I just finished the whole StarCraft II campaigns. And the last part, Legacy of the Void Epilogue: Into the Void confused me a lot. Here’s the question that troubling me.
According to the cinematics before, the “Infinite Cycle” is planned to merge both Purity of form (Protoss) and Purity of Essence (Zerg), then the elders would give their essence to it, ascending it into a new Xel’naga, continue the “Infinite Cycle”.
“Then the elders among them will give their lives to bestow their essence, and pure of form and pure of essence will be reborn as Xel’naga, shepherds of the Infinite Cycle.”
But actually only Kerrigan is chosen by Ouros to ascend. There is no Protoss, no Terran, no merge. In fact, the only operation has been made is Ouros giving his essence to Kerrigan and Kerrigan becoming a new Xel’gana. That’s it. How does it even possible?
This is poorly explained (ie it isn’t at all) but my personal headcanon is that Ouros contributed the Purity of Form when he gave his essence, which combined with her own Purity of Essence from the zerg.
While it’s not explained, I feel the answer is in the definitions of the two purities as defined by the mission “The Infinite Cycle.”
Purity of Form: Great Psionic Potential
Purity of Essence: Capacity for Great Change
Kerrigan obviously had essence one with her primal zerg essence, but she also initially had purity of form. She was the most powerful human psionic to ever live, and Abathur in Heart of the Swarm even mentions that a few rare terrans overcome their flawed origins to achieve “great psionic potential.” This strongly implies that Kerrigan got the purity of form just from her terran origin.
She herself was the “fusion” of the two purities, and to go one step further, a fusion of the two not tampered with by Amon (sort of, the primal zerg still had some guidance by Amon, but not the big intervention of the Overmind). We hear Duran mention in the epilogue that terrans were the “flawed product of the failed cycle,” they they too were in the xel’naga’s grand design, it’s just as a race they never reached that level.
I feel Ouros guided this “merge” when he got Zeratul to lead her to Zerus, hence that being his only intervention in that story. But again it’s not 100% confirmed, it just makes the most sense to me.
That’s also the most reasonable answer to me. Thanks a lot!
By the way, your answer inspired me. I found out that Ouros said once before:
Ouros: Ouros. Last shepherd of the cycle. Enemy of Amon. He is one with the Void. It is an extension of his will, binding me as prisoner.
Kerrigan: Why have you summoned us here?
Ouros: The cycle must not be broken. The merging of purity of essence and purity of form must continue. You, the one called Kerrigan, can merge with my essence. Now fulfill your destiny. Ascend as Xel’naga. Continue the Infinite Cycle.
Clearly, Ouros declared that currently he’s in charge of the Infinite Cycle, and because Amon is his enemy, obviously he doesn’t want to ascend someone who having highly interfered by his enemy.
The only reason that Ouros assemble them is to terminate Amon, by ascend Kerrigan who both have Purity of essence and Purity of form according to the bold part in the last paragraph.
Lots of people believe that those of Purity of Form were supposed to merge with those of Purity of Essence, but I think this is a misconception as it’s never verified anywhere in-game.
In contrast, the only time we ever see Protoss and Zerg merged together is the Hyrbid, which is Amon’s false Xel’Naga and his perversion of the Cycle.
How I interpret it is those of Form and Essence would navigate Ulnaar, meet the Xel’Naga, and then be uplifted with Xel’Naga essence to become the new Xel’Naga. That makes more sense with the images and concepts we’ve actually seen in-game.
What I believe is each Xel’Naga, while having both Purity and Essence, represents one of the two traits more. So a Xel’Naga more strongly resembling Purity of Form would give their essence to one of the Race of Purity of Essence.
The games and lore have always been very, very clear on this one point: Protoss = Purity of Form, Zerg = Purity of Essence. Kerrigan is Zerg, and she needed Artanis to ultimately navigate through Ulnaar, thus she does not have Purity of Form.
I believe Ouros was a Xel’Naga representing Purity of Form, thus why he was able to give his essence to Kerrigan, who is of Purity of Essence, and why a Protoss, who also represents Form, was not even considered.
It’s all but outright stated or at the very least heavily implied by the Overmind in SC1. He gained the knowledge of the Xel’naga after he killed and assimilated all of them, and planned to finish the Xel’Naga’s experiments by merging purity of form and essence.
If it’s a misconception then it’s also a blatant retcon. Everyone interpreted the game that way because that’s been the build-up for decades, only for LoTV to squash it and then not even be consistent with its own explanation of how it’s supposed to work anyway.
Not really, because he declares the cycle broken anyway after Kerrigan ascends.
If you try to, you might end up realising Ouros isn’t much different from Amon. It’s just that this incompetent manipulating bastard had sort of goal alignment with Koprulu races.
But all he wanted to do was space henta^ as a means to further his agenda.
You can located the mission called “Infinite Cycle” and look for the last “Halls of Revelation” that Artanis interpreted. When the subtitle shows this in the cinematics:
Then the elders among them will give their lives to bestow their essence…
You can see there are 2-halved individuals standing on a stage, and if you checked carefully, each half would be matched their typical characteristics who previously showed up in the cinematics where the second “Halls of Revelation” was founded.
In the meantime, the Xel’naga’s are casting some ability to give those essence to it, just like Ouros did to Kerrigan. And finally a new Xel’naga were born to shepherds the Infinite Cycle.
This is obviously a clear evidence to prove that the ascent needs to completed by merging two species, plus absorbing the Xel’naga’s essence.
Right, except that didn’t work out even in the original lore and game.
Taken from the manual: " Most importantly, the Overmind learned of an exceedingly powerful race that lived near the galaxy’s fringe known only as the Protoss. The Overmind knew then that the Protoss and the Zerg would eventually be caught in an inevitable,apocalyptic conflict."
Note there’s no mention of merging them. Then taken from the game: “My children, the hour of our victory is at hand. For on this world of Aiur shall we incorporate the strongest known species into our fold. Then we shall be the greatest of creation’s children. We shall be… Perfect.”
An absolutely fantastic quote, very memorable. Yet it never happens. In the original game, all of the Overmind’s actions were directed to overcoming and killing the Protoss, not infesting them. Even after successfully invading Aiur and taking control of much of the planet, the Swarm under the Overmind is simply focused on slaughtering the Protoss. Not once to we ever see an Infested Protoss or an attempt at it.
Same deal in Starcraft: Brood War, nothing at all about the Zerg seeking to merge with the Protoss.
Another interesting lore issue in the original game: The Overmind learned the location of Aiur via Zeratul when he killed Zasz, yet he already knew of the location of Aiur from the Xel’Naga memories. He took the entire Swarm there and only stopped progressing to Aiur when it discovered Terrans and their psionic potential.
Even the original game, as great as it is, has lore issues and inconsistencies with itself.
Yes I’m aware of that Mission, just played through it this weekend again, actually.
The picture you’re referring to, in my interpretation, doesn’t signify the merging of the species, but rather showing that one or the other can ascend.
The concept of a split image like that has been done in other media before. An example from one of my favourite game franchises: http://@collectorsedition.org@/uploads/2008/11/mkvdcu_ke_360_n@tsc1.jpg Take out the @ to view.
Scorpion and Batman aren’t merged, it’s simply showing a contrast between the two characters. Other media has used such a style of image in the same fashion before, and I believe that’s what we’re seeing here in StarCraft II.
Doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening. Assimilating a whole species is something that should take a long time, especially a powerful one like the protoss. SC2 makes it look like it’s as easy as stacking legos.
The game is made in the 90s. But the Overmind clearly tells you he’s planning to merge them.
I don’t get why people ever bring this up. The Overmind can’t understand coordinates. And even if he could, stellar drift ensures the planet won’t be in the same place after all those millennia.
Xel’Naga might know a general direction but he destroyed the ships that actually have the coordinates and computational processes necessary to get there. Its like taking directions from a guy that can only get around with GPS and then destroying that GPS.
That seems so contrived though. If your interpretation was correct they’d have just shown one person ascending.
It’s clear they were considering the merging of purity of form and essence when they made the graphic and this part of the story, since, you know, it’s been alluded to for the entirety of the franchise.
I disagree. That’s a pretty major thing to leave out if it was, and if it’s the whole point of the Overmind coming to the sector in the first place, it makes no sense what-so-ever to not show it, or at least to not comment on it. There’s nothing what-so-ever to show the Zerg were actually infesting the Protoss in the original Campaign save for that one Overmind paragraph with no follow-up at all.
By the time of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the whole Protoss-can’t-be-infested angle was a thing. In terms of infesting and incorporating other species, they certainly did fast work on Terrans. Even in some of the earlier novels, infestation was quick.
Because it makes conceivable sense that since it took the entire Swarm out there for this great purpose, it would know where its going. Not once in the manual, or even in-game, does it mention it’s looking for the location of Aiur until the Overmind apparently discovers said location via Zeratul; kindly correct me if I’m mistaken.
As I mentioned several months back when we were all discussing ascension and that level and imagery in general, I can not prove what I’m saying, but I believe it to be right. If they just showed one person ascending, they would have had to choose a Purity to show, whereas this way, it shows both.
Hopefully, one day Blizzard Entertainment will clarify this.
By the definition of Purity of Form though they seem to strongly imply that terrans can achieve it. All they say of it is it’s “great psionic potential” when in Ulnar.
Mind you they don’t say it but it’s still a viable theory. Protoss and zerg very obviously weren’t the only species to have those purities, given the idea is the xel’naga cultivated the universe to get to those two, and we see in Evolution that there are other species that were capable of housing xel’naga essence.
Ouros also says right before she ascends that the cycle must continue. The way I read it was that was going to be the last turning of the cycle, as Ouros knew Kerrigan had no indication of continuing it (and the matter of can she even really continue it to make multiple more xel’naga, but that’s a debate for another day).
Not really. Here in this forum you can just lay down your argument and new debate on top of each other at will. It’s so messy and proving that second law of thermodynamics works even here. One of the best thing I love about this forum, let me tell you.
What exactly should it show? Because according to us, Gradius and I, we think you need a single entity with both Purity. That is our interpretation of that picture. How exactly are they going to show one person ascending with both Purity?
Well, keep in mind that Kerrigan is so far the ONLY terran to go through a seamless infestation not once, but twice. Something not achieved by anyone, ever.
Plus, Kerri is special, even by Terran psychic standards.
@Spirit If I’m understanding your question properly, showing a creature that has both Form and Essence, I imagine they’d show a single being bearing characteristics both traits, not a being split in the middle “Two-Faced” style with traits on one side and the other.
