Dark Souls: Legends of the Flame and Tales of Ember are a pair of comic book anthologies containing short stories based on the Dark Souls-games. The comic is published by Titan Comics. While the stories are not connected to the games directly, they are based in the universe of the games.
The anthology was generally better received than the less popular Breath of Andolus, and came out in September 2017.
Stories included
- The Shrine written by Atom Morvill and drawn by Alan Quah and Komikaki Studo - A Framing Device for the other stories. A young warrior comes across a shrine, where the old woman who tends the flame tells him each story. He eventually leaves through a wall of mist, but when he returns, the shrine is in ruins, and only the old woman's cat remains to stoke the fire.
- Crossroads written by George Mann and drawn by Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson - The warrior Heroth has traveled wide and far in search for a cure for the Curse of Undeath. At a crossroads, he meets the criminal Mortlock, who claims to know a man that might know the cure.
- The Flame's Return written by Tauriq Moosa and drawn by Damien Worm - A man's beloved is dead. Desperate to bring her back, he seeks out someone who can grant his wish to Never let her die. The woman is resurrected as a malformed abomination, and the man does battle with the beast.
- The Labyrinth written by Dan Watters and drawn by Nick Percival - In the ancient city of Quon, the king Mistos defended his people from the curse by commissioning a great labyrinth that would confuse and slay all undead who attempted to make their way into the city. Yet even as the labyrinth expanded into the city itself, the Curse came to Quon. At the edge of the labyrinth, an undead sits by a bonfire, endlessly repeating the story to himself to hold onto the little shred of memory he has left.
- The Devoted written by Dan Watters and drawn by Caspar Wijngaard - A warrior comes to slay a beast that can petrify all that which she looks at. Among the many statues that fill her lair, one is still aware, and he is helpless as the beast kills his beloved.
- That Which Holds Us Human written by Cassandra Khaw and drawn by Daniele Serra - A horde of undead attacks a warrior while he explores a village, so that they may take his Humanity and give it to their mistress, and keep the fire burning.
- Action Replay written by George Mann and drawn by Nick Percival - An undead awakes in a cell, and is shepherded into an arena to fight for the audience's amusement. Again. And again, and again, and again.
- The Savior written by George Mann and drawn by Daniele Serra - In a village beset by undead, a preacher tells his followers of a savior that will come to them. A savior that will usher in the Age of the Darkwraith.
- The Infected written by Michael Walsh and drawn by him and Dylan Burnett - In a swamp, the warriors Ansel and Balon battle the undead, until Balon is infected by Puss of Man.
- Witches written by Tauriq Moosa and drawn by Damien Worm - Three witches watch a bonfire, waiting for a sinful soul to sacrifice. When none come, two of the witches suggest sacrificing an innocent female warrior instead.
- Behold, townsfolk written by George Mann and drawn by Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson - A traveling circus tells the story of a woman who sought eternal youth, forcing an undying wanderer to give up the secret. The wanderer gives her the secret, but takes her soul in return.
- Shattered Mirror written by Dan Watters and drawn by Caspar Wijngaard - A man in armor is locked in eternal battle with red tinted invaders that enter through his shattered mirror shield. He cannot stop, for the will to fight is all that is left of him.
- Pound of Flesh written by Cassandra Khaw and drawn by Andrea Olimpieri and Mattia Iacono - A warrior battles a monster forged from two women, conjoined at the hip. The monster was once two sisters, the older beloved and adored by their mother, and the younger, abused and overlooked. When the Curse came for the older sister, the younger was sent to find a cure, even if it would cost her life. She found one, but desired revenge more than anything.
Legends of the Flame provides examples of the following tropes
- Adaptational Villainy: Possibly, if it's indeed the same Fire Keeper (her mask is slightly different, and her hair is darker, though that might be differences in art style). In Dark Souls III, the Fire Keeper's only role was watching the fire, and serving the Unkindled Ash however she could. Here, she's using the undead to collect Humanity to use as fuel.
- A Fate Worse Than Death: The younger sister wanted her sister to suffer forever for the abuse she inflicted. She got her wish.
- All There in the Manual: The trade ends with a few sketches and notes from authors about what they imagined with the various stories. This being Dark Souls, it's still very cryptic.
- An Arm and a Leg: The warrior that defeats the petrifying monster has his right arm petrified. He uses it to smash the monster.
- And I Must Scream:
- The petrified humans are still conscious. At least one of them has learned to live with it, and even enjoy it.
- The sisters are bound together as a horrid monster of flesh, bound to resurrect forever and continue their horrid state. The younger sister very much enjoys it because it means she can see her older sister suffer.
- The warrior with the mirror shield has pretty much degraded to be nothing but a will to fight in armor, and must constantly battle new invaders.
- Arc Words: For The Flame's Return: "Never let her die". Becomes deliciously ironic when "she" becomes a monster and he has to kill her.
- At the Crossroads: In the aptly titled "Crossroads", a warrior meets a criminal at a crossroads, looking for a cure for the curse of undeath.
- Bait-and-Switch: Until the last two pages of The Devoted, you'd probably think the narration came from the warrior with the red scarf.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Somewhat of a theme.
- Herroth wanted a cure for Undeath. Mortlock kills him, and it appears that there is no resurrection this time.
- The man in The Flame's Return wanted his beloved to never die. She rose again as a monster.
- Gardina in Behold Townsfolk wanted eternal youth, but it cost her her soul.
- Body Horror: Pound of Flesh, no contest. One of the sisters is bent over in a quadruped stance, while the other grows out the back of her spine, lacking flesh.
- Book Ends: Crossroads starts and ends with the exact same image: Mortlock greeting an undead traveler by the crossroad.Mortlock: Lo, traveler!
- Cats Are Mean: The cat from the shrine tries to use the traveler for... something, presumably feeding the bonfire.
- The Cameo:
- The Fire Keeper, or at least a previous holder of the title, from Dark Souls III makes an appearance in That Which Holds Us Human.
- In Heroth's flashback, we see a woman ignite the funeral pyre to purge the curse of undeath from Harrowmark. This is Fira, the main character of The Breath of Andolus.
- Continuity Nod: Harrowmark, the village Herroth hails from, was also the hometown of Fira in Breath of Andolus. What's more, while Herroth was too late to prevent the village's burning, Fire was the one who instigated it.
- Covers Always Lie: The only covers that give any indication about what you might find inside are covers A and D for Tales of Ember issue 1. The others merely display generic "Dark Souls-esque" imagery.
- Disproportionate Retribution: While physical and emotional abuse is horrible, turning your abuser into an undead abomination so you can watch them die again and again seems a tad bit extreme.
- Downer Ending: It's Dark Souls.
- Crossroads ends with Herroth's death, though it may be preferable to enduring the undead curse.
- The Flame's Return ends with the man going to battle his beloved, resurrected as a terrible abomination.
- The Labyrinth ends with Quon destroyed, its populace turned undead, and its ruler sitting alone, trying desperately to hold onto his humanity.
- Action Replay ends with the warrior awakening again and again, each time forgetting his previous battles.
- The Savior ends with the Darkwraith killing the few remaining humans.
- The Infected implies Ansel was also infected by the puss.
- Behold, townsfolk ends with the Wanderer absorbing the souls of the townsfolk.
- Handicapped Badass: The scarfed warrior from The Devouted gets his arm petrified by the monster. He proceeds to use said arm as a bludgeoning weapon against the monster!
- Resurrective Immortality: A defining feature of the Curse of Undeath. Of note are the people of Quon, the warrior in Action Replay, and the monster in Pound of Flesh.
- Stockholm Syndrome: At least one of the warriors that were petrified by the spider lady came to fall in love with her.
- The Reveal: The lonely undead outside Quon is its former king, Mistos.
