Characters with big swords and white hair are quite common in video games, be it Arthas in Warcraft 3, then other old characters like WoW, Viego from League of Legends, or Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. If we can think that the main goal is above all visual, so much the white hair creates a very interesting contrast with the dark clothes, it turns out that these characters actually have a common source of inspiration which does not interrupt their physical appearance.
openly embraced
While the physical similarity between Arthas and Viego is obvious, it’s not the only common thread that connects the characters. After all, these two are the masters of their respective realms, be it Lordaeron of Artasis or Viego, whose name has not been given since its disappearance for over a thousand years. The actions of the two rulers will then lead to the fall of their kingdoms before posing a threat to their entire planet for completely different purposes. Arthas is lost in search of a way to protect his people and is won over by Frostmurn, while Viego first wants to bring his beloved wife back to life. Although the goals of the two characters are different here, both have been a source of inspiration at different times in their history.
Now is the time to introduce you to Elric of Melnibone. The latter is a pillar of the imagination, and although little is known about the characters of Conan or The Lord of the Rings, its influence is just as important as the works cited in this genre. It is also presented as an anticon against perfection. Unlike Kimerian, Elric has everything from the beginning of his story. He is the emperor of his people, the trainer of dragons and the best wizard in the world. Only Elric is a senior albino and extremely fragile. He could not act without the various medicines prepared by him and/or his alchemists. Unlike Conan, who tries to pursue his destiny of becoming king by relying on his physical strength, Elric wants him to escape and find a way to stop being addicted to drugs or his cursed sword Stormbringer, which propels him through the change of soul.
Elric goes to wipe out his empire, destroying the city in order to save the woman he loves (who is also shown as his cousin, Elric’s very decrepit bloodline), being held hostage by his jealous cousin. The parallels with Viego are pretty clear here. In the events that follow, Elric kills his cousin as the Stormbringer (sword) carries him. The big thing he has in common with Arta, who killed her father on Frostmurn’s orders. While presenting him here as a character who inspired many characters, Elric is also influenced by his predecessors, especially in Shakespeare’s books where we can find characters with characters very close to Prince Albino. Yet the character that impresses him the most is Zenith Albino, one of the main antagonists in the Sexton Blake series of novels about the adventures of a detective of the same name. Besides the physical appearance, the two characters also have some character similarities.
And other more sophisticated
While the core similarities between Arthas, Viego, and Elric are obvious, the similarity that connects him to the Sefirot is more subtle. Some of the characters seem to have had an upbringing from the start that was aimed at making them the kind of people they didn’t want to be (an elite soldier for Emperor Elric, an elite soldier for Sephiroth). Additionally, both characters are indirectly responsible for the death of the mother, who passed from life to death during childbirth. Finally, the two heroes are not human: Elric is a Melnibone (a race native to the world of Murcuk, vaguely comparable in appearance and dress to the dark elves of Warhammer), while Sephiroth has alien cells and is a fruit. Unhealthy experience. But their biggest common point is elsewhere, so we can warn you that the next paragraph will be a deadly spoiler (yes, by the way, the plot about his empire was only a prologue to the Elliott Saga, so the spoilers were trivial).
Sefirot and Elric try in vain to escape fate, but eventually realize that they have always been manipulated by their superiors. Even their ultimate goals are very similar, as the ultimate goal of both is to destroy their home world to reveal a new world. The treatment is of course different, because in Final Fantasy if the player’s goal is to face the Sefirot, on the other hand, the player supports Ellic’s goals and actions (because their two worlds are not really the same. The context in their destruction). so very different). The cupcake on the cake is the slayer of the two women, whether Sefirot and Elric, Sefirot or Aerite for Cimoril and Zarosinia for Elric.
Although Elrica and Sefirot have a lot in common, no connection between them has been officially recorded, having never been named an inspiration by the creators of Final Fantasy VII. However, as mentioned in this article, there are too many similarities between the characters’ appearances, stories, and motivations. The unconscious effect has been forgotten because too vague for the Japanese public, perhaps less focused on Western literature, or just coincidences, everyone is free to formulate their own opinion.
Unlike Artaxerxes, who admits that the developers were partly inspired by Elrica (and the actions of the Spaniards), this passage was a real headache to decide if his word was relevant, the two characters having never been formally linked. Spanish-inspired Viego). However, the similarities between the two characters (Elric and Sefirot) are too great to overlook. For example, we did not mention Dante from the Devil May Cry series because despite the physical similarities (white hair, black sword), these two characters have nothing in common with their history, their character and their purpose.
Today, Elric also features in novels, comics, and comics. There is also an RPG set in the young kingdoms, the world of albino witches. Maybe one day he will finally have the right to adapt the video game, even if it may seem difficult at the moment. Note that this challenge is not technical, rather it is narrative. Elric is above all the story of a man who tries desperately to escape his destiny but ultimately has almost no control over his life. To live up to that vibe will require a game where player actions have almost no effect, and players will do their best to deviate from the game’s story. current video game standards. This partly explains the absence of albinos in the environment.
Source : Millenium
