History NightmareFuel / DarkSoulsIII

* The mountains. Look around Lothric Castle and what do you see? Mountains. Go anywhere else and it's the same. The entire tiny shred of the world left is just a valley in the middle of an endless mountain range. The mountains themselves are creepy looking, just unnatural gray stretching on as far as the eye can see. What, if anything, it means [[NothingIsScarier is unclear.]] Even worse, traveling in the future to the Kiln of the First Flame and it can be seen the Dreg Heap only is in one direction. Every other direction is still just an endless waste of grey mountains.

* Take a close look at that eclipse in the sky during the last quarter of the game. In a series so heavily influenced by ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', an eclipse is already a Class-S 'Oh, Fuck My Life' moment. But that's not an eclipse. It's the Seal of Fire hanging in the sky.

** It's even worse because unlike most areas in Souls games, this place seems to still be populated. The lights are on in most of the houses, many of the fireplaces are still lit, and in general it looks unsettlingly well kept in contrast to the gutted filth smeared husk of Anor Londo. You can even see ghostly citizens walking around, totally unaware of you and totally intangible. It gives the impression that life is ongoing in Irithyll, just not in any form or on any plane your mind is able to comprehend.

*** And the worst part? There's ''nothing'' to indicate what exactly ''are'' these things and where they came from. The few theories there are involve it either being wretched experiments by Pontiff Sulyvahn or the results of being corrupted by the Profaned Flame. Some even say they're connected to the same corruption that affected [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI the Bed of Chaos.]] There's no general consensus on which theory is correct, if any, [[NothingIsScarier which makes it's brief existence all the more frightening...]]

** And worse still, the Angels are always referred to as Angels, as in, ''plural''. The Darklurker was bad enough when it was by itself, alone in the Abyss, but this opens the way for the possibility that whatever the hell it was, it was far from the last of its kind. Oh no. If the link between It and the Angels is true, we could be looking at a species of Darklurker creatures capable of bending a fundamentally uncontrollable force of destruction to its will, forcing Dark to become Light and Fire.

*** And that's not even mentioning everything leading up to it. The very first things you hear about Ariandel is that the world is 'rotting away'. It initially isn't too bad, as you travel through the snow. But then you get grim reminders, seeing eggs and maggots burrowing into cliffsides as if there were flesh underneath the rock and distorted fly creatures that cover you in bloodsucking worms. The Corvian Settlement is ALMOST the worst of this, with pitiful, vomiting Corvians wallowing in rivers of filth, and being slaughtered wholesale by lanky knights. And then you see the worst of it: a huge basement, swarming with fly-creatures, carpeted in dead (human!) bodies and (what can only be assumed to be eggs) alike. And then you climb the stairs, and open a door... and the rot was right under Friede's feet all along.

** Even his backstory is nightmare inducing. Put simply, he was a Lord that managed to slay every other Lord of Carthus and took over the whole joint for himself, only to foolishly attempt to conquer the Abyss and instead got stuck between realms, forcing him to lure unwary travelers, including you, to throw into the darkness to extend his own life. The only thing that kept him alive down there was his Holy Blade and the three bangles that he wears that can ward off the Dark -- which he looted from the bodies of innocent clerics. The center of his realm was called [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace the Profaned Capital]], which created a coal that [[CoolOldGuy Andre]] normally wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. Among other things best left unstated. He's just a few skips past the MoralEventHorizon short of Aldrich, so it's a definite case of KickTheSonOfABitch.

* The Consumed King's Garden is a horrible place — despite being a relatively short area, the place reeks of horror. Toxic mist, an abundance of Cathedral Knights and those horrible Pus of Man infected hollows and the sounds of a baby crying resound throughout the area. The Consumed King himself, Oceiros, is also a horrific boss, due to being an eyeless, freakish half-man-half-dragon beast, desperately clutching his child, who may not even be there... Whether or not it's real is a different matter entirely, though the game implies that the King is hallucinating his baby, and goes mad with grief once you break his illusion.

* Of the more existentially terrifying variety, after defeating Gael, there is no triumphant cutscene like when you decide the fate of the First Flame, [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII no ascending or rejecting the Throne of Want]], [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI no triumphant burst of fire as you relink the Flame]]. There's just... [[NothingIsScarier nothing]]. Just you and the ashen wasteland at the end of the world, [[PostFinalBoss especially if you took care of Shira beforehand]]. In what can be a very lonely series, this is easily the ''loneliest'' moment, bar none. Everything and everyone is dead save for you, and all you have left is the ruins you helped create.

* Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. SceneryPorn at its finest, along with some seriously messed up stuff lurking beneath the auroral stuff. First, it's ruled by [[SinisterMinister Pontiff Sulyvahn]], who worships ''Aldrich'' and gives people rings that turn them into feral monstrosities (like Vordt and the Dancer). Then you get to the sewer, filled with horrifying centipede-lady things that spit poison like crazy. When you get past all the pretty scenery, you get to the Irithyll Dungeon, where the nobles apparently enjoyed putting on masks and acting like jailers (who will quickly establish themselves as DemonicSpiders due to their ability to drain max HP ''just by looking at you''), and there are baby-headed beasts roaming around, corpses with treasures that will [[JumpScare scream your ears off]] when you touch them, at least 4 Mimics, enough rats to give an exterminator a steady job FOR LIFE, and other prisoners from the nastiest corners of Lothric. The place is so nasty it can, and does, successfully hold a Child of Dark; Karla. [[FromBadToWorse THEN you get to]] [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace the Profaned Capital]]. [[SarcasmMode Fun times from]] the game's ThatOneLevel.
** The Sewer Centipedes deserve more elaboration; for one, their designs might easily qualify as ''one of the most disturbing across all the games'', consisting of a horribly emaciated mass of countless bug-like limbs with an unholy cross between a human and centipede body, with a nightmarish underside filled with fangs, bones and teeth, taking cues from the [[Videogame/DarkSouls1 Gaping Dragon's design]], capped off with uncannily long, messy hair on top of a fleshy faceless appendage one could generously call a head. When you first spot them (most likely early on when you can't access the riverbed), they look eerily like drowned women... or even a messy pile of twigs and river flora. Once you can properly investigate, you'll find ''it's alive, and immediately crawls towards you with its gangly legs/arms like a centipede'' in the most pants-shitting experience for anyone's first playthrough. Once you get down to it, however, they're actually incredible pushovers that barely pose a threat and are easily stunlocked, but that barely takes the edge off their ungodly appearance.
*** And the worst part? There's ''nothing'' to indicate what exactly ''are'' these things and where they came from. The few theories there are involve it either being wretched experiments by Pontiff Sulyvahn or the results of being corrupted by the Profaned Flame. Some even say they're connected to the same corruption that affected [[Videogame/DarkSouls1 the Bed of Chaos.]] There's no general consensus on which theory is correct, if any, [[NothingIsScarier which makes it's brief existence all the more frightening...]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_745.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Boo.]]

* Irithyllians in the lore are treated like TheFairFolk, sending out their Outriders to kidnap and kill. Many people outside the Royal Family did not even believe the city truly existed. Those who get killed by the Outriders are the lucky ones. Getting taken back results in having your head enveloped in some kind of hex, forced to serve the cruel nobility for the rest of existence, your only sustenance being blood that drips from red Titanite. Other slaves are sent to the dungeons to be tortured and experimented on until they become [[WasOnceAMan something unrecognizable as human]]. Worse still, getting marked for kidnapping is something beyond people's control, as even being born with pale skin is apparently enough for the Pontiff to send Outriders after you. Some Irythillian slaves encountered are so mutilated they cannot even walk anymore, but they still defend their cruel masters with everything they have, such is the strength of their mind control.

* It's easy to overlook, but if you look closely at the Aldritch Ruby and Sapphire rings, they are clearly organic, but far creepier the gem of the Aldritch Ruby appears to be filled with worms.

* Spoilers for the DLC ahead: Father Ariandel is a textbook example of why you shouldn't kill someone's loved ones. He is a massive Corvian that uses his own blood to try and restore his Painted World, and seems to be the FinalBoss of the DLC until his minder and dear friend Sister Freide shows up. You proceed to defeat and kill her, and the scream of rage and grief Ariandel lets out could best be described as ''ear-rupturingly'' loud. Take the Corvian Storyteller screams, crank them up to eleven and rip the knob out, and make it come out of nowhere and you'll get a decent idea of what they did for him. Then he slams his bowl into the ground over and over to the point that it ''ignites and sets the entire room on fire while reviving the Unkindled Sister Freide for a double-team boss battle.''

* One trailer for the DLC just oozes Nightmare fuel: the first shot we see is just the infamous [[MarkOfTheBeast Dark Sign]] and quite literally gives a musical jumpscare. And the actual first shot of the trailer [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon is The Kiln of The First Flame]], except there's now plant life... Then we see someone or rather a group of people we already know: [[WalkingTheEarth The Pilgrims of Londor.]] The second shot isn't much better, showing humanoid bipedal creatures [[BodyHorror with large, portruding sacks in between their legs,]] [[BigCreepyCrawlies not to mention they look like bugs]] [[BeastWithAHumanFace and have human faces devoid of a nose.]]

** One of his still living Pygmy victims is helplessly crawling towards where Fillianore lays, hoping she can help them, revealing they don't even know she's become a corpse. Another is also shown crawling away as Gael devours one of the dead Pygmy Lords, only for both to die from their wounds regardless.

** Betrayal: You murder the Fire Keeper and take the last embers of the First Flame from her, whether out of greed to control the First Flame; [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential because you could]]; or you [[WhatAnIdiot accidentally pressed an attack button while you were watching the cutscene]]. This means you’ve proven the Old God’s fears right about [[HumansAreBastards humanity’s lust for power]], all the while a helpless woman who obeyed your every command now dies in anguish. Now you're going to have to endure the end of the world and the onslaught of the Dark by yourself as one of the last survivors during the EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

** This is the result of Lordran's time-warping powers: to begin with, the First Flame ''is already doomed and there is absolutely jack shit that can be done about it'' — to begin with, Gundyr was TheChosenOne destined to become the next Lord of Cinder; however, he never made it to Firelink, so the Flame was snuffed. Ludleth, desperate to keep the fire lit, broke time to create a sort of alternate world that still had some time left, became a Lord of Cinder, and sealed the dying timeline, the beginning of the Age of Dark, as the Untended Graves. That's it. The crisis that beckoned the tolling of the bell? It's the death of the world.

* The Curse-Rotted Greatwood. It's not so bad at first - a gigantic, humanoid tree [[GroinAttack that you strike repeatedly in the groin]], attacking you by [[GroundPound butt-slamming the ground]]. But then a white, disturbingly thin arm bursts out from its bloated belly to attack you - what the hell is that?

** Even his backstory is nightmare inducing. Put simply, he was a Lord that managed to slay every other Lord of Carthus and took over the whole joint for himself, only to foolishly attempt to conquer the Abyss and instead got stuck between realms, forcing him to lure unwary travelers, including you, to throw into the darkness to extend his own life. The only thing that kept him alive down there was his Holy Blade and the three bangles that he wears that can ward off the Dark - which he looted from the bodies of innocent clerics. The center of his realm was called [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace the Profaned Capital]], which created a coal that [[CoolOldGuy Andre]] normally wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. Among other things best left unstated. He's just a few skips past the MoralEventHorizon short of Aldrich, so it's a definite case of KickTheSonOfABitch.
** And how do you kill him? Destroying the same bracelets that keep the blackness off him. And, true to form, if killed this way he doesn't simply disintegrate. He's ''[[DraggedOffToHell visibly dragged into the Abyss with a silent scream]]'' in a matter of seconds.

** The fight against Pontiff is one of the most deceptive boss fights in the series considering it plays itself like a FinalBoss fight despite being only halfway in the game. Unlike most bosses which attack you the moment you enter the fog gate, Sulyvahn just stands there on the other side of the room. And only after approaching does he light both of his swords and ''quickly close the gap between the two of you by lunging several feet in just one leap''. The music, while starting off as somewhat serene and beautiful, eventually catches up in intensity. And if you've paid attention to the lore and item descriptions, this is the man who ruined Anor Londo and Irithyll, enslaved their people and fed numerous people to Aldrich, just to achieve more power for himself. This fight will definitely catch anyone off-guard who wasn't prepared to face Pontiff just yet.

** The way Gwyndolin’s body looks on top of Aldrich is just… wrong. His arms are spindly and elongated compared to they were in Dark Souls 1, he moves in such an unnatural and awkward way that it’s easy to draw the conclusion he’s trying to fight for control of his own body from Aldrich the whole time you’re fighting him, and he makes inhuman, agonised screaming noises whenever he unleashes an attack.
** It's difficult to hear over the noise of the battle, but if you listen closely to Aldrich's boss theme you can hear the faint sounds of [[HellIsThatNoise creepy whispering, muffled screams]] and ''[[WouldHurtAChild children crying.]]''
** He doesn’t even have a physical body anymore, because he ate so much that he lost his previous body. His body is just a massive mass of sludge trying to take form, consisting of the ''bones and the rotting flesh of his victims''

** Aldrich in general might be the closest thing to a serial killer in the Souls games. His ring mentions he enjoyed ''hearing the screams of his victims''.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGeNkRgyDvc Aldrich's]] battle theme is probably ''the'' scariest song in the series. It's a perfect recreation of Gwyndolin's "Moonlight Butterfly", but it's a ''very'' DarkReprise that turns it from being melancholic to just being...''wrong.'' The second phase, however, simply takes the song and makes it straight up horrifying.

* The Consumed King's Garden is a horrible place- despite being a relatively short area, the place reeks of horror. Toxic mist, an abundance of Cathedral Knights and those horrible Pus of Man infected hollows and the sounds of a baby crying resound throughout the area. The Consumed King himself, Oceiros, is also a horrific boss, due to being an eyeless, freakish half-man-half-dragon beast, desperately clutching his child, who may not even be there... Whether or not it's real is a different matter entirely, though the game implies that the King is hallucinating his baby, and goes mad with grief once you break his illusion.

* Spoilers ahead for the endings, but each one of them comes with its own blend of NightmareFuel and TearJerker given the state of the world and how you ultimately decide its fate, be it for good or ill. Of course, [[FromACertainPointOfView exactly which of these is the "best" ending depends upon the player's own interpretation of the lore]].
** To Link the First Flame: You fulfill your duties as an Unkindled, linking the First Flame to prolong it as best as you can just like the Chosen Undead from previous linkings. The problem is you’re a mere Unkindled, so the flame you create is weak compared to the first game, and it becomes evident the First Flame itself is dying. There's few people left who haven’t become Hollow, so there's a good possibility that all you've done is give the few remaining a chance to die without reviving as one of the undead before the end comes. [[SenselessSacrifice Bravo, well done, you've accomplished little with your sacrifice.]] Sooner or later, you'll end up like ''every'' Lord of Cinder before you and even if there is enough people alive to carry on the duty of Linking the Fire and prosper, compare the flames you generate in this game with Linking the Fire in the first game. It's obvious that the First Flame will weaken until it can no longer be linked anymore, you only delayed the inevitable to give a small handful of people a [[HopeSpot small yet insignificant spark of hope]].
** The End of Fire: You summon the Fire Keeper, allowing her to take away the final embers of the First Flame, thus extinguishing it for good. This lets the current decaying and tormented world come to an end, considering the extreme measures Gwyn had undertaken to unnaturally prolong the flame had resulted in nightmarish consequences and untold amounts of suffering. Given that the world has been getting progressively more craptacular with every repeat of the cycle, this can be considered a MercyKill… minus whatever creatures that can still survive in the dark now taking advantage of the situation to slaughter anyone who was still alive - as the Untended Graves hints at - meaning you just unleashed more misery and suffering on people who probably wanted to live longer even if their world sucked. In the end, a new world will rise from the ashes, but there’s little to suggest the Fire Keeper; you; or other living people will be alive long enough to see it.

* There's something deeply unsettling about the Untended Graves and its version of the Firelink Shrine. On the most basic level, the complete darkness of the place and utter silence is unnerving - you get the sense that there '''should''' be something there, but there isn't, just... Nothing. Firelink is worse. This place that many would, at this point, view as a home is almost completely deserted, lifeless, made only worse by the signs that familiar figures were there before, but not now.
** This is the result of Lordran's time-warping powers: to begin with, the First Flame ''is already doomed and there is absolutely jack shit that can be done about it'' - to begin with, Gundyr was TheChosenOne destined to become the next Lord of Cinder; however, he never made it to Firelink, so the Flame was snuffed. Ludleth, desperate to keep the fire lit, broke time to create a sort of alternate world that still had some time left, became a Lord of Cinder, and sealed the dying timeline, the beginning of the Age of Dark, as the Untended Graves. That's it. The crisis that beckoned the tolling of the bell? It's the death of the world.
** And one of the items you can get, the Ashen Estus Ring is found in a particularly unnerving manner: in your grave, the one you awoke from at the very beginning of the game, pried from what's implied to be your corpse, having never risen to become the Ashen One.

** There are statues of an 'angel' in Lothric Castle; It would appear that one of the [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI primordial serpents (more than likely Frampt) might have something to do with it...]]

* It's easy to overlook, but if you look closely at the Aldritch Ruby and Saphire rings they are clearly organic, but far creepier the gem of the Aldritch Ruby appears to be filled with worms.

* The world of Ariandel's current state, as well as what it represents. The world was being claimed by rot, and the people had chosen to light the world aflame, sot that they might at least die with a measure of dignity. Then their leader instead chooses to suffer and bleed to keep that end from coming. On the surface, the world seems to not be so terrible. Then you see the wretched, filth-dragging things the ordinary people have become, the Corvian Knights turn their swords against their kinsmen to prevent them from trying to make very necessary changes to the world, and beneath the castle is hidden a horrid mass of filth and rot being devoured by giant flies. And the rot will only ever grow. This era has been extended because someone whispered to the ruler that their world could be preserved, so long as he was willing to bleed and suffer to make it happen. And according to WordOfGod, this world is a parable for Linking the Flame and extending the Age of Fire. This is what the world of Dark Souls really is, a rotting world where ordinary people suffer, where kings and queens use their armies of knights and warriors to maintain a status quo that is actively harmful to everyone, including those kinds and queens, and take great strides to hide the corruption and decay at the heart of it all. A world where a "chosen one" chooses to suffer and die to maintain the current status quo because he has been fed carefully manufactured lies, unaware of just how dreadful the world has actually become. A world where artificially maintaining an age that was always meant to end serves only to make the world worse off.

** In the second phase of his fight and onward, he gets way better than he should be - and by that, we mean he can not only stand straight, but also that ''[[OneWingedAngel he becomes the personification of the Dark Soul itself]]''.

* One trailer for the DLC just oozes Nightmare fuel: the first shot we see is just the infamous [[MarkOfTheBeast Dark Sign]] and quite literally gives a musical jumpscare. And the actual first shot of the trailer [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon is The Kiln of The First Flame]], except there's now plant life... Then we see someone or rather a group of people we already know: [[WalkingTheEarth The Pilgrims of Londor.]] The second shot isn't much better, showing [[UncannyValley humanoid bipedal creatures]] [[BodyHorror with large, portruding sacks in between their legs,]] [[BigCreepyCrawlies not to mention they look like bugs]] [[BeastWithAHumanFace and have human faces devoid of a nose.]]

** Perhaps most unnerving is the fact that you, the player, helped create this. With everything learned from the lore, it is clear that Linking the Flame and prolonging the Age of Fire wasn't a good thing, but an artificial means of extending an age that was always meant to end, and that artificially prolonging it was damaging the world. At this moment, you see what it means to take that to its natural conclusion: The world is nothing but ash, dust, and ruins. Linking the Fire is meaningless, as all you'd be doing is preserving a dead world. Even if the Dark were allowed to claim the world at this point, there's nothing left to start over with. Preserving the Age of Fire has only ensured that there will be no age to follow it, not even an Age of Dark.