The Tragic Story of Kessler: Gamings Most Underrated Antagonist (Character Analysis)

when people think of the infamous series they often tend to think of Infamous 2 and second sun and while those games are great when I think of Infamous I can't help but imagine the game that started at all I think a lot of people initially write off Infamous 1 as a bad game because of how it's presented which I mean I can't argue that it doesn't look and feel dated but if you can manage to look past the rough edges this game has a lot to offer primarily with its setting and characters unlike the other two games Infamous one takes place in what is basically the postapocalypse where a quarantine has been erected around the entirety of Empire City this setting is key to the narrative as it allows Cole the protagonist as well as other characters to express their true intentions and morality when things are at their absolute worst but even when that morality is expressed by doing the right thing not everything goes your way as seen with the first ever karmic choice in the series where you get to decide if a crate full of rations is shared with the general general public or you alone because even if you decide to be the nice guy in share the people of the city will literally throw stones at you as they blame you for the state they and the city are in this accurately sets the tone of the game that not everything is as it seems good actions don't always result in good outcomes people you think have your back will abandon you and those who you assume will have nothing but dishonorable intentions may have even more Integrity than the likes of you you case in point Kesler the game's primary antagonist and one of I would argue the best antagonists in gaming if you aren't aware one of if not the main Twist of Infamous one is that the antagonist Kesler and the protagonist Cole are the same person and not in a fight club kind of way it's more like Looper where Kesler is an older Cole who has gone back in time in an attempt to teach his younger self a valuable lesson it's a fair fairly good plot twist considering it's executed quite well in my opinion but it's not that the twist itself is what makes him interesting it's the reason behind why he did it and how that reasoning is used to develop Cole's character the primary reason that Kessler goes back in time is because in his own timeline he witnessed his world be destroyed by his lack of self-discipline because while Cole and kler had similar upbringings a key difference is that Kessler's life was slightly more light-hearted in fact he kind of got everything the girl the power and the family but it's those very things that would mold Kesler into the villain Cole would see him as because it's one thing to never know what it's like to be happy and another to get it ripped away from you due to your own [Music] inaction because they are for all intents and purposes the same person we can assume Cole and Kesler had a relatively similar upbringing so much so that for now I will be referring to Kesler as Cole because he has obviously not yet become Kesler we know from the first two games that Cole grew up with his parents as well as his little brother all of which were at least active in his early life though it seems they would drift apart as he grew older from the comics we know that in his college Years he would drop out just shy of graduating due to his professor's harsh treatment of one of his friends one of the first instances we get to see Co using even the noblest of reasons as an excuse to drop all responsibility and run a nasty habit that would continue to plague his life it's around the same time that he would also meet Zeke who would become his lifelong best friend as his frequent Reckless actions would compliment Cole's Cavalier attitude quite well and together they would get into all kinds of trouble this would naturally lead them into the world of Park Core which is much more than a traversal mechanic used in the games it's key to understanding both Cole and kesler's characterization parkour represents the way Cole responds to opposition he may be persistent but he doesn't plant his feet and fight he may be smart but he doesn't attempt to think his way out of situations no he runs and simply put parkour is the most efficient way of doing that it may even serve as a distraction as he would trick himself into thinking he's developing a useful skill but for what he uses it for which is to run from his problems it's actually extremely destructive unknown to Cole he is a conduit so he's naturally going to be faster and more resilient than most people so it stands to reason that he almost never got caught Zeke notes that there were a few times they would come close but I don't believe they were ever actually caught which if you were coal would slowly make you believe you were immune to consequences but consequences are a funny thing and sometimes it's good to get caught or fail because if it happens early on it teaches you lessons that you wouldn't have learned otherwise but for Cole his success would allow him to continue to believe he could run away from any problem he would face after dropping out of college there were two key events that would change the course of Cole's life the first of which would be Trish as far as their relationship it's pretty clear that Cole's fondness of Trish stems from her acceptance of who he is as a person not how she is perceived with him or what he provides externally this kind of connection is something Cole clearly values as he time and time again notes his disdain for people especially those of authority using him whether that's for certain outcomes like we see when our Cole meets Moya or for their own validation like how Cole's parents dislike his lifestyle so much that they have begun to lie to their friends telling them that he's a teacher instead of a Dropout but Trish doesn't do either of these as she loves Cole for who he is though that doesn't mean that she wouldn't try to help him become a better person which is what I would assume she did as Cole seemed to love her so much that he would accept the rare responsibility and marry her as well as start a family truly a testament to his undying love for her though it's that same love that would soon become his greatest weakness it's unknown if Cole got his powers before or after marrying Trish but regardless it doesn't seem like he rose to the same level of infamy as his counterpart he also never likely used his powers to the scale that our would have either instead he likely practiced on his own only using them when strictly necessary likely because he was afraid of the responsibility it would bring if he were to set a precedent that he was there to help others because if he did what would happen if he were to eventually fail or couldn't help them it was a risk that must have shaken him to his core maybe even tempting him to live out in complete isolation far enough from people that he couldn't help even if he wanted to so at the end of the day it could never be his fault but even if he were to help others as well as spend every day preparing what was about to arrive was something that anyone would have wanted to run from a beast of unimaginable power that would lay waste to the world Cole would watch as this happened knowing that with his power he was the only person capable of stopping it but as he looked at Trish and their two daughters his body seemed to take action before he could even think he instinctively grabbed them and for the final time ran from his ultimate responsibility he knew that they couldn't run forever that at some point years down the line they would run out of places to go but he just wasn't strong enough wasn't disciplined enough to make the heart choice and for that he would paid the highest price after the loss of his family Cole could do nothing but watch is the World fell into ruin a hellish landscape that nobody but him was left to witness a fitting punishment for his lack of self-discipline but this was not the end as cwood recognized that his own Comfort came at the cost of the world no more would he let his lack of discipline get in the way no more would he fail to understand his responsibilities no more would he run but in this moment the he he was thinking of was not just him but also another someone who he would have to mold into becoming stronger than he ever was Cole would from then on recognize himself as a completely different person someone who could make the hard choices someone who was determined and disciplined enough to carry the burden of the world he would become Kesler a man who was willing to do anything to save the world he lost Kesler would then use his most dangerous and experimental power as a one-way ticket back in time to prevent what his inaction had [Music] caused Kessler would go back not to his own beginning but to the origin of what had caused all this an organization known as the first sons who were responsible for creating the race spere the very thing that gave him as well as the Beast of their powers Kesler who was now willing to do anything to achieve his goals would overthrow the Tate family who are in current control of the organization this in turn orphaned Alden Tate who would dedicate his life to getting back at Kesler but Kesler didn't care about what would happen with Alden no he couldn't care he had a single goal and anything outside of that goal was simply a distraction something that would be snuffed out in an instant if it imposed even the most minor inconvenience to him with control over the first Suns Kesler would begin development of the race spere far earlier than it had been in his timeline this was in hopes that he could develop it far beyond what had given him his powers but this was not purely a problem of Rob power he knew that his younger self would be weak like he once was which was not something that the race feere could change to remedy this he would have to take steps to alter the life of Cole McGrath to build him up to the man he wished he had been but knowing his self he was aware that he had never been a fan of control or authority so it couldn't be a strong hand to guide him you would have to be careful manipulation change from the Shadows Minor Adjustments to keep him on the correct path that path being Eternal suffering to teach him that his sole purpose was to Bear the responsibility of saving the world after years of preparation failure and the occasional success the first Sons had developed the first prototype of the race sphere Kesler would later test the effectiveness of this device by using them on people like Sasha and David this would not only allow them to further develop the race sphere but also create more powerful adversaries for col to face later on it was around this time that Kesler would keep tabs on a young Cole McGrath as planned he would watch Cole from the Shadows avoiding interfering directly as that would create unnecessary variables that he couldn't predict it must have been un cany looking at someone knowing exactly what it was like to be them to have two separate memories of the exact same moment to remember all the happy moments yet to come and ultimately what would happen if you were to let those moments unfold as Cole became an adult Kesler would begin to make extremely precise decisions all in service of his grand plan he would course correct key events of many people's lives like a game of chess albeit with much much greater Stakes eventually the pieces on the board would all fall into proper place a woman named Moya who Kesler had previously worked with would begin searching for a man named John White in Empire City a single call made by Kesler would enclose the city in a strict quarantine a fully developed race feere would soon be sent to a random address in the historic district an area Kesler likely picked due to its dense population and as a bonus its proximity to Trisha's sister and a 27-year-old College Dropout named Cole McGrath would begin working as a measley bike Courier thousands died five square blocks smashed into rubble and at the center was me the racere had evaporated nearly everything in sight stealing the energy of the people surrounding Cole to to supercharge his dormant conduit Gene as predicted by Kesler this blast was powerful enough to maximize the power given to Cole yet with enough restraint to prevent his death as Cole awoke from the blast Kesler would be the first voice he would hear activation plus 6 minutes pulse is 45 respiration 10 looking good go it had been Decades of careful and precise work but now the GL were off there was still more work to do but all Kessler's previous planning was about to come to a head he would put Cole to the test no more working from the Shadows no more easy life for Cole McGrath Kesler was going to change him for the better get him to the point where he was like him no matter the cost Kesler kept tabs as Cole alongside Zeke and Trish would discover his powers while recovering from his injuries Trish at this time would would be distant from Cole as she as well as the rest of the city couldn't help but blame Cole for the destruction of the blast this was likely a deliberate attempt by Kesler to push Cole and Trish apart he knew that she was their biggest weakness so she one way or another would have to be cut out of the equation this was simply his first and most subtle attempt at doing that as he knew that if it didn't work he would have to go to much more Extreme Measures [Music] after two weeks in quarantine Co would begin to understand his powers using them to either help feed the city or himself regardless of what Cole chooses to do the city is aware that he was at the center and the only survivor of the blast therefore he becomes the target of everyone's pain and frustration this is why regardless of choices Cole would always be known as the demon of Empire City Cole's reaction to to this was the reaction he had for everything to run away until the problem was so far behind him that he no longer had to deal with it but due to kesler's quarantine Cole was unable to escape the city this is precisely why Kesler set up the quarantine he knew that Cole's first instinct would be to run away so by literally trapping him in with all of his problems Cole would have no choice but to eventually face them head on as Cole would continue his journey of either selfish or selflessness Kesler would wait for the perfect moment to make his next move he would show Cole the truth of what was at stake and who was responsible for it he leaped toward me his icy fingers digging into my head for a moment there was nothing and then he started to show me things horrible things Beyond description and in that Split Second I understood you was showing me the future death and destruction on an unimaginable scale as he released me I knew that he was responsible for all of it that he had opened Pandora's box and it wasn't ever going to close and that that damn race Spar was somehow involved and then he was gone afterwards Kesler would watch as throughout the coming days Cole would time and time again disappoint him whenever he was given the opportunity to Bear responsibility he would first complain then begrudgingly do it because he felt like he had to he would refuse to see that these were moments of hardship yes but that they would shape him into becoming a better man but really this must have been a reminder of who Kesler once was he would have felt anger at himself as he was also given opportunities of growth that he was unaware of but passed them up he was angry at the fact that he even had to do this that he and Cole were so pathetic that they had to be forced to be better men that they didn't have the discipline and patience to do it themselves it would take him a little while but Cole would soon begin to understand his responsibilities this came after he was escorting Trish and a Bus full of medical supplies to a hospital where they would be met by Alden Alden being the heir of the first son since birth was given access to telekinetic conduit powers without the use of the race fear though it took him a lifetime of practice to get as powerful as he is now alen would launch the bus driven by Trish hundreds of feet into the air onto the roof of a hospital Cole would race to save her and it's in that moment where he would begin to realize it with his power he alone was responsible for the lives of not just him but everyone he cared about that if he didn't begin to play an active role in ending this chaos bad things could fall upon him and his loved ones this is more obviously seen when Alden is eventually locked behind bars Cole's tasked with defending the prison from the outside while Zeke is given the responsibility to look after alden's cell Cole holds his end of the deal but Zeke wanting to play an active role in what's going on abandons his post and begins to help Cole this ultimately leads to alden's escape which Cole notes to Zeke will now lead to countless others dying because of his own actions in that moment Kesler no doubt felt an immense amount of relief Cole was finally beginning to understand what his purpose was but despite this minor success Kesler was not ready to back down there was still much to be done Cole still hadn't realize the bigger picture and most of all he still had too much to lose the next time we see Cole and Kesler directly interact is when Cole and Zeke climb alden's Tower to confront Alden and get their hands on the race feere as at this time Cole was still upset at Zeke for what happened at the prison but this was a big opportunity for him to earn his trust back because if they could get the race feere and destroy it then this whole thing would be over which as far as he's concerned is the only thing that matters but while Cole was fully intending to destroy it Zeke as soon as he got his hands on it had other intentions you realized that the key to his dreams the tool to make him superpowered was right between his hands [ __ ] makes the choice to kill thousands stealing their lives so that he'll be transformed and [Applause] then nothing everyone's fine no change at all kesler's first to grasp the situation claims to know what's wrong if Z brings him the race spere Kesler will be able to give zek the powers he craves my best friend looks me in the eye and then makes makes his second mistake Alden goes ballistic at the loss of the sphere the tower shakes and it starts to rip apart I was just dumbfounded barely felt the impact what Zeke failed to understand was that to activate the race feere you needed to be a conduit which from kesler's point of view he saw as an opportunity to both get the race feere and take something from Cole so he told Zeke whatever he needed to hear to make that happen for from the comics we can see that after taking Zeke to the first son's facility Kesler puts him in a Cell after all he was just a tool to drive Cole to be more resilient but that wasn't the whole truth as what Kesler was planning next left him in a broken State occasionally being so unstable that he would turn to alcohol to numb the pain it was in these drunken states that he would go and visit Zeke they wouldn't often share words Kesler simply liked being in his best friend's presence even if if it was entirely one-sided these actions soon made Kesler realize that he had been at this far too long at this point he is over a century old his aging slowed by his conduit Gene as well as advanced technology of the first Suns but no one is meant to live how he has for as long as he has and now he's finally realizing that if he doesn't do something very big very soon there's a good chance he will crumble under the weight on his shoulders after defeating Alden and traveling to the historic district Cole would be contacted by Kessler Kesler notes that their time together is drawing to a close so he has decided to accelerate his plan a final Hail Mary to see if cole really has what it takes he has kidnapped Trish and set up bombs around the city if Cole can disarm these bombs he has the opportunity to save Trish as well as countless others Kesler has done this to both see if Cole will crack under the pressure and to observe his TR true motivations to see if he shares his utilitarian beliefs that in sacrificing the few himself included he could save the many as Cole disarms the final bomb Kesler Reveals His final test hung from one roof is Trish the love of both of their lives from the other are six doctors an occupation growing in need as the quarantine continues regardless of Cole's previous choices he could choose either one however it's important to note that no matter what Cole chooses is he cannot save Trish as if Cole has been selfish Kesler would have correctly predicted he would go straight for Trish and put her with the doctors this is important because no matter what Cole were to choose Kesler would have made sure one way or another Trish would die there was simply too much at stake to let her live no matter how much it pained him to do it with Trish gone Cole had lost patience and gained motivation he wanted nothing more than to end this game he felt he was was upon Pawn in but that would only come with the destruction of the race sphere and the death of Kesler so the next morning he would get to work not because someone else told him to but because he knew he had to gone were the days of people controlling his every move like he was their puppet now he would call the shots and if you couldn't keep up you simply got left behind no questions asked and while Kesler could have seen this as his life's work finally realized he knew that it was no time to celebrate there were still a few loose ends that he would have to attend to himself included and as the conclusion of Cole's hunt for the race Drew nearer Kesler would prepare for the End by meeting with his best friend Zeke for the final time simply noting that he had been a good friend Kesler would then let Zeke free and went back to where this crazy conclusion had begun as he approached the race spere Cole knew that he was faced with a massive responsibility this device was the Catalyst for for the chaos throughout the city it killed hundreds if not thousands of people in the blast and indirectly killed thousands more afterwards yet it also gave him immense power power that people will want once this is over so yes he could follow through with his and Jon's plan and destroy it or he could use it to make himself Unstoppable so what happened to Trish could never happen again as Kesler had precisely planned either decision ends with Cole finally Prov proving to Kesler that he has the will to do what it takes if he were to destroy it Kesler would know his disappointment that he had not used it to get more power yes it may have killed a few hundred people but that's a small price to pay to save the world from what's coming and if it were him making the decision he would have done it in a heartbeat but Cole notes that's precisely why he did it he has finally realized that this whole time it was never about him or what he wanted it was about saving people even if it meant he was the only one fighting Kesler likes this response because he's not necessarily wrong he shouldn't be like him he should be better meanwhile if Cole decides to activate the race sphere Kesler is pleasantly surprised that Cole would go to Such Great Lengths to be the strongest version of himself it may not be for a noble reason but as he sees it it doesn't really matter as long as Cole will do whatever it takes to take down the beast but these choices only serve to show Kesler The Willpower of Cole if he's finally capable of understanding his true responsibility but while Cole may be able to understand it Kessler has yet to recognize if he can shoulder it if his true goal of making Cole stronger than he was in every aspect was a successful Endeavor so he invited Cole to a final confrontation to join him at the location where Cole's world was forever changed [Music] upon meeting tesler reveals to Cole that he was there when the blast occurred worried that Cole wouldn't be strong enough to survive but he did and here they are Cole finally recognizes kesler's voice from when he first woke up and says that Kesler must have been there Kesler says that he was always there every step of Cole's life and it wouldn't be much longer before Cole would know how literally Kesler meant that Kesler would immediately begin their final battle a true test of strength endurance and resilience all the while Kesler would parade Cole with all of their many failures all the times they ran from their responsibilities all their moments of weakness all key moments that he had been obsessing over for well over half a century he had lived his life without dignity a man burdened by failure and the responsibility to fix it but Cole wasn't like him he was Stronger Kessler had set out to make someone who was better than he was in every way and at the end of the fight Kesler realized he had done it Cole threw Kesler into the air and hit him with all the power he had left and though it would bring him to the brink of death kesler's pain was far less pronounced than the pure Bliss derived from the liberation of responsibility the confirmation that it was all worth it the lives he forever ruined the restless nights of Torment the endless manipulation he had become an undeniable monster but not one without profound purpose to create a savior that would save the very world he felt responsible for destroying and in his moment of defeat he had done it he could pass the torch to a better man one who would not fail like he did one who he knew would be [Music] ready now that we understand Kessler's character by experiencing his story I think it's important to dive deeper into kesler's Mind by posing an interesting question given Kessler's intentions is he really a villain now there's no doubt that he is an antagonist but that doesn't necessarily mean he is a villain because anything that poses a constant challenge or threat to the protagonist could be considered an antagonist a common example people use is that if you were writing a story about a guy stranded on an island the weather could be the antagonist that doesn't necessarily mean the weather is villainous because in almost every weights defined the word villain is entwined with the word evil and I would argue that to call something evil you have to look past the what to find the why this is what makes Kesler so interesting to me because if you you look at the what it's obvious he is a villain he creates chaos stops Cole from achieving his goals and intentionally kills people he knows are completely Innocent but his intention his why is to save the world not to rule not for money not to use that fact for leverage he does it to save people who don't even know who he is or that he failed to save them in the first place he's a purely selfless person who does evil things for good reasons so is Kessler a villain well it depends how you see it you could argue that there could have been a different way of saving the world one that would create less collateral and suffering overall I mean he could have spent all that time making himself stronger to eventually defeat the Beast and give his younger self the life he never had but that implies Kessler would have known when the Beast was coming which was something that was unclear if he was knowledgeable about so there was a good chance he could have done all that work just for him to be too old to to fight back and too old to start over but aside from that I think there's another reason Kesler did what he did one that paints him in a bad light though it doesn't cement him as a villain I think Kesler chose to do what he did because it was his way of punishing himself for his own actions he let the world die because he wasn't disciplined enough but instead of beating himself up over it he takes all that energy out on his younger self like an abusive parent who feels like they failed in life so when they're kid makes the same mistakes they did they overreact in unhealthy ways and that's how I see Kesler as an abusive parent who uses the excuse of saving the world to make Cole's life a living hell and while it did work as we see in the second game where he does save the world there was no guarantee that it would it's the same conversation people have about Whiplash where some would argue that this no doubt abusive level of discipline is necessary for creating the best of the best in any given field and while yes it can do that it also ruins so many other lives in the process because for that one time it does work there have to be dozens if not hundreds of times where it doesn't so while yes Kesler did create the world saving hero he set out to make he also preemptively ruined and ended many other lives with no guarantee that it would work though you could argue that with the world ending he would have seen his actions as simply ending lives that were already destined to be short so on one hand you could view kesler's actions in a purely utilitarian perspective where it makes sense that he would end a few thousand lives to possibly save billions in that way he does do villainous things but the intention behind it is ultimately good or you could view him as a broken and twisted man who uses the excuse of saving lives to abuse others most notably his younger self both perspectives are equally valid because both of them are simultaneous iously true which is another reason why I find Kesler so interesting because he does do objectively bad things for good reasons but at the same time those good reasons give him an excuse to do bad things so depending on how you look at him Kesler could either be one of the most compelling villains or one of the most misunderstood Heroes I don't usually do these outro sections anymore but for this video I felt it was pretty fitting so first off I'd like to ask if you would like the video and subscribe if you got this far you probably already like the content and I would appreciate if you would show that by liking the video or subscribing if you really like the content and want more stuff like behind the scenes and my reactions to other videos as well as input on future videos and general updates on what's to come and stuff like that consider becoming a member it's pretty cheap there are a few different levels that offer various rewards you can go check it out in the description the tiers range from $2 to $10 a month so yeah if you like this type of content where it's more character driven and not really story based I have a lot of that stuff lined out for the rest of the year along with the story based stuff um this year is going to be stacked I'm just going to be honest it's a big year I'm not screwing around anymore so get ready for that stuff this going to be a great year for the channel and I hope you can stick with me but more of the video If you happen to take responsibility do it do good And subscribe

Channel: OverusedBruh

Views: 25,600

Keywords: infamous, overusedbruh, overusedbruh infamous, infamous ps3, infamous 2, infamous second son, kessler infamous, infamous villains, overusedbruh kessler

Id: L9vuFZeJ7VE

Length: 33min 28sec (2008 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 10 2024