Undead

An Undead turned Hollow.

Being Undead, also known as the curse of Undeath, is a storyline concept in the Dark Souls series. An Undead is brought back to life at a bonfire every time they perish, although they lose all of their souls in the process; this immortality of sorts is largely perceived to be a curse or disease, as all Undead are doomed to become hollows, mindless husks of their former selves, over repeated deaths and loss of will.

Hollowing can be prevented if the Undead maintains their humanity via steady supplies of solid humanity or effigies; the circumstances regarding how one becomes afflicted are unclear, although the condition is connected to the state of the First Flame. The Chosen Undead in Dark Souls and the Bearer of the Curse in Dark Souls II are both Undead; the Ashen One in Dark Souls III is Unkindled, giving them a similar yet distinct form of Undeath from which they do not have to fear Hollowing.

Causes

The curse of undeath was created when Gwyn, Lord of Cinder and Ruler of the Age of Fire, began to feel threatened by the kin of the Furtive Pygmy: humans were immortal beings, born from the Dark yet able to live in a world enlightened by the Fire, whose souls did not lose power despite being endlessly splitted and multiplied. According to Primordial Serpent Kaathe, the gods were intimidated by this unexplored potential of the Dark Soul. They had briefly glimpsed at the smidgen of life emanated from the primordial human knights, and feared the eventual overthrowal of Anor Londo and its Age of Fire. Therefore, a complex and ingenious apparatus was set in motion with the goal to mould humanity into a subservient, weak people that would not only serve the Age of Fire, but also refused to relinquish it to make way for the Age of Dark.

The Darksign, a ring of fire around the Darkness of humanity.

The knights of the human armies were the first ones to be marked with a Sigil of Fire that would contain their Darkness and numb their abilities. The strength of Fire was strong enough to leave an imprinted mark that would become, through few generations, genetically inherited by every newborn. The seal restrains the Darkness within Man, and once the consciousness of that part of the self is lost, Humanity's presence and nature remains unknown, its abilities nullified, its feelings ignored, its role forgotten. When a human dies, its darkness is not strong enough to keep it alive, and death affects men just as it would affect any other creatures born from Fire. However, their Humanity is still present within their bodies and, unless it gets pillaged, there it shall remain forever.

When the First Flame begins to fade, it cannot sufficiently power the Darksign, which therefore cannot contain Humanity any further, and humans slowly revert to their original, immortal form, being revived from death. However, Humanity has never been acknowledged, understood and trained, and after a lifetime constricted it is deprived of any lucidity and control: and, most importantly, it holds no trace of the self, like the soul did. Therefore, gathering souls is essential to retain sanity,^{[citation needed]} for strength is the only defense against mind's decay.

How undeath is triggered is unknown, as not all the dead we encounter have been brought back to life, but it almost always occurs regardless of the victim's intentions. However, some individuals like Solaire of Astora and Laurentius willingly embraced undeath. All those that become Undead show the trace of the Darksign.

Symptoms

Unlike the living, the Undead do not perish with death; instead, they are resurrected at bonfires. However, in time they gradually lose their sanity and intelligence, a process called Hollowing. This covers many stages of sanity and consciousness, until the last trace of identity is lost. An Undead that has fully lost its sanity is known as a Hollow.

Hollows

Hollows are universally hostile to lucid individuals, including other Undead. They are distinguished by their emaciated appearance and shriveled, red skin, along with their darkened eye sockets that house red eyes.

An accursed Undead, not yet gone Hollow.

In Dark Souls, most cases of characters who eventually go hollow have one thing in common: they have reached the end of their means of staying sane. There are numerous people who can, for example, teach new sorceries to the player; once they impart all of their knowledge, they have little utility to the player, and are found hollowed soon after. Reah of Thorolund is one example, going hollow after teaching every miracle that she can to the Chosen Undead. In other cases, Undead may be found hollowed after getting lost or failing to accomplish a goal. Laurentius will go hollow in the depths of Blighttown after leaving to find Quelana. Reah's knights, Nico and Vince, will be found hollowed if they are separated from Reah in the Catacombs, failing the maiden they had sworn to protect. In short, hollowing is almost always precipitated by a breaking point, causing a loss of sense of purpose, and thereby sanity.

Another effect of undeath is the gradual decay of the body over time; this effect is reversed when hollowing is reversed with the absorption and use of Humanity at bonfires to reverse hollowing. However, an Undead who has gone completely hollow, in mind and in body, is beyond hope of reversal. It is also mentioned by Aldia that the "illusion of love" is said to cease when the Darksign touches a human's flesh.

Undeath is usually reversed whenever the Fire gains enough strength to enforce the Darksign over the darkness, which usually happens with every new Linking of Fire. However, powerful beings that have attained control of their humanity are presumably able to maintain their natural state and avoid death: such people are often revered as Dark Lords.

Social status

As a general rule, the Undead are treated with hostility by the living. Game lore suggests that Undead are hunted down by followers of Allfather Lloyd in the lands of the living, who round them up and send them to an asylum with no hope of release. Many of the characters the player meets mention the stigma they faced from the rest of society before they left their former homes.

However, some Undead were treated with respect. For example; Paladin Leeroy, the first Undead from the Way of White, was granted the treasures of Grant and Sanctus by his order.