"And now again, the choice is yours, Arisen."

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The Dragonforged NPC Info Gender Male Age over 1000 years Location Hillfigure Knoll Likes Harspud Sauce

Harspud Juice

The Dragonforged is an NPC in Dragon's Dogma.





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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.

An Arisen also, his arms are burnt black - likely the reason for his namesake of "Dragonforged" is that his hands and legs underwent the process.

"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

Speculation

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 benn victorious. What happened thereon is a matter of speculation.

Godking Leonart and the Dragon's pact

It has also been supposed that the Dragonforged may have been leader of the great kingdom the Arisen sees later in the game, at The Tainted Mountain, to which the Dragon refers during the Final Battle. A further extended theory conflates The Dragonforged, this king, and Godking Leonart all as the same person (making him a distant relative of Aelinore) - though there is little direct evidence for this. Leonart was a historical figure said to have defeated a Dragon and unified the continent.

Most of these theories rely on Leonart/The Dragonforged accepting the Dragon's pact - however it is known that the Dragonforged did fight the Dragon - 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. Perhaps both achieved a victory of sorts, not by killing the Dragon, but at least driving it back for a time.

One theory is that the Dragonforged's deal with the Dragon was the sacrifice of his Kingdom in exchange for deep knowledge regarding the dragons. Also 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.

It may be that the Dragonforged was the king who established the city found in ruins at the Tainted Mountain. In one proposed version of events, this king is also Leonart. There can be two similar versions - one is that the city was destroyed in the Dragon's initial attack, another is that being unable to defeat the Dragon the king was forced into a pact to give up his kingdom, seeing it destroyed.

An alternate version could be that the Lenoart/Dragonforged initially took the pact with the Dragon for worldly power, sacrificed this beloved, and became king. Then, just as in the events of Dragon's Dogma, the Dragon returned and this time Leonart, regretting his previous actions, set out alone to face the Dragon in order to defeat it, but was unsuccessful.

Further, circumstantial evidence for these theories is that Grigori describes 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.

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.

A more poetic theory could be that he asked for "the strength and knowledge of Dragons", and like is usual when people make pacts with demons - got his wish literally.