Why Hellfire from Guilty Gear Strive is a Masterpiece

Leo is borderline suicidal. I mean he is literally at his storngest when he is turning his back at you. Like gekko said, "he came to that fight, in your match, to DIE"

if I had a nickel for every time I fell in love with a song named hellfire that uses irony in its lyrics to recontextualize how a person in a position of power processes and attempts to justify the actions they have taken ultimately leading them to pursue self destructive behavior. Id have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

My favorite description of Hellfire as a song I've seen is "I have intense PTSD & Survivor's Guilt *guitar solo*"

man guilty gear strive sure does have some good music to bad I can only hear about 10 seconds before the match is over

4:35 It’s really interesting that you brought up Faust and Zato’s themes to compare to Leo, because of how similar the messages they are conveying are (I.e, fighting an uphill battle against themselves emotionally), however, within Faust and zato's themes near the end there's a significant shift in tone, almost to indicate that despite how they are now, there's a chance in the future they're going to get better and recover. But with HELLFIRE, there is no such hope. Leo has completely and utterly accepted that what he has done is completely unredeemable and the only way he can atone for it is through death

Another detail I love about Leo is the fact that his main win condition involves him turning his back on you, just as he felt turning his back on the men he led into battle.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the build up to the bridge, with the lyrics “I am the reaper, I took my friends to the netherworld, that’s why I have to go home.” The first half is obviously reinforcing what the rest of the song is telling us; I lead my men into battle and got them killed. As for the second half, if we take what we know from the first half as literal, we can safely say that the reaper represents Leo, and if he took his friends to the netherworld, he must join them. Under this assumption, the only place that Leo can call home is Hell. Leo not only wants to die, he feels like he needs to suffer for what he’s done to those who died.

"Hellfire" is how Leo refers to war, he considers himself and his soldiers damned from the start ("Those who dream of heaven never last very long") and wants to give a meaning for the raw violence he's seen to somehow justify the pain he went through. Also the reason he hides his pain is to not waste the lives of the fallen that created the current peace as well as to spare his subjects the pain of war. Leo is a very responsible man who puts the happiness of others above his and takes pride in his position as king, always giving his all.

Huh, I always heard "Will I be on the right side of history?" as "A liar on the right side of history." which, while incorrect, still hit me as him saying that his victory only served to cover up his failures.

I can also say another thing I personally think causes so much survivor's guilt on Leo, which is expressed on this part of the lyrics: "We're going home alive, I'm a terrible liar Forgive me, that's not the Arc de Triomphe" Ky Kiske is french (that's why all his specials have french names), and Ky was another soldier of the Holy Order. However, Ky was such a skilled warrior that he alone could take on multiple enemies, so it's to be expected any troops listed on his command would survive. He knew while leading those men that he was not strong enough to do what Ky did. He knew they were all walking to their death, but they had to keep going forward.

The moment in Xrd's story when he tells Sol not to die, when Sol was inmortal allways resonated with me, and this song tells you why he is the way he is. The songs with lyrics for every character might have been the best design decision in Strive sincerely.

A fellow Hellfire enjoyer, you love to see it One thing I love about Leo's theme is how unlike Zato-1, Bedman?, or Faust, where it's clear they want to find forgiveness in themselves or others by the ending of the song, Leo's ending actively overpowers that part of the song. He hasn't forgiven himself, and if anything, only seems to have further vindicated himself to keep going down this self-destructive path, as if taking the time to reflect on himself more deeply just makes it worse. Leo will never forgive himself, the poor guy.

Another point to Leo's way of dealing with trauma is the fact that the lyrics also portray the REASON as to why leo fights in GG he comes to battle you to die and have a warriors death to somehow justify it all and die as another soldier, the bombastic way in wich he fights is to make it easier for you to kill him but even then he is so badass that fighting in that careless maner only makes him stronger, the whole Brynhildr Stance is the perfect way to showcase that. So fucking awesome!! i love when people dive deep into character themes Great vid dude :)

Leo needs a hug: The song

God that "BRING IT YOU BASTARDS" is so fucking bone chilling its actually fantastic Hellfire is definitely up there as one of my favorite songs in all of guilty gear

I remember reading somewhere that the repeated chanting of “hellfire” during the chorus could potentially representative of some sort of military chant. I personally like to think this was an intentional choice to show that Leo does have PTSD and is constantly haunted by not just visions do war but the sounds of it too. Excellent video btw you got a new subscriber. Also please do more Strive songs I love this game so much

Having Part 4 play “Name of Heaven” was such a beautiful touch to the motif of hope and how Leo’s theme is a direct contrast to it.

The instruments of Hellfire communicate how Leo appears on the surface, loud and prideful. The vocals and lyrics communicate how he is beneath the surface, devastated by PTSD and survivor's guilt.

me, personally, i see the "i faked out, call me out. who can say that?" as Leo telling someone that he still remembers that he is guilty, yet he doesn't know the one who called him out is himself. that's a very common thing for a lot of people with guilt of their past action yet a somewhat still slightly healthy self-esteem. they know they did wrong, they always apologize for it, but when someone but themselves reminds them of their wrongdoings they get frustrated

Every song in ggst is great, the way they capture the emotion of every character is perfect, I love themes like bedman? Where he fights to protect his sister while trying to survive inside the bed but failing to do so, but still giving the best life for her sister as said in the line “NO, you can’t see the radiant light, you can’t hear the beautiful chant, you can’t feel a tender warmth, if you can give someone something”