Shiva of the East

Shiva of the East is a character in Dark Souls. He is voiced by Kwei Lin Hsu.

Location

 * In Darkroot Garden, outside of the structure Alvina sits in, on the opposite side of the bandit. Only appears after joining the Forest Hunter covenant.
 * In Blighttown, at the bottom of the elevator leading from Blighttown to the Valley of Drakes. Must be spoken to in the Darkroot Garden first for him to appear here.

Plot
Shiva is a member of the Forest Hunter covenant, and will not be present unless the player is among their ranks. He greets members cordially in the Darkroot Garden, but offers nothing there other than dialogue. Travel to Blighttown, though, and he will sell a variety of exotic weaponry.

Both Alvina and Patches express their mistrust towards Shiva, but he will be amicable and friendly with the player unless provoked.

Lore
Not much is known of Shiva, other than that he likes collecting things and is from an Eastern Land.

Strategy
The chief danger of fighting Shiva is the fact that he always has his bodyguard close to him. Thanks to Patch 1.05, the bodyguard can now be targeted, but fighting two people at once remains a tricky proposition.

Shiva himself wields the Iron Round Shield and Murakumo, which deals decent damage and should not be underestimated; greeting the pair with a powerful Area of Effect attack such as Fire Tempest is a good idea.

Wares
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Rings

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Trivia
The etymological origin of Shiva's name likely refers to the Hindu god of the same name. The Hindu deity Shiva was the destroyer of evil, perhaps an allusion to Shiva of the East's role as the protector of the forest in his slaying of trespassing evildoers.

Removed Content
''The following is content that is present within the code of Dark Souls, but not actually implemented in the game. Text was found from a text dump which can be found at: http://pastebin.com/XuwvnyM9.''