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The Undiscovered Secrets of Dark Souls 2
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- Опубликовано: 14 авг 2024
- In this weeks video we go over some overlooked alchemical aspects that made up Dark Souls 2. I touch on some deeper meanings behind Dark Souls 2 game mechanics which seem more calculated than originally perceived and tie it back to core concepts in alchemy.
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#darksouls #eldenring
Also in Dark Souls 1, Gwyn's four most elite knights were Artorias, Ornstein, Gough and Ciaran - three men and one woman.
Good catch. It's also interesting that the one female knight, Ciaran, her name means little dark haired one in Irish. Especially since it's a name typically given to men.
This is a “chef’s kiss” moment. Great observations!
Top tier comment chain right here
Good call! And also, Ciaran wielded blades of gold and silver... which, as I pointed out in my first occult video on Dark Souls, represented sol and luna which were meant to be unified in the Rebis. ;)
I want to make a small distinction because I am Irish.
Ciaran and Ciarán seem pretty similar but the accent (known as a fáda) on the "a" changes the noise from Ah to Aw. In irish, it would be pronounced Ciarawn.
Ciarán is Irish-Gaelic and Ciaran is Scottish-Gaelic. Interestingly enough, Ciaran is still the masculine form of the name. This is either a mistake or a purposeful choice.
Maybe this was decided because Ciaran takes on a role that is usually masculine. Patriarchal roles are largely upheld in Dark Souls so maybe this is plays a part into it. However, I like the idea that she could be similar to Gywndolin but reversed. Born a woman but raised as a man. That's just a thought though
Aside from the trinity of the souls, there is also duality between two couples of them:
- Gwyn's lord soul gave Light to the world, and the Pygmy's lord soul will eventually give Dark to the world
- The Witch's lord soul was used to birth new Life, while Nito's lord soul was used to create and spread Death
For every individual conceptual force, there is an antagonizing, balancing, opposite conceptual force.
What do you reckon is the balancing force to the first flame itself? Entropy? The "deep" that we see referenced in DS3? Is the dark soul within the flame its own counterpart?
@@Ch35h1r3C47 I believe there is none. The First Flame is simply the concept of duality, the thing that creates disparity where previously there was only indistinguishable grey.
@@Ch35h1r3C47 the flame is its own balancing force. It started up and it will go out. It balances itself out by being a temporary existence
@@Ch35h1r3C47the abyss
It's a good observation. And out of all Four Daughters of Manus, only one ends up willingly serving the greater good despite her nature.
i really love the scene where we receive Vendrick's Crown
Vendrick : Seek strength
(plays the cutscene where players receive the crown)
Vendrick : ...the rest, will follow
Your analysis of from software games are by far my favourite. Such rich lore to explore .
Wow! Thank you for saying that.
What about vati, what about epicnamebro, what about plague of gripes, what about Mathew mitosis, what about hbomberguy or whatever his name is. What about limit breakers, what about illusory wall?
@@corncobjohnsonreal all those guys are pretty good, but max covers more niche aspects of the soulsborne games that I enjoy.
Also in oriental mythology and symbology, the concept of "4 heavenly kings", linked with cardinal points is VERY powerful. Even Sailor Moon perpetuated this trope 😊
I've always felt like Dark Souls 2 had so much to offer especially from deeper occult themes. It has this strange attractive feeling, something gnaws from behind of the mind. My own "spiritual Awakening" if you can call it that actually started during the time I was playing DS2 not that it kicked it off but it felt like a part of synchronicity. I hold it quite close to my heart to this day.
Same, sure it was clunky and not as polished as the rest but the atmosphere was unique.
It felt more .. psychological than the others
@The Schwa for me, Dark Souls 2 hints a lot of ideas. But never follows through with a single one. It's really aggrevating when nothing is really set in stone.
Nothing makes sense in ds2. Not one single aspect makes sense. And because of that, people have radically weird theories of the game just to justify its poor story telling.
@@kevinvu5432 I believe that's how Elden Ring is more. Could you give some examples of them not following through?
@@kevinvu5432 I mean let's be honest, this game got rebooted midway into development, directors got changed as well. The original lore and story had to be done from the pieces left from the original project, characters had to be shifted around with their original purposes redone. And there's also the game engine creation that they had to deal with during all of that as well as time constraints. So yes it's a Frankenstein's monster of a story and likely the best they could do given with what they had. There's still so much to this game that learning about the original lore and maybe looking into the actual Japanese translation might give into its story (cause we all know important lore details are often trapped behind mistranslations)
@@SchwaWasHere is not rlly correct to say "as the rest", demons souls and Ds1 are not better than ds2.
I love the way the human mind is just so motivated to detect and rationalize patterns. Numbers especially are an endless source of entertainment. Take any number and try to find all the different ways you could divide, multiply, or otherwise manipulate it into all kinds of seemingly mind blowing ways. I have always wondered if that means there really is a sacred geometry or if we are just masters of observing the material world and explaining it to ourselves in whichever way we find most attractive.
I believe Sacred Geometry is legitimate
Dark Souls2 style of the Nexus is my favorite. The music, the mystical town with a talking cat and a mysterious well. The eerie house with the skeletons. The unusually powerful hogs. It had a dreamlike quality to it.
I have something to add to the theory about why there are four crowns. In Japanese the number 4 (四) shares a kana with death (死) which is し. 4 actually has two pronunciations depending on context. (You can connect those dots by yourself) to the point: with undeath in dark souls; collecting all four crowns will allow you to remove undeath from yourself and truly allow you to die. (For gameplay purposes you respawn, but in-universe, you can truly die. That’s how I view it
I don’t think it’s the case that you become mortal, but rather immortal. You overcome the undead curse, but retain the benefits of “immortality”.
The "four" theme could also be connected to the Four Heavenly Kings or the Four Divine Beasts, the gods of the cardinal directions in Chinese beliefs (which later spread to Korea and Japan); a group of Elite Four is a common storytelling trope in Japan, with an additional or special 5th (like the elite four's leader or secret boss). I do not know about religion and the occult like you do, but I know from TV tropes that the number four is an auspicious in Japanese culture, related also with "death" because of its sound.
Also, it would be cool for you to do a comparison between the four western elements system and the five chinese one.
I think a key component of the universe is hinted at by Aldia. He mentions something like shattering the yoke, spoiling the falsehood, that the world is an illusion or facade, but a splendid one. I think in a meta way it's a commentary on how the universe they inhabit isn't real, as intricate and complex as it may seem. He sought to find out the nature of reality (gnosis) and transcend it, but failed, in the process corrupting himself as he had previously corrupted others, perhaps as karmic punishment for his sins. Your character ultimately has two choices, perpetuate the cycle of illusion by coveting and claiming the throne, acting as a pawn of fate. You "win" in this scenario, but not really because you just end up right back at the start. You've really accomplished nothing. Alternatively you can turn from the cycle completely, refusing to restart it and create your own fate separate from the pre-destined one almost every player experiences in perpetuity, regardless of the consequences. Perhaps on some level it represents putting the game down when you've finished, and actually living life instead of being trapped in the game world and its predictable cycles, or perhaps it's analogous to life itself. Idk man, I could be way off, but there are definitely heavy Gnostic and Buddhist elements, especially in DS2. It's a cool game.
illusion of life he talks about is the Gwyn's gift of fire brand that limits humanity and allows humans to live a normal life in flesh and bone. source: ringed city dlc
Seeing Gwyn & Co as the supernal triad makes for an interesting take on the game as an undead in Malkuth ascending the Tree of Life. Also, Abyss sorceries being heavy also reminded me of how everything on the Tree is condensed in Malkuth. I wonder how much further this can go.
Nice a video to watch when I get home
did u get home yet
@@toddberkely6791 just got home lol packing the bong right now for the video
Perfect. Very excited. Just finished DS2 literally a week ago. Surprisingly so much better than expected… 😧
The hate is undeserved. People hated the vanilla version, because it had problems. Just like Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 3 on release, but it was patched, and then they released the First of the Scholars edition, which not only fixed the bugs, but improved enemy placement and other things. Still, the damage was done, haters damaged DS2 reputation for ever.
@@vagabundorkchaosmagick-use2898 I ageee. I expected the worst… but it never came. On the contrary - I felt even a bit bummed or sad when I completed it. Like, that it’s over… 😐
Most people who hated it never played it more then a few hours and missed out. Its a shame that some loud people hated it and amassed such a following who refuse to even try the game because of a pre conceived notion
@@taffeylewis1176 Same! When I purchased a PS4 in 2020 (my last console was a PS2) my friends told me to skip DS2, but fortunately I ignored them.
@@UnholyWrath3277 Did you watch Marz's play? She let outside opinions to determine her own thinking, she was not thinking by herself, she hated the game even before she started it, and she rushed to the end, ignoring the DLCs, constantly repeating the game was BS and trolling her.
Keep in mind it is not three light souls and one Dark soul. It is a Light Soul, a Death Soul, a Life Soul and a Dark Soul. All disparities.
The Izalith Witches got the Life Soul, and Nito got the Death Soul.
I believe that explains their function; not their nature. Izalith made her own Flame, making her Light, and Nito, well...
"Gravelord Nito administers the death of all manner of beings. The power of this soul is so great that it satiates the Lordvessel, despite the fact that much of its energy has already been offered to death."
The fact he has to give part of his soul for it to work indicates, to me, that his soul is not a literal " death soul" so much as a huge tank of fuel he uses to allow the cosmic machine of death to function. But that's just me.
Also, hey!
@@alyseleem2692 Hey,
They're all Souls of Fire, in this instance, they all came from one source which they "found". So yes, in pejorative terms, Souls are basically energy, or "Power" "Fuel" etc.
And you can even go further and say that "Death" in the world of Dark Souls is more like a "world order" fueled by Nito's soul. All things that aren't Dragons or Archtrees are bound to this order, and the reality is death and life are an illusion and we're all beef jerky creatures that exist eternally. It's like a big lie.
@@Garl_Vinland Indeed. But is it so wrong?
A lie, and yet, a world full of warmth and resplendence!
Oh, who am I kidding?
Speaking of, I have an odd question:
What do you think of the Darklurker?
@@alyseleem2692 Gwyn sympathiser.
Dark Lurker?... He's probably something similar to what Pontiff Sullivan was. Or the Leydia ghosts in the Catacombs. I think his working file title was "Agdayne's Stand", so he might of originally been intended to be part of a boss fight with Agdayne
@@Garl_Vinland True. It's probably influenced by my new thoughts on the timeline, but still. Thinking of an Age Of Dark ..It's hard to imagine much light would survive. I'm a pyromancer; how could I live in a world without Fire?
And yes. One could say both are similar to him. But what is he? He has a Light Soul, seemingly uncorrupted,but uses hexes all the time, and only inflicts Dark damage, except when he doesn't and decides to use Fire damage. His Soul can give me Lifedrain. Sulyvahn is almost like a cheap copy of this guy; the original is a true abomination. Did you know he could open his chest for that laser attack?
It's almost as if...as if he stood beyond the definition of Light, or Dark. As if he was both, but neither.
Him being a manifestation of Agdayne is interesting. Have you ever wondered what Agadyne was, on the scale of Light and Dark? He always speaks as if he isn't human, and " Fenito" seems to be his kind's name. Them and the Milfanito half-share it, so they may have been Nito's, but still, what are they, precisely?
What is your speculation on the significance of the ritual torch reliefs found in Farron Keep, in regards to the themes of the three, the four, and the hidden?
The reliefs feature the Witch of Izalith, Nito, and the Four Kings. There exists a fourth relief in the files featuring Seath the Scaleless. I always found it interesting that you fight Nito and the Witch for their souls, but then the Lordvessel is satisfied by two pieces of Gwyn's soul, and NOT the Dark Souls OR Seath's own soul.
(I could talk about Seath for hours, honestly, but I'm very curious what your take on all of this is).
I never noticed the images 😮 I played the series backwards. I looked it up and that's so cool. Ty for the info. One more thing to add to the heck yeah pile.
your justification for Vendricks crown being touched by the dark soul because of Nashandra is applicable to each of the crowns, each one has a shard of manus/furtive pygmy/dark soul vying for its/ its owners power. (Alsanna, Nadalia, Elana)
Also Manus isn’t the furtive Pygmy, he’s a primeval man corrupted by the abyss. Not the wielder of the Dark Soul.
@@julianadams3710 yeah. Was trying not to be mean in my initial post but i dont watch Max's souls stuff for this reason. Hes writing fan fic first and coming up with theories that make sense second. Each of his souls vids have glaring issues like this
The one thing I think is a bit of a stretch is connecting the crowns to the four lord souls, and saying that because Nashandra went after Vendrick and coveted his crown that his is the crown of the Dark Soul. All of the fragments of Manus sought out kings, not just Nashandra.
I was thinking the same thing
Vendrick is human though, and humans have the Dark Soul within them. So it makes sense his crown is related to that Lord Soul.
@@Gigamex2 Weren't all the kings human?
@@jasonhendricks4562 Yes, but the three other kings are clearly associated with the three light souls. Meanwhile Vendrick (together with Aldia) was obsessed with trying to break the undead curse that afflicted humanity.
@@SaHaRaSquad I wouldn't say 'clearly'. It's a stretch to see Nito's influence
How is the death soul "light"? Nito's soul always seemed like a companion soul to the pygmy's soul the way Izalith's soul was a companion to Gwyn's. There's ample associations between Nito and darkness.
I think the best way to describe it would be that the other three first souls were "holy" and the dark soul was the "profane" one, so to speak, undoing the work brought by the Flame. With Nito's and Izalith's souls you would have the natural cycle of life and death, and with the Dark you would just have the cessation of all those things, and perhaps with time passing a return to the state of the Age of Ancients. Remmeber, in the original game, Nito's soul is yellow/white, like the other gods, but humanity's soul and Manus is dark/black, so it certainly goes to back to the trinity and the fourth dark one.
Also, remember that just natural darkness isn't the same as the Dark Soul, which is more of a Darkness of "metaphysical" quality, of Chaos against Order.
@Max Derrat , I'm happy you did a follow up video on the subject of the holy trinity, along with the 4th incompatible part. After your last video I couldn't get it out of my head with seeing it in some of my favourite games and stories, but mostly I'm interested in it's importance in Elden Ring right now. I would love to pick your brain or anyone's really on this thought I had.
For me the Trinity in Elden Ring was that of Marika, Elden Beast and The Greater Will, with Radagon not being the 4th incompatible part. That spot would be better suited to The Gloam-Eyed Queen, as she was also a Feminine figure that planned to disrupt the balance of the golden order and bring change to the world.
With that in mine I wondered if there is room in a mythos like this for two sets of Trinities like a second age or a new cycle. This video really helped in cementing this idea for me, like the 4 crowns being that for the Dark souls games.
So in Elden Ring the second Trinity would be that of Miquella, Malenia and Melina, with meany things grouping this trio in the lore, and the 4th being Ranni, a symbol of the moon and enacting change to the balance of the Golden order.
Sorry about the long comment, but I wanted to throw that out there as food for thought.
A positive comment to drive engagement.
Thank you for the new insight bro as a lot of other people dark souls has been in my life for a long time and I never seen or thought or heard about this concept and it was very thought provoking just like dark souls 2. Thank you also for making a video showing why dark souls 2 is important to the universe as a whole and not just a separate story/ game to dark souls.
I feel this raises the question "who is the fourth in the rennala/marika/radagon trinity?" and I think it's clear that would be the gloam-eyed queen. Taking other parallels into account, it's easy to conclude these 4 parallel both 4s in alchemy: mercury/salt/sulfur/magnesium and albedo/nigredo/rubedo/citrinitas. On the latter, rubedo and citrinitas are parallel to radagon and marika so it makes sense the gloam eyed queen and rennala are albedo/nigredo, going just by their hair colors. If this is true, since all the demigods are a product of incest/parthenogenesis, all pairings of the 4 must've produced offspring. The demigods named with an R are rennala's, the one's named with an M are marika's and the hair colors (just as in Martin's lore) are a giveaway of who the parents are. This really makes me wonder about which of the demigod's are children of the gloam-eyed queen. My best guesses would be Maliketh and St. Trina, given their respective realms/godhoods.
This is very good insight, though I would switch Rennala as the expression of Albedo, and Gloam Eyed Queen as the expression of Nigredo - as both because of the Queen's absence and her past influence as the very first stage of the Great Work, but also because Rennala can grant rebirth to pure children that are also incomplete and require the other two stages to go through - and most of them never do, with the exception of the Tarnished. The added lunar aspect to Rennala only reinforces this as her part in the process.
I think it's Godfrey. And the children are the golden lineage. Godwyn, Margit, Mohg and later descendants like Godrick and Godefroy. The Gloam-Eyed Queen is already Melina, daughter of Marika, so I'm not sure she can be the 4th piece.
@@ad6499 I always saw Godfrey and his lineage as "the third child" in Marika's offspring trio, but this makes sense also. Melina turning into the gloam-eyed queen after the prot uses the frenzied flame doesn't rule out there being another gloam-eyed queen before though. "Gloam-eyed queen" is a title after all, not a name. The previous gloam-eyed queen who founded the apostasy could've been Marika herself, turned evil after Ranni killed Godfrey and herself to get rid of her body.
@@thesunthrone very true, as I said, I was going only by the hair when I made that assumption (rennala's black and the gloamqueen's white) but rennala's white could come from the moon while the queen's black is expressed on her flame. They could very well be (just as radagon and marika are) the same being. The former even more so than the later, since the queen lacks a proper name and is remembered only in title.
@Emdimian @Emdimian @Emdimian yeah I dont really know where Godfrey being an offspring thing is coming from. I think the familial stuff only makes sense if you consider Godfrey/Hoarah Loux as the 4th. So you have the Marika/Godfrey Golden Lineage, the Radagon/Rennala magic lineage, and the Marika/Radagon lineage. And the fact it's GRRM is no accident considering George R R Martin's contributions.
Godfrey also has white hair, and is perfect to be albedo.
I take issue with the claim that all the demigods are products of incest/parthenogenesis ( none of Margit, Mohg, Godwyn, Ranni, Radahn, or Rykard are products of incest or parthenogenesis for example) and also that there must be offspring of all 4 pairings.
Also, Maliketh is stated to be half-brother to Marika, so I'm going to go out on a limb and doubt he is her offspring. Even if that is meant metaphorically or is a mistranslation, you wouldnt call your son your brother.
I suppose the first Gloam Eyed Queen could have been someone other than Melina, but I still dont know how that makes her the 4th element.
I'll assume you meant Godwyn at the end of your comment too, because Ranni killed Godwyn, not Godfrey. The names are confusing af though, no judgment.
About the excluded 4 regarding the four daughters of Manus, I will say that Alsanna is the excluded one in the sense that she is only daughter of darkness that is not evil or an antagonist to the bearer of the curse.
I mean...Elana has a perfectly good reason to be angry at me.
Yup mind blown ... again, with regards to your comparison drawn between the illustration of the of the Rebis and the Statue of Marika/Radagon, I do find it somewhat coincidental that they are both located above a dragon.
4 is pronounced "Shi" in Japanese, is the same pronunciation for Death, I thought that was the reason why the number 4 is always in the game
I’d like your comment, but it has 4 likes
It’s a superstitious viewpoint on that number in Japan like 13 is to other people.
From Software and Max is my dream team (I love how it end with "I simplified all i could", this easily could be a 4 hours video)
A good old fashioned lore video. Love to see it
Love your analyses and having it be on dark souls is perfect.
Max Derrat uploads, I click.
Simple as.
You people are the worst. Come up with your own bit
High IQ individual.
Any day Max posts a video is a good day
God love you!
Your explanation on the trinity excluding a 4th element is literally the background for Blasphemous' Wounds of Eventide DLC, where the 3 high wills expell the 4th
I always found the payoff of completing the DS2 dlc to be kind of weird. It felt like we were moving outside of the cycle of light/dark to somewhere else. I never really wore the crown because I enjoyed the hollowing effect for the risk/reward gameplay. But in a way, I guess that shows how Souls is all about the conflict between light/dark, which I've found so engrossing that the option to escape it feels entirely alien. Kinda meta😅
I look forward to every one of your videos! Dark Souls 2 definitely deserves a lot more attention
I truly believe dark souls 2 is the deepest and most interesting of the 3. Even though it’d seem 1 and 3 have a better connection, 2 stands on its own and connects to them with such uniqueness it’s so cool. There’s so much in its world and feels like such an adventure to explore.
This is my favorite game in the series.
I like the perfect fourth concept in general, cause it’s a big philosophical implication that when you make a trinity you are using three things to make a new fourth thing that is a separate thing
Hey Max, I'm a big of your channel and your unique content. I'm currently writing my M.A thesis in criticism and comparative literature and I strongly believe that your content and ideas are worthy of a PhD thesis. This can be a huge topic for another day. Your videos add to me and I learn a lot from them as I'm sure they do to many others. Stay yellow (;
Max is The God of Filtering. He filters such big amount of information from all kinds of sources and he talks about the most beautiful parts of them. God damn Max thank you man
The reason why 4 is a complete number is because it represents stability. 4 legs of a table, 4 walls of a building, 4 limbs of an animal, and 4 seasons of the year. 4 is also associated with death because death is the only certainty in this world.
Ohhh goodie, a Max video!
I just started a 2nd playthrough, too, so will give this a watch soon when I have my coffee 😊☕
You forgot about the sixth element: SURPRISE!
Great video. Also note that the Rebis is standing on a Dragon which lines up perfectly with your initial statement of the ancient dragons representing wholeness.
Thanks for your teachings Max :)
I enjoy these videos and makes me take a great interest in magic, they way it conceptualizes metaphysics, ontology and proto-science is just so interesting.
I think it should be stated that Manus is not the Furtive Pygmy, that is never stated, or even really alluded to, anywhere in any of the three games.
Dark in DS also appears to be associated with unity, the erasure of individuality (seen with the Four Kings, who definetly were relatively different human beings, now look identical) and perhaps a loss of self (seen with the effects of Hollowing and possibly the "peace so deep it was like the Dark" that Nashandra brought in Drangleic). I guess it matches the Dark's (and the forth) association with wholeness?
Dark souls 2 is absolutely my favorite in the series, im happy to see you giving it it’s own look, as I believe dark souls 2’a story and style are the best they’ve produced
A bit of info i think you might find interesting. Chronus is the titan god of time, his firstborn daughter is Estia, the goddess associated with flame. Gwyn daughter Filianore that we find in Dark souls 3 is blind, like the firekeepers and is forever watching over our "home". The firekeeper connection might be considered weak, but the fact the first creature Chronus god of time generated is related to domestic fire, i think that is interesting
even Vendrick supports this with his line “Inherit Fire, and harness the Dark, such is the calling of a true leader.”
Fuck those two questions at 2:35 have me spinning now lol. Also thumbs up for the square joke, puns are life giving.
DS2 definitely deserves more love an attention
In ancient Greek mythology it is similar whereas you have Ouranus/Uranus ruler of Space and the Heavens, then Khronos/Saturn ruler of time of which all things live and die, the third is Zeus/Jupiter ruler of men and the fourth is Gaea/Earth ruler of the material realm/abyss born of chaos. Appreciate your work, it puts everything together as it can be difficult to hold it all in your head while playing the games and make the connections.
I think you’re mixing up Chronos with Cronus. Two different gods, one being the father of Zeus and the olympians, the other being the personification of time.
@@evanhenry7630 Time is the Patriarch of all things as everything exists in time. Zeus being the first of the Olympians is indeed the son of Khronos. There is some confusion by the fact that Khronos was depicted as both an old man and a skeleton or the reaper. This led people to believe there were two distinct gods when they are actually the same. That's how I have heard it to be explained anyway but the Ancient Greeks were not themselves dogmatic about these things so different understandings of the myths was not uncommon. They all were able to gain personal wisdom from the myths regardless of their understanding.
Ha. The number 3 and 4 kinda shocked me. Never have I paid attention to these numbers. Amazing.
But I've read that number 7 is also sacred and plays a crucial part. For example, _"The 7 ruling powers of the World", "The 7 deadly sins"_ etc.
I think it's important to mention that the number 4 is also pretty superstitious in japanese culture, simmilar to 13 in the west.
13:47
Bruh. Got me by surprise.
Love the video, but got to ask, have any of the developers ever openly stated that they have been inspired by the occult and alchemy? Or are you drawing parallels and conclusions based on these links?
i really enjoyed your theory but i have a problem(not a problem really just a different view) on how you present the 4 Lord souls
I think that the 3 Lord souls are not actually just light souls and the 4th is the dark soul
if anything they present an opposite aspect
Gwyn has the Sun soul and the drak soul which is the opposite of that
Nito has the death soul and the witch of izalith has the life souls which is the opposite
that's it just my little observation
Just loop this into an hour long upload so I can listen to it to fall asleep, surprisingly effective
The soul of cinder is our chara from ds2 since it is the only human that can resist hollowing the souls of all who linked the fire afterwards plus the old lords gathered from the crowns in ds2.
This is gonna be a treat 😊
I really like the absolute poetry of dark souls 2, the whole basis of your quest is to cure the hollowing curse, and the fused crown you get from beating all the dlc bosses and acquiring vendricks, and yet in it you almost have no reason to hold that power as there is nothing left to do except end the game. Much like with many of the other character in the series including slave knight Gael halfway through his fight. Once you have gained everything you sought, than what's left to search for. And in the end rather than hollowing to the curse you either hollow to the endless crawl of time or kindle the flame perpetuating the endless cycle.
"There is no path. Beyond the scope of light, beyond the reach of Dark… what could possibly await us?"
What lies ahead, only a true King can see
Great video as always Max 🍻
What are the chances of you maybe looking in to Twin Peaks one of these days 🤔
I came very late, but still;
This reminds me of the Darkdiver covenant. You're walking in the Dark,filled with dangerous phantoms. You light three fires, and boom, you meet the Darklurker, a thing with wings that has a light soul but gives only dark damage for the most part. A living absurdity.
A revelation. The unity of opposites, incarnated.
Is that a song from the Ender Lilies soundtrack I hear particularly in the video's last section? What a pleasant surprise.
Oooh!! Based!Max! talking about my fav Dank Souls game. Excellent stuff sir, I hope you're well out there! 🙏
I didn’t know that the world of Dark Souls is filled with traces of alchemy here,and all the kings and their souls is based around the elements. That explains everything about immortality and rid of undead curse,and the sun itself represents the light in which embodies upon them.
The final antagonist of the manga "Bleach" is named "Juha Bach" and he is the son of the "Soul King".
His plan is literally to bring about everlasting life for everyone by reverting reality to it's primordial state before the concept of the cycle of life and death was invented.
These themes really do pop up everywhere.
A recommendation about sets of 3's, 4's and 12's: look up the Black Sun zodiac - also called the Demon zodiac - and cross compare it with Vedic Astrology. It is transparently invoked with Dark Sun Gwyndolin. The sign of Cancer in the Black Sun zodiac is also called "The Serpent" and "seen as very moody people". The sign of Cancer in Vedic Astrology is governed by the sign of the moon.
Another major one is the Gemini and the Bell Gargoyles: not just that there are 2 gargoyles but also the 2 bells and where they are located. In Vedic Astrology, Gemini is about communication between heaven and the underworld.
I'm quite certain at this point that the Age of Fire corresponds to the first point on the zodiac - Aries, the fixed fire sign. The Age of the Dark was supposed to start on Cancer - the fixed water sign - but instead it was unnaturally prolonged. The end of Dark Souls 1 would be occurring at about the time of Libra - the next fixed sign in the cycle.
It gets messy when trying to sort the various bosses into how they fit into the zodiac - elements are intentionally asymmetrically distributed to disguise them. But a pattern emerges for the Lord Souls and the classic elements:
Gwyn, Lord of Cinder and Sunlight, has domain over the Cardinal Fire sign Aries and the Fixed Fire sign Leo (sign governed by the sun). Other boss enemies are subordinate under these signs - Ornstein has the lion theme aspect of Leo, and as a pair both Ornstein and Smough are demonstrating the Black Sun version of Leo called "the War Maiden" through the mechanic where when one dies first it will be absorbed by the other - "Leos want attention and if they feel ignored they can create problems for themselves as well as others."
Gravelord Nito has the Fixed Earth sign Taurus and the Cardinal Earth sign Capricorn. See the heads swapped on the Taurus and Capra Demons? And the cow head on the Capra demon is bone? Compare Pinwheel with the description of Capricorn in the black sun signs: "There is always some mystery that points towards the dark and the sinister of them. These people will never show you their real side and will keep you in dilemma by mixing up things.") Pinwheel cycles between 3 masks. The mask of the child and mask of the father look normal. The mask of the mother looks like a goat.
The air and water signs are more mysterious in DS1. Witch of Izalith would be the cardinal air sign Libra and fixed air sign Aquarius - Black Sun Aquarius is "The Master of Demons". And the Pygmy/the Dark Soul would be the cardinal water sign Cancer and fixed water sign Scorpio. The Four Kings may perhaps collectively correspond to the 4 mutable signs. And Seathe the Scaleless I assume to be the mutable water sign Pisces for the Age of Ancients - Pisces is also called "the Sword" in the Black Sun zodiac and cutting off his tail gives you the Moonlight Greatsword.
I just came across this channel and I’m glad I did! Fantastic video and great insights into the DS lore and the Occult. Look forward to checking out your other videos
Many new ideas I hadn't thought of before and no condescending vaatividya voice, perfect
A DS2 video in 2023 and it’s from Max? Instant watch!
Love you Max!! Your video’s are always so good.
I'm gonna throw a couple of wrenches into your analysis.
1: Hexes are represented by the number six (this could be creative licence by the localization team though).
2: DS1 pyromancy doesn't scale with any investment stat, but chaos pyromancy did scale with soft humanity.
Regarding the second point, Miyazaki made pyromancy that way because he wanted to give melee builds a viable casting option, but the PvP community complained like crazy which is why the system was changed in the sequels. I don't think this change impacted the lore that much, it just shifts the soul investment from the pyromancy flame to stat investment.
DS2 has lots of cool aspects.
It deserves a remake that fixes it's flaws.
A remake I'd buy day one.
If you obtain the four crowns and talk to vendrick BEFORE entering the Thone room, you have to deafeat the Throne Watcher andThrone Defender, Nashandra and Aldia, 4 bosses in a row.
You just introduced me to this idea of the trinity with the 4th element and how the 4th element is chaotic and seperate from the rest. I think thats incredibly interesting because even with modern science we believe in 4 fundamental forces and gravity is the force that won't be unified with the rest but if you go back to the beginning of the Big Bang or before it, the fundamental forces are one, the quintessence.
In the beginning there was God who is Infinite Perfect Being. And the Void. Therefore the beginning is both Infinitely filled and Infinitely empty. Therefore Materiality is inevitable.
I would love to see you do an analysis video on Martha is dead and Alan Wake if you haven't already
I'd love to see your analysis of Genshin. It is heavily inspired by alchemy and Jungian psychology.
Not sure if it was said but to further support the rotten/nito link. The poison statues look similar to the statues in the catacombs who also harm you...
In ancient Babylonia there was Anu, Bael, and Ea (Heaven, Earth, and the Abyss).
In the Tarot, 3 is the number of the Empress, the embodiment of the female principle that symbolically links the Heavens with Earth and who carries within her the triple aspect of the Goddess as Virgin, Mother, and Crone.
4 - not only does it represent a square but also a cross.
In the Sufi tradition, there are 4 gates through which a man had to pass on his way to enlightenment.
In the Tarot, 4 is the number of the Emperor, the archetypal male figure, father, the King, the patriarch, who likes to create order and harmony in the universe.
If the numbers within 4 are added together-1+2+3+4- the whole adds up to 10, which implies the start of a new cycle, a rebirth, or reincarnation. These ten numbers form the Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew theonym for the name of God, transliterated into 4 letters as YHWH or JHVH. Yahweh or Jehovah.
Thinking back to other FromSoftware games, it makes total sense, their Echo Night saga was also all about Alchemy (they include 2 stones, one red stone that seems really similar to the concept of the Philosopher's stone)
To be honest, those games, while old, are certainly worth playing through and analysing. Hopefully you can cover them at some point!
I'm a big fan of your channel and would really like to hear your take on them.
Ender Lilies gotta be next vid because that bgm you used is one of my favs 😍
Yooo was just binging your vids and a new one comes out let's go!
Great video. This is a very interesting set of observations on DS lore. Looking forward to more content
This was really interesting. I kinda want to apply some of this to Silent Hill Homecoming - I think that game had a lot of similar stuff going on.
I loosely remember a prophecy that said one day all of humanity would become a rebis.
Awesome video. Only i like to mention that it should be as a symbol 3outside 4 in than in that is the 3 but on a head and than the 4 in the very middle but as a +. So that it all united in a one piece of never ending change.
I still can't grasp on how 3=Perfection and 4=Wholeness, is because an opposite is always necessary to give meaning to something or justify it's existence?
I really enjoy your content Max, but this time I'm completely clueless.
Nothing has compelled me to play the souls games until your series of videos.
Been loving this new DLC, can't wait for 5 to drop
In all seriousness, thank you, I feel like I'm learning a lot about myself. I tried to look into the "threes" and I thought it was close, but not quite what I have going on. It's all clicking now though
The nice part is that in DS1, Gwyndolin is the Masculine 3rd (presented as female though) whereas by DS3, we learn that Gwyndolin was actually the Feminine 4th (but presented masculine now) thanks to Filianore being the Masculine 3rd. Filianore is able to be considered the Masculine 3rd because unlike Gwyndolin, she retains Masculine Energy as the Daughter of the Sun (which is what Filianore means -> Filia + Anor) whereas Gwyndolin despite being born male has Feminine Energy via the Moon.
What about the fact that, in Dark Souls 3, Gwyndolin was finally comfortable casting off things that tried to *force* him to be feminine, such as the Reversal Ring? Also, rather than doubling up on the A, couldn't Filianore also be trying to sound like noir, as in Daughter of the Dark? That would mesh with how she was basically sent as a tribute to the Pygmies and the Ringed City. The Dark seems to have ultimately destroyed her too, akin to cases like Artorias falling to the Dark, whereas Gwyndolin had to be outright murdered by Aldrich (and might even still be partially alive in the boss fight).
Great video, always love your stuff.
"That fourth element will contain something chaotic, something that threatens the purity of the trinity."
You should look into the game Blasphemous if you haven't already. Not only is it steeped in particularly Catholic imagery, but I think the method by which the divinity in that game manifests (and ultimately originates) would be a good video.
The true ending path utilizes the quoted text quite explicitly.
1 year later.
This video is educational.
Great video, thank you!
Worth pointing out is that Nito's soul of death is not wholly associated with the light. Much like Gwyn and Izalith form an association of light and life, the Pygmy and Nito form an association of dark and death. Humanity is very much entangled with death and its process - the undead do not obtain eternal life except insofar as they cling to it against endless death. Physically speaking, Nito even cloaks himself in shadows that resemble Humanity.
How do you still have retinas after using youtube light mode?
Regarding the four Lord Souls, what about the fact that Dark Souls 1's intro depicts the "Dark" Soul as a fiery, bright soul in the Furtive Pygmy's hands? Could this imply that something happened to the original Lord Soul that fundamentally changed, or perhaps damaged, it out of its natural state?