"The state of being a sane, rational human being is depicted as fragile, with an ever present threat of animalistic regression." Hour long Zullie video essay when
Manus managed to get it in his contract that he's allowed to come back at least every other game (discounting Deracine), so he was in Dark Souls, skipped Dark Souls II, came back as Cleric Beast in Bloodborne, sat Dark Souls III out, and then returned as Demon of Hatred in Sekiro. We'll have to see if they finally let him do two games in a row in Elden Ring.
I've always loved how Manus kind of shows us the horror of being corrupted but still remembering being human, I think you mentioned it in your irythill giant dog video, but a lot of the horror inherent to dark souls isn't how the abyss and similar things warp, corrupt and destroy humanity, it's that the victims of this corruption remain human enough to remember humanity and to continue suffering. Kind of an "I have no mouth and yet I must scream" situation.
That's honestly why Ludwig bothers me so much. Aside from being markedly more hideous than other blood-corrupted beings, phase 2 brings the horrifying revelation that yes, he is still sentient and fully aware of everything, and THAT is what gets me. Nothing that looks like that should be burdened with self-awareness
@@twilight_phantom2969 and that made him even more of a "early Bloodborne Boss/character/theme in the Souls games" and it's pretty interesting, isn't? Haha
It's sort of crazy how Manus both influenced Dark Souls, but even more influenced Bloodborne; But something even more crazy is how all the primordial beasts of the abyss seem to be made of WOOD, just like the great old one from Demon's souls. Fog and Trees, it all rotates back to these concepts.
@@ivanlagayacrus1891 And even Demon of Hatred, not only for his larger left hand and being a beastial ex human, but lets not forget that the sculptor made angry WOODEN buddhas that he burns in his bossfight
When I first fought Manus, his arena was so dark I thought he was absolutely huge. I just assumed you had to stay in the light while he maneouvred around the dark edges and you had to damage him when he overextended into the light. Choosing for his arena to be dark was a perfect choice because it let me just believe I was fighting a gigantic swirling blob of dark that would occassionally thrust a random arm or horn into the light in the centre to try and fight me.
Manus was one of my most intimidating bosses for this reason. Half the struggle was just getting an idea of his size and shape. It’s strange, it feels like it shouldn’t matter, but once I figured out what he looked like, then the fight became so much more manageable.
I feel like a lot of Manus' design elements served as the foundation for what eventually became the Pus of Man in DS3. The way his limbs are almost...liquid...and the way he swipes them around with those mangled claws. Plus, they both represent humanity that has completely given into their dark soul. But Manus will always be my boy for being the first, and only, muscle wizard in the series. The fact his catalyst was as strong as a mid tier great axe in terms of melee damage, combined with the fact it made your sorceries scale off of your strength was the coolest thing ever.
Not only Pus of Man, but also the Monstrosity of Sin (dropping metal band names like it's no one's business). I totally forgot Manu's left hand had this molar like growths, wich maybe makes the Monstrosity of Sin some sort of little baby offspring of THAT
I dunno about being the first or only. I think the demon firesage and stray demon could certainly fit the archetype of mages with physicality. Then, you should reconsider Darklurker's biceps, for another, later, muscle wizard.
@@NightmareBlade10 In DS1, because dark damage didn't exist as a damage type, hexes instead scaled off of the sorcery catalyst's physical damage and magic damage combined, and thus the physical scaling as well. I.e. the Manus Catalyst is so effective with hexes/dark magic because it has S scaling in both Intelligence and Strength, giving it high magic and physical damage. Typo edit: I originally put "Dexterity" instead of "Intelligence"
The way Manus moves in his boss fight always felt to me like a mix of human and monkey/ape - he'll walk around leaning on his staff like an old man, then leap about acrobatically and use his arm like a tail. It ties in perfectly with his narrative role as the manifestation of dark corrupted by light. Easily the best boss in ds1 imo.
My favourite part of his design is actually the way he’s obscured in the fight. The huge bony crest covered in eyes makes him look a lot larger than he really is when in the dark of his arena. It reminds me a lot of the way certain butterflies and moths have eye-like patterns on their wings to dissuade predators. This illusion hides the fact that Manus himself is actually relatively diminutive and scraggly (compared to other Dark Souls monsters anyway).
Manus has always stood out to me for the fact that his power is derived from loss, not by acquiring any special implement. The broken pendant seems to imply that despite it has no real power, Manus wants it purely for the comfort of nostalgia, to which no one else has any use for anyway (similarly to the starting gift pendant, in fact). If it was returned to him, would he even continue his rampage? Humanity itself is represented by vacancy and a desire for warm comforts, and Manus' hand is a perfect representation of want. I think the most interesting thing is how he isn't necessarily portrayed as evil, either, but merely as a threat to the marching advancement of Gwyn's civilization. In Gwyn's worldview, there's no room for selfish or banal desires, only sacrifice for the preservation of the flame. Even this theme is carried throughout Miyazaki's later works in much the same way as Manus' design is echoed time and again. It's always neat to see the different perspectives each game takes, though. Somehow, it seems there's always a degree of sympathy for Manus and his spiritual successors.
“Desire for warm comforts” I’m reminded of that dungeon scene of the King in Berserk talking to Griffith. He mentions that very same desire motivating people and why he was upset that Griffith defiled his daughter. I doubt many remember it though because Griffith tells him right after that the king is lusting after her as well.
Funnily enough, Gwyn and his loyalists desires are themselves selfish, not accepting their fate and giving space to the now ascending Human species just because he's afraid all he did would be lost.
Except Gywn was unbelievably selfish and banal himself. He sacrificed everything, both others and himself to prevent the end of the Age of Fire, of which he was the biggest most powerful figure, he just didn't want to live in a world where he wasn't top dog.
The ghru's, weird goatmen of farron swamp also have mass of wooden horns and distorted/missing facial features. You can see aswell on the darkwraith they have branches and roots sprouting from the cracks in their armour. And the ring city knight weapons have wooden protrusions that look like horns The game hints that they are of chaos, abyss, or both
The "calcified humanity" (idk what to call them but it's clear the design is used for rampant, corrupted humanity) reminds me a lot of the Pus of Man (and of course the stuff on his arm is almost surely the same thing). Seems to track that going nuts with humanity/abyss/whatever turns you into a seedbed for corruption.
@@MrHeorhe I think the pus of man enemies are the enemies in DS3 which start out normal and then explode into the big corrupted monsters, like the first boss, Iudex and some enemies on the high wall
IMO, the most terrifying monsters aren’t the ones who were once human, rather the ones who recall being human and are horrified at what they’ve become.
@@bastek9633 just imagine.. being some random shrine maid and being transformed into something so inhuman, so alien, so that it doesn't even have eyes or hands.. Gives me the willies, it does
Manus definitely became a cornerstone of the Dark Souls world when he was introduced. The fact that the Queens of DS2 were probably born of those rampant human emotions within Manus really shows just how important he is to the overall narrative.
if the events of DKSII were relevant at all, which they arent, the few things that DKSIII introduced didnt speak that much of anything that happened in the game, changing location names and all that, its almost decanonized compared to how much DKSIII continues everything from DKSI
@@magnolia549 wtf, if you are refering to the first npc that talks to you in the ringed city i dont see how its impliyed or how it has anysense that a random pigmy lord that talks to you about gods = bad its the furtive pigmy ringed city still has a lot of sense with manus story at least in my opinion, there is almost nothing of official canon, if not explicitly stated its up for interpretation, miyazaki said it in an interview
The 4 daughters (plus son if you count the Darklurker) are all pieces of Manus. Nashandra is his Want Elena is his Rage Nadalia his Loneliness And Alsanna, his fears The Darklurker is thought to be Manus' lingering Humanity, seeking more servents of the dark to add into itself to feel whole again
@@Necrotaku999 DS3 came off as very fan service-y to me, especially in regards to how it tried to overtly reference what was the most popular game in the series at the time. DS2 imo at least felt like it was trying to tell a self contained story that paid reference to what came before it, but in a way that would make sense in the context of potentially thousands of years passing in-between games. You're free to feel that it makes DS2 "not important", but I still appreciate the storytelling the game did.
It's fascinating to see that it's Manus's left arm that's completely transformed, as historically the left hand has been associated with uncleanness and the devil. I assume there's a connection between the superstitious beliefs in things like the left hand path (the road to ruination being found literally to God's left side) and the fact Manus literally consumes humanity with his massive left hand mouth thing, and in turn is corrupted further
@@AmritZoad for me it's the sword combat. Somehow I always has any idea as to how sword (and shield) combat should feel in a game. I heard about dark souls and at that time got DS3 which just releaaed. After playing I was like that's what I have always wanted and (the medieval aesthetic were perfect.) But soon got turned off by the difficulty. Years later I played DSR and finally beat it then DS3. The different sword attack animations and feel of the combat was what made me love it.
I never really thought about the links between Bloodborne's themes of turning into beasts but it's obvious now you mention it. Also really cool how Manus is now part of From's artstyle, which is interesting as I often find Manus isn't talked about as much compared to lot of other Souls bosses. It's like he's more subtle despite his appearance being the opposite of subtle.
Her kind of lurks in the background, little reminders popping up every now and then, like some sort of ancient ancestor, a figure from our past that walked the same path long, long ago. Funny, that.
I dunno, manus is a very hard boss fight, i finished that game many times already, and sometimes i just skip manus lmao. Even tho his lore is cool, and he is a cool boss. To defeat him the "easy way" you need the pendant, maybe summon sif, and have a non-elemental weapon/build. The hard way is just going in, so you have to dodge de dark orb barrages very precisely, manus is full agro, so he rarely lets you heal, and he is resistant to elements, i remember having zweihander lightning and hitting for like 150-200 dmg. Manus has like 6300+HP. So its kind of a grind. However, whenever i do bother to go down there, i can expect to have a great time.
@@hw_yozoraVODS ngl nowadays I think using the pendant makes the fight harder. His magic has safe zones you can stand in. Panic-switching to the pendant when he does stuff is just getting me killed.
I always thought that perhaps Manus still retains a good amount of emotional intelligence in him, to the point where, possibly, if the player and he met under different circumstances, he'd be a bit calm. I feel like Manus is scared, confused, and violently angry at his current state, and the wild Humanity just made him unable to properly... contain his emotions, I suppose. I feel like Dusk either was close to him before he died, or Dusk reminds him of someone he loved, which is why he stole her away. The Broken Pendant could also have been something that belonged to Dusk, or the woman she reminds Manus of. If anything, I feel bad for Manus, poor guy seems to be unintentionally spreading the Abyss, and just wants to be left alone and die quietly.
True, humanity and darkness have long been tied to emotions.. and considering how the Oolicilians (probably) tortured the poor guy to try and unlock the secrets of said dark magicks.. It's no wonder why he went berserk and started thrashing about like an animal, literally spewing out his emotions in the form of heavy hearted dark orbs
Manus’s arm might be inspired by a “Monkeys paw” which is basically a sort of “be careful with what you wish for” thing, as the residents of oolacile drove manus insane by leeching off of his dark power for their own gain. Oh, and monkeys are the closest animal related to humans
@David Assébof I mean, genetically, yeah, anthropologically speaking not so much. Apes and humans obviously are evolutionarily close as their common ancestry makes clear. Not need to be a dick just because the guy was scientifically abstract in what he meant. We all know what he meant, and he’s not wrong. The use of ape-like phenotypes and behaviors to symbolise mental and moral degeneration of humans is a common theme in Fromsoft games and can be found in various enemies that aren’t downright apes themselves.
A big part of his design as well through environments also contributes to him. In the middle of his arena is a little human-shaped imprint in the rock that- I would assume- was his resting place before the Oolacilians discovered him and dragged him up. Also- less noticed by most people- you access the abyss by passing through a small dungeon corridor where the bonfire is. If you notice the environment there's a cell that's been broken out of with the blue-black abyssal sludge leading toward the far end of the hall where the wall's been broken out. So it would seem Manus was held hostage in the cell in question where he went mad, presumably transformed (at least partially), and broke free and fled back into the abyss. Manus, father of the abyss, once the furtive pygmy and the father of mankind, slept in his abyss away from the power of the gods and their kin. The Oolacilians found him and proceeded to imprison and torture him to learn his Dark sorceries. They couldn't leave well enough alone and prodded the being that's the very reason for them being a part of the world and turned him into a beast. Tragic. Who knows- maybe the very reason the Abyss corrupts is because of his turning. Maybe there wasn't even an Abyss until he was tortured and his suffering corrupted the Dark Soul and birthed the Abyss as an unnatural byproduct of its power? Either way, Manus is a tragic boss and I believe his downfall is the sole reason for the abyssal corruption we witness in the games. Damn the Oolacilians.
Considering The Ringe City DLC the theory of manus being the furtive pigmy don't make sense instead seems like he's one of the pigmy lords who could left the ringed city when Oolacile sent a mission to the ringed city as you can read in the clothes of Halflight spear of the church and his bow
@@dreadknight0 Exactly. Maebae theories about manus beeing the furtive pigmy have been disproven times and times since DS3, but some guys tend to ignore them to stick to their own headcannon. It's a bit sad.🤷
@@MidnightatMidian Is like that theory about midir arena's being where the first flame originated only because it looks similar to the cinematic when it don't have any sense
@@dreadknight0 The Pygmy we meet on first arriving, as well as the munched ones have the Abyss swirl on their clothing, used by the Pilgrims of the Dark covenant as their symbol. It is possible then that the Dark Soul was indeed found where the Ringed City now resides, the city being built over the top of it.
@@KarmaSpaz12 If you check the cinematic of Dark Souls 1, you can notice that when the narrator talks about , heat and cold , life and death , etc we are passing through the brances of an arch tree, then we pass through the trunk (extremely similar to the great hollow) until we reach to the first flame where the lords find their souls. Later in dark souls 1 at kiln of the first flame we can notice it is built over the trunk of an arch tree, and that repeats in dark souls 3 when we come back to that place. Meanwhile the midir arena arguments only have things like "hey that place looks similar" and really vague clues like clothes of a covenant from dark souls 2
The scrolling swirly texture on his arm looks very similar to the Pus of Man enemies from 3. No doubt an intentional design on Froms part. Also, I feel like Manus is the first place we see the "blown out" design (idk how else to phrase it), of how when you're corrupted shit just starts flying out in all directions, blowing open the fragile human form (a thing that once again happens to the Pus of Man enemies, and probably others I'm not thinking of right now)
I figure it's a Manatee thing, only in 3 Manatee takes in an even goopier form than in 1 because of the Deep or whatever. I figure Aldritch is made out of condensed Manatee jizz or whatever, having absorbed it out of his victims kinda like Gael but on a larger scale
You're description of being "blown out" made me think of what popcorn does. That's basically what it is. A human form that explodes outward with corruption. The original corn kernel is still there, but it's cracked and split open. You can see it hiding inside the mass of the popcorn.
Look no further than the boss Vicar Amelia in Bloodborne. She was literally blown apart with blood splattering everywhere when we watch her transform into a corrupted beast.
Manus will always be a top tier boss in all souls game, the lore, the attacks, the skills, the zone, the introduction, his death, etc. Few bosses can top all of that...but not a crossbow being shot behind the fog :w
I feel like Manus is probably the best boss in DS1. I like Orn and Smough, but the fight can get really chaotic and individually they aren't that interesting. Manus is a large list of moves that are individually predictable, but all need to be answered correctly. There's no AI cheese, no range or blindspot to be abused: he can always hit you, but you can always respond. He's even enjoyable with different builds, which is honestly an achievement
I realize now that the wooded themes may all be rooted in the arch trees, the only other thing than the archdragons during the age of ancients. from the trees our body, the flame our soul, the moment the flame fades our soul does too and to wood we return.
The latter. He has some weird obsession with that pendant you get, and when ever he senses it, he reaches across time and space to yank you to him so he can take it.
@@shubniggurath3947 It has to do with who he was before the corruption made him _Manus._ It represents his last shreds of humanity. The only thing stopping him from forgetting himself and going feral. His final lifeline, so desperate he will cling to it across time itself.
That portruding, pronounced ribcage is also heavily present in beasts of Bloodborne. I always assumed it was connected to Moon Presence, as it also shared that trait (even more extremely, almost Gaping Dragon-like) and was very closely connected to the Scourge (likely the source of the Old Blood). I didn't realize it traced back to Manus. Artorias DLC was really something, huh.
I think a lot of fundementals for Bloodborne was laid in the Artorias DLC. One thing that leaps to mind is the first time I fought Artorias. I might have tried and failed 20 times, but then I started fighting him as I would any Bloodborne boss instead of the usual Dark Souls way, and suddenly the fight was a breeze. I mean, I walked right over him.
@@yourehereforthatarentyou The style of combat. It's just a hunch mind you. I have never been able to beat Artorias, while fighting him defensively, like I normally play dark souls. Only when I assume the aggressive style of Bloodborne. On top of that, there is Chester, who looks like some kind of proto hunter.
The evil queens in Dark Souls 2 were born from his fragments. His left hand resembles the ugly hand monsters of Profaned Capital. And Soul of Cinder's combo attack throws your player the same way as his. The influence of Manus has remained in Fromsoft games ever since he was introduced, and rightfully so.
@@aquasomnus fr Ivory King is awesome: He's a super powerful mercenary that retires, wandered around the world until he settle down and created a giant city While the other lords are manipulated by the queens, Ivory is the only one who is not He genuinely loved Alsanna, a being made of pure darkness whose sole reason is to bring ruin to the world, and prevented her from destroying the city without fighting And finally, he places his throne RIGHT ON TOP OF THE CHAOS PORTAL so he will be the first thing those demons will have to face after they came out What a gigachad holy shit
I always thought it was interesting how the Cleric Beast looks so much like him. It's like Bloodborne is saying, "Hey remember that super tough, terrifying boss from Dark Souls? In this game he's just the tutorial"
I'd argue that Manus is THE most important character in the Souls series, followed by Gwyn, and then Slave Knight Gael, and Aldia landing a nice 4th place. The lore implications of his appearance alone are staggering, and the effects of his existence put so much weight to Gwyn's fears that it justifies an enormous deal of the shit he pulled. The fact we never meet Gwyn pre-hollowing is what makes his actions so questionable. Was he truly an asshole, or what he just THAT desperate to prevent literally everything becoming like Manus? Is he stubbornly refusing to like nature take its course for mankind, or performing the ultimate noble sacrifice and suffering forever to keep back the dark, and prevent his people and legacy from becoming like that *THING*? All these questions and guesses, made possible solely by the lone appearance of Manus. THAT is why he is the most important character of all.
Hold on, Oolacile and the Artorias DLC happen chronologically AFTER Gwyn has linked the First Flame. Manus’s abhorrent transformation was due to him being a ‘Primeval Man’ (a-la, Pre-Fire Linking brought mortality to mankind), who’s powerful Dark Soul reacted far more violently to being shackled by the Flame than any living man (who had only known the existence of Light). His form is a direct consequence of Gwyn’s actions, just like the Pus and Deep in Dark Souls 3. Shackled for too long, Dark flares and becomes feral in opposition to it’s tranquil nature. Only by being subjugated by Gwyn, thwarting the natural order, has the horror of the Abyss been unleashed. His paranoia directly caused the thing he most feared, that’s one of the themes of the series
Zullie, this is your best video to date, they just keep getting better. The nuance with which you illuminate FromSoft's exquisite craftsmanship, and that beautiful reveal at the end to further highlight this fact, absolutely brilliant stuff.
i was just talking yesterday about how the fragments of manus in ds2 inherit certain aspects of his design. nashandra's scythe resembles the horns on his head. the wrathful axe has a wooden look like his horns and catalyst. the ashen idols in brume tower have extended arms, similar to the corrupted townsfolk of oolacile, and nadalia's soul can be used to create a dark pyromancy like those found in the chasm of the abyss.
@David Assébof come now, Manus' daughters are in ds2 and that wasn't any fan-related connection, Nashandra and the rest of them are fragments of Manus' emotions made manifest. Just like how his grief/rage/madness was manifested into his corrupted form, presumably after he lost his pendant
It's sad that every time I fought him i had never thought of how much of a great design Manus has; instead i only focused on how to beat him which i did, after gruelling numerous attempts.
He's even harder than Nameless King and Gael in my opinion. I just can't seem to do a reasonable amount of damage to him and his grab attack gets me every single time no matter how much I backstep. I wish they gave a little bit more of a wind up on that move and I think he'd be a lot more enjoyable.
@@NightmareBlade10 nameless is harder, manus has a lot of puzzle elements that once you figure out he becomes easier. Like using the silver pendant to reflect his abyss magic makes his spellcasting a joke. As long as you have max upgraded armour and weapons manus is manageable and you can punish almost all of his attacks with any weapon. I had to switch off a slow weapon to beat nameless. Not because I was messing up but because the huge weapons are just too slow and you cant risk trading blows in that fight. so there are only 2-4 safe attacks you can punish with an ultra greatsword. And I say 2-4 because him casting spells is easy to punish but his dashes can put him too far away to punish.
@@NightmareBlade10 if the grab attack hits you every time you are getting greedy and trying to hit him after he has already recovered from his previous attack. Just hitting him while he recovers, and making space before he can start his next attack will slow down the fight a lot but you wont be in range for his grab and he will likely never use it.
@@MrHeorhe I mean I beat Nameless King without ever upgrading my armor and having only a semi decent weapon. Nameless King's moveset is just a lot more consistent and relatively fair. It feels more like a proper duel than an actual bossfight with bullet hell elements like Manus'. I definitely appreciate the tips though. I had to give up a bit because none of my weapons were doing any damage. Too bad there's no respec in this game like there is in DS3 or else I'd change my build completely.
Anyone notice the similarities between Manus' left hand and the hand-beasts in DS3? I've no fuckin clue how they'd connect, but seems like a ridiculously 1 to 1 design.
The hand-beasts are widely thought to be, or at least be connected to, the queens from DS2, who were children of Manus--Nashandra, Elana, Nadalia, and Alsanna. So yes, not a coincidence at all.
Eleonora description... “A strange weapon found among malformed inhabitants of the Profaned Capital. The Profaned Flame was triggered by the curse of these women, relatives of a certain oracle, but despite their culpability, they went on living, without any cares.” Those malformed inhabitants the hand monsters are Abyssal types that take extra damage from Artorias’ GS. The only oracle mentioned by name is Alsanna in DS2 so they must be related to her which would explain their nature. Since they are said to be malformed my guess is it was the Profaned Flame that corrupted that. As when you give Andre the Profaned Coal he talks about it being much too dark and that he can see The Abyss in it. As for why the women were cursed the leading theory that makes the most sense is the Profaned Flame was some new entity. Spawned by the Old Chaos being tainted by the Abyss since Alsanna was using her powers to keep it at bay and both the Abyss/Old Chaos appear to have some from of sentience or will. There’s a lot of evidence to support the ties between DS2/The Profaned Flame/The Profaned Capital. I don’t really feel like naming them all but one of the more striking ones are the pictures of Nashandra and Eleum Loyce within Irithyll.
Manus reminds me of the Titanite demons that you can find. One arm holding a staff while the other is on the ground, the legs positions, how they can jump and attack you. Maybe it's to show how Manus' influence can still be seen in the world, even years after his defeat.
I love how Manus is juxtaposed so perfectly with Gael, since in his most regressed, hollowed state, Gael reclaimed his sense of humanity from a bestial state. It goes to show a difference between the pygmies, and the humans which descended from their fragment of the lord soul.
I haven't seen this talked about much, but Manus reminds me quite a lot of the Witch of Izalith, even if how they came to be and what they became are different in ways. Obviously, both share wood-like qualities (common in Dark Souls, but still). The Bed of Chaos is made of wood and channels fire through it's wooden tentacle things, while Manus channels the darkness. If Manus' corruption were to continue growing, its possible he might have eventually become a creature quite like the Bed of Chaos, a massive tree-like entity spreading corrupted dark throughout the world, mutating things further into... whatever they become in a quite similar way to how the Bed of Chaos created demons. The most interesting thing I noticed, however, is that they both came to be from losing control. The Witch of Izalith used her Lord Soul to create the Flame of Chaos, but for whatever reason she was unable to control it, leading to her transformation into the Bed of Chaos (the "heart" is obviously the Chaos Bug, but we don't know if that was always the case or if she grew to the state. If we want to compare her to Quelaag and her sister or Manus as points of comparison, we could theorize her original transformation being a large buglike creature similar to Quelaag, but with wooden growths and perhaps fire taking a similar role as the darkness in Manus' design. Eventually the growing wood may have begun to overtake her shrinking bug portion, resulting in her final form as the Bed of Chaos). Manus, too, began to change after losing control of his humanity, but what that means is anyone guess. Did he possess the Dark Soul? Did he simply possess humanity far stronger than normal? Or did his humanity become so powerful after his torture and loss of his pendent led to rampant violent emotions strengthening and distorting his humanity far past normal limits? Regardless, the end result was corruption. This has been overly rambly, but what I'm trying to say is that there are similar ideas presented. Two sides of the same coin, the loss of control and corruption of fire, while the other is the loss of control and corruption of dark. Neither one inherently evil in nature, but being distorted beyond recognition after rampant growth. Both with a strong wooden element of their design, one far older and far more prominent, while the other is far younger and less pronounced. Either way, I'm no expert in Dark Souls lore, I just had a thought while I was playing and decided to think about it a bit.
I've been binge watching your videos and despite playing this over a decade, you not only reignited my love for this game but showed me so much profound knowledge. Thank you for pouring your passion to make these videos for us
I think it’s fairly clear that certain parts of the omen and dung eater designs are inspired by manus. The protrusions on dung eater’s armor are very reminiscent of the bone like protrusions on manus’s larger left hand. Also the long and chaotic wooden like horns protruding from manus are similar to the ones that protrude from the omen enemies as well as other omen characters like Morgott and Mogh.
Usually I think it is sad and stupid if a game doesn't tell you their story whilst playing it. But with the Dark Souls games, Bloodborne and even Elden Ring (I haven't played yet) it is interesting, how deep and detailed their lore is. It is kind of a cult, religion, how the community discusses and shares uncovered details about all the characters and locations.
This OST is gold. It keeps coming back in my mind and I asked myself where I heard it. Then I remembered it was from your vid Zullie. Thanks for your awesome video's.
The “palm” of Manus’ hand reminds me of that second head/mouth thing on Ludwig in Bloodborne. Very cool to see the design consistencies between the different characters in the series!
Beastial is goddamn right, i swear i thought i was fighting Rajang the first time i faced him and facing a goddamn rajang in an enclosed space is just scary
Oh god you just gave me a flashback to the Monkey Madness quest in MHW where you have to fight two Furious Rajangs in the arena. I still have nightmares of getting left behind with one of the big freaking monkeys because my teammates thought it would be funny to pull the big lever in the middle.
While looking at models with different lighting or angles is interesting by itself, what keeps me coming back is the fact that I absolutely love your insights into their designs and other things that might not be obvious or accessible to everyone. Not to mention the superb choices of music lol
That abyss dlc is one of the best things that happened to dark souls trilogy, story is super cool, location is awesome, boss design is absolutely fantastic ... shame DSR was such a flop, I would really like to see this part of the game brought up to modern level, there were many cool things in later games, but nothing this awesome ..
Hopefully the Demon's Souls remake's reception makes FROM reconsider and give us a "real" remake of DS1, instead of "DSFix but with more bloom and also it costs money this time"...
@@GameDevYal Demon's Souls remake wasn't worth. If it had included the 6th archstone, kept the music and voices intact, not added preorder bonuses and not changed npc/enemy models then yeah it would've been good.
Well, he definitely seems to have been giving some inspiration to some creatures in Dark Souls III. The swirling blackness around his left arm appears to be similar to what you'd see on The Pus of Man And his hand resembles the Monstrosity of Sin with its chubby wide fingers and toothlike protrusions on the inside of his hand. Also, the way that his ribs have seemingly split along his back and grown outwards along with growing black fur and a tail on his body reminds me a lot of The Beasts of Pontiff Sulyvahn
When you noted the disproportionate left arm, I immediately saw the Demon of Hatred. That boss is a great example of your points about From’s art direction
I loved the theory that Manus was the furtive pygmy, really made more sense for the lore of the game but alas, just another great theory lost to the ages.
It is crazy just how much of Fromsoftwares Design for Dark Souls and Bloodborne came from Manus being the most emblematic piece of the chess board. We see the Hand as a symbol many many times, even the ones with teeth became separate enemies. Same with the Wood that Zulie mentions There is something tranquil and weird about how Humanity came from the dark, deep down in the void of blackness surrounded by roots, so every beast that turns into this bestial form of Humanities core becomes black as a void and littered with roots because that's what they all were, a chaotic nothing of darkness at the root of the great trees before the Age of Fire occurred and gave it form.
I love you Zullie. Holy shit. All your videos are so interesting and as programmer it's useful as well to understand how they make things at least superficially to inspire me to do my job.
My favorite boss in all the Soulsborne series. Even after all this years playing DS, I still feel a rush of adrenaline and a deep sense of dread when I enter the Abyss and get closer to his boss room, diving into this disturbing silence and total darkness. He's definitely intimidating and his lore is fascinating, even if there's not that much. Thanks for honoring this character with this video, you're definitely carrying our community in the best way possible ;-)
You recently asked on Twitter which was our favourite video of yours, and I couldn't decide until this one came out. It's so fascinating being able to take a close look at him and appreciate the artistic influence he's had on Fromsoftware
Also I LOVE LOVE LOVE how your music choices are so spot on for the video, you've got good taste and you reminded me how good the music in Twilight Princess was!
I wish ds1 got another dlc, would have been dope to see what design we would have gotten before the rest of From unfolded their artistic genius in bb and sekiro
New Londo was a city inside a cave, with a big hole where light shone through, where the people at some point worshipped the gods and that ended up tainted by the Abyss.
@David Assébof In DS1, Anor Londo was the whole city of the gods, not just the cathedral/manor we fight O&S in. In DS3, Anor Londo is only the original cathedral. Either the city we saw in the background of DS1 was lost/destroyed and rebuilt as Irithyll, or it was just renamed to fit with Gwyndolin's rule. And while it's no longer the city of the gods, since the race of Gwyn is mostly extinct or very scattered, it's very explicitly a city for humans descended from them. So yeah, it's a bit weird, but it isn't completely wrong. Lotrhic seems to be in a way the new Anor Londo, being a kingdom with a lot of influence and ties to Gwyn's children, with sun worship, and carrying on the linking of the flame. It's also a city on top of a mountain, altho that might not have been always the case.
@David Assébof Anor Londo was the CITY of the Gods, not just the stairs to the cathedral. Geographically, the beginning of Irithyll would be below where you would start the Duke's Archives.
And you had to show us that the dark hand of Manus (which very closely resembles how Hand in Spanish is MANO) is pretty much the Hand Monster from DS3.
I think that the ultimate tragedy is that killing manus accomplished nothing. Dusk still turns hallow, The knights of gwyn split apart, oolacile becomes consumed by the abyss, manus will continue to suffer as he splits into his daughters. Its like the abyss is the open wound of the world that can never heal.
For me personally, I think Manus is the most terrifying and intimidating boss in all the Souls series especially considering where you fight him. It's crazy to considering how strong he must have been to defeat Artorias at full strength, and I often wondered if Artorias actually weakened Manus to a degree kinda like how Oscar weakened the Asylum Demon so we could defeat it. 🤔
@@Goodbutevilgenius I mean isn't that basically the general consensus of what happened to him? He attempts to kill Manus, arm gets broken and gets a big dose of darkness, then since pup Sif couldn't have possibly survived in the midst of such darkness on his own without a blessing/ward, so Artorias no longer able to bear the weight of his greatshield he protected Sif by leaving shield behind to expel the darkness from Sif, thus for Artorias he couldn't properly dispell the darkness or heal from it so his fate was sealed.. So gravely wounded by the dark, without his shield, and in shame he hid himself away to await the end of the world or be slain unknowingly by the Chosen Undead? Unless new lore has been discovered that's just what I always believed how things played out. Makes me wonder if Artorias swallowed his pride and sought help after the Manus battle if a cleric could have healed him? It appears when you meet Artorias he is somewhat himself initially and the darkness causes him to rage and go berserk, which is why he slays the bighead bro thing and just kinda stares at you for a moment.. Makes you wonder
@@joshrakestraw3319 Why would you think that Artorias and Sif have battled Manus if Sif, who hasn't moved since Artorias placed his shield, isn't even close to the boss arena?
@@Goodbutevilgenius The true reason Artorias may have left the chasm of the abyss was to warn the others that he failed, and therefore that the spread of darkness has not been stopped. I honestly have no idea why he left Sif behind unless Sif to was injured and unable to leave with him at that time, which if Artorias had a broken arm he could only carry his sword and would have needed it to possibly fight his way out of the chasm and possibly come back for Sif or even hope Ciaran would come back to fetch Sif for she was probably strong enough to do atleast that. Artorias had to find a good middle ground after the battle; he couldn't carry his shield no longer but still needed his sword to fight his way out to atleast forfill a duty to carry on the torch to someone else to defeat Manus so he decided to leave it with Sif to erect a ward around Sif in the hopes one of his comrades or successor would come to save Sif AND possibly slay Manus. The thing none of them were expecting was the appearance of The Chosen Undead, who YOU were the one that ultimately freed Sif which explains why Sif was so terribly sad when you appear to get the ring to walk the abyss. You carried out the very thing that Artorias was hoping for.. You saved Sif AND slayed Manus, additionally you were able to achieve other things like putting Sir Artorias to rest before he was completely consumed by darkness and lost himself. Heck you even slayed Kalameet to top it off! I cannot completely answer your question but I appreciate someone questioning the popular narrative because it is Dark Souls after all, and I believe some interpretation is left up the player 🙃
But seriously there's no way the small fry could have wounded Artorias like that so it must have been Manus. It would be the equivalent of one of those small blue valley Drakes gravely wounding DragonSlayer Ornstein which makes no sense.. Manus is in the list ot hardest soulsborne bosses so it's safe to say Manus wrecked Sir Artorias, and possibly when Manus was stronger than when we fight him. I have no idea how much time has passed after you find Artorias and fight Manus.. I also believe The Chosen Undead fights a weaker Artorias and him being corrupted by the dark doesn't make him stronger but only more violent and animalistic. Artorias would have been much more difficult in his prime when he could two hand his sword and use his magic shield. We fight a shadow of him but the darkness makes him extremely violent and unpredictable. This is also the reason I believe Manus was "weakened" and gave us that chance we needed to defeat him
As somebody who plays Ninja Gaiden, I think one thing that's very important from an art direction standpoint in really nailing these amazing characters is how they are animated and brought to life. To me, that's one of the greatest things about Manus, not only does he look amazing and is clearly a ground breaking, lore heavy and thematic design, but he's also animated to fill the part. The way he moves, growls, and was probably the most aggressively animated monster in dark souls until Bloodborne really does bring to to life and make believable his backstory and his all important role as the father of the abyss. One thing that I cannot stand in video games is when there is great art direction, but the animation and aggressiveness doesn't do the design justice, and Fromsoftware never has that issue. It's something that, as a fan of many action games, I can appreciate quite alot.
Such a cool character design and lore surrounding Manus...though the theory has faded a lot in DS3, I still want to believe Manus was the pygmy. Tbh, it's a wonder why they didn't make Manus the pygmy. The Ringed City was a cool lore by itself, but removed some obvious but still mysterious feeling Manus had.
Yeah I never understood this either. If Manus was the OG pygmy then a lot of puzzle pieces would have fit into place, but then we were left to believe he was just some nameless hollow whereas the actual pygmy kings in the ringed city were the ones that discovered and secured it, with no connection to Oolacille, Manus, or his offspring. This simply retconned the entirety of what we were led to believe and left us with a crap ton of questions. Was he the pygmy's son? Relative? Or just some random dude who marinated in the abyss like some dehydrated piece of beef jerky left in a sewage pipe? Why exactly is he so powerful that he was able to corrupt a super advanced civilization like Oolacile? Everything points to him being THE Pygmy and original inheritor of the Dark Soul, especially considering how he was the last boss to be added via DLC, and they went the whole game without even mentioning what a Dark Soul is. I wonder why they didn't lean into that idea as much as they should've in the sequels. Sure you can see bits and pieces of his design in a whole bunch of enemies in DS3, but despite being such an integral part of the game there is literally no direct reference to him the same way you see some of the Gods and other characters explicitly plastered around the game. Even in Farron Keep (i.e. what remains of Oolacille, or Darkroot) there is no direct callback to him other than in the Ghrus, despite him being so integral to the development of that location. He's basically the reason why Farron Keep is the awful death pit it is today. It's kind of a shame that history has long forgotten him despite his corruption being what caused the Abyss/Deep to run so rampant in Lothric, indirectly or directly influencing the majority of the game. (And all of the enemies we see corrupted by their humanity)
Maybe the 2 top examples so far are Ludwig and Laurence. Ludwig managed to be reminded of his humanity only because he had the Moonlight Sword. Laurence on the other hand, seems to be suffering and is desperate to get his humanity back, lashing out in pure emotion and instinct.
It's probably not that strong a coincidence, but the teeth on Manus's monstrous hand definitely make me think of the Dung Eater's Omen armor set, and how the protrusions (to me, at least) look more like teeth than actual horns as described in the text. Between that and the idea that humanity is so fragile that it probably takes a push before the beast takes over, it's only fitting that Manus's hand and the Omen armor share such a similarity when the Dung Eater, who has "The heart of an omen without the body to match", is such a monster internally, and externally with the armor.
"The state of being a sane, rational human being is depicted as fragile, with an ever present threat of animalistic regression."
Hour long Zullie video essay when
*grabby hands* yes gimme! (if that's what Zullie wants to do that is☺️)
When she's done shaving all Elden Ring characters
I have loved the essays that the sekisoulsbourne community has thrown out and thus i would be overjoyed to see one from her
@@spiderbug7615 wat
@@newhistorian6319 Please don’t call it sekissoulsborne
Manus managed to get it in his contract that he's allowed to come back at least every other game (discounting Deracine), so he was in Dark Souls, skipped Dark Souls II, came back as Cleric Beast in Bloodborne, sat Dark Souls III out, and then returned as Demon of Hatred in Sekiro. We'll have to see if they finally let him do two games in a row in Elden Ring.
Well technically you could say Nashandra and the other Queens being born from him can count as his DS2 inclusion.
His hand design made it in DS3 in a form of monstrocities of sin
@@RamAurelius and his hands got bodys in DS3
@@Amandor2011 His lopsidedness is also present in Iudex Gundry and the other Pus of Men.
Manus hand is very similar to those weird thigs from the profaned capital in DS3, so if you want to count that
I've always loved how Manus kind of shows us the horror of being corrupted but still remembering being human, I think you mentioned it in your irythill giant dog video, but a lot of the horror inherent to dark souls isn't how the abyss and similar things warp, corrupt and destroy humanity, it's that the victims of this corruption remain human enough to remember humanity and to continue suffering. Kind of an "I have no mouth and yet I must scream" situation.
Or "All Tomorrows", boy is it exactly what you described.
That's honestly why Ludwig bothers me so much. Aside from being markedly more hideous than other blood-corrupted beings, phase 2 brings the horrifying revelation that yes, he is still sentient and fully aware of everything, and THAT is what gets me. Nothing that looks like that should be burdened with self-awareness
more like a "I have too many mouths and can't stop screaming" situation most of the time but it is still very well done
@@twilight_phantom2969 and that made him even more of a "early Bloodborne Boss/character/theme in the Souls games" and it's pretty interesting, isn't? Haha
There is nothing human about him whatsoever, he looks more like a dinosaur than a human.
It's sort of crazy how Manus both influenced Dark Souls, but even more influenced Bloodborne; But something even more crazy is how all the primordial beasts of the abyss seem to be made of WOOD, just like the great old one from Demon's souls. Fog and Trees, it all rotates back to these concepts.
A little unrelated but also the wooden aesthetic of the divine dragon in sekiro
@@ivanlagayacrus1891
And even Demon of Hatred, not only for his larger left hand and being a beastial ex human, but lets not forget that the sculptor made angry WOODEN buddhas that he burns in his bossfight
@@user-ut4tk4ph5z also very true idk how I missed that
it's a japanese thing
How about the witchtrees in the Dark Chasms of Old?
When I first fought Manus, his arena was so dark I thought he was absolutely huge. I just assumed you had to stay in the light while he maneouvred around the dark edges and you had to damage him when he overextended into the light. Choosing for his arena to be dark was a perfect choice because it let me just believe I was fighting a gigantic swirling blob of dark that would occassionally thrust a random arm or horn into the light in the centre to try and fight me.
That's a really cool idea! I would love to see a boss fight designed like that.
Manus was one of my most intimidating bosses for this reason. Half the struggle was just getting an idea of his size and shape. It’s strange, it feels like it shouldn’t matter, but once I figured out what he looked like, then the fight became so much more manageable.
Darkness Mimic
That is an adorable but fun restriction to impose on yourself.
@@TheNickofTime My guess would be bc fear makes you play more distant from manus and he absolutely punishes that with his moves
I feel like a lot of Manus' design elements served as the foundation for what eventually became the Pus of Man in DS3. The way his limbs are almost...liquid...and the way he swipes them around with those mangled claws. Plus, they both represent humanity that has completely given into their dark soul.
But Manus will always be my boy for being the first, and only, muscle wizard in the series. The fact his catalyst was as strong as a mid tier great axe in terms of melee damage, combined with the fact it made your sorceries scale off of your strength was the coolest thing ever.
I don't think the sorceries scale off of strength, only the physical attacks with the staff.
Dark magic has physical damage that scales with the physical damage of the catalyst. Regular sorcery doesn't
Not only Pus of Man, but also the Monstrosity of Sin (dropping metal band names like it's no one's business). I totally forgot Manu's left hand had this molar like growths, wich maybe makes the Monstrosity of Sin some sort of little baby offspring of THAT
I dunno about being the first or only. I think the demon firesage and stray demon could certainly fit the archetype of mages with physicality. Then, you should reconsider Darklurker's biceps, for another, later, muscle wizard.
@@NightmareBlade10 In DS1, because dark damage didn't exist as a damage type, hexes instead scaled off of the sorcery catalyst's physical damage and magic damage combined, and thus the physical scaling as well.
I.e. the Manus Catalyst is so effective with hexes/dark magic because it has S scaling in both Intelligence and Strength, giving it high magic and physical damage.
Typo edit: I originally put "Dexterity" instead of "Intelligence"
The way Manus moves in his boss fight always felt to me like a mix of human and monkey/ape - he'll walk around leaning on his staff like an old man, then leap about acrobatically and use his arm like a tail. It ties in perfectly with his narrative role as the manifestation of dark corrupted by light. Easily the best boss in ds1 imo.
You forgot his (and Artorias') the most unique thing... He can taunt (roar or scream idk) at you
It’s sad knowing he was kept in that bonfire cell and repeatedly beaten/killed and went over the edge when they took the pendant from him
@@MrHydra12 Where did all this lore about Manus come from?
@@weetbix4497 The broken pendant, if I recall properly.
@@weetbix4497 there’s also clues in the dark sorceries descriptions and some of the abyss corrupted items as well
My favourite part of his design is actually the way he’s obscured in the fight. The huge bony crest covered in eyes makes him look a lot larger than he really is when in the dark of his arena. It reminds me a lot of the way certain butterflies and moths have eye-like patterns on their wings to dissuade predators.
This illusion hides the fact that Manus himself is actually relatively diminutive and scraggly (compared to other Dark Souls monsters anyway).
Nice idea with the moths eyes thing, cool observation.
artorias can outbench manus fosho
@@jooot_6850 I think the broken arm implies he didn't lol
@@ashikjaman1940 naaa, one arm benchpress
I mean he was the furtive pigmey, kinda makes sense for him to be "small" compared to other monstrosities
Manus has always stood out to me for the fact that his power is derived from loss, not by acquiring any special implement. The broken pendant seems to imply that despite it has no real power, Manus wants it purely for the comfort of nostalgia, to which no one else has any use for anyway (similarly to the starting gift pendant, in fact). If it was returned to him, would he even continue his rampage?
Humanity itself is represented by vacancy and a desire for warm comforts, and Manus' hand is a perfect representation of want. I think the most interesting thing is how he isn't necessarily portrayed as evil, either, but merely as a threat to the marching advancement of Gwyn's civilization. In Gwyn's worldview, there's no room for selfish or banal desires, only sacrifice for the preservation of the flame. Even this theme is carried throughout Miyazaki's later works in much the same way as Manus' design is echoed time and again. It's always neat to see the different perspectives each game takes, though. Somehow, it seems there's always a degree of sympathy for Manus and his spiritual successors.
Well-said analysis.
“Desire for warm comforts”
I’m reminded of that dungeon scene of the King in Berserk talking to Griffith. He mentions that very same desire motivating people and why he was upset that Griffith defiled his daughter. I doubt many remember it though because Griffith tells him right after that the king is lusting after her as well.
Miyazaki is Japanese based and you can never take that away from him.
Funnily enough, Gwyn and his loyalists desires are themselves selfish, not accepting their fate and giving space to the now ascending Human species just because he's afraid all he did would be lost.
Except Gywn was unbelievably selfish and banal himself. He sacrificed everything, both others and himself to prevent the end of the Age of Fire, of which he was the biggest most powerful figure, he just didn't want to live in a world where he wasn't top dog.
I never noticed the resemblance to the four kings and his hand compared to those hand monsters from ds3
The weird dinosaurs from dark souls 2 sunken City dlc as well
The ghru's, weird goatmen of farron swamp also have mass of wooden horns and distorted/missing facial features.
You can see aswell on the darkwraith they have branches and roots sprouting from the cracks in their armour. And the ring city knight weapons have wooden protrusions that look like horns
The game hints that they are of chaos, abyss, or both
The "calcified humanity" (idk what to call them but it's clear the design is used for rampant, corrupted humanity) reminds me a lot of the Pus of Man (and of course the stuff on his arm is almost surely the same thing). Seems to track that going nuts with humanity/abyss/whatever turns you into a seedbed for corruption.
@@missbelled6700 what area do you find them in? I'm not sure which you are talking about.
@@MrHeorhe I think the pus of man enemies are the enemies in DS3 which start out normal and then explode into the big corrupted monsters, like the first boss, Iudex and some enemies on the high wall
IMO, the most terrifying monsters aren’t the ones who were once human, rather the ones who recall being human and are horrified at what they’ve become.
@@bastek9633 just imagine.. being some random shrine maid and being transformed into something so inhuman, so alien, so that it doesn't even have eyes or hands.. Gives me the willies, it does
Perhaps that's why Hollowing is so nightmarishly terrifying.
Oh, who I am kidding? That is _exactly_ why Hollowing is so abhorrently scary.
Ludwig
@@wakohouse Damnet, that's exactly who I was going to reference! I'm a month too late /sigh
@@jooot_6850 What were y'all talking about if you recall?
Manus definitely became a cornerstone of the Dark Souls world when he was introduced. The fact that the Queens of DS2 were probably born of those rampant human emotions within Manus really shows just how important he is to the overall narrative.
if the events of DKSII were relevant at all, which they arent, the few things that DKSIII introduced didnt speak that much of anything that happened in the game, changing location names and all that, its almost decanonized compared to how much DKSIII continues everything from DKSI
I mean he also (allegedly) used to be the furtive pygmy so there is that as well. Litteraly the father of humans
@@magnolia549 wtf, if you are refering to the first npc that talks to you in the ringed city i dont see how its impliyed or how it has anysense that a random pigmy lord that talks to you about gods = bad its the furtive pigmy
ringed city still has a lot of sense with manus story at least in my opinion, there is almost nothing of official canon, if not explicitly stated its up for interpretation, miyazaki said it in an interview
The 4 daughters (plus son if you count the Darklurker) are all pieces of Manus.
Nashandra is his Want
Elena is his Rage
Nadalia his Loneliness
And Alsanna, his fears
The Darklurker is thought to be Manus' lingering Humanity, seeking more servents of the dark to add into itself to feel whole again
@@Necrotaku999 DS3 came off as very fan service-y to me, especially in regards to how it tried to overtly reference what was the most popular game in the series at the time. DS2 imo at least felt like it was trying to tell a self contained story that paid reference to what came before it, but in a way that would make sense in the context of potentially thousands of years passing in-between games. You're free to feel that it makes DS2 "not important", but I still appreciate the storytelling the game did.
Manus basically returned to Monke but the Monke rejected him so he’s turned into that abomination
Return to plant
@@greenhowie return to archtree
And later monke fascinates being abomination he becomes like him but on fire instead
Interesting observation given who the Demon of Hatred in Sekiro is
It's fascinating to see that it's Manus's left arm that's completely transformed, as historically the left hand has been associated with uncleanness and the devil. I assume there's a connection between the superstitious beliefs in things like the left hand path (the road to ruination being found literally to God's left side) and the fact Manus literally consumes humanity with his massive left hand mouth thing, and in turn is corrupted further
I am violently racist
@@ryanrigley2558 huh? Why did you say that?
@@ryanrigley2558 i am violently violent toward racists
@@Fuck_handles i am violently racist
I'm literally a lefty, I feel like I have been atacked
Fromsofts art design is just second to none in general, its half the reason I play these games.
Other half is the tight combat and lore which makes you respect the characters and the world.
@@AmritZoad for me it's the sword combat. Somehow I always has any idea as to how sword (and shield) combat should feel in a game. I heard about dark souls and at that time got DS3 which just releaaed. After playing I was like that's what I have always wanted and (the medieval aesthetic were perfect.) But soon got turned off by the difficulty. Years later I played DSR and finally beat it then DS3. The different sword attack animations and feel of the combat was what made me love it.
I never really thought about the links between Bloodborne's themes of turning into beasts but it's obvious now you mention it. Also really cool how Manus is now part of From's artstyle, which is interesting as I often find Manus isn't talked about as much compared to lot of other Souls bosses. It's like he's more subtle despite his appearance being the opposite of subtle.
Her kind of lurks in the background, little reminders popping up every now and then, like some sort of ancient ancestor, a figure from our past that walked the same path long, long ago.
Funny, that.
The Smiling Chester is also likely an inspiration or even got yanked from the realm of bloodborne
I dunno, manus is a very hard boss fight, i finished that game many times already, and sometimes i just skip manus lmao. Even tho his lore is cool, and he is a cool boss. To defeat him the "easy way" you need the pendant, maybe summon sif, and have a non-elemental weapon/build. The hard way is just going in, so you have to dodge de dark orb barrages very precisely, manus is full agro, so he rarely lets you heal, and he is resistant to elements, i remember having zweihander lightning and hitting for like 150-200 dmg. Manus has like 6300+HP. So its kind of a grind. However, whenever i do bother to go down there, i can expect to have a great time.
It makes sense when you think about it. This was the last thing Miyazaki worked on before starting bloodborne
@@hw_yozoraVODS ngl nowadays I think using the pendant makes the fight harder. His magic has safe zones you can stand in. Panic-switching to the pendant when he does stuff is just getting me killed.
I always thought that perhaps Manus still retains a good amount of emotional intelligence in him, to the point where, possibly, if the player and he met under different circumstances, he'd be a bit calm. I feel like Manus is scared, confused, and violently angry at his current state, and the wild Humanity just made him unable to properly... contain his emotions, I suppose.
I feel like Dusk either was close to him before he died, or Dusk reminds him of someone he loved, which is why he stole her away. The Broken Pendant could also have been something that belonged to Dusk, or the woman she reminds Manus of.
If anything, I feel bad for Manus, poor guy seems to be unintentionally spreading the Abyss, and just wants to be left alone and die quietly.
True, humanity and darkness have long been tied to emotions.. and considering how the Oolicilians (probably) tortured the poor guy to try and unlock the secrets of said dark magicks.. It's no wonder why he went berserk and started thrashing about like an animal, literally spewing out his emotions in the form of heavy hearted dark orbs
Dusk is a thot and Manus is her trailer park daddy
i like to think that the teeth under his palm are actually bits of the wall of the cell he broke through.
Manus’s arm might be inspired by a “Monkeys paw” which is basically a sort of “be careful with what you wish for” thing, as the residents of oolacile drove manus insane by leeching off of his dark power for their own gain. Oh, and monkeys are the closest animal related to humans
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Also Manus basically means "hand" in Latin. Absolutely genius design.
the only thing keeping Manus sane was his amulet, ooacile captives broke it and the rest y'know...
@David Assébof huh, the more you know
@David Assébof I mean, genetically, yeah, anthropologically speaking not so much. Apes and humans obviously are evolutionarily close as their common ancestry makes clear.
Not need to be a dick just because the guy was scientifically abstract in what he meant. We all know what he meant, and he’s not wrong. The use of ape-like phenotypes and behaviors to symbolise mental and moral degeneration of humans is a common theme in Fromsoft games and can be found in various enemies that aren’t downright apes themselves.
A big part of his design as well through environments also contributes to him. In the middle of his arena is a little human-shaped imprint in the rock that- I would assume- was his resting place before the Oolacilians discovered him and dragged him up. Also- less noticed by most people- you access the abyss by passing through a small dungeon corridor where the bonfire is. If you notice the environment there's a cell that's been broken out of with the blue-black abyssal sludge leading toward the far end of the hall where the wall's been broken out. So it would seem Manus was held hostage in the cell in question where he went mad, presumably transformed (at least partially), and broke free and fled back into the abyss.
Manus, father of the abyss, once the furtive pygmy and the father of mankind, slept in his abyss away from the power of the gods and their kin. The Oolacilians found him and proceeded to imprison and torture him to learn his Dark sorceries. They couldn't leave well enough alone and prodded the being that's the very reason for them being a part of the world and turned him into a beast. Tragic.
Who knows- maybe the very reason the Abyss corrupts is because of his turning. Maybe there wasn't even an Abyss until he was tortured and his suffering corrupted the Dark Soul and birthed the Abyss as an unnatural byproduct of its power?
Either way, Manus is a tragic boss and I believe his downfall is the sole reason for the abyssal corruption we witness in the games. Damn the Oolacilians.
Considering The Ringe City DLC the theory of manus being the furtive pigmy don't make sense instead seems like he's one of the pigmy lords who could left the ringed city when Oolacile sent a mission to the ringed city as you can read in the clothes of Halflight spear of the church and his bow
@@dreadknight0 Exactly. Maebae theories about manus beeing the furtive pigmy have been disproven times and times since DS3, but some guys tend to ignore them to stick to their own headcannon. It's a bit sad.🤷
@@MidnightatMidian Is like that theory about midir arena's being where the first flame originated only because it looks similar to the cinematic when it don't have any sense
@@dreadknight0 The Pygmy we meet on first arriving, as well as the munched ones have the Abyss swirl on their clothing, used by the Pilgrims of the Dark covenant as their symbol. It is possible then that the Dark Soul was indeed found where the Ringed City now resides, the city being built over the top of it.
@@KarmaSpaz12 If you check the cinematic of Dark Souls 1, you can notice that when the narrator talks about , heat and cold , life and death , etc we are passing through the brances of an arch tree, then we pass through the trunk (extremely similar to the great hollow) until we reach to the first flame where the lords find their souls.
Later in dark souls 1 at kiln of the first flame we can notice it is built over the trunk of an arch tree, and that repeats in dark souls 3 when we come back to that place.
Meanwhile the midir arena arguments only have things like "hey that place looks similar" and really vague clues like clothes of a covenant from dark souls 2
The scrolling swirly texture on his arm looks very similar to the Pus of Man enemies from 3. No doubt an intentional design on Froms part.
Also, I feel like Manus is the first place we see the "blown out" design (idk how else to phrase it), of how when you're corrupted shit just starts flying out in all directions, blowing open the fragile human form (a thing that once again happens to the Pus of Man enemies, and probably others I'm not thinking of right now)
I figure it's a Manatee thing, only in 3 Manatee takes in an even goopier form than in 1 because of the Deep or whatever.
I figure Aldritch is made out of condensed Manatee jizz or whatever, having absorbed it out of his victims kinda like Gael but on a larger scale
Manus got his back blown out
You're description of being "blown out" made me think of what popcorn does. That's basically what it is. A human form that explodes outward with corruption. The original corn kernel is still there, but it's cracked and split open. You can see it hiding inside the mass of the popcorn.
Look no further than the boss Vicar Amelia in Bloodborne. She was literally blown apart with blood splattering everywhere when we watch her transform into a corrupted beast.
Pilgrim butterflies are literally pilgrims torn inside-out. It's truly a terrible way to go.
Manus will always be a top tier boss in all souls game, the lore, the attacks, the skills, the zone, the introduction, his death, etc.
Few bosses can top all of that...but not a crossbow being shot behind the fog :w
Not to mention he has one of the best attacks ever. THE TEKKEN STYLE JUGGLING WOMBO COMBO ATTACK
@@datsnaik6886 That attack is the best too, man goes full monke and slams you like a dirty towel
Like Nameless King, Manus is also very satisfying to fight
I feel like Manus is probably the best boss in DS1. I like Orn and Smough, but the fight can get really chaotic and individually they aren't that interesting. Manus is a large list of moves that are individually predictable, but all need to be answered correctly. There's no AI cheese, no range or blindspot to be abused: he can always hit you, but you can always respond. He's even enjoyable with different builds, which is honestly an achievement
@@chazaqiel2319 Manus is the bloodborne of ds1 basically
I realize now that the wooded themes may all be rooted in the arch trees, the only other thing than the archdragons during the age of ancients. from the trees our body, the flame our soul, the moment the flame fades our soul does too and to wood we return.
Ah, the furtive Manus, so hardly forgotten
life reflects art, we've all so easily forgotten the furtive pygmy; even in his grotesque, unforgettable form, we still somehow overlook him
"A recurring piece of From's visual language." Dang, you's a good writer Zullie.
I've always wondered if Manus pulling the player into the DLC was his calulated sorcery or an accidental act of desperation.
The latter. He has some weird obsession with that pendant you get, and when ever he senses it, he reaches across time and space to yank you to him so he can take it.
@@shubniggurath3947 It has to do with who he was before the corruption made him _Manus._ It represents his last shreds of humanity. The only thing stopping him from forgetting himself and going feral. His final lifeline, so desperate he will cling to it across time itself.
I wonder why he pulled Chester in
@@ashikjaman1940 Probably because Chester got the pendant in a different timeline
That portruding, pronounced ribcage is also heavily present in beasts of Bloodborne. I always assumed it was connected to Moon Presence, as it also shared that trait (even more extremely, almost Gaping Dragon-like) and was very closely connected to the Scourge (likely the source of the Old Blood). I didn't realize it traced back to Manus. Artorias DLC was really something, huh.
I think a lot of fundementals for Bloodborne was laid in the Artorias DLC.
One thing that leaps to mind is the first time I fought Artorias. I might have tried and failed 20 times, but then I started fighting him as I would any Bloodborne boss instead of the usual Dark Souls way, and suddenly the fight was a breeze. I mean, I walked right over him.
also that pilgrim butterflies(?) in DragonSlayer's Armor Arena have such ribcage
@@David232x pilgrim butterflies
@@Anarchist_Black_Sheep how do you mean
@@yourehereforthatarentyou
The style of combat.
It's just a hunch mind you.
I have never been able to beat Artorias, while fighting him defensively, like I normally play dark souls. Only when I assume the aggressive style of Bloodborne.
On top of that, there is Chester, who looks like some kind of proto hunter.
Thank you Zullie for being a constant work horse part of the fandom that I never tire of. Keep up the good work, and I wish you the best. Thanks again
The evil queens in Dark Souls 2 were born from his fragments. His left hand resembles the ugly hand monsters of Profaned Capital. And Soul of Cinder's combo attack throws your player the same way as his. The influence of Manus has remained in Fromsoft games ever since he was introduced, and rightfully so.
Hey, not all of the queens were evil! I will not accept any Alsanna slander.
Soul of Cinder's combo is Gwyn's
@@countersniped5329 tbh she WAS evil, until she got closer to the Chad Ivory King
Soul of Cinder uses Gwyns combo, Gael however does do Manus combo in phase 1
@@aquasomnus fr Ivory King is awesome:
He's a super powerful mercenary that retires, wandered around the world until he settle down and created a giant city
While the other lords are manipulated by the queens, Ivory is the only one who is not
He genuinely loved Alsanna, a being made of pure darkness whose sole reason is to bring ruin to the world, and prevented her from destroying the city without fighting
And finally, he places his throne RIGHT ON TOP OF THE CHAOS PORTAL so he will be the first thing those demons will have to face after they came out
What a gigachad holy shit
No Zullie, the worst part is when he sticks his Abyss in your Catacombs.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
you mean, when he put his estus flask in your man cavern ?
It generally only happens when your left arm is broke as hell for some reason.
@@Jopeymessmusic But then you have to give your weird ass shield to your puppy.
Based PoG reference.
I always thought it was interesting how the Cleric Beast looks so much like him. It's like Bloodborne is saying, "Hey remember that super tough, terrifying boss from Dark Souls? In this game he's just the tutorial"
Bloodborne is easier though
As soon as the music kicked in I said out loud, in an empty room, "is that fucking king's field music?"
God I love From.
“Big arm monster” is such a good design I’m so happy it became a bit of a fromsoft staple
The fact that the end of that swirling arm mass still has 5 human-like fingers is so disturbing
Unrelated comment: Zullie is such a valuable member of the souls fandom. Thank you for these closeup videos :D
Souls fans: we like the abyss daddy
Fromsoft: more abyss daddy comin’ your way
I'd argue that Manus is THE most important character in the Souls series, followed by Gwyn, and then Slave Knight Gael, and Aldia landing a nice 4th place. The lore implications of his appearance alone are staggering, and the effects of his existence put so much weight to Gwyn's fears that it justifies an enormous deal of the shit he pulled. The fact we never meet Gwyn pre-hollowing is what makes his actions so questionable. Was he truly an asshole, or what he just THAT desperate to prevent literally everything becoming like Manus? Is he stubbornly refusing to like nature take its course for mankind, or performing the ultimate noble sacrifice and suffering forever to keep back the dark, and prevent his people and legacy from becoming like that *THING*?
All these questions and guesses, made possible solely by the lone appearance of Manus. THAT is why he is the most important character of all.
We humans defy our nature like its destiny i dont blame gwyn
I was talking more about the infinite darkness, tentacles, and loss of identity and sanity but okay go off.
Hold on, Oolacile and the Artorias DLC happen chronologically AFTER Gwyn has linked the First Flame. Manus’s abhorrent transformation was due to him being a ‘Primeval Man’ (a-la, Pre-Fire Linking brought mortality to mankind), who’s powerful Dark Soul reacted far more violently to being shackled by the Flame than any living man (who had only known the existence of Light). His form is a direct consequence of Gwyn’s actions, just like the Pus and Deep in Dark Souls 3. Shackled for too long, Dark flares and becomes feral in opposition to it’s tranquil nature.
Only by being subjugated by Gwyn, thwarting the natural order, has the horror of the Abyss been unleashed. His paranoia directly caused the thing he most feared, that’s one of the themes of the series
Zullie, this is your best video to date, they just keep getting better. The nuance with which you illuminate FromSoft's exquisite craftsmanship, and that beautiful reveal at the end to further highlight this fact, absolutely brilliant stuff.
i was just talking yesterday about how the fragments of manus in ds2 inherit certain aspects of his design. nashandra's scythe resembles the horns on his head. the wrathful axe has a wooden look like his horns and catalyst. the ashen idols in brume tower have extended arms, similar to the corrupted townsfolk of oolacile, and nadalia's soul can be used to create a dark pyromancy like those found in the chasm of the abyss.
@David Assébof come now, Manus' daughters are in ds2 and that wasn't any fan-related connection, Nashandra and the rest of them are fragments of Manus' emotions made manifest. Just like how his grief/rage/madness was manifested into his corrupted form, presumably after he lost his pendant
It's sad that every time I fought him i had never thought of how much of a great design Manus has; instead i only focused on how to beat him which i did, after gruelling numerous attempts.
He's even harder than Nameless King and Gael in my opinion. I just can't seem to do a reasonable amount of damage to him and his grab attack gets me every single time no matter how much I backstep. I wish they gave a little bit more of a wind up on that move and I think he'd be a lot more enjoyable.
@@NightmareBlade10 nameless is harder, manus has a lot of puzzle elements that once you figure out he becomes easier. Like using the silver pendant to reflect his abyss magic makes his spellcasting a joke.
As long as you have max upgraded armour and weapons manus is manageable and you can punish almost all of his attacks with any weapon.
I had to switch off a slow weapon to beat nameless. Not because I was messing up but because the huge weapons are just too slow and you cant risk trading blows in that fight. so there are only 2-4 safe attacks you can punish with an ultra greatsword. And I say 2-4 because him casting spells is easy to punish but his dashes can put him too far away to punish.
@@NightmareBlade10 if the grab attack hits you every time you are getting greedy and trying to hit him after he has already recovered from his previous attack. Just hitting him while he recovers, and making space before he can start his next attack will slow down the fight a lot but you wont be in range for his grab and he will likely never use it.
@@MrHeorhe I mean I beat Nameless King without ever upgrading my armor and having only a semi decent weapon. Nameless King's moveset is just a lot more consistent and relatively fair. It feels more like a proper duel than an actual bossfight with bullet hell elements like Manus'. I definitely appreciate the tips though. I had to give up a bit because none of my weapons were doing any damage. Too bad there's no respec in this game like there is in DS3 or else I'd change my build completely.
@@MrHeorhe Oh I also forgot you can't upgrade armor in DS3, so maybe that's why Nameless was easier for me too.
I'm so glad you did this, I've been wanting a good close-up look at his design for ages, but don't have the tools or knowledge on how to do it myself
Anyone notice the similarities between Manus' left hand and the hand-beasts in DS3? I've no fuckin clue how they'd connect, but seems like a ridiculously 1 to 1 design.
I mean, both are caused by corruption of the abyss if I remember correctly, so there's that connection.
> I've no fuckin clue how they'd connect
DS2's unused concept or BB's unused asset, same as everything else in DS3
The hand-beasts are widely thought to be, or at least be connected to, the queens from DS2, who were children of Manus--Nashandra, Elana, Nadalia, and Alsanna. So yes, not a coincidence at all.
Eleonora description... “A strange weapon found among malformed inhabitants of the Profaned Capital.
The Profaned Flame was triggered by the curse of these women, relatives of a certain oracle, but despite their culpability, they went on living, without any cares.”
Those malformed inhabitants the hand monsters are Abyssal types that take extra damage from Artorias’ GS. The only oracle mentioned by name is Alsanna in DS2 so they must be related to her which would explain their nature. Since they are said to be malformed my guess is it was the Profaned Flame that corrupted that.
As when you give Andre the Profaned Coal he talks about it being much too dark and that he can see The Abyss in it. As for why the women were cursed the leading theory that makes the most sense is the Profaned Flame was some new entity. Spawned by the Old Chaos being tainted by the Abyss since Alsanna was using her powers to keep it at bay and both the Abyss/Old Chaos appear to have some from of sentience or will.
There’s a lot of evidence to support the ties between DS2/The Profaned Flame/The Profaned Capital. I don’t really feel like naming them all but one of the more striking ones are the pictures of Nashandra and Eleum Loyce within Irithyll.
Same thing with ludwig from bb
Manus reminds me of the Titanite demons that you can find.
One arm holding a staff while the other is on the ground, the legs positions, how they can jump and attack you.
Maybe it's to show how Manus' influence can still be seen in the world, even years after his defeat.
King's Field OSTs are haunting.
They resonate with one's very soul, like echoes of something primordial beyond physical world.
I love how the palm of his big hand resembles the Monstrosities of Sin from DaS3's Profaned Capital.
I love how Manus is juxtaposed so perfectly with Gael, since in his most regressed, hollowed state, Gael reclaimed his sense of humanity from a bestial state. It goes to show a difference between the pygmies, and the humans which descended from their fragment of the lord soul.
I haven't seen this talked about much, but Manus reminds me quite a lot of the Witch of Izalith, even if how they came to be and what they became are different in ways. Obviously, both share wood-like qualities (common in Dark Souls, but still). The Bed of Chaos is made of wood and channels fire through it's wooden tentacle things, while Manus channels the darkness. If Manus' corruption were to continue growing, its possible he might have eventually become a creature quite like the Bed of Chaos, a massive tree-like entity spreading corrupted dark throughout the world, mutating things further into... whatever they become in a quite similar way to how the Bed of Chaos created demons.
The most interesting thing I noticed, however, is that they both came to be from losing control. The Witch of Izalith used her Lord Soul to create the Flame of Chaos, but for whatever reason she was unable to control it, leading to her transformation into the Bed of Chaos (the "heart" is obviously the Chaos Bug, but we don't know if that was always the case or if she grew to the state. If we want to compare her to Quelaag and her sister or Manus as points of comparison, we could theorize her original transformation being a large buglike creature similar to Quelaag, but with wooden growths and perhaps fire taking a similar role as the darkness in Manus' design. Eventually the growing wood may have begun to overtake her shrinking bug portion, resulting in her final form as the Bed of Chaos). Manus, too, began to change after losing control of his humanity, but what that means is anyone guess. Did he possess the Dark Soul? Did he simply possess humanity far stronger than normal? Or did his humanity become so powerful after his torture and loss of his pendent led to rampant violent emotions strengthening and distorting his humanity far past normal limits? Regardless, the end result was corruption.
This has been overly rambly, but what I'm trying to say is that there are similar ideas presented. Two sides of the same coin, the loss of control and corruption of fire, while the other is the loss of control and corruption of dark. Neither one inherently evil in nature, but being distorted beyond recognition after rampant growth. Both with a strong wooden element of their design, one far older and far more prominent, while the other is far younger and less pronounced. Either way, I'm no expert in Dark Souls lore, I just had a thought while I was playing and decided to think about it a bit.
It's the first time I realize that Manus has a long and fluffy tail.
I've been binge watching your videos and despite playing this over a decade, you not only reignited my love for this game but showed me so much profound knowledge. Thank you for pouring your passion to make these videos for us
I think it’s fairly clear that certain parts of the omen and dung eater designs are inspired by manus. The protrusions on dung eater’s armor are very reminiscent of the bone like protrusions on manus’s larger left hand. Also the long and chaotic wooden like horns protruding from manus are similar to the ones that protrude from the omen enemies as well as other omen characters like Morgott and Mogh.
"BEHOLD, A MAN!" Manus meets Plato's definition: A featherless biped, with broad, flat nails.
"Abyssal creatures all over the town. You'll be one of them, soon enough."
manus' big-hand palm looks like cut off omen horns in elden ring. mighty levels of foreshadowing indeed!
I need to play King's Field IV; I can't get over how good that song is.
Usually I think it is sad and stupid if a game doesn't tell you their story whilst playing it.
But with the Dark Souls games, Bloodborne and even Elden Ring (I haven't played yet) it is interesting, how deep and detailed their lore is.
It is kind of a cult, religion, how the community discusses and shares uncovered details about all the characters and locations.
I love these types of videos. And as always. The music fits perfectly.
Imagine being most scariest Design of all bosses then dead sniped from outside your arena
I love the kings field OST you always use! This is a great song.
This OST is gold. It keeps coming back in my mind and I asked myself where I heard it. Then I remembered it was from your vid Zullie. Thanks for your awesome video's.
The “palm” of Manus’ hand reminds me of that second head/mouth thing on Ludwig in Bloodborne. Very cool to see the design consistencies between the different characters in the series!
I'm liking the subtle flex. Zullie is totally capable of turning the lighting up in zones. But in this example, they just relocate the boss.
Beastial is goddamn right, i swear i thought i was fighting Rajang the first time i faced him and facing a goddamn rajang in an enclosed space is just scary
Oh god you just gave me a flashback to the Monkey Madness quest in MHW where you have to fight two Furious Rajangs in the arena. I still have nightmares of getting left behind with one of the big freaking monkeys because my teammates thought it would be funny to pull the big lever in the middle.
While looking at models with different lighting or angles is interesting by itself, what keeps me coming back is the fact that I absolutely love your insights into their designs and other things that might not be obvious or accessible to everyone. Not to mention the superb choices of music lol
That abyss dlc is one of the best things that happened to dark souls trilogy, story is super cool, location is awesome, boss design is absolutely fantastic ... shame DSR was such a flop, I would really like to see this part of the game brought up to modern level, there were many cool things in later games, but nothing this awesome ..
Hopefully the Demon's Souls remake's reception makes FROM reconsider and give us a "real" remake of DS1, instead of "DSFix but with more bloom and also it costs money this time"...
@@GameDevYal Demon's Souls remake wasn't worth. If it had included the 6th archstone, kept the music and voices intact, not added preorder bonuses and not changed npc/enemy models then yeah it would've been good.
the monstrosity of sin, demon of hatred, cleric beast, ludwig, and lawrence, all seem take design inspiration from this guy. pretty insane
Now whenever I hear this song I know Zullie is gonna show the real juicy secrets hidden in the dark.
Plot twist: His broken pendant is in fact the nametag of his dead dog.
Well, he definitely seems to have been giving some inspiration to some creatures in Dark Souls III.
The swirling blackness around his left arm appears to be similar to what you'd see on The Pus of Man
And his hand resembles the Monstrosity of Sin with its chubby wide fingers and toothlike protrusions on the inside of his hand.
Also, the way that his ribs have seemingly split along his back and grown outwards along with growing black fur and a tail on his body reminds me a lot of The Beasts of Pontiff Sulyvahn
When you noted the disproportionate left arm, I immediately saw the Demon of Hatred. That boss is a great example of your points about From’s art direction
Still thinking he's OG Furtive who went out for some cigarettes and a nap after his kids started liking Uncle Gwyn more and his sweet First Sin tats
"and i lost your van halen mixtape..." "GET OUUUUT"
I loved the theory that Manus was the furtive pygmy, really made more sense for the lore of the game but alas, just another great theory lost to the ages.
It is crazy just how much of Fromsoftwares Design for Dark Souls and Bloodborne came from Manus being the most emblematic piece of the chess board.
We see the Hand as a symbol many many times, even the ones with teeth became separate enemies.
Same with the Wood that Zulie mentions
There is something tranquil and weird about how Humanity came from the dark, deep down in the void of blackness surrounded by roots, so every beast that turns into this bestial form of Humanities core becomes black as a void and littered with roots because that's what they all were, a chaotic nothing of darkness at the root of the great trees before the Age of Fire occurred and gave it form.
I love you Zullie. Holy shit. All your videos are so interesting and as programmer it's useful as well to understand how they make things at least superficially to inspire me to do my job.
These clips are always really interesting, but hot damn do you know how to chose a piece of music to add to the atmosphere!
Apparently manus' "humanity went wild" transforming him into this, it seems pretty similar to the pus of man in ds3
My favorite boss in all the Soulsborne series. Even after all this years playing DS, I still feel a rush of adrenaline and a deep sense of dread when I enter the Abyss and get closer to his boss room, diving into this disturbing silence and total darkness. He's definitely intimidating and his lore is fascinating, even if there's not that much.
Thanks for honoring this character with this video, you're definitely carrying our community in the best way possible ;-)
You recently asked on Twitter which was our favourite video of yours, and I couldn't decide until this one came out. It's so fascinating being able to take a close look at him and appreciate the artistic influence he's had on Fromsoftware
Does he have to see a dentist or a manicurist for that hand?
Also I LOVE LOVE LOVE how your music choices are so spot on for the video, you've got good taste and you reminded me how good the music in Twilight Princess was!
I wish ds1 got another dlc, would have been dope to see what design we would have gotten before the rest of From unfolded their artistic genius in bb and sekiro
Rewatching this once more.
The humanity gave way to the cat within.
Manus has wares, if you have Humanities.
His big hand reminds me of the "Monstrosities of Sin" from DS3. If Irithyll was Anor Londo, then what is the parallel to the Profaned Capital?
the big hole in the stone that the sun shines through IS very similar to Things Betwixt
New Londo was a city inside a cave, with a big hole where light shone through, where the people at some point worshipped the gods and that ended up tainted by the Abyss.
@David Assébof im pretty sure irithyll was part of anor londo, just the smaller buildings on the ground around the cathedral
@David Assébof In DS1, Anor Londo was the whole city of the gods, not just the cathedral/manor we fight O&S in. In DS3, Anor Londo is only the original cathedral. Either the city we saw in the background of DS1 was lost/destroyed and rebuilt as Irithyll, or it was just renamed to fit with Gwyndolin's rule.
And while it's no longer the city of the gods, since the race of Gwyn is mostly extinct or very scattered, it's very explicitly a city for humans descended from them.
So yeah, it's a bit weird, but it isn't completely wrong.
Lotrhic seems to be in a way the new Anor Londo, being a kingdom with a lot of influence and ties to Gwyn's children, with sun worship, and carrying on the linking of the flame. It's also a city on top of a mountain, altho that might not have been always the case.
@David Assébof Anor Londo was the CITY of the Gods, not just the stairs to the cathedral. Geographically, the beginning of Irithyll would be below where you would start the Duke's Archives.
Scariest thing in Dark Souls, is when Manus runs straight at you and does that savage combo.
And you had to show us that the dark hand of Manus (which very closely resembles how Hand in Spanish is MANO) is pretty much the Hand Monster from DS3.
That’s because manus is the Latin for hand. Spanish is a Romance language(derived from Latin) so the similarity exists.
I think that the ultimate tragedy is that killing manus accomplished nothing. Dusk still turns hallow, The knights of gwyn split apart, oolacile becomes consumed by the abyss, manus will continue to suffer as he splits into his daughters.
Its like the abyss is the open wound of the world that can never heal.
For me personally, I think Manus is the most terrifying and intimidating boss in all the Souls series especially considering where you fight him. It's crazy to considering how strong he must have been to defeat Artorias at full strength, and I often wondered if Artorias actually weakened Manus to a degree kinda like how Oscar weakened the Asylum Demon so we could defeat it. 🤔
...What makes you think Artorias even got to Manus?
@@Goodbutevilgenius I mean isn't that basically the general consensus of what happened to him? He attempts to kill Manus, arm gets broken and gets a big dose of darkness, then since pup Sif couldn't have possibly survived in the midst of such darkness on his own without a blessing/ward, so Artorias no longer able to bear the weight of his greatshield he protected Sif by leaving shield behind to expel the darkness from Sif, thus for Artorias he couldn't properly dispell the darkness or heal from it so his fate was sealed.. So gravely wounded by the dark, without his shield, and in shame he hid himself away to await the end of the world or be slain unknowingly by the Chosen Undead? Unless new lore has been discovered that's just what I always believed how things played out. Makes me wonder if Artorias swallowed his pride and sought help after the Manus battle if a cleric could have healed him? It appears when you meet Artorias he is somewhat himself initially and the darkness causes him to rage and go berserk, which is why he slays the bighead bro thing and just kinda stares at you for a moment.. Makes you wonder
@@joshrakestraw3319 Why would you think that Artorias and Sif have battled Manus if Sif, who hasn't moved since Artorias placed his shield, isn't even close to the boss arena?
@@Goodbutevilgenius The true reason Artorias may have left the chasm of the abyss was to warn the others that he failed, and therefore that the spread of darkness has not been stopped. I honestly have no idea why he left Sif behind unless Sif to was injured and unable to leave with him at that time, which if Artorias had a broken arm he could only carry his sword and would have needed it to possibly fight his way out of the chasm and possibly come back for Sif or even hope Ciaran would come back to fetch Sif for she was probably strong enough to do atleast that. Artorias had to find a good middle ground after the battle; he couldn't carry his shield no longer but still needed his sword to fight his way out to atleast forfill a duty to carry on the torch to someone else to defeat Manus so he decided to leave it with Sif to erect a ward around Sif in the hopes one of his comrades or successor would come to save Sif AND possibly slay Manus. The thing none of them were expecting was the appearance of The Chosen Undead, who YOU were the one that ultimately freed Sif which explains why Sif was so terribly sad when you appear to get the ring to walk the abyss. You carried out the very thing that Artorias was hoping for.. You saved Sif AND slayed Manus, additionally you were able to achieve other things like putting Sir Artorias to rest before he was completely consumed by darkness and lost himself. Heck you even slayed Kalameet to top it off! I cannot completely answer your question but I appreciate someone questioning the popular narrative because it is Dark Souls after all, and I believe some interpretation is left up the player 🙃
But seriously there's no way the small fry could have wounded Artorias like that so it must have been Manus. It would be the equivalent of one of those small blue valley Drakes gravely wounding DragonSlayer Ornstein which makes no sense.. Manus is in the list ot hardest soulsborne bosses so it's safe to say Manus wrecked Sir Artorias, and possibly when Manus was stronger than when we fight him. I have no idea how much time has passed after you find Artorias and fight Manus.. I also believe The Chosen Undead fights a weaker Artorias and him being corrupted by the dark doesn't make him stronger but only more violent and animalistic. Artorias would have been much more difficult in his prime when he could two hand his sword and use his magic shield. We fight a shadow of him but the darkness makes him extremely violent and unpredictable. This is also the reason I believe Manus was "weakened" and gave us that chance we needed to defeat him
As somebody who plays Ninja Gaiden, I think one thing that's very important from an art direction standpoint in really nailing these amazing characters is how they are animated and brought to life. To me, that's one of the greatest things about Manus, not only does he look amazing and is clearly a ground breaking, lore heavy and thematic design, but he's also animated to fill the part. The way he moves, growls, and was probably the most aggressively animated monster in dark souls until Bloodborne really does bring to to life and make believable his backstory and his all important role as the father of the abyss. One thing that I cannot stand in video games is when there is great art direction, but the animation and aggressiveness doesn't do the design justice, and Fromsoftware never has that issue. It's something that, as a fan of many action games, I can appreciate quite alot.
So why's Dung Eater's armor look like Manus' hand
"Manus's boss room is too dark, so I moved him up to Artorias's arena."
_Ironic..._
Such a cool character design and lore surrounding Manus...though the theory has faded a lot in DS3, I still want to believe Manus was the pygmy.
Tbh, it's a wonder why they didn't make Manus the pygmy. The Ringed City was a cool lore by itself, but removed some obvious but still mysterious feeling Manus had.
Yeah I never understood this either.
If Manus was the OG pygmy then a lot of puzzle pieces would have fit into place, but then we were left to believe he was just some nameless hollow whereas the actual pygmy kings in the ringed city were the ones that discovered and secured it, with no connection to Oolacille, Manus, or his offspring. This simply retconned the entirety of what we were led to believe and left us with a crap ton of questions.
Was he the pygmy's son? Relative? Or just some random dude who marinated in the abyss like some dehydrated piece of beef jerky left in a sewage pipe? Why exactly is he so powerful that he was able to corrupt a super advanced civilization like Oolacile?
Everything points to him being THE Pygmy and original inheritor of the Dark Soul, especially considering how he was the last boss to be added via DLC, and they went the whole game without even mentioning what a Dark Soul is.
I wonder why they didn't lean into that idea as much as they should've in the sequels. Sure you can see bits and pieces of his design in a whole bunch of enemies in DS3, but despite being such an integral part of the game there is literally no direct reference to him the same way you see some of the Gods and other characters explicitly plastered around the game.
Even in Farron Keep (i.e. what remains of Oolacille, or Darkroot) there is no direct callback to him other than in the Ghrus, despite him being so integral to the development of that location. He's basically the reason why Farron Keep is the awful death pit it is today. It's kind of a shame that history has long forgotten him despite his corruption being what caused the Abyss/Deep to run so rampant in Lothric, indirectly or directly influencing the majority of the game. (And all of the enemies we see corrupted by their humanity)
2:11 - Manus palm has the same jagged bone structure as the Dung Eaters armor, someone who also became a twisted monster
It's like poetry
Day 72 of simping for Zullie
Your videos are short and to the point, yet I always learn something and find an interesting perspective out of it
Zullie makes an onlyfans when?
the day dark souls 4 comes out
When your daughter makes one
These are great. It’s a chance to appreciate all the thought that goes into the design for From’s creatures.
"He who makes a beast of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man"
- Samuel Johnson
- Bat Country, Avenged Sevenfold
Maybe the 2 top examples so far are Ludwig and Laurence. Ludwig managed to be reminded of his humanity only because he had the Moonlight Sword. Laurence on the other hand, seems to be suffering and is desperate to get his humanity back, lashing out in pure emotion and instinct.
I never noticed that his hand is actually the "face" of the monstrosity of sin from Dark Souls 3
I think you absolutely right that this is a seminal character design for all of From's products and themes going forward
Your work is fantastic Zullie. Thank you for all you do.
It's probably not that strong a coincidence, but the teeth on Manus's monstrous hand definitely make me think of the Dung Eater's Omen armor set, and how the protrusions (to me, at least) look more like teeth than actual horns as described in the text.
Between that and the idea that humanity is so fragile that it probably takes a push before the beast takes over, it's only fitting that Manus's hand and the Omen armor share such a similarity when the Dung Eater, who has "The heart of an omen without the body to match", is such a monster internally, and externally with the armor.