The Art of Saying Goodbye - Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Ori and the Will of the Wisps perfects the art of saying goodbye by weaving together two couple elements: fondness and loss. By their masterful combination, Ori and the Will of the Wisps provokes a supremely satisfying melancholia: it in and of itself is a somber goodbye—to this forest, to these characters, and to this take on the genre.

At its open, Will of the Wisps sees Ori and Naru caring for Ku, the only surviving owlet of Kuro, the grand owl from The Blind Forest whose sacrificial death only came when she realized she became what she thought she was fighting—the monster terrorizing the peaceful forest. Naru and Ori raise Ku, but the young owl’s misshapen wing keeps her from flying, which exacerbates her feeling of futility and discouragement. That is, until they lash one of Kuro’s feathers to Ku’s wing, allowing her to finally take to the skies. Ku’s time with Ori and Naru has an end date, and that date is fast approaching.

But when Ku is taken away from Ori, we have yet to say a proper goodbye to the owl--the loss is unfulfilled. The crux of the experience then becomes saying goodbye to the forest, to our friends, and to Ori's life as they know it.