Talk:Arisen/@comment-172.15.5.59-20131213052330

I'm not sure if the speculation of Sofiah being so far in the past makes sense. In the quest Lost and Found, Quina knows of an old woman who lives in the woods. Selene then tells you that "Grandmother" had died, recently. That would mean that Sofiah was alive even while the current Arisen was alive.

The Arisen can die - you die many, many times in this game and either Retry or use a Wakestone. There is nothing to suggest that the lack of a heart prevents the Arisen from dying, only that it prevents them from aging. Edmun and the Dragonforged both seem to be considerably older than your Arisen (assuming you are Quina's age) when they became Arisen and stopped aging. You only became Arisen when your heart was taken.

My assumption would be this. Sofiah became an Arisen AFTER Edmun made his deal with the dragon, but after she was already older herself. She stopped aging at that point, and perhaps was an "old" woman (let's say 60s) for many years. During this time, she gives more and more of her soul to her pawn, and eventually she dies, not of old age but some other reason.

She tells us that she was Arisen, but not that she ever faced the dragon. Quina tells us that the "witch" was a student of dragonlore. Selene says that her "Grandmother" was persecuted by "the Faith" and kept her ignorant to protect her. Perhaps Sofiah was learning all she could of the dragon in order to face him herself, but ended up dying (with no Retry button) to the minions of Salvation.