Preface
The Undead Settlement is admittedly pretty mundane. Compared to many other part of Dark Souls III, (DS3) a town of Undead is nothing new. In fact, I assume that most recognize the obvious allusion to the Undead Burg, another town of immortals found at the foot of a much larger and more powerful country. However, where the settlement differs from the castle town explored in the original Dark Souls (DS1) is the context which it developed in. On top of that, FromSoftware uses this opportunity to expand upon themes of religious fanaticism and anarchy from mob rule that were only barely echoed in past games. The end result is elevating a pretty bog-standard concept through the nuance of the setting, making it an excellent marker for what has changed since Dark Souls II (DS2) and thus worth exploring in full.
Needy and Helpless
Greirat describes the Undead Settlement as a “dirty” town that isn’t the homeland of a Lord of Cinder we seek, existing there since long ago. This implies that it predates such lands stagnating around Lothric, and its exact origins can be inferred from its location at the mouth of the kingdom’s main bridge. Various carriages carrying Undead from Lothric to the town seem to have been derailed by the High Wall wrecking the causeway, causing Hollows to escape their confines and beg for entrance. We can thus presume that the Undead Settlement has been around for almost as long as Lothric, ever since the country had Undead to exile. But rather than be banished to some other land as is the case in foreign nations, Lothric is apparently content with their cursed immortals setting up a community just outside.
This community lives in abject poverty, from the ramshackle hovels they call homes to the meager shirts on their backs. The grounds are commonly littered with scraps of planks, wheels, and other woodworks, with the townsfolk all commonly carrying rubbish on their person. This suggests that the “poor Hollows” (貧民亡者) there make do with whatever trash they come by — convenient for when Lothric needs to dump all its refuse. But unlike Blighttown or the Gutter in past games, there is no sign of these Undead being particularly rejected by larger society. Rather, the reason they are forced to salvage everyone’s leftovers must be because they are Undead. Despite visitors such as foreign dignitaries assuredly passing through town on their way to the capital, none would do business with the cursed, so the population endlessly grows without an economy to sustain it.
Flynn’s Ring found in town exemplifies this fact. In DS2, Flynn had earned a reputation as a “chivalrous thief” (義賊) in the vein of Robin Hood, using the power of wind imbued in his ring to never be caught by even the strongest of men despite his tiny and thus physically weak size. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that he is still extolled as such in DS3, considered a hero to the small and poor. But these same people know it to be a “pipe dream”, and the localization describing it as an “idyllic fable” has led many to assume that Flynn either wasn’t as chivalrous as remembered or didn’t even exist. However, the idea that it is an empty dream to believe in a hero to meager men like themselves actually implies that they recognize such a character has not, and will not, come robbing the rich on their behalf. A thief with a righteous heart delivering you specifically from poverty? That is wishful thinking. Moreover, Flynn was a hero to the poor, not Undead. No one at the settlement expects charity for their unholy existence.
Ring of Flynn, who is lauded as a chivalrous thief. Boosts attack power the lower the equipment weight.
Flynn, who is said to have fought with the power of wind assisting him, is a hero of small, poor people. And they know it is a pipe dream.
Because of this, the populace have resorted to doing dirty jobs to get by. Most of the Undead citizens dress in the garbs of morticians as part of their living preparing and burying the dead. For that purpose, they are armed with mallets, blades, and other utensils used for their dissection of Undead in preparation for burial. This comes with the implication that the townsfolk also put down any of their own who succumb to madness as Hollows, which is an expected hazard for any Undead society. And indeed, we can see certain homes boarded up in apparent attempt to contain outbreaks of hollowing. Other residents wield pitchforks or great scythes indicative of peasants who farm for food or shovel hay for the stables where horses or livestock had been kept. None of it is glamorous work. That said, there are castes even among the poor.
Dressed in red hooded overcoats similar to the Undead slave knights, the Hollow manservants act as the designated heavy-duty laborers, “forced” into performing menial work for the citizens according to descriptions of their cut equipment set. The burly men often carry planks of wood on their backs, so they are likely responsible for the various makeshift renovations adapting to the recent rise of the High Wall, such as the Dilapidated Bridge. Their work entails more than transporting heavy materials, however. Their belts carry keys and whips — the former for the places they need to go, the latter for the beasts of burden they need to work. Each is also armed with a great machete for lopping off limbs, presumably as part of the town’s dissections. Some additionally carry pots filled with body parts from likely those same dissections. The manservants are big and dumb, as seen by their wild tantrums in battle, thus used to fill in for every odd-job the townsfolk require while they fulfill the “important” work.
Hood worn by the manservants who squirm in the Undead Town.
They are manservants who are forced to do menial work for the citizens of the Undead Town, but their superhuman strength is far beyond that of ordinary men, and it is said to be uncontrollable once they go berserk.
These duties seems to be done at the behest of Lothric. After his heist of the town, Greirat adds the Priest’s Chime to his inventory, indicating that kingdom clergy not branded with the Darksign visit the place. He also adds a Divine Blessing, suggesting that the Queen similarly gave them her attention; perhaps through the priests. The only reason anyone from the castle would come down to this shabby town is that important work is being done there. Indeed, the fair number of Undead slaves hanging around the homes and stables betrays the country’s desire to help in the town’s day-to-day endeavors while excising more problematic elements; two birds, one stone. In this way, the populace can be considered public servants — likely why the city even tolerates having a hive of Undead at its doorstep when mass hollowing could create a national security crisis. But to be sending priests specifically, the kingdom must have also been inspecting these public servants’ piety, or pious work.
Death to Undeath
Various corpses with items related to Way of White holy men and women dot the settlement, suggesting the church’s outsized presence in town. The blue robes of one such cleric denotes the curse, and he sits on one of the dilapidated homes. That being the case, some clergy most likely decided to stay as local pastors rather than continue onto Lothric as part of the standard Undead mission. There is a church building on the far end of town, so the citizens are undoubtedly god-fearing people looking for spiritual guidance. In fact, their piety seems to have been influenced in part by their work. The clothes they wear is a uniform for said work in ceremonies — specifically a “secret ceremonies” (儀式) according to the description for the cut Bloodied Short Sword used by some citizens At the very least, these funerary practices are a tradition that has some absolutely terrifying horrors involved, which has caused all of the current residents to give up their work even if it means their uniform loses its meaning. And we can infer that these horrors relate to the Dark at the core of the townsfolks’ curse.
Hat of the residents of the Undead Town.
They are Undead dissectors as well as buriers, and this is the ceremonial uniform for that work. Although, its meaning is now long lost.
No one could bear the fear.
Dagger that a resident of the Undead Town possessed.
The inner edge has a fish-hook-like barb, and this ensnares the target and boosts lethality.
It is rumored to be used in certain secret ceremonies performed at the Undead Town, but the truth of it is uncertain.
In order to preserve the bodies before burial, the Undead Settlement uses a charcoal-like black pine resin as part of the embalming process following dissection. This Charcoal Pine Resin easily sparks fires we use to set our weapons ablaze. But what purpose does flammable turpentine really serve? It certainly isn’t effective in preserving the body if the array of fleshless skeletons in the town’s deepest graveyard is any indication. But its goal may not have been to preserve the flesh, but the state of the body itself. The aforementioned skeletons carry Human Pine Resin — charcoal resin rotted by human fluids, specifically derived from the Dark within man. According to its Japanese description, this corruption occurs after many years have passed, making the resin a rare commodity. It also implies that the substance is being applied directly to areas where these Dark fluids are present. In other words, the turpentine’s purpose is to help protect the body from the Dark. Considering the very real threat of the pus of man for Undead, these god-fearing townsfolk have every reason to be concerned. In fact, this well-founded paranoia about the Darksign seems to have made them suspicious of curses in general.
Charcoal pine resin rotted with the fluids of man.
Temporarily enhances right-hand weapon with Dark.
Used for preservation and burial at the Undead Town, there are times that it becomes like so after many months and years have passed. That rare thing is apparently also used in a certain kind of ceremony and often traded at a high price.
The Curse-Rotted Greatwood is called a “spirit tree” or shinju, (神樹) trees which are in some away associated with the divine — typically located on consecrated ground or housing the spirit of a god. Indeed, we can see that the townsfolk bow in praise while in its presence, and the description for the cut Hammer of the Great Tree reaffirms that it is an object of worship. The only question is why this specific tree. Based on just its size, this god tree has been around for quite a long time, so many years in fact that it has become a “distant memory” according to the cut weapon’s text. Moreover, it does seem to have taken root on sacred ground. The tree is in an courtyard at the center of a huge stone complex. A procession led by a Cathedral of the Deep evangelist heads from the direction of the similarly stone church to this building. Therefore, this larger complex more than likely serves as a kind of shrine for the land, and there is the connection.
Hammer made using the trunk of a great tree that lived for so many months and years it has become a distant memory.
The age-old tree is said to possess a will and considered an object of worship for the people of the Undead Town.
It possesses a high density and strength that seems unlikely for something wooden and boasts might that never loses to a metal weapon.
According to the description for the tree’s soul, “every” curse has drifted to the town since long ago. Aside from the obvious Undead, it is true that all traffic going to and from Lothric must pass through the Undead Settlement. And this drifting isn’t only limited to the local spatial drifts, as there are plenty of foreign items which have ended up there. Among the town’s corpses, we can acquire Flynn’s Ring originally found in the underground kingdom of Shulva in DS2, the ornate armor of the cold north’s brawny warriors, and Lucatiel’s mask and traveling clothes. The latter’s descriptions make a point of the woman entrusting a friend with memory of her name before hollowing — an obvious reference to the Bearer of the Curse — so it is unlikely that the Lucatiel had joined the community. Likewise, Greirat sells various items from DS2, including the Bandit’s Knife once used by Forossan brigands, the Kite Shield previously employed by Drangleic, the unique iron helm once worn by the conman Pate, and the Mirrah antler shield formerly acquired from Benhart.
Greatsword said to have been continually swung by a masked knight. The memory of the fear engraved in the Hollows’ minds.
Especially highly effective against Hollows.
It is said that it was once bestowed to a legitimate knight, and shows a unique sword technique with both hands.
All of these foreign items likely ordinarily drifted to town over time, so it is no surprise that cursed persons and things were among them. In fact, them ending up there may have been inevitable. Curses are generally not considered positive in decent societies, rightly feared due to the severity of their effects. In that case, wouldn’t most cultures simply pass around whatever cursed object they come across, trying to get rid of it? But if every culture refuses to take in a curse, where does it ultimately go? Why, to the Undead Settlement — the one place where cursed things can find a home. But not even accursed Undead would want these items, the worst of which are sealed in that one tree on hallowed ground, which ties directly to its location.
Beneath the shrine is the Pit of Hollows, various wooden platforms and support beams installed to help citizens safely scale down to it. The pile of bagged corpses and cages at the back are dumped by manservants, one of whom can transport us to the pit prior to the Greatwood boss battle. This plus the headstones dotting in the courtyard overhead suggest that this pit is a burial ground. And among the Mound-maker altar up front is what appears to be more corpses, plants sprouting between earthy breaks in their stone “skin”. Townsfolk have already been suffering from the metaphysical petrification and dendrification — apparently lazing around town awaiting the world’s stagnation to take them — as have the local skeletons buried in the old crypt. But based on the depth of the pit and the statuesque bodies’ current condition, these are the earliest residents, buried before the town developed its current burial practices. Because they weren’t properly dissected, their rotting flesh had ample opportunity to completely petrify and dendrify.
If the location is the town’s oldest burial ground, then it is only natural for a shrine to have been built over it and the modern graveyard beside it. The entire goal of the settlement’s ritual burials has been to purify Undead so as to prevent them from manifesting these unusual symptoms. Statues of a crying man desperately attempting to contain the pus of man reaffirms the purpose of the shrine to suppress the outgrowths of undeath, which is entirely justified. The flora signifying human stagnation can be found in sparse amounts throughout town, but it grows in abundance around the shrine. The townsfolk are desperate to keep the Dark of their Darksigns at bay, and are willing to believe that they can by simply stuffing any cursed thing they come across into a tree on holy ground. Unfortunately for them, these curses have gradually transformed their sacred tree into its own accursed entity.
Soul of the Curse-bellied Great Tree. One of the atypical souls tinged with power.
Can either use to acquire a vast amount of souls or extract its power via molding.
Every curse has drifted to the Undead Town since long ago, and the most severe were sealed in a sacred tree. It is said that then that tree gradually transformed.
The “curse-bellied great tree” (呪腹の大樹) is embedded with unnaturally white, ball-shaped sacks at various parts of its arboreal body. And after collapsing the floor and falling down into the Pit of Hollows, the tree’s trunk splits open to reveal more of these fleshy growths tangled together within its belly — along with an equally sickly white arm. Each of these orbs are most likely an individual curse being circulated around its entire body, resulting in it producing corrosive fluid. Even the fruit it bears has this same fluid and similar arms, seeds for more cursed trees. This corrupted nature is exactly why the boss is internally named “cursed colossus” (呪われた巨像) and explains its sudden violent outburst against us and the townsfolk should we intrude the area.
This corruption naturally originates from the tree’s core, its soul being a similar tangle of sickly green souls interspersed among what is left of the original. In effect, we aren’t battling the tree but the curses it carries. This is reinforced by the fact that we cannot damage the actual tree, whose bark is explicitly harder than metal in the cut hammer’s description, only the white growths manifesting from the curses within. Among the items bearing cursed souls is the Hollowslayer Greatsword, which has gained that power thanks to memories of Lucatiel’s fear of hollowing — memories presumably retained by remnants of her soul that were left in this former weapon of hers after a lifetime of use. Not all of the curses stored in the tree necessarily carried souls, such as the Transposing Kiln, but many clearly did.
It might seem extreme for the townsfolk to reflexively reject anything cursed, but that is just how passionately they despise their own undeath. Much like the Undead cultures in DS1, this town of cursed monsters simply wish to be forgiven for their sinful state and die as humans. This is demonstrated by the local statue of Velka, which we can use to forgive our sins or reverse hollowing. The Goddess of Sin has commonly been the patron deity of Undead nations, and the Undead Settlement certainly wants to heal the curse. But she is only one method, and clearly not the favored. We are able to find a corpse in town holding the Fire Clutch Ring, but this is her only obvious worshiper there in recent times. For the rest, it looks that she was promptly forgotten.
The Velka statue is specifically found in a damp graveyard accessed from the town’s underground sewer system. This is unusual since the vast majority of the dead are buried in graves above ground. And why build a crypt adjacent to your sewer and potentially soil the graves? In fact, the rats infesting these sewers prove that this has already occurred; they carry the souls of long abandoned corpses, implying that they have been feasting on the dead buried there. This suggests that the crypt actually dates back to an earlier point in the settlement’s history before the sewer and the modern town were built, hence why this cemetery no longer receives visitors according to the description of the key locking it away. The fact that no new statue of Velka has been erected since shows that her power wasn’t considered sufficient to continue venerating.
The citizens’ piety is very much intertwined with fear, their entire lives revolving around staving off the curse one way or another until they find salvation. But between the inevitability of hollowing and eternally combating the random rampages of humanity, some might lapse in their moral standards are to be expected. We can find some Human Pine Resin in a chest in what looks to be the town library, right before the books. Combined with the laboratory experiment table from DS2 stuffed in a nearby corner, and it seems like at least some citizens were curious enough to inquire about the unholy substances they combated. Such inquiries may be innocent on their face, but it is almost too common for such curiosities to result in embracing the Dark. Indeed, fallen to the Dark or no, some have definitely taken to the idea of eating life.
The so-called madwoman “haunting” a cave along the Road of Sacrifices — named Isabella (イザベラ) in Japanese guides — has more literally made it her den to dine in, reason being that she is a cannibal. She was once a citizen of the Undead Settlement, specifically a mortician given her worker’s hat, which leaves grisly implications for where she first sampled human flesh. Regardless, once Isabella had a taste, she couldn’t stop enjoying her taboo meals, hence her Butcher’s Knife restoring HP with each cut of flesh — the sharper the blade, the more savoring the meal revitalizes the soul; no wonder she has a constant smile plastered across her face. To fellow residents, madness must be the only explanation for her committing such terrible acts. But based on corpses in her lair, she has been mainly hunting the “pitiful” brigands she comes across there.
Choice weapon of the madwoman denning and eating on the Road of Sacrifices. An outlandishly large knife.
Recovers HP when attacks hit.
That woman is said to have originally been a resident of the Undead Town, but she probably acquired a taste of, and delight in, human flesh there.
Hood of a foreign country. Probably the thing of a kind of bandit. But now it is only the memento of a pitiful victim.
It is said that exiling Undead doubles as a warning in foreign countries, occasionally imposed on those who are not Undead.
These “mountain bandits” (山賊) aren’t out of place in this rocky forest filled with steeps and slopes. Most are foreigners, apparently exiled from their homelands for their transgressions using the precedent exiling Undead. The forest has always attracted drifters according to the exile set’s description, likely because it lets such convicts prey on traffic to a major kingdom like Lothric whilst evading justice. Not all highwaymen share the same circumstances, as one is a former knight. This deserter descended to thievery so as to not end up dying a miserable death on his own like his fellows, another of whom we can find dead in that same forest. Showing just how far he has fallen, we come upon him having seemingly just killed a holy knight on his way to the Cathedral of the Deep. Rather than “worn-out”, the text for this paladin’s ashes colloquially means to fail one’s objective. The cleric’s, unsurprisingly, strong sense of justice got him sidetracked by the sinners, but the reckless fool didn’t expect to face another knight and ended up cornered and slain.
Helmet of a dishonorable deserting order of knights. He probably went astray in scattering and died a dog’s death.
That which was concealed in a slightly dirtied and tattered cloth hood is a solid thing of black iron effective against the likes of fire, and you can also see a gold engraving design that brings to mind before.
Ashen remains of a holy knight who aimed for the Church of the Deep and proved wanting. The handmaid of the ritual place will make use of the new items.
He probably paid the price for foolhardy justice.
None of these are folk that anyone would care to see gone. But Isabella’s current choice of prey is out of necessity rather than preference, as she is no longer a town resident. She is fending for herself in the wild with nothing but her carving knife; not even an Estus Flask, at least a full one. And seeing the tattered state of her clothes and dung pies she can hurl, it is no easy living out there. Isabella was most likely herself banished from decent society for her crimes, much like Maneater Mildred in DS1. This is peculiar given that the town has a public gallows as well as a small jailhouse in front of the church, repurposing part of the old sewer system. Even assuming the former a recent addition, the community still had the ability to lock up one of their own and punish them with death. Perhaps like curses, deviant behavior was something to seal away rather than tempt fate trying to destroy. Or perhaps it was feasting on just corpse flesh that saved her from the chopping block. Either way, this policy of mercy evidently didn’t last.
Radicalize the Flock
As mentioned earlier, we see evangelists from the Cathedral of the Deep leading the Undead. These kyoudoushi (教導師) are women who act as “faith gurus”, or preachers, that enlighten the residents of the town with their teachings, not necessarily converting nonbelievers as the word “evangelist” can bring to mind. The townsfolk are already pious laymen afraid of the burgeoning Dark denying them death suddenly devouring them at any given moment. They were happy to have spiritual guidance from clergy of any sort. And when those clergywomen bring with them soul-laden skulls as gifts of charity, it is no mystery how they have endeared themselves to so many of the town’s soul-starved residents. It probably helped that the women are Undead themselves. Although they don’t look it, the evangelists are affected by the Hollowslayer Greatsword the same as the other Undead in the settlement. The evangelists can certainly empathize with the citizens’ plight despite their very different backgrounds and circumstances. But the townsfolk should still have asked about where they got those skulls.
Hat of the preachers who came along from the Church. The preachers are all women.
It is said that they enlighten the residents of the Undead Town, and that “bearers” proceed along the Road of Sacrifices.
Skull steeped in the scent of souls. Charity item of the preaches of the Church of the Deep.
Throw and break to scatter it and attract surrounding enemies. Not effective for all enemies.
Although fire has proven effective at combating the pus of man, the evangelists light their hands ablaze before embracing us in order to “cleanse the bastard’s curse”. Even as they might beckon us into their arms while calling us a “poor child”, the fact remains that these women are trying to burn us alive. As the description for the cut Missionary’s Axe so plainly elucidates, the salvation they preach is death. This is demonstrated best by one preacher leading a prayer before a pyre in the town square; its fuel, a bunch of corpses in body bags piled against the central tree doused with flammable oil from explosive barrels and lit with firebombs. This is a crude fundamentalist’s approach, but as can be seen from the number of Undead in attendance, such extremism holds sway among the citizenry. With how many have suffered because of their curse and witnessed the potential horrors inside them during their work, there was bound to be a fair number willing to embrace the missionaries’ suicidal teachings. And once they did, there was no limit to what these radicalized men would do.
Axe possessed by the missionaries who endeavor to proselytize at various places such as the Undead Town.
To them, salvation is death, and those who go against their teachings are bisected with this axe.
When we approach the Undead Settlement, the stranded Hollows begging for entrance are met with rabid dogs coming out of the front gate, sicced on by a resident. This isn’t the first time either since more dogs are already feasting on corpses behind one carriage. The townsfolk no longer welcome outsiders. And as we explore town, we find that countless have been caged, strung up, or tied to wooden posts and displayed as an example. Some of those Hollows crowding one-man cages are still alive, but the vast majority seem to have been killed or left for dead — for quite a while if the dung pies these “cage spiders” can fling plus their fading souls are any indication. And many had suffered beforehand. One corpse in town carries a whip, and the aforementioned gallows repurposes another experiment table as a torture device, more oil barrels and firebombs ready to set them aflame. There has evidently been violent conflict in the settlement as of late, though it looks to have been mostly resolved by the time we come to town. And this infighting was most assuredly spearheaded by the evangelists.
The preachers carry various torture implements on their belts, and among the town’s corpses we find the uniform of Undead clerics, the Red Hilted Halberd they are known to use, plus a Red and White Shield blessed with holy magic. The resident clergymen seem to have all been killed in this dispute, leaving only the visiting preachers — indeed, despite the cult procession, Eygon says that the church is abandoned, probably due to the Outrider Knight on the bottom floor. For a settlement characterized by its religious fervor, the evangelists must have led an inquisition, pitching a mob of extremists swayed by their teachings against the rest of the god-fearing town. Anyone deemed a threat was subsequently purged, whether it be the stability of their humanity or devotion to the faith that was in doubt. Laymen, clergy, nonbelievers, all would be judged in this witch hunt. Naturally, they were forced to defend themselves from the mob violence, but the extremists ultimately won out. If the gathering in the town square is anything to go by, they are being made sacrifices to cleanse the Dark.
Ratty Old Man
With how impoverished the Undead Settlement is compared to Lothric, it is understandable that the town has developed a seedy underworld. One of the corpses strung up in town owns kukris commonly adopted by thieves. Human Pine Resin is often sold for a high price due to its rarity as well as use in a “certain kind of ceremony”, which immediately raises an eyebrow. There will always be those willing engage in shady business transactions, but what about the rest without access to clients or merchandise? By all implications, many Undead have snuck into the city to rob it of valuables. Some have even attempted to infiltrate Lothric Castle, but they are never seen again, earning the castle a reputation for “eating people” that keeps would-be thieves away out of sheer fear. These attempts predate Lothric falling into chaos, so it has unsurprisingly always been dangerous to try stealing from the royal government. Nonetheless, this implies that these thieves have found some success stealing from the city, and the most successful of them all is supposedly an old man by the name of Greirat.
According to the thief in question, his skills once earned fame at least within his circle. Patches reaffirms that the geezer is no novice, though finding him in jail proves that he isn’t uncatchable either. There may be a reason for that. Despite downplaying himself as shabby and greedy like any other thief, the description for his ashes says he possesses the “worthless pride” of a chivalrous thief. In other words, he was the Robin Hood that the townsfolk doubt exists — an old man who truly believes in honor among thieves, helping his fellow man, paying back his debts, and comradery; possibly because he was once a soldier if his crumbling armor is any indication. It is because he is of such virtuous character that he once helped Patches break out of jail, which may explain why he got caught and thrown in that same jail by the time we warp to the High Wall. But being the only thief in town who seems to have this moral fiber, “worthless” is indeed an apt description. For all his pride, Greirat is, true to his name, an old rat who scurries in the dirty underbelly nibbling on what scraps he can; his community, no better off.
Ashen remains of Greirat of the Undead Town. The handmaid of the ritual place will have new items to offer.
Greirat was a thief but possessed the worthless pride of a chivalrous thief. That is probably why he climbed the High Wall.
Perhaps the biggest slap in the face to his gentility concerns Loretta. In exchange for him selling us his merchandise at Firelink Shrine, he asks us to hand over a Blue Tearstone Ring — presumably stolen — to a woman of the Undead Settlement. He admits that it is a shabby request brought on by a guilty conscience, highlighting his humility and sense of honor, but it seems to be much more than that. After showing him a bone that we found off a corpse, he concludes that she is dead and thanks us for confirming his own suspicions. This implies that Greirat had set out to climb the High Wall as things in town were already starting to get dangerous with the extremists. And yet, he did so due to his chivalric spirit, which is why he feels the need to deliver lucrative merchandise to one of the poor back home even if not willing or able to do it himself. However, the thief can be seen keeled over in silence when we first leave and return to Firelink Shrine, apparently mourning Loretta’s passing. This is not the reaction one affords to a random stranger.
The only clue about Lorretta’s identity is Greirat calling her an old woman and the bone that she is found gripping tightly in her cold, dead hands. Its description leaves no doubt that the body found strung up from one of the buildings is actually Loretta, another victim of the zealots — as added indication, exchanging the bone with the nest maiden nets us a Ring of Sacrifice. And based on its age, she has held onto it for a while, so it must belong to someone very close to her if she is willing to clutch it tight even when facing death. A loved one, perhaps? The bone is noted to be completely discolored and bearing holes, but this may be the result of exposure to the elements and human meddling after death. However, we may still be able to infer the owner’s identity. When killed during our first encounter, Greirat apologizes to “Dear” in English and “Mom” in Japanese. Kaa-chan (かあちゃん) is a very affectionate if casual address for a mother, though it can also be used to address one’s wife who so happens to be a mother. Either might apply to an old woman like Loretta.
If Greirat and Loretta were a married couple who had at least one child, then the bone the old woman cherishes may belong to their child. The Undead Settlement was ultimately a stable community of Undead from mostly Lothric. Most friends and family who happen to turn Undead would be sent to the same place where they could reunite. At the same time, anyone who never met prior for whatever reason would have ample opportunity to foster relations in their new home. Therefore, it is completely possible for there to be an old married couple, though the notion of them having a child hints to their relationship predating their undeath. Perhaps their child died young during their lifetimes before age caught up to them, at which point the Undead curse denied them a chance to join their child in death. Whatever the case, this scenario would certainly explain Greirat’s guilt for leaving her and sorrow over her demise. She was the one thing tying him to that town. Who does he live for now? What purpose does his life still serve? The answer was apparently contributing to our unkindled mission.
Following her death, Greirat offers to go on a heist to the Undead Settlement, citing that we are better off using it since everyone there is now dead or hollowed. The one person he cared about in that town is gone, so he has no reason to hesitate about stealing from his longtime homeland. And after his great success, he later offers to steal from the nobles of Irithyll once we find our way there ourselves. Should he survive this second heist, he decides to raise the stakes even higher by offering to take on Lothric Castle. For all his bragging, even he acknowledges the danger he was in trying to infiltrate Irithyll, and will die in the attempt. He must be aware that his talents won’t save him from this suicide mission. Why is he so ready to throw himself into the jaws of the beast? According to him, because we are his friend and he doesn’t want to die as that worthless miser of a thief. He couldn’t do anything for his town, he couldn’t do anything for Loretta, and certainly couldn’t do anything for himself.
Lokey Lore 