Dark Souls Lore: The Four Kings

One thing I very much enjoy about Dark Souls is the "hidden" story. Revealing new aspects and pondering about the fantastical world is quite fun. On another forum, I recall reading a post questioning the origins of the Four Kings. The moderators refused to activate my account so I was incredibly frustrated to not share my thoughts on this subject.

First of all:

SPOILERS.
LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS.
BE CAREFUL.

After offering the Great Souls to the Lordvessel, if you've revived Anastasia (the Firelink shrine keeper), she will tell you that Frampt has revealed that linking the flame will break the curse of the Darksign. She implores you to "save us all" so that she "can die human".
However, if you choose to not link the flame and instead become the Lord Of Darkness, Frampt (key point) and Kath greet you "as a king".
During the battle with the Four Kings, I've noticed something that does not add up... Each King has their own life bar, separate from the boss life bar at the bottom. A good way to beat the kings is to defeat each individual king very quickly, the others do not have time to spawn and surround you.
Now I'm good, but I'm not perfect. On a few of my attempts, I've killed 3 Kings, but been unable to finish off the 4th, quickly. To my horror, a FIFTH king spawned, then a SIXTH, and SEVENTH king!!!

Considering all this, I realized the following:
1. The abyss is eternal darkness.
2. The kings are the rules of this darkness.
3. The darkness can only sustain 4 kings at a time, but there are more than four kings.
4. Chosen undead who are afraid to sacrifice themselves when they link the flame become a the new king.

Eh?! Pretty good, right?

Not four kings. Not entirely.

Remember pinwheel, and how he was able to duplicate?

Read the soul of the four kings. It is of only one of them.

Last but not least, both Pinwheel, Nito, and Four kings use the same magic, which is of purple and black essence. Similar to velka's miracles, both Vow of Silence and karmic Justice.

Acidic_Cook wrote:Not four kings. Not entirely.

Remember pinwheel, and how he was able to duplicate?

Read the soul of the four kings. It is of only one of them.

Last but not least, both Pinwheel, Nito, and Four kings use the same magic, which is of purple and black essence. Similar to velka's miracles, both Vow of Silence and karmic Justice.

Are you saying you think that it's just one guy? I disagree. I think there are as many kings as there are failed chosen undead. "You are not the first." as the crestfallen warrior, says.

Pinwheel created illusionary copies of himself to distract you. They were not actually alive, as hitting them once dispelled the illusion. (Classic RPG boss... Dragon Age has a very good one.)
I shudder to think of how difficult the Four Kings would be if there was only one "real" king and you had to kill them all.

Sadly, there's only one king left, so you only get one soul. The abyss takes all of the other souls. Once you defeat the kings, the power of the abyss is nullified and the last soul is left for you to grab.

Yes. It IS purple. I'm not really sure what that indicates, but it sure can't be a coincidence. Can you elaborate more on the significance of this?

The color of the magic is likely related to where the power is being drawn from. The Black/Purple being the Abyss.

The 4 Kings were originally the rulers of New Londo, but then they were tempted by the dark and created the Darkwraiths. This is why New Londo was flooded and all the people sacrificed (giant mound of bodies after drained). It always made me think that it was a bit of a "council" setup for ruling the city, more democratic.

It's possible that the 4 original kings merged into one greater being when they were corrupted by the dark (or even when Gwyn gave them the Lord Soul), and that the incarnations are just physical manifestations of this one pluralistic being. I haven't noticed any difference between the different kings, and there is only 1 soul obtained...

They could do damage to you, the pinwheels.

There were four kings, but now there are one. Their was once four knights as well.

Look in the archives; Find it yourself. The story was made for you to find, and you have to think for yourself on what it means. I'll show you my thesis, my search. You have to elaborate and think what is true and not.

https://soulswiki.forumotion.com/t54p165-the-search-for-lore-acidic-cook#28557

I do not say it true, only what I have found. Look threw the rest of my search, from back to front; You might find answers for the unknown, if not even more questions.

The original kings were tempted by Kath, to join the darkness. Why?
In my opinion, the power of life drain they (original kings) felt they would be able to stand against Gwyn, link the flame and break the curse of the darksign. Gwyn, is no fool - though. He divided parts of his original soul among them, and his power was always his. When they stood against him (after draining all the life force in New Londo to become powerful enough) he simply took their power and sealed them away. What's a Lord to do with all these pesky chosen undead trying, to end his reign? Seal them away.

Acidic_Cook wrote:They could do damage to you, the pinwheels.

There were four kings, but now there are one. Their was once four knights as well.

Look in the archives; Find it yourself. The story was made for you to find, and you have to think for yourself on what it means. I'll show you my thesis, my search. You have to elaborate and think what is true and not.

https://soulswiki.forumotion.com/t54p165-the-search-for-lore-acidic-cook#28557

I do not say it true, only what I have found. Look threw the rest of my search, from back to front; You might find answers for the unknown, if not even more questions.

Yep. Illusions can cast spells, sure. But, they have no life force. If each king was a copy of the other, they'd simply vanish upon being hit once. Also the kings wiled swords. No way can an illusion hold a sword.

They all look the same because FROM developers are lazy. Sorry...

I'll read over the link, but my point is that I have new and creative ideas that are better than what's been thought of already.

DAMN that's some post. This is going to take me a while... (I post from work when I'm bored.)

That was a good laugh.

Firs of all, I must say arrogance and short sighted lack of information will get you nowhere in finding the truth, nor find the right story. if you make up your own, it's fine. Do not say it as possibly being true.

Second, if he had the power to do so, why has seath been able to live without such consequences from Gwyn? I would like to say that Seath seems to show up a lot in lordran as the big man, and yet no consequence comes to him.

Third, as the aspect of dark is there, and as they were tempted by Kaathe, why would they want to relight the first flame, hm? Does not their master, the dark beast Kaathe, want it to be abolished and removed, so that darkness can rule?

Forth, the four kings are all tied to the same health bar. As it were, these duplicates can reach from 3 to seven in total, depending on how fast you kill them and how much strength you hold to do some damage. As one king falls, how can their still be four? Why does not the fourth come to fight, even though the bar is 0? Yet, only one soul is given, as read by this:

"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."

is it not strange? where are the rest of the three, hm?

Fifth, and this is the important one, you are obnoxiously blind. FROM has put a lot, and I say a lot, of information within the game, within the lore. You just do not see it, and thus think it does not exist. You think such genius of lore is lazy? Your laziness and inability to find the lore yourself makes it seem that way to your eyes.

Your are ignorant, and I pity you. I laugh at you, and I mourn for you. if you want to make a statement, find it before you speak. otherwise keep it to yourself

1. That never stopped the Republicans (lil joke there) Imagination and speculation are part of the game. You do it over an over again in your other posts, and I don't really care what you do. I have my Lordran, and you have yours. IMO, though, mine's better.

2. Seath remained loyal to Gwyn. The original Kings were tempted with greater power. They may have been jealous that they only had a fragment of a a Lord soul, while Seath was satisfied with what he had been given. Why would the Kings agree to join the Abyss?

3. The darkest, most evil aspect of humanity are founded with good intentions. Perhaps they felt the curse of the dark-sign that kept Gwyn in power needed to be ended. To gain the power to defeat evil, they "sold their souls" - losing them-self in the process. Its a much stronger literary concept.
4. We are legion. We are one. It's also a much more dark an evil concept, than "he copied himself".

5. I addressed this already, but you may have missed it. The abyss takes souls. Ever enter there, with OUT the ring equipped. See what I mean. While the power of the Kings is active, all the souls of the other kings are instantly taken. Destroying the last king, killing the collecting unconscious that is the "kings and the abyss", breaks the power of it and the last soul is left for you to take.

I say you are overlooking the clues. Explain the Dark lord ending, Mr. Smartpants.


Lastly, I have way to may things to care about your **** opinion. I'll just be the bigger man and block you.

Posted by Fallen VIA PM:


Your Opinion - Title

Sucks. *** you. Go die.

That is all I have to say

:roll:

I just thought I might mention, you can actually win the fight by killing less than four kings. If you hit the last king hard enough to over kill him, you can actually kill him and finish the fight, though you really have to be a glass cannon to do this. I don't get why if the kings are infinite in number that even killing four would matter. As well, wouldn't they want to give you a challenge so that you'd be to the breaking point, thus meaning you are more vulnerable to Kaathe's words? As Acidic said also, that is just one king and they seem to spawn at certain times. If they are infinite and do wish to keep themselves strong, why do they not just all appear at once?

https://youtu.be/q-EFVEtILEY

Frankly, I think there is just too little information on the subject of the Four Kings to really say much about them. Other than that Kaathe sure likes to say the word Truth.

Try not to make this personal guys.

This is all mind blowing.

I made it through a whole playthrough with out knowing the story.

Mwah ha ha haaaaa..........GkMrBane........you are now summoned to the archives for further mind blowing.

[quote="FallenAzraelx"]

Acidic_Cook wrote:Yep. Illusions can cast spells, sure. But, they have no life force. If each king was a copy of the other, they'd simply vanish upon being hit once. Also the kings wiled swords. No way can an illusion hold a sword.
They all look the same because FROM developers are lazy. Sorry...

All I have to ask is, did you play Demon's Souls? There is a boss fight called Fool's Idol. She makes illusions of herself during the fight. They each have their own health bar. They don't vanish in one hit. I would say if they used this mechanic in Demon's Souls, why not in its spiritual successor?