Miko

Miko
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
Japanese name	ヤヤク
Romaji	Yayaku
Race	Human
Family	Ryu (son)
Voice actor	Toa Yukinari (Japanese) Naoko Mori (English)

"It burns like hot sun...

The agony of knowing...

The choice that I make..."

—Miko's diary

Miko is the High Priestess of Hotto in Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age.

Appearances

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Miko is a stern woman whose wisdom is deeply trusted by the people of Hotto. She appears fairly young, but is old enough to have had a grown-up son, Ryu. Shortly before the events of the story, Miko and her son Ryu ventured into Mount Huji to slay the beast Tatsunaga. They were successful, but Ryu was apparently killed while performing the deed, and Miko's leg was injured.

The shrine maiden appears as an NPC in Act 1, now in mourning for her son, but the initial story in Hotto centers around the foreigners Veronica and Serena, as well as Noah and his daughter Connie, with the locals playing only a peripheral role. Hotto's townsfolk will recount the story of Miko and Ryu's encounter with Tatsunaga, but nothing further occurs at this point.

In Act 2, Miko, still recovering from her wound and unable to fight herself, tasks the party with eliminating a monster on Mount Huji that has impeded one of her priests from scaling the volcano to perform a vital ritual. The party visits the mountain, only to discover that the "monster" is actually a pair of children, Atsuo and Atsuko, in a makeshift monster costume. They reveal that Miko's "ritual" was actually the sacrifice of the children's mother, who they have since been protecting in their hideout. The party discovers that Tatsunaga is still alive in the depths of Mount Huji and returns to Hotto to confront Miko. Atsuo admonishes Miko for her apparent cowardice and betrayal while Miko dismisses his accusation as a lie, but Tatsunaga suddenly flies down into town. The townsfolk try to fight off the beast with crossbows, but Miko puts herself between them, calling Tatsunaga "a boy". She offers herself to Tatsunaga and is devoured. The party fights off the dragon, but the townsfolk are despondent and the betrayal and death of their trusted shrine maiden.

Atsuo leads the party to Miko's elderly maid, who holds the key that will allow them to confront Tatsunaga in its lair in Mount Huji. The maid gives the party the key, and also Miko's diary. Its pages contain the full truth: Miko and Ryu really did fight and defeat Tatsunaga as she had claimed, but with its dying breath, the beast breathed a black fog that enveloped Ryu and caused him to gradually transform into another Tatsunaga. Miko learned of a magic mirror and tried to use its legendary power to return Ryu to his true form, but she could not get the artifact to work. She had ordered the human sacrifice to sate Tatsunaga's hunger in order to buy herself more time to master the mirror. Unfortunately, since Miko was wearing the mirror when she was eaten, there is no hope of the party completing her mission. They have no choice but to return to Mount Huji and slay Tatsunaga.

With Tatsunaga's death, Ryu's spirit emerges to speak to Atsuo and the party, giving the lad Miko's mirror. The group returns to town, where the people are in despair at the loss of the wise shrine maiden, but Atsuo makes a speech in which he thanks Miko for her sacrifice, in spite of what she tried to do to his mother.

In the third act, the player can find Miko in Tatsunaga's Lair in Mount Huji. She will ask the Hero for lumen essence to repair her magic mirror. With the restored mirror, she brings Ryu back to his human form and mother and son are able to return happily to Hotto.

Etymology

• Miko are Shinto shrine maidens. The name Miko also serves as an allusion to Dragon Quest III's Pimiko, with whom the character shares a similar role.
• Her Japanese name, Yayaku, is possibly derived from Ekiyaku, the name of one of the envoys sent by the legendary Himiko to the kingdom of Cao Wei in northern China during the Three Kingdoms period.