The real question here is why is there a crab in the skeleton ball...

It's worth noting the parallels between the the Demons dying out now that the Chaos flame is gone and the Age of Gods ending now that the First Flame is about to be extinguished.

In addition to death by age, let's look a bit more into the fall of Izalith. The Demons must have had some semblance of intelligence, if only determined by the fact that they use weapons and have mastery of pyromancy, as well as ignore or assist eachoher. And the fact that there was a Demon King and Prince suggests they were also a united force. Now, we can speculate Lothric led a siege against the Demon Ruins. The eldest brother is explicitly stated to have slain the demon prince, who must have been the successor to the old Demon King. The area of Izalith we visit is a battleground. Within the ruins lie corpses upon corpses of demons, many with their own weapons piked in them. Many black Knights remain, still killing what Demons remain (and recall that in Dark Souls 1, no black Knight had remained as deep as even Blight town, where the demon Quelaag remained dominant. Whether the black knights were allied with Lothric, or simply had a duty to fufill to Gwyn and continued to venture toward the Demon hive is unknown. But the Demons were slaughtered, as evidenced by their corpses, and likely with extreme prejudice. Also curious is the veneration of the asylum and Taurus demons as implied by the candle room. The smaller, modern demons/acolytes must be responsible for it, as they clearly have an affinity for the Izalith flame as evidenced by the room where the pyromancy tome is located. I wonder if the piles of great demon corpses in the boss room is a sort of respectful protection of their corpses, as the old Demon king is a king without subjects and successor. His missing eye may even be from the Lothric assault. Whatever the case, the old king is battered and seemingly weary, as he does not ignite until you deserve his possible place of somber remembrance, where he protects the corpses from desecration by the hands of murderous undead such as yourself. I like this speculation. I think I just made up my new canon.

I never thought I'd be sad to see those asshole fire demons go...

"Scorched his flame with fire"

We need a game where we play a pyromancer who seeks to rekindle the profaned flame and the bed of chaos.

You didn't even bring up the scene where one of Gwyn's Black Knights can be seen killing a Demon, suggesting that the Knights still fight their wars against the Chaos Flame...

Smouldering lake is blighttown because the framrate is as shitty

20:47 eternally scorched his flame with fire. lol. Great video though! I love the Dark Souls lore.

lore is also lost through translation since it's originally written in japanese

I might be able to help you a little with that plot hole of Eleum Loyce's flame. The problem we're facing, how can the flame be killed/subdued in DS1, relive and grow huge in DS2 and be never fading, and than die in DS3? I think the answer is Yhorm the giant. Yhorms cinders: *Lonely Yhorm became a Lord of Cinder to put the Profaned Flame to rest, knowing full well that those who spoke of him as lord were quite insincere.* Profaned Greatsword: *Long ago, when Sulyvahn was yet a young sorcerer, he discovered the Profaned Capital and an unfading flame below a distant tundra of Irithyll, and a burning ambition took root within him.* The Chaos flame was an interesting thing from DS1 to DS2, because it aparantly *never faded.* Combine this with being beneath a frozen wasteland in DS2, there is a lot to be said for the 'Profaned flame beneath Irithyll is the Chaos flame beneath Eleum Loyce' theory. Relatively speaking, the smouldering lake is actually somewhere beneath and to the side of the Profaned capital, so this would fit geographically too. What this could mean: the Chaos flame resurged after DS1 events and was going strong (tremendously so if you look at the damn size of chaos in DS2), but was put to rest when Yhorm linked the fire in his age, which was almost certainly prior to Aldrich's age so at the very least 2-3 cycles of the flame before DS3. Demons have been dying for at least that long. I f this it true. Thoughts?

The worm is Shai-hulud the people of Carthus are fremen Wolnir is maud'dib Grue are creatures of the dark

4 years Later, yet this video is THE Unmatched Lore Video that I love the most in your Channel; The used music, the way you’ve interpreted the Lore, the way you fill in the gaps of the Lore by saying what you think happened. Well done, Good Sir

My belief is that after Dark Souls 1 the Pale Spider Sister took the mantle of leading the Demons she was loved like a mother to them, so the demons started to continue building on their city almost like becoming a hive with catacombs escape routes different paths leading to different locations, architecture and a since of order with a queen only giving her undying love. When lautric brought war to the demons, I believe they tried to evacuate her but with black knights raiding and lautrics men laying heavy siege she was trapped and probably dying from all of it, her sister realizing the end found her sister and they reconciled before dying together. The demons without their queen/mother never left and decided to make a stand in their now tomb. The demon king and demon prince were probably given to them by the humans, if not it was more of a warrior base system where a king or prince would be held by the strongest demons. But regardless they stayed and fought. With the all the death the demons piled their own bodies if not the humans into pillars and structures as if making a glorious burial sight with the demon king in the center the last only to awoken whenever someone disturbs the burial ground.

Sounds more like the Demon King was one of the first demons born while Izalith was being destroyed

These in depth lore vids are so good! No more of the 5 minute tidbits, love the speculation.

Really good job man. I also liked how you represented the contrasting viewpoints.

Holy shit. I just found this channel and my mans does lore on literally my 3 fav games ever. Dark souls, warframe, and destiny. Why have I only found you now????

Your lore vidoes deserve much more views, especially, since you go to such great length explaning your theories. Really enjoying this series. Thanks!

When I first got into those tunnels of old Izalith on my initial blind playthrough, finding all the dead Capra, Taurus, and Stray demons blew my damn mind. Also, one thing you missed out: In the Old Demon King boss arena, on one of the walls you can see what looks like the body of the Centipede Demon Excellent video, +1 from me

I cant wait for your Demon’s Souls Remake Lore Videos. I can already see the great quality & content just as much as how much I saw from you so far, Old Friend. Umbasa 🙏🏻

demons look so bizarre because they are Born from chaos,it would be pretty stupid if their bodies didnt look totally out of place,all twisted and surreal

Lorian probably went and did some warcrimes shit down there, which is why his sword became tainted by the flame. I think the piled bodies surrounding the demon king in his cell, the wardens herding the worm to guard the only door, and the huge turret all imply imprisonment as a final act of spiteful torment from Lorian/Lothric forces. I mean, they took his eye but they didn't kill him. They wanted him to suffer. The other demons who are described to be guarding certain areas could have easily become subjugated and conceded to their tasks as opposed to being destroyed. Also, the worm outside the demon king's prison is spitting lightning.

Great lore video, I can't wait to watch the rest. Keep them coming bro! :D

It's cool that you showed that snippet of the mimic and demon fighting. It was a secret I found out myself and was cool to see.

The way you have framed demons as coming from the chaos flame, but not having a fire themselves is reminiscent of the furtive pygmy and humanity.

keep it up man, that was some intense lore and i loved it!!

Great job bud! You're making quality content when other's are not, it's good to be caught up in the lore of a confusing game!

4:32 That moment when the teacher picks you to read out loud to everyone in class.

Hey man, I'm really enjoying your lore videos. Please keep it up. Thanks! Really really good stuff.

The subscribers are increasing slowly but surely! Keep up the work man I really enjoy listening to your interpretation on DSIII's lore

Hawkshaws video on demons pretty much proves that demons were extremely intelligent and had their own culture. Makes their withering away even more sad. Demons in Dark Souls 1 try to stop the chosen undead to prevent them from killing the bed of chaos, their mother. Futhermore the batwing demons aligned themselves with Gwyn, and were of a lower caste of demons in Izalith. They were smart enough to choose aliegences, have a social hierarchy, and defend their mother from outside threats.

thanks for long and great videos !

The old demons getting all ashy is the demon version of hollowing. Even lore wise, for both it’s essentially their soul leaving them slowly.

This is exactly what I've been looking for

Fantastic lore video. Well done!

I watch some KZfaq videos where people spend hours editing and re reading there lines to make their videos absolutely perfect and I respect that you leave some mistake in. I do admit that when I see sloppy videos I throw a thumbs down. However, this was not the case for this video. I could tell you put a lot of work into this. You did stumble a few times while reading but to me it felt natural. It didn't feel forced and never took away from my enjoyment. well done my friend, wonderful video.

very interesting. great job! I love your videos!

your voice is so soothing to listen to : D and that accent makes it so enjoyable to listen to, Keep it up man!

I always interpreted demons as being another intelligent species with there own culture and agendas. I thought that this was especially suggested by the Fire Sage being able to use fire sorceries and being a priest to the demons. I also think that his catalyst suggests that Izalith was in control of the chaos flame (after its initial instability) for a little while until willingling being engulfed. Anyway, this is just my interpretation and thanks for another lore video.

Interesting, It's also worth mentioning that the Black Knights are almost all gone as well, and the few you come across either seem lost or are attacking anything in sight. Regardless, nice job, keep em coming!

awesome vid and lots of lore in it thanks :D

Hey mate, only recently discovered your channel and watched some of your Lore Videos. Really like the effort youre putting into these videos, very well-made. I really think you deserve a lot more subs with how good your videos are.

The Centipede Demon's carcass is also in the Old Demon King boss room. Far left and slight above on the ledge.

I have a solid theory. 1. The Chaos Flame is tied to the First Flame's link to Humanity. 2. The Chaos Flame isn't as powerful as the First Flame. 3. Due to having no way to link the Chaos Flame to anything, overtime it burns out. 4. With no one able to relink the Flame of Chaos to humanity, it burns out suffocating the life from the demons. 6. If you go by Beserk lore... all Demons were humans once and there is no real difference between Demons and Gods. So as the GODS die the Demons do as well for the same reasons.. both things that sustained their life has faded to nothing... HUMANITY. What is a God without humanity's power? Non-existent.

i like the irony about the chaos flame. The witch tried to recreate the first flame to extend the age of fire, but end up creating the demon race and the chaos flame. Ages have passed, and now, as the first flame, even the chaos flame is fading out, yet the demons, unnatural as they are, don't have a way to extend their own age, their flame will fade out and their time will just end. In the end, the witch succeded in creating an age of fire, but the same way as the one of Gwin, that one will fade. Extinguinshing the race it gave birth.

Would someone please tell me the name of the song that plays at 25:20? I can't seem to find it in the description or in the Dark Souls III OST

Demon's also came about in other ways, Such as the Orange charred ring in DS1, it formed the centipede demon when it was dropped by the Witch of Izalith's only son. Then there are also the Titanite demons, but they are a different matter altogether. Also the fact that the Witch's ring is a reskin of the Orange Charred ring.

Very in-depth video dude - thank you for this. But, what of the dead Giants near to that colossal ballista mechanism? What are your thought's on that?

Great video. BTW can you tell what is the buff on the very right on your buff bar? the grey/brownish oval one?

I'm lovin your vids!! Keep them coming! What do you think of the presence of Carthus warriors as well as the ballista/dead giants (found in irithyll) in the smoldering lake? Maybe those factions also joined Lorian in fighting the demons?

This Video is amazing such great detail! I do have a question, In dark souls 2 Alsanna The silent oracle, stated in the dlc that the old chaos was still spreading and that the ivory king gave his own soul to stop it but it didn't work. My question is why (or how) did the flame stop spreading?

Great analysis!

9:10 The corpse could be that guy who served the Fair lady. or whatever her name is now.

I LOVE YOUR ACCENT! Other than that good video

My theory is that the witch Izalith and her daughter as they were called witches suggest that they were using magic, and even in demon's souls fire spells were part of the magic spells which is the same thing that were used by the witches against the dragons by using sorcery staves, which I like to call it "the early form of pyromacy". And by the time of failure attempt to clone the first flame which leads to the born of the Chaos flame, Quelana was able to manipulate it and that what became known as "Pyromacy"

It makes sense that the fire some demons leak would be an indicator of age, in Dark Souls 1 when you kill the Firesage Demon, you find out that he's the oldest of their kind, the assumption is that the Firesage Demon is bathed in fire because he uses the Original Fire magic, but this would indicate its a sign of his age.

Interesting watch. Thanks

Solid video, but you'll want to double check your reading of item descriptions going forward. I noticed that you changed an "of" to "to" and misread "but the victory eternally scorched his sword with flame." to "but the victory eternally scorched his flame with fire."

So the demons birthed the giant fire salamanders in ds2.

What song are you using throughout the video?

Am I the only one that instantly recognized Smouldering Lake, based on the positions of the great trees, as Blighttown? As I see it, we enter it initially from roughly where the entrance to Quelaag´s Domain was. Seriously, I half expected to encounter Quelaana behind the first tree.

there are also those weird stone monsters that spit fire. and you only see those in Lost Izalith

Have you noticed that the dead Demon Cleric where you find the Izalith Tome has weird mushrooms growing on it's back that are very similar to the ones that you see on Oceiros' back? Is this significant? The living Demon Clerics don't have them.

For the amount of subscribers you have, the video quality is spectacular. It is definitely on par with some of the big names in the Souls Community. Keep up the good work!

very well written and full of strong evidence. i thoroughly enjoyed it. the only piece of criticism i have is that your narration sounds too stiff, almost as if you are reading from a script. I know its probably hard to remember 26 mins of dialogue, but it would make for a much better video if you werent just reading it. Again, i really enjoyed it. dont let my criticism bum you out, it really was a good vid, and ive subbed :)

the background music really gets to me, where's it from?

There is a really great video on Izalith by a guy with around 1k subs he released it about 3 months ago or something and it's one of his two videos. I suggest you take a look as it basically explains why the Chaos Flame and The Witch of Izalith controlled it and demons how they came to be, as they had culture and chose to be who they were.

Great video and great narrating

What's your opinion on those enemies that summon those orbs of fire? I've heard them referred to as Demon Clerics, and interestingly, they don't fight the Ghru.

Great vid :D

The thing about the Ghru, we've seen them next to the demons in DS3 without them fighting each other. On the other hand, we've seen the big demon aggro skeletons of Carthus. Those ruins with the demons/ghru share architecture with the rest of the ruins above suggesting it too was once part of Carthus, and the blade from that mimic would suggest it belonged to an honored guest to Carthus. The people and their king especially of Carthus would call for any means, and tricks especially for success in battles and his ambitions. But the Ghru are actually present under the assault on Carthus from the first sign of the Abyss which the Abyss Watchers would live up to their assured story of burying a nation at the first sign of the Abyss no matter how heretical the methods. In turn, the Ghru have adapted to the swamp above and the ashen cinders below. Carthus, successful with its conquering over human lands, could offer more humanity to satiate the ill forsaken sister in its conquest until their ruler's dark intentions came to light with concerning miracles and pyromancy developed, as their leader wished to be the last man alive and hide within the Abyss. To better suit this ambition he too like we have in DS2, sought adversity and the crowns of other lords for his own sustainability, but merged them all into one. In Dark Souls 2 we fought the Salamanders, cleverly manipulated by the evergrowing potential might of the Iron King, but we see a small curious parasite crawl into the eye hole of Lost Sinner's mask, suggesting she was the truer ties toward those of Chaos, condemned for her ties with it and attempting to keep flame with herself in the fight. This sets the tone of likely what truly became of the Ivory King and his men who became corrupted whilst the Oracle, a child of the fragments of Manus, attempted to suppress the Chaos further with the first notable examples of frost magic, and also frost sprouting about in tree root fashion. In DS3 frost came from a tree-like sorcerer from the painted world, home of the forlorn, born of the unmentioned tree women. One such tree woman cries, seemingly about him missing, and interaction with her makes a Laddersmith Gilligan style ladder appear in the painted world of impossible lengths. Like Sulyvahn, these tree women can also use frost magic, but also demonstrate properties of fire. Likely most, the Oracle became corrupted by the Chaos in her own way, becoming more tree-like and sprouting more of herself, and Sulyvahn would carry this nature of being within himself and be born genetically superior for the tasks of changing the world and ultimately be brought down by us. Overall, Dark Souls 2's part is of the next means of lords proving themselves as worthy, then being brought down in failures of the last possible chance after one had stolen the first flame and peered into the essence of a soul to realize what man is, and that his wife was too after the flame. As for how it's gotten to Lothric, Aldia could have made that possible before he faded away, but Carthus's conquest could have abducted it back to mainlands, and plucked it with the Abyss Watchers and their resourcefulness. The moving of the flame to where it is now is the least complex subject of DS3 overall, but much in DS2 came to the now dominating lands of Lothric, named after its current lord.

It seems wrong this channel does not have a Smough video :o (awesome work btw)

Its clear as day to me mate :P Ghru are abyss watchers fully corrupted by the abyss. Their humanity went rampant much like it did with Manus :P Note how they stand facing away from the boss room as if still guarding it and the Dark wraiths are invading trying to reach what the Abyss watchers guard. Also during the boss fight u see them fighting the red eyed ones(crazed by abyss). I actually got this from another lore video, I believe it was Vaati ^^

Went to my youtube feed and saw that a 26 minute-long lore video had been uploaded by SmoughTown, aw yeah boy!

you mentioned enemy placement being deliberate. why are there embered crabs in the bed a chaos? why are there dead giants near that three tier balista? what is that lighting worm? is it related to the defector demons that were gifted lighting by lord gynn?

thank you for this video

question. wy would none be by the profane flame. it seems so similar to the bed of chaos. it could work to heal them

Could the Chaos beneath Eleum Loyce be related to the Profaned Flame of the Capital?

Theres another case of intentional lore clash in DS3 in the form of smough, in DS1 we learn that smough is not a knight bevaus of his cannibalism and cruelty, in DS3 its claimed he was the last knight who stayed behind to guard the old cathredal. From soft really likes to drive in the point that the perception of history changes drastically the more time passes it seems.

Why are the giant crabs Embered, if they are even Embered at all?

Whats the name of the soundtrack at 25:19 ??

The smoldering lake is for sure the remnants of izalith. The symbol above the demon kings door depicts the bell after quelaag

I was under the impression that the Smoldering Lake was Blightown taken over by the Chaos. When I was runing through my first time, my first instinct was to head left because that where Quelaag was in DS1. Also, the Pillers line up pretty damn well with those trees. But looking at this more closely, there's just some things that just dont add up...still though. My first reaction was just "NO GOD NO, PLZ. WE ALREADY HAD POISON HELL IN FARRON...oh..all the poison burned away...why am I saddened by this?"

+SmoughTown Just a question, isn't there a possibility that the person who embraces the spider is either quailaag or the fair lady? That the person separated from their spider body and then they die together, spider body (parasite) and human body? That some type of rejection may had occurred given that the spider is just a spider lacking the human torso.

If the chaos flame is dead, what is profane flame? I always assumed that it was either the flame itself or its part

About the alliance between men and demons: my theory is that the demons we face in Dark Souls 1 and 3 prior to Izalith are there to prevent the Chosen Undead/Unkindled from ultimately reaching, and plundering, the source of their life. Also, what do you think about the theory that the sand worm is the sun maggot infecting Solaire in DS1?

Amazing video! Keep them coming! Also, another argument for Demons being able to reproduce is Lorian's Greatsword which states that he singe handedly slayed the demon prince. Considering the boss's name is the Old Demon King, could it be that the prince the sword refers to is his son? The word "Prince" implies there's some form of hierarchy in their society which involves heirdom, so I feel like there must be some kind of reproduction going on.

On the subject of demons reproducing. If I remember correctly in DS1 there was a lot of egg carriers and the The Fair Lady was very clearly surrounded by eggs, so they may have reproduced through the malformed sisters of chaos(you know since they are all woman). But Quelaag was killed the Fair Lady got sick and probably died shortly after the end of DS1 or as the chaos flame faded she lost the ability to produce fertilized eggs(or simply died). Also another possibility even the larva(those you can get infected by) that hatch from those eggs cannot survive without a host, so maybe the appearance of demons in DS1 was partially the result of these larva mutating/overtaking their host. But as the former inhabitants of Izalith died out and there was no more hosts for these larva only few survived and those that did took a completely different evolutionary route than their predecessors. Plus I think the Smouldering lake is a remnant of the old Ashen Lake but after the demons reached it and possibly tried to save the chaos flame by setting the trees on fire, maybe it worked somewhat and that gave birth to some new demons but ultimately it could not save the chaos flame.

dang i was thinking that it was what was left of Blighttown and the spider is quelags sister (the one who gives you great chaos fire ball) and the other body is the pyromancer that you talk to at 50 int. in blighttown.

I think it's worth noting that because the Fair Lady and Quelaag are dead that the original Chaos demons are not going to be reproduced. Chaos demons have to have a symbiosis relationship to breed much like a Xenomorph. Considering that all the Chaos queens are dying or have been killed by the end of DS1 and every flame fades (not just the lord souls but the souls in every living thing), it was only a matter of time for this to happen. Also the lore on the great swamp ring is a great nod to those fire salamanders in DS2. I always felt they were out of place lore wise but finding out they are (believed to be) evolved descendants of Chaos demons gives them a much deeper connection to the overall story.

the smouldering lake is the result of Izalith falling in upon Ash Lake. That seems to be the most accurate description. As the world decays, the lands start to coalesce with one another. It is like Castlevania in a way, where the world is a 'creature of chaos', and many parallel universes connect with one another. This is just a different version of Lordran, and perhaps Drangleic in a way, though Dark Souls 3 looks to be far more in line with Lordran as a 'connection between many places''.

Scorched his flame with fire, ain't getting any hotter than that. XD

if enemy placement is always of importance then what is up with the giant crabs?

If I may add, there is a crucial missing piece of evidence that suggests the smoldering lake and the following area are the remnants of Izalith, and that is the finding of a black knight within. The black knights are equipped with weapons that are especially effective against demons (from DS1).

I can't help but notice the one enemy you've been fighting, (Example: 9:22) has a tail ike a Capra Demon, and a skull on/for its head, also a machete that look the same!

I was just playing through again and found something I've never seen before. Similar to the Old Demon King, when you fight the demon on the bridge above the old wolf of farron bonfire, if you get its health down to around 5-10%. Leave it alone for a few seconds. Its legs will crumble and it will crawl around on its stomach. It looks very reminiscent of the flame throughing demon statues in lost izalith in ds1.

if i recall properly there were 4 daughters still alive in darksouls 1 a spider boss 1, spider covenant, 1 crazed 1 outside bed of chaos room and the merchant 1

10/10 would subscribe again!

It could also be argued that the old demon king was spawned by the birth of the chaos flame, and is one of the last original demons, all others subsequently coming from the bed of chaos until its end.