Unfortunately, despite the bravado I had upon initially seeking to create this guide, I was stopped dead by one thing: Dark Souls Remastered. Bandai Namco personally grabbed a gun and shot my beloved game straight in the head, preventing any new players from getting the original experience and reducing the active population to 1/3rd of its norm. I lost all motivation, and this guide has been sitting dead in my list for over a full year. After watching my beloved creation rotting away, I decided that my efforts might as well see the world, even if not many people remain in Dark Souls 1 to see it. I hope you enjoy reading some of the love and care I put into my work before Bandai destroyed my ambitions.

If, on the small chance this does get some recognition, I may one day return to finish the grand project I set out to complete, including all the enemies and foreign lands of Lodran.

But that day may never come.

Everything except this specific section was written nearly a full year ago. If it seems to be inconsistent with the tone set by this section, that is because it is a product of when I was still at full steam.

Welcome the the Loremaster! This is an absolutely gigantic compilation on every boss, important NPC, location, and even some enemies that lean towards the lore-heavy side (Like the Knights of Berenike, Balder Knights and the sort.)

This guide aims to enlighten the many players of Dark Souls to the incredible depths of its lore. As such, any help correcting information (If providing the proper evidence, of course) is very welcome. Something this big is bound to have more than a few errors.

Due to the highly theoretical and speculation-heavy nature of Dark Souls lore, the majority of the information in this guide is stated in vague terms (Unknown, unconfirmed, possibly, etc). This is unfortunately necessary to keep fact from theory, so you're gonna have to get used to it. Even many statements that sound resolute may just be educated guesses. Take it all as you will.

This guide will discuss only lore known in Dark Souls 1. It will not cover any items, theories, or other sources from Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3. I may occasionally make mention to things from the other Souls games, but not in any major way. I'm a hypocrite, sue me.

As stated by Solaire near the start of the game, time is warped in the land of Lordran, with many people from all ages of history fading in and out. Personally, I think this is purely to justify the summoning mechanic which was completely unexaplained in Demon's Souls (I own an original copy of the game, they didn't even try to explain it). Unfortunately, because it is said by an in-game NPC I am forced to treat it as full canon. However, dealing with it in theories is a major pain in the butt as it makes the vague even vaguer. For the sake of simplicity and sanity, I will treat the lore as if every creature, NPC and character exists in Lordran at the same time. Perhaps not the same dimension, but syncronized in age. If you don't understand what I'm saying here, just ignore it and move on. It doesn't make that big of an impact anyways.

This guide is absolutely GIGANTIC. If you are trying to find something specific, please spare yourself the pain and browse using the sidebar instead of scrolling down.

If you intend to read the entire Loremaster from start to finish, it will take nearly as long as reading a medium sized book, even longer if you intend to pursue cited sources and follow up on theories. Make sure you have the day off before you delve into this work.

Happy reading!

Unfortunately, due to the absolutely monstrous size of this guide, I am forced to borrow and use assets from different places rather than spend another 60+ hours taking personal photos of EVERY NPC, EVERY enemy, EVERY item, EVERY scrap of dialogue, etc, etc, etc. Be reasonable and cut me some slack. I have chosen to use the Dark Souls Wiki[darksouls.wikia.com] as a visual reference for readers to know what items I am taking my judgements from, along with an incredibly helpful record of NPC dialogue (Which is very hard to capture in-game, as it requires multiple screenshots and can be tedious to trigger in a playthrough), and other assorted assets. I give them a massive amount of credit for the work they have put towards this game and the help it has given me in making this guide more user-friendly.

For those who would accuse me of piggybacking off the wiki's own lore sections, I have full confidence that if you read enough my own work will shine through. While I do give them massive credit for the amount of work they have done, a lot of their lore sections are sparse and poor. They only scratch the surface of some surprisingly deep characters who have hidden implications. It is unsurprising we come to the same basic overall conclusions for characters and bosses, but I guarantee I have dedicated significant time to unearthing everything I could until there is nothing left.

Every good game world has a beginning, and Dark Souls is no different. This section contains the essential details and backstory of the Dark Souls world, including how it was created. This is considered critical information: Every piece of lore from this point onward assumes you are familiar with these facts.

Before Humans, before Lords, and before even Fire, there was almost nothing. A vast, dull land shrouded by fog that contained only the rocky ground, the Archtrees and their inhabitants: the Everlasting Dragons. This land knew no change; nothing lived, and nothing died. There was no true light, nor was there any dark to go with it.

The only inhabitants of this land were the Everlasting Dragons. Mighty, undying beings with scales of stone. These stone scales granted them their immortality, and they lived uneventful lives in this colorless world. However, one dragon did not possess these scales of immortality. Its name was Seath. Seath was bitterly jealous of his brethren who cared not about the world around them, as they had nothing to do and nothing to fear thanks to their own immortality. Seath's disdain for his brethren grew, but he had no way of acting on his feelings.

Time passed. Down below, under this colorless land, lurked the beings known only as Them. They lived underground in the Dark, their lives just as unchanging as the Everlasting Dragons above. But that all changed when the First Flame appeared. They were drawn to the flame, which brought light to their Dark. And inside the flames, four of Them found the Lord Souls. These souls granted them unimaginable power, and changed their bodies to suit the power of their souls.

Nito, the first of the dead. His Lord Soul granted him power over death itself, and the ability to administer it at his choosing.

The Witch of Izalith, and her seven Daughters of Chaos. The Witch was given the Lord Soul of life, and as life was linked to the flame it granted the Witch power over fire.

Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight. The mightiest of the Lord Souls, Gwyn could harness the power of light at his whim, and could fashion mighty bolts of lightning using this power. Gwyn was also followed by his faithful Silver Knights, who would join him in battle against the dragons.

And finally, the Furtive Pygmy, obtainer of the Dark Soul, and the progenitor of Man.

.
Using the power of the Lord Souls, Gwyn and his new allies challenged the Eternal Dragons. But the dragons were immortal, and their scales were tough. Many knights died with little casualties on the dragon side. However, this was when Seath finally saw his chance for action. Seath betrayed his own kind, going to Gwyn and revealing to him that the secret of the dragon's immortality was their scales. Gwyn used this knowledge, and crafted powerful bolts of sunlight to rend apart the stone scales of the dragons. Nito then brought death to this world, and unleashed a torret of disease upon the exposed flesh of the dragons. The Witch of Izalith and her daughters wove gigantic firestorms, burning the archtrees, homes of the dragons, to ash. And with the defeat of the dragons, the Age of Fire began.

With the annihilation of the dragons, the Age of Fire began. The victors of the long battle, now calling themselves Gods (There were others besides Nito, The Witch and Gwyn. Those three were just the owners of the Lord Souls), went on to create a prosperous land; Lordran. Lordran's capital was the city of the gods, Anor Londo. This city served as the home to the gods, and was guarded by the faithful Silver Knights of Gwyn. Lordran remained beautiful and prosperous, regarded as the unreachable city of the gods by the common people. But this did not last forever.

Unbeknownst to the gods, the pygmy and its Dark Soul had remained behind in the Dark, biding its time. For a reason not quite clear, the pygmy began to split its soul, into millions upon millions of minuscule shards. It spread these shards across the world, to become humans. These shards are represented as humanity, and it is what gives a human his power, his emotions, and his drive to push forward. Mankind spread across the world, all of them holding a small piece of the Dark Soul.

As time passes, fire dies. This is an undeniable law of this world. The First Flame was mighty indeed, but would not last by itself. After unknown millennia, the flames began to fade, and the Dark began to creep back once again, just like the pygmy wanted it to. This Dark frightened the gods, especially Gwyn. He feared the return of Dark, which would bring with it the end of fire and light. Gwyn searched desperately for a solution, a way to bring the flames back from the brink. Then, the Witch of Izalith came to Gwyn with an idea. She would attempt to use her own Lord Soul to recreate the First Flame, and thus restore the Age of Fire.


However, the Witch had miscalculated. While her own Lord Soul was powerful indeed, it could not rival the raw might of the First Flame nor could the Witch hope to control it. The Witch lost control, and was consumed by her own Soul, which twisted and contorted to become the Chaos Flame. From this flame spewed forth endless magma and birthed the first demons into the world. As the demons threatened to overrun Lordran, Gwyn and his Silver Knights brought the battle to them, and pushed them back to Izalith, the home of the Chaos Flame. At this point, the Chaos Flame had become too powerful; Gwyn and his knights could not defeat the horde of demons defending their mother. They returned to Anor Londo, the knight's silver shields charred black from the chaotic demon flames.

Gwyn was growing increasingly desperate to save the First Flame. After the Witch's failure, he realized the Flame could not be re-created, but had to be tended. However, no amount of normal kindling could ever satiate the Flame. Gwyn decided to use his own Soul to rekindle the flames, therefore prolonging the Age of Fire. Bestowing the majority of his power to his children, and bringing only his greatsword, Gwyn used himself as tinder to relight the first flame, unnaturally prolonging the Age of Fire.

But unnatural solutions also bring unnatural consequences. With nature's will defied, and the Dark pushed back once again, a curse formed upon this world. The Darksign. The Darksign is symbolic of the undead curse, a curse which does not allow the cursed one to die. Those afflicted with the Darksign were forced to seek out souls and humanity, or else they would hollow. As the Darksign spread across the land, the hollows ran rampant, destroying entire kingdoms and throwing the world into chaos. Many kingdoms held hollow hunts, and imprisoned these undead in an inescapable prison, to rot for eternity.

This is where the game begins.

This is the beginning of Dark Souls.

The following sections will discuss the original four bearers of the Lord Souls and their kin. Pure theories will not be shown here, only solid fact. As such, Priscilla will NOT be in this section despite very good evidence to support her case.

Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, is the ruler of Lordran and de facto leader of the gods. As the posesser of the most powerful Lord Soul, Gwyn used that power to destroy the Everlasting Dragons and rule over his kingdom of Lordran for generations. At some point during this rule, and with an unknown woman, Gwyn had three children. The eldest son, whose name has been erased from history. Gwyn's only daughter, Gwynevere. And finally, his youngest son, Gwyndolin.

Thanks to the power of his mighty Lord Soul, Gwyn was able to wield and weaponize the power of the sun. It is unclear to what extent his powers ranged, but it is confirmed that at the very least, he could fashion bolts out of sunlight itself, and hurl them with massive power.

The exact times Gwyn performed any of these actions is mostly unknown. However, it can be assumed they took place after the defeat of the Everlasting Dragons, but before Gwyn's sacrifice at the Kiln of the First Flame.

Gwyn's Lord Soul has had pieces taken out of it more than just once as a reward for those he deemed worthy. The two explicitly stated cases are those of Seath the Scaleless and The Four Kings. As a reward for Seath's assistance against the Everlasting Dragons, Gwyn gave Seath a fragment of his lord soul and welcomed him to the Anor Londo royalty. Gwyn also praised the foresight of the four kings of New Londo, and gave to them pieces of his soul as reward. Amusingly enough, these same kings fell to their own lack of wisdom later in history, being twisted by the Abyss into the Four Kings the player faces in-game. Gwyn also gave much of his power to the other gods of Anor Londo before he departed, but still retained enough to burn brightly as fuel for the First Flame.

Surprisingly little is known about Gwyn as a person, most of the information is about what he has done. In fact, there is absolutely no information on his personality directly stated in item descriptions, unlike his children.

Crown of the Great Lord[darksouls.wikia.com]
Bequeathed Lord Soul Shards[darksouls.wikia.com]
Soul of Gwyn[darksouls.wikia.com]
Robe of the Great Lord[darksouls.wikia.com]
Great Lord Greatsword[darksouls.wikia.com]
Sunlight Spear[darksouls.wikia.com]

Gwyn's firstborn's name has been practically scrubbed from history, and almost nothing is known about him. Because of this, nobody has ever determined his true name. (There are many theories linking him to the Nameless King of Dark Souls 3, but this guide is DS1 exclusive. I will not be discussing the Nameless King here.)

Gwyn's oldest child and son was a God of War. He valued power above everything else, including wisdom and intelligence. He underwent a punishment for his actions, which made him the enigma he is today. This elder son lost the annals of history at some unknown point, resulting in him being stripped of his status as a deity and presumably exiled, as his name was eventually lost to time (Which would not have happened had he remained in Anor Londo). Before he departed, however, he left one of his strongest weapons, the miracle Sunlight Blade, on the tomb of his father, Gwyn. It seems like he did it as a sort of farewell, before leaving Anor Londo for good.

(Some sources state that "Losing the Annals" is actually a horrible mistranslation and that the actual description says no such thing. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no way to personally verify this information and cannot say if it is true or not.)

Great Lightning Spear[darksouls.wikia.com]
Ring of the Sun's Firstborn[darksouls.wikia.com]
Sunlight Blade[darksouls.wikia.com]

Gwynevere was the second child and the only (real) daughter of Gwyn and his unnamed wife. Gwynevere was beloved by her people for her kindness and compassion. However, with the fading of the flame, Gwynevere and many other gods abandoned Anor Londo. She later married the Flame God Flann and her true whereabouts are completely unknown.

The Gwynevere the player talks to in Dark Souls is an illusion created by the third child of Gwyn, Gwyndolin. Gwyndolin created this mirage to act as a figurehead of power for Anor Londo, due to his wish to hide his own frail and disturbing appearance.

Ring of the Sun Princess[darksouls.wikia.com]
Soothing Sunlight[darksouls.wikia.com]
Bountiful Sunlight[darksouls.wikia.com]
Darkmoon Blade Covenant Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]


Gwyndolin was the third and final known child of Gwyn. Despite being born a man, Gwyn decided to raise him as a daughter due to his unusually strong connection to the moon.

In the events of Dark Souls 1, Gwyndolin is the last remaining god in Anor Londo, keeping watch over the abandoned city. He operates in secret, using an illusion of his sister Gwynevere as a figurehead for his operations in the shadows. He can be found guarding the Tomb of Gwyn from trespassers.

Gwyndolin is the leader of the Darkmoon Blade, a secret covenant charged with keeping order in this world all but abandoned by the gods. Despite all the deities leaving Anor Londo, Gwyndolin's dialogue shows he still strictly follows the old ways of god worship, and considers any wrong done to the gods punishable to the extreme.

Moonlight Robe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Darkmoon Blade Covenant Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]
Darkmoon Blade Seance Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Witch of Izalith is one of the four possessors of a Lord Soul. Her soul gives her command over fire, and in turn life itself, for the fire brings life. Her pivotal role in the defeat of the Everlasting Dragons was the burning of the Archtrees, presumably to finalize their total annihilation.

The Witch of Izalith, despite having power over fire, was not a pyromancer. Pyromancy is a more primal and undeveloped form of the original Flame Sorcery of the Witch, which was catalyzed with a staff like other sorceries. Pyromancy was inadvertedly created by the Witch after her failure to re-create the First Flame. This created the Chaos Flame, which in turn created Pyromancy. Thanks to this timeline we have been given, it is mostly safe to assume that Flame Sorcery was, while maybe not more powerful, much more focused than Pyromancy, and as a result was likely able to handle more complicated spells as a result. Because Pyromancy was influenced by the Chaos Flame, it is a more chaotic source of fire, unable to be fully controlled, and as such is at risk of harming the user if they attempt to use too much power without the proper discipline.

[This can actually be seen in the pyromancy Power Within, where the user is granted extra power at the expense of slowly killing them. (In fact, before Patch 1.06, Power Within used to scale with the level of the Pyromancy Flame it was being used with. This would have been great to show that the more powerful a person's pyromancy became, the larger threat it was to their own life.)]

When the First Flame began to fade, The Witch and her daughters began to pursue other methods of re-creating the First Flame to extend the dwindling Age of Fire. The Witch attempted, with the aid of her daughters, to create a new First Flame by harnessing the power of her own flaming Lord Soul. However, she had vastly underestimated the power of the First Flame, and quickly lost control of what she had created. The newly created Chaos Flame consumed the Witch, and twisted the residents of Izalith into the horrid demons that plague the land today.

When the Witch of Izalith and six of her daughters fell prey to the Chaos Flame, and with the rise of the demon horde, all knowledge of Flame Sorcery has been lost to the ages. The only unaffected person who might know about them is Quelana, who does not indicate that she still knows or cares about them.

Izalith Catalyst[darksouls.wikia.com]
Bed of Chaos's Lord Soul[darksouls.wikia.com]
Demon Catalyst[darksouls.wikia.com]
Power Within[darksouls.wikia.com]
Quelana of Izalith's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Chaos Storm[darksouls.wikia.com]

Since before the fall of the Everlasting Dragons, The Witch of Izalith had seven daughters, all of which knew Flame Sorcery as evidenced by their staffs and involvement in the burning of the Archtrees. At an unknown point in time, The Witch had a son, who later became Ceaseless Discharge (more on him later.).

These daughters assisted in the Witch's search for a way to re-create the First Flame, and as such were present at Ground Zero when things went wrong.

When the Witch of Izalith was consumed by the Chaos Flame, the Flame also consumed her daughters who were helping with the ritual. With the sole exception of Quelana, none of the other daughters escaped, and that includes Quelaag. When Quelaag was twisted by the Chaos Flame, her lower body became a spider demon. However, judging from her facial expressions and movement during her boss battle, she still retains at least most of her sanity. She even appears to show affection for her spider demon half, suggesting she has either become accustomed to it or was fine with it from the start.

After being contorted by the Chaos Flame, Quelaag left Lost Izalith with her sister, the Fair Lady, and brought her to the nearby swamp of Blighttown. When the Fair Lady became ill with the blight pus, Quelaag took it upon herself to obtain humanity for her sister to help her heal.

It is not known how Quelaag obtains humanity for her sister, although some speculation claims that she gets it from trespassers seeking Lost Izalith or the sisters themselves. Either way, when you kill Quelaag to progress through the game, you are dooming the Fair Lady to wither away and die, as evidenced by her sad corpse found in Dark Souls 3.

Soul of Quelaag[darksouls.wikia.com]
The Fair Lady's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Eingyi's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Fair Lady is one of the seven Daughters of Chaos, and like Quelaag was mutated by the Chaos Flame into a hybrid of woman and chaotic spider demon. She fled Izalith with Quelaag, and ended up in Blighttown. Because of her caring nature, the Fair Lady felt sadness for the residents of Blighttown, afflicted by the poisonous Blightpus. Going against the wishes of her sister, Quelaag, the Fair Lady took in the Blightpus from the denizens of Blighttown in an act of mercy upon them. This act was not without consequence, however. The Blightpus instead severely crippled her, bringing her pain and suffering.(It is not known if her blindness was caused by this or if she was blind before coming to Blighttown. However, it is known she was not born blind, as her dialogue states she has seen Quelaag's face at least once.) It can be assumed that Quelaag connected her soul to the nearby bonfire to keep her alive, even if it brought her pain to continue living.

Contrary to what many players may believe, the vast number of egg sacs in Quelaag's Domain are NOT from Quelaag herself. These eggs are in fact containers for the vast storage of humanity the Fair Lady holds within herself. This mass of humanity is connected to her by the bonfire, which is the only thing barely keeping her alive. As shown by the innumerable eggs in Quelaag's Domain, her condition is incredibly serious.

After curing them of their infections, the undead living in Blighttown offered their loyalty to the Fair Lady and Quelaag, willingly becoming hosts for the some of the Fair Lady's eggs. These are the undead gathered on the hillside when first entering the Demon Ruins, as well as Eingyi himself.

(It is completely unknown why these eggs release maggots when broken. Spiders do not have maggots, they have baby spiders. There is absolutely no reason for this stated anywhere in the game, nor is it based in reality. The likely cause is somebody on the developing team either not doing their research, or just trying to make it as disgusting as possible. If it is the latter, they definitely succeeded.)

The Fair Lady cares very deeply for her sister Quelaag, and despite her constant pain she always tries to maintain a positive outlook, as shown by when she mistakes the player for her sister when using the Old Witch Ring. Despite her own critical condition, she still wishes for Quelaag's safety when bidding her farewell.

With the death of Quelaag and the player canonically linking the fire (Therby making them unable to obtain Humanity for the Fair Lady themselves), the Fair Lady is doomed to die painfully and slowly in Blighttown.

The Fair Lady's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Eingyi Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Fire Keeper Soul[darksouls.wikia.com]
Egg Vermifuge[darksouls.wikia.com]

Quelana of Izalith is the only Daughter of Chaos known to have escaped the tragedy that befell her mother and sisters. Fully retaining her sanity and body, she fled Lost Izalith and took residence in Blighttown, where she has lived ever since.

Quelana is credited as being the "Mother of Pyromancy". However, the Chaos Flame is directly stated to have been the creator of pyromancy, so how could Quelana take credit for it? A very good theory is that because Quelana was the only daughter to escape the Chaos Flame, she took the newly made knowledge of pyromancy with her, possibly at the expense of her fire sorceries. She may not have been the creator, but she was the first to wield pyromancies after their creation.



Thanks to her firsthand knowledge of pyromancies, many of the spells only offered by Quelana are much more powerful than other pyromancies that can be found in the game. Examples of this are Great Combustion and Fire Temptest, the latter of which is stated to resemble the original pillars of flame used to destroy the Archtrees during the Age of Ancients. The only pyromancies in the game that trump Quelana's are those given by the Fair Lady, which harness the power of chaos to boost their power. Quelana was not afflicted by the Chaos Flame like the Fair Lady was, so it is reasonable to assume she has no knowledge of these chaotic pyromancies.

Quelana also sells the pyromancy Fire Whip. This pyromancy is specifically stated to be taught by Quelana, and is also the root of the pyromancy Combustion, which is an incredibly basic spell known by most pyromancers. This shows that Quelana is likely the sole source of pyromancy in the world of Dark Souls, and all pyromancies since have had their roots in her teachings (Although many have expanded beyond those roots, like Eingyi and Carmina.)

In order for the player to acquire the Ascended Pyromancy Flame, they must go to Quelana with a +15 Pyromancy Flame and have her ascend it. This Ascension is more than just a simple power boost, this is actually Quelana sharing some of her own flame with you, and combining its power with yours. This Ascended Flame is unique to the player, as Quelana has chosen to share some of her vast pyromancy power with them as her apprentice. This is the same reason why the Ascended Pyromancy Flame can only be upgraded with Quelana, no other pyromancer could understand or handle the power of the two shared flames.

Finally, despite being found less than a half mile apart from each other, Quelana does not seem to know that two of her sisters, Quelaag and the Fair Lady, are just up the hill. This might make sense, considering that as she escaped before any of the other daugters and states herself she does not have the courage to face them again. She would have arrived in Blighttown before Quelaag and the Fair Lady, and never attempted to go back to Lost Izalith, which can be found through Quelaag's Domain. Eingyi appears to have heard of her through rumors in Blighttown, but is actually not fully certain if she is a Daughter of Chaos.

Quelana's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gold-Hemmed Black Hood[darksouls.wikia.com]
Combustion[darksouls.wikia.com]
Fire Whip[darksouls.wikia.com]
Fire Temptest[darksouls.wikia.com]
Pyromancy Flame[darksouls.wikia.com]

The final two Daughters of Chaos who can be found in the game are both complete enigmas. Neither one is mentioned by name by any characters or items, so we have nothing to go off of but observation.

The Unknown Daughter of Chaos
This Daughter of Chaos can be found standing guard to the fog gate of the Bed of Chaos. Her body is seemingly unaffected by the horrors inflicted upon some of her other sisters, but her attacks show her sanity is mostly, if not completely gone. Upon sighting the player, she feverishly attacks them with chaos pyromancies, and utters no words upon death. She also never respawns, unlike other enemies in the game.

Contrary to some badly thought out theories, this is NOT Quelana of Izalith. When provoked, Quelana attacks using Great Fireball, Fire Temptest, and Great Combustion. The Daughter of Chaos guarding the fog only uses chaos pyromancies, not any normal ones. This is enough to show that while they are both Daughters of Chaos, they are NOT the same person.

Some speculation can be made as to why this Daughter of Chaos guards her corrupted mother. No solid evidence can be found however, so we may never know why this is.

(According to a few sources, the Official Japanese Guidebook to Dark Souls refers to this specific enemy as "The Witch's Daughter Grana". Without a guidebook of my own and the fact that I can't read kanji, I have no way of ever confirming this. Do with this information what you will.)

Daughter of Chaos (Enemy)[darksouls.wikia.com]
Quelana of Izalith's equipped pyromancies[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Dead Daughter of Chaos
Even less is known about this Daughter of Chaos, save for the fact she died at some point before the start of the game. Her body is watched over by her brother, Ceaseless Discharge, at the peak of the Demon Ruin cliffs. This body is where you can obtain the Gold-Hemmed Black Set, provoking Ceaseless Discharge in the process.

Little observation can be made as to what happened to this Daughter of Chaos, as she is already dead and no items or characters speak of her. Still, her body is notably unaltered by the Chaos Flame, similar to the unknown Daughter of Chaos and Quelana. It could be possible that the Chaos Flame outright killed this poor girl, and her brother laid her to rest at the shrine she is found at. It could also be possible that Ceaseless Discharge was closer to this daughter than all the others, as despite the fact that Quelana, Quelaag, the Fair Lady, and the unknown daughter are all still alive (And all live very close by, too), he chooses to stand by this dead Daughter of Chaos, guarding her body against trespassers. We will never truly know.

Gold-Hemmed Black Set[darksouls.wikia.com]

Despite all this information, we are still missing two Daughters of Chaos. One daughter escaped, two were twisted into vile spiders, one went mad and another has died. But what remains of the final two Daughters? No information is given on their wherabouts, and they cannot be found anywhere in the game or the game files.

The best theory I know of on their fate states that the two pillars that must be destroyed during the Bed of Chaos boss fight are in fact the two missing daughters, irreversibly twisted and mutated into something that does not even live anymore. There ARE two of them, and the relevance of the pillars in the boss fight is never explained elsewhere (Wheras other boss fight gimmicks like the Covenant of Artorias are explained by characters in-game). Regardless of any evidence to support this theory, it is impossible to fully confirm its validity. It will remain a theory at best.

Gravelord Nito is one of the original four finders of the Lord Souls. With the power of his Death Soul, Nito introduced the very concept and execution of death into the world. Nito is the one who dealt the death blow to the Everlasting Dragons, in the process creating disease and death in the world.

Upon obtaining the Lord Soul, Nito became the manifestation of death itself, "The first of the dead," as the Dark Souls opening cinematic states. In this form he is a collection of innumerable skeletons and bones, all gathered together to form his body. It should be noted that Nito is not UNdead. He is fully dead, through and through. This brings into question how he can even die, as he so clearly does in-game. It is possible that since Nito has dedicated the majority of his soul to the enactment of death, the remainder does not have the power to prevent his own death as a result. Ironic.

At some point after the end of the Age of Ancients, Nito retreated to the depths of the Tomb of the Giants, and entered a deep slumber. It is during this sleep that he is found by the player. It is suggested that Nito remains down in the depths to quietly oversee death, with the low possibility of being disturbed.

The Lord Soul obtained by the player after killing Gravelord Nito is, in fact, only a fraction of the true power of the Death Soul. The majority of the Death Soul's power has been dedicated to the very idea of death, and as such is no longer part of Nito himself. This is why despite the death of Nito, people are able to live and die as they did when he was still alive.

The Gravelord Sword Dance suggests that Nito does actually desire the Eyes of Death given to him by the Gravelord Covenant. These eyes can be obtained by either farming Basilisks or killing other players who attempt to invade a Gravelord's world seeking to end the Gravelord curse upon their own world. Why exactly Nito wants these eyes is not stated anywhere, and there are some theories on the matter, but I will not state them here.

Both Sword Dance miracles seem to imply that when entering the coffin in the Catacombs and praying to Nito, Nito is actually conscious during the entire event and he is the one giving the player these miracles and the Gravelord Sword. It does make sense considering it would be rather hard to obtain a miracle or a physical sword from an unconscious skeleton man, so it could be that Nito is simply uncaring or welcoming of these servants into his domain. This doesn't explain why he immediately becomes aggressive upon entering his lair from the Tomb of the Giants, although it could simply be him trying to expel a rather rude intruder.

It probably does not need to be said, but Gravelord Nito is an excellent necromancer, having control over death itself and therefore those who are dead. This is shown by his posession of not just three normal skeletons, but also three giant skeletons as well. He is also a stage above the normal necromancers found in the Catacombs, as the necromancers seem to be simply ressurecting already existing skeletons. These skeletons continue to live on without the necromancer if he is killed. However, Nito's skeletons die when he does, and while this could be written off as a boss fight gimmick, it could also suggest that Nito created animated skeletons from just bones when he needed some to defend his lair, and that with his death there is no longer any force to keep the skeletons alive as well.

Inside Nito's domain, there is a second smaller coffin next to his own. The purpose of this coffin is a complete mystery, though some speculation states that it may have been for Pinwheel, and he would have indeed fit inside of it. However, like most speculation and theories, there is no way of confirming this.

Fun Fact: Nito's sword is actually a part of his arm. He is not holding it.

Gravelord Sword[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gravelord Sword Dance[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gravelord Greatsword Dance[darksouls.wikia.com]
Nito's Lord Soul[darksouls.wikia.com]

Seath the Scaless is a major character in the Dark Souls world, with his influence stretching through all three Souls games. As such, he has by far the most related items and spells of any character in the game, trumping all the other Lord Souls and characters easily.

Seath the Scaleless became a Duke of Lordran after his assistance in the war against the Everlasting Dragons. Jealous of his brethren's immortality, Seath betrayed them and revealed to Gwyn the secret of their immortality: their stone scales. With this information, Gwyn, Nito and the Witch of Izalith destroyed the Everlasting Dragons, and ushered in the Age of Fire. However, Seath had not told his new allies about a treasure of the Dragons: The Primordial Crystal. This crystal would eventually became a crucial factor in his research, and in the advancement of sorcery.

For his services to Gwyn and the new age, Seath was awarded Dukedom and a shard of Gwyn's mighty lord soul for his own uses. Seath took these awards and built his house on the hills next to Anor Londo, locking himself away to delve into his research. He gathered thousands upon thousands of tomes, seeking a way to make himself immortal, which had been his goal all along.

Because Seath is so closely associated with magic, and is indeed referred to as the "grandfather of sorcery", I believe Seath's initial subject of research was in the soul arts, and not crystals. Seath sought a means to grant himself immortality, and as such explored many different possibilities. The specifics are completely unknown, but his research before crystals were heavily involved created creatures such as the Moonlight Butterflies, beings with immense magical stores at their disposal. (These Butterflies do not have crystals molded to their body, implying that they came before the crystals became a cornerstone of Seath's work). Still, life can not be created from nothing, and Seath needed living beings to perform his research on. He sent his servant Channelers far across the land to find suitable human specimens for his research, to kidnap them and bring them back for experimenting.

These Channelers also served as the eyes of Seath, for he was actually blind. The cause of his blindness is a mystery, but it could have something to do with his eventual descent into madness. This search for suitable humans is also the likely reason Channelers can be found in the Undead Parish and the Depths; they are searching for more subjects even to this day. No doubt more Channelers can be found in other parts of the world.

Not all of these early experiments went as well as the Moonlight Butterflies. The Pisacas that roam the Archive Towers are examples of such failures, living out their miserable lives locked away. These mistakes are the horribly twisted bodies of human females, some of which were actually maidens that served Gwynevere, as evidenced by their guaranteed loot drops, Soothing Sunlight and Bountiful Sunlight.

Eventually Seath must have decided that magic alone was not going to give him the results he desired, and looked elsewhere for a new subject of research. This eventually led him back to the treasure he stole from the Everlasting Dragons; The Primordial Crystal. Through experimenting, Seath realized that crystals had great strengthening properties, and could use these properties in new ways. However, these same crystals were also brittle and breakable by nature, and so had to be used with caution. These experiments gave birth to the Crystal Hollows and Crystal Golems that run rampant inside the Duke's Archives, their bodies artificially strengthened by the power of crystals.

One of these crystalline creations was the Crystal Golems, large lumbering creations with no head, eyes, or really any noticeable sort of sensory parts. Their true purpose is unknown, and they may not have even had one. But as shown by two of the Golden Crystal Golems (The ones containing Dusk of Oolacile and Sieglinde of Catarina), they can be used as transport for hosts as well. It is entirely possible that they worked in tandem with the Channelers to capture and transport subjects, or maybe to transport more dangerous subjects, like Sieglinde, who could probably fight off the Channelers by herself.

At some point during his research into crystals, Seath succumbed to his growing madness and finally snapped. He had so many failures attempting to find immortality that he was driven insane by desperation, and sought only to obtain his just desserts as fast as possible. I believe this is the reason the crystals can be found covering walls and floors inside the Duke's Archives. They are likely a result of Seath's lack of care or control in dealing with his experiments, letting them get out of hand.

During this madness, Seath converted his once grand collection of priceless knowledge stored in his tower into a prison, meant solely for containing future and past experiment subjects. The large cell in particular was used to imprison various maidens at a time, all of which were eventually transformed either into Pisaca or other creations we don't know about. He either hired or forced the Serpent Men to guard these creatures, who knew not of the vast knowledge stored within the tower.

Finally, Seath discovered the immortality bestowing properties of the Primordial Crystal. With it's power finally realized, he became a true undead. His wounds would seal when harmed, and the passage of time posed no threat to him. Seath had finally achieved his grand goal, at the cost of his sanity. He had succeeded in gaining immortality.

Then the Chosen Undead kills him lol

Big Hat Logan's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Bequeathed Soul Shard[darksouls.wikia.com]
Archive Tower Cell Key[darksouls.wikia.com]
Robe of the Channelers[darksouls.wikia.com]
Archive Tower Giant Cell Key[darksouls.wikia.com]
Soothing Sunlight[darksouls.wikia.com]
Bountiful Sunlight[darksouls.wikia.com]
Six-Eyed Helm of the Channelers[darksouls.wikia.com]
Moonlight Greatsword[darksouls.wikia.com]
Moonlight Butterfly Horn[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crystal Ember[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crystal Shield[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crystal Straight Sword[darksouls.wikia.com]

One of the biggest drawing points of the Dark Souls series is the fantastic bosses. While not all bosses unanimously offer great fights, most of them do have relevant lore to themselves and occasionally to other people and bosses. The sections below will talk about each boss individually, and the information most relevant to them. If information is relevant to two bosses (Artorias and Sif), then said information will be put on the more primary boss and left out of the lesser.

Chaos Witch Quelaag, Gwyn Lord of Cinder, the Bed of Chaos, Nito, Seath the Scaleless, and Dark Sun Gwyndolin have all been left out as they were discussed earlier in the Lord Soul section. They can be found there.

Remember, this is a lore guide. There are no boss fight strategies, statistics or drops here (Unless they somehow add to the lore or help me make fun of something). This is purely to discuss each bosses' place in the Dark Souls 1 universe.

The two demons that inhabit the Undead Asylum do not really have any lore to call their own. They are both actually lesser demons, despite their large size. They also do not necessarily guard the Undead Asylum, as many people probably think. After all, nobody commands the demons born of chaos. It is more likely that the demons took up residence in the Undead Asylum, and the owners did not care enough to chase them off.

The greathammer wielded by the Asylum Demon is interestingly carved from the stone Archtrees of Ash Lake. How they got hold of it is unknown, and will likely forever be.

There is also no explanation for why the Stray Demon is capable of using magical blasts in addition to standard overwhelming blunt force. This can probably just be explained by the fact that all demons are probably not created equal.

It should also be noted that the Asylum Demon is not necessarily the possessor of the Big Pilgrim's Key. If the Asylum Demon is killed before talking to Oscar of Astora, Oscar will give the player the key as well as the Estus Flask. He will also drop it in the same situation if killed.

Demon's Great Hammer[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Taurus Demon is the first boss many beginner Dark Souls players will face after leaving the Undead Asylum. Rather large and imposing, the Taurus Demon is a fairly easy speedbump for people with some experience under their belt.

The Taurus Demon isn't exactly an untapped reservoir of lore, but really it doesn't need much. What it has is passable.

The Taurus Demon is one of many similar demons spawned ages ago by the Bed of Chaos. Somehow this one in particular has evaded the notice of the demon-slaying Black Knights and taken up residence in the upper Undead Burg. This is rather odd, as a Black Knight can be found very close by in the Undead Burg before Havel's Door.

The Taurus Demon's gigantic axe is carved from the bones of lesser demons, showing that the Taurus is at the top of the demon food chain, possibly both figuratively and literally.

Demon Greataxe[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Bell Gargoyles of the Undead Church are one of the surprisingly few completely mandatory bosses in Dark Souls. These Gargoyles guard the Bell of Awakening, but who put them there we can never truly know.

The Bell Gargoyle's bodies are actually made of stone, it's not just for show. This tough "skin" is their main defense, rather than their shields or helmets, which are surprisingly weak by themselves. They are also not naturally born creations, but artificial in nature and made at least partially sentient through enchantments. After all, what kind of creature is born with a battleaxe for a tail?

Unlike their amusingly useless helmets and shields, their halberds are perfectly functional bronze, and give them ample range and power for their attacks. These halberds appear to be quite old, as they have already turned green from gradual corrosion. Their tails and other equipment are also made of bronze, as all share the same green corrosive hue of the halberd.

Whoever made the Bell Gargoyles did not just make these two. Two other gargoyles can be found in Anor Londo, the main difference being these two breathe lightning instead of fire. This at least shows that they were not mass produced, but does not answer much else.

The creator and placer of these Bell Gargoyles is likely the same one that created the Iron Golem, as both serve the same purpose of guarding the entrance to Anor Londo. Who this person is will remain unknown, but it is at least an interesting fact.

Gargoyle's Halberd[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gargoyle's Shield[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gargoyle Helm[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gargoyle Tail Axe[darksouls.wikia.com]

It's just a demon that left Lost Izalith and somehow managed to take up residence in the Lower Undead Burg, despite the fact that it doesn't fit through any of the doors leading in or out of the area.

There's no lore on this dude, don't bother.

Funnily enough, the dogs in his fight that everyone despise so much have more lore than the demon himself. According to the Basement Key description, these wild dogs actually serve the Capra Demon, and aren't in his boss room by coincidence.

Fun Fact: The two dogs in the Capra Demon boss room also respawn even if the Capra Demon is killed. The dog in front of the stairs will also aggro on people outside the boss room as well.

Basement Key[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Gaping Dragon, despite being a very large and memorable enemy, is actually not that interesting in terms of lore.

What is known, is that the Gaping Dragon is a legitimate descendant of the Everlasting Dragons. While this isn't really all that amazing (Or surprising, to be honest) it does have some implications. Everlasting Dragons actually reproduced, and didn't exclusively laze around looking intimidating.

The other little bit of information that we do know is that the Gaping Dragon actually swallowed the Key to Blighttown. I highly doubt iron keys are from a major food group, this dragon has no standards for his meals.

A fun fact to finish the Gaping Dragon off: It is not stated anywhere in the game that the dragon has mutated into this grotesque form from its insatiable hunger. It is claimed to be stated in the Dark Souls: Design Works Artbook. However, I was unable to track down a reliable online PDF of the book in English (I can't read Kanji, so Japanese was a no-go). I have no real reason to doubt the legitimacy of this claim, as it does make plenty of sense. Still, I will not be able to provide a source for that information, and as of right now I'm not spending $30 on a book solely to provide evidence to an online guide. If anyone has a copy of the Design Works book, and a scanner / decent camera, feel free to send the image and information so I can post it here.

Dragon King Greataxe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Blighttown Key[darksouls.wikia.com]

This Moonlight Butterfly, one of many like itself, has taken up residence in Darkroot Garden. For what purpose it lives there is unknown, but it must be defeated to claim the Divine Ember.

The Moonlight Butterflies are completely artificial beings imbued with massive magical power, created by Seath the Scaleless. Despite being also imbued with crystal power, these butterflies do not show any visible signs of being affected by the crystals, unlike every other crystal-related item in the game. They could possibly be a more refined version of the crystal properties, but this is unknown.

Even this beautiful creature's soul is artificial, created by Seath. If Seath could create souls despite not having a true soul of his own, just how powerful was his magic?

Soul of the Moonlight Butterfly[darksouls.wikia.com]
Moonlight Butterfly Horn[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crystal Ring Shield[darksouls.wikia.com]

Sif was the loyal companion of Knight Artorias of the Four Knights of Gwyn. She guards the grave of Sir Artorias, defending it against all who would trespass.

During the downfall of Oolacile and the spread of the Abyss, Sif accompanied Artorias on his quest to defeat Manus. Artorias was badly wounded in the following battle, and as his last sane act gave Sif the Cleansing Greatshield and it formed a magical barrier around her, protecting her from harm. She is then either rescued by the player or escapes some other way.

Sif then goes to guard the grave of Artorias for the rest of her life. This could be simply to prevent trespassers from defiling the grave, but an unlockable cutscene may imply otherwise. If the player saves Sif from the Abyss before fighting her in Darkroot, Sif will recognize you from all those centuries ago and hesitate, before drawing her blade anyways to fight you. It may still be that she has some unknown oath to uphold that makes her guard to grave, or it could also be that Sif is fighting you to defend the Covenant of Artorias, believing the Four Kings could very well be your death. Choose whichever one you believe, both have no greater supporting evidence than the other.

It should be noted that all three weapons made from Sif's soul are not the original artifacts. These are all highly accurate imitations made from the soul of Artorias's lifelong companion. The Cleansing Greatshield is the original shield of Artorias, albeit corrupted by the Abyss.

The sword Sif uses is almost certainly not the true sword of Artorias. In the DLC is it very clear his real sword is not the size of a school bus. This could be a replica made specifically for Sif's use, as she seems quite skilled with it and it is the perfect size for her to hold. Despite the Soul of Sif possibly stating otherwise, it is still completely unrealistic.

Sif is also not confirmed to be female. However, Sif is a traditionally female name in Nordic society, (And is the name of a Viking female god) so it is safer to assume the Great Grey World is a female rather than a male.

Cleansing Greatshield[darksouls.wikia.com]
Soul of Sif[darksouls.wikia.com]
Greatsword of Artorias[darksouls.wikia.com]
Greatsword of Artorias (Cursed)[darksouls.wikia.com]
Greatshield of Artorias[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Iron Golem is the last boss the player must face when attempting to gain entrance to Anor Londo. This animate chunk of iron is notorious for being a massive pushover, especially when Iron Tarkus is summoned for his fight.

The Iron Golem was placed at the peak of the ancient Sen's Fortress as the guardian of the gateway to Anor Londo. Why exactly this gate needed guarding is not said, but that is its job nonetheless. It has killed countless heroes in search of Anor Londo, but has been beaten by a select few. The only known victors have been the protagonist of Dark Souls 1 and Black Iron Tarkus.

The "soul" of the Iron Golem, its core, is made of the bones of the Everlasting Dragons. The gods combined these bones with the power of their souls to create a suitable core for their guardian. This same bone base is what allows the core to be fashioned into the Dragon Bone Fist, a dragon weapon. Without this core, the Iron Golem is a gigantic inanimate suit of armor, unable to move of its own will.

The axe used by the Iron Golem also appears to be imbued with the power of wind. The Iron Golem does have the ability to send bolts of wind hurtling towards his foes, but rarely uses it as the majority of its fights take place in close quarters. The power of wind is an odd trait to have for one so clearly grounded, but who are we to question the god's designs?

Golem Armor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Core of an Iron Golem[darksouls.wikia.com]
Golem Axe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dragon Bone First[darksouls.wikia.com]

Ornstein and Smough are the guardians of the Anor Londo cathedral, and some of the only remaining people remaining in Anor Londo.

Ornstein was one of the Four Knight of Gwyn. Like his brother in arms Gough, Ornstein specialized in the hunting and killing of dragons. His spear was imbued with lightning specifically for this role, and was said to be able to split a boulder in two with strength alone. His armor was also empowered with lightning, and as such provides fantastic to near perfect resistance to it.

As one of the chosen Knights of Gwyn, Ornstein was granted both his own powerful soul and a ring with special powers. Ornstein's ring, the symbol of the Lion, increased the power of his thrusting attacks, giving him the power to thrust his tip deep within a dragon's hide.

During the events of Dark Souls 1, Ornstein is quite possibly the last of the Four Knight still on active duty, as Hawkeye Gough is retired, Ciaran's whereabouts are unknown, and Artorias is dead after the events that took place in Oolacile. It should also be noted that Ornstein is the only one of the Four Knights to not be found in the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. (The three other knights also make absolutely no mention of Ornstein.)

Ornstein was believed, but not truly confirmed to be the captain of the four knights. This makes it even more curious that none of the other knights make mention of him (Especially considering Gough's awareness of the problem Kalameet is causing), but it could simply be a developmental oversight or that Ornstein was simply busy at the time.

Soul of Ornstein[darksouls.wikia.com]
Leo Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dragonslayer Spear[darksouls.wikia.com]
Ornstein's Armor[darksouls.wikia.com]

Smough was the executioner of Anor Londo, and was disturbingly gleeful about his job. Smough was known to be particularly brutal and to grind the bones of the executed into his food. He can also be heard laughing during the fight, once again showing the joy Smough takes from killing.

It is implied that Smough wished to join the Knights of Gwyn alongside Ornstein and the rest. However, his clear love of killing and obsession with execution ruined his standing with Gwyn, dooming him to never be allowed to join the knights.

It appears that for some reason (Possibly the one just mentioned) Frampt greatly despises Smough and anything to do with him, as Smough's soul, weapons and set are only worth one soul when given to Frampt.

Soul of Smough[darksouls.wikia.com]
Smough's Hammer[darksouls.wikia.com]

Ceaseless Discharge is the molten giant that towers over the Demon Ruins, eternally in pain from his endlessly flowing sores.

Ceaseless Discharge is a complete lore enigma. Unlike the Capra Demon, he does have associated lore, but is never once mentioned by name. All of the following lore is complete interpretation.

Ceaseless Discharge is the only known son of the Witch of Izalith. Born with fiery sores all over his body, he spent his life in agonizing pain. Eventually his sisters enchanted a ring with the ability to resist the lava that poured from him, the Orange Charred Ring. But of course, being a massive idiot, the dude dropped the ring and it randomly became a gigantic evil centipede demon.

The Ceaseless Discharge seen in the game is likely not his original form. Like the other demonic entities in Lost Izalith, this is probably his original body twisted by the Chaos Flame. This increased the size and number of the lava sores along with his body, causing him to endlessly flow lava from his body, dooming him to an endless life of burning pain.

Orange Charred Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Demon Firesage is the second normal boss of Lost Izalith (Unless you take the shortcut) and is a copy-paste of a copy-paste boss.

The Demon Firesage is another boss with less than mediocre lore, which is basically the standard for Lost Izalith bosses.

The Demon Firesage is the mutated form of the last master of Fire Sorceries. His affiliation with fire magic is probably what caused his new demonic form to be engulfed in flames, and not the normal appearance of the demons. With his transformation into a demon caused by the Chaos Flame, Fire Sorceries were lost for good.

Despite being quite clearly covered in flames, the Demon Firesage does literally no fire damage. The explosions, despite looking like they might be fire damage thanks to their red color, do only magic damage. In addition to this, the Demon Firesage ALSO has very little resistance to fire damage. This makes absolutely no sense, and is likely an oversight in development. (Like a lot of Lost Izalith.)

Demon's Catalyst[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Centipede Demon is one of the crappy lore speedbumps on the way to the Bed of Chaos. It guards the entrance to Lost Izalith, which literally nobody uses because it's annoying and gets Solaire killed.

The Centipede Demon is the result of negligence on the part of Ceaseless Discharge. He had been given an enchanted ring by his sisters (The Daughters of Chaos) to help soothe the pain caused by the endless stream of lava from his pores. However, the moron dropped it and for some whacko reason it turned into a monstrous centipede demon. Why a centipede? Nobody knows. And frankly, it's highly unlikely anybody actually cares.

Orange Charred Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]

Pinwheel the Necromancer is an inhabitant of the Catacombs, and the possessor of the Rite of Kindling. He must be defeated to access the Tomb of the Giants.

Pinwheel's lore is vague at best, with a lot of speculation. I'll do my best to explain the best theory I've heard.

Pinwheel the Necromancer is a fusion of three people, a family. A father, a mother, and a single child. The valiant father bears the weight of his failure, and as such his mask gives the wearer the ability to handle heavier burden. The mask of the naive child represents the limitless energy of youth, and gives the wearer greater stamina regeneration. Finally the mother, who brings life and care to the family. Her mask grants the wearer more health to symbolize this.

A long time ago, the father's family died. Looking at the statues in the catacombs could give us an answer. Most statues have the face of the father, and simply stand where they are. However, a few statues have the face of the mother, and none of them are the child. These motherly statues shoot spikes from their bellies when approached, but why would the kindly mother attack others? She isn't really trying to attack at all, as her spikes do little damage. Upon closer inspection, these spikes emerge from the face of the child, on the stomach of the mother.[imgur.com] These spikes represent the stillbirth of the child. The mother likely died in childbirth as well, killing both the father's beloved and his child before his very eyes.

Wracked by pain and sorrow, the father dedicated himself to necromancy in an attempt to bring his family back. But no average necromancy would restore true life to the dead. The father steeled himself, and ventured far into the depths of the earth to seek the greatest necromancer, Nito. The father stole power from Nito and escaped unharmed, returning to his makeshift home in the Catacombs. There he used this new power to try and bring his family back to life. But he could not handle this power, and while his family was brought back to life, they were fused into one being: Pinwheel.

Pinwheel had come so close to bringing back his loved ones, but now was stuck in this grotesque form. He continued to dedicate every bit of his life to necromancy, gathering thousands of tomes and experimenting on other people (As seen in his giant coffin home), trying desperately to find some way to split his family apart. This is the source of Pinwheel's duplication power. Duplication is not a power associated with necromancy. There is also only one Pinwheel. He is not some common monster like a drake, nor a generic human gone crazy like a hollow. So then why are there more Pinwheels found in front of the door to Nito's tomb? Pinwheel is trying to separate himself. He has brought his family back to life, but suffers still thanks to their fused bodies. Pinwheel wants to give them all their own body, as they should have. His research has gotten him this far, but he can't quite separate the bodies of his family just yet. This duplication is the first version of the power that will give him what he seeks. Pinwheel was finally getting close to what he had desired for so long.

Then the player arrives, and kills Pinwheel once and for all, halting his research. His family dead again, his dreams unrealized, Pinwheel is killed in the depths of the Catacombs.

But at least this time, he dies with his family at his side.

Mask of the Child[darksouls.wikia.com]
Mask of the Mother[darksouls.wikia.com]
Mask of the Legend Father[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Four Kings were once the rulers of New Londo. Tempted by the Abyss they threw their kingdom into darkness and were locked away by Ingward and the Sealers.

The Four Kings were once the wise rulers of New Londo. Through their actions and foresight they gained the praise of Gwyn himself, who rewarded them with a fragment of his soul (to share).
(Fun Fact: The description of the Bequeathed Lord Soul Shared says A Lord Soul, not specifically Gwyn's soul. Still, it is incredibly unlikely that it was any Lord Soul other than Gwyn's own, as there are only 4 known Lord Souls and I don't see any of the other Lords volunteering their own.)

As time passed, the kings began to crave more power, but were unable to find a way to gain more. This is where Kaathe comes into the picture. Kaathe offered the kings the art of Lifedrain, given in the form of the Dark Hand. The kings relished the chance to obtain more power, and were thus tempted over to the Abyss. The knights of New Londo that chose to join their kings became the Darkwraiths, their armor twisted by the Abyss into the skeletal forms the player fights in-game. Some rumors say that the armor actually fused with the flesh of the wearer, but it is not known if this is fully true.

The Four Kings and their Darkwraiths terrorized New Londo, attacking anything and everything with a soul, and sucking the humanity out of anybody who approached them. With this humanity and the word of Kaathe, the Abyss began to spread once again, but unlike in Oolacile did not get that far into the city. Where it did spread is where the Four Kings took up residence, closer to this mass of humanity than any other.

Eventually, Ingward and the other two Sealers decided to stop the spread of the Darkwraiths. These sorcerers flooded New Londo, killing thousands upon thousands of innocents (Who appeared to be gathered around the door to the Valley of the Drakes, judging from the sheer number of bodies in that location.) to stop the Darkwraiths. As the Sealers were once healers, performing this act of genocide for the greater good filled them with guilt and grief. They stayed in New Londo, to watch over the dark city and make sure they sacrifice they made was not in vain. Ingward is the only Sealer that remains. Yulva, another of the Sealers, departed for Blighttown to bring her healing arts there and make use of them. The third Sealer's fate is unknown. (It is true that his whereabouts are unknown, but it should be noted the mage in Lautrec's Goon Squad is wearing the Crimson Set. Nothing else supports this man being the third sealer, but it is a possibility.) The citizens of New Londo, who were killed by the flooding of the city, now roam the dark buildings as Ghosts.

It should be noted that Kaathe actually considers the Four Kings and the Darkwraiths to be massive failures. In Kaathe's eyes they were strong, but lusted only for humanity and were blind to everything else. This shows that Kaathe does not just want the Abyss to spread, but for the age of man to come once again. The Darkwraiths did not care for this, as they only wanted more humanity for themselves.

Bequeathed Lord Soul Shard[darksouls.wikia.com]
Darksword[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Armor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Mask[darksouls.wikia.com]
Key to the Seal[darksouls.wikia.com]
Darkstalker Kaathe's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Ingward's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Hand[darksouls.wikia.com]
Mask of the Sealer[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crimson Robe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Remedy[darksouls.wikia.com]

Crossbreed Priscilla is the most powerful inhabitant of the Painted World of Ariamis and the child of a dragon, hidden away for eternity with her dreadful power.

Crossbreed Priscilla is a child of mixed blood, having both the appearance of a dragon yet also of the larger giants and gods. It is unknown who the mother really is (Although some people speculate that it was Gwynevere who got the banging), but the father is without a doubt Seath. Priscilla is a mix between a dragon and another species, and as Seath is the only dragon alive known to the gods (The gods do not know about the Stone Dragon in Ash Lake), the only possible dragon who could have helped conceive her is Seath.

For some reason, Priscilla was born with the unbelievably powerful Lifehunt ability. This power is described as the antithesis of life, and can bring a swift death to any being she chooses to use it on (Including the gods). This Lifehunt ability is represented in-game by an enormous bleed buildup per hit, with equally massive bleed damage. The gods feared this dreadful power, and shunned and feared her for it. Alone and afraid, she was eventually drawn into the Painted World of Ariamis. Here she could not wield her power against the gods, but whether she ever planned to or not is not known. This didn't matter to the gods, as the power of Lifehunt strikes harder against the gods than it does others, giving them very good reason to fear her. This is because Priscilla's body also contains the power of the Occult (Proved by Priscilla's Dagger's occult damage), which is specifically designed to hunt the gods.

Priscilla is immortal, and her power can also only be fully wielded by an immortal such as herself. Mortals, whose bodies are not as strong or powerful, cannot handle the immense power of Lifehunt. Using this ability through the power of Priscilla's Soul and a weapon infused with said soul must be handled with care, as every use harms the user's body as well as the enemy's.

Priscilla's real mother could potentially be Velka, as she shares some similarities. Some of the items and characters relating to Velka can only be found in the Painted World, and also possess the power of the Occult just like Priscilla does. These items are not here by coincidence; as weapons bearing the Occult power, the gods fear them and their creator Velka. Velka is also known to be female, making it entirely possible that it is Velka, and NOT Gwynevere, who is Priscilla's mother.

(The Gwynevere theory only came up because people wanted an excuse to imagine Gwynevere having sex. Be honest.)

Priscilla's Dagger[darksouls.wikia.com]
Soul of Priscilla[darksouls.wikia.com]
Lifehunt Scythe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Ember[darksouls.wikia.com]
Peculiar Doll[darksouls.wikia.com]

Priscilla is also the best waifu in the entire series and you can f*cking fight me if you say Maria or the Emerald Herald.

The Sanctuary Guardian is another simple boss in the world of Dark Souls, with no notable lore to speak of. It is the boss that the player must defeat to gain entrance to Oolacile and the Artorias of the Abyss DLC.

The Guardian is a mesh of many different animals into one, suggesting it might be closer related to demons than one might expect. It is not a demon itself, only a distant relative, maybe only even in heart and not truly related genetically.

This Guardian may have been a mere beast, but was not unaware of the events occurring nearby in Oolacile. This creature dreaded the Abyss and its continual spread, but may have stayed to continue its duty to guard the sanctuary.


The Sanctuary Guardian heavily resembles the Manticore of Greek mythology, with a lion's features paired with a venomous tail and wings. These resemblances are probably an intentional design choice. The goat horns are more similar to the Chimera, which is also from the Greek pantheon.

The tail of the Guardian can be cut off to obtain a whip-like weapon that inflicts poison damage. This weapon, like other DLC items, is not required for the Knight's Honor achievement.

Guardian Soul[darksouls.wikia.com]
Guardian Tail[darksouls.wikia.com]

Artorias the Abysswalker is one of the Four Knights of Gwyn, and dared to brave the Abyss to save Oolacile from its dark grasp.

Artorias the Abysswalker is one of the Four Knights of Gwyn, and his specialty was combat with the greatsword, which he was claimed to be unrivaled with. He possessed one of the four rings bestowed upon the Knights of Gwyn, his representing the Wolf and possibly his lifelong companion Sif.

When Manus was awoken in a rage, the Abyss began to spread. Artorias traveled to Oolacile with Sif, seeking to defeat Manus and put a stop to the spread of the Abyss. On the way there, Artorias hunted down some of the Darkwraiths, who had become corrupted by the draw of the Abyss when it had spread to New Londo. Over time, his sword became acclimated to killing Darkwraiths and now struck harder against them. However, simply killing the Darkwraiths would not stop the Abyss. Artorias had to kill the source of the Abyss to put a stop to it. But no normal being could traverse the deeper Abyss so easily. Artorias sought out the beasts of the Abyss and formed a covenant with them, which took the form of a ring. These unnamed beasts may have been Darkstalker Kaathe or other Primordial Serpents, who have been shown to be able to live in the Abyss, unlike almost all other creatures. Upon forming this covenant, Artorias's greatsword became cursed, allowing it to also strike ghosts (Though Artorias never did this himself, as New Londo was presumably sealed after he left and died, which is what caused the ghosts of the citizens to haunt the city.). Artorias was also given the Silver Pendant for his journey, an ancient treasure of Anor Londo that could repel the dark of the Abyss.

With the Covenant of Artorias and the Silver Pendant, Artorias set out for the depths of Oolacile and sought to put an end to Manus, thereby stopping the spread of the Abyss. The legends passed down for centuries since say that Artorias succeeded, and stopped the dreaded Abyss. But this could not be farther from the truth.

Artorias lost his battle against Manus, and badly. His arm shattered, Artorias gave up his greatshield to to create a barrier, which defended his companion Sif. This last act left Artorias defenseless, and he was consumed by the Abyss. In this Abyssal form, Artorias's greatsword was also corrupted with him, and like the Abyss, was empowered by the humanity of its wielder. Artorias was also imbued with the Abyss, and could use the near limitless bounds of its power to boost his own temporarily, as seen during his boss fight. This corruption also clearly cost him his sanity and reason, as Artorias can be heard roaring like a primal beast during his fight. This corruption did not dull his skills however, as Artorias proves to be incredibly nimble and powerful for his size. In the end, his death comes not just at the hands of the player, but also due to the corrosion of the Abyss, which ate away at him until the very end.

By his death at the hands of the player, Artorias's honor is held intact. By killing him before he left Oolacile, word did not spread of his defeat at the hands of Manus nor of his corruption from the Abyss. These events will be forever unknown, and the defeat of Manus by the player is credited to Artorias's name. Only a select few know of the true hero of Oolacile, specifically Elizabeth, Gough, and Marvelous Chester. Gough thanks the player for their preservation of Artorias's honor, and likely did not spread the true word because he is retired and nobody probably asked. Elizabeth states she will not tell a soul about the player, as they do not hail from the time of Oolacile and they would be better left out of the story. As such, Artorias claims all the fame of the player for his own name.
(Lord's Blade Ciaran does not seem to know it was the player that killed Artorias. If the player approaches her without the Soul of Artorias, she simply asks them to leave her in peace and does not recognize them at all.)

In the end, despite his defeat at the hands of Manus, Artorias was still a brave and powerful knight. His legends, while not fully true, echo across the world for eternity.

Elizabeth's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Hawkeye Gough's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Soul of Artorias[darksouls.wikia.com]
Covenant of Artorias[darksouls.wikia.com]
Silver Pendant[darksouls.wikia.com]
Greatsword of Artorias[darksouls.wikia.com]
Greatsword of Artorias (Cursed)[darksouls.wikia.com]
Wolf Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]
Armor of Artorias[darksouls.wikia.com]
Cleansing Greatshield[darksouls.wikia.com]
Abyss Greatsword[darksouls.wikia.com]
Lord's Blade Ciaran's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Manus, Father of the Abyss, is the final boss of the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. While not necessarily very covered in terms of lore, his influence on the Dark Souls story is extremely significant.

Manus was originally a normal human, albeit an ancient one, from a time long ago. This time could possibly even be from the Age of Ancients, but the specifics are unknown. What is known was that he was actually dead before being disturbed by Oolacile. Marvelous Chester claims that the people of Oolacile were tricked by Darkstalker Kaathe into opening his grave, and indeed an upturned mound in the shape of a man can be found inside the arena the player fights Manus. This act angered Manus (Who somehow came back from the dead, nobody explains this part so just deal with it), who grew enraged at the ones who woke him. Spurred on even further by his now missing pendant, Manus went absolutely mad.

Manus's humanity went wild, growing and spreading, consuming anything and everything around it, all thanks to his endless rage both at being awoken and at the loss of his precious pendant. This is the birth of the Abyss, an endless chasm of Dark and humanity that consumes and corrupts all it touches. This is assumedly what Kaathe hoped to achieve by seducing the citizens of Oolacile, as he does the same thing many years in the future with New Londo.

It is around this point in time, with Oolacile being rather quickly consumed by the Abyss, that Knight Artorias arrives. However, even the brave Artorias was beaten, and his arm broken by Manus. With much of his strength to resist gone, the Abyss corrupted Artorias as well, turning him into the madman the player fights in the game.

Eventually Manus is killed by the player, halting the spread of the Abyss. But as the player is only known to a select few in Oolacile, Artorias is credited with the defeat of the Abyss, supposedly dying heroically in the fight. Still, the Abyss was formed from humanity, and humanity will feed it again if given the chance. Can the Abyss truly be stopped if that is the case?

With the introduction of the wild humanity of the Abyss into Oolacile, the less sane of the citizens used their madness and the Abyss to create Dark Sorceries. These sorceries combine the properties of humanity with those of the soul, giving them hefty impact unrivaled by standard sorceries. A specific sorcery, Pursuers, is further molded by humanity using the power of Manus's soul, giving it a will of its own, however fleeting it may be. These Abyssal sorceries are known to very few, and there is no indication of anyone alive knowing them in the future where the player hails from.


An interesting note is that even if you rescue Dusk from the Golden Crystal Golem in Darkroot Basin, you cannot enter Ooacile, and consequently the past, without first obtaining the Broken Pendant. When the player returns to the same location with the pendant, Manus violently grabs the player and drags them into the past. While this could just be a gimmick to begin the DLC, this could potentially be Manus deliberately targeting the player as the current possessor of his precious broken pendant. It's not necessarily a far-fetched idea; Manus's wild soul is the cause of the Abyss, something that is capable of warping and manipulating reality at will. Manus could be using an unknown power of the Abyss to grab the player, and the broken pendant they carry, with the intention of bringing them to the past.

Elizabeth's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Hawkeye Gough's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Marvelous Chester's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Soul of Manus[darksouls.wikia.com]
Pursuers[darksouls.wikia.com]
Broken Pendant[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Orb[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Bead[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Fog[darksouls.wikia.com]

Black Dragon Kalameet is one of the last dragons in Lordran, and haunts the valleys of Oolacile during the events of the Artorias of the Abyss DLC.

Kalameet is an unbelievably powerful dragon that embodies calamity, bringing ruin and devastation to those that oppose him. He is so powerful that even Anor Londo, with its numerous Dragonslayers and lightning bolts at its disposal, did not dare challenge him. This could be due not only to his destructive power, but also his unusually high resistance to all elemental forms of damage, including lightning. Seeing as lightning is the main element used in dragon slaying, this puts the Dragonslayers at a significant disadvantage. His might is proven firsthand great indeed, as even crippled with a gigantic arrow through his wing Kalameet is still able to annihilate unprepared challengers.

Kalameet is supposedly the last of the true Everlasting Dragons. (This is not counting the Stone Dragon. That dragon is hidden from the world, as he has remained down below in Ash Lake where the gods no longer tread.) Kalameet has only made it this far by merit of his own power, as the same Dragonslayers that killed his brethren did not dare to fight him. Even among the dragons, Kalameet is clearly unique, as he only has two wings, one eye, and a much more fit build than all the other dragons seen in Dark Souls 1. His mouth is also hilariously small, but that is beside the point.

In addition to his own incredible power, there are many small hints that Kalameet may have been modified by the influence of the Abyss. One such clue is his physical appearance's similarities to both the corrupted ground of the Royal Wood and the three Abyss Attack Dogs found outside his boss fog. These dogs have been corrupted by the Abyss, and share striking similarities to Kalameet's own skin color. Another clue is Kalameet's breath attack, which deals absolutely no fire damage, but instead does magical and physical damage. This is identical to the dark sorceries of the Abyss, which share not only the same characteristics, but are also close to the same outward appearance.

The final interesting hint of this Abyssal corruption is the presence of another Kalameet model in the game files. This Kalameet is grey instead of black, does not have a glowing eye, and is generally more similar to the other Everlasting Dragons than the current Kalameet model. However, since this is unreleased content, this cannot be considered a true indicator of Kalameet's Abyssal corruption. I believe the other two points still stand valid.


Calamity Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]
Obsidian Greatsword[darksouls.wikia.com]
Hawkeye Gough's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Bosses aren't the only part of the wonderful world of Dark Souls. This game has a multitude of helpful or malicious characters with whom the player can interact with. These characters also have their own histories, personalities, and tales to tell. They are just as important as any boss. The following is a selection of nearly every NPC in the game. There is a possibility that I missed one, and if so please inform me below. Keep in mind, my criteria for this section is that the NPC has to fulfill one of two requirements:

• It has to be able to talk to the player, and interact with them.
  AND/OR
  
• The NPC in question must have an existing summoning sign or invade the player at some point. (This is to include NPCs like Witch Beatrice, Black Iron Tarkus, Knight Kirk, and Jeremiah.)

If they do not fulfill either of these requirements, then they are classified as an Enemy or a Boss.

Pick and choose the characters you want to know more about, or read the whole thing through. You may be surprised at the secrets some people are hiding.

Andre of Astora, the kind-hearted blacksmith of the Undead Parish. Loved by many Dark Souls players for always being reliable and providing.

Andre obviously hails from Astora, as his name says clearly. He has taken up residence in the old Undead Church in the Undead Parish, and spends his days forging various items.

While Andre himself is not a Divine Blacksmith, he appears to be knowledgeable on them. He is aware there was once a Divine Blacksmith in Darkroot Garden, and recognizes the Divine Embers you bring him. This could suggest a connection to the Way of the White Church, as Divine Embers are stated to be Church property and meant only for selected Divine Blacksmiths.

Andre is also not clueless about the areas bordering his small church. He knows that Sen's Fortress is the only path to Anor Londo, and that Darkroot Garden is supposedly home to the grave of Artorias the Abysswalker. He does not known much more about either, as information is scarce to begin with and a Titanite Demon resides literally 30 meters away from him, guarding the passage to Darkroot Garden.

Andre is possibly the most skilled blacksmith in Lordran. Out of all the blacksmiths that can be found, only he can ascend weapons in four different ways: Raw, Normal +15, Dark, and Divine. Considering each of these paths is different from the others, this could suggest that Andre is incredibly talented with weapon smithing. He also performs three of these with Embers he has never worked with before, the Dark, Divine and Large Embers. His ability to immediately use an Ember is pretty incredible, if you think about it. However, his dialogue when presented with an incompatible Ember suggests that he does have previous experience with at least some of the Embers, probably the Large and Divine embers, which he does not specifically state are only in legend or have not been seen before. He does say that he has seen Divine Embers before, hinting again to a connection to the Way of the White.

Andre of Astora Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Giant Blacksmith is a gentle giant, who lives in the now abandoned city of Anor Londo, tirelessly hammering away at his crafts.

The Giant Blacksmith has been living in Anor Londo for quite some time, as he states "everyone has left" if talked to. He prefers to not talk, but considers you a friend and will willingly forge weapons for you.

While it is not directly stated, it can be assumed that the Giant Blacksmith is the one that handled the Dragonslayer weapons used to kill Everlasting Dragons. His specialty is Lightning ascension, which he requires no Ember for. He can do this easily, and using normal Titanite as opposed to special colored Titanite like other ascension paths. He is also capable (And actually has previous experience) of working with the Crystal Ember of the Duke (Seath), and can provide the Crystal ascension for weapons.

The Giant Blacksmith is friends with Hawkeye Gough, probably because of their relation as fellow Giants. The Blacksmith keeps Gough's Hawk Ring in a chest beside him, and Gough tells of pleasant memories with the Giant Blacksmith, looking forward to talking with him again.

The Crystal Ember actually states that the Giant Blacksmith is not the ONLY giant blacksmith. It says "blacksmiths", as in plural, multiple other blacksmiths. It is quite possible there were once more giant blacksmiths like himself, but have all left with the rest of the gods.

The gigantic hammer of the Giant Blacksmith is actually made of wood. After all, handling electricity with metal tools is a pretty stupid idea.

Giant Blacksmith Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Blacksmith Giant Hammer[darksouls.wikia.com]
Hawkeye Gough Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crystal Ember[darksouls.wikia.com]

Rickert of Vinheim is a magic smith hailing from the Vinheim Dragon School. It is not known why he is imprisoned, nor for how long, but he does not seem to mind too much. It is curious as to why he is imprisoned in the cursed city of New Londo, as most people do not dare enter it. It is possible that he has been there for a very long time, but this would bring into question how he has not hollowed from inactivity. The real answer is not known.

Rickert claims to have been the greatest magic smith in all of Vinheim, but has since been imprisoned (Possibly due to being undead). He is indeed capable of working with magic embers, including the Enchanted Ember, which is a lost relic of the land of Oolacile and is unlikely to be known even among Vinheim sorcerers.

Despite being a magic blacksmith, Rickert admits he has very little idea of how sorcery actually works, just fiddling around with the weapon until it gains the magical properties he is looking for. He even states that this is how Vinheim smiths are taught at the Dragon School.

Like Griggs and many others at the Dragon School, Rickert has heard about Big Hat Logan and how he left after becoming undead. Interestingly, Rickerts claims that all happened around a hundred years ago. This puts some question into how old Logan really is and how long Rickert has been imprisoned, but once again, we have no way of truly knowing.

Mage Smith Coat[darksouls.wikia.com]
Enchanted Ember[darksouls.wikia.com]
Large Magic Ember[darksouls.wikia.com]
Rickert of Vinheim Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Even in a game of unknowns, Vamos has and always will be the greatest unknown. No character or items mention him in the entire game (Save for his own two drops), and he does not talk at all about who he is, where he came from, or anything else.

Vamos is a skeleton blacksmith found deep in the Catacombs. His initially sealed chamber implies that he has not had a visitor for a long time, and as such is possibly more dedicated to his work than any other blacksmith in the game. This is further supported by his multiple claims that the player's mere presence ruins his focus, and wants him to leave unless he has something to smith. Despite this anti-social behavior, Vamos seems eager for any chance to work on weapons or armor, which could mean Vamos doesn't necessarily hate the player, but simply the player loitering about.

Like the other blacksmiths, Vamos has a specific elemental affinity that he works best with. Vamos is able to handle flame and chaos embers very well, which is especially impressive considering the naturally uncontrollable nature of the flames of chaos. The descriptions of these embers also imply that handling these powerful flames is only possible if one possesses ancient knowledge, which Vamos, being a skeleton, probably knows.

An odd fact to note is that despite his clearly sealed chamber, Vamos seems to be aware of at least some of the outside world. He specifically mentions the chaos flame of the Witch of Izalith, and makes mention of a powerful ember in New Londo. (There is indeed a Very Large Ember in New Londo. However, what Vamos is actually referring to is the Large Flame Ember that is found in the Demon Ruins. He mentions it again by name when shown it, confirming that he is indeed talking about the Large Flame Ember and not the Very Large Ember. This is likely a development oversight, possibly caused by switching the locations of the embers, or something else along those lines.)

When killed, Vamos drops the Royal Helm, a unique headgear item that cannot be found anywhere in the game. The Helm's description suggests it once belonged to a royal bloodline, but whether or not Vamos was the heir to the helm or simply found it is (Like most things in Dark Souls) entirely unknown.

It is also curious that Vamos's tall but stocky build and beard made of bones is completely unlike any other being or race seen in Dark Souls 1. (He does bear a slight resemblance to the Gyrm of Dark Souls 2, but is much larger and stockier.) This, paired with the Royal Helm, could mean that Vamos's race died off a long time ago, or just doesn't live in Lordran.

Vamos's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Royal Helm[darksouls.wikia.com]
Large Flame Ember[darksouls.wikia.com]
Chaos Flame Ember[darksouls.wikia.com]

Griggs of Vinheim is the apprentice of Big Hat Logan, but he may have hidden motives unknown to the player.

Griggs hails from the Dragon School in Vinheim, known for its expansive research in the field of sorcery and magic. He claims to have come to Lordran seeking out Big Hat Logan, claiming it is "his own conceit,", which is a very curious choice of words. He eventually meets with Logan at Firelink Shrine (Thanks to the Chosen Undead freeing Logan from Sen's Fortress), but as Logan leaves for The Duke's Archives, Griggs stays behind to teach the player some more of Logan's famed sorceries. If the player buys all of his items, Griggs attempts to make the journey through Sen's Fortress to find Logan again, only to hollow in despair and remain in the Fortress forever.



Griggs may actually be a fairly high ranking sorcerer in the Dragon School. Both the rings he sells, the Bellowing and Lingering Dragoncrest Rings, are only given to the most accomplished sorcerers at the Dragon School.

Theory Below
While he seems like an unassuming sorcerer, Griggs could possibly be a very skilled spy and assassin working for the Dragon School.

His clothing, the Black Sorcerer Set, is only worn by secret members of the Dragon School. These secret sorcerers specialize in sound spells, and are very secretive about their work. (Obviously)

Many of the stealth and utility spells Griggs is in possession were supposedly created by one specific sorcerer, who is not named but is said to be "surreptitious". The possibility of Griggs being the sorcerer in question is not low, considering he drops but does not sell both Hush and the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring, two items based entirely on stealth. The Slumbering Dragoncrest ring in particular is stated to be secretly worn by this sorcerer, and while another copy of the ring can be found lying in Sen's Fortress, Griggs himself drops the ring if killed. One of the items he does sell, Fall Control, is also stated to be used by expensive, hireable Vinheim spies.

The potential evidence does not end at just his spells alone. All mages carry a weapon along with their staves, but are rarely seen as the mage is more skilled with the art of sorcery. While Logan carries a Scimitar, Griggs carries a Mail Breaker. This is an odd choice for a sorcerer, as Mail Breakers are not used for standard defense like normal knives. They are designed to pierce the cracks of armor to kill the person within. This itself is already suspicious enough, but Griggs's specialty, Hush, and the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring do not only eliminate the sound of footsteps, but also any sound caused by backstabbing. Either of these utility items paired with a Mail Breaker is the perfect combination to stealthily sneak up on somebody, stab them in the back, and leave before anyone else notices.

In addition, according to Griggs, Big Hat Logan is considered a heretic for his way of thinking back at the Dragon School in Vinheim. Considering how the Way of the White ruthlessly hunt down the Undead for their religion, it is not strange to imagine that the more zealotic Dragon School sorcerers might want Logan dead for his views.

But, this is all just a theory.

Is Griggs really just a humble apprentice to Logan?
Or is he tasked by the Dragon School to learn Logan's secrets, and then dispose of him?

Griggs of Vinheim Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]
Mail Breaker[darksouls.wikia.com]
Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]
Hush[darksouls.wikia.com]
Fall Control[darksouls.wikia.com]
Black Sorcerer Hat[darksouls.wikia.com]

Big Hat Logan is an accomplished sorcerer, hailing from the Dragon School of Vinheim. He is credited with the creation of many forms of magic, and is hailed as one of the greatest sorcerers of his age.

At the Dragon School, Logan gained a reputation for being incredibly antisocial. His signature big hat was specifically designed to block eye contact from other people, allowing him to focus on his work and inner thoughts. Despite the hat not being enchanted in any form, it possesses immense resistance to magical damage.


Logan's magical abilities are very impressive; his own staff is the same one as those used by normal Dragon School students, but has been vastly empowered thanks to Logan's constant usage of it. He is also the creator of the Soul Spear and Homing Soulmass sorceries, both of which are a notable grade above the next highest sorcery, Great Heavy Soul Arrow, in both power and utility.

According to Rickert of Vinheim, Logan is actually over one hundred years old during the events of Dark Souls 1. This is because Logan fell victim to the undead curse, like many others have before him. However, rather than despair over his fate, Logan decided to use his undead abilities to attempt a trip to Anor Londo, in search of the Regal Archives of Seath the Scaleless. Eventually he succeeds in reaching the Duke's Archives, home to all the knowledge he could ever wish for.

Upon reaching the Duke's Archives, Logan finds Seath's research on the Primordial Crystal. Powered by his infatuation with Seath, Logan discovers that crystals are closely related to the soul arts, and can even be used to further strengthen sorceries, ascending them to a level that is on par with the Gods. He also combines the crystals with a catalyst, greatly boosting its power.

Eventually however, Logan's obsession with Seath becomes his undoing. Logan slowly slips into insanity, possibly from the same knowledge that caused Seath himself to lose his sanity. He creates one last spell born from this madness: White Dragon Breath. This spell mimics the crystal beam breath of Seath himself, the power of the old dragons. Despite his madness, Logan's legacy lives on without him, far into the future.

Logan's clothing is surprisingly nothing of note. His robe is supposedly the same one he wore during his days as a Dragon School student, but it is too worn to truly tell. He cares little for his appearance, and likely never cared to change clothing.

Big Hat Logan's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Logan's Catalyst[darksouls.wikia.com]
Big Hat[darksouls.wikia.com]
Sage Robe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Tin Crystallization Catalyst[darksouls.wikia.com]
Griggs of Vinheim Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Rickert of Vinheim Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Homing Soulmass[darksouls.wikia.com]
Soul Spear[darksouls.wikia.com]
Homing Crystal Soulmass[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crystal Soul Spear[darksouls.wikia.com]
White Dragon Breath[darksouls.wikia.com]

Laurentius is an undead pyromancer hailing from the Great Swamp. After running afoul of the Butchers in the depths, he spends the rest of the Chosen Undead's adventure simply resting in Firelink Shrine.

Laurentius is a kind, if socially awkward man. He appears to value what few friends he can get in the dismal world of Dark Souls, and appreciates what you have done for him (Which makes him rather unique in Lordran.) If attacked, he seems genuinely shocked and saddened by the Chosen Undead, whom he considered a friend, trying to kill him.




Upon becoming one of the undead, Laurentius decided to venture to the mythical land of Lordran, where pyromancers are held in higher esteem due to their connection with the Witch of Izalith and her ancient fire sorceries.

Laurentius seems to be well-versed in the art of pyromancy, albeit slightly unable to fully explain how it works. His fascination with pyromancy is intense as well, as if he is informed of where to find the Chaos Pyromancies of the Daughter of Chaos and the Bed of Chaos, he will inevitably hollow in the depths of Blighttown swamp while attempting to reach Lost Izalith.

Laurentius's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Solaire of Astora very well might be the most famous character in the Dark Souls trilogy. His upbeat and charming personality despite such desolation around him has won over the hearts of innumerable fans, and make him an icon of perfection among the Souls community. Unfortunately, Solaire has almost no lore to speak of. His history is entirely unknown, as is his future.

Solaire is a faithful Warrior of Sunlight. He possesses his own special talisman, decorated with his own personal holy symbol, the sun, to prove his unwavering loyalty to it.

Solaire is friendly by nature, almost too much so considering the state of the world in Dark Souls. However, he believes in helping other people and those people in turn helping others, as is his duty as a Warrior of Sunlight. As a proponent of jolly cooperation, his summon sign can be found more than any other character in the game (Bell Gargoyles, Gaping Dragon, Ornstein & Smough, Centipede Demon, and Gwyn), most of which offer invaluable assistance.

Despite Solaire's great battle prowess, he does not possess any sort of magical abilities or enchantments. His armor is plain steel, albeit decorated by his holy sun symbol. His incredible power is thanks entirely to his own rigorous training, giving him skill rivaling even the player. Solaire's weapon too is just steel, although of very fine quality. Solaire maintains it with care.

Solaire seeks to find his own sun in Anor Londo, home of the gods. What exactly is meant by "his own sun" is not quite known, but he is driven to succeed in his quest nonetheless. This adventure takes him all over Lordran, from the tower of Anor Londo to the flaming pits of Lost Izalith. Eventually, Solaire begins to lose hope in his quest. Despite all his searching, he cannot find his own sun.

Without intervention from the player, Solaire is eventually attacked by a Sunlight Maggot in Lost Izalith. The maggot gives off a strong glow, resembling a small sun. Solaire is driven mad by this maggot's influence, believing himself to have finally found his sun. In this state he attacks the player on sight, likely unaware of what he is doing. But, if the player kills the Sunlight Maggot in question before Solaire arrives in Lost Izalith, Solaire does not go mad. Instead he is found dejected, sitting down among the remaining Sunlight Maggots. He might not be happy, but he is at least still alive and sane.

The flow of time and the fabric between universes in Lordran is thin, and Solaire's quest actually takes place in a different world, unseen to the player. In this world, Solaire has not only faced great odds, but has also overcome the same imposing challenges as the player. Solaire's final summoning sign can be found in the Kiln of the First Flame, meaning Solaire has defeated all four Lord Soul holders, traversed the Abyss, and possibly even linked the flame in his own world.

Solaire truly is a wondrous and powerful person.

Sunlight Talisman[darksouls.wikia.com]
Sunlight Straight Sword[darksouls.wikia.com]
Sunlight Shield[darksouls.wikia.com]
Armor of the Sun[darksouls.wikia.com]
White Sign Soapstone[darksouls.wikia.com]

Petrus of Thorolund is a warrior cleric hailing from Thorolund. (Obviously.) He is first found in Firelink Shrine, awaiting the arrival of his companions to set out on an Undead mission. After they arrive, he eventually appears back in Firelink Shrine, outwardly appearing in distress over having lost track of his charge, Reah. But why did he return to Firelink instead of seeking her out?

Judging from his usage of the Thorolund Talisman and his Elite Cleric Armor, it can be judged that Petrus is most likely a veteran cleric warrior of the Way of the White. However, despite his cleric status, and even though he sells the basic Talisman item (Which is superior to the Thorolund Talisman at higher Faith levels thanks to scaling), he uses the Thorolund Talisman in combat. This talisman does not require high faith from the user thanks to its divine nature and is only given to high ranking clerics. This could suggest that Petrus is lacking in actual Faith for one of two reasons:

1. He has dedicated most of his time to combat, and does not have time to dedicate to prayer.
   OR
   
2. He is not nearly as faithful to the gods as he wants to appear.

To add to this, the only Miracle he wields in combat is Great Heal Excerpt, which barely requires more faith than normal Heal and only consists of several short verses from Great Heal.

Petrus claims that he, Vince, Nico, and Reah are setting out on an Undead mission to seek the art of kindling. In the world of the player, Pinwheel had obtained the art of Kindling and the player gains possession of it by killing him. It is possible that Pinwheel either did not exist or did not possess Kindling in their world, leading them to venture deeper into the catacombs and discover the Tomb of the Giants. Here, Patches shoved Reah, Nico and Vince off a cliff into the pit, which causes Vince and Nico to hollow, while Reah cries in despair. Around this time, Petrus returns to Firelink Shrine, not nearly as innocent as he pretends to be.

While he acts distressed at losing Reah, his dialogue changes if the player pays Lautrec for a tip when he offers it. Lautrec tells the player of the fact that Reah is trapped in the Tomb of the Giants, and that a fleeing old man told him. This could be referring to Petrus, as Lautrec laughs that his "robes and trinkets won't help him now!". At this point, Petrus will actually drop his charade and openly admit that he is aware of the fate of Reah and her two guards, showing clear spite towards her by referring to her as a "purebred". He even tells the player that they can "do as they please with her,". Judging from all this, he seems to hold some hostility towards the leading family of Thorolund, which also shows in later conversations.

If the player decides to rescue Reah from the Tomb of the Giants, then Petrus has more words for them. He states that she is worthless without her family name and that the player's choice to rescue her won't matter. Likely due to her not dying from his lack of intervention, Petrus decides to kill Reah himself if the player does not intervene. If the player attacks Petrus after killing Reah, he has completely dropped any trace of his kind act and accuses the player of attacking from emotional attachment, stating they will make a fine hollow.

In the end, nothing is really known about Petrus's motivations, other than his clear hatred of the Thorolund family. If he has killed after murdering Reah, his dying breath will be to ask what he did wrong. Whether he is questioning what went wrong with his murder, or if he genuinely believes he has not done any wrong by killing Reah, is unknown.

Petrus of Thorolund's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Thorolund Talisman[darksouls.wikia.com]
Elite Cleric Armor[darksouls.wikia.com] (Only accessible by modifying the game. Not obtainable in vanilla.)
Cleric Armor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Lautrec of Carim's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Great Heal Excerpt[darksouls.wikia.com]

Reah of Thorolund is a devout priestess of the Way of the White. She and her three companions, Vince, Nico, and Petrus, are on an Undead Mission to find the Rite of Kindling.

Though she speaks as if she is still human, Reah is actually an Undead just like the player, as only Undead clerics are given the mission to seek out the Rite of Kindling. It is not known if her companions are also Undead, but we can probably assume they are.

The only thing really known about Reah's background is that she is the youngest daughter of the House of Thorolund, which would probably make her one of the highest ranking clerics in all of Thorolund. The fact that she was given such a prestigious mission may be a result of her rank. Despite that, her robes are in fact standard issue for all female clerics, regardless of their actual rank in the Way of the White hierarchy.

Reah of Thorolund is initially found in Firelink Shrine with her three companions before heading out into the Catacombs on their Undead Mission. However, despite Pinwheel giving the Rite of Passage in the player's world, Reah is found depressed down in the Tomb of Giants closely guarded by the hollowed forms of her companions Vince and Nico.

While initially meeting her in Firelink she is a very proud cleric who has a very linear focus on her task, after being knocked down more than just one peg by Patches and having to ask the player to kill her former companions and close friends, Reah returns to the church in the Undead Parish, broken and defeated. She places their deaths entirely on her shoulders and even admits that she does not go back to firelink because the frequent travelers make it too painful to remember her companions. She even ponders if her weakness was why Petrus abandoned them, showing that she is aware he did purposefully leave them to die, but likely does not know he intended that all along.

It should also be noted that after she escapes the Tomb of the Giants and the death of Vince and Nico, attacking her will only result in her asking if this is her punishment for her failures. She will not fight back, and pleads the player to finish her off if she goes hollow.

As also stated in Petrus's section, Petrus fully intended to kill Reah but left her to die in the Tomb of the Giants under the assumption she would either stay there forever or die from something else. However, upon her return Petrus will follow through with his desire and kill her himself, dropping her ivory talisman if killed after the act.

While she may not be as adept in combat as her companions were, Reah's devotion to the gods and the Way of the White is unparalleled. Possessing the most powerful talisman in the game, tied with Solaire's talisman (Who is so obsessed with the sun gods that he wears it on his chest), and surpassed only by the Darkmoon Talisman (Which is earned only by showing devotion directly to the last remaining god in Anor Londo, Gwyndolin). She is also the only character in Lordran who can teach you Wrath of the Gods, a primal and epic tale of the gods known to very few.

It is her great devotion to the gods that makes her spend the rest of her days praying in the Undead Parish chapel, to forever atone for her sins.

Petrus of Thorolund Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Reah of Thorolund Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Ivory Talisman[darksouls.wikia.com]
Maiden Robe[darksouls.wikia.com]

Shiva hails from a far eastern land, likely similar to our own "eastern" lands of China and Japan. He and his bodyguard have decided to join a small covenant of forest protectors. During development of Dark Souls, Shiva was originally intended to have his own questline like other NPCs such as Solaire and Big Hat Logan. Unfortunately, like a surprising many things in DS1, it was cut from the final release of the game.

Shiva is a collector of rare weapons and likely a veteran combatant, judging by his equipped arsenal. His armor is of quality construction, designed specifically against the common katanas and other slashing weapons employed often in his eastern countries of origin. His shield, while heavy, is forged from solid iron and deflects enemy attacks with ease, a trait rare among normal medium shields and usually only found with Greatshields. His weapon of choice is the Murakumo, designed to be one of the most effective and powerful weapons of the eastern lands.


(As a quick interesting fact, the Murakumo, nor anything resembling the Murakumo, exists in real life. The closest equivalent is the Nodachi from Japan, which is a monstrous katana that requires both hands to even hold. It was never intended for actual combat, and is mostly ceremonial or a show of smithing skill.)

Judging by the way Shiva talks, he joined the Forest Hunters not to protect the grave of Knight Artorias as Alvina claims, but to revel in the thrill of the hunt. He clearly derives some enjoyment from the killing of other people. He even reveals to the player, should they meet in Blighttown, that his wares are the spoils of his kills from his past few summonings. Despite this, he does hold some notion of honor for the rest of his covenant as fellow hunters. For Shiva, the hunt never ends.



Not much can be known about Shiva's bodyguard, as he never utters a single word while standing or while attacking. What little we do know is taken from his equipment.

The bodyguard wears the Shadow Set, a form-fitting but flexible armor designed for eastern assassins so as to not interfere with their unique martial arts style. Due to the nature of espionage and assassination, it boasts high resistances to bleeding and poison. It has pitiful physical resistances, but an assassin should not require such bulky armor if they are good at their job. He also wears the Dark Wood Grain Ring, which allows the wearer to more efficiently roll, and is much loved for this by the eastern agents who wear it.

The presence of a bodyguard could suggest one of two things about Shiva:

1) Shiva is of noble descent, as it is not uncommon for such high ranking heirs to have bodyguards versed in the arts of assassination and espionage.
2) Shiva merely hired him as a hitman for an unknown reason. This same skillset is also common to people who make their livings discreetly murdering others.

Like many, many things in Dark Souls, we will never know.





As evidenced by various text dumps found inside the game's files, Shiva of the East was originally intended to have his very own questline like some other NPCs in-game. Judging from the details of the quest, it bears a striking resemblance to the NPC Satsuki from Demon's Souls. Shiva was intended to inquire about the location of the Chaos Blade, which was in Demon's Souls a standalone weapon and not related to any of the bosses. The current Chaos Blade from DS1 was likely added to Quelaag's Soul after Shiva's quest was scrapped. Once the player found the Chaos Blade, Shiva would ask to see it. Depending on the player's choice, Shiva would then either attack them with the Chaos Blade or attack the player for the Chaos Blade. Either way, Shiva attacks the player and dies. Why this quest was removed from the final version of the game is unknown.

Shiva of the East Dialoge [darksouls.wikia.com]
Eastern Armor [darksouls.wikia.com]
Iron Round Shield [darksouls.wikia.com]
Murakumo [darksouls.wikia.com]
Shadow Garb [darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Wood Grain Ring [darksouls.wikia.com]
Cut Content Dump (Pastebin) [pastebin.com]

The first NPC many meet in their memorable first arrival to Anor Londo, the Darkmoon Knightess is the the gatekeeper and firekeeper of Anor Londo. Fiercely loyal to the gods and especially to Dark Sun Gwyndolin, the Darkmoon Knightess will not hesitate to strike down those whole would defy the gods.


When the Darkmoon Knightess first became an Undead, she took the journey to Anor Londo through Sen's Fortress for an unknown reason. Upon reaching Anor Londo, she discovered the "Mausoleum of the Spiral Depths (Presumed to be Darkmoon Tomb), hidden below the Painting of Ariamis, and swore servitude to Dark Sun Gwyndolin, becoming a Blade of the Darkmoon, servant of the gods. By Gwyndolin's request, she took up the role of the firekeeper of Anor Londo. However, becoming a firekeeper comes at a price: that of horrific physical mutation. The humanity drawn to the firekeeper becomes trapped inside their body, swarming and writhing like maggots beneath their skin. Gwyndolin gifted her the Brass Set, both to hide her now hideous visage and to assist her in the tasks of the Darkmoon Blade. The Knightess is unflinching in her faith to the gods.

There is evidence suggesting that the Darkmoon Knightess, like Lautrec and Oswald, was born in the land of Carim. This is suggested by her usage of a parrying dagger instead of a shield, a technique Carim knights are famous for using.

According to the miracle Darkmoon Blade, the power of the Darkmoon is augmented by feelings of vengeance, and grows more powerful the stronger the hostility is. Perhaps the Knightess is a bit too extreme in her following of the gods, or perhaps she has a more tragic past than we know.

Brass Armor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Fire Keeper Soul[darksouls.wikia.com]
Darkmoon Blade[darksouls.wikia.com]
Darkmoon Talisman[darksouls.wikia.com]

Ingward is a sorcerer of New Londo who originally specialized in healing magics. However, that time is long gone and he now spends his days watching over the flooded city, waiting for somebody able to kill the Four Kings.

There were originally two other healing sorcerers, wearing the same crimson robe as Ingward, and who also watched over the flooded city. Eventually, they tired of their duty and left their posts. Their final fate is unknown. but it is known that one of them departed for Blighttown, in hopes of helping to cure the residents. Since the Crimson Set is indeed found in a chest on the path up from Blighttown to New Londo, this could suggest they eventually died, or were killed by the residents.


Ingward's specialty as a healer may have been the curing and prevention of curses, as he is the only NPC of the game capable of curing the Curse status without the use of items. He also sells a sorcery, Resist Curse, that prevents the buildup of curse. Curiously, this is one of only a few healing spells that isn't a miracle. This could suggest that New Londo, like Oolacile, had its own special branch of sorceries, healing sorceries, that were lost to the world upon the destruction of the city and the genocide of its citizens.

A long time ago, after the founding of New Londo, the four rulers of the city were tempted by the offer of power the Abyss could give, and fell. These Four Kings and many of the corrupted citizens of New Londo became the Darkwraiths, and spread the Abyss through their conquest, sucking the humanity out of their victims before presumably killing them. The sorcerers of New Londo, Ingward and his two companions, knew they had to do something to stop the growing Darkwraith menace. With great guilt, and knowing full well the consequences of their actions, they flooded the entire city of New Londo, killing thousands upon thousands of innocent lives to seal away the Darkwraiths and the Four Kings.

The three sorcerers then donned their masks as a physical representation of their resolve and atonement for their inexcusable killings. They swore to watch over the seal and to never let it be opened. But as mentioned before, two of the three sealers tired of their duty and abandoned the city, leaving only Ingward, the last living citizen of New Londo, to watch over the watery ruin.

Ingward Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crimson Robe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Mask of the Sealer[darksouls.wikia.com]
Key to the Seal[darksouls.wikia.com]
Resist Curse[darksouls.wikia.com]
Remedy[darksouls.wikia.com]

Patches is a trans-dimensional being that can be found in every Miyazaki Soulsborne game. Because his existence spans so many different games, he has no associated lore in each respective game in order to keep some tiny semblance of continuity.

Patches is an untrustworthy lurker, who prefers to keep a low profile for low risk pillaging on unsuspecting or overly trusting adventurers. This behavior shows once again in Dark Souls 1, as Patches kicks the player into a pit if given the chance and straight up attempts murder via platform rotation in the Catacombs. In his own words, he does this to slowly starve or kill his victims to loot their corpses at a later time. This does indeed apply to the Catacombs, as there is a bottom to the pit where the player falls, albeit full of Bonewheel Skeletions.


Even with his clearly apparent malice and wish to kill the player on different occasions, Patches is quick to try and talk himself out of a bad situation if confronted after his murder attempt. While the true reason for this is not known, eventually he will stop trying to kill the player and offer to sell them special (and often useful) wares. Even if he is not trustworthy in the slightest, the wares he sells are often only obtainable (Or very rare otherwise) by getting them from Patches.

• Demon's Souls: Heavy Arrow, Shard of Archstone
  
• Dark Souls 1: Three Masks, Cleric Armor, Talisman, Crescent Axe, Eye of Death
  
• Bloodborne: Great One's Wisdom, Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis Rune
  
• Dark Souls 3: Catarina Armor, Black Leather Set, Poison Arrow, Horsehoof Ring

The choice is up to the player. Accept his clearly insincere apology, or take your revenge?

The only real consistency across all games seems to be Patches's hatred of clerics. He never states why he hates them so, but admitting to being a cleric in all games will make him attack you eventually. This is puzzling, as in Dark Souls 1 he sells numerous cleric items, almost all of which are completely unobtainable by other means. (Specifically the cleric Set and Crescent Axe). He even sells miracles like Heal and Great Heal Excerpt. The most likely answer is that he has killed more than just a few clerics in his day, and has looted all of their gear to sell at a profit later.

In Dark Souls 1, Patches seems to be at the very least acquainted with other NPCs in the game, and can be talked to about them if he has moved to Firelink. Interestingly, the advice Patches gives on the NPCs are all correct, even if they do not outwardly appear to be true.

Solaire of Astora
As Patches claims, Solaire is not all right in the head, as what he seeks is literally impossible and will drive him mad without direct intervention from the player. But he is also insanely talented with his sword and is very powerful.

Lautrec of Carim
Patches correctly states that Lautrec would have no problem killing somebody almost for the hell of it, and he proceeds to do just that to the Firekeeper of Firelink Shrine.

Petrus of Thorolund
One would think Patches is calling Petrus scum simply because he is a cleric. While this is partially true, Petrus does indeed murder the woman he was supposed to protect, Rhea, unless killed by the player immediately after killing Nito.

Shiva of the East
This one is the result of cut content. Patches merely claims he is trouble, with a bad look to him. This is a reference or missed part of Shiva's cut content, where he would attack the player trying to obtain the Chaos Blade. (More on that in Shiva's section.)

Dark Souls 1: Patches' Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dark Souls 3: Patches[darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com]
Bloodborne: Patches the Spider[bloodborne.wikia.com]
Demon's Souls: Patches[demonssouls.wikia.com]

Hawkeye Gough is the retired giant member of the Four Knights of Gwyn, and once leader of the Dragonslayers. While once upon a time he led many successful dragon hunts, his glory days are long gone. He now spends his time carving wood sculptures in his tower surprisingly uncaring of the fact that only mere meters away, Oolacile and all the surrounding land was being consumed by the Abyss, driven forth by Manus's endless fury.



A long time ago, possibly even during the first war with the Everlasting Dragons, Gough personally led the division of Silver Knights dedicated to dragonslaying. His mighty bow dwarfed even the huge Dragonslayer Greatbows bows used by the Silver Knights, and he was able to shoot down dragons high in the sky by himself. Gough hand-made all of his arrows using stone tips and tree bark shafts, further reinforcing his knowledge in the ways of the bow. His acts of valor and service to Lordran earned him honors of the highest degree, which included his uniquely crafted armor, sporting bones of the dragons he slew and metal similar to that used to craft the armor of the Silver Knights. However, despite all of his achievements, Gough was sabotaged by those who dismissed him as another brutish and dumb giant. They packed his helmet's eye holes with sawdust, causing Gough to believe himself blind (Or possibly damaged his eyes and made him ACTUALLY blind. Sawdust isn't exactly healthy to have shoved into your eyes). This may be the reason that Gough eventually chose to retire, though that brings up the question of why he would retire from blindness after being seen shooting down Kalameet with ease.

For a completely unknown reason and at an unknown time, Hawkeye Gough was actually imprisoned during his retirement. His tower is sealed with a powerful spell, and indeed cannot be descended by a giant, with the only entrance and exit being far to small for anyone other than a human to fit in it. It is during this imprisonment that Gough took up wood carving. He imparts his emotions into his carvings to help himself achieve enlightenment, but this also means he at one point felt these emotions strongly enough to bestow them upon his creations. Gough only sells "Hello!" and "Thank You!". But look at what other feelings can be found elsewhere, discarded. "I'm Sorry" and even "Help Me!". What emotional distresses did Gough cast aside to achieve his enlightenment?

During his meetings with the chosen undead, Gough can be heard reminiscing about his years as a Dragonslayer. While he still considers it to be the greatest achievement a knight can accomplish, he also regrets that for every dragon they slew, many more of their own would perish in the fight. It is possible that Gough's "I'm Sorry" is in remembrance of this fact.

It is also suggested that Gough holds some contempt towards most of mankind. He comments that despite Kaathe spurring the humans onwards, it was inevitably their own fault that Manus was awoken and grew furious at them. If the player attacks Gough, he sighs and remarks that this is true human nature. His final breath will even be a scoff and the words "Humans.". Perhaps his feelings towards mankind is not without reason though, as previously mentioned some people despised him enough simply for being a giant (Basically, Dark Souls racism) that they packed his helmet with sawdust. It is more than likely Gough suffered the same sort of discrimination from fools who dismissed all he accomplished simply because he was a giant.

As a side note, Gough seems to be acquainted with the Giant Blacksmith of Anor Londo, possibly simply due to their kinship as giants. He does not speak much on the Blacksmith, but hopes he is still doing well.

Gough's Helm[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gough's Armor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gough's Leggings[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gough's Greatbow[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gough's Greatarrow[darksouls.wikia.com]
Hawk Ring[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gough's Carvings[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dragonslayer Greatbow[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crest Key[darksouls.wikia.com]
Hawkeye Gough's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

The following link is a youtube video. I have provided this link because for some reason, the Dark Souls wiki does not have Gough's complete dialogue listed. This video shows the key dialogue I am looking for, referencing his memories of his old dragonslaying days.
Hawkeye Gough's Dialogue Part 2

Domhall of Zena is a strange vendor that has a habit of collecting things that shouldn't even be possible to collect. He is also the only character in the game that hails from the land of Zena, and possibly the only character in the entire series as well, since I can't seem to remember any other characters claiming to come from Zena.


Domhall is a sociable man, but doesn't really have that much to say. He's one of the few 100% friendly NPCs in the game (Basically, NOT telling you to piss off or attacking you later), alongside Ingward and Solaire, which you have to give him credit for. While it is impossible to fully know who he is or where he came from, we can make some guesses.



According to Domhall's armor, his homeland of Zena is an ancient land, which could explain why you never hear about it, because it may very well have already been destroyed by hollows like so many other nations were. However, Domhall's armor suggests many things about his character. It implies that Domhall is a seasoned and wise warrior, who travels the lands and has earned many accolades in his adventures. This could explain why he shows up in Lordran: He's simply on another adventure. Domhall does appear to be a very competent explorer, as he can give the chosen undead various bits of extremely useful advice. This includes using Divine weaponry to stop the skeletons in the catacombs from resurrecting, as well as having to curse yourself to be able to fight the ghosts of New Londo, and hints at the presence of a surviving Everlasting Dragon and the covenant that serves him.

Domhall's adventures have turned him into an avid collector, and indeed he sells items that nobody else in the game does, nor does any enemy drop. Most curious among them are the "natural" crystal weapons, swords and a shield that were not crystallized by an ember but "naturally" by the rampant experimentation in the Duke's Archives. This would make Domhall one of only two characters to ever successfully reach the Duke's Archives (The other being Big Hat Logan), and the only one to live and tell the tale.

Overall, Domhall's implied feats and experience do paint a picture of an impressive explorer and warrior. Perhaps he is much more than a humble vendor after all.

Domhall's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Helm of the Wise[darksouls.wikia.com]
Armor of the Glorious[darksouls.wikia.com]
Gauntlets of the Vanquisher[darksouls.wikia.com]
Boots of the Explorer[darksouls.wikia.com]

Anastacia of Astora is the mute firekeeper of Firelink Shrine. Imprisoned there for what is likely supposed to be her entire life, she sits in silence, unable and unwilling to speak.

According to a very little known bit of dialogue from Anastacia herself, we know that she is Undead and not just a normal human. We can also tell that she clearly does not want to be an Undead, which is surprisingly uncommon in Lordran, where many Undead such as Solaire and Logan use their immortality to seek their destiny. But this doesn't explain why Anastacia has been imprisoned as a firekeeper.

Or does it?

Anastacia's seemingly unimportant dirty attire actually gives away many clues to her past. First and foremost, it greatly resembles the white robe of traveling maides of the Way of the White, but has been permanently marred by the smoke and ash of the bonfire. Way of the White maidens wear their robes regardless of rank, so Anastacia may not have been a very important cleric. While some members of the Way of the White become Undead and are sent on Undead Missions due to their importance, this seems to only apply to high ranking clerics. Reah of Thorolund is a princess to a noble house, and Paladin Leeroy is an incredibly powerful cleric capable of both Great Heal and Wrath of the Gods. Anastacia, being a nobody, would not receive the same treatment if she had no rank.

After her town discovered she was an Undead, they likely cut out her tongue to prevent her blasphemous body from uttering the names of the gods. They locked her away underneath Firelink Shrine and purposefully maimed her legs, bloodying her white skirt and leaving her unable to escape from her prison. Then, as even further insurance that she would not escape, bound her to the bonfire. Despite all of this, Anastacia actually agrees with their judgement. She chooses to be a martyr of sorts, considering herself unworthy as an Undead and that her tongue is impure. As her soul suggests, Anastacia was locked away both for a transgression that wasn't even her fault, and by her own will. Religious fanaticism can drive some people to very sad ends.

Anastacia of Astora Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Fire Keeper Soul[darksouls.wikia.com]
Dingy Robe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Blood-Stained Skirt[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crestfallen Warrior Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Maiden Robe Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Knight Lautrec of Carim is a suspicious knight hailing from Carim (duh) who can initially be found imprisoned for an unknown reason in the Undead Parish chapel. Once released, he ominously states he can now "continue his work," and moves to Firelink Shrine. Later, he murders Anastacia of Astora, the firekeeper, and flees to Anor Londo. Despite his long solitude inside the cell in the Undead Parish, Lautrec's faith in his goddess Fina never wavered, maybe suggesting an unhealthy obsession with the woman.

Lautrec is a follower of the goddess Fina, said in legend to possess "fateful beauty", implying that she can somehow bring disastrous ruin to others in the long run (google the definition of fateful), despite looking gorgeous. But, as a devout follower of hers, Lautrec is rewarded with many items symbolic of Fina's love, including the Set of Favor and the Ring of Favor and Protection. The Embraced Armor is representative of Fina's embrace, but could be suggestive of something more sinister. The same goes for the Ring of Favor and Protection. It bestows great ability upon its wielder, but shatters instantly upon removal. Could this be an implication of what happens to those who betray Fina?

(Lautrec's weapons, the Shotel and Parrying Dagger, are both signatures of Carim swordsman, famous for skillfully fighting without shields.)

Lautrec is naturally ominous person, regularly having an unpleasant laugh, sometimes at the misfortune of others. Unlike any other character in the game, Lautrec's dialogue changes if the player speaks to him while hollow. He suggestively says something rather menacing (See his dialogue page for specifics), which could show that he has an addiction to humanity. This is further backed up by Trusty Patches, who claims that Lautrec is insane, and would not hesitate to murder somebody solely for their humanity. This is even further supported by the act of invading him in Anor Londo.

In order to reclaim the Firekeeper Soul, many players invade Lautrec in Anor Londo. What most people don't seem to notice, however, is that Lautrec is clearly waiting for you. He is luring players in with the Firekeeper Soul, as stated by his own dialogue once again, comparing the player to a moth fluttering towards a flame. The flame is the soul, and you are the poor moth who has just followed the bait to your demise. His dialogue also suggests that you are not the only person he is killing / attempting to kill. As the flow of time is distorted in Lordran, it is quite possible he is suggesting other players are attempting to kill him as well, only to die to his gank squad over and over again.

What could Lautrec possibly have to gain by luring players to their deaths? It could possibly be for the humanity of other people, as Patches suggests. It could also be just for the thrill of the kill, or some higher plan by his goddess Fina. The truth will likely never be known.

Lautrec's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Patches Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Embraced Armor of Favor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Helm of Favor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Shotel[darksouls.wikia.com]
Parrying Dagger[darksouls.wikia.com]
Ring of Favor and Protection[darksouls.wikia.com]

Oswald the Pardoner, hailing from the land of Carim, is a devout follower of the goddess Velka, who resides over the domain of sin and retribution. As one of her mortal followers, his job is to hear the words of those who sin and to grant absolution if they can pay the price. His dedication to this task is unwavering, as is his unpleasant laugh.

As part of his duties as a follower of the goddess Velka, Oswald is capable of absolving a person's sin. But those who would willingly bring harm on other deserve punishment. It appears that Velka, or at least the pardoners, have an agreement with the god Gwyndolin. The pardoners report the sins of those who would invade and kill others, and the Darkmoon Blade hunts the sinners down. Oswald sells multiple items for this purpose, designed to both keep track of those who sin and to record the new sins as well.

As a follower of Velka, Oswald of Carim possesses high intelligence rather than high faith, as most other god's followers do. Specialized talismans are given to pardoners, designed to harness their intelligence for faith-based miracles instead of standard talismans. In fact, pardoners are given numerous items to aid in their duties to Velka. Their black cloaks are imbued with Velka's power, enabling them to resist harm from magical sources. Their masks, while also magically enchanted, are representative of their disconnection from worldly desires. Their rapiers are symbolically given, but not just for show. They deal magical damage and like their talismans, increase in power the more intelligent the wielder. It appears Velka takes good care of her followers.

If the chosen undead talks to Oswald while having sinned by attacking another character (Not invading another person), Oswald will remark that the chosen undead and Petrus have a lot in common, as both are drenched in sin. This creates some questions on how omniscient Oswald's powers really are, as it is incredibly unlikely that Petrus has ever talked to Oswald. How exactly all-knowing Oswald really is, we might never figure out.

All in all, Oswald is a surprisingly simple man doing his god-given job in a world teeming with crazy hollows and abandoned by the gods. He at least deserves credit for his dedication.

Oswald of Carim Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]
Black Cleric Robe[darksouls.wikia.com]
Mask of Velka[darksouls.wikia.com]
Velka's Rapier[darksouls.wikia.com]
Velka's Talisman[darksouls.wikia.com]
Book of the Guilty[darksouls.wikia.com]
Indictment[darksouls.wikia.com]

The Crestfallen Merchant is a slightly hidden vendor that can be found in the heights of Sen's Fortress. While he does have very useful equipment (some of which is unique) it is very expensive for how early it is in the game.

The Crestfallen Merchant is an undead who is approaching hollowing. Long ago he attempted to enter Anor Londo through Sen's Fortress, but was unable to make it and eventually gave up. He has watched many others attempt the same through the ages, only for them to fail as well. According to him, Iron Tarkus actually failed to enter Anor Londo. However, Tarkus' armor can be found early in Anor Londo, which could mean the Crestfallen Merchant is suggesting by dying so early Tarkus basically failed to enter Anor Londo. (Or it could be something that never got fixed during production)

The Crestfallen Merchant is extremely depressing, convinced that because he failed nobody can possibly overcome Sen's Fortress and enter Anor Londo. Despite this conviction, quite a few people have entered Anor Londo. This includes the Chosen Undead, Solaire, Iron Tarkus, Big Hat Logan, and Lautrec of Carim. The only people actually known to have failed to enter Anor Londo in-game are the Crestfallen Merchant himself and Griggs of Vinheim if his questline is finished. However, the Crestfallen Merchant mentions the Knight King Rendal from the country of Balder, and says he failed to enter. Rendal is never seen in game, but at least the Crestfallen Merchant isn't the only loser in Sen's.

The Crestfallen Merchant admits that his rather rare assortment of items for sale is a result of his own looting of the deceased. The way he says this slightly suggests that he may also be the one doing the killing, right before the targetted undead becomes a hollow. He also states that he will be coming to strip the Chosen Undead as well, but as the Chosen Undead doesn't truly "die", that never happens.

Crestfallen Merchant's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Black Iron Tarkus is only seen in-game as a summoned white phantom in Sen's Fortress. He is famous for being the strongest summonable NPC in the game, able to kill the boss he is summoned for, the Iron Golem, completely by himself.

While it is not stated specifically where Tarkus hails from, it is possible that he is one of the Knights of Berenike. He was fond of the same Greatsword that the Berenike Knights use, and his shield has been stated to be even heftier than the mighty tower shields of the Berenike Knights as well. His armor and gear is unnaturally heavy, but provides solid defense as a result and is so immensely weighty that nobody other than Tarkus himself could wear it.

(Despite this description of the Black Iron Set, Tarkus's phantom is overburdened, and fatrolls.)




Nothing is actually known about Black Iron Tarkus's story, but many details can be inferred upon close inspection. This could all be false (Which is why this is all just a theory), but improvising stories is half the fun of Dark Souls lore.

Most Popular Theory
Tarkus is most likely another undead seeking to fulfill the Undead Prophecy as told to the player by Oscar of Astora. As a mighty hero, Tarkus managed to defeat Quelaag and the Bell Gargoyles in his own world and ring both Bells of Awakening. With this, he began his ascent of Sen's Fortress. Previously unconquerable by all who attempted to break through, Tarkus fought valiantly and defeated the Iron Golem, guardian of Anor Londo. With this victory, Tarkus left his summoning sign nearby, to give his aid to other undead adventurers seeking his help.

Tarkus gained passage to Anor Londo, but like the player found the bridge was too high to cross, and had to improvise his approach. Climbing the banisters nearby, he broke open the windows leading to the building housing the Painted World of Ariamis. Unfortunately for him, Tarkus was in the rafters of the hall, and had to cross them to continue. Tarkus's armor is incredibly heavy and unwieldy, and his mighty defense because his greatest weakness. Losing his footing, Tarkus plummeted to the ground below and died on impact, where his body was dragged into a corner by the Painting Guardians. This is where his body is found in-game, huddled against a wall in the far corner of the hall.

The Crestfallen Merchant in Sen's Fortress makes a claim that Iron Tarkus tried and failed to enter Anor Londo. However, this cannot be possible as all of Tarkus's gear (Save for his generic greatsword) are found in Anor Londo. It could be the Crestfallen Merchant is referring to his death so early in Anor Londo as a failure to fully enter it.

Greatsword[darksouls.wikia.com]
Black Iron Greatshield[darksouls.wikia.com]
Black Iron Armor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Crestfallen Merchant's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Witch Beatrice was a sorcerer from an age long past. Most sorcerers that wielded catalysts as mediums for spellcasting hailed from the Vinheim Dragon School of Sorcery (The place Logan comes from), but Beatrice was one of the few that defied this rule, as she used a catalyst but had never been to the Dragon School. Her catalyst is ancient, and was once used to cast ancient sorceries as well. It is implied Beatrice comes from a long line of witches dating back generations, and that she was the last to wield it.

Beatrice, for an unknown reason, dared to brave the Abyss. It is possible that she gained knowledge of the ancient dark sorceries and sought to learn their secrets. Unfortunately, she did not survive her traversal, dying in the attempt. Her phantom remains behind (Probably affected by the distortion of time present in Lordran) to assist others in attempting to fight the fearsome Four Kings.


(Considering how useless Beatrice is in the Four Kings fight, her death isn't that surprising. Her uselessness could actually be a piece of the lore by itself, but I feel like that might be giving Fromsoft a bit TOO much credit.)

Beatrice's Catalyst[darksouls.wikia.com]
Witch Cloak[darksouls.wikia.com]

Paladin Leeroy was the first undead of the Way of the White. Instead of being exiled as an abomination, Leeroy was seen to have been bestowed a gift by the gods. He was given the legendary weapons of the Way of the White, Grant and Sanctus. He was adorned in golden armor, and sent to Lordran on the first Undead Mission.

Being a member of the Way of the White, Leeroy's equipment is heavily empowered. His massive hammer, Grant, is blessed and deals Divine damage. His shield, Sanctus, once possessed greater enchantments but has been worn down to simple health regeneration. His golden armor is enchanted as well, and provides easily the highest curse resistance of all available armors. Leeroy was also assumedly once a high ranking cleric before he became undead, as he is able to cast both Wrath of the Gods and Great Heal.




Leeroy's Undead Mission was to seek the Rite of Kindling, which eventually lead him to the Catacombs and probably Pinwheel. This is where his summoning sign is found, right before Pinwheel's home. It is unknown why he invades later in the Tomb of the Giants and can be found dead in the Tomb of the Gravelord, but there is a speculative possibility.

Because it can be assumed that the Rite of Kindling is the power Pinwheel stole from Nito, Leeroy may have gotten wind of the fact that this power was but a fraction of the greater power Nito holds. He sought to take more of Nito's power for himself, but was killed in his attempt.

There can be no safe speculations as to why Leeroy invades the player, and so I shall make no attempt to explain it.

Grant[darksouls.wikia.com]
Sanctus[darksouls.wikia.com]
Paladin Armor[darksouls.wikia.com]
Petrus of Thorolund's Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Maneater Mildred is less of a lore figure and more of a reference to an event that took place early in Dark Souls history. According to a developer interview (that I can't find, but the Dark Souls wiki insists exists), Mildred is a reference to a developer that, inspired by the Demon's Souls "Meat Cleaver Black Phantom", invaded people in Blighttown wearing nothing but a sack and wielding a Butcher Knife.

While this definitely sounds like something a Dark Souls developer would do, it should be noted that the Butcher Knife exclusively drops only from Maneater Mildred, and not from the Butchers in the Depths. This creates the question of how his original character got it's hands on a Butcher Knife in the first place. It could easily be possible that the item was originally going to be a drop from the Butchers, but was switched to Mildred later. There really isn't any way to know.

There is nothing else in the game that refers to Mildred in any way. It is likely that she exists only to give offline players a taste of invasions and summoning without having to go online.

As a quick fun fact, Oscar is never mentioned by name in the game, not even in the credits (Where he is listed simply as Knight of the Undead Asylum). His name is only known from delving into the game's files and cut content.



Oscar, Knight of Astora, is a possibly high ranking knight from Astora. He ventured to the Undead Asylum in hope of fulfilling the undead prophecy, which had been passed down in his family for generations. It is suggested that he is freeing other undead from the Asylum in case he fails in his quest, which he unfortunately does.

While attempting to free other undead from their prisons, Oscar is attacked by the Asylum Demon guarding the rooftops, as seen in the boss room if looking up. This is the only logical conclusion, as the player finds Oscar crippled in a room with no entrance or exit, save for a hole smashed in the ceiling above him. Too badly injured to continue and his life fading fast, Oscar offers his estus flask and the Undead Asylum F2 East Key. Many people overlook this small fact, but it is Oscar that allows the Chosen Undead to truly begin his journey, making him a critical, but often forgotten part of the story.

Oscar eventually hollows in the Undead Asylum, possibly out of despair due to his own failure to surpass the first obstacle in his journey, the Asylum Demon. Here, the sad knight can finally be put to rest.


Removed dialogue shows that Oscar was supposed to play a much more important role in the game. He was to show up in an unknown location (Possibly Firelink Shrine) as well as Darkroot Garden and ask for the player's assistance in defeating the forest bandits. As the player progressed in the story and placed down the Lordvessel, Oscar would choose the opposite side from the player (He would side with Kaathe if the player sides with Frampt, and vice versa). His dialogue upon placing the Lordvessel could signify he would attack the player at some point later during the game, but this is unknown. As with many things in Dark Souls, it is unknown why this was removed.

Crest Shield[darksouls.wikia.com]
Oscar of Astora Dialogue & Cut Dialogue[darksouls.wikia.com]

Xanthous King Jermiah is a complete enigma, even in the world of Dark Souls. It is not known where he comes from, what he is even king of, what he wants, or who he is. He may be unknown, but we can still take some things away from him.

Jeremiah does indeed wear a crown, although it could be self proclaimed. It's color burns the eyes, it is far too large, and it is not known where it comes from. Chances are he hails from a land either far far away or long destroyed. He is labeled as an exile, and has indeed been sent to the world of exiles, the Painted World of Ariamis. Yet again, why he is there now is not known.

A curious fact is Jermiah's exclusive use of chaos pyromancies and possession of an Ascended Pyromancy Flame could hint to a connection to both Quelana and the Bed of Chaos. The Ascended Flame is directly stated to be the sharing of Quelana's flame and another person's. However, Quelana does not know or at least does not teach any Chaos Pyromancies. Two of these Chaos Pyromancies are taught by The Fair Lady, suggesting Jeremiah might have been a member of the Chaos Covenant like Kirk.

Jeremiah's body is found near Priscilla upon his death after invasion. This could suggest Priscilla herself killed him (Might have been self-defense), or some other fate befell him (Possibly the player killing him instead). As with much of Jeremiah's lore, it is entirely unknown.

Xanthous King Jeremiah's Equipped Items[darksouls.wikia.com]
Ascended Pyromancy Flame[darksouls.wikia.com]
Xanthous Overcoat[darksouls.wikia.com]
Xanthous Crown[darksouls.wikia.com]

Knight Kirk of Thorns is one of the most well known NPC invasions in Dark Souls 1. Clad in the Armor of Thorns, Kirk aims to kill the player and steal their humanity.

Kirk is a member of the Darkwraiths, and a very well-known one at that. He has gained a murderous reputation as a relentless killer, and indeed claims the title as the most common NPC invader. However, Kirk's allegiance with the Darkwraiths is superficial. His real goal is not to give humanity to the Abyss, but instead to give it to the Fair Lady, who resides in the bottom of Blighttown. If Kirk is killed all three times he invades the player, his corpse can be found near the Daughter of Chaos bonfire, evidencing his relationship to the Chaos Covenant and the Fair Lady. (Miyazaki made direct mention to this in an interview, but I cannot for the life of me find a source.)


It is possible that Kirk sought out the Darkwraiths to obtain the Red Eye Orb, which allows for unlimited invasions of other worlds. Without the Red Eye Orb, he cannot possibly invade enough people to claim humanity for his Fair Lady. Using the Darkwraiths as an asset and a cover, Kirk gathered humanity to give his Lady.

It is also an interesting note that all the areas Kirk invades are in decently close proximity to something related to the Chaos Covenant. Both the Depths and Demon Ruins are areas next to Blighttown and the Fair Lady, and the Chaos Covenant Shortcut in the Demon Ruins leads right to the final Kirk invasion in front of the Bed of Chaos. Whether this is intentional or not is unknown, and will never be known.

Armor of Thorns[darksouls.wikia.com]

This section is dedicated towards characters that are not ever seen in the entirety of Dark Souls 1. These characters may actually have a very significant impact on lore, but do not qualify for any other section and are never seen in-game, mentioned exclusively in item descriptions or conversations with other people. The information on these people can range from fairly well covered to just a brief mention.

Because of the vast amount of items in-game, and how hidden some of these characters are, please inform us if we missed one. Remember, we only cover content exclusively from Dark Souls 1, unless solid information from DS2 or 3 completely debunks or proves a theory. (The theory had to have originated from DS1.)