Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-5632187-20130209000209/@comment-11122378-20130809011742

I would assume manus is more so a guardian of the a larger fragment of the dark soul.

I already think that the pendant (even though it is confirmed to be nothing) could of been some  sort of device that can hold enourmous amounts of humanity, this is due to reah having 7 peices on her upon death, and also possibly having the pendant.

if this is the case then this is what i think.

Manus was a follower of the furtive pygmy with countless others. The pygmy decided to share his power with his followers. the serpants although wanted to use that power but the pygmy said that it is not the time and wont be for a long while. Manus was one of those followers.

Manus became anxious to know what power lived inside his pendant. and when the furtive pygmy passed he decided to leave the 'furtive council' with the serpants to unleash the power.

The serpants knew well enough what they were doing and egged manus on. he eventually broke it and all that humanity flowed straight into him, creating a beast that he is now. Inside manus is his mind but overwhelmed by the humanity within him. It forged a world beneath ash lake called the abyss that slowly crept up to the surface. Manus was the first or a Dark Lord. He was the most successful one but was defeated by the possible next one, who would further prosper. Manus pendant is then stolen when an Oolalice mage confronts a serpant out of curiosity and it offers him power ( a lie). The serpants may have done this as Manus was becoming slack and slowing his progress down and they needed something to speed it up, hence someone must steal the one thing that reminds him of his former self; that broken pendant. He finds out and bursts into a frenzy, and the abyss's creation speeds up, forming physical structures and even making humanity-like creatures. As a result Artorias is sent to deal with it but fails.

Final conclusion: Manus was a follower of the pygmy who was blessed with a mighty Hand (manus is hand in latin). he became curious of the power in the pendant and broke it unleashing some of the true power of the dark soul into him. the pendant was stolen and he became violent, abducting dusk as a bargin for his pendant, but when he learnt it was indefinately lost he refused to give dusk back and just kept her there (his mind must've stopped himself from killing her)

It is a broad idea, if there is any flaws just point them out