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11 Gwyn, sometimes called Old Cliff by the playerbase, is the elderly Grey Mains warrior who greets Cliff at the Spire of the Sun during Chapter 9 of Crimson Desert. He functions as one of Master Du's four trials. The Axiom Archive Cycle Records reveal that Gwyn is in fact Cliff himself, originating from a doomed earlier cycle of the time loop.
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33 Identity
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55 Gwyn speaks cryptically but clearly has detailed knowledge of Cliff's life and choices. He addresses Cliff as someone whose steps have always followed the same current, and offers to help him choose the path he must walk. The cycle records explain why: in cycle 45 of the world's 108-cycle loop, this Cliff lost every Grey Main comrade. Reuniting with his fellow Grey Mains is the one consistent emotional anchor across every version of Cliff, so losing all of them at once broke him. He continued on alone, took the name Gwyn, and walked a much darker path than the version of Cliff the player controls.
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77 Two cycles later the abyss guardians realized that part of Gwyn had become trapped inside Umbra. This allowed him to persist into future cycles of the world rather than vanishing when his original timeline ended. The Axiom Archive Cycle Records describe him as wandering the void, neither living nor dead, neither fully good nor fully evil.
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99 Role as a Trial Master
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1111 By the time the guardians approach their hundredth attempt at the loop, they have repurposed Gwyn as one of Master Du's four trials. The reasoning is straightforward: there is no one better suited to teach Cliff than a previous version of Cliff who has already made every available mistake. The Spire of the Sun trial is unique among the four because it is not greeted with a puzzle. Cliff simply finds Gwyn waiting for him.
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1313 Gwyn challenges Cliff to a sparring duel, during which he comments that Cliff wields sword and skill but lacks the experience to unite them. Passing the trial requires Cliff to combine his weapon and his combat instincts into a single fluid response. Gwyn's parting line marks the completion of this stage: Your steel and skill have become one in this moment. Now a new era dawns.
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1515 Character Summary
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1717 AttributeDetailsChapterChapter 9LocationSpire of the SunIdentityFuture or alternate-cycle Cliff who lost all of his Grey Main comrades in cycle 45Origin CycleCycle 45AffiliationMaster Du's four trialsCarried SymbolWears an eye of Umbra ornament on his neck, foreshadowing his connection to the abyss
1818 Story Significance
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2020 Gwyn is the clearest in-game demonstration that the time loop has produced multiple, divergent versions of Cliff across its 107 prior cycles. Pieces of his future-Umbra design appear in the final boss fight, where elements from the duels with both Caliburn and Myrdin are visible in the same form. The eye of Umbra worn around Gwyn's neck during the Spire of the Sun trial is the visual link that ties him to the abyss antagonist whose existence he himself helped create. He is also the practical conclusion the guardians reached: rather than discarding broken iterations of Cliff, they choose to use them as teachers.
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2222 Gwyn's surface message overlaps with the message Cliff receives from Master Jizhou at the Jizo Temple, though the two trials take very different routes to arrive at it. Both effectively tell Cliff to stop overthinking, do his best, and stay true to what he is. Of the four trial masters, Gwyn is the one best positioned to know whether Cliff is heading in the wrong direction, because he has already done so himself.
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2424 Related Articles
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2626 Master DuFour Guardians of the AbyssAxiom Archive Cycle RecordsSpire of the SunUmbraGrey Mains