The World Soul Of Flame
Metaphysics and Myth within Dark Souls
Ruminations on the Fading of the Fire…
At the dawn of the first Dark Souls, we are provided with the cosmogonic myth of the advent of fire. We are told that the fog-shrouded, grey crags of the unformed world in the Age of Ancients is undone through the coming of ‘fire’ — the fire we come to know as the First Flame. The flame is the progenitor of disparity and its arrival seems to transform the world. We are told that “Heat and cold, life and death, and of course, light and dark”[i] all accompany the ignition of this primordial flame. Importantly, the fire itself does not represent either side of these disparities. Though it is understood and described as a fire it is no ordinary flame. The First Flame is a unity of these disparate concepts, all of which find expression through its existence. It is not that the world was cold, dead, and dark before the fire brings warmth, life, and light — all of these came into being with the First Flame.
Indeed, the flame itself manifests its disparities into the four Lord Souls, each of which represents one part of the flame’s whole. The first of the Lords, and the First of the dead, is Nito who claims a lord soul with an affinity for death.[ii] We are then told of the Witch of Izalith and her Daughters of Chaos whose attempt at igniting their lord soul gave rise to chaos and new life in the form of the demons — as such her soul is associated with life itself. The Great Lord Gwyn, who establishes himself as the God of the Dark Souls universe[iii] claims the soul of light. And of course, we are all familiar with the titular dark soul, found by the furtive pygmy (so easily forgotten). Most of us are familiar with what follows: the Lords declare war upon the aforementioned Ancients and bring destruction to that which was once eternal. Through lightning, fire, and pestilence the dragons and the Archtrees are destroyed and thus we enter into the Age of Fire, an age supposedly dominated by the power of the First Flame.
The First Flame is itself a metaphysical presence, if not the metaphysical presence that defines the series. It is central to the cosmology of the Dark Souls universe. Of course, all three games within the series premise their central plot upon the notion that the First Flame is fading, that a sacrifice must be offered to sustain it, lest the end of days be allowed to come to pass. By the inception of Dark Souls III, the end is already well underway. But more than that, the First Flame is the very soul of the world. As we are told, the world pre-exists the coming of the flame in an “unformed” state. Dark Souls here seems to invoke an ancient dualism — establishing the world of the Age of Ancients as a time of pure material substance, before the form of the soul arrives. Souls are the currency of this world (or at least, in our experience of it) and we claim the souls of our foes (both great and small) when we defeat them — just as they claim ours should we fail. Visually, the game shows the soul as a stream of pure white coalescing into our bodies once we have slain its previous vessel, and should we examine those souls we encounter we see that these are themselves flames. Each soul is an individuated — albeit temporarily — spark of the First Flame itself. As such, souls are not merely power in an instrumental sense but they are representative of presence and existence. When we lose our souls, we begin to lose our selves — not because the souls are our minds or our identities[iv] (whatever these are) but because the soul itself is that which makes us more than mere matter — it is reality and being.
The First Flame is representative of the notion of the world soul — as the dynamic force that generates motion and change within the world. The world soul has diverse articulations, though continually manifests across the history of philosophy (for example with Plato’s psuchè kósmou (ψυχὴ κόσμου)[v] and the Hegelian Geist)[vi] and religion (particularly Hinduism’s Ātman (as universal soul)[vii] and qi from Chinese thought).[viii] The dragons are devoid of souls, they lack the ability to change and are thus everlasting. But with the advent of the First Flame, the world souls’ power suffuses the world and transforms it, coalescing in certain locations to form the bonfires we use to rest and travel within the game. These bonfires demonstrate to us the transcendence of the Fire Flame as they allow us to nullify the spatiality of the world as we warp between them, and they link our world (both spatially and temporally) to others’ who appear as ghosts for a brief moment.[ix] We gain strength from this world soul through suffusing ourselves with more and more of its power, through wresting fragments of it from others and linking them to our own ‘individuated’ soul. Should we choose to embrace the destiny others have planned for us, we eventually allow this soul of ours to be engulfed, returning some of our own power to the first flame in order to sustain it. This is what it means to be a Lord of Cinder. Given that the souls are eventually returned to the First Flame, we can see further parallels to the unus mundus — the unified, underlying reality whence everything came and to which everything shall eventually return — as discussed by both Duns Scotus[x] and Carl Jung.[xi]
But we are told that the fire is fading and “soon…only Dark will remain”.[xii] Given what I’ve discussed so far, there appears to be one clear consequence of the fading of the fire: the world itself is dying. As the flames of the world soul begin to flicker away, the world would return to its unformed state, its state without either essence or disparity. Yet we are told not to expect the return of the Age of Ancients, but the coming of an Age of Dark. Now of course, we never discover what this age might look like. We have only the fears of Kingseeker Frampt and the ambitions of Darkstalker Kaathe (as well as all those they have influenced)[xiii] with which to imagine it. We are consistently encouraged to think of the fading of the fire in terms of an apocalypse[xiv] but this begs the question: an apocalypse of which kind? What is ending? Is the First Flame truly dying and taking reality with it?
But one thing seems to be clear: any age characterised by dark cannot be one in which the power of the First Flame is truly gone. Why? Because dark is itself part of the First Flame, it came into being along with it and — most importantly — it was so integral a part of this flame that it coalesced into one of the four Lord Souls.
Fear not, the dark, my friend
Light and dark is a dualism at the heart of Dark Souls. In each of the games we are guided and expected to gather the strength necessary to emulate Gwyn — God himself — in linking the First Flame. As the proverbial ‘Chosen’ Undead of the first game, we are saved by a nameless knight[xv] and told that we must follow the “old saying” of his family and “maketh pilgrimage to the Land of Ancient Lords” all to discover “the fate of the Undead”.[xvi] As previously mentioned, this pilgrimage sees us ringing two bells to awaken a primordial serpent who wishes “to elucidate your fate, and the very reason your kind have appeared”.[xvii] We’re then informed that it is our duty to succeed Gwyn (and, so we may naively presume, become God), cast away the dark and undo the curse of the undead. Of course, we’re not told that our fate is to die and anyone who has played Dark Souls II knows just how well the last part works out, as the curse is very much still a problem for the people of Drangleic. Parts of this reality, though certainly not the whole truth, are only revealed to us if we encounter Frampt’s antithesis: Kaathe, who equally manipulates us with visions of overthrowing the oppressive Gods of Lordran and becoming the Dark Lord.[xviii] As many have pointed out before, we are caught between these contrasting schemes and know not who to trust.
Throughout the series, we encounter many institutions that attempt to follow Gwyn’s final command and “shepherd [we] humans”[xix] towards linking the fire. We encounter this legacy in several disparate forms — echoing Dark Souls’ commitment to stressing the unreliability of memory and history itself. Foremost among our connections to Gwyn’s legacy is the Way of White, which is primarily connected to Thorolund in the original game, though by the time of Dark Souls III has become part of Carim. Though uncontestably manipulative and built on many deceits,[xx] the Way of White best represents the impact Gwyn’s legacy has upon the human world. We can consider here how Gwyn’s own child Gwyndolin speaks of his father, albeit through the mouth of his sister. The illusory Gwynevere beseeches us — with all the authority of Anor Londo, the seat of Gwyn, itself — to “succeed Lord Gwyn, and inheriteth the Fire of our world” that we might ward away “a frigid and frightful Dark”.[xxi] In a reflection of this, Vince of Thorolund, a humble follower of the Way of White, repeatedly echoes the same sentiment when has says “Vereor Nox” — fear the night.[xxii]
This is tension between sustaining the Age of Fire and ushering in the Age of Dark is constantly repeated. But the Age of Fire is a curious moniker. We are led to believe that this Age is named thus because it is both defined and sustained by the power of the Lord Souls, by the power of the First Flame itself. But in a manner that truly befits many of Dark Souls’ criticisms of history and ‘received understanding’, it is pertinent to ask: who named this age after fire and why?
My answer is that it was Gwyn who dubbed this age as that of fire and he did this in order to both establish and secure his power and his legacy.
Firstly, it is clear that the current arrangement of the age benefits Gwyn’s legacy above all else. If the Age of Fire were defined by the power of the First Flame itself then this would be expressed through the power of each of its four Lord Souls. Yet this age is very clearly dominated by Gwyn and the light soul. Bearing the death soul, Nito simply slumbers within the Tomb of the Giants. Though he has a covenant of Gravelords devoted to him, he is isolates himself from the world. Yet in both the case of the dark and life souls, Gwyn has actively worked to undermine their strength. His black knights were charred fighting a war against the demons, who seek to empower the Chaos Flame — the life soul itself. One could suggest that it is this war that has left Izalith in ruins (ignoring, of course, the devastation wrought by the developers themselves). And, as we know from Dark Souls III’s final DLC — Gwyn gifted the pygmy Lords The Ringed City in the hopes of containing their dark soul. The Age may be named after the fire of the First Flame, but only one of its four core aspects seems to be in power here. In truth, we should perhaps refer to this as the Age of Light, for it is the bearer of the soul of light and his kin who truly rule here, and it is for their benefit that the First Flame must be linked. By naming it the Age of Fire, Gwyn masquerades his own power and interests as those of the First Flame, and subsequently he views his reign as over all souls, trying to assert the dominion of light over the world soul itself.
Despite his various machinations and ruthless realpolitik to establish the contrary, Gwyn’s power is definitively not identical with the First Flame itself. The power of Gwyn’s light soul manifests itself as the miracles wielded by his followers and those who emulate him and these miracles primarily manipulate the power of lightning. In its most powerful form — the miracle wielded by Gwyn himself — it is deliberated named Sunlight Spear, equating the power of the Lightning with the very power of the sun itself.[xxiii] Gwyn’s legacy is cultivated as identical with that of the Fire. To return to Gwynevere’s instruction that we must “succeed Lord Gwyn, and inheriteth the Fire of our world” it is clear that the First Flame is spoken of as Gwyn’s possession. Gwyn’s legacy is built upon and sustained by the pervasive lie that leads him and others to believe that the world soul is not only something that can be possessed but that he is its owner and master, whereas in truth he is only the ‘rightful’ Lord of part of it — the light of his Lord Soul.
This is what it means for us to link the Fire Flame: to preserve it and the world in its current state, with its current imbalance — both of which sustain the legacy of the self-proclaimed Lord of Sunlight. Gwyn is devoted to the destruction of the dark soul, seeking to destroy its instantiation as humanity sprites by burning them up, forcing the First Flame to cannibalise parts of itself and destroy its own darkness, transforming it into the undifferentiated flame of the soul. His desire is to purge the very dark soul from the world, to destroy part of the First Flame itself. Through denying the First Flame part of his expression, Gwyn seeks to dominate the world soul — to keep it in a state that serves his dominion.
And perhaps it is this action that prompts both his individual fate and that of his legacy. Just as, to swerve into a very different area of scholarship,[xxiv] all attempts at repression always fundamentally reassert and empower the very thing that they’re trying to repress, Gwyn’s attempts to destroy the dark soul and maintain the balance towards the light serve as his undoing. Gwyn hordes his power, granting shards of it only to his own lineage, the Four Kings of New Londo, and Seathe the Paledrake. And as such, it remains stagnant and still. Conversely, the Furtive Pygmy[xxv] split the dark soul and shared it widely and as such it was able to grow, to spread and expand.
Gwyn and all those who are — for whatever reason — invested in his legacy only fear the dark for the transformation it represents, for the numerous ways in which it threatens their security. But the First Flame’s very existence heralded the undoing of all that was eternal, for it brought with it the disparity requisite to bring change of all kinds into the world. In a mentality that truly rejects the very essence of the world soul as dynamic, Gwyn clings to the world as it is and is unable to allow it transform. Though mired as he is in his lust for power and the greed with which he hordes his legacy — the world soul itself denies that which would strive to be everlasting. As such, the movement towards darkness is inevitable — but this movement is not the end of fire for as we know both light and dark originated with the First Flame. It could be no more diminished by an Age of Dark than it could by an Age of Light.
So what then does the Age of Dark represent? Like all aspects of the first flame, it is an envoy of transformation — of a new kind of being. The elements of the First Flame that were denied the right to grow, that were suppressed or destroyed by Gwyn and his followers in an attempt to grasp tightly to their dominance are finally able to be expressed. Artificially held in place for eons, the balance suddenly shifts dramatically in the other direction and with it, the world becomes almost unintelligible.
After all, is it not through the dark soul that we are promised a new world? And it’s whispered to be a cold, dark, and very gentle place…
The idea for this post emerged out of some general reflections and responses provoked through watching and reading the contributions of other members of the souls community. I have referenced them and their work where able. Originally, I had planned to write a kind of metaphysical glossary for the Dark Souls universe, however I decided against that format as I do not want my thoughts to be presented in a closed way. What are contained within here are ruminations about the game and my own reflections.
[i] From the Dark Souls opening cinematic.
[ii] Nito himself is immune to poison, toxic, bleed, and curse and the series frequently uses damage immunities and resistances to establish affinity.
[iii] This is never more clearly expressed then within The Ringed City DLC — where Shira commands us to “Spee thee the name of God/Thine own god if thou canst recall”, refusing to talk to us further until we answer with Gwyn’s name.
[iv] Contrarily, Dark Souls appears to interrogate if not outright critique many folk conceptions of personal identity — particularly those prevalent within the history of anglo-american philosophy (suck it, John Locke).
[v] See : Plato, Timaeus. and Francis. M. Cornford, Plato’s Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato (Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997).
[vi] G. W. F. Hegel, Phänomenologie Des Geistes (Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1988).
[vii] See: Yajnavalkya, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, trans. by Swami Nikhilananda.
[viii] See: Ho Peng Yoke, Li, Qi, and Shu: An Introduction to Science and Civilization in China (New York: Dover Publications, 2000).
[ix] ‘Embers’ in Dark Souls III are likewise part of the first flame. They enable us to bridge the gap between worlds and draw others to us (be they jolly co-operators or dark invaders).
[x] See: Richard Cross, Duns Scotus (Great Medieval Thinkers) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991).
[xi] See: Carl Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung), 2nd edn (London: Routledge, 1991).
[xii] Dark Souls opening cinematic.
[xiii] I’m thinking here particularly of figures such as Yuria, who laments “Kaathe, I’ve failed you” should she die under certain conditions, indicating his influence in the Sable Church of Londor. Frampt’s very emergeance after the player has sounded both bells of awakening — the very ringing of which is part of a system organised to dupe those who don’t know any better into linking the fire as part of their destiny/fate — indicates his place within this opposed system of manipulation.
[xiv] Eschatology is a, if not the, persistent theme through The Ringed City. See: Dianna, ‘Syzygy’, Medium, 2017 <https://medium.com/@angelnomoon/syzygy-604cfc7bd036>.
[xv] Who, for good reason, is widely known as Oscar of Astora.
[xvi] All from Astora Knight’s dialogue. Dark Souls.
[xvii] Kingseeker Frampt’s dialogue. Dark Souls.
[xviii] Within Dark Souls, Lordship is something that many are tricked into. The fate of a Lord is positive, as reflected when Hawkwood cries “I pity the sorry souls. Is that really lordship’s last reward?”
[xix] Darkstalker Kaathe’s dialogue. Dark Souls.
[xx] In particular, there is the possibility that the very religion is structured so as to actively promote a lie, see: Hawkshaw, Rediscover Dark Souls Lore: The Way of White & The Undead Curse (YouTube, 2016) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IU5XSAEytk>.
[xxi] Gwynevere’s dialogue. Dark Souls.
[xxii] This is the assumed meaning of this phrase. As contributor Hawkshaw as highlighted, the literal translation of this phrase from Latin is “I’m afraid, night”. See: Hawkshaw.
[xxiii] This draws on mythological beliefs that lighting is a form of fire.
[xxiv] I’m thinking here of queer theory, particularly the works of Judith Butler, see: Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (New York: Routledge, 1990).
[xxv] Whether there was but one or many is largely irrelevant.
Works Cited
Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble (New York: Routledge, 1990)
Cornford, Francis. M., Plato’s Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato (Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997)
Cross, Richard, Duns Scotus (Great Medieval Thinkers) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991)
Dianna, ‘Syzygy’, Medium, 2017 <https://medium.com/@angelnomoon/syzygy-604cfc7bd036>
Hawkshaw, Rediscover Dark Souls Lore: The Way of White & The Undead Curse (YouTube, 2016) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IU5XSAEytk>
Hegel, G. W. F., Phänomenologie Des Geistes (Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1988)
Jung, Carl, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung), 2nd edn (London: Routledge, 1991)
Miyazaki, Hidetaka, Dark Souls (From Software, 2011)
Miyazaki, Hidetaka, Isamu Okano, and Yui Tanimura, Dark Souls III (From Software, 2016)
Plato, Timaeus
Shibuya, Tomohiro, and Yui Tanimura, Dark Souls II (From Software, 2014)
Yajnavalkya, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, trans. by Swami Nikhilananda
Yoke, Ho Peng, Li, Qi, and Shu: An Introduction to Science and Civilization in China (New York: Dover Publications, 2000)
Works Consulted
Aegon of Astora — Dark Souls III: Let’s Talk Lore [link]
Casitive — Dark Souls III: Lorethrough / Community [link]
Dianna. “Lethe and Aletheia: The Essence of the Soul in Dark Souls.” Medium, September 19, 2017. https://medium.com/@angelnomoon/lethe-and-aletheia-474f1e40b965.
Jerks Sans Frontieres — Discussing Dark Souls III with Casitive [link]
Jerks Sans Frontieres — Dark Souls 3: The Bastard’s Curse [link]
