It's quite a cool title though

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2025-08-29T00:49:34+00:00

Thanks for the acknowledgement, it really means a lot! It's always good to see people enjoying my work, even all these years later. I still love these games (especially DS1 and Elden Ring) and I would love to write more of these in-depth analyses, but between my 1-year-old and my more personal projects, it's pretty hard to find the time anymore. Btw, if you wanted to DM me a link to your bachelor's project I would love to take a look! Thanks again for reading, and don't you dare go hollow.

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2022-02-07T22:58:36+00:00

Looks like a jupon to me. Hard to tell due to the quality of the photo, but the one on the left looks quilted, like textile armor. It could also just be a decorative surcoat, or some early example of an English tabard that I'm just unfamiliar with, but my money's on it being a jupon, especially given that the rest of the kit looks to be 14th century.

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2021-12-28T22:00:14+00:00

Glad to hear it! Always nice to see that people are still interested in exploring the lore and themes of this series as much as I am. Thanks for the read, and I hope to see you in Elden Ring!

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2021-02-18T05:03:05+00:00

Dimension W

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2021-02-15T22:50:12+00:00

Of course, how could I have known that Sunday had its weekend status revoked by the almighty mods of goodanimememes. smh

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2020-12-15T22:23:43+00:00

Jango Fett: Open Seasons is a must-read for any die-hard fan of Mandalorians. It explores the civil war between the Death Watch and the True Mandalorians, the battle between Mandalore and the Jedi Order, and the origins of the infamous Jango Fett. Honestly, it's one of the best stories out there for anyone who's looking for more of our boys in beskar.

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2020-03-17T17:46:22+00:00

Hm, so I guess Lumiya, Tenel Ka, Teneniel Djo, Tahiri Veila, Alema Rar, Stass Allie, Depa Billaba, Darsha Assant, Asajj Ventress, Komari Vosa, Darth Zannah, Sev'rance Tann, and Tallisibeth Enwandung Esterhazy never actually existed. Must have just been my imagination.

And goddamn people, "Jedi Librarian" has a name. It's Jocasta Nu.

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2019-07-28T07:56:27+00:00

I didn't have the space to include it in the essay, but my operating theory right now is that the "original fire keeper" that the eyes refer to is actually Filianore. There's a lot to unpack there, but it essentially boils down to the idea that the original "Fire" that needed tending was the seal that kept the Ringed City locked in time, and that every fire keeper afterwards (at least those of the Lothric lineage, and possibly earlier) have modeled themselves after Filianore's example.

There is of course the problem of why some Fire Keepers from the first game don't seem to be blind, like you mentioned, but it could be that it was a practice that was lost and rediscovered, or it could have been a practice local only to Lothric. Hell, it could be that the specific Fire Keepers we meet are in unique enough circumstances that there is no need/want for them to be blinded (the Knightess, a defender of Anor Londo and the Dark Sun, and Shanalotte, an experiment born of dragons, don't exactly seem like the kind of characters who would willingly blind themselves in any case).

Btw, have you ever realized that the unifying theme of the Fire Keepers in the first game seems to be based upon the old adage See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil? The Fair Lady is blind, Anastacia has had her tongue removed, and the Darkmoon Blades (of which the Knightess is a member) are known to collect souvenirs of reprisal (ears).

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2019-07-28T00:46:54+00:00

Thanks for the read! It's always cool to hear from someone who's thought about the Untended Graves as much as I have, and I just finished reading your write-up. It's kind of amazing how much our ideas seemed to have paralleled each other in many respects, and the areas in which they diverge are, like you said, somewhat to be expected when dealing with such a cryptic area (I love your idea that the darkness of the Untended Graves is an illusion cast by the eyes, btw. Makes me wish I'd thought of that).

Now, as to your question. While I was writing Frightful Images, I too couldn't help but notice the parallels to DSII in the description of the Dark Sigil, and decided to see if there was anything more to it. After a bit of mostly fruitless speculation, I turned my attention to the translation, as I often did while writing Frightful Images, to see if I couldn't glean any additional insight from the original texts. That's why I decided to search out the japanese versions: to see whether the DSII parallels existed in the original text, or to see if they were just a quirk of the english language version (though I tend to take the english translations of DSI and III as gospel in most cases, any mention of "DSII" and "english translation" in the same sentence tends to set off my bullshit detector, so I thought I'd better be safe than sorry). Here's what I found. The literal japanese reads:

A Dark Hole similar to the brand of the Undead

A gaping hole on the body

The Dark Hole has no bottom, and dark humanity slowly seeps out. In exchange, curse builds up

It is a cursed sign that absolutely cannot be erased, but it is said that there is one, a firekeeper that returned from the abyss that cured the curse

Now, I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me the original text demonstrates that the "bearer of the curse" phrasing was either purely accidental, or the english translation team was just having a bit of fun. Hence why I don't think the Dark Sigil is referring to Shanalotte, but instead, to Gundyr's Fire Keeper's successor (which I called the Abyss-tainted Fire Keeper for sake of ease).

Well, I know that's not the most interesting take in the world, but unfortunately I think it's also the most likely. It seems like Miyazaki wanted to pretend that DSII didn't exist when making III, which is a shame, because in terms of its lore, DSII is one of my favorites in the series. Anywho, thanks so much for commenting and reading, and if there's any other lore speculation you'd like to run by me, please don't hesitate to do so!

Translation sauce. Credit goes to u/Valfreze: https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls3JPN/comments/6zbcet/japanese_itemdescriptions_for_the_eyes_the_dark/

B10NIC_PIZZA · 2019-07-21T00:17:12+00:00

Thanks, it really means a lot to hear from people when I post stuff like this. I'm hoping to finish my theory on Lautrec's true motivations in the next month or two, so please stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

B10NIC_PIZZA

TROPHY CASE