Gael as #1 is very fitting. People keep saying SoC should be stronger because he’s the amalgamation of every champion, but Gael is everything at the end. Minus you and that one random ring knight in the corner of the map. He’s also the only boss at the end of time. No he doesn’t lead you to him because he’s weak, it’s because he knew he would go mad and knew you would be the only one good enough to put him down because you would try again and again until you won
I don't know. I shudder to think about an alternate version where he pulls out the powers of a Bearer of the Curse completionist from DS2 and not Gwyn. (That's a joke but think about it, Vendrick was insanely powerful along with his soul to the point he had to hide it from Nashandra so she does not get its power. If you include the DLCs and the many, many insane trials that the bearer of the cursed goes through, then it's shocking how insanely overpowered the Bearer is and is probably the most powerful protagonist in all the Soul's games.)
I fail to see why placing SoC higher conflicts with Gael being number 1? I mean yeah, I do agree Gael is the strongest being DS3 (arguably second strongest if you count the Ashen One), but, yeah. Placing SoC at top like 20 wouldn't really interfere with Gael's top 1
@@nicolasleal5644 The Bearer of the Curse is the only character able to directly affect the Past Events, using the Ashen Mist Heart, they could even go back in time to the age of ancients, specifically at the end of that age and can create souls out of nothing and out of nowhere the Ashen Mist Heart even created an Ancient Dragon Soul The Bearer of the Curse literally affected the Past before they were even born, meaning that they ALWAYS existed that alone makes the bearer of the curse the most powerful, also them breaking the curse for theirselves and became immune to the fate of the cursed
Imagine being Pontiff Sullivahn, a being at the height of their power, wielding the majority of the major forces of the world and even catalysts for threats that could end the Age of Fire like the Profaned Flame and Aldritch himself. Nothing really stands in your way anymore, but suddenly a lone Ashen One arrives in Lothric, killing your most successful Outrider Knights, decimating your forces, defeating you and the god-devouring weapon you had on your leash, as well as pretty much everything else in sight. The humiliation must be immense
Welcome to how things typically work. Dark Souls has always showed the grim reality of what disparity, life, and conflict brings, and that's the fact that nothing is fair. It's not "fair", but it does make sense within the lore. @@alexanderm8975
There's a missed lore bit that states Aldritch can manifest miracles and powers just by dreaming about them, one of his transpositions was Priscilla's Life Hunt ability. Aldritch never met Priscilla, he dreamt about her or her power. This makes Aldritch power potentially infinite.
Brother that's how faith spells work in lore. Every simgle character uses spells lile the sunlight spear by remembering a miracle from the gods and based on how much faith they have in that recollection, the stronger their spell is. Think of it like a literal prayer. Aldritch is basically doing a skewed version of the same thing, he dreams about priscilla and gets her life hunt scythe from the recollection.
@@User-es3emfrom where is he “recollecting” something he has never seen? That’s the point of the comment. He doesn’t even gotta know you EXIST to use them.
@NotSoSerious69420 It's literally stated he dreamt about priscilla and in canon aldritch was a Saint for the religion that worships the gods and its miracles so WHY wouldn't he know? Ignoring the fact he was devouring and using gwyndolin as a puppet. He could easily get the miracles from like a billion different sources that make sense in lore.
Minor correction about Aldrich. The Gwyndolin we see is not a manifestation. It is the actual body of Gwyndolin that Aldrich controls while still consuming them. We know this because we can actually hear Gwyndolin crying out during the boss battle.
@@Gigimave The lore is ambiguous whether Gwyndolin is male, female, or non-binary in terms of gender. Gwyndolin was born male, used a ring which made their sex female for most of their life, and different item descriptions differ whether the character thought of themselves as male, female, or other. Hence my usage of them, which is the grammatically correct term to use when someone's gender is unknown (and has been for literal centuries).
For the gravetender I think it definitely deserves that spot maybe even lower than the greatwood since that hollow that we fight isn't even the champion that once participated in the arena, that hollow is simply just someone that takes care of the champion's grave and I'm assuming that he's partnered up with the wolves because the wolves themselves recognize that this man is only here to tend to their former master's grave
Pontiff Sulyvahn is such an amazing villain, and was the most memorable part of Dark Souls III for me Despite knowing nothing about him at the time, beating him felt like what defeating a being as powerful and tyrannical as him should His presentation displayed power. His theme commanded presence. His difficulty brought upon fear. His defeat granted us rule over the world’s fate.
For me, the most interesting part of the Ashes of Ariandel DLC is the frost spell that reveals Sullyvhan was born in the painted world. It gives context to some of his motivations;if he grew up with the ideology that when the world starts to die, burn it down to make room for what comes after.
I also love the translations of his theme It’s equal part directed at Sulyvahn, the Gods, and the Ashen One Tearing into Sulyvahn and his true nature, and how his actions are potentially bringing upon the end of times as we know it. Mocking Gwyn and the Gods for being so blinded by power they shackled the world to a never ending cycle of suffering to try and keep hold of it, just to experience downfall and being forgotten anyways. Questioning the Ashen One as to why they’d want to sacrifice themselves for a far overdue era. Ultimately, Sulyvahn, Gwyn and the other Gods, as well as the countless chosen undead before us, all brought to ruin by something as simple as a dying flame in the dark, and the fear of facing a world they have no control over, unaware, uncaring, unaffected by anything we can do.
I’ve never had a channel so eloquently describe what I love about Gael’s narrative, and what he says about humanity so much as you just did, fantastic work
I think I disagree with the logic that being able to link the flame means you’re automatically able to beat Soul of Cinder. I think that the champions spoken of as capable of linking the fire are just that; their sacrifice would actually link the flame. Soul “power” isn’t a 1:1 correlation to pure combat ability, and even when we can beat SoC our power barely lights anything. If the quotes about them were “capable of defeating the Soul of Cinder *and* linking the first flame” that would go a long way to tying them together.
@@codewizard0Where is it not supported? Artorias couldn't beat Manus; there are theories that say Friede was defeated by the SoC; Anri PROBABLY couldn't have defeated Aldritch and there are other examples to support the fact that you must be somewhat relative to your enemy in order to defeat him.
@@mariano8910ludleth of Courland is a Lord of cinder but has 0 actual combat feats and is a small pigmy. Though it's my theory he transposed a lot of souls into himself to be able to link in the flame.
Yhorme and Gael are my favorite Dark Souls characters in the series. Both are true servants of their chosen cause. Despite his might, Yhorme was a humble protector. And despite the limitations of his human form, Gael resisted hollowing possibly his the beginning of the age of fire in order to hunt down the Dark Soul so that humanity could escape the cycle in a painted would that would never succumb to rot.
@@SaintConstantine0101yeah I imagine the top is some mixture of Presence, Kos, german, Maria and Laurence. But I think an underrated boss might be Rom and wet nurse
I feel like the Soul of Cinder was put way too low on the list tbh. SoC is essentially an amalgamation of all the previous individuals who have linked the fire, meaning it would also be an amalgamation of strength, skills and abilities. So it has everything all other previous Chosen Undead had and then some in terms of repertoire, that's what? an innumerable of years if not eons of combat experience fighting against the first Lords, the remnants of Ancient Dragons and a collective knowledge of every age that has ever had a need to link the fire. It also means that every Lord of Cinder's skills are in the SoC too, including Yhorm, Aldrich, the Abyss Watchers and the original Chosen Undead. Imo that makes it easily top 2 or 3.
"SoC is essentially an amalgamation of all the previous individuals who have linked the fire, meaning it would also be an amalgamation of strength, skills and abilities." Incorrect. At least about that second part. Think about it: if the First Flame needs to be rekindled by powerful warriors and its power is constantly diminishing, then it would make sense that SoC's power, which is directly created/manifested by the First Flame, should also be extremely diminished to the same extent. Which therefore means that the SoC isn't nearly as powerful as you're making it out to be. It's probably not even as powerful as Gwyn is in DS1, lore-wise, if we considering the respective rekindling cutscenes from each game.
@@BiggusThiccusGwyn was also shit back out by the first flame it doesn't link ALL of you, most of gwyns base power was probably in the hollowed version we fought Let alone the first flame still is superior to ANYTHING we've seen in dark souls And guess what the SoC uses as a weapon? The first mf flame He's also the only boss you need to do a whole ritual for absorbing the powers of all the other lords of Cinders u slew throughout your journey to contend with him This SOC downplay is fucking absurd and Gael at 1 is such nonsense Yk the reason he guides u to him is cuz he knows he's to weak? And he was right He's prolly not even strongest dlc boss that title goes to Friede It doesn't take all your strength just a unknown portion of it and likely a different percent of each linker but it does take all your skills and intelligence
@@BiggusThiccusand using the link cutscenes to decide who's stronger is bullshit and yk it, first we have to consider the powers of each individual protagonist then the power of the first flame, in ds1 the CU is FARRRR weaker than the Ashen One and gets instantly devoured but that was by a near prime flame (when in comparison to later titles that is) however Ashen One can't get devoured instantly the first flame has to like nibble away at him/her but guess what this flame is far weaker than it was in DS1
@@jarrett3556 Gael at 1 makes sense because, while it's true he's probably kind of weak in the beginning, he absorbed the dark souls of the furtive pygmies, the brings closest to Manus. All the other lord souls lost power over time, while the Dark Soul doesn't. (It's the literal namesake of the franchise lol) The reasoning behind his placing the Lords above SoC remains solid to me. The Lords can link the fire and linking the fire requires beating the SoC, makes perfect sense. I think you're putting way too much emphasis on the ritual right before. It's basically a rite of passage, kind of like what you do with the Lord souls in DS1. And final note: Friede is an ashen one like the player. Which means she failed to link the fire. She's not that impressive. She even gank fights you and loses lol
Thank you so much for your excellent attention to deal and wonderfully crafted prose! You do a great job at contextualizing the history and background of the world and its iterations, I appreciate all the research and effort you go through to make a video of such substance; and I can clearly see how passionate you are about everything you discuss! My preface would be to see Bloodborne and Sekiro before Elden Ring, particularly because without the Elden Ring DLC we might not be getting a full picture of the power and level of influence of all the entities in Elden Ring (but that's only my opinion, and I would be happy to see any video ultimately!)
Solid ad on YT Shorts for this video. Hooked right away by the quick-drop facts and well-spoken demeanour. Thanks for a few hours of peace in a time where my Soul is most Dark.
Hmmm given the Ancient Wyvern's size, power, stone-like appearance and location, I think it's safe to assume it's one of the original wyverns or the progenitor of the wyvern species. Without the plunge attack gimmick it's a really tough fight and it really does look a lot like an ancient dragon...
I’m replaying Dark Souls 3 at this time so I’m looking at lore videos once more! Your effort in your narration really stood out to me and kept me engaged, great video!
Was not expecting the level of depth and historical context within the lore in this video. As someone who’s been playing the game for years and knows the general story, I was simply blown away by the interconnectedness of your story telling. A truly, meaningful interpretation and breakdown of the world. Gael is my favorite boss fight, and he’s the homie. It makes me a little emotional whenever I get to his arena. Especially when that little girl is like ‘where’s uncle Gael?’ 😭 After hearing your speech tho, it makes the battle even more heartfelt. I really appreciate the time you put into this, as I’ve come to really enjoy all the characters a bit more.
I've watch all your video so far over the last few weeks and to me you're honestly one of the best aggregator of the lore of Dark Souls. Behind a cool ranking, I've learned a TON of things I never grasped about the lore, and more over, the over-arching story between the game, even though I watched lore video before. I understand you make some of your own interpretation and some may not agree with these but honestly, your narrative is the one that makes the most sense to me and the one that creates a truly epic story spanning ages and civilizations upon remnants of civilizations. I loved it. Can't wait to see the ones on Bloodborne and Elden Ring!
I have a problem with the twin princes being placed so far above the demon prince. Even with Lothrics magic, the Lorian we face should be far weaker than the one that barely beat the Demon prince. Meanwhile the Demon prince pretty much fully resurects during our fight with him. I'd put the demon prince we face above the twin princes personally, with both of them just behind the Soul of Cinder. Also, Pontiff is vastly overrated. He exploited that the world was weakening around him and siezed his chance, he didn't cause the fall of the other dynasties. Gwyndolin was dicesed and weakened to the point that he stepped down as the leder of the darkblades long before Pontiff captured him. For all we know he could've been completely bedridden at that point. Pontiff over Midir & NK is insane and completley baseless. There's not even a good argument to put him above any lord of cinder.
I really feel like Soul of Cinder isn't a challenge for those who link the fire, but another Lord of Cinder awoken by the bell. It just so happens that it represents previous Lords of Cinder. All that to say, I feel like he got snubbed BIG time and I would've put him #3-4. Bonus points for being the Chosen Undead from the first game + Gwyn.
Important thing to note though, if you’re there to link the Flame due to it fading, it makes sense that whatever LoC said Flame could summon would *also* be fading and much weaker than if it was ”fresh“. I’ve always looked at the SoC as the final bright flash of a dying ember when we encounter it.
I like to believe that the Dragonslayer Armor was once the armaments of the Nameless King before his more refined swordspear was developed and before his betrayal. as it is said in his items’ descriptions, the Nameless King was a dragon slayer that only had respect for arms. the Dragonslayer’s Greataxe is definitely a weapon worth respect
@@A_Black_Sheep94 Both of you are incorrect, according to the description of Sacred Oath; “Miracle of those chosen by the Sunlight covenant. Temporarily boosts attack and damage absorption for self and those in vicinity. This is the tale of the Sun's firstborn, his faithful first knight, and the brave dragonslayer who served them both.” The Sun’s firstborn is Nameless king, his faithful first knight is Ornstein, and the brave dragonslayer who served them both was the original owner of the Dragonslayer Armour who is left unnamed. Also don’t regurgitate the point of ‘the brave dragonslayer is havel’ because Vaati got it wrong.
@@rigorm136 Which Dragonslayer out of all the Dragonslayers are they talking about Brianmiac? As if Lorewisd there's a single one, not to mention serving under Ornstein would have resulted in similar looking armor
@@A_Black_Sheep94 it’s more of the fact that the sunlight altar, a.k.a the place where you obtain Sacred Oath after turning in 10 sunlight medals, is literally right outside Dragonslayer Armour’s arena. Also the point you bring up of serving under ornstein would inspire similar looking armor directly correlates to why Dragonslayer Armour looks like ornstein.
@@rigorm136 Which is why everyone thinks it's fucking Ornstein. Not to mention its not like it's the first time Ornstein would have been reused in the series.
Amazing amazing amazing video man! I went into it expecting just a nice lil list of ranking bosses but ur story telling capabilities and ur voice’s ability to really captivate me left me with a sense of understanding and appreciating the true underlying beauty of each boss’s lore and character and what they represent to the story at large, especially Gael and how he symbolizes the entire story of the trilogy!!! Genuinely an amazing video and I can't wait till the Bloodborne video comes out!!!! Keep up the amazing work🔥
I kinda like the thought that the Dancer could be Ciaran the Lord's Blade of the Knights of Gwyn, the weapons remind me of the Gold/Silver tracer enchanted by the Pontiff. And we don't know what happens to Ciaran after seeing her at Artorias's grave in DS1
The dancer is actually heavily implied to be a distant relative of the old royal family(her armor helmet mentioning that it's only made for distant relatives of Gwyn's family) and one of Gwynevere's maidens(you can use her soul to get Bountiful sunlight which is stated to have been given by Gwynevere to her maidens) and I don't think that anything indicates that Ciaran was Gwynevere's relative or maiden,so I'm not too sure about that,but it does sound possible.
Sounds extremely unlikely she would become as loyal to Sulyvahn as dancer was. She already struck me as having been under Gwyn more for Artorias than Gwyn, not really the most loyal of knights, and it's especially unlikely for warriors to have all that much loyalty to new leaders after having served another for a long time.
@jacobnorris8256 the Dancer herself, albeit of an identity, is a prisoner to the pontiff, not an ally. All of the outriders are exiled prisoners of Irithyl
@@jacobnorris8256 as Metuogalendus said,the Dancer eas forced to serve Pontiff,and his two rings were used to shift his knights into beasts,the very reason why they were exile knights,his right eye aplears to transform the weaver into those canine-like creatures that ambushes you on Irythill's entrance,and the left appears to transform them into boreal knights
@@justsomeone883 Except it Pontiff really did have her serve entirely through force (I guess the eye he places on them can't be removed?), that just makes it even less believable. Why would Ciaran ever let herself be put in a situation like that? 1. Obviously nobody in her family would be able to force her to go to the Pontiff. Why would she ever entertain the idea of serving him to begin with? 2. Even if she was somehow convinced to at least *visit* him, she wouldn't let herself be subjugated. 3. He'd actually have to be strong enough to not only beat her, but prevent her from escaping and then taker her down without killing her. 4. I'm under the impression that Pontiff controls people through fear, but I don't buy her being afraid of him even after losing. She's an ancient, wizened and high status warrior who lost her reason to live ages ago, that's not really someone you can do that with.
Perhaps a list ranking the lore strength of each protagonist? (Hero of Boletaria, Chosen Undead, Bearer of the Curse, Ashen One, the Good Hunter, Sekiro, and the Tarnished)
I just have to praise how good your videos are. I have watched a lot of souls content over the years, but you make it feel new and fresh all over again. Keep up the good work! Can't wait for the Bloodborne list!
Im not sure what even to write. This was really inspiring and i really love Dark Souls, played everyone one so many times over. The lore is fascinating but i think i truly from watching your video, understand the entirety of the concept of the game, maybe not every scrap, but the image is so much fuller now. Really appreciate you man, good luck out there with great content like this. God bless
I love your story telling abilities; keep up the good work! I was trying to guess the top 10 as you went through and got stumped on the last one which I am embarrassed to say is my favorite boss to fight, like how do I forget??? (Sister Friede) A small bit of constructive criticism, timestamps for each entry would be dope. With the cross-referencing the different bosses I got confused (probably cause I was listening in the background while playing skyrim lol) and slightly mixed up which bosses were already covered (dang Pontiff for being involved so heavily xD) . I went back to look and resolved my ADHD inefficiencies but a timestamp would speed up that process. Again, great video!
Your whole prose throughout this video is absolutely spectacular, the last part about Gael and the dark soul of man got me shedding a tear, amazing work.
Wasn’t Kalameet an everlasting dragon? And we meet the ancient dragon in ash lake in DS1, but we never engage it in combat. Midir isn’t one of the original stone dragons, but he and Kalameet are both close enough that they can be counted.
Kalameet is a direct descendant of the everlasting dragons, so he has the lineage and therefore the power of the everlasting dragons...but he missed the bus on actually being an everlasting dragon himself. He's the next best thing though.
@@Scowleasy Yeah they’re both in the same camp. There’s also Sinh who might not be a direct descendant, but he’s probably pretty close to being one. And Gaping Dragon is a confirmed distant descendant
Personally while I agree in terms of influence Sullivan is perhaps the greatest and most powerful figure in the entirety of the main game, head to head I don't believe he is the most powerful entity in the main game. Sullivan relied on trickery, politics and an expansive network of powerful underlings to attain the zenith of his power, not his own strength. The Pontiff is certainly an incredibly powerful entity, with a stacked arsenal but limited battle feats. (A) He is the most powerful member of the Dark Moon Nights, and as such is a master of Dark Moon sorceries. (B) An incredibly skilled swordsman. (C) Can wield the power of the profaned flame, which was at one point able to nuke the profaned capital. (D) Can wield sorceries of the deep. (E) Was able to command the loyalty of Aldrich, an incredibly powerful lord of cinder. Though it is unknown wether it was simply Sullivan's might or his silver tongue and propaganda that won him Aldrich's loyalty; because let's face it Aldrich has been manipulated before, he's not exactly the smartest. (F) He might be part tree. I couldn't find anywhere that said he explicitly overpowered Aldrich or Gwyndolin. From my understanding Sullivan and Aldrich made some sort of mutual agreement, while Gwyndolin was taken when he was sick or poisoned, and far from his best. Don't get me wrong usurping the Dark Sun is quite the feat but Sullivan didn't accomplish this via combat. He either did it by poisoning Gwydolin or god lucky because Gwydolin was just dyeing for some reason, maybe sickness. Poisoning a powerful got with deep sorceries or some other underhanded tactic is very different from besting him in one on one combat. Also why would the Pontiff, if he was so powerful, not take some action against the Twin Princess? Probably because they hold a similar animosity towards the age of fire. But there are still powerful forces in Lothric which want to link the flame so why not simply eliminate the potential threat? My guess is because he views the Twin Princess as an enemy too dangerous to risk antagonising, one he isn't confident he could defeat... at least without the help of Aldbitch. It is for these reasons I cannot in good conscience put Pontiff Sullivan above the Nameless King, Twin Princess, or Midir. Remember, Midir IS an everlasting dragon + abyss powers which puts him above you average Everlasting Dragon. At least for me. Gael number 1 tho no question.
There is a theory that Sulyvan actually was the Scholar who convinced Lothric into rejecting the linking of the Flame. There is a statue in lothric with a Scholar who has the Profaned Greatsword leaning on its shoulder. Who else is a Scholarly figure with the profaned Greatsword?
Absolutely amazing video. Your dedication is incredible and you deserve to have so much more recognition. I feel like videos on demons souls, bloodborne, and sekiro would all be very cool to see and maybe if elden ring dlc comes out by the time you do those three you could include all of the dlc bosses in a huge elden ring video.
One thing I noticed: The Demon Prince looks a good bit like the bat-wing demons that take you to Anor Londo in the original game, and a couple times again in dark souls 3 after you defeat Vordt. I don't know, but maybe there's a reason for the resemblance?
A correction on The Nameless King, he was banished and his name struck from the annals AFTER Gwyn's attempt to re-kindle the First Flame, so it was not Gwyn who banished him. There's also a convincing fan theory that the dragon he rides is Ornstein, ascended to dragonhood as is the goal of many who make pilgrimage to Archdragon Peak. Another fan theory that I'm convinced of is that the Old Dragonslayer Armour is not that of Ornstein's, but that of Havel the Rock. It looks hewn out of stone, unlike Ornsteins, and the "Havel Armour" we know is only ever described as being worn by Havel's Warriors, not by Havel himself.
I don't think Midir is one of the original everlasting dragons, given that his soul explicitly states that he is a descendant of the Archdragons and that Old Moonlight states that while it is rooted in an older memory than that of Seath, it is from AFTER the Beginning.
I don't feel the Soul of Cinder's placement right. I feel 'he' (we talking about an amalgamination of multiple males and females) is the strongest character in ds3 and all of the Dark Souls trilogy. He is there to safeguard and tend to the flame in the absence of the last Lord of Cinder and awaits the new fuel to the flame. He wouldn't engage the Lothric twins as he is the current chosen undead fulfilling what the Soul of Cinder wishes. He only intervenes us, because we already gave up once and failed on our quest, we are seen as a faliure, not worthy to become the new fuel, the new Lord of Cinder. But the reason is why he is the most powerful is that he is able to perform any known combat technique to its highest degree, and also his entire being is based on Gwyn, and the additions of so many who linked the fire brought him back to almost full power. The Soul of Cinder is an even closer image to the full power Gwyn than the firstborn in my humble opinion. There is no greater challange than lord Gwyn himself in full power. I think when the fire is linked, most of the chosen undeads soul energy is being used as fuel, but some of it is stolen by the Soul of Cinder(Gwyn), who lives within the fire forever, to rebuild himself in a new form, now equipped with all the skills and knowledge of all the chosen undeads that linked the flame. So the argument that every being claimed to be worthy to link the fire does not mean they can win a battle against the Soul of Cinder, but means they wouldn't be stopped by the Soul of Cinder. We, the Ashen Ones are a mistake in the system, heralded only as the last resort, so the fire's will (Gwyn) double-checks our worthyness. The stronger the fuel is, the better the next cycle will be, and such the choosen is the best fuel, any other needs to be double-checked. I believe Gwyn is fully immortal until any other ending than the linking of the fire occurs, so we won't be destroying Soul of Cinder even if we are victorious.
Your understanding and viewpoint of the lore are truly outstanding as well as your narration, what a great video! Also I must say, very bold of you to put Pontiff ahead of Nameless haha
This was such a beautiful series. Thank you for making this. I've never played any of the Dark Souls game and might have any chance in playing it but its lore was so expensive that it drew me in. I've just finished all three of your Dark Souls Boss Ranking and it felt as if you were guiding me in the vast world of this trilogy. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience and journey. I hope you do Elden Ring and Demon Souls as well.
I’m pretty happy Pontiff Sulyvahn got a lot of love here. I could go all day about the theories and speculations about him but it cannot be overstated how he was the most important character in Souls series outside of Gwyn.
Now this is my kinda video Total W. Hopefully slave knight Gael ranks around the highest as hes my fave and he just gives out the feeling that he’s the strongest thing you’ve ever faced
I listened to this, and it wasn’t til I was done and subscribing that I realized you’re such a small channel. Keep this up, your production quality is amazing and the the formatting is top notch
Awesome video! The one thing I was wondering was about Halflight's placement. I know he's not everyone's favorite, but in regards to lore I'd say the most interesting thing about him other than his sorcery is the fact that he is wielding a Frayed Blade which is a weapon that the player can only get after defeating Darkeater Midir. Not saying that should make us assume he has defeated a dragon of similar caliber to Midir as the lore of the blade reads "A blade symbolizing Darkeater Midir" meaning you may not have to kill a dragon to get it, but still very interesting to consider as far as Halflight's potential feats of strength go.
Meby as a 1v1 combatant he is slightly too high...but in terms of "political power" that MF had his tentacles everywhere and basicly ruled the world, enslaving litteral demigods, and being main reason why EVERYTHING is so fucked in DS3
Shouldn’t the Soul of Cinder automatically scale above pretty much all the Lords of Cinder who already linked the first flame as by default it would have all of their powers, abilities, strength, skills, knowledge etc amalgamated into one along with every other being that successfully linked the first flame Lore wise I find it a little hard to believe that the beings you have to beat in order to get to the Soul of Cinder is stronger than the final test. And while the final boss doesn’t necessarily have to be the strongest boss lore wise, in this specific case due to what the Soul of Cinder represents, I think it does scale above everyone that has linked the flame in the past and those that are said to be able to currently
The amalgamation of FRAGMENTS of previous lords don’t equal the whole. Also the flame gets weaker as time goes on not stronger. There is no more now (and probably much less) than at the very start. No lore reason for him to be stronger than previous versions. Also you have the majority of the power going into the fight because you have the souls of the other lords. The soul of cinder is just not on par with you and probably could/should be weaker than the others lore wise.
I'd be very curious to see your take on the most powerful souls or influences on the Dark Souls trilogy, bosses or otherwise, at the supposed height of their power. The machinations of Kaathe compared to Nashandra, the learnings of Seath compared to Aldia, Prime Gywn vs Gael, Prime Vendrick, or Prime Ivory King, Chosen Undead vs Ashen One, that sort've thing.
It's wild that a little girl who has grown up isolated from everything naively asks a literal slave to do the most impossible task ever in rebuilding one of the lord souls in its entirety, and gael just goes "fuck it. Let's do it" and in pursuit of the single most herculean task in the series, is the last of the last people to go hollow from the sheer drive
Very nice list. I agree with it except for Top 10 which should be. 1. Slave Knight Gael 2. Nameless King (Stronger than Yhorm and Sulyvahn because he has Gwyn's Sunlight lightning) 3. Soul of Cinder (The First Flame is weaker at the end of DS3 but the Soul of Cinder still has the powers of all the Lords of Cinder from times long gone) 4. Yhorm the Giant (Is almost invincible since his only weakness is the Storm Ruler) 5. Pontiff Sulyvahn 6. Darkeater Midir (Archdragons are extremely powerful immortal gods with only a lightning weakness. Midir has additional abyss abilities) 7. Twin Princes, Lorian and Lothric 8. Abyss Watchers (Comparable to Artorias, and were equipped to combat the Abyss) 9. Aldrich, Devourer of gods 10. Champion Gundyr
The flame actively wanes the longer it goes unkindled, not to mention that the soul of cinder only retains fragments of the Lord's power not the entirety of it
Duuuude, hell yes! I just found this channel a few days ago and I enjoyed the heck out of the first two boss-lore-strength-rankings, and now I get home from running errands to find I've got DS3's edition waiting for me (the only one of the DS trilogy I've actually played). The amount of time, effort, thought, research, and overall polish you put into these videos is absolutely inspiring! D'you plan on doing these for the other Soulsbornekiroring games as well?
I don't know if you considered this, but I would really, really love a supercut of this; ranking all of the bosses of the trilogy at the same time. Though I don't know if thats even possbible with how cryptic the connections between the three can be at times
I love your videos, as a feedback I feel you could shorten some parts of the lore or make a resume so doesn't feel a little stretched but love the videos
Soul of cinder should be way higher then 9. It’s likely that no other lord of cinder had to defeat soul of cinder to link the flame. To me SoC is the first flames last hope at stopping the ashen one from putting the fire out and the SoC is the combination of EVERY single lord of cinder ever. Including gwyn, yhorm, Aldrich, the abyss watchers, and any previous protagonist. It can be argued that SoC is stronger than Gael simply by how many lords of cinder make up the soul of cinder
I would kill to see a free for all skirmish between the following bosses Ornstein and Smough,Artorias,Sir Alonne,Ivory King,Fume Knight,Velstadt,King Vendrick,Lothric and Lorian,Gael,Nameless King,Gwyn and The Soul Of Cinder If I should add more give me some names...
I can't help but feel like Ponif's placement is way off. He was massively influential, no doubt, but that confirms little about his personal strength. Him stitching his fighting style together from aspects of the old chaos, abyss and sorcery doesn't mean much. There's very little in the lore that actually hypes up his personal strength, but several elements - like working with Aldritch, sealing off Lothric rather than facing the twins and thr fact that his remains are not fit to serve as cinders for the flame - indicate that he isn't remarkable.
Peep the description for timestamps, TH-cam is being funny on getting them embedded on this video.
even the red bar isn't there💀
"Two nobodies fighting at the end of the world" will always be the best way to end such an expansive story
There’s a reason Gael is the greatest boss in all of the Dark Souls series
@@Hopeful_Huskerthat is the reason bozo
@@DreyfusLagoonI mean.... That's what he was saying tho..
@@DreyfusLagoonlol chill the flip out
@@Doncroft1 how about you
I'm not going to lie, your final speech about Slave Knight Gael was truly inspiring.
Thank you, it really is such a pinnacle moment in the story.
Agreed. Could rival vaati in storytelling
Prime vaati voice was dark souls 2 , the new mic is trash
@@ididntaskverified3663it just isn't tho is it? It's far better
Bro I cried during that speech
Gael as #1 is very fitting. People keep saying SoC should be stronger because he’s the amalgamation of every champion, but Gael is everything at the end. Minus you and that one random ring knight in the corner of the map. He’s also the only boss at the end of time. No he doesn’t lead you to him because he’s weak, it’s because he knew he would go mad and knew you would be the only one good enough to put him down because you would try again and again until you won
I don't know. I shudder to think about an alternate version where he pulls out the powers of a Bearer of the Curse completionist from DS2 and not Gwyn. (That's a joke but think about it, Vendrick was insanely powerful along with his soul to the point he had to hide it from Nashandra so she does not get its power. If you include the DLCs and the many, many insane trials that the bearer of the cursed goes through, then it's shocking how insanely overpowered the Bearer is and is probably the most powerful protagonist in all the Soul's games.)
IDK i figured the Ashen one was strongest. Or maybe the Tarnished@@nicolasleal5644
I fail to see why placing SoC higher conflicts with Gael being number 1? I mean yeah, I do agree Gael is the strongest being DS3 (arguably second strongest if you count the Ashen One), but, yeah. Placing SoC at top like 20 wouldn't really interfere with Gael's top 1
understandable. Had I made the list he would have been higher@@NepNep8840
@@nicolasleal5644
The Bearer of the Curse is the only character able to directly affect the Past Events, using the Ashen Mist Heart, they could even go back in time to the age of ancients, specifically at the end of that age
and can create souls out of nothing and out of nowhere
the Ashen Mist Heart even created an Ancient Dragon Soul
The Bearer of the Curse literally affected the Past before they were even born, meaning that they ALWAYS existed
that alone makes the bearer of the curse the most powerful, also them breaking the curse for theirselves and became immune to the fate of the cursed
Imagine being Pontiff Sullivahn, a being at the height of their power, wielding the majority of the major forces of the world and even catalysts for threats that could end the Age of Fire like the Profaned Flame and Aldritch himself. Nothing really stands in your way anymore, but suddenly a lone Ashen One arrives in Lothric, killing your most successful Outrider Knights, decimating your forces, defeating you and the god-devouring weapon you had on your leash, as well as pretty much everything else in sight.
The humiliation must be immense
Respawn so not that fair
@@alexanderm8975 I like to think of myself as an inevitability.
@@alexanderm8975These games are constantly showing a world where life isn't fair, how is this any different?
@@alexanderm8975I first tried that guy, turns out that guy isn’t that strong if you hit him with 20 pounds of raw iron to the dome
Welcome to how things typically work. Dark Souls has always showed the grim reality of what disparity, life, and conflict brings, and that's the fact that nothing is fair. It's not "fair", but it does make sense within the lore. @@alexanderm8975
There's a missed lore bit that states Aldritch can manifest miracles and powers just by dreaming about them, one of his transpositions was Priscilla's Life Hunt ability. Aldritch never met Priscilla, he dreamt about her or her power. This makes Aldritch power potentially infinite.
Never met Nito either, dreamed up his greatsword.
"Sully, this shit goes crazy af man, cracks just get me high AF" "Yeah, good shit yeah?"
Brother that's how faith spells work in lore. Every simgle character uses spells lile the sunlight spear by remembering a miracle from the gods and based on how much faith they have in that recollection, the stronger their spell is. Think of it like a literal prayer.
Aldritch is basically doing a skewed version of the same thing, he dreams about priscilla and gets her life hunt scythe from the recollection.
@@User-es3emfrom where is he “recollecting” something he has never seen? That’s the point of the comment. He doesn’t even gotta know you EXIST to use them.
@NotSoSerious69420 It's literally stated he dreamt about priscilla and in canon aldritch was a Saint for the religion that worships the gods and its miracles so WHY wouldn't he know? Ignoring the fact he was devouring and using gwyndolin as a puppet. He could easily get the miracles from like a billion different sources that make sense in lore.
Minor correction about Aldrich. The Gwyndolin we see is not a manifestation. It is the actual body of Gwyndolin that Aldrich controls while still consuming them. We know this because we can actually hear Gwyndolin crying out during the boss battle.
Awesome insight! Thanks
*consuming him
Gwyndolin is male
@@Gigimave The lore is ambiguous whether Gwyndolin is male, female, or non-binary in terms of gender. Gwyndolin was born male, used a ring which made their sex female for most of their life, and different item descriptions differ whether the character thought of themselves as male, female, or other. Hence my usage of them, which is the grammatically correct term to use when someone's gender is unknown (and has been for literal centuries).
@@geoffreysorkin5774 yes born a boy = male. he then pretends (nothing wrong with that but still male)
@@GigimaveI take the Wildpie 101 stance on Gwendolyn.
For the gravetender I think it definitely deserves that spot maybe even lower than the greatwood since that hollow that we fight isn't even the champion that once participated in the arena, that hollow is simply just someone that takes care of the champion's grave and I'm assuming that he's partnered up with the wolves because the wolves themselves recognize that this man is only here to tend to their former master's grave
He kicked my ass for so long that it hurts to see people dissing him lol
@@based_windwalker I would be lying if I didnt say that he also kicked my ass harder than the pontiff
@@based_windwalker Freide slaps
Pontiff Sulyvahn is such an amazing villain, and was the most memorable part of Dark Souls III for me
Despite knowing nothing about him at the time, beating him felt like what defeating a being as powerful and tyrannical as him should
His presentation displayed power.
His theme commanded presence.
His difficulty brought upon fear.
His defeat granted us rule over the world’s fate.
In the early draft of the game pontif was meant to be the final boss with the main menu theme as his soundtrack.
For me, the most interesting part of the Ashes of Ariandel DLC is the frost spell that reveals Sullyvhan was born in the painted world. It gives context to some of his motivations;if he grew up with the ideology that when the world starts to die, burn it down to make room for what comes after.
I also love the translations of his theme
It’s equal part directed at Sulyvahn, the Gods, and the Ashen One
Tearing into Sulyvahn and his true nature, and how his actions are potentially bringing upon the end of times as we know it.
Mocking Gwyn and the Gods for being so blinded by power they shackled the world to a never ending cycle of suffering to try and keep hold of it, just to experience downfall and being forgotten anyways.
Questioning the Ashen One as to why they’d want to sacrifice themselves for a far overdue era.
Ultimately, Sulyvahn, Gwyn and the other Gods, as well as the countless chosen undead before us, all brought to ruin by something as simple as a dying flame in the dark, and the fear of facing a world they have no control over, unaware, uncaring, unaffected by anything we can do.
His difficulty brought upon fear, until you learn to parry him
@@ondrejmrazek8209I’m glad we got Soul Of Cinder added for the final Boss but Pontiff being at the end also would’ve been cool.
I’ve never had a channel so eloquently describe what I love about Gael’s narrative, and what he says about humanity so much as you just did, fantastic work
I think I disagree with the logic that being able to link the flame means you’re automatically able to beat Soul of Cinder. I think that the champions spoken of as capable of linking the fire are just that; their sacrifice would actually link the flame. Soul “power” isn’t a 1:1 correlation to pure combat ability, and even when we can beat SoC our power barely lights anything. If the quotes about them were “capable of defeating the Soul of Cinder *and* linking the first flame” that would go a long way to tying them together.
Well but lore wise you have to at least be relative to an opponent in order to beat them.
@@mariano8910actually no. It's not supported by any of the lore.
@@codewizard0Where is it not supported? Artorias couldn't beat Manus; there are theories that say Friede was defeated by the SoC; Anri PROBABLY couldn't have defeated Aldritch and there are other examples to support the fact that you must be somewhat relative to your enemy in order to defeat him.
@@mariano8910ludleth of Courland is a Lord of cinder but has 0 actual combat feats and is a small pigmy. Though it's my theory he transposed a lot of souls into himself to be able to link in the flame.
Great!
Is as much like as he is giving his own opinion and his own understanding....
That final speech. You wrote a warrior's speech and an eulogy for the character. Good stuff, very inspiring.
Yhorme and Gael are my favorite Dark Souls characters in the series. Both are true servants of their chosen cause. Despite his might, Yhorme was a humble protector. And despite the limitations of his human form, Gael resisted hollowing possibly his the beginning of the age of fire in order to hunt down the Dark Soul so that humanity could escape the cycle in a painted would that would never succumb to rot.
Unfortunately Yhorms people dispised and reviled him for his giant stature.
Ahhh yeahhh another Banger....now we wait for Bloodborne.
Maira is top 3, probably number one 1 tho
Why not a Video listing all 3 titles combined?
@Crackheadcentral2188 Moon Presence is probably no 1 or 2
@@SaintConstantine0101yeah I imagine the top is some mixture of Presence, Kos, german, Maria and Laurence. But I think an underrated boss might be Rom and wet nurse
Elden ring*
I feel like the Soul of Cinder was put way too low on the list tbh. SoC is essentially an amalgamation of all the previous individuals who have linked the fire, meaning it would also be an amalgamation of strength, skills and abilities. So it has everything all other previous Chosen Undead had and then some in terms of repertoire, that's what? an innumerable of years if not eons of combat experience fighting against the first Lords, the remnants of Ancient Dragons and a collective knowledge of every age that has ever had a need to link the fire. It also means that every Lord of Cinder's skills are in the SoC too, including Yhorm, Aldrich, the Abyss Watchers and the original Chosen Undead. Imo that makes it easily top 2 or 3.
Seeing him mid way through the video is absurd
"SoC is essentially an amalgamation of all the previous individuals who have linked the fire, meaning it would also be an amalgamation of strength, skills and abilities."
Incorrect. At least about that second part. Think about it: if the First Flame needs to be rekindled by powerful warriors and its power is constantly diminishing, then it would make sense that SoC's power, which is directly created/manifested by the First Flame, should also be extremely diminished to the same extent. Which therefore means that the SoC isn't nearly as powerful as you're making it out to be. It's probably not even as powerful as Gwyn is in DS1, lore-wise, if we considering the respective rekindling cutscenes from each game.
@@BiggusThiccusGwyn was also shit back out by the first flame it doesn't link ALL of you, most of gwyns base power was probably in the hollowed version we fought
Let alone the first flame still is superior to ANYTHING we've seen in dark souls
And guess what the SoC uses as a weapon? The first mf flame
He's also the only boss you need to do a whole ritual for absorbing the powers of all the other lords of Cinders u slew throughout your journey to contend with him
This SOC downplay is fucking absurd and Gael at 1 is such nonsense
Yk the reason he guides u to him is cuz he knows he's to weak? And he was right
He's prolly not even strongest dlc boss that title goes to Friede
It doesn't take all your strength just a unknown portion of it and likely a different percent of each linker but it does take all your skills and intelligence
@@BiggusThiccusand using the link cutscenes to decide who's stronger is bullshit and yk it, first we have to consider the powers of each individual protagonist then the power of the first flame, in ds1 the CU is FARRRR weaker than the Ashen One and gets instantly devoured but that was by a near prime flame (when in comparison to later titles that is) however Ashen One can't get devoured instantly the first flame has to like nibble away at him/her but guess what this flame is far weaker than it was in DS1
@@jarrett3556 Gael at 1 makes sense because, while it's true he's probably kind of weak in the beginning, he absorbed the dark souls of the furtive pygmies, the brings closest to Manus. All the other lord souls lost power over time, while the Dark Soul doesn't. (It's the literal namesake of the franchise lol)
The reasoning behind his placing the Lords above SoC remains solid to me. The Lords can link the fire and linking the fire requires beating the SoC, makes perfect sense.
I think you're putting way too much emphasis on the ritual right before. It's basically a rite of passage, kind of like what you do with the Lord souls in DS1.
And final note: Friede is an ashen one like the player. Which means she failed to link the fire. She's not that impressive. She even gank fights you and loses lol
Thank you so much for your excellent attention to deal and wonderfully crafted prose! You do a great job at contextualizing the history and background of the world and its iterations, I appreciate all the research and effort you go through to make a video of such substance; and I can clearly see how passionate you are about everything you discuss! My preface would be to see Bloodborne and Sekiro before Elden Ring, particularly because without the Elden Ring DLC we might not be getting a full picture of the power and level of influence of all the entities in Elden Ring (but that's only my opinion, and I would be happy to see any video ultimately!)
Solid ad on YT Shorts for this video. Hooked right away by the quick-drop facts and well-spoken demeanour. Thanks for a few hours of peace in a time where my Soul is most Dark.
The ending speech was beautiful 😥, it gave me a new perspective not just about Gael, but the entire meaning of that last fight. I thank you for that.
keeping fingers crossed for wolnir, my man is a giant skeleton war criminal who does dark magic and vaping
edit: what the fuck dude
HAHAHAHA love the roller coaster of emotions here. Sorry 😉
Justice for vapers
Cringe Vapelord Wolnir (I did think he would be higher, though. Dude was a force in his prime)
Hmmm given the Ancient Wyvern's size, power, stone-like appearance and location, I think it's safe to assume it's one of the original wyverns or the progenitor of the wyvern species. Without the plunge attack gimmick it's a really tough fight and it really does look a lot like an ancient dragon...
I’m replaying Dark Souls 3 at this time so I’m looking at lore videos once more! Your effort in your narration really stood out to me and kept me engaged, great video!
Was not expecting the level of depth and historical context within the lore in this video. As someone who’s been playing the game for years and knows the general story, I was simply blown away by the interconnectedness of your story telling. A truly, meaningful interpretation and breakdown of the world.
Gael is my favorite boss fight, and he’s the homie. It makes me a little emotional whenever I get to his arena. Especially when that little girl is like ‘where’s uncle Gael?’ 😭 After hearing your speech tho, it makes the battle even more heartfelt. I really appreciate the time you put into this, as I’ve come to really enjoy all the characters a bit more.
I've watch all your video so far over the last few weeks and to me you're honestly one of the best aggregator of the lore of Dark Souls. Behind a cool ranking, I've learned a TON of things I never grasped about the lore, and more over, the over-arching story between the game, even though I watched lore video before. I understand you make some of your own interpretation and some may not agree with these but honestly, your narrative is the one that makes the most sense to me and the one that creates a truly epic story spanning ages and civilizations upon remnants of civilizations. I loved it. Can't wait to see the ones on Bloodborne and Elden Ring!
I have a problem with the twin princes being placed so far above the demon prince. Even with Lothrics magic, the Lorian we face should be far weaker than the one that barely beat the Demon prince. Meanwhile the Demon prince pretty much fully resurects during our fight with him. I'd put the demon prince we face above the twin princes personally, with both of them just behind the Soul of Cinder.
Also, Pontiff is vastly overrated. He exploited that the world was weakening around him and siezed his chance, he didn't cause the fall of the other dynasties. Gwyndolin was dicesed and weakened to the point that he stepped down as the leder of the darkblades long before Pontiff captured him. For all we know he could've been completely bedridden at that point. Pontiff over Midir & NK is insane and completley baseless. There's not even a good argument to put him above any lord of cinder.
I really feel like Soul of Cinder isn't a challenge for those who link the fire, but another Lord of Cinder awoken by the bell. It just so happens that it represents previous Lords of Cinder.
All that to say, I feel like he got snubbed BIG time and I would've put him #3-4. Bonus points for being the Chosen Undead from the first game + Gwyn.
That's my only real gripe.
I mean his soul says he's an amalgamation of previous lords of cinder made to protect the flame
Important thing to note though, if you’re there to link the Flame due to it fading, it makes sense that whatever LoC said Flame could summon would *also* be fading and much weaker than if it was ”fresh“. I’ve always looked at the SoC as the final bright flash of a dying ember when we encounter it.
I like to believe that the Dragonslayer Armor was once the armaments of the Nameless King before his more refined swordspear was developed and before his betrayal. as it is said in his items’ descriptions, the Nameless King was a dragon slayer that only had respect for arms. the Dragonslayer’s Greataxe is definitely a weapon worth respect
Pretty positive it's Ornsteins armor
@@A_Black_Sheep94 Both of you are incorrect, according to the description of Sacred Oath; “Miracle of those chosen by the Sunlight covenant. Temporarily boosts attack and damage absorption for self and those in vicinity. This is the tale of the Sun's firstborn, his faithful first knight, and the brave dragonslayer who served them both.”
The Sun’s firstborn is Nameless king, his faithful first knight is Ornstein, and the brave dragonslayer who served them both was the original owner of the Dragonslayer Armour who is left unnamed.
Also don’t regurgitate the point of ‘the brave dragonslayer is havel’ because Vaati got it wrong.
@@rigorm136 Which Dragonslayer out of all the Dragonslayers are they talking about Brianmiac? As if Lorewisd there's a single one, not to mention serving under Ornstein would have resulted in similar looking armor
@@A_Black_Sheep94 it’s more of the fact that the sunlight altar, a.k.a the place where you obtain Sacred Oath after turning in 10 sunlight medals, is literally right outside Dragonslayer Armour’s arena. Also the point you bring up of serving under ornstein would inspire similar looking armor directly correlates to why Dragonslayer Armour looks like ornstein.
@@rigorm136 Which is why everyone thinks it's fucking Ornstein. Not to mention its not like it's the first time Ornstein would have been reused in the series.
You should probably rank Bloodborne and the other games by lore first so you can include Elden Ring’s DLC in your ranking
elden ring dlc was so underwhelming and average it’s honestly not even worth it
Amazing amazing amazing video man! I went into it expecting just a nice lil list of ranking bosses but ur story telling capabilities and ur voice’s ability to really captivate me left me with a sense of understanding and appreciating the true underlying beauty of each boss’s lore and character and what they represent to the story at large, especially Gael and how he symbolizes the entire story of the trilogy!!! Genuinely an amazing video and I can't wait till the Bloodborne video comes out!!!! Keep up the amazing work🔥
didn't even see the whole intro and already subscribed. It's an excellent video
I kinda like the thought that the Dancer could be Ciaran the Lord's Blade of the Knights of Gwyn, the weapons remind me of the Gold/Silver tracer enchanted by the Pontiff. And we don't know what happens to Ciaran after seeing her at Artorias's grave in DS1
The dancer is actually heavily implied to be a distant relative of the old royal family(her armor helmet mentioning that it's only made for distant relatives of Gwyn's family) and one of Gwynevere's maidens(you can use her soul to get Bountiful sunlight which is stated to have been given by Gwynevere to her maidens) and I don't think that anything indicates that Ciaran was Gwynevere's relative or maiden,so I'm not too sure about that,but it does sound possible.
Sounds extremely unlikely she would become as loyal to Sulyvahn as dancer was. She already struck me as having been under Gwyn more for Artorias than Gwyn, not really the most loyal of knights, and it's especially unlikely for warriors to have all that much loyalty to new leaders after having served another for a long time.
@jacobnorris8256 the Dancer herself, albeit of an identity, is a prisoner to the pontiff, not an ally. All of the outriders are exiled prisoners of Irithyl
@@jacobnorris8256 as Metuogalendus said,the Dancer eas forced to serve Pontiff,and his two rings were used to shift his knights into beasts,the very reason why they were exile knights,his right eye aplears to transform the weaver into those canine-like creatures that ambushes you on Irythill's entrance,and the left appears to transform them into boreal knights
@@justsomeone883 Except it Pontiff really did have her serve entirely through force (I guess the eye he places on them can't be removed?), that just makes it even less believable. Why would Ciaran ever let herself be put in a situation like that?
1. Obviously nobody in her family would be able to force her to go to the Pontiff. Why would she ever entertain the idea of serving him to begin with?
2. Even if she was somehow convinced to at least *visit* him, she wouldn't let herself be subjugated.
3. He'd actually have to be strong enough to not only beat her, but prevent her from escaping and then taker her down without killing her.
4. I'm under the impression that Pontiff controls people through fear, but I don't buy her being afraid of him even after losing. She's an ancient, wizened and high status warrior who lost her reason to live ages ago, that's not really someone you can do that with.
That is without a doubt my friend the best dark souls video I've ever watched, hats off to you bud.
Perhaps a list ranking the lore strength of each protagonist? (Hero of Boletaria, Chosen Undead, Bearer of the Curse, Ashen One, the Good Hunter, Sekiro, and the Tarnished)
ashen one wins easy just cause of gael
@@peenyyt4921maybe against the other DS guys, but the others are debatable
@@themustardman219 no its not debatable
@@peenyyt4921 yes it is???? Why's it not?
@@themustardman219 because the ashen one is literally just objectively stronger?
Your skill for oration and storytelling is phenomenal! Particularly your insight into the binding of man to the age of fire itself… mind blown
I just have to praise how good your videos are. I have watched a lot of souls content over the years, but you make it feel new and fresh all over again.
Keep up the good work! Can't wait for the Bloodborne list!
Im not sure what even to write.
This was really inspiring and i really love Dark Souls, played everyone one so many times over.
The lore is fascinating but i think i truly from watching your video, understand the entirety of the concept of the game, maybe not every scrap, but the image is so much fuller now.
Really appreciate you man, good luck out there with great content like this.
God bless
I love your story telling abilities; keep up the good work!
I was trying to guess the top 10 as you went through and got stumped on the last one which I am embarrassed to say is my favorite boss to fight, like how do I forget??? (Sister Friede)
A small bit of constructive criticism, timestamps for each entry would be dope. With the cross-referencing the different bosses I got confused (probably cause I was listening in the background while playing skyrim lol) and slightly mixed up which bosses were already covered (dang Pontiff for being involved so heavily xD) . I went back to look and resolved my ADHD inefficiencies but a timestamp would speed up that process.
Again, great video!
Your whole prose throughout this video is absolutely spectacular, the last part about Gael and the dark soul of man got me shedding a tear, amazing work.
Wasn’t Kalameet an everlasting dragon? And we meet the ancient dragon in ash lake in DS1, but we never engage it in combat. Midir isn’t one of the original stone dragons, but he and Kalameet are both close enough that they can be counted.
Kalameet wasn't an everlasting dragon
Kalameet is a direct descendant of the everlasting dragons, so he has the lineage and therefore the power of the everlasting dragons...but he missed the bus on actually being an everlasting dragon himself. He's the next best thing though.
@@welshlout3400 same could be said of Midir, then.
@@Scowleasy Yeah they’re both in the same camp. There’s also Sinh who might not be a direct descendant, but he’s probably pretty close to being one. And Gaping Dragon is a confirmed distant descendant
@@welshlout3400 the “distant” part is unintended, and an interview with Miyazaki says Gaping is supposed to be pretty close to the original dragons
I just watched your entire series on soulsborne bosses, which were outstanding, so going back and commenting for support
Personally while I agree in terms of influence Sullivan is perhaps the greatest and most powerful figure in the entirety of the main game, head to head I don't believe he is the most powerful entity in the main game. Sullivan relied on trickery, politics and an expansive network of powerful underlings to attain the zenith of his power, not his own strength.
The Pontiff is certainly an incredibly powerful entity, with a stacked arsenal but limited battle feats.
(A) He is the most powerful member of the Dark Moon Nights, and as such is a master of Dark Moon sorceries.
(B) An incredibly skilled swordsman.
(C) Can wield the power of the profaned flame, which was at one point able to nuke the profaned capital.
(D) Can wield sorceries of the deep.
(E) Was able to command the loyalty of Aldrich, an incredibly powerful lord of cinder. Though it is unknown wether it was simply Sullivan's might or his silver tongue and propaganda that won him Aldrich's loyalty; because let's face it Aldrich has been manipulated before, he's not exactly the smartest.
(F) He might be part tree.
I couldn't find anywhere that said he explicitly overpowered Aldrich or Gwyndolin. From my understanding Sullivan and Aldrich made some sort of mutual agreement, while Gwyndolin was taken when he was sick or poisoned, and far from his best. Don't get me wrong usurping the Dark Sun is quite the feat but Sullivan didn't accomplish this via combat. He either did it by poisoning Gwydolin or god lucky because Gwydolin was just dyeing for some reason, maybe sickness. Poisoning a powerful got with deep sorceries or some other underhanded tactic is very different from besting him in one on one combat.
Also why would the Pontiff, if he was so powerful, not take some action against the Twin Princess? Probably because they hold a similar animosity towards the age of fire. But there are still powerful forces in Lothric which want to link the flame so why not simply eliminate the potential threat? My guess is because he views the Twin Princess as an enemy too dangerous to risk antagonising, one he isn't confident he could defeat... at least without the help of Aldbitch.
It is for these reasons I cannot in good conscience put Pontiff Sullivan above the Nameless King, Twin Princess, or Midir. Remember, Midir IS an everlasting dragon + abyss powers which puts him above you average Everlasting Dragon. At least for me.
Gael number 1 tho no question.
Incredible work! And some of the ways you put this (Gael in particular) gave me chills. You have a gift 😊
Imagine a spin off where we play as Sulyvhan
I would love this, even just an official graphic novel of Sulyvahn’s story
imagine a spin-off where sulyvhan isn’t stopped by us so early
Beats overrated ass Gael.
I cannot believe you don't have more subscribers, that was truly poetic. Very informative and captivating, well done and thank you!
Dude you are amazing i hope your channel gets more views
This is the first video I'd seen from you, and the explanation in that first minute earned a sub. Just better.
I really love these videos... Thank you for your hard work and amazing story telling. Keep it going!
You really cooked with the entire Gael segment. Nice work!
There is a theory that Sulyvan actually was the Scholar who convinced Lothric into rejecting the linking of the Flame. There is a statue in lothric with a Scholar who has the Profaned Greatsword leaning on its shoulder. Who else is a Scholarly figure with the profaned Greatsword?
It was Aldia from ds2, in the archives there is a rafiguration of him in a human form
The profaned sword is used as a simbol for the linking of the fire , hirityl was the capital of the old gods so is easy to see why
I've watched a ton of Dark Souls lore vids, and somehow you managed to feel like a fresh take on it. Bra-Vo-Bro.
Beautiful video, it was a massive undertaking and you pulled it off masterfully
Absolutely amazing video. Your dedication is incredible and you deserve to have so much more recognition. I feel like videos on demons souls, bloodborne, and sekiro would all be very cool to see and maybe if elden ring dlc comes out by the time you do those three you could include all of the dlc bosses in a huge elden ring video.
Great vid! Love how you sound more Welsh the more dramatic it gets, some real heart and soul went into making this, much appreciated.
1:00:07
Ok but the way she flicks her hand is absolutely beautiful
Great video man, can’t wait to see more!
Friedussy
Really impressive work, I haven't felt this eager for Dark Souls content in a long time! Keep it up :p
One thing I noticed: The Demon Prince looks a good bit like the bat-wing demons that take you to Anor Londo in the original game, and a couple times again in dark souls 3 after you defeat Vordt. I don't know, but maybe there's a reason for the resemblance?
Bat-like creatures were inspired by Lovecraft
A correction on The Nameless King, he was banished and his name struck from the annals AFTER Gwyn's attempt to re-kindle the First Flame, so it was not Gwyn who banished him. There's also a convincing fan theory that the dragon he rides is Ornstein, ascended to dragonhood as is the goal of many who make pilgrimage to Archdragon Peak.
Another fan theory that I'm convinced of is that the Old Dragonslayer Armour is not that of Ornstein's, but that of Havel the Rock. It looks hewn out of stone, unlike Ornsteins, and the "Havel Armour" we know is only ever described as being worn by Havel's Warriors, not by Havel himself.
“It’s pays homage to the beings in DS1”
We literally go to the ruins of Izaleth and Anor Londo, I’d say this is beyond a subtle homage
Realy impressive Quality for a chanel of your size. Keep up the great work my man💪
I don't think Midir is one of the original everlasting dragons, given that his soul explicitly states that he is a descendant of the Archdragons and that Old Moonlight states that while it is rooted in an older memory than that of Seath, it is from AFTER the Beginning.
The last everlasting dragon is seeth. That's why he's tragic. It wouldn't make sense if he wasn't the last one 😂
@@colinnixon7739 he’s the last everlasting dragon, but as far as I’m aware he isn’t one of the originals.
Amazing short u made got me here great work
I don't feel the Soul of Cinder's placement right. I feel 'he' (we talking about an amalgamination of multiple males and females) is the strongest character in ds3 and all of the Dark Souls trilogy. He is there to safeguard and tend to the flame in the absence of the last Lord of Cinder and awaits the new fuel to the flame. He wouldn't engage the Lothric twins as he is the current chosen undead fulfilling what the Soul of Cinder wishes. He only intervenes us, because we already gave up once and failed on our quest, we are seen as a faliure, not worthy to become the new fuel, the new Lord of Cinder. But the reason is why he is the most powerful is that he is able to perform any known combat technique to its highest degree, and also his entire being is based on Gwyn, and the additions of so many who linked the fire brought him back to almost full power. The Soul of Cinder is an even closer image to the full power Gwyn than the firstborn in my humble opinion. There is no greater challange than lord Gwyn himself in full power. I think when the fire is linked, most of the chosen undeads soul energy is being used as fuel, but some of it is stolen by the Soul of Cinder(Gwyn), who lives within the fire forever, to rebuild himself in a new form, now equipped with all the skills and knowledge of all the chosen undeads that linked the flame.
So the argument that every being claimed to be worthy to link the fire does not mean they can win a battle against the Soul of Cinder, but means they wouldn't be stopped by the Soul of Cinder. We, the Ashen Ones are a mistake in the system, heralded only as the last resort, so the fire's will (Gwyn) double-checks our worthyness. The stronger the fuel is, the better the next cycle will be, and such the choosen is the best fuel, any other needs to be double-checked. I believe Gwyn is fully immortal until any other ending than the linking of the fire occurs, so we won't be destroying Soul of Cinder even if we are victorious.
Thank you for taking the time to analyze and create these ranking videos! Hope you cover bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring in the future!
Your understanding and viewpoint of the lore are truly outstanding as well as your narration, what a great video! Also I must say, very bold of you to put Pontiff ahead of Nameless haha
This was such a beautiful series. Thank you for making this. I've never played any of the Dark Souls game and might have any chance in playing it but its lore was so expensive that it drew me in.
I've just finished all three of your Dark Souls Boss Ranking and it felt as if you were guiding me in the vast world of this trilogy. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience and journey. I hope you do Elden Ring and Demon Souls as well.
I’m pretty happy Pontiff Sulyvahn got a lot of love here.
I could go all day about the theories and speculations about him but it cannot be overstated how he was the most important character in Souls series outside of Gwyn.
Pontiff was super evil. He is underrated.
Been waiting for months for this🙏😭
Now this is my kinda video
Total W. Hopefully slave knight Gael ranks around the highest as hes my fave and he just gives out the feeling that he’s the strongest thing you’ve ever faced
I listened to this, and it wasn’t til I was done and subscribing that I realized you’re such a small channel. Keep this up, your production quality is amazing and the the formatting is top notch
That masters in philosophy coming in clutch lol
Awesome video! The one thing I was wondering was about Halflight's placement. I know he's not everyone's favorite, but in regards to lore I'd say the most interesting thing about him other than his sorcery is the fact that he is wielding a Frayed Blade which is a weapon that the player can only get after defeating Darkeater Midir. Not saying that should make us assume he has defeated a dragon of similar caliber to Midir as the lore of the blade reads "A blade symbolizing Darkeater Midir" meaning you may not have to kill a dragon to get it, but still very interesting to consider as far as Halflight's potential feats of strength go.
A very Marxian approach to one of my favourite stories and games of all time, you have earned my sub!
Great video, can never get enough Dark Souls ranking videos!!
Number 9: The literal collection of everyone who’s ever linked the flame
Number 2: A random dude who named himself Pontiff
Get your list together man
Said collection would also be much weaker due to the flame being faded. Pontiff could extinguish the flame and I believe beat SoC.
Meby as a 1v1 combatant he is slightly too high...but in terms of "political power" that MF had his tentacles everywhere and basicly ruled the world, enslaving litteral demigods, and being main reason why EVERYTHING is so fucked in DS3
This is an amazing video and I love how much effort you put in honestly. Please do Elden ring next !!
Nah nameless would still wipe the floor with Sulyvhan
I don't think so.
He's a great swordsman and mage.
Nameless has more battle experience and power, but he is possibly hollow, don't know how much that would negatively affect him tho
@@lucasromaricofernandezgome3525seemed to affect Gwynn quite a bit if you’d count him as hollow as he’s really more burnt though
Watching this while sitting over a toilet ready to vomit up a crazy night of partying thank you bro
Did you make it?
Shouldn’t the Soul of Cinder automatically scale above pretty much all the Lords of Cinder who already linked the first flame as by default it would have all of their powers, abilities, strength, skills, knowledge etc amalgamated into one along with every other being that successfully linked the first flame
Lore wise I find it a little hard to believe that the beings you have to beat in order to get to the Soul of Cinder is stronger than the final test. And while the final boss doesn’t necessarily have to be the strongest boss lore wise, in this specific case due to what the Soul of Cinder represents, I think it does scale above everyone that has linked the flame in the past and those that are said to be able to currently
The amalgamation of FRAGMENTS of previous lords don’t equal the whole. Also the flame gets weaker as time goes on not stronger. There is no more now (and probably much less) than at the very start. No lore reason for him to be stronger than previous versions. Also you have the majority of the power going into the fight because you have the souls of the other lords. The soul of cinder is just not on par with you and probably could/should be weaker than the others lore wise.
this dude is so into dark souls lore i love it
2:03:15 the whole speech about Gael, man…
Hell yeah. I just checked your channel yesterday to see if this was here yet.
I'd be very curious to see your take on the most powerful souls or influences on the Dark Souls trilogy, bosses or otherwise, at the supposed height of their power. The machinations of Kaathe compared to Nashandra, the learnings of Seath compared to Aldia, Prime Gywn vs Gael, Prime Vendrick, or Prime Ivory King, Chosen Undead vs Ashen One, that sort've thing.
Amazing job as always. Answering the question in the end of the video, a Sekiro rank would be nice
It's wild that a little girl who has grown up isolated from everything naively asks a literal slave to do the most impossible task ever in rebuilding one of the lord souls in its entirety, and gael just goes "fuck it. Let's do it" and in pursuit of the single most herculean task in the series, is the last of the last people to go hollow from the sheer drive
Hegelian Dialectics in the context of everlasting dragons is such a great connection
Very nice list. I agree with it except for Top 10 which should be.
1. Slave Knight Gael
2. Nameless King (Stronger than Yhorm and Sulyvahn because he has Gwyn's Sunlight lightning)
3. Soul of Cinder (The First Flame is weaker at the end of DS3 but the Soul of Cinder still has the powers of all the Lords of Cinder from times long gone)
4. Yhorm the Giant (Is almost invincible since his only weakness is the Storm Ruler)
5. Pontiff Sulyvahn
6. Darkeater Midir (Archdragons are extremely powerful immortal gods with only a lightning weakness. Midir has additional abyss abilities)
7. Twin Princes, Lorian and Lothric
8. Abyss Watchers (Comparable to Artorias, and were equipped to combat the Abyss)
9. Aldrich, Devourer of gods
10. Champion Gundyr
The flame actively wanes the longer it goes unkindled, not to mention that the soul of cinder only retains fragments of the Lord's power not the entirety of it
amazing video!, had to watch it till the end, i love dark souls lore and you made a great work telling these memorable stories. thanks!
Gael, The Indomitable Human Spirit
That was aamazinggggg. You’re an amazing narrator and this was such a fun dive back in to test my lord comphrehension. You deserve all the flowers 💐
I wish I enjoyed gael as everyone else. it was a good fight, but I love things that have that exciting flair of finality, like the soul of cinder.
Duuuude, hell yes! I just found this channel a few days ago and I enjoyed the heck out of the first two boss-lore-strength-rankings, and now I get home from running errands to find I've got DS3's edition waiting for me (the only one of the DS trilogy I've actually played). The amount of time, effort, thought, research, and overall polish you put into these videos is absolutely inspiring!
D'you plan on doing these for the other Soulsbornekiroring games as well?
It’s lovely to have you on board! Absolutely this series will remain consistent and going strong
@@BestiaryYT Awesome, glad to hear it! I realise you just posted this, but any thoughts as to which one you’re going to tackle next?
love your inclusion of philosophical language in the video it genuinely adds a lot and makes the video more interesting and gives it more depth1
I don't know if you considered this, but I would really, really love a supercut of this; ranking all of the bosses of the trilogy at the same time. Though I don't know if thats even possbible with how cryptic the connections between the three can be at times
Magnificently well put together video
PLEASE DO ONE OF THESE FOR BLOODBORNE
I love your videos, as a feedback I feel you could shorten some parts of the lore or make a resume so doesn't feel a little stretched but love the videos
Soul of cinder should be way higher then 9. It’s likely that no other lord of cinder had to defeat soul of cinder to link the flame. To me SoC is the first flames last hope at stopping the ashen one from putting the fire out and the SoC is the combination of EVERY single lord of cinder ever. Including gwyn, yhorm, Aldrich, the abyss watchers, and any previous protagonist. It can be argued that SoC is stronger than Gael simply by how many lords of cinder make up the soul of cinder
Wrong
If it Has every Soul how can the fire still be lit when the fire uses the souls of the lords of cinder to keep itself lit?
@miimiibeschde4818 cause it doesn't "lit" itself? What makes you think it can burn out aswell?
Bro you just made me feel bad for Wolnir 😭 yo story telling skills are impeccable
Soul of cinder is at least #2 bruh what is this
He's no stronger than Gael and I think he's weaker than elder dragon.
I would kill to see a free for all skirmish between the following bosses
Ornstein and Smough,Artorias,Sir Alonne,Ivory King,Fume Knight,Velstadt,King Vendrick,Lothric and Lorian,Gael,Nameless King,Gwyn and The Soul Of Cinder
If I should add more give me some names...
I can't help but feel like Ponif's placement is way off. He was massively influential, no doubt, but that confirms little about his personal strength.
Him stitching his fighting style together from aspects of the old chaos, abyss and sorcery doesn't mean much.
There's very little in the lore that actually hypes up his personal strength, but several elements - like working with Aldritch, sealing off Lothric rather than facing the twins and thr fact that his remains are not fit to serve as cinders for the flame - indicate that he isn't remarkable.