"Leo's character mechanic is his back turn stance, where his mix-ups and damage potential increase. Leo's his strongest when facing away from his problems" - Some Comment from the original video
I love how this song not only recontextualizes Leo's character, but also his gameplay. The reason he is the ungaest of the bungaest is because he fights with 0 sense of self preservation. He fights 110% prepared and expecting to die.
Not just prepared and expecting he wants it, he'll refuse to just lie down cause that would be a disservice to his men from the crusades and the his people right now but I can see him in his last moments thanking the enemy who put a killing blow on him
@@jayguthrie262 Your comment makes me think of the line in the second verse where he says, "Forgive me just get me out of this hell." Leo doesn't need to fear death, he already sees himself in hell.
god I will never get over how raw of a line "Today strangers say hello to me. Tomorrow their names will be carved into stone." is. That lyric alone says so much about Leo's mindset.
I like to think that the reason Leo has soldiers follow him so closely isn't so that they can back him up in case things go wrong, it's so that he can see them and make sure that they're alive.
The reason he's stronger while facing away from the opponent with his guard down is that he *_wants_* to lose, die and be put out of his misery. And in poetic irony, this causes him to win.
"I have intense survivors guilt and PTSD i have nothing left to do on this world all my aspirations, dreams and hopes died the moment my comrades did. I hide this all under a mask of faux bravado. For all I wait for is the sweet embrace of death" *SICK-ASS GUITAR SOLO*
I still adore the way the "We're going home alive a-liar liar liar" line flows. The first "liar" sounds like hes about to say alive, and i just cannot love that enough.
@@infinitepotato001 whilst his comrades are likely shouting for their king to live because they knew what they were getting into, what HE hears is constant condemnation of his Gloryhound ways which got good men and women killed.
"I led countless soldiers to their deaths, robbing their families and loved ones from ever seeing them again. The only reason I didn't die is because I was a better fighter than they were so I throw myself into battle recklessly in hopes that someone will kill me and rid me of this terrible burden" *Guitar solo intensifies*
@@spiralanimations7736 The entire song, homie. "We're going home alive- Liar, Liar" "My people are all dead, but so are those bastards." "I am the reaper, I took my friends to the netherworld." All of these lines and more insinuate that Leo feels immense guilt from seeing his comrades die on the battlefield. He feels like he led them to their deaths, while he was forced to live.
If people say sol’s theme is basically “you a in a bar fight and you are winning”, then leo’s theme invokes “you are fighting against the whole bar and pulling out the comeback of century” energy in my opinion
Ah, the part that really get me in the feels is the absolute meltdown between 3:01-3:45 where it's all an culmination of Leo's mental anguish. From saying he is just a soldier, questioning if he was on the right side, coming home alone once more, and how his platoon of soldiers were slaughtered with his enemies. All this while being called out by the people he protected/or in his mind.. and he comes back to say "BRING IT ON YOU BASTARDS!" With righteous rage!
What's funny is I don't think anyone actually calls him out at all. The line is "I faked out, call me out, who can say that", which makes me think that, alongside with his survivors guilt, he has a severe case of impostor syndrome. Where while everybody sees him as this amazing war hero, courageously leading his people despite the odds, he sees himself as a coward who sends himself to die. He wants someone to call him out in a way that matches his self image, because despite all his accomplishments, he sees himself as "just an ordinary soldier". Leo is wracked from his Survivors Guilt, and can't enjoy his victories because of his Imposter Syndrome. The only thing left to do is to face the enemy with reckless, suicidal abandon, with a battlecry of "bring it on, you bastards". Gameplay wise this is shown in his backturn stance. Because exposing your weak point can allow your greatest weaknesses, they also make your enemies predictable because they'll go for those weaknesses. But that's a worthwhile risk in Leo's eyes, because its the lives of his men he's worried about, while his own doesn't matter.
The being called out part is most likely in his head because he was the only one who had the balls and the resources to fight against an entire army of living nuclear warheads so pretty much everyone saw him as their hero but for Leo he never saw himself that way
Ahah , just did Xrd story mode recently and this is by far the most hilarious scene of the game ( well maybe except for the one where king Daryl takes off like a rocket with fire spouting out of his ass.... )
"My voice withered away, limbs can't hear my commands But still, I can see the way home I am the Reaper, I took my friends to the netherworld That's why I have to go home" I love this part so much, makes you think a bit, but once you think it hits hard. For those who haven't thought too hard yet, It's implying that his home, *is hell.*
I have an alternate take here, it’s not saying his home is hell. There’s a saying you hear a lot in military/war dramas, “I will follow you through hell and back,” his soldiers followed him to hell, but he wasn’t able to bring them back home, he betrayed that trust, or at least that’s how he sees it. This verse is him reasoning with himself why he should go back, even if he’s a reaper, even though he took his friends and followers straight into the house of death, he has to go back, it’s what they would collectively want. Does it ease the pain? Obviously not as he immediately goes right back into calling himself a fake in the most frantic verse of the song, worrying if he’s done the right thing
"I wake up one morning, strangers say hello to me, tomorrow their name will be carved onto stones" is such raw line that it's impressive that is the lyric of fighting game character. it express almost everything you need to know about the character and if that's not enough then the next lyric "We're going home alive but I'm a terrible liar" and "forgive me that's not the arc de triumph" give you the rest. Leo, as character, is a King who regret to survive to his people, they trust him and he let them die, after all the promises he was the sole survivor and that haunt him and forever will
I love the intro to this song going into the first verse so damn much. It really exudes the feeling of some naive chump going to war expecting it to be a noble and glorious fight, only for it to immediately devolve into everything going wrong and mindless slaughter Every time I hear it it just reminds me of how people thought World War I was going to be fought, and then the soldiers stuck in trenches with machinegun fire threatening to blow their head off at any second realizing how wrong everybody was
That "those who dream of heaven" bit sounds almost like a definition you'd find in a dictionary. Wish there were a few more segments like that in the song.
Extremely fitting, given Leo's propensity to annotate his dictionary as if it were his own diary. He probably does have something like that in there, actually.
Those who dream of Heaven: Noun Those who dream of Heaven never last very long, e.g The dirty sky and rotting flesh infect my wounds, We're going home alive liar liar
Great catch, holy shit. The line read makes for a super neat visualization of how it's written in his dictionary, too. I can imagine the term itself, the spoken part, being penned all super fancy-like (𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓿𝓮𝓷:), while his definition is scrawled in thick, sharp, uneven letters with the fervor of a man possessed. Like you ran ink over your fingernails and clawed it in.
I haven't played Guilty Gear, but I fell in love with this character after I saw him completely accepting of the fact that he just lost to a little girl wielding an anchor while showing no fear seconds before said anchor-wielding girl shot him out of a cannon. Now that I have learned his backstory through this song and the comments I love him even more.
That was in Xrd (which is getting rollback test. So now’s the time to get it). All the gg games are hype as hell so I’d say play all of them if you can (strive being the easiest to get into followed by Xrd (Rev 2 is the version you wanna get) then Guilty Gear XX accent core +R. Don’t play the first gg. It was good for the time, doesn’t hold up.
One thing that I actually got from the comments of an analysis video: "who can say that" and "hellfire" are choruses, which in army culture is done by the subordinates to the CO's soliloquy. So, Leo's soldiers went without any blame to leo, bringing "hellfire" to their final foes. No wonder he's the military king.
I love how Leo and Dimitri from Fire Emblem compare and contrast. They’re both PTSD ridden kings that have seen way too much murder and way too few therapists, but how they handle it is completely different.
They kinda start in a similar place where they are holding up a fake persona to the public while quietly suffering. Dimitri becomes able to escape that by projecting the source of his problems onto Edelgard and obsesses over killing her and her allies, while Leo doesn't have that comfort. That said they both throw themselves into battle hoping to die.
Ky and Leo both served in the Crusades. They even fought together in the fight where Leo's unit was destroyed. Difference was, Ky chose to hold onto hope, Leo gave up on it.
Leo Whitefang In-Game: • Pretty Goofy • Charismatic • Is Fucking Insane To Play Leo Whitefang's Character: • Depressed As Hell • Filled With Guilt • Is Probably Mentally Insane
@@Aquabzs I mean, you talk to the guy and he is just ham as hell and often boasts, you wouldn't think he's actually full-on Suicidal and literally fights with a genuine death wish.
自分用 I faked out. Call me out (俺は欺き、自らを責める) Who can say that? (誰がそんなことを言える？) I came home alone today again (俺は今日もただ一人生還した) I faked out. Call me out (俺は欺き、自らを責める) Who can say that? (誰がそんなことを言えるというんだ、と) My people are all dead, but so are those bastards (仲間はすべて死んだ。だがあのクソ野郎共も死んだ) I wake up one morning, strangers say hello to me (ある朝目を覚ますと、見知らぬ誰かが俺に挨拶した) Tomorrow their names will be carved onto stones (明日には彼らの名が墓石に刻まれるだろう) We're going home alive ("皆で家に帰るんだ"だって？) I'm a terrible liar (俺はとんでもない嘘つきだ) Forgive me (許してくれ) That's not the Arc de Triomphe (あれは凱旋門なんかじゃないんだ) For the sake of that day (その日を迎える為に) Keep crying out (俺は叫び続ける) Swing the sword! Swing the sword! (剣を振れ！振るんだ！) Swing the freakin' sword down! (忌々しい剣を振り下ろせ！) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！業火よ！) Bring it on, bastards! (かかって来い、クソ野郎共が！！) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！業火よ！) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！おお業火よ！) All of 'em are going down with us (全員道連れにしてやる) Those who dream of heaven, (天国を夢見る者達) Those who dream of heaven never last very long (天国を夢見てちゃ長生きなんてできない) The rotting flesh and the dirty sky infect my wounds (腐った肉と濁った空が傷跡に染みる) We're going home alive Liar (家に帰るだって？嘘吐きめ) Liar (嘘吐きめ！！) Forgive me (許してくれ) Just get me out of this hell (俺をこの地獄から救ってくれ！！) For the sake of that day (その日を迎える為に) Keep crying out (俺は叫び続ける) Swing the sword! Swing the sword! (剣を振れ！振るんだ！) Swing the freakin' sword down! (忌々しい剣を振り下ろせ！) My voice withered away (声は既に枯れ) limbs can't hear my commands (手足は言うことを聞かず) But still, I can see the way home (それでも俺にはまだ家路が見えている) I am the Reaper (俺は死神だ) I took my friends to the netherworld (戦友達を地獄に落としたんだ) That's why I have to go home (だから俺は家に帰らなきゃいけないんだ) I faked out. Call me out (そう誤魔化しては己を責める) Who can say that? (誰がそんなことを言える？) I'm just an ordinary soldier (俺はただの一般兵なんだ) I faked out. Call me out (誤魔化した後で己を責める) Who can say that? (誰がそんなことを言えるっていうんだ？) Will I be on the right side of history? (俺は正しい歴史の側にいるのだろうか？) I faked out. Call me out (俺は自らを欺き責め立てる) Who can say that? (一体誰がそんなことを言える？) I came home alone today again (俺は今日もただ一人生還した) I faked out. Call me out (俺は欺き、自らを責める) Who can say that? (誰がそんなことを言えるというんだ、と) My people are all dead, but so are those bastards (仲間はすべて死んだ。だがあのクソ野郎共も死んだ) ---Bring it on, you bastards!--- (かかって来いクソ野郎共が！！！) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！業火よ！) Bring it on, bastards! (かかって来い、クソ野郎共が！！) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！業火よ！) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！おお業火よ！) All of 'em are going down (全員叩き落としてやる) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！業火よ！) Bring it on, bastards! (かかって来い、クソ野郎共が！！) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！業火よ！) Hellfire! Hellfire! (業火よ！おお業火よ！) All of 'em are going down with us (全員道連れにしてやる)
His entire thing is that he has insane survivors guilt from the Holy Crusades, but puts on a facade of bravado. This song is the perfect example of it, it's an insanely good song with badass solo's but with tragic lyrics about how he wants to die for leading other to death but being too good to die himself. He throws himself into battle with no sense of self preservation, hoping to die, but it's because of his lack of restraint he can't die.
"I am the reaper, I took my friends to the netherworld. That's why I have to GO HOME!" This is honestly my single favorite line in this song. Up to this point the song makes it seem that Leo has a deathwish thanks to his survivor's guilt and trauma, but this...this shows otherwise, what he has is a duty to keep on living and fighting for the sake of those who died in the past, he puts himself at risk by fighting alone and with his style that leaves him open because he feels he can't do his best unless his life is on the line and on the very brink like it once was when he stood by his comrades. And that's why even if his life was rife with tragedy Leo Whitefang continues to carry on no matter what and fight with his best as a king. And that is why is the freaking coolest.
Finally someone gets it. Leo isnt suicidal. He has ptsd yes, but he knows that he has to do his best as a king to honor his soldiers wishes. Being suicidal and dying in a useless way would stain his comrades memory and thats why in my mind he is far from suicidal.
@@Resident-of-Pluto no he isnt. Ptsd doesnt mean suicidal thoughts by default. Also by trying to die he would dishonor the same men that sacrified themselves under his command. People just came up with this stupid "he is suicidal" headcanon.
@@punkneverdie5590 What he has is a DEATH WISH. Not the same as suicidal tendancies, he will not let someone take that kill nor will he ever take his own life. Instead, in battle, if someone gets him it's because they OUTMATCHED him or worked around his actual zero-self-preservation variant of Unga Bunga. This also can he seen as a prideful lion roaring for his foes to take their best shot and without the mental context, you'd think him a blowhard, hammy gloryhound.
I interpret the line differently. He says he has to go home after calling himself the reaper, implying that his "home" is hell or purgatory. I think both theories have weight, it's just an interesting difference.
theres a cruel comedy to leo he wishes to die in battle, so he fights as recklessly as he can, but that very thing makes him undefeatable, keeping him alive to fight another day.
Considering how all of Leo's PTSD comes from his involvement in the Crusades, it's very possible that the day he's talking about *was* the Battle of Rome.
It's interesting how so many of Leo's attacks put him in vulnerable positions like his Brynhildr stance which literally has him facing his back to his enemy. In some ways, its like he is trying to meet his end.
"i can still see the way home. i am the reaper, i took my friends to the netherworld, that's why, i have to go home." that part is sad for me, because i know what it means. leo's contemplating suicide there. for those that don't know, "going home" is an analogy for dying. people usually use it in reference to going to heaven to be with their family. survivor's guilt is a beast.
I like how the ending still implies he's still basically trying to die, but he's gonna do it fighting now. He'll take down as much evil as possible before he falls, down to his dying breath. He'll become a living hellfire, burning down evil till he either dies out naturally or is put out by someone else.
I’m going to be playing my first DND campaign sometime soon, and my character’s a Goliath barbarian who lost his wife and daughter in a tragic accident. You know what music I’m using as his theme.
The Crusades having affected Leo so much really recontextualize how much of anomaly Ky really is. Sol didn't have to care, he was immortal already. But Ky ? He was just a kid, war became his life. No wonder he became such a strong believer in faith.
Actually he started becoming a real faith man after GG1. After the Crusades and during the first world tournament, his supposed faith drove him into being a very fierce soldier full of prejudices against Gears and other bio creatures, he had a lot of hate inside him. But his POV changed when he talked to Justice, and he realized he was worse than the monsters he sought to destroy.
Part of me thinks that *"my voice withered away, limbs can't hear my commands, but still I can see the way home...I am the reaper, I took my friends to the netherworld, that's why I have to go home"* is a flashback to a near-death experience Leo had in the crusades (maybe at the battle of rome?) where he basically forced himself to survive through sheer force of will for the sake of his fallen comrades
The *"SWING THE FREAKING SWORD DOWN!"* line might be Leo basically saying just kill me already, because of how they used to execute people in the middle ages by cutting their heads off with an axe or a sword. "swinging a sword down" is another way of saying executing someone.
I was never much of a fan of that line, but this reading totally flipped me on it. The way I see it, It goes deeper than "just kill me", more like an incredibly-frantic "I have failed my brothers in arms. I deserve to be tried by a jury of my peers and executed for what I've done." Not just emphasizing his death-seeking, but also his desire for accountability. Given how the death penalty is common for extreme military-adjacent crimes even today, it makes sense that the Holy Order (or, more broadly, Illyria) would still have beheading as their preferred method of execution with their whole medieval-fantasy schtick. It fits really well with the song's themes; Leo wishes to be found literally and figuratively "guilty."
He fights with his backturn stance not just because he's trying to die in battle, but because he's most effective with his back towards the battlefield... like he's running away...
There's a part of the chorus that really sticks with me. With the flow of it, I swear, Leo is hearing a voice he vaguely recognizes, someone he knows he can't begin to ask for forgiveness, and it's telling him exactly what he heard that day. "Swing the sword! Swing the sword!" And in his peripheral he catches just a glimpse of their face. "SWING THE FREAKING SWORD!" Leo lets out a scream as he moves. Perhaps he screams in fear. Perhaps in rage. Perhaps in sheer pain. Leo doesnt know, nor does he think about it as he follows the command of his lost comrade. Eating a kasuragama to the cheek, but sprinting through the pain, and breaking his opponents advantage with a single hit, a little disappointed that the blade hit his face instead of his neck.
You know when I hear this song I like to think that Leo is taking his troops into battle and everyone around him is dying and then at 3:45 he goes full unga mode and slashes through the enemy lines
Are we not gonna mention how many times the lyrics themselves allude to longer-lasting scars and injury? Such as "The rotting flesh and dirty sky infect my wounds" which is effectively slang for "The death of my men has left a permanent scar on me." And that's not even mentioning all the other comparisons that are most definitely there.
GOD it's been killing me for months now. The start of this song activates some dormant part of my brain every time, it sounds like some power metal song i used to listen to like. a decade ago but I CANT FIND IT does ANYONE get the same thing and know which song it might be
So from what I'm gathering, Leo is unable to live with himself knowing that he's still alive while many of his comrades aren't. So he goes the f in like no one's ever gone the f in before because he wants this next battle to be his last in hopes for some kind of warrior's redemption (which ironically makes him a more dangerous opponent since he doesn't have much to lose and so is unafraid). And think, just a game ago he was this haha dictionary lion man who took most Instant Kills with a "Do it, I effing dare you!" attitude.
One of my favourite things about this song isn’t what it tells us about Leo, but the fact it’s attached to Leo in the first place. Leo is quite possibly the most egotistical character in Guilty Gear, even beating Johnny, whose entire theme in this game is about him and how great he claims to be. It’s basically Leo’s defining trait. Even his bio in GG World says that he has a higher sense of pride than the average man. To Leo, the entire world revolves around him. Hellfire reveals a lot about Leo, particularly his survivor’s guilt and PTSD, and what makes that so effective is the fact this is coming from Leo of all characters. His own theme is not a boastful ballad all about him, it’s a song about his real feelings, coming from a man with an ego so large it may as well wrap back around to where it started. The irony of an egotist’s theme song being so upfront about how he really feels, basically being a personal diss track against himself, is genius and probably one of my favourite writing choices in the franchise.
Long History Short: This guy is like... top3 heroes of a "Genocide War Against Generic Evil Race". That discovered too late that the Evil race isnt that much Evil actually, but at this point he had already thousands of deaths in his hands (from both enemies and subordinates that he lead personally to their ends).
There should be a Leo Gameplay vs Leo Lore video. Bro really goes from funny book man to a suicidal man who fights with unga bung just so he can **die faster**
Despite the PTSD and Survivors guilt hiding underneath I really just like to imagine whenever hellfire is just chanted it’s just the soldiers around him and the ones who have fallen just cheering for there king
Ky: (sick ass castlevania-style intro) I don't care what anyone thinks, I'm going to keep standing for what I believe in and setting an example for the future Leo: (sick ass castlevania-style intro) IM A FUCKING LIAR AND HAVE SURVIVORS GUILT (guitar solo)
So I don't know much about Leo besides what other people have said and this theme, but I noticed that a line that's repeated a lot is "all of them are going down with us". If that's something Leo told his troops often as a way to rally them, (which is what it sounds like to me) that could be a major factor to his survivor's guilt! If things went wrong, he at least planned on dying with his troops to take the enemy down, so when everyone else dies in battle but him, he could very well feel like a fake, and would probably always be wondering why _he_ survived out of everyone, which I think is a very strong theme in this song, even if it's never said.
Leo’s Theme: *depression about being the only one who goes home after the war and deals with survivors guilt* Leo’s gameplay: UNGA-BUNGA BIG BOI SWORDS GO BRRRRRRR
"yeah! We're gonna win this war and all go home hero's!" proceeds to watch all his friends die, comes home from the war alone, develops survivors guilt, PTSD and a severe panic disorder as well as a chronic need to hide his trauma with fake confidence while desperately wanting anyone to just kill him.
This song has really opened my eyes, given depth and context so that I can now understand something very important about Leo... His splash art is him in desperate need of a hug
(Posting this from the original video) The comment section and these lyrics are telling me that Leo is just Blond Guts with two Great swords. Not that I'm complaining.
Baiken is more like Guts -They both lost their loved ones as well as an arm and eye in an attack by monsters -They're both motivated by revenge against the one responsible for that -Both have a cannon and other weapons built into their prosthetic arm -Initially antisocial and ruthless but over time they find people who they warm up to
Jesus Christ can we please get this man therapy Like the most therapy, I think almost all the cast needs it, but specifically Leo, and like a lot a lot
My headphones covering the song: ...forgive me that's not the LOW BATTERY PLEASE CHARGE, ...all of them are LOW BATTERY PLEASE CHARGE, ...forgive me just get me LOW BATTERY PLEASE CHARGE.
![Hellfire [With Lyrics] (Leo Theme) - Guilty Gear Strive OST](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
