It’s tough being turned into an undead lich.
That’s what Ainz Ooal Gown experienced. The lich was his character model in the popular virtual reality game Yggdrasil. But when the servers for the game shut down, instead of being logged out, Ainz became his character and was teleported into the fantasy world. Now, being an undead skeletal giant is his reality.
But he’s gotten used to it.
Ainz has long-since stopped hoping that he might bump into another player who had experienced the same unfortunate fate. Now, he’s just more interested in world domination.
And while he’s powerful enough to conquer some kingdoms, he’s run into a speedbump called the Sacred Kingdom. They’re a kingdom of holy paladins who despise all things inhuman and, more relevantly, undead.
But Ainz has a plan. He doesn’t attack them. He sends one of his minions, one going by the name Demon Emperor Jaldabaoth, to lead an army of monsters called “demi-humans” to attack the kingdom.
The attack goes well. But before destroying their city and capturing their royalty, Jaldabaoth claims the only one who has ever repelled him is none other than the Sorcerer King, Ainz.
It’s not long before the holy paladins—well, the ones who are left, anyway—come groveling to Ainz, begging him for his help.
Yes, Ainz’s plan is working out beautifully. He’ll “help” these paladins. He’ll “defeat” his secret minion. And when they see just how effortlessly he “beats” Jaldabaoth, perhaps some of them will they’ll begin to look at undead people like himself with kinder eyes.
And when they finally become weak enough to conquer, they’ll never know that their suffering was originally because of him.
Because Ainz is ultimately playing the Sacred Kingdom, not much of what he says or does can be taken as genuine. Still, there is some truth in some of his lines.
At one point, he tells someone that he doesn’t think a king’s value should be determined based on how many treasures they have acquired, but on the peace and prosperity they provide their citizens.
People fight to the death to protect loved ones. At one point, a terrified man resolves to die protecting the city so that he can try to save his wife and child.
Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom would seem to follow a strange parallel to the Christian gospel. Or at least, so Ainz would like us to believe. Throughout the movie, Ainz leaves his kingdom to “selflessly” fight and protect the Sacred Kingdom. He takes on a disciple of sorts named Neia, and he teaches her to follow after his example of justice, ultimately causing her to exclaim that Ainz is justice itself. While battling a Balrog-like monster, he “dies” and vanishes for a few days. However, he comes back and ultimately defeats the “Balrog” alongside an army of freed captives. Then, he leaves to return to the Sorcerer Kingdom, where people of every nation live in perfect harmony. These actions result in Neia fervently preaching of his deeds to others, asking if they’ve ever known a king who was willing to personally leave his kingdom to rescue suffering people. We’re told that, at this, 50,000 people convert and begin worshipping Ainz.
Of course, the tragedy of this parallel is that Ainz, despite being the anime’s protagonist, is evil, and he’s doing all of this with the help of a demon in order to trick people into following him. He’s intentionally manipulated Neia so that she’d become an “apostle” and spokesperson of this cult religion. Ultimately, it comes off as a perverted version of the gospel message. The main message? “It’s a sin to be weak,” Neia summarizes.
Plenty of mythical and supernatural beasts appear onscreen. The most notable of these are the demons, led by Jaldabaoth. Most are little more than flying cannon fodder, while Jaldabaoth and the massive Balrog-like monster he summons are deadly. Additionally, Ainz hopes through battle to obtain some “demon maids,” each of whom are extremely powerful female demon warriors. On the other end of the spectrum, the Sacred Kingdom’s mages summon angels to fight for them, who vanish into thin air when struck with attacks.
Someone references “the Supreme Beings.” Someone says, “You’ll regret fighting me when you’re in hell.” Jaldabaoth claims that he wants to turn the Sacred Kingdom into “hell on earth.” People cast a variety of magical spells—some are “holy” spells and heal others or prevent people from becoming afraid, while others are based in elemental attacks. Magic potions heal someone.
One female character wears an outfit that reveals a bit of cleavage.
Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom’s R-rating comes from its intense animated violence. Each death contains an ample amount of blood.
The demi-human armies take children as hostages. In one case, they threaten to cut a boy’s throat if an army doesn’t stop. However, Ainz shoots a ball of fire at them, killing the boy and his captors. (Ainz claims that, by showing they don’t care about hostages, it might prevent them from attempting to take them in the future, thus saving future lives.) Later, the demi-humans strap children to their chests to ward off attacks from archers, but the people choose to shoot through the children to kill the monsters anyway (and we see one young boy pierced through the chest with an arrow).
The “Balrog” grabs a woman, and his fiery hand burns her body. Then, he uses her as a weapon, smashing her into the ground. We see the resulting horrific damage to her face as her teeth fall out and her face is broken and contorted.
Various humans and monsters are cut in half, pierced through, burned to a crisp or decapitated, each with a spurt of blood and cry of pain. Others die from blasts of magic. Jaldabaoth uses magic to compel a man to commit suicide by stabbing himself through his own throat. Other victims lose arms or legs. By the film’s end, thousands of people have died.
The s-word is used once. “H—” is uttered seven times. “A–,” “d–n,” “b–ch” and “b–tard” are all used once or twice.
None.
Ainz teaches the Sacred Kingdom that “might makes right.” He’s willing to sacrifice a lot of people in order to further his goals.
Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom is for people who’ve followed the anime’s TV show. It takes place after the show’s fourth season, and it expects viewers to know certain characters so that they can follow along.
And if you are one such person, the content issues in this film might not surprise you. The originating anime is itself quite bloody. But even still, the deaths in this movie are horrifically graphic—from the death of children to the particularly grotesque close-up on the face of a woman whose body is used as a giant’s weapon.
And even if you are familiar with the series, you may not be aware of the parallels this particular movie takes with the Christian message. Ainz’ arc in this tale follows many themes from the life of Jesus—too many to be mere coincidence. But unlike Christ, who humbles Himself to redeem the world, Ainz crafts a deceptive story so that he can trick people and gain more power over the world.
And because of those elements (and its crude language), Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom only succeeds in desecrating itself.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Our weekly newsletter will keep you in the loop on the biggest things happening in entertainment and technology. Sign up today, and we’ll send you a chapter from the new Plugged In book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family, that focuses on how to implement a “screentime reset” in your family!
