Board Thread:Dark Souls III/@comment-29087932-20160716123314

It is believed by many that Gwyn's firstborn was banished by Gwyn himself, but is it really so? I believe I've found a few points against this theory. I thought about posting this in the dark souls forum, but decided against it because many of my conclusions are from item descriptions in dark souls 3.

1. The Sunlight Blade miracle description states - "When the eldest son lost his deific status, he placed this miracle on his father's coffin, perhaps as a final farewell" - which means that he lost his deific status after Gwyn had departed to link the flame, making it impossible for Gwyn to banish him.

2. The Leo ring description in dark souls 3 tells us that Ornstein was the first knight of the firstborn. Now, knights provide their services to a monarch, which means that the Firstborn must have been one at some stage. This is also supported by the title "Nameless King". Who else but Gwym could have assigned the firstborn as the king, while stepping down himself?

3. Gwyn's stepping down as monarch is suggested by the Crown of the Great Lord description in dark souls which states that when departing to link the flame, he kept the crown, perhaps to preserver the symbol of monarch, even though its power ''had fully subsided. ''This suggests that when Gwyn departed to link the flame, he assigned someone as the monarch of Anor Londo and if it was the firstborn, as suggested by the Leo ring description, this again makes it impossible for Gwyn to have banished the firstborn.

4. The description of Great Lightning spear in dark souls 3 tells us that the miracle is the tale of father and son and that much of it, although resplendent(colourful/attractive), remains tragically untold. The use of terms like "resplendent" and "tragically untold" suggests that Gwyn and his firstborn weren't on bad terms and it is unlikely that the firstborn did something to upset Gwyn on a massive scale.

5. The description of the head armor of the Dragonscale set in dark souls 3 states that the crown of the Nameless King closely resembles that of the first lord, again suggesting that he was possibly made king by Gwyn himself.

6. When you meet Solaire for the first time, he says that he is an adherent of the Lord of Sunlight. Later, he also urges you to join the Warrior of Sunlight covenant and become a righteous knight in the name of the 'Lord of Sunlight. As far as I know, Gwyn is the only character in the game mentioned as the Lord of Sunlight and yet, the Sunlight medal description states that it represents the firstborn and that the old god of war still closely watches over his warriors', suggesting that the covenant is devoted to him, rather than Gwyn. It is quite possible that the firstborn may have succeeded Gwyn as the Lord of Sunlight when Gwyn left to link the flame.

7. The above point is reinforced by the description of the Great Lord Greatsword, which states that Gwyn, who possessed the ultimate souls and wielded the bolts of the sun, divided that power among his children when he departed to link the flame. This suggests that since Gwyn had lost the power of the sun, his firstborn, who had inherited Gwyn's sunlight became the new Lord of Sunlight. Gwyn losing his sunlight power may be proved by the fact that he doesn't use any sunlight miracles against the chosen undead in the boss fight.

The aforementioned points lead me to believe that Gwyn's relationship with his firstborn was never strained and the timeline of events also contradicts the theory of him banishing the firstborn

I believe that after Gwyn left, his firstborn became the monarch of Anor Londo, at least for some time and was also possibly the Lord of Sunlight. I'm not sure about the sequence of events that led to him allying with the dragons and his subsequent banishment. Or was it the other way around? Was he banished before he allied with the dragons? The Lightning Storm description in dark souls 3 states - "Once a slayer of dragons, the former king and wargod tamed a stormdrake, on which he led a lifetime of battle" - which suggests that he had lost his deific status before he befriended the stormdrake, if he taming the stormdrake is considered as the beginning of his alliance with dragons. 