The COMPLETE Dark Souls Series Story Retrospective

Name: The COMPLETE Dark Souls Series Story Retrospective
Uploaded: 2026-05-30T04:30:32.707Z
Description: Watch "The COMPLETE Dark Souls Series Story Retrospective" with interactive English subtitles on Lingipo.

Transcript

Dark Souls is one of the best series of

all time and has one of the most complex

yet remarkable narratives I've ever had

the pleasure of uncovering it's filled

with so many ideas themes and values

that breathe life into this series and

its various interpretations allow people

to add in their own details ultimately

making their playthroughs a unique

experience so today I want to take some

time to talk about the trilogy I want to

not only retell the game's main stories

but also critique them along the way I'm

going to examine why specific parts of

the game are so well crafted and how its

World design and bosses shape the story

around them so with that out of the way

thank you for watching and I hope you

enjoy Dark Souls 1 is a fantastic game

it's got a wonderful story that would

set in motion numerous events that would

occur throughout the trilogy but just

within the bounds of its own game Dark

Souls 1 has some incredibly deep and

Rich lore filled with some of the

greatest backstories this Series has to

offer and today I want to discuss why so

without further Ado let's get started so

the opening cinematic of Dark Souls 1

starts with the gray world one that is

filled with giant trees and dragons and

while the world stayed like that for a

while one day fire was born as for how

this fire came to be well it's never

explained this is one of the many things

we just have to accept the world of Dark

Souls is fantasy and many things just

can't be explained it's never mentioned

how the first flame was created as it

just happened but because the first

flame was born disparity came with it

life and death heat and cold and light

and dark this description is literal

since the first flame was created the

people of the world felt its warmth and

understood what heat was when they

walked away from the flame they realized

its heat didn't reach them which created

the feeling of cold the discovery of

fire during the Stone Age is to this day

the greatest discovery known to man and

in Dark Souls this is no different given

how unique something like this in the

world of Dark Souls was those who

discovered it were obviously attracted

to its power four notable people would

discover Lord Souls next to these flames

and be given immense power these people

were Neato isth Gwyn and the pygmy from

the intro we can infer that there was a

civilization of people that existed

during the age of ancients isth had

daughters that were with her when she

found her lord soul and Gwyn had his

knights with him implying that people

did exist during the time of the age of

ancients but weren't of much value to

the world given how powerful the Dragons

Were eventually Neato isth and Gwyn

would band together and use their power

to overthrow the dragons Gwyn used his

lightning isth used her flames and Neato

used his death and disease they also

received help from a SE the scales a

Dragon who betrayed his own kind now

that the new Lords were on top of the

food chain the age of ancients was no

more and the age of fire had begun this

period would last thousands of years

until we get to today currently the fire

is fading and it needs to be rekindled

in order to keep it lit but doing this

is not as simple as it sounds you may

have noticed I forgot to talk about the

pygmy well the pygmy had a unique Soul

called The Dark Soul using his soul he

created something called Humanity he

would then share this Humanity with his

people these Dark Soul imbued people

became became known as humans the pygmy

is essentially our ancestor Gwyn feared

this power though and created the dark

sign which inadvertently caused the

undead curse this isn't explained much

in Dark Souls 1 but it is by far the

most important plot in the whole series

and while I just wanted to talk about

this game for the whole video this needs

to be explained or else the rest of the

video going forward will make no sense

the undead curse the dark sign and the

fading of the fire are all linked the

Dark Soul gets more powerful the closer

the fire is to fading thus meaning human

should get more powerful over time but

gwin screwed Humanity twice by

rekindling the flame thus removing our

chance at power but also by branding

humans with the dark sign think of this

as a literal wall of fire that prevents

the Dark Soul within men from getting

too powerful the dark sign only

activates when the flame is fading

because that is when the Dark Soul

within men starts to grow stronger this

dark sign also prevents humans from

dying but it also causes them to go

Undead these fleshy creatures were once

Undead humans but they have crossed the

barrier of no return even though humans

are able to revive after death

eventually this will cause them to lose

their Humanity lose their minds and lose

their purpose causing them to go Hollow

these creatures are Hollows beings who

don't even remember who they are where

they are or what they're even doing Gwyn

likes being on top and he fears the day

that he will lose his power so he'll do

anything he can to prevent that from

happening he did this by branding

Humanity with the dark sign but by also

rekindling the flame which is known as

the first sin see the world is like a

set of operations things are born but

eventually they'll die but but then more

things will be born only to die soon

after that's just the way the world

works but Gwyn broke the laws of the

World by rekindling the first flame it

was meant to be extinguished but due to

Gwyn wanting to hold on to what he held

dear he couldn't Dare See It Go he

sacrificed himself by using himself as

kindling for the first flame since he

had one of the four original Lord Souls

that came from the first flame it was

deemed sufficient enough to be used as

fuel unless the gauge of fire continued

but as we know it is fading once more

the undead curse is back humans are

turning Hollow and the world is in chaos

doesn't this sound like a fantastic

story that's because it is this intro

and even the game display a sense of

desperation within our characters how

far are people willing to go to get what

they want or keep what they have and

while each of their desires is different

it always comes out the same Dark Souls

1 is just the start but the actions of

its characters will continue to Echo

throughout the entire Trilogy and we're

just getting started after the opening

cinematic we get to see the state of the

world as it is today or at least the

state of this we're an undead that is

sitting in their cell awaiting the end

of the world but one day we're given the

key to our cell and are able to leave

this person is Oscar and he speaks of a

prophecy there is an old saying in my

family thou who art Undead art chosen in

thine Exodus from the Undead Asylum

maketh pilgrimage to the land of ancient

Lords when thou ringeth the bell of

Awakening the fate of the undead Thou

shalt know this prophecy also happens to

be the main objective of the game but

it's only the first part the rest we'll

have to discover later the intro of Dark

Souls 1 sets up a new world by

showcasing multiple important events in

the world's history and also gives us

enough information to understand the

basic premise of the game while also

purposely withholding some of that

information to give us a reason to seek

out set information one thing we need to

consider though is our character's

motivations why even bother making the

trip to lordran the land of Lords well

what else is there to do it's the end of

the world and you were just given the

keys to your cell allowing you to

explore the world to Hearts content even

if you're convinced that life is doomed

and the world as we know it will

disappear for good why not make the most

out of it have some fun kill some

Hollows it's a whole lot better than

rotting in a cell with our objective

laid out to us thanks to Oscar we can

now set out to lordran and ring the

bells technically the first area you're

meant to go is the undead Berg but one

wrong step and you can make it to New

Londo out of all the souls games Dark

Souls 1 will provide the best blind

playthrough as due to its connected

World players will go in different

directions which in turn will create

different experiences New Londo is

actually a lake Game Area since the

enemies here are quite strong and the

boss at the end of the level is quite

tough but you may stumble upon this area

by accident within 5 minutes of arriving

this is due in part to Dark Souls 1's

level design which may have the best

level design in the whole franchise it's

been coined as a Metroid Vania a genre

that started with the games Metroid and

Castlevania these games have nonlinear

progression as many areas can be

accessed right away but others can't

causing the player to go around the map

looking for the key then running back to

that same location such as this door

that leads to havl which can only be be

found in the dark grou Basin past the

boss the door is found pretty early on

in your playthrough but the key is found

much later plus you'll also have to

remember where that key goes you'll be

doing lots of running in this game the

highlight of one of my play sessions was

going from BL town to Andre because I

forgot to ascend my weapon before a boss

fight meaning I had to take a 3-minute

walk up to him then a 3-minute walk back

down in future titles this would be

remedied by fast travel but Dark Souls 1

doesn't have fast travel initially and

even when you do gain the power of fast

travel via the Lord vessel it's not the

typical fast travel were familiar with

as we're only allowed to travel to

specific bonfires these decisions

further immerse the player into the

world as it's all one connected level

and since they're all connected that

means you can see certain levels from

different places such as Blight Town

which is visible from Firelink Shrine So

Not only was the level design of each

area taken into account but also how the

levels connected to one another and how

this connection would affect other areas

regardless of where you end up though

whether that be New Londo or Undead Berg

the very first enemies you'll come to

see are these Hollow Men like the ones

back in the Asylum all the undead we see

here are humans who have lost their

Humanity causing them to go Hollow and

now since we are human we should go

Hollow too however it's a bit more meta

than that hollowing is a bit hard to

Define as everyone can go Hollow for

different reasons but the two main ideas

seem to stem from constant death or a

loss of purpose given that our character

is set on ringing the bells he never

goes Hollow despite being Undead as he

still has a purpose should the player

quit and uninstall the game they would

lose their purpose so permanently

quitting the game is sort of like

hollowing in a sense I don't think

everything needs to be explained with

lore so this is more than likely just a

gameplay mechanic but that's how I've

interpreted hollowing on our way to the

bells of Awakening we'll come across

various different locations but sadly

there isn't a whole lot of backstory

involved in their creation locations

like Undead Berg are just Undead

settlements and the valley of Drakes is

just a valley filled with Drakes the

only exceptions though are Ash Lake and

blight toown blight toown is next to a

location called the deps and at the end

of The Depths is the gaping dragon and

while an interesting boss what's more

important is the arena we can see water

coming from the depths and going into

the sewer system which leads to Blight

Town according to various keys in the

game we can piece together that those

who previously lived in the undead Berg

but were banished from the settlement

were sent to Blight Town as punishment

this is reinforced by the giant door

that separates the sewer system from the

outside world but this water from the

sewer is poisonous well in Blight Town

there's a spell called Poison mist and

according to its description it seems

that eni this egg bearing individual may

have caused this as he was the creator

of the poison Miss spell it's not fully

confirmed that he did this but it's

clear that ble Town isn't in the

greatest State and it's due to the

circumstances surrounding blle town that

the town's folks seem to have built

above the water in hopes of getting away

from it this is a common theme in these

games of things being built on top of

one another as we see Blight Town above

the swamp The Depths above Blight Town

and the undead Berg above all that the

idea of pushing things down and leaving

them to Fester is also a common theme

within this game but not everything is

in such a sad State as at the lowest

point of lordran we see Ash Lake a

seemingly infinite land filled with

archery trees that are surrounded by an

equally infinite body of water for the

purposes of Ash Lake this seems to be

where the dragons used to live or at

least one part of it as it's eerily

similar to the environment in the intro

which we do know was the land of the

Everlasting dragons we can even find one

of the few remaining dragons down here

in Ash Lake he's a part of the dragon

covenant in game and from various

descriptions it seems like many people

worshiped the dragons and tried to

ascend to their level it's unclear

though if that worked once the player

feels confident in their fighting

abilities they can approach the bosses

defending the bells of wake ing these

being the Bell Gargoyles and Chaos witch

quag after ringing both Bells we'll see

that s's Fortress a place that was

originally blocked with a large gate is

now open but if we travel back to

Firelink Shrine we'll find a primordial

serpent named frampt he claims to be a

close friend of gwyn's and also claims

to know our fate very well then I am

pleased to share chosen

Undead your fate is to succeed the great

Lord Gwyn so that you May link the fire

Cast Away the Dark and undo the curse of

the undead to this end you must visit an

Orondo and acquire the Lord vessel just

like before this second part of the

prophecy also happens to be our newest

objective but frampt is quite a complex

character if certain conditions are met

within the game we can also be granted

an audience with coth he however tells

us a different story your ancestor

claims the Dark Soul and waited for fire

subside and soon the Flames did fade and

only dark remained thus began the age of

men the age of dark so it wasn't just

the fact that the fire was fading that

caused Gwyn to rekindle it the flame

actually went out furthermore despite

being the same species both framp and

coth have different views on the world

framp wants to keep the age of fire

going but coth wants to usher in an age

of Darkness the question is who do we

trust well that's up to you as these are

the two endings of the game extinguish

the flame or rekindle it the choice is

yours what is important to note though

is their motivations why are they doing

this why are they against each other

well we still don't know and it's been a

widely debated topic that hasn't been

given a proper answer yet regardless I

don't think you should trust any of them

framp claims that the undead curse will

be cured if we link the flame but this

isn't correct as we'll see in Dark Souls

2 and 3 The Curse is still present framp

and cth are like politicians they say

what needs to be said but never

elaborate by technicality the undead

curse will be cured when we link the

flame as we know the dark sign only

appears when fire Fades and if it's not

fading then the curse of the dark sign

is gone which means the curse goes with

it but it will eventually come back

Things Are Meant to run their course so

over time the fire will fade again and

the curse will come back just not in our

character's lifetime frampt whether

intentional or not is leading the player

to believe that the Cur curse will

disappear permanently when indeed it

only just disappears for a few thousand

years but cth is also lying as he isn't

fully explaining what this age of

Darkness entails and as we'll see kth

isn't exactly the nicest person in the

souls Universe I've always seen these

two as Immortal beings ones that are

ageless and due to this when the time

comes they like to move the pieces a bit

and see what happens cth and framp are

basically playing a long game of chess

but without the stakes regardless of who

wins they both continue to live one just

managed to convince the chosen and

Undead more so why not cause a bit of

chaos a lie or two here wouldn't hurt

anybody as it's just extra pieces on the

board to them to this day we still don't

know what they really want from us and

whether their goals they conveyed to us

were actually genuine my interpretation

of these could be wildly incorrect but

that's the beauty of these games they

allow you to shape your own story and

create your own adventure and in my

story I don't trust these two regardless

of who you believe the one thing they

agree on is that we need the Lord vessel

thus we need to get to an Orlando to get

there we'll need to pass through

Fortress a place filled with deadly

traps and is easily the most infuriating

area in the whole game The Fortress is

also used as a sort of trial as this

leads us to an Orlando but many people

have tried and failed to get there this

is of course due to the numerous traps

throughout the Fortress and the Iron

Golem at the top although he was

surprisingly the easiest part of the

Fortress once the Golem is defeated we

are then grabbed by these demons and

taken to an Orlando

it's hard to forget your first time in

an Orlando nothing up until this point

has been more extravagant and beautiful

looking than this place and that's what

makes it so memorable in a world devoid

of beauty and color there's this

incredible place that just exists but

it's on the other side of the wall but

something is off it feels empty like we

showed up Lake to a party and in a more

metaphorical and literal sense we have

this place is gorgeous but if you'll

excuse the Pun It's also quite Hollow

lots of your time and an Orlando is

spent walking but if you manage to make

it past these Giants and exploit the AI

of these silver Knights then you'll make

it to the climactic fight of orstein and

SM on ands is undoubtedly my favorite

fight in Dark Souls 1 the balance of

these two is unmatched as orstein is a

quick nimble fighter that can go halfway

across the arena just to hit you but his

damage is nowhere near as staggering as

the force that is SM whereas orstein

instills fear from his speed sm's fear

comes from his power orstein at the

beginning of the fight is more or less a

pushover he does deal decent damage but

it's not enough to Warrant a healing

item but no amount of damage resistance

especially this early on could protect

you from smos hammer and one hit from

this Hammer can make orstein seem a lot

more threatening their power grows from

the other's presence as the more orstein

chips at your health the closer you are

to being within one shot range of SM and

if SM hits you once well there's nothing

that can compare to that level of stress

they feed off each other in such a

balanced way in fact they actually feed

on each other as whoever Falls first

becomes the power source for the other

their health also goes back to full so

it's never about dwindling them down

over time it's committing to one and

sticking with it the problem is is

knowing when to strike and how given how

well they complement each other it might

seem like there's never an opening and

that's what makes them such a difficult

fight all that's required though from

the player is patience it's arguably one

of the best fights in the game and even

the series as a whole and I can finally

see why while on and may seem like the

climactic Finish to the level hold your

load as behind them is the real climax

the princess of sunlight Gwen feel free

to interpret climax however you want she

is the one who gives us the Lord vessel

we need to progress through the game but

as I said earlier it feels like we

arrived late to a party well I wasn't

lying once the post-nut clarity settles

in if we attack GW ofir the world of an

Orlando shows its true colors and

reveals that it's just as depressing as

everything else in lordran and the one

responsible for this illusion is dark

swindin gwindel is an interesting case

to me as he was the last born child of

Gwyn who was a male but was raised as a

female this was due to his strong

Affinity with moon magic I'm not sure

what the connection is but maybe it's

some sort of cultural thing where the

Moon is seen as a sort of feminine and

symbol which would actually explain a

lot regarding a future game and two of

its characters gwindel also created the

illusion of an Orlando to seemingly

entice The Chosen Undead to continue

their Duty remember gwindel only appears

when we kill Gwen's illusion meaning

that this is actually gwindel speaking

to us through his sister he also shares

the same viewpoints as framp which is

interesting as he's basically telling us

to kill his father and continue the age

of fire gwiin seems to want to hold on

to the power his family has and keep

things running smoothly which is why he

wants the age of fire to continue so

that his family and their powers can

stay and the reason why he created the

illusion of and Orlando was also to

desperately hold on to the Past H I

guess it runs in the family then as for

how Gwen ofir fits into this well she

was gwyn's second born child who like

many other deities left in Orlando she

would then meet with a flame God FL and

later become his wife besides these two

Gwyn had two other children but we'll

have to wait for Dark Souls 3i to

discuss more about them so in Orlando

the city of gods this place that was

supposed to be seen as a Beacon of Hope

to all within lordran is just an

illusion but an Orlando isn't the only

illusion of lordran by making our way to

the painting inside the city upon

touching it we're thrown into the

painted world of Aramis Aramis as a

concept is fascinating as it's this

world within a world and these people

inside the painting could possibly never

know of the world outside of it from

exploring this Hidden World we learn

that Aramis was made for things the gods

feared aramus is home to the followers

of Vela and Vela is known as the goddess

of sin furthermore this is the only

location in the game where you can find

the dark Ember which according to its

item description is used to make occult

Weaponry weapons that were favorable

amongst those who plan to kill the gods

and their kin Vela was more than likely

someone who wanted to hunt the gods but

was killed or thrown into the painting

it's clear that this place has a

malicious history behind it but it's not

all bad as the person who watches over

Aramis is crossbreed Priscilla Priscilla

is a half-human half dragon crossbreed

due to this unique birth she also gains

some unique abilities mainly the ability

of Life hunt which she uses on her

Scythe these powers of hers could th

threaten the God's rule so they also

threw her into the painted world but

what's rather interesting is Priscilla

herself she's the only boss in the game

that doesn't want to fight us she even

tells us how to leave Aramis meaning not

only does she have no intent of enacting

Revenge but she knows how to leave yet

refuses Priscilla may have felt how

these new arrivals feel but instead of

using Vengeance she uses acceptance and

instead welcomes these people into her

painted world it's actually quite

wholesome and is the reason why I

couldn't kill her every boss in this

game is hellbent on killing me so when I

finally discover Ed one that didn't want

to and in fact help me I couldn't refuse

so I left with the hope that Priscilla

would be able to make this place a

proper home for her people this whole

area is swarming with Hollows and other

creatures that want nothing more than to

kill us but they were either tricked

into here or thrown in because the gods

will it and yeah some of them probably

do belong in here but if Priscilla is

set on making this place a home for

those who have found themselves here

then who am I to intervene after

acquiring the Lord vessel when we meet

with cth or frm they'll tell us that to

gain access to Gwyn we must gather the

remaining Lord souls and use them to

satiate the Lord vessel these Lord Souls

belong to four individuals SE the scalas

The Witch of isth Neato and the Four

Kings three of whom you will have

already recognized from here we can

tackle the game in any order we want so

let's start with the Four Kings the Four

Kings are well Four Kings who ruled over

New Londo they were given fragments of

Gwyn Soul which is why we need to kill

them you may recognize their boss

location as this is the same dark abyss

that we met cth in well long ago the

Four Kings were tricked by cth and were

consumed by the abyss this caused the

Kings to go mad and this also caused the

citizens to either become these Blobs of

mass or the dark wraith soldiers this

area really utilizes the envirment to

tell its tale as this place is overrun

by the ghosts of the villagers and when

we actually unlock the door to lower

nandoo we see piles of corpses scattered

throughout the land cth single-handedly

destroyed an entire city simply by

tricking its inhabitants and unleashing

the abyss upon them while the mass

extinction of a city sounds bad there is

still more destruction to be seen one

thing you may have noticed is a severe

lack of human bosses quag would probably

count as the first one you'd meet

although she's sort of half human but

there's a reason for this as this has to

do with the witch of isth while Gwyn was

frantically running around trying to

figure out what to do with the flame The

Witch of isth had a plan she was going

to create a new flame that would replace

the first flame but she attempted to

create a replica in the presence of the

very thing that was created which

brought with it massive consequences The

Witch of isth wanted to create a new

first flame but there was already a

first flame present in the world there

can't be two first Flames due to this

the the flame that she created couldn't

be contained for long causing it to

erupt and this not only consumed her and

her children but also created new life

as it gave birth to Demons the Asylum

Taurus and cpra Demon roughly the first

three bosses in the game were created

from this event in fact anything that

has the word demon in it is most likely

derived from this flame of chaos but not

only was New Life created old life was

altered all of isela's family who were

caught in the explosion were all

transformed into demons themselves chaos

which quag the fair lady and ceaseless

discharge are three of eth's children

just as Gwyn was desperate to continue

the age of fire in an attempt to keep

what he had so too did isth but the

consequences are reflection of her

actions in an attempt to give life to

something bright and warm she ended up

giving life to something cold and dark

she also wanted to extend the age of

fire in order to continue her prosperous

life with her children but by doing so

she ended up making their lives a living

hell not a single person in this family

tree is living a robust life anymore

quag and her sister the fair lady are

half demon and are more than likely

suffering from their condition as told

To Us by the fair lady

qu what is

quog my dear sister the eggs it

hurts they've gone still I am

afraid it may be too late I am so

sorry dear Sister C's discharge was

covered in lavasa surus and birth so his

life was a living hell from the start

the flame of chaos just made it worse

ceaseless discharge just like Priscilla

doesn't actually want to fight us it's

only until we steal this clothing set

that he attacks us this clothing set

rests upon a grave that belonged to his

sister quana who he believes died in the

explosion when in fact she was the only

one who escaped quana will appear in

Blight Town if the player is efficient

enough in pyromancy quana explains that

she was the only one who made it out of

the reaches of the flame of Chaos in

fact she was actually able to harness

the power of the flame of chaos and

create Magic which we know as pyromancy

quana wants us to fulfill her Duty for

her as she does not have the strength to

go on she instructs us that we need to

put down her siblings and her mother so

that they may rest in peace this whole

family Dynamic is horrific as ceaseless

believes that all his sisters are dead

even though quana is alive and quana is

only a few meters from her sister and

yet we can tell her about this clearly

this is turning into a very depressing

story but it only gets worse as we get

closer to the final boss of the area

we'll meet with a pyroman who was

assumed to be another daughter of isth

although it's unclear why she is so far

down in these ruins yet is completely

unharmed it's possible that she like

quana escaped the flame of chaos but

this daughter came back to finish off

the boss right behind her or has

possibly gone insane and is now

defending said boss and by going down

this slide we will meet this monstrosity

who is the Bed of Chaos this is the

witch of isth one of the four most

powerful people in the world has been

demoted to this deformed tree likee

creature there are also these orbs next

to her that we need to destroy in order

to damage her and it's assumed by many

that these are her other two daughters

that were closest to her when the flame

erupted so we have two daughters stuck

to their mother two daughters who were

half afflicted by the flame a son who is

arguably the most affected and two

daughters who managed to survive one who

doesn't have the strength to carry on

anymore and another who sits outside her

mother's Arena this is by far the most

depressing story I've ever had The

Misfortune of uncovering the further we

push into lost isth the more of the

family we get to meet allowing us to see

the consequence es of her actions we can

see the pain that all of them are in as

some of them are just wishing for their

siblings back and others just want to

stay alive it's an awful story that all

leads to the final fight with isth

herself and it is by far the most

anticlimactic ending I've ever

experienced it is agreed upon by many

that the Bed of Chaos is the worst fight

in Dark Souls 1 the boss is insanely

difficult but it's not the difficulty

itself that's the issue it's why the

boss is difficult I would argue that

just within the main game the two

hardest bosses are the Four Kings in

orstein and smoke ow ands are difficult

bosses because there's two of them you

have to have both on screen at all times

or you'll lose this fight this is

balanced by having orstein be fast but

not as lethal and SM being slow and

hard-hitting it's a wonderful dichotomy

that makes for a satisfying fight and

the Four Kings is a DPS check as every

30 to 45 seconds a second king will

spawn and this will keep going until

four on your screen at once to succeed

you need to kill the current King before

this happens both boss fights are hard

but have weaknesses you can exploit the

Bed of Chaos has none to defeat the boss

you need to destroy both orbs on her

sides then go down the middle inside of

her so you can find the source of her

power she's actually extremely weak as

both the orbs and her die in one hit

it's getting there that's the issue her

hand attack is oddly timed and due to

her design it's unclear where her hit

box ends after defeating one of the orbs

the floor will start to crumble so not

only do you need to avoid her attacks

but you'll also need to avoid the floor

there's also a strict path you're meant

to follow for this fight which will lead

you right next to a broken piece in the

flooring so you'll more than than likely

get hit and fallen and die the walk back

to this boss is also just as atrocious

as you'll more than likely spend more

time walking to the boss than actually

fighting her thankfully there is no

reset involved in this boss as every

single run you've done is carried over

to the next as it essentially has

unlimited checkpoints it's like from

software knew it was bad but still kept

it in even if I actually enjoyed the

fight the payoff narratively isn't worth

the time we ventured further and further

into the depths of lost isth coming

across all of her children who were

these hideous beasts that did incredible

damage and she's just a puzzle The Witch

of isth has one of the best Back stories

in the game as the tale of her children

is heartbreaking and being able to see

their conditions face to face does take

a lot out of you but it's completely

soured by a boss fight that is

mechanically and narratively a letdown

our third Lord Soul belongs to grave

Lord Neato and he's interesting to say

the least Neato might have the most

detailed boss design but the most basic

story out of all the four Lords if you

were to just assume that Neato simply

became the Grim Reaper and just

administered death you wouldn't be far

off off which is a shame for someone of

his importance grave Lord Neato lives in

the Tomb of giants which is accessed via

the catacombs both these arish Sher

similar theme of death as this is where

the dead are buried so we know that he

administers death but what else does he

do well not much else he does have a

covenant that you can join but their

goal is just to spread more death across

the world it seems like he doesn't care

about what's going on in the world as

the only reason he attacks you is

because we're obviously here with

malicious intent Neo doesn't have any

lore regarding his life during the age

of fire and it's just about about him

administering death from this we can

infer that Neato either doesn't care

about the age of fire or maybe even just

wants the age of Darkness to occur the

only other bit of lore surrounding him

is a boss named pin wheel who was a

necromancer presumably made up of three

people as referenced by the number of

masks on the body who stolen item from

him known as the right of kindling there

are quite a few theories regarding pin

wheel like the fact that pin wheel was

originally a father but his wife and

child died so he attempted to resurrect

them but it failed and some have stated

further that he's still trying to figure

out how to revive them as we can see

skeleton throughout the room which could

be seen as his test subjects but other

than that we've pretty much discussed

all of Neato there isn't anything else

to speak about which is a real shame his

backstory has a massive amount of

potential but it just felt unfinished

there are no major themes tied to Neato

he's just kind of exists our final Lord

Soul belongs to se the scalas SE as we

remember Allied himself with our four

Lords and attacked the dragons the

reason he did this was because SE unlike

the other dragons was not Immortal all

the other dragons had impenetrable

scales that could not be broken with any

type of weapon SE was not born with

these scales so in a sense he was not

Immortal it was only until Gwyn was

given their weakness from SE which we

know is lightning that Gwyn was able to

pierce the dragon scales and actually

kill them SE was envious of his Brethren

as they had what he didn't so as thanks

for working with Gwyn he was named the

Duke and given the duk's archives as

well as some of Gwynn's lord soul for

power during the war SE found the

primordial Crystal an item that gave him

temporary immortality but during this

time in the Duke's archives he

eventually went mad with his experiments

and his research he is considered the

grandfather of sorcery as well as the

creator of these creatures and the

Moonlight Butterfly our first

interaction with SE is that he ends up

killing us and throwing us in a prison

cell we can see that theme of

desperation as SE is trying everything

he can to get what he wants but in the

process it made him mad he's not as

mindful of his actions as he used to be

and is sort of a shadow of his former

self one thing I find interesting in

this prison is the abundance of Miracle

related items and the clothing that are

scattered throughout the prison it's

possible that clerics were deemed

suitable subjects for SE experiments

maybe this is due to their magical power

or because they were so easy to defeat

to kill SE though we need to head to the

Crystal Caves which I was originally

going to say was probably the worst

level in this game due to half the map

being invisible but the walk to the boss

is surprisingly straightforward

venturing off that path though is where

the problem lies to defeat SE we need to

break his primordial Crystal so that we

can sever his immortality giving us a

chance to kill him the story of these

Lords caused a bit of an imbalance

throughout my playthrough you can go

through lost isth and the demon ruins

which is filled with Rich lore tons of

backstory and compelling bosses that fit

with the lore surrounding the witch of

isth but then you go to the Four Kings

and just find out that they were Lords

of new Lando who got tricked by coth and

consumed by the abyss it feels jarring

going from one to the other as one feels

thorough while the other feels

incomplete like you miss something or

there was more that should have been

said I don't think every boss needs to

have a multi-page Wikipedia article in

order for it to be considered a good

story I think that the boss's story said

would needed to be said in regards to

the overarching plot but I can't lie to

you and tell you that I didn't leave

these locations wanting more I wanted to

know more about the 4 Kings and how they

roast to power and I wanted to know more

about Neato and SE in general but I

never got that and I guess in a way this

could be viewed as a positive as I

didn't walk out of these places not

wanting to learn them at all but rather

wanted to learn more the game invested

me so much into its story thanks to its

characters and environmental

storytelling that I wanted the game to

provide me with more information on it I

wanted to be encapsulated by this story

more than I already was as with many

Souls games not all answers are

explicitly told to us but there was

still a lot of burning questions I had

that never got mentioned with the Lord

souls in the vessel we are now able to

fight gwin but we still have one final

location we need to visit which is the

land of ulil accessed by the artorius of

the Abyss DLC the one and only DLC that

Dark Souls 1 would have we start this

DLC by defeating this Gold Golem that

has a woman named dusk captured inside

dusk was the princess of a place called

ulil according to her it's a place from

an age that existed long ago hilariously

ly enough she doesn't actually say

anything after this you would think that

the DLC would sort of spin a story that

her home is in danger and we need to

save her but she doesn't actually tell

us that she just sells us sorceries the

DLC doesn't officially start though

until we return back to her location

with an item called the broken pendant

which causes us to get sucked in into

this portal and taken to UIL as dusk

said ulil is a place from long ago and

while you may be confused on how this

fits within the geography of lordran

this place is a lot closer than you

think in fact we already ran through it

to get to the DL see the dark R Garden

is ulil this is evident by the tree

enemies who have a similar design to

these tree likee enemies and the same

plans that are only found in the dark R

Garden are also found here as well ulil

was a city hundreds of years before the

dark R Garden came to be so something

happened that made this place turn into

the garden that we know of well to

understand the story of ulil we need to

talk to Elizabeth but princess dusk is

here no longer snatched away by that

horrifying primeval human and so I must

ask ask couldst thou once more play the

Savior an abyss was begat of the ancient

beast and threatens to swallow the whole

of ulil Knight artorius came to stop

this but such a hero has nearly 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 this

Prime evil human is Manis of the Abyss

the final boss of the DLC and the thing

that sucked us into ulil in the first

place so our job is to hunt manace down

my main gripe with the DLC is

justification as technically with the

Lord vessel we can just leave so why do

we need to worry about this it's not an

immersion breaking problem but it is a

shame while traveling to the land of

ulil you will come across this Coliseum

like structure which is where we get to

meet our next boss artorius of the Abyss

artorius was one of the Four Knights of

Gwyn the other three are Hawkeye goth

who is sitting at the top of the tower

right next to the Coliseum kin who

appears in the Coliseum after we defeat

artorius and the final KN is orstein

each of them were skilled in their own

ways as Hawkeye used his powerful grabow

to shoot down dragons in fact he can

actually help us shoot down calam who is

the last of the ancient dragons Ornstein

also used his spear that was able to cut

through the scales of dragons with ease

and we can also see The Spoils of his

War due to the amount of dragon heads

exist in an Orlando artorius is also

able to wield his great sword with

Incredible finesse and cabon used her

two daggers to cut down anyone who

opposed Gwynn's rule but all of them

minus orstein are way past their Prime

which is a growing theme amongst the

entire series goth was imprisoned in

this Tower with nothing left to do but

to make carvings he also couldn't use

his great bow anymore as all the dragons

have been wiped out so he has no purpose

kierin may have had a deep love for

artorius as when we visit her she is

next to a grave she made for him and

asks if we can give her his soul if we

do she gives us her weapon weens and

continues to sit by the grave implying

that she no longer wants to be a knight

anymore and artorius came to uio and

attempt to stop the abyss from spreading

but ended up losing and being corrupted

himself his left arm is also dangling

which might suggest that it's broken

this is because he used his shield to

protect his wolf companion CF the same C

from the main game although he is much

smaller in this DLC C also has a

different intro if you do the DLC first

because ulio is in the past so he'll

remember you in the present and it makes

killing him that much harder in regards

to CF it's possible that he doesn't want

us getting the Covenant of the Abyss

ring as that allows us to travel through

the abyss to kill the Four Kings and

given his owner's condition CIF probably

doesn't want us to end up like artorius

the artorius boss fight was actually

really entertaining he was the first

boss that felt like the antithesis of

this game's combat most of the game's

Pace has been very slow and methodical

but he has these fast attacks and very

few openers I do wish though that there

was at least an ounce of buildup to this

fight as you can literally start the DLC

and be at the boss room in about 10

minutes I think having the player

traversed some of the areas that are

covered in these Abyss creatures that

grow in number as we get closer to

artorius would have been great as it's

slowly leading us towards this person

responsible for all this death while

narratively it felt a bit too fast for

me the fight mechanically was great

after artorius we can explore the rest

of uio and we can see how much this land

has been affected by the abyss as all

the inhabitants have been infected by

this dark energy turning them into these

disgusting creatures eventually we'll

reach the bottom and this feeling of

fear starts to set in as the world

becomes darker and darker the further we

go down here in the chasm of the Abyss

is where the darkness reaches its peak

and it's where these dark Sprites of

humanity live these are very similar in

design to the actual Humanity we consume

in game this seems to be Humanity in a

more physical form one that is more

exposed and not constricted by the dark

sign at the foot of the chasm is our

final boss Manis the father of the Abyss

manace has an interesting story

apparently the people of ulil were

tricked by a serpent who was probably

coth into digging mance's grave up in

doing so it caused Manus to go wild and

unleash his wrath upon them according to

his soul Manus was once a human became

father of the Abyss when his humanity

went wild and now he eternally seeks his

broken pendant the same pendant we had

to find to start the DLC it's unclear

why he liked this pendant so much but it

was possibly nostalgic to him or was

given to him by someone he loved and

because this pendant was so important to

him he did everything he could to get it

back which inevitably drove him to

Insanity it seems that he got so

desperate to find the pendant that he

pulled in random people into this world

as the NPC marvelous Chester is clearly

not from this world and he even says so

himself he also kind of looks like the

hunters from bloodborne which is a nice

reference to the game the main question

many within the community have though is

who was Manis before he became his

current deformed State well we really

don't know many have said it's the fer

of pygmy and I like that idea but I

think it's less interesting than that

many of the spells in this DLC say that

they were created by an uilian sorcerer

on the brink of Madness I can't help but

think that this is perfect for mance's

description one thing that is

interesting is that in the middle of the

arena is a grave with a Humanity shaped

hole so maybe manace was one of these

Humanity Sprites when he died or that

this is what he turned into when he died

regardless it's a very interesting

detail I also couldn't get any footage

of this as she disappears when you leave

the boss room but dusk apparently

appears out of manace when we kill him

meaning that he kidnapped her this may

confuse some people as dusk has been

sort of all over the place in this game

and due to her going from the past to

the present it sort of screws with the

time of it it seems like she was sent

into our time somehow and was captured

by this Golem she then disappears and

goes back into her time which then leads

to the abyss incident with the people of

ulil artor is then called to defeat the

abyss but fails and then we get summoned

into this world via mance's hand then

save Dusk and go back to the present

it's still a little confusing and the

world of Dark Souls is also very

confusing when it comes to time as

always during this fading of the fire

time is very convoluted cuz we can

summon people as Phantoms and the time

sort of stops it's very confusing but

that's how I think it went down but with

Mana dead we have officially finished

the DLC however this won't be the last

time we'll hear of Manis but that's for

Dark Souls 2 artorius of the Abyss was a

great DLC while it does lack in

motivation in regards to the player the

actual story of the DLC was great it

provides us with a nice timeline of

events as well as more insight into the

abyss and its effects on the world and

while not known at the time it would

eventually set up the plot to Dark Souls

2 it is without a doubt a worthy

extension to the game story but now we

can finally go to the Kil of the first

flame and determine the fate of lordran

the Kiln is coded in Ash and we can see

the spirits of those who followed Gwyn

into the Kil walk around aimlessly as we

approach the first flame we have one

person in our way and that is the Lord

of sunlight himself earlier I said Gwyn

sacrificed himself to rekindle the flame

and he did but because of his Lord

Soul's power he was able to keep his

body but his mind was gone Gwyn has gone

Hollow and while I'm more than capable

of killing him myself I couldn't dare

start the fight without the guy who's

been by my side since the very beginning

Solara vastor is easily the most

well-known NPC in the entire Souls

franchise and his story is a perfect

representation of the mood this game is

trying to convey throughout the whole

game we've been meeting with NPCs of all

kinds some with goals and others without

but none of them have managed to touch

my heart in a way that cair and sigm did

both of them had a goal in mind one

wants to find his sunlight and the other

wants to explore the world but both are

stuck sigm always seems to be getting

himself caught in some situation whether

that be a locked gate he can't enter or

a poison swap he can cross and salair

can find his sunlight they both

willingly became Undead in order to

achieve their goals and it tore me apart

to hear that sigm couldn't see it

through sigm Prides himself on being a

knight of Katarina and that he can

handle all of his troubles on his own

but with my help showed him that he

wasn't a worthy Knight after all and

that he always needed someone to rescue

him more often than not in these games

your assistance will lead to their death

so it's either converse with them and

enjoy their company knowing that they

will die because of you or distance

yourself from them knowing that while it

hurts it's better that they get to Live

Another Day NPCs of these games will

usually end up achieving a terrible fate

but this sadness makes the few times a

happy outcome occurs all the better

Solair wasn't able to find Sunlight of

his own he became depressed and wondered

if this journey was really worth taking

conveying the tone of the entire game is

our journey and our struggle really

worth it in the end which is why I owed

it to him to make it right it may not be

the actual Sun but the first flame could

be considered the Sun so for one final

time I summoned cair and we took down

lord Gwyn

gwinn's theme has such a fitting tune

all these bosses have these intense

sounds with loud music but gwyns is such

a simple piano it's not intense it's

almost sad in a way that the most

powerful man in the world has been

reduced to nothing and what was supposed

to be a glorious fight between two

Warriors really isn't it makes it all

the more worse when you realize that

Gwyn can be parried and once you nail

this timing down this fight is a

cakewalk for the showing how far from

Grace he has truly fallen with Gwyn

defeated we can now choose our ending

but we aren't the only one who is able

to choose since we managed to bring

Solair all the way to the end of the

game he was able to also fight gwin in

his own world thanks to the convoluted

timelines of Dark Souls and it is

canonized that he succeeded and linked

the flame in his own world he became the

sunlight he was searching for and that

might be one of the greatest endings in

the entire franchise but while salair

linked the flame that doesn't mean we

have to if we choose the age of fire the

world continues we rekindled the flame

flame and use ourselves as kindling to

continue this age of fire if we instead

choose to leave we let the flame

extinguish itself We join the primordial

serpents including cth and probably

framp and Usher in an age of dark one

whereare humanity is at the top and we

ourselves are the ruler at least that's

what we think will happen like many

plots in the soul Series this is once

again left up to interpretation we only

get to see the very beginning of our

choice so anything after is just pure

speculation who knows what will happen

after and who knows if our choice was

really the correct one that's always

been up to the player to decide but I've

always felt that these endings are about

Comfort do we stay comfortable knowing

that in the age of fire we aren't on top

and might be mistreated due to our lack

of strength or do we take the risk and

see what the age of dark is about one

thing to note though is the

circumstances regarding these endings

Fram says that the undead curse will be

cured if we go with the age of fire and

not even C says anything about this when

we talk with him about it so does that

mean that we'll stay Undead or at least

still have the risk of going Hollow in

the age of dark furthermore the age of

fire was a time ruled by the gods and

they did what they could to keep it that

way but we killed them everyone in Anar

Londo that is a God is either dead or

gone gwindel is the only one that

canonically lives thanks to Dark Souls 3

so even though an age of fire can be

seen as the age of gods that might not

be true anymore as we took care of most

of them so there is positives and

negatives both ways and that's really

been the point there's never going to be

a clear answer it's just whatever you

think is right as for me I think an age

of dark is the proper way to go as we

said in the intro the world of Dark

Souls is like a set of operations things

come and things go and the age of dark

should have followed after the age of

fire but du to when breaking the rules

of the world world that didn't happen so

I think in an attempt to set things back

on track before further destruction an

age of dark is the way to go regardless

of what happens in this age of dark at

the very least things will transition

back to the way it was supposed to be

however that might not be the actual

ending given the future titles some have

debated on proper endings and given the

status of Dark Souls 3 linking the flame

I think is the real ending and is

definitely the most agreed upon as just

about every person in this game will'll

speak about linking the flame we only

hear about the guge of dark from coth

who we have to jump through several

Hoops to just even meet I can almost

guarantee someone has gone throughout

the entire game and didn't even know

that an age of dark was the real option

because of how hidden it is and while

it's not my preferred ending continuing

the age of fire would set in motion

numerous events for us to discover Dark

Souls 1 was a fantastic experience from

start to finish and while the road was a

little bumpy sometimes along the way it

story wrapped up wonderfully it's a game

that I recommend you play at least once

in your lifetime as you will never get

to experience something like this ever

again but we're just getting started

Dark Souls 2 is a brilliant game it

takes into account the age of fire and

the age of dark and asks the question

why are there only two options and then

continues this idea by shutting out both

ages by making something else the main

plot of the story something that I will

explain throughout this video so without

further Ado let's get started so before

we start talking about the story we need

to address the game as a whole Dark

Souls 2 requires a different mindset in

order to grasp what the game is trying

to tell you as we saw in Dark Souls 1

the game relied heavily on the cycles of

the world to be the main plot it's all

about the age of fire and the age of

dark and what these Cycles mean how they

impact the world and what age we'll

choose when we get to the end this means

it also relies heavily on the world

itself Dark Souls one was about our four

Lords how they Rose to power and what

they did with that power and what the

state of the world is because of sad

power as such we play a very

insignificant person in regards to the

overall world but Dark Souls I isn't

like that it's not about the age of fire

and the fate of the world it's about one

Kingdom and how this one Kingdom handled

its own cycle Lord dam was important as

it was the first Kingdom in the age of

fire but Drang Lake isn't important at

all it's just one of the hundreds of

kingdoms built on the same land and

that's what makes Dark Souls 2 so

special it's the insignificance of this

game that makes it so compelling because

it isn't tied down by the world's

Pantheon it uses what Dark Souls 1

created as a way to write its own story

this game isn't about the Cycles it's

about one small part of the Cycles the

undead curse and the quicker you realize

that Dark Souls I is reshaping the

proverbial mold that is Dark Souls 1 the

better this game gets but to explain why

we need to start playing our opening

cinematic shows our character collapsing

in a rainy Forest the narrator talks

about the undead curse and how it will

infect your mind how it has the ability

to remove all that you hold dear and all

that you remember with every minute the

curse gets worse and worse until you go

Hollow is that is the Fate for all

Undead but this narrator speaks of a

kingdom called Drang Lake and how we'll

walk towards its gate without ever

knowing why we know why we're here in

Drang Lake as our characters trying to

find a cure for the undead curse so they

no longer feel its effects but they're

unsure of why Drang Lake specifically

just as the Mind gravitates towards the

smell of food when hungry the mind of

the undead is drawn to souls and Drang

Lake has plenty of them to to get to Dr

Lake we must cross a lake and enter a

portal the scene tries to portray this

event as some marvelous spectacle but

that couldn't be farther from the truth

once we cross this gate we're never

coming back we'll either be trapped here

until we cure the curse or go Hollow the

gate is even surrounded by bright bugs

which are known to comfort the dead

almost like it's luring us to our deaths

so for one final Time We Gather our

thoughts and jump

on the other side of this portal is the

things betwix a place stuck in limbo

that serves as a connection between

Drang Lake and the outside world like I

said we're stuck here for good inside

this limbo was a house of women three of

whom are FireKeepers that are being

cared for by their housekeeper and

they're very honest about our arrival

you're

finished you'll go

Hollow yes you will become one of

them Hollows pray upon men Feast upon

their

souls this is the fate of the

cursed we aren't the first Undead to

walk through their doors and we won't be

the last and all of them have met the

same fate so what makes us any different

Dark Souls 2 tries to set in this

feeling of hopelessness so something

that's very consistent throughout the

trilogy no one truly believes we can

accomplish our goal but that's what

makes the emerald Herald so wonderful

she believes that we can succeed in our

goal and will help us in any way that

she can and by providing us the means to

level up she might be the most helpful

person in the game this is why the level

up ladies of the franchise have always

been seen in such a positive light they

don't discriminate and they don't bother

questioning if what we're doing is

working they have an undying motivation

to help us succeed regardless of if

there's something to gain from it

they're like a bright light in a dark

tunnel as all around them are people who

have given up I am

solden and like you I lost everything

and now I'm here the location they both

reside in is majula a small town on the

outskirts of Dr Lake and its the music

displays a feeling of Peace a place that

is void of death a place that you can

feel comfortable in and in the world of

Dark Souls a place like that is more

than necessary I've always preferred

when the main hubs were seamlessly

integrated into the world something that

would be eventually lost with the series

going forward as it makes the world more

believable and in the case of bajula

without it you'd be missing this

beautiful scenery after taking in the

view we can speak to the emerald Herald

who reveal our objective seek those

whose names are

unutterable the four endowed with

immense

Souls these four beings are known as the

four great ones the Lost Sinner the Old

Iron King the rotten and the Duke's Dear

Freya just like before we have four

beings that need to be slain in order to

continue and just like Dark Souls 1 how

we go about killing them and in what

order we want to go in is entirely up to

us but one thing to point out though is

that the emerald Herald isn't a firek

keeper at least she wasn't originally

her real name is Shanel lot and she was

given this name by the dragons her

purpose was to break the undead curse

but seeing as there is thousands of

Hollows in Drang Lake she clearly failed

her goal now is to just rest at majula

guiding the Undead on their Journey To

Succeed King Vendrick before we go

though I want to talk about the NPCs I

think Dark Souls 2 really dropped the

ball when it came to these characters

many of them are extremely forgettable

and seem to only be placed in the world

so that the player can be given a

tangible item rather than an engaging

story Benard of Joo is a good example as

he seems like a compelling character

that may have a memorable Quest all for

it to crumble almost immediately his

whole quest line revolves around his

family heirloom the giante teal sword

resting on his shoulder which you may

recognize as the moonlight great swword

except this one is a fake it doesn't

have the magical properties of the

original but benhart believes that with

enough strength he can unlock its true

power I would have dropped this Quest

entirely if it wasn't for the fact that

he gives us the sword at the end of it

he provides little to no substance to

the world and this goes for a vast

majority of characters we meet there are

over 40 NPCs in this game and about 90%

of them provide the player with a

service and some of their services are

either outclassed or completely useless

logr is the Mula blacksmith but the

player may find McDuff another

blacksmith except McDuff can do

everything lass can do but with the

added bonus of being able to infuse

weapons and gavon is a lonely Merchant

who only sells five items four of which

are poison he also has three set

locations so in order to purchase his

Services you'll need to go out of your

way to find him and that's if you really

want poison equipment there's just so

much clutter as half these characters

could literally just combine into one

General Goods Merchant thankfully it's

not all bad lucatiel has a wonderful

quest line as she shows us the horrific

reality that is the undead curse she was

a warrior of mea but now she barely

remembers who she is by the time we get

to the end of her quest line she's

practically pleading for us to remember

her name as she may not remember it

herself it's unclear why she came to

Drang Lake in the first place but given

that her brother astil will invade us

only a few feet from her final location

it's possible that she was looking for

him but now both of them have succumbed

to the curses Affliction never truly

knowing what happened to the other

thankfully lucao isn't the only

character of note in this game as the

feud between kraton and pate and the

peaceful conversations with venaro were

fantastic being able to take the role of

a detective and truly uncover which one

is telling the truth and then choosing a

side before one prevails was a great

investigation and the fact that a

talking head can get me to listen to his

life's story as he thinks about his past

life and how much he despises it shows

me that this game has some wonderful

stories that are just waiting to be

uncovered you just have to weed through

the dozens of merchants in order to find

them getting back on track we're still

on the hunt for the four great ones once

again this is similar to Dark Souls 1

but instead of ringing the bells of

Awakening and then finding the Lord

Souls we just have to find the souls

already if you remember from that video

on Dark Souls 1 I said that the bells of

Awakening section was a bit slow is not

much in terms of plot was happening it

wasn't until we rang them that the story

really started to take off well in Dark

Souls 2 it's the same unless you look at

the bigger picture before we get to the

four great ones there are a lot of other

areas we need to go through first for

example to get to the Lost Center we

need to go through majula to Hay's Tower

of flame to No Man's dwarf through the

Lost Bast steel and then to Center's

rise with the boss is located all these

locations will seem pointless and if you

just only do this boss fight it will

continue to feel like that it isn't

until later in the game when the climax

hits that things start to make sense no

man's Warf is a small Port town and its

final boss is the flexile sentury the

Sentry's job was to take as many Undead

as they could fit on this boat and send

them to the Lost Bas steel which is a

prison for the undead but this isn't the

only location to have lore regarding the

curse the huntsman's cops was a hunting

ground for the old iron King's Men Who

were tasked with killing any Undead on

site but as you would expect they too

also succumb to the curse next to this

area is the undead purgatory where a

chariot Rider continually kills and

punishes the undead it's also possible

that these necromancers were purposely

stationed here this may imply that the

necromancers were used to resurrect the

undead so that they can be repeatedly

killed for entertainment like I said

this game does not focus on the cycles

of the world it's all about the curse

and this is only discovered once we get

further in the game but in the beginning

it may seem a bit overplayed that's why

it's required to have a different

mindset going into this game if you're

thinking about the cycle in this game's

lore will be boring and repetitive but

it's actually brilliant once everything

comes together as these early areas are

showing how different rulers are

reacting to the curse and what their

actions are as a result of it and

speaking of rulers one of them happens

to be one of the four great ones the Old

Iron King resides in the Iron Keep but

to get there we must pass through the

Huntsman cops which we know is the place

the Old Iron King sent his men to hunt

the undead behind this location is

Harvest Valley and earn Peak two areas

that are coded in Poison thanks to one

individual Mitha the banful queen

mytha's story is rather tragic she

wasn't a originally like this monster we

see today she was a beautiful queen but

her drive to win her beloved's heart

back is what drove her to such lengths

myth's story though does have some

complications she is named both Queen

and Princess in that she loved a prince

and sought the king's affection her

story is very confusing cuz we don't

really understand whether she was a

queen and a princess or just one of them

but whoever this person was it's clear

they did not love her un thus she began

using poison as a way to obtain Beauty

but this came with its own set of

problems as the poison started turning

her into a like monster and yet while

she was sulking around her room day in

and day out trying to win the heart of a

man she unknowingly already succeeded in

doing just that the Covetous Demon was a

human Who Loved Mitha and cherished her

no matter what form she took he tried to

Showcase his love for her through

gluttony but this too would change him

and turn him into the monster we see

today but despite his change in

appearance his love for the queen never

wavered behind the poisonous swamp of

Earth and Peak is the Iron Keep home of

the Old Iron King The Old Iron King was

a lord of very little power but he would

then eventually meet a knight called Sir

Alon who trained to soldiers in the art

of battle the Old Iron King would then

eventually build his kingdom but doing

so cost him almost all his assets but

one day he discovered an iron producing

Miracle this allowed him to control iron

to his heart's content which led to the

Iron Keep a giant Fortress made entirely

of iron he started creating Soldiers

made entirely of iron and even a demon

of fire called the Smelter Demon this

idea of creating things of Free Will

with only raw materials is also related

to the undead Chariot which of course

was his creation so he's quite familiar

with this craft eventually for whatever

reason sir alone would leave the Iron

Keep and set out in search of unknown

lands after losing his most trusted

Knight The Iron King sought the Council

of a man named agel he was presumably a

pyromancer due to his goal of trying to

give fire a will of its own the two

worked together to create the

aforementioned Smelter Demon but this

would bring disastrous consequences to

the keep the two never considered that

by giving Something Free Will it has the

chance to turn on its creator and the

Smelter Demon did just that with one

swing it obliterated the Iron King and

sent him into the lava it was born from

this act also caused the lava to take on

a much larger form and crash into the

Iron Keep consuming it in lava as we see

now but while the keep and its soldiers

were scrambling to Higher Ground

something else happened the iron King's

body came in contact with an old soul

the Old King Soul so those in the

present day he's known as the one who

shall not be named but for us we know

him is Gwyn when killed the Old Iron

King will drop the iron King's soul but

it's only on New Game Plus that we

uncover the truth that the Old Iron King

has come to possessed the very soul that

Gwyn possessed all those years ago but

the Old Iron King isn't the only one

each of our four great ones has come in

contact with a soul that belonged to a

notable character from the past game but

not only did it give them strength it

may have also carried with it the

emotions of those it belong to both Gwyn

and the Old Iron King share a theme of

power Gwyn wanted to keep his Godlike

power and as such took multiple steps in

order to achieve that like linking the

first flame branding Humanity with the

dark sign and tossing things he felt

could threaten their rule into the

painted world of Aramis and while his

feelings weren't as Fierce as gwis the

Old Iron King also desired power he

wanted to ensure a protected and

impenetrable Kingdom while also

relishing and the power that comes of

being a king so he used his power to

create a giant Kingdom with skilled

Knights and dozens of monstrous

creatures made from Iron and then

displayed his power by tormenting the

undead for sport and torturing them

endlessly simply because he could but

while the Iron King tortured Undead

against their will there was one person

whose torture was self-imposed located

in the center's rise underneath the Lost

ptio is a prisoner who willingly

imprisoned themselves for the sins of

their past according to Shala quar

maula's resident feline her sin was that

she tried to light the first flame but

the key word is light implying that it

had already gone out so how would this

be considered a sin if anything it would

be the opposite sadly we never truly

know what any of it means one thing we

do know is whose Soul she possesses

before the boss fight starts a bug

crawls into her eye specifically a chaos

bug the same one from Lost isth she is

in possession of the witch of isth Soul

we know that these bugs have mind

controlling capabilities as evidenced by

the bad ending of cair's quest line so

it's possible that the Lost Sinner

intended to let us into her cell until

the chaos bug felt threatened but it's

still doesn't answer the question

regarding herself self imprisonment

maybe she wanted to keep the chaos bug

and turn her from escaping as this craz

version of the law cner could have run

rampant and Slaughter dozens of people

or maybe she's somehow feeling the

emotions of isth who probably felt the

men's guilt for creating the Bed of

Chaos so maybe this feeling of guilt is

being transferred over to the LW CER

without her knowing to this day it's

still a mystery but a very compelling

one at that the witch of Isa had a

desire to create life which is why she

wanted to make a new first flame but she

wasn't the only one who had desires but

that that being's Legacy may have

created even more Devastation than

intended the Duke's Dear Freya is a

spider who is in possession of se's soul

but se's feelings and desires are able

to engulf those who come in contact with

it Freya Soul talks about a writhing

ruin and how this ancient Thing cast a

shadow over the land and that at some

point in its life it came in contact

with a solitary insect but grew its

power feasting on the wealth of Twisted

Souls found within the land if we defeat

Freya we can enter the Lord's private

Chambers which houses the Duke of sadora

himself and a cage that presumably

belonged to Freya the writhing ruin was

created from se's intense feeling of

want he searched endlessly for a way to

be immortal even when he was plagued by

insanity and it's because of how

powerful his desires were that they

seemed to linger on past his death the

writhing ruin would go on to possess

others in an attempt to obtain something

as he possessed a being that turned man

scorpion tar and his wife into half

human creatures it has this insatiable

urge to achieve something what that

something is will depend on the

individual SE wanted immortality and

Freya may have just wanted strength or

power regardless this writhing ruin will

presumably seek something until it

doesn't for eternity and ruin many lives

in the process it's obvious by now that

there seems to be a parallel between our

old cast and our new ones in regards to

their feelings and emotions whether they

received these similar feelings when

they came in contact with the old souls

or the souls were attracted to them

because of their feelings is unknown but

our old friends legacies continue to

bring disaster even after their death

but for one of them that may not be the

case our final great one is the rotten

in Mula there is a giant pit and

assuming you can get down there without

dying you'll arrive at the Grave of

Saints a catacomb that used to be a bar

IAL site before it was overrun by rats I

was admittedly a bit confused running

through here as I thought this was some

ongoing joke I wasn't aware of as

there's a literal rat talking to me

calling me his servant in the most

serious tone possible it's pretty

pointless and it's best if we ignore it

and moved on but sadly we won't be doing

much moving as much as we will be

falling Dark Souls 2 somehow managed to

surpass blle town in quality by making

the gutter a darker version of Bight

town all while being poisoned thanks to

these statues just like Bight town the

lore is quite similar as these are the

citizens of various kingdoms that were

tossed away out of sight from the rest

of the world after the gutter is the

Black Gulch the home of the rotten the

rotten possesses the soul of Neato but

instead of their emotions being similar

it seems to just be their appearance

Neato was an amalgamation of skeletons

and the rotten is an amalgamation of

dead bodies but where Neato was hellbent

on administering death throughout the

world the rotten seems to sort of

Embrace or Comfort it these statues

might possibly be the people who have

died down here in the pits he might be

trying to comfort these Hollows in their

new life and these statues seem to be a

showcasing of his feelings towards his

new Community what is rather odd though

is that these statues in the boss room

don't shoot poison at us so it's

possible that they weren't meant to

shoot poison originally and it's because

of this poisonous rot that is taken over

the pits that they're allowed to do so

through our discussion about the great

ones you obviously notice the

connections between our old and new cast

of characters but you may have also

noticed the lack of lore there is a lot

of information that is either completely

unclear or only given some amount of

weight thanks to the abundance of

theories from the community Dark Souls 2

is both the most understood and most

confusing game within the trilogy it

just depends on what answers you're

looking for however however I feel like

I'm content with this one thing that

bothered me about Dark Souls I as we

discussed before is that I left some of

these boss Arenas with more questions

and answers I wanted to know who the

Four Kings of nandoo were and how they

Rose to power I also wanted to know more

about Neato and his role in the world

after the war with the dragons and while

I definitely have similar questions

regarding some of our great ones I left

majority of these areas feeling complete

like I had learned what needed to be

learned and I uncovered the real story

and that's the benefit of creating

something like Dark Souls 2 we don't

really need to know what these great

ones did and how they shaped the fate of

the world because they didn't despite

how important many of the characters in

this game may seem at the end of the day

they're just another kingdom in a long

line of other kingdoms no one is going

to remember them and no one is going to

care about them that is why I feel

satisfied when leaving the black gulture

centers rise have uncovered enough lore

to get a generous picture of their life

with a few holes just big enough for me

to make some solid theories with all

four great ones slain we can now go to

Drang Lake Castle or can we

this is Alia the brother of king

Vendrick and the scholar of the first

sin Alia story is very unclear at the

moment but we'll eventually learn more

about him later once we enter Drang Lake

Castle we'll see this Phantom by the

name of Weller he's a sort of lore dump

which admittedly might not be the best

way to handle this information but given

the nature of of these games where you

can go a whole playthrough Without

Really knowing anything maybe it's

necessary regardless weer shares with us

some backstory on Drang Lake and

Vendrick King Vendrick conquered four

great ones and built a kingdom upon

their very souls he then met a lady

named nandra who warned Vendrick of

another looming threat these beings were

known as Giants King Vendrick would

eventually cross the Seas and battle

these Giants completely decimating their

civilization as a constellation prize he

took most of them prisoner and ran

experiments on them this is what led to

the creation of the Golems these beings

we see inside the castle and with the

Golems he was able to build Drang Lake

Castle later in the game we'll acquire

this item called the Ashen misted heart

this allows us to peer into the memories

of some specific beings most of these

memories are from dead Giants we come

across in the first level these all

showcase different sections of Drang

Lake being overrun by Giants and one of

them even shows us the location of the

giant Lord we see the destruction that

they left Drang Lake castle and and we

can also see how outmatch the soldiers

really were even though they outnumber

them three or four to one they're

getting decimated at every turn but

somehow they were able to persevere

considering there's no Giants in Dr Lake

but I think the person responsible for

some of this Victory Is Us these

memories operate like Olio from Dark

Souls 1 where we go back in time to

alter the past and then go back to the

present this may tie into a subtle hint

very early in the game the first boss in

Dark Souls I is the last giant whose

boss sold description reads the lord of

the Giants who had brought wreck and

ruin to the entire kingdom was said to

have been felled by an unknown Warrior

his beaten and broken remains were then

dragged beneath the stronghold where he

was sealed away this random giant Soul

references the giant Lord and also

describes the exact condition this giant

is in meaning this giant is the giant

Lord and that must mean the unknown

Warrior was us this might explain why he

thrashes his arms around trying to break

free as he remembers us and wants

revenge this is the complete backstory

of Drang Lake which gives us enough

answers to our questions but

simultaneously gives us new questions we

want answers to such as the whereabouts

of nandra well close to the top of the

castle is the queen herself the last

king of this land King Vendrick as he

was

called he found the strength to rule his

people and when the undead were born

cursed he found more strength to face

them but in the end he never took the

true

Throne visit

Vendrick we have no need for two

rulers so nandra wants us to find King

Vendrick as she says there is no need

for two rulers but she also mentions

that King Vendrick never took the throne

she just casually says this statement as

if this isn't some huge Revelation since

Gwyn people have been rekindling the

flame but Vendrick didn't but it doesn't

mean Vendrick wants to bring about an

age of dark he doesn't want either this

is even more unheard of as no one has

even attempted to invoke a third

solution to the fating of the first

flame but to learn more we need to find

Vendrick he resides in the undead crypt

but blocking our path is to two bosses

the Looking Glass Knight and vad the

Royal Aegis both of these fights were

fantastic both from the actual combat to

the design of the bosses I'm just upset

that it took this long for this feeling

to finally come to fruition I rambled

for quite a bit about the bosses in Dark

Souls 1 like how orstein and SM were

fantastic and how I despise the Bed of

Chaos but I haven't found the right time

to talk about the bosses in Dark Souls 2

as there really isn't much to say most

of them were pretty underwhelming for

the most part and this is down to a few

factors one was simply overleveling

since Dark Souls 2 has 32 bosses in the

main game it's very easy to miss some I

didn't find the Chariot or old dragon

slayer until much later when I Revisited

those area so I was a bit overprepared

for the boss fight Dark Souls 1 had a

really great way of gaing the players

progression while also guiding them down

a path which in turn made every fight

feel like a proper match it wasn't a

one-sided victory for the most part

there were a few exceptions like

windelin and pin wheel but they have

very low Health pools so it's a bit hard

to judge them the other two reasons are

just down to overall enjoyment and the

summons the majority of the boss in this

game not only have summonable NPCs but

multiple at that I had two summons for

the Looking Glass Knight and while the

game does attempt to balance this by

adding more Health we all know the main

strength of the summons is to be an

extra body for the boss to hit which

means less attention on us and more time

to get free hits in I will admit this

trivialized many fights the Smelter

Demon the rotten and probably a few

others were really easy with summons but

that comes to my next issue to complete

some of these NPC quest lines we talked

about earlier they need to be summoned

for bosses as someone who's trying to

get as much lore as possible in one

playthrough I needed to continue

continue the summons quest line so while

I was gaining more progress with the

NPCs it came at the cost of the quality

of the fights this makes me even more

disappointed as many of these quest

lines didn't even go anywhere so they

were just completely useless and wasted

my time some of the boss fights though

just sucked regardless I was pretty

disappointed with Chariot fight even

though it was a cool idea I just wasn't

a big fan of it and this game's

obsession with gang fights is quite

insane the ruined Sentinels and the

belfre Gargoyles were just not

entertaining in the slightest orstein

and SM only worked because of how

different they were in regards to their

move set and how the arena was designed

and the Bell Gargoyles were okay for the

most part since the second one didn't

come until halfway plus they used

different move sets the ruined Sentinels

were the same enemy copied three times

with zero obstacles to separate them

minus the one platform you start on and

the belfrey Gargoyles got way out of

hand with close to three or four at the

same time in the same Arena as the

original fight which is not that large

and very open I did manage to beat them

on my own so I was happy that I won but

only because I knew I'd never have to do

that fight again as for the four great

ones the old King was just awful even

though I had a summon with me his moves

would have been the same regardless and

they were almost too easy to evade the

other three were pretty good but nothing

spectacular they did provide some

intense moments but I did have to summon

lucatiel for two of them so I may have

missed some of that spectacle I will

recognize though that this entire

section is a very subjective take as a

boss's enjoyment largely depends on the

skill of the player and their build but

since this is all about my thoughts on

the game my opinion was that they were

pretty underwhelming for the most part

it felt like instead of focusing on

fewer bosses with unique engagements

they created more but at the cost of

their depth behind the Looking Glass

night is the Shrine of Amana and the

aforementioned Undead CP each of these

places were created specifically for the

dead both the mileno and the phito watch

over these respective places in an

attempt to guide the undead to their

final destination both of these

creatures have interesting backstories

as they were created by the old dead one

who we know as Neato both of them seem

to be a Reincarnation of Neo's Soul as

if he created them we would have seen

them in Dark Souls 1 but maybe they

didn't plan that far ahead when making

the games regardless it is a nice detail

and finally gives us some actual story

regarding Neato so I was more than happy

to listen to it it also continues to

reinforce the old one Soul descriptions

that mention how their souls still hold

power over the land as the power of

Neato and his obsession with all things

death are still utilized to this day as

for what they specifically do it seems

like the mil phito enchant or Comfort

the dead via song as their singing can

be heard throughout the level and the

phito are grave wardens who watch over

the dead both of these groups seem to

revolve around comforting the dead so

maybe Neato was a lot more like the

rotten than I had initially thought at

the very end of the crypt is vestad and

while the boss fight was great what

really piqued my attention was his soul

and the items acquired from that Soul

firstly his soul is a dark purple and

black color this is the same as the DLC

bosses from Dark Souls 1 I originally

thought that this was made to

distinguish the DLC from the main game

but it wasn't Until Dark Souls 2 that I

realized that the soul shape has actual

meaning this is an image of a normal

boss soul in this game next is from one

of the great ones and the other is of

those affected by the darkness both

Manis and the royal AES have the same

Soul meaning they're both affected by

the darkness and that's due in part to

him being down here since Vendrick

locked himself away in the Crypt another

detail that is interesting about vestad

here is that his soul can buy Miracles

specifically the sacred oath Miracle

which is used by Warriors who once sered

the god of Sun so it seems like the

Royal AIS belong to the same Covenant as

cair however we can see that this

miracle has either been warped or is

unable to be casted as he never actually

uses this in the fight and instead Buffs

himself with dark magic further showing

how dark his soul has become after the

Royal Aegis we can Vendrick and if you

expected some grand entrance then you're

playing the wrong

game just like when the most powerful

being in the game's world is reduced to

a hollow and Mindless State vendrick's

condition actually seems to be much

worse as Gwinn at least retain some of

his combat abilities but Vendrick can

barely swing his sword if he choose to

fight him all is not lost though for our

King as if we return with the Ashen Mist

Heart we can peer into his memories and

be able to talk with Vendrick prior to

his hollowing do you intend to link the

fire then you must first take the

throne prove your worth find the ancient

crowns seek adversity and they will be

yours Vendrick tells us to seek the

crowns these crowns belong to three

rulers and also happened to be R3 DLC

these DLCs not only provide us with

additional lore regarding other kingdoms

but also what caus these kingdoms to

collapse when we finish each DLC we can

gain a crown and after obtaining said

Crown we can talk to Vendrick for more

dialogue some of the dialogue is

relevant later but a common theme

throughout his speeches is the idea that

we're given a choice Al throughout Dark

Souls 1 we were told to link the flame

and that if we failed the age of dark

would arise and that would be the end of

the world but King Vendrick is more than

content with you making your own choice

this goes back to what we discussed

before vedric didn't want an age of fire

or an age of dark he just wanted to find

a way to break the curse this also ties

into his brother Alia and some of his

dialogue when we meet him again old man

trust fully the abusion of

life but is this so

wrong a construction of thead and

yet a world full of WS and

scandles noo I you intent for shattering

the Y spoiling this wonderful

for AIA is definitely the most

fascinating character in this game like

Vendrick he is completely aware that he

is unable to change the world in their

current state so he just observes and

sees what happens Alia says that the joy

of life is warm and Splendid but it's a

facade as the undead curse will

eventually come back but because of that

warmth that life brings us are we intent

on shattering this illusion we live in

and spoiling this false life we have or

are we content with our lives and

embrace the warmth and pleasure that

comes with it knowing full well that

it's a lie Alia just like the game wants

you to actually make a choice and not

blindly follow follow what some random

person will tell us use your own

experiences your own knowledge and your

own beliefs to come to an answer the way

this was crafted was absolutely

brilliant and it shows how impressive

the writing of this game truly is but

before we get to the DLC and obtain the

crowns we need to talk about the rest of

the content as to actually get the Ash

and Miss heart item we need to travel to

Alia's keep and the Dragon Shrine both

Alia and Vendrick sought to cure the

curse but had different methods of doing

so Vendrick shunned the undead as he

wanted them as far away from the kingdom

as possible that's why he threw them in

the undead prison of lost best steel in

here are hundreds of Undead including

some volatile variants as these were

created by Alia whereas ventri shun the

undead Alia embraced them as he felt

that the key to Breaking the curse was

within the undead themselves but he

didn't welcome them with open arms as

they were all subjected to his various

experiments but Alia went even further

with these tests and didn't just focus

on the undead but other species he even

recreated multiple dragons a race of

beings thought to be extinct by now

despite what their names imply though

both the guardian dragon and the ancient

dragon aren't actually dragons the

guardian dragon soul can allow us to

purchase the Wing Greatsword which

states that the Drakes are likely

descendants of ancient dragons this

implies that this is actually a Drake

and not a dragon furthermore we know the

dragons especially the original dragons

are gone as calamite was the last of the

ancient dragons this is still true as

the ancient dragon in Dark Souls I isn't

a dragon as it drops a soul of a giant

this thing used to be a giant and was

somehow configured by Alia through

rigorous experiments to look like an

ancient dragon to get the actual ancient

dragon soul we need to use the Ash and

Mist Heart again but this time in

freya's Boss Arena as it allows us to

see the memories of the Dead Dragon

hanging from the ceiling this memory

seems to show the original resting place

of this Dragon before it somehow made it

down here there's not a whole lot to

learn from this place other than the

fact that these large broken structures

look similar to the ones outside Alia

keep and there's only one place in the

world that we know that has giant

structures like this it is my belief

that this is Ash Lake it might not be

the entirety of Ash Lake as we don't

really know how far these trees went but

it seems to be at least some part of it

in regards to time this is most likely

during the war between Gwyn and the

dragons ashake exists did back then but

it wasn't the Ash Lake that we're

familiar with as if you remember it was

all gray before fire was born so the

memory was during the war with the

ancient dragons and the present day

location of Aldi's keep is where some

part of Ash Lake used to be with all the

areas covered we can head to the DLC and

it's advised to finish all the bosses

and content you missed before going

which is why I retraced my steps and

discovered the locations of the dark

lurker and the old dragon slayer I

didn't really find their stories that

interesting but I figured I would cover

them before we continue the old dragon

slayer seems to be someone who was using

orang Ste armor as a way to uphold his

legacy as not only does orstein have

other plans which we'll learn about in

Dark Souls 3 some have claimed that this

is a fragment of orin's old soul that

now possesses the armor which would

connect with the running theme of old

souls from the past games coming to the

present just like with the four great

ones as for the dark ler there's pretty

much nothing we know about this being at

all their soul states that they're a

remnant of some ancient dissipated being

and the color of their soul is not dark

implying that they weren't born or

consumed by the abyss like the Royal

Aegis or Manis they also look very

similar to the these beings in the

undead crypt that spawn when the bells

are rung given the color of the dark

lurker Soul it's possible that this

being was actually here to fight against

the abyss similar to artorius but there

is very little evidence to support this

Theory but now we can officially start

the DLC Dark Souls 2 eventually release

with three additional pieces of content

the crown of the sunken King the crown

of the Old Iron King and the crown of

the ivory King even the disjointed

nature of these DLCs they could be

played in any order as they don't

contradict one another but we'll just go

in the order of release the crown of the

sunken King starts near the shrine

beside the rotten's boss room and

entering the shrine will take us to

shova the sanctum City upon entering we

are greeted by not only a gorgeous view

of the underground city but also a

dragon with a giant spear through its

chest this dragon is sin long ago a race

of people found sin sleeping in these

caves and because they had most likely

never seen a dragon before they

worshiped him as a God these people

ended up building a city around the

dragon with the rulers of the Kingdom

being the sunken King and his Queen

Alana but something happened a leader by

the name of Sir yorg found the

underground city and mounted a Siege

against its inhabitants with the

intention of slaying the dragon they

were guarding sir yorg and his Knights

believed that killing dragons was a way

to obtain a true understanding of life

so they hunted it down after making a

past all their defenses sir yorg was

face to face with sin himself and that

giant spear in his chest was from him

but clearly sin lived this wound and

that's because upon Awakening from his

Slumber he released a giant cloud of

poison that coated the entire city that

may also explain why the Black Gulch is

covered in this poisonous green liquid

since it's right next to the city but

there's no way to confirm before we

fight sin though we have to fight Alana

so somehow despite the poison and the

attack from Sir yorg she managed to live

well this might be due to her true form

according to her boss soul and weapon we

can piece together that when the abyss

dissipated it was broken into fragments

and eventually these fragments came to

create a life meaning that Elana is the

daughter of Manis the reason the abyss

was broken was that the chosen Undead

defeated Manis back in Dark Souls 1 and

since he was called the father of the

Abyss that would make Alana his daughter

clearly she opposes a threat to more

than just shulva so we need to put her

down after her death is when we gain

access to sin as a final fight wasn't

too bad he has a unique mechanic where

the poison from his breath can break the

durability of your weapon which could

possibly kill the entire run if you're

not careful the only issue is that this

seems to do an insane amount of

durability damage as my Bandit axe with

only 50 durability was destroyed in a

few hits I'm not entirely sure if 50 is

on the low end of durability but going

through all the weapons I picked up

across my whole playthrough they were

all between 40 and 70 so if anything I

should be right in the middle this

wouldn't have been that bad though if

sin didn't act like the guardian dragon

and just stayed put for more than a few

seconds

I think you can see from the gameplay

the amount of chances I have to actually

hit this thing are extremely low I think

what makes shova so engrossing is the

location how do you possibly build a

giant civilization underground and for

what reason that's at least what I was

thinking when going into the DLC and

while I got my answer I wasn't entirely

satisfied with it one reason why is down

to dialogue is there was no NPCs in this

DLC to talk or converse with we can't

gain any new information as all the

people that could have been NPCs are now

just walking corpses given that sin

poisoned the whole city I wonder wonder

if adding one NPC at the very beginning

of the level who's the only survivor of

the attack would have been a better idea

as they could have provided the player

with additional information surrounding

the city such as why they worshiped the

dragon or how they managed to build all

these structures because in its current

state it feels a bit unfinished the

crown of the Old Iron King is our second

DLC and is of course based around the

Old Iron King from the main game this

DLC takes place in one of the largest

Towers he erected called the broom Tower

to find the crown we need to Traverse

the entire tower all the way down to the

bottom which was incred L tedious there

were a lot of traps and enemies that can

be very annoying to deal with but given

that the DLC seemed to want to spike up

the difficulty these additions kind of

made sense this tediousness also added

to the realism of the level as it takes

quite a long time to scale this entire

Tower which is logical given its size

and the tower itself is in just empty

space as all the space is being used for

some sort of purpose whether it's these

smaller guys carrying these giant

barrels or the vast amount of Machinery

within the tower that was made to

produce iron it also fits in well with

the theme of the old iron King's

obsession with iron and how he gained a

lot of power from his production of iron

this DLC however adopts the same

storytelling as the sunken King in that

there are no NPCs to talk to throughout

the entirety of its runtime but what

makes the broom Tower different from

shova is that we already have numerous

levels and items filled with lore about

the Iron King shova was a completely new

area with zero reference to the main

story which is why I enjoyed it a bit

less regarding the NPC interaction than

the broom Tower even though the first

boss is technically another Smelter

Demon the real first boss is actually

the fume Knight I have zero issues

regarding this fight I actually thought

it was perfect I've stated this many

times before but I prefer the fast

combat of the future fromsoft games as

opposed to the slower more methodical

nature of the early Souls games it's not

that one is objectively better than the

other it's just a personal preference of

mine and just like with artorius and

Manis the fum Knight is another boss

that is slowly ramping up the speed of

its attacks they aren't incredibly fast

especially by modern Souls game

standards where a 10-hit combo can be

finished within mere seconds but the fum

Knight is definitely a far more faster

paced fight compared to the rest of the

game and this even continues with the

other boss in this DLC which is selon

it's just like the other boss fights of

this game where you have to look at your

health stamina and both your and the

boss's positioning all at the same time

and then calculate what to do given the

parameters except much faster I

understand this is not everyone's cup of

tea but it's most definitely mine and

even better the fum Knight has actual

ties to a previous character from the

main Game King Vendrick had two trusted

Knights who he considered his left and

right arm one was vat and the other was

the fum Knight however the two clashed

which led to the fum Knight's defeat

what's interesting is that if you defeat

the Royal Aegis purchas his helmet and

then wear it during the fight the fum

Knight will start his second phase

almost immediately showing that he still

has a grudge against him as for the fum

Knight himself he wandered the land in

search of power and eventually came

across the broom Tower and met nadalia

the Bride of Ash nadalia would have been

the queen of the Old Iron King but she

arrived at the keep after he died she

fell into a deep despair because of this

and ended up separating her soul across

the broom tower inside these Ash and

Idols which caused the tower to be

covered in this thick black fog this fog

has the power to control those who wish

to serve her and kill those who refused

when the fumet arrived and instead of

destroying the fog like he could have

done he actually just opted to be

consumed by it which is why he sits at

the bottom of broom Tower defending the

remains of nadalia since she has the

ability to create this black fog and her

soul is colored in darkness it is once

again safe to assume that she is another

daughter of Manis if you're noticing a

theme here then you're catching on to

the point of these DLCs each one of them

is centered around a kingdom that a

daughter of Manis inhabited and this

goes for our final DLC but before we

leave the broom Tower there's a secret

room we can discover with Sur alone's

armor and by using the Ashen Mard we can

go back back in time to when he was

stationed at the tower this leads to the

boss fight we discussed earlier but it's

a memory and if we take what we know

about the memories and apply it here we

can discover even more lore about siron

if we assume that the unknown Warrior

that best of the giant Lord is us since

we went back in time then we're also

responsible for killing siron so that

statement I said earlier about siron

leaving to search for new lands was

possibly a lie as it may have been told

by the Old Iron King so that his

soldiers don't uncover his true fate

which makes things a lot more Sinister

than they seemed our third and final DLC

is the crown of the ivory King the ivory

King was the ruler of the Kingdom Elam

Lo upon entering we can see that it is

covered in snow and given that there

isn't any snow in Dr Lake we must be

pretty far from the original Kingdom as

we approach though we are told to leave

this voice tells us that the old chaos

still hungers and that we are forbidden

from entering clearly we're not going to

listen and charge head first through the

front gate eventually we'll meet with

the first boss of the DLC Ava this is

one of seven pets that the ivory King

kept in his kingdom each one seemed to

have a specific spefic role in the

Kingdom as Ava was tasked with guarding

the king's child of dark this child of

dark is alsana and as you would expect

she is our third daughter of Manis but

her story is a lot less destructive when

alsana was born she felt fear this is

because she was a manifestation of mana'

fears all the daughters of the Abyss are

a manifestation of something nadalia

seemed to be man' despair Elana was

possibly a manifestation of mance's

Wrath and alsana was his fears but when

alsana was born the king managed to find

her and welcomed her into his kingdom he

provided the Comfort she desperately

needed and was kind enough to not shun

her away even after he discovered her

true Origins it's because of this

kindness that she stayed in Elam Lo and

continued to fulfill the ivory King's

wish which was to hold back the old

chaos the old chaos is the flame of

chaos the same one created by the witch

of isth it's unknown when this was

discovered by the ivory King but once he

did find this ancient monstrosity him

and his fellow Knights set out to

extinguish it but they were defeated as

none had come back alsana wants us to

defeat the old chaos so that we can

uphold the mission of the ivory King to

do this though we're going to need some

other Knights of alam L as they are

absolutely necessary if you want the

fight to be possible once we're all set

we can jump down into the old chaos

again just like we did with lost eolith

and this boss is absolute perfection few

fights in the souls games actually get

better with summons and the ivory King

is one of them I felt like I actually

had to apply strategy to an encounter

which was the first time the series has

required me to do that I don't mean

strategy in the sense of reading the

boss's moves and making sure how to

punish and when as that's just baked

into the overall combat of the

encounters but I mean the actual

decision-making I had to employ such as

which enemy to attack and when which was

something I did not expect I would be

doing going into this fight I was

running around finding Knights who were

outnumbered and assisting them or if it

was the opposite side of the spectrum I

would add myself into the mix making the

fight easier this is almost necessary

for the fight as well since you're going

to be doing the most amount of damage

compared to all the other Knights so

your decision in this fight will largely

impact how the second phase will go I'm

not entirely sure if the knights can die

in the first phase given they have an

obscene amount of Health but if they can

it just further as to my point having

two giant teams of warriors fighting

against one another is one of the

greatest things I've ever experienced

and is without a doubt the best fight

this game has to offer from the actual

fight to the layout of the Arena which

is engulfed in the fire from the flame

of chaos it was just all perfect and

would have been such a great way to end

this Trilogy of additional content but

never in my life have I seen a DLC do so

well all throughout the entirety of its

runtime only to Fumble at the Finish

Line The Frigid outskirts is an optional

location that the player can discover

towards the end of the DLC and it is

awful it's not only painstakingly

difficult just from the design alone it

might actually be the worst level in any

Souls game ever made the bonfire before

entering the coffin is the only bonfire

in the area meaning you have to go from

one end of the map to the other just to

get to the boss fight which is just two

more of the ivory King's pets their lore

is thankfully super basic and not

important at all as their job was just

to hunt Exiles that were presumably sent

out of the kingdom and Into The Frigid

outskirts this area would not be nearly

as hard if the horses didn't and keep

spawning every few feet not only wasting

your time but draining your Estus in the

process making the boss fight that much

harder it's just an awful location and I

think the more that I talk about it the

closer I get to going insane so we're

just going to cut it right here as a

complete package the DLCs were pretty

solid there were things in each that I

found a little unpleasant like the

method of Storytelling or an entire area

but there was many things I liked about

the DLCs and due to this confliction I

can't say that together they're perfect

but they're nowhere near close to being

bad it's hard to judge though whether

this was an actual Improvement over

artorius of the Abyss considering that

was one DLC with half the content that

played out over half the time this is

also due to the souls games business

model if people complain about anything

regarding the DLCs of the souls games

it's that they're too short rather than

too long whereas many games like to make

additional content with run times of up

to 6 to 20 hours Dark Souls is pretty

much content with two it never overstays

its welcome in fact it sometimes leaves

too early and doing this gives us less

time to learn about the DLCs and the

locations they reside in but as I said

at the top of the section as a complete

package they were pretty great with all

the crowns in our inventory we can

revisit Vendrick who will now provide us

with some very important dialogue The

Abyss once had form but then

dissipated and yet traces of its

existence

endured each fragment thirsting for

power spread dark with no

relent my dear Shandra was one such

fragment so we now know the fourth and

Final daughter of Manis nandra the queen

of drag lake nandra is a manifestation

of mance's feelings of power and want

she came to this land in order to covet

the first flame this explains why

Vendrick was in the undead crypt

Vendrick left the kingdom because he

discovered n shandra's true Origins and

not only locked himself away in the

Crypt which was guarded by one of his

loyal Knights but he also hid his soul

as Vendrick doesn't drop this upon his

death it's hidden behind a secret door

only accessible to those who are human

and nandra never truly was that's why

she's been so adamant that we succeed

Vendrick she figures that will blindly

follow her order so that we can clear

all the obstacles in her path because

once we finally get to the throne of

want and defeat the knights guarding it

she appears similar to the Ivory King I

found this fight leagues better when the

summons were included mostly due to the

narrative aspect since both benhart and

vengarl were helped due to me so it's

only right that they return the favor

her boss design is impeccable and

continues to uphold the standard that

the Final Bosses of the game have but

not even nandra is the actual final boss

Alia is the actual final boss assuming

you fulfilled a few tasks along the way

which is just meeting him a few times in

specific locations and then specifically

killing Vendrick before Nashandra as a

final boss fight though it felt like a

bit of a let down I think nandra had way

more intensity and narrative weight

behind her Aldi has been this ominous

figure that just shows up says a bunch

of and then leaves and now all of a

sudden I'm supposed to care that we're

fighting him I get why he's fighting us

he's supposed to test our might to see

if we're truly going to be the next

Monarch of the Throne of want but that

doesn't make it right the same could be

said for nandra given she makes an

appearance a whole two times in this

game but that seemed to be intentional

as the reveal of nandra was supposed to

be this mysterious event which makes

this next part even more confusing as

the Emerald Herald can literally spoil

for us that Nashandra will be coming for

us I completely miss her on the way down

so I never got to hear this which

ultimately made the impact of this cut

scene hit harder which begs the question

of why it was mentioned in the first

place I find it hard to believe that

many people Miss nandra at the top of

the castle so they're well aware of who

she is so just keep the mystery hidden

until the final moments it kills the

entire impact of the scene if we're just

told right before entering that she's

going to fight us after the defeat of

the three bosses we can select our

ending and while this game does have two

endings what these endings represent is

rather interesting our first ending is

entering the Throne of want this is sort

of like the Kil of the first flame just

a little bit different it allows us to

choose the fate of the world but we

never get to see our choice it is both

the age of fire and the age of dark

ending together it's never known what

our character chooses but that's the

part of the role play when it comes to

RPGs we make up the rest of the story

did our character choose fire did they

choose dark or did they do something

else and that's something else is

following in the footsteps of Vendrick

and Alia we leave the throne and search

for an answer to the undead curse we

don't know if we'll succeed but it's

worth a try anyway doing this is sort of

like operating a dig site yeah Vendrick

and Alia spent decades digging trying to

find a solution and failed but now

thanks to them we know of a decades

worth of methods that won't work

bringing us closer and closer to finding

a cure for the curse and that's the

beauty of the second ending it's not

only in perfect sync with the rest of

the game as it continues to make the

curse the main plot of the story but it

gives us an option that we as players

hadn't really considered up until this

point Dark Souls one did a phenomenal

job of grooming us into believing that

there were only two choices but Dark

Souls I refuted this claim and as a

third as a final note Dark Souls I was a

brilliant game I went into this game

with mild expectations but was blown

away by how impressive the story was and

how surprisingly easy it was to grasp

many questions are still left unanswered

and will never be answered but I left

this game with an understanding of its

story its themes and what emotions it

had intended to invoke in me and that is

incredibly admirable well the world of

Dark Souls isn't over the fire of the

world will fade once more and yet

despite the impending doom of the age of

dark getting closer and closer no one

seems to care but we'll talk about that

in Dark Souls

3 Dark Souls 3 is a perfect game due to

the way a book ends the entire series

but the only reason that I can say that

is because of how much this game is

being held up by its predecessors Dark

Souls II on its own is still a good game

but without all the effort put into the

story from Dark Souls 1 and 2 its

narrative wouldn't be as impactful

that's the beauty of the Dark Souls

Trilogy it's one of the few series out

there that truly feels like a tightly

niit game many games get sequels but not

many truly feel like a proper sequel

just a game set in the same universe a

year or so after the previous game it

might make callbacks to the Past game

but not enough to feel like what

occurred in that game was important the

Dark Souls Trilogy and its repetitive

ideas make the games feel properly

connected the age of fire the undead

curse hollowing and so much more have

been a prominent part of the series

since its Inception which is why judging

these games individually based on their

stories is so difficult as each of these

games relies on each other to actually

make their story have an impact Dark

Souls 2 and 3 could not exist without

Dark Souls 1 and not just because of its

World building and important characters

but because it's the game that showed us

what the age of fire is and why it's

important we then took this information

into Dark Souls 2 which showed us how

the age of fire is not all its cooped up

to be and how as all the years go by

people are starting to embrace the fire

less and less this all comes to an end

at Dark Souls I a game that is purely

focused on the age of dark and why the

first flame needs to go each one of

these games provides a crucial step in

our journey and without even one of them

every other game loses its meaning we

already talked about the previous two

games and what they attempt to show to

the player and all these themes ideas

and plots all converge towards Dark

Souls 3 creating one of the best endings

in a series I've ever seen and today I

will explain why so that wasting any

more time let's get started so

ironically for a game that's going to be

about the age of darkness and how much

death and Decay the current age has

caused it starts off with an incredibly

intense soundtrack it's not even been 10

seconds and this electrified feeling of

exhilaration seeps into your body Dark

Souls is back and it's time to kick some

ass this feeling continues right into

the intro cinematic and Dark Souls 3

weighs zero time getting into the story

this is the first time in the trilogy

with the game outright tells you who the

main bosses are which are the abyss

Watchers aldred saint of the deep and

yor the giant there is also a fourth

that isn't mentioned but we'll discuss

them a bit later just like before it's

four beings who will need to be dealt

with in order to succeed but instead of

them being the four Lord Soul users or

the four great ones it's the four Lords

of Cinder the question is why are they

so important well oddly enough the game

tells you but the pure spectacle of the

intro is so hypnotizing you might not

even realize what was just said

according to the opening narration the

bells only toll when threatened the

reason they're being threatened is

because the fire is fading again but

furthermore it's because someone doesn't

want to link the flame that person being

Prince lothric since the prince doesn't

want to link the flame the bells of

Awakening revived previous Lords of

Cinder from past Kingdom each of these

aformentioned beings I mentioned earlier

were people who linked the flame in

their lifetimes the bells assume that if

they've linked it already then they'll

do it again but they all refused the

abyss Watchers Aldrich and yor don't

want to in a last Stitch effort to make

sure the fire is linked the bells of

Awakening have awoken other beings who

are unkindled people who have failed to

link the fire in the past but are now

given a second chance and we are one

such person known as the Ashen one our

job is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and

take their Ashes to their Thrones is if

they won't come back willingly then

their ashes will serve as a sub

Institute this is the plot of the game

no small objective in between like

finding Vendrick or ringing the bells

right away from the get-go we tasked

with killing these beings and licking

the flame assuming you've played the

previous games already then you've heard

this story twice before and already know

what you're getting into which is why

our first boss isn't even 5 minutes into

the game in Dark Souls 1 it took around

the same time to fight the Asylum Demon

but the game also taught us about our

inventory and weaponry but also showed

us that we can converse with NPCs and

used an Estus flask Dark Souls 2 took a

bit longer with this as the first boss

wasn't for a couple hours and the basic

tutorial can take a bit of time to run

through in Dark Souls 3 we start with

the Estus flask get all our gear and

start our journey immediately there is

no handholding here as the game assumes

you've done this all before and don't

need much of a refresher the reason why

they put udx in here is because he's

supposed to test our strength not just

the Ashen one strength but our since

Dark Souls III underwent some drastic

changes in regards to its combat and for

those who have noticed yes I'm using an

axe again it wasn't until starting this

game that I realized I had used an axe

for all three of them so I figured it'd

be quite comical if I beat the entire

Trilogy with the same weapon before

killing udx though we'll see him become

engulfed in this black form this is

called the pus of man this is a unique

disease that is taking over the kingdom

and it originates from the abyss similar

to how mana's humanity went wild causing

him to become the Ferocious Beast that

we know in game it's possible that this

is happening to other Hollows but on a

much grander scale is this won't be the

last time we see this puss of man in the

game after udx we can take the coiled

sword from his body and use it to create

the bonfire at the new Firelink Shrine I

absolutely love the design of Firelink

Shrine but the moment you walk in and

see all the Thrones lined up around the

bonfire you feel a sense of comfort it's

definitely my favorite across the entire

series but I lo its location Firelink

Shrine feels so disconnected from the

rest of the world even though majula was

on the outskirts of drag Lake Castle it

at least became a Nexus for all the

various paths that the player could

Traverse to the cherry on top here is

that we can't even travel to the first

location were forced to teleport to it

it just further shuts this place away

from the rest of the Kingdom there's no

incentive to explore the other areas of

the level is we've already seen

everything it has I never understood why

the series slowly moved towards this

idea but it seemed to be a massive hit

amongst the team as this would be used

in other games going forward from a pure

gameplay perspective the Firelink Shrine

of Dark Souls II also reverts the

changes in Dark Souls 2 to keep things

more simplistic Andre is back and will

handle anything regarding our weapons

from upgrades to infusions and the

shrine handmade becomes our

all-encompassing Merchant so no more

clutter like in Dark Souls 2 we also

have our new level up lady who is just

the fire keeper she doesn't have any

unique backstory like the emerald Herald

but her condition does spark a few

questions it seems that all the fire

keepers have some sort of condition that

afflicts them Anastasia the lady under

Firelink Shrine will initially be mute

and cannot be spoken to the Dark Moon

ntis in an Orlando has a disfigured

appearance which is why she hides it

from us with her armor and this fir

keeper is blind this has always been

fascinating to me as I've never been

able to fully understand why this is the

case it's possible that this is a sort

of right of passage and the fire keepers

are showing their willingness to The

Flame by giving up something but what

they lose seems to differ across the

games it's possible that this is just a

coincidence but there's also an NPC in

the game will meet called enina who

tries to be a firek keeper and is also

blind FireKeepers being blind only

occurs in Dark Souls I so I've always

wondered why blindness is occurring now

instead of across the series it's

something we never get an answer to but

definitely a fascinating topic to

discuss speaking of the characters in

Firelink Shrine I want to talk about the

NPCs though before we embark on our

journey Third times the charm as they

say since the NPCs of this game are

handled way better than in the previous

two titles my issue with each game is

that Dark Souls 1 kept replaying the

same fate of hollowing across all of its

characters which started losing its

value very quickly and Dark Souls 2

seemed to just make characters for their

rewards rather than their stories but

Dark Souls II seems to fix this issue

the quantity of the NPCs has been

drastically reduced as they're only

around 27 or so in the main game there's

also very little overlap in the

merchants as each School of magic has

one designated NPC with the exception of

pyromancy and while grey rat does have a

pretty useless inventory for the most

part since he's a thief you can actually

send him to find gear which will

increase his options this was so much

better as I didn't have to run around

the base finding the one Merchant who

sells the item I need furthermore the

actual quests of the NPCs were much more

enjoyable this time around there was

five standout characters for Dark Souls

I but one interesting change with this

game though is that the NPCs connect

with the main content both seart and HRI

have a connection with a specific Lord

of Cinder and yuria's quest line ends up

becoming one of the endings of the game

I really liked this idea as so far the

NPCs have been separate from the main

bosses so it was nice to see it all

inter twine with one another it'll be a

lot easier to explain what their quest

lines are alongside the main content so

we'll hold off on this for now which

means the only other two that we have to

talk about that have a more traditional

quest line are enina and Cirrus as we

talked about before enina is blind and

this is because she came from her land

of kareim to become a firekeeper you

might recognize the name Kareem as

Oswald the Trek and The Marvelous

Chester from Dark Souls 1 are all from

Kareem the reason we find Irina here in

this cell is because she's failed and

hasn't become a firek keeper yet due to

this failure she believed that she was

unfit to tend the flames and fell into a

deep depression the Knight guarding her

is Aon of kareim and has a sworn duty to

protect her no matter her state of being

to progress her quest line we need to

buy her spells if we buy her Miracles

then we'll be able to give her the

enlightenment she needed and we'll

eventually become a firekeeper at

Firelink Shrine gameplay wise she's

pretty useless in this state is not only

is there already a fire keeper but she's

also hundreds of feet away from the

player as opposed to the actual fir

keeper who is right next to you if we

however only by her dark Miracles we

further progress the ferocity of the

humanity with inside of her causing her

to be consumed by its dark power this

turns aegon hostile who will fight you

for betraying her she will eventually

start to become worried and asks us to

touch her again so that she can tell who

is nearby but eventually she will not

recognize our touch and ask to be killed

it's a genuinely sad outcome and this

emotion is heightened further because

we're the ones that caused it head we

instead just kept purchasing her regular

Miracles we could have saved her from

her impending fate it's a quest line of

two extremes one where she gets

everything she wants and one where she

loses everything and it all depends on

you as for sir she starts out as some

random person who appears at Firelink

Shrine sir seems to be a dark moon blade

since she uses the Dark Moon blade spell

which can only be acquired by those a

part of the Covenant but yorka the

leader of said Covenant states that

we'll be the only Knight in the group if

we join furthermore C says that she is a

former servant of the Divinity which may

imply that she was a dark moon blade but

left some time later as for why she left

it seems to be related to the two people

we fight against throughout her quest

line who are kraton and hodrick kraton

is the same one from Dark Souls 2

although this does not imply that he was

the Canon winner between him and Pate as

this was probably thousands of of years

ago and I'm assuming that kraton is also

unkindled as he most likely was revived

alongside us sirra says that kraton was

a part of the Rosaria fingers a rival

Covenant and one that she despises and

hodrick seems to be her grandfather the

reason we know this is because she calls

out to him before the fight and when

defeated she says that she's pleased

that her Granddad can rest in peace

hodrick seems to have gone mad at some

point and Sirius wanted to put him out

of his misery she has a short but sweet

quest line and the family connection to

hodrick was quite the shock the question

Still Remains though what is the Sun

Realms because her full name is Cirrus

of the sunless Realms it's nice to

speculate about it but there isn't much

information to go off of and this is a

running Trend throughout the series and

personally something I'm not a fan of

there are so many locations in the game

that we learn about like aora kareim

Katarina mea Alin Ven and so many more

but there's no in-depth lore about them

hell most of them don't even give us a

surface level idea of what they're about

this is not a Dark Souls three issue and

more of a series issue as the devs have

been given three chances to develop some

of these places and from software has

just refused to do so many people

including myself have tried to speculate

on more details regarding these kingdoms

but there's so little to go off of that

it's not even worth it their inclusion

in the game was probably because the

team wanted to add a bit of flavor to

the world to not only show that the main

Kingdom isn't the only Kingdom in the

Dark Souls universe but also that people

from all over are flocking to this

Kingdom in search of something important

it just feels like a wasted opportunity

to barely mention these places after

three whole games as a whole Dark Souls

II has some great quest lines and I

would go as far to say that it's the

most polished out of the entire series

Dark Souls 3 recognized what was wrong

with the previous two entries and made

sure not to repeat those same mistakes

again with the NPC's done we can now

resume our objective which as a reminder

is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and use

their ashes as kindling so that we may

travel to the Kil of the first flame and

relink the fire to do this though we

actually need five Lords of Cinder The

Abyss Watchers yorm Prince lothric

Aldridge and ludleth the reason I said

four earlier is because lli is actually

the only one who complies with the rules

as he's already at Firelink Shrine When

we arrive lless Throne says that he was

EX ex from his homeland the reason why

he was exiled was because of his art of

transposition for gameplay purposes this

allows us to take the boss souls and

make weapons out of them just like the

past games what's odd though is that

when he dies he drops the skull ring

which talks about a being called The

Soul feeder and how it was this

insatiable Beast that hungered for Souls

due to the ambiguity of his past it's

led to many theories such as lth being a

soul feeder himself but was at one point

defeated which is why he has no legs and

possibly can fit on his throne it is

also entirely possible that lth is just

someone who wants to do the right thing

and has no ill intentions but the skull

ring definitely leaves a lot up to the

imagination to get to the other four

Lords we'll need to use the bonfire at

Firelink Shrine which will take us to

the high wall of lothric and it is

absolutely stunning you're immediately

greeted with an entire view of the

castle and it's a breathtaking view but

it's also an illusion the kingdom of

lothric is riddled with corpses and

those who survived either became Hollows

or are still seen defending a lifeless

kingdom lothric is governed by the three

pillars of rule the knights who protect

the kingdom the scholars who run the

grand archives and the high priestess

who also served as Prince loth's wet

Nerfs those who abide by these rules are

the Loth Knights but these Wing Knight

variants are said to be Heretics as they

don't accept their rules this is because

of Gertrude the Heavenly daughter in the

grand archives we can find a bird cage

cell with a dead body in it this is

assumed to be Gertrude she was one of

the Queen's holy maidens although

depending on some item descriptions she

may also have been her daughter one day

gertude was visited by an Angel and

through this was able to establish the

Angelic faith of lothar seeing as this

isn't a part of the regular three

pillars gertude was taken and imprisoned

those who agreed with her teachings

though baned together to defeat the

current rulers of lothric which led to a

massive Civil War out of all the Three

Kingdoms we visited so far in the

trilogy the kingdom of lothric is easily

in the worst state this condition that

we see the castle in may also symbolize

the world of Dark Souls itself I'll

elaborate more on this idea later but

it's my personal theory that not only

did our characters from Dark Souls 1 and

2 Link the flame but every person in

between these games did so as well if we

go back to the intro the narrator says

that loar is really transitory lands of

the Lords converge meaning this isn't

like the past games in Dark Souls 1 all

the main bosses were within Lord already

but in Dark Souls 3 the lands of these

Lords have been forced together it's

unclear how this is even possible but it

may go back to the first Flame the world

of Dark Souls is dying it's a shadow of

its former self places are being buried

destroyed and created in an endless loop

the intro does a great job of showing

this but the one area that truly opened

my eyes to this was drag Heap this place

is covered in rubble and buildings that

span so far and wide that you can't even

tell what the buildings used to be or

when they were built we talked about how

time was convoluted in Dark Souls 1 but

in Dark Souls 3 this has been progressed

even further lands are being moved

together creating a tidal wave of rubble

and it's all because the first flame if

you watched the past videos you may have

noticed how worse things have gotten

throughout the series and I believe this

is because the first flame hasn't been

snuffed out people are still clinging on

to that illusion of life as Alia put it

and are willing to stay in the comfort

of what they know rather than step out

into the unknown and because of that the

world has gotten even worse each Dark

Souls game has tried to push the player

toward one specific idea the age of fire

in one the breaking of the curse in two

and the age of dark in three everyone in

Dark Souls 3 is just doing what they can

continue to do because it's all they

know some are blindly following their

faith and others are continuing to work

on their craft this game truly conveys

the attitude and the effects of a Dying

World one that is practically begging to

be put out of its misery it's basically

saying look at all of this in game look

at the destruction of the kingdoms the

ruins of the world and the people who

inhabit it do you think any of them are

truly happy to be alive right now not

even the Lords of Cinder beings who have

insurmountable power don't even want to

link the flame it lays all of this out

for you and asks you to choose which is

quite a heavy burden choosing to go

against the status quot that has been

said for who knows how long is a very

hard decision but at least we don't have

to make that choice now is the game will

blindsight us again and create another

boss encounter for us to be hypnotized

by we'll talk about vort later though as

he does have ties to another boss later

in the game after vort will be taken to

the undead settlement this place

functions like the undead Berg in Dark

Souls 1 as this place was the residence

of many of the kingdoms Undead but one

thing we'll see immediately upon entry

is this massive pile of corpses at the

end of the bridge these beings are

pilgrims that are most likely from the

kingdom of londor as the only Survivor

is y go of londor he is related to Uria

however so we will have to discuss him a

bit later as we explore the undead

settlement we can see that this place is

in just as bad of shape as Loth Castle

bodies are piled up everywhere and some

have even been put into cages this land

has also been subjected to various

curses and because of this many of the

settlements inhabitants sealed them away

in a spe tree but would end up cursing

the tree itself which would lead to the

creation of the cursed rotted Greatwood

during the second phase the Greatwood

will slam into the ground and will

discover the true resting place of all

the settlement's hollows in the apply

named pit of Hollows it's unclear though

whether or not the hollows that were

dumped here were alive or not upon

arrival but since the mound Maker's

Covenant is down here it's possible that

they were thrown in here alive and all

fought to the death which would explain

the plethora of Bones covering the walls

but it could also be that these people

actually banded together to create the

mound Maker's Covenant regardless it's

clear that their Fates were sealed the

moment they were thrown in while the

curs at Greatwood is to the left of the

dilapidated bridge if we instead go to

the right we'll make it to the road of

sacrifices and subsequently fairing keep

which leads us to our first Lord of

Cinder The Abyss Watchers fairen is

rather interesting is not only is it the

resting place for the abyss Watchers but

it may also be the ruins of ulil in this

area we can find the golden scroll and

the dusk Crown items that have ties to

ully seal and we can also find dead

mushrooms and maybe even the final

resting place of Elizabeth if this

taller mushroom is assumed to be her

this would also fit narratively with the

abyss Watchers as they were a part of an

organization dedicated to fighting the

abyss and seeing his Manis was located

under ulil this would tie together quite

nicely the abyss Watchers were the main

fighting force of a group called The

Undead Legion of fen who took inspir

aration from artorius and dedicated

their lives to fighting the abyss but

their group num seem to be much larger

than they seem as these monstrous beings

are seen guarding the abyss Watchers

Boss Arena they even managed to recruit

one of the twin Crystal sages that is

said to have betrayed his scholarly

Friends of the grand archives to Ally

with the undead Legion as for the abyss

Watchers themselves it said that they

all Shar the blood of the wolf most

likely in reference to this wolf found

in the area and used its blood to

increase their power and their power was

unmatched is not only were they able to

hunt together like a pack of wolves but

they've been known to bury an entire

Kingdom at the slight a sign of the

Abyss this group would eventually link

the flame presumably an attempt to Cast

Away the abyss for good but with their

main Force gone the rest of the forces

dwindled and left the undead Legion as

there was nothing else to do but as we

know the abyss can't be destroyed that

easily it eventually came back and went

unchecked since none of the Legion were

around and managed to turn their land

into a festering swamp these

monstrosities that we see may have been

Legion soldiers who were corrupted by

the abyss when the abyss Watchers awoke

they came to the realization that their

home was overrun and their mission was

unsuccessful and while it's not stated

when this happened at some point some of

the members became tainted with the

abyss itself which leads to the cut

scene before the boss fight where

they're all fighting one another as

they're trying to fight back against the

abyss but since they're all Undead

they're constantly being revived so

they're stuck in this NeverEnding battle

between each other which is likely why

they won't link the flame doing it the

first time didn't stop the abyss and

they have more important things to do

than sit on their throne and let the

abyss consume the world I absolutely

love the abyss Watchers and not just

from a lore perspective but also as a

boss what really sold the fight for me

was the hints of artorius that were

spread throughout their move sets the

undead Legion took took inspiration from

artorius so it's only right that they

mimic his fighting style and the

fast-paced leaping attacks that they

have really reminded me of that fight

furthermore this fight's quality

increases tfold once the other members

join in as it turns this honorable duel

into this chaotic mess you lose all

Focus during this fight as you're having

to keep track of three different Abyss

Watchers who can slide across the arena

in a second and the second phase is just

as deadly as the last dead Abyss Watcher

consumes the blood of all his brethren

in a last ditch attempt to stop us he's

a lot faster than last time and produces

Flames from his sword which makes the

fight even harder it shows how dedicated

the group is to their mission and how

they'll use anything they can as long as

they win similar to how artorius fought

us with all his strength and even a

broken arm from both a presentation and

gameplay perspective the abyss Watchers

are fantastic Lords of Cinder and the

best way to introduce the player to the

sheer power these Lords hold behind the

abyss Watchers is the catacombs of carus

a place that has seemingly no actual

Kingdom as this carus is never seen in

game but given that wnir is located down

here and is known to be a lord consumed

by the abyss maybe the abyss Watchers

leveled the entire Kingdom and while

that is an inter idea to think about

what's more important is actually what's

underneath the catacombs if we break

this bridge and use it as a ladder we

can enter the smoldering Lake the

original location of lost isth and

possibly Ash Lake in here we can see

giant structures that look very similar

to Arch trees of Ash Lake and given the

geography of lordran Ash Lake and lost

isth weren't too far from one another so

it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that

they can exist in the same location if

we continue deeper into the lake we'll

see dozens of dead demons that resemble

the Capra Taurus and stray demon from

Dark Souls 1 it's very clear that the

demon race is dying and that they're

struggling to survive we can even see

this in the stray demon near fair and

keep which is covered in stone rather

than the flesh and blood that we're used

to there's even The Old Demon King whose

Bostrom is covered in the corpses of his

fellow demons he'll try his best to

fight the ashim one with all his might

but most of his power ran out years ago

and as a last resort will release all

his flames in a fiery explosion but in

doing so he'll lose all the power he's

ever consumed and will be unable to

fight the Demons of Dark Souls 3 are a

dying race and further adds to the theme

of death and Decay the game is trying to

convey kingdoms aren't lavish spectacles

of beautiful architecture they a war

zone and the demon race is no longer a

formidable foe just a dying breed that

won't last another generation the

symbolism of this place is beautiful as

it shows that everyone is being affected

by the progression of time and no one is

gaining from having this age continue

but not everything needs to have a sad

ending as if we explore the rest of the

smoldering Lake we can find the corpses

of a spider and a woman and judging from

the tone that is located on her body it

seems that quana found the fair lady and

got to spend their last moments with one

another it's a wonderful and happy

ending quana got to find her sister who

she thought was dead and the lady is

finally able to die and no longer has to

suffer anymore getting back on track to

get to our next Lord of Cinder we need

to find iril but to gain entry we need

to find a specific item that is located

in the Cathedral of the deep the resting

place of Aldridge saint of the deep

Aldridge's story is by far the most

vague but also the most detailed amongst

the Lords of Cinder as his story

encompasses various other bosses that

we've already had the pleasure of

meeting years ago Aldridge was a common

cleric but he would eventually start

experiencing visions of a deep sea this

deep sea was another form of the abyss

and it was located in the lowest

possible depths imaginable and form the

core components of the world we never

get to see the deep sea in game but it

seems to be the lowest layer something

only aldrid can see he then shared this

info with only those he trusted who were

his arch deacons McDonald Royce and

Clint they not only kept this

information within their Inner Circle

but also encouraged one of aldrich's

insatiable urges whether this was

something he always had within him or it

came about when he saw visions of the

deep Aldrich had an insatiable urge to

consume human flesh the arch Deans

encouraged this behavior and used their

influence to create an army of followers

to not only worship Aldrich but also

went out and gathered sacrifices for him

that's why these evangelists are located

in the undead settlement as they are

trying to bring the undead to the

cathedral so that they may be consumed

by Aldrich we also learned that he would

eat anyone even including children as

HRI and Horus are said to be the only

two children who managed to escape

Aldridge's grasp where HRI and Horus are

located happens to be the road of

sacrifices the path that the settlers

and evangelists took to get to the

cathedral before consumption this

Cathedral performed all manner of

rituals and cleansings in order to

purify those who entered its doors after

numerous sacrifices the people around

Aldrich managed to go insane and even

though Aldrich himself was able to keep

his sanity his form would change rapidly

as he would eventually become the black

sludge that we see in the intro due to

his immense power he was used as a lord

of Cinder but seeing as Aldrich was

fully consumed by the visions of a deep

sea linking the fire would be the

opposite of what he had planned so this

implies that it was linked against his

will they would eventually return Al's

Body to the cathedral to be placed

inside the large coffin scene in the

deacons of the deep boss fight these

deacons were led by the archdeacons we

discussed earlier but while Aldrich was

laying in his coffin another piece was

added to the board pontiff Sullivan was

a former resident of the painted world

of arandel just like the world of Dark

Souls the painted worlds have their own

cycles that need to be rekindled in a

sense well the pontiff lived in the

current painted world of arendel but

felt no reason to continue his life here

as he had not experienced any hardship

or despair we'll learn about the

paintings residents in the DLC but

unlike the painted world of Aramis which

was a world for all the things the gods

feared arandel was for those who had no

else to go and are without purpose

Sullivan would then set out in search of

a purpose and would eventually come

across to ithel this place is very

relevant to the story as right next to

it is Anna Orlando the same one from

Dark Souls 1 from various item

descriptions we learn that gwindel

didn't actually die in Dark Souls 1 as

he is still very much alive in this game

now whether or not the chosen Undead

never fought him or they killed him but

he somehow revived himself is unknown

and ultimately irrelevant but with

gwindel being the only God left in an

Orlando he tried to reach out to those

in his extended family in hopes of

trying to rebuild the God's rule the

only one he managed to find though was

yoska a crossbreed girl similar to

Priscilla it's unclear what her

relationship with gwindel was or even

her relationship with Priscilla was but

all we know is that she was content with

helping gwindel in his objective gwindel

would also reinstate the Dark Moon

blades as a way to help protect them

from any adversaries one of their

Knights though happened to be pontiff

Sullivan who infiltrated its ranks and

managed to corrupt all the members he

came across he would then end up

enacting his plan when gwindel was

stricken with an illness that left him

unable to care for his Covenant or city

solivan in one successful swoop managed

to imprison yoska in a nearby Tower and

throw gwindel inside an Orlando

Cathedral allowing him to have complete

control of iel which is how he earned

the title of pontiff in order to ensure

protection of his new kingdom the

pontiff would not only set athl knights

in various positions as guards create a

barrier over the whole city so that no

one could enter but also send outrider

Knights to conquer other lands we've

already seen a few outrider Knights

across the game already but the two most

notable Knights are vort and the dancer

of the boreo Valley now much is known

about about the duo except the fact that

the dancer was a daughter from one of

the royal families in iril whether she

served willingly or not is unknown

either way both of their Fates would end

up the same as they were both bestowed a

ring given by the pontiff which would

end up slowly turning them into these

malform beasts after an unknown amount

of time Aldrich would reawake again as a

lord of Cinder and would foresee the

world's eventual destruction at the

hands of the deep sea due to this

premonition though he would neglect the

throne and wait for the Deep to overcome

the world and it was during this waiting

that he would dream of the old gods and

how they wanted to relink the flame he

saw this as a ploy against his own

wishes and sought to Devour the very

Gods he then traveled to iril decimated

the knights guarding the city and forced

the pontiff to surrender who gave up

control of an Orlando allowing Aldridge

to have an audience with gwindel what

happened next is what we see during the

boss fight we interrupt Aldrich midc

consumption who now has to use the

barely conscious body of gwindel as a

weapon to defeat us Aldrich seems to

have very Supernatural Powers as his

soul when transposed can give us the

Dark Moon Longbow which belonged to

gwindel but also the life hunt scythe

that belonged to Priscilla but

interestingly though he never consumed

Priscilla only dreamed of her from what

I can gather it seems that Aldridge can

acquire abilities from those he consumed

and is also able to peer into that

person's Memories the reason he was able

to acquire the life Hunt sighte is

because it's a miracle miracles in Dark

Souls are like stories you're

essentially reciting a story and using

the Talisman as a medium for the power

so aldrid consumed gwindel and dreamt of

Priscilla during the consumption and

then learned the story of the life hunt

scythe and was able to cast it since

it's basically just the equivalent of a

story again earlier I said Aldrich had

the most detailed story out of the Lords

of Cinder and I wasn't lying his story

doesn't just include himself but five

other bosses and close to a dozen named

characters it is a very long story to

wrap your head around but it is the kind

of Storytelling that got me interested

in these games in the first place it

showcases all the different events from

different points of view and how these

characters fit into one cohesive

timeline but just as the story is

detailed so too is it vague the Deep

sits on a shelf alongside many of the

concepts of the Dark Souls universe that

are barely touched upon in its defense

though the deep does have a lot of item

descriptions tied to it so we can at

least get a better understanding of what

its true nature is but seeing as it's

never shown to us in game or ever

elaborated on further than what we

talked about it just becomes another

idea in the world of Dark Souls that

leaves a lot open to the interpretation

as for the boss fight Aldrich was pretty

entertaining but I think a much better

boss fight in my opinion was ponti

Sullivan I've always liked Sullivan's

design and plus the walk towards him is

always very ominous as you don't know

what to expect especially when he dashes

right at you the moment you get too

close fort and the dancer were pretty

much on the same level as Aldrich in my

opinion I still think pontiff ranks

higher than all of them but they were

really entertaining fights and honestly

this opinion I have is pretty much the

same for most of the bosses in this game

even udx was an entertaining fight and

he was the first boss we ever face it's

clear that the quality of the bosses has

been raised thanks to Dark Souls 3i and

I think one reason for this was because

the team reverted the previous ideas of

Dark Souls 2 and instead focused on the

quality again rather than the quantity

each fight brought some sort of unique

twist so that it never felt like you

were in some traditional fight is that's

what the enemies were for even fights I

dislike due to their lack of difficulty

like the deacons are still at least

mildly impressive as its leagues better

than the congregation from Dark Souls 2

which I'm assuming was the inspiration

for it those enemies between the bosses

are allowed to have basic attacks and a

combo or two but the bosses are where

all the creative Talent is supposed to

be spilled into it felt like there was

real passion Behind These bosses again

from their designs to their move sets

and that's one of the reasons Dark Souls

II is held in such a high regard within

the franchise the other reason may also

be down to the locations themselves

there is Beauty in destruction as they

say and Dark Souls 3 proves time and

time again how this is possible the

catacombs the cathedral and the

smoldering Lake are all great examples

of this but the way the game shifts this

idea and it said showcases Beauty

through architecture again through the

lens of things like iril and an Orlando

is genius even the smallest things like

looking over a ledge and seeing the rest

of the Kingdom or just walking through

the hallway that leads to Gwynn's tomb

are beautiful not only because we get to

see some of these locations in a new

more updated light but because from

software has always expertly crafted its

levels to showcase these moments for us

that's one of the reasons an Orlando was

so beloved amongst the community Is Not

only was it the first area that showed

actual Signs of Life in the world of

lram but its design was a sight to

behold even in Orlando in its current

state still holds that beauty it's just

a different kind of beauty not how

various pieces of architecture can

create a Godlike City that people can

only dream of but how despite its

destruction and loss of life and Orlando

still manages to be a beacon of light

and upholds the massive significance

that it displayed in Dark Souls 1 after

the defeat of Aldrich if we retrace our

steps back to iro we can find a separate

path that leads to the profane Capital

ruled by yorum the giant interestingly

though we don't just arrive in the

capital as upon exiting through this

hole in the wall we arrive in the ithil

dungeon this place is a massive and

convoluted prison filled with all manner

of beings who have been imprisoned and

tortured and abused by all the jailers

these jailers are said to hail from the

profane Capital but later served under

the rule of pontiff Sullivan they're

also very ruthless in their methods when

it comes to subduing escape bees as they

have a poisonous Mist that saure

HealthWay and use a scolding p piece of

hot iron that not only Burns at the

touch but will hinder your ability to

run away as you temporarily fat roll

when Afflicted if you manage to escape

the prison you'll be greeted by the

underground city of the profane capital

from a pure spectacle or design

perspective I think shova had a much

better greeting upon its entry but the

profane capital is still nice to look at

it is admittedly quite small this could

once again be due to the geological

shift of the lands towards lothric but

that doesn't ignore the fact that the

devs could have done a bit more with its

design you'll likely spend more time in

the adjacent dungeon than in the actual

actual Capital while the area does lack

in length it does try to circumvent the

issue a bit by adding a bit more depth

the capital is covered in various

trinkets goblets and burned corpses and

these bodies don't just stop at the

entrance they are in every section of

the capital it's trying to get the

player to wonder what exactly happened

here well the capital was under attack

by a new flame called The profaned Flame

this was a curse created by a group of

women and while they did become

disfigured and turned into these

creatures we see just outside the

capital they did manage to win in the

end as it pretty much killed every

single person who resided in said

Capital but this is where yorm came in

as he attempted to stop this profane

flame before it caused any damage by

linking the flame and becoming a lord of

Cinder but it didn't work as the

aformentioned destruction followed

shortly after the main question

surrounding it though is why did these

women create such a thing and how well

it's possible that it may have ties to

the abyss as both Carla the witch and

the profane Cole who are both found in

the ithal dungeon have ties to the abyss

you're here to save

me but I'm guilty

a wretched child of the

Abyss

Lords where did you happen upon this

coal this is much too dark I see the

abyss in it furthermore we need to look

at the pontiff and elanora pontiff

carries a sword called the profaned

Great swword which stat that Sullivan

discovered an unfading flame below the

tundra of iiil in the axe elenora can be

dropped from these monstrous creatures

which says that the women who triggered

the curse were relatives of a certain

Oracle these words Tundra iril a land

covered in snow and Oracle all point to

Alam Lo and alsana being this Oracle

from what we just talked about regarding

the smoldering Lake and what we know

from the old chaos in aam Lo it's clear

that the flame of chaos is dying so

maybe this is an altered version of the

flame of chaos or at least maybe the

last few Sparks of it it's definitely a

stretch but the profane flame has always

been interesting to me as the last time

a new flame was mentioned in the series

well we kind of know how that went upon

his Revival though yor the state of his

City and was in utter shock at what had

occurred so now he sits in despair

unwilling to link the flame but despite

how depressing it would be to kill him

we not only need his ashes but a friend

also needs to uphold his

promise

y old

friend hi secret of the Knights of

Katarina have come to uphold my

promise let the sun shine upon this Lord

Cinder when y became the ruler of his

kingdom many of the people disapproved

of him in an effort to gain their trust

he created two weapons called the storm

rulers and gave one to his people should

he ever step out of line and the other

to his best friend Seward who promised

to kill him should he come back to life

this is also the final step step in

Secret's quest line it was the main

reason I enjoyed it so much as being

able to fight alongside an NPC such as

him against a giant sounds like a blast

but despite the wonderful presentation

and design of y's character it's easily

the most underwhelming fight in the game

using the storm ruler is the only way to

do real damage to your arm the main

attack of the storm ruler is the weapon

art that produces a slash of wind

capable of Downing him but that's just

it it's just the same move over and over

again doing this alone is easy and with

seag it becomes even easier as you can

will stun lock yor for a large portion

of the battle and for this to occur

during a fight with a lord of Cinder is

pretty pathetic on top of this y's

second phase doesn't really change

anything it just adds a bit of fire to

his weapon I feel like there was much

more potential for yor but it was never

given to us thankfully this wouldn't be

the last time this idea would exist in a

Souls game as Elder ring repurposed this

idea and it was much better handled

there our final Lord of Cinder is Prince

Loth the one who started this problem in

the first place but the real question is

why it's the one thing that's been

rattling in my head since the very

beginning why did Loth refuse to link

the flame well the answer is honestly a

bit sad Prince Loth was born to die the

rulers of Loth Were King Osiris and his

Queen Osiris had three children named

lauan lothric and ocelot lauan was the

first and was a formidable soldier on

the battlefield who was able to

single-handedly defeat the demon prince

who is said to rule over all the demons

Osiris figured that his lineage could

push their power even further by

creating a child specifically to become

a lord of Cinder and lothric was to be

that child but he failed Loth wasn't

strong enough so the family committed a

deed so heinous that it cursed him for

Life despite the curse though it worked

and Loth was capable of relinking the

flame but his frail body combined with

his poor health left him bedridden and

resentful being The Helpful brother that

he was lauan wanted to combine his soul

with lathrix but because of lothric's

curse it consumed lauan as well which

left him mute and a due to this

the current state of the world and the

fact that even his teacher was having

doubts about relinking the flame It

ultimately caused lothi to refuse and

honestly it's hard to blame him being

created for the sake of power and not

knowing what your sacrifice will truly

do is a hard burden to put on a child

especially when you consider how much

grooming was presumably done to get Laur

ready to link the flame had he been

brought up in a different light this

story could have been changed but due to

the greed of the King It ultimately

started a chain of events that would

bring about the end of the world at the

very least though the twin princes

weren't the only ones that suffered

Osiris is more Dragon than human now and

has gone insane because of it similar to

how Big Hat Logan became deranged from

the knowledge he read on SE so to did

Osiris and depending on what you believe

believe he may also be hallucinating

during the fight he talks about his son

ocelot and we can infer that he's

carrying him in his hand but nothing is

there this however may not be as obvious

as it seems there's currently two

theories I believe in that argue for and

against ocel lot's existence on one hand

ocelot may be a hallucination from the

King either because assalot died and he

can't accept the loss or that he had

been hallucinating the mere idea that he

had a child in the first place however

on the other hand ocelot may actually

exist but was removed due to some real

wol complications during the second

phase of the boss fight Osiris will

scream acel lot's name then slam the

hand that carries him into the ground

presumably killing him we can hear a

baby crying in the background during the

fight implying that he lived but I think

this was a loophole by from software to

get rid of complaints killing kids in

games if I'm not mistaken will get a

game banned just about everywhere and

from software has honored this Rule and

rarely ever adds kids their games to

begin with the only ones that come to

mind are Kuro and seiro and father gaso

and's daughter in bloodborne but his

daughter is never seen as we're forced

to talk to her through a wall and while

C does make an appearance numerous times

he is never shown to be harmed there are

three parts in the game that c is

actually cut with something and each

time it happens we never actually see

the real act it is of course implied

that he has suffered a wound but it's

never actually shown from software most

likely wanted to add ocelot and his

death to the game but couldn't due to

the possibility of the game being banned

personally I've always been a fan of the

four party and do believe that the king

is not hallucinating and ocelot was

meant to be in the game because this

also connects to the king's current

mindset as he is going so insane that he

doesn't even realize the harm he's

putting his child in but to make matters

worse while the King was consumed by

se's writings on immortality and the

twins were currently suffering through

no fault of their own the queen had just

decided to leave she disappeared quietly

into the night from the kingdom and was

never seen again the Queen's identity

though is unknown but it is heavily

theorized to be gwy from Dark Souls 1 we

know that gvir bestowed Divine blessings

to her people and was seen as a symbol

of bounty and fertility because of it

and the divine blessing of Dark Souls 3

says that the queen of lothric was

initially revered as a goddess of

fertility and Bounty but the issue is

that we know that she left an Orlando

and became the wife of a flame God flan

so how did she go from him to Osiris and

why did she leave him and come back here

furthermore if gwindel was actually

trying to get the gods back in an

Orlando how did the two never find one

another and why didn't Gwen ofir come

back this could have been due to the

presence of Aldrich and the pontiff

within the cathedral but this also calls

into question Rosaria as her soul can

create the Bountiful sunlight Miracle

which is one of the Miracles of Gwen and

given the presentation of both

characters from the room's layout to

their positions on the bed it's clear

that there is a connection between the

two whether Rosaria is actually Gwen or

simply someone Gwen knew is never

explicitly told to us and really in the

grand scheme of things it doesn't really

matter but it is a very interesting

Theory nonetheless it's clear though to

no one's surprised that the royal family

is in disarray and is currently

suffering just like the kingdom is

despite this though the Knights of the

Kingdom still stay strong and continue

to defend the castle against the

corruption that is the puss of man but

it's starting to fight back as the puss

of man is embedded Within These twin

wyverns and many of the Castle's

soldiers and it seems like the pilgrims

of londor have also started advancing on

the castle as they've managed to control

the armor of the Dragon Slayer and use

it as a tool of their destruction after

battling through all of this chaos

though we can finally meet the prince

himself the twin princes actually go

against the status quo of the game not

just in their decision to refuse the

throne but also in how they're presented

to the player lothric in a way is this

game's Gwyn or Vendrick he's clearly not

on the same level as the other two but

it was lothric's choices that set the

Game's plot into motion just like how

Gwyn Advent rri's choices said their

games pled into motion instead of being

presented as a shambling corpse wrick is

the opposite even if he's just some

bedridden child that's cursed with a

lifelong illness the boss fight isn't

this sad encounter that makes you feel

like you're doing them a service by

putting them out of their misery you're

fighting a being who is extremely

powerful and is fully conscious of their

actions as opposed to the hollow

versions of the other two it was a

wonderful twist as I expected to be

greeted by a somber tune all while

seeing the death and Decay that has

continued to spread throughout the

kingdom reach the prin Chambers but I

didn't and that surprised me and now is

probably a good time to correct a

previous statement of mine a couple

months ago I made a review on Dark Souls

3 it was a bit more gameplay Centric

than this video is but in that video I

said despite loving the twin princes

laurian had always pissed me off due to

his awful teleportation ability and I

want to rectify that statement as I

never felt these feelings this time

around in the previous video on Dark

Souls 2 I talked about how the quality

of these bosses will always be a

subjective opinion as the boss's

enjoyment largely depends on the build

and the skill of the player I naively at

the time did not take this into

consideration and never considered that

I was the problem looking at the gaml

now is downright embarrassing and I

realized that lauan was never the issue

it was me yes his teleport move does

occasionally break line of sight which

is still annoying but everything was not

as bad as I had made it out to be I

always liked the twin princes as a boss

fight that opinion has never changed but

I think I can now officially say that

it's not only the best Lord of Cinder

fight in the game which easily one of

the few fights in Dark Souls I that I

consider completely perfect the she Pres

pres of these two is amazing the fight

is pretty much laurian versus the player

Loth is able to protect lauran with

magic and heal him once he dies the same

way the player can heal with Estus and

use their equipment to Aid them Loth is

like the support role in this Duo but

he's also the main character that needs

to be defeated as he can obviously

revive lauan but his magic forces the

player to not engage them prolonging the

fight even longer than it already is

giving lauan enough time to finish us

off and the fact that the duo manages to

be a threat no matter the distance

always adds to the intensity of the

fight I've always been one to admit when

I'm wrong and except the fact that my

opinions are never meant to be set in

stone and can always be changed and this

playthrough thoroughly changed my mind

about this fight as the twin princes are

not only worthy of the title Lord of

Cinder but were such an excellent boss

to put at the end of The Journey out of

all the souls games I ended up talking

about these bosses the most out of any

in the trilogy and this is doe in part

of the Lord Of Cinders being the only

objective in the game so talking about

them is really all we can discuss they

are the main focus of the game and thus

need to have detail lore to back it up

this was forgivable in the other game

games as while those beings did have

some importance in the world they

weren't the main focus but in Dark Souls

3 they are if it wasn't for the Lords of

Cinder we wouldn't have a game so they

ended up becoming the main focus of the

story and the devs managed to deliver

Aldrich is a testament to that statement

as I may have spent more time on them

than any character in the series with

the exception of the witch of isth who

coincidentally also had numerous bosses

and characters tied to her plot I was

really impressed by the overall

presentation of this game especially

when it came to our four Lords of Cinder

even including yorm who had a wonderful

design and presentation despite the

fight being a bit blackluster their lore

was rich with details and the item

descriptions were long enough to create

an essay's worth of information but also

left enough info out to keep that Soul's

Spirit of finding the context clues and

filling in the gaps plus the encounters

with said bosses made the time spent

getting to them worth it even yorm as

once again despite being disappointing

there was at least an attempt to create

the spectacle of tackling a monolithic

siiz giant but if there was one thing

that bothered me about this game it was

the lack of attention given to Dark

Souls 2 narratively this actually fits

quite well as Strang Lake was supposed

to be seen as this unimportant Kingdom

that would be easily toppled and

replaced with something else in time

only to be forgotten by the rest of the

world but if the point was to make the

kingdom feel unimportant why are there

constant references to it like kraton

appearing in cirus' quest lucatiel's

armor and ASO sword resurfacing in the

game the dead giant at Firelink Shrine

and not only a portrait of nandra but of

aam Lo and broom Tower found in iril it

just feels confusing it's like the team

actively wants the player to know that

despite not making Dark Souls 2 they are

aware and care about the game but barely

put in the effort to justify it what is

truly the most upsetting part about this

is that both Vendrick and Alia to my

knowledge are never mentioned once

throughout the game there is one magic

spell found in the grand archives that

says the words the first of the scholars

which many people have pointed towards a

link to Alia but he was a scholar of the

first sin not a first scholar plus the

first of the scholars could refer to the

scholars of the grand archives not Alia

it's a shame because they were the only

beings that we know of who sought to

break the curse through unconventional

means and there's zero remnants of their

work the two are never brought up in the

game and the actual structures of Drang

Lake or alus keep are never seen in game

I understand that Dark Souls I was not

everybody's cup of tea and maybe the

original team wanted to do away with the

B team's creation but you can't deny

that Vendrick and Alia had the potential

to create a sizable impact on the story

and for their legacy to be tarnished

like this is a bit disappointing with

all the Lords of Cinder dead and their

ashes within our inventory we can now

link the first flame but before we do

that there is two DLCs and a couple

other bits of content for the main areas

that I want to address first if we

rewind and go back to Osiris and visit

the area behind his boss Arena will

uncover a place called the untended

graves this place is identical to the

cemetery of Ash in the beginning of the

game with the only difference being the

lighting it's one of the most talked

about locations within the community as

this confusion coupled with this feeling

of nervousness settles in as upon entry

you start to recognize all the familiar

Landscapes and are just bewildered that

a place like this even exists the boss

is also identical as it's Champion Gere

as opposed to udx according to his

bosold description Champion gundar came

to Firelink Shrine to relink the fire

but failed and arrived too late he was

then eventually bested by an unknown

Warrior and given the series heavy use

of that term we can assume that this

Warrior was us afterwards he then became

a sheath for the coiled sword so similar

to ulil and the memory of the Giants we

can go back in the past kill Champion

Gunder who then becomes a sheath for the

coiled sword and hopes say another

Warrior will come and use it to link the

flame who just happens to be us we then

take the sword from his present body as

udic gundar and use it at the bonfire if

we happen to defeat Champion gundar

though we'll be greeted with an

identical Firelink Shrine and while the

firekeeper is not here there are an eyes

of a firekeeper located inside the

building if we have the eyes in our

inventory lwith and the fire keeper will

comment on them lli refers to the

firekeeper as her implying that he knows

the identity of this person in the fire

keeper will mention how these eyes

reveal frightening images of betrayal in

a world without fire so we can assume

that this was in the past and since lth

is familiar with the fire keeper and is

a lord of it's possible that this was

during the time he linked the fire which

would also connect with the intro of the

game that says that the land of Lords

are converging together this L just

happens to be lths but what doesn't make

sense is the handmaid's dialogue as in

the dark Firelink Shrine her attitude

seems to imply that the flame is still

lit as she tells us to hurry along but

how is this possible well sadly I don't

have an answer for that the untended

graves is one of the hardest parts of

this game to wrap your head around which

makes discussing it extremely difficult

one explanation though could be that the

FireKeeper's eyes are what's causing

this dark Ness as the world in present

day Dark Souls 3 is getting close to the

age of dark as evidenced by the giant

dark sign eclipse in the sky but there's

still plenty of light left in this world

whereas in the untended graves there's

nothing but if all the lights extinguish

and that implies that this is an age of

dark but love the link the flame and

continue the age of fire so that's why I

think it's the eyes of a fire keeper

displaying a vision in the sense of what

the world would come to should we enact

this Grand betrayal which is letting the

flame die out another thing of note

though is the repair spell in Dark Souls

3 which says that light is time and the

reversal of its effects is a forbidden

art so this implies the untended graves

could be like the things betwix it's

sort of stuck in limbo because there's

no light existing and therefore time not

existing regardless this but it's very

confusing backstory it's probably my

favorite location to discuss in the game

as there's so many possibilities as what

this place truly means the final

location is near IRL dungeon as we can

use the dragon pose from the untended

graves to be transported into Ark Dragon

Peak we already know that immortality

via Dragon form is not unheard of as

many people worship these Stone dragon

in Dark Souls 1 Osiris is assumed to be

human before he became a dragon and we

can actually find some Dragon Stones

which will turn us into a humanoid

Dragon similar to the one sitting next

to us so it's pretty safe to assume that

this place was used to worship the

ancient dragons despite the fact that

they're all dead now but even though

they're all dead that doesn't mean the

other flying types won't exist as we get

to challenge a wyvern shortly after

arriving which at first glance is a

pretty cool fight until you realize that

the enemies on the walkways are actually

tougher than the boss itself I can

recognize that the team was most likely

experimenting with some B ideas for boss

fights and while it's definitely cool at

first it just feels a bit unnatural if

you will as completely destroying its

health bar in one plunge attack just

felt off Arc Dragon Peak not only has a

questionable first boss but also raises

various questions that admittedly may

leave people confused two characters

have arrived at this location at certain

points in time which are havl and

orstein we find havl next to a down

dragon and we find ornstein's armor

towards the end of the level I can

forgive havl for being here since he's

always had a hatred for dragons and

seaths since Dark Souls 1 but that

doesn't explain how he's alive well havl

had a band of knights who followed him

and more than likely wore the same armor

as he did so I don't think this is havl

more just a knight of havl but while

this is explained fairly easily orstein

is not orstein has always had a

complicated history within the series as

he was clearly present in Dark Souls 1

but then shows up again in Dark Souls 2

as the old Dragon Slayer and then again

in this game as the dragon slayer armor

and in Arc Dragon Peak where we are now

firstly I've always been a firm believer

in the fact that we kill orstein in Dark

Souls 1 the old dragon slayer is simply

someone who is trying to uphold ste's

Legacy or is somehow connected to

orstein Soul since we know from Dark

Souls 2 that the old Lord Souls can

inhibit others bodies so it's possible

or's Soul inhibited someone wearing his

armor it's also possible that the soul

felt comfortable with this decision

given or Stein's armor is pretty

synonymous with his legacy as for Dark

Souls 3 we know that the dragon slayer

armor is not orstein is simply just

another dragon slayer as the weapon and

armor are completely different but AR

Dragon Peak is unique this is not only

the same armor that orstein wore but its

item description talks about how he left

the anal orando Cathedral to come here

but when did this happen he couldn't

have came here and then went back to the

cathedral as his armor is located here

and he couldn't have left after Dark

Souls 1 because he died so the only real

explanation that makes any plausible

sense is that orstein dies in Dark Souls

1 he then has his soul return like the

previous Lord Soul wears but decides to

inhabit someone wearing his armor or

maybe even the armor itself as it's

familiar to the soul we talked about in

Dark Souls 2 how it seemed like the four

great ones were connected to specific

Lord Souls because of their feelings and

emotions we still don't know whether or

not these Lord Souls connected with them

because of these similar emotions or if

they gain these feelings from consuming

the souls but if this is true then it

would make sense that orstein is

continuing to fight the same and has the

same goals and Ambitions across all the

games regardless of how orstein is a

live verb how he even ended up here in

the first place we at least know why he

was here and that was because of the

nameless King the nameless King has

actually been teased since Dark Souls 1

as he was the infamous firstborn son of

Gwyn that was referenced in various

items in that game from both one and

three we can piece together that the

nameless King is the firstborn son of

Gwyn and was a dragon slayer during the

war with the Everlasting dragons but at

some point he would eventually cast all

this away and Ally himself with the

dragons and if you want to talk about

presentation when it comes to boss

fights this one needs to be mentioned

not only does the introduction of the

boss feel intense as the nameless King

swoops in on a storm Drake but when we

finish the Drake off he literally kills

it and takes the power for himself from

just a pure gameplay perspective he's

easily the second best fight in the game

there's a feeling that occurs across the

entire series when everything comes

together you've learned the move set

understood the timings and discover the

punishes all that's required is to put

it together and when that clicks it

becomes one of the best fights in the

game his moves are punishing have delays

and are even mixed together as one combo

might have two swings but the next will

be three or it will do away with the

third swing and add a completely

different move the fight requires

complete concentration and the ability

to be patient dodging too early will

more often than not lead to your death

so you have to be on high alert for the

whole fight genuinely a great fight from

top to bottom with it only being

surpassed by one being we have yet to

cover but before before we move on to

the DLC I want to look back at the game

so far Dark Souls III set out to create

a Dying World that features places that

have been ridden with disease and death

showing to the player that their

inability to let go of what they know

and continue this age of fire will only

make things worse even a basic

understanding of the war will convey

this as you can see just how bad

everything has gotten from the fact that

there's hundreds of dead bodies lit

throughout each level and people are

becoming corrupted and infected with

these diseases and plagues causing them

to either go Hollow or turn into a

massive black sludge the demon race a

group of beings thought to be on top are

dying out the gods have all been wiped

out and the Lords of Cinder beings who

have the ability to rule over anything

they please due to their power refuse to

continue this age of fire Aldrich wants

to continue his own age so admittedly

that is a bit more selfish but the other

three have recognized that their

sacrifice did or will amount to nothing

linking the flame never stopped the

abyss and never stopped the profane

flame and it's never going to end the

suffering that's occurred since lordran

so if the first flame is supposed to be

this symbol of peace and comfort then

what is actually so good about it all of

this has been Illustrated to us

throughout the story and is a testament

to how genius the writing of Dark Souls

3i truly is but now it's time to move on

not just to a new agees that will come

later but to a new world a painted world

even this old man in front of us is Gail

and he's how we start the DLC ashes of

arandel we talked about this place

briefly when we discussed pontiff

Sullivan and said it was a painted world

for those without purpose upon entering

we're greeted by a deformed being who

welcomes us and tells us to get

comfortable on a bed of rot similar to

The Real World The Painted worlds have

their own cycle and it's this cycle that

is so interesting as in the main game

the age of fire is being constantly

prolonged and it's the age of dark that

will take it over but as we'll soon see

it's the rot that's being prolonged and

the only way to get rid of it is to burn

it the painted world of arandel is just

a similar version of the Dark Souls

Universe with the same themes and ideas

just twisted around they're both

separate worlds with separate cycles and

each one has a particular cycle that is

going on too long and it's either the

fire that's causing it or the fire that

will get rid of it this is also the

reason Gail sends us to the painted

world in the first place as opposed to

the corvian we meet first who tells us

to embrace the rot Gail and even this

corvian settler want us to set it a

flame setting the painting a flame will

allow a new painted world to be created

but they can't do that without fire and

the person preventing this is Sister

freed she is the reason the rot is being

prolonged and she's also the other Ash

that the Gale and the corvian refer to

meaning she's unkindled it's because of

her decision to keep the rock going that

has caused much of the destruction of

this place interestingly though only the

corvians seem to care as we talked about

the painted world is for those without

purpose and the corvians aren't the only

ones who reside here as the soldiers are

the members of the undead Legion of fen

in the beginning of the video when we

talked about the abyss Watchers I

mentioned that when they linked the

flame the rest of the Legion left once

that occurred the others no longer had a

purpose and further lost any chance of

having one once they came to the

realization that their home had turned

into a swamp according to their armor

these Fen followers seem to be

specifically tasked with killing any

Undead Legion who succumbed to the abyss

which makes me wonder how the abyss

Watchers cut scene would have played out

had the Assassins not left maybe the

abyss Waters would have finally been

able to regain their strength again now

that they didn't have to kill each other

the other group of of people are the

Milwood Knights they don't have too much

lore and anything to really tie any of

the characters or events to them but at

some point in time they lost their

Forest that they called home and then

sought refuge in the painted world these

groups seem to just carry on throughout

their day and simply exist within the

painted world but the corvians are

different as you have the regular

looking settlers who want to burn the

rod away but then there's also the

corvian knights who were so infatuated

with sister free that they've now turned

against their Brethren just the basic

idea of what the painted world

represents to the people within it is

such an intriguing concept the way this

Loosely connects to the main game's

themes is genius one thing I always

found disappointing though about Ash

sarenda was the length once we enter the

painting we were to meet with sister

Fred who welcomes us but just as quickly

dismisses our arrival and tells us to

leave because we no longer belong here I

have no issue with this as it's not

holding the player's hand but everything

just feels like it's going so fast is

right after this we're to find the

painter enter the basement of sister

Freed's Church activate a lever and then

we're already at the final boss

everything just feels so fast and I was

surprised how quickly the final boss was

introduced to me I've talked about

before how most of the souls games DLCs

are like this and don't take much time

overall this of course though largely

depends on how fast you beat the bosses

as they're usually the main hurdles but

ashes of Arendelle felt shorter than

normal there is an optional boss that

could take up more of your time but this

was just so that the player could access

the PVP matches and the lore of the boss

also connects to this as this was the

champion of the undead matches that the

undead used to partake in other than

that it's pretty much just going from

one area to the next and the distance

between them is quite short once we do

finish talking with sister Freda though

our path will eventually lead us to the

corvian settlements and its Church where

we will meet with sir vilhelm he was the

guard that was outside the church where

sister Fred was located but what's more

interesting though about Sir vilhelm is

that he not only has a black flame buff

on his weapon but he also wields the

dark hand both of which have ties to the

abyss this relates back to Sister Freda

as she was one of the three sisters of

the Sable Church her other sisters were

Lilian and yuria which means she has

ties to londor and this is reinforced by

the different dialogue options that we

get from her if we have the dark sigils

in inventory from yuria's quest line

it's not much but she does recognize us

as the Lord of Hollows given that she is

unkindled it's possible that she tried

to link The Flame or usurp it and this

possibly got her Exile from the church

without a purpose or home she may have

been drawn to the painted world which is

how she ended up here in the first place

and figured that she could rule over

this land by herself however given that

we have this innate ability to ruin

people's plans we're going to prevent

sister freed from doing so to do this we

need to talk to the painter and unlock

the doors leading to her room for her to

be able to paintt though she will need

to see Flame and to do this we need to

get to the source I see

flame flame fuckering once

again not enough bloody Ed

shade my

fle bring me my

F this is Father arendel the painter of

the painted world of arendel who is now

being held captive by Sister Freda she

managed to convince father Arendelle

that the only way to preserve the

painted world was to bury the flame and

let the rock consume the world to stop

him from spreading he uses his flail on

himself causing him to bleed which

appeases the flame it's quite a sad

story and it makes sister Freda out to

be even worse of a person than she

already was given that we're going

against her wishes though she fights us

and she is very difficult which is also

very entertaining I love this fight and

I think it's a great way to end the DLC

the fight starts out quite normal until

her blood reaches father arandel who

freaks out causing the room to be

engulfed in flames and him to break out

of his restraints and attack us Fred is

is also back and it turns into a 2V1

it's very reminiscent of orstein and Smo

as the doo compliments each other quite

well this is also the only fight in the

trilogy to my knowledge where you can

summon an NPC in the middle of the fight

as Gail can only be summoned for the

second phase it also makes sense to

bring him along since both you and him

have the same objective so there's no

reason for him not to help you after

sister Freda has been dealt with though

we can return to

the A

the yeah so if it wasn't already bad

enough sister Freda has a third phase

this whole encounter is extremely

stressful as you not only have to plan

for one but two extra phases there's

been so many times where I got pummeled

during this fight in the first phase

that I just reset as I knew it wasn't

worth starting the next phase with half

the Estus she really forces the player

to learn her move set thankfully though

Gail does make the encounter easier but

it's still very difficult even with his

assist

with sister Fred and father arandel dead

for a real this time the fire will now

be able to consume the painting without

any delays which means the painter can

now work on the new world she plans to

create a cold dark and very gentle place

as she calls it she's going to need

Paint to make that painting and from

what we learned from father arendelle's

Soul we know that the paintings are

Written in Blood so Gail's objective

will be to scour the land for some blood

to use his pigment and while he does

that we can go on to the next DLC but

Gail's here too he has written messages

for us and points us towards where we're

supposed to go so what blood is he

getting well Gail is trying to find the

blood of the Dark Soul the Dark Soul

which leads him to the ring City ashes

of arendo was a short but decent DLC the

bosses were great and the actual design

of arendo was beautiful from its frozen

Tundras to its rotted swamps but if it

fell complete or if the DLC suddenly

ended so soon that's the point as both

of Dark Souls 3i's DLCs are a connected

story the story of Gail and the painter

and their quest to create a new world

which leads us to the ring City the

start of the Ring City DLC sees us

travel to the drag Heap the area we

talked about earlier in the video as I

said then time is getting worse as the

world progresses and this is a perfect

example as now that the age of fire is

getting even closer to the end lands are

converging on each other more and more

and the world is practically collapsing

in on itself here in the drag keep we

can see nostalgic callbacks to the Past

like the earn Peak Windmill and the

desert pyromancer from Dark Souls 2 this

is a very long and convoluted level to

really showcase how bad everything has

gotten but at the very end of the level

is the demon Duo not not only is the

gameplay of this fight fantastic as it

not only surpasses the previous Duo but

might even be on par as orstein and Smo

but the location of the fight is heavily

theorized to be the original Firelink

Shrine of Dark Souls 1 the reason being

is that the exit of this arena is the

same structure that framp appears in

Gail can once again join you for this

fight but it will trivialize this

encounter tremendously as the demons

have long cooldowns between their

attacks and also alternate move sets I

actually found this fight to be balanced

while being outnumbered so adding more

people makes it worse once the demons

are both dead the last one to die gets

to be reborn as the demon Prince just

like the first Flame the chaos flame

needed to be rekindled by a demon with

vast power and the current demon Prince

at the time was going to but ended up

facing lauan and was defeated however

all demons share memories with another

so in theory that means they can share

the power of the demon Prince and when

the last demon Falls it is reborn as the

demon Prince and the last of its kind

the demon Prince is a genuinely great

fight and for being the first boss in

the DLC this is already a great start to

the additional content when the demon

Prince does fall though we can finally

say goodbye to the demons the once great

race thought to be almost on top has now

withered away never to be remembered

again just like everything else in this

world with the drag he finished we can

move on to the final location of the DLC

but one thing that's been very

interesting about the drag he is the

progression of time as we go further

down in the game we're actually going

further back in the past as we start out

at the very top in Dark Souls 3 we move

further down to Dark Souls 2 with the

earn Peak making an appearance and then

we're all the way at the bottom where

we're back in Dark Souls 1 with the

Firelink Shrine but we can go even

further further back as past the old

Firelink Shrine we can travel to the

ring City a place that has existed since

the gods toppled the dragons the ring

city is gorgeous and is one of the most

beautiful locations in the Dark Souls

Trilogy this place is home to the pygmy

Lords and they have a wonderful

welcoming

committee oddly enough though these

shadow archers actually look like the

Ruin Sentinels from Dark Souls 2

according to their armor set they were a

band of knights who were sent to the

ring City so it's possible that Vendrick

may have sent them here as a way to find

out more about the undead curse but were

defeated and now are used by the city to

defend its people the ring city is the

home of the pygmies the ancestors of

mankind we don't hear much regarding the

actual furtive pygmy but the ring city

is ruled by the pygmy Lords the early

descendants of the original pygmy

according to various item descriptions

though Gwyn gave them the city as a

reward for their help against the

dragons but since this is located at the

literal edge of the world it's possible

Gwyn wanted the pygmies out of sight and

away from his kingdom since they had the

Dark Soul which of of course he does not

like as for how the pygmies helped

during the war well we can find out soon

after as these ringed Knights were some

of the soldiers who fought during the

war with the Everlasting dragons the

weapons they carry were forged from the

abyss since that was the birthplace of

humanity which would explain the BL and

dark sign on their chest as it seems

that they too were cursed like we were

by Gwyn if we progress further into the

level we'll end up in this Abyssal swamp

and end up fighting the dragon slayer

armor again and if we read description

we'll discover that when we defeated it

in lothric it somehow made its way down

here and then became possessed Again by

the feeling of battle

look I love orstein as much as the next

guy but we do not have to keep bringing

him back we can just let his legacy die

I understand in this case it is just a

piece of armor and not actually orstein

but you have to admit that this boss's

design is purposely similar to orstein I

found this encounter more annoying

rather than interesting as there was

Zero reason to bring back the dragon

slayer armor again in the swamp we can

also find a white face Locust similar to

the one earlier in the level these

Locust are beings from the abyss and

they were were supposed to preach

sermons to men so that they could draw

them towards the dark but they couldn't

see past their stomachs and cared more

about what they were eating which is why

they act like gluttonous monsters this

description means that this is what they

always looked like and didn't turn into

these creatures at some point but it may

also imply that they were born alongside

Humanity within the abyss each of them

ends up talking about specific people

and are possibly referencing certain

NPCs and so she lived in fear of the

Dark of the things that gned at her

flesh the little creatures that nibble

at me in the

darkness and so despite his weighty

armor he lived in fear of a delicate

thing little more than a girl where fire

rideth Shadows twist and shrivel but in

the

abyss there are shadows none fear not

the dark my friend and let the feast

begin I've always found this interaction

and odd as it's unclear how this

creature even knows anything about these

NPCs this has caused a bit of debate

amongst many people in the community as

some claim that it's showing how

destructive humanity is but on the other

hand like with the case of ir's dialogue

the Locust preacher could be implying

that the abyss is not as bad as it seems

as that preconceived idea Irina had of

the Abyss caused her to feel these

insect likee creatures in her head I

don't really think that there is a

correct answer here as sort of ties into

the world of Dark Souls and how the

player views the abyss humanity and the

age of dark and whether or not it's

something that they should be embracing

similar to how we have to make a choice

at the end of the games before we leave

though we can view this purging Monument

which is only accessible to humans as to

even get to this area we need to

transform into a Humanity Sprite using a

white tree branch this Monument may be

the source of all the purging Stones

purging stones have existed since Dark

Souls 1 and we're used to remove the

curse effect in that game but it's not

about taking the curse and removing it

it's just transferring it to the stone

itself to be the new host but the stone

is said to Once be a person so maybe

these are the beings who were turned

into stone or what they became once we

transfer the curse to the stone or maybe

it's something else entirely after

getting out of the swamp we'll find a

dragon named Mader this isn't fake like

the ancient dragon Mader is an actual

descendant of the Ark dragons from long

ago even though he only seems to make an

appearance here if we knock him off the

bridge and find a secret tunnel we can

find him again he is easily the most

difficult boss in the entire game with a

staggering 15,000 health and he's also

equipped with some moves that might

on-shot the player depending on their

equipment according to his boss Soul

Madar was actually raised by the gods

and was tasked with fighting the the

abyss and it seems that he's been alive

for a long time as one description says

from not long after the beginning

meaning he may have existed before even

fire was born back when the dragons

ruled the world the reason he's going so

crazy is very similar to artorius as the

abyss has fully corrupted him so we need

to put him out of his misery he is

definitely the ultimate challenge for

players given his kit of high damaging

moves but assuming you can conquer him

you'll receive the spears of the church

which ties into our next boss halflight

halflight is a member of the Covenant

Spears of the church who guards fillian

or who is said to be Gwynn's daughter

who he left here in the ring City but

halflight is a PVP boss as there's a

chance a real player can replace

halflight and be the boss instead but

that is only accessible to those who

defeat Madar since he drops the pendant

that allows you to access the Covenant

sadly though since this game is over 6

years old you'll more than likely just

get halflight instead interestingly

though halflight may have been from ulil

as the bow he uses says that it was a

relic from an ancient land of sorceries

that has been swallowed by the abyss and

we know that ulio has many unique spells

like repair hidden body and chameleon

his outfit also states that a group of

young missionaries went to the ring City

long ago but halflight stayed behind

making him the final Spear of the church

this would also mean that there was a

time in uil's history when it wasn't

corrupted by the abyss and was a normal

land before cth came and tricked them

behind the church is filor the girl they

swore to protect and she may have one of

the best cut scenes the series has to

offer upon touching her egg she wakes up

which sees the world change out of

everything in the Dark Souls Series this

might be at the top as the most talked

about interaction in the game as there's

so much that happen happens with very

little explanation as to what it means

many people believe that fanor and her

egg held up the illusion of the Ring

City similar to gwindel and an Orlando

and Dark Souls 1 but some have also

claimed that this takes us to the Future

and is a glimpse of what the world will

look like should we keep things going

her egg though is interesting as it has

a very dark Center and if we relate this

back to the repair spell from earlier

that's as light as time by breaking the

egg we break the dark inside of it which

allows light to appear meaning now time

exists and is no longer stagnant which

would go along with the the that this is

a future as the time accelerates after

being stagnant for so long regardless of

what you believe in though this cutscene

is great and allows us to access the

Wasteland of Ash inside this Wasteland

is two beings and if you subscribe to

the theory that this is the future this

might be the last two beings left in the

world us and

Gail what still here

handed over that thing your Dark Soul

Gail has not only gone mad and grown in

size but he is the final boss of the DLC

the ring city was the final DLC and also

the final piece of content in the Dark

Souls Trilogy having played this game on

release I had already beaten the final

boss tons of times so for me Gail was

technically my final boss of Dark Souls

and I couldn't have asked for anything

better to me Gail is the best boss in

the game and even the entire Trilogy

every everything from design to

presentation to gameplay is completely

perfect Gail is a slave Knight who are

Knights that were used as fod in many of

the land's bleakest Wars but it seems

most of them went Hollow all except for

Gail Gail came to the ring City in

search of the Dark Souls and thus

slaughtered the pygmy Lords as they

contain the Dark Souls within them since

they're the descendants of the furtive

pygmy but Gail realized that the Dark

Souls had dried up so in order to make

them liquid enough to be used as pigment

he consumed the Dark Souls that They

Carried since it was now in his

bloodstream it was able to mix into into

a liquid again but doing so made him go

mad Gail literally has the power of the

dark soul within his body and uses the

power of the dark soul and the abyss to

fight us as evident by these red skulls

that appear from his cape he and Gwyn

also contrast each other in this respect

Gwyn was a being who was a god from the

beginning and on top of the food chain

and is remembered by all for his

sacrifice but Gail was a slave the

lowest of the low whose sacrifice will

be known by only us a lowly piece of

unkindled Ash this sacrifice of gals

ties into a theory of mine after his

death we can take the blood of the dark

soul to the painter to be used as Pigman

for her new world Gail knew he wouldn't

make it back but continued his mission

Anyway by handing it off to us he helps

us defeat sister Freda and the demon

Prince which are the two required bosses

we need to beat to get to the ring City

and once we do get to the ring City he

leaves markings of his cape along the

way that it will eventually point us

towards his location he wanted us to

find him and he wanted us to defeat him

so that we can continue his mission for

him and give the painter the blood she

needed as a whole Gail is easily my

favorite character character and boss in

this game he is like us a nobody he

isn't some Godlike figure or a being who

was born with insurmountable power he

like US gain this power through battle

and now the two strongest beings in the

world are duking it out at the edge of

the world truly the best boss this game

has to offer and was the best way to end

all the dlc's with Gail defeated we can

now give the painter the pigment she

thanks us and will eventually start

painting she never actually finishes the

painting though and this is an important

detail just like the other DLCs in the

trilogy this isn't the end of the game

the final boss is at the Kiln it's not

Gail so giving her this pigment doesn't

mean the end of the game it's just one

part of our long journey even if it

seems like a wonderful conclusion to the

game the DLCs of Dark Souls are the best

in the series and the ring city is a big

reason why ash is a very Andel is great

and a nice additional Side Story

especially since we get to learn more

about the painted worlds but the

callbacks references and answers to

questions we've been wondering about for

years are what makes this DLC so

impressive furthermore both DLCs have

some of the most intense fights in the

game and are the Pinnacle of this game's

combat from software has always made

their DLCs with Incredible quality and

sometimes are even better than the main

game and Dark Souls II continues to

honor this tradition Gail's objective is

now complete so now it's time to

complete ours which is go to the Kiln

and determine the fate of the world once

again defending this Kiln is being known

as the soul of Cinder this is the

physical manifestation of every being to

link the flame since its Inception

meaning our characters from Dark Souls 1

and 2 are a part of this being he also

fights like a real player too as his

move set is by far the most diverse in

the game he has three different melee

weapons uses all the schools of magic

and even has the ninja flipping from

Dark Souls 1 but our old characters

aren't the only ones in this being there

is one other character we know of the

one who was here from the very beginning

he was the one that created this world

so it's ironic that he gets to be here

for when we destroy it

the soul of Cinder not only has the same

move set as Gwyn but also the same piano

and its theme music I'll be honest I get

a bit emotional whenever I hear this

hearing that piano made me think of the

journey I had taken to get here all the

defeats and victories all the NPCs I had

encountered all the kingdoms I uncovered

and all the fates of the people I've met

along the way we have seen the literal

rise and fall of the entire world before

our eyes and every single person and

decision we have made has shaped us into

the person we are now a person who now

has to determine the entire fate of the

world should you go against everything

this game has taught you and still

believe in the first flame you'll be

shown a very depressing ending the Ashen

one links the flame and continues the

age of fire but it's not the spectacle

we saw in Dark Souls 1 it can barely

even cover our character let alone the

rest of the Arena the Ashen one looks

disappointed as if they expected

something more in fact we the player

were probably expecting something more

and are now just as disappointed this is

why I believe that everyone from Gwyn

till now has linked the flame when it

faded as if the world alternated like it

was supposed to then this wouldn't make

sense as to why the flame is this

pitiful the first flame is on its

deathbed and we still haven't granted it

the death it wants if we instead summon

the fire keeper she will take the first

flame and extinguish it for good the age

of dark will commence and the world has

gone completely black and while it may

seem scary to venture into a World

Without fire the fire keeper assures us

that the fire will eventually return

someday just like it did all the years

ago remember things are meant to live

and die the age of dark is temporary and

fire will return and an age of fire will

begin again but hopefully it will not be

extended this time if you're feeling

greedy you can also enact the age of

dark and take the Flames power for

yourself this is similar to our final

ending and the secret ending of Dark

Souls 3 the usurpation of fire this

requires us to complete yuria's quest

line yuria is from a place called londor

and we know that she's also the sister

of Freda and lilianne who created the

Sable Church in londor but what is

londor well it's a land of Hollows as we

can see all the hollows bowing down to

us as the new Lord of Hollows londor

also had many pilgrims that came to this

land possibly to find the first flame

and overtake lothric those Butterflies

from the dragon slayer armor are called

Pilgrim butterflies so maybe this is the

Pilgrim's final form so to speak these

pilgrims are most likely members of the

Sable church as while these sisters

created the church the pilgrims most

likely went here to worship their God

who happens to be the primordial serpent

coth we never see coth in game and the

only reason we even know this is because

of Yu's death dialogue but the call back

to him was insane and almost maybe

nervous for a bit as he could have been

orchestrating this church for who knows

how long so that he finally gets what he

wants if you remember he tricked the

Four Kings and the people of ulil into

being engulfed by the abyss so what's

stopping him from doing it against the

people of londor although in his defense

when we place the Lord vessel in Dark

Souls 1 cot says that every last one of

them failed him so maybe he isn't trying

to screw with londor and possibly found

a genuine group of people that will

follow and carry out his wish

accompanying us into the new world is

also hory of aora who depending on our

actions either got to defeat Aldridge

with us and finally be able to kill the

person she hated the most or gets killed

and unwillingly serves as our bride when

we become the Lord of Hollows which is

quite a dark twist Lor also seems to

embrace its Hollow State but this may

come at a cost Yol of londor can give us

the dark sigils required to progress the

quest line but once he does that he dies

and the Assassin who gives us the

wedding sword dies after the ceremony so

it seems like they're only able to

retain their sanity when Hollow but as a

consequence die once their purpose has

been fulfilled this is just about all we

know in regards to Lor but there is

still quite a few theories involved with

the kingdom such as the fact that Lor

could be tied to Drang Lake or Vela

admittedly it's a small connection but

items from Dark Souls 1 and 2 like the

vow of silence dead again dark drift and

dark hand have had their item

descriptions changed vow of silence in

Dark Souls 1 is a spell that was created

by Vela but in Dark Souls 3 it's used by

members of the church and the dark Drift

from Dark Souls 2 was said to be used by

the grave Warden and the dead Crypt but

in Dark Souls 3 it's used by Uria

however I don't think Vendrick and Alia

are related to this though as the two of

them wanted to remove the curse and Lor

wants to embrace their Hollow form

although in a manner of speaking the

hollow form is the true version of man

and thus could be in a way what the

brothers desired but I'm not too sure I

believe in this Theory especially given

how the brothers are never mentioned in

this game and would be weird if they

finally made an appearance now

regardless now it's time to say goodbye

to the age of fire and to Dark Souls the

age of dark is a metaphor for the Dark

Souls series every Dark Souls game has

taken place in the age of fire and by

keeping this age going we can keep the

Dark Souls games going but is that

really what we want many games have gone

on to make numerous sequels and ruin the

Integrity of that series the age of dark

is not just about moving on from the age

of fire but from Dark Souls itself as

much as I want more Dark Souls games to

keep coming it's only going to ruin the

franchise going forward but that doesn't

mean we have to say goodbye to the souls

genre we have Elden ring and any other

Souls games that come after it so our

hunger for this genre of games will

never die but we do need to say goodbye

to Dark Souls having Dark Souls end now

means it ends on a high note and I'd

rather see the game quit while it's

ahead than watch it release sequel after

sequel that will inevitably tarnish its

reputation causing it to be one of the

many games in the industry that ran

itself into the dirt so it's time to

finally put this game and its world to

rest thank you for watching

Transcript

Dark Souls is one of the best series of

all time and has one of the most complex

yet remarkable narratives I've ever had

the pleasure of uncovering it's filled

with so many ideas themes and values

that breathe life into this series and

its various interpretations allow people

to add in their own details ultimately

making their playthroughs a unique

experience so today I want to take some

time to talk about the trilogy I want to

not only retell the game's main stories

but also critique them along the way I'm

going to examine why specific parts of

the game are so well crafted and how its

World design and bosses shape the story

around them so with that out of the way

thank you for watching and I hope you

enjoy Dark Souls 1 is a fantastic game

it's got a wonderful story that would

set in motion numerous events that would

occur throughout the trilogy but just

within the bounds of its own game Dark

Souls 1 has some incredibly deep and

Rich lore filled with some of the

greatest backstories this Series has to

offer and today I want to discuss why so

without further Ado let's get started so

the opening cinematic of Dark Souls 1

starts with the gray world one that is

filled with giant trees and dragons and

while the world stayed like that for a

while one day fire was born as for how

this fire came to be well it's never

explained this is one of the many things

we just have to accept the world of Dark

Souls is fantasy and many things just

can't be explained it's never mentioned

how the first flame was created as it

just happened but because the first

flame was born disparity came with it

life and death heat and cold and light

and dark this description is literal

since the first flame was created the

people of the world felt its warmth and

understood what heat was when they

walked away from the flame they realized

its heat didn't reach them which created

the feeling of cold the discovery of

fire during the Stone Age is to this day

the greatest discovery known to man and

in Dark Souls this is no different given

how unique something like this in the

world of Dark Souls was those who

discovered it were obviously attracted

to its power four notable people would

discover Lord Souls next to these flames

and be given immense power these people

were Neato isth Gwyn and the pygmy from

the intro we can infer that there was a

civilization of people that existed

during the age of ancients isth had

daughters that were with her when she

found her lord soul and Gwyn had his

knights with him implying that people

did exist during the time of the age of

ancients but weren't of much value to

the world given how powerful the Dragons

Were eventually Neato isth and Gwyn

would band together and use their power

to overthrow the dragons Gwyn used his

lightning isth used her flames and Neato

used his death and disease they also

received help from a SE the scales a

Dragon who betrayed his own kind now

that the new Lords were on top of the

food chain the age of ancients was no

more and the age of fire had begun this

period would last thousands of years

until we get to today currently the fire

is fading and it needs to be rekindled

in order to keep it lit but doing this

is not as simple as it sounds you may

have noticed I forgot to talk about the

pygmy well the pygmy had a unique Soul

called The Dark Soul using his soul he

created something called Humanity he

would then share this Humanity with his

people these Dark Soul imbued people

became became known as humans the pygmy

is essentially our ancestor Gwyn feared

this power though and created the dark

sign which inadvertently caused the

undead curse this isn't explained much

in Dark Souls 1 but it is by far the

most important plot in the whole series

and while I just wanted to talk about

this game for the whole video this needs

to be explained or else the rest of the

video going forward will make no sense

the undead curse the dark sign and the

fading of the fire are all linked the

Dark Soul gets more powerful the closer

the fire is to fading thus meaning human

should get more powerful over time but

gwin screwed Humanity twice by

rekindling the flame thus removing our

chance at power but also by branding

humans with the dark sign think of this

as a literal wall of fire that prevents

the Dark Soul within men from getting

too powerful the dark sign only

activates when the flame is fading

because that is when the Dark Soul

within men starts to grow stronger this

dark sign also prevents humans from

dying but it also causes them to go

Undead these fleshy creatures were once

Undead humans but they have crossed the

barrier of no return even though humans

are able to revive after death

eventually this will cause them to lose

their Humanity lose their minds and lose

their purpose causing them to go Hollow

these creatures are Hollows beings who

don't even remember who they are where

they are or what they're even doing Gwyn

likes being on top and he fears the day

that he will lose his power so he'll do

anything he can to prevent that from

happening he did this by branding

Humanity with the dark sign but by also

rekindling the flame which is known as

the first sin see the world is like a

set of operations things are born but

eventually they'll die but but then more

things will be born only to die soon

after that's just the way the world

works but Gwyn broke the laws of the

World by rekindling the first flame it

was meant to be extinguished but due to

Gwyn wanting to hold on to what he held

dear he couldn't Dare See It Go he

sacrificed himself by using himself as

kindling for the first flame since he

had one of the four original Lord Souls

that came from the first flame it was

deemed sufficient enough to be used as

fuel unless the gauge of fire continued

but as we know it is fading once more

the undead curse is back humans are

turning Hollow and the world is in chaos

doesn't this sound like a fantastic

story that's because it is this intro

and even the game display a sense of

desperation within our characters how

far are people willing to go to get what

they want or keep what they have and

while each of their desires is different

it always comes out the same Dark Souls

1 is just the start but the actions of

its characters will continue to Echo

throughout the entire Trilogy and we're

just getting started after the opening

cinematic we get to see the state of the

world as it is today or at least the

state of this we're an undead that is

sitting in their cell awaiting the end

of the world but one day we're given the

key to our cell and are able to leave

this person is Oscar and he speaks of a

prophecy there is an old saying in my

family thou who art Undead art chosen in

thine Exodus from the Undead Asylum

maketh pilgrimage to the land of ancient

Lords when thou ringeth the bell of

Awakening the fate of the undead Thou

shalt know this prophecy also happens to

be the main objective of the game but

it's only the first part the rest we'll

have to discover later the intro of Dark

Souls 1 sets up a new world by

showcasing multiple important events in

the world's history and also gives us

enough information to understand the

basic premise of the game while also

purposely withholding some of that

information to give us a reason to seek

out set information one thing we need to

consider though is our character's

motivations why even bother making the

trip to lordran the land of Lords well

what else is there to do it's the end of

the world and you were just given the

keys to your cell allowing you to

explore the world to Hearts content even

if you're convinced that life is doomed

and the world as we know it will

disappear for good why not make the most

out of it have some fun kill some

Hollows it's a whole lot better than

rotting in a cell with our objective

laid out to us thanks to Oscar we can

now set out to lordran and ring the

bells technically the first area you're

meant to go is the undead Berg but one

wrong step and you can make it to New

Londo out of all the souls games Dark

Souls 1 will provide the best blind

playthrough as due to its connected

World players will go in different

directions which in turn will create

different experiences New Londo is

actually a lake Game Area since the

enemies here are quite strong and the

boss at the end of the level is quite

tough but you may stumble upon this area

by accident within 5 minutes of arriving

this is due in part to Dark Souls 1's

level design which may have the best

level design in the whole franchise it's

been coined as a Metroid Vania a genre

that started with the games Metroid and

Castlevania these games have nonlinear

progression as many areas can be

accessed right away but others can't

causing the player to go around the map

looking for the key then running back to

that same location such as this door

that leads to havl which can only be be

found in the dark grou Basin past the

boss the door is found pretty early on

in your playthrough but the key is found

much later plus you'll also have to

remember where that key goes you'll be

doing lots of running in this game the

highlight of one of my play sessions was

going from BL town to Andre because I

forgot to ascend my weapon before a boss

fight meaning I had to take a 3-minute

walk up to him then a 3-minute walk back

down in future titles this would be

remedied by fast travel but Dark Souls 1

doesn't have fast travel initially and

even when you do gain the power of fast

travel via the Lord vessel it's not the

typical fast travel were familiar with

as we're only allowed to travel to

specific bonfires these decisions

further immerse the player into the

world as it's all one connected level

and since they're all connected that

means you can see certain levels from

different places such as Blight Town

which is visible from Firelink Shrine So

Not only was the level design of each

area taken into account but also how the

levels connected to one another and how

this connection would affect other areas

regardless of where you end up though

whether that be New Londo or Undead Berg

the very first enemies you'll come to

see are these Hollow Men like the ones

back in the Asylum all the undead we see

here are humans who have lost their

Humanity causing them to go Hollow and

now since we are human we should go

Hollow too however it's a bit more meta

than that hollowing is a bit hard to

Define as everyone can go Hollow for

different reasons but the two main ideas

seem to stem from constant death or a

loss of purpose given that our character

is set on ringing the bells he never

goes Hollow despite being Undead as he

still has a purpose should the player

quit and uninstall the game they would

lose their purpose so permanently

quitting the game is sort of like

hollowing in a sense I don't think

everything needs to be explained with

lore so this is more than likely just a

gameplay mechanic but that's how I've

interpreted hollowing on our way to the

bells of Awakening we'll come across

various different locations but sadly

there isn't a whole lot of backstory

involved in their creation locations

like Undead Berg are just Undead

settlements and the valley of Drakes is

just a valley filled with Drakes the

only exceptions though are Ash Lake and

blight toown blight toown is next to a

location called the deps and at the end

of The Depths is the gaping dragon and

while an interesting boss what's more

important is the arena we can see water

coming from the depths and going into

the sewer system which leads to Blight

Town according to various keys in the

game we can piece together that those

who previously lived in the undead Berg

but were banished from the settlement

were sent to Blight Town as punishment

this is reinforced by the giant door

that separates the sewer system from the

outside world but this water from the

sewer is poisonous well in Blight Town

there's a spell called Poison mist and

according to its description it seems

that eni this egg bearing individual may

have caused this as he was the creator

of the poison Miss spell it's not fully

confirmed that he did this but it's

clear that ble Town isn't in the

greatest State and it's due to the

circumstances surrounding blle town that

the town's folks seem to have built

above the water in hopes of getting away

from it this is a common theme in these

games of things being built on top of

one another as we see Blight Town above

the swamp The Depths above Blight Town

and the undead Berg above all that the

idea of pushing things down and leaving

them to Fester is also a common theme

within this game but not everything is

in such a sad State as at the lowest

point of lordran we see Ash Lake a

seemingly infinite land filled with

archery trees that are surrounded by an

equally infinite body of water for the

purposes of Ash Lake this seems to be

where the dragons used to live or at

least one part of it as it's eerily

similar to the environment in the intro

which we do know was the land of the

Everlasting dragons we can even find one

of the few remaining dragons down here

in Ash Lake he's a part of the dragon

covenant in game and from various

descriptions it seems like many people

worshiped the dragons and tried to

ascend to their level it's unclear

though if that worked once the player

feels confident in their fighting

abilities they can approach the bosses

defending the bells of wake ing these

being the Bell Gargoyles and Chaos witch

quag after ringing both Bells we'll see

that s's Fortress a place that was

originally blocked with a large gate is

now open but if we travel back to

Firelink Shrine we'll find a primordial

serpent named frampt he claims to be a

close friend of gwyn's and also claims

to know our fate very well then I am

pleased to share chosen

Undead your fate is to succeed the great

Lord Gwyn so that you May link the fire

Cast Away the Dark and undo the curse of

the undead to this end you must visit an

Orondo and acquire the Lord vessel just

like before this second part of the

prophecy also happens to be our newest

objective but frampt is quite a complex

character if certain conditions are met

within the game we can also be granted

an audience with coth he however tells

us a different story your ancestor

claims the Dark Soul and waited for fire

subside and soon the Flames did fade and

only dark remained thus began the age of

men the age of dark so it wasn't just

the fact that the fire was fading that

caused Gwyn to rekindle it the flame

actually went out furthermore despite

being the same species both framp and

coth have different views on the world

framp wants to keep the age of fire

going but coth wants to usher in an age

of Darkness the question is who do we

trust well that's up to you as these are

the two endings of the game extinguish

the flame or rekindle it the choice is

yours what is important to note though

is their motivations why are they doing

this why are they against each other

well we still don't know and it's been a

widely debated topic that hasn't been

given a proper answer yet regardless I

don't think you should trust any of them

framp claims that the undead curse will

be cured if we link the flame but this

isn't correct as we'll see in Dark Souls

2 and 3 The Curse is still present framp

and cth are like politicians they say

what needs to be said but never

elaborate by technicality the undead

curse will be cured when we link the

flame as we know the dark sign only

appears when fire Fades and if it's not

fading then the curse of the dark sign

is gone which means the curse goes with

it but it will eventually come back

Things Are Meant to run their course so

over time the fire will fade again and

the curse will come back just not in our

character's lifetime frampt whether

intentional or not is leading the player

to believe that the Cur curse will

disappear permanently when indeed it

only just disappears for a few thousand

years but cth is also lying as he isn't

fully explaining what this age of

Darkness entails and as we'll see kth

isn't exactly the nicest person in the

souls Universe I've always seen these

two as Immortal beings ones that are

ageless and due to this when the time

comes they like to move the pieces a bit

and see what happens cth and framp are

basically playing a long game of chess

but without the stakes regardless of who

wins they both continue to live one just

managed to convince the chosen and

Undead more so why not cause a bit of

chaos a lie or two here wouldn't hurt

anybody as it's just extra pieces on the

board to them to this day we still don't

know what they really want from us and

whether their goals they conveyed to us

were actually genuine my interpretation

of these could be wildly incorrect but

that's the beauty of these games they

allow you to shape your own story and

create your own adventure and in my

story I don't trust these two regardless

of who you believe the one thing they

agree on is that we need the Lord vessel

thus we need to get to an Orlando to get

there we'll need to pass through

Fortress a place filled with deadly

traps and is easily the most infuriating

area in the whole game The Fortress is

also used as a sort of trial as this

leads us to an Orlando but many people

have tried and failed to get there this

is of course due to the numerous traps

throughout the Fortress and the Iron

Golem at the top although he was

surprisingly the easiest part of the

Fortress once the Golem is defeated we

are then grabbed by these demons and

taken to an Orlando

it's hard to forget your first time in

an Orlando nothing up until this point

has been more extravagant and beautiful

looking than this place and that's what

makes it so memorable in a world devoid

of beauty and color there's this

incredible place that just exists but

it's on the other side of the wall but

something is off it feels empty like we

showed up Lake to a party and in a more

metaphorical and literal sense we have

this place is gorgeous but if you'll

excuse the Pun It's also quite Hollow

lots of your time and an Orlando is

spent walking but if you manage to make

it past these Giants and exploit the AI

of these silver Knights then you'll make

it to the climactic fight of orstein and

SM on ands is undoubtedly my favorite

fight in Dark Souls 1 the balance of

these two is unmatched as orstein is a

quick nimble fighter that can go halfway

across the arena just to hit you but his

damage is nowhere near as staggering as

the force that is SM whereas orstein

instills fear from his speed sm's fear

comes from his power orstein at the

beginning of the fight is more or less a

pushover he does deal decent damage but

it's not enough to Warrant a healing

item but no amount of damage resistance

especially this early on could protect

you from smos hammer and one hit from

this Hammer can make orstein seem a lot

more threatening their power grows from

the other's presence as the more orstein

chips at your health the closer you are

to being within one shot range of SM and

if SM hits you once well there's nothing

that can compare to that level of stress

they feed off each other in such a

balanced way in fact they actually feed

on each other as whoever Falls first

becomes the power source for the other

their health also goes back to full so

it's never about dwindling them down

over time it's committing to one and

sticking with it the problem is is

knowing when to strike and how given how

well they complement each other it might

seem like there's never an opening and

that's what makes them such a difficult

fight all that's required though from

the player is patience it's arguably one

of the best fights in the game and even

the series as a whole and I can finally

see why while on and may seem like the

climactic Finish to the level hold your

load as behind them is the real climax

the princess of sunlight Gwen feel free

to interpret climax however you want she

is the one who gives us the Lord vessel

we need to progress through the game but

as I said earlier it feels like we

arrived late to a party well I wasn't

lying once the post-nut clarity settles

in if we attack GW ofir the world of an

Orlando shows its true colors and

reveals that it's just as depressing as

everything else in lordran and the one

responsible for this illusion is dark

swindin gwindel is an interesting case

to me as he was the last born child of

Gwyn who was a male but was raised as a

female this was due to his strong

Affinity with moon magic I'm not sure

what the connection is but maybe it's

some sort of cultural thing where the

Moon is seen as a sort of feminine and

symbol which would actually explain a

lot regarding a future game and two of

its characters gwindel also created the

illusion of an Orlando to seemingly

entice The Chosen Undead to continue

their Duty remember gwindel only appears

when we kill Gwen's illusion meaning

that this is actually gwindel speaking

to us through his sister he also shares

the same viewpoints as framp which is

interesting as he's basically telling us

to kill his father and continue the age

of fire gwiin seems to want to hold on

to the power his family has and keep

things running smoothly which is why he

wants the age of fire to continue so

that his family and their powers can

stay and the reason why he created the

illusion of and Orlando was also to

desperately hold on to the Past H I

guess it runs in the family then as for

how Gwen ofir fits into this well she

was gwyn's second born child who like

many other deities left in Orlando she

would then meet with a flame God FL and

later become his wife besides these two

Gwyn had two other children but we'll

have to wait for Dark Souls 3i to

discuss more about them so in Orlando

the city of gods this place that was

supposed to be seen as a Beacon of Hope

to all within lordran is just an

illusion but an Orlando isn't the only

illusion of lordran by making our way to

the painting inside the city upon

touching it we're thrown into the

painted world of Aramis Aramis as a

concept is fascinating as it's this

world within a world and these people

inside the painting could possibly never

know of the world outside of it from

exploring this Hidden World we learn

that Aramis was made for things the gods

feared aramus is home to the followers

of Vela and Vela is known as the goddess

of sin furthermore this is the only

location in the game where you can find

the dark Ember which according to its

item description is used to make occult

Weaponry weapons that were favorable

amongst those who plan to kill the gods

and their kin Vela was more than likely

someone who wanted to hunt the gods but

was killed or thrown into the painting

it's clear that this place has a

malicious history behind it but it's not

all bad as the person who watches over

Aramis is crossbreed Priscilla Priscilla

is a half-human half dragon crossbreed

due to this unique birth she also gains

some unique abilities mainly the ability

of Life hunt which she uses on her

Scythe these powers of hers could th

threaten the God's rule so they also

threw her into the painted world but

what's rather interesting is Priscilla

herself she's the only boss in the game

that doesn't want to fight us she even

tells us how to leave Aramis meaning not

only does she have no intent of enacting

Revenge but she knows how to leave yet

refuses Priscilla may have felt how

these new arrivals feel but instead of

using Vengeance she uses acceptance and

instead welcomes these people into her

painted world it's actually quite

wholesome and is the reason why I

couldn't kill her every boss in this

game is hellbent on killing me so when I

finally discover Ed one that didn't want

to and in fact help me I couldn't refuse

so I left with the hope that Priscilla

would be able to make this place a

proper home for her people this whole

area is swarming with Hollows and other

creatures that want nothing more than to

kill us but they were either tricked

into here or thrown in because the gods

will it and yeah some of them probably

do belong in here but if Priscilla is

set on making this place a home for

those who have found themselves here

then who am I to intervene after

acquiring the Lord vessel when we meet

with cth or frm they'll tell us that to

gain access to Gwyn we must gather the

remaining Lord souls and use them to

satiate the Lord vessel these Lord Souls

belong to four individuals SE the scalas

The Witch of isth Neato and the Four

Kings three of whom you will have

already recognized from here we can

tackle the game in any order we want so

let's start with the Four Kings the Four

Kings are well Four Kings who ruled over

New Londo they were given fragments of

Gwyn Soul which is why we need to kill

them you may recognize their boss

location as this is the same dark abyss

that we met cth in well long ago the

Four Kings were tricked by cth and were

consumed by the abyss this caused the

Kings to go mad and this also caused the

citizens to either become these Blobs of

mass or the dark wraith soldiers this

area really utilizes the envirment to

tell its tale as this place is overrun

by the ghosts of the villagers and when

we actually unlock the door to lower

nandoo we see piles of corpses scattered

throughout the land cth single-handedly

destroyed an entire city simply by

tricking its inhabitants and unleashing

the abyss upon them while the mass

extinction of a city sounds bad there is

still more destruction to be seen one

thing you may have noticed is a severe

lack of human bosses quag would probably

count as the first one you'd meet

although she's sort of half human but

there's a reason for this as this has to

do with the witch of isth while Gwyn was

frantically running around trying to

figure out what to do with the flame The

Witch of isth had a plan she was going

to create a new flame that would replace

the first flame but she attempted to

create a replica in the presence of the

very thing that was created which

brought with it massive consequences The

Witch of isth wanted to create a new

first flame but there was already a

first flame present in the world there

can't be two first Flames due to this

the the flame that she created couldn't

be contained for long causing it to

erupt and this not only consumed her and

her children but also created new life

as it gave birth to Demons the Asylum

Taurus and cpra Demon roughly the first

three bosses in the game were created

from this event in fact anything that

has the word demon in it is most likely

derived from this flame of chaos but not

only was New Life created old life was

altered all of isela's family who were

caught in the explosion were all

transformed into demons themselves chaos

which quag the fair lady and ceaseless

discharge are three of eth's children

just as Gwyn was desperate to continue

the age of fire in an attempt to keep

what he had so too did isth but the

consequences are reflection of her

actions in an attempt to give life to

something bright and warm she ended up

giving life to something cold and dark

she also wanted to extend the age of

fire in order to continue her prosperous

life with her children but by doing so

she ended up making their lives a living

hell not a single person in this family

tree is living a robust life anymore

quag and her sister the fair lady are

half demon and are more than likely

suffering from their condition as told

To Us by the fair lady

qu what is

quog my dear sister the eggs it

hurts they've gone still I am

afraid it may be too late I am so

sorry dear Sister C's discharge was

covered in lavasa surus and birth so his

life was a living hell from the start

the flame of chaos just made it worse

ceaseless discharge just like Priscilla

doesn't actually want to fight us it's

only until we steal this clothing set

that he attacks us this clothing set

rests upon a grave that belonged to his

sister quana who he believes died in the

explosion when in fact she was the only

one who escaped quana will appear in

Blight Town if the player is efficient

enough in pyromancy quana explains that

she was the only one who made it out of

the reaches of the flame of Chaos in

fact she was actually able to harness

the power of the flame of chaos and

create Magic which we know as pyromancy

quana wants us to fulfill her Duty for

her as she does not have the strength to

go on she instructs us that we need to

put down her siblings and her mother so

that they may rest in peace this whole

family Dynamic is horrific as ceaseless

believes that all his sisters are dead

even though quana is alive and quana is

only a few meters from her sister and

yet we can tell her about this clearly

this is turning into a very depressing

story but it only gets worse as we get

closer to the final boss of the area

we'll meet with a pyroman who was

assumed to be another daughter of isth

although it's unclear why she is so far

down in these ruins yet is completely

unharmed it's possible that she like

quana escaped the flame of chaos but

this daughter came back to finish off

the boss right behind her or has

possibly gone insane and is now

defending said boss and by going down

this slide we will meet this monstrosity

who is the Bed of Chaos this is the

witch of isth one of the four most

powerful people in the world has been

demoted to this deformed tree likee

creature there are also these orbs next

to her that we need to destroy in order

to damage her and it's assumed by many

that these are her other two daughters

that were closest to her when the flame

erupted so we have two daughters stuck

to their mother two daughters who were

half afflicted by the flame a son who is

arguably the most affected and two

daughters who managed to survive one who

doesn't have the strength to carry on

anymore and another who sits outside her

mother's Arena this is by far the most

depressing story I've ever had The

Misfortune of uncovering the further we

push into lost isth the more of the

family we get to meet allowing us to see

the consequence es of her actions we can

see the pain that all of them are in as

some of them are just wishing for their

siblings back and others just want to

stay alive it's an awful story that all

leads to the final fight with isth

herself and it is by far the most

anticlimactic ending I've ever

experienced it is agreed upon by many

that the Bed of Chaos is the worst fight

in Dark Souls 1 the boss is insanely

difficult but it's not the difficulty

itself that's the issue it's why the

boss is difficult I would argue that

just within the main game the two

hardest bosses are the Four Kings in

orstein and smoke ow ands are difficult

bosses because there's two of them you

have to have both on screen at all times

or you'll lose this fight this is

balanced by having orstein be fast but

not as lethal and SM being slow and

hard-hitting it's a wonderful dichotomy

that makes for a satisfying fight and

the Four Kings is a DPS check as every

30 to 45 seconds a second king will

spawn and this will keep going until

four on your screen at once to succeed

you need to kill the current King before

this happens both boss fights are hard

but have weaknesses you can exploit the

Bed of Chaos has none to defeat the boss

you need to destroy both orbs on her

sides then go down the middle inside of

her so you can find the source of her

power she's actually extremely weak as

both the orbs and her die in one hit

it's getting there that's the issue her

hand attack is oddly timed and due to

her design it's unclear where her hit

box ends after defeating one of the orbs

the floor will start to crumble so not

only do you need to avoid her attacks

but you'll also need to avoid the floor

there's also a strict path you're meant

to follow for this fight which will lead

you right next to a broken piece in the

flooring so you'll more than than likely

get hit and fallen and die the walk back

to this boss is also just as atrocious

as you'll more than likely spend more

time walking to the boss than actually

fighting her thankfully there is no

reset involved in this boss as every

single run you've done is carried over

to the next as it essentially has

unlimited checkpoints it's like from

software knew it was bad but still kept

it in even if I actually enjoyed the

fight the payoff narratively isn't worth

the time we ventured further and further

into the depths of lost isth coming

across all of her children who were

these hideous beasts that did incredible

damage and she's just a puzzle The Witch

of isth has one of the best Back stories

in the game as the tale of her children

is heartbreaking and being able to see

their conditions face to face does take

a lot out of you but it's completely

soured by a boss fight that is

mechanically and narratively a letdown

our third Lord Soul belongs to grave

Lord Neato and he's interesting to say

the least Neato might have the most

detailed boss design but the most basic

story out of all the four Lords if you

were to just assume that Neato simply

became the Grim Reaper and just

administered death you wouldn't be far

off off which is a shame for someone of

his importance grave Lord Neato lives in

the Tomb of giants which is accessed via

the catacombs both these arish Sher

similar theme of death as this is where

the dead are buried so we know that he

administers death but what else does he

do well not much else he does have a

covenant that you can join but their

goal is just to spread more death across

the world it seems like he doesn't care

about what's going on in the world as

the only reason he attacks you is

because we're obviously here with

malicious intent Neo doesn't have any

lore regarding his life during the age

of fire and it's just about about him

administering death from this we can

infer that Neato either doesn't care

about the age of fire or maybe even just

wants the age of Darkness to occur the

only other bit of lore surrounding him

is a boss named pin wheel who was a

necromancer presumably made up of three

people as referenced by the number of

masks on the body who stolen item from

him known as the right of kindling there

are quite a few theories regarding pin

wheel like the fact that pin wheel was

originally a father but his wife and

child died so he attempted to resurrect

them but it failed and some have stated

further that he's still trying to figure

out how to revive them as we can see

skeleton throughout the room which could

be seen as his test subjects but other

than that we've pretty much discussed

all of Neato there isn't anything else

to speak about which is a real shame his

backstory has a massive amount of

potential but it just felt unfinished

there are no major themes tied to Neato

he's just kind of exists our final Lord

Soul belongs to se the scalas SE as we

remember Allied himself with our four

Lords and attacked the dragons the

reason he did this was because SE unlike

the other dragons was not Immortal all

the other dragons had impenetrable

scales that could not be broken with any

type of weapon SE was not born with

these scales so in a sense he was not

Immortal it was only until Gwyn was

given their weakness from SE which we

know is lightning that Gwyn was able to

pierce the dragon scales and actually

kill them SE was envious of his Brethren

as they had what he didn't so as thanks

for working with Gwyn he was named the

Duke and given the duk's archives as

well as some of Gwynn's lord soul for

power during the war SE found the

primordial Crystal an item that gave him

temporary immortality but during this

time in the Duke's archives he

eventually went mad with his experiments

and his research he is considered the

grandfather of sorcery as well as the

creator of these creatures and the

Moonlight Butterfly our first

interaction with SE is that he ends up

killing us and throwing us in a prison

cell we can see that theme of

desperation as SE is trying everything

he can to get what he wants but in the

process it made him mad he's not as

mindful of his actions as he used to be

and is sort of a shadow of his former

self one thing I find interesting in

this prison is the abundance of Miracle

related items and the clothing that are

scattered throughout the prison it's

possible that clerics were deemed

suitable subjects for SE experiments

maybe this is due to their magical power

or because they were so easy to defeat

to kill SE though we need to head to the

Crystal Caves which I was originally

going to say was probably the worst

level in this game due to half the map

being invisible but the walk to the boss

is surprisingly straightforward

venturing off that path though is where

the problem lies to defeat SE we need to

break his primordial Crystal so that we

can sever his immortality giving us a

chance to kill him the story of these

Lords caused a bit of an imbalance

throughout my playthrough you can go

through lost isth and the demon ruins

which is filled with Rich lore tons of

backstory and compelling bosses that fit

with the lore surrounding the witch of

isth but then you go to the Four Kings

and just find out that they were Lords

of new Lando who got tricked by coth and

consumed by the abyss it feels jarring

going from one to the other as one feels

thorough while the other feels

incomplete like you miss something or

there was more that should have been

said I don't think every boss needs to

have a multi-page Wikipedia article in

order for it to be considered a good

story I think that the boss's story said

would needed to be said in regards to

the overarching plot but I can't lie to

you and tell you that I didn't leave

these locations wanting more I wanted to

know more about the 4 Kings and how they

roast to power and I wanted to know more

about Neato and SE in general but I

never got that and I guess in a way this

could be viewed as a positive as I

didn't walk out of these places not

wanting to learn them at all but rather

wanted to learn more the game invested

me so much into its story thanks to its

characters and environmental

storytelling that I wanted the game to

provide me with more information on it I

wanted to be encapsulated by this story

more than I already was as with many

Souls games not all answers are

explicitly told to us but there was

still a lot of burning questions I had

that never got mentioned with the Lord

souls in the vessel we are now able to

fight gwin but we still have one final

location we need to visit which is the

land of ulil accessed by the artorius of

the Abyss DLC the one and only DLC that

Dark Souls 1 would have we start this

DLC by defeating this Gold Golem that

has a woman named dusk captured inside

dusk was the princess of a place called

ulil according to her it's a place from

an age that existed long ago hilariously

ly enough she doesn't actually say

anything after this you would think that

the DLC would sort of spin a story that

her home is in danger and we need to

save her but she doesn't actually tell

us that she just sells us sorceries the

DLC doesn't officially start though

until we return back to her location

with an item called the broken pendant

which causes us to get sucked in into

this portal and taken to UIL as dusk

said ulil is a place from long ago and

while you may be confused on how this

fits within the geography of lordran

this place is a lot closer than you

think in fact we already ran through it

to get to the DL see the dark R Garden

is ulil this is evident by the tree

enemies who have a similar design to

these tree likee enemies and the same

plans that are only found in the dark R

Garden are also found here as well ulil

was a city hundreds of years before the

dark R Garden came to be so something

happened that made this place turn into

the garden that we know of well to

understand the story of ulil we need to

talk to Elizabeth but princess dusk is

here no longer snatched away by that

horrifying primeval human and so I must

ask ask couldst thou once more play the

Savior an abyss was begat of the ancient

beast and threatens to swallow the whole

of ulil Knight artorius came to stop

this but such a hero has nearly 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 this

Prime evil human is Manis of the Abyss

the final boss of the DLC and the thing

that sucked us into ulil in the first

place so our job is to hunt manace down

my main gripe with the DLC is

justification as technically with the

Lord vessel we can just leave so why do

we need to worry about this it's not an

immersion breaking problem but it is a

shame while traveling to the land of

ulil you will come across this Coliseum

like structure which is where we get to

meet our next boss artorius of the Abyss

artorius was one of the Four Knights of

Gwyn the other three are Hawkeye goth

who is sitting at the top of the tower

right next to the Coliseum kin who

appears in the Coliseum after we defeat

artorius and the final KN is orstein

each of them were skilled in their own

ways as Hawkeye used his powerful grabow

to shoot down dragons in fact he can

actually help us shoot down calam who is

the last of the ancient dragons Ornstein

also used his spear that was able to cut

through the scales of dragons with ease

and we can also see The Spoils of his

War due to the amount of dragon heads

exist in an Orlando artorius is also

able to wield his great sword with

Incredible finesse and cabon used her

two daggers to cut down anyone who

opposed Gwynn's rule but all of them

minus orstein are way past their Prime

which is a growing theme amongst the

entire series goth was imprisoned in

this Tower with nothing left to do but

to make carvings he also couldn't use

his great bow anymore as all the dragons

have been wiped out so he has no purpose

kierin may have had a deep love for

artorius as when we visit her she is

next to a grave she made for him and

asks if we can give her his soul if we

do she gives us her weapon weens and

continues to sit by the grave implying

that she no longer wants to be a knight

anymore and artorius came to uio and

attempt to stop the abyss from spreading

but ended up losing and being corrupted

himself his left arm is also dangling

which might suggest that it's broken

this is because he used his shield to

protect his wolf companion CF the same C

from the main game although he is much

smaller in this DLC C also has a

different intro if you do the DLC first

because ulio is in the past so he'll

remember you in the present and it makes

killing him that much harder in regards

to CF it's possible that he doesn't want

us getting the Covenant of the Abyss

ring as that allows us to travel through

the abyss to kill the Four Kings and

given his owner's condition CIF probably

doesn't want us to end up like artorius

the artorius boss fight was actually

really entertaining he was the first

boss that felt like the antithesis of

this game's combat most of the game's

Pace has been very slow and methodical

but he has these fast attacks and very

few openers I do wish though that there

was at least an ounce of buildup to this

fight as you can literally start the DLC

and be at the boss room in about 10

minutes I think having the player

traversed some of the areas that are

covered in these Abyss creatures that

grow in number as we get closer to

artorius would have been great as it's

slowly leading us towards this person

responsible for all this death while

narratively it felt a bit too fast for

me the fight mechanically was great

after artorius we can explore the rest

of uio and we can see how much this land

has been affected by the abyss as all

the inhabitants have been infected by

this dark energy turning them into these

disgusting creatures eventually we'll

reach the bottom and this feeling of

fear starts to set in as the world

becomes darker and darker the further we

go down here in the chasm of the Abyss

is where the darkness reaches its peak

and it's where these dark Sprites of

humanity live these are very similar in

design to the actual Humanity we consume

in game this seems to be Humanity in a

more physical form one that is more

exposed and not constricted by the dark

sign at the foot of the chasm is our

final boss Manis the father of the Abyss

manace has an interesting story

apparently the people of ulil were

tricked by a serpent who was probably

coth into digging mance's grave up in

doing so it caused Manus to go wild and

unleash his wrath upon them according to

his soul Manus was once a human became

father of the Abyss when his humanity

went wild and now he eternally seeks his

broken pendant the same pendant we had

to find to start the DLC it's unclear

why he liked this pendant so much but it

was possibly nostalgic to him or was

given to him by someone he loved and

because this pendant was so important to

him he did everything he could to get it

back which inevitably drove him to

Insanity it seems that he got so

desperate to find the pendant that he

pulled in random people into this world

as the NPC marvelous Chester is clearly

not from this world and he even says so

himself he also kind of looks like the

hunters from bloodborne which is a nice

reference to the game the main question

many within the community have though is

who was Manis before he became his

current deformed State well we really

don't know many have said it's the fer

of pygmy and I like that idea but I

think it's less interesting than that

many of the spells in this DLC say that

they were created by an uilian sorcerer

on the brink of Madness I can't help but

think that this is perfect for mance's

description one thing that is

interesting is that in the middle of the

arena is a grave with a Humanity shaped

hole so maybe manace was one of these

Humanity Sprites when he died or that

this is what he turned into when he died

regardless it's a very interesting

detail I also couldn't get any footage

of this as she disappears when you leave

the boss room but dusk apparently

appears out of manace when we kill him

meaning that he kidnapped her this may

confuse some people as dusk has been

sort of all over the place in this game

and due to her going from the past to

the present it sort of screws with the

time of it it seems like she was sent

into our time somehow and was captured

by this Golem she then disappears and

goes back into her time which then leads

to the abyss incident with the people of

ulil artor is then called to defeat the

abyss but fails and then we get summoned

into this world via mance's hand then

save Dusk and go back to the present

it's still a little confusing and the

world of Dark Souls is also very

confusing when it comes to time as

always during this fading of the fire

time is very convoluted cuz we can

summon people as Phantoms and the time

sort of stops it's very confusing but

that's how I think it went down but with

Mana dead we have officially finished

the DLC however this won't be the last

time we'll hear of Manis but that's for

Dark Souls 2 artorius of the Abyss was a

great DLC while it does lack in

motivation in regards to the player the

actual story of the DLC was great it

provides us with a nice timeline of

events as well as more insight into the

abyss and its effects on the world and

while not known at the time it would

eventually set up the plot to Dark Souls

2 it is without a doubt a worthy

extension to the game story but now we

can finally go to the Kil of the first

flame and determine the fate of lordran

the Kiln is coded in Ash and we can see

the spirits of those who followed Gwyn

into the Kil walk around aimlessly as we

approach the first flame we have one

person in our way and that is the Lord

of sunlight himself earlier I said Gwyn

sacrificed himself to rekindle the flame

and he did but because of his Lord

Soul's power he was able to keep his

body but his mind was gone Gwyn has gone

Hollow and while I'm more than capable

of killing him myself I couldn't dare

start the fight without the guy who's

been by my side since the very beginning

Solara vastor is easily the most

well-known NPC in the entire Souls

franchise and his story is a perfect

representation of the mood this game is

trying to convey throughout the whole

game we've been meeting with NPCs of all

kinds some with goals and others without

but none of them have managed to touch

my heart in a way that cair and sigm did

both of them had a goal in mind one

wants to find his sunlight and the other

wants to explore the world but both are

stuck sigm always seems to be getting

himself caught in some situation whether

that be a locked gate he can't enter or

a poison swap he can cross and salair

can find his sunlight they both

willingly became Undead in order to

achieve their goals and it tore me apart

to hear that sigm couldn't see it

through sigm Prides himself on being a

knight of Katarina and that he can

handle all of his troubles on his own

but with my help showed him that he

wasn't a worthy Knight after all and

that he always needed someone to rescue

him more often than not in these games

your assistance will lead to their death

so it's either converse with them and

enjoy their company knowing that they

will die because of you or distance

yourself from them knowing that while it

hurts it's better that they get to Live

Another Day NPCs of these games will

usually end up achieving a terrible fate

but this sadness makes the few times a

happy outcome occurs all the better

Solair wasn't able to find Sunlight of

his own he became depressed and wondered

if this journey was really worth taking

conveying the tone of the entire game is

our journey and our struggle really

worth it in the end which is why I owed

it to him to make it right it may not be

the actual Sun but the first flame could

be considered the Sun so for one final

time I summoned cair and we took down

lord Gwyn

gwinn's theme has such a fitting tune

all these bosses have these intense

sounds with loud music but gwyns is such

a simple piano it's not intense it's

almost sad in a way that the most

powerful man in the world has been

reduced to nothing and what was supposed

to be a glorious fight between two

Warriors really isn't it makes it all

the more worse when you realize that

Gwyn can be parried and once you nail

this timing down this fight is a

cakewalk for the showing how far from

Grace he has truly fallen with Gwyn

defeated we can now choose our ending

but we aren't the only one who is able

to choose since we managed to bring

Solair all the way to the end of the

game he was able to also fight gwin in

his own world thanks to the convoluted

timelines of Dark Souls and it is

canonized that he succeeded and linked

the flame in his own world he became the

sunlight he was searching for and that

might be one of the greatest endings in

the entire franchise but while salair

linked the flame that doesn't mean we

have to if we choose the age of fire the

world continues we rekindled the flame

flame and use ourselves as kindling to

continue this age of fire if we instead

choose to leave we let the flame

extinguish itself We join the primordial

serpents including cth and probably

framp and Usher in an age of dark one

whereare humanity is at the top and we

ourselves are the ruler at least that's

what we think will happen like many

plots in the soul Series this is once

again left up to interpretation we only

get to see the very beginning of our

choice so anything after is just pure

speculation who knows what will happen

after and who knows if our choice was

really the correct one that's always

been up to the player to decide but I've

always felt that these endings are about

Comfort do we stay comfortable knowing

that in the age of fire we aren't on top

and might be mistreated due to our lack

of strength or do we take the risk and

see what the age of dark is about one

thing to note though is the

circumstances regarding these endings

Fram says that the undead curse will be

cured if we go with the age of fire and

not even C says anything about this when

we talk with him about it so does that

mean that we'll stay Undead or at least

still have the risk of going Hollow in

the age of dark furthermore the age of

fire was a time ruled by the gods and

they did what they could to keep it that

way but we killed them everyone in Anar

Londo that is a God is either dead or

gone gwindel is the only one that

canonically lives thanks to Dark Souls 3

so even though an age of fire can be

seen as the age of gods that might not

be true anymore as we took care of most

of them so there is positives and

negatives both ways and that's really

been the point there's never going to be

a clear answer it's just whatever you

think is right as for me I think an age

of dark is the proper way to go as we

said in the intro the world of Dark

Souls is like a set of operations things

come and things go and the age of dark

should have followed after the age of

fire but du to when breaking the rules

of the world world that didn't happen so

I think in an attempt to set things back

on track before further destruction an

age of dark is the way to go regardless

of what happens in this age of dark at

the very least things will transition

back to the way it was supposed to be

however that might not be the actual

ending given the future titles some have

debated on proper endings and given the

status of Dark Souls 3 linking the flame

I think is the real ending and is

definitely the most agreed upon as just

about every person in this game will'll

speak about linking the flame we only

hear about the guge of dark from coth

who we have to jump through several

Hoops to just even meet I can almost

guarantee someone has gone throughout

the entire game and didn't even know

that an age of dark was the real option

because of how hidden it is and while

it's not my preferred ending continuing

the age of fire would set in motion

numerous events for us to discover Dark

Souls 1 was a fantastic experience from

start to finish and while the road was a

little bumpy sometimes along the way it

story wrapped up wonderfully it's a game

that I recommend you play at least once

in your lifetime as you will never get

to experience something like this ever

again but we're just getting started

Dark Souls 2 is a brilliant game it

takes into account the age of fire and

the age of dark and asks the question

why are there only two options and then

continues this idea by shutting out both

ages by making something else the main

plot of the story something that I will

explain throughout this video so without

further Ado let's get started so before

we start talking about the story we need

to address the game as a whole Dark

Souls 2 requires a different mindset in

order to grasp what the game is trying

to tell you as we saw in Dark Souls 1

the game relied heavily on the cycles of

the world to be the main plot it's all

about the age of fire and the age of

dark and what these Cycles mean how they

impact the world and what age we'll

choose when we get to the end this means

it also relies heavily on the world

itself Dark Souls one was about our four

Lords how they Rose to power and what

they did with that power and what the

state of the world is because of sad

power as such we play a very

insignificant person in regards to the

overall world but Dark Souls I isn't

like that it's not about the age of fire

and the fate of the world it's about one

Kingdom and how this one Kingdom handled

its own cycle Lord dam was important as

it was the first Kingdom in the age of

fire but Drang Lake isn't important at

all it's just one of the hundreds of

kingdoms built on the same land and

that's what makes Dark Souls 2 so

special it's the insignificance of this

game that makes it so compelling because

it isn't tied down by the world's

Pantheon it uses what Dark Souls 1

created as a way to write its own story

this game isn't about the Cycles it's

about one small part of the Cycles the

undead curse and the quicker you realize

that Dark Souls I is reshaping the

proverbial mold that is Dark Souls 1 the

better this game gets but to explain why

we need to start playing our opening

cinematic shows our character collapsing

in a rainy Forest the narrator talks

about the undead curse and how it will

infect your mind how it has the ability

to remove all that you hold dear and all

that you remember with every minute the

curse gets worse and worse until you go

Hollow is that is the Fate for all

Undead but this narrator speaks of a

kingdom called Drang Lake and how we'll

walk towards its gate without ever

knowing why we know why we're here in

Drang Lake as our characters trying to

find a cure for the undead curse so they

no longer feel its effects but they're

unsure of why Drang Lake specifically

just as the Mind gravitates towards the

smell of food when hungry the mind of

the undead is drawn to souls and Drang

Lake has plenty of them to to get to Dr

Lake we must cross a lake and enter a

portal the scene tries to portray this

event as some marvelous spectacle but

that couldn't be farther from the truth

once we cross this gate we're never

coming back we'll either be trapped here

until we cure the curse or go Hollow the

gate is even surrounded by bright bugs

which are known to comfort the dead

almost like it's luring us to our deaths

so for one final Time We Gather our

thoughts and jump

on the other side of this portal is the

things betwix a place stuck in limbo

that serves as a connection between

Drang Lake and the outside world like I

said we're stuck here for good inside

this limbo was a house of women three of

whom are FireKeepers that are being

cared for by their housekeeper and

they're very honest about our arrival

you're

finished you'll go

Hollow yes you will become one of

them Hollows pray upon men Feast upon

their

souls this is the fate of the

cursed we aren't the first Undead to

walk through their doors and we won't be

the last and all of them have met the

same fate so what makes us any different

Dark Souls 2 tries to set in this

feeling of hopelessness so something

that's very consistent throughout the

trilogy no one truly believes we can

accomplish our goal but that's what

makes the emerald Herald so wonderful

she believes that we can succeed in our

goal and will help us in any way that

she can and by providing us the means to

level up she might be the most helpful

person in the game this is why the level

up ladies of the franchise have always

been seen in such a positive light they

don't discriminate and they don't bother

questioning if what we're doing is

working they have an undying motivation

to help us succeed regardless of if

there's something to gain from it

they're like a bright light in a dark

tunnel as all around them are people who

have given up I am

solden and like you I lost everything

and now I'm here the location they both

reside in is majula a small town on the

outskirts of Dr Lake and its the music

displays a feeling of Peace a place that

is void of death a place that you can

feel comfortable in and in the world of

Dark Souls a place like that is more

than necessary I've always preferred

when the main hubs were seamlessly

integrated into the world something that

would be eventually lost with the series

going forward as it makes the world more

believable and in the case of bajula

without it you'd be missing this

beautiful scenery after taking in the

view we can speak to the emerald Herald

who reveal our objective seek those

whose names are

unutterable the four endowed with

immense

Souls these four beings are known as the

four great ones the Lost Sinner the Old

Iron King the rotten and the Duke's Dear

Freya just like before we have four

beings that need to be slain in order to

continue and just like Dark Souls 1 how

we go about killing them and in what

order we want to go in is entirely up to

us but one thing to point out though is

that the emerald Herald isn't a firek

keeper at least she wasn't originally

her real name is Shanel lot and she was

given this name by the dragons her

purpose was to break the undead curse

but seeing as there is thousands of

Hollows in Drang Lake she clearly failed

her goal now is to just rest at majula

guiding the Undead on their Journey To

Succeed King Vendrick before we go

though I want to talk about the NPCs I

think Dark Souls 2 really dropped the

ball when it came to these characters

many of them are extremely forgettable

and seem to only be placed in the world

so that the player can be given a

tangible item rather than an engaging

story Benard of Joo is a good example as

he seems like a compelling character

that may have a memorable Quest all for

it to crumble almost immediately his

whole quest line revolves around his

family heirloom the giante teal sword

resting on his shoulder which you may

recognize as the moonlight great swword

except this one is a fake it doesn't

have the magical properties of the

original but benhart believes that with

enough strength he can unlock its true

power I would have dropped this Quest

entirely if it wasn't for the fact that

he gives us the sword at the end of it

he provides little to no substance to

the world and this goes for a vast

majority of characters we meet there are

over 40 NPCs in this game and about 90%

of them provide the player with a

service and some of their services are

either outclassed or completely useless

logr is the Mula blacksmith but the

player may find McDuff another

blacksmith except McDuff can do

everything lass can do but with the

added bonus of being able to infuse

weapons and gavon is a lonely Merchant

who only sells five items four of which

are poison he also has three set

locations so in order to purchase his

Services you'll need to go out of your

way to find him and that's if you really

want poison equipment there's just so

much clutter as half these characters

could literally just combine into one

General Goods Merchant thankfully it's

not all bad lucatiel has a wonderful

quest line as she shows us the horrific

reality that is the undead curse she was

a warrior of mea but now she barely

remembers who she is by the time we get

to the end of her quest line she's

practically pleading for us to remember

her name as she may not remember it

herself it's unclear why she came to

Drang Lake in the first place but given

that her brother astil will invade us

only a few feet from her final location

it's possible that she was looking for

him but now both of them have succumbed

to the curses Affliction never truly

knowing what happened to the other

thankfully lucao isn't the only

character of note in this game as the

feud between kraton and pate and the

peaceful conversations with venaro were

fantastic being able to take the role of

a detective and truly uncover which one

is telling the truth and then choosing a

side before one prevails was a great

investigation and the fact that a

talking head can get me to listen to his

life's story as he thinks about his past

life and how much he despises it shows

me that this game has some wonderful

stories that are just waiting to be

uncovered you just have to weed through

the dozens of merchants in order to find

them getting back on track we're still

on the hunt for the four great ones once

again this is similar to Dark Souls 1

but instead of ringing the bells of

Awakening and then finding the Lord

Souls we just have to find the souls

already if you remember from that video

on Dark Souls 1 I said that the bells of

Awakening section was a bit slow is not

much in terms of plot was happening it

wasn't until we rang them that the story

really started to take off well in Dark

Souls 2 it's the same unless you look at

the bigger picture before we get to the

four great ones there are a lot of other

areas we need to go through first for

example to get to the Lost Center we

need to go through majula to Hay's Tower

of flame to No Man's dwarf through the

Lost Bast steel and then to Center's

rise with the boss is located all these

locations will seem pointless and if you

just only do this boss fight it will

continue to feel like that it isn't

until later in the game when the climax

hits that things start to make sense no

man's Warf is a small Port town and its

final boss is the flexile sentury the

Sentry's job was to take as many Undead

as they could fit on this boat and send

them to the Lost Bas steel which is a

prison for the undead but this isn't the

only location to have lore regarding the

curse the huntsman's cops was a hunting

ground for the old iron King's Men Who

were tasked with killing any Undead on

site but as you would expect they too

also succumb to the curse next to this

area is the undead purgatory where a

chariot Rider continually kills and

punishes the undead it's also possible

that these necromancers were purposely

stationed here this may imply that the

necromancers were used to resurrect the

undead so that they can be repeatedly

killed for entertainment like I said

this game does not focus on the cycles

of the world it's all about the curse

and this is only discovered once we get

further in the game but in the beginning

it may seem a bit overplayed that's why

it's required to have a different

mindset going into this game if you're

thinking about the cycle in this game's

lore will be boring and repetitive but

it's actually brilliant once everything

comes together as these early areas are

showing how different rulers are

reacting to the curse and what their

actions are as a result of it and

speaking of rulers one of them happens

to be one of the four great ones the Old

Iron King resides in the Iron Keep but

to get there we must pass through the

Huntsman cops which we know is the place

the Old Iron King sent his men to hunt

the undead behind this location is

Harvest Valley and earn Peak two areas

that are coded in Poison thanks to one

individual Mitha the banful queen

mytha's story is rather tragic she

wasn't a originally like this monster we

see today she was a beautiful queen but

her drive to win her beloved's heart

back is what drove her to such lengths

myth's story though does have some

complications she is named both Queen

and Princess in that she loved a prince

and sought the king's affection her

story is very confusing cuz we don't

really understand whether she was a

queen and a princess or just one of them

but whoever this person was it's clear

they did not love her un thus she began

using poison as a way to obtain Beauty

but this came with its own set of

problems as the poison started turning

her into a like monster and yet while

she was sulking around her room day in

and day out trying to win the heart of a

man she unknowingly already succeeded in

doing just that the Covetous Demon was a

human Who Loved Mitha and cherished her

no matter what form she took he tried to

Showcase his love for her through

gluttony but this too would change him

and turn him into the monster we see

today but despite his change in

appearance his love for the queen never

wavered behind the poisonous swamp of

Earth and Peak is the Iron Keep home of

the Old Iron King The Old Iron King was

a lord of very little power but he would

then eventually meet a knight called Sir

Alon who trained to soldiers in the art

of battle the Old Iron King would then

eventually build his kingdom but doing

so cost him almost all his assets but

one day he discovered an iron producing

Miracle this allowed him to control iron

to his heart's content which led to the

Iron Keep a giant Fortress made entirely

of iron he started creating Soldiers

made entirely of iron and even a demon

of fire called the Smelter Demon this

idea of creating things of Free Will

with only raw materials is also related

to the undead Chariot which of course

was his creation so he's quite familiar

with this craft eventually for whatever

reason sir alone would leave the Iron

Keep and set out in search of unknown

lands after losing his most trusted

Knight The Iron King sought the Council

of a man named agel he was presumably a

pyromancer due to his goal of trying to

give fire a will of its own the two

worked together to create the

aforementioned Smelter Demon but this

would bring disastrous consequences to

the keep the two never considered that

by giving Something Free Will it has the

chance to turn on its creator and the

Smelter Demon did just that with one

swing it obliterated the Iron King and

sent him into the lava it was born from

this act also caused the lava to take on

a much larger form and crash into the

Iron Keep consuming it in lava as we see

now but while the keep and its soldiers

were scrambling to Higher Ground

something else happened the iron King's

body came in contact with an old soul

the Old King Soul so those in the

present day he's known as the one who

shall not be named but for us we know

him is Gwyn when killed the Old Iron

King will drop the iron King's soul but

it's only on New Game Plus that we

uncover the truth that the Old Iron King

has come to possessed the very soul that

Gwyn possessed all those years ago but

the Old Iron King isn't the only one

each of our four great ones has come in

contact with a soul that belonged to a

notable character from the past game but

not only did it give them strength it

may have also carried with it the

emotions of those it belong to both Gwyn

and the Old Iron King share a theme of

power Gwyn wanted to keep his Godlike

power and as such took multiple steps in

order to achieve that like linking the

first flame branding Humanity with the

dark sign and tossing things he felt

could threaten their rule into the

painted world of Aramis and while his

feelings weren't as Fierce as gwis the

Old Iron King also desired power he

wanted to ensure a protected and

impenetrable Kingdom while also

relishing and the power that comes of

being a king so he used his power to

create a giant Kingdom with skilled

Knights and dozens of monstrous

creatures made from Iron and then

displayed his power by tormenting the

undead for sport and torturing them

endlessly simply because he could but

while the Iron King tortured Undead

against their will there was one person

whose torture was self-imposed located

in the center's rise underneath the Lost

ptio is a prisoner who willingly

imprisoned themselves for the sins of

their past according to Shala quar

maula's resident feline her sin was that

she tried to light the first flame but

the key word is light implying that it

had already gone out so how would this

be considered a sin if anything it would

be the opposite sadly we never truly

know what any of it means one thing we

do know is whose Soul she possesses

before the boss fight starts a bug

crawls into her eye specifically a chaos

bug the same one from Lost isth she is

in possession of the witch of isth Soul

we know that these bugs have mind

controlling capabilities as evidenced by

the bad ending of cair's quest line so

it's possible that the Lost Sinner

intended to let us into her cell until

the chaos bug felt threatened but it's

still doesn't answer the question

regarding herself self imprisonment

maybe she wanted to keep the chaos bug

and turn her from escaping as this craz

version of the law cner could have run

rampant and Slaughter dozens of people

or maybe she's somehow feeling the

emotions of isth who probably felt the

men's guilt for creating the Bed of

Chaos so maybe this feeling of guilt is

being transferred over to the LW CER

without her knowing to this day it's

still a mystery but a very compelling

one at that the witch of Isa had a

desire to create life which is why she

wanted to make a new first flame but she

wasn't the only one who had desires but

that that being's Legacy may have

created even more Devastation than

intended the Duke's Dear Freya is a

spider who is in possession of se's soul

but se's feelings and desires are able

to engulf those who come in contact with

it Freya Soul talks about a writhing

ruin and how this ancient Thing cast a

shadow over the land and that at some

point in its life it came in contact

with a solitary insect but grew its

power feasting on the wealth of Twisted

Souls found within the land if we defeat

Freya we can enter the Lord's private

Chambers which houses the Duke of sadora

himself and a cage that presumably

belonged to Freya the writhing ruin was

created from se's intense feeling of

want he searched endlessly for a way to

be immortal even when he was plagued by

insanity and it's because of how

powerful his desires were that they

seemed to linger on past his death the

writhing ruin would go on to possess

others in an attempt to obtain something

as he possessed a being that turned man

scorpion tar and his wife into half

human creatures it has this insatiable

urge to achieve something what that

something is will depend on the

individual SE wanted immortality and

Freya may have just wanted strength or

power regardless this writhing ruin will

presumably seek something until it

doesn't for eternity and ruin many lives

in the process it's obvious by now that

there seems to be a parallel between our

old cast and our new ones in regards to

their feelings and emotions whether they

received these similar feelings when

they came in contact with the old souls

or the souls were attracted to them

because of their feelings is unknown but

our old friends legacies continue to

bring disaster even after their death

but for one of them that may not be the

case our final great one is the rotten

in Mula there is a giant pit and

assuming you can get down there without

dying you'll arrive at the Grave of

Saints a catacomb that used to be a bar

IAL site before it was overrun by rats I

was admittedly a bit confused running

through here as I thought this was some

ongoing joke I wasn't aware of as

there's a literal rat talking to me

calling me his servant in the most

serious tone possible it's pretty

pointless and it's best if we ignore it

and moved on but sadly we won't be doing

much moving as much as we will be

falling Dark Souls 2 somehow managed to

surpass blle town in quality by making

the gutter a darker version of Bight

town all while being poisoned thanks to

these statues just like Bight town the

lore is quite similar as these are the

citizens of various kingdoms that were

tossed away out of sight from the rest

of the world after the gutter is the

Black Gulch the home of the rotten the

rotten possesses the soul of Neato but

instead of their emotions being similar

it seems to just be their appearance

Neato was an amalgamation of skeletons

and the rotten is an amalgamation of

dead bodies but where Neato was hellbent

on administering death throughout the

world the rotten seems to sort of

Embrace or Comfort it these statues

might possibly be the people who have

died down here in the pits he might be

trying to comfort these Hollows in their

new life and these statues seem to be a

showcasing of his feelings towards his

new Community what is rather odd though

is that these statues in the boss room

don't shoot poison at us so it's

possible that they weren't meant to

shoot poison originally and it's because

of this poisonous rot that is taken over

the pits that they're allowed to do so

through our discussion about the great

ones you obviously notice the

connections between our old and new cast

of characters but you may have also

noticed the lack of lore there is a lot

of information that is either completely

unclear or only given some amount of

weight thanks to the abundance of

theories from the community Dark Souls 2

is both the most understood and most

confusing game within the trilogy it

just depends on what answers you're

looking for however however I feel like

I'm content with this one thing that

bothered me about Dark Souls I as we

discussed before is that I left some of

these boss Arenas with more questions

and answers I wanted to know who the

Four Kings of nandoo were and how they

Rose to power I also wanted to know more

about Neato and his role in the world

after the war with the dragons and while

I definitely have similar questions

regarding some of our great ones I left

majority of these areas feeling complete

like I had learned what needed to be

learned and I uncovered the real story

and that's the benefit of creating

something like Dark Souls 2 we don't

really need to know what these great

ones did and how they shaped the fate of

the world because they didn't despite

how important many of the characters in

this game may seem at the end of the day

they're just another kingdom in a long

line of other kingdoms no one is going

to remember them and no one is going to

care about them that is why I feel

satisfied when leaving the black gulture

centers rise have uncovered enough lore

to get a generous picture of their life

with a few holes just big enough for me

to make some solid theories with all

four great ones slain we can now go to

Drang Lake Castle or can we

this is Alia the brother of king

Vendrick and the scholar of the first

sin Alia story is very unclear at the

moment but we'll eventually learn more

about him later once we enter Drang Lake

Castle we'll see this Phantom by the

name of Weller he's a sort of lore dump

which admittedly might not be the best

way to handle this information but given

the nature of of these games where you

can go a whole playthrough Without

Really knowing anything maybe it's

necessary regardless weer shares with us

some backstory on Drang Lake and

Vendrick King Vendrick conquered four

great ones and built a kingdom upon

their very souls he then met a lady

named nandra who warned Vendrick of

another looming threat these beings were

known as Giants King Vendrick would

eventually cross the Seas and battle

these Giants completely decimating their

civilization as a constellation prize he

took most of them prisoner and ran

experiments on them this is what led to

the creation of the Golems these beings

we see inside the castle and with the

Golems he was able to build Drang Lake

Castle later in the game we'll acquire

this item called the Ashen misted heart

this allows us to peer into the memories

of some specific beings most of these

memories are from dead Giants we come

across in the first level these all

showcase different sections of Drang

Lake being overrun by Giants and one of

them even shows us the location of the

giant Lord we see the destruction that

they left Drang Lake castle and and we

can also see how outmatch the soldiers

really were even though they outnumber

them three or four to one they're

getting decimated at every turn but

somehow they were able to persevere

considering there's no Giants in Dr Lake

but I think the person responsible for

some of this Victory Is Us these

memories operate like Olio from Dark

Souls 1 where we go back in time to

alter the past and then go back to the

present this may tie into a subtle hint

very early in the game the first boss in

Dark Souls I is the last giant whose

boss sold description reads the lord of

the Giants who had brought wreck and

ruin to the entire kingdom was said to

have been felled by an unknown Warrior

his beaten and broken remains were then

dragged beneath the stronghold where he

was sealed away this random giant Soul

references the giant Lord and also

describes the exact condition this giant

is in meaning this giant is the giant

Lord and that must mean the unknown

Warrior was us this might explain why he

thrashes his arms around trying to break

free as he remembers us and wants

revenge this is the complete backstory

of Drang Lake which gives us enough

answers to our questions but

simultaneously gives us new questions we

want answers to such as the whereabouts

of nandra well close to the top of the

castle is the queen herself the last

king of this land King Vendrick as he

was

called he found the strength to rule his

people and when the undead were born

cursed he found more strength to face

them but in the end he never took the

true

Throne visit

Vendrick we have no need for two

rulers so nandra wants us to find King

Vendrick as she says there is no need

for two rulers but she also mentions

that King Vendrick never took the throne

she just casually says this statement as

if this isn't some huge Revelation since

Gwyn people have been rekindling the

flame but Vendrick didn't but it doesn't

mean Vendrick wants to bring about an

age of dark he doesn't want either this

is even more unheard of as no one has

even attempted to invoke a third

solution to the fating of the first

flame but to learn more we need to find

Vendrick he resides in the undead crypt

but blocking our path is to two bosses

the Looking Glass Knight and vad the

Royal Aegis both of these fights were

fantastic both from the actual combat to

the design of the bosses I'm just upset

that it took this long for this feeling

to finally come to fruition I rambled

for quite a bit about the bosses in Dark

Souls 1 like how orstein and SM were

fantastic and how I despise the Bed of

Chaos but I haven't found the right time

to talk about the bosses in Dark Souls 2

as there really isn't much to say most

of them were pretty underwhelming for

the most part and this is down to a few

factors one was simply overleveling

since Dark Souls 2 has 32 bosses in the

main game it's very easy to miss some I

didn't find the Chariot or old dragon

slayer until much later when I Revisited

those area so I was a bit overprepared

for the boss fight Dark Souls 1 had a

really great way of gaing the players

progression while also guiding them down

a path which in turn made every fight

feel like a proper match it wasn't a

one-sided victory for the most part

there were a few exceptions like

windelin and pin wheel but they have

very low Health pools so it's a bit hard

to judge them the other two reasons are

just down to overall enjoyment and the

summons the majority of the boss in this

game not only have summonable NPCs but

multiple at that I had two summons for

the Looking Glass Knight and while the

game does attempt to balance this by

adding more Health we all know the main

strength of the summons is to be an

extra body for the boss to hit which

means less attention on us and more time

to get free hits in I will admit this

trivialized many fights the Smelter

Demon the rotten and probably a few

others were really easy with summons but

that comes to my next issue to complete

some of these NPC quest lines we talked

about earlier they need to be summoned

for bosses as someone who's trying to

get as much lore as possible in one

playthrough I needed to continue

continue the summons quest line so while

I was gaining more progress with the

NPCs it came at the cost of the quality

of the fights this makes me even more

disappointed as many of these quest

lines didn't even go anywhere so they

were just completely useless and wasted

my time some of the boss fights though

just sucked regardless I was pretty

disappointed with Chariot fight even

though it was a cool idea I just wasn't

a big fan of it and this game's

obsession with gang fights is quite

insane the ruined Sentinels and the

belfre Gargoyles were just not

entertaining in the slightest orstein

and SM only worked because of how

different they were in regards to their

move set and how the arena was designed

and the Bell Gargoyles were okay for the

most part since the second one didn't

come until halfway plus they used

different move sets the ruined Sentinels

were the same enemy copied three times

with zero obstacles to separate them

minus the one platform you start on and

the belfrey Gargoyles got way out of

hand with close to three or four at the

same time in the same Arena as the

original fight which is not that large

and very open I did manage to beat them

on my own so I was happy that I won but

only because I knew I'd never have to do

that fight again as for the four great

ones the old King was just awful even

though I had a summon with me his moves

would have been the same regardless and

they were almost too easy to evade the

other three were pretty good but nothing

spectacular they did provide some

intense moments but I did have to summon

lucatiel for two of them so I may have

missed some of that spectacle I will

recognize though that this entire

section is a very subjective take as a

boss's enjoyment largely depends on the

skill of the player and their build but

since this is all about my thoughts on

the game my opinion was that they were

pretty underwhelming for the most part

it felt like instead of focusing on

fewer bosses with unique engagements

they created more but at the cost of

their depth behind the Looking Glass

night is the Shrine of Amana and the

aforementioned Undead CP each of these

places were created specifically for the

dead both the mileno and the phito watch

over these respective places in an

attempt to guide the undead to their

final destination both of these

creatures have interesting backstories

as they were created by the old dead one

who we know as Neato both of them seem

to be a Reincarnation of Neo's Soul as

if he created them we would have seen

them in Dark Souls 1 but maybe they

didn't plan that far ahead when making

the games regardless it is a nice detail

and finally gives us some actual story

regarding Neato so I was more than happy

to listen to it it also continues to

reinforce the old one Soul descriptions

that mention how their souls still hold

power over the land as the power of

Neato and his obsession with all things

death are still utilized to this day as

for what they specifically do it seems

like the mil phito enchant or Comfort

the dead via song as their singing can

be heard throughout the level and the

phito are grave wardens who watch over

the dead both of these groups seem to

revolve around comforting the dead so

maybe Neato was a lot more like the

rotten than I had initially thought at

the very end of the crypt is vestad and

while the boss fight was great what

really piqued my attention was his soul

and the items acquired from that Soul

firstly his soul is a dark purple and

black color this is the same as the DLC

bosses from Dark Souls 1 I originally

thought that this was made to

distinguish the DLC from the main game

but it wasn't Until Dark Souls 2 that I

realized that the soul shape has actual

meaning this is an image of a normal

boss soul in this game next is from one

of the great ones and the other is of

those affected by the darkness both

Manis and the royal AES have the same

Soul meaning they're both affected by

the darkness and that's due in part to

him being down here since Vendrick

locked himself away in the Crypt another

detail that is interesting about vestad

here is that his soul can buy Miracles

specifically the sacred oath Miracle

which is used by Warriors who once sered

the god of Sun so it seems like the

Royal AIS belong to the same Covenant as

cair however we can see that this

miracle has either been warped or is

unable to be casted as he never actually

uses this in the fight and instead Buffs

himself with dark magic further showing

how dark his soul has become after the

Royal Aegis we can Vendrick and if you

expected some grand entrance then you're

playing the wrong

game just like when the most powerful

being in the game's world is reduced to

a hollow and Mindless State vendrick's

condition actually seems to be much

worse as Gwinn at least retain some of

his combat abilities but Vendrick can

barely swing his sword if he choose to

fight him all is not lost though for our

King as if we return with the Ashen Mist

Heart we can peer into his memories and

be able to talk with Vendrick prior to

his hollowing do you intend to link the

fire then you must first take the

throne prove your worth find the ancient

crowns seek adversity and they will be

yours Vendrick tells us to seek the

crowns these crowns belong to three

rulers and also happened to be R3 DLC

these DLCs not only provide us with

additional lore regarding other kingdoms

but also what caus these kingdoms to

collapse when we finish each DLC we can

gain a crown and after obtaining said

Crown we can talk to Vendrick for more

dialogue some of the dialogue is

relevant later but a common theme

throughout his speeches is the idea that

we're given a choice Al throughout Dark

Souls 1 we were told to link the flame

and that if we failed the age of dark

would arise and that would be the end of

the world but King Vendrick is more than

content with you making your own choice

this goes back to what we discussed

before vedric didn't want an age of fire

or an age of dark he just wanted to find

a way to break the curse this also ties

into his brother Alia and some of his

dialogue when we meet him again old man

trust fully the abusion of

life but is this so

wrong a construction of thead and

yet a world full of WS and

scandles noo I you intent for shattering

the Y spoiling this wonderful

for AIA is definitely the most

fascinating character in this game like

Vendrick he is completely aware that he

is unable to change the world in their

current state so he just observes and

sees what happens Alia says that the joy

of life is warm and Splendid but it's a

facade as the undead curse will

eventually come back but because of that

warmth that life brings us are we intent

on shattering this illusion we live in

and spoiling this false life we have or

are we content with our lives and

embrace the warmth and pleasure that

comes with it knowing full well that

it's a lie Alia just like the game wants

you to actually make a choice and not

blindly follow follow what some random

person will tell us use your own

experiences your own knowledge and your

own beliefs to come to an answer the way

this was crafted was absolutely

brilliant and it shows how impressive

the writing of this game truly is but

before we get to the DLC and obtain the

crowns we need to talk about the rest of

the content as to actually get the Ash

and Miss heart item we need to travel to

Alia's keep and the Dragon Shrine both

Alia and Vendrick sought to cure the

curse but had different methods of doing

so Vendrick shunned the undead as he

wanted them as far away from the kingdom

as possible that's why he threw them in

the undead prison of lost best steel in

here are hundreds of Undead including

some volatile variants as these were

created by Alia whereas ventri shun the

undead Alia embraced them as he felt

that the key to Breaking the curse was

within the undead themselves but he

didn't welcome them with open arms as

they were all subjected to his various

experiments but Alia went even further

with these tests and didn't just focus

on the undead but other species he even

recreated multiple dragons a race of

beings thought to be extinct by now

despite what their names imply though

both the guardian dragon and the ancient

dragon aren't actually dragons the

guardian dragon soul can allow us to

purchase the Wing Greatsword which

states that the Drakes are likely

descendants of ancient dragons this

implies that this is actually a Drake

and not a dragon furthermore we know the

dragons especially the original dragons

are gone as calamite was the last of the

ancient dragons this is still true as

the ancient dragon in Dark Souls I isn't

a dragon as it drops a soul of a giant

this thing used to be a giant and was

somehow configured by Alia through

rigorous experiments to look like an

ancient dragon to get the actual ancient

dragon soul we need to use the Ash and

Mist Heart again but this time in

freya's Boss Arena as it allows us to

see the memories of the Dead Dragon

hanging from the ceiling this memory

seems to show the original resting place

of this Dragon before it somehow made it

down here there's not a whole lot to

learn from this place other than the

fact that these large broken structures

look similar to the ones outside Alia

keep and there's only one place in the

world that we know that has giant

structures like this it is my belief

that this is Ash Lake it might not be

the entirety of Ash Lake as we don't

really know how far these trees went but

it seems to be at least some part of it

in regards to time this is most likely

during the war between Gwyn and the

dragons ashake exists did back then but

it wasn't the Ash Lake that we're

familiar with as if you remember it was

all gray before fire was born so the

memory was during the war with the

ancient dragons and the present day

location of Aldi's keep is where some

part of Ash Lake used to be with all the

areas covered we can head to the DLC and

it's advised to finish all the bosses

and content you missed before going

which is why I retraced my steps and

discovered the locations of the dark

lurker and the old dragon slayer I

didn't really find their stories that

interesting but I figured I would cover

them before we continue the old dragon

slayer seems to be someone who was using

orang Ste armor as a way to uphold his

legacy as not only does orstein have

other plans which we'll learn about in

Dark Souls 3 some have claimed that this

is a fragment of orin's old soul that

now possesses the armor which would

connect with the running theme of old

souls from the past games coming to the

present just like with the four great

ones as for the dark ler there's pretty

much nothing we know about this being at

all their soul states that they're a

remnant of some ancient dissipated being

and the color of their soul is not dark

implying that they weren't born or

consumed by the abyss like the Royal

Aegis or Manis they also look very

similar to the these beings in the

undead crypt that spawn when the bells

are rung given the color of the dark

lurker Soul it's possible that this

being was actually here to fight against

the abyss similar to artorius but there

is very little evidence to support this

Theory but now we can officially start

the DLC Dark Souls 2 eventually release

with three additional pieces of content

the crown of the sunken King the crown

of the Old Iron King and the crown of

the ivory King even the disjointed

nature of these DLCs they could be

played in any order as they don't

contradict one another but we'll just go

in the order of release the crown of the

sunken King starts near the shrine

beside the rotten's boss room and

entering the shrine will take us to

shova the sanctum City upon entering we

are greeted by not only a gorgeous view

of the underground city but also a

dragon with a giant spear through its

chest this dragon is sin long ago a race

of people found sin sleeping in these

caves and because they had most likely

never seen a dragon before they

worshiped him as a God these people

ended up building a city around the

dragon with the rulers of the Kingdom

being the sunken King and his Queen

Alana but something happened a leader by

the name of Sir yorg found the

underground city and mounted a Siege

against its inhabitants with the

intention of slaying the dragon they

were guarding sir yorg and his Knights

believed that killing dragons was a way

to obtain a true understanding of life

so they hunted it down after making a

past all their defenses sir yorg was

face to face with sin himself and that

giant spear in his chest was from him

but clearly sin lived this wound and

that's because upon Awakening from his

Slumber he released a giant cloud of

poison that coated the entire city that

may also explain why the Black Gulch is

covered in this poisonous green liquid

since it's right next to the city but

there's no way to confirm before we

fight sin though we have to fight Alana

so somehow despite the poison and the

attack from Sir yorg she managed to live

well this might be due to her true form

according to her boss soul and weapon we

can piece together that when the abyss

dissipated it was broken into fragments

and eventually these fragments came to

create a life meaning that Elana is the

daughter of Manis the reason the abyss

was broken was that the chosen Undead

defeated Manis back in Dark Souls 1 and

since he was called the father of the

Abyss that would make Alana his daughter

clearly she opposes a threat to more

than just shulva so we need to put her

down after her death is when we gain

access to sin as a final fight wasn't

too bad he has a unique mechanic where

the poison from his breath can break the

durability of your weapon which could

possibly kill the entire run if you're

not careful the only issue is that this

seems to do an insane amount of

durability damage as my Bandit axe with

only 50 durability was destroyed in a

few hits I'm not entirely sure if 50 is

on the low end of durability but going

through all the weapons I picked up

across my whole playthrough they were

all between 40 and 70 so if anything I

should be right in the middle this

wouldn't have been that bad though if

sin didn't act like the guardian dragon

and just stayed put for more than a few

seconds

I think you can see from the gameplay

the amount of chances I have to actually

hit this thing are extremely low I think

what makes shova so engrossing is the

location how do you possibly build a

giant civilization underground and for

what reason that's at least what I was

thinking when going into the DLC and

while I got my answer I wasn't entirely

satisfied with it one reason why is down

to dialogue is there was no NPCs in this

DLC to talk or converse with we can't

gain any new information as all the

people that could have been NPCs are now

just walking corpses given that sin

poisoned the whole city I wonder wonder

if adding one NPC at the very beginning

of the level who's the only survivor of

the attack would have been a better idea

as they could have provided the player

with additional information surrounding

the city such as why they worshiped the

dragon or how they managed to build all

these structures because in its current

state it feels a bit unfinished the

crown of the Old Iron King is our second

DLC and is of course based around the

Old Iron King from the main game this

DLC takes place in one of the largest

Towers he erected called the broom Tower

to find the crown we need to Traverse

the entire tower all the way down to the

bottom which was incred L tedious there

were a lot of traps and enemies that can

be very annoying to deal with but given

that the DLC seemed to want to spike up

the difficulty these additions kind of

made sense this tediousness also added

to the realism of the level as it takes

quite a long time to scale this entire

Tower which is logical given its size

and the tower itself is in just empty

space as all the space is being used for

some sort of purpose whether it's these

smaller guys carrying these giant

barrels or the vast amount of Machinery

within the tower that was made to

produce iron it also fits in well with

the theme of the old iron King's

obsession with iron and how he gained a

lot of power from his production of iron

this DLC however adopts the same

storytelling as the sunken King in that

there are no NPCs to talk to throughout

the entirety of its runtime but what

makes the broom Tower different from

shova is that we already have numerous

levels and items filled with lore about

the Iron King shova was a completely new

area with zero reference to the main

story which is why I enjoyed it a bit

less regarding the NPC interaction than

the broom Tower even though the first

boss is technically another Smelter

Demon the real first boss is actually

the fume Knight I have zero issues

regarding this fight I actually thought

it was perfect I've stated this many

times before but I prefer the fast

combat of the future fromsoft games as

opposed to the slower more methodical

nature of the early Souls games it's not

that one is objectively better than the

other it's just a personal preference of

mine and just like with artorius and

Manis the fum Knight is another boss

that is slowly ramping up the speed of

its attacks they aren't incredibly fast

especially by modern Souls game

standards where a 10-hit combo can be

finished within mere seconds but the fum

Knight is definitely a far more faster

paced fight compared to the rest of the

game and this even continues with the

other boss in this DLC which is selon

it's just like the other boss fights of

this game where you have to look at your

health stamina and both your and the

boss's positioning all at the same time

and then calculate what to do given the

parameters except much faster I

understand this is not everyone's cup of

tea but it's most definitely mine and

even better the fum Knight has actual

ties to a previous character from the

main Game King Vendrick had two trusted

Knights who he considered his left and

right arm one was vat and the other was

the fum Knight however the two clashed

which led to the fum Knight's defeat

what's interesting is that if you defeat

the Royal Aegis purchas his helmet and

then wear it during the fight the fum

Knight will start his second phase

almost immediately showing that he still

has a grudge against him as for the fum

Knight himself he wandered the land in

search of power and eventually came

across the broom Tower and met nadalia

the Bride of Ash nadalia would have been

the queen of the Old Iron King but she

arrived at the keep after he died she

fell into a deep despair because of this

and ended up separating her soul across

the broom tower inside these Ash and

Idols which caused the tower to be

covered in this thick black fog this fog

has the power to control those who wish

to serve her and kill those who refused

when the fumet arrived and instead of

destroying the fog like he could have

done he actually just opted to be

consumed by it which is why he sits at

the bottom of broom Tower defending the

remains of nadalia since she has the

ability to create this black fog and her

soul is colored in darkness it is once

again safe to assume that she is another

daughter of Manis if you're noticing a

theme here then you're catching on to

the point of these DLCs each one of them

is centered around a kingdom that a

daughter of Manis inhabited and this

goes for our final DLC but before we

leave the broom Tower there's a secret

room we can discover with Sur alone's

armor and by using the Ashen Mard we can

go back back in time to when he was

stationed at the tower this leads to the

boss fight we discussed earlier but it's

a memory and if we take what we know

about the memories and apply it here we

can discover even more lore about siron

if we assume that the unknown Warrior

that best of the giant Lord is us since

we went back in time then we're also

responsible for killing siron so that

statement I said earlier about siron

leaving to search for new lands was

possibly a lie as it may have been told

by the Old Iron King so that his

soldiers don't uncover his true fate

which makes things a lot more Sinister

than they seemed our third and final DLC

is the crown of the ivory King the ivory

King was the ruler of the Kingdom Elam

Lo upon entering we can see that it is

covered in snow and given that there

isn't any snow in Dr Lake we must be

pretty far from the original Kingdom as

we approach though we are told to leave

this voice tells us that the old chaos

still hungers and that we are forbidden

from entering clearly we're not going to

listen and charge head first through the

front gate eventually we'll meet with

the first boss of the DLC Ava this is

one of seven pets that the ivory King

kept in his kingdom each one seemed to

have a specific spefic role in the

Kingdom as Ava was tasked with guarding

the king's child of dark this child of

dark is alsana and as you would expect

she is our third daughter of Manis but

her story is a lot less destructive when

alsana was born she felt fear this is

because she was a manifestation of mana'

fears all the daughters of the Abyss are

a manifestation of something nadalia

seemed to be man' despair Elana was

possibly a manifestation of mance's

Wrath and alsana was his fears but when

alsana was born the king managed to find

her and welcomed her into his kingdom he

provided the Comfort she desperately

needed and was kind enough to not shun

her away even after he discovered her

true Origins it's because of this

kindness that she stayed in Elam Lo and

continued to fulfill the ivory King's

wish which was to hold back the old

chaos the old chaos is the flame of

chaos the same one created by the witch

of isth it's unknown when this was

discovered by the ivory King but once he

did find this ancient monstrosity him

and his fellow Knights set out to

extinguish it but they were defeated as

none had come back alsana wants us to

defeat the old chaos so that we can

uphold the mission of the ivory King to

do this though we're going to need some

other Knights of alam L as they are

absolutely necessary if you want the

fight to be possible once we're all set

we can jump down into the old chaos

again just like we did with lost eolith

and this boss is absolute perfection few

fights in the souls games actually get

better with summons and the ivory King

is one of them I felt like I actually

had to apply strategy to an encounter

which was the first time the series has

required me to do that I don't mean

strategy in the sense of reading the

boss's moves and making sure how to

punish and when as that's just baked

into the overall combat of the

encounters but I mean the actual

decision-making I had to employ such as

which enemy to attack and when which was

something I did not expect I would be

doing going into this fight I was

running around finding Knights who were

outnumbered and assisting them or if it

was the opposite side of the spectrum I

would add myself into the mix making the

fight easier this is almost necessary

for the fight as well since you're going

to be doing the most amount of damage

compared to all the other Knights so

your decision in this fight will largely

impact how the second phase will go I'm

not entirely sure if the knights can die

in the first phase given they have an

obscene amount of Health but if they can

it just further as to my point having

two giant teams of warriors fighting

against one another is one of the

greatest things I've ever experienced

and is without a doubt the best fight

this game has to offer from the actual

fight to the layout of the Arena which

is engulfed in the fire from the flame

of chaos it was just all perfect and

would have been such a great way to end

this Trilogy of additional content but

never in my life have I seen a DLC do so

well all throughout the entirety of its

runtime only to Fumble at the Finish

Line The Frigid outskirts is an optional

location that the player can discover

towards the end of the DLC and it is

awful it's not only painstakingly

difficult just from the design alone it

might actually be the worst level in any

Souls game ever made the bonfire before

entering the coffin is the only bonfire

in the area meaning you have to go from

one end of the map to the other just to

get to the boss fight which is just two

more of the ivory King's pets their lore

is thankfully super basic and not

important at all as their job was just

to hunt Exiles that were presumably sent

out of the kingdom and Into The Frigid

outskirts this area would not be nearly

as hard if the horses didn't and keep

spawning every few feet not only wasting

your time but draining your Estus in the

process making the boss fight that much

harder it's just an awful location and I

think the more that I talk about it the

closer I get to going insane so we're

just going to cut it right here as a

complete package the DLCs were pretty

solid there were things in each that I

found a little unpleasant like the

method of Storytelling or an entire area

but there was many things I liked about

the DLCs and due to this confliction I

can't say that together they're perfect

but they're nowhere near close to being

bad it's hard to judge though whether

this was an actual Improvement over

artorius of the Abyss considering that

was one DLC with half the content that

played out over half the time this is

also due to the souls games business

model if people complain about anything

regarding the DLCs of the souls games

it's that they're too short rather than

too long whereas many games like to make

additional content with run times of up

to 6 to 20 hours Dark Souls is pretty

much content with two it never overstays

its welcome in fact it sometimes leaves

too early and doing this gives us less

time to learn about the DLCs and the

locations they reside in but as I said

at the top of the section as a complete

package they were pretty great with all

the crowns in our inventory we can

revisit Vendrick who will now provide us

with some very important dialogue The

Abyss once had form but then

dissipated and yet traces of its

existence

endured each fragment thirsting for

power spread dark with no

relent my dear Shandra was one such

fragment so we now know the fourth and

Final daughter of Manis nandra the queen

of drag lake nandra is a manifestation

of mance's feelings of power and want

she came to this land in order to covet

the first flame this explains why

Vendrick was in the undead crypt

Vendrick left the kingdom because he

discovered n shandra's true Origins and

not only locked himself away in the

Crypt which was guarded by one of his

loyal Knights but he also hid his soul

as Vendrick doesn't drop this upon his

death it's hidden behind a secret door

only accessible to those who are human

and nandra never truly was that's why

she's been so adamant that we succeed

Vendrick she figures that will blindly

follow her order so that we can clear

all the obstacles in her path because

once we finally get to the throne of

want and defeat the knights guarding it

she appears similar to the Ivory King I

found this fight leagues better when the

summons were included mostly due to the

narrative aspect since both benhart and

vengarl were helped due to me so it's

only right that they return the favor

her boss design is impeccable and

continues to uphold the standard that

the Final Bosses of the game have but

not even nandra is the actual final boss

Alia is the actual final boss assuming

you fulfilled a few tasks along the way

which is just meeting him a few times in

specific locations and then specifically

killing Vendrick before Nashandra as a

final boss fight though it felt like a

bit of a let down I think nandra had way

more intensity and narrative weight

behind her Aldi has been this ominous

figure that just shows up says a bunch

of and then leaves and now all of a

sudden I'm supposed to care that we're

fighting him I get why he's fighting us

he's supposed to test our might to see

if we're truly going to be the next

Monarch of the Throne of want but that

doesn't make it right the same could be

said for nandra given she makes an

appearance a whole two times in this

game but that seemed to be intentional

as the reveal of nandra was supposed to

be this mysterious event which makes

this next part even more confusing as

the Emerald Herald can literally spoil

for us that Nashandra will be coming for

us I completely miss her on the way down

so I never got to hear this which

ultimately made the impact of this cut

scene hit harder which begs the question

of why it was mentioned in the first

place I find it hard to believe that

many people Miss nandra at the top of

the castle so they're well aware of who

she is so just keep the mystery hidden

until the final moments it kills the

entire impact of the scene if we're just

told right before entering that she's

going to fight us after the defeat of

the three bosses we can select our

ending and while this game does have two

endings what these endings represent is

rather interesting our first ending is

entering the Throne of want this is sort

of like the Kil of the first flame just

a little bit different it allows us to

choose the fate of the world but we

never get to see our choice it is both

the age of fire and the age of dark

ending together it's never known what

our character chooses but that's the

part of the role play when it comes to

RPGs we make up the rest of the story

did our character choose fire did they

choose dark or did they do something

else and that's something else is

following in the footsteps of Vendrick

and Alia we leave the throne and search

for an answer to the undead curse we

don't know if we'll succeed but it's

worth a try anyway doing this is sort of

like operating a dig site yeah Vendrick

and Alia spent decades digging trying to

find a solution and failed but now

thanks to them we know of a decades

worth of methods that won't work

bringing us closer and closer to finding

a cure for the curse and that's the

beauty of the second ending it's not

only in perfect sync with the rest of

the game as it continues to make the

curse the main plot of the story but it

gives us an option that we as players

hadn't really considered up until this

point Dark Souls one did a phenomenal

job of grooming us into believing that

there were only two choices but Dark

Souls I refuted this claim and as a

third as a final note Dark Souls I was a

brilliant game I went into this game

with mild expectations but was blown

away by how impressive the story was and

how surprisingly easy it was to grasp

many questions are still left unanswered

and will never be answered but I left

this game with an understanding of its

story its themes and what emotions it

had intended to invoke in me and that is

incredibly admirable well the world of

Dark Souls isn't over the fire of the

world will fade once more and yet

despite the impending doom of the age of

dark getting closer and closer no one

seems to care but we'll talk about that

in Dark Souls

3 Dark Souls 3 is a perfect game due to

the way a book ends the entire series

but the only reason that I can say that

is because of how much this game is

being held up by its predecessors Dark

Souls II on its own is still a good game

but without all the effort put into the

story from Dark Souls 1 and 2 its

narrative wouldn't be as impactful

that's the beauty of the Dark Souls

Trilogy it's one of the few series out

there that truly feels like a tightly

niit game many games get sequels but not

many truly feel like a proper sequel

just a game set in the same universe a

year or so after the previous game it

might make callbacks to the Past game

but not enough to feel like what

occurred in that game was important the

Dark Souls Trilogy and its repetitive

ideas make the games feel properly

connected the age of fire the undead

curse hollowing and so much more have

been a prominent part of the series

since its Inception which is why judging

these games individually based on their

stories is so difficult as each of these

games relies on each other to actually

make their story have an impact Dark

Souls 2 and 3 could not exist without

Dark Souls 1 and not just because of its

World building and important characters

but because it's the game that showed us

what the age of fire is and why it's

important we then took this information

into Dark Souls 2 which showed us how

the age of fire is not all its cooped up

to be and how as all the years go by

people are starting to embrace the fire

less and less this all comes to an end

at Dark Souls I a game that is purely

focused on the age of dark and why the

first flame needs to go each one of

these games provides a crucial step in

our journey and without even one of them

every other game loses its meaning we

already talked about the previous two

games and what they attempt to show to

the player and all these themes ideas

and plots all converge towards Dark

Souls 3 creating one of the best endings

in a series I've ever seen and today I

will explain why so that wasting any

more time let's get started so

ironically for a game that's going to be

about the age of darkness and how much

death and Decay the current age has

caused it starts off with an incredibly

intense soundtrack it's not even been 10

seconds and this electrified feeling of

exhilaration seeps into your body Dark

Souls is back and it's time to kick some

ass this feeling continues right into

the intro cinematic and Dark Souls 3

weighs zero time getting into the story

this is the first time in the trilogy

with the game outright tells you who the

main bosses are which are the abyss

Watchers aldred saint of the deep and

yor the giant there is also a fourth

that isn't mentioned but we'll discuss

them a bit later just like before it's

four beings who will need to be dealt

with in order to succeed but instead of

them being the four Lord Soul users or

the four great ones it's the four Lords

of Cinder the question is why are they

so important well oddly enough the game

tells you but the pure spectacle of the

intro is so hypnotizing you might not

even realize what was just said

according to the opening narration the

bells only toll when threatened the

reason they're being threatened is

because the fire is fading again but

furthermore it's because someone doesn't

want to link the flame that person being

Prince lothric since the prince doesn't

want to link the flame the bells of

Awakening revived previous Lords of

Cinder from past Kingdom each of these

aformentioned beings I mentioned earlier

were people who linked the flame in

their lifetimes the bells assume that if

they've linked it already then they'll

do it again but they all refused the

abyss Watchers Aldrich and yor don't

want to in a last Stitch effort to make

sure the fire is linked the bells of

Awakening have awoken other beings who

are unkindled people who have failed to

link the fire in the past but are now

given a second chance and we are one

such person known as the Ashen one our

job is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and

take their Ashes to their Thrones is if

they won't come back willingly then

their ashes will serve as a sub

Institute this is the plot of the game

no small objective in between like

finding Vendrick or ringing the bells

right away from the get-go we tasked

with killing these beings and licking

the flame assuming you've played the

previous games already then you've heard

this story twice before and already know

what you're getting into which is why

our first boss isn't even 5 minutes into

the game in Dark Souls 1 it took around

the same time to fight the Asylum Demon

but the game also taught us about our

inventory and weaponry but also showed

us that we can converse with NPCs and

used an Estus flask Dark Souls 2 took a

bit longer with this as the first boss

wasn't for a couple hours and the basic

tutorial can take a bit of time to run

through in Dark Souls 3 we start with

the Estus flask get all our gear and

start our journey immediately there is

no handholding here as the game assumes

you've done this all before and don't

need much of a refresher the reason why

they put udx in here is because he's

supposed to test our strength not just

the Ashen one strength but our since

Dark Souls III underwent some drastic

changes in regards to its combat and for

those who have noticed yes I'm using an

axe again it wasn't until starting this

game that I realized I had used an axe

for all three of them so I figured it'd

be quite comical if I beat the entire

Trilogy with the same weapon before

killing udx though we'll see him become

engulfed in this black form this is

called the pus of man this is a unique

disease that is taking over the kingdom

and it originates from the abyss similar

to how mana's humanity went wild causing

him to become the Ferocious Beast that

we know in game it's possible that this

is happening to other Hollows but on a

much grander scale is this won't be the

last time we see this puss of man in the

game after udx we can take the coiled

sword from his body and use it to create

the bonfire at the new Firelink Shrine I

absolutely love the design of Firelink

Shrine but the moment you walk in and

see all the Thrones lined up around the

bonfire you feel a sense of comfort it's

definitely my favorite across the entire

series but I lo its location Firelink

Shrine feels so disconnected from the

rest of the world even though majula was

on the outskirts of drag Lake Castle it

at least became a Nexus for all the

various paths that the player could

Traverse to the cherry on top here is

that we can't even travel to the first

location were forced to teleport to it

it just further shuts this place away

from the rest of the Kingdom there's no

incentive to explore the other areas of

the level is we've already seen

everything it has I never understood why

the series slowly moved towards this

idea but it seemed to be a massive hit

amongst the team as this would be used

in other games going forward from a pure

gameplay perspective the Firelink Shrine

of Dark Souls II also reverts the

changes in Dark Souls 2 to keep things

more simplistic Andre is back and will

handle anything regarding our weapons

from upgrades to infusions and the

shrine handmade becomes our

all-encompassing Merchant so no more

clutter like in Dark Souls 2 we also

have our new level up lady who is just

the fire keeper she doesn't have any

unique backstory like the emerald Herald

but her condition does spark a few

questions it seems that all the fire

keepers have some sort of condition that

afflicts them Anastasia the lady under

Firelink Shrine will initially be mute

and cannot be spoken to the Dark Moon

ntis in an Orlando has a disfigured

appearance which is why she hides it

from us with her armor and this fir

keeper is blind this has always been

fascinating to me as I've never been

able to fully understand why this is the

case it's possible that this is a sort

of right of passage and the fire keepers

are showing their willingness to The

Flame by giving up something but what

they lose seems to differ across the

games it's possible that this is just a

coincidence but there's also an NPC in

the game will meet called enina who

tries to be a firek keeper and is also

blind FireKeepers being blind only

occurs in Dark Souls I so I've always

wondered why blindness is occurring now

instead of across the series it's

something we never get an answer to but

definitely a fascinating topic to

discuss speaking of the characters in

Firelink Shrine I want to talk about the

NPCs though before we embark on our

journey Third times the charm as they

say since the NPCs of this game are

handled way better than in the previous

two titles my issue with each game is

that Dark Souls 1 kept replaying the

same fate of hollowing across all of its

characters which started losing its

value very quickly and Dark Souls 2

seemed to just make characters for their

rewards rather than their stories but

Dark Souls II seems to fix this issue

the quantity of the NPCs has been

drastically reduced as they're only

around 27 or so in the main game there's

also very little overlap in the

merchants as each School of magic has

one designated NPC with the exception of

pyromancy and while grey rat does have a

pretty useless inventory for the most

part since he's a thief you can actually

send him to find gear which will

increase his options this was so much

better as I didn't have to run around

the base finding the one Merchant who

sells the item I need furthermore the

actual quests of the NPCs were much more

enjoyable this time around there was

five standout characters for Dark Souls

I but one interesting change with this

game though is that the NPCs connect

with the main content both seart and HRI

have a connection with a specific Lord

of Cinder and yuria's quest line ends up

becoming one of the endings of the game

I really liked this idea as so far the

NPCs have been separate from the main

bosses so it was nice to see it all

inter twine with one another it'll be a

lot easier to explain what their quest

lines are alongside the main content so

we'll hold off on this for now which

means the only other two that we have to

talk about that have a more traditional

quest line are enina and Cirrus as we

talked about before enina is blind and

this is because she came from her land

of kareim to become a firekeeper you

might recognize the name Kareem as

Oswald the Trek and The Marvelous

Chester from Dark Souls 1 are all from

Kareem the reason we find Irina here in

this cell is because she's failed and

hasn't become a firek keeper yet due to

this failure she believed that she was

unfit to tend the flames and fell into a

deep depression the Knight guarding her

is Aon of kareim and has a sworn duty to

protect her no matter her state of being

to progress her quest line we need to

buy her spells if we buy her Miracles

then we'll be able to give her the

enlightenment she needed and we'll

eventually become a firekeeper at

Firelink Shrine gameplay wise she's

pretty useless in this state is not only

is there already a fire keeper but she's

also hundreds of feet away from the

player as opposed to the actual fir

keeper who is right next to you if we

however only by her dark Miracles we

further progress the ferocity of the

humanity with inside of her causing her

to be consumed by its dark power this

turns aegon hostile who will fight you

for betraying her she will eventually

start to become worried and asks us to

touch her again so that she can tell who

is nearby but eventually she will not

recognize our touch and ask to be killed

it's a genuinely sad outcome and this

emotion is heightened further because

we're the ones that caused it head we

instead just kept purchasing her regular

Miracles we could have saved her from

her impending fate it's a quest line of

two extremes one where she gets

everything she wants and one where she

loses everything and it all depends on

you as for sir she starts out as some

random person who appears at Firelink

Shrine sir seems to be a dark moon blade

since she uses the Dark Moon blade spell

which can only be acquired by those a

part of the Covenant but yorka the

leader of said Covenant states that

we'll be the only Knight in the group if

we join furthermore C says that she is a

former servant of the Divinity which may

imply that she was a dark moon blade but

left some time later as for why she left

it seems to be related to the two people

we fight against throughout her quest

line who are kraton and hodrick kraton

is the same one from Dark Souls 2

although this does not imply that he was

the Canon winner between him and Pate as

this was probably thousands of of years

ago and I'm assuming that kraton is also

unkindled as he most likely was revived

alongside us sirra says that kraton was

a part of the Rosaria fingers a rival

Covenant and one that she despises and

hodrick seems to be her grandfather the

reason we know this is because she calls

out to him before the fight and when

defeated she says that she's pleased

that her Granddad can rest in peace

hodrick seems to have gone mad at some

point and Sirius wanted to put him out

of his misery she has a short but sweet

quest line and the family connection to

hodrick was quite the shock the question

Still Remains though what is the Sun

Realms because her full name is Cirrus

of the sunless Realms it's nice to

speculate about it but there isn't much

information to go off of and this is a

running Trend throughout the series and

personally something I'm not a fan of

there are so many locations in the game

that we learn about like aora kareim

Katarina mea Alin Ven and so many more

but there's no in-depth lore about them

hell most of them don't even give us a

surface level idea of what they're about

this is not a Dark Souls three issue and

more of a series issue as the devs have

been given three chances to develop some

of these places and from software has

just refused to do so many people

including myself have tried to speculate

on more details regarding these kingdoms

but there's so little to go off of that

it's not even worth it their inclusion

in the game was probably because the

team wanted to add a bit of flavor to

the world to not only show that the main

Kingdom isn't the only Kingdom in the

Dark Souls universe but also that people

from all over are flocking to this

Kingdom in search of something important

it just feels like a wasted opportunity

to barely mention these places after

three whole games as a whole Dark Souls

II has some great quest lines and I

would go as far to say that it's the

most polished out of the entire series

Dark Souls 3 recognized what was wrong

with the previous two entries and made

sure not to repeat those same mistakes

again with the NPC's done we can now

resume our objective which as a reminder

is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and use

their ashes as kindling so that we may

travel to the Kil of the first flame and

relink the fire to do this though we

actually need five Lords of Cinder The

Abyss Watchers yorm Prince lothric

Aldridge and ludleth the reason I said

four earlier is because lli is actually

the only one who complies with the rules

as he's already at Firelink Shrine When

we arrive lless Throne says that he was

EX ex from his homeland the reason why

he was exiled was because of his art of

transposition for gameplay purposes this

allows us to take the boss souls and

make weapons out of them just like the

past games what's odd though is that

when he dies he drops the skull ring

which talks about a being called The

Soul feeder and how it was this

insatiable Beast that hungered for Souls

due to the ambiguity of his past it's

led to many theories such as lth being a

soul feeder himself but was at one point

defeated which is why he has no legs and

possibly can fit on his throne it is

also entirely possible that lth is just

someone who wants to do the right thing

and has no ill intentions but the skull

ring definitely leaves a lot up to the

imagination to get to the other four

Lords we'll need to use the bonfire at

Firelink Shrine which will take us to

the high wall of lothric and it is

absolutely stunning you're immediately

greeted with an entire view of the

castle and it's a breathtaking view but

it's also an illusion the kingdom of

lothric is riddled with corpses and

those who survived either became Hollows

or are still seen defending a lifeless

kingdom lothric is governed by the three

pillars of rule the knights who protect

the kingdom the scholars who run the

grand archives and the high priestess

who also served as Prince loth's wet

Nerfs those who abide by these rules are

the Loth Knights but these Wing Knight

variants are said to be Heretics as they

don't accept their rules this is because

of Gertrude the Heavenly daughter in the

grand archives we can find a bird cage

cell with a dead body in it this is

assumed to be Gertrude she was one of

the Queen's holy maidens although

depending on some item descriptions she

may also have been her daughter one day

gertude was visited by an Angel and

through this was able to establish the

Angelic faith of lothar seeing as this

isn't a part of the regular three

pillars gertude was taken and imprisoned

those who agreed with her teachings

though baned together to defeat the

current rulers of lothric which led to a

massive Civil War out of all the Three

Kingdoms we visited so far in the

trilogy the kingdom of lothric is easily

in the worst state this condition that

we see the castle in may also symbolize

the world of Dark Souls itself I'll

elaborate more on this idea later but

it's my personal theory that not only

did our characters from Dark Souls 1 and

2 Link the flame but every person in

between these games did so as well if we

go back to the intro the narrator says

that loar is really transitory lands of

the Lords converge meaning this isn't

like the past games in Dark Souls 1 all

the main bosses were within Lord already

but in Dark Souls 3 the lands of these

Lords have been forced together it's

unclear how this is even possible but it

may go back to the first Flame the world

of Dark Souls is dying it's a shadow of

its former self places are being buried

destroyed and created in an endless loop

the intro does a great job of showing

this but the one area that truly opened

my eyes to this was drag Heap this place

is covered in rubble and buildings that

span so far and wide that you can't even

tell what the buildings used to be or

when they were built we talked about how

time was convoluted in Dark Souls 1 but

in Dark Souls 3 this has been progressed

even further lands are being moved

together creating a tidal wave of rubble

and it's all because the first flame if

you watched the past videos you may have

noticed how worse things have gotten

throughout the series and I believe this

is because the first flame hasn't been

snuffed out people are still clinging on

to that illusion of life as Alia put it

and are willing to stay in the comfort

of what they know rather than step out

into the unknown and because of that the

world has gotten even worse each Dark

Souls game has tried to push the player

toward one specific idea the age of fire

in one the breaking of the curse in two

and the age of dark in three everyone in

Dark Souls 3 is just doing what they can

continue to do because it's all they

know some are blindly following their

faith and others are continuing to work

on their craft this game truly conveys

the attitude and the effects of a Dying

World one that is practically begging to

be put out of its misery it's basically

saying look at all of this in game look

at the destruction of the kingdoms the

ruins of the world and the people who

inhabit it do you think any of them are

truly happy to be alive right now not

even the Lords of Cinder beings who have

insurmountable power don't even want to

link the flame it lays all of this out

for you and asks you to choose which is

quite a heavy burden choosing to go

against the status quot that has been

said for who knows how long is a very

hard decision but at least we don't have

to make that choice now is the game will

blindsight us again and create another

boss encounter for us to be hypnotized

by we'll talk about vort later though as

he does have ties to another boss later

in the game after vort will be taken to

the undead settlement this place

functions like the undead Berg in Dark

Souls 1 as this place was the residence

of many of the kingdoms Undead but one

thing we'll see immediately upon entry

is this massive pile of corpses at the

end of the bridge these beings are

pilgrims that are most likely from the

kingdom of londor as the only Survivor

is y go of londor he is related to Uria

however so we will have to discuss him a

bit later as we explore the undead

settlement we can see that this place is

in just as bad of shape as Loth Castle

bodies are piled up everywhere and some

have even been put into cages this land

has also been subjected to various

curses and because of this many of the

settlements inhabitants sealed them away

in a spe tree but would end up cursing

the tree itself which would lead to the

creation of the cursed rotted Greatwood

during the second phase the Greatwood

will slam into the ground and will

discover the true resting place of all

the settlement's hollows in the apply

named pit of Hollows it's unclear though

whether or not the hollows that were

dumped here were alive or not upon

arrival but since the mound Maker's

Covenant is down here it's possible that

they were thrown in here alive and all

fought to the death which would explain

the plethora of Bones covering the walls

but it could also be that these people

actually banded together to create the

mound Maker's Covenant regardless it's

clear that their Fates were sealed the

moment they were thrown in while the

curs at Greatwood is to the left of the

dilapidated bridge if we instead go to

the right we'll make it to the road of

sacrifices and subsequently fairing keep

which leads us to our first Lord of

Cinder The Abyss Watchers fairen is

rather interesting is not only is it the

resting place for the abyss Watchers but

it may also be the ruins of ulil in this

area we can find the golden scroll and

the dusk Crown items that have ties to

ully seal and we can also find dead

mushrooms and maybe even the final

resting place of Elizabeth if this

taller mushroom is assumed to be her

this would also fit narratively with the

abyss Watchers as they were a part of an

organization dedicated to fighting the

abyss and seeing his Manis was located

under ulil this would tie together quite

nicely the abyss Watchers were the main

fighting force of a group called The

Undead Legion of fen who took inspir

aration from artorius and dedicated

their lives to fighting the abyss but

their group num seem to be much larger

than they seem as these monstrous beings

are seen guarding the abyss Watchers

Boss Arena they even managed to recruit

one of the twin Crystal sages that is

said to have betrayed his scholarly

Friends of the grand archives to Ally

with the undead Legion as for the abyss

Watchers themselves it said that they

all Shar the blood of the wolf most

likely in reference to this wolf found

in the area and used its blood to

increase their power and their power was

unmatched is not only were they able to

hunt together like a pack of wolves but

they've been known to bury an entire

Kingdom at the slight a sign of the

Abyss this group would eventually link

the flame presumably an attempt to Cast

Away the abyss for good but with their

main Force gone the rest of the forces

dwindled and left the undead Legion as

there was nothing else to do but as we

know the abyss can't be destroyed that

easily it eventually came back and went

unchecked since none of the Legion were

around and managed to turn their land

into a festering swamp these

monstrosities that we see may have been

Legion soldiers who were corrupted by

the abyss when the abyss Watchers awoke

they came to the realization that their

home was overrun and their mission was

unsuccessful and while it's not stated

when this happened at some point some of

the members became tainted with the

abyss itself which leads to the cut

scene before the boss fight where

they're all fighting one another as

they're trying to fight back against the

abyss but since they're all Undead

they're constantly being revived so

they're stuck in this NeverEnding battle

between each other which is likely why

they won't link the flame doing it the

first time didn't stop the abyss and

they have more important things to do

than sit on their throne and let the

abyss consume the world I absolutely

love the abyss Watchers and not just

from a lore perspective but also as a

boss what really sold the fight for me

was the hints of artorius that were

spread throughout their move sets the

undead Legion took took inspiration from

artorius so it's only right that they

mimic his fighting style and the

fast-paced leaping attacks that they

have really reminded me of that fight

furthermore this fight's quality

increases tfold once the other members

join in as it turns this honorable duel

into this chaotic mess you lose all

Focus during this fight as you're having

to keep track of three different Abyss

Watchers who can slide across the arena

in a second and the second phase is just

as deadly as the last dead Abyss Watcher

consumes the blood of all his brethren

in a last ditch attempt to stop us he's

a lot faster than last time and produces

Flames from his sword which makes the

fight even harder it shows how dedicated

the group is to their mission and how

they'll use anything they can as long as

they win similar to how artorius fought

us with all his strength and even a

broken arm from both a presentation and

gameplay perspective the abyss Watchers

are fantastic Lords of Cinder and the

best way to introduce the player to the

sheer power these Lords hold behind the

abyss Watchers is the catacombs of carus

a place that has seemingly no actual

Kingdom as this carus is never seen in

game but given that wnir is located down

here and is known to be a lord consumed

by the abyss maybe the abyss Watchers

leveled the entire Kingdom and while

that is an inter idea to think about

what's more important is actually what's

underneath the catacombs if we break

this bridge and use it as a ladder we

can enter the smoldering Lake the

original location of lost isth and

possibly Ash Lake in here we can see

giant structures that look very similar

to Arch trees of Ash Lake and given the

geography of lordran Ash Lake and lost

isth weren't too far from one another so

it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that

they can exist in the same location if

we continue deeper into the lake we'll

see dozens of dead demons that resemble

the Capra Taurus and stray demon from

Dark Souls 1 it's very clear that the

demon race is dying and that they're

struggling to survive we can even see

this in the stray demon near fair and

keep which is covered in stone rather

than the flesh and blood that we're used

to there's even The Old Demon King whose

Bostrom is covered in the corpses of his

fellow demons he'll try his best to

fight the ashim one with all his might

but most of his power ran out years ago

and as a last resort will release all

his flames in a fiery explosion but in

doing so he'll lose all the power he's

ever consumed and will be unable to

fight the Demons of Dark Souls 3 are a

dying race and further adds to the theme

of death and Decay the game is trying to

convey kingdoms aren't lavish spectacles

of beautiful architecture they a war

zone and the demon race is no longer a

formidable foe just a dying breed that

won't last another generation the

symbolism of this place is beautiful as

it shows that everyone is being affected

by the progression of time and no one is

gaining from having this age continue

but not everything needs to have a sad

ending as if we explore the rest of the

smoldering Lake we can find the corpses

of a spider and a woman and judging from

the tone that is located on her body it

seems that quana found the fair lady and

got to spend their last moments with one

another it's a wonderful and happy

ending quana got to find her sister who

she thought was dead and the lady is

finally able to die and no longer has to

suffer anymore getting back on track to

get to our next Lord of Cinder we need

to find iril but to gain entry we need

to find a specific item that is located

in the Cathedral of the deep the resting

place of Aldridge saint of the deep

Aldridge's story is by far the most

vague but also the most detailed amongst

the Lords of Cinder as his story

encompasses various other bosses that

we've already had the pleasure of

meeting years ago Aldridge was a common

cleric but he would eventually start

experiencing visions of a deep sea this

deep sea was another form of the abyss

and it was located in the lowest

possible depths imaginable and form the

core components of the world we never

get to see the deep sea in game but it

seems to be the lowest layer something

only aldrid can see he then shared this

info with only those he trusted who were

his arch deacons McDonald Royce and

Clint they not only kept this

information within their Inner Circle

but also encouraged one of aldrich's

insatiable urges whether this was

something he always had within him or it

came about when he saw visions of the

deep Aldrich had an insatiable urge to

consume human flesh the arch Deans

encouraged this behavior and used their

influence to create an army of followers

to not only worship Aldrich but also

went out and gathered sacrifices for him

that's why these evangelists are located

in the undead settlement as they are

trying to bring the undead to the

cathedral so that they may be consumed

by Aldrich we also learned that he would

eat anyone even including children as

HRI and Horus are said to be the only

two children who managed to escape

Aldridge's grasp where HRI and Horus are

located happens to be the road of

sacrifices the path that the settlers

and evangelists took to get to the

cathedral before consumption this

Cathedral performed all manner of

rituals and cleansings in order to

purify those who entered its doors after

numerous sacrifices the people around

Aldrich managed to go insane and even

though Aldrich himself was able to keep

his sanity his form would change rapidly

as he would eventually become the black

sludge that we see in the intro due to

his immense power he was used as a lord

of Cinder but seeing as Aldrich was

fully consumed by the visions of a deep

sea linking the fire would be the

opposite of what he had planned so this

implies that it was linked against his

will they would eventually return Al's

Body to the cathedral to be placed

inside the large coffin scene in the

deacons of the deep boss fight these

deacons were led by the archdeacons we

discussed earlier but while Aldrich was

laying in his coffin another piece was

added to the board pontiff Sullivan was

a former resident of the painted world

of arandel just like the world of Dark

Souls the painted worlds have their own

cycles that need to be rekindled in a

sense well the pontiff lived in the

current painted world of arendel but

felt no reason to continue his life here

as he had not experienced any hardship

or despair we'll learn about the

paintings residents in the DLC but

unlike the painted world of Aramis which

was a world for all the things the gods

feared arandel was for those who had no

else to go and are without purpose

Sullivan would then set out in search of

a purpose and would eventually come

across to ithel this place is very

relevant to the story as right next to

it is Anna Orlando the same one from

Dark Souls 1 from various item

descriptions we learn that gwindel

didn't actually die in Dark Souls 1 as

he is still very much alive in this game

now whether or not the chosen Undead

never fought him or they killed him but

he somehow revived himself is unknown

and ultimately irrelevant but with

gwindel being the only God left in an

Orlando he tried to reach out to those

in his extended family in hopes of

trying to rebuild the God's rule the

only one he managed to find though was

yoska a crossbreed girl similar to

Priscilla it's unclear what her

relationship with gwindel was or even

her relationship with Priscilla was but

all we know is that she was content with

helping gwindel in his objective gwindel

would also reinstate the Dark Moon

blades as a way to help protect them

from any adversaries one of their

Knights though happened to be pontiff

Sullivan who infiltrated its ranks and

managed to corrupt all the members he

came across he would then end up

enacting his plan when gwindel was

stricken with an illness that left him

unable to care for his Covenant or city

solivan in one successful swoop managed

to imprison yoska in a nearby Tower and

throw gwindel inside an Orlando

Cathedral allowing him to have complete

control of iel which is how he earned

the title of pontiff in order to ensure

protection of his new kingdom the

pontiff would not only set athl knights

in various positions as guards create a

barrier over the whole city so that no

one could enter but also send outrider

Knights to conquer other lands we've

already seen a few outrider Knights

across the game already but the two most

notable Knights are vort and the dancer

of the boreo Valley now much is known

about about the duo except the fact that

the dancer was a daughter from one of

the royal families in iril whether she

served willingly or not is unknown

either way both of their Fates would end

up the same as they were both bestowed a

ring given by the pontiff which would

end up slowly turning them into these

malform beasts after an unknown amount

of time Aldrich would reawake again as a

lord of Cinder and would foresee the

world's eventual destruction at the

hands of the deep sea due to this

premonition though he would neglect the

throne and wait for the Deep to overcome

the world and it was during this waiting

that he would dream of the old gods and

how they wanted to relink the flame he

saw this as a ploy against his own

wishes and sought to Devour the very

Gods he then traveled to iril decimated

the knights guarding the city and forced

the pontiff to surrender who gave up

control of an Orlando allowing Aldridge

to have an audience with gwindel what

happened next is what we see during the

boss fight we interrupt Aldrich midc

consumption who now has to use the

barely conscious body of gwindel as a

weapon to defeat us Aldrich seems to

have very Supernatural Powers as his

soul when transposed can give us the

Dark Moon Longbow which belonged to

gwindel but also the life hunt scythe

that belonged to Priscilla but

interestingly though he never consumed

Priscilla only dreamed of her from what

I can gather it seems that Aldridge can

acquire abilities from those he consumed

and is also able to peer into that

person's Memories the reason he was able

to acquire the life Hunt sighte is

because it's a miracle miracles in Dark

Souls are like stories you're

essentially reciting a story and using

the Talisman as a medium for the power

so aldrid consumed gwindel and dreamt of

Priscilla during the consumption and

then learned the story of the life hunt

scythe and was able to cast it since

it's basically just the equivalent of a

story again earlier I said Aldrich had

the most detailed story out of the Lords

of Cinder and I wasn't lying his story

doesn't just include himself but five

other bosses and close to a dozen named

characters it is a very long story to

wrap your head around but it is the kind

of Storytelling that got me interested

in these games in the first place it

showcases all the different events from

different points of view and how these

characters fit into one cohesive

timeline but just as the story is

detailed so too is it vague the Deep

sits on a shelf alongside many of the

concepts of the Dark Souls universe that

are barely touched upon in its defense

though the deep does have a lot of item

descriptions tied to it so we can at

least get a better understanding of what

its true nature is but seeing as it's

never shown to us in game or ever

elaborated on further than what we

talked about it just becomes another

idea in the world of Dark Souls that

leaves a lot open to the interpretation

as for the boss fight Aldrich was pretty

entertaining but I think a much better

boss fight in my opinion was ponti

Sullivan I've always liked Sullivan's

design and plus the walk towards him is

always very ominous as you don't know

what to expect especially when he dashes

right at you the moment you get too

close fort and the dancer were pretty

much on the same level as Aldrich in my

opinion I still think pontiff ranks

higher than all of them but they were

really entertaining fights and honestly

this opinion I have is pretty much the

same for most of the bosses in this game

even udx was an entertaining fight and

he was the first boss we ever face it's

clear that the quality of the bosses has

been raised thanks to Dark Souls 3i and

I think one reason for this was because

the team reverted the previous ideas of

Dark Souls 2 and instead focused on the

quality again rather than the quantity

each fight brought some sort of unique

twist so that it never felt like you

were in some traditional fight is that's

what the enemies were for even fights I

dislike due to their lack of difficulty

like the deacons are still at least

mildly impressive as its leagues better

than the congregation from Dark Souls 2

which I'm assuming was the inspiration

for it those enemies between the bosses

are allowed to have basic attacks and a

combo or two but the bosses are where

all the creative Talent is supposed to

be spilled into it felt like there was

real passion Behind These bosses again

from their designs to their move sets

and that's one of the reasons Dark Souls

II is held in such a high regard within

the franchise the other reason may also

be down to the locations themselves

there is Beauty in destruction as they

say and Dark Souls 3 proves time and

time again how this is possible the

catacombs the cathedral and the

smoldering Lake are all great examples

of this but the way the game shifts this

idea and it said showcases Beauty

through architecture again through the

lens of things like iril and an Orlando

is genius even the smallest things like

looking over a ledge and seeing the rest

of the Kingdom or just walking through

the hallway that leads to Gwynn's tomb

are beautiful not only because we get to

see some of these locations in a new

more updated light but because from

software has always expertly crafted its

levels to showcase these moments for us

that's one of the reasons an Orlando was

so beloved amongst the community Is Not

only was it the first area that showed

actual Signs of Life in the world of

lram but its design was a sight to

behold even in Orlando in its current

state still holds that beauty it's just

a different kind of beauty not how

various pieces of architecture can

create a Godlike City that people can

only dream of but how despite its

destruction and loss of life and Orlando

still manages to be a beacon of light

and upholds the massive significance

that it displayed in Dark Souls 1 after

the defeat of Aldrich if we retrace our

steps back to iro we can find a separate

path that leads to the profane Capital

ruled by yorum the giant interestingly

though we don't just arrive in the

capital as upon exiting through this

hole in the wall we arrive in the ithil

dungeon this place is a massive and

convoluted prison filled with all manner

of beings who have been imprisoned and

tortured and abused by all the jailers

these jailers are said to hail from the

profane Capital but later served under

the rule of pontiff Sullivan they're

also very ruthless in their methods when

it comes to subduing escape bees as they

have a poisonous Mist that saure

HealthWay and use a scolding p piece of

hot iron that not only Burns at the

touch but will hinder your ability to

run away as you temporarily fat roll

when Afflicted if you manage to escape

the prison you'll be greeted by the

underground city of the profane capital

from a pure spectacle or design

perspective I think shova had a much

better greeting upon its entry but the

profane capital is still nice to look at

it is admittedly quite small this could

once again be due to the geological

shift of the lands towards lothric but

that doesn't ignore the fact that the

devs could have done a bit more with its

design you'll likely spend more time in

the adjacent dungeon than in the actual

actual Capital while the area does lack

in length it does try to circumvent the

issue a bit by adding a bit more depth

the capital is covered in various

trinkets goblets and burned corpses and

these bodies don't just stop at the

entrance they are in every section of

the capital it's trying to get the

player to wonder what exactly happened

here well the capital was under attack

by a new flame called The profaned Flame

this was a curse created by a group of

women and while they did become

disfigured and turned into these

creatures we see just outside the

capital they did manage to win in the

end as it pretty much killed every

single person who resided in said

Capital but this is where yorm came in

as he attempted to stop this profane

flame before it caused any damage by

linking the flame and becoming a lord of

Cinder but it didn't work as the

aformentioned destruction followed

shortly after the main question

surrounding it though is why did these

women create such a thing and how well

it's possible that it may have ties to

the abyss as both Carla the witch and

the profane Cole who are both found in

the ithal dungeon have ties to the abyss

you're here to save

me but I'm guilty

a wretched child of the

Abyss

Lords where did you happen upon this

coal this is much too dark I see the

abyss in it furthermore we need to look

at the pontiff and elanora pontiff

carries a sword called the profaned

Great swword which stat that Sullivan

discovered an unfading flame below the

tundra of iiil in the axe elenora can be

dropped from these monstrous creatures

which says that the women who triggered

the curse were relatives of a certain

Oracle these words Tundra iril a land

covered in snow and Oracle all point to

Alam Lo and alsana being this Oracle

from what we just talked about regarding

the smoldering Lake and what we know

from the old chaos in aam Lo it's clear

that the flame of chaos is dying so

maybe this is an altered version of the

flame of chaos or at least maybe the

last few Sparks of it it's definitely a

stretch but the profane flame has always

been interesting to me as the last time

a new flame was mentioned in the series

well we kind of know how that went upon

his Revival though yor the state of his

City and was in utter shock at what had

occurred so now he sits in despair

unwilling to link the flame but despite

how depressing it would be to kill him

we not only need his ashes but a friend

also needs to uphold his

promise

y old

friend hi secret of the Knights of

Katarina have come to uphold my

promise let the sun shine upon this Lord

Cinder when y became the ruler of his

kingdom many of the people disapproved

of him in an effort to gain their trust

he created two weapons called the storm

rulers and gave one to his people should

he ever step out of line and the other

to his best friend Seward who promised

to kill him should he come back to life

this is also the final step step in

Secret's quest line it was the main

reason I enjoyed it so much as being

able to fight alongside an NPC such as

him against a giant sounds like a blast

but despite the wonderful presentation

and design of y's character it's easily

the most underwhelming fight in the game

using the storm ruler is the only way to

do real damage to your arm the main

attack of the storm ruler is the weapon

art that produces a slash of wind

capable of Downing him but that's just

it it's just the same move over and over

again doing this alone is easy and with

seag it becomes even easier as you can

will stun lock yor for a large portion

of the battle and for this to occur

during a fight with a lord of Cinder is

pretty pathetic on top of this y's

second phase doesn't really change

anything it just adds a bit of fire to

his weapon I feel like there was much

more potential for yor but it was never

given to us thankfully this wouldn't be

the last time this idea would exist in a

Souls game as Elder ring repurposed this

idea and it was much better handled

there our final Lord of Cinder is Prince

Loth the one who started this problem in

the first place but the real question is

why it's the one thing that's been

rattling in my head since the very

beginning why did Loth refuse to link

the flame well the answer is honestly a

bit sad Prince Loth was born to die the

rulers of Loth Were King Osiris and his

Queen Osiris had three children named

lauan lothric and ocelot lauan was the

first and was a formidable soldier on

the battlefield who was able to

single-handedly defeat the demon prince

who is said to rule over all the demons

Osiris figured that his lineage could

push their power even further by

creating a child specifically to become

a lord of Cinder and lothric was to be

that child but he failed Loth wasn't

strong enough so the family committed a

deed so heinous that it cursed him for

Life despite the curse though it worked

and Loth was capable of relinking the

flame but his frail body combined with

his poor health left him bedridden and

resentful being The Helpful brother that

he was lauan wanted to combine his soul

with lathrix but because of lothric's

curse it consumed lauan as well which

left him mute and a due to this

the current state of the world and the

fact that even his teacher was having

doubts about relinking the flame It

ultimately caused lothi to refuse and

honestly it's hard to blame him being

created for the sake of power and not

knowing what your sacrifice will truly

do is a hard burden to put on a child

especially when you consider how much

grooming was presumably done to get Laur

ready to link the flame had he been

brought up in a different light this

story could have been changed but due to

the greed of the King It ultimately

started a chain of events that would

bring about the end of the world at the

very least though the twin princes

weren't the only ones that suffered

Osiris is more Dragon than human now and

has gone insane because of it similar to

how Big Hat Logan became deranged from

the knowledge he read on SE so to did

Osiris and depending on what you believe

believe he may also be hallucinating

during the fight he talks about his son

ocelot and we can infer that he's

carrying him in his hand but nothing is

there this however may not be as obvious

as it seems there's currently two

theories I believe in that argue for and

against ocel lot's existence on one hand

ocelot may be a hallucination from the

King either because assalot died and he

can't accept the loss or that he had

been hallucinating the mere idea that he

had a child in the first place however

on the other hand ocelot may actually

exist but was removed due to some real

wol complications during the second

phase of the boss fight Osiris will

scream acel lot's name then slam the

hand that carries him into the ground

presumably killing him we can hear a

baby crying in the background during the

fight implying that he lived but I think

this was a loophole by from software to

get rid of complaints killing kids in

games if I'm not mistaken will get a

game banned just about everywhere and

from software has honored this Rule and

rarely ever adds kids their games to

begin with the only ones that come to

mind are Kuro and seiro and father gaso

and's daughter in bloodborne but his

daughter is never seen as we're forced

to talk to her through a wall and while

C does make an appearance numerous times

he is never shown to be harmed there are

three parts in the game that c is

actually cut with something and each

time it happens we never actually see

the real act it is of course implied

that he has suffered a wound but it's

never actually shown from software most

likely wanted to add ocelot and his

death to the game but couldn't due to

the possibility of the game being banned

personally I've always been a fan of the

four party and do believe that the king

is not hallucinating and ocelot was

meant to be in the game because this

also connects to the king's current

mindset as he is going so insane that he

doesn't even realize the harm he's

putting his child in but to make matters

worse while the King was consumed by

se's writings on immortality and the

twins were currently suffering through

no fault of their own the queen had just

decided to leave she disappeared quietly

into the night from the kingdom and was

never seen again the Queen's identity

though is unknown but it is heavily

theorized to be gwy from Dark Souls 1 we

know that gvir bestowed Divine blessings

to her people and was seen as a symbol

of bounty and fertility because of it

and the divine blessing of Dark Souls 3

says that the queen of lothric was

initially revered as a goddess of

fertility and Bounty but the issue is

that we know that she left an Orlando

and became the wife of a flame God flan

so how did she go from him to Osiris and

why did she leave him and come back here

furthermore if gwindel was actually

trying to get the gods back in an

Orlando how did the two never find one

another and why didn't Gwen ofir come

back this could have been due to the

presence of Aldrich and the pontiff

within the cathedral but this also calls

into question Rosaria as her soul can

create the Bountiful sunlight Miracle

which is one of the Miracles of Gwen and

given the presentation of both

characters from the room's layout to

their positions on the bed it's clear

that there is a connection between the

two whether Rosaria is actually Gwen or

simply someone Gwen knew is never

explicitly told to us and really in the

grand scheme of things it doesn't really

matter but it is a very interesting

Theory nonetheless it's clear though to

no one's surprised that the royal family

is in disarray and is currently

suffering just like the kingdom is

despite this though the Knights of the

Kingdom still stay strong and continue

to defend the castle against the

corruption that is the puss of man but

it's starting to fight back as the puss

of man is embedded Within These twin

wyverns and many of the Castle's

soldiers and it seems like the pilgrims

of londor have also started advancing on

the castle as they've managed to control

the armor of the Dragon Slayer and use

it as a tool of their destruction after

battling through all of this chaos

though we can finally meet the prince

himself the twin princes actually go

against the status quo of the game not

just in their decision to refuse the

throne but also in how they're presented

to the player lothric in a way is this

game's Gwyn or Vendrick he's clearly not

on the same level as the other two but

it was lothric's choices that set the

Game's plot into motion just like how

Gwyn Advent rri's choices said their

games pled into motion instead of being

presented as a shambling corpse wrick is

the opposite even if he's just some

bedridden child that's cursed with a

lifelong illness the boss fight isn't

this sad encounter that makes you feel

like you're doing them a service by

putting them out of their misery you're

fighting a being who is extremely

powerful and is fully conscious of their

actions as opposed to the hollow

versions of the other two it was a

wonderful twist as I expected to be

greeted by a somber tune all while

seeing the death and Decay that has

continued to spread throughout the

kingdom reach the prin Chambers but I

didn't and that surprised me and now is

probably a good time to correct a

previous statement of mine a couple

months ago I made a review on Dark Souls

3 it was a bit more gameplay Centric

than this video is but in that video I

said despite loving the twin princes

laurian had always pissed me off due to

his awful teleportation ability and I

want to rectify that statement as I

never felt these feelings this time

around in the previous video on Dark

Souls 2 I talked about how the quality

of these bosses will always be a

subjective opinion as the boss's

enjoyment largely depends on the build

and the skill of the player I naively at

the time did not take this into

consideration and never considered that

I was the problem looking at the gaml

now is downright embarrassing and I

realized that lauan was never the issue

it was me yes his teleport move does

occasionally break line of sight which

is still annoying but everything was not

as bad as I had made it out to be I

always liked the twin princes as a boss

fight that opinion has never changed but

I think I can now officially say that

it's not only the best Lord of Cinder

fight in the game which easily one of

the few fights in Dark Souls I that I

consider completely perfect the she Pres

pres of these two is amazing the fight

is pretty much laurian versus the player

Loth is able to protect lauran with

magic and heal him once he dies the same

way the player can heal with Estus and

use their equipment to Aid them Loth is

like the support role in this Duo but

he's also the main character that needs

to be defeated as he can obviously

revive lauan but his magic forces the

player to not engage them prolonging the

fight even longer than it already is

giving lauan enough time to finish us

off and the fact that the duo manages to

be a threat no matter the distance

always adds to the intensity of the

fight I've always been one to admit when

I'm wrong and except the fact that my

opinions are never meant to be set in

stone and can always be changed and this

playthrough thoroughly changed my mind

about this fight as the twin princes are

not only worthy of the title Lord of

Cinder but were such an excellent boss

to put at the end of The Journey out of

all the souls games I ended up talking

about these bosses the most out of any

in the trilogy and this is doe in part

of the Lord Of Cinders being the only

objective in the game so talking about

them is really all we can discuss they

are the main focus of the game and thus

need to have detail lore to back it up

this was forgivable in the other game

games as while those beings did have

some importance in the world they

weren't the main focus but in Dark Souls

3 they are if it wasn't for the Lords of

Cinder we wouldn't have a game so they

ended up becoming the main focus of the

story and the devs managed to deliver

Aldrich is a testament to that statement

as I may have spent more time on them

than any character in the series with

the exception of the witch of isth who

coincidentally also had numerous bosses

and characters tied to her plot I was

really impressed by the overall

presentation of this game especially

when it came to our four Lords of Cinder

even including yorm who had a wonderful

design and presentation despite the

fight being a bit blackluster their lore

was rich with details and the item

descriptions were long enough to create

an essay's worth of information but also

left enough info out to keep that Soul's

Spirit of finding the context clues and

filling in the gaps plus the encounters

with said bosses made the time spent

getting to them worth it even yorm as

once again despite being disappointing

there was at least an attempt to create

the spectacle of tackling a monolithic

siiz giant but if there was one thing

that bothered me about this game it was

the lack of attention given to Dark

Souls 2 narratively this actually fits

quite well as Strang Lake was supposed

to be seen as this unimportant Kingdom

that would be easily toppled and

replaced with something else in time

only to be forgotten by the rest of the

world but if the point was to make the

kingdom feel unimportant why are there

constant references to it like kraton

appearing in cirus' quest lucatiel's

armor and ASO sword resurfacing in the

game the dead giant at Firelink Shrine

and not only a portrait of nandra but of

aam Lo and broom Tower found in iril it

just feels confusing it's like the team

actively wants the player to know that

despite not making Dark Souls 2 they are

aware and care about the game but barely

put in the effort to justify it what is

truly the most upsetting part about this

is that both Vendrick and Alia to my

knowledge are never mentioned once

throughout the game there is one magic

spell found in the grand archives that

says the words the first of the scholars

which many people have pointed towards a

link to Alia but he was a scholar of the

first sin not a first scholar plus the

first of the scholars could refer to the

scholars of the grand archives not Alia

it's a shame because they were the only

beings that we know of who sought to

break the curse through unconventional

means and there's zero remnants of their

work the two are never brought up in the

game and the actual structures of Drang

Lake or alus keep are never seen in game

I understand that Dark Souls I was not

everybody's cup of tea and maybe the

original team wanted to do away with the

B team's creation but you can't deny

that Vendrick and Alia had the potential

to create a sizable impact on the story

and for their legacy to be tarnished

like this is a bit disappointing with

all the Lords of Cinder dead and their

ashes within our inventory we can now

link the first flame but before we do

that there is two DLCs and a couple

other bits of content for the main areas

that I want to address first if we

rewind and go back to Osiris and visit

the area behind his boss Arena will

uncover a place called the untended

graves this place is identical to the

cemetery of Ash in the beginning of the

game with the only difference being the

lighting it's one of the most talked

about locations within the community as

this confusion coupled with this feeling

of nervousness settles in as upon entry

you start to recognize all the familiar

Landscapes and are just bewildered that

a place like this even exists the boss

is also identical as it's Champion Gere

as opposed to udx according to his

bosold description Champion gundar came

to Firelink Shrine to relink the fire

but failed and arrived too late he was

then eventually bested by an unknown

Warrior and given the series heavy use

of that term we can assume that this

Warrior was us afterwards he then became

a sheath for the coiled sword so similar

to ulil and the memory of the Giants we

can go back in the past kill Champion

Gunder who then becomes a sheath for the

coiled sword and hopes say another

Warrior will come and use it to link the

flame who just happens to be us we then

take the sword from his present body as

udic gundar and use it at the bonfire if

we happen to defeat Champion gundar

though we'll be greeted with an

identical Firelink Shrine and while the

firekeeper is not here there are an eyes

of a firekeeper located inside the

building if we have the eyes in our

inventory lwith and the fire keeper will

comment on them lli refers to the

firekeeper as her implying that he knows

the identity of this person in the fire

keeper will mention how these eyes

reveal frightening images of betrayal in

a world without fire so we can assume

that this was in the past and since lth

is familiar with the fire keeper and is

a lord of it's possible that this was

during the time he linked the fire which

would also connect with the intro of the

game that says that the land of Lords

are converging together this L just

happens to be lths but what doesn't make

sense is the handmaid's dialogue as in

the dark Firelink Shrine her attitude

seems to imply that the flame is still

lit as she tells us to hurry along but

how is this possible well sadly I don't

have an answer for that the untended

graves is one of the hardest parts of

this game to wrap your head around which

makes discussing it extremely difficult

one explanation though could be that the

FireKeeper's eyes are what's causing

this dark Ness as the world in present

day Dark Souls 3 is getting close to the

age of dark as evidenced by the giant

dark sign eclipse in the sky but there's

still plenty of light left in this world

whereas in the untended graves there's

nothing but if all the lights extinguish

and that implies that this is an age of

dark but love the link the flame and

continue the age of fire so that's why I

think it's the eyes of a fire keeper

displaying a vision in the sense of what

the world would come to should we enact

this Grand betrayal which is letting the

flame die out another thing of note

though is the repair spell in Dark Souls

3 which says that light is time and the

reversal of its effects is a forbidden

art so this implies the untended graves

could be like the things betwix it's

sort of stuck in limbo because there's

no light existing and therefore time not

existing regardless this but it's very

confusing backstory it's probably my

favorite location to discuss in the game

as there's so many possibilities as what

this place truly means the final

location is near IRL dungeon as we can

use the dragon pose from the untended

graves to be transported into Ark Dragon

Peak we already know that immortality

via Dragon form is not unheard of as

many people worship these Stone dragon

in Dark Souls 1 Osiris is assumed to be

human before he became a dragon and we

can actually find some Dragon Stones

which will turn us into a humanoid

Dragon similar to the one sitting next

to us so it's pretty safe to assume that

this place was used to worship the

ancient dragons despite the fact that

they're all dead now but even though

they're all dead that doesn't mean the

other flying types won't exist as we get

to challenge a wyvern shortly after

arriving which at first glance is a

pretty cool fight until you realize that

the enemies on the walkways are actually

tougher than the boss itself I can

recognize that the team was most likely

experimenting with some B ideas for boss

fights and while it's definitely cool at

first it just feels a bit unnatural if

you will as completely destroying its

health bar in one plunge attack just

felt off Arc Dragon Peak not only has a

questionable first boss but also raises

various questions that admittedly may

leave people confused two characters

have arrived at this location at certain

points in time which are havl and

orstein we find havl next to a down

dragon and we find ornstein's armor

towards the end of the level I can

forgive havl for being here since he's

always had a hatred for dragons and

seaths since Dark Souls 1 but that

doesn't explain how he's alive well havl

had a band of knights who followed him

and more than likely wore the same armor

as he did so I don't think this is havl

more just a knight of havl but while

this is explained fairly easily orstein

is not orstein has always had a

complicated history within the series as

he was clearly present in Dark Souls 1

but then shows up again in Dark Souls 2

as the old Dragon Slayer and then again

in this game as the dragon slayer armor

and in Arc Dragon Peak where we are now

firstly I've always been a firm believer

in the fact that we kill orstein in Dark

Souls 1 the old dragon slayer is simply

someone who is trying to uphold ste's

Legacy or is somehow connected to

orstein Soul since we know from Dark

Souls 2 that the old Lord Souls can

inhibit others bodies so it's possible

or's Soul inhibited someone wearing his

armor it's also possible that the soul

felt comfortable with this decision

given or Stein's armor is pretty

synonymous with his legacy as for Dark

Souls 3 we know that the dragon slayer

armor is not orstein is simply just

another dragon slayer as the weapon and

armor are completely different but AR

Dragon Peak is unique this is not only

the same armor that orstein wore but its

item description talks about how he left

the anal orando Cathedral to come here

but when did this happen he couldn't

have came here and then went back to the

cathedral as his armor is located here

and he couldn't have left after Dark

Souls 1 because he died so the only real

explanation that makes any plausible

sense is that orstein dies in Dark Souls

1 he then has his soul return like the

previous Lord Soul wears but decides to

inhabit someone wearing his armor or

maybe even the armor itself as it's

familiar to the soul we talked about in

Dark Souls 2 how it seemed like the four

great ones were connected to specific

Lord Souls because of their feelings and

emotions we still don't know whether or

not these Lord Souls connected with them

because of these similar emotions or if

they gain these feelings from consuming

the souls but if this is true then it

would make sense that orstein is

continuing to fight the same and has the

same goals and Ambitions across all the

games regardless of how orstein is a

live verb how he even ended up here in

the first place we at least know why he

was here and that was because of the

nameless King the nameless King has

actually been teased since Dark Souls 1

as he was the infamous firstborn son of

Gwyn that was referenced in various

items in that game from both one and

three we can piece together that the

nameless King is the firstborn son of

Gwyn and was a dragon slayer during the

war with the Everlasting dragons but at

some point he would eventually cast all

this away and Ally himself with the

dragons and if you want to talk about

presentation when it comes to boss

fights this one needs to be mentioned

not only does the introduction of the

boss feel intense as the nameless King

swoops in on a storm Drake but when we

finish the Drake off he literally kills

it and takes the power for himself from

just a pure gameplay perspective he's

easily the second best fight in the game

there's a feeling that occurs across the

entire series when everything comes

together you've learned the move set

understood the timings and discover the

punishes all that's required is to put

it together and when that clicks it

becomes one of the best fights in the

game his moves are punishing have delays

and are even mixed together as one combo

might have two swings but the next will

be three or it will do away with the

third swing and add a completely

different move the fight requires

complete concentration and the ability

to be patient dodging too early will

more often than not lead to your death

so you have to be on high alert for the

whole fight genuinely a great fight from

top to bottom with it only being

surpassed by one being we have yet to

cover but before before we move on to

the DLC I want to look back at the game

so far Dark Souls III set out to create

a Dying World that features places that

have been ridden with disease and death

showing to the player that their

inability to let go of what they know

and continue this age of fire will only

make things worse even a basic

understanding of the war will convey

this as you can see just how bad

everything has gotten from the fact that

there's hundreds of dead bodies lit

throughout each level and people are

becoming corrupted and infected with

these diseases and plagues causing them

to either go Hollow or turn into a

massive black sludge the demon race a

group of beings thought to be on top are

dying out the gods have all been wiped

out and the Lords of Cinder beings who

have the ability to rule over anything

they please due to their power refuse to

continue this age of fire Aldrich wants

to continue his own age so admittedly

that is a bit more selfish but the other

three have recognized that their

sacrifice did or will amount to nothing

linking the flame never stopped the

abyss and never stopped the profane

flame and it's never going to end the

suffering that's occurred since lordran

so if the first flame is supposed to be

this symbol of peace and comfort then

what is actually so good about it all of

this has been Illustrated to us

throughout the story and is a testament

to how genius the writing of Dark Souls

3i truly is but now it's time to move on

not just to a new agees that will come

later but to a new world a painted world

even this old man in front of us is Gail

and he's how we start the DLC ashes of

arandel we talked about this place

briefly when we discussed pontiff

Sullivan and said it was a painted world

for those without purpose upon entering

we're greeted by a deformed being who

welcomes us and tells us to get

comfortable on a bed of rot similar to

The Real World The Painted worlds have

their own cycle and it's this cycle that

is so interesting as in the main game

the age of fire is being constantly

prolonged and it's the age of dark that

will take it over but as we'll soon see

it's the rot that's being prolonged and

the only way to get rid of it is to burn

it the painted world of arandel is just

a similar version of the Dark Souls

Universe with the same themes and ideas

just twisted around they're both

separate worlds with separate cycles and

each one has a particular cycle that is

going on too long and it's either the

fire that's causing it or the fire that

will get rid of it this is also the

reason Gail sends us to the painted

world in the first place as opposed to

the corvian we meet first who tells us

to embrace the rot Gail and even this

corvian settler want us to set it a

flame setting the painting a flame will

allow a new painted world to be created

but they can't do that without fire and

the person preventing this is Sister

freed she is the reason the rot is being

prolonged and she's also the other Ash

that the Gale and the corvian refer to

meaning she's unkindled it's because of

her decision to keep the rock going that

has caused much of the destruction of

this place interestingly though only the

corvians seem to care as we talked about

the painted world is for those without

purpose and the corvians aren't the only

ones who reside here as the soldiers are

the members of the undead Legion of fen

in the beginning of the video when we

talked about the abyss Watchers I

mentioned that when they linked the

flame the rest of the Legion left once

that occurred the others no longer had a

purpose and further lost any chance of

having one once they came to the

realization that their home had turned

into a swamp according to their armor

these Fen followers seem to be

specifically tasked with killing any

Undead Legion who succumbed to the abyss

which makes me wonder how the abyss

Watchers cut scene would have played out

had the Assassins not left maybe the

abyss Waters would have finally been

able to regain their strength again now

that they didn't have to kill each other

the other group of of people are the

Milwood Knights they don't have too much

lore and anything to really tie any of

the characters or events to them but at

some point in time they lost their

Forest that they called home and then

sought refuge in the painted world these

groups seem to just carry on throughout

their day and simply exist within the

painted world but the corvians are

different as you have the regular

looking settlers who want to burn the

rod away but then there's also the

corvian knights who were so infatuated

with sister free that they've now turned

against their Brethren just the basic

idea of what the painted world

represents to the people within it is

such an intriguing concept the way this

Loosely connects to the main game's

themes is genius one thing I always

found disappointing though about Ash

sarenda was the length once we enter the

painting we were to meet with sister

Fred who welcomes us but just as quickly

dismisses our arrival and tells us to

leave because we no longer belong here I

have no issue with this as it's not

holding the player's hand but everything

just feels like it's going so fast is

right after this we're to find the

painter enter the basement of sister

Freed's Church activate a lever and then

we're already at the final boss

everything just feels so fast and I was

surprised how quickly the final boss was

introduced to me I've talked about

before how most of the souls games DLCs

are like this and don't take much time

overall this of course though largely

depends on how fast you beat the bosses

as they're usually the main hurdles but

ashes of Arendelle felt shorter than

normal there is an optional boss that

could take up more of your time but this

was just so that the player could access

the PVP matches and the lore of the boss

also connects to this as this was the

champion of the undead matches that the

undead used to partake in other than

that it's pretty much just going from

one area to the next and the distance

between them is quite short once we do

finish talking with sister Freda though

our path will eventually lead us to the

corvian settlements and its Church where

we will meet with sir vilhelm he was the

guard that was outside the church where

sister Fred was located but what's more

interesting though about Sir vilhelm is

that he not only has a black flame buff

on his weapon but he also wields the

dark hand both of which have ties to the

abyss this relates back to Sister Freda

as she was one of the three sisters of

the Sable Church her other sisters were

Lilian and yuria which means she has

ties to londor and this is reinforced by

the different dialogue options that we

get from her if we have the dark sigils

in inventory from yuria's quest line

it's not much but she does recognize us

as the Lord of Hollows given that she is

unkindled it's possible that she tried

to link The Flame or usurp it and this

possibly got her Exile from the church

without a purpose or home she may have

been drawn to the painted world which is

how she ended up here in the first place

and figured that she could rule over

this land by herself however given that

we have this innate ability to ruin

people's plans we're going to prevent

sister freed from doing so to do this we

need to talk to the painter and unlock

the doors leading to her room for her to

be able to paintt though she will need

to see Flame and to do this we need to

get to the source I see

flame flame fuckering once

again not enough bloody Ed

shade my

fle bring me my

F this is Father arendel the painter of

the painted world of arendel who is now

being held captive by Sister Freda she

managed to convince father Arendelle

that the only way to preserve the

painted world was to bury the flame and

let the rock consume the world to stop

him from spreading he uses his flail on

himself causing him to bleed which

appeases the flame it's quite a sad

story and it makes sister Freda out to

be even worse of a person than she

already was given that we're going

against her wishes though she fights us

and she is very difficult which is also

very entertaining I love this fight and

I think it's a great way to end the DLC

the fight starts out quite normal until

her blood reaches father arandel who

freaks out causing the room to be

engulfed in flames and him to break out

of his restraints and attack us Fred is

is also back and it turns into a 2V1

it's very reminiscent of orstein and Smo

as the doo compliments each other quite

well this is also the only fight in the

trilogy to my knowledge where you can

summon an NPC in the middle of the fight

as Gail can only be summoned for the

second phase it also makes sense to

bring him along since both you and him

have the same objective so there's no

reason for him not to help you after

sister Freda has been dealt with though

we can return to

the A

the yeah so if it wasn't already bad

enough sister Freda has a third phase

this whole encounter is extremely

stressful as you not only have to plan

for one but two extra phases there's

been so many times where I got pummeled

during this fight in the first phase

that I just reset as I knew it wasn't

worth starting the next phase with half

the Estus she really forces the player

to learn her move set thankfully though

Gail does make the encounter easier but

it's still very difficult even with his

assist

with sister Fred and father arandel dead

for a real this time the fire will now

be able to consume the painting without

any delays which means the painter can

now work on the new world she plans to

create a cold dark and very gentle place

as she calls it she's going to need

Paint to make that painting and from

what we learned from father arendelle's

Soul we know that the paintings are

Written in Blood so Gail's objective

will be to scour the land for some blood

to use his pigment and while he does

that we can go on to the next DLC but

Gail's here too he has written messages

for us and points us towards where we're

supposed to go so what blood is he

getting well Gail is trying to find the

blood of the Dark Soul the Dark Soul

which leads him to the ring City ashes

of arendo was a short but decent DLC the

bosses were great and the actual design

of arendo was beautiful from its frozen

Tundras to its rotted swamps but if it

fell complete or if the DLC suddenly

ended so soon that's the point as both

of Dark Souls 3i's DLCs are a connected

story the story of Gail and the painter

and their quest to create a new world

which leads us to the ring City the

start of the Ring City DLC sees us

travel to the drag Heap the area we

talked about earlier in the video as I

said then time is getting worse as the

world progresses and this is a perfect

example as now that the age of fire is

getting even closer to the end lands are

converging on each other more and more

and the world is practically collapsing

in on itself here in the drag keep we

can see nostalgic callbacks to the Past

like the earn Peak Windmill and the

desert pyromancer from Dark Souls 2 this

is a very long and convoluted level to

really showcase how bad everything has

gotten but at the very end of the level

is the demon Duo not not only is the

gameplay of this fight fantastic as it

not only surpasses the previous Duo but

might even be on par as orstein and Smo

but the location of the fight is heavily

theorized to be the original Firelink

Shrine of Dark Souls 1 the reason being

is that the exit of this arena is the

same structure that framp appears in

Gail can once again join you for this

fight but it will trivialize this

encounter tremendously as the demons

have long cooldowns between their

attacks and also alternate move sets I

actually found this fight to be balanced

while being outnumbered so adding more

people makes it worse once the demons

are both dead the last one to die gets

to be reborn as the demon Prince just

like the first Flame the chaos flame

needed to be rekindled by a demon with

vast power and the current demon Prince

at the time was going to but ended up

facing lauan and was defeated however

all demons share memories with another

so in theory that means they can share

the power of the demon Prince and when

the last demon Falls it is reborn as the

demon Prince and the last of its kind

the demon Prince is a genuinely great

fight and for being the first boss in

the DLC this is already a great start to

the additional content when the demon

Prince does fall though we can finally

say goodbye to the demons the once great

race thought to be almost on top has now

withered away never to be remembered

again just like everything else in this

world with the drag he finished we can

move on to the final location of the DLC

but one thing that's been very

interesting about the drag he is the

progression of time as we go further

down in the game we're actually going

further back in the past as we start out

at the very top in Dark Souls 3 we move

further down to Dark Souls 2 with the

earn Peak making an appearance and then

we're all the way at the bottom where

we're back in Dark Souls 1 with the

Firelink Shrine but we can go even

further further back as past the old

Firelink Shrine we can travel to the

ring City a place that has existed since

the gods toppled the dragons the ring

city is gorgeous and is one of the most

beautiful locations in the Dark Souls

Trilogy this place is home to the pygmy

Lords and they have a wonderful

welcoming

committee oddly enough though these

shadow archers actually look like the

Ruin Sentinels from Dark Souls 2

according to their armor set they were a

band of knights who were sent to the

ring City so it's possible that Vendrick

may have sent them here as a way to find

out more about the undead curse but were

defeated and now are used by the city to

defend its people the ring city is the

home of the pygmies the ancestors of

mankind we don't hear much regarding the

actual furtive pygmy but the ring city

is ruled by the pygmy Lords the early

descendants of the original pygmy

according to various item descriptions

though Gwyn gave them the city as a

reward for their help against the

dragons but since this is located at the

literal edge of the world it's possible

Gwyn wanted the pygmies out of sight and

away from his kingdom since they had the

Dark Soul which of of course he does not

like as for how the pygmies helped

during the war well we can find out soon

after as these ringed Knights were some

of the soldiers who fought during the

war with the Everlasting dragons the

weapons they carry were forged from the

abyss since that was the birthplace of

humanity which would explain the BL and

dark sign on their chest as it seems

that they too were cursed like we were

by Gwyn if we progress further into the

level we'll end up in this Abyssal swamp

and end up fighting the dragon slayer

armor again and if we read description

we'll discover that when we defeated it

in lothric it somehow made its way down

here and then became possessed Again by

the feeling of battle

look I love orstein as much as the next

guy but we do not have to keep bringing

him back we can just let his legacy die

I understand in this case it is just a

piece of armor and not actually orstein

but you have to admit that this boss's

design is purposely similar to orstein I

found this encounter more annoying

rather than interesting as there was

Zero reason to bring back the dragon

slayer armor again in the swamp we can

also find a white face Locust similar to

the one earlier in the level these

Locust are beings from the abyss and

they were were supposed to preach

sermons to men so that they could draw

them towards the dark but they couldn't

see past their stomachs and cared more

about what they were eating which is why

they act like gluttonous monsters this

description means that this is what they

always looked like and didn't turn into

these creatures at some point but it may

also imply that they were born alongside

Humanity within the abyss each of them

ends up talking about specific people

and are possibly referencing certain

NPCs and so she lived in fear of the

Dark of the things that gned at her

flesh the little creatures that nibble

at me in the

darkness and so despite his weighty

armor he lived in fear of a delicate

thing little more than a girl where fire

rideth Shadows twist and shrivel but in

the

abyss there are shadows none fear not

the dark my friend and let the feast

begin I've always found this interaction

and odd as it's unclear how this

creature even knows anything about these

NPCs this has caused a bit of debate

amongst many people in the community as

some claim that it's showing how

destructive humanity is but on the other

hand like with the case of ir's dialogue

the Locust preacher could be implying

that the abyss is not as bad as it seems

as that preconceived idea Irina had of

the Abyss caused her to feel these

insect likee creatures in her head I

don't really think that there is a

correct answer here as sort of ties into

the world of Dark Souls and how the

player views the abyss humanity and the

age of dark and whether or not it's

something that they should be embracing

similar to how we have to make a choice

at the end of the games before we leave

though we can view this purging Monument

which is only accessible to humans as to

even get to this area we need to

transform into a Humanity Sprite using a

white tree branch this Monument may be

the source of all the purging Stones

purging stones have existed since Dark

Souls 1 and we're used to remove the

curse effect in that game but it's not

about taking the curse and removing it

it's just transferring it to the stone

itself to be the new host but the stone

is said to Once be a person so maybe

these are the beings who were turned

into stone or what they became once we

transfer the curse to the stone or maybe

it's something else entirely after

getting out of the swamp we'll find a

dragon named Mader this isn't fake like

the ancient dragon Mader is an actual

descendant of the Ark dragons from long

ago even though he only seems to make an

appearance here if we knock him off the

bridge and find a secret tunnel we can

find him again he is easily the most

difficult boss in the entire game with a

staggering 15,000 health and he's also

equipped with some moves that might

on-shot the player depending on their

equipment according to his boss Soul

Madar was actually raised by the gods

and was tasked with fighting the the

abyss and it seems that he's been alive

for a long time as one description says

from not long after the beginning

meaning he may have existed before even

fire was born back when the dragons

ruled the world the reason he's going so

crazy is very similar to artorius as the

abyss has fully corrupted him so we need

to put him out of his misery he is

definitely the ultimate challenge for

players given his kit of high damaging

moves but assuming you can conquer him

you'll receive the spears of the church

which ties into our next boss halflight

halflight is a member of the Covenant

Spears of the church who guards fillian

or who is said to be Gwynn's daughter

who he left here in the ring City but

halflight is a PVP boss as there's a

chance a real player can replace

halflight and be the boss instead but

that is only accessible to those who

defeat Madar since he drops the pendant

that allows you to access the Covenant

sadly though since this game is over 6

years old you'll more than likely just

get halflight instead interestingly

though halflight may have been from ulil

as the bow he uses says that it was a

relic from an ancient land of sorceries

that has been swallowed by the abyss and

we know that ulio has many unique spells

like repair hidden body and chameleon

his outfit also states that a group of

young missionaries went to the ring City

long ago but halflight stayed behind

making him the final Spear of the church

this would also mean that there was a

time in uil's history when it wasn't

corrupted by the abyss and was a normal

land before cth came and tricked them

behind the church is filor the girl they

swore to protect and she may have one of

the best cut scenes the series has to

offer upon touching her egg she wakes up

which sees the world change out of

everything in the Dark Souls Series this

might be at the top as the most talked

about interaction in the game as there's

so much that happen happens with very

little explanation as to what it means

many people believe that fanor and her

egg held up the illusion of the Ring

City similar to gwindel and an Orlando

and Dark Souls 1 but some have also

claimed that this takes us to the Future

and is a glimpse of what the world will

look like should we keep things going

her egg though is interesting as it has

a very dark Center and if we relate this

back to the repair spell from earlier

that's as light as time by breaking the

egg we break the dark inside of it which

allows light to appear meaning now time

exists and is no longer stagnant which

would go along with the the that this is

a future as the time accelerates after

being stagnant for so long regardless of

what you believe in though this cutscene

is great and allows us to access the

Wasteland of Ash inside this Wasteland

is two beings and if you subscribe to

the theory that this is the future this

might be the last two beings left in the

world us and

Gail what still here

handed over that thing your Dark Soul

Gail has not only gone mad and grown in

size but he is the final boss of the DLC

the ring city was the final DLC and also

the final piece of content in the Dark

Souls Trilogy having played this game on

release I had already beaten the final

boss tons of times so for me Gail was

technically my final boss of Dark Souls

and I couldn't have asked for anything

better to me Gail is the best boss in

the game and even the entire Trilogy

every everything from design to

presentation to gameplay is completely

perfect Gail is a slave Knight who are

Knights that were used as fod in many of

the land's bleakest Wars but it seems

most of them went Hollow all except for

Gail Gail came to the ring City in

search of the Dark Souls and thus

slaughtered the pygmy Lords as they

contain the Dark Souls within them since

they're the descendants of the furtive

pygmy but Gail realized that the Dark

Souls had dried up so in order to make

them liquid enough to be used as pigment

he consumed the Dark Souls that They

Carried since it was now in his

bloodstream it was able to mix into into

a liquid again but doing so made him go

mad Gail literally has the power of the

dark soul within his body and uses the

power of the dark soul and the abyss to

fight us as evident by these red skulls

that appear from his cape he and Gwyn

also contrast each other in this respect

Gwyn was a being who was a god from the

beginning and on top of the food chain

and is remembered by all for his

sacrifice but Gail was a slave the

lowest of the low whose sacrifice will

be known by only us a lowly piece of

unkindled Ash this sacrifice of gals

ties into a theory of mine after his

death we can take the blood of the dark

soul to the painter to be used as Pigman

for her new world Gail knew he wouldn't

make it back but continued his mission

Anyway by handing it off to us he helps

us defeat sister Freda and the demon

Prince which are the two required bosses

we need to beat to get to the ring City

and once we do get to the ring City he

leaves markings of his cape along the

way that it will eventually point us

towards his location he wanted us to

find him and he wanted us to defeat him

so that we can continue his mission for

him and give the painter the blood she

needed as a whole Gail is easily my

favorite character character and boss in

this game he is like us a nobody he

isn't some Godlike figure or a being who

was born with insurmountable power he

like US gain this power through battle

and now the two strongest beings in the

world are duking it out at the edge of

the world truly the best boss this game

has to offer and was the best way to end

all the dlc's with Gail defeated we can

now give the painter the pigment she

thanks us and will eventually start

painting she never actually finishes the

painting though and this is an important

detail just like the other DLCs in the

trilogy this isn't the end of the game

the final boss is at the Kiln it's not

Gail so giving her this pigment doesn't

mean the end of the game it's just one

part of our long journey even if it

seems like a wonderful conclusion to the

game the DLCs of Dark Souls are the best

in the series and the ring city is a big

reason why ash is a very Andel is great

and a nice additional Side Story

especially since we get to learn more

about the painted worlds but the

callbacks references and answers to

questions we've been wondering about for

years are what makes this DLC so

impressive furthermore both DLCs have

some of the most intense fights in the

game and are the Pinnacle of this game's

combat from software has always made

their DLCs with Incredible quality and

sometimes are even better than the main

game and Dark Souls II continues to

honor this tradition Gail's objective is

now complete so now it's time to

complete ours which is go to the Kiln

and determine the fate of the world once

again defending this Kiln is being known

as the soul of Cinder this is the

physical manifestation of every being to

link the flame since its Inception

meaning our characters from Dark Souls 1

and 2 are a part of this being he also

fights like a real player too as his

move set is by far the most diverse in

the game he has three different melee

weapons uses all the schools of magic

and even has the ninja flipping from

Dark Souls 1 but our old characters

aren't the only ones in this being there

is one other character we know of the

one who was here from the very beginning

he was the one that created this world

so it's ironic that he gets to be here

for when we destroy it

the soul of Cinder not only has the same

move set as Gwyn but also the same piano

and its theme music I'll be honest I get

a bit emotional whenever I hear this

hearing that piano made me think of the

journey I had taken to get here all the

defeats and victories all the NPCs I had

encountered all the kingdoms I uncovered

and all the fates of the people I've met

along the way we have seen the literal

rise and fall of the entire world before

our eyes and every single person and

decision we have made has shaped us into

the person we are now a person who now

has to determine the entire fate of the

world should you go against everything

this game has taught you and still

believe in the first flame you'll be

shown a very depressing ending the Ashen

one links the flame and continues the

age of fire but it's not the spectacle

we saw in Dark Souls 1 it can barely

even cover our character let alone the

rest of the Arena the Ashen one looks

disappointed as if they expected

something more in fact we the player

were probably expecting something more

and are now just as disappointed this is

why I believe that everyone from Gwyn

till now has linked the flame when it

faded as if the world alternated like it

was supposed to then this wouldn't make

sense as to why the flame is this

pitiful the first flame is on its

deathbed and we still haven't granted it

the death it wants if we instead summon

the fire keeper she will take the first

flame and extinguish it for good the age

of dark will commence and the world has

gone completely black and while it may

seem scary to venture into a World

Without fire the fire keeper assures us

that the fire will eventually return

someday just like it did all the years

ago remember things are meant to live

and die the age of dark is temporary and

fire will return and an age of fire will

begin again but hopefully it will not be

extended this time if you're feeling

greedy you can also enact the age of

dark and take the Flames power for

yourself this is similar to our final

ending and the secret ending of Dark

Souls 3 the usurpation of fire this

requires us to complete yuria's quest

line yuria is from a place called londor

and we know that she's also the sister

of Freda and lilianne who created the

Sable Church in londor but what is

londor well it's a land of Hollows as we

can see all the hollows bowing down to

us as the new Lord of Hollows londor

also had many pilgrims that came to this

land possibly to find the first flame

and overtake lothric those Butterflies

from the dragon slayer armor are called

Pilgrim butterflies so maybe this is the

Pilgrim's final form so to speak these

pilgrims are most likely members of the

Sable church as while these sisters

created the church the pilgrims most

likely went here to worship their God

who happens to be the primordial serpent

coth we never see coth in game and the

only reason we even know this is because

of Yu's death dialogue but the call back

to him was insane and almost maybe

nervous for a bit as he could have been

orchestrating this church for who knows

how long so that he finally gets what he

wants if you remember he tricked the

Four Kings and the people of ulil into

being engulfed by the abyss so what's

stopping him from doing it against the

people of londor although in his defense

when we place the Lord vessel in Dark

Souls 1 cot says that every last one of

them failed him so maybe he isn't trying

to screw with londor and possibly found

a genuine group of people that will

follow and carry out his wish

accompanying us into the new world is

also hory of aora who depending on our

actions either got to defeat Aldridge

with us and finally be able to kill the

person she hated the most or gets killed

and unwillingly serves as our bride when

we become the Lord of Hollows which is

quite a dark twist Lor also seems to

embrace its Hollow State but this may

come at a cost Yol of londor can give us

the dark sigils required to progress the

quest line but once he does that he dies

and the Assassin who gives us the

wedding sword dies after the ceremony so

it seems like they're only able to

retain their sanity when Hollow but as a

consequence die once their purpose has

been fulfilled this is just about all we

know in regards to Lor but there is

still quite a few theories involved with

the kingdom such as the fact that Lor

could be tied to Drang Lake or Vela

admittedly it's a small connection but

items from Dark Souls 1 and 2 like the

vow of silence dead again dark drift and

dark hand have had their item

descriptions changed vow of silence in

Dark Souls 1 is a spell that was created

by Vela but in Dark Souls 3 it's used by

members of the church and the dark Drift

from Dark Souls 2 was said to be used by

the grave Warden and the dead Crypt but

in Dark Souls 3 it's used by Uria

however I don't think Vendrick and Alia

are related to this though as the two of

them wanted to remove the curse and Lor

wants to embrace their Hollow form

although in a manner of speaking the

hollow form is the true version of man

and thus could be in a way what the

brothers desired but I'm not too sure I

believe in this Theory especially given

how the brothers are never mentioned in

this game and would be weird if they

finally made an appearance now

regardless now it's time to say goodbye

to the age of fire and to Dark Souls the

age of dark is a metaphor for the Dark

Souls series every Dark Souls game has

taken place in the age of fire and by

keeping this age going we can keep the

Dark Souls games going but is that

really what we want many games have gone

on to make numerous sequels and ruin the

Integrity of that series the age of dark

is not just about moving on from the age

of fire but from Dark Souls itself as

much as I want more Dark Souls games to

keep coming it's only going to ruin the

franchise going forward but that doesn't

mean we have to say goodbye to the souls

genre we have Elden ring and any other

Souls games that come after it so our

hunger for this genre of games will

never die but we do need to say goodbye

to Dark Souls having Dark Souls end now

means it ends on a high note and I'd

rather see the game quit while it's

ahead than watch it release sequel after

sequel that will inevitably tarnish its

reputation causing it to be one of the

many games in the industry that ran

itself into the dirt so it's time to

finally put this game and its world to

rest thank you for watching

Transcript

Dark Souls is one of the best series of

all time and has one of the most complex

yet remarkable narratives I've ever had

the pleasure of uncovering it's filled

with so many ideas themes and values

that breathe life into this series and

its various interpretations allow people

to add in their own details ultimately

making their playthroughs a unique

experience so today I want to take some

time to talk about the trilogy I want to

not only retell the game's main stories

but also critique them along the way I'm

going to examine why specific parts of

the game are so well crafted and how its

World design and bosses shape the story

around them so with that out of the way

thank you for watching and I hope you

enjoy Dark Souls 1 is a fantastic game

it's got a wonderful story that would

set in motion numerous events that would

occur throughout the trilogy but just

within the bounds of its own game Dark

Souls 1 has some incredibly deep and

Rich lore filled with some of the

greatest backstories this Series has to

offer and today I want to discuss why so

without further Ado let's get started so

the opening cinematic of Dark Souls 1

starts with the gray world one that is

filled with giant trees and dragons and

while the world stayed like that for a

while one day fire was born as for how

this fire came to be well it's never

explained this is one of the many things

we just have to accept the world of Dark

Souls is fantasy and many things just

can't be explained it's never mentioned

how the first flame was created as it

just happened but because the first

flame was born disparity came with it

life and death heat and cold and light

and dark this description is literal

since the first flame was created the

people of the world felt its warmth and

understood what heat was when they

walked away from the flame they realized

its heat didn't reach them which created

the feeling of cold the discovery of

fire during the Stone Age is to this day

the greatest discovery known to man and

in Dark Souls this is no different given

how unique something like this in the

world of Dark Souls was those who

discovered it were obviously attracted

to its power four notable people would

discover Lord Souls next to these flames

and be given immense power these people

were Neato isth Gwyn and the pygmy from

the intro we can infer that there was a

civilization of people that existed

during the age of ancients isth had

daughters that were with her when she

found her lord soul and Gwyn had his

knights with him implying that people

did exist during the time of the age of

ancients but weren't of much value to

the world given how powerful the Dragons

Were eventually Neato isth and Gwyn

would band together and use their power

to overthrow the dragons Gwyn used his

lightning isth used her flames and Neato

used his death and disease they also

received help from a SE the scales a

Dragon who betrayed his own kind now

that the new Lords were on top of the

food chain the age of ancients was no

more and the age of fire had begun this

period would last thousands of years

until we get to today currently the fire

is fading and it needs to be rekindled

in order to keep it lit but doing this

is not as simple as it sounds you may

have noticed I forgot to talk about the

pygmy well the pygmy had a unique Soul

called The Dark Soul using his soul he

created something called Humanity he

would then share this Humanity with his

people these Dark Soul imbued people

became became known as humans the pygmy

is essentially our ancestor Gwyn feared

this power though and created the dark

sign which inadvertently caused the

undead curse this isn't explained much

in Dark Souls 1 but it is by far the

most important plot in the whole series

and while I just wanted to talk about

this game for the whole video this needs

to be explained or else the rest of the

video going forward will make no sense

the undead curse the dark sign and the

fading of the fire are all linked the

Dark Soul gets more powerful the closer

the fire is to fading thus meaning human

should get more powerful over time but

gwin screwed Humanity twice by

rekindling the flame thus removing our

chance at power but also by branding

humans with the dark sign think of this

as a literal wall of fire that prevents

the Dark Soul within men from getting

too powerful the dark sign only

activates when the flame is fading

because that is when the Dark Soul

within men starts to grow stronger this

dark sign also prevents humans from

dying but it also causes them to go

Undead these fleshy creatures were once

Undead humans but they have crossed the

barrier of no return even though humans

are able to revive after death

eventually this will cause them to lose

their Humanity lose their minds and lose

their purpose causing them to go Hollow

these creatures are Hollows beings who

don't even remember who they are where

they are or what they're even doing Gwyn

likes being on top and he fears the day

that he will lose his power so he'll do

anything he can to prevent that from

happening he did this by branding

Humanity with the dark sign but by also

rekindling the flame which is known as

the first sin see the world is like a

set of operations things are born but

eventually they'll die but but then more

things will be born only to die soon

after that's just the way the world

works but Gwyn broke the laws of the

World by rekindling the first flame it

was meant to be extinguished but due to

Gwyn wanting to hold on to what he held

dear he couldn't Dare See It Go he

sacrificed himself by using himself as

kindling for the first flame since he

had one of the four original Lord Souls

that came from the first flame it was

deemed sufficient enough to be used as

fuel unless the gauge of fire continued

but as we know it is fading once more

the undead curse is back humans are

turning Hollow and the world is in chaos

doesn't this sound like a fantastic

story that's because it is this intro

and even the game display a sense of

desperation within our characters how

far are people willing to go to get what

they want or keep what they have and

while each of their desires is different

it always comes out the same Dark Souls

1 is just the start but the actions of

its characters will continue to Echo

throughout the entire Trilogy and we're

just getting started after the opening

cinematic we get to see the state of the

world as it is today or at least the

state of this we're an undead that is

sitting in their cell awaiting the end

of the world but one day we're given the

key to our cell and are able to leave

this person is Oscar and he speaks of a

prophecy there is an old saying in my

family thou who art Undead art chosen in

thine Exodus from the Undead Asylum

maketh pilgrimage to the land of ancient

Lords when thou ringeth the bell of

Awakening the fate of the undead Thou

shalt know this prophecy also happens to

be the main objective of the game but

it's only the first part the rest we'll

have to discover later the intro of Dark

Souls 1 sets up a new world by

showcasing multiple important events in

the world's history and also gives us

enough information to understand the

basic premise of the game while also

purposely withholding some of that

information to give us a reason to seek

out set information one thing we need to

consider though is our character's

motivations why even bother making the

trip to lordran the land of Lords well

what else is there to do it's the end of

the world and you were just given the

keys to your cell allowing you to

explore the world to Hearts content even

if you're convinced that life is doomed

and the world as we know it will

disappear for good why not make the most

out of it have some fun kill some

Hollows it's a whole lot better than

rotting in a cell with our objective

laid out to us thanks to Oscar we can

now set out to lordran and ring the

bells technically the first area you're

meant to go is the undead Berg but one

wrong step and you can make it to New

Londo out of all the souls games Dark

Souls 1 will provide the best blind

playthrough as due to its connected

World players will go in different

directions which in turn will create

different experiences New Londo is

actually a lake Game Area since the

enemies here are quite strong and the

boss at the end of the level is quite

tough but you may stumble upon this area

by accident within 5 minutes of arriving

this is due in part to Dark Souls 1's

level design which may have the best

level design in the whole franchise it's

been coined as a Metroid Vania a genre

that started with the games Metroid and

Castlevania these games have nonlinear

progression as many areas can be

accessed right away but others can't

causing the player to go around the map

looking for the key then running back to

that same location such as this door

that leads to havl which can only be be

found in the dark grou Basin past the

boss the door is found pretty early on

in your playthrough but the key is found

much later plus you'll also have to

remember where that key goes you'll be

doing lots of running in this game the

highlight of one of my play sessions was

going from BL town to Andre because I

forgot to ascend my weapon before a boss

fight meaning I had to take a 3-minute

walk up to him then a 3-minute walk back

down in future titles this would be

remedied by fast travel but Dark Souls 1

doesn't have fast travel initially and

even when you do gain the power of fast

travel via the Lord vessel it's not the

typical fast travel were familiar with

as we're only allowed to travel to

specific bonfires these decisions

further immerse the player into the

world as it's all one connected level

and since they're all connected that

means you can see certain levels from

different places such as Blight Town

which is visible from Firelink Shrine So

Not only was the level design of each

area taken into account but also how the

levels connected to one another and how

this connection would affect other areas

regardless of where you end up though

whether that be New Londo or Undead Berg

the very first enemies you'll come to

see are these Hollow Men like the ones

back in the Asylum all the undead we see

here are humans who have lost their

Humanity causing them to go Hollow and

now since we are human we should go

Hollow too however it's a bit more meta

than that hollowing is a bit hard to

Define as everyone can go Hollow for

different reasons but the two main ideas

seem to stem from constant death or a

loss of purpose given that our character

is set on ringing the bells he never

goes Hollow despite being Undead as he

still has a purpose should the player

quit and uninstall the game they would

lose their purpose so permanently

quitting the game is sort of like

hollowing in a sense I don't think

everything needs to be explained with

lore so this is more than likely just a

gameplay mechanic but that's how I've

interpreted hollowing on our way to the

bells of Awakening we'll come across

various different locations but sadly

there isn't a whole lot of backstory

involved in their creation locations

like Undead Berg are just Undead

settlements and the valley of Drakes is

just a valley filled with Drakes the

only exceptions though are Ash Lake and

blight toown blight toown is next to a

location called the deps and at the end

of The Depths is the gaping dragon and

while an interesting boss what's more

important is the arena we can see water

coming from the depths and going into

the sewer system which leads to Blight

Town according to various keys in the

game we can piece together that those

who previously lived in the undead Berg

but were banished from the settlement

were sent to Blight Town as punishment

this is reinforced by the giant door

that separates the sewer system from the

outside world but this water from the

sewer is poisonous well in Blight Town

there's a spell called Poison mist and

according to its description it seems

that eni this egg bearing individual may

have caused this as he was the creator

of the poison Miss spell it's not fully

confirmed that he did this but it's

clear that ble Town isn't in the

greatest State and it's due to the

circumstances surrounding blle town that

the town's folks seem to have built

above the water in hopes of getting away

from it this is a common theme in these

games of things being built on top of

one another as we see Blight Town above

the swamp The Depths above Blight Town

and the undead Berg above all that the

idea of pushing things down and leaving

them to Fester is also a common theme

within this game but not everything is

in such a sad State as at the lowest

point of lordran we see Ash Lake a

seemingly infinite land filled with

archery trees that are surrounded by an

equally infinite body of water for the

purposes of Ash Lake this seems to be

where the dragons used to live or at

least one part of it as it's eerily

similar to the environment in the intro

which we do know was the land of the

Everlasting dragons we can even find one

of the few remaining dragons down here

in Ash Lake he's a part of the dragon

covenant in game and from various

descriptions it seems like many people

worshiped the dragons and tried to

ascend to their level it's unclear

though if that worked once the player

feels confident in their fighting

abilities they can approach the bosses

defending the bells of wake ing these

being the Bell Gargoyles and Chaos witch

quag after ringing both Bells we'll see

that s's Fortress a place that was

originally blocked with a large gate is

now open but if we travel back to

Firelink Shrine we'll find a primordial

serpent named frampt he claims to be a

close friend of gwyn's and also claims

to know our fate very well then I am

pleased to share chosen

Undead your fate is to succeed the great

Lord Gwyn so that you May link the fire

Cast Away the Dark and undo the curse of

the undead to this end you must visit an

Orondo and acquire the Lord vessel just

like before this second part of the

prophecy also happens to be our newest

objective but frampt is quite a complex

character if certain conditions are met

within the game we can also be granted

an audience with coth he however tells

us a different story your ancestor

claims the Dark Soul and waited for fire

subside and soon the Flames did fade and

only dark remained thus began the age of

men the age of dark so it wasn't just

the fact that the fire was fading that

caused Gwyn to rekindle it the flame

actually went out furthermore despite

being the same species both framp and

coth have different views on the world

framp wants to keep the age of fire

going but coth wants to usher in an age

of Darkness the question is who do we

trust well that's up to you as these are

the two endings of the game extinguish

the flame or rekindle it the choice is

yours what is important to note though

is their motivations why are they doing

this why are they against each other

well we still don't know and it's been a

widely debated topic that hasn't been

given a proper answer yet regardless I

don't think you should trust any of them

framp claims that the undead curse will

be cured if we link the flame but this

isn't correct as we'll see in Dark Souls

2 and 3 The Curse is still present framp

and cth are like politicians they say

what needs to be said but never

elaborate by technicality the undead

curse will be cured when we link the

flame as we know the dark sign only

appears when fire Fades and if it's not

fading then the curse of the dark sign

is gone which means the curse goes with

it but it will eventually come back

Things Are Meant to run their course so

over time the fire will fade again and

the curse will come back just not in our

character's lifetime frampt whether

intentional or not is leading the player

to believe that the Cur curse will

disappear permanently when indeed it

only just disappears for a few thousand

years but cth is also lying as he isn't

fully explaining what this age of

Darkness entails and as we'll see kth

isn't exactly the nicest person in the

souls Universe I've always seen these

two as Immortal beings ones that are

ageless and due to this when the time

comes they like to move the pieces a bit

and see what happens cth and framp are

basically playing a long game of chess

but without the stakes regardless of who

wins they both continue to live one just

managed to convince the chosen and

Undead more so why not cause a bit of

chaos a lie or two here wouldn't hurt

anybody as it's just extra pieces on the

board to them to this day we still don't

know what they really want from us and

whether their goals they conveyed to us

were actually genuine my interpretation

of these could be wildly incorrect but

that's the beauty of these games they

allow you to shape your own story and

create your own adventure and in my

story I don't trust these two regardless

of who you believe the one thing they

agree on is that we need the Lord vessel

thus we need to get to an Orlando to get

there we'll need to pass through

Fortress a place filled with deadly

traps and is easily the most infuriating

area in the whole game The Fortress is

also used as a sort of trial as this

leads us to an Orlando but many people

have tried and failed to get there this

is of course due to the numerous traps

throughout the Fortress and the Iron

Golem at the top although he was

surprisingly the easiest part of the

Fortress once the Golem is defeated we

are then grabbed by these demons and

taken to an Orlando

it's hard to forget your first time in

an Orlando nothing up until this point

has been more extravagant and beautiful

looking than this place and that's what

makes it so memorable in a world devoid

of beauty and color there's this

incredible place that just exists but

it's on the other side of the wall but

something is off it feels empty like we

showed up Lake to a party and in a more

metaphorical and literal sense we have

this place is gorgeous but if you'll

excuse the Pun It's also quite Hollow

lots of your time and an Orlando is

spent walking but if you manage to make

it past these Giants and exploit the AI

of these silver Knights then you'll make

it to the climactic fight of orstein and

SM on ands is undoubtedly my favorite

fight in Dark Souls 1 the balance of

these two is unmatched as orstein is a

quick nimble fighter that can go halfway

across the arena just to hit you but his

damage is nowhere near as staggering as

the force that is SM whereas orstein

instills fear from his speed sm's fear

comes from his power orstein at the

beginning of the fight is more or less a

pushover he does deal decent damage but

it's not enough to Warrant a healing

item but no amount of damage resistance

especially this early on could protect

you from smos hammer and one hit from

this Hammer can make orstein seem a lot

more threatening their power grows from

the other's presence as the more orstein

chips at your health the closer you are

to being within one shot range of SM and

if SM hits you once well there's nothing

that can compare to that level of stress

they feed off each other in such a

balanced way in fact they actually feed

on each other as whoever Falls first

becomes the power source for the other

their health also goes back to full so

it's never about dwindling them down

over time it's committing to one and

sticking with it the problem is is

knowing when to strike and how given how

well they complement each other it might

seem like there's never an opening and

that's what makes them such a difficult

fight all that's required though from

the player is patience it's arguably one

of the best fights in the game and even

the series as a whole and I can finally

see why while on and may seem like the

climactic Finish to the level hold your

load as behind them is the real climax

the princess of sunlight Gwen feel free

to interpret climax however you want she

is the one who gives us the Lord vessel

we need to progress through the game but

as I said earlier it feels like we

arrived late to a party well I wasn't

lying once the post-nut clarity settles

in if we attack GW ofir the world of an

Orlando shows its true colors and

reveals that it's just as depressing as

everything else in lordran and the one

responsible for this illusion is dark

swindin gwindel is an interesting case

to me as he was the last born child of

Gwyn who was a male but was raised as a

female this was due to his strong

Affinity with moon magic I'm not sure

what the connection is but maybe it's

some sort of cultural thing where the

Moon is seen as a sort of feminine and

symbol which would actually explain a

lot regarding a future game and two of

its characters gwindel also created the

illusion of an Orlando to seemingly

entice The Chosen Undead to continue

their Duty remember gwindel only appears

when we kill Gwen's illusion meaning

that this is actually gwindel speaking

to us through his sister he also shares

the same viewpoints as framp which is

interesting as he's basically telling us

to kill his father and continue the age

of fire gwiin seems to want to hold on

to the power his family has and keep

things running smoothly which is why he

wants the age of fire to continue so

that his family and their powers can

stay and the reason why he created the

illusion of and Orlando was also to

desperately hold on to the Past H I

guess it runs in the family then as for

how Gwen ofir fits into this well she

was gwyn's second born child who like

many other deities left in Orlando she

would then meet with a flame God FL and

later become his wife besides these two

Gwyn had two other children but we'll

have to wait for Dark Souls 3i to

discuss more about them so in Orlando

the city of gods this place that was

supposed to be seen as a Beacon of Hope

to all within lordran is just an

illusion but an Orlando isn't the only

illusion of lordran by making our way to

the painting inside the city upon

touching it we're thrown into the

painted world of Aramis Aramis as a

concept is fascinating as it's this

world within a world and these people

inside the painting could possibly never

know of the world outside of it from

exploring this Hidden World we learn

that Aramis was made for things the gods

feared aramus is home to the followers

of Vela and Vela is known as the goddess

of sin furthermore this is the only

location in the game where you can find

the dark Ember which according to its

item description is used to make occult

Weaponry weapons that were favorable

amongst those who plan to kill the gods

and their kin Vela was more than likely

someone who wanted to hunt the gods but

was killed or thrown into the painting

it's clear that this place has a

malicious history behind it but it's not

all bad as the person who watches over

Aramis is crossbreed Priscilla Priscilla

is a half-human half dragon crossbreed

due to this unique birth she also gains

some unique abilities mainly the ability

of Life hunt which she uses on her

Scythe these powers of hers could th

threaten the God's rule so they also

threw her into the painted world but

what's rather interesting is Priscilla

herself she's the only boss in the game

that doesn't want to fight us she even

tells us how to leave Aramis meaning not

only does she have no intent of enacting

Revenge but she knows how to leave yet

refuses Priscilla may have felt how

these new arrivals feel but instead of

using Vengeance she uses acceptance and

instead welcomes these people into her

painted world it's actually quite

wholesome and is the reason why I

couldn't kill her every boss in this

game is hellbent on killing me so when I

finally discover Ed one that didn't want

to and in fact help me I couldn't refuse

so I left with the hope that Priscilla

would be able to make this place a

proper home for her people this whole

area is swarming with Hollows and other

creatures that want nothing more than to

kill us but they were either tricked

into here or thrown in because the gods

will it and yeah some of them probably

do belong in here but if Priscilla is

set on making this place a home for

those who have found themselves here

then who am I to intervene after

acquiring the Lord vessel when we meet

with cth or frm they'll tell us that to

gain access to Gwyn we must gather the

remaining Lord souls and use them to

satiate the Lord vessel these Lord Souls

belong to four individuals SE the scalas

The Witch of isth Neato and the Four

Kings three of whom you will have

already recognized from here we can

tackle the game in any order we want so

let's start with the Four Kings the Four

Kings are well Four Kings who ruled over

New Londo they were given fragments of

Gwyn Soul which is why we need to kill

them you may recognize their boss

location as this is the same dark abyss

that we met cth in well long ago the

Four Kings were tricked by cth and were

consumed by the abyss this caused the

Kings to go mad and this also caused the

citizens to either become these Blobs of

mass or the dark wraith soldiers this

area really utilizes the envirment to

tell its tale as this place is overrun

by the ghosts of the villagers and when

we actually unlock the door to lower

nandoo we see piles of corpses scattered

throughout the land cth single-handedly

destroyed an entire city simply by

tricking its inhabitants and unleashing

the abyss upon them while the mass

extinction of a city sounds bad there is

still more destruction to be seen one

thing you may have noticed is a severe

lack of human bosses quag would probably

count as the first one you'd meet

although she's sort of half human but

there's a reason for this as this has to

do with the witch of isth while Gwyn was

frantically running around trying to

figure out what to do with the flame The

Witch of isth had a plan she was going

to create a new flame that would replace

the first flame but she attempted to

create a replica in the presence of the

very thing that was created which

brought with it massive consequences The

Witch of isth wanted to create a new

first flame but there was already a

first flame present in the world there

can't be two first Flames due to this

the the flame that she created couldn't

be contained for long causing it to

erupt and this not only consumed her and

her children but also created new life

as it gave birth to Demons the Asylum

Taurus and cpra Demon roughly the first

three bosses in the game were created

from this event in fact anything that

has the word demon in it is most likely

derived from this flame of chaos but not

only was New Life created old life was

altered all of isela's family who were

caught in the explosion were all

transformed into demons themselves chaos

which quag the fair lady and ceaseless

discharge are three of eth's children

just as Gwyn was desperate to continue

the age of fire in an attempt to keep

what he had so too did isth but the

consequences are reflection of her

actions in an attempt to give life to

something bright and warm she ended up

giving life to something cold and dark

she also wanted to extend the age of

fire in order to continue her prosperous

life with her children but by doing so

she ended up making their lives a living

hell not a single person in this family

tree is living a robust life anymore

quag and her sister the fair lady are

half demon and are more than likely

suffering from their condition as told

To Us by the fair lady

qu what is

quog my dear sister the eggs it

hurts they've gone still I am

afraid it may be too late I am so

sorry dear Sister C's discharge was

covered in lavasa surus and birth so his

life was a living hell from the start

the flame of chaos just made it worse

ceaseless discharge just like Priscilla

doesn't actually want to fight us it's

only until we steal this clothing set

that he attacks us this clothing set

rests upon a grave that belonged to his

sister quana who he believes died in the

explosion when in fact she was the only

one who escaped quana will appear in

Blight Town if the player is efficient

enough in pyromancy quana explains that

she was the only one who made it out of

the reaches of the flame of Chaos in

fact she was actually able to harness

the power of the flame of chaos and

create Magic which we know as pyromancy

quana wants us to fulfill her Duty for

her as she does not have the strength to

go on she instructs us that we need to

put down her siblings and her mother so

that they may rest in peace this whole

family Dynamic is horrific as ceaseless

believes that all his sisters are dead

even though quana is alive and quana is

only a few meters from her sister and

yet we can tell her about this clearly

this is turning into a very depressing

story but it only gets worse as we get

closer to the final boss of the area

we'll meet with a pyroman who was

assumed to be another daughter of isth

although it's unclear why she is so far

down in these ruins yet is completely

unharmed it's possible that she like

quana escaped the flame of chaos but

this daughter came back to finish off

the boss right behind her or has

possibly gone insane and is now

defending said boss and by going down

this slide we will meet this monstrosity

who is the Bed of Chaos this is the

witch of isth one of the four most

powerful people in the world has been

demoted to this deformed tree likee

creature there are also these orbs next

to her that we need to destroy in order

to damage her and it's assumed by many

that these are her other two daughters

that were closest to her when the flame

erupted so we have two daughters stuck

to their mother two daughters who were

half afflicted by the flame a son who is

arguably the most affected and two

daughters who managed to survive one who

doesn't have the strength to carry on

anymore and another who sits outside her

mother's Arena this is by far the most

depressing story I've ever had The

Misfortune of uncovering the further we

push into lost isth the more of the

family we get to meet allowing us to see

the consequence es of her actions we can

see the pain that all of them are in as

some of them are just wishing for their

siblings back and others just want to

stay alive it's an awful story that all

leads to the final fight with isth

herself and it is by far the most

anticlimactic ending I've ever

experienced it is agreed upon by many

that the Bed of Chaos is the worst fight

in Dark Souls 1 the boss is insanely

difficult but it's not the difficulty

itself that's the issue it's why the

boss is difficult I would argue that

just within the main game the two

hardest bosses are the Four Kings in

orstein and smoke ow ands are difficult

bosses because there's two of them you

have to have both on screen at all times

or you'll lose this fight this is

balanced by having orstein be fast but

not as lethal and SM being slow and

hard-hitting it's a wonderful dichotomy

that makes for a satisfying fight and

the Four Kings is a DPS check as every

30 to 45 seconds a second king will

spawn and this will keep going until

four on your screen at once to succeed

you need to kill the current King before

this happens both boss fights are hard

but have weaknesses you can exploit the

Bed of Chaos has none to defeat the boss

you need to destroy both orbs on her

sides then go down the middle inside of

her so you can find the source of her

power she's actually extremely weak as

both the orbs and her die in one hit

it's getting there that's the issue her

hand attack is oddly timed and due to

her design it's unclear where her hit

box ends after defeating one of the orbs

the floor will start to crumble so not

only do you need to avoid her attacks

but you'll also need to avoid the floor

there's also a strict path you're meant

to follow for this fight which will lead

you right next to a broken piece in the

flooring so you'll more than than likely

get hit and fallen and die the walk back

to this boss is also just as atrocious

as you'll more than likely spend more

time walking to the boss than actually

fighting her thankfully there is no

reset involved in this boss as every

single run you've done is carried over

to the next as it essentially has

unlimited checkpoints it's like from

software knew it was bad but still kept

it in even if I actually enjoyed the

fight the payoff narratively isn't worth

the time we ventured further and further

into the depths of lost isth coming

across all of her children who were

these hideous beasts that did incredible

damage and she's just a puzzle The Witch

of isth has one of the best Back stories

in the game as the tale of her children

is heartbreaking and being able to see

their conditions face to face does take

a lot out of you but it's completely

soured by a boss fight that is

mechanically and narratively a letdown

our third Lord Soul belongs to grave

Lord Neato and he's interesting to say

the least Neato might have the most

detailed boss design but the most basic

story out of all the four Lords if you

were to just assume that Neato simply

became the Grim Reaper and just

administered death you wouldn't be far

off off which is a shame for someone of

his importance grave Lord Neato lives in

the Tomb of giants which is accessed via

the catacombs both these arish Sher

similar theme of death as this is where

the dead are buried so we know that he

administers death but what else does he

do well not much else he does have a

covenant that you can join but their

goal is just to spread more death across

the world it seems like he doesn't care

about what's going on in the world as

the only reason he attacks you is

because we're obviously here with

malicious intent Neo doesn't have any

lore regarding his life during the age

of fire and it's just about about him

administering death from this we can

infer that Neato either doesn't care

about the age of fire or maybe even just

wants the age of Darkness to occur the

only other bit of lore surrounding him

is a boss named pin wheel who was a

necromancer presumably made up of three

people as referenced by the number of

masks on the body who stolen item from

him known as the right of kindling there

are quite a few theories regarding pin

wheel like the fact that pin wheel was

originally a father but his wife and

child died so he attempted to resurrect

them but it failed and some have stated

further that he's still trying to figure

out how to revive them as we can see

skeleton throughout the room which could

be seen as his test subjects but other

than that we've pretty much discussed

all of Neato there isn't anything else

to speak about which is a real shame his

backstory has a massive amount of

potential but it just felt unfinished

there are no major themes tied to Neato

he's just kind of exists our final Lord

Soul belongs to se the scalas SE as we

remember Allied himself with our four

Lords and attacked the dragons the

reason he did this was because SE unlike

the other dragons was not Immortal all

the other dragons had impenetrable

scales that could not be broken with any

type of weapon SE was not born with

these scales so in a sense he was not

Immortal it was only until Gwyn was

given their weakness from SE which we

know is lightning that Gwyn was able to

pierce the dragon scales and actually

kill them SE was envious of his Brethren

as they had what he didn't so as thanks

for working with Gwyn he was named the

Duke and given the duk's archives as

well as some of Gwynn's lord soul for

power during the war SE found the

primordial Crystal an item that gave him

temporary immortality but during this

time in the Duke's archives he

eventually went mad with his experiments

and his research he is considered the

grandfather of sorcery as well as the

creator of these creatures and the

Moonlight Butterfly our first

interaction with SE is that he ends up

killing us and throwing us in a prison

cell we can see that theme of

desperation as SE is trying everything

he can to get what he wants but in the

process it made him mad he's not as

mindful of his actions as he used to be

and is sort of a shadow of his former

self one thing I find interesting in

this prison is the abundance of Miracle

related items and the clothing that are

scattered throughout the prison it's

possible that clerics were deemed

suitable subjects for SE experiments

maybe this is due to their magical power

or because they were so easy to defeat

to kill SE though we need to head to the

Crystal Caves which I was originally

going to say was probably the worst

level in this game due to half the map

being invisible but the walk to the boss

is surprisingly straightforward

venturing off that path though is where

the problem lies to defeat SE we need to

break his primordial Crystal so that we

can sever his immortality giving us a

chance to kill him the story of these

Lords caused a bit of an imbalance

throughout my playthrough you can go

through lost isth and the demon ruins

which is filled with Rich lore tons of

backstory and compelling bosses that fit

with the lore surrounding the witch of

isth but then you go to the Four Kings

and just find out that they were Lords

of new Lando who got tricked by coth and

consumed by the abyss it feels jarring

going from one to the other as one feels

thorough while the other feels

incomplete like you miss something or

there was more that should have been

said I don't think every boss needs to

have a multi-page Wikipedia article in

order for it to be considered a good

story I think that the boss's story said

would needed to be said in regards to

the overarching plot but I can't lie to

you and tell you that I didn't leave

these locations wanting more I wanted to

know more about the 4 Kings and how they

roast to power and I wanted to know more

about Neato and SE in general but I

never got that and I guess in a way this

could be viewed as a positive as I

didn't walk out of these places not

wanting to learn them at all but rather

wanted to learn more the game invested

me so much into its story thanks to its

characters and environmental

storytelling that I wanted the game to

provide me with more information on it I

wanted to be encapsulated by this story

more than I already was as with many

Souls games not all answers are

explicitly told to us but there was

still a lot of burning questions I had

that never got mentioned with the Lord

souls in the vessel we are now able to

fight gwin but we still have one final

location we need to visit which is the

land of ulil accessed by the artorius of

the Abyss DLC the one and only DLC that

Dark Souls 1 would have we start this

DLC by defeating this Gold Golem that

has a woman named dusk captured inside

dusk was the princess of a place called

ulil according to her it's a place from

an age that existed long ago hilariously

ly enough she doesn't actually say

anything after this you would think that

the DLC would sort of spin a story that

her home is in danger and we need to

save her but she doesn't actually tell

us that she just sells us sorceries the

DLC doesn't officially start though

until we return back to her location

with an item called the broken pendant

which causes us to get sucked in into

this portal and taken to UIL as dusk

said ulil is a place from long ago and

while you may be confused on how this

fits within the geography of lordran

this place is a lot closer than you

think in fact we already ran through it

to get to the DL see the dark R Garden

is ulil this is evident by the tree

enemies who have a similar design to

these tree likee enemies and the same

plans that are only found in the dark R

Garden are also found here as well ulil

was a city hundreds of years before the

dark R Garden came to be so something

happened that made this place turn into

the garden that we know of well to

understand the story of ulil we need to

talk to Elizabeth but princess dusk is

here no longer snatched away by that

horrifying primeval human and so I must

ask ask couldst thou once more play the

Savior an abyss was begat of the ancient

beast and threatens to swallow the whole

of ulil Knight artorius came to stop

this but such a hero has nearly 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 this

Prime evil human is Manis of the Abyss

the final boss of the DLC and the thing

that sucked us into ulil in the first

place so our job is to hunt manace down

my main gripe with the DLC is

justification as technically with the

Lord vessel we can just leave so why do

we need to worry about this it's not an

immersion breaking problem but it is a

shame while traveling to the land of

ulil you will come across this Coliseum

like structure which is where we get to

meet our next boss artorius of the Abyss

artorius was one of the Four Knights of

Gwyn the other three are Hawkeye goth

who is sitting at the top of the tower

right next to the Coliseum kin who

appears in the Coliseum after we defeat

artorius and the final KN is orstein

each of them were skilled in their own

ways as Hawkeye used his powerful grabow

to shoot down dragons in fact he can

actually help us shoot down calam who is

the last of the ancient dragons Ornstein

also used his spear that was able to cut

through the scales of dragons with ease

and we can also see The Spoils of his

War due to the amount of dragon heads

exist in an Orlando artorius is also

able to wield his great sword with

Incredible finesse and cabon used her

two daggers to cut down anyone who

opposed Gwynn's rule but all of them

minus orstein are way past their Prime

which is a growing theme amongst the

entire series goth was imprisoned in

this Tower with nothing left to do but

to make carvings he also couldn't use

his great bow anymore as all the dragons

have been wiped out so he has no purpose

kierin may have had a deep love for

artorius as when we visit her she is

next to a grave she made for him and

asks if we can give her his soul if we

do she gives us her weapon weens and

continues to sit by the grave implying

that she no longer wants to be a knight

anymore and artorius came to uio and

attempt to stop the abyss from spreading

but ended up losing and being corrupted

himself his left arm is also dangling

which might suggest that it's broken

this is because he used his shield to

protect his wolf companion CF the same C

from the main game although he is much

smaller in this DLC C also has a

different intro if you do the DLC first

because ulio is in the past so he'll

remember you in the present and it makes

killing him that much harder in regards

to CF it's possible that he doesn't want

us getting the Covenant of the Abyss

ring as that allows us to travel through

the abyss to kill the Four Kings and

given his owner's condition CIF probably

doesn't want us to end up like artorius

the artorius boss fight was actually

really entertaining he was the first

boss that felt like the antithesis of

this game's combat most of the game's

Pace has been very slow and methodical

but he has these fast attacks and very

few openers I do wish though that there

was at least an ounce of buildup to this

fight as you can literally start the DLC

and be at the boss room in about 10

minutes I think having the player

traversed some of the areas that are

covered in these Abyss creatures that

grow in number as we get closer to

artorius would have been great as it's

slowly leading us towards this person

responsible for all this death while

narratively it felt a bit too fast for

me the fight mechanically was great

after artorius we can explore the rest

of uio and we can see how much this land

has been affected by the abyss as all

the inhabitants have been infected by

this dark energy turning them into these

disgusting creatures eventually we'll

reach the bottom and this feeling of

fear starts to set in as the world

becomes darker and darker the further we

go down here in the chasm of the Abyss

is where the darkness reaches its peak

and it's where these dark Sprites of

humanity live these are very similar in

design to the actual Humanity we consume

in game this seems to be Humanity in a

more physical form one that is more

exposed and not constricted by the dark

sign at the foot of the chasm is our

final boss Manis the father of the Abyss

manace has an interesting story

apparently the people of ulil were

tricked by a serpent who was probably

coth into digging mance's grave up in

doing so it caused Manus to go wild and

unleash his wrath upon them according to

his soul Manus was once a human became

father of the Abyss when his humanity

went wild and now he eternally seeks his

broken pendant the same pendant we had

to find to start the DLC it's unclear

why he liked this pendant so much but it

was possibly nostalgic to him or was

given to him by someone he loved and

because this pendant was so important to

him he did everything he could to get it

back which inevitably drove him to

Insanity it seems that he got so

desperate to find the pendant that he

pulled in random people into this world

as the NPC marvelous Chester is clearly

not from this world and he even says so

himself he also kind of looks like the

hunters from bloodborne which is a nice

reference to the game the main question

many within the community have though is

who was Manis before he became his

current deformed State well we really

don't know many have said it's the fer

of pygmy and I like that idea but I

think it's less interesting than that

many of the spells in this DLC say that

they were created by an uilian sorcerer

on the brink of Madness I can't help but

think that this is perfect for mance's

description one thing that is

interesting is that in the middle of the

arena is a grave with a Humanity shaped

hole so maybe manace was one of these

Humanity Sprites when he died or that

this is what he turned into when he died

regardless it's a very interesting

detail I also couldn't get any footage

of this as she disappears when you leave

the boss room but dusk apparently

appears out of manace when we kill him

meaning that he kidnapped her this may

confuse some people as dusk has been

sort of all over the place in this game

and due to her going from the past to

the present it sort of screws with the

time of it it seems like she was sent

into our time somehow and was captured

by this Golem she then disappears and

goes back into her time which then leads

to the abyss incident with the people of

ulil artor is then called to defeat the

abyss but fails and then we get summoned

into this world via mance's hand then

save Dusk and go back to the present

it's still a little confusing and the

world of Dark Souls is also very

confusing when it comes to time as

always during this fading of the fire

time is very convoluted cuz we can

summon people as Phantoms and the time

sort of stops it's very confusing but

that's how I think it went down but with

Mana dead we have officially finished

the DLC however this won't be the last

time we'll hear of Manis but that's for

Dark Souls 2 artorius of the Abyss was a

great DLC while it does lack in

motivation in regards to the player the

actual story of the DLC was great it

provides us with a nice timeline of

events as well as more insight into the

abyss and its effects on the world and

while not known at the time it would

eventually set up the plot to Dark Souls

2 it is without a doubt a worthy

extension to the game story but now we

can finally go to the Kil of the first

flame and determine the fate of lordran

the Kiln is coded in Ash and we can see

the spirits of those who followed Gwyn

into the Kil walk around aimlessly as we

approach the first flame we have one

person in our way and that is the Lord

of sunlight himself earlier I said Gwyn

sacrificed himself to rekindle the flame

and he did but because of his Lord

Soul's power he was able to keep his

body but his mind was gone Gwyn has gone

Hollow and while I'm more than capable

of killing him myself I couldn't dare

start the fight without the guy who's

been by my side since the very beginning

Solara vastor is easily the most

well-known NPC in the entire Souls

franchise and his story is a perfect

representation of the mood this game is

trying to convey throughout the whole

game we've been meeting with NPCs of all

kinds some with goals and others without

but none of them have managed to touch

my heart in a way that cair and sigm did

both of them had a goal in mind one

wants to find his sunlight and the other

wants to explore the world but both are

stuck sigm always seems to be getting

himself caught in some situation whether

that be a locked gate he can't enter or

a poison swap he can cross and salair

can find his sunlight they both

willingly became Undead in order to

achieve their goals and it tore me apart

to hear that sigm couldn't see it

through sigm Prides himself on being a

knight of Katarina and that he can

handle all of his troubles on his own

but with my help showed him that he

wasn't a worthy Knight after all and

that he always needed someone to rescue

him more often than not in these games

your assistance will lead to their death

so it's either converse with them and

enjoy their company knowing that they

will die because of you or distance

yourself from them knowing that while it

hurts it's better that they get to Live

Another Day NPCs of these games will

usually end up achieving a terrible fate

but this sadness makes the few times a

happy outcome occurs all the better

Solair wasn't able to find Sunlight of

his own he became depressed and wondered

if this journey was really worth taking

conveying the tone of the entire game is

our journey and our struggle really

worth it in the end which is why I owed

it to him to make it right it may not be

the actual Sun but the first flame could

be considered the Sun so for one final

time I summoned cair and we took down

lord Gwyn

gwinn's theme has such a fitting tune

all these bosses have these intense

sounds with loud music but gwyns is such

a simple piano it's not intense it's

almost sad in a way that the most

powerful man in the world has been

reduced to nothing and what was supposed

to be a glorious fight between two

Warriors really isn't it makes it all

the more worse when you realize that

Gwyn can be parried and once you nail

this timing down this fight is a

cakewalk for the showing how far from

Grace he has truly fallen with Gwyn

defeated we can now choose our ending

but we aren't the only one who is able

to choose since we managed to bring

Solair all the way to the end of the

game he was able to also fight gwin in

his own world thanks to the convoluted

timelines of Dark Souls and it is

canonized that he succeeded and linked

the flame in his own world he became the

sunlight he was searching for and that

might be one of the greatest endings in

the entire franchise but while salair

linked the flame that doesn't mean we

have to if we choose the age of fire the

world continues we rekindled the flame

flame and use ourselves as kindling to

continue this age of fire if we instead

choose to leave we let the flame

extinguish itself We join the primordial

serpents including cth and probably

framp and Usher in an age of dark one

whereare humanity is at the top and we

ourselves are the ruler at least that's

what we think will happen like many

plots in the soul Series this is once

again left up to interpretation we only

get to see the very beginning of our

choice so anything after is just pure

speculation who knows what will happen

after and who knows if our choice was

really the correct one that's always

been up to the player to decide but I've

always felt that these endings are about

Comfort do we stay comfortable knowing

that in the age of fire we aren't on top

and might be mistreated due to our lack

of strength or do we take the risk and

see what the age of dark is about one

thing to note though is the

circumstances regarding these endings

Fram says that the undead curse will be

cured if we go with the age of fire and

not even C says anything about this when

we talk with him about it so does that

mean that we'll stay Undead or at least

still have the risk of going Hollow in

the age of dark furthermore the age of

fire was a time ruled by the gods and

they did what they could to keep it that

way but we killed them everyone in Anar

Londo that is a God is either dead or

gone gwindel is the only one that

canonically lives thanks to Dark Souls 3

so even though an age of fire can be

seen as the age of gods that might not

be true anymore as we took care of most

of them so there is positives and

negatives both ways and that's really

been the point there's never going to be

a clear answer it's just whatever you

think is right as for me I think an age

of dark is the proper way to go as we

said in the intro the world of Dark

Souls is like a set of operations things

come and things go and the age of dark

should have followed after the age of

fire but du to when breaking the rules

of the world world that didn't happen so

I think in an attempt to set things back

on track before further destruction an

age of dark is the way to go regardless

of what happens in this age of dark at

the very least things will transition

back to the way it was supposed to be

however that might not be the actual

ending given the future titles some have

debated on proper endings and given the

status of Dark Souls 3 linking the flame

I think is the real ending and is

definitely the most agreed upon as just

about every person in this game will'll

speak about linking the flame we only

hear about the guge of dark from coth

who we have to jump through several

Hoops to just even meet I can almost

guarantee someone has gone throughout

the entire game and didn't even know

that an age of dark was the real option

because of how hidden it is and while

it's not my preferred ending continuing

the age of fire would set in motion

numerous events for us to discover Dark

Souls 1 was a fantastic experience from

start to finish and while the road was a

little bumpy sometimes along the way it

story wrapped up wonderfully it's a game

that I recommend you play at least once

in your lifetime as you will never get

to experience something like this ever

again but we're just getting started

Dark Souls 2 is a brilliant game it

takes into account the age of fire and

the age of dark and asks the question

why are there only two options and then

continues this idea by shutting out both

ages by making something else the main

plot of the story something that I will

explain throughout this video so without

further Ado let's get started so before

we start talking about the story we need

to address the game as a whole Dark

Souls 2 requires a different mindset in

order to grasp what the game is trying

to tell you as we saw in Dark Souls 1

the game relied heavily on the cycles of

the world to be the main plot it's all

about the age of fire and the age of

dark and what these Cycles mean how they

impact the world and what age we'll

choose when we get to the end this means

it also relies heavily on the world

itself Dark Souls one was about our four

Lords how they Rose to power and what

they did with that power and what the

state of the world is because of sad

power as such we play a very

insignificant person in regards to the

overall world but Dark Souls I isn't

like that it's not about the age of fire

and the fate of the world it's about one

Kingdom and how this one Kingdom handled

its own cycle Lord dam was important as

it was the first Kingdom in the age of

fire but Drang Lake isn't important at

all it's just one of the hundreds of

kingdoms built on the same land and

that's what makes Dark Souls 2 so

special it's the insignificance of this

game that makes it so compelling because

it isn't tied down by the world's

Pantheon it uses what Dark Souls 1

created as a way to write its own story

this game isn't about the Cycles it's

about one small part of the Cycles the

undead curse and the quicker you realize

that Dark Souls I is reshaping the

proverbial mold that is Dark Souls 1 the

better this game gets but to explain why

we need to start playing our opening

cinematic shows our character collapsing

in a rainy Forest the narrator talks

about the undead curse and how it will

infect your mind how it has the ability

to remove all that you hold dear and all

that you remember with every minute the

curse gets worse and worse until you go

Hollow is that is the Fate for all

Undead but this narrator speaks of a

kingdom called Drang Lake and how we'll

walk towards its gate without ever

knowing why we know why we're here in

Drang Lake as our characters trying to

find a cure for the undead curse so they

no longer feel its effects but they're

unsure of why Drang Lake specifically

just as the Mind gravitates towards the

smell of food when hungry the mind of

the undead is drawn to souls and Drang

Lake has plenty of them to to get to Dr

Lake we must cross a lake and enter a

portal the scene tries to portray this

event as some marvelous spectacle but

that couldn't be farther from the truth

once we cross this gate we're never

coming back we'll either be trapped here

until we cure the curse or go Hollow the

gate is even surrounded by bright bugs

which are known to comfort the dead

almost like it's luring us to our deaths

so for one final Time We Gather our

thoughts and jump

on the other side of this portal is the

things betwix a place stuck in limbo

that serves as a connection between

Drang Lake and the outside world like I

said we're stuck here for good inside

this limbo was a house of women three of

whom are FireKeepers that are being

cared for by their housekeeper and

they're very honest about our arrival

you're

finished you'll go

Hollow yes you will become one of

them Hollows pray upon men Feast upon

their

souls this is the fate of the

cursed we aren't the first Undead to

walk through their doors and we won't be

the last and all of them have met the

same fate so what makes us any different

Dark Souls 2 tries to set in this

feeling of hopelessness so something

that's very consistent throughout the

trilogy no one truly believes we can

accomplish our goal but that's what

makes the emerald Herald so wonderful

she believes that we can succeed in our

goal and will help us in any way that

she can and by providing us the means to

level up she might be the most helpful

person in the game this is why the level

up ladies of the franchise have always

been seen in such a positive light they

don't discriminate and they don't bother

questioning if what we're doing is

working they have an undying motivation

to help us succeed regardless of if

there's something to gain from it

they're like a bright light in a dark

tunnel as all around them are people who

have given up I am

solden and like you I lost everything

and now I'm here the location they both

reside in is majula a small town on the

outskirts of Dr Lake and its the music

displays a feeling of Peace a place that

is void of death a place that you can

feel comfortable in and in the world of

Dark Souls a place like that is more

than necessary I've always preferred

when the main hubs were seamlessly

integrated into the world something that

would be eventually lost with the series

going forward as it makes the world more

believable and in the case of bajula

without it you'd be missing this

beautiful scenery after taking in the

view we can speak to the emerald Herald

who reveal our objective seek those

whose names are

unutterable the four endowed with

immense

Souls these four beings are known as the

four great ones the Lost Sinner the Old

Iron King the rotten and the Duke's Dear

Freya just like before we have four

beings that need to be slain in order to

continue and just like Dark Souls 1 how

we go about killing them and in what

order we want to go in is entirely up to

us but one thing to point out though is

that the emerald Herald isn't a firek

keeper at least she wasn't originally

her real name is Shanel lot and she was

given this name by the dragons her

purpose was to break the undead curse

but seeing as there is thousands of

Hollows in Drang Lake she clearly failed

her goal now is to just rest at majula

guiding the Undead on their Journey To

Succeed King Vendrick before we go

though I want to talk about the NPCs I

think Dark Souls 2 really dropped the

ball when it came to these characters

many of them are extremely forgettable

and seem to only be placed in the world

so that the player can be given a

tangible item rather than an engaging

story Benard of Joo is a good example as

he seems like a compelling character

that may have a memorable Quest all for

it to crumble almost immediately his

whole quest line revolves around his

family heirloom the giante teal sword

resting on his shoulder which you may

recognize as the moonlight great swword

except this one is a fake it doesn't

have the magical properties of the

original but benhart believes that with

enough strength he can unlock its true

power I would have dropped this Quest

entirely if it wasn't for the fact that

he gives us the sword at the end of it

he provides little to no substance to

the world and this goes for a vast

majority of characters we meet there are

over 40 NPCs in this game and about 90%

of them provide the player with a

service and some of their services are

either outclassed or completely useless

logr is the Mula blacksmith but the

player may find McDuff another

blacksmith except McDuff can do

everything lass can do but with the

added bonus of being able to infuse

weapons and gavon is a lonely Merchant

who only sells five items four of which

are poison he also has three set

locations so in order to purchase his

Services you'll need to go out of your

way to find him and that's if you really

want poison equipment there's just so

much clutter as half these characters

could literally just combine into one

General Goods Merchant thankfully it's

not all bad lucatiel has a wonderful

quest line as she shows us the horrific

reality that is the undead curse she was

a warrior of mea but now she barely

remembers who she is by the time we get

to the end of her quest line she's

practically pleading for us to remember

her name as she may not remember it

herself it's unclear why she came to

Drang Lake in the first place but given

that her brother astil will invade us

only a few feet from her final location

it's possible that she was looking for

him but now both of them have succumbed

to the curses Affliction never truly

knowing what happened to the other

thankfully lucao isn't the only

character of note in this game as the

feud between kraton and pate and the

peaceful conversations with venaro were

fantastic being able to take the role of

a detective and truly uncover which one

is telling the truth and then choosing a

side before one prevails was a great

investigation and the fact that a

talking head can get me to listen to his

life's story as he thinks about his past

life and how much he despises it shows

me that this game has some wonderful

stories that are just waiting to be

uncovered you just have to weed through

the dozens of merchants in order to find

them getting back on track we're still

on the hunt for the four great ones once

again this is similar to Dark Souls 1

but instead of ringing the bells of

Awakening and then finding the Lord

Souls we just have to find the souls

already if you remember from that video

on Dark Souls 1 I said that the bells of

Awakening section was a bit slow is not

much in terms of plot was happening it

wasn't until we rang them that the story

really started to take off well in Dark

Souls 2 it's the same unless you look at

the bigger picture before we get to the

four great ones there are a lot of other

areas we need to go through first for

example to get to the Lost Center we

need to go through majula to Hay's Tower

of flame to No Man's dwarf through the

Lost Bast steel and then to Center's

rise with the boss is located all these

locations will seem pointless and if you

just only do this boss fight it will

continue to feel like that it isn't

until later in the game when the climax

hits that things start to make sense no

man's Warf is a small Port town and its

final boss is the flexile sentury the

Sentry's job was to take as many Undead

as they could fit on this boat and send

them to the Lost Bas steel which is a

prison for the undead but this isn't the

only location to have lore regarding the

curse the huntsman's cops was a hunting

ground for the old iron King's Men Who

were tasked with killing any Undead on

site but as you would expect they too

also succumb to the curse next to this

area is the undead purgatory where a

chariot Rider continually kills and

punishes the undead it's also possible

that these necromancers were purposely

stationed here this may imply that the

necromancers were used to resurrect the

undead so that they can be repeatedly

killed for entertainment like I said

this game does not focus on the cycles

of the world it's all about the curse

and this is only discovered once we get

further in the game but in the beginning

it may seem a bit overplayed that's why

it's required to have a different

mindset going into this game if you're

thinking about the cycle in this game's

lore will be boring and repetitive but

it's actually brilliant once everything

comes together as these early areas are

showing how different rulers are

reacting to the curse and what their

actions are as a result of it and

speaking of rulers one of them happens

to be one of the four great ones the Old

Iron King resides in the Iron Keep but

to get there we must pass through the

Huntsman cops which we know is the place

the Old Iron King sent his men to hunt

the undead behind this location is

Harvest Valley and earn Peak two areas

that are coded in Poison thanks to one

individual Mitha the banful queen

mytha's story is rather tragic she

wasn't a originally like this monster we

see today she was a beautiful queen but

her drive to win her beloved's heart

back is what drove her to such lengths

myth's story though does have some

complications she is named both Queen

and Princess in that she loved a prince

and sought the king's affection her

story is very confusing cuz we don't

really understand whether she was a

queen and a princess or just one of them

but whoever this person was it's clear

they did not love her un thus she began

using poison as a way to obtain Beauty

but this came with its own set of

problems as the poison started turning

her into a like monster and yet while

she was sulking around her room day in

and day out trying to win the heart of a

man she unknowingly already succeeded in

doing just that the Covetous Demon was a

human Who Loved Mitha and cherished her

no matter what form she took he tried to

Showcase his love for her through

gluttony but this too would change him

and turn him into the monster we see

today but despite his change in

appearance his love for the queen never

wavered behind the poisonous swamp of

Earth and Peak is the Iron Keep home of

the Old Iron King The Old Iron King was

a lord of very little power but he would

then eventually meet a knight called Sir

Alon who trained to soldiers in the art

of battle the Old Iron King would then

eventually build his kingdom but doing

so cost him almost all his assets but

one day he discovered an iron producing

Miracle this allowed him to control iron

to his heart's content which led to the

Iron Keep a giant Fortress made entirely

of iron he started creating Soldiers

made entirely of iron and even a demon

of fire called the Smelter Demon this

idea of creating things of Free Will

with only raw materials is also related

to the undead Chariot which of course

was his creation so he's quite familiar

with this craft eventually for whatever

reason sir alone would leave the Iron

Keep and set out in search of unknown

lands after losing his most trusted

Knight The Iron King sought the Council

of a man named agel he was presumably a

pyromancer due to his goal of trying to

give fire a will of its own the two

worked together to create the

aforementioned Smelter Demon but this

would bring disastrous consequences to

the keep the two never considered that

by giving Something Free Will it has the

chance to turn on its creator and the

Smelter Demon did just that with one

swing it obliterated the Iron King and

sent him into the lava it was born from

this act also caused the lava to take on

a much larger form and crash into the

Iron Keep consuming it in lava as we see

now but while the keep and its soldiers

were scrambling to Higher Ground

something else happened the iron King's

body came in contact with an old soul

the Old King Soul so those in the

present day he's known as the one who

shall not be named but for us we know

him is Gwyn when killed the Old Iron

King will drop the iron King's soul but

it's only on New Game Plus that we

uncover the truth that the Old Iron King

has come to possessed the very soul that

Gwyn possessed all those years ago but

the Old Iron King isn't the only one

each of our four great ones has come in

contact with a soul that belonged to a

notable character from the past game but

not only did it give them strength it

may have also carried with it the

emotions of those it belong to both Gwyn

and the Old Iron King share a theme of

power Gwyn wanted to keep his Godlike

power and as such took multiple steps in

order to achieve that like linking the

first flame branding Humanity with the

dark sign and tossing things he felt

could threaten their rule into the

painted world of Aramis and while his

feelings weren't as Fierce as gwis the

Old Iron King also desired power he

wanted to ensure a protected and

impenetrable Kingdom while also

relishing and the power that comes of

being a king so he used his power to

create a giant Kingdom with skilled

Knights and dozens of monstrous

creatures made from Iron and then

displayed his power by tormenting the

undead for sport and torturing them

endlessly simply because he could but

while the Iron King tortured Undead

against their will there was one person

whose torture was self-imposed located

in the center's rise underneath the Lost

ptio is a prisoner who willingly

imprisoned themselves for the sins of

their past according to Shala quar

maula's resident feline her sin was that

she tried to light the first flame but

the key word is light implying that it

had already gone out so how would this

be considered a sin if anything it would

be the opposite sadly we never truly

know what any of it means one thing we

do know is whose Soul she possesses

before the boss fight starts a bug

crawls into her eye specifically a chaos

bug the same one from Lost isth she is

in possession of the witch of isth Soul

we know that these bugs have mind

controlling capabilities as evidenced by

the bad ending of cair's quest line so

it's possible that the Lost Sinner

intended to let us into her cell until

the chaos bug felt threatened but it's

still doesn't answer the question

regarding herself self imprisonment

maybe she wanted to keep the chaos bug

and turn her from escaping as this craz

version of the law cner could have run

rampant and Slaughter dozens of people

or maybe she's somehow feeling the

emotions of isth who probably felt the

men's guilt for creating the Bed of

Chaos so maybe this feeling of guilt is

being transferred over to the LW CER

without her knowing to this day it's

still a mystery but a very compelling

one at that the witch of Isa had a

desire to create life which is why she

wanted to make a new first flame but she

wasn't the only one who had desires but

that that being's Legacy may have

created even more Devastation than

intended the Duke's Dear Freya is a

spider who is in possession of se's soul

but se's feelings and desires are able

to engulf those who come in contact with

it Freya Soul talks about a writhing

ruin and how this ancient Thing cast a

shadow over the land and that at some

point in its life it came in contact

with a solitary insect but grew its

power feasting on the wealth of Twisted

Souls found within the land if we defeat

Freya we can enter the Lord's private

Chambers which houses the Duke of sadora

himself and a cage that presumably

belonged to Freya the writhing ruin was

created from se's intense feeling of

want he searched endlessly for a way to

be immortal even when he was plagued by

insanity and it's because of how

powerful his desires were that they

seemed to linger on past his death the

writhing ruin would go on to possess

others in an attempt to obtain something

as he possessed a being that turned man

scorpion tar and his wife into half

human creatures it has this insatiable

urge to achieve something what that

something is will depend on the

individual SE wanted immortality and

Freya may have just wanted strength or

power regardless this writhing ruin will

presumably seek something until it

doesn't for eternity and ruin many lives

in the process it's obvious by now that

there seems to be a parallel between our

old cast and our new ones in regards to

their feelings and emotions whether they

received these similar feelings when

they came in contact with the old souls

or the souls were attracted to them

because of their feelings is unknown but

our old friends legacies continue to

bring disaster even after their death

but for one of them that may not be the

case our final great one is the rotten

in Mula there is a giant pit and

assuming you can get down there without

dying you'll arrive at the Grave of

Saints a catacomb that used to be a bar

IAL site before it was overrun by rats I

was admittedly a bit confused running

through here as I thought this was some

ongoing joke I wasn't aware of as

there's a literal rat talking to me

calling me his servant in the most

serious tone possible it's pretty

pointless and it's best if we ignore it

and moved on but sadly we won't be doing

much moving as much as we will be

falling Dark Souls 2 somehow managed to

surpass blle town in quality by making

the gutter a darker version of Bight

town all while being poisoned thanks to

these statues just like Bight town the

lore is quite similar as these are the

citizens of various kingdoms that were

tossed away out of sight from the rest

of the world after the gutter is the

Black Gulch the home of the rotten the

rotten possesses the soul of Neato but

instead of their emotions being similar

it seems to just be their appearance

Neato was an amalgamation of skeletons

and the rotten is an amalgamation of

dead bodies but where Neato was hellbent

on administering death throughout the

world the rotten seems to sort of

Embrace or Comfort it these statues

might possibly be the people who have

died down here in the pits he might be

trying to comfort these Hollows in their

new life and these statues seem to be a

showcasing of his feelings towards his

new Community what is rather odd though

is that these statues in the boss room

don't shoot poison at us so it's

possible that they weren't meant to

shoot poison originally and it's because

of this poisonous rot that is taken over

the pits that they're allowed to do so

through our discussion about the great

ones you obviously notice the

connections between our old and new cast

of characters but you may have also

noticed the lack of lore there is a lot

of information that is either completely

unclear or only given some amount of

weight thanks to the abundance of

theories from the community Dark Souls 2

is both the most understood and most

confusing game within the trilogy it

just depends on what answers you're

looking for however however I feel like

I'm content with this one thing that

bothered me about Dark Souls I as we

discussed before is that I left some of

these boss Arenas with more questions

and answers I wanted to know who the

Four Kings of nandoo were and how they

Rose to power I also wanted to know more

about Neato and his role in the world

after the war with the dragons and while

I definitely have similar questions

regarding some of our great ones I left

majority of these areas feeling complete

like I had learned what needed to be

learned and I uncovered the real story

and that's the benefit of creating

something like Dark Souls 2 we don't

really need to know what these great

ones did and how they shaped the fate of

the world because they didn't despite

how important many of the characters in

this game may seem at the end of the day

they're just another kingdom in a long

line of other kingdoms no one is going

to remember them and no one is going to

care about them that is why I feel

satisfied when leaving the black gulture

centers rise have uncovered enough lore

to get a generous picture of their life

with a few holes just big enough for me

to make some solid theories with all

four great ones slain we can now go to

Drang Lake Castle or can we

this is Alia the brother of king

Vendrick and the scholar of the first

sin Alia story is very unclear at the

moment but we'll eventually learn more

about him later once we enter Drang Lake

Castle we'll see this Phantom by the

name of Weller he's a sort of lore dump

which admittedly might not be the best

way to handle this information but given

the nature of of these games where you

can go a whole playthrough Without

Really knowing anything maybe it's

necessary regardless weer shares with us

some backstory on Drang Lake and

Vendrick King Vendrick conquered four

great ones and built a kingdom upon

their very souls he then met a lady

named nandra who warned Vendrick of

another looming threat these beings were

known as Giants King Vendrick would

eventually cross the Seas and battle

these Giants completely decimating their

civilization as a constellation prize he

took most of them prisoner and ran

experiments on them this is what led to

the creation of the Golems these beings

we see inside the castle and with the

Golems he was able to build Drang Lake

Castle later in the game we'll acquire

this item called the Ashen misted heart

this allows us to peer into the memories

of some specific beings most of these

memories are from dead Giants we come

across in the first level these all

showcase different sections of Drang

Lake being overrun by Giants and one of

them even shows us the location of the

giant Lord we see the destruction that

they left Drang Lake castle and and we

can also see how outmatch the soldiers

really were even though they outnumber

them three or four to one they're

getting decimated at every turn but

somehow they were able to persevere

considering there's no Giants in Dr Lake

but I think the person responsible for

some of this Victory Is Us these

memories operate like Olio from Dark

Souls 1 where we go back in time to

alter the past and then go back to the

present this may tie into a subtle hint

very early in the game the first boss in

Dark Souls I is the last giant whose

boss sold description reads the lord of

the Giants who had brought wreck and

ruin to the entire kingdom was said to

have been felled by an unknown Warrior

his beaten and broken remains were then

dragged beneath the stronghold where he

was sealed away this random giant Soul

references the giant Lord and also

describes the exact condition this giant

is in meaning this giant is the giant

Lord and that must mean the unknown

Warrior was us this might explain why he

thrashes his arms around trying to break

free as he remembers us and wants

revenge this is the complete backstory

of Drang Lake which gives us enough

answers to our questions but

simultaneously gives us new questions we

want answers to such as the whereabouts

of nandra well close to the top of the

castle is the queen herself the last

king of this land King Vendrick as he

was

called he found the strength to rule his

people and when the undead were born

cursed he found more strength to face

them but in the end he never took the

true

Throne visit

Vendrick we have no need for two

rulers so nandra wants us to find King

Vendrick as she says there is no need

for two rulers but she also mentions

that King Vendrick never took the throne

she just casually says this statement as

if this isn't some huge Revelation since

Gwyn people have been rekindling the

flame but Vendrick didn't but it doesn't

mean Vendrick wants to bring about an

age of dark he doesn't want either this

is even more unheard of as no one has

even attempted to invoke a third

solution to the fating of the first

flame but to learn more we need to find

Vendrick he resides in the undead crypt

but blocking our path is to two bosses

the Looking Glass Knight and vad the

Royal Aegis both of these fights were

fantastic both from the actual combat to

the design of the bosses I'm just upset

that it took this long for this feeling

to finally come to fruition I rambled

for quite a bit about the bosses in Dark

Souls 1 like how orstein and SM were

fantastic and how I despise the Bed of

Chaos but I haven't found the right time

to talk about the bosses in Dark Souls 2

as there really isn't much to say most

of them were pretty underwhelming for

the most part and this is down to a few

factors one was simply overleveling

since Dark Souls 2 has 32 bosses in the

main game it's very easy to miss some I

didn't find the Chariot or old dragon

slayer until much later when I Revisited

those area so I was a bit overprepared

for the boss fight Dark Souls 1 had a

really great way of gaing the players

progression while also guiding them down

a path which in turn made every fight

feel like a proper match it wasn't a

one-sided victory for the most part

there were a few exceptions like

windelin and pin wheel but they have

very low Health pools so it's a bit hard

to judge them the other two reasons are

just down to overall enjoyment and the

summons the majority of the boss in this

game not only have summonable NPCs but

multiple at that I had two summons for

the Looking Glass Knight and while the

game does attempt to balance this by

adding more Health we all know the main

strength of the summons is to be an

extra body for the boss to hit which

means less attention on us and more time

to get free hits in I will admit this

trivialized many fights the Smelter

Demon the rotten and probably a few

others were really easy with summons but

that comes to my next issue to complete

some of these NPC quest lines we talked

about earlier they need to be summoned

for bosses as someone who's trying to

get as much lore as possible in one

playthrough I needed to continue

continue the summons quest line so while

I was gaining more progress with the

NPCs it came at the cost of the quality

of the fights this makes me even more

disappointed as many of these quest

lines didn't even go anywhere so they

were just completely useless and wasted

my time some of the boss fights though

just sucked regardless I was pretty

disappointed with Chariot fight even

though it was a cool idea I just wasn't

a big fan of it and this game's

obsession with gang fights is quite

insane the ruined Sentinels and the

belfre Gargoyles were just not

entertaining in the slightest orstein

and SM only worked because of how

different they were in regards to their

move set and how the arena was designed

and the Bell Gargoyles were okay for the

most part since the second one didn't

come until halfway plus they used

different move sets the ruined Sentinels

were the same enemy copied three times

with zero obstacles to separate them

minus the one platform you start on and

the belfrey Gargoyles got way out of

hand with close to three or four at the

same time in the same Arena as the

original fight which is not that large

and very open I did manage to beat them

on my own so I was happy that I won but

only because I knew I'd never have to do

that fight again as for the four great

ones the old King was just awful even

though I had a summon with me his moves

would have been the same regardless and

they were almost too easy to evade the

other three were pretty good but nothing

spectacular they did provide some

intense moments but I did have to summon

lucatiel for two of them so I may have

missed some of that spectacle I will

recognize though that this entire

section is a very subjective take as a

boss's enjoyment largely depends on the

skill of the player and their build but

since this is all about my thoughts on

the game my opinion was that they were

pretty underwhelming for the most part

it felt like instead of focusing on

fewer bosses with unique engagements

they created more but at the cost of

their depth behind the Looking Glass

night is the Shrine of Amana and the

aforementioned Undead CP each of these

places were created specifically for the

dead both the mileno and the phito watch

over these respective places in an

attempt to guide the undead to their

final destination both of these

creatures have interesting backstories

as they were created by the old dead one

who we know as Neato both of them seem

to be a Reincarnation of Neo's Soul as

if he created them we would have seen

them in Dark Souls 1 but maybe they

didn't plan that far ahead when making

the games regardless it is a nice detail

and finally gives us some actual story

regarding Neato so I was more than happy

to listen to it it also continues to

reinforce the old one Soul descriptions

that mention how their souls still hold

power over the land as the power of

Neato and his obsession with all things

death are still utilized to this day as

for what they specifically do it seems

like the mil phito enchant or Comfort

the dead via song as their singing can

be heard throughout the level and the

phito are grave wardens who watch over

the dead both of these groups seem to

revolve around comforting the dead so

maybe Neato was a lot more like the

rotten than I had initially thought at

the very end of the crypt is vestad and

while the boss fight was great what

really piqued my attention was his soul

and the items acquired from that Soul

firstly his soul is a dark purple and

black color this is the same as the DLC

bosses from Dark Souls 1 I originally

thought that this was made to

distinguish the DLC from the main game

but it wasn't Until Dark Souls 2 that I

realized that the soul shape has actual

meaning this is an image of a normal

boss soul in this game next is from one

of the great ones and the other is of

those affected by the darkness both

Manis and the royal AES have the same

Soul meaning they're both affected by

the darkness and that's due in part to

him being down here since Vendrick

locked himself away in the Crypt another

detail that is interesting about vestad

here is that his soul can buy Miracles

specifically the sacred oath Miracle

which is used by Warriors who once sered

the god of Sun so it seems like the

Royal AIS belong to the same Covenant as

cair however we can see that this

miracle has either been warped or is

unable to be casted as he never actually

uses this in the fight and instead Buffs

himself with dark magic further showing

how dark his soul has become after the

Royal Aegis we can Vendrick and if you

expected some grand entrance then you're

playing the wrong

game just like when the most powerful

being in the game's world is reduced to

a hollow and Mindless State vendrick's

condition actually seems to be much

worse as Gwinn at least retain some of

his combat abilities but Vendrick can

barely swing his sword if he choose to

fight him all is not lost though for our

King as if we return with the Ashen Mist

Heart we can peer into his memories and

be able to talk with Vendrick prior to

his hollowing do you intend to link the

fire then you must first take the

throne prove your worth find the ancient

crowns seek adversity and they will be

yours Vendrick tells us to seek the

crowns these crowns belong to three

rulers and also happened to be R3 DLC

these DLCs not only provide us with

additional lore regarding other kingdoms

but also what caus these kingdoms to

collapse when we finish each DLC we can

gain a crown and after obtaining said

Crown we can talk to Vendrick for more

dialogue some of the dialogue is

relevant later but a common theme

throughout his speeches is the idea that

we're given a choice Al throughout Dark

Souls 1 we were told to link the flame

and that if we failed the age of dark

would arise and that would be the end of

the world but King Vendrick is more than

content with you making your own choice

this goes back to what we discussed

before vedric didn't want an age of fire

or an age of dark he just wanted to find

a way to break the curse this also ties

into his brother Alia and some of his

dialogue when we meet him again old man

trust fully the abusion of

life but is this so

wrong a construction of thead and

yet a world full of WS and

scandles noo I you intent for shattering

the Y spoiling this wonderful

for AIA is definitely the most

fascinating character in this game like

Vendrick he is completely aware that he

is unable to change the world in their

current state so he just observes and

sees what happens Alia says that the joy

of life is warm and Splendid but it's a

facade as the undead curse will

eventually come back but because of that

warmth that life brings us are we intent

on shattering this illusion we live in

and spoiling this false life we have or

are we content with our lives and

embrace the warmth and pleasure that

comes with it knowing full well that

it's a lie Alia just like the game wants

you to actually make a choice and not

blindly follow follow what some random

person will tell us use your own

experiences your own knowledge and your

own beliefs to come to an answer the way

this was crafted was absolutely

brilliant and it shows how impressive

the writing of this game truly is but

before we get to the DLC and obtain the

crowns we need to talk about the rest of

the content as to actually get the Ash

and Miss heart item we need to travel to

Alia's keep and the Dragon Shrine both

Alia and Vendrick sought to cure the

curse but had different methods of doing

so Vendrick shunned the undead as he

wanted them as far away from the kingdom

as possible that's why he threw them in

the undead prison of lost best steel in

here are hundreds of Undead including

some volatile variants as these were

created by Alia whereas ventri shun the

undead Alia embraced them as he felt

that the key to Breaking the curse was

within the undead themselves but he

didn't welcome them with open arms as

they were all subjected to his various

experiments but Alia went even further

with these tests and didn't just focus

on the undead but other species he even

recreated multiple dragons a race of

beings thought to be extinct by now

despite what their names imply though

both the guardian dragon and the ancient

dragon aren't actually dragons the

guardian dragon soul can allow us to

purchase the Wing Greatsword which

states that the Drakes are likely

descendants of ancient dragons this

implies that this is actually a Drake

and not a dragon furthermore we know the

dragons especially the original dragons

are gone as calamite was the last of the

ancient dragons this is still true as

the ancient dragon in Dark Souls I isn't

a dragon as it drops a soul of a giant

this thing used to be a giant and was

somehow configured by Alia through

rigorous experiments to look like an

ancient dragon to get the actual ancient

dragon soul we need to use the Ash and

Mist Heart again but this time in

freya's Boss Arena as it allows us to

see the memories of the Dead Dragon

hanging from the ceiling this memory

seems to show the original resting place

of this Dragon before it somehow made it

down here there's not a whole lot to

learn from this place other than the

fact that these large broken structures

look similar to the ones outside Alia

keep and there's only one place in the

world that we know that has giant

structures like this it is my belief

that this is Ash Lake it might not be

the entirety of Ash Lake as we don't

really know how far these trees went but

it seems to be at least some part of it

in regards to time this is most likely

during the war between Gwyn and the

dragons ashake exists did back then but

it wasn't the Ash Lake that we're

familiar with as if you remember it was

all gray before fire was born so the

memory was during the war with the

ancient dragons and the present day

location of Aldi's keep is where some

part of Ash Lake used to be with all the

areas covered we can head to the DLC and

it's advised to finish all the bosses

and content you missed before going

which is why I retraced my steps and

discovered the locations of the dark

lurker and the old dragon slayer I

didn't really find their stories that

interesting but I figured I would cover

them before we continue the old dragon

slayer seems to be someone who was using

orang Ste armor as a way to uphold his

legacy as not only does orstein have

other plans which we'll learn about in

Dark Souls 3 some have claimed that this

is a fragment of orin's old soul that

now possesses the armor which would

connect with the running theme of old

souls from the past games coming to the

present just like with the four great

ones as for the dark ler there's pretty

much nothing we know about this being at

all their soul states that they're a

remnant of some ancient dissipated being

and the color of their soul is not dark

implying that they weren't born or

consumed by the abyss like the Royal

Aegis or Manis they also look very

similar to the these beings in the

undead crypt that spawn when the bells

are rung given the color of the dark

lurker Soul it's possible that this

being was actually here to fight against

the abyss similar to artorius but there

is very little evidence to support this

Theory but now we can officially start

the DLC Dark Souls 2 eventually release

with three additional pieces of content

the crown of the sunken King the crown

of the Old Iron King and the crown of

the ivory King even the disjointed

nature of these DLCs they could be

played in any order as they don't

contradict one another but we'll just go

in the order of release the crown of the

sunken King starts near the shrine

beside the rotten's boss room and

entering the shrine will take us to

shova the sanctum City upon entering we

are greeted by not only a gorgeous view

of the underground city but also a

dragon with a giant spear through its

chest this dragon is sin long ago a race

of people found sin sleeping in these

caves and because they had most likely

never seen a dragon before they

worshiped him as a God these people

ended up building a city around the

dragon with the rulers of the Kingdom

being the sunken King and his Queen

Alana but something happened a leader by

the name of Sir yorg found the

underground city and mounted a Siege

against its inhabitants with the

intention of slaying the dragon they

were guarding sir yorg and his Knights

believed that killing dragons was a way

to obtain a true understanding of life

so they hunted it down after making a

past all their defenses sir yorg was

face to face with sin himself and that

giant spear in his chest was from him

but clearly sin lived this wound and

that's because upon Awakening from his

Slumber he released a giant cloud of

poison that coated the entire city that

may also explain why the Black Gulch is

covered in this poisonous green liquid

since it's right next to the city but

there's no way to confirm before we

fight sin though we have to fight Alana

so somehow despite the poison and the

attack from Sir yorg she managed to live

well this might be due to her true form

according to her boss soul and weapon we

can piece together that when the abyss

dissipated it was broken into fragments

and eventually these fragments came to

create a life meaning that Elana is the

daughter of Manis the reason the abyss

was broken was that the chosen Undead

defeated Manis back in Dark Souls 1 and

since he was called the father of the

Abyss that would make Alana his daughter

clearly she opposes a threat to more

than just shulva so we need to put her

down after her death is when we gain

access to sin as a final fight wasn't

too bad he has a unique mechanic where

the poison from his breath can break the

durability of your weapon which could

possibly kill the entire run if you're

not careful the only issue is that this

seems to do an insane amount of

durability damage as my Bandit axe with

only 50 durability was destroyed in a

few hits I'm not entirely sure if 50 is

on the low end of durability but going

through all the weapons I picked up

across my whole playthrough they were

all between 40 and 70 so if anything I

should be right in the middle this

wouldn't have been that bad though if

sin didn't act like the guardian dragon

and just stayed put for more than a few

seconds

I think you can see from the gameplay

the amount of chances I have to actually

hit this thing are extremely low I think

what makes shova so engrossing is the

location how do you possibly build a

giant civilization underground and for

what reason that's at least what I was

thinking when going into the DLC and

while I got my answer I wasn't entirely

satisfied with it one reason why is down

to dialogue is there was no NPCs in this

DLC to talk or converse with we can't

gain any new information as all the

people that could have been NPCs are now

just walking corpses given that sin

poisoned the whole city I wonder wonder

if adding one NPC at the very beginning

of the level who's the only survivor of

the attack would have been a better idea

as they could have provided the player

with additional information surrounding

the city such as why they worshiped the

dragon or how they managed to build all

these structures because in its current

state it feels a bit unfinished the

crown of the Old Iron King is our second

DLC and is of course based around the

Old Iron King from the main game this

DLC takes place in one of the largest

Towers he erected called the broom Tower

to find the crown we need to Traverse

the entire tower all the way down to the

bottom which was incred L tedious there

were a lot of traps and enemies that can

be very annoying to deal with but given

that the DLC seemed to want to spike up

the difficulty these additions kind of

made sense this tediousness also added

to the realism of the level as it takes

quite a long time to scale this entire

Tower which is logical given its size

and the tower itself is in just empty

space as all the space is being used for

some sort of purpose whether it's these

smaller guys carrying these giant

barrels or the vast amount of Machinery

within the tower that was made to

produce iron it also fits in well with

the theme of the old iron King's

obsession with iron and how he gained a

lot of power from his production of iron

this DLC however adopts the same

storytelling as the sunken King in that

there are no NPCs to talk to throughout

the entirety of its runtime but what

makes the broom Tower different from

shova is that we already have numerous

levels and items filled with lore about

the Iron King shova was a completely new

area with zero reference to the main

story which is why I enjoyed it a bit

less regarding the NPC interaction than

the broom Tower even though the first

boss is technically another Smelter

Demon the real first boss is actually

the fume Knight I have zero issues

regarding this fight I actually thought

it was perfect I've stated this many

times before but I prefer the fast

combat of the future fromsoft games as

opposed to the slower more methodical

nature of the early Souls games it's not

that one is objectively better than the

other it's just a personal preference of

mine and just like with artorius and

Manis the fum Knight is another boss

that is slowly ramping up the speed of

its attacks they aren't incredibly fast

especially by modern Souls game

standards where a 10-hit combo can be

finished within mere seconds but the fum

Knight is definitely a far more faster

paced fight compared to the rest of the

game and this even continues with the

other boss in this DLC which is selon

it's just like the other boss fights of

this game where you have to look at your

health stamina and both your and the

boss's positioning all at the same time

and then calculate what to do given the

parameters except much faster I

understand this is not everyone's cup of

tea but it's most definitely mine and

even better the fum Knight has actual

ties to a previous character from the

main Game King Vendrick had two trusted

Knights who he considered his left and

right arm one was vat and the other was

the fum Knight however the two clashed

which led to the fum Knight's defeat

what's interesting is that if you defeat

the Royal Aegis purchas his helmet and

then wear it during the fight the fum

Knight will start his second phase

almost immediately showing that he still

has a grudge against him as for the fum

Knight himself he wandered the land in

search of power and eventually came

across the broom Tower and met nadalia

the Bride of Ash nadalia would have been

the queen of the Old Iron King but she

arrived at the keep after he died she

fell into a deep despair because of this

and ended up separating her soul across

the broom tower inside these Ash and

Idols which caused the tower to be

covered in this thick black fog this fog

has the power to control those who wish

to serve her and kill those who refused

when the fumet arrived and instead of

destroying the fog like he could have

done he actually just opted to be

consumed by it which is why he sits at

the bottom of broom Tower defending the

remains of nadalia since she has the

ability to create this black fog and her

soul is colored in darkness it is once

again safe to assume that she is another

daughter of Manis if you're noticing a

theme here then you're catching on to

the point of these DLCs each one of them

is centered around a kingdom that a

daughter of Manis inhabited and this

goes for our final DLC but before we

leave the broom Tower there's a secret

room we can discover with Sur alone's

armor and by using the Ashen Mard we can

go back back in time to when he was

stationed at the tower this leads to the

boss fight we discussed earlier but it's

a memory and if we take what we know

about the memories and apply it here we

can discover even more lore about siron

if we assume that the unknown Warrior

that best of the giant Lord is us since

we went back in time then we're also

responsible for killing siron so that

statement I said earlier about siron

leaving to search for new lands was

possibly a lie as it may have been told

by the Old Iron King so that his

soldiers don't uncover his true fate

which makes things a lot more Sinister

than they seemed our third and final DLC

is the crown of the ivory King the ivory

King was the ruler of the Kingdom Elam

Lo upon entering we can see that it is

covered in snow and given that there

isn't any snow in Dr Lake we must be

pretty far from the original Kingdom as

we approach though we are told to leave

this voice tells us that the old chaos

still hungers and that we are forbidden

from entering clearly we're not going to

listen and charge head first through the

front gate eventually we'll meet with

the first boss of the DLC Ava this is

one of seven pets that the ivory King

kept in his kingdom each one seemed to

have a specific spefic role in the

Kingdom as Ava was tasked with guarding

the king's child of dark this child of

dark is alsana and as you would expect

she is our third daughter of Manis but

her story is a lot less destructive when

alsana was born she felt fear this is

because she was a manifestation of mana'

fears all the daughters of the Abyss are

a manifestation of something nadalia

seemed to be man' despair Elana was

possibly a manifestation of mance's

Wrath and alsana was his fears but when

alsana was born the king managed to find

her and welcomed her into his kingdom he

provided the Comfort she desperately

needed and was kind enough to not shun

her away even after he discovered her

true Origins it's because of this

kindness that she stayed in Elam Lo and

continued to fulfill the ivory King's

wish which was to hold back the old

chaos the old chaos is the flame of

chaos the same one created by the witch

of isth it's unknown when this was

discovered by the ivory King but once he

did find this ancient monstrosity him

and his fellow Knights set out to

extinguish it but they were defeated as

none had come back alsana wants us to

defeat the old chaos so that we can

uphold the mission of the ivory King to

do this though we're going to need some

other Knights of alam L as they are

absolutely necessary if you want the

fight to be possible once we're all set

we can jump down into the old chaos

again just like we did with lost eolith

and this boss is absolute perfection few

fights in the souls games actually get

better with summons and the ivory King

is one of them I felt like I actually

had to apply strategy to an encounter

which was the first time the series has

required me to do that I don't mean

strategy in the sense of reading the

boss's moves and making sure how to

punish and when as that's just baked

into the overall combat of the

encounters but I mean the actual

decision-making I had to employ such as

which enemy to attack and when which was

something I did not expect I would be

doing going into this fight I was

running around finding Knights who were

outnumbered and assisting them or if it

was the opposite side of the spectrum I

would add myself into the mix making the

fight easier this is almost necessary

for the fight as well since you're going

to be doing the most amount of damage

compared to all the other Knights so

your decision in this fight will largely

impact how the second phase will go I'm

not entirely sure if the knights can die

in the first phase given they have an

obscene amount of Health but if they can

it just further as to my point having

two giant teams of warriors fighting

against one another is one of the

greatest things I've ever experienced

and is without a doubt the best fight

this game has to offer from the actual

fight to the layout of the Arena which

is engulfed in the fire from the flame

of chaos it was just all perfect and

would have been such a great way to end

this Trilogy of additional content but

never in my life have I seen a DLC do so

well all throughout the entirety of its

runtime only to Fumble at the Finish

Line The Frigid outskirts is an optional

location that the player can discover

towards the end of the DLC and it is

awful it's not only painstakingly

difficult just from the design alone it

might actually be the worst level in any

Souls game ever made the bonfire before

entering the coffin is the only bonfire

in the area meaning you have to go from

one end of the map to the other just to

get to the boss fight which is just two

more of the ivory King's pets their lore

is thankfully super basic and not

important at all as their job was just

to hunt Exiles that were presumably sent

out of the kingdom and Into The Frigid

outskirts this area would not be nearly

as hard if the horses didn't and keep

spawning every few feet not only wasting

your time but draining your Estus in the

process making the boss fight that much

harder it's just an awful location and I

think the more that I talk about it the

closer I get to going insane so we're

just going to cut it right here as a

complete package the DLCs were pretty

solid there were things in each that I

found a little unpleasant like the

method of Storytelling or an entire area

but there was many things I liked about

the DLCs and due to this confliction I

can't say that together they're perfect

but they're nowhere near close to being

bad it's hard to judge though whether

this was an actual Improvement over

artorius of the Abyss considering that

was one DLC with half the content that

played out over half the time this is

also due to the souls games business

model if people complain about anything

regarding the DLCs of the souls games

it's that they're too short rather than

too long whereas many games like to make

additional content with run times of up

to 6 to 20 hours Dark Souls is pretty

much content with two it never overstays

its welcome in fact it sometimes leaves

too early and doing this gives us less

time to learn about the DLCs and the

locations they reside in but as I said

at the top of the section as a complete

package they were pretty great with all

the crowns in our inventory we can

revisit Vendrick who will now provide us

with some very important dialogue The

Abyss once had form but then

dissipated and yet traces of its

existence

endured each fragment thirsting for

power spread dark with no

relent my dear Shandra was one such

fragment so we now know the fourth and

Final daughter of Manis nandra the queen

of drag lake nandra is a manifestation

of mance's feelings of power and want

she came to this land in order to covet

the first flame this explains why

Vendrick was in the undead crypt

Vendrick left the kingdom because he

discovered n shandra's true Origins and

not only locked himself away in the

Crypt which was guarded by one of his

loyal Knights but he also hid his soul

as Vendrick doesn't drop this upon his

death it's hidden behind a secret door

only accessible to those who are human

and nandra never truly was that's why

she's been so adamant that we succeed

Vendrick she figures that will blindly

follow her order so that we can clear

all the obstacles in her path because

once we finally get to the throne of

want and defeat the knights guarding it

she appears similar to the Ivory King I

found this fight leagues better when the

summons were included mostly due to the

narrative aspect since both benhart and

vengarl were helped due to me so it's

only right that they return the favor

her boss design is impeccable and

continues to uphold the standard that

the Final Bosses of the game have but

not even nandra is the actual final boss

Alia is the actual final boss assuming

you fulfilled a few tasks along the way

which is just meeting him a few times in

specific locations and then specifically

killing Vendrick before Nashandra as a

final boss fight though it felt like a

bit of a let down I think nandra had way

more intensity and narrative weight

behind her Aldi has been this ominous

figure that just shows up says a bunch

of and then leaves and now all of a

sudden I'm supposed to care that we're

fighting him I get why he's fighting us

he's supposed to test our might to see

if we're truly going to be the next

Monarch of the Throne of want but that

doesn't make it right the same could be

said for nandra given she makes an

appearance a whole two times in this

game but that seemed to be intentional

as the reveal of nandra was supposed to

be this mysterious event which makes

this next part even more confusing as

the Emerald Herald can literally spoil

for us that Nashandra will be coming for

us I completely miss her on the way down

so I never got to hear this which

ultimately made the impact of this cut

scene hit harder which begs the question

of why it was mentioned in the first

place I find it hard to believe that

many people Miss nandra at the top of

the castle so they're well aware of who

she is so just keep the mystery hidden

until the final moments it kills the

entire impact of the scene if we're just

told right before entering that she's

going to fight us after the defeat of

the three bosses we can select our

ending and while this game does have two

endings what these endings represent is

rather interesting our first ending is

entering the Throne of want this is sort

of like the Kil of the first flame just

a little bit different it allows us to

choose the fate of the world but we

never get to see our choice it is both

the age of fire and the age of dark

ending together it's never known what

our character chooses but that's the

part of the role play when it comes to

RPGs we make up the rest of the story

did our character choose fire did they

choose dark or did they do something

else and that's something else is

following in the footsteps of Vendrick

and Alia we leave the throne and search

for an answer to the undead curse we

don't know if we'll succeed but it's

worth a try anyway doing this is sort of

like operating a dig site yeah Vendrick

and Alia spent decades digging trying to

find a solution and failed but now

thanks to them we know of a decades

worth of methods that won't work

bringing us closer and closer to finding

a cure for the curse and that's the

beauty of the second ending it's not

only in perfect sync with the rest of

the game as it continues to make the

curse the main plot of the story but it

gives us an option that we as players

hadn't really considered up until this

point Dark Souls one did a phenomenal

job of grooming us into believing that

there were only two choices but Dark

Souls I refuted this claim and as a

third as a final note Dark Souls I was a

brilliant game I went into this game

with mild expectations but was blown

away by how impressive the story was and

how surprisingly easy it was to grasp

many questions are still left unanswered

and will never be answered but I left

this game with an understanding of its

story its themes and what emotions it

had intended to invoke in me and that is

incredibly admirable well the world of

Dark Souls isn't over the fire of the

world will fade once more and yet

despite the impending doom of the age of

dark getting closer and closer no one

seems to care but we'll talk about that

in Dark Souls

3 Dark Souls 3 is a perfect game due to

the way a book ends the entire series

but the only reason that I can say that

is because of how much this game is

being held up by its predecessors Dark

Souls II on its own is still a good game

but without all the effort put into the

story from Dark Souls 1 and 2 its

narrative wouldn't be as impactful

that's the beauty of the Dark Souls

Trilogy it's one of the few series out

there that truly feels like a tightly

niit game many games get sequels but not

many truly feel like a proper sequel

just a game set in the same universe a

year or so after the previous game it

might make callbacks to the Past game

but not enough to feel like what

occurred in that game was important the

Dark Souls Trilogy and its repetitive

ideas make the games feel properly

connected the age of fire the undead

curse hollowing and so much more have

been a prominent part of the series

since its Inception which is why judging

these games individually based on their

stories is so difficult as each of these

games relies on each other to actually

make their story have an impact Dark

Souls 2 and 3 could not exist without

Dark Souls 1 and not just because of its

World building and important characters

but because it's the game that showed us

what the age of fire is and why it's

important we then took this information

into Dark Souls 2 which showed us how

the age of fire is not all its cooped up

to be and how as all the years go by

people are starting to embrace the fire

less and less this all comes to an end

at Dark Souls I a game that is purely

focused on the age of dark and why the

first flame needs to go each one of

these games provides a crucial step in

our journey and without even one of them

every other game loses its meaning we

already talked about the previous two

games and what they attempt to show to

the player and all these themes ideas

and plots all converge towards Dark

Souls 3 creating one of the best endings

in a series I've ever seen and today I

will explain why so that wasting any

more time let's get started so

ironically for a game that's going to be

about the age of darkness and how much

death and Decay the current age has

caused it starts off with an incredibly

intense soundtrack it's not even been 10

seconds and this electrified feeling of

exhilaration seeps into your body Dark

Souls is back and it's time to kick some

ass this feeling continues right into

the intro cinematic and Dark Souls 3

weighs zero time getting into the story

this is the first time in the trilogy

with the game outright tells you who the

main bosses are which are the abyss

Watchers aldred saint of the deep and

yor the giant there is also a fourth

that isn't mentioned but we'll discuss

them a bit later just like before it's

four beings who will need to be dealt

with in order to succeed but instead of

them being the four Lord Soul users or

the four great ones it's the four Lords

of Cinder the question is why are they

so important well oddly enough the game

tells you but the pure spectacle of the

intro is so hypnotizing you might not

even realize what was just said

according to the opening narration the

bells only toll when threatened the

reason they're being threatened is

because the fire is fading again but

furthermore it's because someone doesn't

want to link the flame that person being

Prince lothric since the prince doesn't

want to link the flame the bells of

Awakening revived previous Lords of

Cinder from past Kingdom each of these

aformentioned beings I mentioned earlier

were people who linked the flame in

their lifetimes the bells assume that if

they've linked it already then they'll

do it again but they all refused the

abyss Watchers Aldrich and yor don't

want to in a last Stitch effort to make

sure the fire is linked the bells of

Awakening have awoken other beings who

are unkindled people who have failed to

link the fire in the past but are now

given a second chance and we are one

such person known as the Ashen one our

job is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and

take their Ashes to their Thrones is if

they won't come back willingly then

their ashes will serve as a sub

Institute this is the plot of the game

no small objective in between like

finding Vendrick or ringing the bells

right away from the get-go we tasked

with killing these beings and licking

the flame assuming you've played the

previous games already then you've heard

this story twice before and already know

what you're getting into which is why

our first boss isn't even 5 minutes into

the game in Dark Souls 1 it took around

the same time to fight the Asylum Demon

but the game also taught us about our

inventory and weaponry but also showed

us that we can converse with NPCs and

used an Estus flask Dark Souls 2 took a

bit longer with this as the first boss

wasn't for a couple hours and the basic

tutorial can take a bit of time to run

through in Dark Souls 3 we start with

the Estus flask get all our gear and

start our journey immediately there is

no handholding here as the game assumes

you've done this all before and don't

need much of a refresher the reason why

they put udx in here is because he's

supposed to test our strength not just

the Ashen one strength but our since

Dark Souls III underwent some drastic

changes in regards to its combat and for

those who have noticed yes I'm using an

axe again it wasn't until starting this

game that I realized I had used an axe

for all three of them so I figured it'd

be quite comical if I beat the entire

Trilogy with the same weapon before

killing udx though we'll see him become

engulfed in this black form this is

called the pus of man this is a unique

disease that is taking over the kingdom

and it originates from the abyss similar

to how mana's humanity went wild causing

him to become the Ferocious Beast that

we know in game it's possible that this

is happening to other Hollows but on a

much grander scale is this won't be the

last time we see this puss of man in the

game after udx we can take the coiled

sword from his body and use it to create

the bonfire at the new Firelink Shrine I

absolutely love the design of Firelink

Shrine but the moment you walk in and

see all the Thrones lined up around the

bonfire you feel a sense of comfort it's

definitely my favorite across the entire

series but I lo its location Firelink

Shrine feels so disconnected from the

rest of the world even though majula was

on the outskirts of drag Lake Castle it

at least became a Nexus for all the

various paths that the player could

Traverse to the cherry on top here is

that we can't even travel to the first

location were forced to teleport to it

it just further shuts this place away

from the rest of the Kingdom there's no

incentive to explore the other areas of

the level is we've already seen

everything it has I never understood why

the series slowly moved towards this

idea but it seemed to be a massive hit

amongst the team as this would be used

in other games going forward from a pure

gameplay perspective the Firelink Shrine

of Dark Souls II also reverts the

changes in Dark Souls 2 to keep things

more simplistic Andre is back and will

handle anything regarding our weapons

from upgrades to infusions and the

shrine handmade becomes our

all-encompassing Merchant so no more

clutter like in Dark Souls 2 we also

have our new level up lady who is just

the fire keeper she doesn't have any

unique backstory like the emerald Herald

but her condition does spark a few

questions it seems that all the fire

keepers have some sort of condition that

afflicts them Anastasia the lady under

Firelink Shrine will initially be mute

and cannot be spoken to the Dark Moon

ntis in an Orlando has a disfigured

appearance which is why she hides it

from us with her armor and this fir

keeper is blind this has always been

fascinating to me as I've never been

able to fully understand why this is the

case it's possible that this is a sort

of right of passage and the fire keepers

are showing their willingness to The

Flame by giving up something but what

they lose seems to differ across the

games it's possible that this is just a

coincidence but there's also an NPC in

the game will meet called enina who

tries to be a firek keeper and is also

blind FireKeepers being blind only

occurs in Dark Souls I so I've always

wondered why blindness is occurring now

instead of across the series it's

something we never get an answer to but

definitely a fascinating topic to

discuss speaking of the characters in

Firelink Shrine I want to talk about the

NPCs though before we embark on our

journey Third times the charm as they

say since the NPCs of this game are

handled way better than in the previous

two titles my issue with each game is

that Dark Souls 1 kept replaying the

same fate of hollowing across all of its

characters which started losing its

value very quickly and Dark Souls 2

seemed to just make characters for their

rewards rather than their stories but

Dark Souls II seems to fix this issue

the quantity of the NPCs has been

drastically reduced as they're only

around 27 or so in the main game there's

also very little overlap in the

merchants as each School of magic has

one designated NPC with the exception of

pyromancy and while grey rat does have a

pretty useless inventory for the most

part since he's a thief you can actually

send him to find gear which will

increase his options this was so much

better as I didn't have to run around

the base finding the one Merchant who

sells the item I need furthermore the

actual quests of the NPCs were much more

enjoyable this time around there was

five standout characters for Dark Souls

I but one interesting change with this

game though is that the NPCs connect

with the main content both seart and HRI

have a connection with a specific Lord

of Cinder and yuria's quest line ends up

becoming one of the endings of the game

I really liked this idea as so far the

NPCs have been separate from the main

bosses so it was nice to see it all

inter twine with one another it'll be a

lot easier to explain what their quest

lines are alongside the main content so

we'll hold off on this for now which

means the only other two that we have to

talk about that have a more traditional

quest line are enina and Cirrus as we

talked about before enina is blind and

this is because she came from her land

of kareim to become a firekeeper you

might recognize the name Kareem as

Oswald the Trek and The Marvelous

Chester from Dark Souls 1 are all from

Kareem the reason we find Irina here in

this cell is because she's failed and

hasn't become a firek keeper yet due to

this failure she believed that she was

unfit to tend the flames and fell into a

deep depression the Knight guarding her

is Aon of kareim and has a sworn duty to

protect her no matter her state of being

to progress her quest line we need to

buy her spells if we buy her Miracles

then we'll be able to give her the

enlightenment she needed and we'll

eventually become a firekeeper at

Firelink Shrine gameplay wise she's

pretty useless in this state is not only

is there already a fire keeper but she's

also hundreds of feet away from the

player as opposed to the actual fir

keeper who is right next to you if we

however only by her dark Miracles we

further progress the ferocity of the

humanity with inside of her causing her

to be consumed by its dark power this

turns aegon hostile who will fight you

for betraying her she will eventually

start to become worried and asks us to

touch her again so that she can tell who

is nearby but eventually she will not

recognize our touch and ask to be killed

it's a genuinely sad outcome and this

emotion is heightened further because

we're the ones that caused it head we

instead just kept purchasing her regular

Miracles we could have saved her from

her impending fate it's a quest line of

two extremes one where she gets

everything she wants and one where she

loses everything and it all depends on

you as for sir she starts out as some

random person who appears at Firelink

Shrine sir seems to be a dark moon blade

since she uses the Dark Moon blade spell

which can only be acquired by those a

part of the Covenant but yorka the

leader of said Covenant states that

we'll be the only Knight in the group if

we join furthermore C says that she is a

former servant of the Divinity which may

imply that she was a dark moon blade but

left some time later as for why she left

it seems to be related to the two people

we fight against throughout her quest

line who are kraton and hodrick kraton

is the same one from Dark Souls 2

although this does not imply that he was

the Canon winner between him and Pate as

this was probably thousands of of years

ago and I'm assuming that kraton is also

unkindled as he most likely was revived

alongside us sirra says that kraton was

a part of the Rosaria fingers a rival

Covenant and one that she despises and

hodrick seems to be her grandfather the

reason we know this is because she calls

out to him before the fight and when

defeated she says that she's pleased

that her Granddad can rest in peace

hodrick seems to have gone mad at some

point and Sirius wanted to put him out

of his misery she has a short but sweet

quest line and the family connection to

hodrick was quite the shock the question

Still Remains though what is the Sun

Realms because her full name is Cirrus

of the sunless Realms it's nice to

speculate about it but there isn't much

information to go off of and this is a

running Trend throughout the series and

personally something I'm not a fan of

there are so many locations in the game

that we learn about like aora kareim

Katarina mea Alin Ven and so many more

but there's no in-depth lore about them

hell most of them don't even give us a

surface level idea of what they're about

this is not a Dark Souls three issue and

more of a series issue as the devs have

been given three chances to develop some

of these places and from software has

just refused to do so many people

including myself have tried to speculate

on more details regarding these kingdoms

but there's so little to go off of that

it's not even worth it their inclusion

in the game was probably because the

team wanted to add a bit of flavor to

the world to not only show that the main

Kingdom isn't the only Kingdom in the

Dark Souls universe but also that people

from all over are flocking to this

Kingdom in search of something important

it just feels like a wasted opportunity

to barely mention these places after

three whole games as a whole Dark Souls

II has some great quest lines and I

would go as far to say that it's the

most polished out of the entire series

Dark Souls 3 recognized what was wrong

with the previous two entries and made

sure not to repeat those same mistakes

again with the NPC's done we can now

resume our objective which as a reminder

is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and use

their ashes as kindling so that we may

travel to the Kil of the first flame and

relink the fire to do this though we

actually need five Lords of Cinder The

Abyss Watchers yorm Prince lothric

Aldridge and ludleth the reason I said

four earlier is because lli is actually

the only one who complies with the rules

as he's already at Firelink Shrine When

we arrive lless Throne says that he was

EX ex from his homeland the reason why

he was exiled was because of his art of

transposition for gameplay purposes this

allows us to take the boss souls and

make weapons out of them just like the

past games what's odd though is that

when he dies he drops the skull ring

which talks about a being called The

Soul feeder and how it was this

insatiable Beast that hungered for Souls

due to the ambiguity of his past it's

led to many theories such as lth being a

soul feeder himself but was at one point

defeated which is why he has no legs and

possibly can fit on his throne it is

also entirely possible that lth is just

someone who wants to do the right thing

and has no ill intentions but the skull

ring definitely leaves a lot up to the

imagination to get to the other four

Lords we'll need to use the bonfire at

Firelink Shrine which will take us to

the high wall of lothric and it is

absolutely stunning you're immediately

greeted with an entire view of the

castle and it's a breathtaking view but

it's also an illusion the kingdom of

lothric is riddled with corpses and

those who survived either became Hollows

or are still seen defending a lifeless

kingdom lothric is governed by the three

pillars of rule the knights who protect

the kingdom the scholars who run the

grand archives and the high priestess

who also served as Prince loth's wet

Nerfs those who abide by these rules are

the Loth Knights but these Wing Knight

variants are said to be Heretics as they

don't accept their rules this is because

of Gertrude the Heavenly daughter in the

grand archives we can find a bird cage

cell with a dead body in it this is

assumed to be Gertrude she was one of

the Queen's holy maidens although

depending on some item descriptions she

may also have been her daughter one day

gertude was visited by an Angel and

through this was able to establish the

Angelic faith of lothar seeing as this

isn't a part of the regular three

pillars gertude was taken and imprisoned

those who agreed with her teachings

though baned together to defeat the

current rulers of lothric which led to a

massive Civil War out of all the Three

Kingdoms we visited so far in the

trilogy the kingdom of lothric is easily

in the worst state this condition that

we see the castle in may also symbolize

the world of Dark Souls itself I'll

elaborate more on this idea later but

it's my personal theory that not only

did our characters from Dark Souls 1 and

2 Link the flame but every person in

between these games did so as well if we

go back to the intro the narrator says

that loar is really transitory lands of

the Lords converge meaning this isn't

like the past games in Dark Souls 1 all

the main bosses were within Lord already

but in Dark Souls 3 the lands of these

Lords have been forced together it's

unclear how this is even possible but it

may go back to the first Flame the world

of Dark Souls is dying it's a shadow of

its former self places are being buried

destroyed and created in an endless loop

the intro does a great job of showing

this but the one area that truly opened

my eyes to this was drag Heap this place

is covered in rubble and buildings that

span so far and wide that you can't even

tell what the buildings used to be or

when they were built we talked about how

time was convoluted in Dark Souls 1 but

in Dark Souls 3 this has been progressed

even further lands are being moved

together creating a tidal wave of rubble

and it's all because the first flame if

you watched the past videos you may have

noticed how worse things have gotten

throughout the series and I believe this

is because the first flame hasn't been

snuffed out people are still clinging on

to that illusion of life as Alia put it

and are willing to stay in the comfort

of what they know rather than step out

into the unknown and because of that the

world has gotten even worse each Dark

Souls game has tried to push the player

toward one specific idea the age of fire

in one the breaking of the curse in two

and the age of dark in three everyone in

Dark Souls 3 is just doing what they can

continue to do because it's all they

know some are blindly following their

faith and others are continuing to work

on their craft this game truly conveys

the attitude and the effects of a Dying

World one that is practically begging to

be put out of its misery it's basically

saying look at all of this in game look

at the destruction of the kingdoms the

ruins of the world and the people who

inhabit it do you think any of them are

truly happy to be alive right now not

even the Lords of Cinder beings who have

insurmountable power don't even want to

link the flame it lays all of this out

for you and asks you to choose which is

quite a heavy burden choosing to go

against the status quot that has been

said for who knows how long is a very

hard decision but at least we don't have

to make that choice now is the game will

blindsight us again and create another

boss encounter for us to be hypnotized

by we'll talk about vort later though as

he does have ties to another boss later

in the game after vort will be taken to

the undead settlement this place

functions like the undead Berg in Dark

Souls 1 as this place was the residence

of many of the kingdoms Undead but one

thing we'll see immediately upon entry

is this massive pile of corpses at the

end of the bridge these beings are

pilgrims that are most likely from the

kingdom of londor as the only Survivor

is y go of londor he is related to Uria

however so we will have to discuss him a

bit later as we explore the undead

settlement we can see that this place is

in just as bad of shape as Loth Castle

bodies are piled up everywhere and some

have even been put into cages this land

has also been subjected to various

curses and because of this many of the

settlements inhabitants sealed them away

in a spe tree but would end up cursing

the tree itself which would lead to the

creation of the cursed rotted Greatwood

during the second phase the Greatwood

will slam into the ground and will

discover the true resting place of all

the settlement's hollows in the apply

named pit of Hollows it's unclear though

whether or not the hollows that were

dumped here were alive or not upon

arrival but since the mound Maker's

Covenant is down here it's possible that

they were thrown in here alive and all

fought to the death which would explain

the plethora of Bones covering the walls

but it could also be that these people

actually banded together to create the

mound Maker's Covenant regardless it's

clear that their Fates were sealed the

moment they were thrown in while the

curs at Greatwood is to the left of the

dilapidated bridge if we instead go to

the right we'll make it to the road of

sacrifices and subsequently fairing keep

which leads us to our first Lord of

Cinder The Abyss Watchers fairen is

rather interesting is not only is it the

resting place for the abyss Watchers but

it may also be the ruins of ulil in this

area we can find the golden scroll and

the dusk Crown items that have ties to

ully seal and we can also find dead

mushrooms and maybe even the final

resting place of Elizabeth if this

taller mushroom is assumed to be her

this would also fit narratively with the

abyss Watchers as they were a part of an

organization dedicated to fighting the

abyss and seeing his Manis was located

under ulil this would tie together quite

nicely the abyss Watchers were the main

fighting force of a group called The

Undead Legion of fen who took inspir

aration from artorius and dedicated

their lives to fighting the abyss but

their group num seem to be much larger

than they seem as these monstrous beings

are seen guarding the abyss Watchers

Boss Arena they even managed to recruit

one of the twin Crystal sages that is

said to have betrayed his scholarly

Friends of the grand archives to Ally

with the undead Legion as for the abyss

Watchers themselves it said that they

all Shar the blood of the wolf most

likely in reference to this wolf found

in the area and used its blood to

increase their power and their power was

unmatched is not only were they able to

hunt together like a pack of wolves but

they've been known to bury an entire

Kingdom at the slight a sign of the

Abyss this group would eventually link

the flame presumably an attempt to Cast

Away the abyss for good but with their

main Force gone the rest of the forces

dwindled and left the undead Legion as

there was nothing else to do but as we

know the abyss can't be destroyed that

easily it eventually came back and went

unchecked since none of the Legion were

around and managed to turn their land

into a festering swamp these

monstrosities that we see may have been

Legion soldiers who were corrupted by

the abyss when the abyss Watchers awoke

they came to the realization that their

home was overrun and their mission was

unsuccessful and while it's not stated

when this happened at some point some of

the members became tainted with the

abyss itself which leads to the cut

scene before the boss fight where

they're all fighting one another as

they're trying to fight back against the

abyss but since they're all Undead

they're constantly being revived so

they're stuck in this NeverEnding battle

between each other which is likely why

they won't link the flame doing it the

first time didn't stop the abyss and

they have more important things to do

than sit on their throne and let the

abyss consume the world I absolutely

love the abyss Watchers and not just

from a lore perspective but also as a

boss what really sold the fight for me

was the hints of artorius that were

spread throughout their move sets the

undead Legion took took inspiration from

artorius so it's only right that they

mimic his fighting style and the

fast-paced leaping attacks that they

have really reminded me of that fight

furthermore this fight's quality

increases tfold once the other members

join in as it turns this honorable duel

into this chaotic mess you lose all

Focus during this fight as you're having

to keep track of three different Abyss

Watchers who can slide across the arena

in a second and the second phase is just

as deadly as the last dead Abyss Watcher

consumes the blood of all his brethren

in a last ditch attempt to stop us he's

a lot faster than last time and produces

Flames from his sword which makes the

fight even harder it shows how dedicated

the group is to their mission and how

they'll use anything they can as long as

they win similar to how artorius fought

us with all his strength and even a

broken arm from both a presentation and

gameplay perspective the abyss Watchers

are fantastic Lords of Cinder and the

best way to introduce the player to the

sheer power these Lords hold behind the

abyss Watchers is the catacombs of carus

a place that has seemingly no actual

Kingdom as this carus is never seen in

game but given that wnir is located down

here and is known to be a lord consumed

by the abyss maybe the abyss Watchers

leveled the entire Kingdom and while

that is an inter idea to think about

what's more important is actually what's

underneath the catacombs if we break

this bridge and use it as a ladder we

can enter the smoldering Lake the

original location of lost isth and

possibly Ash Lake in here we can see

giant structures that look very similar

to Arch trees of Ash Lake and given the

geography of lordran Ash Lake and lost

isth weren't too far from one another so

it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that

they can exist in the same location if

we continue deeper into the lake we'll

see dozens of dead demons that resemble

the Capra Taurus and stray demon from

Dark Souls 1 it's very clear that the

demon race is dying and that they're

struggling to survive we can even see

this in the stray demon near fair and

keep which is covered in stone rather

than the flesh and blood that we're used

to there's even The Old Demon King whose

Bostrom is covered in the corpses of his

fellow demons he'll try his best to

fight the ashim one with all his might

but most of his power ran out years ago

and as a last resort will release all

his flames in a fiery explosion but in

doing so he'll lose all the power he's

ever consumed and will be unable to

fight the Demons of Dark Souls 3 are a

dying race and further adds to the theme

of death and Decay the game is trying to

convey kingdoms aren't lavish spectacles

of beautiful architecture they a war

zone and the demon race is no longer a

formidable foe just a dying breed that

won't last another generation the

symbolism of this place is beautiful as

it shows that everyone is being affected

by the progression of time and no one is

gaining from having this age continue

but not everything needs to have a sad

ending as if we explore the rest of the

smoldering Lake we can find the corpses

of a spider and a woman and judging from

the tone that is located on her body it

seems that quana found the fair lady and

got to spend their last moments with one

another it's a wonderful and happy

ending quana got to find her sister who

she thought was dead and the lady is

finally able to die and no longer has to

suffer anymore getting back on track to

get to our next Lord of Cinder we need

to find iril but to gain entry we need

to find a specific item that is located

in the Cathedral of the deep the resting

place of Aldridge saint of the deep

Aldridge's story is by far the most

vague but also the most detailed amongst

the Lords of Cinder as his story

encompasses various other bosses that

we've already had the pleasure of

meeting years ago Aldridge was a common

cleric but he would eventually start

experiencing visions of a deep sea this

deep sea was another form of the abyss

and it was located in the lowest

possible depths imaginable and form the

core components of the world we never

get to see the deep sea in game but it

seems to be the lowest layer something

only aldrid can see he then shared this

info with only those he trusted who were

his arch deacons McDonald Royce and

Clint they not only kept this

information within their Inner Circle

but also encouraged one of aldrich's

insatiable urges whether this was

something he always had within him or it

came about when he saw visions of the

deep Aldrich had an insatiable urge to

consume human flesh the arch Deans

encouraged this behavior and used their

influence to create an army of followers

to not only worship Aldrich but also

went out and gathered sacrifices for him

that's why these evangelists are located

in the undead settlement as they are

trying to bring the undead to the

cathedral so that they may be consumed

by Aldrich we also learned that he would

eat anyone even including children as

HRI and Horus are said to be the only

two children who managed to escape

Aldridge's grasp where HRI and Horus are

located happens to be the road of

sacrifices the path that the settlers

and evangelists took to get to the

cathedral before consumption this

Cathedral performed all manner of

rituals and cleansings in order to

purify those who entered its doors after

numerous sacrifices the people around

Aldrich managed to go insane and even

though Aldrich himself was able to keep

his sanity his form would change rapidly

as he would eventually become the black

sludge that we see in the intro due to

his immense power he was used as a lord

of Cinder but seeing as Aldrich was

fully consumed by the visions of a deep

sea linking the fire would be the

opposite of what he had planned so this

implies that it was linked against his

will they would eventually return Al's

Body to the cathedral to be placed

inside the large coffin scene in the

deacons of the deep boss fight these

deacons were led by the archdeacons we

discussed earlier but while Aldrich was

laying in his coffin another piece was

added to the board pontiff Sullivan was

a former resident of the painted world

of arandel just like the world of Dark

Souls the painted worlds have their own

cycles that need to be rekindled in a

sense well the pontiff lived in the

current painted world of arendel but

felt no reason to continue his life here

as he had not experienced any hardship

or despair we'll learn about the

paintings residents in the DLC but

unlike the painted world of Aramis which

was a world for all the things the gods

feared arandel was for those who had no

else to go and are without purpose

Sullivan would then set out in search of

a purpose and would eventually come

across to ithel this place is very

relevant to the story as right next to

it is Anna Orlando the same one from

Dark Souls 1 from various item

descriptions we learn that gwindel

didn't actually die in Dark Souls 1 as

he is still very much alive in this game

now whether or not the chosen Undead

never fought him or they killed him but

he somehow revived himself is unknown

and ultimately irrelevant but with

gwindel being the only God left in an

Orlando he tried to reach out to those

in his extended family in hopes of

trying to rebuild the God's rule the

only one he managed to find though was

yoska a crossbreed girl similar to

Priscilla it's unclear what her

relationship with gwindel was or even

her relationship with Priscilla was but

all we know is that she was content with

helping gwindel in his objective gwindel

would also reinstate the Dark Moon

blades as a way to help protect them

from any adversaries one of their

Knights though happened to be pontiff

Sullivan who infiltrated its ranks and

managed to corrupt all the members he

came across he would then end up

enacting his plan when gwindel was

stricken with an illness that left him

unable to care for his Covenant or city

solivan in one successful swoop managed

to imprison yoska in a nearby Tower and

throw gwindel inside an Orlando

Cathedral allowing him to have complete

control of iel which is how he earned

the title of pontiff in order to ensure

protection of his new kingdom the

pontiff would not only set athl knights

in various positions as guards create a

barrier over the whole city so that no

one could enter but also send outrider

Knights to conquer other lands we've

already seen a few outrider Knights

across the game already but the two most

notable Knights are vort and the dancer

of the boreo Valley now much is known

about about the duo except the fact that

the dancer was a daughter from one of

the royal families in iril whether she

served willingly or not is unknown

either way both of their Fates would end

up the same as they were both bestowed a

ring given by the pontiff which would

end up slowly turning them into these

malform beasts after an unknown amount

of time Aldrich would reawake again as a

lord of Cinder and would foresee the

world's eventual destruction at the

hands of the deep sea due to this

premonition though he would neglect the

throne and wait for the Deep to overcome

the world and it was during this waiting

that he would dream of the old gods and

how they wanted to relink the flame he

saw this as a ploy against his own

wishes and sought to Devour the very

Gods he then traveled to iril decimated

the knights guarding the city and forced

the pontiff to surrender who gave up

control of an Orlando allowing Aldridge

to have an audience with gwindel what

happened next is what we see during the

boss fight we interrupt Aldrich midc

consumption who now has to use the

barely conscious body of gwindel as a

weapon to defeat us Aldrich seems to

have very Supernatural Powers as his

soul when transposed can give us the

Dark Moon Longbow which belonged to

gwindel but also the life hunt scythe

that belonged to Priscilla but

interestingly though he never consumed

Priscilla only dreamed of her from what

I can gather it seems that Aldridge can

acquire abilities from those he consumed

and is also able to peer into that

person's Memories the reason he was able

to acquire the life Hunt sighte is

because it's a miracle miracles in Dark

Souls are like stories you're

essentially reciting a story and using

the Talisman as a medium for the power

so aldrid consumed gwindel and dreamt of

Priscilla during the consumption and

then learned the story of the life hunt

scythe and was able to cast it since

it's basically just the equivalent of a

story again earlier I said Aldrich had

the most detailed story out of the Lords

of Cinder and I wasn't lying his story

doesn't just include himself but five

other bosses and close to a dozen named

characters it is a very long story to

wrap your head around but it is the kind

of Storytelling that got me interested

in these games in the first place it

showcases all the different events from

different points of view and how these

characters fit into one cohesive

timeline but just as the story is

detailed so too is it vague the Deep

sits on a shelf alongside many of the

concepts of the Dark Souls universe that

are barely touched upon in its defense

though the deep does have a lot of item

descriptions tied to it so we can at

least get a better understanding of what

its true nature is but seeing as it's

never shown to us in game or ever

elaborated on further than what we

talked about it just becomes another

idea in the world of Dark Souls that

leaves a lot open to the interpretation

as for the boss fight Aldrich was pretty

entertaining but I think a much better

boss fight in my opinion was ponti

Sullivan I've always liked Sullivan's

design and plus the walk towards him is

always very ominous as you don't know

what to expect especially when he dashes

right at you the moment you get too

close fort and the dancer were pretty

much on the same level as Aldrich in my

opinion I still think pontiff ranks

higher than all of them but they were

really entertaining fights and honestly

this opinion I have is pretty much the

same for most of the bosses in this game

even udx was an entertaining fight and

he was the first boss we ever face it's

clear that the quality of the bosses has

been raised thanks to Dark Souls 3i and

I think one reason for this was because

the team reverted the previous ideas of

Dark Souls 2 and instead focused on the

quality again rather than the quantity

each fight brought some sort of unique

twist so that it never felt like you

were in some traditional fight is that's

what the enemies were for even fights I

dislike due to their lack of difficulty

like the deacons are still at least

mildly impressive as its leagues better

than the congregation from Dark Souls 2

which I'm assuming was the inspiration

for it those enemies between the bosses

are allowed to have basic attacks and a

combo or two but the bosses are where

all the creative Talent is supposed to

be spilled into it felt like there was

real passion Behind These bosses again

from their designs to their move sets

and that's one of the reasons Dark Souls

II is held in such a high regard within

the franchise the other reason may also

be down to the locations themselves

there is Beauty in destruction as they

say and Dark Souls 3 proves time and

time again how this is possible the

catacombs the cathedral and the

smoldering Lake are all great examples

of this but the way the game shifts this

idea and it said showcases Beauty

through architecture again through the

lens of things like iril and an Orlando

is genius even the smallest things like

looking over a ledge and seeing the rest

of the Kingdom or just walking through

the hallway that leads to Gwynn's tomb

are beautiful not only because we get to

see some of these locations in a new

more updated light but because from

software has always expertly crafted its

levels to showcase these moments for us

that's one of the reasons an Orlando was

so beloved amongst the community Is Not

only was it the first area that showed

actual Signs of Life in the world of

lram but its design was a sight to

behold even in Orlando in its current

state still holds that beauty it's just

a different kind of beauty not how

various pieces of architecture can

create a Godlike City that people can

only dream of but how despite its

destruction and loss of life and Orlando

still manages to be a beacon of light

and upholds the massive significance

that it displayed in Dark Souls 1 after

the defeat of Aldrich if we retrace our

steps back to iro we can find a separate

path that leads to the profane Capital

ruled by yorum the giant interestingly

though we don't just arrive in the

capital as upon exiting through this

hole in the wall we arrive in the ithil

dungeon this place is a massive and

convoluted prison filled with all manner

of beings who have been imprisoned and

tortured and abused by all the jailers

these jailers are said to hail from the

profane Capital but later served under

the rule of pontiff Sullivan they're

also very ruthless in their methods when

it comes to subduing escape bees as they

have a poisonous Mist that saure

HealthWay and use a scolding p piece of

hot iron that not only Burns at the

touch but will hinder your ability to

run away as you temporarily fat roll

when Afflicted if you manage to escape

the prison you'll be greeted by the

underground city of the profane capital

from a pure spectacle or design

perspective I think shova had a much

better greeting upon its entry but the

profane capital is still nice to look at

it is admittedly quite small this could

once again be due to the geological

shift of the lands towards lothric but

that doesn't ignore the fact that the

devs could have done a bit more with its

design you'll likely spend more time in

the adjacent dungeon than in the actual

actual Capital while the area does lack

in length it does try to circumvent the

issue a bit by adding a bit more depth

the capital is covered in various

trinkets goblets and burned corpses and

these bodies don't just stop at the

entrance they are in every section of

the capital it's trying to get the

player to wonder what exactly happened

here well the capital was under attack

by a new flame called The profaned Flame

this was a curse created by a group of

women and while they did become

disfigured and turned into these

creatures we see just outside the

capital they did manage to win in the

end as it pretty much killed every

single person who resided in said

Capital but this is where yorm came in

as he attempted to stop this profane

flame before it caused any damage by

linking the flame and becoming a lord of

Cinder but it didn't work as the

aformentioned destruction followed

shortly after the main question

surrounding it though is why did these

women create such a thing and how well

it's possible that it may have ties to

the abyss as both Carla the witch and

the profane Cole who are both found in

the ithal dungeon have ties to the abyss

you're here to save

me but I'm guilty

a wretched child of the

Abyss

Lords where did you happen upon this

coal this is much too dark I see the

abyss in it furthermore we need to look

at the pontiff and elanora pontiff

carries a sword called the profaned

Great swword which stat that Sullivan

discovered an unfading flame below the

tundra of iiil in the axe elenora can be

dropped from these monstrous creatures

which says that the women who triggered

the curse were relatives of a certain

Oracle these words Tundra iril a land

covered in snow and Oracle all point to

Alam Lo and alsana being this Oracle

from what we just talked about regarding

the smoldering Lake and what we know

from the old chaos in aam Lo it's clear

that the flame of chaos is dying so

maybe this is an altered version of the

flame of chaos or at least maybe the

last few Sparks of it it's definitely a

stretch but the profane flame has always

been interesting to me as the last time

a new flame was mentioned in the series

well we kind of know how that went upon

his Revival though yor the state of his

City and was in utter shock at what had

occurred so now he sits in despair

unwilling to link the flame but despite

how depressing it would be to kill him

we not only need his ashes but a friend

also needs to uphold his

promise

y old

friend hi secret of the Knights of

Katarina have come to uphold my

promise let the sun shine upon this Lord

Cinder when y became the ruler of his

kingdom many of the people disapproved

of him in an effort to gain their trust

he created two weapons called the storm

rulers and gave one to his people should

he ever step out of line and the other

to his best friend Seward who promised

to kill him should he come back to life

this is also the final step step in

Secret's quest line it was the main

reason I enjoyed it so much as being

able to fight alongside an NPC such as

him against a giant sounds like a blast

but despite the wonderful presentation

and design of y's character it's easily

the most underwhelming fight in the game

using the storm ruler is the only way to

do real damage to your arm the main

attack of the storm ruler is the weapon

art that produces a slash of wind

capable of Downing him but that's just

it it's just the same move over and over

again doing this alone is easy and with

seag it becomes even easier as you can

will stun lock yor for a large portion

of the battle and for this to occur

during a fight with a lord of Cinder is

pretty pathetic on top of this y's

second phase doesn't really change

anything it just adds a bit of fire to

his weapon I feel like there was much

more potential for yor but it was never

given to us thankfully this wouldn't be

the last time this idea would exist in a

Souls game as Elder ring repurposed this

idea and it was much better handled

there our final Lord of Cinder is Prince

Loth the one who started this problem in

the first place but the real question is

why it's the one thing that's been

rattling in my head since the very

beginning why did Loth refuse to link

the flame well the answer is honestly a

bit sad Prince Loth was born to die the

rulers of Loth Were King Osiris and his

Queen Osiris had three children named

lauan lothric and ocelot lauan was the

first and was a formidable soldier on

the battlefield who was able to

single-handedly defeat the demon prince

who is said to rule over all the demons

Osiris figured that his lineage could

push their power even further by

creating a child specifically to become

a lord of Cinder and lothric was to be

that child but he failed Loth wasn't

strong enough so the family committed a

deed so heinous that it cursed him for

Life despite the curse though it worked

and Loth was capable of relinking the

flame but his frail body combined with

his poor health left him bedridden and

resentful being The Helpful brother that

he was lauan wanted to combine his soul

with lathrix but because of lothric's

curse it consumed lauan as well which

left him mute and a due to this

the current state of the world and the

fact that even his teacher was having

doubts about relinking the flame It

ultimately caused lothi to refuse and

honestly it's hard to blame him being

created for the sake of power and not

knowing what your sacrifice will truly

do is a hard burden to put on a child

especially when you consider how much

grooming was presumably done to get Laur

ready to link the flame had he been

brought up in a different light this

story could have been changed but due to

the greed of the King It ultimately

started a chain of events that would

bring about the end of the world at the

very least though the twin princes

weren't the only ones that suffered

Osiris is more Dragon than human now and

has gone insane because of it similar to

how Big Hat Logan became deranged from

the knowledge he read on SE so to did

Osiris and depending on what you believe

believe he may also be hallucinating

during the fight he talks about his son

ocelot and we can infer that he's

carrying him in his hand but nothing is

there this however may not be as obvious

as it seems there's currently two

theories I believe in that argue for and

against ocel lot's existence on one hand

ocelot may be a hallucination from the

King either because assalot died and he

can't accept the loss or that he had

been hallucinating the mere idea that he

had a child in the first place however

on the other hand ocelot may actually

exist but was removed due to some real

wol complications during the second

phase of the boss fight Osiris will

scream acel lot's name then slam the

hand that carries him into the ground

presumably killing him we can hear a

baby crying in the background during the

fight implying that he lived but I think

this was a loophole by from software to

get rid of complaints killing kids in

games if I'm not mistaken will get a

game banned just about everywhere and

from software has honored this Rule and

rarely ever adds kids their games to

begin with the only ones that come to

mind are Kuro and seiro and father gaso

and's daughter in bloodborne but his

daughter is never seen as we're forced

to talk to her through a wall and while

C does make an appearance numerous times

he is never shown to be harmed there are

three parts in the game that c is

actually cut with something and each

time it happens we never actually see

the real act it is of course implied

that he has suffered a wound but it's

never actually shown from software most

likely wanted to add ocelot and his

death to the game but couldn't due to

the possibility of the game being banned

personally I've always been a fan of the

four party and do believe that the king

is not hallucinating and ocelot was

meant to be in the game because this

also connects to the king's current

mindset as he is going so insane that he

doesn't even realize the harm he's

putting his child in but to make matters

worse while the King was consumed by

se's writings on immortality and the

twins were currently suffering through

no fault of their own the queen had just

decided to leave she disappeared quietly

into the night from the kingdom and was

never seen again the Queen's identity

though is unknown but it is heavily

theorized to be gwy from Dark Souls 1 we

know that gvir bestowed Divine blessings

to her people and was seen as a symbol

of bounty and fertility because of it

and the divine blessing of Dark Souls 3

says that the queen of lothric was

initially revered as a goddess of

fertility and Bounty but the issue is

that we know that she left an Orlando

and became the wife of a flame God flan

so how did she go from him to Osiris and

why did she leave him and come back here

furthermore if gwindel was actually

trying to get the gods back in an

Orlando how did the two never find one

another and why didn't Gwen ofir come

back this could have been due to the

presence of Aldrich and the pontiff

within the cathedral but this also calls

into question Rosaria as her soul can

create the Bountiful sunlight Miracle

which is one of the Miracles of Gwen and

given the presentation of both

characters from the room's layout to

their positions on the bed it's clear

that there is a connection between the

two whether Rosaria is actually Gwen or

simply someone Gwen knew is never

explicitly told to us and really in the

grand scheme of things it doesn't really

matter but it is a very interesting

Theory nonetheless it's clear though to

no one's surprised that the royal family

is in disarray and is currently

suffering just like the kingdom is

despite this though the Knights of the

Kingdom still stay strong and continue

to defend the castle against the

corruption that is the puss of man but

it's starting to fight back as the puss

of man is embedded Within These twin

wyverns and many of the Castle's

soldiers and it seems like the pilgrims

of londor have also started advancing on

the castle as they've managed to control

the armor of the Dragon Slayer and use

it as a tool of their destruction after

battling through all of this chaos

though we can finally meet the prince

himself the twin princes actually go

against the status quo of the game not

just in their decision to refuse the

throne but also in how they're presented

to the player lothric in a way is this

game's Gwyn or Vendrick he's clearly not

on the same level as the other two but

it was lothric's choices that set the

Game's plot into motion just like how

Gwyn Advent rri's choices said their

games pled into motion instead of being

presented as a shambling corpse wrick is

the opposite even if he's just some

bedridden child that's cursed with a

lifelong illness the boss fight isn't

this sad encounter that makes you feel

like you're doing them a service by

putting them out of their misery you're

fighting a being who is extremely

powerful and is fully conscious of their

actions as opposed to the hollow

versions of the other two it was a

wonderful twist as I expected to be

greeted by a somber tune all while

seeing the death and Decay that has

continued to spread throughout the

kingdom reach the prin Chambers but I

didn't and that surprised me and now is

probably a good time to correct a

previous statement of mine a couple

months ago I made a review on Dark Souls

3 it was a bit more gameplay Centric

than this video is but in that video I

said despite loving the twin princes

laurian had always pissed me off due to

his awful teleportation ability and I

want to rectify that statement as I

never felt these feelings this time

around in the previous video on Dark

Souls 2 I talked about how the quality

of these bosses will always be a

subjective opinion as the boss's

enjoyment largely depends on the build

and the skill of the player I naively at

the time did not take this into

consideration and never considered that

I was the problem looking at the gaml

now is downright embarrassing and I

realized that lauan was never the issue

it was me yes his teleport move does

occasionally break line of sight which

is still annoying but everything was not

as bad as I had made it out to be I

always liked the twin princes as a boss

fight that opinion has never changed but

I think I can now officially say that

it's not only the best Lord of Cinder

fight in the game which easily one of

the few fights in Dark Souls I that I

consider completely perfect the she Pres

pres of these two is amazing the fight

is pretty much laurian versus the player

Loth is able to protect lauran with

magic and heal him once he dies the same

way the player can heal with Estus and

use their equipment to Aid them Loth is

like the support role in this Duo but

he's also the main character that needs

to be defeated as he can obviously

revive lauan but his magic forces the

player to not engage them prolonging the

fight even longer than it already is

giving lauan enough time to finish us

off and the fact that the duo manages to

be a threat no matter the distance

always adds to the intensity of the

fight I've always been one to admit when

I'm wrong and except the fact that my

opinions are never meant to be set in

stone and can always be changed and this

playthrough thoroughly changed my mind

about this fight as the twin princes are

not only worthy of the title Lord of

Cinder but were such an excellent boss

to put at the end of The Journey out of

all the souls games I ended up talking

about these bosses the most out of any

in the trilogy and this is doe in part

of the Lord Of Cinders being the only

objective in the game so talking about

them is really all we can discuss they

are the main focus of the game and thus

need to have detail lore to back it up

this was forgivable in the other game

games as while those beings did have

some importance in the world they

weren't the main focus but in Dark Souls

3 they are if it wasn't for the Lords of

Cinder we wouldn't have a game so they

ended up becoming the main focus of the

story and the devs managed to deliver

Aldrich is a testament to that statement

as I may have spent more time on them

than any character in the series with

the exception of the witch of isth who

coincidentally also had numerous bosses

and characters tied to her plot I was

really impressed by the overall

presentation of this game especially

when it came to our four Lords of Cinder

even including yorm who had a wonderful

design and presentation despite the

fight being a bit blackluster their lore

was rich with details and the item

descriptions were long enough to create

an essay's worth of information but also

left enough info out to keep that Soul's

Spirit of finding the context clues and

filling in the gaps plus the encounters

with said bosses made the time spent

getting to them worth it even yorm as

once again despite being disappointing

there was at least an attempt to create

the spectacle of tackling a monolithic

siiz giant but if there was one thing

that bothered me about this game it was

the lack of attention given to Dark

Souls 2 narratively this actually fits

quite well as Strang Lake was supposed

to be seen as this unimportant Kingdom

that would be easily toppled and

replaced with something else in time

only to be forgotten by the rest of the

world but if the point was to make the

kingdom feel unimportant why are there

constant references to it like kraton

appearing in cirus' quest lucatiel's

armor and ASO sword resurfacing in the

game the dead giant at Firelink Shrine

and not only a portrait of nandra but of

aam Lo and broom Tower found in iril it

just feels confusing it's like the team

actively wants the player to know that

despite not making Dark Souls 2 they are

aware and care about the game but barely

put in the effort to justify it what is

truly the most upsetting part about this

is that both Vendrick and Alia to my

knowledge are never mentioned once

throughout the game there is one magic

spell found in the grand archives that

says the words the first of the scholars

which many people have pointed towards a

link to Alia but he was a scholar of the

first sin not a first scholar plus the

first of the scholars could refer to the

scholars of the grand archives not Alia

it's a shame because they were the only

beings that we know of who sought to

break the curse through unconventional

means and there's zero remnants of their

work the two are never brought up in the

game and the actual structures of Drang

Lake or alus keep are never seen in game

I understand that Dark Souls I was not

everybody's cup of tea and maybe the

original team wanted to do away with the

B team's creation but you can't deny

that Vendrick and Alia had the potential

to create a sizable impact on the story

and for their legacy to be tarnished

like this is a bit disappointing with

all the Lords of Cinder dead and their

ashes within our inventory we can now

link the first flame but before we do

that there is two DLCs and a couple

other bits of content for the main areas

that I want to address first if we

rewind and go back to Osiris and visit

the area behind his boss Arena will

uncover a place called the untended

graves this place is identical to the

cemetery of Ash in the beginning of the

game with the only difference being the

lighting it's one of the most talked

about locations within the community as

this confusion coupled with this feeling

of nervousness settles in as upon entry

you start to recognize all the familiar

Landscapes and are just bewildered that

a place like this even exists the boss

is also identical as it's Champion Gere

as opposed to udx according to his

bosold description Champion gundar came

to Firelink Shrine to relink the fire

but failed and arrived too late he was

then eventually bested by an unknown

Warrior and given the series heavy use

of that term we can assume that this

Warrior was us afterwards he then became

a sheath for the coiled sword so similar

to ulil and the memory of the Giants we

can go back in the past kill Champion

Gunder who then becomes a sheath for the

coiled sword and hopes say another

Warrior will come and use it to link the

flame who just happens to be us we then

take the sword from his present body as

udic gundar and use it at the bonfire if

we happen to defeat Champion gundar

though we'll be greeted with an

identical Firelink Shrine and while the

firekeeper is not here there are an eyes

of a firekeeper located inside the

building if we have the eyes in our

inventory lwith and the fire keeper will

comment on them lli refers to the

firekeeper as her implying that he knows

the identity of this person in the fire

keeper will mention how these eyes

reveal frightening images of betrayal in

a world without fire so we can assume

that this was in the past and since lth

is familiar with the fire keeper and is

a lord of it's possible that this was

during the time he linked the fire which

would also connect with the intro of the

game that says that the land of Lords

are converging together this L just

happens to be lths but what doesn't make

sense is the handmaid's dialogue as in

the dark Firelink Shrine her attitude

seems to imply that the flame is still

lit as she tells us to hurry along but

how is this possible well sadly I don't

have an answer for that the untended

graves is one of the hardest parts of

this game to wrap your head around which

makes discussing it extremely difficult

one explanation though could be that the

FireKeeper's eyes are what's causing

this dark Ness as the world in present

day Dark Souls 3 is getting close to the

age of dark as evidenced by the giant

dark sign eclipse in the sky but there's

still plenty of light left in this world

whereas in the untended graves there's

nothing but if all the lights extinguish

and that implies that this is an age of

dark but love the link the flame and

continue the age of fire so that's why I

think it's the eyes of a fire keeper

displaying a vision in the sense of what

the world would come to should we enact

this Grand betrayal which is letting the

flame die out another thing of note

though is the repair spell in Dark Souls

3 which says that light is time and the

reversal of its effects is a forbidden

art so this implies the untended graves

could be like the things betwix it's

sort of stuck in limbo because there's

no light existing and therefore time not

existing regardless this but it's very

confusing backstory it's probably my

favorite location to discuss in the game

as there's so many possibilities as what

this place truly means the final

location is near IRL dungeon as we can

use the dragon pose from the untended

graves to be transported into Ark Dragon

Peak we already know that immortality

via Dragon form is not unheard of as

many people worship these Stone dragon

in Dark Souls 1 Osiris is assumed to be

human before he became a dragon and we

can actually find some Dragon Stones

which will turn us into a humanoid

Dragon similar to the one sitting next

to us so it's pretty safe to assume that

this place was used to worship the

ancient dragons despite the fact that

they're all dead now but even though

they're all dead that doesn't mean the

other flying types won't exist as we get

to challenge a wyvern shortly after

arriving which at first glance is a

pretty cool fight until you realize that

the enemies on the walkways are actually

tougher than the boss itself I can

recognize that the team was most likely

experimenting with some B ideas for boss

fights and while it's definitely cool at

first it just feels a bit unnatural if

you will as completely destroying its

health bar in one plunge attack just

felt off Arc Dragon Peak not only has a

questionable first boss but also raises

various questions that admittedly may

leave people confused two characters

have arrived at this location at certain

points in time which are havl and

orstein we find havl next to a down

dragon and we find ornstein's armor

towards the end of the level I can

forgive havl for being here since he's

always had a hatred for dragons and

seaths since Dark Souls 1 but that

doesn't explain how he's alive well havl

had a band of knights who followed him

and more than likely wore the same armor

as he did so I don't think this is havl

more just a knight of havl but while

this is explained fairly easily orstein

is not orstein has always had a

complicated history within the series as

he was clearly present in Dark Souls 1

but then shows up again in Dark Souls 2

as the old Dragon Slayer and then again

in this game as the dragon slayer armor

and in Arc Dragon Peak where we are now

firstly I've always been a firm believer

in the fact that we kill orstein in Dark

Souls 1 the old dragon slayer is simply

someone who is trying to uphold ste's

Legacy or is somehow connected to

orstein Soul since we know from Dark

Souls 2 that the old Lord Souls can

inhibit others bodies so it's possible

or's Soul inhibited someone wearing his

armor it's also possible that the soul

felt comfortable with this decision

given or Stein's armor is pretty

synonymous with his legacy as for Dark

Souls 3 we know that the dragon slayer

armor is not orstein is simply just

another dragon slayer as the weapon and

armor are completely different but AR

Dragon Peak is unique this is not only

the same armor that orstein wore but its

item description talks about how he left

the anal orando Cathedral to come here

but when did this happen he couldn't

have came here and then went back to the

cathedral as his armor is located here

and he couldn't have left after Dark

Souls 1 because he died so the only real

explanation that makes any plausible

sense is that orstein dies in Dark Souls

1 he then has his soul return like the

previous Lord Soul wears but decides to

inhabit someone wearing his armor or

maybe even the armor itself as it's

familiar to the soul we talked about in

Dark Souls 2 how it seemed like the four

great ones were connected to specific

Lord Souls because of their feelings and

emotions we still don't know whether or

not these Lord Souls connected with them

because of these similar emotions or if

they gain these feelings from consuming

the souls but if this is true then it

would make sense that orstein is

continuing to fight the same and has the

same goals and Ambitions across all the

games regardless of how orstein is a

live verb how he even ended up here in

the first place we at least know why he

was here and that was because of the

nameless King the nameless King has

actually been teased since Dark Souls 1

as he was the infamous firstborn son of

Gwyn that was referenced in various

items in that game from both one and

three we can piece together that the

nameless King is the firstborn son of

Gwyn and was a dragon slayer during the

war with the Everlasting dragons but at

some point he would eventually cast all

this away and Ally himself with the

dragons and if you want to talk about

presentation when it comes to boss

fights this one needs to be mentioned

not only does the introduction of the

boss feel intense as the nameless King

swoops in on a storm Drake but when we

finish the Drake off he literally kills

it and takes the power for himself from

just a pure gameplay perspective he's

easily the second best fight in the game

there's a feeling that occurs across the

entire series when everything comes

together you've learned the move set

understood the timings and discover the

punishes all that's required is to put

it together and when that clicks it

becomes one of the best fights in the

game his moves are punishing have delays

and are even mixed together as one combo

might have two swings but the next will

be three or it will do away with the

third swing and add a completely

different move the fight requires

complete concentration and the ability

to be patient dodging too early will

more often than not lead to your death

so you have to be on high alert for the

whole fight genuinely a great fight from

top to bottom with it only being

surpassed by one being we have yet to

cover but before before we move on to

the DLC I want to look back at the game

so far Dark Souls III set out to create

a Dying World that features places that

have been ridden with disease and death

showing to the player that their

inability to let go of what they know

and continue this age of fire will only

make things worse even a basic

understanding of the war will convey

this as you can see just how bad

everything has gotten from the fact that

there's hundreds of dead bodies lit

throughout each level and people are

becoming corrupted and infected with

these diseases and plagues causing them

to either go Hollow or turn into a

massive black sludge the demon race a

group of beings thought to be on top are

dying out the gods have all been wiped

out and the Lords of Cinder beings who

have the ability to rule over anything

they please due to their power refuse to

continue this age of fire Aldrich wants

to continue his own age so admittedly

that is a bit more selfish but the other

three have recognized that their

sacrifice did or will amount to nothing

linking the flame never stopped the

abyss and never stopped the profane

flame and it's never going to end the

suffering that's occurred since lordran

so if the first flame is supposed to be

this symbol of peace and comfort then

what is actually so good about it all of

this has been Illustrated to us

throughout the story and is a testament

to how genius the writing of Dark Souls

3i truly is but now it's time to move on

not just to a new agees that will come

later but to a new world a painted world

even this old man in front of us is Gail

and he's how we start the DLC ashes of

arandel we talked about this place

briefly when we discussed pontiff

Sullivan and said it was a painted world

for those without purpose upon entering

we're greeted by a deformed being who

welcomes us and tells us to get

comfortable on a bed of rot similar to

The Real World The Painted worlds have

their own cycle and it's this cycle that

is so interesting as in the main game

the age of fire is being constantly

prolonged and it's the age of dark that

will take it over but as we'll soon see

it's the rot that's being prolonged and

the only way to get rid of it is to burn

it the painted world of arandel is just

a similar version of the Dark Souls

Universe with the same themes and ideas

just twisted around they're both

separate worlds with separate cycles and

each one has a particular cycle that is

going on too long and it's either the

fire that's causing it or the fire that

will get rid of it this is also the

reason Gail sends us to the painted

world in the first place as opposed to

the corvian we meet first who tells us

to embrace the rot Gail and even this

corvian settler want us to set it a

flame setting the painting a flame will

allow a new painted world to be created

but they can't do that without fire and

the person preventing this is Sister

freed she is the reason the rot is being

prolonged and she's also the other Ash

that the Gale and the corvian refer to

meaning she's unkindled it's because of

her decision to keep the rock going that

has caused much of the destruction of

this place interestingly though only the

corvians seem to care as we talked about

the painted world is for those without

purpose and the corvians aren't the only

ones who reside here as the soldiers are

the members of the undead Legion of fen

in the beginning of the video when we

talked about the abyss Watchers I

mentioned that when they linked the

flame the rest of the Legion left once

that occurred the others no longer had a

purpose and further lost any chance of

having one once they came to the

realization that their home had turned

into a swamp according to their armor

these Fen followers seem to be

specifically tasked with killing any

Undead Legion who succumbed to the abyss

which makes me wonder how the abyss

Watchers cut scene would have played out

had the Assassins not left maybe the

abyss Waters would have finally been

able to regain their strength again now

that they didn't have to kill each other

the other group of of people are the

Milwood Knights they don't have too much

lore and anything to really tie any of

the characters or events to them but at

some point in time they lost their

Forest that they called home and then

sought refuge in the painted world these

groups seem to just carry on throughout

their day and simply exist within the

painted world but the corvians are

different as you have the regular

looking settlers who want to burn the

rod away but then there's also the

corvian knights who were so infatuated

with sister free that they've now turned

against their Brethren just the basic

idea of what the painted world

represents to the people within it is

such an intriguing concept the way this

Loosely connects to the main game's

themes is genius one thing I always

found disappointing though about Ash

sarenda was the length once we enter the

painting we were to meet with sister

Fred who welcomes us but just as quickly

dismisses our arrival and tells us to

leave because we no longer belong here I

have no issue with this as it's not

holding the player's hand but everything

just feels like it's going so fast is

right after this we're to find the

painter enter the basement of sister

Freed's Church activate a lever and then

we're already at the final boss

everything just feels so fast and I was

surprised how quickly the final boss was

introduced to me I've talked about

before how most of the souls games DLCs

are like this and don't take much time

overall this of course though largely

depends on how fast you beat the bosses

as they're usually the main hurdles but

ashes of Arendelle felt shorter than

normal there is an optional boss that

could take up more of your time but this

was just so that the player could access

the PVP matches and the lore of the boss

also connects to this as this was the

champion of the undead matches that the

undead used to partake in other than

that it's pretty much just going from

one area to the next and the distance

between them is quite short once we do

finish talking with sister Freda though

our path will eventually lead us to the

corvian settlements and its Church where

we will meet with sir vilhelm he was the

guard that was outside the church where

sister Fred was located but what's more

interesting though about Sir vilhelm is

that he not only has a black flame buff

on his weapon but he also wields the

dark hand both of which have ties to the

abyss this relates back to Sister Freda

as she was one of the three sisters of

the Sable Church her other sisters were

Lilian and yuria which means she has

ties to londor and this is reinforced by

the different dialogue options that we

get from her if we have the dark sigils

in inventory from yuria's quest line

it's not much but she does recognize us

as the Lord of Hollows given that she is

unkindled it's possible that she tried

to link The Flame or usurp it and this

possibly got her Exile from the church

without a purpose or home she may have

been drawn to the painted world which is

how she ended up here in the first place

and figured that she could rule over

this land by herself however given that

we have this innate ability to ruin

people's plans we're going to prevent

sister freed from doing so to do this we

need to talk to the painter and unlock

the doors leading to her room for her to

be able to paintt though she will need

to see Flame and to do this we need to

get to the source I see

flame flame fuckering once

again not enough bloody Ed

shade my

fle bring me my

F this is Father arendel the painter of

the painted world of arendel who is now

being held captive by Sister Freda she

managed to convince father Arendelle

that the only way to preserve the

painted world was to bury the flame and

let the rock consume the world to stop

him from spreading he uses his flail on

himself causing him to bleed which

appeases the flame it's quite a sad

story and it makes sister Freda out to

be even worse of a person than she

already was given that we're going

against her wishes though she fights us

and she is very difficult which is also

very entertaining I love this fight and

I think it's a great way to end the DLC

the fight starts out quite normal until

her blood reaches father arandel who

freaks out causing the room to be

engulfed in flames and him to break out

of his restraints and attack us Fred is

is also back and it turns into a 2V1

it's very reminiscent of orstein and Smo

as the doo compliments each other quite

well this is also the only fight in the

trilogy to my knowledge where you can

summon an NPC in the middle of the fight

as Gail can only be summoned for the

second phase it also makes sense to

bring him along since both you and him

have the same objective so there's no

reason for him not to help you after

sister Freda has been dealt with though

we can return to

the A

the yeah so if it wasn't already bad

enough sister Freda has a third phase

this whole encounter is extremely

stressful as you not only have to plan

for one but two extra phases there's

been so many times where I got pummeled

during this fight in the first phase

that I just reset as I knew it wasn't

worth starting the next phase with half

the Estus she really forces the player

to learn her move set thankfully though

Gail does make the encounter easier but

it's still very difficult even with his

assist

with sister Fred and father arandel dead

for a real this time the fire will now

be able to consume the painting without

any delays which means the painter can

now work on the new world she plans to

create a cold dark and very gentle place

as she calls it she's going to need

Paint to make that painting and from

what we learned from father arendelle's

Soul we know that the paintings are

Written in Blood so Gail's objective

will be to scour the land for some blood

to use his pigment and while he does

that we can go on to the next DLC but

Gail's here too he has written messages

for us and points us towards where we're

supposed to go so what blood is he

getting well Gail is trying to find the

blood of the Dark Soul the Dark Soul

which leads him to the ring City ashes

of arendo was a short but decent DLC the

bosses were great and the actual design

of arendo was beautiful from its frozen

Tundras to its rotted swamps but if it

fell complete or if the DLC suddenly

ended so soon that's the point as both

of Dark Souls 3i's DLCs are a connected

story the story of Gail and the painter

and their quest to create a new world

which leads us to the ring City the

start of the Ring City DLC sees us

travel to the drag Heap the area we

talked about earlier in the video as I

said then time is getting worse as the

world progresses and this is a perfect

example as now that the age of fire is

getting even closer to the end lands are

converging on each other more and more

and the world is practically collapsing

in on itself here in the drag keep we

can see nostalgic callbacks to the Past

like the earn Peak Windmill and the

desert pyromancer from Dark Souls 2 this

is a very long and convoluted level to

really showcase how bad everything has

gotten but at the very end of the level

is the demon Duo not not only is the

gameplay of this fight fantastic as it

not only surpasses the previous Duo but

might even be on par as orstein and Smo

but the location of the fight is heavily

theorized to be the original Firelink

Shrine of Dark Souls 1 the reason being

is that the exit of this arena is the

same structure that framp appears in

Gail can once again join you for this

fight but it will trivialize this

encounter tremendously as the demons

have long cooldowns between their

attacks and also alternate move sets I

actually found this fight to be balanced

while being outnumbered so adding more

people makes it worse once the demons

are both dead the last one to die gets

to be reborn as the demon Prince just

like the first Flame the chaos flame

needed to be rekindled by a demon with

vast power and the current demon Prince

at the time was going to but ended up

facing lauan and was defeated however

all demons share memories with another

so in theory that means they can share

the power of the demon Prince and when

the last demon Falls it is reborn as the

demon Prince and the last of its kind

the demon Prince is a genuinely great

fight and for being the first boss in

the DLC this is already a great start to

the additional content when the demon

Prince does fall though we can finally

say goodbye to the demons the once great

race thought to be almost on top has now

withered away never to be remembered

again just like everything else in this

world with the drag he finished we can

move on to the final location of the DLC

but one thing that's been very

interesting about the drag he is the

progression of time as we go further

down in the game we're actually going

further back in the past as we start out

at the very top in Dark Souls 3 we move

further down to Dark Souls 2 with the

earn Peak making an appearance and then

we're all the way at the bottom where

we're back in Dark Souls 1 with the

Firelink Shrine but we can go even

further further back as past the old

Firelink Shrine we can travel to the

ring City a place that has existed since

the gods toppled the dragons the ring

city is gorgeous and is one of the most

beautiful locations in the Dark Souls

Trilogy this place is home to the pygmy

Lords and they have a wonderful

welcoming

committee oddly enough though these

shadow archers actually look like the

Ruin Sentinels from Dark Souls 2

according to their armor set they were a

band of knights who were sent to the

ring City so it's possible that Vendrick

may have sent them here as a way to find

out more about the undead curse but were

defeated and now are used by the city to

defend its people the ring city is the

home of the pygmies the ancestors of

mankind we don't hear much regarding the

actual furtive pygmy but the ring city

is ruled by the pygmy Lords the early

descendants of the original pygmy

according to various item descriptions

though Gwyn gave them the city as a

reward for their help against the

dragons but since this is located at the

literal edge of the world it's possible

Gwyn wanted the pygmies out of sight and

away from his kingdom since they had the

Dark Soul which of of course he does not

like as for how the pygmies helped

during the war well we can find out soon

after as these ringed Knights were some

of the soldiers who fought during the

war with the Everlasting dragons the

weapons they carry were forged from the

abyss since that was the birthplace of

humanity which would explain the BL and

dark sign on their chest as it seems

that they too were cursed like we were

by Gwyn if we progress further into the

level we'll end up in this Abyssal swamp

and end up fighting the dragon slayer

armor again and if we read description

we'll discover that when we defeated it

in lothric it somehow made its way down

here and then became possessed Again by

the feeling of battle

look I love orstein as much as the next

guy but we do not have to keep bringing

him back we can just let his legacy die

I understand in this case it is just a

piece of armor and not actually orstein

but you have to admit that this boss's

design is purposely similar to orstein I

found this encounter more annoying

rather than interesting as there was

Zero reason to bring back the dragon

slayer armor again in the swamp we can

also find a white face Locust similar to

the one earlier in the level these

Locust are beings from the abyss and

they were were supposed to preach

sermons to men so that they could draw

them towards the dark but they couldn't

see past their stomachs and cared more

about what they were eating which is why

they act like gluttonous monsters this

description means that this is what they

always looked like and didn't turn into

these creatures at some point but it may

also imply that they were born alongside

Humanity within the abyss each of them

ends up talking about specific people

and are possibly referencing certain

NPCs and so she lived in fear of the

Dark of the things that gned at her

flesh the little creatures that nibble

at me in the

darkness and so despite his weighty

armor he lived in fear of a delicate

thing little more than a girl where fire

rideth Shadows twist and shrivel but in

the

abyss there are shadows none fear not

the dark my friend and let the feast

begin I've always found this interaction

and odd as it's unclear how this

creature even knows anything about these

NPCs this has caused a bit of debate

amongst many people in the community as

some claim that it's showing how

destructive humanity is but on the other

hand like with the case of ir's dialogue

the Locust preacher could be implying

that the abyss is not as bad as it seems

as that preconceived idea Irina had of

the Abyss caused her to feel these

insect likee creatures in her head I

don't really think that there is a

correct answer here as sort of ties into

the world of Dark Souls and how the

player views the abyss humanity and the

age of dark and whether or not it's

something that they should be embracing

similar to how we have to make a choice

at the end of the games before we leave

though we can view this purging Monument

which is only accessible to humans as to

even get to this area we need to

transform into a Humanity Sprite using a

white tree branch this Monument may be

the source of all the purging Stones

purging stones have existed since Dark

Souls 1 and we're used to remove the

curse effect in that game but it's not

about taking the curse and removing it

it's just transferring it to the stone

itself to be the new host but the stone

is said to Once be a person so maybe

these are the beings who were turned

into stone or what they became once we

transfer the curse to the stone or maybe

it's something else entirely after

getting out of the swamp we'll find a

dragon named Mader this isn't fake like

the ancient dragon Mader is an actual

descendant of the Ark dragons from long

ago even though he only seems to make an

appearance here if we knock him off the

bridge and find a secret tunnel we can

find him again he is easily the most

difficult boss in the entire game with a

staggering 15,000 health and he's also

equipped with some moves that might

on-shot the player depending on their

equipment according to his boss Soul

Madar was actually raised by the gods

and was tasked with fighting the the

abyss and it seems that he's been alive

for a long time as one description says

from not long after the beginning

meaning he may have existed before even

fire was born back when the dragons

ruled the world the reason he's going so

crazy is very similar to artorius as the

abyss has fully corrupted him so we need

to put him out of his misery he is

definitely the ultimate challenge for

players given his kit of high damaging

moves but assuming you can conquer him

you'll receive the spears of the church

which ties into our next boss halflight

halflight is a member of the Covenant

Spears of the church who guards fillian

or who is said to be Gwynn's daughter

who he left here in the ring City but

halflight is a PVP boss as there's a

chance a real player can replace

halflight and be the boss instead but

that is only accessible to those who

defeat Madar since he drops the pendant

that allows you to access the Covenant

sadly though since this game is over 6

years old you'll more than likely just

get halflight instead interestingly

though halflight may have been from ulil

as the bow he uses says that it was a

relic from an ancient land of sorceries

that has been swallowed by the abyss and

we know that ulio has many unique spells

like repair hidden body and chameleon

his outfit also states that a group of

young missionaries went to the ring City

long ago but halflight stayed behind

making him the final Spear of the church

this would also mean that there was a

time in uil's history when it wasn't

corrupted by the abyss and was a normal

land before cth came and tricked them

behind the church is filor the girl they

swore to protect and she may have one of

the best cut scenes the series has to

offer upon touching her egg she wakes up

which sees the world change out of

everything in the Dark Souls Series this

might be at the top as the most talked

about interaction in the game as there's

so much that happen happens with very

little explanation as to what it means

many people believe that fanor and her

egg held up the illusion of the Ring

City similar to gwindel and an Orlando

and Dark Souls 1 but some have also

claimed that this takes us to the Future

and is a glimpse of what the world will

look like should we keep things going

her egg though is interesting as it has

a very dark Center and if we relate this

back to the repair spell from earlier

that's as light as time by breaking the

egg we break the dark inside of it which

allows light to appear meaning now time

exists and is no longer stagnant which

would go along with the the that this is

a future as the time accelerates after

being stagnant for so long regardless of

what you believe in though this cutscene

is great and allows us to access the

Wasteland of Ash inside this Wasteland

is two beings and if you subscribe to

the theory that this is the future this

might be the last two beings left in the

world us and

Gail what still here

handed over that thing your Dark Soul

Gail has not only gone mad and grown in

size but he is the final boss of the DLC

the ring city was the final DLC and also

the final piece of content in the Dark

Souls Trilogy having played this game on

release I had already beaten the final

boss tons of times so for me Gail was

technically my final boss of Dark Souls

and I couldn't have asked for anything

better to me Gail is the best boss in

the game and even the entire Trilogy

every everything from design to

presentation to gameplay is completely

perfect Gail is a slave Knight who are

Knights that were used as fod in many of

the land's bleakest Wars but it seems

most of them went Hollow all except for

Gail Gail came to the ring City in

search of the Dark Souls and thus

slaughtered the pygmy Lords as they

contain the Dark Souls within them since

they're the descendants of the furtive

pygmy but Gail realized that the Dark

Souls had dried up so in order to make

them liquid enough to be used as pigment

he consumed the Dark Souls that They

Carried since it was now in his

bloodstream it was able to mix into into

a liquid again but doing so made him go

mad Gail literally has the power of the

dark soul within his body and uses the

power of the dark soul and the abyss to

fight us as evident by these red skulls

that appear from his cape he and Gwyn

also contrast each other in this respect

Gwyn was a being who was a god from the

beginning and on top of the food chain

and is remembered by all for his

sacrifice but Gail was a slave the

lowest of the low whose sacrifice will

be known by only us a lowly piece of

unkindled Ash this sacrifice of gals

ties into a theory of mine after his

death we can take the blood of the dark

soul to the painter to be used as Pigman

for her new world Gail knew he wouldn't

make it back but continued his mission

Anyway by handing it off to us he helps

us defeat sister Freda and the demon

Prince which are the two required bosses

we need to beat to get to the ring City

and once we do get to the ring City he

leaves markings of his cape along the

way that it will eventually point us

towards his location he wanted us to

find him and he wanted us to defeat him

so that we can continue his mission for

him and give the painter the blood she

needed as a whole Gail is easily my

favorite character character and boss in

this game he is like us a nobody he

isn't some Godlike figure or a being who

was born with insurmountable power he

like US gain this power through battle

and now the two strongest beings in the

world are duking it out at the edge of

the world truly the best boss this game

has to offer and was the best way to end

all the dlc's with Gail defeated we can

now give the painter the pigment she

thanks us and will eventually start

painting she never actually finishes the

painting though and this is an important

detail just like the other DLCs in the

trilogy this isn't the end of the game

the final boss is at the Kiln it's not

Gail so giving her this pigment doesn't

mean the end of the game it's just one

part of our long journey even if it

seems like a wonderful conclusion to the

game the DLCs of Dark Souls are the best

in the series and the ring city is a big

reason why ash is a very Andel is great

and a nice additional Side Story

especially since we get to learn more

about the painted worlds but the

callbacks references and answers to

questions we've been wondering about for

years are what makes this DLC so

impressive furthermore both DLCs have

some of the most intense fights in the

game and are the Pinnacle of this game's

combat from software has always made

their DLCs with Incredible quality and

sometimes are even better than the main

game and Dark Souls II continues to

honor this tradition Gail's objective is

now complete so now it's time to

complete ours which is go to the Kiln

and determine the fate of the world once

again defending this Kiln is being known

as the soul of Cinder this is the

physical manifestation of every being to

link the flame since its Inception

meaning our characters from Dark Souls 1

and 2 are a part of this being he also

fights like a real player too as his

move set is by far the most diverse in

the game he has three different melee

weapons uses all the schools of magic

and even has the ninja flipping from

Dark Souls 1 but our old characters

aren't the only ones in this being there

is one other character we know of the

one who was here from the very beginning

he was the one that created this world

so it's ironic that he gets to be here

for when we destroy it

the soul of Cinder not only has the same

move set as Gwyn but also the same piano

and its theme music I'll be honest I get

a bit emotional whenever I hear this

hearing that piano made me think of the

journey I had taken to get here all the

defeats and victories all the NPCs I had

encountered all the kingdoms I uncovered

and all the fates of the people I've met

along the way we have seen the literal

rise and fall of the entire world before

our eyes and every single person and

decision we have made has shaped us into

the person we are now a person who now

has to determine the entire fate of the

world should you go against everything

this game has taught you and still

believe in the first flame you'll be

shown a very depressing ending the Ashen

one links the flame and continues the

age of fire but it's not the spectacle

we saw in Dark Souls 1 it can barely

even cover our character let alone the

rest of the Arena the Ashen one looks

disappointed as if they expected

something more in fact we the player

were probably expecting something more

and are now just as disappointed this is

why I believe that everyone from Gwyn

till now has linked the flame when it

faded as if the world alternated like it

was supposed to then this wouldn't make

sense as to why the flame is this

pitiful the first flame is on its

deathbed and we still haven't granted it

the death it wants if we instead summon

the fire keeper she will take the first

flame and extinguish it for good the age

of dark will commence and the world has

gone completely black and while it may

seem scary to venture into a World

Without fire the fire keeper assures us

that the fire will eventually return

someday just like it did all the years

ago remember things are meant to live

and die the age of dark is temporary and

fire will return and an age of fire will

begin again but hopefully it will not be

extended this time if you're feeling

greedy you can also enact the age of

dark and take the Flames power for

yourself this is similar to our final

ending and the secret ending of Dark

Souls 3 the usurpation of fire this

requires us to complete yuria's quest

line yuria is from a place called londor

and we know that she's also the sister

of Freda and lilianne who created the

Sable Church in londor but what is

londor well it's a land of Hollows as we

can see all the hollows bowing down to

us as the new Lord of Hollows londor

also had many pilgrims that came to this

land possibly to find the first flame

and overtake lothric those Butterflies

from the dragon slayer armor are called

Pilgrim butterflies so maybe this is the

Pilgrim's final form so to speak these

pilgrims are most likely members of the

Sable church as while these sisters

created the church the pilgrims most

likely went here to worship their God

who happens to be the primordial serpent

coth we never see coth in game and the

only reason we even know this is because

of Yu's death dialogue but the call back

to him was insane and almost maybe

nervous for a bit as he could have been

orchestrating this church for who knows

how long so that he finally gets what he

wants if you remember he tricked the

Four Kings and the people of ulil into

being engulfed by the abyss so what's

stopping him from doing it against the

people of londor although in his defense

when we place the Lord vessel in Dark

Souls 1 cot says that every last one of

them failed him so maybe he isn't trying

to screw with londor and possibly found

a genuine group of people that will

follow and carry out his wish

accompanying us into the new world is

also hory of aora who depending on our

actions either got to defeat Aldridge

with us and finally be able to kill the

person she hated the most or gets killed

and unwillingly serves as our bride when

we become the Lord of Hollows which is

quite a dark twist Lor also seems to

embrace its Hollow State but this may

come at a cost Yol of londor can give us

the dark sigils required to progress the

quest line but once he does that he dies

and the Assassin who gives us the

wedding sword dies after the ceremony so

it seems like they're only able to

retain their sanity when Hollow but as a

consequence die once their purpose has

been fulfilled this is just about all we

know in regards to Lor but there is

still quite a few theories involved with

the kingdom such as the fact that Lor

could be tied to Drang Lake or Vela

admittedly it's a small connection but

items from Dark Souls 1 and 2 like the

vow of silence dead again dark drift and

dark hand have had their item

descriptions changed vow of silence in

Dark Souls 1 is a spell that was created

by Vela but in Dark Souls 3 it's used by

members of the church and the dark Drift

from Dark Souls 2 was said to be used by

the grave Warden and the dead Crypt but

in Dark Souls 3 it's used by Uria

however I don't think Vendrick and Alia

are related to this though as the two of

them wanted to remove the curse and Lor

wants to embrace their Hollow form

although in a manner of speaking the

hollow form is the true version of man

and thus could be in a way what the

brothers desired but I'm not too sure I

believe in this Theory especially given

how the brothers are never mentioned in

this game and would be weird if they

finally made an appearance now

regardless now it's time to say goodbye

to the age of fire and to Dark Souls the

age of dark is a metaphor for the Dark

Souls series every Dark Souls game has

taken place in the age of fire and by

keeping this age going we can keep the

Dark Souls games going but is that

really what we want many games have gone

on to make numerous sequels and ruin the

Integrity of that series the age of dark

is not just about moving on from the age

of fire but from Dark Souls itself as

much as I want more Dark Souls games to

keep coming it's only going to ruin the

franchise going forward but that doesn't

mean we have to say goodbye to the souls

genre we have Elden ring and any other

Souls games that come after it so our

hunger for this genre of games will

never die but we do need to say goodbye

to Dark Souls having Dark Souls end now

means it ends on a high note and I'd

rather see the game quit while it's

ahead than watch it release sequel after

sequel that will inevitably tarnish its

reputation causing it to be one of the

many games in the industry that ran

itself into the dirt so it's time to

finally put this game and its world to

rest thank you for watching

Transcript

Dark Souls is one of the best series of

all time and has one of the most complex

yet remarkable narratives I've ever had

the pleasure of uncovering it's filled

with so many ideas themes and values

that breathe life into this series and

its various interpretations allow people

to add in their own details ultimately

making their playthroughs a unique

experience so today I want to take some

time to talk about the trilogy I want to

not only retell the game's main stories

but also critique them along the way I'm

going to examine why specific parts of

the game are so well crafted and how its

World design and bosses shape the story

around them so with that out of the way

thank you for watching and I hope you

enjoy Dark Souls 1 is a fantastic game

it's got a wonderful story that would

set in motion numerous events that would

occur throughout the trilogy but just

within the bounds of its own game Dark

Souls 1 has some incredibly deep and

Rich lore filled with some of the

greatest backstories this Series has to

offer and today I want to discuss why so

without further Ado let's get started so

the opening cinematic of Dark Souls 1

starts with the gray world one that is

filled with giant trees and dragons and

while the world stayed like that for a

while one day fire was born as for how

this fire came to be well it's never

explained this is one of the many things

we just have to accept the world of Dark

Souls is fantasy and many things just

can't be explained it's never mentioned

how the first flame was created as it

just happened but because the first

flame was born disparity came with it

life and death heat and cold and light

and dark this description is literal

since the first flame was created the

people of the world felt its warmth and

understood what heat was when they

walked away from the flame they realized

its heat didn't reach them which created

the feeling of cold the discovery of

fire during the Stone Age is to this day

the greatest discovery known to man and

in Dark Souls this is no different given

how unique something like this in the

world of Dark Souls was those who

discovered it were obviously attracted

to its power four notable people would

discover Lord Souls next to these flames

and be given immense power these people

were Neato isth Gwyn and the pygmy from

the intro we can infer that there was a

civilization of people that existed

during the age of ancients isth had

daughters that were with her when she

found her lord soul and Gwyn had his

knights with him implying that people

did exist during the time of the age of

ancients but weren't of much value to

the world given how powerful the Dragons

Were eventually Neato isth and Gwyn

would band together and use their power

to overthrow the dragons Gwyn used his

lightning isth used her flames and Neato

used his death and disease they also

received help from a SE the scales a

Dragon who betrayed his own kind now

that the new Lords were on top of the

food chain the age of ancients was no

more and the age of fire had begun this

period would last thousands of years

until we get to today currently the fire

is fading and it needs to be rekindled

in order to keep it lit but doing this

is not as simple as it sounds you may

have noticed I forgot to talk about the

pygmy well the pygmy had a unique Soul

called The Dark Soul using his soul he

created something called Humanity he

would then share this Humanity with his

people these Dark Soul imbued people

became became known as humans the pygmy

is essentially our ancestor Gwyn feared

this power though and created the dark

sign which inadvertently caused the

undead curse this isn't explained much

in Dark Souls 1 but it is by far the

most important plot in the whole series

and while I just wanted to talk about

this game for the whole video this needs

to be explained or else the rest of the

video going forward will make no sense

the undead curse the dark sign and the

fading of the fire are all linked the

Dark Soul gets more powerful the closer

the fire is to fading thus meaning human

should get more powerful over time but

gwin screwed Humanity twice by

rekindling the flame thus removing our

chance at power but also by branding

humans with the dark sign think of this

as a literal wall of fire that prevents

the Dark Soul within men from getting

too powerful the dark sign only

activates when the flame is fading

because that is when the Dark Soul

within men starts to grow stronger this

dark sign also prevents humans from

dying but it also causes them to go

Undead these fleshy creatures were once

Undead humans but they have crossed the

barrier of no return even though humans

are able to revive after death

eventually this will cause them to lose

their Humanity lose their minds and lose

their purpose causing them to go Hollow

these creatures are Hollows beings who

don't even remember who they are where

they are or what they're even doing Gwyn

likes being on top and he fears the day

that he will lose his power so he'll do

anything he can to prevent that from

happening he did this by branding

Humanity with the dark sign but by also

rekindling the flame which is known as

the first sin see the world is like a

set of operations things are born but

eventually they'll die but but then more

things will be born only to die soon

after that's just the way the world

works but Gwyn broke the laws of the

World by rekindling the first flame it

was meant to be extinguished but due to

Gwyn wanting to hold on to what he held

dear he couldn't Dare See It Go he

sacrificed himself by using himself as

kindling for the first flame since he

had one of the four original Lord Souls

that came from the first flame it was

deemed sufficient enough to be used as

fuel unless the gauge of fire continued

but as we know it is fading once more

the undead curse is back humans are

turning Hollow and the world is in chaos

doesn't this sound like a fantastic

story that's because it is this intro

and even the game display a sense of

desperation within our characters how

far are people willing to go to get what

they want or keep what they have and

while each of their desires is different

it always comes out the same Dark Souls

1 is just the start but the actions of

its characters will continue to Echo

throughout the entire Trilogy and we're

just getting started after the opening

cinematic we get to see the state of the

world as it is today or at least the

state of this we're an undead that is

sitting in their cell awaiting the end

of the world but one day we're given the

key to our cell and are able to leave

this person is Oscar and he speaks of a

prophecy there is an old saying in my

family thou who art Undead art chosen in

thine Exodus from the Undead Asylum

maketh pilgrimage to the land of ancient

Lords when thou ringeth the bell of

Awakening the fate of the undead Thou

shalt know this prophecy also happens to

be the main objective of the game but

it's only the first part the rest we'll

have to discover later the intro of Dark

Souls 1 sets up a new world by

showcasing multiple important events in

the world's history and also gives us

enough information to understand the

basic premise of the game while also

purposely withholding some of that

information to give us a reason to seek

out set information one thing we need to

consider though is our character's

motivations why even bother making the

trip to lordran the land of Lords well

what else is there to do it's the end of

the world and you were just given the

keys to your cell allowing you to

explore the world to Hearts content even

if you're convinced that life is doomed

and the world as we know it will

disappear for good why not make the most

out of it have some fun kill some

Hollows it's a whole lot better than

rotting in a cell with our objective

laid out to us thanks to Oscar we can

now set out to lordran and ring the

bells technically the first area you're

meant to go is the undead Berg but one

wrong step and you can make it to New

Londo out of all the souls games Dark

Souls 1 will provide the best blind

playthrough as due to its connected

World players will go in different

directions which in turn will create

different experiences New Londo is

actually a lake Game Area since the

enemies here are quite strong and the

boss at the end of the level is quite

tough but you may stumble upon this area

by accident within 5 minutes of arriving

this is due in part to Dark Souls 1's

level design which may have the best

level design in the whole franchise it's

been coined as a Metroid Vania a genre

that started with the games Metroid and

Castlevania these games have nonlinear

progression as many areas can be

accessed right away but others can't

causing the player to go around the map

looking for the key then running back to

that same location such as this door

that leads to havl which can only be be

found in the dark grou Basin past the

boss the door is found pretty early on

in your playthrough but the key is found

much later plus you'll also have to

remember where that key goes you'll be

doing lots of running in this game the

highlight of one of my play sessions was

going from BL town to Andre because I

forgot to ascend my weapon before a boss

fight meaning I had to take a 3-minute

walk up to him then a 3-minute walk back

down in future titles this would be

remedied by fast travel but Dark Souls 1

doesn't have fast travel initially and

even when you do gain the power of fast

travel via the Lord vessel it's not the

typical fast travel were familiar with

as we're only allowed to travel to

specific bonfires these decisions

further immerse the player into the

world as it's all one connected level

and since they're all connected that

means you can see certain levels from

different places such as Blight Town

which is visible from Firelink Shrine So

Not only was the level design of each

area taken into account but also how the

levels connected to one another and how

this connection would affect other areas

regardless of where you end up though

whether that be New Londo or Undead Berg

the very first enemies you'll come to

see are these Hollow Men like the ones

back in the Asylum all the undead we see

here are humans who have lost their

Humanity causing them to go Hollow and

now since we are human we should go

Hollow too however it's a bit more meta

than that hollowing is a bit hard to

Define as everyone can go Hollow for

different reasons but the two main ideas

seem to stem from constant death or a

loss of purpose given that our character

is set on ringing the bells he never

goes Hollow despite being Undead as he

still has a purpose should the player

quit and uninstall the game they would

lose their purpose so permanently

quitting the game is sort of like

hollowing in a sense I don't think

everything needs to be explained with

lore so this is more than likely just a

gameplay mechanic but that's how I've

interpreted hollowing on our way to the

bells of Awakening we'll come across

various different locations but sadly

there isn't a whole lot of backstory

involved in their creation locations

like Undead Berg are just Undead

settlements and the valley of Drakes is

just a valley filled with Drakes the

only exceptions though are Ash Lake and

blight toown blight toown is next to a

location called the deps and at the end

of The Depths is the gaping dragon and

while an interesting boss what's more

important is the arena we can see water

coming from the depths and going into

the sewer system which leads to Blight

Town according to various keys in the

game we can piece together that those

who previously lived in the undead Berg

but were banished from the settlement

were sent to Blight Town as punishment

this is reinforced by the giant door

that separates the sewer system from the

outside world but this water from the

sewer is poisonous well in Blight Town

there's a spell called Poison mist and

according to its description it seems

that eni this egg bearing individual may

have caused this as he was the creator

of the poison Miss spell it's not fully

confirmed that he did this but it's

clear that ble Town isn't in the

greatest State and it's due to the

circumstances surrounding blle town that

the town's folks seem to have built

above the water in hopes of getting away

from it this is a common theme in these

games of things being built on top of

one another as we see Blight Town above

the swamp The Depths above Blight Town

and the undead Berg above all that the

idea of pushing things down and leaving

them to Fester is also a common theme

within this game but not everything is

in such a sad State as at the lowest

point of lordran we see Ash Lake a

seemingly infinite land filled with

archery trees that are surrounded by an

equally infinite body of water for the

purposes of Ash Lake this seems to be

where the dragons used to live or at

least one part of it as it's eerily

similar to the environment in the intro

which we do know was the land of the

Everlasting dragons we can even find one

of the few remaining dragons down here

in Ash Lake he's a part of the dragon

covenant in game and from various

descriptions it seems like many people

worshiped the dragons and tried to

ascend to their level it's unclear

though if that worked once the player

feels confident in their fighting

abilities they can approach the bosses

defending the bells of wake ing these

being the Bell Gargoyles and Chaos witch

quag after ringing both Bells we'll see

that s's Fortress a place that was

originally blocked with a large gate is

now open but if we travel back to

Firelink Shrine we'll find a primordial

serpent named frampt he claims to be a

close friend of gwyn's and also claims

to know our fate very well then I am

pleased to share chosen

Undead your fate is to succeed the great

Lord Gwyn so that you May link the fire

Cast Away the Dark and undo the curse of

the undead to this end you must visit an

Orondo and acquire the Lord vessel just

like before this second part of the

prophecy also happens to be our newest

objective but frampt is quite a complex

character if certain conditions are met

within the game we can also be granted

an audience with coth he however tells

us a different story your ancestor

claims the Dark Soul and waited for fire

subside and soon the Flames did fade and

only dark remained thus began the age of

men the age of dark so it wasn't just

the fact that the fire was fading that

caused Gwyn to rekindle it the flame

actually went out furthermore despite

being the same species both framp and

coth have different views on the world

framp wants to keep the age of fire

going but coth wants to usher in an age

of Darkness the question is who do we

trust well that's up to you as these are

the two endings of the game extinguish

the flame or rekindle it the choice is

yours what is important to note though

is their motivations why are they doing

this why are they against each other

well we still don't know and it's been a

widely debated topic that hasn't been

given a proper answer yet regardless I

don't think you should trust any of them

framp claims that the undead curse will

be cured if we link the flame but this

isn't correct as we'll see in Dark Souls

2 and 3 The Curse is still present framp

and cth are like politicians they say

what needs to be said but never

elaborate by technicality the undead

curse will be cured when we link the

flame as we know the dark sign only

appears when fire Fades and if it's not

fading then the curse of the dark sign

is gone which means the curse goes with

it but it will eventually come back

Things Are Meant to run their course so

over time the fire will fade again and

the curse will come back just not in our

character's lifetime frampt whether

intentional or not is leading the player

to believe that the Cur curse will

disappear permanently when indeed it

only just disappears for a few thousand

years but cth is also lying as he isn't

fully explaining what this age of

Darkness entails and as we'll see kth

isn't exactly the nicest person in the

souls Universe I've always seen these

two as Immortal beings ones that are

ageless and due to this when the time

comes they like to move the pieces a bit

and see what happens cth and framp are

basically playing a long game of chess

but without the stakes regardless of who

wins they both continue to live one just

managed to convince the chosen and

Undead more so why not cause a bit of

chaos a lie or two here wouldn't hurt

anybody as it's just extra pieces on the

board to them to this day we still don't

know what they really want from us and

whether their goals they conveyed to us

were actually genuine my interpretation

of these could be wildly incorrect but

that's the beauty of these games they

allow you to shape your own story and

create your own adventure and in my

story I don't trust these two regardless

of who you believe the one thing they

agree on is that we need the Lord vessel

thus we need to get to an Orlando to get

there we'll need to pass through

Fortress a place filled with deadly

traps and is easily the most infuriating

area in the whole game The Fortress is

also used as a sort of trial as this

leads us to an Orlando but many people

have tried and failed to get there this

is of course due to the numerous traps

throughout the Fortress and the Iron

Golem at the top although he was

surprisingly the easiest part of the

Fortress once the Golem is defeated we

are then grabbed by these demons and

taken to an Orlando

it's hard to forget your first time in

an Orlando nothing up until this point

has been more extravagant and beautiful

looking than this place and that's what

makes it so memorable in a world devoid

of beauty and color there's this

incredible place that just exists but

it's on the other side of the wall but

something is off it feels empty like we

showed up Lake to a party and in a more

metaphorical and literal sense we have

this place is gorgeous but if you'll

excuse the Pun It's also quite Hollow

lots of your time and an Orlando is

spent walking but if you manage to make

it past these Giants and exploit the AI

of these silver Knights then you'll make

it to the climactic fight of orstein and

SM on ands is undoubtedly my favorite

fight in Dark Souls 1 the balance of

these two is unmatched as orstein is a

quick nimble fighter that can go halfway

across the arena just to hit you but his

damage is nowhere near as staggering as

the force that is SM whereas orstein

instills fear from his speed sm's fear

comes from his power orstein at the

beginning of the fight is more or less a

pushover he does deal decent damage but

it's not enough to Warrant a healing

item but no amount of damage resistance

especially this early on could protect

you from smos hammer and one hit from

this Hammer can make orstein seem a lot

more threatening their power grows from

the other's presence as the more orstein

chips at your health the closer you are

to being within one shot range of SM and

if SM hits you once well there's nothing

that can compare to that level of stress

they feed off each other in such a

balanced way in fact they actually feed

on each other as whoever Falls first

becomes the power source for the other

their health also goes back to full so

it's never about dwindling them down

over time it's committing to one and

sticking with it the problem is is

knowing when to strike and how given how

well they complement each other it might

seem like there's never an opening and

that's what makes them such a difficult

fight all that's required though from

the player is patience it's arguably one

of the best fights in the game and even

the series as a whole and I can finally

see why while on and may seem like the

climactic Finish to the level hold your

load as behind them is the real climax

the princess of sunlight Gwen feel free

to interpret climax however you want she

is the one who gives us the Lord vessel

we need to progress through the game but

as I said earlier it feels like we

arrived late to a party well I wasn't

lying once the post-nut clarity settles

in if we attack GW ofir the world of an

Orlando shows its true colors and

reveals that it's just as depressing as

everything else in lordran and the one

responsible for this illusion is dark

swindin gwindel is an interesting case

to me as he was the last born child of

Gwyn who was a male but was raised as a

female this was due to his strong

Affinity with moon magic I'm not sure

what the connection is but maybe it's

some sort of cultural thing where the

Moon is seen as a sort of feminine and

symbol which would actually explain a

lot regarding a future game and two of

its characters gwindel also created the

illusion of an Orlando to seemingly

entice The Chosen Undead to continue

their Duty remember gwindel only appears

when we kill Gwen's illusion meaning

that this is actually gwindel speaking

to us through his sister he also shares

the same viewpoints as framp which is

interesting as he's basically telling us

to kill his father and continue the age

of fire gwiin seems to want to hold on

to the power his family has and keep

things running smoothly which is why he

wants the age of fire to continue so

that his family and their powers can

stay and the reason why he created the

illusion of and Orlando was also to

desperately hold on to the Past H I

guess it runs in the family then as for

how Gwen ofir fits into this well she

was gwyn's second born child who like

many other deities left in Orlando she

would then meet with a flame God FL and

later become his wife besides these two

Gwyn had two other children but we'll

have to wait for Dark Souls 3i to

discuss more about them so in Orlando

the city of gods this place that was

supposed to be seen as a Beacon of Hope

to all within lordran is just an

illusion but an Orlando isn't the only

illusion of lordran by making our way to

the painting inside the city upon

touching it we're thrown into the

painted world of Aramis Aramis as a

concept is fascinating as it's this

world within a world and these people

inside the painting could possibly never

know of the world outside of it from

exploring this Hidden World we learn

that Aramis was made for things the gods

feared aramus is home to the followers

of Vela and Vela is known as the goddess

of sin furthermore this is the only

location in the game where you can find

the dark Ember which according to its

item description is used to make occult

Weaponry weapons that were favorable

amongst those who plan to kill the gods

and their kin Vela was more than likely

someone who wanted to hunt the gods but

was killed or thrown into the painting

it's clear that this place has a

malicious history behind it but it's not

all bad as the person who watches over

Aramis is crossbreed Priscilla Priscilla

is a half-human half dragon crossbreed

due to this unique birth she also gains

some unique abilities mainly the ability

of Life hunt which she uses on her

Scythe these powers of hers could th

threaten the God's rule so they also

threw her into the painted world but

what's rather interesting is Priscilla

herself she's the only boss in the game

that doesn't want to fight us she even

tells us how to leave Aramis meaning not

only does she have no intent of enacting

Revenge but she knows how to leave yet

refuses Priscilla may have felt how

these new arrivals feel but instead of

using Vengeance she uses acceptance and

instead welcomes these people into her

painted world it's actually quite

wholesome and is the reason why I

couldn't kill her every boss in this

game is hellbent on killing me so when I

finally discover Ed one that didn't want

to and in fact help me I couldn't refuse

so I left with the hope that Priscilla

would be able to make this place a

proper home for her people this whole

area is swarming with Hollows and other

creatures that want nothing more than to

kill us but they were either tricked

into here or thrown in because the gods

will it and yeah some of them probably

do belong in here but if Priscilla is

set on making this place a home for

those who have found themselves here

then who am I to intervene after

acquiring the Lord vessel when we meet

with cth or frm they'll tell us that to

gain access to Gwyn we must gather the

remaining Lord souls and use them to

satiate the Lord vessel these Lord Souls

belong to four individuals SE the scalas

The Witch of isth Neato and the Four

Kings three of whom you will have

already recognized from here we can

tackle the game in any order we want so

let's start with the Four Kings the Four

Kings are well Four Kings who ruled over

New Londo they were given fragments of

Gwyn Soul which is why we need to kill

them you may recognize their boss

location as this is the same dark abyss

that we met cth in well long ago the

Four Kings were tricked by cth and were

consumed by the abyss this caused the

Kings to go mad and this also caused the

citizens to either become these Blobs of

mass or the dark wraith soldiers this

area really utilizes the envirment to

tell its tale as this place is overrun

by the ghosts of the villagers and when

we actually unlock the door to lower

nandoo we see piles of corpses scattered

throughout the land cth single-handedly

destroyed an entire city simply by

tricking its inhabitants and unleashing

the abyss upon them while the mass

extinction of a city sounds bad there is

still more destruction to be seen one

thing you may have noticed is a severe

lack of human bosses quag would probably

count as the first one you'd meet

although she's sort of half human but

there's a reason for this as this has to

do with the witch of isth while Gwyn was

frantically running around trying to

figure out what to do with the flame The

Witch of isth had a plan she was going

to create a new flame that would replace

the first flame but she attempted to

create a replica in the presence of the

very thing that was created which

brought with it massive consequences The

Witch of isth wanted to create a new

first flame but there was already a

first flame present in the world there

can't be two first Flames due to this

the the flame that she created couldn't

be contained for long causing it to

erupt and this not only consumed her and

her children but also created new life

as it gave birth to Demons the Asylum

Taurus and cpra Demon roughly the first

three bosses in the game were created

from this event in fact anything that

has the word demon in it is most likely

derived from this flame of chaos but not

only was New Life created old life was

altered all of isela's family who were

caught in the explosion were all

transformed into demons themselves chaos

which quag the fair lady and ceaseless

discharge are three of eth's children

just as Gwyn was desperate to continue

the age of fire in an attempt to keep

what he had so too did isth but the

consequences are reflection of her

actions in an attempt to give life to

something bright and warm she ended up

giving life to something cold and dark

she also wanted to extend the age of

fire in order to continue her prosperous

life with her children but by doing so

she ended up making their lives a living

hell not a single person in this family

tree is living a robust life anymore

quag and her sister the fair lady are

half demon and are more than likely

suffering from their condition as told

To Us by the fair lady

qu what is

quog my dear sister the eggs it

hurts they've gone still I am

afraid it may be too late I am so

sorry dear Sister C's discharge was

covered in lavasa surus and birth so his

life was a living hell from the start

the flame of chaos just made it worse

ceaseless discharge just like Priscilla

doesn't actually want to fight us it's

only until we steal this clothing set

that he attacks us this clothing set

rests upon a grave that belonged to his

sister quana who he believes died in the

explosion when in fact she was the only

one who escaped quana will appear in

Blight Town if the player is efficient

enough in pyromancy quana explains that

she was the only one who made it out of

the reaches of the flame of Chaos in

fact she was actually able to harness

the power of the flame of chaos and

create Magic which we know as pyromancy

quana wants us to fulfill her Duty for

her as she does not have the strength to

go on she instructs us that we need to

put down her siblings and her mother so

that they may rest in peace this whole

family Dynamic is horrific as ceaseless

believes that all his sisters are dead

even though quana is alive and quana is

only a few meters from her sister and

yet we can tell her about this clearly

this is turning into a very depressing

story but it only gets worse as we get

closer to the final boss of the area

we'll meet with a pyroman who was

assumed to be another daughter of isth

although it's unclear why she is so far

down in these ruins yet is completely

unharmed it's possible that she like

quana escaped the flame of chaos but

this daughter came back to finish off

the boss right behind her or has

possibly gone insane and is now

defending said boss and by going down

this slide we will meet this monstrosity

who is the Bed of Chaos this is the

witch of isth one of the four most

powerful people in the world has been

demoted to this deformed tree likee

creature there are also these orbs next

to her that we need to destroy in order

to damage her and it's assumed by many

that these are her other two daughters

that were closest to her when the flame

erupted so we have two daughters stuck

to their mother two daughters who were

half afflicted by the flame a son who is

arguably the most affected and two

daughters who managed to survive one who

doesn't have the strength to carry on

anymore and another who sits outside her

mother's Arena this is by far the most

depressing story I've ever had The

Misfortune of uncovering the further we

push into lost isth the more of the

family we get to meet allowing us to see

the consequence es of her actions we can

see the pain that all of them are in as

some of them are just wishing for their

siblings back and others just want to

stay alive it's an awful story that all

leads to the final fight with isth

herself and it is by far the most

anticlimactic ending I've ever

experienced it is agreed upon by many

that the Bed of Chaos is the worst fight

in Dark Souls 1 the boss is insanely

difficult but it's not the difficulty

itself that's the issue it's why the

boss is difficult I would argue that

just within the main game the two

hardest bosses are the Four Kings in

orstein and smoke ow ands are difficult

bosses because there's two of them you

have to have both on screen at all times

or you'll lose this fight this is

balanced by having orstein be fast but

not as lethal and SM being slow and

hard-hitting it's a wonderful dichotomy

that makes for a satisfying fight and

the Four Kings is a DPS check as every

30 to 45 seconds a second king will

spawn and this will keep going until

four on your screen at once to succeed

you need to kill the current King before

this happens both boss fights are hard

but have weaknesses you can exploit the

Bed of Chaos has none to defeat the boss

you need to destroy both orbs on her

sides then go down the middle inside of

her so you can find the source of her

power she's actually extremely weak as

both the orbs and her die in one hit

it's getting there that's the issue her

hand attack is oddly timed and due to

her design it's unclear where her hit

box ends after defeating one of the orbs

the floor will start to crumble so not

only do you need to avoid her attacks

but you'll also need to avoid the floor

there's also a strict path you're meant

to follow for this fight which will lead

you right next to a broken piece in the

flooring so you'll more than than likely

get hit and fallen and die the walk back

to this boss is also just as atrocious

as you'll more than likely spend more

time walking to the boss than actually

fighting her thankfully there is no

reset involved in this boss as every

single run you've done is carried over

to the next as it essentially has

unlimited checkpoints it's like from

software knew it was bad but still kept

it in even if I actually enjoyed the

fight the payoff narratively isn't worth

the time we ventured further and further

into the depths of lost isth coming

across all of her children who were

these hideous beasts that did incredible

damage and she's just a puzzle The Witch

of isth has one of the best Back stories

in the game as the tale of her children

is heartbreaking and being able to see

their conditions face to face does take

a lot out of you but it's completely

soured by a boss fight that is

mechanically and narratively a letdown

our third Lord Soul belongs to grave

Lord Neato and he's interesting to say

the least Neato might have the most

detailed boss design but the most basic

story out of all the four Lords if you

were to just assume that Neato simply

became the Grim Reaper and just

administered death you wouldn't be far

off off which is a shame for someone of

his importance grave Lord Neato lives in

the Tomb of giants which is accessed via

the catacombs both these arish Sher

similar theme of death as this is where

the dead are buried so we know that he

administers death but what else does he

do well not much else he does have a

covenant that you can join but their

goal is just to spread more death across

the world it seems like he doesn't care

about what's going on in the world as

the only reason he attacks you is

because we're obviously here with

malicious intent Neo doesn't have any

lore regarding his life during the age

of fire and it's just about about him

administering death from this we can

infer that Neato either doesn't care

about the age of fire or maybe even just

wants the age of Darkness to occur the

only other bit of lore surrounding him

is a boss named pin wheel who was a

necromancer presumably made up of three

people as referenced by the number of

masks on the body who stolen item from

him known as the right of kindling there

are quite a few theories regarding pin

wheel like the fact that pin wheel was

originally a father but his wife and

child died so he attempted to resurrect

them but it failed and some have stated

further that he's still trying to figure

out how to revive them as we can see

skeleton throughout the room which could

be seen as his test subjects but other

than that we've pretty much discussed

all of Neato there isn't anything else

to speak about which is a real shame his

backstory has a massive amount of

potential but it just felt unfinished

there are no major themes tied to Neato

he's just kind of exists our final Lord

Soul belongs to se the scalas SE as we

remember Allied himself with our four

Lords and attacked the dragons the

reason he did this was because SE unlike

the other dragons was not Immortal all

the other dragons had impenetrable

scales that could not be broken with any

type of weapon SE was not born with

these scales so in a sense he was not

Immortal it was only until Gwyn was

given their weakness from SE which we

know is lightning that Gwyn was able to

pierce the dragon scales and actually

kill them SE was envious of his Brethren

as they had what he didn't so as thanks

for working with Gwyn he was named the

Duke and given the duk's archives as

well as some of Gwynn's lord soul for

power during the war SE found the

primordial Crystal an item that gave him

temporary immortality but during this

time in the Duke's archives he

eventually went mad with his experiments

and his research he is considered the

grandfather of sorcery as well as the

creator of these creatures and the

Moonlight Butterfly our first

interaction with SE is that he ends up

killing us and throwing us in a prison

cell we can see that theme of

desperation as SE is trying everything

he can to get what he wants but in the

process it made him mad he's not as

mindful of his actions as he used to be

and is sort of a shadow of his former

self one thing I find interesting in

this prison is the abundance of Miracle

related items and the clothing that are

scattered throughout the prison it's

possible that clerics were deemed

suitable subjects for SE experiments

maybe this is due to their magical power

or because they were so easy to defeat

to kill SE though we need to head to the

Crystal Caves which I was originally

going to say was probably the worst

level in this game due to half the map

being invisible but the walk to the boss

is surprisingly straightforward

venturing off that path though is where

the problem lies to defeat SE we need to

break his primordial Crystal so that we

can sever his immortality giving us a

chance to kill him the story of these

Lords caused a bit of an imbalance

throughout my playthrough you can go

through lost isth and the demon ruins

which is filled with Rich lore tons of

backstory and compelling bosses that fit

with the lore surrounding the witch of

isth but then you go to the Four Kings

and just find out that they were Lords

of new Lando who got tricked by coth and

consumed by the abyss it feels jarring

going from one to the other as one feels

thorough while the other feels

incomplete like you miss something or

there was more that should have been

said I don't think every boss needs to

have a multi-page Wikipedia article in

order for it to be considered a good

story I think that the boss's story said

would needed to be said in regards to

the overarching plot but I can't lie to

you and tell you that I didn't leave

these locations wanting more I wanted to

know more about the 4 Kings and how they

roast to power and I wanted to know more

about Neato and SE in general but I

never got that and I guess in a way this

could be viewed as a positive as I

didn't walk out of these places not

wanting to learn them at all but rather

wanted to learn more the game invested

me so much into its story thanks to its

characters and environmental

storytelling that I wanted the game to

provide me with more information on it I

wanted to be encapsulated by this story

more than I already was as with many

Souls games not all answers are

explicitly told to us but there was

still a lot of burning questions I had

that never got mentioned with the Lord

souls in the vessel we are now able to

fight gwin but we still have one final

location we need to visit which is the

land of ulil accessed by the artorius of

the Abyss DLC the one and only DLC that

Dark Souls 1 would have we start this

DLC by defeating this Gold Golem that

has a woman named dusk captured inside

dusk was the princess of a place called

ulil according to her it's a place from

an age that existed long ago hilariously

ly enough she doesn't actually say

anything after this you would think that

the DLC would sort of spin a story that

her home is in danger and we need to

save her but she doesn't actually tell

us that she just sells us sorceries the

DLC doesn't officially start though

until we return back to her location

with an item called the broken pendant

which causes us to get sucked in into

this portal and taken to UIL as dusk

said ulil is a place from long ago and

while you may be confused on how this

fits within the geography of lordran

this place is a lot closer than you

think in fact we already ran through it

to get to the DL see the dark R Garden

is ulil this is evident by the tree

enemies who have a similar design to

these tree likee enemies and the same

plans that are only found in the dark R

Garden are also found here as well ulil

was a city hundreds of years before the

dark R Garden came to be so something

happened that made this place turn into

the garden that we know of well to

understand the story of ulil we need to

talk to Elizabeth but princess dusk is

here no longer snatched away by that

horrifying primeval human and so I must

ask ask couldst thou once more play the

Savior an abyss was begat of the ancient

beast and threatens to swallow the whole

of ulil Knight artorius came to stop

this but such a hero has nearly 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 this

Prime evil human is Manis of the Abyss

the final boss of the DLC and the thing

that sucked us into ulil in the first

place so our job is to hunt manace down

my main gripe with the DLC is

justification as technically with the

Lord vessel we can just leave so why do

we need to worry about this it's not an

immersion breaking problem but it is a

shame while traveling to the land of

ulil you will come across this Coliseum

like structure which is where we get to

meet our next boss artorius of the Abyss

artorius was one of the Four Knights of

Gwyn the other three are Hawkeye goth

who is sitting at the top of the tower

right next to the Coliseum kin who

appears in the Coliseum after we defeat

artorius and the final KN is orstein

each of them were skilled in their own

ways as Hawkeye used his powerful grabow

to shoot down dragons in fact he can

actually help us shoot down calam who is

the last of the ancient dragons Ornstein

also used his spear that was able to cut

through the scales of dragons with ease

and we can also see The Spoils of his

War due to the amount of dragon heads

exist in an Orlando artorius is also

able to wield his great sword with

Incredible finesse and cabon used her

two daggers to cut down anyone who

opposed Gwynn's rule but all of them

minus orstein are way past their Prime

which is a growing theme amongst the

entire series goth was imprisoned in

this Tower with nothing left to do but

to make carvings he also couldn't use

his great bow anymore as all the dragons

have been wiped out so he has no purpose

kierin may have had a deep love for

artorius as when we visit her she is

next to a grave she made for him and

asks if we can give her his soul if we

do she gives us her weapon weens and

continues to sit by the grave implying

that she no longer wants to be a knight

anymore and artorius came to uio and

attempt to stop the abyss from spreading

but ended up losing and being corrupted

himself his left arm is also dangling

which might suggest that it's broken

this is because he used his shield to

protect his wolf companion CF the same C

from the main game although he is much

smaller in this DLC C also has a

different intro if you do the DLC first

because ulio is in the past so he'll

remember you in the present and it makes

killing him that much harder in regards

to CF it's possible that he doesn't want

us getting the Covenant of the Abyss

ring as that allows us to travel through

the abyss to kill the Four Kings and

given his owner's condition CIF probably

doesn't want us to end up like artorius

the artorius boss fight was actually

really entertaining he was the first

boss that felt like the antithesis of

this game's combat most of the game's

Pace has been very slow and methodical

but he has these fast attacks and very

few openers I do wish though that there

was at least an ounce of buildup to this

fight as you can literally start the DLC

and be at the boss room in about 10

minutes I think having the player

traversed some of the areas that are

covered in these Abyss creatures that

grow in number as we get closer to

artorius would have been great as it's

slowly leading us towards this person

responsible for all this death while

narratively it felt a bit too fast for

me the fight mechanically was great

after artorius we can explore the rest

of uio and we can see how much this land

has been affected by the abyss as all

the inhabitants have been infected by

this dark energy turning them into these

disgusting creatures eventually we'll

reach the bottom and this feeling of

fear starts to set in as the world

becomes darker and darker the further we

go down here in the chasm of the Abyss

is where the darkness reaches its peak

and it's where these dark Sprites of

humanity live these are very similar in

design to the actual Humanity we consume

in game this seems to be Humanity in a

more physical form one that is more

exposed and not constricted by the dark

sign at the foot of the chasm is our

final boss Manis the father of the Abyss

manace has an interesting story

apparently the people of ulil were

tricked by a serpent who was probably

coth into digging mance's grave up in

doing so it caused Manus to go wild and

unleash his wrath upon them according to

his soul Manus was once a human became

father of the Abyss when his humanity

went wild and now he eternally seeks his

broken pendant the same pendant we had

to find to start the DLC it's unclear

why he liked this pendant so much but it

was possibly nostalgic to him or was

given to him by someone he loved and

because this pendant was so important to

him he did everything he could to get it

back which inevitably drove him to

Insanity it seems that he got so

desperate to find the pendant that he

pulled in random people into this world

as the NPC marvelous Chester is clearly

not from this world and he even says so

himself he also kind of looks like the

hunters from bloodborne which is a nice

reference to the game the main question

many within the community have though is

who was Manis before he became his

current deformed State well we really

don't know many have said it's the fer

of pygmy and I like that idea but I

think it's less interesting than that

many of the spells in this DLC say that

they were created by an uilian sorcerer

on the brink of Madness I can't help but

think that this is perfect for mance's

description one thing that is

interesting is that in the middle of the

arena is a grave with a Humanity shaped

hole so maybe manace was one of these

Humanity Sprites when he died or that

this is what he turned into when he died

regardless it's a very interesting

detail I also couldn't get any footage

of this as she disappears when you leave

the boss room but dusk apparently

appears out of manace when we kill him

meaning that he kidnapped her this may

confuse some people as dusk has been

sort of all over the place in this game

and due to her going from the past to

the present it sort of screws with the

time of it it seems like she was sent

into our time somehow and was captured

by this Golem she then disappears and

goes back into her time which then leads

to the abyss incident with the people of

ulil artor is then called to defeat the

abyss but fails and then we get summoned

into this world via mance's hand then

save Dusk and go back to the present

it's still a little confusing and the

world of Dark Souls is also very

confusing when it comes to time as

always during this fading of the fire

time is very convoluted cuz we can

summon people as Phantoms and the time

sort of stops it's very confusing but

that's how I think it went down but with

Mana dead we have officially finished

the DLC however this won't be the last

time we'll hear of Manis but that's for

Dark Souls 2 artorius of the Abyss was a

great DLC while it does lack in

motivation in regards to the player the

actual story of the DLC was great it

provides us with a nice timeline of

events as well as more insight into the

abyss and its effects on the world and

while not known at the time it would

eventually set up the plot to Dark Souls

2 it is without a doubt a worthy

extension to the game story but now we

can finally go to the Kil of the first

flame and determine the fate of lordran

the Kiln is coded in Ash and we can see

the spirits of those who followed Gwyn

into the Kil walk around aimlessly as we

approach the first flame we have one

person in our way and that is the Lord

of sunlight himself earlier I said Gwyn

sacrificed himself to rekindle the flame

and he did but because of his Lord

Soul's power he was able to keep his

body but his mind was gone Gwyn has gone

Hollow and while I'm more than capable

of killing him myself I couldn't dare

start the fight without the guy who's

been by my side since the very beginning

Solara vastor is easily the most

well-known NPC in the entire Souls

franchise and his story is a perfect

representation of the mood this game is

trying to convey throughout the whole

game we've been meeting with NPCs of all

kinds some with goals and others without

but none of them have managed to touch

my heart in a way that cair and sigm did

both of them had a goal in mind one

wants to find his sunlight and the other

wants to explore the world but both are

stuck sigm always seems to be getting

himself caught in some situation whether

that be a locked gate he can't enter or

a poison swap he can cross and salair

can find his sunlight they both

willingly became Undead in order to

achieve their goals and it tore me apart

to hear that sigm couldn't see it

through sigm Prides himself on being a

knight of Katarina and that he can

handle all of his troubles on his own

but with my help showed him that he

wasn't a worthy Knight after all and

that he always needed someone to rescue

him more often than not in these games

your assistance will lead to their death

so it's either converse with them and

enjoy their company knowing that they

will die because of you or distance

yourself from them knowing that while it

hurts it's better that they get to Live

Another Day NPCs of these games will

usually end up achieving a terrible fate

but this sadness makes the few times a

happy outcome occurs all the better

Solair wasn't able to find Sunlight of

his own he became depressed and wondered

if this journey was really worth taking

conveying the tone of the entire game is

our journey and our struggle really

worth it in the end which is why I owed

it to him to make it right it may not be

the actual Sun but the first flame could

be considered the Sun so for one final

time I summoned cair and we took down

lord Gwyn

gwinn's theme has such a fitting tune

all these bosses have these intense

sounds with loud music but gwyns is such

a simple piano it's not intense it's

almost sad in a way that the most

powerful man in the world has been

reduced to nothing and what was supposed

to be a glorious fight between two

Warriors really isn't it makes it all

the more worse when you realize that

Gwyn can be parried and once you nail

this timing down this fight is a

cakewalk for the showing how far from

Grace he has truly fallen with Gwyn

defeated we can now choose our ending

but we aren't the only one who is able

to choose since we managed to bring

Solair all the way to the end of the

game he was able to also fight gwin in

his own world thanks to the convoluted

timelines of Dark Souls and it is

canonized that he succeeded and linked

the flame in his own world he became the

sunlight he was searching for and that

might be one of the greatest endings in

the entire franchise but while salair

linked the flame that doesn't mean we

have to if we choose the age of fire the

world continues we rekindled the flame

flame and use ourselves as kindling to

continue this age of fire if we instead

choose to leave we let the flame

extinguish itself We join the primordial

serpents including cth and probably

framp and Usher in an age of dark one

whereare humanity is at the top and we

ourselves are the ruler at least that's

what we think will happen like many

plots in the soul Series this is once

again left up to interpretation we only

get to see the very beginning of our

choice so anything after is just pure

speculation who knows what will happen

after and who knows if our choice was

really the correct one that's always

been up to the player to decide but I've

always felt that these endings are about

Comfort do we stay comfortable knowing

that in the age of fire we aren't on top

and might be mistreated due to our lack

of strength or do we take the risk and

see what the age of dark is about one

thing to note though is the

circumstances regarding these endings

Fram says that the undead curse will be

cured if we go with the age of fire and

not even C says anything about this when

we talk with him about it so does that

mean that we'll stay Undead or at least

still have the risk of going Hollow in

the age of dark furthermore the age of

fire was a time ruled by the gods and

they did what they could to keep it that

way but we killed them everyone in Anar

Londo that is a God is either dead or

gone gwindel is the only one that

canonically lives thanks to Dark Souls 3

so even though an age of fire can be

seen as the age of gods that might not

be true anymore as we took care of most

of them so there is positives and

negatives both ways and that's really

been the point there's never going to be

a clear answer it's just whatever you

think is right as for me I think an age

of dark is the proper way to go as we

said in the intro the world of Dark

Souls is like a set of operations things

come and things go and the age of dark

should have followed after the age of

fire but du to when breaking the rules

of the world world that didn't happen so

I think in an attempt to set things back

on track before further destruction an

age of dark is the way to go regardless

of what happens in this age of dark at

the very least things will transition

back to the way it was supposed to be

however that might not be the actual

ending given the future titles some have

debated on proper endings and given the

status of Dark Souls 3 linking the flame

I think is the real ending and is

definitely the most agreed upon as just

about every person in this game will'll

speak about linking the flame we only

hear about the guge of dark from coth

who we have to jump through several

Hoops to just even meet I can almost

guarantee someone has gone throughout

the entire game and didn't even know

that an age of dark was the real option

because of how hidden it is and while

it's not my preferred ending continuing

the age of fire would set in motion

numerous events for us to discover Dark

Souls 1 was a fantastic experience from

start to finish and while the road was a

little bumpy sometimes along the way it

story wrapped up wonderfully it's a game

that I recommend you play at least once

in your lifetime as you will never get

to experience something like this ever

again but we're just getting started

Dark Souls 2 is a brilliant game it

takes into account the age of fire and

the age of dark and asks the question

why are there only two options and then

continues this idea by shutting out both

ages by making something else the main

plot of the story something that I will

explain throughout this video so without

further Ado let's get started so before

we start talking about the story we need

to address the game as a whole Dark

Souls 2 requires a different mindset in

order to grasp what the game is trying

to tell you as we saw in Dark Souls 1

the game relied heavily on the cycles of

the world to be the main plot it's all

about the age of fire and the age of

dark and what these Cycles mean how they

impact the world and what age we'll

choose when we get to the end this means

it also relies heavily on the world

itself Dark Souls one was about our four

Lords how they Rose to power and what

they did with that power and what the

state of the world is because of sad

power as such we play a very

insignificant person in regards to the

overall world but Dark Souls I isn't

like that it's not about the age of fire

and the fate of the world it's about one

Kingdom and how this one Kingdom handled

its own cycle Lord dam was important as

it was the first Kingdom in the age of

fire but Drang Lake isn't important at

all it's just one of the hundreds of

kingdoms built on the same land and

that's what makes Dark Souls 2 so

special it's the insignificance of this

game that makes it so compelling because

it isn't tied down by the world's

Pantheon it uses what Dark Souls 1

created as a way to write its own story

this game isn't about the Cycles it's

about one small part of the Cycles the

undead curse and the quicker you realize

that Dark Souls I is reshaping the

proverbial mold that is Dark Souls 1 the

better this game gets but to explain why

we need to start playing our opening

cinematic shows our character collapsing

in a rainy Forest the narrator talks

about the undead curse and how it will

infect your mind how it has the ability

to remove all that you hold dear and all

that you remember with every minute the

curse gets worse and worse until you go

Hollow is that is the Fate for all

Undead but this narrator speaks of a

kingdom called Drang Lake and how we'll

walk towards its gate without ever

knowing why we know why we're here in

Drang Lake as our characters trying to

find a cure for the undead curse so they

no longer feel its effects but they're

unsure of why Drang Lake specifically

just as the Mind gravitates towards the

smell of food when hungry the mind of

the undead is drawn to souls and Drang

Lake has plenty of them to to get to Dr

Lake we must cross a lake and enter a

portal the scene tries to portray this

event as some marvelous spectacle but

that couldn't be farther from the truth

once we cross this gate we're never

coming back we'll either be trapped here

until we cure the curse or go Hollow the

gate is even surrounded by bright bugs

which are known to comfort the dead

almost like it's luring us to our deaths

so for one final Time We Gather our

thoughts and jump

on the other side of this portal is the

things betwix a place stuck in limbo

that serves as a connection between

Drang Lake and the outside world like I

said we're stuck here for good inside

this limbo was a house of women three of

whom are FireKeepers that are being

cared for by their housekeeper and

they're very honest about our arrival

you're

finished you'll go

Hollow yes you will become one of

them Hollows pray upon men Feast upon

their

souls this is the fate of the

cursed we aren't the first Undead to

walk through their doors and we won't be

the last and all of them have met the

same fate so what makes us any different

Dark Souls 2 tries to set in this

feeling of hopelessness so something

that's very consistent throughout the

trilogy no one truly believes we can

accomplish our goal but that's what

makes the emerald Herald so wonderful

she believes that we can succeed in our

goal and will help us in any way that

she can and by providing us the means to

level up she might be the most helpful

person in the game this is why the level

up ladies of the franchise have always

been seen in such a positive light they

don't discriminate and they don't bother

questioning if what we're doing is

working they have an undying motivation

to help us succeed regardless of if

there's something to gain from it

they're like a bright light in a dark

tunnel as all around them are people who

have given up I am

solden and like you I lost everything

and now I'm here the location they both

reside in is majula a small town on the

outskirts of Dr Lake and its the music

displays a feeling of Peace a place that

is void of death a place that you can

feel comfortable in and in the world of

Dark Souls a place like that is more

than necessary I've always preferred

when the main hubs were seamlessly

integrated into the world something that

would be eventually lost with the series

going forward as it makes the world more

believable and in the case of bajula

without it you'd be missing this

beautiful scenery after taking in the

view we can speak to the emerald Herald

who reveal our objective seek those

whose names are

unutterable the four endowed with

immense

Souls these four beings are known as the

four great ones the Lost Sinner the Old

Iron King the rotten and the Duke's Dear

Freya just like before we have four

beings that need to be slain in order to

continue and just like Dark Souls 1 how

we go about killing them and in what

order we want to go in is entirely up to

us but one thing to point out though is

that the emerald Herald isn't a firek

keeper at least she wasn't originally

her real name is Shanel lot and she was

given this name by the dragons her

purpose was to break the undead curse

but seeing as there is thousands of

Hollows in Drang Lake she clearly failed

her goal now is to just rest at majula

guiding the Undead on their Journey To

Succeed King Vendrick before we go

though I want to talk about the NPCs I

think Dark Souls 2 really dropped the

ball when it came to these characters

many of them are extremely forgettable

and seem to only be placed in the world

so that the player can be given a

tangible item rather than an engaging

story Benard of Joo is a good example as

he seems like a compelling character

that may have a memorable Quest all for

it to crumble almost immediately his

whole quest line revolves around his

family heirloom the giante teal sword

resting on his shoulder which you may

recognize as the moonlight great swword

except this one is a fake it doesn't

have the magical properties of the

original but benhart believes that with

enough strength he can unlock its true

power I would have dropped this Quest

entirely if it wasn't for the fact that

he gives us the sword at the end of it

he provides little to no substance to

the world and this goes for a vast

majority of characters we meet there are

over 40 NPCs in this game and about 90%

of them provide the player with a

service and some of their services are

either outclassed or completely useless

logr is the Mula blacksmith but the

player may find McDuff another

blacksmith except McDuff can do

everything lass can do but with the

added bonus of being able to infuse

weapons and gavon is a lonely Merchant

who only sells five items four of which

are poison he also has three set

locations so in order to purchase his

Services you'll need to go out of your

way to find him and that's if you really

want poison equipment there's just so

much clutter as half these characters

could literally just combine into one

General Goods Merchant thankfully it's

not all bad lucatiel has a wonderful

quest line as she shows us the horrific

reality that is the undead curse she was

a warrior of mea but now she barely

remembers who she is by the time we get

to the end of her quest line she's

practically pleading for us to remember

her name as she may not remember it

herself it's unclear why she came to

Drang Lake in the first place but given

that her brother astil will invade us

only a few feet from her final location

it's possible that she was looking for

him but now both of them have succumbed

to the curses Affliction never truly

knowing what happened to the other

thankfully lucao isn't the only

character of note in this game as the

feud between kraton and pate and the

peaceful conversations with venaro were

fantastic being able to take the role of

a detective and truly uncover which one

is telling the truth and then choosing a

side before one prevails was a great

investigation and the fact that a

talking head can get me to listen to his

life's story as he thinks about his past

life and how much he despises it shows

me that this game has some wonderful

stories that are just waiting to be

uncovered you just have to weed through

the dozens of merchants in order to find

them getting back on track we're still

on the hunt for the four great ones once

again this is similar to Dark Souls 1

but instead of ringing the bells of

Awakening and then finding the Lord

Souls we just have to find the souls

already if you remember from that video

on Dark Souls 1 I said that the bells of

Awakening section was a bit slow is not

much in terms of plot was happening it

wasn't until we rang them that the story

really started to take off well in Dark

Souls 2 it's the same unless you look at

the bigger picture before we get to the

four great ones there are a lot of other

areas we need to go through first for

example to get to the Lost Center we

need to go through majula to Hay's Tower

of flame to No Man's dwarf through the

Lost Bast steel and then to Center's

rise with the boss is located all these

locations will seem pointless and if you

just only do this boss fight it will

continue to feel like that it isn't

until later in the game when the climax

hits that things start to make sense no

man's Warf is a small Port town and its

final boss is the flexile sentury the

Sentry's job was to take as many Undead

as they could fit on this boat and send

them to the Lost Bas steel which is a

prison for the undead but this isn't the

only location to have lore regarding the

curse the huntsman's cops was a hunting

ground for the old iron King's Men Who

were tasked with killing any Undead on

site but as you would expect they too

also succumb to the curse next to this

area is the undead purgatory where a

chariot Rider continually kills and

punishes the undead it's also possible

that these necromancers were purposely

stationed here this may imply that the

necromancers were used to resurrect the

undead so that they can be repeatedly

killed for entertainment like I said

this game does not focus on the cycles

of the world it's all about the curse

and this is only discovered once we get

further in the game but in the beginning

it may seem a bit overplayed that's why

it's required to have a different

mindset going into this game if you're

thinking about the cycle in this game's

lore will be boring and repetitive but

it's actually brilliant once everything

comes together as these early areas are

showing how different rulers are

reacting to the curse and what their

actions are as a result of it and

speaking of rulers one of them happens

to be one of the four great ones the Old

Iron King resides in the Iron Keep but

to get there we must pass through the

Huntsman cops which we know is the place

the Old Iron King sent his men to hunt

the undead behind this location is

Harvest Valley and earn Peak two areas

that are coded in Poison thanks to one

individual Mitha the banful queen

mytha's story is rather tragic she

wasn't a originally like this monster we

see today she was a beautiful queen but

her drive to win her beloved's heart

back is what drove her to such lengths

myth's story though does have some

complications she is named both Queen

and Princess in that she loved a prince

and sought the king's affection her

story is very confusing cuz we don't

really understand whether she was a

queen and a princess or just one of them

but whoever this person was it's clear

they did not love her un thus she began

using poison as a way to obtain Beauty

but this came with its own set of

problems as the poison started turning

her into a like monster and yet while

she was sulking around her room day in

and day out trying to win the heart of a

man she unknowingly already succeeded in

doing just that the Covetous Demon was a

human Who Loved Mitha and cherished her

no matter what form she took he tried to

Showcase his love for her through

gluttony but this too would change him

and turn him into the monster we see

today but despite his change in

appearance his love for the queen never

wavered behind the poisonous swamp of

Earth and Peak is the Iron Keep home of

the Old Iron King The Old Iron King was

a lord of very little power but he would

then eventually meet a knight called Sir

Alon who trained to soldiers in the art

of battle the Old Iron King would then

eventually build his kingdom but doing

so cost him almost all his assets but

one day he discovered an iron producing

Miracle this allowed him to control iron

to his heart's content which led to the

Iron Keep a giant Fortress made entirely

of iron he started creating Soldiers

made entirely of iron and even a demon

of fire called the Smelter Demon this

idea of creating things of Free Will

with only raw materials is also related

to the undead Chariot which of course

was his creation so he's quite familiar

with this craft eventually for whatever

reason sir alone would leave the Iron

Keep and set out in search of unknown

lands after losing his most trusted

Knight The Iron King sought the Council

of a man named agel he was presumably a

pyromancer due to his goal of trying to

give fire a will of its own the two

worked together to create the

aforementioned Smelter Demon but this

would bring disastrous consequences to

the keep the two never considered that

by giving Something Free Will it has the

chance to turn on its creator and the

Smelter Demon did just that with one

swing it obliterated the Iron King and

sent him into the lava it was born from

this act also caused the lava to take on

a much larger form and crash into the

Iron Keep consuming it in lava as we see

now but while the keep and its soldiers

were scrambling to Higher Ground

something else happened the iron King's

body came in contact with an old soul

the Old King Soul so those in the

present day he's known as the one who

shall not be named but for us we know

him is Gwyn when killed the Old Iron

King will drop the iron King's soul but

it's only on New Game Plus that we

uncover the truth that the Old Iron King

has come to possessed the very soul that

Gwyn possessed all those years ago but

the Old Iron King isn't the only one

each of our four great ones has come in

contact with a soul that belonged to a

notable character from the past game but

not only did it give them strength it

may have also carried with it the

emotions of those it belong to both Gwyn

and the Old Iron King share a theme of

power Gwyn wanted to keep his Godlike

power and as such took multiple steps in

order to achieve that like linking the

first flame branding Humanity with the

dark sign and tossing things he felt

could threaten their rule into the

painted world of Aramis and while his

feelings weren't as Fierce as gwis the

Old Iron King also desired power he

wanted to ensure a protected and

impenetrable Kingdom while also

relishing and the power that comes of

being a king so he used his power to

create a giant Kingdom with skilled

Knights and dozens of monstrous

creatures made from Iron and then

displayed his power by tormenting the

undead for sport and torturing them

endlessly simply because he could but

while the Iron King tortured Undead

against their will there was one person

whose torture was self-imposed located

in the center's rise underneath the Lost

ptio is a prisoner who willingly

imprisoned themselves for the sins of

their past according to Shala quar

maula's resident feline her sin was that

she tried to light the first flame but

the key word is light implying that it

had already gone out so how would this

be considered a sin if anything it would

be the opposite sadly we never truly

know what any of it means one thing we

do know is whose Soul she possesses

before the boss fight starts a bug

crawls into her eye specifically a chaos

bug the same one from Lost isth she is

in possession of the witch of isth Soul

we know that these bugs have mind

controlling capabilities as evidenced by

the bad ending of cair's quest line so

it's possible that the Lost Sinner

intended to let us into her cell until

the chaos bug felt threatened but it's

still doesn't answer the question

regarding herself self imprisonment

maybe she wanted to keep the chaos bug

and turn her from escaping as this craz

version of the law cner could have run

rampant and Slaughter dozens of people

or maybe she's somehow feeling the

emotions of isth who probably felt the

men's guilt for creating the Bed of

Chaos so maybe this feeling of guilt is

being transferred over to the LW CER

without her knowing to this day it's

still a mystery but a very compelling

one at that the witch of Isa had a

desire to create life which is why she

wanted to make a new first flame but she

wasn't the only one who had desires but

that that being's Legacy may have

created even more Devastation than

intended the Duke's Dear Freya is a

spider who is in possession of se's soul

but se's feelings and desires are able

to engulf those who come in contact with

it Freya Soul talks about a writhing

ruin and how this ancient Thing cast a

shadow over the land and that at some

point in its life it came in contact

with a solitary insect but grew its

power feasting on the wealth of Twisted

Souls found within the land if we defeat

Freya we can enter the Lord's private

Chambers which houses the Duke of sadora

himself and a cage that presumably

belonged to Freya the writhing ruin was

created from se's intense feeling of

want he searched endlessly for a way to

be immortal even when he was plagued by

insanity and it's because of how

powerful his desires were that they

seemed to linger on past his death the

writhing ruin would go on to possess

others in an attempt to obtain something

as he possessed a being that turned man

scorpion tar and his wife into half

human creatures it has this insatiable

urge to achieve something what that

something is will depend on the

individual SE wanted immortality and

Freya may have just wanted strength or

power regardless this writhing ruin will

presumably seek something until it

doesn't for eternity and ruin many lives

in the process it's obvious by now that

there seems to be a parallel between our

old cast and our new ones in regards to

their feelings and emotions whether they

received these similar feelings when

they came in contact with the old souls

or the souls were attracted to them

because of their feelings is unknown but

our old friends legacies continue to

bring disaster even after their death

but for one of them that may not be the

case our final great one is the rotten

in Mula there is a giant pit and

assuming you can get down there without

dying you'll arrive at the Grave of

Saints a catacomb that used to be a bar

IAL site before it was overrun by rats I

was admittedly a bit confused running

through here as I thought this was some

ongoing joke I wasn't aware of as

there's a literal rat talking to me

calling me his servant in the most

serious tone possible it's pretty

pointless and it's best if we ignore it

and moved on but sadly we won't be doing

much moving as much as we will be

falling Dark Souls 2 somehow managed to

surpass blle town in quality by making

the gutter a darker version of Bight

town all while being poisoned thanks to

these statues just like Bight town the

lore is quite similar as these are the

citizens of various kingdoms that were

tossed away out of sight from the rest

of the world after the gutter is the

Black Gulch the home of the rotten the

rotten possesses the soul of Neato but

instead of their emotions being similar

it seems to just be their appearance

Neato was an amalgamation of skeletons

and the rotten is an amalgamation of

dead bodies but where Neato was hellbent

on administering death throughout the

world the rotten seems to sort of

Embrace or Comfort it these statues

might possibly be the people who have

died down here in the pits he might be

trying to comfort these Hollows in their

new life and these statues seem to be a

showcasing of his feelings towards his

new Community what is rather odd though

is that these statues in the boss room

don't shoot poison at us so it's

possible that they weren't meant to

shoot poison originally and it's because

of this poisonous rot that is taken over

the pits that they're allowed to do so

through our discussion about the great

ones you obviously notice the

connections between our old and new cast

of characters but you may have also

noticed the lack of lore there is a lot

of information that is either completely

unclear or only given some amount of

weight thanks to the abundance of

theories from the community Dark Souls 2

is both the most understood and most

confusing game within the trilogy it

just depends on what answers you're

looking for however however I feel like

I'm content with this one thing that

bothered me about Dark Souls I as we

discussed before is that I left some of

these boss Arenas with more questions

and answers I wanted to know who the

Four Kings of nandoo were and how they

Rose to power I also wanted to know more

about Neato and his role in the world

after the war with the dragons and while

I definitely have similar questions

regarding some of our great ones I left

majority of these areas feeling complete

like I had learned what needed to be

learned and I uncovered the real story

and that's the benefit of creating

something like Dark Souls 2 we don't

really need to know what these great

ones did and how they shaped the fate of

the world because they didn't despite

how important many of the characters in

this game may seem at the end of the day

they're just another kingdom in a long

line of other kingdoms no one is going

to remember them and no one is going to

care about them that is why I feel

satisfied when leaving the black gulture

centers rise have uncovered enough lore

to get a generous picture of their life

with a few holes just big enough for me

to make some solid theories with all

four great ones slain we can now go to

Drang Lake Castle or can we

this is Alia the brother of king

Vendrick and the scholar of the first

sin Alia story is very unclear at the

moment but we'll eventually learn more

about him later once we enter Drang Lake

Castle we'll see this Phantom by the

name of Weller he's a sort of lore dump

which admittedly might not be the best

way to handle this information but given

the nature of of these games where you

can go a whole playthrough Without

Really knowing anything maybe it's

necessary regardless weer shares with us

some backstory on Drang Lake and

Vendrick King Vendrick conquered four

great ones and built a kingdom upon

their very souls he then met a lady

named nandra who warned Vendrick of

another looming threat these beings were

known as Giants King Vendrick would

eventually cross the Seas and battle

these Giants completely decimating their

civilization as a constellation prize he

took most of them prisoner and ran

experiments on them this is what led to

the creation of the Golems these beings

we see inside the castle and with the

Golems he was able to build Drang Lake

Castle later in the game we'll acquire

this item called the Ashen misted heart

this allows us to peer into the memories

of some specific beings most of these

memories are from dead Giants we come

across in the first level these all

showcase different sections of Drang

Lake being overrun by Giants and one of

them even shows us the location of the

giant Lord we see the destruction that

they left Drang Lake castle and and we

can also see how outmatch the soldiers

really were even though they outnumber

them three or four to one they're

getting decimated at every turn but

somehow they were able to persevere

considering there's no Giants in Dr Lake

but I think the person responsible for

some of this Victory Is Us these

memories operate like Olio from Dark

Souls 1 where we go back in time to

alter the past and then go back to the

present this may tie into a subtle hint

very early in the game the first boss in

Dark Souls I is the last giant whose

boss sold description reads the lord of

the Giants who had brought wreck and

ruin to the entire kingdom was said to

have been felled by an unknown Warrior

his beaten and broken remains were then

dragged beneath the stronghold where he

was sealed away this random giant Soul

references the giant Lord and also

describes the exact condition this giant

is in meaning this giant is the giant

Lord and that must mean the unknown

Warrior was us this might explain why he

thrashes his arms around trying to break

free as he remembers us and wants

revenge this is the complete backstory

of Drang Lake which gives us enough

answers to our questions but

simultaneously gives us new questions we

want answers to such as the whereabouts

of nandra well close to the top of the

castle is the queen herself the last

king of this land King Vendrick as he

was

called he found the strength to rule his

people and when the undead were born

cursed he found more strength to face

them but in the end he never took the

true

Throne visit

Vendrick we have no need for two

rulers so nandra wants us to find King

Vendrick as she says there is no need

for two rulers but she also mentions

that King Vendrick never took the throne

she just casually says this statement as

if this isn't some huge Revelation since

Gwyn people have been rekindling the

flame but Vendrick didn't but it doesn't

mean Vendrick wants to bring about an

age of dark he doesn't want either this

is even more unheard of as no one has

even attempted to invoke a third

solution to the fating of the first

flame but to learn more we need to find

Vendrick he resides in the undead crypt

but blocking our path is to two bosses

the Looking Glass Knight and vad the

Royal Aegis both of these fights were

fantastic both from the actual combat to

the design of the bosses I'm just upset

that it took this long for this feeling

to finally come to fruition I rambled

for quite a bit about the bosses in Dark

Souls 1 like how orstein and SM were

fantastic and how I despise the Bed of

Chaos but I haven't found the right time

to talk about the bosses in Dark Souls 2

as there really isn't much to say most

of them were pretty underwhelming for

the most part and this is down to a few

factors one was simply overleveling

since Dark Souls 2 has 32 bosses in the

main game it's very easy to miss some I

didn't find the Chariot or old dragon

slayer until much later when I Revisited

those area so I was a bit overprepared

for the boss fight Dark Souls 1 had a

really great way of gaing the players

progression while also guiding them down

a path which in turn made every fight

feel like a proper match it wasn't a

one-sided victory for the most part

there were a few exceptions like

windelin and pin wheel but they have

very low Health pools so it's a bit hard

to judge them the other two reasons are

just down to overall enjoyment and the

summons the majority of the boss in this

game not only have summonable NPCs but

multiple at that I had two summons for

the Looking Glass Knight and while the

game does attempt to balance this by

adding more Health we all know the main

strength of the summons is to be an

extra body for the boss to hit which

means less attention on us and more time

to get free hits in I will admit this

trivialized many fights the Smelter

Demon the rotten and probably a few

others were really easy with summons but

that comes to my next issue to complete

some of these NPC quest lines we talked

about earlier they need to be summoned

for bosses as someone who's trying to

get as much lore as possible in one

playthrough I needed to continue

continue the summons quest line so while

I was gaining more progress with the

NPCs it came at the cost of the quality

of the fights this makes me even more

disappointed as many of these quest

lines didn't even go anywhere so they

were just completely useless and wasted

my time some of the boss fights though

just sucked regardless I was pretty

disappointed with Chariot fight even

though it was a cool idea I just wasn't

a big fan of it and this game's

obsession with gang fights is quite

insane the ruined Sentinels and the

belfre Gargoyles were just not

entertaining in the slightest orstein

and SM only worked because of how

different they were in regards to their

move set and how the arena was designed

and the Bell Gargoyles were okay for the

most part since the second one didn't

come until halfway plus they used

different move sets the ruined Sentinels

were the same enemy copied three times

with zero obstacles to separate them

minus the one platform you start on and

the belfrey Gargoyles got way out of

hand with close to three or four at the

same time in the same Arena as the

original fight which is not that large

and very open I did manage to beat them

on my own so I was happy that I won but

only because I knew I'd never have to do

that fight again as for the four great

ones the old King was just awful even

though I had a summon with me his moves

would have been the same regardless and

they were almost too easy to evade the

other three were pretty good but nothing

spectacular they did provide some

intense moments but I did have to summon

lucatiel for two of them so I may have

missed some of that spectacle I will

recognize though that this entire

section is a very subjective take as a

boss's enjoyment largely depends on the

skill of the player and their build but

since this is all about my thoughts on

the game my opinion was that they were

pretty underwhelming for the most part

it felt like instead of focusing on

fewer bosses with unique engagements

they created more but at the cost of

their depth behind the Looking Glass

night is the Shrine of Amana and the

aforementioned Undead CP each of these

places were created specifically for the

dead both the mileno and the phito watch

over these respective places in an

attempt to guide the undead to their

final destination both of these

creatures have interesting backstories

as they were created by the old dead one

who we know as Neato both of them seem

to be a Reincarnation of Neo's Soul as

if he created them we would have seen

them in Dark Souls 1 but maybe they

didn't plan that far ahead when making

the games regardless it is a nice detail

and finally gives us some actual story

regarding Neato so I was more than happy

to listen to it it also continues to

reinforce the old one Soul descriptions

that mention how their souls still hold

power over the land as the power of

Neato and his obsession with all things

death are still utilized to this day as

for what they specifically do it seems

like the mil phito enchant or Comfort

the dead via song as their singing can

be heard throughout the level and the

phito are grave wardens who watch over

the dead both of these groups seem to

revolve around comforting the dead so

maybe Neato was a lot more like the

rotten than I had initially thought at

the very end of the crypt is vestad and

while the boss fight was great what

really piqued my attention was his soul

and the items acquired from that Soul

firstly his soul is a dark purple and

black color this is the same as the DLC

bosses from Dark Souls 1 I originally

thought that this was made to

distinguish the DLC from the main game

but it wasn't Until Dark Souls 2 that I

realized that the soul shape has actual

meaning this is an image of a normal

boss soul in this game next is from one

of the great ones and the other is of

those affected by the darkness both

Manis and the royal AES have the same

Soul meaning they're both affected by

the darkness and that's due in part to

him being down here since Vendrick

locked himself away in the Crypt another

detail that is interesting about vestad

here is that his soul can buy Miracles

specifically the sacred oath Miracle

which is used by Warriors who once sered

the god of Sun so it seems like the

Royal AIS belong to the same Covenant as

cair however we can see that this

miracle has either been warped or is

unable to be casted as he never actually

uses this in the fight and instead Buffs

himself with dark magic further showing

how dark his soul has become after the

Royal Aegis we can Vendrick and if you

expected some grand entrance then you're

playing the wrong

game just like when the most powerful

being in the game's world is reduced to

a hollow and Mindless State vendrick's

condition actually seems to be much

worse as Gwinn at least retain some of

his combat abilities but Vendrick can

barely swing his sword if he choose to

fight him all is not lost though for our

King as if we return with the Ashen Mist

Heart we can peer into his memories and

be able to talk with Vendrick prior to

his hollowing do you intend to link the

fire then you must first take the

throne prove your worth find the ancient

crowns seek adversity and they will be

yours Vendrick tells us to seek the

crowns these crowns belong to three

rulers and also happened to be R3 DLC

these DLCs not only provide us with

additional lore regarding other kingdoms

but also what caus these kingdoms to

collapse when we finish each DLC we can

gain a crown and after obtaining said

Crown we can talk to Vendrick for more

dialogue some of the dialogue is

relevant later but a common theme

throughout his speeches is the idea that

we're given a choice Al throughout Dark

Souls 1 we were told to link the flame

and that if we failed the age of dark

would arise and that would be the end of

the world but King Vendrick is more than

content with you making your own choice

this goes back to what we discussed

before vedric didn't want an age of fire

or an age of dark he just wanted to find

a way to break the curse this also ties

into his brother Alia and some of his

dialogue when we meet him again old man

trust fully the abusion of

life but is this so

wrong a construction of thead and

yet a world full of WS and

scandles noo I you intent for shattering

the Y spoiling this wonderful

for AIA is definitely the most

fascinating character in this game like

Vendrick he is completely aware that he

is unable to change the world in their

current state so he just observes and

sees what happens Alia says that the joy

of life is warm and Splendid but it's a

facade as the undead curse will

eventually come back but because of that

warmth that life brings us are we intent

on shattering this illusion we live in

and spoiling this false life we have or

are we content with our lives and

embrace the warmth and pleasure that

comes with it knowing full well that

it's a lie Alia just like the game wants

you to actually make a choice and not

blindly follow follow what some random

person will tell us use your own

experiences your own knowledge and your

own beliefs to come to an answer the way

this was crafted was absolutely

brilliant and it shows how impressive

the writing of this game truly is but

before we get to the DLC and obtain the

crowns we need to talk about the rest of

the content as to actually get the Ash

and Miss heart item we need to travel to

Alia's keep and the Dragon Shrine both

Alia and Vendrick sought to cure the

curse but had different methods of doing

so Vendrick shunned the undead as he

wanted them as far away from the kingdom

as possible that's why he threw them in

the undead prison of lost best steel in

here are hundreds of Undead including

some volatile variants as these were

created by Alia whereas ventri shun the

undead Alia embraced them as he felt

that the key to Breaking the curse was

within the undead themselves but he

didn't welcome them with open arms as

they were all subjected to his various

experiments but Alia went even further

with these tests and didn't just focus

on the undead but other species he even

recreated multiple dragons a race of

beings thought to be extinct by now

despite what their names imply though

both the guardian dragon and the ancient

dragon aren't actually dragons the

guardian dragon soul can allow us to

purchase the Wing Greatsword which

states that the Drakes are likely

descendants of ancient dragons this

implies that this is actually a Drake

and not a dragon furthermore we know the

dragons especially the original dragons

are gone as calamite was the last of the

ancient dragons this is still true as

the ancient dragon in Dark Souls I isn't

a dragon as it drops a soul of a giant

this thing used to be a giant and was

somehow configured by Alia through

rigorous experiments to look like an

ancient dragon to get the actual ancient

dragon soul we need to use the Ash and

Mist Heart again but this time in

freya's Boss Arena as it allows us to

see the memories of the Dead Dragon

hanging from the ceiling this memory

seems to show the original resting place

of this Dragon before it somehow made it

down here there's not a whole lot to

learn from this place other than the

fact that these large broken structures

look similar to the ones outside Alia

keep and there's only one place in the

world that we know that has giant

structures like this it is my belief

that this is Ash Lake it might not be

the entirety of Ash Lake as we don't

really know how far these trees went but

it seems to be at least some part of it

in regards to time this is most likely

during the war between Gwyn and the

dragons ashake exists did back then but

it wasn't the Ash Lake that we're

familiar with as if you remember it was

all gray before fire was born so the

memory was during the war with the

ancient dragons and the present day

location of Aldi's keep is where some

part of Ash Lake used to be with all the

areas covered we can head to the DLC and

it's advised to finish all the bosses

and content you missed before going

which is why I retraced my steps and

discovered the locations of the dark

lurker and the old dragon slayer I

didn't really find their stories that

interesting but I figured I would cover

them before we continue the old dragon

slayer seems to be someone who was using

orang Ste armor as a way to uphold his

legacy as not only does orstein have

other plans which we'll learn about in

Dark Souls 3 some have claimed that this

is a fragment of orin's old soul that

now possesses the armor which would

connect with the running theme of old

souls from the past games coming to the

present just like with the four great

ones as for the dark ler there's pretty

much nothing we know about this being at

all their soul states that they're a

remnant of some ancient dissipated being

and the color of their soul is not dark

implying that they weren't born or

consumed by the abyss like the Royal

Aegis or Manis they also look very

similar to the these beings in the

undead crypt that spawn when the bells

are rung given the color of the dark

lurker Soul it's possible that this

being was actually here to fight against

the abyss similar to artorius but there

is very little evidence to support this

Theory but now we can officially start

the DLC Dark Souls 2 eventually release

with three additional pieces of content

the crown of the sunken King the crown

of the Old Iron King and the crown of

the ivory King even the disjointed

nature of these DLCs they could be

played in any order as they don't

contradict one another but we'll just go

in the order of release the crown of the

sunken King starts near the shrine

beside the rotten's boss room and

entering the shrine will take us to

shova the sanctum City upon entering we

are greeted by not only a gorgeous view

of the underground city but also a

dragon with a giant spear through its

chest this dragon is sin long ago a race

of people found sin sleeping in these

caves and because they had most likely

never seen a dragon before they

worshiped him as a God these people

ended up building a city around the

dragon with the rulers of the Kingdom

being the sunken King and his Queen

Alana but something happened a leader by

the name of Sir yorg found the

underground city and mounted a Siege

against its inhabitants with the

intention of slaying the dragon they

were guarding sir yorg and his Knights

believed that killing dragons was a way

to obtain a true understanding of life

so they hunted it down after making a

past all their defenses sir yorg was

face to face with sin himself and that

giant spear in his chest was from him

but clearly sin lived this wound and

that's because upon Awakening from his

Slumber he released a giant cloud of

poison that coated the entire city that

may also explain why the Black Gulch is

covered in this poisonous green liquid

since it's right next to the city but

there's no way to confirm before we

fight sin though we have to fight Alana

so somehow despite the poison and the

attack from Sir yorg she managed to live

well this might be due to her true form

according to her boss soul and weapon we

can piece together that when the abyss

dissipated it was broken into fragments

and eventually these fragments came to

create a life meaning that Elana is the

daughter of Manis the reason the abyss

was broken was that the chosen Undead

defeated Manis back in Dark Souls 1 and

since he was called the father of the

Abyss that would make Alana his daughter

clearly she opposes a threat to more

than just shulva so we need to put her

down after her death is when we gain

access to sin as a final fight wasn't

too bad he has a unique mechanic where

the poison from his breath can break the

durability of your weapon which could

possibly kill the entire run if you're

not careful the only issue is that this

seems to do an insane amount of

durability damage as my Bandit axe with

only 50 durability was destroyed in a

few hits I'm not entirely sure if 50 is

on the low end of durability but going

through all the weapons I picked up

across my whole playthrough they were

all between 40 and 70 so if anything I

should be right in the middle this

wouldn't have been that bad though if

sin didn't act like the guardian dragon

and just stayed put for more than a few

seconds

I think you can see from the gameplay

the amount of chances I have to actually

hit this thing are extremely low I think

what makes shova so engrossing is the

location how do you possibly build a

giant civilization underground and for

what reason that's at least what I was

thinking when going into the DLC and

while I got my answer I wasn't entirely

satisfied with it one reason why is down

to dialogue is there was no NPCs in this

DLC to talk or converse with we can't

gain any new information as all the

people that could have been NPCs are now

just walking corpses given that sin

poisoned the whole city I wonder wonder

if adding one NPC at the very beginning

of the level who's the only survivor of

the attack would have been a better idea

as they could have provided the player

with additional information surrounding

the city such as why they worshiped the

dragon or how they managed to build all

these structures because in its current

state it feels a bit unfinished the

crown of the Old Iron King is our second

DLC and is of course based around the

Old Iron King from the main game this

DLC takes place in one of the largest

Towers he erected called the broom Tower

to find the crown we need to Traverse

the entire tower all the way down to the

bottom which was incred L tedious there

were a lot of traps and enemies that can

be very annoying to deal with but given

that the DLC seemed to want to spike up

the difficulty these additions kind of

made sense this tediousness also added

to the realism of the level as it takes

quite a long time to scale this entire

Tower which is logical given its size

and the tower itself is in just empty

space as all the space is being used for

some sort of purpose whether it's these

smaller guys carrying these giant

barrels or the vast amount of Machinery

within the tower that was made to

produce iron it also fits in well with

the theme of the old iron King's

obsession with iron and how he gained a

lot of power from his production of iron

this DLC however adopts the same

storytelling as the sunken King in that

there are no NPCs to talk to throughout

the entirety of its runtime but what

makes the broom Tower different from

shova is that we already have numerous

levels and items filled with lore about

the Iron King shova was a completely new

area with zero reference to the main

story which is why I enjoyed it a bit

less regarding the NPC interaction than

the broom Tower even though the first

boss is technically another Smelter

Demon the real first boss is actually

the fume Knight I have zero issues

regarding this fight I actually thought

it was perfect I've stated this many

times before but I prefer the fast

combat of the future fromsoft games as

opposed to the slower more methodical

nature of the early Souls games it's not

that one is objectively better than the

other it's just a personal preference of

mine and just like with artorius and

Manis the fum Knight is another boss

that is slowly ramping up the speed of

its attacks they aren't incredibly fast

especially by modern Souls game

standards where a 10-hit combo can be

finished within mere seconds but the fum

Knight is definitely a far more faster

paced fight compared to the rest of the

game and this even continues with the

other boss in this DLC which is selon

it's just like the other boss fights of

this game where you have to look at your

health stamina and both your and the

boss's positioning all at the same time

and then calculate what to do given the

parameters except much faster I

understand this is not everyone's cup of

tea but it's most definitely mine and

even better the fum Knight has actual

ties to a previous character from the

main Game King Vendrick had two trusted

Knights who he considered his left and

right arm one was vat and the other was

the fum Knight however the two clashed

which led to the fum Knight's defeat

what's interesting is that if you defeat

the Royal Aegis purchas his helmet and

then wear it during the fight the fum

Knight will start his second phase

almost immediately showing that he still

has a grudge against him as for the fum

Knight himself he wandered the land in

search of power and eventually came

across the broom Tower and met nadalia

the Bride of Ash nadalia would have been

the queen of the Old Iron King but she

arrived at the keep after he died she

fell into a deep despair because of this

and ended up separating her soul across

the broom tower inside these Ash and

Idols which caused the tower to be

covered in this thick black fog this fog

has the power to control those who wish

to serve her and kill those who refused

when the fumet arrived and instead of

destroying the fog like he could have

done he actually just opted to be

consumed by it which is why he sits at

the bottom of broom Tower defending the

remains of nadalia since she has the

ability to create this black fog and her

soul is colored in darkness it is once

again safe to assume that she is another

daughter of Manis if you're noticing a

theme here then you're catching on to

the point of these DLCs each one of them

is centered around a kingdom that a

daughter of Manis inhabited and this

goes for our final DLC but before we

leave the broom Tower there's a secret

room we can discover with Sur alone's

armor and by using the Ashen Mard we can

go back back in time to when he was

stationed at the tower this leads to the

boss fight we discussed earlier but it's

a memory and if we take what we know

about the memories and apply it here we

can discover even more lore about siron

if we assume that the unknown Warrior

that best of the giant Lord is us since

we went back in time then we're also

responsible for killing siron so that

statement I said earlier about siron

leaving to search for new lands was

possibly a lie as it may have been told

by the Old Iron King so that his

soldiers don't uncover his true fate

which makes things a lot more Sinister

than they seemed our third and final DLC

is the crown of the ivory King the ivory

King was the ruler of the Kingdom Elam

Lo upon entering we can see that it is

covered in snow and given that there

isn't any snow in Dr Lake we must be

pretty far from the original Kingdom as

we approach though we are told to leave

this voice tells us that the old chaos

still hungers and that we are forbidden

from entering clearly we're not going to

listen and charge head first through the

front gate eventually we'll meet with

the first boss of the DLC Ava this is

one of seven pets that the ivory King

kept in his kingdom each one seemed to

have a specific spefic role in the

Kingdom as Ava was tasked with guarding

the king's child of dark this child of

dark is alsana and as you would expect

she is our third daughter of Manis but

her story is a lot less destructive when

alsana was born she felt fear this is

because she was a manifestation of mana'

fears all the daughters of the Abyss are

a manifestation of something nadalia

seemed to be man' despair Elana was

possibly a manifestation of mance's

Wrath and alsana was his fears but when

alsana was born the king managed to find

her and welcomed her into his kingdom he

provided the Comfort she desperately

needed and was kind enough to not shun

her away even after he discovered her

true Origins it's because of this

kindness that she stayed in Elam Lo and

continued to fulfill the ivory King's

wish which was to hold back the old

chaos the old chaos is the flame of

chaos the same one created by the witch

of isth it's unknown when this was

discovered by the ivory King but once he

did find this ancient monstrosity him

and his fellow Knights set out to

extinguish it but they were defeated as

none had come back alsana wants us to

defeat the old chaos so that we can

uphold the mission of the ivory King to

do this though we're going to need some

other Knights of alam L as they are

absolutely necessary if you want the

fight to be possible once we're all set

we can jump down into the old chaos

again just like we did with lost eolith

and this boss is absolute perfection few

fights in the souls games actually get

better with summons and the ivory King

is one of them I felt like I actually

had to apply strategy to an encounter

which was the first time the series has

required me to do that I don't mean

strategy in the sense of reading the

boss's moves and making sure how to

punish and when as that's just baked

into the overall combat of the

encounters but I mean the actual

decision-making I had to employ such as

which enemy to attack and when which was

something I did not expect I would be

doing going into this fight I was

running around finding Knights who were

outnumbered and assisting them or if it

was the opposite side of the spectrum I

would add myself into the mix making the

fight easier this is almost necessary

for the fight as well since you're going

to be doing the most amount of damage

compared to all the other Knights so

your decision in this fight will largely

impact how the second phase will go I'm

not entirely sure if the knights can die

in the first phase given they have an

obscene amount of Health but if they can

it just further as to my point having

two giant teams of warriors fighting

against one another is one of the

greatest things I've ever experienced

and is without a doubt the best fight

this game has to offer from the actual

fight to the layout of the Arena which

is engulfed in the fire from the flame

of chaos it was just all perfect and

would have been such a great way to end

this Trilogy of additional content but

never in my life have I seen a DLC do so

well all throughout the entirety of its

runtime only to Fumble at the Finish

Line The Frigid outskirts is an optional

location that the player can discover

towards the end of the DLC and it is

awful it's not only painstakingly

difficult just from the design alone it

might actually be the worst level in any

Souls game ever made the bonfire before

entering the coffin is the only bonfire

in the area meaning you have to go from

one end of the map to the other just to

get to the boss fight which is just two

more of the ivory King's pets their lore

is thankfully super basic and not

important at all as their job was just

to hunt Exiles that were presumably sent

out of the kingdom and Into The Frigid

outskirts this area would not be nearly

as hard if the horses didn't and keep

spawning every few feet not only wasting

your time but draining your Estus in the

process making the boss fight that much

harder it's just an awful location and I

think the more that I talk about it the

closer I get to going insane so we're

just going to cut it right here as a

complete package the DLCs were pretty

solid there were things in each that I

found a little unpleasant like the

method of Storytelling or an entire area

but there was many things I liked about

the DLCs and due to this confliction I

can't say that together they're perfect

but they're nowhere near close to being

bad it's hard to judge though whether

this was an actual Improvement over

artorius of the Abyss considering that

was one DLC with half the content that

played out over half the time this is

also due to the souls games business

model if people complain about anything

regarding the DLCs of the souls games

it's that they're too short rather than

too long whereas many games like to make

additional content with run times of up

to 6 to 20 hours Dark Souls is pretty

much content with two it never overstays

its welcome in fact it sometimes leaves

too early and doing this gives us less

time to learn about the DLCs and the

locations they reside in but as I said

at the top of the section as a complete

package they were pretty great with all

the crowns in our inventory we can

revisit Vendrick who will now provide us

with some very important dialogue The

Abyss once had form but then

dissipated and yet traces of its

existence

endured each fragment thirsting for

power spread dark with no

relent my dear Shandra was one such

fragment so we now know the fourth and

Final daughter of Manis nandra the queen

of drag lake nandra is a manifestation

of mance's feelings of power and want

she came to this land in order to covet

the first flame this explains why

Vendrick was in the undead crypt

Vendrick left the kingdom because he

discovered n shandra's true Origins and

not only locked himself away in the

Crypt which was guarded by one of his

loyal Knights but he also hid his soul

as Vendrick doesn't drop this upon his

death it's hidden behind a secret door

only accessible to those who are human

and nandra never truly was that's why

she's been so adamant that we succeed

Vendrick she figures that will blindly

follow her order so that we can clear

all the obstacles in her path because

once we finally get to the throne of

want and defeat the knights guarding it

she appears similar to the Ivory King I

found this fight leagues better when the

summons were included mostly due to the

narrative aspect since both benhart and

vengarl were helped due to me so it's

only right that they return the favor

her boss design is impeccable and

continues to uphold the standard that

the Final Bosses of the game have but

not even nandra is the actual final boss

Alia is the actual final boss assuming

you fulfilled a few tasks along the way

which is just meeting him a few times in

specific locations and then specifically

killing Vendrick before Nashandra as a

final boss fight though it felt like a

bit of a let down I think nandra had way

more intensity and narrative weight

behind her Aldi has been this ominous

figure that just shows up says a bunch

of and then leaves and now all of a

sudden I'm supposed to care that we're

fighting him I get why he's fighting us

he's supposed to test our might to see

if we're truly going to be the next

Monarch of the Throne of want but that

doesn't make it right the same could be

said for nandra given she makes an

appearance a whole two times in this

game but that seemed to be intentional

as the reveal of nandra was supposed to

be this mysterious event which makes

this next part even more confusing as

the Emerald Herald can literally spoil

for us that Nashandra will be coming for

us I completely miss her on the way down

so I never got to hear this which

ultimately made the impact of this cut

scene hit harder which begs the question

of why it was mentioned in the first

place I find it hard to believe that

many people Miss nandra at the top of

the castle so they're well aware of who

she is so just keep the mystery hidden

until the final moments it kills the

entire impact of the scene if we're just

told right before entering that she's

going to fight us after the defeat of

the three bosses we can select our

ending and while this game does have two

endings what these endings represent is

rather interesting our first ending is

entering the Throne of want this is sort

of like the Kil of the first flame just

a little bit different it allows us to

choose the fate of the world but we

never get to see our choice it is both

the age of fire and the age of dark

ending together it's never known what

our character chooses but that's the

part of the role play when it comes to

RPGs we make up the rest of the story

did our character choose fire did they

choose dark or did they do something

else and that's something else is

following in the footsteps of Vendrick

and Alia we leave the throne and search

for an answer to the undead curse we

don't know if we'll succeed but it's

worth a try anyway doing this is sort of

like operating a dig site yeah Vendrick

and Alia spent decades digging trying to

find a solution and failed but now

thanks to them we know of a decades

worth of methods that won't work

bringing us closer and closer to finding

a cure for the curse and that's the

beauty of the second ending it's not

only in perfect sync with the rest of

the game as it continues to make the

curse the main plot of the story but it

gives us an option that we as players

hadn't really considered up until this

point Dark Souls one did a phenomenal

job of grooming us into believing that

there were only two choices but Dark

Souls I refuted this claim and as a

third as a final note Dark Souls I was a

brilliant game I went into this game

with mild expectations but was blown

away by how impressive the story was and

how surprisingly easy it was to grasp

many questions are still left unanswered

and will never be answered but I left

this game with an understanding of its

story its themes and what emotions it

had intended to invoke in me and that is

incredibly admirable well the world of

Dark Souls isn't over the fire of the

world will fade once more and yet

despite the impending doom of the age of

dark getting closer and closer no one

seems to care but we'll talk about that

in Dark Souls

3 Dark Souls 3 is a perfect game due to

the way a book ends the entire series

but the only reason that I can say that

is because of how much this game is

being held up by its predecessors Dark

Souls II on its own is still a good game

but without all the effort put into the

story from Dark Souls 1 and 2 its

narrative wouldn't be as impactful

that's the beauty of the Dark Souls

Trilogy it's one of the few series out

there that truly feels like a tightly

niit game many games get sequels but not

many truly feel like a proper sequel

just a game set in the same universe a

year or so after the previous game it

might make callbacks to the Past game

but not enough to feel like what

occurred in that game was important the

Dark Souls Trilogy and its repetitive

ideas make the games feel properly

connected the age of fire the undead

curse hollowing and so much more have

been a prominent part of the series

since its Inception which is why judging

these games individually based on their

stories is so difficult as each of these

games relies on each other to actually

make their story have an impact Dark

Souls 2 and 3 could not exist without

Dark Souls 1 and not just because of its

World building and important characters

but because it's the game that showed us

what the age of fire is and why it's

important we then took this information

into Dark Souls 2 which showed us how

the age of fire is not all its cooped up

to be and how as all the years go by

people are starting to embrace the fire

less and less this all comes to an end

at Dark Souls I a game that is purely

focused on the age of dark and why the

first flame needs to go each one of

these games provides a crucial step in

our journey and without even one of them

every other game loses its meaning we

already talked about the previous two

games and what they attempt to show to

the player and all these themes ideas

and plots all converge towards Dark

Souls 3 creating one of the best endings

in a series I've ever seen and today I

will explain why so that wasting any

more time let's get started so

ironically for a game that's going to be

about the age of darkness and how much

death and Decay the current age has

caused it starts off with an incredibly

intense soundtrack it's not even been 10

seconds and this electrified feeling of

exhilaration seeps into your body Dark

Souls is back and it's time to kick some

ass this feeling continues right into

the intro cinematic and Dark Souls 3

weighs zero time getting into the story

this is the first time in the trilogy

with the game outright tells you who the

main bosses are which are the abyss

Watchers aldred saint of the deep and

yor the giant there is also a fourth

that isn't mentioned but we'll discuss

them a bit later just like before it's

four beings who will need to be dealt

with in order to succeed but instead of

them being the four Lord Soul users or

the four great ones it's the four Lords

of Cinder the question is why are they

so important well oddly enough the game

tells you but the pure spectacle of the

intro is so hypnotizing you might not

even realize what was just said

according to the opening narration the

bells only toll when threatened the

reason they're being threatened is

because the fire is fading again but

furthermore it's because someone doesn't

want to link the flame that person being

Prince lothric since the prince doesn't

want to link the flame the bells of

Awakening revived previous Lords of

Cinder from past Kingdom each of these

aformentioned beings I mentioned earlier

were people who linked the flame in

their lifetimes the bells assume that if

they've linked it already then they'll

do it again but they all refused the

abyss Watchers Aldrich and yor don't

want to in a last Stitch effort to make

sure the fire is linked the bells of

Awakening have awoken other beings who

are unkindled people who have failed to

link the fire in the past but are now

given a second chance and we are one

such person known as the Ashen one our

job is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and

take their Ashes to their Thrones is if

they won't come back willingly then

their ashes will serve as a sub

Institute this is the plot of the game

no small objective in between like

finding Vendrick or ringing the bells

right away from the get-go we tasked

with killing these beings and licking

the flame assuming you've played the

previous games already then you've heard

this story twice before and already know

what you're getting into which is why

our first boss isn't even 5 minutes into

the game in Dark Souls 1 it took around

the same time to fight the Asylum Demon

but the game also taught us about our

inventory and weaponry but also showed

us that we can converse with NPCs and

used an Estus flask Dark Souls 2 took a

bit longer with this as the first boss

wasn't for a couple hours and the basic

tutorial can take a bit of time to run

through in Dark Souls 3 we start with

the Estus flask get all our gear and

start our journey immediately there is

no handholding here as the game assumes

you've done this all before and don't

need much of a refresher the reason why

they put udx in here is because he's

supposed to test our strength not just

the Ashen one strength but our since

Dark Souls III underwent some drastic

changes in regards to its combat and for

those who have noticed yes I'm using an

axe again it wasn't until starting this

game that I realized I had used an axe

for all three of them so I figured it'd

be quite comical if I beat the entire

Trilogy with the same weapon before

killing udx though we'll see him become

engulfed in this black form this is

called the pus of man this is a unique

disease that is taking over the kingdom

and it originates from the abyss similar

to how mana's humanity went wild causing

him to become the Ferocious Beast that

we know in game it's possible that this

is happening to other Hollows but on a

much grander scale is this won't be the

last time we see this puss of man in the

game after udx we can take the coiled

sword from his body and use it to create

the bonfire at the new Firelink Shrine I

absolutely love the design of Firelink

Shrine but the moment you walk in and

see all the Thrones lined up around the

bonfire you feel a sense of comfort it's

definitely my favorite across the entire

series but I lo its location Firelink

Shrine feels so disconnected from the

rest of the world even though majula was

on the outskirts of drag Lake Castle it

at least became a Nexus for all the

various paths that the player could

Traverse to the cherry on top here is

that we can't even travel to the first

location were forced to teleport to it

it just further shuts this place away

from the rest of the Kingdom there's no

incentive to explore the other areas of

the level is we've already seen

everything it has I never understood why

the series slowly moved towards this

idea but it seemed to be a massive hit

amongst the team as this would be used

in other games going forward from a pure

gameplay perspective the Firelink Shrine

of Dark Souls II also reverts the

changes in Dark Souls 2 to keep things

more simplistic Andre is back and will

handle anything regarding our weapons

from upgrades to infusions and the

shrine handmade becomes our

all-encompassing Merchant so no more

clutter like in Dark Souls 2 we also

have our new level up lady who is just

the fire keeper she doesn't have any

unique backstory like the emerald Herald

but her condition does spark a few

questions it seems that all the fire

keepers have some sort of condition that

afflicts them Anastasia the lady under

Firelink Shrine will initially be mute

and cannot be spoken to the Dark Moon

ntis in an Orlando has a disfigured

appearance which is why she hides it

from us with her armor and this fir

keeper is blind this has always been

fascinating to me as I've never been

able to fully understand why this is the

case it's possible that this is a sort

of right of passage and the fire keepers

are showing their willingness to The

Flame by giving up something but what

they lose seems to differ across the

games it's possible that this is just a

coincidence but there's also an NPC in

the game will meet called enina who

tries to be a firek keeper and is also

blind FireKeepers being blind only

occurs in Dark Souls I so I've always

wondered why blindness is occurring now

instead of across the series it's

something we never get an answer to but

definitely a fascinating topic to

discuss speaking of the characters in

Firelink Shrine I want to talk about the

NPCs though before we embark on our

journey Third times the charm as they

say since the NPCs of this game are

handled way better than in the previous

two titles my issue with each game is

that Dark Souls 1 kept replaying the

same fate of hollowing across all of its

characters which started losing its

value very quickly and Dark Souls 2

seemed to just make characters for their

rewards rather than their stories but

Dark Souls II seems to fix this issue

the quantity of the NPCs has been

drastically reduced as they're only

around 27 or so in the main game there's

also very little overlap in the

merchants as each School of magic has

one designated NPC with the exception of

pyromancy and while grey rat does have a

pretty useless inventory for the most

part since he's a thief you can actually

send him to find gear which will

increase his options this was so much

better as I didn't have to run around

the base finding the one Merchant who

sells the item I need furthermore the

actual quests of the NPCs were much more

enjoyable this time around there was

five standout characters for Dark Souls

I but one interesting change with this

game though is that the NPCs connect

with the main content both seart and HRI

have a connection with a specific Lord

of Cinder and yuria's quest line ends up

becoming one of the endings of the game

I really liked this idea as so far the

NPCs have been separate from the main

bosses so it was nice to see it all

inter twine with one another it'll be a

lot easier to explain what their quest

lines are alongside the main content so

we'll hold off on this for now which

means the only other two that we have to

talk about that have a more traditional

quest line are enina and Cirrus as we

talked about before enina is blind and

this is because she came from her land

of kareim to become a firekeeper you

might recognize the name Kareem as

Oswald the Trek and The Marvelous

Chester from Dark Souls 1 are all from

Kareem the reason we find Irina here in

this cell is because she's failed and

hasn't become a firek keeper yet due to

this failure she believed that she was

unfit to tend the flames and fell into a

deep depression the Knight guarding her

is Aon of kareim and has a sworn duty to

protect her no matter her state of being

to progress her quest line we need to

buy her spells if we buy her Miracles

then we'll be able to give her the

enlightenment she needed and we'll

eventually become a firekeeper at

Firelink Shrine gameplay wise she's

pretty useless in this state is not only

is there already a fire keeper but she's

also hundreds of feet away from the

player as opposed to the actual fir

keeper who is right next to you if we

however only by her dark Miracles we

further progress the ferocity of the

humanity with inside of her causing her

to be consumed by its dark power this

turns aegon hostile who will fight you

for betraying her she will eventually

start to become worried and asks us to

touch her again so that she can tell who

is nearby but eventually she will not

recognize our touch and ask to be killed

it's a genuinely sad outcome and this

emotion is heightened further because

we're the ones that caused it head we

instead just kept purchasing her regular

Miracles we could have saved her from

her impending fate it's a quest line of

two extremes one where she gets

everything she wants and one where she

loses everything and it all depends on

you as for sir she starts out as some

random person who appears at Firelink

Shrine sir seems to be a dark moon blade

since she uses the Dark Moon blade spell

which can only be acquired by those a

part of the Covenant but yorka the

leader of said Covenant states that

we'll be the only Knight in the group if

we join furthermore C says that she is a

former servant of the Divinity which may

imply that she was a dark moon blade but

left some time later as for why she left

it seems to be related to the two people

we fight against throughout her quest

line who are kraton and hodrick kraton

is the same one from Dark Souls 2

although this does not imply that he was

the Canon winner between him and Pate as

this was probably thousands of of years

ago and I'm assuming that kraton is also

unkindled as he most likely was revived

alongside us sirra says that kraton was

a part of the Rosaria fingers a rival

Covenant and one that she despises and

hodrick seems to be her grandfather the

reason we know this is because she calls

out to him before the fight and when

defeated she says that she's pleased

that her Granddad can rest in peace

hodrick seems to have gone mad at some

point and Sirius wanted to put him out

of his misery she has a short but sweet

quest line and the family connection to

hodrick was quite the shock the question

Still Remains though what is the Sun

Realms because her full name is Cirrus

of the sunless Realms it's nice to

speculate about it but there isn't much

information to go off of and this is a

running Trend throughout the series and

personally something I'm not a fan of

there are so many locations in the game

that we learn about like aora kareim

Katarina mea Alin Ven and so many more

but there's no in-depth lore about them

hell most of them don't even give us a

surface level idea of what they're about

this is not a Dark Souls three issue and

more of a series issue as the devs have

been given three chances to develop some

of these places and from software has

just refused to do so many people

including myself have tried to speculate

on more details regarding these kingdoms

but there's so little to go off of that

it's not even worth it their inclusion

in the game was probably because the

team wanted to add a bit of flavor to

the world to not only show that the main

Kingdom isn't the only Kingdom in the

Dark Souls universe but also that people

from all over are flocking to this

Kingdom in search of something important

it just feels like a wasted opportunity

to barely mention these places after

three whole games as a whole Dark Souls

II has some great quest lines and I

would go as far to say that it's the

most polished out of the entire series

Dark Souls 3 recognized what was wrong

with the previous two entries and made

sure not to repeat those same mistakes

again with the NPC's done we can now

resume our objective which as a reminder

is to defeat the Lords of Cinder and use

their ashes as kindling so that we may

travel to the Kil of the first flame and

relink the fire to do this though we

actually need five Lords of Cinder The

Abyss Watchers yorm Prince lothric

Aldridge and ludleth the reason I said

four earlier is because lli is actually

the only one who complies with the rules

as he's already at Firelink Shrine When

we arrive lless Throne says that he was

EX ex from his homeland the reason why

he was exiled was because of his art of

transposition for gameplay purposes this

allows us to take the boss souls and

make weapons out of them just like the

past games what's odd though is that

when he dies he drops the skull ring

which talks about a being called The

Soul feeder and how it was this

insatiable Beast that hungered for Souls

due to the ambiguity of his past it's

led to many theories such as lth being a

soul feeder himself but was at one point

defeated which is why he has no legs and

possibly can fit on his throne it is

also entirely possible that lth is just

someone who wants to do the right thing

and has no ill intentions but the skull

ring definitely leaves a lot up to the

imagination to get to the other four

Lords we'll need to use the bonfire at

Firelink Shrine which will take us to

the high wall of lothric and it is

absolutely stunning you're immediately

greeted with an entire view of the

castle and it's a breathtaking view but

it's also an illusion the kingdom of

lothric is riddled with corpses and

those who survived either became Hollows

or are still seen defending a lifeless

kingdom lothric is governed by the three

pillars of rule the knights who protect

the kingdom the scholars who run the

grand archives and the high priestess

who also served as Prince loth's wet

Nerfs those who abide by these rules are

the Loth Knights but these Wing Knight

variants are said to be Heretics as they

don't accept their rules this is because

of Gertrude the Heavenly daughter in the

grand archives we can find a bird cage

cell with a dead body in it this is

assumed to be Gertrude she was one of

the Queen's holy maidens although

depending on some item descriptions she

may also have been her daughter one day

gertude was visited by an Angel and

through this was able to establish the

Angelic faith of lothar seeing as this

isn't a part of the regular three

pillars gertude was taken and imprisoned

those who agreed with her teachings

though baned together to defeat the

current rulers of lothric which led to a

massive Civil War out of all the Three

Kingdoms we visited so far in the

trilogy the kingdom of lothric is easily

in the worst state this condition that

we see the castle in may also symbolize

the world of Dark Souls itself I'll

elaborate more on this idea later but

it's my personal theory that not only

did our characters from Dark Souls 1 and

2 Link the flame but every person in

between these games did so as well if we

go back to the intro the narrator says

that loar is really transitory lands of

the Lords converge meaning this isn't

like the past games in Dark Souls 1 all

the main bosses were within Lord already

but in Dark Souls 3 the lands of these

Lords have been forced together it's

unclear how this is even possible but it

may go back to the first Flame the world

of Dark Souls is dying it's a shadow of

its former self places are being buried

destroyed and created in an endless loop

the intro does a great job of showing

this but the one area that truly opened

my eyes to this was drag Heap this place

is covered in rubble and buildings that

span so far and wide that you can't even

tell what the buildings used to be or

when they were built we talked about how

time was convoluted in Dark Souls 1 but

in Dark Souls 3 this has been progressed

even further lands are being moved

together creating a tidal wave of rubble

and it's all because the first flame if

you watched the past videos you may have

noticed how worse things have gotten

throughout the series and I believe this

is because the first flame hasn't been

snuffed out people are still clinging on

to that illusion of life as Alia put it

and are willing to stay in the comfort

of what they know rather than step out

into the unknown and because of that the

world has gotten even worse each Dark

Souls game has tried to push the player

toward one specific idea the age of fire

in one the breaking of the curse in two

and the age of dark in three everyone in

Dark Souls 3 is just doing what they can

continue to do because it's all they

know some are blindly following their

faith and others are continuing to work

on their craft this game truly conveys

the attitude and the effects of a Dying

World one that is practically begging to

be put out of its misery it's basically

saying look at all of this in game look

at the destruction of the kingdoms the

ruins of the world and the people who

inhabit it do you think any of them are

truly happy to be alive right now not

even the Lords of Cinder beings who have

insurmountable power don't even want to

link the flame it lays all of this out

for you and asks you to choose which is

quite a heavy burden choosing to go

against the status quot that has been

said for who knows how long is a very

hard decision but at least we don't have

to make that choice now is the game will

blindsight us again and create another

boss encounter for us to be hypnotized

by we'll talk about vort later though as

he does have ties to another boss later

in the game after vort will be taken to

the undead settlement this place

functions like the undead Berg in Dark

Souls 1 as this place was the residence

of many of the kingdoms Undead but one

thing we'll see immediately upon entry

is this massive pile of corpses at the

end of the bridge these beings are

pilgrims that are most likely from the

kingdom of londor as the only Survivor

is y go of londor he is related to Uria

however so we will have to discuss him a

bit later as we explore the undead

settlement we can see that this place is

in just as bad of shape as Loth Castle

bodies are piled up everywhere and some

have even been put into cages this land

has also been subjected to various

curses and because of this many of the

settlements inhabitants sealed them away

in a spe tree but would end up cursing

the tree itself which would lead to the

creation of the cursed rotted Greatwood

during the second phase the Greatwood

will slam into the ground and will

discover the true resting place of all

the settlement's hollows in the apply

named pit of Hollows it's unclear though

whether or not the hollows that were

dumped here were alive or not upon

arrival but since the mound Maker's

Covenant is down here it's possible that

they were thrown in here alive and all

fought to the death which would explain

the plethora of Bones covering the walls

but it could also be that these people

actually banded together to create the

mound Maker's Covenant regardless it's

clear that their Fates were sealed the

moment they were thrown in while the

curs at Greatwood is to the left of the

dilapidated bridge if we instead go to

the right we'll make it to the road of

sacrifices and subsequently fairing keep

which leads us to our first Lord of

Cinder The Abyss Watchers fairen is

rather interesting is not only is it the

resting place for the abyss Watchers but

it may also be the ruins of ulil in this

area we can find the golden scroll and

the dusk Crown items that have ties to

ully seal and we can also find dead

mushrooms and maybe even the final

resting place of Elizabeth if this

taller mushroom is assumed to be her

this would also fit narratively with the

abyss Watchers as they were a part of an

organization dedicated to fighting the

abyss and seeing his Manis was located

under ulil this would tie together quite

nicely the abyss Watchers were the main

fighting force of a group called The

Undead Legion of fen who took inspir

aration from artorius and dedicated

their lives to fighting the abyss but

their group num seem to be much larger

than they seem as these monstrous beings

are seen guarding the abyss Watchers

Boss Arena they even managed to recruit

one of the twin Crystal sages that is

said to have betrayed his scholarly

Friends of the grand archives to Ally

with the undead Legion as for the abyss

Watchers themselves it said that they

all Shar the blood of the wolf most

likely in reference to this wolf found

in the area and used its blood to

increase their power and their power was

unmatched is not only were they able to

hunt together like a pack of wolves but

they've been known to bury an entire

Kingdom at the slight a sign of the

Abyss this group would eventually link

the flame presumably an attempt to Cast

Away the abyss for good but with their

main Force gone the rest of the forces

dwindled and left the undead Legion as

there was nothing else to do but as we

know the abyss can't be destroyed that

easily it eventually came back and went

unchecked since none of the Legion were

around and managed to turn their land

into a festering swamp these

monstrosities that we see may have been

Legion soldiers who were corrupted by

the abyss when the abyss Watchers awoke

they came to the realization that their

home was overrun and their mission was

unsuccessful and while it's not stated

when this happened at some point some of

the members became tainted with the

abyss itself which leads to the cut

scene before the boss fight where

they're all fighting one another as

they're trying to fight back against the

abyss but since they're all Undead

they're constantly being revived so

they're stuck in this NeverEnding battle

between each other which is likely why

they won't link the flame doing it the

first time didn't stop the abyss and

they have more important things to do

than sit on their throne and let the

abyss consume the world I absolutely

love the abyss Watchers and not just

from a lore perspective but also as a

boss what really sold the fight for me

was the hints of artorius that were

spread throughout their move sets the

undead Legion took took inspiration from

artorius so it's only right that they

mimic his fighting style and the

fast-paced leaping attacks that they

have really reminded me of that fight

furthermore this fight's quality

increases tfold once the other members

join in as it turns this honorable duel

into this chaotic mess you lose all

Focus during this fight as you're having

to keep track of three different Abyss

Watchers who can slide across the arena

in a second and the second phase is just

as deadly as the last dead Abyss Watcher

consumes the blood of all his brethren

in a last ditch attempt to stop us he's

a lot faster than last time and produces

Flames from his sword which makes the

fight even harder it shows how dedicated

the group is to their mission and how

they'll use anything they can as long as

they win similar to how artorius fought

us with all his strength and even a

broken arm from both a presentation and

gameplay perspective the abyss Watchers

are fantastic Lords of Cinder and the

best way to introduce the player to the

sheer power these Lords hold behind the

abyss Watchers is the catacombs of carus

a place that has seemingly no actual

Kingdom as this carus is never seen in

game but given that wnir is located down

here and is known to be a lord consumed

by the abyss maybe the abyss Watchers

leveled the entire Kingdom and while

that is an inter idea to think about

what's more important is actually what's

underneath the catacombs if we break

this bridge and use it as a ladder we

can enter the smoldering Lake the

original location of lost isth and

possibly Ash Lake in here we can see

giant structures that look very similar

to Arch trees of Ash Lake and given the

geography of lordran Ash Lake and lost

isth weren't too far from one another so

it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that

they can exist in the same location if

we continue deeper into the lake we'll

see dozens of dead demons that resemble

the Capra Taurus and stray demon from

Dark Souls 1 it's very clear that the

demon race is dying and that they're

struggling to survive we can even see

this in the stray demon near fair and

keep which is covered in stone rather

than the flesh and blood that we're used

to there's even The Old Demon King whose

Bostrom is covered in the corpses of his

fellow demons he'll try his best to

fight the ashim one with all his might

but most of his power ran out years ago

and as a last resort will release all

his flames in a fiery explosion but in

doing so he'll lose all the power he's

ever consumed and will be unable to

fight the Demons of Dark Souls 3 are a

dying race and further adds to the theme

of death and Decay the game is trying to

convey kingdoms aren't lavish spectacles

of beautiful architecture they a war

zone and the demon race is no longer a

formidable foe just a dying breed that

won't last another generation the

symbolism of this place is beautiful as

it shows that everyone is being affected

by the progression of time and no one is

gaining from having this age continue

but not everything needs to have a sad

ending as if we explore the rest of the

smoldering Lake we can find the corpses

of a spider and a woman and judging from

the tone that is located on her body it

seems that quana found the fair lady and

got to spend their last moments with one

another it's a wonderful and happy

ending quana got to find her sister who

she thought was dead and the lady is

finally able to die and no longer has to

suffer anymore getting back on track to

get to our next Lord of Cinder we need

to find iril but to gain entry we need

to find a specific item that is located

in the Cathedral of the deep the resting

place of Aldridge saint of the deep

Aldridge's story is by far the most

vague but also the most detailed amongst

the Lords of Cinder as his story

encompasses various other bosses that

we've already had the pleasure of

meeting years ago Aldridge was a common

cleric but he would eventually start

experiencing visions of a deep sea this

deep sea was another form of the abyss

and it was located in the lowest

possible depths imaginable and form the

core components of the world we never

get to see the deep sea in game but it

seems to be the lowest layer something

only aldrid can see he then shared this

info with only those he trusted who were

his arch deacons McDonald Royce and

Clint they not only kept this

information within their Inner Circle

but also encouraged one of aldrich's

insatiable urges whether this was

something he always had within him or it

came about when he saw visions of the

deep Aldrich had an insatiable urge to

consume human flesh the arch Deans

encouraged this behavior and used their

influence to create an army of followers

to not only worship Aldrich but also

went out and gathered sacrifices for him

that's why these evangelists are located

in the undead settlement as they are

trying to bring the undead to the

cathedral so that they may be consumed

by Aldrich we also learned that he would

eat anyone even including children as

HRI and Horus are said to be the only

two children who managed to escape

Aldridge's grasp where HRI and Horus are

located happens to be the road of

sacrifices the path that the settlers

and evangelists took to get to the

cathedral before consumption this

Cathedral performed all manner of

rituals and cleansings in order to

purify those who entered its doors after

numerous sacrifices the people around

Aldrich managed to go insane and even

though Aldrich himself was able to keep

his sanity his form would change rapidly

as he would eventually become the black

sludge that we see in the intro due to

his immense power he was used as a lord

of Cinder but seeing as Aldrich was

fully consumed by the visions of a deep

sea linking the fire would be the

opposite of what he had planned so this

implies that it was linked against his

will they would eventually return Al's

Body to the cathedral to be placed

inside the large coffin scene in the

deacons of the deep boss fight these

deacons were led by the archdeacons we

discussed earlier but while Aldrich was

laying in his coffin another piece was

added to the board pontiff Sullivan was

a former resident of the painted world

of arandel just like the world of Dark

Souls the painted worlds have their own

cycles that need to be rekindled in a

sense well the pontiff lived in the

current painted world of arendel but

felt no reason to continue his life here

as he had not experienced any hardship

or despair we'll learn about the

paintings residents in the DLC but

unlike the painted world of Aramis which

was a world for all the things the gods

feared arandel was for those who had no

else to go and are without purpose

Sullivan would then set out in search of

a purpose and would eventually come

across to ithel this place is very

relevant to the story as right next to

it is Anna Orlando the same one from

Dark Souls 1 from various item

descriptions we learn that gwindel

didn't actually die in Dark Souls 1 as

he is still very much alive in this game

now whether or not the chosen Undead

never fought him or they killed him but

he somehow revived himself is unknown

and ultimately irrelevant but with

gwindel being the only God left in an

Orlando he tried to reach out to those

in his extended family in hopes of

trying to rebuild the God's rule the

only one he managed to find though was

yoska a crossbreed girl similar to

Priscilla it's unclear what her

relationship with gwindel was or even

her relationship with Priscilla was but

all we know is that she was content with

helping gwindel in his objective gwindel

would also reinstate the Dark Moon

blades as a way to help protect them

from any adversaries one of their

Knights though happened to be pontiff

Sullivan who infiltrated its ranks and

managed to corrupt all the members he

came across he would then end up

enacting his plan when gwindel was

stricken with an illness that left him

unable to care for his Covenant or city

solivan in one successful swoop managed

to imprison yoska in a nearby Tower and

throw gwindel inside an Orlando

Cathedral allowing him to have complete

control of iel which is how he earned

the title of pontiff in order to ensure

protection of his new kingdom the

pontiff would not only set athl knights

in various positions as guards create a

barrier over the whole city so that no

one could enter but also send outrider

Knights to conquer other lands we've

already seen a few outrider Knights

across the game already but the two most

notable Knights are vort and the dancer

of the boreo Valley now much is known

about about the duo except the fact that

the dancer was a daughter from one of

the royal families in iril whether she

served willingly or not is unknown

either way both of their Fates would end

up the same as they were both bestowed a

ring given by the pontiff which would

end up slowly turning them into these

malform beasts after an unknown amount

of time Aldrich would reawake again as a

lord of Cinder and would foresee the

world's eventual destruction at the

hands of the deep sea due to this

premonition though he would neglect the

throne and wait for the Deep to overcome

the world and it was during this waiting

that he would dream of the old gods and

how they wanted to relink the flame he

saw this as a ploy against his own

wishes and sought to Devour the very

Gods he then traveled to iril decimated

the knights guarding the city and forced

the pontiff to surrender who gave up

control of an Orlando allowing Aldridge

to have an audience with gwindel what

happened next is what we see during the

boss fight we interrupt Aldrich midc

consumption who now has to use the

barely conscious body of gwindel as a

weapon to defeat us Aldrich seems to

have very Supernatural Powers as his

soul when transposed can give us the

Dark Moon Longbow which belonged to

gwindel but also the life hunt scythe

that belonged to Priscilla but

interestingly though he never consumed

Priscilla only dreamed of her from what

I can gather it seems that Aldridge can

acquire abilities from those he consumed

and is also able to peer into that

person's Memories the reason he was able

to acquire the life Hunt sighte is

because it's a miracle miracles in Dark

Souls are like stories you're

essentially reciting a story and using

the Talisman as a medium for the power

so aldrid consumed gwindel and dreamt of

Priscilla during the consumption and

then learned the story of the life hunt

scythe and was able to cast it since

it's basically just the equivalent of a

story again earlier I said Aldrich had

the most detailed story out of the Lords

of Cinder and I wasn't lying his story

doesn't just include himself but five

other bosses and close to a dozen named

characters it is a very long story to

wrap your head around but it is the kind

of Storytelling that got me interested

in these games in the first place it

showcases all the different events from

different points of view and how these

characters fit into one cohesive

timeline but just as the story is

detailed so too is it vague the Deep

sits on a shelf alongside many of the

concepts of the Dark Souls universe that

are barely touched upon in its defense

though the deep does have a lot of item

descriptions tied to it so we can at

least get a better understanding of what

its true nature is but seeing as it's

never shown to us in game or ever

elaborated on further than what we

talked about it just becomes another

idea in the world of Dark Souls that

leaves a lot open to the interpretation

as for the boss fight Aldrich was pretty

entertaining but I think a much better

boss fight in my opinion was ponti

Sullivan I've always liked Sullivan's

design and plus the walk towards him is

always very ominous as you don't know

what to expect especially when he dashes

right at you the moment you get too

close fort and the dancer were pretty

much on the same level as Aldrich in my

opinion I still think pontiff ranks

higher than all of them but they were

really entertaining fights and honestly

this opinion I have is pretty much the

same for most of the bosses in this game

even udx was an entertaining fight and

he was the first boss we ever face it's

clear that the quality of the bosses has

been raised thanks to Dark Souls 3i and

I think one reason for this was because

the team reverted the previous ideas of

Dark Souls 2 and instead focused on the

quality again rather than the quantity

each fight brought some sort of unique

twist so that it never felt like you

were in some traditional fight is that's

what the enemies were for even fights I

dislike due to their lack of difficulty

like the deacons are still at least

mildly impressive as its leagues better

than the congregation from Dark Souls 2

which I'm assuming was the inspiration

for it those enemies between the bosses

are allowed to have basic attacks and a

combo or two but the bosses are where

all the creative Talent is supposed to

be spilled into it felt like there was

real passion Behind These bosses again

from their designs to their move sets

and that's one of the reasons Dark Souls

II is held in such a high regard within

the franchise the other reason may also

be down to the locations themselves

there is Beauty in destruction as they

say and Dark Souls 3 proves time and

time again how this is possible the

catacombs the cathedral and the

smoldering Lake are all great examples

of this but the way the game shifts this

idea and it said showcases Beauty

through architecture again through the

lens of things like iril and an Orlando

is genius even the smallest things like

looking over a ledge and seeing the rest

of the Kingdom or just walking through

the hallway that leads to Gwynn's tomb

are beautiful not only because we get to

see some of these locations in a new

more updated light but because from

software has always expertly crafted its

levels to showcase these moments for us

that's one of the reasons an Orlando was

so beloved amongst the community Is Not

only was it the first area that showed

actual Signs of Life in the world of

lram but its design was a sight to

behold even in Orlando in its current

state still holds that beauty it's just

a different kind of beauty not how

various pieces of architecture can

create a Godlike City that people can

only dream of but how despite its

destruction and loss of life and Orlando

still manages to be a beacon of light

and upholds the massive significance

that it displayed in Dark Souls 1 after

the defeat of Aldrich if we retrace our

steps back to iro we can find a separate

path that leads to the profane Capital

ruled by yorum the giant interestingly

though we don't just arrive in the

capital as upon exiting through this

hole in the wall we arrive in the ithil

dungeon this place is a massive and

convoluted prison filled with all manner

of beings who have been imprisoned and

tortured and abused by all the jailers

these jailers are said to hail from the

profane Capital but later served under

the rule of pontiff Sullivan they're

also very ruthless in their methods when

it comes to subduing escape bees as they

have a poisonous Mist that saure

HealthWay and use a scolding p piece of

hot iron that not only Burns at the

touch but will hinder your ability to

run away as you temporarily fat roll

when Afflicted if you manage to escape

the prison you'll be greeted by the

underground city of the profane capital

from a pure spectacle or design

perspective I think shova had a much

better greeting upon its entry but the

profane capital is still nice to look at

it is admittedly quite small this could

once again be due to the geological

shift of the lands towards lothric but

that doesn't ignore the fact that the

devs could have done a bit more with its

design you'll likely spend more time in

the adjacent dungeon than in the actual

actual Capital while the area does lack

in length it does try to circumvent the

issue a bit by adding a bit more depth

the capital is covered in various

trinkets goblets and burned corpses and

these bodies don't just stop at the

entrance they are in every section of

the capital it's trying to get the

player to wonder what exactly happened

here well the capital was under attack

by a new flame called The profaned Flame

this was a curse created by a group of

women and while they did become

disfigured and turned into these

creatures we see just outside the

capital they did manage to win in the

end as it pretty much killed every

single person who resided in said

Capital but this is where yorm came in

as he attempted to stop this profane

flame before it caused any damage by

linking the flame and becoming a lord of

Cinder but it didn't work as the

aformentioned destruction followed

shortly after the main question

surrounding it though is why did these

women create such a thing and how well

it's possible that it may have ties to

the abyss as both Carla the witch and

the profane Cole who are both found in

the ithal dungeon have ties to the abyss

you're here to save

me but I'm guilty

a wretched child of the

Abyss

Lords where did you happen upon this

coal this is much too dark I see the

abyss in it furthermore we need to look

at the pontiff and elanora pontiff

carries a sword called the profaned

Great swword which stat that Sullivan

discovered an unfading flame below the

tundra of iiil in the axe elenora can be

dropped from these monstrous creatures

which says that the women who triggered

the curse were relatives of a certain

Oracle these words Tundra iril a land

covered in snow and Oracle all point to

Alam Lo and alsana being this Oracle

from what we just talked about regarding

the smoldering Lake and what we know

from the old chaos in aam Lo it's clear

that the flame of chaos is dying so

maybe this is an altered version of the

flame of chaos or at least maybe the

last few Sparks of it it's definitely a

stretch but the profane flame has always

been interesting to me as the last time

a new flame was mentioned in the series

well we kind of know how that went upon

his Revival though yor the state of his

City and was in utter shock at what had

occurred so now he sits in despair

unwilling to link the flame but despite

how depressing it would be to kill him

we not only need his ashes but a friend

also needs to uphold his

promise

y old

friend hi secret of the Knights of

Katarina have come to uphold my

promise let the sun shine upon this Lord

Cinder when y became the ruler of his

kingdom many of the people disapproved

of him in an effort to gain their trust

he created two weapons called the storm

rulers and gave one to his people should

he ever step out of line and the other

to his best friend Seward who promised

to kill him should he come back to life

this is also the final step step in

Secret's quest line it was the main

reason I enjoyed it so much as being

able to fight alongside an NPC such as

him against a giant sounds like a blast

but despite the wonderful presentation

and design of y's character it's easily

the most underwhelming fight in the game

using the storm ruler is the only way to

do real damage to your arm the main

attack of the storm ruler is the weapon

art that produces a slash of wind

capable of Downing him but that's just

it it's just the same move over and over

again doing this alone is easy and with

seag it becomes even easier as you can

will stun lock yor for a large portion

of the battle and for this to occur

during a fight with a lord of Cinder is

pretty pathetic on top of this y's

second phase doesn't really change

anything it just adds a bit of fire to

his weapon I feel like there was much

more potential for yor but it was never

given to us thankfully this wouldn't be

the last time this idea would exist in a

Souls game as Elder ring repurposed this

idea and it was much better handled

there our final Lord of Cinder is Prince

Loth the one who started this problem in

the first place but the real question is

why it's the one thing that's been

rattling in my head since the very

beginning why did Loth refuse to link

the flame well the answer is honestly a

bit sad Prince Loth was born to die the

rulers of Loth Were King Osiris and his

Queen Osiris had three children named

lauan lothric and ocelot lauan was the

first and was a formidable soldier on

the battlefield who was able to

single-handedly defeat the demon prince

who is said to rule over all the demons

Osiris figured that his lineage could

push their power even further by

creating a child specifically to become

a lord of Cinder and lothric was to be

that child but he failed Loth wasn't

strong enough so the family committed a

deed so heinous that it cursed him for

Life despite the curse though it worked

and Loth was capable of relinking the

flame but his frail body combined with

his poor health left him bedridden and

resentful being The Helpful brother that

he was lauan wanted to combine his soul

with lathrix but because of lothric's

curse it consumed lauan as well which

left him mute and a due to this

the current state of the world and the

fact that even his teacher was having

doubts about relinking the flame It

ultimately caused lothi to refuse and

honestly it's hard to blame him being

created for the sake of power and not

knowing what your sacrifice will truly

do is a hard burden to put on a child

especially when you consider how much

grooming was presumably done to get Laur

ready to link the flame had he been

brought up in a different light this

story could have been changed but due to

the greed of the King It ultimately

started a chain of events that would

bring about the end of the world at the

very least though the twin princes

weren't the only ones that suffered

Osiris is more Dragon than human now and

has gone insane because of it similar to

how Big Hat Logan became deranged from

the knowledge he read on SE so to did

Osiris and depending on what you believe

believe he may also be hallucinating

during the fight he talks about his son

ocelot and we can infer that he's

carrying him in his hand but nothing is

there this however may not be as obvious

as it seems there's currently two

theories I believe in that argue for and

against ocel lot's existence on one hand

ocelot may be a hallucination from the

King either because assalot died and he

can't accept the loss or that he had

been hallucinating the mere idea that he

had a child in the first place however

on the other hand ocelot may actually

exist but was removed due to some real

wol complications during the second

phase of the boss fight Osiris will

scream acel lot's name then slam the

hand that carries him into the ground

presumably killing him we can hear a

baby crying in the background during the

fight implying that he lived but I think

this was a loophole by from software to

get rid of complaints killing kids in

games if I'm not mistaken will get a

game banned just about everywhere and

from software has honored this Rule and

rarely ever adds kids their games to

begin with the only ones that come to

mind are Kuro and seiro and father gaso

and's daughter in bloodborne but his

daughter is never seen as we're forced

to talk to her through a wall and while

C does make an appearance numerous times

he is never shown to be harmed there are

three parts in the game that c is

actually cut with something and each

time it happens we never actually see

the real act it is of course implied

that he has suffered a wound but it's

never actually shown from software most

likely wanted to add ocelot and his

death to the game but couldn't due to

the possibility of the game being banned

personally I've always been a fan of the

four party and do believe that the king

is not hallucinating and ocelot was

meant to be in the game because this

also connects to the king's current

mindset as he is going so insane that he

doesn't even realize the harm he's

putting his child in but to make matters

worse while the King was consumed by

se's writings on immortality and the

twins were currently suffering through

no fault of their own the queen had just

decided to leave she disappeared quietly

into the night from the kingdom and was

never seen again the Queen's identity

though is unknown but it is heavily

theorized to be gwy from Dark Souls 1 we

know that gvir bestowed Divine blessings

to her people and was seen as a symbol

of bounty and fertility because of it

and the divine blessing of Dark Souls 3

says that the queen of lothric was

initially revered as a goddess of

fertility and Bounty but the issue is

that we know that she left an Orlando

and became the wife of a flame God flan

so how did she go from him to Osiris and

why did she leave him and come back here

furthermore if gwindel was actually

trying to get the gods back in an

Orlando how did the two never find one

another and why didn't Gwen ofir come

back this could have been due to the

presence of Aldrich and the pontiff

within the cathedral but this also calls

into question Rosaria as her soul can

create the Bountiful sunlight Miracle

which is one of the Miracles of Gwen and

given the presentation of both

characters from the room's layout to

their positions on the bed it's clear

that there is a connection between the

two whether Rosaria is actually Gwen or

simply someone Gwen knew is never

explicitly told to us and really in the

grand scheme of things it doesn't really

matter but it is a very interesting

Theory nonetheless it's clear though to

no one's surprised that the royal family

is in disarray and is currently

suffering just like the kingdom is

despite this though the Knights of the

Kingdom still stay strong and continue

to defend the castle against the

corruption that is the puss of man but

it's starting to fight back as the puss

of man is embedded Within These twin

wyverns and many of the Castle's

soldiers and it seems like the pilgrims

of londor have also started advancing on

the castle as they've managed to control

the armor of the Dragon Slayer and use

it as a tool of their destruction after

battling through all of this chaos

though we can finally meet the prince

himself the twin princes actually go

against the status quo of the game not

just in their decision to refuse the

throne but also in how they're presented

to the player lothric in a way is this

game's Gwyn or Vendrick he's clearly not

on the same level as the other two but

it was lothric's choices that set the

Game's plot into motion just like how

Gwyn Advent rri's choices said their

games pled into motion instead of being

presented as a shambling corpse wrick is

the opposite even if he's just some

bedridden child that's cursed with a

lifelong illness the boss fight isn't

this sad encounter that makes you feel

like you're doing them a service by

putting them out of their misery you're

fighting a being who is extremely

powerful and is fully conscious of their

actions as opposed to the hollow

versions of the other two it was a

wonderful twist as I expected to be

greeted by a somber tune all while

seeing the death and Decay that has

continued to spread throughout the

kingdom reach the prin Chambers but I

didn't and that surprised me and now is

probably a good time to correct a

previous statement of mine a couple

months ago I made a review on Dark Souls

3 it was a bit more gameplay Centric

than this video is but in that video I

said despite loving the twin princes

laurian had always pissed me off due to

his awful teleportation ability and I

want to rectify that statement as I

never felt these feelings this time

around in the previous video on Dark

Souls 2 I talked about how the quality

of these bosses will always be a

subjective opinion as the boss's

enjoyment largely depends on the build

and the skill of the player I naively at

the time did not take this into

consideration and never considered that

I was the problem looking at the gaml

now is downright embarrassing and I

realized that lauan was never the issue

it was me yes his teleport move does

occasionally break line of sight which

is still annoying but everything was not

as bad as I had made it out to be I

always liked the twin princes as a boss

fight that opinion has never changed but

I think I can now officially say that

it's not only the best Lord of Cinder

fight in the game which easily one of

the few fights in Dark Souls I that I

consider completely perfect the she Pres

pres of these two is amazing the fight

is pretty much laurian versus the player

Loth is able to protect lauran with

magic and heal him once he dies the same

way the player can heal with Estus and

use their equipment to Aid them Loth is

like the support role in this Duo but

he's also the main character that needs

to be defeated as he can obviously

revive lauan but his magic forces the

player to not engage them prolonging the

fight even longer than it already is

giving lauan enough time to finish us

off and the fact that the duo manages to

be a threat no matter the distance

always adds to the intensity of the

fight I've always been one to admit when

I'm wrong and except the fact that my

opinions are never meant to be set in

stone and can always be changed and this

playthrough thoroughly changed my mind

about this fight as the twin princes are

not only worthy of the title Lord of

Cinder but were such an excellent boss

to put at the end of The Journey out of

all the souls games I ended up talking

about these bosses the most out of any

in the trilogy and this is doe in part

of the Lord Of Cinders being the only

objective in the game so talking about

them is really all we can discuss they

are the main focus of the game and thus

need to have detail lore to back it up

this was forgivable in the other game

games as while those beings did have

some importance in the world they

weren't the main focus but in Dark Souls

3 they are if it wasn't for the Lords of

Cinder we wouldn't have a game so they

ended up becoming the main focus of the

story and the devs managed to deliver

Aldrich is a testament to that statement

as I may have spent more time on them

than any character in the series with

the exception of the witch of isth who

coincidentally also had numerous bosses

and characters tied to her plot I was

really impressed by the overall

presentation of this game especially

when it came to our four Lords of Cinder

even including yorm who had a wonderful

design and presentation despite the

fight being a bit blackluster their lore

was rich with details and the item

descriptions were long enough to create

an essay's worth of information but also

left enough info out to keep that Soul's

Spirit of finding the context clues and

filling in the gaps plus the encounters

with said bosses made the time spent

getting to them worth it even yorm as

once again despite being disappointing

there was at least an attempt to create

the spectacle of tackling a monolithic

siiz giant but if there was one thing

that bothered me about this game it was

the lack of attention given to Dark

Souls 2 narratively this actually fits

quite well as Strang Lake was supposed

to be seen as this unimportant Kingdom

that would be easily toppled and

replaced with something else in time

only to be forgotten by the rest of the

world but if the point was to make the

kingdom feel unimportant why are there

constant references to it like kraton

appearing in cirus' quest lucatiel's

armor and ASO sword resurfacing in the

game the dead giant at Firelink Shrine

and not only a portrait of nandra but of

aam Lo and broom Tower found in iril it

just feels confusing it's like the team

actively wants the player to know that

despite not making Dark Souls 2 they are

aware and care about the game but barely

put in the effort to justify it what is

truly the most upsetting part about this

is that both Vendrick and Alia to my

knowledge are never mentioned once

throughout the game there is one magic

spell found in the grand archives that

says the words the first of the scholars

which many people have pointed towards a

link to Alia but he was a scholar of the

first sin not a first scholar plus the

first of the scholars could refer to the

scholars of the grand archives not Alia

it's a shame because they were the only

beings that we know of who sought to

break the curse through unconventional

means and there's zero remnants of their

work the two are never brought up in the

game and the actual structures of Drang

Lake or alus keep are never seen in game

I understand that Dark Souls I was not

everybody's cup of tea and maybe the

original team wanted to do away with the

B team's creation but you can't deny

that Vendrick and Alia had the potential

to create a sizable impact on the story

and for their legacy to be tarnished

like this is a bit disappointing with

all the Lords of Cinder dead and their

ashes within our inventory we can now

link the first flame but before we do

that there is two DLCs and a couple

other bits of content for the main areas

that I want to address first if we

rewind and go back to Osiris and visit

the area behind his boss Arena will

uncover a place called the untended

graves this place is identical to the

cemetery of Ash in the beginning of the

game with the only difference being the

lighting it's one of the most talked

about locations within the community as

this confusion coupled with this feeling

of nervousness settles in as upon entry

you start to recognize all the familiar

Landscapes and are just bewildered that

a place like this even exists the boss

is also identical as it's Champion Gere

as opposed to udx according to his

bosold description Champion gundar came

to Firelink Shrine to relink the fire

but failed and arrived too late he was

then eventually bested by an unknown

Warrior and given the series heavy use

of that term we can assume that this

Warrior was us afterwards he then became

a sheath for the coiled sword so similar

to ulil and the memory of the Giants we

can go back in the past kill Champion

Gunder who then becomes a sheath for the

coiled sword and hopes say another

Warrior will come and use it to link the

flame who just happens to be us we then

take the sword from his present body as

udic gundar and use it at the bonfire if

we happen to defeat Champion gundar

though we'll be greeted with an

identical Firelink Shrine and while the

firekeeper is not here there are an eyes

of a firekeeper located inside the

building if we have the eyes in our

inventory lwith and the fire keeper will

comment on them lli refers to the

firekeeper as her implying that he knows

the identity of this person in the fire

keeper will mention how these eyes

reveal frightening images of betrayal in

a world without fire so we can assume

that this was in the past and since lth

is familiar with the fire keeper and is

a lord of it's possible that this was

during the time he linked the fire which

would also connect with the intro of the

game that says that the land of Lords

are converging together this L just

happens to be lths but what doesn't make

sense is the handmaid's dialogue as in

the dark Firelink Shrine her attitude

seems to imply that the flame is still

lit as she tells us to hurry along but

how is this possible well sadly I don't

have an answer for that the untended

graves is one of the hardest parts of

this game to wrap your head around which

makes discussing it extremely difficult

one explanation though could be that the

FireKeeper's eyes are what's causing

this dark Ness as the world in present

day Dark Souls 3 is getting close to the

age of dark as evidenced by the giant

dark sign eclipse in the sky but there's

still plenty of light left in this world

whereas in the untended graves there's

nothing but if all the lights extinguish

and that implies that this is an age of

dark but love the link the flame and

continue the age of fire so that's why I

think it's the eyes of a fire keeper

displaying a vision in the sense of what

the world would come to should we enact

this Grand betrayal which is letting the

flame die out another thing of note

though is the repair spell in Dark Souls

3 which says that light is time and the

reversal of its effects is a forbidden

art so this implies the untended graves

could be like the things betwix it's

sort of stuck in limbo because there's

no light existing and therefore time not

existing regardless this but it's very

confusing backstory it's probably my

favorite location to discuss in the game

as there's so many possibilities as what

this place truly means the final

location is near IRL dungeon as we can

use the dragon pose from the untended

graves to be transported into Ark Dragon

Peak we already know that immortality

via Dragon form is not unheard of as

many people worship these Stone dragon

in Dark Souls 1 Osiris is assumed to be

human before he became a dragon and we

can actually find some Dragon Stones

which will turn us into a humanoid

Dragon similar to the one sitting next

to us so it's pretty safe to assume that

this place was used to worship the

ancient dragons despite the fact that

they're all dead now but even though

they're all dead that doesn't mean the

other flying types won't exist as we get

to challenge a wyvern shortly after

arriving which at first glance is a

pretty cool fight until you realize that

the enemies on the walkways are actually

tougher than the boss itself I can

recognize that the team was most likely

experimenting with some B ideas for boss

fights and while it's definitely cool at

first it just feels a bit unnatural if

you will as completely destroying its

health bar in one plunge attack just

felt off Arc Dragon Peak not only has a

questionable first boss but also raises

various questions that admittedly may

leave people confused two characters

have arrived at this location at certain

points in time which are havl and

orstein we find havl next to a down

dragon and we find ornstein's armor

towards the end of the level I can

forgive havl for being here since he's

always had a hatred for dragons and

seaths since Dark Souls 1 but that

doesn't explain how he's alive well havl

had a band of knights who followed him

and more than likely wore the same armor

as he did so I don't think this is havl

more just a knight of havl but while

this is explained fairly easily orstein

is not orstein has always had a

complicated history within the series as

he was clearly present in Dark Souls 1

but then shows up again in Dark Souls 2

as the old Dragon Slayer and then again

in this game as the dragon slayer armor

and in Arc Dragon Peak where we are now

firstly I've always been a firm believer

in the fact that we kill orstein in Dark

Souls 1 the old dragon slayer is simply

someone who is trying to uphold ste's

Legacy or is somehow connected to

orstein Soul since we know from Dark

Souls 2 that the old Lord Souls can

inhibit others bodies so it's possible

or's Soul inhibited someone wearing his

armor it's also possible that the soul

felt comfortable with this decision

given or Stein's armor is pretty

synonymous with his legacy as for Dark

Souls 3 we know that the dragon slayer

armor is not orstein is simply just

another dragon slayer as the weapon and

armor are completely different but AR

Dragon Peak is unique this is not only

the same armor that orstein wore but its

item description talks about how he left

the anal orando Cathedral to come here

but when did this happen he couldn't

have came here and then went back to the

cathedral as his armor is located here

and he couldn't have left after Dark

Souls 1 because he died so the only real

explanation that makes any plausible

sense is that orstein dies in Dark Souls

1 he then has his soul return like the

previous Lord Soul wears but decides to

inhabit someone wearing his armor or

maybe even the armor itself as it's

familiar to the soul we talked about in

Dark Souls 2 how it seemed like the four

great ones were connected to specific

Lord Souls because of their feelings and

emotions we still don't know whether or

not these Lord Souls connected with them

because of these similar emotions or if

they gain these feelings from consuming

the souls but if this is true then it

would make sense that orstein is

continuing to fight the same and has the

same goals and Ambitions across all the

games regardless of how orstein is a

live verb how he even ended up here in

the first place we at least know why he

was here and that was because of the

nameless King the nameless King has

actually been teased since Dark Souls 1

as he was the infamous firstborn son of

Gwyn that was referenced in various

items in that game from both one and

three we can piece together that the

nameless King is the firstborn son of

Gwyn and was a dragon slayer during the

war with the Everlasting dragons but at

some point he would eventually cast all

this away and Ally himself with the

dragons and if you want to talk about

presentation when it comes to boss

fights this one needs to be mentioned

not only does the introduction of the

boss feel intense as the nameless King

swoops in on a storm Drake but when we

finish the Drake off he literally kills

it and takes the power for himself from

just a pure gameplay perspective he's

easily the second best fight in the game

there's a feeling that occurs across the

entire series when everything comes

together you've learned the move set

understood the timings and discover the

punishes all that's required is to put

it together and when that clicks it

becomes one of the best fights in the

game his moves are punishing have delays

and are even mixed together as one combo

might have two swings but the next will

be three or it will do away with the

third swing and add a completely

different move the fight requires

complete concentration and the ability

to be patient dodging too early will

more often than not lead to your death

so you have to be on high alert for the

whole fight genuinely a great fight from

top to bottom with it only being

surpassed by one being we have yet to

cover but before before we move on to

the DLC I want to look back at the game

so far Dark Souls III set out to create

a Dying World that features places that

have been ridden with disease and death

showing to the player that their

inability to let go of what they know

and continue this age of fire will only

make things worse even a basic

understanding of the war will convey

this as you can see just how bad

everything has gotten from the fact that

there's hundreds of dead bodies lit

throughout each level and people are

becoming corrupted and infected with

these diseases and plagues causing them

to either go Hollow or turn into a

massive black sludge the demon race a

group of beings thought to be on top are

dying out the gods have all been wiped

out and the Lords of Cinder beings who

have the ability to rule over anything

they please due to their power refuse to

continue this age of fire Aldrich wants

to continue his own age so admittedly

that is a bit more selfish but the other

three have recognized that their

sacrifice did or will amount to nothing

linking the flame never stopped the

abyss and never stopped the profane

flame and it's never going to end the

suffering that's occurred since lordran

so if the first flame is supposed to be

this symbol of peace and comfort then

what is actually so good about it all of

this has been Illustrated to us

throughout the story and is a testament

to how genius the writing of Dark Souls

3i truly is but now it's time to move on

not just to a new agees that will come

later but to a new world a painted world

even this old man in front of us is Gail

and he's how we start the DLC ashes of

arandel we talked about this place

briefly when we discussed pontiff

Sullivan and said it was a painted world

for those without purpose upon entering

we're greeted by a deformed being who

welcomes us and tells us to get

comfortable on a bed of rot similar to

The Real World The Painted worlds have

their own cycle and it's this cycle that

is so interesting as in the main game

the age of fire is being constantly

prolonged and it's the age of dark that

will take it over but as we'll soon see

it's the rot that's being prolonged and

the only way to get rid of it is to burn

it the painted world of arandel is just

a similar version of the Dark Souls

Universe with the same themes and ideas

just twisted around they're both

separate worlds with separate cycles and

each one has a particular cycle that is

going on too long and it's either the

fire that's causing it or the fire that

will get rid of it this is also the

reason Gail sends us to the painted

world in the first place as opposed to

the corvian we meet first who tells us

to embrace the rot Gail and even this

corvian settler want us to set it a

flame setting the painting a flame will

allow a new painted world to be created

but they can't do that without fire and

the person preventing this is Sister

freed she is the reason the rot is being

prolonged and she's also the other Ash

that the Gale and the corvian refer to

meaning she's unkindled it's because of

her decision to keep the rock going that

has caused much of the destruction of

this place interestingly though only the

corvians seem to care as we talked about

the painted world is for those without

purpose and the corvians aren't the only

ones who reside here as the soldiers are

the members of the undead Legion of fen

in the beginning of the video when we

talked about the abyss Watchers I

mentioned that when they linked the

flame the rest of the Legion left once

that occurred the others no longer had a

purpose and further lost any chance of

having one once they came to the

realization that their home had turned

into a swamp according to their armor

these Fen followers seem to be

specifically tasked with killing any

Undead Legion who succumbed to the abyss

which makes me wonder how the abyss

Watchers cut scene would have played out

had the Assassins not left maybe the

abyss Waters would have finally been

able to regain their strength again now

that they didn't have to kill each other

the other group of of people are the

Milwood Knights they don't have too much

lore and anything to really tie any of

the characters or events to them but at

some point in time they lost their

Forest that they called home and then

sought refuge in the painted world these

groups seem to just carry on throughout

their day and simply exist within the

painted world but the corvians are

different as you have the regular

looking settlers who want to burn the

rod away but then there's also the

corvian knights who were so infatuated

with sister free that they've now turned

against their Brethren just the basic

idea of what the painted world

represents to the people within it is

such an intriguing concept the way this

Loosely connects to the main game's

themes is genius one thing I always

found disappointing though about Ash

sarenda was the length once we enter the

painting we were to meet with sister

Fred who welcomes us but just as quickly

dismisses our arrival and tells us to

leave because we no longer belong here I

have no issue with this as it's not

holding the player's hand but everything

just feels like it's going so fast is

right after this we're to find the

painter enter the basement of sister

Freed's Church activate a lever and then

we're already at the final boss

everything just feels so fast and I was

surprised how quickly the final boss was

introduced to me I've talked about

before how most of the souls games DLCs

are like this and don't take much time

overall this of course though largely

depends on how fast you beat the bosses

as they're usually the main hurdles but

ashes of Arendelle felt shorter than

normal there is an optional boss that

could take up more of your time but this

was just so that the player could access

the PVP matches and the lore of the boss

also connects to this as this was the

champion of the undead matches that the

undead used to partake in other than

that it's pretty much just going from

one area to the next and the distance

between them is quite short once we do

finish talking with sister Freda though

our path will eventually lead us to the

corvian settlements and its Church where

we will meet with sir vilhelm he was the

guard that was outside the church where

sister Fred was located but what's more

interesting though about Sir vilhelm is

that he not only has a black flame buff

on his weapon but he also wields the

dark hand both of which have ties to the

abyss this relates back to Sister Freda

as she was one of the three sisters of

the Sable Church her other sisters were

Lilian and yuria which means she has

ties to londor and this is reinforced by

the different dialogue options that we

get from her if we have the dark sigils

in inventory from yuria's quest line

it's not much but she does recognize us

as the Lord of Hollows given that she is

unkindled it's possible that she tried

to link The Flame or usurp it and this

possibly got her Exile from the church

without a purpose or home she may have

been drawn to the painted world which is

how she ended up here in the first place

and figured that she could rule over

this land by herself however given that

we have this innate ability to ruin

people's plans we're going to prevent

sister freed from doing so to do this we

need to talk to the painter and unlock

the doors leading to her room for her to

be able to paintt though she will need

to see Flame and to do this we need to

get to the source I see

flame flame fuckering once

again not enough bloody Ed

shade my

fle bring me my

F this is Father arendel the painter of

the painted world of arendel who is now

being held captive by Sister Freda she

managed to convince father Arendelle

that the only way to preserve the

painted world was to bury the flame and

let the rock consume the world to stop

him from spreading he uses his flail on

himself causing him to bleed which

appeases the flame it's quite a sad

story and it makes sister Freda out to

be even worse of a person than she

already was given that we're going

against her wishes though she fights us

and she is very difficult which is also

very entertaining I love this fight and

I think it's a great way to end the DLC

the fight starts out quite normal until

her blood reaches father arandel who

freaks out causing the room to be

engulfed in flames and him to break out

of his restraints and attack us Fred is

is also back and it turns into a 2V1

it's very reminiscent of orstein and Smo

as the doo compliments each other quite

well this is also the only fight in the

trilogy to my knowledge where you can

summon an NPC in the middle of the fight

as Gail can only be summoned for the

second phase it also makes sense to

bring him along since both you and him

have the same objective so there's no

reason for him not to help you after

sister Freda has been dealt with though

we can return to

the A

the yeah so if it wasn't already bad

enough sister Freda has a third phase

this whole encounter is extremely

stressful as you not only have to plan

for one but two extra phases there's

been so many times where I got pummeled

during this fight in the first phase

that I just reset as I knew it wasn't

worth starting the next phase with half

the Estus she really forces the player

to learn her move set thankfully though

Gail does make the encounter easier but

it's still very difficult even with his

assist

with sister Fred and father arandel dead

for a real this time the fire will now

be able to consume the painting without

any delays which means the painter can

now work on the new world she plans to

create a cold dark and very gentle place

as she calls it she's going to need

Paint to make that painting and from

what we learned from father arendelle's

Soul we know that the paintings are

Written in Blood so Gail's objective

will be to scour the land for some blood

to use his pigment and while he does

that we can go on to the next DLC but

Gail's here too he has written messages

for us and points us towards where we're

supposed to go so what blood is he

getting well Gail is trying to find the

blood of the Dark Soul the Dark Soul

which leads him to the ring City ashes

of arendo was a short but decent DLC the

bosses were great and the actual design

of arendo was beautiful from its frozen

Tundras to its rotted swamps but if it

fell complete or if the DLC suddenly

ended so soon that's the point as both

of Dark Souls 3i's DLCs are a connected

story the story of Gail and the painter

and their quest to create a new world

which leads us to the ring City the

start of the Ring City DLC sees us

travel to the drag Heap the area we

talked about earlier in the video as I

said then time is getting worse as the

world progresses and this is a perfect

example as now that the age of fire is

getting even closer to the end lands are

converging on each other more and more

and the world is practically collapsing

in on itself here in the drag keep we

can see nostalgic callbacks to the Past

like the earn Peak Windmill and the

desert pyromancer from Dark Souls 2 this

is a very long and convoluted level to

really showcase how bad everything has

gotten but at the very end of the level

is the demon Duo not not only is the

gameplay of this fight fantastic as it

not only surpasses the previous Duo but

might even be on par as orstein and Smo

but the location of the fight is heavily

theorized to be the original Firelink

Shrine of Dark Souls 1 the reason being

is that the exit of this arena is the

same structure that framp appears in

Gail can once again join you for this

fight but it will trivialize this

encounter tremendously as the demons

have long cooldowns between their

attacks and also alternate move sets I

actually found this fight to be balanced

while being outnumbered so adding more

people makes it worse once the demons

are both dead the last one to die gets

to be reborn as the demon Prince just

like the first Flame the chaos flame

needed to be rekindled by a demon with

vast power and the current demon Prince

at the time was going to but ended up

facing lauan and was defeated however

all demons share memories with another

so in theory that means they can share

the power of the demon Prince and when

the last demon Falls it is reborn as the

demon Prince and the last of its kind

the demon Prince is a genuinely great

fight and for being the first boss in

the DLC this is already a great start to

the additional content when the demon

Prince does fall though we can finally

say goodbye to the demons the once great

race thought to be almost on top has now

withered away never to be remembered

again just like everything else in this

world with the drag he finished we can

move on to the final location of the DLC

but one thing that's been very

interesting about the drag he is the

progression of time as we go further

down in the game we're actually going

further back in the past as we start out

at the very top in Dark Souls 3 we move

further down to Dark Souls 2 with the

earn Peak making an appearance and then

we're all the way at the bottom where

we're back in Dark Souls 1 with the

Firelink Shrine but we can go even

further further back as past the old

Firelink Shrine we can travel to the

ring City a place that has existed since

the gods toppled the dragons the ring

city is gorgeous and is one of the most

beautiful locations in the Dark Souls

Trilogy this place is home to the pygmy

Lords and they have a wonderful

welcoming

committee oddly enough though these

shadow archers actually look like the

Ruin Sentinels from Dark Souls 2

according to their armor set they were a

band of knights who were sent to the

ring City so it's possible that Vendrick

may have sent them here as a way to find

out more about the undead curse but were

defeated and now are used by the city to

defend its people the ring city is the

home of the pygmies the ancestors of

mankind we don't hear much regarding the

actual furtive pygmy but the ring city

is ruled by the pygmy Lords the early

descendants of the original pygmy

according to various item descriptions

though Gwyn gave them the city as a

reward for their help against the

dragons but since this is located at the

literal edge of the world it's possible

Gwyn wanted the pygmies out of sight and

away from his kingdom since they had the

Dark Soul which of of course he does not

like as for how the pygmies helped

during the war well we can find out soon

after as these ringed Knights were some

of the soldiers who fought during the

war with the Everlasting dragons the

weapons they carry were forged from the

abyss since that was the birthplace of

humanity which would explain the BL and

dark sign on their chest as it seems

that they too were cursed like we were

by Gwyn if we progress further into the

level we'll end up in this Abyssal swamp

and end up fighting the dragon slayer

armor again and if we read description

we'll discover that when we defeated it

in lothric it somehow made its way down

here and then became possessed Again by

the feeling of battle

look I love orstein as much as the next

guy but we do not have to keep bringing

him back we can just let his legacy die

I understand in this case it is just a

piece of armor and not actually orstein

but you have to admit that this boss's

design is purposely similar to orstein I

found this encounter more annoying

rather than interesting as there was

Zero reason to bring back the dragon

slayer armor again in the swamp we can

also find a white face Locust similar to

the one earlier in the level these

Locust are beings from the abyss and

they were were supposed to preach

sermons to men so that they could draw

them towards the dark but they couldn't

see past their stomachs and cared more

about what they were eating which is why

they act like gluttonous monsters this

description means that this is what they

always looked like and didn't turn into

these creatures at some point but it may

also imply that they were born alongside

Humanity within the abyss each of them

ends up talking about specific people

and are possibly referencing certain

NPCs and so she lived in fear of the

Dark of the things that gned at her

flesh the little creatures that nibble

at me in the

darkness and so despite his weighty

armor he lived in fear of a delicate

thing little more than a girl where fire

rideth Shadows twist and shrivel but in

the

abyss there are shadows none fear not

the dark my friend and let the feast

begin I've always found this interaction

and odd as it's unclear how this

creature even knows anything about these

NPCs this has caused a bit of debate

amongst many people in the community as

some claim that it's showing how

destructive humanity is but on the other

hand like with the case of ir's dialogue

the Locust preacher could be implying

that the abyss is not as bad as it seems

as that preconceived idea Irina had of

the Abyss caused her to feel these

insect likee creatures in her head I

don't really think that there is a

correct answer here as sort of ties into

the world of Dark Souls and how the

player views the abyss humanity and the

age of dark and whether or not it's

something that they should be embracing

similar to how we have to make a choice

at the end of the games before we leave

though we can view this purging Monument

which is only accessible to humans as to

even get to this area we need to

transform into a Humanity Sprite using a

white tree branch this Monument may be

the source of all the purging Stones

purging stones have existed since Dark

Souls 1 and we're used to remove the

curse effect in that game but it's not

about taking the curse and removing it

it's just transferring it to the stone

itself to be the new host but the stone

is said to Once be a person so maybe

these are the beings who were turned

into stone or what they became once we

transfer the curse to the stone or maybe

it's something else entirely after

getting out of the swamp we'll find a

dragon named Mader this isn't fake like

the ancient dragon Mader is an actual

descendant of the Ark dragons from long

ago even though he only seems to make an

appearance here if we knock him off the

bridge and find a secret tunnel we can

find him again he is easily the most

difficult boss in the entire game with a

staggering 15,000 health and he's also

equipped with some moves that might

on-shot the player depending on their

equipment according to his boss Soul

Madar was actually raised by the gods

and was tasked with fighting the the

abyss and it seems that he's been alive

for a long time as one description says

from not long after the beginning

meaning he may have existed before even

fire was born back when the dragons

ruled the world the reason he's going so

crazy is very similar to artorius as the

abyss has fully corrupted him so we need

to put him out of his misery he is

definitely the ultimate challenge for

players given his kit of high damaging

moves but assuming you can conquer him

you'll receive the spears of the church

which ties into our next boss halflight

halflight is a member of the Covenant

Spears of the church who guards fillian

or who is said to be Gwynn's daughter

who he left here in the ring City but

halflight is a PVP boss as there's a

chance a real player can replace

halflight and be the boss instead but

that is only accessible to those who

defeat Madar since he drops the pendant

that allows you to access the Covenant

sadly though since this game is over 6

years old you'll more than likely just

get halflight instead interestingly

though halflight may have been from ulil

as the bow he uses says that it was a

relic from an ancient land of sorceries

that has been swallowed by the abyss and

we know that ulio has many unique spells

like repair hidden body and chameleon

his outfit also states that a group of

young missionaries went to the ring City

long ago but halflight stayed behind

making him the final Spear of the church

this would also mean that there was a

time in uil's history when it wasn't

corrupted by the abyss and was a normal

land before cth came and tricked them

behind the church is filor the girl they

swore to protect and she may have one of

the best cut scenes the series has to

offer upon touching her egg she wakes up

which sees the world change out of

everything in the Dark Souls Series this

might be at the top as the most talked

about interaction in the game as there's

so much that happen happens with very

little explanation as to what it means

many people believe that fanor and her

egg held up the illusion of the Ring

City similar to gwindel and an Orlando

and Dark Souls 1 but some have also

claimed that this takes us to the Future

and is a glimpse of what the world will

look like should we keep things going

her egg though is interesting as it has

a very dark Center and if we relate this

back to the repair spell from earlier

that's as light as time by breaking the

egg we break the dark inside of it which

allows light to appear meaning now time

exists and is no longer stagnant which

would go along with the the that this is

a future as the time accelerates after

being stagnant for so long regardless of

what you believe in though this cutscene

is great and allows us to access the

Wasteland of Ash inside this Wasteland

is two beings and if you subscribe to

the theory that this is the future this

might be the last two beings left in the

world us and

Gail what still here

handed over that thing your Dark Soul

Gail has not only gone mad and grown in

size but he is the final boss of the DLC

the ring city was the final DLC and also

the final piece of content in the Dark

Souls Trilogy having played this game on

release I had already beaten the final

boss tons of times so for me Gail was

technically my final boss of Dark Souls

and I couldn't have asked for anything

better to me Gail is the best boss in

the game and even the entire Trilogy

every everything from design to

presentation to gameplay is completely

perfect Gail is a slave Knight who are

Knights that were used as fod in many of

the land's bleakest Wars but it seems

most of them went Hollow all except for

Gail Gail came to the ring City in

search of the Dark Souls and thus

slaughtered the pygmy Lords as they

contain the Dark Souls within them since

they're the descendants of the furtive

pygmy but Gail realized that the Dark

Souls had dried up so in order to make

them liquid enough to be used as pigment

he consumed the Dark Souls that They

Carried since it was now in his

bloodstream it was able to mix into into

a liquid again but doing so made him go

mad Gail literally has the power of the

dark soul within his body and uses the

power of the dark soul and the abyss to

fight us as evident by these red skulls

that appear from his cape he and Gwyn

also contrast each other in this respect

Gwyn was a being who was a god from the

beginning and on top of the food chain

and is remembered by all for his

sacrifice but Gail was a slave the

lowest of the low whose sacrifice will

be known by only us a lowly piece of

unkindled Ash this sacrifice of gals

ties into a theory of mine after his

death we can take the blood of the dark

soul to the painter to be used as Pigman

for her new world Gail knew he wouldn't

make it back but continued his mission

Anyway by handing it off to us he helps

us defeat sister Freda and the demon

Prince which are the two required bosses

we need to beat to get to the ring City

and once we do get to the ring City he

leaves markings of his cape along the

way that it will eventually point us

towards his location he wanted us to

find him and he wanted us to defeat him

so that we can continue his mission for

him and give the painter the blood she

needed as a whole Gail is easily my

favorite character character and boss in

this game he is like us a nobody he

isn't some Godlike figure or a being who

was born with insurmountable power he

like US gain this power through battle

and now the two strongest beings in the

world are duking it out at the edge of

the world truly the best boss this game

has to offer and was the best way to end

all the dlc's with Gail defeated we can

now give the painter the pigment she

thanks us and will eventually start

painting she never actually finishes the

painting though and this is an important

detail just like the other DLCs in the

trilogy this isn't the end of the game

the final boss is at the Kiln it's not

Gail so giving her this pigment doesn't

mean the end of the game it's just one

part of our long journey even if it

seems like a wonderful conclusion to the

game the DLCs of Dark Souls are the best

in the series and the ring city is a big

reason why ash is a very Andel is great

and a nice additional Side Story

especially since we get to learn more

about the painted worlds but the

callbacks references and answers to

questions we've been wondering about for

years are what makes this DLC so

impressive furthermore both DLCs have

some of the most intense fights in the

game and are the Pinnacle of this game's

combat from software has always made

their DLCs with Incredible quality and

sometimes are even better than the main

game and Dark Souls II continues to

honor this tradition Gail's objective is

now complete so now it's time to

complete ours which is go to the Kiln

and determine the fate of the world once

again defending this Kiln is being known

as the soul of Cinder this is the

physical manifestation of every being to

link the flame since its Inception

meaning our characters from Dark Souls 1

and 2 are a part of this being he also

fights like a real player too as his

move set is by far the most diverse in

the game he has three different melee

weapons uses all the schools of magic

and even has the ninja flipping from

Dark Souls 1 but our old characters

aren't the only ones in this being there

is one other character we know of the

one who was here from the very beginning

he was the one that created this world

so it's ironic that he gets to be here

for when we destroy it

the soul of Cinder not only has the same

move set as Gwyn but also the same piano

and its theme music I'll be honest I get

a bit emotional whenever I hear this

hearing that piano made me think of the

journey I had taken to get here all the

defeats and victories all the NPCs I had

encountered all the kingdoms I uncovered

and all the fates of the people I've met

along the way we have seen the literal

rise and fall of the entire world before

our eyes and every single person and

decision we have made has shaped us into

the person we are now a person who now

has to determine the entire fate of the

world should you go against everything

this game has taught you and still

believe in the first flame you'll be

shown a very depressing ending the Ashen

one links the flame and continues the

age of fire but it's not the spectacle

we saw in Dark Souls 1 it can barely

even cover our character let alone the

rest of the Arena the Ashen one looks

disappointed as if they expected

something more in fact we the player

were probably expecting something more

and are now just as disappointed this is

why I believe that everyone from Gwyn

till now has linked the flame when it

faded as if the world alternated like it

was supposed to then this wouldn't make

sense as to why the flame is this

pitiful the first flame is on its

deathbed and we still haven't granted it

the death it wants if we instead summon

the fire keeper she will take the first

flame and extinguish it for good the age

of dark will commence and the world has

gone completely black and while it may

seem scary to venture into a World

Without fire the fire keeper assures us

that the fire will eventually return

someday just like it did all the years

ago remember things are meant to live

and die the age of dark is temporary and

fire will return and an age of fire will

begin again but hopefully it will not be

extended this time if you're feeling

greedy you can also enact the age of

dark and take the Flames power for

yourself this is similar to our final

ending and the secret ending of Dark

Souls 3 the usurpation of fire this

requires us to complete yuria's quest

line yuria is from a place called londor

and we know that she's also the sister

of Freda and lilianne who created the

Sable Church in londor but what is

londor well it's a land of Hollows as we

can see all the hollows bowing down to

us as the new Lord of Hollows londor

also had many pilgrims that came to this

land possibly to find the first flame

and overtake lothric those Butterflies

from the dragon slayer armor are called

Pilgrim butterflies so maybe this is the

Pilgrim's final form so to speak these

pilgrims are most likely members of the

Sable church as while these sisters

created the church the pilgrims most

likely went here to worship their God

who happens to be the primordial serpent

coth we never see coth in game and the

only reason we even know this is because

of Yu's death dialogue but the call back

to him was insane and almost maybe

nervous for a bit as he could have been

orchestrating this church for who knows

how long so that he finally gets what he

wants if you remember he tricked the

Four Kings and the people of ulil into

being engulfed by the abyss so what's

stopping him from doing it against the

people of londor although in his defense

when we place the Lord vessel in Dark

Souls 1 cot says that every last one of

them failed him so maybe he isn't trying

to screw with londor and possibly found

a genuine group of people that will

follow and carry out his wish

accompanying us into the new world is

also hory of aora who depending on our

actions either got to defeat Aldridge

with us and finally be able to kill the

person she hated the most or gets killed

and unwillingly serves as our bride when

we become the Lord of Hollows which is

quite a dark twist Lor also seems to

embrace its Hollow State but this may

come at a cost Yol of londor can give us

the dark sigils required to progress the

quest line but once he does that he dies

and the Assassin who gives us the

wedding sword dies after the ceremony so

it seems like they're only able to

retain their sanity when Hollow but as a

consequence die once their purpose has

been fulfilled this is just about all we

know in regards to Lor but there is

still quite a few theories involved with

the kingdom such as the fact that Lor

could be tied to Drang Lake or Vela

admittedly it's a small connection but

items from Dark Souls 1 and 2 like the

vow of silence dead again dark drift and

dark hand have had their item

descriptions changed vow of silence in

Dark Souls 1 is a spell that was created

by Vela but in Dark Souls 3 it's used by

members of the church and the dark Drift

from Dark Souls 2 was said to be used by

the grave Warden and the dead Crypt but

in Dark Souls 3 it's used by Uria

however I don't think Vendrick and Alia

are related to this though as the two of

them wanted to remove the curse and Lor

wants to embrace their Hollow form

although in a manner of speaking the

hollow form is the true version of man

and thus could be in a way what the

brothers desired but I'm not too sure I

believe in this Theory especially given

how the brothers are never mentioned in

this game and would be weird if they

finally made an appearance now

regardless now it's time to say goodbye

to the age of fire and to Dark Souls the

age of dark is a metaphor for the Dark

Souls series every Dark Souls game has

taken place in the age of fire and by

keeping this age going we can keep the

Dark Souls games going but is that

really what we want many games have gone

on to make numerous sequels and ruin the

Integrity of that series the age of dark

is not just about moving on from the age

of fire but from Dark Souls itself as

much as I want more Dark Souls games to

keep coming it's only going to ruin the

franchise going forward but that doesn't

mean we have to say goodbye to the souls

genre we have Elden ring and any other

Souls games that come after it so our

hunger for this genre of games will

never die but we do need to say goodbye

to Dark Souls having Dark Souls end now

means it ends on a high note and I'd

rather see the game quit while it's

ahead than watch it release sequel after

sequel that will inevitably tarnish its

reputation causing it to be one of the

many games in the industry that ran

itself into the dirt so it's time to

finally put this game and its world to

rest thank you for watching

The COMPLETE Dark Souls Series Story Retrospective

Videos