PART III: DORMIN, OUR ANTAGONIST |
"Make haste, for time is short..."
We've formed an understanding of Dormin's talents and from looking at his past, we can see what motives may be driving his actions within Shadow of the Colossus's narrative.
The amount of time that passes between Dormin's abandonment and when Wander crosses the threshold into the Forbidden Lands is ambiguous. Judging by the degradation and erosion of the world, and by the mythical way Emon passes on the story to Wander, it's been a lengthy spell. It could be centuries or even a millennium or two.
Whatever the case may be, Dormin has been waiting and watching for an opportunity to escape. We can infer from Dormin's dialogue with Wander that the Ancient Sword is key to his escape. He knows that the Ancient Sword is his only hope for freedom, and he must understand that the chances of someone both bringing the Ancient Sword and managing to defeat the colossi are slim.
As I pointed out in Part I, it seems as though Dormin's attention is elsewhere at the moment Wander places Mono's body upon the altar. When Wander unveils the Ancient Sword, the shadowy creatures suddenly wither away and Dormin hurriedly descends to the Shrine to speak to him.
Immediately understanding the situation, evident in the presence of the dead girl lying on his altar, Dormin masterfully hides his excitement.
"Hmm? Thou possesses the Ancient Sword? So thou art mortal..." he speaks craftily to Wander.
"Are you Dormin? I was told that in this place at the end of the world -- there exists a being who can control the souls of the dead." Here, Wander displays his lack of understanding of Dormin's history, obvious in the fact that he's operating on second-hand information. Wander doesn't know the whole truth, and recognizing this, perhaps Dormin uses the opportunity to keep that truth further unclear, so as not to turn Wander away.
"Thou art correct... We are the one known as Dormin..." he answers innocently enough.
Turning to Mono, Wander says, "She was sacrificed for she had a cursed fate. Please, I need you to bring back her soul..."
Dormin laughs and speaks, "That maiden's soul? Souls that are once lost cannot be reclaimed... Is that not the law of mortals?"
We must ask ourselves why Dormin would react this way, knowing his chances of escape are still terribly narrow. We can quickly suppose that Dormin is doing it to seem impartial, to hide his stake in the events which will potentially follow. Were he too eager to fulfill Wander's request, he would run the risk of seeming suspicious and turning Wander away.
Sensing Wander's disappointment, Dormin swiftly alleviates his doubts. "With that sword, however... it may not be impossible." Wander's hopes rise again.
"That is, of course, if thou manage to accomplish what We askest." Here, Dormin reveals that there's a catch, but in his ensuing description of that task, he still mentions nothing of his own entrapment. Such a detail might reveal to Wander a reason not to go through with it.
Arguably one of Dormin's most puzzling actions is when he warns the boy, "But heed this, the price you pay may be heavy indeed." On the surface, this seems like a bit of a conflict of interests for Dormin, risking changing Wander's mind. But perhaps this is Dormin's most cunning bit of manipulation yet.
It's almost paramount that he test Wander's resolve. He needs to know how efficient his new tool will be, what amount of adversity he will endure, and to what lengths he will go to resurrect his girl. By giving Wander this warning, he lets Wander know that they're in this together -- that they have entered a mutual contract of sorts -- and he sets his plan into stone. Sensing Wander's guilt, it's almost a promise of penance, of justice. After all, regardless of Wander's involvement in Mono's death, he must be driven by guilt, if nothing else, by being unable to prevent it.
Wander sets out to complete his task, with Dormin assisting in every way he can. It seems as though Dormin's knowledge of the colossi is rather intimate, as he tells Wander their locations, their temperaments, their faults, and he provides information on how to defeat them.
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This pattern continues until the final hour, once Wander has defeated the 15th colossus and stands now only against the last. "Thy wish is nearly granted... But someone now stands to get in thy way... Make haste, for time is short..." Dormin may have known about Lord Emon's pressing location for a while now, and no longer able to hide all of his desperation, he urges Wander to finish the task.
Wander sets out to kill the last colossus, and meanwhile, Lord Emon and his men arrive at the Shrine of Worship. They behold the crumbled idols along the walls, understanding the gravity of the situation. They watch as the final idol falls.
Wander has completed the task.
A moment later, we see Emon muttering a quiet prayer over Mono's body. Abruptly, Wander's decrepit, horned body appears there in the Shrine, along with the Ancient Sword.
Where has Dormin been in all of this? Evidently, he has not revealed himself yet to Emon, though certainly he has been silently watching both Wander and the men inside the Shrine.
As Wander struggles to his feet, shadowy creatures form at his sides. Emon berates him for his actions -- for stealing the sword and trespassing on the Forbidden Lands, and most of all, for using the "forbidden spell". Wander stands and lugs his broken, fatigued body forward toward Mono. A soldier shoots a crossbow bolt into his leg, and another soon stands over him and thrusts a sword into Wander's heart.
But by the force of Wander's will, and to the horror of Emon and his men, Wander stands again, pulling the sword from his chest, driven by the desire to see Mono awaken before he dies. But that hope is not fulfilled, not yet. Wander collapses and dies, his body soon covered in Dormin's familiar shadowy essence.
Now that Wander is dead and Dormin's ability unleashed, he takes hold and Wander's body grows into an enormous demon-like entity, who soon assails Emon and his men with his fists. But, cramped in the confining hall, and due to the injured leg of his vessel, Dormin finds it difficult to battle the men, and they soon get away, having grabbed the Ancient Sword along their way.
This monstrous form of Dormin seems oddly impotent. Is there something else going on? Let's keep our eyes open as we watch the next series of events closely.
Emon reaches the top of the spiral room and thrusts the Ancient Sword into the pool below, creating an enormous magical suction. This action, or Dormin's subsequent disappearance into the pool, also seems to be the impetus that causes the destruction of the white bridge. Dormin, pulled by this wind, struggles to flee, his enormous shadowy form quickly reducing back down to Wander's size. It's an interesting thing to note that the same music plays here that plays as a colossus collapses dead on to the ground.
After resisting fiercely, Dormin and Wander inevitably fall into the pool, upon which the suction abruptly ceases. A serene silence takes us, and we're left wondering what this may mean.
Has Dormin been sealed away? We're led to believe so, but it may not be the case. Shortly, we're shown that Mono has been revived, and she sits up and steps off the altar. How is this possible if Dormin has been sealed away?
Perhaps he is not.
The following is speculation based on very subtle details and inferences, and is by no means fact.
Those who watch the ending may notice that the female side of Dormin's voice vanishes once he possesses Wander, never to be heard from again. And let's think about this again; why was Dormin, cunning and crafty as he is, so ill-prepared for the Emon contingency? Our immediate reaction is that he simply was no match for Emon's quick thinking, that he was again outdone by the magical solutions designed by the ancient forerunners.
But let's take nothing for granted and put ourselves in Dormin's position. He knew of Emon's presence for some time before Emon arrived, as he warned Wander of his approach, and we can assume that all that while, he was cooking up some scheme to deal with that threat. Otherwise, this character falls a little flat on his face.
Secondly, why would Dormin even reveal himself in full form if he could not easily fight inside the idol chamber, if his foes could so easily get away? While his presence in this scene is stunning, his efforts are decidedly meager. It's almost as though he isn't even trying.
The most intriguing answer to these puzzling discrepancies is that this was an act -- a ruse to convince Emon that the threat of Dormin would be undone, or sealed for another period of time. Dormin presents himself to Emon and feigns revenge to instill the confidence in Emon that his following actions would wholly banish his foe.
For his plan to work, Dormin would have to sacrifice the greater part of himself -- that which resided in Wander -- for the sake of the illusion, while the other part (possibly the female aspect) would stay back until it was safe to come out, upon which time it possessed Mono.
Again, we've established, for the purposes of this interpretation, that Dormin's own essence is necessary to resurrect a body. For Dormin to revive Mono, a part of him would have to reside inside of her.
Without an understanding of Dormin's history and motives, we would view his resurrection of Mono as an act of benevolence, but now maybe we can see that it's actually a self-serving action; because now he has a foothold in the mortal realm, where he can walk about and find a way to find that part of himself which he had to sacrifice for survival.
Then, possibly, he could re-establish his reign.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PART IV
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