Shoutout to the people who built Lothric Castle because even after who knows how long has passed and after the literal end of the world, it's still standing.
And with that said, I wish we could explore Lothric castle / Anor Londo in it's peak, where everything wasn't destroyed and run down after everything went the wrong turn.
It took me a second to realize why Gael has such a massive hole in his chest, but then I noticed thats his darksign! After a literally countless amount of time, this guy is so deep into hollowing that the divot most hollows have on their chest has turned into a full on crater consuming most of his torso. And even after all of that hollowing, he *still* has just enough control left to not forget his one and only task. Fuckin' badass dude
I do love that even at the end of the world both Anor Londo and Lothric castles are the only things still standing, almost untouched and undamaged - bridges and all. Whoever built those was a goddamn master of his craft to make them this durable.
Lothric and anor londo were built by gods or kings of the world, but they were MADE for the linking of the fire, so no matter how many times the world burns they're likely to stay standing,
It also doesn't make any sense how Lothric Castle can be intact after the Dreg Heap abslolutely oblirated it - but I guess it was just cooler like that
@@LavosYT If I’m not mistaken Lothic’s cycle was the last. Lothric Castle is probably still standing because it’s had the least amount of time to crumble.
@@kageakiminato8536 true but we have respect for kingsfield cos that’s where the series started. No kingsfield no demon’s souls, no demon’s souls no dark souls etc
What Zullie doesn't show here is that after you defeat Gael, the skybox goes completely dark. All that's left of the world is darkness, spent ash, and a haunting ceaseless wind blowing over it all. Sitting at that last bonfire (now your only connection to the world as it was before) really drives home the point: all the illusions are broken, all the divergent timelines are resolved. This is it: the real world, at present day, at the end of all things. There are no more enemies to fight, no more gods or legends to slay, no more divine artifacts to collect. Everything is dead, broken, and inert. Nothing more will change in any meaningful way; the world, held in metastablility in defiance of the natural order for so long, has settled into an equilibrium at last. It has, at that point, achieved total heat death. Every source of power--magic, divinity, the First Flame, or otherwise--has been utterly spent. Not even embers remain. Were it not for the lady painting a way out, into a new world, you--the being of ash, cursed with eternal undeath--would be stuck, by yourself, in a barren wasteland of cold, dark ash, for all eternity, doomed to go Hollow and wander in utter derangement until the winds whittle your body down to bones, and then to powder. From ashes, to ashes. Dust, to dust.
That Ring Knight is such a chad, imagine staying around from the first age fighting dragons to seeing the whole world crumble around you, the countless ages come and gone as you sit there ever loyal to your duty post. Imagine his life’s story.
@@Rise65487 I don't think ageing works in the way you'd expect it to in dark souls. Some characters have been around for millenia but look just as young as ever
I didn't feel the need to put commentary over this, because most of it feels fairly self-explanatory, but I did decide to flash Anor Londo over the 2D cutout at the end just because it may not have been immediately obvious. I'm fairly confident it's Anor Londo, based on the shapes on the central building lining up with the door and windows of the Anor Londo Cathedral.
I like how heros such as Artorias failed at his duty, despite being a literal legend, and lost the battle against the abyss. While Gael stands here, a worthless slave with no other purpose, at the end of times, bruised, beat up, and beating all the odds.
The most interesting thing to me is how the yellow, cloudy sky is similar to the one in the first game, when you reach the kiln of the first flame, and all you see is dust, ruins, and a few loyal knights. Makes you wonder if these sorts of landscapes are the “real” places of dark souls after all, and everything else is just one big illusion.
Maybe they both take place at the same place in time (or pocket dimension if time isn't the relevant concept)? Imagine if Gael and Gwyn were killed at the same time in a sort of parallel, cyclical way? One to restore the world and the other to abandon it in favour of the new?
metaphorically speaking is it the only real part in the game. this is the ultimate result of all of the machinations of man, just a burned out, dead thing, much like our planet will become.
It’s poetic, really. The final game of the series that started it all having its somber, broken theme being played as we explore the finale of the series that we adore. The broken, sad, nostalgic feeling of seeing something so beautiful being covered in ash and dust, breaking down and falling apart. It’s perfectly brought by this theme
I never played it...i would like a remake sooo bad.. so i can play it. Judging by what i saw of Kings Field 4... Dark Souls 2 is the closest game to it...
Isnt this what the serpents wanted?, And what the locusts wanted too?, to feed on whats left of the flame?, There never was a dark age to beging with, for the dark consumes as well, even putting out the first flame gives the same result. This was always the final point, the inevitable, all that gwyn did was delay the inevitable, the first flame offered life and form to the World, Without it this is whats left, Burned or not, Nothing can exist without it. During our travel to the ringed city, We see the effects of the abyss, literally Nothing but creatures from the abyss walking around and being miserable shadows from their former self, Isnt this what they wanted?, no flame, No light, Just darkness, And even without a dark sign to opress them, They couldnt start a New home in the ruins of the old, even londor Just steals from the living, yet they meet the same fate of dust and nothingness, So im not quite sure if gwyn had a point after all..
@@johnstrider7280 i always used to believe the best possible age of dark would have been if gwyn never sacrificed himself and the world continued like it did when the age of ancients transitioned to the age if fire, but the abyss and pus of man were the results of fire denying the dark it's birthright by extending itself. (Tho ringed city disproves that about the abyss) The main reason most dark solutions aren't particularly great is because what the age of dark was meant to be and how it was meant to come was altered by the linking. My interpretation mainly comes from the idea that dark souls is mainly about holding on for longer than you should. And the pain of letting go is worth the healing after. The Gods forced humanity into their denial of the age ending so successfully we continued it long after most of the gods were dead. That is actually an impressive feat of gwyn and his family. Their legacy is the world still abiding by their rules against all odds long after time and death came for them like they were barely above their mortal worshipers. Your interpretation had interesting points tho. The idea that it would always end this way reinforces aldia's philosophy that there had to be a way beyond fire and dark. Otherwise there was no real hope. Question is how could something that is neither even be available? All the endings of ds3 involve both fire and darkness still remaining after 3. Maybe the world really is stuck like this until there's nothing anymore.
@@johnstrider7280 isnt ooacile a better example ? Its literally the abyss Also , what gwyn did was the first sin, no one tried to reignite the flame with himself before , that was his point But , the world is stil a cycle , this is just the end of one , its ash lake all over again , as characters said many times , a kingdom will rise once again , in the ashes of the old one , wearing a new face , but its all the same
@@Jaden-Ring i had quite the theory about it being the end! Lets see... At the end of fire, Humans beging to turn into dragons and trees, We see this everywhere! The humans at the path of the dragons and the humans sprouting roots and branches, We see quite a lot of them in the 3rd game, with the sitting hollows and the giant tree with arms and legs and... Other things.. And finally the humans, I think they are buried in the sand, And when the World begings to take form they crawl out of it and become gods and Men once the first flame starts again. I thing this explains the cycle of never ending dragons, trees, Men and gods. Anyway, I do Belive that eventually feeding the flame is Just a bad choise, But by the time of the first game, The flame had enough fuel to go around a lot of civilizations, But by the Time of the third, feeding the flame is Just giving the World a few more pained breaths before falling apart. So... Its a case of "fight to survive, But know when to let go" i Belive.
@@Jaden-Ring With my current cannon of the lore, Gwyn did not do anything unusual by trying to extend the age of fire. Folks like to talk about the age of ancients, war with the dragons, and start of the age of fire as if those 3 things were not interconnected. Evidence demonstrates that with fire came souls and that souls bring their own form a mutation not unlike the abyss. The Ancient Dragons were afflicted by this and their descendants are now not as powerful and often monstrous looking by comparison (gaping dragon). Another example of the mutating effects of souls, and by extension Fire, are the crystal lizards. Look at what they become when they consume souls. So with these things in mind, I think fire showed up, the different races were changed for it, and those that got the most power from their large souls wanted to defend that power. The dragons, not unlike the gods of the age of Fire, would see this force mutating and changing their gray world and would seek to destroy it. But the gods won, and fire took over. This wasn't pleasant it wasn't peaceful and a lot of things that knew what they were before fire were now something completely different. Gwyn like the dragons, saw a new force, mutating and changing his world, and he sought to fight it back. The difference is, Gwyn kinda won. Humanity and its darkness failed to overthrow the gods and their age of Fire. But generally by my current logic, things SHOULD be mutating and everyone SHOULD be freaking out. But the mutants are SUPPOSE to win. Each link of the fire burns more of the world up and builds more pressure in the hose with regards to the dark. I don't think everything was meant to end in ash. I think Darkness was meant to sweep over and cool the world down from the overheated age of fire what comes next we will never know but honestly, I doubt it was another age of ancients followed by fire. Heck for all we know, the proper Age of Dark could have actually been meant to transition to an Age of Water, since Dark in DS has liquid properties.
does it strike anyone as strange and unnerving that there were periods of actual normalcy in the dark souls world? you as the player only ever seem to be around when everything is post-apocalyptic and already a wasteland. but countless times, there were citizens walking around their cities, markets flourishing, wars happening, people traveling, learning sorceries and sciences...farming, fishing. i just can't imagine such "normal" things happening in dark souls. its always so bleak
This is why i'll always defend the "link the fire" ending until reality is literally the wasteland we see here. It's the only ending in Dark Souls that guarantees life returns in a positive way that's familiar to us players and our character. The world we're shown is always bleak, but in between each cycle the linking of the fire allows countless generations to live good normal lives, entire civilisations will rise and fall before the fire next starts to fade. Gamers dont like moral grey, they like to think whatever solution their character comes up with fixes a problem forever. But as Dark Souls shows, nothing lasts forever. Is linking the fire really "meaningless" like most of the community insist, when it allows our version of "normal" to continue for 1000s more years? Imagine if Earth as we know it was undergoing a real apocalypse before our eyes, the planet had reached it's natural end of life with everything collapsing hard and soon nothing would be left, but you were offered the opportunity to light yourself on fire and rekindle the planet so that Earth would get an entire new lifespan with humans living in cities etc? And to sweeten the deal, you'd have the knowledge that even at the end of the rekindled world's life, another person could sacrifice themself and prolong it even further. Accoring to Dark Souls community, that's meaningless? To me that's the sweetest deal any living creature could hope for.
@@MikeHesk742 that is essentially what we're doing already. our continued existence is irreparably damaging our world the longer it continues, and the end is slowly manifesting itself in steady degradation. one day far into the extreme future, the planet itself will be consumed by the sun. but would any of us want to usher in the end faster, and just get it over with? never. we want to keep living, even if its ultimately pointless, even if we become forgotten and erased like so many others in dark souls. all that matters is the living we get to do now, nevermind what happens after. immortal gods could not understand nor accept that
@@MikeHesk742 how could we know that the prophesied outcome of the coming of man would be any different? Men were always kept in the shadows only coming to power for a brief period but never being able to grow as far as the age of light remained. They were never given a chance to show their way of keeping order and balance within the world. Gwyn had been a lord of the flame and reigned for a long time preserving the light, heralding it or shepherding away from the darkness, maybe it’s time for a dark lord.
@@MikeHesk742 I don’t know. Linking the flame sounds like an action based upon fear. Like looking death in the face and crying. I feel like what you suggest is what Filianore represents: to sleep in a dream cradling a rotting egg. I don’t think it is as positive as you describe. You can fear death. That is natural. Still, to run from it or to deny it is just trying to put ashes back together again. If things must end then let them end. It does not invalidate what was.
There should be a Vaatividya parody channel where all of the lore is like your comment, but still presented as seriously as it is in Vaatis videos. I feel thing like that could actually go somewhere🤔
Makes sense when you consider he's an ancient undead that's been fighting for thousands of years though. He's been through absolute hell by the time we meet him at the chapel and by the time we show up at the end.
I did all of the Ringed City in co-op a few days after it dropped with a dude I literally never met, I just summoned him at the start and then we kept summoning back and forth to progress. After a rather taxing set of fights against Midir he asked if I could help him fight the final boss before he got off and went to work, but when we emerged into the arena he said something that has stuck with me forever. _"This is it. This is the end."_ We didn't talk much during the boss fight, I got sent back to my world, and he left the chat party we'd started like fifteen hours earlier without saying a word. We became weary companions for something like eighteen hours then I never ever spoke to him again. We didn't send friend requests, we never messaged, we only ever sent the one chat invite then nothing else after. That was it. That was the end.
That the beautiful magic of the Dark Souls games, I remember playing in coop with a Dio cosplayer through the first half of the first Dark Souls game. He helped me a lot, then we never seen each other again.
@@theeldenringenjoyer1872 also that is such a great foil to the original comment holy shit. Like it’s a great pallet cleanser from all the cosmic dread that this video and comment make me feel.
I summoned a guy at the start of the ringed city dlc, I was a faith build and he was just an absolute min maxed tank, typically I’d have to stop at every bonfire to heal and recover but with this absolute unit clearing out every enemy with one hit, and me healing him the whole time. we looped around the entire dlc in one go killing literally every enemy. Got back to the first bonfire, waved, then unsummoned himself. I saw his sign again then proceeded to kill midir for me while threw ranged healing spells at him lmao. Easy DLC 0/10
@@thebigenchilada678 Many players have different experience, we sometimes find a op companion who make the game easier for us and other time we have op invaders who annihilate us. There some things that could be despised for good reasons but Souls games are not simple games for fan like us, they are Arts games. After we completed it again and again and searching about the lore, ther make us think and unconsciously philosophize about the games and the life around us. They make us better players, and sometimes better persons…
Something I’ve realized just now. The last 4 beings at the end of the world are a skeleton warrior, a female magic user, a bearded old man hollow who later commands lightning, and a Pygmy. They’re equivalents of the original lords of cinder. Nito, the witch of izalith (shira kinda pulls double duty as a seath reference, calling her the daughter of a duke and friend of dragons,) gwyn, and the furtive pygmy. It’s not exactly one to one but it’s almost definitely intentional
Original Lords* period, not Lords of Cinder. Only Gwyn became a Lord of Cinder out of those 4, as to be one, you must have linked the Fire. The others were "just" Lords (as in, owners of a Lord Soul).
Interesting, I always wonder is there any reincarnated souls of the lords in DS3 since DS2 had them, didn't thought that the DLC might as well give us exactly that.
The cutscene where you're transported to this area is haunting. Everything you explored up to that point is buried under tons of ash and i love how all this is slowly revealed.
@man with a username I mean, that is what happened honestly. But much worse. Uhoh! You destroyed mum's favourite vase AND EVERYTHING IS FULL OF ASH NOW WHOOPS
I believe the illusion became some sort of its own dimension, much like the painting world, the thing is that you enter the illusion through the Kiln of the first flame, but when you break it you somehow end up in another possible future where the cataclysm didn't happen at all. Maybe because you linked the fire and now the Kiln exist in another distant future and therefore the dregg heap doesn't exist anymore. OR, maybe you let the fire fade and this new sun shining in the sky is the result of "one day, tiny flames will dance across the darkness, a new age of light came after the age of dark. Now the world is covered by the ash of the previous world and only a handful of very ancient buildings still stand.
@@deltikoko107 well kinda. Initially the camera is facing the player character, things look darker somewhat but it doesn't look all that different. Then it shows Fillianore, now a rotted dessicated corpse. And finally the camera zooms out to show everything covered in ash. That's why I said slowly revealed.
@man with a username interesting. I do agree that it is pretty ridiculous but I like the ambiguity of the whole thing. I'm left wondering what the fuck just happened and why.
I love this ending, shows that there's nothing left, no living things, no civilizations, no light, no dark, no abyss, no nothing, just you, Gael and a burning world, all of those cycles lead to this... Beautiful
Well, Shira and Gael are the only two left with real purpose. Shira waits to end us, and Gael drinks the blood of all with the Dark Soul (except Shira, who can still fight back enough. Perhaps she caused the gaping holes and gouges in Gael's body...
I love how this whole DLC was written as the end of the universe both cannonicaly and for us as well. The world ends as does the franchise, we get one last PvP boss, one last swamp (finally one without poison too!), one last dragon on a bridge, one last kick in the back from Patches and one last Artorias face-off. Also, it really feels like Miyazaki talking through Patches this time, both wishing the Ashen One a fine dark soul and wishing us players a fine Dark Souls... or what's left of it. And by the time he says that, what is left is a gauntlet of bosses, mini-bosses and an NPC, basically a boss rush at this point. Really felt like one last hurrah for the franchise, like the end of a song, when they just decide to play the chorus one last time with a dramatic key change. I love you, Miyazaki.
And people still have the nerve to demand ANOTHER dark souls game as if this didn’t end it sufficiently. Let Miyazaki create something new; which historically has always been good
@@Sercroc No, it should be left as it is. Something grand and not everlasting, as that is what that universe is and that’s what reality is. There’s no need for the gaming industry to dig up the Dark Souls Series’ corpse and pump it for more games, the series did more than anyone could’ve hoped for and now it shall lay in rest til the end of time. The more you are given something, the less value it has to you and the less significant each time is. You may not intentionally view it as less amazing, but your brain knows that what is common and what is plentiful is not as astonishing or as memorable.
@@cpusaiyan9623 In the Elder Scrolls universe, the stars are actually "rips in reality" sort of speak. It's the plains of Oblivion tearing through the empty space making it seem like there are celestial objects but it's just an illusion. There can still be a "universe" in terms of stars and other cosmic phenomena in a fantasy universe, but since Dark Souls is a very ambiguous world and it is unknown who or what created the planet these beings used to live on, it could be true that there are other worlds that can be habitable. The only problem is the world is stuck in an endless cycle of a Medieval Era, and the only thing the people know how to go up is by building high towers into their kingdom.
And that cape ... saturated with congealed blood, out from which motionlessly writhe frozen faces of agony slowly coalesced through the millennia by all the souls he ate, like little puddles formed by drops of rain.
Such a terrifyingly beautiful landscape to end such a terrifyingly beautiful quest. Love your work. I always find myself intrigued no matter how much I've played or watched.
I didn't know that Gael's armor on the back cracked as well. Shows how far he's fallen. That and that he slit the throats of the pigmy lords. The savagery. Amazing and sad.
How fitting that Gwyn trying so hard to keep the world as he knew it from falling apart by keeping the first flame going, Is what Caused the world to fall apart and decay
Implying there weren't a significant part of ages of dark in the many cycles that happened before. To me it's simply the inevitable fate of a world that isn't in the immobile, everlasting age of the ancients.
I mean... Isn't this the direct result of the fire NOT being linked? Ringed City presumably takes place in the aftermath of what happens when no one links the flame - which is what Ashen One is supposed to do, and it does seem like he's the only one capable of doing it after the the ritual that takes place at the Firelink Shrine after all Lords were returned to their thrones. To me this is pretty much a direct result of Ashen One skipping his work day and deciding to go screwing around with sleeping princesses. After all... The DLC is available right before Soul of Cinder bossfight, so you can deal with Gael and Little Painter and then finish your assigned duty right after. Which once again reminds me - we never see what happens to the world in the "Dark" endings of any of the games, where the flame is either extinguished or usurped for good.
@@starkadex3530 Honestly I think it can go either way, On one hand you could argue he was just terrified of what the dark could bring, Or he was a power hungry god who didnt want to lose what he had, And that's why I love Dark souls there are no wrong answers lol
The Dark Souls Trilogy is one of those gaming series where "nothingness" or cosmic horror and vast yet empty environments are beautifully expored . DS1 had The Abyss , Chasm of The Abyss and Ash Lake . DS2 had The Gutter , The Throne of Want and Majula's seas . DS3 has Kiln of the First Flame , Dreg Heap and this area .
@@Antillar Yeah , the endless ocean and the mystical skybox really sells the feeling of nothingness . I'd say New Londo and Oolacile's Abyss did it best . I get chills everytime I go there . The build up to these areas really enhance the horror factor .
@@Antillar IMO, Heide's Tower is the best execution of dread in any Souls game, period. It's nice, and warm and welcoming, but unlike Majula, which tempers those feelings with wistful melancholy, Heide's Tower thrusts reality on your face - this is the final bastion of Gwyn's flame, and it already fell. The world is doomed.
I'm ok with Gael being the final boss for the series. Both he and the player are nobodies at the end of the world. Both born weak and became strong by consuming those around them. So poetic.
@@shotkiden not just 2 nobodies. It’s the 2 remaining living things in the world. The world is destroyed, all that’s remaining is 2 weirdos fighting over something that doesn’t matter, for the same person
It truly is a bitter sweet thing, seeing Dark Souls end in a decayed world. Its the proper ending that the games had been working towards, and is ultimately satisfying. But at the same time, it's always sad to see the end of the cycle.
Ah but we had the tiniest shred of hope, with a new world painted and the last fragments of humanity to inhabit it. The old went to ruin, destroyed by the gods folly, but humanity will march on even if it means building a new world on the very thing that makes us human.
I see all the contrary. Even at the end of the world, a young lady and an old man (and you) manage to find an escape from this twisted spiral of light and dark created by gods and kings
@@a-ha4940 What weapons are you talking about? DS III is straight sword simulator 2016, the other builds are severely inferior, and magic just sucks ass.
One thing I would have added to this is the skybox during/after Gael's second form. It looks pretty interesting from what I remember, it's almost like two different skies merging. Nevertheless, very cool to see all the background details. Also gotta love the singular Ringed Knight who's just like "I lived, bitch."
After reading other comments some how the idea sets in that the two skies merging will resulting in Twilight... The point when dark and light meets, the decision if sun is rising or the night comes...
Filianore is easily the saddest character in Dark Souls to me. She was innocent, and trapped away from everything for her safety. Left to wait, hoping the day would come when someone would come to free her she remains for eons, only to be forgotten as all who would have come for her have long since perished. Is that not the most painful thing? A life lived waiting for a day never to come?
Idk about innocent, we know nothing about who she was beforehand. Also she was given to the pygmies by Gwyn, her father. He lied to her and told her he would come back to get her, and instead went and sacrificed himself to the first flame. Whatever spell that was used relied on her staying asleep too, so Gwyn definitely wasn't coming to get her.
She kind of has the same fate as Gehrman as well, now that you described it like that. Waiting in the dream for so long for Laurence, unaware that not only is Laurence long dead and trapped in the nightmare, but Yharnam as a whole being completely screwed
Lemme barge in with my own grimdark theory for a sec: Filianore is-well, was-the first Fire Keeper. You know, the one whose eyes we find in the darkened Firelink Shrine, and who Ludleth remarks would reveal the betrayal of Gwyn's will and a world without fire. For one, we don't see her eyes or any evidence she even has eyes, just the black tendrils oozing from her sockets. Likewise, the eyes of a Fire Keeper show a black ooze seeping from their pupils. But perhaps more convincing is her clothing. Look especially at the emblem on her crown, a sort of three-pointed leaf with a silver gem encrusted at its center. Now look at the Fire Keeper's mask-it's the same emblem, simply warped and expanded. Furthermore, Filianore's dress is actually very close to the Fire Keeper's robes in cut and trim, but the two characters are contrasted in color scheme. Whereas the Fire Keeper has white hair and black robes, Filianore has black hair and wears white. They're directly referential to one another. We know that as a rule, all Fire Keepers must be kept blind, but it isn't until DS3 that we find out why. Fire Keepers are embodiments of their bonfires, and the eyes would reveal the inevitable future that the flame would have to fade, no matter how many times we try to preserve it. Filianore, having witnessed a premonition of the fire's end, was sealed away by Gwyn to hide any reason to doubt his will to keep the flame alive. But here's the really fun part: if Filianore is the first Fire Keeper, and if Fire Keepers are the personification of their respective bonfires... wouldn't that indicate that Filianore is the embodiment of the first flame itself? Think about it-both are kept alive by Gwyn's self-absorbed dream, far out of sight and protected by his most devout worshippers. Humanity is deceived into believing they are alive and well, but in truth they're nothing but withered husks of their former glory. She was the light that Gwyn desperately sought to protect, even if it meant eternal separation from each other. It almost makes me feel bad for him, too, if it didn't cost the world to preserve her and the flame.
Gwyn sent his own daughter to die and lied to her that he'd come back for her. Considering that her egg-like item might be a Transposing Kiln, Filianore was possibly made to destroy her own soul to fuel the illusion of the Ringed City, keeping the humans there unaware until their "seals of fire" hollowed them.
@@pious83 I actually think Gael's a big step down, particularly story wise (SoC also has that cool moment when "Gwyn, Lord of Cinder" starts to mix in the theme with the fiery great sword phase, which works since DS3 is "DS1, the remix and retelling") and in many ways visually-Gael's fight is pretty great for a Souls boss though, and it's one of the few BIG arenas to run around in during. Gael being another "*homage*" to Guts that doesn't matter a single bit to the story of DS3 proper, or Dark Souls as a whole imo puts a huge damper on him and his arc. Given that he only actually appears/matters in the DLC and even then is barely there, outside of obviously tricking your in DLC1 and giving you a few safe drop notes in DLC2. He only really interacts as far as we know with a single living character in an attic that no one ever directs towards or really makes any note of and is also exclusive to the DLC story. SoC also doesn't have any "character" lead up outside of tangential relation to the player(s) past, but he's a concept in universe manifest which imo has more bearing that "I gotta get that paint. I GOTTA get that paint!"
@@Valanway dunno, I feel like Gael was the best end boss they could have done. but let's not talk about the mechanical part of the boss. Gael is also an undead, right? he's alive since the apex of the age of fire, and I think it's also a pretty good representation of us, players. unlike anyone else in the world, Gael had a goal and was able to do whatever it would cost to achieve that. he probably died a lot of times, just like we did. now, think, we ( theoretically ) passed through demon's souls, ds1, 2, bloodborne and ds3. we fought demons, fallen lords, beasts, great ones, but our last enemy is "just" a human like us. we died a lot, but even so we keep trying to kill the next boss, for a simple hair of contentment, this goal of ours kept us strong enough to reach the end together. I don't know if you could understand what I meant, unfortunately I only know basic English, but I would say that Gael is the protagonist of his own story and it's also a parallel with soul of cinder. soul of cinder uses the souls of old ones, while gael uses the dark soul. ooh, just one more thing, Gael goes hollow when he realizes that his goal was achieved, and then, you are not facing Slave Knight Gael anymore, you're facing the Dark Soul. :)
The music was fitting, and someone’s comment about having played with someone to clear the dlc over 15 hours and then never speaking again after saying “This is it. This is the end” before fighting Gael gave me fucking chills
The Gameplay of Dark souls is fun... But when you go into the story it's kinda sad, knowing You, Gael, The Ringed Night, and Shira all end there... like there's nothing else left in the world. Basically to summarize... These games hit far differently than I have seen any other game try to replicate.
LMAO I read another detailed comment that is this comment. How about get some originality for once. Instead of trying to pull likes from some one else’s experience.
Age of Dark wouldn't be better. Both circles just consume until there is nothing left, that's what Aldia tried to tell everyone. Gwyn wanted to avoid this wasteland, yet another stagnant Age of Ancients. He sacrificed his body, his will, his very own soul, so that the world he knew could live for a tad longer, but it wasn't enough, because it's the nature of Ages to burn the world to ash.
This is the best picture I've ever seen of the end of time itself. Not necessarily a ceasing of the flow of time, but of anything happening in it. All these cycles, all this pain, all those souls sacrificed in the name of Gwyn's fear of the dark, it all led to this. A barren, empty world of ash and dust. An infinite ruin, stretching out in every direction. There's a kind of sad peace to it all. I just want to wander those barren plains, taking in the sheer scope of the end. The last flame, the last undead, the last hollow, all gone. The fight is over. It's all over...
dark souls as a series is insane. the end of time depicted with unrivaled stagnancy, all that remains to those lucky enough to survive longer than they were supposed to is rubble. i love that the timelines in dark souls are vague and unclear, and you never really get to understand how large the world really was. i'm hoping that elden ring has something like the end of the world in this game; i'm fascinated by things like this and i want to see it in a more open setting.
This is probably one of the most powerful vistas in all of gaming This is it. This is the end of everything. There are only a few hollows left to be burned away, everyone else is gone, be they gods or kings or heroes, no matter who they were they simply disappeared from existence, lost forever in the ash. The only real major forces left are you the player and Gael, two undead who managed to hold on and fight for the world they wanted even to the end of the world. It’s here where you finally face off and decide everything. Once you defeat him, then the world has truly ended, leaving only yourself and a soul of dark, with which you can decide to create a new world that perhaps might be better than the one you left behind.
Honestly, probably one of the best endings to a game. Its one of death, but also birth. At the end theres nothing left, the world that we knew is nothing but ash and ruin with no chance of coming back; the world of dark souls is gone. There is light though, after defeating Gale and getting the dark soul, it can be given to the Painting Lady to make a new world. Essentially, dark souls has ended, but a new story begins.
Which is honestly so confusing since the sword's description describes it as being from the steeples of the sable church in Londor, yet I don't think the ringed city is supposed to be Londor? Maybe it is tho
Personally I wish that you could see Drangleic castle or something in the distance along with Lothric and Anor Londo, it'd feel more complete to me. edit: i should've known better than open my mouth lmao
@@yourewallsareveryconvenien8292 that was because Yui Tanimura and the other director complain about how disrespectful Miyazaki was against their work, because yes, Miyazaki don't give a fuck about DS2 tbr
I sometimes go to this map to just walk around and think about the series as a whole. It's crazy that we're one of the last things to be alive in the entire timeline.
The end of the world truly reflects history and actions of others: Everything is sand now due to the linking cycle Only a few structures remain, with lothric and either anor londo or drangleic castle remaining, more proof of the fall of civilizations. In Gael’s fight, when dark spews onto the ground, lightning almost just as quickly strikes it out of existence, a nod to how this cycle began, with Gwyn fighting the dark.
Ive never played dark souls, but ive watched plenty of lore videos. This video puts a tightness in my chest thats hard to describe. Such an amazing series and world ends. Not with a bang, or a flash, but with a whimper. It ends with a long, drawn out age of rot and decay until nothing is left. All the gods are gone, all the dragons slain. People no longer live their lives, children no longer run and play in the streets. Nothing left besides a cold wind blowing over ruins, which themselves are doomed to eventually be ground down into the ash. Was it even avoidable? Was an Age of Dark even possible? The flame itself always ensured that it would be rekindled, even long after gwyn and his manipulations are gone. As though it was punishing the world for the subversion of the natural order, ensuring another age would never come. The utter hopelessness is a profound feeling. Looking at this feels like being able to know what the heat death of the universe is like. Its haunting, and such a sad ending to a wonderful story.
I think the word "epic" sums up what's wrong with a lot of scores, especially movies. Bad composers love staccato strings choir and booming brass. Basically they took "to die for" from the lion king and completely missed the point.
@@Kyrieru absolutely agree. People keep losing their minds over big orchestral scores but I can still hum Megalovania or Sif's theme but won't be able to tell Nier Automata from Call of Duty. Good music is good music, instrumentation aside. Games want epic instead of good
What unnerves me the most in the world of Dark Souls is that the majority of time, it talks about living places with kingdoms, societies with lots of people. But when we show up, everything is dead or try to die but can't. We're like "final operators", only here for the worst cases possible, only here to do what's necessary... and make life rises again. But we'll never see the fruits of our actions. Lordran and Drangleic must be beautiful, but we have no purpose to be here when it happens.
This was the video that made me subscribe to Zullie, back in the day. Man, what great atmosphere you show here with the Kingsfield music, it's been stuck in my head ever since.
I like how in the soulsborne universe you stumble upon ancient kings and queens in beds or chairs, long forgotten and long dead but still resting eternally over their kingdom.
Dark Souls is the only series where you could be goofily shield-spamming and Praising the Sun with friendly players one moment, and then having an existential crisis the next
Would've been better if thats what it was but they were actually fighting over everything. Gael knew he couldn't contain the dark soul he needed you to kill him to end it all
@@Specoups Wasn't her sliced open before the succ ? I always saw it as Gael sliced his throat open then went on to devour the blood of the other pigmys, giving it the time to drag itself away while leaving a long long trail behind him The cut itself being extremely messy because of Gael's sword being, well, in a state that could leave that kind of wound.
@@Shoupa We can't know for sure. I personnaly think the bite would be more appropriate since I think it would be a waste to slice and potentially lose some of the stuff, and pigmy lords were so helpless that bringing a sword down their neck would be a waste of violence and energy as well. Or Gael, since he's quite not himself anymore, could easily of course act in a less rationnal, optimized approach and indeed slash with his mighty sword before eating for whatever reason. It's a matter of personal preference I believe.
Wow I love how they actually hide Gael's other phase model in a tower, instead of just stuffing him in some random spot. I don't know the DLC well enough to say, does that tower happen to line up with anything relevant in the past Ringed City?
The tower is the isolated building that Midir perches on before your first encounter with him. The building is called the “Royal Temple” in the Japanese script, and it’s where the Pygmy Lords were.
Im sure the devs watch the vids and read the comments in zullie's videos while smiling with a tear in their eye knowing that all the soulsborne fans truly appreciate every detail and every thought put behind these intricate designs and lore with so much passion.
What I want to know is who or what Gael fought to get those injuries. I know that breaking the illusion made time even more convoluted, but it looks like that wound on his chest could have either been made by a spell or a great arrow, while the slashs on his back... I can't really think of any characters in ds3's story that would be capable of that in this point of the game besides ringed knights or Alva, or maybe Shira but she didn't seem like she was going after Gael. I would have thought maybe some of the judicators phantoms would have done it, but nobody outright uses a greatbow in TRC, so the only other contender would be the witch, who finally succumbed in TRC and for some reason had joined the judicators ranks. Could be a plethora of things since the protag has the midas touch except everything they touch turns into another apocalypse.
I think it's just how the Darksign looks like when you hold 99.9% of the world's humanity/Dark Soul inside you. It could also be an advanced Dark Sigil, though I assume they are the same thing.
I always thought this area of the game was really sad, but really aggravating too. I really hated Gwyn for what he did to humanity. The world is mutilated and can't move on. The First Flame is never allowed to fade, and over eons the world simply fills with ash, until all that's left is that desert and the ruins of the civilizations of men and gods. No one can die, but maybe we were never meant to. Maybe undeath is our truest form. The darkness of mankind is shackled by the curse. What doesn't eventually go mad when it's imprisoned like that? The real curse is the fate that Gwyn thrust onto humanity. Never to inherit the world, never to have our turn at the helm of destiny. The painting with the pigment of the Dark Soul is a path forward for humans, but it's far from what we deserved, what we had the right to inherit. Look at that desert, at the end of all things. Look what's left of humanity to start over. We've fallen so far, and so few of us remain. And the ones that do are driven mad by aimless, endless purposelessness. Hollow. That's humanity's new starting point. How can a world born of that be anything but demented?
@@janedoe4929 Sorry for not giving more details... What i want to say is that i always thought this map took place in the Future, not at the same time the main game takes place, i thought this isn't the present, but a representation of what would happen with the world If the flame was kept lit. The ending of the DLC, for me, takes place in the Future and the rest of the game (excluding that firelink shrine area) takes place in the present. The situation is already that bad in the present, now look at the Future, there's nothing There anymore...
Gwyn is the reason humanity isn't completely made up of hollows. His ring of fire and maintenance of the First Flame is what allowed humans to not be violent zombies. Humans don't go mad because their dark is "imprisoned", they do because that's what the dark naturally does to humans. Hollowing is the natural consequence of undeath, and undeath is the natural state of man. People keep trying to thrust the blame for undeath and hollowing upon Gwyn, because they think it sounds vaguely poetic and because everything bad must be his fault, but not only is it not supported by anything, Aldia outright states the opposite. Linking the fire leads to a world of ash, but not doing so leads to one of hollows and monsters.
I like to imagine what the pygmy lords looked like sitting in their little thrones day after day, year after year. Just waiting for their savior - for the last time.
I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner, but at 5:12 in the video, is the representation of where the large tower of the Grand Archives is, and the path that leads to Lorian and Lothric's boss chamber in the main game.
I'm still amazed at how Dark Reality encapsulates the feeling of pretty much the entirety of the Souls trilogy (I won't speak for Demon's Souls or Bloodborne as I've never played them). It perfectly captures the empty grandeur of it all, the facade of deities and the civilization crumbling from its own weight. From knew what they wanted from their music since Kingsfield and it shows.
I like to believe that buried somewhere beneath this endless sea of ash, his Lady’s Painting, hewn from the godly powers that begat life itself, remains completely untarnished. A cold, dark and gentle place. Free from the tyranny of flames and the savage madness of the deep.
Love the usage of King's Field music in these videos, it always had this uniquely haunting melodies. King's Field 1 (US) was the first video game I ever played and I'm happy that more people seem to know about it these days.
To this day I'm astounded there are people who say the ending of Dark Souls was anticlimactic. Two nobodies fighting in the remains of the end of the world was the perfect send off for the series.
It always bugged me that we never got to go into the tower that midir is hiding behind in the ringed city, the one shown in like all the promos. that would’ve made such a cool boss encounter location… :(
I always wondered why his cape was split like that. That huge gash on his back gives us an answer. Too friggin cool. Now I wonder, how he got that gash. Edit: and still ya know, wtf happened to his poor tummy-tum. Some gnarly indigestion right there. Edit: oh holy fuck that hole is Gael's darksign!? He is on a whole new level of hollowing, jeez louise.
