As Enoch progresses through the game, his crisis of faith becomes more and more pronounced, until God is literally forced to freeze him for several years while he makes up his mind. Enoch’s primary catchphrase, uttered every time he dies and is brought back to life is, “No problem, everything’s fine.” At first, it feels genuine, but as time goes on, it feels more and more forced, as if Enoch is saying it to convince himself more than anyone else. Forced repetition of supposed truths is an exercise any religious person is familiar with. Here, it’s what keeps Enoch moving forward.
But one reason he struggles is Lucifel, who despite being officially positioned as God’s right-hand man ends up subtly subverting him at every turn.
Here’s the thing about Lucifel (and bear with me, this is weird): He’s God’s primary helper, with the power to move through time. In the future, he will become better known as “Lucifer”, the fallen angel who wanted to be like God and led an army of angels in rebellion against God and his heavenly forces. As a being that lives outside of time, Lucifel is well aware of all of this, and at the given moment he is holding his cards close to his chest, only tipping us off when he subtly attempts to subvert Enoch’s mission and devotion.
Lucifel is appointed to be Enoch’s “guide” throughout the game, ever-present, talking directly to God (via a cell phone) at every save point. We hear only one side of the conversation, though, and we get the sense, in the way that Lucifel often seems to be talking down God from his own worries and doubts, that his relationship with God is one of equal power. In fact, it often seems like Lucifel is the reasonable one, the guy who’s left carrying out God’s seemingly insane plans while God simply makes declarations without thinking them through.
But Lucifel is almost certainly up to something. At every turn he seems to be calling into question God’s promises and intentions. His affection for worldly clothing betrays his preference for an overall worldly aesthetic and philosophy. Lucifel is not to be trusted.
Unless, of course, you’re on his side. And that’s the funny thing about El Shaddai. By the end of the game, your mind is pretty much made up about whether you relate most to Enoch or Lucifel. Personally, I found myself on Team Enoch (more about that next week), but I’ve talked to a number of those who saw Lucifel as obviously in the right. Both sides are, as El Shaddai demonstrates, perfectly reasonable. But only one side can be right.
We’re given examples of two ideological paths: the believing and devoted hero, or the rebellious and pragmatic anti-hero. While the game does seem significantly invested in Enoch’s plight, and therefore seems to come out, in the end, on the side of God, it nonetheless seems to subtly imply that we’re only seeing one side of the story. All Lucifel needs is some time, and then he’ll start telling us the real truth. El Shaddai provides the player with fleshed out characters faced with living out their own view of the truth. The question left for us to answer is which of the two we admire most.
