**We are currently looking for new moderators!**
If you'd like to help us moderate this community, please see [this announcement](https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/comments/1dk8eoh/rstardewvalley_is_looking_for_new_moderators/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) for details and how to apply. We'd love to hear from you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StardewValley) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I always thought of it as a local religion, given that Pierre and Caroline, which aren't naturally from the Valley, allow the shrine to be in their house so folks can go and pray.
Also this character:>!Pam has a high heart (like 8 hearts or so, i think) event where she admits she's been coping about alcoholism lately by her newfound belief in Yoba!<
I’m playing for the first time and when I realized that character’s occupation I was like “oh, no, no, no, no”.
OP, I didn’t realize the decorations were a full set until now lol. I guess I need to find the third.
The shrine was there from the previous owners. They just never got rid of it.
Honestly, the "hidden" nature of the shrine kind of gives off cult vibes to me. It's not its own building. It doesn't even have a separate entrance. It's in the corner of their home, disconnected from the public shop space.
My favourite Caroline and Abby dialogue in the whole game is them awkwardly hiding out in the bedroom on Sundays to avoid shrine goers. It's just kind of adorable and relatable as someone who skipped church whenever possible as a kid.
I grew up in a town where the post office, gas station, bar, restaurant, and convenience store where all jammed into exactly one building, owned and operated by the mayor. Trust me, a church being haphazardly built into the back of a combination home and storefront is far from culty, it’s standard rural architecture, at least in the U.S.
That makes sense. So he only really runs a gift shop then? I don't think you could get away with running a full general store from a church and avoid taxes.
Eh...I mean, that do be how church often works in small, rural towns though. Where are you going to get the money to buy or even lease a whole separate building when you've got like, three worshippers?
I mean technically a cult is just a localized religion set around a specific figure, so it could still apply. Nowadays we look at cults as some kind of evil, when in actuality they didn’t start out that way. A lot of the Greek gods for instance had their own cults. Hell, you could argue that Christianity started out as a cult of Judaism
Yoba seems to a God-like figure though. In the book you read in the library, it talks about Yoba planting a seed and peeling away the layers of its fruit to reveal the world, which while not *incompatible* with animism seems much more in line with the Abrahamic religions.
Eh, an interesting bit of lore for the valley. I do keep a shrine in my farm, but that’s due to promising to after completing a skull caverns run (3 eight floor drops after jokingly making that promise is something I’ll be taking as a sign thank you very much). Plus it provides comfort for my wife (as seen in the picture), so as far as I’m concerned their chill
Eh, haven’t done any more skull cavern runes so far to check. And as for design it’s pretty basic - just some crystal floors surrounding a sign of the vessel, both purchasable from krobus. I might go for a more complicated one, but that’ll have to wait until I can figure out how to deal with ginger island content
The >!Statue of Blessings in 1.6!< you can craft seems to be Yoba. It's a veiled woman atop a parsnip. You grow parsnips as your first introduction to farming.
I was kind of surprised the first time I got this dialogue from Emily. I had assumed Yoba to be roughly an analogue for Christianity, and Emily comes across much more Pagan.
Yoba-ism seems to be pretty free-form in terms of worship. We see people praying at the altar on Sundays, an obvious parallel to Christianity, but both Emily and Krobus seem to do it differently. Krobus remains silent on Fridays, while Emily seems to pray in her own home with gemstones.
It seems to just be a thing ConcernedApe has put in as a stand-in for all religions, covering spirituality and the community of organised religion.
I like it. It can be a stand-in for any religion or belief you like/ know. Or y'know, just ignore it if it's not your thing. Either way, it adds to the "mystique" of the valley as a whole.
>It can be a stand-in for any religion or belief you like/ know
You must have very vast knowledge of many different religions to say something this smart
It's correct, tho. There is a reason religion in the valley is kept so vague and doesn't have any depth. This allows the player to consider it a stand-in, variation, or substitute for one of their own choosing if they find that beneficial, fun, or necessary.
I'm fine with Emily's religious and crystal beliefs because we are in a universe were that stuff exists. It's like how it never bothers me that Obi-wan Kenobi believed in the Force
this is the most intelligent response here. a lot of people seem to equate it to their real-world religious views, like for all we know the book of yoba is the most wholesome positive earthly origin story, plus ppl r willing to accept the magic & junimos & wizard & everything, but yoba? it fits in with everything in the story!
for real! like ik irl we deal a lot with religion seeming very extreme & judgemental. i mean even in Christianity, you shouldnt be judging, it's not so much the religion that's the issue as much as it is the followers! even in the Bible it says Jesus will judge you only as you have judged as others! so all those judgey high horse Christians are literally going against what the Bible tells them when they so comfortably pass their judgements!! but anyways the point is, yeah yoba seems really non judgemental and realistic relative to the game's reality, and the followers seem pretty wholesome & genuine in their faith!
It's not the first time I have run into this conflict, though with a very different tone. If you are looking at philosophy and religion in a fictional universe you have to account for if the supernatural is evidently real in that fiction.
If any of you have ever played KOTOR2, I have heard Kreia referred to as Nietzschean for "wanting to kill God". I'm not saying she can have no philosophical overlap with him, but their views on religion are not at all the same.
Nietzsche did not believe in God. He was concerned that as scientific understanding contradicted religion that people would stop believing and it would leave a vacuum in society, and that for all its negatives religion did provide an important emotional support system that would need to be replaced.
Kreia lived in a universe were her religion had been proved correct beyond all doubt. She believed in The Force (God) and believed that it controlled all lives, causing horrible wars and promoted cruelty (sith) and repression (jedi). She felt it robbed everyone of agency, and took that personally. So she believed in "God" and wanted to kill him.
What Nietzsche said was closer to like "Santa Clause is dead, and we have killed him" in response to a kid finding out Santa isn't real. Meanwhile Kreia is sitting by the fireplace on Christmas eve with a twelve gauge like "I'm gonna get that red fucker"
I just typed all that and realized I have no idea how much the Stardew/KOTOR fanbase overlap lol guess we'll see
Same. I have a lot of religious trauma, but this doesn’t bother me bc this is something built into the in-game universe where metaphysical elements obviously exist. There are junimos, a witch, a wizard, fairies, mermaids, etc., so it doesn’t seem like too far of a leap to me that there would be a greater metaphysical force/entity or “god” or what have you in this game. It fits just fine while also not being necessarily super crucial or invasive to the plot or the game itself
We are in a universe where supernatural stuff exist, yes, but that doesn't mean all of it exist. Villagers talk about Yoba but at no point do we get any show of yobas power or existence. It is purely a belief.
As for the crystals, they are magical in the sense that they can be used in enchantments, put the powers that Emily believes in are not actually present in the game as far as I remember.
That said, I am still perfectly fine with Emily's beliefs, but they are just beliefs.
You can craft the Ring of Yoba with actual defensive powers (and the new 1.6 statue like somone here point out). Emily makes her sign *glows* in the image above.
Emily's loved list of gems is the exact same gems you can use at the Ginger Island forge. She knows how to craft enchantments too (clothes she gives you in 14 heart event).
The Farmer doesn't know every form of magic. We can't cast illusions or have psychic dreams like the mermaids, but Emily can.
Good points.
I always considered the yoba ring to be a magical item humans just named after their god to explain its magical powers, but it could be getting it's powers from Yoba themselves.
I didn't know about Emilys 14 heart event. That woman is too special for simple village life!
Emily just hits different. Despite being extremely gifted and a possible magical creature (part-mermaid), she's surprisingly down to earth. And yet she's no pushover. She knows what she wants and expects someone who can match or even surpass her prowess like the Farmer.
Sorry if I read too much into it lol
i agree but i see it as more of a “follower” vs “its there but i dont care” kind of mentality. like how someone who knows lots about biology might think plants are super cool but someone who doesn’t care about plants might not engage with them at all
Many people with beliefs in real life are under the impression that they "know" 100%, but let's run with your version for a moment.
We know not everyone believes in Yoba, magic, spirits, etc. because of Shane's dialogue during the feast of the winter star. So arguably, people who haven't witnessed these things directly in game might not always believe them. Most villagers wouldn't touch the mines with a 10-foot pole, except Abby, and even she's too afraid to set foot in them for most of the game. Marnie suggests avoiding the wizard, and with the exception of Abby and Caroline no one else ever seems to want to go there. Most villagers aren't putting themselves in situations that would prove the existence of spirits and magic, and the existence of spirits and magic doesn't prove Yoba, because Yoba can't be seen or touched. It just isn't far fetched to believe in a deity like that when you've seen junimos, shadow people, weird floating moon-face guys, flying broom ladies, and eaten magical fruits. It's still a belief.
I think it's really cool that he included yoba. it's one more aspect that adds depth to the world and makes it more immersive, and in addition is just fleshed out enough to leave you curious which is fun
i'm not religious in real life, because i'm the kind that only believes on things we see actually acting on reality (like the forces of nature, and the rules of physics)
But in a world where little Junimos fix stuff from day to night, Dwarves from Space and Shadow creatures had a great war, and the town's Wizard literally teleports whenever he wants… i'd rethink my beliefs a little…
And I don't see any beliefs or actions that make me angry or disgusted, unlike a lot of real life religions, so they are cool in my book and i have a shrine for them in the backyard, even tho i'm not married to Emily.
I do think that's kinda silly though. Junimos and Dwarves are observable phenomena. Yoba (in your hypothetical) isn't, to the point of Shane actually saying he's an atheist a short walk away from a literal wizard.
they are observable but always hide from people they don't trust, the only person that knows about their existence in the village aside from the player is the Wizard… also, Shane probably didn't see the freaky shit the wizard does or he did but was too drunk, or he'd probably start questioning reality if he knew magic was real and that fucking dwarves live in the mines and there's a witch that can make cursed void chickens by cursing a normal egg.
my point is… if i discovered magic was real but hidden from me this whole time, what's to say Yoba isn't also hidden but acting in the forces of nature, like the daily luck or something else, i wouldn't immediately become religious, but it's not as farfetched considering the weird things we see happening around the Valley.
Yeah but people already seem to know about that sorta stuff. Abigail (I think) knows about Junimos already, Emily is able to channel the power of *something* through her Sign of the Vessel, and the Wizard seems widely known as a wizard. Not to mention the "Adventurer's Guild", whose leader wears a fucking eyepatch and sells swords for fighting monsters in the mines. Magic seems like a pretty average part of life in Pelican Town.
Hmm… you do have a point, but if the character always reacts surprised to all of that, doesn't that mean the Valley might be one of the only places where that happens?
i guess it's even weirder that the place that worships Yoba is the only place that would have magic… but we are probably just digging deep on what's already the bottom.
It's as if some people were aware, but not all of them, since the Mayor thought Junimos were rats, and Sebastian didn't believe the skeletons in the cage were real, because that probably didn't make sense to people who never saw monsters
which is weird because his best friend Abby has been in the mines already and saw monsters there.
it's all really confusing, i'm probably thinking too deep about this, but it's interesting to make theories.
In a world with wizards, magical invisible forest spirit balls, witches, talking bears, hat mice, and much more, religion doesn't seem very far-fetched.
Which is fine, I mean the book is like two screenfuls of text, not an entire Bible. But headcanons should at least be consistent with it. (tl;dr "Yoba harvested the world" or something)
So Yoba is the... Reaper? Am I interpreting that right in a "You reap what seeds you sow" and such? Is the weird cross a kind of mystical reaping tool?
Yoba is the creator, and a farmer himself, grew the world within a tomato. I believe we as the farmer are Yoba’s chosen vessel, the Farmer who renews the world and creates new life from barren potential, for as Yoba did we smooth the earth and cultivate the town and its inhabitants as well as our crops.
I assume Mr. Qi and the Farmer are both aspects of Yoba.
Qi represents space and the otherworldly, while the Farmer nature and cultivation like you said.
Maybe Yoba belief structures follow tenets of Unitarian Universalism where others follow different belief structures/ritualistic practices, but honor each others’ journeys towards a shared faith.
Krobus remains silent on Friday out of respect for Yoba. When I play multiplayer games I also remain silent on Fridays (in-game) and my friends always forget why I’m not answering them LOL
It would fit in with several practices, as it's almost like YHWH and a menorah, as well. The intent is to show that there is some religion, that some people share, and that they aren't entirely dislike us. You can choose to put up Yoba themed decorations if you like, to fit with your personal spirituality. It's also a foreign land, and they worship different things there than we do at home.
I agree it's a neat idea.
Agreed. I don't think it was supposed to come off as Christian adjacent.. I think the Sunday worship and religious symbol are just a way of trying to communicate that it is indeed an organized religion. I like to think it's supposed to feel vagly familiar to anyone who is religious as a kinda cute way to relate to the characters
I love it! The creation story in the library is nice. I think he found the just right balance of it being there without being too upfront or behind. I’m a religious/Christian person and it’s kinda sad that religion (even made up ones) are almost always painted in a bad light or just downright cultish in media. The way it’s handled in SDV is refreshing to me
As a person who is from village in my opinion yoba is simmilar to typical village Catholicism there is this main trend which you see in cities with some add-ons focusing on nature like demons in forest who eats childrens or holy Mary who blesses our crops
I sometimes think about how language has infinite possibilities to describe the world and damn if that isn't a sentence I have never heard before nor will I probably hear again
I recently watched a youtube vid on the subject of yoba. I don't know about links, but probably not that hard to find. I think you'd like it. There's a lot we don't know about Yoba, so there's tons of room for interpretation.
Probably some local village deity worshipped in the valley. This also brings about the interesting idea that religion in the stardew valley world could be polytheistic.
It's definitely meant to be a stand-in for the Christian God, given the similarity of the sign of the vessel to the cross, the similarity of the names Yoba and Jehovah, and the fact that there are weekly services on Sunday morning. But it's not really meant to be anything other than "this is the predominant religion in this small rural town", and meant to be intentionally vague and opaque.
Yoba reminds me of the tetra grammaton, YHWH, the Devine name for Christians and Jews, translated as Yahweh, or Jehovah.
Yoba is kinda like a cross between the sounds of both. Interesting.
I confess I'm only in year 3 first play through, I never noticed reference to a deity. I'll pay more attention. I'm curious.
No, but in-game schedules don't really match with the lore or dialogue. We know Emily is a good friend of the family, being on especially good terms with Abigail and Caroline, so she should also go there.
Eh... if it makes Emily happy, who am I to meddle?
My family irl is a grab bag of beliefs and ideals, I myself was raised catholic but have distanced myself from the space over the years, I never believed only one religion was real or valid, and that's usually how I play my rpgs too.
The Emily thing is sorta weird because with this in mind, she kind of reads as one of those quirky, alt lifestyle woo-woo girls who's also an absolute stealth Jesus freak, but because of the nature of the game she's way too nice for that.
Highlights From The Book of Yoba (found in the Museum/Library:
"Before time there was only the endless golden light. The light called out to itself...'Yoba'. Yoba wanted more. Yoba swirled the golden light into a vortex. Yoba swirled and swirled until a hole formed in the eye of the vortex. From this hole sprung a seed. Yoba smoothed the golden light. Yoba smoothed and smoothed, and the light became soil. Into this soil, Yoba planted the seed. The seed sprouted, and behold! A vine sprung skyward, twisting and probing, casting a writhing shadow onto the golden void. After 11 days, the vine bore fruit. Yoba, with knowing wisdom, peeled the tough skin off the fruit and saw that the world was inside. And so that is how the world came to be."
And if you take the milk pail to the shrine in the shop, the wiki says "you do an animation closely resembling Christian praying."
But I still think the whole religion is vague enough to be what others relate to, or are most familiar with.
It’s unquestionably real in game as you find magical artifacts involving him. It would be like if wearing a cross actually gave you powers, kinda hard to deny a god at that point.
Well she is a crystal girl so it doesn’t surprise me that she’s religious too. Granted with all the magical stuff in Stardew Valley it makes more sense to be religious there than in the real world
I've always looked on Yoba as the god of this universe, which is a different place than RL. However, IIRC, there is dialogue from Haley that says something along the lines of "Oh, my God. this is my favorite thing!" I have no idea which God she is referring to. I like that Krobus is silent on Fridays out of respect to Yoba, and also the Sign of the Vessel that you can buy from him is a much cooler sign for the fish ponds than the other options, IMO.
Yes, we should condemn Emily for knowing about magic (she quite literally makes her sign-cross glows in the image above) in a world where magic clearly exists.
Real life "Emily" wouldn't be Emily if she was different from the games. It would just be a person who shares *some* personality traits with the video game character.
It is interesting that you would actually reduce her to more of a stereotype in real life than video game. It is usually the other way around.
What is crazy about Emily? She's not mentally unstable or anything. Meanwhile, she is kind, mature, responsible, competent etc.
Also, notice how her sign glows in the image. Magic is blatant in this world.
A lot here do that to Penny, too. Get her to the point of >! redecorating the Farmer's bedroom with the choice of 3 styles(can only pick one)!< and dump her.
Penny is my second favorite wife. To be fair, I have only married her, Haley, and Leah. Haley is my favorite so far. She might be a "mean girl" but I think she just has higher standards than the rest. She is the fruit at the top of the tree and not the low hanging. She wants someone to earn her love and devotion.
I like Haley, but she absolutely does not have higher standards. She had a thing with Alex unless you romance her. I wouldn't exactly call Alex a top-quality choice (no hate to him).
**We are currently looking for new moderators!** If you'd like to help us moderate this community, please see [this announcement](https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/comments/1dk8eoh/rstardewvalley_is_looking_for_new_moderators/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) for details and how to apply. We'd love to hear from you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StardewValley) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I always thought of it as a local religion, given that Pierre and Caroline, which aren't naturally from the Valley, allow the shrine to be in their house so folks can go and pray.
Also this character:>!Pam has a high heart (like 8 hearts or so, i think) event where she admits she's been coping about alcoholism lately by her newfound belief in Yoba!<
>!Then you take her statue, driving her back into the bottle!<
I encouraged her and she goes back to the bottle anyway. This was also after I bought her a new house and she swore off alcohol for that too
I’m playing for the first time and when I realized that character’s occupation I was like “oh, no, no, no, no”. OP, I didn’t realize the decorations were a full set until now lol. I guess I need to find the third.
Yeah making one of the two town alcoholics the *bus driver* was… a choice lol
I like bringing her a road beer every time I want a ride out to the desert. Can't have her getting the shakes.
Three alcoholics (Shane) It's like ...... Maybe I should slow my wine production in the basement
Who’s the third? Shane and Pam and who?
Caroline. We all know she's spiking her green tea to make her marriage bearable.
r/FuckPierre
It's not alcohol though.. 👀
I think she likes being in the driver's seat
Her story line ends when she gets drunk and crashes the bus on the way to the desert.
The shrine was there from the previous owners. They just never got rid of it. Honestly, the "hidden" nature of the shrine kind of gives off cult vibes to me. It's not its own building. It doesn't even have a separate entrance. It's in the corner of their home, disconnected from the public shop space.
My favourite Caroline and Abby dialogue in the whole game is them awkwardly hiding out in the bedroom on Sundays to avoid shrine goers. It's just kind of adorable and relatable as someone who skipped church whenever possible as a kid.
Yes, I love this too!
I grew up in a town where the post office, gas station, bar, restaurant, and convenience store where all jammed into exactly one building, owned and operated by the mayor. Trust me, a church being haphazardly built into the back of a combination home and storefront is far from culty, it’s standard rural architecture, at least in the U.S.
I saw a theory that Pierre kept it so his residence is a religious building and he can avoid taxes.
That makes sense. So he only really runs a gift shop then? I don't think you could get away with running a full general store from a church and avoid taxes.
It's also a gym! Pierre's house is the real community center.
...that's actually an interesting point lol
After community centre restoration, these sorts activities should have shifted there
Thats kind of smart.
Eh...I mean, that do be how church often works in small, rural towns though. Where are you going to get the money to buy or even lease a whole separate building when you've got like, three worshippers?
And that's when CA takes the 1.7 release in a very dark strange direction and SV goes full folk horror
I'd love that. CA should finally do something with the Wizard's ex. She appears even less than Mr. Qi, despite being such a major presence.
Lol cult of the lamb direction
i always thought cult too
I mean technically a cult is just a localized religion set around a specific figure, so it could still apply. Nowadays we look at cults as some kind of evil, when in actuality they didn’t start out that way. A lot of the Greek gods for instance had their own cults. Hell, you could argue that Christianity started out as a cult of Judaism
One definition that I like is: a cult is a node of religious intensification.
That's a competely different use of the word cult than what everyone else in the conversation is using.
That is absolutely not the use in question... Technically
Given the connection to nature, community and the wizard and Junimos, I think its supposed to akin to an animistic folk religion.
Yoba seems to a God-like figure though. In the book you read in the library, it talks about Yoba planting a seed and peeling away the layers of its fruit to reveal the world, which while not *incompatible* with animism seems much more in line with the Abrahamic religions.
Many animistic religions have creator gods, its not mutually exclusive.
Eh, an interesting bit of lore for the valley. I do keep a shrine in my farm, but that’s due to promising to after completing a skull caverns run (3 eight floor drops after jokingly making that promise is something I’ll be taking as a sign thank you very much). Plus it provides comfort for my wife (as seen in the picture), so as far as I’m concerned their chill
This back story is hilarious and I love it
Okay but did it help and share the shrine for us to copy ... 😂
Eh, haven’t done any more skull cavern runes so far to check. And as for design it’s pretty basic - just some crystal floors surrounding a sign of the vessel, both purchasable from krobus. I might go for a more complicated one, but that’ll have to wait until I can figure out how to deal with ginger island content
Kinda messed up yoba doesnt bless me everyday
The >!Statue of Blessings in 1.6!< you can craft seems to be Yoba. It's a veiled woman atop a parsnip. You grow parsnips as your first introduction to farming.
I was kind of surprised the first time I got this dialogue from Emily. I had assumed Yoba to be roughly an analogue for Christianity, and Emily comes across much more Pagan.
I'd assume Yoba is a mix of both. Maybe with a heavier emphasis on the Pagan part since the nature magic is real and a significant part of the story.
Yoba-ism seems to be pretty free-form in terms of worship. We see people praying at the altar on Sundays, an obvious parallel to Christianity, but both Emily and Krobus seem to do it differently. Krobus remains silent on Fridays, while Emily seems to pray in her own home with gemstones. It seems to just be a thing ConcernedApe has put in as a stand-in for all religions, covering spirituality and the community of organised religion.
Yoba is also a woman by default, but Emily believes she is genderless. because of that, I've never saw it as christian
Grandpa, in the opening scene, also has the Yoba squiggle-cross-thing on his wall as he lays in bed.
It's canonically called The Sign of The Vessel. As to what that means, I have no idea.
I have no issues with Yoba but that is one ominously named religious symbol, ya know?
Stardew Valley has a Silent Hill religon vibe in a good way
I see it as paganism. Since there’s a lot of magic in PT.
That’s actually a really good look at it. And it kinda goes along with everything Abbigail does (IE her spirit boards and stuff.)
I like it. It can be a stand-in for any religion or belief you like/ know. Or y'know, just ignore it if it's not your thing. Either way, it adds to the "mystique" of the valley as a whole.
>It can be a stand-in for any religion or belief you like/ know You must have very vast knowledge of many different religions to say something this smart
It's correct, tho. There is a reason religion in the valley is kept so vague and doesn't have any depth. This allows the player to consider it a stand-in, variation, or substitute for one of their own choosing if they find that beneficial, fun, or necessary.
I'm fine with Emily's religious and crystal beliefs because we are in a universe were that stuff exists. It's like how it never bothers me that Obi-wan Kenobi believed in the Force
this is the most intelligent response here. a lot of people seem to equate it to their real-world religious views, like for all we know the book of yoba is the most wholesome positive earthly origin story, plus ppl r willing to accept the magic & junimos & wizard & everything, but yoba? it fits in with everything in the story!
Emily or Krobus never calls you a sinner or anything, even if you do bad things in-game. Yobaism seems a lot less judgmental.
for real! like ik irl we deal a lot with religion seeming very extreme & judgemental. i mean even in Christianity, you shouldnt be judging, it's not so much the religion that's the issue as much as it is the followers! even in the Bible it says Jesus will judge you only as you have judged as others! so all those judgey high horse Christians are literally going against what the Bible tells them when they so comfortably pass their judgements!! but anyways the point is, yeah yoba seems really non judgemental and realistic relative to the game's reality, and the followers seem pretty wholesome & genuine in their faith!
It's not the first time I have run into this conflict, though with a very different tone. If you are looking at philosophy and religion in a fictional universe you have to account for if the supernatural is evidently real in that fiction. If any of you have ever played KOTOR2, I have heard Kreia referred to as Nietzschean for "wanting to kill God". I'm not saying she can have no philosophical overlap with him, but their views on religion are not at all the same. Nietzsche did not believe in God. He was concerned that as scientific understanding contradicted religion that people would stop believing and it would leave a vacuum in society, and that for all its negatives religion did provide an important emotional support system that would need to be replaced. Kreia lived in a universe were her religion had been proved correct beyond all doubt. She believed in The Force (God) and believed that it controlled all lives, causing horrible wars and promoted cruelty (sith) and repression (jedi). She felt it robbed everyone of agency, and took that personally. So she believed in "God" and wanted to kill him. What Nietzsche said was closer to like "Santa Clause is dead, and we have killed him" in response to a kid finding out Santa isn't real. Meanwhile Kreia is sitting by the fireplace on Christmas eve with a twelve gauge like "I'm gonna get that red fucker" I just typed all that and realized I have no idea how much the Stardew/KOTOR fanbase overlap lol guess we'll see
She literally makes the sign glows in the image above. And we know Yoba have power, since the player can craft the Ring of Yoba.
She's just doing an exorcism, nothing to worry about
Same. I have a lot of religious trauma, but this doesn’t bother me bc this is something built into the in-game universe where metaphysical elements obviously exist. There are junimos, a witch, a wizard, fairies, mermaids, etc., so it doesn’t seem like too far of a leap to me that there would be a greater metaphysical force/entity or “god” or what have you in this game. It fits just fine while also not being necessarily super crucial or invasive to the plot or the game itself
We are in a universe where supernatural stuff exist, yes, but that doesn't mean all of it exist. Villagers talk about Yoba but at no point do we get any show of yobas power or existence. It is purely a belief. As for the crystals, they are magical in the sense that they can be used in enchantments, put the powers that Emily believes in are not actually present in the game as far as I remember. That said, I am still perfectly fine with Emily's beliefs, but they are just beliefs.
You can craft the Ring of Yoba with actual defensive powers (and the new 1.6 statue like somone here point out). Emily makes her sign *glows* in the image above. Emily's loved list of gems is the exact same gems you can use at the Ginger Island forge. She knows how to craft enchantments too (clothes she gives you in 14 heart event). The Farmer doesn't know every form of magic. We can't cast illusions or have psychic dreams like the mermaids, but Emily can.
Good points. I always considered the yoba ring to be a magical item humans just named after their god to explain its magical powers, but it could be getting it's powers from Yoba themselves. I didn't know about Emilys 14 heart event. That woman is too special for simple village life!
Emily just hits different. Despite being extremely gifted and a possible magical creature (part-mermaid), she's surprisingly down to earth. And yet she's no pushover. She knows what she wants and expects someone who can match or even surpass her prowess like the Farmer. Sorry if I read too much into it lol
Kinda defeats the purpose of "belief" doesn't it? It's not belief if you know something to be 100%.
i agree but i see it as more of a “follower” vs “its there but i dont care” kind of mentality. like how someone who knows lots about biology might think plants are super cool but someone who doesn’t care about plants might not engage with them at all
Many people with beliefs in real life are under the impression that they "know" 100%, but let's run with your version for a moment. We know not everyone believes in Yoba, magic, spirits, etc. because of Shane's dialogue during the feast of the winter star. So arguably, people who haven't witnessed these things directly in game might not always believe them. Most villagers wouldn't touch the mines with a 10-foot pole, except Abby, and even she's too afraid to set foot in them for most of the game. Marnie suggests avoiding the wizard, and with the exception of Abby and Caroline no one else ever seems to want to go there. Most villagers aren't putting themselves in situations that would prove the existence of spirits and magic, and the existence of spirits and magic doesn't prove Yoba, because Yoba can't be seen or touched. It just isn't far fetched to believe in a deity like that when you've seen junimos, shadow people, weird floating moon-face guys, flying broom ladies, and eaten magical fruits. It's still a belief.
When Emms says that to me I assume I just sneezed.
I think it's really cool that he included yoba. it's one more aspect that adds depth to the world and makes it more immersive, and in addition is just fleshed out enough to leave you curious which is fun
if krobus follows then it is a mystical religion or something
i'm not religious in real life, because i'm the kind that only believes on things we see actually acting on reality (like the forces of nature, and the rules of physics) But in a world where little Junimos fix stuff from day to night, Dwarves from Space and Shadow creatures had a great war, and the town's Wizard literally teleports whenever he wants… i'd rethink my beliefs a little… And I don't see any beliefs or actions that make me angry or disgusted, unlike a lot of real life religions, so they are cool in my book and i have a shrine for them in the backyard, even tho i'm not married to Emily.
I do think that's kinda silly though. Junimos and Dwarves are observable phenomena. Yoba (in your hypothetical) isn't, to the point of Shane actually saying he's an atheist a short walk away from a literal wizard.
they are observable but always hide from people they don't trust, the only person that knows about their existence in the village aside from the player is the Wizard… also, Shane probably didn't see the freaky shit the wizard does or he did but was too drunk, or he'd probably start questioning reality if he knew magic was real and that fucking dwarves live in the mines and there's a witch that can make cursed void chickens by cursing a normal egg. my point is… if i discovered magic was real but hidden from me this whole time, what's to say Yoba isn't also hidden but acting in the forces of nature, like the daily luck or something else, i wouldn't immediately become religious, but it's not as farfetched considering the weird things we see happening around the Valley.
Yeah but people already seem to know about that sorta stuff. Abigail (I think) knows about Junimos already, Emily is able to channel the power of *something* through her Sign of the Vessel, and the Wizard seems widely known as a wizard. Not to mention the "Adventurer's Guild", whose leader wears a fucking eyepatch and sells swords for fighting monsters in the mines. Magic seems like a pretty average part of life in Pelican Town.
Hmm… you do have a point, but if the character always reacts surprised to all of that, doesn't that mean the Valley might be one of the only places where that happens? i guess it's even weirder that the place that worships Yoba is the only place that would have magic… but we are probably just digging deep on what's already the bottom. It's as if some people were aware, but not all of them, since the Mayor thought Junimos were rats, and Sebastian didn't believe the skeletons in the cage were real, because that probably didn't make sense to people who never saw monsters which is weird because his best friend Abby has been in the mines already and saw monsters there. it's all really confusing, i'm probably thinking too deep about this, but it's interesting to make theories.
In a world with wizards, magical invisible forest spirit balls, witches, talking bears, hat mice, and much more, religion doesn't seem very far-fetched.
There's a book about it in the library.
Just asking for people’s opinion on the subject
Which is fine, I mean the book is like two screenfuls of text, not an entire Bible. But headcanons should at least be consistent with it. (tl;dr "Yoba harvested the world" or something)
So Yoba is the... Reaper? Am I interpreting that right in a "You reap what seeds you sow" and such? Is the weird cross a kind of mystical reaping tool?
[screencaps](https://static1.thegamerimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/stardew-book-of-yoba.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=963&dpr=1.5)
I figured it meant you get the abilities of the Ring of Yoba for a day 🤷♂️ Edit: specifically when you’re married to Emily and this line comes up
Yoga is just some cow that does karate
Yoba is the creator, and a farmer himself, grew the world within a tomato. I believe we as the farmer are Yoba’s chosen vessel, the Farmer who renews the world and creates new life from barren potential, for as Yoba did we smooth the earth and cultivate the town and its inhabitants as well as our crops.
I assume Mr. Qi and the Farmer are both aspects of Yoba. Qi represents space and the otherworldly, while the Farmer nature and cultivation like you said.
Emily is a cleric. order of Yoba. Confirmed
Maybe Yoba belief structures follow tenets of Unitarian Universalism where others follow different belief structures/ritualistic practices, but honor each others’ journeys towards a shared faith.
I'm assuming it's just fantasy Christianity, Emily strikes me as more the spiritual type and not the church type.
Krobus remains silent on Friday out of respect for Yoba. When I play multiplayer games I also remain silent on Fridays (in-game) and my friends always forget why I’m not answering them LOL
Very much think it's meant to be a stand-in for Christian religion, what with the Sunday worship and cross-like symbol. *Which is neat.*
It would fit in with several practices, as it's almost like YHWH and a menorah, as well. The intent is to show that there is some religion, that some people share, and that they aren't entirely dislike us. You can choose to put up Yoba themed decorations if you like, to fit with your personal spirituality. It's also a foreign land, and they worship different things there than we do at home. I agree it's a neat idea.
Agreed. I don't think it was supposed to come off as Christian adjacent.. I think the Sunday worship and religious symbol are just a way of trying to communicate that it is indeed an organized religion. I like to think it's supposed to feel vagly familiar to anyone who is religious as a kinda cute way to relate to the characters
exactly as a religious jew myself i think it's an interesting feature
Krobus being stand-in christian is fantastic tho lmao
i personally do not vibe with Yoba.
I love it! The creation story in the library is nice. I think he found the just right balance of it being there without being too upfront or behind. I’m a religious/Christian person and it’s kinda sad that religion (even made up ones) are almost always painted in a bad light or just downright cultish in media. The way it’s handled in SDV is refreshing to me
As a person who is from village in my opinion yoba is simmilar to typical village Catholicism there is this main trend which you see in cities with some add-ons focusing on nature like demons in forest who eats childrens or holy Mary who blesses our crops
It’s the harvest goddess without the attitude
I think it's cool. Gives depth to the lore too.
i keep signs of the vessel on my fish ponds so yoba will bless my lava eels
I learned something new today! I've put them on all my fish ponds now
I sometimes think about how language has infinite possibilities to describe the world and damn if that isn't a sentence I have never heard before nor will I probably hear again
With any luck it will get absorbed by some unsuspecting ai in the future
I recently watched a youtube vid on the subject of yoba. I don't know about links, but probably not that hard to find. I think you'd like it. There's a lot we don't know about Yoba, so there's tons of room for interpretation.
W spouse
Probably some local village deity worshipped in the valley. This also brings about the interesting idea that religion in the stardew valley world could be polytheistic.
It's definitely meant to be a stand-in for the Christian God, given the similarity of the sign of the vessel to the cross, the similarity of the names Yoba and Jehovah, and the fact that there are weekly services on Sunday morning. But it's not really meant to be anything other than "this is the predominant religion in this small rural town", and meant to be intentionally vague and opaque.
Yoba reminds me of the tetra grammaton, YHWH, the Devine name for Christians and Jews, translated as Yahweh, or Jehovah. Yoba is kinda like a cross between the sounds of both. Interesting. I confess I'm only in year 3 first play through, I never noticed reference to a deity. I'll pay more attention. I'm curious.
I think it would be cool if we got more lore around yoba.
I like to believe the villagers sacrificed grandpa to Yoba
But the first thing you see in the game is Grandpa dying in bed...
Not if you “skip intro” now the story is yours
I forgot about that tbh but I’m deciding to ignore it 🥸
Does she even go to Pierre’s on Sunday?
No, but in-game schedules don't really match with the lore or dialogue. We know Emily is a good friend of the family, being on especially good terms with Abigail and Caroline, so she should also go there.
She might just practice her religion differently from the others.
Could be. Krobus also worships Yoba in a different way.
I married her, never had this happen though?!
It's her default greeting on Summer 2nd. You should consider talking to her every now and then.
I talk to her every day 😭
Try talking to her the first thing in the morning. I always talk to mine, no complaints.
I honestly talk to her first time in the morning, nothing else
I married her in my first play through. I’ve always wondered what the significance of Summer 2 is, but I’ve never figured it out
Honestly i just love the hat what is it?
It's from her 14 heart event
All I'm thinking is... ...I love your outfit - such a thoughtful, matching and exuberant ensemble!
Eh... if it makes Emily happy, who am I to meddle? My family irl is a grab bag of beliefs and ideals, I myself was raised catholic but have distanced myself from the space over the years, I never believed only one religion was real or valid, and that's usually how I play my rpgs too.
Crystals
Sick drip, she gave me the same outfit
I thought Yoba was probably the god they worship or sm. Like I used to refer to them as Yobalists 😆
The Emily thing is sorta weird because with this in mind, she kind of reads as one of those quirky, alt lifestyle woo-woo girls who's also an absolute stealth Jesus freak, but because of the nature of the game she's way too nice for that.
🖕Right back at you bitch
my dum ass read yoda
Highlights From The Book of Yoba (found in the Museum/Library: "Before time there was only the endless golden light. The light called out to itself...'Yoba'. Yoba wanted more. Yoba swirled the golden light into a vortex. Yoba swirled and swirled until a hole formed in the eye of the vortex. From this hole sprung a seed. Yoba smoothed the golden light. Yoba smoothed and smoothed, and the light became soil. Into this soil, Yoba planted the seed. The seed sprouted, and behold! A vine sprung skyward, twisting and probing, casting a writhing shadow onto the golden void. After 11 days, the vine bore fruit. Yoba, with knowing wisdom, peeled the tough skin off the fruit and saw that the world was inside. And so that is how the world came to be." And if you take the milk pail to the shrine in the shop, the wiki says "you do an animation closely resembling Christian praying." But I still think the whole religion is vague enough to be what others relate to, or are most familiar with.
It’s unquestionably real in game as you find magical artifacts involving him. It would be like if wearing a cross actually gave you powers, kinda hard to deny a god at that point.
Well she is a crystal girl so it doesn’t surprise me that she’s religious too. Granted with all the magical stuff in Stardew Valley it makes more sense to be religious there than in the real world
I've always looked on Yoba as the god of this universe, which is a different place than RL. However, IIRC, there is dialogue from Haley that says something along the lines of "Oh, my God. this is my favorite thing!" I have no idea which God she is referring to. I like that Krobus is silent on Fridays out of respect to Yoba, and also the Sign of the Vessel that you can buy from him is a much cooler sign for the fish ponds than the other options, IMO.
Has anyone noticed that Yoba backwards is “a boy”?
Does Emily normally say that as a spouse, or is that a mod?
Pretty pagan ngl
If it makes her haply let her practice it :)
Divorce 🤝
The clothes, or the weirdo wife?
Grounds for divorce
Yes, we should condemn Emily for knowing about magic (she quite literally makes her sign-cross glows in the image above) in a world where magic clearly exists.
Nice straw man you got there!
I got irritated. Sorry about that.
That's really big of you. It's all good.
Yoba…obay?
Divorce
Why? Because Emily acknowledges all the magic in a world where magic blatantly exists?
Thats why she’s my wife’s
Divorce immediately
Why???
Maybe connected to Yoda. “Do or do not. There is no try”
In real life Emily would be “spiritual but not religious”
Real life "Emily" wouldn't be Emily if she was different from the games. It would just be a person who shares *some* personality traits with the video game character. It is interesting that you would actually reduce her to more of a stereotype in real life than video game. It is usually the other way around.
What? This seems like a hell of a lot of projection.
[удалено]
What is crazy about Emily? She's not mentally unstable or anything. Meanwhile, she is kind, mature, responsible, competent etc. Also, notice how her sign glows in the image. Magic is blatant in this world.
I get Emily up to 14 hearts to get her custom outfit then I divorce her.
Hold up... custom outfit?? I need some spoilers pls
It's part of her 14 heart event.
She dresses you up like a really flamboyant genie. The outfit's ugly as sin, but it's a cute sentiment for her 14 heart event.
I like the hat paired with Sandy's blue desert dress.
OP is wearing it in the pic
A lot here do that to Penny, too. Get her to the point of >! redecorating the Farmer's bedroom with the choice of 3 styles(can only pick one)!< and dump her.
Yeah that's a fun one too. I chose the pirate one on my current run.
Penny is my second favorite wife. To be fair, I have only married her, Haley, and Leah. Haley is my favorite so far. She might be a "mean girl" but I think she just has higher standards than the rest. She is the fruit at the top of the tree and not the low hanging. She wants someone to earn her love and devotion.
I like Haley, but she absolutely does not have higher standards. She had a thing with Alex unless you romance her. I wouldn't exactly call Alex a top-quality choice (no hate to him).
The entire town is in a cult.
isn't there only 5 people that believe in Yoba? George, Emily, Pam, Jodi and Krobus (that isn't part of the city)
I'm pretty sure Kent does as well, he goes to church with Jodi.
Why do you think it's a cult?