Hey guys! Our video this week is part two of a set of
videos about the twenty-seven True Runes of the Suikoden Franchise. If you haven't seen part one, where we cover
the more conventional True Runes, click the little grey "I" in the top right corner to
get yourself up to speed, otherwise we're going to dive right in and start talking about
the True Runes of the Suiko-verse that have been split into separate pieces. So, the first Split True Rune we're going
to go over is called the Rune of the Beginning when it was whole. We say "When" it is whole, because this rune
is unique among the split runes in that it is designed to begin as two separate runes,
before combining into one when the right conditions are met. Where as all of the other split runes have
been forcibly separated, and whether or not they can ever recombine is unknown. The Rune of Beginning is said to represent
and embody the quote "initial chaos of birth inherent in times of creation" unquote. This rune's two halves are known as the Bright
Shield and Black Sword runes, respectively. What powers the Rune of the Beginning has
when its whole are unknown, though scholars in universe have said that this True Rune
grants its owner the power to Judge War. Whatever that's supposed to mean. It should be noted that some theorize that
the Black Sword and Bright Shield Runes are the Sword and Shield of the creation myth,
making the Rune of the Beginning the tear shed by Darkness, but that seems unlikely
to us, assuming that the assertion that True Runes cannot give birth to other true runes,
only standard runes is true. If that assertion is inaccurate, than considering
the names of the sword and shield runes, their relations to each other, and the rune of beginning
spawning them, that could be possible. Otherwise we don't believe these runes to
be the sword and shield of creation, as one, True Runes can't spawn eachother, and two,
in the creation story, the True Runes were gems studded on both the Sword and the Shield. So this rune couldn't be both a thing, and
a gem studded on that thing. One half of the Rune of Beginning, the Bright
Shield Rune, is supposed to represent and embody the stability and protection of order
required for creation when things begin. The Rune holds tremendous powers of both healing
and defense, even being able to bring the player, the wielder of the Bright Shield Rune,
back from the brink of death, and saving its wielder. Because of the nature of its parent rune,
the Bright Shield rune will manipulate its wielder or events in order to bring the bearer
into conflict with the bearer of the Black Sword Rune. With the eventual victor being deemed worthy
to wield the Rune of the Beginning in its fulness. The other half of the Rune of beginning, the
Black Sword Rune, represents and embodies the nature of separation required for creation
when things begin. Antithesis to the Bright Shield Rune in every
way, this rune grants its bearer terrible destructive power, generating swords of varying
sizes, shapes and numbers in order to decimate its wielders enemies. This rune falls into the hands of the player's
best friend Jowy Atreides, who, thanks in part to the nature of the the Rune of the
Beginning, eventually becomes king of the nation that the player leads an army in rebellion
against. Pitting the two friends against each other. If the player does everything right, in the
good ending, the Player and Jowy are able to overcome the rune's machinations with the
strength of their friendship, and travel the world together, along with the player's sister,
able to keep the Rune of Beginnings desire for conflict at bay. Next on the list of Split Runes is the Gate
Rune, a rune with the power to open portals to other worlds, other dimensions, and the
reason we know that monsters and such come from somewhere called the World of Emptiness. The Gate rune was guarded by the imaginatively
named Gate Rune Clan, who kept it from outsiders for fear of the misuse of the rune, as it
could not only open gates to travel from world to world, but to summon creatures of immense
power to do the rune bearer's bidding. At some point the Gate Rune clan was attacked
by forces seeking the power of their rune. Two of the clans members, Leknaat and Windy,
separated the Gate rune into the Front and Back gate runes, before teleporting to separate
locations, both far from their home. Unlike the Black Sword and Bright Shield Runes,
the Back and Front gate runes still provided their wielders agelessness, and so the last
two members of the Gate Rune clan wondered the world for centuries before the Suikoden
games take place. The Back Gate Rune, also known as the Exit
Gate Rune, was taken by Laknaat, a powerful and, as previously mentioned, ancient blind
mage, who serves as a sage and oracle in the Suiko-verse. Laknaat has been shown to be able to use the
rune to banish creatures, launch attacks, and is one of the few beings to have been
able to use their rune to look into the future. It is also possible, or even likely, that
the rune allows her the ability to teleport. She uses the rune's power to monitor the world,
watching for other True Runes and always acting as a mystic guide for the Player once they've
acquired their True Rune. She has appeared in every Suikoden game and
as such is presumed to still be in possession of the Back Gate Rune. The Front Gate Rune, also known as the Entrance
Rune, was taken by Windy, a powerful mage who, after the destruction of her clan decided
to use her rune's power to take revenge on those he destroyed her life, and to gain more
power; she is the only known being to ever have discovered the ability to wield Two True
Runes simultaneously. The Front Gate rune has been shown to able
summon as many as 80,000 monsters in a single use, conjure portals for various types of
monsters besides, and is presumed to be the method by which Windy can teleport. Windy was last seen being hurled from a balcony
in the arms of Emperor Rugner at the end of Suikoden One, neither she nor her front gate
rune have been seen since. Though considering the nature of the Front
Gate Rune's powers, its not inconceivable that she still lives. The Last and most complicated of the Split
Runes, is the Sun Rune. Originally, the Sun rune and the Night rune
were a single Rune. Meaning that technically the Night Rune, covered
in our last video, is a split rune, but it doesn't function like one in anything but
a historical sense. At some point, long in the past, the Night
rune decided to strike out on its own, apparently jealous of just how brightly the Sun Rune
shone, antitheses of the Night Rune in all of its darkness. So the Night Rune formed itself into a sword,
physically breaking apart from the Sun rune and animating itself in the process. The resultant shattering also created the
Dawn and Twilight Runes, which relate to and effect the Sun Rune. The Sun rune rules over the aspects of the
day, and while it doesn't appear to allow "Creatures of the day" to exist, as the Night
Rune does with creatures of the night (namely undead), it does grant its wielder the power
of the sun itself, for both destruction and nurturing of life. It could also be argued that the Sun Rune
qualifies as a cursed rune, as the people of the region of Falena, where the Sun Rune
has rest for many years, have legends speaking of the Sun Rune's ability to seduce or corrupt
the user's very soul, driving them mad with power. The only way to avoid this, is by using the
Dawn and Twilight runes, which act as buffers to the Sun Rune's otherwise overwhelming power. The Dawn Rune acts as a guardian both for
and against the Sun Rune, granting the wielder the ability to use the powers of light and
heat, both to restore and to destroy. As well as, when used in tandem with the Twilight
Rune, granting the ability to use the Sun Rune without going mad. The Twilight Rune is similar, though different,
granting its wielder damaging and impairing abilities, as one might assume for a darkness
related rune. But the use for which it is primarily known
is helping to control the power of the Sun Rune. By game's end, the Sun, Twilight and Dawn
runes are all placed in busts near each other, keeping the Sun rune's power limiters nearby
so that its powers can be safely used in the future. The player wields the Dawn rune through most
of the game, with the Twilight rune going through a series of users. Which leaves us with the final segment, the
unexplained runes. These runes have all been identified as True
Runes, with bearers who've been named. But with powers that have either been completely
unexplained or have remained nebulous. The first of these is the Rune of Change. One of the few things we know about this rune
is that it is a cursed Rune, it was believed to have been wielded by the leader of an ancient
people called the Sindar, who were known for their vast knowledge of runes and their magical
applications. Supposedly the Rune granted the Sindar's leader
eternal life, as these runes are want to do, yet somehow doomed his or her people to an
eternity of wandering and travel, likely through the Rune's need for a constant change. The ancient Sindar have left ruins and structures
throughout the globe, but these are also ruins, as in the remnants of cities, culture, and
ancient magical constructs, so whatever forced them to move, it either let them sit in place
for years at a time, or they could build things unbelievably fast. If this second possibility was the case, perhaps
the Rune of Change assisted in some way. But beyond these slim facts and conjecture,
little is known about the Rune of Change. The Sindar have long since vanished from known
existence, and as such, no solid leads for the location or fate of this rune exist. The Circle rune is another unexplained rune. It appears to embody order and stagnation,
and has long belonged to Hikusaak, a man who founded an entire empire based around the
goal of acquiring the rest of the true runes at any and all costs. To their credit, the Harmonian empire, which
Hikusaak began, has held as many as five or six True runes in its possession over the
course of its existence, though some have been stolen or fled under their own power
(remember these things are both powerful and sentient), during that time. The exact powers of the Circle Rune are unknown,
save for the base agelessness that most if not all True Runes grant. Though, based upon the aspects this rune embodies,
it is a possibility the Harmonian empire's successful acquisition of all True runes could
be an event leading to Luc's feared vision of a grey and stagnant future. Hikusaak and the Circle rune themselves have
not been seen in public for many years, leading some to believe that Hikusaak is dead, and
that the Circle Rune has been lost. Which leaves us with the final rune, the Eightfold
Rune, wielded by an entity named Yuber, this is the only true rune known to have bonded
with something other than an inanimate object, or human being, as numerous accounts, references,
and in-game characters, including Yuber himself, have stated that Yuber is something other
than human. The fact that he was one distinctly inhuman
eye helps substantiate that possibility. Yuber has been seen summoning monsters, teleporting,
has lived for hundreds of years, and has used a different rune called the Eight Devil Rune
to summon duplicates of himself and attack his foes. Speculation is that the Eight Devil Rune is
a child rune to the Eightfold rune, and since most lesser runes wield lesser but similar
powers to their True Rune parents, if this is true, it seems likely that the Eightfold
rune would grant the ability to summon copies of the wielder in one form or another. But beyond the existence Yuber's abilities,
little, including whether they stem from the Eightfold Rune or other sources, is known. And... that's basically all of the True Runes,
the eighteen known of the 27 that exist. We hope you guys enjoyed our two videos on
this subject, if you did, and like this one in particular, please give us a like, if you'd
like to suggest a topic for videos you'd like to see in the future, have something to say
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a Mic, signing off.
