!!!MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR DOOM ETERNAL TAG2!!!
So I played DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods - Part 2 and it absolutely rocked!
But the one thing is would criticise story wise is the Slayer being interned atop Ingmore's Sanctum.
Call me crazy but I don't think they deserved that. They have part of the Dark Lord's soul so shouldn't have the rest of it been reformed within them? The rite of combat was what annihilated all demons outside of hell- not the death of their primeval. It feels like a slow-burn betrayal by The Father as a build up towards whatever may come next. Be it DOOM 6 or QUAKE 5.
But after everything the Slayer did, they deserved a rest. They deserved to at least live among the people that they saved after Eternal and TAG.
Not as their servent, nor their guide towards becoming something more.
To them, Humanity was worth saving- end of story. Doesn't matter if some of them fall prey to the temptation of Hell, or if they swear loyalty to Divine Aliens. The good in humanity far outweighs the bad.
But I don't think they'd 'bask in devotion' as it were. Not as some divine messianic figure or a God-Empruh of Man.
Where has devotion gotten Humanity? The Argenta? The Immoran's?
Devotion to Idols and Gods and to People gave them the Khan Maykr, it gave them The Father.
It gave them Davoth.
The Slayer walked the path of perpetual torment and eternal glory.
They saved humanity and they will do so again.
As an Eternal Hero, as the Destroyer, as the God-Killer.
As the DOOM Slayer. The Ultimate Paragade of their Civilisation.
But they're not a soldier doing their duty or a merc on a job.
The Slayer is a Warrior-King. They no longer fight to live. They live to fight.
In times of conflict, of war- they lead from the front. As the Ultimate Vanguard. As the First and Last line of defense against annihilation.
In absense of conflict they stand ever vigilant over their people, watching over them. Defending the Weak, so that they may become strong.
And teaching the strong to defend and empower the weak, so that when the armies of Steel and Thunder come; they may never stand alone.
Because Peace, true peace, is found within. Not in the absence of conflict.
And they are so much more than a vessel of eternal fury.
So in the coming years as countless refugees from Immora arrive on Earth seeking a new home, as millions of Argenta leave the liberated Argent D'nur seeking bonds of fellowship across the stars, as humanity reclaims their homewolrd from the clutches of hell; the single most asked question among so many people is this-
"What happened to the Slayer? Where did they go?"
The official answer will be; "You see that green light flying across the sky? That same light the Argenta salute when they see it flying over head? That light that the Immoran's look to with sorrow? That no-fly zone ARC Command has created around a that great fortress in orbit? They're up there. Watching over us"
And that's right, the Slayer is up there. They have no reason to be on Earth. They have far more important things to do.
They totally didn't walk into a New York pizzaria last week and order a Ranch BBQ pizza with pineapple; only to return a day later in the late evening after helping to rebuild the apartment block across the street to order food for everyone working on the construction site.
They didn't walk into a beach bar in Egypt and spend the night sitting in the corner, quietly drinking Bone Vodka with some old Argenta bloke, bearing facial scars and a cataracted eye- didn't embrace him as he quietly wept as the other Argenta in the bar saluted them both and asked to sit with them.
He was apparently a Commander of some sort? No Human knows the story. All the Argenta will say is "He redeemed himself in his valour, we merely asked when he would forgive himself"
They didn't climb Mount Olympus on Mars, accompanying climbers with a host of crimson-armoured warriors to the peak of the mountain, didn't help them build a shrine, didn't set down a horned helmet and entomb a Crucible Sword and Shield upon it- only to vanish before they could start the trek back to base camp; leaving these 'elite warriors of Immora' to walk with these Humans of Earth back home. To their new home.
The UAC, too rich and powerful to ever be destroyed or dissolved, has since failed to evict or indenture the People of Immora. They were commanded to live and find peace on a world much like ancient Jakkad- not submit to the UAC.
They didn't attend a University graduation in the rebuilt ARC Complex, now a memorial site of the battle that turned the tide of the War against hell; celebrating the success of an honoured former Intern.
Rumour has it, Doctor #Redacted# has begun reverse engineering the #Redacted# per the personnel request of #Redacted#. But no one knows the truth.
They didn't pull a child out of the way of an oncoming train in Tokyo, didn't stop a woman from getting raped in Tijuana, didn't help some nomads fix their cars engines in the Afghanistan, didn't walk through the streets of every city in the world tossing what must have been billions in so many different currencies to the poor and homeless.
And they sure as heck didn't appear, unarmoured and furious, to destroy Neo-Nazi Zerstroyers that emerged from beneath the catacombs of Berlin.
You can't prove he stood at the grave of William Joseph Blazkowitz and paid their respects.
You can't prove that was them.
Why would they help rebuild the bonds of fellowship between The Betrayer and The Night Sentinels?
Why would they give the Elite of Immora, the closest and most loyal to the Dark Lord- a world as red as Jakkad, reflected in the colour of their armour- than force the greenry of Earth or the Silver of Argent D'Nur upon them.
Why would they roam the world, seeing justice delivered as it recovers and rebuilds itself.
Surely the DOOM Slayer has many more important things to do than help heal the world- then making sure the world that they saved doesn't become one where kindness is a weakness.