Prisoner of Ash: A Curse Revisited

This is the one about Farron's Abyss Watchers.

And also Oolacile/Darkroot/Dusk/Manus. In part. And also Astora because I need to put it somewhere and here seems suitably aspirational.

Artorias, in the third game, has been mythologized to such a degree that his story seems to be synonymous with the story of both the Chosen Undead and Pharis, a likewise mythologized figure that was originally tied to Alvina's Forest Hunters. Pharis, in the second game, had become known as Evlana, goddess of the hunt, who seemed to be a blend of both Pharis and Alvina.

This clouding of Artorias' narrative first began with Elizabeth, one of very few that knew the truth of what happened to Artorias, and the only one whose council would have been heeded by any Anor powers. Gough literally didn't see anything, Ciaran faded from History, Dusk was insensate, and Chester was probably from Carim.

Elizabeth describes herself as the guardian of the Oolacile Sanctuary (but not the Sanctuary Guardian, if you see what I mean,) 'something of a godmother to Princess Dusk,' and 'one with the sorceries of Oolacile.' In DS2 she's credited as being the saint responsible for, basically, inventing medicine. These tales, that appear in the troche items, among other places, claim that her virtue was matched only by her beauty, which is true because she's a fuckin racist.

Which is not to say all mushroom people are racists. But Elizabeth sure was.

Anyway, it's Elizabeth's mother-knows-besting that likely leads to Artorias eventually becoming mistaken as the first Chosen Undead by the populace at large, since the Player Character would have been virtually anonymous in Lordran and, having traversed the Abyss twice, was already impersonating Artorias to a large degree.

As a further example of this twisting: it was the Chosen Undead that slayed Sif, leaving the 'Wolf's Blood' to eventually be found by the Legion in honor of Artorias, whose tainted blood they may have inadvertently drank.

Artorias was described by Elizabeth as 'having nary a murmur of Dark,' with the implication being that this meant that, since he wasn't even a little bit human, he stood no chance against the deeper Dark of Manus' poisoned Abyss, as humanity seems to act as a vaccine against the corrosive Dark Fog effect, at least to an extent.

At some point long before Oolacile, Artorias slayed the original, ancient Darkwraiths, who were said to be able to drain the humanity of a 'replete saint' in the blink of an eye. This art - with the surprisingly straightforward name of Lifedrain - was forbidden by the gods of Anor Londo, as the one thing they absolutely could not tolerate was non-clergy stockpiling humanity, especially for potentially Dark Lord-y purposes.

In order to combat this, Artorias made covenant with the creatures of the Abyss so that the Wolf Knight could become the Abysswalker. Little else is known about this story, save that it was probably the event that caused Gwyn to 'tremble at the Dark' and 'resist the course of nature,' as Kaathe describes the emergence of the original Dark Lord as having been in a past much more distant than New Londo, and that this Dark Lord was cheated of their throne by the coward Gwyn.

When Manus was slain the Abyss Chasm that was produced began to dissipate. This corrosive, twisted Darkness began to spread below ground as pockets of Dark. Eventually a new form of Humanity arose from these shrines as fragmentary reincarnations of the tortured corpse of the pygmy lord the Ool Sages experimented on.

These Children of Dark played integral roles in shaping the history of Drangleic (and by extension places like Forossa and Lindelt).

As for the original pygmy/primeval human that became Manus:

• They may have gone on to become an Angel
• They may have been the corpse of the original Dark Lord referenced by Kaathe.
• They may have been a pygmy lord from the Ringed City brought back as part of either the Ool Mission or as part of whatever deal Gwyn struck with the Pygmy.
• The pygmy was dead when Ool began their experiments, meaning that there was a necromantic aspect to their work.

In the third game we return to Oolacile many, many years later.

Farron

Farron is what became of Darkroot. That's fairly obvious, of course, but it's important to remember that a kingdom, of sorts, rose and fell in the interim.

After the fall of Oolacile, when the area became known as Darkroot, we found a band of Forest Hunters that acted as grave wardens for a legendary hero. These hunters were mostly undead itinerants - bandits, outcasts, and the like - and as such the title of Forest Hunter would have been one of the few an undead in Lordran would have been able to openly aspire to that didn't involve actively working against other undead or humans.

Ironically, the problem with being a grave warden in these games is that you end up creating a great many new graves that then have to be watched.

Put a pin in this, he's important.

These Hunters were led by Alvina ("Elf Friend,") a cat that has existed since the early Age of Fire. She speaks in a tongue so flowery and archaic that a good number of people need to consult a wiki before answering her questions.

When encountered she tells us that the legend of Artorias is a fabrication (not in the 'Elizabeth lied' sense, but in the 'it never happened' sense,) that traversing the Abyss is a fairy tale, and that we shouldn't waste our time looking for his grave.

If we answer her questions correctly she offers us membership with the Forest Hunters, who hunt down intruders and grave robbers. The Hunters mostly only follow one rule: the clan is family, never double-cross another Hunter.

Other Hunters of note are Shiva the weapon collector and the legendary archer Pharis, who 'ranked alongside Hawkeye Gough' despite being human [HEY LOOK AT THIS, FOOL . 

Eventually, a larger order seems to have emerged in Darkroot after the Chosen Undead came through. This city, or state, or city-state, was called Farron. The ruins we find in the third game belong to an advanced civilization, and the presence of the mushroom people would have meant that the people of Farron would have had access to what seems to be the most advanced medicine and 'pure' sorcery in existence.

It was probably a nice place for a while, is what I'm saying. Certainly it was nice by Souls standards. I wish we knew more about it.

Because a very old curse emerged from some very old graves, and Farron would go to war.

Legion
A couple of points:

• The Undead Legion predated the Abyss Watchers, and included more than the Abyss Watchers, though the Watchers were certainly the most proficient of the various groups that made up the Legion.
• I won't be discussing the Ghru until later, other than to point out that they're descended from the Legion acolytes.
• Heysel will also be discussed later, but I need to point out that she was the daughter of the head acolyte and is closely tied to Farron, and after betraying her family may have attempted to rebirth herself as a copy of either Elizabeth or Dusk[THIS IS GARBAGE GO HOME - FM].

The Forest Hunters watched the grave of the original Abyss Watcher and, in a sense, were the original Undead Legion.

Sworn to a wolf that speaks through a cat in a human tongue. A kingdom of itinerants and thieves made into a family with one rule:

The family is all.

So where's Alvina's stand in in the third game?

As time progressed the Darkroot Hunters coalesced into the Undead Legion. Probably the Hunters languished during an ahistorical peace during a kind of High Farron. As time further progressed, the Legion became less concerned with protecting their land and fallen 'kin,' and more concerned with combating the Abyss.

So why the change?

The Black Fog of Manus dissipated after the fall of Oolacile, meaning that that particular curse left Darkroot/Farron, to reappear in Drangleic in various forms.

The end result of these forms was a country that had been at war with itself for so long that the largest army was made up of the dead, who eventually united the entire continent under the banner of Carthus.

And by chance, these conquerors found their way to Izalith, almost directly underneath Farron.

Carthus slayed the demons, or what remained of them. The piles of demon corpses we find littering the area are testament to the ruthlessness of the Dead.

Bear in mind: not even Gwyn could conquer the children of Chaos, and in the first game the demons seem to be attempting to take over Undead Burg [no, they control it, but it's debatable if the Servant faction was cut off from Quelaag - fm].

In the second game the Chaos Flame was altered by Ivory and Alsanna, in defense of the lands of men. We don't know what effect this had on Izalith, but it may have been the catalyst for things like the death of the Fair Lady, who seemed, in the first game, to be about the business of converting humanity into demon eggs.

What we do know is that due to the actions of Ivory and Alsanna (and possibly also the Cursebearer,) the Chaos Flame took on properties described in the third game as 'profane,' and that I can only describe as 'like a black hole, but for heat.' Andre, when given the Profaned Coal, describes it as having the Abyss in it, so it may be that Alsanna had more of an effect on the Old Chaos than Ivory. I'll talk more about the Profaned Flame in later posts.

Carthus had the good fortune of not only facing an Izalith much weakened, but of happening upon a Lordran completely unprepared for an attack. Whatever resistance the demons would have mounted would have been relatively minimal in the face of Death Itself. From here, Carthus set her sights on the lands above.

The Undead Legion, or something like it, predated Carthus' arrival in Lordran, and with the arrival of Wolnir's forces the Legion was likely the only existing force capable of mounting a serious opposition to the skeleton hordes.

There's no clear indication of it, but we can assume that by the time Carthus and Farron clashed Wolnir had already discovered the Black Snake, creating a vector for the Curse of Manus to re-infest Farron in a literal, as well as metaphorical, sense.

Sorry to bury the lead there.

Farron, of course, triumphed, but likely only because of Wolnir's fall. The Cart forces were driven back underground, and their crypts sealed.

Watchers

The Abyss Watchers, who I imagine were the best of Farron's best, gained their power from what they think was the blood of Sif, the wolf that served alongside Artorias [YES THEY KNOW WHO SIF IS THANK YOU].

Maybe it was. I doubt it, but maybe.

Source, or Why I Miss Bonfire Ascetics Reason #17

This Wolf's Blood...can best be described in terms of the Healing Blood of Yharnam, but this isn't about Bloodborne. It granted the Watchers powers. Among these was the strength to face the creatures of the Abyss, to fight effectively as a pack with an almost psychic connection to other Watchers, to channel flame, to wield greatswords with the speed and grace of curved swords. And all at the low, low price of eventually succumbing to the very thing they hoped to prevent.

They valued literal strength, as evidenced by the Heavy Gem, and contrasted with Carthus' use of Sharp Gems. They foreswore shields, opting instead to rely on an off-hand dagger specialized for parrying and shield-pulling.

Joining the Legion was a relatively simple affair that involved the prospective Legionnaire symbolically defeating the three 'Great Ones' - Izalith, Nito, and Seath - in emulation of 'Artorias.' Surviving as a Legionnaire, on the other hand, was quite an ordeal.

They were described as a caravan - a group of travelers united by a common purpose - and Hawkwood implies that they've buried more than one kingdom. This would seem to indicate that, after the discovery of the Wolf's Blood and the vanquishing of Carthus, the Legion set out to quash Abyssal outbreaks anywhere they could be found, a far cry from the original mission of the Forest Hunters.

They were said to have 'acted in the dark.' This could have several meanings.

• They dated to the Dark Age or
• The Dark had grown so thick due to Gwyn's perverted Age of Light that it was literally always dark, similar to the Untended Graves area.
• They traversed the Abyss a la Artorias and the Chosen Undead from the first game.
• They were ignorant of the effects their actions were having.
• They were pawns being used to further the ends of whatever person or group oversaw the Undead Legion.

All or none of those could be the case. Eventually, of course, the tainted blood of Sif or Artorias or Whoever began to betray them.

Arise ye lords of edge

The Abyss of Manus could not be contained, not by playing whack-a-mole with its incarnations. Realizing that this was, to a large degree, an exercise in futility, that the poisoned Dark of Manus would seemingly always re-emerge, taking new shapes and finding new power to twist to its own ends, the Watchers' tactics became more and more ruthless. Rather than re-evaluating their overall strategy, the Watchers doubled-down, shifting to what the Blood Ministers of Bloodborne would call 'preventative medicine.'

Eventually it infected the Watchers. Well, it had infected them from the beginning, but the side effects became more and more apparent and prevalent the longer they were exposed.

This gave rise to a new faction in the Undead Legion: the Followers.

The Followers arose to watch the watchmen, as it were. An Abyss Watcher driven mad by warped humanity (or, in keeping with the philosophy of prevention: was suspected of possibly being susceptible to being driven mad at some point in the future,) would have been incredibly dangerous, as it's implied that a handful of Watchers could have felled a kingdom. If one of these one-man siege engines was dangerous, imagine one augmented with the power and speed of Manus after their humanity ran wild.

Hunting a Watcher, therefore would have been a likewise incredibly dangerous task, even if they were still human. The Followers - who also took heavy inspiration from wolves - devised a system that allowed them to hunt their former comrades relatively effectively. This involved lead defensive warriors armed with spears and shields boxing the Watcher in, at which point offensive units would move in with sabers and torches. When the Watcher fell they were given an 'honorable send-off' by means of a spear thrust through them and into the ground. This show of respect - a weapon thrust into the earth - seems fairly wide spread in the game-world. The Followers will probably be discussed more in the Ariandel section in a later post.

A final point: this method of dispatch would have led to the Wolf's Blood being drained into the soil of Darkroot/Farron and, as someone that used to specialize in irrigation, drainage, and water management: nobody ever thinks about drainage until it's too late. People be having their yards sloped towards their house like 'what, this foundation? Why would I care if it's constantly wet? I'm gonna put a sprinkler head in a depression so it doesn't really water anything and then the runoff eats a hole in it IDGAF mister.'

I'm not saying this is the Profaned Capitol but it looks a lot like the Profaned Capitol. Note the gatehouse with circular towers on either side.

The Legion was falling apart. The Abyss was spreading. Something had to be done.

The remaining Watchers realized that the only solution yet untried was to link the flame, to burnish the sickly light of Gwyn's flame in an attempt to drive out or weaken the Dark of Manus.

Except they were using something very much like the Blood of the Dark Soul to fuel Gwyn's Flame.

In the land of the Gods the Age of Light cannot end, no matter how dark it gets, and when the Abyss Watchers linked the flame Lordran became darker still.

Farron became a festering, poisonous swamp. We don't know much of what else the period of the Abyss Watchers firelink involved, but it can be assumed that none of it was good, as the Watchers seem to have unwittingly accomplished what Nashandra set out to accomplish in Drangleic.

As an aside: the crucified Ghru have hoof hands, which may be related to why they were strung up.

This Age of False Dark would have been a nightmare for almost everyone, and the only saving grace would have been that it probably didn't last long.

Astora 1

Regrettably, I have failed in my mission, but perhaps you can keep the torch lit. There is an old saying in my family: 

Thou who art Undead, art chosen. 

In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum,

maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords. 

When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, 

the fate of the Undead thou shalt know. 

Well, now you know. And I can die with hope in my heart.

The Chosen Undead was supposed to be from Oscar's noble Astoran bloodline. That's the tl;dr of the first game. Astora is a land whose nobles are related to Gwyn's family, and is the country outside of Lordran most directly connected to Anor Londo, despite what Thorolund would like us to believe.

Gwyn's intent was for someone like Prince Ricard or Oscar to undergo the journey of the Chosen Undead and link the fire, but Ricard was destined to follow a Lightning Spear narrative, while the rest of the nobility either weren't interested (Andre describes people attempting to access Anor Londo or Oolacile 'lunatics,') or complete balls at fighting (Oscar, corpse in Valley of the Drakes, corpse in Darkroot Garden).

Big Pilgrim's Key – Oscar was carrying this, and was carrying it when he left Astora. The Asylum Demon picked it up when it squashed him. If you kill the Demon unarmed Oscar still has it. Oscar is the pilgrim, and it's the key to what seems to be the main and only door to the 'outside,' such as it is.

Oscar also gives us his Estus Flask. Estus flasks are described as 'precious,' and their creation apparently involves the use of a lot of humanity. The Firekeepers' Souls used to reinforce them are done so by apparently transmuting the Keeper's Soul (a heavy concentration of humanity/the Dark Soul) into the Estus Flask to enlarge it, rather than the Soul being used to strengthen the Estus created at the bonfire, or something. In subsequent games shards of broken flasks are used in the same fashion.

I say this because the mechanics are reversed in the first game, and I'm pretty sure it's an oversight or one of the few examples of gameplay contradicting lore. Firekeeper Souls give the Flask+ effect, meaning that the flask is collecting more potent estus, while offering humanity as kindling gives more uses, meaning it makes the flask literally bigger.

In two and three, flask shards – which can be thought of as petrified firekeeper souls, in that they're made from the same stuff – are used to make the flask bigger and grant more uses. Bone dust is used in the sequels to give the Flask+ effect, meaning more potent Estus.

Oscar's shield would seem to indicate he expected to take magic damage. This may connect to Seath, as the crystallized hollows guarding the Archives carry a 'blue' shield sold by Andre. The Caduceus Kite Shield seems to be...christ, hold on...

The Knight starting class starts with the Tower Kite Shield. This shield is functionally identical to the Caduceus Kite Shield, with the design being the only difference. The Knight's set describes the character as 'low ranking.'

So, if the TK shield is a shield for a low-ranking Astoran Knight, then so might the CK shield be. The difference could relate to a Tower being a symbol for defense and a Caduceus being a symbol for messengers (Caduceus means 'herald's staff'). So, in Astora, you would have (at least) two orders of these low-ranking knights. Tower Knights were probably something like the city guard, police, or defensive militia, while Caduceus Knights were those sent abroad on missions or attached to the military.

Red and Blue, as always.

The designs on the C and T shield are far less ornate than the crests of other Astoran Blue Shields, particularly Oscar's. This could be because they belong to knights of a lower rank, but could also indicate more primitive designs. The CK shield is described as 'ancient,' for example.

So, Astoran nobles have been making attempts to fulfill the Chosen Undead prophecy for a very long time. Gwyn, seemingly, wanted one of them to eventually succeed, while Seath would seem to want them to fail. Not in the same sense that 'Seath's crazy and wants everyone but Seath to fail,' but Seath seems to have specifically targeted CKS bearers.

This information would seemingly place Astora far back on the timeline. We knew that the land had already been ravaged by the Evil Eye in Oscar's time, but this would seemingly make it clear that the Astoran nobility predated the Firstborn being crowned king of Anor Londo, as they seem to have at some point been in somewhat direct contact with Gwyn.

In other words, Astora may have at one point known more about Anor Londo than Anor Londo knew about Anor Londo because Anor Londo made such a habit of forbiddening their own history.

That Astoran nobles are related, possibly literally related, to Gwyn's family is particularly interesting because Astorans are otherwise humans/pygmy.

Let's say Ricard and Oscar are examples of the nobility, while Solaire and Andre are examples of commoners. Clearly Andre and Soliare are physically capable of kickassing their way to the First Flame and doing whatever they want with it, but Andre chooses not to, and while Solaire seemingly does link the flame he doesn't really understand why, mostly because he is a very strong idiot.

Ricard and Oscar, on the other hand, fail-stated at Sen's and Northern Asylum, respectively, like a couple of games journalists, and while Ricard eventually moved on, it wasn't as someone attempting to link the flame. Oscar seemed almost relieved to go hollow at the start of his adventure, especially since we happen along to assuage his cowardice-based guilt.

Contrast this, and the other Elite Knights we find around the area, with someone like Andre, who just legit want to help strangers because it makes them happy and has no grander ambition than to be allowed to do what he's good at: forging weapons and helping travelers.

Consider also Solaire: a brave and stalwart knight soaked in a tragic loneliness, a gay/bi-sexual man undergoing a kind of mid-life crisis after having been brought up in the undoubtedly hideous Dark Ages-ass culture of Astora during or after the hardships of the Eye. Despite being raised in a culture that would have been rank with homophobia, a place that would have given him every reason to grow bitter and nihilistic and spiteful, Solaire still manage to be absolute gold, to literally outshine the sun. These, rather than the nobility, are the things that mark Astora's greatness.

So what does all this mean?

We can assume that Gwyn knew that eventually the Dark Age had to happen, so when it did, he wanted it to be as controlled as possible. This could be why Gwyn allied himself with Astora to such a degree that they were involved with the creation of the bonfire system, with Astoran nobles being possibly related to the gods of Anor Londo (as well as being human): Prince Ricard, or someone matching his description, was supposed to link the flame until the time came when they were then supposed to usher in the Dark Age under the guidance and control of Gwyn's descendants.

Except it never worked out that way. Gwyn's kingdom fell to civil war, Astora fell to the Evil Eye, and everyone who survived has a much less complete understanding of Gwyn's Plan than they did before.

Even so, Astoran nobles still hand down the tale of the Chosen Undead, a champion meant to rise from their bloodline, ring the bell of awakening, and learn the truth about undeath.

BALLS YEAH IM CULTURED I BEEN TO A MUSICAL

Moving Forward
As I said above, there will be further discussion of Farron in a later post, which will discuss, among other things, Heysel, the Watchdogs, and the nature of Ool sorceries.

As always, if you're reading an early version of this (01/26/2018,) it will probably change over time.

Some final points about Farron's Undead Legion:

• I have no idea when the Crystal Sage joined them, but assume it was after the firelinking.
• Likewise I have no idea when, where, or how the Ghru, beyond being descendants of the Legion's acolytes, but also assume it was after the firelinking.
• The mushroom people probably had an amicable relationship with the people of Farron.
• The 'red skull' magic used by the Elder Ghru is similar to Gael's magic during his second phase. They are implied to be the spirits of dead warriors.
• The Followers and the Watchers wore peaked helmets. Hodrick wears a similar helmet, implying that whatever holy order he was/is a part of could be related to Farron. Gael, similarly, may have a pointed helm under his hood.
• Chester uses the word 'Juniper' as a mild swear. It could be that Juniper is a regional variant of Jennifer, itself a regional variant of Gwynevere.

The next post will outline Yhorm and the Profaned Capitol. [The 016 post of Ashen Idols is a direct follow up to this one]