OM! Nightbringer: Trailer Breakdown
[usual disclaimers: this is just my opinion, criticism isn't "negativity", all interpretations are valid!]
Do we know much about the game other than it being a prequel? No!
Do I think this is probably what the "Ruri-chan" game beta test was actually for? Yes!
Will this game have lore that contradicts the original game? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Can we ignore it if we want to? Yes!
Am I going to play it? Duh xD
Skipping forward slightly to cover the above gif - this transition scene is played twice in the trailer which not only emphasises that this transition between angel and demon is an important focus of Nightbringer but also that they thought it was a banger, which it is!
The brothers stand as angels in the Celestial Realm, the building as yet untouched by war, before flashing forward - violently - to a ruined building drenched in blood red, crumbling to pieces as they stand there.
A gap as angels is filled by Satan. Lucifer loses his wings. Halos are discarded.
But still together they stand, behind their leader, no matter where he may take them...
Starting at the beginning then, we tip into this world much like Alice and the rabbit hole, tumbling down an endless spiral.
This spiral however is one of glowing windows - or is that doors? - a transitional image of time and/or space, which is of course highly relevant when you happen to have a time travelling butler nearby 👀
As Barbatos reveals in Lesson 15:
"I have the ability to see into both the past and the future…
"…and I can send people to either one by using one of the countless doors in my room."
A prequel seen via time travel? Or simply a connection to the original game? Time will tell...
(I almost thought he said the return door would be glowing but turns out that's my own fic, oop!)
The previous and current side characters are all present and correct, from Thirteen crammed onto the balcony, Mephistopheles on the stairs, Luke clutching Simeon's arm, and Raphael faceplanting into the camera.
The angels stand in the dark, signifying perhaps the current day Devildom... or the war torn Celestial Realm.
The presence of Thirteen suggests a modern day beginning point... or that she has been to the Devildom once before.
Diavolo and Barbatos are the only characters seen in their RAD uniforms - an institution that was already in place before the fallen angels first arrived.
Unlike everyone else, Solomon is shown alone, in circumstances similar to his UR+ card Make Solomon Cry. The golden light of the card is missing, instead the sky is grey and cries with him.
But he, like a solemn Lucifer, both reveal a small smile as they look up, towards something, or someone, that gives them hope.
Solomon's mortality is something the game hasn't touched on much, nor the origins of his pacts or his/Michael's ring... A trip to the past could reveal far more than just angel history.
Lucifer is shown throughout the trailer as brooding, grief-torn, stricken, but these tiny moments reveal his underlying nature, one buried by war and loss.
He is Rebellion. And his capacity for love remains immense.
The white bird of the title logo is the negative to the black bird of the original game logo - and while the black bird in the original game title animation flies across the screen, enveloping the viewer in the world of the Devildom, here a white bird steps free of its cage and flies to freedom.
Freedom from the Celestial Realm, but the cage door was never truly shut... unlike the caged bird of Season 1 (see Belphegor's Bird Cage background).
The black bird (crow) represents the Devildom, and the white bird (dove) the Celestial Realm. Associations as old as time, but a reminder of where the focus of this game lies - the nature of the Fall 👀
This change is also seen in the different feathers between the old game introduction and the new:
In the beginning, a demonic Lucifer raises his hand as a white feather we see from above lands upon his palm, where he crushes it fiercely, as if disgusted, reducing it to dust.
In Nightbringer, an angelic Lucifer reaches out to cradle a falling white feather we see from below, as if it is precious to him. (As if it is Lilith's...)
In the og game, Lucifer the demon casts aside the last remnants of his angelic origins, a feather from the wings he had already ripped out of himself.
But here, earlier, Lucifer the Archangel is at war, and the fallen are his allies, his friends, his family. He cradles that which will soon be gone, that which he will soon think himself unfit to touch...
A mirror image - that is what Satan has always feared himself to be, a part of Lucifer, an inescapable fragment of a singular soul.
Satan as a newly created being is so very much a part of Lucifer that the sight of the elder demon is an affront to his nature, an unrelenting reminder of who - of what he is.
In the original game, Satan has begun to learn who he truly is as his own unique being. Someone who values understanding, who makes friends with ease, who indulges his hobbies, who has his own unique bonds with his chosen family.
But Satan in the beginning, that was a very different being, and one who only had muddled memories and vague guesses as to who the fuck anyone around him is, and where the hell he happened to be 👀
A mirror image - that is what this trailer shows, Lucifer's blue turned to red to oppose Satan's green, opposite hands clutching their faces, equal shapes in the background unlike any other pair (even the twins!), and dual faces of agony.
Satan's "birth" is painful for them both, a trauma never healed. Perhaps finally the viewer will be given a greater understanding of both, and if the viewer is who I suspect it might be, that could be very interesting indeed...
I can't ignore the others, as although this is very much the Lucifer and Satan show, getting to see any of the brothers' early demon days would be quite the treat!
There are similarities here to their original intro animation, that somewhat shows a facet of each personality - the distance Levi projects between himself and others for his own (or others) safety; the fun loving Asmo who could be so easily tipped into scary aggressor; the sunshine filled Mammon whose sin colour is not present in his surroundings but instead a blinding angelic white tinged with the Celestial blue of his own eyes; the protective bodyguard of the family Beel, ready to fight once more; and the (faux) innocence of Belphie who later hid his hatred to trick a human to their death.
There are many comparisons to be made with the original introduction, and some are certainly deliberate, from the near exact positioning matching the thrones, to the brothers standing facing a new dawn versus now, in the prequel, standing on a battlefield facing Diavolo.
The original tone was playful, with little revealed about the world the characters inhabited, whereas here we have a more sombre mood, hinting at the things we know come to pass.
The brothers are seen each in turn - determined, grim faced, ready for whatever this new hell will throw at them but touched, crushed, by the grief upon them all.
And then to Lucifer at last, who raises his head in defiance once again.
I could write much more but I'll spare y'all xD
However if you read this far and are still wondering who I think/hope the viewpoint character of Nightbringer will be...
One angry, confused, and clueless demon who wants some damn answers ( ಠ▿▿ಠ)و ̑̑