Matter

There’s little to say on this particular topic, but perhaps the eyes aren’t the only thing to pay attention to? We also have a certain reaction that is quite similar, but involving another part of the body.

Instead of explaining it, let me have a few screenshots over the entire Erebonia trilogy do the talking instead:

Could Osborne’s heart- and by extension Rean’s heart now- also be part of all of this?

Though additionally, I would also like to point out that Rean, too, had a reaction to Hamel. Just like Ash did. (See the links above.)

Additional Rambling

This is a theory that took some time to write, but as I was working on it, I kept finding more and more about Balor and everything about Lughman in it- these things can’t be coincidence. Especially because of the role of Lugh in the original myth.

Lugh eventually becomes king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He leads the Tuath Dé in the second Battle of Mag Tuired against the Fomorians, who are led by Balor. Ogma disarms Balor during this battle, but Balor kills Nuada with his eye. Lugh kills Balor by casting a sling, or a spear crafted by Goibniu, through his eye. Balor’s eye destroys the Fomorian army. Lugh then beheads Balor.

One legend tells that, when Balor was slain by Lugh, Balor’s eye was still open when he fell face first into the ground. Thus his deadly eye beam burned a hole into the earth. Long after, the hole filled with water and became a lake which is now known as Loch na Súil, or “Lake of the Eye”, in County Sligo.

This makes me start to wonder and think about the relationship between Lughman and the others connected to said curse and the method to set about the Great Twilight. When I first started piecing this together, I was thinking that perhaps the ‘Balor’ of this is some sort of demon, and while I’m thinking more and more about it, I’m finding myself waffle a bit more on this at this point. This makes it very hard to finish writing on it, because I keep wanting to add more to it, and then it starts getting a little unsteady. Then I have to pull from it. And add more. And so forth. Thus becoming something that I can’t quite 100% latch onto.

Clearly, this feels like I’m on the right path for something, but I’m either missing what it could be, or I’m picking exactly it right now, but not realizing it. As a result, if anyone has anything interesting they’d like to pitch on this point, especially knowing the myth of Lugh and Balor, please drop a line in the comments. This would make for some great discussion!

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