Sekiro Theory

{TL;DR: at the bottom!}

Last week I shared my theory about the political climate in Ashina during the events of Sekiro, and why I believed it explained why Ashina Isshin wore a disguise to move around his own Castle. It was a productive and fun discussion that even if we did not quite get all the answers, it raised a lot of interesting questions.

So, this week, I propose another lore theory. And as a disclaimer, when I mention The Buddha, I talk about the deity as presented in Sekiro, and not necessarily how Buddhism is understood by practitioners IRL.

1. Resurrection and Cutscenes

Have you ever wondered why after losing to a boss, we have to watch the cutscene that proceeded the battle again? It is not like this in Bloodborne or Dark Souls. In those games, you show up again and the Boss seemingly remembers you and is waiting for you. The lore is that your character died, but is resurrected and is running back mere minutes later. But, not in Sekiro. We still have to listen to Genichiro try to convince Kuro to cooperate with him, and he still asks Emma about the condition of Isshin. Why is that?

Well. it is my belief that Sekiro does resurrect, but there are two different kinds of resurrections, powered by two different competing entities. One deity is the Sakura Dragon, who resurrects your body with through Kuro's manipulation. This is the resurrection you see when you die in battle and are able to hop back up and keep fighting. The second resurrection is resurrection of your spirit and physical being, but it is actually not a true resurrection at all. And this "resurrection* is manifested through the power of The Buddha.

2. Setting

If you know Japan, you know that Japan has traditionally practiced two separate religions at the same time, Shinto and Buddhism. Shintou often translated as "The Divine Way," And Bukkyou, translated as "The Teachings of Buddha." We can see signs of this in Ashina, which imply both Shinto and Buddhism as being practiced for a very long time in seemingly peaceful coexistence. Serpent Worship shrines are often depicted as Shinto shrines, and there are several Buddhist temples that of course house the image of The Buddha.

However, it is apparent that Buddhism has fallen out of favor. To be more clear, it is under attack and suppression.

We all know our central hub, the Dilapidated Temple. It is a Buddhist temple, but it is in utter ruin. The temple is falling apart with the way to reach it being destroyed/removed. Sekiro is only able to leave due to his superhuman grappling ability. And Emma is able to reach it via a hidden passage, which is interesting in its own right as if Buddha worship had gone more or less underground relatively recently.

Then, we have the Buddhist Temple in the Ashina Depths, where once again travel to it has been rendered impossible. But, what we find there is a little more on the nose. Buddhist monks there have been murdered, likely tortured to death by being hanged upside down while bound with incense tied below their heads. The monk on the way remarks that Buddha has been driven from his temple. Inside, we find the game's Super Boss that causes a lot of fans to quit, unless you have that one in a million glitch where the AI screws up and he does not attack but I have not been that lucky. Kudos to you, if you have. Anyway, the super boss is a Mist Noble, an obvious adherent to worship of the Sakura Dragon, who is clearly working to depress Buddhism and oppress its followers.

And then, finally, you have the Buddhist Temple on Mt. Kongo which is a whole nother bag of worms, no pun intended. Needless to say, these Monks have fallen quite far from the teachings of Buddha. Heretics, you could say.

I think it is clear that Shinto has supplanted Buddhism in Ashina. My theory is that Serpent Worship, a Shinto practice, became Sakura Dragon worship due to the superficial similarities between the deities, or even perhaps due to the Dragon's influence manifested through partaking in the divine waters.

3. Resurrection

So, we come to Wolf and the events of the game. As the "Shadows Die Twice" subheading implies, this is a game where our main character may perish in battle, but is made to live again. And we have two resurrections, from a gameplay perspective.

One of them brings you back to life after perishing in a battle, as you hop back up with half-health to finish what you started. But, then there is the other kind of resurrection which you experience after what the community has deemed "True Death." This one is like a Dark Souls/Bloodborne resurrection where you start back at a checkpoint. In Dark Souls, that checkpoint is a bonfire. In Sekiro? It is The Sculptor's Idol. The sculptor is Orangutan, a fellow shinobi. What does he sculpt? Buddhist idols. It has a blue glow.

This is my belief: The Sakura Dragon's power is how the in-battle resurrection happens, and the power of The Buddha is what allows Wolf to come back to life after True Death. The colors tell you which deity's influence and power is at work. The Sakura Dragon having a fittingly pink color, and Buddha having a blue color.

Wolf would seem to have the favor of two separate deities, who we can see have seemingly competing influence over Ashina. But, why would both deities, with powers and influence appearing antagonistic to one another in practice, be assisting the same man? Let's get into it, sekibros.

4. The Will of the Deities

I think we can presume The Buddha wishes to rid Ashina of corruption and once more taking his place in his temples. His followers are being oppressed by worshippers of what we learn is actually a foreign deity not originally from Ashina. So, He helps Wolf because Wolf is in opposition to them.

But, why would the Sakura dragon help Wolf, then? In short, I think the Sakura Dragon is not enforcing its will by taking over Ashina. I think everything you see is a consequence to this unnatural contagion infesting a place it should not be. And in our case, it is not by the Dragon's will that we are resurrected in battle, but by the will of Kuro, its... well, vessel, I suppose? Anyway, the Sakura Dragon is the source of Kuro's power, but the will behind that power would appear to be Kuro's will, not the will of the Sakura Dragon. The Sakura Dragon is suffering and ill in Ashina. If it had a will, one could presume remaining in Ashina is not what it would prefer. But, The Sakura Dragon does not say anything so what do we know? It doesn't seem all that welcoming to Wolf upon entering its realm, but getting to the bottom of that is way above my paygrade... I'm not Australian nor do I have a velvety youtube voice.

5. True Death and The Buddha's Blessing

So, we have come full-circle. I mentioned cutscenes at the beginning, and why events seem to play out again as if they had never happened. Seeing how in Dark Souls this does not happen, I believe it is a deliberate design and lore choice.

In my view, this peculiar cutscene mechanic unique to Sekiro and no other recent FromSoft game is evidence that the resurrection we experience after so-called True Death is not resurrection at all. I believe it is essentially, and bear with me, Time Travel. Like, spiritual time travel rather than science fiction. I believe that The Buddha takes you back through your memory to a point in time before the boss battle in which you just had just died, and that is why the events that precede said boss battle happen again. More or less, at the point to which you return after true death, said events had yet to even happen!

There is evidence for and against it. The evidence for it, beyond what I already talked about, is that we explicitly see The Buddha do this! This is how you are able to relive the events at Hirata Estate a couple of years prior. At that point in the game, you pray at a Buddhist idol in His temple, and one could presume it is Buddha who takes you back to relive memories that had already happened. You even take back your inventory and experience, too. I believe this is what is happening when you come back after true death, as if the very same power is doing the same thing. Because, at what object do we resurrect after true death? A Buddhist Idol.

Evidence against it is that mini-bosses are still dead even if you do not commune at the idol before facing the big boss... but Buddha uses auto-save, lol. Buddha takes you back in time, but He does not place you in the same physical space. My belief is that he takes you back to the moment before you fought the boss, but places your body at His idol. Thus, the bosses you face still play out the same dialogue over and over again because it simply has not happened yet.

Conclusion

Yeah, I know. It was a long explanation and I am used to getting blasted on Reddit for being overly earnest about things. lol But, tl;dr just below in case you just want the simple explanation.

So, what do you think? Time Travel I am open to all theories and evidence.

TL;DR: In Sekiro, we experience two different resurrections. One resurrection is mid-battle, and is powered by the Sakura Dragon as indicated by the pink color. The other is the one we experience after true death, powered by The Buddha as indicated by the blue color which we find at His idols. I believe that these two resurrections are different: one being resurrection of the body, and the other being resurrection of your spirit and being to an earlier point in time facilitated by your past memories, which is why we see cutscenes over and over every time we fight a boss. We have experienced these events before, but our foes have not.