History Fridge / DarkSoulsIII

* All of the lords of cinders represent 1 of the 4 main damage stats. The Abyss Watchers have mainly Dex scaling weapons and had power in sheer numbers rather than being lords, giants, or demilords like the others. Yhorm wields a Heavy Machete and an even heavier Greatshield. Aldrich and Lothric are kind of interchangeable. Lothric is allied with the Grand Archive's Sorcerers, but has a faith scaling Sword and a central theme of Prayer. Aldrich is a priest, but he uses Magic and even ate the God of Magic himself.

** There's an even worse candidate. Aldritch went from an ordinary human to a godlike being by eating a lot of people. You know what ''other'' creature is known for eating a lot (humans presumably included)? [[{{Dracolich}} The Gaping Dragon]]. If Aldritch transformed into a godlike being from an ordinary human, how powerful would a dragon undergoing the same process become?

* Why would the deacons allow a different faction to freeload in their very Cathedral? Because they're actually earning their keep! Members of Rosaria's Fingers gain double rewards for slaying any Darkmoon Blades, the sworn enemies of Aldrich Faithfuls. Its worth mentioning that the Fingers also gain double rewards from Blue Sentinels. The Blue Sentinel sigil is given to the player by Horace. Horace has no tongue...

* So, we've all gotten well acquainted with the Lothric Winged Knights, those [[FatBastard fat bastards]] that are warriors of the "angelic faith" of Lothric in service to Holy Mother Gertrude. It's stated in the lore that Gertrude received a missive from an angel that led to the founding of the angelic faith, and occasionally you'll find a few statues of angels that have the face of a Primoridal Serpent around Lothric Castle and the Grand Archives. All pretty standard stuff, right? Well, if you pay attention to the lore from previous games, you might be able to figure out who the "angel" that contacted Gertrude was. It wasn't a Primoridal Serpent, it was the Darklurker from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII''. To give a rundown of how this works, you need to remember that, while the Darklurker was found in the Dark Chasm of Old, its soul is a ''light'' soul, meaning that it was neither born of nor corrupted by the Abyss. Its form could also be described as angelic in an OurAngelsAreDifferent sort of way (what with the four arms and such), and the spells it uses are uncorrupted by the Abyss and sometimes take the form of beams of near-white light, much like the Divine Pillars of Light miracle in this game. Put this all together and suddenly this GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere makes a whole hell of a lot more sense in the grand scheme of things, and suddenly the Angelic Faith is a ''lot'' less safe.

* Certain items found in the Catacombs of Carthus explicitly describe Carthus itself as a '''desert''' kingdom. The Catacombs are entered through Farron Keep, a forest surrounded by a poison swamp, and the exit leads the player straight into the cold and wintry Boreal Valley. Not particularly desert-like areas. But consider the dungeon's name - ''Catacombs'' of Carthus. Catacombs being ''underground'' cemeteries. Carthus itself is most likely between Farron Keep and the Boreal Valley - the Ashen One just went under it.

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

* A bit of fridge horror regarding Aldrich, but one which comes from Dark Souls 2. Most players tend to sneer at the [[BreatherBoss Covetous Demon]] and his laughably easy patterns, but if he had been allowed to live for much longer and cannibalize thousands more, he'd have become ''like'' Aldrich if one such as Sulyvahn had approached him with the prospect of more power and victims. ''Anyone'' could have become like the Saint of the Deep in this game with but a little manipulation of their heart's desire.

* When you think about it, ''The Ringed City'''s final boss makes perfect sense. Gael is an undead, a {{Determinator}} to the very end - in other words, ''[[PlayerCharacter you]]''. While the Chosen Undead follow Gwyn's footsteps in linking the First Flame, Gael went for the opposite way - the Dark Soul of Man. Plus, giants, dragons, and ''gods'' have fallen to the undead, your {{Player Character}}s being firsthand examples. Gael is one of you, but he's the strongest of them all - and he's gone mad with power. In the second phase and onward, the Dark Soul consumes him, much like how the Flame does to the undead who link it. First, he was the ultimate undead - and afterwards, he's the very embodiment of the Dark Soul.

* There's another CallBack to the very intro of ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' with ''The Ringed City''. Said intro mentions the Furtive Pygmy was "[[ExactWords so easily forgotten]]" - we were told ''from the very beginning'' Gwyn {{Unperson}}ed the Pygmy - had ''that'' bit of exposition been a bit clearer, it's likely the Chosen Undead would have made sure to go with Kaathe's plan and saved everyone else the cost of keeping the Age of Fire alive.
* The Final Boss for Dark Souls I was Gwyn, Lord of Cinder. When it comes to the DLC, the final boss is Manus, Father of the Abyss. Now at Dark Souls III we have Soul of Cinder, embodiment of all Lords, including Gwyn...and at the DLC? Slave Knight Gael, embodiment of the Dark Soul and all men...including Manus.
** And much like the Soul of Cinder, Slave Knight Gael's fighting style is eerily reminiscent of two distinct [[GameBreaker classics]] of Dark Souls, namely his endless greatsword-swinging, combined with immunity to being knocked out of his combos, and massive health bar, classics of the Giantdad playstyle, and his usage of an automatic crossbow while slowly strafing, AKA the infamous Havelyn.
* Yorshka's Spear, a weapon found in irithyll, is well known for having [[JokeItem abysmal stats]]. But, considering the nature of Yorshka herself, (she's basically a frail, innocent child, who has been severely neglected) her "weapon" fits her better than one might think; much like her, it was never expected to be in battle.

* Patches has so far been the only character who appears in every game (except VideoGame/DarkSoulsII), and he seems to be the same in this game as he was in Dark Souls I. He has made it through all the ages of fire. Like his name implies, he is ''unbreakable''

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

** Accessing the Untended Graves is done through the Consumed King's Garden, a sub-area in Lothric Castle - particularly just past Oceiros' room. Seems like a one-way entry point, but if you look back you can see the entrance just above and out of reach. That exact same path is still there in the Cemetery of Ash at the beginning of the game, meaning that whether there's a portal or such involved or not with the Untended Graves, Oceiros is a stone's throw away from where you once lay.

** And just like the First Flame, the Dark Sigil will probably fade away one day, leading back into the same problem the world of Dark Souls I faced. The Cycle can truly never be broken.
*** Except that the Ashen One has both the power of the dark soul and the first flame, which Vendrick discovered were the key to ending the cycle and he failed in obtaining both. The Ashen One obtained both, and thus the cycle ends with his/her usurpation of the fire.

* In-game it is stated that the Queen of Lothric (heavily implied to be Gwynevere) vanished after Ocelotte, her and Oceiros' son, was born. Ocelotte is stated to be "born of dragons." Oceiros turned into a Seath lookalike after trying to harness his blood's power. Did the Queen really vanish or did Oceiros's research transform her into a twisted dragon creature like him, possibly unwillingly?

** Darklurker being a creature of light can be easily disproved with gameplay. When you fight Darklurker, all of his attacks, except one (which is an exploding fireball), do DARK damage. It was also implied, that Darklurker is another one of Manus' soulshards, like Nashandra.

* What is the ultimate, final boss of the entire ''Dark Souls'' trilogy? The embodiment of the titular Dark Soul itself. Even better - since you play as an Unkindled, it's also the ultimate battle between Fire and Dark.

* All of the lords of cinders represent 1 of the 4 main damage stats. The Abyss Watchers have mainly Dex scaling weapons and had power in sheer numbers rather than being lords, giants, or demilords like the others. Yhorm wields a Heavy Machete and an even heavier Greatshield. Aldrich and Lothric are kind of interchangeable. Lothric is allied with the Grand Archive's Sorcerers, but has a faith scaling Sword and a central theme of Prayer. and Aldrich is a priest, but he uses Magic and even ate the God of Magic himself.

* Look at the weaknesses of all the Lords of Cinder including the final boss. They're all weak to Lightning, which can be associated with Fire. It's almost as if the Lords are masking their weaknesses as their strength.

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

* For some, the Usurp the Fire ending seems like a bit of a cop-out on the theme of the game being the inevitability of the cycle and how ultimately events are just going to repeat themselves, but let's think on this for a moment. For those that didn't play the Lost Crown Trilogy in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', the Memory of King Vendrick had an interesting thing to say about the cycle and how to ultimately break it; you need to harness the First Flame and the Dark Soul in tandem. He knew this but was too late to implement it. Flash forward to now: you are an Unkindled, a new type of undead that can access the powers of a Lord of Cinder by consuming Embers of the dying fires in much the same way you'd use Humanity/Human Effigies in the last two games as a regular Undead. By extension, this would mean that you can also absorb the Embers of the First Flame and use them yourself. In addition to this, you can also gain a form of the Curse from Yoel of Londor by accepting a Dark Sigil, which is described as a open sore like the Darksign that weeps Humanity from it. Humanity, as we know from the previous two games, are all fragments of the Dark Soul found by the Furtive Pygmy. Thus, you are now the ''only'' being in ''any'' cycle that can harness the First Flame as Embers ''and'' the Dark Soul as the Dark Sigil and use the power of both to finally break the cycle permanently. It would seem that Vendrick was right on the money, he just didn't have the Unkindled around to help him out with his plan.

** In fact, the pose he makes as he dies is the exact same way that Gwyn died, all the way back in Dark Souls. He cries out, kneels, looks up at the sky, and fades away.
** Added to this, look at the Soul of Cinder's pose when you enter the arena. He's sat down with the Firelink Greatsword impaled into the ground in front of him. Just like a player character resting at a bonfire.

** And why would there be a desert between a temperate area and a cold one? Well, below the catacombs is the Smouldering Lake, AKA the remains of Lost Izalith, located underground and infamously surrounded by lava. ConvectionSchmonvection aside for a moment, heat rises, and assuming lost Izalith was close enough to the surface, whatever land or water was there would receive the brunt of it. By the time of Dark Souls III, there's significantly less lava, meaning less heat, meaning the surface eventually cooled enough to sustain bodies of water (oases) and therefore human life.

* Certain items found in the Catacombs of Carthus explicitly describe Carthus itself as a '''desert''' kingdom. The Catacombs are entered through Farron Keep, a forest surrounded by a poison swamp, and the exit leads the player straight into the cold and wintry Boreal Valley. Not particularly desert like areas. But consider the dungeon's name - ''Catacombs'' of Carthus. Catacombs being ''underground'' cemeteries. Carthus itself is most likely ''between'' Farron Keep and the Boreal Valley - the Ashen One just went underneath it.
** And why is there a desert between a temperate area and a cold one? Well, below the catacombs is the Smouldering Lake, AKA the remains of Lost Izalith, located underground and infamously surrounded by lava. ConvectionSchmonvection aside for a moment, heat rises, and certain RealLife deserts used to be oceans - Carthus could very well have been a body of water at one point.

* Certain items found in the Catacombs of Carthus explicitly describe Carthus itself as a ''desert'' kingdom. The Catacombs are entered through Farron Keep, a forest surrounded by a poison swamp, and the exit leads the player straight into the cold and wintry Boreal Valley. Makes no sense whatsoever, right? But consider the dungeon's name - ''Catacombs'' of Carthus. Catacombs being ''underground cemeteries''. Carthus itself is between Farron Keep and the Boreal Valley - the Ashen One just went ''under'' it.