Linking Internal and External Lore: Norse, Arthurian, and Etymology in Dark Souls

Pris could definitely be hel. I likened the witch of izalith to loki earlier but Seath is intriguing as well. Good stuff

The problem here is everyone betrayed Gwyn, so they're all Loki

Lol, pretty much. Arguments amongst gods are common in lore and it looks like Dark Souls is no exception

Odin gave Hel to Hel. He as the one who made her the ruler of the realm.

There isn’t really much about Jörmungandr, Lokis other son. He was the "world serpent" he was so long that he stretched around the earth and started eating his own tail. And the world would end when he let go of it. His arch enemy was Thor, Odins first son.

Re-reading The Divine Comedy in an attempt to connect it to DS lore. You know it has to be connected, right?

What is the divine comedy?

A story about hell that popularized the idea of tiers rather than a single general populace if I recall correctly. Only read excerpts of that. Can't wait to hear results

Where can you read it?

It's public on any number of sites and public domain so any method of download is legal I believe

I just looked on Amazon. About thirty listings, lol. Some charge for the privilege of it being translated. Many are free though. Anyone charging is a scam

Thanks.

I’ll try to find more in the norse mythology, i was very interested in it before.

My personal favorite is the crows but that was a stretch. That's one of the pantheons I studied more when I was younger and I'm kinda empty unless something jogs my memory. It's always intrigued me though that most major religions have their main God as sun or lightning driven. Guess we know what man respects most I guess. I might have to dig into Egyptian at some point. Thought of Gwyn as Odin or zeus already but not ra. The sun connection might be just as pronounced as lightning

I have a translation by Mark Musa that is fantastic. Already in the first couple of Cantos I can see (maybe) connections to Gwynevere, and Oscar and there is also a character named Beatrice that plays a huge roll.

Damn you. Off to put it on my phone's kindle app now

Like everything else that's been listed here, the connection to DS is a mixture of several things but TDC is looking like an influence.

Also noticed something else: from the intro, the VO says "... But then there was fire." or something to that effect.

Do you suppose there is a Prometheus-style character somewhere in the DS lore? Who actually gave fire to the world?

Haha Shkar and i had a big debate about that. We couldnt figure it out.

I mean, you'd have to think so, right? In that case he/she would be trapped on a rock somewhere where the giant Crow comes and pecks out its liver every day only to have it regenerate again in the morning.

So, the dude's liver is also afflicted with the Dark Sign.

Divine Comedy connection:

Dante the Poet refers to himself as the "Chosen Vessel" one who, granted sufficient grace for his journey through hell, will strengthen the faith of Man.

In Canto II, I can maybe see a parallel to Gwynevere. Dante the Pilgrim is lost and wandering in a "Dark Wood." The Virgin Mary (Gwynevere?) looks down from heaven and takes pity on the Pilgrim. She sets in motion a series of events that culminate with Beatrice journeying to Limbo to see the poet Virgil (Oscar?) and seek his assistance in locating Dante the Pilgrim. Virgil then locates Dante and acts as his guide through hell.

I'm maybe readin too much into this but Oscar of Astora definitely guides you through various places in Lordran and once you reach Anor Londo Gwynevere/ Gwyndolin definitely seems to indicate that they'd set events in motion that brought you to them.

I'll keep reading...

Beatrice to Limbo? Beatrice is the only one besides Artorias who is confirmed to have been in the Abyss. I just finished the first Canto last night and no obvious connections from what I could tell but the story really hasn't begun at that point.

Right. Canto I is like an over view of the entirety of the Divine Comedy. Canto II actually begins the first portion of Inferno.

But Beatrice, right? That's pretty neat.

Also just read this in the third canto describing Charon the ferryman:

"...whose eyes were set in glowing rings of fire."

Sounds like the Dark Sign to me. And the eyes of the Hollows throughout Lordran.

Also, the first group of sinners that Virgil and Dante meet inside hell are those who lived neither a good nor bad life; those who refused to act when they were alive. They're not actually in the city of hell itself but outside it.

To me that description sounds very much like the Crestfallen Warrior who, plagued with fear and indecision, refuses to act and simply sits at Firelink Shrine.

Or even the burg. They're just warriors hanging out. No exceptional allegiance defined one way or the other. New Londo might be even better for persons. They didn't join a military and they didn't or couldn't act to save the city.

So I was talking with Dan in the Skype Chat about Gwyn's relation to the Serpents, his chest plate featuring one similar to Ornstein's armor representing a lion. And I remembered something.

Arabian, and Islamic beliefs. See, in their older views they believed in a giant serpent that was massive and seemingly endless in length. It fears only one being and that is the creator, Allah. Now, this Serpent would swallow everything, all of existence if not for Allah. So it is associated with gluttony. The place it lives in is considered a void, a limitless abyss where it reigns supreme and no being can traverse. This serpent is named Falak, and exists below the world in a realm below the great fish Bahomet that holds the world on top of it. So, it is below a lake. The realm it is under, is the Realm of fire. So it exists below a place where fire reigns supreme.

Anyone else already notice this?

No, I never noticed but that's legitimate. Seems the guys at FROM are well versed in pretty much all forms of mythology from around the globe.

Good find.

English Translation by Muhammad Shameem, Mohammad Wali Raazi and Muhammad Taqi Usmani:
Say, “I seek refuge with the Lord of the daybreak from the evil of everything He has created, and from the evil of the dark night when it penetrates, and from the evil of the women who blow on the knots, and from the evil of an envier when he envies. “
English Translation by Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall:
Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of Daybreak From the evil of that which He created; From the evil of the darkness when it is intense, And from the evil of malignant witchcraft, And from the evil of the envier when he envieth.
English Translation by Yusuf Ali: .
Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the Dawn From the mischief of created things; From the mischief of Darkness as it overspreads; From the mischief of those who practise secret arts; And from the mischief of the envious one as he practises envy.

Different translations also of Al-Falaq from the Qu'ran, named after Falak the serpent.