Shadow of the Colossus's protagonist, Wander. Not a necrophiliac.

He has (and needs) no introduction. The very negative space that is his backstory fleshes out his personality, or at the very least, my perceptions of him. He is as scraggly and scrawny as they come. Surely, Shadow of the Colossus’s nameless protagonist is easily one of the most mysterious and engaging videogame character I’ve ever played.

(For the sake of this article, we’ll go by his name from the Japanese SotC—Wander.)

I love the way you walk

What first struck me about Wander was his gait patterns, or walking animation if you want to get nerdy/technical about it. He didn’t have the tall, upright stride of a hero, but an uncertain saunter. As I guided him down the stairs of the temple, the game’s starting point, he stumbled. He didn’t fall, but simply stumble forward. My jaw dropped.

I had never seen an adventure game protagonist do anything as refined as stumbling on a rock or ledge—it was either the straight, I-have-a-bean-pole-up-my-back posture or oh-sh*t-now-I’m-falling-off-a-cliff-into-oblivion flop. As Wander sometimes stumbled over other landscapes throughout the game, I found his missteps strangely satisfying. It made him seem like a human being.

Wander doesn’t match traditional adventure game heroes’ fighting styles either. I noticed especially at the beginning of the game how when he had his sword withdrawn and was running with it (seriously, Wander, never heard about running with scissors?), the sword would seem to flop around in his hand as if his wrist couldn’t support its weight. This is shocking after being brought up on other JRPGs that boast swords as big as BP CEO Tony Hayward’s yacht. In general, Wander has loose movements that seem to lack the regimen and training of other adventure heroes.

Let it be said though, the man can climb. Leaping from ledge to ledge like some kind of spider monkey, this seems to be where Wander’s confidence and abilities shine.

Negative space in my narrative

Wander comes to the temple seeking to revive Mono, a girl who was sacrificed because she had a “cursed fate”. Beyond that, their histories are shrouded in ambiguity. I found this frustrating at first (in an age where the games backstory whacks you over the head through obtuse dialogues and game manuals), but as I played SotC, I found myself imagining and filling in the gaps of dialogue with possibilitiesa.

Wander has obviously committed some kind of taboo, as evidenced by the masked, authoritative and equally mysterious men are pursuing him, to save Mono, and now signed a deal with the devils of the land to revive her. His determination and dedication to save her is incredible. Were they family? Friends? Lovers? What was the cursed fate and sacrifice all about? Where and how did Wander get that sword?

This determination ultimately leads to his unwinding. His body degrades and zombifies with each Colossus he kills, and although that gave me emotional pause, Wander’s resolve hardly wavered. The whole game he had a calm collectedness about facing his task that was as cool as the blue of a Colossus’s eye.

As scraggly as Wander appears, his courage and willpower makes up for any lack of physical strength. He’s a strange combination of an “ordinary” person and unyielding hero. And I mean “ordinary” like you and me ordinary. Not like, “oh whoops, you werejust a normal boy, but look you have a Triforce on your hand, so congratulations you’re a hero,” but instead, “I fall, I’m foolish, I’ve obviously made mistakes, and am trying my hardest to make amends with myself and my life”. That’s human. That’s an ordinary person.

The trusty steed

Wander would not be Wander without his relationship with Agro. He depends on and cares for Agro. He needs Agro to traverse the land’s great expanses, and can call for Agro to come near (which turns out to be incredibly helpful in boss battles). Agro is the one small aspect of the game that shows Wander is not completely independent, and like everyone else, needs someone or something to support them.

His relationship with Agro is the ongoing example that Wander has an ounce of compassion for something outside of Mono. The relationship with Agro seems to bring balance to what otherwise, and still very well could be, a blind murdering spree of the Colossi with a single-minded focus on the girl.

All-in-all, Wander is a character I won’t soon forget. But I think the blank canvas of a backstory that SotC presented really allowed my perceptions of him to shape his character for me. So what’s your Wander like? Is he like mine? Did you have a similar experience with him, or different?

Meghan Ventura is Senior Editor/Social Media Coordinator at MyGamer.com, and writes about Japanese video games and culture at her blog KanjiGames. Follow her on Twitter: @meghanventura. She will talk your head off about SotC. You have been warned.