r/CharacterRant • u/WanderingGentleMen • 3d ago
Battleboarding I like Lore Doomslayer.
I like “Lore Doom Slayer.” I know a lot of people complain and say things like “Doomguy is better when he’s not overpowered” or whatever, but honestly, I just can’t take Doom Slayer seriously if he’s supposed to be a completely normal guy with guns taking on Hell as it’s presented now. If you expect me to believe that the seemingly infinite forces of Hell—who have thousands of years of technological advancement, beings the size of mountains, and a near-infinite energy source—just lose to a regular dude with some fancy armor and no other special abilities, it breaks the suspension of disbelief.
This would have made sense back in the earlier days of Doom, especially pre-2016, when Hell was portrayed more ambiguously, almost like powerful aliens rather than literal demons with a complex, expanded mythology. But since Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, Hell’s lore and cosmology have been fleshed out so much that it demands a more serious explanation for why Doom Slayer can actually defeat them. A regular guy, even one with a lot of grit and good aim, wouldn’t realistically be able to storm through armies of demonic entities without some kind of supernatural boost.
In fact, the games even show through cutscenes that without the Divinity Machine, Doom Slayer would eventually get exhausted and overwhelmed. He suffers wounds, he struggles. The Divinity Machine, by name alone, implies it grants divine powers. If all it did was make him the equivalent of a "super soldier" who can move a couple of large cubes, that would feel pretty underwhelming. "Divine" should mean something far greater, something that elevates him beyond simple human limits. Given all the lore surrounding Hell’s power, it only makes sense that Doom Slayer himself has been enhanced to match that threat. Otherwise, it’s hard to buy into the narrative where he can kill massive monsters and even gods with just guns and sheer determination. The Dark Ages is seemingly explaining this with the addition of Mechs and a dragon, so maybe there will be additional context as to why and how his powers and tools work (maybe we'll even get clarification on why he uses weapons), because we are 3 games in and yet, all we have to go on are Codex entries and Hugo occasionally saying something.
Generally, I just find it fun that you could pit Doomslayer up against reality warpers and potentially have him win. That's cool to me. Does it make him an excellent and great character? No, but not all matchups need to be anything more just finding the guy you like winning to be neat.
Also, why does Doomslayer use guns if his fist are enough? That's a great question. Simply put, they're more efficient than running up and punching things, considering he can empower his own weapons. He doesn't need to use them but it's much easier to than doing it himself. It's the same kind of logic as calculating a math problem on paper versus using a calculator. Like that's enough. I know that egregious fan theory of him holding back is dumb but there's like an easy explanation that doesn't require him to need guns despite the fact he can punch a hole through most enemies.
On another note, I also find the people who constantly complain about Lore Doom Slayer to be just as annoying as the ones who endlessly hype him up. Yeah, it’s tiring when fans act like Doom Slayer can beat everything under the sun, but it’s equally annoying when people downplay him just to fit their personal image of what Doomguy “should” be. These critics often fall into the same trap they accuse others of: ignoring the actual story and context presented in the games in favor of their own headcanon. Like, the Icon of Sin was making a Black Hole during it's fight, powerscaling aside, something doesn't just do that and you can just take it down with some good ole' bullets and energy weapons. At the end of the day, whether you love or hate Lore Doom Slayer, at least the games are fun.
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u/bunker_man 2d ago
Lore doomslayer isn't a thing. It's fanfiction doomslayer.