[SPOILERS] Can we talk about the ending?

[Tsune]

Like i literally just need to have someone relating with me
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LIKE OMG WE CAN'T GO BACK TO OUR MOM THATS SO SAD

Ik yuji hori made it be "the hero was never seen again" so we could imagine the idea of the hero being back to his mother, but im pretty sure he was left in alefgard :')

such a tragic ending

[The_Box]

Originally posted by Tsune:

Like i literally just need to have someone relating with me
.
.
.
.
.
.


LIKE OMG WE CAN'T GO BACK TO OUR MOM THATS SO SAD

Ik yuji hori made it be "the hero was never seen again" so we could imagine the idea of the hero being back to his mother, but im pretty sure he was left in alefgard :')

such a tragic ending

Yeah, that was my read too. It was really clear that they were saying the gateway between the worlds was completely closed, and only existed because of Zoma to begin with.

[Damoncord]

His descendant was the hero of Dragon Quest 1, and his descendants were the heroes of Dragon Quest 2.

[The_Box]

Originally posted by Damoncord:

His descendant was the hero of Dragon Quest 1, and his descendants were the heroes of Dragon Quest 2.

I actually never played 1 and 2, tragically. My assumption is just that 1 and 2 are taking place in Alefgard exclusively, which might make some sense given the smaller overall world map in Alefgard and those games being older.

[Melodia]

Originally posted by The_Box:

I actually never played 1 and 2, tragically. My assumption is just that 1 and 2 are taking place in Alefgard exclusively, which might make some sense given the smaller overall world map in Alefgard and those games being older.

Alfegard is just part of the map in 2, though it's much smaller in scale.

[Minneyar]

Yep. A lot of people treat the Dragon Quest games like they're silly, light-hearted adventures because of a cute art style with smiling slimes... but they frequently have pretty sad stories.

You spend the most of the game following in the footsteps of your father, who you think died ten years ago -- then discover that he's still alive and has been living in another world without his memories for all this time. You finally catch up with him just in time to see him die, and because he's been blinded and deafened, you can't talk to him and he doesn't even realize who you are until the very end. Then, you defeat the big bad guy, but doing so closes the portal back to your world. Now you're stuck alone in a foreign world and your mother will never know what really happened to you or your father.

It's pretty tragic, and this is just a warm-up for Dragon Quest V!

[lorddamien]

Originally posted by Tsune:

Like i literally just need to have someone relating with me
.
.
.
.
.
.


LIKE OMG WE CAN'T GO BACK TO OUR MOM THATS SO SAD

Ik yuji hori made it be "the hero was never seen again" so we could imagine the idea of the hero being back to his mother, but im pretty sure he was left in alefgard :')

such a tragic ending

The idea that the hero could have gone back home somehow probably comes from the fact that Ramia is also Empyrea from 8 and she's known to be able to cross dimensions.

Of course the problem with that is it wouldn't make any sense when you consider that later in the timelime there is a "descendant of Erdrick" in alefgard. If the hero stayed long enough to have kids, there's no way he/she disappeared (in the sense of went back home) by the time the celebrations were over like the game says.

I think it's far more likely the hero "disappeared" by simply going incognito. Not everyone knows what they look like without all their armor. It's not impossible the hero just chose to live as an ordinary person rather than be worshipped or something along those lines. This would kind of tie into why the DQ1 hero needs to prove he's descended from Erdrick before some important npc's will help him.

Of course, I could be completely off base, but that's how I see the ending myself.

[GespenstKAF]

Nah, that's pretty much it:

Erdrick disappears from the public eye, bequeaths their equipment to certain families for safeguarding until Zoma's prophecy regarding the Dragonlord comes to pass, then begins their lineage that would eventually lead to DQ1 and then 2 by way of 1's Hero.

[Durgha]

The ending and world building show us some of what the creators drew inspiration from. In Norse myth, Alefgard is a small country inside of Aesgard, the home of the gods. Alef or Alf mean "Elf" in Old Norse. We can see this in names like Gandalf which literally just means "magic elf." Gard (or Jord) is where we get the word guard, garden, and also Earth. So Alegard is "Elf World." The rainbow bridge the hero uses to access Zoma's castle is also Norse. It's nothing like the Marvel movies, but if that's your only frame of reference, that's fine too.

There are several defining events in the sagas referencing Ragnarok, the Norse cataclysm myth. Many of these events have DQ3 equivalents. In these tales, a rebellious Ice Giant uses one of their monstrous children to swallow the sun, betraying the gods and in the process dooming the Nine Realms to eternal darkness. Zoma tasking Baramos to seal away Rubiss is likely a retelling of this story through a Japanese lens.

Zoma exclusively uses ice attacks, btw, so I will happily die on this hill that he is based on an Ice Giant. In the sagas a poisonous dragon monster, Midgarsomr, mortally wounds Thor over a lake of poison. It's exactly the same scene where Ortega dies.

Where we part from Norse myth is Rubiss herself, the DQ goddess of light and sun. She does not have a clear Norse analog, but is instead almost certainly a proxy for Amaterasu, the chief deity of the Shinto pantheon and also a goddess of sun and light. In the Shinto faith, Amaterasu restored light to the world when a wise hero freed her from a cave where she had been hidden away. In the process, wicked deities (meaning monsters like Zoma) were driven from Japan. In much the same way, the DQ3 hero frees Rubiss from imprisonment within a tower.

Back in Norse myth, a handful of people do survive the end of the world and rebuild from the ashes. Like Erdrick they cannot return home because the fundamental nature of their world has changed following these events. The biggest change is that the gods are all gone. The sagas say that Odin and his cohort are all dead which is why Rubiss is likely absent from DQ1 and 2. The game tells us she's alive but recovering. presumably outside the world on another plane of existence.

I think Horii read a book on Viking gods and decided to tell an isekai story. Those never have happy endings.

[Tsune]

Originally posted by The_Box:

Originally posted by Damoncord:

His descendant was the hero of Dragon Quest 1, and his descendants were the heroes of Dragon Quest 2.

I actually never played 1 and 2, tragically. My assumption is just that 1 and 2 are taking place in Alefgard exclusively, which might make some sense given the smaller overall world map in Alefgard and those games being older.

what a shame... the plottwist of alefgard being the underworld was such a big deal


I was so surprised by it

[Tsune]

Originally posted by GespenstKAF:

Nah, that's pretty much it:

Erdrick disappears from the public eye, bequeaths their equipment to certain families for safeguarding until Zoma's prophecy regarding the Dragonlord comes to pass, then begins their lineage that would eventually lead to DQ1 and then 2 by way of 1's Hero.

yuji horii mentioned in an interview that he wanted ot give the idea of the hero coming back home yes!

i was expecting the remake making that clear but I guess they decided to go with the original story

[Tsune]

Originally posted by Durgha:

The ending and world building show us some of what the creators drew inspiration from. In Norse myth, Alefgard is a small country inside of Aesgard, the home of the gods. Alef or Alf mean "Elf" in Old Norse. We can see this in names like Gandalf which literally just means "magic elf." Gard (or Jord) is where we get the word guard, garden, and also Earth. So Alegard is "Elf World." The rainbow bridge the hero uses to access Zoma's castle is also Norse. It's nothing like the Marvel movies, but if that's your only frame of reference, that's fine too.

There are several defining events in the sagas referencing Ragnarok, the Norse cataclysm myth. Many of these events have DQ3 equivalents. In these tales, a rebellious Ice Giant uses one of their monstrous children to swallow the sun, betraying the gods and in the process dooming the Nine Realms to eternal darkness. Zoma tasking Baramos to seal away Rubiss is likely a retelling of this story through a Japanese lens.

Zoma exclusively uses ice attacks, btw, so I will happily die on this hill that he is based on an Ice Giant. In the sagas a poisonous dragon monster, Midgarsomr, mortally wounds Thor over a lake of poison. It's exactly the same scene where Ortega dies.

Where we part from Norse myth is Rubiss herself, the DQ goddess of light and sun. She does not have a clear Norse analog, but is instead almost certainly a proxy for Amaterasu, the chief deity of the Shinto pantheon and also a goddess of sun and light. In the Shinto faith, Amaterasu restored light to the world when a wise hero freed her from a cave where she had been hidden away. In the process, wicked deities (meaning monsters like Zoma) were driven from Japan. In much the same way, the DQ3 hero frees Rubiss from imprisonment within a tower.

Back in Norse myth, a handful of people do survive the end of the world and rebuild from the ashes. Like Erdrick they cannot return home because the fundamental nature of their world has changed following these events. The biggest change is that the gods are all gone. The sagas say that Odin and his cohort are all dead which is why Rubiss is likely absent from DQ1 and 2. The game tells us she's alive but recovering. presumably outside the world on another plane of existence.

I think Horii read a book on Viking gods and decided to tell an isekai story. Those never have happy endings.

thats so cool!! thanks for sharing :D