Multiple Personas

As I have played and studied the game, I have concluded that

the plot of Killer7 exists on four different levels of

narrative reality. These four levels of narrative reality are:

the Cosmic level; the Political level; the Individual level;

and the Spiritual level. To simplify the distinction (and to

prevent this document from becoming confusing), I will refer

to each level of narrative reality by a nickname.

The Cosmic level is Gods.

The Political level is Governments.

The Individual level is Folks.

The Spiritual level is Ghosts.

All of these narrative levels progress at the same time, and

they interweave through each other. In the interest of keeping

my explanation unconvoluted, I will describe the flow of each

of the four narrative levels, insofar as they operate

independent of each other.

A: THE COSMIC LEVEL (GODS) [#IIA]

The Cosmic Level of the narrative is the easiest to describe.

However, I should clarify up front that there are three

different entities known as "Harman" in this game. They look

alike and speak alike; they are related to each other;

however, they are distinct from each other.

I will describe each of them, as they relate to their

respective levels of narrative. The "Harman" on the Cosmic

Level of narrative is the character who I refer to as "Hasidic

Harman," or H. H. I name him "Hasidic Harman" because his

manner of clothing suggests that he belongs to a spiritual

tradition related to Western religious heritage, which is

dominated by religious traditions that find their roots in

Hebraic history.

H. H. is described as "the God Killer." His rival is Kun Lan,

who is described as wielding "the Hand of God."

H. H. represents Western culture and civilization: Europe and

the Americas. Kun Lan represents Eastern culture and

civilization: the Asian continental nations and Japan.

At the end of the ANGEL episode, we see that H. H. uses

Garcian and the Smiths (in the Killer7 group) as

transportation. He and Kun Lan have a long history of

friendship, though they seem to regard each other with

professional (rather than personal) affection. They reflect

upon their competitive relationship as experienced via chess

games; most of the time, H. H. wins.

SUDA 51 (the visionary developer of the game) has been quoted

as remarking that H. H. and Kun Lan represent "the futility of

war." This seems most keenly expressed in the game's final

epilogue, which occurs 100 years after the game's events in

Shanghai. I do not disagree with SUDA 51's comment; I would

add, also, that it seems to represent the inevitability of war

and the eternal irresolution of differences between East and

West, so long as one attempts to aggress upon the other.

At the end of ANGEL, H. H. fires a tank-piercing bullet at Kun

Lan, who catches and drops the shell after having been

propelled backward by its impact. This moment signifies the

beginning of the "chess game" that occurs in the Union Hotel's

top floor suite, through the course of the game's events. The

only time H. H. appears is when he is in the company of Kun

Lan.

The conflicts between Kun Lan and H. H. involve human

political, personal, and spiritual affairs. These three levels

of existence are the media through which they war. Everything

that occurs on these levels of existence (and narrative) are

related to their actions. Importantly, these two figures are

not absolute dieties: they can "recruit" individuals, nations,

and spirits into their leagues--and the power that the

formerly subordinate entities gain from their recruitment

places them on a tier higher than most mortals.

B: THE POLITICAL LEVEL (GOVERNMENTS) [#IIB]

In order to understand the political narrative of Killer7, we

must first look at the enigmatic "Yakumo." Hints are given on

what it is, in the game, but it's never really made clear what

its contents are.

GameFAQs message board user Yoshiko Ohier has offered the

following information on the Yakumo:

"Acoording to the