Team ICO Gamers Blog

Here are some notes about the ending of Shadow of the Colossus, the alternate ending idea that never made it through and other things explained in the interview featured on the Japanese guidebook. It contains major spoilers, of course.

Mono

As you know, after each colossus is felled, Mono's voice can be heard. She's asking Wander to stop the ritual. It's not clear whether she does so because she thinks the forbidden ritual shouldn't be completed or because she knows Wander will die after its completion.

The reason her voice grows stronger the more battles are won is because her soul is being restored to this world. The opposite is happening to Wander; the more the black claws invade his soul, the closer he becomes a shadow, a reflection of the dead.

Alternate ending

The concept was to have an entirely new ending should the player have a save file from ICO on the memory card.

Lord Emon and his soldiers arrive at the Shrine of Worship, see Wander and attack him. They punish him for completing a ritual that reconnects a soul of a dead person to her body.

Mono is revived, and her body starts to glow. One of the soldiers notices this is happening and he tries to stab her with his sword. The blow doesn't land for some magic is protecting her; it just doesn't connect to her body, goes through her and the sword gets stuck in the stone.

As they see this Lord Emon and his company flee in terror, sealing the land, leaving Wander and Mono in the Shrine.

Now, we already know Wander's body changes throughout the duration of his sixteen battles. So when Mono awakens and her eyes do not yet function well, she reaches for Wander. She can feel that Wander has indeed changed, much more after his last battle. We see this scene through the blind eyes and thoughts of Mono. We do not see how Wander changed, not yet.

Credits start rolling while the two mount Agro and ride off the Shrine.

The hawk, the same one from the beginning, flies over them as Agro carries Wander and Mono away. The camera closes on the horse, and we finally see Wander's appearance. Horns protrude from his head and he looks more a shadow than a human being.

This whole ending idea was scrapped because the majority of the team felt it would be unfair on those who never played ICO to never be able to see this different epilogue.

Colossi carcass scenes in the credits

When the credits roll, we can see the sixteen carcasses of the colossi Wander defeated. What we're seeing here is what Mono sees as soon as she is revived. She can see what happened to Wander, and what he did.

Agro falling off the bridge

The team considers Agro's survival after that terrible fall, a miracle. It's like something supernatural happened to save him from certain death.

The hawk

Like mentioned before, the hawk from the beginning of the game is the very same one we see in the end. This gives the idea that the game is like a fairytale being told and retold endless times.

Time stopped in the Forbidden Lands of Dormin

As soon as Wander steps through the gates of the Forbidden Lands, the seal put in place to contain Dormin loosens. Before this, time had come to a stop, preserving the lands unnaturally. When the ritual is completed, and Dormin released, the seal is broken and time starts flowing again reconnecting these ancient lands to the world outside. Thus we can conclude that while all of Wander's adventure takes place in daylight it spans the course of many days.

Dormin and the idols

Dormin is the keeper of a very ancient and powerful knowledge. It's because of this that Dormin was sealed in hundreds of years before. The lands Dormin inhabited were then declared forbidden to all.

The idols, which were in the past objects of worship were left behind, as were the old ways and traditions. Each of the sixteen parts of Dormin were sealed in the land - which the colossi are part of - and connected to the idols. The shadows we see after each battle are all parts of Dormin that make their way into Wander's soul.

When the ritual is completed, Dormin pervades Wander's soul but does not possess it completely. Wander still has a part of himself inside. He still recollects his past and his deeds.

The purification

The pool that sucks Wander and Dormin in banishes Dormin off Wander's body. The horns we see on the baby are a remnant of what happened and represent the little influence Dormin still has on the baby.