Pinwheel Deep Dive | Dark Souls Lore 

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I love how creepy the whole encounter with Pinwheel is. His black and kind of amorphous shape remind me a lot of characters like No-Face from Spirited away and Koh, the face stealer from Avatar, which I think are based on the same or similar spirits.

Regarding the last part, also notice how Pinwheel doesn't drop a soul...

Pinwheel might be a legend, but let's not forget one of his masks belongs to the THE LEGEND

It truly amazes and astounds me how much you guys are able to discern out of such seemingly meaningless details about a character's lore. Im so addicted to these, and you always leave me stunned with what you guys find. Thank you so much. While other lore videos focus on the same main characters over and over, its the characters like Eidas or Pinwheel that are casually mentioned in the game that I always wonder about. Please don't stop.

I fucking love how these always begin with simple origin explanations and 10 minutes in it shifts into conspiracy theories backed by gameplay mechanics. Best souls lore content out there by far

Wow, I always thought the mother and child died of some natural reason and that the father stole Nito's power after this, to bring them back to life, but the child being cursed by Nito and thus causing the mother's death is far more compelling, given that the babies do poison you, I also never understood why babies were present in the depths of the catacombs, this theory explains that as well, great job!

Made a 15 minute video out of a boss that lasts 15 seconds

Dark Sun Gwyndolin, at it again.

FINALLY someone talks about the Darkmoon Seance Ring in the catacombs... that one has been bothering me ever since my first playthrough now and seemingly no-one ever cared about it Nice analysis on Pinwheel, it´s good to see someone sufficiently covered him at long last in one of these lore-discussions I really love the character and his design but I feel as if he gets overlooked way too often

Also if you notice. The skeleton on the table had a blade as a right hand like Nito.

Among all of the lore telling of Pinwheel, this is the most sounding and complete. With observation not only of Pinwheel itself but its surrounding, the catacomb statues, timeline and even physical similarities to Nito, you have presented a unique, yet unbreakable story to us. The rational manner throughout the video differentiates your channel from those sensational hypotheses. Thank you for everything you brought to the Dark Souls community.

Hawkshaw, you're the perfect combo of Lokey and Vaati. More in depth like Lokey, while giving a strong presentation/ narrative, like Vaati. DS community: so you're saying Hawkshaw is the lore King? Me: Rekindles the flame, yes!

Clearly, Pinwheel didn't know the difference between, "go home and be a family man," and, "go home and be a family, man."

Heavely depressed here , but this guy has such a calm voice , helps me sleep like a baby

Whenever you upload I literally drop whatever I'm doing to watch

The point about him being an easy fight to further Gwyndolin’s agenda makes perfect sense to me. There’s no gameplay reason for him to be an easy fight, it’s certainly not because the catacombs is accessible from fire link and the devs didn’t want too hard a fight for a possible first boss.... the catacombs level is difficult and it would make more sense to assume a player capable of getting through that is capable of defeating a much harder boss than pinwheel. This would mean the devs either made it intentionally easy for lore reasons or by mistake, and I don’t think it’s by mistake. The early bosses all seem to have reasons to exist, Taurus teaches you to use what you learned in the tutorial in a more cramped environment, gargoyles teach patience and crowd control etc... pinwheel is just easy, any challenge you could argue is his niche other bosses test better. Even an increase in health could’ve been a quick partial fix for this but the devs chose not too. I’m a bit rusty on gwyndolin lore but it makes sense he wants the chosen undead to receive the power of kindling and to receive it in such a way that feels earned and fits the prophecy... he can’t just hand it to you or that would go against the idea of the undead being the chosen one. Instead he influences it away from Nito and into the hands of pinwheel. In lore An undead who escaped the asylum would likely get their ass handed to them if they had to deal with nito early .... but making it to and defeating pinwheel is difficult Enough that only “the chosen undead” could do it but easy enough that it’s not impossible. Gwyndolin could influence pinwheel in all manner of ways to ensure he/her/them (IDFK) doesn’t get too strong and would likely Know enough about nito to be able to count on him not just leaving and taking the rite back by force. Having the rite of kindling then helps the undead continue on the false prophecy .... meet gwynevere.. claim the lord souls and continue the age of fire. TL:DR. pinwheel is easy by design. But for lore reasons instead of gameplay ones. Thank you if anyone read this... idk if it was even legible its 9am and I haven’t slept. ❤️

This is so cool. As a boss Pinwheel raises so many questions... and as almost always with DS, the potential answers are so damn cool. The spikes from the child mask part of the statues is a crazy catch. When you brought up the poison for the life of me I was like, "They're making that up. I may not have a perfect memory but there's definitely nothing suggesting that in the game!" and then you lined up all the pieces... shiet.

The true lord of lore has returned.

Imagine necromancy or death magic being added with a skull lantern as a medium (such as pyro flame for pyromancies)

Dude, I wanna write this in all your videos comment sections just to make you see this. I love it all. Your spin on these theories are insane. More!!

Very interesting how your theory about Nito's ability to fuse undead together is backed up by Aldrich, Devourer of Gods seemingly inheriting this ability as well as he assimilates countless beings into his mass with Gwyndolin as his latest victim

Oh My God!!!! The Return Of The King!!! I Hope you are well thanks for the upload we missed you man stay safe and healthy!

Woah a video

He played us like a damn fiddle, once again ye see what I never did 👍

That's a new look at this character. I've never thought about Pinwheel being so easy as an intentional act by him to further Gwyndolin's and/or Frampt's plans. I wonder if we ever see the original Pinwheel? Maybe even he doesn't know who the original is...

Holy shit the man, the myth, the legend is back. I fucking love how dark souls lore is still active and alive after all those years!

Wb! Glad to see you uploading again :)

This is a completely different take on Pinwheel and I love it!

yaaaaaaaaaay more legends!!

Thank you for the new content.

welcome back, great video

First time getting into lore, and your work has been PHENOMENAL. I just want to thank you for your thought provoking lore work; you get into the nooks and crannies, and connect all the tiny pieces to make the whole back story. It was your work on dark souls 1 that got me interested in the series,and I quickly did all of 2 so that I could be ready for your breakdown. I was so sad when I couldn't find one from you, but no one else does it like you, so I couldn't get into any other lore breakdowns. Please do more for the other from soft games! Yours are literally the best, and I'm proof that it can inspire people to get into the franchise and random.

With the sheer amount of tiny details in this video, you would think these guys got their info directly from Miyazaki himself.

Holy crap! this is a wonderfully likely sussing out of pinwheel's lore! Never noticed the child's mask on the the mother-statue! Nor the growth on the child's head. NOR the 3 puncture wounds on the skull pinwheel is hovering over! At first I was like, how does gwyndolin fit in all this at all?? But it's certainly compelling after considering the darkmoon ring, which I always thought an odd placement in the catacombs. I might offer these retrospective points despite this being the best lore explanation I've ever encountered. Pinwheel is indeed weak tho I don't think pinwheel survived; however, his weakness was perhaps planned by Gwyndolin, who exploited his tragic situation. After all, Pinwheel was simultaneously cursed by Nito while having the blessing of the moon. I think it's likely those weren't copies of Pinwheel but illusions. If his master was Gwyndolin it is likely he was given some powers of Illusion. The body they hover over has a mock-gravelord-sword saw attached on it's arm. Possibly Pinwheel was also trying to somehow atone for his offense to Nito to reverse the curse. Lastly, the puncture wounds are on a skull that is clearly not the baby's, being adult size. It may have been that a grave-lord servant killed all three in one blow, while the father had his head on the mother's belly... darkest lore. He may be trying to resurrect himself first so he can more effectively direct their fate. Or was some poor shmuck who was looking to close to one of those statues. lol

Thanks for making more content HawkShaw, I still love listening to the Timeline as I drift off to sleep.

I love the idea that body fusion is a related magic to necromancy. I think of necromancy like touching your flame, your soul, to a burnt-out but still flammable corpse. If you're not careful, you're just make one big flame, one conjoined soul, one conjoined body. The subtle art of touching the flame enough to relight the dead body but not so much as to become part of it was only mastered later. Since Nito is presumably the creator of necromancy, it makes sense that he made many amateur mistakes like this, since he had no precedent to learn from. That's why he's a combination of many bodies. It's rather like the witch of Izalith's burnt hands. Speaking of which, demons are also fused bodies. I wonder if there is any connection between these two forms of magic.

You got me again. Arrived at the time when you mention Gwyndolin first, I was like "come on Hawkshaw, don't push it too far" and yet, by the end, I had a doubt. Praise the lore, and praise this game.

I'm so happy this was on my home page

It took me a full minute to check and realise that what I was looking at was not an ilusion set by Gwindolyn

Oh, I like that, tying the Darkmoon Seance ring to Pinwheel like that, making them out to be a full-on trickster/schemer. Great angle. It also makes sense every step of the way, after all how could some random necromancer get his hands on the power an entire rebellion failed to obtain? Why, trickery of course!

Everytime I've got a night I can stay up longer I put your videos on and start drawing. The lore + the amazing way you tell it and explain it while somehow imbuing it with even more mystery is wonderful!! Truly wonderful!

Pinwheel is cool

Glad you guys still put out content now and then, brightens my day.

I’m so glad you decided to continue your dark souls breakdown and lore series I love dark souls and have watched all the other dark souls videos and got really saddened when I discovered that ash lake might be the last

You can see the love you pour into these videos. The attention to the minimal detail is impressive...

Just found out you had put out new videos, instantly planted myself on a chair to watch them :D You always manage to give new insight

i can remember watching your last dark souls video livestream and being extremely sad about it being the last. thank god your back! your theories are by far the best imo

I am soooo happy you are uploading again! You are the best lore guys!

Really glad to see you making Souls lore again! Incredible attention to detail.

YESSSSS I've been waiting so excited for a new video

I freaking CAN NOT believe how much I still learn from this channel. This channel truly makes me want to play it all again. Insane high quality man. Just WOW!

Good to see that you're back! Something that I've been curious about since I first learned of your channel last year is how your mainly DS1 lore videos interact with what we learned in DS3, since a lot of old content was revisited/given explainations (Anor Londo, Nameless King, Smouldering Lake=Izalith e.t.c.). Have you thought of doing a video explaining some similarities between the commonlore elements that are similar between DS1 & DS3?

Amazing video! Channels like this gives you an amazing insight on how much work was put on the smallest details

I never lost hope! I knew you guys would come back eventually. You’re just head and shoulders above any other ds lore channel out there

This might be your best one yet and your others are phenomenal Keep going guys, your work is immense

Very happy to see that you guys are making more content!

So glad you guys are making lore videos again!!

Man I could have listened to you talk about pinwheel for at least a few hours more. Absolutely love your content, now I have to play through dark souls again!

I think the rite of kindling is a evolution if nitos power. Nito gained power via fusing with multiple dead bodies, and pin wheel attempted to use the same power to bring his family back. The right of kindling allows us to fuse more bodies/humanity within a single bonfire.

Been re watching your videos since I saw this upload. You really are the king of Dark Souls lore, no question

The Gravelord probably allowed the power to be taken without any issues. You have to be a pretty chill arrangement of bones to be called "Neato" as your nickname...

Please dont stop making Dark Souls videos! The way you talk and explain things, the lore is so, so great!

Love your videos man! What a treat

Time for an early christmas gift? .. I take it. This is awesome or rather loresome^^ Happy new year and a fine dark soul, to you!

To me, Pinwheel is just the easiest boss to kill first for a mask of the mother’s buff.

So great to see you guys back at it again. You're writing the darksouls book that we'll never have.

I never paid attention the runes as the clones move, the weird marionette way they hop across the stage and the magic coming from the lanterns. That's super cool stuff I feel I should have noticed but I don't see anyone mention it before in lore discussions.

Dude so happy you’re making videos

Crystal Peak music is always the right choice for background music

its great to have you back, i love your lore videos

Yooo, the legend is back!!! Welcome home!!! Love your dark souls lore vids, seriously on the DL better than VV and AH 😁

So nice to see your videos coming out again no one does it better

I feel like we need more examples of actively practiced necromancy in souls because that shit is just interesting when it comes to souls

Yay more hawkshaw uploads!!!!!! Made my day

I'm so glad you made more Dark Souls lore videos.

So happy you're doing this!

Another great video, please keep them coming! 👍

Pinwheel's true form will be the strongest boss in Elden Ring, I'm calling it now

Duuude this was really well done

It's great to see you again!

Please keep going into these dives, even the undead burg soldiers and other common inhabitants of Lordan 😊

You make me want to fall asleep like vadi vidia. Fucking awesome and your lore explaining is easy to understand in the sleepy state

Please don’t stop!!! So glad u guys are back

Another great video. Been immersed in ds2 but this makes me want to go back and make another playthrough of 1. 👍👍

Love the ideas presented here, absolutely brilliant

Amazing your back with ds lore

Your videos are great and insightful. Thanks!

My favourite boss in the Souls series and a wonderful video on them, what a time to be alive

Awesome content man, keep it up!

God bless Hawkshaw! Haven't watched yet but his 6 poles are important, like the name 'hex' it's a reference to the 6 Realms of Samsara. This idea comes up /a lot/ in DS2. Edit: 12:10 shows 'the turning of the wheel'. Dark Orb is just a lump of Karma, hence having the 'Will' to home in on you à la 'Pursuers'. Edit 2: Loved the bit about 'the Child' being a trouble pregnancy, that was a cool idea.

The whole video I was wondering "but what does any of this have to do with Gwyndolin?" until near the very end when all the parallels between Pinwheel and the Gwenevere illusion become clear. Bravo... yours are the only lore videos I've seen that offer real insights I would never have reached on my own. The number of times I've said to myself "Oh my god, of course!" while watching these is very high lol.

How ironic the universe drew me to watch all of your past dark souls videos again today. 🤘

Crystal Caverns from Hollow Knight! Great choice for a backing track. I used a bit of HK music in my singular DS lore video, I feel vindicated in that choice from y'all making similar choice. Great work as always. Y'all are legends.

dude freakin awesome cant wait for more vids

Thanks for making videos, i love this storys :D

The amount of detail they given to Dark souls still amazes me , its the most beatiful game I've ever played :)

A glorious return! Thank you Hawkshaw

awesome video, thank you!

Subbed! Keep up your content man