The Ringed Sword of Avowal is seen all throughout the trailer.
What if this is Gertrude, the missing Heavenly Daughter?
The bat-winged demons always were a lesser Chaos Demon.
And the old words of the pilgrims continue to come true.
There is a lot to answer for and, already, a lot to see in the Ringed City.
The Ringed City is said to be at world's end, past this heap of rubbish, as far as one can go.
So when I'm showing these still images on the screen,
I'm actually quoting the promotional images and the descriptions which came with them
which a lot of you who viewed the trailer might have missed.
This is called the "Dreg Heap". The furthest end of the world.
And just as we thought, this conglomerate of cities represents Dark Souls 3's
core theme of converging worlds, with, and I quote:
"...various remains from different historical periods accumulating here, over time."
And beyond, as the narrator says, is the Ringed City. An ancient ruin "half covered in foliage"
and likely fallen to the Abyss as locusts have arisen here, feasting on "anything and everything that is in their path."
And curiously, in the notes that I've been provided, it is also called "the traditional city of the Pygmies."
Are they talking about the descendants of the Furtive Pygmy, perhaps? Humanity? That's an amazing detail.
But regardless of that, I'm already tempted to call this place Londor, the home of the pilgrims also.
Because hidden upon the architecture on at least three roofs and in the rubble here,
you can clearly see this design that is identical to the ringed Sword of Avowal
which is that ceremonial blade of Londor that Yuria gives us to sacrifice Anri with.
Which is this act that cements us as the Lord of Hollows and given that this sword is everywhere here,
I expect that this act will be elucidated in the DLC,
explaining it's nature a little bit more which is a really welcome deatail.
So to brush up on Londor and what this means, you should watch this video, by the way.
And I think that video is really important now because what the pilgrims have said
seems to be holding a lot of weight as they've accurately predicted the close of the Age of Fire.
And finally, in this DLC, it looks like we're seeing what comes beyond the Age of Fire
and that we're going to be helping to dictate what comes next.
Which begs the question: where will we enter this DLC?
And I actually think it's possible that we'll access it at the end of the game,
so long as you choose one of the endings that usurps the Flame or allows it to die.
Because, think about it.
Fromsoftware does like putting the entrance to the DLC towards the start somewhere like Ariandel.
However, this is the one time they could get away with putting the DLC at the very end of the base game
because this might well be the last addition to the Dark Souls series.
And obviously these environments we're being shown are really really suited to the Kiln of the First Flame.
Or, if not there, then at least somewhere in upper Lothric
which you can only access after the dark sun has risen in the sky and the dark sun is all throughout this trailer.
And Lothric does play a part in this DLC also. In the trailer we see Lothric Knights burying this banner
and I looked for this dual-dragon crested banner. It's off to the left of this bridge in the Dragon Barracks.
Additionally, this crest is seen on the tabards of the Winged Knights
which relates to Gertrude which we'll get to in a minute.
Furthermore, the rounded rooftops in these shots, they're similar to the rounded rooftops
of the Grand Archives and in fact we see the very bookcases of the Grand Archives in the background
of this scene as this thin creature with a Shotel crawls towards the main character in the foreground
who wields a short sword that activates into a kind of crystal magic lightsaber.
And the Grand Archives is a significant reference here
because that is where Gertrude, one of the Queen's heavenly children, was imprisoned
and her identity is a major mystery that we discussed in depth over here in this video.
So why am I bringing up Gertrude?
Well, bear with me, another one of the heavenly children was Rosaria, Mother of Rebirth
and this woman in the trailer looks awfully like her. From the larger body to the dark straight hair to the fair skin.
She could well be a sibling to Rosaria
and that's why I think she could well be Gertrude, the missing Heavenly Daughter.
Gertrude was said to have been visited by an angel who revealed a tale to her
that became the foundation of the Angelic faith of Lothric. However, the worship of this became heresy
which led to Gertrude being imprisoned in the Grand Archives. But when we come across this cell,
Gertrude was nowhere to be found and the cell itself was surrounded by Winged Ascended Knights.
Gertrude also was said to be blind and there is a darkness encroaching upon this woman's eyes.
The circlet is also a symbol of royalty and the white clothing is easily associated with the Angelic faith.
So I think it is possible that this is Gertrude. Possible. That's all I'll say on that.
Let's move on...to the egg that she rests upon.
Eggs, in Dark Souls 2, were said to symbolize the deepest secrets of existence
and it was also where we found the Petrified Egg right before we found an ancient dragon.
And there are screenshots that show that Archdragons are a part of this DLC as well.
First, a "shield, formed by the head of a descendant of an Archdragon"
and second, "a Grey Giant who has existed since the Archdragon was found.
This Giant, it is said, used to be a judicator, working under the Gods."
A judge. I wonder what he expressed his judgement on... Was the Archdragon found within the egg, perhaps?
At first, I thought that the creature birthed from this egg might have been this Fire Demon,
since it was shown immediately after
but after a little bit of research, I'm confident I know exactly what this Chaos Demon is.
Its skull and its body is identical to those of the bat-winged demons seen in Dark Souls 1 and 3.
There are great connections here.
So the bat-winged demons have long been theorized to be messengers of the gods.
They take you to and from Anor Londo, city of the gods in Dark Souls 1
and they take you down to the Undead Settlement from Lothric as escorts in Dark Souls 3.
But make no mistake. These things are and always have been Chaos Demons.
The ones we've just seen so far, they're just the lesser form of them.
The Demon's Spear from Dark Souls 1 reads: "carved from the bones of fellow demons,
wielded by the slim, lesser bat-wing demons".
And the bat wings, they aren't the only example of demons serving royalty, by the way.
Take the Asylum Demons, for example, which serve as gatekeepers in Lothric and guards in Dark Souls 1
So this, I'm sure, is a greater bat-winged demon as opposed to the lesser ones and as the screenshots say:
it's "the last survivor of Demons who were born from the Flame of Chaos, dwelling below the land".
It sports "a grotesque look from being exposed to poison and its flame is fading away..."
Hell, there's even unused content for a "Great Bat's Soul, belonging to one that was sealed below the earth".
So even though the last living witness of Lost Izalith is dead,
the creations of Chaos continue to live below the earth.
In a DLC that is increasingly looking like the primordial place that the entire series sprouted from.
It has the last demons of the Old Witch's Chaos, it apparently has the pygmy's first home,
it has the pilgrim's of Londor, it has the first descendants of dragons and the new home for the Abyss.
And even Gael and Aria are at the end of the trailer so how much more can they cram into this place?
I've heard rumors that this DLC is going to be larger than the previous ones and
they sure are setting us up for a lot.
I almost doubt that they can live up to talking about all these things in good detail.
But to finish this video, I know it's a bit ramble-y, I put it together in one night.
I'm going to throw some tid-bits at you now that I couldn't work into the main narrative of this video.
So, more screenshots. This is Rapp, a self-proclaimed amnesiac hollow with heavy plate armor
who you will encounter in the Dreg Heap. The conglomeration of kingdoms you see here.
This is described as a vicious knight, sunken in a swamp and instead of a head, a clump of darkness swirls.
I wanna point out that the Lothric Knights have roots growing over them
as if they haven't moved in quite some time.
And I want to say that those sexy pyromancer women of Dark Souls 2, they're coming back, I think.
The screenshot descriptions strongly suggest that they'll be making a reappearance.
I forgot to mention the character wielding a bow that clearly has a lightning arrow weapon art.
And finally, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, this undead bursts forth in a flash of light.
It looks so much like the Pilgrim Butterflies, right?
The tendrils at the lower half are almost identical to the Pilgrim Butterfly tendrils
and the wings kind of have similar veins through them. And the way his spine arches backwards reminds me
of those Butterflies although the head is undeniably different. Or maybe it's a kind of angel?
Anyway, let me know what you think of the DLC. I'll be rolling out my notes that I wrote about the trailer so far
to the beacon tier patrons so you guys in that tier can look forward to that.
But thank you for watching, special thanks if you're a subscriber as well and
now, after ten hours of writing and editing and narrating, I'm gonna go to bed. I'll see you soon.