Part 12: Dirge, the Tenth Colossus

Blip - With commentary (Polsy) | No commentary (Polsy)
Youtube - With commentary Part 1, Part 2

Dirge's location on the map: B-4

Artwork/Pictures -
Dirge Centerfold, left page (Artbook)
Dirge Centerfold, right page (Artbook)
Dirge (Artbook)
Dirge (Artbook)
Dirge (Concept artwork)
Dirge (Earlier versions)

Dormin's Hint -
 "Thy legs cannot possibly carry thee away from its dangers..."  

Notes -
- Dirge is a  nasty ol' sandworm creature. He is 260 feet (79m) in length. You'll note from the concept art that he strongly resembles Hydrus, in both the rough and final version. His original design was far more worm-like. 

- The Latin version of his name has a bit of wiggle-room here.  "Harena" can mean sand, but it also means arena. From what I can scrape up, at least. My Latin/Greek knowledge is pretty laughable, so correct me if I'm wrong. 

- A dirge is a song played typically during funerals or burials. They are, as expected, rather depressing by nature.  His name is definitely a nod toward the "burial" part there, of course. 

-  Dirge, our most subterranean-based colossus, is the western-most we'll encounter. Avion, our flying colossus, is the eastern-most. It might be coincidence, but they are pretty extreme opposites and are situated on opposite ends of the map. Adding to that? The two are the only colossi that have distinguishable mouths. 

- A unique thing about Dirge is that  he's the only colossus that seems to be trying to eat Wander. Most others just squish him as best they can (or blast with freaking lasers), but this guy sees our protagonist as a snack!  

- Regarding that brief stint with Agro en-route: that location is like the Bermuda triangle to Agro's horsie-sense. Every time I've gone by that spot, SOMETHING HAPPENS. One time (initial play-throughs on Normal mode), he got stuck on the tree. The next, he was stuck running in circles around there. The fact that he freaked out and ran shows that he just gets goofy around there <>