History Characters / DarkSoulsMainCharactersAndLords

* AFatherToHisMen: The Silver Knights ''adored him'', and when Gwyn witnesses Arkon apparently having slayed a dragon, he's beaming with pride, and rewards him handsomely.

* AssholeVictim: Unlike Nito, who just wanted to be left alone, Gwyn, who sacrificed everything in the futile attempt to continue the reign of his family, the Witch of Izalith, who was consumed by the Flame of Chaos, Seath the Scaleless has little to no redeemable qualities both in-game and in-lore, being an EvilSorceror and MadScientist who betrayed his own kind out of spite, assisted their enemies in a genocide against the dragons, and performed depraved experiments of humans. [[spoiler: If you believe the theory that Priscilla is his spawn, he may be her father and Gwynevere her mother, due to the painting of Aramais being in her cathedral]].

* WeaksauceWeakness: A rather infamous example in the ''Dark Souls'' community. With his high speed and unrelenting attacks, Gwyn would actually be one of the toughest bosses in the game, on par with [[VideoGame/DemonsSouls False King Allant]]... [[spoiler:except almost all of his attacks can be parried, allowing you to kill him with just a few parries]]. Granted, even that requires a decent amount of skill to pull off. It's also likely that it's ''because'' of this weakness which shows that [[spoiler: Gwyn is just a shadow of his former self, with much of his divine power reduced to a mere fraction. A duel against him isn't even a glorious battle, but the MercyKill of an old man who's suffered for far too long]]. [[spoiler:[[ArtificialStupidity It's also possible to get his A.I. stuck on the pillars in the room, giving you time to heal that you're not supposed to have. This is accordingly rectified when he takes control of the Soul of Cinder in ''Dark Souls III'' and shows you what a '''real''' fight against the Allfather looks like.]]]]

* WeaksauceWeakness: A rather infamous example in the ''Dark Souls'' community. With his high speed and unrelenting attacks, Gwyn would actually be one of the toughest bosses in the game, on par with [[VideoGame/DemonsSouls False King Allant]]... [[spoiler:except almost all of his attacks can be parried, allowing you to kill him with just a few parries]]. Granted, even that requires a decent amount of skill to pull off. It's also likely that it's ''because'' of this weakness which shows that [[spoiler: Gwyn is just a shadow of his former self, with much of his divine power reduced to a mere fraction. A duel against him isn't even a glorious battle, but the MercyKill of an old man who's suffered for far too long]]. [[spoiler:[[ArtificialStupidity It's also possible to get his A.I. stuck on the pillars in the room, giving you time to heal that you're not supposed to have.]]]]

* GeniusBruiser: His insanely destructive [[MagicKnight talent with Lightning Miracles]], overwhelming physical strength and [[MasterSwordsman unmatched skill with a greatsword]], hide a ''masterfully'' skilled and manipulative politician; ruling Andor Londo with both an iron-fist and brilliant statecraft. The way he navigated around the situation with the Pygmies [[spoiler: (appeasing them with generous gifts whose true purpose is to shackle there darkness and solidify his own rule without spilling blood and keeping them as loyal vassals)]] and formulated his own successful plot to sustain the Age of Fire are the biggest examples of his true cunning. It's very fitting for an {{Expy}} of Odin.

* GeniusBruiser: His insanely destructive [[MagicKnight talent with Lightning Miracles]], overwhelming physical strength and [[MasterSwordsman unmatched skill with a greatsword]], hide a ''masterfully'' skilled and manipulative politician; ruling Andor Londo with both an iron-fist and brilliant statecraft. The way he navigated around the situation with the Pygmies [[spoiler: (appeasing them with generous gifts that's true purpose is to shackle there darkness and solidify his own rule without spilling blood and keeping them as loyal vassals)]] and formulated his own successful plot to sustain the Age of Fire are the biggest examples of his true cunning. It's very fitting for an {{Expy}} of Odin.

* AntiVillain: He treated humanity and [[AbusiveParents his own children]] unjustly, and his actions had many consequences, but he successfully created the booming civilization of Anor Londo, was known to have many virtues and to love humanity protectively, founded a new era for life to prosper, and ultimately performed the most heroic act the setting can allow for -- [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice burning in fire for eternity to protect the rest of the world]]]], Gwyn usually comes across as somewhere between a NobleDemon and a WellIntentionedExtremist

* OurLichesAreDifferent: By the time you meet him, he has essentially become a {{Dracolich}} due to [[spoiler:the primordial crystal, which acts as his SoulJar]]. This leads to...
** SlidingScaleOfUndeadRegeneration: Type IV, but only so long as [[spoiler:the primordial crystal found at the end of the Crystal Caves is intact, which you must destroy to be able to damage and kill Seath during your rematch]].

* BigBad: Of the first game. While not exactly evil, Gwyn's desperation to extend the Age of Fire, genocide of the dragons, and [[spoiler:possibly causing the Undead Curse]] effectively make him the main antagonist, even serving as the FinalBoss.

* TheLastDance: His decision to [[spoiler:attack you at the end]] could be interpreted as this. [[spoiler:He already sacrified everything he had to relink the flame and [[EmptyShell has nothing left by the time you meet him]].]] So, keeping [[DefiantToTheEnd in character]], he may [[spoiler:have realized what the Chosen Undead came to do, and decided to go out with one last defiant act, assuming he wasn't completely mad]].

* LargeAndInCharge: At about [[https://i.imgur.com/3qth6eP.png 8'2 (248 cm)]], he towered over even his Silver and Black Knights (themselves close to seven and a half feet), much less his human subjects. When going up against him at the end of the game, you can see that the Chosen Undead's shoulders are about level with his waist. [[spoiler:Still not as tall as the Nameless King, though, who's nearly 10 feet. So is Dragonslayer Ornstein, and Smough is 15 feet. And maybe not as tall as his Giant-sized daughter Gwynevere, depending on how accurate Gwyndolin's illusion was. Though, Gwyn may also have been taller before he became a Lord of Cinder.]]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: He claims to be working for humanity's best interests and makes some good points about how [[spoiler:the Age of Fire is already on its last legs]], but historically, people who followed his advice were driven mad by the powers he encouraged them to wield. Later lore in the series averts this, making it clear that he has validity to his claims.

* DarkIsNotEvil: {{Invoked}}. Kaathe does his best to convince the Chosen Undead that the Dark is not something really to fear outright by elaborating that it is supposed to be a natural part of the world. Later pieces of lore across the series imply that he is relatively correct; [[spoiler:Gwyn linking the fire to humanity screwed up the natural order of the world and shackled humanity to become undead and hollow]]. He's also arguably more honest and upfront than Frampt as well, but the player is left to decide how true he is.

** This could well be the case, [[spoiler:for [[Characters/DarkSoulsArtoriasOfTheAbyss Chester]] reveals that Oolacile was tricked into awakening Manus by "that toothy serpent", and there's only one serpent in this game who is in any way associated with the Abyss]]. Even then, he's still the leader of the Darkwraiths, a covenant dedicated to [[spoiler:preserving its members' humanity through the art of Lifedrain, which corrupted the Four Kings and the knights under their command, though that likely wasn't Kaathe's intent]].
** [[spoiler:Even long after his apparent demise, he casts a shadow in ''III''. The Sable Church and the sinister kingdom of Hollows, Londor, was founded by three sisters who were loyal to him.]]

* VillainousLegacy: In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', [[spoiler:Londor the Kingdom of Hollows and its Sable Church are Kaathe's legacy. Though he is long dead by this point, the Sable Church still works to bring the true Age of Dark. In one ending, they succeed and raise up the Unkindled to be their gracious Lord who will make Londor whole.]]
* VillainsNeverLie: Averted. He certainly appears a lot more forthright to the Chosen Undead than Frampt is. As the player learns more, however, it becomes clear that was only because he was exposing Frampt's deceptions and flowery language for what it really was. Kaathe himself makes similar grandiose promises of lordship and power while glossing over the unsavory aspects of his plan, like that [[spoiler:people who try to wield the powers of the Dark tend to be twisted into horrifying monsters]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:With the franchise's story finished after all three games and their DLC, a more charitable interpretation is that Kaathe was at least right about his summary of the world's problems, that the Age of Dark is the intended way forward and he's only trying to undo Gwyn's damage by bringing it about. That said, he is still manipulative, his methods treat the Dark's humans as expendable and have certainly led to some gruesome results, and it's not clear exactly how he intended his experiments to turn out, or if they actually would have worked if he ever had an attempt that hadn't GoneHorriblyWrong]].

** If the state of the world by the time of the games beginning is any indication, Gwyn's [[spoiler:sacrifice]] accomplished basically nothing. The gods of Anor Londo abandoned the city, mankind is now plagued by undead soul eaters called Hollows, and demons are beginning to pour out of Lost Izalith despite his efforts to contain them. The only upside seems to be that everyone still thinks he's running the show and burning for all eternity.
** Incredibly enough, it gets even worse by ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'': sure, he managed to instate an almost religious fanaticism in keeping the First Flame alive through ritual sacrifice, but he himself has only barely been remembered, the Gods don't reign over the world, and the Fire has been growing weaker, causing stagnation in both time and space as the world starts to practically collapse on itself from the unnatural prolongation of the Fire: not only was Gwyn's sacrifice only delaying the inevitable, it made everything worse.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Despite most characters speaking of Gwyn as a benelovent father figure of a god, it's not difficult to draw the conclusion that he was a man (or [[OurGiantsAreBigger Giant]], rather) who was obsessed with being at the top of the Pyramid -- whether as god-king of mankind, slayer of dragons, or Greatest of the Lords. He was so terrified at the prospect of losing his power that he [[spoiler:turned himself into kindling for the First Flame and created the Undead Curse]].

* AntiVillain: He treated humanity and [[AbusiveParents his own children]] unjustly, and his actions had many consequences, but he successfully created the booming civilization of Anor Londo, is known to have many virtues, a new era for life to prosper, and ultimately performed the most heroic act the setting can allow for -- [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice burning in fire for eternity to protect the rest of the world]]]], Gwyn usually comes across as somewhere between a NobleDemon and a WellIntentionedExtremist

* TheBadGuyWins: Despite Gwyn's morally dubious actions he pretty much pulls off his BatmanGambit perfectly, [[spoiler: and manages to extend the Age of Fire by what's implied to be a couple thousand years.]] Though it's heavily {{Downplayed}}; not only is it a [[MortalityGreyArea a certain definition]] [[AntiVillain of "bad guy"]], it's a PyrrhicVictory with the whole ''burning in agony'' for eternity and the [[spoiler: fact he's unknowingly responsible for the end of his world.]]

* BlackEyesOfCrazy: [[spoiler:By the time the player meets Gwyn in person at the end of the game, he has gone insane and his eyes are gone, replaced with black voids. He is also now crazy and will attack as the FinalBoss.]]

* TheDeterminator: Gwyn's single greatest strength, as well as his greatest flaw, is that he will '''never''' let the Age Of Fire die. Immortal Dragons ruling over the world? Form a massive, combined force with all the other lords, and destroy these supposedly ''immortal'' things. [[spoiler:Fire fading? ''Throw himself'' to the flames, and burn in eternal agony. The person who's killed all the other lords comes to the Kiln? Blindly charge at them with a flaming sword, and throw yourself into a deathmatch you're unlikely to win. After ''thousands'' if not ''tens of thousands'' of years, the flame is threatened by an Unkindled? ''Manifest yourself'' and charge in to defend it one final time, stronger than ever.]] No matter what happens, Gwyn will never back down.

* EmptyShell: The fact that he had been [[spoiler:burning in the Kiln for almost a thousand years has turned him into a Hollow]].
* EverybodyLovesZeus: While many characters like to spin Gwyn as a righteous god-king and architect for a world of light and beauty, various other characters (many of which [[UnreliableExpositor may or may not be trustworthy]]) claim that this is a case of WrittenByTheWinners. [=Darkstalker=] Kaathe accuses him of being a liar and a schemer, the war he and the other gods declared on the Everlasting Dragons being an unprovoked declaration of supremacy. [[spoiler:He allowed the pygmies into his armies, but because of their association with the dark, he did everything he could to keep the undying primordial humans out of the way, giving them the Ringed City to be their prison and branding them with a circle of fire, which turned what was supposed to be TheSacredDarkness into the Abyss, the Undead curse, and everything else that turned his kingdom into a CrapsackWorld in the first place.]]

** Considering he liked to use the BoltOfDivineRetribution before he was burnt to cinders, he could also be one to [[Myth/GreekMythology Zeus]], if only toned down a bit on his [[JerkassGods asshole]] level. [[spoiler:Or depending on how you read his [[AbusiveParents treatment of his children]] and how his hubris led to the events of the entire series, maybe not toned down at all.]]

** Played with in regards to Humans. [[spoiler:While Gwyn was certainly afraid of the darkness within humanity and the Pygmies, he did seem to have some respect for humanity, as he trusted their prominent leaders, the Four Kings, with parts of his own soul.]] According to ''Age of Fire'', Gwyn cared about the humans in his own kingdom, enough to always defend them from people who would harm them.

* TheGoodKing: ''Age of Fire'' reveals that he ''actually'' [[PetTheDog did care for his human subjects quite a bit]], sending his legions of Silver Knights to protect them from harm, even sending them to rescue people kidnapped by Seath. Enough that the Silver Knights actually grew discontent at Gwyn helping humans at the expense of them.

* GodIsFlawed: While Gwyn did many heroic things, and was by all accounts a good Lord, he was a rather bad father, and was quite paranoid about ''all'' things related to the dark.

** In ''The Ringed City'' DLC, it's shown that [[spoiler:Gwyn put a seal on the ancient Pygmies to repress the power of their Dark Souls, one that strongly resembles the Darksign. The implication appears to be that Gwyn's seal prevented humanity from being able to control the Dark, and as such is responsible for not only the undead "curse", but also the destruction caused by the Abyss]].

* HeroicSacrifice: After the Witch of Izalith [[spoiler:failed in her attempt to re-create the First Flame]], he gifted shards of his Lord Soul to the four kings of New Londo and Seath the Scaleless, and immediately set out for [[spoiler:the Kiln of the First Flame]]. He knew he wouldn't be returning from it, although it's unknown if he was aware of exactly what would happen when he would [[spoiler:relink the fire]]. Even Kaathe admits that what Gwyn did was a sacrifice, [[spoiler:to burn in the Kiln for eternity, slowly going insane from the pain...]] Unfortunately, everything just gets even ''worse'' with him gone: [[spoiler:those he entrusted his Lord Soul to go mad and all of his children besides Gwyndolin are too selfish to even bother trying to keep the country together]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: He waged a war against the dragons to bring about a new age and bring an end to the eternal, unchanging Age of Ancients. But when his own age's end came, he refused to let nature take its course.

** Gwyn [[ZigZaggedTrope zigzags]] this with PetTheDog with his treatment of the [[spoiler:Pygmies, as ''The Ringed City'' reveals. Yes, their accomplishments were intentionally removed because of his fear of their control of Dark. Yes he put a ''branding of fire'', aka ''[[{{Curse}} the Darksign]]'' to seal the Abyss within them, possibly spawning the Undead Curse. But he ''did'' give them a massive beautiful city to call their own as a home, crowned several prominent members Lords in their own right, and gifted them his beloved youngest daughter, whom the Pygmies and Ringed Knights grew to ''adore'' and protect. Ultimately, the zigzag lands on "Kick" instead of "Pet" because while Gwyn rewarded the Pygmies, he also levied severe restrictions upon them and had ulterior motives behind said gifts out of fear for the Dark Soul within them]].

* LightIsNotGood: Gwyn is the single greatest example of it in the series. He may have defeated the dragons, brought order to the world, and [[{{Determinator}} willingly sacrificed himself]] to preserve the Age of Fire. [[spoiler:But his utter refusal to ever view [[DarkIsNotEvil the abyss]] as anything but a threat to be eliminated is the primary reason for why nearly ''everything'' bad in the series happened in the first place.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:There are hints of this in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', but ''The Ringed City'' implies the seal of fire he put on the Pygmies and their human descendants to hold back the Dark within them is the true cause of the Undead "Curse" plaguing the world whenever the First Flame begins to fade. It it also suggested that under the rule of the gods, humans grew to lose any control over the Abyss and the Dark they could have had, leading to them becoming such a danger in the present.]]

* PrimalFear: Gwyn fought dragons and demons, yet the thing he feared most of all was the dark, indicative of change.

* TragicHero: Probably one of the greatest in the series. Lost everything, and everyone he held dear, and ended up [[spoiler:going insane, and becoming an empty shell, after sacrificing himself for his people, and to stave off the dark, if only for a little]].

* VillainousLegacy: Played straight, and Inverted, as Gwyn has ''both'' a villainous legacy and a heroic legacy. Villainous in [[spoiler:the whole cycle, noble intentions or not, is ''his'' fault, as is all the destruction it caused]]; heroic in [[spoiler:the Lords of Cinder, a line of Lords and heroes who selflessly submit themselves to the flame]].