Dark Souls 3 Lore: Pontiff Sulyvahn (Karla and Yorshka) 

When looking at Irithyll, I kinda got the imperssion that the city might've been founded by Gwyndolin. All that remains of Anor Londo is the cathedral, the silver knights are still guarding it, and I doubt Gwyndolin would've let anyone come and build a new city around it without his permission. Also whenever you look up, you see the crescent moon up in the sky, Gwyndolin's symbol. I think he manned up since DS1, stopped hiding behind illusions, and built this city that embraces the moon rather than hides behind fake sunlight.

Don't apologise for the length of your videos they are FASCINATING to listen too, the more the merrier.

The evilest thing he has done in this game, is not drop his dope pope gear. Common bro, you had to coolest robe in the game.

On the topic of Yorshka. When she asks if you have wings and you say yes, she asks if you are a dragon or perhaps a crow. I find the crow aspect to be specific and that she may have been visited by such a creature. Next, at the base of the church there is the lone Corvian mourning at a gravestone. Who could this grave belong to? I believe it to be Priscilla's. The Corvian weapons speak of telling stories from the Painted world. Could the corvians be descendants from the crows in the painting? For those crows were kind of connected to the Blade of the Darkmoon in some way by dropping the Souvenir of Reprisal which was used to level up in the covenant. This is just a theory I recently came up with and have yet to get too far into it.

The only real question I have is, why didn't we get an intro cutscene for the Aldrich fight? For one of the most talked about characters in the game, with Sulyvahn basically turning Irithyll into a fortress to protect him while he devoured the last of the old gods, it seems strange there was no fanfare. Now, I'm aware that he's basically devolved into a flesh hungry turd monster, but it would've had so much more impact if he maybe spoke to us in Gwyndolin's voice, or perhaps Gwyndolin wasn't actually dead ( just half eaten/assimilated ) and begged for mercy or death. Just my opinion. Great vid, as always.

Sulyvahn did not build the religion of Irythil that he became pontiff of. The Blades of the Darkmoon which Gwyndolin was the captain of grew and expanded into a religion. Gwyndolin became sick and passed leadership onto Yorshka naming her the new captain. People built an entire church to worship her. Then Sulyvahn found the profaned flame and returned. Then he took over the Blades of the Darkmoon and wrongfully named himself pontiff. The Pontiff Knights and Fire Witches we fight used to be Darkmoon Knights. Sulyvahn somehow transforms his followers into monsters e.g. Vordt, the Dancer, and the Outrider Knights of the Boreal Valley. That is why his fire witches and knights are all "now harrowed spirits of Irithyll." Harrowed means to be distressed. Why are they distressed? Because their order has been taken over by a guy who wrongfully named himself Pontiff and now they do his bidding and get transformed into monsters. Fire Witch Set: "Armor of witches who bore the Profaned Flame, now harrowed spirits of Irithyll. The witches who lead the Pontiff's Knights were originally ordained as holy knights. It was not long however, before their hearts were swallowed by the Profaned Flame." They were holy knights of the Darkmoon then their hearts were swallowed by the Profaned Flame and now follow Sulyvahn. That is why Yorshka says that we are the only knight left when we join; all the other knights now follow Sulyvahn. The Pontiff Knight Armor also looks a lot like Sirris of the Sunless Realms' armor and she is somehow connected with the Blades of the Darkmoon. Also: Regarding Gwyndolin's and Yorshka's relation. If we take item descriptions as most-reliable and NPC dialogue as less-reliable then Gwyn cannot be Yorshka's father. Instead, they must share the same mother as Gwyndolin's Soul's description from Dark Souls 1 states: "... the soul of Gwyn's lastborn...". So, if Gwyn stopped having kids (probably because he was all caught on fire) yet Gwyndolin is still Yorshka's older brother then that means Gwyndolin and Yorshka must share a common mother, as Gwyn is the father of Gwyndolin and cannot be the father of Yorshka. I think their mother is Velka. I think her full name is Darkmoon Velka and that she created the Blades of the Darkmoon. When she got the fuck out of Anor Londo she left leadership of her covenant to her son Gwyndolin the Dark Sun (He's the Dark Sun because of Velka's Dark and Gwyn's Sun). I mean, the Blades of the Darkmoon do use Velka's book of the guilty to hunt down sinners. Also, ever notice how Velka's pardoner from Dark Souls 1 is totally doing an inverse praise the sun? Velka's servants praise the moon. The Darkmoon. Anyway, I think Velka banged Seath a couple times to knock out a couple antithesis-to-all-life Dragon/Dark crossbreeds before packing up to go start a Sable Church with Kaathe a gagilliondy years in the future. Also, Aldrich is Smough.

its amazing how Pontiff is one of the characters that, gameplay wise doesn't have much apperance, but in lore perspective he is clearly one of the main threats and probably one of the greatest villains of the series. Awesome video man. P.S: Continue your said of the slaves being so much taintd by the dark that they are invicible, their white eyes being visible is quite reminiscence of the Hummanity ghost in the chasm of the abyss in dark souls 1.

Can't begin to tell you how much this saves my evening. A 40 minutes long lore video ... Thank you so much!

Channel announcement - I am currently on holiday until 08/06. I hope to have my next video up on 11/06 or 12/06. Thank you for your patience

Please keep making these. I love watching them. Very professionally done.

Anyone want to point out that Alva invades outside the Dungeon and is named "Seeker of the Spurned"?

Thanks for your awesome vids. You're a true inspiration in the lore community.

This is absolutely fantastic. I stumbled on your channel a little over a week ago now and I'm addicted.

The longer videos are awesome, keep up the good work

Good video Smough. Professional, in depth and ultimately very interesting.

So Pontiff Sulyvahn is the like the wolf of wall street or gatspy of DS3

Wow, your lore videos are fantastic! Thank you so much for doing all this research and editing to provide your audience a thorough analysis of the game!

Great work Smoughtown. keep it up, proud of you.

gotta say really good work on this and all your other lore videos man

Soooo goood. Your videos are my guilty pleasure before going to bed.

The best lore video i have seen on Dark souls 3. Nice work.

Great video, keep up the great content man!

Really enjoyed the video lad keep up the good work :)

this video was great keep up the good work

And yet Sulyvahn never got an introductory or ending (upon his death) cutscene . I really think that, in terms of cutscenes, this game was really lacking in cinematics compared to Bloodborne, DKS or DeS (who cares about DKSII in terms of lore).

I really love your videos, SmoughTown. Your theories are so well done. I hope I can make some videos like this on par with your quality of detail and atmosphere.

You deserve soo many more subs... One of the best ds lore makers

Wow! Great stuff. Imma check out your other videos as well for lore now!

It amazes me how you're able to get all this info on this game. I was too worried about getting killed to notice any of this. Bravo, sir. Great work!

I'm really impressed! your points are pretty solid! I have no doubt you correct on a lot of this video if not all.

I love the video! I'm glad you took the time to go into details. To me Pontiff and Irithyll are the most interesting aspects about the game. Personal feelings aside, you have to give Pontiff credit for achieving what he did.

Finally someone talks about Yorkshire and her connection to Gwyn. Great video by the way. Keep lore coming.

That was awesome. I kept feeling like he was the prime mover in the game. Overall amazing analysis. Quickly becoming the lore master of this game u are.

Really great video. The quality is getting better and you've refined your style. Keep up the good work!

Loved this video! Thank you.

Vaatividya who? Your videos are really well done. Thanks for satiating my hunger for Dark Souls lore. I still wanna hear theories on what the Profane Flame really is though... I thought it may be the Chaos Flame but since the demons are dying, it may have been extinguished.

Amazing job SmoughTown!

Hey man, I've mostly viewed Vaati for the longest time but I've started to check out the other lore hunters of the community (yourself, Ashen Hallow, MitchL, Aegon, etc.) and I have to say that you are all putting out really quality content. Keep it up. Love to have more people trying to make sense of this amazing game universe. Subscribed. Keep doing your thing.

Have watched all your Ds3 videos, keep it up man! Subbed ✌🏼️

THANK YOUUUUU!!! I have been WAITING on somebody to cover why yorshka said she was related to the royal family. this is a great video! great job! :D

This was an awesome video. I can honestly say that I watched the whole thing and your point of view on the Pontiff is great. He's such an interesting character and you made it seem so easy when he has such a complex lore. He has a hand in a ton of events and you insight was easy on the ears. I subscribed also because I just loved everything I was listening to.

Again an amazing video

You just earned a new subscriber , excellent video :D

Are you still making videos? Man you're the one who got me into the lore of the series when I first started playing Souls.

I consider the pontiff to be one of the most important players. his hand is seen in everything throughout the timeline of the game. I believe him to be the first scholar, maybe even a pupil of aldia, he then influenced lothric to abandon the mantle of lord. he even bars your passage to lothric castle with thr dancer and bars your passage to the undead settlement and beyond with vordt. obviously he needs lothric to remain skeptical of linking thr fire and thus shuts out all influence. lothric's wetnurse Emma is even barred from the prince, and she doesn't even care about linking the fire she just cares for lothric. I think it is thr pontiff's attempt of another power grab on a grander scale. he wants to usher in the age without lords, replacing the first flame with thr profaned, his own age of fire. but, the profaned flame corrupts and leaves those corrupted susceptible to him. he would lord over the world with the profaned flame, though his true nature is that of the moon, so his rule would really be a farce, like his title of pontiff.

Holy crap. Another great vid. Cant wait till u make more.

rewatching this, and can't wait to hear what you have to say about the DLC!

I love these videos I've been binge Watching these! keep up the good work :)

Subscribed! Keep up the lore videos buddy!

nice video, I was intimidated by the half hour running time but it was interesting the whole way through.

Wow you werent kidding when you said you were working on a big one! XD Amazing stuff man, very in depth and analytical. I agree with you that the Abyss and the Deep are the same, although I think the Abyss is to the Deep what Chaos Flame is to the First Flame: an imperfect manifestation. The Abyss is the darkness of men gone wild, gone unnatural in Manus his madness. The Deep seems to be the soothing purer dark, a more neutral and natural dark. Funny thing about the deakons of the deep and their connection to the dark: as members of the way of white they used faith, but they also started casting sorceries due to Mcdonnel's and Sulyvhan's influence, thus using intelligence. Also, casting sorceries with thing meant for miracles and vise versa was considered a sin. I think this is so because it blurrs the line between intelligence and faith, and there is one important thing here that we know scales of the use of both at the same time: the Dark. It is my believe that this blurring of the lines made them more susceptable to the dark, which would further solidify this connection you make, its in the freakin game mechanics. The fact that they constantly throw *pyromancies* at you, which too scale with intelligence and faith at the same time, further solidifies this. Thoughts?

subbed. great lore video! keep it up :)

Like many I'm sure after finishing the game for the first time started trawling the internet for information. And you're easily making the best lore videos on this game at the moment. Great stuff. Just pulling the connections together like you do brings everything into a bit more focus.

Subscribed! Love your videos.

luvd this vid :-D really well done indeed

I like how you don't use the really cringey dramatic narration, really sets you apart. good job man, keep it up.

These are probably the best lore videos on youtube right now. Even from content creators with way more subs, the other videos just dont seem to be as in depth as yours. Keep it up sunbro!!

Very consistent quality content better than vaati! You need more subs man great job l! keep it up!

I know it's not canon, but I've been thinking about Aldritch's visions, specifically about the Dark Ocean, and the fact that Gwyn's wife is never named. Mother Kos, anyone? The Hunter's Dream is held up by Arch Trees, it makes me wonder if Aldritch saw into another reality. It even makes the slaves slurping blood seem even creepier.

You're going places SmoughTown

Don't worry about the videos going to long. On dark souls I think all the community would want longer videos!! Prefer this style rather than a 5 minute video that addresses nothing... Great work!!!

Great vid

Holy shit this was good. Must have taken forever to make.

I loved every second of this! There's so much that you touched on in this video that adds real structure to the janky story that's being told in game. I had a lot of your same speculations here. What really confuses me, though, what is the deal with how we have DRAGON cross breeds in Gwyn's family...along with his youngest son having snakes for legs, signifying some kind of tie with dragons and their descendants, or possibly Gwyndolin's "condition" that we don't know of. Could've been that the snakes had no function for Aldrich, so he never used them, but we've STILL never gotten any in game mentioning of it other than being "repulsive" The serpent rings might tell us something vague about it all, or maybe even soul transposition.

This is definitely the best interpretation of pontiff sulyvahn's story I've seen so far.

With regards to the pontif knight sword being of the abyss, it is quite similar to Wolnir's Holy Sword which was definitely eroded by the abyss.

I could watch this all day

Very insightful

Cool very detailled video ! I especially like how you raise questions with the pictures (what is a Corvian doing there ? Why is there a grub here ? What are these weird statues ? ...) while explaining what we do know for sure. 1) Is nobody ever going to mention the way the small doll looks ? A knight with a cape (probably a cleric) holding a BLADE in front of a MOON crescent. 2) My theory is this ! Sulyvahn wants to create a new world of darkness but he wants to use the profane flame to lighten it. This is why both his swords are a representation of his masterplan. 3) It is very probable that Sulyvahn came to the Boreal Valley in order to find the Profaned Capital school of magic. He was probably looking for Logan's scroll but found something even better. 4) The Pontiff lore is not stopping there ! Why is he sending outrider knights to Lothric specifically ? Was he the one that made a pact with Lothric to create the Road of Sacrifice ? What are profaned capital gargoyles doing on the roof of the Archives ?

40 minutes of lore ?! My body is ready :3 :D Edit : I want MOREE :D your lore videos are really good :)

Next episode: Gundyr. Iudex and champion. You could also delve into the dark firelink shrine. Pls

I completely forgot darklurker even existed. Don't think I'll be forgetting pontiff sulyvahn anytime soon.

Yew another Smough vid cheerin'!

Awesome video. I'm sure it was a nightmare to make. What do you make of the statues in Pontiff's room? The look the same as the statues in the area you join Aldrich's Faithful. Also seems to have the same robe as the statue of Velka.

The abyss and the deep are the same thing. In the description of Artoria's sword it says it does extra damage to things created by the abyss. And any enemy with connections to the deep also take that extra damage, so they are the same thing.

Pontiff is an ass.....but also one of the most amazing bosses I've ever fought in the souls series.

Really good and interesting video! You are possibly one of the best lore channels out there! By the way, have you heard about this theory that Sullyvahn may be the scholar that made Lothric refuse to link the flame? His attire does seem similar to those of the scholars in the Grand Archives, and the fact that he was said to be a sorcerer and the presence of the outrider knights in Lothric may point to that direction. Anyhow, keep up the good work and good luck with your channel :-D

Good video

I really like the perspective on the Deep and it's role in DSIII's story. It resonates and I'm suprised that I haven't heard it from other sources as well. All of it (Deep water, Karla, Sulyvahn, etc.) makes a load of sense. Really nice deep dive, pun intended.

Well.... tbh, that "True nature" of Sulyvahn is about his abyss/deep related magic abilities instead of moon related one. I would guess that for him to become pontiff he should have proven himself to be "close" to the moon as his predecessor (Gwyndolin) was and so he used "abyss" magic pretending it to be "moon" magic so that his followers would accept him as their true leader. And after that he changed darkmoon blades from inside.

Why are the sliver knights not protecting gwyndolin plus they are so close to sulyvanh

Cool story broXD

i've been waiting so long for someone to make a video about all this! thank you so much! it still leaves 1 huge gaping question i keep asking unanswered though - wt bleeding f is the profaned flame? the only thing i can think of is that it has to do with the witches and izaleth, but the connection doesnt seem to really be there except for Karla, the *kinda* nearby izaleth, and the fact that the fire witches are well... refered to as fire witches. thoughts on this? i feel its the biggest lore hole in the whole sullyvahn story

Great videos smoughtown! Your series is currently my authority on Dark Souls 3 lore! I have one point to raise in relation to the subject matter of this video that you may be able to shed light on, or it might raise a good question to consider. Is there significance as to the means in which the Ashen One gets to the Boreal Valley and Irithyll? The Ashen One seems to have to journey through 'death' (the catacombs) and come out the other side of death in order to get to Irithyll. It almost seems to be removed in space, being another realm, one guarded by death itself.

14:50 That description, to me, brings new meaning to Yorshka's words when you're leaving. "Off so soon?" Like she's hoping you'll stay at least a bit longer and keep her company.

I think you're right on there being a link to the Abyss and the Deep. One, the only places we really encounter 'the Abyss' lie *Deep* underground (the Untended Graves beneath Lothric Castle and the domain of the Four Kings & Manus in DS1). Two, the description of Artorias' armour in DS3 states "[Article] of a knight tainted by the dark of the Abyss. The twilight blue tassel is damp, and will ever remain so." Seems to bear some connection to Aldritch's fear of an age of water. Also, seems like Miyazaki is recycling themes from Bloodborne with the whole vermin/insects and its relation to beasthood with the Outrider knights. Not to mention most of the architecture of Irithyll is lifted straight outta Yharnam.

Sulyvahns armour looks like the court sorcerer set.

I believe that the deep is something different to the abyss, the abyss is often referred to as the dark and is described as heavy and vacant, while the deep is described as liquid like. It could very well be related to the dark but I feel they aren't so the same to be interchangeable.

What a fucking awesome video, must have taken an age to make

K. O. Masterfully done.

Just a couple of places I noticed you went off the rails. The first was with Yorshka, her chime states that Gwyndolin gave her both her name and the chime. This doesn't necessarily mean that she was nameless before. She might have just had a different name. I also agree that she's not Priscilla though, she's much smaller, even though she does seem to be VERY closely related to her. We don't know whose daughter Priscilla was either, so who knows, maybe she was one of the direct children of Gwyn, or maybe Yorshka is her daughter, or etc. The other place you went off the rails was linking Pontiff Sulyahn with the Abyss. Now clearly, Karla IS linked to the Abyss. In the Pontiff's case however, his "dark" sword both does magic damage, and is quite clearly saying that even though the Pontiff claims affinity with the Moon, he's actually faking it with sorcery, especially considering that a sorcerer was what he was to begin with. Even though he may very well have been associated with the Abyss, there's really nothing in his swords that implies such. The Farron boss weapons are considered Blessed weapons from damage bonus standpoint, so they get damage bonuses against magically reanimated creatures (mostly skeletons, but other types exist, including a spell for doing so [that actually doesn't, dangit lore descriptions...]) and abyssal creatures. Most of Pontiff's knights are debatably either reanimated or darn close to it, as is possibly Sulyvahn himself. Aldrich may or may not be Abyss affiliated, although he certainly has a heavy resemblance to Nashandra's true form. I would agree that Karla would seem to be one of the girls that fragments of Manus' soul reformed as. This would explain the undying nature. The individual may be destroyed, but the "wild humanity" is indestructible and simply reforms in another incarnation(s) given time. Now, to the things you didn't cover. While Irythill seemingly being permanently night and winter (implied by the reverence of the moon and reference to it setting on the silver figurine) may have been caused by the death of Gwyndolin, who was creating an illusion of a bright sun in the first game there's a very different possibility here. You can actually see that everywhere in Irythill, as opposed to even the closely surrounding areas like the Road of Sacrifices, Farron's Keep, Anor Londo, Lothric castle/wall, etc. there's no sun visible at all, ever. Even in the Kiln, you can see that there IS a sun, just that it's going out. This is exceedingly odd. I, for one, actually think that Irythill literally IS the Painted World merged with Anor Londo via the weird world-merging of the combined realm of Lothric. It makes sense in several ways. First, looking outward and down from the front of Anor Londo, the entirety of Irythill is to the right, directly below the location of the cathedral containing the Pained World. Second, you need a doll to get in, exactly like the Painted World. Third, there are heavy marks of the Painting Guardian sect/Priscilla ALL OVER Irythill, from the painting guardian set and sword in the tower directly below Yorshka, to the reference of the set to painting guardians being something of a mythological heretical faction from the viewpoint of modern (Sulyvahn controlled) Irythill. Third, the Painted World was always night, always snowing, surrounded by heavy deciduous forest, EXACTLY like modern Irythill. It's even called Irythill of the Boreal Valley, Boreal meaning a northern/cold area with implications of forestation as well. Now that we're past the epileptic trees conspiracy theories, I'm also very much undecided on what exactly the Church of the Deep is. The lore says that Aldritch dreamt of a coming age, beyond the age of fire, that would exist in the deep sea, beneath the waves. While I suppose you COULD construe this with the Abyss, the multiple references to water seem to throw it off slightly, although it's entirely possible that the spread of the Abyss moved mainly into the seas and oceans, considering the Abyss Watchers so fanatically combated and annihilated it on land. I'd also like to note that Deep Soul/Great Deep Soul have very clear water splash sound effects and particles on impact (unsure whether Affinity does), so the reference to the seas/waters/waves definitely isn't just imagination, even if it might be linked to the Abyss.

27:20 wrong item?

Awesome video! But when you show us the poniff knight crown you show us the archdeacon pope hat.

a scottish darksouls youtuber!? whats up bro!

I can't wait till you start picking up the subs. If you could slap on the production quality of vaati's video's onto your lovely 15-40 minute videos that would be something of dreams.

Hey! I really liked your explanations on Sulyvahn! Putting on a time line, what do you think that happened in the world of Dark Souls 3? For what I can tell, I think the direct order is: 1) Yorm and the profaned capital, which vanished after Yorm linked the flame. 2) Sulyvahn, which finds the profaned flame, founding Irythil and taking care of the old royalty. It's not clear when Aldrich and his linking of the first flame takes place, if during this time or before it. It seems that Sulyvahn fed Gwyndolin to Aldrich with him already being a Lord of Cinder, after his awakening. 3) The Farron Legion apears to come after this, as they are sealing the path to the Catacombs of Carthus, which leads to Irythil. It's not clear, but it seems High Lord Wolnir, as a conqueror, went to Irythil at some point. Also, he could be older than Irythil, and Carthus was already destroyed by the time Sulyvahn rose to power. I believe that the Farron Legion was sealing away Irythil, for it's connection to the Deep (Abyss), and the Catacombs were just in the way. 4) It seems that the reign of Lothric began after all of that, but it's connections to Sulyvahn are still unknown. Still, it seems that Sulyvahn dispatched Vordt and the Dancer to keep an eye on Emma and prevent anyone from reaching Lothric, as we fought them in the High Wall of Lothric, trying to prevent us from reaching the Undead Setlement and Lothric Castle. If that's the case, Lothric is maybe older than Irythil, or at least from the same time. Also, Oceiros and Prince Lothric himself suggest that they were experimenting with dragon breeding, pointing to connections with Priscila and maybe, Yorshka. It's not clear how Lothric and Irythil relate to each other. 5) Ludleth, there is no way to know where he fits in all of this, but it seems he knows everything that is going on, being the youngest of them. There are still a lot of doubts with the time line. I don't know if you plan to put it all together in a video, it would be very interesting to know your opinion in all of these. Thank you and keep up with the good work!

great work, thank you! one thing I thought I'd mention, and I'm not sure where it fits in terms of relevance. the cathedral of the deep has murals on the wall of an animal called a Sable. I thought they were a cat but when I googled sable the first picture that showed up looked literally exactly like the wall mural. does that mean that pontiff became pope under the sable church? would that make him subordinate to yuria and co? pontiff came from the painted world originally.. love to hear your thoughts. also does the morion blade resemble the towers of Anor londo?

The veil on the dancer looks very much like the veil on Yorshka

I get the feeling the Deep will be explained and expanded on in the first or future Dark Souls DLC. Anyone agree or disagree?

What if the whole fucking painted world thing was meant to hide YORSHKA, and note Priscilla? What if Yorshka is the daughter of Gwyn and Priscilla, and so her mother took her to the realm of Velka (maybe Priscilla's mother?) in orther to protect her, and the doll we find in DS1 is actually Yorshka. Maybe that's why Priscilla want's us to leave the painted world so bad: so that we never find her daughter, who is such a symbol of shame to the gods.