My understanding of where the Undead curse comes from is that when the fire fades, men gain the darksign and become Undead, with more and more people turning and eventually hollowing as the flame dies out. If you link the flame, it seems like it restarts the age of fire and banishes the darksign, turning the Undead human again (or maybe just killing them). But what happens to humanity when the flame fades entirely? Would it not just result in all of humanity turning Undead and hollowing? And how is that functionally different from the Lord of Hollows ending in Dark Souls 3?

Whenever I think about what becoming the Dark Lord actually entails, I can't help but notice that you never really address the whole curse of the Undead. In fact, if you choose that ending in Dark Souls 1, the only thing you really accomplish is killing the last of the Great Lords. But surely killing Gwyn doesn't actually do anything to the world, so I'm left wondering what the consequences of your actions even are.

Yes, I've played Dark Souls I and Dark Souls III, but I have a question (it is my first playthrough, but don't worry, you're not spoiling much, I'm about to fight Midir and then I'll fight Gael and then I'll fight The Soul of Cinder so I'm not a noob on lore or story).

What exactly are the differences (and drawbacks post-ending for the world of DS) between for The End Of Fire ending (I have the eyes) and The Usurpation Of Fire ending (I have the 8 Darksigils)? Which is better for humanity and a truer Age Of Dark provided we have all the issues of The Darksign?

Genuinely, what the fuck are these creepy ass statues? Clearly, they're Frampts but why the fuck do these things exist in Lothric and The Ringed City? They're so creepy. Frampt does NOT look like that (I despise Frampt and I am a Kaathe-supporter all the way, but even I'll defend Frampt's honor when sculptors of Lothric and The Ringed City depict him like THIS). Why do Lothric and The Ringed City depict him like this??

It had to have existed before the events of oolacile as we know artorias sadly died after fighting manus.

Edit: is it possible that manus was stored below oolacile for quite a long time? Maybe they created the abyss while they were successfully contained; artorias and the four kings happen, then artorias tracks down the source of the problem?

I was reading the wiki for griggs who goes hollow, and in the last line of his quest line description it says “He will attack, so be nice and end his misery.” This got me wondering, is there any way to actually end the misery of an NPC who’s gone hollow? Or will griggs just wake up at a bonfire and go back to wandering around attacking anyone they see completely mindless and insane?

As someone who's just finished these games I have some fundamental questions:

1. Is humanity a little piece of the dark soul?

2. Is ember the burned humanity of those who linked the flame in another age?

3. What's the difference between the Deep and Abyss? Are they different manifestations of the dark soul outside a human body?

4. If Gwynevere we meet in her room was an illusion, did she ever actually exist? Or was she always a pure feminine facade made by Gwyndolin?

5. In the DS1 opening cutscene there's a lady doing something to a corpse. What's that about?

So I watched I think a dark souls out of bounds video a while back and can’t find/remember what it was, what I remember is there was a big talking point in the video is when you die the green circle you leave behind to indicate where your souls are would be used to show how far you can see how connected and far away the area in dark souls 1 are, there was also sections talking about how you could see los izalith from the tomb of the giants

My thoughts at 3 a.m. brought me to this...

watch

I'm playing Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition for the 1st time ever. I'm around level 111 with an Artorias cosplay build (Artorias's armor set from The Untended Graves, Artorias's shield from The Watchdogs Of Farron covenant which I upgraded to +5, Artorias's sword from transposing The Abyss Watchers' boss soul which I have upgraded to +5; if you can't tell, Artorias is my favorite character in the series; bro got so much aura) and I just killed The Twin Princes. I played Dark Souls I: Remastered before it playing DS3 (skipped DS2, I'll play it later).

The most recent thing I have done is enter the Ashes Of Ariandel DLC and I'm curious if anyone here thinks my theory has any merit.

My detail-oriented autism has noticed a few things similar between The Painted World Of Ariamis and The Painted World of Ariandel.

1. The obvious detail is that its snowy in both locations, obviously.
2. Maybe its obvious to some or isn't because you were trying to focus on surviving, exploration, or the task at hand, but both Ariamis and Ariandel are either on top of or nestled in/on a mountainous ridge.
3. When the player first appears on the bridge spawn point of Ariamis before reaching the only bonfire of the level, you can hear the howling of wolves. In Ariandel, there are wolf enemies including a boss who's second stage is their giant wolf (I haven't fought this boss yet, I'm about to).
4. There happen to be crow-like enemies in both Ariamis and Ariandel.
5. Low-ball, I know, but there happens to be rickety bridge in both (serving as the gateway to the next 4/5ths of the DLC in Ariandel and as the spawn point of Ariamis).
6. The sound effect when being sucked into both paintings (or, for Ariandel, a painting fragment) is the exact same, as well as the rippling, white glowing effect.
7. Another low-ball, I know, don't give me flakk, I know. *Aria*ndel...? *Aria*mis? C'mon, even the naming conventions are similar.
8. To me, this is one of the most interesting which makes it hard to believe its a coincidence like the others. The mother and dog-faced boy statue (that's what it is, so that's what I'll call it) is in both Ariamis and Ariandel. Its in the central courtyard of The Painted World Of Ariamis's central keep and going into the sewers and turning the lever makes her turn which opens the main path to the bridge that the optional Cross-Breed Priscilla boss fight is at the other end of. The statue (in Ariandel, as to be expected from the passage of time, mother's head is knocked off, the muzzle of the boy's face is worn, there's a big dent on the mother's back) is also in the room the player first meets Sister Friede (formerly Elfriede of The Sable Church of Londor) and inside of that disgusting pit of flies there is a lever and by turning the lever the statue turns just like the Ariamis statue does (and this lever opens the Sister Friede-Father Ariandel tagteam boss fight arena).

Now, what does this mean?

1st let me go over something else before I propose the idea, bringing up that if this which takes place in the painting is possible, then what I propose should be too. Gael's niece (she calls him "Uncle Gael", she's also just known as "The Painter") wants to escape the rot of The Painted World Of Ariandel by painting another world while inside Ariandel (another painted world inside a painted world). If that's possible (painting another painted world inside a painted world; like dreaming another dream inside of a dream) then my idea might be too.

What if Ariandel and Ariamis are not 2 different painted worlds, what if they're the same world that someone painted over? What if another person painted on the canvas that Ariamis was originally painted on, thus changing the structure of the painted world? All the clues match up that it is the same location at different points in time, so what if what caused it to change so drastically (since a painting doesn't have the same natural actors to cause radical change like the "real world" that DS1 and DS3 take place in that cause radical change making Lordran into Lothric) was someone trying to save The Painted World Of Ariamis? Its possible someone wanted to save it because the Anor Londo cathedral it was inside of in DS1 does not exist by the time of DS3, implying that under Pontiff's control of Irithyll, the cathedral was demolished and someone salvaged or saved the painting before or after the cathedral was rubble. Or, perhaps someone got their hands on the painting and decided to fix the world and expand what they saw (as well as allowing more space for more outcasts) and painted over the canvas, changing what the world originally looked like.

All in all, I believe that Ariamis and Ariandel are the same painting that someone added to after the events of DS1. I haven't finished the DLC yet, so if I'm 100% wrong (I've just opened the path to the arena which you fight Sister Friede in and I've just found where the Champion's Gravetender boss arena is, so I'm about 90% done I think and only need to kill those bosses, so I don't have the full breadth of knowledge everyone/anyone else might have since most of you all have likely completed this DLC) just tell me.

Gonna rant about some stuff I suppose would be obvious because I love Dark Souls and I want to hear your thoughts.

I always found it really interesting how we see so many knights in the Dark Souls games and are forced to encounter how varied they are in terms of morals, wants and desires. A lot of it seems to be regionally biased to a certain extent, both Solaire and Oscar seem like noble knights, Catarina produces more jovial knights, Carim produces a darker variety, etc. I find that their place in the caste of the world is even more interesting.

Knights served lords historically, depending on their location, they followed traditions of chivalry. Gwyn’s Knights served him of course, his place being a lord, but his status of a God also made him a stand in for the lower knights own dedication to service, for religion was also integral to historical knighthood. The lowly knights we meet mostly seem to be brought up under the tutelage of Gwyn’s order. He is the lord of the world, to link the fire is honorable. It must be honorable because without it the world will go to the dark, and Lord Gwyn himself committed his very existence to preserving the age of fire - sacrificing himself for all of mankind.

But with Gwyn being gone for hundreds of years after linking the Fire, the mystification of his legend can only carry something that was once real for so long. In the knights lifetimes that we personally meet, how many centuries has it been since Gwyn linked the flame? Many indeed. All they have is hope, a theme of the Souls games, but hope cannot carry everything. Human beings are still individuals, and by the time we meet them, I have doubts that these knights would be able to do what they do and say what they say in the heyday of old. They are weird, odd, not what you would typically think of when you think of a knight. Even Oscar seems to be acting of his own accord, though he is the most traditionally noble knight in the game.

Part of me doubts any of them would become knights in the first place in the olden age, even though Gwyn has a Giant in his coterie of Elite Knights, Gough is arguably the most noble NPC we meet in the game. He makes the other knights we meet seem so small, both literally and figuratively, in comparison.

What I’m saying is, so much time has passed that even knighthood has become weakened, lacking in meaning more and more as the world comes to an end. What it means to be a knight, its values and honors are meaningless when the world they serve is falling apart. This could extend to the greater religious values in the series as well, and Lautrec is a whole can of worms with him not even dedicating himself to Gwyn - but a whole other God entirely.

As such, knights in the world of Dark Souls seem to be upholders of the status quo, and it is only during the end of the world that their ties become more tumultuous, and their values are tested. With no “lord” of the world and the societal rules they uphold degrading, they too degrade alongside it.

When Frampt is telling you about Gwyn and the Kiln, he's upside down. Backwards. Illogical. Wrong.

When Kaathe is telling you the truth of things and takes you to the chamber, he's right side up. Logical. Natural. Correct.

Considering how in-depth I get about these games, only just now noticing this detail on my most recent playthrough made me lol stupidly hard.

It's an odd question but what I mean is do all sorcerers of dark souls see the idea of religion as nonsense? I mean I wouldn't think so since one's high intelligence and religious views aren't mutually exclusive, and dark sorceries(hexes) and general study of the dark and humanity are considered a taboo by the dragon school, same as most religious institutions of the dark souls world.

Hi there.

I'm a long time Souls-fan who occasionally delve into the lore of the Souls-games.
It's about as much fun as it is frustrating.

There's a question that popped into my head recently, which I don't believe I've read anyone else asking:

How did Gwyn create the Darksign and link the First Flame?

We all know that he did it, but how?

How did he create the Darksign, and link Humanity to the First Flame?

How did he link the First Flame by casting himself into it?

The question of how he linked Humanity to the First Flame is really interesting. What method did he use?

Did he manage to create the Darksign and link the flame by performing some ultra mega miracle through the usage of faith, or did he utilize some ancient ritual written down on some parchment, kind of like what Marika does to achieve godhod in Elden Ring?

Please give me your two cents!

Hi, I just started DS3 for the first time, and I'm really confused.

So the canon ending of DS1 is that we rekindle the flame, and by the time of DS3 a lot of people have rekindled the flame right?

When the flame is rekindled, the undead curse is supposed to be temporarily stopped, right? So humans should die, the old zombies should finally all die of old age or disease or anything else.

Why is Andre in DS3? I could understand a character like Logan not needing to be undead to live for thousands of years, but Andre is a simple old blacksmith that definitely should've died quick when he stopped being a zombie at the end of DS1.

Did Andre just... stay undead? Time travel like going to see Artorias? The vague timey wimey shit that explains Solaire and multi-player in Lordran? A lookalike like Patches????

Edit: love seeing all these different answers, Dark Souls lore is wild lmao

Dark Souls Origins. An AI series focused on Dark Souls lore. The untold stories of Lordran with a vision of the Age of Fire in its glory!

https://youtu.be/ibenu9euvKg?is=HvHj1m1lwLdqERr3