Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts Route Guide: Choices, Branches & Endings

Why Dogwarts Decides Most of Your Endings

Dogwarts is the hinge that swings most Heartfall runs, and a single response to Martyn's axe can lock you out of the ending you were actually chasing. This Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide maps every branch that touches Ren and Martyn's faction, from the day-one village conversation that separates Route 2 from Route 5 to the battle choice that splits Route 0 in two directions. If you have replayed the same night three times trying to work out why Scar survives in one run and dies in another, this Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide was written for exactly that problem.

A quick note on sourcing: everything below comes from player experience and community reports rather than an official strategy document. The achievement names are confirmed by players who have unlocked them, but the route numbering is a community labeling convention — useful for keeping your saves straight, not gospel.

What Dogwarts Actually Controls in Heartfall

In most routes, Dogwarts is the late-game pressure that pushes everyone else into alliances. In Route 0, it is something more important: the literal fork in the road. That is why this Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide treats the faction as a routing system first and a story element second.

One warning from community reports: parts of the game's code use internal labels like "Ren WhoDunnit" and "Dogwarts Deception" instead of the route names players see. That is why some guides disagree about whether certain achievements belong to Route 2 or Route 5. If you want to verify the game's current build or availability before starting, check the Steam store listing for Heartfall.

The Martyn Encounter Tree: Route 2 vs. Route 5

The most common mistake players make is treating Martyn as a side character. He is not — he is a router. Two separate conversations decide whether you stay on Route 0 or drift into a Martyn-centric branch, and both happen before the Dogwarts battle ever starts.

In this Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide, those two conversations are the real fork — not the battle. If you want the classic Route 0 endings, keep your answers bland, decline the cow heist with Jimmy and Scott, and never accept Martyn's crime offer. Boring choices are protective choices.

Route 0's Fork: Take the Blow or Don't

The single most important line in any Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide is this: when Martyn swings his axe at you and Scar during the Dogwarts fight, the answer to "do you take the blow?" decides your achievement.

Players who take the hit "just to see what happens" without a save usually regret it, because the alternate ending kills both you and Scar later in the same battle. Save before the confrontation, then branch from there.

The good ending is long and messy: after Dogwarts falls, Scar talks BDubs over with a clock, BDubs kills BigB and Impulse, and you end up in a final duel in the desert that you win before jumping off the cliff. The alternate is shorter and grimmer — Scar survives the axe, finds you after you respawn, and you both die in the later version of the fight.

Preparing for the Dogwarts Battle

Use this Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide as a pre-flight checklist rather than a walkthrough. Almost every ending in the game is decided by preparation you did hours earlier.

That Pearl detail catches a lot of people. She does not get three lives like the main cast, so a single bad call during Martyn's attack removes her permanently and blocks the music box ending entirely.

Dogwarts Beyond Route 0

The rest of this Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide would be misleading if it stopped at Route 0, because the faction shapes several other endings in quieter ways.

In Route 4 – Ashes and Alliances, Dogwarts is the reason the Crastle alliance forms at all. You help Joel tame wolves, accept his cabin offer, and then spend the middle of the route as a reluctant ally of Cleo and BDubs. When the final battle approaches, the two of you are sent to recruit Etho, Scar, Jimmy and Scott — and only Jimmy sounds genuinely enthusiastic. Choosing to run away with Joel the next morning drops your reputation with Cleo and BDubs instantly and commits you to A Lonely Death.

In Route 8 – Music is Magic, the Dogwarts battle leaves a very specific survivor list: BDubs, Impulse, Pearl, Scar, Martyn and you. Martyn is found weakened in the village and killed there, and what happens at the Crastle afterward decides between Dal Segno al Coda, Fallen Companions and Self-Inflicted Solitude.

In Route 10 – Any-fin is Possible, Dogwarts is almost comic relief. Ren and Martyn stay suspicious and hostile until you fish up a guitar and hand it to Ren, at which point "Red Winter is coming" turns out to mean a guitar riff rather than an invasion.

Mistakes That Cost You Endings

Most players searching for a Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide run into the same handful of problems. Here are the ones worth avoiding:

• Taking the axe hit without a save. It is a permanent redirect, not a curiosity.
• Complaining to Martyn "just to see." Curiosity pulls you off Route 0 and into Route 2 or 5.
• Accepting the cow heist. Fun scene, but it removes the Route 0 ending from that save.
• Overwriting the session-five save in Route 4. That prompt exists precisely so you can branch.
• Telling Pearl to fight. Only do this if you are deliberately hunting Fallen Companions.
• Ignoring content warnings. Route 4 has extreme blood, Route 8 has body horror, and Route 11 layers horror with starvation and derealisation themes.

FAQ

Which choice actually splits Route 0 at Dogwarts? Whether you take Martyn's axe blow. Refusing it keeps Scar alive and preserves the classic ending; taking it puts you on red early and locks the alternate ending.

Can I unlock both Route 0 endings on one save? No. Save in a separate slot immediately before the Dogwarts confrontation and replay from there — the game does not let you walk both paths in a single run.

Are Route 2 and Route 5 really separate routes? Community reports are genuinely split on this. Internal code labels reference "Ren WhoDunnit" and "Dogwarts Deception" instead of the visible route names, so treat the numbering as a helpful convention rather than a confirmed structure.

Does this Heartfall A Tale in Three Lives Dogwarts route guide contain spoilers? Yes, it references ending outcomes and survivor lists throughout. The route logic is still useful if you skim, but the tables do reveal who lives and who does not.