So, I'm at the scene fighting the dragon. Erana and Elsa are helping me. I've tried asking both of them to help me with the pillar, but neither of them will help. So, I finally looked up a walkthrough, and it says you're supposed to ask Gort and Toro to help. But neither of them are there! Has anyone else run into this problem? This is my first time playing through the game, so I really don't know if I missed something earlier, but I'd be surprised if a dead end had been designed into the game.

Just attack the dragon.

No, really.

Apparently, it is possible to kill the dragon without sacrificing any of your party. Some have theorized that this is because the prophecy is so vague that it leaves room for the dragon to be the willing sacrifice to end its own pain after it got a family sized can of whoop-ass opened on it. Sounds like a nice theory, except for where Erana mentions that a sacrifice "out of love" is needed, which contradicts this theory. That, and on some playthroughs, I have found that a sacrifice is necessary (which can be accomplished by telling either Gort or Toro that you will sacrifice yourself), otherwise the dragon just keeps regaining health; on playthroughs where sacrifice was not needed, I found that any attempt to sacrifice any of the party would not make it happen. My guess is that the endgame is just a cluster-bugged mess.

This isn't an issue of sacrificing anyone ( you don't need to - it just makes the dragon easier to kill ) - it's that you need to right the pillar to keep it from flying off, and Toro and Gort are the ones who help you do it.

OP: Are you sure they aren't there? They should be teleported in along with the rest of you, but they do tend to wander off toward the dragon right away.

Herp derp. That's what I get for trying to answer a question without taking the time to make sure I have read the question correctly.