Salt and Sanctuary / Characters

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Friendly NPCs

Black Sands Sorcerer

A sorcerer from Kulka'as who had been sailing to Liven with his fellow sorcerers when he was shipwrecked on the island. First encountered at the top of the Ziggurat of Dust, where he gives you the Dart Brand.

Driven to Suicide: He comes to realize the true nature of the island and decides there's only one way out. Your last conversation with him takes place on the Shivering Shore, where you first washed up on the island, and he implies that after you leave, he's going to walk out into the sea to drown himself.
Black Sands Sorcerer: This island wants me to kneel. To abandon my soul to it... I can't... I won't. I should've died at sea. I... I can still die at sea.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: Forms something of a trio with the Despondent Thief and the Masterless Knight, with them all being NPCs who can be encountered at various points throughout the game and give you a rare upgrade material in your final meeting. He's obviously the mage of the three.
Hero of Another Story: He travels around the island for his own reasons, and independently uncovers the secrets of its unearthly nature.
Side Quest: Finding and speaking to him in all three locations he appears in will have him give you a Charred Tome, a rare upgrade material.
Wham Line: When he realized that something very strange is going on:
Black Sands Sorcerer: This ziggurat we're in... well... it reminds me of that great tomb built by the Sun King of Kulka'as. [...] When I found this ziggurat, I thought I'd gone mad. But I'm no stranger to dark magic. Imagine a demon that feeds off of the ruins of nations.... a demon that... "collects." Such a powerful being could dwell on this island. Or perhaps this island is the demon. And it feeds... claiming men, women, kings, countries.

Despondent Thief

A thief who had been hired to protect a nobleman who was sailing across the sea, before they were shipwrecked on the island. First encountered after the fight with the Kraekan Wyrm, where she gives you the Shadowflip Brand.

Action Girl: While you never actually see her do any fighting, she's clearly good enough in a fight to be able to make her way around the island.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: Forms something of a trio with the Black Sands Sorcerer and the Masterless Knight, with them all being NPCs who can be encountered at various points throughout the game and give you a rare upgrade material in your final meeting. She's obviously the thief of the three.
Foil: To you, the Player Character. Her situation is very similar to yours: she was the bodyguard to a nobleman who was being sent out to form a marriage alliance when the ship they were both on was attacked. When she finds out the nobleman wasn't a nobleman at all, but a slave, it raises some dark implications about your mission as well.
Heroic BSoD: As her name indicates, she's in the middle of one of these when you first encounter her, having grown too despondent to move anymore. Killing the Kraekan Wyrm cheers the thief up enough to get back up and continue on her journey. But once she finds out her nobleman was really a slave, she falls back into it again and this time decides the only worthwhile thing to do is to get off the island at once.
Hero of Another Story: She travels around the island for her own reasons, and independently uncovers the secrets of its unearthly nature.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once she starts to realize how weird and wrong the island is, she decides the smartest thing to do is to make a boat out of the various wrecks on the Far Beach and sail to Coastrock.
Side Quest: Finding and speaking to her in all four locations she appears in will have her give you a Frozen Tome, a rare upgrade material.
Wham Line: When she realized that something very strange is going on:
Despondent Thief: I... I found him. My nobleman, I mean. I recognized his dress, I'd only seen him from afar before, but there he was, up close, dead. I cut his robes off in search of jewels. You know what I found? I found a brand on his neck. They don't put brands on the necks of noblemen. Know who they put brands on the necks of? Slaves. A slave in nobleman's dress. What's a slave doing in nobleman's dress?

Luna Sage

A strange man who is first encountered on a balcony of the Dome of the Forgotten, where he gives you the Hardlight Brand.

And Your Reward Is Clothes: Finding and speaking to him on the side of the Ziggurat of Dust after killing the Dried King has him give you his armor set.

Fern

A man found in the Village of Smiles, where he is apparently looking for a small bag of dirt that he lost.

And Your Reward Is Clothes: One of the possible rewards for returning his bag of dirt to him is the unique White Armor set.
Fetch Quest: He will reward you if you find the bag of earth he's looking for.
Guide Dang It!: There are four possible rewards for completing his side quest, and which one you get depends on your response to two yes-or-no questions with no indication as to what the different rewards actually are. The odds of getting an item that is actually useful to your character aren't great.

The Candlelit Lady

A woman encountered underneath the Village of Smiles. She can cleanse the player character of sin and corruption if paid enough salt.

Ambiguously Human: She looks human, but she has a candlelit soul, something that seems to normally only be possessed by some gods and at least one very powerful kraeken. Some fans theorize that she may even be Devara Herself.
Light Is Good: A kind and gentle being who is heavily associated with light and can cleanse you of sin and corruption.

The Old Man

An old man who is first met on the Shivering Shore, shortly after you awaken from your shipwreck. He gives you your first creed icon and directs you to the nearby sanctuary. He later reveals that he is actually Jaret, King of Storms and a servant of the Nameless God.

Chekhov's Gunman: King Jaret is one of many figures you'll read about in the game's Flavor Text, particularly about anything concerning the Castle of Storms. It's eventually revealed that he's the old man who's been guiding you since the very beginning.
Deal with the Devil: His servitude to the Nameless God seems to have been the result of one of these.
I wanted so much from life. Satisfaction eluded me. And the things I prayed for... well... would you believe a god actually answered my prayers?
Fallen Hero: The old man who welcomes you on the island at the beginning of the game reveals just before the final dungeon that he's actually King Jaret from the original Castle of Storms who fell into temptation and ended up a servant to the Nameless God.
I Have Many Names: When you meet him for the last time in The Still Palace, Jaret tells you that he has held many names and titles long ago. But then he subverts this trope by concluding that titles, fame and infamy are worthless on the island... And you'll never get to know what those names are.
Info Dump: Appears right before the Still Palace to explain the Nameless God's motivations and the fact he's actually Jaret, King of Storms.
Title Drop: A variation. While it is not an exact mention of the game's title. A line said by the Old Man Jaret near The Still Palace contains two out of the three words.
Old Man: Alas, we are born of Salt, bound by Sanctuary.
Wham Line: From the Old Man once you reach the Siam Lake:
Old Man: Fleshy flotsam... with a shared secret. You are all the betrayed, you are. I've seen slaves and whores masquerading as nobles. I've seen soldiers and sailors wrecked from the same ship with different ideas as to what their mission was. You sad, sad wanderers. Do you know by whom you were betrayed? And why? You had your princess to find. Or did you?

Alde Griggs

An unusual merchant found in the Mire of Stench.

Cloudcuckoolander: Some of his dialogue is odd, to say the least.
Alde Griggs: You ever drink pessmud out of a boot?
Shout-Out: His name, location, appearance, and dialogue are all a references to the The Mighty Boosh episode "The Legend of Old Gregg".

Minty Skell

A woman encountered behind a locked door in Hager's Cavern. She sells a few useful upgrade materials, but only to those who prove themselves by showing her a sufficiently impressive trophy.

Action Girl: Implies that the wares she sells are from monsters she's killed.
Red Baron: Introduces herself as "Devil Skell the Fearless, Scourge of the Red", but says you can just call her "Mints".
There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: Harvesters and Plants according to her. She'll only deal with you if you can sufficiently prove that you're a Harvester by bringing her a Red Lord's Ear.

The Mad Jester

A jester encountered after the False Jester, where he gives you the Vertigo Brand.

Beware the Silly Ones: He's clearly insane, but the fact that he can even survive on the island implies he's more dangerous than he seems. He also seems to have some insight into what's actually going on with the island.
Mad Jester: Island full of wicked things, shattered lands and broken kings. Ruled, ruler, rule, heed the wisdom of the fool.
Cloudcuckoolander: He isn't called the "mad" jester for nothing.
Crown of Horns: The Jester's Crown he wears has two bell-covered antlers sticking out of it.
Gravity Screw: Both times he's encountered, he's sitting upside-down on the bottom of a platform, presumably with the help of the Vertigo Brand.
Rhymes on a Dime: All of his dialogue is in rhyme.
Mad Jester: Greetings friend you've come to chatter? From where I sit, you seem the madder! Fork, spoon, knife, and a drowned man's wife.

The Masterless Knight

A man wearing plate armor and wielding a polearm. He's first encountered outside the Festering Banquet.

And the Adventure Continues: The final encounter with him has him state that even though he's at the end of this quest, he's not finished questing.
Masterless Knight: One quest ends, but a dozen more take its place.
Expy: The Masterless Knight can be considered one for Siegmeyer of Catarina, due to his love of endless questing and adventuring.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: Forms something of a trio with the Despondent Thief and the Black Sands Sorcerer, with them all being NPCs who can be encountered at various points throughout the game and give you a rare upgrade material in your final meeting. He's obviously the fighter of the three.
Hero of Another Story: He travels around the island for his own reasons, and independently uncovers the secrets of its unearthly nature.
Side Quest: Finding and speaking to him in all six locations he appears in will have him give you a King's Orders, a rare upgrade material.
Walking the Earth: The Masterless Knight admits to have been questing for its own sake since he was 13. Even being trapped on the island has done nothing to quell his sense of adventure.
Warrior Poet: He is shown to have a very philosophical mindset, as he ends every conversation with a proverb of wisdom.
Masterless Knight: Excuses are the lies we tell everyone we know... including ourselves.
Wham Line: When he realized that something very strange is going on:
Masterless Knight: The Red Hall of Cages should not be here. It should be in Askaria. It's an infamous dungeon there, well known for its legacy of blood and misery. So why is it here? Even... that castle we were just in. Did it not remind you of Cloudencasse in Kulka'as? I've never seen it in person, actually, but I know enough about it to know that that castle did not belong here. Cloudencasse... the Red Hall... these are near-perfect replicas, all together here. Is this the work of some mad architect?

The Mirekeeper

A member of the Bloodbrow, a secret society of monster hunters. She is encountered at the end of the Mire of Stench, where she gives you the Redshift Brand

Action Girl: She is stated to be a monster hunter, so this is a given.
Hunter of Monsters: She's a member of the Bloodbrow, a secret society of magic-wielding monster hunters.
Lost Technology: Or lost magic in this case. She states that the art of creating Redshift barriers was created by the Bloodbrow to contain monsters, but has since been lost to time.

The Nomad

A beggar who was a stowaway on a ship that was wrecked in a storm, after which he washed up on the island. He can be encountered in the Festering Banquet, but later moves to the Castle of Storms where he sells the armor of defeated bosses.

Expy: The Nomad is one for Domhnall of Zena, selling boss armour sets after the appropriate boss is defeated.
Unusable Enemy Equipment: He exists to avert this, as he sells the armor sets worn by most of the bosses you defeat.

Creeds

The Three

A religion worshiping three gods: The King, who creates laws by which all men must abide, The Judge, who decides which men have broken the King's laws, and The Knight, who carries out the King's sentence against guilty men. The newest of the creeds, it is the de facto religion of most of the world due to the powerful influence of the nation of Askaria.

Their holy icon is a three-branched candelabra.

Awful Truth: The most widely-worshipped gods in the world are now rotting zombies under the control of the monstrously evil Nameless God, who has been using their Creed to cause worldwide strife for hundreds of years.
Booze-Based Buff: Their focus-restoring item is spiced mead. This is a straightforward healing item which has no downsides, unlike the wine offered by the House of Splendor which inflicts poison if consumed too rapidly.
Crutch Character: It is one of the stronger creeds to start the game with due to the high variety of items sold by their vendors and the ability to get rare weapon buff items. It's also the most balanced of the three starting Creeds, though it does favor melee builds thanks to the buffs available to the Creed. However, it becomes one of the weakest creeds later in the game once weapon buffs become easier to purchase due to its lack of any unique reward items for devotion.
Crystal Dragon Jesus: It shares a few aesthetic similarities with Christianity, such as worshiping a trinity and their holy icon resembling a cross.
Healing Potion: Their healing item is Red Flasks, bottles filled with a red liquid that heals wounds. The consumable Red Shards are also made by them.
Path of Inspiration: Pretty much what spoiler they are, or have devolved into. The Knight, the King, and the Judge are little more than decaying husks barely clinging to life. Every prayer directed to them is implicitly heard by the Nameless God instead, who's been using the creed to drown the world in endless war for centuries.

Devara's Light

A religion worshiping Devara, the goddess of light, humility, kindness, and forgiveness. It is the oldest still-practiced religion in the setting, though it's been slowly dying out for centuries.

Their holy icon is a clay pitcher.

Cain and Abel: Devara is the Abel to Azredak's Cain. Devara is the patron goddess of the Devara's Light creed, and upholds the virtues of kindness, humility, and forgiveness. Her brother, Azredak, leads the Order of the Betrayer, which calls for murdering indiscriminately and spreading malice across the world - fittingly, Azredak intends to one day murder Devara.
Death of the Old Gods: While it's still widely practiced, the creed has been slowly dying out over the centuries. Most of that is due to being supplanted by the younger religion of the Three.
God of Good: Devara is described as a healer and protector of the downtrodden and the goddess of humility, kindness, forgiveness, and light.
Good Is Not Soft: Despite being a kind and nurturing goddess, Devara is described as holding "limitless spite" for evil.
Holy Water / Heal It with Water: Their healing item is the Water of Blessing, which also grants anyone who drinks it a temporary defense bonus.
Light Is Good: See God of Good.
The Old Gods: Devara, the Goddess of Light. Her Creed is the oldest one known and still widely followed, though its membership has been dwindling over the centuries. It specializes in healing and prayers, making it well suited to cleric and paladin builds.

The Iron Ones

An atheistic creed followed in the northern kingdoms, the Iron Ones (also known as Mountainsmiths) worship no gods, relying only on the iron will of man.

Their holy icon is a sphere forged of precious metals.

Does Not Like Magic: The Old Man at the beginning of the game states that they hate magic (Not because of any inherent distrust in sorcery itself, but because magic requires one to call upon a higher power, and the Iron Ones don't do that), and they have a much smaller selection of spells for sale compared to most other creeds.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite being atheistic, they still have clerics you can purchase prayers from. Not even the clerics seem to know why they're there.
Humans Are Special: If they worship anything, it would be casting off the need for gods and placing their faith solely in "the iron will of man", firmly believing humanity can stand on its own two feet metaphysically.
Hyperactive Metabolism: Their healing item is a Hearty Roll, which is still perfectly good at healing despite being a seemingly ordinary piece of bread. A justification for this can be found in one of the snippets of worldbuilding in the skill tree, which states that the north has a strong cultural association between baking and physical health and many of their bakers are also healers who bake medical herbs into bread.
Nay-Theist: They bow to no gods and are stated to revere only the iron will of mankind. Oddly enough, they still have clerics who can teach prayers. Among the three starting Creeds, it is the most suited to builds that rely less on magic and more on martial prowess.
Shock and Awe: The only creed to sell shockstone or glowing shot, and one of their devotion rewards is a reusable shockstone.

The Stone Roots

The followers of this creed, known as Woodswraiths, do not worship a god, instead revering the spirit of the forest. The creed is often viewed with suspicion because of their mastery of poison.

Their holy icon is a moss-covered stone in the shape of an acorn.

All the Other Reindeer: Followers of the creed are viewed with suspicion because of their mastery of poison.
Dark Is Not Evil: Despite using poison and having a darker theme than Devara or The Three, they are not at all evil.
Healing Herb: Their healing and focus-restoring items are both medicinal herbs.
Nature Spirit: What they worship instead of the gods.
Poisoned Weapons: This is the Stone Roots' thing. They specialize in poisoned weapons and ammunition and sell a variety of items that apply poison damage.

The Keepers of Fire and Sky

A creed that is made up of mages who revere the interplay of fire and sky, the basis for destructive arcane magic.

Their holy icon is a Living Tome, a strange book that is constantly changing.

Healing Potion: Flasks of Fire, their healing item. The description states that is literally the essence of fire alchemically distilled into liquid form.
Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: They basically worship this.
Mana Potion: Bottled Sky, their focus-restoring item. The description states that is literally the essence of sky alchemically distilled into liquid form.
Unequal Rites: Discussed and Averted. Speaking to one of their clerics will have them say that while one may expect a creed so focused on destructive elemental magic to look down on gentler healing prayer, the fact that they use so much destructive elemental magic is exactly why having healers is so important. You don't disrespect the guy who can heal injuries when you have apprentices hurling fireballs and lightning bolts around.

The House of Splendor

An unusual creed focused on amassing as much gold as possible, many of the members of this creed are rotting away from grayrot, and so cover themselves with gold to hide their decaying appearance. They worship a pair known as the Fool and the Prophet, who extol hedonism in all things.

Their holy icon is a golden mask.

Awesome, but Impractical: The Axe of Splendor is noted in its description to be about as effective in combat as one would expect from an axe made of solid gold. Subverted in gameplay, where, if you have the stats to make it work, it's actually incredibly practical, and one of the best one-handed weapons in the game (though the price tag makes it impractical in its own way).
Beware the Silly Ones: A cult devoted to hedonism might be hard to take seriously, but they are able to craft surprisingly powerful weapons and armor, their wine bestows very potent abilities, and their connection to the Warp gives them access to some of the strongest spells in the game.
Bling-Bling-BANG!: They sell the Axe of Splendor, an axe made of solid gold.
Bling of War: They offer the Resplendent armor set, which is steel armor with a gold trim. Its description states that despite the gold, it's surprisingly practical due to its expert craftsmanship. Wearing the set also increases the amount of gold dropped by enemies.
Body Horror: Implied. These guys caught a nasty case of Grayrot, which causes their flesh to rot away, so they adorn themselves in exquisite robes and golden masks to hide their scarred appearances.
Booze-Based Buff: Not only are their health and focus-restoring items booze, but one of their devotion rewards is Goldenwine(though it's more of a liqueur), which gives you a large buff to damage, defenses, and the odds of enemies dropping gold. Drinking any of them too much poisons you.
Gold Fever: They wear gold masks to hide their Grayrotted faces, offer a unique consumable liqueur with gold flakes in it that increases gold find rate, use golden silk cloths to remove poison, and at higher levels of devotion sell expensive golden armor and a golden axe which is one of the best (and priciest) one-handed weapons in the game if you have the stats to rock it.
The Hedonist: Unabashedly so, these guys are an entire cult of them.
Higher Understanding Through Drugs: Or Higher Understanding Through Wine, in this case. The House of Splendor's mages believes that dulling one's inhibitions draws out their primal connection to the Warp, which enhances their magical abilities. To that end, they believe in forever partaking in revelry and indulging in wine to strengthen their connection to the Warp. They do actually sell some of the most powerful spells in the game, so they might well be onto something.
Non-Indicative Name: The description of Goldenwine notes that it's actually a liqueur rather than a wine.

Order of the Betrayer

A creed worshiping Azredak the Betrayer, the evil brother of Devara.

Their holy icon is a human skull adorned in candles made of wax infused with human blood.

Bad with the Bone: They sell two unique weapons made of bone: the Sacrificial Garrote and the Gravedigger.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Most of them wear black and their unique items are mostly either black or red. Most of the red comes from blood.
Blood Magic: The Order's specialty. The Blood Spells offered by the Order of the Betrayer are powerful, but also debuff your character after each use. The Betrayer craves bloodshed, so his gifts require that his followers shed some of their own blood to spill the blood of others, and their Creed items are being made out of processed blood:
- The Blood Vial contains magically treated human blood that heals the injuries of those who drink it, as well as corrupting them a little.
- The Flask of Defilement is made up of tainted blood which lowers the resistances of those doused in it. Anyone who is affected by this is visibly dripping with black blood for its duration.
Cain and Abel: Azredak is the Cain to Devara's Abel. Devara is the patron goddess of the Devara's Light creed, and upholds the virtues of kindness, humility, and forgiveness. Her brother, Azredak, leads the Order of the Betrayer, which calls for murdering indiscriminately and spreading malice across the world. And fittingly, Azredak intends to one day murder Devara.
Card-Carrying Villain: Those who follow the Order of the Betrayer are openly sadistic, with some members gleefully saying how they prefer to kill women, children, and anyone who can't fight back.
The Corruption: Using Blood Vials increases a hidden stat called "Corruption." Having high corruption causes other Creeds to be automatically hostile towards the player and turns the border of the screen black.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Pretty much everyone you can find who's affiliated with the Order of the Betrayer is sporting sickly pale skin and black hair, in keeping with their ominous nature. They also appear to be from Tristin, which gives them a creepy Cheshire Cat Grin as well.
Leap of Faith: Reaching the Blackest Vault, where the Order of the Betrayer sanctuary is located, requires you to jump off several ledges and take fall damage from the long drop. Missing a ledge will kill you with fall damage. There is a way to tell which side of the ledge to drop down from: see which side of the ledge has water flowing down from it.
Religion of Evil: A bunch of murderers who worship a god of murder and treachery. Wanna prove you're a bad enough dude to roll with them? First, you have to prove your chops and attempt to desecrate another Creed's Sanctuary(it's fine if you die in the process) just for the opportunity to sign up. Wanna climb the ranks? Increasing your devotion to the Creed requires successfully desecrating other Creeds' Sanctuaries. They are so evil that merely drinking its healing consumable corrupts you a little. Unsurprisingly, the Creed specializes in debuff items and dark magic.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: They sell the Grim armor set, which their creed members also generally wear. It consists of cloth lined with human bones, to really hammer home what a fun bunch you're dealing with.

Bosses

The Unspeakable Deep

A Kraekan in its most common form. Creatures like these once had a name, but sailors so feared possibly conjuring one by speaking its name that referring to them as simply the Deep became widespread. Whatever their true name is, it has since been lost to the deep, dark sea.

A large kraekan encountered on the ship at the start of the game. Its main purpose is to kill you and start the adventure, but it is possible to defeat it, in which case the ship goes down in the storm anyway.

Damage-Sponge Boss: At the point where you encounter it, the Unspeakable Deep has a lot of health while you are unable to deal or take much damage. Defeating it is very much a test of patience.
Expy: Its appearance is an obvious reference to Cthulhu and its function is identical to the Vanguard from Demon's Souls, being a massive starter boss that's meant to kill you and start the adventure.
He Who Must Not Be Named: It used to have a proper name, but it has been lost out of fear that just saying it would make it appear. So now, it is merely referred to as "The Unspeakable Deep."
Hopeless Boss Fight: Subverted. It's tough, it can one-shot you very easily, and you're in large part expected to die against it, but the Unspeakable Deep can be defeated, and doing so gets you a healthy heap of salt and a Drowned Tome, which there is otherwise only one of in the entire game.
Metal Slime: An odd example. While it doesn't run away from you, you only have one chance to defeat it (unless you exploit a glitch) and it drops some very rare and valuable items.
Our Demons Are Different: They’re called Kraekan, for one, and they’re mostly aquatic, with some quite notable exceptions.
Sequence Breaking: There is an easily-exploitable glitch that allows you to fight The Unspeakable Deep again if you fail to defeat it during the first level. Since the sinking ship is actually located above the Shivering Shore, climbing the first ladder and pressing the roll and jump buttons repeatedly at the same time (or binding them both to one key) causes you character to float upwards until you can return to the ship. You can even do this while you are near the end-game and return to the Shivering Shore. With higher stats and better equipment than when you first encounter The Unspeakable Deep, you can technically One-Hit Kill the boss.
Unique Enemy: You'll only ever encounter and fight it once per character. Every subsequent New Game Plus cycle will skip over the ship level it appears in.

The Sodden Knight

The stoic protector of The Festering Banquet, the Sodden Knight bears decades of dried sea air on his tattered shroud.

The first proper boss of the game, the Sodden Knight is fought on the roof of the Festering Banquet. He is a massive undead knight wielding a large sword and lightning magic.

Convenient Weakness Placement: Has a crippling weakness to fire to the point that about 3-5 Birian Firepots are enough to kill him, and there is a Stone Merchant found halfway through the Festering Banquet alongside a shortcut back to the Sanctuary, where you can summon the merchant and buy as many Firepots as your wallet will allow... unless you're a follower of Devara, in which case your Merchant will sell Lightvessels instead.
Cool Sword: Wields a humongous straight falchion known as the Shrouded Bulwark. The description mentions how much he hated shields and how he always went into battle wielding his sword with both hands.
Fallen Hero: See Was Once a Man.
Glowing Eyes of Doom / Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: His eyes begin to glow a pale blue when he Turns Red.
Kill It with Fire: Possesses a weakness to fire damage.
Magic Knight: A hulking, heavily armored swordsman who wields lightning spells.
Optional Boss: Unintentionally so, but the Sodden Knight can be skipped if you make a very precise Leap of Faith from the correct ledge, landing on a platform just high enough that the fall damage doesn't kill you.
Shock and Awe: One of his attacks is to discharge electricity into the ground, creating small waves of lightning that must be rolled through or jumped over.
Turns Red: He begins to attack much more viciously once he reaches half health, attacking more quickly and adding new attacks to catch unwary players off-guard.
Wake-Up Call Boss: The Sodden Knight serves as a perfect "WELCOME TO SALT AND SANCTUARY" whack to the player's head, demonstrating exactly the sort of skills you are going to need in order to get through the island. Beating him requires a display of every basic skill that'll get you through the rest of the game (namely read enemy patterns, anticipate them, then dodge or block with the right timing) and (especially to those who haven't played Souls-likes before) he will keep you at bay until you can truly "Git Gud" and learn the proper playstyle.
Was Once a Man: The description of the Shrouded Bulwark states that he was once Sir Francis the Resolute, a martyred hero of Tristin who has now arisen in cursed undeath.

The Queen of Smiles

Cruel wraith queen of Liven, she loved to adorn her city walls with the grotesquely smiling corpses of her victims. In life, she wielded the fabled Sword of Reign, and in undeath, she wields a thousand more.

The boss of the Village of Smiles, and the second boss that most players fight. She is an extremely tall undead surrounded by floating swords and wearing the tattered, filth-encrusted remains of a dress.

Absurd Phobia: She was intensely afraid of a great number of odd things, including cats, twins, gourds, sea foam green, and the number 14, and the phobias only grew in number over time.
Ancestral Weapon: Her weapon of choice Black Widow is stated to have been originally carried by Liven's founding matriarch, Gandra the Warrior, and handed down through generations of her successors until finally reaching the hands of Queen Lenaia.
Arranged Marriage: Lenaia was Tristini, and her betrothal to King Adnan of Liven was a loveless diplomatic union. Her husband died and she was left to rule alone, in a foreign land she knew little of.
Artifact of Death: Her sword, the Black Widow, seems to have been the reason for her madness and tyranny. Thankfully, it has no effect on any player who wields it.
The rivers of blood spilled by this cursed sword over the ages are said to have swallowed its prior owners, all of whom descended into violent madness after falling under its influence.
The Caligula: She was said to be as eccentric as she was bloodthirsty, and suffered from a variety of bizarre phobias.
The Mad Queen Lenaia had a plethora of eclectic fears and phobias including cats, twins, gourds, sea foam green, and the number 14. Her list of phobias was ever-lengthening, and each new addition was accompanied by a predictable escalation of tantrums, gaolings, banishments, and executions.
Convenient Weakness Placement: The Queen of Smiles is weak to holy damage, and three Blessed Pages are found right before her boss room.
Dual Wielding: Her standard melee attack has her poke out swords from her sleeves and use them to slash or impale the player. Her description mentions that she used to wield only one in life, but now she can employ several replicas.
Facial Horror: See Nightmare Face and Glasgow Grin.
Glasgow Grin: The Queen of Smiles specialized in doling these out on the many, many victims of her frequent rage- and paranoia-fueled purges. When her subjects finally turned on her, they only thought it fair to give her "the widest smile of them all". If her wraith is any indication, they outdid her by prying her lower jaw off.
God Save Us from the Queen!: In life, she was a ruthless and violent tyrant whose reign was known as the reign of blood. She was infamous for decorating her kingdom with the grotesquely smiling corpses of the people she killed in her mad tantrums.
Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Her clothes are soiled and ruined now, but she's still wearing what's left of her royal finery underneath all that filth and blood as she shreds you to pieces with her swords.
Nightmare Face: She has no jaw, black pits where her eyes should be, and is also a rotted corpse.
Optional Boss: The Queen of Smiles is notable in that she is the second boss in the game, but you are not required to kill her at all to access the next area, the Watching Woods. Beating her allows access to some unique loot, but is totally unnecessary to beating the game.
Screaming Warrior: All of her attacks are accompanied by her wailing like a banshee.
Turns Red: Once she reaches half health she begins to move and attack more quickly, as well as gaining an attack where she wildly flails her swords around while quickly moving across the arena.
Was Once a Man: Was once a tyrannical queen of Liven, and is now a horribly disfigured undead monstrosity.

The Mad Alchemist

Once known as Ruzpin, Grand Ter of Alchemy and Salves, this mindless creature has become a murderous, mindless husk of its former glory.

The boss of the Watching woods, the Mad Alchemist is a large man wearing a plague doctor's uniform. He attacks by throwing out vials that generate different magical effects.

Alchemy Is Magic: He throws out differently-colored vials that produce different magical effects in order to attack you.
Ambiguously Human: It's unclear as to whether he's undead or just driven mad by decades of exposure to poisonous vapors.
Flunky Boss: His green vials spawn a cloud of poison gas as well as a poison cytoplasm.
Glass Cannon: He can deal a large amount of damage (especially after he Turns Red), but he has relatively low health.
Optional Boss: You can bypass the fight by just jumping down an elevator shaft that can be activated after beating him, leaving you right next to the Kraekan Cyclops.
Plague Doctor: He wears one of their beaked masks, which are apparently commonly worn by alchemists to protect from potentially dangerous vapors produced by alchemy.
Playing with Fire: His red vials create three fireballs that hover in midair for a few moments before shooting in the player's direction.
Rush Boss: The Mad Alchemist is a Glass Cannon whose attacks, at that point in the game, are more or less impossible to just ignore due to their erratic nature and sheer volume. You can't tank them, either, because he's got excellent elemental coverage with them, and only elemental attacks which heavy armor does little about. As such, the boss fight ends up being a battle of damage, trying to end him before the bottled potion spam becomes too much to bear.
Shock and Awe: His blue vials spawn three balls of lightning that hover over the arena shooting lighting below themselves.
Sinister Scythe: His purple vials spawn a dark cloud that shoots two small scythes at you before it dissipates.
Turns Red: When he falls below half health he starts to attack more quickly and throw out purple vials more often. He also throws three purple vials out at a time rather than just one, making the attack far more dangerous.
Wake-Up Call Boss: The third boss, the Mad Alchemist, proves a challenge for new players. Whereas the first two bosses are fairly ponderous with easy to read tells, the Alchemist moves very fast, spamming his potions across the arena to unleash fireballs, lightning storms, spectral blades, and poisonous blobs. If he isn't finished quickly, the player will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of spells piling up in the boss arena. Relying too much on sword and board will prove to be fatal, as the elemental and poison attacks chew through your meager defences at such an early point in the game.

Kraekan Cyclops

A one-eyed behemoth of the Kraekan origin. The Kraekan are an often spoken of, scarcely seen race of ancient demons of the sea. The sea is a vast, terrifying and deadly place, and when sailors do not return, rumors abound.

An enormous one-eyed humanoid kraekan covered in sea urchin-like spines and wielding a massive axe. It is encountered in the Sunken Keep.

Cyclops: A massive one-eyed beast resembling a humanoid sea urchin.
It Can Think: The description of the Headtaker implies that it can, despite kraekan being generally regarded as nothing more than mindless vicious beasts.
Although crude and primitive at the first glance, even the minimal level of sophistication required to craft this monstrous weapon seems inconsistent with the outwardly brutish creature that carried it. Could it be that the Kraekan, long regarded as mere predators of the deep acting upon base instinct alone, are something else entirely...?
Optional Boss: The fight can be easily skipped over if you've killed the Mad Alchemist, as the only thing of note dropped by the Kraekan Cyclops is a key that lets you skip the False Jester.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Its one eye glows crimson.
Roar Before Beating: Will let out inhuman shrieks with most of his powerful axe swings.
Spikes of Villainy: Just to show how much of a threat is, the Cyclops's entire head and back are covered in massive spikes. Given the sea motif of the Kraekan as a whole, they make him look like a giant humanoid urchin.
Turns Red: It becomes much faster and more aggressive once it falls below 50% health.

The False Jester

A formidable Kraekan of undefined shape. The False Jester assumed this form to lure, snare, and impale adventurers in search of the true jester.

A shapeshifting kraekan that can be fought in the Sunken Keep. It is currently trying to mimic the appearance of the Mad Jester in order to prey upon those who are trying to find him.

Monster Clown: Took the appearence of the Jester to lure in adventurers, though apparently he couldn't be bothered to fully disguise, revealing an inhuman face, gray hide and abnormally long arms.
Optional Boss: Can be skipped over entirely if you have the key dropped by the Kraekan Cyclops.
Royal Rapier: Jesters usually lived in courts, as such his disguised is complimented by his weapon of choice: a sharp steel rapier.
Turns Red: Once it falls below half health it begins to behave much more aggressively.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: The False Jester chose its form in order to trick people who were looking for the actual jester.
You Cannot Grasp the True Form: The False Jester is described in the Bestiary as being "of undefined shape", which could possibly mean it has no true form at all.

The Kraekan Wyrm

A greater wyrm of Kraekan origin. Wyrms, drakes and dragons once inhabited the mountains of Markdor, but scholars and historians consider their era to be long gone, the last of their kind valiantly slaughtered by brave Dorian Warriors.

A large, dragon-like kraekan fought at the top of the Castle of Storms.

Breath Weapon: Capable of breathing fire. Thankfully, the area preceding the fight contains both a ring and a shield that offer protection from fire damage.
Draconic Abomination: All kraekans are basically lesser Eldritch Abominations, and this one just happens to be dragon-shaped.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: One of its attacks is to fly off screen before flying back in to breathe fire all over a section of the arena. While it's not too hard to dodge, it's very difficult to deal any damage during this attack and it has an annoying habit of sometimes doing it several times in a row.
Our Dragons Are Different: The Kraekan Wyrm has an armored dragon body, with functional wings and powerful tail
Tail Slap: One of its attacks it to sweep the ground around it with its tail, damaging nearby players.
Turns Red: Once it falls below half health, it sometimes follows its breath attack up with a pounce.
Wake-Up Call Boss: The Kraekan Wyrm poses considerably greater challenge than the previous boss fights, and you do not want to get into its fight unprepared. It is there to teach you just how dangerous the wounding mechanic can be — should you come unprepared, you can easily end up with your max HP halved a minute into the boss fight.

The Tree of Men

A corporeal manifestation of tools of torture. No inanimate object should be capable of malice, but in a world of vengeful spirits and arcane magic, anything is possible.

A mass of torture devices and corpses, animated by bloodshed and malice. It is fought at the bottom of the Red Hall of Cages.

Attack Its Weak Point: The Tree of Men is a gigantic boss that can only be damaged by attacking its glowing parts. These are specific hanging corpses on the first phase, and its head during the second.
Breath Weapon: It gains a glowing cinder in its head during its second phase, allowing it to expel roaring gouts of flame. In its first phase, the Hanged Men dangling from it are able to magically influence the Fire Traps in the room for a similar effect, necessitating a lot of hopping between platforms.
Haunted Technology: A vaguely humanoid pile of torture equipment animated by the angry spirits of the Red Hall of Cages' many, many prisoners.
Humongous Mecha: The Tree of Men is a Haunted Technology version of this, being a freaky amalgamation of torture devices decorated with its victims hanging off its limbs.
Improvised Golems: A titanic colossus formed from discarded torture equipment cobbled together by the restless souls of said equipment’s myriad victims, who have become a sort of spectral Hive Mind, to serve as a physical body. It seems to enjoy adding to the ranks by turning its victims into the Hanged Men adorning its frame.
Wake-Up Call Boss: In most boss fights, you could simply roll through most attacks or even take them and just just heal back the damage you took. But against The Tree of Men, you need to attack specific weak points and make use of the environment to do so, while also paying attention to where you stand. This is where you learn that rolling is not everything, and that you better learn some actual platforming if you want to keep going.

The Disemboweled Husk

Shell of the former Dread Pirate Hager. He has been disemboweled, and a small doll dwells in his gaping body cavity, controlling his actions like a tiny marionette.

The remains of an infamous pirate, now horrifically mutilated and subject to a Fate Worse than Death. He is fought in Hager's Cavern.

And I Must Scream: From various descriptions around the area, it would seem Hager's Cavern wasn't a hideout for the titular Dread Pirate, but a prison designed to torment him at every turn. The skeletons and Armor Mites may have arrived there later, but the witch in charge put several vicious wraiths as both wardens and torturers for Hager, specifically made to be "eternal wardens to his suffering". It's implied that Hager may still be aware of what is going on around him, and the fact that he is a horrifically mutilated corpse being controlled against his will by a doll.
Dressed to Plunder: Wears the standard pirate tricorn and naval jacket.
Fate Worse than Death: The description of the Seawolf Cutlass explicitly calls his current situation this.
Throughout the continents it is often said that there are fates worse than death. This mangled blade and its grotesquely-mutilated former owner are chilling proof of that somber adage.
Ghost Pirate: Or in this case a zombie pirate.
Holy Burns Evil: Possesses a weakness to holy damage.
Puppeteer Parasite: A small doll dwells in the empty cavity of the Disemboweled Husk, controlling the dread pirate's body and movements like a marionette. The doll drops after killing him as his transmutation material.
Sword and Gun: Wields both the Seawolf Cutlass and a powerful gun.
Turns Red: Once he falls below half health, he becomes more aggressive with his pistol and will often combo shots into slashes with his sword.
Was Once a Man: Was once a feared pirate, but is now a horrific undead monstrosity puppeteered by a small doll. It's stated that his current state is the work of a witch, though her exact motivations for inflicting this torment upon him are unclear.

That Stench Most Foul

Putrescent lord of the Mire of Stench. This hideous, foul creature is said to have emerged from an alchemical experiment once conducted by a Woodswraith alchemist with more ambition than caution. The creature was small at first, but upon eating its creator, not only did it grow, but it learned of its love of human flesh.

A massive floating abomination that appears to be a mass of mouths covered in shaggy black hair. It is the boss of the Mire of Stench, the residents of which revere it as a god.

Flunky Boss: Occasionally expels Stenchpods from its body, floating semi-sentient mouths about the size of an adult human.
God Guise: The inhabitants of the Mire of Stench seems to worship That Stench Most Foul, despite it being little more than a hungry horror.
Holy Burns Evil: It takes bonus damage from holy attacks.
Hungry Menace: Rather than being a tortured being or driven by sentient malice, That Stench Most Foul is merely an all-consuming abomination created by an alchemical mistake.
Kill It with Fire: It's weak to fire damage.
Mook Maker: Spends a good part of the fight creating Stenchpods from its mass.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: It's essentially just a floating mass of toothy maws.
Poisonous Person: Its so filthy and repulsive that all of its attacks inflict poison damage. It also occasionally discharges clouds of toxic gas.
Turned Against Their Masters: That Stench Most Foul grew from its initial small size by eating its own creator (who is said to have had more ambition than caution). It kept growing after that, since it ended up enjoying the taste of human flesh.

The Untouched Inquisitor

Alasdair, True Priest of Light, Voice of Her Voice, The Untouched Inquisitor. A holy man who saw sin in what was once called the Dome of Light, he saw to it that that with sin was made sacrifice, so that the Untouched could flourish. The First Lamb was the congregation, the Second Lamb was Laineia, the Dome's Lady of Light, and the Third Lamb was Kinoa, her beloved pet.

The first boss encountered in the Dome of the Forgotten, the Untouched Inquisitor was a zealot who sacrificed the population of the entire dome in his zeal to wipe out sin. He is entirely concealed by a cloak, floating around the arena and swinging scythe-like blades.

Ambiguously Human: While his levitation and massive size can be explained by him possibly being some kind of ghost or other undead like most of the game's other humanoid bosses, the fact that his body is so totally obscured by his cloak and the fact that the description of the Headsman’s Voulge claims it’s made out of one of his “Scythe-like Claws” raise some questions about his true nature.
Blade on a Rope: He attacks with four scythe-like blades attached to chains, which he swings out to attack. The description of the Headsman’s Voulge claims it’s made out of one of his “Scythe-like Claws”, conjuring a very different picture.
In the Hood: He is completely concealed under a hooded cloak.
Kick the Dog: After believing that sin should be made as sacrifice, the Untouched Inquisitor sacrificed everyone within the Dome of Light - the first was his congregation, the second was the Lady of the Light, Laineia, and the Third was the latter's pet Kinoa.
Knight Templar: The Untouched Inquisitor came to a temple that may or may not have been filled with sinners. It is unknown if their sins were real, or just the Inquisitor's imagination, or if it was a combination of the two, but either way, he set to work with a will. By the time he was done, he was the only one left. Not even the Lady of Light's pet, The Third Lamb, was spared. The First and Second sacrificial lambs were the whole congregation and the lady herself.
Light Is Not Good: The Untouched Inquisitor is unquestionably holy by story and mechanics, but committed some of the most evil acts you will find on the entire island (which is saying a lot).
Power Floats: He is always hovering several feet off the ground.
Sinister Scythe: At the tip of his chains there are massive scythe blades, very sinister in the hands of someone so keen on exterminating anything he considered a sin.
The Sociopath: The description of the Purifier implies him to be this.
The soulless Inquisitor, burdened neither by emotion to cloud his judgment nor guilt to stay his hand, suffered no prejudice and knew no mercy. He handed down verdicts with frigid indifference and carried out sentences with irreproachable impunity.

The Third Lamb

A shadow of her former glory, the Third Lamb is the bound and broken thrall of the Untouched Inquisitor. There was a time when this hippogriff had pride, the praise of her master, and a name, but the Inquisitor saw sin in these things, and saw to it that they became sacrifices, like the Lamb itself.

Once known as Kinoa, the pet of the Dome of Light's Lady of Light, the Third Lamb was broken and mutilated as the last sacrifice made by the Untouched Inquisitor. It is the second and last boss encountered in the Dome of the Forgotten.

And I Must Scream: Seems to be the fate of The Third Lamb. While the first two Lambs, respectively the Congregation and the Lady of the Dome, were sacrificed by the Untouched Inquisitor and seemingly have died, the Third Lamb, despite having been "sacrificed" as well, is very much alive. The nature of the ominous sacrifice is never explained, but the Lamb in its current shape is described as "the bound and broken thrall of the Untouched Inquisitor", and it is said that "was made to sacrifice her will in service of the Inquisitor", along with "pride, the praise of her master, and a name". The general picture seems downright terrifying and makes killing the boss look like an act of mercy.
Beware My Stinger Tail: Has the tail of a scorpion.
Breath Weapon: Has the ability to release bolts of lightning from its beak.
Broken Angel: Its bestiary entry reveals that it was once a noble beast who had the praise of her master, her pride, and a name. The Untouched Inquisitor saw sin in those and made them sacrifices, just like the Third Lamb herself. The trope description "Now imagine someone took a sledgehammer to that marvel and left it bleeding and broken on the floor." may have been quite literal in this case, judging by the way the boss moves during the fight.
Fate Worse than Death: While its never explained exactly what the Inquisitor did to it, it's quite clear that death would be a mercy at this point.
Kill It with Fire: Has a weakness to fire damage.
Our Gryphons Are Different: She's called a hippogriff, but doesn't seem to have any horse-like traits. Her front half is birdlike and covered in fur, while her back half and wings are covered in colorful blue and green feathers. She also has a Manticore-like scorpion's tail.
Power Fist: One of the Third Lamb’s forepaws has been encased in a massive MagiTek gauntlet with serrated bladelike talons as long as greatswords.
Shock and Awe: See Breath Weapon.
Turns Red: After falling below half health she gains a new electrical attack and becomes much faster and more aggressive.
Wake-Up Call Boss: The Third Lamb poses considerably greater challenge than the previous boss fights, and you do not want to get into its fight unprepared. It gets incredibly erratic and much more aggressive in the second phase, and is perfectly capable of ending you very quickly.

The Dried King

The skeletal revenant of Quan In, Sun King of Kulka'as. He presided over his realm during an era of unrivaled prosperity, but with each year's bounty, his paranoia and despair increased more rapidly. Did it have something to do with the rumors about his long dead brother still having a hand in ruling the kingdom?

The boss fought at the top of the Ziggurat of Dust, The Dried King is the undead remains of an ancient king of Kulka'as.

The Caligula: A Downplayed example. He was a great and proud ruler for much of his life, but his twilight years were spent in paranoid madness, hiding in the Ziggurat of Dust and lashing out against imagined demons.
Holy Burns Evil: Like many undead, he is vulnerable to holy damage.
King Mook: He's more or less a massive version of the Ziggurat's lietches, with more health and a wider variety of attacks.
Our Liches Are Different: He fits the bill as a magic-wielding undead, and he is also the one that the Ziggurat's lietches serve.
Playing with Fire: All of his attacks are in the form of fire magic.
Turns Red: He begins to attack much faster once he falls below half health.
Was Once a Man: Once a proud and mighty ruler, now a shambling skeleton.

The Bloodless Prince

A massive, three-faced clay thing, said in secret to house the spirit of Tam In, brother of Quan In. Rumor holds that the creature was once the size of a man, but gradually built itself up from earth, choosing to bear three faces to better allow The Three to better bestow it with wisdom. Quan In is said to have both loved and hated this monstrosity, and his reliance on a thing he so reviled could have driven him mad.

The boss encountered at the bottom of the Ziggurat of Dust, The Bloodless Prince is a massive clay golem that supposedly houses the spirit of the Dried King's dead brother.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Easily one of the largest bosses, it's nigh-impossible to even roll past him due to his titanic size.
Death from Above: If you try to get away from the Bloodless Prince he'll simply leap and bodyslam you: due to his size, he can easily hit pretty much the entire arena.
Golem: It started out as man-sized clay figure that housed the spirit of the Sun King's deceased brother, but over time, it built itself up into a gargantuan monstrosity with three faces. It's one of the largest enemies you fight in the game.
Nightmare Face: It has three horrifying faces on one head.
Replacement Goldfish: The Bloodless Prince was this to The Dried King, back when the king was alive. Basically, the king built a false prince out of clay, and tried to use him as a replacement after his brother died. The... thing that it became would drive the king insane, either by just existing, or intentionally.

The Coveted and the Coveting

A strangely sharp stone executioner's axe. As the legend tells it, a royal executioner received it as a mysterious gift, and immediately took a liking to it. Power in the kingdom shifted, and before long, the executioner had used his axe on the entire royal family. Power shifted further, and the executioner became king. But the executioner never resigned from his grisly station, and the axe was well fed, though never satisfied.

An ethereal spirit. It may be the spirit of Executioner Erlang, or that of his son, Kuchet, but it doesn't really matter: both are spectral slaves with no identity, imprisoned forever by an otherworldly desire to possess the executioner's axe known as The Coveted.

The boss of the Ruined Temple, the Coveted is a massive stone axe said to make slaves of the souls it claims. The main danger of the boss comes from the Coveting, two ghosts that attack you while you try to destroy the Coveted, with one shooting bolts of magic at you while the other wields the axe.

And I Must Scream: The Coveting are enthralled to the axe, their personality, individuality, and free will having been stripped away.
Dual Boss: Since the Coveted cannot move on its own, the main danger comes from the two Coveting. Whichever is wielding the axe will approach and attack you with it, while the other fires off magical projectiles.
Evil Weapon / Artifact of Death: It's an Executioner's Axe that craves more victims. The ghosts that wield it are actually slaves to their desire for the Coveted (hence why they are called "The Coveting" in their bestiary description). The description of the scaled down weapon version transmuted from its ashes claims that all of its past owners eventually succumbed to increasingly unbridled and self-destructive desires. The axe is also said to be capable of enslaving the souls that it takes. Once wielded by Erland, the Executioner King, he died together with his son during a struggle over the axe. Fortunately, this has no in-game effect when wielded by the player character.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Just like the Black Widow, the version of the Coveted that can be wielded as a weapon has no adverse effects on a player who is wielding it despite the lore stating that any who wield it go violently insane.
King Mook: Besides being literal for one of them, the Coveting appear to be giant variants of the ghostly Whisperman Mooks.
Offing the Offspring / Self-Made Orphan: The two ghosts that appear during the fight are Erland, the Executioner King, and his son. They killed each other during a struggle over the axe.
Your Size May Vary: The version of the Coveted the player can use as a weapon is much, much smaller than the version fought as a boss.

Murdiella Mal

Murdiella Mal, the insectoid Kraekan, the Murderfly, the Queen of Moonless Sky. She exists partially in the ethereal fabric of fire and sky, her tendrils weaving in and out of the celestial realm.

An insectoid Kraekan that can be encountered at the top of Mal's Floating Castle. She resembles a vaguely humanoid grey moth or butterfly and attacks with blasts of holy energy.

Achilles' Heel: Menacing as she looks, all her attacks deal Holy damage. By wielding the right shield, you can pretty much No-Sell all her attacks.
Alliterative Name: Murdiella Mal.
Death Is Gray: Like most Kraekan, she's dull gray in color and one of the strongest and most evil of their kind.
Light Is Not Good: Murdiella Mal is an ethereal butterfly-like being who wields holy magic. She's just as monstrous and horrible as any other Kraekan.
The Magnificent: "Queen of the Moonless Sky."
Moth Menace: Despite one of her nicknames being "the Murderfly," she is more reminiscent of a moth with her grey coloration and connections to darkness and the night sky.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Murdiella sounds an awful lot like "murder" and "mal" literally just means "bad."
Optional Boss: Only fought if you choose to go to the somewhat-hidden bonus area of Mal's Floating Castle, and activate the Vertigo Brand in in that lets you reach the skies.
Teleportation: Has a habit of teleporting close to you without warning to sucker-punch you with a blast of magic.
Turns Red: She begins to teleport and attack much faster when below half health.

Ronin Cran

Ronin Cran, or Broken Cran, a name he earned from his famous broken greatsword, was a masterful knight in the service of Jaret, King of Storms, until his dishonorable discharge and subsequent flight by night.

Encountered in Cran's Pass, Ronin Cran is an optional boss that can be fought once you have the redshift and hardlight brands. He is a large, armored knight wielding a broken greatsword.

Expy: He's one for Knight Artorias — an optional disgraced knight who buffs himself up with darkness and has very persistent combos including a somersault attack.
Fallen Hero: A masterful knight who fled the Castle of Storms after some unspecified transgression.
Rōnin: Called as such despite being clearly based on the classical european medieval knight.
Optional Boss: He's somewhat hidden in an optional side area.
Turns Red: Once he falls below half health he begins to move and attack much faster and with more aggressive combos.
Wrecked Weapon: Ronin Cran's greatsword was broken during his flight from the Castle of Storms. While it's still a potent weapon, it can no longer be considered a proper sword — it's actually an Axe type weapon.

Carsejaw the Cruel

Admont, pretender Duke of Tristin, bastard son of Marquis Laborn. He claimed to have many enemies, and for a time, the people truly believed him, rallying behind him in his efforts to rid the duchy of witches and conspirators.

The boss of the Pitchwoods, Carsejaw the Cruel was once a tyrannical Duke who rallied the people in horrific witch hunts before public opinion soured and his subjects rose up against him.

Bastard Bastard: Carsejaw the Cruel was an illegitimate son, and his title of Duke was technically entirely fake due to this. It's believed that the shame he felt over this fact led to an ever-worse hunt for scapegoats to blame the nation's ills on, until he became the full-blown cunning and bloodthirsty tyrant he's now known as.
BFS: Wields a massive black sword with pale white edges known as Scharfrichter. According to the description, it was forged to be an execution blade, but apparently this didn't stop him from using the sword whenever he liked. You can either use Carsejaw's ashes to transmute any greatsword into the Scharfichter or turn a spear in the similar-built Umbral Partisan, a spear with a huge, triangular black blade.
Expy: He heavily resembles Gravelord Nito in both appearance and combat style. The only difference is that he lacks Nito's giant shockwave attack but can Teleport Spam instead. His helmet is also uncanningly similar to the one of Shredder.
Gratuitous German: Wields the massive black sword Scharfrichter (German for, literally, "Severing Judge", aka Executioner).
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The Impaled Knights are those who attempted to instigate a rebellion against him. He had them impaled on stakes to set an example.
Kill It with Fire: Has a weakness to fire damage, possibly as another reference to Gravelord Nito.
Optional Boss: While the game does require you to pass through the Pitchwoods in order to complete the game, you don't need to go anywhere near Carsejaw and he can easily be ignored.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: Despite the insurrection against him, he ended up dying of a totally ordinary fever.
Teleportation: Occasionally teleports behind you before stabbing downward. He does it a lot more when he falls below half health.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Carsejaw the Cruel, unlike his source material, is not a skeleton made of skeletons, so he must do this to make his Gravelord Nito cosplay as accurate as possible.
Tyrant Takes the Helm: Carsejaw the Cruel — the pretender Duke of Tristin who rallied his supporters to particularly violent Witch Hunts.
Witch Hunt: Incited many of these, using them as a distraction from and scapegoat for his country's problems. The Wrathful Dead and Pale Witch enemies are the undead victims of these hunts.
When the pretender Duke led his infamous witch hunts, many innocent women were "bound and scattered," as the execution method is called.

The Witch of the Lake

Saira, one of two twins. The Witch of the Lake, guardian of the Salt Alkymancery, is a magic user of legend, an immensely powerful arcanist and alchemancer. Her black robes conceal a physical form that has been grotesquely disfigured by alchemy as obscure as it is dangerous.

The boss of Siam Lake, the Witch of the Lake guards the Salt Alkymancery, and must be defeated in order to reach it.

Achilles' Heel: Almost all of her attacks deal arcane damage. A player with high arcane defense or the Silver Shield (a relatively easily-acquired shield that offers 100% defense against arcane damage) will have a much easier time beating her.
Body Horror: Due to her abuse of salt alkymancy, the Witch of the Lake is described as having a grotesquely disfigured form under her robes, which have started to fuse themselves with her flesh. Peering under them will give you a clue as to how bad things are: she's sprouting a great number of monstrous, gore-encrusted spider-like talons where her legs are supposed to be. And for her melee attack, she mauls you with a... limb of indeterminate origin that looks like fleshy, mutated brambles.
Bullet Hell: A very challenging and frustrating gimmick of the Witch of the Lake. She fires arcane bolts that either follow you, or fill up the entire screen. You can't easily evade past them nor simply block them either.
Holy Burns Evil: She has a weakness to holy damage.
Homing Projectile: She has two attacks that fire a barrage of homing Arcane projectiles.
Humanoid Abomination: She used to be human and is still mostly shaped like one, but she clearly isn't human anymore. See Body Horror for more details.
Kill It with Fire: She is weak to fire damage.
Power Floats: Is always flying around the arena, making her sometimes very difficult to hit for melee characters.
Robe and Wizard Hat: The Witch of the Lake wears the traditional black robes and steepled hat associated with witches. The robe was once used to hide her monstrous mutations, but has since fused with her body.
A witch's hat is a common trope seen mostly in theater and as a prop for false accusations, but these connotations were petty triflings for a creature as otherworldly and formidable as Saira.

The Unskinned and the Architect

Personal guardian of Kaira, the Architect. Salt Alkymancy is an incredibly difficult practice, and the Unskinned represents the culmination of Kaira's formidable skill.

Kaira, one of two twins. She is an unmatched wielder of Salt Alkymancy, crafting the sea itself, poison with life force of a myriad of souls, into abominations of her own twisted design. Order allows life to cycle through the sea, with birth, death, as threads in the grand tapestry of ocean; Salt Alkymancy is an unnatural perversion of this order.

The Architect is the sister of the Witch of the Lake, and the one responsible for the creation of many of the islands bizarre and dangerous monstrosities. The Unskinned is her personal bodyguard and greatest creation. They are both fought as a Dual Boss at the end of the Salt Alkymancery.

Body Horror: The Unskinned, as its name implies, resembles a flayed human man. It also has metal shackles seemingly embedded into its skull.
Dual Boss: The two are fought at the same time, with the Unskinned charging into melee range as the Architect flies around firing magical projectiles.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: The Unskinned attacks with wild and ferocious swings of his arms while the Architect floats around the arena firing ranged magical attacks.
Mad Scientist: The Architect is a magical version of this, using unnatural forms of alchemy to defy the natural order and craft bizarre and nightmarish abominations.
Necromancer: The description of the Architect's Ear states that this is essentially what practicers of salt Alkymancy are.
Kaira the Architect mastered the art of Salt Alkymancy to bend the sea and its countless lost souls to her own will. These twisted forms and heartless abominations carried out her whims in defiance of natural order.
Power Floats: The Architect always hovers around the arena.
Underground Monkey: The Unskinned is pretty much a smaller version of the Bloodless Prince with a different palette.

Those Imprisoned in the Crypt (Spoiler characters!)

The Forgotten Three

A giant, undead creature. It is adorned in gold and carries a great scepter, like some gross perversion of royalty.

A giant, well-armored undead creature. It bears a greatsword and some armor, but it's almost tragically clumsy with both, like it was once a god of sorts, but has since been reduced to a shambling shadow of its former self.

A giant, floating, undead creature. She bears the scraps of a violet robe, and carries a large, leather-bound tome.

All that remains of the King, the Knight, and the Judge, the divine trinity worshiped by the creed of the Three. They have been starved of worship by the Nameless God, reduced to shambling, mindless shadows of themselves and left to rot in the Crypt of Dead Gods.

Bling of War: The Forgotten King is still wearing his golden regalia.
Broken Angel: Once mighty and opulent gods, now mindless monstrosities.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Gods aren't easy to kill, even for one as powerful as the Nameless God. But it appears he found a way by exploiting the fact that Gods Need Prayer Badly: The descriptions for the Trinity weapons would imply the Nameless God imprisoned the Three (and probably every other deity he's impersonated) inside the Crypt in coffins even they couldn't escape, and started answering their prayers in their stead, not letting a single bit trickle to the imprisoned gods in order to starve them out. This would explain their emaciated state when you fight them, and why they're referred to as Forgotten: This is what happens when a deity's left with no prayers, be it through simply being forgotten or because someone intercepted every prayer.
Fallen Hero: You can't fall much further than gods being reduced to shambling undead horrors.
Ghostly Gape: All three of them have their jaws stretched wide open.
God Is Dead: The new pantheon known as The Three were slain by the Nameless God who usurped them. They are now mere undead rotting mockeries of their past glory. It's also implied that the Nameless God may have done the same to other deities, and the only reason the Forgotten Three are able to fight you is that they have been trapped there for a relatively short amount of time.
Gods Need Prayer Badly: This is the reason for their emaciated state when you fight them, and why they're referred to as Forgotten: This is what happens when a deity's left with no prayers, be it through simply being forgotten or because someone intercepted every prayer.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: The Judge is the only female member of the Three, and the only one who uses ranged magic attacks rather than melee attacks.
Kill and Replace: The Nameless God murdered The Three, the trinity of most recently worshiped gods in the world, and took their place, using his powers to grant their miracles. They are inside the Crypt of Dead Gods, and have become undead monsters that are mere shadows of their former selves.
Kill It with Fire: All three of them are weak to fire damage.
Leap of Faith: Reaching the Forgotten Three requires a set of these by the end of the route, with a dark pit like a mineshaft with platforms out of sight that will severely wound you, maybe even kill you from fall damage if you miss one. However, there is a hint, it's just hard to spot if you haven't been told of it: The candles in the background trace the path you must follow, and lead from each platform to the next.
Optional Boss: Tucked away in an optional section in the Crypt of Dead Gods.
Power Floats: The Forgotten Judge.
Wham Shot: If a boss introduction can count as a shot, then the one introducing the Forgotten Three definitely counts. The Three have had massive influence in the setting, you've been finding tidbits here and there of what their followers have been up to and what they have been doing, and with a single screen you are told they've been Dead All Along, made into starved husks by the owner of this hellish island you're trapped in. While the items you can forge from their ashes elaborate on this, the biggest impact comes from seeing them dead right in the Nameless God's personal oubliette.
Wolfpack Boss: All three of them are fought at once.

Kraekan Dragon Skourz

A greater Kraekan, Lord of Storms, keeper of the Crypt of Dead Gods. Ever since man discovered travel by sea, sailors have feared this monster, who wields devastating storms with ease, sending sailors and kings alike to icy graves beneath the sea.

The boss of the Crypt of Dead Gods, Skourz is a massive near-godlike kraekan dragon that wields power over storms.

Ambiguous Situation: While it's implied that Skourz is the one shipwrecking people on the island, it's never made clear if he's subservient to the Nameless God or if they are simply working together.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Due to his large size and broad base, rolling behind Skourz is harder than usual.
Breath Weapon: Has the ability to breathe lightning out of his mouth.
Draconic Abomination: A massive and extremely powerful dragon-like Kraekan whose lower body is a writhing mass of tentacles.
The Dragon: He seems to be this both figuratively and literally. He serves as the final obstacle between you and the Big Bad, and the Story Breadcrumbs describe him as having power over the sea and control over storms, meaning he's the one who sinks ships and delivers the souls of the drowned to the Nameless God.
Expy: Kraekan Dragon Skourzh is practically a dead ringer for Seath the Scaleless — a magic-wielding dragon who has multiple tails and no hind legs. His relationship with the Nameless God may also be seen as a mirror of Seath's relationship with Lord Gwyn.
Our Dragons Are Different: Skourz has a slender saurian neck, leathery wings and prensile hands but his body ends in a mass of writhing blue tentacles.
Prongs of Poseidon: Wields a massive trident, which is fitting considering his mastery over ocean storms.
Shock and Awe: Stated to have power over storms, and wields a variety of lightning attacks in his boss fight.
Shout-Out: His appearance is a pretty obvious reference to Seath the Scaleless.

The Final Boss (Spoiler character!)

The Nameless God

The Lord of this island. Possesses incredible power over time and space, but is mortal, fallible, and forever cursed by insatiable greed. The candelabra he bears may indicate the thing he covets most: a candlelit spirit, unattainable to saltborn.

The Final Boss of the game and master of the island, the Nameless God is the only enemy that appears in the Still Palace.

And I Must Scream: The Nameless God's real body is the crucified "scarecrow" you encounter across the island. While his powers are immense, so much so that he can kill and replace other gods, his true body is still hanging there, unable to move. The description of the Blade of Envy transmuted from his ashes confirms that his existence was a miserable one, and killing him may have granted him peace at last. If you choose the Domination Ending, then this will be your fate, too.
Atop a Mountain of Corpses: The Scarecrow is usually found surrounded by piles of rotting corpses.
Badass Boast: The Scarecrow, voice of the Nameless God, will reply with one of these if you tell it you want to know what exactly it is.
While they scurry to and fro, I am.
While they cherish their pretty deities, idols, and false lords, I am.
While they fight their trivial wars, live and die for mortal kings and scoundrels, I am.
All priests of false gods kneel to Me.
All kings and empires great and small kneel to Me.
Life kneels to Me.
Death kneels to Me.
Big Bad: Is the cause of your shipwreck on the island and many of the island's supernatural phenomena. It's even implied he may have a hand in the constant wars that plague the world's nations.
Classic Villain: The final boss, the Nameless God, possessing the classic traits of greed, wrath, pride, and envy.
Creative Sterility: The Nameless God cannot truly create anything. He's only able to make copies and imitations of things based on the memories of those castaway souls that wash up on the island.
Deity of Human Origin: The Nameless God. This is not a good thing, since unlike the gods of fire, he is still killable, fallible, and driven by the same desires he had as a mortal.
Driven by Envy: The Nameless God, as a Deity of Human Origin, may have the power of a god, but still has the soul of a mortal. He is consumed by envy as he can never have a candlelit soul like a true god, to the point that he captured and starved them all to death out of sheer hatred. Many areas of the island are covered in lit candles as a testament to this desire. His signature greatsword is even named the Blade of Envy and is described as being forged in the flames of his envy and avarice.
Expy: The Nameless God is one for Gwyn. Both are the Final Boss of their games, both use greatswords and have a very similar grab attack, and both have sad piano music playing instead of something more appropriately heart-pounding for a boss battle.
The Faceless: The Nameless God, as well as the player character if you wear the former's head equipment, Overlord's Turban. While a majority of the head equipment cover the wearer's entire face, there's actually nothing covering the face when you wear the said Turban. Instead, you get a pitch black void in the part where the facial features are supposed to be located.
Final Boss: The last and most powerful enemy in the game.
A God Am I: The final boss arrogantly declares himself greater than any other god, man, or flying spaghetti monster who ever lived. Unlike most examples of the trope, he actually has some evidence to back his claim: he stuffed the entire pantheon in his basement. The newest three are rotting and killable.
Humanoid Abomination: The Nameless God may once have been mortal, but his mad quest for a candlelit soul has twisted him into something that is far from human.
It Is Dehumanising: The scarecrow constantly refers to our protagonist as "it".
Kill and Replace: The Nameless God murdered The Three, the trinity of most recently worshiped gods in the world, and took their place, using his powers to grant their miracles. They are inside the Crypt of Dead Gods, and have become undead monsters that are mere shadows of their former selves. Worse are the implications that not just the Three, but every god in history is buried in that tomb. The Three are only able to fight you because they're still reasonably "fresh". The rest are too dead, too decrepit, to be able to move anymore.
Kneel Before Zod: In your first conversation with him, the Scarecrow says that no matter how much you persist, you will one day kneel before him. It's technically true; you're forced to take fall damage to enter his boss arena, which makes you kneel briefly. However, if you know exactly where and how long this fall is, you can actually prove him wrong by rolling at the exact time you hit the ground to avoid the kneeling animation (but not the damage).
Mad God: Unlike other gods who are born of fire, the Nameless God is born of salt, and as such, is mortal (meaning killable), fallible, and ruled by an insatiable desire. This has driven him quite mad.
Magic Knight: He wields a huge sword in tandem with Bullet Hell magic attacks
Mercy Kill: The description of the Blade of Envy implies killing him to be this, as he's been freed from his mad and futile quest to attain a candlelit soul.
Shackled to a mortal destiny by mortal desires, the Nameless God knew only seething rage and abject despair. In being freed from this cruel fate by mortal hands, perhaps He was finally able to know peace as well.
No Name Given: The Nameless God, obviously. Jaret mentions near the Still Palace that while it is humanity that gives names to the gods, he requests that you must not give a name to the god that dwells in the said palace.
Room Full of Crazy: The final room in the game, where the Nameless God's true body resides, is an endless field with no visible roof or walls, completely covered in lit candles. It serves as one final example of how much he desired a candlelit soul.
Rule of Symbolism: The Flavor Texts of the Overlord Set, symbolizing the desires of the Nameless God.
- Crown – His desire for dominion.
- Candelabra – For his desperate attempt to find a candlelit soul. The one that drove him to the path of darkness.
- Greaves – The image of a man is engraved on the bottom of the left heel and the image of a woman on the right. This represents his contempt for saltborn as he crushes them under his feet.
- Gauntlets – The image of a candle is engraved in its palm. Much like the Candelabra, this symbolizes his wish to grasp the unattainable in the land.
Scary Scarecrow: A creepy talking scarecrow appears in certain locations to taunt you and question your true motivations. It's what's left of the Nameless God's true body, and if you choose to take his power for yourself, then your body also takes the place of the scarecrow.
Screaming Warrior: The Nameless God is constantly bellowing during the fight, every attack punctuated by another cry. From the tone, he's either in agony, or enraged beyond reason, and truly he has reasons to be both.
Summon to Hand: One of the Nameless God's attack has him throwing his sword for a shockwave attack, and have it instantly teleport back to his hand after hitting the ground.
Vicious Cycle: The Nameless God causes conflict and war to spread across the world; one or more of the ruling kingdoms sends a tribute of ignorant dupes to the island he lives on; sometimes it's a boat of diplomats, sometimes it's a war boat of knights and mercenaries, sometimes it's an escort ship carrying slaves disguised as lords or princesses; the sacrifice grants the Nameless God some of the candle-lit power he craves and new artistic material to build his twisted island, and he puts a stop to the conflicts... then he begins lusting for more power or gets bored of his latest creations, and the cycle begins anew.
Was Once a Man: The Nameless God was born mortal, but the power of the island made him something both more and less than human. However, no amount of power could give him what he really wanted — a candlelit soul like the souls of the true gods born of fire.

Characters / Salt and Sanctuary

Friendly NPCs

Creeds

Bosses

The Forgotten Three

The Nameless God

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Characters / Salt and Sanctuary

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Friendly NPCs

Creeds

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The Forgotten Three

The Nameless God

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