Yorke's actions were madness. Grief has that power. But my feeling is he was a poor lord before then and his niece's fate was just the tipping point. He was exactly the wrong man for such a burden and it only became clear to all when his wanton actions doomed them.
Yep, I'm a fan. Two top notch lore vids is exactly what's needed for this game. Can't expect Vaati to do ALL the lore! These are brilliant and your scripts for ordering the events and telling these stories from the items is bonkers. Full send, need more!
Im not sure where this fits into this story but we can find a remembrance in the umbral realm behind the Fief Beacon that showcases the Light Reaper doing battle with the crow monster. The crow monster is shown diving down at the Light Reaper. This is interesting because in our fight with the crow demon/ghost of Lucy the crow monstrosity is stationary in its nest, and looks to be crippled. Maybe its possible that it was injured in its fight with the Light Reaper and that why it cant fly during our fight with it. I wonder why the Light Reaper would target the Crow monster at all? We know he was a Skin Stealer Rhogar that was fused with a stolen Umbral parasite by Adyr and tasked to hunt the lamp bearers to try to prevent the Putrid Mother from consuming all of the Axiom. Where the crow demon/Lucy ghost fits into that is a mystery to me.
That's a great insight. Perhaps since the crow/Lucy are so strongly connected to Umbral and it seems like the chill curse may originate from that realm, Adyr feared the Putrid Mother's presence here so tasked the Lightreaper with disrupting it?
@TheLorebrarians I think you're on right track there. The missing link here is likely whatever ancient/possible Umbral sorcery that resulted in creating the crow abomination and doomed the kingdom into becoming a frozen hellscape.
Watching this again hits differently; the story of the fief and the events that led to its devastation is absolutely heartbreaking. Honestly, LOTF storytelling is peak. I also have to mention how much I love the choice of music, though; it is absolutely stunning.
I was under the assumption that the Crow was Yorke himself, a punishment laid upon his soul through the same rituals that brought back a hollow imitation of his niece
As I continue to delve deeper and discuss with others it seems a possibility is that the crow is Yorke tied through grief, guilt and magic to the spirit of Lucy. A theory I wish I had explored before releasing the video but it's always exciting to piece together new insights!
@@TheLorebrarians indeed. I mean, I had not considered the things you brought up in the video, although they could both be true and make sense. Upon being torn asunder it was his spirit that was corrupted and transformed one of the crows that was devouring his flesh. The upheaval in the area could be from when he first took flight out of the area or better yet, as implied by the stigma that can be found in said location, this Lightreaper arena, he landed there when he fought off the Lightreaper. Another comment also pointed out that this could have resulted in an injury to the Crow/Yorke which explains why in the fight with us its mostly stationary as it may have been crippled. Mashing all of these theories together makes for quite the experience. While I dislike the fight because of its nature, its lore implications and the lore itself that surrounds Yorke and Lucy might be my favourite in the whole game.
Absolutely phenomenal entry! I am so stoked to have stumbled across your channel in search of in-depth long-form lore videos for LotR and now I am hooked. Not only did you scratch that itch, but here I come to found out you also make Witcher lore videos, something I didn't even realize I was missing in my life until I saw the Ciri video. I am eagerly tuned in for more content now. Subbed up and belled up, see ya next episode!
Dude this is amazing, If would be great if you do something about the lore game in general or what happen with the royal family , the kings of mournstead in bramis castle
Great vid! Few things I disagree w/, wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts -- Unless I'm missing a lore snippet somewhere, there's no indication Lucy died from an illness tied to Adyr or Rhogar corruption. The signs point to her drowning - the set is the "Drowned Set" consisting of the Mask and Dress. It might sound pedantic, but it's important to note - one can't drown someone who is already dead. The description says that the fish "already begun to feed on Lucy's corpse by the time it was found". If she was set in a watery funeral procession by Yorke to begin with, Yorke (or anyone, really...) isn't really "finding" her. The Stigma in the Crow's Arena is the Blackfeather Rangers presenting Yorke w/ her body. It makes sense for her to have drowned in that large body of water that you shift to Umbral to explore which is literally RIGHT outside the Fief's walls. I mean, the Stigma itself is positioned right by the exit that leads to it. Additionally, the lore (and yourself) mentions/hints at the Blackfeather Rangers keeping an eye on the lands/borders, it makes plenty of sense that they'd happen across a body floating in a river by the castle. After being presented with her body, Yorke flips out due to grief and feeling as if he failed her as her protector/surrogate parent and asks one of the Shaman women to bring her back to life, disregarding her warnings. It goes... not so great, and so he tries Plan B. I get that you're probably trying to reconcile her wearing a mask, equating it w/ a funerary or death mask which necessitates her having a funeral to wear it for as well as the placement of the casket at the beacon. But, there's way too many additional jumps that need to be made, imo. What's simpler (Occam's Razor and all) and has more direct ties to lore and visual storytelling: "A young girl, wearing a mask as she plays pretend, is playing by the river just outside her home/castle (being nobility and all) who somehow falls into the river and drowns, only to be found by the guards who patrol the area, her corpse brought straight away to her surrogate father who is stricken and driven almost mad with grief and tries to revive her by visiting a Shaman, that failing, and then something else" or "A young girl getting sick from an evil plague of corruption that there are no signs has impacted the immediate area she lives in, trying to heal her and failing with her dying - resulting in her surrogate father being stricken and almost driven mad with grief... but being rational enough to formulate a plot that involves staging a water burial, picking out out your most loyal and trusted retainers for a covert operation of fishing out said casket and dragging it BACK to the town to visit the Shaman and have her try to bring it life?" The crow seems to be Yorke. At the start of the fight, the crow calls out in a distinctly masculine voice "Lucy...". Why would Lucy be calling out to herself, longingly? That said, I can't neatly tie what appears to be Yorke's physical remains, the casket in the beacon, and the Blackfeather Ranger Axe hidden lore together neatly. The only thing I can come up w/ is that the casket is either (A) The remains of Lucy's body (presumably after it was ?killed a second time?) or (B) A previous ruler or someone of stature, used to keep the beacon going (similar to how St. Latimer sacrificed himself and his corpse is in the Fen's beacon). As far as the Blackfeather Range Axe + Yorke's remains - the closest I can think is that it was that location that he metamorphosed into the Crow, the Blackfeather Rangers attempting to stop him and succeeding in killing his 'mortal/human' body before the ritual was complete, too late to stop the metamorphosis, but early enough to prevent it from being fully manifested - hence why the Crow seems to be lamed and can't move from the nest. Though, if one believes the Stigma is Crow vs. Lightreaper, those injuries could have been sustained during that fight). Alternatively, Yorke was willing to sacrifice the citizenry and perform some sort of ritual as his "final, desparate gamble". Blackfeather Rangers pursue him and attack him during the ritual as stated above. That would explain the "murders and dark rituals" and why the Blackfeather Rangers would need to stop him. Of course, the Blackfeather Ranger Axe could be referencing a completely separate incident, as it did say "one of their own" meaning "another Blackfeather"...
The crow could be Yorke's grief or obsession incarnate. In lore, it's established that Umbral is a mirror to the living world, for it replicates or channels what is present in the real world. Through the Umbral remeberences of Yorke, it's possible that Yorke's grief and obsession over resurrecting Lucy, as well as his people's connection with crows, probably were channelled by Umbral to spawn an entity that would become the Hollowed Crow, due to Umbral's nature of feeding on great emotional outbursts as well as mass death, which was catalysis by Lucy's body being thrown in the beacon that caused a mass blizzard. Considering the presence of similar nonliving entities or mimics of the Hollowed Crow throughout the Umbral realm of Kinrangr, I think that is highly probable. But this is just my theory.
Please make a video on what happened with the Forsaken Fen. After this video, it's the most mysterious place to me. Would be very interesting to hear it's story
I saw a theory that the crown IS Yorke, as it keeps "screaming/whispering" Lucy's name through the fight. This is quality content, bro!! Keep it up! :D
You are spot on! This video was done still on my first playthrough and as I've delved more into the lore things have come to light. I might do a video specifically on him sometime soon to clear up confusion. Yorke and The Hollow crow is a tragic tale
@@TheLorebrarians I very much did! I am extremely impressed with your content. It reminds in a very good way of Square Table Gaming's Elden Ring lore content, who are one of my favorite lore content channels.
Despair and loss bring humans to the deepest darkness. And create monsters :( So sad story. As always love get twisted. Consume by despair. By madness... and become tool for the thirsty Gods.
I think i saw a stigma of the lightreaper fighting this hollow crow, i guess that's why it's sitting in it's nest crippled, but I don't know what to make of it. Perhaps the lightreaper extracted his umbral parasite from the hollow crow at the behest of Adyr?
My suspicion is that Yorke's magic and subsequent umbral curse attracts the lightreaper's attention as it was created by Adyr to hunt Umbral magic/lampbearers. Or perhaps a coincidental territorial spat since the reaper tracked paladin Isaac to the fief anyway
The light reaper was chasing paladin isaac, that stigma is one of the ones you need to unlock the dark crusader starting class. It’s more than Lilly that Isaac was fighting the crow, wounded it, then tried to run from the lightreaper.
Thank you. About the lore, I feel this game cannot archive Fromsoftware lever of lore, but still a good one. In comparison with lore other soul-like games I have played: Blasphemous > LotF > Lies of P. Sadly the game has too many issues, so only a few people actually talk about the lore right now.
@@TheLorebrarians agree. Sometimes I feel it waste too much potential. Btw, can you make a video about the royal family? (The sundered monarch, tortured prisoner and Spurned progeny)
This boss is one of the most poorly designed pieces of crap I have ever played. Shows beast, makes you fight endlessly spawning wolfs and a orb, genius 😂
The lore in a game like this is one of my favorite parts by far, so this is awesome, and I hope you do it for the rest of the game!
Yorke's actions were madness. Grief has that power. But my feeling is he was a poor lord before then and his niece's fate was just the tipping point. He was exactly the wrong man for such a burden and it only became clear to all when his wanton actions doomed them.
I really need more of these. This person will join the ranks of loremaster like byf.
Appreciate it! More videos are in the works
Yep, I'm a fan. Two top notch lore vids is exactly what's needed for this game. Can't expect Vaati to do ALL the lore! These are brilliant and your scripts for ordering the events and telling these stories from the items is bonkers. Full send, need more!
Thanks so much and happy to hear you enjoy the vids!
Im not sure where this fits into this story but we can find a remembrance in the umbral realm behind the Fief Beacon that showcases the Light Reaper doing battle with the crow monster. The crow monster is shown diving down at the Light Reaper. This is interesting because in our fight with the crow demon/ghost of Lucy the crow monstrosity is stationary in its nest, and looks to be crippled. Maybe its possible that it was injured in its fight with the Light Reaper and that why it cant fly during our fight with it.
I wonder why the Light Reaper would target the Crow monster at all? We know he was a Skin Stealer Rhogar that was fused with a stolen Umbral parasite by Adyr and tasked to hunt the lamp bearers to try to prevent the Putrid Mother from consuming all of the Axiom. Where the crow demon/Lucy ghost fits into that is a mystery to me.
That's a great insight. Perhaps since the crow/Lucy are so strongly connected to Umbral and it seems like the chill curse may originate from that realm, Adyr feared the Putrid Mother's presence here so tasked the Lightreaper with disrupting it?
@TheLorebrarians I think you're on right track there. The missing link here is likely whatever ancient/possible Umbral sorcery that resulted in creating the crow abomination and doomed the kingdom into becoming a frozen hellscape.
Watching this again hits differently; the story of the fief and the events that led to its devastation is absolutely heartbreaking. Honestly, LOTF storytelling is peak. I also have to mention how much I love the choice of music, though; it is absolutely stunning.
I was under the assumption that the Crow was Yorke himself, a punishment laid upon his soul through the same rituals that brought back a hollow imitation of his niece
As I continue to delve deeper and discuss with others it seems a possibility is that the crow is Yorke tied through grief, guilt and magic to the spirit of Lucy. A theory I wish I had explored before releasing the video but it's always exciting to piece together new insights!
@@TheLorebrarians indeed. I mean, I had not considered the things you brought up in the video, although they could both be true and make sense. Upon being torn asunder it was his spirit that was corrupted and transformed one of the crows that was devouring his flesh. The upheaval in the area could be from when he first took flight out of the area or better yet, as implied by the stigma that can be found in said location, this Lightreaper arena, he landed there when he fought off the Lightreaper. Another comment also pointed out that this could have resulted in an injury to the Crow/Yorke which explains why in the fight with us its mostly stationary as it may have been crippled. Mashing all of these theories together makes for quite the experience. While I dislike the fight because of its nature, its lore implications and the lore itself that surrounds Yorke and Lucy might be my favourite in the whole game.
😢
Absolutely phenomenal entry! I am so stoked to have stumbled across your channel in search of in-depth long-form lore videos for LotR and now I am hooked.
Not only did you scratch that itch, but here I come to found out you also make Witcher lore videos, something I didn't even realize I was missing in my life until I saw the Ciri video.
I am eagerly tuned in for more content now. Subbed up and belled up, see ya next episode!
Thank you so much for the kind words and welcome to the channel! Hope you enjoy your time exploring the content, got more LotF lore coming
Dude this is amazing, If would be great if you do something about the lore game in general or what happen with the royal family , the kings of mournstead in bramis castle
So glad you enjoyed and I appreciate the suggestions! Working on Harrower Dervla's tale and then hopefully do a video explaining the story/setting
New sub, my man. Fantastic job piecing out the narrative of this amazing game
Great vid! Few things I disagree w/, wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts --
Unless I'm missing a lore snippet somewhere, there's no indication Lucy died from an illness tied to Adyr or Rhogar corruption. The signs point to her drowning - the set is the "Drowned Set" consisting of the Mask and Dress. It might sound pedantic, but it's important to note - one can't drown someone who is already dead. The description says that the fish "already begun to feed on Lucy's corpse by the time it was found". If she was set in a watery funeral procession by Yorke to begin with, Yorke (or anyone, really...) isn't really "finding" her.
The Stigma in the Crow's Arena is the Blackfeather Rangers presenting Yorke w/ her body. It makes sense for her to have drowned in that large body of water that you shift to Umbral to explore which is literally RIGHT outside the Fief's walls. I mean, the Stigma itself is positioned right by the exit that leads to it. Additionally, the lore (and yourself) mentions/hints at the Blackfeather Rangers keeping an eye on the lands/borders, it makes plenty of sense that they'd happen across a body floating in a river by the castle. After being presented with her body, Yorke flips out due to grief and feeling as if he failed her as her protector/surrogate parent and asks one of the Shaman women to bring her back to life, disregarding her warnings. It goes... not so great, and so he tries Plan B.
I get that you're probably trying to reconcile her wearing a mask, equating it w/ a funerary or death mask which necessitates her having a funeral to wear it for as well as the placement of the casket at the beacon.
But, there's way too many additional jumps that need to be made, imo. What's simpler (Occam's Razor and all) and has more direct ties to lore and visual storytelling: "A young girl, wearing a mask as she plays pretend, is playing by the river just outside her home/castle (being nobility and all) who somehow falls into the river and drowns, only to be found by the guards who patrol the area, her corpse brought straight away to her surrogate father who is stricken and driven almost mad with grief and tries to revive her by visiting a Shaman, that failing, and then something else" or "A young girl getting sick from an evil plague of corruption that there are no signs has impacted the immediate area she lives in, trying to heal her and failing with her dying - resulting in her surrogate father being stricken and almost driven mad with grief... but being rational enough to formulate a plot that involves staging a water burial, picking out out your most loyal and trusted retainers for a covert operation of fishing out said casket and dragging it BACK to the town to visit the Shaman and have her try to bring it life?"
The crow seems to be Yorke. At the start of the fight, the crow calls out in a distinctly masculine voice "Lucy...". Why would Lucy be calling out to herself, longingly?
That said, I can't neatly tie what appears to be Yorke's physical remains, the casket in the beacon, and the Blackfeather Ranger Axe hidden lore together neatly. The only thing I can come up w/ is that the casket is either (A) The remains of Lucy's body (presumably after it was ?killed a second time?) or (B) A previous ruler or someone of stature, used to keep the beacon going (similar to how St. Latimer sacrificed himself and his corpse is in the Fen's beacon).
As far as the Blackfeather Range Axe + Yorke's remains - the closest I can think is that it was that location that he metamorphosed into the Crow, the Blackfeather Rangers attempting to stop him and succeeding in killing his 'mortal/human' body before the ritual was complete, too late to stop the metamorphosis, but early enough to prevent it from being fully manifested - hence why the Crow seems to be lamed and can't move from the nest. Though, if one believes the Stigma is Crow vs. Lightreaper, those injuries could have been sustained during that fight).
Alternatively, Yorke was willing to sacrifice the citizenry and perform some sort of ritual as his "final, desparate gamble". Blackfeather Rangers pursue him and attack him during the ritual as stated above. That would explain the "murders and dark rituals" and why the Blackfeather Rangers would need to stop him. Of course, the Blackfeather Ranger Axe could be referencing a completely separate incident, as it did say "one of their own" meaning "another Blackfeather"...
Dude, you rock. Just what was needed after work.
Hope you enjoyed!
I love this game's lore!! Great work guys!
Thanks, so glad you enjoyed! Stay tuned, more is to come
Yorke wasn't the hollow crow ? I thought that because the boss say Lucy's name when he see her apear in the cinematic.
The crow could be Yorke's grief or obsession incarnate. In lore, it's established that Umbral is a mirror to the living world, for it replicates or channels what is present in the real world. Through the Umbral remeberences of Yorke, it's possible that Yorke's grief and obsession over resurrecting Lucy, as well as his people's connection with crows, probably were channelled by Umbral to spawn an entity that would become the Hollowed Crow, due to Umbral's nature of feeding on great emotional outbursts as well as mass death, which was catalysis by Lucy's body being thrown in the beacon that caused a mass blizzard.
Considering the presence of similar nonliving entities or mimics of the Hollowed Crow throughout the Umbral realm of Kinrangr, I think that is highly probable. But this is just my theory.
Man no one is doing lore videos on this game. I don’t get it this game is so good and rich with lord. Thank you for doing a video, hope to see mire
Glad you enjoyed and I agree, the worldbuilding and setting are fantastic. Stay tuned for more in the series!
Please make a video on what happened with the Forsaken Fen. After this video, it's the most mysterious place to me. Would be very interesting to hear it's story
Good lord… this is Peak story telling! Instant subscribe!
Thanks so much and welcome to the channel! Hope you enjoy your time here
I saw a theory that the crown IS Yorke, as it keeps "screaming/whispering" Lucy's name through the fight.
This is quality content, bro!! Keep it up! :D
You are spot on! This video was done still on my first playthrough and as I've delved more into the lore things have come to light. I might do a video specifically on him sometime soon to clear up confusion. Yorke and The Hollow crow is a tragic tale
Please do a video on Fitzroy! He seems like a very interesting character
Appreciate the suggestion, I'll look into it
Love these videos mate. Awesome work.
Phenomenal work!
Appreciate it, glad you enjoyed!
I would appreciate a video about orius and the diferent factions under him
A great suggestion, planning on doing the radiant church and the rhogar in future videos
top noch man, maybe making a video on cyberpunk lore? is very rich :) awesome like always
I am stupidly excited about this upload! Just sat down to eat dinner too. 😀
Hope you enjoy!
@@TheLorebrarians I very much did! I am extremely impressed with your content. It reminds in a very good way of Square Table Gaming's Elden Ring lore content, who are one of my favorite lore content channels.
Ah, I never noticed Lucy's casket in the beacon! Interesting.
Despair and loss bring humans to the deepest darkness. And create monsters :( So sad story. As always love get twisted. Consume by despair. By madness... and become tool for the thirsty Gods.
I think i saw a stigma of the lightreaper fighting this hollow crow, i guess that's why it's sitting in it's nest crippled, but I don't know what to make of it. Perhaps the lightreaper extracted his umbral parasite from the hollow crow at the behest of Adyr?
My suspicion is that Yorke's magic and subsequent umbral curse attracts the lightreaper's attention as it was created by Adyr to hunt Umbral magic/lampbearers. Or perhaps a coincidental territorial spat since the reaper tracked paladin Isaac to the fief anyway
The light reaper was chasing paladin isaac, that stigma is one of the ones you need to unlock the dark crusader starting class. It’s more than Lilly that Isaac was fighting the crow, wounded it, then tried to run from the lightreaper.
least we can do is grant both souls peace
I love your vids ❤
Appreciate it!
Thank you. About the lore, I feel this game cannot archive Fromsoftware lever of lore, but still a good one. In comparison with lore other soul-like games I have played: Blasphemous > LotF > Lies of P. Sadly the game has too many issues, so only a few people actually talk about the lore right now.
It is a shame the initial launch was rough, but hopefully things will be fixed up by the devs, really been liking the worldbuilding and lore
@@TheLorebrarians agree. Sometimes I feel it waste too much potential.
Btw, can you make a video about the royal family? (The sundered monarch, tortured prisoner and Spurned progeny)
I thought Lucy had drowned
This boss is one of the most poorly designed pieces of crap I have ever played. Shows beast, makes you fight endlessly spawning wolfs and a orb, genius 😂
Love the lore in this game, great vid!
Appreciate it! Yes, it's been great digging into the story and setting