Revisiting the story of Dark Souls

When we talk about Dark Souls, From Software’s most popular series, we always highlight the immense difficulty of the series. The bosses are difficult to beat, the areas are treacherous, and the monsters are absolutely frustrating. At some point in our sad lives, we’ve counted the many times and many ways we’ve died.

Because we’re too wrapped up in all the action of the series, many of us often forget about the main story. Some only know the beginning and the end of the two games, while others have done a lot of research during and after their own playthrough.

You may be in the mood to reminisce about the past Souls games, or you’re curious to know more about the story before diving into the third Dark Souls game. Whatever your reason may be, here’s a breakdown of the series that broke many gamers down, delivered to you on the worldwide release of Dark Souls III.

What you should know first

The lore of Dark Souls is incredibly dense. A lot has happened even before you even start your journey. Beyond the introductions, the lore of the Dark Souls series are told via item descriptions, the characters you meet along your journey, and the boss fights you encounter.

This is why it’s pretty easy to miss the entire narrative of the series, especially if you’re impatient in reading dialogues and descriptions.

Dark Souls isn’t just a game that challenges your skills and reflexes. It is also a game that encourages you to explore every nook and cranny to fill in the blanks of the story. The game isn’t entirely set in a world as open as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but it leaves just enough pathways and choices open for you to discover the world and its lore for yourself.

This has led several players to create their own interpretations and theories for the finer details of the series. If you’ve played the game and paid attention to what was going on around you, you might even have your own idea of how everything was connected.

This article will summarize the major themes of Dark Souls and cover its general backstory. It will also introduce to you a few resources where you can learn more about the characters in the game as well as the theories the community has created surrounding them.

Dragons, the Fire, and the Age of Ancients

The Dark Souls series starts off with a cut scene narrating the origin of the world you’re in.

During the Age of the Ancients, the world was barren, grey, and everything was in a neutral state. The only thing that existed were the Eternal Dragons, powerful creatures who were thought to be immortal.

Beneath the surface of the earth was a dark place where other beings were present yet remained hidden. Within, Fire came to be. Fire brought about disparity in a world that was completely neutral. Fire brought about heat and cold, light and dark, and life and death. Four beings reached out to the flames and obtained their own Lord Souls. These Lord Souls gave them incredible power.

The first was Nito, he obtained the Soul of Death. The second was the Witch of Izalith and her daughters of chaos. She gained the Soul of Life. The third was Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight. He had an army of knights and he wielded lightning bolts. He gained the Soul of Light. The final being was Furtive Pygmy. He obtained the Dark Soul and hid it from the world.

With their powers, the first three Lords challenged the dragons on the surface. They were aided by a dragon who betrayed his own named Seath the Scaleless. Seath told the Lords that the dragons were only “immortal” because of their stone scales. Their one weakness happened to be lightning.
So Gwyn destroyed the dragons’ scales with his lightning bolt and crushed them with his armies. Nito delivered the killing blow, bringing forth a miasma of diseases. The Witch of Izalith meanwhile burned the dragons’ homes to the ground.

The Lords, led by Gwyn, emerged victorious, and thus the Age of Fire began.

Dark Souls I: The Primeval Lords, the Ages of Fire and Dark, and the Cycle

After years of prosperity, all good things must come to an end. The first flames start to die.

Gwyn and the Witch of Izalith wanted to stop the fires from dying. In an attempt to delay the Age of Dark, the Witch tried to replicate the First Flame with her own power. She failed and because of this she morphed into the Bed of Chaos, where demons were brought into the world.

Out of options, Gwyn decided to sacrifice himself to delay the inevitable. He gave up his own Lord Soul to rekindle the flames and continue the Age of Fire.
Thousands of years later, things got worse as the fires began to fade again. One of the effects of the fading fires was the emergence of the mysterious Curse of Undeath. It plagued the humans, causing them to turn Undead.

Humans who bore the Curse of Undeath are brought back to life as reanimated corpses. And if an Undead loses his or her humanity entirely, they end up turning hollow and go insane.

Your character is among the Undead.

Because everyone feared that the Undead may go insane, they were all brought to an asylum, where they are locked up in prison cells to await the end of the world. That’s where you begin your journey.

You are freed by a man named Oscar, and when you meet him again sometime after you escape your cell, he will describe to you a prophecy. The prophecy was about an Undead who would end up deciding the fate of the rest of the Undead. To fulfil this, the Undead must escape the asylum and ring the Bells of Awakening.

As you make your way through Lordran, Gwyn’s now barren and hollow kingdom, you as the player, discover what life has been like for the humans who were branded Undead, as well as the rest of the people and creatures in the kingdom.

As the player, you find out that there is a stigma against the Undead. If you lose a bit of your humanity, you begin looking hollow, and the NPCs will look down upon you. If you’ve been reading the descriptions or paid attention to the NPCs you will also learn of what’s happened to Lordran and its other areas.

Demons are everywhere, monsters and abominations have been brought forth from horrible experiments, and almost everyone you meet has a miserable story to tell.

During your journey you will meet two identical Primordial Serpents: Darkstalker Kaathe, and Kingseeker Frampt. Primordial Serpents are creatures who have been around since the beginning of the Age of Fire.

After ringing the two bells of awakening, you meet Kingseeker Frampt. He explains to you that it is your duty to succeed Lord Gwyn, who is at the Kiln of the First Flame. From him, you discover that your end goal is to kill Lord Gwyn, and that it is up to you to sacrifice yourself and continue the Age of Fire for the sake of everyone. 

Darkstalker Kaathe tells you something else. He tells you that it is Lord Gwyn’s attempt to prolong the inevitable that brought about the curse you bear. As you are a descendant of Pygmy, the being who fathered humans and holder of the Dark Soul, you who must bring about the Age of Dark.

You are left with two choices after killing Lord Gwyn. You either take his place and sacrifice your soul to continue the Age of Fire or you do nothing of the sort and allow the Age of Dark to take place.

Whatever you choose would not matter however, as delaying the inevitable will only mean that the Age of Dark will still be brought forth and the cycle will continue.

Dark Souls II: The King and Queen, The Throne of Want, and The Curse

Thousands of years have passed, and many cycles later, you play as another Chosen Undead. This time your initial goal is to find a cure that will stop you from hollowing. You end up in Drangleic, a land led by a king named Vendrick.

Before we get to your journey let us cover the events that occurred to King Vendrick and Drangleic.

King Vendrick met a woman named Nashandra who warned him of the power of giants and their threat to the kingdom of Drangleic. King Vendrick made her his queen and he set off to the land of giants to destroy them as well as to steal a powerful prize from them as requested by Nashandra.

After a time, the Curse of Undeath re-emerged and pandemonium began in Drangleic. However, the humans in Drangleic had no idea what the Curse of Undeath was about, so they set about to find a cure while hunting down the Undead.

It was at this point that King Vendrick realized his mistake of angering the giants and that he was manipulated by Queen Nashandra all along. He discovered Queen Nashandra’s true desire was to gain power and to get to the Throne of Want. He also realized that ascending the Throne of Want would end the Curse of Undeath.

To stop Queen Nashandra from taking the Throne of Want, he created several powerful barriers to house the throne and prevent her from getting in. He then locked himself up in his crypt and he himself slowly turned hollow.

The giants arrived in Drangleic wanting revenge for the prize that King Vendrick stole. This started a war that stretched many years, which is why so you end up seeing Drangleic in its sorry, destroyed state.

In Drangleic, you meet the Emerald Herald who instructs you to obtain four Great Souls from the powerful undead. After which you will be asked to seek the king. Instead you will meet Queen Nashandra, who will aid you but is actually manipulating you so she may reach the Throne of Want.

She will task you to kill the poor King Vendrick.

Before finishing the quest however, you discover Queen Nashandra’s true intentions. You also learn of her true nature. Queen Nashandra actually came forth from one surviving shattered soul of Manus.

Manus was one of the bosses you defeated in Dark Souls, and is believed to be the Furtive Pygmy, holder of the Dark Soul.

The difference between Dark Souls I and Dark Souls II is that in its original ending, you no longer have a choice. You will ascend the Throne of Want, in which your character will get to choose to rekindle the flames or begin the Age of Dark. You will not know their choice.

However, in the Scholar of The First Sin patch of Dark Souls II, you will be granted the choice to leave the throne.

If you leave, it is assumed that you broke the cycle as you did not choose to rekindle the flame or usher in the Age of Dark. It is also believed that you have obtained enough power (the four crowns that you have gained in Dark Souls II) to release yourself from the curse, therefore if the Age of Dark begins and everyone turns hollow, you alone will be immune to it.

Resources for character lore and theories

As mentioned earlier, the Dark Souls games are filled to the brim with stories, especially if you consider the backgrounds of the different characters you meet in the game. Because the lore is so dense, and the community theories are bountiful, it would be difficult to summarize all these great stories within one article. So instead, here is a quick list of popular resources where you can learn more about the lore of the main characters and the not-so-crazy community theories that surround them.

Epic Name Bro

Epic Name Bro is well respected when it comes to going deeper into the lore and creating theories out of the sparse narrative content available in Dark Souls. He creates long-form videos on Youtube, often reaching 20 minutes, explaining the stories of characters, areas, events, and creatures down to their smallest details.
He speaks casually, as if there is a conversation going on between him and his audience. He can start with the available lore of a character and then branch out, providing his own theories and speculations for his audience to absorb.

VaatiVidya

VaatiVidya is also well known when it comes to explaining the lore of the Souls games. He has his own channel on Youtube which has several video playlists. These playlists often have comprehensive content featuring both major and minor characters. In those videos he delves into their stories and the theories that surround them. Some of the theories he explains are based from the community, others are from his own perspectives.
Aside from his detailed explanations, many are also fond of how he presents the information he has. His smooth edits and in-game captures coupled with his deep narrator voice makes it easier for viewers to take in the facts and theories and immerse themselves in the lore of Dark Souls.

The Dark Souls Subreddits

It is incredibly easy to get lost in these particular subreddits: /r/DarkSouls, /r/DarkSouls2,  and /r/DarkSouls3. The Dark Souls community is very active and threads are often created to discuss about the lore and their theories related to it. This is the best place to talk about ideas, speculations, and the latest news about what is officially canon and what remains fan canon in Dark Souls lore. 

This is also the best place where you can discover the crazier fan theories of the community. You could spend hours entertaining yourself with twisted theories that might even make sense once you connect the dots.

Dark Souls Wikia

If you don’t want to talk about theories and want to focus on the general lore (and want to remember how to beat certain bosses), then Dark Souls Wikia is a good place to start. The Wikia will not drown you in details but will give you just enough to understand the roles of the characters and the timeline of events.

Now that you’ve finished up this primer into the backbreaking intricacies of Dark Souls lore, you’re all set to face the new horde of bosses in Dark Souls III. Good luck, and don’t forget to praise the sun! – Rappler.com