AI 018 - In the Clutch of Crows

This took like two weeks longer than it needed to because there's like two pictures you need for a post like this and it took me two weeks to realize that I could just put whatever in.

Beyond Fight or Flight

The Clutch rings are a set of four elemental rings found in the DS2 DLC areas and scattered around various DS3 base-game locations. THEY ARE IMPORTANT but I have no idea why. I'm gonna talk about where we find them, then what I think they are, and then how they fit into the narrative.

Fire Clutch

The clutch of fire is deep inside Eleum Loyce. The chest we find it in is on more-or-less full display in the room with the three facsimile giant golems guarding the Nil curved sword. You need to melt the ice to even access the area which is enough of a pain-in-the-ass without then running the gauntlet of retainers, spellswords, rampart golems, and chain-spawning Nekkid Iron Golems. It's almost as bad as the hedgehogs, which are almost as bad as the horses. I'm at the point I like the horses, though [hahah ha hah aha ha]

So, the ring is really hard to get to as well as being a relatively hard-to-find secret treasure in a technically optional area past the Loyce Knight (the actual secret treasure we're there for). 

I know what you're thinking: are the fac. golems animated by the same principles as the rampart golems and the answer is no and also don't ask that question because we're talking about the clutch ring here.

You'll notice a kind of pattern with these rings. They hide themselves from their enemies, and when they are captured they turn the situation to their advantage. Presumably they position themselves in a way that best acts as a lure for the crestfallen.

The rings want skilled hands, though. 

Given EL's relationship to Chaos, it's difficult to pick one or two characters that may have been the crestfallen pyromancer to bring the ring to the north in the first place.

In the third game we find the fire clutch ring early on, but it involves poking around in a dangerous area so it's easy to miss. The Settlement and EL are opposites in terms of their philosophical relationship to fire. EL, obviously, was all about keeping the flame of an old religion squelched, while UDS is all about lighting fires with a fervor born of pyromania.

The nearby gatehouse is where we find Cornyx and, later, the body of Cuculus, with the possible implications being that the ring was luring or had lured one of the two. 

Lightning Clutch

Within the wall of Shulva, when we begin the journey from the Dragon's Sanctum to the Cave of the Dead, we find the Lightning Clutch guarded by two priestesses. This could fit in with the theme of the brightest lights existing in the darkest places, as with Darklurker & the Dragon Chime or Nashandra & her bow.

When we open the door to the "inner chamber," we first find a room with two Priestesses and a bunch of chests. Apart from the Lightning Clutch the chests contain dried roots. 

Dried Roots and a lot of sexy

I've previously outlined my thoughts on Carim's involvement with Elana's church, because of things like the Denial and Promised Walk miracles. This church is known to the outside world as the Archdrake Sect of Lindelt. Just as the surviving sorcerers and pyromancers of Olaphis founded the Melfian school, the surviving clergy of Olaphis founded the Archdrake Sect. Elana is the matriarch of the Archdrakes, as well as the rightful queen of Olaphis to anyone still pulling for Olaphis.

Given the presence of her priestesses in the room with the clutch makes it clear that Elana knows what she has. That she has priestesses guarding it rather than knights lines up with the 'lure for crestfallen' thing: the Sanctum Knights are obviously not having a crisis of faith and are therefore not crestfallen and not of interest to the ring. The priestesses, however, know what the ring is and know that it is in their personal interest (and the interests of Olaphis more broadly,) to out-Tranquilize the lure until they can locate a suitably malleable crestfallen to take the mantle of Lightning Clutched.

Metaphorically, the Clutch could to represent the Archdrake Sect being a 'weapon of light' secretly wielded by agents of Dark. Past here you fight Rockshield Baldyr, who, well, you can look at his gear. While you're at it check out the Gank Squad's gear.

In the third game we find the ring just around the corner from the main gate leading to the first Ancient Wyvern. The corpse holding the ring is guarded by a lesser serpentman, who apparently killed the previous Clutched, but it's unclear if the serpentman is aware of this in the same way the priestesses in Shulva were aware they were guarding a treasure of Caitha or whoever.

As to potential ringbearer/s...

There are a lot of candidates, as the second and third game Path of the Dragon covenant is tied to Kalameet, which means basically any paladin with any dragonslaying-or-riding ambitions. As if FTH builds weren't already hard-enough mode.

Magic/Sorcery Clutch

The DS2 version is found in a dogleg on the final bridge just above the Fume bossfight. The bridge is a very golem-y area, with Possessed Armors, an Iron Warrior, and, of course, the numerous giant Old Knights. 

It's presence seems completely idiosyncratic, as Nadalia seems very FTH based and is obviously a product of fire and dark. But then there's a chaos pyromancy hidden in Tseldora, a very wizardy place, so this kind of thing isn't unheard of.

Plus we can summon Carhillion, real name Carrion. If you read Scholar you'll recall I frame the Melfian Academy as having a very Boomer-Xer-Millennial generational dynamic, as explained through the -plate rings and Rosabeth's accounts of Carhillion and Glocken (derived by way of German from the Latin clocca, meaning 'bell').

Unrelated, it's just damn near impossible to get a screenshot of this thing's face

Carrion may have been the Clutched that brought the ring to the tower. Conversely, the Clutch may have lured him to the tower, at which point Nadalia -- whose influence seems a lot stronger but maybe shorter-ranged -- overpowered the ring.

He, Carrion, like Logan, became disillusioned with academic life and set out to find the Source and Glory and Enlightenment and he, like Logan, vastly overestimates his own abilities and he, like Logan, turned out to be a dumb, sexist old man who would have perished decades ago were it not for the scourge of tradition.

Logan, before he went crazier, was locked in a cell with a firekeeper's soul and two mutated handmaidens of Gwynevere. There was a lifetime of research right there, but Logan, even though he despises the academy, thinks knowledge comes from books and not the things books are about. 

We don't know why Carrion came to Brume, beyond him generally behaving like the kind of person that made 'ok, boomer,' a thing.

The Clutch ring itself is being guarded by Nadalia, as is all of Brume Tower. We know that the Smelter Throne of Brume was very important to the mythology of...well, somebody in Irithyll, which makes it interesting that we find the third game version of this ring in a dogleg around the corner from Nameless' Throne.

The third game version is found just before the Church of Yorshka bonfire. The main road we enter by terminates in front of a large throne-like structure. A corpse on the structure holds the Ring of the Sun's Firstborn, and a corpse at its base holds a Lightning Gem. This would seem to indicate that this is meant to be some kind of shrine to the Firstborn, located beneath the Church of Sulyvahn (formerly Gwyndolin). In NG+ the CHLORANTHY Ring +1 can be found behind the throne. The Magic Clutch can be found behind an illusory wall off to the side.

Dark Clutch

There's a roof in Eleum Loyce with three frozen treasure chests protected by a...it's like an advanced Seath-type multi-weapon golem from what I can tell. The chests contain the Sorcerer's Twinblade, a Divine Blessing, and a Soul Vessel. The Dark Clutch is on a corpse next to a tree off to the side of the roof. 

The Twinblade states that it was rarely used by Melfian warriors owing to its reliance on skill (because it's a trash weapon). The Divine Blessing states that 'in every age there are those who refuse to see reason. It is their meddling that distorts the truth." This would seem to be in reference to Melfia's Gwynevere denialism in the face of stuff like Divine Blessings. The Soul Vessel I assume is meant to imply that someone, probably some kind of oddball from Melfia underwent some kind of psychological, and maybe literal, rebirth regarding Gwynevere.

The Dark Clutch is apparently just minding its own business around the corner from a kind of shrine to one of Gwyn's elder children, same as the Magic ring.

In the third game the Dark Clutch can be found in a DS2 mimic. Approaching the ring results in several basilisks entering the sewer pipe, trapping the player between them and the exit. The tunnel itself seems to be distinct from the rest of the dungeon in several ways. The basilisks, obviously, but we find rats as well, andwe pick up the legendary Pickaxe just as we enter the tunnel, implying that the workers-disguised-as-jailers we fought on our way in may tie in to the area. Across from the Mimic is a normal chest containing the Old Cell Key (Seigward's cell).

It's not relevant to the Clutch Ring discussion, or maybe it is, but I just want to point out that whoever put the key there put Seigward where he is, as well as the Covetous Gold Ring, and possibly even had the rapey scab ratfuck Prisoner Chief murdered.

I mean, maybe, right?

One of the big plot points in this area that doesn't get commented on much is that the jailers, as a group, or at least some of them, appear to have double-crossed the Prisoner Chief, who we find dead and locked in his own cell.

The main collective of Jailers seem to be concerned with guarding the lowest level of the main dungeon, particularly Karla, and we find them, the Jailers, working with the infested prisoners in the upper levels. I mean the infested could just leave if they wanted, most of their cells aren't even closed.

Is this how Sulyvahn wants things? I can't imagine so but, yknow, he's an insane evil genius tree monster that grew up in an extra-dimensional prison colony, his reasoning is difficult to parse.

Grasping

The Clutch Rings, associated with one of the 'darker deities,' increase damage output of the relevant element, at the cost of lowered physical defense. A 'Londor fable' talks about the rings being 'lures' that 'reach out to the Crestfallen, who might otherwise be overcome by despair.'  The rings depict a tiny jewel being clutched in a talon.

It's obviously a standard Soulsian blessing/curse arrangement. Narratively, it might mean something like the dark deity bestowing the blessing on a prospective champion. Giving this blessing might even curse the goddess herself in some sense, leaving them weak or exposed. Generally something like this is the trade in any conflict. 

I suspect that each ring tells a different story, but that each story is an echo of the other. I'll now fail to try to outline this.

The general idea is that, as with the Sorcerer's Twinblade or Cuculus' mad attempt on the Demon King: the weapon doesn't make the legend, the legend makes the weapon. Killing Gwyn with a broken straight sword is a higher glory than killing him with a +15 zweihander. 

THIS IS A RIDDLE

This is expressed historically in Souls, at least in part, by the movement of Great Smiths. When Anor Londo lost Help Anytime I Gwyndolin had to come out of hiding and lead her people or she'd have no people left to lead. Vendrick would have Llewellyn at any cost because Vendrick knew having a great smith meant the difference between Good Rome and Bad Rome. Who do we find suspiciously just hanging out at DS3 Firelink when we show up? Nobles and clergy. And a pretty great smith. 

But the thing is: having good weapons, for whatever reason, leads to bad swordsmanship. In the 1980s in the United States you could buy literally a functional sword for like thirty bucks, probably still can, and you will find no people in all of history with a worse understanding of basic swordsmanship than the average US citizen. On the other hand you look at places in Central and South America or really dig into the 'who's who' of Middle-Eastern factions you'll realize that the deadliest fighters on the planet usually have, like, rusty shotguns and homemade machetes.

Which is not to say you can't have both comfort and discipline. This is what the smiths, as well as the clutch rings, represent. Yes, you can one-shot that enemy, but you gotta be willing to let it one-shot you, and that takes skill and skill comes through practice and practice is discipline applied. 

So,

Both the Fire and Dark rings are initially found in Eleum Loyce. The Fire ring is heavily guarded, but the Dark ring is on a random corpse, although both are well-hidden. In the third game the Fire ring is on a random corpse and the Dark ring is deep in a heavily guarded dungeon. I don't know that I would describe these rings as hidden, but the Dark Clutch is held in a DS2 mimic. I'm not sure if this means that the ring was put in a mimic or if the ring was put in a chest and the chest turned into a DS2 mimic. For reference, the Mimic at the other end of the area is a DS1-style biped and holds an Estus Flash Shard.

The Dark ring, between the games, goes from being discarded by nobles (Divine Blessing on the roof) to being held as some kind of sacred by the underclass. The inverse is true for the Fire ring, initially being deep within the citadel of Eleum Loyce to being almost forgotten save for a lone crestfallen hollow in the Undead Settlement.

So the Dark ring travels from Eleum Loyce to the Irithyll dungeon. Turn Back made the case that Team Elana (The Neo-Olaphis Proto-Lothric faction from DS2,) was working with Volgen and Forossa on some kind of mission to invade/settle in EL. From here it could have made its way to the Undead Settlement (along with or independently of the Fire ring,) where it fell into the hands of the Profaned Capitalists (a place with ties to Eleum Loyce) or possibly Sulyvahn (ties to witchtrees, who are present in the Sunken and Ivory AND Ariandel DLCS).

The Irithyll Dungeon 'jailers' we find in the hall surrounding the Old Cell are actually UDS Workers wearing the Jailer's headpiece. They're pretending to be Jailers, just to be absolutely clear, and they're guarding the secret/makeshift path leading to the Dark Clutch.

KNOW WHO ELSE TURNS COMPLETELY INVISIBLE FRIEDE AND IRITHYLL SLAVES

I feel like I'm talking crazy talk but, like, clearly something like that is going on, right? Someone, somewhat recently, broke open that big sewer grate* and dug a tunnel off of the sewer to connect the Old Cell to the floor of the main dungeon. I'm fairly certain Sulyvahn doesn't know about it, but I'm wondering if it ties into Seigward's quest, which seems to involve him visiting the in-game giants (Help Anytime II, Deep Cathedral Guards, the Old Prisoner, King Yhorm). 

*That the bars are bowed outward doesn't necessarily mean they were 'pushed' outward from the sewer side; they could have been pried out with the same kind of tools that dug the side tunnel. Which, yes, could also have just been dug mindlessly by giant rats BUT WE ALL KNOW RATS AREN'T MINDLESS DON'T WE.

The Old Cell area is protected by rats, workers, and basilisks. The Giant's Cell connects on the opposite side to the Profaned University, where we find Siegward and the Court Sorcerer. You can even see, or rather you can't see, the two fully invisible jailers, possibly 'jailers,' from the entrance to the Pickaxe Tunnel [you can see them from behind in the Old Cell. The assorted lightning arrows around the place may indicate slain Sulyvahn loyalists, since nobody down there uses them{Also, iirc the only other enemies that turn fully invisible are the Irithyll Slaves, who, given their 'true' Darkmoon loyalties, could easily be aligned with the UDS workers} -fm]. 

I'll be talking about Siegward at the end of the post. This is all strictly off-topic. Moving on to the lightning clutch...

The Lightning ring undergoes a similar inversion as the Dark ring. With Dark, it was initially hiding out in the 'light'-est place in DS2 and later is kept as a treasure in a sewer by people that hang out in sewers. We find Lightning initially being kept as a dirty, possibly forgotten secret in the dirtiest, secretest hole in the entire world. This hole is nevertheless considered an incredibly holy place, and is under the control of the Archdrake Sect, a divergent branch of the old old Way of White. The Archdrakes, headed by Elana, were likely the Drang faction that eventually became the Lothric Priestess faction, and may have been responsible for or aligned with the Blue Sentinel faction of Volgen. By the third game the ring finds itself outside the gate of The Nameless King of Anor Londo, beneath both sun and moon, in the shadow of an actual dragon cunningly disguised as a mountain.

The Fire Clutch seems the most straightforward: It's a fire ring surrounded by fire and mourned by a crestfallen. It's probably as happy as a ring can be when we find it. 

And yes, I am starting to suspect that they have a rudimentary sentience and can, in a sense, hide from their enemies and reveal themselves to potential allies, a la the Ring/s of Power from Middle Earth. I say that because they seem to either camouflage themselves or find a way to 'hide out' near heavily defended treasure or, as with the Irithyll Dungeon, find loyal cultists (or possibly beckon a mimic or something like that) in order to protect itself.

The Magic/Sorcery Clutch is the most perplexing, especially with the name change. I don't have a copy of a Japanese script to see if it was originally the same word or if the words are interchangeable in-universe, but it needs to be pointed out, because it might represent an 'heirdom' aspect to the ring's story.

The Ring is associated with Nadalia and Brume in the second game. True to what seems to be the nature of the Clutch Rings, it's off to the side and somewhat easily missed, as most players are probably charging for the elevator.

The elevator has a big-ole sun symbol on it, which is probably significant in a Red & Blue sense because sorcery/magic is associated with the moon.

We find the ring in the third game, again in a dogleg near a Large Sunlike Thing. The corpse we find it on is overlooking the street leading from the Noble's Mansion to the shortcut back up to Nameless' Throne. The Mansion, of course, has that conspicuous painting of the Smelter Throne.

So in the Magic Clutch we find something like a glass-cannon sorcerer being kept, we assume intentionally, as a treasure by Nadalia, Queen of the Black Fog, Dancer in Solitude, Beckoner, One Eye, The Black Fire, Bride of Soot, Mother of Ash, Embracer, Relic.

Lothric was, from what I can tell, in an arms race, mostly against itself. Something similar happens in Bloodborne, where everyone's constantly trying to find a miracle cure for the latest unforeseen horrific side effect brought about by the previous miracle cure for the previous unforeseen horrific side effect brought about by (and so on).

Brume Tower represents an incredible source of potential power. If the Iron King had been less of a failson about everything he could've conquered the world, so imagine what someone like Emma or Sulyvahn could/might have done with it.

Assuming that's even possible. Nadalia seems like one of those deals where the more you try to contain her the more she spreads.

That's all interesting, maybe, but as of now I don't have a through-line for the four different 'stories,' such as they are, but I do want to follow up on the Siegward/Irithyll Dungeon tangent. So, to sum up what I suspect are some general truisms about the Clutch Rings,

• They represent a blessing/curse offered to the Crestfallen 
• They are aware of themselves and their surroundings to some degree, and can hide from or lure certain people
• Heavy Velka Vibes, but the answer is never actually Velka trust me
• They seem to root for underdogs.
• They all tell a journey of a humour traveling from the lands of its 'enemy' to something like a 'home' (The Dark Clutch going from a relic in the Land of the White King to a blessing hidden away in the Darkest Sewer Ever, for example).
• They represent glass-cannon builds, ergo whoever uses one plans on being able to one-or-two shot everything they come across or being able to fight circles around any opponent or genuinely aren't bothered by the prospect of hollowing or a thousand painful deaths.

Alright, so turns out I was lying and wrong about Siegward being discussed in-depth right here. Turns out it's big enough to get its own post so it's in the queue, along with Targray and Alonne and Vendrick and the Paintings and the cladistic descent of Iz and all the other stuff I keep saying is coming.

AI 017 - only moss, cracked and hollow

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Vamos was Gyrm nobility.

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Spoilers.

The female undead merchant is a spy for Alvina. 

So her and UDM(M) are probably in cahoots because katanas are magic. Like, if you're into sword shit that's a really funny joke, not because katanas are bad but when you're up against plate armor...gaaaah...look. Yuria's boyfriend is from Jugo. Neither merchant looks like the locals, both have red eyes, neither is mentally hollowing.

They're Forest Hunters.
Spies and Shadows and heirs of Ciaran, posted near the beginning and end of the Burg loop.

Hahahahahahaha see SEE 

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Flexile Sentry 

We'll call them Dex and Stir. Why not.

Both wear the same peculiar neck guard that almost seems to be designed to trick their opponents into thinking it's their face. I suspect the guard's primary purpose is to protect the big red weak spot they probably share with the salamanders.

As a result of the neckplate the creature is looking straight up. Because the creatures' eyeses are closer to the top of their heads this means that when Stir is attacking, Dex is the one that's actually looking at you. 

Dex is the apparent 'front' half, as she is facing the feet, Stir is the rear half and faces the heels. Stir, however, appears to control the legs.

Stir is wearing what looks like a variant of Syan or Mastodon armor. Dex wears only a shoulder guard, but it looks like the type worn by Raime's men.

Stir's weight inhibits Dex, who often flails around helplessly when Stir attacks, whereas Stir is able to look over Dex's shoulder when Dex is attacking. This means two things.

First, Dex would be a lot more dangerous without Stir acting as ballast, and Stir would probably be a lot less dangerous without Dex acting as a counter-balance.


Second, Stir controls the fight, meaning that he's more likely to land at ready after a changeover, whereas Dex is more likely to be off-balance or 'dizzy' (she has an 'exhausted' animation where she slumps over for a few seconds sometimes).

Their weapons describe the founding of the Melfia Academy. The Arced Sword, carried by Dex, describes the blade as 'unsettling,' yet 'beautiful.' Stir's club is as 'vile as the creature itself. The Warped Blade, carried by neither, is described as having once been straight but warped to reflect its owner. One assumes this would be either King Olaphis/Flann or his heir the Sunken King or whoever oversaw the Bastille or whoever created the Sentry, if they were even separate people. Potential characters could be Princess Venn, Seath, Lost Sinner (they appear to be related to Flame Salamanders), and Elana. 


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The Crystal Titanite Lizards have five fingers but Pus Gundyr only has three. WHAT DOES IT MEAN

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Everybody's all "oh the Earthen Peak elevator makes no sense!" but real heads understand going below sea level at Heide, taking an elevator down to sea level, then taking a boat to another elevator down to sea level.

AI 016 - By Our Very Howls

Y'ALL POISONED THAT WATERFALL DUSK

A Curse Revisited Revisited

ALVINA: Is it not so that thou art new?
Thou fared well to find me. 
But cometh thee not for the grave of Sir Artorias?

My advice true, forget this!
The legend of Artorias art none but a fabrication.
Traversing the dark? 

'Tis but a fairy tale.

Have thine own respect, 
Go not yonder knocking for nothing, I say!

Well indeed, thou art a strange one! 

Nevertheless, I feel some liking for thee.

I am Alvina of the Darkroot Wood.
I command a clan of hunters, who track down defilers of the forest graves.

What dost thou say? 

I am very glad!
And now thou art one of us! 
Let us establish a Covenant.
If mine senses reveal intruders, 
then I will summon thee.
Fend them off sir: 
I beseech only this.

I shall summon others, 
who will, by their honour, work tirelessly with thee.
Thou shalt receive great reward, 
And whatsoever ye shall pillage 
Will be thine own.

A true agreement, not so?

But thou must heed the golden rule...
The clan is thine own family. 

To thine kinsmen forever stay true.
Dare'st not in any attempt to double-cross. 
Have no doubt, 

Such wretchedness, 
never will we tolerate.

Perchance,
Hast thou met Shiva?
A lad cometh from the far East, strong of arm; now a clan leader of ours.
And yet, still I feel that boy hides something...
And that man that clingeth to Shiva like some shadow? 


Ensure thou dost treat him with the same caution.

Oh, it is thee...
Thine kinsmen are betrayed by thee. 

This doth bode most badly.

No rest will ease thy rotten soul whilst there is one clansman living...
Forever tormented thou shalt be, by our very howls...
Hellish villain, thou hast used us most foully, 
Thine own family...


For thee, no mercy shall be shown.

If Only Hawkeye Were Here

Look, sometimes on here 'normal' font size is normal sized, sometime's it's completely random. Take it up with Google, it's their pos platform.

If you haven't read it, this is a sorta tangential follow-up to the Undead Legion/Farron Prisoner of Ash post. I set out to write the Aldrich 2 PoA but the breakthrough I was looking for ended up happening in Darkroot so hey there goes The Plan again.

The Forest Hunter area of Darkroot really is fascinating. And I can't believe how much stuff I missed.

This first section is going to outline some assorted stuff from Oolacile. It doesn't all tie together yet, but it will.

Undead Burg didn't exist in the Artorias DLC. Havel's Tower is inside of Kalameet's boss arena in the base-game, which also means the Occult Rebellion hasn't happened yet. 

Beyond here we find Kalameet, who would have made construction difficult. At the end of the arena we find the Hawkeye note. If you look down the cliff you can see that the New Londo Gate hasn't been built yet. The whole Valley of the Drakes area, from what I can tell, is a lake. This might mean that NL was already flooded, but we should be able to see the entrance. 

What I think happened was this:

The gate was built after NL was flooded. The flood was caused by destroying the cliff between the Valley and the city, draining the lake we find in the past into the settlement. With the Valley then accessible the gatehouses were built between the two areas.

Hawkeye could've stopped it. All of it. If the archer could see Kalameet would have been easily dealt with. Even blind, Gough can obviously hunt dragons with minimal difficulty.

So here's where all this is going: The easiest way to take out Manus is to snipe him from a safe distance. Now who would best be able to do that?

Nameless, who I suspect was king during the fall of Oolacile, probably had Hawkeye blinded. In a recent post I brought up how my thinking on Nameless' rule had changed. I no longer see him as a noble defender of dragons, but an incompetent bully with unlimited (and unearned) power and resources.

Think of the Iron King without the benefit of being born into struggle.

This would make Manus and Kalameet his problem. It would be peak Dark Souls to have Nameless, in his insecurity and conceit, blind the one person who could have stopped the Abyss. 

As a final point: the chest containing the enchanted ember in the present contains a Blue Slab in the past. I'm not sure if this means that a Slab can become an Ember, but I'm certainly entertaining the idea.

So there's a rough sketch of Darkroot as it was then. No Burg, no Valley, no New Londo. The seeds of the Forest Hunters would have grown from this, based on tales of the three Knights we find, probably related by the gardeners, alleged golems, Elizabeth (maybe) and Alvina (who may not have actually been there in the past. She can use jikukan arts, as she demonstrates by using the white mist to teleport, and normally the mist is associated with time, rather than space, which is associated with soapstone).

Thine Own Family

Alvina doesn't talk the way she does for nothing. All the double and triple negatives are there to help weed out spies. Yes, she's a liar, but she's a very crafty liar. The only way to answer Alvina's riddles the 'right' way are to either have been paying unusually close attention, or to look up the answer online. In other words: in addition to be strong enough to make it through the gauntlet, you need to be either 'smart' enough to keep up with her intellectually or 'connected' enough to have been given the password.

OBVIOUSLY RIGHT BIG M AM I ON THE RIGHT TRACK YET?

Why would she tell you, a new recruit, that she was suspicious about Shiva, a clan leader? You would be an idiot to do that, because a spy would immediately try to either set Shiva up for a fall or take him out and claim he attacked first.

Shiva is probably Alvina's most trusted clan leader, if not Pharis. 

Here's a weird fact, don't know if it's important: if you kill the sorcerer Hunter with a Combustion-class pyromancy he face-palms as he dies. The Great Combustion spell says that sorcerers mock the simplicity of these spells.

I learned that. When I betrayed them. My family.

Now, obviously, if you betray the hunters Shiva and Sharp Eyes come after you. When you dispatch them Shiva drops his arms, SE drops his ring.

Fun fact: Sharp Eyes uses the foreign Flame Surge pyromancy you get from Ariamis. That means I'm right, if you've been keeping up. Divergent, possibly convergent, school of pyromancy based out of Jugo, the Eastern Land, probably a scorpion demoness in charge, probably related to both Aldia and Mytha, and so on. 

But that's not the point. The point is is that Shiva the Lion is honorable. Or doth not mosteth honourable countenance betoweth indeed do they not, as Alvina'd say.

Which means that Shiva's honor is probably why his Chaos Blade story was cut. Probably also why we find him and Sharp eyes where we do in the third game. The Shrine Handmaid in the third game -- a lady with complicated familial relationships herself -- sells exactly one unique weapon, after all: the Washing Pole. Shiva carries the Murakumo in-game, but he sells the Washing Pole, and judging by the price it's his favorite. a mosteth not incurious happenstancery is it not so?

Additionally, the Jugo Duo descended into Blighttown, which is even more interesting now that at least one of them is a confirmed pyromancer.

You can find Shiva's armor on a corpse next to a cliff in the Garden. From this cliff you can keep an eye on half of Lordran. Havel's Tower, UDP, Lower Darkroot, Valley of the Drakes, probably even the main entrance to New Londo. Something about the corpse always made me think it was stabbed in the back by a compatriot. I think I know why.

He's in one of the hardest-to-get-to spots in Darkroot. If he betrayed the clan, and they backed him off a cliff, it wouldn't have been there. He would have had to run past the archer, the second knight, and about 900 bushmen, then turn around and try to fight his way back out, having not realized the cliff was there.

You don't get to be clan leader not knowing where the safe drop-downs are.

Sharp Eyes: Outland Pyromancer

He was out there looking skyward, maybe watching us, the 'sick hollow,' running around fucking everything up the entire time HE'S STANDING WHERE THE ALLEGEDLY A GOLEM STOPS TO SCAN THE SKYLINE IN ROYAL WOOD HE TEACHES THE LOOK SKYWARD GESTURE WHICH IS A FACE PALM GODDAMMIT MIYAZAKI

So there you have it folks, big much revelation.

A Place of Swords and Flowers

Sif's arena -- the Sanctuary Garden -- as outlined in one of those goddamn tree posts, was essentially Mecca for the Forest Hunters that would become the Undead Legion. No, not Mecca. Mecca if Mecca was so holy that you weren't even allowed to look at it.

Why? Why's Ciaran there in our present, still watching his back? Why is Gwyn's sword -- or a replica there-of -- stuck there? And all those other swords stabbed into the ground? Why does Sif guard the place despite Artorias probably not being buried there? If she's acting as a replacement for the chimera guardians of old: what were they guarding?

Consider this. The waterfalls of the past were on the opposite side of Lower Darkroot, the Undead Burg side in the present. The water that flows into it in the present is coming from the river running past both of Artorias' graves. And Ciaran's and Gough's and so on. After we finish, Sif's essence is mixed in as well. The Wolf's Blood, that will one day serve as the Mandate of Lords in Lordran/Farron's darkest hour, right? 

Let's really look at Alvina's position in the grand scheme of things.

She has lost, or is trying to wrest control of upper Darkroot to/from the Seath and Gwyndolin Darkmoon faction, who control the basin, Sen's Fortress, and Undead Parish. Undead Burg is controlled by the Chaos Servants, at least the lower areas are. Between the Taurus Demon and the Hollow Soldiers (whose shields bear the mark of Kalameet) a case could be made for either the Hunters or the Servants.

Everything is effectively at a stale-mate when we arrive. The Blades are flanked by the Hunters and Servants, who could possibly ally if they could meet in the middle. Andre tells us that the 'old church' connects to two 'forbidden planes.' Now, Andre is obviously an honest and incurious Astoran, so it makes sense he'd caution new arrivals away, but he also has the key to the seal, and he'll sell it to us, which is a fuck you Gwyndolin move, as it's not so much letting us in as it's potentially letting the Hunters out.

The gate, sealed with an enchantment on the Burg side, functions basically the opposite of the gate to the Forbidden Woods in Bloodborne, right? In BB, the forest people have the city people locked in if they ain't got the password, in DS1 the city has the  forest people locked out.

Change must come, right? Lordran needs an Abysswalker, regardless of whose side you're on, apart from the Wraiths. But you can't let just any old asshole take a shot at it.

You have to sacrifice for the key. You have to run the gauntlet. You have to face Sif and the divine sword of Artorias.

Don't worry about the dog, she's fine, look at the sword.

Artorias' Sword, lest we forget, is

A. Alive, and

B. Cursed

We take Sif's Soul -- representing the Divine Shield and Cursed Sword -- and the Covenant of the Abyss out of the Sanctuary. This doesn't just mean we leave the Sanctuary without a physical guardian, but without divine protection as well. 

Much more than Artorias has been buried in the Sanctuary Garden. Much more than Artorias will be. This melange of dead gods, demons, giants, elves, men, and the Abyss would, I suspect, become the Wolf's Blood that granted the Abyss Watchers their strength.

Mush and Boots

The two big mushroom people in Darkroot are guarding the Enchanted Ember. So are the little guys. The little guys know they don't have a chance of stopping you and probably know that they don't even have a real chance of escaping if the big dudes get taken out. So they, at least sometimes, run towards the chest. 

Fun fact: if you don't chase them to the chest they'll run back over to you, then run back to the chest. They only ever mount an offense near the chest, because they know that the ember, the secret blue flame of Oolacile, shouldn't be allowed to fall into the hands of something or someone like Seath or Vinnheim. 

The little mushrooms know that, if they can't protect the ember, they have to try to destroy it.

Now I mentioned up top how I thought it might be possible for a slab to evolve into an ember over time. So what is an ember, and what could an ember potentially become?

In DS2 we find a dearth of blacksmiths. Rather, a dearth of 'divine' blacksmiths: smiths capable of working with an ember. Which is just as well since there's but a single smith ember in the entire game. The Dull Ember is described as 'nearly exhausted' but displaying an 'eerie resilience.' 

Right, tinfoil hat time. I think an ember might be something that can be used to trigger something like a first flame or bonfire system. Something like a fuse for a bomb or a spark to kindling.

MacDuff seems to be a likewise fading ember. His dialogue and behavior kind of imply that if he were given a powerful ember his senses would further return to him.

The Enchanted Ember of Oolacile is contrasted with the Large Magic Ember of Vinheim and Seath's Crystal Ember.  The Crystal Ember we can leave aside for now, as it relates more to Seath's curse than sorcery or the geopolitics of Souls. 

The Enchanted Ember increases INT scaling but lowers base damage. The Large Magic Ember of Vinheim offers lower INT scaling, but retains STR/DEX scaling properties.

In other words: The embers behave the opposite of how they should. Oolacile magics, including the light magics associated with the Ivory Queen, do not scale with intelligence. Dusk flat out tells us this. Vinheim magics, on the other hand, scale. 

So that's interesting. And if you're wondering why I'm not talking about the coals from the third game: they'll be in the PoA: Sunless post. This is just the set up for that.

So a Titanite Slab, depending on the conditions, can turn into a demon or it can turn into a smith's ember. Given that they're heirlooms of Giant Smith, the blacksmith deity, this would all seem to make sense, inasmuch as anything does these days.

You could imagine that the Titanite Demon in the private Anor Londo chapel may have started out as a slab (as outlined by Hawkshaw) but the intention may have been to let it evolve into an ember. Except that the conditions weren't right.

The Hunters seem to have succeeded in evolving an ember by leaving a Blue Slab submerged underwater in a magic-rich environment, far away from the direct influence of gods and men.

I could of course talk about the other embers, and I will, but not now because jesus this is a lot of information to try to parse already.

Alvina, we can assume, is masterminding all of this, and maybe can infer that she has a not-unfriendly relationship with Andre. You could possibly even come to the conclusion that Alvina is connected somewhat directly to Sirris' family, given 

• The Firelink Handmaid's anomalous behavior regarding DS1 Darkroot stuff (unique dialogue for Dreamchaser, unique weapon for Shiva)
• Sirris wears the Silvercat Ring
• Along with Hodrick, all three have an obsession with their anachronistic 'family,' that manifests in different ways. 

The Handmaid does not like Sirris. The two character's lines about 'cordial intrusion' make this clear fairly early on. I don't think they hate each other, at least not at the start of the game. The handmaid probably told Sirris that we were heading towards Darkroot when she related how kind we were to poor Anri [I haven't played 3 in a while, so I might be misremembering Sirris' first trigger].

The Handmaid will also sell Sirris' note -- attached to a Blossoming Green Blossom [CHLORANTHY] for less than the sell price of a regular Green Blossom. 

Because the clan is family and family is all.

Skip over to Prisoner of Ash to see if I have the followup out yet. This series will probably pick up with Shiva and Sharp Eye's inquisition into Blighttown which, hopefully will finally start working its way towards the damn Brume Tower post.