Tainted Grail: Should you tell Caradoc about Arthur's soul?

After breaking you out of the Island Asylum at the beginning of the game, Caradoc will confront you on the beach and ask if anything strange happened to you while you were in there. You’re then presented with two dialogue options that will move the story forward, one where you tell him the truth about Arthur’s soul latching onto yours, and another where you lie and keep it a secret.

Both choices seem like they could have long-lasting consequences on the game’s story, so we’ll explain what happens and which option you should choose. If you're at the start of the game, then you should check out our Tainted Grail character build guide so you know how to progress your skills.

If you tell Caradoc about Arthur’s soul

If you tell Caradoc about Arthur’s soul, then he will immediately attack you, and given how strong he is at this point in the game, he will almost certainly kill you in a couple of hits. However, that isn’t game over. Instead, he will perform a strange ritual, after which you’ll wake up totally fine. He’ll apologize and explain that he purged Arthur’s soul from your body, as he seeks to prevent the king’s return.

However, it doesn’t work. When you next make a campfire, Arthur will talk to you, and he too seems surprised that whatever Caradoc did failed. Caradoc will later discover this, though he won’t try to attack you again.

That said. If you’re very skilled (or find a cheese strategy), it is possible to kill Caradoc at this point in the story, however, it’s currently unknown what consequences this will have down the line.

If you keep Arthur’s soul a secret

Nothing will happen in the immediate aftermath. Caradoc appears to believe you and just has you make camp. Later on in the story, he will discover that you lied. He won’t be happy about it, but it won’t make any major changes to events, though it does make Caradoc less willing to trust you going forward.

Secret Ending

There’s actually a secret ending in this opening section too, though it doesn’t end well. If you ignore Caradoc completely and just swim out into the ocean, you’ll get a brief cutscene where the Red Priests find you, recapture you, and then kill you, leading to a game over. It’s a fun little easter egg to find, but it doesn’t give you anything.

Should you tell Caradoc?

It’s a hard decision to make at the very beginning of the game when you know very little about this world or why Caradoc wants to prevent Arthur’s return. Still, this choice forces you to lean towards one side or the other early on. Thankfully, it doesn’t lock you into anything, as you can change your mind on who to side with later, so it doesn’t matter much. Just side with whoever you prefer in that moment and wait until the story unfolds to make a commitment.