Tainted Grail: All 12 endings and what they mean

Tainted Grail’s core conflict is complicated, and just about every major character and faction in this world has a different perspective on it. Still, when the time comes, it is entirely down to you what happens to the power of King Arthur, and thus, what happens to the world of Avalon in the game’s ending.

As far as we’ve found, there are 12 different possibilities for Tainted Grail’s endings depending on what you want to do with the power, so we’ll break them all down.

Use the Life Spindle – Tainted Grail’s best ending

While most endings in this game leave things ambiguous, this ending is inarguably a positive for Avalon, making it the best ending for the game.

By saying “I want to use the Life Spindle” you will be able to tame the Wyrdness, though you will first have to defeat Caradoc in battle, who instead wants to end it. Defeat him and you’ll find that Arthur’s soul has returned to where it belongs and the Red Death is halted, allowing the world to finally heal from all this damage.

Orrin’s ending – Resurrect Arthur

If, after all this, you choose to ignore Caradoc and Arthur (the man), you can sacrifice yourself to allow King Arthur to return and take the throne. You don’t get to know whether Arthur rules well or not after this; you just have to live with your decision. You’ll have to fight Caradoc in this ending, too.

Caradoc’s ending – Kill Arthur

This is the only ending that Caradoc will be happy with, and thus the only one where you don’t have to fight him – unless, of course, you took the opportunity to kill him back in the tutorial, which will lock you out of this option entirely. 

Do it, and Avalon will look into an uncertain future, once you’ve fought the final battle against King Arthur. The cycle is broken, and there’s a chance for the despair to subside, but it’s unknown what forces will fill this power gap in the years to come.

Take Arthur’s power for yourself

Of course, why trust anyone else with this power when you can have it for yourself? In this ending, you’ll have to fight both Caradoc and King Arthur, who are unhappy with your decision, but defeat them, and you’ll succeed in taking on this power, letting you rule Avalon yourself. How that goes is really up to you, but at least you can probably get a nicer house than the player homes in Tainted Grail.

Bestow someone else with Arthur’s power

There are lots of people across Avalon that you may think are worthy of the power to rule, and you can grant it to them. There may be requirements to getting every character available in this list, so we might have missed some, but currently there are eight options that we know of that all have slightly different approaches to ruling. No matter who you give this power to, you will need to fight both Caradoc and King Arthur.

Captain Breandan

Breandan as king will see faith fade in Avalon as industry and trade take priority.

Erfyr the Blacksmith

Erfyr will establish a Communistic society where all are equal. However, those with power before still manage to pull strings from the shadows.

Lord Yvain

Yvain will fail as a king, being assassinated and creating a huge power vacuum in Avalon.

One-Eye

With the Dal Riata’s law taking over Avalon, there is dissension in the kingdom, but the strength of the tribes thrives.

Gerd’hanr

Many in the world will embrace Gerd’hanr as king, but Kamelot will remain wary of him.

Fionola

Fionola will create a world where the Wyrdness takes hold, allowing anyone to merge with it and take on a new form – something not everyone wants to do.

Child of Morgan

The realm will be at peace, but at the cost of autonomy and freedom within the kingdom.

Beggar

You can give the power to rule to any random Beggar if you want to spite fate entirely. This will see a leaderless Avalon crumble to ruin.