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"And now again, the choice is yours, Arisen."
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The Dragonforged is an NPC in Dragon's Dogma.


Overview[]

The Dragonforged is found in a cave under a set of standing stones at Hillfigure Knoll, in the Northface Forest. He is accompanied at all times, and only by his faithful pawn The Fool, who has come to closely resemble him. Supposedly a man who faced a dragon long ago, he is the only man who knows how to read Dragonspeak.

The Dragonforged is an Arisen from long ago - he created the warrior drawing on Hillfigure Knoll to draw Arisen to him, and seeks to guide any Arisen who come to him. A headless spear and shield can be seen in his cave, and on the knoll itself can be found the Signs of Valor, former spearheads used as daggers - it seems that all these were once the Dragonforged's weapons, and the drawing on the hill likely depicts himself.

As an Arisen, he suffers the same fate as all Arisen when The Dragon is defeated.

QUOTE DD2
There are very few who know of the existence of this man and none knows the truth of his identity. There is only one thing that they know for sure about this puzzling individual: he knows more than anyone else living about dragons.

His name and his ties are unknown. Equally mysterious is how he came to possess his considerable familiarity with dragons. However he came about it, the breadth of his knowledge is undeniable. He knows things that no person on the earth should know.

No one else can say if the things which he says are true. Some consider him to be nothing but a fabricator of myths and lies. Still he does seem to know something about dragons and so—since his connection with the terrible beasts was the only fact that anyone alive knew about him—he came to be known only as the Dragonforged.
The Dragonforged's Tale.[1]

Quests[]

Quotes[]

  • "All I know is yours to hear, should you desire it."
  • "... The Arisen needs know little, and needs do still less. There is but one mantra you need hear, in truth: Follow your instinct."
  • "I considered any bond with another being as a seed of doom for the Arisen. I feared them for a weakness, and feared weakness above all... And so I cast all ties aside and rose against the dragon in solitude... To this end. Even now, I know not what I ought have done different. How I ought have faced my weakness... perhaps that doubt above all, explains why I fell short."
  • "Edmun? Did you speak the name Edmun? Tis the name of the Arisen who came before you. I know not how he turned away the Dragon...I bade him follow his instinct, same as I have bidden you. That is all our kind can do, Arisen of the present day. Continue forth from that first step and never look back. Tis our duty, and our fate. Though my own path stopped short, leaving me to linger on, an unsightly revenant..."
  • "The hour is come, Arisen.  The door lies open.  Seek the temple atop the Tainted Mountain, beyond the Greatwall... At its pinnacle, in the shadow of the wyrm, keeper of the endless ring, you will make your choice. What you there become, only you can decide."

On the Dragon

  • "The beast is called death incarnate, the greatest of evils... You will learn, when you come to face it, that the truth is not so simple. It possesses deep insight to match its cold and steady drive to destruction. And an air of resignation, perhaps, lies beneath its imposing rage."

On the Arisen

  • "The arisen is a child of man. No more, no less. 'Tis said the Arisen is born whene'er man takes his first true step toward a goal. When the spirit gives rise to action, a man becomes Arisen. Those, like us, whose paths lead to the dragon are known unto the beast as a matter of instinct. Just as it is our own instinct that guides us on."

On himself

  • "I am he(him) who was forged in the dragon's fire. I stand astride the bounds of life and death, remaining here that I may pass my knowledge on to the Arisen of each coming age. My battle as the Arisen has spanned a thousand years and yet it knows no end. Nor shall it, until the Arisen to follow me strikes the dragon dead."

On the Arisens's hearts

  • "Aye, ours are bodies marked by the wyrm, yours and mine. A scar across the chest, to stand as proof of the dragon's claim over our hearts. I carved a scarred man into the face of this hill, that it might serve as a beacon to those who bear our mark. It beats yet, as does mine, there within the beast. A thousand years since it was stolen, and yet it beats... As long as the dragon lives, the hearts in its safekeeping know no death. Our kind may die in battle, aye, but neither age nor illness will ever claim us. We have stepped free of this mortal coil, Arisen."


Notes[]

  • After Deny Salvation, if the pawns are spoken to, they will imply that the Dragonforged faced the Dragon long ago.
  • Grants a Dragonleather Vest and a Draconian Strategy Vol. 1 upon speaking to him just before The Final Battle.
  • He will then also talk about "the choice" the Arisen will have to make atop The Tainted Mountain: "At its pinnacle, in the shadow of the wyrm, 'keeper of the endless ring', you will make your choice."
  • His pawn The Fool seems to have been much affected by the process known as the Bestowal of Spirit.
  • His arms are blackened - often this is assumed to be some sort of scarring from fighting the Dragon unarmed; however the Dragon's Dogma Official Design Works (p.74) states that although he was initially conceived as one who continued to be burned by the Dragon's fire after the battle he later was envisioned as having become blackened with age.
  • In the Japanese localisation he is called 竜識者 [Ryuu Shikisha] - which translates as 'Dragon Scholar'.

Speculation[]

Dragonforged 2
See also: Dragon's Dogma World and Lore

One likely theory, is that the Dragonforged faced the Dragon in battle, but was forced to fight with his hands due to his weapon (a spear) breaking - evidence for this is the Dragonforged burnt arms, and the tip of a broken spear found at the Hillfigure Knoll (see Signs of Valor) - there are cryptic references to these on inscriptions inside the Dragonforged cave. His moniker "Dragonforged" could be a reference to having fought a Dragon barehanded, as Dragonforging is usually applied only to weapons used against a Dragon.

The Fool tells the Arisen that "The Dragonforged suffered mortal injury in combat with the wyrm, .." - so it is clear he fought the Dragon, but neither can have been victorious. What happened thereon is a matter of speculation.

Perhaps he was forced into a bargain or sorts on being unable to obtain victory. His own words speak to his sense of failure, not to outright capitulation.

As he notes in his conversations with the Arisen that he did not trust in other people- perhaps was not close enough to anyone to have a beloved to sacrifice like the Duke and the present day Arisen, and so was unable to form a pact. A further possible complication is that guilt about his any sacrificial decision he had to make may have 'clouded' the Dragonforged's memory of it.

Godking Leonart and other unlikely speculation[]

Speculation 1

Distant relatives ?

An extended theory conflates The Dragonforged, the king who built the fortress at The Tainted Mountain, and possibly Godking Leonart all as the same person (making him a distant relative of Aelinore) .. However most of these theories can be disproven:

  • The plot of the novel Dragon's Dogma : The Beginning reveals Leonart as having taken the Dragon's bargain before Savan, and so should have died of old age sometime after Savan defeated the Dragon. (his actual fate is unknown)
  • According to the novel Dragon's Dogma : The Beginning the fortress at the Tainted Mountain was established 100 years before the time of Savan by a king of that region - if the Dragonforged was this king his Dragon would have been defeated by Savan many years ago, and so he should have died of old age long ago.
    • However, it is possible that the Dragonforged exists in some sort of limbo, or perhaps even as undead - he himself describes himself as a 'revanant'.
    • Confusingly, and possibly an irrelevant coincidence is The Dragon's description the destruction of the Tainted Mountain city as "[a] fool's decision of a man too weak", words similar to the Dragonforged and the Fools own descriptions of themselves ... there may yet be some connection between the Tainted Mountain and the Dragonforged.

Other[]

Dragons gift

The Duke's hair tie and the Dragonforged's bangle

  • Both the Edmun Dragonsbane and The Dragonforged wear unique ornaments of a design an elongated twisting Dragon. Perhaps this is a 'gift' from The Dragon to those that take its bargain.
  • Being a 'revanent', 'existing between life and death', and 'suffering a mortal wound from the Dragon' are all things that can be said to be literally true about the present Arisen after their first encounter with the Dragon during Harbinger of Destruction - thus it does not need to be the case that the Dragonforged faced the Dragon after his (presumed) initial encounter with it .. it may be that he simply became a recluse, spending centurys researching how best to defeat it, but never faced it again..
    • At mention of Duke Edmun he claims ignorance; it may be that he is being diplomatic, not wishing to accuse another of fraud and betrayal; alternatively it may be tha he has no knowledge of the dragon's bargain because he never took up the challenge fully himself.. if so his statement to have 'chosen to face the dragon alone' may be more of a metaphor for his failure to have face the dragon a second time.

Sources[]

  1. Dragon's Dogma character description (Capcom official website)
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