Lord Gwyn's Firstborn son was a God of War Who inherited the sunlight from his father The power of Sunlight is manifest as lightning And it's highly effective against dragons And Gwyn's Firstborn son was once a Dragonslayer who fought against his father's ancient enemy And as you know, the ancient dragons once ruled over an Age of Grey but Gwyn discovered their weakness and he struck them down with Great Bolts of Lightning Later, advancements in arms would lead to lightning imbued spears with a cross-pummel which were developped to be stamped or thrust deep into the flesh of dragons The Firstborn's Dragonslayer Swordspear was the first of such weapons for the Firstborn had respect only for arms and nothing else At some point, during the war, however Gwyn's Firstborn had a change of heart He switched sides, and sacrificed everything to ally himself with the ancient dragons And, unlike a lot of Souls lore, this part of history is actually described as ''missing'' for a reason: for, after he sided with the ancient dragons, Lord Gwyn's Firstborn was expunged from the annals of history and his deific status was recinded. He was no longer considered a God, no longer in the books of history and, today, even his name is not known If you played it around the time that Dark Souls 1 was released, the identity of the Firstborn was a complete mystery to all of us. All we knew was that he was Gwyn's Firstborn, that he was a God of War, and that he was a core part of the Warrior's of Sunlight, so players puzzled over missing statues next to Gwyn; they puzzled over broken monuments to the Warriors of Sunlight, and we even guessed that the Firstborn himself could have just been a simple man from Astora who fought for the Sun and, it is true that the God of War continued to watch over his Sunlight Warriors, but we can now finally see where he went, and why. The Nameless King, the Firstborn Son of Gwyn, Heir of Sunlight, and God of War left the miracle, Sunlight Blade, upon his father's coffin, perhaps as a final farewell. Now, this part of the Nameless King's history, it's been purposefully erased, but some players do think that traces of his existence still remain out in the world and cannot be erased. In fact, it's a popular theory, and I'll leave a link to a few sources in the description, that the Namless King is referenced in the Faraam Armor Set, which is this plate set that was named after a God of War. The mighty Lion Knights of Forossa were worshippers of the War God, Faraam, wore heavy armor, and were feared for their two-handed swordplay. This armor was blessed by the War God, Faraam. Forossa would later fall to conflict with their neighbors, and the legacy of the Faraam Knights fell with it. So, the information here is also lacking, but is the Nameless King the War God Faraam? Well, that's up to you to decide. Both are described as War Gods; both place high value in arms. The Nameless King had to be king of some realm, and the Faraam Set is blessed and named after a God of War, who is possibly the one emblazed upon the helm as a knight facing a dragon. Also, both the Nameless King and the Kingdom of Forossa fell from power, so, hey, whatever you believe. This is a classic example of Souls leaving just enough clues that you can choose to believe or not choose to believe, so no one is provably right or wrong. But moving on to what we do know The Nameless King tamed a Storm Drake upon which he lead a lifetime of battle. Assumedly, this partnership with the Storm Drake was a part of the Firstborn allying with the Acient Dragons. I have a few suspicions that the Storm Drake might also be known as a giant horned oni, which are found in eastern lands as the Onislayer Greatarrow describes, and it's the only creature in the game that really fits the description of an Oni, whatever creature that is, and it's certainly a drake that looks very much like a foreign offshoot of most other draconic creatures in Souls. It looks nothing like them really. Oni are also found in an eastern land, and Forossa is in an eastern land as well, so maybe there's something here, but just speculation. When the Storm Drake fell, the King claimed its soul, as was customary in the Age of the Gods. In a giant flash, we see the Nameless King become imbued with the drake's power of the Storm, which is really reminiscent of Ornstein and Smough absorbing one another in their boss fight in Dark Souls I as the Age of the Gods was drawing to a close there. Dark Souls III's description of Smough's Great Hammer tells us that Smough was the last knight to remain at his post, guarding the ruined cathedral. Ornstein, on the other hand, he long guarded the ruined cathedral, but he left the land in search of the Nameless King. So, you're probably asking yourself, "How did Ornstein leave the cathedral if I killed him in Dark Souls I, and then again in Dark Souls II?". Well, remember Dark Souls III is the game that very openly references the fact that events are doomed to repeat themselves. More than any previous game, this is a game about cycles and the Lords of Cinder who contributed to their own cycle. We see so many cycles laid before us, so, yes, a lot of narratives and plots in the game have been recycled. In a way, that's what the games are about, but in Dark Souls III, it's nice because a lot of these plots are further along than ever before Take Ornstein, for example, in this timeline, he survived until he tired of standing around in the cathedral, and he left, for during this dragonless age where he stood in the cathedral, Ornstein the Dragonslayer must have felt quite bereft of purpose, so he left in search of the Nameless King. So the question becomes, "Did he intend to kill the Nameless King or did he intend to serve him?". Ornstein's Set in Dark Souls I describes Ornstein as the captain of the four knights of Lord Gwyn, but the Leo Ring of Dark Souls III describes him as the first knight of the sun's eldest born, the Nameless King. So, since I found it hard to believe that he could be both the captain of the guard to Gwyn, and simultaneously the first knight of the Firstborn. I think it's most likely that Ornstein abandoned his duty as captain of the guard, and then decided to serve the Nameless King instead after he was exiled. But, the best evidence that Ornstein remained a friend to the Nameless King is the Sacred Oath description, which labels him as not just the Nameless King's first knight, but his faithful first knight. Since the game is clarifying something like this, then I am going to believe that he is loyal to the Nameless King. So, Ornstein tracks down and pledges alleigance to the Nameless King, but what becomes of Ornstein after his arrival in Archdragon peak? We find his armor and his weapon after the Nameless King fight, but it's just discarded to the side; it's not upon a corpse; it's not in a chest, and this is strange for Souls, right? It stands out. I don't think there's many examples of this happening. Uh so, sure, it wouldn't make sense for the armor to be upon a corpse, but items like this are, at least, meant to be in chests. So, to me, it signifies that Ornstein didn't want to preserve anything at all from his past or, perhaps that he discarded his armor in the same way that many people here do to begin the transformation into a dragon. So, is Ornstein alive? is he dead? Was he killed by the Nameless King? Or did he become one of the Dragons in the shrine? His fate is left open for you to decide. So, we've mentioned the spell, Sacred Oath, before and its description reads "Sacred Oath, miracle devised by Warriors of the Sun tells the tale of the Sun's Firstborn, his faithful first knight, and the brave dragonslayer who served them both. The brave dragonslayer who served them both So a few dragonslayers could fit this description, but I think it's most likely that this was Havel. Havel the Rock was a battlefield compatriot of Gwyn, the First Lord. He was suited in this armor carved from solid rock and he wields the tooth of an Everlasting Dragon Havel was followed by warriors who replicated his armaments, his weaponry, and never flinched nor retreated from battle Havel was the arch enemy of Seath the Scaless, which was the dragon who betrayed his own and allied with Lord Gwyn This must have placed Havel in an awkward spot. He's a battlefield compatriot of Lord Gwyn and yet, Gwyn allied with a magic wielding traitorous dragon that Havel hates In Dark Souls I, it's implied that Havel was locked away by a dear friend and all that time ago we theorized that it was Gwyn himself who locked his Hollowed friend away. We also talked about how a piece of occult weaponry was capable of killing the Gods and it was locked away in a basement with the rest of Havel's gear, and this fueled some theory that Havel plotted against the Gods In Lordran, Havel remained locked in that basement, but, in Dark Souls III, perhaps, we see a different path to Havel's tale We find armaments left by Havel himself in Archdragon Peak, and we can easily theorize that Havel was the dragonslayer mentioned in the tale of Sacred Oath A brave dragonslayer, the keyword being brave, who never flinched nor retreated from battle, and had good cause to take up arms with the Nameless King, who was another leader positioned to rebel gainst Gwyn and Seath the Scaless Of course, to play devil's advocate, Havel could also be there to slay the Nameless King. He is overlooking the corpse of an Ancient Dragon after all. But, as a final piece of proof that he's on the Nameless King's side The half-dragon summoners, the ones with the frilly necks that summon phantoms to fight against you, they summon Warriors of Havel to fight. Also, I want to point out that they summon a half-naked dude wielding Ricard's Rapier and wearing a crown, so I'm assuming this is Ricard as well, and it links Prince Ricard to a king; it links him to the Way of the Dragon, and it links him to yet another castle full of half-dragon snake creatures. So, that is pretty much everything surrounding the Nameless King explained. So, what do you believe? The story is really open-ended and I've given you most of the raw information you need to tell your own story. But regardless, now you know the story of Archdragon Peak where the Son of Gwyn switched sides, separated himself from the fire linking fiasco, and assumedly, quitely began rebuilding the ranks of the Ancient Dragons. So we just talked about how Havel hated the dragon named Seath the Scaleless, a traitorous, mad pale drake whose twisted soul clearly lives on in Oceiros, the Consumed king. Oceiros was once king of Lothric, married to a queen who was revered as a goddess of fertility and bounty, much like Gwynevere from Dark Souls I, and as we know from the previous video The Lothric line was obsessed with creating a worthy heir and the rite of the linking of the Fire Oceiros, however, in his later years, became fascinated with dragons. His research lead him to the heretics of the Grand Archives of Lothric, where he discovered the twisted worship of Seath, the Pale Drake. Eventually, he discovered the research that was done by Big Hat Logan, who you'll remember from Dark Souls I. He was this legendary scholar who went mad delving into Seath's sorceries. So Oceiros was inspired, he was edified by Big Hat Logan and he even learned how to perform the Crystal Breath of Seath the Scaleless. He was transforming into this dragon. He was changing and behind Oceiros, we see the rest of his chambers, and they're full of dragon scales and dead man servants, and there's even a Drakeblood Knight in the Way of the Dragon pose. Oceiros himself was clearly somewhat successful at turning into an Ancient Dragon, and given his admiration for Seath, it seems that he took on Seath's Soul aspects Oceiros became this blind, mutated Pale Drake, just like Seath, and he was obsessed with this notion that that he could use his royal blood for a, and I quote, "greater purpose" So, he fathered this crossbreed child, with his queen, and named him Ocelote. After giving birth to Ocelote, her youngest child the Queen of Lothric quietly disappeared. Let's talk about the queen a little bit. This queen either takes after Gwynevere or is Gwynevere because in Dark Souls I Gwynevere left the ailing land of Lordran in exactly the same manner that this queen leaves the ailing land of Lothric. Also, Gwynevere of Dark Souls I also pushes the Chosen Undead to link the fire and in Dark Souls III, the Queen of Lothric is obsessed with finding people to link the fire, even placing powerful rings in the untended graves in the hope that one day, an Unkindled would rise to link the fire. So, the parallels between the two are undeniable and with the flame fading, in Dark Souls III, and this pus of man spreading across the castle, the Grand Archives where Oceiros learned all of his knowledge closed its doors for good, and Oceiros remained, walled off behind this garden clutching his dragon crossbreed, Ocelote. Many assassins were dispatched to his domain, but none returned. We learn that the Consumed King scribed his resilience to the divine protection of the dragonscale, and when we stumble through the Consumed Garden, we find this Pale Drake cradling his invisible infant crossbreed before the fight. He's a very vocal boss, which is rare and I think we need to disect every line of his dialogue "Ah, you ignorant slaves finally taken notice have you... ...of the power of my beloved Ocelot, Child of Dragons. Well, I will not give him up. for he is all that I have. So first of, he calls us ignorant slaves and I think this means that he's arrogant and he sees his subjects as slaves or perhaps he's referring to us being slaves to the linking of the Fire, which Lothric is known for. Then he says, "finally taken notice have you?" which explains how he hasn't been disturbed for a very long time He is out of the way; he's not a main boss, and he's also behind this fair line of defense within a locked off castle. We know it's been a long time because the main boss we fight in this area also gives us that impression. Oceiros belives that this crossbreed child named Ocelote is worth taking notice of, but is he, really? Ocelote is the crying baby in the boss fight, and if we could see it, we would probably see that it's a crossbreed between a Dragon and the Royal Bloodline, and crossbreeds of this type have existed in the past. Three others we know of are the Emerald Herald, Yorshka, locked up in the tower, and most notably, Priscilla from Dark Souls I All that time ago, in Dark Souls I, we theorized that Priscilla was a crossbreed between a Lord and a Dragon specifically, a lot of people said that she was the offspring of Seath the Scaleless and Gwynevere, and that parentage is really strongly mirrored here between Oceiros and his Queen, who's basically Gwynevere, and maybe I should've mentioned this earlier, but Priscilla also had the ability to turn invisible, which explains why Ocelote, the baby he appears to be cradling, cannot be seen, and if Oceiros is blind like Seath was then, perhaps he's not even aware that his child is invisble. Priscilla also had this ability called Lifehunt, which apparently, the gods feared. Presumably, Lifehunt though it is never properly described, can harm the Gods and maybe the threat of this was what made the Queen of Lothric leave her home this time around. Because it is easy to believe that Oceiros would turn against his own kingdom, after all, Seath's Soul Line, as I'm calling it, they've all been betrayers. Seath betrayed the ancient dragons; the Duke of the Writhing Ruins in Dark Souls II set spiders upon the townsfolk, and I think it's most likely that Oceiros hoped that this crossbreed child would be this powerful weapon with Lifehunt, based on how he talks about it during the fight However, this crossbreed didn't turn out as Oceiros hoped, clearly, and Oceiros' plan, ehhh, maybe not such a great one. He is always referenced as dilluded and mad Originally, Oceiros resembles a father fighting to protect his child, but as he nears death he seems to become increasingly frustrated with his crossbreed's lack of power "Aaaaaaahhhhhh! Oceloooooooooooote! He appears even to smash this baby he was cradling upon the ground, and he reverts to a more feral stage as he fights for his life against us The baby, however, it continues to cry even after this, so yeah, mabye it's still alive. So, what are the consequenecs of Oceiros' treachery? Well, the collapse of his rule was probably this fair part of the collapse of the castle, and even of Lothric Kingdom. Plus, the pus of man is concentrated a lot in his garden, but apart from that, like the Nameless King, I can't see that his decisions had this huge impact upon the world. In the previous video, we talked about how the Lothric bloodline resorted to unspeakable means to find a worthy heir to link the fire. And my last thoughts on this boss are that perhaps Ocelote was created with similar intents to Shanalotte the dragon crossbreed of Dark Souls II that men hoped would ward off the Fire Linking Curse. What's unclear is whether Oceiros also fathered Lorian and Lothric, who are the two children of the royal bloodline who refused to link the fire. Lorian, the eldest, he was raised as a knight, and before his brother's curse crippled him, he was famed for single-handedly slaying the Demon Prince, leaving his sword eternally scorched with fire. I'd wager that this Demon Prince is probably related to the Old Demon King, if only because they're the only hints of demon royalty that we've ever seen in the game, and if these two are related, then maybe the arena that you fight the Old Demon King in is also related. There are piles of dead demon kin corpses, which signifies that some battle took place here, and of all these demons, the shriveled Old Demon King is the only one to remain now, like a clump of burnt ash. He's the last living witness of the Chaos of Izalith. The Chaos Flame of Izalith was born when the Witch of Izalith attempted to use her own soul to create another First Flame Instead, she turned ito this tumultuous Bed of Chaos, which birthed demons from the fire Beings that bore the smoldering essence of the Chaos Flame, and were doomed, eventually, to perish. The Old King's Hammer has survived since Old Izalith, and is imbued with remnants of the Chaos Flame. We've talked about the Chaos Flame so much over the years and in Dark Souls III, we definitely see when it and demon kind are at their lowest point. Stray Demons, Capra Demons, Taurus Demons and even hidden Centipede Demons, they're all dead in this arena, and one Stray Demon we do face out in the world even lacks a trace of flame showing how core this Flame is to their survival. So, the demon race and the Chaos Flame, it's demonstratably at its lowest point in the series. All of this said, demons are a largely undeveloped part of the lore, I really do wish that they were designed to be more than just brutish enemies, you know? With the Old Demon King, though, I liked it at the end of the fight, you might not have noticed, but if you keep him alive at around ten percent health, he in this desperate attempt to fend us off with one final effort, he releases all of his remaining energy. He fails and then he stays panting on the ground indefinitely, unable even to lift his Great Hammer, surrounded by the corpses of his kind, and he's the last piece, of his race just reduced to flimsily batting us away with one hand. That kind of scene, where there's no cut scene, there's no break in the gameplay and it still shows, you know, an emotion, a feeling that it wants to convey, that's good game design, and I feel like it's lost on a lot of people because most people will just finish this guy off in that last ten percent of his health, but it's a powerful scene. And finally, the Cursed-Rotted Greatwood rooted in the Undead Settlement The Undead Settlement is a home to many Undead, and it's full of workers who are dedicated to the dissection and the burial of themeselves because it makes sense that in this village and refuge full to the brim with Undead, that the primary task would end up being, you know, "What do we do with all the bodies that keep rising from the grave?". There's just this sheer problem of overpopulation, which could never be properly reduced because they never die, and as a result, in this place, you find Undead caged together dissected, hung, and buried, but probably just rising from the dead all the same to begin the process all over again Eventually, teachers from the Cathedral of the Deep came to take advantage of this climate in the Undead Settlement. The Evangelists, all women, came to enlighten inhabitants of the Undead Settlement and send carriers on the Path to Sacrifice, most likely to the Cathedral of the Deep, where they would be consumed by Aldrich as a sacrifice. So, it's no surprise really that all manners of curses managed to seep into the Undead Settlement for Undead were being dissected; their bones were being ground to dust, and they were buried within the earth. Rooted within that same soil, that same earth, was a Spirit Tree that would become known as the Curse-Rotted Greatwood Spirit Trees are another really undeveloped part of Souls Lore, and they appear mostly in item descriptions from Dark Souls II It's really easy to skip any description of a Spirit Tree. So, let's talk about what we know. They're descibed as magical, sentient, and supposedly, possessing divine powers. Two desciptions in particular reference them as appearing in a dream world related to Quella, who is the Goddess of Dream. There was this one talking Spirit Tree that also turned itself into a shield to protect a small, frightened child. I also have a hunch that this green tree that repairs items in Dark Souls II in the Sunken Kingdom, I think it could be another type of Spirit Tree, as well, but again, this is just an educated guess. There's not much we know about this creatures. At any rate, the worst of the curses in the Undead Settlement were sealed away inside this Spirit Tree. Maybe it happened naturally, or maybe the townsfolk hoped that the tree would purify said curses, but eventually, however the curses took their toll and festered in the belly of the Greatwood. So, let's talk about what we find in the belly of the Greatwood. One thing we find is the Transposing Kiln, which is this artifact from Courland, stitched with Crystal Lizard hide. "Before I was a Lord of Cinder, I was a student of transposition, the process of extracting and coalescing the essence of a Soul. A forbidden art that once left a foul stain upon Courlund's honour. 'Tis an art that grants powers once thought unattainable. Most Transposing Kilns were lost with Courlund, but this place is a crossing for all manner of cursed objects." Unwanted, cursed items were what were sealed within the Greatwood. So, it makes a degree of sense that the forbidden Transposing Kiln would also be sealed within it at some point. And with Ludleth's help, this kiln allows souls to be turned into a form we can use, like a weapon or a ring. These items reflect the souls that they were transposed from, and give us more insight into that being. Ludleth himself for example, drops the Skull Ring which was a wonder transposed from the soul of a Soul Feeder, a beast that insatiably absorbed souls. to feed its own power So, when we transpose the Cursed-Rotted Greatwood's Soul we aren't getting items related to the Greatwood. We're kind of getting items that were related to the curses that were within the Greatwood. For example, one is the Spear of Arstor who was this knight from Carim, fond of impaling his enemies, and he was credited with the dreadful creation of the Bite Set of rings. This is one thing that we get from within the Greatwood. Another is the Hollowslayer Greatsword, which harbors the fears that lurk within the minds of Hollows, and is more effective at killing them. So, this sword, it's very well known in Souls. It once belonged to Lucatile of Dark Souls II, and you might be able to see why the Hollows of the Undead Settlement would seal this sword away. It was known for killing their kind, and that's one hell of a curse for them. Let's talk about some comments from the previous video before I end this video SiestaYonJyuGo says, So, Siesta is referring to the fact that Aldrich can cast a version of Lifehunt Scythe, and Lifehunt Scythe was a spell that Priscilla could use and he's wondering why I think that Aldrich saw Yorshka, and he's right, Priscilla might make more sense in retrospect, but my thinking is base around my theory of a lot of the characters in the game. You know how earlier we were talking about Oceiros and how he takes after Seath. Well, in my perspective, Oceiros pretty much represents Seath in this game, and in a same sort of manner, Yorshka, to me, represents Priscilla, uh, and that goes a bit more deeper than just being a descendant. I think that she fits the same role in this timeline as Priscilla did in her timeline Priscilla was a crossbreed locked away in a painting near Anor Londo, and Yorshka is also a crossbreed locked away in a tower, near Anor Londo. Both of them were probably locked away for being crossbreeds, and yeah, so when I say he dreamt of Yorshka, I assumed that Yorshka would have the same Lifehunt Scythe skill, and Yorshka inhabits this world, whereas Priscilla hasn't been proved. to inhabit this world. So, that's why I said Yorshka, but, yes, you're right I think, because Aldrich is devouring Gwyndolin, who would probably have knowledge of Priscilla, even if it did occur a very long time ago, so, that was my thinking. Hope that kind of makes sense, but I'm glad for the chance to clarify. Guy Dude left a comment that basically sums up what I was talking about in the video, he says, and Aldrich says, and then Gabriel says, And to lead us out, a poem by pdragon on Aldrich, Thank you for watching this video. Subscribe, check out some more please become a Patreon, if you want to support the channel, but regardless, thank you for viewing this one, and I will see you in the next one. Bye-bye :) *Footsteps* *Bonfire*
