It’s always Darkest before the Soul

WARNING

THIS FOLLOW ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DARK SOULS, DARK SOULS II, DARK SOULS III, AND ELDEN RING: NIGHTREIGN (POSSIBLY, IT IS NOT OUT YET AT TIME OF WRITING). READ AT YOUR OWN CAUTION

Dark Souls is one of the most influential games of the 21st century. Spawning two sequels and inspiring an entire genre of games, its effect on gaming culture cannot be denied. While many praise its unforgiving nature, interconnected world, and intricate build crafting, Dark Souls’s true strength lies in its method of storytelling. If taken at face value, the story is quite straightforward. You play as the Chosen Undead, given a second chance at glory and life. In the aftermath of a static world populated by dragons, you must slay the lords of old and consume their souls to become the first (second) person to link the First Flame (offering up your body as fuel) and continue the Age of Fire, preventing it from dying out and ushering in a new Age of Darkness. The various intricacies of the world around you, however, are not told through cutscene or gameplay. Instead, you have to read through item descriptions, interact with various locations throughout the world, converse with (or kill) various NPCs, and in many cases, just infer from various environmental clues.

One such example is the story of Havel the Rock. A mysterious figure locked away in the basement of the watchtower leading up to the Taurus Demon. While to many he seems just like a simple poise monster miniboss guarding the Darkroot Basin, he’s actually deeply connected to Gwyn, having fought alongside him in the War against the Ancient Dragons and serving as a bishop for the Way of the White Covenant. From the item description of Great Magic Barrier, you also learn the reason behind Havel’s weapons and armor; he hates magic and was a sworn enemy to Seath the Scaleless, as Seath’s experiments and rituals went against everything Havel stood for.

Havel’s armor is carved entirely from rock and stone, evoking the power of the natural elements to show his disdain for the arcane, and he wields a dragon’s tooth as his weapon, both as a show of strength and a challenge. A simple “gimmick” miniboss is given much more depth through thorough inspection of his design and various items, and is a great example of how Dark Souls rewards the players who are truly curious.

Speaking of Gwyn however, the final bossfight is another beautiful example of how Dark Souls tells stories indirectly, and in this case, how linking the fire affects the linker. Gwyn’s attacks are powerful and fast, but haphazard and reckless, lacking any of the discipline shown in his many battles against the dragons. Additionally, if you were to take a look at his grab attack’s hitbox, it has an extremely lengthy hitbox in front of him, but doesn’t cover any space to his sides. It’s less of a grab and more of a desperate lunge, with Gwyn falling over himself trying to get to you. Furthermore, not once during the entire bossfight does Gwyn use any sort of lightning magic, his trademark form of sorcery. With the fire having consumed so much of his body and his soul split amongst his sons (and bums), being the actual first linker of the fire for over a thousand years (a fact discoverable by talking to Kingseeker Frampt) has taken a heavy toll on Gwyn’s body and mind and fighting him shows the very extent to which this has affected him, as well as what your fate will be should you choose to link the fire afterwards.

Beyond just revealing details about its own story, Dark Souls also sets up intriguing plot points that are expanded on in later games. The best example of this is the city of New Londo, or rather, the flooding of it. Upon initial inspection, it may seem like Gwyn was the one who ordered the flooding. He would have every reason to, as the birth of the Four Kings and the Abyss were the perfect reason to wipe out humanity’s greatest city and set their progress back, as Gwyn feared the development of humanity and seeked to contain them at any cost. Gwyn also had access to a multitude of experienced sorcerers as well as the dam in Darkroot basin, giving him the means as well to flood the area. With access to the means and the reasons, Gwyn is the obvious candidate behind the flooding of New Londo, but this couldn’t have been possible due to one key reason: while in New Londo, you don’t fight Hollows, but rather ghosts. If you speak to the Crestfallen Warrior at Firelink Shrine, he says that New Londo was an Undead City, meaning that it had to have been created after Gwyn marked humans with the Dark Sign and the Undead Curse manifested. However, after the flooding, the humans should’ve come back as Undead, eventually turning into Hollows as time passed on and the First Flame died out again. As you can clearly see however, this isn’t the case, and you’re stuck fighting their ghosts. The only way this is possible and for a human to truly die is if the Undead Curse wasn’t in effect, meaning that the flooding of New Londo had to have occurred after Gwyn linked the fire, meaning that Gwyn couldn’t have been the one to order the flooding. If it wasn’t Gwyn, then who would have ordered the Flooding? If you pay attention closely while exploring New Londo, you’ll notice defiled statues with their heads cut off, suggesting some sort of “Nameless King” could’ve been in charge of the city and made the decision to flood it, some king that could’ve stepped in after Gwyn linked the fire, but unfortunately, this king’s name and actions are lost to the annals of history and may never be recovered again (play Dark Souls 3).

These three examples perfectly illustrate Dark Souls’s distinct style, giving freedom to the players both in their interpretation and consumption of the story. It is up to the player to delve deeper into the story by reading item descriptions and inference, and the amount of detail given allows players to wrack their brains and come to their own conclusions about the various happenings in the Lands Between (Whoops, wrong game). This, combined with its satisfying gameplay and buildcrafting, have led to Dark Souls to be regarded as one of the greatest games of all time.