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Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined takes the original JRPG’s bloated story and cuts “subplots that have little or no direct relevance” to the main quest, but also adds “entirely new scenarios”

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Dragon Quest

After 25 years, Dragon Quest creator debunks Dragon Quest 7 fan theory about the real identity of the classic JRPG’s final boss: “That’s completely wrong. I didn’t consider that even slightly”

Jordan Gerblick

19 September 2025

Apparently there was never a world where Orgodemir’s true identity was Kiefer

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(Image credit: Square Enix)

Ahead of Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined’s release on February 5, series creator Yuji Horii has debunked a popular fan theory about the true identity of the game’s final boss, Orgodemir.

Per Automaton, one of the most enduring Dragon Quest 7 fan theories, particularly in Japan, is that an earlier version of the main story was originally supposed to reveal the Hero’s right hand man, Kiefer, as the actual identity of Orgodemir, but it was scrapped before the game made it to print.
In a Japanese-language breakdown from YouTuber Tetsuo, translated by Automaton, the theory posits that pre-release promotional materials showing Kiefer in scenes that occurred after his departure from the Hero’s party suggest he originally had a bigger role to play in the conclusion to the story.

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Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined takes the original JRPG’s bloated story and cuts “subplots that have little or no direct relevance” to the main quest, but also adds “entirely new scenarios”

Square Enix reveals another classic JRPG getting a remake: Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined announced, coming February 2026 to consoles and PC

39 years after the legendary JRPG series began, Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake includes a “new twist” that’ll be a “really big surprise” for veteran fans

Furthermore, fans theorize Ra’s mirror, a key story item that turns creatures that transformed into party members back to monsters, was originally intended to serve the much more pivotal function of revealing Kiefer to actually be Orgodemir in disguise. And in fairness, Ra’s Mirror is much more integral to the main story of other mainline Dragon Quest games, so its relative lack of significance in Dragon Quest 7 is a little odd.

Well, that’s all officially bunk, at least according to Horii, probably the foremost authority on Dragon Quest worldwide. “That’s completely wrong. I didn’t consider that even slightly,” Horii said during an appearance on the KosoKoso YouTube channel (timestamped here).
After spending way too much time in the rabbit hole that is this now-debunked fan theory, I have to admit, I’m surprised Horii shut it down so definitively. It’s a little like disagreeing with Shigeru Miyamoto on the Zelda timeline – it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but who am I to challenge the words of the series’ creator?
Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined takes the original JRPG’s bloated story and cuts “subplots that have little or no direct relevance” to the main quest, but also adds “entirely new scenarios”

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Jordan Gerblick

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After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.

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Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined takes the original JRPG’s bloated story and cuts “subplots that have little or no direct relevance” to the main quest, but also adds “entirely new scenarios”

Square Enix reveals another classic JRPG getting a remake: Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined announced, coming February 2026 to consoles and PC

39 years after the legendary JRPG series began, Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake includes a “new twist” that’ll be a “really big surprise” for veteran fans

After the series riffed on Pokemon Go and Minecraft, former Dragon Quest producer says he left Square Enix after growing frustrated with “safe” spinoff proposals that were “copying others”

Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake reminded me why I love turn-based battles, but after 40 minutes with the game, I’m desperate to know what “really big surprise” the devs are hiding

“A lot of RPGs have adopted more action gameplay elements,” says Dragon Quest remake producer, making old-school turn-based JRPGs “actually rare nowadays” and “considered fresh again”

Latest in Dragon Quest

Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined takes the original JRPG’s bloated story and cuts “subplots that have little or no direct relevance” to the main quest, but also adds “entirely new scenarios”

Square Enix reveals another classic JRPG getting a remake: Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined announced, coming February 2026 to consoles and PC

After modernizing the first three Dragon Quest games, remake producer says if the HD-2D games are “really well regarded,” then “that would definitely create a movement within the company to want to do more remakes”

Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake producer says “getting the balance right” is crucial when modernizing a classic, so you don’t have fans complaining, “‘We’ve got the original one, we don’t need the new game'”

39 years after the legendary JRPG series began, Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake includes a “new twist” that’ll be a “really big surprise” for veteran fans

Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake reminded me why I love turn-based battles, but after 40 minutes with the game, I’m desperate to know what “really big surprise” the devs are hiding

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