Tell me all you know about Artorias

Tell me all the things about this strange and elusive man.

Who is Artorias? As far as I know he wasa faithful knight og Gwyn back in the Age of Fire and known to be the leader of the Four most trusted knights under the Lord of Sunlights command.

These four being- Artorias the Abysswalker, Hawkeye Gough, Ciadan the Hornet (Lords Blade), and Dragon Slayer Ornstien.

From the lore I've found about this guy I know he eventually left Gwyns service and travelled to the abyss where he met the beasts of the Abyss. What they are I don't know but someone led me to believe they may be the Primordial Serpents.

The nature of his sword also lead me to believe that he fell from grace, as he was supposed to be an amazing person all round, but due to the cursed weapons lower stat reqs I thhink perhaps in making a deal with the serpents he lost some of his grace and power.

Thats about all I know.

What do you guys know about him?

I think he also was one of the Four Kings of New Londo, along with his fellow 3 knights. When he fell to darkness he commanded the Darkwraiths but the other Knights and the Sealers killed him. His will (now corrupted by the power of dark) transformed into Four Kings (the boss), while his other will (the light one before falling to dark) transformed into Sif the wolf.

Sif was alive before Artorias died as it is mentioned somehwere that Sif, Alvina and Artorias used to be good friends.
Here it is - "Ring granted to those bound by the Forest Hunter covenant. Answer Alvina's summoning.
The white cat Alvina speaks a humang tongue and has lived since the early Age of Fire.
Alvina was a trusted friend of Knight Artorias and the Great Wolf Sif."

I think Emergence posted at one time that he wasn't inclined to view artorias as one of the Four Kings because if the character on the box art is indeed him then Artorias is a leftie. And all the Kings wield weapons in thier right hands.

I somewhat agree with this however I don't like to think Artorias is a King. Doesn't it mention somewhere that there were four kings when Gwyn gave them part of his soul? I find it hard to believe he'd just let his top lieutenant walk away be seduced by evil and Kaathe and then give the Kings part of his soul.

Yeah, Gwyn bequeathed a part of his soul to the Four Kings of New Londo. Check out Emergence's thread about linking lore. He started on Artorias and there's a lot of fun info there, complete with references where applicable. I have a lot of Artorias thoughts and commentary in there that I would love to share but don't feel like typing another term paper

"Soul of one of the Four Kings, who fell to Dark. A fragment of a Lord Souls discovered at the dawn of the Age of Fire.
Lord Gwyn recognized the foresight of these four great leaders of New Londo, and granted them their ranks and the fragments of a great soul. Although this is not a full Lord Soul, it can still satiate the Lord Vessel."

Taken from the item description of the bequeathed lords soul. It claims the soul was found during the age of fire, it is a fragment of gwyns which he gave to 4 outstanding leaders of the community for protection. It implies all FOUR kings fell to dark, not just one. So unless all 4 of gwyns knights are the same as these 4 kings then it cannot be artorias in my opinion. And since we already fight ornstien and they don't have any skills related to the other 4 kings, archery or knife wielding. I just find it a tough cookie to digest.

I always thought it stated somewhere that unlike ornstien and hawkeye and probably Ciania, that artorias was a human rather than a demi-god/whatever they are. But I need time to find the text dump that made me think so. Just wanted to throw my opinion out there on the whole artorias is 4 kings thing.

Yukon wrote:"Soul of one of the Four Kings, who fell to Dark. A fragment of a Lord Souls discovered at the dawn of the Age of Fire.
Lord Gwyn recognized the foresight of these four great leaders of New Londo, and granted them their ranks and the fragments of a great soul. Although this is not a full Lord Soul, it can still satiate the Lord Vessel."

Taken from the item description of the bequeathed lords soul. It claims the soul was found during the age of fire, it is a fragment of gwyns which he gave to 4 outstanding leaders of the community for protection. It implies all FOUR kings fell to dark, not just one. So unless all 4 of gwyns knights are the same as these 4 kings then it cannot be artorias in my opinion. And since we already fight ornstien and they don't have any skills related to the other 4 kings, archery or knife wielding. I just find it a tough cookie to digest.

I always thought it stated somewhere that unlike ornstien and hawkeye and probably Ciania, that artorias was a human rather than a demi-god/whatever they are. But I need time to find the text dump that made me think so. Just wanted to throw my opinion out there on the whole artorias is 4 kings thing.

I dont think Artorius is human considering that his sword is the size of a small country.

I'm with you Yukon. You would think that the other three knights would have retained some of their identity. Plus the fact that Ornstein and Smough are alive and well in Anor Londo means it should be three kings, particularly as Ornstein has a soul to offer meaning his is separate from the partial lord soul found in the kings. I believe Artorias was a demi-god like the rest but if you can find your text/etc. Yukon that would be cool to see.

Check out Acidic Cook post about Artorias. It's very interesting.

https://soulswiki.forumotion.com/t54p165-the-search-for-lore-acidic-cook

I looked at it and cordially have to disagree on many points. For instance, the soul to the knights idea doesn't make sense to me as Seath was granted a portion and granted Dukedom. The kings, for their leadership were also given a rank and soul. That rank obviously was king. The four knights in a hierarchical sense would be below duke or king. I haven't seen any evidence that the knights were drastically upgraded in title until after gwyn left. Also, the four kings soul states they were already leaders of new Londo. Going back to my experience, new londo is no home for demi gods due to size, architecture etc. Finally, the knights are labeled as Gwyn's specifically. As gwyn has few if any direct ties to new londo, "his" knights would be charged with his home, Anor Londo. My thought is that in its early stages, gwyn saw benefit in man making a city in their image and granted his blessing. The kings became too big for their britches and were destroyed for their vanity. As always, the disclaimer that every single theory is of course wild speculation thanks to From

You are welcome.

























(just kidding)

Lol. Awexome

Hey skarekrow, sorry I have been a bit busy today and the post I compiled with all my artorias info just got lost as my computer crashed, AHHH!!!

Anyway. I am working on finding that text that made me think he was a dirty human, so don't think I am leaving you hanging, I am working on it, but now I have to hunt for the item descriptions I had compiled from my inventory again. (its possible it doesnt even exist it was just my first impression from my first play through the game!)

Also, digging your new avatar, is that your cat? He looks really excited, like a true fan. haha.

EDIT:
As for Artorias being the four kings, I have more evidence that suggests that isn't true and here it is...

Artorias 'Cursed' GS:
"Sword born from the soul of the great grey wolf Sif, guardian of the grave of abysswalker Knight artorias.
The sword can damage ghosts, as it was cursed when Artorias joined a covenant with the creatures of the abyss"

Artorias GS:
"Sir artorias hunted the darkwraiths, and his sword strikes harder against dark servants."

This is interesting if you read and consider the Darkwraith sword:
"... When the four kings were seduced by evil, their knights became Darkwraiths, servants of the Dark who wielded these darkswords."

This implies that the four kings fell BEFORE artorias, and that artorias instead took part in pushing back the Darkwraith Knights that the Four kings unleashed to reap humanity.

So the question becomes, at WHAT point was New Londo flooded. Did artorias find another way into the abyss besides the tower in New Londo? or did he make a pact with the creatures of the Abyss amidst the war that the four kings started, and switch sides mid battle. Perhaps the loss of the leader of lord gwyns knights is what forced them to flood the city? Now I am just wildly guessing, but these 3 items to bring some interesting information forward. I am not sure if others have noticed this before, as I am rather new to reading other peoples lore, although I have notepads full of my own guesswork haha.

Just throwing that out there for now. I think its strongly suggested Artorias =/= four kings.

Yukon I think you are right with that, I forgot that the Darksword said that. It seems that Artorias led the battle against the Darkwraiths but when he found Kaathe mid-battle, he made the covenant and then the Sealers flooded New Londo, as it seems that the Darkwraiths were winning the war. Very good find. The Darksword is the key.

Also Lord Gwyn already granted a soul to his Four Knights, Ornstein's Soul.

Soul of Ornstein, Dragonslayer Knight who guards the cathedral in the forsaken city of Anor Londo.
Special being have special souls. Lord Gywn granted this soul to his four most trusted knights.

Also Ornstein is believed to be the Four Knight's captain.

I read that too but I passed it over as irrelevant to the point I was trying to make, I suppose it was, I just didn't think of it like that! Yes, I am not sure who was the "leader" of the four knights, I just always assumed Artorias, because he is like their poster child. Ornstien just never struck me as being highly noble or honourable, he doesn't hit me as leader material.

As for the sealers flooding the city with artorias still in the abyss? is that what you are suggesting? Maybe its just me but ingward doesn't seem to hold contempt for artorias, infact he talks as if we could walk up and speak to him. Does ingward know he is dead?

This leads me to speculate that artorias found another way into the abyss that wasn't in New londo. But this is wild speculation, and I have no real PROOF of this. Its just that ingwards dialogue when he talks about artorias doesn't seem filled with contempt, which you think it would be if he pushed back the enemy just to switch sides when they found kaathe.

Which, leads me to the audio that made me think Artorias was human and not a demi-god like Ornstien:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-EFVEtILEY&t=0m57s

Simply because he says the "Abyss is no place for 'ordinary' mortals" then says "ALTHOUGH, the knight artorias did cross it." I don't know why but this made me always think he was a mortal like me only he was 'extraordinary' .

I think I was possibly wrong having heard this dialogue again.

I think he was definitely mortal but so were all the knights from what I see. Thanks for digging that up. I posted something in emergence's thread to the effect ingward references Artorias walking out of new londo. I think he actually suggests you go talk to him to traverse the abyss. That only makes sense though because if he switched sides (i don't think he did) it wouldn't be discovered the second it happened with sealers ready to flood the city (unless they had a fail contingency I suppose). The logical idea is he left and his covenant was discovered later. Another thing I pointed out was ornstein's trophy room has a lot of Drake heads from the valley suggesting he was there at some point. Based on the isolated nature, maybe he and smough were to prevent anyone from escaping. Artorias left that way and was killed. The red tearstone ring is above the door. Perhaps a clue an archer or backstabber were in hiding there as they could make good use of that ring. A quick jaunt to the woods for whoever moved his body. Most of this is crazy talk but I do believe he left and was murdered elsewhere

Hum and then I concluded with Pharis Hat that Lord Gwyn's knights were demigods, perhaps Artorias was the most 'human', as he was tempted by the power of the dark even with his strong will, the power of humanity.

Yukon. That cat is crazy but wearing his jersey used to calm him. Weird for a cat, not for a Bills fan.

So Artorias' story can be summed up as the guy who led the fight against the enemies of Gwyn until the momment when he met Kaathe who revealed the truth, or his truth, to him.

He then turned against Gwyn for reason/reasons unknown.

Yeah, pharis' hat shows gough is not human, ornstein shows he's not pretty directly, artorias' sword suggests he's not but ciaran.....who knows. Smough is compared to all four knights and is considered lesser by suggestion. We know he's not human so it seems all four knights should be similar in stature etc. Ciaran though....emergence really added to that discussion and maybe she was the most human knight. Regarding artorias, I think his fall was relative. Anor Londo and its gods are portrayed as decaying and changing. If gwyn started changing but artorias did not, it would seem like a betrayal

Well maybe he felt more human than a god and wanted the Age of Darkness. Also I don't think he escaped New Londo, he joined his fellow Darkwraiths and the Sealers flooded them. Maybe Ingward didn't know that Artorias switched sides. Artorias armor must be there!!!!! Lol I wish it's true.

Actually wyrm that brings up an interesting bit of info from the Darkred Orb:

"Online play item. Invade another world. Defeat the master of the world you have invaded to acquire humanity. The Darkwraiths of Kaathe use this orb to seek humanity and plunge further into dark. Perhaps they are more human than we?"

It could mean nothing, I don't honestly know what to make of it. But I agree that the other four knights seemed to not be human as the Pharis hat suggests that pharis was almost as good as Hawkeye even though Pharis was ONLY a human.

So perhaps Artorias was an up-jumped Human among the ranks of Demi-gods, if that is infact what Ornstien and Hawkeye were. I only assume they are due to Ornstiens height and the Pharis hat calling Hawkeye abnormal.

This leaves a large question about the Hornet individual... Ciaran, we get SO little information on this individual, no knifes describe him/her the ring we get does not define his/her gender, it could be Ciaran was a human female, it could be that it was a he and also a demi-god thus having a better reason to assist in the killing of an 'upjumped human' in the ranks of knight.

But I digress I am getting somewhat off topic. Skare, its interesting that you bring up the red tearstone, I was looking at my rings today and was suprised to read that the Red tearstone is made in Carim... along with the the Curse Bite Ring and the Parry Dagger.

ALL three of these items found in New Londo. Could it be Ciaran was from Carim? An assassin like Laurtric?

The four king soul shows gwyn was peachy keen on new londo to begin with. Then he destroyed it. It's all well and good to be worshipped but once your worshippers start to challenge your supremacy (like the anor londo painting maybe).....they gotta go. I think artorias didn't see a need for the slaughter

That's a good theory for sure Yukon