Today I would like to issue you the tale of Hero of Kokoto and the Old Mountain Dragon itself, Lao-Shan Lung. I find this tale quite intriguing, as it's a direct narrative crossover between Monster Hunter G and Monster Hunter Dos.
Please note that this topic will cover some major spoilers to MH2's offline mode as well as spoilers to Monster Hunter G's dialogue, and I highly suggest that, if you haven't finished the games yourself, you wait to read this.
Click here at your own risk!
In Monster Hunter G, we were given the ability to fight Lao-Shan Lung solo, in the offline mode. Why is this?
The Kokoto Village Chief reveals to the player that, before you had taken on Lao-Shan Lung alone, and saved the village as a result, he had actually been planning on taking care of it! He says, "I had secretly prepared myself to prevent the invasion by my own strength, so that the villagers would not be disturbed.I never thought that you could defeat that Lao-Shan Lung by yourself."
So, this old man could take down the giant dragon by himself? Well let's look more into this.
One narrative point that is hinted at in MH1, and confirmed in the Hunter's Encyclopedias as well as Monster Hunter G, is that the Kokoto Village Chief and Minegarde Guildmaster are actually brothers! The Minegarde Guildmaster hints at this, stating that "my brother wanted to be a great hunter, and I chose the path of a merchant. Gee, I haven't seen him for so long..." The Hero of Kokoto is, as we learn in later games, popularly considered "the first hunter," as in the founder of monster hunting as an organized career. So it's very easy to see why his brother, the Guildmaster, wouldn't be willing to join his journey to become what would have been seen as a dangerous and unorthodox career.
However, we learn even more about the relationship of these two brothers in Monster Hunter G specifically. The Guildmaster states after the Minegarde hunter has saved the town from Fatalis, and gone on to defeat the giant dragon multiple times, "you're just like my brother...! Long ago, Lao-Shan Lung showed up in the town where the two of us were living. While all the rest of the townspeople ran around in terror, my brother faced it alone and defeated it! ...My brother? I hear he's living in a remote village called Kokoto now."
So, we learn that a crucial part of the Hero of Kokoto's development involved slaying the giant dragon, Lao-Shan Lunge, entirely alone. It makes sense, then, that the player's journey as the new Hero of Kokoto would reflect that.
Now, let us move forwards to the next mainline game in the series, Monster Hunter Dos. In this game, the player is tasked with aiding the development of Jumbo Village, and also defending it from the Elder Dragon nearby that has been causing errant and destructive storms. Jumbo, being near the coast, suffers from tropical storms more than many villages do, and as such the Jumbo Village Chief, hailing from the Siki country in the far east, has called for you to help defend them.
As Jumbo Village develops, thanks in massive part to the aid of the Jumbo Hunter (what I will call the player character from now on), there is something peculiar in the corner of the village - a mine, with what seems to be some type of sword suspended from the wall. As the Jumbo Hunter aids the village, an Excavation Enthusiast appears, which offers to mine in this tunnel for no charge, as long as he is provided with the necessary pickaxes to do so. So, the Jumbo Hunter provides him with pickaxes as they hunt, and in exchange the Excavation Enthusiast mines this tunnel, and give the spoils they find to the Jumbo Hunter.
Eventually, however, it becomes more and more clear that there is not only a sword in this mine - there is an entire skeleton! The Village Snoop reveals to you many stories about this mine. For example, a guild agency that he cannot remember the name of has appeared in the past to investigate it - and it's heavily implied to have been the Elder Dragon Observation Center (known as "Observatorium" in the Break Arts patch). The Elder Dragon Observation Center taking interest in this mine? How intriguing...
He also reveals that many thing there is a treasure in this mine, and some even claim that it was at some point the site of a famous battle. But all of this seems to be hearsay, how do we know what is real? Once the Excavation Enhtusiast has dug it out enough, the Jumbo Hunter can attempt to pull this sword from the skull. However, they are not strong enough, and fall flat on their ass. This is until the Legendary Artisan, another wyverian like the Hero of Kokoto and the Minegarde Guildmaster, appears in the village to warn the Jumbo Hunter of the nearby threat of the Old Mountain Dragon.
So, the Jumbo Hunter takes up arms against this giant dragon, alone, much like the Hero of Kokoto and the Hunter from MH1. When they return, the Jumbo Hunter is finally able to pull this Decayed Dragonsword from the fossil in the mine.
Eventually, the Jumbo Hunter travels to Kokoto Village with the aid of the Master Shipwright, in order to explore the origins of hunting. Here, the Jumbo Hunter is able to learn many interesting things. For example, he learns from the Retired Master Hunter, formerly known as the Legendary Gunner, that "legends speak of the Hero of Kokoto and his trusted group of comrades. I've heard one comrade is now a great smith, and travels the world over!" ...we can probably extrapolate who that is: the Legendary Artisan himself. However, the Retired Master Hunter reveals something even more relevant, and says, "once upon a time, a giant dragon, the size of a mountain, attacked a distant land. Legend says that the Hero of Kokoto is the one who slayed it.They say the giant dragon died with the Hero's sword stuck in its maws. The tremors from its collapse destroyed a mountain, and its body was buried forever..."
And so, it is with this that we learn the likely truth - as was mentioned in Monster Hunter G, the Hero of Kokoto, before he was even known as such, lived in a town with his brother that was located somewhere nearby where the modern day Jumbo Village is located. Keep in mind that this was likely hundreds of years ago; Wyverians are very long lived. This town was attacked by a Lao-Shan Lung, which no-one was willing to face, likely because monster hunters were not an established group of people. As such, the to-be Hero of Kokoto took up this sword and fought it himself, and was successful! The corpse was buried under mountains of earth, and the Hero lost his sword for centuries, but I'm sure he didn't mind much, since he was able to get his hands on another Wyverian-designed blade.
Please note that I have yet to actually fight Lao-Shan Lung myself in Jumbo Village. So, there are likely specific plot points that I actually missed. Regardless, I still wanted to post about this story at the request of Jamie, and because I think it's a very interesting and distinct counter to the idea that old Monster Hunter "doesn't have a story." Not only does it have a story, it has stories that are setup in one game, and then followed up on in the next!
The Kokoto Village Chief reveals to the player that, before you had taken on Lao-Shan Lung alone, and saved the village as a result, he had actually been planning on taking care of it! He says, "I had secretly prepared myself to prevent the invasion by my own strength, so that the villagers would not be disturbed.I never thought that you could defeat that Lao-Shan Lung by yourself."
So, this old man could take down the giant dragon by himself? Well let's look more into this.
One narrative point that is hinted at in MH1, and confirmed in the Hunter's Encyclopedias as well as Monster Hunter G, is that the Kokoto Village Chief and Minegarde Guildmaster are actually brothers! The Minegarde Guildmaster hints at this, stating that "my brother wanted to be a great hunter, and I chose the path of a merchant. Gee, I haven't seen him for so long..." The Hero of Kokoto is, as we learn in later games, popularly considered "the first hunter," as in the founder of monster hunting as an organized career. So it's very easy to see why his brother, the Guildmaster, wouldn't be willing to join his journey to become what would have been seen as a dangerous and unorthodox career.
However, we learn even more about the relationship of these two brothers in Monster Hunter G specifically. The Guildmaster states after the Minegarde hunter has saved the town from Fatalis, and gone on to defeat the giant dragon multiple times, "you're just like my brother...! Long ago, Lao-Shan Lung showed up in the town where the two of us were living. While all the rest of the townspeople ran around in terror, my brother faced it alone and defeated it! ...My brother? I hear he's living in a remote village called Kokoto now."
So, we learn that a crucial part of the Hero of Kokoto's development involved slaying the giant dragon, Lao-Shan Lunge, entirely alone. It makes sense, then, that the player's journey as the new Hero of Kokoto would reflect that.
Now, let us move forwards to the next mainline game in the series, Monster Hunter Dos. In this game, the player is tasked with aiding the development of Jumbo Village, and also defending it from the Elder Dragon nearby that has been causing errant and destructive storms. Jumbo, being near the coast, suffers from tropical storms more than many villages do, and as such the Jumbo Village Chief, hailing from the Siki country in the far east, has called for you to help defend them.
As Jumbo Village develops, thanks in massive part to the aid of the Jumbo Hunter (what I will call the player character from now on), there is something peculiar in the corner of the village - a mine, with what seems to be some type of sword suspended from the wall. As the Jumbo Hunter aids the village, an Excavation Enthusiast appears, which offers to mine in this tunnel for no charge, as long as he is provided with the necessary pickaxes to do so. So, the Jumbo Hunter provides him with pickaxes as they hunt, and in exchange the Excavation Enthusiast mines this tunnel, and give the spoils they find to the Jumbo Hunter.
Eventually, however, it becomes more and more clear that there is not only a sword in this mine - there is an entire skeleton! The Village Snoop reveals to you many stories about this mine. For example, a guild agency that he cannot remember the name of has appeared in the past to investigate it - and it's heavily implied to have been the Elder Dragon Observation Center (known as "Observatorium" in the Break Arts patch). The Elder Dragon Observation Center taking interest in this mine? How intriguing...
He also reveals that many thing there is a treasure in this mine, and some even claim that it was at some point the site of a famous battle. But all of this seems to be hearsay, how do we know what is real? Once the Excavation Enhtusiast has dug it out enough, the Jumbo Hunter can attempt to pull this sword from the skull. However, they are not strong enough, and fall flat on their ass. This is until the Legendary Artisan, another wyverian like the Hero of Kokoto and the Minegarde Guildmaster, appears in the village to warn the Jumbo Hunter of the nearby threat of the Old Mountain Dragon.
So, the Jumbo Hunter takes up arms against this giant dragon, alone, much like the Hero of Kokoto and the Hunter from MH1. When they return, the Jumbo Hunter is finally able to pull this Decayed Dragonsword from the fossil in the mine.
Eventually, the Jumbo Hunter travels to Kokoto Village with the aid of the Master Shipwright, in order to explore the origins of hunting. Here, the Jumbo Hunter is able to learn many interesting things. For example, he learns from the Retired Master Hunter, formerly known as the Legendary Gunner, that "legends speak of the Hero of Kokoto and his trusted group of comrades. I've heard one comrade is now a great smith, and travels the world over!" ...we can probably extrapolate who that is: the Legendary Artisan himself. However, the Retired Master Hunter reveals something even more relevant, and says, "once upon a time, a giant dragon, the size of a mountain, attacked a distant land. Legend says that the Hero of Kokoto is the one who slayed it.They say the giant dragon died with the Hero's sword stuck in its maws. The tremors from its collapse destroyed a mountain, and its body was buried forever..."
And so, it is with this that we learn the likely truth - as was mentioned in Monster Hunter G, the Hero of Kokoto, before he was even known as such, lived in a town with his brother that was located somewhere nearby where the modern day Jumbo Village is located. Keep in mind that this was likely hundreds of years ago; Wyverians are very long lived. This town was attacked by a Lao-Shan Lung, which no-one was willing to face, likely because monster hunters were not an established group of people. As such, the to-be Hero of Kokoto took up this sword and fought it himself, and was successful! The corpse was buried under mountains of earth, and the Hero lost his sword for centuries, but I'm sure he didn't mind much, since he was able to get his hands on another Wyverian-designed blade.
Please note that I have yet to actually fight Lao-Shan Lung myself in Jumbo Village. So, there are likely specific plot points that I actually missed. Regardless, I still wanted to post about this story at the request of Jamie, and because I think it's a very interesting and distinct counter to the idea that old Monster Hunter "doesn't have a story." Not only does it have a story, it has stories that are setup in one game, and then followed up on in the next!
Happy hunting!
