Dark Souls 2 Lore - Lord Aldia
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Dark Souls 2 Lore - Lord Aldia
Addendum
As Henrique Costa pointed out to me, neither Navlaan nor the Ancient Dragon drop Aldia's soul. I think this is the single best piece of evidence pointing towards Navlaan is neither, and is possibly still out there alive or dead.
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Time to take a look at Lord Aldia and what exactly happened during the atrocities of Aldia's Keep.
Also - let me know your speculations on what you think happened!
I will point out, for those of you wanting to go further in depth with the Aldia is Navlaan theory, check out PariahadigmShift's Video presenting just that:
• Video
Ballers in the Dark Souls Lore community you should check out:
MSPainting: / mspainting
John Quick: @NowQuick
EpicNameBro: / epicnamebro
VaatiVidya: / vaatividya
Quelaag: / quelaag
TerraMantis: / terramantis
Music Used:
Dark Souls 2 - Fire Keepers
Dark Souls 2 - King Vendrick
Dark Souls - The Ancient Dragon
Dark Souls 2 - Queen of Drangleic
Chrono Trigger - Sara's Theme / Schala's Theme
Demon's Souls - Maiden Astraea
King's Field - The Miner's Graveyard
Dark Souls - Menu Theme
Polish subtitles provided by: Dawid Jędrzejko
"This isn't a true dragon."
Funny, it felt true enough when he killed me with his fire breath over and over again...
I feel like Aldia was like Seath in a way. It seems Seath's madness corrupted more than just the Duke and his Spider. The quest for knowledge is truely a dangerous mission.
atleast aldia succeeded
aldia was actually successful, though! he never lost himself to his studies. he gave up his humanity in order to circumvent becoming cursed, which effectively allowed him immortality. but I assume replicating this on all undead is simply not viable.
though Aldia held an obsession with the curse, he never became cursed himself. ironic.
I too want another remake of Aldia's lore, he's seriously my favorite character. He's all like "You know, screw this cycle n' shit, I'm out!", that alone is awesome but he actually did it, as he never drops anything when beaten and is still there, watching, waiting.
And then all the speculation got FUCKED because of scholar of the first sin.
Fin.
+Nothing Not in that sense.
The aldia boss can also be a piece of his soul or a memory. I think it is possible that the dragon is aldia.
Awsome video dude, I find Aldia to be the most intriguing character in this game.
I agree.
Screw the Duke, this guy deserves the soul of Seath 20 times more.
The duke didnt have the soul his pet did. The Duke was a tool
I believe his pet had a part of the Duke in it.
+WiredPyro the pet didn't have it either, it was under the dead dragon after you kill the pet
TheCorruptPeanut K
My Favorite Lore video so far. There is so much Mystery surrounding Lord Aldia. i did get the feeling that wasn't an ordinary dragon when he dropped the Giant Soul instead of Ancient Dragon Soul. Good work Dave!!!
Thank you so much! :)
Lord Aldia is kind of like Seath the Scaless.
The key lies in the fact that Vendrick and Aldia knew something previous kings didn't know, at least to our knowledge. Gwyn, The Old Iron King, and even Vendrick himself at first all saw the Curse as an infection, a disease that needs to be cured, or a pest that needs to be exterminated. But somewhere along the lines, Vendrick and Aldia realized that the Fire and the Curse are 2 sides of the same, flipping coin. They realized it was a cycle that repeats itself over and over. Knowing this, Vendrick grew suspicious of Nashandra's true objectives, and did everything he could to prevent her to usurping the throne before reclusing himself to the deepest parts of the undead crypt under his castle where noone would reach him. Meanwhile Aldia, who chose to study the undead curse itself, became obsessed with finding a way to break the cycle, hence his fascination for Dragons, decendants of old beings that existed before the first flame and thus outside of the undead cycle. It is also why he created Shanalotte, he was trying to recreate the firekeepers in an attempt to break the cycle.
When they both discovered the latent power in a Giant's soul, Aldia believed he could use it to recreate the Ancient Dragons. We know that Vendrick stole something very important from the giants that allowed him to create golems. I believe this was the ability to infuse inanimate objects with souls, mostly to perform single, specific tasks, like the golems in the castle, but a giant's soul is much more powerful than that, so I think Aldia was tried to infuse a giant soul into the fossil of an ancient dragon, hence why the skeleton dragon in the keep tries to attack you when you come in. He finally succeded to create the Ancient Dragon, a golem of a being from long past, infused with the soul of a giant. A prop, a false diety. Something playing the part of an Ancient Dragon.
On a side note, I do not think the drakes in the Dragon Aerie were created by Aldia. He created the Ancient Dragon, but the guardian dragon at the end of the keep is obviously in some sort of cage. So I belive the dragon aerie existed before, and Aldia chose to build his keep next to it so that he could study dragons closely. Once he created the Ancient Dragon, the drakes recognized it as an actual dragon, and fell under Aldia's "influence."
As for Aldia himself I am not sure which theory I like most. I do like the theory of him being Navlaan, since it would fit that in his studies on dragons, Aldia studied Navlaan's research on resurrection, and accidentally resurrected Navlaan's soul within his own. But I also like the theory of Aldia using his soul as a catalyst, and actually becoming the Ancient Dragon himself.
Nevertheless we must remember that time in Drangleic is a little confusing, beings live much longer than we expect, and it's very hard to place some events chronologically.
Subbed! Lord Aldia is my favorite character when it comes to the lore :)
Thank you so much! :)
Absolutely fascinating. This is exactly why i love this series.
I feel that navlaan was a spirit that passes from person to person, fighting for control. He referred to his "naive vessel"
Good job on the subtitles. Most youtubers don't bother to put them. When watching videos like this, which you have to pay attention to what is being said, it is extremely important. So you got yourself a subscriber.
You got yourself a new subscriber. amazing work sir on the lore, looking forward to more.
Thank you so much! - Glad you enjoyed. :)
Unpopular opinion, but for straight atmosphere Dark Souls 2 is my favorite. It just feels so much bleaker than the other two. I almost felt that having things like Andre and Anor Londo was pure fan service in 3. In game, it worked that the events and primary characters of the first game were known to people in the third one. Places like Astora and Carim still exist. To me, it's much cooler how no one in 2 knows the history at all. So many cycles have passed and it's all been muddied or lost. There aren't even enough scraps left to form legends. It was Aldia, and Aldia alone, that searched out the ancient history and pieced it together.
May I just say, excellent use of Chrono Trigger music, both musically and thematically (Zeal/Aldia Manor parallels). Great video!
Thanks! That was part of why I chose the Chrono Trigger some (the thematic element), I'm glad you picked up on it!
Man. Navlaan has become one of my favorite characters. I wish there was more on him. Great video. Such an interesting part of the game.
I can't say for sure, but it's possible that it was in fact Nashandra's influence over Vendrick that caused the brothers to have a falling out. Nashandra knew Aldia was trying to prevent the cycle of light and Dark so she convinced Vendrick of his brothers wickedness, but when Vendrick discovered Nashandra's intentions he approached his brother and devised a plan with him to use Shanalotte to find a powerful undead and destroy Nashandra.
Simply superb Dave...
I hadn't made the connection between the Resurrection spell and Navlaan, but it makes perfect sense; whoever Navlaan´s body originally was is not relevant right now, but the fact that he was fused with another being so he could show Alvia the way to merge souls was the final piece in the puzzle: Alvia didn't "make" the dragon out of nothing, he somehow cloned it with the Resurrection spell from the the mummified ancient dragon in Tseldora, then he removed its "dead" soul and placed it inside the dead dragon and fused his own soul with the soul of a Giant to have enough power to animate the ancient dragon.
As a side not, I now believe that the dragons from the aerie are not "true" dragons but drakes and wyverns he cloned to from petrified dragon eggs.
I agree, I don't believe the dragons in the Aerie are "true" dragons.
Also, definitely think it seems Aldia essentially resurrected the Ancient Dragon. (In a way).
Wow great video, very interesting.
P.S: that chrono trigger music is soooooo nostalgic XD
One of the greatest games of all time!
I totally agree. Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and Castlevania: SotN would be my top 3
Great video as always! I never knew how to get that Ancient Dragon Soul, thanks for telling me =) The thing about Aldia that I'm interested in as well, is if he's also responsible for the Dragon Covenant and what role it serves, if any. I would have loved to see what Aldia looked like before he turned into a dragon, the Ancient Dragon Memory, even though I haven't seen it, should have included a fight scene or cut-scene in it. Keep up the good work Dave, personally I'd like to see The Rotten next or Old Dragonslayer and the Heide Realm.
Thank you so much!
I'm still kinda deciding who to do next. I'm honestly not sure if I have enough concrete info on The Rotten yet to do a video on him. (I want to figure out what the hell those idols are first). Old Dragonslayer could be fun, so, we'll see. :)
*****
Perhaps he was enlisted by Nashandra, or he went to the area where Manus' first shard reincarnated? I'm not entirely sure of the whole Anor Londo illusion theory, where Ornstein and Smough are illusions. Maybe he's some Abyss infected guy that happened to come along Ornstein's armor and ring. The Fan Boy of Ornstein Theory, haha.
Yaay, another DaveControlLive Lore video! :D
Awesome as always duude. thanks
Thank you so much!
Anybody else realize that Scholar of the First Sin overrules this concept of the lore now considering we actually meet Aldia in the other edition of ds2
when you stand before the ancient dragon you can notice him saying:
another stands before ''US'' which implies it's more than one mind in the same creature.
i think lord aldia did an experiment on combining the body of the dragon with his own soul.
a mishap in the experiment caused lord aldia to be another mind to the dragon and not the beast itself.
pretty nice lore he got there if you ask me ^^
This is amazing! I needed some more info since I've been playing dark souls for the yeetube. I gotta read more into Navlaan now
i take it back dark souls 2 lore is amazing
something that's been bothering me is Lucatiel (and her brother's) connection to Aldia? why does she end up at the manor, and why does her brother end up there as well? is It merely her progression through the world or is it something else entirely. hard to say since the brother will invade regardless of whether or not you complete her questline. was he another invited guest? or perhaps a sellsword tasked with guarding the place? but that's for another time
another great vid. keep on doin what you do sunbro! we're right behind you!
Thank you so much!
- And, I agree, I am curious as to why Lucatiel & Aslatiel ended up at Aldia's manor. I mean, I suppose Lucatiel is chasing Aslatiel, so the real question is, what is Aslatiel specifically doing there? Perhaps it's exactly what you think.
As always love all of your videos. And great interesting things I never really thought of :-)
Thank you, it's appreciated!
you got yourself a new sub, love your explanations, they're good to follow and I firstly played the dark souls serie for the gameplay but now for the story aswell. Thanks man
Ruben Holbrouck Thanks! I really appreciate it. :)
Great video Dave, Aldia is definitely one of the most interesting characters in Dark Souls 2, and you more than do him justice. I think of him kind of like how Gwyndolin was in Dark Souls 1, with a huge influence over the world and story, but staying mostly silent and hidden away, a puppet-master behind the curtain. I'd say Aldia is the Ancient Dragon, what better way to evade the Undead Curse that consumed his brother than to become an Immortal Dragon?
That's really a lot of why I think he became the Ancient Dragon - because it allows you to evade the Undead Curse. I also love how Aldia is that huge influence that was tucked away, definitely one of my favorite characters in Dark Souls 2.
The interesting thing someone brought up earlier (and I really need to look up their username) is that The Ancient Dragon doesn't drop Aldia's soul, so that does honestly bring into question my theory, haha.
DaveControlLive Hmm, pure speculation but since we've seen from the Enhanced Undead you talked about being crosses between Undead and Dragons, it seems Aldia's experiments involved merging things together. Maybe he realised before he could become a Dragon, he had to first fuse himself with a Giant, therefore releasing a Giant Soul upon death.
One thing I just thought of though is the Undead Dragons from Dark Souls 1, like the ones in Valley of Drakes and the Painted World. If they truly were Undead, that would mean Dragons aren't immune to the Curse after all, and Aldia's plan to evade it could have been in vain.
MrTheRedDragon That's a great point on the Undead Dragons! I honestly hadn't even thought on that. Perhaps it was because they were lacking their scales of immortality. - Which, on that note, I don't believe the Ancient Dragon has… so definitely not a proper Ancient Dragon.
It's so great that you have polish subtitles, even though I myself don't need them. Always lets more people see the content and learn something new ;)
It’s a bit odd hearing the last part about Aldia being the dragon knowing what we know now.
Yup, another subscriber here too. Fantastic job on all these videos. If I could request a huge favor, please consider doing a series of videos like these Dark Souls 2 ones about Dark Souls 1. Maybe Demon's Souls. I would like a good breakdown about the paramount events in the last game. :)
Keep it up man!!!
Great videos man!
I'm not 100% sure, but I'm leaning toward Aldia being the Ancient Dragon. Based on the item descriptions, Aldia becoming Navlaan would mean he conveniently succeeded in creating a fake ancient dragon and became possessed by the ghost of an evil wizard within a short amount of time.
The main reason I'm still considering Aldia as Navlaan is that Navlaan sends you to kill the Emerald Herald as his final task. It would make a lot of sense that he wants you to kill what could possibly be his biggest failure.
That definitely is the biggest piece of supporting evidence towards that theory, in my opinion. (The whole Emerald Herald bit).
I'm really not sure why Aldia would want to destroy is greatest failure, though... he really doesn't seem to care about any of the rest of them running around wrecking havoc in Drangleic.
Though, on another note, neither of the characters drop "Aldia's Soul", which is an interesting thought brought up to me by someone else. Maybe neither of them are, really.
I believe "Navlaan" is Aldia possessed by the spirit of Navlaan. Navlaan speaks of the "vessel" with contempt, which makes me think his is the invading personality of the body. Aldia was likely doing one of his many rituals, this particular one perhaps trying to summon the spirit of Navlaan to communicate with him to learn any of his secrets of resurrection (we learn Navlaan was executed from the Scraps of Life hex description). Something went awry in the ritual and "by chance" the summoned spirit was able to permanently inhabit Aldia's body, "creating" a new Navlaan/Aldia hybrid. As Navlaan has possessed Aldia, he has access to all of his thoughts and knowledge (which he demonstrates by talking about his host's dreams of developing new sorceries), including the knowledge of the creation of Shanalotte.
When in the presence of the hollowed cursed, Navlaan is brought to the surface, perhaps because he is drawn to darkness. When in the presence of humanity, the remnants of Aldia's personality attempt to warn them to stay away. As the curse grew worse in the kingdom, controlling "Navlaan" likely became increasingly difficult allowing him to take control while Aldia slept. Perhaps that is one of the reasons Aldia's Keep was sealed away by Vendrick or Navlaan's subtle influence might even have been the original reason their relationship began to fray depending how long Navlaan has inhabited Aldia's body.
The lack of Aldia's soul does not necessarily disprove that the caged being is Aldia. Vendrick sought the power of Giant's Souls in order to "puff" himself and his close followers up in order to stave off the curse, whereas Aldia took a different path. Aldia likely is no more powerful than your average NPC or enemy, which do not drop a unique soul upon death.
If Navlaan is Aldia, then I believe the Ancient Dragon was created by Aldia using the power of a Giant's Soul as a kind of Fool's Idol for drakes. Aldia pulled the strings of the faux "Alpha" Ancient Dragon (much like the Old Monk controlled the puppet of the Queen) and by extension he could control the actions of the other dragons or perhaps he just used the Ancient Dragon to attract other dragons to that mountaintop so that they could be more easily studied.
someone may have said this, but could be navlaan be Aldias left over humanity, recognizing his own insanity he ended up with when split, and hence the power as of how he can follow you all through the game, what other npc is so powerful
it could be that king vendrick, upon the time of aldia going missing vendrick ventured through aldia's mansion and took what he could find useful.
It seems that could be the case.
DaveControlLive i mean to say i was expecting you to say that beacause vendrick does seem like he would.
This is great stuff, watching these videos really make me wanna play Dark Souls, if only I didn't have to work, damn you Dave!
Fookin' subbed mate, your narrating, ideas and explanation of how/when/why things happen and by whom is top notch, thanks for that video.
if I had to guess the fate of lord aldia, I'm guessing since it isn't likely he's the ancient dragon, or the murderous sorcerer as neither drop lord aldias soul upon him dying. I would guess that lord aldia is set up for a large DLC campaign on scale with the artorias DLC for dark souls 1
Your version is more curious than official update. I regret, that From didn't choose your version of story.
It's rather strange that the Ancient Dragon would give you the Ashen Mist Heart if he were Aldia because the heart grants you two things, access to more giant souls (which are used to kill his brother Vendrick) and access to the Nashandra boss fight. It's a little strange, someone who had worked so hard to break the cycle would put up such little resistance to the one who seeks to break it (the Cursed Undead). Not to mention granting that someone access to weapons that could destroy his brother; however, the dragon refers to itself as "us" which may lead one to believe that the dragon has more than one personality (unless you believe the giants were a type of hive mind, I think that's still speculation), and that the giant is the dominant one. Hence the giants soul.
Aldia isn't Navlaan. The entity controlling the "vessel" is Navlaan or some corrupted form of him, as it's specifically stated that this sorcerer didn't always call himself Navlaan.
He wasnt trying to break the cycle he was trying to become immortal I doubt he has much love for his hollow brother and furthermore he would be threatened by Nashandra bringing forth an age of Dark. I think it would be in his interest to have her killed
The Ashen Mist Heart doesn't grant access to the Nashandra, she basically intrudes on you as you're heading towards the Throne of Want.
Hence why, if you kill the Throne Watcher/Defender after getting the Giant's Kinship, she comes in the foggate before you can approach the throne of want, as if she's followed you.
As far as "why help the Cursed Undead"? I do think that's a good question. I think Dark Souls 2 presents a second curse (as Straid calls it this), which is the cyclic nature of the world and the age of fire. And, by becoming a dragon, and immortal, you're essentially breaking that cycle for yourself. (So, I would think).
But, I still think that's a great question.
I only meant that you can't gain the Kinship without the mist heart, and by proxy the boss fight.
As for Straid's take on the curse, that's more or less what I was trying to say. Aldia looked to break the cycle of Fire and Dark via research on entities that we assume aren't affected by that cycle (immortal dragons and the immortal/long-living giants) and we can assume he succeeded, for himself anyway (if he is indeed the dragon).
This is expanded upon with the suggestion that both Vendrick and Aldia were looking to break that cycle in its entirety with the creation of The Emerald Herald. One could go as far to say that Nashandra came to prevent that from happening (and with her desire to perpetuate the age of dark) by distracting Vendrick with the giants across the sea. Vendrick and Aldia had a falling out, which prevented their research from being finished. It could be out of the combined spite between Aldia and the giants for Nashandra that The Ancient Dragon gives you the mist heart, which (by proxy with the kinship) grants you access to the throne. Or maybe Aldia's given into his failure and wishes to continue the cycle as fate has dictated. Wishful thinking, but I doubt any of that can be proven.
I personal don't believe that aldia is the ancient dragon but instead a manipulated giant made by him (the dropped petrified dragon bone serving as the frame for the dragon and the ancient and powerful soul of a giant to give it it's form.) As for where he's gone I think he first thought a potential cure for the curse would be to transcend humanity (become a dragon). But as we remember from DKS1 undead dragons were a thing and chances are through his extensive research he most likely realized this and abandons the idea then left to pursue other answers (future dlc?). Since DKS1's dlc was based on some unexplained lore from the game this is are best lead for the second game as well.
Very interesting way to tie Aldia's and Vendric's fascination with life together. While I do agree that Aldia is the ancient dragon, the fact the dragon addresses itself as "us" and "we" implies that perhaps it was originally a true dragon and Aldia used the ashen mist heart to fuse with the living creature and become one. Or perhaps like how you suggested Navlaan may be fused with a royal sorcerer by being resurrected inside the caster. Perhaps an eternal dragon body could house a giants soul, used for controlling the creature, and Aldia's soul so that he could finally obtain his desire to recreate a dragon and be one himself.
I love your vids, man. I got something that's bothering me about Aldia. If you notice, the Altar of Amana is right outside the Undead Crypt, and it's being guarded by a milfanito, a prowling magus, and like half a congregation. That, to me, clearly says "Aldia is keeping his brother the king prisoner." I mean, right? And then when I got to tugging that thread it sure seemed like that meant Aldia was the one in charge at Brightstone and all of a sudden the game looks like I'm trying to prevent Aldia from resurrecting Seathe the Scaleless and me, the Rat Covenant, Pharros, and the Gyrm are the only ones trying to stop it. Except WAIT A MINUTE I just cleared the path to Seathe's soul, safe in its giant crystal-powered resurrection chamber and guarded by an army of spiders and cultists and then opened the King's Gate locking Aldia out of EVERYWHERE ELSE and he has an army of DRAGONS made out of TORTURE.
Also, I'm pretty sure Shalquoir is Aldia's Pope, and you've been helping him the entire time, and Drangleic didn't exist until maybe 20 years ago when the Cult of Aldia started reminding everyone that's what it was called, me auld chum.
This game, dude.
Maybe the body navlaan inhabitants is aldias body, that navlaan took over after aldia inhabited the ancient dragon. Perhaps the sorcerers there thought aldia died and used navlaans spell on his body letting navlaan take it over, the sorcerers then realised this and locked him away. The good side of navlaan might be a fragment of aldias personality still inside his body. I believe this mainly because navlaan wares chaos robes these robes are highly decorated, quite fitting for the kings brother and royal sorcerer . The chaos in there title may come from navlaans chaotic nature.
It was good to get a video dedicated to Aldia. There is definitely a lot of mystery to him. But I feel as if in DS2 the story is a bit disjointed compared to the first game. I won't go into specifics, but there are a few things that seem to contradict themselves. Where as in DS1 we had a clearer path toward a more concrete conclusion to something. Just my thoughts and curious if you feel the same. Great work man. Still putting up the best DS2 content out there.
I do feel like some of it is more disjointed (like how Vendrick killed the four old ones to found the kingdom... yet they still seem to be there for you to kill).
But, that could just be my fault for not coming to the proper understanding of it. :-/
Well since everything supposedly repeats itself then it's plausible he did. But that just basically makes it a medieval Groundhog Day.
My biggest personal question to the story is how they think they know that the fire "ends" the curse. Bonfires are of human remains and in typical undead/zombie stories they feed on humans. So I feel in both games you just basically feed on the essence of humans which is the estus. Agdayne says the Lord of Light feared humans. He was afraid that they would bring about the age of dark. Yes tempting the dark like in Oolacile was an outpouring of pure darkness. But humans couldn't survive it unless corrupted. I feel that if the fire would was not rekindled, then perhaps the curse would end. We are told to believe this. But we don't know if it's true.
Agdayne, "How queer you humans are. Never able to tell the difference between fact and fiction."
You should check the description of Petrified Dragon Bone, it implies that Aldia succeed but not entirely as this creatures are not really dragon ( they are wyverns it seems ). After all, dragons are immortal.
Also you forgot about the connection between Dragon riders and Aldia. It is very likely that they used the dragons created by Aldia.
Great vid, keep the good work !
( Also the description is messed up )
You're right - I agree it's very likely the dragon riders used dragons created by Aldia.
And, yeah, it does seem Aldia's dragons aren't full dragons, as they don't have the scales of immortality. (Though, I wonder if he realizes this).
Dunno if someone talked about it but after this video rewatched like 5 times looked upon Soul Geyser. It looked like a bit bigger or more unstable at the end version of Logan's soul spear and in it's description is said that's a homing soul mass which was another Logan's spell. Also Soul Geyser's description said that's "family heirloom of Lord Aldia's" yet I don't see any evidence that Aldia made that spell and make children and gave it to them. For me it's more like it was inheritated by him. Someone in the past made this spell and at the same time Aldia (and Vendrick) was his/her descendant. Who it was? First thought was Logan himself. Second thought added to it Griggs of Vinheim. One of them is ancestor of Dragleic royal family and I vote for Logan.
But that theory based only on few spells of which have same connections as grain and bread.
These videos are so well made and thought out. Even to notice these things and take note of them so soon in the games life cycle is impressive!
Also...Shanalotte's accent is a more atypical Irish accent. We don't all sound like Gilligan. Just sayin'....
I believe that the Great Dragon having a Giant’s Soul is a developers error for when you get the Ancient Dragon Soul from the memory it reads:
“Soul of the great ancient dragon that stands magnificently deep within the shine.
This powerful being stands and waits for whomever may visit him.”
I honestly don’t know but it’s very odd the dragon from the memory has this description.
I do think Aldia found away to somehow combine a giant soul with that of a dragon using the Ashen Mist Heart and going far back in time to after Gwyn and the rest defeated the Dragons and collected ones soul from what could possibly be Seath's memory. Then taking advantage of the war with the giants and collecting their souls to ultimately, and possibly accidently becoming the Ancient Dragon.
So the main parts Aldia used to create the Ancient Dragon was The Souls of Giants and the bones of a dragon since the dragon drops both a soul of a giant and petrified dragon bone.
Very insightful, thanks for the vid!
Well that didn't age well
Dark Souls 2 may not be as lore heavy as Dark Souls 1 but you still make it pretty amazing, great vid!
Hello Dave, Big Fan of your work.
My theory is that after Aldia made a dragon from a soul of a giant, that maybe he try to turn himself into a dragon but he ended up being that half human half dragon thing that we see in the cage and that why his brother lock him in the mansion.
Just putting my 2 cents here.
Thanks!
And - that could be the case. Maybe Vendrick was just trying to contain him.
Oh yea its back! Good video as always Dave!
Try doing a video on Jester Thomas, Lone Hunter guy from black gulch, Melinda the Butcher, Royal Sorcerer Navlaan, guy that invades at Dragon Shrine... Would be awesome if you can find any further story on those random guys
I do not recall the uploader who mentioned this, but Aldia being the dragon doesn't seem likely due to Aldia's motives. He was far too ambitious to just stop doing... Well... Anything after becoming the ancient dragon. He was a schemer, one who would torture and experiment on others. He also felt the Emerald Herald was a failure and doesn't want the throne to be taken. His purpose in life was to END the curse, yet the dragon directs the chosen undead towards furthering the cycle. The dragon and Aldia have what appear to be separate motives, which makes my belief lean more towards Navlaan or Aldia merely being dead/gone.
On another speculation, the emerald herald mentions the ancient dragon is both waiting for your arrival and not hostile. It is inferred that dragons, along with giants, share a single collective consciousness. Shanalotte is a cross between a human and a dragon, which could connect her conscience to the ancient dragons. This would explain why she knows the dragon is waiting and not hostile, plus who the dragon says another stands before them. Shanalotte and the ancient dragon both seem to be using undeads for a similar purpose. They both appear to want the progression of the cycles.
On even greater speculation, Aldia used giant souls for his experiments. The dragons were such experiments. Since they possess giant souls, can it be said that Shanalotte was made of a giant soul? If so, does she also share a conscience with giants? Do Aldia's experiments share a conscience?
It's not really clear what the Throne of Want actually does. If all it did was Link the Fire, Nashandra wouldn't have desired it for herself. She simply would have let the First Flame die out and usher in the Age of Dark. The DLC's hint that the Throne has a greater purpose.
It may be not so straightforward for Aldia to transform into the dragon. As it has been stated before there are more than one consciusness in the Ancient Dragon, but maybe is just a "guest" in there, thats why the dragon doesnt drop Aldia's soul.
Another cool thing.
The Dragonslayer Crescent Axe says Shieldless Lothian "Grew tired of frailty of humans and set out to kill the Legendary Dragon".
We find this on a corpse with a Flexile Sentry looming near it, who was assumed to be a creation of Aldia.
This means one of two things:
Aldia doesn't tolerate threats to dragons and is highly protective of them, revering them in a way.
or
Aldia doesn't tolerate threats against his own life.
I honestly thought of the Flexile Sentry as a creation of Vendrick's - as he can control and put life into Golems, I thought of it as being the same thing with the Flexile Sentry.
Though, I do like the idea of Aldia being the one who had the Shieldless Lothian destroyed for the reasons you mentioned.
DaveControlLive
The Flexile Sentry, to me, just seems like another failed dragon attempt. Firstly, they are scaled creatures that like very reptilian. Secondly, I think it might have been an attempt at making wings by placing two undead (or so) back-to-back to turn one pair of arms into wings.
Just a theory though.
I had been convinced that Navlaan was a possessed Olenford. But then I took a closer look at Navlaan's Chaos Shield. The insignia on the front is that of the sunset staff with its rings all running parallel. The description on the sunset staff doesn't mention anything about Navlaan, it just says it was forged in Alida's Keep and then it talks about "Lord" Aldia. Also Navlaan is called "Royal" sorcerer Navlaan. So now I am leaning back toward Navlaan being a possessed Aldia again.
I agree with everything in here but I believe that navlaan had been killed and resurrected himself at some point or suffered from the undead curse and was brought back but not fully hollowed yet, once aldia learned about navlaan and his resurrection spell aldia brought navlaan to the mansion to try and resurrect a dragon by using the dragon bones found around the mansion and that it had worked and using that resurrection spell gained further progress on becoming a dragon himself
I think that pariahdigmshift has a better look on this topic of the whereabouts of Lord Aldea, in fact his description that the theory Aldea is Navlaan might be correct.
If Aldea were to be a person wanting to make a world where the curse would end, why would he just sit there in the open whilst waiting for some unknown "chosen" undead to come visit him and then give said undead a gift that might not even truly help the fool in the journey to cure the curse.
In fact, now that I recall, why would Aldea even let someone like the "chosen" undead become a new sovereign knowing that he could have simply taken it from his brother as either a keep sake or to keep the throne away from unworthy heathens?
Wait what if Aldis’s soul was split by one of the forbidden rituals and Aldia has now become the ancient-dragon and he has also taken over Navlaan’s body. This is just a theory but I think we could find some evidence to support this theory. What do y’all think?
what about aldia in chaos form ?
i think this chaos aldia is reprented the izalith witch wrong doing
I have a theory. Probably all wrong, but I'd like to explain it though.
I like to think that the Ancient Dragon in the memory in Brightstone cove Tseldora is the same dragon as the skeleton in Aldia's Keep, that Aldia had done experiments on and then finally created a replica.
Liked and subbed. Personally I think Aldia is the Rotten. I believe that the reason the Dragon gives a giants soul is because he was made of one. The ones in the memory also give a giant soul so it could be that he was a success, nothing more, nothing less. I do think that this success was what led Aldia to believe that he could create one to end the undead curse but he failed. At least thats my opinion.
I'm in the camp that believes that the Ancient Dragon is still Aldia, but he is a massive being comprised of the soul and body of Aldia fighting as a single force. The Giant Soul gives him power to sustain his own form while the Petrified Dragon Bone allows that form to be that of a dragon. His soul is attained not as an item soul, but instead as the souls of the boss's form itself. The souls you gain from beating the Ancient Dragon are those of Aldia, the giant soul is merely something used to create his dragon form. Though we may see soon through the dlc.
Since all the dragons drop petrified dragon bone, I wonder if this was used as a catalyst in the creation of the dragons.
It is also a random drop from the basilisks. Perhaps Aldia used Dragon bone fossils as well in his experiments for building monsters.
I think this is very possible.
Very interesting video, this finally convinced me of Aldia being the Ancient Dragon. Though, maybe there are more minds in this being, that only speaks of itself in plural. I think it's possible Aldia and others of these "great minds" were undead tried to find a way to free themselves from the curse. They researched the dragons, for how it is said on the Serpents Ring in DkS1: "The serpent is an imperfect dragon and symbol of the Undead".
It seems Aldia and his followers somehow managed to "ascend" to being a dragon. They/him turned away from mankind and sought to repopulate the world with dragons.
Maybe being a dragon was not the end of Aldia's plan, but just a part of curing the curse. The eternal aspect of the dragons to counterbalance undeath, the process of dying again and again.
The Herald's control over souls suggests that there was some connection between the moving, maybe the merging, of souls and a hypothetical cure for the curse. Also, the giants seem to play a part in this, with their hatred everlasting, like a dragon.
But maybe Aldia really tried to become a dragon, what certainly is one kind of cure. If you will life forever, than better without that nasty hollowing.
But apparently, something didn't work. Maybe it was Aldia losing his sense of self after becoming a dragon.
I also see reason for Naavlan being Aldia, or rather a spirit with the hatred of a giant. Maybe this spirit was created from experiments with a giant's soul, the hatred became something conscious but was still bound to the body we see sealed in Aldia's Keep. Naavlan is especially happy when he thinks the Herald died, knowing that this brings great misery to the undead. Like a giant remembering that what has been done to him was for the sake of the cursed.
Anyway, great video. Is there one planned for Vendrick? I think his relationship to Aldia is very important to the story of DkS2.
I hear your dark souls 1 and 2 lore's almost everyday xD
Also, it's possible that the Rotten was, somehow, created or influenced by Aldia himself (before Nito's lord soul took over it). I wouldn't be surprised if in the end Pharros, who is known to be credited for inventions that really are not of his own, pissed off Aldia. Majula's hole, after all, was used as a hole of disposal. Aldia may have tossed stuff away there.
That's an interesting though, and could be the case!
I think that the Ancient Dragon we meet is a mix between the old Ancient Dragon and Lord Aldia, a whole new entity perhaps with the consciousness of both Lord Aldia and Ancient dragon combined. Souls of entities combining is kind of a thing in Dark souls 2 as all the four old souls have the lord souls from Dark souls 1. Also, he does say "Yet another one stands before us", so someone did meet him before us and he gave them the Ashen Mist Heart to them so they may know of what happened before. Who could've it been?
A side note, how did Lucatiel enter the King's gate to get inside?
dang Dave you never fail to drop a bombshell
How about this: Royal Sorcerer Navlaan is the spell, and Aldia is the vessel? He says that, to prove his strenght, while his vessel slept, Navlaan would go about and kill others. But one time while while Navlaan was sleeping, the vessel locked them up(as you find them). Funnily enough, Navlaan is ONLY awake while the player is hollow, and the vessel (whomever it might be) is ONLY awake while human. Now, this really isn't much of proof, per se, but, since different items describe Navlaan as "long dead", yet we see him sitting in that cell(in Aldia's Keep), and Aldia did many forms of experiments, maybe he dabbled into resurrection and similar things, and Navlaan was the result? I just feel it needs to be looked into more at least...
I watched another youtuber covering this topic (that I do not remember the name of atm). Even though it makes sense that Aldia is the dragon, I believe that Aldia is Navlan. I wont spesify why, I just recommend watching his vid for the info. But great video. I love these lore vids of yours and cant wait for more.
That would be PariahdigmShift.
I do find the Emerald Herald bit interesting, though I'm not sure why he would want to kill his failed creation, the Emerald Herald specifically, when failed creations of his are everywhere within the game.
Also, which "side" of him is Navlaan and which is Aldia? I'm fairly certain Navlaan was supposed to be an evil dick, so why would he lock himself up for Aldia (inhabiting him as a vessel) doing evil things?
DaveControlLive I would have a way better answear if it wasnt so late, but "he calls himself Navlaan now" and "Royal Sorserer" It just makes more sense for me personally. You have really good facts and proof to back it up, and it makes me think alot like evey lore vid you make :-) but I am more convinst that he is Aldia.
VLSteng That's totally fine. :) That's why I presented both theories, and I'm not necessarily correct.
Who is actually correct at DS lore? :)
VLSteng
vatividya of course
Could you do Scholar of the first sin lore video?
funny enough, despite aldia's fascination with the mysteries of the curse, aldia never became cursed himself. ironic considering how much he studied it. he eventually gave up his humanity in case he ever became cursed which allowed him to circumvent it. he'll never go hollow because he can't become undead in the first place.
lord aldia,more like seath the scaleless
you know when gwyn gave some of his soul to his most trusted men, maybe aldia did it as well, a part of his souls for each experiment, i do believe his soul is on the ancient dragon, but only a shard of it, in dark souls 1 you could not speak with the everlasting dragon in ash lake, but the ancient dragon speaks, or at least does something close enough to it, navlaan could've been revived as a way to find something about souls, with another shard of aldia soul, peharps he used so much of his soul on his experiments, his own manifestation disapeared, this is what i think might have happened
I really think Navlaan is Lord Aldia after all. this person does a fine job of explaining things, and debunking the ancient dragon theory, now I'm not one to spam but I think you should watch it since he has a lot of good points.
Dark Souls II Lore: Aldia & Vendrick
yet I think the AD theory is should not be thrown out of the window, the navlaan theory makes more sense. anyways that was a really great video Dave, can't wait for the next lore video.
Hey, it's a great theory, and that's why I mentioned it!
And, I agree, Pariahdigm Shift does a great job explaining it. :)
Wouldn't Aldia be Vendrick sized though?
***** not necessarily, a lot of people believe that you grow by the amount of souls possesed/taken in, or enemys atleast. and there's always the explenation of height in bosses are simply put in for gameplay, not lore. after all fighting a person that's 10x your height is way more frightening than fighting a guy that's the same size as a common hollow.
"Even beyond death *GO BEYOND DEATH*"
LOL
So alot of theories are going around about the Old Dragonslayer. And I wanted to bring up the possibility that it is in fact Ornstein resurrected. Now it is known that vendrick and Aldia went to the ruins of Anor Londo and found the souls and what not. And what If Aldia took Ornsteins remains and used his narvalaan's(or whoevers) ability of resurrection to bring Ornsteins back to life.
Yes, but all the illusions never dropped the souls of what they were. So Smough and Orenstein had to have been real. I mean its possible. All theories
I think that the ancient dragon is Aldia. The lack of Aldia's soul can be explained away by Tseldora. Tseldora was a great man and would presumably have a soul but there is none because it is combined with the soul of the spider. I think Aldia's soul was lost in his melding with the giant soul and the petrified dragon soul. It could be Navlaan but Navlaan's human vessel doesn't like killing, and Aldia clearly had little issue with a lack of ethics.
I hope the next video is on Vendrick and/or Nashandra
As for Malformed Skulls, they can be obtained by the Water Giants in Sinner's Rise too. Which as I talked with you earlier dropped Bell Keeper Bow and Shield. :s
I believe the "Water Giants" you're referring to are the one at the bottom of Sinner's Rise right next to Lucatiel's summon sign?
Those are Enhanced Undead, just found at this point in the game.
DaveControlLive Yes, those malformed monsters in the water right after Luc's summon sign.
MMDE Yeah, those are the "Enhanced Undead" I was referring to. :)
(Though, I'm still unsure why they drop the bell keeper equipment).
Dave, please do vend rick next. Cause in that ghosts dialouge it said he vanquished the 4 great ones. Was the ghost talking about the ineffable souls or the giants?
I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet, but there are bodies of giants in Aldia's manor right above the pit of corrosive acid. The Ancient Dragon is FAR larger than any other dragon in the game. I think Aldia stopped trying to combine undead with dragons and started combining giants with dragons. This is why the Ancient Dragon drops a giant's soul.
My guess is that Aldia took the remains of one of the slain Everlasting Dragons (possibly the one in Freja's nest given the resemblance) and somehow resurrected it with Giant Souls (though for gameplay reasons it only drops one).
i think navlaan is the enhanced undead in the cage, 'cause it drops the chaos shield and sword and that the we talk to is some poor "guest" who was given navlaan's soul
I always thought that the Hollow you kill after Freja was Aldia himself in the dukes chamber if I remember correctly.
I was under the impression that was a hollowed out Tseldora. (I talk about it in my Tseldora lore video).
Why do you think that was Aldia?
I'd say that aldia did indeed fuse with the body of the ancient dragon. No they do not both live In the same body as the ancient dragon is long dead. As for navalon, he was indeed resurrected and fused with his resurector as a possible consequence of a powerful spell. I do not know much more, but one thing I am sure of, the skeleton dragon that you find in aldia's keep shows the immortality of dragons. Could that skeleton be the skeleton of a real dragon giving his last struggle? (Possibly not) or a different skeleton that aldia tried to fuse with or revive, but failed, thus moving on to a new dragon. Therefore creating the ancient dragon, which was simply a random unlucky or lucky pick.
Aldia is probably one of my favourite characters in the series
To explain The Emerald Herald, I believe she was created from dragons by Aldia to make a true immortal human. This would break the curse as she would act as a never ending fuel for the fire bringing about eternal light and stopping the curse. However it failed she came out mortal and so after the fall of Vendrick and Aldia instead chose to seek another to take her place as the fuel.
In one of the rooms, above the pit with the corrosive acid and the undead dogs inside of it... There is a room with a dragon acolyte hacking away at the dead bodies of the giants... With a huge pile of them sitting over the hole to dump them into the corrosive substance
i noticed something weird on Ancient Dragon if you talk to him and after that put Ring Of Whispers on you can hear a voice coming from him. Not 100% sure what the voice says but it sounds like "help me, please" Anyone else noticed this ?
Chrono Trigger had such awesome music....
aldia may aswell have been fused with the person he made a dragon, since the dragon states: "Another Creature Standing before US"
Or it could be the soul of the giant and a dragon referring itself as "us".
well sure, u never know :p Dark souls is quite a mystery and u can interpret it however u want, which is why i find this game so good :3
Aleksander Enget In monarchies in the past (Not sure about now so forgive me if I'm wrong), kings and queens would refer to themselves in the royal tone, me, myself, I, etc. being spoken as "us".
This could mean that Aldia, being of royal blood, may have been speaking in the royal tone as the Ancient Dragon, still using the same dialect as he would if he were human.
Aleksander Enget Its open for interpretations but actually , in the end, its a made up story that makes some sense for whom created it. Where the devs get these ideas or inspiration is an interesting question.
But Aldia turned into that thing that pops out of the bonfire it even says aldia and in scholar of the first sin he’s the last boat and it’s called Aldia
This video was made 4 years ago lol
Dave I would love to see a video on your thoughts of the geography of Dranleic, transitioning from Earthern Peak to Iron Keep, and Heide Tower to No mans Wharf are very strange for me, I would also love to see some other people's thoughts on this
Honestly… a lot of it doesn't make sense to me. (Earthen Peak -> Iron Keep??)
Which is a shame. It kinda confuses the whole "is Drangleic Lordran?" issue as well. I mean, I understand things shifting, but… yeah it doesn't seem as well thought out as Dark Souls, to me.
Yea i keep hearing theories of a sort of "Dream World" but I've found no hard evidence of that, but thanks for commenting back, Ive been trying to get some of the Dark Souls youtubers to talk a little into this because i feel like other people are asking the same questions.