AI 002 - The Saint, The Witch, and the Wayfarer

The story goes something like

Elf Knight swears to find cure for Bleeding Saint's condition. 

Spurned Witch becomes devoted to bringing about Elf Knight's ruin. 

Elf Knight fails to cure Bleeding Saint. 

Elf Knight relinquishes his knighthood, is reborn as Wayfarer Elf. 

Spurned Witch and Wayfarer Elf discover new purpose. 

Spurned Witch and Wayfarer Elf spend a lifetime together pursuing this.

Spurned Witch and Wayfarer Elf did not love each other.

Here are the puzzle pieces, as near as I can figure.

Saint Serreta

Saint, from what I can tell, has a dual meaning in Souls churches. Well, a singular meaning, but with a dual implication. The singular meaning is something like 'this is someone with some kind of exceedingly rare talent ability or gift...' and the secondary meanings are

'...and is therefore an asset.'
'...and is therefore a threat.'

With the synthesis being something like 'They should therefore be both defended and watched.'

Serreta, again this is just from my semi-advanced guesswork, might relate to the word serrate, and possibly the Latin 'serratus'. My guess is that her name means something like 'one who is sawn into tiny pieces' or 'one who saws into tiny pieces' or even 'one who tears/is torn into pieces by tiny saws.'

Why do I think an insane thing like that?

Because I think Serreta had a sickness very similar to what Irina of Carim had.

The only other meaning of the name I could find, but can't really make sense of, is a type of noseband for horses. Nosebands are used to control and direct a horse. This has an obvious enough meaning in a religious context, particularly with the treatment women generally receive at the hands of religion, both in-game and out. I just can't figure out where the word itself comes from, apart from people being into show-horses being difficult & unpleasant people in general.

Serreta and Zullie, I think, represent the dynamic at play in Irina and mirrored in Eygon. Because of Irina's indoctrination, she's trapped in a situation where she is terrified of the very thing that makes her a Saint: her potential as a Firekeeper, as she would seem to have the condition that allows her to store a potentially infinite amount of Dark/Deep with minimal consequences. 

Barring infection.

Irina would pretty clearly seem to be infected with the same gnawing blood worms we find all over the Cathedral of the Deep, likely picked up on the Road of Sacrifices when they were attacked by infested hounds in their sleep.

If Irina were able to embrace her own nature, if she had managed to resist the lessons drilled into her head from childhood that she was supposed to hate and fear her own body, she would easily be able to address the infection. Probably it would be as simple as doing something like casting Power Within or Flash Sweat, as the worms seem to really not like heat. 

But she can't. Because she thinks she needs a hero to come rescue her.

So, in her ignorance, she thinks the gnawing and the Dark are one and the same, and her fear prevents her from ever gaining any understanding of her condition or acceptance of her shadow self.

side effects

Alva the Wayfarer

His name probably derives from the same 'alf' root as Alvina and Elfriede, which is kind of a hybrid of alf/elf and the Latin albus, meaning white ('albino' derives from it). "Elven [Male]" or "[The] White" could be translations. 

In Scholar I hypothesized that Alva belonged to the same order of Old Guard knights as the Afflicted Graverobber and Bradley. Their armor is described as being designed for maximum strength/weight, a technique we later see associated with Llewellyn of Mirrah. In the third game Alva is associated with the Murakumo, although it seems he may have picked the weapon up after being reborn as a wanderer. The sword would indicate that he was probably a dex-favoring quality build, and his associations would imply that he had at least some access to miracles.

The later games describes him in terms of a tragic tales sung by troubadours, who were associated with Elana and the high-Olaphis period. By extension, song is associated with the Dead Soul.

Alva was also probably pretty dumb, otherwise he would've been spread way too thin, statwise. In other words, his quest to help the saint was likely noble but misguided, and the hardships he endured as a result of his failure smartened him up. As a result, he turned away from the light enough to find (or rediscover a lost) purpose and earn Zullie's respect.

I'm not going to speculate too much on what Alva and Zullie's new purpose was, as there's still going to be way too much to unravel at the end of this.

Zullie the Witch

Zullie's set has three headpieces, and is clearly designed to turn heads, although in a much more upscale sense than the Jugo sorceresses. The Dress is purple, associating it with (in DS2's color scheme,) Dark rather than Fire (purple poison in DS1 was associated with pyromancy, whereas green is in DS2 by virtue of...well, it's complicated). 

The pointed hat that she wears is designed to be seen as a proud display of her status and heritage, rather than as the kind of mark of shame or perversion we see associated with Karla or the witch in Demon'ses Souls (I'm not saying her name to avoid confusions's and further tangents). The hat grants an additional attunement slot, indicating that it is magical and probably specifically built to last.

The veil, on the other hand, is worn to conceal her identity, including her implied attractiveness. The veil has high magic defense and makes the wearer immune to curses, which is the kind of thing you'd wear if there was a price on your head. I think I recall that the third game describes it as being worn while traveling.

The Domino Mask, we can assume, is meant to portray her as a shrewd political operator, as it looks a lot like a mask you'd wear at a Masquerade Ball, which are almost always associated with Machiavellian rich people shit. The implication is probably that this was the only way Zullie was allowed in polite society. I have no idea why we find it where we do in the third game.

It should be pointed out that people like Zullie may not be people. Or at least not people like Alva and Serreta are people. Alva and Serrata are hollows possessing, at least to some extent and at some point, souls and humanity. Zullie, given witches' association with Izalith, may be a hollow possessing/being possessed by a symbiotic parasite containing souls and humanity. This could explain her and Alva's romantic disinterest in each other, as it seems like twue wuv would be about the only thing that would make her change her mind about Alva. So this would seem to imply that Zullie's overall motivations and character remained constant while Alva had the change of heart.

Zullie seems to have inspired several devotees/imitators/associates across Drangleic. These include the Gutter Denizen, the Bell Keeper Mage, and the Dual Avelyn Bell Keeper. The Gutter Denizen appears after lighting all the torches in the Gutter, and is a male wearing the veiled version of Zullie's set. The two Bell Keepers (not literal Bell Keepers, but members of the covenant,) appear in Belfry Sol. The mage is dressed as an Astrologist and can drop a copy of the veil, while the Avelyn user is dressed as a Manikin, and can drop the Domino Mask. Maybe this is meant to imply that Zullie was once one of King Alken's talented but dubious guests.

Zullie's Black Witch's Staff is used by the Leydia Black apostles, as well as Peculiar Kindalur, who invades towards the end of Amana. The staff can cast sorceries, miracles, and hexes. I think it would be pretty safe to assume that Zullie dates to Olaphis or before, and that she may have been associated with the Leydia at some point.

Zullie's full set, with the Witch Hat, is sold by Navlaan. I have no idea if it's related, but Navlaan also sells the Astrologists Set worn by the Bell Keeper Mage. 

To tie this back to Serreta and the kafkatrap of sainthood, Zullie might represent the 'shadow self'' that Serreta/Irina were taught to fear and reject. It could be argued that, in the third game, the Champion of Ash manages to 'cure' Irina by both liberating her from the church (represented by Eygon,) and forcing her to confront and come to terms with the Dark (by having her teach us Dark miracles). Of course, for Irina this probably just means something like she gets to hang out in the Bell Tower until the Firekeeper needs a new vessel. For Zullie and Serreta, this 'cure by reunification' could only have happened if Zullie had been more 'of the light,' in the sense of being more of a Compliant Housewife Barbie, and therefore more inclined to be charitable towards Serreta's plight and Alva's early endeavors. Conversely, Serreta, I think, could have probably liberated herself from her plight had she taken more of an Esmerelda Weatherwax approach to life.

(This footage is silent)

The relationship between Alva and Serreta may have had a similar dynamic as Eygon and Irina in the third game, although Serreta possibly wasn't accompanying Alva on his journey for a cure. The church of Olaphis, as I hypothesize in Scholar, was descended from the early Way of White and represents a schism in the church that possibly predates the rise of the WoW in Thorolund. The Olaphis White church was eventually taken over by Elana. As a result, when the rulership of Olaphis was overthrown at the start of what would become the Venn-Alken civil war, the clergy and other Olaph loyalists were rounded up and executed, presumably by being thrown into the Majula pit (hence 'Grave of Saints'). Survivors, the Archdrake Sect, eventually relocated to Lindelt/Volgen, where they altered/buried their own history and set up a monastery that would transform the region into the 'new home of miracles.' The Lindelt Sect may be working with Carim, and Carim may have been involved with Shulva, but it's impossible to say if Carim was involved with the pre-Shulva Olaph White church. My guess is that they weren't.

Regardless of the truth of the church, because of the fall of Olaphis, even if Alva had been successful in his original journey it would have probably made little difference for Serreta, her faith, or Alva's status as a Knight of the [at the time not very] Old Guard. In fact, the fall of the empire may have been what resulted in Alva's failure, with the knight being away from the kingdom searching for a cure when the waste matter impacted the ventilation system in Shulva.

Zullie is described as having used 'all manner' of tricks, deception, and seduction to ruin Alva's quest. It's unclear if any of these were successful, or if Zullie was personally responsible for Alva's failure. The nature and motivations of witches are unclear. They seem to be despised by both academic sorcerers and faith-based institutions. There's a possibility that they're descended from Izalith, and represent a faction of fire sorcerers/shamans/priestesses that responded to Chaos by rejecting their own nature.

What I mean is this.

Chaos is the result of a semi-failed attempt to re-create/copy the First Flame using Izalith's Lord Soul. It seems like this is meant to be a pretty obvious metaphor for nuclear weapons. 

In the United States there's a testing site in the New Mexico desert called Trinity. Trinity is where mankind set off the Gadget. In the lead up to the test there was a concern that the Gadget might initiate a chain-reaction in the earth's atmosphere that would cause all of the air to explode.

All of it.

Everywhere.

Anyway, so Izalith does something like this and gets results closer to that. By my current reckoning there have been at least 5 different responses to Chaos.

Quelaag and the Fair Lady use it to breed demons, which I assume works the same way as with Ninja Turtles. The Chaos Servants' approach is that of a warrior: no spells, no tricks, just big goddamn soldiers and gang tactics.

Quelana and Salaman's approach was to selectively breed out the Dark aspect and thereby refine and stabilize Chaos into the much more manageable pyromancy, although there were side-effects. This is the approach of a scholar.

side effects

Olaphis, before the purges and before even the church took over, attempted to improve on formula, in an event I think of as the Lost Sin of Amana, which probably led to the purges. For some reason this event seems to have, in some sense, completely removed the Fire aspect and may have led to a bunch of second-order problems. This is the approach of madmen.

At some point it seems like people started trying to link anything that would burn to the First Flame system in light of the First Flame failing, leading to the Diesel-and-Pus-Powered-First-Flame-The-XVII we're asked to puzzle out in the third game. This is the approach of desperate madmen.

Witches seem to have responded to Chaos by rejecting Fire, even if their other relations and motivations remain obscure or unique to them as individuals. From the perspective of Izalith this approach may be, as they say, the truest homage to an enduring self.

AI 001 - The Pilgrim and the Eye

Look, we're in the deep end here, but this post is hopefully going to be about Licia and the Crushed Eye Orb.

Licia the Viable Faith Build has come to Drangleic to spread the good news about miracles.

I think I probably have Majula labeled as Heide, and the sunken ship represents the Bastille/Wharf.

The western coast of Drangleic can't be approached by ship unless you know where one of the ports are/were. 

In the past, Heide probably served as the primary/only official port for the empire. People from outside refer to Drangleic as the 'lost continent' (Chloanne) for a reason. But certainly not impossible. 

Travelers entering the country generally travel overland through the northern mountains, somehow ascend the high wall (and then survive the eastern mountains,) gain access via a noble, be beckoned Betwixt by the Call, or navigate the unmapped and unmappable dark chasms of the Abyss between Drangleic and Lordran.

Of course, probably the easiest way into Drangleic is through No Man's Wharf. 

If you know it's there.

When the Curse appeared in Olaphis the King was convinced that sorcerers and pyromancers were to blame. Possibly things like the Lost Sinner's failure and the appearance of the Ruin were used as evidence. The purgings were also used as cover for the removal of political dissidents. These three factions, sorcerers, pyromancers, and enemies of the crown, would go on to found the Melfian Magic Academy. Of course, there were a whole lot fewer of them when they finally reached a new shore. The Academy, which has nothing to do with any church or god, goes out of their way to deny Gwynevere's existence, which might be true but what a weird thing to say.

As a result of the purgings the church began to fill the power vacuum left by the banishment of all of the academics and hippies and pinkos. Dot dot dot. Shulva. Dot dot dot. Lindelt Sect.

Broadly, Licia is a pilgrim/exile from Lindelt making pilgrimage to the sect's homeland. Officially, the Lindelt sect was founded by the survivors of a country that had been menaced by a dragon. The founders, the original Archdrakes, are said to have slain the dragon. In actuality this is a whitewashing of the story of Shulva, where the pre-Lindelt church, allegiant to Elana, set off the events that would lead to the final descent into the civil war that would lead to Venn (Blue/Anor colonist) and Alken (Red/Drang nativist). The Shulvan inquisition into Sihn the Flameless (and probably Septic,) was brought to an end by a very probably misguided Yorgh and the Drakebloods.

The Archdrakes, in other words, are stealing valor from their mortal enemies, the Drakebloods (Replenishment). The Drakebloods, at least some of them, would seemingly be loyal to Elana and the dragon worshipers, and might serve as her royal guard, although it's unclear if this is a result of betrayal, Elana's magic, or having hollowed naturally while trapped in the Sanctum with no recourse but to wander aimlessly or try to fat roll away from Bizzaro World Maiden Astrea's onslaught. Seems bizarre that there isn't any evidence of them having tried to chisel their way out or make like ladders or something. It's like they just got there, which has interesting implications now that I think about it and goddamn it the Yorgh thing might have happened recently and the whole area might have just been in stasis until

Licia is in possession of a miracle associated with daughters and handmaids of Gwynevere, reportedly stolen from and never recovered by Lindelt. The 'sister' miracle is in possession of Targray, captain of the original faction of the Blue Sentinels. It seems strange, or maybe not, that Targray the psychotically faithful might be working for Elana and Carim, while Licia the Hustleress might be...well, let's slow down.

Licia, like Petrus before her, is a not-well-disguised con artist pretending to be a faithful servant of the church, and it seems fairly obvious that neither one is wanted back home. Unlike Petrus (who murdered a noble in cold blood,) Licia earns the ire of something like the Black Eye. This would seem to imply that the crime that invokes the Eye relates to the victim's material circumstances, rather than social standing. Anastasia was, like Rhea, a member of the Way of White and may have been, like Rhea, descended from nobility. In fact, this may be why Rhea positions herself where she does after arriving at Firelink. The difference would seem to be that Anastasia serves a critical role in the bonfire system, whereas Rhea is, by her own confession, pretty useless. An alternate explanation could be that the Eye focused on Lautrec because he was an 'outsider,' whereas Petrus' status as a cleric - even an exiled one - may have shielded him from assassination. Leonhard's status as noble would seem to dispute this, however.

Given Licia's proficiency with miracles and evident shrewdness, it would seem safe to assume that her obvious 'bumbling con artist' disguise is itself a disguise. Well, actually, that's a huge assumption and really needs to be justified, which I'm sure I'm about to fail to do.

'lvl200 paladin vs middle-aged white lady,' you think it'd be a lot more one-sided

Licia uses the Idol's Chime. The name may be a reference to the Fool's Idol in Demon's Souls. In that game, the Idol was a demon-possessed 'doll' impersonating the Queen/High Priestess of Latria. Licia gifts the chime to the player if they have at least 30 faith. The chime states that

In any town there will be a few folk with

unusual urges. They either endeavor to resist

these urges, or act upon them out of the view

of others. The world is not so welcoming they

may bare their souls true.

We should also consider that Licia herself could be the Idol in question. I suppose then the question becomes 'is/was she a legitimate idol?' I'm referring to the generally negative connotations of the word 'idolatry.' When something is called an 'idol,' it can mean something sacred/holy. However, when people use the world 'idolater' or idolatry,' the connotation is usually negative, i.e performatively (and mindlessly,) worshiping a holy book instead of reading and trying to understand it.

So Licia, as Idol, could be a common criminal impersonating a saint, or she could be a legitimate saint that happens to also be a criminal. The chime itself, which is another candidate for the Idol scales much better with hexes than miracles. This could refer to Licia's 'unusual urges.' On the other hand, the implied 'resisting' and 'hiding' of these urges could refer to Licia not using miracles when invading, and then not using hexes when invaded. In other words, Licia isn't handicapping herself to protect the secret of her identity so much as she's trying to protect the secret of her obsessions, which are viewed as 'unwelcome.'

While in Heide, Licia states that she had heard rumors of Drangleic's troubles, and laments that people may have 'scarce room in their hearts for miracles.' This could be in reference to the Way of Blue/Sentinels. The WoB was/is a folk religion native to Drang, while the Blue Sentinels would seem to be a semi-religious institution dating to Venn or Olaphis (or maybe even very recently, but a similar 'Sentinel' institution would have preceded them, both of which function in a way similar to the Darkmoon Blades). Given the Heide Sentinels' opposition to Alken's Brotherhood of Blood we can assume that, regardless of whether Targray is loyal to Elana, Queen Venn, Carim, or the original Queen/High Priestess of Olaphis, he would have no or little knowledge of Lindelt, and would be most concerned with stopping Mytha's ascent to power.

In other words, while the disposition of the Sentinels towards Licia/Lindelt is somewhat unknowable, Licia seems to have made her journey with reason to believe they would view her as an ally. Whether or not Licia would have held true to this alliance or used it towards her own ends is likewise unknowable, but it's Licia, c'mon.

When Licia moves to Majula she takes up residence in the rotunda dividing Alken from Venn. Though she claims the contraption runs on miracles, it actually functions by means of a lockstone in her possession and gained through unknown means. Judging by the state of the contraption when we find it, the rotunda would have last been under Venn's control, assuming Aldia's obvious presence in the Bastille didn't result in the gate being moved from its historic position.

After the Cursebearer gains access to the Shrine of Winter Licia comments that it must feel wonderful to possess such a glorious number of souls. Since this dialogue refers specifically to us, the change is probably meant to signal that the pilgrim is keeping a pretty close eye on our journey. Later, in the Undead Crypt, we gain access to the Crushed Eye Orb.

The Crushed Eye is an object of unknown, though ancient, origin. It is mechanically similar to the Black Eye Orb in that it allows the possessor to repeatedly invade the world of the 'sinner' that has drawn the eye's focus for the purposes of assassinating the sinner and reclaiming the 'soul' of the victim, even if the soul has been transposed into, for example, a miracle.

In the first game the 'mystical orb' is found on Anastasia's corpse, and allows us to invade the world of their murderer. That Eye 'gazes towards Anor Londo,' presumably looking directly towards Lautrec's location.

In the third game the eye functions almost identically, only with Rosaria's soul and Leonhard. This orb states that while it's possible to, in the spirit of vengeance, invade the world of the killer and reclaim Rosaria's soul, the Eye itself seems to feel that this course of action is inadvisable or unwarranted, and appears 'serene' while gazing towards Irithyll (presumably at the spot where Leonhard is standing).

Mechanically there is one important difference between the Black and Crushed Eyes, or at least something about the object of focus: the knights from 1 and 3 are not present in the PC's world when the invasion happens, while Licia is in the room with us when we somehow invade her in another world.

No entiendo esto.

If successfully killed during invasion, Licia will be gone from the invader's world.

During invasion, [and only during invasion,] Licia displays demi-god tier abilities, including the ability to cast, apparently an unlimited number of times, miracles like Blinding Bolt, Great Heal, and Wrath of the Gods. Invaded Licia has an incredibly short cast time, and dealing less than ~650 DPS will result in Licia healing herself at a pace that will quickly result in the invader running out of resources with which to continue the assault. Additionally, according to her catalyst, she may still be gimping herself at this point by not using hexes.

see if invading and dying to 'true' Licia results in 'false' Licia turning hostile, and if late-game non-invaded 'false' Licia is as vicious as 'true' Licia or invaded 'false' Licia. After some experimentation, I found that, in the Scholar version of the game, if you aggro false Licia she attacks the player with true Licia's moveset, but keeps up false Licia's disguise. After invading and being killed by true Licia, false Licia will remain friendly towards the Eye holder. Killing either version of Licia does not cause the light over the Majula entrance to go out. Switching the gate from Alken to Venn and vice versa does not cause the light to go out.

Blinding Bolt, which Licia casts, is said to have been crafted by the Old Gods, possibly Gwyn himself, 'but later forbidden by the same deity.' The tale continues 'Was [the crafting/banishment of this miracle done] to protect the world from hatred, or sorrow?' The player gains access to this miracle after claiming the Old King's Soul from the Old Iron King in NG+. OIK is closely associated with the Sun's Firstborn, so this 'Old King' may have been Nameless before he was 'stripped of his deific status. I don't think Licia is necessarily related directly to Gwyn or Nameless in a similar manner, but her knowledge of the miracle would indicate that she at least has/had direct access to accurate information regarding the Dragon War.

Evidence would seem to suggest that Licia is either a daughter or granddaughter of Gwynevere, or a handmaid of same. Additionally, she probably joined the Lindelt Sect under false pretenses and may possibly be allied with forces loyal to Ivory, Anor Londo under Gwyndolin, Carim, or even Elana. Licia has no apparent ties to Vendrick, Aldia, or Mytha's emergent kingdom.

As stated previously, Licia notices when we become powerful enough to pass through the Shrine of Winter. The Ring of Prayer talks about a few 'honorable noblemen' high up in Lindelt. At this point Licia begins selling an unlimited stock of miracles. Shortly after this point, just past the cursed Nashandra painting in the castle, the Nameless Usurper begins harassing the Cursebearer.

This is where she either Great Heals herself or WoG's off a third of your health if you try to stop her. 

Opinion is split on whether the Usurper is Licia or not, but the Scholar update weights the debate towards them being the same character.

There's evidence both for and against. Really, the base-game character model and equipment being different is enough reason to rule the Usurper = Licia theory out. If this is the case, then the Usurper would most likely be an Archdrake loyalist, although who knows what this means w/r/t the larger story and the Archdrakes publicly pretending they were the Drakebloods. Personally, I believe the Usurper is Licia because otherwise why further complicate things, I'm already insinuating her 'preceptor' could have been a daughter or handmaid of Gwynevere.

Licia is no doubt wanted in Lindelt-Volgen, and that she is targeted by the Eye of Vengeance makes it seem as it she's wanted for a crime against, if not the Anor gods, then whatever god the Crushed Eye relates to. Additionally, the eye would make it seem as if Licia is guilty of a crime worth granting an agent the power to repeatedly and consistently invade the same world, which seems like the kind of thing you want to keep to a minimum.

Licia mentions a 'preceptor,' which Wikipedia says is a teacher, generally at a monastery, and who is sometimes in charge of the monastery. In educational and administrative matters their concerns relate to the church, its clergy, and its laws and traditions. In Way of White terms, and assuming this meaning of the word 'preceptor,' this would make Licia's former boss a kind of small-scale version of the enigmatic Head Bishop of the first game. I say 'small scale' because even outside of Drangleic the Lindelt Sect doesn't seem very widespread, unless there's some connection between the Monastery and the arrival of the Blue Sentinels and Falconers in Volgen.

The title preceptor also refers to a monk responsible for making music and training monks in the traditions of chants and prayers.

One potential candidate for this precepter character - who could have been any relatively high-ranking member of the church - was Cleric Forsalle. Forsalle was well-traveled holy knight of Lindelt, but his critics accuse him of having 'demonic powers.' His name, possibly, is related to the Irish 'forsail,' meaning 'to force,' in the horticultural sense. This involves raising a plant earlier in the season than is normal, often by use of hotbeds. Forcing, of course, relates back to the Latin 'fortis,' or 'strong.'

Another potential candidate is Ivory Rhones, the sage credited with the Ring of Soul Protection. In a sense it's impossible to know if Licia is wearing one of these rings, but the Life variant implies they're somewhat easy to create, as her students were able to master their production.

These rings obviously serve the role of the Ring of Sacrifice in Drangleic. This decision isn't strictly necessary from a lore perspective either. Cromwell is, among other things, a ringsmith in service to Velka, so the Rare version could have easily made its way into the country and been 'cheapened' by Aldia, Navlaan, Gilleah, or some unnamed magic user. This cheapening idea presents itself in Lindelt as the clerics essentially having an 'easy mode' via the Life Protection rings. The rings were a lot easier to find and cheaper to repair in the base game, which actually led to a lot of irl articles of that exact nature.

This 'cheapening' is also mirrored in Melfia with the -plate rings. In Lindelt, the cheat led to students foregoing their training and developing the kind of false sense of pride that later gets called 'hubris' by historians. For Melfia it led to the Baby Boomer -> Gen X -> Millennial dynamic we see represented in Carhillion, Glocken, and Rosabeth.

The Crushed Eye

The Crushed Eye 'writhes unsteadily' 'with an unfocused gaze' in search of 'dishonorable miscreants.' The image shows that the eye has collapsed into what looks like a humanity sprite, and the eye around it appears calcified, dehydrated, or rotten. The description ends with the words 'Where are the fiends, where are they...'.

okay heres what i want for christmas namco bandai these, in comic-book-sized art books with  the lore on the back three of them slashy souls my goddammed ass bamco

So, in relation to the main topic, the Crushed Eye isn't 'looking' for or at Licia, not the way the Black Eye looks at  Lautrec and Leonhard. What happens is is the Drang Eye has been locked in a box possibly since ur-Drang, but judging by it's condition and the heavy references to Olaphis in the Crypt I feel like it's safe to assume the original Colonists either brought it over from Lordran or created it based on the Black Eye Orb. 

If the Eye had been hidden while active by someone who later died or left the Drang sub-continent, then this would explain the Eye's desiccated appearance and apparent madness. The Eye would never be able to turn off, and would also never be able to find its target.

The Crushed Eye image shows the eye embedded in a decorative frame that looks like it might have once been attached to a necklace. The border of the frame shows runes in the Ancient (Soapstone, titanite) script. From my ignorant perspective the most prominent ones read, left to right, H X R. The H could possibly be more of an N, and the top quadrent of the X is closed off, making a kind of table-looking character.

The eye could possibly be reacting to the Soothing Sunlight miracle, it possibly being transposed from the soul of a heavenly child or handmaid, but this would raise questions like the Eye's lack of reaction to Targray's miracle (probably it wasn't created via murder, while the Lindelt version was). It could, of course, be reacting to Licia herself. Licia would seem to think so.

Targray and the DS2 Blue Sentinels will be getting their own post, so don't make yourself crazy over Targray's inventory unless you want to.

When invaded, Licia probably thinks you're tracking her using a healthy Black Eye, but expresses delight that she can now murder us guilt-free.

She admits no specific crime beyond wanting to kill us, which is like the untaxed loosie sale of crimes in the Soulsverse. Probably the most hyperbolic think I could think of would be that the theft of the Soothing Sunlight miracle involved murdering a Heavenly Daughter/handmaid of same to get the soul to create the miracle. The victim was probably her/the 'preceptor.'

Current evidence would seem to suggest that the Crushed Eye became active sometime in early-Olaphis and has been active ever since. Possibly as a result of the failed attempt to recreate the First Flame, or due to the murder of someone like Queen Olaphis I. The murderer, or an accomplice, came into possession of the Black Eye and, somehow, managed to have it secured in the Crypt for perpetuity. The object of focus, at some point in the future, became untrackable. Probably this was the result of the object leaving Drangleic, as there doesn't seem to be any kind of camouflage that would work against the Eye, and the death of the 'fiends' would seemingly serve as proof of vengeance, and cause the Eye to...go wherever it goes.

Licia seems to serve as a 'close enough' substitute murderer to satiate the eye, probably because she is/was being tracked by a Black Eye assassin in Lindelt-Volgen.

On the other hand, the Crushed Eye remains in our inventory after dispatching Licia. I don't know if this is an oversight or intentional, but it would seem to suggest that the Eye will continue to be active (and probably insane,) until the original object of its gaze dies. This of course also means that the 'fiends' are still alive in the Cursebearer's time, just not in Drangleic.

Finally, let's close with an attempt at a translation of the Eye.

I'll be basing this on Skarekrow's work with the Titanite translations, and the following translator pages

http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/meanings.html
http://www.therunesite.com/elder-futhark-rune-meanings/
http://www.heathenhof.com/the-elder-futhark-runes-an-instructive-guide/

And look I'm a rank amateur at these kinds of translations, but the script is all over the three games and translating it is basically just using a decoder ring and then trying to work out a narrative w/r/t the in-game context. I don't think anyone ever thought video games would be played like this. Anyway, if you're looking for something new to do with Dark Souls it can be fun, is what I'm saying. Plus also I'm also probably dead ass wrong about all of this.

Basically runes are emojis. :) - Smiley; represented by a crescent moon and two stars, Smiley relates to happiness, playfulness, fair weather, and approval. When cast, the Smiley rune invokes good fortune, cheer, friends and family, and camaraderie. When reversed, Smiley invokes sadness, disappointment, and misfortune. Smiley cannot be inverted, but can be lain in opposition as sarcasm, sadism, double-heartedness, or condescension.

See?

First, each rune has a word associated with it, and the word a more abstract concept. The Uruz Rune means 'ox,' and the meaning of the word lines up pretty well with the character of the Iron King: strong, ascendant, virile, potent, and so on, and further invokes the idea of a great victory ahead. Ti give a few examples, Gwyn, during and shortly after the Dragon War, would have been identified with this rune, as was King Alken up until the conquest of Brume Tower.

When runes are cast they may appear upside and/or backwards, in which case an alternate meaning, merkstave, can be attached to the rune. The merkstave, which means 'murky stick,' invokes a dark, murky, or shadowy meaning, rather than 'opposite.' the merkstave of Uruz, for example, invokes loss or failure as a result of short-sightedness, obsession, or cruelty. In other words, the 'light' meaning of Uruz contains the kinds of 'blessings' that lead to the 'curses' of the 'dark' meaning.

Sound familiar? It's like the first half of the Hero Cycle. Unwarranted rise, fall from grace.

The Eye is obviously sentient to some degree, and has been locked in a box for hundreds of years.

Okay, so in the above picture the normal artwork is on top, and the runes, bottom left to middle right, are:

[U] ; HMR

Where [] signals a Dark or merkstave reading.

The runes are

[Uruz] (U;Auroch/Ox - merkstave)

Hagalaz (H; Hail)

Mannaz (M; Man/kind)

Raidho (R; Wagon or Wheel)

The inversion of Uruz makes me think that the Eye itself is meant to also be read as merkstave. There doesn't seem to be an obvious 'up' side to the pendant, as the missing chunk along the top may have mirrored the bottom, rather than attaching to some broken-off clasp or loop. If this is the case, the inverted reading becomes

[RMH] ; U

[Raidho] - Wagon

[Mannaz] - Man

[Hagalaz] - Hail

---

Uruz - Ox

The meanings of these runes are something like

Uruz (Ox) - Physical prowess and raw potential, good health, freedom, change for the better and so on. the dark meaning denotes weakness, obsession, misdirected force, sickness, ignorance, rashness and so on.

Halaz (Hail) - Nature's wrath expressed as uncontrollable destruction, can refer to a psychological destruction as well; trials and tribulations; necessary evils; Crisis leading to harmony. Merkstave: not used in merkstave specifically, but the 'opposition' read denotes natural disaster, stagnation, decadence, and hardship.

Mannaz (Man) - Man as both individual humans as well as the species; interpersonal relations and social order; creative intelligence. Merkstave: depression, mortality, self-delusion; manipulation, espionage, subterfuge. The 'light' reading would seem to invoke gregariousness and community, while the dark reading invokes self-interest and individualism.

Raidho (wagon or chariot) - Travel or journey/ing; change, evolution; seeing the proper path due to an enlarged perspective. Merkstave: crisis, stasis, injustice.

Possible translations

A standard reading might be something like

Curse

Crisis [sin] evokes the uncontrollable but focused wrath of nature

[A] human will embody this vengeance, [which involves]

A sacred journey, aided by divine insight, to restore harmony.

And the merkstave meaning might be

Rigidity and stagnation unleash unhealthy obsessions

This Darkness gives rise to self-delusion and subterfuge 
[in an attempt to avoid]

Nature's wrath, which comes not as a cleansing storm 
but as a slow decay

Blessing

So, assuming I'm not completely wrong about everything, it seems like the runes are telling 'both sides' of the same story. In the HMR reading, it seems like a murder invokes a kind of natural vengeance, human/s are charged with enacting this vengeance, by traveling with the Eye's aid to the instigator of the crisis and resolving it. 

In the RMH reading we have a situation where the crisis is avoided, but this leads to rigidity, which leads to obsession. This failure to 'journey' manifests as the Dark tendency to isolate oneself and engage in deception and Machiavellianism. The tendency, based around the fear of death or loss that prevented the journey, invokes natures wrath. Rather than coming as a 'spirit of vengeance,' it comes instead as a kind of ongoing suffering or wasting illness. 

My interpretation of the story obviously influenced my translation, but to me the inscription seems to be short-handing the Red/Nameless King -> Blue/Gwyneveredolin dynamic we see repeated over and over across all these different characters and societies. A white society (Gwyn) devolves into a Red warlike society, civil unrest leads to the Red faction being exiled and a Blue faction taking over and running everything like the CIA.

What's interesting is that the [Uruz] rune seems to be set in opposition to this. Meaning that the standard 'Black Eye' journey, a very Red series of events, is associated with a very Blue...outcome? I called the rune Curse up there because it's associated with a concept like Hollowing, but a Hollowing not only of mind, but of fame, fortune, and morality. In the merstave reading we see a very Blue situation leading to a very Red outcome (the Dark actor 'sins' and begins engaging in a bunch of sneaky underhanded shit to avoid justice and, consequently, justice takes the form of them having to be alone with themselves for the rest of their life. This story, then, is set against Uruz, which I've called Blessing, since it invokes the kind of kind-of-unfair advantage people like Gwyn get that then sets off the Red/Blue civil war.

Alright, I think that's that. I'm at a point where I think I can pump out one of these every two weeks, so long as things don't get any busier. They'll be edited and revised as I go along, just like Scholar and Prisoner.

Ashen Idols 000 - Table of Contents

Ashen Idols

There's no real attempt at narrative order here, although there are what you could think of as of thematic through-lines. Of course none of this will make sense if you haven't read Scholar of Scholar, which is tediously long, claims to be in order even though it isn't, and is wrong about almost everything except for the stuff about Ivory which I am absolutely 100% right about and will defend to Big M himself what fight me. Or Big T in this case I suppose. Fight me Big T

001 - The Pilgrim and the Eye: Licia, Shulva, the Crushed and Black Eye Orbs.

002 -The Saint, The Witch, and the Wayfarer: Saints and illness, the Old Guard of Probably Olaphis, Zullie and witches

003 - Descent of Maiden: Descendants, handmaidens, guards, and relatives of Gwynevere. I'm pretty sure I proved myself wrong in a couple of different ways in 004.

004 - Translation Notes/The Stone Garden: Boyd, Vorgel, stuff about language and statues.

005 - Stripped of Ornamentation: Lewellyn of Mirrah, which it doesn't seem like there'd be much to say about him.

006 - A Storm of Dragons: Dragons! And stuff that's maybe a Dragons!

007 - Cordial Intrusion: DMBs and BSs and and RSs and GSs and WoBs and BoBs, Elana v. Mytha stuff.

008 - To Wander Eternally: Angels. Ties pretty directly to 010 with the ecology/biology stuff. I think I might almost be ready to hazard a guess on where babies come from.

009 - Profane Use: Blood Magic and Dark Lightning. Conjecturey, even for me.

010 - Immemorial: Archtrees and the Age of Ancients.

011 - The New Motive Power: Golems, puppets, and puppeteers.

012 - Spread Eagle: Shields with eagles on em.

013 - Turn Back: Aava, Lud & Zallen, Fabian and the Priestesses, proposed history of Eleum Loyce & the nature of Profanity

014 - What Woeful: Gundyr, Fire Keeper, early Lothric stuff, if "early" even means anything. 

015 - These Dying Leaves: More trees, speculative Aldia and Londor stuff.

016/017 - By Our Very Howls: A Curse Revisited, revisited.

018 - In the Clutch of Crows: I bet you think 10,000 words would be enough words to explain the Clutch rings and you'd be wrong, it takes 10,000 words to not explain the Clutch rings.

019 - Peasants and Pigs: And hollows and pickaxes and class dynamics and more crow-based insanity.

020 - Rusted Gold Coin: Darklurker, the Leydia, the Pilgrims. More angels.

021 - Sin Tin Null: All is melted in blood and all is reborn. Covenants, Paintings, and Londor. Some Ringed City stuff. Fucking Targray. 

022 - Token of Spite: DS2 covenants, timeline stuff

023 - Twin Dragons: I wrote and deleted this three times over the course of a year during fits of religious madness before declaring it both cursed and forbidden

023 - Ten Thousand Eyes: Attempting to outline Izalith's family tree.

024 - Antipodal:  What if some things are simple? 

025 - This Endless - what happened to the demons 

026 - Bond of the Hawk - Hawkeye Gough's influence across the series.

Break & Deburr All Sharp Edges

See, this is what happens when you stop buying new games. I have about ten hours a week to play games [more now, thanks to the covid, but not a lot more now - Me from the Future, 4/20] and that is being split between writing about them and playing them [playing Nioh 2 and Crush Them All currently, thanks for asking [Random Dice and obsessively consuming Ninja Turtles lore, thanks for asking, 11/23]. I don't keep up with new games, because my primary interest in Dark Souls is from a story-design standpoint and as a weird historiography simulator I can project my psychological problems onto, and very few people make games like that.

Anyway, important new revelations around everything occurred and there's a need to backfill a lot of stuff before there's any real hope of making more sense of the third game.

Believe it or not, Scholar was just scratching the surface of DS2 and me from a year ago with his failed attempt to figure out DS3's story was a fraud and a charlatan and a coward.

This new series, which is not being written by a fraud and charlatan and coward, will be called Ashen Idols and will primarily will be dealing with DS2, particularly the DLC stuff, but mostly smaller and tangential things that didn't/don't fit in Scholar, and how it fits into the other games. I'm trying out a more concise format, where I'm not trying to tell the story of an entire country and how it ties into all the surrounding countries with each post because that's a great way to go crazy.

Prisoner of Ash: Table of Contents

There is a darkness within Man, 

And I am afraid you will peer into it.

Whether the fear will spark self-reflection, 

Or a ruinous nostalgia...

...is up to you entirely.

- Karla

[U

[Update: This series isn't finished. It may never be finished[{(YOU'RE GONNA DIE PAST FUTURE MES YOU HAVE NO GODDAMN IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO US)}. Inasmuch as it's currently an ongoing project, it should be viewed as a sequel to Ashen Idols, itself a sequel of Scholar of Scholar. {I'm deadass wrong about a lot of stuff on here, but not in the way you think, genius{(OH BUT YES IN THE WAY YOU THINK BRAINIAC YOU AINT EVEN SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THE IMPLCATIONS OF WHERE GOUGH'S ARROWS ARE GOING STOOGE). - FM}]*

This is a sequel/prequel to Scholar of Scholar, a series of posts outlining the timeline and less-well-understood lore aspects of DS2.

This series attempts to tie the three stories together. Attempts. Some of it's good. The Astora and Carim stuff's good. I think. I'm like years in the future now because no good games have come out and I'm dreading going back and updating.

At first I thought this series was going to be in some kind of chronological, or even regular logical, order. What a naive fool I was. It's very much a work in progress. Except for when it isn't and I'm just lying to code enforcement.

1. Conqueror, Worm - Wolnir and Carthus. Also Thorolund.

2. A Curse Revisited - Farron, Darkroot, Forest Hunters & Watchdogs, Manus ALWAYS MANUS. Also Astora.

3. Only a Storm - Yhorm, the Profaned Capital. Catarina and Carim.

4. Serve the Servants - Pre-firelinking Aldrich and Lothric. More Thorolund and Carim.

5. lovely, dark and deep - Undead Settlement, the Curse-Rotted Greatwood, and more Lothric. Mirrah and Carim.

6. A Sunless Dark - Gundyr's Failure, bonfirelinking, Preacher Twins (Look there's a LOT to front-load with Aldrich, thank god they didn't give us the usual onslaught of Namco-Bandai cutscenes. You play Code Vein? Fucking no idea what's going on, don't want to know. Play Tales of Berseria, it's like Code Vein but better in every way mechanically. But not setting-wise or goddamn 900 cutscenes after every boss battle-wise. It's coming. The post I mean.

Mostly what it is is people don't notice obvious shit like this. Including me. But even the non-obvious stuff. They seem pretty strict about what assets they use where. 

Sources

Same as Scholar, but I need to update that one. Deep dives on YT mostly.

Prisoner of Ash: lovely, dark and deep,

All the worlds shatter and converge. You go mad, slowly, not realizing it's happening, in some forgotten tomb, on the battlefield, from loss upon loss upon loss. The cracks had always been there and you'd always /known/ they'd been there oh but suddenly look around.

Hey, gang.

This is a relatively short post. I have like 7 posts in various stages of written and a further 5 beyond that. This blog has become my very own Book of Sand. This one is dealing with some Undead Settlement stuff that doesn't really fit anywhere else.

I stumbled upon a DS2-3 theory I'm trying to flesh out and I've kind of hit a wall. As background, I wrote/am (badly) writing a series of posts outlining the timeline of DS2, and am currently trying to work on a series sort of lacing the story of 2 into 1 and 3, to try to work out some kind of cohesive meta-narrative for the three games.

I've very currently been working on two posts, one further outlining the potential history of early Lothric, and one trying to sort out the Daughters of Chaos' overall timelines and interrelations.

I had hit a dead end with both when I had a breakthrough in the Undead Settlement.

This will hopefully be a brief post outlining a few things regarding trees, giants, and the endings of DS2.

Church of the Spirit Tree

'Ever since its establishment, 

all manner of curses have managed

to seep into the Undead Settlement. 

The worst of them were sealed away inside a spirit tree, 

but eventually the curses took their toll.'

We find the Curse-Rotted Greatwood inside of a fortified abbey controlled by the Way of White. There's all kinds of stuff I could talk about, but I really want to zoom in on the stuff relating to Mirrah and Carim, as well as the nature of the Greatwood itself. There's a lot to unpack with the Greatwood, but it should be pointed out that Yhorm is also described as a Greatwood, and it's insinuated that Yhorm failed to protect some kind of 'peer' giant, such as a spouse, relative, or close friend.

I'm not saying that the Settlement Spirit Tree is the one Yhorm was trying to protect, but I think that if Yhorm was protecting another giant then she might be the leading candidate. And the Greatwood is pretty clearly a she.

I mean...right?

Greatwoods and spirit trees are synonymous, at least to some degree (unless there are translation issues,) and this spirit tree - despite absorbing a 'great many curses' - appears to be in the dispersal phase of its reproductive cycle; additionally, the tree is being sort of mindlessly worshipped by the workers. The post I'm working on expands on all this, but that kind of gives us an idea of the Greatwood itself. I'm almost certain I should be calling it herself. And potentially even Herself.

That the Greatwood can friendly-fire his worshipers may be a reminder that, as we saw in Shulva, brainless but sincere worship does nothing for the thing being worshiped beyond maybe aggravating it.

The Transposition Kiln is worth discussing, but I'm going to skip it since it doesn't really tie in to the rest of what I'm talking about. It contains some kind of curse, probably relating to humanity/the Dark, and is the kind of thing that can destroy kingdoms.

It can be inferred from the second phase of the boss fight that the transition from giant to watcher tree can potentially go both ways, with the giant breaking out of the bark when their reproductive cycle is complete. Of course, given her condition we don't know if this is a natural part of the process. Finally, the CRG is being used to dispose of 'curses,' which include a transposition urn, Lucatiel's soul, and Arstor's soul. These curses are being dumped presumably to keep Aldrich from eating them.

I hope you're as confused as I am. Here's some other weird shit about trees in Dark Souls.

Witchtrees, in the second game, were synonymous with Saint Trees, with the major difference seemingly being build variety. Elana appears to be the same type of creature, but one who mainly casts pyromancies and hexes. In the third game witchtrees seem to be the tree enemies we find inside of the painting. These cast pyromancies and frost sorceries, and it's implied that Sulyvahn may be the same or a closely related species.

Witchtrees may be related to the Scarecrows of the Royal Wood/Darkroot Garden.

I have no idea how the Ethereal Oak of Millwood figures into it. Yet. Given the description it almost seems like the Undead Settlement may have been Millwood before Lothric took over the area.

Hollowslayer
I'm sure we're all familiar with Lucatiel, as she's generally regarded as one of the five best 'taken in isolation' characters across the series. We find her entire kit in the third game.

And it is her kit, despite her brother being - by her own account - the more renowned officer in the outside world.

Hodrick - beneath the tree - has her shield, and her armor is found in the tower outside of the Church. Her mask we get in a crow trade for a Vertebra Shackle (seemingly confirming that the link to Hodrick and the Mound Makers is intentional, and that MM's madness is more a case of soldiers coming to not only welcome, but to be possessed by a desire to spread the curse/blessing of hollowing).

That's interesting, but the mask further describes a comrade of Lucatiel's who inherited her arms and ensured her name was remembered until literally the end of history. This character, in the second game, was the Thronetaker: the Cursebearer who eventually sat on the Throne of Want, becoming the True King of Drangleic. The rest of the set describes proven Mirran Knights being sent on journeys to fulfill sacred duties, despite few of them ever delivering on their vows. If the Slave knights are descended from Mirran Knights and the Mound Makers the same, then this could have IMPLICATIONS. We know that Havel figured into the history of Mirrah in some fashion, and they seem like a very devout place. My thinking is that they were possibly 'granted foreign aid' by Thorolund or the Lindelt White. Her arms describe the nature of L's curse (undeath/hollowing, specifically,) in terms of both harboring and opposing flame, and the fear and madness that slowly replaces the person the undead once was.

The lore from Lothric seems to imply that their original mission in Lordran was to link the Fire, and that their understanding of this process came not from tales of Gwyn, but from tales of the True King of Drangleic. Depending on what you're willing to believe this could entail becoming the Dark Lord and ushering in the Age of Man, and doing so by linking the Old Chaos - an imperfect copy of the First Flame. Further, the Old Chaos had been further profaned by Ivory and Alsanna.

"Right. We're gonna be smart about this." - early Lothric

Impaler

We can also transpose Earl Arstor's spear from the Greatwood's soul. I've written extensively about Carim on the blog, but haven't really covered Arstor as I always felt like I was missing something. This might be it.

If we take Lucatiel's comrade as the Thronetaker from the 'good' ending of the second game, then Arstor may relate to a character I refer to as the Last Scholar: the Cursebearer from the 'there is no path' ending. Wolnir is still my favorite for this character.

Early Lothric, interestingly, is tied to Carim, but /not/ the Way of White. In other words, the statue of Velka, Caitha's Chime, Gael's Merciful Goddess, the Tearstone rings, the Sniper Crossbow: all that stuff's presence in Lothric predates the merging of Thorolund and Carim, although it may see current use with one of the Lothric factions. The Thorolund Carim merger is hard to place in the timeline, but seems to be tied up in Aldrich and Sulyvahn's story, which may have been a kind of generational power struggle rather than some kind of decisive invasion or buyout by C against T or whatever happened.

But before that happened, Carim was active in Lothric, despite the Way of Blue being theoretically loyal to Gwyndolin, whom Lothric seems to view/have viewed as the rightful king of Anor Londo. If we assume that the implied connection between the DmB and the church of Velka is intentional, then this adds a 'shadow' layer to the founding of Lothric.

Lothric represents the descendants of the descendants of colonists from Lordran attempting to re-colonize Lordran. Gwynevere and Flann begat Olaphis begat Venn and Alken begat Drangleic. Drangleic (and here's where it starts to sound really crazy, but it all fits, from what I can tell,) begat the Dark Kingdom - a place probably forbidden from 'official' histories but imagine if you tried to found a New Anor Londo on the ruins of DS2 using Forossa's martial engineering, Carim's church, and (possibly,) first-hand relationships with Lordanic nobility.

This is possibly where Arstor could fit into events. Lothric was founded on three pillars. These characters, I suspect, represent an alliance between not only normally-opposing characters, but normally-opposing 'kindgoms.' The Knight seems to be heavily rooted in Forossan and Warrior of Sunlight mythology, for example, while the Priestess seems to be tied to Gwyndolin (obviously,) and Carim (less obviously, but the Book of the Guilty seems to tie the church of Velka pretty closely to Gwyndolin - both 'Dark Goddesses': one a very intelligent miracle user, the other a very faithful sorcerer).

Whatever the case, Arstor could have been active in Drangleic during this Dark Kingdom period - especially when you consider that Arstor is rich, powerful, and an insane genius) although I don't think this is a particularly solid case.

Throughout Drangleic we find evidence of Carim meddling in Drangleic's recent past, including the pardoner/s and Caitha's stuff (and possibly the mysterious necromancer/wizards and historically-outlawed-clerics. It's possible that Arstor may have been involved with whatever in-game mission the goddesses were involved with in Drangleic, as well.

Arstor seems like he specialized in curses, and Drangleic was the place to be to learn about curses. Life is Want, after all. Arstor's also credited with creating Purging Stones, as well as the resistance-bite rings and later attributed to clergy. He's described as being pretty horrifically evil, but, like, every tool has a purpose for a clever goddess, right? Lautrec was embraced by Fina's love only as long as he was about the goddess' work. If we consider this, along with descriptions of other Carimites, it seems to be a very common theme around the Dark Goddesses involving them knowing exactly how to put evil bastards to good use.

So, here we have the Dark Kingdom, founded by the Cursebearer, who I believe to be a Dark Lord, hence the name of the Kingdom.

In other words: Drangleic enters the Dark Age when the Cursebearer overcomes the trials and takes the Throne of Want. The Dark Kingdom may have been a continent-spanning empire, it may have been a sad group of transient refugees surviving on bark and resentment while trying to retain a fingerhold on power. The kingdom, just as the Age of Light before it, faced Dark's own Curse: Death. Specifically, Death represented by the Kingdoms of Mytha and Elana.

We're getting really into the weeds here.

Right. In the Undead Settlement, outside of Lothric, we have a Greatwood, apparently, seeding, and in the Greatwood are a bunch of curses, and two curses are particularly notable: the sword of an honorable knight turned hollow who crossed paths with a legendary Cursebearer, and the poisonous lance of a mad scientist nobleman who may have been involved in an elaborate mission in post-Drangleic that potentially culminated in the founding of Lothric.

The Dark Lord
So, who then ensured Lucatiel's name would survive the ages? It's not her body we find, just somebody that must have come into contact with the Cursebearer.

At the end of the second game we have a few potential candidates.

Let me back up.

[The original/s can be found in the Duke's Archives in the first game. -FM]

My reasoning here is more or less the same as figuring out the canonical 'light' and 'dark' 'lords' from the end of the first game. Solaire was available as a summon for the Gwyn fight. In my mind that means that, in Solaire's world, he finally fulfilled his weird-ass mission by succeeding Lord Gwyn as Lord of Cinder. As to the other ending: given all of the stuff in the second game - particularly Wellager's dialogue - there's evidence to suggest that Vendrick was the canonical Dark Lord, in that he gathered the Lords Souls in Lordran, but instead of linking or attempting to put out Gwyn's fire, he returned to his homeland in the eastern mountains of fallen Alken and use their strength - and his half-brother's political power - to found Drangleic.

Now, as to the timeline of DS2,

Drangleic is, when we find it, a lost kingdom full of mindless hollows. It would have quickly become a power vacuum, and eventually someone would rise to power. Let's say the Elana/Volgen/Sentinels faction rises to power. This would seem to make sense, as it would be an alliance of Dark and Blue forces operating as a nominally White factions, and Arstor would fit as a kind of linchpin between the 'light' and 'dark' missions of Lothric and the Priestess, although I can't quite square how Elana/Sentinels would come to align with the Carim Church, beyond a tenuous connection via Tears of Denial.

In either case, these factions, Elana and Arstor, would later, under the banner of the Priestess of Lothric, schism between the Way of Blue/Sentinel/Drang-flavored and Carim/Way of White/Lordran-flavored. The Blue would later schism between Knight and Priestess factions, while the Way of White would schism between the Profaned and Deep factions.

See? Totally obvious. I can't imagine more than 30% of this is right.

This Dark Kingdom, as stated above, eventually becomes Lothric after undergoing an exodus back to Lordran. This could have been instigated by the rise of Mytha's kingdom, which I'm convinced eventually produced Wolnir, the Last Scholar (From the 'Dark' DS2 ending).

One imagines this entire Age of Dark would have been shaded by the nature of whoever took the Throne, right? It would be 'His' kingdom, after all.

At the Throne of Want we find, available as summons, Benhart of Jugo, Bradley of the Old Guard, and Vengarl of Forossa. There's a case for and against each being the canonical Thronetaker.

Benhart would be a good candidate for Lucatiel's friend, but isn't as good a match for True King of Drangleic, at least to my thinking. Vengarl, having found some peace of mind and a new lease on 'life,' was in many ways a blank slate. He certainly seemed to have thought highly of Vendrick, and this, combined with his newfound enlightenment, may have set him on the course for kinghood. On the other hand the crown'd probably fall off for, like, a lot of reasons.

Sulyvahn, or the WoW more broadly, may have mistaken the Smelter Throne of Alken for the Throne of Want.

Bradley we know much less about. The "Old Guard" isn't mentioned anywhere else, but he wears the same armor as Alva, meaning that Alva may have been a member of this guard as well. He casts miracles, which means he either isn't from Drangleic or is from pre-Shulva Drangleic. His chime shield thing can be found on that fuck-near-impossible to jump to ledge at the bottom of the Grave of Saints where you find the Lion Knight and Firekeeper Red Phantoms, which would seemingly offer more evidence B is from early Olaphis.

Bradley is a dex-based cleric/paladin, and can also be found in the Shaded Ruins and No Man's Wharf: relatively innocuous places that are most notable for where they connect to. He may be the best candidate for Thronetaker simply because he doesn't really have a backstory beyond being a kickass paladin.

Additionally, Solaire is seemingly regarded as a pretty kickass paladin by the Knight faction of Lothric. This is interesting because Lothric is from Drangleic. In Lordran (Farron is on top of Olaphis, remember,) Artorias is wrongly remembered as the Firelinker.

Benhart's shield ended up in Lothric, as did vestiges of Vengarl's order, and Alva and Zullie ended up traveling to some pretty strange places, so at least one member of the Old Guard made it over.

Personally, if this is even any kind of real thing I'm onto, I think it's pretty even odds. Benhart is the most like an actual king, Vengarl could potentially have gone on to do anything (and let's not forget the Beheading Knight statues,) and the Alva set looks the most like the Lord of Cinder.

Potentially all of them did, I suppose. Possibly that's even what we're seeing here: a kind of amalgamation of the three characters into this historical Olaphian Lion Knight Sunbro Dark Lord.