| “ | An isolated sand dune... It's tracks are well hidden... Along with its friend, it shakes the earth. | „ |
| ~ Dormin's cut line about Saru |
| “ | It hung from the ceiling, and you'd defeat it by dropping it to the floor. | „ |
| ~ Excerpt about the Griffin from Shadow of the Colossus Official Artbook and Guidebook |
The Monkey, nicknamed Saru by the developers, was a boss intended to appear in the 2005 video game Shadow of the Colossus.
Biography[]
Like the other colossi in the game, Saru would have been created by Lord Emon to contain the fragmented essence of the defeated evil Dormin. He set them all to wander the Forbidden Lands, destroying anyone that comes their way, so that Dormin could never be resurrected. When a young man named Wander trespasses in the Forbidden Lands and asks the disembodied spirit of Dormin to resurrect his deceased lover Mono, Dormin agrees under the condition that Wander kills all of the colossi (tricking Wander into releasing his essence so he may be reborn). Wander agrees, and sets off. Saru would have likely been found in the same cave system as the tenth Colossus Dirge, in Quadrant B4.
Saru would have been a large, humanoid colossus that would swing from stalactites in a large cave, and would have attacked by dropping down on top of Wander or throwing rocks. The player would most likely had to have shot the stalactites that Saru was gripping to make it fall, then attacked its sigil before it got back up.
Once Saru was dead, the fragmental part of Dormin will bring Wander back to the Shrine of Worship, where he will be prepared to face his next foe.
Though it is currently unknown why Saru was cut from the game, it was likely simply to lower the amount of foes faced, and the sixteen that made it into the game were simply better-liked.
Gallery[]
