Wander

No explicit information about the sword's background is given in game; However, Dormin's apparent familiarity with it and its name using the same term for "ancient" that is used for the Ancient Lands suggests the latter being its place of origin.

Just prior to the events of the game, Wander, having being told of Dormin and the Ancient Lands by Lord Emon, stole the sword to enable him to use the "forbidden art" in hopes of resurrecting Mono.

The sword has the ability to "gather light" and show the location of active colossi by holding it up in the sunlight to activate this ability. The light will scatter when he is pointed away from the colossus' location, but those points of light will gather when he aims at the right direction. When near the colossus, these beams of light point out the magic sigils on a colossus' body.

The sword is fairly small, but like the other two swords of the game, its power in killing a colossus increases as Wander's strength does. In the normal difficulty, with both the Cloak of Force and either the Mask of Power or the Mask of Strength equipped, the Ancient Sword becomes equivalent in power to the Queen's Sword. The reason the Queen's Sword was created was because considering in the hard difficulty clothing items focus on defensive abilities, it would otherwise be impossible to get a sword of such power. The Ancient Sword is the only sword seen in cutscenes, regardless of the previous weapon that was equipped (with the exception of the cutscene that follows absorbing a colossus' spirit).

Wander has shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair that is accessorized with a blue headband, as well as blue-gray eyes. He wears a short-sleeved shirt that varies in shades of brown, and over it sports a cloak with a symbol resembling the major sigils on the colossi. His arms are wrapped in bandages and blue wrist-guards. He also dons knee-length shorts that are a faded green and blue sandals with shin-guards. On the left side of his waist, he wears a scabbard which holds the Ancient Sword.

The Ancient Lands are a vast expanse of open plains, narrow passages, large deserts, and thick forests. They are the setting for Shadow of the Colossus, and almost the entirety of them is open to explore right at the beginning of the game. The sixteen colossi, the physical manifestations of the sixteen pieces of Dormin, are dispersed throughout; the Ancient Sword is used as a guide in sunlit areas to point the way to the next colossus.

The Shrine of Worship sits in the center of the Ancient Lands. The only way to reach it - and to reach the Ancient Lands at all - is by a long, thin bridge that extends from the Shrine all the way to an adorned entrance at the top of the northern cliffs. The Ancient Lands consist of many unique and varied locations. Some are rugged and harsh, while others are lush and beautiful. Certain areas are home to the colossi and can be hard to navigate. Lakes, rivers, deserts, forests, mountains, plains, and the ruins of an ancient civilization are just some examples of the landscape.

It is a massive structure located near the center of the Ancient Lands. It serves as the hub of the game, as Wander is returned to the Shrine after he defeats a colossus.

Even though the Shrine is in the center of the Lands, it is the first area that Wander actually sets foot in, as the only entrance to the Lands is an enormous bridge that spans halfway across the Ancient Lands that leads directly to the Shrine.

There are two main areas in the Shrine. The first area Wander enters is a cylindrical room with a lengthy, spiral ramp winding around its edge, which Wander walks down to get to ground level. This room also contains a shallow basin of water. In addition to being important to the plot, the basin is where all Time Attack rewards will show up once unlocked.

The second area is the main hall of the shrine, containing the altar where Mono is placed, the idols representing the sixteen colossi, a balcony that overlooks the land to the north, and a great sunlit aperture in the ceiling of the main hall where Dormin talks from. A gecko also makes its home in the aperture.

Mono is the deceased young woman whom Wander brings to the altar in the Shrine of Worship.

Mono is a beautiful woman with long, dark hair. She wears a long-sleeved, lilac dress, and no footwear. Both Wander and Mono were designed with long hair from the start of the design process. Her long, dark-brown hair worked as a contrast to Ico's Yorda, who has short, light-brown hair. At the very beginning of the game, she donned a light-brown cloak that covered her entire body.

Mono initially appeared pale, but with each colossus defeated, her body grows brighter, hinting at her resurrection progress.

After Wander arrives at the Shrine of Worship, he tells Dormin that she was sacrificed for she had a "cursed fate", and that he wishes for her to be revived. It agrees on the condition that he destroys the idols in the Shrine of Worship, by using the Ancient Sword to defeat their sixteen colossi incarnations that inhabit the Forbidden Lands.

With each colossus slain, Mono's voice becomes more audible and clear in the visions that Wander experiences before his return to the Shrine of Worship. At one point, she is seen getting up in a dream after Wander kills the eighth colossus.

Dormin communicates with Wander both through a large sunlit aperture in the ceiling of the Shrine of Worship and during colossus battles where they provide Wander with occasional hints.

After Wander lays Mono down on the altar and vanquishes five shadow creatures, Dormin reveals themself to him, apparently surprised by the fact that Wander possesses the Ancient Sword. After learning that Wander wishes to revive Mono, Dormin states that it is possible with the use of his sword by destroying the idols that stand in the Shrine of Worship. However, they can only be destroyed by slaying their incarnations, the colossi. Dormin also warns Wander that the price of reviving Mono may be heavy. After Wander comments that it doesn't matter, they make a deal: he slays the sixteen colossi and Mono will be resurrected.

Each time a colossus is killed, several black tendrils emerge from the fatal wound and embed themselves in Wander's body. It soon becomes clear that these tendrils are the once-separated fragments of Dormin, imprisoned within each of the sixteen colossi. The colossi are the bones and muscles that form Dormin's body, and the shadow is the blood that flows through it. When they're all united, they become Dormin.

Agro is a very loyal horse to Wander, and it is quickly apparent that the two have been together for a long time. After each colossus is slain, Wander awakens in the central Shrine where Agro is seen galloping in a few seconds later. Agro's speed aids Wander in many battles, either by keeping him from harm (versus the 9th and 10th colossi) or by allowing him to catch up with a fast-moving enemy (13th).

Wander is always quiet, he doesn't talk, he just focuses on hunting the colossus down, all of them.

Implied Devotion: He braves the dangerous and forbidden Ancient Lands armed only with a stolen ancient sword. His sole motivation is bringing the girl, Mono, back from the dead.

Deceived and Desperate: He appears incredibly trusting or gullible, striking a dangerous pact with the entity Dormin without questioning the consequences.

Moral Ambiguity: As the game progresses, he transforms from an empathetic youth into a ruthless assassin, illustrating the psychological effects of single-minded obsession.

Tragic Descent: With the death of each colossus, Wander is physically corrupted by dark energy—his skin grows pale and he begins to grow horns. Ultimately, he serves as a pawn to resurrect a dark power, fundamentally altering his own fate and identity.