破戒僧
([hakaisō], lit. depraved monk)
Released in 2019, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was developed by FromSoftware and published by Activision as a spiritual successor to their Souls-series. The series, which started with Demon's Souls in 2009, became infamous for its brutal difficulty, creative boss fights as well as its dark and mysterious fantasy setting. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice shares these core ideas but takes a completely new spin on the series in many ways: Firstly, the player is not controlling a customisable character, but instead a protagonist with his own backstory. Dubbed Wolf at the beginning of the game, he is a Shinobi tasked with protecting the divine heir, Kuro. Secondly, unlike the many weapon choices of FromSoftware's previous games, in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice the player uses mainly one weapon, the katana kusabimaru. Therefore, each fight is a delicate dance of blades and all bosses are designed around this core combat principle. And thirdly, unlike Demon's Souls and the Dark Souls games, this game is not taking place in a medieval fantasy setting, but instead in a fictional version of feudal Japan. All these changes make it my favourite FromSoftware game and one of my favourite games period.
I wanted to dedicate a build to it ever since it came out, but I never found the time to finish any of the prototypes until now. But now I present to you the Corrupted Monk, one of the most iconic bosses of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
As I usually do when it comes to figures and sculptures, I started creating the corrupted monk by designing her head, specifically her 般若面 ([hannyamen] lit. dreadful face) first. It was important to capture the asymmetry of the design, with one eye socket being significantly bigger than the other. Furthermore, the small and sharp teeth of the open mouth as well as the bulging shape of the distinct nose were essential to include. All of these details needed to be created with few parts in a very small space so it was indispensable to use quite unique bricks.
For the mouth, I used a Minifigure helmet piece (Part-ID 18962) upside-down and the nose is made using a frog (Part-ID 33320). The horns of the mask are made with small claws (Part-ID 53451) which are attached to plates (Part-ID 35480) that form the shape of the eyebrows. The monk's head is entirely covered by a hood, which makes it easier to hide the attachment points of the mask parts.
Speaking of the hood, I debated whether or not to recreate it entirely with cloth pieces instead of plastic bricks. However, the very narrow shape around the neck and head made finding suitable LEGO® cloth pieces quite difficult.
The final design is a combination of both: The top part is made with bricks, mainly slopes and wedges, while the lower part, covering the shoulders, is made using LEGO® Scala towels (Part-ID 72965). To smooth out the transition between these two sections, I used mudguard pieces (Part-ID 3387) on each shoulder. The towel pieces not only give the hood a more accurate texture, they also give a layered cloth effect. Additionally, they hide the connection between the arms and the main body. The final detail is some of her long hair hanging out from beneath the hood. They are made with black (Colour-ID 11) flame pieces (Part-ID 69858 and 18395).
八百比丘尼
([yaobikuni], lit. Priestess Yao)
'Layered' is probably a good word to describe the Monk's design as a whole, since her entire body is covered in cloth. In her striking pose, she is holding up her left arm while gripping a buddhist prayer necklace. Decorated blankets not only hang from that arm but also form her skirt. They are made with yellow, metallic gold and pearl gold pieces, while their outline is made with dark green parts.
Her belt, traditionally called 帯 [obi] in Japanese, is made with dark purple (Colour-ID 89) pieces. Above that, she is wearing an additional layer of rough cord which I replicated with multiple tan (Colour-ID 2) coloured eggs (Part-ID 24946) threaded onto a LEGO® string and tied in the front.
The game's key item, the Remnant: True Monk reveals that the corrupted monk's actual name is 八百比丘尼 [yaobikuni] which is a character of Japanese myths. According to legend, Yao accidentally ate mermaids flesh which caused her to gain eternal life. The sorrow of seeing her family and loved ones die over and over again made her choose a seclusive life as a priestess. The world in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is centred around the idea of eternal life and the pain and corruption it causes. Even if these elements are never directly explained to the player, they shine in all the little details of the character design to create a cohesive universe.
