Mild spoilers for DOOM Eternal’s lore follows.
DOOM Eternal is, quite simply, a wonderful game, an evolution of the controlled chaos of DOOM 2016 while also expanding greatly on the mythos of the Slayer. It’s pretty much the perfect FPS game filled with little details to love, including a very metal easter egg during one of the game’s boss fights.
The Gladiator is a huge demon who carries a shield and doesn’t pose too much of a threat. Encountered on Sentinel Prime, the place of worship on Argent D’Nur, the homeworld of the Sentinels, he is the final stand between you and Deag Grav, the ballbag Hell Priest who betrayed the Sentinels and needs to die.
You fight The Gladiator in the Blood Arena, the place where the Slayer was taken as “The Outlander” after arriving on Sentinel Prime. After completely losing his mind from various trips into Hell, he decimates everything put before him, crazily exclaiming “Rip and Tear” the whole time.
It’s these three words which are perhaps most synonymous with nu-DOOM, but they’ve actually been around since the 1996 DOOM comic Knee Deep in the Dead. Seen as a bit farcical at the time, its usage in the newer DOOM games has made it one of the most repeated taglines in modern gaming.
And it’s also what’s chanted by the spirit of the fallen Sentinels when you fight the Gladiator, albeit in a different language.
Despite being human, Slayer’s combat skill surpassed even that of the Sentinels he faced, cries of “Rip and Tear” ringing throughout the arena as his name rose to legend.
From Story of the Sentinels: Part IV:
“His war cry echoed through the Coliseum as did the sound of his fury, and the guards cheered his banner. ‘Rip and Tear’ they shouted as the beast pushed beyond mortal wounds and certain death.”
After his glories in the Blood Arena, Slayer earned his freedom and then became a Sentinel himself. “Rip and Tear” would come to be known as his rallying cry, he being seen as the champion of the Sentinels after a heroic defense of Sentinel Prime against the forces of Hell.
From Story of the Sentinels: Part IX:
“Amidst the unyielding ranks of the Sentinels, when all other apprentices had fallen in battle, stood the Outlander. ‘Rip and Tear’ he roared, ferocious in battle. The remaining conscripts of the Arena stood in awe as they witnessed the beast who had once raged within their very cells, now armored alongside the shoulders of his Sentinel brethren. He had risen where none other had before, a trueborn Sentinel fighter – the very best among them.”
The rest of the codex entries paint a picture of Slayer’s rise to infamy and the subsequent fall of the Sentinels, as well as how he was imbued with such great power. Absolutely worth collecting all of the codex pages if you haven’t already.
So, where does this all fit in with the Gladiator boss fight? Well, the words “Kar En Tuk” are heard chanted right at the start of the fight and translate to the iconic “Rip and Tear”, as mentioned by Mick Gordon, the game’s composer, in a livestream.
https://youtu.be/3lQUuXKW4FQ?t=4279
To sum up this easter egg: you have your very own soundtrack for a boss fight in which your fallen brethren chant you on. The Gladiator is not the boss, you are. It doesn’t get much more metal than that.
DOOM Eternal is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia. A Switch version is due sometime down the line. DLC is also due to release at some point, though it will not be scored by Mick Gordon due to the very public falling out between he and id, the developers of DOOM Eternal.
MORE DOOM ETERNAL:
– DOOM Eternal Really Could Have Used SnapMap
– DOOM Eternal: All Cheat Code Floppy Disk Locations
– DOOM Eternal Hits Over 100,000 Concurrent Players On Steam
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