- "Hunters with patience score the best kills."
- — Shiva of the East
Shiva of the East (東のシバ) 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. This mistrust is a remnant of cut content which involves Shiva killing the player to obtain their Chaos Blade (a reference to Satsuki from Demon's Souls). Shiva would then flee to the Painted World where the player could invade via a Black Eye Orb and regain the Chaos Blade. (This is evident from cut dialogues from the game)
Lore[]
Not much is known of Shiva, other than that he likes collecting things and is from an Eastern Land.[1] According to the cut content, he may have come to Lordran in search of the Chaos Blade.
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 the two remains a tricky proposition. After moving to his Blighttown location, Shiva can be led into the swamps and poisoned, allowing for a slow but easy kill. The player can also escape up the nearby elevator after poisoning the duo, where they will be unable to follow, and allow the poison to run its course without any danger.
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.
Sometimes, when the Forest Hunter Archer is killed or players join another covenant, if players talk to Alvina she will disappear in a mass of white. Occasionally, as soon as she has done this, Shiva's bodyguard, a Forest Hunter Thief and the Forest Hunter Bandit will try to overrun the player in an attempt to kill them for their betrayal. In the case that this happens, Shiva will be alone later on if the player is victorious.
Notes[]
- Shiva has a transparent bodyguard that accompanies him. The bodyguard is notable as he is the only entity in the game to drop the coveted Dark Wood Grain Ring.
Wares[]
| Weapon |  Flamberge |
 Stone Greatsword |
 Demon Great Machete |
 Shotel |
 Uchigatana |
| Souls | 10,000 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 5,000 |
| Weapon |  Washing Pole |
 Demon's Greataxe |
 Claw |
 Demon's Spear |
|
| Souls | 20,000 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 15,000 |
| Ring |  East Wood Grain Ring |
| Souls | 10,000 |
Character information[]
Health and souls[]
| Health | Souls | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| NG | NG+ | NG | NG+ |
| 719 | 1,215 | 3,000 | 9,000 |
Defenses[]
| Physical Defenses | Elemental Defenses | Resistances | |||||||
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
|
| 249 | 240 | 280 | 243 | 146 | 214 | 171 | C | C | B |
These stats are sourced from FuturePress's Official Dark Souls Strategy Guide.
Equipment[]
| Right Hand | Left Hand |
 Murakumo +12 |
 Iron Round Shield +12 |
| Head | Chest | Hands | Legs |
 Eastern Helm +5 |
 Eastern Armor +5 |
 Eastern Gauntlets +5 |
 Eastern Leggings +5 |
Drops[]
| Item | Murakumo |
Iron Round Shield |
| Drop Rate | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
Dialogue[]
| Click to see dialogue (contains spoilers) | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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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 trespassers.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
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/hA42TwK8.
| Click to see removed content (contains spoilers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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From the code, it would appear the Shiva was supposed to have a similar role to Satsuki in Demon's Souls. From dialogue acquired from the code, it would appear that Shiva is looking for the Chaos Blade. Upon showing it to Shiva, Shiva would ask for the blade and no matter what the player replied, Shiva would try to kill them anyway. If the player was killed by Shiva, they received a Black Eye Orb, similar to the one that is found near the Fire Keeper in Firelink Shrine, after she is killed by Knight Lautrec of Carim. The following text is present in the text dump to suggest that the player would have received a Black Eye Orb:
References[]
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