The Dark Souls Trilogy LORE COMPENDIUM

hey there i'm jake the ash and hollow and i hope you're all doing fantastically i just wanted to quickly preface this video to clarify exactly what it is in 2019 future press printed a limited edition official dark souls trilogy compendium which includes all the maps and item locations from the games all the dialogue all the item descriptions enemies armor sets and so on and so forth but it also includes several chapters in the beginning about the lore within the trilogy and since it's an official release that means the lore is canonical and it does bring up quite a few interesting things throughout and since most people weren't able to get their hands on a copy this video is dedicated to reading those chapters of lore enjoy the story of dark souls begins in a nameless fog shrouded land of grey crags and towering arch trees whose very trunks held the unformed world as its pillars against this colorless backdrop the everlasting dragons presided over an era of unchanging emptiness beyond the reach of mortality but all things must someday come to an end and the primordial stillness eventually gave way to the first flame a source of heat life and light yet to light a candle is to cast a shadow and with fire came disparity opposite heat there was cold opposite life there was death and opposite light of course there was a dark from the dark emerged new entities unlike the ancient dragons small mortal creatures born of the shadows and drawn like moths to the first flame there they found the souls of lords fragments of the flame whose powers lent them the means to challenge the dragons and prevail lord gwyn's bolts of sunlight peeled apart the dragon's stone scales the witch of izalith and her daughters of chaos blanketed the land in searing firestorms grave lord nido the first of the dead released the toxic miasma of death and disease the white dragon seath the scaleless turned upon his brethren and by the time the fog cleared the age of dragons had reached its end thus began the age of fire during which time lordran and the surrounding lands were administered by the bearers of the lord's souls eventually however the first flame began to fade even as the dark grew and the waning power of fire gradually became too weak to keep the dark at bay far beyond lordran in the world of humans an affliction known as the dark signs spread throughout the populace the dark sign brands the undead those affected by the fading of fire carriers of this mark are no longer able to die but will eventually lose their minds and become hollow lest they maintain a firm grasp on their humanity fearful of the encroaching dark lord gwen commanded his children to shepherd the humans in order to preserve the fire and thwart the advent of a dark lord to counteract the spreading dark and extend the age of fire the witch of izalith devised a plan to rekindle the first flame using her own lord's soul as a catalyst however she lost control of its power in a catastrophic failure that produced a chaotic hellish flame which all but eradicated the city of izalith this new flame of chaos was a twisted perversion of nature as was the demon race to which it gave rise lord gwyn waged a brutal campaign to suppress the demons during which the knights under his command suffered such severe exposure to the flames of chaos that their armor was burned indelibly black the lord of sunlight and his knights ultimately persevered and prepared to confront the last greatest threat to their kingdom the dark desperate to stave off the dark lord gwen departed anor londo with the black knights in tow and cast himself into the embers of the first flame relighting it using his own body as kindling in a last-ditch attempt to keep the dark at bay though the knights who had followed him to the kiln of the first flame were burned to ash in the process gwyn's gambit succeeded if only temporarily his age of fire continued even as his successors began to realize that eventually the fire would fade and only dark would remain gwyndolin of the dark sun the last born child of lord gwyn hatched a plot to preserve the power of fire indefinitely by deceiving errant undead who journeyed to lordran into following in his father's footsteps and sacrificing themselves to relight the first flame or linking the fire as it had come to be called gwyndolin set his plans in motion and bided his time awaiting the arrival of unsuspecting pawns from outside of lordran even after the other gods abandoned anor londo weaving an illusion of his sister son princess guinevere in the throne room of anor londo's keep gwyndolin assigned his remaining servants to guide undead travelers to her so that they might be convinced of their supposed destiny to link the fire seath meanwhile had been granted dukedom by gwen and still resided in the city archives but gradually succumbed to madness over the course of his obsessive research on attaining scales of immortality indeed many hapless carriers of the dark side did find their way to lordran as time passed some owing to mere happenstance or curiosity others to a higher duty and still others to abject desperation the player assumes control of one such chosen undead this one owing his or her journey to a prophecy and a set of keys passed along by a dying knight many kingdoms have risen and fallen since the first linking of the fire each built upon the ruins of the last men and gods paupers and kings all are delivered equally to the same end by the indifferent flow of time and by the curse of the undead which spreads as the fire fades drangleic is the most recent nation to fall to the curse and many undead from the outlying lands have undertaken the perilous journey to this crumbling realm in search of a cure or at the very least some small spark of hope to spare them from going hollow drangleic's current plight is merely the capstone of a dark and sordid history its king vendrick was approached during the early days of his reign by a mysterious and beautiful woman named nashandra who integrated herself with the court and warned vendrick of a dire threat to his fledgling kingdom the race of giants hailing from far beyond the great sea nachandra attested that the giants meant to invade drangleic and urge vendrick to mount a preemptive campaign against them convinced by nashandra's plea and smitten by her charms vendrick took her hand in marriage and set off with his armies across the ocean there after subduing the giants vendrick and his men pillaged a powerful artifact and brought several giants back to drangleic as prisoners of war the subsequent peace in drangleic marked a golden age for the kingdom though this newfound success came at a terrible cost on vendrick's orders his brother aldia and a shadowy group of researchers performed a series of unspeakable experiments with the intent of harnessing the captive giant's power through their souls the ill-fated test subjects experienced indescribable torment at the hands of aldia and his subordinates but the experiments ultimately achieved their goal vendrick now commanded the strength of giants and the ability to manipulate souls which he used to create a breed of quasi-living automatons known as golems these creatures became a cornerstone of drangleic and were instrumental to the kingdom's prosperity every decision however carries a consequence and the recompense for vendrick's actions was severe the lord of the giants seeking to avenge the unprovoked attack on his lands and rescued those of his countrymen who had been taken prisoner launched a massive counter-invasion drangleic's golden era came crashing to a halt as the giants crossed the sea and laid siege to the kingdom resulting in a bitter stalemate that lasted for generations and was broken by an unnamed hero only after taking an irreparable toll on drangleic's populace during this time the kingdom was struck by another disaster of a very different sort the undead curse which slowly began spreading among vendrick's subjects as the siege dragged on weary of fighting and desperate to repel the curse vendrick turned once again to his brother aldia for assistance and each set off down a different path of inquiry toward a common goal this time however fundamental differences existed in the two brothers philosophies which would eventually prove irreconcilable it was known that the forces of fire and dark existed in alternating states and that only dark would remain once the flames had faded vendrick hoped simply to expunge the dark with the power of fire while aldi attempted to break the cycle entirely this ideological rift as well as the increasingly twisted nature of aldia's research ultimately drove vendrick to banish and imprison his brother at a loss for a means to prevent the undead curse from spreading vendrick realized that his time was short and he could accomplish nothing more he set out for the undead crypt with his most trusted retainers to seal the keys of his kingdom in hopes that given enough time a worthy successor would pick up where he'd left off and find answers he himself had failed to grasp neither the king nor any of his companions ever returned leaving queen nashandra alone to rule what remained of drangleic meanwhile nashandra who in truth was no mere human but a dark being born in the abyss from the fragmented soul of manus had mastermind vendrick's downfall in an ambitious bid not merely to take control of drangleic but to seize the throne of want the seat of the rightful monarch upon whose shoulders lays the burden of linking the fire and usurp the first flame vendrick for his part had been aware of his queen's true nature and insatiable lust for power but was unable to stop her instead by sealing the throne of want and hiding away its keys he hoped to keep it out of nashandra's reach until the true monarch could take his or her rightful place it is during this time that the player character a bearer of the undead curse arrives in drangleic seeking a cure the cycle of disparity has continued unbroken for many eons alternating ages of fire and dark stretched so far into the past that the tales of their origin amount to little more than ancient legends lords of cinder have risen and fallen in turn each dutifully offering his flesh to link the fire only for it to fade once more into dark the few surviving gods of lordran live in hiding their influence waning and even their names fading into obscurity while the once great city of anor londo lies in crumbling ruins the demons too stand on the brink of extinction with their numbers dwindling in the flame of chaos their source of power and sustenance all but extinguished likewise little remains of the ancient city of izalith where they were born save its half-collapsed underpinnings buried beneath the remains of several more recent civilizations although the art of pyromancy and his practitioners live on in the great swamp its roots have long been forgotten and the chaos witches from who it originated are no more meanwhile the servants of darkstalker koth are more numerous and organized than ever and continuing working to undermine the linking of the fire in londor the land of the hollows three sisters founded the sable church with the goals of uniting those afflicted with the undead curse and grooming the next dark lord every member of the church is a trained swordsman and some specialize in assassination indeed its fundamental precepts offer salvation to hollows while conversely cursing all living things the populace of londor in general comprises a questionable assortment of wretchedly aged deceitful and dubiously secretive undead among whom are a few so desperate to hide their true nature that they fool even themselves and turn upon their own kind owing to their suspect activities and generally unsavorable dispositions the denizens of londor and members of the sable church in particular are shunned by the rest of humankind and forced to live in the shadows kingdoms have successfully risen and fallen on the same plots of land and the nation currently occupying the convergence of these ancient territories is lothric a decaying city-state isolated from even its immediate neighbors by the high wall upon which it sits adjoining lothric on the exterior of the high wall is firelink shrine which houses the ceremonial thrones of five previous lords of cinder the first flame is also enshrined here and the region is said to lie at the convergence of many separate territories the importance of this sacred site in the linking of the fire draws throngs of pilgrims from outlying lands despite the arduous journey and the decline of lothric however attitudes toward linking the fire have begun to change and the futility of the endless cycle between ages of fire and dark has dawned upon those who might otherwise offer themselves upon the altar of the gods candidates for sacrifice to the first flame have been precious few which has led to the activation of a security measure established to ensure that the fire would endure when the link of fires threatened the bell's toll unearthing the old lords of cinder from their graves these lords were meant to offer their residual embers to light the first flame anew but as the prophecy states the fire fades and the lords go without thrones the newly arisen lords in fact abandoned their thrones of their own volition rejecting their destiny and returning to their own abodes the abdication of the lords of cinder from their duty in turn triggered the final failsafe a last desperate measure to ensure that someone anyone would link the fire the awakening of the unkindled these nameless cursed undead are unfit even to be cinder and are instead tasked with returning the extant lords to their thrones by force if necessary in order to gather the embers required to link the flame and so it is that the cemetery of ash suddenly becomes a much livelier place and the player character one of many unkindled with a common mission rises from an unmarked grave the abyss is a realm of dark born from manus the prime evil man also known as father of the abyss this plane of existence shares nebulous borders with the mortal world and slowly encroaches thereupon swallowing all in its path the abyss is inhospitable to mortals and entities aligned with fire including the gods these beings cannot traverse the abyss without special equipment or other protection to prevent both physical and spiritual corruption however creatures aligned with or merely indifferent to the dark are able to traverse the abyss without suffering any ill effects in the distant past suratorius of gwyn's four knights traveled to oolacile with his comrades hawkeye golf lords blade kieran and the great grey wolf sif in an attempt to halt the spread of the abyss but succumbed to the dark and perished before he could complete his mission artorias mantle was taken up by the chosen undead who after being dragged back in time to oolacile by manus entered the abyss through the cities of ruins and vanquished both the corrupted artorias and manus himself in doing so lordran was spared from destruction though oolacile was not subsequent legends credited artorias with this accomplishment and the truth of his demise was concealed so that his legacy might remain untarnished manus soul was fragmented and dispersed along with the abyss following which his shattered essence reformed into four separate entities that came to inhabit drangleic and the surrounding territories the sisters nashandra nadalia alana and elsana meanwhile sundered sections of the abyss continued to exist and even attracted a ragtag group of pioneers known as the pilgrims of dark led by the mysterious dark diver grand all who sought to explore these sacred sites through dimensional gates according to grundall humans needed the abyss in order to understand their true origins as creatures born from the dark and to face the dark that every human harbors within in lothric the abyss continued to pose a threat to all living things and claimed even the mighty high lord wolnir of karthus as its victim the abyss watchers of farron's undead legion were established to prevent the realm of dark from spreading and to that end were known to bury any kingdom that showed even the slightest signs of its influence the first abyss watcher was said to have been a master of wolf's blood whose legacy was later taken up by the undead legion the farron followers a subordinate arm of the legion accompanied them into battle as a security measure to put down any watcher who succumbed to the abyss these alternating phases of nature date to the genesis of the first flame and the eradication of the ancient dragons whose race had originally ruled the unformed realm in prehistoric times the first flame is a natural force that first manifested at the end of the age of ancients and introduced disparity to the world the term disparity in this context refers to the opposing states of existence such as heat versus cold life versus death and light versus dark thus ages of fire and dark are characterized by opposing forces and can be compared to the changing of seasons from summer to winter albeit on a far broader and more consequential scale an age of fire is a period of time ushered in by a lord of cinder during which the power of light is strongest and the divine beings aligned with light are prosperous while an age of dark is heralded by a dark lord as the light fades and is a time during which the world is dominated by humankind most notably the undead curse is a manifestation of dark and so does not occur at the peak of an age of fire when the power of dark is at its weakest for this reason those with a vested interest in sacrificing undead to sustain the fire such as the gods of lordran and their allies often manipulate their unwitting pawns with the half-truth that linking the fire will break the curse while deliberately omitting the fact that the cycle of fire and dark will continue regardless and the curse will merely return again when the next flame begins to fade with the exception of the first which occurred directly after the age of ancients and originally set the cycle in motion every age of fire is followed by an age of dark once the flames have faded every age of dark in turn will come to an end when the scattered embers from past lords of cinder coalesce to rekindle the flame and the process will continue in perpetuity the transition between ages of fire and dark is inevitable and every attempt to break or transcend the cycle prior to the era of lothric has ultimately failed bonfires are small shrines resembling campfires and are commonly found at bustling hubs along lonely roads and in all manner of other locations where an errant undead might require a moment's respite unlike ordinary campfires which consume dry wood to generate mere warmth and illumination bonfires are fed by humanity both from the bones of deceased humans and willingly offered as kindling and serve as focal points for the power of fire burning humanity in a bonfire allows undead to counteract the effects of the dark sign reversing the process of hollowing and preserving their conscious minds as well as healing their physical wounds energy from a bonfire can also be collected in the form of a radiant orange liquid known as estus and stored for later use within portable vessels called estus flasks while most bonfires are attended only on an occasional basis by passing undead some are constantly maintained by fire keepers unique individuals whose souls overflow with limitless humanity which serves as fuel for the flames they tend these special bonfires are linked to one another though their fire keepers are unable to leave them and will therefore never meet face to face covenants are organizations religious or ideological sects and other such establishments to which the player can pledge allegiance while some covenants are tied directly into the main narrative of the games in which they appear others represent independent side stories or merely serve utilitarian purposes one of the most proliferate and best known covenants is alternately referred to as the warriors of sunlight and heirs of the sun members of this group worshiped lord gwyn's firstborn a disgraced god of war and former heir to gwyn's lightning solaire of astora and oft-referenced figure throughout the dark souls series is himself a warrior of sunlight and famously emphasizes this confidence goal of facilitating jolly cooperation in stark contrast the gravelord's servants operate from the shadows spreading death and disaster in the name of nito the first of the dead and one of the original four lords the dark wraiths meanwhile are vassals of dark stalker coth a primordial serpent who seeks to restore the dark lord and bring about an age of dark these malevolent beings reside in the abyss and plunder humanity making them a threat to the living likewise the fingers of rosaria are a mysterious order of supplicants dedicated to rosaria goddess of rebirth for whom they collect pale tongues from innocent victims as offerings the brotherhood of blood a sadistic cult of cutthroats and murderers led by the enigmatic pitchy grin indiscriminately hunts new victims in the name of their blood god nara alma naturally such antagonistic covenants tend to run afoul of those whose interests lie in protecting the weak or punishing the guilty opposing the likes of the dark wraiths the brotherhood and rosario's fingers are the darkmoon blades followers of dark sun gwyndolin whose primary duty is to mete out the gods retribution to sinners and the blue sentinels which can be likened to a police force that directly intervenes to defend undead who are persuaded by invaders though in the era of lothric the darkmoon blades provide an identical service as well this extra measure of security can be accessed by joining a separate covenant known as the way of blue whose members are protected by the blue sentinels and or the darkmoon blades in accordance with ancient pacts the way of white is another possibly even more influential covenant which encompasses an entire religion as well as the ruling castes and clergy in the nation of floriland however not all the covenants that claim to work toward the greater good are necessarily as pure as they might appear the blue sentinels in particular are an influential force in the city of vulgin where their power is so great that the armorer mauflin laments being unable to even open a shop there without the sentinel's approval the mound makers of lothric meanwhile are indifferent to justice and malice alike their only goal is to expand their family and to this end they roam the battlefield stacking corpses without regard for their victims identities or transgressions a select few covenants harbor no grand ambitions nor lofty ideals but instead seek simply to defend their own territories or secrets from interlopers the forest hunters a clan led by the mysterious feline alvina reside in the dark root wood and bear ill only against interlopers upon their domain in particular they seek to protect the grave of artorius the abyss walker from wayward desecrators and plunderers by much the same token the rat king of drangleic oversees a covenant of his most loyal subjects whose charge is to guard their subterranean territories against intruders so too do the watchdogs affair and strife tirelessly to drive away those who might trespass upon fear and keep and disturb the deceased warriors slumber the undead curse is a condition that spreads throughout human populations as the fire those affected become unable to die and will rise again after death but will eventually lose their minds and become empty wandering husks known as hollows multiple factors are known to contribute to the process of hollowing the mere passage of time death losing one's souls and simply losing the will to live or otherwise fulfilling one's purpose in life and having no further anchor the dark sign is a physical mark that appears on the bodies of humans afflicted with the undead curse as hollows are attracted to souls and will instinctively attack living creatures the undead who still retain their conscious minds but are fated to eventually become hollows are almost universally treated as a threat to their societies they are hunted captured and imprisoned in facilities isolated from the rest of the world or at best sent away on the pretense of righteous missions for country and faith while a small number of dead view their circumstances as a boon they are commonly regarded as sharing a fate worse than death hence the dark sign has come to be known as the harbinger of a curse and the linking of fire likewise viewed as the means of breaking the curse in reality however linking the fire merely postpones the inevitable rather than preventing it the undead curse is a manifestation of dark and when the flames have faded only dark will remain while lord gwen and his pantheon are perhaps the best known and most influential deities of the dark souls trilogy many other gods and goddesses are described within the canon as well some of these figures are referenced frequently and play major roles in crucial events while others are only mentioned in passing or have faded so far into obscurity that even their names are forgotten of these one of the most proliferate is velka the rogue goddess of sin among other tasks it is velka's responsibility to define what constitutes sin and to ensure that no sin goes unpunished some adherents of velka are ordained as partners these individuals are charged with hearing the confessions of sinners and offering absolution as well as distributing writs of indictment which are used to report transgressors to the darkmoon blades for retribution another important deity is all father lloyd a patron saint whose image is depicted on the highest denominations of currency in the human realms known as an uncle to lord gwyn lloyd is particularly revered in the nation of floriland where his apostles include the head bishop of the way of white although knights of the clergy hunt the undead in all father lloyd's name those among their ranks who become affiliated by the curse are instead sent away on undead missions while his name is widely known at the time of the chosen undead's journey to lordran all father lloyd is denounced by the clergy of kareem as a derivative fraud and is no longer commonly worshipped by the way of white in the era of lothric one of the most significant items pertaining to the gods of dark souls is the name engraved ring which is associated with no fewer than ten of these deities ranging from caitha the goddess of tears worshiped in kareem and alternately depicted as either a compassionate mourner of the undeserving dead or demonic bringer of misfortune to nima and hanleth respectively goddesses of bliss and love who are never mentioned anywhere else in the trilogy not all of these mysterious figures are actually divine in origin evlana goddess of the hunt was a human huntress deified by later legends of her deeds in life indeed enigmas exist even among the descendants of lord gwyn himself gwyn's eldest son a god of war and heir to the sunlight who respected weapons but not else was stripped of his deific status and expunged from the annals as a consequence of his foolishness though he still watches over his warriors none even remember his name it is possible that he is the nameless king likewise few mentions are made of princess philianor who was laying sleeping within the ringed city since the first age of fire and maybe lord gwyn's youngest daughter and there exists barely a single passing reference to flame god flan who is only known to have taken son princess guinevere's hand in marriage and departed with her from anor londo in certain cases more than one god occupies the same role in different lands for example while lord gwyn's firstborn was known in lordran as a god of war the fallen nation of farosa worshipped a different war god known as faram ferosa's lion knights clad heavy and armor blessed by faram were known for their deceptively nimble two-handed fighting style in other instances the distinction between two gods is a blurry one at best zinder god of desire and zendro god of greed are both represented by the image of a serpent for nearly identical symbolic reasons and it is possible that both are merely alternate interpretations of the same deity the ancient dragons at times also referred to as the everlasting dragons are among the oldest forms of life in the dark souls trilogy they predate the first flame and the original four lords to a time of gray crags and arch trees known as the age of ancients the land over which the dragons presided was unformed and shrouded by fog an environment devoid of disparity and untouched by light or dark the dragon stone scales provides them with limitless longevity but not outright invincibility they can still be killed and their species was hunted to the very brink of extinction by the four lords and their servants after the advent of the first flame dragons take on a variety of forms and possess a diverse array of individual abilities traits and dispositions seath the scaleless a blind albino dragon who betrayed his own race and sided with lord gwyn uniquely bears no scales of immortality and is aligned with the element of magic rather than with fire as most other dragons are though he has no spoken dialogue at all sith is also explicitly sapient and highly intelligent as evidenced by his complex relationships with the denizens of anor londo and his vast archives of personal research in contrast the black dragon calamite is resistant to lightning normally the bane of the dragons and possesses a third eye which has the power to bring calamity upon those fixed with its gaze so fearsome was calamite that even mighty anor londo dared not provoke his ire dragons are extremely resilient and have been used in two notable cases as physical vessels within which catastrophic forces were sealed sin the slumbering dragon bore his body as a massive concentration of lethal poison and was kept asleep within the sunken city of shulva to ensure that the substance would never be released and dark eater madeir an ancient dragon taken in and raised by the gods of lordran was tasked with consuming the very dark itself in order to counteract its propagation dragons are even capable of interbreeding with other races though the resulting offspring are often regarded as abominations crossbreed priscilla was the result of one such union and captain yorshka the younger sister of dark son gwyndolin who shares similar physical characteristics with priscilla including a nearly identical tale maybe another the original race of ancient dragons is highly adaptable and has diverged over the eons into many descendants subspecies and offshoot mutations like the gaping dragon the drakes though widely regarded merely as imitators of the dragons are more likely to be their distant relatives meanwhile despite the dragons supposedly being extinct a few of their species such as dark eater madeir black dragon calamite and the stone dragon of ash lake still survive humans have also attempted to mimic the dragons some merely in pursuit of immortality and others out of a desire for power or even to change the course of fate acolytes who walk the path of dragon seek to assume the form of longevity of a dragon themselves in contrast the scholars of drangleic conducted experiments to harness the dragon's power indirectly resulting in the creation of shanalot and possibly also the ancient dragon other humans have attempted to appropriate the power of dragons through simpler more primitive means the drake blood knights led by sir yorg believed they could attain a higher existence by acquiring dragon's blood which they regarded as sacred ironically their single-minded quest for the blood of dragons led not only to their own demise but to that of the entire city of shulva one thousand years before the chosen undead's arrival in lordran the witch of izalith attempted to recreate the first flame from a soul the attempt ended in a catastrophic failure that created the bed of chaos a distorted being whose power formed a bed of life which gave rise to a race of abominations known as demons the newly kindled flame of chaos its power twisted and raging out of control consumed the witch her daughters and the entire city of izalith along with them most of the daughters of chaos were transfigured into grotesque chaos demons in the process quelana believes herself to be the only survivor though the presence of another individual in the ruins of izalith wearing the witch's signature gold hemmed robes and wielding the chaos fire whip pyromancy suggests that her eldest sister may have also escaped unscathed the chaos demons daughters of the witch of izalith and former wielders of flame sorcery were hunted by lord gwyn and his knights two of these creatures quailag and the fair lady fled the ruins of izalith and were able to avoid being slain together with the exiled pyromancer ingi they oversee the chaos servant covenant and its cohort of diseased supplicants other demons have wandered away from izalith into the outside world and some have even found their way as far as anor londo or the northern undead asylum the city of elaine loyce was built by the ivory king to contain the flames of chaos and protect the land's inhabitants from demons despite his best efforts and the power of his own soul however the chaos would not be sated so the king led his knights of loice on an ill-fated foray directly into the chaos's heart in a last-ditch attempt to seal it once and for all in so doing they lost all sense of self and became driven solely by instinct to expunge any who might disturb the flame even former compatriots the king and most of his retinues still burn in agony to this day the few woeful souls who managed to return to the city were guided by some faint vestige of their former selves alsana a dark entity born from manus became the king's oracle and now maintains the frigid seal upon the flames of chaos in his stead in the era of lothric the flames of chaos have faded and the demons are a dying race the remains of izalith and its secrets lie buried and forgotten with only a handful of surviving relics left as clues to their existence the witch of izalith and her daughter survive only in parables which hold that they espoused the fear of flame and taught humans how to control it via the art of pyromancy most of the accessible areas throughout the dark souls trilogy are remote isolated and far removed from major human populations many important characters hail from the unseen but oft-referenced lands beyond some of which are also the locations of notable events or institutions among the most prominent of these regions is the aristocratic nation of astora home of the sunlight warrior solaire the fire keeper anastasia the aaron henri and the blacksmith andre residing in lordran members of a store's noble cast are typically defined by blue eyes fair hair and generally handsome features astora was once attacked and almost destroyed by an evil eye but the malevolent creature was defeated by the sword of the one most noble and its spirit captured within a ring in the era of lothric a store has fallen into ruin though at least a few of his inhabitants still survive at the time of the chosen undead's pilgrimage to lordran the diocese of thorlin is the seed of the way of white an organized religion led by an ecclesiastical order of clergy and ordained knights whose head bishop is an apostle of all father lloyd although warriors of the way of white are charged with hunting down the undead in lloyd's name it is customary for ranked clergymen who themselves become afflicted by the curse to be sent away on undead missions reya the youngest daughter of the house of thorland embarks on such a journey to the catacombs of lordran with her bodyguards vince nico and petrus in search of the secrets of kindling in the era of lothric neither thorlin nor its inhabitants are ever mentioned the way of white is still practiced in kareem at this time though its tenants have changed significantly kareem itself is a land fraught with heresy surreptitious dealings and whispers of practices far darker the ominously pale features of those who call this land home are associated with earl arster the infamous aristocrat known to have commissioned several enchanted rings whose creation was surrounded by dreadful rumors arster secretly kept a stockpile of purging stones which provided protection against curses and his weapon of choice was a gruesome spear and wreathed in rotten poisonous meat he is also credited with inventing the shotel which along with a parrying dagger commonly carried by the country's knights is the preferred weapon a fellow kareem native law trek the embraced in the time of lothric kareem is the seed of the way of white which has undergone considerable changes and no longer worships all father lloyd though the tradition of his ceremonial undead hunts lives on knights of kareem are instead issued equipment fashioned in the image of mourn an apostle to the archbishop the upper echelons of the archdiocese freely engage in taboo practices outside of public view such as the use of kaifus chime and the crafting of forbidden magic rings similar to those first commissioned by earl estore vinheim a land of sorcery renowned for its prestigious dragon academy also holds its share of dark secrets enrollment at the academy is highly competitive which drives less fortunate applicants like the sorcerer orbeck to earn their tuition as assassins for hire moreover the institution's culture is so fraught with elitism pretentiousness and petty rivalry that conscientious academics are often driven out entirely one of whinheim's most illustrious sorcerers is big hat logan whose revolutionary achievements earned him legendary renown even beyond the borders of his homeland in particular logan is credited with developing the soul spear and homing soul mass spells and later improving them into their crystal variants using knowledge gained from seath's research likewise vinheim's blacksmiths specialize in the art of forging weapons with innate magical properties using special enchanted embers and their handicrafts typically emphasize augmenting the bearer's magic power or intelligence melphia which lies to the south of drangleic is similar to vinheim that also is a land of sorcery with an equally pretentious magic academy the great swamp by contrast is an untamed region of rugged grasslands and treacherous marshes where the shunned practitioners of pyromancy hone their art branded as hair ticks and driven out of their lands due to the unusual appearances and manipulation of fire the pyromancies live close to nature and adorn themselves with natural articles for protection against the elements though they also wear bronze ornaments to ward off evil spirits and keep the dark at bay not least among this region's colorful and at times eccentric denizens are the earnest laurentius and the wise old cornicks the fallen pyromancer ingi also traces his roots to the great swamp but was banished even by its community of exiles for his malevolent corruption of flame into poison many other states and regions are referenced less frequently or merely in passing katarina the homelands of knight siegmeyer siegward and sieglin is known primarily for its jubilant people and their passion for life and merriment even less is known of the historic land of ancient xena beyond the unique mannerisms of its sole representative the merchant domino and the reverence of its people for great achievements an unnamed eastern land is said to be the origin of a unique style of swordsmanship employing weapons such as the uchi katana and the washing pole as well as the home of the mysterious shiva and his enigmatic bodyguard volgin which lies to the west of drying lake is a city of merchants firmly controlled by the way of blue and is the home of blacksmith linograst his daughter cloane mofflin the armor and the cunning laddersmith gilligan the five-fingered delta is mentioned only once in the series and is described simply as a fertile region populated by farmers souls are the source of all life and as such are a manifestation of disparity they are the product of the first flame and flourish when the fire is linked humanity is the antithesis of souls in that it is aligned with dark and propagates along with the undead curse as the fire fades humanity represents the original natural state of human existence while souls represent the state of existence assumed by humans and all other creatures born from the dark when they are influenced by the power of fire because souls help stave off the loss of sanity and self-awareness caused by the undead curse they hold tremendous value for the afflicted and have become the de facto currency in virtually every undead community the violent behavior of hollows towards the living is caused by the life starved hollow's attraction to souls which they are instinctively driven to consume a soul contains the sum total of its bearer's power the stronger the bearer the more powerful the soul and in the right hands a particularly brilliant soul can be transformed into unique equipment or spells souls that have been separated from their original vessels can also simply be consumed by whoever claims them at which point any portion of the power they contained can be traded as currency or grafted onto the soul of their new owner possessing a sufficiently powerful soul may grant the bearer supernatural abilities or vastly increase strength as was the case for the ancient lords who challenged and ultimately vanquished the dragons using the lord's souls found after the advent of the first flame intact souls have corporeal forms and can freely change hands from one owner to the next without being consumed additionally under at least some circumstances they are even known to give off a unique odor [Music] you

Channel: The Ashen Hollow

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Id: oFLD7lGuBNQ

Length: 47min 42sec (2862 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2021