Sekiro: Ranking Bosses Strength Based on Lore

welcome to another installment of law wise a series where we rank the strength of every boss in a game according only to the law today we're going into one of my favorite games of all time Securo Securo is one of a few from software games that wears its law on its sleeve but naturally this is only half the picture by compiling item descriptions Community insights environmental details in-game narration and many other sources of information I've consulted validated what I believe to be an accurate ranking in this video I've included all bosses that have a unique memory associated with them and also any that show a Shinobi executed or immortality severed title when defeated in this list I've even added the gauntlet bosses as they share a very unique place in the overall Narrative of the game as you'll find out I love this series and try to put in the hours to get things right so if you've enjoyed them so far and are looking forward to more in the future let YouTube know by subscribing as a small YouTube channel small bits of Engagement are a massive boost to both the videos and my motivation to making each of these videos better than the last but enough from me let's get into the first [Music] ranking right at the bottom of the list we have the folding screen monkeys the nature of these monkeys is less of a threatening Challenge and more so a logical blockade for us in progressing through SEO Temple while many aspects of seo's bosses lend themselves to symbolism the folding screen monkeys do this more outwardly than any other boss on this list reimagining and bringing to life the old proverb See No Evil Hear no evil speak no evil the folding scream monkeys are an inherent test of wit rather than strength while it's true the white robed monkey that slightly follows the character creating monkeys to attack you do test our combat Pros it's more so a hindrance than a challenge none of the monkeys demonstrate any meaningful threat to life and they utilize their segment of the old saying by harboring aspects of the saying the see no evil monkey will run away when it sees you approaching while the speak no evil monkey will alert others on your approach the challenge really asks the budding Shinobi to abandon the brute strength has got them this far in favor of a methodological approach that challenges the Mind instead it's for this reason the monkeys land themselves this low of a position on the list as the most they could do in comparison to the other entries law wise is survive and the least they could do is well die as the final hurdle between you and the Divine Child the folding scream monkeys act as the Hall of illus illusion's final great illusion but fall short of any notable power either of their own or as a totality placing themselves well below all the other entries on this list on the theme of monkeys while both the guardian ape and the Headless apes are respective Encounters of their own I'll be ranking them as a totality here on the list Theory story of the guardian and headless ape are the Stark reminder that the rejuvenating Waters of the Fountain Head Palace are more present in the fabric of Asa than meets the eye while is likely an ordinary animal the guardian ape is a natural born resident of the sunken Valley the first time we encounter the Sunken Valley is through the words of the sculptor as we'll find out later in the list the sculptor spent much of his youth as a budding Shinobi in The Valleys honing his own Talent as a skilled Warrior but also imitating the dextrous movements of Apes he would become so well versed in this that he according to himself would move just like an ape this of course is echoed by his Elias as the orangutan we also know he was not alone in this campaign for power the sculptor too had a peer that would join him as they traveled through the sunen valleys winning every battle in near Perfection as anything less would cause them to succumb to the environment from the items dropped by the guardian ape we learned that the sculptor's peer was known as king fiser a woman that would match orangutan's flexibility and acted as an equal during this period of his life the sculptor tells us king fisher would Dart around the sunen valley and her ring would whistle through the area indicating her movements we also learned this whistling would cause the wildlife to turn into a frenzy one day this whistling would stop and knowing of her L this would lead orangutan to leaving the valleys and joining ashena in its bloody coup the loss of King fiser may even be attributable to orangutan's rage on the battlefield a story will go into more detail in the future as we can obtain King Fisher's ring by killing the guardian ape we know it was a fact that this ape would bring an end to her life this is important in the context to strength as this gives us the clear indication that the guardian ape was more for icious than a Shinobi that stood adjacent to the great orangutan a man so powerful he would later go on to becoming one of the most successful soldiers in the ashena Army something so prevalent he would be the only being in the game to coming close to becoming shura if you exclude ourselves of course well it is a stretch to assume that when King Fisher died she was parallel to the strength of orangutan at the point he was about to become shura it's still like she was a Shinobi unparalleled by a majority of those already in the game and the guardian a being able to outmatch her make the guardian ape comparatively as strong as her if not more so while an ordinary large ape would be no challenge for the king fisher we know the guardian AP in question was more than just ordinary as the Sunken Valley sits directly below what we later come to understand as the Fountain Head Palace and the source of the rejuvenating Waters we learned this ape had a pensent for quenching his thirst in these Waters this would eventually cause the ape an unnaturally resilient lifespan and an unmatched resistance to ordinary Weaponry we know King fer was able to actually get the upper hand and land a death blow against the guardian ape as evidenced by the Deep laceration across its head but unfortunately for King fiser The Guardian ape at this point was already possessed by a centipede of the rejuvenating Waters while we'll go into the law of the centipedes Inc coming entries what we need to know here is that this infection would Grant certain beings near immortality something we can witness firsthand when we decapitate it only for a second encounter to show a centipede emerge from its body the guardian ape combined the immortality of the centipedes of the rejuvenating Waters with an immense size and power to match holding the Accolade for taking down a shenobi adjacent to the greater Rutan demonstrates that it's not an easy battle however as it is beastial in Instinct it lacks the elaborate and trained skills of those that will come after and solidify this position on the list in truth there is not a whole lot to say specifically about the corrupted monk herself we learned the corrupted monk in the version we meet her is an apparition of a truer form we meet later in the game at the Fountain Head Palace the story of the corrupted monk starts with a woman named Yao a priestess associated with the Okami tribe of warrior women her name Yao is likely a reference to the real life Japanese myth of Yao bikuni who consumed a magical carp known as a Nino a mermaid like fish that granted IM mortality the immortality would predicate Yao's future as one of a mystical nun well not a onetoone retelling the Securo take on this story helps us understand the corrupted monk as having potentially been granted immortality through the consumption of a Nino or its equivalent in seccuro which would be the great carps of Fountain Head Palace we learned the dragon spring in its stagnant form would lay the conditions for centipedes to infest the waters if we look at one of the former great carp carcasses on the bottom of the main Lake in the Fountain Head Palace you'll actually be able to spot small glowing centipedes all over its decaying corpse more prominently in The Narrative of centipedes is that all of those that seek immortality through consuming the dragon spring waters succumb to being possessed by a stagnation of their own life force which in turn is represented by the centipedes eventually taking a hold of the host's body well we've seen this in the case of the Guardian Apes we see this too in other beings such as hbe and of course the corrupted monk in its true form but how powerful was the corrupted monk in this true form well it's likely the monk descends from the Okami tribe or at least is Affiliated to the tribe to some degree being associated with the Okami tribe grants a high degree of Merit to the fighting press of the monk as of course this tribe once hosted one of the greatest shinobis of the entire timeline tomay Tom's Way of combat was said to resemble a form of dancing this is echoed by a variety of the Okami monks in the Fountain Head Palace and extended to the corrupted monk too when we understand the role the Okami find themselves DED with at this point of the game as Defenders of the passage to the Divine dragon and then we perceive the corrupted monk in its true form as what is likely their final defense mechanism against anyone one attempting to confront the Divine Dragon we can assume the corrupted monk was at the height of the Okami hierarchy of warrior monks while the previous entry of the Guardian ape shares a similar origin to the corrupted monk it's the Monk's Heritage as a high-ranking Okami warrior dued with such a sensitive task that places her above even in her spirit form while the spirit form does not hold the Merit of having an aspect of the rejuvenating Waters that Grant an incredibly resilient body such as that of the Guardian Apes as an extension of the true corrupted monk this entry Still Remains a much deadlier threat than what we can expect of the Guardian ape on the Merit of its Association to the legendary Okami tribe Emma much like the sculptor is a figure that follows us all the way through the game initially understood to be nothing more than an altruistic doctor aligned to curo and our own mission while the majority of the game revolves around this narrative there is a much more confrontational version of her we can unveil through certain events of the game her story coincides with the sculptors indeed Exposition for either character helps us understand the other in more depth Emma story according to her own retelling begins at the aftermath of a certain battle likely during the events of asinus cou placing her own story close to our own in this she was left abandoned in the aftermath but unlike us she was greeted by a purely benevolent figure the orangutan who of course is the Elias for the present day sculptor she tells us and then there was a monkey eating a rice ball a monkey maybe an ape maybe either way he made it look so delicious I remember being angry at that but then then he gave me the rice ball after being gifted the rice ball we learned Emma would follow orangutan and orangutan would eventually accept Safeguard over the young girl at this point orangutan was far too dangerous of a Shinobi to look after the young Emma and would Point Emma towards a doctor named dogen dogen renowned for his medical proficiency was a perfect candidate for raising this girl in a non-hostile environment it's likely orangutan knew the Perils of being a Shinobi and in good faith saw that Emma was not raised in this same environment having grown up under the tutelage of dogen she would demonstrate a Keen Eye to his medicinal practices and even as a child would stand out as a worthy Apprentice to dogen we learn while she became proficient at treating regular wounds she would hit a brick wall when it came to the dragon Rock plague a disease brought upon those around the late Tay and teu we learned those with the dragon's Heritage such as ourselves are destined to be immortal but at the cost of sapping the life of those around you hence creating Dragon rot an incurable fatal illness Upon Our entry into the story her goals therefore already aligned to ours as at the heart of kuro's commands are severing the dragon's Heritage and therefore the condition for Dragon rot in this Emma will continue aiding us on our journey as our dedicated medical practitioner but we also know that Emma is not only aiding us or even Kuro but more than anything she seems aligned closest to ishen although it's unclear when her tutelage with ishen began it's likely due to dogen having a close relationship to ishen and ishin taking favor towards the young Emma as we learn of the dialectical antagonisms between ishin and gicho we understand that although ishin has a vision of saving ashaa he detests the route in which gicho has gone down to materialize this reality and there are Clues to suggest Emma advised isan on the nature of dragon rot being associated with the immortal dragon's Heritage that brought him to this realization ishan on the same page as Kuro and Emma are therefore seeking a means to stop guro from obtaining and perpetuating the dragon Rock which of course would mean end ing the dragon's Heritage rather than allowing gicho to perpetuate it we also learned that Emma under isin would also learn of the ashena fighting style when we ask her why she eventually tells us she has no intention to use it against Ordinary People only demons foreshadowing our own confrontation with her in the shura ending while we don't get a real telling for how powerful she was we know she became a Shinobi on the back of ishan's tutelage something that only few others have had the chance to do we know ishin would be present during the training of other Ashen a shinobis but we are never told he would Mentor them on a onetoone basis this is exclusive to Emma immediately this puts Emma much higher than any regular ashena Shinobi as she was brought to the rank of Shinobi from The Greatest Warrior to ever exist we also know Emma spent time with both tomay and tearo in the Divine realm watching both gicho and tomay during G EO fighting lessons further adding to her own dynamism Around The Art of War it's not surprising therefore to take Emma's claim a face value that she would stand toe-to-toe against the demon if it had come to it surely then on this Merit Emma should land somewhere much higher than she already is but in truth Emma States herself that she is a doctor first then a Shinobi and her combat proos was more so a final Safeguard against orangutan in the case he would succumb to the to the weight of shura we never truly get any other context around Emma's fighting ability nor does ishan ever State the breath of his teaching Emma alludes to the fact that she has never got into a battle with a human before either further dulling her assumed strength as a combatant against us on the Merit of her affiliation with tomay gicho but more importantly as the soul mentee for ishin regardless of never fighting to any notable accolades she stands tall as not only ashen's greatest living medical practitioner but one of its greatest shinobis too there isn't too much to say here that wasn't already said for the illus corrupted monk if you want context as to the strength of the illusion corrupted monk I recommend going back to that entry if you chose to skip to this part essentially what makes the true corrupted monk different is its util ization of the rejuvenating Waters that are described in the game to Grant an incredibly resilient body while we'll delve into why this is in the entry for gicho it goes without saying that the presence of this makes the true version of the corrupted monk a much greater threat as we learn from entries such as lady butterfly later in the list Illusions or apparitions are diluted versions of more truer forms further consolidating its higher position here it's important to note too that the reason Emma is between the two entries is on the basis of this difference the corrupted monk having descended from the Okami tribe and appointed a premier position makes her a tried and tested Warrior fit for the purpose of guarding their Greatest Secret the Divine Dragon when we consider tomay descended from this tribe and to Once held a premier position in the clan we can assume the true corrupted monk is somewhat adjacent to Tomo's power and influence Alit DED by her infested form and lack of accolades comparable to tomay boasting the strongest aspects of the rejuvenating Waters the power of the Okami tribe and what seems a long and successful tenure as the guardian of the Okami trib's most treasured secret it's not surprising why the true corrupted Monk Is Not only trusted as a final defense mechanism but also the first defense mechanism in its illus form something we rarely see for other characters already in the game My name is k as I bre you will not pass the castle gate in many ways ranking yobu is one of the most simple tasks in this list he's not a esoteric figure nor is he a being of Legend he's a simple warrior with extraordinary strength the story of gyobu begins during his time as a leader of a group of Bandits that was defeated by ishen asena ishin during this period was honing the craft of the ashena style and although ruthless in winning his battles without hesitation he also paid a great deal of respect to his fellow combatants as it would be aspects of their style that would breed the foundations of the ashena style in in his later years we see the greatest example of this respect when ishin would come by gyu's Bandits naturally ishin would bring them down however in this instance he spared gyobu not because gyobu begged for his life and asked for forgiveness rather the opposite gyobu fought ruthlessly and with such great strength that ishin was impressed by the rugged Shinobi he would recruit gyobu under his own wing and we learn a close Bond would build between the two and no doubt knowing how ishan values his friends this was on the Merit of his ability to fight unsurprisingly gyobu would land himself within the inner Circles of the seven Spears and would likely even have one of the greatest roles in the coup against Tamaro something evidenced as ishin would award gyobu tamaru spear likely due to his Valiant efforts during the Civil War but also guobo strength showing parallels to the great Tamaro if we give Dragon spring sake to isan we learn gyobu settled among the ranks of owl and lady butterfly both shinobis that come much later in the list due to their respective achievements and power and as gyobu stands adjacent at least in the eyes of ishin to them it elevates gyu's position significantly faith in guo's power extends further than just ishan's own approval we learn by the time we meet gyobu he sits at the gates of ashena acting as the final bullwark against any potential threat to ashena Castle under the command of gicho who of course takes on the premier position as commander of ashena in ishan's absence and bad Health curiously if we spend time listening to at least two different conversations near the gates we learn soldiers reiterate the concept that so long as guu is alive the gates will never be breached it's clear Ash held gyobu to an incredibly high regard this is further echoed as gicho places gyobu as his second in command something that makes sense as though second to ishen were the inner circle of the seven Spears but in the absence of owl and lady butterfly naturally gyobu was chosen further consolidating the fact that gyobu as a warh hard and Shinobi is second only to those closest to ishin wielding tamaru spear carrying the blessings of ishin and ganito himself gyobu is still alive and well at the point we meet him having already killed hundreds of interior Ministry forces as evidenced by the littering of bodies through the battlefield the interior Ministry including their lone Shadow shinobis told to be masters of War were no ordinary threat and as he stands alone against the mountain of their corpses we truly learn why gyobu stands here on the list as one of the greatest shinobis of the ashena clan trusted to stand alone affront the towers of the castle lady butterfly is a difficult one to rank as in many ways her story is never her own rather the place she stood alongside others of course this is most prevalent with the story of owl while owl's entry is for later in this list what we can say here is that lady butterfly stood closely with owl but also with ishen and is pronounced by ishen if we give him the dragon spring sake as friends from before the coup placing her in his Inner Circle already an incredibly esteemed position the rest of our story relies on owl we learn from the remnant of lady butterfly that her role in our timeline mostly revolved around mentoring us as a careful practition of Illusions which I'll add is a one-of-a-kind trait we witness in the game she would be responsible for bringing seiro to Shinobi status this alone would Place lady butterfly quite high as unlike other Souls games our character is a named being in the game and we can therefore attribute attribute the successes of Securo and his natural talent to the teachings brought down from lady butterfly elevating her further the most unique aspect of lady butterfly is of course our encounter with her in the harata estate memories where we go face to face for a battle for Kuro while the backstory as to why we have to fight lady butterfly here is non-conclusive there are some great theories about why the fight even takes place as we'll learn in owl's entry the memories of the Hirata estate play out the devious Brilliance of owl's scheming ways owl held bent on obtaining the dragon's blood from curo and receiving the gift of immortality for himself tactically plots an attack against the harata estate when the ashena Warriors stationed at herat are off on an expedition in their absence owl baites the joosu bandits to attack something we can learn through a conversation with the information Merchant it's likely owl was going to use the chaos of the Bandit attack as a means to obtain Kuro for himself however once we enter the memory we see what seems to be a mortally wounded owl which too was likely an extension of owl's scheming to have us enter the Hera estate on behalf of himself as we find out he never truly was injured why owl asks us to do this rather than doing so himself is unclear but there are some great theories the first is that owl and lady butterfly were working together to take Kuro and therefore the dragon's Heritage this would mean owl sent us in in order for us to face Doom against lady butterfly and if we succeeded against lady butterfly it doesn't really matter as owl is going to finish what's left with a backstab anyways the other theory is that owl is contending against lady butterfly asking us to defeat her and then backstabbing us to finish off all loose ends this theory is much more owl like as the Tactical nature of This lends itself to what we already know about owl as a character this Theory also equates a great deal of power to lady butterfly as a character that even the great owl in his prime was unwilling to go against the battle with lady butterfly is unlike most other battles as for the first and only time in the game we are against a master of Illusion we learned that this Talent transcends just usual trickery as although lady butterfly does use some trickery such as the use of wires to suspend herself we learn she also has the ability to alter the mind of others we see this immediately when we enter the herat estate as curo the heir to the Dragon's bloodline is seen wandering around seeing only butterflies sakuro a student of lady butterfly immediately knows that curo is under a illusi spell and acts quickly to alleviate kuro's mind but more importantly we see this illusory Talent on the first phase of our battle with lady butterfly we learned quickly the first phase was purely an illusion and it's clear this isn't just a mind trick we can indeed die to this form and the illusion itself hosts a onetoone spitting image of lady butterfly further Testament to how powerful her Illusions can be as a real threat when we successfully dispel this illusion we can face her in her true form and true to her name she maintains the fleeting form of her illusion but also has the unique ability to summon apparitions and cast projectiles when we equate her Proficiency in illus arts a skill that no other entity in the entire game is able to demonstrate this magnitude of Effectiveness with and then add the context that she just like owl were in the Inner Circle of isan's Shinobi responsible for overthrowing Tamaro regime we are looking at not only one of the greatest shinobis in ashena but also a dynamic threat that makes her more than just an orthodox powerful Shinobi as we have said earlier her strength may even be the reason owl asked us to confront her as he feared going face to face with her during the events of the herat estate or alternatively the great owl saw lady butterfly as equally as suitable as himself or more suitable to taking down Securo measuring her strength at least as somewhat adjacent to owls this holds a lot of weight when we learn later about how canonically powerful owl was both in his prime and in his contemporary form we also know that lady butterfly men entor wolf into becoming a Shinobi and as sakuro unlike other from software games gives the protagonist a backstory and a canonical position in the law we know much of our initial talent and later successes in the game have lady butterfly to thank for it because remember when we enter the role of wolf we are already a very capable Shinobi powerful enough to essentially beat the entire game without any extra skills it's for these reasons lady butterfly ranks here on the list I love this entry because it lets me go into the life of one of my favorite characters in the entire game the demon of hatred is the story of sedo a man we know as the sculptor or even orangutan while the demon of hatreds identity is initially elusive if we were paying any attention we learn that these are both the same beings another reason I love this entry is because it lets us for the first and only time speak about the concept of shur in detail shur is a phrase thrown a lot in the game shur as a concept refers to the real world Japanese demigod of War who fought an endless battle in a Relentless and inhumane manner seiro takes a few liberties with the concept of shura and asserts all humans have the capability to become shura or in the words of the sculptor become consumed by it if one is a successfully Unstoppable enough combatant and seeks to kill for the sake of killing itself or without direct purpose aside from the joy they get from killing they have the capability of becoming shurer in this sense seiro goes ahead and personifies what we already know Aura into a physical form that manifests itself naturally echoing common Buddhist ideals Karma pins this concept as we learn all Shinobi inherit the karma of those they've killed and therefore internalize that Karma while it may seem inevitable that any successful Shinobi are destined to become shura we know Karma can be balanced which is precisely why fervorous Killers like ishin were able to save off being consumed by shur through techniques such as the breath of nature a nonindulgent practice that forces internal balance and posture expelling regret and therefore the burden of others Karma while alternatively killing mindlessly compounds regret with no method of exhalation there are two major plot points that refer to shur one is our own Pathway to becoming or being consumed by it the other details the story of a man that averted this reality the sculptor story is something we can get quite familiar with he is our host after all and a majority of the gameplay progression revolves around interacting with him his consistent appearance is intentional as it foreshadows a few potential endings for us but the story of the sculptor takes us back into time during a period he was only known as orangutan a name built off his reputation as a rogue shenobi that would spend a majority of his time learning alongside a pier in The Art of War and the dexterous movements of a monkey we learned during this period he would become so proficient with moving swiftly and defeating his foes without a single mistake he would affectionately be referred to as orangutan during this period with his partner Shinobi he would build affectionate memories as they both trained in the Valley after giving the sculptor Monkey boo he tells us he and his partner were masterless as no one would truly understand their bond but one day the partner Shinobi would disappear this of course refers to the story of King Fischer we've already detailed in the previous Century with the guardian ape we are given more Exposition regarding the sculptor's story when we delve into the story of Emma as we have already discussed her story is not too dissimilar to ours Emma's family were killed in the coup however unlike us she was greeted in pure kindness she tells she came across a monkey that offered her a rice ball an act of kindness that she would hold on to it's likely that the monkey in question was indeed orangutan during his time as a Shinobi and his involvement in ashen's coup and as the Civil War raged on orangutan would demonstrate himself to be an incredibly capable Force it's likely the time of this war would coincide with the loss of his compatriot that we now know as king fiser as we already discussed this compatriot was his closest friend the one person that shared his path to becoming a Shinobi in The Valleys of ashaa with grief in his heart and a war yet to be won orangutan would become an absolutely vicious fighter slaughtering thousands during his time and once the coup ended continued an onslaught of killing void of any objective laying the groundwork to become shurer we learned orangutan success came with his proficiency with fire a symbol of the shadow of shur stirring within him ishin representing the antithesis to shura would acknowledge orangutan's Rampage and amputate his arm rendering him unable to continue utilizing his signature fire stopping him from becoming shura we are never told of any other entity in the game getting this close to becoming shura and we are explicitly told that if ishin did not preemptively strike against orangutan he would without a doubt have become shura shura as a physical manifestation would likely be one of the greatest threats in the entirety of the game as we find out during the shur ending that our character as shur would be an Unstoppable Force akin to a true demon seura as shur is outright referred to as a God by the item another's memory shur which tells us memory of shur told via ashena folk song fields of bodies mountains of dead down Dragon Spring River our country bled a fiery God Demon Wolf in Red which essentially elevates us to a station reserved for one other being the Divine Dragon however not all chura are equal and we are not given any concrete evidence that orangutan as shur would mirror the same being we become during this ending but by extension of being the only character referred to as being this close to becoming shur This lends incredible credit to the fighter orangutan was Consolidated by the fact that ishin had only ever once had to stop another becoming shurer as evidenced by the dialogue we get after treating him to Monkey Boos by the time we meet orangutan he is known as the sculptor condemning himself to carving Idols to atone for his internalized Bad Karma through the majority of the game the sculptor acts as a hub for us even initially saving us from gicho and granting us a prosthetic limb this limb was an artifact initially given to him by dogen refined to near Perfection his passing over of this item symbolizes the for shadowing of our own fate as shur or even a sculptor but also a second life unburdened by the initial stagnation of the iron code while ashena is in the midst of the Interior ministry's assault while we've left in search of the Mortal Severance we learned the sculptor finally accepts the inevitability of his fate as a subject to shur and as the information broker tells us he Rampages towards the interior Ministry for one final battle and the release of an aspect of shura finally fighting with purpose to protect ASA when we meet the sculptor in this form we learn he has become the demon of hatred a monster in all capacities hosting a fiery arm in place of his lost limb well this is not a fully fledged shur we know this is the closest aspect of shur we are able to fight in the entire game and as bodies of many shinobis litter his final frontier we can face off against the demon enveloped in fire this battle reminisces on what made orangutan the fierce Unstoppable Force he used to be which is then compounded by his new demonic form the aspect of hatred something that personifies shurer the most remember orangutan was so Fierce that for the first time in ishan's life he had to step in to stop him something not echoed for many other Shinobi including owl who as we'll find out is one of the greatest shinobis in the game with a pension for becoming shur himself and if we then equate what we know of sakuro becoming Sher as what is likely the greatest power the game has ever seen Akin only to a god the demon of hatred adjacent to this fact holds a position as one of the greatest threats in the entire game something quite nicely echoed by the boss fight itself I've died to this boss too many times to count the story of ishan ashena encapsulates the most important conversation in The Narrative of SEO and at the heart of this is his strength ishan Ash is the namesake of the Ashner Clan responsible for the coup that would overthrow the tyrannical tamaroo who once oversaw The Province strength is Laden throughout ishan's entire life we learned even during his time under the rule of tamaroo ishan fought hard and fast claiming victories and honing a style of combat that picked at the strengths of all of his foes it was ishan's respect for his opponents that Consolidated their memories into his own fighting style and the blade his vehicle to retell these stories it's this belief that grounds the rules of the game itself seiro taught under wolf who too was inspired by the ash of style requires reconciling memories to grow stronger and more talented although ishan's earliest years are never spoken of in many ways it's not necessary as his story really begins at the moment he formed a seven of ashena as already spoken of these were comprised of warriors in the land that shared an ideal to overthrow tamaroo ishin by the virtue of his talent alone gained the confidence of Warriors across the region and even converted Bandits into a life of loyalty to his cause at the foot of this civil war ishan led the Rebellion to Victory slaying tamaru Tamar's power is never spoken of directly but from the cut scenes and dialogue Clues it's clar tamaroo represented a power so deep that the region regardless of their clear dissatisfaction to his despotic leadership bowed to him however Rising above the litter isan was able to defeat the great tamaroo and claim the region as his own dominion a land built under his own principles and our first taste of the true power of this great warrior ishin would continue leading ashena and raising a cohort of Warriors under the ashena style a form of combat that as the one- Mind skill suggests focuses their entire soul into the release of the blade a lot of the successes and power of individuals under his leadership in many ways owe their proess to his influence and when we contextualize Emma's strength gicho and even the power of the seven Spears to this we are truly given a picture of what strength ishan had as the source of this influence further context as to isan strength can be seen in his relationship to the all elusive tomay although we never get a true backstory for tomay we can learn from item descriptions that she was a warrior to the Okami Clan but more importantly outright described as Divine her power echoed the strength of a god itself in the form of the Divine Dragon better than any other being in the entire game and is likely responsible for sharing this art to the Okami Clan and even gicho we'll get more context as to Tomo's strength in the later entry for gicho but what we need to know here is that she was a being that mirrored the power of the greatest aspects of sakuro himself Tomo is described as sharing the same goal to sever the dragon's Heritage and even aligned herself with the dragon's heir of her time just as we do but in the form of kuro's ancestor tearo when we ask ishin about his relationship to tomay he describes an encounter with her as the closest he's come to death relating his power as comparable to Tomo's suggesting ishin in his prime could stand toe-to-toe with a literal Divine Warrior however the issue we are speaking of today is very different to his sword Saint past he is currently under a life-threatening ailment that has clearly brought down Isen to a much weaker State it's inferred from the dialogue of the Interior Ministry spies that the interior Ministry only chose to act on their plans to invade ashena on the realization ishen was afflicted with this ailment suggesting the power of prime Isen is what held back the ferocity of the Interior Ministry for the entire timeline up to this point so how powerful is ishin in this form well we get our first insight into this when we meet a peculiar Samurai referred to as tangu it doesn't take long to realize this is indeed contemporary isan he has taken arms and is hunting Rats the rats in question are the interior Ministries and in some cases the senu temples spies but it seems it's not just the spies isin was able to dispatch as whenever we do meet ishin in this tangu Persona his station is littered with the dead bodies of the Interior ministry's greatest warriors referred to as the lone Shadows while the context of the Interior Ministries form of combat and press is never directly spoken of it's clear they were an incredibly capable Force for more than just their numbers we can see the devastation these Warriors took towards the end of the game as the interior Ministries forces cut down a vast majority of ashen's own men it's clear they had Proficiency in all forms of weaponry and the lone Shadows were the elite members of their Arsenal Shinobi 2 the lone Shadows were granted the confidence of the Interior Ministry to carry out the most sensitive tasks and this Duty beit their strength considering ishan was able to single-handedly take on a wide range of these Warriors is further evidence that even at death's door he was still incredibly powerful a statement reiterated by the memory of ishin which states ishen ashena was a true Master of the sword no less in his veil of yours but our true encounter with ishan as a boss is what truly gives us the image of his power at this stage of his life upon Emma's defeat ishin as he had done in the past intervenes as a means to stop you from becoming shur this fight is a perfect exemplification of the roest tenants of the ashena fighting style utilizing the Ashner cross ichimonji and most importantly one mind and little else as ishin is the only being noted to be able to utilize one mind we can infer that he even at his old age comes out on top as the greatest Soul practitioner of of the ashena style while other entries later in this list take out on top due to their more Dynamic utilization of fighting styles and more importantly their good health if we're going by who in the Contemporary time was the most powerful ashena styled Shinobi this title still sits with ishan Ash despite his withered form it's in this reasoning that I place ishen above the demon of hatred as it was the utilization of his skills as an Ashna Warrior that once stopped Prime orangutan from becoming a shura and I believe with the evidence of the one- Mind skill iterating he maintains a great degree of his proficiency over the ashena style that he again would be able to overcome orangutan as the demon of hatred this is further made apparent as it was ishin that would teach Emma into becoming a Shinobi and she was taught specifically with the intention of stopping Aura if it came to it ishin as her Mentor Lely was still well versed in doing so and from the description of the one- Mind spell solidifies that he could down well do it again to acknowledge the elephant in the room the ganito Albi ranking will be the version We battle at ASA castle and at the end of the game rather than the one we fight in the earlier portion of the game while there is a major disparity between the two such as the absence of the Mortal blade and ginro choosing not to engage the way of tomay the first battle is one we are destined to lose and gicho is intentionally withdrawn in this fight everything I could say about the first encounter with gicho is an unfinished version of what I can say here as gicho never choses to use the way of tomay in this fight and is ultimately aided by an accomplice in defeating us before we are able to witness him in his full potential the first battle with ginro is not a complete boss battle there is no win or lose State and we don't even get a chance to see ginro utilize this full potential that being said the battle with gonitro in Ash a castle and at the end of the game although still not a battle we can truly kill gicho in demonstrates every aspect of gicho in full swing we are truly battling a fully realized version of the heretical grandson of ishin the story of ginro helps us understand Gyro's philosophy in combat but also his most distinct feature the aspect of tomay while ginro is referred to us as the grandson of ishin he was much like wolf adopted while ginro was not adopted from the war torn battlefields of the coup he was taken in by Asa after his mother's death no other context is given here however it's clear that gicho was raised closely to the royal family and even Isen to a degree that would have him elevated from a boy who was destined for peasantry to a figure in charge of the nation under the blessing of ishin himself it's not surprising therefore to find that gicho always felt indebted to ASA the nation that granted everything to a boy destined for nothing this belief would entrench gano's Hallmark trait his rampant National ISM gicho tells us he would shed Humanity itself for the sake of Asa by the time we are introduced to the game Ash is in big trouble the interior Ministry sensing ishan aen State wages a war of unification seeking to bring fictional Japan under one rule outmatched in strength numbers and technology gicho looks inward to formulate the material conditions to defend ashena and in doing so looks to the old dragon's blood as a means of gaining immortality and fighting against the progressing into interior Ministry indeed damning his own Humanity for strength and a self-proclaimed heretical form in our encounter against ganito he has already consumed what is known as the rejuvenating sediment a concentrated aspect of the rejuvenating Waters associated with the Divine Dragon spring while not Immortal this granted Gano a blackened body making him near impervious to fatal blows his final Act would be attempting to retrieve the dragon's blood through Kuro and granting him real immortality however rejected by the air we Face Off against gonitro to finally put to rest his Ambitions and threat to our Master while we will delve into the aspect of the black mortal blade alongside the way of tomay soon gicho even in his regular form is notably formidable while we don't know what aspect of ishin was cast into gano's fighting style it's clear he takes ishan's adage more intensely than even ishin himself this of course being the philosophy that winning a battle is of the utmost importance gano's ordinary fighting style does indeed collaborate many of the important ideals of ishan aspects we see in various moves he utilizes such as the ashina cross his grounding as a powerful Ashna Shinobi is solidified further to by his position as the commander of the army a position ishin must have intended for gicho to take however more important to gano's strength is the influence of tomay is tells us that the lightning of tomay was brought to the Mortal Realm by tomay taught to the akami tribe but more importantly to gicho as tomay was gano's mentor and likely the figure that brought gicho to a level of a Shinobi that he would later become gicho was so powerful that ashina and even ishin himself would reserve a premier position in the clan for gicho we never get to meet tomay so we have little context as to her direct strength but we are told by ishan that tomay was so powerful he himself saw her as his equal even during his prime her fighting style was akin to dancing and we are told her Hallmark was the utilization of lightning no other being in the game including ishin were able to command Magical elements to this extent aside from tomay lightning itself is likely the most raw assertion of power in the game as it was born from the Divine dragon and it is the only way of bringing the Divine Dragon to submission in that boss battle as during that boss battle we are required to reflect lightning back towards it as the only means of bringing it down gano's use of Tom's teachings can be seen during his Final Phase where he summons upon the way of tomay utilizing lightning and Bowmans ship associated with tomay this is likely the closest we get to the true power of tomay in the main game without actually meeting her ourselves in this battle too gicho is holding yet another aspect of tomay the black mortal blade a weapon on par with the red mortal Blade the most powerful artifact in the entire game gicha would get a hold of this through his association with tomay and likely retained possession of this blade since her passing the black mortal Blade's nature is coated in mystery but we learn the blade can be translated to open gate a bridge between the living realm and the spirit world isan refers to ganito resorting to using this blade as abandoning oneself echoing again that ganito is willing to give everything to defend Asha while the black mortal blade is not present during one of the boss encounters with gicho for the reasons of this ranking I'll associate the power level of gicho in tandem with both the Black Blade and the way of tomoe in one place as we do get to face both in later segments of the game if you want a separate ranking ginro without this blade would be just below this ranking as home willing to concede some degree of extra strength granted by the black mortal blade to gano's Arsenal while acknowledging the black mortal blade may do little outside of granting gicho the ability to bring back beings from the dead and potential to Grant mortal Severance to the Dragon's Heritage as little else is spoken of regarding the Mortal blade in terms of strength with all this being said ginro is in almost every way a living aspect of tomay Emma tells us he fought and learned with tomay in the Fountain Head Palace however there is one major caveat in the Sher ending of the game we learn owl even in his lesser present form as contextualized by the Foster father's memory that states he was in his prime during the past events of the herotic estate is able to absolutely decimate gicho decapitating him and even taking his black mortal blade suggesting owl was able to defeat gicho even during gano's absolute prime way of Tomo and black mortal blade in toe rarely in Law related rankings do we get to see a onetoone boss comparison in this fashion and it makes my job easier in assessing gicho not as a perfect mirror of tomay rather empowered by the teachings of tomay but still lesser than the great Shinobi owl later in this list we will confront inner gicho we learn from the remnant of Ina ganito that the present ganito during his life on Earth never did reach the heights of tomay and Owl being able to bring gicho down is just a consolidation of this fact so we can assuredly say that the present day owl is more powerful than gicho but we can also assume gano's Proficiency in the ashena style that solidifies his position as the commander of the army alongside the Affinity with tomay and even the possession of the black mortal blade would Place him much further above the other great shinobis and even the present day Isen due to all aspects of gicho spoken of already and also gano's Mastery over Tomo's fighting style that stood on equal footing to ishin even during his time as a sword Saint in his prime although gicho is not a spitting image of tomay he stands closest to her legendary status and his Flawless execution of her fighting style such as the use of lightning and a bow is not witnessed anywhere else in the game and it's for this reason he ranks here on the list alpast is plagued in a lot of mystery even his name was a later development we learn from a certain ending and from item descriptions that 's true name was USU his time as USU is never elaborated on but we know he was a careful practitioner of the iron code to follow the commands of one's father first and then their Master owl as one of the closest members of ishan's inner circle was directly involved closely with ishin as they fought off Tamaro regime and is responsible for fostering Securo from the grounds of that battle instilling the code to us our Direction in the game is Holy determined by these teachings from owl owl's involvement in the coup though a deed that would Elevate any character in the game in terms of ranking is overshadowed to a much greater degree as we go through the game we learn alongside the coup owl is referred to as a great Shinobi a careful title echoed by the memory associated with his boss battle the memory is titled memory great Shinobi suggesting the distinction of great was reserved only for owl as even the memory does not distinguish it as owl of the Great shinobis rather just referring to Owl as the great Shinobi as if it was common understanding of owl's esteem the context of great is rarely granted in the story even amongst the seven Spears of Asa and even asa's Inner Circle if we give ishan Asin asake we learn that amongst his inner circle only owl lady butterfly and the orangutan were the closest in rank and likely power but regarding owl's story there is one huge elephant in the room this being the memories associated with the events of the herat estate if we travel back in time we can meet owl curled over in what appears to be mortal wounds the harata estate had been ravaged by josu the drunkard and his Bandits and had seemed to have gained the upper hand over owl and decimated the estate but how does a bandit albeit a bandit leader of some distinction gained the upper hand over this great Shinobi well we learn as we progress the game that J's assault came with a variety of peculiar circumstances those that would survive the assault specifically the information Merchant tells us that the Bandit's assault was far too elaborate and well-timed as it matched the absence of the heres shinobis we can infer this was in fact owl's handiwork acknowledging the absence of the ashena Warriors owl would bait jsu's men as a means of causing chaos and kidnapping Kuro for his own gain in this we learn owl was not really mortally wounded at the Hera estate only playing up to these wounds to lure the meddling of wolf into the Hera estate and to Face Lady Butterfly likely to our death and if wolf succeeds owl himself will sneak up behind a Victorious wolf and literally stab him in the back to finish the job anyway we learn of owl's trickery as we return to the original timeline at the castle Lookout we learn owl lived through the events of the herat estate solidifying the belief that it was all a ruse orchestrated by Owl to further this we can EES drop on a conversation between owl and Kuro and we learn that owl's true intentions are to use Kuro as a means to an end on a pursuit of individual power here we can confront owl and our faced with what is likely the most important decision in the entire game to obey or dismiss the iron code it's in this dismissal of the iron code that we Face the version of owl on this list but to truly understand how powerful owl is at this point of the timeline we have to actually choose the alternative choice to side with Owl and the iron code this will set a sequence of events that leads to the previously mentioned battles with ishin and Emma but between our battle with these two Shinobi we learned that ow was keeping himself busy too although it's not described how owl returns back with two important items once we defeat both ishin and Emma owl returns wielding a mortal blade of his own gicho mortal blade inferring that during our time with ishin and Emma set off to kill gonitro and steal his mortal blade but we can also learn he did not just steal gano's black mortal blade as secur fans were able to get a better POV of the cutscene and we learn in this cut scene where owl returns he places gano's decapitated head besides ishin indicating a clear triumph over gicho and not just the regular gicho we face at the beginning of the game but the gicho that wielded the black mortal blade and you utilized the way of tomay in his final form solidifying this version of owl to be canonically more powerful than the greatest form of gicho and justifying owl's place here on the list as gano's Superior and the great shobi of ashena from owl the great Shinobi to Owl the Father the next entry is regarding the specific boss battle attle we face with owl but during the events of the harata estate on the alternative perspective gained through the events of the purification pathway in the game story in this series of events we are able to revisit the harata estate but instead are granted access through the father's Bell charm the Bell States the owl held this Bell for a long time offering it at the dilapidated Temple may result in seeing a different memory than before there's no way of knowing why this protective Bell exists perhaps the owl kept it for himself or perhaps he meant to give it to someone else while the law of this encounter is foggy as owl canonically survives up to the point we meet him in the present day as per the last entry on this list Reddit user anticus gives a great explanation drawing attention to the item Remnant Foster Father which states the battle memory of an extraordinary foe although distant Recollections of such a memory provided susten for the wolf owl took in the hungry Cub on a whim and raised him as a Shinobi the process was so engrossing that he hoped they might enjoy a true battle to the death someday he got his wish if only in an old memory this suggests that owl wished to go onetoone with wolf to their death one day however to plausibly have this battle owl recorded a version of himself at the height of his own power in order to give this memory of this greatest form of himself to Wolf to finally fulfill that wish we know that owl in this encounter is the greatest version of himself as upon defeat he drops us an item known as memory Foster father where it states the Foster father confronted in old memories was a man in his prime laying credit to the above Theory but also adding the context that this version of owl is much greater than the version We encounter in the present day I rarely like drawing gameplay to add credit to the list here but both fights with owl share many of the same skills and fighting styles with the Stark difference being the utter speed aggression and nimbleness in the herat estate encounter drawing a clear parallel between the two encounters ultimately bringing it above the ordinary fight with Al and solidifying it here on the list as with all Gauntlet based boss battles something special happens when we encounter gicho inner for to contextualize this let me draw your attention to the item we receive on defeating inner gicho the remnant of inner ganito tells us a young gicho watched as tomay danced her movements held secrets and a height of technique that not even a lifetime could attain and yet in memory after countless bouts with his mortal enemy gicho at last reached those Heights this lays an important framework in how we can understand both the living gicho as already spoken of but more importantly the inner gicho we fight as we have already stated in the main game gicho is the closest representation to Tomo that we get in the main game however he still Pals in comparison to the woman that would go toe-to-toe with prime Isen however in the gauntlets we are told he unlike his present form did reach those Heights of tomay in many ways therefore in ginro is more so a battle against tomay a lot of seiro fans draw grievance to the idea that we never got a DLC that put tomay at the center of the game and therefore never were able to battle tomay however in a roundabout way in a gonitro is that boss battle we are told gonitro watched as Tomo danced and gonitro at last reached those Heights in memory suggesting gicho in this form regardless of the gameplay of the ACT ual fight being a recreation of the original fight would be a gicho that fought in the dancing style of Tomo and utilize the raw power of lightning the way that tomay would too because the greatest insight into Tomo's strength was from isan telling us that her fighting style is the closest he had come to death we can assuredly assume this form of gicho that was tomay in every form is a being only comparable to Prime isin and therefore far above owl that would defeat him in the main game but also owl in his prime as ishen the sword Saint during his Premiership is told to be the greatest shenobi that ever lived greater than all the others including Prime owl it's for this reason inano ranks above owl but still below the sword Saint ishin as we aren't truly told ishin was lesser than tomay rather equal but I hesitate to put in a gicho on par with ishan the swords as even when ishen and tomay lived Side by side ishin the sword Saint was still renowned as the greater Shinobi and in a gicho although a mirror of tomay is not tomay herself placing this version of genichiro just below the sword scene albeit by a small margin and to finally add another layer of confidence that the isan we battle at the end of the game is greater than tomay and therefore in genichiro is that the Isen that is born from the body of gicho from the spirit world seems to inherit even aspects of gicho including the art of lightning and aspects of the way of tomay compounding this version of The Sword Saint as the true greater Shinobi from the underworld harboring the totality of his prime but also the power of gicho which takes us perfectly to Isen the sword saint but before I go into ishin the sword Saint I want to quickly clarify why inner isan is on the same ranking here when it comes to the inner rankings we learned that these are based on the retellings or memories associated with the character they are based on while most inner iterations of the bosses have unique aspects to them those associated with ishen via the memory of ishin tell us even in memory his cloudless thoughts spurred a Relentless pursuit of strength suggesting the inner version of ishin The Sword Saint is a very accurate depiction of Isen in life too although not sharing the dynamic nature of other inner entr this is an incredibly fitting description as ishen in many ways encapsulates the perfect Shinobi his story and fighting style was so prolific even in the memory of wolf and in the mind of his own he was exactly the same person as in mind as he was in reality while characters such as Ina gicho are the fulfilled version of the real gicho ishin was already exactly the person he sought to be echoing the sentiment that his actions were always accurate and void of hesitation therefore unburdened by any regrets or shortcomings which leads us perfectly to is in the swords and the context as to how powerful he truly was I won't bore you with too many details about ishin as most of his Origins and story have already been detailed in his previous regular entry as the present day isan the distinction between that isan and the version we fight here is that this version of ishan is won in his absolute prime ishan's Legacy is one one we encounter throughout the entirety of the game a majority of combat in the game is derived from The Art of War that he instilled into the ASA Clan after his successful coup against Tamaro if you cast your mind back to the earlier entry we learned that ishan honed his combat style through all the victories he had accumulated in his past the ashena style is therefore the refinement of the most dangerous aspects of every combat style confronted by the highly tenured Shinobi ishan tells us that the ashena style has one major tenant to win your battles and it's this Mantra that encapsulates the skills that would be taught under the Ashen AAL the Ashen across is quick and nonindulgent one mind is placing one's entire focus on the release of the blade to achieve Godlike speed this fighting style was not entrenched by flare or spectacle just the quickest way to kill an opponent without hesitation while ishen in his later form demonstrates a devastating utilization of these skills it's likely damp by his old age and more importantly the terminally fatal illness affecting the legendary Shinobi ishen the sword saint has no such drawbacks we learned the primary reason the interior Ministry sought against marching on ashena was because isan in his prime was far too formidable to qualify an attack against ashena and only in his ailing state did it become viable adding further immensity to his power in comparison to what we already know of the interior Ministry but to add a further note I believe this isan that we battle at the end of the game is more than just a prime isan unplagued by an illness it's one that is also compounded by the strength of his grandson gicho in our previous entry we learn how gicho went further than just the ashena style in honing his own set of skills specifically those skills Associated to the way of tomoy as this version of ishan is born from gicho it appears Testament to ishan's philosophy he has incap ulated the most dangerous aspects of gano's Arsenal to his own too stamped further by what we already know isan is able to do in incorporating any fighting style to a much greater degree when added to his own repertoire this version of isan has us pitted against someone that is not only a perfect practitioner of the ASA style better than anyone else we Face to date but also one that is a master of everything he is able to compound from gicho ishin here is able to utilize aspects of Tomo in his own distinct form including the lightning of Tomo interestingly this version of isan is made even stronger by the fact that he wields the black mortal blade alongside tamaru Spear and even a pistol truly bringing to life gano's pursuit of total power on the premise that one should do everything to win a battle when we Face ishin we are not only against the greatest Shinobi to ever live but also one that is compounded by the power of Tomo Tamar's old regime and and the technology of the Interior Ministry in the hands of a true master ishan in this state is a true God of War and the perfect representation of gano's final wish to do absolutely anything to save asena overcoming this challenge unifies everything we have learned up to this point and defeating isan here represents a true Mastery over all of the things we have already overcome just like isan had done in the past that granted him the lineal title of the greatest shobi beating this version of isan represents the handing down of that lineage to us truly a magnificent moment in the game with all of that being said this next entry may come as a surprise after digging into the law I think this next entry not only makes sense but is a perfect symbol of the greatest challenge in the entire game the trauma of an orphan pulled Between Two Worlds as we have come to know the special Gauntlet boss battles in this game take a rapid departure from the usual recipe in the main game at their heart these are not battles that take place in the usual timeline rather memories that you can confront assessing power is therefore not as comparatively equal but there is a way of contextualizing the inner battles to the rest of the game in many ways this entire ranking in list has always been from the perspective of seiro when assessing who is the strongest boss in the game we are essentially asking who are the greatest bosses we as seiro have to confront in the game well it may have been easy as we have with inano to suggest the inner version of owl is just an elevated battle in the mind of wolf the description of the item memory inner father tells us this inner boss we confront is very different to those already spoken of earlier the description States deep within the mind the father stirred the man wolf confronted in memory was more than owl could have ever hoped to be in this we learn that owl in Wolf's mind did not represent the one-o-one power of owl or even owl at his prime rather the impact owl had to Wolf's mind which was much greater than owl physically could ever be as already discussed a core tener of the game has always been our obedience to the iron code and the lasting power owl had imprinted onto us even before we took a hold of seiro as a protagonist we know seiro so obedient to Owl and the iron code literally sat idle on Al's departure awaiting command before acting in any form we only truly start our journey on the command of Kuro owl's chosen second in command and our Master while we journey through the game we face challenges that Force our character to make their own decisions something unfamiliar to Securo up until this point it's these choices that challenge the fabric of the IM am code as we for the first time are progressing our own fate without the peering eyes of our father Kuro casting a much more forgiving and liberal approach to decisionmaking allows us to develop our own moral compass and individual assertions for the first time we choose outcomes of quest lines cast judgments of our own and make Crossing decisions that bear impact on ASA as a whole but throughout this journey there are still flash moments where we cannot make decisions that go against the iron code dialogue choices indicating we are still Bound by the memory of ow even in his perceived permanent absence or even in the mind of wolf at this point abandonment this internal dialectic comes to a head when we finally face owl at the peak of ashena and our asked to make the decision to either obey the father or obey the master this single choice is the most impactful decision you can make in the entire game if we choose to side with the father we have to physically confront the emotional bonds we have developed with affectionate characters such as Emma Kuro and even the ailing Isen but there is a reason this option is even granted While most players at this point having developed affection and personal relation to the causes espoused by curo and Emma are likely to convincingly choose against owl we can't help but understand why this decision is even granted to us as seiro adopted from what is likely the brink of death and destitution was saved by Owl but also challenged by Owl to receive acceptance and gratefulness for this act by forcing sakuro to go through treacherous trials as a boy to legitimize himself as worthy of Life lady butterfly's remnants tell us sakuro was for to learn to become a Shinobi through strict methods and likely life or death battles too it would not be a stretch to suggest in the moment seiro is asked to choose between owl or Kuro he has to confront what is likely the hardest challenge in the entire game appeasing the unloving father in an attempt to finally after years of trauma win his affection and legitimize Our Heritage or challenge your trauma and acknowledge and overcome consistently being used as as a means to an end by a father that would never and has never loved you since the day you were found on the battlefield while the choice itself is a single dialogue option in the game the battle with the inner father is this decision as it plays out in seo's mind when we fight owl in the gauntlets to me this is a chance for us to overcome the greatest aspect of trauma in seo's mind for owl as a physical being was never going to be greater than the mental trauma and challenge the owl represented in seo's mind the memory of the inner father tells us deep within the mind the father stirred the man wolf confronted in memory was more than owl could have ever hoped to be consolidating the inner father as the true greatest threat to Securo unrepresentative of the physical power of owl but representative of the greatest challenge for Securo who of course is the true greatest character in the game placing the inner father this high on the list the inner father boss battle is the mental contention between us choosing to remain a starving wolf or becoming seiro of Asa unlike our previous video in bloodborne the story of seiro is built around people the best laid plans of mostly well seeking characters as we have learned gicho symbolized the aspect of unwavering Justice spliced with uncap ambition if gicho descendant of ishin Asa was to preserve his ancestors Heritage and the culture of the region he had to battle the advancing imperialist forces of the Interior Ministry to legitimize their right to self-preservation however the interior Ministry coated in advanced omnt and sheer scale had the physical Force gicho at this realization adopted a makavelian archetype and pledged any means to preserve ashena opening his character to uncapped ambition but also a lack of foresight in a mired sense leader of the clan ishan although sharing the same idea of self-preservation and Justice disavowed relinquishing ethics in the face of this campaign ishin embodied just ice and a fierce non-materialist view in attaining Justice through hard and fast codes and ethics the story of seiro Prides its entire narrative on this binary dialectic not only between gicho and isin but also characters like owl and Kuro stagnation and flow the very existence of Karma and of course centipedes and dragons in a lot of ways Securo our protect agist although bearing his own voice story and background unfamiliar to the recipe Souls like games often adopt is still a medium for us the player to choose how we are to tip the scales in the game at the heart of this balance is the existence of the Divine dragon as who is better to tip the scales than a being that originates from outside the very confines of mythical Japan we are told the Divine dragon is from the West the otherness of of this term is intentional as the way we involve the influence of the Dragon in the game determines which dialectic comes out on top gicho wants to use the Divine dragon's influence on a quest for immortality and therefore strength while ishan seeks to sever the dragon's influence to relinquish immortality and therefore the prevailing threat of dragon rot which is deforming the physical mental and cultural significance of the asena clan it's therefore not surprising that in a game about people and names stories and individual assertions on the right thing to do the Divine dragon is not a person it's referred to as a god a being untethered to the outcome of the stories but still integral to the progression of its story The Divine Dragon therefore holy exists outside the confines of measurable strength in the human sense even reach ing the battle is a gargantuan task riddled with Enlightenment and rituals but of course we are able to go face to face with the Divine Dragon which begs the question how on Earth are we expected to be able to defeat a god which is a pertinent question as the power of the Divine dragon is as Monumental as its influence we learned that many of the oami tribe Associated closely with the Fountain Head Palace and even tomay Drew their power and Affinity to lightning from the Divine Dragon we can watch the Divine Dragon make use of lightning too drawing this parallel but also from what we can learn from tearo story in the main Game and his Dragon Heritage influence on tomoy as we have come to learn ishin Asha himself referred to Tomo's form of combat and a battle against Tomo as the closest he's come to death and it's not surprising that the sword Saint ishen utilizes this aspect too in his own fight against us in this form when we consider how powerful just an aspect of the lightning is in the game and then understand its Origins as related to the Divine Dragon we are given insight into what to expect from the Divine dragon's use of this power as its originating source and context as to why it is powerful Beyond any levels attainable by humans we also learned that the Divine dragon is the source of immortality in the world the waters originating from it and the sakura trees associated with its blood all allude to the dragon itself as an immortal figure able to Grant aspects of its own immortality to others in this we learn the dragon is impervious to the materials of the normal world and instead harming it would require a mortal blade of course this blade is only present once in Seno Temple and once with gicho and adds the comparative context that no other boss would be able to harm the dragon and even if they could they would end end up being against a source of power described as the single most powerful element in the entire game in overcoming the Divine Dragon we are forced to use a reversal technique and it's in this reversal of its lightning attack that we are able to temporarily subdue the God and retrieve its tear although no real context is given as to the strength of the Divine Dragon its influence its clear ability to swing and create forces of wind powerful enough to cause immense damage on its own and it's Origins as the source of power the all elusive tomay was able to harness and gather a reputation akin to or even more so than isan himself solidify a ranking above all others our character sakuro much like all from software games is a vehicle for us to experience the world and our ability as a human to overcome the dragon should not be indicative that the dragon is in any ways lesser than Humanity as remember we are only able to do so because of the blessing of the Dragon through its air Kuro we would not have even had a chance to harm the dragon without its immortality and therefore access to the red mortal blade in this sense we can only overcome the dragon purely because the dragon has granted us immortality essentially defeating itself the Divine dragon's position much like dragons in other from software games is a symbol of a higher power that contextualizes the bitions of humans seeking more than their physical components and it's the Merit that the dragon is able to Grant this more than human power that solidify it as a great being in Securo I initially hesitated to even add the Divine Dragon to this list as the Delta between its power and the rest of the entire game is immense Beyond comparison however it's in a lot of ways fitting as at the top of the hierarchy of a story of humans striving for Dominion in their own little plots of land is a Divine Dragon uncaring to even influence the outcomes of this struggle yet holding the power to make more difference than all regular beings combined thanks again for making it to the end of this video for those of you who stuck around I'll let you into what I'm thinking about for the next few videos so as the Elden ring DLC has already been announced I have a perfect timeline for releasing that video later in the future but before then what would you guys prefer to see would you prefer a demon souls ranked video or alternatively other titles such as lies of PE I'm completely open to any ideas you guys have and as a final note thank you for your continued support as a small channel the engagement of this community makes a huge difference I appreciate you all all and I'm sure I'll see you guys in the next one

Channel: The Bestiary

Views: 26,842

Keywords: Sekiro, Sekiro Ranked, Sekiro Ranked By Lore, Bosses, Ranked By Lore, Sekiro Bosses Ranked, According to Lore, Lorewise, Vaatividya, Lore, Most Powerful, Strongest Boss, Secret, Secret Boss, Every Boss, Explained, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Fromsoftware, Iron Pineapple, Every Boss Ranked, Ending, Enemies

Id: 5JxrKHv1tEo

Length: 83min 58sec (5038 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 17 2024