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Dark Souls 3 Story and Lore Discussion [Unmarked Spoilers]

Landford

Banned
Only way the last DLC will be good to me, if they mention at least some plot points about the major things that happened in DS II with Aldia, and if the DLC is aware of it being the final Dark Souls content ever. I have very little hope in it after the first DSIII DLC.
 

Edzi

Member
Only way the last DLC will be good to me, if they mention at least some plot points about the major things that happened in DS II with Aldia, and if the DLC is aware of it being the final Dark Souls content ever. I have very little hope in it after the first DSIII DLC.

I'd prefer if they continued to stay away from DS2 tbh. What I'm hoping for is more emphasis on the Dark Soul itself, as well as the abyss.
 

Edzi

Member
Sorry for the double post, but I wasn't expecting this thread to be so dead after the DLC. I'm guessing everyone else just found it as empty/vague as I did?
 

B-Genius

Unconfirmed Member
Give it time, and hopefully people will start to creep back with some nice cohesive ideas.

What in particular was disappointing (lore-wise)? I'm happy to have a discussion if people are torn about something.
 
Personally I was a little disappointed about not visiting Londor, or have Kaathe or any serpent appear. The Ringed City did turn out to be a kingdom of hollows but just not the kind I was expecting (still got a bunch of hollow gems though finally!) There's still a whole lot that came out of this DLC.

I was surprised by the many revelations revealed in the dlc, like how things we knew from way back in DS1 might not be 100% the truth but just words spread by the followers of Lord Gwyn. It might feel a little iffy but its believable enough because these things do happen, the truth gets skewed by those in power.

I felt shock finding out that the Dark Sign wasn't a mysterious curse, but a brand that hampers the humans from reaching their full potential. Even from the beginning the Hollows did not just appear and have had their own society alongside the giants, with kings and even armies that harnessed weapons from the abyss to fight the dragons!

And there's even more stuff! It feels like the Ringed Dlc sorta parallels The Old Hunters in the way the church kept their secrets deeply locked away - Dark Souls' secrets are locked away to different eras and ages.
 
It was both a tad disappointing but also cool.

Info about the Pygmies, the Dark Soul, the Darksign etc...i also interpreted Filianore as the reason for why time is convoluted, keeling the world from ever moving on and making the Age of Fire/Age of Dark eternal.

The revelations about the Pygmies made me chuckle because whether its the statues of himself or the glory of Anor Londo, I've always felt that Gwyn was a vainglorious dickhead of a God.

And not only was the Ringed City confirmation of that - with his vanity being the cause for the state of the world - but he is the World's Worst God and World's Worst Dad.

It felt like Velka had always been more of a thing in fan theories than she was in the lore, so her relative lack of involvement was nor surprising. Although my friend wondered if she could have been one of the Pygmy Lords.

Lack of Londor/Sable Church was kinda disappointing but we also got stuff about them in the main game etc so...would have been nice to meet Liliane but eh.

All the factions ans Kingdoms vying for control of the Dark Soul or the First Flame over the series have been akin to fighting against the tide. You can resist it (The Cycle) for a time but ultimately nature will run its course (the world of Ash at the end)...which might be Miyazaki's excuse for not having Londor etc in TRC much outside the SoA buildings.

The ending ending was weird. Very Dark Souls but annoying. It was clear what was going to happen though with Painter Girl/Priscilla's Daughter(?) painting the Painted World of Ash.
 
I was super meh on Ashes of Ariendelle, but am curious to give Ringed City a try. I've read conflicting reports, do I have to have finish AoA to access this DLC?
 

Edzi

Member
So is the only thing this DLC gave us the small background info on the pygmies (civilization based on the abyss/dark, worked alongside Gwyn but were cursed with the dark sign)? Seems utterly bizarre that they hinted so heavily at Kaathe and did literally nothing with him.

Also, my memory is a bit fuzzy, but wasn't there an NPC in the swamp who referred to the abyss/dark as "crawling" or something like that? Isn't that kind of confirmation that the deep is just another name for the abyss?
 

Manu

Member
I'm glad we actually got to see the end of the world.

I knew we weren't gonna get answers to everything on a single DLC, otherwise it would've been too convenient. We got to finally see the pygmies, learn about the nature of their arrangement with the old gods, and even get the dark soul at the end.

There's still a lot that can be inferred from it, but it's probably gonna be a few days until the theories start showing up. Remember this only released two days ago. Not everyone has the free time or the skill to finish the whole thing already. Hell, I still haven't beat Midir myself. Give it time.
 

Ferr986

Member
I don't really get Filianore. She's a daughter of Gwyn, but why does she has that magic thing (you know, awakening from her slumber turning her onto a dried mess and the world going all shit and all of that). I'm honestly tired of the time, space and god lord knows what else is convolupted in DS world. Seems lazy.

Gwyn having a pact with pygmies was cool, again though, I don't get why Filianore was part of that pact, especially when it involves just putting her there to sleep forever. It's not like neither Gwyn or the pygmies get any benefit from that.

I'm glad we actually got to see the end of the world.

I knew we weren't gonna get answers to everything on a single DLC, otherwise it would've been too convenient. We got to finally see the pygmies, learn about the nature of their arrangement with the old gods, and even get the dark soul at the end.

There's still a lot that can be inferred from it, but it's probably gonna be a few days until the theories start showing up. Remember this only released two days ago. Not everyone has the free time or the skill to finish the whole thing already. Hell, I still haven't beat Midir myself. Give it time.

We don't really get the Dark Soul, just blood from it. The Dark Souls doesn't even exist anymore, it was splitted everywhere within humans and pygmies. What Gael wanted was blood coming from the Dark Souls, but when he arrived he found pygmies blood was all dried up, so he ate their souls to turn infested by the power of the Dark Souls, hence his own blood being the blood of the Dark Soul, knowing someone (probably you= will kill him and get his blood. Gael story was pretty cool IMO.
 

Edzi

Member
I don't really get Filianore. She's a daughter of Gwyn, but why does she has that magic thing (you know, awakening from her slumber turning her onto a dried mess and the world going all shit and all of that). I'm honestly tired of the time, space and god lord knows what else is convolupted in DS world. Seems lazy.

Gwyn having a pact with pygmies was cool, again though, I don't get why Filianore was part of that pact, especially when it involves just putting her there to sleep forever. It's not like neither Gwyn or the pygmies get any benefit from that.

The painting stuff seems really convoluted too. I'm really disappointed where the lore ended up, especially considering DS1 never really needed much more added to it.
 

Vena

Member
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Too much of this DLC felt like contrivances and nonsense that was looking backwards with an excuse on "you can't trust what any one tells you" but it felt cheap as hell. In DS1, you know Kathe and Frampt are probably lying outright or telling half-truths because its contextualized and contrasted against each other (and the DLC added to this with Oolacile and Manus).

But here it just feels like convoluted nonsense for the sake of adding twists to things that didn't need twists.

Dark Souls 2 and its DLC were more congruent than this nonsense conclusion with randomly thrown in new-old characters who seemingly serve little to no purpose and turning the lore of Gwyn on its head for, as far as I have been able to tell, no real reason at all. I don't even know why they bothered bringing Gwyn into this at all. Manus would have been more congruent than what we got.
 

Manu

Member
Gwyn having a pact with pygmies was cool, again though, I don't get why Filianore was part of that pact, especially when it involves just putting her there to sleep forever. It's not like neither Gwyn or the pygmies get any benefit from that.

Filianore seems to be the only thing keeping the illusion of the city going. Once you wake her up, time catches up to the city which becomes a ruin covered by ashes, just like the rest of the world. It's possible that Gwyn did this to earn the pygmies' trust, while at the same time keep them confined to this "pocket reality" of sorts. There's a lot of this in DS3.

We don't really get the Dark Soul, just blood from it. The Dark Souls doesn't even exist anymore, it was splitted everywhere within humans and pygmies. What Gael wanted was blood coming from the Dark Souls, but when he arrived he found pygmies blood was all dried up, so he ate their souls to turn infested by the power of the Dark Souls, hence his own blood being the blood of the Dark Soul, knowing someone (probably you= will kill him and get his blood. Gael story was pretty cool IMO.

True. I probably should've said "the closest we'll ever get to the dark soul," considering Gael spent all this time killing the pygmy lords to get it. He also seems to have done this in real time, outside the illusion of Filianore's sleep. By the time you see him, he's been at it for ages. It's really cool, and really sad too.

The painting stuff seems really convoluted too. I'm really disappointed where the lore ended up, especially considering DS1 never really needed much more added to it.

The painting stuf isn't really convoluted, and it also works as meta commentary about the series as a whole too. There are some really good posts in Reddit about it.
 

Edzi

Member
Filianore seems to be the only thing keeping the illusion of the city going. Once you wake her up, time catches up to the city which becomes a ruin covered by ashes, just like the rest of the world. It's possible that Gwyn did this to earn the pygmies' trust, while at the same time keep them confined to this "pocket reality" of sorts. There's a lot of this in DS3.



True. I probably should've said "the closest we'll ever get to the dark soul," considering Gael spent all this time killing the pygmy lords to get it. He also seems to have done this in real time, outside the illusion of Filianore's sleep. By the time you see him, he's been at it for ages. It's really cool, and really sad too.



The painting stuf isn't really convoluted, and it also works as meta commentary about the series as a whole too. There are some really good posts in Reddit about it.

Is meta commentary the new way of saying makes no sense/unnecessary?

I don't know how we got from DS1 to this. Miyazaki clearly has trouble with direct sequels.
 

Manu

Member
Is meta commentary the new way of saying makes no sense/unnecessary?

I don't know how we got from DS1 to this. Miyazaki clearly has trouble with direct sequels.

How does it not make sense?

I mean, I get you didn't like it, but if you're going to shut down discussion like this there's no point in even posting in this thread.
 

Edzi

Member
How does it not make sense?

I mean, I get you didn't like it, but if you're going to shut down discussion like this there's no point in even posting in this thread.

You're free to explain the painting theories so we can discuss it in detail, but directing me to reddit also isn't the best way to extend discussion.
 

Manu

Member
All I was saying is that I don't see how the painting doesn't make sense or is convoluted in regards to the game's story. But if you want to read on the metacommentary aspect specifically, I'm quoting some parts of the Reddit post that proposed it, because even if it's reaching at some parts I think it also makes some really good points.

https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/62cutp/spoilers_the_story_of_dark_souls_3s_dlc_or_why_i/ said:
So here it is: The DLC is literally about why we, as a community, need to move on from Dark Souls. I'm going to argue that if you look beyond the minutiae of how things and characters fit into the hierarchy of gods and men, and look at the actual structure of the story and what it's trying to say, it's a flawless end to the series. Far more perfect than Velka descending from on high to be the final boss or showing us Gwynevere.

Miyazaki hasn't been terribly subtle for a while now about wanting to wrap the series up. We've all known this for ages. I don't recall an interview where he explicitly explains why, but that's ok because we have Ashes of Ariandel, which does it for him.

Ashes of Ariandel presents a world that is rotting. Stagnating. Its residents wallow in the rot that afflicts the place. The option to burn the painting and start over is presented as natural, but it isn't happening. Someone has come from outside and convinced the denizens of the painted world to keep it going. This is one big allegory for Dark Souls as a franchise, it's a stagnating world, being kept alive by outside forces, by the demands of the company and the fanbase.

[...]

Then there's Father Ariandel, the man who's responsible for the creation of this latest Painted World. That's Miyazaki in this sad little story. The father of the world we're in, chained to a chair in a basement, keeping the stagnating world he's created going with his own blood and tears. Ultimately, he finds the strength to fight, and is responsible for the flame that will burn away the world.

But the most poignant line in the DLC comes from the Corvian Settler.

"When the world rots, we set it afire. For the sake of the next world It's the one thing we do right, unlike those fools on the outside."

So, where is ‘the outside'? Is it the world outside the painting? Or is it the world outside the game? Whenever people talk about soulsborne games, it's inevitable that the vast majority of people's favorites are going to be Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1, or Bloodborne. You occasionally hear someone say DS2 or DS3 is a favorite, but far and away, From Software is at their best when they're creating new worlds to see, with new things to do. All three of them are similar, but they're their own thing. Miyazaki and Fromsoft swing for the fences when they're building the next world, not wallowing in the last.

It's not the world in Dark Souls that's rotting. It's the world of Dark Souls that is rotting.

Let's move on to The Ringed City to make my point. Fromsoft has always been pretty genius about using environmental detail to help tell its story. You start the DLC at the top of the end of the world. All of the places and things in the Dark Souls universe are collapsing together as the world comes to its end. The top. That's important. The top is Lothric. You begin where Dark Souls 3 ended. The ‘end' of the story so far. As you descend you come to the broken remains of Earthen Peak. You've descended through time into Dark Souls 2. Not much of it, but one zone's worth. And as you descend even further, you kill the Demon Prince and reach a tiny piece of Firelink Shrine. You've descended into Dark Souls 1, and it's a frail, insignificant speck compared to all that's piled on top of it...

You see the thing is, every time they make a new Dark Souls game, they add a new layer of complexity to the lore. The previous layers get crushed under the weight of the additions. With every thing that they add to the series, they have to come up with new places to go that didn't exist before. New people to fight. New things to kill. These have to fit in somehow. We speculate endlessly on how they might. We demand that they do. And this fact, this inarguable truth of the world is right there in the level design itself. A Dark Souls 4 would just make the pile deeper, the rubble of Firelink smaller.

[...]

So you kill Gael, and your reward is the broken, ruined remains of the Dark Soul itself. Which leads us to the final story related thing that any of us will do in the series. You take this bloody mess that represents the very namesake of the franchise, arguably the most significant item that you have ever carried in all your time playing these games, and give it away to someone else so that they can create a new, better world on top of what's left. Symbolism doesn't get any clearer than that.

The game is literally begging us to let go of Dark Souls and let From Software create something new in its wake. It's the end of this series, but the beginning of whatever follows, which will no doubt be wondrous as well. Perhaps a cold, dark and gentle place. Hopefully it will make a good home for us.

The whole read is really interesting and makes a bit too much sense not to be intentional imo.
 

Arkeband

Banned
Sorry for the double post, but I wasn't expecting this thread to be so dead after the DLC. I'm guessing everyone else just found it as empty/vague as I did?

It desperately needed a final cutscene at the very least, or some kind of lore reward for turning in the Blood of the Dark Soul. As of right now literally nothing happens for remembering to deliver it back to her other than some super vague text that basically says "okay I'll paint with this", you're better off leaving it in your inventory because its description text is more interesting.

edit: okay after reading the above now it makes a lot more sense - although a post-Gael cutscene and one more lore reward would have been good game design, while still retaining the underlying message.
 

Lux R7

Member
All I was saying is that I don't see how the painting doesn't make sense or is convoluted in regards to the game's story. But if you want to read on the metacommentary aspect specifically, I'm quoting some parts of the Reddit post that proposed it, because even if it's reaching at some parts I think it also makes some really good points.



The whole read is really interesting and makes a bit too much sense not to be intentional imo.

that reddit post is pretty great.
 

Manu

Member
It desperately needed a final cutscene at the very least, or some kind of lore reward for turning in the Blood of the Dark Soul. As of right now literally nothing happens for remembering to deliver it back to her other than some super vague text that basically says "okay I'll paint with this", you're better off leaving it in your inventory because its description text is more interesting.

Now that you mention it, none of the DLCs in the Miyazaki directed games had a "lore reward" for completing them, unless you consider the short cutscene at the end of The Old Hunters. Only the Three Crowns trilogy did it.
 

Edzi

Member
All I was saying is that I don't see how the painting doesn't make sense or is convoluted in regards to the game's story. But if you want to read on the metacommentary aspect specifically, I'm quoting some parts of the Reddit post that proposed it, because even if it's reaching at some parts I think it also makes some really good points.



The whole read is really interesting and makes a bit too much sense not to be intentional imo.

I'm not sure I buy it considering how much emphasis was placed on the Pygmy stuff, but if this is true then that's an even bigger disappointment that Miyazaki would want to sacrfice the lore in this series just for some Kojima level meta commentary for the fans. Can't see how anyone could be happy about that, especially since it would just imply that the painting stuff/DLC stuff was just forced into the story without any regard to how it ties back into the actual world and lore.
 
Now that you mention it, none of the DLCs in the Miyazaki directed games had a "lore reward" for completing them, unless you consider the short cutscene at the end of The Old Hunters. Only the Three Crowns trilogy did it.

what.....
The old hunters is "This is what happened.... right here....", you get to the see the story first hand,like much of BB.
AoTA you literally are the one to kill manus, how is that not a reward.
 

Manu

Member
what.....
The old hunters is "This is what happened.... right here....", you get to the see the story first hand,like much of BB.
AoTA you literally are the one to kill manus, how is that not a reward.

I don't see how killing Manus is a lore reward considering we only meet him on that DLC. I'd say meeting Artorias and seeing his actual fate was the biggest lore bomb in AoTA. There's a reason the expansion was named after him after all.

The Old Hunters was great about it, yeah. But the whole thing was amazing start to finish, you don't actually have to beat Orphan of Kos to get the most of the story. Once you reach him, you have all the pieces of the puzzle.

I'm not sure I buy it considering how much emphasis was placed on the Pygmy stuff, but if this is true then that's an even bigger disappointment that Miyazaki would want to sacrfice the lore in this series just for some Kojima level meta commentary for the fans. Can't see how anyone could be happy about that, especially since it would just imply that the painting stuff/DLC stuff was just forced into the story without any regard to how it ties back into the actual world and lore.

I really think Miyazaki was between a rock and a hard place. Maybe he knew trying to please everybody would end up not pleasing anybody so he took a third option. I don't know.
 

Ferr986

Member
The Reddit post is great stuff for read but it feels more like the author is reaching. I don't think the story is all this meta. People always look for the most meta and crazy stuff when doing theories, as we saw with the ME3 indoctrination theory (that ended up being false) or all the Kojima stories.

Also I don't think Miyazaki wants to tell us to let go Dark Souls whe he himself said that, even if Dark Souls is over for him, he wouldn't not opose to someone else at FROM (or even at Namco, let's not forget they have something on the IP) to create a new Dark Souls game.

IMO the painting story is more simple, the world will die no matter what, eithe by the Dark Age (which we know is shit because it's just a pitch black world) or the arid end of the world we see in TRC. So Gael and the painter just want to create a new world for humans to leave, one done especially for them, hence using the Dark Soul as a pigment.
 

SargerusBR

I love Pokken!
One thing I don't get is the new Painting. Ariandel was already rotting and when we return with the Blood of the Dark Soul, everything is burning in flames. This new painting isn't just gonna be there right? A pocket dimension inside another pocket dimension? And who will live in this Painted World of Ash? Pretty much everyone in the world is dead. Unless the Painter can also create life when creating the painting.
 

Arkeband

Banned
Now I'm wondering if some of the more cryptic dialogue is laden with clues about his next project. The biggest ones would be the skeleton at the entrance to the Ringed City and his ranting, and the multiple bloodsucker hollows repeating those short stories with "Fear not the dark, and let the feast begin."
 

SargerusBR

I love Pokken!
Now I'm wondering if some of the more cryptic dialogue is laden with clues about his next project. The biggest ones would be the skeleton at the entrance to the Ringed City and his ranting, and the multiple bloodsucker hollows repeating those short stories with "Fear not the dark, and let the feast begin."

73376-107.jpg


Deep Souls, lets go
 

Ferr986

Member
Now I'm wondering if some of the more cryptic dialogue is laden with clues about his next project. The biggest ones would be the skeleton at the entrance to the Ringed City and his ranting, and the multiple bloodsucker hollows repeating those short stories with "Fear not the dark, and let the feast begin."

This is probably where Gael learned to literally eat the dark souls to get the blood.
 

Arkeband

Banned
73376-107.jpg


Deep Souls, lets go

It really does read that way - Miyazaki thinking about what comes after Dark Souls for him, and thinks up what sounds like Bloodborne quite honestly.

And that it would be long and hard work but players will end up fighting the gods themselves (which they do, in the form of elder alien god-beings)
 

SargerusBR

I love Pokken!
I asked a couple posts before this, but doesn't this DLC imply that the Deep is just the Abyss/Dark?

I believe Miyazaki himself said the deep is another way in which the abyss can manifest.

Personally i always thought the Abyss to be a twisted version of Dark, similar to how Chaos is a twisted version of Fire.
The Deep is perhaps a more natural version of Dark.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
So, that's it? All these lose hanging threads, no real conclusion to anything. Lol. Dark Souls 2 was more conclusive than this, with the Bearer of the Curse going off with his crowns of perpetual humanity to find a way to break the cycle.
 

Edzi

Member
So, that's it? All these lose hanging threads, no real conclusion to anything. Lol. Dark Souls 2 was more conclusive than this, with the Bearer of the Curse going off with his crowns of perpetual humanity to find a way to break the cycle.

Dark Souls 2 was actually lucky because it was mostly a self contained side story. It doesn't really have any huge ramifications to the overall lore.

DS3 on the other hand tied itself too closely to DS1, and they dropped the ball hard in the lore department they couldn't decide between doing their own thing versus tying everything back to the first. I'm still salty over how messy Ornstein's story ended up becoming.
 

Syder

Member
Personally i always thought the Abyss to be a twisted version of Dark, similar to how Chaos is a twisted version of Fire.
The Deep is perhaps a more natural version of Dark.
I asked this question earlier in the thread and it seems like there's no definitive answer.

Safe bet is The Deep is just another name for the Abyss and a tentative link to Bloodborne.
 

ElFly

Member
Dark Souls 2 was actually lucky because it was mostly a self contained side story. It doesn't really have any huge ramifications to the overall lore.

DS3 on the other hand tied itself too closely to DS1, and they dropped the ball hard in the lore department they couldn't decide between doing their own thing versus tying everything back to the first. I'm still salty over how messy Ornstein's story ended up becoming.

the sad part is that all the stuff that is unrelated to DS1 is p good; well they needed a named god for aldrich to eat, but they didn't need to bring back anor londo with him. but a lot of the DS3-only stuff doesn't get enough development

this also had the weird consequence of making anor londo and gwyndolyn to have kept up the charade until aldrich, and so now in the DS3 lore, the legend of linking the fire comes from drangleic, and not from londran itself
 
the sad part is that all the stuff that is unrelated to DS1 is p good; well they needed a named god for aldrich to eat, but they didn't need to bring back anor londo with him. but a lot of the DS3-only stuff doesn't get enough development

this also had the weird consequence of making anor londo and gwyndolyn to have kept up the charade until aldrich, and so now in the DS3 lore, the legend of linking the fire comes from drangleic, and not from londran itself
Why would the original gods exist anywhere but they're own city, that makes no sense, and Gwyndolin didn't keep the illusion going, I'd argue that Anor Londo/Irithyll froze over due to the lack of sunlight and eternal night. And there's nothing to suggest that the linking of the fire comes from Drangliec.

And I'd also argue that Dark Souls III connection to the first game is where it's lore is strongest.
Edit: To explain further.
You have a castle that was built by the most powerful beings that exist in your world, your family for your family and your family alone. It's an heirloom. Your father is dead, and so is presumably your mother, the castle is now passed down to the children. Except, your eldest brother is disowned and MIA, so he now has no claim to it, your eldest sister is MIA so she has no claim to it and you're the only one left, you have a moral obligation to continue to reside in and maintain your family's heirloom. While there was a chance that your father may return, you had an obligation to make things appear as if everything was running buisness as scheduled. That never happened, so there's no reason to keep up the charade. Now in the absence of light (heat source) things get cold and Gwyndolin's trait is the antithesis of his/her fathers. Gwyn was the sun, Gwyndolin is the moon and assumedly it was perpetually day when Gwyn ruled over Anor Londo, now that Gwyndolin rules over Anor Londo, you'd get a perpetual night and with that perpetual night is going to come a perpetual cold, and considering its magic based I'd guess that seasons don't apply when in Anor Londo. Eventually everything would just freeze over until you get Irithyll/Anor Londo, which is cold and snowy, but not unbearably so or completely frozen over.

As for the linking of the fire, that was something that was pushed in tandem by Gwyndolin and Frampt from the first game, and since Gwyndolin he has reason to continue to preserve the age of fire and their fathers legacy, in addition to that. Considering how long Kaathe lived (Long enough to meet Yuria, hundreds of years later) you can assume that Frampt lived quite a while longer too and that they continued to push people towards linking the fire, even making it a grand event in the way it is now.

and funnily enough, places where Anor Londo/Irithyll has a lot of influence, two (technically three) lords are produced in Aldritch and the Twin Princes.

One thing I don't get is the new Painting. Ariandel was already rotting and when we return with the Blood of the Dark Soul, everything is burning in flames. This new painting isn't just gonna be there right? A pocket dimension inside another pocket dimension? And who will live in this Painted World of Ash? Pretty much everyone in the world is dead. Unless the Painter can also create life when creating the painting.

Life can be created within a painting apparently, since that's where the Pontiff comes from.
 

Fireflu

Member
God fucking damn it... No Kaathe/Frampt/Primordial Serpents... I was foolish enough to have hope, especially after seeing the serpent headed creature statues decorating the Ringed City. I had dreamed about going to that large mausoleum and finding Kaathe inside (even just a skeleton/statue!). Really strange how we never got to go inside it...

The building reeks of mystery and the sword of avowal spires seem to imply a strong connection to Londor (I thought it was the Sable Church initially). For as many highlights and strong moments there were in the DLC I can't help but feel a bit crushed at the lack of closure with some of these huge lore threads, the Primordial Serpent stuff in particular :/
 

B-Genius

Unconfirmed Member
I'm glad there's at least some discussion happening in here! That Reddit post about the meta story is great.

One thing: everyone always says the Ringed City has strong connections to Londor. It's worth considering that it might be the other way around. Londor most likely based their symbolism off the Ringed City, which was built much, much earlier (by the gods to contain the pygmies).

The hollows of Londor revered the pygmies and the power of the dark soul, and so the Sword of Avowal resembles architecture/imagery found in the Ringed City. Pilgrims of Londor shackle those huge covers to their backs in an attempt to seal their sigils until they reach their destination - which is Lothric; where all lands will converge as the world draws to a close - hoping to be closer to the "holy land" when they perish.

You also see the statues in the Ringed City, of those burdened by what we can assume to be the dark sign. Perhaps donning the covers is an allusion to this, as well.
 

ElFly

Member
Why would the original gods exist anywhere but they're own city, that makes no sense, and Gwyndolin didn't keep the illusion going, I'd argue that Anor Londo/Irithyll froze over due to the lack of sunlight and eternal night. And there's nothing to suggest that the linking of the fire comes from Drangliec.

check out the description of the Drang armor in DS2

Armour/Gauntlets/Shoes of the Drang Knights, proclaimed descendents of the land known for the legend of the Linking of the Fire.

Fine protection that is both light and strong, having been reinforced with rare geisteel.

The Drang knights were once feared sellswords, until treason meant descending into the abyss, and they were seperated forever.

this is the Llewelyn set from Dark Souls 2. the legend of linking the fire thus comes from Drangleic. nobody knew about linking the fire in Lordran until Drangleic broke down and then was resurrected by some guy who actually linked the fire



And I'd also argue that Dark Souls III connection to the first game is where it's lore is strongest.
Edit: To explain further.
You have a castle that was built by the most powerful beings that exist in your world, your family for your family and your family alone. It's an heirloom. Your father is dead, and so is presumably your mother, the castle is now passed down to the children. Except, your eldest brother is disowned and MIA, so he now has no claim to it, your eldest sister is MIA so she has no claim to it and you're the only one left, you have a moral obligation to continue to reside in and maintain your family's heirloom. While there was a chance that your father may return, you had an obligation to make things appear as if everything was running buisness as scheduled. That never happened, so there's no reason to keep up the charade. Now in the absence of light (heat source) things get cold and Gwyndolin's trait is the antithesis of his/her fathers. Gwyn was the sun, Gwyndolin is the moon and assumedly it was perpetually day when Gwyn ruled over Anor Londo, now that Gwyndolin rules over Anor Londo, you'd get a perpetual night and with that perpetual night is going to come a perpetual cold, and considering its magic based I'd guess that seasons don't apply when in Anor Londo. Eventually everything would just freeze over until you get Irithyll/Anor Londo, which is cold and snowy, but not unbearably so or completely frozen over.

As for the linking of the fire, that was something that was pushed in tandem by Gwyndolin and Frampt from the first game, and since Gwyndolin he has reason to continue to preserve the age of fire and their fathers legacy, in addition to that. Considering how long Kaathe lived (Long enough to meet Yuria, hundreds of years later) you can assume that Frampt lived quite a while longer too and that they continued to push people towards linking the fire, even making it a grand event in the way it is now.

and funnily enough, places where Anor Londo/Irithyll has a lot of influence, two (technically three) lords are produced in Aldritch and the Twin Princes.

we don't have reason to believe that Anor Londo was plunged into an eternal night; as far as we know, under gwyndolyn the false sun just stayed up forever, at least while Anor Londo still existed, but in other areas, the sun set and came out as normal

what's more, it is nighttime in irythil, but it is day up in anor londo; the snow is not due to the lack of a sun, it is just the weather. E:irithyll is called "of the boreal valley". It's just the weather there.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Why would the original gods exist anywhere but they're own city, that makes no sense, and Gwyndolin didn't keep the illusion going, I'd argue that Anor Londo/Irithyll froze over due to the lack of sunlight and eternal night. And there's nothing to suggest that the linking of the fire comes from Drangliec.

And I'd also argue that Dark Souls III connection to the first game is where it's lore is strongest.
Edit: To explain further.
You have a castle that was built by the most powerful beings that exist in your world, your family for your family and your family alone. It's an heirloom. Your father is dead, and so is presumably your mother, the castle is now passed down to the children. Except, your eldest brother is disowned and MIA, so he now has no claim to it, your eldest sister is MIA so she has no claim to it and you're the only one left, you have a moral obligation to continue to reside in and maintain your family's heirloom. While there was a chance that your father may return, you had an obligation to make things appear as if everything was running buisness as scheduled. That never happened, so there's no reason to keep up the charade. Now in the absence of light (heat source) things get cold and Gwyndolin's trait is the antithesis of his/her fathers. Gwyn was the sun, Gwyndolin is the moon and assumedly it was perpetually day when Gwyn ruled over Anor Londo, now that Gwyndolin rules over Anor Londo, you'd get a perpetual night and with that perpetual night is going to come a perpetual cold, and considering its magic based I'd guess that seasons don't apply when in Anor Londo. Eventually everything would just freeze over until you get Irithyll/Anor Londo, which is cold and snowy, but not unbearably so or completely frozen over.

As for the linking of the fire, that was something that was pushed in tandem by Gwyndolin and Frampt from the first game, and since Gwyndolin he has reason to continue to preserve the age of fire and their fathers legacy, in addition to that. Considering how long Kaathe lived (Long enough to meet Yuria, hundreds of years later) you can assume that Frampt lived quite a while longer too and that they continued to push people towards linking the fire, even making it a grand event in the way it is now.

and funnily enough, places where Anor Londo/Irithyll has a lot of influence, two (technically three) lords are produced in Aldritch and the Twin Princes.



Life can be created within a painting apparently, since that's where the Pontiff comes from.

TFW the Dark Souls series took place inside of Peach's Castle all along
 
check out the description of the Drang armor in DS2

this is the Llewelyn set from Dark Souls 2. the legend of linking the fire thus comes from Drangleic. nobody knew about linking the fire in Lordran until Drangleic broke down and then was resurrected by some guy who actually linked the fire
Fair enough, my apologies.



we don't have reason to believe that Anor Londo was plunged into an eternal night; as far as we know, under gwyndolyn the false sun just stayed up forever, but in other areas, the sun set and came out as normal

what's more, it is nighttime in irythil, but it is day up in anor londo; the snow is not due to the lack of a sun, it is just the weather. E:irithyll is called "of the boreal valley". It's just the weather there.
When you kill Gwyndolin in Dark Souls 1, it becomes eternal night in Anor Londo(and just Anor Londo). Gwyndolin has the power of the moon as Gwyn had the power of the sun. It was eternally daytime because of Gwyn, then Gwyndolin keeping up the illusion of the sun in Dark Souls 1 until you kill him. Killing Gwyndolin in the first game is kind of a big deal because of that.

It's also not daytime in Anor Londo in Dark Souls 3, its night time and the moon is very visible (Gwyndolin). Arguably Irithyll is also part of Anor Londo. Anor Londo itself is the castle of the gods above the city, Irithyll is the city below which has existed since Dark Souls 1, we just never got to visit it until now.
 

Ferr986

Member
I'm glad there's at least some discussion happening in here! That Reddit post about the meta story is great.

One thing: everyone always says the Ringed City has strong connections to Londor. It's worth considering that it might be the other way around. Londor most likely based their symbolism off the Ringed City, which was built much, much earlier (by the gods to contain the pygmies).

The hollows of Londor revered the pygmies and the power of the dark soul, and so the Sword of Avowal resembles architecture/imagery found in the Ringed City. Pilgrims of Londor shackle those huge covers to their backs in an attempt to seal their sigils until they reach their destination - which is Lothric; where all lands will converge as the world draws to a close - hoping to be closer to the "holy land" when they perish.

You also see the statues in the Ringed City, of those burdened by what we can assume to be the dark sign. Perhaps donning the covers is an allusion to this, as well.

This is true. There is also pilgrims on the Dreag Heap, on their way to the Ringed City.
 

Edzi

Member
Fair enough, my apologies.




When you kill Gwyndolin in Dark Souls 1, it becomes eternal night in Anor Londo(and just Anor Londo). Gwyndolin has the power of the moon as Gwyn had the power of the sun. It was eternally daytime because of Gwyn, then Gwyndolin keeping up the illusion of the sun in Dark Souls 1 until you kill him. Killing Gwyndolin in the first game is kind of a big deal because of that.

It's also not daytime in Anor Londo in Dark Souls 3, its night time and the moon is very visible (Gwyndolin). Arguably Irithyll is also part of Anor Londo. Anor Londo itself is the castle of the gods above the city, Irithyll is the city below which has existed since Dark Souls 1, we just never got to visit it until now.

Gwyndolin was never killed by the DS1 player in the DS3 world/timeline/whatever. He survived and likely maintained whatever illusion he had over Anor Londo until Aldritch ate him.

Irithyll is not part of Anor Londo, the crux of DS3's geography is that all the lands are converging. Proximity in DS3 means nothing.
 

Vena

Member
When you kill Gwyndolin in Dark Souls 1, it becomes eternal night in Anor Londo(and just Anor Londo). Gwyndolin has the power of the moon as Gwyn had the power of the sun. It was eternally daytime because of Gwyn, then Gwyndolin keeping up the illusion of the sun in Dark Souls 1 until you kill him. Killing Gwyndolin in the first game is kind of a big deal because of that.

It's also not daytime in Anor Londo in Dark Souls 3, its night time and the moon is very visible (Gwyndolin). Arguably Irithyll is also part of Anor Londo. Anor Londo itself is the castle of the gods above the city, Irithyll is the city below which has existed since Dark Souls 1, we just never got to visit it until now.

You don't kill Gwyndolin or Gwynevere's illusion in DS1. Otherwise it's impossible for Gwyndolin to be consumed if you had, and it's obviously impossible for Yorksha to exist if "brother" wasn't around to keep her safe.

The whole Irithyll/Anor Londo thing is a mess for lore in DS3. The Silver Knights especially make no fucking sense.

My opinion has rather firmly solidified that Miyazaki gets his head stuck too far up his own ass with attempts at beguiling continuity. He can do it's well when it's self contained but it turns into a fucking trainwreck when he tries to stretch it out.
 

ElFly

Member
When you kill Gwyndolin in Dark Souls 1, it becomes eternal night in Anor Londo(and just Anor Londo). Gwyndolin has the power of the moon as Gwyn had the power of the sun. It was eternally daytime because of Gwyn, then Gwyndolin keeping up the illusion of the sun in Dark Souls 1 until you kill him. Killing Gwyndolin in the first game is kind of a big deal because of that.

It's also not daytime in Anor Londo in Dark Souls 3, its night time and the moon is very visible (Gwyndolin). Arguably Irithyll is also part of Anor Londo. Anor Londo itself is the castle of the gods above the city, Irithyll is the city below which has existed since Dark Souls 1, we just never got to visit it until now.

I am not sure about the eternal night, although I could be forgetting some item description

the thing is, all of dark souls 1,2, and 3, has static time of the day for each area, with time of the day changing when going from area to area; I assume this to mean that we are taking our sweet time around the games, not that there are eternal days or nights on each particular area

it just happened that it was night when the sun illusion in anor londo was dispelled; I assume the only "eternal" day was the fake day gwyndolyn was maintaining, dunno

IIRC Anor Londo in DS3 is in daylight? it's been a while since I've played. could easily be wrong

I don't think Irythyll existed as is under Anor Londo, I mean, there is obviously a city we never visit under the cathedrals we do visit in Anor Londo in DS1, but Irythill is in a valley, and Anor Londo is in top of a mountain. so either

-the mountain came down and became a boreal valley at some point, or
-this is some geographic fuckery from everything coming together to Lothric

Gwyndolin was never killed by the DS1 player in the DS3 world/timeline/whatever. He survived and likely maintained whatever illusion he had over Anor Londo until Aldritch ate him.

Irithyll is not part of Anor Londo, the crux of DS3's geography is that all the lands are converging. Proximity in DS3 means nothing.

it's possible he was killed by someone who chose the dark lord ending

the eras where the fire wasn't linked are coming together, but they could come from before it was too late, so maybe the whole time travel thing allows for Gwyndolyn to have been janked out of his timeline, while he was still alive, and then be eaten by Aldrich

Aldrich certainly didn't eat him in his era, but in Lothric. Aldrich probably had missed the chance of eating gods while he lived cause, well, all the gods he knew of were dead; Lothic pulling all the old eras together basically resurrected Gwyndolyn

so basically

-Anor Londo stands there for several eras, Gwyndolyn keeps the sun up
-Some chosen undead ignore Gwyndolyn and link the fire, but they disappear, not being strong enough to become Lords of Cinder. Anor Londo endures
-????
-a chosen undead picks the dark lord ending, Anor Londo crumbles in ruin, Gwyndolyn dies too, or goes into hiding, or was killed

aeons later, DS3 happens; Lothric pulls Anor Londo in the ???? point, Gwyndolyn is still there, but Aldrich goes and eats him

probably Anor Londo hasn't been standing there all that time. we are seeing a fused land, not how Lothric was before DS3
 
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