The stories of Souls Games
have always revolved around bosses, but that statement has never been more true than for Dark Souls 3. If you understand who you're killing in this game,
then you will understand the story. The first one in your way is Iudex Gundyr, the Ashen Judge
and Scabbard to the Coiled Sword of the Shrine. This sword is bequeathed only to Chosen Ash
who can best him in battle. But before he was the Ashen Judge, Gundyr walked through this place much like we did, on his way to meet his firekeeper and link the fire. Charged with a duty, and granted a cast iron halberd
that would never crumble, Gundyr arrived... late, greeted by a shrine without fire,
and a bell that would not toll. The flame had already faded and his firekeeper had been thrown
into the depths of the Bell Tower, grave of firekeepers' past. She never met her champion and the ensuing tragic farce, became a favorite tale of the masses. And after he was bested by an unknown warrior,
which is probably us, Gundyr the Champion,
became sheathed to a coiled sword in the hope that some day
the First Flame would be linked once more. Perhaps, Gundyr with his Unbreakable Halberd
was fated to eternal service from the beginning. Since it is implied that Gundyr expected
to meet a firekeeper, he was likely meant as a candidate for linking the fire. Those capable of linking the fire
are named Lords of Cinder, beings capable of bringing back the world from the brink of darkness by linking the First Flame. Indeed, the game speaks of three Lords of Cinder
who have already linked the fire, and they're being resurrected as a last resort,
to link it once again. In the opening cutscene, you saw them: Aldrich, Saint of the Deep Yhrom, the Giant and Farron's Abyss Watchers. Each of these Lords once had an Age of their own and the remnants of their Age lives on in Dark Souls 3 and in their resurrection. For example, Aldrich is linked to these bosses and their stories. The Abyss Watchers are linked here, and those in Lothric are conjoined here. For simplicity's sake, we are going to discuss these stories in three chunks starting with Aldrich, Pontiff Sulyvahn, Vordt and the Dancer,
who all reside in the Boreal Valley. The Boreal Valley is currently ruled over by
Pontiff Sulyvahn, a tyrant who sends his Outrider Knights to serve as his watchful eyes and his guards, and the first knight of Pontiff Sulyvahn we meet is Vordt, an Outrider Knight who ambushes us
as we attempt to leave Lothric. So, the Outrider Knights' job is to keep an eye on things Sullivan's knights are also described as his
"watchful eyes and his punitive blades" Each Outrider Knight is provided with a ring
by the Pontiff, which transforms them into frenzied beasts
and lures them into battles of death. Specifically, the two main Outrider Knights we see upon the High Wall Of Lothric appear at both points of progression in the area. So, perhaps they serve as strategically placed guards in order to hinder our progression and for Sulyvahn to keep an eye on the world. When you went through Irithyll, I'm sure you noticed those ghosts that seem to be walking the streets. Well, they likely represent the Outrider Knights before their departure and descent into madness. Because two in particular are very interesting,
they walk together: one man, one female. And the woman wears the mask of the Dancer. Vordt was never far from the fleeting Dancer,
who watches over Emma in Lothric's Grand Cathedral. The Dancer is far more intriguing than Vordt is. The Pontiff ordered her to serve as a Dancer
and then he ordered her to serve as his Outrider Knight. He bestowed enchanted swords upon her:
one dark and one light, mirroring his own. Eventually, the Black eyes of the Pontiff
transformed her into a beastly creature: her gauntlets fusing with her own hide. The fascinating thing about the Dancer, though, is:
who she was before she became Sulyvahn's pet. It's a very popular theory that she is one of the three daughters of Gwynevere, who appear in game Here's the evidence: Her Aurora Veil is said to be "An article of the old gods". Which is permitted only for direct decedents of the old royal family. The Dancer's Soul can also be transposed, to give you the spell "Soothing Sunlight" - miracle of Gwynevere, of the old royalty Gwynevere used to reside in Anor Londo, home of the gods, and her line continues in Lothric. So Gwynevere was also revered as a goddess of fertility and bounty she raised many heavenly children and the Dancer - having one of the three Sunlight spells - is clearly one of them. and of course, as you know, Pontiff Sulyvahn, the Tyrant, now rules over Irithyll and Anor Londo So, it's my belief, that Sulyvahn gained power within Anor Londo Then proclaimed himself pointiff and ordered Gwynevere's daughter to serve as his dancer The sword in his left hand is a ceremonial sword, representing the judgement of the moon. Deep Protection tells us that the Deep was originally peaceful and secret place. Its deacons wearing dark red robes, denoting their blessing of fire. Overtime, however, the Deep became the final rest for many abhorrent things, and indeed, human dregs were likely some of those things as the Dregs of Humanity are said to sink to the lowest depths imaginable, forming the bedrock of the world. Those who linger too long on the brink of the Deep will often slip, And lurking within the deep are insects, which tear open the skin and burrow into flesh. Eventually, those dedicated to sealing away the horrors of the Deep succumb to its very power. An example of this is their Tome of Knowledge, which was originally intended to teach divine protection, but it had dark tales added to its pages, making it a thing most profane. And along with this descent, presumably, was Aldrich Saint of the Deep. "A right and proper cleric, only he developed a habit of devouring men. He ate so many that he bloated like a drowned pig, then softened into sludge, so they stuck him in the Cathedral of the Deep, and they made him a Lord of Cinder, not for virtue, but for might." Aldrich was this simple saint, who became a hugely powerful being eventually chosen, maybe willingly and maybe not, to become a Lord of Cinder, and link the Fire. The Deacon Skirt tells us that the deacons tended to the flame, and I'm, perhaps, inclined to believe that this meant that maybe they were tending to the flame of Aldrich when he was a Lord of Cinder. And whether this is true or not, we do know that the deacons eventually succumbed to the horrors of the Deep, and neither tending to the flame nor the faith can save them. You would have noticed that many deacons cast Dark Soul Sorceries, which were imparted to them by Archdeacon McDonnell. An adherent of Aldrich who was largely responsible for the corruption of the deacons. Archdeacon McDonell delighted in the Cathedral's stagnating souls. For him, they represented the glorious bedrock of this world. Under the guidance of Archdeacon McDonnell, these deacons became both clergymen and sorcerer. The Archdeacon's sin, as its called, was to channel faith for sorcery, which transformed his staff from a symbol of religious authority into a catalyst of dark sorceries. The deacons, they still had faith, but it was not in fire any longer. It was in Aldrich, Saint of the Deep, their master. Upon his ressurection, Aldrich, like many Lords of Cinder, ruminated on the fading of the fire. For him, it inspired visions He saw beyond the Age of Fire, to the Age of Deep Waters and the coming Age of the Deep Sea Filled with new purpose, he knew what he had to do. He would devour the gods himself. When we get to the Deacons of the Deep, we expect to find Aldrich in his coffin, but he's already left for his home in the Borreal Valley. The deacons here are lead by Archdeacon Royce, who is one the three archdeacons who remained behind to keep eternal watch over his master's coffin, hoping that one day he would return. Aldrich left behind a small doll in his coffin, that Pontiff Sulyvahn gave to his most valued subjects. Wherever you go, the moon sets in Irithyll. Wherever you may be, Irithyll is your home. When Aldrich left, Archdeacon McDonnell went with him. We come across McDonnell in the depths of Anor Londo, and McDonnell, like many other archdeacons, is obese. He's huge, and I see that as a legacy of Aldrich, who derived power from gluttony; they're clearly mimicking him. In Anor Londo, Archdeacon McDonnell came to lead the Aldrich Faithful who are defenders, who exist to ensure that Aldrich, Devourer of Gods, remains undisturbed. And when we come across Aldrich, we realise why he wants to be undisturbed. Because Pontiff Sulyvahn, with the Devourer of Gods by his side, has imprisoned a God of the Old Royalty in the Abandoned Cathedral to be fed to the Devourer. Gwydolin, son of Gwyn and prior leader of the Dark Moon Knights, was gradually devoured by Aldrich. As Aldrich slowly devoured the God of the Dark Moon, He dreamt. In this dream, he saw the form of a pale girl in hiding, and we know this is Yorshka, who is sister to Gwyndolin, and a half-breed who is parallel to Priscilla from Dark Souls I, but, the interesting thing about this is the dream that Aldrich had because apparently, Aldrich only needs to dream about someone to learn their skills for he uses Priscilla's Lifehunt Scythe in battle, and this fact that he can learn things through his visions, has some interesting implications because Aldrich is clearly wielding a Gravelord Greatsword upon the end of his spear, which lends credit towards this theory, that Aldrich has devoured Nito in some capacity, and he is called the Devourer of Gods, plural, after all. So another question becomes "Did Aldrich also devour Nito?". Well, he has the wispy Nito-like cloak with skulls within it, but I think that it's more likely that the skulls are just remnants of humans he's devoured You have to remember there is no concrete evidence that he has devoured Nito. And I personally think that it's more likely that he simply dreamt up the Gravelord Spell in a similar manner to which he dreamt up the Lifehunt Scythe from Yorshka, but what you think shapes the story here, so let me know. So that's all of the pontiff's lackeys explain, for the most part. And the biggest unanswered questions here to go into in other videos is "What exactly the relationship between Sulyvahn and the deacons is?" and "In what order this story of corruption and treachery played out?" because timeline is always one of the hardest things to get right in the Souls Series, but the biggest curiosity in my opinion and the one that really, really interests me, are Aldrich's visions of the Age of the Deep Sea From a being, remember, that has visions so accurate that he can learn spells from those visions. So, in a franchise that's entirely self contained within this Age of Fire and its cycles, this, this vision of the Deep Sea It's pretty much the only mention of a different future, and its appearance in these descriptions feel so out of place, that I almost expect it to be referenced in the future in some capacity, assuming its not just a reference to Bloodborne. Maybe this indicates what Miyazaki is doing next on one of his projects or maybe we'll se something related to this in the DLC. Moving on. Something set Sulyvahn down this path. When Sulyvahn was young sorcerer, he discovered the Profaned Capital, and down there, he discovered an unfading flame below a distant tundra over Irithyll, and when he found this, a burning ambition took root within him. The Profaned Flame, the origins of it aren't known, but we do know a few things. We know it's an unfading flame; we know that it can be manipulated, and we know that it swallows the hearts of those who wield it. The pontiff himself imbued his greatsword with this fire, and he also gave it to his holy knights. Shortly after he did this, the Fire Witches had their heart swallowed by the flame And as one last example of its corrupting influence, the Handmaidens who wield it down at the Profaned Capital, their dagger says that take pleasure in wounding others, And of course, the Pontiff himself doesn't exactly have a good moral compass, but apart from that, we know precious little about the Profaned Flame and this has been the hardest part of the script to write for me because the Profaned Flame defies all categorisation as flames that have existed previously in the series., so I am going to work on my theories on it, and while I'm doing that, I'll list those theories in the description because I can talk about this thing for a very long time without actually getting anywhere, but the final thing, and probably the most important thing we know about the Profaned Flame, is that Yhorm the Giant became a Lord of Cinder to put it to rest. Now, clearly, Yhorm was not successful because the Profaned Flame has infiltrated almost all of Irithyll, and set a lot of events in motion. This just adds even more tragedy to Yhorm's tale. Yhorm is the descendant of an ancient conqueror, and was asked by the very people once subjugated to lead them, serving as both a weighty blade and a stone hard shield. Yhorm fought unflinchingly as a one-man vanguard, but one day, he lost the one he wished to protect. In response, he threw down his greatshield, and added a left handed notch to his machete instead so he could two-hand it for he no longer had anything left to protect All the while, his human subjects appeared quite disrespectful of him. They were insincere when they called him a lord, and they doubted him. He is called Lonely Yhorm in his cinders, and perhaps that's because he lost the one he wished to protect or perhaps because he didn't have the love of his people. At some point, the Profaned Flame became a real problem in the capital, for according to his cinders, Yhorm decided to sacrifice himself and become a Lord of Cinder to put the Profaned Flame to rest. I don't know why Yhorm decided that "Hey, I'm going to put out fire with fire.", because when he did this, fire rained down from the sky and incinirated naught, but human flesh. This is an interesting insight into who the linking of the Fire consumes. It consumed humans and humans alone, and you see their disfigured, smelted corpses all around Yhorm's chamber. Before he linked the fire, however, Yhorm left behind two Stormrulers, which was a legendary greatsword, also known as the Giant Slayer, for the residual strength of storm that brings Giants to their knees, so this thing could kill Giants and one he gave to the humans who doubted him, he called them out on their cowardly words and gave them a weapon capable of killing him, and the other Stromruler, he gave to a dear friend in return for a promise. This dear friend was Siegward, who journeys to the Profaned Capital in order to uphold his promise and slay his old friend. Presumably, Yhorm asked Siegward to kill him if he ever betrayed his duty, and Siegward does so, seeing that Yhorm has not returned to link the Fire once again. The Profaned Capital also had its sorcerers who claimed heirship to the legacy of the renowned scholar, Big Hat Logan, even going so far as to emulate the type of staff he used. But halfway across the world, I know of two Crystal Sages who emulated him even more closely. These Crystal Sages served as spiritual guides to the scholars of Lothric's Grand Archives, and one of them went on to ally with the Undead Legion. The Undead Legion of Farron was a caravan of Undead dedicated to the eradication of the Abyss wherever it was found. The Abysswatchers, as they were called, follow the duty and the form of the Wolf Knight of Dark Souls I, known as Artorias the Abysswalker. They are essentially his legacy. They made their home in Farron Keep, and high above Farron Keep, lies an emaciated old wolf. The Abbyswatchers, for their hunting of the Abyss, they required some art that went beyond any existing art. Wolf's Blood, the legacy of Artorias, provided just that. Their pointed steel helm became shirked as this sinister omen by the masses because, think about it, if you saw that pointed steel helmet coming towards your kingdom, you knew you were in trouble 'cause these guys are dedicated to taking out the Abyss, and indeed their home in Farron might just be set above such a kingdom, for below are the Catacombs of Carthus, and sealed within a goblet, deep below in the catacombs is the encounter with High Lord Wolnir, a ruler who succumbed to the Abyss. Before succumbing to the Abyss, Wolnir was a conqueror. He ruled over the people of Carthus of the Sands, formidable warriors who were masters of the curved sword and also of pyromancies that enhanced the effectiveness of their curved swords The swordsmen attached great value to victory at all costs, for where was the honour in death? They lived for their High Lord Wolnir, who was conqueror of most lands known to their people, and yeah, you can see why they loved him. In Wolnir's time, there were other lords who had their crowns rightful bequeathed upon them, but Wolnir brought them to their knees and ground their crowns to dust, forming his own crown from theirs for he was the one high lord keen to outlive all others, reminds me a lot of what we did in Dark Souls Two. Anyway, somehow Wolnir himself fell to the Abyss, and he was gripped by this fear of true darkness and he pleaded to the gods for the first time In our boss fight with him, there is a darkness below Wolnir, and it's struggling to consume him, but Wolnir had his Holy Sword and he had three armlets that he stripped from the corpses of clerics and these things gave him some resemblance of comfort. Of course, we destroy the bracelets, and the Abyss finally consumes him. While he was in the Abyss, however, Wolnir was not inactive. Black Serpent is this pyromancy that was discovered from the Abyss by Wolnir which went on to inspire the black arts of his grave wardens . The Grave Warden Pyromancy Tome was developed by his grave wardens who discovered his pyromancies And going back up for a second, Wolnir and the Abyss, their proximity to the Abysswatchers probably isn't coincidence. In fact, it makes quite a lot of sense for Carthus to be one of the kingdoms the Abysswatchers toppled. So, let's go back up to the Abysswatchers for a second and see if this theory holds any weight. Eventually, the Abysswatchers became Lords of Cinder. Their shared Wolf's Blood served their mandate as lords, essentially, it meant the requirements. To gain access to the Abysswatchers, you have to extinguish three flames, and I've always wondered why this ritual existed. It felt very video gamey and out of place, but I went through once more recently and I looked really closely at the engravings behind each flame. One looks like the Four Kings, one looks like Nito, and one looks like the Bed of Chaos, three of the main lords in Dark Souls One, and these were the souls you had to collect to gain access to Gwyn and open a giant stone door, so these are likely here to symbolise that, right? We're extinguishing three flames and we're opening the door, that explains the ritual. Anyway, that's more a piece of trivia than anything. After the Legion's Watchers became Lords of Cinder, the Wolf Blood dried up, and Farron was consumed by a festering wood Dark Wraiths began to roam. The Keep fell to ruins, and as suggested by many of you in my lorethrough, the Abysswatchers after upon resurrected to link the Fire once more may have been affected by the Abyss as well. So here's the theory, the Abysswatchers were driven to seek out the Abyss, right? Well, what if, upon they ressurection, the Abyss far below in the Catacombs of Carthus crept into the Abysswatchers themselves? This would explain why the Abysswatchers are locked in endless combat with themselves because they're driven to seek out the Abyss, but they also can't die so they're locked in endless combat. When I read this theory in the commends, something else clicked as well. the Wolf Knight Armour, which belonged to Artorias who fell to the Abyss, says that the armour of the Abysswatchers suggests their own eventual end. So, the game is drawing a parallel here beteween Artorias and the Abysswatchers. It's saying that the armour of the Abysswatchers shows that they're falling to the Abyss as well. And here's the really interesting thing, when you look closely at their armour, you realise it has black tendrils of the Abyss rising up so the armour is showing us that they fell to the Abyss... probably. This theory isn't concrete and no one should take it as such, but I think it's the best explanation for their in-fighting. It's my favourite explanation anyway, and mostly, this one was all you guys, so thank you. :) Onwards to Lothric, the knights of Lothric were hunters of dragons, explaining their affinity with lightning and why they worshipped the Sun. They have since tamed dragons and with their drakes, they once crushed anything that threatened their shores The knight has served as one of the three pillar of Lothric since Ancient Times, and it shares place along side the Wyverns as a symbol of Lothric. However, tales of dragons layers are now a rare thing and they're told only in fragments and in whispers in remote regions. The Dragonslayer Armour lost its master long ago, but it still remembers the sporting hunts they shared together. When we fight against it, the armour retains its master's fighting style, but now it has a new master, the Pilgrim Butterfly Now the Soul of the Dragonslayer Armour is the only mention of these butterfly creatures, so speculation abounds whenever you talk about them. When you look up at them closely, though, closer than the game intends you to ever get, you'll see that they're flesh and bone and they're almost bent backwards with a ribcage jutting outwards. Now, their name is one of the biggest clues we have, and the word pilgrim makes me think of the Pilgrims of Londor, who all died on their way to the peak of Lothric. And just like these pilgrims, these Pilgrim Butterflies fly upwards to the peak of Lothric, as well. And in both these cases, with the Pilgrims and the Pilgrim Butterflies, we have no real idea why either of them are going up so perhaps we'll learn more if ever we get Londor-themed DLC, and I think that's pretty likely. I'm going to list two other theories in the description about the Butterflies because the bottom line is we don't know what they are. Next is the Archives, and beyond the Archives is Prince Lothric and his brother, Lorian. Curiously, these are the only Lords of Cinder who were not featured in the opening cutscene of lords being ressurected, and I believe, that's because they never linked the Fire, and I think their rejection of linking the Fire might have been what set all of the desperate resurrections into motion. This is just a theory, but I think it's backed up by most of these descriptions and this dialogue: So there's Prince Lothric and Lorian, his brother. Lorian is the eldest and before he was crippled, he was a knight who single-handedly slayed a Demon Prince, the victory eternally scorching his sword with flame. The Cinders of A Lord states that the Lothric Bloodline was obsessed with creating a worthy heir. They needed someone to link the Flame, and for some reason, Lorian did not suffice, so they put their faith in the next born, Prince Lothric. As his throne states, "last hope of his line" Prince Lothrics, destined to be a Lord of Cinder, was born into swaddling clothes used in ancient prayer and they are all that he has ever worn. He was cherished by the Royal Family despite being born into illness, a frail and shrivelled child. He was their last hope and meant to be a champion, but some things will remain distant dreams forever. Linking the Fire proved impossible, so the family resorted to unspeakable means Descriptions don't say or imply what these unspeakable means are, so that's up to us to guess that. But after mentioning these unspeakable means, the Cinder description goes on to say that the path to linking the Fire is a cursed one indeed. So Prince Lothric was cursed. With what? We don't know, but Lorian embraced his brother's curse, leaving him mute and crippled. It is said that Lorian, the one who embraced the Curse, did so willingly and embraced his fate. When we kill Lorain in the boss fight, Lothric ressurects him, saying, "For that is our curse." So maybe being unable to die itself is the Fire Linking Curse, and why he says, After becoming one, the Souls of the Twin Princes says that they rejected their duty to become Lords of Cinder and settled down far, far away to watch the fire fade from a distance. The curse has made their souls nearly inseparable. So, why did Lothric grow to despise and reject his duty as a Lord of Cinder? Well, it's very likely due to a man named as the First of the Scholars, Soul Stream says that he was alleged to be a private mentor of the Royal Prince and that he doubted the Linking of the Fire. So, it's very likely that this scholar was the one who made Lothric reject his fate as a Lord of Cinder, and there is so much more to the tale of Lothric, but we don't have time. I want to talk about the kingdom, about the royal family, but this video is only about the main bosses, so I still have to mention Oceiros king of Lothric, and his wife, the queen, so please subscribe and look out for the optional bosses lore video. And the final main boss, the being we fight after the Firekeeper chastises the lords for going without thrones is the Soul of Cinder itself, located within the Kiln of the First Flame. The Soul of Cinder if actually a fairly easy being to explain. Ever since Gwyn, the first Lord of Cinder, many exalted lords have linked the First Flame, and it is their very Souls that have manifested themselves as Defender of the Flame The Soul of Cinder is their deific manifestation More specifically, it's clear that the Soul of Cinder is this conglomerate of players themselves, us from previous games and cycles who have linked the fire. Using the Ninja Flip Ring from Dark Souls One, curved swords, pyromancies, sorceries, miracles and in phase two, the music shifts to this twisted tribute of Gwyn's theme as he takes on the First Lord's fighting style. The Kiln also, it represents the state of the world if you look behind you. It's a city twisted and distorted and folded in on itself, just like the entire game and bosses we just journeyed through. Dark Souls Three contains the histories, the people and the lands of of the Abysswatcher's Age, of the Pontiff and Aldrich's Age, of Yhorm's Age, and the story of Lothric that literally seems to have called forth old Lords of Cinder to link the Fire once again. And as you stand in front of the Flame, four choices lay before you, more than any previous game, but that's a video and a story for another time for this video is far, far too long already, and judging by my analytics for videos like this, only half of the people who started watching this video will still be watching now, so to you guys, thank you for sticking it through :) this video took a really long time to make. And the major shoutout in this video has to go to a guy, who runs a YouTube channel, named AGRcactus. He taught me how to use a lot of these camera tricks, and this video would not look half as good if it wasn't for his guidance. He has this video called "The Beauty of Lothric", which really shows off how beautiful this game is when you look at it from angles that the game developers didn't really expect us to look at it from. So, do me a favour and check it out and subscribe to him. It's crazy. I've probably been talking for about half an hour now, and I haven't covered nearly as much as I would have liked to have covered, so for that, we have the lorethrough series. which is dedicated to being really in-depth as we go through every single area in the game. And to bring out the characters and their stories and what their stories relate to, we have Prepare to Cry. And for everything else, we have the secrets videos, but next is a video just like this one which gives you an overview of the optional bosses. And whether you're a Patreon or a viewer, thank you for watching and I'll talk to you next time. :)
I can't watch this at work, but what I CAN do is start a lore discussion on the thing Danny asked about: Lothric Knights and Dragons...Beware of spoilers ahead!
So, from what we can tell, the boss Arin skipped and said was too hard because of the "penis monsters" was the king of Lothric, twisted and consumed and transformed by his foray into the library of Seath the Scaleless... Are we talking too much already? Let's review!
In the time before the First Fire, great, immortal dragons ruled a grey, stagnant, unchanging world of huge trees and mists. Their stone scales granted them eternal life and they sat in unmoving meditation... Then, from an unknown ember, the first fire came and with it came disparity: Where before there was endless grey there was now brilliant light casts by the flame and deep shadows where no lights reached. Where there was only mist there was now the warmth of fire and the coldness where fire was missing. Where there had only been an empty eternity stretching on forever with no promise of anything and nothing to lose, there was now Life and Death... And into that cycle of life and death feel Seath.
As his title suggests, Seath was a dragon born without scales. He was pale and sickly and, above all else, doomed to mortality. Imagine living in a world where everything was eternal and everlasting, then being told one day you were the one thing that was not. Where everyone else would continue on, one day you would, suddenly and without warning, snuff out... And it could happen at any time now! An unyielding inky blackness that would snatch you away and seal you up for all time in death. How would you feel?... You'd prolly feel like Seath did... Angry and fucking mad as hell!
Seath betrayed the dragons and took their scales when the first beings of fire, men and gods, arose... But he found no answers in the cold, stone scales. Maddened by his every swiftly oncoming death he demanded a reward from Gywn, the Lord Of Sunlight who he had aided in his defeat of the dragons: A great library with all the knowledge of the world and a shard of Gywn's Lord Soul, the brilliantly glowing, firey thing that made Gywn immortal. He retreated into his library and, there in, went mad in his desperation... Some say the secrets and lore he uncovered drove him to insanity...
... And it is this library and knowledge that the King of Lothric found! The king married a queen who had "royal blood"... A very special kind of blood that would give him a very special child. He spent his lifetime trying to unlock the secrets of that blood, and as the delved deeper and deeper into that madness the Church Of The Deep grew and grew around him.
Do you remember Pontiff Sulyvahn? The man with two swords and a clone that Arin killed? He is a political puppet of the Church who planned a Coup and took the Boreal Valley and Anor Londo from the old Gods, cast out the last daughter of the royal bloodline (Whom Arin has also killed, the Dancer of the Valley) and helped his leader, Aldrich, consume the last known God of Anor Londo... Whom Arin has also killed. We can see Aldrich's lunch, a poor, weak, malformed God named Gwyndolin smiling in insane peace as he pokes out of Aldrich, his lower half already consumed by the blob of saintly mass that is Aldrich's body.
With the Church slowly removing all members of every royal family and the last price of Lothric cursed and made a Lord of Cinder, destined to be slain by Arin and placed on the last throne to let his soul reignite the dwindling fire, castle Lothric seems to have come under attack! Cathedral Knights now stalk some corners and the angelic (though chubby) Knights of Gertrude, the handmaiden of the Queen who had a heretical vision granted to her by "an angel", seem to have been in bitter combat with the Lothric Knights... If the fact that they are often surrounded by dead Lothric Knights is any indication... It seems the castle has become a battle field of religion and desperation to seize a soon to be empty throne. No princes, no king and a queen with special blood who the king has taken and has never been again...
... But what was so special about her blood? Well, that's where the dragons come in! The king describes his child, during the fight, as the son of dragons and the king himself seems to have mutated himself into a dragon... His obsession with dragons seems to have drawn drakes into the castle, be it because they are seeking revenge for what he has done or because he had them trapped and they are now free?... I can't say, really. What we do know is that the Abyss has touched many of them, as we saw when Arin fought the "gross thing" coming out of the foot of one of them and that many of them were likely once mounts of the Lothric knights!
So now tainted drakes (not dragons) swarm the castle without masters, wild and savage rather than tame and loyal and the Lothric knights, who once rode the drakes into battle proudly and hunted them as part of their duty, their legacy and hope collapsed as the castle falls to infighting, politics and relentless attack by outsiders, have become Hollow... Which, seeing as Dan asked, is the state that people cursed with undeath become when they lose all hope and purpose: Wandering, mindless, corpse like things that seek only to kill and consume souls... Okay, folks. All this is conjecture! Go ahead and add your own thoughts and theories! :D
TL;DR - Fuck'n dragons and the king fucked a dragon and the knights? Fuck'n knights, they're all cursed up and shit! Man up, bitches!
One thing i find interesting is that the flame in profaned castle "Burned not but human skin" (I think that is the quote)) That could be the fire taking the one thing that yhorm even had a shed of feeling for. even though they were haters.