Just watched TLK. Enjoyed it but came out of cinema with a few questions in my head. Can someone just quickly explain the link between the Talisman and the Staff? Thanks
None whatsoever :] the talisman was said to protect Cade yet Megatron insists it will lead him to the staff. How is beyond me. And it didn't protect Cade as much as it did Optimus. It's actually the biggest plothole in the movie for me.
My (likely half-confused) take: It starts out with the Staff being stolen from Quintessa by the Guardian Knights. The Knights flee with it to Earth (and crash-land) for some reason, but perhaps its identity as Unicron has something to do with it. Maybe Quintessa is afraid of Him or it would be the last place in the universe she would go, at least. Anyway, it is not explained whether the Talisman was also stolen from Quintessa, but she evidently knows about it and its link to the Staff because she tells Megatron to get it for her, with the expectation that the Talisman can help her find where on Earth the Knights hid the Staff. Back to the Middle Ages, The Staff and the Talisman were both lent by the Guardian Knights to the Knights of the Round Table to help them with their wars (staff to Merlin, Excalibur to King Arthur). Upon the death of the Knights of the Round Table/Merlin, the Guardian Knights took back the items along with Merlin's body, and buried them all in the underwater ship with themselves to guard it, awaiting the day when "a great evil" (i.e. Quintessa?) would come for it. Some unexplained occurrence (the waking of Unicron, the approach of Cybertron, etc) caused the Guardian Knights to send one of their number with the Talisman, to bestow it on a worthy human. This human would theoretically be some modern-day equivalent of King Arthur/Merlin, who could aid in protecting the staff. Basically restoring the Transformer-human relationship from medieval times in an attempt to combine forces against Quintessa. And evidently Quintessa anticipated the bestowment of the Talisman, hence the hunt for it. Unfortunately, this Knight was shot down by the TRF, and the only human there would be a chance to give it to was Cade. This made Cade the "chosen one" to help protect the Staff, while Vivian was the Merlin descendant who could actually wield it if necessary. Essentially this makes Cade the modern-day King Arthur, and Vivian the modern-day Merlin. As far as we know, unless I am missing something, Cade/the Knights/etc. knew nothing of the Talisman's ability to lead them to the Staff. This seems to be a belief of Quintessa and therefore Megatron. After all, the whole point of Vivian was to locate the Staff based on her family's old notes. So... hopefully that makes some sort of sense? I'm going to try to watch the thing a third time to see if there was something I missed. It definitely... could be explained better. But some of it I'm sure will be elaborated on in TF6.
The Round Table reacts to the Talisman that it provides coordinates to Merlin's tomb. Viviene's father who had his own talisman figured out the exact coordinates of the ship.
Hmm, more than one Talisman? So can we assume then that the Talisman is a technology of the Knights, to continually keep a link Merlin's lineage in case it would need to be found again? You could then assume that Cade's (or any "chosen one") duty would be to find and protect Vivian. With Burton's help of course. This just begs the question as to how Quintessa and/or Megatron learn of the Talisman if it's a Knight creation. But if they've been passed down for over a thousand years I suppose it's not out of the question that Quintessa knows all about it.
The Talisman activated the underwater vessel (was it the Omega Lock? Is anyone aware of what exactly it was?)
Omega Charge, maybe when you watch it for a third time you could clarify this. I think your first explanation makes sense imo. Can't recall the round table reacting to the talisman but I'm going to watch it again also so will look out for it. Cheers guys!
And also, when Vivianne first has the staff before Prime takes it off her, what would she have done with it? Because as soon as she had it in her hands and removed it from the ship in Stonehenge, Cybertron stopped sucking the life out of earth and I wonder what she was going do with it when she first had it before Prime took it off her? Use it as a weapon? Store it away so no one can use it again?
Just came back from another viewing, and I didn't get any indication that there is more than one Talisman. I think it's just Excalibur, first wielded by King Arthur who was the last to do so before Cade. And again, it seems the only one who could use it to find the staff would be Quintessa/Megatron, as the humans and Autobots were clueless without Vivian and her past. It seems the only purpose of the Talisman for their side was to protect Cade and help him lead the human struggle against Quintessa. Seemingly Quintessa/Megatron could have used it to detect where the Staff was hidden, but they never ended up needing to do so, because as soon As Vivian touched the Staff and activated it, Quintessa could sense where it was. I'm not sure Vivian even knew. One could even argue that the best thing to do was just leave the Staff where it lay, at the bottom of the ocean, since Quintessa didn't know where it was. But I guess it was a case of "she's looking for it and the Cons are helping, so it's going to be found eventually. Better make sure WE find it first." I think upon finding it they'd try to stow it away and guard it. Even if that meant having to fend off Quintessa when she no doubt would have come to take it from them. Better in their hands than sitting somewhere for Quintessa to eventually find on her own, I suppose.
Thanks Omega Charge, cleared both points up brilliantly. Shame Bay couldn't of made these slightly more clearer in the film itself as there is no better feeling than piecing it all together when watching the film. I wasn't able to do this at first which is why I think the film didn't have a "wow" effect on me. Also why I want to watch it again to get that feeling. Did you not think also there was a lack of non-diegetic music in this film. AOE featured the Imagine Dragons track throughout and when in the background to scenes with the family it really got me attatched to the characters. I didn't feel that this time and only felt a bit emotional once which was when Cade spoke to Izabella at the end. Interesting to hear your thoughts? Thanks again.
Oh I know, I totally agree. I left my first viewing feeling like it was an incoherent mess. After a second and third I love this movie now. Well if you count Steve Jablobsky's score, the film is full of non-diegetic sound, as the score was extremely present. I definitely get your point though, I know Dark of the Moon's "Iridescent" felt very poignant when it appeared in the film, and "Battle Cry" somewhat so in Age of Extinction as well. I think X Ambassadors' "Torches" may be the best movie theme song so far, and its unfortunate it never played during a scene (other than the one gag with the NASA guy). I was watching a couple TLK-themed music videos of the song and it would have been fantastic! It's such an inspirational song. Otherwise though I think Jablonsky has always done a wonderful job at engrossing me in what's happening onscreen, even if Torches would have made it that much better.
During the Drone Chase when Cade was being thrown around the rooftops there's a quick scene of Cade's skin being metal through his shirt.
I think they mentioned that the presence of the talisman is what made the ship make a path to the staff's location. Even then, that is hardly the reason for Cade being Earth's "last hope", it was just terrible writing. The first act went on and on about how important Cade and the talisman was when in reality he didn't matter to the plot in the slightest.
Which still means Cade's talisman was useless, and moreover the idea of talismans were pointless. Could've just had her father have found Merlin's tomb some other way. The talisman was never actually used for anything besides blocking that one knight's attack, which was stupid. What does that have to do with anything? It still didn't protect him during that chase.
Cheers. Hopefully after a 2nd and possibly a 3rd I will feel the same. Yeh sorry I did mean particularly the music element. The score is always great but in AOE the use of "Battle Cry" throughout was one of the massive elements which made it one of my fave transformers film. I honestly can't remember DOTM so will have to watch it back. I didn't even pick up the "Torches" soundtrack in the film and until you've said so now I didn't know they had a soundtrack ! That's shows you how poorly it was utilised in the film. When did they play it as I will look for the scene online? Cheers again mate.
It only shows up once for just a couple seconds when the NASA guy first detects Cybertron approaching Earth, early on in the film. He's listening to it on his phone or something. It doesn't actually play in the background of any scene like Battle Cry did, which is very unfortunate. It does, however play in entirety during the film's closing credits, starting up as soon as the Quintessa teaser ends. There is also a music video featuring Chinese singer Jason Zhang.
Yes. I took that as Cade did get hit by a bullet or two (as indicated by the holes in front of his shirt) and the talisman moved to block the bullets. So it did protect him from bullets.
