Every ending in The Blood of Dawnwalker is decided before the final fight with Brencis — by a chain of decisions that starts in the prologue, in the order you will actually meet them.
How the ending system works
There is no morality meter and no hidden score. Your ending is set by the dialogue in the final quest, A Deal with the Devil — and three things decide which options you have when that conversation starts:
- Ally chains completed. Finishing Lacra’s full questline opens the Patricide option; finishing Crake’s (through Fall Before Dusk) opens Knyazmaker. Both chains can be completed in one run — only the ending is one-of.
- The bargain. Brencis offers a deal for your family; accepting it (in the final quest, or as a late-game offer on an ally route) is what opens Turncoat.
- Time. Your position on the 30-day/30-night clock when the finale happens — if the window has expired, the family is sacrificed and the bad ending (Time Runs Out) is locked, no matter what you choose in the dialogue.
Quests and certain dialogue options carry visible time costs (the hourglass indicator), so every decision below also spends days.
1. The prologue: the branch you might take by accident
The prologue contains the Bad Blood duel — a fight you are supposed to lose. If you beat Brencis here (in both his forms), you skip the vassal arc and jump straight to the epilogue:
- Skips the vassal conflicts (Ambrus, Bakir, Xanthe) and the normal endgame.
- Resolves into the Folk Hero ending — a faster, harder-to-earn route to the same “people’s champion” outcome, not a separate ending.
Not the Coward's Path escape
This is a different mechanism from the A Hero They Deserve hidden ending. That one is escaping the valley at night through the broken bridge west of Coward’s Path — an exit you choose in the open world, not a boss fight. The prologue kill leads to Folk Hero; the Coward’s Path exit leads to A Hero They Deserve.
It is a legitimate first-run option if you just want the story’s core — but on a save where you want a specific ending, treat the prologue kill as off-limits. The prologue walkthrough shows where the branch presents itself.
2. Act 1: the relationships that quietly gate endings
Three figures shape which paths open for Coen; all three reward depth over completion:
- Lacra, a woman driven by vengeance with an agenda of her own. Every step closer reveals more — and every step costs you. Not all of what she tells you is free.
- Crake (Marat), the leader of the rebellion against the vrakhiri — the Manumits. Marat is his birth name. Charismatic but trusting almost no one; his confidence is earned, and it does not come cheap.
- Anca, who has guided Coen since childhood and carries a secret that sets her apart from the village. How far you go with her is a decision, not a quest step; her thread resolves near the finale (Stronger Than Achilles) and changes her personal epilogue.
It is also where the Lacra and Crake routes start — two ally chains whose completion gates two of the main endings. Both can be completed in a single run; only the ending is one-of:
- Lacra’s chain: A Friend Like This → Song of the Mountain → Hive and Seek → Our Rotten Roots → Midnight Reckoning
- Crake’s chain: The Firebrand → Shadows in the Woods → Where Loyalty Lies → What Hunts the Night → What Moves the Dead → Who Pulls the Strings → Rise at Dawn → Fall Before Dusk
3. Act 2: the vassal decisions (Ambrus, Bakir, Xanthe)
The three vassals are the structural decisions of the game. Each creates a conflict that forces a position:
| Vassal | Who they are | What the decision is really about |
|---|---|---|
| Ambrus | The youngest vrakhiri — a noble in appearance with the humblest of origins, charming, deceptive, and eager to prove himself | How much you tolerate his ambition, and who you back when it collides with the village |
| Bakir | A warmonger and Brencis’s most brutal lieutenant, a former steppe horseman whose cruelty predates his vampirism | Whether you let the violence continue, stop it, or turn it to your own use |
| Xanthe | The oldest vampire — an ancient priestess who hears voices beyond ordinary perception and is terrified by what she understands | Whose version of the truth you believe — and who you arm with it |
The vassal order walkthrough covers the order. Resolving each conflict well matters for your build and for reaching maximum infamy (which Brencis needs to summon you to the final quest), but the vassal side you pick does not itself decide your ending — the final-quest dialogue does.
4. Between the acts: time spent is a choice
The 30-day clock is its own decision cluster: quest completions, certain dialogue options, and day/night changes spend time (the hourglass shows the cost first); free exploration and combat do not. Required beats spend a fixed number of days; everything else competes for the rest, and the family outcomes are most sensitive to what is left.
Two practical rules:
- Protect days in the first third of the game. Days never come back.
- Enter act 3 with a buffer, not zero — the ending-critical beats at the end need room.
The 30-day timer guide covers what consumes days and what is free.
5. Act 3: the finale choices
The castle can be entered early — the night traversal approach triggers an ending warning before the entry sequence, which is the point of no return. Do not climb past it without a manual save made while your earlier activities were still available. The final act also places a save point immediately before the decisive conversation: take it, and weigh the finale without pressure. Prep for the confrontation is in the Brencis final prep guide.
What each ending takes
All ending conditions (full spoilers)
| Ending | What it takes |
|---|---|
| Turncoat | Accepting Brencis’s bargain — “I just want my family back” → “I’ll do it” in A Deal with the Devil (or the late offer on an ally route) — trading an ally for your family |
| Folk Hero | Choosing “Enough. Time to end this” in A Deal with the Devil and defeating Brencis solo, with enough days left for the family outcome (also reachable by beating Brencis in the prologue) |
| Patricide | Completing Lacra’s route (through Midnight Reckoning) and choosing to stand with her against Brencis in the finale |
| Knyazmaker | Completing Crake’s route (through the final mission Fall Before Dusk) and standing with Crake and the Manumits — the power behind the throne rather than ruler or victim |
| A Hero They Deserve (hidden) | The valley exit at night: cross the broken bridge west of Coward’s Path and choose to leave forever (not the prologue kill) |
| Together Forever (hidden) | The dream route: enter the upper door in Silts Tower and stay in Home Sweet Home |
| Time Runs Out (bad) | The 30-day rescue window expiring — the family is sacrificed. Not caused by switching sides |