[Dark Souls as an Allegory for the Purpose of Civilization]
1. Introduction (post I)
1. Focus: broad scope of the lore: linking the fire, humanity and dark, end-of-civilization malaise, dragging out the unplanned
2. The Dark Soul (post I) – the Dark is a negative thing
1. Establishing the Dark as Evil through the game's own hints
1. Examining the Dark and Dark-aligned characters and enemies
1. In DSI: Kaathe and the Darkwraiths, Manus and Oolacile
2. In DSII: the Shards of Manus
3. In DSIII: Pus-corruption, the Deep, Londor pilgrims, the Sable Church (including the decay of Ariandel)
2. Visual cues: refuting the “Berserk-style” visual-thematic inversion
1. In Berserk the righteous have the visual characteristic of evil, and the evil that of good (disclaim unfamiliarity with Berserk)
2. In Dark Souls, there is no clear righteous motivation – there is to support the Age of Fire or to oppose it. Good and bad do either
3. Dark corrupted soul items: visuals and descriptions
1. Compare with Humanity item/sprite
2. The discovery of the Dark Soul
1. the true First Sin, comparable to Christian original sin, due to the evil nature of the Dark and of “humanity” (which one should emphasize isn't the state of being human in Dark Souls, but an actual entity/spiritual substance that dwells within us, much like the stain of original sin
2. lead into POST II
3. The First Sin (post II) – Linking the Fire is not the First Sin
1. Establishing our theory of the First Sin
1. discovery of the Dark Soul (resume previous)
2. Why is the discovery of the souls in general not the First Sin?
1. The Lord Souls, and ordinary souls that humans also bear in addition to their humanity (confirming as well that the Dark Soul – humanity – is not an equivalent to the life-giving soul that the game uses as xp/currency) are issuant from the First Flame, a spontaneous act of creation (either of natural occurrence or of divine origin, outside of lore), and follow the same principles as the First Flame. They draw their power from it. They resemble it. The Lord Soul bearers seek to preserve it (Gwyn and the Witch)
2. The Dark Soul on the other hand is aligned with the Dark, the hypothetical end of the First Fire, and is opposed in function and use to the Lord Souls. It can cohabit with lesser souls, but by its being it is deviant, contradictory. It has the same characteristics as Lucifer: struggles against the entity that created it, seeks to usurp it. This reinforces the Dark being an evil concept.
3. Therefore the discovery of the dark soul by the human progenitor is the Original Sin, the First Sin of Dark Souls. Perhaps the pygmy coul have discovered a Lord Soul of his own? Perhaps he could have been satisfied with the myriad lesser souls? We ignore much from the early days of the lore.
2. Aldia
1. His theory of the First Sin is understood. Why is it necessarily the truth? Characters can be wrong.
1. He seems to be a dispassion towards life in general. He praises it but calls it a lie, because sacrifices have to be made to preserve it. His opposition to the linking seems more nihilistic – in the sense of abandon rather than Nietzechean nihilism – based on a concept of futility (LIKE MANY CHARACTERS).
2. He states many things that are baseless. Why is life an illusion? Things live. They die. The Curse was a deliberate act to circumvent death in order that people may enjoy life in the Age of Fire to its fullest extent, good and bad.
3. Gwyn, the Savior
1. Christian soteriology
1. Generally speaking: salvation from sin and eternal damnation
2. Specifically, sacrifice of God himself as lamb to atone for sin
2. Linking the Fire
1. Generally speaking: salvation from the Age of Dark, from Sin that dwells within man.
2. Specifically, the consumption of a host of souls to “power” the First Flame
3. The First Time
1. Gwyn's actions
2. Gwyn's motivations
4. In the games
1. Differs from Christianity in the specific methodology of “salvation”
5. We know that the Age of Fire, which the Linking tradition extends indefinitly (but each time growing weaker) is the bedrock of civilization...
4. The Cycle of Fire (post III)
1. The Age of Fire extension “cycle” is similar to, for example, Spenglerian cyclical history. Time itself doesn't cycle, but patterns repeat themselves as time is prolonged. The same is true in Dark Souls.
2. Civilization comparisons across games. Repeating patterns.
3. The purpose of civilization: to provide man with a framework in which to organize against sin. Social cohesion, public order, authority, churches, culture, art, language, nationalities, agriculture, everything that makes one civilized is a means to allow sin to be punished in excessive manifestation. Either officially, socially, or on-the-self (reference Iliad). In Dark Souls, the parallel should not be to the various cultures. Rather, the “civilization” of Dark Souls revolves around Linking the Fire, especially in DSIII (Lothric bloodlines). The Linking of the Fire exists to halt the progress of dark, like civilization allows mankind to control his nature in reality. It cycles like civilization cycles. The Curse of the Undead is the shackle placed on man by the gods in order to save man from himself. Civilization is the shackle we placed on ourselves to save us from our sin.
5. The Fire Fades (post IV)
1. how various characters feel about the cycle of linking
1. For it
2. Against it
2. Context for their thinking
1. dying worlds, failing institutions (compaable again to civilizational cycles): corrupt religious institutions, mad royalty, invasions, fallen realms, abyssal corruption
2. Civilizational malaise
6. Conclusion (post IV)
1. You can't cycle forever, the sun will stop rising.
1. DSIII, even the linking the fire ending
2. futility of the cycle? Futility of civilization?