Tunic's Lore ► Explained!

[@RodsKaden]

What are your theories on Tunic's Lore? Do you have a favorite question or part of the lore you would want to see explored? Thank you for watching! I had a blast making this despite it taking me a couple of months! I do hope you enjoy it! 😊

[@maxschmidt2897]

I keep asking myself about who/what decided to create the sarcophagi and imprison foxes in them and for which reason. Who do you think created the rooted Ziggurat ?

[@buttonasas]

A thing I've noticed is that "ruin seeker" can refer to either seeking out ruins and visiting them, like an archeologist, but it could also mean seeking the ruin, as in, wanting something to be ruined. I wonder if that's something or not...

[@5uperM]

I got into playing Tunic few days ago and was flabbergasted when I found how the sarcophagiwere made. There was a question that appeared on my mind. Why was one of the corrupt foxes in the tank just before the production line? My theory at the time was that they were cloning them for infinite source of power. But I do not know now.

[@botterminator]

I think how they discovered the far shore is similar to the theory of how AI can evolve and eventually achieve sentience. It's likely foxes in that world evolved to become more self-aware but with it came dire consequences for civilisation. For example with humanity, imagine if we learned that all of this is just a simulation, like the movie The Matrix, people would start bending and ultimately breaking the rules. You would also have people who would despair, thinking that there is no purpose or meaning and either give up the will to go on (becoming susceptible to the power to defy death which just makes you a part of the system) or having the will to go on, defying the simulation and making you an enemy of it. Of course, it would be too difficult to defy the simulation, so you would need help from an entity that was outside. But from the perspective of those within the simulation, it would seem like they were being guided by a god, magic or similar omnipotent entity.

[@wretchedegg6336]

This game was a masterpiece. There were moves and techniques that were available to you from the start, but were well hidden.

[@joshuaphillips8709]

The Trunic at 1:35 says “This is only an example friends, no need to look further into it.” I did anyways

[@Aderon]

One detail I've always found interesting is that while the magic dagger is said to be made from a fairy, details on its surface imply that is was specifically a conduit meant for the manipulation of MP/Soul into energy, rather than a part meant to utilize MP/Soul for a desired channeled effect in the world, hence why the magic dagger is inefficient in its blast, but has no additional cost when using properly to channel the power of the fire rod. To make an analogy, it's the ruby-medium part of a red laser, meant to convey/convert energy into the desired form, but lacks the focus/foci normally used to channel its effects.

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

I doubt that's the intended lore giving that it's said that the ice rod costing the same as fire rod is a pure oversight. However, that would have definitely be found during development, so for it to be left in, maybe there is indeed additional lore to it that makes it work.

[@RodsKaden]

What you mentioned: "details on its surface imply that is was specifically a conduit meant for the manipulation of MP/Soul into energy, rather than a part meant to utilize MP/Soul for a desired channeled effect in the world" That is actually a super interesting theory, that it was meant for something else, but was put for use in this form. I feel safe in saying that it definitely had a different original purpose, but to explore what that could be might be interesting. Even as piece of the fairy, it might have had another purpose than what we see. Something may be gained by comparing how it works vs one of the Ice fairies' shots.

[@mpeppelman]

@@FlameRat_YehLon Ah, but see, even the "fixed" cost which is higher than the fire rod, is lower than the dagger on its own. I've got MP lvl 4, at that point, you can use the ice dagger on its own 4 times, but you can use the combined ice beam 7 times.

[@BenjaminHB]

@@FlameRat_YehLonHow is it an oversight? Isn’t there an optional late game puzzle that requires it?

[@eravar2831]

@@FlameRat_YehLon according to the developers, it was not only explicitly left in, but also discussed multiple times during developing

[@TravellingFox]

@5:00 : I just realized that the one broken obelisk you encounter there shows that the spectral foxes turn into those crystals in there! You can see them going in in the rooted ziggurat, and yet the one broken obelisk does not have a fox inside but a crystal!

[@Reliken]

Very good note!!! So the ghost/spectral/corrupted foxes eventually sort of coalesce into a physical form! Hmm!

[@isaacwellborn]

Or the fox escaped

[@That_dude91]

The little fox pupper just broke my heart so many times. This game is so sad.

[@Sonicgott]

The true ending to Tunic brought me to tears. I implore you to walk the golden path, and be freed.

[@JessZakilly]

I LOVE THIS!! Such a well spoken and artfully crafted groundwork/intro to what I hope is a new series!! And thanks for the shoutout! I love our community!

[@RodsKaden]

You are too kind Jess!

[@arandomgamer6228]

Since there is no heir in the shadow oubliette to anchor the planes anymore, could this mean there is possibly a sequel to the game coming sometime in the future? Could this also be linked to the ARG webpage "Do you fear the eyes of the Far Shore"? All this could mean a similar event to the one that happened in the past with the old fox civilization is approaching.

[@captainyasopp154]

I 100 percented the game like a week ago but it's still fresh on my mind I wish there was more content I hope we get a sequel or a new game just like this.

[@RodsKaden]

yea, same! It keeps making you go back for more!

[@kyledupont7711]

The only thing I really wish is that there was some explanation of the electronics behind the circutry and who made it. At first it seems the teleporters and save points are spiritual, but eventually you see the are electronic and if the are damaged, they don't work. I want to know more about all that. When you see the evil rabbits with ranged weapon technology destroying some of the equipment.... I'm guessing the foxes made the teleporters, but lock systems and check points and the rabbits seek to destroy it, but who knows

[@Reliken]

Remind me who/where the evil rabbits are? I don't remember them. But I was always under the impression that the foxes built the Rooted Ziggurat and the obelisks as a means to power their civilization, I never got the sense that they just "found" it.

[@kyledupont7711]

@@Reliken It's never explained who the evil rabbits are, it seems like they are allied with the reptiles, I think the foxes are spiritual beings and the rabbits and lizards built technology to eradicate the old ways of spirituality (or use it for their own purposes). There is certainly some reality to the spiritual realm in the game, it needs more lore explanation to be found in game

[@blahblahblah9372]

@@kyledupont7711 Frogs are amphibian and rabbits of any world are inherently evil.

[@loty2906]

@@Reliken i think they are the scavengers from the quarry

[@JoshLeakeMusic]

This was incredibly well done. You presented all of the information and differing theories very clearly. Thank you for this!

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

One thing I found interesting about Tunic is how the manual says that what you gain from offering to the heir is an illusion, which wouldn't be in effect if you are in ghost form, unless you are "attuned to your true form" which I believe would be that the ruin seeker ended up remembering the quest of the hero. So... Is all these telling that what actually happened is, our protagonist was intended to be a hero seeking to end the heir to heir cycle, and was actually facing what's seen during night time, but got affected by the power of the heir and forgot their fate, ended up falling into an illusion and become the ruin seeker that seeks the "treasure" which would actually be the heir to heir cycle? Also, this might be an analog to the story of a player who used to enjoy playing videogames got corrupted and become so focused on gaining power and wealth that they forgot how to have fun, and someone probably got them to play a retro game that they used to enjoy to remind them that there are better ways to be happy. This is a huge, huge stretch of a headcanon, but there are games that specifically structure the first half of the game to be an analog of something more meta that got revealed later in game. For example, _The Hex_ and _Word Game_. _Tunic_ would come earlier than both of my examples though, but I doubt none of these 3 took inspiration from one another during development.

[@RodsKaden]

I love the idea of the player being disillusioned by life and trying to return to their youth! I agree that it might be a bit of a stretch but I definitely see it! I am also not familiar with the Hex or Word Game! I will definitely be looking at those. In regards to your first paragraph, I always saw it as the Ruin Seeker and the Heir being the same person, both also being the hero. So they could have slowly forgotten who they were losing their original purpose. This is supported by a few things in the game, for example if you change the color of your clothes or of the Ruin Seeker the Heir also changes color to match you. And I always thought of the "blessings" of the Heir as being them giving you the power. It is never yours, it is just the Heir using their influence on the world. Those lies that the Heir put around you are washed away when you go to the Far Shore. Of course these are all still theories, and I love your perspective! I try my best to take all theories into perspective because I can always be missing something!

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

@@RodsKaden The "blessing" from the heir could have been only in effect because the whole world is just an illusion, or more of "a dream". Though with your theory, maybe it could also be just that by having an eye on those "offered items", the hero simply reminded more and more of their true purpose, and thus the curse of the heir to heir cycle got weakened? Also, giving that not even the heir, but also the lure and the effigy would reflect the ruin seeker's color (and maybe those cursed foxes in cathedral too, I'm not sure), I guess the idea is that the daytime overworld, or "dream world", is simply being however the hero remembers it. And... This kinda raises even more question. Just like how whenever I got some new idea for the lore of Tunic I always ended up having more questions than I started with, which even prevented me from writing a proper review on Steam.

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

@@RodsKaden And for Word Game, giving that it's only available in Chinese, with no way to be translated (as it's literally about Chinese words), I'd just spoil the full game here. Basically the game is a story+puzzle driven adventure game, with the whole world being made of Chinese words (which the hero has the capability of manipulating) and with quite some name references to word processing software. The game has 3 "acts". During the first act it's just a generic "hero saves the princess from a dragon" story, with a few bosses to defeat, and end with the final boss that's an ice breathing dragon, who can breath ice to "freeze the words", making them uninteractable. The hero ended up always getting outpaced by the dragon and fail the mission to slay the dragon. Then, as the player return to the title screen, they can manipulate the splash text that says "this is an adventure I can't complete" to be "this is an adventure I can complete", which would trigger the second act. And with the new 4th wall breaking ability, the player managed to alter the ending to be able to released the captured princess. However, as the princess got released, the whole world got corrupted, with most text, including menu text, got turned into gibberish. With some attempt to save a few words to form phrases and answer to a few questions, the world got semi stable, and now we learn that the princess is cursed and would corrupt the world if let free, and the player is given the choice to either save the princess or save the world. If the player isn't content with either of the ending, there's also a hidden third one, which allows the player to be literally the author of the story in order to alter the ending, and that's the beginning of the third act. The player would be shown a word processor interface, and can choose to "fix the story" by resolving conflicted plots. There are 8 different ending to be found here, but none would be an actual happy ending, and after seeing one of them, the player got presented a new document that talks about the protagonist aka story writer's daughter having an uncurable disease, finally losing the ability to speak, and after desperite attempts to find a cure, the writer decided to freeze his daughter in a glass house on the roof of the apartment he live in, in the hope that one day the medical technology is good enough to cure the disease. After which, the game turned 3D, allowing the player to take a walk in the writer's home, revealing that all the bosses and level designs were just an analog of what's on the path from the writer's reading room to his daughter's glass house, and suddenly the whole story make sense in a different way. The game then roll the real credit scene, talking about how interesting words can be, and how frustrating it would be to lose them. This true credit scene is also in Chinese with most people using real names, unlike the fake ones in the previous two acts that were in English and with most people using nicknames.

[@Thirteen13551355]

Very interesting take. There might be truth to this. I never understood what the "nighttime" part was supposed to be.

[@spheniscine945]

@@FlameRat_YehLon yes, the cursed foxes will also change to match your color scheme if you use the customization room

[@AZAMA___]

Amazing video, tysm ! What a beauty, this game's growing on me so much since i played it at launch... Replayed twice and did platinum trophy on PS5 recently. Your video is perfect to expand that lovely experience 🧡 Also, since i started to discover the "hidden layers" with the fairies, input language and so on, i just CAN'T HELP BUT THINK ABOUT FEZ ! To put it simply, imo, TUNIC is THE true heir of FEZ amazing game design. Same intimate love for video game culture and unfathomable depth... More than a decade later, Phil Fish really found a spiritual succesor in the person of Andrew Shouldice. Majestic !

[@RodsKaden]

Thank you so much and I completely agree! There is just so much to find in this game, it is in many ways similar to Fez!

[@AnneTipha]

the effects in this video are so classy and professional! nice job, dude!!

[@JessZakilly]

Also, the ending kills me every time 😂

[@MySinboy]

It scared the crap out of my while I was driving

[@jdawgson6829]

Broooo thank you for this. Thank you for the hard work! Need more!!

[@PGtheVRguy]

Really great video! I didn't know there was so much in those few pages

[@RodsKaden]

There is a lot, and honestly there is still more to be found in those pages! The fact that there are still so many theories about different aspects of it shows there is more to find!

[@princessthyemis]

Its absolutely amazing and super impressive people actually translated the game's language!!! I just finished the game 3 minutes ago!! I LOVED IT!!!!

[@albevanhanoy]

I think the Hero and the first Heir were the same person, as the Heir is wearing the Hero's Laurels in the manual's illustrations. Additionally, I don't think the Heir was imprisoned willingly. He built the cathedral and was the reason the planes started to break apart. As such, the Shadow Oubliette likely served the purpose of punishment. And the beacon is a trap, luring more unsuspecting ruin seekers to replace him. Or perhaps the Beacon is a remnant of the Heir's power, trying to escape. And Ruin Seekers, one after the other, attracted by this beacon and this promise of power, end up becoming the new Heir, trapped as just a cog in a repeating cycle, doomed to have their hope and lifeforce drained away by their prison to hold the forces of Disquiet from destroying the Canonical Plane. The only way to break this cycle is through sharing wisdom. Perhaps this wisdom serves to repair the planes, thus letting both of them escape.

[@Comboinfinito]

Great video! Thanks for the explanations

[@VenerableNyanta]

Great video, can't wait for more lore videos about Tunic :O

[@Sam-ub7dt]

If the heir was placed in the space between realms in order to prevent existence ripping itself apart, how is this resolved in the "good" ending? You remind the heir of who she is, she's overcome by emotion, and reverts to her natural state. But what about the duty she had been serving? Shouldn't the world now be going to hell in a handbasket? Does your fox doom the world?

[@yurifan2537]

Then, in the credits, they're just going on a last trip before facing oblivion, bittersweet.

[@RamzaBeoulves]

I love the content but I had to put it on 1.75x speed for it to feel naturally paced

[@harley2938]

This doesn't sound right, considering that the spirit foxes wanted the Heir to remain sealed away, despairing that their keys and guardians weren't enough.

[@greatestraver]

Fascinating, i never would have guessed that completing the manual and bringing it to the heir would be the thing to give a secret ending

[@47ejecting2]

Omg dude, you were cusping on it so hard that I was 100% sure it was where you were heading - oubliette is a cognate of oblivion. If anything can be said to be a "holy oblivion," it is the Heir in the oubliette.

[@xenopon2595]

The Cristals ... i think that's like in Zelda Skyward Sword, the 1st portal, was oppen from the Dark World, a World where all of hope have disappeared, (humans became monsters, etc), this world want to drain the hope and the power of the another, past world, it's possibly the reason why the Dark Avatar come to Hyrule, and why the Sheikah logo change at this moment. This story is very like than Tunic, you think ?

[@sagacious03]

Neat video! Thanks for uploading!

[@icarus8372]

I am surprised that Game Theory hasnt even looked into this game!! This would be so fitting for them as this game has so many questions and theories/speculations!

[@kenjen9861]

It ain't as much a surprise as you would initually figure. Game Theory, and the other channels, choose video content based on what is popular, what gets most engagement, what is trendy.

[@jesseheath8387]

Excellent video! You earned my sub.

[@antoniosvasilellisneto379]

The only criticism I have for this game is that I that you should be able to get the final ending without getting a notebook out or printing that page from the golden path. Everything else crucial to get the true ending is pretty self contained and can be solved without breaking out of the game's world. I solved everything else on my own, got the bad ending, and was even inputting codes at different doors using the holy cross. Beating the final boss made me feel like I finished the game, so I wasn't in for another 12 hours trying to piece together this final crazy puzzle...

[@yobrothermouzone]

Again, why did they imprisoned the first heir? What was the motivation explanation? I didn’t understand. Also who created the factory that produced the obelisks? When, how and why did the rabbits took control of the vault?

[@chase_h.01]

Definitely need to cover the Eyes

[@davidshepard-alenko4232]

is anyone else getting the parallel between the fox civilization and the miasma as an analogue to humanity and the use of oil/fossil fuels? perhaps we're living through our own endless cycle of exploiting "the fossils of the old self." 🤔

[@untipogracioso3038]

We just need our own heir

[@Eng_RAY]

شكرا لك لتوضيح احداث لعبة Tunic ،لعبة متميزة ومبدعة..🌷

[@decusq]

I just beat this game and got the true ending and i don't know how to feel about this game. I love the meta aspect but the ending feels so empty to me. It feels like nothing was resolved. I can possibly excuse the ending if this is supposed to be a game to build upon for another cuz from what you just said, we just destroyed the barrier that prevents monsters from coming to the Canon Plane... Oops

[@OnyxTheGamingMachine]

Very informative

[@teacupanimates]

someone trapped to save the kingdom but needs a replacement, and have corrupted beings in a fallen kingdom and you can replace the heir or end the loop, SOUNDS ALOT LIKE HOLLOW KNIGHT lol, i love seeing the influence hollow knights lore format has on other games!

[@RodsKaden]

That's definitely a game I need to dive deeper into the lore of! I have played it and loved it but didn't look too deep into it.

[@teacupanimates]

@@RodsKaden oh if u wanna know the hollow knight lore there is this one respected guy in the community and he does alot of the lore his channel is called mossbag, the lore of Hollow Knight is very interesting

[@thepikminbrawler1746]

Also sounds a lot like Dark Souls and the First Flame/Lords of Cinder. Both Tunic and Hollow Knight take a lot of inspiration from Dark Souls.

[@j2dacee]

Thank U man!

[@sahilhossain8204]

Lore of Tunic's Lore ► Explained! Momentum 100

[@atb1332]

well done, thank you.

[@jyutzler]

Don't let the plot get in the way of a good time!

[@thepikminbrawler1746]

While I think the story is cool and I LOVE how it’s set up and unraveled, I’m a little disappointed that it shares an almost beat by beat story similar to Hollow Knight and Dark Souls. These types of games just love their “past people discover power that sends them into madness and to save them a savior trapped in an endless cycle of suffering is to be replaced by the game protagonist who can choose to become the next part of the cycle or break it” plot. It’s becoming kind of unoriginal and formulaic to be honest.

[@THE_BEAR_JEW]

I felt the same. I still enjoyed it but you’re right, that story is played out now.

[@fieryvengeance2795]

First time we saw that fox trapped in a barrier i was like.. yup we are going to eventually fight it. I think this game didn’t require a convoluted soulslike story (which by the end i still had only the vaguest idea and had to come here) tbh this kind of story is tired at this point. A simple adventure to free the trapped fox would have been cool enough imo

[@Kevintendo]

Tunic was the first soulslike I could get into, and I was excited to now play dark souls and hollow knight 😂 you kinda spoiled those stories by this comment. Maybe consider editing it so others aren’t spoiled 🙏

[@Kevintendo]

@@fieryvengeance2795 good point! I finished Hollow Knight now and sadly I saw the ending coming after y’all’s comments haha. Still really enjoyed it! Finished HK with 75%

[@luckywonderer4068]

I wish I could join the discord, yet it's closed off temporarily... I'll just join your server for now

[@RodsKaden]

Oh is the link not working?

[@inarizushi_cosplay]

More birdpip!

[@RodsKaden]

Did you find birdpip :O

[@DarkVWolf]

You sorta sound like Nicolas Cage.

[@lordfyita2096]

Thank you for saying zelda-like and not "souls-like", unlike most idiots nowadays.

[@thesis-and-nieces6722]

Tunic is a unbalanced mess of a game. It can only dream of reaching what zelda games have done. Plus, the stupidity of hiding vital information for first time players behind a an invented language, is just gimmicky AF. I don’t understand this trend from indie developers. Next the decision to make map and exploration a chore of pulling up a manual is just ass backwards and unintuitive. How hard is it to have a real time map?

[@william7547]

literally just a skill issue, not all games have to hold your hand bro

[@blahblahblah9372]

I loved Tunic but yeah I mostly agree. Zelda was fun because "hey theres a crack in the wall, and I have a bomb." It was using logic to simplify not following a convoluted road map that was clever but boring going through the steps. Its kinda like a smart person who uses language to be purposefully understood versus a dumb person who uses difficult words to appear intelligent. Again great game but its hard to beat one of the best puzzle games of all time.