Let's Play Fate/Samurai Remnant [Blind] - Part 29 ~ENTREAT THE DARKNESS ENDING~ 

I remember reading an analysis I found interesting about Iori and Chiemon. Chiemon is a Shirou who went bad, he lost everything in a fire and wanted some form of Justice in the world but didn’t have a Kiritsugu to latch onto. Iori is a Kirie who went good. He can only find true happiness in a path that brings harm to others but he learned how to put others(his sister and later Saber in most endings) above his own need for satisfaction(except for the Entreat the Darkness ending of course).

1:33:16 you know at the end of the opening you can see Kaya carrying Iori swords

“How come he knows him so well” he doesn’t personally, it’s stated in the codex that Chiemon despises Iori because he thinks they’re the same, both monsters, but Iori is trying to pass himself as a good guy. He hates Iori on a fundamental level, he can’t tolerate this “half-hearted good guy” act. Chiemon knows he’s evil, and acts like it, Iori’s attempt at a moral high ground is ridiculous to Chiemon. Edit: Also since ya didn’t read Iori’s profile, at the end of his profile this gets added. “Just Another Bloodthirsty Demon” Miyamoto lori affirmed the peaceful state of Edo and recognized the virtue of a tranquil life. When silent, he appeared to be a calm, collected young man. …But that was only on the surface. He merely commended peace and tranquility as a means to sympathize with ordinary people, and thereby understand them. lori's swordsmanship was based on the principal that one must first know his enemy in order to defeat them. In other words, he strove to understand and sympathize with others so that he could defeat anyone at any time. At his core, he was a cold-blooded, ravenous sword demon. Kaya's presence was the only thing keeping him from going off the edge. While he could experience friendship and love normally, such emotions were subordinate to his sacred mission of mastering the sword. It could be considered a kind of congenial personality disorder. No matter how many people he met, lori would likely never be free from the urges that lay deep inside him for as long as he drew breath.

Iori would unironically love to be a Counter Guardian like EMIYA or a Drifter like Musashi.

Honestly, I love how the paralels with stay night make you think Iori is the Shirou of this game, only for it to turn out he's Kirei. Also, while this is my favourite final boss gameplay wise, I do wish we played as Saber against Iori. He's been shown to be strong enough, so they could have made him the final boss. Maybe a DLC will do something with him. Imagine if we play as Kaya and face some resurected insane form of Iori....weird suggestion, I know, but I really love Iori for being the anti-Fate protagonist. He's my second favourite mc after Shirou, and I hope we see more of him. With that out of the way, this was a great playthrough.

After some searching through Type moon works for sword demons and sword saints, I have finally cracked the code. Iori and Shimousa Yagyuu are sword demons for their unquenchable thirsts for battles with the strong. Yagyuu's was triggered in Musashi's trial quest and finished in Shimousa. Iori's was triggered by never enountering his savior again, and then he eventually compares Yamato to the nameless sword saint and desires to surpass him to finally accomplish his childhood dream. (This isn't getting into the full comparison with Iori raised by Musashi, and Yamato and his dad and how they affected each other throughout Samurai Remnant which would take a while.) Now here’s cool bit. The Shimousa Paraiso node has dialogue where Musashi refers to Yagyuu as “one step away from being a Sword Saint” and then is confused by her own words. “Skills-wise he’s already a Sword Saint, so why do I feel like he’s still one step away?” Afterwards in Shimousa, Musashi is calling Yagyuu a Sword Saint without confusion after he is fulfilled when defeated by her. Musashi herself also only starts getting called a Sword Saint after Shimousa, which ends in her own fulfilling defeat against Kojirou. Iori defeats Musashi as a sword saint but Entreat the Darkness ends with Iori dominated by the thirst and becomes the "sword demon." He lacks the fulfillment of his dreams that made Yagyuu and Musashi complete until Yamato Takeru completes him. The lesson being the sword is a path toward enlightenment, but it is not victory alone that will help you surpass your limits. This is why Yamato repeated Iori's words about understanding your opponent. Yagyuu's interlude iirc has him overcoming his Sword Demon Shimousa self as his current pan-human history Sword Saint self. Number 19 of the 100 persona Hassan is also a sword demon and so is Celestial Demon Musashi from the Las Vegas event.

It’s sad to think of Iori’s true nature being just like Kirei’s of never truly finding happiness in being a good person but he at least was able to be with his true friend at the end and so was Saber. They both came from different eras as Saber lived in a time of war while Iori lived in a time of peace and yet they both became friends. Saber wants to do the right thing after so many mistakes while Iori wants to do the wrong thing as his first mistake in his life. It’s interesting to see how they parallel with each other in that way in different ways.

From Kouga's digressions, it seems he noticed how hesitant Dorothea was when encountering battle at Yui's base. She ended up retreating. So he wanted her to become more resolved as she reminds him of his days as a feudal lord. He became an obstacle for her to overcome and grow to be more determined. I guess he's not too worried about helping her get the waxing moon but just grow as a person to be like he was. He's not that generous being neutral evil and all.

How sadge. Iori is left behind by the times. He's a remnant of the samurai era....a samurai remnant if you will. Edit: Ah he caught the title as well.

Iori is just getting the express option to be a counter guardian. He was too much of a gamer, life as a servant fits him better than life.

I kinda knew you would feel conflicted on this cause you’ve kinda disliked “downer” endings in the past (Hisui Route is a notable example). But honestly I think Iori’s meant to go this way, it’s not a “Well ya got ya wished for!” Thing because the interviews have always had the staff urge you to play until at least this ending. Takeuchi also said that this was Nasu’s idea too, and generally most of the game’s thematics line up to this as well. Iori is, as was advertised, a man born in the wrong era. His options are twofold, he will either throw down his desire for more because he knows it’s an evil deed, and thus do the right thing morally but never be fulfilled. Or, he’ll abandon his moral path for what his heart truly desired, to continue to improve his swordsmanship at all costs. Either way his life isn’t the happiest, an unfulfilled life or one cut short. It’s his curse as a man born in the wrong era. He’s not truly “evil” either, his goal is just at odds with his era. He has completely normal human emotions, it’s just quite literally everything is secondary to improvement of the sword. He desires improvement of the sword, which can only be fulfilled through fights with incredible opponents. In times of peace that’s just not possible, so his character is like Kirei in that he’s stuck between his morals and what truly makes him happy. He was fine, more or less, before the game took place… but well the Waxing Moon Ritual unleashed this side of him. This is my preferred ending, it’s much simpler than the other two but on purpose. It’s hyper focused on the climax of Iori, Saber, and their relationship. It’s the “Natural Conclusion” of Iori in my opinion, the one that’s most normal for him to pick. I understand the community not liking to label it as “True” because it’s Fate and all that but it’s probably meant to climax Iori’s character. He’s just who he is, just exactly what they told us over and over again. A man born in the wrong era. How unfortunate… yet at least he met a true friend despite it all

To me, this was the ending that elevated this game's story from quite good to really good, what really made the whole journey click into place. Somehow, even with all the foreshadowing in the second playthrough, and even the first one, I didn't see any of it coming. My expectations were so stuck in place that for the whole game I was convinced that "born in the wrong age" meant that Iori would have been happier in a more modern age where he didn't have to become a samurai. Still, the shock factor while great isn't what really made me love it, but just how thematically strong it is and how Nasu-like it feels. The whole time Iori feels somewhat comparable to Shirou, when he was actually closer to Kirei. I also have to commend the game for sticking to it. No last minute save, no extra happy ending just for the sake of it. There's already two regular happy endings, so Iori deserved to have a happy ending of his own. And that's what makes this the true ending for me. It feels like the most true to the main character, what he really would do in this situation, because even if it doesn't make sense to us as regular people, as tragic as this ending is, you can see how it's what truly made him feel like his life was worth it after all. I compared him to Kirei, but really he's closer to someone like Li Shuwen, or Musashi himself. A warrior by nature that puts getting stronger and defeating strong opponents above everything else. A type of person that really wasn't that strange or uncommon back then (though Li is pretty modern). Iori's twisted wish isn't unique, it's just one that stopped being acceptable by society (thankfully), making the remnants of that era have to make this choice. To kill their wish and live an ordinary life where they feel unfullfiled, or carry their wish regardless of its consequences. Though, to be fair, it's not like war dissapeared from Japan forever...it's just that the samurai era basically did. So yeah, it's not for everyone (not talking about you, more so the people that somehow see it as OOC or bad), but it's also not a bad ending for bad ending's sake. I wouldn't even call it one per se. It's sort of like Zero's ending, in that it's tragic, but there's a lot of meaning and beauty in it.

A little trivia I realized while watching other videos: (If you start from chapter 1 on NG+) When you switch stances during Iori’s first fight with Rider, the little voicelines sound different. Apparently that’s his first encounter with something much stronger than humans so he sounds much more exhausted and strained.

In the end, Iori was a true Fate/Samurai Remnant

Yeah at 2:11:30 is the same voice line from 1:24:43 which plays during the last gauge, but since you killed Saber so fast, the line didn’t finish and was put on hold by the cutscenes and credits. You can see the voice line begin at 2:03:33

The reason for the epic music is because what that songs name is: successor of the niten ichi-ryu, the first time it’s played as the idea of progression in the style. Here it’s play during the saber fight because it’s iori carrying the niten ichi-ryu to kill carrying not the spirit of the style as a whole but the spirit of the style off musashi when he slaughtered all those men that night. It’s because he is the successor to the bloodthirst and violence of the niten ichi-ryu and not it’s will

2:11:30 I could fully believe that is a bug due to it not being subtitled in game, creepy as hell though

The mystery sword saint who Iori admires looks a little like Yagyuu Tajima no Kami. What's he up to in this timeline? Iori even says something along the lines of, "I want to surpass that sword play with my master's Niten Ichiryu." He never actually says Musashi killed those bandits. By the time the ritual happened, Tajima would be too old to beat up Chiemon and Jeanne when they attacked Edo castle I guess. I hope to see more of that guy. Going through the game with prior knowledge is kinda funny. Sukenoshin tells Iori in the prologue stages, "If you'd been born earlier, you would be the GOAT." Iori replies that he is content with his peaceful life, but the waxing moon has a chance to tempt him with battling history's strongest warriors. Iori also looked at his little charm before he told Yamato to not use his noble phantasm which damaged his hometown. Kaya is really Iori's moral compass. No wonder he was close to freaking out in Flames of Resentment. I think he would work really well as a Tsukihime Remake Apostle given how they develop principles and what his life ambitions are. I wonder if that certain teacher of Ciel is anything like that.

chiemon spell was a command spell that replicate jaunes flames, the bio describe it as a miracle only possible because he saw her flames in the dream. kind of how in fate stay night in the fate route shirou was able to project caliburn because he saw it in saber dream but since caliburn power only work in sabers hands she had to hold it together with him.

Standing here, I realise You where just like me trying to make history

thanks for the videos, dude you are awesome

To me, Jeanne in this game is very loyal, extremely so. Chiemon doesn't want Jeanne to follow him (to hell), and Jeanne is actually HAPPY that he's dead (because he hurts less if he's dead). It's a side of Jeanne we don't see much, since she never has an evil master, but is briefly implied in some of her materials. Anyway, Chiemon somehow, someway, channeled La Pucelle. 1:09:00 - "In Saber's eyes, that's a good thing." Disagree, though the rest of the fight spells it out enough. Saber is specifically talking about Iori's wish, which is to live and die by the sword. Saber's own wish isn't nearly so terrible, he just doesn't want to be alone. And he used that to kill his only friend. Other Ending: It's the same, but WORSE. Well, there's more, but you have to watch Shousetsu's heart break and hopes die. Personally, Ray of Light is the "best" ending, and Flames is sort of "eh", but neither hits me nearly as powerfully as Entreat. And a powerful ending is very much worth respecting. It's the best part of video games: Having a choice, even if it's a "bad" one, written well, allows you to understand consequence and character more. As for DLC, there is plenty we don't know about Ototachibana, but the rest, I don't really know. Your idea isn't bad, either. But given the voice, the DLC could also be "Iori wins and uses the Waxing Moon to fight an endless battle, forcing Kaya/Ototachibana to deal with it".

WOW I DIDNT KNEW THAT THERE WAS A EASTER EGG AT THE END IF YOU PLAYED ALL '4' ROUTES

We still have a Season pass story which will be released in the future so I hope we get Iori's happy ending. Plus more Ototachibana content.

Around 1:08:00 i think chiemon used a command spell to strengthen his fire spell Yui also said that chiemons fire was actually decently strong in one the other endings Edit: ok im an idiot

On the DLC thing, I’m ALSO very interested in what they’ll do. It’s such a generally complete game as is and I’m not sure how it’ll work. I do agree with it being selectable on the menu, I don’t think there’s a good way to just load a save and it to be here. I’m actually wondering if it’ll follow Kaya or something, she takes Iori’s swords at the end of the Game’s OP which is probably post EtD. Perhaps it follows what she did after he passed. In terms of another ending, likely too much work, but I could see some sort of “epilogue” I think. An idea I have is that Iori is typically connected to Swallows, of course due to Kojiro and a Swallow showing up in one of his flashbacks, while Saber became a white bird upon their death in legend. I like the idea that Iori gets reincarnated as a bird and ya can see the two bird flying together as a certain epilogue. Saber’s wish is never outright stated but most have agreed it’s probably something similar to “friend”, Saber was lonely, then met his wife, then when his wife died he got super lonely, and after that kept searching for his wish but it was never fulfilled. Iori was that, hence everything. Or so the theory goes, it’s not explicit. I like the idea they’re reunited and always together after everything. Edit: I think you killed Saber too fast and his dialogue played after the credits by accident, WEIRD GLITCH THO

Aw he never did the two true final boss fights in the battle recollections. The second one was the most oh god moment of the entire game when I went into it on sword demon xd.

I agree it is a shame that one of the "Entreate the Darkness"-Endings wasn't Saber fighting against Iori, but I don't think that Iori's "True Nature" was teased well enough. Yes, the hints were there, but I'd have wanted to see him actually acting upon it, like him killing Zhou Yu himself in one route or getting into a fight with him to "stay in shape". I do like this turn, don't get me wrong, but just something more would have been great.

Oh boy...

By the way if u haven’t got it yet: (spoiler)............................. jeanne ain’t jalter from fgo u can tell , its og jeanne cause of various factor, la pucelle which is only a np original jeanne has also her description of her summoning indeed indicates she og jeanne and not jalter from fgo also her personality it’s just close to jeanne og rather than jalter, plus the biggest indicator: she is still a believer in god when jalter dosnt believe in god what so ever

Hey, weren't you gonna play the final one in the highest difficulty xD?

What was that voice line after the credits? i never saw that.

3:10 Reiterating that Musashi and the old Sword Saint who killed the bandits are not the same person. Compare their faces at 3:33 and 4:16

1:15:40

Finally fate MC that is "Evil" not morally grey or any of the BS usuall MC i want a DLC where he win like come on he is that strong against a servant !? So close yet so far

Yeah, i agree with ya Tanner, this is my least favorite ending, The "closure" be damned. My least favorite aspect being that you have to play the game again just to get it and the new scenes. Those scenes should have just BEEN there always as well as the option for this ending.(i don't want to play almost the whole game again just to be forced to be bummed out at the end. It sucks) that's just my personal opinion. But one thing that the other endings factuly have over this ending is.....that there more historically accurate(for Iori) because no, Miyamoto Iori was NOT actually a blood thirsty psychopath who died in his teens, but was actually just a loyal soldier who died in his 60's. The more you know. As for this DLC that'll happen eventually.....it definitely won't come off this ending for obvious reasons. Will it give us an actual "true" ending here.....who knows? Fate games usually never have a "true ending" anyways so........?