Heartwarming / Doom Eternal

Fridge pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all entries have been folderized as a security measure. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned!

Would you argue that this be in the funny moments section of the game? We strongly advise you against saying so directly to the Slayer's face.

"If the Slayer does live, let him carry our vengeance forward. If he persists, let him wreak violence on those who have wronged us. May the blood on his sword never dry, may his war never end until the guilty have been punished, and may this evil never again spread its shadow over another world."

— The last words of the "History of the Sentinels - Part XIV" codex entry.

As badass and fast-paced as this game is, it's bound to put a smile on your face in a wholesome way every once in a while.

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• The game starts with the payoff from the Doom Slayer saving VEGA near the end of the previous game: a partnership focused on stopping Hell's invasion of Earth. The Slayer's library implies he personally sets aside time to learn how to run maintenance on VEGA's processes when necessary.
  • VEGA neatly fills the role of Mission Control for the Slayer, operating the Fortress of Doom throughout the campaign.
  • It's a tiny thing, but on a very first playthrough, odds are the player will spot a weapon mod drone. A new player would expect the Doom Slayer to punch the drone for his mod; instead, he rather patiently yanks it off. This seems like Doom Slayer has learned patience… but then the player realizes these are VEGA's drones, likely programmed to simply release the mods rather than needing money. Nonetheless, it's a little thing that the Doom Slayer isn't punching them, because he doesn't need to.
• Speaking of Doomguy's library, the entire fortress is filled with signs that he has started taking up hobbies, such as the painting of him and Daisy, the aforementioned library, his dedication to learning VEGA maintenance and the forge shows. From the glimpses we see of his past, Doomguy's time in hell traumatized him to the point where he lost all cohesion and acted more like a savage beasts. These small background elements shows that he is taking steps to reclaiming his humanity and doing things simply for the enjoyment of it, instead of constantly fighting.
• It may be subtle, but there are signs that he legitimately cares, as while he hears the broadcasts of the people suffering and dying down below in the intro, you can see the fury build in his eyes while he gears up for his assault. The moment that truly sells it is upon hearing one last transmission for help. The way he cocks his shotgun just before jumping right into the fray comes off as not just an aggressive gesture, but also reassuring, as if notifying all in need of one thing: help is on the way.
• You can listen to resistance broadcasts on the Fortress of Doom in between missions. The third of these is basically one long "don't lose hope" broadcast telling humanity to keep faith because you're out there kicking demon ass. The Doom Slayer may be too angry to care, but he really is mankind's dark savior.
• The Doom Slayer just killed the final hell priest, in breach of the Night Sentinel code. This causes the rest of the Night Sentinels to turn on him. When VEGA urges the Slayer that they should depart, what does he do? He does just that: depart, with no fuss or fighting. The Sentinels are not demons, he was once their brother in arms, and he can't fault them for sticking to their oaths, so he simply leaves without a single shot fired or word said.
  • Even earlier, when confronted by the spirit of King Novik, the Slayer actually does the entirely unprecedented: he kneels in respect to him. It's only when it's entirely clear that Novik has no intention of giving his position any consideration that he turns his back on him; Novik was taking an opposing stance from the word go, but the Slayer was still willing to give him a chance to speak and hear him out regardless.
    • By the end of the game, however, Novik seems to have softened his stance, given that he speaks in favor of the Slayer and his drive to protect humanity after he kills the Icon of Sin.
• The Doom Slayer's reaction to finding his own collectible is just as adorable as it was in the last game.
• Given that Samur Maykr explicitly went against the Khan Maykr's ideas and empowered Doomguy, turning him into The Ageless Doom Slayer, it seems the guy was willing to risk exile, or worse, just to give reality a fighting chance: There was no need for him to do it; the Maykrs could have continued on living forever, but he simply had enough and decided to do the right thing for once, come what may.
• The last entry in the story of the loyal Night Sentinels detail how they all went out swinging after they were betrayed, and that as ammunition ran low and the Atlans (huge, Jaeger-like mechas that the Sentinels use) ran out of power, and they resorted to fighting demons with their bare hands and whatever they had left, news got to them that the Slayer had survived the initial ambush and was ripping and tearing through demons. The entry then ends with what can only be described as a So Proud of You from an order of warriors who once refused to even consider the Slayer as the lowest amongst them (see page quote).
  • And even better? He does exactly what the page quote says. Turning the Khan Maykr's desperate efforts back on her, he subjects Urdak to the same horrific invasion that she's inflicted on so many other worlds, destroying it and shutting down the production of Argent Energy once and for all - and avenging his fallen comrades in the Night Sentinel order.
• In one of the levels, behind some glass there's a memorial to deceased Youtube celebrity TotalBiscuit. The memorial is a chair with one of his top hats hanging off it and sign plate that reads "Slay Cancer".
• Like the above example, an Easter Egg in the Fortress is a book entitled "How To Comb Your Mustache" ^note A reference to Mark's Wilford Warfstache character as well as his father's own impressive mustache by Cliffton M. Fishbach, Markiplier's father, who had introduced him to the original game. In his original playthrough of Doom (2016), Mark would often glow about how he would play the original Doom with his father, so that the creators saw it fit to insert a touching reference to Mark's late father is heartwarming in of itself.
• As noted in Tearjerker, the Doom Slayer is actually Doomguy, the hero of the original games. Flashbacks show that for all his efforts, he was reduced to a broken shell of a man when the Night Sentinels found him. However, he was eventually able to recover somewhat. Going around the Fortress of Doom shows that he's picked up some hobbies, like collecting action figures and music.
• After restoring power to the Fortress, the player can go down to Doom Slayer's study on the second floor, where his memorabilia are located. On the wall right next to the main desk is a framed painting of him with an adorable rabbit in hand. It seems that, even though countless years of fighting and conditioning had turned him into a brutal, violent Implacable Man, deep down somewhere Doomguy still has a soft spot in his heart for Daisy.
  • He also kept her cage, and the only physical part of her he managed to recover after her death, a single foot. In essence, the cage is a shrine to his lost companion. Lost, but forever loved and never forgotten.
• And speaking of Daisy, as you close in on Deag Grav on Sentinel Prime, Khan Maykr appears to you and offers the Slayer a truce - spare Grav, end the crusade against Hell, and return to the Night Sentinel fold, and she will return "what the demons took from you so long ago", clearly implying she is willing to resurrect the innocent rabbit if she means so much to the Slayer. Assuming the offer is genuine, it's rather magnanimous of the Khan, considering her low opinion of humans and how Doomguy has been tearing her plans apart the entire game.
  • Here's a different perspective on it: Doomguy doesn't take the offer from a being that can resurrect the Icon of Sin. The Betrayer had once, resulting in his son being brought back as a powerful demon. Doomguy isn't going to be swayed into potentially reviving Daisy with any chance of giving her a Fate Worse than Death.
  • Even better is the fact that a lone bunny can be found in nearly every level in very secluded areas, watching the Slayer from afar. Maybe it is his broken mind that makes him see his beloved pet. Maybe Daisy is still alive and is following him. No matter the case, its a sweet sight.
• Praetor Tokens in this game are held by the spirits of fallen Night Sentinels. When the Slayer retrieves one, the Sentinel will kneel before him, showing nothing but utter respect to him.
  • On a similar bend, the music that plays when fighting the Gladiator contains a chorus singing in the Argenta language, at first potentially being just the Sentinels chanting as a ritualistic combat takes place. However, this chorus returns as you fight the Icon of Sin. Combined with Praetor Tokens, it's plain to see even if they were killed, their loyalty, like the Slayer's quest, is eternal.
• When the Slayer begins to leave the Betrayer to his exile he is stopped. The Betrayer throws the Slayer what is clearly some kind of hilt and tells him "When his heart is laid to rest... then his soul will be at peace... and so will mine." People brushed up on the lore know that when the Betrayer made the ill-fated deal to resurrect his son he got what he wanted in the form of him being resurrected as the Icon of Sin. Later in the game the Khan Makyr revives the slain Icon and when the Slayer finally reaches the Maykr homeworld of Urdak he makes his way to the chamber where the Khan Maykr is bring the Icon under her control with its heart. There, the Slayer explicitly destroys the heart with the Betrayer's energy knife instead of the super shotgun like you might expect. The Betrayer made a horrible, terrible mistake but the Slayer was willing to give his old ally at least some form of redemption.
  • And this ends up helping him big-time in the second part of the Ancient Gods expansion, as Valen is the commander of the new Night Sentinels, who not only gives the Slayer his new Hellbreaker, but also arrives with the full force of the Night Sentinels to back the Slayer up in the final battle against the Dark Lord and Hell's army.
    Commander Valen: Come, brothers! Let Hell tremble before our might!
• The destruction of the Father's life sphere. If the Slayer had went through with giving Samur the life sphere and the Father was resurrected, he would gain physical form... and able to be killed. Crushing the sphere may have denied him the ability to manifest, but now he's effectively immortal. After spending so long as one of the Slayer's companions, the crushing of the life sphere can be seen as a means of returning the favor, thereby protecting his ally from both the threat of true death and Samur's machinations.
• At the end of the first part of the Ancient Gods expansion, the Slayer and Samur, the Seraphim, finally come to blows. As the transformed, demonic-looking body of Samur lies helpless at his feet, the Slayer pops his blade — yet, in a very unusual turn of events, he hesitates rather than finalizing the kill in his usual machine-like focus. It's at this hesitation that The Father opts to quietly teleport Samur away, assuring the Slayer that he doesn't need to kill him to do what he came for. In spite of everything, the Slayer just couldn't bring himself to pull the metaphorical trigger on the one who was, even though it was an act, something of a friend.
  • Doubly so in the case of The Father, who had sent Samur to take his life sphere away in the first place to avoid anyone every getting their hands on it. Samur may have ultimately betrayed his purpose to save his own skin, but The Father never lost any love for him.
• The existence of the Father himself. With even the angels of heaven having turned out to be in league with hell and no sign of any higher beings, you'd expect Devil, but No God to be in effect, right? Well, you're wrong, because hinted at throughout Eternal and fully appearing in Ancient Gods, we have the Father, a god so compassionate that the reason He didn't destroy Hell when it first threatened was that He couldn't bring himself to destroy His children. God exists in this world, and He loves us.
  • Even the revelation in part two of Ancient Gods — which reveals that Davoth, The Dark Lord, is the real Father, and the one we had known as The Father up until now was actually his creation, who ascended and took his role after Davoth was betrayed — doesn't change this. Despite The Father we knew being very close to a Satan-analogue^*  What with usurping the Creator and all, his empathy towards creation is genuine. God might be a Fallen Hero, but Satan Is Good and he's the one in control.
  • Not to mention the reason why Davoth fell from grace: he wanted to make all life immortal like himself, but his unending failure drove him insane to the point of his usurpation. Davoth was never truly evil, just broken and driven by revenge. Not unlike the Slayer.
• In a very bittersweet way, the Slayer being placed back inside the same sarcophagus that he was freed from back on Mars after defeating the Dark Lord. After countless years of fighting Hell’s armies, driven by nothing but pure hatred and vengeance for the demons that took everything from him, the Slayer can finally, finally rest easy with the knowledge that the demonic threat has ended for good.
• The post credits voiceover for The Ancient Gods Part 2 by The Intern has Doom Eternal developers thanking the player for playing their game. It's a simple but sweet send off for this chapter in the Doom Slayer's story.

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Humanity is safe once again.
There are none left that stand against you.

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