Saturday, June 3, 2023

Character Analysis: Chosen Undead (Feat Lswan)

Background 


Although his origin is shrouded in mystery, we know that the man (or woman, it’s an RPG after all) who would later become the Chosen Undead died and returned, the supernatural Darksign branding his skin and signifying his accursed immortality. Some would consider this immortality a blessing, but those around him knew better. Like all other poor souls cursed with the Darksign, he was captured and shipped up to the North and a rotting asylum for the undead to await his eventual collapse into Hollowing, and thus eternal insanity. 


It isn’t known how long he stayed there, but he was eventually set free by the Astoran knight, Oscar, who was later slain in battle by the asylum’s enormous demonic warden. Oscar told the nameless undead about a prophecy: a “chosen undead” would arise, escape from the northern asylum, journey to the land of Lordran, and meet his fate. This galvanized our hero to do just that. He caught a ride with a giant raven all the way to Lordran, decaying home of the former gods and home to armies of undead, monsters, and demons and began a one-man quest to save the world from the curse of undeath.


In his quest he fought huge swathes of enemies, including the insane gods who once ruled the world and other Chosen Undeads from different timelines, and died...a lot (especially at the Bed of Chaos boss fight). However, with every death the Darksign brought him back, and he never lost lucidity. He fought on and eventually succeeded Gwyn (basically medieval Zeus) as the most powerful being in the land. Standing at the altar of the First Flame, he had a choice: sacrifice his soul to restart the flame and reignite the age of the Gods, or reject the flame and become the Dark Lord of Humanity. Which did he choose? Well, both endings are canon, so both, technically. What happens after for him is unclear, but if you know anything about the story of Dark Souls 3, it’s very possible he might make a return.


For what it’s worth, though the name “Chosen Undead” applies IRL to the Dark Souls 1 protagonist, the player characters in Dark Souls 2 and 3 are also Chosen Undeads as well - in that they both fulfill the same role in-universe. In that sense, you could theoretically composite them to get a “peak Undead character” to represent Dark Souls here. This is similar to, say, Link, though without the reincarnation aspect. You could go either way.


Arsenal 


Notable Weapons


The Chosen Undead has access to a variety of weapon types, including daggers, straight swords, greatswords, ultra greatswords, curved swords, katanas, curved greatswords, piercing swords, axes, great axes, hammers, great hammers, fists, claws, spears, halberds, whips, bows, greatbows, catalysts, pyromancy flames, and talismans.


A full list of weapons can be found here: https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Weapons_(Dark_Souls)


Here are some of the more notable options.

https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Greatsword_of_Artorias_(Cursed)

  • Regular variant does divine damage (hurts dark enemies), cursed variant can harm ghosts which are normally intangible


Notable Armors


Elite Knight Armor: https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Elite_Knight_Set

  • The classic Dark Souls knight armor set. Offers balanced, solid defense.


Havel’s Armor: https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Havel%27s_Set

  • Biggest, thickest armor in the game - made out of stone and offering heavy magical defense. 


Notable Items


Estus Flask: https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Estus_Flask_(Dark_Souls)

  • Heals a large amount of HP

Humanity: https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Humanity_(item)

  • Restores all HP, fragment of the Dark Soul


Ring of Sacrifice: https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Ring_of_Sacrifice

  • Protects souls from being lost upon death


Powers & Abilities


Undead Physiology


Humans in Dark Souls are actually undead naturally. The concept of “life” as we traditionally understand it was imposed on them when Gwyn placed the seal of fire on early humans, sealing the power of the Dark Soul (aka Humanity) inside them. As humans propagated as a species, fragments of the Dark Soul grew in number, and thus power. This coincided (or caused) the weakening of the other three Lord Souls in turn, thus weakening the seal on all humans, and causing them to revert to their natural undead state.


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-The-Breath-of-Andolus/Issue-1?id=137654#4

Process of the undead “curse”


Humans live forever, and will retain their wills as long as they keep their purpose. A good example of this is Andre the blacksmith, who returns in Dark Souls 3, still smithing after likely thousands upon thousands of years later.


They have a kind of healing factor that lets them survive seemingly fatal wounds (more in the Durability feats section below).


Upon death, their body will disintegrate and return to corporeal form at the nearest bonfire. This will happen endlessly, with the user eventually going Hollow and mentally returning to a state similar to the zombie-like beings that first approached the First Flame.


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-II/Full?id=60574#21

Seemingly instantaneous resurrection near a bonfire


Upon killing an enemy, they will absorb their soul, and are able to use the power of their soul to increase their own physical might. The same can happen to the Chosen Undead too, and the loss of their souls or humanity does not impact their ability to resurrect. In Dark Souls, souls (both white and black) are not necessary for undead beings to exist, though repeated losses will drive them insane.


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-The-Breath-of-Andolus/Issue-1?id=137654#6

The Undead Curse slowly whittles away at your memories as Hollowing continues


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-Tales-of-Ember/Issue-2?id=137680#12

Absorbing someone’s soul does not kill them, it just hollows them.


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-The-Age-of-Fire/Issue-3?id=137682#13

Wurdow states that hollowed undead have no souls


Miracles


Miracles are holy spells that are spoken out loud - essentially by recounting an actual miracle from the past. It’s treated like a free action. From Heal description: “To cast a miracle, the caster learns a tale of the Gods, and says a prayer to be blessed by its revelations.”

https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Vow_of_Silence_(Dark_Souls_III)

  • Prevents anyone in the vicinity from using magic (including the user) by preventing them from speaking for 15-30 seconds.


Sorceries


Sorceries are a form of magic originating from Seath the Scaleless and are connected to the soul and enhanced by a user’s intelligence.

https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Great_Magic_Shield

  • Augments the stability of a shield to the point of making a buckler akin to a greatshield

https://darksouls.fandom.com/wiki/Repair_(Dark_Souls_III)

  • Repairs a weapon with light magic by reversing time and reverting it to a previous state. “Light is time” as stated by the item description


Pyromancies


Pyromancies are created by sharing a flame between pyromancers, and are an offshoot of much older fire sorceries created by the Witch of Izalith.


Notable Dark Souls 2 & 3 Spells




Feats


Strength

  • Strong enough to move his body (albeit slowly) while composed entirely of iron.

  • Can block hits from Smough wielding his gigantic hammer.

  • That being said, his spell Fire Tempest is an analogue to the fire sorcery used by the Witches of Izalith when they reduced some of the Stone Archtrees that hold up the world to ash (hence why the area is called Ash Lake), and even though this was for 8 of them, the Witch of Izalith was the only one with a Lord Soul and would have been by far the most powerful out of them all, and the Chosen Undead scales to her

  • What’s also important to note is that, since we know he’s following in Gwyn’s footsteps and repeating the process, his soul is capable of supporting the first flame (and thus all life in the world, since we know the first flame was the source of all life) for 1000 years.


Speed

  • Can both utilize Gough’s Bow w/ Dragonslayer arrows, as well as react to and dodge them when used against him by Silver Knights and other Chosen Undead he’s fought


Durability


Many of the grab attacks in the games inflict damage that would be fatal to any normal person.

Video

  • (0:41) Chewed on by a giant cat monster

  • (0:50) Throat slit by lower undead burg thief

  • (0:58) Back split open (and probably spine crushed) by a Depths cook

  • (1:04) Digested by slime monster

  • (1:17) Eaten and spat out by the gaping dragon

  • (2:25) Chewed by a mimic chest

  • (2:36) Stabbed and impaled by Ornstein’s gigantic spear (capable of piercing the ancient dragons’ stone scales) and then blasted with dragonslaying lightning

  • (2:46) Impaled by a Pisaca

  • (3:02) Chewed by a gigantic centipede monster

  • (3:15) Eaten by a gigantic centipede demon

  • (3:30) Eaten, digested, and excreted by a huge toilet demon

  • (3:40) Throat slit by a New Londo ghost

  • (3:50) Humanity absorbed by a darkwraith

  • (3:58) Humanity absorbed by one of the Four Kings

  • (4:32) Inflicted with miasma by Nito

  • (4:59) Picked up and exploded by Gwyn


Scaling


Bearer of the Curse


The same grab attack feats apply to the Bearer of the Curse because he’s just another undead, exactly like the Chosen Undead.

Video

  • (0:05) Head and neck chewed and crushed by a giant hippo monster

  • (0:17) Impaled by Old Dragonslayer’s giant spear

  • (0:33) Double-impaled and super speed stabbed by Flexile Sentry

  • (0:54) Impaled by the Pursuer’s greatsword

  • (1:20) Spine twisted and shattered by the Rotten

  • (2:00) Grabbed by Frozen Golem and souls absorbed

  • (2:08) Impaled by an ice sword, and then had multiple icicles sprout from inside them



Can move in tandem with the Looking Glass Knight’s lightning, which it caught from the sky


Ashen One


The same grab attack feats apply to the Ashen One because another undead. Technically, the Ashen One is an unkindled, an Undead who failed to link the flame and was burnt to ash before being resurrected. They’re functionally identical to regular Undead and can even become one properly without changing at all (aside from being able to Hollow).

Video 1

  • (0:21) Hugged and set on fire

  • (0:30) Crushed between a giant crab’s claws

  • (0:42) Had HP stolen by darkwraith

  • (2:07) Had souls drained by a Monstrosity of Sin

  • (2:15) Stabbed into the ground and burnt alive by the dancer’s flaming sword

  • (2:50) Impaled by the Nameless King’s spear and electrocuted by lightning

Video 2

  • (0:19) Throat cut by twin scythes

  • (0:45) Grabbed and frozen solid by some tree monster

  • (1:25) Eaten by Midir then burnt by his flame breath

  • (1:46) Picked up and crushed into the ground by a giant

  • (2:30) Stabbed the Crystal Sage and impaled from the inside by magical crystals


Can dodge beams of light from the miracle, Divine Pillars of Light. While we are usually more discerning when it comes to magical light for calcs, we know that miracles originate from the gods, and their Lord Souls come from the source of reality itself - the First Flame. The First Flame explicitly created real light as a concept, so the miracle should be using the same thing


After defeating the Nameless King and his mount, the King of the Storms on top of Archdragon Peak, a massive storm that stretches into the horizon immediately disperses. It’s questionable exactly how it connects to raw power, but considering the Chosen Undead scales to the First Flame, it should count in some form or fashion


Arkon


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-The-Age-of-Fire/Issue-4?id=140790#26

Chosen Undead kills Arkon fairly easily, with one strike to the chest before Arkon could swing his weapon.


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-The-Age-of-Fire/Issue-2?id=137681#5

Arkon kills a Taurus Demon in one hit.


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-The-Age-of-Fire/Issue-1?id=137685#15

Arkon is fast enough to walk through a crowd of Channelers and slice them apart, casually blitzing them.



The First Flame


The most important scaling the Chosen Undead has is to the First Flame, which they can choose to link (essentially, reignite for another thousand years) with the power of their soul.


As stated by the introduction, the First Flame created the concept of disparity, essentially energy itself: heat, cold, life, death, light, and dark (and time, as we see, is an extension of light).


In one of the Dark Souls 3 endings, we can see that the decay of the First Flame has affected even the Sun itself, as it is consumed by darkness. And in another ending, the fading of the flame causes the world itself to go totally dark, to the point where the Firekeeper asks if the Ashen One can still hear her. We can see something similar in the Untended Graves, an area from a different timeline/earlier time when Gundyr failed to link the flame leading to an age of Dark so thick that no sun or stars can be seen in the sky.


And the Dark Souls universe is in fact a fully sized universe, we can see a deeply starry sky in Heide’s Tower of Flame.


This strongly implies that the First Flame is at least some degree of universe-level, as it was able to create and sustain a universe. And this would scale to the Chosen Undead, whose soul can reignite and keep it burning and sustaining the world for a thousand years.


Painted Worlds


Several Painted Worlds were created from souls throughout the series (Ariamis likely from his own soul, Ariandel from his own, Ash from the blood of the Dark Soul itself, and the Orb of Entremis from the soul of Lady Parmethia) and are essentially pocket dimensions. It’s not entirely clear how large they are, though they at the very least possess a sun to provide light.


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-Winter-s-Spite/Issue-3?id=137677#12

The Lady Parnethia used her soul to create the icy realm they’re currently residing in with the Orb of Entremis.


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-Winter-s-Spite/Issue-4?id=137678#26

Orb of Entremis contains “the power to forge realities…working in tandem with the user’s very soul.”


https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Dark-Souls-Winter-s-Spite/Issue-2?id=137676#13

This world has at the very least a sun in the sky, meaning it is at least solar system sized, perhaps more.




Weaknesses 


Continuous death will eventually turn the Chosen Undead hollow, driving them insane and making them lose the will to live. It’s very likely that the corpses found around the game world are, in fact, still alive undead, and are simply so hollow they no longer have the strength of will to move. It is unclear how long this takes, and is possibly a metaphor for the player giving up on the game for the final time.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)