Hero of world’s most popular computer game has a Messiah-like character
Although many of us despair about secular media, sometimes they contain elements that prompt us to reflect on our Catholic faith. This includes video games.
This is the case with Thoma, a playable character in the world’s most popular computer game to date, Genshin Impact. The name of the game is Japanese, but the producer is Chinese. “Genshin” translated into English means “The Original Deity”.
Thoma has two key designations that describe his prowess as a hero. The first, Blazing Defence, is the firepower that he has been given to fight monsters, and connected with his in-game skill, Blazing Blessing. The second, Protector from Afar, is about the game’s main storyline.
He is a foreigner who has been accepted as the servant of an heiress to one of the three great clans who rule the country. He is gentle and unassuming, but yet assertive. The first time a player and the character meets, Thoma helps him get a visa to enter the closed country. But he soon discovers his official position is the housekeeper for the heiress. He also runs errands for his mistress. These “errands” include trade negotiations, breaking up gang fights and investigating espionage. Not your average grocery shopper.
Thoma is not a perfect analogy, but in certain key aspects, he resembles Christ.
In-game, while he is among the best of the characters, his storyline shows that the most impressive thing he manages to do for the people at court is to conduct a housekeeping class for them. This recalls the story in the Gospels about Christ not being able to do any miracles in Nazareth because nobody believed He was the Messiah. They refused to call him anything other than “son of the carpenter”. Admittedly, a carpenter in the time of Christ was still more prestigious than a housekeeper, but they were not part of the learned classes like the Levites and Scribes.
Both Christ and Thoma share similar experiences of being under-appreciated because of who they appear to be. Thoma also suffers double because he is a foreigner. Our analogy here can remind us that we are called to be “in this world, but not of this world”.
Despite the abuse that he receives at the hands of the courtiers, he is still affable and kind towards them, telling the player that they are just the way they are as courtiers. When he gets angry, it is at the real ruffians and the monsters. Christ is also forgiving and merciful, even to the soldiers who arrest him. When Peter cuts off the ears of the high priest’s servant in the arresting party, Christ heals his ears. Of course, Christ goes several steps ahead of Thoma in that He eventually sacrifices his life for the salvation of all mankind on Good Friday.
Thoma possesses fire-element powers in the game. His normal skill is a lunging attack with a flaming spear. His second ability is an offensive-and-defensive fire power called “blazing blessing” which deals fire damage to enemies and creates a flaming barrier around him and his friends.
Fire is a potent image in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, a pillar of fire leads the Israelites out of Egypt. God also shames the prophets of Baal with fire from Heaven. Christ brings a different sort of fire to the mix – a fire of the heart. The Holy Spirit that descends on the Apostles on Pentecost is described as tongues of fire in the Book of Acts.
There are also a few times when Christ is associated with strong lights or burning fire. In the Book of Revelations, John sees Christ standing with “eyes like a fiery flame” and “feet like polished brass in a furnace”. Earlier on in the Gospels, Christ appears with a burning visage during the Transfiguration.
So, He effectively dispenses “blazing blessings” to all of us.
The depiction “Protector From Afar” is ironic when applied to Thoma. Usually when one thinks of someone being “afar”, it is of someone who has cut off contact with all people and maybe lives in a monastery or somewhere similar. But Thoma is exactly the opposite. Everybody in the neighbourhood knows him and recognizes his face. However, they don’t know that he is also the legendary “Fixer”. In that sense, he is “afar” from everyone.
Similarly, Christ’s other name is “Emmanuel” or “God is With Us”, yet many times we feel He is far away and fails to recognize His presence in the people around us. He is also “afar” in another way. As the Second Person of the Trinity, He watches us from a context bigger than the 3D setting of our daily routines. He is able to work wonders in our lives because He has more resources than we can imagine.
The final similarity between Thoma and Christ, though, will probably be the most unique. It is also the one that inspired this article.
In Thoma’s quest, he brings the player to a tree in the middle of town where he feeds stray puppies every morning. He has developed a very close bond with the animals to the point of giving each of them names. In addition, he has not merely invited the player to feed the puppies but to also help knit sweaters for each of them, whom he loves. What is even more amazing is that he is the one who gathered all the puppies to the tree in the first place from different corners of the city!
Are you able to guess the analogy here? If you can’t, it is probably because the puppies are a distraction. (Boy, are they adorable!)
This aspect of Thoma dovetails very well with the parable of the Good Shepherd. Like Thoma, Christ as the Good Shepherd goes around the country seeking out the lost sheep and gathering them back into the sheepfold. However, thinking about Thoma’s tree, we could have another insight. While it is commonplace to believe that the Shepherd has one sheepfold, perhaps what the Shepherd really does is gather the lost sheep into many Sheepfolds all under His ownership.
This ties in with the doctrine of subsidiarity in the Catholic Church, where every local Church is the Church of Christ by itself and is not part of another local Church, including the Church of Rome. So, in that way there are many Churches but also just one Church. And all are the same in that they have Christ as their Shepherd!
So, if you are Genshin Impact player or have children who play the game, you can use Thoma as a weak cipher of Christ.
