Grigori

"Take up arms, newly arisen. For my kind do not heed the toothless"

"Dragons are creatures wreathed in mystery. Though they have appeared a handful of times in the long history of the continent, it is still not clear how they are born or what brings them to attack men’s civilizations. The small amount of knowledge that has been gleaned from their sporadic attacks reveals little more than the facts that dragons possess dreadful power and are intelligent enough to understand human speech. Dragons appear without warning, sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds of years apart, bringing chaos in their wake and destroying men and nations without distinction.  Their actions are inhuman and atrocious, but given their high level of intelligence, it is hard to imagine that their violence is without purpose. Many times in the past have they brought the world to the edge of destruction, but they have never completely wiped out mankind.  In every age that they appear, the dragons commit a short-lived but ferocious assault upon the world. Then they cease their attack and alight atop a mountain or other visible location, as if waiting for something. Given these strange actions, it is possible to think that the dragons are fulfilling some sort of role or duty, serving some greater function in the world, yet at present there is simply not enough evidence to make any sort of theory about the dragons’ purpose. It is also clear from past records that the number of monsters in the world seems to sharply increase around the time that a dragon appears. This could be nothing more than coincidence, but if it is somehow an effect of a dragon’s imminent appearance, then this would be another example of dragons’ peculiar place in the natural order of the world."

- Capcom officical description

Offensive



 * Grigori's heart is the primary weak spot, which must be exposed and struck in order to inflict significant damage.
 * Grigori cannot be defeated until a final blow is landed on Grigori's heart by the Arisen.
 * Immune to almost all debilitations except Poison.
 * Strong against Fire- and Holy-enchanted weapons and spells.
 * Weak against Dark-enchanted weapons and spells.
 * Climb up the Dragon's legs and attack his heart. For climbing tips, see Climbing.
 * The ideal climbing position to attack the heart is at the bottom-left, where The Dragon cannot grab the Arisen. Sparkly yellow-orange blood spews forth when damage is being inflicted. The Dragon will stay grounded once sufficient damage is dealt.
 * During The Dragon's fiery dive attack, it is possible (with impeccable timing) to grab onto him as he nears the ground. If successful, the Dragon will hover high in mid-air and remain aloft. Climbing up and striking the heart will cause him to crash to the ground. The Arisen will not take fall damage from the resulting impact.


 * Class specific
 * Consider hiring or being a Sorcerer or Mage pawn with Dark Affinity.
 * Mystic Knights : Abyssal Anguish is extremely effective in conjunction with Abyssal Trance (or have a pawn cast Dark Affinity).
 * Consider preparing with dark based spells with great power such as Great Sacrifice (Magick Archer), or High Maelstrom (Sorcerer).

Defensive

 * The Dragon's ultimate attack is his fireball barrage. Grigori sits up on his rear legs and after a fairly long charge time, releases a fireball that can one-hit-kill the Arisen. After the fireball hits the ground, it explodes and breaks up into three weaker fireballs. The warning sign for this attack is both that he rears back on his hind legs and his mouth will begin to glow white while charging.
 * If The Dragon flies away beyond the player's attack range, mount the Ballistae located around the battlefield to ground it, aiming for the heart. Beware that The Dragon will assault the Arisen while mounted on the turret, destroying the Ballistae.
 * Be careful when clinging to the Dragon when he flies up; the Arisen can fall to his or her death, even with a full stamina bar.

Exploits

 * The Dragon can be slain with a single Maker's Finger arrow before the battle has even begun. At the confrontation in the Tainted Mountain Temple fire the Maker's Finger at the heart while The Dragon is awaiting the Arisen's decision. Watch the video on the right for a demonstration. Note that by exercising this strategy the Arisen will forfeit all item drops and rewards for this quest, and pawns will not gain Bestiary knowledge of The Dragon.
 * Even without a Maker's Finger arrow, advanced players may successfully slay The Dragon prior to the battle on the bridges, flight, and summit battle. After the initial flight and chase, and the onscreen prompt to "Fight Back", use four strength and or magic boosting items (such as Conqueror's Periapts) and inflict as much damage as possible to the Dragon's protruding head. When its health is at 1 HP, strike or shoot the heart to slay it. Success here will preclude the need for the party to run across the bridges, fire the ballista, climb up the Dragon's back inflight, and battle in the arena.

Story
Caution ! Content below contains spoilers

The Dragon appears, creates an Arisen, then takes refuge in the Tainted Mountain, waiting for the current Arisen to challenge him. You encounter him in the aptly named quest, "The Final Battle". Upon completing the quest Deny Salvation, your beloved will disappear from the world, as he or she has been captured by the Dragon.

Upon reaching The Dragon, the Arisen is given a choice. The first is to sacrifice your beloved - upon doing so the Dragon will agree to leave Gransys for a time but eventually return some years later, and grant you immortality and the Dukedom of Gransys for as long as the Dragon remains alive. It is then revealed that Duke Edmun Dragonsbane took this bargain and lied about slaying the Dragon - those that lost their hearts to the Dragon remain immortal until the Dragon is slain. You know that Edmun Dragonsbane is immortal, because Iola, in Cassardis, has said that he is the same age she is, and she is in her eighties.

Your second choice is to fight the Dragon. Your beloved is given the chance to escape as the room is destroyed, and you and your pawns escape its wrath to a more favorable location to fight. Eventually the Arisen scales the Dragon to reach where the Dragon keeps your heart, you stab it, causing you and the Dragon to tumble to the ground... and the battle is continued until the end.

Once Grigori is slain, all remaining Arisen have their hearts returned to them and they become mortal once again - the Dragonforged turns to dust immediately, having escaped death for many years, whilst Duke Edmun becomes a frail old man.

Unfortunately, the Dragon's death does not mean the salvation of Gransys. The Everfall located beneath Gran Soren opens in its entirety, destroying most of the city and unleashing more ferocious monsters upon the world as well as The Long Night, an eternally darkened sky. It's clear at this point that the death of the Dragon does not mean the end of the Arisen's challenging journey.
 * See also: Dragon's Dogma World and Lore

Pawn Bestiary Knowledge
For full information, refer to the Pawn Bestiary Knowledge page or the according section on the Drake page.

Enemy Specific :


 * Weak to Dark.

In addition to witnessing these techniques, it is necessary for Pawns to participate in killing Grigori a total of three times either with their own Arisen or while travelling with others.

Quotes
The End at the Beginning Harbinger of Destruction Newly Arisen Deny Salvation The Final Battle
 * "Come, Arisen... forge in my fire the next link in the endless chain..."
 * "Now choose, flee or step forth. Take hold of what lies beyond. Claim mastery o'er the eternal ring!"
 * Latin, no subtitles.
 * "If you would face me... take up arms, newly Arisen!"
 * "Take up arms newly Arisen... for my kind do not heed the toothless."
 * "Newly Arisen, walker of the path... take up arms. To me... come to me..."
 * "The rantings of an upjumped zealot make for tedious listening. His ilk serves no role in what is to come. Only my death will staunch the flood of destruction... a task still far beyond your means."
 * "If you would face me, seek me out and I shall allow it. But heed the zealot's lesson well- when the weak court death, they find it."
 * "Until then, I shall hold your little keepsake safe. Your Dragonforged will speak for my diligence in that. The choice falls not to me, nor to the whims of fate... it is yours alone."

Introduction Making the choice Battle
 * "What is your purpose here, Arisen? If you sought to live you had naught but run and hide yourself away. But then, tell me, child of man... what does it mean to live in truth? To wage war against the passing days? To pray to the unseen for a few breaths more? To raise grand cities from stone, and spawn new life in turn? Mankind has done this, yes, and more. But is the tapestry you weave truly of your own design?"
 * "Their kind is easy to fathom, they go on living from simple fear of death. But not mankind. Some welcome the end with arms outstretched, while others come to face death incarnate, arms in hand. I ask again, what is your purpose here Arisen?"
 * "One path to your survival, lies in my defeat. Still my heart, and you stay the coming end. Another path before you... is to offer up that which you hold most dear. Abandon all delusions of control."
 * "For the price of a single life, I shall leave this land in peace. As my "vanquisher", the duchy would bow to you. Wealth and power are sweet anodyne for heartache. You'll not gainsay my terms are more than generous. If it matters aught, the man who rules this land now won that honor through just such a bargain."
 * "The decision is yours, Arisen. Now... choose!"
 * "Though I called you here to me, It was ever your own feet, your own will that brought you."
 * "And now again, the choice is yours, Arisen."
 * "Offer up the life of your beloved, here and now, and you shall live as sovereign of this land. Your heart will remain ever in my safekeeping, and with it your mortality."
 * "Take up your tiny barbs of steel and fight. And I shall respond with all of my being."
 * "Or, if you would stand against me now, as at the outset of your journey, I shall allow it."
 * "Then you will renounce your bond with this human and make an offering of their death? I shall not judge you, Arisen, for weakness is your nature as a child of man."
 * "I ask this final time. Will you turn and leave this place?"
 * "Doubt still holds you... hmmm. Very well. We have time, you and I."
 * "You would face me, then? Tis a fool's choice, Arisen. But better fool than craven. I knew your mind ere you came... Still, I ask this final time. Arisen, will you stand and fight?"
 * "Your choice is made, Arisen! As you have willed it, so shall it be!"


 * "Show me your power, Arisen. Awaken now in full! Still my heart and lay open the path beyond."


 * "This is not fate, nor duty's call. This battle is your own, waged of your own free will."


 * "If you lack the strength to stay my fire... to stay the fated ruin... then all shall scatter as ash."


 * "Now, come, Arisen!"


 * "Heed well this place, Arisen. Know the frailty of the works of man. This hold once stood proud and firm... twas the foolish decision of a man too weak that brought it down."


 * "Fight! Cling to life!"


 * "Pitiable wingless human... return to the earth!"


 * "Your life... your very heart rests here within me!"


 * "Aye, reclaim that which you have lost... take back your life... the surge of blood that tethers you to this world... it awaits you, Arisen, yearning here within me..."


 * "The hour for turning back is past. The world will have its answer: you or me? Death, or life beyond!"


 * "If you would gain aught, give your all here and now! Such is the contest you have chosen!"


 * "Have you come so far to be stricken with cowardice, Arisen? You have chosen your path!"


 * "Aye, raise your weapon... your teeth of steel, your blood-red voice... show me your power Arisen! Prove yourself worthy of what lies beyond my corpse! Show that you possess the strength to still my heart. The will to do it. The soul!"


 * "There is naught beyond this moment for those who will not give themselves whole to their cause."
 * "Hollow vessel in the form of man, heed the will of your new master..." (When trying to possess a Pawn)


 * "Yes, this fire! This pain!"


 * "Slay me, and with me death itself. Stay the fires of destruction!"


 * "This battle you have begun, sits at the very heart of all creation. We are the axis about which the world turns, Arisen! Time itself flows with your footsteps!"


 * "Show that you possess the power fit to best me, or your world is forfeit unto ruin."


 * "Tis the will of the master that shapes the soulless pawn, you've trained them well, Arisen."


 * "Come, Arisen. If you are truly awakened unto the world, you shall weather the fires of perdition unscathed!" (When charging Flame Eruption for the first time.)


 * "Surpass me, if you would truly be the one to take up the endless chain."

Death
 * "Yes... I remember now. This sensation, this pain... I know it well. The hurt you visit upon me is the selfsame pain I once inflicted. This battle is mine, just as it is yours. It is aught I began long ago."
 * "The one you refused to offer up shall die as sure as the rest!"
 * "A false hope, fallen short..." (Player dies)
 * "Then I must seek another ready to awaken... ready to walk the path to its end." (Player dies)
 * "Ugh... stubborn child... whate'er meaning life holds... it makes men deaf to all reason. Heed me well, Arisen. In my death, you've won a future for this world... but what that future spells for you... for all men... is a truth you'll find staring back from this world's utmost depths..."
 * "Arisen! You have earned back... what is yours... your life belongs now to no other. You've won it by rights... it is yours to use or cast away as you see fit. Remember that..."

Dragons in culture

 * Grigori is the name given to the angels referred to as "the watchers" in the Books of Enoch in Biblical mythology. The Dragon's winged appearance, its resistance to Holy magick, and the image displayed in the loading screen (revealed in full during the credits) give it a strong angelic motif within the mythology of Dragon's Dogma.
 * European Dragons have always been depicted as the ultimate evil, but have nevertheless always been used to transcribe challenges or hardships. One example of this is the classic tale of a knight saving a princess from a dragon - this theme is referenced somewhat in rescuing the Arisen's beloved from the Dragon.

Speculation

 * Grigori's speech: "Yes... I remember now. This sensation, this pain... I know it well. The hurt you visit upon me is the self same pain I once inflicted. This battle is mine, just as it is yours. It is aught I began long ago." likely refers to that Grigori himself was once an Arisen who had been defeated by the Seneschal and had been in turn transformed into a dragon. This implies that becoming a dragon had made him forget his own past until the moment of his demise, making him a proud warrior whose will was defeated, broken and taken by superior force rather than a mad abomination and architect to the Arisen's misery, and as much a victim-- more so, even-- than any other Arisen.
 * Refer to the Arisen page for more possible speculation on the Arisen Timeline, and on characters that may have faced Grigori.
 * The Elysion refers to the Dragon as "Grigori", a name which the Dragon also mentions during the Wyrmspeak (Latin) incantations used to steal the player's heart. It is therefore assumed that Grigori was his name when he was once human.
 * Some refer to the language of the Dragon's as "Wyrmspeak" (represented in-game as Latin). Grigori speaks Latin during the first encounter with the Arisen, then later speaks in English. It is possible that the Arisen may be able understand Wyrmspeak through their link to the Dragon.