Dragon Cliff

Attention: Cut Content
The following information is classified as Cut Content of the Fable games, which even though not being featured in the final playable version of such games, have been found in the game's code or provided by a reliable source.

Dragon Cliff is the name of an unused map that was meant to be found in Albion, but was removed from the original Fable before its release and ended up being replaced with Archon's Folly in Fable: The Lost Chapters and Fable: Anniversary. As the name suggests, at one point in development, it was intended to act as an arena for a cut quest which involved a final battle against a Dragon in that version of the game. This map was most likely designed for the unused creature Trogdor, which can be found in the same version of the game. The appearance of the map is very similar to that of Archon's Folly, to the point were their minimaps are almost identical.

Appearance

The region is comprised of a small island in the middle of the sea, with three large towers that resemble a traingular shape and a Demon Door that grants you entrance to the map. The towers in the map are surrounded by walls which have a black and green colour scheme. They appear to be destroyed and give the impression that the region is an ancient ruin which hasn't been accessed in centuries.

Demon Door

There is also Unused Dialogue and Scripts for a Demon Door in the game files for Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters, which is referred to as "Dragon Demon Door" (DD_Dragon). This Demon Door would only grant access to the Hero of Oakvale if he had a high enough Renown level, stating that he has "contained this threat for a thousand years" and "it could kill you where you stand". If the Heroes renown wasn't high enough, then the Door would insult him for not being worthy and even going as far as to say that the Hero would wet himself if we was to witness the contained threat. There is up to 5 different stages of renown that would effect this dialogue.

These are the different stages of dialogue that can be found in the game files:
Name	Dialogue
Renown Level: 0	"Oh, please. As if I'd let a dribble of pus like you come through." "If you knew what was behind this door then you'd know I'm doing you a favour." "Only a combatant of the highest Renown has a chance against it." "So come back when you think you're hard enough."
Renown Level: 1	"I'm not opening until I think you can deal with this." "You got a lot of chickens to chase before that time."
Renown Level: 2	"Only geezers with high Renown can come through. Stop taking the mickey." "I'm not talking about your average sword-clattering scrote, you know."
Renown Level: 3	"Your Renown is getting there. Come on, before I need oiling." "But when you face what's behind me, you'll wet your underpants."
Renown Level: 4	"It's you. Your Renown has spread." "But beware - you have never faced a challenge like this. Seriously." "I have contained this threat for a thousand years. It could kill you where you stand." "You may pass. Git."

Based on the dialogue for this Demon Door and how it has specific lines that only trigger if the Hero has zero renown, it's believed that at this stage of the game's development, the Demon Door was planned to be outside of the Heroes Guild to give the Hero a chance to talk to the Demon Door when they just left the Guild. This is so that it could insult you at the start of the game. Due to its name it's believed that this Demon Door was intended to be used for Dragon Cliff before it was removed from the final release.

Accessibility

Since Dragon Cliff was never meant to be played in the final release of the original game, there is no way to access the map through legitimate means. The trigger to allow the Hero to access the map was either removed from the final version of the game to prevent any player from entering the area or it was never fully implemented to begin with. However, it is possible for someone to modify the game files for the original Xbox version of Fable and allow the Hero to spawn inside of the map through the use of a teleporter system.

Once inside of the map, you will most likely enter through or near the Demon Door entrance that can be found at the south of the map. It is possible to walk around the main arena, with-in the walls that surround the map. There are three towers which can be found around the arena where you can walk up and down them, as though they might have been useful to get up to a higher point so that you could attack the intended Dragon enemy Trogdor. Unfortunately the inclusion of the Dragon for the map was never finished and so you never see it upon entering the map.

Similar to Archon's Folly, the original map uses a Gate that prevents the Hero from accessing the main arena unless a particular quest is triggered. They even share the exact same script.

Earlier Concepts

Dragon's Lair

The map that a lot of people often hear about in regards to the original Fable's cut Dragon Concept is the infamous map, Dragon Cliff. This is because of the substantial amount of evidence that can be found in the Xbox Version of the game, to help support it. However, there is evidence to support an earlier version of Dragon Cliff. On the map of Albion in earlier versions of the game, it shows that there was meant to be an area attached to Hook Coast that was meant to be called Dragon's Lair.

There is also assets still left in the game files which the map Dragon Cliff doesn't use, despite having the same naming conventions as the ones that are used for the map. These objects and pieces of architecture are generally referred to as Dragon Quest in the game files. This strongly supports the idea that the developers might have wanted to make something else first, like Dragon's Lair for example. But later decided to create Dragon Cliff instead.

Dragon's Grave

This is further supported by design documents for the game which show the intended structure of the world and their ideas for the maps in Albion, during different stages of development. Leading us with three different names that were potentially intended for the original Dragon Map, before it was scrapped from the Xbox Version of Fable (Dragon's Grave, Dragon's Lair and Dragon Cliff).

In the design document shown above, it is implied that you were meant to find an NPC called the Boatman, in the town known as Hook Coast. This is so that you can take a boat ride to reach an island that was meant to be named the Isle of Bones. This would then lead you to an area called Dragon's Grave. Since there is currently no images or concept art for the Dragon's Grave maps intended design, it is unclear what it was actually meant to look like or if it bared any resemblence to Dragon Cliff.

Unused Villager Dialogue

There is various unused dialogue that mention a threat in Hook Coast. These lines of dialogue appear to be the reaction of interacting with villagers while a certain quest is active. The villagers will mention lights, screams and noises that are appearing from the Hook Coast abbey. They are referred to as "Post Dragon Battle" in the game files and could have been used for the Dragon Boss Fight Quest intended for Trogdor or it was for a quest that happened after fighting him.

Notes

The Dragon intended for the map is actually much bigger than the arena itself, which implies that it would have had more flying and hovering phases than Jack's dragon form.
The filler areas for the region appear to be unfinished or completely removed from the game as the water surrounding the map and mountains around the Demon Door have noticable boundaries.
The gateway for entering the map is the same asset as in Archon's Folly and even uses the same script name. Meaning the main arena of the region is made not accessible by the end of the main quest.

Trivia

The map Archon's Folly is referred to as "DragonCliff_02" in the game files.
Despite not being used in retail game, Trogdor and Dragon Cliff can be found in the game files of the original Fable.
The Fresco Art for completing Jack of Blades' dragon quest still depicts Dragon Cliff, even though it should be Archon's Folly.
An unused Filler map can be found in the game files, that was intended for Hook Coast and could have been used for the entrance to Dragon Cliff.
Similar to Archon's Folly, the map Dragon Cliff itself is also called DragonCliff_02 in the game files, which could suggest more maps were made before being scrapped.
The Final Boss for the original Fable was meant to be a Dragon called Trogdor. This was changed to Jack of Blades having a Dragon form instead for Fable: The Lost Chapters.