Synopsis[edit]

Dark Souls employs minimalist storytelling to convey its plot and lore. Historical events in its world and their significance are often implicit or left to player interpretation rather than being fully shown or explained. Most of the story is given to the player through dialogue from non-player characters within the game, flavor text from items, and world design.

Plot[edit]

The opening cutscene establishes the premise of the game. Dragons once ruled the world during the "Age of Ancients." A primordial fire known as the First Flame manifests in the world, establishing a distinction between life and death, as well as light and dark. Four beings find "Lord Souls" near the First Flame, granting immense power: Gwyn the Lord of Sunlight, Nito the First of the Dead, the Witch of Izalith, and the Furtive Pygmy. Gwyn, Nito, and the Witch use their new power to destroy the dragons and take control over the world, while the Furtive Pygmy is said to be forgotten, and thus begins the "Age of Fire." Over time, the First Flame begins to fade while humans rise in power, and Gwyn sacrifices himself to prolong the Age of Fire. The main story takes place towards the end of this second Age of Fire, at which point humanity is said to be afflicted with an undead curse, related to a symbol on their bodies known as the Darksign. Those humans afflicted with the undead curse perpetually resurrect after death, until they eventually lose their minds, a process referred to as "hollowing."

The player character is a cursed undead, locked away in an undead asylum. After escaping the asylum, the player travels to Lordran to ring the Bells of Awakening. The bells awaken Kingseeker Frampt, who tells the player to ascend to Anor Londo, the home of the Gods. In Anor Londo, Gwynevere instructs the player to succeed Lord Gwyn and fulfill the prophecy. To accomplish this, the player must acquire the Lord Souls of the Witch of Izalith, Nito, the Four Kings, and Seath the Scaleless. Optionally, the player may encounter Darkstalker Kaathe who encourages the player not to link the fire but to let it die out and usher in the Age of Dark instead. Once the player acquires the Lord Souls, they travel to the Kiln of the First Flame to battle Gwyn. Once Gwyn has been defeated, the player has the choice of linking the flame to preserve the Age of Fire, or letting it die out to instigate the Age of Dark.

Artorias of the Abyss[edit]

Main article: Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss

In the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, the player is dragged into the past by Manus, Father of the Abyss to the land of Oolacile, which is being corrupted by Manus after the people awoke and angered him. Artorias, one of Lord Gwyn's four knights goes to defeat Manus and rescue Princess Dusk. Artorias is defeated and corrupted by the abyss, however, and the player must defeat him. The player then goes on to defeat Manus, although the victory is attributed to Artorias later.

Plot[edit]

The story of Dark Souls II begins with a human who has become Undead, cursed to never die and doomed to eventually become a Hollow, a zombie-like being with no memories or purpose. To break the curse, the undead travels to the fallen kingdom of Drangleic and is tasked by the Emerald Herald with obtaining four Great Souls from powerful Old Ones whose names are long forgotten and forbidden. Once obtained, the Emerald Herald directs the undead to "Seek the King" in the capital. After fighting through the remains of the royal guards, the player encounters the Queen Nashandra, who reveals that the king failed in his duty and fled his kingdom long ago. She asks the protagonist to slay the king.

Near the end of the Queen's quest, the player learns that the ruin of the kingdom was in fact caused by Nashandra. She came to the king and deceived him into launching an ill-fated invasion across the sea into the lands of the Giants. She coveted their souls and sought to steal their power. Though the raid succeeded in stealing the Giant's unspecified power, the Giants retaliated. Invading Drangleic, the Giants eventually destroyed the kingdom. With his kingdom in ruins, the king discovered Nashandra's true purpose and locked himself inside the Undead Crypt.

In order to confront Nashandra, the player character travels to the keep of Aldia, the King's brother, to obtain the Ashen Mist Heart, an artifact that allows a form of time travel, by accessing the "memories" of corpses. The player must enter the memories of a deceased Giant to defeat the Giant Lord during the invasion and claim his power for their own. Confronting the Emerald Herald one final time, she states that Nashandra is a fragment of Manus, the final boss in the Artorias of the Abyss expansion in Dark Souls. She then asks the protagonist to put Nashandra to rest and to link the fire, temporarily lifting the curse of the Undead at the cost of the player's life.

In the Scholar of the First Sin version of the game, the base story changes slightly, notably with the addition of Aldia after the defeat of Nashandra. If the player has completed the three DLC areas and defeated King Vendrick, Aldia attempts to help the protagonist understand that there might be a way out of the endless cycle of death and rebirth. The player is given a choice: they can either link the fire, restarting the Age of Fire, and repeating the cycle; or the player can abscond the throne, resisting the effects of Hollowing and following their own unknown path beyond light or dark.

Set in the Kingdom of Lothric, a bell has rung to signal that the First Flame, responsible for maintaining the Age of Fire, is dying out. As has happened many times before, the coming of the Age of Dark produces the undead: cursed beings that rise up after death. The Age of Fire can be prolonged with the linking of the fire, a ritual in which great lords and heroes sacrifice their souls to rekindle the First Flame. However, Prince Lothric, the chosen linker for this age, has abandoned his duty and instead chooses to watch the flame die from afar. The bell is the last hope for the Age of Fire, resurrecting previous Lords of Cinder (heroes who linked the flame in past ages) to attempt to link the fire again; however, all but one Lord shirk their duty. Meanwhile, a sorcerer from the painted world, Sulyvahn, wrongfully proclaims himself Pontiff and rules over Irithyll of the Boreal Valley and the returning cathedral from Dark Souls, Anor Londo as a tyrant.

The Ashen One, an Undead who failed to become a Lord of Cinder and thus called an Unkindled, rises and must link the fire by returning Prince Lothric and the defiant Lords of Cinder to their thrones in Firelink Shrine. The Lords include the Abyss Watchers, a legion of warriors, sworn by the Old wolf's blood which linked their souls into one, to protect the land from the Abyss, and were ultimately locked in an endless battle between each other; Yhorm the Giant, who was once a conqueror of the very people for whom he then sacrificed his life; and Aldrich, who became a Lord of Cinder despite his ravenous appetite for both men and gods. Lothric himself was raised in order to link the First Flame, but rejected his destiny and chose to watch the fire fade.

Once the Ashen One succeeds in returning Lothric and the Lords of Cinder to their thrones, they travel to the ruins of the Kiln of the First Flame. There, they encounter the Soul of Cinder, an amalgamation of all the previous Lords of Cinder who had linked the flame in the past. Once the Soul of Cinder is defeated, four endings are made possible based on the player's actions during the game. The player can attempt to link the fire, summon the Fire Keeper to extinguish the flame and begin an age of Dark, or kill her. A fourth ending consists of the Ashen One taking the flame for their own and becoming the Dark Lord of Londor.

Bloodborne takes place in Yharnam, a decrepit Gothic city known for its medical advances around the practice of blood ministration.[37] Over the years, many travelers journey to the city seeking the remedy to cure their afflictions; the player's character journeys to Yharnam seeking something known as Paleblood for reasons unknown.[37] Upon arriving in the city, however, it is discovered that Yharnam is plagued with an endemic illness that has transformed most of its citizens into bestial creatures. The player must navigate the streets of Yharnam during the night of The Hunt, and overcome its violently deranged inhabitants and horrifying monsters in order to stop the source of the plague and escape the nightmare.[38][39][40]

The game's first few moments are seen in a first-person view through the eyes of a Hunter; who sees that they are being operated on by an old man. The man explains that he is performing a blood transfusion, and tells the Hunter they've "come to the right place" in seeking a cure for their affliction, referred to only as Paleblood.[37] He warns the Hunter that they will go on a strange journey that may seem all a bad dream. The screen goes dark momentarily before returning to the operating table as a large, flesh-torn, blood soaked beast rises from the floor and extends a claw towards the immobile Hunter. Suddenly fire appears and forces the beast's retreat; soon little creatures ("Messengers") appear under the table and begin to cover the Hunter - the screen then cuts to black. After the player completes character creation, they re-enter the game in a standard third-person view, and the Hunter awakens on an operating table in a small clinic, different to the one they started in. Upon exiting the room, the Hunter discovers they're in Yharnam, full of dangerous monsters and mysteries, and begins their journey.

Shortly after their arrival in Yharnam, the player finds their first Lamp. They light it, and are transported to a spectral realm called the Hunter's Dream, which acts as both a sanctuary and workshop.[8] The player encounters two entities: Gehrman, an elderly, wheelchair-bound man who provides advice to Hunters like the player; and the Doll, a living life-size doll that assists the player in leveling up and emotionally bonds with the Hunter over the course of the game. Gehrman informs the player that in order to obtain the blood they seek and escape the dream, they must hunt down the various monsters plaguing Yharnam, and halt the source of the plague. As the Hunter delves deeper into the city, they begin to learn its dark secrets, as well as the origin of the plague ravaging it. Long ago, the residents of Yharnam began worshiping ancient, eldritch cosmic beings known as the Great Ones after scholars from the College of Byrgenwerth discovered something referred to as a "medium" in the ruins of an ancient, highly advanced civilization that Yharnam was built on top of. The Great Ones provided the healing blood Yharnam was famous for, which is also the source of the plague.

While traveling through Central Yharnam, the second area, the Hunter is told to go to the Cathedral Ward by an NPC. He tells the Hunter they should seek the Healing Church because they were in charge of blood ministration and they may help the Hunter find Paleblood.[41] The player then encounters a hunter named Father Gascoigne, who seeks to kill the player to prevent them from transforming into a beast. However, midway through the fight, Gascoigne himself transforms into a hideous beast. After killing Gascoigne, the hunter moves on to the Cathedral Ward. Having slain Vicar Amelia, now a beast, the hunter comes into contact with an artifact that sends them a vision, to seek out the University of Byrgenwerth. Arriving there after defeating three enemies known as Shadows of Yharnam, the Hunter slays Rom, a cosmic kin and near Great One. With Rom's death, the Hunter gains access to a higher degree of perception, and sees Queen Yharnam, an ancient being from the dead civilization who supposedly bore Mergo, the source of the nightmare. With their new perception, the Hunter can venture to the previously hidden invisible village of Yahar'Gul, where the previously invisible Great Ones reside and were researched and worshipped by the radical Mensis Scholars, who were trying to build a vessel for a Great One, known as The One Reborn. After defeating it, the player accesses the spectral realm called Nightmare of Mensis, where the player finds Micolash, Host of the Nightmare and leader of the Mensis scholars, who has gone insane. After killing him, the player encounters Mergo, who is the source of the nightmare, and Mergo's guardian, known as Mergo's Wet Nurse. Only after slaying Mergo's Wet Nurse, and letting Mergo die by extension, is the final phase of the game initiated. When the Hunter returns to the Hunter's Dream, Gehrman offers to free the player from the Dream and return them to the Waking World in the morning.[42]

At this point, three different endings are possible depending on the player's actions. Choosing to accept Gehrman's offer unlocks the Yharnam Sunrise ending. Gehrman uses his scythe to behead the player, who then awakens in the real Yharnam as the sun rises. In the Hunter's Dream, the Doll bids the Hunter farewell and prays that they live happily, having finally escaped the Nightmare. Choosing to refuse Gehrman's offer unlocks one of two endings; the second ending, Honoring Wishes, is the default ending for this case. To save the Hunter from being trapped in the dream, Gehrman initiates a battle with the player. After Gehrman is defeated, a mysterious being called the Moon Presence arrives and embraces the player, binding them to the dream. Some time later, the Doll is seen pushing the player, now sitting in Gehrman's wheelchair, back to the workshop in the Hunter's Dream. The Doll remarks that a new Hunt will begin, signifying that the player has taken Gehrman's place in guiding other Hunters. Throughout the game, the player can find objects that are one third of an Umbilical Cord that forms when a Great One is trying to reproduce, often using a human being as a surrogate. If the player consumes three parts of Umbilical Cord prior to refusing Gehrman's offer, the Childhood's Beginning ending is unlocked. After Gehrman is defeated, the Moon Presence arrives to bind the player to the dream, but the player resists and fights the Presence in a final battle. Upon defeating the Moon Presence, the player is transformed into an infant Great One, and is taken by the Doll to be raised as her own.

After discovering an item called "Eye of a Blood-Drunk Hunter", the player learns of the Hunter's Nightmare, where the first hunters are trapped, drunk with blood. While traveling through Yharnam, the player comes across the corpse of a strange Hunter. When the player searches the corpse, they are pulled into the Hunter's Nightmare, populated by both beasts and long crazed Hunters, by a lesser Amygdala. The player can meet Simon the Harrowed Hunter, who tells them how the nightmare serves as a prison for hunters who have succumbed to their own madness and the scourge, and that this nightmare was conceived from a dangerous, scandalous secret. He then can assist the player throughout their travels. The player first heads to the Nightmare Church, where they encounter and kill the first Church Hunter, Ludwig the Holy Blade, now known as Ludwig the Accursed. After the battle, the player can choose to either tell the dying Ludwig of what has become of the Church and Yharnam, or lie and let him die happily believing that Yharnam has defeated the curse. The player can also kill the founder of the Healing Church, Laurence the First Vicar, after finding him on an altar in the nightmare version of the grand cathedral, now transformed into a burning Cleric Beast.

The player then continues on to the Research Hall, where they can learn from Simon that in order to find the secret of the nightmare, the player must reach the Astral Clocktower and kill Lady Maria, another original hunter and one of Gehrman's students, as well as the model for the Doll. After fighting their way through the "Living Failures" in the Research Hall, the player reaches the clocktower. Upon defeating Maria, the player reveals the secret she was protecting: the ruins of a fishing hamlet that had been pulled into the nightmare, and its inhabitants transformed into grotesque monsters. While exploring the village, the player can come across a mortally wounded Simon, who then gives the player a key and his bowblade, and pleads for the player to end the nightmare. The player then discovers that the hamlet is the origin of the nightmare, the result of a curse placed on the Byrgenwerth scholars and their Hunter subordinates, who tortured and massacred the hamlet's inhabitants in their quest for knowledge, as the hamlet's inhabitants had a connection with the Great Ones.

As the player continues on through the hamlet, they eventually discover the beached corpse of a large creature, the Great One Kos, whose probable death at the hands of Byrgenwerth originated the curse. An infant Great One and the source of the Nightmare, the "Orphan of Kos", suddenly emerges from the corpse's womb and attacks the player out of blind terror. After its defeat, the creature's phantom retreats to its dead mother's side and upon killing it, the Hunter's Nightmare is ended.[43]

Demon's Souls takes place in the kingdom of Boletaria. In ancient times, due to the misuse of magic known as the Soul Arts, Boletaria was attacked by a being called the Old One. The world was nearly consumed by the magical "Deep Fog" and the soul-eating demons it created. The Old One was eventually lulled to slumber, saving what remained of Boletaria, while some survivors became long-lived Monumentals to warn future generations. In the game's present, Boletaria's ruler King Allant restored the Soul Arts, awakening the Old One and its demon army. Boletaria is now being consumed by demons, with those humans without souls turning into insane monsters. Players take the role of an adventurer entering the fog engulfing Boletaria. After being killed, the player wakes up in the Nexus and meets a benevolent demon called the Maiden in Black, as well as various other characters.

Now bound to the Nexus until the Old One is returned to slumber, the player travels to five regions of Boletaria, killing the powerful demons controlling those areas and absorbing their souls to increase their power so they can face King Allant. However, the King Allant the player faces is revealed to be a demon imposter. After defeating the false King Allant, the Maiden in Black takes the player—now dubbed the "Slayer of Demons"—to the Old One. The Slayer of Demons faces the true King Allant, who has been transformed into a helpless blob-like demon, within the Old One's body. The Maiden in Black then arrives to put the Old One to sleep again. If the Slayer of Demons leaves the Old One, they are hailed as the hero of the restored, though damaged, Boletaria, becoming a new Monumental to support the world as the knowledge of Soul Arts is lost. If the Slayer of Demons kills the Maiden in Black, they serve the Old One and sate their hunger for souls as the fog continues to spread.