Part Two: The Seal System and the Queen-beast
Midgard is rife with conflict, and the war between the Empire (obviously evil because they’re called the “Empire”) and the Union seems to have no end in sight. One important thing to note about the Empire: they’re governed by the Cult of the Watchers, which was established by Brother so many years ago. But what exactly does this Cult do, and what are the Watchers?
Simply put, Watchers are otherworldly beings that can be summoned into the human world if you have the right power. Zero and her sisters were six such beings that had the ability to summon them because of the power of Song. In Drakengard 3, the Flower sisters could link their powers with their disciples to call forth an angel from the heavens to aid them in battle. While they were referred to as “angels” in the game, the Cult of the Watchers was established to worship these beings, and they gradually became known as “Watchers” instead.
During Drakengard’s time period, Brother is long gone, and the Cult of the Watchers has a high priestess named Manah, but more on her later. The war between the Union and the Empire is a terrifying one, as the Empire seeks to destroy the four Seals in Midgard in order to allow the Seeds of Destruction to appear in the world. The Seeds of Destruction are said to be tools left by the old gods, used to bring about the end of humanity. The Cult of the Watchers seek to destroy the Seals so that they can summon the Watchers into the human world.
Drakengard features Caim as the main protagonist. After his parents are killed by the Empire, he is weakened, but he finds a red dragon on the brink of death near his castle. By forming a Pact, Caim and the dragon Angelus become linked to one another and are rescued from their near-death states. Another important thing to note is that Caim’s sister, Furiae, is one of the four Seals preventing the Seeds of Destruction from appearing. Furiae is soon abducted by the Empire, because of course she is.
On his journey to rescue his sister and defeat the Empire, Caim aligns himself with a priest, a pedophile, a woman who eats babies, and a young boy named Seere. Don’t ask.
When the party finally finds Manah, they realize that Manah’s mind was actually being manipulated by the Watchers this entire time, and they were the ones commanding the Empire to destroy the Seals. Manah suffered from a lack of love and attention from her mother, thus leading to her vulnerable state of mind. It is also revealed that Seere and Manah are actually twins, and Seere was the favored child of the two.
After killing Furiae and breaking the fourth and final Seal, the Seeds of Destruction are revealed, summoning the Queen-beast and other grotesque monsters into existence. The Queen-beast is our final boss and, with the release of Drakengard 3, there’s been a lot of speculation about who she really is.
Clearly, the Queen-beast is a monster sent in by the Watchers, which means that she must have some link to the Flower. In Drakengard 3’s Ending C, Zero is completely taken over by the Flower and she spirals out of control. The Queen-beast being a consumed Zero definitely sounds like a plausible theory. Alternatively, the Queen-beast could also be the reappearance of the Flower after it had been sealed away in Drakengard 3’s Ending D. In this ending, Mikhail successfully defeats Zero and her sisters in yet another rhythm game boss fight, and we’re told by Accord that the Flower was sealed into another world. Or perhaps, another timeline.
Considering the similarities between the Queen-beast and Flower Zero boss fights (both are rhythm games), it’s possible that the Flower from Drakengard 3’s Ending D timeline got sent into an alternate timeline where the events of Drakengard take place.
Either way, Drakengard’s Ending E is the one we want to focus on here. In this ending, the Queen-beast is summoned, and Caim and Angelus enter a whole new dimension to fight her. The three of them have a showdown in 2003 Tokyo where they engage in a rhythm game boss fight. After successfully defeating the Queen-beast, a pair of fighter jets enter the scene and shoot down both Caim and Angelus. This marks the end of Drakengard, and brings us to the events of NieR.
Also, fun fact: it’s heavily implied that Caim and his sister were having an affair, but we don’t need to know about that.
