How to Unlock the Hidden Ending in Blood of Dawnwalker

The hidden ending in Blood of Dawnwalker is The Knyazmaker. It is not marked on any quest tracker, not mentioned in the journal, and easy to miss if you do not know the requirements. This guide covers every step to unlock it, including the four hidden conditions that most players never discover.

Why The Knyazmaker Is Hidden

Unlike other endings, The Knyazmaker is never explicitly offered. The game does not tell you it exists. There is no quest marker saying “unlock the rebellion ending.”

Instead, it emerges naturally from Crake’s Manumit quest chain — if you complete it fully and meet conditions the game never explains. This is intentional design. The developers wanted the “best” ending to feel like a secret you discover, not a checkbox you tick.

The Full Unlock Checklist

Phase 1: The Manumit Chain (Required)

Complete all six quests in Crake’s rebellion chain, in order:

#	Quest Name	Location	Key Choice
1	The Firebrand	Slums	Join the Manumit (refusing locks out the chain)
2	Shadows in the Woods	Forest	Scout the hideout without killing sentries
3	Where Loyalty Lies	Castle	Spare the informant (critical)
4	What Hunts the Night	Countryside	Save the healer (critical, unmarked)
5	What Moves the Dead	Graveyard	Recruit the blacksmith (optional but recommended)
6	Who Pulls the Strings	Castle	Identify the true enemy correctly

Then initiate the ending through Rise at Dawn or Fall Before Dusk.

Phase 2: The Four Hidden Conditions

These are never explained in-game. Missing any one locks you out of The Knyazmaker.

Hidden Condition 1: Spare the Informant

In Where Loyalty Lies, you discover a Manumit informant feeding information to the Boyars. You can:

• Expose them to the Boyars — Rewards gold, but Crake’s trust in you breaks silently
• Spare them and lie to Crake — No reward, but preserves the chain
• Spare them and tell Crake the truth — Crake respects your honesty, best outcome

You must spare them. Exposing them locks out The Knyazmaker permanently for that run.

Hidden Condition 2: Save the Healer (Unmarked)

In What Hunts the Night, vampires attack a Manumit healer in the countryside. The game does not mark this on your map. You must find them manually.

Location: Southwest corner of the map, near the abandoned windmill. Look for a blood trail leading from the road.

If you arrive in time and fight off the vampires, the healer survives. If you are too late or ignore the encounter, they die. Without the healer, the rebellion lacks medical support and cannot sustain the final assault.

Hidden Condition 3: Do Not Romance Lacra

This is the most commonly missed condition. If you complete Lacra’s full questline — including her personal quests and romance dialogue — she will demand you abandon the rebellion during the final act.

If you agree, you lock into The Patricide. If you refuse, she leaves in anger and is unavailable for any ending.

You can complete some of Lacra’s quests for rewards, but avoid:

• Her third personal quest (“Blood Ties”)
• Any romance dialogue options (heart icon)
• Sleeping at her camp after quests

Hidden Condition 4: Recruit the Blacksmith

In What Moves the Dead, you can recruit a blacksmith to arm the rebellion. This is presented as optional, and technically it is — The Knyazmaker still triggers without him.

But without the blacksmith, the Manumit fight with farming tools. The cutscene shows heavy losses, and the “good” version of the ending is replaced with a darker variant where the rebellion succeeds but at terrible cost.

For the full, hidden ending experience, recruit him. He is in the graveyard’s southern crypt, arguing with his apprentice.

Phase 3: The Final Dialogue

With all conditions met, reach A Deal with the Devil after defeating the three Boyars.

The dialogue options will include a new choice that only appears if all conditions are met:

1. “I will never serve you.”
2. “Lacra and I will stop you.” (if Lacra present)
3. “Crake, now!” — This is The Knyazmaker
4. “What do you offer?”

Select option 3. The rebellion storms the castle. Brencis dies to the many, not the one.

Common Mistakes That Lock You Out

Mistake	When It Happens	Result
Exposing the informant	Where Loyalty Lies	Chain fails silently
Missing the healer	What Hunts the Night	Weakened ending variant
Romancing Lacra	Throughout game	Locked into Patricide or conflict
Killing Crake’s lieutenant	Shadows in the Woods	Crake distrusts you
Accepting Brencis’s deal early	Random encounter	Turncoat path locked
Running out of time	Day 30	Bad ending

How to Verify You Are on Track

There is no in-game tracker, but you can check your progress:

1. Crake’s dialogue: If he says “I trust you with my life” before the final quest, you are on track
2. The healer: If you see them in the hideout during later quests, they survived
3. The blacksmith: If rebels in the hideout have swords (not tools), you recruited him
4. Lacra’s status: If she says “I need space” after her second quest, you have avoided romance

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Knyazmaker the true ending?

It is the closest thing to a true ending. It resolves the most storylines and has the most content. But the developers have not confirmed it as canon.

Can I get The Knyazmaker and The Patricide in one run?

No. They are mutually exclusive. The Patricide requires Lacra; The Knyazmaker requires avoiding her romance.

What if I missed a hidden condition?

Reload a save from before the mistake. If you have no save, you will need to start a new run or accept a different ending.

Does difficulty affect The Knyazmaker?

No. All hidden conditions work on every difficulty. The final battle is harder on higher difficulties, but the unlock requirements are identical.

Related Guides

• True Ending Guide — Detailed breakdown of The Knyazmaker
• How Many Endings — All seven endings explained
• Ending Checklist — Printable checklist for all endings
• Canon Ending — Which ending is “official”

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Source: IGN Walkthrough, Fextralife Wiki, community testing. All conditions verified in version 1.0.