Characters / Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss

This page details the characters that appeared in the Prepare to Die Edition (or Artorias of the Abyss for consoles) for Dark Souls. Head back through here for other character pages. Note: Unmarked spoilers ahead.

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Neutral NPCs

Elizabeth

Voiced by: Joanna Wake

"Indeed, the Abyss may be unstoppable. Still I have faith that Princess Dusk may be rescued yet."

The first new NPC found in the Prepare to Die Edition / Artorias of the Abyss expansion. She's the keeper of the Oolacile Sanctuary Garden and the Royal Wood (aka the future Darkroot Forest).

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• Big Good: The primary helpful NPC of the DLC, and the one that properly sends you on your quest to rescue Princess Dusk from Manus.
• Bus Crash: One of several cameos-as-corpses you can find in Dark Souls III, in a cave in Farron Keep along with an unidentified body strongly implied to be Dusk's (looting it nets you a scroll of Oolacile magic and her dress can be found nearby).
• Catchphrase: Same as Dusk's: "May the flames guide thee."
• Historical Beauty Update: An odd In-Universe variant; Dark Souls II's description of the item "Elizabeth Mushroom" gives a rather flattering description of her by using the term "sublime beauty".
• Mushroom Man: Or woman, to be exact. Though she can see and talk, she appears to be rooted and stationary.
• Old Retainer: Describes herself as something of a godmother to Dusk.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Upon meeting her, she recognizes you as Princess Dusk's savior, but pleads for you to rescue her yet again, this time from Manus, Father of the Abyss. This also ensures a Stable Time Loop where the Chosen Undead kills Manus and rescues Dusk, with the truth hidden by Elizabeth so that the legend goes that it was Artorias who did the deed, and that Dusk can't help but think that Artorias looks a lot like the Player Character in the present-day game.

Hawkeye Gough

Voiced by: Mike Carter

"Me? There's very little to be said. What good is a dog, with no hares to hunt? ...I am lucky to be alive, I suppose."

One of the Four Knights of Anor Londo. He led the great-archers during the war against the dragons. He and the Giant Blacksmith are well acquainted, and Gough left his Hawk Ring with the Blacksmith after he retired.

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• Animal Motifs: Hawks, as shown by his signet ring and his armor that appears to be designed with feathers.
• The Anti-Nihilist: Expresses support for the player's quest, but sadly notes that their achievements will be undone in the end.
  "Even if this land shall expire, thou may be able to prevent further corrosion... But even so, one day the flames will fade, and only Dark will remain. And even a legend such as thineself can do nothing to stop that."
• Ascended Extra: He, along with Artorias and Ciaran, makes his first appearance in the additional content. Gough commissions the player to defeat the last of the ancient dragons, the Black Dragon Kalameet.
• Badass Boast: Gives a good one before sniping Kalameet out of the sky.
  Now watch, and see how Gough hunts dragons.
• Baritone of Strength: Befitting his massive size and the attendant strength that comes with carrying a bow the size of a ship's keel, Gough's voice is deep and cavernous, with an additional hollow resonance provided by his helmet.
• The Big Guy: He's a freaking giant.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Was attacked and blinded by villagers despite being an esteemed knight of Gwyn. He's not too bothered by this, however.
• Fantastic Racism: If you choose to attack and kill him, he expresses mild annoyance at you, before turning into full-fledged disdain for humans.
  Gough (after being provoked too many times): Ahh, so this is true human nature. Artorias is in your debt, but thou leavest me little choice... May you perish, for the good of all!
  Gough (as he dies): Humans... hmph...
  • It's implied that his mutilation and subsequent imprisonment was committed by people who saw him as nothing but a brutish giant.
• Farmer and the Viper: He joined the fight against the dragons and became an esteemed knight of Gwyn, only for the people to betray him and lock him in a tower.
• Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: An unusual case to the usual examples. The longbows used by his Dragonslayer archers were built big enough to have them be required to be anchored to the ground in order to be fired. It doesn't help that the "arrows" it uses are cited as iron spears, and appear as such. Gough's own greatbow was a unique in-and-of itself, massive compared to the ones used by his archers. He even makes his own arrows, personally crafting the stone arrowheads and tightly wrapping the arrow shaft with tree bark.
• Flowery Elizabethan English: Gough and other characters in the game use this type of English.
• Genius Bruiser: Unlike the Giant Blacksmith's Hulk Speak, Gough is highly intelligent, eloquent and philosophical.
• Gentle Giant: The largest of the four knights, and possibly the friendliest.
• The Ghost: The only mention of Gough in the base game is his Hawk Ring and the hat of the archer Pharis of the Darkroot Garden.
• Handicapped Badass: Turns out, the one with the nickname Hawkeye is now blind... maybe. The description on his helmet says that he was attacked by a group of racists and they packed the eyeholes full of pine resin. It's possible that he's not actually blind, but just thinks he is because he can't see out of his helmet. Either way, he doesn't seem to need sight to hit his target.
• Humble Hero: He's very blase about being one of Gwyn's most esteemed dragon slayers, comparing himself to a simple dog hunting hares for his master.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He is blind, but is still a good enough shot to snipe Kalameet.
• Ironic Name: It wasn't always ironic, but Hawkeye Gough is now blind. That still doesn't detract from his aiming skills.
• Nice Guy: He's affable and easily one of the friendliest characters in the game towards the player, and grateful to the Chosen Undead for putting Artorias out of his misery. He's also one of the few characters who actively acknowledges the Chosen Undead's impressive exploits, going so far as to call them a fellow legend. Coming from a guy who's killed more dragons than can be counted, that's quite a compliment.
  • He further asks how the Giant Blacksmith is doing, and notes they would have a lot to chat about if they ever met.
• Pyrrhic Victory: He tells as such to the player character concerning the war against the dragons.
  The dragons shall never be forgotten… We knights fought valiantly, but for every one of them, we lost three score of our own. Exhilaration, pride, hatred, rage… The dragons teased out our dearest emotions …Thou will understand, one day.
• Retired Badass: He spends his time whittling the vocal gesture carvings found in the DLC. And they're carved from Archtrees.
• True Craftsman: He's happy to shoot down Kalameet if you ask him, but otherwise spends his retirement as a master woodcarver, pointedly saying it's a nuanced art. Indeed, he's the one who made all those talking tree carvings.
• Worf Effect: Inflicts it on Kalameet in a cutscene, despite his weariness of the dragon, he effortlessly shoots it down and makes a tedious and tiresome bossfight much more manageable with one shot of his arrow.
• Worf Had the Flu: Due to the fact Gough is now both blind and is not equipped with a bow in game, it's safe to say this knight of Gwyn is not what he used to be if fought by the player.
• Worthy Opponent: He considers the ancient dragons this, and remarks upon the war with them by remembering how the dragons were an enemy who brought out the knights' "dearest emotions." He's also fully aware he's dipping into nostalgia about them as well.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Do not piss him off, or else you'll be on the business end of Gough's elbow drops and body slams.

Lord's Blade Ciaran

Voiced by: Hannah John-Kamen

"Hmph, such conceit. How did you imagine that the Lord's Blade would not reach you?"

One of the Four Knights of Anor Londo. She was a mistress at using daggers and worked as the group's subterfuge and assassination expert. A corpse carrying her Hornet Ring is found near Artorias' grave, indicating that she was the first to safeguard his grave.

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• Action Girl: The only female member of the Four Knights, meaning she's one of the deadliest women in the history of Lordran.
• Amazon Brigade: Ciaran and the rest of the Lord's Blades were all women.
• Animal Motifs: Hornets, as shown by her signet ring and combat strategy.
• Ascended Extra: Just like Artorias and Gough, she makes her first appearance in the DLC, mourning the loss of her friend, Artorias, after the player defeats him. Her weapons and armour are also made available to the player if they either hand over the Soul of Artorias or simply kill her. ^note She will give you her weapons in exchange for the soul, but the only way to get her armour is to kill her, which also gets you her weapons.
• Badass Boast: See the quote above, which triggers when the player tries to attack her and gets killed in the process.
• Bald of Authority: Her model has no hair, and she's the highest-ranking of the Lord's Blades and one of Gwyn's Four Knights.
• Boomerang Bigot: Implied. She expresses disdain of humans, but her size and build coupled with the fact that Dark Hand's Lifedrain works on her (it only works on humans) indicate that she might actually be human herself.
• Braids of Action: Her mask's hair/wig is tied in a long braid in the back, and she's one of the deadliest women in Lordran.
• Cool Mask: Along with the cyclops headpiece common to all Lord's Blades, she wears a porcelain mask that's carved to resemble a feminine visage and has locks of white hair woven into it. The latter makes sense if her model's baldness is to be taken as canon, basically giving her a built-in wig.
• Crazy-Prepared: Seeing as she gives the player her weapons as thanks for Artorias' Soul, a particularly devious player might think that she'd be disarmed and therefore an easy kill. Nope, she has a backup pair.
• Critical Hit: Wears a ring that boost such attacks, and, combined with her weapons, one of which boasts the highest critical modifier in the game, this means you should avoid showing your back or getting parried by her since she will usually kill you in one hit due to the aforementioned boosts.
• Combat Pragmatist: She's got one of the only weapons that can inflict toxic and a ridiculously high critical multiplier, and a ring that boosts that multiplier, and a dagger to open you up for a guaranteed hit— safe to say she was all about being pragmatic.
• Due to the Dead: Ciaran is encountered kneeling at a makeshift grave, mourning the loss of Artorias.
• The Faceless: Her porcelain mask, which was a symbol that she worked hard to earn. Although, there is a way to manipulate the camera in order to look through her mask and helmet. She has a generic female NPC face for the most part, except the model lacks hair.
• Fantastic Racism: Just like Gough, she will express her disdain at humans if you choose to attack and kill her, as she thinks of them as nothing more than All Take and No Give. Given that (a) you're trying to kill her for no real reason besides personal gain or bloodlust, (b) you just killed the man she loved, and (c) you're in the middle of a city destroyed by a Humanity stampede, it's more justified than most.
• Fragile Speedster: Undoubtedly the smallest of the Four Knights, and the one with the smallest health pool, that said, she's also one of the quicker knights, outdone in speed by Ornstein.
• Gender-Blender Name: As per usual in the Souls series. Ciaran is a male given name in Real Life, the female equivalent being Ciara.
• Glass Cannon: She's got the Hornet's Ring on and a weapon with the highest crit modifier in the game, meaning she can hit very, very hard, but at the same time she's got no more health than an average miniboss.
• Heartbroken Badass: Though she's more calm and reserved than most cases, it's clear, that Artorias's death has greatly affected Ciaran. So much so that the last thing she does before dying is to call out his name. If you do decide to give her Artorias' soul, she trades you her weapons, saying that she "no longer has any need for them". Note that this is the leader of an elite group of assassins— her giving away her weapons essentially means she gave up the life she once had, and the rank she worked hard for, to spend the rest of her days guarding the grave of the man she loved. Granted, she does have a backup pair.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Following the Implied Love Interest nature of her relationship with Artorias. Ciaran is the size of a human (about 6 feet tall), Artorias is roughly 9-10 feet tall.
• Implied Love Interest: Her actions and dialogue strongly implies she had feelings for Artorias, and her last words should the player choose to kill her are "My dear... Artorias..."
  • Hawkeye Gough outright says that Ciaran had strong feelings for Artorias, though does not mention if Artorias reciprocated. Fans generally assume he did.
• Lady of War: She fights with grace and sophistication, twirling her weapons as if she is dancing.
• Lost in Translation: Ciaran is referred to as kanojo, meaning she or her, in the description of the Hornet Ring in the Japanese version of the game. However, the description in the English version forewent using pronouns completely. Kanojo is also coincidentally a Japanese word for "girlfriend", which ties more into her being Artorias's love interest.
• The Mourning After: In relation to the Heartbroken Badass entry above, it's believed Ciaran was so overcome with grief after the death of Artorias she left the Lord's Blades and spent the rest of her life keeping watch over his grave and last memory.
• Poisoned Weapons/Dual Wielding: Her Gold Tracer curved sword and Dark Silver Tracer poisoned dagger.
• Posthumous Character: Is long-dead in the main game, regardless of whether or not the corpse behind Artorias' tombstone is hers.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She had feelings for the pure hearted Artorias but he seemingly died before anything came of it.
• Together in Death: If the female corpse found in the present day is indeed Ciaran, then she never left Artorias' side until her own death.
• Tragic Keepsake: The Soul of Artorias becomes this to her if you decide to hand it over. In the cut content, the Wolf Ring would've been this as well.
• Undying Loyalty: To Artorias, enough for her to renounce her vows as a Knight of Anor Londo and leader of the Lord's Blades right then and there so she can guard his grave along with Sif.
• Unseen No More: Is only mentioned in the Hornet Ring's description in the base game, then appears in person in the DLC.
• Video Game Caring Potential: The player can hold on to Artorias's Soul and give it to her, for which she will be grateful enough to grant the player her own unique weapons.
• Weak, but Skilled: Statically speaking, Ciaran is the weakest of the Four Knights, unsurprising due to her role as an assassin. However, Ciaran is one of the most skilled, having two weapons that are built around either exploiting openings or inflicting toxic upon her opponents.
• Worf Had the Flu: Not as much as Gough, but the fact that she's both in deep mourning and the player gets the first swing means that she's not as prepared for a fight as she should be.

Marvelous Chester

Voiced by: William Houston

"So, what did that giant mushroom make you do?"

A mysterious NPC found in the DLC. Like the player, he was grabbed by the black hand and dragged into past Oolacile. He acts as a merchant and sells various PVP consumables and arrows, albeit at a higher price than other merchants.

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• Aristocrats Are Evil: His usage of the Sniper Crossbow and the item descriptions of his armor set suggests that he's an aristocrat from Carim, the same country where sinister figures like Arstor, Oswald and Lautrec come from. He also invades you in the Oolacile Township while you're human. He can still act as a merchant after his defeat, but will be insulted over being beaten.
• Badass Longcoat: One that has unnaturally high bleed resistance, and goes well with his overall theme.
• Call-Back: His top hat and cursed smirk is eerily similar to the Fat Ministers of Demon's Souls.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Not an in-game appearance, but he was included in the original artbook released with the console editions, which means he was probably removed from the final game.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Like the player character, he was dragged back in time by Manus; however, it's distinctly more obvious with Chester since his style of clothing deliberately clashes with the rest of the game, being more Steampunk in design than Medieval European Fantasy.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Almost every instance of his name has "Marvelous" spelled as "Marvellous". The only time it is spelled right is when he invades you as a Black Phantom.
• Obviously Evil: Chester's dark outfit, Slasher Smile, British voice, and laughter that is subtitled as "mwah-ha-ha" definitely don't radiate trustworthiness. And then he invades you.
• Oh, My Gods!: One of his lines has him exclaim "By Juniper", which likely refers to a God of whenever/wherever he's from rather than a tree.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Marvelous Chester is sinister and can invade you shortly after meeting him, but he's otherwise completely unconnected to Oolacile's plight and won't bother you at all if you remain hollowed while in Oolacile Township.
• Production Foreshadowing: His outfit appears to have been the basis for the design of the Hunter Set from Bloodborne, a invokedSpiritual Successor to both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. His crossbow even seems to be the basis for the Hunter Blunderbuss design in that game.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: His extremely exquisite long coat and top hat.
• Slasher Smile: According to his hat's description, it appears to be some kind of curse. The player gains this if they wear his top hat as well.
• Sore Loser: If you defeat his phantom, his dialogue afterwards implies he's quite annoyed at you for doing so.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: A mild version. When you attack him or he invades you in the Township, he is equipped with nothing but a Sniper Crossbow, which is often lauded by players as Cool, but Inefficient, making him an easy target for melee attacks. Once you're out of arm's reach, however, you'll find out that he can throw three daggers (Which aren't obtainable in-game) at a time that cause bleed, and his crossbow fires in bursts of three at an impossibly long distance. He also does a spinning kick at a close distance. If that wasn't enough, he's notably taller than other humans and his moves aren't possible for any player to perform, suggesting that he's not even using the same rig as you.

Enemies

Bloatheads

Bloatheads

The former citizens of Oolacile, transformed into bestial creatures as the city collapsed into the Abyss. Bloatheads attack with claw swipes, while Bloathead Sorcerers cast Abyssal sorceries.

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• Ax-Crazy: Absolutely, unambiguously insane. They move like animals, constantly scream and cackle, and have generally forsaken all signs of civilization or higher intelligence beyond spellcasting.
• Body Horror: Their sickly pale skin and grossly distended bodies are bad enough, but their heads have turned into hive-like structures with plenty of eyes and tentacles.
• Glass Cannon: Bloadhead Sorcerers have some of the highest magic damage in the game with their spells, but their defenses are weak even by the standards of mage enemies. They fall easily if you can get past the enemies they hide behind, but they can still defend themselves with a poisonous claw attack.
• Piñata Enemy: Both types are capable of dropping second-tier Titanite items; while Oolacile Township is very late to be farming Titanite for a normal playthrough, it also has a convenient warpable bonfire.
• Was Once a Man: They used to be normal people before Manus was unearthed and the Abyss spread into the city.

The Chained Prisoner

The Chained Prisoner

A strange entity chained up at the very bottom of Oolacile Township, just outside the elevator into Oolacile Dungeon. It blocks the path to the Chasm of the Abyss, and provides a suitably difficult fight for its late-game placement.

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• Beef Gate: It guards the final area of the DLC, and beating it requires powerful weapons and a lot of patience.
• Boss in Mook's Clothing: Between being a Damage-Sponge Boss, having hard-hitting attacks, and guarding the Chasm of the Abyss, it's hard to see why it's only considered a Unique Miniboss.
• Easy Level Trick: He's vulnerable to poison. An easy way to deal with him is to simply hit him with Poison Arrows at the longest range possible. Made even easier if you have the Hawk Ring and are using the Black Bow of Pharis.
• Epic Flail: It will use the ball-and-chain weighing it down as this on a moment's notice, and it has deceptive range and speed for such a heavy attack.
• Scratch Damage: Every single physical attack you throw at this thing will bounce right off, doing only mild damage and leaving you open to retaliation. Most ranged attacks barely do anything to it, either.
• Unique Enemy: Despite not being an official boss, it's an incredibly tough enemy that is only found once at the very end of the DLC's penultimate area.
• Was Once a Man: What little lore there is implies that it was a person whose humanity went out of control, causing them to suffer a similar fate to the Bloatheads, but on an even grander scale due to its proximity to the Abyss itself.

Humanity Phantoms

Humanity Phantoms

Mysterious, ghostly beings that dwell in the Chasm of the Abyss. Living, mobile masses of solid Humanity, their simple touch can harm the player character.

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• Collision Damage: They have no actual attacks, but contact with their bodies does surprisingly high damage. When two dozen of them are attempting to ram you at once, it can be quite intimidating.
• Dark Is Evil: They're solid black except for pale, smoky lights in their eyes and surrounding their bodies. They are also hostile, and may be emanations of Manus's essence.
• Drone of Dread: They emit a ghostly ringing sound that fills the entire Chasm.
• Expy: They look very similar to the shadow monsters from ICO, which director Hidetaka Miyazaki has cited as one of his biggest inspirations.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Being made of literal Humanity, they drop piddling amounts of souls (little more than a dozen at a time) but have a very high chance of dropping Humanity.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The only identifiably human parts of them are the glowing dots where their eyes should be.
• Humans Are Cthulhu: Dangerous and eldritch beings they might be, but it's implied quite strongly that they're the most basic essence of human beings, grown to dangerous levels by the malign will of Manus.
• Non-Malicious Monster: It's implied that, like hollows, they are largely mindless, and are drawn to living creatures out of simple desire for a body to inhabit.
• Piñata Enemy: To the point of being almost nothing else. They drop Humanity (and Twin Humanities, in the case of the larger ones) at a fair rate, come in swarms of no less than half a dozen, have no attacks other than running into you and spawn fairly close to a bonfire. This makes them very, very, very good targets for Humanity farming... Provided you can get to them, of course.
• Zerg Rush: There's one massive swarm of them at the start of the Chasm and several smaller groups scattered throughout. If you don't have good crowd control weapons and spells, they can easily overwhelm you.

Scarecrows

Scarecrows

Farming serfs of Oolacile seen after exiting the sanctuary, who became fused with the flora of the Royal Wood after the town fell into chaos.

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• Improvised Weapon: The description of the Four-pronged Plow states that the gardening tools of the serfs weren't intended for combat at all, but their sharpness makes them formidable regardless.
• Scary Scarecrows: While not literal scarecrows, the Abyss has morphed them into similar figures made of twigs and grasses, and they're both insane and dangerous.
• Shear Menace: One of the two types wields large shears. While these are realistic gardening shears instead of giant pairs of scissors, they can still deal decent damage.
• Unusable Enemy Equipment: While the plow-wielding Scarecrows can drop their weapons, the ones with shears will never drop anything besides moss clumps.
• Was Once a Man: They were farmers who got mutated into plant creatures by the Abyss. It's all but stated that the growth continued to overtake them, turning them into the Demonic Foliage of present Darkroot Garden (both enemies drop moss clumps, and are some of the only foes who do so).
• Zerg Rush: Not particularly strong by the point of the endgame in which you can tackle the Royal Wood, but they make up for it with sheer numbers, especially since they can surround you quickly in the forest.

Stone Guardians

Stone Guardians

Armors empowered by the ancient magic of Oolacile, found in the Royal Wood. They were made to tend the fields and guard the forest sanctuary, and will mash any intruders with their greataxes.

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• Animated Armor: The Stone Guardians were made animate by the same magic as the Stone Knights.
• Dishing Out Dirt: They can create a ground quake by ripping their greataxes from the dirt after slamming them down.
• Elite Mooks: They behave like the Stone Knights of Darkroot Garden, but swap out the sword for a stronger greataxe and can take more of a beating.
• Left Stuck After Attack: They're left open after an overhead smash attack, but it's partially a trick since they can quickly pull the axe back out to create a high-damage quake.
• Improvised Weapon: Same as the Scarecrows. The Stone Greataxe was meant for manual labor, but it's pretty effective as a weapon for the knights or players.
• Mighty Glacier: They are fairly slow, but have even more defense and attack force than their relatives from the future.
• Piñata Enemy: A decent source of Twinkling Titanite, though tougher and less convenient than the Man-Eater Shells in the Crystal Cave.
• Super Prototype: Zig-zagged. They're the original versions of the Stone Knights from Darkroot Garden (alternatively, the Stone Knights are the Stone Guardians after many years have passed), and while they lack the ability to cast Tranquil Walk of Peace, they are stronger in terms of brute force.

Bosses

Sanctuary Guardian

The manticore guardian of the Oolacile Sanctuary Garden and the very first thing the Chosen Undead encounters in Artorias of the Abyss.

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• Beef Gate: If you want to experience the majority of the DLC, you have to get past it first. Made even more jarring since you can access the content as early as entering the Duke's Archives, thus not exactly equipped for enemies harder than the endgame dungeon.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: It has the tail of a scorpion that can poison you if struck. Luckily, you can cut it off.
• Confusion Fu: It has a lot of attacks on hand that make reading it more difficult than usual. It can blast several variants of lightning, charge forward, unleash a flurry of attacks with its claws and teeth, strike with its tail, and it can launch attacks from both the ground and the air.
• Dual Boss: After you defeat the next boss of the Artorias of the Abyss content, you can return to the boss arena and fight two more...at the same time!
• Early-Bird Cameo: Along with Marvelous Chester, it first appeared in the original art book.
• Leitmotif: "Sanctuary Guardian".
• Lightning Bruiser: It moves fast, it hits hard, and it can even fly. And with its use of lightning, it's a literal lightning bruiser.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: It's a manticore, a winged, horned, scorpion-tailed lion (though it lacks the optional human face).
• Optional Boss: Because the Artorias DLC does not affect your main story progression, it and the subsequent bosses all qualify.
• Our Demons Are Different: The description of the Guardian Soul suggests that it is more closely related to demons than animals, but it's very different in appearance and abilities from them; its skin is covered in fur rather than being tough and rocklike/woodlike, and it uses electricity instead of fire.
• Our Manticores Are Spinier: While never referred to as one, it's clearly a manticore, sporting most of the classical features associated with them.
• Panthera Awesome: Since it's a manticore, the main body is that of a white-furred lion.
• Shock and Awe: It can shoot massive balls of lightning, and sometimes smaller ones in quick succession. Since you're fighting on a shallow pool of water, these attacks have an added area of effect.
• Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: This is standard for any manticore depicted with wings, but the Sanctuary Guardian goes above and beyond by having four of them.

Knight Artorias

Knight Artorias/Sir Artorias the Abysswalker/Artorias of the Abyss

Voiced by: Freddie A'Brassard / Blake Ritson (for cut dialogue)

One of the Four Knights of Anor Londo and friends with Gough and Ciaran. Artorias was a holy warrior and master swordsman. He was present during the fall of New Londo, being awarded a blessed pendant for his role in helping stave off the Darkwraiths, although there are those who believe he willingly made a covenant with the Abyss instead given how he was able to enter its void. He is one of the main characters encountered in the Artorias of the Abyss Downloadable Content, and his relevance to the story is greatly expanded upon.

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• Affably Evil: Would've been this had his dialogue not been cut. However, this is less to do with him being evil and more to do with the fact that he was on the verge of losing his sanity to the Abyss. He was, for all intents and purposes, a noble warrior.
• Apologetic Attacker: His cut dialogue was mostly him asking his friends to forgive him "for I have availed you nothing", but also telling the Chosen Undead that humanity must have more than darkness in them.
• Animal Motifs: Wolves, as represented by his signet ring and wolf companion, Sif.
• Ascended Extra: In the main game, only the description of several items make reference to his story. In the Downloadable Content, he is the second of the new bosses the player faces, and the circumstances surrounding his demise are explored in-depth.
• Ax-Crazy: After being tainted by the Abyss, he becomes completely unstable, recklessly and relentlessly charging at the player, as well as howling and screaming like a maddened beast.
• The Berserker: During his boss fight, full stop. He roars wildly in a very animalistic manner, sometimes gaining a boost in power as he does so. His attacks are very aggressive and relentless, resembling a beast more than man, with both vertical and horizontal spins often combined with ridiculous leaps and inhuman postures. Justified considering his inspiration and the state you find him in.
• BFS: All three versions of his greatsword are as long as he is tall, which means twice the player's height.
• Black Knight: His dark armor speaks for itself, although the plating is actually worn-out silver with several patches of tattered blue cloth. Getting corrupted by the Abyss also makes him exceedingly threatening.
• Boom, Headshot!: Not one of his attacks, but rather the most reliable method of cancelling out his dark aura charge-up move that would otherwise make his attacks much deadlier. Since he's not moving and not attacking you, you have more than enough time to pull out your bow, aim, and hit his head, staggering him out of the charge. It is possible to stagger him by hitting him enough with melee weapons, but this is much riskier.
• Breakout Character: Started out as an unseen knight who was only mentioned in a few notes and item descriptions in the vanilla game, and is now arguably the most iconic and recognizable character from the Dark Souls series, second only to Solaire.
• Broken Angel: Once one of the greatest of Gwyn's divine Knights, Artorias has become a shambling mess with a broken arm and a broken mind after being corrupted by the Abyss. He's still quite dangerous despite this.
• Call-Back: His opening boss cutscene is not unlike that of the Penetrator's entrance from the spiritual precursor, wherein an enemy is quickly disposed of in a rather gruesome fashion by the boss character.
• Casting a Shadow: Following his corruption at the hands of Manus, he can channel the power of the Abyss to reinforce his attack power, with a visual cue being the increasingly denser dark aura emanating from him.
• Character Title: He is the titular character of "Artorias of the Abyss".
• The Corruption: In attempting to save Oolacile from the spread of the Abyss, he was swiftly defeated and corrupted by Manus, to the point where he literally seeps darkness from his very being when you encounter him.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Artorias has scary looking black armor and a BFS, but he is an honorable, heroic knight who fought against the Abyss and even sacrificed his own safety and life to protect Sif and Oolacile.
  • It's mentioned that, while the Abyss is clearly aligned with darkness and is pretty dangerous (though not necessarily malevolent), the very fact Artorias had none of humanity's darkness within him ("nary a murmur of Dark" as Elizabeth puts it) was the reason why he was unable to defeat Manus, Father of the Abyss.
• Death Cry Echo: Lets out a death wail when you defeat him.
• Determinator: The Wolf Ring described him as having "an unbendable will of steel," which is translated gameplay-wise into a significant boost of Poise, usually enough to avoid getting stunned by most light attacks.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: His limp left hand suggests that it's broken and not strong enough to wield his signature Greatshield during your fight with him. On the other hand, he's also pumped full of dark magic which greatly enhances his damage output, and can enhance himself further by calling on the Abyss mid-fight, which probably more than makes up for it.
• Dub Name Change: The True Greatsword of Artorias is called "Finsertoter" (Darkslayer) in the German version of the game.
• Expy: The developers intentionally gave him several characteristics that draw comparisons to Guts. The wolf is his Animal Motif, he has a lame left arm, and he uses a BFS that became specialized in killing ethereal ghosts after it became cursed. His stance on the cover of the Prepare to Die edition strongly resembles Guts' on the cover of Volume 28 of the manga. His animalistic combat style in the boss fight against him is even full-on Berserker-Guts.
• Excalibur in the Rust: The signature greatsword he wields in the Downloadable Content looks severely worn out, with parts of the hilt missing and the blade covered in dark slime, yet it is one of the strongest greatswords available. This is an indication that it has been tainted with the power of the Abyss. Similarly, the only way to get the True Greatsword of Artorias, one of the mightiest weapons in the game, is to upgrade a Broken Straight Sword or Straight Sword Hilt, one of the most useless - yes, that pathetic weapon you start the game with may well be the remains of one of the finest blades Lordran ever created. The greatshield you find when rescuing Sif also looks like it had seen better days, which translates into a poor physical blocking percentage. His sword returns as the Majestic Greatsword in the sequel, passed on from owner to owner before ending up in the Old Iron King's collection. Artorias' sword is practically fossilized at this point, but it's still an effective weapon. It returns once more in Dark Souls 3, referred to as the Wolf Knight's Greatsword and restored to the point of being better than it originally was, retaining its damage boost against Abyssal enemies while not suffering a penalty from being split damage.
• Failure Hero: He failed to save Oolacile from the Abyss and became possessed as a result. His cut-dialogue has him blame himself for his moment of weakness.
• Fallen Hero: He's been described by Elizabeth as having "nary a murmur of Dark". When attempting to save Oolacile from the spread of the Abyss, Manus trashed him and corrupted him to the point where he has become little more than a husk of himself, channeling the power of the Abyss when you meet him in the content.
• The Ghost: Artorias' legend permeates the deeper layers of Dark Souls lore, tying with several significant weapons, the history of an ancient area and a plot regarding the Abyss. Of course, that's a different story for the DLC, where it turns out you basically Mercy Killed him after finding him in a horrifying state.
• Handicapped Badass: His left arm is completely limp, leaving him unable to use his greatshield. Said greatshield was used to erect a protective barrier around a young Sif. He nonetheless gives you one of the fiercest fights in the content.
• The Heart: He seems to have been this to the Knights of Gwyn, Artorias was famous for indomitable willpower and purity. He managed to inspire Undying Loyalty from his wolf, Sif and admiration from Ciaran and Gough.
• He Who Fights Monsters: His greatest exploits involved fighting the spread of the Dark, in New Londo and Oolacile. That is, until he is confronted by Manus, who corrupts him into the type of twisted creatures that he had been fighting the entire time. By the time you find him and put him down, he's so tainted by the dark that a cloud of it seems to emanate from him.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His own greatshield (the one crafted from Sif's soul) is one of the best pieces of equipment to use against him. With a stability rating of 88, the greatshield will allow the Chosen Undead to tank practically everything Artorias tries. It helps that he deals no elemental damage whatsoever, meaning the greatshield will block all of the damage from his attacks.
• Humanoid Abomination: His inhuman screams, supernatural aura fueled by the Abyss's tainting, unnatural speed and ferocity during your fight with him imply that there's nothing natural about him left besides his broken, soulless body, which the Abyss uses as its puppet. Cut dialogue confirms he's basically become the physical embodiment of the Abyss confined into a suit of armor, accentuated even further with his Power Echoes/Voice of the Legion.
• Humble Hero: If his unused dialogue was any indication. Artorias respected the skills of fellow knights and knew when he was fighting his betters.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Invoked and subsequently defied. His pure nature made Artorias such a ripe target to be corrupted by the Abyss.
• In the Hood: His helmet is really more of an armoured hood, adding to his ethereal, ghostly appearance.
• Irony: His Abyss Greatsword appears in the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC for Dark Souls II as the Majestic Greatsword and has the exact same moveset as it, albeit with the moveset flipped to the left hand. The irony of a swordsman whose left arm was completely crippled and had his signature weapon subsequently wielded by nobody but lefties is palpable.
  • The Abyss Watchers, a group founded to honor Artorias and follow in his footsteps, use a fighting style that is absolutely nothing like his and actually threw out the one member of their group that bothered using a shield. If anything the Watchers are spitting on his grave by using a highly acrobatic fighting style that Artorias only adopted after being corrupted by the Abyss.
  • Adding to the irony, a build that presumably matches Artorias' original style (a combination of a greatshield and a greatsword or larger weapon) is actually one of the best ways to defeat him. Especially if you're using his own greatshield to do it since it boasts the highest Stability rating among shields in the game. If you're wielding a sufficiently powerful large weapon like the Zweihander you can easily break him out of his power-up attempts and stagger him, making the fight even easier.
  • Despite being renowned for his unbreakable will and his signature Wolf Ring adding Poise, Artorias is not very hard to stagger when he's trying to power up. Though perhaps it's fitting since by the time you face him his will has already been shattered by the Abyss.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Pre-corruption Artorias is said to have been brave, selfless and heroic. Hell, his last mission was to save a city and rescue a princess!
• Leitmotif: "Knight Artorias", a somber piece alluding to the fallen state you meet him in.
• Lightning Bruiser: Despite wearing a suit of armor and wielding a large sword with one hand, he can still move around with frightening speed.
• Light Is Good: Before becoming corrupted by the Abyss, Artorias was one of Gwyn's most heroic knights.
• Lucky Number Seven: Not for himself per se, but wearing his armor, coupled with his signature Wolf Ring, grants the player a respectable Poise of 77.
• The Magnificent: In Dark Souls 3, he's called the "Wolf Knight of Farron".
• Master of All: With a dash of Magic Knight due to how the True Greatsword of Artorias' damage output works: it scales greatly with Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith, the four vital stats for increasing weapon damage. And in order to use the sword to its full potential, you need to invest heavily in all four of them.
• Master Swordsman: His Wolf Ring mentions him as being unmatched with a greatsword. It's hard to argue, given that even in his corrupted state and having a mangled left arm, he can be compared to Gwyn. While his swordsmanship with his offhand is impressive, it is pretty apparent that he's using his greatsword more as a blunt object instead of displaying any real skill with it, instead taking advantage of his amazing mobility.
• Memento MacGuffin: A couple of odd cases. In the main game, his Crest can be purchased to unlock the Forest Hunter Covenant. His ring, the Covenant of Artorias, is used to allow the player to traverse the Abyss in New Londo. Not to mention the soul of his friend Sif can be used to forge two versions of his greatsword and his shield. In the Prepare To Die Edition/Artorias of the Abyss DLC, his Soul can be given to Ciaran for her personal weapons or used to forge the Darkness-corrupted version of his sword, and his Silver Pendant can be acquired to make the fight against Manus a bit easier.
• Mercy Kill: Given the state the player finds him in during the events of the Downloadable Content, both Ciaran and Gough regard defeating Artorias as this when you talk to them.
• My Greatest Failure: His unused dialogue would have had him brutally blaming himself for getting possessed. Special mention goes to begging for forgiveness from a vision of Sif and anyone else he would have seen in his final moments.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: Artorias wields his massive greatsword with one hand at terrifying speed. It's a necessity thanks to his injured arm by the time you meet him, but the presence of the Greatshield of Artorias does indeed suggest that that massive blade was originally intended to be wielded one-handed.
  • Even more ridiculous once you think of the size difference between Artorias and the Player. The player's height (male) is assumed to be around 6 feet tall, Dragonslayer Ornstein is around the same height as the Black Knights (appear around 7 to 8 feet tall). Artorias makes both of them look small in comparison. This means Artorias' sword is at the minimum ten feet long or bigger.
• Optional Boss: Because Artorias of the Abyss is only accessed through Downloadable Content, he's way out of the main story, on top of being significantly harder than most endgame bosses.
• Our Founder: Dark Souls III credits him as the founder of Farron's undead legion of Abyss Watchers.
• The Paladin: Before becoming corrupted by the Abyss, Artorias was a knight in the service of Gwyn and was equipped with a blessed sword, shield and pendant to fight the spread of the Dark.
• The Paragon: Artorias was widely respected by both knights and civilians. Ciaran developed feelings for him, Gough respected him and Sif served him happily and loyally. Unfortunately, Artorias was possessed by the Abyss while he was trying to contain it and save Ooalacile. His death has had such an impact on the public that 2 covenants were formed in his honor. The Forest Hunter covenant was formed to protect his grave, whereas, the Abyss Watchers were formed in his honor to protect the world from the spread of the Abyss.
• Posthumous Character: Is only mentioned in the main game, and his weapon and shield can be obtained. The DLC reveals the Player Character was the one who killed him, and he was already an Empty Shell possessed by the Abyss by that point anyway.
• Power Echoes: His cut dialogue implies that he has been corrupted to the point of being an Empty Shell channelling the Abyss itself.
• Red Baron: In the original Dark Souls he's given the moniker of the Abysswalker. In Dark Souls III he's gone down in legend as the Wolf Knight of Farron.
• Spin Attack: Artorias has three attacks like this. One is a standard horizontal spin attack he does on the ground to sweep the player away from him. The second one has him doing a quick front flip through the air and bringing down his sword in a vertical slash. Finally, his most spectacular attack has him hurling himself into the air if the player is far away from him, brutally planting his sword into the ground as he lands.
• Turns Red: He'll draw on the power of the Abyss every time you take off a quarter of his health, significantly boosting his attack. By the third time he's done it, every attack that gets past your shield will probably be a One-Hit Kill.
• Unholy Holy Sword: During his time in New Londo, he turned his signature greatsword, which had divine properties, into a cursed blade capable of harming the ghosts residing there. His sword is tainted again in the Downloadable Content, this time by Manus, turning it into the Abyss Greatsword.
• The Unseen: In the base game, he is mentioned by a few NPCs and his sword (two versions), shield, and ring can all be used by the player, but he does not physically appear in any shape or form.
• Vader Breath: If he's not roaring wildly, odds are he's slowly rasping whenever he limps towards you.
• Walking Spoiler: What was initially an unseen knight briefly mentioned in several items of the main game suddenly gets much more importance in the Downloadable Content, with disastrous circumstances and terrifying implications about Lordran's past.
• Worf Had the Flu: Artorias is very clearly not at the top of his game when you finally meet him. He's been twisted and broken down by the Abyss for an untold period of time and was suffering from his dominant arm being broken before that. He lacks his Greatshield that he'd normally pair with his Greatsword for his proper fighting style.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: One of his cut lines has him commending the player's strength and telling them that "surely your kind must be more than dark."

Manus, Father of the Abyss

The main antagonist of the DLC content, Manus is described as being a primeval human and an abyssal creature. Needless to say, he's the single most spoileriffic character in the entire game.

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• Almighty Idiot: Despite the near-apocalyptic levels of power he wields, his mind is completely and utterly shattered under the weight of his volatile humanity, leaving him as a raving madman.
• The Archmage: Feral as he is, Manus is still one of the most powerful sorcerers in the franchise. Not only do his spells pack a severe punch and have great firepower, he shows an unusual finesse in manipulating them; the most outstanding example being an attack in which he creates several spheres of darkness, shoots them out in a circle around him, stops them in place for a few moments before making them quickly and violently converge towards himself, he even dispels them just before they can hit him.
• Ax-Crazy: Whatever he is, you don't meet him in a sane state, what with the brutal, frenzied beatdown he hands to you. Gough is under the impression that the residents of Oolacile somehow drove him to his insanity but there's no evidence either way.
• Big Bad: He is the main perpetrator of the events happening in Artorias of the Abyss, namely spreading the darkness of the Abyss over the land of Oolacile, defeating and corrupting Artorias, and kidnapping Dusk of Oolacile.
• Body Horror: His larger hand is lined with oversized, human-looking molars, almost making it resemble a lamprey's mouth. It's also implied that his influence inflicted this on the people of Oolacile, turning them into the hideous Bloated Heads you have to fight to get to him.
• Came Back Wrong: If what Marvelous Chester says is true, he was once dead, before the people of Oolacile upset his burial grounds deep within the Abyss. It is implied they were incited by Kaathe, though whether this was All According to Plan or had Gone Horribly Wrong is up for interpretation.
  Chester: Believe it or not, Oolacile has brought the Abyss upon itself. Fooled by that toothy serpent, they upturned the grave of primeval man, and incited his ornery wrath. What could they have been thinking?
• Casting a Shadow: He is the creator of Dark sorcery, something he puts to good use against you during the boss fight.
• The Corrupter: He is responsible for tainting Artorias with the power of the Abyss and making the citizen of Oolacile's humanity go out of control, turning them into mindless monsters. His influence is so great that the various fragments that reformed into a human shape in Dark Souls II follow a similar approach in order to topple various great kingdoms.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: With 6,666 HP, Manus has the most health of any single boss in the game.
• Dark Is Not Evil / Dark Is Evil: Manus fluctuates between the two; his motivation is implied to be caused by fear more than anything, but in functionality he's very much the latter; being incredibly dangerous to the point he toppled an entire civilization, and his fragments cause the deaths of countless people in the timeframe of 2 . Manus does not attack out of pure malice or evil, rather he was driven to an insane frenzy by his Humanity when the citizens of Oolacile disturbed his grave; by the time you storm the Chasm of the Abyss he's nothing more than a crazed and wild animal that needs to be put out of his misery before he harms anything else. Even when it's revealed in the sequel that his remnants (aside from one) plan to swamp the world in Dark, it can be seen as more of them, with the exception of Nashandra who’s explicitly shown to be evil, having a severe case of Blue-and-Orange Morality rather than For the Evulz. In III you even meet another of his fragments, who despite being a Child of Dark just wants a peaceful life.
• Evil Sorcerer: He wields the Abyss magic he created very expertly and in ways the players cannot do even with the spells they acquire through the content, as demonstrated during his boss fight.
• Extra Eyes: Has numerous glowing red eyes. If you look closely enough at the dark pit from outside his boss room, you can see that he is staring right back at you with them.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Manus was initially an ordinary human being, quite possibly the Furtive Pygmy, who was described as a Non-Action Guy in the prologue. Then his Humanity went out of control, turning him into the darkest possible monster the Dark Souls universe has ever known.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: His multiple eyes glow a dull red, and if you get far enough away they're the only visible part of him. This can be used against him before entering the boss arena, as you can use his eyes to locate him in the darkness below and whittle his health down with a bow.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Despite having died prior to the vanilla game (your fight with him took place in the past), he, or rather what he represents, is the underlying force perpetuating Dark Souls's Vicious Cycle where the First Flame must be kept lit. One of the reasons being that the First Flame keeps the Abyss (the unfettered form of the Dark Soul) at bay, and should that fail, all humans would likely turn into monsters like Manus. His role also perpetuates well into the sequel, where his shattered fragments have reformed into humanoid beings intent on spreading his legacy of plunging the world into darkness.
• Irony: Despite corrupting the people around him by making their humanity go out control, he himself is implied to have lost control of his own humanity, and, if you buy the theory that he was the Furtive Pygmy, it might even have been his Lord Soul that went haywire, considering he drops a lot of humanities upon defeat.
• It Can Think: While Manus seems to be little more than a crazed animal when you fight him, there are multiple hints that he has at least a bit of self-awareness left, namely his deep yearning for the Broken Pendant and apparent refusal to harm Dusk despite holding her captive. He's also very skilled with magic.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: He'll punch and kick you while using the staff as both a catalyst for waves of dark sorceries and a club.
• Leitmotif: "Manus, Father of the Abyss", a chaotic track consisting of oppressive drum beats and chorus, well in tune with his savage nature and Lovecraftian parallels.
• Lightning Bruiser: His attacks are very relentless, can chain up for multiple combos, and will usually stunlock you at every opportunity. And that's before he uses his Abyss sorceries, where his casting time has minimal windup and the spells can easily clip you in for tremendous damage.
• Lovecraft Lite: Sure, he's probably the most terrifying abomination you will find in the game, and his true purpose in the Downloadable Content is akin to a classical Cosmic Horror Story, but you can still beat him, and you'll have to if you want to rescue Dusk, ensuring a Stable Time Loop in the process.
• Maniac Monkeys: He resembles a giant demonic ape, and, fittingly enough, fights like a savage during his boss battle.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Manus" is Latin for hand, similar to the abnormally large one he uses to drag you and Chester into the past Oolacile.
  • Alternatively again, Manus is an Irish name, borrowed from the Latin "Magnus" and meaning "Greatest".
  • Alternatively, the name Mannus belonged to a figure in Germanic mythology who was supposed to be the progenitor of the earliest Germanic tribes. The name Mannus itself is believed to be derived from the name of the Hindu deity Manu, who was believed to be the progenitor of all humanity. In fact, the word Mannus is thought to be the linguistic root of the English word "Man." Makes sense considering the speculation that Manus is actually what became of the Furtive Pygmy.
  • On top of that, Manu is a term/title in Hinduism that refers to the progenitor of humanity and the first human.
  • The above paragraph is further reinforced by his actual epithet, Father of the Abyss. If he truly is the Furtive Pygmy who once bore the Dark Soul, then the link between the art of Lifedrain used to maintain one's humanity, its origin in the Abyss and the human race's inheritance of the Dark Soul all become relevant to the late-game's plot, as well as the truth behind Kaathe's claims.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Not his actual name, but the epithet that comes after: Father of the Abyss.
• Number of the Beast: He has 6,666 HP in a first playthrough, though this is increased in New Game Plus.
• Omnicidal Maniac: His ultimate goal is to plunge the entire world into the Abyss/Dark, and the limited outbreak in Oolacile (which killed most of the population and turned the rest into mindless, murderous, and mutated abominations) demonstrates that this will be a much less pleasant fate for it than Kaathe would have you believe. Though, it’s mainly born out of manic terror of everything around him than any kind of nihilistic hatred usually associated with this trope.
• Optional Boss: As with the entire content, accessing him doesn't affect the main story, and he is considerably harder than most boss fights.
• Outside-the-Box Tactic: You wish to save Dusk, but don't want to risk having your skull crushed to smithereens by that abomination? Why, unload hundreds of arrows on the bastard outside of his boss room! ^note An outline of his eyes is visible in the hole right of the boss fog gate, and your arrows will reach him if shot at a certain angle.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: He's completely shrouded in black, with blue highlights corresponding to the Abyss slime trails found all over Oolacile, and his multiple eyes glow red even in the dark. He's also the most diabolical being you fight in the entire game, even more so than Seath.
• Rubber Man: Can extend his giant hand more than halfway across the arena for his overhead slam.
• Soul Fragment:
  • He, like all descendants of the Furtive Pygmy, was gifted with a shard of the Pygmy's unique Lord Soul, dubbed the Dark Soul. However, his soul went out of control and became the embodiment of the Abyss, the true menace that justifies the First Flame's existence.
  • It's revealed in the sequel's flavour text that the tiniest fragment of his shattered soul lived on within Queen Nashandra, the Big Bad of that game who strives to bring about the Dark to Drangleic.
  • His remains are also said to have formed the Dark Chasm of Old in which the terrifyingly powerful Darklurker resides, though the latter's exact origins are not expanded any further (and for good reason).
  • The Lost Crowns Trilogy also adds three more Children of Dark: Elana the Squalid Queen, Nadalia the Bride of Ash, and Alsanna the Silent Oracle. Elana keeps on bidding her time for vengeance, presumably against the person who defeated Manus; Nadalia attempted to become the corrupt queen to the Old Iron King, but then found out he was gone, forcing her to haunt various object in the stronghold known as the Brume Tower; Alsanna, unlike her "soul sisters", was to become the Lady Macbeth to the Ivory King, but the latter showed compassion that the other kings were never mentioned to give, leading to a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Dark Souls III adds a fifth Child of the Dark, Karla, though like Alsanna she's friendly, is immediately up-front with the player character about her true nature, and will teach them various Abyss-themed Miracles, Sorceries, and Pyromancies if she's rescued.
• Summon Magic: One of his most devastating attacks essentially summons a bunch of the Humanity enemies encountered in the Chasm of the Abyss and launches them right at you. You can acquire the Pursuers Abyss Sorcery for your own use by trading Manus' soul at Snuggly's nest.
• Takes One to Kill One: The implicit reason why Artorias failed to kill Manus and was corrupted was because he wasn't human, and thus didn't possess the fragment of the Dark Soul necessary to resist the corruption of the Abyss - indeed, it's only when the Chosen Undead goes back in time and confront Manus that it is actualyl destroyed.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: A Primordial Serpent tricked the people of Oolacile into awakening him while he laid dormant for an untold amount of time, and they paid dearly for it…
• Time Travel: A minor variant. He literally drags you and Chester into the past through a portal.
• Tragic Monster: In the end, Manus is nothing more than the end result of what would happen if the First Flame were to fade into the dark. Even when transformed into a monster, the lore states that he spent centuries searching for his precious Broken Pendant, which somehow made it to your timeline. Dusk of Oolacile, if talked to in the present after saving her in the past, ponders if he really was a true beast, and Alsanna, the embodiment of Manus' fears, is one of the more sympathetic characters in the sequel, having found solace from her nature as a child of Dark destined to corrupt the world.
  • Hawkeye Gough also states that while a serpent tricked the residents of Oolacile into waking him up, they were the ones who did so and then did things to the creature that drove it mad. There is also a human sized grave in the arena where you fight Manus implying that he was still human when they dug him up and his transformation is the result of whatever the locals did to him to make his humanity run wild.
• Transhuman Abomination: A giant monkey-like monster with curved spikes lined with glowing red eyes and a massive hand lined with octopus-like suckers. On top of looking otherworldy, he resides deep within the Chasm of the Abyss and is hell-bent on corrupting the entire land, drawing further parallels to Lovecraft. He also introduces the terrifying concept that Humans Are Cthulhu upon analysing the bits of lore he brings.
• Walking Spoiler: Discussing anything related to him is tantamount to revealing the terrible truth behind humanity's potential, something that was alluded to Kaathe's "incident" with the Four Kings and the Darkwraiths of New Londo (which are already Walking Spoilers), but never shown this graphically. To further his spoileriffic credentials, he corrupted poor Artorias, making it hard to talk about the latter without mentioning Manus at least once. There's also the implication that he used to be the Furtive Pygmy, one of the original Lord Soul bearers. He ends up as the underlying force behind a few key antagonists in Dark Souls II.
• Was Once a Man: Is implied to have once been the Furtive Pygmy, or at least a close descendant of him whose own humanity (or Lord Soul) had gone out of control and turned him into the monster you meet at the end of the content.
• The Worf Effect: Invoked this on Artorias, brutally breaking the legendary knight's arm and corrupting him with the Abyss.

Black Dragon Kalameet

An optional boss in Artorias of the Abyss, Kalameet is said to be the last of the ancient dragons (excluding Seath, who abandoned their ranks during the great war).

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• Bragging Rights Reward: The Calamity Ring he drops, which doubles the damage received by the wielder, is utterly useless except for a Self-Imposed Challenge.
• Breath Weapon: As a dragon, this is to be expected but is also notable in that Kalameet breathes black flames.
• Cyclops: Subverted; he's known as the "One-Eyed Dragon" and appears to have a single large eye on his forehead, but it's actually a crest and he has two normal eyes.
• Damage-Increasing Debuff: He has an unique spell that doubles the damage taken by you if you were unlucky enough to be caught in the attack. The same effect is present on the Calamity Ring he drops.
• The Dreaded: Gough claims that "Even Anor Londo dare not provoke his ire" even after emerging victorious during the war against the dragons. Cemented by the fact that he's able to fly around Oolacile and above the Abyss, which lies right in the shadow of the city, with near-impunity. Gough himself however, doesn't fear him at all.
• Expy: Of Black Dragon Guyra, both only have one eye and are rival to Seath.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Within the Royal Woods, if you head towards the second bridge, Kalameet will swoop down and land on the bridge, pausing for a moment to stare at you, then fly down the valley.
• Extra Eyes: Along with his prominent false red "eye", he has two normal eyes, making him seem to have three eyes in total.
• Famed In-Story / Legendary in the Sequel: In Dark Souls II, all that's left of any mention of Kalameet, or the Black Dragon as they say, is the tale of a magnificent battle against a brave warrior, in which the dragon lost its tail, which would eventually be used to forge several legendary weapons. Many of those weapons end up being in the possession of the Dragon Remnants covenant, with most of its apostles residing in the Dragon Shrine far above Drangleic. The records of this tale are even said to be more scarce than the paledrake, aka Seath the Scaleless.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Well, one eye to be exact. It shines prominently when he tries to curse you.
• Hopeless Bossfight: He can't be properly fought until you ask Hawkeye Gough to snipe him out of the sky for you.
• Last of His Kind: As noted in his description, Kalameet is considered the last of the ancient dragons, with the exceptions of Seath, the Stone Dragon in Ash Lake, Sinh the Slumbering Dragon, and Darkeater Midir. Anor Londo is unaware of the Stone Dragon and Sinh, however.
• Leitmotif: "Black Dragon Kalameet", where the chorus pulls out all the stops and perfectly conveys his nature as The Dreaded.
• Lightning Bruiser: Big and powerful, Kalameet can rush across the map if he feels you're too far away from him, and executes most of his attacks with minimal idle time.
• Lord British Postulate: Kalameet can be killed without ever resorting to Gough shooting him out of the sky, it's just that it requires an extremely time-consuming strategy where you hide in a corner and shoot arrows at him while he flies around and sweeps the area with fire breaths, with the protection of a greatshield if necessary.
• Make Me Wanna Shout: His "curse" spell has him perform a sonic scream while retracting his wings, in hopes of catching the player within his reach. Said scream is so powerful that it slightly blurs the screen.
• Meaningful Name/Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His is a play on the word "calamity", as evidenced by the Calamity Ring he drops.
• Optional Boss: A standout example, even compared to the entire content. You wouldn't know that you could even fight him at all unless you go down the valley leading to a waterfall. Triggering his proper boss fight also requires you to speak to Gough, who locks himself up in a tower.
• Our Dragons Are Different: He's significantly sleeker than the Everlasting Dragons seen in the prologue, he has an eye-like crest that's more prominent than his actual eyes and one pair of wings, and he breathes black flames.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: As Dark Souls series dragons go, Kalameet is actually on the smaller side (though he's still huge by human standards), but is also one of the most dangerous.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: His skin is obsidian, and his red eye is prominently glowing whenever he tries to curse you into receiving double the damage inflicted by him. He's obviously not going to pull any punches on you, either.
• Self-Imposed Challenge: In addition to being an Optional Boss, killing him grants you the Calamity Ring, made from his eye. Wearing it doubles all damage you take.
• Tail Slap: A downward swing, often done whenever you end up positioned right behind him. This is also the only reliable way to cut his tail.
• Third Eye: Kalameet has a third eye in his forehead which glows an ominous red. One of his most dangerous attacks has him using the eye to lift you up in the air and curse you. This deals some damage and worse, doubles all damage you receive for a limited amount of time. The eye's curse is so powerful it even survives Kalameet's death — if you wear the Calamity Ring enchanted by the eye that drops after his defeat, it inflicts the same double damage debuff.
• Worf Had the Flu: Depending on if the player had Gough snipe him down or not. If they did, then Kalameet is clearly not at his best, as he has been severely crippled and unable to soar the skies as he used to (and would if you challenge him without Gough's help) so instead of his usual strategy, Kalameet is forced to fight on the ground.

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