Isterik nation, I bring you gifts and goods in the form of delicious, juicy devnotes.
The scene at Nebakov gives us a few things to take note of already. First, the fact that Erik sees Hansry and instantly realizes that they're a threat, and then the fact that Isterik clearly know each other extremely well:
Also worth taking note of here is the fact that Erik is pretty much heavy breathing in every single scene.
Then, we've got the torture scene where Henry decides to throw out some choice statements about Erik that very clearly do their job in getting to Istvan:
We see more of the heavy breathing from Erik coming up again the last time Isterik see each other. Erik is clearly someone who is at all times trying to hold back emotionally, and it seems that Istvan (or things related to Istvan) directly correspond with a loss of that control.
As you already know, we get a lot of Isterik moments in the scene where Henry kills Istvan, but in case you wanted to see the highlights, I've got you covered:
What really struck me here is how Istvan acts as a fairly direct mirror to Erik in terms of emotional control. Erik seems to be the one thing that can make him fall apart in two seconds. He's so calm in most of that scene, but if Henry starts talking about how he'll kill Erik, Istvan starts screaming.
We fast-forward a bit. The scene where Erik is given the news about Istvan is like a masterclass in physicality from him. We upgrade from breathing to snorting and snarling to everything else. Huge props to Jim High here on turning Erik into what is effectively an animal in that scene.
At the Italian Court, Erik has to actually hold it together because he's literally commanding a bunch of men. And even there he struggles substantially in the face of all of Henry's jeering:
Yet again, we fast-forward, this time to the scene where Henry can fight Erik. But this time, it's to my favorite part of the Isterik devnotes by far. Namely, this:
Like, we get so many hints. So, so many. But this could not be more blatant in reminding us that yeah, there was so much between these two.
I wanted to speak briefly about something I deeply love across the KCD series but that I don't often see discussed: the notion that Hans makes Henry worse.
It sounds bad when I put it that way. Let me clarify for a paragraph or two (or TEN), because the way I mean it, it's not actually a negative thing. It's a form of restoration and care.
(Long spoiler-filled essay under the cut. This is not a Henry-critical post; I don't see the usefulness of condemning fictional characters through morality lenses we apply to real humans anyway.)
Played KCD1? Then you know this: When we meet Henry, he's kind of a shithead.
I don't mean he's a terrible, unforgivable person or anything. He's just sort of your average village lout. He's self-indulgent at his father's expense, lazy, self-focused. He has a committed sweetheart but ogles other women. He optionally (canonically in most playthroughs) throws shit at his German neighbor's house, not out of any real animosity for foreigners but because his shithead friends egg him into it and it's more fun than doing chores.
Henry's able to be these things, unlike for instance Zbyshek (an actual bad seed), because despite it he is universally adored. He's a Skalitz boy! He has a comparably well-off mother and father who dote upon him, an adoring girlfriend, a bunch of companionable jackoffs who fully embrace him as one of the clique, and a stable future in Skalitz as the future blacksmith. Henry's awash in the comfort and privilege of being loved, genuinely loved, regardless of being pretty below-average... and this sense of security makes him both prone to kindness and kind of an entitled, comfortably sluggish, Prince Laddy of his hometown. We've all known these guys. Town darlings, forgiven for pretty much any transgression, because they're men and their outlooks are safe. They are so mundane, and yet they are treated like Special Boys, The Lads, the King Shits, and fully believe themselves to be so.
He's a lot like... Hans, really. In his own little world away from the world.
(The missing ingredient for Hans, of course, is the unconditional love and the peers. And despite his belligerence and avoidance of his title, Hans arguably is exceptional thanks to the rich multifaceted education granted to him in anticipation of his feudal role. Henry might have been similarly exceptional within the shape of his own class/trade-world, had his father been stricter about him minding his swordsmithing lessons. Alas, that pesky unconditional adoration let Hal's natural laziness get in the way.)
And then Skalitz is sacked.
Henry loses everything. His loving parents and their protection are obliterated in the most heinous way possible. His sweetheart is butchered. His friends scatter to the winds. Even the refugee townsfolk start turning a suspicious and resentful eye on him as competition for resources increases and the normal status of things is yanked out from under their feet (the only real exception being Janek & Jaroslav). Even his innocent flirtation with Theresa is broken into something sad and jagged and confusing. Nothing means anything anymore.
This crisis and its extreme discomfort forces Henry to become a grown person, albeit a little late, and learn to take care of himself and others. He can't be lazy anymore. He has to work for every scrap (though he certainly benefits from Radzig's careful, though distant, protection). He has to fight, eat shit, humble himself, and face a hard lesson: All the people in the world who loved him are gone. And it was that love that made him Special.
Frankly, Henry's not special anymore. This change in status and change in his own self-perception changes him, profoundly. Most would argue for the better based on his increase in ethics and loss of egotism, but that sort of change doesn't leave scars so much as it leaves charred flesh.
And then Hans scoops him up.
Hans adores Henry. Maybe not from the very start, but almost from it. And Hans adores Henry even when he's at his most pathetic in terms of skill development. This is critical: Hans adores Henry and wants to be around him, all the time, because of who Henry is. His personality! Because he treats him honestly, without editing his behavior or language to pay dues to class. Henry's despair and former King Shititude and a ghost of his love-induced Specialness empower him to talk to Hans like a peer, something Hans has never experienced.
But Henry has experienced being adored like this before. It's different - but it resembles the unconditional love he was once surrounded by. One that is very much not like Radzig's, even when Radzig begins to open up.
This one he doesn't have to work for. This one he gets just for being who he is.
(Indeed, turning Hans down or speaking to him harshly often results in a disposition boost, and it's - this is key - IMPOSSIBLE to make Hans dislike you NO MATTER how you play KCD. He is yours, Henry's, no matter what. Unconditionality.)
And gradually, especially by the time of and through KCD2, we see Hans's adoration of Henry begin to restore some of his former egotism. Henry starts to preen and gloat again, a little. Hans puffs him up and praises him and dresses him exquisitely and tells him they are King Shits, and even though Henry will never be the same again, he starts to, in tiny pieces, believe it.
You can see it as his confidence and bragging returns. You can see it in the ridiculous authority and haughtiness with which he speaks of things he clearly knows nothing about. You can see it in the way he begins to often comically assume that women (and men!) are attracted to him. He even (optionally) starts to womanize again, and worse than before! You can see it in how he takes way too much authority with nobles, treating them like peers (they very much aren't). Hans is in his head now, telling him he's actually Great, Worthy, Brave, Valorous, Handsome, Strong, Just Like Me, the Greatest Friend Ever. And even when Hans isn't there, that echo sticks around.
That sort of love makes him feel safe in his status as himself, worthy and anchored, again. His attitude regains a flicker of its insufferableness and his behavior, once desperately hardworking and humble, gets a bit worse again.
He is Special again. And I really love that. I truly do.
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