Unraveling Doomguy's Backstory by Doing it Right

DOOM Eternal Slayer Army Wallpaper. Taken from Slayers Club.

Even though I can't play DOOM Eternal with my current setup, I still manage to enjoy it by watching a gameplay videos on YouTube and all that stuff. A lot of people are interested in current story and lore of the series, which I think is perfectly fine: it's nice and doesn't take itself too serious, just like id Software. That's one of the reasons I like it and I would like to take my part in discussing one of its aspects that weren't fully covered by developers at this moment.

That thing is Doomguy's past. I'll take a look at some of details from DOOM Eternal, use them to put together a full picture and talk about why I believe that's the right way for marine's background.

Taking words and photos.

We need to focus on a couple of things from the game. There's really not that much information about Doomguy's life from before his ascension as the Doom Slayer, so we need to work with what we have. That's more than enough for us. First of all, obviously, we should take this quote from Khan Maykr in Sentinel Prime when she tried to talk him away from killing the last Hell Priest:

"I know of what you have left behind. Go back to it then, leave this crusade. You can not save them. They have asked me for this... and so I give it to them. If you let the Priest live, then I will return to you what the demons took from you so long ago. You need to turn back and it'll be your again. All the pain you carry will be gone."

Screenshot taken from Reddit.

Another thing is a torn photo on the floor of Doomguy's "man cave" in Fortress of Doom. Apparently, it was removed from the game for some time before appearing in DOOM Eternal again... I think? I've seen it thrown around the Internet, but still not sure. Maybe it was a bug, maybe you need to beat the campaign in order to unlock it... or anything else. Anyway, there's that.

Lastly, there's one more detail worth mentioning... kind of. Alternative version of Khan Maykr's quote was found within the files of DOOM Eternal that id Software didn't used in the game itself. Previously I consider it to be a so-called "Schrödinger's canon", believing that there's a chance they would use it in (at the time) upcoming The Ancient Gods - Part One somehow. But right now I think it will remain as unused material, contents of which may be used by developers in the future:

"Stop your foolish war now and I will give you what you desire. I will send you back to your home. The Earth world in the seventh dimension. Before the time of the demons. You may live there again as before. No memory of all the suffering you have been through. All your loved ones will be there, waiting to embrace you again as if you have never left."

Even though it's not canon, this quote will be useful later on.

Defining the Right Way.

If we take a closer look at both of these quotes, you'll notice how Khan Maykr talks about Doomguy leaving something behind and also losing something else. Photo's torn part kind of matches Slayer's face from The Art of DOOM Eternal, which suggests that it's him and his family. Does it mean that demons took them from him? Not at all.

DOOM 64 shows that the previous experiences with Hell and its inhabitants left a mark on Doomguy's mind. Game's manual tells about unsuccessful treatments from military doctors and demonic nightmares. Later its followed by intermissions screens that much heavier than in previous entries. Not only we know that it all takes place after DOOM 2: Hell of Earth, but flashbacks from Sentinel Prime mission in DOOM Eternal demonstrates Doomguy as crazy and desperate man with one goal in his mind: ripping and tearing demons of Hell.

Text screen from the end of "The Absolution" map in DOOM 64.

Just imagine how Doomguy's relationship with his family was like and don't forget Daisy. Hell's invasion was a terrible event on itself and your husband or father being a sole hero of humanity with PTSD as a "trophy" wouldn't make it easier. Especially when you never hear back from him after he went for that mission on Mars.

I've seen some people sticking to the idea that Doomguy lost his family and even his Earth. I think and hope that's not the case here. That would be very tedious usage of a overused cliche. There's nothing wrong with having a cliche story, but in this case it wouldn't do great job. If we assume that Doomguy's family was killed and Earth destroyed, all of that completely trivialize older games. Events of Hell of Earth don't matter if Earth was wrecked at the end anyway.

I understand why some people may like this idea out of fear that "Doom Slayer being an unstoppable hero with no flaws" becomes too old, but dealing with that by affecting classic games isn't the right way. Previously I was worried about that as well, but then I realized that id Software already dealt with that issue through downfall of Argent D'Nur and Doom Slayer's imprisonment in sarcophagus. Adding more failures on top of it is just an overdo that makes it all dull and boring.

There's more than enough material that makes Doomguy's story tragic, if that's what you want. DOOM doesn't need to be this tragic and serious franchise. Just keep it simply by using material you already have because it works. Some retcons already happen in DOOM Eternal from what I understand and id better not add more of them in the series: I'm telling you that as a Warcraft fan. You don't want this!

Two marines, one story.

To wrap things up, I feel the need to address a certain "issue" that might be brought up. I've mentioned Ranger in my previous post about Quake's lore and it's interesting how Doomguy's backstory is kind of similar with his: they both have a family they're separated from... That is, if my perspective on that matter is correct. Look, he too has a photo!

Taken from Reddit.

Some might call me a hypocrite because that's a cliche as well and in this case I don't any issue here. It's silly, sure, but not as bad as having Doomguy's family dead just for the sake of being different and/or dramatic. Those stories are still different: while Ranger's motivation is to come back, Doomguy is guided by a personal crusade that comes from his determination and madness. He may miss his family, but Slayer's desire to reunite with them is more of a distant echo within his mind... Not to mention that Doomguy might just not be able to physically return to them because many years have passed for him... Who knows how it works in grand scheme of things in this multiverse.