"Don't go hollow, now."

There is so much focus on the lore of Miyazaki's games, but not enough about how it also has hella meta commentary on games and players, too. One of the main ones is how death doesn't matter, and no matter how hard things get you, the player, can overcome all these obstacles and beat the game if you persist. There are examples of those who do survive until the end, and many examples of those who give up at various stages of the game, much like how real players would if they find themselves unable to beat a particular boss necessary to complete the game. The NPC's stories often mirror that of a player who faces the same objectives.