Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-5632187-20130209000209/@comment-18016240-20140317085000

I feel that Manus was the Pygmy, whom Oolacile discovered sleeping in his resting place and tortured to insanity in an attempt to gain power at the behest of one of the serpents. (likely Kaathe, but we shouldn't discount Frampt's involvment.)

As proof or at least things that may reinforce my theory, I shall present a quote from Hawkeye Gough, in reference to Manus and what Oolacile did:

"'I suspect thou hast taken a gander at it, but the Dark of the Abyss, which swallowed poor Artorias, threatens to devour the land of Oolacile. It seems that this dire fate is unavoidable. But, seduced by a dark serpent or no, they (the people of Oolacile) awoke that thing (Manus) themselves, '''and drove it mad. One's demise, is always one's own making."

This, my fellow Dark Souls enthusiasts, is what I believe transpired within Oolacile.

Before we get to the final part of the DLC and battle Manus, the player enters the dungeons of Oolacile, where they can encounter the chained prisoner enemy (I forget what he's officially called, the one with the chain set) who looks vaguely like someone who'd been bound up and tortured. The player also finds a bonfire outside the entrance to Manus' lair/grave, hinting at something very, very sinister in my eyes.

What I believe is that when Oolacile heard about Manus and awoke him, they took him to that bonfire lit cell, and tortured him constantly for power over the dark soul, and humanity itself. This was likely not just physical, but also mental as the sorceries of Oolacile are for the most part deceptive by nature, focusing on illusion rather than direct force as Vinheim or Crystal sorcery does. The breaking point and the catalyst for Manus' transformation into the Father of the Abyss? Taking his pendant away from him. The one thing that gave him some measure of comfort was snatched from his broken grasp, and snapped in half by Oolacile's torturers.

Manus' humanity, nay, the Dark Soul within him, went wild because of his insanity and caused not only the Abyss to form, but also caused the inhabitants of Oolacile to mutate into the grotesque abominations the player encounters in that accursed land. For the sorcerers of Oolacile underestimated how intimate Manus' connection to humanity was, and his hold over that which was created from his very own Soul, this is why there was an abyss in Oolacile, and it might be why there's one in New Londo which isn't too far off from the ruined city, though without the mutants admittedly.

Thoughts?