The Age of Dark, also known as the age of men,[1] is a concept in the lore of Dark Souls.
Description[]
In the Age of Dark, the sun itself, which is connected to the status of the First Flame,[2][3] is extinguished along with the Flame, and the world is enveloped in total darkness.[4] However, it is not necessarily an existence completely devoid of fire and illumination as it might seem, as the Dark Soul of humanity itself is capable of producing everlasting flames, even if cold[5] and generating light sources.[6]
Lore[]
The Age of Dark begins when the First Flame fades completely, thus ending the Age of Fire and the rule of the gods that gained their power from it.[7] Since the Flame continues to burn until it goes out naturally, the Dark Age should have arrived, as naturally, when it had exhausted its fuel.
Despite the Age of Dark being a ubiquitous concept throughout the Dark Souls series, it is never the "current" state of the world in any of the existing games. Each of the Dark Souls games takes place during a late point in the Age of Fire, a point which could theoretically lead to the beginning of the Age of Dark, but which does not do so during the normal course of gameplay, with one possible exception.
According to Darkstalker Kaathe, the Chosen Undead, protagonist of Dark Souls, is destined to bring about the Age of Dark, as they are the descendant of the Furtive Pygmy, who possessed the Dark Soul and divided it among early humans in the form of Humanity.[1] Should the Chosen Undead abandon the First Flame to die out after the defeat of Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, they will "usher in the Age of Dark",[1] and become the fabled "Dark Lord" of whom Kaathe speaks. It is important to note that Kaathe tells the Chosen Undead that the Age of Dark had apparently already begun shortly before Gwyn chose to link the Flame, though it was seemingly ended and replaced by the Age of Fire when the Flame was linked.[1]
What exactly the term "Age of Dark" implies is never made explicitly clear in the games, however it is stated in the canonical Dark Souls Trilogy Compendium to be a time when the Light fades, a Dark Lord is heralded, and humanity dominates the world. When the protagonists are given information about the Age of Dark, it typically comes from the mouths of potentially unreliable narrators, of whom Kaathe and his counterpart, Kingseeker Frampt, are examples. Kaathe asserts that the Age of Dark is "the age of men," presumably meaning the Age of those possessing Humanity in contrast to the Age of the Gods, and also declares that Gwyn "resisted the course of nature" when he linked the Flame and prolonged the Age of Fire.[1]
The idea that the linking of the First Flame was unnatural and that it ran contrary to the order of the world is an important concept in the Dark Souls series, especially as the Age of Fire is prolonged perpetually by innumerable successive individuals seeking to prevent the coming of the Age of Dark.
In Dark Souls III, countless beings have prolonged the Age of Fire, preventing its end and holding off the coming of the Age of Dark. By the time the game begins, there are countless Lords of Cinder - those who successfully linked the First Flame before - and even more Unkindled who were unsuccessful. Eventually the one anointed to next link the Flame (and indeed, who was born for that very purpose), Prince Lothric, rejected the idea that the Age of Fire should be prolonged any further and instead desired to end what he called the "fire-linking curse."[8] A contingency plan was then activated, in which previous Lords of Cinder were resurrected in hopes that they, who had linked the First Flame before, might do so again. However, by this time, the world that had been created during the Age of Fire had become a twisted shadow of its former self. As a result of the prolonging of the current Age, the act of which seemingly constituted a rejection of the natural order, the material world had become irreparably corrupted, and all lands from all previous points in time had begun to converge upon a single point: the Kingdom of Lothric. Upon reviving and seeing what had become of the world they had fought to protect, the Lords of Cinder, too, rejected the linking of the Flame and refused to sit upon their thrones.[9] Aldrich, one of the Lords of Cinder, decided not to take his throne after experiencing visions of the deep sea and its inevitable coming.[10]
Following the failure of this first contingency plan, a second plan is activated: Unkindled, those who had previously tried to link the First Flame but who had failed to do so, are resurrected from their graves in the Cemetery of Ash, and tasked with placing the rebellious Lords of Cinder upon their thrones so that the First Flame might be linked once more. The Ashen One, protagonist of Dark Souls III, is one of these Unkindled. After the Ashen One defeats each of the Lords of Cinder and places their remains upon their respective thrones in the Firelink Shrine, the Fire Keeper removes the embers of the Lords and bestows them upon the Ashen One, making them a "true lord, fit to link the fire,"[11] and imbuing them with the power to proceed to the Kiln of the First Flame.
However, it becomes apparent that at this stage in the Age of Fire, which has been unnaturally prolonged far beyond its intended length, there is little that can be done to keep the First Flame lit. Even if the Ashen One chooses to link the Flame, the fire that results from this rebirth is small and feeble in comparison to the raging inferno that resulted from the Chosen Undead linking the Flame in Dark Souls.
In Ending 2: "The End of Fire", the First Flame is snuffed out, albeit with the Fire Keeper revealing that one day "tiny flames will dance across the darkness", which suggests that the First Flame partially perseveres in the form of embers within the Lords of Cinder of the past.[12] As these Lords will use these embers of the First Flame to exert influence the world, this Age of Dark does not spell finality for the Flame. Alternatively, the player can choose to intervene as the Fire Keeper is about to extinguish the First Flame, by killing her before the cinematic ends. In this ending, the Ashen One instead takes the First Flame for themselves while the final segment of the opening narration is heard: "Nameless, accursed Undead, unfit even to be cinder...And so it is...that Ash seeketh embers."
Through another questline, the player can cooperate with Yuria, a leader of the Sable Church of Londor, who urges the Ashen One to take the Flame for themselves, to usher in an Age of Dark; for the Sisters of the Sable Church were under the guidance of Kaathe. This is Ending 4: "The Usurpation of Fire", where the Flame is wrested by the Ashen One, who is to lead the Age of Man as the Lord of Hollows. By the time of Dark Souls III, the undead curse has been accepted by the people of Londor, who have come to view it as a blessing, and their Hollow form as the "true face of man".[13]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Darkstalker Kaathe § Dialogue
- ↑ File:Grand_Archives_-_06.jpg
- ↑ File:The_Dreg_Heap_-_03.png
- ↑ Ending (Dark Souls III)#The End of Fire
- ↑ Profaned Coal description.
- ↑ Divine Pillars of Light description explain how the tale told by the Angels is capable of creating the same light that the angelic creatures manifest with their attacks
- ↑ Opening (Dark Souls) narration.
- ↑ Lothric's dialogue with the Ashen One
- ↑ Opening (Dark Souls III) narration.
- ↑ Soul of Aldrich description.
- ↑ The Fire Keeper's dialogue with the Ashen One immediately before the remains of the Lords of Cinder are incinerated
- ↑ Fire Keeper (Dark Souls III) dialogue.
- ↑ Yuria of Londor dialogue: "The Age of Fire was founded by the old gods, sustained by the linking of the fire. But the old gods are no more, and the all-powerful fire deserveth a new heir. Our Lord of Hollows, it shall be, who weareth the true face of mankind."