(Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert on Dark Souls lore, I am simply a fanwriting about what he thinks he knows and why he thinks other people should play the game.)
Dark Souls III is coming, and there are plenty of reasons to be excited about it. Improved graphics, faster combat, more challenges, and a confirmation that this game will be the last in its epic dark fantasy game trilogy. The series has been hailed as “unfairly difficult” by many, but in truth, the only thing that is unfair is that many don’t know about its incredible but complex story. Why not start with the intro cinematic of the upcoming game changer?
"It is called Lothric, where the transitory lands of the Lords of Cinder converge."
Yes, indeed. Time and space are massively in flux in the Dark Souls universe. As shown previously in Dark Souls and the brand new intro sequence for III, this new setting of Lothric is among the lands betwixt worlds. This isn’t Dragleic or Lordran, for certain. Ruined, decaying spires and towers similar to lands we’ve seen in the past (Anor Londo, Heide’s Tower of Flame) are scattered amongst this dying world, all in the midst of lands collapsing and colliding within our new battleground.
What does it mean that the Lords of Cinder are converging in Lothric? It should probably be explained (or speculated) how this world functions.
A fan favorite character in the original Dark Souls, Solaire of Astora, had much to say on the nature of time in their universe:
“We are amidst strange beings, in a strange land. The flow of time itself is convoluted, with heroes centuries old phasing in and out. The very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure.”
The story of Dark Souls is largely an archaeological dig the player undergoes if they so choose to. Not everything is there for them to find easily; many miss on some very interesting NPC characters their first time playing and even after in NG+1. While it is in this writer’s opinion that Dark Souls is a worthwhile endeavor to pick apart the story from its little pieces, you might not have picked up all the details from the first two games, so let’s refresh on what a Lord of Cinder is.
“Fire came to be, and with it disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, light and dark. Dark was seen as a curse; shadow is not cast, but born of fire. And the brighter the flame, the deeper the shadow. Inherit fire, and harness the dark: such is the calling of a true leader.”
The nature of the First Flame is all but too complicated to get into in this article. To put it roughly because of the disparity the Flame created, darkness will spread when the Fire fades, causing terrible things to happen to the land. Man will mean the death of all the Ancients, for the Ancients cannot survive what comes in the dark. The very nature of man’s soul is dark, but the dark potentially means the growth of the Abyss, which the Ancients greatly feared. The Ancients, including Gwyn, feared their oncoming demise via the coming of Man so much that they did everything they could to prolong their own existence, including sacrificing themselves. Messing with immense and unknown powers could very well be how time became so convoluted, as well as everything else that has gone horribly wrong.
How does a Lord of Cinder relate to Dark Souls III? Consider this: a cinder is “the remnants of a fire with still combustible materials within it”. For one to become a Lord of Cinder, it must mean that each chosen undead managed to overthrow the previous Lord of Cinder and install himself. This could very well include the previous player characters as well as NPCs, including Solaire. Lothric is where all Lords of Cinder converge, and in this new world it seems every single one of them is without their thrones.
The cycle fluctuating between the Age of Fire and the Age of Dark really doesn’t matter. Considering the fluctuation of time itself, the one chosen undead fated to win in his/her timeline may be doomed to be killed by another chosen undead from another timeline. Nothing is certain. Nothing in this universe really changes too much, except for the fact that everything is slowly dying. Your endeavors, it seems in the long run really do not matter. The Age of Fire is doomed to rekindle itself for an eternity until there is nothing left, and still the Fire fades…
It appears that no matter what is done, the Age of Dark still comes, and it is ever closer in Dark Souls III. The link of fire is threatened, a looming bell tolls, and the undead Lords of Cinder are “unearthing…from their graves” in what appears to be a showdown from times especially past and present. The future itself albeit dead for a long while now is especially uncertain, but it is foretold that the “Unkindled will rise...nameless accursed undead, unfit to even be cinder”. It has been said that the player will start out as Unkindled, which makes perfect sense because it parallels some of the many themes of the series.
These games have been about struggle, turmoil, what it means to be human, and keeping your sense of purpose to accomplish your goals against all odds. In a land where Lords of present and past duke it out over a choice for continuation of suffering and plunging directly into it, why shouldn’t it be possible that in their distraction a nameless and seemingly useless nobody will rise above it all? To achieve the pinnacle of their human potential? A true Lord of Cinder still has much to burn within them still; this is the fate of the Unkindled.
It is unknown what the Unkindled will accomplish in their reign. It is all speculation from here. Dark Souls has always been about the dying flame and the undead, and to quote again King Vendrick from Dark Souls II:
“One day the fire will fade, and dark will become a curse. Men will be free from death, left to wander eternally. Dark will again be ours, and then in our true shape we can bury the false legends of yore. Only, is this our only choice, Seeker of Fire, Coveter of the Throne?”
Perhaps even in the end, our choices and our actions are pointless and foolish. Perhaps there is something more than just death, over and over again. Perhaps there isn’t. Perhaps this time, in the dying land of Lothric, we the Unkindled (the players) can rise to become something so much more.
Perhaps you can this coming April 12th, 2016. Don’t miss it.
