Summary
A man ascended to godhood creates a time loop to fix the past. He fails each try, until the intervention of another god makes him realise that a perfect ending is impossible and allowing him to move on.
Paragraph summary
Erzi wakes up in Yharnam with amnesia, forgetting that he is a human hunter who has ascended to godhood, and he’d used his powers to relive the same night over and over again to try to fix the past. Each in loop, he tries to save his best friend, Laurence, and get a perfect happy ending, but the city always falls to Lycanthropy, and his friend is always killed. Worse, each reset is imperfect, with some memories holding over between loops, driving his friend and other people in Yharnam to madness and violence to try to escape the loop. Everything changes when a Great One is drawn towards the dream, threatening to collapse the dream. The Hunter is unable to defend himself as his growth as a Old One is stunted from the time loops. The Hunter must realise that a perfect ending is not possible, even for a squid god! He’s forced to confront with the broken versions of Laurence that he’d created — he had tried to tackle the problem like a craftsman, trying to remove parts of Laurence he thinks is problematic, trying to recreate the idealised version of him from his nostalgia-tinged memory — and creating monsters. After all, even the problematic parts is part of his humanity. Ultimately, Erzi has to move on and live life to the fullest (as a squid). He and the Great One set out to explore the cosmos together.
Long Summary
- Part I
- Character state: Erzi’s actions are dictated by the belief that he is only worthy if he can fix every mess. If he fails, it’s because he wasn’t clever enough.
- State of the world: Most people in Yharnam have gone insane from the time loops. Some are actually Soul Echoes — “ghosts” of previous time loops. Yharnam has been rearranged such that it encircles a meadow of flowers, where the Clock-Watcher guards the anchor to this dream. Different factions are sending expeditions towards the Silver Field to claim the Anchor. There is a clocktower counting down until the reset happens.
- Opening Scene: Erzi wakes up saying Laurence’s name. Although he doesn’t quite remember what happens, he’s frustrated that he’d failed again. Surprisingly, he is with Laurence in a terrifyingly perfect situation. When he questions reality, his friends, who are actually Puppets, attack him. He’s saved by an old woman (who is secretly the Lesser Demon of Death and Darkness), who takes to Iosefka’s clinic and explain the situation.
- Part II
- He realises that this is a time loop. He pieces together that Laurence wanted the Anchor, so Erzi decides to join an Expedition. Erzi makes a weapon that’ll kill the Clock-Watcher - a prosthesis hand that triggers an explosion.
- Erzi travels through Yharnam and conflicts with a doomsday cult — the remnants Healing Church — trying to bring the end of the world. He slowly remembers his past attempts to fix the world. He sees the consequences: the scars in the city and the people living there.
- He meets a young, ambitious scholar, who turns about to be a Soul Echo of Laurence.
- Part III
- At the Silver Field, Erzi uses the Truth Nuke on Laurence, to stop him from destroying the Dream.
- Laurence is infuriated and angry at him, blaming him for his fracturing mind.
- Erzi’s attempt to save the city runs counter to Laurence’s goals to destroy the Dream. In fact, Laurence is infuriated and angry at him, blaming him for his fracturing mind, though Erzi can’t understand why.
- Erzi justifies his actions as loving Laurence. He sees Laurence’s current action as a mistake that Erzi must fix, as usual. Makes Laurence angrier that Erzi thinks he’s better than him.
- Part VI
- Erzi meets the original Expeditioners and realises that it’s not multiple dreams; this was his Dream and he’d messed it all up again.
- The Clock-Watcher allows him to the Anchor without any trouble. There he’s a boy again. He tries to reset the timeline, but it’s been sabotaged by Laurence.
- The Great One enters the Dream and obliterates Laurence. It’s as if he never existed.
- Part V
- Character State: “I cannot control everything. Meaning comes from how I live the moments I have, not how I preserve them.”
- Erzi battles with the First Hunter, who is incredibly powerful. However, Erzi defeats his past self with his newfound squid power.
- Erzi leaves the Dream; its survivors will decide their own destiny.
- He joins the Old God in the cosmos, to swim into the unknown.