So... about the ending... Did I get it right? *SPOILERS*

[sleyper]

There's only one canon ending to the game - the one where you kill Savan, the guy you played as in the prologue, only to then kill yourself, and have your pawn take over your body. So... about the cycle...

Seneschel said that the cycle is like a ring - it has neither beginning or an end, and only choice mankind seems to have is to renew the cycle with a new dragon, challenging new Arisen to find him, seeing if they're worthy, then fighting them, and if they are - letting them jump into Everfall, collect the Wakestones, and confront the Seneschel. Pretty clear so far, right?

Who is Grigori? The dragon that ate your heart? Well seeing as he tells you that all the previous living Arisen turned out to be cowards, and accepted his offer to give up their beloved ones, as well as The Dragonforged was so old that in the end he turned to ash, we can safely assume that Grigori was unsuccessfull in his quest for finding the new Seneschel to replace Savan for at least couple of centuries. But who is he? If you let Senechel kill you, or if you kill yourself with Godsbane before you kill Savan you fall dead through the floor only to become the next dragon, and seek another Arisen, therefore repeating the cycle. So we've got two options here - Grigori is either an Arisen that found his way into the Seneschel Chamber, and failed... or HE USED to be a Senechel, before Savan showed up. Seeing as the game wiki states that Savan was the last one to slay the dragon before you, that'd cross out the option number one, which would lead us to assume that Grigori indeed was Arisen and a Seneschel before Savan took his place, and killed him. That'd mean that Grigori still wasn't quite dead (though he might've lost some of his memories. as proved by the fact that he seemed to have remembered flashes from his previous life in the moment where we kill him. That'd also explain why the dragon would even bother looking for Arisen - it'd be the only way for him to finally leave the world in peace.

All of this also sticks because in the end our character tries to break the ring, end the cycle - he kills Savan (who as astablished becomes the new dragon), and then kills themselves, only for their pawn to take their body, and continue their life from now on. So... we broke the cycle, next question is - what now? There's not Senseschel, so basically the next Arisen that will be chosen by now-dragon Savan, and the first to defeat him will automatically claim the right to be the Seneschel - noone to stop him, only thing to do is to sit in the freaking chair. Also worth noting - the next Seneschel won't be able to kill themselves since the Godsbane is with us (or rather - our pawn).

So... summing up - Savan is the new dragon, our player character actually manages to break the cycle and kills themselves, and their body is taken by their main pawn (which makes it pawn no longer - kinda reminds me of Alladin ending, where the Genie was freed of his chains, and became a free living creature, with noone above him, free to do whatever he wanted), and there is no new Senechel, so noone "oversees" the world, leaving it to be ruled by humans however they want to rule it (at least until Savan chooses a new Arisen and gets defeaten by him).

What do you think? Do you agree? Do you see holes in the theory? Feel free to express your opinion and let's put this mystery (and many other I haven't touched yet) to the rest :D

[Dareth]

Not exactly, we killed Savan by using Godsbane and there is a nice ending about how to became a dragon, but first you must be defeated by Seneshal in 1 stage of his fight. But the rest is accurate.

[sleyper]

Yeah, I rewatched all the endings. So what? That means that the cycle has ended? No more Arisen, and dragons? No Seneschel? And most of all - no sequel?

[Silvarren]

Grigori is a failed Arisen that progressed far enough to challenge the Seneschal, but chose to return / failed to defeat him. All of the dragons are failed Arisen, actually. You know this because of the things that the dragons around the world say. Most refer to you being the Arisen, some saying "You are not the one..." and so on. Grigori also mentions the fact that you are inflicting the pain on him that he once inflicted on one like himself.

The other dragons appear to be interested in devouring hearts as well.

So no, if you defeat the dragon, you continue the cycle after you defeat the Seneschal. If you accept defeat or choose not to become the Seneschal, you are likely the next Dragon. As for the world not having a Seneschal, no one "overseeing" the world... The world's vitality is directly connected to the Seneschal. That is why the world is becoming unstable / decaying. Savan has lived for countless years, and has grown weary / weak. This is not super-well explained by itself, but there are clues throughout the game that indicate this.

Lastly... Once you become the Seneschal, your pawn is granted your "spark," indicated by the voice swap as they cry out. Pawns live for a LONG time, their appearance never changing. Theoretically, your pawn could become the next Seneschal (after many many many years), assuming they live that long and are called upon by the Seneschal (player character). They would of course, be called upon by another Arisen somewhere in the world (not Grigori, as he's dead. Or as the Seneschal, you could turn your old pawn into the Dragon itself).

-S

(Scour the wiki for the quotes from all of the Dragons and you get a clearer picture)

[sleyper]

Huh, didn't take the dragons lurking around the world into the account - so they are fallen Arisen as well? And that'd mean that wiki is wrong about Savan being the last Arisen to slay the dragon before you, as Grigori clearly must've been the one, just not accepting the Seneschal position/failing to win agains Savan, am I correct?

[Silvarren]

Originally posted by Sleyper:

Huh, didn't take the dragons lurking around the world into the account - so they are fallen Arisen as well? And that'd mean that wiki is wrong about Savan being the last Arisen to slay the dragon before you, as Grigori clearly must've been the one, just not accepting the Seneschal position/failing to win agains Savan, am I correct?

It is technically possible that that Dragon is not actually Grigori, but another failed Arisen. That, or it is possible that Grigori was returned to life by the Seneschal, since they're omnipotent. After all, the dragons around the world want hearts, as though they want to get stronger and become like Grigori... It is possible that the Seneschal might be able to turn one of the existing dragons somewhere else in the world into the main "Dragon" as well.

-S

[sleyper]

Also, about the last part - you're saying that our character doesn't actually die at the end? I thought that by stabbing yourself with the Godsbane you die, and there's no Seneschal in the world... I just find it hard to wrap my head around the way everything works that's all.
I remember in the beggining of the game there's a quote indicating multiple, parallel universes, but adding that to the equation of Seneschels, pawns, dragons, Arisen just makes my head spin.

[Silvarren]

Originally posted by Sleyper:

Also, about the last part - you're saying that our character doesn't actually die at the end? I thought that by stabbing yourself with the Godsbane you die, and there's no Seneschal in the world... I just find it hard to wrap my head around the way everything works that's all.
I remember in the beggining of the game there's a quote indicating multiple, parallel universes, but adding that to the equation of Seneschels, pawns, dragons, Arisen just makes my head spin.

That's true, there are parallel universes as well (which is where your pawns come from), but if you kill yourself with the Godsbane, then Savan will simply look for another Arisen. I believe if you use the Godsbane on yourself while making the choice, it actually shows you turning into a Dragon.

Also, yes, the lore isn't explained very well. You kind of get to the end and a good portion of it is explained, but it's also like the game expects you to have done quite a bit of research / talking to everyone to get the whole picture.

-S

[sleyper]

But what about when you kill Savan and then yourself - the true ending? Does our Arisen survive? Simply leaves his body for his pawn, and rules as the Seneschel, because I still don't get that. And yeah, while the lore could be very fascinating to uncover, it's a shame it's not explored as much as it could be.

[Brandi]

Originally posted by Sleyper:

But what about when you kill Savan and then yourself - the true ending? Does our Arisen survive? Simply leaves his body for his pawn, and rules as the Seneschel, because I still don't get that. And yeah, while the lore could be very fascinating to uncover, it's a shame it's not explored as much as it could be.

Since you see Savan pull the Godsbane out of himself I think he did the same thing you did, stab himself and give his mortal body to his Pawn. You didn't die, you can't die unless ANOTHER Arisen stabs you with Godsbane becoming the new Seneschal.

If you play NG+ offline and get to the Seneschal fight again, the new Seneschal is your character from the previous playthrough, so I think I'm right.

[sleyper]

Still no idea if Grigori was an Arisen, one of the many that've fallen, or if he's The Dragon, the one and only, using the fallen Arisens body as the vessel to be reborn again (just read that theory on one of the forums). It's a shame the lore is so vaguely explained :/

[Montrasor]

What about Selens "grandmother"? Didn't she give the spark to selene? Thus meaning she once fought the Senechal and didn't become a dragon?

[Ruttsah]

Originally posted by Sleyper:

Yeah, I rewatched all the endings. So what? That means that the cycle has ended? No more Arisen, and dragons? No Seneschel? And most of all - no sequel?

In this timeline. There are multiple universes.

basically, think of it this way: Every Disc/copy of the game is literally a different universe, and every playthrough a different itteration of the timeline.

When you kill yourself and 'end' the cycle, it has meant this universe will not repeat itself. And a DD2 can easily happen, as since its a new copy/disc, its a different universe than the one DD1 is set in.

Basically, DD is self contained literally to your individual copy.

[Ruttsah]

Originally posted by Sleyper:

Still no idea if Grigori was an Arisen, one of the many that've fallen, or if he's The Dragon, the one and only, using the fallen Arisens body as the vessel to be reborn again (just read that theory on one of the forums). It's a shame the lore is so vaguely explained :/

Grigori is a fallen arisen.

All dragons are arisen who defeated the dragon but did not defeat the seneschal.

[Ruttsah]

Originally posted by BallisticDrama:

Originally posted by Sleyper:

But what about when you kill Savan and then yourself - the true ending? Does our Arisen survive? Simply leaves his body for his pawn, and rules as the Seneschel, because I still don't get that. And yeah, while the lore could be very fascinating to uncover, it's a shame it's not explored as much as it could be.

Since you see Savan pull the Godsbane out of himself I think he did the same thing you did, stab himself and give his mortal body to his Pawn. You didn't die, you can't die unless ANOTHER Arisen stabs you with Godsbane becoming the new Seneschal.

If you play NG+ offline and get to the Seneschal fight again, the new Seneschal is your character from the previous playthrough, so I think I'm right.

The game is very vaque if the cycle ACTUALLY ended or not.

Think of it this way (IMO), the cycle only continues if you start a new game+. If not, the cycle didn't continue, as there is no new PC Arisen.

[sleyper]

I know there's Dragon's Dogma Online, wonder how that ties in with everything, might explain some bits here and there, but untill the game reaches America and Europe we won't really know.