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| What am I even looking at here, game? |
I'll try to gloss over what I consider the worst of it, but there will be discussion of some of the darkest atrocities imaginable.
Whereas Yhorm had next to no information related to him, Aldrich has almost too much. Having attempted to compile a reference sheet of relevant items, characters, locations, covenants & factions and so on, it's becoming apparent that Aldrich's story will need to be split into at least two parts.
Since Aldrich's story seems to have occurred over a protracted period of time and intermingles with the stories of Lothric, Carim-Thorolund, and Ariandel-Sulyvahn it can be difficult trying to sort pre-firelink events (which I'm attempting to outline here,) from post-firelink events (which will be outlined in a later post).
This post will outline Aldrich's (possibly non-canonical) early career, his ascension to sainthood in the Carim (possibly Thorolund) church, the early Lothric and the Road of Sacrifice, Aldrich's firelinking, and the implications of same. There will also be a discussion on the possible nature of the early Cathedral of the Deep and the merging of Carim and Thorolund.
A (probably much) later post will outline the resurrection of Aldrich, the later Cathedral, the Deep, and Aldrich's ascension to God-Eater.
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| My assumption is the worms didn't show up until later. |
Scryer
But what do you really know about these Lords of Cinder, these supposed legends?
Let's take Aldrich, for one.
A right and proper cleric, only, he developed a habit of devouring men.
He ate so many that he bloated like a drowned pig, then softened into sludge,
so they stuck him in the Cathedral of the Deep.
And they made him a Lord of Cinder.
Not for virtue,
but for might.
Such is a lord, I suppose.
- Hawkwood
I'm going to start with something that probably isn't canon, but is canon-adjacent: the Dark Souls: Breath of Andolus graphic novels published by Titan Comics, written by George Mann with artwork by Alan Quah.
Skip to the next section if you want to avoid spoilers or would just rather not hear about it. It's good by comic book standards, but that's coming from someone that stopped reading comics before Kevin Smith was a thing.
The series outlines the journey of an undead knight, Fira of Harrowmark, and a scryer, Aldrich. The duo pursue a legend involving the founder or former leader of Fira's order, one Baron Karamas.
The legend of Karamas involves the baron slaying the last dragon, the titular Andolus the Wyrm King.
The baron slew the dragon king, burnishing the Flame, and light returned to the lands of Ishra (the larger territory in which the story takes place,) but Karamas was cursed to burn forever, and vanished into history. The body of Andolus was used to create a variety of artifacts and weapons.
We join Fira and Aldrich as they begin exploring the Crystalline Labyrinth, where they seek a dagger fashioned from a tooth of Andolus by an illusionist known as the Dragon Augerer. Inside the labyrinth Fira is assaulted by visions of her past, including a knight that looks a lot like Fan Service. Aldrich is also referred to as a cleric, though he looks nothing like clerics we've seen in-game.
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| Source |
The duo seek to unite the various dragon artifacts that they might resurrect Andolus and slay him again, and thus 're-link' the dying Flame, just as Karamas before them.
Having eventually pried the dagger from the Augerer's dead fingers, the pair move on to the Weeping Forest, where they seek the Everlord and his sword fashioned from a rib of Andolus.
In the forest, the pair are attacked by giant, flaming spiders, who Fira implies were born of the Chaos Flame. The spiders make off with Aldrich, and though Fira doesn't like or trust the scryer, she needs him to continue her journey.
After tracking the spiders to their lair, slaying them, and freeing Aldrich, the Everlord attacks. Aldrich states that the spiders act as the Everlord's eyes in the forest. The Everlord himself is something like an ent, perverted from its role as a nature spirit by what I assume is the Chaos Flame's influence on the forest.
Fira and the Everlord kill each other, causing Fira to respawn at her camp, with Aldrich and the dragon relics nowhere to be found. She does, however, find the enchanted crystal Aldrich uses for scrying, and with it is able to track the cleric to a fallen citadel of the old gods, whoever they were.
Fighting her way inside, she finds Aldrich in a cell, being forced at witchpoint to scry without rest for the Phoenix King, current ruler of the keep. The witch attacks Fira with what looks like Darkmoon magic, and dies with the name of Izalith on her lips. If you've seen some of the more recent Izalith lore stuff then, well, it matches up, coincidental or not.
It's implied heavily that as part of his torture Aldrich was forced to engage in cannibalism, with the further implication that this augmented his gift. He learned the the Pyre, which seems to be the source of the Flame, is to be the next leg of their journey after slaying the Phoenix King and claiming his armor, fashioned from the scales of Andolus.
After accomplishing this the pair make their way to the Pyre, a volcano in a Mordor-esque location. Just before entering the mountain the pair are interrupted by a weirdly-convenient fight between two three-eyed giants and a human warrior wearing armor that matches Fira's. After dispatching the monsters, Fira demands to know where the man stole his armor, as the members of her order are dead or disbanded.
The knight laments that Fira has become so consumed by the curse that she doesn't recognize him, and relates his tale. The big takeaway for our purpose is that Aldrich was able to plant false memories in the hollowing mind of Fira. Fira is understandably upset about this.
Nevertheless, the trio decide that continuing with the cleric's plan to resurrect and re-kill the dragon king is their best course of action, even if the reprieve bought is temporary.
Magic happens and Andolus is reborn. After a protracted battle, the archdragon is grounded by Fira. Just before striking the final blow, Fira is struck by the realization of the futility of it all, and opts to spare the dragon. Aldrich attempts to make the kill himself, but is struck down by Fira. Fira chooses also to spare Aldrich, stating that his magic will sustain him through a long existence of torment.
The knights part ways, and Andolus returns to the Pyre, where his inner monologue informs us that, with its attendant restored, the Fire will slowly begin to wax and, in time, spread warmth and light across the land of Ishra once again.
The End.
I mean, Thee Endeth.
To repeat what I said up top: I don't know that any of this is canon, and my suspicion is that it is not, especially since the credits page has From Software down as like the 27th entry, far below prestigious and I'm sure absolutely critical people that totally aren't human vultures wearing skin suits like the Marketing Manager, and the Senior Sales Manager, and the Senior Marketing and Press Officer, and the Advertising Manager.
The closest credit I can find for a specific person that might have spoken to someone involved with the games themselves is Shuhei Hokari, who seems to be the IP Strategy Director for Bamco.
However, given the nature of the work - and Big M's own willingness to share the fiction with other authors - I'm going to attempt to use it as a kind of framework for a few things. These will be outlined below in order of what I feel is decreasing likeliness.
First and most importantly: the backstory of Aldrich. The comic portrays him as a young but gifted cleric/scryer, even if he inexlicably dresses like a really poor caveman and never mentions any specific faith. It also outlines how he first came by his appetite for the long pig. His scrying rituals are shown to rely on blood and corpses of animals, and were therefore amplified while imprisoned by the Phoenix King. Mechanically, his abilities seem to allow him to foretell his own future in some sense, though in a way suitably vague enough that he can still keep appointments in Samarra.
This talent as a scryer would also explain his prophetic dreams about the Age of Deep Waters and the 'pale, young girl in hiding.'
It may not be the 'correct' explanation for how Aldrich came to be, but it is at least serviceable and met with the Bamco seal of approval, although so did Slashy Souls so whatever.
In brief, Aldrich's cannibalism began under torture and duress while imprisoned by his enemies. Over time the practice, at least for him, became necessity as the fire continued to apparently fade, and eventually crossed a line into monstrous gluttony. This is at least a more satisfying answer than 'one day Aldrich, a cleric, decided to eat people and really liked it.'
Second and probably most interesting for the larger story: Andolus himself implies that the First Flame was an emergent property of dragonkind, and that the hunting of dragons to near-extinction is what caused the Flame to fade in the first place. Therefore, the only real solution to create a sustainable flame would be to resurrect some dragons and wait around for millennia until the Flame slowly recovers or reignites and then don't repeat the Old Lords' mistake.
Third and most speculative: Darkmoon sorcery is descended from the fire sorcery of Izalith, and the art is practiced by heretic/outlaw witches.
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| Deep tales. I'll pay you a dollar if you can translate it. |
Well, now that I've got a nice, probably wrong explanation for where Aldrich came from and how he became a cannibal, we can move on to how he became a saint of either/both Carim and/or the Way of White. And also what happened to the Way of White. And Carim.
And probably I'll need to start talking about Lothric finally. I'll try to keep the account of Lothric's history and influence on the story to a minimum, as this will figure heavily in future posts and will be more thoroughly outlined there, but it's still gonna be assloads. Plus I'm still pretending like this is going to have a chronological order. Or just regular logical order.
Additionally, since we know that these stories overlap to some degree, it's possible that there's some shit like the four main firelinkings (Yhorm, Watchers, Aldrich, Ludleth,) occurring within a month of each other or involving the linking of different Flames or happening in alternate or overlapping timelines/dimensions or something like that. Alternately, centuries may have passed, but I doubt this.
It's my personal belief that the entirety of the Souls world rests on a giant archtree, something like the Norse Yggdrasil, whose branches can behave quite like tectonic plates, with the main difference being that things like High Walls or the twisting of the lands around Lothric can happen quite quickly under certain circumstances. It's not necessarily important to Aldrich's story, but whenever I try to understand the underlying physics of the place that's one of the assumptions I operate under.
Road to Madness
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| "We Astoran nobles really are terrible at heroing." |
Lothric is old and powerful, though they are well into decline by the time we come along. Traces of their influence can be found as far afield as Archdragon Peak and the Ringed City. The Painted World, too, if you group the woman represented by the statue in both archives under the Lothric banner.
We don't know much about the founding of Lothric, but it seems as though it was built upon the remains of a much older kingdom, as places like the Sunken King's Garden and the graveyard around Firelink Shrine have ruins in a much different style than Lothric. My suspicion is that these ruins belong to Astora, which had possibly already fallen by the events of the first game. At the least it had already been ravaged by the Evil Eye, an event that seems to have been fairly apocalyptic in Astora. My primary justification for this 'Lothric is built on Astora' assumption is that it 'feels' right, but also because of things like Lothric being relatively near Anor Londo, the presence of the Elite Knight in the Cemetery of Ash echoing the Drakeblood Knight in Oceiros'... dwelling?, and Anri's fervent desire to visit the fallen kingdom.
Lothric seems to have controlled the Cathedral of the Deep at some point (if it was called that, then,) as evidenced by the presence of the grave wardens and Cathedral Knights in both locations. The Deep is described as having once been a sacred place before it became a dumping ground for 'abhorrent things.' I'll be operating under the assumption that the corruption of the Deep, specifically the 'gnaw worm' infestation, occurred after Lothric lost control of the area, as Lothric is one of the few locations where the worms aren't present.
What we don't know is whether Lothric ever controlled the Cathedral as the Way of White, the Way of Blue, the Carim church, some other faith, or some combination of faiths. We can say that there's evidence of Carim goddesses being worshiped in Lothric (Caitha's Chime and the Red Tearstone Ring are both found in the area). Additionally, Caitha/Carim seemed to have had some kind of influence in Drangleic (Her chime is found in Castle Drangleic in the second game, and Caitha is a DS2 goddess). As Lothric pretty obviously has its roots in the second game it's possible that the Carim faith was the original faith of Lothric, even if it operated under the guise of the Way of Blue (originally a folk religion unique to Drangleic that was apparently overtaken by the Olaph-descended Blue Sentinels).
Convoluted enough, yet? Because I'm intentionally leaving Lindelt out of the discussion just so my damn head doesn't explode.
The Road of Sacrifices was a kind of industry set up by early Lothric to feed victims to Aldrich in preparation for Lordship. This happened before the High Wall appeared. The Road originated in Lothric, traveled through the Settlement, and made its terminus at the Cathedral. This path takes it through upper Farron and would be one explanation as to how Hawkwood came by his understanding of Aldrich.
The Undead Settlement seems to have always been a kind of processing/staging area for the Road, although we can assume its methods and purpose are quite different in the Ashen One's time. What we can say is that there is a statue to Velka - a goddess possibly worshiped in Carim (Oswald) alongside Caitha (Tearstones) and Fina (Lautrec) - in the Settlement. The statue, which can forgive sins and cure hollowing, seems to have been sealed away quite a long time ago. Additionally, Caitha's Blue Tearstone is carried by Greirat, a citizen of the Settlement.
Also in the Settlement is the Pit of Hollows. This may have initially been a dumping ground for sacrifices that failed to make the cut. The reason for that is due to the apparent need for a Champion (potential firelinker) to have a particular 'balance of the humors' in order to succeed in Linking the Flame without causing catastrophe or failure. This balance is never explicitly explained, but is something possessed by, for example, Astoran nobles (Oscar's family was meant to succeed Gwyn,) but not giants, or at least not Vendrick (who seems to have realized this and retreated to the Crypt) or Yhorm (who seems to have not realized this and destroyed his own kingdom). Rather than giants, of course, the unwanted quality could be Manus-tainted Abyss, as both Vendrick and Yhorm were in locations influenced by Children of Dark (Nashandra and the Monstrosities of Sin, respectively).
The Curse-Rotted Greatwood - another type of giant - seems to have grown out of these rejected sacrifices, which presumably included the hollowed Lucatiel of Mirrah and Earl Arstor of Carim. Lucatiel's presence may indicate that hollows were being shipped in from Drangleic and environs, as she would have certainly lost what little hold on herself she had by the time Aldrich came along.
Regardless, we should remember her name.
Arstor, of course, would have been incredibly old, as he's mentioned in the first game, and incredibly evil, and not in the general "Carimites aren't nice to me and therefore evil" sense, but a legitimate mad, torturing bastard. Lucatiel, however, was incredibly noble, but wracked by an inner conflict summed up as 'both harbored and opposed Flame.' From all this we can perhaps deduce that Lucatiel and Arstor were both bad for Aldrich's diet, as far as what it takes to Link the Fire.
As opposed to Anri and Horace.
These two were, of course, children when they were brought to the Cathedral, and perhaps children were brought to Aldrich because they were too young to have fallen under whatever unwanted influence was being selected against. It should of course be noted that Anri may well be descended from Astoran nobility, and therefore would have been someone Aldrich would have wanted to have for dinner.
So, in summary:
- Lothric was founded, in all likelihood, by citizens of Drangleic or environs (Forossa figures heavily).
- Just as Olaphis was founded by Lordranic refugees colonizing Drang, Lothric represents a colonization of Lordran by the descendants of those colonizers.
- The faith of early Lothric was likely tied to Carim, and Carim may have been instrumental in helping the original founders, uh, found the place.
- Lothric, via the Carim Church, originally had control of the Cathedral of the Deep. Whatever its original purpose, it became the terminus for the Road of Sacrifices in an attempt to create a worthy Champion in Aldrich.
- Aldrich's abilities as a scryer would have no doubt helped Carim become or maintain their position as a dominant force in the world.
- The faith of Carim involved the worship of Fina, Caitha, and possibly Velka.
- Aldrich was a picky eater. Or was being kept on a strict diet, one.
- The Pit of Hollows used to be full of Hollows.
A Right and Proper Kingdom
This section will set out to determine the when and why of Aldrich.
Which first requires a discussion of the timeline THE GODSDAMNED TIMELINE. The following will be expanded on in a later post, but needs to be outlined in order to try to piece together the story.
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| This thing seems so out of place. |
Since Aldrich seemingly post-dated the founding of Lothric, we need to determine when this founding was. As stated above, it's my belief that Lothric was founded by Drang colonists.
The earliest this could have occurred would have been at the height of Olaphis' power. The kingdom had unrivaled technology (Helix Halberd,) spellcraft (Straid,) and had sent missions as far afield as the Ringed City (Ruin Sentinels). Additionally, Gwynevere is implied to have been the original Queen of Olaphis, and seems to have been intentionally removed from history in a manner similar to her older brother's fate in Anor Londo. However, I find it highly unlikely that this was when Lothric was founded, as Olaphis was in all likelihood already in decline by the time the Chosen Undead arrived at Firelink in the first game.
Next, would be Sir Yhorm and/or the Drakeblood Knights. The presence of a Drakeblood in the ruins in the Sunken King's Garden is the primary evidence for this, and would have dated the colonization to around or after the fall of Shulva (and by extension Olaphis as a whole). I find this also unlikely as the Drakebloods seem to have no other direct connection to Lothric. However, I do suspect that the founders of Lothric possibly had some kind of ancestral connection to the Drakebloods, if not the 'native' royal line of Drangleic.
Next out would be the Queen of Venn, although I doubt this for reasons obvious to anyone that bothered to read Scholar of Scholar.
The Iron Kingdom of Alken seems unlikely as a candidate, as the King seemed to lack any specific ambition beyond greatness for the sake of greatness, while Queen Mytha seems to have ultimately been behind the rise of Carthus.
Next would be Forossa/Mirrah (but not Jugo for Mytha-related reasons). The three kingdoms fell around the time Vendrick was making his ascent (Vengarl,) and this fall, at least on Forossa's part, was likely precipitated by the loss of two of her generals, Ivory and Lothian. Ivory was discussed extensively in Scholar of Scholar, but Lothian seems like one of the more likely candidates. In fact, I outlined a Lothian-is-Nameless theory in Scholar that went, in brief,
- The Nameless King of Anor Londo was literally stripped of his deific status, and it's his Lord's Soul we find grafted into Seath's belly.
- He was then exiled, after having been reduced to a 'basic' hollow.
- He made his way to Forossa under the name Lothian, joined the military, founded the Lion Knights and Northwarders, and became a general.
- Growing disillusioned with the frailty of mortal foes he quit the field, in search of a legendary dragon to slay. This was perhaps to see if he really had become as powerful as his former self without the benefit of Rich Kid-ism.
- There's clearly justification for him - or somebody from Forossa - being the founder of Lothric, even if Lothian wasn't post-exile Nameless.
Whether or note Lothian was Nameless (it's more interesting than it is likely,) he would have been one of the most likely characters to serve a role in the founding of Lothric. Lothian and Lothric share the same root, obviously. Additionally, Lothian set out to slay a 'legendary dragon,' and Lothric banners can be found in both Arch-Dragon Peak and in the ante-chamber leading to the Midir fight. As a general he would have had enough political power to make the jump to king (especially if he married Gwynevere,) as well as the strategic sense to pull off founding a place like Lothric.
I think Vendrick, and perhaps Aldia, traveled to Lordran, as the Herald makes it seem like Vendrick was the canonical Chosen Undead from the Dark Lord ending of DS1. I don't think they made a return trip, though.
The Cursebearer is an obvious candidate.
Elana is a possibility, especially as she seems to have inherited the Blue Sentinels, although she seems tied more closely to Sulyvahn and, possibly, the Sable Church.
Given what we know it seems, at least to me, that either/both Lothian or Gwynevere were involved with the founding of Lothric, and that Carim helped bring this about, even if at a remove. Gwynevere's alliance with the Carim faith may even have been foreshadowed in the first game, as the tower in Sen's Fortress guarded by Ricard has two treasure chests. One contains a Divine Blessing. The other a Rare Ring of Sacrifice.
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| What've you been up to, Ricard? |
So when was Lothric founded?
If we allow that Lothian was involved, which is still iffy, then the absolute earliest it could have been would be during the War of Three Kingdoms, immediately after Lothian quit the field. This would possibly be sometime late in the rule of the Iron King (some of his 'guests' may have been people of means fleeing the eastern kingdoms as the kingdoms descended into chaos from the war,) or in the period of upheaval that followed (I remember a link between an uptick in bandit activity and the fall of Forossa, but I can't remember where). The Lion Clan were probably human mercenaries descended from the Lion Knights - Vengarl having been a member of both - that were hired by Aldia and commanded by Vendrick when Drangleic was being forged. So if this is so that would seem to put Lothric building a kingdom around the time Vendrick is hypothetically robbing Lordran of the Lords Souls Lothian is hoping to re/claim with the kingdom he's building.
This assumes, of course, that Lothian didn't do a whole lot of planning before setting out, which seems out of character for someone that understands how 'critical it is to exploit a hole in enemy defenses.'
So, Lothric is founded, let's say sometime around the Cursebearer's time, which was quite a long time after Vendrick. The Way of Blue is clearly the religion of the Priestess in the Ashen One's time, and the Sentinels merging with the Darkmoon Blades could have happened early on, from Lothric's perspective. Especially if Gwyndolin - whatever his relationship with Velka and Carim - had been holding down the fort basically single-handedly all these years.
If that had been the case, it seems like they would have been better prepared for an incursion from the Dark Kingdom. Unless Wolnir was the only incursion and my hypothetical colonization of Lordran by Drangleic descendants is actually the conquering of Drangleic descendants by a unified Lothric and Anor Londo.
That seems insanely unlikely, as anything relating to the Cursebearer's journey - the basis upon which Lothric's overall mission seems to have been founded - would have arisen in Lothric at a point long after the kingdom had been established.
So,, Lothric is founded after the Cursebearer becomes King, and Lothric a colony founded by the Dark Kingdom in Lordran. This is my favorite, obviously.
Anyway, more recently.
Lothric builds, or takes over, the Cathedral of the Deep. I'll speculate more on the Deep/Age of the Deep Sea later, but it's important to note that the Deep behaves quite like the Abyss, only in liquid form. This is to say that it is, when left to itself, tranquil, serene, and described as 'sacred,' though certainly dangerous to anyone that lingers too long near it (Dorhys' Gnawing).
The Cathedral seems to have pre-dated Aldrich, or at least Aldrich-as-maneater, according to Hawkwood's dialogue, which states that, after becoming sludge, 'they stuck him in the Cathedral...and made him a Lord of Cinder, not for virtue, but for might.' The referent is unclear, and could refer to the Way of White as much as Lothric/Carim/Way of Blue, but if we allow that all of these religions, save maybe Carim, held Gwynevere to be a central goddess of the pantheon then it might not even matter. Especially when one considers that at some point Carim seems to willingly convert to the Way of White.
This conflict between the Thorolund and Carim churches is one of the most central and vexing to the entire story. Was the merger a political move by Gwynevere and Gwyndolin to help Lothric gain influence in Lordran? Was the Carim faith still devoted to the dark goddesses and merely adopted the White as a puppet institution? Did the merger not happen until after Sulyvahn took power? Was Sulyvahn a member of the Carim faith before the merger? Did the Way of White acknowledge that Lloyd was a fraud, and was this done as part of some kind of negotiation? Was the merger peaceful? Were there battles?
Now, it's worth remembering that, beyond 'cleric,' Aldrich had no official title, or at least there's no record of it. Rather, he was a 'saint.' A saint, in Souls, seems less like a rank in a church - such as deacon or bishop - and more an honorific bestowed by the church on someone with a unique gift (that the church would like to make use of). Irina is ranked as a Maiden, but is also considered a saint because of her proficiency with Dark (or some other reason). Aldrich was almost certainly considered a saint because of his scrying abilities, and these same abilities are no doubt what justified the atrocities that were carried out.
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| Archdeacon McDonnel, probably. |
When one considers this, that Lothric possibly began enabling Aldrich's cannibalism long before the idea of making him a Lord of Cinder presented itself, one can see the entire sordid affair as the proverbial 'one last big score to set us up for retirement and then we're out of the game' scenario with the First Flame.
So why do it at all?
One reason, of course, is because of one of the few truisms in Souls:
There is no path.
There's no way to really tell if some innocuous or ethically dubious course of action taken today, even one based on the best available evidence and subjected to all kinds of risk analysis, will pachinko-ball the actor and their society into a living hell in the near future due to a couple of unknown-unknowns that probably seem obvious in hindsight. It happens literally all the time in the real world.
And then let's say you're trying to found a colony in a legendarily dangerous place while relying on information that's like 1000 years out of date. This information is mostly coming from someone with a tendency to bail when things get thick while taking most of the high command with her. You probably don't have a whole lot of manpower, and most of the natives where you're going will probably try to fight you.
And after you arrive you happen across a cleric that can see into the future, and can see the future quite well provided he's given the right materials.
The problem with knowing the future, one imagines, is that it would be about as helpful as knowing the past when it comes to decisions made in the present.
The core mystery here, as I see it in April of 2018, is that we don't know what firelinking meant to Lothric. The old legends of Lothric talk about firelinking and going beyond death in a way that seems clearly based on Drang mythology. As such, they wouldn't view firelinking as "succeeding Lord Gwyn by gathering and redistributing the Lords Soul at the Kiln," but probably something more like "linking a/the First Flame by producing the right type of 'king' or 'champion' in order to Light or re-Light the Dark."
This, if it holds true, may help explain why it seems as if there are two Flames in Lothric: the original, sacred flame of Gwyn, and the secondary, profaned flame of Izalith/Eleum Loyce. This will be discussed further in a later post, or more likely briefly in every post, but it might be worth considering when and whence Gundyr arrived at Firelink, because at that point the fire had apparently gone completely out, save maybe something like a pilot light in the Kiln.
This brings us to further mysteries of the timeline.
Did Aldrich become a Lord of Cinder immediately after Yhorm? Just before the Watchers? Post Carthus? Was it during a/the period when the flame was 'out,' as when Gundyr arrived? Is this the linking of the Chaos Flame, which almost certainly happened at some point, or the reigniting of the Kiln?
And what about after Aldrich's Firelinking?
Did it cause the gnaw-infestation, or was that the result of something else? Was Aldrich the precipitate for the formation of the Watchers? Was Yhorm's Firelinking an attempt to undo something Aldrich caused?
I'm sure there are answers, but I don't have them. Yet. I have a few suspicions, though, that will have to wait until the next Aldrich post.
Our Lady Of The Merciful Facepalm: or, Why are these statues everywhere?
I kind of SJW-rant tried and probably failed to explain this in Scholar and with the Astora stuff in previous posts, but Dark Souls is low-key a very pro-feminism game in more ways than not, and I feel like a lot of that gets overlooked (or missed completely,) because games journalists don't really have a good frame for talking about it. Or anything, most of them. Plus, and let's be honest here, a large number of the people that play these games don't think about feminism when they play games, and even the ones that do probably don't have the time, patience, or inclination to dig that deep into what is, when you get right down to it, a game that makes poop jokes and intentionally front-burners the 'regressive male empowerment fantasy' stuff.
Like, it's easy to see Anastacia for the first time and be horrified and think "well this game must hate women, or at least not think much of them. Or of them much." Which, sure, that's a valid critique when taken at face value, but I feel like, as with everything in these games, we're meant to consider, to reflect on the horrors we're presented with.
I say that because the Cathedral of the Deep seems to have been a cathedral to some kind of goddess until fairly recently, and there's ample evidence to make a case that some kind of war between/merger of the Carim and Thorolund faith took place here, and further that Velka or Caitha seems like a pretty good fit for whoever Gale's 'merciful goddess' was that later had Way of White manly-stuff-for-men-stuff stamped over her at some point.
There's a series of statues in various places of what looks like a hollow undergoing some kind of Pus of Man transformation, with the 'final' statue looking something like a griffon, wearing a crown, and often depicted holding a crystal that looks much like what the Crystal Sages carry or a torch that looks like what the Profaned Gargoyles carry.
Whoever he is, he is perhaps an illustration of Lothric's religious interest in the Deep; to serve as some kind of lesson for those who would come after. "At the goddess' request you will undergo an incredibly gross transformation, but will eventually become something like an Angel and something like a Dragon and something like a King."
This Ascending King character seemingly starts out as a regular hollow that devotes himself to spreading the Pus of Man, as opposed to containing it (as we see with Londor Pilgrims, who may have come after,) or burning it on sight. The 'beginning' statue, found prominently around the Pit of Hollows, perhaps illustrates the great faith required of the devout for this journey: a man knelt half in prayer and half in despair, with something monstrous growing out of his back.
This is followed by the 'second' statue: the character staring in shock as something very much like a Pus of Man eruption occurs, a secondary creature that seems to be taking over the devout.
The final statues, in Lothric Castle and the Archives, shows a wise (crystal) and brave (torch) ruler (crown) having attained some kind of dragon-like transcendence on the other side.
So the journey flows from the Settlement, with the initial "'praying' to 'Caitha' for something horrible to happen to you'" leg of the journey required for this mission, followed by horror at what's happened in the Cathedral, followed by the strength of dragons, the wisdom of a scholar, and the nobility of a king, on the other side.
Perhaps this was the original 'creation myth' of the Cathedral, pushed by Carim and Lothric, in order to 'sell' Aldrich to people that would think their course obviously crazy and evil. Or they may have legitimately believed that they were ultimately doing a good thing. The Deep Tome makes it clear that it involves a dark tale that grew much darker at some point, and was held as an article of faith for the Deacons over the course of a power struggle the original guys didn't win (Sulyvahn, we can presume, until I think of a reason otherwise).
I don't know if this helps shed light on the more common knowledge about Aldrich, and have no idea how far afield it strays from the truth. But to end on one or more final insane points:
We find Aldrich's Sapphire (blue) in the Cathedral and his Ruby (red) in Irithyll. This probably represents a change of allegiance from a Blue faction (old Lothric: 'matriarchal,' values intelligence, uses puppet institutions, too smart for their own good,) towards a red faction after the resurrection (Sulyvahn's Way of White: 'patriarchal,' values mindless obedience, favors direct and violent resolutions, 'very strong idiots'). This is made extra obvious with Aldrich going on to eat what should have been a Jesus-like hero to the Sentinels, particularly if we assume that Gwyndolin and Velka seemed to be on the same side with the original Darkmoon Blades, meaning that Carim's actions in Lordran in DS1 likely had the blessing of both Gwyndolin and Velka.
We know that Aldrich came upon his vision of the Deep Age while ruminating on the fading of the fire. In all likelihood this took place after the resurrection, as he probably would have done this with the benefit of hindsight and having grown 'disillusioned with his throne.' It was at this point that he came to conclusion that the proper course of action to bring about/survive the Deep Sea would involve eating the Old Gods. I say all this because Aldrich seems to have been called 'Saint of the Deep' before having the vision of the Deep Sea or his followers weaponized Dregs into Deep Soul sorceries. 'Ruminated,' incidentally, is a play on words, meaning both 'thought long about' and 'slowly digested.'
So Aldrich links the fire. What happens then?
And Death Followed
It was used to transport sacrifices to the Cathedral of the Deep.
You should see where it leads.
...If you've the stones for it."
- Hawkwood
Even if Hawkwood is relating pre-Aldrich-Firelinking information here, he makes it clear that the Cathedral is in no way for the faint of heart.
And it would've gotten worse after Aldrich linked the Fire. This seems almost axiomatic.
The discussion whether or not Aldrich ate Nito is quite advanced and people get mad aye eff about it for some reason.
Personally, I don't think Lothric considered the influence of the Dead Soul on their mission. The experts on Death from the second game mostly fell under either Mytha or Elana's factions, and both of them seem to be accounted for elsewhere in the game world. Given the old Way of White's surreptitious interest in Nito's, uh, interests, it may be that whatever Petrus and co.'s mission ultimately was, it was serving a purpose critical to preventing Nito/The Dead from ushering in an Age of Death. As I've repeatedly mentioned in these series: I think the Dead are very much interested in finally getting some peace and quiet.
People say the seeming connections between Aldrich and Nito are unintentional, that Aldrich didn't eat Papa Skellington, and I think that's true. But I also think that Aldrich consumed enough corpses that he attracted the Dead Soul in a manner not unlike the Rotten, who also never had direct contact with Nito.
Aldrich ate a lot of bones. Now, bones generally stay put, but will rise up and fight when they have a purpose, but in general it's not really a thing that happens in DS3 outside of Carthian areas and the Ringed City, which is Somewhere Else. The Settlement is one of few places where the dead still walk, and even then, only the ones that have been sealed away for quite a while.
The Rotten was a 'reincarnation' of Nito, in that the Old Dead Soul - Nito's Lord's Soul - found its way to The Rotten, which was probably made up of the corpses of all the clerics of Olaphis when the revolt happened (see Scholar). That might have happened for reasons related to Nito using miracles and clerics having a weird proclivity for fucking around in catacombs, right?
Further, one of the few places we can find clerics in the second game is in the Undead Crypt, where they've been pressed to service by Agdayne, who seems to have been some kind of 'captain' under Nito.
So, no, Aldrich is not Nito, but he must have consumed a lot of the Dead Soul, whatever the Dead Soul is, and as such can be thought of as a kind of Gravelord Servant, even if he was an unwitting one. Maybe the Dead Soul is related to the Deep, maybe it's Soul Dregs, maybe Soul Dregs are the Deep. We don't know, at least not at this point, but I do feel confident saying that Aldrich 'is Nito' in the same sense that the Rotten and Wolnir 'were Nito.'
If anyone's been following along you've probably realized that I think Nito is possibly the most important of the four lords in the third game, at least in the in-universe time period. I do not think the dead have been patiently waiting their turn. Or, rather, I think they were patiently waiting their turn, but by the time the Cursebearer arrived they had gotten about fed up with everyone's shit.
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We know they occupied the Depths in the first game, as did rats (also found in the Old Settlement and in a Sulyvahn prison,) and that rats are capable of human-level intelligence at least (Rat King).We know these cannibals were banished from Undead Burg, presumably at the order of demons. We know the cannibals seem to have had a 'King' that was a dragon that had picked up some bad eating habits. We know Seath had a channeler in the Depths working with the rats and/or keeping an eye on the dragon.
We know there's a lot of basilisks in the Depths, and that they drop Eyes of Death and cause Curse, like the Deep does (Deacons boss fight, Deep Accursed). On the other hand, I don't recall any basilisks being in the original Catacombs or the Tomb of Giants.
We know that the thing the cannibals of the Depths feared was the infestation in Blighttown. That's maybe gonna figure into the later Aldrich/Cathedral post where we deal with the gnaw worm infestation.
We know, in retrospect, that the slimes in the Depths must have made their way down from where the Butchers have their mess hall near where we find Laurentius.
Shifting to the second game, we find the Covetous Demons who seem to be cannibals that have bloated, but perhaps not yet 'softened into sludge.' Their title of 'demon' may tie into the fact that creatures relating to cannibalism are generally referred to as such in the second game, rather than creatures of Chaos as in the first game. The Demon of Song, for example, uses song (obviously,) an art-form the Milfanito credit to the 'one who gave us the first death' to lure in victims. Both the Covetous and Song demons displayed some form of cannibalistic behavior, although other 'demonic' characters did not, or not explicitly, such as Forsalle, a high-ranked Lindelt Cleric, Caitha, who was called a demoness by her detractors, and the Smelter Demon, an uncontrollable puppet created by King Alken.
In the third game we find cannibal slimes in a variety of locations, mostly related to Aldrich. A popular theory has it that these are Aldrich, in that they're pieces of him that have fallen off or detached from the main body, and a further hypothesis has it that the Silver Knights we fight in Anor Londo are actually empty suits filled with Aldrich sludge.
We also find these slime creatures in the Demon Ruins. These slimes are embered - as is everything down there, lending credence to the theory that the Chaos Flame was linked in lieu of the First Flame at some point - and seem to be feeding on the corpses of the Old Demons that litter the area.
And, of course, we also find out that a giant cannibal slime was used, probably by early Lothric, to link the Fire.
So why do it?
Maybe we'll see.
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| He really likes people that really like people |
Right, so that leaves...most of the game still ahead of us. The next post might be about the Painted Worlds and Sulyvahn's path to power, as those both tie into the Way of White.
