Today we will be discussing Shadow Hearts 4 guardian spirits. There will be spoilers ahead so if you haven’t played the games I suggest you do. AGAN SPOILERS AHEAD.
The four guardian spirits of earth are the most powerful spirit in the series. These 4 gods have immense power with only a few knowing of there very existence. If you don’t know what I am talking about don’t worry. This term for them was only used once by Albert Simon in Shadow Hearts 1. Still don’t know who I am talking about. Then let me paint the scene for you. Albert is talking to Olga and she asked why is he concerned with Yuri and the answer is because he has one of the 4 guardian spirits in him.
Any guesses yet as to who they are? Well you might not know them all but you know of 1 as he has been shown to be destruction with no one be able to fuse with him other than Yuri and Jinapchiro. Yes are talking about Radiance also known as Seraphic Radiance or Dark Seraphim.
Now we didn’t hear about this soul in Covenant but we heard of him in Shadow Hearts a few times Dehuei tried to resurrect him but failed so Albert decided to help. To stop it Yuri tried o fuse with it and failed which lead to it taking over and flying away to Europe where we met Keith. But before he left Radiance burnt Shanghai to the ground with little effort showing its power.
Now once Europe the gang meet up with Yuri and Albert learns that he has regained himself. Because of this Albert thinks of Yuri as a threat to his plains just because of the fact he might be able to use Radiance. Keep in mind Albert actually has Amon and thus he is more than capable to handle things on his own at this point. Yet he still sees Yuri as a threat speaking to the power of Radiance and the other 3. This power is no exaggeration as we see in Yuri ultimate attack for the children. With this attack in Sh1 Yuri turns into a comet and destroys the battle field. In covenant he unleashes to destructive spheres that causes some series damage. But with that being the case how can we saw that the guardians are the strongest spirits in Shadow Hearts well we just have to look at Radiance.
These descriptions sum up how dangerously powerful Radiance
SH1
“No Harmonixer has ever fused succesfully with this monster. A succesful fusion gives Harmonixers the power to perfom deicide”
Fusion
“Fortunately no Harmonixer has yet to fuse his soul to create this being, for its very appearance signals the apocalypse”
SH2 Covenant
“Neither fully material nor fully spiritual, it is a being of pure power. Lacking any emotions, it destroys any object or person in its path. ”
Fusion
“With a power exceeding other fusion monsters, the Dark Seraphim lives within Yuri and can emerge when called. It wields total power over death and rebirth. ”
These descriptions give us an indication that Radiance has great power at it disposal. Power that is almost unmeasurable. If this is a measurement Radiance power it is also a measurement to other guardians. Often in a group the power there those who are stronger than others to show difference or they are all equal to one another to show just how dangerous or powerful they are. When it comes the guardians we can assume there power is equal to one another but also above most enemies and allies in the game. This puts the guardians above enemies, allies and bosses. Even end gam bosses.
But these are end of the game bosses. They are supposed to be the hardest thing in the game right. Not really. In JRPG the final boss is a chore yes but compared to some side quest bosses they are not. Sephiroth inFF7 was bad but compare to Ruby and Emrald weapon he wasn’t. Sin in FFX was a bad ending boss. But compare him to Nemesis or Penance are a lot harder. The idea is the real test of this are the side quest bosses. But if we look at them the ones in Shadow Hearts Radiance is more dangerous then they are. Solomon for example had every big bad demon you faced getting there own spot on his map. This was for those he learned to control or master. For example he had crest for Amon and Ashtaroth. Radiance didn’t get one as no fusion has ever master him and he barely appears. We only have him with Yuri because someone summoned him to our world. But with that being the case can we compare his power to bosses and side quest bosses in Shadow Hearts saying him and the other guardians are on top. Yes we can.
The bosses for the most part spiritual link to there land in Shadow Hearts. A reflection of culture. The guardians are meant to be global and as such when compared to based on Radiance he shown to have power equal to no other. This could be taken as lore. As I think Yuri was meant to have Radiance and Amon be he is repeating souls. Amon power was mastered in Covenant or at least believed to be with Neo Amon aka his true power. We didn’t see this form of Radiance and thus we can saw Yuri still has a lot to learn when mastering this god of destruction and rebirth.
But Neo Amon was at the center of this as He became Yuri go to fusion and since Yuri got him by defeating Albert you can say he is lore and Radiance isn’t. Or Radiance hasn’t become part of it and thus we haven’t seen the full power because Machida and the others didn’t get to him yet. This may not be the case. Remember Covenant when Saki was talking to Yuri about his destiny. She said he is meant to master a great power. Me and my cousin talked about this at length and it could Saki talking about Dark Seraphim. But even with that being the case it isn’t the end of his power.
Dark Seraphim is a spirit of destruction and rebirth. This is something that he has been since the first one and I always wondered what if his power constantly changes. When you interrupt destruction it is often a since a rebirth or change as such if we had gotten the Shadow Hearts series to continue we might see Radiance not only change in appearance but in power. Now this must might not translate to the other guardians as this power might just stick to Seraphim. But again they are in a group which means they must have some equal to or greater. Meaning that they could all share rebirth but not the same way. Something that we could learn with Shadow Hearts alternative not only bring up something similar but telling us what made them guardians.
We were told by Simon they were 4 guardian spirits for the planet but what are they supposed to guard us against. Meta god was an alien from another world but when Albert summoned his castle he did so with no mention of anything able to stop him. And even though he has mentioned Radiance being a threat to his plains we can safely say that Yuri didn’t use him to take down Simon. We ca say this thanks to Covenant as with it we got to see Amon become Yuri go to soul and thus most likely the one Yuri used to stop meta. With out of the way we have no idea what threats Radiance and the others were supposed to protect the world from or how many. This would have been something nice to see if the series ever continues. As with this we would see the other 3 as well as the fusions who would have them. They don’t all have to be Yuri either since he has Radiance and the is a chore in itself to master. Maybe give them to other fusion such as Shania or another Hyuga family member. But those are my thoughts on this for now.
If you have any thoughts on this let me know as this is basically my thoughts and understanding on Shadow Hearts lore. The next topic on this will be the Valentine family and there evolution. Until then
“Artist https://www.deviantart.com/xdark-angel/art/dark-seraphim-198302195”
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