One thing I noted back when I did a deep dive for a Miro document was the choice of corpses, There's unique corpses for the defiled ones, but there are also regular human figures use, which obviously portrays a battle (With the humans being the losing side). And the regular corpses being the ones dropping the faith related materials, so maybe these corpses are either the party that accompanied Astraea into the valley, or a rescue party set alongside Selen.
I NEVER noticed the detail of Astraea's lower half having turned into a bloody pulp. That is equally disturbing and fascinating and it makes me question Garl Vinlands perception of reality more than ever.
Ngl, I really wanna see you revisit your remake's analysis now that it's been 2 or so years. With you analysing and comparing every nook and cranny of the remake with the original and whatnot. Maybe someday :) (And I know it will probably take ages to do this kind of video, but I think it'll be worth it, plus you're really good at it, like no one else)
Hell yeah this is the best fromsoft swamp. I totally buy your theory that she is giving birth, I always questioned why it is so extra bloody on the spot where she sits. Like, a LOT more than on the corpse pile and there is no blood where Garl fights, but she sits in a pool of it, and thin streams of blood run down from what looks like a large cloth behind her. (In the remake blood gushes out from the stone walls behind her) It's been well over a decade and there is still more for me to learn about this awesome work of art, great work, bro.
"The Valley of Defilement" is likely formed in the middle of two mountains, or in the divide/crag of one; hence the nearby mountain/rockfaces, the ravine leading to the outpour/swamp... plus this possibly explains the sludge slipping in too. The saddest part is, the shanty-town's structures have no obvious starting point near the spawn; meaning they seem to lead up instead of in, they likely tried to escape/climb out but apparently-enough it is hopeless.
On the topic of blessed items in the Valley of Defilement, Saint Urbain mentions that a number of honorable knights have ventured down there: Bito the Moonlight Knight; who left his sword down there, Lizaia of Istarel; whose spear you can find, and Selen Vinland; who is still alive and looking for her brother Garl. There are also many strung up or abandoned corpses of soldiers or temple knights who have ventured down there (most notably piled up near Garl Vinland and Maiden Astraea), likely in search of their lost sixth saint. There is some mystery regarding how exactly Astraea is helping the unfortunate souls of the valley. Whether she is as pure as she appears. It is implied by her soul items that she provides relief and is taking on the impurity of the Valley into herself, and I like to believe that her followers in part share those elements with her. They aren't exactly being healed by the demon Astraea to survive in the plague-infested valley, but rather they have been transformed into twisted creatures that can survive there as if it was their natural habitat, at the expense of all the now dead humans you can find littering the area. And of course the filthy woman, who herself claims things were not this bad before Maiden Astraea arrived. She might seem untrustworthy, talking about her sick, invisible (cut from the game) son to try and guilt you into buying her items. But as Selen Vinland says, what reason does she have to lie about Astraea?
This is my favorite Demon’s Souls content. I love that you’re still doing videos on the original. Please keep them coming! You do a wonderful job. Your observations are thought provoking and your presentation is very easy, engaging, and informal.
Fantastic video. I find these comparisons with Bluepoint's remake really interesting, because they show how ignoring certain elements when telling the story can fundamentally change its tone and message.
Great video. I never really made the connection that Astraea could be giving birth and always thought she resurrected the babies. I was introduced to your channel through your video where you compare the art in remake and the original and found your video really insightful. I hope you make more of those as I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one looking forward to it.
only just found out you did more videos like this other than just latria! these are genuinely some of the most underrated videos I know of and I absolutely love them
Another great video! So happy to see analysis vids on the original version. Astraea immediately became a fav FromSoft NPC after my playthrough and I love this world overall.
I never noticed a lot of these details for this zone, I just mostly noticed a lot of surface level details that really kept me thinking about the look of this place. It's definitely my favourite swamp area in the Soulsborne games. I always remember when I first beat the Leechmonger and went out onto the cliff overlooking the poisoned lake with all those dead fish and the seemingly endless darkness before me. One detail I noticed but never looked more into was Astrea's bloody dress. I never looked beyond the blood, didn't see that fleshy growth coming from under the dress. Pretty disturbing when you look at it and think of those Plague Babies. I think the whole "crack in the world where the unwanted and forgotten are left to rot" aspect is what really makes me love the zone in it's entirety, the awful thought of all this refuse and garbage accumulating in this place, suffocating and smothering the people left there. It just feels so striking and memorable compared to other zones in the series, that's not to disrespect them of course, but the Valley of Defilement being the first and all the tidbits of lore and storytelling surrounding it just make it sit rent free in my head when I think of FromSoft's swamp zones. Awesome video! And yay, snipes at the remake are always fine by me lol. Loved your Latria video too. It's my other favourite zone in DeS and it's neat seeing you bring up all of the consistent themes and design choices it has. I usually just paid most attention to the references to the King in Yellow, the shared design principles of the Man-Centipedes, Gargoyles, and Man Eaters with their frozen looks of terror and pain, and yellow yellow yellow all over! I think I probably saw some of the Spiral symbols but never put much thought into it. Looking forward to diving into more videos when I find the time to check them out.
13:00 I am really, really happy that somebody else took notice of these kinds of things. I thought I was the only person who ever thought of ideas like, "Maiden Astrea is giving birth to the babies." Great and informative video. I made a reddit post about the "giving birth" theory a while back, literally 20 days after this video came out, without knowing about it. That's pretty funny. Although nowdays I've been less into the idea, and it's probably not as deep. I'm guessing it's just a reference to actual medieval practices of discarding babies/fetuses. Still, considering what happens later in the series, and how the series philosophically views self-sacrifice, it's not too far-fetched of an idea. I'm unsure.
About the coins: it is interesting to note that the two edge axe depicted in the original Vichy coins is called 'Labrys' and it's the ancient Greek equivalent to the Roman Fasces, both of those symbols stood for the "rule of law" (literally the power of the magistrate to execute the capital punishment aka death), obviously this symbolism was later hijacked in the early 1920s by the Fascists for their own gains and sick ideology. To this day both the Labrys and the Fasces are still used to symbolise the rule of law as you can observe outside the American parliament building or in France's coat. Coming back to Demon's Souls, the Church much like its real life counterpart back in the middle-ages exercises the rule of law going as far as to condemn paganism and impose their monotheistic faith therefore I don't find that hard to believe that those coins found in game were intended to look precisely as they do, as to why the coins are there perhaps they were carried as charity offerings by the Maiden Astrea to the people of the Valley or maybe donated by the god-fearing locals to the Maiden herself before she betrayed the Church all together. It's a bit of a longshot but one that fits in my opinion, besides the Japanese are tragically not that aware of the horrors they and their German and Italian alleys committed during the war therefore to use such coins wouldn't really raise much concerns in the eyes of the average Japanese employee. On a side note, I'm very happy I discovered this channel, although small it shines a level of polish which is hardly seen for Demon's Souls which in my opinion is criminally underrated. Edit: I'm also happy you are sticking to the original visuals of the game since the ones found in the remake sadly butcher much of the original artstyle and environmental storytelling.
Yeahhh nice, right Timing for my Chillout time 👍
One thing I noted back when I did a deep dive for a Miro document was the choice of corpses,
There's unique corpses for the defiled ones, but there are also regular human figures use, which obviously portrays a battle (With the humans being the losing side). And the regular corpses being the ones dropping the faith related materials, so maybe these corpses are either the party that accompanied Astraea into the valley, or a rescue party set alongside Selen.
I NEVER noticed the detail of Astraea's lower half having turned into a bloody pulp.
That is equally disturbing and fascinating and it makes me question Garl Vinlands perception of reality more than ever.
Ngl, I really wanna see you revisit your remake's analysis now that it's been 2 or so years. With you analysing and comparing every nook and cranny of the remake with the original and whatnot. Maybe someday :) (And I know it will probably take ages to do this kind of video, but I think it'll be worth it, plus you're really good at it, like no one else)
This will most likely happen someday, but don't hold your breath! :) Thanks for the comment.
@@HydefHydeyou better make one
Hell yeah this is the best fromsoft swamp. I totally buy your theory that she is giving birth, I always questioned why it is so extra bloody on the spot where she sits. Like, a LOT more than on the corpse pile and there is no blood where Garl fights, but she sits in a pool of it, and thin streams of blood run down from what looks like a large cloth behind her. (In the remake blood gushes out from the stone walls behind her) It's been well over a decade and there is still more for me to learn about this awesome work of art, great work, bro.
"The Valley of Defilement" is likely formed in the middle of two mountains, or in the divide/crag of one; hence the nearby mountain/rockfaces, the ravine leading to the outpour/swamp... plus this possibly explains the sludge slipping in too. The saddest part is, the shanty-town's structures have no obvious starting point near the spawn; meaning they seem to lead up instead of in, they likely tried to escape/climb out but apparently-enough it is hopeless.
Demon's Souls will forever be the masterpiece of FromSoft.
On the topic of blessed items in the Valley of Defilement, Saint Urbain mentions that a number of honorable knights have ventured down there:
Bito the Moonlight Knight; who left his sword down there,
Lizaia of Istarel; whose spear you can find,
and Selen Vinland; who is still alive and looking for her brother Garl.
There are also many strung up or abandoned corpses of soldiers or temple knights who have ventured down there (most notably piled up near Garl Vinland and Maiden Astraea), likely in search of their lost sixth saint.
There is some mystery regarding how exactly Astraea is helping the unfortunate souls of the valley. Whether she is as pure as she appears.
It is implied by her soul items that she provides relief and is taking on the impurity of the Valley into herself, and I like to believe that her followers in part share those elements with her. They aren't exactly being healed by the demon Astraea to survive in the plague-infested valley, but rather they have been transformed into twisted creatures that can survive there as if it was their natural habitat, at the expense of all the now dead humans you can find littering the area.
And of course the filthy woman, who herself claims things were not this bad before Maiden Astraea arrived. She might seem untrustworthy, talking about her sick, invisible (cut from the game) son to try and guilt you into buying her items. But as Selen Vinland says, what reason does she have to lie about Astraea?
Love your videos. You really scour every detail in this game.
This is my favorite Demon’s Souls content. I love that you’re still doing videos on the original. Please keep them coming! You do a wonderful job. Your observations are thought provoking and your presentation is very easy, engaging, and informal.
Thank you very much!
@@HydefHyde Haha- No my friend, thank you! 👍🏻🖤
Fantastic video. I find these comparisons with Bluepoint's remake really interesting, because they show how ignoring certain elements when telling the story can fundamentally change its tone and message.
This is actually the MOST underrated video i have seen ever, great job bro 👍
Great video. I never really made the connection that Astraea could be giving birth and always thought she resurrected the babies. I was introduced to your channel through your video where you compare the art in remake and the original and found your video really insightful. I hope you make more of those as I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one looking forward to it.
It may be a few months before the next one, but I will definitely be creating more DeS content. Thanks for your comment!
only just found out you did more videos like this other than just latria! these are genuinely some of the most underrated videos I know of and I absolutely love them
Valley of Defilement is my hometown.
Demon's Souls is so unwelcoming, the atmosphere and tension here is masterly done
this game is so good
These Demon's Souls analyses are such a fun watch
Another great video! So happy to see analysis vids on the original version. Astraea immediately became a fav FromSoft NPC after my playthrough and I love this world overall.
I never noticed a lot of these details for this zone, I just mostly noticed a lot of surface level details that really kept me thinking about the look of this place. It's definitely my favourite swamp area in the Soulsborne games. I always remember when I first beat the Leechmonger and went out onto the cliff overlooking the poisoned lake with all those dead fish and the seemingly endless darkness before me. One detail I noticed but never looked more into was Astrea's bloody dress. I never looked beyond the blood, didn't see that fleshy growth coming from under the dress. Pretty disturbing when you look at it and think of those Plague Babies.
I think the whole "crack in the world where the unwanted and forgotten are left to rot" aspect is what really makes me love the zone in it's entirety, the awful thought of all this refuse and garbage accumulating in this place, suffocating and smothering the people left there. It just feels so striking and memorable compared to other zones in the series, that's not to disrespect them of course, but the Valley of Defilement being the first and all the tidbits of lore and storytelling surrounding it just make it sit rent free in my head when I think of FromSoft's swamp zones.
Awesome video! And yay, snipes at the remake are always fine by me lol. Loved your Latria video too. It's my other favourite zone in DeS and it's neat seeing you bring up all of the consistent themes and design choices it has. I usually just paid most attention to the references to the King in Yellow, the shared design principles of the Man-Centipedes, Gargoyles, and Man Eaters with their frozen looks of terror and pain, and yellow yellow yellow all over! I think I probably saw some of the Spiral symbols but never put much thought into it. Looking forward to diving into more videos when I find the time to check them out.
Agree 100% with your thoughts, thanks for the comment.
13:00 I am really, really happy that somebody else took notice of these kinds of things. I thought I was the only person who ever thought of ideas like, "Maiden Astrea is giving birth to the babies." Great and informative video.
I made a reddit post about the "giving birth" theory a while back, literally 20 days after this video came out, without knowing about it. That's pretty funny. Although nowdays I've been less into the idea, and it's probably not as deep. I'm guessing it's just a reference to actual medieval practices of discarding babies/fetuses. Still, considering what happens later in the series, and how the series philosophically views self-sacrifice, it's not too far-fetched of an idea. I'm unsure.
About the coins:
it is interesting to note that the two edge axe depicted in the original Vichy coins is called 'Labrys' and it's the ancient Greek equivalent to the Roman Fasces, both of those symbols stood for the "rule of law" (literally the power of the magistrate to execute the capital punishment aka death), obviously this symbolism was later hijacked in the early 1920s by the Fascists for their own gains and sick ideology. To this day both the Labrys and the Fasces are still used to symbolise the rule of law as you can observe outside the American parliament building or in France's coat.
Coming back to Demon's Souls, the Church much like its real life counterpart back in the middle-ages exercises the rule of law going as far as to condemn paganism and impose their monotheistic faith therefore I don't find that hard to believe that those coins found in game were intended to look precisely as they do, as to why the coins are there perhaps they were carried as charity offerings by the Maiden Astrea to the people of the Valley or maybe donated by the god-fearing locals to the Maiden herself before she betrayed the Church all together.
It's a bit of a longshot but one that fits in my opinion, besides the Japanese are tragically not that aware of the horrors they and their German and Italian alleys committed during the war therefore to use such coins wouldn't really raise much concerns in the eyes of the average Japanese employee.
On a side note, I'm very happy I discovered this channel, although small it shines a level of polish which is hardly seen for Demon's Souls which in my opinion is criminally underrated.
Edit: I'm also happy you are sticking to the original visuals of the game since the ones found in the remake sadly butcher much of the original artstyle and environmental storytelling.
Very nice analysis, thank you.
these videos deserve more views.
Hey! This was a great video! I like your style and think we could work well on collabs