Now, everyone one knows that when you "die" you can revive with energy. But, in some missions there will be dead knights. For example, there is a mission where you got to kill a poison themed lichen colony (which was awesome) there are a bunch of dead knights. Now, since knights have energy to revive themselves or to go back to haven, it does not make sense that they are dead "dead".That's when I noticed that the dead knights were always ill equipped, no more than 2-3* and sometimes a squad leader with azure guardian helmets. So, does this mean that these Spiral Order knights are sent on impossible missions to gather intel or search and destroy without the proper equipment and are basically cannon fodder. Also, they don't have energy to revive so they are left to rust until someone find them. This led to another conclusion, energy is for "important" knights like players. Knights that are too weak or worth less than players wilm not receive energy. Do basically, Spiral Order knights (beside the higher ranked ones like Feron) are knights that are sent on suicidal missions without the proper equipment, and do not receive energy. Spiral Knights is darker than you think O_O
Spiral Order's Darkest Secret? ( Theory)
What you said is also a good possibility, I always wonder how there was so much crystal energy. Feron could just send an entire platoon to their death and have knights collect their life "energy"
It's a common "flaw" on most games.
Characters revive in the middle of a battle, but if it's on a cutscene, it's permanent.
Who hasn't seen Aerith death on FF7.
But, there are really no cutscenes in SK that a knight dies O_O
And if they died by cut scene. Why did Feron not make one to revive them, NPCs always seemed to have that kind of power >_>
Also, I haven't really played the Final Fantasy games because I didn't really like them. Played a few times at friend house and bought one of them (don't.know which one) but after like 5 times it became part of the games that are collecting dust
The Spiral Order's darkest secret is their skin.
*Badum Tsk*
We only know what sword and shield those dead knights were using (Calibur and Defender), but we know nothing about their armor as we don't have those blue helms and armors... Although those armor look like out proto armor but maybe those are 5 star... No prove for that.
@Little-Juances
Another "flaw" is why some knights took years to fall into Cradle after Skylark crashed?
@kidofbulletshooterz I can explain that. We we're knocked out for long periods of time upon impact, and some take forever to wake up.
Those poor little grunts. Actually, I'm afraid that these grunts are actually just knights that are being controlled by machines.
Who says they are dead and not just unconscious/KO? When we get our hp depleted, we have our eyes still open while deciding what to do, so we are just "thrown down". Those other knights may just have waited for help and on the process, got knocked out. While reporting, Spiral Order just takes them off or something.
Suggestion: Be able to get KO'ed if attacked too long while no HP remaining, forcing a retreat/CE revive depending on preset setting.
But I DO have a question? Why some knights are "captured"? Just go back to Haven! Now THAT doesn't make sense...
This is probably a classic case of "Hey we want to show how serious something is, so the non player controlled grunts die a horrible poisonous death, but losing your character and all of your gear (which is basically your level in this game) would really suck, so your character can hit 'Return to Haven'". Same deal in stuff like RuneScape; non-player characters will be killed off, but you can always just re-spawn in that noob town with your levels intact (although you lose most of your items in that one, but I hear from a friend that they dumbed that part down and you keep minor items now... SK isn't the only one pandering to the "easy mode" crowd).
Although CE reviving is part of a Knight's skillset according to the story, as shown by the fight with Arkus, the Knights could have run out of CE. Which might mean that one of the Knights is being smart and waiting on you to clear everything out while his mist regenerates and he can pick up his squad safely.
Cutscene death, as stated above, and a plot device.
Yes, knights can rev with energy, but what about the knights that do not have any? For that matter, what about Arkus? He [redacted due to spoiler] before [redacted due to spoiler].
There is also a knight near the core that is incapacitated, but the knight next to him says that "he'll be fine, he just needs a new mist tank."
So, here's my theory.
Mist tanks can break. This would explain Arkus's ability to [redacted] before [redacted], as well as knights being (dead). If their mist tanks break, they cannot return to haven, cannot rev, cannot function.
[For the record, Trojan mist tanks are replaced with seething chunks of crystal energy. Breaking those seems to be tantamount to ripping the mist tank out of a knight.]
Lichens deal piercing damage, don't they? Looks like some knights got pierced in the wrong places.
There is another problem:
THE KNIGHTS ARE ALL DEAD BEFORE THE MONSTERS ROOM !
In the mission, we are fighting monsters (that arn't so strong), then we walk about 20m without any ennemy and we see the dead knights, just before another room with a "party point". So why did they die?
They either moved away with their last ounce of strength in an effort to escape, or the monsters moved.
KO-ed knights? Find a mission with captive Knights, then free them all, sit back and watch them fight. They will, after taking enough damage, sit down, much like Arkus, then will stand back up again after a short interval. (No CE revives.)
The knights are all dead... because they're noobjelly.
@Heavy Wait, there's a Knight near the core who needs a new Mist tank? I need screenies.
At the core floor, he's laying on the bed on the right. talking to the person next to him twice reveals that he's ko'd because he doesnt have a (working) mist tank.
double post
In The Last Story (Get it if you haven't), at one cutscene a guy gets stabbed through the heart and dies, yet over 100 times before people have been eaten and you can run up to their remains and revive them. O.o'
NOW I know why we have Arms Appropriation Prestige missions! It's all starting to make sense.
If we all start donating our CTR and ASI Very high weapons, I'm sure none of this would be a problem!
Actually, Its not a dark secret at all
For my version of this theory, we are supposed to be "Elite" Commando Knights sent for High-Risk High-Reward missions that most Grunts in the Spiral order cant do without a big army, and since we are Commando and Elite, we have the freedom to think outside the box with equipment from the generic "cobalt" and been given emergency teleports devices that ports us back to haven when in an emergency and out of energy for a revive.
I mean if you played Star Wars Republic Commando (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Republic_Commando) Is very good example of how we could be the "Elite" counterparts to the dead knights you see in missions, which are probably part of a platoon of grunts that tried and failed to accomplished the same mission your doing.
If we're "elite", how come there are so many more of us than them?
Well, Have you seen the skylark? Do you think Haven is only 3 sections and a arcade? Do you think Haven is the only Major outpost for Spiral HQ?
Its just that the Elite theory makes sense, Besides the Guild trophy man and HoH, have you seen any Npcs with Wolver? Jelly? Skelly?
Republic Commandos are in squads of 4, and we have max squads of 4.
Although this may sound weird, but this is probably the explanation. See, You are the chosen one. Haven't we all played a game before? The majority of classic, or games introduced years before revolve around one character, You . You, are different. Lets take some major, or used-to-be-major games into account. The Halo series (probably never heard of it?), instead of being a normal marine, YOU HAVE A GIANT PIECE OF ARMOR AND ENERGY SHIELDS. Just sayin. Lets see, well, I can't come up with more examples, but you probably can. Everybody knows. From agent Kora, to Basil, to Punch. They know your destiny (or at least what is expected), they know you are the chosen one. The reason you have to earn crowns to trade and stuff: They are training you. You must be trained to be what you are. Or, you will fail. They have faith, for for a long time, they have expected, one day, someone like you will come, and you did.
The dead knights were parts of squads that were sent down to investigate the Clockworks when the Skylark first crashed, and because the Spiral Order was still getting accustomed to the new world, they haven't acquired CE from the Strangers yet (Or get crowns to trade for it).
The knights been dead for some time now, and most likely can't revive because of the broken mist tank. Nobody's been sent down to revive them because they're unskilled noobs and we're prodigies (Because the player is always a prodigy in these games), and the lack of energy must've permanently killed them.
Their deaths have been unfortunate, and most likely the reason why we need clearance for entering the lower stratums, as well as the Haven teleporter in emergencies.
LOL it's just like in Borderlands 2 where Handsome Jack kills Roland with a single bullet in the back, despite him having a shield. It's just like what Little-Juances says, NPCs are invulnerable during gameplay, but in cutscenes they can be killed in the simplest of ways.
Wow, Khomie, major spoilers there. (For the record, it is possible in the BL2 canon to not only have a gun that bypasses shields (see: Infiltrator), but to have a shot so powerful it breaks through the shield and kills you (see: any gun that is ridiculously stronger than the enemies you are fighting)).
Anyway the stuff on this topic that I wanted to say has already been said. Broken mist tanks, no mist tanks, or even scarier - maybe they were sent down before the revival mechanism was put into place?
Those knights weren't sent there with insufficient energy. Their rusting corpses are how we get our energy. Or something like that. Ask Loogie.