Welcome to Hawkshaw, a channel for going in depth into Dark Souls lore. Focusing on Dark Souls 1 & Elden Ring, we will be drawing from varied sources ranging from in game, interviews, other pieces of art, and even mythology. We are hoping to surprise you with fresh insights and theories into the games that keep on giving.
16:14 Assuming the Fair Lady's hair isn't withered or bleached over time, it's also interesting that Quelaag has black hair and hers is pure white. Maybe underlining your point.
One thing that makes me think about is the death of the giants is partially because of a war so if the titans were part of an alliance they may have been all wiped out or escaped somewhere with a few survivors from both factions
The smough being aldrich theory always bugged me. It makes sense because the pieces are there but something is missing. Since the deacons of the deep were originally way of white members and aldrich was a “right and proper” cleric of the way of white, wouldn’t that give Aldrich access to the grand archives? The same grand archives where Oceiros went mad learning about Seath. Regardless of having access to the grand archives, I think Aldrich learned about Smough and thats what “developed his habit of devouring men” as your cousin Hawkwood said. So what is he then? Just a cobbled together reference to Smough, nito, percilla, and gwyndolin that they forgot to give meaning to? Aldrich’s story leaves me as unsatisfied as his eternal hunger.
Lots of interesting conjectures. Some I disagreed with, but may have been convinced to flip on. Some I'm still skeptical of. And some I have to hard disagree with. I really can't get behind the theory of the ancient dynasty being innately linked to rot at their source. What type of stagnation worshiping society builds aqueducts to ferry water throughout their cities? Personally, I'm of the opinion that the ancient dynasty likely inherited golem crafting and created the burial golems and maybe even the crystallians. The stonework of the ancient dynasty lends to them fitting nicely in the partial gap between the age of titan builders and the age of the eternal empire.
Fair enough! There's definitely a load of options with some areas, and it would be fitting to be a bridge point between the two ages. So you think the aqueducts relate to the ancient dynasty, not the Nox?
30:45 "the Empyrean" is also plural. And the raw JP uses the same 神人の影 as everywhere else. It is very unlikely it implies a shared Empyrean for all shadows.
The beast part got me thinking about Boc. Is Boc our shadow as a tarnished? Is he older than he seems? His mum was a seamstress and my mind wanders to the godskins, especially with his dialogue concerning the golden needle... Dunno if there are any actual connections, but it might be interesting to take a closer look.
This makes me realize how fitting her name is! 😮 "Sieglinde" is derived from "victory" & "soft/gentle/flexible". She's vulnerable & delicate, yet she still achieves victories with every day she continues to survive against the odds in this hostile world.
I still believe marika banished godfrey not because he fought his last enemy (why send your best warrior away and leave you exposed anyway) but because he questioned or pushed against the golden order because of his sons.
The ancestral spirit's have, from what I can discern, megalithic type construction. Thought it was the oldest or one of the oldest. The divine tower section is genius!
I like the video but it makes a lot of assumptions about the titans, we have little to no hard evidence for what they are or anything they did. I don't really see a clear connection between ancient architecture and the titans simply by the stone blocks used being big.(especially considering magic is a thing) I also don't really see anything suggesting that the titans were responsible for creating the golems or crystalians. Really I think the alabaster and onyx lords, or rather their ilk, seem much more likely to be responsible for what's being attributed to the titans here. It's an interesting idea but this seems to state these theories as if fact. Still though who knows, and again the video and really all your work is great :)
Considering the western religious inspirations here and there, maybe the titans are akin to the nephilim and got a giant meteor to wipe them out. It could make sense considering their size and the fact they all seem very old and very dead. Just a theory and food for thought.
Kinda lost me with the Leroy description. Producing doesn’t always mean to literally create something, in which case you could take it as confusing wording for it being the first Undead they sent as a Paladin on the Undead pilgrimage. Like the same kind of use of the word you would use in “the school produced a number of talented individuals” or something
I do not think the imps or the watchdogs were created by the "titans" they are clearly newer creations given how consistently they are employed in Catacombs, which were created during the time of the Erdtree, used for Erdtree burial. The hero's grave are also a modern creation, which commonly employs them. They are even used as decorative protection in the rooftops of Leyndell houses. While there are some moments where we see the giant golems, which I believe are indeed ancient creations of "Titans," are protecting modern structures, they are more commonly seen in a ruinous state catatonic state scattered all over the place, or straight up in random areas. We do not see this attribute on the Imps or Watchdogs at all, every single time we find them they are there with clear intention to protect Erdtree creations. Not to mention their creation and detailing looks completely different from the architectural and design style of the "Titans."
my new headcanon is that the ginormous skeletons are the ones who made the golem type enemies for fun like how we make little dnd or warhammer figurines. Like they basically made their own little armies and made them fight for fun.
From what I understand, FromSoft games don't exactly do traditional storytelling in video games like what God of War or Mass Effect does, and it's not really something like Planescape Torment or Fallout 1 either. Instead, it's just a fuck ton of vague environmental storytelling with a few snippets of actual exposition and history, and a shit ton of cool looking visuals that express themes in real life. Elden Ring dabbles in non-duality. The belief that two separate things are not separate at all, and are in fact the same thing, the most literal example being the queen and Radagon being the same exact homie. Mohg's weird fetus brother wife comes off as androgynous. The common visual queue for non-duality seems to be two things coiling, or even two beings infused together. Some of the Fingers may give different abilities with different concepts crucial to their beliefs, but they ultimately carry the same theme of corruption, so even though we have a bunch of separate powers at play, it's still all meant to be the same core power at the end of the day.
