Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-25958616-20160504044258

Ever since Dark Souls 3 came out in the states I've read the majority of item descriptions and a few of them make me wonder what really happened during the events of Dark Souls 1. This focuses around Seigmeyer, Dusk, Smough and Gwyndolin.

When you reach the Wolf bonfire in Farron Keep you can get the Dreamchasers Ash and when given to the Handmaiden she has nothing but bad things to say about the ash. She says that the person the ash originated from was a dreamer and was always chasing after grand adventures. This lead me to believe that the ash was from Seigmeyer because everything she says about the ash is a trait of Seigmeyer. Another thing to note is that the Handmaiden now sells the Life Ring, an item you get for helping Seigmeyer in Anor Londo.

Above Firelink Shrine you can get a Firekeeper Soul and give it to the Firekeeper. The item description says that the Firekeeper was taken by the abyss and was never rescued by her knight, but she did escape the abyss. Dusk from the Artorias of the Abyss DLC was taken to the abyss by Manus and was never rescued by her knight, her knight being Artorias who she was waiting for. However she was able to escape the abyss because of the Chosen Undead slayed Manus after freeing Artorias. Something to note is that Dusk's set can be found in Farron Keep on two different corpses and her ring can be found in the Irythyll Dungeon on a corpse in a cell. I think that the corpse you find the Firekeeper Soul on is Dusk's but her ring and set was looted before you are awoken.

Before the Chosen Undead is allowed to retrieve the Lord Vessel from Gwenevere you must first defeat Ornstein and Smough, the guardians of Anor Londo. If the illusion of Gwenevere or Gwyndolin himself is killed the illusion over Anor Londo is broken revealing a darkened and empty city. Hundreds of years later the Bearer of the Curse faces the Old Dragon Slayer in the Old Cathedral who not only bears a darkened armor similar to Ornsteins but also has the exact same  moveset as well. This has lead a lot of people to believe that what the Chosen Undead faced was mearly an illusion created by Gwyndolin and if so does this mean Smough was an illusion as well? The item description for the Dark Souls 3 Executioner's Hammer says that Smough was the last knight to defend the ruined cathedral and when the Chosen Undead retrieved the Lord Vessel the cathedral Smough was in was by no means ruined or in ruins. Was the Smough fought by the Chosen Undead an illusion or was he somehow revieved after Dark Souls 1?

Finally we come to Gwyndolin. Multiple items have lead me to believe that he survived until right before the Unkindled one reaches Anor Londo. Obviously Gwyndolin was consumed by Aldrich and gained some of his powers and appearence but how did Aldrich catch him? It's revealed that Pontiff Sulyvahn was actually the one who captured Gwyndolin and held him captive until Aldrich rose from his tomb and made his way back to Anor Londos cathedral. I believe it was Aldrich who ruined the cathedral because of sludge like substance all over and it was Sulyvahn that killed Smough prior to capturing Gwyndolin. 