Wander/Bio & Battles

"Poor ungodly soul."

- Lord Emon on Wander.

Wander (or otherwise known as "the Wanderer") is the protagonist of the Shadow of the Colossus. His main goal is to resurrect his love, a woman named Mono who was murdered because she was believed to have a cursed fate, by slaying sixteen colossi. With the help of his companion, Agro, he travels the Forbidden Land in order to accomplish his quest. The story of Wander begins with him entering the forbidden land, traveling across the long bridge at its entrance on his horse, Agro. Prior to entering, he had stolen a magical sword, which is the only weapon capable of slaying the colossi of the forbidden land.

Led to the massive Shrine of Worship at the center of the region, Wander carries with him a body wrapped in a cloak, which he lays upon an altar in the shrine. Removing the cloak, the body of a barefoot maiden named "Mono" is revealed. A moment later, several shadow-like creatures with humanoid forms appear and prepare to attack Wander, but he easily dismisses them with a wave of the ancient sword in his possession, which emits strong beams of light. After vanquishing the shadow creatures, the voice of the disembodied entity known as "Dormin" echoes from above, expressing surprise that Wander possesses the weapon. Wander requests that Dormin return Mono's soul to her body, which it states may be possible, but only if the sixteen idols lining the temple's hall are destroyed. It explains that this task can only be accomplished by using the ancient sword to kill sixteen colossi located throughout the land.

Wander sets about this task, murdering each of the Colossi one-by-one. Despite a warning from Dormin that he may have to pay a great price to revive Mono, Wander sets out to search the land for the colossi and destroy them. In a sequence after the eighth's slaying, a deterioration of Wander's body is shown clearly — his skin becoming paler, his hair darker, and dark streaks growing across his face. Also in the sequence, Wander envisions as if in a dream, Mono awaking and calling out to him. Yet as he attempts to approach her he is quickly dragged away. Meanwhile, Mono's complexion improves and her voice can be faintly heard after each colossus has been killed. After the death of the twelfth, it is revealed that Wander is being pursued by a group of warriors led by Lord Emon. After Wander murders the last of the colossus, Emon's men catch up to him in the temple. One of the men shoots Wander in the leg with a crossbow bolt, and another strikes him through the heart with a blade- causing a death identical to those of the monsters Wander had killed previously. With Wander dead, Dormin is able to possess his body and become whole again- but quick thinking by Emon seals both the demonic monster and Wander away in the temple. With the men gone and Wander and Dormin sealed away, Mono awakens at last and, aided by the wounded Agro, finds a small human baby with horns growing out of its head in the same place Wander and Dormin were sucked into.

Battle vs. Buck (by Jackythejack)
Wander's eyesight came to him once more and he found himself on the floor to the temple, face down. He groaned and pushed himself up with his hands as support. He was just about to push himself up when he noticed that his hands were unnaturally pale. They were not like that before. As he stood up, Wander unsheathed his sword and stared at himself. His eyes, his strange black markings, ghoulishly pale face. Something was the matter here. He didn't look human anymore...what was going on? He had just killed another Colossus and...

"Your quest is only halfway done," spoke the voice in the ceiling, Dormin. Wander stared up at the whole in the ceiling with silent anticipation, waiting for his next mission. It seemed like Dormin's voice held an air of hesitance to it, which was odd, to say the least. "''It seems we have a visitor. Just outside our temple. You shall hear from her soon. We cannot have distractions. You know what you must do." ''

Wander was now more intrigued than ever. A visitor? In the forbidden lands? How could that be possible. Wander frowned and quickly moved over to the front of the temple. next to where Mono's body lied on a pedestal. He took a moment to run his hand through her hair. It was only going to be a little longer. He just had to take care of one unexpected visitor.

His hand rested comfortably on her forehead, feeling her cold temperature. Well...could it be called a temperature if she was dead? Either way, Wander looked out into the plains of the Forbidden Lands and saw only one thing that was different among the sheer emptiness of the world around him. It was a giant beast, one that he could only describe as another Colossus. It seemed to have scales wrapped around its body and, unlike some of the others that Wander had faced, it was white all around instead of being filled with blackened and dark colors.

Even from afar Wander could see the scar that was on the beast's lip as well. Clearly it was injured at some point, but by what Wander had no clue. Wander stared intently at the creature for a moment longer before pulling out his bow and arrow. He slowly began moving out of the temple, going down the stairway one step at a time, keeping a close eye on the creature like he would most of the lizards that he had hunted down recently.

The creature hadn't spotted him yet, and that was a good sign. If he could stay like this, Wander should be able to shoot an arrow into one of it's eyes. It was a small Colossus, after all. Smaller Colossi meant weaker, as far as Wander was concerned. Wander notched an arrow into his bow and pulled back on the string. He aimed it towards the eye of the strange Colossus and took a deep breath. One precise blow and he could blind it in one eye, which would make the rest of the fight significantly easier for him.

Just as he was about to let go of the bowstring, however, a noise shattered the silence. The unbreakable silence of the Forbidden Lands that Wander had grown to be accustomed to. It was a loud, alien noise. The sound of someone speaking.

"Oi, you! Stop that!" Wander's eyes widened as he realized the voice came directly from his right, and it was incredibly close to him. He spun to the right only to see...nothing at his eye level. "'Ey, my eyes are down here, buddy."

Wander blinked in minor confusion before looking down to see a creature that he would not expect to see. It was some...rodent looking thing. Looked like it would make good prey for some of the birds here, were it not for the giant knife it was sporting at its side. Wander stared intently at the creature, wondering just what the hell it was.

"Woah, you're an ugly lookin' fella, aren't you? Reminds me of my wife, but uh...less like a pineapple." He rubbed the back of his head and grinned. Wander could only focus on the eyepatch on the creature, the knife, and the belt around it that had strange, spherical objects. "Now, listen, that big fella over there? That's my kill. We got some personal history between us, nothing too big, no. It just gouged my eyes out!"

The weasel had shown an immediate sign of aggression as it became hunched over and closed both of its paws into fists. Buck blinked his singular eye and corrected himself. "So, basically, I want you to leave that kill to me, alright? Just move along, yeah?"

Wander stared at the weasel for a little longer, the gears turning in his head. The weasel continued to comment while he thought (Things such as "you really don't speak much, do ya?" or "Hello? Anyone home?"). Dormin had told him to kill this colossus himself...he had to do what Dormin said, otherwise Mono couldn't be given life once more. This had to be some kind of test. It had to! Wander had to pass this.

Wander turned away from the weasel and aimed at the dinosaur once again.

"Wait, what the heck are you doing? No, stop that!" Buck realized what he was doing only a little too late, and Wander let go of the arrow. It soared through the air and hit the dinosaur right in the eye. Rudy screamed out in pain and began running off. That was his big chance too! Who knows when he'd get a chance like that again? "What is wrong with you!?"

Wander was about to walk off to go catch the dinosaur to push more arrows into it when Buck suddenly climbed up Wander's body and stood on his shoulder, leaning against the swordsmans head. "Seriously, you really don't have anything up there, do ya?"

Wander's instincts took over and he forced the little weasel down to the ground, grabbing him with his free hand and chucking him straight down into the ground before bringing his leg back and kicking the little creature.

Buck tumbled away from the swordsman and winced in pain at the vicious kick to his side. He unsheathed his knife and pointed it threateningly at the Colossi Killer. "Alright, I see how it is. You want to get wild? Well, I can get Buck wild!"

With one fluid motion, Wander pulled out his sword and put away his bow. He unsheathed it and the light bounced off of it without Wander even wanting it to. Wander tilted his head for a moment before holding the sun up to the sky. Rays of light were reflected off of the blade and towards Buck. Did this thing have a weak point the sword could pick up?

The rays of light hit Buck right in his only remaining eye and he cried out in annoyance. "Ah! That's my good eye you son of a milkweed! Alright, time to tango!"

Wander swung his sword at the little creature, and Buck was able to put his knife in the way of the attack and deflect it before pushing Wander's sword away. He rushed forward, and Wander brought his foot back in preparation to kick once more. Buck moved out of the way at the last moment, causing Wander to almost lose his balance. Buck took this as a moment to hop up and slash at Wander's side, which cut through his clothes and his skin to leave a little bit of blood.

"Haha! How do you like that!" Buck grew a confident grin on his face as Wander brought a hand to his side, feeling the wound that this strange animal had inflicted. Look, it...it didn't matter. He took hits from colossi before, he can handle this.

With more determination than before, he swung forward with his sword, only for Buck to sidestep out of the way. "Missed me!" Wander swung again, Buck dodged it again. "Missed me again." Another swing, and a dodge. "Missed me again." Another swing, and a dodge. "And again. You're not really good at this are you."

Wander let out a cry of frustration and swiped at the creature once more. This time, Buck didn't have time to move out of the way and he had to block the attack his his knife. The two struggled against one another for a moment, trying to overpower the over, but Wander was having difficulty forcing all of his strength into the end of his sword.

Buck overpowered him due to the sheer fact that Wander was uncomfortable in a one on one sword fight. The Colossi Killer took a step back and watched as the weasel only smirked at him. It was thinking that he had won, but Wander couldn't have that happen. He had to win this. He had to. His whole mission...it was riding on this!

"Given up yet? I wouldn't be surprised. Not everyday you come against someone as skilled and handsome as-wah!" Buck pounced to the right just as an arrow stabbed into the spot he was just at. He had been too busy gloating to notice the boy had switched his weapon to his bow. The rodent gritted its teeth and quickly ran off to the right.

Wander tried to predict Buck's movements and hit where he was going to be next, but the damn animal was proving to be too unpredictable for there to be any predictions in his movement. Wander kept firing arrow after arrow, wishing that there was something, anything that he could do to take down this pesky little rat for good, but he was having far too much difficulty. He couldn't think straight either. It felt like something was clogging his head. Something was making him feel murky...

"Alright, time for plan B. Short for Plan SMOKE BOMB!" Buck pulled off one of the spherical objects on his belt and slammed one of them into the ground. There was a sudden explosion of smoke which easily obstructed Wander's vision. Wander's eyes widened and he began to take several steps back, trying to get out of the smoke cloud.

You're not getting away that easily." There was a sudden shape pouncing at him through the smoke, and Wander only saw it once it was on top of him. The weasel hit him right in the chest and forced him to the ground. Buck began scratching into Wander's face only to notice that the blood, which should have been red, was now just...black? He paused his assault. "The hell are you?"

Wander let out another cry of anger and grabbed the annoying rodent before throwing him away. Buck tumbled off somewhere in the smoke and Wander pulled out his sword, realizing that his bow was going to be useless. He saw the black blood dripping down his face and knew something was wrong. This was...what happened to the Colossi? What's happening?

"Well, I have to say, I think putting you down is just going to be the best for everyone." Wander spun around in a circle as he tried to locate the source of the voice, but it seemed to be moving all around him. Wander only had one though, and that was to kill. he needed to do this. He needed to win.

"Coming at ya!" Buck suddenly leaped towards Wander from the smoke cloud. Wander tried to slice at Buck, but it was too late. Buck had jumped in and gotten a few good swipes. Wander winced and held a hand to his side, staining his hand black. He was starting to feel weak from all this blood he was using. He didn't know how much longer he could go on for. He needed strength!

Buck moved out of the darkness again, this time not pouncing, but running towards Wander. Wander tried to step back in a hurry, but Buck was too fast for him and he swiped into one of Wander's legs, causing it to falter and for his knee to buckle. He feel down onto one knee, his injured one, and grimaced. His breathing was shaky and he couldn't find it in him to stand up.

Buck came out of the smoke once more and ran towards Wander. Wander could only wave one arm at the weasel to try and force him away, but it wasn't working. Buck grabbed the arm, pushed it away, and stabbed his knife into the swordsman's chest. Wander's eyes widened and his entire body tensed up as Buck let go of his knife and took a step back. The fog was slowly clearing away. Just Wander's luck.

"Sorry about doing this to ya, but I think I'm doin' you a favor. Besides, you sorta asked for it. I mean, we could have just-wait where are you going?"

Wander was ignoring the weasel at this point. Instead, he was moving towards the temple once more, the one with the idols. His vision was getting blurry, and he could barely walk. With his final breaths, it seemed like Wander was going back to the temple, his arms outstretched towards the shrine where Mono lie. No one would save her now. Aggro would be lost without an owner...all because of some damn rodent.

The Colossi Killer got to the stairway before he suddenly collapsed to the ground, face first, causing the knife to go even further into his chest. Wander struggled to get up for a moment, before falling limp at the staircase, a pool of black blood leaving his body.

Buck frowned a little before shrugging. "Well, I gotta get the knife back," he muttered before moving towards Wander's corpse to pick it up. He stopped halfway to the corpse. It suddenly turned completely black, with no color in it whatsoever. Buck's eyes widened as huge, black tentacles would come out of Wander, like the Colossi Wander killed before his death, and came at him.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Buck said as he turned around and began to run away, only for the tentacles to grab and squeeze him tight, restricting his breathing. It wouldn't take long until he felt like he was going to go unconscious. There was only one voice in his head that he could hear as he slowly drifted away into unconsciousness.

"''There is a way you could be useful..." ''

Expert's Opinion
The ones who had casted their votes believed that, while Wander was the bigger opponent, and had the better weaponry to handle a normal fight, Buck had far more experience and skill due to his many years living underground and fighting opponents that are far bigger than him, making Wander a Goliath in this battle of the Davids.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.