i think one of my favorite pieces of useless rune factory trivia is that the emmett, the barkeeper in rf1, has a moustache in his official art even though he doesnt have a moustache in game
Assessing the story of Rune Factory 1, with context (RF theory... sort of)
Many months back, I marathoned the four main Rune Factory games in reverse order. In doing so, I noticed a few details that stood out to me, which caused a bunch of other things to fall in place the more I thought about it. Rune Factory 1's narrative largely failed to emphasize most of the undertones present throughout the game. I think the game was intentionally left as vague in its writing, but who knows if we'll ever get closure on it (fingers crossed), so what I have written here is more-or-less an in-depth analysis of what is known, and then moderately to heavily backed speculation to fill in the holes. This will be long, as I have a lot of points to address, so bear with me.
Note: Due to differing terminology for recurring concepts throughout the series, I will likely be referring to most things as how they are known in Rune Factory 1, as that is the terminology I am most familiar with (i.e. First Forest = Forest of Beginnings).
Warning: Heavy speculation, theorizing, major plot spoilers for Rune Factory 1 & 2, and potential plot spoilers Rune Factory 4 ahead.
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I. INTRODUCTION
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To start off with, I want to review some fundamental concepts covered in the expositions of pretty much every game in the series, and that is the connection between the two worlds, and the gates connecting them. The First Forest is explained to be a parallel world to its material counterpart, and is where all monsters originate. As parallel worlds typically are, the two worlds are closely connected, and monsters are able to travel to the material world through rifts in space, known as gates. Gates are naturally-occurring, and are implied to have a connection to rune energy that gathers, but their exact cause is unknown.
In Rune Factory 1, gates take a different form compared to the rest of the series. In place of gates, the dungeons in the game instead have the Sechs equipment, known as Shifts. Their immediate purpose is the same as gates, however we see that the Shifts are designed more for summoning monsters rather than serving as neutral portals. In Rune Factory 2, Barrett explains that Shifts, while man-made, were created by enclosing a natural rune gate inside a machine that regulated what came and went through the gate, and when. The Sechs themselves could not recreate the function of gates without using actual gates.
Gates are one of two things that bridge the two worlds. According to Mist, Earthmates possess the ability to summon monsters from the First Forest directly, by calling upon their runes and distilling them into the material world. This power has limits, however. As we see in the events of Rune Factory 4, moving a large amount of runes will put the caster in danger. Earthmates can also return monsters to the First Forest at will, as they do with monsters they have befriended in some cases.
All monsters residing in the human world are sent back to the First Forest when slain. Weapons are cast with a type of magic known as Retornen, which leaves the monster's spirit intact, allowing it to return to the Forest. But this does not mean monsters are immortal. The basis of their travel between worlds is highly dependent on a balance of runes, and they themselves are comprised partially of rune energy. It is this rune energy that allows them to be summoned from the Forest by Earthmates. If this rune energy is somehow depleted, the monster will die. This also holds true for Native Dragons.
In Rune Factory 4, we learn a bit about the life cycles of Native Dragons with the tragic fate of the Wind Dragon. Ventuswill is a particularly compelling instance, because, based on what we know about her, she has chosen to live the majority of her long life outside of the Forest, and instead spent it with humans in their world. Over time, Ventuswill was unable to regulate the runes in her body, due to a worldly imbalance of rune energy. Simply put, in order for a monster to maintain a physical vessel in the human world, they need runes. And due to her being a Native Dragon, Ventuswill needed a lot of runes. The human world failed to provide Ventuswill with an adequate amount, so she tapped into her own rune supply, which is essentially her life force.
Native Dragons have a role to fulfill when the earth becomes severely starved of runes. Their inherent purpose is to sacrifice themselves and martyr the massive rune within their bodies in order to renew the earth. Ventuswill had become attached to her life among humanity and had attempted to run from this inevitable fate as a Native Dragon. Instead of releasing her internal rune energy, she attempted to use it to sustain her own body for as long as possible.
The implication is that Native Dragons eventually get reincarnated if they happen to die, but the exact details of this are not really explained. In Rune Factory 1, Terrable was more or less a newborn Native Dragon, hinting at the fact that he was only just recently reincarnated. In Rune Factory 4, we don't really see Ventuswill die. Only her body was destroyed, but her spirit remained intact--which was returned to the First Forest a la Retornen magic. And even then, her body was destroyed because it was pushed to its limit. Ventuswill physically died, in a sense, but once provided with the runes necessary to establish a new body, she was able to leave at will and life went back to "normal" for her.
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II. FIERSOME & TERRABLE AS NATIVE DRAGONS
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With a background on what has been established on the general life cycle of Native Dragons, we're now going to focus on two of them in particular: Terrable and Fiersome. In Rune Factory 2, we learn about how these two dragons' life cycles are linked to one another. According to Norad's legends, Fiersome is characterized as a god of destruction, who will engulf the world in flames. If this takes place, Terrable will be reincarnated afterward in order to reset the world.
To fully understand the relationship between Terrable and Fiersome, we need to read between the lines a bit. Both dragons share a reputation of being capable of destroying the world--it is heavily emphasized in Rune Factory 1 that Terrable also holds this potential--so we can ascertain that Terrable is not designed to oppose Fiersome, per se. Instead, it seems the two of them are part of the same cycle of life and death for the world. Fiersome is simply the catalyst of a world-reset process. If Terrable is to renew the earth after Fiersome destroys it, all existing life must end first--even if any life had managed to survive Fiersome's inferno, it would not survive Terrable's purge. There is no sense of hope from Barrett or Aaron during their discussion of the legend, and this is amplified by the fact that Terrable has no duty to save anything from Fiersome. This remains consistent with the idea that both dragons can destroy the [present] world.
The magical seal that keeps Fiersome at bay needs to be re-cast every 1000 years, in order to prevent him from triggering the chain of events described in the legend. The seal is designed to keep Fiersome inside the First Forest so that he is unable to unleash his power. The Palermo Temple acts as a second line of defense for when the seal begins to wear off and he manages to escape the Forest, he is still confined underground for an Earthmate to re-cast Dragon Break and renew the seal.
Due to the nature of Native Dragons' life cycles, as elaborated upon above, it is implied that the Fiersome in the events of Rune Factory 2 is the same Fiersome from whenever the last time the world had reset, if it has at all. We know that a being travelling between the two worlds is not the same as reincarnation, since the Forest does not equate to death, so for however many 1000-year cycles this barrier has been maintained (I do not believe this is explicitly stated anywhere?), Fiersome has been one and the same each time he has been sealed away.
Inversely, Kardia is historically associated with the Grimoire Dragon. In Rune Factory 1, Russell tells Raguna that Grimoires are born every 1000 years. This detail remains consistent with what Barrett tells Aaron about Terrable and Fiersome, and how Terrable would be "born anew" after Fiersome would lay waste to the world. This connection hints at the possibility that Kardia's Grimoire and Alvarna's Seal may be a part of the same cycle--these two things fall into a 1000 year recurrence by design. Furthermore, the events of Rune Factory 1 and Rune Factory 2 are easily spaced about 10 years apart, using the character Cecilia as a frame of reference.
Rewinding a bit, I must highlight a very specific detail in this process that does not add up, and that is the fact that Terrable's appearance as a Native Dragon is entirely predicated upon Fiersome's appearance. In the events of the series, however, Terrable shows up first. Moreover, the events of Rune Factory 1 are somewhat known in 2. Cecilia lived in Kardia when the Sechs invaded. Kyle and Rosalind have an exchange describing Terrable's attack on the Sechs army. The fact of the matter is that Terrable appeared completely independent of Fiersome in Rune Factory 1, which hugely contradicts the legend as told by Barrett. And it doesn't take much more thought to know why: it was the Sechs Empire's meddling that caused this.
During the endgame of Rune Factory 1, Raguna storms Greed Cave, and finds Lynette at its depths. Using the massive equipment stationed there, she summons the Grimoire Dragon, who is asleep. Lynette explains that only a chosen Earthmate can rouse the Grimoire--an Earthmate who the Sechs have determined to be Raguna. As we know, the Grimoire Dragon refers to Terrable before his ascension to godhood. On top of this, Lynette's words even suggest that the concept of the Grimoire Dragon is exclusive to Terrable. Why he sleeps may be connected to his relationship with Fiersome, which could explain why only a certain Earthmate possesses the power to disrupt this. Earthmates have a duty to communicate with the earth and its runes, and their interactions with the Native Dragons throughout Norad's history is pretty involved.
The Sechs' plan was to use Terrable--a Native Dragon with the power to recreate the world--in order to rule it. The plan involved sending the determined Earthmate, Raguna, to Kardia where he would run a farm. As Raguna reaches his potential as an Earthmate during his everyday life, the Empire was able to harvest the runes released from him cultivating the dungeons and feed them to the Grimoire until they met the threshold that would trigger his awakening. The means of crossing this threshold was the battle tank that they had placed in Danaan Cave, convincing Raguna that it was their means of invasion. In destroying the tank, Raguna released enough cumulative rune energy to stir the Grimoire.
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III. KARDIA'S HISTORY & THE GRIMOIRE DRAGON
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The Sechs' interference may go much deeper than this, however. Looking at the ending scene, we are taken to Norad's capital city of Palermo where we see Ivan speaking with King Gilbert about the events that took place. During this, Ivan expresses his relief that Terrable is no longer trapped underground, suggesting that he was not supposed to be where he was when Raguna fought his Grimoire form.
The town of Kardia lies on the Sechs Empire's east border, making it already at high risk for invasion. Knowing this, we take a look at the two caves just outside Kardia that are occupied by the Sechs Empire--Danaan and Greed--and it is notable that they are the westernmost caves in the game--the caves closest in proximity to Sechs territory; very easy for them to access and repurpose as research facilities, as they have done.
Keeping the above in mind, we turn to sources within the town of Kardia for details on the Grimoire Dragon. There are two dungeons in particular that are associated with the Grimoire, and neither of them are Danaan nor Greed Cave. According to the Grimoire texts in Kardia's library, Mt. Gigant is rumored to be the site of the Grimoire. Lynette scoffs at Raguna for mistaking the dragon he fought at Mt. Gigant for the actual Grimoire, which does raise questions. On top of this, Sharron, Kardia's resident ruins expert, is utterly crushed to learn that the Kasimir Ruins became the nest for a giant golem, cutting into her certainty that the Kasimir Ruins were the Grimoire's ruins.
Looking back at Mt. Gigant, we recall Raguna's fight with the dragon that Mist suggests could be the Grimoire. After returning it to the First Forest, Raguna heads back to Kardia with Mist. After they leave, this is the first time we see Lynette, and she seems pleased with the dragon's presence on Mt. Gigant. Mist herself had her doubts about the dragon on Mt. Gigant being the Grimoire, as well as many people in Kardia. Sharron, Russell, and Tori in particular seem highly skeptical of Raguna's "Grimoire encounter" actually being the Grimoire.
Whether or not it was intentional that the Sechs managed to summon a dragon, it seemed to serve well as a red herring of sorts, and eliminated suspicion that the Grimoire was actually elsewhere. It is stated that the Sechs had placed all of the boss monsters in each of the dungeons--for Raguna to sent back to the Forest--though whether or not the monsters were assigned to dungeons or pulled from the First Forest at random isn't certain. However, Lynette seemed slightly surprised that a dragon "actually" showed, meaning that it could have been intended, but rather she was doubtful that they would actually manage to summon a dragon there. Nonetheless, the dragon's presence there determined that the plan had entered its "final" stage, according to Lynette. This is possibly due to the fact that they were able to summon more and more powerful monsters with greater amounts of rune energy, thanks to Raguna, as their plan progressed.
The Kasimir Ruins is probably one of the more mysterious dungeons in the series, as we really know next to nothing about them other than a few things that Sharron tells us. One of these things is that she believes the Kasimir Ruins to belong to the Grimoire Dragon. Like the dragon on Mt. Gigant, the giant golem in the Kasimir Ruins fits nicely as a possible decoy, seeing there was a golem gatekeeper already present in the ruins--a golem that Sharron was somewhat aware existed due to her research in ancient texts. It was specifically the giant golem that threw her in for a surprise. But her devastation about the giant golem quickly switches to her concern about the Sechs Empire, because she has a gut feeling that Shifts inside the ruins were placed here by them. Her doubt about the golem, followed by this topic change, may indicate that Sharron believes the giant golem to have something to do with the Sechs' activity as well, which is not entirely unheard of. In Rune Factory Frontier, Raguna met Brodik--an undercover Sechs solider--who actually built a giant golem, and challenged Raguna to engage it in combat.
Something curious about the ruins, however, is their similar architecture to the Palermo Temple in Rune Factory 2. The Kasimir Ruins have aged worse, as they have been exposed to the elements, but there are some observable similarities. Their layouts are similar; the Kasimir Ruins appears to have its own version of the Four Seasons Hallway (it's a spring dungeon, but the visual similarities are present), also with a cross-layout. It is also worth noting that the Kasimir Ruins and Palermo Temple--and even the Dragon Cave from Rune Factory 3--feature very similar statues throughout, and their architect could be the same person, or group of people.
The idea that the Kasimir Ruins are, or were, a counterpart to Palermo Temple is a bit farfetched. But this would compliment Sharron's assertion that the Grimoire lived in the ruins at some point. The most curious thing about the Palermo Temple in general, however, is the theme of dualism present throughout. It's very loyal to the concept of these two dragons, and the entire temple's design is heavily based around them. The Palermo Temple is designed to contain only one dragon in particular, however. Because of this, one of the dragons in the illustrations has to be Fiersome, as he is the temple's raison d'être. And, based on the legend shared by Barrett, the other dragon is presumably Terrable. If this is the case, this theme of dualism could hint at Palermo Temple having a counterpart for the "other dragon" shown in the engravings.
I would like to do a bit of rough speculating about the relationship between the Kasimir Ruins and Mt. Gigant, and why Grimoire legends speak of both. Something worth noting is the locations of these two sites--the ruins' entrance is right at Mt. Gigant's base. If the Grimoire is tied to this precise geographical location, then both dungeons are involved in a sense. As I mentioned earlier, the Kasimir Ruins have been exposed to the elements and eroded pretty badly, in contrast to the more isolated location of the Palermo Temple. I would like to think that the Kasimir Ruins may have been situated beneath, or within, Mt. Gigant at some point--and technically, they still are. The entrance is exposed, but the networking of the actual ruins does tunnel beneath Mt. Gigant. But by the entrance is a waterfall--moving water. Over time, the entrance could have become exposed due to weathering at this particular spot at the base of Mt. Gigant.
Back on track--assuming I am correct about the link between the Kasimir and Palermo Temples, an important difference between the two is their locations. The Kasimir Ruins is built with its entrance presently at ground level, while Palermo Temple's highest point is approximately 300 feet underground. Since Fiersome is the catalyst for the process that the two dragons share, it makes a lot of sense that the temple designed to contain him would be less accessible. Other than the chosen Earthmate spoken of in Rune Factory 1, Fiersome breaking out is probably the other method that causes the Grimoire to awaken. If the Grimoire does get born on an offset in advance to Fiersome's seal weakening, the implication would be that the Grimoire sleeps for years until Fiersome breaks out, which would then trigger Terrable to be "born anew"--the Grimoire ascends to godhood and becomes Terrable to complete the process.
In a perfect scenario, the Grimoire is born and never becomes divine because Fiersome fails to destroy the world. Since the researchers in Norad's capital engineered a seal for Fiersome a long time ago, Terrable's power has been unneeded, and that is why the Grimoire exists—to gauge the world's order. It only would become Terrable to reset the world when it falls into chaos. Additionally, the fact that the knowledge exists that Grimoires are born every 1000 years would suggest that there have been at least a few iterations of Fiersome's barrier needing to be re-cast. The Kasimir Ruins could have been built to house the Grimoire when it manifests every 1000 years, either to prevent, or delay, Terrable from finishing the cycle, if Fiersome were to escape and set things in motion. This could buy the Earthmates time to re-seal Fiersome before Terrable arrives and absolutely eliminates everything.
Finally, we have Greed Cave, the actual site of the Grimoire during the events of Rune Factory 1. Greed Cave is filled with massive formations of rune crystals all throughout. In Rune Factory 4, we learn of a concept known as a rune spot. A rune spot is a place where runes naturally gather in high concentrations, greatly exceeding the norm. As with the case of the Delirium Lava Ruins in Rune Factory 4, what we see of these crystal formations here may indicate that a rune spot exists within Greed Cave, making it optimal as a place for the Sechs Empire to set up a facility to siphon rune energy. And if rune energy will naturally gravitate here, then chances are the runes released by Raguna will distill here as well. And, relocating the Grimoire here is a promising course of action from the Sechs' perspective.
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IV. THE GRIMOIRE PROJECT, INTERPRETED
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We take a final look at the Sechs Empire's Grimoire Project, this time thoroughly interpreting it with the above speculation as a background, and see how well things fit. After they learn of the Grimoire--which I'll address in a moment--they devise a plan using what they know of its potential. Their ultimate goal is to harness the Grimoire's power and rule the world. When their research takes them to Greed Cave as a potential rune spot--and right by their border, too!--they are confident that they can successfully focus Earthmate-specific rune energy that gathers here into the Grimoire, once it is acquired. So, they eventually do find the Grimoire in the Kasimir Ruins, and after getting everything set up, transfer it to their underground facility in Greed Cave. Since it is asleep, it would provide no resistance to them doing whatever they please with it.
One thing about the Empire that I must commend is that they are largely informed on the matter of Norad's Native Dragons. Their knowledge seemingly surpasses most characters we meet throughout the series. A good deal of this could be linked to espionage--as with the instance of Rune Factory 4--but as far as legends and lore are concerned, this would mostly be based upon excessive research and investigation. With that in mind, we can ascertain that the Sechs research team would have likely learned of Terrable and Fiersome together, as their association is established to be like life and death. They choose to focus on Terrable--I mean, Fiersome is currently sealed away so they sort of have to. Plus, Kardia is a border town--Alvarna presumably falls near the capital city of Palermo, given the name of the temple in which Fiersome is sealed--which makes Kardia optimal and easily accessible for transferring and setting up equipment as needed. The circumstances by which Terrable appears are determined to either be Fiersome or a specific Earthmate, so they pick the easier option. And, besides, if they picked Fiersome as their means of waking the Grimoire, they wouldn't really even need to bother with the Grimoire, would they? There's also the fact that, well, the Grimoire is a baby, basically. It probably seems like it'd be easier to force their will onto it, or so they assume. If they could have Terrable under their control when he crosses the threshold of godhood, they probably assumed they would have everything in the bag after that. There is also the factor of how Terrable's power differs from Fiersome's. Fiersome represents destruction, while Terrable represents renewal. While both inherently mean destruction in some sense of the word, the nature of Terrable's power would be more ideal for world domination, as those yearning for domination want to metaphorically remake the world [in their image].
A key part of the plan is Raguna, who Ivan says was separated from his family as a child. Could he have been determined then as the chosen Earthmate and gotten kidnapped? It is a distinct possibility, but there is no solid evidence to back this up. But, as Lynette said, they have been waiting for the right moment. If Raguna had been captured as a child and monitored by the Sechs all this time prior to his memory being wiped, then, there's a good chance they already had the Grimoire in their possession when they acquired Raguna. In the meantime, the Sechs have been busy setting the stage for him. They distribute the Shifts to the caves discreetly, and have giant monsters summoned in each, save for Danaan and Greed. After they erase Raguna's memories, they send him to Kardia.
The giant monsters play a massive role in Raguna's progress from both Kardia's perspective as well as the Sechs'. The giant monsters are easily too large for an Earthmate to summon--again, with the instance of Rune Factory 4, the runes in their bodies are too large and will put the summoner in danger--but with the lovely combination of gates and Sechs equipment, it is doable. The release of those runes when their Earthmate returns them to the Forest is good news for the Sechs. On the other hand, the curious encounter of the Greater Daemon alarms Mayor Godwin, who sends Raguna to investigate the phenomenon in the other dungeons. Raguna is also required to plow the fields in each dungeon in order for Godwin to grant him his next pass. This works perfectly in the Empire's favor, as it is a motivation for Raguna to continue to take the Sechs' bait. We look again at the specific instances of Mt. Gigant and the Kasimir Ruins. As a means of covering their tracks, they place realistic giant monster alternatives to the Grimoire at both sites: a dragon at Mt. Gigant because some legends have described the Grimoire to be a dragon--one that lives in Mt. Gigant, and a giant golem in the Kasimir Ruins, because a mini golem is already known to reside there. The golem is perfect, because it does subtly point to the Empire, on top of the Shifts that have raised suspicion among all who have seen them.
The icing on the cake, though, is when Raguna catches on after Kasimir and pursues Danaan because of rumors of the Sechs' latest weapon being stationed there. Lynette puts on the whole song and dance about how the battle tank is their ultimate weapon and the Empire intends to use it to invade, so naturally, Raguna destroys it. What he doesn't know is that it was built to be destroyed, and the runes Raguna amassed from its destruction were fed to their actual weapon: the Grimoire, soon-to-be-Terrable.
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V. THE OUTCOME
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We know how this ends. Raguna manages to send the Grimoire back to the First Forest, freeing it from the Sechs Empire's grasp. Lynette who executed this plan up to this point is confronted by Emperor Ethelberd himself, and he orders her to lay down her life as consequences. Raguna spares her as they all rush out of Greed Cave to evacuate the town now that the Sechs really are invading. As an alternative to the Grimoire--though, I think he probably intended to send them in anyway since they were already on the way--Ethelberd sends in a fleet of 100 tanks to flatten the town of Kardia. As a saving grace, the town is spared by Terrable himself--now fully divine. He demonstrates a fraction of his ability to reset the world on the Sechs fleet, bringing it to life with an array of vegetation. This act quite literally destroys the fleet, as the roots and vines have choked all mechanical function out of it. With Emperor Ethelberd defeated by the very power he aimed to control, he and his army walk back on foot, utterly humiliated.
I think the most important thing to know about this scene is what isn't said about it. While Raguna and Ivan are both Earthmates, neither of them is capable of summoning a Native Dragon. They had nothing to do with Terrable's attack on the Sechs. Terrable who was sent to the First Forest by Raguna awhile earlier, comes back to this world on his own. It seems Native Dragons can easily travel between the two worlds without the use of gates--in Rune Factory 4, Ventuswill had to go rescue Lest/Frey from the First Forest at the end of the first arc. I think, then, it's pretty self-explanatory that Terrable came back on his own agenda and attacked the Sechs' fleet out of spite for what they did, and planned to do. I mean, they basically awoke him prematurely, and for no good reason. They took him, force-fed him runes, and attempted to enslave him for their own selfish means. Moreover, they disrupted a natural order. Terrable's motivation, I feel, has better context, being aware of his background and purpose as a Native Dragon--and the Earth Dragon at that. You mess with nature, then you mess with Terrable, and he is not happy about it.
lul I didn’t look at my sketch at a good point of view after I finished and only noticed wobkyness afterwards. XD So I ended up Photoshopping this a little over the original photo I took. I have trouble scanning watercolour, it often comes up with a blue tone over light colours. :’(
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