There's more to them

I'm quite fine with it.

I always assumed the corpse with the shadow set was his "friend's." The eastern links in B. Town certainly are compelling. As for Shiva my guess is he was chased to the cliffs and killed by the forest hunters for betraying them. While Patches tricks people for their gear it seems Shiva and his pal assassinate them or kill them directly. Excellent write up by the way Tolvo.

Skarecrow, the idea of a Civil War in the east is now coming to mind, especially if power might be the goal. Shiva could be using forest hunters and his clansmen for ill gains, the wording of the shadow set, his claiming of eastern weapons from fallen warriors, the possibility of assassins being sent after him. I think I now know how Acidic feels whenever he notices these things.

Shiva the war profiteer......I like it

I've got to say, this is quite unlike anything else in the game. Everyone else has some sort of relation to gods, ideas of gaining humanity, etc. Him, he seems like a power hungry man with a heart of avarice.

Added more on Oscar based on the video.

Domhnall of Zena

Spoiler:

That's all I'm going to write tonight. I thought I was gonna do more but my brain keeps freezing up so I'm going to postpone this and edit it later. Within the following week I'll hopefully add a section on Artorias and a section on Dusk thanks to Tolvo's and Skare's work in the darkroot thread.

Good stuff DoughGuy. I always thought that he was in such weird locations because he was a social outcast. Maybe it has somthing to do with him being from Zena, like everyone hates people from Zena (Zenaites?).

Might be, but it seems odd for someone wearing armour with the names his has to be an outcast. He could be wearing them just cause he has them, not because he earnt them though. I really just dont know what to make of him.

Maybe he was some sort of reckless tough guy back home, which would possibly explain the gauntlets. Then, he learned his lesson e.g. He was killed, so now he wears the gauntlets as a memento?

His name is Scottish origin and means "World Ruler" making his armor descriptions quite fitting. It's curious that each piece has a different description and symbolic meaning. Curious in a game sense since most sets have similar/same descriptions across the board. In real life it's common for rulers and heroes to bear items that are symbolic of their positive attributes. I can give some Marcus Aurelius examples for symbolism (there's a couple similarities to Domhnall but I doubt he's the inspiration) if you want. Biggest link is that they were both peaceful and warriors. Really though, it seems that the added effort at symbolism does go with the World Ruler name. Also, he expresses confidence in dialogues that he'll see you again and make a "fine trade." Your theory about him being able to either see or exploit the time wackiness could be solid for him. Going back to dialogue he says he's "just" a "peddler of sorts." Two things to note in that. Anytime someone uses the word "just" take a close look at what follows. Typically it's an attempt to diminish the following parts of the sentence. Domhnall seems proud of his collection so why would he try to diminish his occupation if he were really a peddler/merchant. Also, his dialogue makes it seem like he's searching for the right word to describe what he's doing. All that, combined with your spot on observation that he goes out of his way to be out everyone's way suggests he's not a peddler. At least not for everyone. He also says he likes "trinkets" which I translate usually to small or inconsequential items. Yet he sells things that are far from inconsequential.

An important question to me, is how does he get those crystal weapons?

The lordvessel only opens the main entrance, the World Ruler Domhnall can find another way!

That post brought you by the letter "D" and the statement "That's actually a really good question Tolvo."

He also sells three gold pine resin, which are only found in the forest as farmable. Not to mention him holding the master key might hint to him being a thief of sorts.

I was curious as to people's thoughts about the key. I was thinking of pilfering or that he really does know how to access just about anywhere he dang well pleases as the World Ruler. Another interesting item is the Bottomless Box. Prior to patch it was all him.......a traveler who seems to transcend normal rules of travel and peddling, is in love with trinkets and just happens to have a spare box that can hold it all magically and is linked to "unbridled avarice?" Hmmm......

On one of my (in)famous tangents.....perhaps he is meant to be able to travel to whens as well as wheres. Possibly suggesting that the infamous glitch he used to be the sole proprietor of is not a glitch like many have speculated.

***CRAZY NOT SERIOUS SUGGESTION ALERT***
Perhaps the "glitch" is really Domhnall, like a gremlin or something, transporting across whens and heroes.
End crazy not serious suggestion transmission.......

Finally, is it just me or are there what look like glasses on his helmet? If so that's awexome

I always imagined the idea of those spectacles on his helm were for examining items. You know what I always find funny, I've never seen another player wearing his armor.

I used to wear his helm, I wore it for all of my first play through. But I got tired of it as I tend to do with armour, so i havent used it since about 3/4 of the way through my NG+

Tolvo, examining and appraising?

Those were my thoughts Skare, that helm exemplifies Wisdom as well doesn't it?

With the exception of offensive magic, I bet he's mire wise than Logan and Seath combined. Their obsession is their Achilles heel and a sign of their limited wisdom

Speaking of the albino dragon, I remember reading a story where the madness Logan goes through before hollowing is Seath himself. I think Seath wrote most of the books in the Archive, and all of his obsessions are written along side his research.

Maybe Seath in some sense over-wrote Logan's mind. When you talk to Logan he doesn't remember you at all and freaks out. Next thing you know he's in the lil section where you first met him naked and murderous.

This is of course all speculation. But it does help explain how Logan went mad so soon after finding his goal.

I've read the journaly of a person who was clinically insane before, let's just say I know it haunted me for weeks and caused me to lose a lot of sleep. I can easily see that happening to him, if they were written by seath. But, Seath is blind, and gigantic, how would he write anything? Did he dictate them to the channellers somehow? As well, he might not even write or read in the same language, or speak in it. Although he must have had some way to communicate with others to become a duke. I've always wondered also where the channellers actually come from. Are they students of his, are they men like logan, are they creations, or are they abominations like the changed maidens?

I think they're like those crystal undeads, but lived through being experimented on. Seems like something he'd do. He IS the grandfather or sorcery, it had to be passed down somehow.

The relation between soul magic and crystals is something extremely interesting to me. All the magic and miracles fascinate me. I should start a thread about magic

Yet, somehow Domhall has them from the very start, also does his armor remind anyone of the Crystal Set?

Sounds like an interesting topic to me.

Uh oh, Domhnall is taking over our Artorias obsession. He really is powerful.