Part 20: The Ritual

Blip - The End (Polsy)
Youtube - The End Part 1, Part 2

Artwork/Pictures -
 Dormin  (Concept art)
Size Comparisons of the Colossi
Miscellaneous Centerfold 1, left page (Artbook)
Miscellaneous Centerfold 1, right page (Artbook)
Miscellaneous Centerfold 2, left page (Artbook)
Miscellaneous Centerfold 2, right page (Artbook)
Miscellaneous Centerfold 3, left page (Artbook)
Miscellaneous Centerfold 3, right page (Artbook)

So! There's the ending for ya! I'm gonna spoiler up this post (in one tag, for ease of reading), but everything is fair game after this point.

- You might notice about 2-3 seconds missing near the veeeeery end (it's during the credit roll). Well, my PVR kind of went " HEY WHAT WAS I DOING AGAIN?" and kicked a "Signal Lost" display to my TV. It bounced right back, but it was missing a couple of seconds and also caused some gradual audio desync throughout the latter 1/3 of the video (which was easy to fix). Thankfully, nothing of importance was really lost

 - So there ya have it; Wander was being used as a vessel for Dormin, who was sealed up in the past by Emon's people. They used a ritual to somehow divide him up in to sixteen parts. In spite of that, Dormin is possibly made up of even more than sixteen "entities". His shadowy form has lots of freaky appendages, a couple of them looking insect-like (a cricket or grasshopper came to mind from one of them). These sixteen parts, however, seem to have some inherent mythology to them. These weren't just sixteen random things he was sealed in to by the Sect (I'll refer to Emon and his religion as this for short-hand referencing); the statues are built in to the Shrine of Worship, which was built strictly for Dormin. You've got alcoves for each individual one, too. There are lots of ways to attack/approach this, and it's definitely a boggle for most folks. To complicate matters further, these creatures resisted being slain. If they were truly servants of Dormin, they'd probably accept their fat with no hesitation, since it'd ultimately mean their master would walk the planet.

- Random note about Dormin once he has appeared: he doesn't move much due to a couple of reasons: firstly, the Shrine is tiny and he's cramped! Secondly, he seems to be held back by his left leg -- the same leg where Wander was shot. If he had time to break free of Wander, he would've been able to walk about with ease, I'm sure.

- The Sect seems to have pretty weathered knowledge of Dormin by this point. Sure, there's the sealing spell (which we'll bring up later) that Emon used, but you'll notice a few other things on the side:
1) He referred to Dormin in a singular pronoun sense, whilst Dormin repeatedly refers to himself in the third person. Could infer that they are detached or biased against Dormin's history.
2) What Wander performed is referred to as a "spell". I always found this kind of odd, considering that there wasn't really any magic involved outside of stabbing critters with a magic sword.
3) The slaying of Wander completed the actual ritual and opened the vessel so that Dormin could escape. Definitely a sign that Emon wasn't completely informed on what was going on or how to deal with it. Then again, it's not like this is an everyday occurrence

- Regarding the Sect, some folks think that Wander was a "templar" or squire of sorts for them. I don't see eye-to-eye with this, because for starters, Emon's reaction isn't along the lines of "oh why did you betray us and do this". He probably had to deal with Wander when Mono was being led off for the sacrifice and he became a pain in the neck for him. Adding to that, none of the knights/templars along with Emon show any real recognition toward (or show any sign of knowing) Wander.

- Mono was sacrificed due to having a cursed fate, but it seems that her actual sacrifice is what brought this to fruition. What was the fate? It might be referring to Dormin's revival, but in that case, I'd think the fate would cancel itself out, since that got all wrapped up in a neat little bundle. Perhaps it was referring to how it ended with the creation of a horned child. Regardless, we might be hearing about this again in some shape-or-fashion in Ico

- I had the URL source to this jotted down somewhere but lost it Anyhow! In the original ending, the game had a lot more concrete facts and what-have-you. This was later trimmed down and altered, since the creators wanted more of a "fill in the blanks approach". Originally, Wander lived in the end, but was left with fully-grown horns on his head. There was supposed to be a scene with Mono awakening, seeing Wander by her side (without a formal shot being shown of his face/head), and she reaches out to touch his head (noticing the horns). The scene after that had them riding off together on Agro, with Wander's distinctive horns seen in his silhouette.

- Also, the creators admitted that Mono's words (heard between colossus take-downs) are her begging Wander to stop. She knows what Dormin is up to, and, judging by how respectful Emon is toward her body, I'd guess that she didn't fight the role of the sacrifice that she had to play. She probably knew that it had to be done and didn't resist. Wander on the other hand? Well, we know what he thought.

- Dormin's true "alignment" has a lot of wiggle room to it. Evil? Good? Neutral? There isn't any real clear-cut answer, but a, er, "lawful evil" might fit on first glance (he did warn Wander that things would get costly if he wanted Mono back alive). The main theme points him in the direction of evil, though, since the game itself is definitely connected to the Tower of Babel.
1) Dormin being scattered in to many pieces is an allusion to God introducing dialects to divide the builders of the tower.
2) Dormin is Nimrod spelt backwards (Nimrod being supposedly the head dude behind the push to build the tower).
3) The Garden in the end ties in to this as well. It's supposed to be symbolic of Heaven, with the doorway opened once Wander is purged of his sin.
4) The Shrine of Worship is easily the tallest feature on the whole map.

- The way Dormin was sealed in the end was rather strange, in that it wasn't as elaborate as the Colossus approach (split in to sixteen pieces, etc). Maybe it required for Dormin to actually be anchored to a physical body in order to work. Was Wander reincarnated as a regular child with Dormin's taint, or is he a miniature vessel?

- As several folks have mentioned in passing, Wander's model does change throughout the game (roughly every four colossi. The opening cinematic after the Eighth was meant to show how his model had indeed changed. Look at his neck and fingers/hand). I'll upload a video displaying this at some point in the next week. The only drawback is that given how the PVR records the game, some of the colors are drowned out or faded somewhat. Wander's final appearance (for the last four colossi) shows a few bloody cuts on his face, but a test recording kind of made it far more subtle. Anyhow, I'll do what I can.

- Also, as the game progresses, Mono's model changes ever-so-slightly. The game started with her hair being a far darker brown (almost black), and her face pale. By the ending, her hair is a light brown and her complexion looks healthier. It's not as obvious as Wander's transitions, but I'll see how a recording turns out.

- Tying in to the previous note at this point: Dormin's presence leaves a taint, which is left on Wander in the form of horns. However, Mono is left looking perfectly human. My thought on this is that as Wander is being filled with Dormin, his life force is being siphoned in to Mono. This might help explain why we hear her voice after Wander blacks out, following every colossus, in addition to why she remains unsullied in the end.

- There is, of course, a bit of a theme on color in these games. In both Ico and Colossus, white is pure and clean whereas black is sullied. Mono, untainted, remains white throughout (very lightly-colored gown, to help add to this). Wander starts off with bright clothing and regular complexion, but his outfit quickly grows blackened from mud, soot, and his own blood. Adding to that, his hair also darkens to a bluish black coloration. His skin itself grows paler, sure, but you also see blackened veins or something of the sort across his face (particularly his neck. See the beginning of the ninth colossus video, again).

- As you slay more colossi, more shadows surround Wander when he awakens in the shrine. Mono, on the other hand, is surrounded by more and more doves.


- Finally, there's Wander's name. Everyone else has a very distinctive name, whereas our protagonist is just The Wanderer (or "Wander"). Some folks wonder if this was done to play out like lore or an old legend (ie: how horned beings came in to existence: A nameless man slaying colossi to bring his lover back to life).