Shadow Hearts main characters have the fusion ability which allows them to fuse with souls of monsters granting them there power. This might make them almost gods in there own right but these people are human and sometime need help. Today we will be looking into that with this lore post. Thee will be spoilers ahead so please check out the games where you can. AGIAN SPOILERS AHEAD.
To begin with this we will look at Shadow Hearts 2 which introduces us to Yuri and Alice. We are introduced to these with Yuri coming off the stronger one as he rescues Alice form Albert Simon who is going under the name Roger Bacon at this point. We are introduced to Yuri fusion ability on the train but it isn’t Alice takes a nap that we are introduced to the down side of this great power.
Here we are introduced to Fox Face someone who will be haunting us through the game when ever the amulet turns red. For this the amulet is measuring Malice which Yuri will have to release by going to the grave yard. It is here we learn Yuri is under the mask curse. Four mask haunt Yuri as they wait to take his soul hoping there best will bet him. For the most part this is Yuri to over come but in the second disc that changes after Alice helps Yuri regains his sense of self.
It isn’t made clear how but Alice was able to go to Yuri graveyard after fighting him in Keith castle. It is after this fight as they hunt Albert Alice gets pulled in to the graveyard. It is here she takes Yuri place. After that incident the Mask come calling for Alice soul and I should make it clear you can do this so it is a winnable fight by being able to bring Yuri in but story wise Alice still is set to lose her soul in a fight with the mask protector Atman. We know this thanks to Covenant which shows the bad ending as being the correct one. The point with this is that this will set a president for the series to repeat as this will become a norm.
As I said this would continue with Covenant where we are introduced to Karin. Karin would meet Yuri thanks to Nicolai and the mistletoe curse. The cursed weakened Yuri fusions powers hence why the level 1 versions all are humanoid as opposed to SH1 where they were all monsters. The curse also affected Yuri as it would leave him with no soul.
The issue here is later down the road when Yuri tries to go against Rasputin only to have the mad monk use the mistletoe curse to keep him at bay. This meant that if any progress is to be made they have to find way to combat the curse. The group does this thanks to finding the man who taught Rasputin but it involved going into Yuri soul to awaken Amon. Karin decides to join on this journey. Thus once again he needs comrade to help him.
It is through this Yuri is able to regain the ability to use Amon again to take on Rasputin. And with this we see someone important come to his aid. With Karin we learn later on the game the she is Yuri mother. Something that explains why when she ask about Yuri loving Alice he feels sick. Almost as if your mother asking you about your girl friend. Something that is further explained when Yuri and the team is sent back in time so Karin can become his mother.
Now for Johnny and Shania. This will be shorty and different. Different as Shania is the fusion and not the main character of the story but Johnny is. Johnny must watch through out the game as she gains more souls each time the ritual takes it out of her. This until the fusion where Shania fits the deity of the sun and Johnny can help. It is reversed and also different as this takes place in he human world and not in the soul. But like the other times someone important to the fusion is needed to help them. But that is not the only twist from the new world gives us. For Johnny he awakens his true power and form with Awaker with Shania helping he regain himself thanks to the blue light. The Awaker is Johnny real look as we found this is the body he was resurrected to after his family incident. With that said Johnny return to normalcy can be compared to Alice helping Yuri against Fox Face. While Johnny helping Shania with the sun god can be compared to Karin helping Yuri with Amon.
With that said there is one last twist on this and that Johnny getting Awaker second special spell Either purge. This involves a side quest where Johnny and the others are pulled into a painting. Johnny release them and with each one he the party back from entities that represent the 7 sins. After completing this you get one of the strongest attacks in the game either purge. Now because of the game treats it is unclear if this takes place in Johnny head as no one knows what he is talking about or did they get sucked in. We don’t know.
With that I will bring this to an end. We will revisit Shadow Hearts again to look at more lore and if you any ideas and thoughts. Please let me know.
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