The Colossi

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The Colossi
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Appears in	Shadow of the Colossus (PS2 / PS4) The ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection (PS3)

“	In this land, there exist colossi that are the incarnations of those idols. If thou defeat those colossi-- the idols shall fall.	”
–Dormin

The main goal of Shadow of the Colossus is to destroy sixteen giant idols in the Shrine of Worship, a quest that can only be achieved by seeking out and killing the sixteen colossi (巨像 Kyozō) in the Forbidden Lands. The colossi are ancient, imposing creatures that have dark fur (and sometimes moss), and armor that resemble human architecture. Each colossus should be viewed not simply as an adversary, but also as a sentient puzzle that must be outwitted, their weaknesses exploited to bring about their downfall. Despite appearing to be invulnerable, they can be destroyed by damaging their magic sigils.

Icon	Number	Nickname	Is Agro Present?	Time Attack Goals (Normal / Hard)
				PS2 and PS3	PS4 Remake
	I	Minotaur A	No	2:30 / 2:50	2:30 / 2:45
	II	Mammoth	Yes	4:00 / 4:30	3:30 / 4:30
	III	Knight	No	6:00 / 5:00	6:00 / 6:30
	IV	Kirin	Yes	5:30 / 5:00	5:00 / 6:15
	V	Bird	No	5:30 / 5:30	5:00 / 4:15
	VI	Minotaur B	No	3:30 / 6:30	3:30 / 6:00
	VII	Eel	No	12:00 / 8:00	9:00 / 7:30
	VIII	Yamori B	No	8:00 / 7:30	6:00 / 7:00
	IX	Kame	Yes	7:30 / 5:30	5:30 / 5:45
	X	Narga	Yes	6:00 / 5:00	5:30 / 4:30
	XI	Leo	No	5:30 / 5:30	4:30 / 4:15
	XII	Poseidon	No	9:30 / 10:00	8:30 / 9:30
	XIII	Snake	Yes	12:00 / 13:00	12:00 / 10:15
	XIV	Cerberus	No	9:00 / 9:00	9:00 / 8:15
	XV	Minotaur C	No	11:00 / 11:30	7:30 / 10:00
	XVI	Evis	No	9:30 / 13:00	9:30 / 10:45

Appearance

All colossi have the appearance of gargantuan beasts. Though no two are exactly alike, most appear to be organic in nature. They have flesh, bones and appear to have organs too as seen with the 13th colossus' air sacs. The colossi are also able to breathe, the clearest examples being the rapid breathing of the 8th colossus while it is standing still, as well as the 14th colossus after breaking a pillar and losing consciousness. Some parts of their bodies appear to have hardened skin, while others are made out of soft parts that can be stabbed, and even though most of it appears to be made out of Dormin's energy, they bleed as well. Some of their armor may look like parts of a building, giving the colossus the look of architecture. Most colossi are partially based on animals and mythical creatures.

Magic Sigils

Main article: Magic Sigil

All colossi have magic sigils signified by a dim blue-green or yellow glow. They come in two types: the major and the minor sigil.

The major sigil, a glowing pattern of light similar to the design on Wander's tabard, is the one targeted to slay the colossus. Striking these points inflicts great damage to a colossus and are the only way of mortally wounding them. Some sigils will vanish after a certain amount of damage has been done, forcing Wander to find another.

The minor sigil appears as a wound in the colossus' skin. Striking this does only minor damage, but is often necessary to reach the major sigil.

Blood

Colossi have a black, ichorous blood coursing through their bodies. Whenever damage is done to a colossus, this black blood will gush from the wound, creating a black mist. Striking a major sigil on the body will cause a geyser of blood to eject, indicating the severity of damage done.

Eyes

The last key feature is their eyes. While no two colossi are alike, many have the same eyes: a glowing, pulsating iris surrounded by black with a deep pupil in the middle.

Whenever a colossus is passive, its eyes are normally a shade of sky blue. When angered or hurt, the eyes glow a fierce orange. One exception is the 12th colossus, who has no eyes but instead has two tusks on its head that change colors.

Energy

Some colossi can generate powerful bursts of energy, and there are places on their bodies that mark the presence of this energy. These colossi can create strong, concussive blasts of brutal force. Others use the energy to further armor themselves against Wander's attempt to scale them and attack their weak spots. Touching these places can do damage to Wander. Colossi that use energy in battles include the 7th, 8th, 9th, 12th, and 16th Colossi.

Idol Statues

Main article: Idol Statues

A wallpaper from the official Japanese site showing all sixteen idols.

Sixteen gigantic idols line the east and west sides of the Shrine of Worship's main hall. The idols correspond to the colossi; when Wander defeats one, the idol explodes once he is returned to the Shrine (with one exception: the 16th statue implodes earlier, once Lord Emon's entourage reaches the shrine's main hall).

Even after a colossus' idol is destroyed, it is still available in Time Attack before clearing the game again.

The idols are arranged in a specific order. The southernmost one at the east side of the hall belongs to the 1st colossus, and the 2nd colossus' idol faces it on the west side of the hall. The 3rd colossus' idol is next to the 1st, and so on. The idols are all roughly the same size, despite the actual enormous range of sizes in the colossi (especially the relatively small 11th and 14th colossi).

The black tendrils

Numerous black tendrils - the embodiment of Dormin - rise from a defeated colossus and quickly gather inside Wander.

When Wander kills a colossus, several black tendrils escape from the fatal wound and into Wander. The tendrils cannot be outrun and can even go straight through solid objects if necessary.

When Wander absorbs the tendrils, he blacks out and is later returned to the Shrine of Worship through mysterious means (his unconscious body begins to levitate, and he travels slowly through the air until he reaches the shrine once more. In the game's finale, the first few seconds of this process are shown.)

Dormin's essence accumulates inside Wander with each colossus felled, increasing his health, stamina, and physical strength. This is reflected in the amount of damage a single stab will do to sigils; this becomes very apparent with subsequent playthroughs. Four to five games in, Wander can kill a colossus that has only one major sigil with a single well-charged stab.

Reminiscence Mode

The old-film filter applied to battles in Reminiscence Mode.

If Wander returns to a fallen colossus' lair, one will notice that the corpse of the colossus has decayed, loosely resembling its original form. If is pressed next to (or on top of) any of the remains, Wander will pray before them, and a prompt to enter "Reminiscence Mode" will pop up. Here, the player can choose to fight the colossus again, and if they do, the battle will be loaded up again, complete with a vignetted grainy old-film filter.

The player is not timed in this mode, so this is not a substitute for Time Attack. Much like that mode, however, the battle will end if Wander strays too far from the arena. Also if Wander defeats a colossus in Reminiscence Mode and he dies afterwards, he will be teleported to the corpse of the colossus just defeated.

Pillars of light

Great beams of light point up to the sky to indicate a place in the Lands where a colossus has fallen.

After defeating a colossus, a gigantic pillar of light will appear in the skies far above its corpse. These can be seen from every corner of the Forbidden Lands and serve as a record of Wander's travels and deeds. Early screenshots show that these have been a part of the game from very early on in its development. However, they were the way of guiding the player to the next colossus they needed to battle instead of appearing after their deaths.

Pillars of Light as seen in the PS4 remake.

Their early inclusion in the game and their profound appearance in general has led to many theories about what they symbolize and why it was so important to have them there. One theory is that they are only present in order to remind players about the location of a colossus' corpse if they wish to fight them in Reminiscence Mode.

The White Tunnel.

Another, more elaborate theory is that they were created from each time Wander's unconscious body was returned to the Shrine of Worship. A cutscene following the 12th colossus, shows a closeup of a pillar as it is forming; the dramatically swirling clouds and the hole at their center are noticably larger, as if opening up for something to pass through. And, following the death of the 16th colossus, Wander's body is briefly seen lifting up into the air. The white tunnel that Wander enters before waking within the Shrine is thus the view his soul sees of this process.

A very unique feature of the associated White Tunnel is Wander's ability to hear Mono's voice. It is only here that he hears her as, only here does he enter into the world of souls, albeit unnaturally.

Names

The colossi don't have any names, only ever being referred to by the order they are fought in, or by the nicknames given to them during the game's development.

An infamous rumor that took a life of its own is what is known today as the 'colossi fan names', which were assumed to be their real names for several years. These were fabricated by one user on the PlayStation Community Forums mere days after the game's release in 2005, who claimed the names were listed on "the last week's issue of the Dengeki PlayStation Magazine" according to their friend in Japan. However, this was false, as such list never existed. Nevertheless, the western fanbase still spread them around the internet as fact during that time, leading to the majority of the fanbase to still use the names in a regular basis.

Trivia

• A few colossi are modified in-game to be bigger or smaller than their actual model size. See the Colossi Table for Size for a list of all the colossi and their size modification.
• When Wander is killed while fighting a colossus, a game over screen appears, featuring the head of the colossus he was fighting.