Trico

Trico is one of two main characters in The Last Guardian.

Summary
Trico is a giant winged half-cat animal that accompanies the human character in The Last Guardian. He has his own personality, and has been described in publications as a “free-spirited creature that flagrantly disregards your attempts to tame it." He is very powerful and large, but is nervous and timid, and because of this, is not prone to taking risks and is adverse to things like water. Exactly whether Trico is an ally or simply a passive entity is unknown due to its nature.

In your first encounters with Trico, you must gain his trust. You can do this by feeding him barrels of food, giving him clear instructions, and playing with him. You first encounter him in a cave, chained up and wounded, with two spears sticking out of his body. After the Boy removes the first spear, he is thrown against the wall, where he passes out and loses his memory. After waking up, you continue to gain the animal's trust, and eventually work together to get to a previously unreachable ledge. Here, you crawl into a temple, likely one that is dedicated to Trico or to his control.

In this temple, a large circular room with a domed ceiling, there is a shallow pool of water with blue, almost fantastical lighting. Here, the Mirror can be found. This item seems capable of controlling Trico, or at the very least ordering him to do something.

Of note is the fact that Trico can shoot red lightning from his tail, enabling him to break rocks and obstacles. This move can be directly called using the Mirror. This might suggest that Trico was chained up and locked away for a reason; he may be a wartime relic, or perhaps an antagonist in his own right.

Trico also seems to have eyes whose color changes depending on his mood. For instance, when red, Trico seems to be aggressive, preparing a lightning strike, and these colors might indicate what move he is likely to make.

History
Trico has a storied history, just like The Last Guardian itself. Trico was first shown in rumors and leaks, with the very first photograph showing Trico held by a chain running into a hole on the ground. During this time, very few details were leaked, although it was assumed from the style and from what little details were leaked that this would be another game in the Ico/Shadow of Colosssus series. The first few official screenshots of Trico were released in 2009 during the E3 reveal alongside the trailer, which showed both the boy character and Trico interacting. Interestingly, there was no chain, leash, or collar on this version of Trico.

Trico would continue to be shown in various trailers as the years went by, but The Last Guardian faded somewhat during this time. During Tokyo Game Show 2015, however, Trico was shown in a giant live installation, responding to guest's motions interactively. This would be the first time that gameplay footage would show how interaction with Trico is handled. Again, Trico showed no signs of the leash or collar that would tie into the very first pictures.

Name Meaning
"Trico" comes from the Japanese title, Hitokui no Ōwashi Trico (人喰いの大鷲トリコ Hitokui no Ōwashi Toriko, literally "Trico, the man-eating eagle"). Trico is also close, however, to the name toriko, which means prisoner. Toriko is also interesting in that it is also a portmanteau of the Japanese words tori and neko, meaning "bird" and "cat" respectively. The name also dervies from Project Trico, the official name of the Last Guardian development cycle and the working title until The Last Guardian, with "Tri" standing for three and "Ico" hearkening back to the first game in the trilogy of games.