Dark Souls III

Dark Souls III Game Play and Spoilers ahead……..            

Intro – Dark Souls III 

In a world where the age of darkness approaches and the age of fire seems to be coming to an end, many try to link the fire of the Kiln of the First Flame to avoid the age of darkness. Many have tried to link the fire, but they have failed and ended up being burnt completely to nothing but ash. In the past, those that ended up linking the fire were referred to as “The Lords of Cinder”.

When the fire is about to fade, the bell tolls which signifies the resurrection of the previous Lords of Cinder from their graves who will be in a state of hollow. This will also bring about the Gwyn’s curse to the world where people can no longer die and instead will continue to resurrect until they have become hollowed where they have gone insane and have lost all hope. Only those that have gone hollow can be killed otherwise they will continue to get resurrected.

Lords of Cinder

However, these Lords of Cinder will abandon their duty and throne and refuse to relink the fire. Aldrich, Saint of the Deep who was a previous Lord of Cinder had plans to devour those with power. It was unclear as to why he had linked the fire in the first place but many suspect it was because of his power and not his worthiness. He abandoned his duty to relink the fire as he wishes to be more powerful. After resurrection, he had traveled to the castle of Anor Londo with one of his friends to devour Gwyndolin, God of the Darkmoon. As he consumed Gwyndolin, he fell into a deep state of slumber and absorbed her memories and powers.

The Abyss Watchers

The Abyss Watchers of the Farron’s Undead Legion, another previous Lord of Cinder, abandoned their duty and throne as they have been consumed by the abyss. The Watchers were descendants of Knight Artorias, who sacrificed himself to fight off the abyss. As the Abyss Watchers have linked the fire in the past to fight off the abyss and prevent darkness in this world. They swore their entire life to fight off the abyss creatures only to be consumed by the very thing they swore to fight. They continue to fight off the abyss, but since they are now a part of the abyss, they continue to kill and fight each other until there is no more abyss in the world.

Yhorm the Giant

Yhorm the Giant, ruler of the Profaned Capital, is another previous Lord of Cinder who has abandoned his duty. As Yhorm the Giant loved his people very much and wanted to earn their trust. He had abandoned his shield and even gave his people the weapon that was his greatest weakness. He had previously linked the fire to save his people and his capital from darkness, but everything went wrong when he linked the fire. When he had linked the fire, the Profaned Capital and his people were consumed by the fire as he did not have humanity in him to fuel the linking of the fire. He abandoned his duty to relink the fire as he was betrayed by it and blames himself for the loss of his people and the Profaned Capital.

The Twin Princes of Lothric Castle

The Twin Princes of Lothric Castle, Lothric the younger prince and Lorian the elder prince had previously abandoned their duty as a Lord of Cinder. Lorian was a great knight that had slain the Demon Prince with his flame sword. On the other hand, Lothric was a frail boy and possessed very little combat training. Unlike previous Lords of Cinder, Lothric who was the younger prince was born as a Lord of Cinder and had not linked the fire. While Lothric was destined to be a Lord of Cinder, their father and mother had committed a deed so horrendous that it had cursed Lothric. Lorian ended up sharing the curse and it ended up crippling him and he could not walk anymore. Since Lothric was the Lord of Cinder, he abandoned his duty as he does not wish to be separated from Lorian.

Ludleth of Courland

These are the four Lords of Cinder and there is one more who sits on his throne, Ludleth of Courland. He is far too old and is considered a dead corpse so he cannot physically travel to link the fire anymore. Ludleth of Courland has previously linked the fire in the past for his own reasons. He does accept his duty to link the fire and is the only Lord of Cinder from the five to accept his duty. In order to successfully relink the fading fire, it would require feeding the First Flame all five souls of the Lords of Cinder as the fire is too weak to be linked with just one of them.

The Ashen One

When the four Lords of Cinder abandon their duty, the unkindled one who is the one that has failed to link the fire and has turned into ashes will rise. This will mark the resurrection of “The Ashen One”. The Ashen One will be the one to slay all four of the Lords of Cinder who have abandoned their duty and collect their souls to fuel the First Flame.

The Ashen One is the world’s last hope to prevent the age of darkness and keep light in this world. As we know that the Ashen One cannot do this by himself and thus a firekeeper will tend to him at the Firelink Shrine. Her purpose is to serve The Ashen One and help him use other hollowed creatures souls as a source of power. She will also aid The Ashen One to transport him to the Kiln of the First Flame where he can link the fire.

The Final Test – Dark Souls III

When all four Lords of Cinders are slain and their souls are collected, the firekeeper and The Ashen One will place their souls on their respective thrones at the Firelink Shrine and the process will begin. The Ashen One will be transported to the Kiln of the First Flame where he will slay the Soul of Cinder, a reincarnation of all previous Lords of Cinder who have successfully linked the fire. The Soul of Cinder is the final test for The Ashen One to see if he is worthy enough to link the fire and keep the ages of darkness away.