With the release of the new trailer for Dark Souls 3‘s final DLC, The Ringed City, the time is now to put on our speculator hats. Open up this piece and have it handy. I’ll embed the video here, but you’re going to want a second tab to pause the video. Go on, load it up. I’ll wait. I’m gonna break this down with what I’d like to call some “best guesses.” Let’s do this!
Appetizers
Right off the bat, before we even look at the trailer, the title of the DLC is “Ringed City.” The Darksign’s name was originally going to be “Dark Ring” (if it didn’t have sexual connotations in some parts of the world). So then, the city name might mean “The Place of Ringed (undead) people.”
With that in mind, the first thing shown in the trailer (0:17) is the Dark Sign igniting then fading. This is preceded by a black screen and a familiar woman’s voice saying “The close of the age of fire” which is a common theme in Dark Souls 3. This would provide some support for Londor ties. The Dark Sigil, which is the hallmark of all Londor peeps is described in a way to convey a familiarity with the darksign.
The Locations
The first real scene shows what appears to be the collapsing city near Firelink (official picture descriptions refer to it as “Dreg Heap“). As this scene starts, (about 0:31) we hear the old woman speak “The Ringed City is said to be at world’s end.” The screen pans down and we see a pilgrim (like Yoel) approaching this place. The woman speaks again “Past this heap of rubbish, as far as one can go.” The Ringed City then is our destination, and the Dreg Heap (collapsing city), is one stop between us and it. Based on this scene, it appears that the Pilgrim goes as we will. Of note is that pilgrims traditionally “go” to one of two places. The place of pilgrimage. Or home. We see evidence that the pilgrims had been heading toward Lothric in the game. So the safer bet is a return home. Note that Yoel, the only noteworthy pilgrim in the game, is “Yoel of Londor.” Even if this guy isn’t heading home, the presence of a Londor Pilgrim deepens the evidence toward a Londor tied location.
Of possible significance is the other use of the word “dreg” in Dark Souls. Human Dregs are said to be the heaviest part of a person and “will sink to the lowest depths imaginable.” Dregs look an awful lot like humanity which is tied to the Abyss. Dreg Heap then, might be surmised to be the parts of the world that are sinking into the Abyss.
The next scene (0:43) shows a bug scampering across an area that looks a lot like the Untended Graves with a Brightstone addiction. I’d need to see more to make better guesses on geography. The theme of collapsing structures and tilted geography remains. Official picture captions refer to these bugs as “locusts” and indicate they come out to feast when a city falls into the Abyss, definitely strengthening the Abyss ties. Not to assault a deceased equine, but Londor appears heavily tied into humanity and likely the abyss.
Next, a brief scene (0:45) shows what appears to be the outskirts of Dreg Heap. We’re quite deliberately shown what looks to be the remains of a windmill. A collapsed structure that could be a tower is nearby. The stonework appears very similar to Earthen Peak. This is one of many things that appear to be a Dark Souls 2 callback.
At 0:48, we see a tower structure with a spire looking like the Sword of Avowal. Further Londor suggestion? Official picture captions don’t exactly confirm it’s the Sword of Avowal, but they do strongly suggest this is the case by saying this structure is capped with a “well-known sword.”
The Enemies and the Equipment to Slay Them
A staff/banner (battle standard?) is shown casting a miracle near what looks like a statue (0:50). Geography and architecture is not clearly visible. It’s quite dark, going back to probable Abyss or fading fire themes.
Next (0:51), an enemy crawls toward the player and out comes a sword with a magic blade. There’s no real hints in geography/architecture here either, but it’s still pretty dark. It’s hard to say, but looking at frame by frames suggests this weapon is a dagger or sword with a thin blade that becomes wreathed in magic energy.
A bow covered in lightning is fired at another hard to identify enemy (0:52). The area is reminiscent of Ariandel, complete with snow. It’s difficult to say if the bow or the lightning is the intended highlight. The character is dressed in robes, which could suggest “cleric.” This wouldn’t be the first time a bow was able to shoot a lightning bolt. That honor goes to the Bow of Want in…Dark Souls 2.
A robed giant is up next (0:54), with a domed building behind him. A picture released after the trailer indicates this creature was a judicator for the gods and has existed since the time of Archdragons. He is referred to as a “gray” giant, which is something I’ll come back to. He does not look friendly.
An unknown creature rises at 0:56 in. This creature is pale and has wings. Dark Souls 3 references “angels” as an influential force behind the church of Lothric when one visited Gertrude. Could this be one of them? Maybe THE one. The area shows trees, darkness, and the “dripping” solar eclipse seen in the main game.
The Broken Egg
They follow up the possible angel with a woman in white robes holding what appears to be a broken egg (0:59). As the player gently touches the remnants of the shell, it starts falling apart. The interior has some texture, but is very dark inside (kind of a theme at this point). This could be another tie to the Abyss. Interestingly, the woman (who appears to be sleeping or dead) has black marks radiating out under her eyes. More Abyss corruption? This woman is not identified. However, based on the previous clip, it’s not a bad guess to say we might have found Gertrude or a relation.
Demon I Am
At 1:07 in, we see a pretty detailed look at a creature confirmed to be a demon (via official picture releases). The area continues the trend of darkness. The captions indicate this is the “last survivor” of demons born from chaos.
And that’s it for the trailer. It’s short but packed in its own way.
Released following the trailer were several official pictures (screenies and concept art) complete with captions. Let’s now get into these, some have already been seen above.
The Screenshots
The locust mentioned above in an area that looks similar to the Untended Graves is highlighted in a released picture. This picture gives us a better look at architecture which is a poor match for the Graves. The darkness remains significant, and the official indication that these creatures come after a city has fallen to Abyss draws a clear connection.
A picture of a Giant covered in what appear to be vines attacking the player character has some intriguing surroundings. The appearance of poisonous water and a windmill seems to draw more than a casual connection to Harvest Valley from Dark Souls 2. The giant knight’s head is said to have been replaced by a “clump of darkness.” Humanity with a will perhaps?
A pictured area reminds me of the Forest of Fallen Giants (there are many architectural differences, just a similar vibe). Many buildings have the Sword of Avowal type spike on top and the area is essentially ruins covered in foliage. Captions indicate that this is the Ringed City. Spikes cover a bridge (where’s Patches?) and a knight holds a torch despite adequate lighting. Perhaps we’ll need it for something else. From has a tendency to have exterior lighting/time of day tied to zones. Adding this to what else we have, there is an area brightly lit like the kiln walkway (dreg heap), a more twilight area (seen near the angelic being in the trailer), areas with significant darkness and this area with substantial lighting but different architecture from Dreg Heap. Expect several clearly delineated areas.
There’s an interesting picture of a fight. At first, I thought that we would be finding the Fan weapons from the Dark Souls 2 Succubi/Desert Sorceress enemies in the DLC. It’s interesting however that the thing being swatted is wearing some deacon gear but doesn’t look like a deacon. Which character is the player character? Maybe we won’t get to use the fan? The caption on this one describes it as a pyromancy being used by the fan. The caption indicates “Pyromancers, who once lived in an ancient land with their greatest fan weapons and enchanting looks, seem to still exist.” This seems to confirm the connection to Dark Souls 2, but doesn’t clear up much else. The character holding the fan somewhat looks like a desert sorceress. On closer inspection though, the hood seems to be the Hood of Prayer rather than the Desert Sorceres‘. And the character has some DS3 pyro gear and a sword as well. So I’m still hopeful we get the fan. Anyway, STRONG Dark Souls 2 ties here.
An armor clad combatant holding what appears to be a giant shield is stated to be holding TWO shields that piece together to form a wall of Turtle Power. Yet more Dark Souls 2 seeping in. It doesn’t look like the Orma and Reeve’s shields, but the concept is identical.
Another interesting shield is revealed and stated to be the head of a descendant of an Archdragon. I’ll come back to this.
A picture of a knight found in Dreg Heap was revealed. He is called “Rap,” has amnesia and bears a decent resemblance to the Loyce Knights in…you guessed it…Dark Souls 2.
A picture of the wall of the Ringed City shows curved architecture, similar to the wall that bordered the Undead Burg in the first Dark Souls. Note that this is the second allusion to “Pygmies.” The Furtive Pygmy is the now infamous “missing” Lord from the opening cinematic of the first game. It is widely believed that the Pygmy represents humanity or humans, which is a nice fit for the rest of the DLC themes so far.
Connecting All The Dots
Now it’s time for some wild speculation!
Before Dark Souls 3 released they hinted this would be a “close” of sorts for the series. We expected some grand deviation in story, which to date has not been delivered. Both Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 essentially provided us with two choices. Embrace and renew the flame, or forsake it. Put in Dark Souls terms, begin a new age of fire, or allow the age of dark to take over. Dark or fire. Only two choices. Dark Souls 3 retains both of these choices, and on the surface had a third option I’ll get to in just a minute. In isolation, this third ending doesn’t inherently show a third choice. It merely shows that the fire is being transferred from the Kiln to the player. We don’t know what happens to it after that.
This is getting into less evidence based ideas like above and into personal musings, but here we go anyway. At the hint of a true ending to the cycles, I indicated even before the game dropped that we’d need a third choice. Something different than fire or dark, as these options are known to be cyclic. I put it out there that combining the two forces would be a true end of the cycles. To make this shorter, let’s rapid fire some things your way:
- The opening cinematic for Dark Souls indicates the world wasn’t always trapped in endless cycles of Dark and Fire. It used to be a gray world of dragons and archtrees
- Fire was found and caused disparity. Fire may or may not be the cause, but at some point we know fire and dark rose up from the gray
- My thoughts here; to END the cycle, we’d need to combine Dark and Fire, ending the disparity discovered in the creation story from the first game (basically going back to gray, or reforming what was split)
Why am I bringing this up now? Despite limited information, we already have two pieces tied to the old world of “gray.” The shield made from a descendant of an Archdragon and the Gray Giant who lived at the same time as the Archdragons. I would also hesitate to overlook the Usurpation of Fire ending (the third ending mentioned above). “Usurp” is defined as seizing the power of another entity. This ending requires the player character to side with power brokers from (of course) Londor. Coincidentally, this is where we think we’re going in the DLC. I noted that the usurpation ending isn’t definite. We remove the fire, but aren’t shown what Londor does with it. All we know is Londor wants it and we jam it into our chest. The only clue we see is subtle. That “dripping,” eclipsed sun is red whenever we see it. Unless we usurp the fire. Then it turns white/gray. That could have used a drum roll I think.
So to recap, the entire Londor plot seems to be shoving the player character full of darkness, only to then…take the flame. Londor is gathering mass quantities of Dark AND the First Flame, both of which are hosted by the same entity (us). Their goal is to acquire the two opposing forces that drive this mad world and put them in the same vessel (still us).
To do what is what remains to be seen. Because in Dark Souls every answer to a question is a question itself. What are your thoughts? Let’s see how many more questions we can dreg up.
Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City releases March 28th for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Only two short, non-agonizing months to go!
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56 responses to “Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City Trailer & Screenshot Analysis”
after reading your reference to the Morion Blade resembling the towers of the Sabled Church item description, I noticed something peculiar on the painted guardian sword. There is a pattern/print on the blade that resembles the profile of the Morion Blade, and the scabbard has a print resembling a zig zagging serpent. We know the guardians hail from Anor Londo and are connected to the Painted World, but might they be connected to Londor as well? Is it coincidence that The painted Guardian set is right next to Yuria’s Sabled Church Black set? Is it coincidence that the set pieces all go really well with each other? As does Freide’s…
just a random thought…
They seem to place a lot of importance on names being meaningful, so the term “Rap” is likely significant. Particularly since it’s fairly odd.
I doubt it’s after the type of music so a few other possibilities…
Verbs
1. strike (a hard surface) with a series of rapid audible blows, especially in order to attract attention
1a. strike someone
1b. rebuke someone
1c. say sharply
2. talk or chat in an easy and familiar manner
Nouns
1. a quick, sharp knock or blow
2. a talk or discussion, especially a lengthy or impromptu one
3. a criminal charge, especially of a specified kind
3b. reputation, typically a bad one
It could be a reference to the amnesia (he suffered a sharp blow to the head). He could be a diplomat, and is named basically “conversation.” The wording that he “could be a reliable fellow” could be misdirection. So perhaps he has a “rap” sheet?
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That would be glorious! I mean, he suffers from amnesia, due to the hollow curse…so why not. Can’t wait to hear his voice and dialogue now.
Keep thinking of this Rap fellow who is supposed to be reliable and in a plate helm.
I can’t help but want to connect him to aother helmeted helpful NPC. Seeing as we get Solaire’s gear from pickle pee. I suspect Rap might be connected to Solaire somehow. Maybe this is his Ashen reincarnation. Similar to Siegward and Siegmeyer.
Just some random Speculation I have been churning over.
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Thank you very much! I definately appreciate the positive feedback, as I actually find this theory to be very unlikely myself (While FROM is known for giving the players subtle hints at connections in their worlds, this one seems a little too convoluted even by their standards, I believe).
But we’ll see.
Some answers – That’s really precisely what I want too. Some answers. Not everything served on a silver platter, but enough to connect a lot of dots.
I’m 100% sure that we will be surprised by some revelations in the DLC that we did not see coming at all, while at the same time screaming “I knew it!” concerning other things.
I just hope that they don’t go by that tag line from one of the trailers for vanilla Dark Souls 3: “All will be revealed.”
But kind of knowing Miyazaki and FROM by now, I highly doubt that anyway…
Excellent thoughts. The cat one in particular. Good call.
Hopefully there’s some sort of answer for us, even if it’s not what we thought.
I only just noted that the color-scheme in the background of the scene with the lady in white that holds the cracked egg looks a little bit (from what we can even recognize) like the Smouldering Lake area…
Could this be where we teleport to the area that contains the Bat Demon?
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You’re absolutely right that the Morion Blades description does not match up with the chapel from the new material that is guessed to be the Sable Church of Londor by a lot of people (me included, actually).
Which hints at the Church being another building that we have not seen yet but hopefully will.
I’d also like to add a PRETTY farfetched, yet interesting link between the Cathedral of the Deep and the Sable Church of Londor that I found just recently. While it is correct that the word “Sable” means black, it also describes a felyne which looks VERY similar to that wall art in the Cathedral of the Deep. A lot of people speculated that there might be some link between Alvina and this mural.
MAYBE the Sable Church is somehow influenced by a decendant of Alvina who DID have some ties to Artorias who in turn DID have some ties to the Darkwraiths/Abyss since he made a pact with the beasts of the abyss which are probably the Primordial Serpents who ARE confirmed to have ties to the Sable Church of Londor. As I said, this is totally farfetched and complicated, but it still could hint at a connection between the Cathedral of the Deep and the Sable Church of Londor.
Based on the usage in the clip, and the complexity of the cloth and other design elements, I’m actually not sold on it being a weapon at all. I wonder if the staff/battle standard is more like a “key” similar to the Small Lothric Banner. Note it’s “casting” near what looks like a statue, not an enemy or phantom.
I didn’t dare speculate in the piece since the architecture is so unclear, but if I HAD to guess…
It appears there is a building rising in the not so distant background. With the Londor ties I REEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAALLY scoured this video for one building in particular.
From the Morion Blade: “A twisted sword resembling the towers of Londor’s Sable Church”
There is no building yet revealed which looks remotely like anything THAT blade was modeled after.
As noted by others (kudos to whoever noted this), the word “Sable” means “Black.”
If I were going off of known lore regarding Londor, there’s no way I’m not including the location that seems to tie their whole twisted narrative together.
EDIT: I suppose the tower they’ve shown plenty of COULD be it, but if so the sword is only very loosely based on that structure
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i really hope its not another faith catalyst cause we already have two of them
i would really like if it can cast both spells and miracles i miss the black witch staff
although my guts tellme that its just gonna be a fth weapon like a polearm or spear and that glowing thing its the weapon art
i do hope thought that we get an new catalyst with a weapon art that isnt the same as every other oen
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This is true, Byrgenwerth was practically a case study in how many terrible consequences can stem from a single bad decision. In Londor’s case, the terrible consequences are quite possibly intentional, as they share a common theme (apply abyss corruption, exploit results) and as a whole serve Londor’s end goal by removing or negating threats to their Age of Hollows.
Regarding the banner/standart/staff – it actually features a symbol that we may see on Winged Knights https://youtu.be/sUf514b9zx4?t=153” rel=”nofollow (but also on some flags around Lothric castle) so it could be related either to the Angelic Faith, or to Lothric kingdom (which probably is more likely, as we see a dead Lothric knight and PC has Lothric greatshield, though it may as well be a trick, kinda as showing Father Ariandel with Lordvessel among bosses related to Queen of Lothric, like Lothric Princes, Oceiros, Nameless King, in Ashes of Ariandel trailer which led a lot of people to think that the DLC might feature the Queen herself). And speaking of Winged Knights it’s still not impossible that the staff may be related to Gertrude even if it has nothing to do with Angelic Faith, since before all the tragic stuff Gertrude had been teaching miracles to Lothric knights, though it may as well be not related to her at all. But at least it has something to do with Lothric and hopefully its description will feature some interesting info.
I’m actually thrilled we get to go to the coolest looking part of DS3 in Dreg Heap… at first I thought it was just a twisted mess of where we’d been but it’s a real tumbling city. So cool.
Also, if we are going to a city for pygmies… return of the Furtive Pygmy, finally not forgotten?
They did that already in Bloodborne.
Everything traced back to Byrgenwerth and their exploration of the Labyrinths.
The Healing Church and Mensis were at odds With each other.
Cainhurst was caused by a rogue Byrgenwerth Scholar and then cleansed by the executioners from the Church.
I could goon and on.
But keeping to my point of everything connecting to Byrgenwerth. Seeing this precedent already set. I wouldn’t be surprised and even expect Fro to do something like everything connecting to Londor.
This would even validate mine and a few other members mix up with confusing the sable church and church of the deep.
“There is a darkness that lies beyond human ken.”
Hmm. Yes, that does take on a different meaning now.
Hmmmmm…
I fucking swear though, if it turns out Londor is behind three different religions (itself, Deep, and angelic), I don’t even know anymore. Like, at that point, they’re just doing shenanigans for the sake of shenanigans.
I’m probably going to release my own speculation-article rather sooner than later but I just wanted to quickly add, that the dark blue-ish crystals in the locust-swamp area look pretty much 100% like the Deep Gems from vanilla Dark Souls 3, which are said to be found in the dregs(!) of the cathedral of the deep. And that “there is a darkness that lies beyond human ken.”
So make of that what you will, but as another form of insect (locusts) are present here and insects are strongly tied to the deep, I believe the deep might be the “darkest thing” and “geographically deepest part” in the Souls Universe. And that the deep is what feeds on everything (souls) and maybe has to be stopped to break the cycle (the locusts are described to devour everything).
I also find it interesting that the god-devouring Aldrich dreamt of the fading of the age of fire with visions of an age of the deep sea.
Also, the deep protection miracle calls the deep a formerly peaceful and sacred place where many abhorrent things finally rest.
The dark blue color is also seemingly always associated with the deep in the main game. As the Soul of Aldrich and the Soul of the Deacons of the Deep are also tainted in that specific color.
EDIT: By the way, great article Skare! I came to very similar conclusions in my analysis, which I will probably release soon.
EDIT 2: I forgot to mention that the crystal like shape of the Deep Gems reminded me a lot of the crystals that Seath the Scaleless emitted during his boss fight in Dark Souls 1. Those things caused CURSE status by the way… and a primordial crystal gave pretty much eternal life to him. I wonder if these elements (crystals, the curse, immortal dragons) will have some influence in how the story plays out…
I speculate this last piece of DLC to be Miyazaki’s final troll. He’ll tease us with promises of a fulfilling conclusion to the series that answers all our greatest questions, and epic boss fights. Once you reach the entrance to the new content, you’ll need to plunge into a whirlpool of darkness, after which you will experience an extensive fall through seemingly endless black, and finally, the camera will abruptly stop while gazing down as you plummet to your untimely demise.
That the Ringed City, it in the background.
Also, you fight the giant in the Ringed City, the tower in the background is the same design, and it ringed by rock cliff.
Edit: Stupid me, The Ringed City will be named Avowal or a play on it.
Aw crap, looking through for edits and forgot something I wanted to mention…
Dark “Sigil” is intriguing because “Sigil” is often a synonym for “Sign.” So Dark Sign and Dark Sigil are nearly the same name. I also wanted to point out that the Dark Sigil looks like the Dark Sign if the fire were to be extinguished…kinda like we see right in the beginning of the trailer.
Great input. My replies…
I’m also leaning toward Dreg Heap being the access point. I did note the, as I call it, dripping solar eclipse…in two pictures. The angel and the Darkness Headed Knight. They’re actually why I didn’t put a comparison shot at the end with the dripping white/gray eclipse. For the record on my theory, I did in fact go back and check all the possible endings we have currently. Only the Usurpation of Fire ending turns it gray
Nice catch on the insignia. I hopefully worded it right there. It appears it’s for casting miracles, but the motion and a few other details make me wonder if this isn’t a key like the way down from the High Wall.
I’ve never felt that Gwyn having an older relative was a conflict. The opening cinematic (rewatched today) indicates that “they” came from the dark and then three of the “they” found the Souls of Lords in the fire. There’s room for the passage of time between major events such as those (creation of man to the finding of lord souls). On that note, while I didn’t speculate on that dude’s origins, Lloyd is a great start.
Another thing I didn’t feel comfortable speculating on, but the Darklurker connection isn’t a bad one. There’s plenty of other DS2 callbacks in such a short set of clips and it’s not like there’s a shortage of Abyss allusions either. The Darklurker being a kind of “ultimate” Abyss entity in Dark Souls 2 seems quite logical.
If I had to guess, most of the core elements of the game and both DLCs probably were all being worked on at the same time. I’d wager that the difference between core and DLC is what they felt they could implement well vs. what needed some more time. I would also hope (it’s what I’d do) that…knowing DLC would be made…that they’d deliberately hold back the grand finale for the last DLC.
I’ve been on the outside of lore discussions several times for my insistence that this game has more than a passing allusion to Bloodborne. I agree completely. Londor is dripping with Cainhurst.
I didn’t make any immediate mental connections with this giant/knight to something else so didn’t do comparisons to known armor sets. The Fatknight set is one I’ll go look at though. So thanks!
Good call on the diminutive references on humanity.
I didn’t think the face looked quite right on the deacon, but if pressed to guess I would bet on you being right. The other character is almost certainly a player character or an NPC if I had to guess on that. The caption also references the fan as a weapon, and there’s no pyro glove to be seen. I’m quite hopeful for a new Pyro tool.
As a shield guy both new shields have me amped!
I loved the conclusion to the article about the recreating the age of “gray”
Sorry for getting snappy with you earlier, skare. I was having a frustrating time with SoC earlier, and I guess some of that might’ve spilled over.
A few things to add from me:
AoA’s screenshots revealed the entrance location even before the DLC was out, by showing Gael in what was the only non-DLC location in any of the shots. BB’s ToH also did this with the Amygdala, but was more subtle about it. I’m guessing the Dreg Heap area’s resemblance to a non-DLC location is no accident, and that pilgrim might be our ticket in. Note the darksign sky in several of the screenshots, which normally only happens at the very end of the game.
The battle standard’s insignia is identical to the one seen on the fatknight/angel knight armor. (Slightly unrelated, but I’d also like to add that if you look at the angel knights from below and behind, you can see their wings are actually a black tar-like substance with feathers attached, and their limbs are also made of this same tar-like substance.)
Our giant friend could potentially resolve a long-standing conflict with the lore: Gwyn somehow having an older relative, specifically Lloyd. The role of judicator would fit with Lloyd’s tendencies as described, as well.
As pointed out, that angel bears a strong similarity to the Darklurker, including its tattered robe, veiny (but intact) legs and arms (which distinguishes it from the Pilgrim Butterflies), ghastly white complexion, and I’m going to add “apparent skill with magic” to that list since he appears to be casting a miracle of some kind. The only off details are a single set of arms instead of two, and the wings looking more like the Four King’s than Darklurker’s. I also personally like the added parallel between Chaos producing demons and the Abyss producing angels. Or, angels being of human origin but divine power (Divine Pillars of Light), which could explain why the traditional religion of original gods might view them with suspicion, even if only as a product of the Dark, or potentially as rivals, or even a possible supplanting force. DaS2’s reference to the “normally tranquil dark” having occasional “flashes of brilliance” from the Dark Greatsword hex or Grandahl’s repeated lines about “may the Dark shine your way” take on a whole new significance, here. Not to mention, you know, the Darklurker himself. Angels look like they may actually play a huge role in the lore, especially if they can serve as guiding lights for humanity in an Age of Dark, allowing a civilization to continue even without fire. Londor’s status as a religion, along with Yuria’s line about how “a hollow need not be mad” might make a bit more sense. Speculation, but you know.
Fun fact: That demon had an unfinished model in the game (named “bat demon”, IIRC) all the way back to DaS3’s original release, so it’s possible they’ve been working on this DLC for quite a while now.
I’ve said it before, but those Locusts bring Cainhust and its flea women to my mind. Londor has a lot of Cainhurst references.
I was under the impression this giant enemy was a fatknight? Can’t see the armor clearly enough to make it out, though.
I would like to point out that Humanity is frequently associated with words that imply “tiny” or “beings of small stature”, such as sprites (Humanity sprites) and pygmies, in addition to being mistranslated as “nameless dwarves” on one occasion before DaS1’s release. At least, I assume that bit was a mistranslation, since it included several other odd bits like the player going around to gather “Crowns” when instead the player gathered Lord Souls. Then again, crowns did play a role in the sequel, and Gwyn’s crown was implied to have a special, albeit faded, power…
That is most definitely a deacon, sir, specifically the short variant. I think I can even name the exact room it’s in. I also assume the fan itself is the pyromancy, rather than the fan casting a pyromancy, due to the line “A pyromancy which tears down the enemies with the great fan of flame”.
Implied blocking with both shields! Hype!
Rap’s armor also had an unfinished version in the game’s files dating back to release, along with the demon.
That’s all from me.
Edit: forgot to close the list block.
It’s a possibility. At one point we were “Rug hunting.” The way to Archdragon Peak is most likely something akin to astral projection. We use a prayer rug for the game mechanics.
There are two other locations with the same prayer rugs that I can recall off the top of my head.
-At the base of the Stairs leading to the Old Demon King fight
-At the base of the stairs leading away from the goblet that triggers the Wolnir fight (and there’s actually a crap ton of the things leading up to the Wolnir room in that little hallway)
So that’s locations connected with Chaos and Abyss.
My inclination is that we enter via Dreg Heap and descend, but there could be multiple parts. Which would be awesome. Perhaps something like short trips to Chaos and Abyss realms to unlock the seal to the Ringed City…
I should add for full disclosure though that the two staircases with the prayer rugs are identical and the fact they both have rugs might be nothing more than reused assets. And I mean the two sets of steps are literally identical. Even up to the doorway up top (which has an Archtree symbol which I’ve also felt could be something significant).
Quick thought. In respect to my previous speculation about the scope of the new content…I begin to wonder if there will be multiple entries to the new content. It would make sense that the Dreg Heap will be accessed from the Flameless Shrine, which then leads to the Ringed City. The area that has fallen to the abyss could be totally different and looks different to the image shown depicting the Ringed City. Maybe it will be accessed near Farron swamp…an area known to have fallen to the abyss. The Chaos Demon, could a new area be added to Fire Lake or Demon Ruins? DS2 set a precedent for this with Crown DLCs, so it’s not too far fetched…
As for your musings on the 3rd option. Vendrick’s quest in DS2 was all about finding the 3rd option, I’d say the whole point of the story was for us to discover what Vendrick was about, why he thought the GIANTS were vital to this quest and lastly the ARCHDRAGON. I think all of your “speculative” points about the third option are actually pretty substantiated by DS2 & Crown DLCs. Similar to what Amy said, “…I tread a troubled track, and my arms are stacked, so I go back to GRAY.”
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There are so many aspects of Dark Souls 3 and 2 that remain to be connected, yet there’s so little evidence to back each thing up as of now. But I have a gut feeling that it’s all connected.
The Dark-divers seek the purest dark right? they might get it in the Ringed City, considering the ‘hollow-butterfly’ thing we saw in the trailer
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