Hello everybody. I know I've been away for awhile, but it's good to be back. School and the demands of a healthy lifestyle take up time. Anyways, I'd like to talk about an old theory of mine I've had for a couple of years. It's about one of my favorite games of all time, Dark Souls II. In other words, this will be the first time I go super ultra nerd on this website. Just a forewarning. That being said, let's get right into it.
If you have played DS2 before, you will probably remember one of the first areas you travel to in the game is Heide's Tower of Flame. It is a relatively small zone, built out of white bricks, with architecture mirroring that of Anor Londo of the first and third Dark Souls games. There are two main buildings in the region; the Tower of Flame and the Cathedral of Blue. While they may sound grand or majestic, their allure is tarnished by Heide's collapsed appearance. The floor is frequently missing spots, damaged buildings and structures abound, and, like the rest of Drangleic, its denizens have long since turned Hollow. Not to mention the drake outside of the Cathedral. Heide is one of my favorite zones from DS2. I love the design of the buildings, and the general mood is impeccable. The sky is deep blues, with occasional flecks of orange from the Tower of Flame. It feels like, as does much of DS2, a land time left behind, like a dream. Besides those two things (and a spoonful of nostalgia), there is one extra characteristic that makes Heide stand out.
The Heide Knights (epic band name?) are a populous enemy in Heide, who are only outnumbered by the much larger Old Knights. They appear, like Heide itself, decrepit and ruined. Appearances are deceiving, however, and the Heide Knights are fatally skilled combatants. They are incredibly agile, zipping across the battlefield. They also do this weird thing where they stand totally still for a beat, only to suddenly attack with great power, which often throws me off guard. The cherry on top of the haystack is that they have almost infinite poise. So it is a good thing, then, that when the player enters Heide, the knights themselves are in a sleep state, slumped against walls (or against a chest containing one of the most essential rings in the game, that bastard) ignoring the player and their battles against the Old Knights. That is, until any one of their number is struck, in which all knights in Heide will rise and begin patrolling the area, waiting for the player to come into their site, in which they will attack mercilessly, as previously described. And there's no going back after that, they cannot be calmed back down. I think all of us DS2 players were slightly traumatized by the Heide Knights.
As someone who was raised on DS2 but didn't play it for myself for several years, this knowledge always stuck with me. Some people have movies from their childhood that they will always remember; I have Dark Souls (there are some movies and stuff, but I think DS2 left a bigger impression on me). Eventually I bought the game for myself, and gradually advanced. In March 2023 I finished the main game (though I still haven't concluded any of the expansions), and things turned full circle for me. As I was progressing through the game, one thing did strike me as odd.
Towards the end of the game, after the Four Old Ones are defeated (or your soul memory is unbelievably high, you loser) and the Shrine of Winter has opened itself, the player can progress on the next to final stage of your quest; acquire the Ashen Mist Heart. The heart is an incredibly valuably and necessary item, because you need it to get the Giant's Kinship so that you can access the Throne of Want... which is only possible by using the power of the Ashen Mist Heart to return to the memories contained withing the Giant Trees scattered throughout Drangleic (but mostly in the early game Forest of Fallen Giants, don't you love throwbacks?) and revisitng crucial points in Drangleic's war against the Giants. The heart is located in a locale called the Dragon Shrine, held by a creature called the Ancient Dragon, whose purpose is to oversee Drangleic. Clearly he is not doing a good job. But you have to get to him, and so you fight through all of the Dragon Shrine to do so. While I was doing so, those years ago, I encountered something strange. There are two main types of enemies in the Dragon Shrine. There are these big knight guys, who are about the same size and carry about the same weaponry as the Old Knights of Heide, and there are smaller knights, who ignore the player unless provoked. Sound familiar?
As a longtime Heide enthusiast, I noticed right away that this felt very familiar. So I paid a bit more attention to the enemies and the area and uncovered several parallels. Here are some that I noticed. There are four big reasons, so we can go over each one at a time.
So the first thing is the very similar enemy behavior. When I say similar I mean similar, not identical. The "big guys" pretty much the same in both areas. They're huge knights with big weapons (sword and shield, greatsword, or hammer) that are kind of slow and will attack on sight. So that one may be identical. Where some discrepancies occur are with the "little guys". I already mentioned their behavior in Heide. In the Dragon Shrine, it is close, but still slightly different. Rather than being on the ground sleeping, the little guys of Dragon Shrine are always on their feet. They still ignore the player until they are attacked, but the often acknowledge the player by bowing before a fight begins. The little guys in Dragon Shrine are also often near the big guys, so one could assume that the fight is viewed more like a duel, rather than a more strategic or militaristic conflict. This also suggests that the warriors of the Dragon Shrine are not hollowed yet, but that's a story for another time. Then at the end of the Shrine, right before reaching the Ancient Dragon, you have to walk up a great set of stairs (not unlike the entrance to Anor Londo, which Heide mirrors). On the left and right sides of the stairs, the person sized dragon knights wait for you, but as usual they do not attack. Except for one at the top of the stairs, who use this twinblade like weapon to fight you in one on one combat. The point here is that while they are not totally identical, the enemies of Dragon Shrine function very very similarly to those at Heide, which suggests that the areas may have once been connected in some form.
The next thing I was thinking is that both areas are signifigant grounds for covenants in the game. Covenants in DS2, as you probably know, function like religions lore wise. In game they mostly affect multiplayer experiences, but in the lore, they are used more as an ideology or belief system. Two of the game's covenants are both based in these two areas. The first is the Blue Sentinels covenant, which the player may join by venturing to the Cathedral of Blue, defeating the dragon (more on him later), lowering the drawbridge, and fighting the Old Dragonslayer (also more later). Inside you will find Targray, the head of the Blue Sentinels in Drangleic. Assuming you have at least one Token of Fidelity in your possession, he will allow you to come into the fold. The Blue Sentinels are focused on protecting members of the Way of Blue from invasion, and are also opposed to members of the Brotherhood of Blood covenant, located in Undead Purgatory. Meanwhile in Dragon Shrine, the religion of the Dragon Remnants appears to be the state covenant. The Dragon Remnants seems to be focused around the worship of dragons, seeing as how the Ancient Dragon has a large prescense in the the area. This covenant is joined by defeating an NPC invader by the name of Dragonfang Villard (another example of a 1 on 1 duel?) and retrieving a Petrified Egg from a pedestal. The player must bring the egg to Magerold of Lanafir, the friendly and seemingly intrepid merchant in Iron Keep, to join the covenant. Besides both areas being sacred grounds for covenants, there is one more similarity within the covenants. As we know, the culture of Dragon Shrine is heavily based around honor and duels. While not as obvious for Heide and the Blue Sentinels, one feature of the Blue Sentinels allows the player to spend Tokens of Fidelity to duel other players of the Blue Sentinels covenant. At this point, the similarities, to me, are too close to ignore.
Another thing that I observed was that both Heide and the Dragon Shrine have a lot to do with dragons. I feel like I don't need to explain for the latter. It's in the name. Everything in the Dragon Shrine is based around dragons. Heide may be less obvious. For starters, let's consider that dragon (a wyvern actually; it walks on two legs) that guards the Cathedral of Blue. It is not an extraordinary thing in itself, in fact, I think it fits the area quite nicely, given the majestic architecture, but further examination leads me to believe that something is wrong. There are two bosses in Heide; the Dragonrider and the Old Dragonslayer. What do those two have in common? Not only do they both have something to do with dragons, they both subjigate or kill dragons. So why is there a live one within the proximity of two of these characters? One could argue that the dragon belongs to the Dragonrider in the Tower of Flame, and I honestly cannot disprove that theory. It is an unsolved mystery after all. I will explain what I really believe later.
This one really isn't worth it's own paragraph, but for cleanliness sake I guess I will do it. The last major point I noticed is that there are some stark similarities in the design and architecture of the buildings in both locations. Take a look and you will see what I mean. Both are built predominantly out of white stone bricks, and the way the structures are built highlight several similarities.
Here is what I think happened between Heide and the Dragon Shrine, and why they are so familiar. It is heavily implied that Heide and the Dragon Shrine were connected in some form. I believe that they were once part of the same society or country. This is suggested be similar dragon connotations, architectural design, and enemy behavior. The two areas shared similar ideological beliefs and a similar military hierarchy, regarding the two types of enemies in both areas. For the sake of this theory, I believe that the original religion of both states was the Blue Sentinels, or it at least became that for Heide later in time. I also think that something cultural though not neccessarily religious caused the people to see dragons as creatures to be killed, as most people do. This is suggested by the prescence of the Old Dragonslayer. I believe that since both the Old Knights and the Old Dragonslayer share the prefix old (often used to describe people or items originating from the original Dark Souls), the Dragonslayer and Heide are around the same age. The description of the Heide Spear suggests that Drangleic conquered what was left of Heide long after Heide had existed, suggesting that the Dragonrider was a later addition.
I believe that there was a fallout between the two areas which occurred during Drangleic's occupation of Heide and quite possibly when Drangleic was still a functioning nation. It is implied that the Dragon Aerie was a kind of testing ground for Aldia's experiments with immortality with dragons. Why do you think Aldia's Keep ties directly into Dragon Aerie? I believe that most, if not all, of the dragons (again, wyverns or drakes) that populate the aerie were manufactured by Aldia. This suggests that they were placed there after Heide and what would become the Dragon Shrine were established. At this point, it is pretty safe to assume that the Ancient Dragon within the shrine is artificial as well, because it drops a Giant Soul. It was probably created by Aldia too, though it is more majestic and much closer to a true Everlasting Dragon than the other locals. I think that upon the Ancient Dragon's inception, the human residents of the Shrine began to have a great respect for it, and started to protect it and worship it. This would be the birth of the Dragon Remnants covenant and likely when the area began to go by the name of Dragon Shrine.
Their brothers in Heide, considering the prescense of the Old Dragonslayer, were not supportive of this decision. I believe that the two areas fought militaristically over the matter. Whether it was antagonized by Heide to eradicate the dissidents or by the Dragon Shrine to make their old friends pay the price for their crimes on dragonkind, I do not know. One way or another, they fought. Because this was while Heide was under the banner of Drangleic, Vendrick technically ruled over the area. It was within the king's power to send the Dragonrider to fight for Heide, but even that was not enough. Judging from Heide's ruined appearance of the architecture and it's denizens, and the Dragon Shrine's relatively pristine feel, I think it is fair to say that Heide lost the conflict. While it's residents were not totally massacred, they were beaten to a point where the Dragon Shrine was victorious. The armies of the Dragon Shrine returned to their home, returning to their normal lives, as revealed by the intact duel culture and the warriors' ability to use gestures. The wyvern near the Cathedral perhaps could have been left behind to prevent any further insurrection. I think it more likely that because it has relatively lower health than it's Aerie counterparts (about 1730 vs 5300), it was injured in the fight and was either left behind (not likely for a dragon revering state) or chose to remain there. Perhaps leaving was more painful than staying. And who knows how long it's been that way when the player gets there?
So that was my theory. Is it okay? I think so. Is it for certain? No. Is it more possible than not? I would say that it is. This is an idea I have thought on for a few years now, and I'm really happy to not only commit it to paper, but also to share it with the lovely Neocities community. Not to mention refine it. A little less than half of this was probably considered on this HTML editor for the first time. Anyways, if you liked this, expect more Unsolved Mysteries in a similar vein on my site. If you have questions, comments, or just want to say hi, tell me on my guestbook. Still no messages and I'd like to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by.
