Other Literature My own take on Terraria lore

Tsskyx

Terrarian
Hello. I've been watching a lot of Terraria content lately, and I've decided to tackle the logic behind its story progression. Mainly, I've been inspired by the theory that you are the villain of this story.

To start off, I am aware that Terraria has its own lore already. However, last time I've read through it, it didn't explain that much, and rather only complicated the matters in many aspects. For example, Moon Lord is clearly not missing an eye or a brain, so the official lore itself is inaccurate. I like the theory that he is Cthulhu's brother much better.

Now, with that out of the way, here is my take on the game progression and how it ties to the world's backstory, with explanations interspersed throughout it:



You spawn into a world that is set into a delicate state of balance, with its most powerful and destructive forces contained behind multiple layers of security, erected by a past unknown group of protectors, or perhaps someone else. There are loopholes to defeat these forces however, so as the first line of defense, the world summons the Eye of Cthulhu to go after anyone who may pose a danger to the world. After all, a regular human is only supposed to have 100 HP, definitely not twice as much or even more!

Regardless, after this, only one more pre-hard mode mandatory boss remains, the Wall of Flesh. The Eater of Worlds or the Brain of Cthulhu in my opinion aren't part of this grand defensive system, since they do not come after you automatically, you have to summon them in. Something similar goes for the Goblin Invasion or the Pirates, I think they weren't designed to "stop you", even though they spawn naturally; I think they are just opportunists. Lastly, there is Skeletron. Whatever the lore behind the Dungeon might be, the only way I can see it playing a role in this story is due to its post-Plantera stage. But more about that later, I suppose.

Now, with the Wall of Flesh, I think it goes like this:

The Guide holds a curse that he isn't aware of. This curse is what's holding the ancient spirits of light and dark at bay. This means that he's aiding you (perhaps this curse subconsciously made him interested about the world at a young age, ergo proving himself useful to you later on), but that ultimately, this aid will constitute his undoing. And as a defensive mechanism, the curse summons the said boss, upon your attempt at killing the Guide. So in other words, I do not think the relationship between the Guide and the WoF is an antagonistic one, nor do I think he is aware of it. I think both are part of the same process that exists to protect the world from you. But of course, every story has its demons that try to bring about the undesirable, hence why there are literal demons clutching the voodoo doll in the underworld. They want you to perform this ordeal. (After all, this is the Underworld we're speaking of, the metaphorical concept of sins, where evil concentrates. Of course it cannot be tamed, and of course it will aid you in your quest.)

Finally, the spirits are unleashed. I think they represent an older, wilder version of the world, a one that existed before the Guide did. I speculate that hard mode is how the world looked like shortly after the cosmic calamity had been stopped (more on that later). In this world, the forces of good and evil run haywire, and the world's defenses against the calamity are much more obvious and present. Namely, the world throws not just one, but three mechanical bosses at you, in effort to stop you. I believe this originally made the world too hostile, so the Guide (the Order of the Guide?) was created to tame it further. Now, after you defeat those mechanical bosses, the heart of the world opens up to you.

What do I mean by that? I mean the living, breathing essence of the world grows restless. The jungle represents the essence of the world, the focus of its power. However, this power was so strong, that those said bosses were created in effort to curb it. Think about it. The three bosses are mechanical. Ergo, they were created by someone. Think of it like... gardening. They periodically bombard the jungle, preventing it from getting too comfortable and letting the spores of Plantera spawn. What is Plantera though? Plantera is the guardian of the heart of the jungle, where the concentration of the source of the world's power is at its greatest. Plantera protects the Temple, where the power resides. The Golem, once again an artificial construct, is what I believe was the original creation, the creation designed to hold back the cosmic calamity, by an ancient race of sentient creatures, Lihzahrds, whose existence predates that of humans. The humans however discovered that this might not be enough to stop its own kind (people like you) from sabotaging all of this, so they used magic to further bolster this defensive system. And thus, once the Golem is gone, only the Lunatic Cultist stands between the world and the cosmic calamity, that is, the arrival of the Moon Lord.

Small side note about the Dungeon, I think Plantera was also given the power to tame the Dungeon a little. Perhaps, whoever first stopped the cosmic calamity also thought that curbing the Dungeon was important as well. Or maybe, the Dungeon was being fed by whatever force had been curbed by the Plantera, thus increasing its power. Both are possible, depending on what you think the "natural state" of the Dungeon is - the weaker, or the stronger kind.

Now, the pillars. I don't think they and Moon Lord are antagonistic, ergo why he comes once they are gone. Rather, I think he's using them to do his bidding, and only once they fail does he pull a Thanos and decide to do the "job" himself. Finally, the cosmic calamity:

Long ago, there was a battle over the planet between two celestial creatures of insane power, Cthulhu and his brother, Moon Lord. In the end, Cthulhu was defeated, but not before banishing Moon Lord to the moon (hence his name). The ancient lizard creatures populating the planet realized that he will return one day, so they harnessed the essence of the world and created the Golem to hold Moon Lord back, and later, the Cultists followed in their footsteps and created their own rituals, aided by magic. (And it was either one of them or the Order of the Guide that also weaponized Cthulhu's remains... or perhaps... no one did that and those remnants stayed sentient on their own, attempting to defeat you, because after all this time, Cthulhu still cannot risk anyone bringing his brother back; he really hates him that much.)

And perhaps it was exactly the human kind that created the mechanical bosses, in order to protect the weakness points of the Lihzahrds' project, which was that of the Plantera. You can destroy the Lihzard power that's keeping the celestial creatures at bay, but in order to do that, you must first find the Plantera bulb. Hence, the mechanical bosses exist to keep them secret, to keep the jungle from growing restless and revealing its secrets and vulnerabilities. Finally, the Order of the Guide came to patch it all up along with the rest of the aggressive evils of the world, in order to create a new, friendlier world, where peaceful creatures can cohabitate and prosper freely.

The end.
 
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