#As one of the very few humans in Anor Londo and the only who is the child of a high ranking official like Artorias | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

holymoonlighted · 4 years ago

Text

Lost in the Sands, Irithyll, Anor Londo and beyond.

Spoilers for Dark Souls III for the entire post:

Irithyll is an interesting location in Dark Souls III, a snowy town with an eternal Moon upon its sky; Anor Londo being the same. However, if not obvious it was not always the case for Dark Souls III. The intentions for Anor Londo and Irithyll were much different, it can even be seen in the game still.

If one needs some information before we begin: Dark Souls III was heavily edited and reconstructed very late in the day. You can still see so many unused structures and different placements of things especially from Vordt’s room where you fly to Undead Settlement. Many maps even now have drastically rearranged, new or removed architecture, placements of buildings and locations, the works. It is a miracle that this game even came out, honestly. Nevertheless, this is needed to explain that the story was shifted around insurmountably. It is why many things in the story seem to just fall off, or seem like they don’t belong. Many things even during the DLC were absolutely switched and patchworked in to make sense or to make things even more confusing. Boss Musical Chairs is the name of the game in this game as well. Nevertheless, enjoy.

(Sorry, this is the best shot I could get for this building.)

This itself is Anor Londo. This is not the end of the world as the Ringed City would like you to believe. It was never planned to be that until they had to cut the entire concept. Yes, this means Irithyll was a desert at some point. It’s still quite obvious in the final game, but luckily snow acts the same as sand in the way it’s used but, nonetheless, here we go. In this version, it was just sand everywhere. Furthermore, this proves something by the appearance of it. It’s old, decrepit and quite frankly demolished. Ruins are all over the place and it is obviously quite large. It also appears even from Vordt’s view, not as high up as if it’s sunken into the sands. Many buildings are left to ruin and most likely, no holy sights or Gwyn or even Gwynevere statues exist anymore. So, it’s not how it appears in the final game, and that can be explained. What would have happened is, at some point, travelling back to a past Anor Londo was necessary. How or why this was isn’t know, but, what is known is that travelling back was a thing but then possibly defeating Gwyndolin or someone that looks like Gwyndolin was necessary. If you notice, the Gwyndolin we fight as Aldrich, well that isn’t Gwyndolin. It’s just Lothric with a mask similar to Gwyndolin. It is also interesting to note, at one point, Aldrich had the ability to summon Man Grubs as one point and it links him to being Rosaria’s firstborn even more, so fun fact.

Current story aside this, well, is not Gwyndolin. The mask is so different that it looks like a Bootleg. Not to mention the clothes are entirely new, especially that the color is transparent and black. And this was most likely the case. Someone who was pretending to be Gwyndolin and faking it so that they can influence the people of Irithyll their god is still alive, somebody named Sulyvahn. See, Aldrich’s internal name is Sulyvahn. With this it can be concluded that some roles were changed, Aldrich at one point was at Archdragon Peak, way, way past Anor Londo. Then he was at the Cathedral, still far away from Anor Londo. In conclusion, Sulyvahn was this character that was acting like Gwyndolin, who is leading the Darkmoon Knights and corrupting their image. There is just a boss in the files called “Anor Londo Boss” and well, it was most likely Sulyvahn and was probably a callback to the Gwyndolin fight. At the time where you travel back to, Anor Londo was still whole, in fact the past map is actually the current map but the past map would have a “past” world state aka just a filter on the screen. Also, the entire Sulyvahn and Aldrich plot was absolutely just not here. As will be seen later. The boss that was “Moonlight Witch” and this enemy still appears in game, as the “Fire Witch”. It’s also in the art book with some impressive art, it being the boss is the reason. These enemies still bare their magic and weapons in the final game, but not the spell shown in its art.

This location by the way is called “Anor Londo Ruins” and the entire place would just be ruins and it was also the end game area, assumedly. And, once in the past, and defeating this boss some event revolving around resurrection is involved. An unused game flag called “After Resurrection” is present but sadly, nothing is known about it other than that. Except, we probably do know. Sulyvahn as we know him now is actually a boss called “Old King of the Eclipse” and was actually the final boss before Soul of Cinder. He was probably the final boss for a long while until he had to be changed due to unspecified reasons.

The Old King of the Eclipse:

This part of cut content is extremely, very, very hard to pin down lore-wise but other parts like mechanics is pretty easy to decipher. So, to state a few things I said before and some I didn’t:

Aldrich in Archdragon Peak

Resurrection in Anor Londo

Lorian and Lothric being an early boss

Old King of the Eclipse being resurrected

Archdragon Peak lines up with Lothric Castle with some teleportation manipulation, meaning Archdragon Peak was closer at one point, incredibly close.

So, with this information we can construct a narrative: Aldrich is still a Lord of Cinder, traveling to him would be like Anor Londo now. But instead it would be in Archdragon peak. Since the Lothric princes are early bosses, no need to fight them as Lords of Cinder(them being Lords is very late, apparent by their absence in the intro cutscene.). So, three lords defeated and once at Anor Londo, a resurrection happens. Then you go to Untended Graves and unlock the Kiln of the First Flame. It is unknown if something at Anor Londo resurrected the Old King, or what it’s just up in the clouds. Also, I am not sure when this was a thing but the Pilgrim Butterflies at one point were seemingly Dragons. A lot of early stuff seemed to involve Draconic Children and really the return of Dragons in general. Which could help with the whole scenic thing of “Things are turning back to how their primal form” which would also include the world itself, which includes Dragons who were there before Gwyn and Humans. But. nevertheless, assume that this resurrection is related.

Then, this possibly kickstarts the Eclipse or furthers it along. The Eclipse in a logistical standpoint is not explained as far as I know. It has not true explanation that gives credence to any sort of theory involving it rather than content clues. It seems that a King was born and became a holy symbol of this world ending eclipse, it is most likely that this eclipse is something like the 2012 Mayan Calendar event and when this or this happens like the resurrection, it kicks off and the world ends. The picture below is assumedly the eclipse as well as the Kiln at this point:

Also, keep in mind that this King is literally the Sulyvahn Model, from what I know, nothing drastic changed and it’s the same. The King seems to form this duality, like souls tends to do; Life and Death, Alive and Undead, Good and Evil and Light and Dark which are incredibly key opponents in the Dark Souls world. Gwyn has always been seen as the light of the world, he is literally the Sun. The Eclipse is the Moon, Darkness. An Eclipse is the Moon obscuring the Sun, and this King of the Eclipse can be well equated with a Dark Lord character archetype found in fiction. This figure that overshadows the Dark. It’s even more apparent looking at early Anor Londo, it’s absolutely destroyed. Gwyns legacy is destroyed, at least one of its major parts.

Gwyn as a name is essentially forgotten. And yes, it is unknown how worshipped this King was, but, he’s doing way better than Gwyn, he’s still alive. So, it seems this King and the Eclipse is this symbolic thing that says “Gwyn is dead, his age of light is dead, overtaken by the dark.” and it’s way more maddening when you realize this is the apocalypse, the end of everything. Also, notice how it looks exactly like the Darksign, this bloody Moon of Darkness which covers the Sun; It’s definitely a symbol of Gwyn’s fear and his failed efforts have finally overtaken his world that he’s built.

It’s not only Gwyn, though. The society he built is still lingering through Lothric, in some capacity. Undead are still hated, the linking of the fire is still “needed” and supported to the point an entire Kingdom’s ethics are based around making a worthy linker. It symbolizes, in my mind, the idea of the curse and the world that the sins are bleeding onto the world as if it were saying “this has been brought onto you, by you, your blood.” Of course, Gwyn did bring the curse to humanity, but they continued to link the fire, the fear of death is a thing that lingers still: But due to humanity’s fears as well, they continued to link it. But since humanity continued this tradition. The world must sit and watch itself burn.

Of course, this is just my theory, if you have anything else to add or you don’t agree, feel free to let me know.

Thanks for reading! (This post has been drastically edited!)

#Soulsborne #Dark Souls III #Dark Souls Theory #Dark Souls #Soulsborne Cut Content

10 notes · View notes

royal-dragonslayer-ornstein · 4 years ago

Note

rose : how much does your muse value other people ? do they wish to have many friends , lovers , and/or associates ? are they an easy person to love ?sage : what is your muse’s legacy ? what do they want to be remembered for & what might they actually be remembered for ?

BOTANICAL HEADCANONS | accepting

rose : how much does your muse value other people ? do they wish to have many friends , lovers , and/or associates ? are they an easy person to love ?

He values people deeply, be it in an impersonal way with a collective to fight for, as is the case of Anor Londo, or individually. Ornstein’s instinct when made to act on his own is to assist those in need, he isn’t someone who lives for his own personal interests for the most part, unfortunately this selfless predilection towards giving his services to the vulnerable often comes into conflict with his duties as the captain of what was the most powerful kingdom in the land for centuries.

Ornstein doesn’t want to have many of anything. He won’t oppose meeting new people but he will never prioritize the search for those social bonds and he doesn’t have a drive to expand his limits. Associates might be an exception to some degree, as he’s played a diplomatic role many times and is aware that any convenience to him can be a convenience to his people, so he may fight his reserved personality to expand his connections. As for lovers, Ornstein wants none of them. Something can absolutely emerge throughout so many years among the tensions and battles, but Ornstein finds far more worth in a deep genuine relationship. Incidentally, he’s so devoted to his work that he doesn’t believe he could provide what one seeks in a meaningful relatioship nor does he want it to distract him from his tasks.

Is he easy to love? Depends. He has virtues to cherish, and despite his distant self he can be very thoughtful and sincere to those he cares for. In some ways he's true to the idealized image of a knight he is frequently viewed as. However it’s not always easy to understand him. His dedication to his orders is borderline obsessive. Serving a king as tenacious as Gwyn without flaw for the duration of a human life is already a case worth studying, but imagine the centuries and probably millennia he’s dedicated to this man.

Some may find comfort in knowing that his endless pursuit of the surviving dragons didn’t come from personal bitterness or a desire to prove himself. But is it really better that he did it because it was this job? That this man changed his entire fighting style and weapon preference, refined his control of lightning over the ages, essentially turned himself into the definitive dragon hunter, all because that was what was required of him. His dedication can reach levels that can seem unnatural and unrelatable. In the end, it’s easier to love him when his duties are for your sake or for something you like.

sage : what is your muse’s legacy ? what do they want to be remembered for & what might they actually be remembered for ?

In many ways, Ornstein’s legacy is inevitably tied to Anor Londo’s. He’s an icon of leadership and knighthood. A symbol of their victory against the dragons, a textbook example for the army to follow. He would like to be remembered positively, but in truth his wish to maintain an impeccable record, to be respected and even feared to some extent, to live up to the exaggerated legends born from his remarkable deeds, it’s all only because it’s reflected upon the city of gods’ reputation as a whole. Every accomplishment of his is a testament to the power of Gwyn’s rule. Every failure is a reminder that they’re not truly what people would think as ‘gods’.

One could argue that Ornstein, on his own, is fairly humble, though not one to downplay his skill excessively. It’s the fact that he acts as Gwyn and Anor Londo’s representative that leads him to be prideful and demand that his rank be treated with the respect it deserves. This applies to great extent to his hopes for his legacy, too.

For a long time, his legacy fits that expectation. But it’s unclear how his figure might have been warped after he disappeared in his search for Gwyn’s firstborn, or what opinion is common among the few who remember the now vague tales of the Dragonslayer.

#sinnhelmingr #I just realized that both of my current muses have this mentality #of caring for their reputation mostly because of its ties to the one they serve #being far more humble on their own #headcanon

2 notes · View notes

bltngames · 4 years ago

Text

SAGE 2020: The Usual Suspects

Hi, folks! Back when I used to work at TSSZ a lot of people really enjoyed reading my articles where I’d talk about various games at the Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE), and I’ve gotten more requests in the last month and a half to continue doing those types of articles than I think I’ve ever gotten about anything else I’ve ever done before. So, here we are!

But I also need to be real with you: there are a lot of games at SAGE. It was exhausting enough when there were 70, 80, or even 90 games. Heck, the one year I wrote about 85-something games by myself, I sort of felt like I was going to die. This year, there are over 220 games at SAGE. It is physically and emotionally impossible for me to talk about everything, and it may even be impossible for me to play everything. Things will fall through the cracks. Most things, probably. Though I am responsible for basically inventing SAGE 20 years ago, I am also a human. I have my limits, and I am sorry it has to be this way.

Structurally, we’re going to be doing things a little bit differently, and you should expect this to be a little fast and loose. Since I’m not talking about every single game on the show floor, articles are going to be broken up into types:

“Usual Suspects” will be for games that either appeared at previous SAGEs or that I’m at least aware of.

“Fan Games” should be obvious, and it’s whatever doesn’t fall under Usual Suspects.

“Indies” is the same deal, but for original games.

And finally, there will be a “Honorable Mentions” article for whatever random leftovers I don’t cover in the first three articles. Looking forward to me talking about your game, but I don’t mention it? Tell me about it and maybe it’ll end up here.

Without any more delay, let’s talk about those Usual Suspects...

Sonic GT

Sonic GT has always been kind of a difficult game to control, but usually it just took a little bit of getting used to. There was always a period of adjustment, where you had to learn the game’s quirks. But, over time, I feel like the game is also just getting… quirkier. Every time I come back to this, I slam head first into the Sonic GT’s learning curve, and it always feels just a little bit steeper. This is one of those games that tries to fit a lot of abilities into a tiny amount of buttons. It works, but it feels like you have to memorize an operator’s manual. It’s all about figuring out which button to hold when to get what state. But, man… when it clicks into place, it’s still kind of magic. And, at the very least, the levels have all been reworked to take better advantage of Sonic’s high-flying, death-defying acrobatics. You’ve just got to be willing to learn. The real downside of this new version is the inclusion of a proper story mode -- I don’t have anything against having cutscenes in your game or whatever, but for the purposes of reviewing these games, some ability to fast forward through the talking heads so I could get back to the gameplay would’ve been nice. You can skip ahead in cutscenes you’ve already watched, but that doesn’t help when it’s your first time through. Oh well. So it goes. (Update: in the process of getting this article posted, Sonic GT has been patched to make cutscenes always skippable.)

Project SXU (Sonic X-treme Unity)

Another year, another Sonic X-treme recreation. This one’s interesting because it seems to be the most “complete” yet, offering the four most famous levels: Jade Gully, Crystal Frost, Red Sands and Death Egg. Intentionally or unintentionally, this also seems to replicate quite a few quirks we’ve seen in Sonic X-treme’s controls in the videos that have been released of the in-development build. Which means that it, uh, kind of sucks to play. I realize that’s kind of rude, but I’m sort of allowed to say that. 15 years ago, I was basically the only person on the internet that cared what happened to Sonic X-treme, so... I started contacting developers, starting with the game's producer, Mike Wallis. He lead us to Chris Senn, and that broke the dam on information about this game. Now, I don’t claim ownership over everything that came out of this, I’m simply saying I was the one who got the ball rolling. I watched the mystery of Sonic X-treme slowly get uncovered with as much intent as one could possibly have. It is a fascinating piece of lost media, but as a game… well, I think it got canceled for a reason. SXU shows us a clear vision of that, with a game that’s disorienting to look at and hard to control. Heck, if you’re using a controller, you can’t even use the analog stick -- you have to use a d-pad, leading to controls that feel frustratingly twitchy. But that's true to the experience. I probably spent almost as long in this demo accidentally slipping into bottomless pits as I did exploring its levels. Again, this more or less feels accurate to what we’ve seen in videos, though I do think Sonic probably feels a little too sensitive, here. Regardless, it’s still absolutely fascinating.

“Sonic Infinity Engine” Games

I’m cheating a little bit, here. This is technically three entries, but it’s in “Usual Suspects” because there’s been Infinity Engine games at SAGE for a few years now. Listen, it’s my site, my rules, and we’re playing fast and loose, baby!

Adventure Pack 2

This claims to be a “pack” of multiple levels, but the one level I played went on for over 25 minutes without showing any signs of ending. The level is… well, it’s the kind of stuff we’ve seen at SAGE for years and years and years, a space previously occupied by SonicGDK and BlitzSonic before it, where somebody is clearly starting out learning 3D level design, has some prefab assets, and goes to town creating a huge, intricate environment… that doesn’t fit a Sonic game at all. Too many tight spaces, too much enemy spam, and too much labyrinthine pacing. This is “Sonic Visits Anor Londo,” and while it looks interesting visually, it’s easy to get lost, or worse, killed because something isn’t functioning right. Like a lot of Infinity Engine stuff, it’s a bit hit or miss.... And now, also cramped.

Infinity+ Colorful Combat

The primary goal of this seems to be to update the Infinity Engine with extra features, something that I think is pretty welcome. The Infinity Engine is okay, but it’s missing a little bit of polish that the original developer neglected to give it before abandoning the project. This helps tighten some of that stuff up, while also introducing Wisp powers and more playable characters. Some of the new characters could still use some work, yet, but given the project is still in active development, that’s pretty much a guarantee. This could end up being the defacto version of the Sonic Infinity Engine.

Sonic Reforge: Red Ridge (Blockout)

This is what’s called a “Grey Box.” Rather than build out a fully-detailed level, you get a rough estimate on how the stage will flow before you put all the graphics in. What’s here is okay, I guess, but the level loops back on itself in ways that can be kind of confusing. There are a few places where it’s not really clear where you’re supposed to go next, and I spent several minutes running in circles. I’m also not a huge fan of the changes to Infinity’s physics; jumping off of ramps is a key part of the Sonic experience, but there are several places here where that doesn’t work -- to get the height needed to progress, you just need to roll really fast. It works, but it doesn’t feel like the Sonic I’m familiar with.

Sonic World DX

I have a bit of history with this game. Or, well, with a different version of this game. I wasn’t kind to some of the original entries at SAGE many years ago, but over time, they’ve cleaned the game up and streamlined it a fair amount. Now we have the “DX” release, a further cleanup effort splintered off from the main project, but to be honest, I’m not entirely sure what’s different from the previous release. The main version of Sonic World supports an absolutely gargantuan amount of content, with 50 playable characters and at least that many levels. It was big, and weird, and impressive. This demo ships with three or four playable characters and eight stages. Beyond that, there’s not much else to say -- it’s still Sonic World, though this release doesn’t work right with my controller. It picks up the controller binds from the main version of Sonic World, correctly assuming I’m using a DualShock 4, but none of the buttons are correct. When it asks me to press the X button, I have to press Circle for it to properly register. Not only that, but the right stick camera control is completely broken. Switching to an Xbox controller fixes the camera issues, but now the face buttons have the opposite problem: when it asks me to press A to jump, I have to press X. Throws my whole vibe off, like wearing your shoes on the wrong feet. The menus are bizarre, too -- while adjusting the volume, you can’t push left or right to adjust the levels, you have to use controller face buttons for some reason. This whole thing feels like I stepped back in time to 2013 in a bad way.

Sonic Freedom

I feel like I’ve been waiting to see a major development from Sonic Freedom for half a decade at this point. The art considerations for this game are no joke, and I do not envy anyone trying to make a proper high-def 2D Sonic game that looks this good. But, well… it’s another year, and there’s not a lot here. It plays fine, I guess -- the controls are decent, at least. The problem is the level design. Does this level even end? I’m not sure. I know previous demos for Sonic Freedom have had more than one level, but the stage you start out in here is a confusing, empty labyrinth with respawning enemies and a finite number of rings. You climb up and up and up, but eventually I reached what felt like a dead end. Visually it will always look incredible, but I’m wondering if it’ll ever actually become a game at any point in the future.

BraSonic 20XX

Here’s a strange blast from the past I wasn’t expecting. BraSonic is an old fangame from probably more than a decade and a half ago. It was so long ago that I can’t even actually remember if I played the old version of the game or not, but I definitely remember the name. What really throws me for a loop playing the 20XX version now is how much it feels like a game from back in the early 2000’s. The artwork, the sound effects, the locations, all of it makes me feel like I’m 19 again. Thankfully, this doesn’t play like a fangame from 2004; physics seem pretty solid, level design flows pretty well, and it generally seems to be fun, weird, and most importantly, unique. There aren’t many fan games here at SAGE that open with their first boss fight being against Sonic the Hedgehog. If you find yourself getting burnt out from so many Sonic fan games feeling same-y, this could be a good change of pace.

Sonic Frenzy Adventure

Maybe it’s the fact that this is the 20th Anniversary of the Sonic Amateur Games Expo, but here’s another very old fangame coming back out of the woodwork for an enhanced modern re-release. This game was a mainstay of the mid-to-late 2000’s SAGE events, after which it disappeared before being finished. Well, maybe it was finished. Again, a lot of this stuff was so, so, so long ago that this poor old man’s memory just can’t recall it. Seeing Frenzy Adventure back warms my heart, though. It’s an old friend in what has proven to be a very challenging year. Admittedly, parts of it still feel a bit mid-2000’s, but I consider those charming quirks. Throwbacks to a simpler era. At the very least, controls have been improved, so it does play better than the old releases did. Good stuff. Glad to see you again, dude.

Sonic Speed Course

This was a game that turned up last year, but in the kerfuffle I didn’t get around to trying it, even though I really wanted to. This is clearly a game inspired by Kirby’s Dream Course, but instead of Nintendo’s pink puffball, we have Sonic and friends. Whereas Kirby gained abilities by bowling through enemies, this adapts a more traditional Sonic gameplay structure of item boxes filled with shields and other powerups. But here’s my deep dark secret: even though I love Kirby’s Dream Course in concept, there’s a part of me that feels an intense hatred for that game. I have distinct memories of renting Kirby’s Dream Course as a kid and getting really far into the game, but trying to play it as an adult I’m baffled at how difficult it is. The main problem I have is that every stroke you take subtracts from your health, meaning you can only hit the ball so many times before you just… die. This makes for a very, very steep learning curve that discourages play and experimentation. Every shot truly, deeply matters and eventually I find myself caught in a death spiral and staring at the game over screen. All of this is replicated in Sonic’s Speed Course, which, much like with Kirby, I find myself drawn to like a moth to the flame -- only to come away feeling dejected and like I’m just not good enough. For fans of Kirby’s Dream Course, this is undoubtedly good news, as this means Sonic Speed Course is faithful to the tone of that game. But I find myself wishing there was a practice mode or something that let me play these courses without the punitive health system, because I’m ready to love them.

Sonic: Triple Trouble 16-Bit

When you write about so many games at SAGE every year, things start to blur together... a lot. I seem to recall that Triple Trouble 16-Bit last year was good, but had room for improvement. Well, this year, this demo feels… really quite good. I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical about remaking this game. Sonic: Triple Trouble was among the first batch of Game Gear games I ever owned as a kid, and while I liked the game, in my adulthood, I feel like I’ve come to appreciate Sonic Chaos more. But so much has been added to this game that it’s really come into its own. It uses Triple Trouble more as a jumping off point to become something fresh and interesting, and on top of that, this demo is pretty polished. This game was kind of always on my radar, but it’s really turning into something special.

Battle Cross Fever

Every year, I download this game hoping for some kind of single player offering, and every year I’m let down. Battle Cross Fever is a fighting game that plays a lot like Smash Bros., but contains elements that pull it closer to traditional fighting games like Street Fighter. It’s the kind of game that can check with the server to make sure you’re playing the latest version, but doesn’t have true online multiplayer -- instead advertising that you should use a piece of screen sharing software like Parsec to accomplish online multiplayer. In their defense, the few times I’ve used Parsec, it’s basically been magic for how well it works. But I just want, like… anything that I can play by myself. Even if it’s just a super basic arcade mode with brain dead AI, anything is better than nothing. But, I suppose, I am an outlier. Judging by the horrific character select music I landed on, Battle Cross Fever has enough of a community that they could get fans to sing along to “Ghost Town” from Sonic Forces -- which is a fun idea, don’t get me wrong, but when you have loud voices over cheap microphones, well… I hope you aren’t wearing headphones like I was. Anyway, this game’s always seemed solid, but I’ve also never played it with another human being, so really, I’m speaking from the perspective of admiring the diverse roster and all of the fun arenas they’ve ported in. Maybe someday it’ll get some single player content.

I’ll be back with another article… uh, eventually. In truth, I was only going to feature five games here, but it ended up being ten, so we’ll see how many are in future articles when we get there!

#writing #SAGE #sonic amateur games expo #review slew #sonic gt #project sxu #sonic infinity engine #sonic world #sonic freedom #brasonic #sonic frenzy adventure #sonic speed course #sonic triple trouble #battle cross fever #review

8 notes · View notes

mrslittletall · 5 years ago

Text

Title: A Storm is coming (Chapter 26) Fandom: Dark Souls Characters: Chosen Undead/Dragon Slayer Ornstein, Artorias the Abysswalker, Marvelous Chester Word Count: 7.955 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603610/chapters/58141378 Previous chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/615655232009093120/title-a-storm-is-coming-chapter-25-fandom-dark

Summary: Ornstein drags Tempest through the Royal Woods without an explanation until Tempest gets fed up with him, but before Ornstein can explain anything to him, they hear a noise and when they check it out, Ornstein's darkest nightmare has become true.

(Author's note: Oh boy, the chapter was difficult. Ornstein just didn't want to work with me and I actually had to rewrite the entire second half until I was satisfied. Ornstein felt very off in this chapter and while he had good reasons for it, for me as the author it felt like ripping my hair out.)

“Ornstein, wait.”, Tempest gasped out, the knight had a death grip on his arm and he could barely keep up with his long strides, more stumbling behind Ornstein than walking.

“I told you there is no time.”, Ornstein snapped, not slowing down as he exited the tunnel that led out of the clearing and crossing a narrow stone bridge.

“You don't have to explain anything to me, but would you please release me?”, Tempest groaned as he felt himself topple over and he was sure he got a few scrapes as Ornstein still dragged him over the ground.

“Oh, my apologies.”, Ornstein practically let Tempest fall and walked further, but then stopped, looking up a small hill, which gave Tempest enough time to get up and catch up to him.

“Careful, little Storm, there are foes up there.”, Ornstein said and readied his spear. Tempest followed the gaze of the dragon slayer and indeed could see a human shaped being standing there, though made out of twigs and straw. It looked mostly like a scarecrow. A scarecrow that could move and had a pitchfork ready. It wasn't even alone. There was another. Tempest drew his sword and followed Ornstein who had started to walk close to the hill again, readying himself for a harsh fight, but before Tempest could even strike with his sword once, Ornstein had impaled both of the scarecrows, who had jumped down the hill once they had the chance, at once on his spear.

“I don't have time for this.”, Ornstein said, shook the scarecrows off his spear which toppled into a nearby chasm and continued to hurry along with these large strides. Tempest had to run to be able to keep up with him. They entered a rather spacious area, littered with trees, making Tempest think that they were in some forest. He could spot a giant figure in the distance and shuddered, they reminded him of the giant sentinels of Anor Londo, an enemy he preferred to not fight again. Tempest didn't had much time to gaze at them though, Ornstein was still keeping up a brisk pace and Tempest could feel how his breath caught short. Once Ornstein finally stopped, the small Undead was leaning forward and panting heavily.

After Tempest had caught his breath and looked upwards, he saw Ornstein stare at a building in the near distance. It was large and round and Tempest found that it would be best described as coliseum, even though it looked a bit broken and probably wasn't used a lot anymore. He briefly thought about if Ornstein would have considered a champion in such a coliseum, probably pitted against captured dragon, but discarded the thought. Ornstein didn't feel like the type of man who cherished the attention of the masses and he doubted that anyone was able to capture a dragon.

As Ornstein's gaze wandered from the coliseum down to the chasm they were standing at the edge of, Tempest turned around to gaze into the forest once again. He counted at least three of these giant figures and squinted as he saw movement near them. They were hard to see, but there were more of these strange scarecrows hidden in the trees, right next to the giant figures. Anyone trying to traverse this forest would be in for a nasty surprise. Tempest understood why Ornstein had preferred to stay close to the stonewall, though he wondered why the dragon slayer knew this. Had Ornstein been here before?

“No, that won't work.”, Ornstein suddenly murmured, startling Tempest. “It's too deep, even for me. And there is only this narrow bridge to land. I can't risk slipping and breaking my legs... At least, I can't hear anything yet. There still might be time.”

Ornstein turned around and put his attention on a building next to the chasm. “Little Storm, come.”, he said, or more, ordered, reminding Tempest that this knight once had been a commander. With the tone of voice Ornstein used, Tempest felt like he was forced to obey, so powerful was it. Ornstein entered the building and Tempest dutifully followed him inside.

“Come on, work.”, Ornstein said, tapping a floor panel frantically with his foot. Tempest had no clue what he was trying to do and preferred to explore the building on his own instead. There were a few stairs leading up, but his adventure got caught short when the stairs ended. There were some gauntlets lying there though. Tempest picked them up, but quickly determined that they were too heavy for him. He still took them with him.

“Come, little Storm, or I am letting you here.”, Ornstein said, already in the door frame of the small stone building. Tempest jumped down the stairs and hurried to him.

“What were you trying to do in there?”, he asked, hoping that Ornstein heard him, because the dragon slayer had picked up the pace again.

“Trying to call the elevator of course.”, Ornstein replied. “But it didn't work. We have to go the long way. Don't wander off into the centre of the garden, stay close to me.”

A garden was it, not a forest then? Glancing at the area around him again, Tempest noticed that it certainly looked to kempt for a forest, the trees felt like someone carefully had selected and planted them. It also explained the existence of the scarecrows and the big figures, which Tempest decided were probably guardians. As Tempest was still glancing at the centre of the garden, he realized that there were several metres between him and Ornstein and he made sure to catch up to him by falling into a slight jog. This was luckily enough to be able to keep up with Ornstein's tempo. Tempest still wondered what the dragon slayer was trying to accomplish, outside of that it apparently had to do with Artorias (and Tempest was more than excited to meet another knight of legends), he knew nothing. Well, he knew the stuff that Elizabeth had told him, but he barely had been able to make sense of them. Something about Artorias falling to the dark, but he was known as the Abysswalker, surely that mushroom lady must be mistaken.

Tempest's thoughts ended abrupt when Ornstein stopped and he nearly fell down into a meadow of orange flowers. Ornstein just grabbed him and put him back on his feet next to him, scanning the meadow.

“This reeks like a trap.”, he said, his gaze wandering over the meadow, searching and counting for the scarecrows hidden beneath the trees. A guardian was also there and he knew how strong they were, Oolacile's sorcery had been more than impressive. Even at the present day their magic still lingered in the Dark Root Garden.

Ornstein's gaze wandered over to the other side of the meadow, there were two more scarecrows standing up on a hill, ready to drop in once someone would come their way. He sighed and readied his spears, it would be better to take them out first, when first the left and then the right of them fell over, an arrow sticking out of their heads

“My aim is getting better.”, Tempest grinned, his still drawn bow in his hands.

“Not bad, little Storm.”, Ornstein said and jumped down into the meadow, with the obvious trap out of the way, it wouldn't be any trouble for him to dispatch of the scarecrows. Tempest followed him and landed with a soft thud, but before he had even drawn his sword, Ornstein had killed the first two scarecrows who had attacked him once he landed and already headed into the direction of the guardian, which was flanked by another pair of scarecrows.

Tempest had a bad feeling about his guardian and it proved to be true when he saw Ornstein dispatching the two scarecrows and it swung a maze with such force that the ground was shaken. Though, now their weapon was stuck in the ground. Tempest saw a perfect opportunity for a strike and closed the distance to the guardian while Ornstein still fended off the last scarecrow and had to learn that its weapon stuck into the ground wasn't a disadvantage for the guardian, because as it pulled it out of the ground, it created a shock wave that let Tempest fly.

Scrambling on the ground, searching for his Estus to heal what felt like broken rips and several lacerations, Tempest spotted out of the corner from his eye how Ornstein took up the fight with the guardian. Even the dragon slayer needed a few strikes before the guardian fell, with a thud that shook the ground almost as much as its weapon striking the ground.

“I never liked these constructs.”, Ornstein murmured to himself. “Made out of stone, lightning isn't very effective against them.”

Tempest once again asked himself if Ornstein had forgot that he could smash stone, but remembered that it wasn't easy when the foe was moving around and he doubted that he would be able to parry a blow of this mace. He went to take a better look at the now (hopefully) dead guardian and actually found another piece of armour not far from it. As he picked it up, Ornstein already had turned his attention to another narrow stone bridge that spanned over a gap.

“Ornstein, would you finally tell me what is happening?”, Tempest said, running up to him, carefully setting his feet onto the stone bridge. He had been dragged over the first one and didn't really trust the bridge, but judging that Ornstein had no trouble crossing it, it was impossible for the bridge to collapse from Tempest weight.

“I told you, there is no time.”, Ornstein said. “We have to hurry.”

“Hurry for what?”, Tempest asked, growing impatient, but his building anger got completely blown away when a huge black dragon landed on the bridge, stared at them, no..., it stared at Ornstein and then flew away again.

Ornstein had stopped dead in his tracks and looked as perplexed as Tempest felt.

“Kalameet?! Now I am absolutely sure we have gone back in time! It's impossible for him to be alive!”, he shouted and then grabbed Tempest, threw him over his shoulder and kept him into a firm grip before breaking out into a run.

“Ornstein, that dragon!”, Tempest brought out. “Is that why you hurry so much? Do you want to hunt it?” Though thinking about it, Ornstein had acted as if the dragon had been long dead... had he killed it in his past?

“The dragon isn't of any concern right now.”, Ornstein said, following a path way that was far too narrow for Tempest's taste, with a surely deadly drop on the right and a several metres high hill on the left side, meaning two things, that rolling wasn't a good idea here and that enemies could just drop down from above.

The latter thing even proved to be true, because when Tempest looked up he saw a guardian patrolling the area and then jumping down, landing right in front of Ornstein.

“I don't have time for you.”, Ornstein growled and smashed the guardian into bits, rebutting Tempest's earlier assumption that Ornstein had forgot about his stone shattering ability. Tempest shuddered a bit, he never had seen Ornstein in such a state... the dragon slayer felt... restless, impatient and... angered and it wasn't because of Tempest this time.

“Ornstein, you act weird.”, Tempest said, helplessly hanging in the dragon slayer's grip. “Please tell me what this is all about. Why are you so... upset?”

“I am not upset.”, Ornstein said, following a small tunnel like area that led into another spacious part of the garden, though this time with more altitude differences and quite a few gaps. Ornstein stopped and stared at the ground. Tempest curiously followed his gaze, seeing a purple goo like substance covering the ground. On closer inspection of the chasm next to them, it also felt like purple smoke emitted from there.

“Oh, oh no.”, Ornstein said. “It can't be too late, please, it just can't.”

Ornstein turned to the left and started to jog again, even though Tempest didn't eat anymore, he felt a bit of bile in his throat from the constant shaking as Ornstein carried him. Hopefully he would set him down soon, Tempest really wasn't looking forward to experience how it felt to puke out Estus.

Another scarecrow faced them, this time carrying giant scissors. “I don't have time for you.”, Ornstein snarled and Tempest saw the scarecrow falling on the ground in one attack. Just what had happened to Ornstein? The knight who always encouraged Tempest to fight his own battles and who was always so annoyed having to be his companion, now proved just how strong he was and how easily he could have fulfilled Tempest's mission on his own. Along with the nausea Tempest also felt his anger coming back. He felt shut out and as soon as Ornstein was distracted by a scarecrow charging at him, he dropped of the dragon slayer's back and rolled onto the ground, catching himself.

Tempest looked back at Ornstein and decided that he was fine on his own and started to wander off, until he was on the edge of the hill they apparently had climbed up. He looked straight at a waterfall which disgorged into a valley, several puddles twinkling in the sun, giving the valley a beautiful look. The more Tempest looked at it, the more familiar it became to him... it was like he had seen this exact area before, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Tempest strolled along at the edge of the hill, enjoying the view, feeling lucky that there actually were no enemies there. He stumbled about a corpse during his walk, of course even something beautiful must be tainted like that and found that it was holding a giant arrow. It was the largest arrow Tempest ever had seen, even larger than the javelin's of the silver knights.

“Little Storm, who told you you can wander off?”, Ornstein appeared behind Tempest and he looked more than pissed, though his stance changed and he flinched when he saw that Tempest was holding. “Gough...”, Ornstein said, “So you have tried... you wanted to hunt him down...”

“Ornstein?”, Tempest asked, bitterness creeping into his voice because he just didn't know what Ornstein was talking about. He had mentioned the name of one of the other knights, the giant archer, and Tempest was starting to feel sick and tired that he wasn't a part of the world that Ornstein seemingly was so lost in.

“Later.”, Ornstein said and instead of shouldering Tempest, he took him by the wrist and practically dragged him along the ground again. Tempest opened his mouth to complain, but shut it again, there wasn't a way that he would get one clear word out of Ornstein, so he decided to play along with his fate which was getting dragged over the ground by a tall knight in golden lion armour.

On the way Tempest saw several more dead scarecrows, implying that Ornstein actually had managed to clear quite a way before he had noticed that Tempest was missing. The small Undead wasn't too sure if he should be proud that he escaped Ornstein or be mad that the dragon slayer hadn't noticed him missing at all. With his already sour mood about not knowing anything about the situation, Tempest decided to be mad.

His mood almost lifted when he looked to the left and actually saw some of the scarecrows tending to the trees, that looked kinda cute, but also made him feel a stab of guilt. Had he just stood there idle while Ornstein had killed innocent gardeners? No, they had attacked first, there wasn't a reason to feel guilty. Especially because Tempest actually hadn't done anything. He pretty much didn't had the chance to shine once they had entered the garden, only when he took out the obvious trap. Tempest started to pout as Ornstein dragged him along, stopping as he saw two guardians rather close to each other.

“Damn.”, Ornstein said. “Little Storm, be useful for once and help me out here.”

Finally Ornstein let go of Tempest and he could barely believe what he heard. “Be useful for once?!”, he snapped. “Ornstein, you didn't even-” Tempest's words got drowned out by Ornstein having charged forward, confronting both of the guardians at once, leaving Tempest to deal with four very aggressive scarecrows.

On the spur of the moment Tempest got out his pyromancy flame and hurled a fireball at the scarecrows, which made them all collapse and gleefully burn to ashes. Tempest hoped that he didn't accidentally had started a forest fire when Ornstein smashed the second guardian and the knight just dragged him along again. He entered a small building, not unlike the one from earlier and stepped on a floor panel, which made a stone plate appear. Ornstein stepped on it and it moved down again. Once Ornstein had exited the stone building, with Tempest struggling to keep up with his pace, they looked straight at the coliseum from earlier.

“Finally.”, Ornstein said. “That took too long. No thanks to you for wandering off, little Storm.”

Now Tempest had enough. Enough of not knowing anything, enough of being berated by Ornstein, enough of being dragged around. “Ornstein, STOP IT!”, Tempest shouted, surprised by the volume of his own voice. “You didn't tell me anything, you just dragged me around, you told me I was useless while not even giving me a chance to fight! Did you even see how I burned down these scarecrows earlier? What is wrong with you?!” At the end of his rant, Tempest noticed that tears had started to stream down his face.

Ornstein seemed to clearly taken aback by this, stammering: “L.. little Storm, I am sorry... I... It's hard to explain...”

The reasonable part of Tempest knew that he should just sit down and wait until Ornstein had figured out his words, but with his mood being so cranky from having yelled at, from having to fight a strange bird cat creature, from being dragged along the whole garden and from Ornstein just not telling him anything, he had enough.

“You know what, Ornstein? Forget it. You never tell me anything anyway. You are just following me around so that you can reunite with your old lover.”, Tempest snapped and stomped away, not seeing how much the dragon slayer had flinched at his last words.

As Tempest looked back at Ornstein after a few minutes, to see if he had followed him, he saw that he dragon slayer had moved closer to the coliseum. Tempest felt a slight pang at his chest that Ornstein let him wander off, apparently more interested what was happening in there. He crossed his arms and walked further, until he crossed another small stone bridge and stood in front of a figure with a curious outfit.

“Uh, hello.”, Tempest said, waving to the stranger, noticing that they wore a mask over their face. While he was used to the other Undead being in full armour and hiding their faces too, this felt different... it was like this stranger hid their face on purpose.

The stranger turned their head to look directly at Tempest and spoke: “Hm.. Oh, let me guess... Snatched by a shadowy limb and dragged off to the past?”

“How did you know that?!”, Tempest shouted.

“Yes, of course. Exactly what happened to me. We are both strangers in this strange land. But, at least now there are two of us.”, he spoke, his voice carrying a tone of mischief. He hadn't given his name yet, but because of his looks and his voice Tempest decided to call him Chester in his head.

“Actually, I didn't came alone.”, Tempest said and turned around to point at the direction where Ornstein was standing. “Ornstein came with me too. Oh, I am Tempest by the way.”

“Ornstein? Are you sure you aren't mistaken?”, Chester spoke. “It's Knight Artorias you should have come across. The legendary Abysswalker, from the old tales …Well, if you haven't, it's just as well… He's a colourless sort, if you ask me.”

“You are the third person mentioning Artorias once I came here.”, Tempest said.

“One surely was that giant mushroom, but the other? It can't be that you are travelling with the one they call the dragon slayer. It is said that he hasn't left Anor Londo for centuries.” Tempest had the feeling that Chester had a grin under this mask and he also had the feeling that he was very right about this last statement. Also, how should he explain to him that this was the real Ornstein and not just someone wearing his armour? By showing how he slayed a dragon? Technically, that would be possible, with the black dragon around, but...

“Forget about this.”, Chester suddenly spoke. “How about some business? Anything you might need?”

Tempest spent a bit of time looking at his wares and quickly determined that these goods were seriously overpriced. He still bought a few arrows, not wanting to offend him. He had gotten quite a few souls from all the enemies Ornstein had slain in the gardens.

He then tried to get a few more informations out of Chester, but he simply cut he talk short. Tempest just shrugged and then wandered off, spotting a stone building in the distance he wanted to explore. He almost had forgot about Ornstein and his anger while talking to Chester, but now that he was alone with his thoughts again it surfaced.

“Stupid Ornstein.”, he murmured. “Always speaks in riddles, never tells me anything. Why did I even fall for him when he doesn't actually like me? He surely makes fun about me behind his back, I am just this dumb idiot who couldn't even hold a sword right and...”

Tempest's rant trailed off. It was true, he had been just a militia, recruited to fight in a war that had been already lost, receiving only bare bones training, barely knowing how to properly wield a sword and still, Ornstein had taken the time and taught him. Ornstein had tasted his food and said that he liked it. Ornstein had allowed him to wash his hair. Ornstein had been at his side all this time, calling him an idiot countless time, but most of the time he had called him little Storm. If Ornstein didn't like him, hated him even, would he have acted like this at all? Wouldn't he have acted more like earlier, when he just had dragged Tempest through the gardens?

As Tempest looked up, feeling like he had made a terrible mistake, deeply regretting the words he had thrown to Ornstein earlier, he realized that he had rode on an elevator and was in the exact same stone building which Ornstein had tried to activate earlier.

Tempest stepped down from the panel and on it again, riding it back down. He was so stupid, why hadn't he waited for Ornstein to explain himself? Why had he just ran off? What if he had lost Ornstein forever about this dumb words?

As Tempest ran across a perplexed Chester, he hoped that Ornstein would still be there, that he wouldn't have gone further without him. Tempest needed him, not only his strength, but his company. He loved it whenever Ornstein affectionately called him little Storm, when he tasted his food, when he gave him a compliment because Tempest had been capable for once. By the gods, Tempest had felt so lonely before Ornstein came to accompany on his journey and he never wanted to live through this again, the feel of nearly losing his mind, crushed by losing everyone around him. He didn't want to lose that most important bond he had tied with Ornstein.

Ornstein was still there, standing near the coliseum, leaned on his spear. Tempest ran up to him and choked out: “Ornstein, I am sorry!”

“What for?”, Ornstein asked, he tried to sound unfazed and bored, but the quivering in his voice betrayed him. He had taken Tempest's harsh words to heart, he just knew it.

“For saying these things to you earlier.”, Tempest said.

“It's alright.”, Ornstein said and then sighed. “It is I who should be sorry. I haven't treated you well. I yelled at you for getting us into this situation, then I nearly have let myself get killed by the sanctuary guardian and then, when I realized where we are, I just told you to shut up and dragged you along.”

Ornstein kneeled down and leaned his head down: “I wholeheartedly apologize for my unknightly behaviour.”

Even kneeling Ornstein was as big as Tempest. While Tempest had the sudden urge to just go and hug Ornstein, he had the feeling the knight wouldn't appreciate it and instead said: “Um... please rise? Oh, do I have to say something.. like... you are forgiven?”

Ornstein rose to his feet and said: “Little Storm, you deserve an explanation. I just have to let you know, that I swore an oath to never tell the truth to anyone, so I told you that I would explain it to you later... but then later came and I still couldn't explain it to you. While I swore to never tell this story to anyone outside those in the know, I will try to explain it to the best of my abilities.”

Tempest hold his breath. Ornstein really intended to tell him the truth, that was so exciting!

“It is about Artorias.”, Ornstein started, but before he could continue, there was a loud noise coming from the coliseum. Ornstein's head twirled around to the entrance. “Shit shit shit.”, he hissed. “I am sorry, little Storm, I need to check his out!”

Ornstein broke into a jog towards the coliseum, not dragging Tempest with him this time. The small Undead followed him and once he caught up, he said: “Ornstein, whatever it is that you are trying to do, I won't leave your side.”

Ornstein didn't say anything, instead he had his gaze fixed on something on the distance, both of his hands were glued to his spear and his fingers were trembling. Tempest followed his gaze and spotted a distantly human looking figure. It had arms and legs, but they were unusually long, their skin was of a strange blackish purple and their head, their head consisted of tentacles. Tempest shuddered at that sight in front of him and winced when a sword from above drove deep into the body of the creature, impaling it, blood splattering onto the ground.

Tempest now knew why Ornstein was trembling. That silhouette, that figure, that was... the legendary Abysswalker Artorias himself. A second or so passed and the knight used it to drove his sword even deeper into his prey, before he looked up and gazed in their direction. Tempest couldn't see his face, Artorias was wearing a hood, but his face seemed to vanish in the thickest blackness he had ever seen. Artorias' gaze was on them for a little while and Tempest asked himself why the wolf knight didn't say anything. Well, he clearly didn't knew Tempest, but Ornstein was standing right next to him. Surely Artorias would recognize his companion and captain.

However, Artorias didn't utter a single world and neither did Ornstein. Looking from Artorias to Ornstein, Tempest noticed that the dragon slayer's trembling had increased and he took a step back.

“Ornstein, what...?”, Tempest asked, but Ornstein simply shook his head and muttered: “...Artorias...”, Tempest wasn't even sure if Ornstein had heard him or not. The small Undead looked back at Artorias, the wolf knight looked down at himself and Tempest had the feeling that his body displayed surprise. Tempest's gaze followed the one of Artorias and he held his breath as he saw that a purplish looking cloud was starting to raise from the ground, quickly engulfing the wolf knight who reacted to the ordeal with a low growl, reminding Tempest of a dog, no, the wolf the knight personified.

“No, I can't be too late...”, Ornstein muttered next to Tempest. Tempest stared at Ornstein with wide eyes and then jumped when the corpse that Artorias had impaled earlier came flying, smacked against the wall and stayed motionless on the ground. One look at the wolf knight and the way he had readied his sword made it clear for Tempest that he wasn't here to have a nice chat.

“Careful, Ornstein, he's coming.”, Tempest shouted, not knowing why Artorias should attack them, but he was also very keen on not being impaled by that majestically, but deadly looking sword. However, just as before, as they had fought the bird cat, Ornstein just stood there, not making a single move.

“Oh no...”, Tempest murmured as Artorias howled like a wolf and readied his sword for what looked like a thrusting attack.

Ornstein had known that this was coming, but seeing it for himself, not just hearing from the tales of Ciaran or Gough, made it so much worse. As soon as he had realized they were in Oolacile, Artorias had been at the front of his mind, the hope that he still could save him deep into his heart and here they were, Artorias lost to the Abyss and... why was fate so cruel to bring him back to this exact day? Was there no way, but to end Artorias' suffering by his own hand? No, that couldn't be true. Artorias surely still was somewhere in there, somewhere in the being that was bent over and broken and which leaked a black gooey sludge, his old friend still had to be around.

Ornstein saw the attack that Artorias prepared. It was a thrust attack, he had seen it countless time, he knew how his friend fought and he knew that he should step to the side, but Ornstein's feet were glued to the ground. He couldn't believe it, he had fought so many duels against Artorias, but the wolf knight had never ever seriously hurt him. He would stop, he had to stop, Artorias would never even think about hurting Ornstein.

Blood splattered once Artorias had dashed forwards, but there was no pain. Ornstein touched his chest only to see that his gauntlets were dry. Ornstein's gaze wandered down to see... that the little Storm had been impaled on the sword, clearly having thrown himself between Ornstein and the attack.

“Artorias, stop it!”, Ornstein suddenly shouted, still feeling glued to the ground, but at least his vocal barrier was gone. “This isn't you!”

Artorias slowly pulled his sword out of Tempest's chest, who coughed up a little blood and collapsed, already searching for the Estus Flask on his belt. Ornstein's attention went back to his old friend and while Artorias took a few steps back, he could see in what a bad state he was. His shield was missing, his left arm dangled down as if broken multiple times and he limped. Memories of Artorias' corpse flashed through Ornstein's mind and he felt bile rising up his throat, thickly swallowing it back down.

Artorias broke into a run and raised his sword. Ornstein braced himself, he needed to snap Artorias out of it, he had to. This was his last chance, he couldn't lose Artorias, not again. He opened his mouth when he heard Tempest shouting: “Hey, over here! Fight me!”

The little Storm was jumping up and down, his own sword raised over his head, clearly trying to get Artorias' attention and to Ornstein's horror, it worked. The wolf knight got on all fours and Ornstein recognized that stance, it was a bit more wild than usual, but he would leap through the air and impale anything that was so unlucky to be on the other end of his sword.

“Artorias, stop!”, Ornstein yelled again. “Nobody here is your enemy!”

Tempest eyes widened when he saw Artorias leaping through the air, that was more than impressive. Though, he didn't had time to be impressed, he wasn't keen having another encounter with that sword, the first time had hurt bad enough. Tempest rolled to the side literally at the last second before the sword impacted with the ground and when he got his footing back, he saw that Artorias struggled with the aftermath of the recoil and ran over to take the opportunity for a hit, only stopping when Ornstein shouted: “No, don't hurt him! I can get through him, I know I can.”

Tempest hesitated for a second and that second was enough for Artorias to recover and raise his sword. Tempest gasped and rolled to the side before the sword could cut him down, but overlooked that the wolf knight swung his sword back from below and got a nasty wound in his side, one hand shooting down to cover the fresh wound, feeling the fresh blood which seeped into the sandy ground of the arena. Instead of going for the kill, Artorias lost interest in Tempest and turned back to Ornstein, who... still was standing there, spear in both hands raised in front of him, shaking like a leaf in a storm and mumbling: “No, Artorias, you don't have to do this. Fight against it. I... can't see this happen to you again, I just can't. Please! Break out of it! You don't have to listen to him!”

Tempest had no clue who that “him” was, that Ornstein was talking about. He had taken a sip of Estus to heal the wounds from the latest attack and gasped as he saw how close Artorias already was to Ornstein. He... he wouldn't make it anymore. Ornstein would let himself cut down by Artorias and... Tempest couldn't let this happen. He couldn't lose Ornstein. He needed him.

“Artorias, stop this! He's not your enemy! As am I! Don't you recognize me? It's me, Ornstein!”, Ornstein yelled as Artorias raised his sword. “...Ciaran is waiting for you.”, Ornstein added and Artorias seemed to flinch for a fraction of a second, only a fraction, before his sword bolted down, ready to cut Ornstein in half.

Tempest couldn't take this anymore. People like Artorias... he had seen countless of them, only driven by a desire to kill, to fill the hole in their chest, a person he himself had almost become and he didn't want to see how Ornstein died because he refused to fight back, even if that was his old friend.

“Ornstein, don't you see it?!”, Tempest screamed. “He's already hollow!”

These words were finally, finally enough for Ornstein to break out of his stupor, but he dodged just a fraction of a second too late, the sword of the wolf knight connected with the dragon slayer's left arm and warm blood seeped out of the joints of his armour as the dragon slayer hissed in suppressed pain.

“Artorias, I am so sorry.”, Ornstein said. “I was hoping to get through to you, but it is too late.”, Ornstein's left arm dangled down not unlike Artorias' one and he raised his spear. “This is your last chance. If you are in there, say something, anything!”

Artorias' only response was a howl and Ornstein glanced down at the ground for a second, blinking back the tears he felt welling up in his eyes. “I wish it wouldn't have come to this...”

When Artorias' next sword strike bolted down, Ornstein's spear was there to parry it, a loud clang resonated through the arena.

“At last...”, Tempest murmured, glad that Ornstein finally broke out of it, that Ornstein wouldn't let himself kill by his old friend. Tempest needed Ornstein and it was not because of the mission he had to fulfil, but in a sense, Ornstein had saved him from his loneliness. Tempest was sure that once something happened to Ornstein, he would go hollow.

Tempest took his sword in both hands and came running at Artorias, planning to join the fight, but once he was there and planned to thrust his sword into Artorias' leg, Ornstein's spear came rushing into his direction and knocked his sword out of his hands.

“Don't interfere.”, Ornstein said. “This is my fight.”

Tempest simply nodded and after watching the fight for a minute, he quickly determined that he would only be in the way. This wasn't some giant monster or dragon they could fight together, this was a duel between knights. Tempest would only be in the way. He went to fetch his sword and then fell back to simply observe.

Ornstein had fought countless duels against Artorias, but he had to admit, both of them were in bad shape. Artorias' body was battered from his fight against the abyss beast, his shield was missing and he had to wield his sword with his non dominant arm. Ornstein on the other hand lost the use of his non dominant arm, but a lot of his techniques required for him to two hand his weapon. Also, Ornstein's mental state hadn't been the best for a while and seeing his best friend in this state was something that had plagued Ornstein's nightmares for years.

It didn't feel like a honourable duel between knights, but a struggle between two gravely injured animals.

Still, Ornstein had to be amazed at how elegant and at the same time fierce Artorias still fought. Even when gravely injured, even when the sludge of the abyss oozed out of his body, the wolf knight still knew how to wield his sword, strung his strikes together to beautiful combos and managed to evade Ornstein's owns strikes with a narrow loop again and again while Ornstein's quickness made him able to evade the powerful, but slow strikes of Artorias' and his own strength allowed him to parry the ones that wouldn't shatter the ground.

The both knights were locked in a dance, a beautiful, but deadly dance, circling each other, searching for a way to strike, only to be meet with a dodge or a parry of the other party whenever one of them dared to attack. After a while, Artorias' seemed to grow tired of the dance, because he made two back flips in quick succession and stopped, clutching his sword.

Ornstein saw his chance and kneeled down, preparing for his powerful dash, but before he started the attack, he stopped, a pang in his stomach. As he looked up, Artorias had started to growl again and the same smoke that had engulfed him earlier concentrated around his sword.

“Be careful, Ornstein.”, Ornstein could hear the little Storm yell from the wall. “That looks dangerous.”

“I know.”, Ornstein snarled. Why had he hesitated earlier? It hadn't been the pain in his arm, he had... felt guilty. Yes, he had stopped because he had felt guilty. Wasted a perfect chance. He couldn't waste another chance.

Ornstein had dwelled a bit too long in his thoughts, because Artorias was suddenly in front of him and swung his sword, Ornstein forced his injured left arm to raise his spear with both hands just in time to block it, skidding back several feet, that blow had been far stronger than the ones before, pain exploded in his left arm and even his uninjured right one seemed to get numb.

Artorias didn't waste any time and followed up the blow with his signature spin attack, which Ornstein avoided with a shaky back step and then Artorias hit Ornstein with a strike from below while doing a back flip, sending even the dragon slayer flying and collapsing with the ground, Ornstein's left arm now felt like it was on fire and he almost lost the grip on his spear. His eyes widened as he saw Artorias in the air above him and he rolled to the side just in time before Artorias could impale him, struggling to get to his feet. Just as he managed, Artorias had recovered from his attack and it was back to their dance, with none of them giving the enemy any room to breath.

“You always said my dodging style was ridiculous.”, Tempest said with crossed arms as he watched the continuation of the duel. It was kind of beautiful to watch and at the same time, it was kind of sad. These two must have been the greatest duo in the army of Anor Londo and Tempest shuddered thinking about how it would have felt to fight both at them at once. He considered himself lucky that Ornstein had been paired with the executioner instead and that fight had been an absolute nightmare. If Ornstein and Artorias would have fought against him, he probably would have hollowed.

As Tempest watched the duel, he had the impression that Ornstein slowed down, blood loss probably. Even though Artorias looked in a rather bad shape too, Tempest had began to understand that he was corrupted by the Abyss or as he had put it earlier, had gone hollow and Hollows never cared for pain. He was like a wild berserker, not feeling pain, not feeling any emotions, just bent on killing his prey.

“You can do it, Ornstein.”, Tempest whispered and folded his hands. “I believe in you.”

Ornstein indeed was starting to feel the effects the blood loss and the duration of the fight had on him. He needed to end this quickly or he was unsure if he would get out of this fight... alive. Then he would never be able to search out this master, never be able to escort Tempest to the first flame, never be able to taste the little Storm's meal ever again and never be able to see the next idiocy he would bring them into. Huh, since when revolved his life so much around the little Storm? He hadn't even thought about Smough, had he already accepted his death?

While Ornstein had been lost in his thoughts, Artorias had retreated again, from the stance he would try and channel the power of the abyss another time. This was Ornstein's chance, probably his last chance, he wouldn't hold through another parry dance with Artorias. He kneeled down and dashed, his spear held in front of him, planning to impale Artorias on the tip, how he had done so many times before, how he had done with so many dragons and drakes, how he had done so many times to the little Storm, but once he was in front of Artorias, he jerked his spear up and came to a screeching halt.

He was shivering, his spear didn't want to move, Ornstein's body felt paralyzed as he saw the cloud engulfing Artorias, his nightmare in front of his inner eye, the nightmare in which he had been forced to lay an end to Artorias and... he never had managed.

“I... I can't...”, Ornstein said, his voice quivering and then he threw his spear to the ground and shouted: “I can't do this to you, Artorias!” Ornstein kneeled down and extended both arms, fully accepting that he would die at Artorias' hands, sending a silent apology to Gwyndolin that he wasn't able to fulfil his mission, just hoping that the little Storm would be able to fulfil the mission on his own, as much as it pained Ornstein to admit, while still an idiot, he had become quite competent lately.

“Ornstein!”, the dragon slayer could hear Tempest's voice through the cloud that his mind had become and then as he felt warm blood splattering against his armour, he opened his eyes only to see that Tempest had driven his own sword deep into the chest of Artorias.

Tempest hadn't really realized that he had started running as soon as Ornstein had thrown away his spear. He had clutched his sword with both hands and called Ornstein's name, not believing, not wanting to see how Ornstein would sacrifice his own life for someone who had went hollow, who was lost, who would just search the next prey. Before Tempest had even realized any of these things, he had driven his sword deep into the chest of the wolf knight.

Eyes wide in shock, Tempest pulled his sword out and more blood, mixed with that black goo, shot out of the wound, soiling both him and Ornstein. He slowly lowered his sword, releasing the breath he had hold and then gasped as Ornstein grabbed him by the collar.

“What have you DONE?!”, Ornstein shouted. “You killed him!”

“He was going to kill you, Ornstein!”, Tempest shouted back. “I... I can't lose you, Ornstein. I can't. He was lost, he was already hollow!”

“We... we could have still saved him!”, Ornstein shouted, but his voice betrayed him. He had been fully accepting of dying at Artorias' hand, simply because he was unable to deal the killing blow himself and that after him and Smough had agree that they would mercy kill each other should one of them over lose. Well, judging by that Ornstein was still there, Smough hadn't been able to go through with it either. All this, the fight, the pain, Artorias dead in front of him and the thoughts of Smough were too much and Ornstein could fear tears stream down his face as he collapsed to the ground.

“Ornstein...?”, a gentle, but broken voice sounded and the dragon slayer gasped, jerking his head around to see Artorias' face, corrupted and tainted, but that was his face and his voice, he had managed it, he had finally managed to break through the corruption.

“Artorias, hang in there, we can still help you, we can still heal you!”, he yelled, wanted to yell, but it came out as a broken sob.

“Ornstein, it's too late.”, Artorias said and as Tempest came nearer, he finally got a look on the wolf knight's face, it looked gentle, but battle-tested, with eyes as grey as storm clouds and a horizontal scare right above the bridge of his nose. “I will die soon, but please don't guilt yourself, it was my own fault. I... couldn't kill him. Please, find Sif and take her back home... and...”, he coughed a bit, blood running down his lips. Ornstein was holding his head and murmured: “Artorias, don't talk, don't say something like this, we still can...”

“...tell Ciaran I am sorry.”, Artorias finished and Tempest couldn't help but grab the wolf knight's hand, having the feeling he could make him feel more at ease while dying.

“Ah, though...”, Artorias coughed again, his eyes glancing over to Tempest. “Thou are the dark. Th.. thank thee for cutting me down.” Another cough. “Th.. thank thee for not letting me live like this.”

“Artorias...”, Ornstein sniffled and Tempest could see that he had taken the wolf knight's other hand in his own.

“Ah, Sif, there you are.”, Artorias said, coughing another time. “All of you, forgive me. For I have availed you nothing.”

After these words were spoken, Artorias' drew a last shaky breath and then Tempest could feel how the hand that had clutched his went limp as a purplish soul swirling with dark particles manifested in front of him. (Author's note: Yeah, uh, I knew you all were hoping for me to save Artorias, but I had planned to follow his canonical death through for a long time now, so I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was hoping otherwise. I used some of Artorias' cut voice lines at the end, surely you can find them. At least I wanted to give Artorias a peaceful ending, that he didn't had to die alone. Also, I know the area is called Royal Woods, but I always saw it as a garden and later it turns into the Dark Root Garden, so a garden it is. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, for all the angst that I put in it, but they, it's the DLC and we all knew that it would be angsty as hell. I promise a bit more fluff soon, I only can take that much angst as once myself. Please stay tuned and tell me what your favourite part was down in the comments. Again, thanks to everyone who wrote a comment on the last chapter or directly told me their thoughts, your support is what keeps me going and I hope you want to see Ornstein's and Tempest's journey through until the very end.) Chapter 27

#dark souls #fanfiction #chosen undead #dragon slayer ornstein #orndead #artorias the abysswalker #marvelous chester #littlewritesstuff

10 notes · View notes

vitorofthescaleless · 4 years ago

Text

With Disparity came... Disparity?

A thought came to me last night while watching some Dark Souls videos. This is going to be conjecture, very little in-game/in-universe support, but it is an idea none the less.

In the Age of Ancients the world was stagnant, unchanging, ruled by Arch Dragons of stone. Immortal wardens of a timeless stillness from indeterminate eternities to the advent of change, and Fire. For the most part. However, amidst these strange beings there was one exception. One who knew of something these others would have no natural concept of.

Mortality.

I speak of course of a scaleless paledrake. A malformed thing among these eternal beings of even stranger origins himself, Seath the Scaleless was an anomaly in this time of stagnation. He would die one day. For the first time in this world of immortals, something was subject to a change, something was different. Seath was the first being to be subject to disparity.

Whether Seath was the cause of the Age of Fire, or merely the first sign of its coming is and can never be known, but this creature knew things of his brethren that those who would embrace the Flame would use to overturn their dominion and seize it for themselves. Even after the gods would reign in Anor Londo over their albeit ephemeral age, Seath would continue to expound upon the mysteries of immortality in his pursuit of a kind of his own. He would attain, albeit limited, success by utilizing the Primordial Crystal of the Age of Ancients, true scales of immortality were never his to possess. However we know this already.

Seath is a proverbial mystery in the greater scheme of Dark Souls, because he is the only member of a race of seemingly eternal or immortal beings, ageless as the stone trees they sit in, to have knowledge of death. He knows their weakness, he knows how to kill them. The First Flame emerged and gave the gifts of Souls to the weak Pygmies of the Dark, and such was their power it would change some of them from their own primordial natures. The gods would become creatures of light, eschewing any trace of the Dark whence they came, and the Witches with Life and flame, Nito with Death and endings. The Pygmy humans are mystery in of themselves, but that’s for another day.

Is it possible that Seath, a creature so alike yet alien to his own world, would impart the idea of Fire into the world directly? What if Seath’s greater role wasn’t just telling the gods how to slay the dragons, but he was the Prometheus to those who would rule the world. In an ironic fashion, Prometheus may have been the one to give Flame TO the gods in the first place, rather than stealing it from them. After all, Seath was from the Age of Ancients, same as the Primordial Serpents, Kaathe and Frampt. What relation did they have to one another? Seath’s concerns were never about extending the Age of Fire, that was Gwyn’s impetus. His concern was, and always had been, how to attain immortality.

One of the few surviving dragons of the first age, Seath would go on to become Gwyn’s confidant. What secrets did they discuss? Remember, the paledrake did not go mad until he delved deeper into his research on the scales of immortality. For a time there was another keen mind at work, perhaps one that acted as an architect suitable for an entire age? The opening of Dark Souls is the legend according to those who tell it, and the annals of history are lost by a Nameless King who allied himself with the Arch Dragons.

It would not be fitting for one who called himself the Lord of Sunlight to admit to his children and creation that, perhaps, the very Fire he coveted was not as spontaneous as legends say. What if, just maybe... it was a gift by one who was so jealous of that which his brethren possessed, he would change the very world to sate his envy?

Who knows. This after all, just a theory by a man who portrays a Channeler, one of the servants of the great Paledrake, Seath the Scaleless. Who would believe the Godfather of all Sorcery could enact such a brilliant scheme?

#dark souls #theory #dark souls theories #lore with vitor

4 notes · View notes

fillianore-moved · 5 years ago

Text

oc nera: a study of fears

when it comes to my dark souls ocs the underlying motif of everything they do and are is fear, perhaps not in the most obvious ways, but it’s something i feel best defines and ties the three of them. i’ve already spoken about some other things they have in common, such as their memories and the past being both their best friend and worst enemy, but today i really wanted to take a deeper look at nera, my dark souls 1 oc, and try to map out the way her two primal fears that have shaped her journey! this is in a way a short(ish) overview of her past, her present and her as a person...

the past

during the time she was alive, nera was a court herbalist in zena. she was relatively well respected as a daughter of two lower nobles and at the time of her death she was around 24-25 years old. during her life, zena was a flourishing merchant kingdom and that boosted the prestige and aesthetic beauty of everything around her. arguably, one could say she didn’t even know true fear until her last moments.

before her death she was engaged to a young nobleman, her childhood friend and younger prince’s close confidante. it was supposed to be both a marriage of convenience but also soon turned out to be a union of love. nera was deeply in love with him and it seemed completely reciprocated by him, while also heartily supported by everyone around them. it was a real fairytale, court romance a girl could dream of, and nera found herself fulfilled both in her professional and private life.

her memory of the month or two before her death remain forever fuzzy, but it seemed to be a whirl of working on different cures for the sudden outbreak of a plague in zena and delayed wedding preparations. she remembers everyone being tense and stressed, working constantly with doctors, clerics and sorcerers from all over the country and the terrible stench of piled bodies in their research hall. she remembers her younger sister and father perishing soon after the outbreak came to their town, days before her wedding was first supposed to happen and she remembers being unable to scrub their blood from her fingernails - she distinctly remembers that fear that followed her until her own death a mere week later.

but it wasn’t the plague that finished her, ironically it was a dagger lodged into her ribs as she feel from the balcony and into the freezing waters. she sometimes likes to pretend she doesn’t know who did it, but she recognized the hand coming around her waist far too well, along with the engagment ring on it. hundreds of questions ran through her mind as she was falling, an eternity passed, but they became irrelevant as soon as she hit the surface and her senses scattered along with her consciousness.

who knows how much time has passed before she was dragged out, dagger in her chest and all, into the undead asylum. perhaps a day, perhaps a year or a hundred, it too was irrelevant. her white dress was just dirty tatters at that point, her skin and hair were no more and she was alone. the only thing that kept her sane was the question “why?” that kept coming back to her despite not having a target or an answer.

the memories and undeath

nera hoped her memories would fade as the undead curse progressed, but they never did. she found solace in the idea that one day her mind would be a blank slate untethered to anything or anyone. it was her fault, she was sure, the undeath doesn’t come for anyone, she must’ve done something terribly unforgivable to deserve such a fate. this was how she thought for the first few decades, and the lonely cell gave her far too much time to dwell on it all. and as even other undead she knew slowly hollowed out, it seemed as if it was just her and her own memories and questions stuck in time. that was the second primal fear that followed the first one - she would be stuck alone with her thoughts and questions until the end of time, no absolution and no answers ever to follow.

in a way, this fear made her feel more human than before, she would get up and pace the cell, she would yell like a madwoman and hit walls, she would sing ridiculous songs and name the rats in her cell all kinds of profanities. in a lot of ways, these all seem to be the doings of someone who doesn’t have their sanity, but they paradoxically made her more sane by the day. they also diverted her attention from her innermost fear and thoughts that haunted her. the biggest problem that started to plague her then was a surprisingly human one - she was bored.

the dagger lodged in her chest? she pulled it out after who knows how long and engraved all kinds of thoughts and recipes for elixirs on her cell walls and floors, they kept being erased by time and she overwrote them with new ones, heaps and heaps of knowledge and ideas. once the dagger finally broke, she saved the terribly rusted artifact into her tattered clothes. she isn’t even sure why, but the only artifact she had of her previous life suddenly felt too important to leave behind or throw out the small window. it was her past life materialized, the representation of her fears but in time it also became the anchor of her sanity.

the fate and the gods

now that death was a technicality for her and she had the opportunity to leave the undead asylum and find a new fate, it was something she wholeheartedly accepted. turns out that dying over and over wasn’t particularly terrifying for her, because she felt like her first death represented the worst possible way to go, everything else lordran threw at her wasn’t half as terrifying. also, she wasn’t a particular believer in the fate of two bells, the undead pilgrimage or the gods calling her, it was simply a way for her to have a goal that was obtainable (or at least more obtainable than getting the answers of centuries old corpses from a land that didn’t even seem to exist anymore) and that she can work towards.

she cried when she first came to anor londo, not because of her religious beliefs, but due to a certain level of familiarity, and also sudden warmth of the sun on her skin and although it was an empty marble city, it became a painful reminder of what probably became of her own home, if anything was even left of it. that nostalgia, melancholy and the sudden wash of memories and feelings she’s kept for so long under control threatened to swallow her whole. even after all that time she’s spent in the asylum and then traveling lordran, that fear that she will never be rid of her past was still alive and well in her chest.

even after all that time she remains the same as she was at the moment of her death - completely and utterly alone with no answers, only haunted by memories and questions that will never be answered in a way that was acceptable for her and that would appease her soul.

a cycle of fear

this is something she never pulls out of. fear is her constant companion and no amount of ignoring it will ever change that, the only thing she can do is get her mind to concentrate on something more immediate. but ignoring it and channeling her thoughts in another direction might work for someone who knows that they’re going to die, but for an undead who seems to be very persistently not hollowing (at least not in their mind), this was a haunting realization - there was no escaping this second fear she’s found in that cell ages ago, it was a fear that was as undead as she was. sooner or later that fear will come to the surface again and she will have to push it back down again and again and again.

that type of pointless cycle she was bound to follow made her realize how absurd everything she is and has done is. it also made her even more pessimistic about herself, the world around her and her journey.

what’s the point to relighting the fire? just so she can live the rest of her life burdened by the ages she’s lived through and remain still plagued by the ancient moment of her death until she perished truly forever? and yet not feeding the first flame felt as ultimately selfish and egoistic - who was she to decide that everything should perish just because her own life has left her fearful and wanting?

thankfully (or not) for her, she settles on relighting the first flame, unaware that the fire will take her own life as firewood.

the end?

nera’s second death when giving her life for the first flame doesn’t actually count as a happy end (at least not in my books). it’s just a terrible way of cutting the knot of her many issues as she still remains at her core an unhappy and fear-plagued person until her last moment. she doesn’t know that she will truly die when reviving the flame, so that in itself takes away from the heroic sacrifice scenario, but she is still ready to lift the undead curse and live what’s left of her life with the baggage that’s hundreds of years old. perhaps there was a hope in her head that if she knew she didn’t have forever and she could die as a mortal woman, her mind would more easily let go of those ancient fears and questions and let her finally live as she wanted to live - free from her past, unburdened by all the questions and maybe even happy one day.

nera was ultimately robbed of resolving her issues and because she died the second time with the same first primal fear she felt when the dagger was put into her ribcage it felt as if everything that had happened between the two true deaths was irrelevant and ultimately absurd. hundreds of years wasted, hundreds of possible lives wasted too was her final realization that answered none of her burning questions. it all felt like it happened one after the other, only this second time around it wasn’t freezing water that embraced her, but an endless fire.

#zena history and stuff is me just... thinking stuff up ahjksdgs #idk anything about zena and it's never mentioned after dks1 #so these are my creative liberties #zena's disappearance is due to a plague = my brain liking plagues as story motifs #ALSO this was done as a stream of consciousness so there are bound to be grammarerrors but atm i don't feel like rereading it rip #oc: nera #ocs: the tragedy triad #ocs: dark souls

8 notes · View notes

transfemininomenon · 6 years ago

Note

hey alice I've seen you mention then before and they seem really interesting and I was wondering if you could tell us more about your dnd characters! (Whichever your favorite is or who you feel like talking about) or even a tag you have where I could read up more!

:O i would LOVE to talk about some of my dnd characters

my three main ones are my half-elf raven queen warlock gwyndolin (aka gwyn), my human swashbuckler rogue gertrude, and my life cleric alicia

gwyn was the character i played when @speechjam was DMing who is a half-moon elf with Parental Baggage (because what’s a half-elf who doesnt have an iffy relationship with their parents) who is very gay and very trans and canonically Really Hot because she has a literally goddess gifted body. her parents raised her in an elf city where she experienced a lifetime of racism for being a half-elf, and that combined with not having a great relationship with her parents as well as dealing with dysphoria eventually led to her attempting suicide. however when this happened, she suddenly found herself before the raven queen, who told her it was not yet her time, and offered her a deal - a new body and some of her power in exchange for making a pact with her. she readily agreed, and was reborn as gwyndolin

since then she’s spent a few years acting as a servant of the raven queen, acting as a sort of soul bounty hunter tracking down people who had unnaturally escaped death and dealing with necromancers/undead infestations. eventually she happened to take a job that led to her meeting the party, including happening to bump into her elf druid cousin solira played by @lyssatbqh

she’s also a total Disaster Lesbian and cant talk to women to save her life which is a problem when Lots of women want to talk to her on account of being Really Hot. she has a thing for knives and has like 8 of them on her. she also has a spirit familiar in the form of a raven named crawford who she always makes keep watch for her at night instead of doing it herself

THEN gertrude is the character i play in @lyssatbqh‘s campaign, which is a homebrew campaign set in the dark souls world. gertrude’s whole life was spent believing that humanity didnt matter and only existed to serve the gods - lessons instilled in her from birth by her parents. often being left alone while her parents were off doing whatever religious things they were off doing, she grew used to wondering the city of anor londo by herself, exploring every alley and climbing every roof top, having just a dagger given to her by her parents as a form of protection

as she grew older her parents tried getting her more involved in the way of white (the religious organization they were a part of), and gertrude never really quite got the whole “sit and study and pray” part of it, but she found ways to use her natural charisma and dexterity to instead serve the gods by acting as a spy against people who might speak out against the gods. this is how she met the party initially, being sent by one of the gods to spy on a book club founded by @speechjam‘s character brillin. long story short the party ended up encountering some of the witches of izalith, went to izalith right as the witch of izalith was trying to recreate the first flame, and they all fucking DIED

some long period of time later the party all mysteriously came back to life, and have since came back to life any time they have died, always returning to whatever fire they’d rested at. the whole experience of dying and coming back forced gertrude to, for the first time in her life, have to think about being a human and what humanity meant and what her place in the world was, and she proceeded to go into a several week long existential crisis. during this time the party investigated some mysterious happenings around the city of new londo involving other people coming back to life, fought some demons, and eventually made their way back to anor londo

the whole time gertrude was hoping returning to anor londo would get her some answers from the god she had been working for by the name of flame god flann. however, upon returning he offered no real help, and seemingly didnt even remember that she had worked for him. this furthered her growing crisis and fear and doubt, and eventually the party confronted her about her sneakiness and dodging questions, and she confessed the nature by which she’d originally joined the group, and asked for their forgiveness and explained that she’d suddenly had a Lot to think about and that a lot of things she thought she’d known had been thrown out the window. the party was initially hurt, especially brillin, and gertrude suddenly found herself for the first time Caring about other people and how her actions had effected them, but they eventually forgave her and they continued to all work together to maybe figure out a little more on what was happening

encountering two strange people known as skin man and skeleton man, the party worked with them and eventually learned that skin man also was coming back from the dead, but also seemed to be fading away more and more each time he came back - becoming less of himself and more just a blank husk. eventually skin man went missing, and the party found him by a mysterious machine that could answer questions for them - in exchange for memories

gertrude used it to ask two questions, choosing first between the memories of her time working for flann, her time with the way of white, and her memories of brillin, who she had grown increasingly close with throughout their travels (because gertrude is a Fool and JUST kept jokingly flirting until she fooled around and caught real feelings), eventually choosing the way of white. she then had the option of flann, brillin, or her forgetting the memories and associations that her daggers had with her, eventually choosing daggers

her questions were if the gods cared about her, about people, and then the second was if she, too, was gonna steadily fade away the more she died. she received a simple answer for both - no, and yes

initially going into another crisis, she soon shock that feeling off and decided on a new course of action, a flame suddenly lighting in her as she realized that she couldn’t rely on the gods anymore, and that it was people, and her new found friends, that she had to rely on. the gods were seemingly uncaring about their current plight, and she would find answers on her own. no longer being shackled by the gods, she would suddenly live as she was meant to - as a person, as a human

the party eventually fought a couple more demons and, with the help of skeleton man, defeated them. in the aftermath, gertrude and brillin FINALLY smooched and it was RAD, and they later had a roof top discussion about everything and about Them. they came to the conclusion that neither of them really knew what was happening, or what their place in the universe was, and the weight of the inevitably of them both hollowing was ever present, but they wouldn’t focus on that - they would focus on the now, on living as best they could in the moment, and deciding that they would eventually figure things out, and they would do that Together

dang i didn’t mean to do just a plot summary of that whole campaign so far but i got TOO into talking about gertrude i just……………….. love her so much guys she has learned and grown so much she literally started off as half a joke character i literally threw her concept together 10 minutes before the first session started and she became so!!!!! much more than i could’ve ever expected

anyway my other character is alicia aka the Divine Lady who i cant talk about TOO much because i just started playing her and friends in that campaign follow me and there’s #spoilers but she’s a life cleric who was once a shy awkward little boy named joey who has grown in to a slightly less awkward but no less shy but STRONG woman. she’s a life cleric and JUST wants to help people she’s really caring and is always worried about someone and i love her she’s such a change of pace from my usual edgy characters she is TOO good for this world and has two beautiful lesbian blacksmith moms and a million adopted “cousins” who she all loves dearly

she’s surprisingly Buff, enjoys blacksmithing (she made all of her armor and weapons), is a big fan of beauty in all forms, is an avid reader, and is constantly writing letters home to her family and keeping a diary of her adventures. she worships lethandar (aka god of birth & renewal) as well as sune (aka goddess of beauty), with the symbol of sune crafted into her shield and her mace designed to have a sun motive for lethandar, and she has big dorky glasses because she’s blind as a bat

some other side characters include primrose my college of swords bard who is JUST primrose from octopath traveler, ailce my water genasi druid that i usually play in one shots who in the most recent one shot i played her in adopted a wonderful child who has bat ears and was NOT appreciated by their parents and she loves them with all her heart, and ari “the banshee” who is a city cleric in a modern space based campaign who is an anarchist and part of a punk rock band

oh! also i have a tag for gwyn (which is just #gwyn tag) and TWO for gertrude (#former gertrude tag and #gertrude tag, former being for dagger related things since she lost her love of them) and im sure i’ll get an alicia one going! its all just like aesthetic stuff or things i relate to them but you can get a good sense of those characters through those

8 notes · View notes

angry-goat · 3 years ago

Note

1-80 for whatever OC you want, go wild buddy i can't wait to read! 👀❤️

You saved me from boredom! Here’s my ver of Ornstein:

What is/are your OC’s nickname(s) and how did it come about? - Orn(y), The Lion/Lion Knight (1st one is what Ciaran & Artorias call him for short, 2nd one is made up by Artorias & last 2 are the most common strangers call him.)

What is the color of your OC’s eyes/hair/skin? - Yellow/gold, red (“Ariel red”), white.

How tall is your OC? - 9'

What is a noticeable physical attribute of your OC? - I’d say the length of his hair. In a ponytail it's halfway down his back. Loose it is down to his ankles.

What does your OC normally wear? What would your OC wear on a special night? - He's normally wearing his signature armor. For special nights (any day/night he’s not working) he wears a black shirt with rolled up sleeves and tight black pants.

What is one word you would use to describe your OC’s appearances? - Grumpy? Gruff?? Tired???

Does your OC have any markings, such as a birthmark or a scar? - Has a small flat mole under his right eye and small scar on the left of his forehead above his eyebrow (hard to see in my drawings but it’s there.)

How does your OC talk/what does your OC’s voice sound like? - I like to think of Bambi’s father from the 2nd movie but a tad less low (example at the end!)

What does your OC’s bedroom look like? His/her living area? - Ornstein (and Artorias’) living quarters have a bedroom which is a part of the “living room”. In separate rooms to the right there is a big bathroom, on the left a small kitchen. The main room is mainly dark golds and crimson while the bathroom and kitchen are white and gold.

What does your OC keep in a special drawer? - Lube...? Anything really special to him is either worn by him or hung up somewhere.

What is your OC’s relationship with his/her mother? - He left her around his teenage years to continue his training as a knight of Gwyn but his relationship with her was good. Every year on her birthday he silently prays that she is alive and well.

What is your OC’s relationship with his/her father? - His father died when he was around 2-3 so he doesn't remember him. He’s heard from his mother that he was a big and scary looking but a kind and gentle man. Had a pretty good sense of humor too.

How many siblings does your OC have and what is his/her relationship with them? - Had a sister 1 year younger than him. Around age 4 she went collecting herbs for their mother but got hungry along the way and mistook a poisonous plant for a safe one. Died later that night. Younger brother (around age 9) wished to hunt a manticore with Orn but Ornstein only got annoyed by the suggestion and kept training with his dummy. A hunter from the village returned from a hunting trip later to inform Orn’s mother that his brother was found dead near a manticore liar. He barley remembers his sister. Blames himself for his brother’s death.

Who is the mother and/or father figure in your OC’s life? - Lord Gwyn for a short time.

What was your OC’s childhood like? - Lived in a small village. Spent most of his younger years learning different herbs and medicine from his momma. When he got old enough (13) he spent the day learning to fight and hunt for food.

What is your OC’s strongest childhood memory? Why and how did that impact him/her? - Strongest childhood memories are his mother singing a lullaby to help him sleep, learning of his brother’s death, and silver knights visiting his village to look for possible future knights to train.

What is your OC’s imagination like? - Does Not have a huge imagination. His mind is filled with work, possible outcomes of problems and wishing to just relax with his husband. If not any of those than it's memories of wars with dragons and the occasional memory of NK and him hanging together. They had a friend/brotherly relationship.

How many times did your OC move as a child? Which area was his/her favorite? - Moved around a few times as a child when monsters proved too great a threat. Did not have a favorite location. They were all very similar.

What does your OC think of children either in general or about having them? - Does not really have an opinion on them at first. He gets easily annoyed so he is never around them (+ his work doesn't involve them.) In the kids AU he wished to create children with Artorias and they ended up making 2.

What kind of mother/father would your OC be? - Sadly not a good one. He thought he was ready but ultimately wasn't. He ends up treating his kids more like his soldiers as he is so used to being the captain and giving orders. He was also never home to connect with them.

Who are your OC’s closest relatives? - Mother.

Who is/are your OC’s closest friend(s)? - He considers Gough to be his closest friend. They both just enjoy being in each other's company. No talking necessary.

Who are the people your OC surrounds him/herself with? - The other 3 knights of Gwyn. Gough, Ciaran, and last but not least his partner Artorias.

Who are the people your OC dislikes/hates? - He doesn't really hate anyone specific but for a while he was not too fond of NK for betraying his father and siding with the dragons. As you'd expect. Sometimes he dislikes Lord Gwyn for sending Artorias on such dangerous missions by himself.

If your OC has a soulmate, who is it? - Artorias.

Why does your OC and his/her soulmate work so well together? - They balance each other out I guess. If “opposites attract” is true then they are living proof. Ornstein taught Artorias what real love was and how to trust. Artorias was the first person he ever had feelings for and he also learned how to just have fun and relax while being around him.

What are some things your OC admires about his/her soulmate? - The first thing that caught his attention besides Artorias’ looks were his unique fighting skills.

How did your OC and his/her soulmate meet? - Artorias appeared one day as a stranger to Anor Londo and sought out Lord Gwyn. He introduced himself and told of his strengths. Gwyn agreed to introduce him to The Captain, Ornstein, to see if he was capable of being a good, trustworthy knight.

What is your OC’s level of education? - Learned how to differentiate herbs and medicine at a young age. As a teen and onward he got most of his knowledge from personal experience and reading.

Did your OC participate in extracurricular activities, and if so, what were they? - None.

What is your OC’s opinion of school? What kind of student was s/he? - He believes knowledge is good but doesn't really trust schools. If you were his child you would be homeschooled and be reading large texts all day :)

What subjects did your OC excel at? - Fighting and commanding others!

What subjects interested your OC? - He enjoys reading and sometimes writing short stories.

What is your OC’s dream job and/or current profession? - Being a knight of Gwyn - Knight commander.

How is your OC working towards his/her dream job and/or achieving his/her current profession? - Gwyn saw lots of potential in young Ornstein and so he got training almost immediately.

What are your OC’s thoughts/opinions of his/her current profession? - Is honored of his position but sometimes wishes he could just quit and rest.

What is your OC’s biggest dream? - Already came true. He wished to impress Gwyn enough to be the knight captain (check!) and later wished to soulbond with Artorias (double check!)

How does your OC react to and handle stress? - Likes to be alone with his thoughts. Gets easily annoyed and grumpy (more so than usual). Is prone to yell more often at times but usually reminds himself a good commander does not let their emotions get the better of them.

How does your OC handle anger? - You’ll hear a lot of lighting and shouting in the training grounds aka he is breaking every single training dummy. If not all this then you’re being yelled at by him cause you did something wrong or are trying his patience.

How does your OC handle grief? - Same as above except he'll eventually tire himself out, curl up and cry on the ground. Would also probably destroy things of no importance to him in his quarters. The only time he’d feel this much grief was if his mate or child was to die. Normally if he is grieving he is very quiet. If he loses a comrade in battle he’ll spend a couple minutes praying for them at night and give them a moment of silence.

What is your OC’s greatest fear? - Losing Artorias and disappointing the city of Anor Londo.

What makes your OC happy? - Spending time with Artorias.

What kind of sense of humor does your OC have? - Dry.

What are some things that greatly upset your OC? - Disrespect. Peasants, knights, etc should stay in their place.

What are some things that annoy your OC? - Artorias. Sif.

If your OC has them, what are some regrets s/he has? - Not choosing to go after his brother.

How easily does your OC forgive? - Not easily. Is very forgiving when it comes to Artorias tho.

What are some of your OC’s vices? - None. In more modern times it would be smoking.

If your OC experienced trauma, what was it? - War and betrayal.

What secrets does your OC have? - None.

What are some of your OC’s morals? - Respect your elders.

What are some of your OC’s motivations? - Keeping Anor Londo safe and not disappointing his Lord. Seeing Artorias safe and sound.

What is the health of your OC? - He’s in good health. If he were a regular human some of his hair would have probably fallen out from stress tho.

Does your OC think with his/her head or heart? - Both. Tries as hard as he can not to think with his emotions.

What are your OC’s thoughts on death? - Doesn't really have a thought on it. He’s use to death.

What are some of your OC’s strengths? - Patience and tolerance for bullshit (sometimes.)

What are some of your OC’s weaknesses? - Putting his job before himself or family.

How does your OC take criticism? - Well, unless he feels that person is unworthy and/or doesn't know what they’re talking about.

What does your OC think of him/herself? - Thinks he must be at least a little good looking judging by the way Artorias looks at him. Is guessing by others reactions that he must come off a bit scary. Good.

If your OC could change one thing about him/herself, what would it be? - He doesn't know. In kids AU he wishes he were a better father.

What is the general impression your OC gives other people? - Grumpy old man.

How emotionally/mentally vulnerable is your OC with other people? - Ornstein is like a brick wall.

How does your OC display love? - Touch. Hugs, kisses, cuddles, sex positions that will squish Artorias.

What are some habits your OC has picked up? - Tends to forget to eat.

What is your OC’s favorite drink? - Herbal tea. Reminds him of his mother plus it helps him relax.

What is your OC’s favorite food? - Medium rare steak.

What is your OC’s favorite sweet? - Dark chocolate cake.

What is your OC’s favorite season? - Summer.

What is your OC’s favorite kind of weather? - Sunny. He becomes Scrooge, in the cold.

What is your OC’s favorite book? - History and fiction books.

What is your OC’s favorite movie and/or TV show? - None. No movies where he is! In modern times he’d just sleep through movies anyway.

What is your OC’s favorite kind of music (and song if there is one)? - Folk music? Arabic sounding music?? He mostly enjoys silence. More modern times he’d like some classical.

What is your OC’s favorite form of entertainment? - Sparring.

What is your OC’s favorite color? - Doesn't really have one but I guess it could be the blue that's associated with Artorias.

What is your OC’s favorite scent? - Artorias & the beginning of Summer.

What is your OC’s favorite animal? - He’ll just say “lions”. Not a huge fan of animals.

What is your OC’s favorite sound? - The sounds of Artorias cumming Nature.

What is your OC’s favorite time of day? - Night. As a child, nighttime always meant story time around the village. As a teen that meant he had some time to sleep. As an adult he can sometimes rest with his partner.

What is your OC’s favorite kind of ice cream? - None. It would probably be dark chocolate or vanilla.

What is your OC’s favorite dinosaur? - None. They’d remind him of dragons!

Video of Bambi’s dad so you can hear his voice! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLF9u-Y_dlM

#Q&A #artoriasss

3 notes · View notes

bound-by-golden-wings · 7 years ago

Text

Ornstein Thoughts + Headcanons

Warning, extremely long post ahead!

So, I’ve been having many people come to me asking me about why I view certain things the way I do. I’ve even had people multiple times point out to me that some of my headcanons aren’t canon... Even when practically none of the things the fandom has come up with is canon. Ornstein is a rather empty-husk of a character so to say and there really isn’t much to him. So in the end a lot of him will be left up to the viewers interpretation. Just keep in mind, that just like with a lot of characters, this is my own speculations and headcanons and it’s totally fine if you do not agree with me. Just don’t bash me about it. I know my headcanons are extremely different from what a lot of people feel to be canon, but this is just the way I view things. Know that before creating this blog and while writing Ornstein, I practically read everything that was available about him, read other people’s headcanons and lore videos and that way came up with what felt right for me, so let’s just get to it. For the sake of being better at reading through it, I’m going to put everything in different chapters, then it will all be easier to find because it’s sorted.

Surely there are other headcanons that I like and I might even erase some through times or just edit/change entirely.

With all of that being said! Enjoy! :)

Start Of Life:

Ornstein was born about 200-100 years before the events of Dark Souls 1 took place. Back then, most dragons were practically still alive, but some kind of war had already broken out between the Gods and Dragons itself. it wasn’t too apparent back then, except for the occasional news going around the land that several dragons had been killed by the Gods and Goddesses. His father was the fearsome dragon Kalameet. I believe that all Dragons, Wyverns and Drakes were pretty much just as smart as any human and could properly think for themselves, which would explain why Seath was capable of doing so much himself. Kalameet was no exception. Kalameet fell in love with a human and through magic the two were capable of producing an offspring of their own, this being Ornstein (first name being Glaurung, because back at this point, he didn’t go under the name Ornstein yet). It’s almost similar to how Gods in old mythologies would have hybrids/animals/crossbreeds/non-human/god beings for kids and dated similar creatures. Back then it wasn’t as much of a sin as it became in later life, which is why most of the Crossbreeds were banished or born in Painted Worlds, because it was practically the only place for them.

Ornstein was a Crossbreed but unlike Priscilla and Yorshka, he resembled a dragon far more, practically looking like the Drakes your character becomes after using all the Dragon Stones. Several reasons as to why I headcanon Ornstein like this, but a few of them are: I like the idea that Ornstein technically in a way betrayed his own kind just because he wanted to proof to people that he was capable of doing greater things, I just can’t imagine him to be human with an armour set like that.

Kalameet disappeared not long after Ornstein was born duo to the war between dragons and Devines becoming far worse than before. He did this to protect his family from possible harm and Ornstein was left alone with his mother.

Growing Up:

Ornstein grew up rather happily for most part except for the fact that he always felt a little bit disconnected because of his dragon-like appearance, this actually made him somewhat despise his own looks and wish to become a human. Of course this never happened. At first people still respected him because his mother was a doctor and thus deeply respected by the town itself. He had friends, but as the years began to pass and the war against the dragons became worse more people began to abandon Ornstein until only very few people still respected him the way he was. Duo to this he tried to chop his own tail off, but luckily his mother ran in just in time to stop him, stop the bleeding and stitch it all back together.

He usually helped his mother around the house with patients, cleaning up, getting supplies, baking and all those kinds of stuff. Until one day the rumor started to go around town that the some of Gwyn’s army was coming to take Ornstein away. Gwyn despised dragons and wanted to have nothing to do with them or any kind that even resembled them, there were only very few who he gave a chance like Seath and Midir for example. Thus eventually once the Knights reached their town Ornstein and his mother hid away in the basement but were sadly caught during the end of their search. Ornstein’s mother was killed during the process and he himself was taken away from the town, then kept prison inside the Painted World of Ariamis.

The Painted World of Ariamis & First Encounter with The Sun’s Firstborn:

Ornstein time growing up in the Painted World wasn’t too pleasant, he was only 12 years old at this point and had to do a lot to actually manage to survive on his own. He grew kind of feral and kept his distance with most of the other citizen of the Painted World as there really wasn’t a lot that he could do about it. He practically had to fight for his food and make sure that the plants that he did try to grow actually got a chance at life.

It was around the age of 20 that he first encountered the Nameless King, aka the Sun’s Firstborn. Back then the first reaction Ornstein had to him was to fight him, feeling like he was an intruder, ready to steal something from him or even finish him off, but after a long battle in which Ornstein lost, it became clear that the man had no meaning of killing him. He even offered him some kind of food. Apparently he was exploring the world for his own personal reasons and asked Ornstein if he could show him around to which he reluctantly agreed. He stayed in the world for at least one day and seeing Ornstein’s potential and being in the need of more Knights agreed to train him.

Ornstein who had lived for most of his life in the Painted World and felt like he deserved something better agreed on this and The Nameless King took him back to his own world where he at first hid him away until his armour was finished. It took about one week to make the armour, made by one of the best smiths in all of Anor Londo and even if he was confused at first as to why armour like this was needed he agreed on taking the job (this was Lord Gwyn’s son asking for help after all). The armour was made from pure gold, infused with materials that protected against all kinds of lightning. Big enough to fit in Ornstein’s tail and any kind of other body parts he needed to hide, like his spikes for example.

At first he didn’t get the spear, this was only later in life after Nameless King had trained him for a while. After about a year he was allowed to pick his very own weapon and he knew exactly what he was going for even going as far to draw something out (which had always been one of his hobbies). The weapon itself was made from a Dragon’s stone scales and infused with lightning gems to make it possible to cast lightning, magic on its opponents. This is when the real deal started.

First Knight of Gwyn & The Four Knights:

As time began to pass, Lord Gwyn began to see all that Ornstein was up to and after a while he eventually became his first and most trusted Knight. But before that happened Ornstein tried to proof himself to Gwyn by killing one of many Dragons to come. Not only because Gwyn wanted to be sure that he would be up to the task, but also to keep the land safe from harm and to stop the growing suspicion if him being an Outlander that would someday betray them.

Once he had killed this very first dragon, several more followed as time came, even when he didn’t always agree with the ones he had to kill. Not all Dragons were bad after all, but it was a task that had to be done even if some of it makes him feel extremely guilty to this day. But he was extremely proud of the actual evil dragons that he did kill, hanging them on a certain wall like trophies. Lord Gwyn suggested to hang all of them on there several times, but he declined the offer most of the time.

Duo to this Lord Gwyn began to slowly trust the Knight and made him Captain of several of his Knights together with his eldest son Nameless King. Ornstein was filled with pride at this point, happy with what he had accomplished and although as a Drake you already grow older than most people Lord Gwyn made him a Devine, so he practically became immortal (even if he would still be weak to things like illness, wounds, murder, stabbing, etc).

Ornstein became one of the most well known Knights across the land and was dubbed Dragonslayer duo to the amount of dragons he was able to kill so easily. Even when one was still flying around he knew how to take them down midair. As years passed by, eventually Knights like Artorias, Gough and Ciaran began to join the Knights, slowly climbing the ladders and gaining Lord Gwyn’s trust. Although they were trained by other people Ornstein became their leader and he usually was the person they’d come to for advice as well. And although he wasn’t as close to the Knights as he was to the Nameless King they all got a very special spot in his heart and wanted to make sure that they’d survive any battle to come.

Executioner Smough

Smough was relatively late with joining the army and only knew most of the other Knights for a relatively short time (compared to an immortal life that is). Ornstein met him on pure accident, one day when he was trying to fight a group of dragons attacking a nearby village of giants. Smough back then was a butcher and showed a lot of signs of being a good fighter, making Ornstein wonder if he had been trained or thought it himself. They fought side-by-side while protecting the town and actually made a very decent team together. Ornstein suggested training him afterwards and Smough’s reply came almost immediately, that day a team was born.

He began to train Smough as his pupil and although he was somewhat impatient at times showed great interests in becoming a Knight. And not long after finishing his training got his very own armour and weapon. Even if Ornstein was extremely skeptical about the size of his hammer at first. At first Lord Gwyn was even thinking about making Smough a fifth Knight, but Smough’s dream was soon crushed when he began to show signs of actually enjoying slaying his victims. Unlike Ornstein he was extremely merciless when it came to sparing someone and would most of the time not even give them a second glance, practically killing them on the spot. What only made things worse was the fact that he actually began to enjoy eating his victims, getting both the titles Executioner and Cannibal. At this point Ornstein was the only one who actually still enjoyed Smough’s presence because he knew Smough also had his good sides even when he didn’t fully agree with everything he did. He still felt like he made a great addition to their Knights to which Gwyn heavily disagreed.

Once this news came to Smough this put a huge strain on his and Ornstein’s friendship and for a while to two kind of had their backs turned towards one another. He had worked so hard to get to this point, just to be rejected and he despises it, growing rather jealous of the people around him. But duo to Ornstein’s support he still stayed, hoping that one day Lord Gwyn would change his mind and he could join his Knights.

The Fall of the Kingdom

War went on for years without an end in sight and eventually The Nameless King went away to ally with the Dragons, he had his very own reasons for this, ones which he never shared. Ornstein felt both deeply sad and betrayed for what happened and for a while felt pretty down for losing his first actual friend. And it didn’t take long before he began to make decisions that he deeply regretted, Artorias left for the Abyss and not long after Lord Gwyn left for the First Flame and never returned, leaving most of the Kingdom in the hands of his remaining Knights and younger child Gwyndolin. Gwyndolin began to rule behind scenes for most part, casting illusions around Anor Londo to keep the remaining people happy.

As time passed eventually Ciaran and Gough left as well, leaving Ornstein and Smough alone to guard Anor Londo with a few other Knights around. One the new came that Artorias had died and later Ciaran as well Ornstein became devastated once more, but forced himself to move on, guarding the city.

However as time passed he began to wander around the Kingdom more, making sure to protect whoever needed it as well with the whole Undead Curse becoming worse as the years passed. This left Smough to guard the cities alone for some time as well. This is when Dark Souls 1 starts to take place.

Boss Fight & Aftermath

Ornstein does come back around Anor Londo at times, to make sure that everything is still going alright. Even if he fully trusted Smough with the city, sometimes unexpected things could come their way and once the Legend of a certain Chosen Undead started to become true he went back to his usual position.

Ornstein and Smough in Anor Londo are not illusions. Especially a Dragonslayer like Ornstein wouldn’t run away from a fight like this, especially not to fight for the people he cares about. Besides, if you kill either of them, they still drop a soul. I can go on like this for a while and while them being illusions can make sense in a way, there are also plenty of reasons why it wouldn’t make sense. To me the intended way would be to ‘kill’ Ornstein first. Smough absorbs all of his powers, but doesn’t kill him in this process. And while Smough dies fighting during this fight, Ornstein barely makes it out alive.

And when I say barely, I mean barely. He would have died if it hadn’t been for Gwyndolin taking care of him afterwards. Smough’s death deeply affected him and the thought that he had lost all of his other Knights at this point finally drove him to the idea to search for the Nameless King. One of his last remaining friends, he needed him back for the Kingdom. And although he was extremely angry with the fact that he had ran off, he also deeply wanted to find and see him again, just to bring him back and possibly give the Kingdom some more hope.

Archdragon Peak & Dragonslayer Armour

For this last chapter there are two ways I go. One is more of a headcanon while the other is probably more related to canon guidelines.

After traveling for possibly years and searching every corner, his powers becoming weaker and his armour starting to become dull and old he eventually reached Archdragon Peak. He didn’t get a lot of information during his journey but the ones he did hear told a legend about Archdragon Peak and ringing a bell. Once he finally arrived this was exactly what he did... And he waited and waited, possibly even for years.

No one ever came and he fully lost all of his hope at this point, leaving behind his own lion armour and taking on another one that he found across Archdragon Peak, along with two new weapons. This was duo to the fact that that the armour and his spear only reminded him of all the people who he had failed, of the ones who had died and the Master that had left him without saying a word.

At this point he had practically lost his identity and he had no longer an actual purpose in life. He eventually ended up at Lothric Castle where it became extremely easy for the Pilgrim Butterflies to possess him. And as time passed, less of Ornstein was left, slowly his body began to rot away, until the only thing that was left of him was a Lingering Spirit.

The other version which is more canon to the storyline is that Ornstein eventually manages to find the Nameless King, duo to this he can finally make peace with his life and the things he went through. They spend a good couple of months together before Ornstein peacefully passed away one day, possibly duo to what all the stress had done to his body. Why is there no body where his armour is at? Either because Ornstein fully rotted away when he died, because the game shows no corpse or because someone tried running off with Ornstein’s armour but never got away with it.

#ooc #headcanons #((PFFFFFFT THIS TOOK WAY TOO LONG TO WRITE))#Ornstein #Dragonslayer Ornstein #long post

12 notes · View notes

lunuanaki · 7 years ago

Text

hc; velka + the gods

This is an edited version of a post sent to sosayethlight as part of our “let’s shoot the shit about gods” discussion, and it is massive. Don’t embark on this if you’re not ready for an extensive description of Velka’s presence as a religious figure. All headcanon, as usual, because we’re supposed to be doing the fun here, not creating a wiki.

G-mun’s original question, in summary, was “What do Velka’s holidays look? What gifts are left at her shrines, or simply placed out for her; if such things are done? What do her worshippers expect from her? What do these worshippers look like, when they aren’t pardoners… And are they worshippers, or propitators?”

The thing that underpins my entire interpretation of the gods is my pre-existing knowledge of the norse pantheon and my inability not to match them up to one another. Solaire is an obvious Thor character, a well meaning, headstrong warrior with a love of fun, wine and bashing stuff; selfless to a fault but also somehow really kind of tunnel-vision in how he goes about things. Gwyn is my Odin, self sacrificing father-figure, though Gwyn sacrificed his whole being rather than his eye. They’re both equally ominous, you can never be quite sure of his reasoning or whether he’d put his love for his family over his own power. Gwynevere is my Idun, not a fighter, but no less important - she’s a mellow, sunny kind of gal who looks after things, in Idun’s case it would be her apples, and by extension, her family, in Gwynevere’s case, it would be her people - and also her family. Gwyndolin, oh man, I love to picture Gwyndolin as a twisted Baldr, bitter and blind to his own beauty, fragile in comparison to other gods, but still a god himself. Let’s throw in an honourable mention to Sif, who is named after one norse god, but who bears a striking resemblance to the Fenris-wolf.

So, where does Velka fit in here?

Velka is my Loki. I cannot even begin to explain my thoughts on Loki - but Velka is controversial, misunderstood, indifferent to people’s petty emotional struggles, a true neutral with no time for niceties. She is a spy, not a fighter; a joker, an overlooked observer who is rarely taken as seriously as she should be. She could rival Gwyn if she had the mind to, but as Loki owes much to Odin, so does Velka feel a sense of loyalty to Gwyn - so that wouldn’t happen, despite any trouble she might cause. She is balance, justice and truth at all costs. Like Loki, she has two aspects; one is the judge, and if she were only this aspect, she’d be a respected patron deity. This aspect is all about justice and fairness, an ideal patron for anyone interested in law or charity work. But her second aspect overshadows the first by miles, and that is her equivalent world-breaker aspect. This is what I meant by “at all costs”. Do not pray to her for help in overcoming an enemy if you hold a shred of blame yourself. Do not ask her to fix anything for you unless you’re prepared for her to burn down your current life and rebuild it. You should, as one of her followers, aspire to possess the self-assurance to objectively judge and fix your own life. Ask her to remove one harmful influence for you, and she will destroy it to remove them all at once. She is not a believer in painting over damaged walls. Her destruction is always in the name of fairness, though - she will never put you through more than she believes you are capable of taking. Stay with her and follow her guidance, and the result will be better than you could have imagined. You will go through hell - but keep going.

Because she is not a god you can just ask for things from, less clever newcomers to her service have often been burned by unexpected side effects of her influence. Their outrage and displeasure spreads like wildfire and by now, her worshippers are a handful of invisible, understanding individuals, who respect the good and the damage she can do. To the wider population, Velka is the patron of stupid edgy teenagers. If you imagine slightly ignorant old people irl who think satan worship is about being vocally alternative and goth and cool, this is pretty much how Velka and her followers are seen. Most see no reason to admire her when there are more accessible, “family friendly” gods to turn their attention to, so they dismiss anyone who does as either a fool or potentially dangerous. In reality, they’re a group of misfits - their lives have taken turns that led to her, and there are as many examples of events that might cause that as there are people. They tend to be highly individualistic, non-traditional and are often, but certainly not always, “undesirables”. So, to return to what you actually asked, Velka’s holidays are near-invisible. More social events are organised quietly - not in secret, anyone is welcome to join, though few dare approach to find out how, which doesn’t help their reputation for secrecy. Often, they will take the form of masked balls or similar, since your face and status aren’t as important as your actions and intent. Velka is an admirer of anything extravagant, so costumes, food and copious amounts of wine are often involved. As long as her followers’ personal freedoms don’t impinge on anyone else’s, they are free to do whatever they like, provided it doesn’t do undeserved harm - so these parties are in no way over-formal or sober. The timing would likely be somewhere around Halloween, for the likeness of the longer nights, clear autumn skies and full moons to her Carim home. It bears a few more similarities as well, in that she finds graveyards and places with links to death to be ideal settings due to their constant background reminder that all of those present will die - none are above one another in that regard, death is the ultimate equaliser. The gathering itself is a dedication to her, so no additional offering is required, so long as they acknowledge that their way of life and their presence there is granted by her and approved by no one else. Whether or not they are worshippers is entirely down to them - if they see themselves as such, then they are. If they prefer to think of themselves as followers, or something else, that’s fine, too. Her heavy emphasis on freedom and personal choice means they are comfortable with each others’ differences, and there’s very little infighting over who does it “right”. She would never say it because she truly believes all her followers equal, but she finds her solitary followers to be a little more equal than the others; these are the ones who might join in with the festivities, but they feel closest to her when alone. These are the ones who are likely to become full time pardoners, and only the best of them are brought to her and given control of a regional church of hers. Their private rituals don’t follow a set pattern, but always have an emphasis on cleansing (rock salt and sage are common choices). Their shrines to her are often unmarked, as it started off as a safety measure to hide from less tolerant objectors and became a tradition that fit in nicely with the reasoning behind the masks. The colours associated with her are deep reds (courage and vitality - the darker shades another reminder of mortality in their resemblance to blood) and purples (mystery, royalty, spirituality, connection with intuition), though mostly black (death, stealth, stability) and silver (an opposite to Gwyn and the sun-gods’ gold). These can be incorporated in any number of ways, but are commonly added using candles of one or all of those colours, altar cloths or gemstones. Typically, any rituals in her name are done after dark and are meditative in purpose. This is why these followers are so valuable to her - their introspection and focus on applying her ideals to themselves before trying to project them outwardly makes them perfect candidates for the inner circle that makes up her “official” covenant. Their private rituals might be simply as described, or they might intensify them by fasting beforehand or using any other method they find improves it for them personally. It’s typically a much, much more intimate experience than the organised gatherings. This intimacy is reinforced for anyone who makes it to pardoner rank, as their confessionals are off-limits to other pardoners and to anyone else they don’t choose to admit, meaning their space is theirs alone and dedicated to her. Because of her rejection of specified gender roles, she’s a popular choice among “rebellious” women, “frail” men and anyone who unashamedly enjoys sex, so some of them will include sex magic in their rituals, which provides absolutely no practical value, but Velka quite likes the idea. It’s nice that they’re enjoying themselves, isn’t it?

Things left at her shrine are small, usually - silver jewellery, crow feathers, magpie feathers if they know her well enough to know that her personal pet is one of these. The meaning is more important than the item, so a shiny pebble is perfectly fine if it happens to remind the giver of her for some reason. Those who come from more mainstream backgrounds often mistakenly assume that actual sacrifices are common, but they aren’t. The act of a human or animal sacrifice is an offence to her in itself, as the individual has effectively stolen a life and given it to her, though it’s not theirs to give. The last thing I can think of to mention is that most of her followers don’t realise she was human herself once, but those that do don’t see it as all that important. It’s because she was one of them that there’s a general sense of her being closer to them than the greater Anor Londo gods. Velka personally visits the confessionals of her higher ranked pardoners herself, though their lifetimes pass her by so quickly, she doesn’t always get to see each one. Still though, it’s common enough for them to encounter her in person, especially if they’re closer to the city walls. That adds to the view that she’s not a “real” god and isn’t worth being treated as one, despite the fact she is.

I just took this from a previous post and it just works:

So, overall, we’ve got a covenant that can be as compliant as a cooking fire, or could burn your entire world down, and watch it all over a crystal champagne flute from Anor Londo’s balconies.

#I . LOVE. MY. CROW DAUGHTER #I SCREAM AT OWN ASS #headcanons ;; velka #honestly ill be here farming content for her regardless of whether shes liked or not bc #i love her so much im never dropping her

4 notes · View notes