In a roughly 10-minute trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom explains the lore of the series. The story is narrated by an actress known as a Jedi from Star Wars.
Who is this actress? For the trailer, developer Capcom has brought in actress Daisy Ridley. She also portrayed Rey Skywalker in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Now she lends her voice as the narrator.
The trailer is about 10 minutes long and answers many questions that newcomers might have. Among them:
- Who are the hunters and what purpose do they have in hunting monsters?
- Where do the monsters come from and what is their place in the world?
You can watch the trailer here:
Hunters and Monsters in Harmony with Nature
What is the lore of Monster Hunter? Monsters are just as much a part of nature as humans and all other races and animals that one encounters. Accordingly, the hunters’ goal is not to exterminate all monsters.
Monsters are an essential part of nature’s gifts and vital for human prosperity. And hunters work to repay this favor.
The trailer even implies that hunters and monsters might share a “mutual respect” for each other – “similar to two warriors looking into each other’s eyes across a battlefield”
Hunters strive to maintain the balance of nature. Thus, they primarily hunt monsters that are overpopulating a specific area. Seen this way, the monsters are not as malevolent as they often seem, and the hunters are not just pure adrenaline junkies – or are they?
Lore is all well and good, but looking stylish is the main thing
Even as a fan, one must admit that the main motivation in the game is less about harmony: players hunt the same monster multiple times to craft stylish armor and weapons from its parts. With this, they hunt even larger monsters, and the cycle starts all over.
This is also noted by many comments under the trailer on YouTube. There it says:
- rafaelmartinez5026: “‘The hunter’s intent is not the greed for violence’ she says, as I stare at my incomplete Crown Hit List.”
- ScootaGray: “Oh boy, here I am again ‘maintaining the balance’”
- jasongordon1968: “Narrator: ‘Once the hunt is over, nothing is wasted’ – Hunter: ‘I’ll just take these 3 scales from that huge dragon I killed and vanish’”
Also, that one day an actress known from Star Wars would narrate the lore of Monster Hunter was unexpected. leekyonion writes: “That Daisy Ridley presents a Monster Hunter video wasn’t on my bingo card for 2024.”
Of course, we must end by mentioning that Ridley played the role of Rey Skywalker in Star Wars. And what was the name of the flight wyvern from the open beta, with which the trailer concludes? Correct, Rey Dau! Some things you just can’t make up.
By the way, the clips shown in the trailer mainly come from older entries in the series. Many of the depicted monsters did not appear in the latest main installment – Monster Hunter: World. According to a dataminer, however, a popular monster could reappear in Monster Hunter Wilds.
