Dark Souls - Story Explained

[Music] in the age of ancients the world was unformed shrouded by fog a land of grey crags arch trees and everlasting dragons a concise yet effective way to describe the world prior to the introduction of fire a monotone world of dread and anguish one that is void of any essence of life the age of ancients was ruled by powerful everlasting dragons known to possess impenetrable armor in the form of stone scales which provided the dragons with immortality the dragons ruled over all that resided in the ashen land and they did so peacefully as the truth is there was no opposition the world was stagnant some may describe it as inanimate as no life could be found nothing lived nor died there was no progress or conflict the world simply existed for the longest time life remained nothing more than a shade of grey a dull existence with no hope or purpose until one day a miraculous event took place one that would change the course of time and usher in a new age that would collapse the rules of the old world and create a perpetual conflict that would last until the end of time but then there was fire and with fire came disparity heat and cold life and death and of course light and dark from far within the deepest cavern known to earth fire ignited forming the first flame and with it introducing life to a world stripped of it yearning for warmth four primitive creatures began revealing themselves emerging from the underground caves that they called home they were drawn towards the flame urging them to travel to the origin of the fire to their surprise from within the kiln of the first flame emerged souls of lords extremely powerful souls that granted those who harbored them immense power the beings decided to possess the souls themselves one of the souls was claimed by nito his soul turned him into the representation of sickness and death rearranging his form into a combination of skeletons held together nito is referred to as the first of the dead this hints at the possibility of nito being the first creature to experience death as before the igniting of the flame nothing lived or died nito's soul states the following grave lord nito administers the death of all manner of beings the power of his soul is so great that it satiates the lord vessel despite the fact that much of its energy has already been offered to death the description of the soul indicates that nito's only purpose is to administer death to the world he is the balance put in place to complement the creation of life as without death there is no value to life the second soul was claimed by the witch of izalith and was split with her seven daughters of chaos the third soul was taken by gwyn the lord of sunlight when he found the lord's soul gwyn's legion of knights were present this indicates that gwyn likely held power before obtaining the lord's soul although it's unclear what power or influence one would have under the rule of dragons however now with the lord saw that gwyn's disposal he would wield the power of generating lightning something that would prove useful at a later point the fourth and final soul was the dark soul which was obtained by the furtive pygmy who is described as a primeval human likely the ancestor to the humans we know today the progenitor to the human race his lordzoll was a small black ember distinctly different from the other lord's souls and the pygmy ensured that the existence of the soul remained unknown to others the dark soul granted the pygmy the ability to fragment it and use its capabilities to create humanity this black sprite is called humanity but little is known about its true nature if the soul is the source of all life then what distinguishes the humanity we hold within ourselves the description of humanity questions its unclear nature and confirms the soul to be the source of life rather than humanity itself this aligns with the fact that every being from lords to demons have souls however not all beings possess humanity with this knowledge we can assume that although the soul is what grants life humans possess both the soul and humanity giving them a unique identity separating them from all beings in existence whilst the gods depend on the first flame for power humans inherit power from the consumption of humanity signified by the reversing of a person's hollow stature back to human form the power of humanity is fueled by the willpower and perseverance of the being possessing it it empowers those who refuse to give up the subdued nature of its power is why humanity was overlooked by the lords as they desired quantifiable power something that they could possess instantly humanity was passed down to the descendants of the furtive pygmy and helped shape humans into what they are now the furtive pygmy is theorized to be manus father of the abyss and forefather to the human species manus raised humanity in a depth of the abyss a realm of darkness one only inhabitable to humans as beings who are aligned with fire including the gods are vulnerable to being corrupted and require specific equipment to prevent them from succumbing to the physical and spiritual corruption of the abyss this brings humanity closer to the dark rooting their essence in the abyss whilst the lords strive for light as the flame is what grants them power now that nito has acquired the soul of death the witch of izalith the soul of life and gwyn the soul of light the three would possess the power to bring change to the world as they no longer needed to live under the rule of the dragons they knew that if they could cooperate with one another and use their newly found abilities to fight for the same cause they could overthrow the dragons and become the new rulers of the ashen world and thus preparations began and war was imminent once they were ready the three lords waged war on the dragons the witch of izalith and her daughters weave deadly firestorms that would incinerate the lands gwyn would project his mighty lightning bolts towards the dragons piercing their scales and sending them spiraling towards the ground and nito would deliver the killing blow by unleashing a miasma of death and disease upon them alongside gwyn were his four trusted knights one of which was knight artorius who was the commander of lord gwyn's army as described by his wolf ring artorius had an unbendable will of steel and was unmatched with a great sword also involved in the war was hawkeye goth who later details his experience fighting in the battle against the dragons according to the hawk ring goff was the leader of the great archers and his abilities with a great bow were unmatched taking down high-flying dragons allowing artorius and his allies to slay the dragons from the ground gwyn's third night was dragon slayer on scene he was believed to be the captain of the four knights according to ornstein's armor description the hornet ring reveals that the final knight was lords blade kieran who was notorious for using a dagger to lay waste to lord gwyn's enemies the unsung heroes of the war were the humans who fought as the ringed knights the dragon headshield description reveals that the ring knights by command of the gods stood amongst the ranks who set out slay the dragons but their contributions were never lauded this indicates that the ring knights were never honored for their allegiance and their involvement was kept undisclosed they were also tasked with forging armor and weapons to aid in the battle as explained by the ring knight set stating the armor of early men was forged in the abyss although for the longest time the warriors spoken of were known to be the only ones who fought in the war against the dragons the truth would later be revealed showing that history had been rewritten unfolding that there was indeed another warrior involved one that had been unspoken of for many years the warrior being gwyn's firstborn son the nameless king the ring of the sun's firstborn states the following the son's firstborn was once a god of war until he was stripped of his stature as punishment for his foolishness no wonder his very name slipped from the annals of history this tells the story of gwyn's eldest son being present in the war the fact that he's described as a god of war indicates how truly masterful he was in battle the dragon slayer sword spear describes him as a deific hunter of dragons further amplifying his abilities with all that being said what could have possibly happened to wipe this warrior's name from history denoting him to a failure whose name is forgotten hence why he is known as the nameless king the soul of the nameless king reveals that he sacrificed everything to ally himself with the ancient dragons explaining that his betrayal of his father resulted in all his accolades being stripped from him the lightning storm description reads once a slayer of dragons the former king and war god tamed a stormdrake on which he led a lifetime of battle this statement reveals that after taming the stormdrake the nameless king made the decision to side with the dragons and leave behind his reputation and all the goodwill that he had obtained over the years the once revered and respected warrior turned into a nameless being whose existence may as well have never taken place the nameless king was not the sole traitor of his kind as during the battle with the dragons there was a betrayal that took place that would tip the scales in favor of the lords the dragons were betrayed by one of their very own seath the scaleless seath was different from the other dragons as stated by his name he had no scales and this likely enabled him to be envious and resentful towards other dragons he may have even been treated differently and thus when the chance presented itself he took liberty in turning against his own kind siding with the lords instead another reason for his betrayal is gwyn's promise of giving seath control over the archives which is described as having a trove of precious tomes and letters this would appeal to seth as the moonlight greatsword informs that seath is the grandfather of sorcery and this sword is imbued with his magic which shall be unleashed as a wave of moonlight having access to the archives would grant seath the ability to further study sorcery broadening his knowledge on the subject seath would put his sorcery to use in the battle by using weapons such as the soul arrows which are effective against iron armor tough scales and other physically resilient materials making them perfect for piercing dragon scales soon after the dragons could fight no longer and although they weren't made extinct the majority of them were killed and therefore the reign of dragons had come to an end paving their way to the rise of gods and the age of fire [Music] following their victory gwyn nito and the witch of izalith inherited the world left behind by the dragons nito descended into the catacombs and slumbered within the tomb of the giants where he continued to administer death by using the energy of the lord's soul those who worship the grave lord would travel to his tomb and become grave lord servants aiding nito in administering death in all parts of the world by using an eye of death the dreadful eyes of death spread disaster across neighboring worlds phantoms lured to the host world may end up as victims allowing the eyes of death to multiply and leading to further proliferation of bane the eye summons evil spirits into various locations to inflict death to its residents in addition to luring the residents back to the gravelord servants who are tasked with killing the victims and bringing their eyes of death to nito this is further explained by the gravelord sword dance miracle which states nito sleeps deeper than the giant catacombs quietly overseeing all death and are waiting for his servants to usher in the eye of death triumphant against the dragons gwyn became the king of lordran and lived alongside his clan of gods in the city of anor londo they continued hunting descendants of the dragons to ensure that they remained feeble in a world of gods allowing the lords to develop their powers through practice gwyn was generous with his gifts to the majority of those who fought alongside him but not so much for humanity who we already know had never been credited for their involvement in the war gwyn's attempt to reward the pygmies is one of trickery and betrayal according to the small envoy banner for the pygmies who took the dark soul the great lord gifted the ringed city an isolated place at world's end and his beloved youngest daughter promising her that he would come for her when the day came the true intention of gwyn's gift to humanity is to isolate them at world's end and ensure that his youngest daughter philiano would halt the flow of time leaving them to exist in the past and be forgotten by the world also demonstrating gwyn's fear of humanity is the description of the ringed knight set which reads the armor of early men was forged in the abyss and betrays a smidgen of life for this reason the gods cast a seal of fire upon such armor and those who possessed them a smidgen of life refers to the sprite of humanity within the pygmy the power of the abyss a source of strength that can only be utilized by humanity and so it brought fear to the gods and threatened their reign as humanity's existence is actively in conflict with the age of fire the gods cast a seal of fire on the ringed knights and likely the rest of humanity branding them with the dark sign which repressed their abilities the dark sign signifies an accursed undead those branded with it are reborn after death but will one day lose their mind and go hollow this decision is later revealed to have far reaching consequences ones that gwyn could have never anticipated but for now the world belonged to the gods preceding gwyn's betrayal of humanity he rewarded seath the scaleless as promised seath was recognized for his efforts and was deemed a duke granting him control over the archives this was seen as distasteful by a close friend of gwyn called havel as he harboured immense hatred towards seath the great magic barrier miracle states havel the rock an old battlefield compatriot of lord gwyn was the sworn enemy of seath the scaleless he despised magic and made certain to devise means of counteraction this statement suggests that havel was loyal to gwyn and fought alongside him during many battles which further emphasizes the dislike hovel fostered towards seath leading him to fall out with his close friend gwyn as a result of seath being granted dukedom as evidenced by the magic barrier havel took precaution by creating miracles that provide coating which greatly boosts magic defense assisting warriors who must face the magic which bishop havel counted so proficiently this allowed havel to resist seath's magic if they were to ever confront one another it is unclear if havel despises seath due to his hatred for magic or if his hatred for magic stems from his dislike for seath however what is made clear is that havel distrusts seith and rightfully so as he was a traitor of his own kind what's to stop him from a trained gwyn in addition to acquiring miracles havel wields a dragontooth presumably taken from one of the dragon corpses killed in the war the tooth is described as a weapon created from an everlasting dragon tooth legendary great hammer of hubble the rock the dragon tooth will never break as it's harder than stone and it grants its wielder resistance to magic and flame in addition to this havel wore armor cuffed from solid rock its tremendous weight is matched only by the defense it provides due to the nature of his armor he was known as havel the rock at some point down the line gwyn decided to lock havel in the basement of a watchtower for no clear reason the watchtower basement key reads there are rumors of a hero turned hollow he was locked away by a dear friend for his own good of course this references havel being imprisoned by gwyn and states that it was for his own good as he had turned hollow it is suggested that the description tells the story of what happened from the perspective of gwyn or at least tells the story in the way that gwyn would have presented it his once close friend who conveniently turned hollow when he began to object to gwyn's choices it seems more likely that havel possibly planned to confront his nemesis seath once and for all and was caught by gwyn who in return locked him away to rot in a basement of a watchtower a subsequent theory suggests that havel was believed to be involved in the occult rebellion which the effigy shield describes as an ill-fated plot to destroy the very gods the reason that havel is associated with the occult is because in anor wando an occult club can be found besides the remainder of his armor and as the dark amber puts it occult weapons were used to hunt the gods and are effective against their following and kin could it be that havel had planned to overthrow the gods resulting in gwyn locking him away as a safety measure or would it make more sense to assume that someone presumably seath had falsely accused havel of treason by placing an occult club amongst havel's arsenal havel was most likely a threat to seath after all a clear resolution is yet to be found but based on havel's years of loyalty and chivalrous behavior it is rational to assume that he was wrongfully imprisoned and left alone in a cell for many years eventually losing his sanity and turning hollow many years later the flame began to fade threatening the reign of the lords as if the flame was to dissipate their power would vanquish along with it gwyn and the other lords were desperate for a solution a way to maintain the first flame and continue the age of gods the witch of izalith who at this point had settled with her daughters in the city of izalith was summoned by gwyn to recreate the first flame as an attempt to avoid the dwindling of the fire she managed to generate a new flame in izalith however the fire grew uncontrollably forming a flame of chaos and neither the witch nor her daughters were capable of restraining it growing to unprecedented proportions until the colossal flame devoured the witch the flame used the lord soul to fuel itself and molded the witch's body into a seed bed forming the bed of chaos and mutating the occupants of the city into demons following the catastrophe that took place gwyn dispatched his black knights to eliminate the demons in izalith the black knight shield states long ago the black knights faced the chaos demons and were charred black due to his knights failing to defeat the demons and the flame coming ever so close to extinguishing gwyn saw no other choice in sight but to depart from anor londo and reignite the flame himself leaving his silver knights behind to protect the city in his absence the silver knight set declared that when gwyn departed to link the fire his knight split into two groups the silver knights remained in the forsaken capital in service of their goddess the goddess being gwyn's second born child gwenevere princess of sunlight before departing on his endeavor gwynn divided and gifted pieces of his lotto to various beings in order to have his power succeeded by those around him following his sacrifice the great lord greatsword suggests that gwyn divided that power amongst his children and set off with only his great sword as his companion the soul of the four kings explains that lord gwyn recognized the foresight of these four great leaders of new londo and granted them their ranks and the fragments of a great soul the remaining piece of his soul was given to seath who was clearly a favored being amongst gwyn's clan the soul of seetha scalise reads that seath was embraced by the royalty and given a fragment of a great soul with his soul divided gwyn entered the kiln of the first flame and sacrificed himself in favour of prolonging the flame cycle allowing the fire to engulf him and the age of gods to live on many of gwyn's black knights ventured into the kiln alongside him but as evidenced by the black knight set were burned to ashes in a newly kindled flame wandering the world as disembodied spirits ever after due to branding humanity with the dark side in addition to artificially prolonging the age of fire a curse was released upon the world the curse of the undead beings who die reawaken at bonfires perpetually repeating the cycle of life and death until they eventually lose their sanity and become hollows reaching a state of being hollow is marked by the decaying of the body over time and once a hollow is killed they no longer reawaken but remain permanently dead this is the consequence of refusing to relinquish the age of fire and disallowing nature to take its course the undead curse is the world's way of correcting the gods wrongdoings and making way for the age of dark an inevitable state of existence that will at some point take its course regardless of the number of times the light is rekindled the gods did everything in their power to constrain the dark from casting the seal of fire on humanity to sacrificing themselves to the flame not knowing that their actions were futile and would only prolong the arrival of a predestined future a future of darkness once the lord of life banished dark and all that stemmed from humanity these are the roots of our world men are propsing states of life and no matter how tender how exquisite the lie will on but soon the flames will fade and only dark will remain even now there are only embers and man sees not light only endless knights and amongst the living are seen carriers of the accursed dark side the age of fire although extended grows weaker and soon enough the darkness will cast its shadow over the world with the curse of the undead harrowing the land of ancient lords little remains but diminishing hope for the future here begins the tale of the chosen undead who awakens in the northern undead asylum a prison where all undead beings are confined and left to rot until the end of time upon awakening in a cell the chosen undead is rescued by a mysterious figure who appears through a hole in the roof and drops a dungeon sulky attached to a corpse the key reads a mysterious knight without saying a word shoved the corpse down into the cell and on its person was this key who was this knight and what was his purpose there may be no answer but one must still forge ahead as advised by the key the chosen undead forge is ahead as they unlock the cell door and navigate the maze-like asylum the undead asylum second floor east key reads the undead asylum is a giant undead prison segmented by countless iron balls even if an undead were to escape from a cell passage to the outside world would not be gained easily a vague hint at a greater threat within the asylum soon after the mysterious knight is found dying appearing to have been hurled through the roof the figure reveals himself to be oscar knight of astora oscar informs of a prophecy there references an undead being who will undertake a pilgrimage to ring the bells of awakening residing in lordran a crusade that will take place nearing the collapse of the age of fire and impact the state of the world thou who art undead are chosen and thine exodus from the undead asylum maketh pilgrimage to the land of ancient lords when thou wringeth the bell of awakening the fate of the undead thou shalt know oscar travels from the far away land of astora a region known for its brave knights aesthetic landscapes as well as its masterful craftsmen as evidenced by blacksmith andre who also originated in astora oscar journey to lordran with the goal of ringing the bells of awakening however due to his current predicament he chooses to delegate his mission to the chosen undead and provides them with an estus flask to aid in a journey estus flasks are described as undead treasure that can be filled with estus at a bonfire which in return heals any wounds that the chosen undead may have suffered tasked with ringing the bells the chosen undead leaves oscar behind and continues to traverse the undead asylum until halted by the presence of an asylum demon the creation of this demon is likely a side effect of the witch of izalith attempting to duplicate the first flame and was placed in the asylum to ensure that no one dead is able to escape a blockade of sorts for those brave enough to leave their cell the demon's presence makes sense of why oscar was found dying revealing that he had fought the demon and lost the demon's great hammer states that the weapon is used by lesser demons at northern under asylum implying that the asylum demon is among the inferior ranks of demons an indication of the challenges yet to come defeating the asylum demon grants the chosen undead the big pilgrims key which allows them to escape the prison and begin their quest exploring beyond the asylum leads to the discovery of a giant crow one of many ravens who are said to have once been filing messengers guiding the undead to the land of ancient gods fulfilling its duty the crow carries the chosen undead to lordran delivering them to filing shrine a safe haven to all travelers passing through on arrival the chosen undead is greeted by a crestfallen warrior and it's made apparent that this person is very well aware of the undead pilgrimage likely to have assumed this task himself at some point in time he informs the chosen undead that the first ball of awakening is located above the undead church whilst the second is deep in the ruins of blighttown his posture coupled with his dialogue revealed that he had failed to ring the bells himself and is now a demoralized soul lingering around firelink watching those who pass by with no real purpose he is an example of a defeated soul someone who couldn't persist and was beaten down by the cruelty of the undead curse a sign of his discouragement is shown when he states there's no salvation here you'd have done better to rot in the undead asylum the warrior follows up by asking about another occupant of filing shrine stating oh have you seen that terribly morose lass the fire keeper she's stuck keeping that bonfire lit sad really she's mute and bound to this forsaken place they probably cut her tongue out back in her village so that she'd never say any god's name in vain how do these martyrs keep chugging along the person in question is anastasia of astora referred to as a fire keeper someone who's committed to maintaining their respective bonfire the fire keeper soul explains each fire keeper is a corporeal manifestation of a bonfire and a draw for the humanity which is offered to her her soul is gnawed by infinite humanity and can boost the power of the precious estus flask anastasia's story proceeds beyond her sworn duty as on several occasions she's referred to as impure but the reasoning for such claims are never revealed it could be related to why her tongue had been severed possibly due to saying something that was perceived as impure resulting in her punishment being the removal of her tongue it appears that she had suffered further punishment as she sports a blood-stained skirt which can later be acquired the description of the skirt reads it is thought to have once been the white skirt of a maiden but its true origin is lost in patches of blood perhaps its former wearer was maimed to prevent escape this statement reinforces that anastasia was at some point tortured having her legs impaired as to prevent her from walking or rather escaping what could she have possibly done to justify such cruel punishment until this day it remains a mystery surveying the area surrounding filing shrine reveals a man named petrus of thorolund an advocate for the way of white a religious covenant dedicated to hunting down the undead and kindling bonfires as a means of sustaining the age of fire the head bishop of the way of white is described by the white sea answering as an apostle to all for the lord uncle to lord gwyn this suggests that all father lloyd was likely associated with the way of white although it's unclear if he was the founder of the organization following gwyn's sacrifice the way of whites was formed in service of the gods to ensure that the flame remains ignited and the gods preserve their power the covenant along with petrus both come from the land of thorolund which is known for its devotion towards all father lloyd and the former lord of sunlight gwyn petrus is later joined by rear of thoroughland alongside her companions and bodyguards vince and nico of thoroughland ria is the daughter of house of thoroughland making her royalty but due to becoming undead she was made to depart from her home and undergo the undead mission to restore her humanity once more ria and her companions had travelled to lordran to seek the right of kindling described as a sacred right passed down among clerics but all undead can imitate the process in the same manner that they restore their hollowing with humanity petrus is seen guiding rio on her journey and he appears to be friendly and accommodating at first however his presence permeates sinister overtones for now in pursuit of the first bell of awakening the chosen undead relocates to the undead berg where they are met with another creation of the witch of izalith the taurus demon a large minotauresque creature wielding a weapon carved from the bones of other demons the demon's great axe also implies that tourist demons are lesser than their counterparts indicating that once again greater threats are yet to be uncovered the chosen undead once more proves worthy slaying the taurus demon and marching forward towards their objective within the undead berg various characters can be met one being solera vestora the warrior of sunlight i am solaire of astora an adherent of the lord of sunlight now that i am undead i have come to this great land the birthplace of lord gwyn to seek my very own son solaire is on a mission determined to find his own son the sunlight talisman describes solaire as having unwavering faith and his armor of the sun is marked with a large holy symbol of the sun while powerless was painted by solaire himself solar states that he is an adherent of the lord of sunlight lord gwyn himself making sense of his motive to find his very own son conscious of the world nearing the end of an era as darkness diminishes the light solaire aims to ally himself with other undead beings and offers to help if he was ever to be called upon by the chosen undead the way i see it our fates appear to be intertwined both undead both imprisoned in the asylum and now we both end up here in a land brimming with hollows could that really be mere chance so what do you say why not help one another on this lonely journey we are amidst strange beings in a strange land the flow of time itself is convoluted with heroes centuries old phasing in and out the very fabric waivers and relations shift and obscure there's no telling how much longer your world and mine will remain in contact with that said solaire and the chosen undead go their separate ways for now recommencing on their quests this leads to the lower undead berg where a sorcerer by the name of griggs of winnheim can be found trapped in a room vinheim was infamously known for its dragon school an organization that specializes in teaching sorcery it is rumored that the school's name was inspired by none other than seath the scaleless freeing griggs from the locked room reveals his armor to be the black sorceress set which is described as an outfit worn by the secret sorcerers at vinheim dragon school they secretly worked with sound-based spells and never reveal themselves this hints at griggs being a prominent figure within the vinheim dragon school reaffirming this notion is his possession of the great soul arrows which read at the vinheim dragon school the acquisition of this spell marks an apprentice's coronation as a sorcerer grigs's main objective is to find his master big hat logan and whether or not the two are reunited is dependent on the chosen undead's actions if all of his sorceries are purchased griggs will travel into dangerous territory in search of his master leading to him becoming hollow in sense fortress alternatively disregarding his sorceries will lead to griggs remaining in filing shrine awaiting the day's master returns back to the lower undead berg persisting through the narrow alleyway leads to the capra demon another creature given life by the flame of izalith this foe wields a demon great machete and is accompanied by multiple dogs making them a nuisance to deal with but nonetheless the chosen undead overcomes the challenge and reaches the location of the undead church roaming the environment can lead to the discovery of knight's lord trek of karim who can be seen locked in a cell on the top floor of the church the people of karim similar to those of thoroughland are worshippers of gods lortrek himself being devoted to fina a goddess described by the ring of favor and protection as having faithful beauty the favor set states that lortrek believed in the goddess's love for him but was this love truly reciprocated or was lord trek disillusioned by his love for fina at this point the chosen undead can choose to free lortrek resulting in them being rewarded for their efforts however regardless of the chosen undead's intervention knight lord trek is able to break free from the cell and can later be found in filing shrine returning to firelink at a later point in time it is revealed that the bonfire had faded and the fire keeper anastasia had been murdered by the knight of karim lortrek it is said that lord trek had forsaken his duties as a knight leading to his appearance in lordran however the mission he states that he's on remains speculatory it can be surmised that his mission was to track down anastasia and acquire her firekeeper soul which would explain his actions using the black eye orb lortrek can be invaded in anor londo and found in possession of the phi keeper soul curiously yet to have consumed it could it be that he had neglected to use it or did he have other intentions with the soul nonetheless the chosen undead defeats lord trek and uses the fire keeper soul to revive anastasia now with her tongue restored while simultaneously reigniting the firelink bonfire reaching the rooftop the chosen undead slays the bell gargoyles safeguarding the passage to the top of the church and rings the bell of awakening successfully completing the first task of the undead pilgrimage descending the undead church will lead to the discovery of oswald of karim a pardoner who provides absolution for those who have sinned oswald's riddle-like dialogue warns of petrus of thorolund stating the following hmm has thou acquaintance with petrus of thyroid i wager you too has lightly found much in color for is he not too drenched in sin [Laughter] this warning implies that petrus is a sinner foreshadowing events that are yet to come but for now the chosen undead knows not to trust petras however cordial he may appear traveling through the undead parish leads to the uncovery of a dark and deadly forest known as the darkroot garden home to the forest hunter covenant and alvina of the dark root wood i'm alvina of the dark root wood i command a clan of hunters who track down defilers of the forest graves what does thou say will thou not join us alvina offers the chosen undead to join her covenant a group of hunters working in service of protecting the forest from invaders and ensuring that the graves are not meddled with it is likely that alvina is in some way connected to night artorius and his companion sith to what extent is unclear however the legend of artorias is revered by many known as the abyss watcher the savior of ulysses what's the implication of arvina referring to his legend as a mere fabrication although unknown for now later revelations will bring clarity to such accusations another figure who can be found within the forest is shiva of the east a member of the forest hunter covenant distrusted by alvina as she believes that he withholds self-serving desires beyond the covenant's goals shiva had migrated from distant eastern lands home to many assassins and swordsmen the shadow set reveals that some eastern armor is crafted with espionage in mind for those who intend to remain incognito whilst the eastern set is crafted for more traditional battles with excellent defense against slash attacks shiva will only appear if the chosen undead agrees to join the ranks of the forest hunters and would make a return in blighttown offering many exotic weapons for those willing to pay the price prior to this deep within the dark route garden resides one of seith the scalise's many creations described as being imbued with a pure magic power the creation in question being the moonlit butterfly a hostile creature with extremely strong magical abilities logical considering the creator is the grandfather of sorcery though the moonlit butterfly lacks in any physical prowess and can be defeated by the chosen undead with little effort treading along the chosen undead crosses paths with laurentius of the great swamp dealing with the adversity of being trapped in a barrel if florentius were to be freed like many he would later be found in firelink shrine as evidenced by his name laurentius comes from the great swamp described by the pyromancer set as having rugged grasslands and treacherous swamps a relentless place occupied by many pyromancers those originating from the great swamp often travel to lordran as in most regions pyromancers are frowned upon lordran however respects those who indulge in pyromancy as after all lordran is home to the godmother of pyromancy the witch of izalith before reaching blacktown the chosen undead can confront the gaping dragon located in a large open chamber in the depths this adversary is described as a distant deformed descendant of the everlasting dragons this is likely the result of the first flame being ignited turning the dragon into an inferior being to those who came before once the fight is over the chosen undead can head into blighttown set to be the location of the second bell of awakening whilst traversing the dark and complex pathways of the underground city kwelana of izalith can be found unexpectedly retaining her human form unlike her mother and siblings who to some extent were transformed into demons prior to the catastrophe that took place in izalith quilana was an avid user of fire sorcery she along with her sisters are recounted as flame witches following the consumption of izalith quelana fled the city assuming that her mother and siblings had been killed knowing little of the fact that they all survived following her escape from izalith kuilana became the creator of pyromancy possibly due to the trauma caused by the creation of the chaos flame opting to use his safer method instead kuilana shared her mastery of pyromancy with her student solomon who then passed the knowledge onto the people of the great swamp explaining why many paramounts originate from there in a final plea to the chosen undead kuilana demands that they free the consumed souls of her mother and siblings by slaying what remains of their corrupted bodies blissfully unaware that although formed into demons their consciousness remains intact and not a need of salvation if the chosen undead chooses to acquire pyromancies from kualana and make a return to filing shrine laurentius will question the chosen undead asking them where they had obtained such power if the answer is kept a secret laurentius will remain in firelink however if informed he will relocate to the blighttown swamp where the daughter resides in search of the power obtained by the chosen undead alas laurentius would later be seen wondering blighttown as a hollow revealing they had failed on his quest of obtaining further power and had lost his sanity in the process this sets in motion the chosen undead's meeting with the chaos witch quailag the soul of quailag confirms that she was once daughter of the witch of izalith but now a chaos demon a victim to the manufactured flame that devoured izalith failing to escape the city in time she became corrupted by the fire mutating into a part spider part human creature although fused with demons quelag and her young sister the fair lady managed to keep their sanity intact when relocating from their home quailage and the fair lady took a group of their servants with them the servants were unfortunate to suffer from a parasitic disease becoming afflicted with an unknown blight resulting in their whole bodies becoming infested by worms if killed the egg burdened will not drop souls the worms within them will do so instead indicating that the parasites had devoured the souls of the host in an act of purity the fair lady despite queer like's disapproval chose to suck out the blightpuss from her servants sacrificing her health and sight in exchange of saving them one of the servants named inji can be found in kweilyk's domain stating the following there is nothing to say to you except if you lay a hand on the fair lady you should be prepared to face my wrath this statement conveys the adoration the servants felt towards the fair lady in response to the sacrifice she made for their sake cuellar now remains in blighttown in protection of her younger sister who became weakened and blind making her unable to travel with her sister's condition worsening quailage has no choice but to accompany her at all times to ensure that the fair lady is not to be harmed by anyone in light of this knowledge the battle with the chaos witch is rather bittersweet however it must be fought if the chosen undead is to reach the second bell of awakening transitioning to the fair lady she can be found hidden behind an illusionary wall following the fight likely cuellar's attempt at shielding her from harm the fair lady acts as a fire keeper to the bonfire in the area but is unable to communicate with the chosen undead unless they equip the old witch's ring equipping the ring will lead the fair lady to believe that the chosen undead is in fact her sister quailag urging her to say the following queen please sister do not cry i am happy really i have you don't i believing that her sister quail stands before her the fair lady reassures her not to cry expressing that she's happy although in reality she suffers day by day endlessly living in anguish since her sacrifice interestingly she attempts to comfort herself when stating i have you don't i trusting that her sister remains by her side during her times of need yet the quiver in her voice questions the very words she speaks as she slowly begins to lose her faith in her own self knowing deep down that her sister is gone one day the fair lady's corpse would be discovered by an ashen one hidden behind the veil of an illusionary wall clasping the pyromancy tome of her sister quelana a tale as tragic as the fair ladies is only matched by none other than her own brother ceaseless discharge the youngest child and only son of the witch of izalith born with sores inflamed by lava the child was raised in hardship invoking his sisters to enchant a ring that would ease his pain the orange charred ring reads since his swords were inflamed by lava from birth his witch sisters gave him this special ring worsening his already dire existence the duplication of the first flame resulted in him morphing into a large demonic creature making him the first ever demon to come to life ceaseless now lingers in the demon ruins watching over the corpse of his supposedly deceased sister quelana who we now know is alive the corpse is accompanied by kuilana's gold hem black set a uniform said to have been worn since before the age of fire when traversing the ruins ceaseless does not become hostile towards the chosen undead that is until they decide to loot the clothing of his beloved sister his sister's clothes is all that is left for him to remember her by his only source of comfort in a life of solitude opting to believe that his family still watches over him till this day freeing him from this pitiful existence ceaseless discharge is laid to rest after suffering for a thousand years unaware that his sister was still alive finally the chosen undead reaches their destination ringing the second bell of awakening and causing the gates of sen's fortress to open unlocking the pathway to the land of ancient gods if the chosen undead is to visit the fortress prior to ringing the bells the gate would be sealed closed and an undead adventurer would be helplessly sat outside unable to reach anor londo the adventure is called sigmar of katarina travelling from a land celebrated for its cheerful residence and festivity however the honorable knights of katarina aren't always given their fair jews as they are described as being often ridiculed for their onion-like shape infuriating the proud nice with the gates opened the chosen undead can commence on their journey encountering various challenges every step of the way the stone fort is said to have been built as a proving ground a way of testing those who deem themselves worthy of setting foot in an orlando making their way through sen's fortress the chosen undead is challenged by armed guards resembling serpents titanite demons a diverse range of traps and many other environmental hazards delving deeper into the fortress the chosen undead is reunited with sigma who's once again halted on his adventure unable to overcome one of the many traps built within the confines of the stronghold akin to prior events it is up to the chosen undead to overcome the challenge enabling them to solve the puzzle-like trap and paved the way for sigma's entrance into anor londo whilst maneuvering the iron ball trap mechanism the chosen undead can manipulate it to destroy a nearby wall uncovering the whereabouts of big hat logan he's found locked in a cage likely to have been caught by one of the traps rescuing logan leads to him showing gratitude towards the chosen undead and retreating to filing shrine where he accompanies griggs of winnheim the sorcerer previously freed from lower undead berg logan was a renowned sorcerer and a royal member of the winnheim dragon school the description of the soul spare credits logan as its creator and details that it's a symbol of logan's strength the soul spear is referenced repeatedly in the legends and is said to have been on par with lord gwyn's lightning this puts into perspective the extent of the power that big hat logan encompasses although extremely capable logan does not flaunt his stature as he's still seen wearing his worn out sage robe from his apprentice days at the dragon school little more is known about logan although a conversation with a blacksmith named rickett of winnheim suggests that he had been undead for over a century could this be the very reason logan departed from winnheim oh big hat of course i've heard of him who hasn't in vinai he was a royal member of dragon school until he turned undead i hear he was quite the character only that was a hundred years ago the final deterrent to those seeking access to anor londo is the iron gollum a guardian of sen's fortress referenced as a slayer of heroes who ventured forth to anor londo the core of an iron golem is described as originally a bone of an everlasting dragon explaining the durability of this adversary having said that there was one warrior who was able to defeat this foe black iron tarkus a knight of baronic the black iron set informs that tarkus is a knight known for his great strength this stands true for all knights of baronic as they wore heavy armor wielded greatswords and were praised for their mighty vigor sad to say the majority of the knights became undead and ventured to lordran to find a solution to their predicament one at a time the knights began to turn hollow making them a threat to all undead beings in lordran black iron tarkus was an exception to this fact resulting in him being one of the only knights to survive past sen's fortress in his quest to cure the undead curse in a display of virtue tarkus offers himself up to those who need assistance in defeating the iron golem granting the chosen undead the ability to summon him for the fight if need be slaying the iron golem marks the end of the final challenge giving the chosen undead access to the land of the gods home to the lord vessel that would decide the fate of the world [Music] anor londo was abandoned by many since the absence of gwyn who left the city behind over a thousand years ago yet the kingdom appears to have maintained its beauty as well as the preservation of its marvel structure a peculiar surprise to say the least perhaps this is something to be investigated at a later point exploring the ancient land reveals the remaining guardians of anor londo the sentinels and their higher ranking counterparts the royal sentinels who will become hostile if the chosen undead oversteps their boundaries in addition batwing demons are present throughout the land the same demons that provide the chosen undead passage into the city perhaps this is the extent of their duties if so what's the reason for their hostility it's possible that there are limits to where foreign beings are permitted to roam the batwing demons are described as unique chaos demons as unlike others they are imbued with lightning their presence in anor londo could also be an indication of gwyn's alliance with the demon race also guarding anor londo of the silver knights who as previously mentioned were ordered to stay behind by gwyn in service of protecting their goddess gwenevere upon closer inspection it is noticeable that anor londo's architecture is built with consideration for both gods and humans as evident with the various sizes of appliances pathways stairs doors and even lifts this indicates that the capital was more accommodating than what was previously thought and was likely home to both gods and humans approaching a nearby bonfire leads to the introduction to the darkmoon knight s a gatekeeper and guide to outside travelers at this moment little is known about the knight s besides the fact that she's a firekeeper and possibly originated from karim this can be speculated based on her weapon of choice being a parry and dagger a favourite of the knights of karim who are famous for fighting without a shield surveying the area the corpse of black eye and tarkus the honorable knight of baronic can be found within the giant hall of painting guardians likely to have fallen off the narrow rafters if not through one of the windows leading to the hall a pitiful end to an otherwise decorated knight if not for the involvement of the chosen undead another knight would have met their fate in anor londo as siegmire the only unite previously encountered is now in need of rescuing from imminent death sigma can be found trapped in a room with a collective of silver knights awaiting his exit the chosen undead deals with the silver knights clearing the way for sigmar to continue on his journey interestingly before departing sigma says next time give me a chance to come up with a plan the slight aggression hints at his frustration with being saved the prideful night that he is would rather use his resolve to overcome an obstacle or at least die trying than to be constantly indebted to the chosen undead within a giant cathedral in anor londo reside the greatest threat to yet to be faced dragon slayer ornstein an executionist moe as we already know ornstein was once a member of the four knights of gwyn after the gods abandoned anor londo ornstein alongside smo remained stationed to guard its cathedral and with it the princess of sunlight gwynevere executioner smo desired to be a member of gwyn's knights however he was rejected due to his unhinged behavior and manae called joy in being an executioner smoze hammer describes him as such smo loved his work and ground the bones of his victims into his own feed ruining his hopes of being ranked with the four knights the implication that smoke possessed cannibalistic tendencies likely led to him being regarded as nothing more than a savage unworthy of being amongst gwyn's ranked knights with his wild nature it is no surprise that if ornstein is to be defeated first in the fight smoke crushes his body to absorb his power with little respect shown to his compadre if the rules were to be reversed ornstein would place his hand on samoa's body as a gesture of respect before absorbing his power a clear difference in their moral disposition upon defeating the pair princess gwenevere reveals herself claiming that the chosen undead's duty is to succeed her father gwyn and inherit the fire of their world she pleads that they must end the eternal twilight as the world without fire shall be a frigid and frightful dark in addition to this gwenevere provides the chosen undead with a lord vessel a means to link the flame and prolong the age of fire the lord vessel is bestowed upon the chosen undead who is destined to succeed lord gwyn to open the final door place this vessel on the firelink altar and fill it with powerful souls these instructions suggest that the chosen undead must acquire the soul of grave lord nito and the bed of chaos as well as the souls of cethus scalise and the four kings which previously belonged to gwyn before he fragmented his soul and gifted it to them placing the four souls on the altar will grant access to the kiln of the first flame where the fate of the world will be decided if the chosen undead was to be oblivious to the synthetic behavior of gwenevere or as previously mentioned the unnatural preservation of anor londo for the past millennia they would leave the capital in pursuit of the required lord souls however with further investigation it is revealed that the entire construction of anor londo along with princess gwenevere herself is not but a grand illusion a facade orchestrated by none other than dark sun gwyndolin the last born of lord gwyn gwyndolin is the last remaining god and protector of the forsaken city of anor londo the moonlight robe explains that gwyndolin was raised as a daughter due to the power of the moon being strung within him with his father being the lord of sunlight he likely viewed gwyndolin or rather all who were affiliated with the moon's power as inferior resulting in gwyndolin being treated less than adequately by his father it is probable that the moon is also a reminder of the inevitable age of darkness the bane of gwyn's existence gwyndolin now leads the blade of the darkmoon covenant which was created to punish the guilt-soaked offenders of the gods upon punishing the offenders members of the covenant would take the victim's air as proof of their conquest and provide it to gwyndolin in exchange for having their rank increased leaving the airless corpses as a warning to others inspiring both fear and respect for the gods the darkmoon blade covenant ring states gwyndolin all too aware of his repulsive frail appearance created the illusion of a sister gwenevere who helps him guard over on orlando an unmasking of these deities would be tantamount to blasphemy to pull back the veil placed upon anor londo one must destroy the illusion of gwenevere resulting in a city darkening and darkmoon soldiers being deployed by gwyndolin to hunt down a chosen undead alternatively the illusion can be maintained using this as an opportunity to deceive gwyndolin posing as an adherent who wishes to join the blade of the darkmoon covenant to achieve this one must acquire the darkmoon seance ring which is outlined as a ring that is granted to adherence of gwyndolin once the ring is equipped the chosen undead is able to approach gwyndolin's sanctum within the darkmoon tomb under the guise of an ally only to betray gwyndolin by traversing through the fog and slaying the last remaining deity in anor londo or at least that's what the chosen undead is led to believe as many years later it is revealed that gwyndolin was devoured by saint aldridge of the deep the master of illusions ironically turned out to be no more than an illusion himself defeating gwyndolin will result in the darkmoon knightess becoming hostile forcing the chosen undead's hand in engaging the firekeeper the brass set explains the sudden change of alliance from the night s expressing that after becoming undead she visited the darks on gwyndolin at the mausoleum of the spiral depths became a blade of the dark moon and assumed the flame-keeping duty she received this armor which hides her hideous form and helps her hunt the guilty in her eyes the chosen undead is the guilty committing the worst sin imaginable by way of slaughtering her god which she had placed all her faith in becoming aware of the illusion placed on anor londo it is logical to begin questioning all that had taken place this far to what extent had reality been altered in favor of displaying a model city ornstein's armor originally states that he had remained in the grand cathedral however many years later studying the dragon slayer set will bring light to the possibility that the ornstein faced in anor londo is in fact a creation of gwyndolin another pawn within the grand illusion the dragon slayer set reads in the dragonless age this knight who long guarded the rune cathedral left the land in search of the nameless king smoe may have also been an illusion reinforcing this theory is the description of samoa's armor which references smo as an executioner however many years later smoe's armor would refer to him as the last knight to stand in defense of the rune cathedral how could he have risen to the rank of knight if the chosen undead had killed him in anor londo perhaps soon after ornstein left the cathedral the real smoke followed suit and at some point became worthy of the rank of knight the mystery remains to be what had happened to the real ornstein if the one encountered is an imitation one theory suggests that following gwyn's sacrifice onstein departed from the rune cathedral to reunite with his former master the nameless king this is probable as it is known that the nameless king had trained the four knights of gwyn prior to being banished for his betrayal of the gods this is noticeable when comparing the combat styles of ornstein and the nameless king both opting to use similar weaponry movesets and miracles however the fact that his armor can be discovered in archdragon peak suggests an untimely death birthing a second theory that proposes that ornstein had left the cathedral to hunt down the nameless king only to be slain by him instead regardless of whether ornstein's intentions were to hunt down the nameless king or join him the expedition most likely resulted in his death perhaps the nameless king had turned hollow and could no longer identify the difference between friend and foe to think that after all the years passed gwyn's first bone still haunts the lives of those he betrayed leading to ornstein choosing to end a chapter of his life that had long been left unfinished remnants of the nameless kings still exist in lordran until this day as within the very cathedral that ornstein was guarding there are all coves of three statues two of them depicting gwyn and his daughter gwenevere with the third being hollow the sunlight altar although destroyed depicts the fallen god of war no wonder the wyvern safeguards the bridge leading to the altar a reminder of the firstborn son of gwyn a warrior that once belonged amongst royalty still worshipped by those who believed in him amidst the wealth of history discovered in anor londo also lies a world concealed from all life the painted world of ariamis placed amidst the painting guardians who have guarded the great paintings of ariamis for ages passing their duty down through the generations but the reason for doing so passed from all memory long ago the painted world was created as a refuge for the lost souls of various creatures since the inception of the undead curse countless beings had either hollowed or lost their purpose in life with their souls going astray they aimlessly wander the lands in hopes of finding guidance over time words spread of a painted world that welcomes all beings without a home and so the painted world became popular amongst abandoned souls some believe that the true purpose of the world was to hide the existence of crossbreed priscilla a being neither god nor human priscilla is described as a dragon crossbreed a bastard child of seath the scaleless who had been trapped in the painted world priscilla wields a life-hunt scythe a weapon that cultivated enough power to warrant the fear of the gods the scythe could not be wielded by all beings as in the hands of a mortal its power will turn upon its wielder the weapon inflicted bleed onto those who carry it making it accessible only to beings powerful enough to bear that burden for the chosen undead to access the painted world they would have to acquire a peculiar doll likely the only remaining item to connect priscilla to the real world the doll reads there once was an abomination who had no place in this world she clutched this doll tightly and eventually was drawn into a cold and lonely painted world to obtain the doll the chosen undead must return to where their pilgrimage began the northern undead asylum only now hosting a stray demon since the previous guardian had been slaughtered moving forward the chosen undead encounters an old ally oscar knight of astora the honourable warrior who rescued the chosen undead and set them off on their journey sadly oscar is no longer that person as the despair of being unable to escape the asylum led to oscar losing his sanity unable to overcome the very first obstacle he encountered oscar had lost all sense of self and consequently turned hollow the chosen undead is once again placed in a position where he must free a soul trapped in a hollow body following this demoralizing encounter the chosen undead acquires the peculiar doll now able to access the painted world of ariamis the painted world is undoubtedly associated with vulka goddess of sin she is described as a rogue god whose duty was to define sin and administer punishment accordingly she does however offer absolution through her pardoners one being oswald of karim who the chosen undead had already crossed paths with within the painted world many items attributed to the goddess of sin can be found one being the black cleric robe described as a robe worn by pardoners serving valker the goddess of sin the clerics also used vulka's rapier further linking them to the goddess the ring of sacrifice references a sacrificial rite of velka showing the extent of the influence she had on her followers the influence extended beyond those who worshipped her as the vow of silence explains that velka is versed in arts both new and old and is considered to have a great range of influence even as gods are concerned whilst exploring the painted world crow demons can be seen surrounding a dark ember located on a petrified corpse of a blacksmith dark embers are used to ascend occult weapons the fact that crows are a symbol of velka coupled with the knowledge that valky's rapier is imbued with occult power it is highly possible that velka was to some degree involved with the occult rebellion her betrayal of the gods could be why she's referred to as a rogue deity to prevent further rebellions against the gods at a point in time the church long hid the forbidden black ember and no living blacksmith knows of it reaching the finale of the painted world the chosen undead approaches crossbreed priscilla residing in an arena at the end of a partially destroyed bridge not knowing the trespasser's intentions she remains non-hostile and offers the chosen undead a chance to leave her world to avoid conflict who art thou one of us thou art not if thou hast mistepped into this world plunge down from the plank and hurry home if thou seekest i think desires shall be requited not thou must returneth whence thou came this land is peaceful its inhabitants kind but thou dost not belong i beg of thee plunge down from the plank and hurry home ignorant to what had become of the painted world she pleads that this land is peaceful its inhabitants kind contradicting the residents actions towards the chosen undead perhaps the residents are peaceful but see the outsider as a threat and so they collectively fight to protect priscilla by attacking the chosen undead at every opportunity although priscilla had been living in solitude for centuries confining herself to the tower her intentions remain pure as in her eyes her world still serves the purpose it had initially set out to fulfill it is now up to the chosen undead do they put an end to the painted world that had long protected those who were cast out or leave the residents to exist in peace as what resides in the painting is no business of the undead anyway why could thou not let us be did thou not see why ariamis created this world in the end the world of ariamis began to rot and another painter was chosen to create a new world in place of the rotten one all the residents of the old world succumbed to their death likely priscilla too what had become of ariamis remains unknown as he may have rotted away along with the very world he painted [Music] now that the lord vessel has been obtained the chosen and dead can continue their journey in firelink shrine a primordial serpent named king seeker from appears who reveals the following as kingseeker i shall now instruct you the lord's successor in your next task to achieve your fate commensurate to the great soul of gwyn scarce few possess such brilliant souls grave lord nito the witch of izalith the four kings of new londo who inherited the shards of gwyn's soul and lord gwyn's former confidante seath the scaleless all of their souls are required to satiate the lord vessel here we learn that the lord vessel must be utilized in order to link the fire frank's goal is to seek a king someone who will link the flame and extend the age of fire in the name of gwyn however there is another path darkstalker carth also requires the lord vessel and the chosen undead's help but not to link the fire but to let the flame fade instead at first glance it appears that france represents the light the fire and the gods whereas carth symbolizes the dark humanity and the plan to end the fading age of gods the serpents are inexplicably linked to the conclusion of the chosen and dead fate to obtain a soul of lords is no easy task as the chosen and dead will have to slay the very beings that overthrew the everlasting dragons as well as venture into the abyss itself seath the scaleless resides in the duke's archives a landmark situated high above its elevated position can be seen from the undead parish the duke's archives as the name suggests is a large library housing many books and artifacts a paradise for a scholar like seath in his never-ending hunt for immortality when the chosen and dead encounters the pale dragon for the first time he appears to be invincible immune to all forms of offense suggesting he had discovered the secret to immortality as a result the chosen undead falls and wakes up in a cell here lies the abducted victims of seath's experiments the six eyed channelers would aid seath in abducting residents of lordran forcing them to become test subjects considering seath was blind the channeller's helms were adorned with six eyes arranging two vertical columns as this compensated for cease lack of sight in order to keep the abductees from leaving the man serpents were stationed as guards in addition the archives were converted into a prison as confirmed by the archive tower selkie the archive tower once a trove of precious tomes and letters became a prison after the onset of seath's madness interesting that seath had lost his sanity after discovering immortality furthermore the archive giant selkie states the giant cell once imprisoned countless maidens but is now empty say for a few key persons the maidens referred to here are most likely the pisacas although several of the passages are hostile two can be found weeping in a corner who will only retaliate when harmed when slain these two will drop the miracles soothing sunlight and bountiful sunlight according to the description of the items these were the miracles of gwenevere suggesting that the passages were once maidens to the daughter of gwyn this also explains why a sick side channeller is stationed in the undead parish as many maidens would pass through the church big hat logan appears to be amongst the prisoners of the archive first he was caught in sans fortress and it appears he has been captured once again once freed logan will move deeper into the library logan comments on the cruel experiments conducted by seath stating that all progress demands sacrifice appearing to be in support of his actions if the ends justify the means he will now sell crystal sorceries to the chosen undead boosted sorceries created with his new found knowledge he then unveils a secret to seath's immortality ah the secret of seath's immortality if you have fought him and were in prison you must know that seath is a true undead different from ourselves his wounds close promptly and no mortal blow affects him granting true insulation from death it is an effect of the primordial crystal a sacred treasure pillaged by seath when he turned upon the ancient dragons so only by destroying the primordial crystal can you so much a scratch his hide and it so happens the primordial crystal is in the inner garden of these very archives the crystal forest should the chosen and dead acquire all of the sorceries on offer big hut logan will say the following who are you stay clear stay clear of my work curse is upon you how dare you disturb me whatever logan learned in the duke's archives drove him mad as the knowledge he gained was too much to bear he then navigates back to the first area where seath was encountered here it appears that logan has lost his sanity stripped of his clothing and fighting like a madman it should be noted that logan is not hollow here but instead has actually lost his sanity just as seath went mad after obtaining immortality so did the cat logan only his pursuit was for sorcery and spells a woeful end to the famous sorcerer leaving the archives behind the chosen undead navigates through a small crystal forest here we see crystal golem scattered around the area one of the golems in particular is golden in colour identical to another in darkroot basin once killed a knight in the sut of katharine armour appears and stays it was you who rescued me why thank you oh have you seen my father you wouldn't miss him a suit of armor just like mine if the chosen and dead says yes she'll say the following thank goodness i knew he was here somewhere well then now i must find him thanks again truly siegeland is in pursuit of her father siegmeyer while she is doing this we cannot know at this time now in the crystal caves the chosen undead encounters moonlight butterflies and more crystal golems it is worth noting that these creations of seath can also be found in darkroot basin this is due to his interest towards oolacile sorcery azul became darkroot basin over time eventually the chosen and dead confront seath the scalers only this time it appears that the chosen undead has stumbled across something of importance to seath so valuable is this item that seath descends into the caves to protect it in this room lies the primordial crystal the secret of seath's immortality this object granted him the long life he desired he was envious of the other dragons and their everlasting lifespan however with this crystal he could replicate the immortality provided by the stone dragon scales using the knowledge obtained from bighou logan the chosen undead shutters the primordial crystal turning seath into a mortal should the chosen and dead sever the tail of the beast the moonlight greatsword will fall into their possession the description of the sword notes that seath is the grandfather of sorcery making it clear as to why big hat logan had a particular interest in seath it is also worth mentioning that sorceries such as the soul arrow spell are particularly effective against the stone scales of dragons hinting that seath pioneered sorcery to aid in the slaughter of his own kind no wonder the scholar sorcerers of winnheim named their dragon school of sorcery the winnheim dragon school the chosen and dead then slays the pale dragon and obtains the bequeathed lord soul shard given to him by gwyn we now move to new londo ruins to acquire the next lord's soul before crossing the bridge a hollow in chainmail armor can be seen this hollow is the crestfallen warrior from firelink shrine he left the shrine as he was sick of the smell produced by the serpents france it seems that during his investigation to uncover the source of the smell he turned hollow ironic that once he had somewhat a purpose he lost his will to live moreover several hollows can be seen worshiping something upon closer inspection we can see that they are kneeling before the sunlight emanating from a small crevice above potentially signifying their devotion to the light to lord gwyn exploring deeper in yolanda ruins the chosen undead discovers ghosts haunting the area these ghosts can only be engaged when consuming a transient curse as the only way to fight back against ghosts who are cursed beings is to become cursed yourself some of these ghosts can be seen holding babies and can cast lightning miracles similar to gwyn's bowls eventually the chosen undead will come across a sealer known as ingward he stays mu londo was sacrificed to contain the dark wreaths mark my words the dark wraiths are the enemies of man and any living thing that has a soul they were never meant to roam again the four kings slumber in the deepest chamber of the ruins use this key to break the seal and open the floodgates oh and do not forget the dark wraiths reside in a dark void called the abyss but the abyss is no place for ordinary mortals although long ago the night artorias traversed the abyss if you can find him and learn from him the abyss may prove surmountable ingrid seems to think that artorias is alive a testament to how his true fate was erased from history his dialogue also brings much needed clarity to the state of new londo but what exactly caused the city and its residents to descend into the dark ingrid answers this also when an evil serpent dangled the art of life drain before them they were unable to resist and became pawns of evil inspired by anor londo the city was a home for the undead interestingly the inhabitants of the city appeared to respect the goddess of sin velka as seen with the statues and items found throughout the ruins strange that the four kings may have potentially worshipped velka a goddess who was shunned by the other gods whose mention was mostly confined to the painted world nevertheless the city was ruled by the four kings who fell to the dark it seems that the four kings were accepting of the power bestowed upon them by gwyn gwynne most likely did not provide the four kings a piece of the lord soul out of generosity but as a means to turn them to his side perhaps he knew of the rebellion brewing how the four kings may have wanted to rid the world of god by utilizing the dark luckily it was possible to flood new londo entirely should an uprising need to be quelled or perhaps it wasn't look at all and gwyn had this purposely installed it is doubtful that yolanda was created without gwyn's consent it was inspired by his city after all despite having received the bequeathed lord soul shard the kings were still tempted by the power of the dark the spread of the dark gave rise to the dark wraiths warriors who were once the knight of the four kings their armor appears have crow feathers interwoven another symbol of velka as always when the abyss and the dark are mentioned qarth is never far behind the four kings on their knights were enticed by the words of the darkstalker how could they not be after all new london was a city of humans living under the gods in an age which is rightfully theirs harnessing the power of the dark soul the dark rays use their life-drain ability to consume humanity from their enemies every dark wraith is part of a covenant of the same name led by none other than the darkstalker carth the power of life drain was feared by the gods as evidenced by crossbreed priscilla who's locked away in the painted world this ability was taught to the dark writes and the four kings by carth it is possible that he learnt this power from priscilla posing a significant threat ingrid and the other sealers flood in new londo ruins killing everyone within including civilians the aim was to submerge the dark wraiths and the four kings underwater as they were too dangerous to confront thousands of corpses can be seen throughout the haunted ruins indicating the devastation that took place the mask of the sealer stays mask of the sorcerers who flooded yolondo to seal away the darkwrites and the four kings who descended into dark it symbolizes their resolve to keep the seal shut forever and their atonements for all who were sacrificed but two of the three forsook new londo upon tiring of their duty interestingly it appears that there were two additional sealers who abandoned their duties one's attire can be found in blighttown the other can be seen accompanying lord trek in anor londo the abandonment of their mask signifying their desertion ingward will then provide the chosen undead with the key to the seal to open the floodgates and drain the city gaining access to the four kings the key states the sealers flood in yolondo to banish the dark wraiths and the four kings the agonizing decision was made with the realization that countless lives and the robust culture of the city would be lost the victims now roamed the ruins as ghosts with the covenant of artorius in hand the chosen and dead descends into the abyss a familiar place here the chosen undead comes face to face with the four kings and defeats them the once noble kings of new londo are nothing but a memory with the four kings bested carth makes an appearance for the first time he departs some wisdom unto the chosen and dead i can guide thee and illuminate the truth undead warrior conqueror of the four kings is this not your wish to know the truth of men and the undead the truth i shall share without sentiment after the advent of fire the ancient lords found the three souls but your progenitor found a fourth unique soul the dark soul ancestor claimed the dark soul and waited for fire to subside and soon the flames did fade and only dark remained thus began the age of men the age of dark however lord gwyn trembled at the dark clinging to his age of fire and in dire fear of humans and the dark lord who would one day be born amongst them lord gwyn resisted the course of nature by sacrificing himself to link the fire and commanding his children to shepherd the humans gwyn has blurred your past to prevent the birth of the dark lord i am the primordial serpent i seek to write the wrongs of the past to discover our true lord but the other serpent frampt lost his sense and befriended lord gwyn undead warrior we stand at a crossroads only i know the truth about your fate you must destroy the fading lord gwyn who has coddled fire and resisted nature and become the fourth lord so that you may usher in an age of dark carth provides an alternate objective to king seeker front to recap france states that the fate of an undead is to succeed gwyn and extend the age of fire but karth reveals that this is a lie a ploy from the gods to extend their age to prevent the age of dark also known as the age of humanity a predicament indeed for the chosen and dead the chosen and dead descends into the catacombs located past the graveyard in filing shrine skeletons inhabits the majority of the catacombs and can only be slain with either a divine weapon or by killing the necromancer that raises them during the descent into the tombs the chosen and dead comes across trusty patches lortrek warned the chosen dead previously that patches is not to be trusted he's a mischievous swindler who'll stop at nothing to get the treasures he desires speaking to patches reveals that he has a particular disdain towards clerics regardless patches will attempt to kill the chosen undead by flipping a bridge whilst they are still on it having survived this the chosen and dead can approach patches who will feign ignorance and give the chosen undead a soul of a lost undead compensation for a crime he apparently did not commit however this is not the last we see of trustee patches further down the chosen and dead encounters a blacksmith called vamos he appears to be a very reclusive smith so reclusive in fact that no one else acknowledges his existence obsessed with his work vamos has little time for conversation although not much is known about this mysterious figure the royal helm stays the helm is believed to belong to an ancient royal line but only vamos would know for sure and he shall never speak again unfortunately vamos has chosen to never speak of this and so not much is known about the skeletal blacksmith deeper still lies a large coffin housing an entity known as pinwheel it appears that this being has three heads and six arms when the chosen dead confronts pinwheel the heads appear to gaze at each other as if they are deciding the fate of the chosen undead pinwheel turns hostile and prepares for battle the creature is strangely fragile and falls with relative ease upon his death he will either drop the mask of the father mother or child the masks state that pinwheel was a necromancer who stole the power of the gravelord and reigns over the catacombs pyramid also drops one additional item the right of kindling the description states this secret right allows bonfires to be bolstered further with kindling so that even more estus can be collected how peculiar that humans had found little use for humanity until they turned undead the three masks worn by pinwheel suggest that the frame is a combination of three bodies and minds one theory is that pinwheel was once a family that somehow fused together perhaps one of the family members died and in an attempt to bring them back to life they stole the power of the gravelord and tried to revive their deceased loved ones however this resulted in a morbid resurrection surrounding pinwheel is a vast collection of books and skeletons all of which are ensnared in chains one can even be seen laying on the operating table almost as if the chosen dead had interrupted an experiment of some kind potentially pinwheel resurrected his family but was finding a way to separate the three fused bodies to complete the process of resurrection the mask of the father raises equipment load representing how the father metaphorically or perhaps even quite literally as pinwheel carried his family the mask of the mother raises health symbolizing how she raised the morale of the family lastly the mask of the child raises the speed at which stamina is recovered a symbol of a child's energetic nature pinwheel also appears to be somewhat of importance to nito as statues of him can be seen throughout the area an empty coffin is also located next to nito suggesting that pinwheel may have been the highest rank amongst those in the tombs another more compelling theory also exists the effigy's shield stays the followers of the occult once attempted to steal the power of the gravelord the first of the dead of course we now know that pinwheel was indeed successful in stealing the power of the gravelord could it be that he was one of the leaders of the occult nito may have developed the rights of kindling in order to bolster the bonfires as extending the age of fire would lead to the undead sacrificing themselves leading to more deaths which was his domain the way of whites may have utilized this as well in worship of gwyn through this meticulous plan gwyn could continue to rule over the light while nito ruled over death the way of white was assisting nito in retrieving the stolen rights as evidenced by reyes journey it is worth noting that paladin leroy the first undead produced by the way of white assists the chosen undead in slaying pinwheel but will defend nito suggesting that he was only aiding in the retrieval of the rights of kindling the rights also suggest that gwyn and nita work together to ensure the age of fire would never end further enforced by the existence of bonfires which are created with the bones of the undead a masterful plan to fool humanity into fueling the age of fire no wonder that pinwheel decided to steal the secret rise in order to prevent further kindling and ultimately to let the fires fade perhaps this is why he conducts experiments on the skeletons to better understand the process of death at this point the chosen dead discovers the tomb of the giants a pitch-black cavern filled with large skeletons from this cavern we can see lost izalith in the distance it is here that the chosen and dead bumps into patches once more yet again he tricks the chosen and sends him spiraling into a ditch in this hole we discover reia of thorulund as well as her two cleric knights vince and nico both of which have become hollow and attacked the chosen undead who swiftly puts an end to them strangely petrus appears to be absent reyear now saved returns to undead parish it seems her mission to obtain the rights of kindling has failed if patches is left alive he will return to firelink shrine where he will sell all types of trinkets including the armor worn by vince and nico patches will also warn the chosen undead about petrus where have you met petrus that self-proclaimed cleric believe me on this one bruv the man is scum don't you be fooled by his claims to do good they're all the same those rotten clerics reya at this point can be discovered in the undead parish where she is grateful to her savior and offers to sell miracles if petrus is informed of the rescue he will state oh it's you you rescued milady well a pity that is for it will amount to nothing for the little madam is not worth her salt without her family name this piece of dialogue foreshadows the events to come as if left to his own devices petrus will venture into the undead parish and murder reya on the other hand if petrus is killed after reyear is saved she will survive there is also one other path if the chosen undead acquires all the items reia has to offer she'll be kidnapped and taken to the duke's archives where it is discovered that she has become hollow sadly the chosen and dead could not save her but at least they could grant reya her final wish if i do go hollow then finish me off i beg of you it seems the pilgrimage he was ordained to complete was doomed from the beginning finally the chosen undead can confront grave lornito the first of the dead he appears to be coated in humanity a hint to his goals of absorbing the power of the undead and working with gwyn to suppress the human race just like any other lord grave lord nieto falls and so his soul falls into the possession of the chosen undead the very being that administers death to the world had fallen much of nita's lord soul was offered to death yet it remains powerful enough to satiate the lord vessel many years later the milfinito and finito would continue the teachings of the great dead one by singing the milfinita would reassure the dead while the finito safeguarded them allowing them a peaceful slumber with three lord souls in possession the chosen and dead ventures into lost izalith to obtain the final lord's soul this once great city was ruled by the witch of izalith along with her daughters of chaos as mentioned previously lost izalith has now become the birthplace of demons a result of the witch who in her blasphemy tried to create another first flame ironic that the witch of izalith was able to create new life only this life was demonic and volatile or was it the demons of izalith seem intelligent as if they had carved out their own civilization in lordran each demon has their role working together to ensure the survival of their race and defend their mother the witch of izalith yet again gwyn's involvement may have played a role perhaps izalith was a stable society of demons before gwyn dispatched his legion of black knight initiating the demon war one way or another the war concluded and gwyn placed demons in his ranks acting as transporters and jailers this also raises an important question if gwyn never went to war with the demons would they have ever posed a threat to his reign nevertheless the chosen and dead continues strangely a centipede-like demon can be seen stalking the chosen a hint for the fight ahead as the chosen indent navigates deeper into lost izalith they come across the demon fire sage a creature very similar to the asylum and stray demon the demon fire sage was the first demon and the last master of the original firearms before the witch of izalith was engulfed by the chaos creating pyromancy after defeating the fire sage the chosen and dead encounters the centipede demon upon slaying the demon the chosen received an orange charred ring which states that the ceaseless discharge was a fool who readily dropped the ring and from that spot a terrible centipede demon was born explaining why it is dropped by the demon upon its death further ahead the chosen undead reunites with solaire only this time his mind seems very far away he stays why why after all this searching i still cannot find it of course he's referring to the sun which she had been chasing ever since he set foot in lordran after navigating through the lava fields we witnessed solaire for the last time with a parasitic organism embedded into his brain he swings wildly claiming that he had finally discovered his very own son finally i have found it i have my very own son i am the son i've done it i have yes i did it i did the chosen undead has no choice but to put the once joyous knight out of his misery ah it's over my son it's setting it's dark so dark things could have turned out differently however should the chosen and dead choose to become a servant of chaos they can unlock a shortcut into los izalith behind the doors lies several parasites including the sunlight maggots by using this shortcut the chosen undead is able to claim the sunlight maggots before solaire and inadvertently save his life the description reads when worn on the head it emanates blinding light which is why it's known as a sunlight maggot solaire can then be discovered for the last time where he stays was it all a lie have i done this all for nothing oh my dear son what now what should i do he will forever be unaware that the chosen and dead had saved him from madness advancing further into lost izalith the chosen and dead encounter siegmeyer no don't tell me those monsters making life difficult for you you need not be ashamed we're all in the same boat i really have run up quite a debt to you perhaps the time has come two choices laid before the chosen and dead they can slay all the chaos eaters and then speak with sigmar who will state wait did you defeat those dire creatures outstanding you never fail to impress this knight of katarina thanks you i feel like i'm always thanking you i curse my own inability on the other hand the chosen dead can allow sigma to fight the chaos eaters alone so that he can repay his debt to the chosen undead for assisting him on several occasions however if left to fight alone sigma may fall the chosen undead then jumps into the pit and aids sigma once again the union knight then states that he is grateful however there is something somber about his response one day the chosen and dead comes across the body of sigmar laying on the shores of ash lake he is accompanied by his daughter who stays my father all hollow now has been subdued he will cause no more trouble oh father dear father sieglund came to lordran in search of her father her goal was to deliver the last words of her mother unfortunately was able to do so before forcibly putting her hollow father to rest his hollow state is a result of the chosen and dead continuous aid although they had saved sigma on several occasions they unknowingly stripped the brave and honorable knight of his purpose what good was he to anyone if he could not solve his own problems or slay any creature alone this dampened the morale of the katarina knight his honor was no longer intact and his worth as a knight dwindled in his mind sigmar having lost his purpose and the will to live became hollow returning to izalith the chosen and dead edges closer to the witch however several obstacles remain firstly a daughter of chaos utilizing devastating pyromancies defends the entrance to her mother's lair this individual is unveiled to be the eldest daughter of chaos revealed by her chaos fire with pyromancy which states that it was wielded by the eldest of the daughters of chaos during this fight the knight of thorns kirk can also invade this realm after quickly dispatching the daughter the chosen and dead then deals with the knight he first invaded in the depths and then again in the demon ruins this invader who had plagued the undead's journey is slain for the last time his final resting place lies in krelag's domain near the fair lady his army reveals that kirk was a notorious member of the dark wraiths kirk is also described as being murderous despite this somewhere along his path kirk devoted himself to the servants of chaos utilizing his strength as a dark wraith to pillage humanity and gift it to the fair lady why he did this is unknown either way he had some sort of affinity towards the daughter of chaos the path now cleared the chosen undead descends into the lair of the witch of izalith here we see the face of the once great witch she has mutated into a tree-like creature titled the bed of chaos two seas can be seen laying on either side of the bed of chaos which could possibly be two of her daughters perhaps these two were the closest in proximity to the witch when she attempted to create an artificial first flame destroying the two seeds reveals a path to the core of the bed of chaos slashing through the branches a small parasite is discovered within this creature is all that is left of the witch of izalith the chosen undead slays the creature with a single stroke and chaos is unleashed chaos which would spiral out of control and eventually go on to consume the ivory king and his loyal knights the demon civilization no longer maintained by the bed of chaos would eventually die out and an old demon king would be the last living witness of the chaos of izalith and with that all the laws had fallen and only gwynne himself remains [Music] to tell the tale of the abyss we must first travel back in time centuries ago to a land called ulaseal an ancient land of sorceries swallowed by the abyss the enchanted ember a vestige of the lost land of oolacile suggests that the once great city had fallen during the chosen and dad's journey they are taken to the depths of darkroot basin where a hydra and a slew of crystal golems occupy the area once the creatures have been slain a golden crystal golem can be discovered behind the hydra unlike the others this particular golem is unique as it houses a person within after the golem has been defeated the chosen and dead can summon the once captive individual to their world doing so reveals that this person is dusk the princess of oolacile i am dusk of oolacile i cometh from an age long before thine i cannot stay here for long so before i disappear allow me to ask one thing my home ulisio is the home of ancient sorceries my hope is to pass this profound knowledge to thee with thine approval would this be of assistance to thee dusk explains that she is not in the correct time and that the oolacile sorceries differ to the ones utilized by the chosen undead the sorceries she sells are better suited for utility rather than for offensive purposes she goes on to explain that her landula seal was reduced to ashes it is unclear how the princess left her land and traveled forward in time times convoluted and lordran after all but one thing is for certain the sorceries of oolacile are unusual and unknown even to the scholars of winnheim it is important to note the summoning location of princess dusk it appears that the land of oola seal closely resembles that of the present-day dark route basin the royal wood in particular bears resemblance to darkroot garden this suggests that over time due to lack of maintenance the land was slowly consumed by vegetation resulting in a dimly lit forest with the princess rescued the chosen and dead can obtain a broken pendant from the duke's archives once again protected by a crystal golem seath may have wanted to study the pendant for its magical properties this object is half of a broken stone pendant the vine appears to originate from oolacile a powerful magic can be sensed from this ancient stone yet men of this time can neither manipulate nor sense its power which has a distinct air consisting of both reverence and nostalgia with the pendant in hand the chosen and dead can now continue to darkroot basin doing so results in a portal appearing approaching this gateway results in the hand of manners reaching out through time and space aggressed the pendant pulling the chosen undead a few hundred years into the past what meaning this pendant holds is unknown perhaps it is a relic of manus humanity the first obstacle to overcome before setting foot in the land of oolacile is the sanctuary guardian this creature is a white winged lion sanctuary watch keeper who dreaded the spread of the abyss upon closer inspection we can see that the guardian is a hybrid of various animals as it has the features of a lion goat a scorpion-like tail and a set of wings a ferocious guardian of the land once defeated the chosen and dead can venture into oolacile sanctuary in this sanctuary we discover elizabeth a giant mushroom her appearance is similar to that of the mushroom parents discovered in the great hollow and darkroot garden however she cannot move and has no limbs perhaps the mushrooms evolved over time when speaking to elizabeth she states well look at this one from what far away age has thou come thy scent is very human indeed but not intolerable ah princess dusk's savior thine aura is precisely as she described i thank thee deeply for rescuing her highness that princess dusk is here no longer snatched away by that horrifying primeval human and so i must ask could there once more play the savior her dialogue confirms the chosen undead has traveled through time it also confirms that dusk has been kidnapped by a primeval human she then goes on to state that she is the guardian of the sanctuary acting as a godmother of swords to dusk an abyss was begat of the ancient beast and threatens to swallow the whole of oolacile knight artorias came to stop this but such a hero has neary a murmur of dark without doubt he will be swallowed by the abyss overcome by its utter blackness indeed the abyss may be unstoppable still i have faith that princess dusk may be rescued yet here we learn that the primeval human the ancient beast has brought ruin to oolacile and that night artorias one of the four knights of gwyn was dispatched here to rescue dusk from the beast and in turn halt the spreading of the abyss elizabeth appears doubtful of his success but she still has faith that dusk may be rescued she also confirms that the chosen and dead was not the only person pulled through time not long ago i had another visitor a human like thineself from a far away time only he was dreadfully odious and i'm afraid that he is still amongst us by the time of drangleic elizabeth was revered as a saint that devoted her life to helping the needy by concocting medicine and potions it's thought her great virtue was matched only by her sublime beauty but who can say now it seems knowledge regarding elizabeth has changed over time as she was described as having sublime beauty even though she is a mushroom everyone has their own taste i suppose her corpse is eventually discovered in fahren keep indicating that she never abandoned her duties beyond the sanctuary lies the royal wood traces of the abyss can be seen throughout the wood as well as magical elevators constructed by the residents of oolacile many monuments from the time of the royal wood can be seen in darkroot garden further enforcing the notion that the two areas are one and the same as the chosen undead navigates the forest they encounter a large black dragon who briefly lands on a bridge before flying off into the distance nearby the chosen and dead comes across an individual called marvelous chester his appearance is similar to the description provided by elizabeth chester confirms he was pulled through time hmm ah let me guess snatched by a shadowy limb and dragged off to the past we ought to help one another out his appearance is unique sporting a black long coat and a top heart with a mask although he talks as if he is trustworthy he will attempt to invade the world of the chosen and dead further down the line he chooses to use a sniper crossbow as his weapon a large crossbow with a long distance used by kareem snipers this suggests he is from the kingdom of kareem if he is killed while invading he will still sell items to the chosen undead albeit reluctantly he will also share some key information to the chosen undead providing context of the events that took place in oolacile believe it or not oolacile has brought the abyss upon itself fooled by that toothy serpent they upturned the grave of primeval man and incited his ornery wrath what could they have been thinking but to you and i it's all ancient history you have to ask yourself does it really matter the toothy serpent is most likely dark stalker carth an advocate for the dark the kingdom of new londo was not the only city to fall due to cart's involvement as it appears oolacile had suffered a similar fate it seems that qarth had manipulated the minds of many for centuries he wanted to harness the dark to overthrow the gods and usher in a new age of darkness the folk of oolacile could not avoid the temptation of power and chose to disturb the grave of the primeval human manus also known as the father of the abyss in turn this resulted in the spread of the abyss the wrath of manus could not be contained and soon the residents would warp into servants of the dark and bodies of humanity would emanate from the abyss below manus was potentially a sorcerer famously as all dark spells referenced a new lacil sorcerer on the brink of madness just like any other human manus eventually died and was buried deep below oolacile his burial signifies he may have been someone of importance as his grave is encircled with stones in the ground some suggest that he may have been the original furtive pygmy to be furtive is to avoid attention he died alone away from sight only for his remains to be defiled he could also be one of the many pygmies who is trapped in the ring city only to escape to the land of oolacile where he would one day die even after his death remnants of his humanity remain as he reached through time to retrieve his pendant turning now to artorias the abyss walker gwyn the lord of sunlight feared the dark as it threatened his age of fire the age of gods the encroaching darkness was a sign of the rise of humanity and so he tasked one of his knights artorias to traverse the abyss rescue the princess and slay the source itself artorias was well equipped to deal with the abyss and was the most suitable knight for the task at hand his greatsword was designed to strike harder against dark servants he was also accompanied by the great grey wolf sith who was much younger during the events of oolacile in addition artorias was also in a covenant with the beasts of the abyss ultimately artorias was bested and was forced to withdraw a trail of the best substance leading from the chasm of the abyss to artorius's location highlights his path of retreat by the time the chosen dead reaches the night he is nothing but a husk of his former self a once great knight corrupted by the abyss as confirmed by his armor the death of the armors owner can be surmised from the corrosive dark of the abyss and the tattered azure blue cave once a symbol of pride and glory artorias in his madness still appears to be hunting the servants of the dark even after his death signifying that some of his ideals have been retained his left hand is limp and mangled as he left his great shield behind to protect sith from the abyss artorias did manage to crawl out of the chasm but it was too late the chosen undead freeze artorius for the legend of the abyss walker does not die with him however this version of events contradicts history if artorias fell to the abyss then how was duskvulasil saved how was the spreading of the abyss halted why do item descriptions and the testimonies of individuals refer to artorias as the savior of oolacile the legend of arturus the abyss walker is nothing but a myth in truth the chosen undead would navigate through oolacile township fighting the endless onslaught of servants of the dark and eventually they would descend through the dungeon into the chasm of the abyss there they would discover alvina who would guide the chosen undead to a young sith protected by the veil of artorius's shield sif accompanies the chosen and dead as he once did artorias and together they would put manus to rest the soul of manus is described as a lukewarm lump of gentle humanity upon closer inspection of the soul we can see humanity at its center as well as dark sprites emerging from within it also goes on to state that ancient manus was clearly once human but he became the father of the abyss after his humanity went wild eternally seeking his precious broken pendant potentially the pendant was pillaged from his grave although this is never confirmed tragic is the tale of artorias the knight famous for his prowess and the abyss who could not halt the corruption in oolacile even in new londo dark wraiths remain to this day perhaps the abyss is insurmountable regardless the legend of artorias would ripple through the ages giving rise to farron's undead legion the abyss watchers fighters who embody artorias as combat style and fight the abyss both in life and in death returning to artorius's location the chosen undead discovers a woman kneeling and paying respects to the deceased this individual is kiran one of gwyn's knights if the chosen and dead speaks to kiran with the soul of artoris in their possession she will say you is that not the soul of the man who fell on this spot he was a dear friend i wish to pay proper respect with that soul would you be willing to part with it if given to her she will offer a pair of gold and dark silver tracers in exchange it is not clear whether she was romantically involved with artorias or if she just had great respect for her fellow knights if slain she will cry out you humans my dear are twins this statement insinuates they may have been linked romantically either way she's one of the few that knew the truth regarding the legend of artorius with manus puts to rest elizabeth states the following thou hast rescued princess dusk and ridders of that terrible primeval human even halting the spread of the abyss i salute the grandeur of thine enterprise i thank thee as do we all i will remember thee but i will keep thy story to myself this is the best way for thou out come from a time far ahead no one will sing thy praises but yet thy greatness shall live on for it shall be my purpose to remember all thou hast done for us the true savior of oolacile returns to that present day where they can converse with the dusk this may strike thine air as somewhat peculiar but long ago in my homeland of oolacile i was beset by a creature from the abyss i would have perished then were it not for the great night artorius in truth i saw little of what transpired for my senses were already flat but even still there was something about artorias a certain balance of the humans that quite perfectly fits your semblance heavens could it be that oh dear me that was you lazio many centuries ago please excuse my fanciful musings only it was so very odd you and ardorius i owe my life to each of you and both seem to share some resonance of sorts perhaps it is the nature of true greatness i still think on that creature from the abyss that preyed upon me my faculties were far from lucid but i quite clearly sensed certain emotions a wrenching nostalgia lost joy an object of obsession and a sincere hope to reclaim it could these thoughts belong to the beast from the abyss but if that were true then perhaps it is no beast after all it's just that i wish to know the truth and no one not even loving elizabeth will tell me it appears that out of respect for artorias elizabeth hid the truth from the world although dusk notices the striking similarities between artorias and the chosen undead she also recounts that manus did have emotions after all an essence of his humanity remained symbolized by his desperation to retrieve the broken pendant alvina also confirms in the present day that the story of artorias is none but a fabrication and a fairy tale although she still respects artorias many bandits and adventurers seek the treasures left behind at the grave of the abyss walker alvina tries to sway people away in order to preserve his legacy and safeguard sith when approaching the grave of artorias despite centuries having been passed an adolescent sith still recognizes the chosen undead they did fight side by side in the abyss after all howling in anguish sith reluctantly picks up his master's sword and prepares for battle [Music] the great grey wolf does not want you to traverse the abyss and succumb to its corruption and so fights against the chosen undead for the chosen undead is bound by fate to obtain the covenant of artorias to traverse the abyss once more during the journey to the past the chosen undead comes across another knight of gwyn hawkeye goth a giant who wields a bow to pierce dragons a crucial ally to gwyn sadly goff has been trapped in this tower as some look down on his kind furthermore goff appears to be blind however his lack of vision is due to his helmet it appears that the eye holes have been filled with tree resin by those who dismiss goff as a bruce's giant he recognizes the chosen and dead as the one who freed artorius and thanks them for allowing him to leave this world with his honor intact goth also confirms chess's version of events that the townsfolk of oolacile were persuaded by a dark serpent and brought about their own ruin from goth we learned that the dragon witnessed previously is in fact calamite even if the city of gods will not confront the beast goth will assist the chosen undead in taking down the black dragon with the greatest of great bows in hand god fires an arrow into the sky piercing the dragon and forcing it to land it is important to note that calamite is referenced as the last of the ancient dragons an interesting choice of words considering the everlasting dragon and seetha scalars still exist nevertheless kalami's life is one of solitude the chosen and adventures to the location of the grounded dragon and engages the beast calamite the bringer of calamity is slain after his death a faction called the dragon knights would be born harnessing the scales of the dead dragon they forged weapons and armor these items proved the existence of calamites a dragon many considered nothing but a male legend and so kalameet and the land devoid of dragons had to die to prove his own existence [Music] the chosen death pilgrimage is close to its end offering the lord's souls to the vessel results in the opening of the gateway a blinding white light beckons the chosen and dead here lies the final gauntlet a myriad of phantom knights patrol the entrance but pose no threats the souls of those who are disembodied by the flame crossing this stairway lisa the kiln of the first flame a wasteland coated in ash evidence of the ferocity at which the flame once burnt black knights defend the area however they pulled little threats at the chosen undead the slayer of lords these knights were stationed to protect gwyn as he linked the flame on a narrow bridge a suit of black knight armor can be obtained the knights followed lord gwyn when he departed to link the flame but they were burned to ashes and newly kindled fire wandering the world as disembodied spirits ever after delving deeper a golden summoning sign can be seen before the final gate this sign belongs to solaire although he could not discover his own son he pressed on as an undead just like many others he would conclude his pilgrimage by setting himself ablaze all that remains is to venture through the fog one last time to face the lord of sunlight himself at the heart of the kill next to the fabled first flame stands gwyn the lord of cinder for only cinder's remain of the once great lord his appearance is representative of the sacrifice he made and the depths to which he delved to keep the flame from extinguishing his family splintered and his firstborn banished gwyn had no choice but to link the fire with his own body offering much of himself to the flame resulted in him being stripped of his power and the decimation of his own army his famous miracles of lightning are absent in this jewel the chosen and dead wither without celeste aid would put an end to the lord of light however the machinations of gwyn would continue through the ages as many laws of cinder would continue to link the fading flame eventually this would result in the creation of the soul of cinder a physical manifestation of all that had linked the fire two options now lay before the chosen undead do they link the fire and prolong an age that may one day die and fulfill the wishes of king seeker frant or do they turn their back on gwyn as he once did to mankind and allow the flame to fade should the fire be linked the chosen and dead is consumed by the inferno and their powerful soul fuels the fire for many ages hence should they choose to deviate from the undead pilgrimage they can walk away from the flame where many primordial serpents have gathered to greet the chosen and dead among these serpents is qarth and france strangely france kneels before the dark lord and offers their service suggesting the serpent had the change of heart or perhaps qarth and france were never truly rivals and regardless of the outcome they would benefit from the struggle of those around them as these imperfect dragons appear to have outlasted the everlasting dragons and the gods themselves nonetheless the chosen undead now rules as a dark lord reigning over the approaching age of dark how did the fate of lordran come to this gwyn refused to let the age of fire end and as a result committed the first sin by linking the fire and denying the transition of the ages gwyn halted the undeniable course of nature the age of fire should never have been extended yet it was even if the chosen undead rules over an age of dark embers will always remain and those faithful to the lords will forever embark on a pilgrimage to link the first flame resulting in a paradox the age of fire can never truly end and the age of dark can never prosper the two struggle to coexist yet how can there be light without dark still the lord of light tried to banish it in the words of kaath the furtive pygmy waited for the fire to dim but this never occurred but can we trust the word of the devious serpent the cycle is infinite a fabricated timeline of distortion even if the darkness settles one day tiny flames will dance across the darkness like embers linked by the lord's past this world can no longer be inherited by humanity hopefully one day someone can paint a tranquil world for those who remain in the constant battle between the light and the dark perhaps we must ask ourselves what lies beyond it exhilaration cried hatred rage the dragons teased out our dearest emotions lead thy life as thy ceased food farewell human regrettably i have failed in my mission but perhaps you can keep the torch lit well now you know and i can die with hope in my heart if you require rest now is the time that is after all what the bonfire is for when i gave you that flame i gave you a part of myself please take good care of it be safe friend don't you dare go order please save us all please ah it's over my son it's setting it's dark so dark was it all a lie have i done this all for nothing well you saved me once again dear me what can i say i have failed you my daughter lists life and limb just to find me heavens i never asked her to do that mother's ambitions were misguided no doubt but surely a thousand years of atonement is enough farewell my mother my sisters sister do not cry i am happy really i have you don't i i beg of the spread of the abyss must be stopped the breaking of curses is the territory of deities you must be prepared to give some of yourself [Music] thank you very much for watching we hope you've enjoyed this video if you have please leave a like that will support us greatly as it will get the video to a wider audience and if you'd leave a comment whether it's just feedback on the video or if you would like to ask us something we'd be more than happy to respond to you guys now that you've got to see our face you know we can have more of a personal connection here on this channel speaking of support you can support us even further with the patreon linked below in the pinned comment also in the description there's some rewards for you you can check it out including being credited in our videos it will help us to keep creating this high quality content and maybe even more consistently and in the future we're going to try to branch out into different types of content such as playthroughs reviews the possibilities are absolutely endless so please give our patreon a visit and also don't forget to do what he said leave a like comment subscribe we're so close to sixteen thousand hopefully here's to twenty thousand hopefully soon enough no not another five years lesson no no anyways once again thank you very much and we'll see you in the next video [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The brother's code

Views: 1,226,569

Keywords: Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, Sekiro, Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3, Ringed City, Gaming, Story, Explained, Lore, Cinematic, Solaire, Seigmeyer, Chosen Undead, Oscar of Astora, Gwyn, Nito, Witch of Izalith, Furtive, Pygmy, From Software, Ending Explained, Frampt, Kaathe, Lord Vessel, First Flame, Bonfire, Firekeeper, Artorias, Abyss, Dragons, Age of Fire, Age of Ancients, Oolacile, Walkthrough, Lorethrough, Quelaag, Anor Londo, Pilgrimage, VaatiVidya, Elden Ring, Miyazaki, scholar of the first sin

Id: DE4YiRlKajs

Length: 132min 32sec (7952 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021