The Real Demon's Souls
A central figure - the only soul-form NPC you can have a conversation with - is the key factor in determining what is really happening in Demon's Souls.
As you progress through the game, up until your second major demon soul, you unlock various dicussions with a storied soldier - he seems to have gone mad, but may be the only person telling you the truth. His final messages include "Can't you see you are falling for their trap?" and "Stay this path (hunting for demon's souls) and soon a demon you shall become". It is no secret that, as the game progresses, and thus as your character becomes more powerful, the game becomes increasingly darker – until the point where you yourself become a demon and kill what you believe to be Maiden Astraea. With this assumption in mind, we examine the NPCs, and their ability to become demons as well. We analyse from the perspective that the Old One is in fact God – a benefactor and creator or miracles and magic – as reflected through the Talisman of beasts, not as a sign that the priests are misguided, but that the Old one is Benevolent, and it is faith (actual faith – not the stat) that causes the higher miracle boost stat of the talisman of god – the image begets power – those who wield the talisman of beasts view the Old One as inherently evil because of false lore spread by those in the Nexus. The perfect play goes against plot in that it exploits tendancy, which is intended to be developed across several plays. Some characters do not appear unless tendancy is tweaked, and this will be taken into account.
Didn't it ever trouble you that when you went to see the old one that you enter a white, almost earth-like place? That the old one is made of trees, and not of demonic flesh? (FUUUUUUUUUUU)
The words of the maddened soldier are taken literally because his placement is far too deliberate to be coincidental.
The game includes several "unique" sets of armors - ranging from Old Ragged clothes to Dark Silver Armor. Only one NPC exists wearing each type of armor. In realising that each armor thus exists only once, it seems odd that some armors can be acquired twice (first always from a corpse, and second from killing an NPC). The exception here being Brushwood armor - which is also sold by a Dregling if Biorr survives the Penetrator battle. The Degling of course, says that many of the items he sells are stolen in dialogue, and thus I must conclude that this too is stolen, and the fact you can get it thrice is simply an indication of a measure of variety, with insufficient programming to maintain the "unique" status of the armor.
With this assumption in mind, we can conclude that all of the NPCs available to you in the Nexus are in fact deceased - dare I say Demon's themselves. This is reflected in their abnormal lust for Demon's souls - with the possible exception of Stockpile Thomas - many people selling items in exchange for souls. Sage Freke himself begging for souls, perhaps a symbol of how far this particular demon themselves.
With this assumption in mind, we can conclude that all of the NPCs available to you in the Nexus are in fact deceased - dare I say Demon's themselves. This is reflected in their abnormal lust for Demon's souls - with the possible exception of Stockpile Thomas - many people selling items in exchange for souls. Sage Freke himself begging for souls, perhaps a symbol of how far this particular demon themselves.
Thus far, the plot indeed does involve falling for their trap.
I will now enter a brief discourse about a number of NPCs in the game based on their armor locations.
Biorr – Deceased. Killed by miralda (and dropped his shield under dragons in 1-1). Replaced by a demon who tricks you into overthrowing Allant. Within the game, Biorr gives perhaps the most valuable assistance against the demon’s that protect the Old One’s seal.
Yurt the Silent Chief – Alive. Imprisoned by the old monk in the Tower of Latria. Yurt is perhaps best considered a neutral character (or even good given the group of assassins that hires him). He is responsible for killing demons in the nexus – including attempting to kill the player – and is associated in opposition to the old monk. The old monk, in contrast to other demons rose to power by force like those in the nexus. It is considered that the Old Monk is one of the few truly evil demon’s encountered by the player. It is known he is hired as an assassin for Mephistopholes. Mephistopheles was classically the Angel of Darkness, popularised recently as Lucifer himself (also a fallen angel). Mephistopheles has become a prince of hell (female in game). During the course of the game, Yurt is killed by the player. His armor, Gloom, reflects his emotional state – perhaps the unspeakable truths behind the dark existence in the northern lands, which leads to his name “The silent chief”.
Old King Doran – Alive. Doran protects Demonbrandt in the armory and is killed by the character during the course of the game. He is considered legend, as reflected in the shift towards black world tendancy (I will explain this position and how I think this affects the monsters encountered in Boletaria later).
Freke the Visionary – Deceased. Killed in the Tower of Latria (3-1). He is replaced by a demon in the nexus – imprisoned in Latria and freed by the player at the behest of Demon disciples in the nexus. It is likely that Freke was imprisoned a long time ago – given the unruly state of the prison – or was imprisoned recently under the pretence that he was indeed Freke, rather than an imposter. Freke is possibly one of the strongest Demon’s encountered in the game – his dialog involves a strong lust for Demon’s Souls – perhaps outmatched only by the Maiden in Black.
Saint Urbain – Deceased. Killed in the Valley of Defilement, presumably on a quest to locate Astraea. The demon taking the place of Urbain is interesting, in that it maintains that miracles are the work of God (the old one), but with the misinterpretation that magic is the work of the devil – rather than another manifestation of the miraculous. Perhaps representing the duality in the thirst for souls is the demand for souls in exchange for teaching miracles, which seemingly goes against his message to distance himself from the unholy.
Garl Vinland – Alive. Killed by the player in 5-3. A longer discourse will be given on the squid knight whilst examining the demon under the guise of Maiden Astraea. Garl is the only black phantom NPC to invade the player in White World tendancy. This is considered the case because he is embittered by the suicide of “Astraea” – a witch who had him under his control (this will be discussed further later).
Satsuki - Alive. Killed by the player (non-canon), where he thus invades the player or kept alive, where he ventures into the swamp in 5-x and catches the plague, becoming a shaman in the village.
Selen Vinland – Deceased. Died in 5-2; eaten by a slug. Selen is one of the few good NPCs in game who appears to have no quarrel with the character unless the character is deemed evil. Her soul seeks the crest of vinland – her purpose for entering the valley – to find her brother.
Miralda – Killed by the player. Not much discourse required on this character. She has been driven mad by her work and is under the control of the False King.
Yuria – Deceased. Hanged from a chain (along with the Maiden in Black [Will be discussed further later]) in Boletaria after being imprisoned, presumably for witchcraft.
Mephistopheles – The armor associated with this character is not considered unique. It is believed the character is a demon or at the very least in soul form – which is why they are able to enter the nexus (hell). It may be more accurate to consider Mephistopheles a servant of god – an angel, given the classical meaning of the name (angel of darkness), however like Lucifer (which Mephistopheles is contemporarily interchanged with) was a fallen angel. It is assumed that this character intends to go against the old one – or the act of falling into the Nexus is falling enough. Mephistopheles is probably too complex a character to discuss with the little background given. It is expected that we will find out more about the group of assassins Mephistopheles belongs to in Demon’s Souls 2 – which will be discussed at the end of this wall of text.
Ostrava – Deceased. Died in the Tower of Latria. The Ostrava we see is in fact a demon. It is a device employed by those in the nexus to enhance your cause to overthrow the False King (the final protector of the Old One).
Sparky the Crow - The witch in the sky (former owner of the phospherescent pole). Why? Pospherous is used in match heads to create a gentle flame. It's "sparkly twinkly". She has been turned into a crow by an unknown force, and looks for the gentle glow of her beloved staff.
Allant is a humble, small king of the northern lands of Boletaria. The “demon” we see in the game is actually a master of soul arts and a just king whose formerly prosperous rule has been dominated by the invasion of your party. The dreglings are the dregs (lower class) of boletaria and you are invading their homeland. What evidence is there to support this? The demon posing as ostrava commits suicide, and the real Ostrava, killed by unknown forces invades you and protects his father. Why would an ostrava who kills himself suddenly protect his father? Because they are NOT the same person
Filthy woman. This is maiden Astraea. She was overpowered by a pure blooded demon who took her form, and her knight and love and plagued the end of the swamp of chieftains. She wears the same robes, browned and not covered in blood as is the demons robes. I have not tried killing this woman to see if she drops anything. What evidence is there to support this? She sells both Chain Mail –Priest equip (her class) and Mirdan Armor – Temple Knight equip (Garl’s class). The child she seeks to support is Garl’s and her own (reflected through Garl’s willingness to have plague babies with the witch).
The Maiden in Black – deceased. It is mentioned that the maiden in black is deceased, because of a passing comment made by Stockpile Thomas – who seems to be the odd one out in the Nexus (he has no desire for demon’s souls and is not a disciple of anyone) – that the maiden in black is roughly the age his daughter would be, and that he has a strong wish for the player to help her. It is believed that the maiden in black is the “head honcho” of the demons in the nexus; she possesses the most potent soul arts which augment the player themselves, and consumes by far the most number of souls. She is also the one to lull God back to sleep at the games conclusion – her soul yielding the most powerful spell (essentially a death spell), and trapping the hero forever as a monumental to maintain the nexus. It is believed the character herself exists in duality – the kindness of Thomas’ deceased daughter (killed in 1-1 for similar crimes to Yuria) opposing the supreme demon within. The wax suggests that she is blinded by her lust for souls, and the act of lighting candles “sheds light” on her situation for herself. Strangely, she is the only character you can alarm by approaching her from behind.
Once Royal Mistress. The mistress of the Old Monk, exiled to the prison of hope. Latria herself exiled to lands beyond by the evil monk. Latria means the highest form of worship (presumably to god). It is considered a parallel to the tower of Babel.
The plot thus, with the canon ending (“good” ending), is your character being tricked into assisting the greatest concentration of demon’s into putting God back to sleep so they can continue their farce.
Demon’s souls 2 is likely to involve yourself being hired by the Mephistopheles group of assassins, much like Yurt was, and you become responsible for killing the demon’s your character became acquainted with in Demon’s souls 2 to restore the glory of god, and prosperity of the northern lands. Within each archstone the arch demons are likely to be; Biorr, Freke, Urbain, Yuria, Your Character (a Monumental), The 6th archstone will be unlocked, and will contain the Maiden in Black.
Additional: Blacksmith Ed and Bodwin.
Deceased. These blacksmiths are actually one and the same person (plainly obvious through their models). They died in 2-2 while trying to confront the flame lurker and were split into two respective selves (possibly due to a split personality disorder). Each blacksmith drops a single hand of god, and in 2-2 we find two hands of god. They were trying to attain the hot demon soul, that was responsible for advanced forging. It is likely that the smith in 2-1 represents the lust for demons souls.
The non-humanoid bosses in demon's souls - the "demons" are mere lifeforms (save for the tower of latria), which are hostile against you, the invader.
The Flamelurker represents the flame of the forge (it is seen being born from the flames, and its soul is used to craft weapons). The spider, a mere inhabitant of the mines, a fairly common feature of fantasy RPGs of this nature.
The Storm King is the vision of the shadow people - a representation of the tempest, and a being whose power is purely of the imagination of the shadowmen. How is this supported? The Stormruler sword only works in the King of Storm's Domain.
