Hello to all three Dark Souls fans on this website, and prepare your Hollow Anus to have its Humanity Restored upon reading the best Dark Souls theory of all time.
This theory was created by me with some influences from a few other theories I’ve seen over the years. Anyway, here we go:
Part I: Hollow Gods
The first piece of evidence that we must examine are the Hollow Gods. What do I mean by this? Well, by the time we face Lord Gwyn in Dark Souls 1, he has long since hollowed and become a Zombie:
And is at a fraction of his full power and glory. So, question: why is Gwyn Hollow? How did he become this way? We can safely disqualify some causes:
1. Gwyn is not Hollow because he has just become so old that he Hollowed. By the time of Dark Souls 3, Gwyndolin has become far older than Lord Gwyn was in Dark Souls 1, yet we can see during the Aldrich boss that Gwyndolin has not even Hollowed in the slightest. His hair has grown longer but other than that, he appears to be the exact same age that he was during Dark Souls 1.
2. Gwyn is not Hollow because he lost his purpose after all the time he spent defending the First Flame. Gwyn’s Hollow form still defends the First Flame vigorously, showing that some part of him still recalls his purpose as a defender of the Flame.
So given these facts, why is Gwyn a Hollow? We are forced to conclude based on process of elimination, that the reason Gwyn is Hollowed is not from age, or from forgetting his purpose, but we are specifically forced to conclude that Gwyn has Hollowed because the First Flame has burned his Soul away as part of his sacrifice, and now Gwyn stands a [mostly] soulless husk as a result of his heroic sacrifice to the Flame. This is the only reasonable interpretation that we can reach based on the evidence presented.
Now Gwyn is not the only Hollow God, in fact there is another Hollow God who is the focus of this godly theory:
And that is Gwyn’s firstborn son, Nameless Sama.
Now remember, from everything we know about Gwyn and Gwyndolin, Gods do not Hollow simply by aging, and Gods also do not Hollow from forgetting their purpose. So far as we know, Hollowing only occurs in Gods if they have their Souls burned away, which recall that sacrificing your Soul and becoming a Lord of Cinder is one of the key themes in Dark Souls 3.
So now we must of course ask: why has Nameless Sama gone Hollow? Hold that thought as we look at Part II of this magnificent theory:
Part II: Suns Above Lothric
The next part of this theory relates specifically to how Suns work in Dark Souls 3. Yes, Suns plural. The reason I say this is because their appear to be multiple Suns in the game which shine over different areas of the land. There is even an area in Lothric somewhere known as the “Sunless Realm”, where Siris is from. There are lands in Dark Souls 3 which have their own Suns and lands that do not. Let’s take a look at some geographical peculiarities real quick:
Lothric Castle:
Lothric Castle has its own Sun that also seems to shine over Undead Parish, the Farron Woods, the Cathedral of the Deep, etc.
However, once we get to Irithyl, we arrive in an area that has no Sun:
And this isn’t simply a “time progressing” thing because if you go back to the High Wall of Lothric or Undead Parish, those areas still have their Suns. Irithyl is simply an area that does not have its own Sun. And Irithyl is not the only case of such weirdness, as the Profaned Capital also features Sunlight creeping in from the outside despite being geographically right beneath Irithyl.
Now you may think these are simply Development oversights, but if you go back and play Dark Souls 1, there is never this huge disconnect between Sunlight and geography like there is here in DS3 (with the exception of if you kill Gwynevere). So why does this discrepancy exist in Dark Souls 3?
Well recall that in Dark Souls 3, the “lands have converged”…meaning geographically these lands are supposed to be far apart, but Lothric refusing to link the flame has caused the lands to physically shift closer together.
Now there is yet another instance where Sunlight differs drastically from the rest of the game world, the subject of today’s majestic theory:
And that is of course Archdragon Peak. You can even see Archdragon Peak from Irithyl and note that there is nothing resembling a Sun in sight:
But obviously when you travel to the place, it’s a different story, Archdragon Peak is the most sunbathed area in Dark Souls history (even including Dark Souls 2). There is no way this is an accident. This is such a central theme of the Dark Souls story that there’s no way a meticulous mind like Miyazaki missed this.
So what gives? Why is Archdragon Peak bathed in sunlight in this manner? Some online have theorized that we actually go back in time when we go to Archdragon Peak, but this is quite frankly bullshit that exists solely to explain why Archdragon Peak is sunbathed, while also ignoring some of the other evidence I have alluded to in this thread and also will allude to shortly, as well as some other pieces of evidence that I will not be diving into here.
No, we do not travel back in time when we travel to Archdragon Peak and there is zero evidence that we do. I would argue that Miyazaki is building towards a much different narrative. The concept of Sunlight itself is extremely meaningful inside of Dark Souls, and there is zero way Miyazaki would include Sunlight on accident.
Archdragon Peak’s Sun must have deeper narrative meaning than simply being placed in the game world for a source of light. Miyazaki especially gives no shits if you can see anything in his games, he would not give us a Sun for something as meaningless as a light source.
This cannot be related to the Dragons themselves as Dragons and Sunlight in Dark Souls are completely unrelated. The Everlasting Dragons existed in a sunless world, and by the time the first Sun came along, our Everlasting friends were virtually extinct. Sunlight and Suns are things that the Dragons have no mastery over or affiliation towards.
Our friend Nameless however is heavily, heavily affiliated with the concept of Sunlight. A few facts about Nameless:
1. He is the Leader of the Sunbros and historically always has been, even after he left Anor Londo
2. He actually straight up becomes the God of Sunlight after Gwyn’s death. See Hawkshaw’s video below for more:
So the de facto boss of Archdragon Peak is a character heavily associated with the Sun. Let’s stop rambling now and make a point:
Part III: Themes Coming Full Circle
So let’s put what we’ve learned together:
1. Gwyn and the Firstborn are both Hollow Gods, which is a phenomenon that so far as we know, can only occur when a soul is burned away via linking a flame.
2. Archdragon Peak also has its own Sun, despite the Dragons not being associated with the concept of Sunlight in Dark Souls in any way.
So the theory is that the Nameless King is actually a Lord of Cinder and “linked a flame” for the Dragons, burning away his own soul to give the dragons sunlight. To be clear, the theory is that the Nameless King did not link the First Flame, but linked an entirely separate flame for dragon-kind.
Now before you fall into an awesomeness induced coma, let me substantiate this most epic of theories a bit more. Surely the evidence I’ve presented is interesting but not exactly definitive right? I mean all I’ve really done is presented a bunch of unrelated design choices that, at best, connect to each other circumstantially.
So this is where I’m going to hammer this theory home and explain how the Nameless King becoming a Lord of Cinder thematically completes his own character story and metaphorically completes his arc. So, why does the Nameless King exist in Dark Souls? Why did Miyazaki include him as a character in Dark Souls 1? Well in Dark Souls 1, there are only very subtle allusions to his character. There is a monument to him hidden in Undead Burg that was destroyed, and there are several pedastals in Anor Londo that were destroyed that used to bare his statues. The few references that existed for Nameless served to communicate the central theme of his character:
Nameless is both Gwyn’s greatest pride and greatest shame simultaneously. On the one hand, he is a Dragonslaying War God who inherited Sunlight itself from Gwyn, and on the otherhand he ultimately left Anor Londo to ally himself with Gwyn’s greatest enemy in the Dragons.
He is Gwyn’s pride and shame manifested, he is both of these things at the same time. So with Nameless’s role in Dark Souls 1 understood this way, how would Nameless being a Lord of Cinder enhance this character arc?
Well, the idea of being a Lord of Cinder becomes less meaningful over time as is one of the core themes of Dark Souls 3, but the original idea behind Gwyn as the Lord of Cinder was that this was Gwyn’s final heroic act of valor, he paid the ultimate price in order to sacrifice himself in the name of his people and family. By sacrificing himself in this manner, Gwyn became the greatest hero in the history of the world, and became a martyr for the survival of his people and way of life.
The Nameless King becoming a Lord of Cinder for the Dragons is a continuation of his status as Gwyn’s greatest pride and shame. By sacrificing himself for a flame and a way of life, the Nameless King truly becomes an embodiment of his father’s greatest legacy, the heroic self-sacrifice in the name of his people. However, in sacrificing himself to give the Dragons a Sun, the Nameless King truly becomes an embodiment of Gwyn’s greatest shame: he replicated Gwyn’s heroic act of sacrifice, but did so in the name of Gwyn’s greatest enemy.
Would Gwyn be proud of his son if he knew of this? Or would he spin in his grave in shame? We are meant to ask these questions as ultimately we have no way to know what Gwyn would’ve thought of his firstborn’s actions.
Whatever the case may be, the Nameless King’s character arc is so perfectly completed by this theory that (for me at least) it becomes impossible not to be true.
Part IV: Mini Bonus Round
So here’s just some other really quick pieces of evidence that support this idea:
1. Dark Souls 3 has a theme of “Lords of Cinder”, with literally five of the base game’s main bosses being canonical Lords of Cinder and Gundyr being supposed to be one. The Nameless King as a Lord of Cinder fits perfectly here.
….And I guess that’s really it lol. Just didn’t know where to put this.
Part V: Conclusion
The Nameless King is a Lord of Cinder, thematically completing his character arc and completing his story in Dark Souls. Please try to contain your unrestrainable excitement below.
@TheKnightOfTheSea @EmperorKinyagi @Uncle Van @Jaguark101 @SakazOuki @Sentinel
This theory was created by me with some influences from a few other theories I’ve seen over the years. Anyway, here we go:
Part I: Hollow Gods
The first piece of evidence that we must examine are the Hollow Gods. What do I mean by this? Well, by the time we face Lord Gwyn in Dark Souls 1, he has long since hollowed and become a Zombie:
And is at a fraction of his full power and glory. So, question: why is Gwyn Hollow? How did he become this way? We can safely disqualify some causes:
1. Gwyn is not Hollow because he has just become so old that he Hollowed. By the time of Dark Souls 3, Gwyndolin has become far older than Lord Gwyn was in Dark Souls 1, yet we can see during the Aldrich boss that Gwyndolin has not even Hollowed in the slightest. His hair has grown longer but other than that, he appears to be the exact same age that he was during Dark Souls 1.
2. Gwyn is not Hollow because he lost his purpose after all the time he spent defending the First Flame. Gwyn’s Hollow form still defends the First Flame vigorously, showing that some part of him still recalls his purpose as a defender of the Flame.
So given these facts, why is Gwyn a Hollow? We are forced to conclude based on process of elimination, that the reason Gwyn is Hollowed is not from age, or from forgetting his purpose, but we are specifically forced to conclude that Gwyn has Hollowed because the First Flame has burned his Soul away as part of his sacrifice, and now Gwyn stands a [mostly] soulless husk as a result of his heroic sacrifice to the Flame. This is the only reasonable interpretation that we can reach based on the evidence presented.
Now Gwyn is not the only Hollow God, in fact there is another Hollow God who is the focus of this godly theory:
And that is Gwyn’s firstborn son, Nameless Sama.
Now remember, from everything we know about Gwyn and Gwyndolin, Gods do not Hollow simply by aging, and Gods also do not Hollow from forgetting their purpose. So far as we know, Hollowing only occurs in Gods if they have their Souls burned away, which recall that sacrificing your Soul and becoming a Lord of Cinder is one of the key themes in Dark Souls 3.
So now we must of course ask: why has Nameless Sama gone Hollow? Hold that thought as we look at Part II of this magnificent theory:
Part II: Suns Above Lothric
The next part of this theory relates specifically to how Suns work in Dark Souls 3. Yes, Suns plural. The reason I say this is because their appear to be multiple Suns in the game which shine over different areas of the land. There is even an area in Lothric somewhere known as the “Sunless Realm”, where Siris is from. There are lands in Dark Souls 3 which have their own Suns and lands that do not. Let’s take a look at some geographical peculiarities real quick:
Lothric Castle:
Lothric Castle has its own Sun that also seems to shine over Undead Parish, the Farron Woods, the Cathedral of the Deep, etc.
However, once we get to Irithyl, we arrive in an area that has no Sun:
And this isn’t simply a “time progressing” thing because if you go back to the High Wall of Lothric or Undead Parish, those areas still have their Suns. Irithyl is simply an area that does not have its own Sun. And Irithyl is not the only case of such weirdness, as the Profaned Capital also features Sunlight creeping in from the outside despite being geographically right beneath Irithyl.
Now you may think these are simply Development oversights, but if you go back and play Dark Souls 1, there is never this huge disconnect between Sunlight and geography like there is here in DS3 (with the exception of if you kill Gwynevere). So why does this discrepancy exist in Dark Souls 3?
Well recall that in Dark Souls 3, the “lands have converged”…meaning geographically these lands are supposed to be far apart, but Lothric refusing to link the flame has caused the lands to physically shift closer together.
Now there is yet another instance where Sunlight differs drastically from the rest of the game world, the subject of today’s majestic theory:
And that is of course Archdragon Peak. You can even see Archdragon Peak from Irithyl and note that there is nothing resembling a Sun in sight:
But obviously when you travel to the place, it’s a different story, Archdragon Peak is the most sunbathed area in Dark Souls history (even including Dark Souls 2). There is no way this is an accident. This is such a central theme of the Dark Souls story that there’s no way a meticulous mind like Miyazaki missed this.
So what gives? Why is Archdragon Peak bathed in sunlight in this manner? Some online have theorized that we actually go back in time when we go to Archdragon Peak, but this is quite frankly bullshit that exists solely to explain why Archdragon Peak is sunbathed, while also ignoring some of the other evidence I have alluded to in this thread and also will allude to shortly, as well as some other pieces of evidence that I will not be diving into here.
No, we do not travel back in time when we travel to Archdragon Peak and there is zero evidence that we do. I would argue that Miyazaki is building towards a much different narrative. The concept of Sunlight itself is extremely meaningful inside of Dark Souls, and there is zero way Miyazaki would include Sunlight on accident.
Archdragon Peak’s Sun must have deeper narrative meaning than simply being placed in the game world for a source of light. Miyazaki especially gives no shits if you can see anything in his games, he would not give us a Sun for something as meaningless as a light source.
This cannot be related to the Dragons themselves as Dragons and Sunlight in Dark Souls are completely unrelated. The Everlasting Dragons existed in a sunless world, and by the time the first Sun came along, our Everlasting friends were virtually extinct. Sunlight and Suns are things that the Dragons have no mastery over or affiliation towards.
Our friend Nameless however is heavily, heavily affiliated with the concept of Sunlight. A few facts about Nameless:
1. He is the Leader of the Sunbros and historically always has been, even after he left Anor Londo
2. He actually straight up becomes the God of Sunlight after Gwyn’s death. See Hawkshaw’s video below for more:
So the de facto boss of Archdragon Peak is a character heavily associated with the Sun. Let’s stop rambling now and make a point:
Part III: Themes Coming Full Circle
So let’s put what we’ve learned together:
1. Gwyn and the Firstborn are both Hollow Gods, which is a phenomenon that so far as we know, can only occur when a soul is burned away via linking a flame.
2. Archdragon Peak also has its own Sun, despite the Dragons not being associated with the concept of Sunlight in Dark Souls in any way.
So the theory is that the Nameless King is actually a Lord of Cinder and “linked a flame” for the Dragons, burning away his own soul to give the dragons sunlight. To be clear, the theory is that the Nameless King did not link the First Flame, but linked an entirely separate flame for dragon-kind.
Now before you fall into an awesomeness induced coma, let me substantiate this most epic of theories a bit more. Surely the evidence I’ve presented is interesting but not exactly definitive right? I mean all I’ve really done is presented a bunch of unrelated design choices that, at best, connect to each other circumstantially.
So this is where I’m going to hammer this theory home and explain how the Nameless King becoming a Lord of Cinder thematically completes his own character story and metaphorically completes his arc. So, why does the Nameless King exist in Dark Souls? Why did Miyazaki include him as a character in Dark Souls 1? Well in Dark Souls 1, there are only very subtle allusions to his character. There is a monument to him hidden in Undead Burg that was destroyed, and there are several pedastals in Anor Londo that were destroyed that used to bare his statues. The few references that existed for Nameless served to communicate the central theme of his character:
Nameless is both Gwyn’s greatest pride and greatest shame simultaneously. On the one hand, he is a Dragonslaying War God who inherited Sunlight itself from Gwyn, and on the otherhand he ultimately left Anor Londo to ally himself with Gwyn’s greatest enemy in the Dragons.
He is Gwyn’s pride and shame manifested, he is both of these things at the same time. So with Nameless’s role in Dark Souls 1 understood this way, how would Nameless being a Lord of Cinder enhance this character arc?
Well, the idea of being a Lord of Cinder becomes less meaningful over time as is one of the core themes of Dark Souls 3, but the original idea behind Gwyn as the Lord of Cinder was that this was Gwyn’s final heroic act of valor, he paid the ultimate price in order to sacrifice himself in the name of his people and family. By sacrificing himself in this manner, Gwyn became the greatest hero in the history of the world, and became a martyr for the survival of his people and way of life.
The Nameless King becoming a Lord of Cinder for the Dragons is a continuation of his status as Gwyn’s greatest pride and shame. By sacrificing himself for a flame and a way of life, the Nameless King truly becomes an embodiment of his father’s greatest legacy, the heroic self-sacrifice in the name of his people. However, in sacrificing himself to give the Dragons a Sun, the Nameless King truly becomes an embodiment of Gwyn’s greatest shame: he replicated Gwyn’s heroic act of sacrifice, but did so in the name of Gwyn’s greatest enemy.
Would Gwyn be proud of his son if he knew of this? Or would he spin in his grave in shame? We are meant to ask these questions as ultimately we have no way to know what Gwyn would’ve thought of his firstborn’s actions.
Whatever the case may be, the Nameless King’s character arc is so perfectly completed by this theory that (for me at least) it becomes impossible not to be true.
Part IV: Mini Bonus Round
So here’s just some other really quick pieces of evidence that support this idea:
1. Dark Souls 3 has a theme of “Lords of Cinder”, with literally five of the base game’s main bosses being canonical Lords of Cinder and Gundyr being supposed to be one. The Nameless King as a Lord of Cinder fits perfectly here.
….And I guess that’s really it lol. Just didn’t know where to put this.
Part V: Conclusion
The Nameless King is a Lord of Cinder, thematically completing his character arc and completing his story in Dark Souls. Please try to contain your unrestrainable excitement below.
@TheKnightOfTheSea @EmperorKinyagi @Uncle Van @Jaguark101 @SakazOuki @Sentinel
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