Larian Studios Forums Dragon Commander Dragon Commander - General A theory of mine... (Contains Spoilers!)

Alright, so after I played through Dragon Commander the first time I started trying to piece the lore together with what I knew from when I played Divinity II a few years ago, when my brother first started his own playthrough of Divinity II. While watching him play, I started to make a few connections here and there and that quickly ballooned into one, giant theory.

Spoilers from here on, last chance! Don't forget to put on your tinfoil hat.


I believe the Dragon Commander is the Patriarch.
Quite a leap of faith there, you say, but on closer examination it really starts to fit together really well and I'm damned certain that this was an intentional trail to allow fans a chance to piece it together themselves.

Firstly, let's start from the top with the most important piece of symbolism we know about the Patriarch - his name. Google defines the word as,



For the Dragon Commander, both of these are accurate. We know that the Dragon Commander seems to be the first Dragon Knight, making him the founder and simply by comparing the capabilities of the Dragon Commander and the Dragon Knight from Divinity II we easily know that he is the most powerful. If Maxos and the Dragon Commander worked together to create all the other Dragon Knights, then that means that you could also class him as the father of all Dragon Knights. It's the perfect title for him to choose after it, even more so if you see the Emperor as being the father of the Empire of Rivellon - and you could easily say the Dragon Commander was the Patriarch of the Empire. When asked if that is the Patriarch's real name, he answers - "No, it is merely what I was called by the peoples of this earth." If the Dragon Commander is the founder of the Dragon Knights, then they could certainly call him Father - or Patriarch.

From what the Patriarch says after, though, "My name cannot be uttered here, for it is itself a spell of creation that would give different shape to these surroundings and would spawn new unheard-of species.", there is a noticeable difference in power between the Dragon Commander and the Patriarch. I believe the Dragon Commander has gained a lot of power with time, growing stronger and more powerful with each year till he reached the point where he rivalled the original dragons themselves. One thing that everyone should remember is that the Dragon Commander is half Dragon - Aurora was a full blown dragon. The Dragon Knights aren't descended from Dragons the same way the Dragon Commander is - they seem to be derived from the Dragon Commander without being his descendents (more on that later, too). If he is half-Dragon, then it makes sense that he would eventually reach the same power as them as he aged.

Some of you might be wondering where the jetpack has gone - but if you remember, Maxos has all Corvus derived technology destroyed. We know from Grumio that he learnt how to build it from his dreams, so that means that it was designed by the Raven and thus destroyed. And there is a certain irony in what the Patriarch said regarding unheard-of species - if the Patriarch is the Dragon Commander, then he himself is part of a once unheard-of species. The Dragon Knights themselves. As the first Dragon Knight, the one from which all others were created, he has created an entire race of people that had never been seen before.

Continuing our breakdown of the Patriarch's lines, when asked why he is hiding in the cave answers, "Hiding? Oh, no, that is not what I am doing. I am merely resting here for a while, another year, perhaps, or a thousand. What are millenia to me, anyway, but the blink of an eye?" To me, that implies that he is truly, truly ancient. If you look at the Divinity timeline, Dragon Commander takes place in 8800 AR, while Divine Divinity takes place a little after 1200, so that alone is ten thousand years. If the Dragon Commander is the Patriarch, then he's certainly old enough to fit the bill to be classed as ancient.

I believe that Maxos knew exactly which Dragon he was going to find when setting off to find one. The Patriarch says, "'Knowledge' was his answer to that question, 'power' was the truth his eyes betrayed. But I opened a gateway for him too, deep beneath the wastelands of Yuthul Gor. He was successful, as as he almost always was. Though now...But that is of no consequence. Nothing that humans do really is." If the Patriarch knew that Maxos was seeking to gain power, why did he proceed to open the gateway for him? How did he know that Maxos was usually successful? The answer to this is clear on thought - Maxos and the Dragon Commander were friends. The Patriarch doesn't mention why Maxos wants this power, but I personally believe it has something to do with bringing peace to Rivellon once again, but that's an entirely different theory. If Maxos said that to the Patriarch/Dragon Commander, then it makes sense that the man/Dragon who had once brought peace to the world would have no issue with opening the portal for him. Or perhaps...there is something else. But I'll mention that much later. But the last line, "Nothing that humans do really is." is difficult to explain - the Dragon Commander is half human. I believe that he's disillusioned, he struggled so hard to bring the world to peace only to have such a peace be shattered by things like the Damned One, among others. Maybe he's completely given up on his human side and decided to stay morphed for all eternity, we might never know.

When asked why he hasn't dealt with the Dragon Slayers, he simply replies, "I could destroy armies of them, but it is not my place to do so. I shall still live when all their bones are dust and their very civilisation lies forgotten." He says the last part almost as though he has witnessed such a thing first hand - In Divinity 2, or any of the other Divinity games, do you hear any mention of the Empire of Rivellon? I don't believe you do. And we all know the Dragon Commander can easily destroy armies, even more so when they don't have vehicles. But why is it not his place to do so? It sounds as though he has withdrawn from the world, no longer interested in the regular affairs of civilisation. Sort of how someone would go if they had watched everything they worked so hard to create collapse and now watches the smouldering remains, or maybe they don't see a reason to interfere anymore. More on this later, in the tinfoil section.

I'd put more here, but there is little information for us to go on and I don't yet have Original Sin, but I'll put in one last line. One line that some would think probably tears this theory apart and that is his introduction. "I am the Patriarch, of the Old Creator Race, true Dragon, one of few within the universe beyond the Great Chaos." Even a half Dragon could correctly call themselves that, even more so if there are few Dragons left inside the universe. It's been a little while, but Corvus states that the reason he wants the Dragon Commander is because he has the ancient blood - he is half Dragon. I believe that the demon knew that he would get more powerful in time, eventually getting close to the power of a full Dragon, and wanted to grab him while he still had the chance. Perhaps he doesn't even see himself as part human anymore.

Now, with the main part of the theory out of the way, have some smaller more nebulous theories attached to this one. These are mostly conjecture and need more research to be taken seriously.

Lohannah is the canonical wife.
This I admit, is based off a single line from a book in game, a book I can't remember the name of, but it says that the first Dragon Knights were Elves. Not the Dragonelves, but actual Dragon Knights. The Dragon Commander got his power from his mother, why couldn't his children get it from their father? After the war they would still be married, and I think it likely that they'd have children at some point. They'd no doubt be weaker than the Dragon Commander, since they'd only be quarter Dragon rather than half. Where they have gone I do not know, and it's safe to assume that Lohannah died long ago - maybe that's the reason the Dragon Commander/the Patriarch allowed Maxos into the Hall of Echoes. He'd open the portal for him, in exchange for Maxos attempting to bring his wife back for him similar to how the player brings back Ygerna. If that's the case, what happened? I don't believe Maxos died in the Hall of Echoes, he's bloody Maxos, he wouldn't die anywhere. In my opinion, the grave near the tower was a way to fake his own death so no one would pursue him. Perhaps the children died of old age, leaving only the Dragon Commander alive, unable to die because of his own power? I think we'll need to wait for a later game to figure this one out :p

The Engineer Demon is Corvus.
This one should be obvious for all to see, but I'll explain it if people want me to.

Anyway, I might be waaaaaaaay off, but if I am, maybe Maxos went into the Hall of Echoes to bring the Dragon Commander back? I don't know, only the developers know that. But this is just how I think things are in the story. I'm a huge fan of the Divinity universe, probably one of the biggest fans, and I'm very curious to see what the developers think of my little theory. I told my brother it and he agreed that it seems right, as did my friends that played Divinity II and Dragon Commander, so I think I might be onto something even if I am wrong.

Thoughts? I made this account just to post this, so I'd be glad to answer questions

I'm still leaning towards patriarch being a full dragon, but you do bring up lots of conspiracy theory connections I hadn't thought about before...

Bravo this is the very good theory!!!I was reading it with big pleasure,but unfortunately i should disagree with it due to one small point -"I am the Patriarch, of the Old Creator Race, true Dragon, one of few within the universe beyond the Great Chaos." and as Raze posted ,I think he is mentioned as pure dragon,and besides he was Divine One,most likely he was blessed by The Seven Gods too like wise protagonist of Divine Divinity

But if you theory is right,beware Larian sent the best assasins to hunt you down!!!Because you probably spoiled plot for theirs few future games-))

The Engineer Demon is Corvus.--Personally I would like to see why you`re thinking like that!

There is an engineer in D:OS who is related in some way to the one in Divine Divinity, so there may be more information to support or contradict a Corvis connection.

I also still think, that the Patriarch is still a Dragon, because he existed also in the first Divinity, where they didn't even mention the Dragon Knights, but I really like this article. A good text, a good theory and really cool ideas.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us !