Highlights
- The heroes in Rising of the Shield Hero are summoned to stop the Waves of Calamity, not to fight demons or protect innocent people.
- The Waves of Calamity occur when two worlds collide, causing dimensional rifts and releasing powerful dimensional monsters.
- The heroes must defeat these monsters and close the rifts to prevent further damage, or else the worlds will fuse and the stronger world will absorb the weaker one.
Unlike other Isekai stories where the heroes are summoned in order to defeat the invading army of the mighty Demon Lords, the purpose of the heroes in Rising of the Shield Hero has nothing to do with demons or protecting innocent people from rampaging monsters.
The main objective of the Four Legendary Heroes, in other words, the reason why they are summoned, is to stop a cataclysmic event known as the Waves of Calamity. This article will talk about what the wave of calamity is, how to stop it, and what would happen if the heroes failed to stop it.
Related: Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3: From Hero to Zero
What is the Wave of Calamity?
In Rising of the Shield Hero, countless worlds are floating around freely in their own dimensions. By the way, although the series refers to them as “Worlds”, it is actually more akin to “Universes”. Anyway, just like our own universe, the worlds in this series move independently of each other and rarely come in contact with one another. As a matter of fact, it’s almost impossible for one world to be in close proximity to the other, just as it’s nearly impossible for a star in the sky to touch another star a million light years away from it.
Unfortunately, due to interference by an entity that has yet to be named in the anime version of the series, these worlds can sometimes collide and fuse. When two universes that are supposed to be so far from each other come into contact with one another, a massive tension happens between both worlds, tearing the fabric of space and time, and causing dimensional rifts to appear between the two worlds. These dimensional rifts are called the waves of calamity. ‘
The occurrence of the waves itself can already cause severe damage to the local area near the opening of the dimensional rifts. However, the most dangerous part of the waves of calamity is actually the dimensional monsters that come out of the rift. They are significantly stronger than the local monsters and can easily wreak havoc and kill hundreds if not thousands of lives if left alone.
The frequency of the waves’ appearance depends highly on the state of the fusion between the two worlds. Initially, the waves will only appear about once or twice a year. But as the fusion progresses, so does the frequency of the waves. At this point, the waves appear at least several times a month in Raphtalia’s world.
How to Stop the Waves of Calamity
Once two worlds begin to collide and the waves of calamity start to happen, there are two ways to stop it from progressing any further. The first one is to defeat the dimensional monsters that come out of the dimensional rifts. The more monsters that they can defeat, the faster they can force the dimensional rift to close itself. In doing so, not only can they prevent the damage from spreading to other areas, but they can also increase the time it takes for the next waves to appear.
Defeating the waves’ monsters and forcing the rifts to close is actually the main purpose of the Four Legendary Heroes and their respective Vassal Heroes. Their Legendary Weapons will enable them to go toe to toe with the strongest monsters from the waves, thus increasing the chance of their world to survive. But as the frequency of the waves’ occurrence increases, the harder it will be to survive the waves. That’s why they need to pay close attention to the Dragon Hourglass, which is a timer that counts the time until the occurrence of the next wave. Once the timer hits zero, the Heroes and their companions will be teleported directly to the location of the waves of calamity. So good preparation during that interval is the key to winning the next battle.
Another thing that can stop the waves of calamity is the Guardian Beasts. These colossal beasts are the mechanism that will be activated by the world itself in case the heroes fail to stop the waves of calamity properly. There are four guardian beasts in every world, and once they are awakened one after the other, their objective is to kill about a third of the world’s population in order to collect their souls. Once the beasts have collected enough souls, they will use that massive energy to repel the waves of calamity from their world forever.
Related: Rising of the Shield Hero: Understanding Naofumi and Raphtalia’s Complex Relationship
What Will Happen if the Heroes Fail to Stop the Waves
In the event both the heroes and the guardian beasts fail to stop the waves, then the two worlds will continue to fuse. Interestingly enough, although it is called the fusion of the worlds, it is actually more akin to an absorption, rather than a fusion. You see, every world has a different power level, so when the fusion happens, the stronger world will inevitably absorb the essence of the weaker world.
When such a thing happens, the stronger world will get even stronger. This event is marked by the appearance of some new landscapes, a thicker mana concentration, and even some brand-new species. On the contrary, the weaker world will become nothing more than a bunch of dying lands devoid of life. Soon, the weaker world will crumble and eventually dissipate into nothingness, which was what happened to S’yne’s world.
As of this time, Raphtalia’s world is in the process of colliding with Glass’ world. Naofumi, the other heroes, and their companions from different countries and species are trying hard to prevent the waves from spreading even further. Unfortunately, their efforts barely make any dent in the waves of calamity. So if they want to stop the worst from happening, they need to fight even harder or find another method to stop the waves.
Rising of the Shield Hero is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
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