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thinkin about........necromancy
May. 7th, 2024 04:55 pmNOTE: spoilers for the whole of Evil West follow
so one of the many fun things about Evil West is the absolute bombshells that are the character backstories for Vergil and Bloom. Vergil's gets brought up a few times, and it really sticks with you just for how wild it is, like:
like????? and this is still only ever mentioned via lore, just like one of the wildest things: rescued from necromancer as an infant after undergoing some weird ritual we know fuckall about. and it's silly in the exact same campy, over-the-top way everything about Evil West is, but also it's an absolutely incredible get-out-of-jail-free card for anyone wanting to shortcut the uh. the whole "Vergil dies" thing.
bc canonically he was ritual'd by a necromancer, and CANONICALLY the Institute never figured out what was done to him. so like, why shouldn't the ritual kick in once he's dead? who's to say Vergil is even capable of staying dead?
now ppl who know me know i live for this shit; functional immortality is my whole jam. but also it just makes sense? even from a narrative standpoint: we see Rentier Sr spending more time with Bloom towards the end than Vergil, in some respects the two are sort of interchangeable; they're both nerds. both of them have heckin BUCKWILD backstories that are nonetheless just as interchangeable: orphaned, exposed to weird occult shit as children, brought to the Institute while very young. there's also the sort of element of them both being charmed by bizarro!William, who the audience (and Jesse, and Edgar) know is NOTHING like the man seen interacting with Bloom and Vergil. (although iirc it really is mostly Bloom; we're only TOLD how Vergil felt about Rentier Sr by Emilia.)
the fact that it's Vergil and not Bloom who is killed seems incidental: one of the science twinks needed to get offed so Jesse would have the motivation to kill Daddy.
i had a point but i got too amused by the concept of science twinks and the fact that Flying Wild Hog put two in one game, character so nice use him twice, etc.
anyway, back to the necromancy: Evil West feels like the devs were very much open to making it a series, or at least to playing around in that world more. this is the vibes i am personally getting. so then repeating the fact that Vergil got necromancy'd multiple times again kind of feels like something is being set up there, and like what else are you going to be setting up with necromancy?
like not leaning too hard on this or anything, but just saying that if you wanted to write a fix-it where Vergil lives (and i intend to) all you need to do is: WHOOPS the weird necromancy ritual activated with Vergil's death and he's back just as good as new (or possibly some flavor of undead, just have fun with it!) and then imagine what opens up for you after that. can he die at all? what other side effects of the ritual are there, if any?
how fucked up might Jesse be, thinking this kid died bc of his mistake (not killing his dad as soon as they suspected he was vampire'd), and then the twisted sort of relief when he finds Vergil's not dead after all (make it shippy and this whole thing gets worse! you're welcome!) but he might not be human, and he might be just as dangerous as Jesse's dad, and sure Vergil seems fine, he seems just like his old self, this ain't like his Dad, but can he really risk that? can he risk Bloom and Emilia and Edgar and all the people in Calico that it ain't the same thing happening all over again, a revival too good to be true?
anyway i'm just happy i remembered the necromancy ritual thing, bc like after spending so much time thinking about how to revive Ethan and Karl it is incredibly nice that Evil West just shortcuts that for you. thank u, Evil West.
so one of the many fun things about Evil West is the absolute bombshells that are the character backstories for Vergil and Bloom. Vergil's gets brought up a few times, and it really sticks with you just for how wild it is, like:
like????? and this is still only ever mentioned via lore, just like one of the wildest things: rescued from necromancer as an infant after undergoing some weird ritual we know fuckall about. and it's silly in the exact same campy, over-the-top way everything about Evil West is, but also it's an absolutely incredible get-out-of-jail-free card for anyone wanting to shortcut the uh. the whole "Vergil dies" thing.
bc canonically he was ritual'd by a necromancer, and CANONICALLY the Institute never figured out what was done to him. so like, why shouldn't the ritual kick in once he's dead? who's to say Vergil is even capable of staying dead?
now ppl who know me know i live for this shit; functional immortality is my whole jam. but also it just makes sense? even from a narrative standpoint: we see Rentier Sr spending more time with Bloom towards the end than Vergil, in some respects the two are sort of interchangeable; they're both nerds. both of them have heckin BUCKWILD backstories that are nonetheless just as interchangeable: orphaned, exposed to weird occult shit as children, brought to the Institute while very young. there's also the sort of element of them both being charmed by bizarro!William, who the audience (and Jesse, and Edgar) know is NOTHING like the man seen interacting with Bloom and Vergil. (although iirc it really is mostly Bloom; we're only TOLD how Vergil felt about Rentier Sr by Emilia.)
the fact that it's Vergil and not Bloom who is killed seems incidental: one of the science twinks needed to get offed so Jesse would have the motivation to kill Daddy.
i had a point but i got too amused by the concept of science twinks and the fact that Flying Wild Hog put two in one game, character so nice use him twice, etc.
anyway, back to the necromancy: Evil West feels like the devs were very much open to making it a series, or at least to playing around in that world more. this is the vibes i am personally getting. so then repeating the fact that Vergil got necromancy'd multiple times again kind of feels like something is being set up there, and like what else are you going to be setting up with necromancy?
like not leaning too hard on this or anything, but just saying that if you wanted to write a fix-it where Vergil lives (and i intend to) all you need to do is: WHOOPS the weird necromancy ritual activated with Vergil's death and he's back just as good as new (or possibly some flavor of undead, just have fun with it!) and then imagine what opens up for you after that. can he die at all? what other side effects of the ritual are there, if any?
how fucked up might Jesse be, thinking this kid died bc of his mistake (not killing his dad as soon as they suspected he was vampire'd), and then the twisted sort of relief when he finds Vergil's not dead after all (make it shippy and this whole thing gets worse! you're welcome!) but he might not be human, and he might be just as dangerous as Jesse's dad, and sure Vergil seems fine, he seems just like his old self, this ain't like his Dad, but can he really risk that? can he risk Bloom and Emilia and Edgar and all the people in Calico that it ain't the same thing happening all over again, a revival too good to be true?
anyway i'm just happy i remembered the necromancy ritual thing, bc like after spending so much time thinking about how to revive Ethan and Karl it is incredibly nice that Evil West just shortcuts that for you. thank u, Evil West.
