I feel the need to address something bothering me in the ts fandom right now
1) this is an indie studio with a small handful of people working on a passion project, it's openly disrespectful to the developers to go onto a public platform and say "download this for free instead of buying it!"
2) if you can comfortably afford to buy an indie studio's project that you are interested in, you have no excuse to not spend an iced coffees worth of dollars to do so.
This is at best extremely irresponsible, and all for something we technically weren't owed to begin with.
As a big name etymology nerd, it was driving me absolutely 🕵️ when I couldn’t find the origins for Kuras’ name. I knew there was something out there to find when I heard that Kuras “has a very deliberately chosen name.” [Link to Youtube video/statement source, timestamp 41:15]. But then I realized that I was trying to find a single word when there was a piece of his name that I've heard before!
TLDR; I posit that Kuras’ name is Sumerian in origin.
My theory is that Kuras’ name is a combination of the Sumerian words Kur and Aš.
Lo and behold! Pronunciation checks out!
š has a pronunciation: like “sh” in “shine” (I've also seen Aš transliterated as “ash”.)
Linguistic Background: The Sumerian language is credited as the oldest documented form of writing and the region from which it originates is frequently referred to as the ‘birthplace of human civilization*’. I have a lot of babbling to do re: Sumerian myths and Touchstarved but for this post I'll stick to translations.
But suffice to say this fits as another piece of the puzzle in my mind. Seems fitting, considering Kuras is…Kuras. Birthdate is literally the first day of the calendar, etc.
Translation-wise, I will start with Aš, as there are fewer meanings to sift through.
[I looked through a few different dictionaries to ensure consistency but for this post I copied from sumerian.org ‘s Sumerian dictionary at https://www.sumerian.org/sumerian.pdf]
aš: one; unique; alone.
aš: spider.
áš: noun, wish; curse [AŠ archaic frequency:] verb, to desire; to curse.
You’ll recall that Mhin said Kuras was a one of a kind, entirely unique. A clue, perhaps?
I think any and all of these meanings could apply to Kuras, but the fact that the word “curse” popped up had me locked in.
Translating “Kur” is a little more difficult. Not that a translation is unavailable, but rather that many translations are available. Notably, however, Kur is the world from the Sumerian Underworld or Netherworld.
kur: n., mountain; highland; (foreign) land; the netherworld (*as in the afterlife–note that this is without connotation of heaven or hell.)
kur: v., to reach, attain; to kindle; to rise (sun). kúr[PAB]: n., stranger; enemy; hostility (from kur,'mountains, foreign land'). v., to be different; to change; to break a seal (often with -da-) (kúr-re in marû). adj., strange, alien; hostile; in the future. ; to turn round, turn into, transform
...Lots of ways to read these meanings together! Cursed the land? Cursed (to be in) the (literal) under-world aka cast out of heaven?! Kuras was the cause of the shroud coming down and the Soulless are the withered remains of his angel siblings lol Kuras committed The Original Sin?? Kuras is the origin of the curse??
I think the double meaning may be intentional, even. Perhaps his name was meant to mean something to the effect of "the rising sun", which would be fitting for someone who started his mortal realm adventures as the giver of knowledge and tie in with his repeated sun symbolism, but it has darker meanings that also tie in with his past sins and guilt
Discord is down, I can only scream about kuras here now. I don't care what he did. I don't care what he will do. He can evaporate me, he can evaporate the entire city, I will forgive him. I would forgive him if he caused the fogfall, I would forgive him if all of human suffering exists because of whatever knowledge he imparted way back when, I would forgive him if the world was ending because of him. Kuras is perfect. The most beautiful, intelligent, powerful, elegant, graceful, generous, caring, wise, hard working, charming, gentle, knowledgeable, attractive, reliable, smart, witty, enchanting, breathtaking, ethereal, incredible, gorgeous, angel of a man.
I was gonna jokingly say "it's the order they die" since we know their stories will progress in the bg without us if we aren't playing their routes, but the more I think abt it the more the brain worms eat away at my gray matter. Maybe it'd be in Leanders bad route. The order makes sense. Ais first because he's trying to kill him anyways, Vere next since Vere would Not let Ais's death slide, Kuras third because he'd probably try to stop Leander at this point (idk how he would even manage to deal w kuras but yk), Mhin fourth bc Leander doesn't appear to see them as a threat. Leander last because he flew to close to the sun.
Tumblr decided to be a bitch and not show me the latest Kuras question, so forgive me for being a little late.
As always, in answering one question, Redspring makes me ask several more. One thing specifically I can't seem to decide on is, "Kuras is considered an angel, but does that actually mean anything special in universe?" I don't doubt that in game we'll see his true form, and MC will clock him as an angel. But that doesn't mean that he'll be acknowledged as a type of holy, inherently religious entity. Are angels divine in nature, or are they just considered strong monsters? As of typing this, I still don't have an answer. So I'm going to go through everything we know about the man, to see if I can figure something out.
I will be assigning evidence to one of the four sides of this chart:
Beware, this post is long.
So right from the beginning, before we even know what he looks like, before we're ever told he's an angel, we have something very interesting. Eldritch is what is being used to describe him. This does not necessarily mean anything by itself, as the contemporary use of the word eldritch would have some people count "biblically accurate" angels as eldritch beings. But I do find it fascinating that they used eldritch, and not divine or holy or celestial.
The first instance of Kuras being called an angel. There is nothing really to note here, except to establish that he is in fact called one.
Our first point on the 'angels are something greater' side. If they were just another type of monster, then Kuras' true form wouldn't be something for Vere to be terrified of, as a fellow monster. This still does not mean that angels are holy beings, but it does hint at them likely being a rare sight on the other side, and perhaps even being separated from other monsters, despite them all living in the Shroud.
The first point on the 'angels are holy" side, since his origins are classified as "exalted" specifically, and Vere and Ais do not get the same descriptor.
And this is why I took note of Kuras being described as eldritch. Because now we can see that Kuras and Ocudeus are being classified under the same adjective. And if the two of them are considered to be of the same nature, then either Kuras isn't holy, or Ocudeus is (which is a thought I'm not prepared to explore right this second). Assuming the implication is the former, this is the first point on the 'angels are not holy' side.
This seems to be another point on the 'angels are something greater' side, because we see Ais and Vere drink while Kuras doesn't, implying that he is different from the typical monster. But that still doesn't point to him being holy. And if we operate under the assumption that Kuras and Ocudeus are the same type of being, then the only way this really means anything, is if we get confirmation that Ocudeus does eat while Kuras does not.
Here we finally have the first instance of divinity being mentioned in tandem with Kuras. But even now, it's the flowers that are associated with the divine. Yes Kuras is associated with the flowers, and is therefore associated with the divine through the transitive property, but it is the transitive property, and so is tied through a middleman. Even still, a technicality does put a point onto the 'angels are holy' side.
Our second instance of an association with divinity, but since these polls have questionable canonicity, I'm not counting it.
Our first instance of the word holy being mentioned in tandem with Kuras. Like above I don't count this, but if I did I would have to point out that the last option is using the same obscuring technique applied here:
Once again tying Kuras and Ocudeus together.
And finally a direct association between Kuras and the divine. Another point for 'angels are holy.' But to be semantic, I will point out that the title could be naming him a Divine Teacher not because he is divine, but because the knowledge he is sharing is of divine origin. Like how a piano teacher is a teacher of the piano, not a teacher who is a piano. Note how in the text itself he is described as an otherworldly teacher, not a divine one. (And going down that train, being a non divinity sharing divine knowledge would be part of the reason he is in exile. Truly a Prometheus moment.)
Nothing to really note here, except to establish the first time it is implied that Kuras is a type of monster from the Shroud, and that angels do not occupy some special 3rd realm.
The attention called to how very strong Kuras is, is another point on the 'angels are something greater' side. But that once again says nothing for or against his divinity.
And finally, the post that led me down this rabbit hole. A solid last point on the 'angels are not holy' side. Because why would divine beings not share a separate space with the higher power that created them? Unless we're saying that god is also in the Shroud (which is another thought I'm not exploring right now).
So, having explored all the relevant text, what does my chart end up looking like?
(The red inside the yellow dots are the points that could be contested, depending on your interpretation of the information given.)
To my absolute lack of surprise, regardless of if angels are considered truly divine or not, they are very much not your average monster. Kuras is concerningly strong, he is the longest lived of the cast (likely by a mile), his true form is monstrous enough to scare other monsters, he defies biology in a way the others don't (that we know of), and his very being is so "above it all" that not even dirt touches him. I never doubted that an angel would be a very distinct type of being, but I did still want to plot out the evidence to show that even if angels aren't divine that doesn't mean they aren't special. Angels potentially not being divine isn't meant to undermine Kuras, but instead a way to demonstrate how very bleak this world is. If even angels are simply another type of monster, then is anything there truly sacred?
Angels being holy just barely wins out against angels not being holy, and even then that result is up for debate, depending on a person's interpretation of some of the text. I don't really like the idea of Ocudeus being holy, and I read Kuras' title of Divine Teacher as him being a teacher of divinity, and not a divinity that is teaching. Therefore, for me personally, holy and not holy are tied, and so there is no clear answer. Which suck because that was the whole point of this post, but what can you do?
Regardless, this was a very fun deep dive that took several hours of pouring through information. And I didn't even touch on anything that happens in game, because all of the characters are unreliable narrators, who know very little about Kuras, and what little they do know, they aren't talking about. I guess there is no real point to this post since I didn't come to any real conclusions, but I'm sharing my process anyway.
I have nothing to back this up but my personal theory is that the shroud is less a gateway to a specific place and more a crossroads from countless different places. It could be something similar to the various realms that exist within oblivion (the lore concept, not the game called Oblivion lol) in tes. I do at least find it interesting that it's phrased like "came through the shroud" more often than not. I wonder if the name shroud itself has significance?
Has Kuras ever fallen in love with a human before?
Kuras came through the Shroud because he loved humanity. He's had human friends, colleagues, and lovers... all of whom he's destined to outlive. Each person he's loved—and lost—left an indelible stamp on him.
