Ash lake has been bothering me for quite some time now.
First of all, the area we find seems to be endless, if we could swim we'd be able to swim for hours and hours on end.
What created this huge area? Or has it always been?

Is this where Hydra's come from? We see one (which would make me wonder how the one from Darkroot got there) and a skull which somewhat seems to look like a serpent or dragon.

Then there's the Clam like monsters who appear to be older than they originally looked. Or could they be made/sent by Seath to look for this place, in an attempt to find the ancient dragon and learn from it's scales?

I get how an ancient dragon was able to survive here and slowly made other warriors aware of where it was, so that it could establish a covenant.
But what use does the dragon have for dragon scales? Why would it be trying to gather them? Could it be an attempt to sabotage Seath?

What do you guys think of this area? And its inhabitants?

Ashe Lake is left over from the Age of Ancients. It is how the World was before The First Flame was born and Gwyn exterminated all the Dragons.

The Clams and Hydra both could have existed then, especially since Seathe was around before the first flame.

Traversing the Arch Tree showed you a different time, similar to in DS2 how Things betwixt was in an Arch Tree. These Tress like the Norse Legend of Yggdrasil can show you different times or places. Ashe Lake is such a case, a time preserved at the base of an Arch Tree.

If you cut the Dragon's tail in Ashe Lake you find out it is a descendent of the Everlasting Dragons. As for why the scales are collected by it, the Scales are precious to the Dragons and help the Undead who become Dragon Remnant emulate the dragons.

dn1nd wrote:Ashe Lake is left over from the Age of Ancients. It is how the World was before The First Flame was born and Gwyn exterminated all the Dragons.

The Clams and Hydra both could have existed then, especially since Seathe was around before the first flame.

Traversing the Arch Tree showed you a different time, similar to in DS2 how Things betwixt was in an Arch Tree. These Tress like the Norse Legend of Yggdrasil can show you different times or places. Ashe Lake is such a case, a time preserved at the base of an Arch Tree.

If you cut the Dragon's tail in Ashe Lake you find out it is a descendent of the Everlasting Dragons. As for why the scales are collected by it, the Scales are precious to the Dragons and help the Undead who become Dragon Remnant emulate the dragons.

Nice theory!

It doesn't explain however, how or why one of the Hydra's is lurking in Ash Lake.

It also doesn't explain the clams. There are only 2 places we see these clams, we see 2 of them in Ash Lake, and a horde of them close to Seath's primordial crystal. This makes it seem that the Clams are guarding it, so it's logical to assume Seath created them. Why not? He also created moonlight butterflies and crystal golems.

So that would mean that Seath sent the clams down to the great hollow, probably in search of this everlasting dragon?

Also, where does it say the scales are precious to dragons? As far as I know a full-scaled dragon is immortal and has no need for any more scales.

Looking forward to your reply.

The dragon Scale descripition mentions they are invaluable.

Dragon scale for reinforcing dragon weapons. Peeled from an ancient dragon.
A dragon is inseparable from its scales, and the transcendent apostles, who seek the perpetuity of the ancient dragons, have crossed the very end of the earth to seek this invaluable treasure

As for Seathe creating the clams it's possible he did. It's only a guess that they existed before hand. One thing that makes me doubt Seathe Created them is that they drop Purging Stones. Since purging stones would remove the curse build up from Seathe's Breath attack, I wonder if maybe the clams were Drawn to Seathe.

If the clams were Drawn to Seathe I suspect it might be because of the Primordial Crystal that give Seathe is Immortality. This Crystal has often been theorized to have been What Seathe stole when he betrayed the Dragons. Another possibility is the Clams ae Drawn to dragons. If this is the case it explains why they were in the Crystal Caves and Ashe Lake.


As for he Hydra of Ashe Lake I'm thinking that's where they live nd the One from Darkroot as the one that migrated.

dn1nd wrote:Ashe Lake is left over from the Age of Ancients. It is how the World was before The First Flame was born and Gwyn exterminated all the Dragons.

Kind of strange that it's from an age said to lack color, described as being gray. Ash Lake is definitely one of my favorite areas, considering how beautiful it is.

I really like the idea of clams being drawn to dragons, I have a theory about the purging stones.

Humans are helpless against curses,
and can only redirect their influence.
The Purging Stone does not dispel curses,
but receives them as a surrogate. The stone
itself was once a person or some other being.

"The stone itself was once a person or some other being".
Could it be that the purging stones are just a result of the clams, made from the victims they've eaten?
I consider it much like a pearl, a real life clam over time can make a little stone that's rather valueable to us.
In dark souls, it seems that they have the same ability only this time the stone is able to remove curses.

Seen as the clams are the only mob in the entire game to drop it, I really feel like they were the first to come up with the stones.


Others say that the Earl of Carim made the stones, but this is never confirmed, the item description only mentions that "It is his secret treasure'.
Perhaps he encountered these rare clams at some point and managed to figure out the treasure they carry?
Seen as he is responsible for making "bite rings", you'd think that he'd make the purging stones into a ring right away instead of using them as regular item.

My guess is that he found these purging stones, and with it eventually figured out how to make all sorts of rings that give you immense resistance against bleed, poison and curse.

I could see something like that happening. Given the Earl's interests it makes sense he would have treasured the stones.