Mirrah

Mirrah is a nation shaped by its geography. Located to the far east of Drangleic, it is constantly beset by invasion from its neighbors — an existential threat that the country has to contend with every single day. Because of this, Mirrah’s military is its most valued asset, resulting in it becoming a country of […]

Melfia

It is unclear if Melfia, original name Melvia, (メルヴィア) existed as its own country before the introduction of its Magic Academy, much like its thematic predecessor Vinheim. And like the Dragon School of Dark Souls, (DS1) this is largely because the magic school has completely consumed its cultural identity since its inception, which in this […]

The Third Beginning

The cinematic opens with a massive desert littered with half-buried ruins. The accompanying narration informs us that we are looking at Lothric, which the Japanese subtitles clarify to be where the homelands of the Lords of Cinder “drift” to. Indeed, we can see pilgrims journeying to the castle city, and the surrounding ruins are all […]

Heide

Preface Heide embodies perhaps the most frustrating aspect of FromSoftware’s approach to Dark Souls II. We are provided very little to work with even compared to similarly ancient events in the original Dark Souls. (DS1) As a result, reconstructing the overall picture of these ancient civilizations relies more heavily on inference than ever before, though […]

Defining God

What constitutes a god? Demon’s Souls presents a cornucopia of perspectives, all of which somehow tie back to the soul and magic. However, the most prominent God is heavily rooted in the Judeo-Christian conception. Not so with Dark Souls. There, divinity draws inspiration mainly from polytheistic mythologies. The “gods” — almost exclusively shorthand for the […]

Irithyll

Preface Irithyll is the lengthiest topic I have ever written an analysis for, which serves as a testament to its importance to the story and setting of Dark Souls III. (DS3) Expertly building upon the circumstances from Dark Souls (DS1) and Dark Souls II (DS2) to advance the overall narrative to its natural conclusion, the […]

Rat Kingdom

While giant rats are nothing new to Dark Souls, a rat kingdom certainly is. Various beasts have displayed similar intelligence to the bipedal races, some even capable of speech like Shalquoir. Nothing stops these intelligent creatures from banding together and forming their own societies. Therefore, it is reasonable for rats to establish a kingdom for […]

Artorias

This post covers everything relevant to Artorias as far as the localization is concerned. It is based on a series of reddit posts from February 2018. Quotes include the official English script, my translation, and the official Japanese script in that order. Off to See the Knight … Oh, and do not forget… The Darkwraiths […]

Dragons

This post covers everything relevant to dragons as far as the localization is concerned. It is based on a series of reddit posts from April 2018. Quotes include the official English script, my translation, and the official Japanese script in that order. The Everlasting The original dragons are denoted as their own species of “old […]

Logan

This post covers everything relevant to Logan as far as the localization is concerned. It is based on a series of reddit posts from July 2018. Quotes include the official English script, my translation, and the official Japanese script in that order. Urban Metropolis Hat worn by proper sorcerers who studied at Vinheim Dragon School. […]