He never really was one of the Beasts, was he?
| “ | Your banner points the way to Freedom. The path neither the gods, not their emissaries would reveal. As the world became tainted by evil, I waited. I waited, watching Cookiekind face their limits and endure pain... For the one who would show the way towards the future of unlimited potential. I kneel before you. All these long years, I carried only my faint hope. I kneel before you, O Freedom. | „ |
| ~ What a fantastic character, really. |
Been a while, hasn't it? With two weeks up, let's get to proposing one damn easy keeper!
What's the Work?
Cookie Run: Kingdom is a fun little gacha game run by DevSisters. Collect Cookies, upgrade your kingdom, fight several wars and experience great trauma- wait, what? The game is deceptively dark sometimes lol, exemplified by today's topic's backstory.
Who is the Candidate?
Silent Salt Cookie was once the Salt of Solidarity, a heroic figure who helped countless people and saved many lives. However, upon his friends, the other Virtues, turning into the Beasts, they manipulated the world into allowing them to horribly slaughter all of his knights, causing him to become tainted and much more anti-heroic, arguably villainous.
What Makes Him Admirable?
As the Salt of Solidarity, he is a legendarily heroic figure dedicated to protecting the poor and downtrodden. Leading the Knights of Kala Namak in this, we see him on-screen helping combat a civil war between the Wild Spices to prevent it from spreading further across the continent, and also sends his knights to deal with helping people injured in a landslide caused by Pavlova. The four "rulers of the continent", heads of the now corrupted Beasts' armies, try to negotiate with him, but he turns them down, recognizing them for what they are - wicked usurpers - prompting them to attack. Getting info from the poor, downtrodden people Silent Salt had been protecting, they proceed to slaughter nearly all of the Knights of Kala Namak, the only survivor being Salt Cellar, who had hidden away with the children, elders, and ill. Silent Salt, reasonably enough frankly, loses it on them, wiping out the four armies. Now, I'd say that, while extreme, this does arguably add to his admirability - they clearly were intending to continue war and violence across the continent. Feeling shame, Silent Salt heads to his friend, Elder Faerie. You see, the two had been growing the Silver Tree, in hopes of using it to spread the power of the Virtues to all Cookies so that they wouldn't be all-powerful. The duo must abandon this, however, to stop the Beasts, who they figure out were the true masterminds behind everything that just went down. Driven by vengeance, Silent Salt decides to bind them with himself in the Silver Tree for all eternity in order to avenge his knights. Elder Faerie is saddened by this, but agrees to both this and Silent Salt's request to never be named as the one who sealed them, but just another Beast sealed off. Silent Salt performs said ritual, keeping the world at large safe for a good few eons.
Unfortunately, due to Dark Enchantress's shenanigans, the Beasts ultimately gain new physical forms they can use to terrorize the world again. Silent Salt, deeply upset by this, retreats to the Land of Silence, planning revenge. When White Lily arrives, he has his plan - kill her, take her Soul Jam, use it to kill the Beasts. He believes White Lily no different than Dark Enchantress, and so repeatedly tries to kill her while calling her out on that, causing her to nearly turn back to Dark Enchantress... but at the last possible moment, she becomes Awakened instead, proving her intentions really are pure. Silent Salt is shocked, requesting to do battle with her, and upon losing, kneels before her, commending her on who she has become. He then attempts to repent towards his knights for his misdeeds, but they all instead willingly wish to stand by his side no matter what, for they all deeply respect him. He agrees for them to aid him in the coming battle against the Beasts, on the side of the Ancients.
Admirable Standards
CRK's standards are actually decently high - lots of heroes have done a whole hell of a lot of good.
However, Silent Salt's acts are particularly unique in the way they operate. Not only does he seal away the other Beasts for eons, keeping them from causing harm to the world at large, but he also seals away himself with them, even though he'll have to face ages of nothingness. I think he passes with flying colors, personally - combining the Beast-Binding Ritual with all of the other broad-scale heroism he did as the Salt of Solidarity makes him one of the most admirable characters in the work.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?
He's a ruthless extremist come his turn to Silent Salt. He massacres all four armies who killed his people, and while that was understandable, he then traps them as wraiths that are in eternal torment. They're massive asshole victims, but that's pretty hard to justify. He intends to murder White Lily in order to take her Soul Jam and use it to kill the other Beasts, even though White Lily is clearly trying to repent for any harm she caused, and he endangers Pastry and Charcoal along the way. It's all for a good cause, but these acts are enough to give him a page on the Villains Wiki, for one. Yeah, he's definitely inconsistent enough.
Verdict?
Honestly, an easy yes. Not how anyone expected this character to go, but I love him for it.