by spidermanisintheavengers · 2 days ago
With all these lore of video games posts flying around, I present: Dark Souls.
Dark souls has a complex, subtle, and deceitfully deep pool of lore. For some people, the game is about the challenge, the triumph in victory defeating bosses is the only driving force. For others, like me, it's mixture of this and the desire to uncover a little bit more of the story. Some of this is speculation on my part, and will in some cases be an educated opinion. To begin, let's hit some of the basics.
In the beginning.
In the beginning of all time, the world was vast and gray and barren. Only the massive, stone-like arch-trees grew here, ascending high into the fog that shrouded the world. The rulers of this time were the dragons everlasting, whose stone scales granted them immortality. The dragons also held the primordial crystal, a powerful artifact, but we'll visit that another time. Little is known about this period, only the most ancient of all things were around, and so it was called The Age of the Ancients.
But then there was Fire.
It is a mystery from where Fire came. We only know that it suddenly came to be deep in the hollows of the world, raging brightly and hotly, bringing disparity into the cold and dark world. It is in this First flame, that the four souls of Lords are found. These souls are massively powerful. granting those that hold them god-like power, and thereby dominion in this new world. One soul was found by Nito, the First of the Dead. Another was found by the Witch of Izalith(pictured above,) a powerful sorceress. The third was Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight. And the last came to the being known only as the Furtive Pygmy, his soul weak and flickering unique to the rest. I might cover more on these Lords individually in future posts, but for now, suffice to say each was powerful and determined to carve their place in this new time. And carve they did.
The Age of Fire
With the Lords leading the charge, a war was brought upon the dragons with the intention to usurp their hold over the land, sea, and air. Gwyn used his power to harness the power of lightning, he and his loyal knights hurled massive bolts of lightning, peeling away the stone scales of the dragons, rendering them mortal. The Witch of Izalith, and her daughters of Chaos, used the Catalysts of Izalith, powerful artifacts and wove massive firestorms, burning the arch-trees, the homes of the dragons. Nito unleashed death and disease upon the dragons, and their bodies crumbled away in the miasma. I should mention at this point, Seathe the Scaleless, an albino dragon born without the stone scales that granted immortality, betrayed his own kind and aided Gwyn in the war. While not immortal, Seathe was still very powerful and very wise, and he coveted the primordial crystal. This "War of Fire" ended when finally the last dragon fell, and the Lords were triumphant. Taking their places as gods in the new world, they ushered in the Age of Fire, an age of prosperity, growth, and succor. The Lords' domain came to be known as Lordran, the land of the Lords, and many human lands began to spring up and flourish around it. For many centuries, or perhaps even millennium, these civilizations grew, and the people loved and feared the Lords, who lived as gods in the city of Anor Londo. All things, however, come to an end.
The Coming Dark
For reasons unknown to the Lords, their Souls began to dwindle in power, and the First Flame began to weaken. With the threat of Fire leaving the world, the Lords and the people begin to panic, terrified of returning to the Dark. The Witch of Izalith attempts to recreate the First Flame using powerful Sorcery, but fails and instead releases Fires of Chaos. These flames could not be controlled, and the Witch, her followers, and most of her children are consumed in this flame. The flames twisted the Witch and corrupted her completely, becoming the Bed of Chaos, the mother to all demons. Gwyn (pictured above) attempts to aid Izalith in this cataclysm, but it soon becomes apparent that Izalith is lost, and his knights return with armor charred black, an ill omen for what is to come. Finally conceding to what he sees as a final solution, Gwyn divides his power among his children, and leaves Anor Londo to link his soul to the First Flame, aptly located in the Kiln of the First Flame, hoping to feed it, allowing the Light to last a little longer. Much of his army followed him here, and when the flame rekindled, they were burned to ashes, leaving behind only suits of armour that now wander the world. For defying the coming Dark, Gwyn somehow proliferates the Undead Curse. It is not exactly clear how this curse came to be, but its effects are catastrophic.
The Chosen Undead
When one becomes Undead, they are marked by the accursed Darksign. Their bodies slowly decay, and upon death they are reborn from Bonfires, shrines to the First Flame. Slowly, over many deaths, Undead begin to Hollow, becoming more savage and less intelligent. The people of the world almost universally feared and hated those cursed with undeath, and built an Asylum in the far North, where they sent the Undead to await the end of the world. It is here, a thousand years after Gwyn linked the First Flame, that the Chosen Undead is found, and the events of Dark Souls take place.
Oolacile
Today, we'll be talking about one of my favourite chapters of Dark Souls lore: Oolacile, Artorias, and The Abyss. As before, some of this is speculation on my part, and at worst an educated opinion. Also, we will not cover some theories pertaining to the origin of the Primeval Man. (Soon though!) Anyway, on to the juicy bits. Oolacile was a land not far from Anor Londo, but was very different from the inspiring city of Gods. Oolacile was a place of Sorcery, known for its unconventionality in comparison to most, described even as ancient. By the time of the Chosen Undead, Oolacile was "reduced to ashes long ago," according to Princess Dusk of Oolacile, its only survivor. It's unclear how long before the events of Dark Souls that it was destroyed, but I would estimate 300-400 years. Of what we see of Oolacile, it is surrounded by woods that, presumably, one day become the Darkroot Garden in the time of the Chosen Undead. The township is quaint in comparison to some other areas of the world, but the stone architecture is beautiful nonetheless. It looks mostly mundane, but beneath, the horrible truths of Oolacile become apparent.
The Dungeons Below
Below Oolacile, the sorcerers of the land discover "Dark" sorcery, sorcery that uses the power of Humanity, the powerful life force in all humans. This sorcery was very powerful, and extremely lethal, and quickly became the sole focus of the sorcerers. Striving to create even more Dark sorcery, the sorcerers decided that, in order to better understand Humanity, they would have to observe it being pushed to the absolute limit. They began taking citizens of Oolacile, and torturing them endlessly, observing their Humanity, and twisting it cruelly in both physical and mental anguish. This continued for some time, and caught the attention of a Primordial Serpent, whose identity is a mystery. It is said that the serpent came to the sorcerers of Oolacile, and urged them to dig below, that all their questions would be answered with what they would find. As I'm sure they came to regret, they heeded this advice, and stumbled across a grave. The grave of of Primeval Man. The sorcerers upturned this grave, and awoke the primeval man. Being a human so ancient, it is presumed that its Humanity would be extremely potent, or abundant. This would have delighted the sorcerers, and eagerly they began to torture it, apparently in a small room, with chains dangling from the ceiling. This was the beginning of the downfall of Oolacile.
The Abyss
By the time the Chosen Undead finds this chamber, a hole is smashed clean through the wall, to a path leading downward, in the Chasm of The Abyss. The location of the upturned grave of Primeval Man. Some of you may remember a trek into The Abyss to fight the Four Kings, but this chasm is presumably separate from the Abyss is New Londo, or at least from different sources. Truthfully, the Abyss is very enigmatic, and I'm not entirely sure about its nature. At any rate, this Abyss came to be created by the Primeval Human who, when his Humanity finally broke and went wild, became twisted and mutated into Manus, Father of The Abyss. As the dark power of this rampant Humanity poured from him, the Abyss began to spread to the surface of Oolacile, anyone swallowed by the blackness underwent violent mutation. Among the victims, the sorcerers, who finally found the Dark power they sought, just as the Serpent had promised.
Overrun
Soon, all of Oolacile was being swallowed into the void of the Abyss, it's inhabitants being twisted and mutated into grotesque beasts such as the one pictured above, its body bloated and grown around the post to which it was once chained and tortured. It is at some point during this time that Manus, being extremely powerful, senses that the Chosen Undead has come into possession of a piece of a broken pendant, far in the future, that was once his. (This pendant was of great importance to Manus as a human, and many believe that its breaking is what triggered his transformation.) Manus reaches through time, snatches up the Chosen Undead, who is dragged back again through time, and is then deposited in a crumbling Oolacile. At this point, the death of Oolacile is all but certain, and the happenings there have garnered the attention of a Knight by the name of Artorias, known as the Abysswalker, and one of the Four Knights of Gwyn. (To be covered in a future post, maybe?)
Unbendable Will of Steel
Artorias the Abysswalker, pictured above, was a powerful Knight of Gwyn, said to be unmatched with a greatsword, and unbeatable due to his unbendable will. He was a crowd favourite, so to speak, and was loved and revered in Anor Londo, and in the lands of humans. Artorias, in order to hunt Darkwraiths (servants of the Dark,) had entered a covenant with an unnamed creature from the Abyss, and received a ring that would allow him to traverse the Abyss unharmed. Naturally, Artorias soon came to Oolacile in hopes of stopping the spread of the Abyss. It is not certain if he knew at the time of the severity of the situation, or of the existence of Manus, but, in the end, he would either never come to face the Father, or would would be defeated by him. In the Abyss of Manus, Humanity is dense and wild, and someone such as Artorias, pure of heart and truly selfless, would be lost so easily into the Dark. w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶l̶e̶t̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶H̶u̶m̶a̶n̶i̶t̶y̶.. The very will that had compelled him to pursue such noble causes doomed him to defeat, and he was overtaken by the Dark. In a final act of selflessness, Artorias expended all the magic his greatshield possessed, and shielded his companion, Sif the Great Grey Wolf, who some of you may recall, guards his grave in the time of the Chosen Undead. Finally beaten and broken, apparently sustaining a broken arm, Artorias is slowly consumed and eventually driven mad b̶y̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶H̶u̶m̶a̶n̶i̶t̶y̶ i̶n̶ the Dark, He rampages silently through Oolacile, slaying anything he comes across, until finally he encounters the Chosen Undead, and is killed in combat.
The End of Manus
After killing Artorias, the Chosen Undead, takes up his mantle, and he himself defeats the Father of the Abyss. This would end the Legend of Artorias and Oolacile, hiding the shame of defeat that Artorias faced there behind a shroud of unknowable mystery. In the end, the world would remember Artorias as what he truly was, despite the fabricated nature of his legend. He did not defeat Manus, but he walked fearlessly into the lightless abyss to do so, he did not triumph against the Abyss, but he defied it to his very last moment. Artorias was a true warrior, and a champion of Light. He gave everything he had to stave off the Dark, and his honorary grave would become a shrine to brevity and honour. Swords of many warriors thrust into the ground around it to commemorate him, to let Artorias know that, in the end, he was not alone. The Light stood with him.
Solaire of Astora tax.
And there you have it. The story of the fall of Oolacile, and Artorias' role in it. I can't even hope to emulate how truly epic this section of the lore is to me, but hopefully, this gave a nice look into the events and feels that happened. Edit: Someone pointed out that Artorias, being a god, would not possess Humanity. Dunno what I was thinking. To be honest, I choke up a bit when it comes to Artorias and his companions ;-; Also, as someone asked, I didn't include Hawkeye Gough or Kalameet in this post, as they are mostly optional in this section of the game, and I wanted to save them for a later post
With all these lore of video games posts flying around, I present: Dark Souls.
Dark souls has a complex, subtle, and deceitfully deep pool of lore. For some people, the game is about the challenge, the triumph in victory defeating bosses is the only driving force. For others, like me, it's mixture of this and the desire to uncover a little bit more of the story. Some of this is speculation on my part, and will in some cases be an educated opinion. To begin, let's hit some of the basics.
In the beginning.
In the beginning of all time, the world was vast and gray and barren. Only the massive, stone-like arch-trees grew here, ascending high into the fog that shrouded the world. The rulers of this time were the dragons everlasting, whose stone scales granted them immortality. The dragons also held the primordial crystal, a powerful artifact, but we'll visit that another time. Little is known about this period, only the most ancient of all things were around, and so it was called The Age of the Ancients.
But then there was Fire.
It is a mystery from where Fire came. We only know that it suddenly came to be deep in the hollows of the world, raging brightly and hotly, bringing disparity into the cold and dark world. It is in this First flame, that the four souls of Lords are found. These souls are massively powerful. granting those that hold them god-like power, and thereby dominion in this new world. One soul was found by Nito, the First of the Dead. Another was found by the Witch of Izalith(pictured above,) a powerful sorceress. The third was Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight. And the last came to the being known only as the Furtive Pygmy, his soul weak and flickering unique to the rest. I might cover more on these Lords individually in future posts, but for now, suffice to say each was powerful and determined to carve their place in this new time. And carve they did.
The Age of Fire
With the Lords leading the charge, a war was brought upon the dragons with the intention to usurp their hold over the land, sea, and air. Gwyn used his power to harness the power of lightning, he and his loyal knights hurled massive bolts of lightning, peeling away the stone scales of the dragons, rendering them mortal. The Witch of Izalith, and her daughters of Chaos, used the Catalysts of Izalith, powerful artifacts and wove massive firestorms, burning the arch-trees, the homes of the dragons. Nito unleashed death and disease upon the dragons, and their bodies crumbled away in the miasma. I should mention at this point, Seathe the Scaleless, an albino dragon born without the stone scales that granted immortality, betrayed his own kind and aided Gwyn in the war. While not immortal, Seathe was still very powerful and very wise, and he coveted the primordial crystal. This "War of Fire" ended when finally the last dragon fell, and the Lords were triumphant. Taking their places as gods in the new world, they ushered in the Age of Fire, an age of prosperity, growth, and succor. The Lords' domain came to be known as Lordran, the land of the Lords, and many human lands began to spring up and flourish around it. For many centuries, or perhaps even millennium, these civilizations grew, and the people loved and feared the Lords, who lived as gods in the city of Anor Londo. All things, however, come to an end.
The Coming Dark
For reasons unknown to the Lords, their Souls began to dwindle in power, and the First Flame began to weaken. With the threat of Fire leaving the world, the Lords and the people begin to panic, terrified of returning to the Dark. The Witch of Izalith attempts to recreate the First Flame using powerful Sorcery, but fails and instead releases Fires of Chaos. These flames could not be controlled, and the Witch, her followers, and most of her children are consumed in this flame. The flames twisted the Witch and corrupted her completely, becoming the Bed of Chaos, the mother to all demons. Gwyn (pictured above) attempts to aid Izalith in this cataclysm, but it soon becomes apparent that Izalith is lost, and his knights return with armor charred black, an ill omen for what is to come. Finally conceding to what he sees as a final solution, Gwyn divides his power among his children, and leaves Anor Londo to link his soul to the First Flame, aptly located in the Kiln of the First Flame, hoping to feed it, allowing the Light to last a little longer. Much of his army followed him here, and when the flame rekindled, they were burned to ashes, leaving behind only suits of armour that now wander the world. For defying the coming Dark, Gwyn somehow proliferates the Undead Curse. It is not exactly clear how this curse came to be, but its effects are catastrophic.
The Chosen Undead
When one becomes Undead, they are marked by the accursed Darksign. Their bodies slowly decay, and upon death they are reborn from Bonfires, shrines to the First Flame. Slowly, over many deaths, Undead begin to Hollow, becoming more savage and less intelligent. The people of the world almost universally feared and hated those cursed with undeath, and built an Asylum in the far North, where they sent the Undead to await the end of the world. It is here, a thousand years after Gwyn linked the First Flame, that the Chosen Undead is found, and the events of Dark Souls take place.
Oolacile
Today, we'll be talking about one of my favourite chapters of Dark Souls lore: Oolacile, Artorias, and The Abyss. As before, some of this is speculation on my part, and at worst an educated opinion. Also, we will not cover some theories pertaining to the origin of the Primeval Man. (Soon though!) Anyway, on to the juicy bits. Oolacile was a land not far from Anor Londo, but was very different from the inspiring city of Gods. Oolacile was a place of Sorcery, known for its unconventionality in comparison to most, described even as ancient. By the time of the Chosen Undead, Oolacile was "reduced to ashes long ago," according to Princess Dusk of Oolacile, its only survivor. It's unclear how long before the events of Dark Souls that it was destroyed, but I would estimate 300-400 years. Of what we see of Oolacile, it is surrounded by woods that, presumably, one day become the Darkroot Garden in the time of the Chosen Undead. The township is quaint in comparison to some other areas of the world, but the stone architecture is beautiful nonetheless. It looks mostly mundane, but beneath, the horrible truths of Oolacile become apparent.
The Dungeons Below
Below Oolacile, the sorcerers of the land discover "Dark" sorcery, sorcery that uses the power of Humanity, the powerful life force in all humans. This sorcery was very powerful, and extremely lethal, and quickly became the sole focus of the sorcerers. Striving to create even more Dark sorcery, the sorcerers decided that, in order to better understand Humanity, they would have to observe it being pushed to the absolute limit. They began taking citizens of Oolacile, and torturing them endlessly, observing their Humanity, and twisting it cruelly in both physical and mental anguish. This continued for some time, and caught the attention of a Primordial Serpent, whose identity is a mystery. It is said that the serpent came to the sorcerers of Oolacile, and urged them to dig below, that all their questions would be answered with what they would find. As I'm sure they came to regret, they heeded this advice, and stumbled across a grave. The grave of of Primeval Man. The sorcerers upturned this grave, and awoke the primeval man. Being a human so ancient, it is presumed that its Humanity would be extremely potent, or abundant. This would have delighted the sorcerers, and eagerly they began to torture it, apparently in a small room, with chains dangling from the ceiling. This was the beginning of the downfall of Oolacile.
The Abyss
By the time the Chosen Undead finds this chamber, a hole is smashed clean through the wall, to a path leading downward, in the Chasm of The Abyss. The location of the upturned grave of Primeval Man. Some of you may remember a trek into The Abyss to fight the Four Kings, but this chasm is presumably separate from the Abyss is New Londo, or at least from different sources. Truthfully, the Abyss is very enigmatic, and I'm not entirely sure about its nature. At any rate, this Abyss came to be created by the Primeval Human who, when his Humanity finally broke and went wild, became twisted and mutated into Manus, Father of The Abyss. As the dark power of this rampant Humanity poured from him, the Abyss began to spread to the surface of Oolacile, anyone swallowed by the blackness underwent violent mutation. Among the victims, the sorcerers, who finally found the Dark power they sought, just as the Serpent had promised.
Overrun
Soon, all of Oolacile was being swallowed into the void of the Abyss, it's inhabitants being twisted and mutated into grotesque beasts such as the one pictured above, its body bloated and grown around the post to which it was once chained and tortured. It is at some point during this time that Manus, being extremely powerful, senses that the Chosen Undead has come into possession of a piece of a broken pendant, far in the future, that was once his. (This pendant was of great importance to Manus as a human, and many believe that its breaking is what triggered his transformation.) Manus reaches through time, snatches up the Chosen Undead, who is dragged back again through time, and is then deposited in a crumbling Oolacile. At this point, the death of Oolacile is all but certain, and the happenings there have garnered the attention of a Knight by the name of Artorias, known as the Abysswalker, and one of the Four Knights of Gwyn. (To be covered in a future post, maybe?)
Unbendable Will of Steel
Artorias the Abysswalker, pictured above, was a powerful Knight of Gwyn, said to be unmatched with a greatsword, and unbeatable due to his unbendable will. He was a crowd favourite, so to speak, and was loved and revered in Anor Londo, and in the lands of humans. Artorias, in order to hunt Darkwraiths (servants of the Dark,) had entered a covenant with an unnamed creature from the Abyss, and received a ring that would allow him to traverse the Abyss unharmed. Naturally, Artorias soon came to Oolacile in hopes of stopping the spread of the Abyss. It is not certain if he knew at the time of the severity of the situation, or of the existence of Manus, but, in the end, he would either never come to face the Father, or would would be defeated by him. In the Abyss of Manus, Humanity is dense and wild, and someone such as Artorias, pure of heart and truly selfless, would be lost so easily into the Dark. w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶l̶e̶t̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶H̶u̶m̶a̶n̶i̶t̶y̶.. The very will that had compelled him to pursue such noble causes doomed him to defeat, and he was overtaken by the Dark. In a final act of selflessness, Artorias expended all the magic his greatshield possessed, and shielded his companion, Sif the Great Grey Wolf, who some of you may recall, guards his grave in the time of the Chosen Undead. Finally beaten and broken, apparently sustaining a broken arm, Artorias is slowly consumed and eventually driven mad b̶y̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶H̶u̶m̶a̶n̶i̶t̶y̶ i̶n̶ the Dark, He rampages silently through Oolacile, slaying anything he comes across, until finally he encounters the Chosen Undead, and is killed in combat.
The End of Manus
After killing Artorias, the Chosen Undead, takes up his mantle, and he himself defeats the Father of the Abyss. This would end the Legend of Artorias and Oolacile, hiding the shame of defeat that Artorias faced there behind a shroud of unknowable mystery. In the end, the world would remember Artorias as what he truly was, despite the fabricated nature of his legend. He did not defeat Manus, but he walked fearlessly into the lightless abyss to do so, he did not triumph against the Abyss, but he defied it to his very last moment. Artorias was a true warrior, and a champion of Light. He gave everything he had to stave off the Dark, and his honorary grave would become a shrine to brevity and honour. Swords of many warriors thrust into the ground around it to commemorate him, to let Artorias know that, in the end, he was not alone. The Light stood with him.
Solaire of Astora tax.
And there you have it. The story of the fall of Oolacile, and Artorias' role in it. I can't even hope to emulate how truly epic this section of the lore is to me, but hopefully, this gave a nice look into the events and feels that happened. Edit: Someone pointed out that Artorias, being a god, would not possess Humanity. Dunno what I was thinking. To be honest, I choke up a bit when it comes to Artorias and his companions ;-; Also, as someone asked, I didn't include Hawkeye Gough or Kalameet in this post, as they are mostly optional in this section of the game, and I wanted to save them for a later post
