Imagine a drunk-off-his-ass Gavlan Boss Battle, he could be like a mix between the Smelter Demon and a Bonewheel Skeleton, wheeling around and dealing extreme damage. It could be DLC called Crown of the Drunken King.
"Gavlan wheel, Gavlan deal, Gavlan want soul, many many soul!" Proceeds to give you hundreds of thousands of soul on mostly useless junk. I'd totally attend Gavlan's school of business.
It may already have been pointed out but further proof of an accord between the Rat King and the Gyrm is that they won't attack you at Pharros if you're in the rat covenant.
Lol, Gavlan hasn't hollowed because he is a drunk, he always has reason to sell you stuff to get more beer and as long as he can drink he will never hollow. Even if you do not sell him anything he can just go to a different location and find some more to drink, its not like anyone else is needing all the drinks, they are hollow. :D
***** I never noticed that but i'm pretty sure it is not only estus in there ;) Didn't people hollow when they lose their goal in life? I mean if being drunk is all you want from life it could help you stay human. Anyways, this is only a joke theory, but it has some validity if you start to think about it, i think...
mustekkala what you get out of life isn't what makes you human, your sense of self and the ability to forge your own opinion is what makes you human. that's why there is a duality to Lucatiel, her memories are fading so she is losing her sense of humanity, all while she is actually literally losing her humanity and becoming hollow. if you literally look at the mug gavlan holds, it is full of an orange liquid that plays the healing estus noise when he drinks it. it's estus.
***** Cool, but isn't my theory still pretty valid? If you feel like you want to be drunk all the time wouldn't that kinda go into that sense of self? Also i'm not saying there is not estus in the mug, i am saying that Gavlan is clearly not sober so there might be something else mixed to it.
mustekkala not sober how? he just seems like a dude who doesn't know english very well to me, I grew up with swedish, polish, russian and dutch friends who spoke similarly when they knew less english. I'm not saying anything isn't valid, I'm stating how I see it.
+Silver Mont I would have to say that pharros was, in fact, gyrm. as the traps you set off with the lockstones in the doors of pharros typically cause the gyrm statues to throw axes and such. just my own speculation, though I'd say it's at least somewhat valid.
I always connect the Blacksmith Vamos from DkS1 with the Gyrms, he just look so dwarfish, even though he's a skeleton. He could easily be an ancient ancestor of Gavlan and the Gyrm, maybe the first of their kind. Gavlan is so lovable, he says the least out of any NPC in DkS2, yet he has more character than most of the others put together. I wish you could buy a beer consumable from him, who needs Estus when you can get plastered with Gavlan?
You know I never thought about it but yeah vamos does have an oddly shaped skeleton like he is some weird experiment gone wrong and doesn't he have a strange metal beard as well
Its very possible that humans drove off those who were of stout stature since it is considered not normal, Especially in medieval esc times. Its possible that Vamos was one of/the first and as more and more people were forced from society they kinda "became" a separate race?? Idk. say what you will about dark souls lore always being mostly specualtion but i feel 1 had at least some anchor points for shit.
If only that shiny gold "Royal Helm" was a either laying around the Rat King's stash to be a covenant award (for fashion souls, or maybe they tweak its stats to be more useful), or the Crows give it to you for some "silky smooth". Perhaps as a funny Easter egg Gavlan offers a LOT if you sell it to him, and the next time you see him he has it mounted over his own helmet for decoration, and now calling himself "King Wheel, King Deal" LOL
Hey hey! Nice video Silver! Gavlan's my favorite npc just from how he seems so happy to see the player and his catchphrase warms the cockles of my heart for some reason.
I love how everyone in the comments is actually getting along. This just proves how the dark souls community are way more mature than the cod or halo fan base. Keep it up Alex, loving the series. Also will you be covering scholar of the first sin? Reading a lot of the new dialogue on items has really caught my attention, like the arch drake set.
zT Riize UA-cam comments have a bad rep, but I think we manage to keep it pretty civil here haha, which I'm kinda proud of. I think my channel being small plays into that, too.
Lol im part of the cod fanbase as well! But yea that is true. And dark souls fans do talk shit on pvp but mostly its a nice player base and I enjoy that
Gavlan's quote comes from rolling the guy from the pilgrims of dark around , in order to get paid so he can buy beer ... he "wheels and deals" to feed his adiction to beer
I always liked to believe that Gyrm are descendants of Andre and his kind, you see another Blacksmith that resembles Andre's look in the picture world so maybe they weren't humans
the rat king and the gyrm might actually be really justified by the fact that if you enter the rat king covenant, all enemies in the doors of pharos become passive, including the gyrm. this is just like the rats in the grave of saints, which also become passive to members of the covenant.
I'm a little late to this but yeah Gavlan really is a character and I believe they missed a trick with the Gyrm but from what I can see is that the Gyrm weren't always nomadic. They once had homes and were craftsman and not just axes but finer goods. Looking at the armour of the normal Gyrm looks like it's made out of medals and plates of gold and silver, hinting at a more civilised and skilled race that doesn't have time for craft anymore. Also the Gyrm have refashioned their anvils into flails and are chained to the top of axe handles which means that being nomadic they had to find other uses for their old equipment. Being nomadic means taking and using what's useful hence remaking their weapons and ornaments into armour and weapons. Their shield as well mentions it was ripped from a statue so it can infer they were also artists and sculptors , once again having to butcher their own works as a means of survival. It seems to me that the Gyrm were once a settled peoples, with a high degree of skill in weapon making as well as sculptors who were kind and good natured. However the humans of old drove them underground and I guess even then they weren't left alone so they travelled somewhere to settle down but found the same level of hate and so they became nomadic, their kindness and good nature slowly eroded. Gavlan is different because he speaks very simply and refers to himself in the third person. He seems a little bit simple and thus probably doesn't understand why Gyrm hate humans so the others left him alone and didn't want to know Gavlan hence why he is Lonesome. Thats what I can infer from the Gyrm but yes they are the dwarves of Dark souls. When you wear their armour, it's clearly too small for your character.
KURUK. THAT'S THE DWARF FORTRESS DWARVEN WORD FOR FEAR, OR EXPRESSING FEAR. Gavlan said that as it sounded like he was dying. Fromsoft might be a fan of Dwarf Fortress?
Well, given how they seemed to "appear out of the Earth" one day, and also that they didn't like to be seen, I think it's also possible they were simply in hiding, better at keeping to the shadows than the average race. Perhaps the cursed jars were keeping people away from their home in the shaded woods. The symbol on the shield totally looks like a Moonlight Butterfly, though, arguably one of Seath's more impressive creations, so it would also make sense for the "lesser" of his creations to idolize the "greater" ones. I dunno, that's a hard one to be sure about. Thanks for the video. I rather enjoy listening to you speak about this particular subject. Something about the way you word things gives a bit less flair of the dramatic than Vaati (not that I don't love Vaati's videos too!). Anyway, good work.
Interesting theory about the Lion Mages being corrupted versions of the Gyrm Knights. I do think it's a bit strange how the lions have gear that is extremely resistant to magic, since Seath was all about magic and such, but it would also make sense for a warrior race like the Gyrm to have magic-resistant gear to deal with an obvious weakness.
falx94 Right, it's the classic-warrior trope (same with Havel) you can't use magic, so you just need to build up as much of a defence against it, as you can manage!
Nice video Alex, I agree with you about the Gyrms being linked with the Rat King :) In fact, if you're part of the Rat covenant, they will not attack you (the Mastodons and the Rats neither), just like the rats in the Grave of Saints
hmm... a race with very little information, thats for sure. among them, i think gavlan may be special. for starters, whats he doing at no mans wharf? i know this video was mostly about the gyrm themselves, using gavlan as a type of segway, but this seems like an important point. the gyrm are at the doors of pharros, a long ways away from no mans wharf. how did gavlan get there? harvest valley as well is quite a ways away, but is less far-fetched in relation to his starting point(i.e. no mans wharf). if the gyrm were "Driven underground" so to speak, how did gavlan get so far away from home? another thing of note, he wasn't perturbed in the slightest by the darkdwellers/stalkers, even though there are several of them surrounding him. he's just sorta sitting there without reason, waiting for someone to wheel and deal with. if they were more regular enemies, i'd understand but the darkstalkers are barely even humanoid, and are highly aggressive. another thing is that he is probably extensively researched into poison. he sells nothing but poison items, as well as the antidote. however the weird thing is that he himself never uses it, preferring a more "Hit it very hard" approach to combat. going back to the thing about darkdwellers, they have a poisonous attack so i have 2 theories. the first is that gavlan is getting poison from the darkdwellers, much like a hunter would a snake. the other is that the entire area has some sort of poisonous material that they all have access too (being an underground cove with rotting shit all over the place, this is probably more likely) whats really weird though is his ability to be sold to. most NPCs in drangleic only want you to buy their things. they want souls to stop hollowing. gavlan however, doesn't care a whit about that and will gladly take all your shit in exchange for souls. again, i have 2 theories. first, he has so many souls that he doesn't know what to do with them, and uses it as a pretense to "wheel and deal" as a type of past-time or hobby. the other is that gyrm themselves do not hollow, and as such don't need the souls, again, leaving the soul collection part of gavlans wheeling and dealing as more of a hobby. gyrm seem to be fundamentally different from humans, after all. anyways, thats my thoughts on gavlan. hope this helps someone at least
Good point man ;) You said you have noticed the interes he has about poison. that makes me think about his permanent position on Dors of Pharos, next to a group of that "maiden totems" (conection with pharos, the black Gulch and Shulva). When you see those totems in Shulva, they spit poison... what do you think abouit it?
Maybe he likes to travel the world, researching herbcraft? He has an interest in poison and an interest in alcohol, clearly. Both involve plants/flowers/hops to a certain extent. I could see Gavlan walking around the world, eating things and seeing if they poison him or not. If they do, he keeps that in mind and works some anti-poison around them. If not, he tries to make it into mead or something haha.
not really sure what to think about them. they obviously mean something, and probably something very dark. but the amount of information on them is little to none. if i had to hazard a guess, i would say they were originally created by pharros. that much i'm fairly certain of. they were probably made for much the same reason as the rest of the traps you find littered around rat covenant area's. them being in the gutter and black gulch isn't all that far-fetched, because as we know they are all "unwanted things", much like everything else down there. trash tossed somewhere it will bother no one for the most part. what they have to do with shulva though is a matter of debate. i don't know a great deal about shulva, admittedly. perhaps they just came in through the same distortion that allows us to. honestly speaking, i'm grasping at straws. the statue's have almost no information about them, except for their placement. their only placements are 2 area's in some way connected to pharros(albeit black gulch itself is more of a trash can beneath said area connected to pharros, but i digress), as well as shulva. without something to go on aside from that, there's not a whole lot i can say. the most solid hypothesis i can come up with is that they were made by pharros. going by the similar aesthetic of pharros's mask and the statues though, i think its at least safe to say he is in some way related to them, if not the direct maker.
somaldelhar I'm agree with the conection between Pharos and the statues, but i think they originally started at Shulva and then maybe spread by the rest of "that hole in majula", but the statues in Doors of Pharos are so far away from that "hole". Maybe that was offtopic XD. Talking about Gavlan, maybe he has that interest in poison, as Silver Mont said, and that was what takes him to travel around those locations. In the descriptions of some parts of the set said "Warrior armor of the nomadic Gyrm", and its seems like Gavlan was the only real nomad XD.
It's really not that bad, parrying frames are similar to buckler and target shield, you parried too late most times, for a more direct parry use a parry dagger or rapier
Man, that parry montage was great. Also, the lion clan shield has a thing in the middle of it that reminds me of the crystal ring shield from DS1. I dunno, but its just me.
Friend and I have the personal theory that Gavlan is just constantly drunk as hell and lost. No real support for it, (other than he's *always* drinking) but it makes him just that much more entertaining and fun to meet up with. "How'd you get here Gavlan?" "Gavlan DRUNK!"
Has anyone else noticed the similarity between the Doors of Pharros and Shulva? Both have very similar architecture, and both make use of strange mechanisms. I believe that Pharros may have come from Shulva, and built the Doors of Pharros as a sort of outpost. I do not think he was the Sunken King, since his name was supposedly forgotten, but I believe that he may have been involved in the creation of some of the devices and contraptions around the city.
Hey, any chances we might get a lore video about the Rat King? He's one of my favorite characters in the game and one of the most interestings, I feel. Really wish the game had done more with him, specially to help expand the lore of the underground areas which are some of the most atmospheric ones if I'm asked. Just food for thought. Whatever the case, here wishing you happy holidays and the best at your projects. ^^
Alex Eden Probably won't do a lore video on him, but I've got a new series that's more of a lore Q&A that he should be a good topic for! It's like a more frequent form of lore video where I can talk about topics that might not have enough information to warrant an entire video - such as the Rat King!
When i first saw him in the old wharf there was a message at his feet "moneybags ahead, therefore try wheel" my favorite message that i have ever seen, as it reflected my own thoughts as i sold him the immense amount of hollow infantry armor i had acquired from playing with the merchant hat for most of my (first) playthrough.
What about Aldia? Many of the monsters in shaded woods seem to come from his keep and wound up in the woods. If I'm not mistaken, I think one of the lion creatures can be found in aldia's keep, maybe aldia experimented on the Grym to create the lion creatures
with that voice line at the start of the video, plus that clip of him speaking gyrm? makes me think he's less obsessed with wheeling (And dealing) and that those are just the only few words he knows in human. while on the topic of the lion clan. knowing that aldia was experimenting on all manner of beast, and created the scorpioness and her betrothed. I'd say it's likely they are some kind of experiment. I'm not sure if they're part gyrm. They could well be, but they could also just be the rest of vengarls mercenary band, turned bestial by aldia.
I never really used Frampt or Gavlan ... I only sold stuff to gavlan on my first playthrough because I didn't know you could kill the armor seller for his set or speak with the hag to get the SSR+1
+Silver Mont also, idk if there is any significance of the translucent warriors in the shaded woods as well as in the shaded woods ruins (SOTFS)... but I am curious, and I'm sure others are as well. maybe yet another of "supposed" seathes creations?
I noticed something : The Gyrm Helmet kinda looks like a bell The Bellkeepers look a lot like dwarves too Maybe they were a unique race once, and they lived all over Drangleic The Bellkeepers were the ones choosen by "the princess" And the others were rejected by humans and started forging massive weapons and armor in order to survive
MrPokemaniacAriel Weren't the Bellkeepers constructs? I've not looked at their lore specifically yet, but I seem to have the idea in my head that they were "dolls" or something that were created and given life. Or I might be getting them mixed up with manikins, I dunno.
Josh Fox Yeah, you're right, sorry But do you guys think it would be possible that the Gyrm were also created by the princess ? I really think the Bellkeepers and the Gyrm are related, they are similar in a lot of points
I think if there is any connection between them at all it would be more likely the Bell Keepers were modeled after the Gyrm. The bell keepers always reminded me more of gnomes than dwarves though. I also haven't seen much connection between the Doors of Pharos and the bell towers. I mean, the towers are often associated with the Iron King, and so is Harvest Valley, and Gavlan goes to Harvest Valley, but it's a bit of a stretch to call that a connection. There is a lockstone contraption barring entrance to each tower, though... so that could be seen as a conection to Doors of Pharos, I guess. The dolls also have no beards, and their armor is different. Nothing in the Bell Keper stuff even remotely references the Gyrm, as far as I know. I'm not trying to shoot you down or anything, I'm just not really seeing much to build a conection on between the too.
The lesson to take away from this is, the Phoenix Parma looks amazing (not to toot my own horn) but it's the worst weapon in the world for parrying due to its unique frames being awful
I finally understood. Lion clan warrior's shield (6:40) depicts a butterfly! If you look at it, it has small wings at the centre, long antennae at the top and wing "tails" (dunno how they're called) at the bottom. Maybe, they worship a creation of Seath - moonlight butterfly? Ingame moonlight butterfly set has an palette with orange hues. Maybe moonlight butterflies have mutated and developed orange color? Also, the moonlight butterfly set poisons you. I think, Seath's original creations are the great moths (or how those enemies are called) (those things, which drop a torch lighter consumable). They are poisonous and orange, just like the moonlight butterfly set. That might explain, why the paintings on lion clan warriors' shields are orange. Perhaps, lion clan worships the moonlight butterflies or even the pale drake itself. Maybe moonlight butterflies are like angels or some sacred beasts to them. Who knows? Anyways, just a fun little theory.
I have two theories behind Gavlan's catchphrase... It's a reference to how the primitive man who invented the wheel "patented" and sold his great invention. Or he's just the Dark Souls equivalent to a used car salesman. (I can imagine his also say "You no credit? Gavlan say no problem!")
I still believe that the Lion clan enemies were products of the Old Chaos. They remind me of the Sanctuary Guardian from ds1, who's item description specifies the beast's Demon roots. And with the Demons, they weren't just flaming brutes, but they did have somewhat of a society based on their item descriptions from ds1.
Well done. Your site has become one of my favorites. Well thought out and very entertaining. Happy Holidays!! What are your thoughts on the next-gen release next year?
jackie w Thanks! And well, I'm curious to see what they are doing about it. I think it's an okay idea for the most part, but I'm suspicious about the split playerbase on PC
This is just a theory but what if the player was meant to save gavlan (as you said there is unused content for this). Where do you originally meet gavlan, in no mans wharf, transportation for prisoners. Maybe the black creatures were guards of some sort and that how you save gavlan. This would explain why hes friendly to the player. Now the gyrm, we know that the rich lived within the city and were evantually possesed by spiders. What if the gyrm were humans but after mining the rock (possibly) tainted after time they naturally adapted to the environment. Gyrms respite was there home whilst they were in tseldora but after the greed set in they were driven away into the doors of pharros.
Yeah, a lot of the NPCs seem to have "cut" content involving you freeing them from prison. Maybe at some point you were supposed to go to the Lost Bastille (if you wanted) to free a whole bunch of people.
I believe since the events of Dark Souls 1 probably hapenned a long time ago, in DS2, it is more likely that Aldia created the lion clan than Seath, take the big undeads from his mansion and Sinner's Rise (Forgot the actual name) he has also experimented like that, and the scorpion guy (forgot his name as well) tells the he was created by someone, who could very well be Aldia. And the crest in the Lion Clan shield reminded me of the Drangleic Crest, maybe connecting them even more to Aldia. But I don't think the Gyrms were creations of Aldia as well, they semmed to simply be a species that had a kingdom of sorts in Drangleic, gonne into war with humans and lost, being exiled to the underground.
The majority of evidence leans towards Seath creating Tark and Najka. After killing Freja, who has Seath's soul, Tark will say that you have killed his creator. Freja is obviously not Aldia, and I doubt a giant spider created a pair of scorpions. Also, Tark's description of his creator matches Seath; he hated his kind for having something he lacked (scales) and went insane.
I don't know, to me DS2 is way after DS1, since the sunlight altar is underground now, that can happen, and it takes a very fucking long time, besides, time is way more convoluted in DS2 than 1 (the only logical explanation to iron keep's location) so maybe time has eroded even more as..... time passed.
I'm pretty sure some of that 'unused dialogue in another language' is what you get from hitting him, just mid-fight. Or maybe before aggro. I kind of remember that one that sounded like "yah-sta-dah".
From one of his quotes "Gavlan want soul, many many soul" I randomly thought that maybe the Gyrm somehow use souls in the forging process of their arms and armour.
Who doesn't love Gavlan? He buys your useless crap. Plus: Gavlan wheel, Gavlan deal.
+Nathan Hale
GAVLAN WHEEL?
GAVLAN DEAL!
+Nathan Hale What is once wheeled cannot be undealed...
Lonesome Gavlan Here bro, take these few hundred duplicates of crap I got.
+majormajorasic He smelts your useless metal shit to make more Gyrm axes to throw at things.
MainAvel Can't blame him, who doesn't want to throw axes at people.
I thought Gavlan was a bit of a simpleton at first, but after seeing the other Gyrm I realized he's actually quite a bright man.
But they probably all just went hollow.
Samuel Lacey I think he is just drunk as fuck xD
@@samuellacey5166 That just raises further questions!
Imagine a drunk-off-his-ass Gavlan Boss Battle, he could be like a mix between the Smelter Demon and a Bonewheel Skeleton, wheeling around and dealing extreme damage. It could be DLC called Crown of the Drunken King.
Legendary Niwatori
*clap clap clap clap clap clap* honestly, best thing I've ever seen.
But I dont wanna kill my waifu...
I would play the f#^# out of that dlc. What would his soul weapons be?
Jesseinator1000 Gaming and More bruh
"Gavlan wheel, Gavlan deal, Gavlan want soul, many many soul!" Proceeds to give you hundreds of thousands of soul on mostly useless junk. I'd totally attend Gavlan's school of business.
Alex Wright Two Words: poison arrows
I find it very fucking funny that you can sell him boss souls for 100 souls each
Hes going to turn around and flip those down in No Mans wharf
Gavlans school of business. Lol!
What is wheeled...Cannot be un-dealed.
+Lonesome Gavlan Sadly
The language of the Gyrm is obviously gyrman.
Gwyn Witt Clever, Raiden.
Tonight, Gyrman joins the hunt...
Nope, the audio sounds rather eastern european, russian in particular
@@nadyx4351 sounds like a mix betwen German russian and japanese
They're probably a mix of scots, germans and nordic people
Dwarf Ahead. Try Wheel.
friend ahead in short try hand
Try tongue but hole
YOU WHEEL? YOU DEAL. GAHA, GAHAHAHAHA.
***** MANY MANY SOULS GAHA GAHAHAHAHA
DurpenHeimer Many deals, Many THANKS! GHWAhAHAHAHHAH
+DurpenHeimer Gavlan feel.
It may already have been pointed out but further proof of an accord between the Rat King and the Gyrm is that they won't attack you at Pharros if you're in the rat covenant.
Skaven and Dwarfs have a truce? The highest heresy.
@@kakashihatake326 Wrong IP, mate. Wrong IP :p
But I agree-good we kill-maim longbeards, suffocate-cruch tiny tin cans, yessss ! :E
The stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' n' dealin' son of a gun! The nature boy, Gavlaaaan! WOOOOOOOO!
Zilveri I think Gavlan would probably end up eating a limousine.
Lol, Gavlan hasn't hollowed because he is a drunk, he always has reason to sell you stuff to get more beer and as long as he can drink he will never hollow. Even if you do not sell him anything he can just go to a different location and find some more to drink, its not like anyone else is needing all the drinks, they are hollow. :D
+mustekkala he isn't hollowed because his mug is a bottomless estus flask. note the orange liquid inside it.
***** I never noticed that but i'm pretty sure it is not only estus in there ;)
Didn't people hollow when they lose their goal in life? I mean if being drunk is all you want from life it could help you stay human. Anyways, this is only a joke theory, but it has some validity if you start to think about it, i think...
mustekkala
what you get out of life isn't what makes you human, your sense of self and the ability to forge your own opinion is what makes you human. that's why there is a duality to Lucatiel, her memories are fading so she is losing her sense of humanity, all while she is actually literally losing her humanity and becoming hollow.
if you literally look at the mug gavlan holds, it is full of an orange liquid that plays the healing estus noise when he drinks it. it's estus.
***** Cool, but isn't my theory still pretty valid? If you feel like you want to be drunk all the time wouldn't that kinda go into that sense of self? Also i'm not saying there is not estus in the mug, i am saying that Gavlan is clearly not sober so there might be something else mixed to it.
mustekkala
not sober how? he just seems like a dude who doesn't know english very well to me, I grew up with swedish, polish, russian and dutch friends who spoke similarly when they knew less english.
I'm not saying anything isn't valid, I'm stating how I see it.
I loved those gyrm parrys. a superb recreation of me trying to parry slow stuff
Those bastids never let me parry them!
Agreed 😂
I wish he was a summon
He would use his wheel as a weapon lol
ElyasGaming Logarius Wheel!
BB Rafarances
ElyasGaming I always imagined him using the Bonewheel shield :v
Lol
+Silver Mont Logarius wheel, Logarius deal
+Silver Mont I would have to say that pharros was, in fact, gyrm. as the traps you set off with the lockstones in the doors of pharros typically cause the gyrm statues to throw axes and such. just my own speculation, though I'd say it's at least somewhat valid.
"lonesome" comes from him being seemingly the only gyrm left who hasn't gone hollow. Some item desc' describes them as pretty much all undead
I didn't know Keemstar was a merchant in Dark Souls
Keemstar?
Haha😂
(keemstar's a gnome/dwarf)
Silver Mont Keemstar is a youtuber with a big beard like a garden gnome.
I laughed my ass off
The only thing I can add to this video is:
The Gyrm Greataxe wrecks fucking everyone.
+Fukuro - Pierce the Heavens beast strength weapon
I always connect the Blacksmith Vamos from DkS1 with the Gyrms, he just look so dwarfish, even though he's a skeleton. He could easily be an ancient ancestor of Gavlan and the Gyrm, maybe the first of their kind.
Gavlan is so lovable, he says the least out of any NPC in DkS2, yet he has more character than most of the others put together. I wish you could buy a beer consumable from him, who needs Estus when you can get plastered with Gavlan?
You know I never thought about it but yeah vamos does have an oddly shaped skeleton like he is some weird experiment gone wrong and doesn't he have a strange metal beard as well
Vamos was a bit odd, as he was rather different to everything else we saw! His hat is quite like the Gyrm hat, though.
***** That is an awfully small giant.
Its very possible that humans drove off those who were of stout stature since it is considered not normal, Especially in medieval esc times. Its possible that Vamos was one of/the first and as more and more people were forced from society they kinda "became" a separate race?? Idk. say what you will about dark souls lore always being mostly specualtion but i feel 1 had at least some anchor points for shit.
If only that shiny gold "Royal Helm" was a either laying around the Rat King's stash to be a covenant award (for fashion souls, or maybe they tweak its stats to be more useful), or the Crows give it to you for some "silky smooth". Perhaps as a funny Easter egg Gavlan offers a LOT if you sell it to him, and the next time you see him he has it mounted over his own helmet for decoration, and now calling himself "King Wheel, King Deal" LOL
Beware of Wheel
Hey hey! Nice video Silver! Gavlan's my favorite npc just from how he seems so happy to see the player and his catchphrase warms the cockles of my heart for some reason.
Jewbear1884 I'm kinda surprised we never got to summon Gavlan, as it happens!
Silver Mont Probably cause he's to drunk to even walk straight
Who else would love to have a gyrm as a friend.
I love how everyone in the comments is actually getting along. This just proves how the dark souls community are way more mature than the cod or halo fan base. Keep it up Alex, loving the series. Also will you be covering scholar of the first sin? Reading a lot of the new dialogue on items has really caught my attention, like the arch drake set.
zT Riize UA-cam comments have a bad rep, but I think we manage to keep it pretty civil here haha, which I'm kinda proud of. I think my channel being small plays into that, too.
A youtuber who replied in less than a day!
Lol im part of the cod fanbase as well! But yea that is true. And dark souls fans do talk shit on pvp but mostly its a nice player base and I enjoy that
Gavlan's quote comes from rolling the guy from the pilgrims of dark around , in order to get paid so he can buy beer ... he "wheels and deals" to feed his adiction to beer
Gavlan wheel.
Gavlan feelz
I always liked to believe that Gyrm are descendants of Andre and his kind, you see another Blacksmith that resembles Andre's look in the picture world so maybe they weren't humans
the rat king and the gyrm might actually be really justified by the fact that if you enter the rat king covenant, all enemies in the doors of pharos become passive, including the gyrm. this is just like the rats in the grave of saints, which also become passive to members of the covenant.
sik parry
+Philip Dawson tru, parry lvl obobobo
How fitting I got this recommended exactly 5 years later
I'm a little late to this but yeah Gavlan really is a character and I believe they missed a trick with the Gyrm but from what I can see is that the Gyrm weren't always nomadic. They once had homes and were craftsman and not just axes but finer goods. Looking at the armour of the normal Gyrm looks like it's made out of medals and plates of gold and silver, hinting at a more civilised and skilled race that doesn't have time for craft anymore. Also the Gyrm have refashioned their anvils into flails and are chained to the top of axe handles which means that being nomadic they had to find other uses for their old equipment. Being nomadic means taking and using what's useful hence remaking their weapons and ornaments into armour and weapons. Their shield as well mentions it was ripped from a statue so it can infer they were also artists and sculptors , once again having to butcher their own works as a means of survival. It seems to me that the Gyrm were once a settled peoples, with a high degree of skill in weapon making as well as sculptors who were kind and good natured. However the humans of old drove them underground and I guess even then they weren't left alone so they travelled somewhere to settle down but found the same level of hate and so they became nomadic, their kindness and good nature slowly eroded. Gavlan is different because he speaks very simply and refers to himself in the third person. He seems a little bit simple and thus probably doesn't understand why Gyrm hate humans so the others left him alone and didn't want to know Gavlan hence why he is Lonesome. Thats what I can infer from the Gyrm but yes they are the dwarves of Dark souls. When you wear their armour, it's clearly too small for your character.
I just want to hug the big guy! he reminds my girlfriend of a teddy bear too :)
Merry Christmas Alex and a happy new year.
Thank you for making wonderful lore.
thank you for doing this video! i never thought there would be enough lore on this guy to do so, but here it is! Praise the Poison!
I like him more than Santa because he has the most important item in the entire game, POISON THROWING KNIFES!!!!
KURUK. THAT'S THE DWARF FORTRESS DWARVEN WORD FOR FEAR, OR EXPRESSING FEAR.
Gavlan said that as it sounded like he was dying. Fromsoft might be a fan of Dwarf Fortress?
Awesome work as always Alex. Merry chrishmas to you too.
Gavlan feel... many, many feel......
Gameplay had me crying of laughter, thank you for showing us those parries
Sometimes you just gotta demonstrate some good old fashioned spazzing
Gavlan is adorable, i love him.
Nice video, happy holidays Mont!
Well, given how they seemed to "appear out of the Earth" one day, and also that they didn't like to be seen, I think it's also possible they were simply in hiding, better at keeping to the shadows than the average race. Perhaps the cursed jars were keeping people away from their home in the shaded woods. The symbol on the shield totally looks like a Moonlight Butterfly, though, arguably one of Seath's more impressive creations, so it would also make sense for the "lesser" of his creations to idolize the "greater" ones. I dunno, that's a hard one to be sure about.
Thanks for the video. I rather enjoy listening to you speak about this particular subject. Something about the way you word things gives a bit less flair of the dramatic than Vaati (not that I don't love Vaati's videos too!). Anyway, good work.
+Pat Mahan Thanks for watching and sharing! That's what I aim for in my videos haha - inviting discussion of the themes therein
Wheel ahead, therefore deal
I had a weird thought recently, what if Gavlan met The Merchant from Resident Evil 4? X3
Minarus Infernus Shenanigans! What'areya buyin'? Wheels?
His parry skills though! 😬
Yeah, the SoA sucks for parrying and I'm not great at parrying to begin with.
I can parry pretty well, but i'll usually just roll out of the way.
When I first ran into this guy, I knew I found a friend.
He is litreally near those wierd leg boys so many leg boys
Rather than Seath, wouldn't Aldia be better fit as a creator?
solver mont - the new parry king
IT KEEPS HAPPENING
Interesting theory about the Lion Mages being corrupted versions of the Gyrm Knights. I do think it's a bit strange how the lions have gear that is extremely resistant to magic, since Seath was all about magic and such, but it would also make sense for a warrior race like the Gyrm to have magic-resistant gear to deal with an obvious weakness.
falx94 Right, it's the classic-warrior trope (same with Havel) you can't use magic, so you just need to build up as much of a defence against it, as you can manage!
Nice video Alex, I agree with you about the Gyrms being linked with the Rat King :)
In fact, if you're part of the Rat covenant, they will not attack you (the Mastodons and the Rats neither), just like the rats in the Grave of Saints
Dude, your fashion souls looks fantastic!
+TheDom.Com Thanks!
hmm... a race with very little information, thats for sure. among them, i think gavlan may be special. for starters, whats he doing at no mans wharf? i know this video was mostly about the gyrm themselves, using gavlan as a type of segway, but this seems like an important point. the gyrm are at the doors of pharros, a long ways away from no mans wharf. how did gavlan get there? harvest valley as well is quite a ways away, but is less far-fetched in relation to his starting point(i.e. no mans wharf). if the gyrm were "Driven underground" so to speak, how did gavlan get so far away from home? another thing of note, he wasn't perturbed in the slightest by the darkdwellers/stalkers, even though there are several of them surrounding him. he's just sorta sitting there without reason, waiting for someone to wheel and deal with. if they were more regular enemies, i'd understand but the darkstalkers are barely even humanoid, and are highly aggressive.
another thing is that he is probably extensively researched into poison. he sells nothing but poison items, as well as the antidote. however the weird thing is that he himself never uses it, preferring a more "Hit it very hard" approach to combat. going back to the thing about darkdwellers, they have a poisonous attack so i have 2 theories. the first is that gavlan is getting poison from the darkdwellers, much like a hunter would a snake. the other is that the entire area has some sort of poisonous material that they all have access too (being an underground cove with rotting shit all over the place, this is probably more likely)
whats really weird though is his ability to be sold to. most NPCs in drangleic only want you to buy their things. they want souls to stop hollowing. gavlan however, doesn't care a whit about that and will gladly take all your shit in exchange for souls. again, i have 2 theories. first, he has so many souls that he doesn't know what to do with them, and uses it as a pretense to "wheel and deal" as a type of past-time or hobby. the other is that gyrm themselves do not hollow, and as such don't need the souls, again, leaving the soul collection part of gavlans wheeling and dealing as more of a hobby. gyrm seem to be fundamentally different from humans, after all.
anyways, thats my thoughts on gavlan. hope this helps someone at least
Good point man ;) You said you have noticed the interes he has about poison. that makes me think about his permanent position on Dors of Pharos, next to a group of that "maiden totems" (conection with pharos, the black Gulch and Shulva). When you see those totems in Shulva, they spit poison... what do you think abouit it?
Maybe he likes to travel the world, researching herbcraft? He has an interest in poison and an interest in alcohol, clearly. Both involve plants/flowers/hops to a certain extent. I could see Gavlan walking around the world, eating things and seeing if they poison him or not. If they do, he keeps that in mind and works some anti-poison around them. If not, he tries to make it into mead or something haha.
not really sure what to think about them. they obviously mean something, and probably something very dark. but the amount of information on them is little to none. if i had to hazard a guess, i would say they were originally created by pharros. that much i'm fairly certain of. they were probably made for much the same reason as the rest of the traps you find littered around rat covenant area's. them being in the gutter and black gulch isn't all that far-fetched, because as we know they are all "unwanted things", much like everything else down there. trash tossed somewhere it will bother no one for the most part. what they have to do with shulva though is a matter of debate. i don't know a great deal about shulva, admittedly. perhaps they just came in through the same distortion that allows us to.
honestly speaking, i'm grasping at straws. the statue's have almost no information about them, except for their placement. their only placements are 2 area's in some way connected to pharros(albeit black gulch itself is more of a trash can beneath said area connected to pharros, but i digress), as well as shulva. without something to go on aside from that, there's not a whole lot i can say. the most solid hypothesis i can come up with is that they were made by pharros. going by the similar aesthetic of pharros's mask and the statues though, i think its at least safe to say he is in some way related to them, if not the direct maker.
Silver Mont an interesting point, but i'd wager its something a little darker. then again, what have i got for proof on that? not a thing.
somaldelhar I'm agree with the conection between Pharos and the statues, but i think they originally started at Shulva and then maybe spread by the rest of "that hole in majula", but the statues in Doors of Pharos are so far away from that "hole". Maybe that was offtopic XD. Talking about Gavlan, maybe he has that interest in poison, as Silver Mont said, and that was what takes him to travel around those locations. In the descriptions of some parts of the set said "Warrior armor of the nomadic Gyrm", and its seems like Gavlan was the only real nomad XD.
You are getting so good at this.
Adversus Elitus Thanks! I think I've def improved since I started, but there's still room for improvement!
the gyrm great shield looks just like the doors to the throne of want in the end cinematic.
That parrying part hurt to watch lol. Great video though.
The Soviet Parrying those bastards with a PP is hard as shit!
It's really not that bad, parrying frames are similar to buckler and target shield, you parried too late most times, for a more direct parry use a parry dagger or rapier
You can also use most regular shields for a very precise and direct parry frame, it's the closest you get after monastery scimitar got nerfed
Silver Mont You can't parry overhead attacks.
you can :3 João Antônio just not two handed ultra greatweapons/hammers/axes and curved greatswords. If they are one handed you can parry them though
My favorite merchant in Dark souls 2 :D
Man, that parry montage was great. Also, the lion clan shield has a thing in the middle of it that reminds me of the crystal ring shield from DS1. I dunno, but its just me.
Rotizm1 Oh man, I remember that shield - and I remember it pre-patch when it could basically one shot in PvP haha
I thought this entire time he was asking for a special wheel shaped item. Turns out he was just drinking.
Friend and I have the personal theory that Gavlan is just constantly drunk as hell and lost. No real support for it, (other than he's *always* drinking) but it makes him just that much more entertaining and fun to meet up with. "How'd you get here Gavlan?" "Gavlan DRUNK!"
Visions of Wheel
Has anyone else noticed the similarity between the Doors of Pharros and Shulva? Both have very similar architecture, and both make use of strange mechanisms. I believe that Pharros may have come from Shulva, and built the Doors of Pharros as a sort of outpost. I do not think he was the Sunken King, since his name was supposedly forgotten, but I believe that he may have been involved in the creation of some of the devices and contraptions around the city.
Sick parrying skills.
Hey, any chances we might get a lore video about the Rat King? He's one of my favorite characters in the game and one of the most interestings, I feel. Really wish the game had done more with him, specially to help expand the lore of the underground areas which are some of the most atmospheric ones if I'm asked. Just food for thought. Whatever the case, here wishing you happy holidays and the best at your projects. ^^
Alex Eden Probably won't do a lore video on him, but I've got a new series that's more of a lore Q&A that he should be a good topic for! It's like a more frequent form of lore video where I can talk about topics that might not have enough information to warrant an entire video - such as the Rat King!
Maybe rather Aldia than Seath.
Indeed Seath is quite dead in DS2. Aldia is the madman who replaced Seath, searching for true immortality.
WHEEL IN THE GUTTER?
HEINEKEN ??
A FORD ?!
The Gutter is what happened to the modern world. Someone got sick of iPhones and destroyed the world and built a new one atop it.
Gavlan is perhaps the best character in the franchise.
Watching you try to parry that hammer guy legitmately took a year off my life
Haha, don't worry about it - I was demonstrating something in my LP, and I just used the same footage here (obviously without the same commentary!)
@@SilverMont i SUPPOSE i can forgive that haha
When i first saw him in the old wharf there was a message at his feet "moneybags ahead, therefore try wheel" my favorite message that i have ever seen, as it reflected my own thoughts as i sold him the immense amount of hollow infantry armor i had acquired from playing with the merchant hat for most of my (first) playthrough.
It was nice having someone to dump all our crap onto like that, yeah. I guess in the first game we had Frampt who could eat it.
What about Aldia? Many of the monsters in shaded woods seem to come from his keep and wound up in the woods. If I'm not mistaken, I think one of the lion creatures can be found in aldia's keep, maybe aldia experimented on the Grym to create the lion creatures
with that voice line at the start of the video, plus that clip of him speaking gyrm? makes me think he's less obsessed with wheeling (And dealing) and that those are just the only few words he knows in human. while on the topic of the lion clan. knowing that aldia was experimenting on all manner of beast, and created the scorpioness and her betrothed. I'd say it's likely they are some kind of experiment. I'm not sure if they're part gyrm. They could well be, but they could also just be the rest of vengarls mercenary band, turned bestial by aldia.
hahahaha, get owned XD by the guy with a greatshield and the anvil, if what I meant was uncertain
They call him Lonsome Gavlan because once you realize gyrm drop titanite chunks...
silvermont wheel silvermont deal
I never really used Frampt or Gavlan ... I only sold stuff to gavlan on my first playthrough because I didn't know you could kill the armor seller for his set or speak with the hag to get the SSR+1
Watching you trying to parry was giving me conniptions
Haha, yeah that was footage from an LP where I was demonstrating something. It looks very weird out of context, that's for sure
the Lions actually used to be Forossan Lion Knights, but were cursed somehow, as evidenced by the heavy curse damage they inflict.
The design on the Lion Shield looks like two knights back to back.
+Silver Mont also, idk if there is any significance of the translucent warriors in the shaded woods as well as in the shaded woods ruins (SOTFS)... but I am curious, and I'm sure others are as well. maybe yet another of "supposed" seathes creations?
Gyrm were originally intended for the gutter
Everyone say gavlan wheel but nobody ask how gavlan feel
You no wheel, galvan no deal.
I noticed something : The Gyrm Helmet kinda looks like a bell
The Bellkeepers look a lot like dwarves too
Maybe they were a unique race once, and they lived all over Drangleic
The Bellkeepers were the ones choosen by "the princess"
And the others were rejected by humans and started forging massive weapons and armor in order to survive
MrPokemaniacAriel Weren't the Bellkeepers constructs? I've not looked at their lore specifically yet, but I seem to have the idea in my head that they were "dolls" or something that were created and given life. Or I might be getting them mixed up with manikins, I dunno.
Silver Mont It's strongly implied, if not outright stated, that they were made by the princess, yes.
Josh Fox
Yeah, you're right, sorry
But do you guys think it would be possible that the Gyrm were also created by the princess ?
I really think the Bellkeepers and the Gyrm are related, they are similar in a lot of points
I think if there is any connection between them at all it would be more likely the Bell Keepers were modeled after the Gyrm. The bell keepers always reminded me more of gnomes than dwarves though. I also haven't seen much connection between the Doors of Pharos and the bell towers. I mean, the towers are often associated with the Iron King, and so is Harvest Valley, and Gavlan goes to Harvest Valley, but it's a bit of a stretch to call that a connection. There is a lockstone contraption barring entrance to each tower, though... so that could be seen as a conection to Doors of Pharos, I guess.
The dolls also have no beards, and their armor is different. Nothing in the Bell Keper stuff even remotely references the Gyrm, as far as I know.
I'm not trying to shoot you down or anything, I'm just not really seeing much to build a conection on between the too.
Josh Fox Yeah, I guess you're right
Maybe I'm just paranoiac and see connections between unrelated things because they kinda look similar to me x)
Woo, new lore video. Love this stuff Alex. I wonder if we're gonna get Bloodborne Lore when you finally get through all the dks 2 lore? :P
If Bloodborne has characters and a story worth analyzing, then for sure!
best character ever
lmaooo watching you fail to parry over and over tho
It was from my LP, I was demonstrating the parry frames on that shield or something.
The lesson to take away from this is, the Phoenix Parma looks amazing (not to toot my own horn) but it's the worst weapon in the world for parrying due to its unique frames being awful
First thing I hear when an ad plays for this video “he is a leader”
He's just a solllldier
Gavlan's a big sweetheart. he gave me many feels
I finally understood. Lion clan warrior's shield (6:40) depicts a butterfly! If you look at it, it has small wings at the centre, long antennae at the top and wing "tails" (dunno how they're called) at the bottom. Maybe, they worship a creation of Seath - moonlight butterfly? Ingame moonlight butterfly set has an palette with orange hues. Maybe moonlight butterflies have mutated and developed orange color? Also, the moonlight butterfly set poisons you. I think, Seath's original creations are the great moths (or how those enemies are called) (those things, which drop a torch lighter consumable). They are poisonous and orange, just like the moonlight butterfly set. That might explain, why the paintings on lion clan warriors' shields are orange. Perhaps, lion clan worships the moonlight butterflies or even the pale drake itself. Maybe moonlight butterflies are like angels or some sacred beasts to them. Who knows? Anyways, just a fun little theory.
I have two theories behind Gavlan's catchphrase...
It's a reference to how the primitive man who invented the wheel "patented" and sold his great invention.
Or he's just the Dark Souls equivalent to a used car salesman. (I can imagine his also say "You no credit? Gavlan say no problem!")
Kevin Williams I figured it was just a "wheelin' and dealin'" kinda thing.
I still believe that the Lion clan enemies were products of the Old Chaos. They remind me of the Sanctuary Guardian from ds1, who's item description specifies the beast's Demon roots. And with the Demons, they weren't just flaming brutes, but they did have somewhat of a society based on their item descriptions from ds1.
Gavlan wheel, Gavlan deal.
Huh, had no idea I made an appearance in one of your vids once upon a time.
Cruckeyee You're famous!
Well done. Your site has become one of my favorites. Well thought out and very entertaining. Happy Holidays!! What are your thoughts on the next-gen release next year?
jackie w Thanks! And well, I'm curious to see what they are doing about it. I think it's an okay idea for the most part, but I'm suspicious about the split playerbase on PC
I thought he was just some guy until I entered the caves then when I met the first one that was hostile. I thought he went hollow lol
Gavlan wearing the old bell helm at the end?
Merry Christmas everyone
It's possible that the rat covenate ring could be gyrm craftmanship.
This is just a theory but what if the player was meant to save gavlan (as you said there is unused content for this). Where do you originally meet gavlan, in no mans wharf, transportation for prisoners. Maybe the black creatures were guards of some sort and that how you save gavlan. This would explain why hes friendly to the player.
Now the gyrm, we know that the rich lived within the city and were evantually possesed by spiders. What if the gyrm were humans but after mining the rock (possibly) tainted after time they naturally adapted to the environment. Gyrms respite was there home whilst they were in tseldora but after the greed set in they were driven away into the doors of pharros.
Yeah, a lot of the NPCs seem to have "cut" content involving you freeing them from prison. Maybe at some point you were supposed to go to the Lost Bastille (if you wanted) to free a whole bunch of people.
I believe since the events of Dark Souls 1 probably hapenned a long time ago, in DS2, it is more likely that Aldia created the lion clan than Seath, take the big undeads from his mansion and Sinner's Rise (Forgot the actual name) he has also experimented like that, and the scorpion guy (forgot his name as well) tells the he was created by someone, who could very well be Aldia. And the crest in the Lion Clan shield reminded me of the Drangleic Crest, maybe connecting them even more to Aldia.
But I don't think the Gyrms were creations of Aldia as well, they semmed to simply be a species that had a kingdom of sorts in Drangleic, gonne into war with humans and lost, being exiled to the underground.
In my opinion dks2 is before 1 to me thats what the opining cinematic means
The majority of evidence leans towards Seath creating Tark and Najka. After killing Freja, who has Seath's soul, Tark will say that you have killed his creator. Freja is obviously not Aldia, and I doubt a giant spider created a pair of scorpions. Also, Tark's description of his creator matches Seath; he hated his kind for having something he lacked (scales) and went insane.
Adam Montgomery I thought about that, too, but there's just way too much evidence against it
I know hopefully the scholar will clear some things
I don't know, to me DS2 is way after DS1, since the sunlight altar is underground now, that can happen, and it takes a very fucking long time, besides, time is way more convoluted in DS2 than 1 (the only logical explanation to iron keep's location) so maybe time has eroded even more as..... time passed.
Gavlan wheel, Gavlan deal
I'm pretty sure some of that 'unused dialogue in another language' is what you get from hitting him, just mid-fight. Or maybe before aggro. I kind of remember that one that sounded like "yah-sta-dah".
From one of his quotes "Gavlan want soul, many many soul" I randomly thought that maybe the Gyrm somehow use souls in the forging process of their arms and armour.
3DTyrant Souls have loads of uses, so it wouldn't surprise me