Characters / The Pathless

Characters that appear in The Pathless.

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The Hunter

"Godslayer! I will not let you destroy this world! This ends now!"

— The Hunter whilst speaking to The Godslayer

The main protagonist of the game. The Hunter arrives at a mystical island where ancient gods reside to break the curse brought upon the whole world. Her role is to bring light back to the island's obelisks and fight off against corrupted spirits, while accompanied by an eagle with mysterious powers.

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• Always Accurate Attack: The Hunter is a real hotshot. She is a master archer who is so skilled that (with just the right timing) she never misses a thing when using her bow.
• Attack Reflector: During the last phase of her battle with Cernos, she has to shoot his flaming eye projectiles back at him in order to fully subdue him.
• Curtains Match the Window: Both her hair and eyes are blue.

• Friend to All Living Things: Invoked. After clearing her first sidequest of removing the Godslayer's curse from injured wildlife, the Hunter gains the ability to befriend any animal NPC she comes across by running behind that particular animal until an aura of gold sparks emanates around it, indicating that the animal now likes her and wants to follow her around. She can get as many six animals at once to follow her.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When the Godslayer (in his One-Winged Angel form) attempts to kill the Eagle Mother who is corrupted, The Hunter intervenes and tries to heal her by removing the curse and transferring it into her instead. During the second phase of the final boss, the Godslayer will tell the Hunter that because she has absorbed the curse, she will die a slow and painful death. During the final moments of the game, she is seen barely keeping herself up until she finally collapses. Fortunately, when you unlock the secret ending, the eagle comes back to the Hunter (while fully powered-up) and removes the curse without any trouble, saving her from the brink of death.
• The Heroine: She's the main character of the game and the last hope for bringing light back to the dark and cursed land that the game takes place in.
• Little "No": She reacts this way when the Godslayer turns the Eagle Mother into a cursed spirit.
• Mask of Power: The Hunter finds the Spirit Mask and uses it to "see the cracks in the world, to find paths where there would be none." In other words, since there's no mini-map display, the player can use the mask to peek into the spirit world and reveal where they've been and where they haven't.
• No Name Given: Like the Eagle Mother and the Godslayer, she doesn't have a proper name to speak of, simply being known as the Hunter.
• Pals with Jesus:
  • The Hunter develops a very affectionate relationship with the Eagle Mother after the goddess reincarnates into a regular eagle. This is most evident when she manages to solve cursed zone puzzles by herself. After petting/cleaning the Eagle Mother, who becomes both singed and disoriented while in said cursed zones, the Hunter will react to the eagle’s excitement from being restored with either a lighthearted giggle or a forehead nudge between the two. The fact that they share one in the secret ending, after the Eagle Mother comes back to save the Hunter from dying by the Godslayer’s curse, is a definite Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
  • It can also be said that the Hunter develops a close relationship with the other four Tall Ones as well. After freeing each Tall One from the Godslayer's influence, collecting all the lightstones in their respective plateaus and placing them in the lightstone stands within their former arenas, each spirit will appear near their former arena and lead her to certain areas in their plateaus where they summon their giant, semi-humanoid remains out of nowhere and then bestow the Hunter and the Eagle Mother with upgrades to the duo’s capabilities. It is also from them that the Hunter receives the Moon Bow later on in the game. Later on, after she finally reunites with the Eagle Mother while inside the dark and hellish Spirit World that represents the latter’s corrupted soul, they all crowd around her in a supportive manner and give their essences to the Moon Bow.
• Red Is Heroic: Between the red and dark-blue colors that make up the Hunter's outfit, the red is naturally more prominent and really helps her stand out.
• Regenerating Mana: After completing the lightstone sidequest for Cernos, she receives the "Spirit Restoration" gift from him, which as its name implies, allows the Hunter's spirit energy to regenerate over time, relieving her of having to fill it back up by shooting floating talismans.
• Sacred Bow and Arrows: After narrowly escaping the wrath of the Cursed Eagle Mother and reaching the tower where she fights the Godslayer for the last time, the Hunter gets transported to a Spirit World. The four originally corrupted Tall Ones, now purified by this point, wait for her there and bless her with access to the Moon Bow, which she clearly needs after her original bow is destroyed by the Godslayer when she and the Eagle Mother first reach the Floating Isle.
• Super-Speed: The Hunter is really fast. Her speed is fueled with a dash meter that can refill when she shoots the floating talismans with her bow. She can also gain momentum for every talisman she shoots while running.
• Technicolor Person: Though the Hunter seems to be unambiguously human, her skin tone is a very light shade of blue.

The Godslayer

The Godslayer

"Foolish Hunter... do you not see that this world is broken? As you have wandered these lands, have you not felt lost?"

— The Godslayer

The main antagonist He's the one responsible for the darkness that shrouds the world. His main goal is to destroy it, then reshape it to fit his "One True Path" philosophy; meaning that he believes that the world would be better off with only one path that would lead people to salvation.

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• Big Bad: He is the one covering the world in darkness in order to destroy and reshape it In Their Own Image.
• Crisis of Faith: His motivation for doing away with the Tall Ones and aiming to become a Tall One himself is rooted in this. When he first put on the Mask of Ancients, what he saw was a world that was, in his eyes, "born of" and "forged by" chaos and ruled by "fickle" gods. Additionally, he became even more disillusioned by the world having no "true path to salvation" to follow.
• Dem Bones: When he finally becomes a Tall One, the form he takes is a giant and very demonic-looking three-eyed skeleton.
• Evil Is Bigger: Even before he ascends to godhood towards the end of the game, the Godslayer is notably larger than the average human, a clue that the power he gained in his quest has already warped him to where his humanity is long gone.
• Evil Laugh: He lets out a subtle one seconds before the Hunter's final battle with him. Once the battle commences, his laughs are more blatantly sadistic and malevolent throughout.
• Evil Sounds Deep: He has an incredibly deep and intimidating voice, courtesy of being voiced by Troy Baker.
• The Faceless: Aside from his three eyes, we never see how he looks under the mask he wears. However, based on the way his eyes look, as well as the freakishly uneven manner in which they move, one can guess that his appearance under the mask is far from human.
• God of Evil: He pretty much becomes this once he finally "ascends" to godhood during the last phase of his boss fight.
• Godhood Seeker: After killing the Tall Ones, he plans to take their place.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The Hunter and Eagle Mother's first boss fight with him, which takes place on the tall platform that connects the Great Plains to the Mountain Tundra, is basically a warning shot to demonstrate to the pair how powerful he is.
• Humanoid Abomination: Of the Was Once a Man variety; spirit text states he was once a normal man before his quest to destroy and replace the gods came to be.
• Kill the Gods: His main objective is to kill off the Island's great spirits.
• Levitating Lotus Position: When the Hunter makes it to the top of the tower on the Floating Isle, he's in this position by the time she reaches him.
• Knight of Cerebus: Downplayed. Due to the Godslayer's curse over the land in which the game takes place, the story doesn't exactly start on a high note to begin with. However, even with that being said, players are still able to take in the (mostly) calm atmosphere and beautiful landscape of the game whenever the Godslayer is nowhere to be seen. However, whenever he is onscreen, the tone of the story goes from bad to worse.

• Mask of Power: The Godslayer uses the Mask of Ancients to see the world from a godly perspective, akin to the Tall Ones. When he wears it the first time, he was unhappy to find out that there's not a single, clear path to be found in the world. So he decides to destroy the Tall Ones and reshape the world to fit his "One True Path" philosophy.
• One-Winged Angel: Midway through the Hunter's final confrontation with him, he finally becomes a Tall One like he always aimed to as mentioned above.
• Power Floats: At no point in the game does he ever stand on solid ground. Ever.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: His mask and clothes are black, while his three eyes are red.

• Sword Beam: One of his main forms of attack is to unleash blazing forms of this trope at the Hunter. The knockback is pretty brutal when they connect.
• That Man Is Dead: As was chronicled in one of the two lore tablets located on the grounds of the shrine where he took the Sun Sword from, he tells his followers as such during his last day of being known as The Pathfinder.
  Godslayer: You have long known me as the Pathfinder, but that can no longer be my title. I must now become a Godslayer.
• Villain with Good Publicity: The Godslayer once gained many followers who were willing to die for his cause.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • The way the Godslayer fights during the last phase of his boss battle can come off as this. During the first phase of the battle, he fights the Hunter with at least some flair and sense of strategy to go with the obvious boost in power that the Sun Sword gives him. However, once he reaches "ascension", he fights both the Hunter and the now uncorrupted Eagle Mother with pure savagery and killer instinct, spitting out giant fireballs to rain down on the two and attempt to either crush/skewer them with his giant clawed hands. Additionally, every successful hit landed on him will get him seemingly more agitated until he finally yells "I WILL END THIS WORLD!" and then attempts to finish you off.
  • Also in his backstory: when he first put on the Mask of Ancients, allowing him to see the world from a godly perspective, a lore entry states that he went half mad, screaming that there was no one true path through the world and smashing things and attacking people.
• Visionary Villain: He seeks to change the world to fit his One True Path philosophy, at all costs.
• Walking Wasteland: He does something to the island’s rivers, polluting them and forcing its inhabitants to rely on rain; he also apparently causes constant unnatural cloud cover, and the giant statues representing him and his followers are always surrounded by a wide circle of dead grass and trees. One collectible found in a ruined library reveals that the writing on the scrolls turned to gibberish when he attacked.

• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When he finally ascends to Godhood and turns into a Tall One, the first thing the Godslayer does is attempting to crush the Mother Eagle that he just corrupted to his bidding not too long ago.

The Eagle Mother

The Eagle Mother ^Spoiler  The Eagle Mother as a corrupted spirit

"...Bring back the light..."

— The Mother Eagle

The mother of the Tall Ones, she fought the Godslayer prior to the main events of the game and lost, hence why the Hunter meets her in a cursed and weakened state.

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• Action Mom: Mother to the rest of the Tall Ones, and fights alongside the Hunter to defeat the Godslayer and free her children from his curse.
• Big Good: The Eagle Mother is the benevolent creator goddess over the island in which the game takes place and seeks to restore peace and harmony upon it.
• Bird People: Given the Tall Ones' alleged rule of appearing to their followers as giant, humanoid figures with animal-heads, the Eagle Mother would count as this whenever she assumed her Tall One form.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Much like her children before her, the Eagle Mother becomes a corrupted spirit towards the end of the game after being cursed by the Godslayer for a third time. It's especially tragic in her case, having spent the majority of the game being the Hunter's lone ally and guide. And it's especially horrific in her case because, unlike with her children, players actually see her get corrupted.
• The Dragon: She plays this role for the Godslayer after he turns her into a corrupted spirit towards the end of the game. From there, she's commanded to both keep the injured Hunter from reaching the tower where the final battle is staged and, when that plan falls through, assist the Godslayer during the first phase of the Hunter's battle with him.
• Eaten Alive: Much to the Hunter's horror, the Eagle Mother appears to have suffered this fate during their battle with Nimue. The good news in this case is that she's quickly revealed to still be alive, but the bad news is that she's unfortunately encased in an energy bubble by Nimue, preventing her from assisting the Hunter a while.

• Feathered Fiend: Becomes one when the Godslayer curses her for a third time near the end of the game.
• Foreshadowing: The Hunter comes across two-headed statues of the Eagle Mother fairly early in the game, foretelling the latter's reluctant transformation into a two-headed cursed spirit.

• Giant Flyer: Played with. The Eagle Mother definitely qualifies as one when the Hunter first meets her in a halfway cursed state. However, when the Godslayer makes his first onscreen appearance in the game to inflict his curse on her again (after the Hunter had just finished purifying her), she has no choice but to reincarnate into a regular eagle to survive it. Unfortunately, she doesn't become gigantic again until she and the Hunter reach the Floating Isle, where the Godslayer ambushes them out of nowhere, turns her into a corrupted spirit like he did to her children, and forces her to become his Dragon during the Hunter's final confrontation with him.
• God of Good: True to her seemingly kind and benevolent nature, a lore tablet describes the Eagle Mother's presence amongst mortals as primarily "a sign of good tidings...". Then again, her presence can also be a sign of "very bad ones", likely alluding to great evils that she would then seek to rectify (like the Godslayer and his curse on the island).
• Good Parents: The Eagle Mother was presumably a kind and loving mother to her children. In the closing cutscenes for each boss fight against them, they all walk up to her (in regular eagle form of course) and the Hunter and engage her in an affectionate forehead nudge, while the Hunter, who's shoulder she's perched on, bows her head.
• Loyal Animal Companion: Quickly becomes one for the Hunter after she reincarnates into a regular eagle.

• Mr. Exposition: While the Hunter sails onto the island already aware that there's darkness over the land that needs purging, the Eagle Mother gives her and by extension players more in-depth knowledge of the intentions of the one responsible for that darkness (the Godslayer), as well as how to go about bringing light back to the land.
• Multiple Head Case: She has two heads after being turned into a corrupted spirit.
• No Name Given: Outside of being known as the "Eagle Mother" (or even "Mother Eagle" in reverse), she has no real name to speak of. Even the Godslayer doesn't know her to have a proper name, as he simply refers to her as "Eagle Spirit".
• Noble Bird of Prey: Kindly mother of the gods, plus a giant eagle. Turns into a much smaller but no less majestic regular eagle to assist the Hunter in her quest.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Only in the sense that, once she reincarnates into a normal eagle form, players (as the Hunter) can command her to pick up items to help with certain puzzles. Otherwise, it'd be more accurate to say that the Hunter is her sidekick if anything, seeing as the Hunter is essentially acting under her direction and guidance.
• Parrot Pet Position: In her regular eagle form, she stays perched on the Hunter's shoulder at least 90% of the time.
• Rousing Speech: A downplayed example given her whispering manner of speaking. Nonetheless, while being desperately searched for by the Hunter during the dark Spirit World intermission of the final battle with the Godslayer, the Eagle Mother, through the use of spectral visual aids, helps the Hunter find her with these steadily paced words of encouragement.
  Eagle Mother: When you began... you were new... you were young... you knew not where to run. You were tested... you endured... together you grew stronger. You were brought low... you found the very depths of your resolve... and still you charged forward. Now you are here... you have found your path... together, you will bring back the light!
• Stronger Than You Look: Possibly justified given her status as a goddess, but in her regular eagle form, she's perfectly capable of carrying the Hunter while gliding despite her small stature. She can also carry heavy objects while puzzle-solving.
• Top God: The Eagle Mother is both the mother goddess of the other four Tall Ones and the creation goddess of the land in which the game takes place. Her status as the supreme deity in the game's universe is further strengthened by the fact that she's the only Tall One whose animal form is one that can fly, giving her a natural connection with the heavens. Adding to that is the fact that her domain, before the Godslayer took it from her, was the Floating Isle, the highest reachable location in the entire game.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: While the Eagle Mother doesn't actually display this ability, it makes perfect sense for a giant, supernatural avian like herself to be capable of it. A lore tablet in the Forest Plateau confirms this by advising people to let their minds be eased by the winds produced from her wingbeats.

The Tall Ones (General)

"They were once the gods of this world... ...now they are cursed beasts, in thrall of the Godslayer."

— The Eagle Mother

• Brainwashed and Crazy: They were corrupted into the Godslayer's minions prior to the game's beginning.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Before each Tall One can be fought in each of their respective arenas, the Hunter and eagle must chase them first and hit all of the eye-like weakpoints that appear on them.
• God of the Moon: Despite being gods and goddesses of different things (the winds and the heavens for the Eagle Mother, plant life for Cernos, the sun (ironically enough) and war for Sauro, water, life and death for Nimue, and fire and metalworking for Kumo), it's very likely that the Tall Ones are lunar deities at their core.
  • They all have long tails with crescent moon-shaped tips, as well as holes in either their chests (the female Tall Ones) or sides (the males) that are probably meant to represent full moons.
  • Towards the end of the game, the Hunter receives the Moon Bow from the four initially corrupted Tall Ones after her original bow is destroyed by the Godslayer.
  • When the Hunter reunites with the regular form of the Eagle Mother (while inside the spirit of the latter's then corrupted body), the four offspring Tall Ones appear around the two and give their spirits to the Moon Bow, further implying that their very essences are made from the same lunar energy that the bow is presumably made of.
• Living Lava: In their corrupted forms, the Tall Ones are hulking, beastly monstrosities with bodies comprised of molten rock and lava.
• Non-Human Head: Based (initially) on the statues that are scattered throughout the game's entire setting, the Tall Ones are heavily implied to have appeared to their followers as giant humanoid figures while retaining their animal heads. Three lore tablets located on the stage of a theater in the Great Plains also allude to this. The "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequest pretty much confirms this to be fact and not just myth, given that at the end of each individual portion of the sidequest, the Tall Ones will summon their gigantic human-torsoed and animal-headed skeletons out of the ground before blessing the Hunter and Eagle Mother with their gifts.
• Random Species Offspring: Granted, the Tall Ones are animal spirits rather than real animals, so the parameters of animal biology clearly shouldn't be applied to them. Still, even with that in mind, how an eagle can become mother to an elk, a lizard, a snake and a bear is anyone's guess.
• Seasonal Baggage: With the exclusion of both the First Island and the Floating Isle, each of the Tall Ones' plateaus appears to represent a certain season based on its look and vegetation; Spring for the Forest Plateau (Cernos' domain), Autumn for the Redwood Steppe (Sauro's domain), Summer for the Great Plains (Nimue's domain) and of course Winter for the Mountain Tundra (Kumo's domain).
• Sibling Yin-Yang:
  • Under the Godslayer's influence, Cernos and Kumo, the mammalian Tall Ones, both get transformed into cyclopean, multi-limbed monsters, while Sauro and Nimue, the reptilian Tall Ones, both get transformed into (at least facially) eyeless, quadrupedal monsters.
  • When the Hunter and Eagle Mother receive gifts from the other four Tall Ones, Cernos and Sauro, the older Tall Ones, bestow gifts that benefit the former, while Nimue and Kumo, the younger Tall Ones, bestow gifts that benefit the latter.
• The Stormbringer: Fiery thunderstorms cloak the Tall Ones and follow them everywhere they go, at least until it's time to fight them to unlock the next area. These storms can appear various places in the game world and move wherever the corrupted spirit does. Getting too close results in the Hunter and Eagle Mother being engulfed by the storm and then separated, forcing the former to undergo a Stealth-Based Mission to reunite with the latter.
• Super-Empowering: Each Tall One does this twice, the first time after the Hunter cleanses them of their cursed forms and the second time when players participate in the optional yet pretty beneficial "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequest, where the Hunter collects all the lightstones in each Tall One’s plateau, places them all in the lightstone stands within each Tall One’s former arena, and then follows that Tall One to a seemingly random location within his/her domain. At the end, he/she will then summon their giant, animal-headed yet human-torsoed skeletons from beneath the ground, which presumably house the gifts that each animal spirit wants to endow the Hunter and the eagle with.

Cernos

Cernos as a corrupted spirit

Cernos in his true form

"Awaken, Cernos. Let none pass."

— The Godslayer

The Elk Spirit. The eldest child of the Eagle Mother, he rules over the Forest Plateau.

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• Beast Man: Given the Tall Ones' alleged rule of appearing to their followers as giant, humanoid figures with animal heads (though it's later revealed to be true via the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequests), Cernos would count as this when assuming his Tall One to his followers. Interestingly, his godly form plays on that of his namesake somewhat. Whereas "Cernunnos" has the face and torso of a human and the antlers and hoofed legs of a deer, Cernos (in Tall One form) would be fully humanoid in body with a fully cervine head.
• Cernunnos: His name is a shortened version of "Cernunnos", he rules over a forested realm, is the godlike guardian of nature and plant life. In shape, he fully resembles a giant, glowing stag instead of an antlered and hooved humanoid.
• Cyclops: Only as a corrupted spirit. Kumo shares this trait.
• Fertile Feet: He's credited in lore tablets with bringing plantlife to the Island.
• Little Big Brother: When under the Godslayer's curse, he's this to Sauro, due to the latter's towering height as a cursed spirit.
• The Marvelous Deer: An elk to be more precise, but Cernos nonetheless fits the bill, being a god and all.
• Meaningful Name: As stated above, he was named for Cernunnos, the Gaelic god of wild places, who's commonly depicted as a humanoid with cervine characteristics, like antlers and hooves.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Word of St. Paul is that Cernos's movements while corrupted were inspired by different animals, the most evident being a cat. Whenever the Hunter and the Eagle Mother get caught in his storm cloud, the way he searches for the former resembles the stalking movements of a cat while hunting. Though it's somewhat rare, he'll also jump up anxiously and turn in another direction while searching, mimicking how easily startled cats seem to get from sudden sounds or movements. Additionally, when actually fighting him, he'll swipe at the Hunter with one of his forelimbs like cats do when playing with toys. And then there's his tendency to try to pounce her.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: As a cursed spirit, Cernos has eight legs.
• Nature Spirit: As noted above, he's the god of all plant life amongst the Tall Ones. Lore tablets describe him as being both of the land and for it, and that he travelled through all the plateaus while leaving sacred trees in his wake. After he's cleansed, the Eagle Mother happily comments that his land is once again fertile.
• Nice Guy: Cernos is implied to be the kindest and most sensitive Tall One behind the Eagle Mother, so much so that of all the Tall Ones' worshippers, his in particular seem to be the most devastated and disillusioned by his actions as a cursed spirit when the Hunter reads their spirits.
• No Mouth: He's unique in that he's the only Tall One who doesn't have a visible mouth. This is not only true for his pure form, but also his cursed form.
• Ring of Fire: He kicks off the last phase of his boss fight by generating one.
• Shrinking Violet: Certain lore tablets in the Mountain Tundra region highlight Kumo's love of wrestling, but also mention how he didn't enjoy doing so with his siblings for different reasons. Cernos was allegedly too "shy" to participate in his younger brother’s favorite pasttime.
• Sole Survivor: His plateau was implied to be the last one conquered by the Godslayer, meaning he had to watch his siblings killed and cursed to madness one by one, knowing his turn was coming.
• Super-Empowering: Like his siblings, he does this twice.
  • The first time is after being cleansed of the Godslayer's corruption, in which he'll bestow the "Will of Cernos", which permanently extends the Hunter's spirit meter.
  • The second time is when all the Elk Lightstones are collected to kick off his portion of the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequest. After leading the Hunter to the spot where his semi-humanoid skeleton is buried, he will then bestow the "Spirit Restoration" gift, which as its name implies, allows the Hunter to naturally regenerate spirit energy over time, rather than having to rely solely on shooting floating talismans.
• Walking Wasteland: Spirits mention that upon being corrupted by the Godslayer, Cernos began to have this effect on the land.

Sauro

Sauro as a corrupted spirit

Sauro in his true form

"Come forth, Sauro. Burn my enemies."

— The Godslayer

The Lizard Spirit. The second child of the Eagle Mother, he rules over the Redwood Steppe.

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• The Ace: Of the Eagle Mother's four children, Sauro was apparently more popular among his worshippers than his siblings were among theirs, due to his followers providing him with the richest offerings. As a result, he was rewarded with a wisteria tree in his plateau by the Eagle Mother, which he then gave to his followers as a token of gratitude.
• A Lizard Named "Liz": "Sauro" means reptile or lizard in Ancient Greek. Naturally, it's also the prefix for 'sauropod', fitting how he resembles a demonic brachiosaurus-like creature in his cursed form (even though his walk cycle and possibly his design as well in this form was more directly inspired by giraffes according to Word of St. Paul).
• Big Brother Bully: Implied to have been this towards Kumo in the past. Certain lore tablets in the Mountain Tundra region highlight Kumo's love of wrestling, but also mention how he didn't enjoy doing so with his siblings for different reasons. Sauro in particular is alleged to have "fought too hard".
• Big Little Brother: Downplayed. Sauro is only this to Cernos when they're both corrupted spirits, due to the towering nature of his cursed form.
• Breath Weapon: As a cursed spirit, Sauro has the unique ability to breath fire, and he never misses an opportunity to use it throughout the Hunter and Eagle Mother's battle with him.
• God of Fire: Sauro is implied to fall in this category alongside his younger brother Kumo. However, whereas Kumo seemingly fulfills this role when it comes to blacksmithing, Sauro fulfills this role when it comes to pottery, confirmed by a lore tablet located in a pottery workshop that states that he "brings the hot sun, breathes the fire into our (potters) kilns and dries our clay".
• God of Light: Sauro is the sun god amongst the Tall Ones, as a couple of lore tablets in different parts of the Redwood Steppe claim that he loves the sun and gifts his people with sunlight. After his boss fight, the Eagle Mother happily notes that his light once again spreads throughout his land once he's cleansed.
• Little Big Brother: Despite being the second oldest of the Eagle Mother's children, Sauro appears to be the smallest overall in his pure animal form, which thereby makes him this to both Nimue and Kumo, who dwarf him in height (both), length (Nimue alone) and body mass (Kumo alone).
• Lizard Folk: Given the Tall Ones' alleged rule of appearing to their followers as giant, humanoid figures with animal-heads (though it's later revealed to be true via the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequests), Sauro would count as this when assuming his Tall One form.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Despite having a more dinosaurian physiology in his cursed form, his fire breathing ability definitely adds a draconic feel to him while he's corrupted.
• Malicious Monitor Lizard: Averted. He's only malicious in his brachiosaurus-like cursed form. In his komodo dragon-like pure form, he's fairly easygoing otherwise and firmly on the side of good.
• Super-Empowering: Like his siblings, he does this twice.
  • The first time is after being cleansed of the Godslayer's corruption, in which he'll bestow the "Strength of Sauro", which permanently summons more powerful talismans throughout the game's setting.
  • The second time is when all the Lizard Lightstones are collected to kick off his portion of the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequest. After leading the Hunter to the spot where his semi-humanoid skeleton is buried, he will then bestow the "Speed Boost" gift, which as its name implies, gives the Hunter stronger bursts of speed after shooting talismans.
• Tornado Move: During the last phase of his boss fight, he generates fire tornadoes every few seconds that the Hunter and Eagle Mother have to dodge.
• War God: In the snowy mountains overlooking the Redwood Steppe is a monastery littered with the corpses and spirits of both the monks that lived there and followers of the Godslayer who attacked them. If the words of one fallen monk are anything to go by, Sauro is this in addition to being a sun god, as the monk makes it clear that he and his fellow monks refused to go down without a fight against the soldiers that invaded their monastery, despite not being warriors themselves, thanks to their worship of Sauro.

Nimue

Nimue as a corrupted spirit

Nimue in her true form

"Nimue, I summon thee. End this pest."

— The Godslayer

The Snake Spirit. The third child of the Eagle Mother, she rules over the Great Plains.

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• Aloof Big Sister: Implied to have been this towards Kumo to a certain extent. Certain lore tablets in the Mountain Tundra region detail how Kumo enjoyed wrestling but didn't enjoy doing so with his siblings for different reasons. Nimue was allegedly too "haughty" to play with her younger brother.
• Barrier Warrior: During the cutscene that follows the first battle phase of the Hunter and the Eagle Mother's boss fight with her, where Nimue seemingly eats the Eagle Mother alive out of nowhere, it's revealed seconds later that she only trapped the eagle in a fiery bubble.
• God of the Dead: One lore tablet in her plateau states that, similarly to the waters she lives in, she both gives life and takes it.
• The Great Flood: After being cursed by the Godslayer, she was forced to flood her plateau and kill many of her worshippers.
• Hydra Problem: She primarily has four heads, but, during the Hunter and Eagle Mother's battle with her, she later grows eight.
• Lord of the Ocean: Nimue is heavily implied to be the water deity amongst the Tall Ones, which is tragically confirmed by the spirit of one particular villager, who mentions how she was apparently forced by the Godslayer to kill her people via flooding her plateau. Other hints include her requirement of ablutions (ceremonial washings of either parts or all of one's body) as a form of tribute, and her boss fight taking place in a thermae (a public bathing facility) where said ablutions most likely took place. After her fight, the Eagle Mother happily notes that the waters of her domain once again run clear after she's cleansed.
• Matricide: For a brief moment, Nimue appears to commit this act against the Eagle Mother during the cutscene that follows the first battle phase of her boss fight, when, as stated above, all she really does is trap the Eagle Mother in a barrier.
• Meaningful Name: She gets her name from the infamous lady of the lake, a well-known supernatural enchantress from medieval tales about King Arthur, fitting well with her status as a water goddess.
• Mood-Swinger: A trait that's apparently common for water gods. Nimue's personality is summarized in a very contradictory way by a couple of lore tablets. One describes her as a kind and loving goddess who relies heavily on her followers' prayers and ceremonial washings. The other describes her as a "mercurial" goddess who becomes very vengeful and unforgiving towards those who forsake their sacrifices to her. The spirit of one admiring worshiper even laments how (possibly due to the Godslayer's curse) she can no longer control her moods.
• Our Hydras Are Different: The Godslayer's curse turned her into a many-headed reptilian monster capable of growing additional heads.
• Rebellious Princess: A downplayed example of a rebellious goddess. A trio of lore tablets in an amphitheater tell of how Nimue enjoyed being in her natural snake form all the time, but was forbidden from appearing as such in the mortal realm by the Eagle Mother. Apparently, the Eagle Mother told her that in order to let humans know the Tall Ones were "for them", the Tall Ones had to appear to them with humanoid bodies. While seemingly obeying her mother in this regard, Nimue was still able to be spotted being "at her happiest" in snake form by the few humans worthy of wearing the Spirit Mask.
• Slide Attack: Part of Nimue's strategy during the first actual battle phase of her boss fight is to sweep one of her heads along the ground to try and hit the Hunter.
• Snake People: Given the Tall Ones' alleged rule of appearing to their followers as giant, humanoid figures with animal heads (though it's later revealed to be true via the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequests), Nimue would count as a rare bipedal version of this when assuming her Tall One form.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Downplayed. While Nimue is highly revered for the most part as a loving and even beautiful goddess by her followers, her alleged moodiness and multiple personalities seem to suggest that her followers' reverence is partially driven by fear of displeasing her and incurring her wrath.
• Split Personality: In addition to being described as "mercurial", Nimue is also said to be a goddess "of many minds". As stated above (see Mood-Swinger), the spirit of one devoted follower laments how (possibly due to the Godslayer's curse) her different personalities seem to be fighting each other from within.
• Super-Empowering: Like her siblings, she does this twice.
  • The first time is after being cleansed of the Godslayer's corruption, in which she will bestow the "Cadence of Nimue", which allows the Eagle Mother to recharge her flaps quicker after she and the Hunter land from gliding.
  • The second time is when all the Snake Lightstones are collected to kick off her portion of the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequest. After leading the Hunter to the spot where her semi-humanoid skeleton is buried, she will then bestow the "Fast Glide" gift, which as its name implies, allows the Eagle Mother to glide faster while carrying the Hunter.

Kumo

Kumo as a corrupted spirit

Kumo in his true form

"Awaken, Kumo. Silence this pest once and for all..."

— The Godslayer

The Bear Spirit. The youngest child of the Eagle Mother, he rules over the Mountain Tundra.

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• The Baby of the Bunch: As already stated, he's the youngest of the Eagle Mother's four children.
• Bears Are Bad News: Downplayed. Same as his three older siblings, it's solely because of the Godslayer's influence that he's initially an antagonist. That being said, while described as being both "benevolent" by a lore tablet and "generous" by the spirit of one of his followers, Kumo is also described by those very same sources as "wrathful" and "jealous" as well.
• Beary Friendly: Again, downplayed. His negative traits notwithstanding, Kumo does appear to be gentle after being freed from the Godslayer's curse. And to be fair, while the aforementioned lore tablet above does say that his wrath is just as strong as his goodness, it also states at the end of its message that Kumo is a true friend to those that deserve his kindness, which he ultimately proves once he's cleansed, both by bestowing gifts that help improve his mother's flying and, along with his older siblings, granting the Hunter access to the Moon Bow to help her in her fight with the Godslayer.
• Beast Man: Given the Tall Ones' alleged rule of appearing to their followers as giant, humanoid figures with animal heads (though it's later revealed to be true via the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequests), Kumo would count as this when assuming his Tall One form.
• Big Little Brother: He's the largest and most physically imposing of the Tall Ones despite being the youngest.
• Cyclops: As a corrupted spirit, as can be seen above, like Cernos.
• Don't Wake the Sleeper: One lore tablet in Kumo's domain details how he "sleeps deeply over a peaceful land" and, if abruptly awakened from his slumber, "will not rest until his peace is restored".
• Eye Beams: When horizontally crawling on the walls of his arena, he'll shoot laser blasts from his cursed form's single eye.
• God of Fire: It's implied that Kumo is the god of fire and forging amongst the Tall Ones. For starters, his boss fight actually takes place in a forge, which is hidden in a volcano-like structure for extra emphasis. Additionally, it's implied based off the words of two dead villagers' spirits that one of his primary jobs as a Tall One was to bring warmth back to the Mountain Tundra when summer came around. When the two villagers apparently turned their prayers of warmth to Sauro instead, Kumo killed them as a result. While this vengeful act was very likely due to the Godslayer's influence, his actions nonetheless confirm claims made by both lore tablets and spirits alike that he's, as stated above, a "wrathful" and "jealous" god, traits which can arguably count as fiery in nature.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Or more specifically in his case, playmates to wrestle with. Kumo is essentially the reason why there are so many giant animal skeletons scattered throughout the island that the Tall Ones rule over, as they're the remains of large animals that the Eagle Mother created so that he would have friends to wrestle with. Sadly, it is highly likely that after being brainwashed by the Godslayer, Kumo was forced to kill a lot of his friends in addition to his worshippers.
• Meaningful Name: His name is more than likely derived from 'kuma', which means "bear" in Japanese. Coincidentally, his name literally means "spider" in Japanese, which doesn't seem to be an accident considering the fact that his corrupted form has ten limbs in all, eight with which he moves with, and displays wall-crawling capabilities. Aside from his bulky frame and vaguely bear-like roars, his corrupted form has hardly any ursine traits at all.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: He has ten limbs but moves with only eight.
• Super-Empowering: Like his siblings, he does this twice.
  • The first time is after being cleansed of the Godslayer's corruption, in which he'll bestow the "Might of Kumo", which allows the Eagle Mother to execute "super flaps" when players hold the jump button after pressing it.
  • The second time is when all the Bear Lightstones are collected to kick off his portion of the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequest. After leading the Hunter to the spot where her semi-humanoid skeleton is buried, he will then bestow the "Ultra Flap" gift, which as its name implies, improves the Eagle Mother's super flaps by allowing her to soar higher and faster.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: As stated above, the fact that the Hunter battles Kumo in a forge implies that as an extension of his probable status as a fire god, he was also a smithing god in addition to that.
• Uniformity Exception: After all the Tall Ones giant skeletons are unearthed post the "Gift of the Tall Ones" sidequest, Kumo's skeleton is revealed to be partially covered in an amber-like rust, possibly from the intense cold of the Mountain Tundra.
• Wall Crawl: Despite the immense size and mass of his cursed form, he can scale walls with relative ease, which he demonstrates both when he first enters the forge and as part of his strategy for fighting the Hunter and Eagle Mother within it.

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