Did Rhue absorb Serena?

[Roir]

Here's a thought that came to me as I watched a friend play through the game the other day :

It's well-established by now that Rhue's sword, be it Shadow or Illuminati, has the power all such swords seem to have : it absorbs the auras of other wanderers. We might be wrong, that power might belong to Rhue himself, but that has little incidence on my point here.

While in most cases this happens when Rhue kills a wanderer himself (which was shown with Jed), it has also been proven to happen when Rhue is merely near someone who dies/loses their aura (Cade in the Jopaga bust).

If we take Rhue's memory at face value (which I'd rather not have to do, being convinced that his memories are muddled at best, and probably outright fake, him not being who he thinks he is... but what other choice do we have at this point?), then he was standing at the river bank when Serena got jumped by the beast and knocked into the river.

Now, had she died, either immediately, or sometime thereafter, is it inconceivable that Rhue, focused upon her as he was, could have in fact absorbed her aura from a distance?

I guess I just like the poetic value of Rhue searching for Serena all this time (although "Rhue" as we know him probably only started to exist around the same time E1 started) while she was in fact part of him, quite literally.

This might also have something to do with how he actually got his sword, the one he's so deeply attached to... Could the sword be some kind of materialized aura?

Just a few useless foreign pennies for your thoughts

[Alundra]

... might be the case... tough i doubt it would be that easy... Knowing lun he'll come up with something more difficult to swallow...
BTW did he make a mistake or did i just skip something?
When rhue slashes slades behind with his sword (which gets stuck in slades manly chest) and leaves slade's manly behind to rot in hell, the greenhaired dude gets treated (no thanks to strata but a big hooray to lyrra)... his sword is near him and when he raises himself from his sleepy hide, and goes to pop some pills, lyrra dashes in. She obviously snatshes slades sword and slices her persuer and makes of with that sword with which she lunges at rhue shortly after...
BUT THEN WHAT SWORD IS OUR GREEN HAIRED BOY WIELDING ? Obviously he's packing some sort of sword... he cuts our main girl cetsa with it doesn't he?
And how did he get that many aura's himself (given to rhue after he reclaims his sword from the PS)... Maybe it's true what rior says... the sword might be the aura of one person materialised and if its in the hand of another it wrecks havoc by twisting ones mind -> lyrra's untimely death...

[Sage Of The Wise]

The sword sticking out of the ground in Slade's Hospital room doesn't even apear until Kalmar's Ghost Horror "Goes to Another". I would guess Sldes sword is where ever he keeps it in that big coat of his, but the sword in the ground is the Ghost Horror, which Lyyra picks up, and when combined with Scatha's "advice" goes insane(or atleast more so then she already was) and tries to kill Strata.

[DSOK]

As I have pointed out, it's pretty clear that by Everyone Must Bleed, Rhue's entire consciousness is resident in his sword. There's no evidence that the sword can absorb memories or auras from somebody who hasn't either been killed directly by the blade or had their aura forcibly removed from his body.

The possibility that Rhue killed Serena himself and thereby picked up her memories of the Landorin massacre is quite reasonable. It would particularly be in fitting with the rash of women Rhue has killed recently for whom he possessed some feelings of fondness, combined the the apparently cyclical structure of events along The Way.

However, the scenario that Rhue was present at the massacre and somehow absorbed Serena's aura from a distant seems much more far-fetched. Moreover, it seems almost entirely superfluous to the plot; if he really was at Landorin, what would by the dramatic point of his absorbing Serena's memories?

If we suppose that the location at which Rhue and Gaius end Episode 5 is not Landorin, then we might reasonably conclude that Rhue absorbed the aura of somebody who was present at the massacre (perhaps by committing the massacre) and, entirely independently, something resembling the remembered scene with Serena actually occured. Rhue could either have been present for that second event or absorbed the aura of somebody (perhaps Serena) who was.

If that place is on the Landorin stretch....?

[Alundra]

DSoK... i'm only awake for an hour now and forgive me if i say this but... I DIDN'T GOT ANYTHING OF WHAT YOU JUST POSTED HERE...

But indeed that tiny thing did escape my mind... indeed it was said that the sword would go to another... but off all ppl why to lyrra?
If my theory would be correct and rhue is in fact jeruh... lyrra and jeruh are related... then what is their connection to the swords?
Abuta and Ghost Horror ... seems like a wicked combination...

'sides... what did midian want to talk with jed about... something involving jeruh... :s

[DSOK]

This got me thinking, the relationships between the swords are actually quite complicated. Rhue's sword appears to protect him when he's attacked by the Harbinger (Gaius?), who may well have another magical sword. Yet Ghost Horror does nothing whatsoever to defend Lyrra when she faces off with Rhue. So what's going on? Is Rhue's sword unique, perhaps?

[Flibbo]

perhaps they only protect people they consider to be evil or worth their time?

[DSOK]

perhaps they only protect people they consider to be evil or worth their time?

That's a good thought. So the shadow sword would reuse to protect Lyrra, because she wasn't evil enough. Of course, this would imply that the shadow swords and the illuminati really are different (assuming that the illuminati actually exist, which I think we can).

But then, why didn't Ghost Horror protect Kalmar better? It treated him pretty much the same way it did Lyrra.

[Flibbo]

true very true
in fact it got me thinking

perhaps the seperation of the shadow swords and the illuminati is a load of proverbial poo? perhaps these swords are like lifeforms, each with its own agenda, kind of like the sword version of the one ring from lord of the rings. the swords let their current owners die simply beacuse the owner was unnesasery or even if it was crucial to their plan. Lyrra could have been a threat to the ghost horror, or mearly a bystander.

this would mean that there could be some that help and some that hinder the life of the wanderers for reasons yet unknown.

ooh just thought, Sacrifa (i think) said the ps was under the control of whats his name, the guy rhue wanted the book that wrote down the death of all wanderers ( i am having such a bad day with names today *bangs head on table*)
this may not be a person but rather the sword they posses. the swords dont have to be tools but rather minions. some may even be masters.

well done if you understood that random grouping of words btw.

[Sage Of The Wise]

But indeed that tiny thing did escape my mind... indeed it was said that the sword would go to another... but off all ppl why to lyrra?

I think it was supposed to go to Slade, but Slade left the room without ever taking it, so when Lyrra ran in there, she saw it and took it.

[Alundra]

very true indeed and that actually makes sense with what flibbo said...
The sword didn't like lyrra and made her go into a craze ... and i doubt that abauta protected rhue... i think it's gauis sword that protected him!
At that point it might have been that rhue's sword was a shadow sword hitting an illuminati, the light version being stronger or just able to repel any dark attack for that matter.

as a side not i think there's something else with the swords too!
Rhue's abauta can have both the illuminati and shadow sword aura as well as something cosmic and the atoma. which led me to believe that rhue's sword is of a different sort alltogether... like it's a gun being able to be loaded with different ammo, while the others gotta stick to their regular sized ammo... Which he only got after his ordeal with slade... which leads me to believe that's why he was able to get the best of strata. he didn't gain strength, his sword did. and what's up with rhue and trazuin's sword shooting off balls of light?

[Sage Of The Wise]

The sword didn't like lyrra and made her go into a craze ... and i doubt that abauta protected rhue... i think it's gauis sword that protected him!

Wha? How does Gaius's sword protect Rhue?

[DSOK]

Wha? How does Gaius's sword protect Rhue?

Either Rhue's sword (probably Abuta) protected him from the attack by the Harbinger (quite possibly Gaius, especially because it gives Gaius even more motive for Rhue to give up his sword--and consciousness--later in the episode); or the Harbinger's sword may have refused to harm Rhue (perhaps because of who he was, perhaps because he was the wielder of Abuta, and perhaps both, as the two conditions are practically the same at this point).

[Berserker]

I think rhue's sword refused to kill the harbringer.

[Alundra]

i meant that gauis's sword protected gauis...