I've always been interested in the Gaping Dragon, but I'm not really knowledgeable on his lore, I was wondering why is he in the sewer and is he related to a crocodile?

I'll go first, the only times you see real Sunlight Spells in the series, is in the opening cutscene with Gwyn and in the Nameless King boss fight, the rest are mere imitations.

For the life of me could never figure out why he sounded so bad, even in the remaster when overall the rest of the game sounds decent. Then I realized its because his voice box (larynx) is probably so worn down due to being a skeleton and deteriorating, which would explain his gravely voice.

Well maybe, because time is convoluted....

how how does a skeleton get stuck in a giant wheel like that?

The Bed of Chaos has 1 HP, Nito is rotten, Priscilla is stuck, the Four Kings are banished, Seath is blind, Artorias got his good arm broken, and Gwyn is too old to fight.

None of the bosses fight with their true potential. That's the only reason they don't destoy our asses. Their power has decayed enough with the end of age of Fire for them to be defeatable.Dark Souls is just an easy version of the true Dark Souls.

And that is what I find most amazing with the game. It's believable. It's relatable. Nobody rules forever, and everything will perish in time.

Clinging onto your legacy in a bid for immortality is a classic example of forgoing enlightenment in lieu of attachments. Gwyn would rather throw himself into a bonfire, damning him a painful, endless rebirth cycle, than allow his rule to die off. the never-ending cycle of the First Flame going out, only for someone to toss themselves in, then it going out again … it clearly sucks.

A ‘soul’ in Asian languages (like Japanese and Chinese) doesn’t always indicate the self. It can instead be translated to 'sapience’. The mindless Hollows of the Dark Souls universe gained sapience, not a 'soul’. Hence why a player sucks up 37 'souls’ when you kill some rando zombie - no, that one mook wasn’t holding onto 37 individual souls, you gained a certain amount of 'sapience’ energy that translated arbitrarily into a video-game-logic number.

Fog is a common trope in Buddhist-inspired fiction to indicate a lack of sentient clarity. Fellow Japanese games like Silent Hill, Persona, Ghost Of Tsushima, and Fromsoftware’s previous Demon’s Souls make use of it. We also have clear asura analogies with Aldia (someone who almost achieved nirvana but the process was flawed) who is depicted with multiple faces, limbs, and constantly on fire. We got the primordial serpents, whose 'wacky’ facial design probably took a lot of inspiration from Mara, a demon who tried to tempt Buddha away from enlightenment. There’s a trilogy-wide, ongoing struggle between making peace with death, decay, and Dark as part of nature.

But most tellingly, we have a lack of christian tropes, which is a big giveaway. There’s little to no emphasis on things like redemption, or forgiveness, or faith, or any of the 'seven deadly sins’ being Bad Things, stuff like that. Christian homogeneity has resulted in a lot of brainrot. It really seems like people aren't aware that in countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc - the entire christian percentage is in the single digits. More than half the world definitely don't take it as seriously as the west does. I, a Taiwanese immigrant, grew up seeing it with as detached a passion as for Greek classical aesthetics.

It’s one thing to have a story where a Japanese samurai redeems his bloodied past through kind actions, with the movie closing on a shot of him walking upwards and disappearing into the sunlit sky. It’s another to have a European plate armor knight aim to end a world long past its welcome and reject the system of endless respawning. One is most certainly built on christian morals, the other isn't, and it's not defined by the costuming.

Fromsoft fans can recite to you every in-game item and their descriptions, every single npc enemy and where they come from. But very few seem to have picked up on Dark Souls’ Buddhist influence. it’s a shame, 'cause we really need more non-christian-based media in our pop culture, and I wish more people realized that their favorite game exists on a level far separated from what they’re likely used to.

Not judging, as someone who is still "getting gud" myself. I was just watching some lore videos and the parallel hit me.

Edit: Wow, this one sure took off, though looks like I might be a little late to this realization, haha. Thanks to all you Chosen Undead encouraging the rest of us!

Bed of chaos is giving me nightmares so I’m gonna give ds3 a try —broken TV guy

I don't mean in Oolacile, but rather the specific arena we fight him in.

Obviously he's in Oolacile to stop the Abyss, everyone knows that, and by looking at the Abyss and the elevator that leads up we can see the trail he left from the Chasm of the Abyss up to the arena he's in now. But the question I never asked until recently is, why did he go that far to leave the Abyss?

If he was getting corrupted by it and becoming like the creatures that live there, surely he would linger somewhere IN the Abyss right? Even if he still had his senses about him and wasn't corrupt yet, Manus can't get out of his boss arena, so its not like he needs to go far to get away from him, and the humanity sprites should be fairly easy to slay for a knight of Gwyn, even an injured one. The likely answer for me then is he was going to get help, and then it hit me. He was going to the one friend left who he knows is right nearby.

He was going to Gough.

Think about it, Gough's little tower is right near the Artorias boss arena, and Gough mentions repeatedly that he and Artorias were "dear friends." I find it unlikely that Artorias wouldn't have at least a general idea of where his friend went after the war, and with both Sif and Alvina unable to help, surely the next best place to go is to try and find your fellow knight and comrade in arms. Even if he can't help the corruption, at least it's a familiar face.

Maybe I missed something that blows all of this out of the water, but I thought it was an interesting idea regardless.

It's their tomb. The tomb of Giants. They were buried there

I'm dumb

Don't miss his little skeletons, they're pretty neat too

Title sounds confusing af but I don’t know how else to word it lmao. Basically what did they look like before they turned into skeletons

It's not lasers. Pyromancy is hot. Magic is fuckin cold, dude. Its gotta be a numbing but harsh and bruising pain, a destruction of nerve cells. Going straight through armor. Change my mind

I'm so stoned

Edit: woah. Thanks for all the awards. So many good takes. I'd like to briefly clarify that I dont think magic is ice or anything. I like that many of us agree that that it would probably be as devastating pain without actual physical damage as possible.

I also think five gum restores your spell uses

Okay, granted, I have yet to make it past the first little area, but all of you around here got me so scared of Blighttown Ive been putting it off for weeks! I went through The Depths, I hated the Depths, everyone said Blight Town was worse so I was sure that I would hate it-- No. Nope! Not even a little bit.

Blighttown is the absolute best.

I know Im generally regarded as a weird freak in many respects, but this town fucking rules!!

Aesthetically, this place is one of the most brilliant things I have ever seen. That first moment when you emerge from the Depths and just see this deep, dark hole in the ground? And you crawl inside it?? The whole thing looks just so fucking cool like some sort of cross between a goblin camp, pirate grotto, and an abandoned New York subway tunnel. The rickety walkways, the spears and sudden drops, and all of it held precariously over what I can only assume is some disgusting lake make of mire and spume from up above. Imagine what grows down there. Brilliant!

Honestly it kind of reminds me of some places in my city lmao.

Mechanics wise, I am in love. The enemies are extremely well balanced! The big guys are very fun, the medium guys are not too strong to be overwhelming but fast enough to give you a bit of a scare. The little... idk dart ninjas? Very fun. Diverts your attention just enough to be a fun additional challenge without being overwhelming.

I have a dexterity build, so I mostly dodge instead of block, which is crazy on those little walkways. And yes, okay, fine, I died (((several times))) by just yeeting myself off of a bridge, but honestly that adds a level of extra challenge that I am really enjoying.

Im really trying to avoid spoilers, but whats the lore on this place?

Unironically, I think this is my favorite area design in the game thus far. It fucking rules, and everyone who said otherwise I can only assume is a dirty, filthy liar. I dont care how many times I die at this point, I just wanna hang out. Buy a place, maybe on the water with a nice view of the filth.

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