Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-1409503-20171208033849/@comment-1661895-20171210173024

I have to go against the growing trend of thinking that the enemy in the Bayonetta 3 teaser is Rodin because what we know about Rodin as a character and what he can do simply doesn't match up what's happening.

Rodin is an extremely powerful being, so much so that he was cast out of Paradiso for being too strong with his powers of creation and destruction. It reflects in the battles with him as he ends up being the most difficult fight in either game with the sheer power his wields as both an angel and a demon. But nothing about Rodin's history, his powers or his motivations would even come close to suggest that this new flaming entity is him or that he would go out of his way to kill Bayonetta in such a brutal fashion.

For starters, the mysterious figure's powers don't line up with any of Rodin's. Outside of combat, we know Rodin can conjure portals to Inferno to get around, is incredibly resilient to damage, has super strength and can make small flames on his hands. In battle, we know that he has the ability of summoning projectiles, being immune to time manipulation, doing a barrage attack that can leave Bayonetta with little health, Wicked Weave-like hits and a 'super' devil form.

The mysterious figure however has none of these abilities. They can stop Bayonetta's bullets in an electrical field that then proceeds to dissect and destroy each bullet in turn and they use rapid slashes of energy to attack her directly, which also appears to be the 'killing blow'. They also appear to be incorporeal, like a ghost, and the only resemblance to any of Rodin's abilities is the way this enemy can teleport. Even then, it does so either in a quick flash of light or in a manner of fading and disappearing on the wind, not through using portals.

If Rodin really had this sort of power the entire time that Bayonetta knew him and only had his old powers returned when using the Platinum Tickets (which, so far, are the only instances we know of where he has gotten said powers back) why has he never shown this sort of power before? With how easily this mystery figure seems to beat Bayonetta utterly and completely in their battle, there's no reason why Rodin would not use it if this was the sort of thing he was capable of. He even admits that turning back into the 'real' him happens with those Tickets. If this ghost is the real him, why has this never been shown before, especially since it seems even more powerful than him in either game?

Second of all is Rodin's motivations. Everything about Rodin's goals as a character gives him literally no reason to attack Bayonetta so ferociously to the point of killing her. Though it's stated that his true motives are unclear, the lore speculates that he's looking for someone to 'undo him' and be the bearer of his weapons that he creates. Bayonetta fills this role because she is able to defeat him in both games and she's the source of a great amount of income for him with all the halos she gathers. The first game even has Rodin mentioning that he'll work on their 'special project' (Scarborough Fair), indicating that they have a healthy working relationship together and it continues to do so when he gifts her with Love Is Blue in the second game.

While he has made some dark remarks about using her soul as a weapon should she ever die, he's never shown that sort of aggresion towards Bayonetta at all. What reason would he have to? Admittedly, we don't know much about the 20 year period from when Bayonetta woke up to the events to the first game, but their relationship appears to be colleagues on friendly terms with how they interact in the Gates of Hell.

This mystery enemy shows no signs of this being the case. To render literally all of Bayonetta's efforts useless, to injure her so badly and then simply float away on the wind after slicing her in half, this sort of behaviour doesn't match anything we know about Rodin. Even when we fight him, his attitude of being cool and collected during his attacks shines through. This thing that attacks Bayonetta shows literally nothing. It's a cold and calculated attack that has no time for banter.

So if it isn't Rodin, what could this teaser mean? Does it imply an alternate timeline because of the lack of detail Bayonetta is lacking in her outfit and the subtle change to her guns? Is it a memory of how she obtained her beauty mark since she doesn't have that either?

I think it's a nightmare.

Everything about this teaser just seems to reflect a dream sequence. From the way the fight plays out in a darkened realm with nothing but stormy conditions, to how the enemy doesn't even seem to physically appear at first when Bayonetta is tossed around like a rag doll, to the way that everything she tries is countered with little effort from the enemy just floating there, it's like Bayonetta's worst fears are being realised.

It's a fight that she feels she can't win.

Every other one of the challenges she has risen to, she has done so with bravery and skill, even when against the titanic gods of two realms. But she shows none of that in this teaser. She's fought hard and long since we can see hundreds and hundreds of bullet casings on the ground. But she's beat up, she's bleeding and she knows she can't win. Her actual death makes this point from how vicious it is, especially because you can see her body still attatched to either leg, proving that she was sliced vertically in half so fast that she couldn't counter it.

If this was a memory of her going through a traumatic event to gain her beauty mark, then that means this scene can't be taken literally as a proper memory because Bayonetta obviously lived past it if it was. If this is an alternate/parallel timeline, then the only times this could potentially occur was when the timeline was altered in the first game near the end or during the past events 500 years ago when Bayonetta wasn't sealed away.

I believe the teaser is a nightmare that acts as a dire warning of what is to come. With the blood moon commonly used to signify an apocalypse and Kamiyra stating that something incredible happens to Witches during a blood moon, I feel like this entity is something that is hunting Bayonetta down. In the first two games, she has pursued her goals in her own way, whether it was chasing her memories or to find a way to save Jeanne from Inferno.

With Bayonetta 3, I feel the tables have turned. Something is after her instead.