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As someone who has been waiting for The Last Guardian since its first trailer came out in about 2009, I had lost my hope in the game as of 2015 with rumors about the game being cancelled, but Ueda suprised us all and re-introduced the title with a wonderful gameplay trailer. As I watched the trailer in awe, I realized something. The boy had spoken Turkish, my native language and said “Hadi” – “C’mon” . This led to my Turkish theory of The Last Guardian. Please keep in mind that ancient Turks are from central asia, for my theory has connections to China and India as well.
Before I show the evidence, I must say that in both previous works of Ueda, fictional languages are used (there were rumors that the language in Shadow of the Colossus was a mixture of Japanese and English with reverse pronouncation but there is no proof) in a way that the players have no way of understanding what the characters are talking about without subtitles.
1. “Hadi”
When the boy was about to jump from cliff, Trico was visibly worried about him and the boy said “Aa hadi!” – “Aw C’mon” . The word “Hadi” is actually “Haydi” in Turkish but in slang, “Hadi” is used too. It makes sense that he says “C’mon” because they were probably through many things like this before as we can interpret from their relationship, and therefore the boy thinks that jump is something easy to do, so he says; “Aww you are cute but, C’mon, there no reason to be worried!”.
“Aa ha(y)di!” – “Aw C’mon!”
2. “Duygu”
Through the trailer, the boy is seen shouting at Trico, “Duygu” – “Emotion”. First of all, Duygu is a girl’s name in Turkish. Secondly in this puzzle game, the boy is supposed to be the mind – the logic of this team, therefore what is left to Trico is muscle power and… “Emotion“. The fact that Trico is an animal and acts according to its instincts and emotions strengthens this idea. However the boy is not aware of this fact, he still calls Trico “Duygu” like Wander called his horse “Agro” in Shadow of The Colossus. Therefore I started to theorize that Trico’s name is Duygu and this indicated one thing, Trico was female.
“Duygu” – “Emotion”
3. “Duygucuk”
When I told my friend about my theory, he watched the trailer too and warned me that the main character was also saying “Duygucuk”. After watching the trailer again I realized that he was right. In Turkish, it is possible to add “-cuk” to the end of a name, in a similar fashion to “-kun” in Japanese -if you are familiar through anime-. However this “-cuk” , makes the name cuter with a roughly translation to “Little Duygu”. This word is perfect for the boy to say just when he is petting Trico.
“Duygucuk” – “Little Duygu”
4. “Orda”
Another Turkish word, “Or(a)da” – “There” is heard when the boy wants Trico to jump across the cliff to the bridge. Actual word is “Orada” but the pronouncation is “Orda” in child slang of Turkish. In short words, this extends the evidence for the reason that the language used in the game is a derivation of Turkish, for there are some words that are not Turkish too, but maybe they are from another language?
“Or(a)da” – “There”
5. The Boy’s Appearance
The Boy’s clothes in the old trailers in 2009, were somewhat similar to the protagonists of Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, however in the new trailer, the clothes of the boy are more like buddhist monk clothes of our real world, not the clothes of the previous games. Also it is arguable that his appearance resembles a Turkic-Mongolian boy , a proto-Mongol.
6. The Evil Eye
In the trailer, Trico is unable to continue to tresspass the bridge because of the giant Eye structure there. It is as if the Eye magically wards off Trico. In Turkish culture, there are Nazars that are shaped like eyes, to ward off the evil eye. Not only that from the eye in the game it is possible to find another link to Turkish culture, we can also interpret that Trico, in its very nature, is an evil spirit. It may be not that Trico is evil, but its creation is of evil. This holds similarity to Ico, for Ico is sent to the castle because he has demonic horns, but in fact, he has a very kind soul. We must also note that Trico has broken horns as well. Indeed the evil eye is present in Spain, Middle East and India, but the other evidence points us at Indian (because of the clothes of the boy) and Turkish evil eye.
7. Stone Soldiers
In the previous trailers of the game, stone soldiers are shown as the enemy mobs just like the shadows in the game Ico. These stone men hold similarity to the Terracotta Army of China, who are tasked with defending the emperor in the afterlife. The ancestors of the Turks and the Mongols, were in fact, were ancient enemies of China; they even built the The Great Wall because of the wars fought. This is a legit answer for stone men being an enemy to the supposedly Turkish/Mongolian boy. Stone men in the game and the world history, gives us a high probability that those stone soldiers are defending their emperor in the game. Maybe the final boss is The Emperor, the opposite of the boss of Ico, the Queen.
Conclusion
By looking at the evidence above, there are many things that can be theorized. However the strongest assumption that can be interpreted is that the name of Trico is in fact “Duygu” – “Emotion” and that Duygu is female, for having 4 Turkish words that fit perfectly to the situation and a Turkish Nazar-like structure that wards off Trico in the trailer seems not a coincidence to me. Connections to China and India and the appearance of the boy just make me sure that at least some of the predictions in this article are bound to be justified with the release of the game. Whatever happens, I am sure that The Last Guardian is going to be colossal and stunning.