So I've spent the last few hours reading up on the full story of DKS because I still could not fully understand everything. I initially began by planning to lay out my interpretation of it and then ask questions about where I didn't understand, however as I began writing I made some possible realisations, so some of this is just theory.
Starting with Ygerna's execution, Damian quickly soul-forges with her so as not to lose her. Usually with soul-forging if one of the two dies, they both die. However as Ygerna must have been on her way to the Hall of Echoes something unusual happened, part of Ygerna's soul remained in Rivellon rather than being sent to the Hall of Echoes, this also meant part of Damian's soul went to the Hall of Echoes so he could not realise his full power without Ygerna.
Zandalor believes that as the soul-forging process worked differently here, if he can resurrect Ygerna then Damian's soul will go to the Hall of Echoes. However Zandalor's hypothesis is incorrect; Damian also wants this as some of his soul is with Ygerna in the Hall of Echoes so he can become complete and be reunited with her if she's resurrected. As a result he believes Zandalor wants Ygenra's soul destroyed.
It is known that Maxos --a Dragon Knight-- is the only person known to have entered the Hall of Echoes and, though he disappeared, perhaps a Dragon Knight can enter to bring Ygerna's soul back. Damian is worried that Zandalor will send a Dragon Knight to the Hall of Echoes to destroy Ygerna's soul so charms a Dragon Knight to stab the Divine. This sets in motion a series of events that almost eradicates the Dragon Knights.
As the game begins, both Damian and Zandalor seek out Talana, the last Dragon Knight; Damian to kill her to remove chance of Ygerna's soul being destroyed and Zandalor to convince her to go to the Hall of Echoes. Talana is mortally wounded by Rhode and finds an initiate Dragon Slayer. She senses that they have recently received the dragon memories but the ritual was not complete and so their mind is in disarray and able to receive the Dragon Knight powers. Talana gives the dragon abilities to the Slayer (similar to how Morgana gave them the memories), shows a vision, and then dies.
Damian was near at the time and as a result Ygerna's essense from her fractured soul. She sensed this vulnerable untrained Dragon Slayer/Knight's mind and saw an opportunity to get a Dragon Knight on her side. Damian finds the new Dragon Knight and somehow imparts some of Ygerna's essence on the Dragon Knight. Ygerna impersonates Talana and guides the Dragon Knight. Zandalor turns up and as he is under the illusion resurrecting Ygerna is the thing to do so tells the new Dragon Knight what needs to be done. This is matched by what Talana (actually Ygerna now) tells the Knight so they have no reason to suspect that this is what Damian wants.
The Dragon Knight is successful and so Ygerna is resurrected and then Zandalor is proved wrong. Ygerna then traps the Dragon Knight with the Divine as they will still be useful. In order for Damian to realise his full power it seems he needs more than just Ygerna however, he needs Behrlihn and at least one other. He goes off in search of the other and sends Ygerna after Behrlinn. Once again Ygerna manipulates the Dragon Knight, this time to restore Behrlinn. Now either Bellegar convinces the Knight otherwise or the Knight goes ahead anyway. Either way, the Dragon Knight is much more powerful than Ygerna realised and dispatches either her or both her and Behrlinn. Upon defeating them the hold over the Divine is lost and the Dragon Knight frees him.
Did I interpret this correctly or am I trying to make too much sonse of it?
Initially I did not think Damian was involved in Ygerna's scheme, even the Divine at the end of Eco Draconis says Damian "never realised you wanted to find her soul for resurrection not destruction." However the Divine got one or two other things wrong here, he also claims that Damian and Ygerna are invincible which we know is not the case as Ygerna is defeated in Flames of Vengeance. In
this thread Macbeth also says that the vision is probably shown by Talana, not Ygerna as claimed by the Divine, this would make sense as Ygerna would not know how it feels to control a dragon whereas Talana would.
We also know from Divine Divinity, that while the Divine One is named that, he is still human and not omnipotent, despite his power he is still capable of error. I would say after spending years trapped in that crystal he has become embittered and cynical and that explains his mistakes. It is also unlikely that he can see everything that happens in Rivellon from that plane so I suspect Damian or Ygerna showed him some of the events that happen the Dragon Knight and he interpreted them incorrectly.
The other reason that I firmly believe Damian was involved is because of all the opportunities he had to kill the Dragon Knight. He successfully managed to eradicate the former order with the exception of this young untrained Knight. There was no reason to let them live unless he had a use for them. One thing about Damian is that he is not stupid, and leaving the Dragon Knight live while thinking that their goal was to destroy Ygerna's soul would be insanely stupid. No, he's cold and calculating, he wants to convince the Dragon Knight that this is not what he wants in order to further manipulate them in to doing it.
When I finished my most recent play-through again I felt a sort of bitter taste in my mouth (though not as bad as what I felt when I fist finished Eco Draconis), I thought it was as if the story was just you resurrect Ygerna and then kill her. And that's it, what about Damian? What about all the loose-ends and what I perceived as plot holes, but upon writing this I have become more satisfied with it:
The story is not about saving the world from destruction like the standard cliché, it's not about vanquishing the evil Damian. The story is about this Dragon Knight who saves the Divine. The Divine is believed to have been killed, the Dragon Knights are believed to be betrayers, the world is being torn apart by Damian. And then from nowhere, this Dragon Knight appears and saves the Divine. They restore hope in the war and restore the reputation of the once glorious Dragon Knights.
If there's one thing this game continually tells you it's not to believe everything you read/hear and shows how different characters interpret and perceive things. Take Rhode for example, the first character you meet in the game, she has been brought up to believe the Dragon Knights are betrayers and evil. All her mentors and friends share this belief and she joined a proud order to help remove this threat. Imagine her shock when one of them is becoming accepted and in her eyes is only making things worse and in facts makes them worse by resurrecting Ygerna. Her interpretation of the events are that the Dragon Knight is not helping and cannot be trusted and until the hero saves the Divine there is nothing to convince her otherwise.
This game is far more deep, complex and less black-and-white than I first realised. Either that or my interpretation is as blind as Rhode's. I think taking all that into account, my next play-through will be much more satisfying in terms of story.
