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Mechanics of Runic Power

One of the biggest mysteries of the Suikoden world are the runes. Born of the primal forces that gave birth to the world, these runes give the bearer access to these forces. However, in the game play of Suikoden, we are only given access to four distinct spells per rune. Does this mean that having a rune only gives the characters in the game access to these four specific spells, or does having a rune give the bearer a far more comprehensive control over the rune's power? I argue that it is the second option that is true. Having a rune gives the bearer access to a host of powers from very small to very large depending on their ability. However, because Suikoden is a video game and limited to the constraints of what can be coded into the game, this is not fully represented through the game play. This holds true from the weakest of the elemental runes to the True Runes themselves. I will attempt to take the sentience and the desires of the True Runes into account and prove that this too fits within my perspective of the abilities that a rune gives the bearer.

The spells that we have access to in the game are a matter of simple game play mechanics, to make everything flow nicely for the player of the game. They are also there to lend some artistic merit to the spells themselves. If the spells were only called level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 4, that wouldn't be very exciting for the player of the game. Having them named gives us an artistic reference point for the spells themselves and is not nearly as boring as simply opening up a nameless new tier of access as a character levels up.

Nanami uses her fire rune to perform the commonly developed rune technique "Flaming Arrows."
From the perspective of the characters in the game that are using the runes, they do not suddenly gain the ability to cast the "Flaming Arrows" spell when a rune is inscribed, then as they use the rune gain the ability to cast "Blazing Wall", and so on to the fourth tier of spells. From my perspective, runes are a conduit to the primal power source that they stem from. For example, the fire and rage runes are conduits that allow the user to tap into the primal power of fire and manipulate it. This means that once a rune is inscribed upon a person, a link is opened between the bearer and the primal power that the rune is tied to, in this case fire. At first, the power that is accessible through this conduit would be minimal. The bearer might be able to conjure a little bit of flame to light a campfire when he first gains the fire rune. As the bearer uses the rune and learns more about how to effectively access the power that the rune provides a conduit to, he will gain greater ability with it. So, from being able to make a spark to light a campfire, perhaps he will advance to being able to instantly heat a pot of water, or to actually set a small object on fire. As he grows more knowledgeable of the rune, his access to the primal power that the rune provides a conduit to becomes greater. Depending on the bearer's ability, he might be able to access the power to the full extent that the rune allows and control the force to create immense effects. This ties in very well to the magic stat that we have for the mechanics of the game. A character with a greater natural aptitude for runic magic gains more points to their magic stat when they level up, as well as getting access to the higher tier runic powers earlier. This can be seen as a representation of them learning to tap into the primal force that the magic comes from more effectively and gaining better control over it. Similarly, this works for rune affinities. People with rune affinities have a natural aptitude towards one type of rune over another. This does not effect their ability to control runic magic, since that is represented by the magic stat. Instead they are simply more effective when using the rune type they have affinity towards. Luc has a high affinity to wind type runes, however, he has the same magic score and same number of spells when using any other type of rune. They simply don't hit quite as hard because he has greater runic affinity to wind.

This approach does leave the actual spell names we are given in the game as valid. For example, let us look at the spell "Flaming Arrows". The first thing that I would do is change the way we look at this "spell". Instead of calling it a "spell", let us call it a "rune technique". So, if a bearer has a fire rune he will build up his knowledge of the rune just from having it inscribed upon him and likely from making use of it, whether it is in smaller or larger applications. When he has gained a certain amount of familiarity with the rune, he will be able to access greater proportions of power. For the case of flaming arrows, that proportion of power is not very large. It would entail the ability to conjure up a certain smallish amount of fire and direct it. Now, as various users of the fire rune make new insights into the effective uses of the rune, a commonly held "rune technique" might have developed. The fire that one can conjure is shaped into long, thin darts, and projected towards an adversary. The obvious parallel to this technique is a person shooting an arrow, so the term "Flaming Arrows" is ascribed to this "rune technique". Many users of the fire rune find this to be an effective technique, so many of them study it and learn to use it. The name is very appropriate, so it becomes the name for this way of using the power accessed through the fire rune. It becomes common usage for one particular rune technique and it is represented in the game as such.

The limitations of a video game ensure that not every possible option for using a rune’s power can be left open to the player. What the creators of Suikoden have done is provide us with the commonly developed and useful rune techniques that various users of the rune have crafted. These techniques are most effective for the situations presented to us in the game, so those are the ones that we can use. This does not mean that these are the only ones that a bearer of a rune has. They are the only ones that we can see though and the only ones that we are ever likely to need during the course of the game.

As for True Runes, they are similar to regular runes in the fact that they provide a conduit to the primal force that they represent. However, with a True Rune, the access to this power is on an entirely different scale than that of a regular rune. The conduit that the True Rune opens to the primal power is much bigger right from as soon as the bearer gains the rune. The conduit is so big and provides such immense and direct access that the True Rune translates the desire of the primal force it represents to the user. This is the sentience of the True Rune. For example, the primal desire of the power of Death, as embodied in the Rune of Life and Death, is to consume the life around it. This desire is projected to the bearer of the rune from the moment that they take it up. The desire is a very powerful force as the bearer has a direct and constant connection to the primal power that desires to cause death and consume souls. However, the bearers of such runes have their will as well, and can strive against the desire of the rune. Those with stronger wills can more effectively resist the desire of the True Rune's primal force.

This might make it seem that a True Rune would desire a bearer who was of weaker will, since the Rune would be able to easily overcome the will of the bearer, and express its primal desire. However, we have seen that for a True Rune to effectively show its power it needs a wielder. The stronger the wielder is, the stronger the True Rune shall be. So, if a True Rune had a weak willed wielder, it would be able to dominate the wielder more easily and express itself, however, this expression would be much less powerful and ultimately a poorer expression of the desires of the Rune.

What would be ideal for a True Rune then is to find a bearer who is very strong willed, but has desires that run parallel to those of the rune itself. If these conditions were met, the bearer would use his own will to fully express the will of the True Rune. The power generated from such a pairing is immense, and we have several examples for us in the game. The first example is the respective bearers of the Rune of Punishment, though I will focus on Lazlo. Lazlo is a strong willed bearer of the Rune of Punishment, and resists the desires of the Rune at the cost of his own strength and life force. However, he is confronted with several instances where the use of the Rune falls in line with his own desires. When this happens, and he chooses to express the power of the Rune, the power that is unleashed is of epic proportions. Entire fleets of ships are destroyed, and the force of massive exploding rune cannon shells can be stayed. A second example that we have is when Ted commands the Rune of Life and Death to take his own soul, even when the Rune is being actively borne by another. This is a request that is directly connected to the desires of the Rune. It wishes to take the life of those around the bearer, particularly those that are connected to the bearer. The Rune eagerly does as Ted wishes and consumes his soul. Why didn't Ted command the Soul Eater to take Windy's soul instead? He could not because that was not directly parallel to the desire of the Rune. Without that lining up of desires, the full power of the Rune is not expressed.

The original Flame Champion was a strong willed bearer of the True Fire Rune. However, in a moment where his will slipped, the True Fire Rune was able to express its own desires to devastating effect.
There is another time when the full powers of a True Rune can be expressed too. If the Rune is born by a strong willed bearer and the Rune manages to overcome the will of that bearer, it eagerly takes the opportunity to express its desires. There are two examples of this that we have as well. The first is the example of the first Flame Champion and the disastrous explosion caused by the True Fire Rune in the battle of the Fire Bringer against the Harmonian military. In the heat of the battle with many of his friends falling all around him, the will of the Fire Bringer slipped. The True Fire Rune eagerly jumped at this opportunity and unleashed a devastating explosion. The second example is of Queen Arshtat and the Sun Rune. When Arshtat heard the terrible news surrounding the Lordlake affair, her will slipped, and the Sun Rune expressed its massive power by devastating the Lordlake region. What is interesting about each of these cases is that the Runes, in part, were in fact doing what the bearer wished them to do. The Flame Champion wished the battle to be over, no doubt. He would have preferred that it was ended in the destruction of only the Harmonian force, but for the Rune, this would not have been a full expression of power. The Rune ended the battle, but not as the Flame Champion would have ultimately wished. Arshtat too wanted to end the insurrection of Lordlake and give justice to those involved. The Sun Rune recognized this and enacted its own form of justice. In both of these cases, the desires of the bearer and the True Rune run parallel, however, the Rune fulfills those desires in its own way.

I believe that this theory of runes, normal and True Runes both, satisfies the debate on the function of runes within the game play mechanics that we have and within the larger imaginative world of the Suikoden setting. Considering that we do see instances where runes are used for purposes outside of the four spells we see, Sialeeds using her wind rune to cause a gust of wind to escape from Freyadour being another example, we have no reason to believe that the four-spell system is all a rune can do. Though the particulars of how a rune grants power to its bearer has never been expanded on by Konami, my theory satisfies what we do know of runes and satisfies the flavor of how they are presented. It takes into account everything from the formation of the commonly held rune techniques to the sentience of True Runes. Until we are presented with contrasting evidence by Konami, I believe this is a plausible way to view the powers and functions of runes in the Suikoden world.

Discussion Thread for This Topic

Written by Kalidor
Feb 13th, 2007