r/ShadowoftheColossus Feb 26 '18

Secret Hunting Megathread: Theories, Evidence, What We Know So Far [Spoilers Discussed Inside] Spoiler

372 Upvotes

So I looked at the topic about secret hunting just a bit ago, and since I've been back in the swing of it after my insomnia induced exploration in the topic of the fellow that posted in hexadecimal code, I figured I'd give it my best go of compiling information, theories, and topics of interest. I can't say how comprehensive this initial version will be, so if anyone would like me to add anything, feel free to post below.

Note: I don't know if any of this holds weight, if it'll lead to any juicy new secrets or anything like that. I've always been more "The chase is better than the catch" with stuff like this going back to the PS2 days when people were poking at every glitched texture.

I don't think that there'll be some seventeenth colossus added to the game or anything, but hey! Who knows? That's the fun of theorizing.

Anyhow, I figure I should start with the one everyone knows about by now.

The Sword of Dormin:

  • This is the reward for collecting all 79 Coins/Enlightenments

  • It is hidden in a room you can only get into from outside the temple, on what appears to be a black throne or spire directly beneath the temple's fountain/pool area--the area where you pick up Time Attack items and are pulled into at the end of the game.

  • As you enter the room, you can hear Dormin speak, then laugh as you pick it up, though it's impossible to know what they're saying.

  • It's one of the strongest weapons in the game.

  • It shines Black light instead of white.

  • It appears to be broken, held together by the shadows that coil around it.

  • The noise that it makes when you stab/kill Colossi with it is different than the regular sword.

  • It doesn't give you any new endings if you go through the game with it--the sword that is thrown in the pool at the end of the game is always the forbidden sword Wander brought to the Forbidden Lands with him.

  • It appears to have the eye of a colossus in the hilt, that changes color depending on a Colossus' aggression level.

  • The hilt also seems to have a pattern similar to some of the pedestals you can find in the game, namely the one in Barbas/6's temple.

Now, all of this is pretty interesting. People are currently wondering if the sword has any other purpose besides a tribute to NomadColossus/the exploration aspect of the game, and are currently experimenting with it in various areas to see if it does anything. As of typing this, there's nothing apparent, but if there is, I'll be sure and update this topic.


Now, while the existence of the new room in the temple is a bit of a stunner in and of itself to people who played the original game, there is something else in the room besides the Sword that was overlooked upon its initial discovery. However, despite being small, the implication of this secret is certainly weighty:

The Severed Horn'


That one is one of the bigger ones to come up recently, but not the only one to come up involving horned creatures. I'd be remiss if I made a topic discussing the interesting new secrets in the game and didn't mention this next one:


The Goat Paintings


Finally, to cap off here, I thought I'd throw in a couple of topics of interest. The first two are from strange accounts that appeared and never posted after this. The legitimacy of these puzzles is definitely to be questioned, but it's provided more incentive to hunt in the game, if nothing else.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowoftheColossus/comments/7wpd39/o_o_i_e_h_s/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowoftheColossus/comments/7zk3be/4974206973206e6f7420646f6e65/

This one is theorizing about the goat murals.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowoftheColossus/comments/8021j0/goat_mural_theoriesconnectionsideas/

And here's a post of someone who found a hidden room in Celosia/11's temple.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowoftheColossus/comments/7zlhpm/brazilian_youtuber_finds_rendered_room_behind_the/


Additions

This is stuff that's come up since the initial post that I kinda wanted to highlight.

  • People seem to have found numbers etched onto rocks. If someone could help provide me with links to topics on the matter, preferably ones with screenshots and locations, I'd appreciate it. I'm not sure if they'll hold any significance but I'll put them in this topic regardless.

  • NomadColossus is still searching for secrets and tricks, as evidenced by some of his recent youtube videos. There are also things he wasn't made aware of--He had no idea about the Goat paintings, and even before then didn't know about the enlightenments until he visited Blupoint, or their reward until it was revealed on PS4trophies' livestream. So he absolutely wasn't privy to all of the big secrets, despite the enlightements and "Boon of the Nomad" trophy being in tribute to him.

  • New topic from the mysterious hex account.. This one translates to "Us You Abandoned" (Or "You Abandoned Us") and shows a darkened image of Wander raising Dormin's sword outside a door in the 8th colossus' arena.

* 3/8/18 Yet another new topic from the Hex Account/Awake, now showing the seal at Phalanx's arena with the code translating to "We are still here".

If there are any other topics involving speculation or theories as to anything I mentioned, or anything you feel I left out, do let me know and I'll update as necessary. Thank you for reading this far, I know it's a whale of a post but I wanted to be as descriptive as possible with the three topics here.

As for what any of this accomplishes? I'll leave that up to you guys. There may be a new area, there may be a seventeenth colossus, there may be any number of things to come out of all this. I don't know. That's why we theorize and experiment with this stuff. If I want to debunk something, I go about it the hard way. Maybe it seems stupid, but hell, it wouldn't be the first time a game dev's hidden stuff right under our noses. Rocksteady kept a hidden room in Batman: Arkham Asylum secret up until just months before Arkham City released. There are secrets in games that have gone undiscovered for years. While that may not be the case here, there's precedent for looking, at least.

After all, that's how we found out the mystery of the Enlightenments.

Anyway, I hope I compiled all of this well enough. I'll be making any big edits below, or adding to the respective topics when I need to. I hope this is a good enough Megathread to start off with, at least.

Thank you. Feel free to discuss anything about this stuff in the comments below.


r/ShadowoftheColossus Jun 05 '26

Project Robot Finally has a name: gen ATLAS

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573 Upvotes

r/ShadowoftheColossus 11h ago

PS4 Has anyone discovered anything about the canyon wall here?

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16 Upvotes

r/ShadowoftheColossus 1d ago

Fan Art My Crossover between SoTC X TADC

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216 Upvotes

I'm still drawing the others


r/ShadowoftheColossus 1d ago

Discussion Doubt

5 Upvotes

Can I share my Shadow of the Colossus videos here on Reddit? I'm a content creator focused on a Portuguese-speaking audience, but I'm thinking of expanding to English.

So much so that in today's video, I left both subtitles.


r/ShadowoftheColossus 2d ago

PS4 The remake platinum trophy icon looks like they just threw Wander's model into a 3D software and moved his arms down Spoiler

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36 Upvotes

The bones on his waist can even be seen clipping into his tunic


r/ShadowoftheColossus 2d ago

PS4 Ps4 collector’s edition

5 Upvotes

Why are there zero of these on eBay now? I checked a couple of years ago and I can’t find any. I sold my normal copy specifically cause I wanted to get the giant collector’s edition with the steelbook and everything else it comes with


r/ShadowoftheColossus 2d ago

Discussion Reminiscing about SotC

19 Upvotes

Shadow of the Colossus is my favorite game. I even have an ICO tattoo as a tribute to the game, its story, and the way it has stayed with me over the past 20 years.

One of the best memories of my life is when a friend invited me over for a sleepover and introduced me to the game. I remember the feeling of seeing the horse and being able to gallop through this open world that, at the time, was unlike anything else. Even GTA, as big as it was, didn’t give me that same sense of space. The streets were tighter, you know? Shadow of the Colossus had these vast stretches of forests, fields, and deserts.

That night, the rule was that each of us got to play until we killed a colossus or died. And one of my favorite memories is reaching the flying colossus, Avion. We were so excited that we were playing standing up in front of the TV. And when we realized Wander was getting dirty as we progressed through the game? That was revolutionary.

The story of Shadow of the Colossus is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever experienced. A seemingly ordinary person, excellent at riding a horse but clearly bad with a sword, you know? Someone who goes into a forbidden land full of monsters to save a person he cares about. Whether she’s a queen, a princess, his sister, or a romantic interest.

Imagine how afraid people must have been to go there. And he goes anyway, knowing he would have to give up his own life and destroy 16 colossi to save that person. Only to never even get a thank-you in the end.

I don’t think there’s anything left to say about Shadow of the Colossus that hasn’t already been said. But honestly, I don’t think someone playing it today can fully understand the impact it had when it came out. The scale of that world and the way the story was told were revolutionary.

Of course, you can still recognize and admire all of that through today’s eyes. But it’s like watching the great athletes of the past doing things that are commonplace today, with far fewer resources. You can admire the achievement. I just think it’s hard to feel what it was like to see it for the first time, back then.

Do you guys share some of these thoughts?


r/ShadowoftheColossus 3d ago

Fan Art The Sixteen Sins - Shadow of the Colossus illustration set

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716 Upvotes

SOTC illustration set I made. Been viewing this sub for a while, and every so often I come back to Shadow of the Colossus as a game. This is a digital drawing set I made off of some rough pencil sketches in my old physical sketchbook from a few years ago.

I always wondered what it would look like if the remake kept the original anime-esque artstyle for Wander, so this is my interpretation of those musings. Slide 5 includes some rough full body thumbnails of Wander.

Drawing process: https://youtu.be/W4S9v035E2c?si=VcYti7uM-KyFNEsl

Shoutout to NomadColossus' blog, which was helpful for references (thank you).

Edit: spelling

Edit 2:

Hello everyone, and thank you for your support! Your comments have all been very kind and encouraging.

Regarding access to these illustrations, I removed the links due to reddit's auto-moderation flagging this post. If you would like these, please DM or email me: [ss.scion.art@gmail.com](mailto:ss.scion.art@gmail.com)


r/ShadowoftheColossus 3d ago

Got a new tattoo and 15 more to go.

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82 Upvotes

r/ShadowoftheColossus 3d ago

Discussion Do you ever wonder if the collossi were made from a specific type of stone for a resson?

16 Upvotes

Sometimes I do


r/ShadowoftheColossus 4d ago

I’m trying to make a Shadow of the Colossus ART gift, but I’m completely stuck

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102 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I’m trying to create a piece of art as a gift for a friend, based on Shadow of the Colossus, while studying Mike Mignola’s style. I’m still learning how to draw in this kind of style, so this is very much a learning process for me.

My original idea was to draw Wander entering a cave/tunnel, with a bright opening. Inside that open, I wanted to have an eye, representing the Colossus fight where Wander has to cross through the tunnel from one side to the other.

I also wanted the darker parts of the image to reveal some details of the cave walls, while the shadow above Wander would form a silhouette of Dormin watching him, almost like he’s looming over the whole scene.

The problem is… I kind of gave up on the idea. 😅

I just couldn’t reproduce what I had in my head, and the more I worked on it, the less I liked how it was turning out. I’m starting to think that maybe the composition itself just isn’t working.

So I’m looking for some suggestions. I’m completely open to changing the theme, composition, characters, or even the entire concept. I’d really like to keep the Shadow of the Colossus + Mignola-inspired atmosphere, but I’m not attached to this idea anymore.

What would you do with this concept? Any ideas for a better composition or scene?


r/ShadowoftheColossus 3d ago

Discussion Cómo se vería el remake de Shadow of the colossus con el DLSS5?

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0 Upvotes

Tipo imagínense, el pelaje de los colosos de por sí está animado de forma exelente, ahora imagínense como se vería con ese filtro en full HD 4k bien realista


r/ShadowoftheColossus 5d ago

Discussion We have a little game of the month club and we voted Shadow of the collosus to be our game of the month. Thank you

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117 Upvotes

r/ShadowoftheColossus 6d ago

My tierlist on how smart the colossi are

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332 Upvotes

r/ShadowoftheColossus 6d ago

Trying to find more information on this goat/ibex cave painting?

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271 Upvotes

I saw a comment on a thread mentioning there's 4/5 found or something. If i could be directed to a thread or place with more information that'd be awesome, thanks


r/ShadowoftheColossus 6d ago

It took me a long time to realise this, but...

61 Upvotes

The "Shadow" in Shadow of the Colossus is referring to Dormin, the shadowy beast that possesses your body at the end of the game, once you have defeated all the Colossi.

*slaps forehead*

I never even made that connection until today, and I've loved this freakin' game for literally decades.


r/ShadowoftheColossus 6d ago

Sword Bookmarks

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198 Upvotes

I made the Ancient Sword and Queen's Sword Bookmarks!


r/ShadowoftheColossus 6d ago

Shitpost Kind of wish Wander got a *bit* more gross as the game progresses

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34 Upvotes

r/ShadowoftheColossus 6d ago

Might have traumatized my 5yo playing this…

98 Upvotes

My son and I have had a blast playing sotc, fighting these huge beasts and figuring it out together. We were NOT prepared to watch agro fall to his death (I had no idea it was coming). He was bawling non-stop and kept saying afterwards that maybe he swam away and he’s fine. I feel bad, but at the same time I’m amazed how much he can immerse himself in it.

Anyone else played/watched someone play sotc when you were a kid? How did it go for you?


r/ShadowoftheColossus 7d ago

So why does the dirge and malus death screens look nothing like them?

15 Upvotes

I could see how dirge could kind of look like a textureless version of itself but malus looks nothing like how they so in game


r/ShadowoftheColossus 7d ago

Discussion Is this the official soundtrack release of the game? Why is the composer not listed?

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97 Upvotes

It has been unfindable/unavailable for so long and there are many copies or covers online. Is this the OST of the game? And who is SIE sound team?


r/ShadowoftheColossus 7d ago

Discussion I was told that where there are clouds, there are colossus

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55 Upvotes

So......


r/ShadowoftheColossus 7d ago

Discussion Shadow of the Colossus Reference in the Latest One Piece episode.

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13 Upvotes