Dark Souls: Boss Lore

Review written and story-telling by The Lore.

Image by Dark Souls Wiki.

A famous game well known for being notoriously difficult to play. Many deaths seem unfair, and the bosses cause so much frustration, but it remains popular. Why?

The game is beautiful and so is its story.

The graphics were stunning and on a whole new level of gothic apocalypse. The cloth on characters flows with their bodies as they movie, and the attention to detail leaves one breathless.

The story, however, captures the hearts of many. While the lore isn’t completely straight-forward, and there are many speculations.

The timeline is split into ages. First to be described is the Age of the Ancients. This was the era of dragons. To begin the Age of Fire, Seath the Scaleless (dragon) betrayed his kind and the dragons were no more. You will often see the remains of fallen dragons throughout the world, and will battle Seath yourself later. Seath betrayed his fellow dragons to the three who came from the first fire: Nito, The Witch of Izalith, and Gwyn. The ‘furtive pygmy’ also came from the first fire, but was not mentioned to have battled the dragons.

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Among man are hollows. Hollows are the undead who have gone mad. The character you play has a dark sigil on their body, they are undead, and will hollow if they don’t use items they accumulate in game.

The land that was won became known as Lordran, and those strong ones that were from the fire became known as Lords.

Then, the First Flame which all life came from would start to weaken, and the lords and the people would panic, knowing if the flame were to go out that they would all return to the darkness. With the flame dwindling, the distinction between life and death blurred.

The Witch of Izalith and her daughters of chaos initially tried recreating the flame, but failed terribly. What they created was the Fires of Chaos, which turned her and some her daughters into demons. The Fires of Chaos produced disformed mimics of life. The Witch of Izalith became the Bed of Chaos through this.

Gwyn fought the demons back to the Bed of Chaos, but the initial problem of the flame dying continued. So he took his knights, and went to the flame, offering his life. The flame rekindled, giving the world more life. When it surged with the life of Gwyn, the knights who had followed were burnt in their armor and became black knights. Before giving himself to the flame, Gwyn split his soul and gave it to a number of his allies and followers.

In the game, the fire is once again dying and so is the world. It is your choice as the player to make your way to the flame, and let it consume you and temporarily save the world, or to not feed it and let the doomed world die.

As you progress in the story you will meet different people and collect different stories. You can make choices to aid or deny.

As there are many characters, I will only discuss the bosses and their purpose.

The first you meet is The Asylum Demon. It came from the Bed of Chaos and serves its purpose to test the undead who try to leave. Not much else is known about this creature though theories do circulate, nothing is based on fact. This boss is still part of the tutorial in the game, so it’s purpose is to adjust the player to the style and difficulty that will be faced.

Image taken from Dark Souls Wiki.

The Ceaseless Discharge boss is the only son of the Witch of Izalith. He transformed after his mother’s failed attempt at recreating the Flame, and became the tentacle lava mass we know. He guards the grave of one of his beloved sisters, who was sacrificed. Before his mother became the Bed of Chaos, he was born with lava in spores. This could have something to do with him being the only son of a witch. He was given the Orange Charred Ring by his sisters to reduce the pain from his spores. This ring is an item you can gain in game. Lore with it says that the Ceaseless Discharge dropped the ring, and created the Centipede Demon, which you fight later on.

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The Chaos Witch Quelaag is one of the daughters of the Witch of Izalith. Most of the sisters were transformed into demons, but Quelaag and her sister known as The Fair Lady only have their lower halves morphed into spiders. The Chaos Witch Quelaag has a flaming body and takes any souls that wander into her nest to care for her sister. The Fair Lady had sucked out the blight puss from their servants in attempt to save them, and poisoned herself, and needs the care from Quelaag.

Image from Dark Souls Wiki

Crossbreed Priscila is an optional boss that many players fancy. Many theories fly around her lineage, as well as if the fur seen on her is part of an outfit or part of her body. She has scales on her neck and forehead, and a tail. She wields a scythe that is said to be powerful enough to kill gods with its Lifedrain abilities, and to keep others safe, she was imprisoned in the painted world of Ariamis. You learn later on that she could leave if she desired but chooses to remain there. She says she wants you to leave, and you can leave the painted world soon after meeting her. If you do decide to fight her, you will see (or not see) that she can turn invisible.

Image from Dark Souls Wiki.

Dark Sun Gwyndolin, last son of Gwyn, is the leader of the Blade of the Dark Moon covenant. He appears androgynous, as he was raised as a daughter and has an affinity with the moon. He creates the illusion of his sister, Gwynevere, who you can interact with. He is an option boss, as if you wear the Darkmoon Seance Ring in his location, his fog door will appear and the player can either pledge allegiance to Gwyndolin or pass through the fog door and start the boss battle. If you do not have the ring, the player could kill Gwynevere instead. However, because she is an illusion, once you ‘kill’ her, your real battle with Gwyndolin would soon start.

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The Four Kings have soul fragments from Gwyn. They were tempted by the Primordial Serpent, Kaathe, with the art of Lifedrain. Lifedrain allows one to maintain their humanity while undead and to ”free your brethren.” When the Four Kings accepted the serpent’s offer, the abyss started to spread from their kingdom. Their knights became darkwraiths. The Four Kings have a wound in their chest that is an exaggerated form of the scar over the hearts of the undead. Different theories circulate as to this mark’s meaning on them, but there is no fact.

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The Great Grey Wolf Sif is originally found in a chasm in the abyss. If you save him, you can summon him later to defeat Manus, Father of the Abyss. When you encounter Sif next, he is guarding the grave of his master, Artorias the Abysswalker, and resigns himself to fighting you to protect you from sharing his master’s fate. There is no way to avoid having to kill Sif in order to progress in the game. Many have tried to find a way to not feel like a monster who’s hurting a limping, loyal puppy, but there is no way.

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Ornstein and Smough are two trusted guards of Gywn that you battle. Ornstein, the lean and fast enemy, is believed to have been the leader of the Four Knights and guardian of the throne. Smough the Executioner was known to take glee in killing and grounding his enemies into his “own feed”. This personality barred Smough from becoming one of the Four Knights. It is interesting to note that Smough’s Soul is only worth 1 soul to Kingseeker Frampt, when if you consume his soul, it’s worth 12 000 of them. Ornstein’s soul is worth 12 000 to the Kingseeker as well if you consume it.

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Pinwheel is an interesting boss. He is a necromancer that is the fused body of three souls: a father, mother and child. Pinwheel’s story is that of a mother and child who died, and a father who worked to bring them back from the dead. With the power he stole from Nito, Lord of death, he brought them back, but not as intended. There are skeletal remains hanging around his room to represent the work he continues to do in order to make the family separate beings again. You do encounter his ability to copy himself, which seems like what he discovered in order to try to separate the three souls from the one body.

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Seath the Scaleless is relevant after his initial introduction in betraying his kind. After the dragons were defeated, Gwyn named Seath the title of Duke and gave him the Primodial Crystal which granted Seath Immortality. Seath became fascinated with magics and began his research on it, earning himself the title: Grandfather of Sorcery. He used his servants called the Channelers would go out and collect maidens as suitable research subjects and bring them back to Seath. These maidens are transfigured into Pisaca, hooded tentacle creatures that lurk in Seath’s domain. Seath is also responsible for the creation of the Moonlight Butterfly, which is another boss you will have to fight.

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Though you can see the Stray Demon when you’re first in the Undead Asylum, you can’t fight him until you return. He’s located under where you would fight the Asylum Demon when you are first in the are. The floor of the original area where you fought the Asylum Demon collapses under you into the Stray Demon’s boss room. The Asylum Demon and the Stray Demon both seem to be there for the intent of preventing any undead from leaving the Undead Asylum. The fact that you need to return to an area in order to fight this boss shows how intricately woven and thought out the game is.

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Grave Lord Nito was one of the main Lords who waged war on the dragons. His soul is the physical manifestation of death and disease. After the war, he descended into the catacombs, and rests there. Nita offered much of his soul to death itself. He doesn’t leave the tombs, but he can still inflict death from his resting place. Humans can come to him, if brace, and swear to be part of his covenant of Gravelord Servant. These servants will go out and seek Eyes of Death to bring back to offer to Nito. It is generally thought that while his existence seems dark and evil, he only ever defends himself and acts in his nature.

Image by Dark Souls Wiki

The bosses that were not covered in this review either had no lore on them or their limited lore had already been covered in regards to the other bosses. There are many characters in the realm of Dark Souls that aren’t bosses but have interesting backstories so please try the game and discover for yourself and make your own theories on the game.