Hi everyone! As a š fan, Iād like to ask how people understand the method Ragna used to finally kill Terumi at the end of CF.
This is probably a somewhat serious lore discussion, so Iād appreciate answers supported by in-game text or dialogue, though Iām also very interested in different interpretations. Honestly, Iāve never fully understood this part of the story, so Iād really appreciate some help. (The dialogue below is translated from my language, so the wording may differ from the English version)
First, Iāll explain my current interpretation. There are definitely some assumptions influenced by my own preferences, so Iām not claiming that this is necessarily correct.
In the first part of the sequence, Terumi is pulled out of Susanoāo by Ragna, after which Susanoāo undergoes the corresponding change, and the scene moves to the Azure Gate. Ragna then explains that Terumi is not an existence that can simply be killed, and mentions his connection to the foundation of the world.
There are several lines here that I find particularly important:
āNow, to the world, youā¦ āSusanoāo,ā are the hero who saved the world from the Black Beast.ā
āNo one will āfearā you anymore.ā
And finally:
āRememberā¦ no, ārecognizeā it. The Six Heroes, Yuuki Terumi.ā
My interpretation is that having Susanoāo observed by Amaterasu and recognized by the world as the āhero who saved the worldā may have changed one of the conditions that Terumiās existence depended on, causing him to lose the āfearā he derived from the world and weakening him enough for Ragna to finally kill him. Iām especially interested in whether the final āSix Heroes, Yuuki Terumiā line is also part of this process.
However, Iām not sure how much of this āchanging the worldās perception ā weakening Terumi ā making him killable by Ragnaā interpretation is actually supported by the original text.
I also want to raise a question about the interpretation that Jin āinherited Susanoāo.ā I donāt think the events here necessarily establish that Jin inherited Susanoāo as the God of Destruction and thereby became a replacement for Terumi.
For one thing, the world itself doesnāt seem to know that āSusanoāo = Terumi,ā so itās difficult to explain this as Jin becoming Susanoāo and therefore causing the world to stop fearing Terumi. Also, Terumi had previously separated himself from Susanoāo, so Iām hesitant to treat Susanoāo as simply being Terumiās sole vessel or existence-anchor.
More importantly, if the logic were simply āJin inherited Susanoāo as the God of Destruction, so Susanoāo can deal with Terumi,ā wouldnāt it be much simpler for Susanoāo itself to just destroy Terumi? Yet the story instead puts so much emphasis on āhero,ā āfear,ā and ārecognition,ā followed by Ragna himself killing Terumi.
So Iām more inclined to think that the important part here is not who inherited Susanoāo and replaced Terumi, but rather the change in how Susanoāo was recognized by the world, and how that change affected Terumi himself.
Finally, after Ragna defeats Terumi, he resets the world, Amaterasu leaves, and the Susanoāo Unit is sealed by Great Platinum. However, I donāt feel comfortable concluding from this alone that Terumi was completely erased on every level.
So Iād really like to hear your thoughts: What exactly was the mechanism that allowed Ragna to kill Terumi? What is the relationship between āhero,ā āfear,ā and ārecognitionā in this scene? And does the ending actually establish that Terumi can no longer return?
