Shadow of the Colossus

Story

The story of Shadow of the Colossus begins when Wander enters the forbidden land and rides his horse Agro across the long bridge at the entrance. As Lord Emon tells later in the game, before entering the forbidden land Wander has stolen an ancient sword, which is the only weapon that can slay the colossi of the forbidden land. He is led to the huge shrine of worship in the center of the region, carrying the body of a girl named Mono. A moment later, several shadowy creatures with humanoid forms appear and prepare to attack Wander, but he simply deters them with a swing of the ancient sword in his possession that emits powerful beams of light. After he defeats the shadow creatures, the voice of the disembodied being called "Dormin" is heard from above, wondering why Wander has the weapon. Wander asks Dormin to return Mono's soul to her body. He says that this is possible, but only if the sixteen idols in the hall of the temple are destroyed. He explains that this task can only be accomplished by using the ancient sword to kill sixteen colossi scattered throughout the land. Each of them contains a part of Dormin's own essence, though this is only revealed towards the end of the game. Despite a warning from Dormin that he will have to pay a high price to revive Mono, Wander sets out to search the land for the colossi and destroy them. In a sequence following the murder of the eighth, it becomes clear how Wander's body is deteriorating - his skin is becoming paler, his hair darker, and dark strands are stretching across his face. After the death of the twelfth colossus, the player learns that Wander is being pursued by a group of warriors led by Emon. Urged by Dormin to hurry with his task, Wander soon sets out to defeat the sixteenth and last colossus. On the way to this confrontation, he rides across a long bridge that collapses halfway across. As Agro jumps over the last gap in the bridge, the part he lands on begins to separate from its foundation, almost causing Agro to lose his footing. Sensing the impending fall, Agro leaps forward and throws Wander to safety on the other side. He sacrifices himself for him and falls into the river hundreds of feet below when the bridge finally gives way. Wander defeats the last Colossus and Emon's squad arrives at the Shrine of Worship just as the temple's last idol crumbles. Lord Emon declares that Wander is "possessed by the dead" and orders his warriors to kill him. As he struggles to reach Mono, one warrior shoots Wander in the leg with a crossbow, while another stabs him in the heart with a sword. Black blood spurts from the wound, while Wander's body is enveloped in darkness and falls to the ground - a death similar to that of the Colossi. Dormin's spirit then takes possession of Wander's body, transforming him into a shadowy giant. Dormin, now speaking in his masculine voice, explains that he was cut into sixteen pieces - the Colossi - to seal his power, and that he is now whole again by entering Wander, who has taken his physical form by defeating each Colossus. As his men flee, Lord Emon throws the ancient sword into a small pool at the back of the temple hall, creating a whirlwind of light that engulfs Dormin and Wander. Emon and his men flee the forbidden land as the bridge leading to the temple collapses behind them. When they arrive safely at the entrance to the forbidden land, Emon expresses hope that Wander, if he survived, will one day be able to atone for his crimes. At the temple, Mono, restored by Dormin in accordance with the agreement with Wander, awakens and Agro limps into the temple with an injured hind leg. Mono follows Agro to the pond that Wander and Dormin were drawn into by Emon's spell, and finds a male infant with tiny horns on its head. She takes the child and follows the horse to the higher levels of the Shrine of Worship, reaching a secret garden within the shrine at the end of the game.