- "Many monarchs have come and gone. One drowned in poison, another succumbed to flame. Still another slumbers in a realm of ice. Not one of them stood here, as you do now. You, conqueror of adversities. Give us your answer."
- — Aldia
Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin is an optional boss as well as a character in Dark Souls II. He was originally only a mentioned character as Lord Aldia, a mysterious researcher who conducted horrible experiments in his mansion, Aldia's Keep, but was added into the game proper via the Scholar of the First Sin enhanced edition named after him.
In Scholar of the First Sin, Aldia, the older brother of King Vendrick, hints at a path for the Bearer of the Curse that differs from the one presented to them. If the conditions are met, he can serve as the final boss of Dark Souls II, with his fight triggering after Nashandra's; he, notably, is the only boss in any Dark Souls game not to die when defeated, and as such drops no souls nor items, with the player instead gaining the option of an alternate ending in which the Bearer of the Curse is hinted to as following this mysterious other path at Aldia's side. He is also a mentioned character in Dark Souls III via the Soul Stream description, which refers to him as "the first of the Scholars". He is voiced by David Gant, who also voiced Oswald of Carim in Dark Souls.
Description[]
The Scholar of the First Sin appears to be a giant, charred human head covered in flames and large branches. The ground around the Scholar will be on fire. There is a single red orb near the center of his body, which is possibly an eye. His head and shoulders are all the Bearer of the Curse sees as he rises from the ground, but this could imply that there is a body below it, invisible to the player.
Locations[]
- He is first encountered in the final primal bonfire room that remains unlit. If all bonfires have been lit prior to downloading the patch, he will automatically appear in the Black Gulch primal bonfire room, after The Rotten.
- Upon speaking to the player at the primal bonfire, Aldia will proceed to the first bonfire in the Undead Crypt.
- After exhausting his dialogue in the Undead Crypt, Aldia can be found in the Dragon Shrine bonfire room, at a significantly reduced size compared to the first bonfire.
- Finally, after completing the dialogue in Dragon Shrine, Aldia will appear as a boss in the Throne of Want in Drangleic Castle after killing Nashandra, but only if Vendrick is killed before Nashandra. The game can be completed without fighting Aldia here, if Nashandra is killed before Vendrick is.
Lore[]
Aldia is the elder brother of King Vendrick, and aided his brother in founding the kingdom of Drangleic.[1] He secluded himself in his manor, searching for secrets of life, viewing the Undead as the key to finding it.[2][3] For his reverence of the Undead, Aldia was shunned by Vendrick, banished to his Keep forever.[4] People who were invited to his manor commonly disappeared and were replaced with malformed beasts.[3] The Southern and Northern Ritual Bands were created by Aldia and his acolytes after cruel, horrible experiments were performed on these people.[5][6] Many valuable objects came out of Aldia's Keep, including the Sunset Staff,[7] the Spitfire Spear,[3] Soul Geyser,[8] Unleash Magic,[9] and Forbidden Sun.[10]
Through his experiments, Aldia sought to learn the nature of the undead curse, and to shed the yoke of fate.[11] He failed, however, and turned into a monstrosity, inhabiting the bonfires.[11]
Plot[]
Aldia serves as a lore-centric character, alluding to a great deal of things in relation to the lore of Dark Souls II.
When the Bearer of the Curse has defeated the Four Great Ones and lit the Primal Bonfires he will emerge and guide the Bearer of the Curse towards his brother Vendrick, now a mindless hollow. He continues to appear to the Bearer of the Curse, seeking to learn their intentions and telling them of the nature of the curse and the fabric of their world.
He will finally attack the Bearer of the Curse before they can take the Throne of Want, seeking to test them. When Aldia is defeated, he will ask what the Bearer of the Curse wants: light, dark or something else entirely. If the Bearer of the Curse chooses to reject the throne and leave, Aldia will narrate the Bearer of the Curse's departure from the throne.
Summoning[]
- Vengarl of Forossa, Benhart of Jugo, and Bradley of the Old Guard can all be found for summoning directly outside the fog gate.
Strategy[]
Aldia is immobile when fought, but is able to teleport, releasing an area of effect attack around the area he teleports to.
Several of Aldia's attacks deal mixed Fire and Dark damage, so some form of fire defense is recommended for this fight. All of his attacks deal either pure physical or Fire/Dark damage. This means that a shield that is highly resistant to both physical and Fire/Dark damage, such as the Rebel's Greatshield, will reduce his damage output greatly.
The Fire Orbs have moderate tracking, so rolling may be needed to fully evade. Forbidden Sun can be cast in any direction, even directly behind him. The Fire Orb and Forbidden Sun attacks can be avoided by rolling, strafing around Aldia or running perpendicular to their trajectory.
The withered tree branches he utilizes inflict physical damage only, making them especially prone to being blocked. At a distance, the branches extend out of the ground in a path in front of him, with moderate tracking, making it harder to roll out of the path of the attack. This is easily noted when one rolls away from the attack, but gets grazed by one of the branches, yet doesn't flinch or stagger upon getting hit.
Throughout the fight, Aldia will surround himself in a fiery aura that makes close contact with him difficult without the risk of dying to the flames. However, an ultra greatsword can still reach. This aura also bolsters his own defenses, reducing the damage he receives from all attacks by a significant amount. The fiery aura fades when he performs certain moves, giving the player a small window to attack up close. The first opening is just after he teleports to a new location, and the second is when he is charging up his Forbidden Sun attack.
When Aldia has about half of his health left, he will buff himself, intensifying the flames that cover him. He will keep this form throughout the battle. At this point, he'll start combining various of his previous attacks and cast them in succession.
Attacks[]
Fire Orbs:
Aldia will fire out four orbs of dark fire, placing them above his head. After a short time, the orbs will begin homing in on his target. He can cast this multiple times in a row. How to avoid: block with Gyrm Greatshield or roll a few times.
Dark Forbidden Sun:
Aldia charges a large dark fireball above his head. While he does this the fire around him will disperses leaving him vulnerable. Attack him while he's charging. How to avoid: the fireball is rather easy to dodge if you roll away right before it hits.
Tree Root Dance:
Aldia slams a root into the ground, causing numerous tree roots to protrude from the ground, moving towards the player rapidly. Just like the Fire Snake pyromancy. How to avoid: the roots start appearing right in front of Aldia at the center; a root never appears twice in the same location. Knowing this, first stand closer to his left or right side to avoid the initial roots, then quickly move to stand right in front of him, where the first roots appeared, and the other roots won't be able to follow you.
Circular Tree Root Dance:
Aldia slams a root into the ground, causing numerous tree roots to come out of the ground around him, not moving towards the player. How to avoid: watch the fire patches appearing on the ground before the roots and move away from them.
Teleport:
Aldia can teleport at any time. Upon finishing a teleport, he emits an area of effect attack immediately. How to avoid: watch the red light that appears at the location where Aldia is teleporting, then stand back to avoid the blast (similar to Smelter Demon's fire blast). After that immediately run up to him to land a few hits before his flames go up.
Defenses[]
"Burnt out" mode: low Lightning and Physical-type damage resistance, moderate resistance to Magic and Fire.
"Flame" mode, 1st phase: moderate resistance to Lightning and Physical-type damage, high resistance to Magic and Fire.
"Flame" mode, 2nd phase: high resistance to Lightning and Physical-type damage, very high resistance to Magic and Fire.
Initial stats[]
| Physical Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
| 506 | 30% | -10% | 7% |
| Elemental Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
| 37% | 51% | 30% | 51% |
| Resistances | |||
|
|
Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| 79% | 100% | No | No |
(Stats are from Param Studio and are not estimated)
Strike/Slash/Thrust defense are applied on top of Physical Defense. -10% slash means taking 110% damage.
Dialogue[]
With the introduction of Scholar of the First Sin, a great deal of lore-centric dialogue was added to the game, changing much of the preconceived lore.
The deformed Aldia is encountered several times by the Bearer of the Curse, to whom he imparts his extensive knowledge on the nature of life. He expresses outrage over the actions of the Lord of Light, who cursed humans into mortality and introduced the cycle of light and dark by linking the First Flame. Aldia's bleak worldview considers mankind as "props on the stage of life", persevering merely through obsession. While acknowledging the merits of the Age of Fire, he labels the roots of this "warm, resplendent" world as a lie, with the linking of the Fire as its original sin. Nevertheless, Aldia realizes that one could wish to inherit this order, even if built on a "tender, exquisite" lie. Instead of submission to the peace provided by the status quo, he offers a third "path"; obscure and unpaved, yet could perhaps ascend the scope of Light and Dark.
The Scholar alludes to the fates of the three kings, whether or not the player has played through The Lost Crowns DLCs. He also seems to speak of Vengarl of Forossa—"One man lost his own body, but lingered on, as a head."—though he could equally be referring to himself, given his diminished form as little more than a head.
| Click to see dialogue | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Notes[]
- Aldia during his boss fight can be in either "flame" mode or “burnt out" mode.
- In "flame" mode, he has very high damage reduction and creates an aura, which may seriously wound the player.
- If the player killed Nashandra before downloading the patch, Aldia will not appear in the Throne of Want, even if he has been spoken to in all three previous locations. A Bonfire Ascetic must be burned at the King's Gate bonfire to spawn Aldia, which means the player must defeat Nashandra as well as the Throne Watcher and Defender again before being able to fight Aldia.
- During the fight, spears and shields with high fire resistance are recommended.
- Aldia drops nothing upon defeat, not even souls. The only reward from defeating him is that the player has the option to leave the throne, giving the player an alternate ending.
- If a weapon is swung within close vicinity to any of the bonfires he has manifested at, its durability will degrade unusually fast. This goes for all Primal Bonfires as well as the entrance to the Undead Crypt, and Shrine Entrance bonfire in Dragon Shrine.
- He's one of the main antagonists of Dark Souls II. He was added in patch 1.10 and is only accessible to players who have installed Compatibility Pack 4.
Trivia[]
- Aldia shares some traits with King Allant from Demon's Souls. Their voices are very similar, and their appearances are both that of deformed creatures which were once human.
- If Aldia manifests to the player at the Shrine Entrance bonfire in the Dragon Shrine, due to the small area where it's located at, a very tiny version of Aldia will emerge.
- Both of Aldia's tree root attacks are very similar to pyromancies the Bearer of the Curse can find, such as Fire Snake or Firestorm.
- Aldia is passively referenced in Dark Souls III, based on the Japanese item description and name (Soul Geyser) for Soul Stream.
Gallery[]
Music[]
References[]
- ↑ Aldia Hammer description.
- ↑ Malformed Shell description.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Spitfire Spear description.
- ↑ Aldia Key description.
- ↑ Southern Ritual Band description.
- ↑ Northern Ritual Band description.
- ↑ Sunset Staff description.
- ↑ Soul Geyser description.
- ↑ Unleash Magic description.
- ↑ Forbidden Sun description.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin dialogue.