The Rambling Druth

[ Originally posted to r/Hellblade in March 2021 ] What is real? For as long as we’ve had eyes to see, we’ve been asking ourselves whether the things we’ve been seeing are actually, in fact, there. It can be an unpleasant topic to think about- much like video games, too much and you’ll go mad. But one such game that takes on this topic in bold color is Ninja Theory’s 2017 tour de force release Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. It swept the 14th British Academy Games Awards, telling the poignant story of Senua, a Celtic warrior travelling deep into viking-era Scandinavia to unravel her past and come to terms with her psychosis. Her psychosis is arguably the defining feature of the game- the game employs an over-the-shoulder perspective, but the world of the game is seen through Senua’s eyes and Senua’s eyes only. We experience the world only as Senua experiences it. With Senua’s perception of the world being shaped largely by the symptoms of her psychosis, this begs the quest...

[ Originally posted to r/Hellblade in December 2020 ] Playing through Hellblade for the third time, I was intrigued by the use of circles in the archecture of the game- every major boss fight takes place in a circle, most of the minor fights take place in circles, and they're just everywhere throughout the game. Naturally, I began to look for patterns. My findings- there are three main circles in the game, and they correspond to the three-act structure of Hellblade's narrative. There are lots of circles in hellblade, and they're all loaded with meaning, but there's three main ones I want to talk about. These are the best pictures I could find: Circle 1 , Circle 2 , and Circle 3 . Together, these three circles are recurring motifs throughout the architecture of the game, and each circle represents an act in Senua's grand journey of self-acceptance. Let's start with Circle 1 (I'll call it the Rune Circle). This circle is pretty much just a big vegv...

[ Originally posted to r/Hellblade in September 2020 ] I have a bit of a theatre background, and something that consistently blew me away when I played this game (and still does) is, to put it theatrically, the set design. The Valravn section is where I first noticed how amazing it was, but that feeling never subsided throughout the entire game. So here I'm going to talk about some of the things that I loved about it! This isn't going to talk about the lighting or movement at all, because even though those are also integral to the visual aspect of the game, trying to fit that into all one post would be a monumental undertaking. I highly encourage everyone to watch the development diaries though, because they're all awesome and give great insights about every aspect of the game, especially those! Here I'm just focusing on the physical objects that frame Senua's journey, the "set." To start off, game map design is a little different than theatri...

[ Originally posted on r/Hellblade in August 2020 ] I got the idea to transliterate the runestones into the Latin alphabet to see if it meant anything, and this is what I got: ᛋ ᛖ ᛖ ᚲ · ᚺ ᛖ ᛚ ᚨ ᛋ · ᛏ ᚱ ᚢ ᛏ ᚺ · ᛁ ᚾ · ᛗ ᛁ ᚱ ᚱ ᛟ ᚱ · ᚷ ᛟ ᛞ ᛋ · ᛒ ᛖ ᛏ ᚱ ᚨ ᛃ · ᚢ ᛋ · ᚢ ᚾ ᛗ ᚨ ᛋ ᚲ · ᚠ ᛖ ᚨ ᚱ S E E K · H E L A S · T R U T H · I N · M I R R O R · G O D S · B E T R A [Y] · U S · U N M A S K · F E A R (It's a little anachronistic that it's in the Elder Futhark, but honestly I don't blame them because it looks far cooler than the Younger Futhark ) Analyis time- SEEK HELAS TRUTH IN MIRROR- On the surface level it's foreshadowing that Hela and Senua are one and the same, but in a way that doesn't spoil the ending since the entire rune circle can be viewed from the beginning of the game. However the concept of mirrors and sight are a recurring motif in the game, and it could also be- Foreshadowing the Valravyn section where Senua learns to use Druth's iron mirror to see p...