Yorda

"" -Yordayoruda

Yordayoruda is the deuteragonist of the game and acts as the player's companion throughout.

She is a 16 year old girl with uniquely pale skin, taupe hair, and brown eyes. She wears a white dress paired with a translucent fichu which covers her shoulders, forearms, and upper back. The short sleeves of the dress are dark umber and the neckline is decorated with bold brown lines that swerve and converge to form a teardrop in the negative space, but vaguely resemble the shape of an ox's head in the positive space.

Unlike Icoe-koʊ and The Queen, Yorda'syorudas character traits are not often illuminated by scripted cutscenes, because she rarely takes significant action within them. If one solely examined the major plot beats of the game, they wouldn't find her involvement very compelling. But her personality shines through in gameplay behaviors and animation details. Meaning her character is best witnessed by observant and empathetic players along the actual journey.

A subsection of these behaviors subtly help to answer questions that naturally arise from the premise of the game: "Does Yordayoruda want to leave the castle? Is she unaware of Ico'se-koʊs intention to escape? Is she being forced?" This all becomes clear in cutscenes near the game's end, but for most of the game's first act, Yorda'syorudas passive nature in the story can beg these questions.

In the early game, Yorda'syorudas intentions are made the most clear when she chooses to run ahead of Icoe-koʊ, and always at moments where they are approaching a key area in their effort to escape. When first opening the Idol Doors that block Main Gate, East Arena, and West Arena, Yordayoruda runs forward with eagerness, knowing what each place means in terms of their progression, often before Icoe-koʊ does.

Additionally, the Shadow Creatures frighten her and she makes it clear she does not want to go back with them. If she notices one in a room, she will often gasp, and her body language changes to that of fear. She tenses and puts a foot behind her like she's ready to step back further if necessary. In this state, she always tries to stay close behind Icoe-koʊ if he is stationary.

We also know that Icoe-koʊ is someone she genuinely cares about, as she shows concern for his safety. If Icoe-koʊ trips on the edge of a fatal fall, Yordayoruda gasps, raising a hand to her chest in shock as he catches himself. And should he survive a fall, landing painfully on his butt, she rushes immediatley to his side to make sure he's okay. All of these small details build to an understanding that Yordayoruda is on the same page as Ico.e-koʊ

And these are just details you might see in the unpolished NTSC-U release, in regions beyond North America, Yordayoruda has an additional function as the game's dedicated hint system. This simutaneously shows Yorda'syorudas intelligence and willingness to assist in the escape effort, though both of these traits can feel handicapped by the amount of time hints take to activate (often 10 to 20 minutes).

We can infer that Yordayoruda dislikes or potentially fears swimming, as it is impossible to guide her willingly into a body of water. It has been proven via the New Game Plus co-op mode that Yordayoruda is programmed with swimming animations that begin if she falls into a pool of water, but control is wrenched from Player 2's hands as she swims swiftly to land.

This could potentially be a sign that, though she is capable of swimming, she may lack the endurance to keep herself above the water for very long. This is not unusual for Yordayoruda, who is very aware of her own limits and poor athletic ability.

Often she will judge a chasm to leap over, a steep ledge to step off, or a chain she can't climb, from a distance. And after a moment's thought, if she doesn't believe she can accomplish the task, she will shake her head while speaking the phrase:

She will even do this for ledge drops that don't truly cause her significant harm, but appear to be very far. A great example of such a height is the fall from the high up lever to the entrance floor in the East Arena Stair Room. Should Icoe-koʊ pull her over the edge she will be forced to follow and land with a swift yelp. Though she appears to land with little issue, she was too cautious to actually attempt it by herself.

A final key behavior that Yordayoruda exhibits is a fascination with the birds that nest throughout the castle. If one is nearby, her attention will immediatley be drawn to it, and she will often approach them, only to spook them into the air, where she watches their flight.

It is also notable that her dress is the same bright white as these birds, and the cage that Icoe-koʊ finds her trapped in resembles a nightmarish bird cage. This helps to create a loose symbolic connection; sparking the idea in the minds of players that, when Yordayoruda watches the birds fly away, she likely hopes that she too will 'take flight' and escape these high walls that trap her.

While there is very little to find that acknowledges Yorda'syorudas feelings about her mother, we can build a loose picture from very close readings of her dialogue and story events.

We can tell, for instance, that during the first attempt to leave via the Main Gate, after she is forcibly stopped by The Queen, Yordayoruda stays on her knees and does not speak a word in the direct presence of her mother. The Queen addresses Icoe-koʊ for the majority of the conversation, directing any sense of anger his way, rather than addressing Yorda'syorudas complicity in the escape.

A potential reason that Yordayoruda doesn't speak up, despite her own desire to be free of the castle, is that she fears such attention being directed at her. The Queen is giving her an oppritunity to avoid immediate consequence, while establishing her own parental authority to someone else. And Yordayoruda takes it. By staying quiet, she allows the responsibility to land squarely on Ico'se-koʊs shoulders, rather than sharing that burden with him.

When The Queen leaves, Yordayoruda seems absorbed in the emotions that linger after the encounter, saying:

She does not say this for the sake of Icoe-koʊ (she is fully aware of the language barrier between them), rather, she says it to herself. Perhaps because it is a thought so consuming and discomforting that she can't help but speak it.

Even so, a small reminder of Ico'se-koʊs kindness is enough to pull Yordayoruda out of her worries and side with him, despite knowing her mother's eyes are on her now.

This understated moment has another aspect to unpack, which involves the way in which Yordayoruda addresses The Queen in Japanese. The same line you read above, was originally:

The highlighted text can be translated into english as 'that person' and is a very indirect way of referring to someone.

To be clear, this is not unusual for the Japanese language, quite the opposite. I have been told by a Japanese language tutor that subject nouns are rarely heard in spoken Japanese. So long as everyone within the conversation is on the same page and you are not in a formal setting, it often doesn't matter how indirectly a subject is referred to. Depending on the context, the use of indirect subject is even seen as very polite.

A daughter referring to her mother as 'that person' would only imply something unusual about their relationship when the surrounding context is accounted for. And the context here really leaves it up in the air.

By using 'that person' Yordayoruda could be emotionally distancing herself from her mother. Maybe it's a small act of defiance in response to how her mother emphasized their familial tie in the prior conversation... Or it could just be a polite means of referring to someone who was just present in the room moments ago.

I don't know that anoyone can say for sure, but it's worth thinking about, because this is the only time Yordayoruda addresses The Queen across the entire game.

While they never made it into the final game, there were a lot of cut lines and scenes from ICO'se-koʊs original script. And one line from this early draft that tends to raise eyebrows is Yorda'syorudas assertion that The Queen is not her mother.

While very intruiging, this line is not only called into question by its absence from the final script, but also because The Queen and Yordayoruda share a very keen resemblance in the final game.

In fact, the proof is present in the texture files. As only the right half of The Queen's face texture is actually applied to her model (and then presumably mirrored for the other side). The left half of the texture is a monochrome copy of Yorda'syorudas, revealing its use as a basis for her mother's.

While there is still room to doubt The Queen's words and speculate on the nature of Yorda'syorudas creation/birth, the game seems to be doing everything in its power to visually tie them together.

Yordayoruda has a passive ability to interface with magical objects that Icoe-koʊ cannot. The main examples being Idol Doors and stone benches, though there are a few other objects that glow and activate at her approach: the pressure switches in both East and West Arena Stair rooms or the switch to summon the basket in the hidden room of Sluice, for example.

In the English manuals, this ability is loosely explained via the following passages:

Both translations use this explanation, strongly implying they are based on the same Japanese document. However, the Japanese manuals for ICOe-koʊ seem to follow a completely different text and structure, which excludes this info.
It remains somewhat debatable if this explanation should be applied to the final game, but at the very least it was an explanation proposed by Team ICOe-koʊ at some point in development.

And though the existence of a spirit world is never directly called to attention by the game, it does fit together fairly well with what we already know about The Queen and the nature of The Shadows as spirits that she controls.

It is also possible that, as a consequence of having one foot in the spirit world, the castle and The Queen have a physical pull on Yorda,yoruda, as seen during both attempts to escape through the Main Gate. But that is just speculation.

Early into the game, Icoe-koʊ falls unconscious and has a dream with coherent information and visuals that he could not reasonably conjure from his own mind. It is unclear who initiates this prophetic dream, but given that Icoe-koʊ has never been actively depicted as a proficient magic user, it seems most likely to be either Yorda'syorudas ability alone or a shared power between both parties.

Trivia