Grand Archives

The Grand Archives (大書庫 Daishogo, The Great Library) is a location in Dark Souls III. It is a subsection of Lothric Castle.

Description[]

The library's layout consists of six floors:

First floor

Second floor

First vat filled with wax at the far end of the library.
Small studio with the Crystal Chime guarded by a spear-wielding, red-eyed Lothric Knight.
Darkened room with a moving bookcase that gives access to a secret room with the Witch's Locks and the Power Within pyromancy.

Third floor

Kickable shortcut ladder to the second floor, from where the Avelyn can be reached by jumping on top of a series of bookcases below.
Lever between two bookshelves near the front-central railing and guarded by several Clawed Curses. Pulling it reveals a hidden corridor on the second floor with a chest containing a Titanite Slab.
Ladder that connects to the fourth floor on the balcony.
Second wax vat upstairs and to the left.
Hidden area revealed by pulling a lever to the right of the wooden bridge (must be reached from the fourth floor), with a corpse sitting on a chair holding the Scholar Ring.
Wooden bridge where the final confrontation with the Crystal Sage is more likely to take place (the bridge reaches the fourth floor's level at its highest section).

Fourth floor

Hidden room behind an illusory wall on an alcove on the left wing with a Boreal Outrider Knight inside that drops the Outrider Set, and a corpse sitting on a chair holding the Soul Stream sorcery a bit further.
Shortcut lift to the first floor at the middle of the stairs that lead to the fifth floor.

Fifth floor

Sixth floor

Corpse holding the Fleshbite Ring at the end of the corridor filled with Clawed Curses on the right.
Exit from the library to the roofs section.
Undead Bone Shard on a corpse sitting on a chair on the rear-central area (after coming from the roofs section).
Kickable shortcut ladder to the fifth floor.
Third wax vat near to the library's main exit.
Ultra greatsword-wielding, red-eyed Lothric Knight in front of a balcony on the front-central end, guarding two Titanite Chunks.
Main exit from the library and to a courtyard where Knight Albert, Kamui and Kriemhild ambush the player.

Main article: Lothric Castle (bonfires)

The Grand Archives is a subsection of Lothric Castle and comprises the following bonfires:

- ×8 are found on corpses throughout the area.
- ×2 are dropped by a Crystal Lizard.
- ×3 are found in a chest.
Titanite Slab (×2)

- Inside a chest that is accessed from opening a hidden pathway behind a bookcase.
- Awarded after defeating the three Gertrude's Knights at the top of the area.
Twinkling Titanite (×12)

- ×9 dropped from Crystal Lizards throughout the area.
- ×3 are found in a chest at the highest floor.
Undead Bone Shard
Witch's Locks

* If required conditions are met.

Unlike the knights found in the rest of Lothric, the red-eyed knights found within the library cast Crystal Magic Weapon to augment their weaponry, not Blessed Weapon. The knights guarding Prince Lothric's room cast the latter spell, however.
The three characters guarding the passage to the bridge to the prince's room will attack all at once if approached directly. However, it is possible to lure them one at a time if shot by a bow, then running back to the archives while the one character follows; the other two will most likely go back to their positions. If the character loses aggression, snipe them again until they follow.
The Crystal Sage can attack as soon as the Archives are entered. shooting spells down from a bridge far overhead, and an angle that the camera cannot pan to.
Most of the thralls that inhabit this level cling to book cases above eye level, waiting for ambush when the player passes under them. They are also capable of throwing Firebombs for a a ranged attack.
The three Gertrude's Knights can disappear from the game after Soul of Cinder is defeated.