User blog comment:Soldierscuzzy/Got Questions? The Dragon's Dogma Developers Have Answers/@comment-97.93.102.19-20120624031441/@comment-5168516-20120624212837

People have specualted that the failed arisen becomes the base beast (at thestart, eating harpies, attacking cassardiss), however grigori himself is a reincarnation, the same each time, taht awakens when someone opposes the dragon. This fits with the cutscenes, as thedragon acts like a mindless beast until the sword in hand cutscene, wherupon the eyes glow red as if gaining intelligence and he starts to speak,rip the heart out and so forth. this fits the idea of the dragon flying off and roosting once an arisen ismade, as grigori is onlyinterested in testing the arisen specifically, while the dragon rampages in order to find a candidate for an arisen.