This artifact is key in understanding your character’s origins and what happens at the end of Dragon’s Dogma 2.
As you play through Dragon’s Dogma 2 main campaign, you’ll eventually have to deal with the false Arisen, a man pretending to be the chosen one. He is able to fool everyone around him thanks to the Godsway, a strange stone that, apparently, lets him have the powers associated with an Arisen.
But what is that stone, and where did it come from? While the main quest aims to answer this, the game can be very confusing at times, since the goals of many NPCs (and even the ones of the main character) aren’t fully explained, but the Godsway is something we have answers for.
What Is The Godsway?
The Godsway is an artifact that allows anyone to control Pawns as they see fit. The false Arisen isn’t the only one using a Godsway, and in fact, you see one in use at the very beginning of the game: a whole village filled with Pawns is being controlled by a single Godsway.
Who Created The Godsway?
A man named Phaesus created the Godsway as a way to end the cycle of the Dragon. Since the Godsway is able to control Pawns (who are part of the cycle itself), it could potentially control the Dragon as well, ending the constant suffering caused by the giant red lizard.
Phaesus is a scientist from Battahl, and he joins forces with the queen regent of Vermund, Disa, to get his plan into motion. Their efforts didn’t work in the end, since the very thing that allows the Godsway to control Pawns is what makes it impossible to subdue the Red Dragon.
How Was The Godsway Made?
The Godsway was made from small blue crystals found in the shores of Battahl, which held strange magical properties. What Phaesus didn’t know about these crystals is that, instead of natural rock formations, they are the remains of previous Arisen.
It is actually not a coincidence that there are so many Arisen remains on those shores, since beneath the sea lies the fortress of Rothais, the Mad Sovran. He claims to have slain countless Arisen before you met him, and that those blue crystals are all that remains from their souls.
We have a deep dive into Rothais, his role in the story, and the endings of the game, in case you want to know more about that. For now, all you need to know is that the Godsway is able to control Pawns thanks to it being made from the souls of past Arisen.
Is The Godsbane Related To The Godsway?
The Godsbane is a sword capable of, as the name implies, killing a god. It is made from the soul of Rothais and reinforced with Wyrmslife crystals, and it is a required item to get any of the endings (although stabbing yourself is only required in one).
While there are similarities between both items (particularly being made from the souls of Arisen), the Godsbane is created willingly by a single Arisen for a particular purpose. There is a possibility that the Godsbane can also control the Pawns, but since no one other than the player uses it, we will never know.