why an ear?

Not sure if this question has appeared before but....why does the BotDM take ears? why not something like an eye? an eyeless corpse is scarier then an ear-less one. Gywndolin got something against ears?

Well when you think about it, In the bible peter cut off an ear for the sake of Jesus, and Gwyndolin is supposed to be the Almighty God of Sin or something like that. So maybe that ->might<- have something to do with this
(just referring to the bible, I do not want to start a flame war)
And cutting out and eye is a little too harsh, makes you seem like a psycho murderer, cutting an ear is not fatal but can really handicap you.

don't you kill the guilty though? plus, I've abandoned so many convents, my bounty is probably in the millions, so im sure taking eyes out is the nicest thing to do for angering a bunch of gods

EarthScraper wrote:don't you kill the guilty though? plus, I've abandoned so many convents, my bounty is probably in the millions, so im sure taking eyes out is the nicest thing to do for angering a bunch of gods

ah right, forgot, you DO kill them. But then my only guess is the biblical reference and relation to Gwyndolin.

Gravelord's already had eyes, so they went with ears. Taking the ears of the Guilty was a long-held tradition in the 'before times'.

I always assumed it was a reference to the punishments people would perform in medieval times.

LunarFog wrote:I always assumed it was a reference to the punishments people would perform in medieval times.

That's what it is.

ohhh, didn't know that. makes sense, since darks souls has a medieval theme to it, thanks!

Gwyndolin is a fan of Van Gogh?

Animaaal wrote:Gwyndolin is a fan of Van Gogh?

Bee i think youre Reading too much Bible

You Learn something New every Time you Play Dark Souls

I don't know if this has already been mentioned but it could be because an ear of reprisal is a symbol that the guilty have payed for a sin they have committed.

The ear may have come from the person that was found in the book of the guilty and once they had been killed the SoV would remove their ear as a symbol that they made them pay for their sin.

There is a chinese myth that states that pointing at the moon cuts your ears.

If there's anything that From most likely have taken the idea from, its likely that story.

What would you rather they cut off?

Shkar wrote:What would you rather they cut off?

aww screw the ears, just take their face, that would really terrify the gankers and the deserters not to **** with the BotDM

It's kinda funny, I just read the description about souvenir of reprisal yesterday and learned the terrible truth that you were actually collecting undead ears.

I mean why can it be fingers? Cutting off fingers sounds to be a more intimidating than cutting off ears in my opinion.

But I guess cutting off an ear is more appropriate in sending off a message than cutting off a finger would be.

Shkar wrote:What would you rather they cut off?

Poor male sinners....

It seems to be a running theme with the law for both good and bad guys to cut off body parts.

In Fallout 3 you can get one of two perks where you either cut off bad guys finger, or good guys ear as proof you killed them.

If someone cut your nose off I'd guess that killer was neutral.

Another idea to consider is that temptation and sinning is depicted in old artwork as whispering in the ear. It is a classic idea of a shadowy figure or spirit whispering into the ear of another to tempt them to commit sinful acts.

It was very common in medieval times to chop off somebody's ear as a means of punishing them for crimes. Thus, the use it as the covenant item for the BotDM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cropping_(punishment)

Relating to the "ear" idea, here is a poem entitled "The Colonel" by Carolyn Forche.

The Colonel



What you have heard is true. I was in his house.
His wife carried a tray of coffee and sugar. His
daughter filed her nails, his son went out for the
night. There were daily papers, pet dogs, a pistol
on the cushion beside him. The moon swung bare on
its black cord over the house. On the television
was a cop show. It was in English. Broken bottles
were embedded in the walls around the house to
scoop the kneecaps from a man's legs or cut his
hands to lace. On the windows there were gratings
like those in liquor stores. We had dinner, rack of
lamb, good wine, a gold bell was on the table for
calling the maid. The maid brought green mangoes,
salt, a type of bread. I was asked how I enjoyed
the country. There was a brief commercial in
Spanish. His wife took everything away. There was
some talk of how difficult it had become to govern.
The parrot said hello on the terrace. The colonel
told it to shut up, and pushed himself from the
table. My friend said to me with his eyes: say
nothing. The colonel returned with a sack used to
bring groceries home. He spilled many human ears on
the table. They were like dried peach halves. There
is no other way to say this. He took one of them in
his hands, shook it in our faces, dropped it into a
water glass. It came alive there. I am tired of
fooling around he said. As for the rights of anyone,
tell your people they can go f--- themselves. He
swept the ears to the floor with his arm and held
the last of his wine in the air. Something for your
poetry, no? he said. Some of the ears on the floor
caught this scrap of his voice. Some of the ears on
the floor were pressed to the ground.

---

Maybe, the sinners had heard too much. Or they were trying to hear something that they shouldn't be. The old phrase "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil," comes to mind.

Don't they at least get their ear back at the bonfire?

That would be funny if there was just a bunch of earless people.

swordiris wrote:Don't they at least get their ear back at the bonfire?

That would be funny if there was just a bunch of earless people.

That would be funny, I'd love to walk around with a guy and people can'tb quite put their finger on what was wrong with my toon