Emon Heads For the Forbidden Lands
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もう少しだ… |
Only a little more to go. |
Emon Arrives at the Temple
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問題ありません |
All is normal. |
This line appears nowhere in the final game. While the tone of the Japanese line indicates that it is spoken by one of the soldiers, none of Emon’s men have any lines other than an occasional “Ho!”, presumably “Yes!”, in response to his commands. The only exception is one soldier saying “Lord Emon!”, as seen further down in this article. However, in the ending cutscene of an unfinished preview version of Shadow of the Colossus, a demo of the game released in an incomplete form, one of the soldiers speaks when Emon and his men arrive at the Shrine of Worship. This voice clip does not appear in the final game, and, as you can see, the line has no subtitles even in the Preview version. It’s possible that the voice clip corresponds to this unused line. Perhaps the soldier did not detect anything unusual upon first arriving at the shrine and thus reported “All is normal.”
Emon Views the Destruction
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エモンさま！ |
Lord Emon! |
The soldiers’ only used line.
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…なんということだ |
No… |
What is this…? |
While Emon says only a single word according to the English subtitles, his voice clip indicates that he’s saying more than “No…”. That’s because the voice clip matches the Japanese subtitles, whose literal translation is a little longer.
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偶像が粉々ではないか…！ |
The idols have been destroyed! |
This line isn’t used in any version.
Emon Sees the Culprit
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なんということを… |
I don’t believe this… |
What is going on here… |
An echo of Emon’s previous Japanese line, “What is this…?”
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禁術をおこなったな？！ |
You used a forbidden spell! |
You performed a forbidden art, didn’t you?! |
This line isn’t used, probably because Emon says the same thing later on. “Forbidden spell” is a bit of a sloppy localization, anyway, as 術 is closer to “art”, “means”, or “technique”. In the Preview version, he says “I don’t believe this… You used a forbidden spell!”
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自分が何をしたのかわかっておるのか！ |
Have you any idea what you’ve done?! |
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剣を持ち出したうえに呪われたこの地に足を踏み入れ |
Not only did you steal the sword and trespass upon this cursed land, |
On top of taking the sword and setting foot into this cursed land, |
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禁術まで行うとは… |
you used the forbidden spell as well… |
to go so far as to perform the forbidden arts… |
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そんな姿に成り下がりおって… |
To be reduced to such a sight… |
And now, to be reduced to such a form… |
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おまえは ただ単に操られておったにすぎぬ |
You were only being used. |
You were merely being manipulated. |
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…やつはもう人ではない |
He’s no longer human… |
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災いの元を絶つのだ |
Eradicate the source of the evil. |
Eradicate the source of this disaster. |
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見ろ… |
Look… |
This repetitious line is not used in the final game.
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見ろ… 死人たちにとり憑かれておる |
Look… He’s possessed by the dead. |
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さっさとやらんか！ |
Hurry up and do it! |
Won’t you hurry up?! |
The more literal translation implies some hesitation to kill Wander on the part of the soldiers.
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忌み嫌われ生き長らえるよりはせめて葬ってやるのだ |
It is better to put him out of his misery than to exist, cursed as he is. |
We will at least bury him rather than allow him to continue this abhorrent existence. |
The literal translation of this line matches the original translation from the Preview ending: “It is better to give him a proper burial than to have him continue this abhorred existence.”
Dormin Resurrected
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愚かなる人間どもよ… |
Pitiful mortals… |
Foolish humans… |
This line isn’t used in the Preview or the final.
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我が身体を十六の部位に刻み |
Thou severed Our body into sixteen segments |
You severed my body into sixteen segments… |
Unlike the English translation, Japanese Dormin doesn’t use plural pronouns or even the royal “We” to refer to himself, instead using an archaic form of “I”. Without the pronoun “We”, Dormin’s words lose the implication that he has a plural identity or gender. On the topic of plurality, a player named Kiera2 points out that throughout most of the game, when Dormin speaks, a male and female voice can be heard. However, during the ending cutscene, the female voice vanishes and only Dormin’s masculine voice remains. This observation fuels speculation that Mono’s identity is tangled up in Dormin’s.
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石碑と共に 我を閉じ込め |
and encased Us in stone monuments |
encased me with stone monuments, and sealed my power away. |
This line isn’t used in the final game, but is used in the Preview. It flashes across the screen quite quickly, so maybe it was taken out because there wasn’t enough time to properly display that many subtitles.
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永きに渡り… |
for an eternity in order to seal way Our power… |
for the span of eternity… |
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戦士の身体を借り |
We have borrowed the body of this warrior… |
I have borrowed the body of a warrior and arise here anew…” |
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我が名はドルミン… |
We, Dormin, have arisen anew… |
My name is Dormin… |
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甦りおった… |
He’s been resurrected…! |
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手遅れになる前に祠ごと封印するのだ！ |
Place a seal over the entire shrine before it’s too late! |
I will place a seal over the entire shrine before it’s too late! |
Emon is talking about his own actions, not giving orders here.
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馬の用意を |
Ready my horse. |
Ready the horses. |
In the meantime, he tells his soldiers to ready the horses. Though nouns aren’t pluralized in Japanese, the plurality of “horse” can be derived from the context.
Sealing Dormin
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鎮まれ！ |
Be gone foul beast! |
As 鎮まる is “to quieten down, to calm down, to subside, to die down, to abate, to be suppressed”, the literal translation of Emon’s line here matches with the Preview version’s “Settle Down!”, despite the questionable capitalization.
Emon Reflects
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罪深く哀れぬ者よ… |
Poor ungodly soul… |
Pitiful creature of deepest sin… |
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これでこの地に 二度と人が入る事は無いだろう… |
Now, no man shall ever trespass upon this place again. |
It may be that now, no man shall ever enter this land again… |
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もし生きてたとして… |
Should you be alive… |
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閉ざされたこの地で生き永らえる事があるとすれば… |
If it’s even possible to continue to exist in these sealed lands… |
If it’s even possible to survive in these sealed lands… |
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いつかは報われる時代が訪れるかも知れん |
one day, perhaps you will make atonement for what you’ve done. |
perhaps one day the time will come when you can pay for what you’ve done. |
Actually, ‘thou’ in English also suggests (singular) number; using it instead of ‘you’ implies Dormin is addressing Emon specifically rather than multiple mortals/humans.
Interesting, I guess that’s an error on the part of a translator who opted to use archaic pronouns. They must not have realized that. 🙂 He’s referring to humans, plural, in Japanese.
I suppose it’s also dimly possible that the translator was aware that ‘use of historically plural forms with singular reference, for reasons of showing respect, deference, or formality, is found from the 13th cent. onwards’ (says the O.E.D.), whereas in ‘late Middle English and in the 16th cent. a common pattern was that forms in th- were used towards social inferiors or children, or to others to mark either intimacy or contempt, but forms in y- were used in most other functions. These gradually became the neutral, usual forms.’ So it could be a misplaced attempt to have Dormin seem to talk down to the humans (along with the addition of his royal We); but I still can’t find anything in the O.E.D. to suggest that ‘thou’ can be pl.
The suffix ども is Japanese has similar historical usage, interestingly enough.
共 [ども: DOMO] (suf) (1) (hum) first-person plural (or singular), (2) second or third person plural (implies speaker is of higher status than those referred to).
Hello GlitterBerri, I was hoping you could answer a question about the last line spoken by Emon. In Japanese he sounds like he is referring to a punishment as opposed to making reparations. Further context is added below, but I don’t know if you got around to playing ICO, so I added spoilers. Could you offer any input on this?
*spoilers for ICO*
In ICO, the believed successors of Wander are imprisoned and sacrificed because they are born with horns. So is Emon predicting this punishment, or is he talking about Ico’s quest that will redeem himself and his predecessors?
Of course, this is all made on the assumption you believe the last line is a tie-in to ICO.
Also have a few things to share:
1) The line “foolish humans…” does appear in the final version of the Japanese version, right before Dormin states his name.
2) However I could not find “for the span of eternity…” anywhere. I wonder where this line came from?
3) For those curious the exchange between Dormin and Emon’s group goes in this order in the original version:
Dormin: “You severed my body into sixteen segments and sealed my power away. Foolish humans… My name is Dormin….”
Emon: “It’s been resurrected….”
Dormin: “I have borrowed the body of a warrior and arise here anew….”