Umb3rus

So we first meet our friend Yelv when he asks us to do a bunch of missions before he decides if he is willing to work with us. After we show our skills does he begin to open up with us. During the second mission he also starts to tell us about his friend that is missing. Now when I played this the first time ten years ago I was pretty confident that the reveal that the friend was dead all along was going to be the ending of the story. And as I began to find more ‘pieces’ of said friend it got stronger. But then something else began pinging in my ear. Or rather someone.

Enter Eleonora. Blades main console maintainer. I always found her a little sus. Especially when she always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone the whole game. I once joked with my husband that I would have loved a scene where she just loses it on someone. Just drops her professional coolness and rips into them. You can get the vibe with some of the missions that she probably has. There is a sort of fearful respect that everyone has. Moments with Murderess comes to mind.

And during our missions with Yelv she always knew what we were doing. Like I get that she is supposed to know a lot to keep all the rings with the BLADE straight. But she had an interesting fixation to always keep us in check. There are hundreds if not thousands of blades. Why so obsessed with us. And the fact that she already had the numbers crunched and knew exactly where to send us in the last mission. That’s a lot of time on a persons hands to help one blade.

Which brings us to the scene that we all remember. When we finish Yelv mission and confirm that yes his friend is in fact dead. A friend that we never got a name of mind you. We are given a creepy epilogue scene where we find out that Yelv is not all we thought he was. And that Eleonora and the government was a part of it. Which left us all going what the actual fuck did I just witness. And after ten years that moment still freaks me out. Like I randomly will think of that moment and ask soooo many questions.

My first main question. What is Yelv actually. The scene says he had artificial memories implanted in his brain. So is he a human with amnesia like our MC or is he something else completely. And they say he is the prototype of the experiment. So if others come out will they also look like Yelv or something else.

Like us? I always wondered about the whole amnesia thing with us. Like I get on a story and game level it gives the ability of the avatar to being a blank slate and allow the player to be a part of the game more. Blah blah blah. But like on a lore level what is the deal. Are we actually someone who is apart of this weird experiment as well and we are to just go out and do our own thing.

Eleonora comments that his personality was shaped in part to a third part. Aka us. But I always wondered if she always planned on us being his partner to begin with. Maybe his initial plan of testing other blades and accepting us when we came a long was a whole ploy to connect the MC with Yelv. As a sort of trigger to his person. I think every moment was orchestrated by her and nothing Yelv did was of free will. He just thinks he had free will.

Which also gives a whole new meaning to us being puppets. If we controlled our mims through the LifeHold Core. (And yes I know there is a lot more to THAT story that I am not going to unpack here) than how is he controlling his. Or is someone else doing it. And who.

It always bothers me that this was kinda a gotcha moment in the original game. And that it never was explained or expanded upon. And yes I know Yelv is technically a dlc character but still. There was sooo much more to impact with him than anyone else. I feel his story was not properly concluded. I would love one more affinity mission where he find out the truth and has an existential crisis that we help with. Missed opportunity.

Also one last thing. In the game only three people can use the Synchrony skill. Us, Yelv, and Alexa. Which makes me look at her in a whole new light.