Post Suikoden 1 Speculation

[Falenan_descent]

Okay, I've been doing some replay of Suikoden lately and I remember in Suikoden 1 that Leknaat specifically tells Tir that you -cannot- use the Soul Eater's power. Ever. She says this whenever shes attempting to banish Windy's monsters and you ask to help her, but she exclaims that the rune should never be used and Joshua helps instead.

Now, we all know that in Suikoden III if you destroy a True Rune or its power is unleashed...you get a rather devestating effect. Like, the True Fire rune burning half (??) of the grasslands down.

What do you suppose would happen if the Soul Eater's power were to be unleashed?

The game also mentions that anyone who bears the Soul Eater must live a life of loneliness because the Soul Eater consumes souls. Therefore, all the previous threads about Tir being able to live a peaceful life with Kasumi are kind of void. I believe the only reason that Gremio is able to travel with Tir safely is because the Soul Eater had already eaten Gremio's soul (The power is still there as you're able to use Black Shadow even though Gremio's soul and body are returned).

So, I guess, my point is...

Since we all know that the Soul Eater is the most devestating rune of 'em all. It decides who lives and who dies. And thats the only rune that Leknaat specifically tells the Tenkai never to use it. (Except for Suikoden IV...I'm not too sure on that. Clarify please D:) Do you think Konami will ever elaborate on the Soul Eater's "devestating power"? I'm really surprised that Luc didn't attempt to use the Soul Eater instead of his True Wind Rune...

[Chris_Lightfellow]

I think that it would either cause mass death, or it would cause everyone who was dead to return to life, which could be a bad thing too. Especially if the people it brought back weren't healed so that they looked normal. They could just come back as walking skeletons, which would be just plain freaky. That'd almost be like Neclord's zombies....

[LanceHeart]

Three points I'd like to talk about.

1. Gremio is following Tir around with no ill effects due to either him already having lost his life to the Rune once before or him not being as close to Tir as he once was (Tir seems quite lonely in Suikoden 2, and that's only three years after the end of Suikoden)

2. The "Devastating" effect of pushing the True Rune to it's limit is most likely the annihilation of thousands of people close to the rune. We know that the Souleater devours souls (duh), but it's only localized to the bearer. If you anger the rune, it might go berserk on its own and start feeding off of anyone near it.

3. Luc most likely never tried to obtain the Soul Eater because he was already short on time and he most likely didn't know where to start looking for Tir/Whoever has the rune.

[Auragaea]

Honestly, I never took that line to heart because Suikoden I was the first in the installment, so they probably wanted to hype up the power of the Soul Eater.

[True Harem Rune]

I just finished Suikoden I yesterday, what comes to mind is that Ted most likely never had the Soul Eater steal anybody soul, until he commanded his own death. With Tir, the Soul Eater took away souls close to him and became strong enough to resist Windy. My guess is that Tir can suppress the curse of the Soul Eater so he doesn't need to be alone.

As for how devastating the Soul Eater would be if it went out of control, I don't think it could easily be summed up. If for example the Soul Eater went out of control during war it would take the souls of both sides and spread out. Taking souls not just of those dying but those with mild injuries or sickness, even of those who are spread out across the country would be effected.

[Raww Le Klueze]

Soul Eater is just a name. It doesn't actually eat souls.

[Iku]

it doesn't consume souls, it decides who lives and who dies, and arranges people's deaths by slightly altering fate to suit its needs! for example it might have made that child in the sewers be there, which was what made odessa die, if you know what i mean!

[True Harem Rune]

The Soul Eater can take souls, obviously that's why it's called the Soul Eater. Eating Souls is a figure of speech, and we know that people don't even have to be near death for them to die from the Soul Eater.

[genso19]

I read somewhere but I forgot where

The rune claims the lives of the bearers loved ones and consume their essence (just like ted, maybe gremio, teo and odessa) the power of the rune gets stronger as more lives are taken (this means that the bearer would suffer because of the death of his loved ones caused by the rune) this power actually was summoned when Windy wanted to take the soul eater from Tir, but the rune chose to stay with tir

Ted also said that for 300 years the rune plundered many souls and caused many wars

[Iku]

the souleater is its nickname, its real name is the rune of life and death, its got the nickname because of its nature as a killer of people

[Lucas Kane]

If you have everyone die in Suikoden I doesn't the Soul Eater show it has Teo Mcdohl, Ted, Odessa, Pahn and Gremio's souls in it?

[KFCrispy]

i see it as the actual bearer eating souls.... each soul eaten raised McDohl's ability (affinity, in a loose sense) with the Soul Eater. Leknaat probably doesn't want him trying to use the Soul Eater further because if he needs to draw power, he might end up absorbing the souls of his closest friends.

[eternal_sins]

does the rune drain the user life? It did right?
I vaguely remember Tir fainted. . .
Its somewhere after Luca death plot. ..

Talking about Ted. I think he get to build a strong relation with the rune. .(300 year!)
he can even control the rune without it having in his hand. .

[KFCrispy]

does the rune drain the user life? It did right?
I vaguely remember Tir fainted. . .
Its somewhere after Luca death plot. ..

um, what part of Suikoden I had Luca? you're thinking of the second game.

I also believe that if a user draws too much power from a rune, they can faint because they are using up their own energy.. so if they aren't powerful enough and have to do something big, it can happen. you see this in Suikoden III (your FC just after getting the rune wakes up in Chisa basement), IV (though the RoP also kills its user as part of the description), and V (Sialeeds and Lyon using Twilight Rune) as well.