The Dark Souls franchise is known for its tough bosses and incredible lore. Each game presents fragments of a broken world that players piece together with item descriptions and NPC dialogue. Most players overlook the lore and focus on the game’s boss fights, but this is a major disservice to the franchise’s worldbuilding.
Take Gwyn, the final boss of the first Dark Souls. He is responsible for the state of Lordran and the roster of bosses players fight throughout the game. Many argue he is one of the game’s easier bosses, but this is likely by design when his backstory is considered. Here are ten facts players never knew about Gwyn in the original Dark Souls. This article contains spoilers for the Dark Souls trilogy.
10 Gwyn’s Theme Only Plays White Piano Notes
Gwyn’s boss theme in Dark Souls is one of the most iconic tracks in the franchise, so much so that From Software used an altered version of the theme for Dark Souls 3’s final boss.
What many fans might not notice is that Gwyn’s theme only plays white piano notes. It is unknown if this was done as an allusion to Gwyn linking the fire or just a pure coincidence, but it’s a cool detail nevertheless that shows that the immense detail that goes into the Souls franchise also extends to the music.
9 Bended Light To Make Lightning
Many parallels between Zeus and Gwyn can be made. Both are noble characters that have the ability to wield lightning. Instead of being born with the ability, Gwyn learned how to wield lightning from the Lord Soul he found in his younger years. He used the Lord Soul to bend light itself to make lightning bolts. Gwyn’s iconic lightning spears were responsible for the mass genocide of dragons that allowed Gwyn and his contemporaries to take their place as gods.
8 Hunted Dragons For Sport
As a master of lightning, Gwyn would often use his powers to hunt down dragons for sport during the Age of Fire. Evidence of this can be seen throughout Anor Londo, with most rooms having dragon skulls adorning the walls. These hunts are no doubt the major contributor to Gwyn’s mastery with lightning.
7 The Four Knights Of Gwyn
Once the Age of Fire began after the eradication of dragons, Gwyn formed a small band of loyal warriors he deemed the Four Knights of Gwyn. The Four Knights consist of Hawkeye Gough, Lord’s Blade Ciaran, Dragonslayer Ornstein, and Artorias the Abysswalker.
Ornstein is the only Knight of Gwyn the player gets to meet in the first Dark Souls. However, those that install the Artorias of the Abyss DLC will get to interact with the remaining three, as well as fight Artorias and, optionally, Ciaran. The fact that these four characters are some of the most powerful characters and bosses in Dark Souls is not a coincidence.
6 Linked The Fire A Thousand Years Ago
As with all flames, the Age of Fire eventually started to burn out. To keep the period going and maintain their godhood, Gwyn and his contemporaries attempted to keep the fire going in their own way. The Witch of Izalith attempted to replicate a new flame, which, unfortunately, mutated her into the Bed of Chaos.
To keep the age going, Gwyn went to the Kiln of the First Flame with most of this Black Knights and linked the flame. This is why the final area in the first Dark Souls is patrolled by Black Knights and why Gwyn appears to be Hollow. He’s been down at the Kiln ever since, potentially for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
5 Black Knights Spirits
Linking the flame to keep the Age of Fire going is likely what caused Gwyn to become Hollow. Becoming Hollow in Dark Souls is most accepted by the community as an allegory for having no purpose. It seems that Gwyn wasn’t the only one affected by this.
Most Black Knights died when the fire was rekindled, disintegrating the loyal knights into piles of ash. Their souls still live on inside their charred armor. This also explains why multiple Black Knight phantoms can be seen on the staircase from the Lordveseel to Kiln of the First Flame.
4 Connected To Every Major Boss
To face Gwyn in the first Dark Souls, players must obtain four Lord Souls from Gwyn’s contemporaries before the Lordvessel will open the Kiln of the First Flame. This seems to be a very video-gamey objective on unlocking the final area, yet this step is tied heavily to Gwyn’s lore.
Before Gwyn left to rekindle the flame, he divided his soul between his children and those he fought alongside. This is why both Seath the Scaleless and the Four Kings drop the Bequeathed Lord Soul when defeated. Slaying Gravelord Nito and the Bed of Chaos grant their respective Lord Souls. In a way, the player is restoring part of Gwyn’s soul during the second half of the game.
3 Nameless King Is Gwyn’s Lost Son
Similarities between the Nameless King and Gwyn have been made by the community. Both wear similar apparel and have aggressive movesets. Most would consider that as pure coincidence, but it appears that both characters are directly related.
Certain items in Dark Souls mention that Gwyn has four children: Gwyndolin, Gwynevere, Filianore, and a fourth that has been erased from history by siding with the ancient dragons. This is none other than the Nameless King. Dark Souls 3‘s Soul of the Nameless King and various items heavily reference him being the heir of lightning and his god status before siding with the dragons. There are too many connections to write this theory off as a coincidence.
2 Influences All That Link The Flame
Fans have theorized that humans that link the fire live on in those that continue the legacy. The most obvious example of this would be the Soul of Cinder boss in Dark Souls 3.
Phase one of the fight has many similarities to what the player could do in the first Dark Souls with the Dark Wood Grain Ring and certain spells. The second phase turns into a redux of the Gwyn fight from the first game, complete with Gwyn’s iconic boss theme and moveset. Assuming that the Unkindled One linked the flame in the first game, it seems that the Soul of Cinder is proof that those that link the fire live on in other hosts.
1 Only Final Boss That Can Be Parried
Parrying Gwyn is the best strategy for killing him safely. It seems that From Software found this strategy too easy, as no other final boss in the series can be parried; both Dark Souls 2’s Nashandra and Dark Souls 3’s Soul of Cinder are immune to parries.
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