Dark Souls Part 3: Arrival in the Land of the Ancient Lords

The Bonfires are the only remnants of the Fire that has kept this world alive

So after flying for miles, our bird friend drops us off in Lordran. Our arriving location appears to be a place called Firelink Shrine. It is a shrine dedicated to the Fire, and the many Bonfires it has created around the world. These Bonfires keep the encroaching darkness at bay. This shrine houses its own Bonfire, and around it, you may briefly see the spirits of other lost souls who are on their own quests through these lands, before they fade away.

Basically, think of a bunch of homeless people crowded around a trash can they set on fire.

Speaking of crazy bums, it is here that you will encounter another undead who has not yet gone hollow. His name is... um... Crestfallen Warrior. Why is he crestfallen? Well, it seems he has accepted that this world, and everything he had in his former life, is lost. Stricken with this depression, he does nothing but sit within the warmth of the Bonfire, and talk smack to those who pass by - like you! Just give him a bottle of whiskey, and I'm sure he fulfills this crazy bum metaphor.

"Well, what do we have here? You must be a new arrival.
Let me guess. Fate of the Undead, right? Well, you're not the first.
But there's no salvation here. You'd have done better to rot in the Undead Asylum… But, too late now. Well, since you're here… Let me help you out. There are actually two Bells of Awakening.
One's up above, in the Undead Church. The other is far, far below, in the ruins at the base of Blighttown. Ring them both, and something happens… Brilliant, right? Not much to go on, but I have a feeling that won't stop you. So, off you go. It is why you came, isn't it? To this accursed land of the Undead?
Hah hah hah hah…"

So now we know that this was not just Oscar's mission. Others have come before you, and apparently failed just as he did. Not letting this discourage you, you take his helpful advice and set out for the first bell. You reach a burg known only as the Undead Burg (at least it's to the point). Far above is a bridge that connects to the Undead Parish. You fight your way through the several Hollow citizens and soldiers that once inhabited this burg, and ascend to the surrounding battlements. You are almost to the bridge that connects to the parish when yet another dreadfully large monstrosity drops from a turret above... Yes, again. I promise these guys aren't one-trick ponies.

This is another demon - a Taurus Demon. Like the astrological sign, it very closely resembles a bull. This demon is far more aggressive than the one back in the Asylum, but with proper use of tactics  and height advantages within the surrounding environment, you are able to overcome it.

And so you have ascended through the ruins of once was surely a provident settlement - lost to the madness of those who have gone Hollow - and reached the bridge connecting to the church, which houses the bell you must ring. It is here that you meet, undoubtedly, the friendliest person you will ever encounter in this twisted land... Knight Solaire of Astora, Praiser of the Sun, adherent of the Lord of Sunlight.

Dark Souls Part 2: Awakening in the Asylum

After learning about the land the player is to quest in, we are transitioned to a bleak environment. It is here that we learn that those who have been cursed with the Dark Sign are condemned by society to a grim fate. They are corralled by their peers, taken to a far away land in the north, and locked away in an asylum to wait until their brains turn to apple sauce.

 A tragic ending to anyone's life, indeed, but it is now that a new revelation is made. You are one of these undead. You have been confined to a cell with nothing to do but stare at the floor and watch your skin slowly rot away. Thankfully, what was surely an extremely long wait is skipped, and your eventless internment is interrupted by a dead corpse falling from a hole in the ceiling above you. Looking up, you see that a man wearing the armor of Astorian knights has dropped you this gift, and he leaves without saying a word.

Upon inspecting the body, the key to your cell is found. Not taking the time to ponder why a complete stranger has given you the means to escape, you quickly retrieve a broken sword hilt as an excuse for a weapon, and flee from your eternal captivity. Running down the halls of the asylum, you find that you are not the first undead to have escaped from a cell. However, your fellow captives who roam these halls appear to be in such a vegetative state that they don't even notice your existence, much less have any knowledge of where they are. Fleeing from this mad place, you soon come to the courtyard directly before the exit. However, before you can manage to escape, a dreadfully large being descends from the roof above...

This is a demon. It has been placed here to prevent you from doing exactly what you are attempting to do - escape. It towers over you by at least 30 feet, and wields a bulky cudgel with a head that is twice your size. Deciding that you prefer the asylum over a death by crushing, you flee back into the halls of madness where the beast cannot follow you.

After retrieving a rudimentary shield and weaponry, you soon find the knight who freed you from your cell. Unfortunately, he has taken a fatal wound, and is in the throes of death. You discover that he is also undead, and upon his death he will go mad like the other citizens of this cursed place. Oscar makes one request of you before he dies: to fulfill the mission in which he has failed. Escape from this asylum, journey to Lordran, the land of the Lords, and ring the Bell of Awakening to discover the fate of all who are undead. Oscar bids his final farewells before drifting away into darkness.

Now armed, you return to the courtyard with newly found purpose. You are not just escaping, but fulfilling the mission of the man who freed you from this terrible fate. You descend upon the great beast, and slay it. With the demon defeated, you exit the front gates of the asylum, and head to the edge of a nearby cliff. Then, something rather unexpected happens...

This Fowl of Unusual Size descends upon you and carries you off into the great distance. Bewilderment is soon replaced with understanding as you realize that this creature is taking you to Lordran. But how did it know? Was it waiting for you? Does it know your mission? Questions to be answered later. For now, you must prepare to arrive in the ancient land of Lordran...

Dark Souls Part 1: An Introduction to Lordan

Prepare to die...

I have started this blog after inspiration from a friend's analysis of The Legend of Zelda, Majora's Mask. Dark Souls is a game that has been made famous mostly by its intuitive gameplay and unforgiving difficulty, but many rightly believe that these things are hardly all a game needs to be a great game. Unfortunately, one of my favorite parts about Dark Souls - the story - is most often overlooked. Not because it is intangible or bad, but because Dark Souls has a rather nontraditional form of storytelling. The game only outright shows you the bare bones of the universe you are cast into. It is as such that I believe this blog will help bring out the story of this great game so that it may be appreciated by those who have missed it.

Without further ado, let's begin...

After personalizing your character, the game introduces you with a cutscene - one of very few in the game, and the only one to be computer generated. It tells of the creation a fantasy world, a formless land ruled only by dragons. Then, in something that could only be related to either Creationism or the Big Band Theory, there was something else - Fire. No, not fire like what cavemen discovered, or fire like what Prometheus gave to man in Greek mythology. This "Fire" is some kind of life force for the world that brought life with it.

From this creation, four entities discovered the four Souls of Lords. Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, Nito, the Lord of the dead, the Witch of Izalith, and a mysterious entity known only as the Pygmy - whose only defining trait is how little is known about it. The three other entities (Gwyn, Nito, and the Witch) united, and rose against the rule of the dragons. With the help of a defecting dragon, Seath the Scaless, the Lords were able to all but eradicate the dragons from the world.

And thus began a sort of golden age - The Age of Fire. The gods have ruled over mankind from their mountaintop city of Olymp- I mean Anor Londo, and humanity has prospered throughout the land for thousands of years. However... the world is growing darker. The Fire that brought this world to its prosperity is beginning to die. To make matters worse, several humans start to become afflicted with the Darksign - an incurable ailment that slowly kills the bearer, and then turns them into a mindless Hollow (zombie).

It is unknown if Nito did anything to stop this (I imagine you have to be rather apathetic to be the Lord of the Dead), but Gwyn and the Witch began to fight to keep the world that they had fought to create. The Witch of Izalith attempted to duplicate the first spark that had created the Fire - but this had disastrous consequences when it instead created a monstrous entity known as the Bed of Chaos. From this place, demons were born, and they ravaged through the now lost city of Izalith.

Seeing no other choice, Gwyn took a platoon of his faithful knights, and marched to the Kiln of the First Flame - the very place where this Fire was born. He then sacrificed himself and his power to the flame in order to greatly extend the Age of Fire. Of course, this only delayed the problem, it did not fix it. We are finally now to the present day. The Fire is continuing to die. The other gods who inhabited Anor Londo have all fled, deserting the world to its fate. Hollows, demons, and other terrifying creatures ravage the land. Everyone is slowly dying. Welcome to Dark Souls.