Fancy seeing you here @SmoughTown, I love your videos and Hawkshaw’s videos too. Dark Souls II is such a great and fun game, it doesn’t deserve all the hate that it gets, it deserves praise and it’s lore definitely deserves more praise, because it does play important roles within the entirety of the Dark Souls Timeline.
Need that Elden Ring book man. Also props for keeping the price very fair for the enormous amount of work I know went into it. The quality looks insane.
Aldia urging the bearer of the curse to look beyond the cycle of light and dark, and Vendrick advising them to seek strength as the foundation to face adversity is one of the best storytelling in Dark Souls and its criminal they play such a minimal role in ds3
Yeah I love their duality as brothers and how different their views of life are when it comes to the curse At the end of the day, it was Vendrick's way that ended up being the true one - the Bearer of the Curse seeks strength in the crowns of other great kings, and eventually beats the curse, unable to go hollow (if wearing one of said crowns)
Tbf, looking beyond the cycle was continued with the Painter wanting to start a new world altogether. Characters like Gael and Sulyvahn clearly were inspired by that mindset too.
It's nice they included the Drang knights in DS3, and a few other weapons / armor pieces from DS2 but man playing thru 3 right now feels like the stuff from 2 was just added mostly as an afterthought.
I shouldve gone into more detail on the ashen mist heart and a few other things. I might do a follow up rant style video, stay tuned. Next up, the penguin video
the lion-men aren't made by aldia, they are stranded forossans from most likely eleum loyce given the shrine of winter's vicinity which thanks to their lion culture and worship over faraam took on a lion form, thats why they called either demi-humans (亜人) or subhumans in the jpn, and also why the lion axe makes a point that they are too sophisticated to be a "lion tribe" along with the devs in the design works confirming that they are humans which were cursed, likely in this case by their own obsessive worship the kobold, or roaming dogs per the JPN, thanks to the collector's edition guide, are said that they are native to things betwixt and are implied to have been dogs experimented by aldia, hence why only in aldia's keep and shaded woods do the ones there drop aldia-related items, its kind of like the irl gist of dogs being experimented upon by humans i can tell more if u want on discord, my name there is RafaelBalbinus
Aldia, similar to how giantdad was made canon in ds2 with a item description, is essentially the canon manifestation of souls lore masters. He is one of the most important characters in the entire series, and I’m glad people have started to acknowledge that fact instead of trying to act like ds2 never happened like how it was a few years ago. So much can be gleamed from looking into what he was studying - with bits of his character traits can still be found in characters like rykard, midra, ymir, and shabiri to name a few just from ER.
Although it was hard to understand in the game (as most souls games are), your explanation of ds2’s story within the ds3 and ds1’s sphere is very well said and easy to understand, which gives me more respect for ds2 in general as it was asking the big questions, reflecting back to the past game and the player’s decisions within it .
Okay, DaS 2 is my favourite game from the trilogy, so I’m gonna outline my lore interpretations before I watch this. This is the midtimes of the linking of the fires. We go to multiple kingdoms that have both linked the fire and acquiesced to dark, respectively. The lost sinner used her pyromancy to replicate the witch of izalith. The rotten accepted the old soul of the dead. Which also meant it accepted all of the trash from Majula. the old iron king attempted to be as influential as Gwyn, The Duke of brightstone cove Tseldora wanted to be as intelligent as the old Duke of the archives, but he couldn’t and decided to let a remnant of the old duke become as strong as possible. All of which are tragically exactly what vendrick wanted.
I didn’t know Pontiff was originally planned to be the final boss fight. Tbh I think he should have been. I like Soul of Cinder but Pontiff’s pure influence over the plot of DS3 can not be understated
The amount of things you linked together in this video really justifies how long I've been hearing you say that it's coming this is seriously impressive
I think that taking the throne is more than just linking the fire; it represents the continuation of the light/dark cycle that Gwyn put the world into. Nashandra wanted to sit on that throne more than anything else, and something tells me she would definitely not have linked the fire, regardless of whether we do when we sit on it (which isn't even shown in that ending cutscene, it's left open to our own interpretation). Aldia's dialogue when you choose to leave the throne spells it out much more clearly, saying we are going "beyond the scope of light, beyond the reach of dark." This clearly tells us that leaving the throne is the act of abandoning the entire cycle of light/dark and trying to find a third path beyond what was offered to us in DS1; a way to break the curse, not to surrender to it or to overcome it.
Yeah I've always seen the throne as encapsulating both the endings of DS1. The idea that the two choices at the end are PART of the cycle. Choosing the dark ending is not rebellion, it is factored into the system, if that makes sense?
Dude, Aldia is one of the more "cool factor" characters in Souls, to me. His voice acting and the story surrounding him is so intriguiung and grounded to me. His response to the undead curse is very relateable (although misguided and, ultimately, extremist.) Thanks for doi g his story justice!
I've always been curious about the role Aldia's played in shaping the fandom's opinion of Gwyn, the cycles, and the nature of the world. Specifically, I'm curious why Aldia seems to be uniquely trusted above all other NPCs that tell us what to do (Frampt, Kaathe), there's some pretence that he's leaving us to decide but he's very clearly pushing a "something different" angle. The community was good and skeptic after DS1 came out, the fandom had gone in circles about what ending was good and had kinda settled on "neither, and both NPCs are manipulating us". When vanilla DS2 came out a lot of people were confused or didnt notice all the connective tissue, but it seemed even more vague and open to interpretation what was going on. Then SOTFS came out and the fandom seemed to universally just accept "oh good, an NPC that tells me who the bad guys were in DS1 and the best way for the player character to proceed", all skepticism gone. Part of this might just be Fromsoft pivoting after complaints about vanilla DS2 not being closely related enough to DS1, but we have lore from item descriptions (which are generally considered to a reliable narrator) that tell us even the names of the old Gods etc are all forgotten by this point in time. Then Aldia shows up and goes "oh yeah, Gwyn did this and it was a Tuesday morning and he was wearing a purple shirt, and his intentions were evil". How does he know any of this? Does he actually know, or is he making an educated guess? Why would anyone assume he's being truthful? Normally the guy who experiments on people and creates mutated monsters isnt considered to be the most altruistic, even in Souls (Seath, etc).
There was an interview with the directors of ds2 where they said that the story of ds2 (atleast what they wanted) was going to be alot more straightforward compared to ds1. This is why characters like emerald hareld, king vendrick and aldia just spell out ds1 story and theme very clearly to you.
@@xsubzerox3412 The self-contained story of ds2 was much more straightforward, but it wasnt until Scholar that they added Aldia + Vendrick talking your ear off about ds1. Generally in any soulsborne game I consider any NPC that gives me direct answers to be likely to be: 1. Wrong 2. Lying or 3. Guessing I think that last one is underappreciated in the Souls universe. If there's never been an Age of Dark, how does Kaathe know that it's going to be so great? Oolacile and New Londo dont seem great. I'm convinced Kaathe didnt even know how to trigger the Age of Dark in that first cycle, he seems to truly believe refusing the link the flame would achive that goal, but by the time of DS3 he's clearly learned the fire would need to be actively extinguished or usurped for that to happen. Which means he was mistaken in DS1, despite speaking so confidently. If he was mistaken about how to trigger it, then I wouldnt trust his bold claims about how amazing it'd be for mankind either. That was a small tangent but relevant because the Souls community seems to have similar assumptions that the "natural order" is better for mankind than constantly linking the fire, which mostly stems from Aldia or Aldia-aligned NPCs. But in a world that's only known grey nothingness and then the cycle, how could anyone claim to know what life outside the cycle looks like? Mankind in the 'natural order' could well be the mindless shambling hollows we see in the DS1 intro, since fire is what brought disparity.
@@MikeHesk742 Both Aldia and Vendrick, two brothers, investigated the nature of spirits together. Vendrick had gathered 4 Great Lord Spirits during his time. I think they studied these spirits and have knowledge of the events of DS1.
@@MikeHesk742It’s worse when you consider that Aldia tortured and experimented the entire population of Drangleic, and for what? Nothing, other than being made a mockery by the shield of want in DS3. Yet has the gall to say Gwyn sinned, because he sacrificed himself to save his people
@@EldenRingBuildsArchive That's a good point. Speaking of Gwyn's sacrifice I see a lot of comments on the "Gwyn's the bad guy, linking the fire's bad" side of things that regurgitate what some Aldia or Kaathe-aligned NPCs say about it all being to prolong the age of gods and keep mankind down. But look at DS2, the great kingdoms of Drangleic, Forossa, the Iron King's kindom, Sunken City etc, were all human kingdom with man sitting at the top. No Gods looking down and ruling over like in Lordran. It feels like the Gods are all dead or hiding, and yet somehow allegedly continuing the cycle is about keeping mankind subservient to the Gods and Gwyn was so selfish he... sacrificed himself?
Aldia and Gwyn sorta represent the two parts that make of archetype of the deity Wotan. Gwyn is the creation and upholding of order and Aldia is the discovery of knowledge and wisdom, both achieved through tremendous and terrible sacrifice to the benefit of no one else.
This is the first video that’s actually made me understand the lore of DS2. I love the loose and fast but densely packed style of presentation. Amazing lore video ❤
The hype surrounding this video is the stuff of legends. I swear I've been on the edge of my seat since I discovered your channel and you always tease this video. I'm so excited!
The whole giants being used as sacrifice to make dragons kinda makes sense. The dragons, the trees and the fog were there before it all, giants turn into trees, maybe growing into the rocky arch trees over time who knows. Giants are rocky looking, the seed of giants is also a thing. So maybe giants were the origins of the arch trees. Im guessing turning everlasting material into other everlasting material could be possible, i forget what its called but the technique Ludleth uses in dark souls 3 to make souls into weapons could be used at a grander scale for Aldia's experiments letting him transmutate giants into dragons. I also always felt like both dragons and giants probably are life born of splinters from the trees, all 3 being made of stone.
Soul transposition, which is, ironically, inside a great tree made of hollows Trees have always played a huge, unknown role in the dark souls lore that I don't see many ppl talk about
@@Sohelanthropus I do feel like it is actually a very big thing as well but just kinda gets mentioned in passing I think once in DS 2 & 3 and then never again just to explain boss weapons.
If you think about it, in Dark Souls 1, at the very bottom of The Great Hollow, you stumble across “Ash Lake”. A place that looks like it has been long forgotten and has giant dragon bones in it, a single Hydra which may be the last one in existence, and there looks like there is very tall trees all throughout Ash Lake if you look around the area, and you find the giant great dragon there that offers you to join it’s Covenant. The place looks very ancient and could be the birthplace or home of all ancient dragons and ancient giants alike, only now with the passage of time, there is basically nothing left there & it looks abandoned and deserted.
I've always seen Aldia as a sort of Darth Kreia character. A sort of mentor character that doesnt quite want you to follow their ideals, but rather come to your own conclusions
Thats definitely it. He does want to see whats beyond light and dark but hes not gonna force the player to go his way. He fully explains both sides and is basically like, well now choose
There genuinely are no great aldia-focused, long form videos on UA-cam yet, somehow. So thank you for filling this niche! I've been looking for one, since I beat ds2 but never played any DLC expansions. So I missed a lot of his story obviously
While Gwyn was the lord of light, nowhere in the games are the lord souls themselves given the light/death/life aspects. They’re pretty much a fan creation.
Right but thats the subtext we can get since the only other disparity we have heard that sprung from the first flame within the games is life and death so using that and putting several things together like nito's title as first of the dead death like aesthetics etc,etc its a safe assumption to do since tbh dark souls is like 99% subtext...
22:39 DS2 is beautiful in how truly bountiful its content is. I've completed at least six runs but never got this mask. And i thought the red phantoms on the belfry roof dropping their gear was rare! 12:16 i never noticed this until Madman paired the footage with the discussion, but does this shot of the CU peering at the dropped corpse kinda mirror how Gael looks over at the Ashen One when he's consumed the dark soul?
Dark souls 2 is my favorite game and I must say, I haven’t seen anyone else give it the justice you have, so far you’ve already by 23:53 created more of a picture of how and why Aldia is the way he is than I’ve ever seen in another video, I can’t wait for more honored madman dark souls 2
Wow holy fucking shit man, just when I commented making a meme about him teasing us on this vid for a year straight, he drops it😭😭💀 Imma watch this one very meticulously, but now is not the time - I'll wait for dinner just before going to bed to blast this on my TV, a video like this requires the utmost of attention
The first 15ish minutes are some of the best and to the point recap of DS1's lore/backstory I have ever heard. The rest of the video is great but that part is truly impressive.
Sorry but Gwynn is absolutely the reason humanity is cursed. Did he know it would happen? Who can tell. But he's the reason for the curse. The Darksign is just a pilot light for dark souls. I'm inclined to believe every undead has it in DS1. Not sure about later games since over time the... "infrastructure" that Gwynn set in place before linking the fire might have crumbled. Could be wrong about the Darksign but that's my head-canon.
@@slaveykoslaveykov9069 The Undead Curse came from the Firelinking, no doubt. That was not intended on Gwyn's side. As for humans, Sieglinde, Siegmeyer's daughter is not Undead. And many characters speak of becoming undead. Laurentius, Solaire, Griggs, Rhea. They were not born with the Darksign, but got it later in life. Every Undead has the Darksign, yes, that's what makes them Undead, but not every human in the game is Undead to begin with.
@@josephbulkin9222 I see what you mean but I disagree - I do think all humans have the Darksign. It only makes sense for all of humanity to be branded, not just undead. Like you said Gwyn likely didn't even anticipate the curse. And, well, undead go hollow, and hollows dont have any humanity left so they don't have anything to burn.
You can say what you will about DS2. We've all heard it. But I will say this. DS2 has some of the best dialogue of any game ever made. It's so deep, relatable and eye opening at every turn. Stories aren't just for entertainment "they teach us how they live, and why" - Arabian Nights.
Great breakdown for one of the most underrated characters of the series. I look forward to hearing more about Pontiff Sullivan. I would also be interested to hear your breakdowns about sister Friede who is frequently just summarized as "a evil bitch" and moved past hastily. Also Gael and the pygmy lords/the identity of the furtive pygmy, whats up with the witch of izalith/bed of chaos, as well as whatever significance you place on Manus in the series. Also for elden ring did you ever do a breakdown on your thoughts of who/ what the gloam eyed Queen is/was? I personally am of the belief that she was probably a white serpent, or at least had that as her shadow for how heavily serpentine imagery is associated with her, the godskins, and rykard. I would be curious to hear your thoughts though.
@@_thebigsteve fair enough. i've been digging into it a while and think there's a significant amount of evidence but i'd rather not argue in a giant comment laying it all out. it's definitely a fringe take, but i think it works well for the narrative. the theories about the GEQ being marika's rival, mother, sister, or daughter probably also work, but don't feel as clean to me.
@@_thebigsteve biggest 2 clues for me are how none of the lore ever says the GEQ and the Golden Order warred or opposed Marika. It's very specific to just state that Maliketh defeated her. In this circumstance, it could be seen as her empyrean shadow forcing her back under the rule of the Fingers, like Blaidd and the Fingers were trying to do with Ranni. and the thing that only recently got spotted and datamined out, the depiction of the Gloam Eyed Queen engraved on the Godskin Stitcher is basically identical to the Marika statue in Messmer's room.
@mattb6616 that's fair. She feels to me if anything at this point a character like velka from dark souls. Important to the narrative but in and of herself put in the background by the narrative because it wasn't as important to the overall story as what was done in response for her. Have you heard the theory that Messmer was one of the gloam eyed queens children that were taken by Marika and thats why he is affiliated with snakes, and has some explanation as to the role of the "abductor virgins" in the story?
Been looking forward to this vid for so long now, Madman. Glad to see you finally finished it. I really appreciate how you you take time to actively ponder upon alternative options to your main thesis, while still strengthening your main opinion. While an Elden DLC vid sounds fresh, I really think a Pontiff or Vendrick vid sounds really cool. You do you, bud. Keep up the good work! 🤙
I know, I agree. I love Dark Souls II so much and consider it to be the best of the trilogy IN MY OPINION. Just saying that can get me so much hate lol 😂. Dark Souls II was very important to the entire trilogy, and sadly we got to see what time does to people, places and events. God I love the Dark Souls Trilogy.
43:30 instead of freeing himself from the yoke completely. He bound himself to it in a fashion that allowed him to ride it's course, rather than being amongst those pulling it.
Gwynn knew of the undead curse long before the fire began to fade, as evidenced by the slave knights used as undead fodder in his wars. He was not only afraid of their ability to multiply, but also of their inexhaustible ability to overwhelm the enemy
Totally worth the wait. DS2 was my first FromSoft game and I was still early when it came to piecing things together, so Aldia was a bit of a mystery to me ... until now!
Amazing vid man. Hopefully one day you'd consider making a lord of hollows vid. If anyone can make a worthwhile commentary on a seemingly unexplored story given the limited sources about it, it would be you. Keep up the great content ✊🏽
Ive been wanting to a video on it for so long ive got all the clips saved i just gotta rewatch the movie one more time to suitably rant about how awesome it is
Aldia is one of the best characters in Souls and it’s a tragedy we don’t hear more of him and his philosophy on 3; especially considering that game Ultimately has us cheat the cycle for good
19:27 to 19:45 there is some narrative dissonance with the assertion that the giants are a reincarnation or otherwise connected to the everlasting dragons other than converging on balance and un-change. why? well, if the dragons represent a non-stagnant eternity, and the flame is change, then "reincarnation" in giants goes completely against this notion. The everlasting dragons are supposedly outside the endless cycles of fire. For what we know maybe the cycles of light and dark have happened even before the main story, and the dragons and the trees were already there; for what we know, the dragons might just "exist" and they just become more apparent whenever there's no disparity.
I know that Pontiff doesn't sound like the First Scholar anymore, but you can see remnants of that being the case in early DS3 development, seeing how he was basically meant to be the final boss - someone knowing the fire and dark very closely, there to end it all, get rid of gods entirely and the cycle.
We know trees have connections to the Dark, as hollows in ds3 have been transforming to them, and we know that Giants, like dragons, are outside of the cycle of Fire and Dark. Because Giants seem like an incarnation of dragons or have a certain connection to them, Aldia recreated an ancient dragon. Their souls seem like a balance of Light and Dark, don't they? And Aldia had a fascination with merging Human and Dragon, don't you think he tried to do that on himself, to achieve balance between his Light and Dark souls, and become something like a giant or an ancient dragon, but failed? He is immortal in some way, and in a way that our character achieves immortality as well (strength of fire from crowns to control the darkness within, achieving balance). I like this theory more than him binding himself to the first flame, because Aldia's presence is felt through ds3 and yet the flame has already died there at least once (the dark shrine of Gundyr). I think the Aldia ending is really well complemented by the crown ending of the DLCs, in which you achieve the ending Aldia always desired, a balance of light and dark and a way for humanity to be released from the cycles as the powerful and immortal creatures that they were meant to be, and I think it's the ending achieved in Lord of Hollows ending of ds3. I like the idea of the Sable Church, Aldia and the princes working together to find a worthy unkindled capable of wresting the flame and finally fixing the world.
@@bluebird2217 In ds2 and ds3 ancient dragons have souls, for some reason (Sinh and Midir. Midir is supposedly a descendant but he got 4 wings and that usually means ancient immortal dragon)
@@nothingness217 Personally I think descendants of the ancient dragons differ from their ancestors because they have souls. Which i think is a byproduct from the first flame, the source of souls.
The first of the Scholars was Big Hat Logan. The whole of Grand Archives was founded by Logan and his research. Oceiros discovered this research and became enamored with Seath, who Logan was studying. It has nothing to do with Aldia and the name of the spell is a simple misdirection. Because Lothric is a proverbial melting pot of kingdoms and peoples from ages past and present it makes sense that Logan would have somehow been able to have influence over the archives. Channel Yoshimitsu has a really good video going over it. TLDR: you’re wrong lol
As for Sullivan, I still think he couldve been the one mentoring the princes. Even if hes just some guy there must have been some kind of catalyst for him to be able to control both flame and darkmoon spells. It hints at a pretty deep understanding of the magics that Gwyn used in that first age
Tremendous video mate - Aldia is such an incredible character and you've done him justice here!
Fancy seeing you here @SmoughTown, I love your videos and Hawkshaw’s videos too.
Dark Souls II is such a great and fun game, it doesn’t deserve all the hate that it gets, it deserves praise and it’s lore definitely deserves more praise, because it does play important roles within the entirety of the Dark Souls Timeline.
Need that Elden Ring book man. Also props for keeping the price very fair for the enormous amount of work I know went into it. The quality looks insane.
My favorite character in the souls series bar none
The “A LIE WILL REMAIN A LIE” monologue is still one of the hardest in gaming history
Men are props on the stage of life...
Second place would be Sir Vilhelm's dialogue to ashen one
Aldia urging the bearer of the curse to look beyond the cycle of light and dark, and Vendrick advising them to seek strength as the foundation to face adversity is one of the best storytelling in Dark Souls and its criminal they play such a minimal role in ds3
Yeah I love their duality as brothers and how different their views of life are when it comes to the curse
At the end of the day, it was Vendrick's way that ended up being the true one - the Bearer of the Curse seeks strength in the crowns of other great kings, and eventually beats the curse, unable to go hollow (if wearing one of said crowns)
Tbf, looking beyond the cycle was continued with the Painter wanting to start a new world altogether. Characters like Gael and Sulyvahn clearly were inspired by that mindset too.
It's nice they included the Drang knights in DS3, and a few other weapons / armor pieces from DS2 but man playing thru 3 right now feels like the stuff from 2 was just added mostly as an afterthought.
I shouldve gone into more detail on the ashen mist heart and a few other things. I might do a follow up rant style video, stay tuned. Next up, the penguin video
Can’t wait man! Gonna watch Penguin tonight
Ah, Aldia- Truly peak dark souls writing at its finest.
The lore is so deep calling DS2 "God tier" seems inadequate. This is Furtive Pygmy tier
@@ThommyofThenn Furtive who?
@@juromori Some easily forgotten tiny fella
Aldia created a dragon, elephant people, lion people, dragon people, dragon people², hippo people, mirror portals, rust dogs, and a cute emo girl
Crazy accomplishment
If I knew my research might lead to making the emerald GF I would not cease my research until the last flame ceased
the lion-men aren't made by aldia, they are stranded forossans from most likely eleum loyce given the shrine of winter's vicinity which thanks to their lion culture and worship over faraam took on a lion form, thats why they called either demi-humans (亜人) or subhumans in the jpn, and also why the lion axe makes a point that they are too sophisticated to be a "lion tribe" along with the devs in the design works confirming that they are humans which were cursed, likely in this case by their own obsessive worship
the kobold, or roaming dogs per the JPN, thanks to the collector's edition guide, are said that they are native to things betwixt and are implied to have been dogs experimented by aldia, hence why only in aldia's keep and shaded woods do the ones there drop aldia-related items, its kind of like the irl gist of dogs being experimented upon by humans
i can tell more if u want on discord, my name there is RafaelBalbinus
Forlorn and Numen
Only women.
From another word
Attacks from the shadows.
Dont have faces.
Elden Ring really is Ds2 2
You got proof the numen are all women?
i mean yeah
The long-awaited Aldia video is here. Glad to see it. Commenting now for visibility, but I'll check it out on stream some time
Much appreciated, king
So cool seeing you here! 😊
Aldia, similar to how giantdad was made canon in ds2 with a item description, is essentially the canon manifestation of souls lore masters. He is one of the most important characters in the entire series, and I’m glad people have started to acknowledge that fact instead of trying to act like ds2 never happened like how it was a few years ago.
So much can be gleamed from looking into what he was studying - with bits of his character traits can still be found in characters like rykard, midra, ymir, and shabiri to name a few just from ER.
Aldia is definitely one of the main pillars of Dark Souls.
He is very important to the universe.
What item description made GiantDad canon?
Gleaned*
Babe drop EVERYTHING...the fabled Honored Madman Aldia video has come at last!
I hope you and Jonathan enjoy the vid!
@@zedchillman2685 I sure will!
Been waiting a long time for this.
Hilarious comment so unique
@@hulkingmass but he's the Bob ross of underrated Souls character lore videos :)
A LIE WILL REMAIN A LIEEEEEEE
YOUNG HOLLOW, KNOWING THIS, DO YOU STILL DESIRE PEACE?
8:20 The dragons bullied Gwyn for being bald!?!! Pieces are finally fallng into place. Thx Madman
Although it was hard to understand in the game (as most souls games are), your explanation of ds2’s story within the ds3 and ds1’s sphere is very well said and easy to understand, which gives me more respect for ds2 in general as it was asking the big questions, reflecting back to the past game and the player’s decisions within it .
Okay, DaS 2 is my favourite game from the trilogy, so I’m gonna outline my lore interpretations before I watch this.
This is the midtimes of the linking of the fires. We go to multiple kingdoms that have both linked the fire and acquiesced to dark, respectively.
The lost sinner used her pyromancy to replicate the witch of izalith.
The rotten accepted the old soul of the dead. Which also meant it accepted all of the trash from Majula.
the old iron king attempted to be as influential as Gwyn,
The Duke of brightstone cove Tseldora wanted to be as intelligent as the old Duke of the archives, but he couldn’t and decided to let a remnant of the old duke become as strong as possible.
All of which are tragically exactly what vendrick wanted.
I didn’t know Pontiff was originally planned to be the final boss fight.
Tbh I think he should have been. I like Soul of Cinder but Pontiff’s pure influence over the plot of DS3 can not be understated
The story of Aldia is the story of Dark Souls 2 (and basically of all of the Dark Souls series) if you think about it.
THE ALDIA VIDEO IS REAL!! 🗣❗️
In earlier cycles it was lost media, but how a great champion has come to Like the First Aldia Vid, bringing about an age of plenty
Wow, references to The Storyteller, The Gentlemen, Deadwood, AND Casual Geographic?
I love this channel.
The amount of things you linked together in this video really justifies how long I've been hearing you say that it's coming this is seriously impressive
A video all about the greatest souls character.... yes please. I'm so glad Aldia is still talked about
I think that taking the throne is more than just linking the fire; it represents the continuation of the light/dark cycle that Gwyn put the world into. Nashandra wanted to sit on that throne more than anything else, and something tells me she would definitely not have linked the fire, regardless of whether we do when we sit on it (which isn't even shown in that ending cutscene, it's left open to our own interpretation). Aldia's dialogue when you choose to leave the throne spells it out much more clearly, saying we are going "beyond the scope of light, beyond the reach of dark." This clearly tells us that leaving the throne is the act of abandoning the entire cycle of light/dark and trying to find a third path beyond what was offered to us in DS1; a way to break the curse, not to surrender to it or to overcome it.
Yeah I've always seen the throne as encapsulating both the endings of DS1. The idea that the two choices at the end are PART of the cycle. Choosing the dark ending is not rebellion, it is factored into the system, if that makes sense?
Dude, Aldia is one of the more "cool factor" characters in Souls, to me. His voice acting and the story surrounding him is so intriguiung and grounded to me. His response to the undead curse is very relateable (although misguided and, ultimately, extremist.) Thanks for doi g his story justice!
Very grateful I’m not the only one still obsessed with DS2 lore
aldia crawled so elden ring could run
I've always been curious about the role Aldia's played in shaping the fandom's opinion of Gwyn, the cycles, and the nature of the world. Specifically, I'm curious why Aldia seems to be uniquely trusted above all other NPCs that tell us what to do (Frampt, Kaathe), there's some pretence that he's leaving us to decide but he's very clearly pushing a "something different" angle.
The community was good and skeptic after DS1 came out, the fandom had gone in circles about what ending was good and had kinda settled on "neither, and both NPCs are manipulating us". When vanilla DS2 came out a lot of people were confused or didnt notice all the connective tissue, but it seemed even more vague and open to interpretation what was going on. Then SOTFS came out and the fandom seemed to universally just accept "oh good, an NPC that tells me who the bad guys were in DS1 and the best way for the player character to proceed", all skepticism gone. Part of this might just be Fromsoft pivoting after complaints about vanilla DS2 not being closely related enough to DS1, but we have lore from item descriptions (which are generally considered to a reliable narrator) that tell us even the names of the old Gods etc are all forgotten by this point in time. Then Aldia shows up and goes "oh yeah, Gwyn did this and it was a Tuesday morning and he was wearing a purple shirt, and his intentions were evil". How does he know any of this? Does he actually know, or is he making an educated guess? Why would anyone assume he's being truthful? Normally the guy who experiments on people and creates mutated monsters isnt considered to be the most altruistic, even in Souls (Seath, etc).
There was an interview with the directors of ds2 where they said that the story of ds2 (atleast what they wanted) was going to be alot more straightforward compared to ds1.
This is why characters like emerald hareld, king vendrick and aldia just spell out ds1 story and theme very clearly to you.
@@xsubzerox3412 The self-contained story of ds2 was much more straightforward, but it wasnt until Scholar that they added Aldia + Vendrick talking your ear off about ds1. Generally in any soulsborne game I consider any NPC that gives me direct answers to be likely to be:
1. Wrong
2. Lying
or
3. Guessing
I think that last one is underappreciated in the Souls universe. If there's never been an Age of Dark, how does Kaathe know that it's going to be so great? Oolacile and New Londo dont seem great. I'm convinced Kaathe didnt even know how to trigger the Age of Dark in that first cycle, he seems to truly believe refusing the link the flame would achive that goal, but by the time of DS3 he's clearly learned the fire would need to be actively extinguished or usurped for that to happen. Which means he was mistaken in DS1, despite speaking so confidently. If he was mistaken about how to trigger it, then I wouldnt trust his bold claims about how amazing it'd be for mankind either.
That was a small tangent but relevant because the Souls community seems to have similar assumptions that the "natural order" is better for mankind than constantly linking the fire, which mostly stems from Aldia or Aldia-aligned NPCs. But in a world that's only known grey nothingness and then the cycle, how could anyone claim to know what life outside the cycle looks like? Mankind in the 'natural order' could well be the mindless shambling hollows we see in the DS1 intro, since fire is what brought disparity.
@@MikeHesk742 Both Aldia and Vendrick, two brothers, investigated the nature of spirits together. Vendrick had gathered 4 Great Lord Spirits during his time. I think they studied these spirits and have knowledge of the events of DS1.
@@MikeHesk742It’s worse when you consider that Aldia tortured and experimented the entire population of Drangleic, and for what? Nothing, other than being made a mockery by the shield of want in DS3.
Yet has the gall to say Gwyn sinned, because he sacrificed himself to save his people
@@EldenRingBuildsArchive That's a good point. Speaking of Gwyn's sacrifice I see a lot of comments on the "Gwyn's the bad guy, linking the fire's bad" side of things that regurgitate what some Aldia or Kaathe-aligned NPCs say about it all being to prolong the age of gods and keep mankind down. But look at DS2, the great kingdoms of Drangleic, Forossa, the Iron King's kindom, Sunken City etc, were all human kingdom with man sitting at the top. No Gods looking down and ruling over like in Lordran. It feels like the Gods are all dead or hiding, and yet somehow allegedly continuing the cycle is about keeping mankind subservient to the Gods and Gwyn was so selfish he... sacrificed himself?
My god, you madlad you actually did it. I've been waiting forever for this!
Damn it really gets across how long and how much experimenting he went through. So many accomplishments over the ages.
This is great! After hearing about it for so long, I'm glad you took your time with it, it really paid off! Thank you for your work!
I’ve been waiting months for this one! Finally! Thank you for creating this!
My lore goat 🐐💯🙌
Honored Madman, Scholar of the Second Souls.
Also glad to see you finally finished this big project of a video, man, congrats.
I alr commented but fr i have an unhealthy obsession with primal knights i dont know why but they take up space in my head daily thank you aldia❤❤
Aldia and Gwyn sorta represent the two parts that make of archetype of the deity Wotan.
Gwyn is the creation and upholding of order and Aldia is the discovery of knowledge and wisdom, both achieved through tremendous and terrible sacrifice to the benefit of no one else.
This is the first video that’s actually made me understand the lore of DS2. I love the loose and fast but densely packed style of presentation. Amazing lore video ❤
Man, what a blessed day to have brand new 1h+ Aldia video to watch!
Keep up the awesome work man!
The hype surrounding this video is the stuff of legends. I swear I've been on the edge of my seat since I discovered your channel and you always tease this video. I'm so excited!
Been waiting for this!!! Great job!!
He finally dropped it 😭worth the wait good job man
The whole giants being used as sacrifice to make dragons kinda makes sense. The dragons, the trees and the fog were there before it all, giants turn into trees, maybe growing into the rocky arch trees over time who knows.
Giants are rocky looking, the seed of giants is also a thing. So maybe giants were the origins of the arch trees.
Im guessing turning everlasting material into other everlasting material could be possible, i forget what its called but the technique Ludleth uses in dark souls 3 to make souls into weapons could be used at a grander scale for Aldia's experiments letting him transmutate giants into dragons.
I also always felt like both dragons and giants probably are life born of splinters from the trees, all 3 being made of stone.
Soul transposition, which is, ironically, inside a great tree made of hollows
Trees have always played a huge, unknown role in the dark souls lore that I don't see many ppl talk about
@@Sohelanthropus I do feel like it is actually a very big thing as well but just kinda gets mentioned in passing I think once in DS 2 & 3 and then never again just to explain boss weapons.
If you think about it, in Dark Souls 1, at the very bottom of The Great Hollow, you stumble across “Ash Lake”.
A place that looks like it has been long forgotten and has giant dragon bones in it, a single Hydra which may be the last one in existence, and there looks like there is very tall trees all throughout Ash Lake if you look around the area, and you find the giant great dragon there that offers you to join it’s Covenant.
The place looks very ancient and could be the birthplace or home of all ancient dragons and ancient giants alike, only now with the passage of time, there is basically nothing left there & it looks abandoned and deserted.
This video has more lore in it than i ever knew was in dark souls. it was an amazing deep dive into one of my personal favorite series.
I absolutely need the melody thats played in the first 5 seconds, pleaseeee
Great video! I'm glad you're open about when you are speculating
The Goat himself has spoken once more and once more I shall listen with batted breath
I've always seen Aldia as a sort of Darth Kreia character. A sort of mentor character that doesnt quite want you to follow their ideals, but rather come to your own conclusions
Thats definitely it. He does want to see whats beyond light and dark but hes not gonna force the player to go his way. He fully explains both sides and is basically like, well now choose
I thought this was a running gag. Going to make popcorn for this!
There genuinely are no great aldia-focused, long form videos on UA-cam yet, somehow. So thank you for filling this niche! I've been looking for one, since I beat ds2 but never played any DLC expansions. So I missed a lot of his story obviously
While Gwyn was the lord of light, nowhere in the games are the lord souls themselves given the light/death/life aspects. They’re pretty much a fan creation.
Right but thats the subtext we can get since the only other disparity we have heard that sprung from the first flame within the games is life and death so using that and putting several things together like nito's title as first of the dead death like aesthetics etc,etc its a safe assumption to do since tbh dark souls is like 99% subtext...
22:39 DS2 is beautiful in how truly bountiful its content is. I've completed at least six runs but never got this mask. And i thought the red phantoms on the belfry roof dropping their gear was rare!
12:16 i never noticed this until Madman paired the footage with the discussion, but does this shot of the CU peering at the dropped corpse kinda mirror how Gael looks over at the Ashen One when he's consumed the dark soul?
That was my thought while editing, i was wondering if it was intentional or if i was just reading too much into it lol
@@TheHonoredMadmanpossibly a gamer equivalent to a recurring, subtle visual motif in a director's filmography.
@@jerrym1218 some IPs like those marvel movies go way too heavy on it. I have many other problems with their lousy movies but that is a big part of it
I've been diving into Sotfs really hard this past month, playing everyday so this video dropped at the perfect time for me
Dark souls 2 is my favorite game and I must say, I haven’t seen anyone else give it the justice you have, so far you’ve already by 23:53 created more of a picture of how and why Aldia is the way he is than I’ve ever seen in another video, I can’t wait for more honored madman dark souls 2
Wow holy fucking shit man, just when I commented making a meme about him teasing us on this vid for a year straight, he drops it😭😭💀
Imma watch this one very meticulously, but now is not the time - I'll wait for dinner just before going to bed to blast this on my TV, a video like this requires the utmost of attention
Awesome video man, we all really appreciate the effort you put into making these videos.
Aldia "Scholar of the first sin" Thundercock
Great video! I’m so glad to have found this channel, so much good content, and I especially like the attention to ds2 lore
The first 15ish minutes are some of the best and to the point recap of DS1's lore/backstory I have ever heard. The rest of the video is great but that part is truly impressive.
But it lies. Gwyn didnt give humans the Undead Curse(not intentionally, at least), and certainly not all humans carry the Darksign.
Sorry but Gwynn is absolutely the reason humanity is cursed. Did he know it would happen? Who can tell. But he's the reason for the curse. The Darksign is just a pilot light for dark souls. I'm inclined to believe every undead has it in DS1. Not sure about later games since over time the... "infrastructure" that Gwynn set in place before linking the fire might have crumbled. Could be wrong about the Darksign but that's my head-canon.
@@slaveykoslaveykov9069 The Undead Curse came from the Firelinking, no doubt. That was not intended on Gwyn's side.
As for humans, Sieglinde, Siegmeyer's daughter is not Undead. And many characters speak of becoming undead. Laurentius, Solaire, Griggs, Rhea. They were not born with the Darksign, but got it later in life. Every Undead has the Darksign, yes, that's what makes them Undead, but not every human in the game is Undead to begin with.
@@josephbulkin9222 I see what you mean but I disagree - I do think all humans have the Darksign. It only makes sense for all of humanity to be branded, not just undead. Like you said Gwyn likely didn't even anticipate the curse. And, well, undead go hollow, and hollows dont have any humanity left so they don't have anything to burn.
You can say what you will about DS2. We've all heard it. But I will say this.
DS2 has some of the best dialogue of any game ever made. It's so deep, relatable and eye opening at every turn.
Stories aren't just for entertainment "they teach us how they live, and why" - Arabian Nights.
I screamed, I've been waiting so long for this!!
Great breakdown of an extremely interesting character, one that deconstructs a lot of what was presented in Dark Souls 1. Great vid.
Great breakdown for one of the most underrated characters of the series. I look forward to hearing more about Pontiff Sullivan. I would also be interested to hear your breakdowns about sister Friede who is frequently just summarized as "a evil bitch" and moved past hastily. Also Gael and the pygmy lords/the identity of the furtive pygmy, whats up with the witch of izalith/bed of chaos, as well as whatever significance you place on Manus in the series.
Also for elden ring did you ever do a breakdown on your thoughts of who/ what the gloam eyed Queen is/was? I personally am of the belief that she was probably a white serpent, or at least had that as her shadow for how heavily serpentine imagery is associated with her, the godskins, and rykard. I would be curious to hear your thoughts though.
she was marika
@mattb6616 that's been a theory I've heard a lot but the evidence seems pretty lackluster or a shot in the dark.
@@_thebigsteve fair enough. i've been digging into it a while and think there's a significant amount of evidence but i'd rather not argue in a giant comment laying it all out. it's definitely a fringe take, but i think it works well for the narrative. the theories about the GEQ being marika's rival, mother, sister, or daughter probably also work, but don't feel as clean to me.
@@_thebigsteve biggest 2 clues for me are how none of the lore ever says the GEQ and the Golden Order warred or opposed Marika. It's very specific to just state that Maliketh defeated her. In this circumstance, it could be seen as her empyrean shadow forcing her back under the rule of the Fingers, like Blaidd and the Fingers were trying to do with Ranni.
and the thing that only recently got spotted and datamined out, the depiction of the Gloam Eyed Queen engraved on the Godskin Stitcher is basically identical to the Marika statue in Messmer's room.
@mattb6616 that's fair. She feels to me if anything at this point a character like velka from dark souls. Important to the narrative but in and of herself put in the background by the narrative because it wasn't as important to the overall story as what was done in response for her. Have you heard the theory that Messmer was one of the gloam eyed queens children that were taken by Marika and thats why he is affiliated with snakes, and has some explanation as to the role of the "abductor virgins" in the story?
Been looking forward to this vid for so long now, Madman. Glad to see you finally finished it.
I really appreciate how you you take time to actively ponder upon alternative options to your main thesis, while still strengthening your main opinion.
While an Elden DLC vid sounds fresh, I really think a Pontiff or Vendrick vid sounds really cool. You do you, bud.
Keep up the good work! 🤙
LET'S GOOOOOOOO🎉🎉
The Man, the Myth, the Scholar!
Aldia was one of my favorite NPCs. I really hate how much of a bad rap DS2 gets online. I feel that is all changing finally, though :)
I know, I agree.
I love Dark Souls II so much and consider it to be the best of the trilogy IN MY OPINION.
Just saying that can get me so much hate lol 😂.
Dark Souls II was very important to the entire trilogy, and sadly we got to see what time does to people, places and events.
God I love the Dark Souls Trilogy.
Really good video, I’ve been watching all of your vids after seeing this
Oooooohhhhhh, I BEEN waitin on this one! Finally!!!!
Yes finally an hour long video about my favorite dark souls character
43:30 instead of freeing himself from the yoke completely. He bound himself to it in a fashion that allowed him to ride it's course, rather than being amongst those pulling it.
Gwynn knew of the undead curse long before the fire began to fade, as evidenced by the slave knights used as undead fodder in his wars.
He was not only afraid of their ability to multiply, but also of their inexhaustible ability to overwhelm the enemy
Yours synthesis of DS lore is the best I've heard
Totally worth the wait. DS2 was my first FromSoft game and I was still early when it came to piecing things together, so Aldia was a bit of a mystery to me ... until now!
I’ve already accidentally fallen asleep to this a few times. Excited to do it again
My managers just left and it’s just me for the next 2 and half hours. Couldn’t ask for anything better to pass the time🙏🙏 thank you!
39:31 the best theory I’ve seen for this was the unleash magic spell!
Amazing vid man. Hopefully one day you'd consider making a lord of hollows vid. If anyone can make a worthwhile commentary on a seemingly unexplored story given the limited sources about it, it would be you. Keep up the great content ✊🏽
YES! I've been waiting for this video
An hourlong Aldia video? Very fucking excited!
This video is great would be an understatement.
Cool video! Looking forward to the Prospect video, that one was cool to stumble across.
Ive been wanting to a video on it for so long ive got all the clips saved i just gotta rewatch the movie one more time to suitably rant about how awesome it is
A whole hour video about one of my favorite characters in fiction ever? Sign me up
Great video, absolutely worth the wait
Aldia is one of the best characters in Souls and it’s a tragedy we don’t hear more of him and his philosophy on 3; especially considering that game
Ultimately has us cheat the cycle for good
The Real Aldia? Perfection!
I think something like "The Legacy Of Aldia" with the thumbnail saying "The man who tried to beat the curse" would go even harder ngl🗣
I think I’ll subscribe solely off be being caught off guard by that bong rip. Now I feel like I gotta smoke with you
Your videos are so fire I appreciate you making these videos man your dry commentary is awesome compared to guys like vaati who go so over the top
A LIE WILL REMAIN A LIE
You’re my favorite soulstuber bro. Keep it up🎉
19:27 to 19:45 there is some narrative dissonance with the assertion that the giants are a reincarnation or otherwise connected to the everlasting dragons other than converging on balance and un-change. why? well, if the dragons represent a non-stagnant eternity, and the flame is change, then "reincarnation" in giants goes completely against this notion. The everlasting dragons are supposedly outside the endless cycles of fire. For what we know maybe the cycles of light and dark have happened even before the main story, and the dragons and the trees were already there; for what we know, the dragons might just "exist" and they just become more apparent whenever there's no disparity.
I know that Pontiff doesn't sound like the First Scholar anymore, but you can see remnants of that being the case in early DS3 development, seeing how he was basically meant to be the final boss - someone knowing the fire and dark very closely, there to end it all, get rid of gods entirely and the cycle.
We know trees have connections to the Dark, as hollows in ds3 have been transforming to them, and we know that Giants, like dragons, are outside of the cycle of Fire and Dark. Because Giants seem like an incarnation of dragons or have a certain connection to them, Aldia recreated an ancient dragon. Their souls seem like a balance of Light and Dark, don't they? And Aldia had a fascination with merging Human and Dragon, don't you think he tried to do that on himself, to achieve balance between his Light and Dark souls, and become something like a giant or an ancient dragon, but failed? He is immortal in some way, and in a way that our character achieves immortality as well (strength of fire from crowns to control the darkness within, achieving balance). I like this theory more than him binding himself to the first flame, because Aldia's presence is felt through ds3 and yet the flame has already died there at least once (the dark shrine of Gundyr).
I think the Aldia ending is really well complemented by the crown ending of the DLCs, in which you achieve the ending Aldia always desired, a balance of light and dark and a way for humanity to be released from the cycles as the powerful and immortal creatures that they were meant to be, and I think it's the ending achieved in Lord of Hollows ending of ds3. I like the idea of the Sable Church, Aldia and the princes working together to find a worthy unkindled capable of wresting the flame and finally fixing the world.
Didn't dragons exist before light and dark ? Therefore couldn't have a balanced soul if at all.
@@bluebird2217 In ds2 and ds3 ancient dragons have souls, for some reason (Sinh and Midir. Midir is supposedly a descendant but he got 4 wings and that usually means ancient immortal dragon)
@@nothingness217 Personally I think descendants of the ancient dragons differ from their ancestors because they have souls. Which i think is a byproduct from the first flame, the source of souls.
The first of the Scholars was Big Hat Logan. The whole of Grand Archives was founded by Logan and his research. Oceiros discovered this research and became enamored with Seath, who Logan was studying. It has nothing to do with Aldia and the name of the spell is a simple misdirection. Because Lothric is a proverbial melting pot of kingdoms and peoples from ages past and present it makes sense that Logan would have somehow been able to have influence over the archives. Channel Yoshimitsu has a really good video going over it.
TLDR: you’re wrong lol
thanks for this video, aldia has always been my favorite fromsoft character
As for Sullivan, I still think he couldve been the one mentoring the princes. Even if hes just some guy there must have been some kind of catalyst for him to be able to control both flame and darkmoon spells. It hints at a pretty deep understanding of the magics that Gwyn used in that first age
Great video ! I love Aldia and it was awesome to find this lore video :D
A darksouls video in our year 2024
It truly brings a tear to my eye
Aldia? >.> take my like then. I can't resist that enchanting voice
Seeing Aldia for the first time was the first horror abomination that broke my pearidolia. A weird character that I grew curious about.
Just found your channel - I'm in. Watched the whole thing. Solid work mate.
If aldia was vendricks size he wouldn’t even be able to get into the majula manor
Thats a great point lol.
As the prophecies foretold!
I was looking for a 1 hour long video on DS2 lore this whole week...