#Shin Megami Tensei IV Final | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

furinana · 10 months ago

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Analyzing each SMTIVA Goddess

As I discussed in this previous post, the Goddess shouldn't necessarily meant to be taken as Dagda ressurecting one of Nanashi's partners with their state of mind right before they died and/or under a 'brainwashed' state.

The difference between Dagda reviving Nanashi&Flynn compared to the partners is that the latter is being done from scratch rather than just healing wounds. And if Dagda is making a person from zero, a body alone won't suffice. He needs 'someone' to remember the soul and reshape as how they were. This is particularly useful to consider as reincarnation is a thing in the SMT4 duology, thus a soul could have infinite shapes.

The Goddesses in Massacre are stated in-game to be Nanashi's memories, in other words, 'ideas', 'interpretations', or 'impressions' that Nanashi had of them when alive.

This means that they could come from different periods from when Nanashi knew them. So many possibilities can be made.

Asahi is seen by many as the 'default Goddess' as she not only is the partner with the biggest emotional factor to be chosen by Nanashi, but she's also the one that you never fight against.

Childhood friend, sibling, lover, whatever it be, you knew and cared for each other the longest out of the cast.

If you side with Dagda in your very first run, it's noticeable that she'd be the only partner that won't have the Awakening Skill (which would strongly inhance her healing if she had it). In other words, her Mediarama would be lacking.

Even putting that aside, she still would be frustrating to be around if you're attempting to summon demons exclusive to fusion accidents due to her AI immediately casting Posumudi on your team (having you and your fodder material sick improves the chances for fusion accidents, remember?).

For these reasons mentioned, it can be stated that a Massacre run with Goddess Asahi would be the least helpful or resourceful one. Very characteristic of our little Asahi.

Anyway it doesn't take a genius to interpret this ending specially with the last particular line your partner gives you as something akin to gods giving birth through divine means.

But the real point behind this post is comparing the different flavors of what each union in this route produces.

Toki's vibe seems more of a possessive Goddess despite both girls meaning the same thing in their dialogue. Fair enough, we're talking about someone that attentively watches Nanashi when he takes a nap.

Fitting to her Cosmic Egg dialogue as she was possessed by Inanna, Toki was the partner that would represent this fertility element in the most explicit way.

As attentive fans might have felt, the Chaos alignment in SMT preach for 'one's return to its roots'. The Ring of Gaea wear ancient Japanese clothes and follows the might of the strong while praying for gods that came prior to the God of Law aka YHVH. Many of the Japanese Gods in the franchise originally belonged to the Chaos alignment for this reason.

It's important to have this in mind to understand the nuance of Toki calling Nanashi "Master". She is basically using an archaic way of a wife referring to her husband, and of course one will immediately put the last piece of the puzzle together: Flynn, the one with Samurai mannerisms, is also conveniently using an archaic way to refer to a Lord since he thinks of himself as Nanashi's subordinate in this ending.

If you pick a male partner for the Goddess role, this extra dialogue plays followed by the partner being particularly surprised by your choice.

Hal is usually not considered in the 'harem' as Asahi and Toki since the girl duo is explicit in several levels above him but... when you think about it, it still makes sense for Hallelujah's character. He blushes multiple times, allows Nanashi to vent alone with him, even goes far as showing annoyance at the prospect of Nanashi showing interest on girls and viceversa.

He is a shy boy whose only reference in his life have been hot-bloodied Ashura-kai he grew up around, so he is just more subtle about it. Don't take a Yakuza affectionately calling you 'bro' as nothing.

I decided to group Asahi, Toki and Hallelujah together because they are the trio with the most, let's say... closeness and emotions-resembling-romance in one-on-one interactions towards Nanashi.

With the most crucial evidence being their final phrase conveying their desire towards the act of childbirth itself for you.

OHHHHHHHHH HOLY MOTHER OF NTR

Regardless of your interpretation concerning how Flynn and Isabeau saw each other, she being Flynn's last living teammate and her devotion towards giving assistance to his savior role grouped with she being neutral at best and being secretly disgusted by Nanashi at worst produces a not very... wholesome picture of this scenario.

If anything, the main reason one would think for why Isabeau continued to place trust on Nanashi's party had more to do with Asahi's presence. Isabeau as a partner is highly valued for her good skills in early game but she interestingly doesn't have close interactions with Nanashi as she has with Asahi.

The messiest element of all is that while Isabeau refuses to let Flynn kill her if Flynn sides with Law or Chaos out of not wanting his hands to get dirty, she will give no dignity to Nanashi and lets the young Hunter do as he pleases with her.

To which one cannot help but think as they watch this ending: Nanashi's memories of Isabeau aren't of warmth or friendship as he'd have for any of his other partners. These memories of Isabeau are based on how he watched Isabeau act towards Flynn.

This Goddess choice was made purely out of spite.

Due to what? Her coldness? Her refusal to think for herself aside mostly working for Flynn's sake?

Or simply to twist her into becoming his own tool instead of Flynn's?

Now start noticing the difference regarding Isabeau and the adults compared to Nanashi's young teen peers.

In the case of the adults, as they were less emotionally involved with Nanashi, they use childbirth more as means towards the end.

While Nozomi's baggage can't be compared to Isabeau's, I think of her as a messy option likewise since siding with Nanashi is going against the alignment she originally stood for, specially considering this memory of Nozomi has Danu inside her (she only got to know Nanashi after becoming the Queen of Fairies after all).

Goddess Nozomi particularly gave me a strong impression due to her being the only partner boasting her final quote with a determined face compared to others looking content or prideful. Then you remember why one of her skills is named the way it is.

Nanashi and Nozomi's relationship could be seen as a mirror to the tense mother-son rivalry between Dagda and Danu (which are essentially the main sides you can choose from) but also, when you think about before they even met each other, both were weak characters needing Flynn's help initially. However, through forming a contract to become an 'extension' of a Celtic deity, they gradually became able to stand on their own.

So Nanashi and Nozomi thematically are foils to each other and would be at odds not even necessarily due to each's own sense of morality but because they literally owe how far they got to the blessings Dagda and Danu gave them, respectively. To this argument, Nanashi definitely would pick her with spite just like with Isabeau.

While moments related to his character growth are mostly directed to characters that aren't Nanashi per se in the main story, I deem Gaston as the 'least detached' from the adult group as his attitude shift to protect Nanashi in his endgame partner lines gives you an impression that he developed a bias for the boy he once deemed filthy nonetheless, alongside his intense heartbroken reaction if Nanashi sides with Dagda in contrast to Nozomi's and Isabeau's cold approaches.

You could theorize that Gaston possibly reached the point of placing his full trust in Nanashi once the fact that the boy was the reincarnation of Akira AKA the very first king of Mikado was out, which means Nanashi indeed felt like the blessed figurehead he was desiring to fight for after distancing himself from Merkabah. The irony in Massacre is that it ended up being that Nanashi did not, in fact, want to follow Akira's steps.

The way I see Goddess Gaston in Massacre, his role strongly matches Flynn's. Both think of themselves as retainers for Nanashi.

Isabeau fought to serve Flynn, Nozomi fought to shield her fairy allies and Gaston fought to eliminate threats against his kingdom.

Nanashi redirected their loyalty towards himself.

I left Navarre for last and separated from the two groups I mentioned since he's, by all purposes, the intended comical exception:

He is the only Goddess where Nanashi still uses his help instead of manipulating the Energy Sword on his own. He is the oldest of the cast and yet he is probably one of the characters with most emotional moments alone with Nanashi (in fact, the very last message in your inbox regardless of your Goddess of choice is always him pleading you to not regret your actions). And most of all, even above Asahi or Toki themselves, he seems the most... in-character of all the Goddesses.

One could argue that perhaps since he never had a body and could potentially shift his attitude according to the circumstances, his ending could even just be interpreted as he being held in custody by Dagda and just being released later.

Navarre only followed Nanashi in the first place because he had nothing or nobody else to turn to. He betrayed his kingdom, became unable to face his family and past teammates, died at the hands of a demon and on top of it all, was unable to go to the other side.

And then he saw Nanashi. A hopeless soul unable to die just like he was. Nanashi and Navarre's bond was entirely out of chance and yet it could be said it was one of the most genuine of them.

Navarre could simply wander off from Nanashi once he noticed something wrong was happening, as he had no social obligations or strong ties. Nanashi could simply use Dagda's power to destroy the Energy Barriers himself, as shown in the other Goddess routes. But they kept being the company of each other in their lonely state of neither-life-or-death.

If Nanashi would choose the first Goddess group out of emotional ties and the second group for their use as tools, Navarre would essentially be Nanashi finding solace with the one he not necessarily cared about or found useful but just was always the most similar to: a detached soul that no matter what, stubbornly refused death.

Navarre despite everything, was able to meet Nanashi. After all they went through together, he becomes sure he will be able to meet many more like him.

#smtiva #shin megami tensei iv apocalypse #shin megami tensei iv final

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