Finally someone tries to tackle this interesting topic. The only other good video on it that I have seen is JSF's "Bastard's Curse" video. The Deep is a really intriguing aspect of DS3, however I think by killing Aldrich we ended any chance of the Age of The Deep.

To me the cathedral of the deep is built over the chasm of the abyss where you fight manus. It's to close to farron swamp(oolacile) which would put it right in that vicinity. The deep to me is the abyss but having lost its source it's changed and stagnated like water.

Excellent video, but one little thing is gnawing at me-am I the only one who thinks it too coincidental that just outside the small square room occupied by a lone Evangelist, one can observe a dark abyss-like chasm clearly filled with water? Perhaps the Cathedral was originally built directly overtop the one place in the corporeal world where access to the Deep was manifest? FromSoft has toyed with this idea before, as in Bloodborne one can observe a cluster of stilted, awkwardly listing central statuary in Father Gascoigne’s Boss arena, half sunken into the ground. Seems more a marker than anything else; a monument to what lay directly beneath. Shame this theme wasn’t touched on in this video. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the meticulous research and production values here👍

i really wish we got "The deep" as a future DLC- given all the backstory hintings surrounding it in the game, I was thoroughly assured we were going to get something with it, and disappointed to find squat X/

Isn't Ash Lake a perfect fit for the Deep? A once serene sea hidden under the world, where creation began (the fire was formed in one of the Archtrees) corrupted by the dark as human souls have sunk down into it. Now it rises to end creation and create a new world, much like in Ragnarok as well as some of the other myths you mentioned. Man, I thought the Deep was just another lazy, purposefully confusing concept thrown into Dark Souls 3, but now I'm very interested.

Spot on analysis. Ancient mythos had many symbols for the domain of unknown, including night, primordial sea, chaos, dragons and snakes. Sounds familiar?

It's so nice to see you back to talking about Dark Souls! I feel like everybody stopped digging and speculating after the Ringed City and left far too many avenues unexplored

Dude... you have a seriously impressive knack for investigation and analysis. I only found the channel recently due to the Elden Ring videos, and I wasn't expecting such high caliber stuff from three years ago! Really hope your work gets more appreciation; it's very deserving

Yay another Smough vid suggested in my feed! I love your content Smough! I enjoy your lore digging, your speculations and your overall presentation. You have only gotten better with time but I do enjoy your old content where you were figuring out your style too. Awesome work, man. I wish I had been here since the beginning.

loved the video mate, really well put together im hoping to see more in the future!

You’re the first person I’ve seen explain the topic of the deep where it actually made sense. Thank you for this awesome video! I finally feel like this makes sense

Interesting is that in the Ringed City there's a locust preacher that tells us the stories of each npc that we can "help" in game, in most of these he depicts the abyss as a kind force/entity, almost maternal: "she was embraced, enveloped by the abyss, something that neither moon nor sunless sky afforded her before [...] the girl was afraid of the things that gnawed at her flesh, and the abyss hath yet to produce any such creatures". Maybe we should take what the locust says with some salt, but maybe the deep and the more violent depictions of the abyss are consequences of "bad interactions" with the dark (as we see with oolacile and new londo, when someone has the idea to mess with the dark soul/humanity for greed or just "for the lulz" shit tends to hit the fan pretty fast)

Hey Smough, really glad to see those new lore videos on DS universe, missed those plenty from you. Keep up the good work!

I just recently discovered your souls lore videos! You do an amazingly detailed job compared to anyone else! Keep up good work man!

So glad you delved into this subject! “The Deep” has always intrigued me...awesome video!

I found another reference of the Deep in the Gnostic belief of the Aeons: one of the very first Aeons or emanations of God is called Bythos and it means apparently the Deep or the Depth. Perhaps, that what they meant by the Deep being a sacred place at first in the Dark Souls Universe.

Soul of Smoughtown: A brilliant soul, reincarnated from and once belonging to an ancient lord whose name is lost to time, but who was widely revered as the greatest detective into Dark Souls lore, and whose legacy survives wherever a Hawk is seen. Use to acquire a large number of souls, or to craft a unique KZfaq Channel."

God, Vendrick would hit the Deep's rock bottom real fast. That HUMAn grew with all those souls, and he's about giant-size when we meet him.

That's a DEEP video 👌 Nice to hear new material from you 💗

Good to see you back on the Souls train mate :)

By far the best explanation I've heard for this!

I liked your idea about how the Deep isn’t an actual place that a being in this world would be able to travel to. It makes sense and further differentiates it from the Abyss considering it does have a physical location that we’ve visited in previous games It almost seems like it could be something similar to the different planes of reality and existence expressed in BloodBorne, especially with how you talk about their “communion” with this separate plane.

Good video, keep these kinds of videos coming I love them!

"When Aldrich ruminated on the fading of the fire, it inspired visions of a coming age of the deep sea. He knew the path would be arduous, but he had no fear. He would devour the gods himself." Of all the concepts in dark souls 3 this one was the one that truly drove my curiousity, however after beating the game and even reading the fextralife wiki i was unable to find out what it was that aldritch actually saw and this was very anti climatic for me,thank you so much for this closure! My assumption was that there was in fact a 4th cycle, a cycle of the deep. Thus it would be -Age of ancients -Age of fire -Age of dark(man) -Age of abyss(water,ocean) I believed that Aldritch had seen the age after the next and in seeing this horrible dark and eternal ocean he realized that the age of man was irrelevant and thought only to prepare for the final age. After seeing your video however,i like your idea way better, it makes total sense that reality its self would use a cosmic ocean to finally put of the age of fire,what a brilliant concept! I love it! I guess the only question is, if you decide you rekindle the flame,how long or how many more will it take before the abyssal ocean floods new anolondo? Will it be a true water or will it take the form of the hollow like humans growing and engorging everything until all is one giant massive ocean of corrupted man? GOD i hope myazaki finishes the darksoul story!

Finally a comprehensive video about the topic. The only DS lore channel I know touched on the topic is The Ashen Hollow. There are a few things I want to touch on: 1. Are these the same thing: the Abyss, the Deep and the Dark? Humanity is a *physical, corporeal* thing that human in the world of DS can hold in their hands (humanity's consumption animation). 2. Humanity/the Dark has a mutating effect on probably everything. Aldritch ate too many *human* he bloated like a drowned pig (according to Hawkwood). Manus' soul description says "he became the Father of the Abyss *after his humanity went wild* ". The citizens of Oolacile might have suffered the same fate, the Dark/Abyss granted them so much Humanity that they mutated. I believe Artorias (he walked in the Abyss itself), Gael (he ate the Dark Soul) and even Midir, a freaking dragon, (his duty was to contain the Abyss) shared this mutated fate, just of different magnitudes. All of them exhibit abilities that shouldn't be possible. Artorias and Midir have their abilities turned purple. Gael's cloak basically swings humanity around. 3. Midir's boss room. It's filled with *dark water* (also Aldritch's). Some people believe that was the place showed in DS1's opening cinematic, where the Pygmy found the Dark Soul. 4. The 'Gods' in Bloodborne... Are they mutated beings that spent too long in the Deep? Does this mean the mutating property of the Dark/Abyss/Deep is now in their blood? Does this mean... The world of Bloodborne is the world that the Painter girl in Ariandel painted...?

Dude I’ve missed your lore vids. For some reason you tube unsubscribed me from your channel. Glad I found you again and your war frame lore videos look interesting. I played the game on PS4 and found it a little repetitive but given what you said in your video I might go back and try again

I submit that the murkmen are similar to the very first beings that rose up when the flame first began. Murkmen to me are primeval man.

Great video Smough!

You got better with your edits, keep up the content

Very nice ideas presented, thank you! I knew subbing to your channel would pay off as soon as i saw your old demon souls videos from back in the day :)

Bravo. It all came together on your 3rd point. The concept of the deep arising from the cyclical sweeping under the rug of the natural cycle of man. I can get behind that.

I've always felt the deep takes a lot of inspiration from Lovecraftian horror

In dark souls we know that theres Abbys under ash lake, the ask of it is the half sunken remains of old world, the arch trees grow out of this ash and upon their crowns new world comes, world collapses, falls into the Abbys creating isles with saplings and the cycle begins again... Except when the world is kept artificially afloat, it grainds itself to heap of dregs before ever reaching the Abbysal waters, and slowly trickles into it, arch trees rot standing upright, and they all disappear into the Deep creating no firm ground for next generation of arch trees to grow from, just a deep sea.

I believe that in order to truly understand the Deep we have to examine word by word every object description related to it, then make every possible scenario and finally pick the most probable one based on reasonable speculation... For example let's examine the fundamental one: "Deep Protection" (excuse my poor English) From this miracle, which is a tale of the Deep, we understand that the Deep was originally a peaceful and sacred place. The adjective "peaceful" referred to a place (place of peace) can indicate 2 separated things: - the Deep was initially uninhabited and therefore peaceful by nature - the Deep was initially inhabited by peaceful life forms Observation: The Deep was certainly a peaceful place on the inside but we don't know if it was "peaceful" also to the outside (maybe it was a threat to the outside world, maybe it wasn't) The adjective "sacred" referred to a place (sacred place) can indicate 3 separated things: - the Deep, initially uninhabited, was found in some way from the outside world and a religious institution in this outside world consecrated it - the Deep was initially inhabited by peaceful creatures with a religion. These creatures have consecrated the Deep - the Deep was initially inhabited by peaceful creatures without a religion. The Deep was found in some way from the outside world and a religious institution in this outside world has consecrated it The sacred adjective implies that there was a religious institution (internal or external to the Deep) that made it sacred, moreover if there is a religious institution necessarily there must be a fairly advanced culture. So it's more likely that there was a religious institution outside the Deep that found this place a made it sacred. Then we are told that the Deep later became the last resting place for several "aberrant things". From how it's written it seems that after the arrival of these aberrant things the Deep is still a sacred place but it isn't peaceful anymore. In fact in the end we are told that this miracle serves to protect those who worship the Deep (meaning that it is still a sacred place) in the midst of those horrors. The "protection" can indicate 3 separated things: - protects from these aberrant things - protects from the Deep in general. The Deep can be a dangerous place by nature, where a form of life from the outside can't live, or can live but with some difficulties - protects from both aberrant things and the Deep in general So only from this description we know for sure that: - the Deep was found from the outside world - the Deep is an actual place where "aberrant things", living and/or non-living, can finally arrive - the Deep is a dangerous place therefore you need protection if you want to go there, but it's not necessary These are the 3 main points that can't be argued and there are many ways to connect them... Using only this description and some DS1 lore: In my opinion the Deep, a dark and peaceful place, was eventually found by a religious institution that made it sacred, we don't know if the Deep was originally populated or not (probably not), but we do know that after the arrival of aberrant things (from the outside) it wasn't peaceful anymore. However this place it's still sacred but dangerous and you better get some form of protection if you want to go there (to both attack and defend). It's not necessary to cast this miracle to venture in the Deep, it's not like the Covenant of Artorias from DS1 that was necessary to traverse the Abyss. And this last thing makes you realize that Abyss and Deep are 2 separate things but both are linked to the Dark...

Hey, cool video. I didn't know about Abzu ► Abyss, but it makes a lot of sense! Rather than just water though, I think you might want to think about the Deep's connection to blood and the "Dark Soul" ;)

Nice vid, and interesting theories. I think the deep functionally in dark souls lore acts to help clear up moral ambiguity surrounding the nature of the dark too. I might be wrong but the deep isn't really a thing in the first and second game? In terms of story design I always felt it miscommunicated Light/fire = good and dark/abyss = evil. But the deep adds another layer so to speak distiguishing the dark/abyss from a more dangerous concept. Of course in classic dark souls style, this isn't outright stated and still leaves room for different interpretations, but i can't help but feel it builds the case for the age of dark as good ending to seek. In the first game it is a lot less clear about the nature of the age of dark being a good or bad ending. Darkstalker Kaathe, manus etc muddy the waters with the abyss, but it does drop hits about the abyss being peaceful and not inherenty an evil realm. In a way ambiguity and indirect story telling are the greatest strengths of DS lore but when you're struggling to gain any useful conclusions it becomes frustrating and meaningless.

So I guess it's simply the advanced version of the abyss created from the continuous denial of the natual cycle.

So fun fact the depiction of the hounds of the underworld in Egyptian culture isnt based on an alligator head but a breed of tasmanian tigers which went extinct in the mid 1900s.

great video

The Deep is cut content.

This kinda makes me wonder if The Deep was supposed to be the next age AFTER Dark, if Gwyn never continued the Age of Fire. However because Gwyn linked the fire, it's like trying to drag a long ribbon across a field but someone drove a stake through 2/4's of the way, causing tears. There's enough free movement to barely make if 3/4's of the way but not past it. Even if you did, you tear the ribbon even more, so we'd never know how much of the ribbon is left. idk if this made any sense, but it's my take on why we don't get to even explore The Deep apart from surface level stuff.

\[T]/ Yes!! I was so happy to see this on my notifications! I’m so glad you made an analysis video on the Deep! Keep up the awesome work!

I really like this interpretation

This actually makes aldrich seem a little less monstrous.

So pretty much, if the world is refused an age of dark, it builds up up as a murky watery abyss to force an age if dark. Although a wet one. That's what I got from this.

Smough town just note the murkman in their soul dreg phantom forms make a splash like water sound when they hit a wall

I'm pretty sure the deep is related to Nito and the death soul. Nito is found underground in darkness as deep underground tends to be dark. Looking at the gems in DS3 we have fire and deep which would have corollaries in the life soul of Gwyn and the Death soul of Nito. We also have Chaos of Izilith and the Dark gem. Notice the artwork. The first two and last two pairs are similar plus in the way they scale. The deep is death and the dark is simply dark in all it's lore aspects. I think the abyss is a combination of the deep/death and dark. Like the chaos soul and life soul share many qualities, the dark soul and death soul do as well. The demons of the chaos soul have their own fight against the end of their age as do the bearers of the age of fire. Antithesis to this is death and darkness. The Murkmen in the ringed city supposedly are trying to pull you to the deep by pulling you underground. I think this nicely fills the lore gap that we have when it comes to death and Nito a bit.

Well the direct contrast to the age of the bright flame would be the age of the dark waters, and everything in dark souls has a contrast. The very core of dark souls is duality and disparity so the age of light and fire must have a contrasting yet equal force to push against. But what if the age of the deep is the age created using the blood of the dark soul? The age where humans no longer rely on the soul and move towards the blood. We’ve seen some evidence that blood is almost as strong if not as strong as the soul in the abyss watchers. Just a thought I had about the subject. I really enjoyed your video, it inspires deep thought.👍🏻

The deep is Drangleic from ds2. Don't you remember how, in the beginning you fall in a dark vortex of water with souls rising and hovering in circles above you (like that spell of deacons of the deep).

3:04 very reminiscent of guts dark side manifestation in berserk comics, a big Inspiration from dark souls. I wonder if that's where berserk got it from

Whistle at 9:12 lmao

Would love to see a deep themed souls game. could even link to bloodborne in a few ways

Quick question for anyone who knows, can you start ring finger lionard's quest after you finnish sirris's story or does it lock out?

You might say he went off the deep end

It's definitely not the abyss or it would be referred to us such in this advanced age where most people are aware of the nature of the Dark Soul. In contrast the Deep is far more arcane a phenomenon to their people.

And with DS2 this is a localized phenomenon

I do not believe that Dregs are the Dark per se. The Dark soul is the Human soul, after all. The Dreg is not the Dark soul, or even Humanity. Rather, it is the heaviest part of Humanity. Whether this is the heaviest part of an individuals soul or just the soul of a sinful person I don't know. But I believe that the Dreg is only an aspect of humanity's dark soul, not the dark itself. I think it may be fair to say that the Deep is representative of Stagnant humanity/Dark and the Abyss is representative of Rampant humanity/Dark.

Aldrich's feasts of human flesh weren't just for perverse sadistic pleasure. When he has a vision of a coming age of deep waters, as a Cleric in the Way of White at the Cathedral of the Deep, he knew what to do. The cathedral functions as a Shrine consecrated to the Deep, which is the gorge of deep water we find one of the Evangelists peering into. That deep gorge was once a peaceful and holy place, but Aldrich and the others he indoctrinated consumed flesh to grow in power themselves, bloating and softening, while the horrific polluted remains were poured into the gorge, where human dregs could foment at the deepest level of the world, the water table if you will, and create a create a foundational seabed of Dark. Dark is eternal whereas fire burns out, so in time this seabed of torment and the murky nightmares it produces, like the Murkmen in the Dreg Heap, will subsume the world.

I agree with you on most points but I don't think 1: The age of the deep is that bad 2: Aldrich is evil or bad. I think he devoured the Gods to stop a worsened future, not to prepare for one.

I just figured the deep was an aspect of the abyss

The Deep is obviously the Rejuvenating Sediment which also answers another question, that Cloud and Aeris is nothing more than a fanfic(which is pretty terrible one that) started by some kid in the late 90's who had quite a peculiar imagination.

Ds1 the ash lake is deep and black and its " under " the world.

What if Bloodborne is just Darksouls during the "darkness" era of the cycle?

Another thing, the Murkmen are covered in corals and barnacles

Aldrich: *_"did you know that Im a mod on r/I'm14andthisisDeep?"_*

I'd like to say something. I am MercilessV, the person who originally wrote the first known theory on The Deep called "The Theory of the Deep Waters" and was originally taken from my KZfaq/Gamefaqs and Reddit post and used without any credit first by VatVidya (sp? Sorry). So I honestly just wanted to say that I am honored, as the original author on that huge post I first wrote linking The Deep Waters to the Biblical story and the Sumerian accounts (this was actually my research, used word for word in the video). But I honestly only wanted to say THANK YOU, because you actually did your research and gathered knowledge from the first and most accurate source, even later admitted by former said person acknowledging my work. I am not here to call plagerism, or scorn, I am here to congratulate you for using the absolute best canon based and theological material sourced to help better explain this theory. Hell, my original post ended up inadvertently landing me a senior writing position at Square Enix for FF7R and an unnanounced game Nomura is bringing back (that became the waterd down garbage that was FFXV, and is now quitely being restored to its former glory as a future PS5 title). With all of this said, and all being completely and honestly true, I once again want to thank you for doing the absolute definitive video on this still mysterious and key to ALL Dark Souls mysteries, simply known as the Theory of the Deep Waters, and I'm honored you knowingly or probably unknowingly (as my credit was purposely removerld by the original individual) used the absolute best source material. Awesome video, and exceptionally well done. If you ever want to discuss more concerning Souls and other theories I write (now for a living), I'm zeal_returns on Twitter. Godspeed and praise the sun, fellow Soulsborn. - Zeal / MercilessV

How do you know that these myths inspired these aspects of dark souls?

From what I've seen, the deep is a portion of the abyss that has been tainted by sin (if not all of the abyss, as time has gone on). Soul dregs are a sin-laiden humanity sprite that is drowning, basically. Think about it in Christian religious terms. God flooded the world because of an excess of sin present. The hints are all there in dialog and item text

AYOOO

esoteric order of dagon?

*The ABESS*

The DIP explained

🎉🎉🎉🎉

So bloodborn and ds is one universe again?

The audio sounds very breathe. Anyone know if SmoughTown is deliberately doing this or just lacks a pop filter?

Genesis 1:2 'And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters' The deep is the primeval substance of the Universe, God( or the gods in other mythologies) manipulated it to create the Universe. The sky is just firm ceiling (firmament), that holds back the waters above it (that's why it's blue!). Some times cracks apear and it rains. The waters under the sky were gathed beneath the earth, but pop up at some places, forming the rivers and seas. A wonderful analogue is in Babylonian mythology. The God Marduk killed Tiamat (the deep) and open its body like a shellfish, and inside it created the world. I think the Deep works exactly the same way in Dark Souls. Aldrich is an apocalyptic prophet that believes the natural order of things is the inevitable water caos, and waits the time the sky will come crashing down in a diluge, or the earth will regurgitate all the water beneath. Differently from Near Eastern myths, the mythology given in Dark Souls I shows an initial state of forests and great crabs, not water. I suggest that the waters were divided not by a creator god, but were always in that state,. Notheless, the forces of order (considering even the Age of Ancients) will not be able to hold the waters back forever, and will eventually falter. Aldrich was the one that saw, from time imemorial, the ultimate transience of cosmos.

I wonder if the Deep is the realm from where the Dark Soul is sourced. Perhaps the Dark is instead a manifestation of the Deep. I hope the next Dark Souls game elaborates in the Deep, and I hope I'm right in thinking that it is steps further away from our reality than products of the Dark Soul.

I believe demons souls dark ending brought about the ancient (grey/ash) times which is where dark souls story begins, maybe with the dark soul being your humanity left at the end of demons souls?? Then accepting the deep and washing away that whole timeline could have possibly led to bloodborne (deep seas) but the chalice dungeons existing locked away mutated what was once left until it was rediscovered. Just a thought as the soul is within the blood and it would explain the armour in the chalice dungeons. Ps. The watchdog of the old lords and beast cleric enemy (with the 2fps aoe) are fire based so maybe bloodborne stemmed from whatever remained of the age of fire although a lot of time had passed, insight being the new with the blood being the old, making mergo the hybrid. Rant over 👐🏼✌🏻

Connecting lore to it’s real world counterpart inspiration for in depth analysis? You are a cut above the rest in terms of lore.

First