Hairy Hermit

Hairy Hermit
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Sprite(s)	しろじい
Japanese name	Shirojii
Race	Hammerhood

The Hairy Hermit is a prominent supporting in Dragon Quest Builders 2. He is in charge of the Isle of Awakening. He also acts as the game's Medal King, accepting and rewarding the player with Mini medals for completing puzzles and actions.

Appearance and personality

The Hairy Hermit is a ghost of a Hammerhood, sporting a very bright glow and moving through spectral teleportation instead of walking.

The Hairy Hermit is very kind, guiding the Builder, Malroth, and others through the game. He also tends to repeat words in threes (i.e: crack-crack-crack).

Appearances

Dragon Quest Builders 2

The Hairy Hermit is encountered the morning after the Builder, Lulu, and Malroth are marooned on the Isle, gaining the groups attention after stealing Lulu's scallywinkle breakfast. He guides the trio to the summit of the largest mountain on the island and instructs the Builder on the basics of creation before suggesting that the Isle can be turned into a paradise for building with the right materials. The first step in this terraforming process is to make the land fertile, and he calls on the aid of Captain Brownbeard to ferry the Builder and Malroth off to the island of Furrowfield to recruit the aid of farmers. Once that adventure is completed and the new migrants to the island are settled, the Hairy Hermit creates a task board of optional challenges the player can complete in exchange for mini medals.

As the game progresses the Hermit assigns more elaborate tasks to the player, sending them off to Khrumbul-Dun and Moonbrooke respectively. These acts of creation do not go unnoticed by the Children of Hargon, however, and and the Hermit requests that the Builder buff up the island's defences against the mad cultists after enduring a brutal assault.

Once Hargon makes his presence known to the islanders and reveals that the world they see and their very memories are but illusions created through his magic, the Hairy Hermit attempts to strike him with his hammer but is held in place by the cult leader's sorcery. Hargon states that he is surprised to learn that the Hermit is what has become of the ancient builder and seemingly shatters his soul before dragging the unconscious Malroth to the dead realm of Malhalla. These pieces coalesce into a item called the builder's soul, which the player takes with them as they enter the portal to Malhalla. Much later on, the Hairy Hermit speaks telepathically to the Builder to offer words of encouragement and give them the inspiration to design a Builder's Bell using the soul he left behind. Once assembled and rung, the bell motivates the monsters trapped within Malhalla to aid the Builder in creating a craft able to ferry them to safety when restored Malroth begins destroying the dimension.

The Hairy Hermit appears in person in Malhalla on top of Hargon's Castle, signalling the Builder to an entrance way in. He reveals the truth about himself to the Builder, stating that he was the Legendary Builder who devised the puzzles dotting the islands seen in the game as well as the architectural achievements such as the Deitree of Furrowfield, Goldirox of Khrumbul-Dun,and theBuilder's Bells. He had stumbled into Hargon's phantasmal plane through the illusion of Middenhall seen in Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, and was pursued by the Children of Hargon until he reached what would become the Isle of Awakening. Dying of exhaustion, the Hermit would lose his memory as he dwelt in Hargon's fantasy until the Builder, Malroth, and Lulu began exploring the island. Bit by bit his memories would be restored as the island was transformed into a habitable land, and he thanks the Builder for showing him to how to dream once again, and vanishes from Malhalla.

After the battle with the wicked half of Malroth is over and Hargon is destroyed, the Isle of Awakening and its surrounding islands manifest in the real world along with its inhabitants.