Board Thread:Dark Souls/@comment-28661852-20160605185845

I believe Andre and Bishop Havel are one in the same, and here's why:

- The Havel set is not found off the "Havel" at the base of the tower and instead drops Havel's ring which Havel himself doesn't wear; this suggests that the Havel at the base of the tower is one of Havel's soldiers rather than Havel himself. Really though, if this was Havel then why the hell would he have one of the rings with him?

 - Why would one of Havel's men be at the base of that tower? Well if you are familiar with the Havel rebel theory, perhaps one of Havel's men acted as a decoy and sacrificed himself so the real Havel could escape.

- Assuming that the "Havel" at the tower is not Havel and is instead one of Havel's men, Andre can possibly be Havel and not be in two places at once.

-  Since we haven't actually seen Havel himself, Andre has a very heavy build and Havel is a very strong Human who can carry a lot. Maybe Andre isn't wearing anything because he lost his armor and weapons? But then again what blacksmith would wear heavy armor while hard at work. His build and stature does suggest strength and he packs a punch when provoked. Maybe he is strong enough to carry the stone armor hewn from boulders.

-     When Andre greets you he says he is a blacksmith almost in a way to rid of suspicion that he could be anyone of importance; Or he is actually just a smith, but such is Dark Souls in that one must speculate to get the answers.

 - Andre himself suggests that he was betrayed by someone, perhaps he is Havel and that betrayal is of his old friend Gwyn or Kingseeker Frampt who grants more than average souls for any of Havel's weapons, armor set, or rings. Frampt has shown to be selective on his granting of souls, giving only 1 soul for the soul of Smough.

 - The key to the basement tower says that a "hero" was locked up, why not just say Bishop Havel? Why can't all of Havel's men be considered heroes? Wouldn't that soldier that sacrificed his life be considered a hero? Perhaps the fact that the key might indicate Havel means that the decoy worked and fooled everyone. The description of the key also says "For his own good, of course" doesn't that seem opinionated? Perhaps that is coming from Gwyn or Frampt. I think this key's description is a make or break for this theory but definitely is up for debate in my opinion.

 - Andre when discussing forging weapons and armor says "Forging armor is even easier than forging weapons. "  I'm not an expert when it comes to smithing but armor doesn't seem easier to forge than weapons. Perhaps it takes more finesse to forge a balanced sword than a plate of armor, but armor is complicated and intricate. Chainmail takes a long time to link all the individual chains together and in such a way that it fits on like a shirt. Havel had one of the strongest armors in the game and was made of stone, I doubt stone is easy to work with to create armor. Perhaps Andre's ease of making armor suggests the origins of Havel's set and Havel himself.

 - If Andre is just a simple blacksmith then why would he know the path to Anor Londo? Havel definitely would know, and I've seen counterarguments to this point and I can say this:  The Knights of Catarina seem to have close relation to the linking of the fire since in DS3 Siegward (also a knight of Catarina) is an old friend of Yhorm's and may have relation to the Sunlight Covenant due to his cry towards the giant: "May the Sun shine on this lord of cinder!" So claiming that "even Onionbro knows" doesn't mean anything. Perhaps Andre knows because he is established right next to the entrance, maybe he heard it from passerby. But the fact he knows of this does shine importance on him as a character.

 Overall I'm on the optimistic side in that I think Havel is alive and has been forging weapons for you to fight his battles as a Havelbro, nothing is set in "stone" but I think there are some good points made here.  