by Deathsitexxi Sun Oct 21, 2012 2:37 amI’ve changed this posting to flow a little bit better and show some evolution in my ideas from when I originally posted it. =)
The first character we meet in the game is Oscar of Astora. He gives us our Estus Flask and hooks us up with a key that helps us progress. Astora seems to be a very prominent fixture in the Dark Souls story. So where is Astora and why do we meet so many characters from that land?
I speculate that: The Undead Parish, Undead Burg (lower and upper), Undead Church, the great bridge, and Firelink Shrine all used to be called Astora. For now let’s go back to what Oscar tells us. In his story that is passed down from his family Oscar says:
There is an old saying in my family… Thou who art Undead, art chosen… In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords… When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know. Well, now you know… And I can die with hope in my heart…
Notice the use of the word exodus. Exodus means a going out; departure, emigrate. However, it is key to note that exodus usually refers to a large number of people. This is why I believe that Oscar only refers to one Bell of Awakening. He sees the one at the Undead Church as common knowledge of the people and is making reference to the Bell in Qualag’s Domain.
I also believe that the people of Astora were a nation that served the gods, more specifically Gwyn. Sen’s Fortress original intention was to act as a proving ground for knights of Astora (any nation but more specifically Astora) to become members of Gwyn’s Silver Knights and transcend their humanity. This is why we see Silver Knight statues all in Sen’s looking as if they are offering weapons. However, when the Undead “plague” began to spread all of the gates to Anor Londo were sealed. Prince Ricard item description seems to help me explain Sen’s fortress being a proving grounds for knights to become Silver Knights.
Ricard’s Rapier: A rapier with intricate decorations. Chosen weapon of the infamous Undead Prince Ricard. Ricard’s exploits are told in monomyth. He was born into royalty, but wandered the lands in a fateful ill-conceived journey. He became Undead, and disappeared up North.
The fact it specifically says he “was born into royalty” makes me want to speculate on this monomyth… as in… Poor Prince Ricard, in an attempt to prove himself to his father attempted to locate one of the last of the Anicent Dragons. During his journey he became Undead, and in an attempt to cleanse himself of his Undead curse, ventured into Sen’s Fortress to prove himself worthy to be a true servant of Gywn. However, his title could not protect him and his skills were not enough. He hasn’t been seen since..
This is why he is referred to as Undead Prince Ricard in legend.
To continue, in the intro we see the Ash Maiden (of Firelink Shrine) kneeling over the body of a Knight. She is in the graveyard right next to Firelink Shrine. We know she is of Astora and in the intro this is before she was maimed seeing as she seems to have moved over there just fine. Also, in this same graveyard we find another item related to Astora, Binoculars. In addition, we know that the most high-ranking Astoraians wear the Elite Knight set, and it is decorated with the blue tabard. If we read the description of the starter Knights set we can extrapolate and speculate that it originated in Astora..
Knights Set: Helm of a lower-rank knight. Despite the thin metal used, the grooved texture gives it added protection.
Elite Knight Set: Helm of a nameless knight, perhaps an elite knight of Astora. Although he was loath to give up on his Undead mission, he perished at the Undead Asylum, and went Hollow.
Now seeing these 2 side by side we don’t get much from it because the Elite Knight Set focuses on Oscar. So let’s look at some more of his gear..
Crest Shield: Shield of a nameless knight, likely a high-ranked knight of Astora. One of the enchanted blue shields. The Crest Shield greatly reduces magic damage.
So here it talks about high-ranking why the Knight Set talks about lower-ranking.. but this isn’t enough to prove anything so look at the visual clues on the armors. Other than the tabard missing and the helm being open, these sets are visually the same..
It would also seem that Astora uses blue in their nation’s colors. In the graveyard we also find the Caduceus Round Shield.
Caduceus Round Shield: Round wooden shield crafted in Lordran. Decorated by an ancient blue Caduceus. The giant trees in Lordran are distant offspring of the great stone archtrees. This shield inherits their properties, and the wood greatly reduces magic damage.
Blue and reduces magic damage and found in the same graveyard which I speculate used to be part of Astora. Its properties being so similar to that of the Crest Shield one could say Astora used to use it as well? In addition the picture on the Crest Shield to me seems very tree like. This is a hint at what I was saying above about Astora being servants of Gwyn. There is another Caduceus Shield, a Kite Shield. The only NPC to sell this shield is Andre of Astora, and Warriors of the Way of the White carry this shield. The Way of the White serves Gywns uncle All Father Loyd. In addition, Petrus carries a Knight Shield…
Knight Shield: This medium metal shield is elegantly carved and painted. Although it is thought to have been used by ancient knights of nobility, its defense capabilities are similar to other shields.
If we believe the connection of the Knight Set with Astora we could also say that this shield would have once belonged to them as well. However, this shield is red and blue? The Caduceus Round Shield we find in the graveyard isn’t the only round shield we can collect in this area.
Red and White Round Shield: Round wooden shield crafted in Lordran featuring an impressive red and white design. The giant trees in Lordran are distant offspring of the great stone archtrees. This shield inherits their properties, and the wood greatly reduces magic damage.
These 2 shields descriptions are almost identical. In ancient times was Astora a nation of Red and Blue? Was there a civil war in which Astora fought their brothers in arms? Red vs. Blue? Or are the colors of Thorolund Red and this show more of a connection between Astora and the WoW.. The design on the Knight Shield seems to have a dragon on a sword. We know Astora fought the dragons as they have items that help them defend themselves from them. I.E. the Dragon Crest Shield..
Dragon Crest Shield: Shield of a nameless knight, likely a high-ranked knight of Astora. One of the enchanted blue shield. The Dragon Crest Shield greatly reduces fire damage.
Maybe there is a hint in the designs of the other shields… One group (Astora) seems to have gravitated to the side of the Serpents, more than likely Frampt with their association with the WoW and Gywn. While the other seem to not exist anymore and are now servants of Nito were they possibly attempting to serve the dragons?Or is just the color or Thourlund and shows their union.. Also, Nito’s areas are places that the Way of White sends there members on pilgrimage….
In addition, we can see from Astorias Straight Sword that they used blessed weapons. This could be due to them being associated with the WoW.
Astoras Straight Sword: Straight sword of an unknown knight, likely one of Astora’s superiors. High-quality weapon with a powerful blessing.
We can also assume that they fought the creatures of the Abyss from the Ring of the Evil Eye.
Ring of the Evil Eye: According to legend, this ring contains the spirit of the evil eye, a dark beast which assaulted Astora. The strength of the evil eye does not waver, and HP is absorbed from fallen enemies.
So… from above we know.. Astora: Uses blue either as the colors of their nation, they use holy/blessed weapons, their shields have good defense against magic, they are servants of Lord Gywn, they use Sen’s Fortress as a proving ground to become transcended from their humanity and become members of the Silver Knights, they fight creatures of the abyss/dark beasts.
Does any of this sound familiar? I’ll put in some item descriptions to help!
Armor of Artorias the Abysswalker: One of Gwyn’s four knights. The death of the armor’s owner can be surmised from the corrosive Dark of the Abyss, and the tattered azure-blue cape, once a symbol of pride and glory.
Greatsword of Artorias: Sword born from the soul of the great grey wolf Sif, guardian of the grave of the Abysswalker Knight Artorias. Sir Artorias hunted the Darkwraiths, and his sword strikes harder against dark servants.
Cleansing Greatshield: The steel greatshield used by the Knight who succumbed to the Abyss. Artorias, deeply scarred by the abyss, used this to form a barrier to protect his compatriot Sif. Although this drained the shield, its magic defense remains high.
To finish this up, the cover art on the U.S. box… Before we saw pictures of Artorias a lot of people believed it to be him. The helm is absolutely that of the Elite Knight Set but the armor seems a little bit different.. Could this have been Artorias of Astora’s original Armor? His armor now is a Silver Knight set that has been modified to fit his style and position in the 4 Knights.
As for Solaire being of Astora… he seems to be actively time traveling or shifting between worlds and his armor is so different when compared to the other examples of Astora gear we have… Long story short, I think he’s a liar =)
The first character we meet in the game is Oscar of Astora. He gives us our Estus Flask and hooks us up with a key that helps us progress. Astora seems to be a very prominent fixture in the Dark Souls story. So where is Astora and why do we meet so many characters from that land?
I speculate that: The Undead Parish, Undead Burg (lower and upper), Undead Church, the great bridge, and Firelink Shrine all used to be called Astora. For now let’s go back to what Oscar tells us. In his story that is passed down from his family Oscar says:
There is an old saying in my family… Thou who art Undead, art chosen… In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords… When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know. Well, now you know… And I can die with hope in my heart…
Notice the use of the word exodus. Exodus means a going out; departure, emigrate. However, it is key to note that exodus usually refers to a large number of people. This is why I believe that Oscar only refers to one Bell of Awakening. He sees the one at the Undead Church as common knowledge of the people and is making reference to the Bell in Qualag’s Domain.
I also believe that the people of Astora were a nation that served the gods, more specifically Gwyn. Sen’s Fortress original intention was to act as a proving ground for knights of Astora (any nation but more specifically Astora) to become members of Gwyn’s Silver Knights and transcend their humanity. This is why we see Silver Knight statues all in Sen’s looking as if they are offering weapons. However, when the Undead “plague” began to spread all of the gates to Anor Londo were sealed. Prince Ricard item description seems to help me explain Sen’s fortress being a proving grounds for knights to become Silver Knights.
Ricard’s Rapier: A rapier with intricate decorations. Chosen weapon of the infamous Undead Prince Ricard. Ricard’s exploits are told in monomyth. He was born into royalty, but wandered the lands in a fateful ill-conceived journey. He became Undead, and disappeared up North.
The fact it specifically says he “was born into royalty” makes me want to speculate on this monomyth… as in… Poor Prince Ricard, in an attempt to prove himself to his father attempted to locate one of the last of the Anicent Dragons. During his journey he became Undead, and in an attempt to cleanse himself of his Undead curse, ventured into Sen’s Fortress to prove himself worthy to be a true servant of Gywn. However, his title could not protect him and his skills were not enough. He hasn’t been seen since..
This is why he is referred to as Undead Prince Ricard in legend.
To continue, in the intro we see the Ash Maiden (of Firelink Shrine) kneeling over the body of a Knight. She is in the graveyard right next to Firelink Shrine. We know she is of Astora and in the intro this is before she was maimed seeing as she seems to have moved over there just fine. Also, in this same graveyard we find another item related to Astora, Binoculars. In addition, we know that the most high-ranking Astoraians wear the Elite Knight set, and it is decorated with the blue tabard. If we read the description of the starter Knights set we can extrapolate and speculate that it originated in Astora..
Knights Set: Helm of a lower-rank knight. Despite the thin metal used, the grooved texture gives it added protection.
Elite Knight Set: Helm of a nameless knight, perhaps an elite knight of Astora. Although he was loath to give up on his Undead mission, he perished at the Undead Asylum, and went Hollow.
Now seeing these 2 side by side we don’t get much from it because the Elite Knight Set focuses on Oscar. So let’s look at some more of his gear..
Crest Shield: Shield of a nameless knight, likely a high-ranked knight of Astora. One of the enchanted blue shields. The Crest Shield greatly reduces magic damage.
So here it talks about high-ranking why the Knight Set talks about lower-ranking.. but this isn’t enough to prove anything so look at the visual clues on the armors. Other than the tabard missing and the helm being open, these sets are visually the same..
It would also seem that Astora uses blue in their nation’s colors. In the graveyard we also find the Caduceus Round Shield.
Caduceus Round Shield: Round wooden shield crafted in Lordran. Decorated by an ancient blue Caduceus. The giant trees in Lordran are distant offspring of the great stone archtrees. This shield inherits their properties, and the wood greatly reduces magic damage.
Blue and reduces magic damage and found in the same graveyard which I speculate used to be part of Astora. Its properties being so similar to that of the Crest Shield one could say Astora used to use it as well? In addition the picture on the Crest Shield to me seems very tree like. This is a hint at what I was saying above about Astora being servants of Gwyn. There is another Caduceus Shield, a Kite Shield. The only NPC to sell this shield is Andre of Astora, and Warriors of the Way of the White carry this shield. The Way of the White serves Gywns uncle All Father Loyd. In addition, Petrus carries a Knight Shield…
Knight Shield: This medium metal shield is elegantly carved and painted. Although it is thought to have been used by ancient knights of nobility, its defense capabilities are similar to other shields.
If we believe the connection of the Knight Set with Astora we could also say that this shield would have once belonged to them as well. However, this shield is red and blue? The Caduceus Round Shield we find in the graveyard isn’t the only round shield we can collect in this area.
Red and White Round Shield: Round wooden shield crafted in Lordran featuring an impressive red and white design. The giant trees in Lordran are distant offspring of the great stone archtrees. This shield inherits their properties, and the wood greatly reduces magic damage.
These 2 shields descriptions are almost identical. In ancient times was Astora a nation of Red and Blue? Was there a civil war in which Astora fought their brothers in arms? Red vs. Blue? Or are the colors of Thorolund Red and this show more of a connection between Astora and the WoW.. The design on the Knight Shield seems to have a dragon on a sword. We know Astora fought the dragons as they have items that help them defend themselves from them. I.E. the Dragon Crest Shield..
Dragon Crest Shield: Shield of a nameless knight, likely a high-ranked knight of Astora. One of the enchanted blue shield. The Dragon Crest Shield greatly reduces fire damage.
Maybe there is a hint in the designs of the other shields… One group (Astora) seems to have gravitated to the side of the Serpents, more than likely Frampt with their association with the WoW and Gywn. While the other seem to not exist anymore and are now servants of Nito were they possibly attempting to serve the dragons?Or is just the color or Thourlund and shows their union.. Also, Nito’s areas are places that the Way of White sends there members on pilgrimage….
In addition, we can see from Astorias Straight Sword that they used blessed weapons. This could be due to them being associated with the WoW.
Astoras Straight Sword: Straight sword of an unknown knight, likely one of Astora’s superiors. High-quality weapon with a powerful blessing.
We can also assume that they fought the creatures of the Abyss from the Ring of the Evil Eye.
Ring of the Evil Eye: According to legend, this ring contains the spirit of the evil eye, a dark beast which assaulted Astora. The strength of the evil eye does not waver, and HP is absorbed from fallen enemies.
So… from above we know.. Astora: Uses blue either as the colors of their nation, they use holy/blessed weapons, their shields have good defense against magic, they are servants of Lord Gywn, they use Sen’s Fortress as a proving ground to become transcended from their humanity and become members of the Silver Knights, they fight creatures of the abyss/dark beasts.
Does any of this sound familiar? I’ll put in some item descriptions to help!
Armor of Artorias the Abysswalker: One of Gwyn’s four knights. The death of the armor’s owner can be surmised from the corrosive Dark of the Abyss, and the tattered azure-blue cape, once a symbol of pride and glory.
Greatsword of Artorias: Sword born from the soul of the great grey wolf Sif, guardian of the grave of the Abysswalker Knight Artorias. Sir Artorias hunted the Darkwraiths, and his sword strikes harder against dark servants.
Cleansing Greatshield: The steel greatshield used by the Knight who succumbed to the Abyss. Artorias, deeply scarred by the abyss, used this to form a barrier to protect his compatriot Sif. Although this drained the shield, its magic defense remains high.
To finish this up, the cover art on the U.S. box… Before we saw pictures of Artorias a lot of people believed it to be him. The helm is absolutely that of the Elite Knight Set but the armor seems a little bit different.. Could this have been Artorias of Astora’s original Armor? His armor now is a Silver Knight set that has been modified to fit his style and position in the 4 Knights.
As for Solaire being of Astora… he seems to be actively time traveling or shifting between worlds and his armor is so different when compared to the other examples of Astora gear we have… Long story short, I think he’s a liar =)
Last edited by Deathsitexxi on Fri Dec 07, 2012 7:34 pm; edited 2 times in total
