There are 2 DLCs arriving for Dark Souls 3 and there are two, very intruguing, unfinished plot lines that still remain in the game and this two plot lines, they directly oppose one another. One, in the previous video, was a tale of Londor and this is a tale of the Angels. That was a story of a Dark Wraith locked in the deepest depths and this is a story of an Angel locked in a cell in the tallest tower. A story about usurping the fire and a story about linking it. A story of Kaathe and Frampt, of gods and men. Miyazaki, the game's creator, he takes a lot of inspiration from the manga series Berserk and one of the most powerful themes in Berserk that I don't see a lot of people talking about is The displacement of good and evil in themes of dark and light. For example, good is seen in the Black Swordsman and his darkness. And evil is seen in the angels and their light. Similarly, in Souls mankind were the ones with the Dark Souls even tho the gods were associated with fire and light These gods are dedicated to selfishly keeping themselves in power, at the expense of all humanity. So, keep this in mind, as we talk about the Angels of Dark Souls 3 because I wouldn't be surprised if Gwynevere were a boss in the DLC, but we'll get to that. The Angelic Faith has its roots in Lothric were queen Gwynevere is said to have raised several heavenly children. The Lothric bloodline has always been devoted to the linking of the fire Obsessed with creating a worthy heir and their ruler, currently, appears to be the young prince Lothric and ingraved upon the doors leading to his chambers are three figures that rapresent the three pillars of power that uphold his rule First, the high Priestess, whos duty it is to feed and care for the noble children, essentialy she is their wet nurse and it's clear that these women grown the princes for a role in the linking of the fire. They're not your traditional wet nurse For, one of them begs us to convince Lothric to follow his duty as a lord, and the other two sit directly within the Firelink Shrines. The second pillar is the Knight responsible for the defense of the kingdom. The Lothric knights were allowed to tend to the Wyverns and fight alongside them As these dragons also belong as a symbol of Lothric. And the third pillar, the scholar, who is master of the Grand Archives of Knowledge. And of the three, the scholar seems the most influential, Especially to our young lord Lothric who was frail and disinclined to knighthood The Grand Archives and the Lothric bloodline They also rose together and the first of the scholars Was allegged to be a private mentor to the royal prince. And here is were the story gets really fascinating because this private mentor, the first of the scholars he doubted the linking of the fire. and it's clear that whoever he is he planted thought of rebellion into the young lords mind. So, this were the three accepted of the king's rule. the High Priestess, the Knight and the Scholar But there was on more pillar, who served Lothric on the fringes and in the shadows: The Hunters, the forth pillar of rule. Who punished the king's enemies in ways the king's three pillar cannot This were highly adept warriors and they were known for wielding paired weapons. And some were so proficient in their duty that they even managed to serve successive generations of kings. These hunters specifically became known has the "King'd black hand" And for generations these hunters served the Lothric bloodline and for generations their rule was clearly prosperous. However, the pillars of Lothric are crumbling when we arrive; And Prince Lothric refuses to link the fire. So bare with me once I have the groundwork laid we can get to the really interesting angel's stuff So, in Dark Souls one, we were introduced to Gwynevere, who is firstborn daughter of Gwynn, the man who linked the fire And this illusion of Gwynevere, at least, Says this: Please, Father's rule thou should assume And inheriteth the Fire of our world In Lothric, now, Gwynevere is heavily implied to be the Queen of Lothric Married to king Oceiros And revered as a goddess of fertility and bounty And living up to that title, she became a wife and a mother Who raised several angelic children And just like in Dark Souls 1, she's pushing Undead to link the fire. She's one of those goddesses that uses us. And the Lothric bloodline, her children, They were obsessed with creating a worthy heir. And there is a lot more evidence of her influence in pushing Undead and Unkindled to link the fire. The path to the Kiln itself is hidden behind the queen's castle And unkindled are even born with a Circlet of the Way of White which is a symbol very closely associated with Gwynevere. The queen even placed a powerful artefact in a coffin That she thought a future unkindled could profit from And yet, the castle is in chaos, her husband has gone mad, and her noble children are scattered and defiant. So the queen does what she did in Dark Souls 1: she leaves the kingdom. And we, when we go through it we're left to piece together how exactly this kingdom collapsed from the children, her children, that remain. Prince Lorian and his younger brother, Lothric remain in the throne room of their castle. Implying that they were the ones in power as their rule collapsed Prince Lothric is described as the last hope of his line for linking the fire But Lothric went against his duty and against Gwynevere's legacy, and refused to link the fire. When you approach their chambers, take notice of this stretch leading up to it. All the knights are facing outwards, barricades are raised, and sure this could mean that they're protecting him from us, the Unkindled, but I think that they could also be protecting Lothric from the Angels and their winged knights. So this is my favorite part of the script. At the tallest point of the Grand Archives hangs this enormous cage. Within is a corpse, white feathers, and the miracle Divine Pillars of Light, which was a miracle of Gertrude, named the heavenly daughter, and in Japanese, the Angel's daughter. Gertrude is said by many to be the queen's child. This miracle brings down divine pillars of light, and it was told to Gertrude when she was visited by an angel. Despite losing her sight and her voice, you know she was blind and mute, Gertrude was still determined to record this tale of the angel's visit. Somehow, this blind, mute girl wrote down what she heard in a fragmentary scroll. And in Dark souls 3 there's this huge tradition of placing great faith in the words of the blind. So somehow despite being impossible for ordinary men to decipher, this tale of the angel became the foundation of the angelic faith of Lothric. So now a question is: what does the
angelic faith of Lothric stand for? What do they represent ? And it's my
belief that all angelic references are related to the Way of White, which was a
human faith of clerics, paladins and pilgrims who are supporters of the
linking of the fire and the gods. Let me provide some evidence. As he traveled through the world of Dark Souls 3, the sharp observer would have realized that there are a lot of angelic references and i'll name five and convince you of
their relationship to the kingdom of Lothric. So, one: the statues in upper Lothric are winged and one set of wings even belongs to a depiction of a primordial serpent In the last episode we talked about the mention of Kaath and on the flip side wouldn't it be
fitting for Frampt, who is this serpent in Dark Souls 1 who was a huge
advocate for the linking of the fire, wouldn't it make sense for him to be a
manipulating force in Lothric ? A rule known for the linking of the fire ? Secondly, in the cathedral of the deep
you see statues of winged men, and indeed the archdeacon's of the deep wear robes
denoting the highest rank in the Way of White. And originally this order was not evil: they were devoted to tending to the
flame and in this video we assumed that this meant that they were tending to the
flame of Aldrich, when he became a Lord of Cinder. However when Aldrich rose from the dead, this order of the Way of White became corrupted by his influence and they abandoned their service to the gods. You see this in the statues, the Angels. This Way of White cleric it's
overcome by Aldrich's filth. Third: the Silver Knight helms are winged and indeed the Silver Knights in particular are loyal to the old royal family even protecting this family's Manor long after it was abandoned. In particular though, the Silver Knight Shield has the blessing of their goddess Gwynevere upon it, even to this day. And Gwynevere is intrinsically related to the Angels: four of her children, Gertrude, Lothric, Lorian and Rosaria, they
have some link to white feathers. On Gertrude's cage floor, Lothric's floor and shot from the bident of the man grub casters And Gertrude's description
actually calls her the Angels daughter in Japanese not just a heavenly daughter. These children are linked to Gwynevere and they're linked to the angels and finally, when I look at these beheaded
statues in lower Lothric, I think of another reference to beheading. You know we place the heads of the Lords of cinder, their cinders, atop their thrones to satiate the fire linking ritual. And I think these statues are a symbol of self-sacrifice to the linking
of the fire. Look at the way they cut their own throats and hold their own heads willingly in their hands. When these were built Lothric was known for the linking of the fire, and I think these represent that. And the final reference to beheading to the Way of White are the winged executioners, who swore themselves to the angels. And their set reveals the most curious part of this story. It says that worship of these divine messengers is heresy in Lothric and unrecognized by any of the three pillars of rule. In an attic in the castle, behind an illusionary wall, lies a giant portrait of a winged messenger and a sacred shield. A shield known as Sorcerer's Bane bein and an heirloom of the Way of White. Now with all the connections we just
made to the Angels being supportive of the linking of the fire: the statues, the helmets, the feathers, why would Lauthric call it heresy? Why build statues to something heretical? And the only solution I can come up with is that it became heresy when Lothric refused to link the fire. It is said that this is why Gertrude, the heavenly daughter was imprisoned in the lofty cell of the Grand archives. Her faith, previously accepted, must have become heresy when Prince Lothric took over, for he was
positioned directly against it. And remember the First of the Scholars was private mentor to Prince Lothric and of the three pillars the Scholars are
closest to the Prince. And it is the Scholars themselves who tampered with the sacred chime of Gertrude, allowing her blessed item to be used for their own ends. And in a huge way the scholars were
behind Lothric's refusal to link the fire and in turn Lothric's prosecution of the angels. It's no wonder that Gwynevere fled the kingdom. And one of the earliest Lore questions I
ever had in Dark Souls 3, you might remember it, was why I an
executioner was patrolling a burning courtyard full of headless knights. Why this was the scene of the battle ?
And now i think i know why. I think Gertrude's imprisonment was the
beginning of a conflict between the crown and the angels. Lothric knights and winged knights never
fight together and both lower and upper Lothric have corpses from each side
within the castle itself. Additionally the assassins close to the
crown prince, the black hand, one of their rings is on
the roof where three fully ascended golden winged knights guard the
entrance to Gertrude's cell. The kings' black hand assassin, loyal to Prince Lothric,
was here and he was killed So now we come to the part where the
answer is very much up to you: Is Gertrude the corpse in the cell? Perhaps killed by the king's black hand,
or simply dead of starvation? Or is Gertrude's cell door open because she
escaped, flown away by one of the winged knights? Or is Gertrude alive and in-game? Issue related to this man-grub bizarrely placed on the rafters below her cell. Is Gertrude Rosaria? If i'm not mistaken the first one to come up with this theory was reddit user deleted_away, who in particular reminded me of the
Deacons relationship to the Way of White, of Saint Klimt, and also of the darkwraith
far below and the angel up above. I'm hugely thankful that he reminded me
of these connections because it's become a really important part of the story. So why is this man-grub here? Is Gertrude Rosaria? The man-grubs are creatures that have
been reborn through Rosaria, Mother of Rebirth, located in the Cathedral of the
Deep, and worshipped by some as a goddess. Rosaria's fingers collect tongues in
her name Some do it to be reborn. Indeed if you
hand in more than five, you're said to run the risk of turning into
a man-grub. But some simply give her tongues to help
comfort their voiceless goddess for Rosaria, Mother of Rebirth, was robbed of
her tongue by her firstborn, and has been waiting for their return ever since. We talked earlier about how
the Archdeacon's of the Deep are high-ranking within the Way of White and
we've established the Way of White are devoted to the servitude of the gods and
their Age of Fire. So it makes sense that the Cathedral of
the Deep would have been a safe place for Gertrude to escape to. Or, at least, why a daughter of Gwynevere
could reside in this place. Even if you don't believe that Gertrude is
Rosaria, and I do have my doubts, it's incredibly likely that Rosaria is a
daughter of Gwynevere, given the feathers and given the fact that she has one of
Gwynevere's miracles as a part of her soul. So you don't have to believe that
Gertrude is Rosaria, but Rosaria is here for a reason. And as we know the Deacons of the Deep
became completely corrupted by Alrdich's influence. In fact all three
archdeacon's are characterized by an abandonment of their duty in the Way of
White. One in particular, though. He was
originally tasked with attending to Rosaria, Mother of Rebirth. His name was Saint Klimt and we hear
about him from his weapon, the Saint's Bident, which he eventually
discarded. This bident was a holy symbol, which draws upon faith. You see this Bident actually when man-grub casters attack you. This exact shape materializes leaving
behind a trail of white feathers. Assumedly this is a symbol of Klimt's
relationship with Rosaria through the Bident and Rosaria's connection to the
Way of White through the feathers. Or, by now, if you believe this theory about her being Gertrude, maybe I should be calling Rosaria Gertrude. However, like the other deacons abandoning
their duty to the linking of the fire, Klimt discarded this weapon and put his
faith behind him. So if you believe the theory that
Gertrude was Rosaria, then she was forced out of Lothric because the
angelic faith was lost there, and after taking the name Rosaria in her new refuge,
the Cathedral of the Deep she was trapped there too, once the
Deacons became corrupted by the Deep. So, again, the Way of White and the Angels
would have been cast out of Lothric essentially, so there might still have
been refuge in the Cathedral of the Deep where the Deacons still served the
Way of White. So that makes sense for Rosaria or Gertrude to be placed there.
But after they turned to Aldrich Rosaria would be in trouble and you sort
of see that when you look outside her chambers: there are man-grubs infesting the
cathedral and they're defending her. They're staked to the walls maybe in
defense of their goddess and there are bars that are bent outwards and a
lot of sludge around the area so... Maybe Aldrich tried to get in there when he
was on his way out So this entire part about Gertrude being
Rosaria, it's a fantastic theory and one of the best in the series because of all
the little circumstantial pieces of evidence. Even if I'm not totally convinced and it
isn't perfect. It doesn't explain the corpse in the
cage, or why Rosaria, supposedly an angel, instructs her followers to invade and pillage. On the other hand, Gertrude taught her followers Bountiful Light and
Rosaria's soul teaches us Bountiful Sunlight, a more powerful version of the
same spell. If we get more information in the DLC,
which I think we will, we'll come back to this topic. But for
now the only thing that matters is: What do you think? It's been a while since the way of white
surfaced in such a powerful way. In Dark Souls 1, they sent an undead
paladin to fetch the Rite of Kindling, deep within the Catacombs and it was the start of a convenient way of
disposing of undead within their ranks and they continued to send their undead
to Lordran on this quest, Convincing them it was a holy pilgrimage,
you know, if they succeed, if they bought back the Rite of Kindling, then, great! But if they
failed then the Way of White just disposed of some undead. And in Dark Souls 3 the Way of White
continues to use humans for kindling and assuming the Way of
White are the Angels, they're presented as angelic, as good, as Holy, but the
reality is that them, and Gwynevere likely at their head, are anything but.
They've been using humanity for kindling and I think we'll be getting the chance
for a little bit of revenge soon. The day before I finished this script, user
ravenbiter and school114 made a thread on reddit with evidence that Gwynevere
will be in the DLC, citing an unused boss track that sounds very much like
Gwynevere's theme from Dark Souls 1. Have a listen I'd say they're onto something here and
even if it's not Gwynevere it could be someone related to her so with
Gamescom coming up, I expect we'll be hearing about DLC soon
but what will it be? About the hollows of Landor? The angels of Lothric? Or will i be
pleasantly surprised, and it will be something else entirely? Thanks for watching this video and thank
you to those who support me on Patreon In the description i'm going to leave a
link to tons of other theories and some are quite different to mine on the
nature of the angels in Dark Souls 3. So read up and come to your own
conclusions. Thanks for watching guys! See you next
time
Do you know the story of Lilith? some variants exist, but Lilith was created first, or second to be the wife of Adam (or he was her mate) but she was having none of it, she had too much will, so she refused to mate with Adam, and left or was exiled this is where the story gets interesting, cast out/exiled/left she fell among demons who forced her to endlessly give birth to half angel/half demon things, called the Lilim it's appeared in Japanese culture, Neon Genesis Evangelion mentions it, as does Shin Megami Tensai just it fits Rosaria - the creature of bounty taken from her home (willingly or not, probably not) and moved to the cathedral where she is bound
the stakes are used in purification rituals of shinto, and the upper cathedral is full of them, no place more so than rosaria's chamber, she's bound there, and someone broke in to find her (Leonhard?) and the mangrubs escaped from there, its their cradles we see, they were reborn in her as you said, but her rebirth is corrupted by the deep, that has turned her hair black.
I don't know if the stakes were to protect her from the corruption of Aldrich, or protect her from Aldrich eating her, or to keep her in and stop HER infecting him
but if Sulyvahn was the scholar, allowing him access to the archives and gertrude (and the deacons are part of his religion because they're all over anor londo and wear similar christian style robes) he could have taken her and brought her to the cathedral, if she is, like lilith was, endlessly fertile he could remake his enemies but instead got disgusting mangrubs, it would explain why there was no scholar in the archives....
except - Saint Gertrude - she was a scholar, so was she the scholar and final pillar of the church, hence not so much locked in the archives but looking down on them and those who sought knowledge, her miracle is, after all, violent.
my brain is all over the place at the moment. but I'd do some research into Lilith, notably can you prove Miyazaki knew the story, ie was it in something like Berserk that we know he's seen/read
edit - lilith is a monster in castlevania, and sometimes boss, so we have our source
Lilith is a monster and sometimes boss in Castlevania, it wouldn't let me edit, sorry
I really like the idea of the human (Dark soul) be the "good" and the church/gods (Angels) be bad as mentioned in the berserk reference (i just started watching the 2016 series and just got to the episode showing the priests executioners killing the "heretics" and i am surprised i have just now seen that parallel be drawn) Remember the statue of the serpent with wings that could be a separate primordial that has a angelic interest instead of the linking the fire or age or darkness. maybe the other serpent could have some kind of role in londor and maybe the opposite of kaathe or maybe like a partner but the un named serpent might have secret motives. (or this could all be invalid cuz im to lazy to look over my stuff and really read through it) ;p
I really like the idea of the human (Dark soul) be the "good" and the church/gods (Angels) be bad as mentioned in the berserk reference (i just started watching the 2016 series and just got to the episode showing the priests executioners killing the "heretics" and i am surprised i have just now seen that parallel be drawn) Remember the statue of the serpent with wings that could be a separate primordial that has a angelic interest instead of the linking the fire or age or darkness. maybe the other serpent could have some kind of role in londor and maybe the opposite of kaathe or maybe like a partner but the un named serpent might have secret motives. (or this could all be invalid cuz im to lazy to look over my stuff and really read through it) ;p
Was that a berserk reference?