Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-24352587-20131229092303

I've posted a comment on the Furtive Pygmy page here Furtive Pygmy, but it can also be read below

"So this is my conclusion on who the Pygmy is and what the Dark Soul is and did. Mind you I don't have any solid resources to refer to in backing this up, but I'd like to give my input to see where it leads. In my opinion, I believe that the Pygmy was the first human. I think it could be possible that rather than Possessing the Dark Soul, his soul Was the Dark Soul, created as a byproduct from the other Lord Souls. Considering the Age of Man and the Age of Dark are used interchangably as the same thing, this leads me to believe that the Pygmy was so often forgotten because he split up his soul into the sprites known as Humanity in order to effectively give people a weapon against the Lords. Also, considering for the sake of argument that the pygmy was indeed the first human, then that would make ALL current undead a direct descendant of the Pygmy and therefore all undead are "Chosen". Upon losing all of their humanity, humans become lifeless thoughtless husks which shamble around in the dark, incapable of any expression of free will, becoming Hollowed. Considering the Dark Soul is the essence of human nature and existence, and considering that in the real world, all people do have a degree of darkness within their hearts, perhaps this entire plot is an elaborate allegory to describe the human condition? Regardless, upon losing their soul, their state of consciousness and sensibility, then the husks which remained would either continue to live on until eventually killed, or would simply drop to the ground and rot away until another soul decided to use that body as its medium of manifesting in the physical world. As for how Humanity plays a key role in the rest of the world, well let's look at the straight up facts. Humanity is described in it's description as such: " ''This black sprite is called humanity, but little is known about its true nature. If the soul is the source of all life, then what distinguishes the humanity we hold within ourselves?" ''In essence, this description right here depicts its shadowy and unknown origins and purpose. It refers to the soul as the source of all life, and that can't be argued. Even demons and lords have souls, but not all beings have Humanity. Humanity is a tiny black sprite which is used to reverse the hollowing process, kindle flames, and enhance resistances/item discovery/damage with certain weapon types (for example: Chaos weapons). This leads me to believe that humanity is a piece of the original Dark Soul and is specifically a power that exclusively aids mankind's existence. It helps people who have absorbed more of it to be stronger and have better luck (more human = greater connection with the original Dark Soul). Upon absorbing a sprite of humanity, all previous physical ailments are cured (full heal), and you gain one 'Liquid Humanity' which can be used at the bonfire to reverse hollowing or invoke the rite of kindling. The Bonfires, from what I can discern, are channels of Humanity. Whereas you would use a talisman to channel energy into miracles, the bonfires are used to channel humanity to achieve some further purpose. Bonfires are static through time, hence the ability to see other people around bonfires more frequently. They do not exist in one time, but rather all times at once. At the bonfires, you can channel this "Liquid Humanity", as you would mana in other games to cast spells, in order to allow a piece of the Dark Soul to use your body as a medium. The more the humanity, the stronger the connection. The reason firekeepers are needed is because bonfires must constantly be fuelled by small amounts of humanity in order to stay perpetually in existence and act as that channel from which the undead can draw power from humanity. Firekeepers have souls that can act as direct links to the Dark Soul and can draw power directly from it in order to sustain the bonfires as well as their own lives indefinitely. Estus Flasks even hold a role in this story as they are described: " An emerald flask, from the Keeper's soul. She lives to protect the flame, And dies to protect it further. " Estus Flasks are imbued with a Fire Keeper's soul, so to me it seems that maybe that golden liquid you're drinking is in fact small portions of liquid humanity, which would explain why they cure the ailments of the undead as consuming sprites of humanity does.

In layman's terms, aka tl;dr version: pygmy is the first human, the dark soul is the original pure human soul which was split up in order to balance out the power and allow the human race to flourish.

As far as souls go I figure they're pretty straight-forward. Every being at the beginning of its life has one soul, it's own. Each time it slays another being, it consumes that being's soul as well as any souls it has also consumed in it's lifetime. These souls are further used to augment the strength, dexterity, etc. of your soul at a bonfire where humanity flows free and the very essence of mankind can be altered at will. All undead are given the Darksign. Why? and from whom? Well, I believe the Darksign is the blessing of the Pygmy. Upon death, your body will be resurrected at the last source of humanity (bonfire) that your soul visited. Considering that you (as an undead) have no soul at this point, you are hollowed, but still somehow have a sense of self-awareness, it is assumed and noted by many other NPCs (Oscar, for example, when he saves you from the Asylum), that you have a closer blood relationship to the Pygmy, and therefore, the Dark Soul. Considering this, it could be assumed that even in the hollowed undead form, due to your close relationship with the Pygmy, your body itself might act as a more powerful catalyst than other undead when accessing the essences of humanity, so you could, in theory, always be connected to the remnants of the Dark Soul, and therefore, still be able to harness the power of humanity even if you at the time do not possess any, much like a Firekeeper. I further speculate that the issuance of the Age of Dark (Aka the Age of Man), feared by demons and Lords alike, is quite simply the free-flow of humanity throughout space and time. This would allow the possibility of limitless power to be harnessed by anyone who has a connection with the Dark Soul, which would be every human being, alive or undead. This would also assume the possibility of ending the curse of undeath, considering humanity could be absorbed and used to turn human beings into immortal creatures with limitless power. This could be good or bad; humans would at first join together to successfully drive the demons out of their world, but then I imagine power struggles among men would ensure after that, as they always do. However, since all men and women would now be equal and immortal, I might think that they would all try to kill each other, ultimately fail, and eventually just form opposing sects which disagree with each other in silence. However, people with an unusually strong connection with the Dark Soul, such as first or second descendents of the Pygmy could potentially have greater access to that power, and may actually be able to use the abilities granted by the Dark Hand to steal humanity and cut off other humans from their source of humanity, and leave them vulnerable to permanent death.

As I said, everything I've said in these last two posts are ALL speculation based around facts that I have seen, and all of it is up for interpretation. Also, please correct me anywhere you may see faults; I did write this at 4AM, and it would be much obliged. Cheers."

I'd love to come up with some ideas and further speculations based on the evidence presented, and I'd love to bring some new evidence in to counter or prove parts of my theories, and come up with some new theories with teamwork. Excited new member of the Dark Souls wikia, glad to be a part of it all :D 