People make Gods, and people destroy Gods.
Since last week, an urban legend has been passed on by word of mouth among Airdon's Law Ring players.
"Hey, have you heard that there's a faded man who's always waiting in front of Marenia's door to summon up, and he can help anyone take down this troublesome boss."
"Yes, I've heard that he always wears nothing at all, just a weird pot on his head."
"It is said that the Valkyrie can't even touch him with a single blow, which is incredible, does such a person really exist?"
"I don't know, but the people who have met him say the same name—"
"Let me solo her" (let me go head-to-head with her)
Reddit user skullwithtophat created a painting for Let me solo her
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In Reddit's Eldon's Ring of Law section, users post "thanksgiving stickers" from time to time to thank players who helped them defeat bosses in online mode.
This would have been all too common for a Souls game, so such posts are often treated as unnourishable water stickers with few respondents. Until people notice a unique ID – "Let me solo her".
This ID usually appears in thank-you posts related to "Valkyrie Marlenia" - Marlenia is currently recognized as the most difficult boss among players, she has high attack power, fast attack frequency, and can even restore health through attacks. Nearly two months after the game's release, there are still many players stuck in this level.
Marlenia's "Water Bird Dance" is considered one of the most difficult boss moves in the game
However, according to the descriptions of those posts, this "Let me solo her" seems to be very good at dealing with the Valkyrie, almost able to achieve "leaf-free" in battle, and it seems that the "her" in his name is aimed at Marinoya.
With the release of a post titled "Absolute Legend – "Let me solo her", things reached their first climax. Unlike the previous Thanksgiving Stickers, where an ID is done, the poster paints a colorful description of the appearance of "Let me solo her", creating a funny image of "perverted" combat skills and costume taste.
The post was like an epic poem preached by a bard, completely mobilizing the enthusiasm of the onlookers for discussion, and receiving tens of thousands of likes in just a few hours. But at first, everyone just used this comment section to share their online stories, saying clichés such as "never look down on a guy dressed strangely in the soul world", and not too many people cared about the authenticity of such an urban legend.
Until someone posted a screenshot and said that he had actually met such a person.
"Authenticity" gives this legend unprecedented charm. This is not only because "Let me solo her" itself is so dramatic, but more importantly, in such a weak social game, the story of an ordinary player would have been difficult to spread, but at the moment, "adventurers exchange information in taverns, and legends become famous in word of mouth".
Things changed and attention was refocused on "Let me solo her". People began to imagine what kind of player this was, and what motivated him to challenge Marionia again and again.
Among Chinese players, Let me solo her is known as "Brother Jug". The pot hood he wears is a bonus piece of equipment for the game's NPC "Warrior Pot Alexander" related branch equipment. This equipment doesn't offer any buffs in itself to challenge the Valkyrie, but Alexander is one of the few true friends players can make in the game, helping players in multiple boss battles, and with an indomitable spirit of challenge.
Brother Hutou apparently used this equipment as a spiritual symbol, but no one knows why he was naked or why he was eyeing Marlenia—perhaps because she was the most challenging boss in the game, or because Brother Hutou had extra affection for Marlenia and wanted to see her a few more times.
Some people have begun to make some secondary creations around the story of Brother Hutou, who is usually portrayed as the Valkyrie's nightmare nemesis, with an aura of "he appeared on this and was stable".
The appearance of The Pothead Brother and the image of Marienia in the minds of the player have also undergone a subtle change, from the hateful Rappi boss to the poor bird targeted by the pervert.
The Shining meme is quite apt here
As a character born entirely from the player's creation, Brother Hurhead's presence surpasses most of the NPCs in Eldon's Ring of Law overnight.
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And since Brother Hutou is believed to be a true person, it is natural that someone will follow his tracks.
Some people are lucky enough to find brother Hutou's summon charm in the game, only to find that his performance does not match the legend - he is sometimes hacked to death by the Valkyrie twice, sometimes withdraws because the homeowner is angry, and most of the challenge videos that flow out of the market end in failure.
In fact, because players can change their IDs at any time in Eldon's Ring of Law and allow repetition, anyone can dress up as "Let me solo her", at which point it is difficult for players to confirm whether they are encountering the right owner.
In addition, inspired by Brother Hutou, some "spoof performance artists" also came into being, some of them called "Let you solo her" (you come to brush her), will sit on the side after being summoned, watching the homeowner suffer and single out the Valkyrie; some are called "Let me solo you" (I will single you), specifically invading other players at the door of the Valkyrie; and some are called "Let her solo me", After the boss battle begins, he will walk straight to the Valkyrie, and then be cut to the ground.
"I let her solo me do what I say"
Seeing that the rare player legend is about to become a laughingstock, a post called "Let me solo her" appeared on Reddit, the poster claimed to be the pot head brother, and uploaded a video of him as a summoned unharmed single brush Valkyrie.
In the video, the pot-headed brother, as in the legend, knocked down Marlenia with only two knives without any clothes, and even waved to the homeowner and another summoned person sitting in the distance.
In just two days, the video exceeded one million views on YouTube alone
In online mode, for each collaborator summoned, the boss's health and toughness are increased accordingly, which means that Marienia defeated by The Pothead Brother is far more difficult than in single-player mode. His use of the "Double Knife Blood Stream" is already a melee genre with the highest damage in the game at present, and it still took nine minutes to end the battle.
Brother Hutou's technical style is not the kind of flowing and agile weapon master, he just responds carefully and skillfully to every move of the Valkyrie, only at a safe time, weakening the enemy with one knife - which makes the whole battle look actually quite difficult, not at all like the "easy crushing of Marlenia" as everyone imagined before, nor is it pleasing to the eye.
But this did not affect the popularity of Brother Hutou ushered in a new round of soaring, the legend was confirmed, and more people became his fans.
The fan creations around Brother Hutou are also becoming more and more endless, some people paint for him, some people make models for him, and he is loved like a real hero.
Some people even made it into a mod, so that players who didn't have the opportunity to summon Brother Hutou himself can also experience the feeling of fighting with him in the game.
The strength of this mod is also designed to really brush the Valkyrie
The poster who calls himself Brother Hutou is also very happy about this, he will patrol everyone's fan creation in the forum, posting comments such as "this interesting" and "thank you for the creation", and there are always people who follow the message "Legend I am coming!" In addition, he has been interviewed by several media outlets, known as "the hero of players", and has his own entry on Wikipedia.
The high profile of the pot brother soon attracted controversy, and some emotions that annoyed him brewed in the forum.
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"I've also helped hundreds of players defeat Valkyrie, but no one has ever painted for me because I'm not dressed perverted enough?" Similar posts began to appear in the forum one after another, expressing dissatisfaction with the pot head brother.
These voices are often thought by Hutou's fans to be out of jealousy, but this is not entirely the case. Many of the opponents of Brother Hutou have also been excited about this legendary story, and have also praised and gifted related posts, and most of their attitude changes occurred after someone came forward to claim the identity of Brother Hutou, making the forum full of related posts.
First of all, in the eyes of some people, the poster is not necessarily the original pot brother. He did defeat the Valkyrie naked with the "Let me solo her" ID, but players with such technology are not rare around the world, not enough to prove that the original idea came from him. Especially in the earliest screenshots of players, the hug head brother actually used a single-handed knife.
Precious images of wild pothead brothers in the early days of the event
And even if he is Brother Hutou himself, the "Legend of Hutou Brother" is also a story that everyone in this community has done together, and the witnesses, communicators, and two creators are all indispensable roles in it, and should not be taken over by one person.
Also causing discussion is whether brother Hutou's actions can really be counted as "heroic acts".
In Eldon's Ring of Law, helping someone else play a boss doesn't offer any reward worth mentioning, but many people still enjoy it, just purely helping others. There are always many enthusiastic players who set up stalls in front of Mariana, and they will also prepare some restrained skills to increase the probability of successfully passing the level.
The Blood Fly Prayer, which keeps the Valkyrie from being able to keep water birds out, is one of them
Of course, they will also put on their best equipment, improve their survivability, and play as much output as possible.
Brother Hutou's approach is clearly contrary to this, and even he himself admitted in interviews that the number of failures is far more than success. Such an approach is obviously closer to putting on a show than helping others sincerely, sometimes at the expense of others' gaming experience.
Many people initially like The Hutou Brother because he is a vague symbol, representing many high-tech players who are unknown in the world of the Soul series to help others, and their slogan is "Everyone can be Let me solo her"; however, when this image is specifically for someone who has become famous through this, it also loses this imagery and is separated from the masses.
"But his spirit still inspired me, we need such a hero in our lives" "I just delved into his video and finally defeated the Valkyrie on my own" "Anyway, it was this poster who made the legend of The Hutou Brother a fact" - In the face of doubts, there are still people in the forum who firmly support The Hutou Brother, but their voices are gradually overshadowed by cynicism.
While the story of Brother Hutou has spread to the outside world, the relevant content has become unpopular in the birthplace of this legend. Nowadays, some people publish the fan creations of The Pot Brother, and most of the comments they get are "almost got", and it is difficult to see praise and support.
People here a week ago were trying to prove that this is a real heroic legend, and now they go out of their way to instill it in others: this is just a network stalk.
epilogue
Obviously, brother Hutou ultimately failed to become the perfect chivalrous guest in everyone's mind who "brushed his clothes and hid deeply with his name".
But such expectations may be difficult for strongmen.
From the perspective of Brother Hutou, he just works according to his own ideas, sometimes helping others, sometimes just for fun - as everyone said at the beginning, this is originally very common in the online mode of the Soul series.
A similar "Legend of the Red Spirit" was recently born in China, in which an invading player wearing a "Son of Platinum" helmet led the homeowner all the way through the game's most complex sewer map, and only finally dueled head-on with the parties
As for what selfless and fearless, indestructible legendary players, the reality of the "king of wages", are just the imagination of onlookers to add fuel to the fire. No one could have predicted that things would turn out so hilariously, and for the person concerned, this is just a rare opportunity to become a protagonist in social networks, and it is completely human nature to be excited about it.
And those who oppose it are not necessarily the hustle brother himself, most of them are just fans who are tired of following the trend, hate exaggerated dramatic descriptions, and are eager to completely deny the object of admiration, so as to attack those followers.
People take it upon themselves to idolize an ordinary person, and they are disgusted by their disappointment and want to step into the dust – and such stories do not only take place in the player community.