Lord Gwyn's Firstborn son was a God of War
Who inherited the sunlight from his father
The power of Sunlight is manifest as lightning
And it's highly effective against dragons
And Gwyn's Firstborn son was once a Dragonslayer
who fought against his father's ancient enemy
And as you know, the ancient dragons once ruled
over an Age of Grey
but Gwyn discovered their weakness and he struck them down
with Great Bolts of Lightning
Later, advancements in arms would lead to lightning imbued spears
with a cross-pummel
which were developped to be stamped or thrust
deep into the flesh of dragons
The Firstborn's Dragonslayer Swordspear
was the first of such weapons
for the Firstborn had respect only for arms and nothing else
At some point, during the war, however
Gwyn's Firstborn had a change of heart
He switched sides, and
sacrificed everything to ally himself with the ancient dragons
And, unlike a lot of Souls lore,
this part of history is actually described as
''missing'' for a reason:
for, after he sided with the ancient dragons,
Lord Gwyn's Firstborn was expunged
from the annals of history
and his deific status
was recinded.
He was no longer considered a God,
no longer in the books of history and,
today, even his name is not known
If you played it around the time that Dark Souls 1 was released,
the identity of the Firstborn
was a complete mystery to all of us.
All we knew was that he was Gwyn's Firstborn,
that he was a God of War,
and that he was a core part of the Warrior's of Sunlight,
so players puzzled over
missing statues next to Gwyn;
they puzzled over
broken monuments to the Warriors of Sunlight,
and
we even guessed
that the Firstborn himself
could have just been a simple man
from Astora who fought for the Sun
and, it is true that
the God of War continued to watch
over his Sunlight Warriors,
but we can now finally
see where he went,
and why.
The Nameless King,
the Firstborn Son of Gwyn,
Heir of Sunlight,
and God of War
left the miracle, Sunlight Blade,
upon his father's coffin,
perhaps as a final farewell.
Now, this part of
the Nameless King's history,
it's been purposefully
erased,
but some players
do think
that traces of his existence
still remain
out in the world
and cannot be erased.
In fact,
it's a popular theory,
and I'll leave a link
to a few sources
in the description,
that
the Namless King
is referenced
in the Faraam Armor Set,
which is this plate set
that was named
after a God of War.
The mighty Lion Knights of Forossa
were worshippers of the War God, Faraam,
wore heavy armor,
and were feared for their two-handed swordplay.
This armor was blessed
by the War God, Faraam.
Forossa would later fall
to conflict with their neighbors,
and the legacy of the Faraam Knights
fell with it.
So, the information
here is also lacking,
but is the Nameless King
the War God Faraam?
Well, that's up to you to decide.
Both are described as War Gods;
both place high value
in arms.
The Nameless King had to be
king of some realm, and
the Faraam Set is blessed
and named after a God of War,
who is possibly
the one emblazed upon the helm
as a knight
facing a dragon.
Also, both the Nameless King
and the Kingdom of Forossa
fell from power,
so, hey, whatever you believe.
This is a classic example of Souls
leaving just enough clues
that you can choose to believe
or not choose to believe,
so no one is provably right or wrong.
But moving on to what we do know
The Nameless King
tamed a Storm Drake
upon which he lead a lifetime of battle.
Assumedly, this partnership with the Storm Drake
was a part of the Firstborn
allying with the Acient Dragons.
I have a few suspicions
that the Storm Drake might also
be known as a giant horned oni,
which are found in eastern lands
as the Onislayer Greatarrow describes,
and it's the only creature in the game
that really fits the description
of an Oni,
whatever creature that is,
and it's certainly
a drake that looks
very much like a foreign
offshoot of most other
draconic creatures in Souls.
It looks nothing like them really.
Oni are also found
in an eastern land,
and Forossa is in an eastern land as well, so
maybe there's something here,
but just speculation.
When the Storm Drake fell,
the King claimed its soul,
as was customary
in the Age of the Gods.
In a giant flash,
we see the Nameless King become imbued
with the drake's power of the Storm,
which is really reminiscent of
Ornstein and Smough
absorbing one another in their boss fight
in Dark Souls I
as the Age of the Gods was drawing to a close there.
Dark Souls III's description of Smough's Great Hammer
tells us that Smough
was the last knight to remain at his post,
guarding the ruined cathedral.
Ornstein, on the other hand,
he long guarded the ruined cathedral,
but he left the land in search
of the Nameless King.
So, you're probably asking yourself,
"How did Ornstein leave the cathedral
if I killed him in Dark Souls I,
and then again in Dark Souls II?".
Well, remember
Dark Souls III is the game that
very openly references the fact
that events are doomed to repeat themselves.
More than any previous game,
this is a game about cycles
and the Lords of Cinder who contributed
to their own cycle.
We see so many cycles
laid before us, so,
yes, a lot of narratives
and plots in the game
have been recycled.
In a way, that's what the games are about,
but
in Dark Souls III,
it's nice because a lot of these plots
are further along than ever before
Take Ornstein, for example,
in this timeline, he survived
until he tired of standing around in the cathedral,
and he left,
for during this dragonless age
where he stood in the cathedral,
Ornstein the Dragonslayer
must have felt quite bereft of purpose,
so he left in search of the Nameless King.
So the question becomes,
"Did he intend to kill the Nameless King
or did he intend to serve him?".
Ornstein's Set in Dark Souls I
describes Ornstein as
the captain of the four knights of Lord Gwyn,
but the Leo Ring of Dark Souls III
describes him as the first knight
of the sun's eldest born,
the Nameless King.
So, since I found it hard to believe
that he could be both
the captain of the guard to Gwyn,
and simultaneously the first knight of the Firstborn.
I think it's most likely that
Ornstein abandoned his duty as captain of the guard,
and then decided to serve the Nameless King instead
after he was exiled.
But, the best evidence
that Ornstein remained a friend
to the Nameless King
is the Sacred Oath description, which
labels him as not just
the Nameless King's first knight,
but his faithful first knight.
Since the game is clarifying something like this,
then I am going to believe that
he is loyal to the Nameless King.
So, Ornstein tracks down
and pledges alleigance to the Nameless King,
but what becomes of Ornstein
after his arrival in Archdragon peak?
We find his armor and his weapon
after the Nameless King fight,
but it's just discarded to the side;
it's not upon a corpse;
it's not in a chest,
and this is strange
for Souls, right?
It stands out.
I don't think there's many examples of this happening.
Uh so, sure, it wouldn't make sense
for the armor to be upon a corpse,
but items like this are, at least, meant to be in chests.
So, to me,
it signifies that Ornstein
didn't want to preserve anything at all from his past
or, perhaps that
he discarded his armor
in the same way that many people here do
to begin the transformation into a dragon.
So, is Ornstein alive?
is he dead?
Was he killed by the Nameless King?
Or did he become one of the Dragons in the shrine?
His fate is left open
for you to decide.
So, we've mentioned
the spell, Sacred Oath, before
and its description reads
"Sacred Oath,
miracle devised by Warriors of the Sun
tells the tale of the Sun's Firstborn,
his faithful first knight,
and the brave dragonslayer who served them both.
The brave dragonslayer who served them both
So a few
dragonslayers could fit this description,
but I think it's most likely
that this was Havel.
Havel the Rock
was a battlefield compatriot of Gwyn,
the First Lord.
He was suited in this armor
carved from solid rock
and he wields the tooth of an Everlasting Dragon
Havel was followed
by warriors who replicated
his armaments, his weaponry, and
never flinched nor retreated from battle
Havel was the arch enemy of Seath the Scaless,
which was the dragon who betrayed his own
and allied with Lord Gwyn
This
must have placed Havel in an awkward spot.
He's a battlefield compatriot
of Lord Gwyn
and yet,
Gwyn allied with a magic wielding
traitorous dragon
that Havel hates
In Dark Souls I,
it's implied
that Havel was locked away by a dear friend
and
all that time ago we theorized
that it was Gwyn himself
who locked his Hollowed friend away.
We also talked about
how a piece of occult weaponry was
capable of killing the Gods
and it was locked
away in a basement
with the rest of Havel's gear,
and this fueled some theory
that Havel plotted against the Gods
In Lordran,
Havel remained locked in that basement,
but,
in Dark Souls III,
perhaps, we see a different path to Havel's tale
We find armaments left
by Havel himself
in Archdragon Peak,
and we can easily theorize that
Havel was the dragonslayer mentioned
in the tale of Sacred Oath
A brave dragonslayer,
the keyword being brave,
who never flinched nor retreated from battle,
and
had good cause
to take up arms with the Nameless King,
who was another leader
positioned to rebel gainst Gwyn
and
Seath the Scaless
Of course,
to play devil's advocate,
Havel could also be there
to slay the Nameless King.
He is overlooking the corpse
of an Ancient Dragon
after all.
But,
as a final piece of proof
that he's on the Nameless King's side
The half-dragon summoners,
the ones with the frilly necks
that summon phantoms to fight against you,
they summon Warriors of Havel
to fight.
Also, I want to point out
that they summon
a half-naked dude
wielding Ricard's Rapier
and wearing a crown,
so I'm assuming this is Ricard as well,
and it links Prince Ricard
to a king;
it links him to the Way of the Dragon,
and it links him to
yet another castle
full of half-dragon snake creatures.
So,
that is pretty much everything surrounding
the Nameless King
explained.
So, what do you believe?
The story is really open-ended
and I've given you most of the
raw information you need
to tell your own story.
But regardless, now you know
the story of Archdragon Peak
where the Son of Gwyn switched sides,
separated himself from the fire linking fiasco,
and assumedly,
quitely began rebuilding the ranks
of the Ancient Dragons.
So we just talked about
how Havel hated the dragon
named Seath the Scaleless,
a traitorous, mad pale drake
whose twisted soul
clearly
lives on in Oceiros, the Consumed king.
Oceiros was once king of Lothric,
married to a queen who was revered
as a goddess of fertility and bounty,
much like
Gwynevere from Dark Souls I, and
as we know from the previous video
The Lothric line was obsessed
with creating a worthy heir
and the rite of the linking of the Fire
Oceiros, however,
in his later years,
became fascinated with dragons.
His research lead him
to the heretics
of the Grand Archives of Lothric,
where he discovered
the twisted worship of Seath, the Pale Drake.
Eventually, he discovered
the research that was done by Big Hat Logan,
who you'll remember from Dark Souls I.
He was this legendary scholar
who went mad
delving into Seath's sorceries.
So Oceiros was inspired,
he was edified by Big Hat Logan
and
he even learned
how to perform the Crystal Breath
of Seath the Scaleless.
He was transforming into
this dragon.
He was changing
and
behind Oceiros,
we see the rest of his chambers,
and they're full of dragon scales and
dead man servants, and
there's even a Drakeblood Knight
in the Way of the Dragon pose.
Oceiros himself was
clearly somewhat successful at
turning into an Ancient Dragon, and
given his admiration for Seath,
it seems that
he took on Seath's Soul aspects
Oceiros became this blind,
mutated Pale Drake,
just like Seath, and
he was obsessed with this notion that
that he could use his royal blood
for a,
and I quote,
"greater purpose"
So, he fathered
this crossbreed child,
with his queen,
and named him Ocelote.
After giving birth to Ocelote,
her youngest child
the Queen of Lothric quietly disappeared.
Let's talk about the queen a little bit.
This queen either takes after Gwynevere
or is Gwynevere
because in Dark Souls I
Gwynevere left the ailing land of Lordran
in exactly the same manner that this queen
leaves the ailing land of Lothric.
Also, Gwynevere of Dark Souls I
also
pushes the Chosen Undead to link the fire
and in Dark Souls III,
the Queen of Lothric
is obsessed with finding people
to link the fire,
even placing powerful rings
in the untended graves
in the hope
that one day, an Unkindled would rise to link the fire.
So, the parallels between the two are undeniable
and
with the flame fading,
in Dark Souls III, and
this pus of man
spreading across the castle,
the Grand Archives
where Oceiros learned all of his knowledge
closed its doors for good,
and Oceiros remained,
walled off behind this garden
clutching his dragon crossbreed, Ocelote.
Many assassins
were dispatched to his domain,
but none returned.
We learn that
the Consumed King scribed his resilience
to the divine protection
of the dragonscale,
and when we stumble through
the Consumed Garden,
we find this Pale Drake
cradling his invisible infant crossbreed
before the fight.
He's a very vocal boss,
which is rare
and I think we need to disect
every line of his dialogue
"Ah, you ignorant slaves
finally taken notice have you...
...of the power of my beloved Ocelot,
Child of Dragons.
Well,
I will not give him up.
for he is all that I have.
So first of,
he calls us ignorant slaves
and I think this means that
he's arrogant
and he sees his subjects as slaves
or
perhaps
he's referring to us being slaves
to the linking of the Fire,
which Lothric is known for.
Then he says,
"finally taken notice have you?"
which explains how he hasn't
been disturbed
for a very long time
He is out of the way;
he's not a main boss,
and he's also behind this
fair line of defense
within a locked off castle.
We know it's been a long time
because the main boss we fight in this area
also gives us that impression.
Oceiros belives that this
crossbreed child named Ocelote
is worth taking notice of,
but
is he,
really?
Ocelote is the crying baby
in the boss fight,
and
if we could see it,
we would probably see
that it's a crossbreed
between a Dragon and the Royal Bloodline,
and crossbreeds of this type
have existed in the past.
Three others we know of
are the Emerald Herald,
Yorshka,
locked up in the tower,
and most notably,
Priscilla
from Dark Souls I
All that time ago, in Dark Souls I,
we theorized that
Priscilla was a crossbreed between
a Lord and a Dragon
specifically, a lot of people said that
she was the offspring of Seath the Scaleless
and Gwynevere,
and that parentage is
really strongly mirrored here
between Oceiros
and his Queen,
who's basically Gwynevere,
and maybe I should've mentioned this earlier,
but
Priscilla also
had the ability to turn invisible,
which explains why Ocelote,
the baby he appears to be cradling,
cannot be seen,
and if Oceiros is blind like Seath was
then, perhaps he's
not even aware
that his child is invisble.
Priscilla also had this ability called Lifehunt,
which apparently,
the gods feared.
Presumably, Lifehunt
though it is never properly described,
can harm the Gods
and
maybe the threat of this
was what made the Queen of Lothric
leave her home
this time around.
Because it is easy to believe
that Oceiros would turn against his own kingdom,
after all, Seath's Soul Line,
as I'm calling it,
they've all been betrayers.
Seath betrayed the ancient dragons;
the Duke of the Writhing Ruins
in Dark Souls II set
spiders upon the townsfolk,
and I think it's most likely
that Oceiros hoped
that this crossbreed child
would be this powerful weapon
with Lifehunt,
based on how he talks about it during the fight
However,
this crossbreed didn't turn out
as Oceiros hoped,
clearly,
and Oceiros' plan,
ehhh,
maybe not such a great one.
He is always referenced as
dilluded and mad
Originally,
Oceiros resembles a father
fighting to protect his child,
but as he nears death
he seems to become increasingly frustrated
with his crossbreed's lack of power
"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!
Oceloooooooooooote!
He appears even
to smash this baby
he was cradling upon the ground,
and
he reverts to a more feral stage
as he fights for his life
against us
The baby, however,
it continues to cry
even after this, so
yeah, mabye it's still alive.
So, what are the consequenecs of Oceiros' treachery?
Well,
the collapse of his rule
was probably this fair part
of the collapse of the castle,
and even of Lothric Kingdom.
Plus, the pus of man
is concentrated a lot in his garden,
but apart from that,
like the Nameless King,
I can't see
that his decisions had this
huge impact upon the world.
In the previous video,
we talked about
how the Lothric bloodline resorted to
unspeakable means
to find a worthy heir
to link the fire.
And my last thoughts
on this boss are that
perhaps Ocelote was created
with similar intents to Shanalotte
the dragon crossbreed of Dark Souls II that
men hoped would ward off
the Fire Linking Curse.
What's unclear
is whether Oceiros also
fathered Lorian and Lothric,
who are the two children of
the royal bloodline who refused
to link the fire.
Lorian, the eldest,
he was raised as a knight,
and before his brother's curse
crippled him,
he was famed
for single-handedly slaying
the Demon Prince,
leaving his sword
eternally scorched with fire.
I'd wager that
this Demon Prince is
probably related to the Old Demon King,
if only because they're
the only hints of demon royalty
that we've ever seen in the game,
and if
these two are related, then
maybe the arena
that you fight the Old Demon King in
is also related.
There are piles of dead demon kin corpses,
which signifies that some battle
took place here,
and of all these demons,
the shriveled Old Demon King
is the only one to remain
now, like a clump of
burnt ash.
He's the last living witness
of the Chaos of Izalith.
The Chaos Flame of Izalith
was born when the Witch of Izalith
attempted to use her own soul
to create another
First Flame
Instead,
she turned ito this tumultuous Bed of Chaos,
which birthed demons from the fire
Beings that bore
the smoldering essence of
the Chaos Flame, and
were doomed, eventually, to perish.
The Old King's Hammer
has survived
since Old Izalith,
and is imbued
with remnants of the Chaos Flame.
We've talked about the Chaos Flame
so much over the years
and in Dark Souls III,
we definitely see
when it and demon kind
are at their lowest point.
Stray Demons,
Capra Demons,
Taurus Demons and
even
hidden Centipede Demons,
they're all dead
in this arena, and
one Stray Demon we do face out in the world
even lacks a trace of flame
showing how core
this Flame is to their survival.
So, the demon race
and the Chaos Flame,
it's demonstratably
at its lowest point
in the series.
All of this said,
demons are a largely undeveloped
part of the lore,
I really do wish that they were designed to be
more than just brutish enemies, you know?
With the Old Demon King, though,
I liked it at the end of the fight,
you might not have noticed, but
if you keep him alive
at around ten percent health,
he
in this desperate attempt
to fend us off with one final effort,
he releases all of his remaining energy.
He fails
and then he stays
panting on the ground
indefinitely,
unable even to lift
his Great Hammer,
surrounded by the corpses of his kind,
and he's the last piece,
of his race
just reduced to
flimsily batting us away
with one hand.
That kind of scene,
where there's no cut scene,
there's no break in the gameplay
and it still shows, you know,
an emotion,
a feeling that it wants to convey,
that's good game design, and
I feel like it's lost on a lot of people because
most people will just
finish this guy off
in that last ten percent of his health, but
it's a powerful scene.
And finally,
the Cursed-Rotted Greatwood
rooted in the Undead Settlement
The Undead Settlement is a home to
many Undead,
and it's full of workers
who are dedicated
to the dissection
and the burial of
themeselves
because
it makes sense that
in this village and refuge
full to the brim with Undead,
that the primary task
would end up being, you know,
"What do we do
with all the bodies that keep
rising from the grave?".
There's just this sheer
problem of overpopulation,
which
could never be properly reduced
because
they never die,
and
as a result,
in this place,
you find Undead caged together
dissected, hung, and buried,
but probably
just rising from the dead all the same
to begin the process all over again
Eventually,
teachers from the Cathedral of the Deep
came to take advantage
of this climate
in the Undead Settlement.
The Evangelists,
all women, came to
enlighten inhabitants of the Undead Settlement
and send carriers
on the Path to Sacrifice,
most likely to the Cathedral of the Deep,
where they would be consumed
by Aldrich as
a sacrifice.
So,
it's no surprise really that
all manners of curses managed to
seep into the Undead Settlement
for
Undead were being dissected;
their bones were being ground to dust,
and they were buried within the earth.
Rooted within that same soil,
that same earth,
was a Spirit Tree
that would become known as
the Curse-Rotted Greatwood
Spirit Trees are another
really undeveloped part of Souls Lore,
and they appear mostly
in item descriptions from Dark Souls II
It's really easy to skip
any description of a Spirit Tree.
So, let's talk about what we know.
They're descibed as magical,
sentient,
and supposedly,
possessing divine powers.
Two desciptions in particular reference them as
appearing in a dream world
related to Quella,
who is the Goddess of Dream.
There was this one
talking Spirit Tree that also
turned itself into a shield
to protect
a small, frightened child.
I also have a hunch
that this green tree
that repairs items in Dark Souls II
in the Sunken Kingdom,
I think it could be
another type of Spirit Tree, as well,
but again,
this is just an educated guess.
There's not much we know about this creatures.
At any rate,
the worst of the curses in the Undead Settlement
were sealed away
inside this Spirit Tree.
Maybe it happened naturally,
or maybe the townsfolk hoped
that the tree would
purify said curses, but
eventually, however
the curses took their toll and
festered in the belly of the Greatwood.
So, let's talk about what we find
in the belly of the Greatwood.
One thing we find
is the Transposing Kiln,
which is this
artifact from Courland,
stitched with Crystal Lizard hide.
"Before I was a Lord of Cinder,
I was a student
of transposition,
the process of extracting
and coalescing
the essence of a Soul.
A forbidden art
that once left a foul stain
upon Courlund's honour.
'Tis an art
that grants powers once thought unattainable.
Most Transposing Kilns
were lost with Courlund,
but this place
is a crossing for all manner
of cursed objects."
Unwanted,
cursed items were what were sealed
within the Greatwood.
So,
it makes a degree of sense
that the forbidden Transposing Kiln
would also be sealed within it
at some point.
And with Ludleth's help,
this kiln
allows souls to be turned into a
form we can use,
like a weapon or a ring.
These items reflect
the souls that they were transposed from,
and give us more insight
into that being.
Ludleth himself
for example, drops the Skull Ring
which was a wonder
transposed from the soul of a Soul Feeder,
a beast that insatiably absorbed souls.
to feed its own power
So, when we transpose the Cursed-Rotted Greatwood's Soul
we aren't getting items related to the Greatwood.
We're kind of getting items that were
related to the curses that were within
the Greatwood.
For example,
one is the Spear of Arstor
who was this knight from Carim,
fond of impaling his enemies,
and he was credited with
the dreadful creation of the
Bite Set of rings.
This is one thing
that we get from within the Greatwood.
Another is the Hollowslayer Greatsword,
which harbors the fears that
lurk within the minds of Hollows,
and is more effective
at killing them.
So,
this sword, it's
very well known in Souls.
It once belonged to
Lucatile of Dark Souls II, and
you might be able to see why
the Hollows of the Undead Settlement would
seal this sword away.
It was known for killing their kind, and
that's one hell of a curse
for them.
Let's talk about some comments from
the previous video
before I end this video
SiestaYonJyuGo says,
So,
Siesta is referring to the fact that
Aldrich can cast a version of Lifehunt Scythe,
and Lifehunt Scythe
was a spell that
Priscilla could use and he's wondering why
I think that Aldrich saw Yorshka,
and he's right,
Priscilla might make more sense
in retrospect,
but my thinking is
base around my theory
of a lot of the characters in the game.
You know how earlier
we were talking about Oceiros
and how he takes after Seath.
Well,
in my perspective,
Oceiros pretty much represents Seath
in this game,
and in a same sort of manner,
Yorshka, to me, represents Priscilla,
uh, and that goes a bit more deeper than just
being a descendant.
I think that she
fits the same role
in this timeline
as Priscilla did in her timeline
Priscilla was a crossbreed
locked away in a painting
near Anor Londo,
and
Yorshka is also a crossbreed
locked away in a tower,
near Anor Londo.
Both of them were
probably locked away for being crossbreeds, and
yeah, so when I say he dreamt of Yorshka,
I assumed that Yorshka would have
the same Lifehunt Scythe skill,
and Yorshka inhabits this world,
whereas Priscilla hasn't been proved.
to inhabit this world.
So, that's why I said Yorshka,
but, yes, you're right
I think, because
Aldrich is devouring Gwyndolin,
who would probably have
knowledge of Priscilla,
even if it did occur
a very long time ago,
so, that was my thinking.
Hope that kind of makes sense,
but I'm glad for the chance to clarify.
Guy Dude left a comment that
basically sums up
what I was talking about in the video, he says,
and Aldrich says,
and then Gabriel says,
And to lead us out,
a poem by pdragon on Aldrich,
Thank you for watching this video.
Subscribe,
check out some more
please become a Patreon,
if you want to support the channel,
but
regardless, thank you
for viewing this one,
and I will see you
in the next one.
Bye-bye :)
*Footsteps*
*Bonfire*