Dark Souls Lore - Abysswalker Artorias 

Also I suppose the reason why Artorias didn't use left hand in game is simply because it's broken, probably from previous battles. Which further indicates what we fought was a weakened Artorias ---- this probably doesn't mean anything lorewise, only the designer's way to add a little bit more respect to someone that will eventually be defeated.

Yeah, I had an argument with somebody about the left or right handed question, and I also mentionned this point, about sif moveset, one thing that can be relevant also, is that it is mentionned that Artorias was UNMATCHED with a great sword, it is interesting to note that left handed swordmens have some kind of upper hand with ordinary right handed swordsmen, because ordinary rihgt hand are used to have sparring with others right handed, and they re not used with left handed. On the otherside, left handed are used to the movements of right handed, because right handed are most common.

I can't say how strong he was with a healthy arm and a greatshield but I think Artorias was boosted by the abyss. Do you not remember him kneeling down, buffing himself with the power of the abyss and one shoting you after that ? One thing is for sure, what we fought was not Artorias, but a mere creature consumed by the abyss that wore his gear.

@@ayrona93 Artorias regular non cursed greatsword has faith an intelligence requirements and magic damage. We know that Artorias faced the Abyss. So its only reasonable to assume he knew magic and likely miracles to an extent. He could likely have buffed himself without the abyss anyways. Possibly even heal himself. Maybe not quite as strong of a buff. But even a half as powerful buff in exchange for the strongest shield in game And the ability to use his domimant hand/twohand his weapon and use tactics and skill. He's at best a third as strong as he should be.

It means Sif trained with a "left handed" stance, presumably because of the advantages that gives against right-handed fighters. Sif is not left or right handed, as that's a traits found only in kangaroos and homininians.

Good point. Never thought of that possibility. There is also the possibility that Ciaran gave the soul to Sif after he was saved. Would make sense beyond the gameplay perspective that his soul creates Artorias' sword and the wolf's blood would carry on his legacy.

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I'll have to respectfully disagree with this theory. In the game we can find a female corpse behind the Grave of Artorias where you can loot the Hornet Ring. Dark Souls' relies heavily on environmental lore and many items are thoughtfully placed to tell its story (very much like we find Tarkus' set on a corpse in the Painted World's room in Anor Londo), so it is likely that the corpse in question is Ciaran herself.

reikayakishiro good point, but does not rule out the possibility that she returned to this spot after handing off the soul. We do not find it (Artorias's soul) on the corpse, and the chosen undead does not prop her corpse up next to the grave after killing her.

@Daniel Rhodes I wasn't ruling that out, I was refuting the idea that she was the founder of the Abyss Watchers. DS's lore may be vague in places, but if there ain't no other evidence that contradicts what's already hinted/implied/explicit in the game, it is safe to go in the most obvious direction. Ciaran was dead eons before the events in DS3. Making an addendum: It is worth noting that the Abyss Watchers were also known as the Farron's *Undead* Legion (opening cinematic, Hawkwood's dialogue). Ciaran uses Lloyd Talismans if you engage in combat against her, which was an item for hunting Undead, and on top of that, she also despises humans, as evidenced in her dialogue without Artorias' soul in your inventory, when engaging her in combat, and when killed; that's more than the one-liners characters blurt out to point fingers at your motivations being driven by the fact you're human. The way she puts her sentences borders on racism, even. She doesn't even bother giving you her name. Also, she addresses the player in the "you" form of speech, as opposed to her other comrades - Artorias and Gough - not because she was somehow born at a later age, but rather that in early modern english addressing someone by "you" could either signify respect and formality, or emotional distance and coldness depending of the social situation you found yourself in. It's not hard to figure out the meaning behind her choice of words when you sum all parts. So I doubt she'd ever bring together this kind of lot. And to add up to your commentary, the game implies that souls have memories of its former owner ingrained in it (Old Moonlight spell being the most explicit evidence of all); Sif's soul can produce Artorias' greatsword because it's part of the wolf's memories.

Yeah same lmao

Right. The abyss always existed but when Manus went crazy after his awakening his humanity went wild. Thus I can assume that he created a wild, dangerous corruption of the abyss.

Yeah, I do like that concept. The "Abyss" existed and then was twisted by Manus, making him the father of what we think of, as the modern abyss.

Well the armor and weapons of the ringed knights were forged in the abyss so the abyss existed from the very begging . Manus being one of the pygmy lords had so much of the dark soul that when he snapped he created a corrupted version of it wich consumes anything it touches. I said one of the pygmy lords because i think the furtive pygmy is either dead or sealed away with the others and the rest of the dark soul in filianore's egg. Look at the boss room of the four kings the abyss completly devoured everything around it leaving behind only a hollow space because it was corrupted.

New Londo is an example of this. It has nothing to do with Manus and it happened before artorias went to oolacile. New Londo was the reason artorias gained the title of abyss walker

Kaathe or another primordial serpent is known to have convinced oolacile to disturb the body of Manus by telling them it would grant them more power.

It's definitely gonna vary from person to person - I like Artorias I just think he's very flawed and I would argue he didn't handle any of the challenges in Oolacile in the correct way. But that's part of what makes him interesting, to me.

Silver Mont Alr I just wanted to share because you always seem to put the guy down a bit.

@@Jking44th your opinion is predicated in the belief that the abyss is “bad.” Which is the childish cliche that silver is trying to get away from.

@@eddiey699 First, comment is 3 years old. Second, nah. My opinion has nothing to do with what the abyss actually is but how the characters reacted to it. Artorias and the people perceived the abyss as bad and he went to do something about it. It was a stupid choice that lead to him being overwhelmed and instead of saving himself he saved Sif. He didn't let Sif pay for his mistake. "Abyss bad" has nothing to do with any of that because the reality was that it was dangerous for him and Sif.

How about the mushrooms? They aren't in the Royal Wood but they are in Darkroot. Are they abyssal fungi?!

@@SilverMont why all the guesses about Alvina, Sif, or some other creatures being the "beasts" that Artorias made a covanant with when all the evidence points to the Primordial Serpents. Kaathe explicitly states that he lives in the Abyss waiting for the Dark Lord, Kaathe (a Primordial Serpent) is the only creature actually shown being able to traverse the Abyss besides the Four Kings, Primordial Serpents (probably Kaathe) caused Oolacile to wake Manus, New Londo and Oolacile are the same location, and on top of all that the Primordial Serpents are exactly the shifty figures that would make a deal like that. Even if you want to reject all that, I think it's safe to say that the "beasts of the Abyss" are the Primordial Serpents just by the process of elimination. 1) Alvina is just a sentient/non-hostile one of the cat creatures that hangs out in Darkroot Garden with no obvious links to the Abyss other than she knows about Artorias, so that rules her out. 2) If Sif is from the Abyss, why would she be trapped by humanity sprites and hiding under the protection of Artorias' shield if she could just walk around freely? 3) There is no way Manus, humanity sprites, or the corrupted people of Oolacile would be in any state to make some sort of deal due to them being extremely hostile and having no way to communicate. Plus I wouldn't consider them "beasts" 4) There isn't any other creatures that we know of from the Abyss except maybe the locusts, and they weren't even a thing in DS1 so I doubt they had anything to do with it.

@@SilverMont I just remembered that Alvina makes a brief ghost-like appearance in the Chasm of the Abyss to guide you to Sif, but I take that more as her spirit helping the player to save her friend than Alvina physically being in the Abyss. Shalquoir and Alvina are more wise and mysterious beings than "beasts". They are pretty neutral too, whereas being from the Abyss would convey a strong affinity towards the dark.

Me too

Undead Hunter prod

Prod knows that true Artorias weilds a dark Dark Sword... yeah lol

I feel like everyone lies in Dark Souls.

Or maybe they just never have the "truth", so no matter how genuine they think they might be, they can't help bu lie. Look at the discourse between the clergy in Demons' Souls and the Mages. The whole time, it turns out they draw power from the same source and maybe the player is the only one that figures out the "truth" about it.

I beg to differ. The game gives out that Artorias was formerly titled as Wolf Knight (and The Great Artorias, according to Gough), he would only be known as the Abysswalker after the events in New Londo (Silver Pendant description), the most probable place for him to have founded a covenant with the creatures of the Abyss so that he could be able to traverse it (Covenant of Artorias' ring, the entirety of Darkstalker Kaathe's lore). His final title (and perhaps something that's only known to the player themselves) was Artorias of the Abyss, when he was fully corrupted by it in Oolacile.

The timeline is a little iffy, but it seems implied that the events of Oolacile came after Artorias had fisticuffs with the Darkwraiths and potentially did a little Abyss-delving.

I did videos on 'em a while back, (Fume Tower Lore or something) but I might do another at some point to improve it.

It might be one of those time is confusing as hell, but it may be something like if you choose not to link the fire, someone else will do it. No matter what you do in the game, it all resolves itself in the end.

Could be, but then why does Alvina tell us that "the legends of Artorias are non but a fabrication"?

Lautaro Trefilio it very well could be her not believing the stories, or perhaps she's a close friend of Sif and possibly Artorias, and doesn't want Sif to die because you're looking for the ring the he guards. As to why Alvina doesn't say anything after you kill Sif, it's probably because getting booted out of a covenant after killing a mandatory boss would be kinda dumb. Or maybe she just never finds out, who knows?

IIRC doesn't Dusk only have that dialogue about Artorias if you complete the DLC and save her?

Lautaro Trefilio Becuase she's a none believer 😝 She talks about her detrust in shiva but he dose not do anything

Dark Souls weapons are very magical. This is the game where you can shove an entire scythe through somebody, after all.

Lyon traitor?

Silver Mont I believe ornstein left to search for the nameless king, he abandoned his position. The age of fire was fading but even smough stayed, I do think that it was reasonable for ornstein to leave, but I don’t think lord Gwynn would have approved.

Get outta here Lautrec

"Artorias, deeply scarred by the abyss, used this to form a barrier to protecthis compatriot Sif." The wording here suggests that he was harmed by the Abyss before he ever got around to protecting Sif (and nowhere does it suggest complete protection against the dark). Either way it's not entirely clear what happened - my thinking is that due to his injuries, he was unable to properly utilise the shield, and thus used it to protect Sif, kinda solving two problems at once. Sif is pretty deep in the Abyss, and if Artorias knew how much the doggo would struggle, why wouldn't he have sent it back the moment they went in? Instead of waiting until they get really far inside. Obviously Sif isn't having a great time but I feel like it was capable of holding its own, especially as we can summon Sif against Manus.

exogenesis91 Lol

Hahaha fuck im mad that i laughed at that... im gonna leave as well then

Abitch Walker more like bore ragnarok am I right

Hohooo, you show 'em, Sergeant!

Interesting, I've never heard of that before! It's definitely not my strong area haha

Hmm, in that case, wouldn't it have made more sense to just toss his sword, or jump into a hole? Although my personal thinking is that his berserking combat style in the fight is on account of him being "dead" or hollow - all the finesse and skill replaced with swinging it around like a club.

Silver Mont feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, cause you know way more lore wise than I do, but would artorias even view death as a solution here? Is death ever a permanent solution in dark souls? And as far as throwing away his sword. He threw away his shield to protect Sif, so that makes sense, but maybe he decided he wanted to go down swinging, taking as much of the abyss with him as he could. Idk. Like I said, I'm not a huge lore buff, so I dont know his personality well enough to make a call like that, it was just an observation I've always had about his fighting style.

@@path2plowshares274 sorry for replying to an 8 month old comment but i think that Artorias sword style perfectly reflects DS level of fighting style : Too damn widening of every single hit, also the sword is always a great sword, so when using it with only one hand is definitely harder to get your moves correctly (try to equip the same sword yourself one-handed). Also his hits are really precise and he gets the sword where he wants, so i highly doubt it's his off-hand

@@path2plowshares274 also take a look at how he grabs his sword in the age of fire comic and you see the higher hand is the right one, and also in the comics he fights right handed

@@SilverMont yeah like abyss creates more of a berserker effect. Stronger, faster but less accurate, graceful and not well thought out

That was more or less my thinking back in the day, yeah. I went into that on my old Kirk lore video (I think it was that one) and I'll be bringing it up in my next lore video, in September.

I dread the comments on a Gwyndolin lore video

Silver Mont Well I can't really speak for everyone, but I think your videos a worth enduring a few bad comments ^.^

Something like two months to go right? Not long at all. Although IIRC the Switch version is different to the Remaster, it's a bit closer to the originally, visually. Which I think is a good thing. Long as you get the matchmaking updates, that's the important part!

He was just throwing his friend at you for a hug

You are correct! And it's the brass set, with a texture swap to make it silver

Silver Mont ahh it looks really nice man! I’m guessing that’s what the Silver Mont character is also wearing too haha. I forget all the stuff you can do with the PC version. The sword... is that Solaire’s sword?

Silver Knight Straight Sword, if I remember right (I'm answering from the comment page without actually checking the footage)

I touched on it a little in my Ornstein video from not long ago

Silver Mont ill recheck it out thanks dude

Yeah, a serpent seems as likely a bet as Alvina etc.

Sounds like dark wraiths. The ones who creep.

Isn't it?

Me too

Yep

Dark Souls really has a thing for that, yeah. Like they hammer us over the head with the fact that Gwyn is probably at like 1% of his power.

Thst was his shield hand so he swings his sword with his dominant hand. He has a big pauldron over his left hand those things are usually put over the shield hand for extra protection. When he fought manus he and sif were probably backing the beast into a corner. Seeing itself overpowered manus went after sif the weaker of the two. To protect sif artorias had no choice but to get between sif and manus taking the blow meant for sif, a blow so powerfull it shattered the bones in his hand and broke his shield. Unable to bear the burden of his shield artorias left the shield with sif using the last ounce of magical power from the shield to protect the wolf pup and continued the fight alone. He maybe didn't have the silver pendant or didn't use it for some reason so this left him wide open to the coruption of the abyss. Tainted and overwhelmed he retreated maybe out of fear of hurting sif intending to come back with reinforcements, tough being so weakened he was completly taken over.The rest is history.

@@SilverMont That was a Tolkien theme that featured prominently in Souls games. From The Silmarillion to The Lord of The Rings, as time went on the land became more damaged and all it’s inhabitants became smaller and less powerful. Just like Dark Souls builds a process of decline and fall into Lordran and Lothric, these once great beings are now diminished and we are only present for the aftermath just to mop up the crumbs and take the last vestiges of power in a broken and traumatised land.

I always thought it would be cool that part of his self remains, so that even in death, he's triggered by bell boy

On the player character, the silver one? That's the brass set with a texture swap

He needed even bigger shoulder pads so he took the next logical step and strapped a knight to each shoulder

I'd say that's probably Straid

INT build being a chad? That's a though one.

Straid has pretty much every stat, he uses pyromancy and sorcery, plus his set was originally a swordsman set so he's probably got a good amount of str/dex too. Plus you just need to compare his reaction to being petrified with other characters. Rosabeth has a seizure and starts spazzing out, Straid just starts shit talking immediately and laughing at you. And then he tries to make you more powerful by giving you a spare set of his clothes so you can be more like him.

Good point. But how much STR, tho?

Me?

Lol!

Silver Mont talking about flippy floppy man

It's still actually not finished, and has so far taken a couple of hours.

And now, later, at it's finished state, it's about 4 hours of work in all.

natuprunk do you get the royalty from his videos too or you just get royalty from that website ? Or you don't get paid at all

The Punisher Sequence , Alex pays me for the art I do, a flat sum, and I get a tiny bit of money from the shirts I sell (due to how the site works, I get a portion of sales).

WarriorExo there's nothing to suggest the sword was passed down to him.

We don't know where Artorias got the sword, yeah. The fact that it's known as his sword though, would suggest that he is the original owner of it. But there could always be something like in Fate with Gilgamesh - he owns the "prototype" of all heroic weapons, but they aren't associated with him as much as their most famous owners. Like excalibur with Arthur, etc.

Not a reupload, a remake. A remaster.

Silver Mont got it.

If you compare with the old one, you'll hopefully see that it's a lot better!

Silver Mont I'm sure I probably saw the old one years ago and forgot

Silver Mont Ken and Ryu bro, another example of frenemies

Some of the oldest lore videos, yeah. To make them better.

A texture edited brass set

The second best kind

We don't know Sif's gender, as it's never mentioned. Nor is Artorias's dominant hand. However in the game and in all artwork, he's right handed.

That's because we are both Leo's