Ico/WMG

The Queen is Mono
After the events of Shadow of the Colossus, Mono is revived, and (knowing it's power firsthand) begins to use the "shadow energy" inherently found in the lineage of horned boys as a means to bring Wander back to her. Like Wander before her, her physical form is distorted after handling so much evil energy. During the events in Ico, she may still be trying to revive Wander, or she may have long since abandoned that goal.

The Vibration in The Controller When Holding Yorda's Hand
I've seen at least one review interpret it as Yorda struggling to keep up, but this troper likes to think of it as Ico's heart beating faster when he holds her hand.

Yorda freed Ico from his Sarcophagus
Bruno de Figueiredo, in his classic Some Birds Aren't Meant to Be Caged essay on Ico, comments that the one piece of Ico's escape that's out of his control is the opening of his sarcophagus. From that initial break all else follows.

Presuming that event was random fortune is possible, but a weak cliche in a game that's all about well-done cliches. (Just as falling back on AI Is a Crapshoot is a weak way to explain GLaDOS' mental state in Portal. See my WMG entry for that game. It includes links to The Clone, The Cube and the Construct.)

There is one character who demonstrates power over the Castle in the Mist who has the motivation to give Ico his initial liberation. Giving that character freedom in turn is nearly Ico's next act. This cannot be coincidence, not in a minimalist game like Ico.

Freeing Ico is a leap of faith that he will then rescue her from her fate to be her mother's new body. Yorda makes many similar physical leaps of faith, attempting impossible jumps with childlike faith that Ico will catch her hand and pull her up.

Note, too, that the lyrics to the closing theme You Were There can apply equally to both main characters. Yorda rescued Ico just as much as Ico rescued Yorda.

Yorda was the Queen all along
Yorda was created/raised by the Queen as a new vessel for her spirit. Her scatterbrained activity with Ico trains him to care for her. His investment of time and effort when she's necessary to solve the puzzles and gates of the Castle in the Mists end up building a strong bond. A bond strong enough that Ico spurns the freedom of the boat when he reaches it and instead returns to rescue Yorda.

Ico was being trained and tested by the Queen for her protector in Yorda's body. Going by the dream sequence after Ico's incarceration Yorda wasn't even created until Ico was placed in the sarcophagus.

This Yorda was the air-head led around by the hand by Ico. The gate openings were performed by the Queen, not Yorda. Ditto the creation of the bridges in the air.

The Queen stated Yorda couldn't survive outside the Castle, and that Yorda's destiny was to be the Queen's new body.

The Castle's immense physical plant is on the verge of ruin. There are no servants or occupants to be served. In its current state it's merely a self-imposed prison of isolation for the Queen. If her long-planned transference to a physical body involves any weakness whatsover, however temporary, the Castle will fall to its own structural failures, or outside predators.

Note that Ico's sarcophagus was the sole remaining unoccupied. The current phase of the Castle's existence is coming to an end. Not a random one, but a long-planned and long forseen end.

Even if the Queen in Yorda's body has immediate full power and consciousness, why remain in isolation in an empty castle falling to ruin? Instead the Queen will get out and enjoy life. The best way to do this is with a new start that loses all contact with any taint associated with the Castle in the Mists and its Queen.

If she abandons all history with the Castle and its dark minions, then the Queen will need a new protector. One that's shown determination and cunning as well as dedication to protecting Yorda.

Ico's relationship with Yorda is carefully managed. Starting with the dream of the cage, to a limited path to finding her. Freeing her is the only step he can take after findin her. Protecting and shepherding her is vital to continuing in the Castle. He shows determination and skill to bring her to the main gate, where the testing is intensified. The door to freedom is slammed in his face. He's warned off, his mettle spurred by being told he's unworthy of Yorda.

Ico's separation from Yorda on the bridge to the land is the final test. A test, moreover, with no risk for the Queen. If Ico fails, or simply departs, then the Queen stays safe in the Castle in the Mists.

The Queen's final speech reveals all: "Silence, boy. You're too late. My body has become too old and won't last much longer. But Yorda's going to grant me the power to be ressurrected. To be my spiritual vessel is the fulfillment of her destiny. When next her body wakes, Yorda will be no more. Now put down your sword and leave. That is what she would want you to do."

That last statement is simple truth. If Ico departs now Yorda will be spared her ultimate fate while the Queen finds a new champion.

Once Ico proved his determination and loyalty to the form of Yorda by returning to rescue her, the Queen permitted him to triumph. Stabbing her with his sword, the sword she provided, permitted her to withdraw all the power she had stored in the physical environs of the Castle and imbue it into her new form as Yorda.

The Queen inhabited Yorda's body after being stabbed by Ico, rescued Ico, and is the Yorda on the beach in the scene after the End Credits.


 * This is unlikely to be true, but it's actually a bit interesting. Ico would make a pretty fantastic Dragon. He's incredibly tough as a kid, so with a bit of training odds are he'd be a formidable warrior when he grows up. And with the way that his people sacrificed him, well... let's just say the if the Queen as Yorda ever got ideas to rebuild her kingdom it's likely that Ico would find it easy to side with what he perceives to be his one friend rather then a group that saw him as something to dispose of.


 * I had a similar thought not long ago. Except, except the Queen was just a very lonely old witch trying to find a true friend. Yorda would be created when a new boy was tossed into the castle, and then used to test their willingness to think about others. However, none of them succeeded (either being selfish or failing), and their souls were made into the Smokemen to help create obstacles. Ico, however was the exception, and his compassion and loyalty to Yorda showed the Queen that there was, in fact, someone who could care for Yorda (her).

rajendra82 posted "Jove Hack, I think you've been playing too much Metal Gear Solid 2. Your post game analysis of Ico being used in a champion simulator is already used in that game. If Ico was meant to strongly bond with the girl, why would she not be taught to speak in his language. Also why send Ico off alone in a boat if the awakened form was already the queen. And why go through all this trouble with the little horned boy champion. That big strong knight who go the magic sword at the beginning of the game would be a much better champion, so the queen should have used him for the execution instead. I am sorry, but your theory is too convoluted for this game."


 * Lack of a common language aids bonding, believe it or not.
 * A big strong knight as conquering hero would attract more attention to the Queen as Yorda than she wants. Security through obscurity.
 * It's not a case of forcing Ico to bond. It's a matter of testing whether Ico will bond. Ico must demonstrate that, along with determination and resourcefulness to earn the position of Yorda's protector.
 * The queen's in dire straits. She has nothing to offer a big strong knight. Any advance promises would turn out to be as empty as the Castle in the Mists.
 * This big strong knight would then discard Yorda as useless after escaping the Castle. Look at how many players of the game failed to bond with Yorda and regard her in that light.
 * In any case, big strong knights aren't being delivered for incarceration in the Castle in the Mists. Just Ico. The queen has to take what she can get.
 * Remember, too, that Ico's was the last empty sarcophagus. She may well have had to rig this game in Ico's favor.

The queen has one last desperate throw in this game. Ico is it.

The Game was a hallucination.
Think about it. Ico is locked in the sarcaphogus. The plot contrivance which frees him is very thin. The adventure was actually born out of his mind, as his brain began to run out of oxygen. How could Ico know that Yorda would be at the cage? What is with those weird shadowmen, who never seem to notice you, unless you are in their way? Simple, Ico is dying of asphyxiation, and those shadowmen are part of HIS mind, HIS inner demons, after Yorda, who represents his innocence. The queen is his perception of evils, of his wrongs and those who wronged him. This evil is trying to replace his innocence (Yorda). The ending is when the coffin finally runs out of air, and Ico is breathing his last, and catches a glimpse of his angel of his dreams before leaving this world.


 * So it was All Just a Dream?


 * Lovely hypothesis, except Ico has air in the sarcophagus. There's an viewport we can see Ico looking out through. It's more than large enough to let him breathe.


 * Replace "asphyxiation" with "dehydration". That or the holes have clear covers on them we can't see reflecting for some reason.

The Queen and Yorda are Descendants or fragments of Dormin

 * It's quite obvious that Yorda and the Queen are Dormin's descendants or pieces of Dormin, just look at Dormin in Shadow of the Colossus and compare it to the Queen and Yorda in Ico.
 * I think it's more likely that Ico is just a descendant of The Wanderer (Wander/Wanda), since he . The Queen, on her part, has been collecting Horned Boys all this time and absorving the dark power of them, thus why she has magic and looks like she does.

The Queen had fallen out of favor with Dormin somehow, and when Ico fell out of his sarcophagus, Dormin saw an opportunity to inhabit and empower him.
This is the only in-universe explanation for several Plot Holes involving Ico's tenacity, up to and including his ability to climb any surface, run any distance, and dash at top speed while ignoring any kind of fatigue or starvation. Furthermore, after the scene at the bridge, Ico falls directly downward, presumably to his death in the ocean. Dormin's brought others back to life before (Wander repeatedly, culminating in his reincarnation as the first horned boy, as well as Mono at the end of the game), but bringing him back to life in the middle of the ocean wouldn't help much, would it, with that gate over the basement cave opening? So instead, he moves Ico's body to the top of a cage some distance away under the castle, so that Ico could jump, climb, and scurry back in. As for why he couldn't just grab another horned boy, well, they couldn't get out of their sarcophagus before they were shadowified.

Economic Analysis
From a thread on the GameFAQs Ico board.

onionring1988 posted at 3/2/2009 8:44 AM "Okay so I just beat this game.. btw.. Great game I loved it and it was truly a great piece of work.. I loved the art direction and style. Anyways..."

That's as much a part of the story as anything. The Castle in the Mists is portrayed as part of the Age of Legends, an Age on the verge of fading away.

Meanwhile, as the knights and their steeds show, a strong community continues elsewhere. The horses are magnificent and well trained. Such warhorses do not exist in isolation. Blacksmiths, horse farms, veterinarians, brood mares, tack, grooms, plowhorses, tack-makers, breeding stock, colts, mares, trainers, farmers to raise the grain, farmers to support the people supporting the horses, etc. The knights and their steeds can only exist as the pinnacle of a very large economic pyramid. The horses are the result of a centuries long breeding program.

[Edit: Additionally, horses require constant intensive care. All horses. Moderns do not appreciate that horse care was a 24/7 job, whether the horse was used or not. In fact, horses must be exercised or they fall ill.]

Note that even Ico's clothing is too good for a plain villager. Child of the local squire at the very least.

onionring1988 also wrote, "I am kind of confused on the whole premise of the game. I feel like nothing was really answered..."

The premise of the game is "Small boy. Big castle." Ico triumphed over the Castle in the Mists and its Queen, with Yorda's help.

onionring1988 continued, "maybe I did not pay enough attention but what do you think. Who is Yorda? What is her significance? How did she become human after being transformed to a shadow demon?"

You've asked the key question. Who is Yorda? The Queen calls Yorda her one and only beloved daughter. What kind of child could the Queen bear? Could a human girl grow to Yorda's age hanging in a cage? There's no hint of food, drink, or servants to bring them to Yorda.

Yet Yorda has enough physical presence to slow Ico when holding his hand. Enough real mass to weigh down pressure plates to hold open doors for Ico. Enough independence to defy the Queen. Enough humanity to be turned to stone, just as the Queen tried to do to Ico. Yorda was also a mistress of the Castle in the Mists, opening sealed gateways, destroying shadow demons, creating bridges from the air, opening the main gates, and finally drawing on the Castle to recreate herself and rescue Ico.

onionring1988 continued, "In the beginning when ICO got out of that statue thing... do you think everyone in his tribe or something got stuck in them and thus they are the shadow demons?"

The other sarcophagi contain horned boys imprisoned one by one over the years as they came of age. Only the last set of shadow demons had horns such as Ico's, the shadow demons Ico destroyed in the room with the sarcophagi.

onionring1988 finished, "and lastly. What did you think of the ending?"

The best possible outcome, given the rest of the game.

Ico and Yorda rescued each other and brought down the Castle in the Mists. No more horned boys will be imprisoned there. The Queen no longer exists as Queen.

Ico's sound. Yorda's alive in the outside world. They have each other, their freedom, Ico's resourcefulness, Yorda's faith, mutual determination, a good boat, and the wide sea. It's an ending full of triumph and hope.

While Ico's village may not welcome him back, he has enough fortitude that that won't matter.


 * ICO turns players into Anthropologists. - Chibi-Kibou


 * Quick comment... the other Smokemen do have horns. I think the only type that don't are the spiders. On the other hand, the burly ones also have snouts, whatever that might imply.