In many games, by the time you finish the first playthrough, you already have a pretty complete understanding of the story.
The second run is usually just for testing different strategies or picking up things you missed the first time.
But Dark Souls is different. Even after clearing it once, you might not have seen a lot of what's actually in the game.
For example, first-time Dark Souls players who don't read guides will rarely know that aside from summoning phantoms after kindling the bonfire and dealing with NPC or player invasions—or calling for help to fight bosses—
You can also summon NPCs in front of certain boss rooms.
For example, before the Lothric Frost Dog boss fight, if you've defeated the katana guy in Firelink Shrine, you can bring his spirit along to fight the Frost Dog. That's also when you learn his name: Master.
Or before passing through the door guarded by the fat-winged knight, you can see the summon sign for Lion Knight Albert on the left-hand stairs outside—though you can only see it if you're in kindled state.
Many players lose that state long before getting here thanks to the constant beatings from smaller enemies.
And in the world of Dark Souls, there's also something common to many ARPGs—side quests.
But here, you have to find and trigger them yourself.
And the more players uncover these NPC stories, the more they realize this is truly a game filled with despair.
The world, story, and difficulty are all like that.
In the first area where players begin their adventure, under the High Wall of Lothric, there's a hooded thief named Greirat locked up.
If you rescue him, he'll appear in a corner of Firelink Shrine and give you an item, asking you to find a woman named Loretta in the Undead Settlement.
She might be his lover, or maybe a relative, but clearly, she's the person he holds dear.
To repay you, the thief will even go out to steal useful items and sell them to you cheaply—far cheaper than the old lady by the blacksmith.
But when you reach the Undead Settlement, you accidentally knock down a hanging corpse. Picking up the glowing item it drops, you realize this corpse is the very person the thief was looking for.
You return to tell him the news.
"Ah… I see… that woman… she's dead."
"Thank you. I had a feeling it might be like this. Well… I feel a bit lighter now. Take this ring… think of it as a thank-you."
His calm tone still carried a sense of despair.
After that, the thief will help you by going out to steal things.
Each time, he'll bring back some useful items.
The first time, he sneaks back safely thanks to his own wit.
The second time, if you meet certain conditions, he can also return safely from Irithyll of the Boreal Valley and tell you that an "Onion Knight" saved him.
But the third time, when he suggests going to the royal castle for another haul, most players agree because of the good results from the last two trips—only this time, he never comes back.
"Hey… listen, I want to steal a few more things. Maybe there's something you need in Lothric Castle."
"I know… this place sounds really dangerous, but I still want to go."
"After all, I don't want to die still being nothing more than a lowly street rat."
On a rooftop in the Grand Archives where crow-like creatures gather, you find the thief's ashes. Remembering his words before he left, you can't help but feel mixed emotions.
It's clear that after learning of Loretta's death, he wasn't just trying to repay the Ashen One—he was also ready to die, which is why he kept throwing himself into danger again and again.
.........
For most players, it's also the first time fighting side-by-side with a living NPC instead of a summoned spirit: the Onion Knight.
The first time you meet him, he seems a little slow and silly, but also oddly endearing.
At the same time, you can feel his cheerful and loyal nature.
Seeing the Ashen One fight the Fire Demon, he jumps in without hesitation to help, and afterward, he even shares a drink and toasts the sun with you.
Along the journey, the Onion Knight and the player meet several times, until in Irithyll, he tells you something important.
He has a mission, and it happens to align with the Ashen One's goal.
He must personally send off his old friend, Yhorm the Giant, one of the Lords of Cinder.
It's a promise he once made—a knight's highest vow of honor and friendship.
When the bell to awaken the Lords rings, Yhorm rises from his slumber to see his capital in ruins, his people turned into piles of corpses and rivers of blood.
Inside, he feels not only guilt but also burning hatred toward the linking of the fire. His hopes had twisted into a monstrous flame that devoured everything, and his soul warped under its power. The corruption of the Profaned Flame completely broke his mind.
He cast aside the shield he had carried for years, took up a great machete, and stood guard in the deepest part of the Profaned Capital, attacking anyone who dared enter in a frenzy of obsession.
And the Onion Knight—Siegward of Catarina—
He was ready to fulfill the vow he made long ago, to personally kill his dearest friend.
Storm Ruler, the twin greatswords that can bring down a giant.
One was placed beside Yhorm's throne in the Profaned Capital, and the other was given to his most trusted friend.
"Yhorm, my old friend!"
"Knight of Catarina, Siegward, has come to keep his promise!"
"May the Lord of Cinder and the Sun be with you!"
After a fierce battle, the body of Yhorm the Giant collapsed. Exhausted, the Onion Knight sat down on the spot, as if he had returned to that moment when he first fought side by side with the Ashen One to defeat the fire demon.
"Sorry about this! Always making you save my life."
"But still, thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to fulfill my own promise."
"Well then, let's have one last drink together."
The Onion Knight once again offered the Ashen One a cup of his own brewed wine, and they drank together.
"May your courage and duty, and my old friend Yhorm, be with the Sun!"
"Alright, I'm going to take a little nap. You have to do that after a celebration!"
"My friend… may you safely see your mission through."
The two had met during their journey for different reasons, but the Onion Knight had now completed his mission.
The Ashen One still had theirs to finish.
The Onion Knight sat there with his head lowered.
But this time, he did not let out the sound of snoring like before.
It was only after the player walked far away that a dull thud of something falling reached their ears.
All players understood that for the rest of the journey, they would never see the Onion Knight again.
.........
There were far too many characters in the game who left a deep impression on players.
There was Hawkwood the Deserter in Firelink Shrine, constantly spreading despair. Once a member of the Abyss Watchers, he finally gave up his hopelessness after the player kept accomplishing what he thought was impossible, and chose to inherit the Abyss Watchers' will.
He stopped seeking swordsmanship and instead pursued the power of dragons. After cutting through Archdragon Peak, he obtained one half of the Twinkling Dragon Stone, and his story came to an end at the place where he had once fought alongside his companions—the Farron Keep.
Taking up his greatsword again, Hawkwood brought the entire undead team's Estus Flasks and fought the Ashen One for the dragon stone. The winner would gain the power of the ancient dragons, and the loser would sleep forever.
Then there was the saint, burdened with the mission of becoming a Fire Keeper. If she came into contact with the Dark Tome, she would lose her sanity and be consumed by darkness.
But if she never learned from the Dark Tome and truly became a Fire Keeper, she would only end up as a machine that leveled up players, waiting to die alone in a tower filled with Fire Keeper corpses.
Her knight, Eygon, upon realizing that his duty to protect her was over, would first leave a summon sign near the Dragonslayer Armour to repay his debt to the Ashen One, and finally return to the cell where the saint had first been imprisoned, to take his own life.
Champion Gundyr, the Nameless King, the Twin Princes… whether boss or NPC, each had their own story.
But all these stories were filled with despair.
No matter what you did, the ending was always a tragedy.
Just like the game's name, Dark Souls—the more you learned, the darker the world felt.
At first, most players believed that continuing the flame was the true ending.
After all, before the game's release, both the official blog posts from Lucas and the promotional trailers had clearly shown that the game's theme was about linking the fire.
But as players came to understand more of the game's content, they discovered there were three other endings besides linking the fire.
The first was the End of Fire, letting the entire world fall into darkness.
The second was the Usurpation of Fire, where in the process of ending the flame, you attacked the Fire Keeper and stole the fading ember for yourself.
In the Lord of Hollows ending, after rescuing Londor's pilgrim, he will draw out the dark power hidden within the player. Players who follow this path will eventually gather all eight Dark Sigils, and in the end, devour the flame to become the Lord of Hollows.
Whether linking the fire is the right choice has become one of the biggest debates among players.
Each of the four endings has its own supporters.
Those who favor linking the fire believe it means passing on the flame of hope. Once the fire goes out, the world falls into darkness, filled with wandering souls. How could such a hopeless world possibly be the right choice?
Those who support extinguishing the fire see linking it as part of a scheme. As the Fire Keeper says, one day in the darkness, a new flame will eventually be born. Plus, in the end, you get to be with the Fire Keeper forever, so if the world is dark, so be it.
Of course, there are also players who believe the Lord of Hollows ending is the true one.
Even the ending where you steal the flame has many who think it's the real conclusion.
The reason is actually simple.
This ending mentions that "the ashen one longs for the flame," which mirrors the beginning of the game, creating a perfect start-to-finish connection.
And, this ending even has narrated voice lines—what's not to love?
But in any case, the story of Dark Souls is fragmented and open-ended.
It's like the saying "a thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets." Every player has their own idea of the truth.
More and more players who have beaten the game now study Dark Souls like archaeologists, digging into every detail.
They hope to find more convincing evidence to prove that their own interpretation is the correct one.
Even though Lucas didn't release content from Dark Souls 1, the existing related material is already enough for players to imagine the kind of epic story hidden behind it.
The deeper they dig, the more they are moved.
At first, "suffering" was the label stuck to Dark Souls, but as more storylines and small details in the game came to light, it became clear that "suffering," "hardcore," and "high difficulty" aren't enough to fully describe it.
It has a charm far beyond that.
(End of The Chapter)
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