History Characters / DarkSoulsMainCharactersAndLords

* MinionMaster: The most dangerous thing about the fight against Nito are the swarms of reanimating skeletons he has at his beck and call.

* EyelessFace: As if he wasn't weird enough already...

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

* WeaksauceWeakness: A rather infamous example in the ''Dark Souls'' community. With his high speed and unrelenting attacks, Gwyn would actually be one of the toughest bosses in the game, on par with [[VideoGame/DemonsSouls False King Allant]]... [[spoiler:except almost all of his attacks can be parried, allowing you to kill him with just a few parries]]. Granted, even that requires a decent amount of skill to pull off. [[spoiler:[[ArtificialStupidity It's also possible to get his A.I. stuck on the pillars in the room, giving you time to heal that you're not supposed to have.]]]]

* UndeadAbomination: A god of death, he seemingly spawned from nowhere, having come into existence as the first undead shorty after the disparity between life and death came into existence.

* AndIMustScream: He has been [[spoiler:burning in the Kiln]] for a really long time, meaning his defeat at the hands of the player can be seen as a MercyKill. [[spoiler:In ''Dark Souls 3'', he is revived inside the Soul of Cinder, a physical form of every soul who kept the First Flame lit.]]

* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:After spending an incredibly long amount of time burning to prolong the life of the First Flame, Gwyn has gone hollow. Fittingly, despite being the final boss of the main game, he doesn't even have any dialogue, instead opting to attack you as soon as you enter his arena.]]

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

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

* GodIsDead: After Gwyn's departure for [[spoiler:the Kiln of the First Flame]], Anor Londo began to see a shift in leadership, [[spoiler:with nearly every deity leaving Lordran save for Gwyndolin]]. He is not met until the very end of the final dungeon, [[spoiler:where it turns out he has become Hollow as a result of burning in the Kiln all this time]].

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

* NotQuiteDead: A lot of dialogue referencing Gwyn makes it seem like he died when he Linked the Fire, [[spoiler:which makes the reveal that he instead went Hollow down in the Kiln all the more shocking. Not only that, but even slaying him in this game isn't enough to fully keep him down; by the time of ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', Gwyn has become part of the Incarnation of Kings/Soul of Cinder, and his move set being used in the second phase of the FinalBoss fight against it would imply that Gwyn forms a rather large part of this being.]]

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

* AreaOfEffect: Staying too close to them will make them trigger a magical explosion that spreads over a large distance, forcing you to stay back as far as you can.

* DepthPerplexion: The ceiling and horizon of the Abyss blend together, making it quite difficult to tell how far away the Four Kings or their magic projects are, especially when you first fight them and can't tell how big they are.

* LifeDrain: One of their close proximity attacks is to spin and grab the player, draining some health and one Humanity. Aside from the obvious effects, a secondary effect is that the length of the animation means there's more time for additional Kings to spawn while you're not doing any damage, making the fight even harder.

* RushBoss: Welcome to the official ''Dark Souls'' DPS test. Do you have enough DPS to down a King before the next one spawns (or at worst, quickly after it does)? Congratulations, this shouldn't be too difficult. Do you ''not'' have sufficient DPS, forcing you to [[WolfPackBoss deal with two or even three or more Kings at a time]]? ThisIsGonnaSuck.

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

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

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Seath was by far the most controversial figure under Gwyn's lordship. While the the Lord of Sunlight rewarded him generously with his own dukedom, archive, and even a fragment of his soul, the Scaleless was hated by many other close confidantes of Gwyn, including Havel and Frampt.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: According to the ''Dark Souls'' lore, there are only four kings of New Londo and they can all spawn during the fight against them if you drag it out for too long. If all four are killed and there is still life left in the overall boss health bar, more kings can spawn. Possibly intentional from a programming standpoint, but almost impossible inside the lore. The ''only'' way it can be HandWaved in-universe is the [[TimeyWimeyBall convoluted to hell flow of time]] allowing the slain kings to fade back into existence. That, or the Kings are such {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that they can pull a DoppelgangerAttack.

* {{Synchronization}}: Hurting one of them hurts all of them. See below for details.

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

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

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

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

** Incredibly enough, it gets even worse by ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'': sure, he managed to instate an almost religious fanaticism in keeping the First Flame alive through ritual sacrifice, but he himself has only barely been remembered, the Gods don't reign over the world, and the Fire has been growing weaker, causing stagnation in both time and space as the world starts to practically collapse on itself from the unnatural prolungation of the Fire: not only was Gwyn's sacrifice only delaying the inevitable, it made everything worse.

* TheChessmaster: According to Kaathe, the Pygmy [[spoiler:waited out the war against the Dragons and even the Age of Fire in order to give rise to the Age of Man[=/=]Dark]]. But the Pygmy's mission was lost to man due to [[spoiler:Gwyn's efforts in preserving the dying Age of Fire]]. Despite this setback, [[spoiler:his plans are possibly carried out by his descendants, i.e., the human race, all of which received pieces of his Lord Soul]]. [[spoiler:''The Ringed City'' shows that the Pygmy lords, implicitly his direct descendants, truly respected the Gods, but were sealed away in the Ringed City due to their Dark souls. It's unclear whether Kaathe was simply lying, or if the Pygmy's desire to bring down the gods and elevate humanity was inspired by this betrayal.]]

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: The only female bearer of a Lord Soul

* AloofAlly: Unlike Gwyn and the Witch of Izalith, despite bearing a Lord soul like them and fighting against the Everlasting Dragons, Nito does not care if the Age of Fire continues or comes to an end, and instead is content with distancing himself and focusing on spreading death and misery throughout Lordran as part of his Lord Soul's nature.

%%* FluffyTheTerrible: ...Although this is blunted somewhat by the fact that his name is pronounced just like "neat-o", or "{{NEET}}-o" for the Website/{{Pixiv}} community.

* SatanicArchetype: They're ''[[Literature/BookOfGenesis primordial serpents]]'' who tempt humans with godlike power, usually leading said humans to ruin.

* RatedMForManly: An [[OurGiantsAreBigger inhumanly large and strong]] PhysicalGod [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking warrior-king]] who earned his throne by slaying dragons and demons using [[ShockAndAwe lighting bolts fired from his hands]] and a flaming sword [[{{BFS}} bigger than a man]]. [[SissyVillain Gwyndolin]] [[WellDoneSonGuy can't help but feel inadequate by comparison.]]

* FourIsDeath: There are four of them, and they're once-great rulers who fell prey to temptation which twisted them into {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that the Chosen Undead needs to put out of their misery in a fierce and difficult battle.

* FourIsDeath: There are four of them, and they're once-great rulers of men who fell prey to temptation and need to be put out of their misery.

* SatanicArchetype: They're ''[[Literature/BookOfGenesis primordial serpents]]'' whose tempt humans with godlike power, which usually leads said humans to ruin.

* FourIsDeath: There are four of them, they suffered a terrible fate, are now hostile, and must be put out of their misery.

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

* AntiVillain: He is this at best if not interpreted as being outright evil as. He treated humanity and [[AbusiveParents his own children]] unjustly, and his actions had many consequences, but he successfully created the booming civilization of Anor Londo, a new era for life to prosper, and ultimately performed the most heroic act the setting can allow for — [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice burning in fire for eternity to protect the rest of the world]]]]. Assuming he didn't do most of it for his own pride, which would just make all of this EvilVirtues instead.

* OddFriendship: While the rest of Anor Londo barely tolerated him, Gwyn seems to have genuinely liked (or at least respected) Seath, enough to give him a piece of Gwyn's own Lord Soul. Frampt refers to Seath as "Lord Gwyn's former confidant".