Shadeon wrote:

Rakuyo wrote:That's a very important question, but very hard to pin down.

Here's how far my ideas have evolved:

A: Dark is in fact evil.

Wouldn't that mean the PC is innately evil since we are presumably the decendant of the furtive pygmy, wielder of the Dark Soul?

I imagined hollowing to simply be the empty shell that's left behind when the envitable degradation of the curse finally eats away the last bit of ones 'humanity'. The fading of the flame to me, seems like a representation of life's inevitable end, and facing that which most (if not all) beings fear; the loss of our existence to the unfathomable void of non-existence, or simply the loss of one's existence for one that's potentially worse.

Some embrace that change which is neither inherently good nor evil, and some fight it desperately. The PC's choice to link the flame being our contiued struggle to hold on to our current existence no matter how miserable it may seem, or let it fade out, accepting the peerless dark and whatever it may bring.

That is what it would suggest, fits rather well into my "Souls world is hell" theory.
In Berserk the zombie characters are invariably evil, and Gutts is a rather twisted soul with an even bleaker fate.
Gutts is kinda like an undead at times, if you consider his obscene endurance and inclination to bite things.
On the other hand, the protagonist may just be extremely haunted. He does have a choice and he may redeem himself by his actions.

But what does the protagonist have to redeem themself for? The PC seems rather innocent to begin with, a status which may or may not change depending on the player.

Shadeon wrote:But what does the protagonist have to redeem themself for? The PC seems rather innocent to begin with, a status which may or may not change depending on the player.

My feelings exactly, here's some explanations nonetheless.

-If you're in hell long enough, you'll forget why you were ever sent there. Dark Souls just rushes that forward a bit.
-The souls goes to hell, but the soul won't remember why it was sent to hell.
-God is cruel, and just about everything is sinful, hence almost everyone is sent to hell without much of an explanation.
-The protagonist must redeem himself for being an evil dark being (as do all humans).

Going hollow is defined by an undead losing their humanity. Humanity itself is the human soul. Undead can use humanity to retain their human form and mind, but an undead who goes without humanity will eventually turn hollow and cannot return to being human.

Humanity has a few traits associated with it, from flavor text and some NPC lines, most of which could probably be called social commentary. Ciaran equates humans with greed, and raising your humanity counter does increase your item find rate. The description on Dark Fog implies the spell gets is horribly poisonous properties from humanity's tendency to hurt its own kind. Pursuers uses the self-destructive desires found in humanity to make homing missiles that recklessly crash into their target, heedless of the consequences. Various other tidbits here and there, that sort of thing. It's a very cynical view of the species, and highly exaggerated, but I guess it'd be appropriate if we aren't talking about people themselves but a lump of human identity.

So, an undead going hollow loses everything that makes them human, which includes such things as their minds and memories, desires and greed, love and ambition. Not only do they lose their humanity, but with it they also lose anything that might make them want to come back in the first place, so even if they were physically capable of it they'd lack the mental ability to do so. What they retain is their hunger for humanity, a trait which is distinctly undead and not human, as it was becoming undead that gave them that need.

The easiest way I could describe a hollowing state of mind is an advanced stage of dementia. I see the whole hollowing provess as the onset of major brain damage as the undeads facilities diminish more and more.

So I picture a hollow settlement similar to a nursing home with very activr dementia patients.

I'll add more to this discussion later. Not much time to post.

Undead Seek Warmth.

Fire is a source if Warmth, But humanity Sprites are also mentioned to be warm.

Hollows seem to lack thought, but Londor in DS3 shows that there are hollows that retain their minds and remain secretive. humanity seems to mask Hollowing.

Hollowing causes ones mind and body to degenerate. This seems to be after the Darksign has absorbed the original soul of an undead. Since all undead must die once to be so. It is possible that hollows are merely open vessel, something akin to a straw that allows souls to freely flow and can only hold on to them as long as one of the holes are blocked. Humanity seems to serve as a temporary block.

This means that hollows more than likely have an emptiness that can never be filled and every death carves out a deeper emptiness from before.

Hollows should have a lonely life, but by playing through the game it can be observed that hollows infact group up. It might be this grouping that keeps hollows animated as opposed to being a loot corpse.

So to summarize a Hollow seems to have a herd mentality and an unyielding emptiness.

@dn1nd

Incidentally, the dark wraiths of Berserk are also described as warm.
They engulf Nina, but spare her for unclear reasons.