What I really love about gael as a character is the irony the whole situation, that it's the thing gwyn tried to suppress so badly end up being the very thing that saves the world from HIS curse, on the flip side I like how gael is everything gwyn feared a berserk uncontrollable force that outlasted the very gods

Lothic also has the best line in the game, roughly: "This place marks our grave. But you may rest here too, I'd you'd like."

God, what a journey this has been. Finger, but hole

The wasteland of ash is the future for sure. Gael says: "What, still here?" which tells you everything. He's surprised you aren't hollow yet.

Fun fact: You said that Yhorm and Aldrich have connections to certain NPC'S, you are correct, but the abyss watchers also have an NPC that is connected to them, the crestfallen warrior in firelink shrine. He is a legion deserter (has the same armour and there are abyss watcher swords in the firelink graveyard.) And if you complete his questline and fight him, he uses the abyss watchers greatsword.

36:20, my theory for us not seeing Ocelotte is that he is a crossbreed like Priscilla. Priscilla had the ability to turn invisible during her fight so i always imagined that that was an ability unique to dragon crossbreeds. I imagine that during the fight Ocelotte is simply frightened and turned itself invisible, hence why Oceiros keeps telling Ocelotte to show themselves 'You were born a child of dragons, what could you possibly fear?'

1:16:26 fun fact: if you directly translate Yuria’s last words from Japanese it’s something like “Kaath, your dying wish was in vain.” Kind of insane that a piece of lore like Kaath’s death could be lost in translation.

Another note about Ocelotte is that he may simply have invisibility powers as a dracanoid similar to Pricilla. This would be a clever in-universe method for From to censor child abuse while allowing it to occur in order to demonstrate Oceiro's animalistic depravity

The seigward cutscene before yhorm gives me goosebumps every time. Hardest cutscene in the series

50:53 I just noticed that NK's spear is actually shaking before he kills his mount.

Pontiff Sulyvahn left such a strong impression on me when I first encountered him, that I create all my characters to be like him in all the fantasy RPG games I played after (that allows character customization). Dual-wielding evil faith character that summons mirror image and has a flaming sword, dude was so damn cool.

Another theory about Ornstein is that he is a illusion in Anor Londo made by Gwyndolin. As it is explained that Smough was the last knight guarding the cathedral, even though when you get there Ornstein is clearly there. The reason why people think Ornstein is a illusion is because Gwynevere is a illusion aswell. What might’ve happened to Ornstein instead is that he left the cathedral and shared part of his soul so a illusion could be created in his image that wouldn’t immediately dissipate when hit. After leaving the cathedral he discovered dragon worship and Archdragon Peak. And eventually tried becoming a dragon, like all the other people and leaving his armor and weapon behind. Another hint that Ornstein didn’t die with his armor on is that it isn’t found on a corpse or in a chest like everything else. Its just laying there, which is strange and is implying he took it off and dumped it. Anyways enjoying the video so far! I and a lot of other people really appreciate the effort that goes into these videos. Keep it up!

6:30 we actually do get an answer why fire keepers are blind - to stop them from seeing world without the fire, to prevent them from betraying the flame. We get this answer from the fire keeper herself after we give her the eyes of the fire keeper found at the bottom of the tower that also contains remains of previous fire keepers. It’s a well established part of the lore and easily accessible as well.

Nameless king killing storm king and absorbing his lighting power is a pretty definitive call back to the ornstein and smough fight.

"This is the first time in the series where the game outright tells you who the main bosses will be." Except in the original, where it did exactly that same thing?

One of my great regrets in life was blitzing DS1. Getting to the end... breathing a heavy sigh of relief that fire zombie god was dead... then not understanding why I was expected to set myself on fire. THEN realizing I was literally standing in a kiln. Like holy shit the symbolism. So I did it all again. Meticulously sought and read every item description. Fast forward to DS3 and we get to see the meta narrative in Gael and the painter. Director commentary on the series itself. Fucking brilliant. Art on an inspirational scale.

There is another theory about Ludleth, based on his dialogue unlocked after killing him. That the gods or lords forced him to use his transposing skills to take/seal the Soul Feeder in him, so he had a huge amount of souls, then they forced him to burn to relight the flame. He speaks of it burning and that he is sorry, but that’s just a theory. a theory about games you might say

This was my first from soft game and tbh I think it’s one of the best to start with as far as gameplay is concerned

“Dark Souls is back and it’s time to kick some ass” is the best way to describe this game

That ending hit hard. Last time I heard that song was on my brother's funeral. He was a long-time fan of Dark Souls so it was a fitting song for the end of his age of Fire.

Pretty sure Fire Keepers are blind now is to keep them from seeing things they shouldn't see. I think there is a description on the fire keepers eyes item

1:08:53 I'm fairly certain that there was a ringed city knight still there at the end of time with us and Gael. And, there was also Shira who fights us, and she wasn't in phantom form meaning she was there in the flesh. Edit: And the pigmy who was crawling back to Fillianore, although he did die shortly after.

Regarding Ornstein I think he was just an illusion in DS1 made by Gwyndolin just like Gwynevere. This would mean that he left in search of his master(?), the Nameless King, before the Chosen Undead arrived. The Chosen Undead then killed the illusion and the Old Dragonslayer from DS2 is just some random guy cosplaying his hero.

Dark souls 3 is personally my favourite of the souls series, especially for its atmosphere and story

The painter girl is the true ending. She will create a new world (not Dark Souls, metaphorically Elden Ring or other future titles). In conclusion, yes, Miyazaki did, in fact, turn himself into an anime girl.

I always interpreted the handmaiden’s lines as indicative of just how woefully out of touch she is with the world around her, having presumably just been sitting in that same spot for ages.

I believe, Lothrick's teacher was Aldia himself. "The first of the Scholars doubted the linking of the fire, and was alleged to be a private mentor to the Royal Prince."

"Let the sun shine upon this lord of cinder" Is such a badass phrase.

Been waiting for this one!! Saving this for tonight, I’m gonna order my favorite food and watch this on the big screen and crack open a few tall boys

Love DS3 it’s my favorite of the souls games. I’ve been dying for you to cover this can’t wait to watch it

There’s a theory that implies that Lothric’s teacher, the scholar that pushed him in making the decision of abandoning the linking of the fire was actually Sullyvahn before taking Anor Londo. In Lothric there’s a statue of a Scholar that handles the Profaned Greatsword, the same weapon the Pontiff owns. I think this theory is great because it adds more to the Pontiff lore and makes it look like the actual villain of the game. In fact, in the cut content of the game he was actually gonna be the Final Boss called The King of the Eclipse. Ps: The Orstein of Ds1 was actually an illusion created by Gwyndolin. In the Smough set description it tells you that he was the LAST guard that defended the Cathedral. This can be true because if you attack Gwenevere in the first game and make Gwyndolin show us the true face of Anor Londo, you should notice that the Giant guards disappeared making obvious that Gwyndolin could create tangible illusions.

Kaathe did have a hand on the Sable Church, but the Japanese text where Yuria name drops him implies that Kaathe is no longer around. The line being something around the lines of "Kaathe I have failed your dying wish"

Dark Souls 3 has easily my favorite main menu/ main theme of any of the souls games. It's absolutely breathtaking and gorgeous (note, i have not played demon souls)

The thing about ocelot is that he’s a crossbreed like Pricilla meaning he could just straight up he invisible and ocerios doesn’t know where he is, it’s also heavily implied that aldia was the mentor of prince lothric

"dark souls 3 is a perfect game" yes, good, 100% true, no lies detected, thank you. ♥

This is one of the best videos you have made so far. It's been an honor accompanying you as you covered the entire Dark Souls trilogy. Keep up with the good work.

perfect timing. just finished the second part. thank you for this series since it helps me a lot focusing during my lab work at night

This is my intro to the series and my favorite. The voice acting, music, and bosses in this game are some of the greatest in video game history.

These souls games are are straight up masterpieces that give you whatever emotions they give you and ugh😩the piano playing in the end always gets us

I know I’m a bit late to this, but I just finished all the soulsborne games for the first time and just want to thank you for these videos. You’ve explained the lore in all these games extremely well and made it easy for me to understand. You’ve truly enhanced my experience

Nice, another one to watch later when I’m done with DS3. I’m currently going through Dark Souls 1 for the first time but I have your videos saved to watch when I’m done because your Bloodborne one was amazing. Damn Elden Ring got me started.

Thanks for this series. I love seeing a positive post release opinion on every game of the series. In truth, I’m not saying I agree with every point the uploader made in these 3 videos, but that’s the best part. What I’m saying is that when looking at these type of videos, the best parts are usually the personal takes of the uploader. Mostly because I bet most viewers are veterans of the series that already played the games and therefore summarizing the story is bit of “death weight” for some of us.

I had a shitty day today. I stumbled upon your DS1 video and listened all the way through, while commuting today and while chilling at home. It was a bliss. Thank you. I'll definitely replay these videos regularly, you did an amazing job

A beautiful ending to a monumental franchise. Thanks for making this, subbed!

My theory on why the Lords of Cinder rejected their calling is that, just as the player character in the first game, they were "tricked" by the light (all the npcs and quests suggesting the kindling of the fire is the right way to go) into lighting the flame in their respective eras. All the Lords have "wants" that, perhaps, they thought the kindling of the fire would fulfill. Maybe the Abyss Watchers were tricked into thinking that lighting the fire would end the Abyss for good (which it didn't), Aldritch hoped that it would bring the era of the Deep Sea, which again it didnt, and maybe Fraampt, or another agent of Gwyn, convinced Yhorm that rekindling the flame would bring back "the one he wished to protect", as it says on the description of his shield. When these Lords came back and realize that the kindling of the flame did not bring them what they wanted they refused to light it again. It would also make sense that, despite having nightmares about lighting the flame, Ludleth is the only one who arrives on his own at firelink since the lighting of the flame might give him a chance at returning to his former glory, in the form of the Soulfeeder beast. And maybe this same conclusion was reached by Prince Lothric with the teachings of the scholar that lured him away from his role as a Lord. He found out that the lighting of the flame is just a trick of the gods and their kin in order to try and keep the age of light from giving way to the age of dark (the age of man).

I think one of the big revelations of The Ringed City DLC is that, yes there were Ages of Dark. Countless Ages of Dark overcome by Ages of Fire overcome by Ages of Dark, and so on endlessly. The point being that there will always come a being strong enough to force their will on the cycle. But, as described by Aldia and fully shown in the Ringed City, both ages are two sides of the same coin. The First Sin was Gywn welding the Dark of Man to the Light of Fire. It could never be the True Dark originally destined with the dying of the First Flame. Gywn essentially damned the world to burn endlessly until everything was ash. We see this at the end of time.

I randomly stumbled upon your Dark Souls 2 video and I was surpry at how much I click with your style and presentation. I appreciate the mixture of critique and lore analysis.

I've got to say your lorian and lothric fight was magnificent. The most satisfying thing in the dark souls franchise is when you have the I-frames down perfectly with split second dodges. Well done on the video

Gwyndolin was alive because what we fought was an illusion. His illusions were powerful enough to have a physical presence.

Gael is a true gigachad and every day when I listen to the theme, I shed a single tear

Great video! Loved the ending soundtrack especially, it's a beautiful piece.

Bro I've watched you since your for honor days from years ago. I really like this twist of genre you've taken. This whole project with game retrospectives are so detailed that you genuinely deserve so much praise. So ill like all the retrospectives I've seen and hopefully that helps you out:)

I just finished the game and this came out Fantastic Gingy 🙌

I honestly never felt more fun playing anything else, It made me feel alive playing these games.

Excellent video! Thanks for putting this together, it was a fantastic watch.

Yhorm is actually one of my favorite bosses. I know alotta people say his fight is lack luster, or simple. But I kinda love that. He set himself up to do good and upheld his ideals of good to then not only trusting his friend to put him down should he go astray but also arming the world with the means to stop him. So that should he ever fall from grace good can still prevail. His fight is simpler because he wants you to win. He might be the only lord of cinder rooting for the player. Trusting that like him, the player, and all good things, must come to an end.

It's funny how easy it is to run past The Ashen Lake. No other studio would do that. This is why FROM are legends.

I still get tingles every time I see and hear that transition of the Soul of Cinder. I know it isn't the hardest fight (granted convergence mod made that fight way harder and a LOT more interesting imo.. But that's a mod lol) but man, I think it's my favorite 'final' boss. Such a perfect send off for the series in terms in my books.

Hey, just recently stumbled across this Legend of a channel. Bless for continuing to expound upon the lore of these games and to provide an individual perspective. You're doing great, chief

Absolutely incredible video, I've been bingeing your videos recently and they've all been great

About the Dragonslayer Armour in the DLC, I'm 90% sure the only reason they brought him back is because they made the baffling decision to not have his armour set in the base game, so they just haphazardly added him in so you could wear his armour.

I loved the twin princes fight. My son complained about how much he hated it, how much his friends hated it, etc. I thought it was one of the most fun fights in the game.

man your channel has very quickly become one of my favorites really great work at a really fast pace too! keep it up!!!

What an ending to a trilogy! You truly outdid yourself with that one! Good job!

One interesting thing I noticed about the dreg heap that no one seems to mention. Well two things. One, when you first arrive in the dreg heap, you are actually in the high wall of lothric, near where greirat is imprisoned. Next, the area with the Harald knight and the murkmen, is an exact replica of the first part of the high wall. At world's end, you are where you began.

Linking the Fire or Letting it die out is the same ending, you always participate of a cycle The Lord of hollows ending is the only way to truly break the cycle because you turn the nature of the cycle upside down, instead of hollows being fuel for the fire until they refuse and the fire inevitably dies off You force the Fire to fuel You, a Hollow, something that needs no Fuel You glitch the system entirely, it's like going from s dying Star to a perfectly stable almost inmortal Massive Black Hole The Fire will never weaken again, because it doesn't exist anymore and the Darkness will never take over because the Fire that doesn't exist never died and never will die you force all the hollows you met in your travels to instantly regain their sanity as if they became humans in the age of light but they also keep all the benefits of the age of dark most notably true immortality That's the True ending of the series to me, an ending where we stop the cat and mouse game of light and dark and force them to work together to build something new, an ending where no one tells you "oh yeah all of this will happen again", it's an ending where everyone can finally move forward and progress

Man, i'm not one of those guys who get emotional a lot. But shall i bee damned you got me big time with this epic of an ... "movie". I've learned so much from it and kept listening to the music till it gets black. You shall be praised for this huge amount of service you did to all like me, who sunk many hours in these games, but never dove that deep into the lore on our own. You did me a huge favor and i owe you big time.

Great great great video. It pretty much touches everything worth knowing regarding this masterpiece of a game, lorewise. Thank you.

57:00 The reason Friede is unkindled is because she was supposed to be the Lord of Hollows but couldn't beat Soul of Cinder, so when she revived she did so with the knowledge that she could never fulfill her life's purpose

And then we have ER lore 💀

Outstanding video, ending had me emotional, you always make hitters fr

What an amazing documentary you produce here Sir. So much quality content on your channel. You are wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing these masterpieces. Warm regards.

Man, Elden Ring wasn't bad, but it ain't no Dark Souls 3.

Argument for Gwynevere being the queen that you didn't include: The Dancer's soul.

Amazing timing for this, I just beat DS3 for the first time and it was a journey. Fantastic video for a game that truly took me on a journey, challenged me and touched me emotionally in ways I did not expect.

Amazing video & series!! Love the use of epilogue at the end it’s a banger

As beautiful as the ending to the series is I’m still sad to see it go.

I was gifted the Dark Souls 3 DLCs by a friend, about two years after I beat the game for the first time on Xbox One. I wasn't enjoying Ashes of Ariendel though, so I put the game down and didn't touch it for a long time. Earlier this year (or possibly late last year, I forget when exactly), I decided to play through the whole game again, and I'm very glad that I did. I finally played The Ringed City and let Gael finish his mission. He's my favourite boss fight of any boss, in any game, ever. Second place is Radagon (and ONLY Radagon, fuck elden beast), third is Soul of Cinder. The arena, the combat, the music, the context leading up to it all, Gael is a fucking masterpiece that more people should experience (even if they never will, because they'll never make it far enough into DS3 to do it). He cemented my adoration for the "last duel at the end of time and all things" trope and has inspired so many characters I've played in tabletop RPGs and stories I've written for myself and my friends. Fromsoft do not get enough recognition for it, but I want everyone who worked on Dark Souls 3 to know they did amazing and that their game will outlive us all.

I’ve been waiting very patiently for this video. Thank you good sir.

Amazing video as always . Amazing effort gone into this

Just fought Aldrich in Dark Souls 3. Man I feel bad for Gwyndolin.

Vendrick is actually mentioned in the Shirle Of Want item description, outside the old demon king boss fight

Gingy. I just found your channel yesterday and I already love your style and voice. You sir do a great job with your content.

The way you tell these stories is beautifully well done. Your videos have helped me fall asleep many, many times

the beauty of dark souls is that it's the most consistent and beautiful story based game in history Or has the worst, convuluted, misplaced and inconsistent story to exist And these major differences ENTIRELY depend on how much effort you put in to understand it

The millwood knights must have come from oolacile or a close region. Their capes have a white tree drawn on them, and thir arrows and bows mention an abyss dragon, from which we only know two of. The ethereal oak tree they mention might have been the same kind of tree the oolacile magic items is made of, like the catalyst from ds1, and the bow and branches from ds3, tho they call it a white birch.

well done. this is one of the best videos i've watched about this series.

Incredible video, so well written and captivating, I didn't even notice the 1h30m-ish that passed whilst I was watching.

In regards to Aldritch, I always interpreted his situation slightly differently. I don't think he's in the middle of consuming Gwyndolin in the boss fight, but he already has, and part of his ability to take the powers of those he consumes means he can also take Gwyndolin's form. Also, I always felt like the game was telling us that Aldritch _did_ consume Priscilla, just subtly, and most of the community just didn't want to believe it because waifu. We have a cannibalistic monster who consumes gods to take their powers, he has a premonition that shows him Priscilla, her powers and her location within the painted world, and then _mysteriously_ she goes missing and Aldritch has her power. I feel like the game is trying to imply that he tracked her down and ate her much more than that he memorized a story related to her from a dream.

I love the lothric fight. Super fun rhythm that was impossible to follow at first but is now burned into my brain. It’s pure fun to fight him now. But the room that the fight takes place in is soooo sick. At the highest room in the tallest tower of the biggest castle in the game, overlooking literally every other zone of the game, you fight prince lothric in his bedroom. It’s so intimate. Just a boy who is unwell sitting in his room as the world rots around him. Super cool

Duuuuuuude finally, been waiting forever for this one, your videos are awesome thanks for the great content

Ohhhhhh I didn't realize this was out! I can't wait to watch the whole thing. Siiiiiiiiiick work always man!

I'm surprised you didn't mention during the Aldrich bit that the purple energy blade is the Gravelord Greatsword - implying that Aldrich has absolutely consumed Gravelord Nito

The sunless realm is most likely mirrah, the place lucatiel is from. The shield used by hodrick is the same as lucatiel's and there are similarities between the armors of lucatiel hodrick and sirris. It is likely the case that they are all knights originating from mirrah due to the similarity of their equipment.

I really enjoyed watching this! It was so nice to get a real full understanding of the game! I’m on new game +2 with completion of DLC also. (I know rookie numbers) I’m fairly new to the game only brought it last year! I did notice a knight stuck in the dancers room when you were fighting her ;) great video dude

I was waiting for this. Thank you and good job.

44:05 there are also decoration in Lothric Castle that has a similar form to Aldia, which also enforces that he was Prince Lothric's teacher. Maybe his title was just changed by the time, just as the term Lord of Cinder changed from what it meant for Gwyn (being lord of a kingdom that now is only ashes) to what it means for the other Lords (that is being someone who extends the flame).

Dark Souls 3 was my first Souls game and it was always my favorite. The context provided by Dark Souls 1 didn't make it better or worse to me.

The video was worth every second, I really enjoyed all of it

Couldn't agree more, this game is definitely my favourite of the Trilogy, not only because of the superior gameplay, but the world, the story as you see, it created an atmosphere that I can't rightly explain but I know exactly how I felt and I adore it.