donald-darf

[donald-darf]

Imma theorize on (Make up) the lore for this cause I feel like it

Trigger Warning: Mentions suicide

First, the Knight is an occultist, or subordinate to, or an important member of a powerful faction, possibly among royalty, nobility, or the army, I assume this since he casually has a key to the royal palace and the effigy

I believe he and or faction has the goal of stopping, controlling, and or manipulating the abominations running amok, and he obviously has occult connections and or knowledge considering he knows that there are metaphysical dilemmas afoot

Him handing you the occult effigy also suggests his connection with the occult, and enough knowledge to know what the hell that thing is for, so I believe he is in fact a member of some sort of royal armed force who secretly researched heretical subjects and or worked alongside some sort of hidden heretical sect that might've been working against the royal family before or after whatever ruined the place

I'm unsure of his and the potential occultist faction's exact morality since he seems to treat you politely but he recruits you, a seemingly random civilian into aiding with the abomination clean-up effort (But to be fair, it could be just a desperation thing, considering the 7th panel shows nobody around in the city aside from you and that god corpse)

I believe his hypothetical faction (I keep mentioning a faction cause I doubt he was attempting a 1 man revolution using mystic arts alone, but I could be wrong) might have dubious morals but the knight as an individual believes he is doing a good thing, the variety of weaponry on the dead abomination suggests he has a mishmash of contacts with various combat styles, maybe a rag-tag monster clean up squad

And despite being of possible high enough status to afford full body armour, he treats you with respect every single time, and he has an obvious anti-authoritarian ideology with his desire for you murder royals and any deities you potentially run into using that effigy to help somehow

This could mean he believes he is doing the right thing by working against the royals and deities of the setting, and maybe has a slight bit of naivety since he just assumes you'll wanna work together with him to kill monsters and royals (The gods thing makes sense since if we're following his questline, we already went with his other dangerous requests), as if the idea of a commoner not agreeing with taking down the institutions of old didn't seem to come to mind at all for him

Last thing for the knight, I believe his tree transformation might've been accidentally self inflicted, trees are symbols of strength, individuality, expression, and calmness according to google

He is always sitting down relaxing, surrounded by ruins and possibly numerous abominationsd civil war, calm despite what the world has become, he opposes the current authorities of the land which he may perceive as tyrannical for one reason or another, and his rag-tag group means he possibly isn't too picky with who he works with, or he may value individuality and expression since he doesn't comment on the ridiculous outfit min-maxing

So I believe he enhanced himself with strengthening occult rituals related to mighty trees, to aide in combat against abominations and royalist forces, but as a result of maybe being in a magical sky island place at the end, overuse, or sabotage, what gave him the strength to stand up for his values consumed him

And he leaves the rest to you, who slew possibly countless horrors, faced kings, queens, heirs, and other royalists of immense strength, somehow following him to the spot where he'll probably produce some acorns in a couple years, the blade broken from a failed attempt probably take his own life before he is just tree, the bark too strong to break with a mere blade, his body now rooting itself to the ground

He leaves his dream to you, he knows you'll win, you probably don't even need the tree strength spell, but his body is probably gonna drop that when his dialogue ends and he croaks, so take it anyway

Second, the setting seems to be mostly ruined city considering the bricks the knight sits on, there are of course still some people around considering the numerous weapons riddling the corpse of a dead abomination

I believe a combination of civil war caused by the occult society (WHICH IS STILL BELIEVE THE KNIGHT WORKED WITH) and the introduction of these abominations has resulted in the ruined state of the city, those abominations probably came from the hole in the big sky egg thing, or maybe were a secondary result of something else that came from the sky egg, maybe opened by the occultists but that could be a stretch and it was some other crazy stuff

Another part of the setting seems to be other worlds, since in the background of the 5th and 6th panels you can see sky islands in the distance and a lack of them in the background of panel 7, or they're simply high above the darkened clouds

These sky islands also seem to hold structures and are of significance to the knight, and quite possibly where he got whatever he needed for the effigy

Maybe these are forgotten temples to the gods he opposed, or to other deities that used to (Or still do) live there, he maybe scraped up any remnants he could get and put it in the effigy jar

Also from the appearence of the effigy, I for some reason have a feeling of senses when looking at it, the eye with 2 pupils and the hand representing sight and touch respectively

Effigies are made to represent individuals and things, and another definition of them is something to be made then destroyed in protest, I believe the Occult Effigy is made from the remnants of gods, and in some sort of mystical way, will render the gods (or maybe just some, or 1) blind and senseless when destroyed, ready to be struck down

Third, I don't have much for the last, I just believe the giant creature in panel 7 was widely worshipped and regularly communicated with, I don't have much evidence beyond the giant elevated stone platform with seats that acts as it's final resting place, but it could've been constructed for officials, people from whatever the group that worships it is called, and the royal family to beseech it for guidance

It's commandments and policies might be some of the reasons why the knight probably wanted some gods dead, whatever those commands may be

Also, I like to think the clergy of the BIG BIRB wear those pointy nosed masks (the one the main character wears at the end) to feel closer to their god

If anyone else has their own theories (headcanons) please tell me

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