One of the interesting things about Sundered is its exploration of eldritch powers and corruption. It is a defining theme of the game.
I am going to skip over the plot (which I quite enjoyed) and more literary elements in favor of just discussing the aspects involving eldritch energy.
In the game, The Shining Trapezohedron is Eshe’s weapon. This is likely achieved through some kind of energetic and physical bond. The energetic bond is not as strong as a soul binding, but TST is also very tightly integrated into her physical functions when fighting: he can wrap around her hands as a sword, become fists, a whip, a mace, etc.
When Eshe goes to a Shrine to get her powers corrupted, we see this scene:
Eldritch power is always represented in the Shrines as being purple, and tentacles (generally speaking) are always black. In both cases, these are symbolism for energetic and physical manifestation of eldritch power.
This power engulfs her entire being, levitates her, and then enters her body (usually along with some kind of screaming). At the end of some Shrines we get examples of TST saying Eshe should be glad for the power she has received, or references to her making sacrifices.
So we are left with a few questions:
1. How does this eldritch power effect Eshe, in other words, how is this eldritch power effecting her energy body and her physical form?
2. What kind of sacrifice is entailed?
The eldritch power conceivably effects Eshe by modifying both her physical and energetic form. We can look more at the game itself to prove this.
Since it is revealed early on that General Waters incinerated Elder Shards, we may assume that these eldritchian crystals could safely be handled by humans without ill effect. (They are also handled by Eshe in this same manner.)
So the power of the Shards can only be used by one who is willing and wanting to use them, and in Eshe’s case, one who goes to these Shrines.Browse our partner-sponsored Glasses, with a variety of options to suit every taste and budget, available to buy online
Moving on to how these actually effect Eshe: the Shard disintegrates, the eldritch power wraps itself around her and enters through her heart. Some powers result in changes to both her physical and energetic forms, and all those powers are ones granted by gods (with the exception of Eldritch Pull, which grants a second directional change after grappling).
Z’Toggua’s Wings (glide/fly), Ghatanothoa’s Strength, Azathoth’s Breath (teleportation) and Atlach-Nacha’s Grip (spider, wall crawling) are god-granted abilities that modify her physical form.
Eldritch Pull (below) pulls from her heart/chest. This is more obvious at another angle, which I could not obtain a picture of.
Others are those that modify physical items she has on her, which are Armageddon and Mi-Go Shield (Valkyrie Cannon and Deflecting Shield).
So we can see that there are several effects to corruption, those being:
1. Eshe can successfully utilize eldritch energy without it overtaking her body.
2. She can utilize it to her benefit, allowing her to harness it for modification of her Valkyrie Cannon/physical items, and to change her physical form.
3. Therefore, eldritch energy/power allows for the modification of her physical form and energetic form.
Next, what does she lose from this power, what does she sacrifice?
This is very clearly illustrated by The Shining Trapezohedron’s remark after getting Z’Toggua’s Wings (which modifies her body and is likely the first corrupted ability many go for):
“Small sacrifices are nothing in exchange for such strength.”
The sacrifice is her physical pain and the destruction of her entirely human physical form. Every Shard that is used to corrupt Eshe’s abilities means she is one step closer to full corruption, and one step into being more of a conduit for eldritch energy and goals, which I think is interesting in and of itself.
It is important to note here that the Shrines are altars. The Shining Trapezohedron mentions this a few times, like when passing a Shrine you could use to corrupt Eshe’s abilities:
“Eshe, I knew you were a clever girl! Put your Elder Shard on the altar.”
You originally obtain your initial, uncorrupted, technological abilities from these Shrines, but after that they clearly serve a more nefarious purpose (and also likely held a certain amount of religious significance).
I also wanted to share some of my opinions on this subject as well! I think the concept of eldritch possession is interesting. This is basically what the readmore will describe (in part).
The concept of one physically or energetically changing because of eldritch energy is also very interesting to me (perhaps moreso)— and yes, the second is entirely possible, though I don’t believe total overhwelm+total energetic transformation (completely eldritch) is totally feasible.
When I played through Sundered, I chose 100% Embrace, in part because the power was alluring, and I thought the form changes and game mecanics were fascinating. (Also, I was… very apt to give into The Shining Trapezohedron)
If you read this far, I hope you got something out of this article.
For more information on a kind of eldritch possession, we can look at the 100% Embrace Ending.
I am putting this next part under a readmore since there are major spoilers.
I think the beauty of this ending is definetely becoming a pure conduit for eldritch energy and intentions while destroying everything.
At the beginning of the 100% Embrace battle, after going through the Nether Gauntlet, we are faced with Eshe (The Beacon of Hope). Eshe is forced to battle herself, and after that, her Beacon turns into her Humanity, which she also kills.
The crystal representing her humanity shatters, Eshe kills her bound self, and her Humanity is turned into darkness and is absorbed into her, opening the portal to the surface world. (For reference, the portal is never completely opened, so we never know what deity would have come out of it)
The fascinating thing about this is— what did she get rid of? She gets rid of her humanity, we have established that, but she still somewhat has a physical form for the eldritch energy to use.
It could be that she got rid of more human impulses, like the ease of bringing forth emotion, concern for other human beings… But maybe the ultimate thing she ridded herself of was her desire to truly be herself and inhabit a human form. Perhaps that is part of Humanity, or at least Eshe’s.