Shadow of the Colossus Story & Lore Explanation

There is a simpler explanation that relies on how the game plays in our real world - just a theory that I think makes more sense: That place... began from the resonance of intersecting points... the intersecting points are pixels, pixels consist of x & y co-ordinates of the screen, and each pixel is an intersecting point. They are memories replaced by ens and naught, 'ens and naught' are ones and zero of digital data, 'ens' means an existing or real thing and 'naught' means nothing, something and nothing, light and dark, 1 and 0. 'and etched into stone' on the game's disc. (In Japanese the phrase is "burnt into stone", using the same verb as burning a CD or DVD.) 'Blood, young sprouts, sky' refer to the colours they represent, red, green and blue - RGB the colours on the computer screen. And the one with the ability to control beings created from light... the player is a person who can manipulate "beings created from light" (game characters on the screen). In that world, it is said that if one should wish it one can bring back the souls of the dead... in the game you can revive Wander as many times as you want after he dies! But to trespass upon that land is strictly forbidden... this line is the only one that makes sense to the story, there is no need of an explanation here.

You can say what you want about Dormin, but he held true to his promise and revived Mono

Mono "was sacrificed, for she had a cursed fate." But we're never told what that fate was. And, as said, it was obviously so bad that the ENTIRE village, except Wander, had no issue to it. I always figured it was because: They found out her fate was connected to Dormin's return, but didn't know how. So they sacrificed her, meaning she couldn't bring him back. Not realizing that BY sacrificing her, it'd cause Wander to become so desperate that it's EXACTLY what ended up causing Dormin's return.

i thought Wander was made into a child because it was the spells way of removing all corruption from Wander...to reduce him to the most innocent form, that of a child. However, the reason he is horned in a side effect of the possession from Dormin. At least that's what I feel. Anyway, I guess its time to play Ico!

dormin used "we" when it introduced itself and had a voice of both female and male, and once he's taken wander as a vessel the voice becomes more male we can see mono glowing, almost as if she was deity of light; perhaps the two "voices" split itself into the two characters.

The lesson that we can learn from wander's journey is : "never accept a vague contract"

I never felt that Wander was being manipulated in anyway. Wander never asks Dormin why he has to do what he does or why his body is changing after each colossus' fall, so Dormin never has any reason to explain his request. Wander doesn't care as long as his wish is granted. I also felt Dormin was completely fair throughout. He listens to Wander's wish, tells him what he needs him to do, warns him and in the end, revives Mono despite being dispersed.

I love the idea that becoming the queen in Ico was the curse Mono's death was supposed to prevent. That would fit the themes very nicely, and it's the lore equivalent of juicy gossip

I believe that the whirlwind pool didn't reverse time, but sucked all the darkness from the land. This is why Wander is now a baby (the symbol of innocents itself).

My theory: The Forbidden Land is where all of human civilization began. It was originally put there by various gods of nature as a safe haven for humanity from a threatening outside world, but they were gradually forsaken for a new god; one that sprang from humanity itself, not nature: Dormin, who represents mankind’s cunning, warlike, power-thirsting essence but also is bound by his essence to keep any pacts made with humans. His emergence pollutes humanity terribly. At first, his followers and the old gods’ followers coexist. The many temples around the land are theirs. Eventually, the pollution is too great to bear, or a war breaks out, and followers of the old nature gods manage to unite their powers and seal Dormin within those gods, which become the Colossi and are trapped in the statues. Much of the Forbidden Land’s habitable areas were destroyed by the atrocities of Dormin’s reign and his sealing process. Therefore, the whole place was abandoned and sealed, to act as his final tomb. A single bridge was left in place, in case he were ever to somehow weaken the seals, so they could be maintained, but it was heavily guarded on most occasions...except for the sacrificial rituals, which all were mandated to attend. Quite unable to stop the ritual on his own, Wander waits until it is complete, then snatches both the girl and the holy(?) sword used to kill her in the name of good(?). It’s certainly in the name of light, but good is perhaps debatable. The sword, created from the old gods of nature and light, is the only thing capable of harming them, and still has a connection to them. Perhaps continual escape from Dormin’s darkness requires many heavy sacrifices such as this one. Maybe the result is a society whose ways are difficult to accept. Wander isn’t even remotely content with this particular sacrifice, as she means more to him than himself and all humanity combined...and that’s his tragic flaw. He is so blinded by love, he is willing to throw everyone in the world into chaos to save it. He was not the first to have objections, but he was the cleverest about his plan to swoop in and take control of things. This makes him much like Dormin. Since it is impossible to actually destroy Dormin, as he is linked to humanity itself, all that they’ve been able to do is reset his growth to its beginnings, signaling that we can never truly eradicate the evils of mankind, but that we will be given multiple opportunities over the ages to do battle with this force. (Hence Wander’s rebirth. He, too, was reset to a time prior to all this suffering and given a chance to right things somehow, like a new generation of humans. He tries this, one day in the distant future, betraying his now-corrupted love, the Queen. She is ultimately victorious, killing him. His final act and his loss drive her mad with rage and bitterness, and any time one of his unique bloodline re-emerges, the child is ordered by her to be sacrificed (as she once was), this time to prevent the old gods and humanity from dominating her and the will of Dormin. (Man, I really have to beat Ico now. lol It was soooooo hard for me back in the day! But I beat SotC without much trouble or any guide.)

It wasn't a reversal of time that transformed Wander back into a baby. The pool that consumed Dormin was actually just consuming all the dark essence/magic in the area. Naturally, since Wander was not a being of complete darkness, some essence of him would remain. Babies can be a symbol of innocence as they have not yet had the chance to become corrupt by darkness and as such. Wander's innocence representing the light left inside of him took the form of a baby. Uncorrupted and full of potential for attonement.

Of course agro will survive... He's the horse of steel...

Don’t forget Dormin said he‘d only borrow Wanders body and never intended to kill him. I think it is an ancient god, not a symbol for false worship. I love the vid!!

The fun part about this is knowing originally the tendrils were tendrils of darkness contained in light, and that Dormin's original model was semi-transparent. As though it was more a shadow than a deep darkness. It originally didn't appear as a void, but a shade, a being that straddles the line between light and dark. It's little things like that that kind of make me disappointed in the remake.

Something interesting that I noticed is that when the shaman and his men are scaping the temple in the final sequence and the bridge starts to collapse, the blocks that hold it don't actually explode, the kind of disintegrate in light.

Considering its a prequel to ico i feel that mono was killed because she was going to be the queen in ico and they could see it coming and that is likely what they meant by cursed fate

I've always thought of the ending as a sort of "do-over". Since Wander and Dormin are one by the end of the game, I think it's fair to say that they can no longer be separated, and one can no longer overpower the other. (Like we see Wander with the blue eyes and horns, or Dormin form himself around Wander's body.) They have created a new entity that exhibits qualities of both beings. It feels like whatever spell trapped Dormin in Wander's body both was set to make them stuck together, and make them both powerless and weak. It would also be interesting to see what this baby would be like grown. Since there are two opposing forces that created the baby, would the baby then be a completely neutral force? Not good and not bad? Perhaps that was the intention of not only combining the two, but reverting them to the state of a baby. A do-over, essentially a "try-again" in hopes of having a different outcome, and possibly destroying Dormin's forces forever with this new creation.

Interesting point about the feminine presence counteracting Dormin's likely masculine nature. Fresh conjecture: Maybe Mono was sacrificed as part of the ritual keeping Dormin...dormant. The people led by Eamon might have habitually sacrificed women/feminine people to protect the seal. If Wander's quest to revive Mono was another key piece for Dormin to free themself (undoing the sacrifice by reviving her and/or removing her soul from being part of the seal), that would be to Dormin's benefit too. Hence another reason they helped Wander succeed, all for the purpose of being freed, since they probably don't care about Wander himself. Otherwise, breaking the seal(s) of Dormin's prison may have revived Mono without their influence; maybe she wasn't dead but her soul was being used as part of Dormin's captivity, keeping her comatose until it was freed. Maybe someone has already said this or something similar. (P.S. I appreciate the use of neutral pronouns. They work in both the sense that Dormin might be a plural entity and/or not defined by gender.) Debunk if you please, but please do so politely :)

Notice how when mono wakes up she is surrounded by light but she herself is dark signifying that she is the darkness In the light and when we see wander as a baby he is surrounded by darkness but is a baby a pure manifestation of innocence and light signifying that wander is light In the darkness It's hard to explain but I just found it interesting

It's been years and i still call Dormin, door man (this all could have been avoided if wander was named stay put)