Dark Souls: Lore through gameplay

While few would argue otherwise, Dark Souls has a treasure trove of hidden lore scattered about in every facet of its design. Whether it is item descriptions, level design, or seemingly benign utterances, there is a lot to learn about a world that doesn’t outright force its story upon the player. Dark Souls is a series that shows but doesn’t tell when it comes to the narrative.

The first non-playable character that you will inevitably meet who isn’t immediately hostile is the crestfallen warrior, whose depressed, snarky and dejected tone and posture sets the tone for the narrative. At that point in the game, he is clearly stronger and more experienced than you are, yet, he seems to have given up his quest, the same quest you are about to undertake. One might think that the crestfallen warrior exists only to inspire a sense of dread in the player, but that is in fact the least important aspect to him.

In this game, you are cursed to be reanimated as an undead every time you die. However, even as an undead, you retain enough humanity to still be yourself, to continue pushing forward and try to survive in these unforgiving lands. Your body is rotting away, but your mind still remains. However, there are undead who have lost their humanity completely and who have completely lost themselves to the curse. Those are called hollow, as in “empty”, devoid of all humanity. At first, the trigger for this may seem unclear. Many posit that dying repeatedly while not replenishing your humanity makes you hollow, and it is told narratively that you become closer to being hollow every time you die, but then again, you can die an infinite amount of times and never become hollow. Then what is the trigger? The Crestfallen warrior holds the key to the answer.

For most of the game, his appearance is quite human. He has clearly been capable of maintaining his humanity this entire time, and he hasn’t been repeatedly dying. Yet, at one point, he attacks you, silently, not saying a single word. He still has a clearly human complexion, so he has not recently died, and yet he acts like a typical hollow would. What it seems to be is that death was not the reason for his hollowing… giving in to despair was. In other words, a hollow is someone who has completely given up hope.

It stands to reason that if this is the case, then it explains why the player never sees their avatar go fully hollow. As long as they keep playing, keep moving forward with determination, they can never go hollow. The hollowing process applies to the player, not the character. When they grow frustrated and start to give up, that is when begin to hollow. When they put the game down, that is when they become fully hollow. It is symbolism for having given up hope, letting the game win. That is the fate of all who lose to Dark Souls. They become the next crestfallen warriors.