Endings
Endings
Dredge has 2 different endings, 2.5 if you count the variation on ending 1.
Ending One
For this ending, the Fisherman hands over all five Relics to the Collector.
He tells the Fisherman to wait for the fog to thicken before they make their last voyage across the sea. After the clock strikes 1 A.M., the Collector directs the Fisherman to sail to the west of Greater Marrow, to "The place where they lost her."" The Collector proceeds to throw each relic overboard, reciting a phrase for each one. The final two sent overboard are the Music Box and its Key, left unturned. Once the final two relics sink into the depths of the sea, the music box's melody begins to play and a woman rises from the depths, covered in a reddish glow. The woman is presumably the Fisherman/Collector's wife lost all those years ago, brought back to life. However, she is not alone as another colossal creature reminiscent of an eldritch horror rises behind the boat, massive and covered in countless tentacles, with two big eyes. the creature is the shape of the top half of a skull, with the bottom half tentacles.
The creature's ginormous size creates waves that rock the boat. The scene then fades and we are shown Greater Marrow destroyed, in the same manner as the Obelisk showed, fire and smoke rising from its ruins, and the sky covered in Miasma.
If the second ending is done first, the dialogue in this ending will be altered. The Collector will fade from his mirror and the Fisherman notes that the Collector is "with him" rather than "The Collector is aboard your vessel." The one who opens the Book, reads from it, and tosses the relics, will no longer be "He" but "You".
Ending Two
To unlock this ending, the Old Mayor is required to be found. He "mistakes" the Fisherman for the Collector, and rambles about the Fog, Aberrations, and the Book, shedding light on their sources, and suggests that you talk to the Lighthouse Keeper about it. The conversation with the Lighthouse Keeper encourages the Fisherman to confront the Collector about his Book. He jokes about it before The Fisherman swings at him. It is in this confrontation where the true identity of both the Fisherman and the Collector is revealed. The Collector is nothing more than the Fisherman's reflection in a mirror, shattered by his fist.
The Fisherman then takes the Book of the Deep back to the Lighthouse Keeper, who says they should take advantage of this moment of lucidity, and points him in the direction where the Book must be returned to with the lighthouse beam. After the Book is returned to the sea, the Leviathan swallows him, his boat, and the Book. The fog finally clears, revealing an aurora borealis in a clear night sky. The scene fades to Greater Marrow on a peaceful night, the sky covered in green light.