From the pages of Physis: "The control area stage of the satellite cannon “Ragnarok”, built in outer space. The real Operation Ragnarok is carried out through the satellite cannon in satellite orbit and its indiscriminate attacks to the surface. But Kraft, who’s betrayed Vile, aims that flaming sword to where Vile is at: Neo Arcadia. Zero heads to space again so as to stop him." ...Kraft's one chance to save the world, tainted by his defeatism, led to more harm than it did good. Having seen Neige's determination to defy Weil's sadistic nihilism, he took all the wrong lessons, and decided to stop Weil the only way he knew how: *an act of violence taken in the name of the greater good.* "Are you saying I should play the loyal Reploid and follow you!? Not doing... Not thinking... Just waiting at your beck and call? And are you condoning the destruction of nature, struggling just to survive!? I... I will not let you take control! I've fought too long and too hard for humanity to let you! I will change the world!" ...and yet, this one act intended for the greater good led to more suffering: 2 million citizens were vaporized when Ragnarok fired upon the capital of Neo Arcadia. ...and it was *all for nothing.* Physis then has these notes on the included audio drama for this scene, *Ragnarok Record - At control room - Laevatein:* "Ragnarok has finally been fired… The discrepancy of how Zero and Kraft see “justice” as… “I don’t care about being called an Irregular… Someone… Someone must judge the humans, who’ve strayed off the road!”" The duel with Kraft reveals that he's fed up with everything that's happened so far: "Trust? And just who should I be trusting? The humans that do nothing while their world falls apart? The humans that fear us, their own creations? Or the humans that try to conquer the world? We fight each other for them!? This world screams out in pain under them... Why should I trust anyone? How can you trust them? How can you fight?" The final duel is yet another tragedy Zero must face, fighting someone who fought as hard as he did, but just like X nearly did, gave up halfway. It's no coincidence Kraft was specifically singled out as an old-generation Reploid in the same vein as Zero, and why their fight ends with Zero refuting Kraft's despair by telling him of a promise he made to X a long time ago. The parallels between him, Colonel, and Iris are not too insignificant to overlook. ...by the way, there's a lot of symbolism in the description of Ragnarok as a hanging sword in space: You may have already heard of the Sword of Damocles, the metaphor for the pressure of a looming threat that hangs heavy over those who are in a precarious situation, usually for those in power. The booklet Vile's Incident: Eden dome, its sin and rebirth outright alludes to this, while also dropping the scariest line in the history of Mega Man: "Ragnarok, a satellite turret at the time of the start of construction, was discovered in old war footage, which is among the rarest of classified data released to the public." _"It is said that more than 200 attack satellites of the same class alone are still hovering above our heads."_ However, there is a reason why Ragnarok's control system was named after yet another sword: Lævateinn. The sword itself is known as a sword belonging to the Norse trickster and bringer of Ragnarok, Loki. One interpretation that breaks the etymology down finds that the Læ in its name is negative: it means either treachery, deception, or harm. In fact, some interpretations claim Lævateinn was likely the mistletoe used to bring the death of Baldr, and in doing so, beckon Ragnarok itself. With that in mind, it's disturbingly fitting how Kraft's act of treachery kills Weil, but in doing so brings Ragnarok down upon the earth, destroying Neo Arcadia's precarious situation between relative peace and absolute chaos, using Lævateinn to do so.
I like how the Zero series explores the relationship between the humans and reploids like this. In the X series humans were pretty absent so there's hardly any discussion of them outside of the danger that mavericks pose to them (and the repliforce wanting a world only for reploids). Also I never knew about the control system being named after a sword. I wonder if that has any connection to ragnarok's core having a sword like silhouette.
@@GremmarYT In response to both points: And that's why I like the Zero series better. The X series felt like a shounen that tried to become seinen, but stuck to the protagonist-focused action sequences and didn't get the chance to show the rest of the story's development through the world around them. Meanwhile, while the Zero series' aesthetic leaned a bit more fantastical, and feels like something more shounen-ish to moé/chibi than X, I find its themes of struggling for survival and fighting for what's right to be more inspiring than the X series ever was. The Zero series feels like a seinen with the trappings of shounen art. Plus, while it goes unsaid, the X series' conceit of X fighting for everlasting peace feels *disingenuous.* He's sent out to stop threats in the forms of Reploids-turned-Mavericks, but it feels like in the end, he's silently supporting mankind's established hierarchy over Reploids. In other words, X and Zero and Axl are sadly glorified executioners, dogs of the state meant to uphold a peace that cannot last forever, only sent to cut out the symptoms but never cure the root of the problem. That's why I like the Zero series better in that regard: Zero isn't fighting on the side of those in power to uphold the status quo, he's fighting to protect the innocent who called upon him for help from those who would bring them harm. Even X was better in that regard, since the backstory establishes that he finally became successful at making the world a more equitable place for humans and Reploids through Neo Arcadia, even if it was only for a short time... ...strangely enough, I find that the use of the shape of a sword in Neo Arcadian tech goes as far back as the spaceship used to seal away Omega in Zero 3's intro sequence. Omega and Ragnarok were literal swords of Damocles waiting to drop on Neo Arcadia, huh...
From the pages of Physis:
"The control area stage of the satellite cannon “Ragnarok”, built in outer space. The real Operation Ragnarok is carried out through the satellite cannon in satellite orbit and its indiscriminate attacks to the surface. But Kraft, who’s betrayed Vile, aims that flaming sword to where Vile is at: Neo Arcadia. Zero heads to space again so as to stop him."
...Kraft's one chance to save the world, tainted by his defeatism, led to more harm than it did good. Having seen Neige's determination to defy Weil's sadistic nihilism, he took all the wrong lessons, and decided to stop Weil the only way he knew how: *an act of violence taken in the name of the greater good.*
"Are you saying I should play the loyal Reploid and follow you!? Not doing... Not thinking... Just waiting at your beck and call? And are you condoning the destruction of nature, struggling just to survive!? I... I will not let you take control! I've fought too long and too hard for humanity to let you! I will change the world!"
...and yet, this one act intended for the greater good led to more suffering: 2 million citizens were vaporized when Ragnarok fired upon the capital of Neo Arcadia.
...and it was *all for nothing.*
Physis then has these notes on the included audio drama for this scene, *Ragnarok Record - At control room - Laevatein:*
"Ragnarok has finally been fired… The discrepancy of how Zero and Kraft see “justice” as… “I don’t care about being called an Irregular… Someone… Someone must judge the humans, who’ve strayed off the road!”"
The duel with Kraft reveals that he's fed up with everything that's happened so far:
"Trust? And just who should I be trusting? The humans that do nothing while their world falls apart? The humans that fear us, their own creations? Or the humans that try to conquer the world? We fight each other for them!? This world screams out in pain under them... Why should I trust anyone? How can you trust them? How can you fight?"
The final duel is yet another tragedy Zero must face, fighting someone who fought as hard as he did, but just like X nearly did, gave up halfway. It's no coincidence Kraft was specifically singled out as an old-generation Reploid in the same vein as Zero, and why their fight ends with Zero refuting Kraft's despair by telling him of a promise he made to X a long time ago.
The parallels between him, Colonel, and Iris are not too insignificant to overlook.
...by the way, there's a lot of symbolism in the description of Ragnarok as a hanging sword in space:
You may have already heard of the Sword of Damocles, the metaphor for the pressure of a looming threat that hangs heavy over those who are in a precarious situation, usually for those in power.
The booklet Vile's Incident: Eden dome, its sin and rebirth outright alludes to this, while also dropping the scariest line in the history of Mega Man:
"Ragnarok, a satellite turret at the time of the start of construction, was discovered in old war footage, which is among the rarest of classified data released to the public."
_"It is said that more than 200 attack satellites of the same class alone are still hovering above our heads."_
However, there is a reason why Ragnarok's control system was named after yet another sword: Lævateinn.
The sword itself is known as a sword belonging to the Norse trickster and bringer of Ragnarok, Loki. One interpretation that breaks the etymology down finds that the Læ in its name is negative: it means either treachery, deception, or harm. In fact, some interpretations claim Lævateinn was likely the mistletoe used to bring the death of Baldr, and in doing so, beckon Ragnarok itself.
With that in mind, it's disturbingly fitting how Kraft's act of treachery kills Weil, but in doing so brings Ragnarok down upon the earth, destroying Neo Arcadia's precarious situation between relative peace and absolute chaos, using Lævateinn to do so.
I like how the Zero series explores the relationship between the humans and reploids like this. In the X series humans were pretty absent so there's hardly any discussion of them outside of the danger that mavericks pose to them (and the repliforce wanting a world only for reploids). Also I never knew about the control system being named after a sword. I wonder if that has any connection to ragnarok's core having a sword like silhouette.
@@GremmarYT
In response to both points:
And that's why I like the Zero series better.
The X series felt like a shounen that tried to become seinen, but stuck to the protagonist-focused action sequences and didn't get the chance to show the rest of the story's development through the world around them. Meanwhile, while the Zero series' aesthetic leaned a bit more fantastical, and feels like something more shounen-ish to moé/chibi than X, I find its themes of struggling for survival and fighting for what's right to be more inspiring than the X series ever was.
The Zero series feels like a seinen with the trappings of shounen art.
Plus, while it goes unsaid, the X series' conceit of X fighting for everlasting peace feels *disingenuous.* He's sent out to stop threats in the forms of Reploids-turned-Mavericks, but it feels like in the end, he's silently supporting mankind's established hierarchy over Reploids. In other words, X and Zero and Axl are sadly glorified executioners, dogs of the state meant to uphold a peace that cannot last forever, only sent to cut out the symptoms but never cure the root of the problem.
That's why I like the Zero series better in that regard: Zero isn't fighting on the side of those in power to uphold the status quo, he's fighting to protect the innocent who called upon him for help from those who would bring them harm. Even X was better in that regard, since the backstory establishes that he finally became successful at making the world a more equitable place for humans and Reploids through Neo Arcadia, even if it was only for a short time...
...strangely enough, I find that the use of the shape of a sword in Neo Arcadian tech goes as far back as the spaceship used to seal away Omega in Zero 3's intro sequence.
Omega and Ragnarok were literal swords of Damocles waiting to drop on Neo Arcadia, huh...
YES, FINALLY
I always thought the piano played along with the guitar, kinda surprised me that it only did one long note and not two of them
This ROCKS!