#great will

[eirikrjs]

Earth's Will

The Earth's Will, also known as the Will of the Earth, is an entity in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. It is rarely mentioned in-game,

A reminder that the non-Fandom Megaten wiki exists and has great stuff, like this page, written by @kidcapes, that you won't find on the other one. Sources cited!

[m4cravings]

Feels Good To Hear By Different Folks From My Entourage That I Am Amongst Strong People With Great Will & Character.

[tohellandback-recovery]

I have had some weak moments in the past week! But I am strong and my will is greater than this addiction.

[eirikrjs]

What’s your take on the whole “The Great Will in Nocturne is actually YHVH” thing?

Well then, you may be thrilled to read entry #15 here:

DEBUNKING 30 SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI FAN MYTHS, PART ONE: #1-15

2021 marks the 17th year of Shin Megami Tensei’s existence in the West and while that’s not exactly an auspicious number it’s certainly long

[eirikrjs]

Marsh actually did a video covering it and the Gamegear version which contains said ending. It was the Great Will(Universal Will). A bunch of other gods and stuff you fight on the way there, like Kether, Da’at, Loki, etc.

I haven't watched Marsh's video yet oh my god it's over two hours long and probably won't tonight. But I do know of this "Universal Will" through the wiki:

It's うちゅういしき, uchuuishiki. The uchuu is easily 宇宙, universe/cosmos. But ishiki is 意識, consciousness. Together, 宇宙意識. So calling it the Universal Will seems to be a misleading misnomer of a translation to begin with and it's more like the Universal/Cosmic Consciousness.

Let's compare it to other Great Will names in the series:

無限の宇宙を統括する意識体 (Famicom: むげんのうちゅうをとうかつするいしきたい), “mugen no uchuu o toukatsu tsuru ishikitai”:  “Incorporeal entity that controls countless universes.” (Great Will prototype mentioned by YHVH in Megami Tensei II)

宇宙の大いなる意志, “uchuu no ooinaru ishi”: “great will of the Universe” (SMT2)

大いなる意志, “ooinaru ishi”: “Great Will” (Nocturne)

大いなる意思, “ooinaru ishi”: “Great Will” (Nocturne, others)

大いなる理, “ooinaru ri”: “Great Reason” (The Axiom; SMT4A)

Ishiki/意識 only appears in Megami Tensei II's, and only as part of the word ishikitai/意識体--bodyless/formless/incorporeal entity, so it has completely different usage. Simply, Last Bible's is completely different from all the other "Wills" in the series.

My advice is to ALWAYS be skeptical of "connections" that lack overt evidence. Also be skeptical of grand-sounding names and terms that only appear in fan translations on the wiki or elsewhere--it's really not that difficult to verify the translations yourself, with a little Japanese knowledge. A little Japanese knowledge and Jisho are really all I have and needed to prove this so-called "Great Will" variant false. You could do it, too!

[eirikrjs]

Doesn’t Megaten Maniacs say TDE is about going against YHVH though?

It does! Well, at least a proposal for Maniacs' scenario does. Page 112 of Megaten Maniacs:

But there's no mention of the Great Will.

From my research last year, the point is that the Great Will is inconsistently defined in the game. It doesn't seem to be a big deal at all in these Megaten Maniacs drafts and to Atlus it's always been just a vague concept to throw around regarding humanity's spiritual projections. By comparison, Tokyo itself is a more important concept by many orders of magnitude. The Great Will has always only been important to fans who love to define the undefined.

[eirikrjs]

I don’t know, these two concepts are similar in nature with their naming and aren’t all that different. Universal Consciousness just sounds like Last Bibles equivalent, in much the same way Devil Survivor 2’a equivalent is meant to be the alien and non-human Canopus, just like God in DeSu2 are the Alien Administrators like Polaris.

I agree that they are all deliberately abstract concepts but each one is a unique actor in its respective scenario. As a creator, you don't give things different names if you also don't see them as distinctive, despite superficial similarities.