History Fridge / DarkSoulsIII

** Champion Gundyr's soul states that he was too late in coming to Firelink Shrine to actually be the Chosen Undead/Ashen One of his cycle. His equipment says that he was bested by an unknown warrior, and so ended up being the sheath for Firelink's coiled sword. [[spoiler: Looks like the Ashen One is now a part of [[StableTimeLoop a time loop]], which can only mean great things for New Game Plus]].

* Does anyone else notice, that Irithyll seems to be aesthetically similar to Yharnam? like the entire area seems to be a shoutout to BB, I conclude that it is a younger version, remember we never see Yharnam properly outside of the [[spoiler: Dream]], the conclusion? the [[spoiler: Usurp the Fire/End of Fire (don't know which) ending brings about the age of Dark]] Opening up the world to the [[spoiler: Old Ones]]
* If the Chessmaster entry on Ludleth's page is true, and [[spoiler:the untended graves is another version of the cemetery of ash... Did you just loot the Ashen Estus Ring off your own body?]]

* Aldrich stands out amongst the Lords of Cinder, and for more reasons than one. Aldrich was essentially the head of a religion worshipping him and a coming "age of the deep" [[spoiler: possibly the age of the dark]] and even his title was "Saint of the Deep". All these things considered, why would a being who obviously worshipped the dark become a Lord of Cinder, a being which acts opposite to that belief? Then it hit this troper; Aldrich was a monster who devoured men, women, and gods alike and relished in it. And if he also happened to bear the undead curse, then simply killing him wouldn't be rid of him. What better way to be rid of him (as well as giving the proverbial middle finger) than to force him to link the fire. After all, nobody ever said all the Lords of Cinder had to be willing.
** Furthermore supported with Prince Lothric, who explicitly states that he never wanted to be a lord of cinder in the first place. So not only nobody said the Lords of Cinderwere all willing, but we have an example of people who weren't.

* Does anyone else notice, that Irithyll seems to be aesthetically similar to Yharnam? like the entire area seems to be a shoutout to BB, I conclude that it is a younger version, remember we never see Yharnam properly outside of the [[spoiler: Dream]], the conclusion? the [[spoiler: Usurp the Fire/End of Fire (don't know which) ending brings about the age of Dark]] Opening up the world to the [[spoiler: Old Ones]]

** Furthermore supported with Prince Lothric, who explicitly states taht he never wanted to be a lord of cinder in the first place. So not only nobody said the Lords of Cinderwere all willing, but we have an example of it.

* [[AmbiguousGender Anri's gender]], if the [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Transgender Coffin]] still existed somewhere offscreen, this might explain why Anri is always the opposite gender of you. ''[[AmbiguouslyBi God knows what they did to other Chosen Undeads]] before meeting you''.

* Aldrich stands out amongst the Lords of Cinder, and for more reasons than one. Aldrich was essentially the head of a religion worshipping him and a coming "age of the deep" [[spoiler: possibly the age of the dark]] and even his title was "Saint of the Deep". All these things considered, why would a being who obviously worshipped the dark become a Lord of Cinder, a being which acts opposite to that belief? Then it hit me. Aldrich was a monster who devoured men, women, and gods alike and relished in it. And if he also happened to bare the undead curse, then simply killing him wouldn't be rid of him. What better way to be rid of him (as well as giving the proverbial finger) than to force him to link the fire. After all, nobody ever said all the Lords of Cinder had to be willing.

* [[AmbiguousGender Anri's gender]], if the [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Transgender Coffin]] still existed somewhere offscreen, this might explain why Anri is always the opposite gender of you. ''[[AmbiguouslyBi God knows what they did to other Ashen Ones]] before meeting you''.

* [[AmbiguousGender Anri's gender]], if the Transgender Coffin still existed somewhere offscreen, this might explain why Anri is always the opposite gender of you. ''[[AmbiguouslyBi God knows what they did to other Ashen Ones]] before meeting you''.

* So, you've just beaten the Old Demon King and you happened upon the Stray Demon earlier in the game and handily took care of it. Congratulations, [[YouBastard you just committed genocide]], as these two demons are supposedly the last of the Demons of Izalith that were born of the Chaos Flame which has now been extinguished. If that isn't bad enough for you, look around the Demon Ruins and the Old Demon King's arena sometime; it's littered with the corpses of his fallen kin, mostly Stray and Capra Demons.

** In addition to this, while it might seem random and completely out of the blue at first when Yuria mentions that she's chosen [[spoiler:Anri of Astora to be the Ashen One's spouse]], it actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. [[spoiler:Anri is the only other person in the game besides the Ashen One who's both Unkindled ''and'' Undead (you absorb his/her Dark Sigils during your "marriage", after all). This means he/she also has the power to harness both the First Flame ''and'' the Dark Soul, which as mentioned above was discovered by Vendrick to be the key to breaking the cycle. And it can be seen in the ending cinematic that Anri was ressurected by the ritual, so contrary to popular belief, the "marriage" ceremony isn't simply just a defilement of their corpse. So if Anri and the Ashen One procreate and their children possess the same abilities, that means the cycle of the flame will never repeat itself and humanity is truly in control now. This also explains why Yuria is so insistent that the Ashen One ''must'' have a spouse first before attempting to usurp the flame.]] Basic genetics and survival of the fittest in play right there.

** In addition to this, while it might seem random and completely out of the blue at first when Yuria mentions that she's chosen [[spoiler:Anri of Astora to be Ashen One's spouse]], it actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. [[spoiler:Anri is the only other person in the game besides the Ashen One who's both Unkindled ''and'' Undead (you absorb his/her Dark Sigils during your "marriage", after all— five of them to be exact, the same number you received from Yoel). This means he/she has the power to harness both the First Flame ''and'' the Dark Soul, which as mentioned above was discovered by Vendrick to be the key to breaking the cycle. And it can be seen in the ending cinematic that Anri was ressurected by the ritual, so contrary to popular belief, the "marriage" ritual isn't simply just a defilement of their corpse. So if Anri and the Ashen One procreate and their children possess the same abilities, that means the cycle of the flame will never repeat itself and humanity is truly in control now.]] Basic genetics and survival of the fittest in play right there.

* Speaking of Yoel, he dies after giving you 5 free levels and subsequent hollowing, after which he stops, and by the time you come back he's found dead, with Yuria having taken his place. Yuria claims he has fulfilled his purpose and is at peace. But Yuria is a lot more [[ObviouslyEvil obviously evil]] than Yoel (compared to their tones and the wares they sell, with Yuria having an evil miracle tome in braille). How do we know Yuria didn't simply kill Yoel once he served his purpose or to get him out of the way?

* Speaking of Yoel, he dies after giving you 5 free levels and subsequent hollowing, after which he stops, and by the time you come back he's found dead, with Yuria having taken his place. Yuria claims he has fulfilled his purpose and is at peace. But Yuria is a lot more [[ObviouslyEvil obviously evil]] than Yoel (compared to their tones and the wares they sell, with Yuria having an evil miracle tome in braille). How do we know Yuria didn't simply kill Yoel once he served his purpose or to get him out of the way.

*** Well, Yoel seems to get back up easily enough... maybe the rocks are insurance for when they get close enough to the fame for their bodies to give out naturally?

*** To swing it back into Fridge Horror territory: the rocks are a guard against Hollowing. The only way the pilgrims can continue forward is if they still have enough determination and hope to shoulder the burden--they don't Hollow so long as they can keep pulling themselves back to their feet. But if they lose the last of their hope and collapse, turning Hollow, then they won't be a threat as they'll be pinned to the ground.

** [[FridgeLogic But why wouldn't the rocks crush them the minute that they stumble once, and how would they be able to lift them to begin with?]] Just because they're effectively immortal doesn't mean that they're strong or incapable of sustaining debilitating/fatal injury while they're still technically alive. Look at Vengarl for example; even being beheaded didn't kill him, it just left him as a living head with a body running amok.

** [[FridgeLogic But why wouldn't the rocks crush them the mintue that they stumble once, and how would they be able to lift them to begin with?]] Just because they're effectively immortal doesn't mean that they're strong or incapable of sustaining debilitating/fatal injury while they're still technically alive. Look at Vengarl for example; even being beheaded didn't kill him, it just left him as a living head with a body running amok.

* This is regarding the final boss. Do not spoil unless you've played the game and/or don't care. [[spoiler: The Soul of Cinder, in his first phase, switches between 4 movesets: A greatsword, a sorcery catalyst, a curved sword with a pyromancy flame, and a spear with a miracle charm. These are all meant to be previous Undead, but we've only seen two previous player characters link the fire in previous games, meaning that half the boss' moveset is unaccounted for. (And the movesets are so disparate that trying to marry one or more of them is an exercise in frustration) But have we only seen 2? Knight Solaire's sidequest from DS1, should he survive Lost Izalith, culminates in him being summonable help against Gwyn, after which he links the fire regardless of the player's actions. So that makes 3 Chosen Undead that have linked the fire on-camera. One with a sword and a miracle charm, and two player characters which can be anything. The curved sword moveset flips backwards like he has the dark wood grain ring in DS1, and also the scimitar of Shiva of the East (the merchant who sells you the ring). That plus the pyromancy flame (speaking to a connection to the Chaos Servants, which he'd need to save Solaire) pretty clearly outlines that the curved sword and pyro flame moveset is the DS1 Chosen Undead. That means the greatsword, the curved sword, the pyromancy flame, and the miracle charm are all accounted for, leaving only the sorcery catalyst and the spear for the DS2 Bearer of the Curse, which is further borne out by that moveset's use of several DS2 sorceries including Soul Spear Barrage and Soul Greatsword, and the Focus Souls sorcery from the ''Sunken King'' DLC.]]

* Throughout the first couple levels there are the corpses of shrouded undead traveling to Lothric. They are stated to be pilgrims trying to get close enough to the First Flame to die again. But why do they have slabs of stone chained to their back? So that when they get close enough to their destination to regain their mortality, the weight will immediately make them collapse where they stand and press them to death. An auto-triggered execution.