Throughout the first half of Tales of Arise, the plot seems fairly straightforward, as the party fights against the Renans in an attempt to end the Crown Contest and the harvesting of Dahna’s Astral Energy. Towards the end of the game, more is revealed about the truth of the two worlds and the truth behind the Crown Contest.
With so much happening in terms of lore explanations and difficult boss battles, it’s easy for players to miss out on the important explanations that fully explain the world players have been fighting to save. Here’s the ending and true story of Tales Of Arise explained.
***** This Article Contains Spoilers For Tales Of Arise *****
The History Of The Worlds & Astral Energy
When both Rena and Dahna were created, they were supposed to be one world. Due to some unexplained issue, the worlds were actually created as two, with their Astral Energy not being completed and separated between the two planets. While the Astral Energy on Dahna was mostly stabilized, the Astral Energy of Rena was destabilized, gaining sentience and becoming The Great Astral Spirit.
The Great Astral Spirit craved Astral Energy and consumed just about all of Rena, leaving only a piece of the husk of the planet. It then set its sights on the planet of Dahna, craving its Astral Energy to make the planets one through Dahnas consumption into the Great Astral Spirit. Instead of directly attacking Dahna, the great Astral Spirit used the creatures it made on Rena to carry out its will.
Renans & Lenegis
The creatures of Rena, known as the Helganquil, went to Dahna and abducted those who could wield Astral Energy, taking them to the space station of Lenegis. From here, they convinced the people they were Renans, and that the ability to wield Astral Energy separated them from the Dahnans. As time went on, these people began to believe they were Renans.
As Rena was hollowed out, these new Renans lived only on Lenegis, believing they would return to their planet at the end of the Crown Contest. Ultimately, these people were just Dahnans and were inadvertently carrying out the will of the Great Astral Spirit through the creation of a new Sovereign and Maiden.
Alphen’s True Identity & The Renas Alma
Due to the amount of Astral Energy on Dahna, the Great Astral Spirit needed an object of great Astral Energy to control the Astral Energy of Dahna to steal it, this being the Renas Alma. The Renas Alma would need to be activated by a Sovereign and Maiden, and through the ceremony, would drain all the Astral Energy from Dahna, killing the planet and everyone on it.
Three hundred years before the events of the game, Alphen was abducted and taken to Lenegis, being made into a Sovereign in the lab. The Maiden, Naori, was also created in a lab and saw the future upon beginning the ceremony. Trying to stop the destruction of Dahna, Naori destroyed the Renas Alma, put the mask on Alphen, and put him in an escape pod to go back to Dahna. Through a malfunction with the ship, Alphen slept for 300 years, with the mask repressing his memories of all that happened and who he was.
The Crown Contest
Still in need of the Renas Alma to consume the Astral Energy of Dahna, The Great Spirit influenced the Renans on Lenegis to begin the Crown Contest. This contest would have the contestants draining the Astral Energy from Dahnans, hollowing them out, to power up their individual cores, with all five cores needing to be powered with an incredible amount of Astral Energy to reform the Renas Alma.
Every few years, a winner of the Crown Contest was decided and sent to Rena, with the contest restarted with new lords to keep gaining more Astral Energy. Those who reached Rena were experimented on in an attempt to create another Sovereign, with the only person not mutating into a monster being Volhran.
Shionne & The Thorns
Shionne is a descendant of Naori, the Maiden to Alphen, 300 years ago. The Thorns were a curse that awakened in her, most likely from the Great Astral Spirit after Naori interrupted the ceremony with the Renas Alma to save Dahna. The power of the Maiden, along with the Thorns curse, were both passed down through the generations, both keeping each other dormant until Shionne’s birth. At the end of the game, Alphen is able to destroy the weakened Great Astral Spirit and, with it, the curse of thorns it placed on Noari’s bloodline, freeing Shionne.
The New World
In the final confrontation with the Great Astral Spirit, Alphen pleads with the Astral Energy of Dahna to help and absorb the Astral Energy of Rena. Showing some sentience, Dahna absorbs Rena, creating the one planet that was originally supposed to be made. With this union, the Astral Energies from both planets became one new planet and are finally stabilized, with Renans and Dahnas living side by side on the new planet, with the truth of them all being Dahnans soon to spread.