Dark Souls Plot Questions (Spoilers)

[Danny91]

Hey everyone
After picking up Dark Souls about a week ago, I've just completed my first run through. Much like a lot of you, I thoroughly enjoyed it. One of my favourite aspects of the game was how the plot was developed based on what you were able to find for yourself a lot of the time; it made me want to play through without a walkthrough and just see what I could find for myself. However, it has left me with a few questions about the plot; some of these I have an idea about, but I'd rather have them confirmed by those of you who explored the game in more depth. So can anyone help me with these questions?

1) How long do you think it's been since the war against the dragons (as seen in the prologue)? So, in other words, how long do you estimate the Age of Fire has lasted? I ask this because it seems like the world was fine for quite a while, and then quite rapidly and recently declined; but Id like to hear your opinions.

2) What exactly happened to each one of the Lords (The Witch, Gwyn, Seath and Nito) as well as the Furtive Pygmy, after the war against the Dragons? In other words, what happened to each of these people and their groups since the war thats resulted in everything being so awful when you find their domains? (Eg. Why are Queelag and her sister monsters?)

3) In a follow up question, what did Nito do that meant he was considered deserving of death? All of the others seem more monstrous, and needing to be put down. He seemed much the same.

4) What did the Pygmy actually do in the War?

5) I did not find the painted world of Aramis, and I did not find out the story of Gwynaveve and Gwyndolin; but I heard about them later. What are their back stories and relevance to the plot?

6) What is the difference between the Age of Fire and Age of Dark? What does each mean for the world?

7) Who are the Four Kings; why was New Londo sacrificed to hold them; why do they have a Lord Soul?

8) Why were the bells needing to be rung to get to Anor Londo, who was I proving myself to and why? (This is in terms of plot, rather than gameplay, if there is a plot reason.)

9) Who was Artorias; is that his sword Sif is using (meaning that he is that huge if it is) and what is Sif's link to him?

10) What is the Bed of Chaos, what link does it have to the Daughters of Izalith?

I think those are all, If I think of any others i'll add them on Thank you all so much for your help, if you can give it. Even just answering one or two questions would be great, and if you can remember where you learned any specific info, that would be great. I don't even mind just hearing extrapolations from the plot, if you can use what you saw in the game.

 

[Fliegar]

1) I assume that the Age of Fire has lasted for probably a couple thousand years? Possibly longer, it's pretty vague.

2) The Witch is never really mentioned clearly, it's said that she tried to turn her flame into something equalling the power of the first flame that Lord Gwyn had, but failed horribly, creating demons, killing a few of her daughters, turning 2 of them into monsters (Quelaag and the Chaos Covenant leader).

Nito just chills out in the Tomb of the Giants, he doesn't do too much other than silently accept you into his covenant.

Seath (I assume) became increasingly insane after betraying his brethren, and, being scale-less, kept researching something which I believe is called the Scales of Immortality or something. He also stole some artifact that made him semi-immortal. Until you destroy it that is. He was also guilty of performing experiments, such as turning the maidens into creepy squid-monsters.

Gwyn kindled the first flame using his own soul, so he just stands there burning in the Kiln of the First Flame.

3) Nito was just the first undead, and therefore got a flame for himself. He's still kind of an asshole, so feel free to kill him.

4) He did nothing. His flame was special in the fact that it used the power of darkness, which in the game is related to humanity, while fire seems to be related to the gods. While the power of fire weakens, the power of darkness grows stronger. Essentially Gwyn was afraid of humans, and wanted to keep him and his godly buddies in power longer.

5) Priscilla is trapped in the painted world due to being some unwanted bastard child of two of the "Gods" in Dark Souls. Apparently her power was fairly potent and was feared, so she was sent there. Gwynevere (Giant boob lady) is a construct made by Gwyndolin (The son of Gwyn?) and is related to sunlight. Since Gwyndolin is kind of a freaky tentacle man-woman, it seems like he wanted people to respect and worship Gwynevere as a fake god while he pulled the strings from the shadows. He's related to the power of the moon, so if you kill Gwynevere, Anor Londo darkens and it's permanently midnight.

6) Age of Fire can be related to the Age of Gods, while the Age of Darkness can be related to the Age of Humans.

7) The four kings of New Londo were somehow related to Lord Gwyn, possibly in friendship. They became corrupted by the Abyss, and with that, the Darkwraiths were spawned. Having no choice but to seal the Wraiths and the kings away, the entire city was flooded. The ghosts that are flying around are most likely the spirits of the people killed during the flood, or by the Darkwraiths.

8) As far as I know, it woke up Kingseeker Frampt, and it was part some ritual or mechanism to open the gates to Sen's Fortress.

9) A lot of assumptions, but I assume that Artorias really was pretty big, considering most of the god-like figures are huge. Sif would have been his partner, or maybe his spirit merged with a wolf and turned it into an awesome giant beast that knew how to use a sword.

10) As mentioned above, the bed of chaos is the result of the Witch of Izalith's failed experiment to turn her flame into something rivaling the first flame that Gwyn used to start the Age of Fire. The Daughters of Izalith where there when the experiment failed, and it's assumed that you only see 4 of them in the game, so 3 were possibly killed. Quelaana the Pyromancy trainer, Quelaag the Chaos Spider Demon chick, and her sister (whom I don't know the name of, but she leads the Chaos Covenant) and the unknown Hollow Witch that attacks you right before the Bed of Chaos.

 

[garjian]

Dark Souls has a plot?

This is the first ive heard of it and ive been playing the game for days.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

1) I assume that the Age of Fire has lasted for probably a couple thousand years? Possibly longer, it's pretty vague.

2) The Witch is never really mentioned clearly, it's said that she tried to turn her flame into something equalling the power of the first flame that Lord Gwyn had, but failed horribly, creating demons, killing a few of her daughters, turning 2 of them into monsters (Quelaag and the Chaos Covenant leader).

Nito just chills out in the Tomb of the Giants, he doesn't do too much other than silently accept you into his covenant.

Seath (I assume) became increasingly insane after betraying his brethren, and, being scale-less, kept researching something which I believe is called the Scales of Immortality or something. He also stole some artifact that made him semi-immortal. Until you destroy it that is. He was also guilty of performing experiments, such as turning the maidens into creepy squid-monsters.

Gwyn kindled the first flame using his own soul, so he just stands there burning in the Kiln of the First Flame.

3) Nito was just the first undead, and therefore got a flame for himself. He's still kind of an asshole, so feel free to kill him.

4) He did nothing. His flame was special in the fact that it used the power of darkness, which in the game is related to humanity, while fire seems to be related to the gods. While the power of fire weakens, the power of darkness grows stronger. Essentially Gwyn was afraid of humans, and wanted to keep him and his godly buddies in power longer.

5) Priscilla is trapped in the painted world due to being some unwanted bastard child of two of the "Gods" in Dark Souls. Apparently her power was fairly potent and was feared, so she was sent there. Gwynevere (Giant boob lady) is a construct made by Gwyndolin (The son of Gwyn?) and is related to sunlight. Since Gwyndolin is kind of a freaky tentacle man-woman, it seems like he wanted people to respect and worship Gwynevere as a fake god while he pulled the strings from the shadows. He's related to the power of the moon, so if you kill Gwynevere, Anor Londo darkens and it's permanently midnight.

6) Age of Fire can be related to the Age of Gods, while the Age of Darkness can be related to the Age of Humans.

7) The four kings of New Londo were somehow related to Lord Gwyn, possibly in friendship. They became corrupted by the Abyss, and with that, the Darkwraiths were spawned. Having no choice but to seal the Wraiths and the kings away, the entire city was flooded. The ghosts that are flying around are most likely the spirits of the people killed during the flood, or by the Darkwraiths.

8) As far as I know, it woke up Kingseeker Frampt, and it was part some ritual or mechanism to open the gates to Sen's Fortress.

9) A lot of assumptions, but I assume that Artorias really was pretty big, considering most of the god-like figures are huge. Sif would have been his partner, or maybe his spirit merged with a wolf and turned it into an awesome giant beast that knew how to use a sword.

10) As mentioned above, the bed of chaos is the result of the Witch of Izalith's failed experiment to turn her flame into something rivaling the first flame that Gwyn used to start the Age of Fire. The Daughters of Izalith where there when the experiment failed, and it's assumed that you only see 4 of them in the game, so 3 were possibly killed. Quelaana the Pyromancy trainer, Quelaag the Chaos Spider Demon chick, and her sister (whom I don't know the name of, but she leads the Chaos Covenant) and the unknown Hollow Witch that attacks you right before the Bed of Chaos.

Aaaand you tackled all of the questions. I'll add that Kingseeker Frampt may be lying to you. You could actually be the descendant of the Pygmy according to the other Kingseeker, destined to usher in the Age of Darkness.

 

[Fliegar]

Aaaand you tackled all of the questions. I'll add that Kingseeker Frampt may be lying to you. You could actually be the descendant of the Pygmy according to the other Kingseeker, destined to usher in the Age of Darkness.

Sitting in a boring class, so I had some time. The next part is some spoiler so I'll see if I can tag it.

Spoiler

According to Darkstalker Kaathe (or whatever his title is), you are destined to be the Dark Lord, and rule over humanity after the Age of Fire ends. This would mean that you are a descendent of the Pygmy, who's flame was the power of Darkness itself.

Spoiler: End Game Spoiler

This is reinforced by the fact that one of the endings to the game has you becoming the Dark Lord instead of re-kindling the first flame.

 

[Danny91]

Thanks so much, I think that handled all of them quite well I just have a couple follow up questions based on what your answers were:

1) Who were the two "gods" that had Priscilla? What/Who are they?

2) Do we ever learn who Sen is, and why he has a Fortress, or is this just a typical fantasy name?

3) This one is mostly any extrapolation you can work out, rather than direct evidence...So Gwyn was "burning" in the Kiln (I assume a painful fate) since the War ended? So a powerful person is needed to maintain the "link" of fires using their own life, and as time goes by they weaken and eventually collapse? Or as the Age of Fire declined, did Gwyn eventually have to retreat to the Kiln? Did he know what would need to happen to maintain the Age of Fire, the personal sacrifice? Finally, does that mean that if the world had just waited he would have eventually just been destroyed by the fire, resulting in the Dark ending of the game automatically? I mostly ask these things because of how sad the whole encounter with him is...he just seems more of a pitiable figure, with his musical theme and whatnot, so i just wanted to explore him a bit.

...most other things can be explained as just being the segregation between story and gameplay (eg. like why you can go and make a covenant with Nito and then have to leave, and eventually end up in the SAME ROOM just to kill him...I always thought things like that were quite funny ha ha.)

Personally I just really enjoyed the idea that the two endings were a little different than just generic good and bad endings; like for me, I chose not to kindle the flame, and from what i saw in the game, that makes me a dark lord of some kind, but based on those answers you gave me and some others I've heard, it seems a lot more manipulation was in place and was pushing me towards doing specific actions.

 

[Fliegar]

1) Considering Priscilla is half-dragon, and Seath is the only surviving dragon (not to mention her tail is kind of furry / non-scaly), I will assume it was a spawn or experiment involving Seath, and maybe Gwenevere (Since she's sort of an abomination to life in the eyes of the rest of the living gods, considering she was created by Gwyndolin). The spawn of a dragon and a false / artificially created god would technically be the antithesis of life, considering what her soul states. (A bastard child and antithesis of all life).

2) Sen's Fortress is basically a proving ground to gain access to Anor Londo, but I can't remember where I heard that. Consider Anor Londo to basically be like Mt. Olympus, and Sen's Fortress would be a sort of trial to gain entrance.

3) Gwyn was an extremely powerful person, with a very powerful soul. The first flame was dying down, and he was fearful of the Age of Darkness, which could mean that he was fearful of humans coming to power over what he had worked so hard to create. To Kindle the flame, I'm assuming it is constantly burning his soul to stay lit, so he has to remain in the Kiln. I'm assuming that eventually the fire would have gone out on its own, and the Age of Dark would have happened, but in the events of the game, you became another extremely powerful soul, fit to be the Dark Lord. I mean, you took what was left of Gwyn's soul, and it was still extremely potent. Your soul, since we can assume you are the descendant of the Pygmy, grows stronger when the power of Fire is weaker, so by snuffing out all of the flames and killing the only thing keeping the flame lit, you've become on-par with what Gwyn was during the epitome of the Age of Fire. It's all speculation.

 

[Danny91]

ah okay, thanks so much, this has all been very useful and enlightening

 

[Fliegar]

A lot of this stuff was found in a discussion in this [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/606312-dark-souls/60612627] topic on Gamefaqs about a week ago, there are about 40~ pages of people piecing together the lore and circumstances of all of the NPCs and bosses and such. It's a very interesting read. I can't recommend the community on that site most times, but the topic itself was really entertaining to read.

Most of the lore from the game found in that topic can be backed up or found in item descriptions in the game.

 

[krazykidd]

Actually frampts say that it has been a thousand years , after you bring him the lordvessel. I can't answer much apart from that , i haven't been followingthe story sorry.

 

[Danny91]

A lot of this stuff was found in a discussion in this [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/606312-dark-souls/60612627] topic on Gamefaqs about a week ago, there are about 40~ pages of people piecing together the lore and circumstances of all of the NPCs and bosses and such. It's a very interesting read. I can't recommend the community on that site most times, but the topic itself was really entertaining to read.

Most of the lore from the game found in that topic can be backed up or found in item descriptions in the game.

Wow that thread was really great, thanks so much ...one tiny little thing for anyone to answer, Ive heard a couple times that you see Smough in the intro to the game, can anyone confirm or elaborate on this? I don't know whether people mean the CGI or in game intro.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

ENB has an excellent lore series going:
It has been very helpful for me.

 

[Judgedread]

In no particular order...


Artorias was one of the four great knights of Gwyn's command, and the only one who had the power to fight the darkstalkers in the Abyss that exists under New Londo. With his death, actually killing off the fervent opponents of the gods became impossible, as nobody else could enter the abyss while the Four Kings were still down there and now be consumed by the darkess. Now, Sif wasn't elaborated on much. He was either an aquantence of Artorias's who dedicated himself in preventing the desicration of Arty's grave, or a servent of the darkstalkers who guarded the grave to prevent anybody from threatening Kaath and the Four Kings.

A good read, however, from memory while Artorias was one of Gwyns knights he actually betrayed Gwyn and sided with Kaath and the Darkwraiths, serving under the 4 kings, hence why he was able to traverse the abyss.

I think Sif was someone close to Artiorias however, as you said he was never elaborated upon so thats just speculation.