So we all know that Shadow of the Colossus is the prequel to ICO, but their connection has never been truly explored. It's almost frustrating how close these two games are, and yet how separated they still remain. There have been dozens of theories across the two decades that they've been out, and I do not claim to have created any of these. I am merely going to complie everything I've both found and discovered into one blog.
The two games are connected in an extremely meaningful way, beyond what anyone would gather from simply playing them. Dormin exists as a looming presence in both games, he just needs a little digging to find. It all will tell one cohesive story. So, let's begin.
Halves of Dormin[]
At the end of Shadow of the Colossus, we see that Dormin is trying to do two different things, resurrect both himself (for selfish purposes), and resurrect Mono (to keep up the end of his bargain with Wander). This causes a huge rift in how Dormin acts.
The resurrection of Mono is denoted by the defeat of the sixteenth Colossus, Malus, as Dormin states that the sixteenth Colossi’s defeat will mark Mono's revival. Prior to, and after Malus’s defeat, Dormin’s voice actually changes.
Prior to Malus’s defeat, Dormin’s voice is the combination of a male and female’s. Following Malus’s defeat, the female voice of Dormin is completely missing, leaving only the male voice. So clearly the female voice, and Mono’s resurrection, are in some way correlated.
I’ve elected to view the male Dormin and female Dormin voice as two separate forms of the main Dormin entity, as they are obviously intended to be two different entities based on how one completely disappears. Think of it like a Yin Yang.
Yin represents femininity, the female side of Dormin. Yang represents masculinity, the male side of Dormin. Yin Dormin and Yang Dormin is how I will be referring to these two now, so just refer back to this to see which one I’m talking about. Yin, female. Yang, male.
After Mono’s resurrection is meant to occur, Yin Dormin disappears from the main Dormin’s body. What could the only through-line be to this? Yin Dormin’s soul was used to resurrect Mono. It follows exactly what Dormin’s personality has been in the entire game, fulfilling Wander’s wishes while also manipulating them in a way that accomplishes his own goals.
Of course, had Dormin retained both his Yin and Yang self following the defeat of the Colossi, he would have achieved his completed form. But this shows some sort of consciousness within Dormin, some sort of honour, as he still fulfilled his end of the deal with Wander despite his own evil ambition.
Regardless, we now have Yang Dormin inhabiting Wander’s body alongside Wander’s mortal soul, and Yin Dormin inhabiting Mono’s body alongside Mono’s reclaimed mortal soul. One half of Dormin resides within both leads.
Why do you think Dormin at the end of Shadow of the Colossus is so easy to defeat? So hard to control? It’s not game mechanics. No matter what you do, the Dormin you play as is completely incapable of preventing Lord Emon from immediately defeating him. This is because, the Dormin you play is incomplete.
He regained the lost pieces of his soul through the Colossi in order to complete himself, only to lose half of his soul once again. All because he had to hold up his end of the deal that he made with Wander.
Lord Emon casts a spell with the Ancient Sword, and Shadow of the Colossus comes to a close. The Ancient Sword creates a pool of light, drawing Wander and Yang Dormin into it. A cleansing is done on Wander, reverting him to the most pure human state, a child.
Horned Children[]
Though even in his pure child state, Wander still has a fragment of Yang Dormin within him. You can tell this by the black horn on Baby Wander’s head. Although most of Yang Dormin was cleansed from Wander by the Ancient Sword, some of it still remains.
We later see that this has effects on the entire world, as seen through ICO. Much in the same way that the Ancient Sword segmented Dormin’s power to create the Colossi in the past, something similar has happened. Yang Dormin’s power was segmented by the Ancient Sword, leaving pieces of himself in people all over the world, such as with Wander here.
The eponymous main character of ICO, Ico, was born with horns. As such, he was said to be cursed, and sent to be sacrificed. Horns are correlated with evil once again, and now we know why. Horns denote a fragment of Yang Dormin.
Note that Wander and Ico aren't the only boys with horns either. Ico explains that multiple kids with horns have been brought to The Castle, much like him. ICO’s guidebook further explains this; in every generation, horned children are seen as cursed and await sacrifice.
So we know that there are tons of children with horns, and this makes sense. The Ancient Sword segmented Yang Dormin’s power, and dispersed it amongst these children. The existence of these children brings a curse to the lands, the same way that the land in which the Colossi (also fragments of Dormin) reside, is also known as cursed land.
There is actually another connection to Dormin with these boys. The recurring enemies of ICO, the Shadow Creatures, are thought to be former horned children who suffered a terrible fate. With the sacrifices of these children, only their shadowy Yang Dormin spirit remains.
We see in both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, the same kind of shadowy creatures. In Shadow of the Colossus, the Shadow Creatures are ghosts of the Colossi, pieces of Dormin. In ICO, the Shadow Creatures are ghosts of the horned children, pieces of Dormin.
The Queen[]
So now that we have this established as a connection with Dormin, I want to move on to The Queen. She is the main antagonist of ICO, and the source of a very major theory connecting ICO to Shadow of the Colossus.
Many people believe that The Queen from ICO is Mono from Shadow of the Colossus. I subscribe to this theory. Yes, the kind and gentle Mono, who Wander sacrifices everything to resurrect, becomes the menacing and imposing Queen. But how could this be?
Well, if you remember from the beginning of this theory, Mono contains Yin Dormin, the female side of Dormin. We see that with Wander, even just half of Dormin can completely overtake and transform him. The same would be true for Mono; remember, unlike Wander, Mono was never cleansed of the Dormin half within her.
So Mono is overtaken by Yin Dormin, and becomes The Queen. But how do we know this exactly? It will take a good bit of explaining, but it’s possible. At the end of Shadow of the Colossus, Mono takes a Baby Wander and leaves with him.
From the standpoint of this being Mono, we can understand why she does this. Mono and Wander have a deep connection with one another, and Mono is noted to be very kind, so naturally she would take the child. But from the standpoint of this being Yin Dormin, it’s far more telling.
Wander, moments before, was Yang Dormin, the other half. He was just cleansed, and now only possesses a fragment of Yang Dormin’s power, as noted by the horns. Yin Dormin, who would naturally want to become a whole Dormin once again, has incredible use for these horned children.
They all contain a fragment of Yang Dormin, and Yin Dormin needs them to be whole, to fully return to the world. So, you would naturally expect that Yin Dormin’s goal from now on would be to collect all of the horned children, in order to recover their complete form once again.
Well? That’s exactly what The Queen is doing. All of the horned children who are captured are sent to her Castle. The villagers willingly send these children in hopes of them being sacrificed, but what need does the Queen have for sacrificing children? Seemingly none. And yet still, the Queen takes these children and imprisons them. Why?
Well, assuming the Queen is Mono, aka the female half of Dormin, she has the exact motive for capturing these horned children. Yin Dormin needs Yang Dormin to be whole, and these horned children are each fragments of Yang Dormin. It makes perfect sense. The villagers have horned children sent to the Queen to be sacrificed, and she instead uses them to complete Dormin.
It also lines up with The Queen’s actual motive in-game, the one she outright explains. The Queen wants to transfer her spirit into Yorda, to use Yorda as a vessel. This is because the Queen’s body (Mono’s body), has gotten too old, and has begun to decompose. As a result, Yin Dormin wants to use her power of soul transfer (the exact same kind she used to transfer into Mono in the first place), to transfer herself into Yorda.
Once Yin Dormin takes over the young Yorda’s body, and absorbs the fragments of Yang Dormin’s soul from within the horned children, the Yin Yang will be complete. Dormin will be complete; an unstoppable entity completed for the first time in eons.
Of course, The Queen’s plans to become a completed Yin-Yang Dormin fail, as she is thwarted by Ico. Though, if she had succeeded, the results would’ve been catastrophic. Yorda, a vessel for both the feminine and masculine halves of Dormin.
Conclusion[]
This theory paints the two games in an incredibly new light, and yet at the same time, it was basically staring everyone in the face. With Shadow of the Colossus being stated to be a prequel to ICO, it was only a matter of time before the correct connections were drawn.
The end of Shadow of the Colossus shows a defeated Wander reach out to Mono. On the surface, this scene is showing Wander reaching out to his love, trying to claw his way back to her, as he risked his entire soul to make sure she was okay. Wander trying to reach Mono.
But with this theory in mind, that small moment becomes something completely different. It’s not just Wander trying to reconvene with Mono, but one half of Dormin trying to reconvene with the other. As Yang Dormin is being sucked in by the Ancient Sword’s vortex, he desperately claws towards Yin Dormin, in hopes to regain his full strength.
The entirety of the Shadow of the Colossus and ICO story is split in half. The three main relationships we see in the game are both interpersonal relationships between the masculine and the feminine:
Wander, the masculine, and Mono, the feminine. Two assumed lovers who were separated by the walls of life and death. Yang represents Birth (Wander is left alive, and is later reborn as a child), and Yin represents Death (Mono was killed for having a cursed fate).
Ico, the masculine, and Yorda, the feminine. Two children who seemingly had no connection until their meeting, though they were far more connected than they knew. Ico, a horned child, contains a piece of the masculine side of Dormin. Yorda, the direct daughter of Mono, contains a piece of the feminine side of Dormin.
And finally...
Yang Dormin, the masculine, and Yin Dormin, the feminine. Two halves of one terrifyingly powerful and evil being. Yang Dormin is denoted by his male voice which is seen after he enters Wander, while Yin Dormin has a feminine voice that disappears after she possesses Mono.
Three pairs of men and women, all hoping to be with one another. Each relationship seems ill-fated in one way or another, but in the end, they are finally reconnected. Just not in the way that Dormin wishes.
