Headscratchers / Dragon's Dogma

Headscratchers pages are Spoilers Off. You have been warned.

Video Game

• One of the first sidequests you get in Gran Soren involves helping Steffen find the grimoire of a sorcerer named Salomet. Later in the game, it turns out Salomet is still around, and is after magical trinkets, including a ring belonging to the duke. Which begs the question: Why not go after Steffen? If I'm an ultra powerful sorcerer, and some long-haired tool is running around with my spellbook, I'm going to use my magic powers to fill his nutsack with sulfuric acid and take my book back while he writhes around on the ground holding his groin.
  • I'd imagine Salomet has bigger fish to fry than Steffen (such as stealing the ring in the first place), or possibly doesn't even know that Steffen wanted one of his books.
  • It's also possible he simply doesn't care. The book was obviously discarded/lost by him at some point in the past and he didn't bother reclaiming it so it's likely whatever in there is simply no use or threat to him.
• The next time you're outside at night, look up and ask yourself this question: WHERE THE HELL IS THE MOON?
  • This isn't Earth. This world doesn't need to have a moon.
  • That's probably why it's so dark, there's no moon to reflect light.
  • Makes sense considering the tide levels never change.
  • The world not having a moon is fine by itself, but it leads to the question of why there's a bunch of stuff named after a moon. Maybe its orbit is just slow that it's on the other side of the planet throughout the game.
  • Early story concepts of the game reveal that the moon simply stopped orbiting in the sky for some reason. Not sure if they kept that and didn't mention it or what.
• During a scene between the Arisen and Elysion on top of a section of a castle, two cultists got between them, and they eventually ran up to Elysion to be impaled by his dark-infused sword for Wights to emerge. Was Elysion mind-controlling them, and/or were they not aware of their own actions?
  • Who cares? They're cultists, and Elysion is the cultist leader. They become irrelevant real quick.
    • That's not an answer. It's likely that the cultists are aware and chose to sacrifice themselves for his summons. One could argue that after Elysion's motivational speech in a dungeon, the other cultists were all scared of dying, so why would the last two not be afraid? Well, not all are created (or recruited) equal, and it's not like every member is told the same exact things (especially since on other member mentioned it was "just a lark, all in good fun". Besides, Elysion's main thing was to encourage people to die to Grigori for some "salvation", and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that there are a few who actually believed him, either due to ignorance or just stupidity. There was also simply no hint that Elysion has any sort of power relating to mind-control, only being a "charming motivational speaker" as their eventual leader towards their so-called salvation. This is a game that takes place in a certain medieval era.
• What prevented Savan from using the Godsbane on himself when he ascended to the position of Seneschal?
  • But he pulled the Godsbane out of his chest, and if you pull a New Game+ you'll come face to face with your previous Arisen, or some random guy and pawn if you have internet access, implying that that too is another part of the cycle.
  • It may be that being the Seneschal saps the Arisen's will to live or die, so he was forced to simply exist. Most likely the only way Savan would have been able to kill himself would have been when he first became Seneschal, or at the end of his reign.
  • It could also be that he felt there should be a Seneschal to watch over the world, even if it had to be him.
  • You're not supposed to use the Godsbane on yourself; it is only to be used to kill the current Seneschal after he/she has found a successor. When you do it you're breaking the cycle, since there is no one to take up the role as Seneschal.
  • One of the more popular theories is that "committing suicide" at the end only frees your spirit from its mortal shell. It's you symbolically and literally giving up your old life for your new duty as Seneschal.
• If you have a house in Cassardis, why the hell are you crashing at the inn?
  • Arisen is just too damned tired to make the extra few miles toward the house? If you had to cross half the countryside, battling monsters along the way, you'll be too tired to walk to the house that's on the opposite end of the city when there's an inn that's literally right there.
    • But your house is just as "right there"; pass the inn, turn left, pass the first door on the left, the second door is your place. It's not a few miles away, it's a few yards away.
  • Because There Is Only One Bed and not every Arisen is cool with sharing their bed with a team of Pawns. My Main Pawn, maybe, but a couple of the hirees are most definitely sleeping on the floor. (Do Pawns even sleep? We know they don't die and only pretend to get drunk, and supposedly don't have emotions but certainly act like it...but do they sleep?)
    • They heal at the inn, so presumably yes. But then again, they heal in proximity to Riftstones, so maybe they wander off in the night and pay a visit to the local Riftstone while the Arisen is sleeping.
  • For the first part, Midget/Dwarf. For the second part, they're blind but use some magical senses to see?
  • Maybe some people like playing as a Blind Weaponmaster?
    • Being a Japanese made game, this could be a shout-out to the myriad anime/manga characters who see just fine, but never open their eyes.
  • Yeah, you could play the game as a child Arisen. It's not like the game outright states your character is an adult; he/she could be a very young fisherman and with romanceable characters as young as Symone, it seems only fair that you can play as a child too.
• If Selene was gifted a portion of her Arisen's soul, such that she now has the emotions and will of a human and the appearance of her Arisen, then how in the world is the ghost of her Arisen hanging around her grave in the woods? And that ghost doesn't seem to be some sort of half-there being, either; she's got a full body and sound mind, with no indication that she's missing the piece Selene now has. Our Souls Are Different, indeed.
  • It's possible that Unreliable Narrator is partially in effect here. The only person we learn anything about this process from is Selene's former master who seems to mostly be going with guess work based on her own observations. The process maybe more along the line of the Pawn some how duplicating a part of the Arisen's soul rather then taking it, which Selene's master still hanging around as a spirit seems to suggest is more likely.
  • It's pretty likely that it was never meant to be as extreme as say giving an organ where you no longer have that organ, but closer to saying you're 'giving your heart' to someone close. You're not actually missing something but the person close to you has something more.
    • Even if it is as extreme as giving an organ, maybe souls are more like the liver than the heart, in that you can donate part of it and be more or less fine (in time, the liver will even regenerate - the soul may do the same).
• Why did all hell break loose in Gransys when the Arisen defeated the Dragon? It's implied many times that the Dragon has been defeated before and nothing like this ever happened before.
  • Maybe Savan killed the dragon so long ago that no one remembers, or he used his godlike powers to fix the hole and wipe everyone's memory of the Everfall bursting open.
  • The latter seems more likely considering that when you take his place, you can go back to town and see that the hole is already fixed. It might just be that the hole is only a kick in the pants for the current Arisen to hurry up and face his final battle. After that fight, win or lose, the world is reset just a little bit to keep things from being unnecessarily hellish.
  • The cyclical nature of the world implies that this actually has happened before. Especially noticeable when you start a New Game Plus, since it's stated to actually take place some generations later.
    • Or you could chalk it up to Theory of Narrative Causality or Anthropic Principle being in effect: you are playing as this particular Arisen because stuff is happening that hasn't before.
• More Fridge Horror, but... We know that your Pawn eventually takes on your appearance. Well, what if you were a small boy Arisen, and your Pawn was a tall woman? Wouldn't she be shocked that she is now you? A small boy? What will happen to your Pawn now that s/he has taken on your appearance?
  • Well, pawns probably aren't particularly attached to their bodies or their "personalities", anyway. Not like it had any problems adjusting when the Arisen designed its original body.
  • Imagine if a male pawn suddenly took on an adult female form and then had to face "his" period - he's naturally horrified that his body is bleeding and he can't make it stop (stuffing cloth up there as "bandage" could actually lead to toxic shock syndrome if he doesn't think to change it every few hours), plus all the other troubles surrounding the Menstrual Menace. After all, it's entirely possible the Arisen never explained to him precisely why she was so eager to stab bandits today, and almost certainly never stopped to explain the intricacies of how to deal with the mess and side effects. Now imagine the reaction of any local healer he visits: here is a grown woman, clearly well past puberty, freaking out like a twelve-year-old over something she should have seen her body do hundreds of times before. Not sure if that counts as Fridge Horror or Funny Moments.
    • Pawns have an awareness of a number of things their arisen never directly tells them, so they might just know about that issue.
  • Perhaps the transference of souls passes on all relevant knowledge of the original Arisen?
  • Pawns can't procreate, so maybe they carry that trait with them when they gain humanity?
• It's very touching and everything that after the end of the game your Pawn assumes your form and decides to live the rest of your life for you, but isn't the Arisen still technically a wanted person? It seems that the moment the Duke or his soldiers get wind of you hanging around in Cassardis, they'll attempt to arrest you again. Bonus points if Julien is your romance, because then there are two wanted people hanging around in Cassardis. Also, how is your Pawn ever going to manage with your love interest unless they are Selene or perhaps Quina? Or the rest of Cassardis for that matter?
  • The selfsame Arisen who at one point spent hours killing guards because they were bored? It would take a full military campaign to get just the Arisen, not counting that there is an army right next to the gates of Cassardis in the form of a Riftstone.
  • Only the guards in the Noble Quarter seem to actually care about the Arisen's wanted status. Most other guards (and people in general) either haven't heard what the duke has claimed about them or just don't believe it. Grigori is dead (probably... the town crier is talking about a dragon returning, but it may be a different one or something) and the hole in Gran Soren has apparently been undone, so the Arisen would be a hero to most and even if they believe the duke, they just aren't going to put the effort into going after them. For that matter, their wanted status may have also been undone - it could be that the only reason the guards in the Noble Quarter went along with the duke's claims is that a hole ate most of Gran Soren after the Arisen went off to fight the dragon; without the hole, the idea that the Arisen made a deal with the dragon would be tricky to convince people of.
• You get thrown in the dungeon for your 'attempted rape' of Aelinore, but after you escape, nobody cares a fig about it. Why doesn't the Duke go 'Hey, that criminal escaped the dungeon, throw them back in there!'
  • Or, better yet, why didn't Aelinore say, "No! he/she didn't rape me! It was a fling that we both decided to have. Please don't kill him/her!"
    • Well that would defeat the point of her lying in the first place so the Duke didn't decide to kill his newly-exposed-as-unfaithful wife.
  • Because everyone knows that they need an Arisen to stop the dragon from destroying the world. They can throw you in jail for committing crimes but they can't honestly keep you there without some other Arisen to take your place.
  • Once the Duke wasn't in the midst of some sort of murderous insanity, it's possible Aelinore explained the situation (or at least came up with a less damning lie). As long as only a handful of people knew what the Arisen was thrown in the dungeon for, they may have decided it would be best to keep it quiet and pretend it never happened. Anyone else who knew the Arisen had been arrested could just be told that they'd entered the keep at night (true even if it's not the extent of the accusations), which is also punishable by a stay in the dungeon.
• Near the beginning of the post-game, after fleeing from the Duke's guards only to stumble into the Everfall, one of your pawns might wonder, "Are we truly trapped here, left to wander for all time?" Such a musing is perhaps excusable if the party has no ferrystones in their inventory. But why utter this line after the dozenth return-trip to the Everfall?
  • Perhaps the Everfall has some sort of memetic influence, that drives Pawns to a sort of hopelessness? That could be why those Pawns seem to be entirely disheartened, while any other Pawns out there are fine.
• In the post-game, Ser Berne is insanely difficult! Why didn't he just go and kill the dragon himself? Gameplay and Story Segregation?
• A logical break in the cycle. The concept is, dragon appears, makes several Arisen over period of time, one Arisen finally kills dragon, world breaks, Arisen is forced to find the Seneschal, Arisen kills Seneschal to take his place or dies and becomes a new dragon. World at peace, or rinse and repeat. Thing is, when an Arisen beats the Seneschal, why would there ever be another dragon? The world is at peace, no dragon to make any more Arisen, how could a new Arisen possibly come to be, much less end up losing to the Seneschal? How did the next dragon appear after Savan and our Arisen did their jobs?
  • Entirely wrong. The game tells you how this works. Seneschal gets sick of being god. He creates a dragon. Dragon marks Arisen. Arisen dies like a bitch. Dragon marks an arisen. Arisen pussies out and sells their girlfriend. Dragon creates arisen. Arisen tells the dragon to fuck right off, goes to get drunk in a cave. Dragon marks Arisen. Arisen kills the dragon, gets bored with life and jumps in a hole. Seneschal kills Arisen, throws them back as the latest dragon some time later. New Dragon marks more Arisen. After a few false starts, dragon comes back and marks Arisen. Arisen kills dragon. Arisen kills and replaces Seneschal. Seneschal gets bored and makes a new dragon out of one of the other Arisen.
    • Additionally, it's implied that there are hundreds of millions of parallel worlds. Perhaps every so often, in a world where the Seneschal is gone, another simply takes their place?
• At the end, the Arisen frees his/her pawn from the Seneschal's realm, the pawn instantly takes the form of the Arisen, (Isn't that supposed to be gradual & aren't they supposed to look the way the arisen would if they were whatever age the pawn is?) & the pawn lives in place of the Arisen (in the body of their loved one whose bloody suicide they just witnessed) alongside the Arisen's beloved. The question is: why is your former pawn with your former Arisen at the end of New Game Plus & who are you controlling in New Game Plus? You can't be controlling the pawn from the previous file because that doesn't make any sense.
  • Normally, Bestowal of Spirit is gradual, but upon the death of the Arisen (which happens at the end), the Main Pawn can - and in our case, does - fully become the Arisen in terms of appearance, and much more, except for age ^note Pawns don't age period, unless they actually become fully human, like in the aforementioned case. For those who just change gradually, as we see with Selene, despite becoming like her Arisen after her death, she's still much younger in appearance than the latter. Also, it's implied that in New Game Plus, your new Arisen and everyone else you encounter save for pawns, are very-very-distant descendants of the originals - as "countless generations" have passed - with your new Main Pawn looking the exact same simply for convenience. The Seneschal even says that everyone who's lived/died returns to life eventually, as part of the never-ending cycle, so they may as well be some sort of reincarnations. Also, since the Arisen gets to mold their Main Pawn's appearance however they desire, it's likely the exact similarity is due to an unconscious 'feeling', or some-such, passed down from the original Arisen.
• When the Arisen commits suicide at the end, are they not dooming the world to destruction? Savan spends a lot of time talking about the fact that the Seneschal doesn't merely rule the world, they maintain it. So, leaving the seat of the Seneschal empty logically means that the world will end, right? Apparently not immediately, but its only a matter of time. So why is it treated positively?
  • It may or may not be a result of Values Dissonance. The ending reminds me of the Buddhist concept of nirvana, where one breaks free of the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth. Buddhism has played a major part in influencing Japanese culture. By getting rid of the Seneschal, the world no longer has to deal with dragons and Arisen. It can live and die naturally. However, whether or not this was intentional on the developer's part is anyone's guess.
• Why does Grigori tell you that the duke previously took the dragon's bargain? Shouldn't his willingness to blab about that to you be a pretty big red flag? Who's to say he won't tell the next arisen all about you and your cowardly secret?
  • Grigori wasn't under any obligation to keep the deal a secret. His terms were if the Arisen allowed their loved one to die, then Grigori would give them wealth and power and he would hunker down until next time. No one said anything about keeping quiet. It's also likely that it's part of a test to see if the Arisen is worthy of defeating him and challenging the Seneschal. A deal like "wealth and power" would be more tempting if Grigori named an example of someone who went through with it.
• What is even the purpose of the Pawns? Why does the Arisen need to recruit them and not a regular human with combat skills?
  • Pawns don't seem to actually die, just returning to the rift when their health runs out. This makes them more expendable than people, which is important since the Arisen flirts with death throughout their adventures.
  • Two major assets spring to mind. One, Pawns are essentially infinite and can be recalled from the Rift with no real loss (they retain memory, skill, experience, etc). Two, and possibly more important is that they don't feel as humans do. They don't experience envy, or desire, or greed, or ego. They simply follow the Arisen. So there's no risk of betrayal (Ser Julien), envy leading to enmity (Ser Mercedes), or anything of the sort.

Anime

• Why is there such an odd characterization disconnect by the final moments of the third episode: Envy? All other six episodes dealt with their character portrayals rather seamlessly, the victims and perpetrators of the given deadly sin are easy to dissect; Theo is portrayed as a weak willed man who is afraid to take a stance, both in peril and regarding his cheating fiancé, Elizabeth berates her man at every opportunity, and has cheated on him before trying to gun for Ethan this time around, the situation between Theo and Elizabeth concludes with Theo immediately going mad after finding his bravado to fend for himself and defend his fiancé, killing Elizabeth in a mad outburst, symbolizing she is his forever - so far, all of this is seamless, following the same blueprint as every other episode - but in an odd final moment of characterization Elizabeth replies to the mad Theo she always belonged to him, as if she truly loved him... what? Even Simon, who has had a taste of Elizabeth before, chastised Theo by also saying Elizabeth was just waiting for him to man up, the man who did no favors to their relationship by giving in to temptation; it is like the episode missed some seriously needed characterization on Elizabeth’s part to even begin implying she did have a sweet spot for Theo after all, as the episode stands it looks like her character did a completely 180 degrees change, without any conceivable plausibility.
  • Trying to tell a cohesive story across the span of seven episodes total is tricky, especially with a game adaptation. My guess is that they had to rush (if not, completely skip) character arcs so they can get the moments that they wanted to portray. However, it ended up being disjointed. I'm pretty sure if they had more episodes to work with, they would have been able to pull off those scenes better.
    • Issue is, this falls apart when the anime is a totally original story with its own original plot lines. Even if it was adapting from the game, nobody would need much work to fit into a 20 minute episode of an anime. It’s just a weird, botched bit of a character arc is all

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