“Ibelin,” directed by Benjamin Ree, is a Norwegian film about the life of Mats Steen, a gamer with a degenerative muscular disease. Steen found his escape in World of Warcraft, a multiplayer online role-playing game. 

Steen’s parents and family did not think much of his extensive time spent online — only that they wished that he spent more time connecting with people face-to-face. When Steen died at the age of 25, his family was left to discover the secret world he left behind: his online guild, Starlight. 

“Ibelin” starts with Steen’s family discussing how hard it was seeing their son progressively weaken, losing opportunities of having a carefree life. His mother remembers the period of time where Steen slowly grew weaker as a child, where he would occasionally fall down and was unable to get up. It was then where she understood his inevitable fate — “It was terrible,” she said. Their perspectives are an understandable but still harmful outlook on his disease, conveying this potentially offensive message that Steen’s disease is something to be sad about. 

However, once Steen’s passing is established, his parents start to piece together their son’s life on World of Warcraft, and the film picks up. His mother sends out a message explaining his passing on Steen’s blog, and the family receives email after email from online friends expressing condolences. They discover that Steen portrayed himself as Ibelin, a blonde, ponytailed, muscular man on World of Warcraft. 

From then on, the film transitions into an animated reenactment of Steen’s, or Ibelin’s, life in World of Warcraft, with original character designs and dialogue from him and his friends. His blog entries were also used as narration — an impressive and creative way of putting Steen’s experience first. The film combines live-action interviews of Ibelin’s friends with detailed animated reenactments, making Ibelin and his relationships feel tangible.

Lisette, a girl who went by Rumour on World of Warcraft, was also a teen Steen’s age. The two formed a friendship with flirtatious undertones, shown by Rumour stealing Ibelin’s hat upon their first encounter. We get to see Lisette as an adult as she recounts her and Ibelin’s relationship with drawings she did of the two characters and stories of Ibelin supporting her through hard times, a vulnerable and bittersweet moment in the film. 

Steen also became friends with another woman, Kai, who opened up to him about her lack of connection with her autistic son, Mikkel. Steen suggested that they play World of Warcraft together. In this newly established tradition, Ibelin became “part of the family” according to Mikkel, and encouraged him to break out of his shell. It shows Mikkel going to school and being outside, along with hanging out with his friends, showing Ibelin’s lasting impact on Mikkel, another touching part of the film.  

The film returns to Steen’s passing but through the perspective of his online friends. Five of Steen’s online friends came to his funeral and the Starlight guild leader spoke. Lisette helped carry Steen’s casket alongside his family. The Starlight guild meets online each year to remember Ibelin and his impact. The idea of being so close to someone despite never being able to meet them is such a sorrowful and complicated experience, and seeing Steen’s friends’ efforts to remember him makes it a teary-eyed watch.  

“Ibelin” is an emotional yet quirky film that affirms the concept of close online relationships, while also touching on the difficulties of being a disabled teenager in the 1990s — a funny and heart-wrenching watch. 

Edited by Alex Goldstein | agoldstein@themaneater.com

Copy edited by Grace Knight | gknight@themaneater.com

Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com