History Characters / DarkSoulsRaces

* DarkIsNotEvil: Humans are inherently with Darkness in their souls, [[HumansAreCthulhu and their true forms is the form of the Undead, the same form the Pygmies had]]. However, Darkness is explicitly noted to be the essence of ''Humanity'' in this universe, meaning that just as hate or ambition comes from it, love, compassion and determination comes from it as well.]]

* BigBad: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]; Gwyn certainly saw it as a threat to the world, and how it's described and represented seems frightening and might lead some to think the Dark Soul is responsible for the conflict of the trilogy - but ultimately, the Dark Soul was never malevolent, and the conflict of the game is mostly the fault of inevitable entropy, the Dark Soul's ''reaction'' to said entropy, and Gwyn's paranoia.
* TheCorruption: It wasn't originally one, being a calm power that wasn't inherently good or evil; however, millenias of stagnating within the Darksign in itself corrupted the dark, causing the rise of the Abyss and undead and, in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', the Deep, which is like the Abyss but ''even worse''. It's not known if it can ever be restored to what it once was.
* DarkIsNotEvil: At least, not originally: the Dark represented coldness and lack of light, but also gentleness, the ancestors of men could once use it without risk.

* GreaterScopeParagon: A Chosen Undead going for the Dark Lord ending or an Unkindled One becoming the Lord of Hollows is ultimately championing the Dark Soul, and with it humanity itself.

* ItCanThink: Unlike the First Flame, the Dark Soul seems to have a will of its own, or at least feels emotions in much the same way a human would - Humanities, the fragments of the Dark Soul, and are described as feeling love, or perhaps hatred.

* DeadlyEuphemism: 'Linking the Fire' is euphemism for throwing yourself into the First Flame so that it can consume your souls and extent its life, a process which either kills you if you're weak enough, or turns you completely insane if you're strong (like Gwyn).

* LivingOnBorrowedTime: Gwyn's method of Linking the Flame does work in extending its life - but it's only delaying the inevitable, the First Flame is doomed to die and its unnatural lifetime is causing more harm than good.

* TheAntiGod: Of sort with the First Flame, being its exact opposite.

* DarkIsNotEvil: At least, not originally: the Dark represented coldness and lack of light, but also gentleness, the ancestors of men could once use it without risk - before the Darksign arrived. It only became DarkIsEvil after the Seale of Fire was created.

* ItCanThink: Unlike the First Flame, the Dark Soul seems to have a will of its own, or at least feels emotions in much the same way a human would - Humanities, the fragments of the Dark Soul, and are described as feeling love, or perhaps hatred.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Humans are inherently with Darkness in their souls, [[HumansAreCthulhu and their true forms is the form of the Undead, the same form the Pygmies had]]. However, Darkness is explicitly noted to be the essence of ''Humanity'' in this universe, meaning that just as hate or ambition comes from it, love, compassion and determination comes from it as well. This is taken a new meaning when ''Dark Souls 3'' reveals that [[spoiler:the Dark was never inherently bad, but Gwyn's fear of it and suppression of humanity's Darkness [[SelfFulfillingProphecy ended up being the reason why it became the threat it is to the present]].]]

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Most hail from kingdoms akin to Medieval Europe, but there are other, unseen Human kingdoms that are more akin to arabic or asian cultures.

[[folder:The Gods]]

After the manifestation of the First Flame, a race of towering humanoids was born. They came from the Dark, much like Humans, and four powerful individuals were changed, for they found the Souls of Lords near the flame. Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, the Witch of Izalith, The Furtive Pygmy, and Nito, the First of the Dead: these four beings thus became the first and most powerful out of the other beings that lived in the world, known from that time as the Lords.

Gwyn led the Gods in a war against the Dragons. With their powerful magic and the aid of the Dragon traitor, Seath the Scaleless, the Gods slew most of the Dragons and claimed the world for their own. Gwyn and his family founded the mighty city of Anor Londo, from whence they ruled over a new race, the Humans who had been created by the Pygmy for his own reasons.

The Gods derived their power from the First Flame, but in time the Flame began to die out. To preserve their rule over the world, Gwyn sacrificed himself by entering the Kiln of the First Flame, where his strength would keep the Flame alive. Ever since, the Gods themselves have been a very distant memory, eventually coming to have much of their power dwindle with the artificial extension of the Age of Fire, and eventually their unavoidable decline as the world's rulers.

* AmbiguousSituation: Are the Gods mentioned in lore and item descriptions of the same tribe as Gwyn's family? Or are they some kind of other species? Do they exist at all? Most of them exhibit the standard mythological trait of being the god of something specific and having followers but in a fantasy setting such as ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' it's unclear how many of these were real and how many were just tall tales or misrememebred history. The last question is if the myriad gods of the many lands outside Lordran did exist did they live in Anor Londo, which is widely considered the home of the Gods?

* BigScrewedUpFamily: If much of the affairs between Gods and other races were any indication as well as Gwyn's treatment of Gwyndolin, the Gods were roughly as screwed-up as your average ruling Medieval family.
* FantasyCounterpartMyth: They are very comparable to the Aesir of Norse Mythology; both are races of immortal but [[GodIsFlawed uniquely-human]] gods who foresaw of their end of power at the end of the world, and in attempting to help prevent it, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy they end up causing their demises and destruction]].

** [[TopGod Gwyn]], [[GodOfLight Lord of Sunlight]]. Progenitor of gods as a race and bearer of their Lord Soul. Also, the reason humans can't have nice things.

** The Nameless King. Gwyn's oldest child and a WarGod of some sort. Founded the Warriors of Sunlight before deciding to side with the dragons and getting [[{{Unperson}} erased from history]].

* OurGodsAreDifferent: They are immortal, giant humanoids of incredible strength and sorcerous power, towering over most life of the Earth and the definitive rulers of the world. In truth, they are of the same kind of pygmies that spawned humans and demons, what makes them different is that they share Gwyn's Light Soul that he plucked from the First Flame. Some members of Gwyn's species appear to be true gods who are worshipped as part of a pantheon and wield unique magic, while others like Ornstein, Smough, and the Silver Knights don't have this distinction. They are TheAgeless but just because they're immortal does not mean they're invincible; not unlike the Norse gods, they can die if you throw enough damage at them; indeed, by the time of ''The Ringed City'' only Filianore remains.

* GodIsFlawed: The gods generally ran the gamut of moral standings and weren't omniscient or omnipotent; indeed, Gwyn caused most of the problems in the entire series with his fear of the Dark. Aside from Gwyn, we don't get to see much of the others, but while some such as Gwyndolin and Yorshka are generally benevolent, abandoning Anor Londo when the First Flame started to fade isn't a good look on most of them.
* HaveYouSeenMyGod: Many of the Gods mentioned in the first game are nowhere to be seen by ''2'' or ''3'', either due to being missing or dead. By ''the Ringed City'', [[spoiler:it's pretty clear ''all'' of the Gods by this point are all dead]].

* JerkassGods: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. They weren't by any definition ''bad,'' but they were a BigScrewedUpFamily and promptly abandoned humanity when Anor Londo was beseiged. To say nothing of how Gwyn helped [[spoiler:indirectly foster the end of the world through his fear of the Dark]].
* LightIsNotGood: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. Despite ostensibly being divine and noble gods (and indeed, it's MetaphoricallyTrue), most ultimately cared little of humanity, and were more than content with standing at the top of the world for all of eternity - even after letting the Age of Fire run its course. [[spoiler:This ultimately led to their extinction by the end of the trilogy.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: Even with as evil as they often are, it's often hard not to pity them to some extent, especially as of ''Dark Souls 3''. They were born effectively as a mistake that wasn't to be, and in swift order quickly had their ''only'' source of reproduction destroyed and effectively left a DyingRace as a result. By the time of ''3'', the number of demons you encounter in the base game are numbered in one hand, and the only demon boss you fight is [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen pitifully old and weak]] by the time you get to them. By the time of ''[[GrandFinale the Ringed City]]'', [[spoiler:they have effectively gone extinct]].

* OurGodsAreDifferent: They are immortal, giant humanoids of incredible strength and sorcerous power, towering over most life of the Earth and the definitive rulers of the world. In truth, they are of the same kind of pygmies that spawned humans and demons, what makes them different is that they share Gwyn's Light Soul that he plucked from the First Flame. They are TheAgeless but just because they're immortal does not mean they're invincible; not unlike the Norse gods, they can ([[AnyoneCanDie and are]]) killed off one by one. In Gwyn's desperate attempts to preserve the Age of Fire, he ends up causing a large part of the suffering of the universe and eventually kills ''all'' the gods, including the absolute last god, Filianore, in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls3.''

* GodIsFlawed: Despite what they would like you to think, the Gods are not omniscient, and are prone to making mistakes like any human often would. In fact, much of the problem's of the plot were caused by Gwyn!

* MaouTheDemonKing: Subverted; the demons never really congregated under a single rulership, usually just as prone to fight amongst themselves as they are against everyone else. The only reason why [[VideoGame/DarkSouls3 the Old Demon King]] is even a ''King'' is because [[LastOfItsKind literally every other demon who could've contested his rule in the area is dead]].

* TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket: They are effectively Undead who were so weak that when they attempted to link to the First Flame, they didn't even link successfully; they burned to ash. The only reason they were effectively brought back by the time of ''3'' is because those remaining to try to preserve the Age of Fire [[GodzillaThreshold were getting that desperate]].

* DarkIsNotEvil: At least, not originally: the Dark represented coldness and lack of light, but also gentleness, the ancestors of men could once use it without risk - before the Darksign arrived...which sadly leads to...
** DarkIsEvil: After being shackled [[LightIsNotGood by the Seal of Fire placed by the God's]], the Dark Soul rapidly begins to corrupt itself, bringing forth nightmarish perversions of darkness like the Abyss and the Deep, some of the most malevolent forces in the saga.

* RapePillageAndBurn: While the 'rape' part of the equation is mercifully averted, everyone and everything the demons come into contact with the kill, destroy and utterly raze to the ground. There's a reason why their emergence shortly before ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' was ultimately the tipping point of [[FromBadToWorse everything going to hell]].