Welcome to Dark Souls
Today’s Focus: Sif, The Great Grey Wolf & Artorias the Knight
Before I get into the first of many adventures, I must give some background information on this amazing game. Dark Souls is set in the fiction world of Lordran. You play as the “protagonist”, who is a human afflicted by the Undead curse. You are not simply any human; You are the Chosen Undead. Now, you might be wondering what exactly IS the Undead Curse, what the Chosen Undead is, and what any of this means. Let me explain more from the bits and pieces that we, the players, have put together through the game’s vague storytelling. In the beginning of time, there was only Darkness, and in that Darkness prevailed the Everlasting Dragons. But there was also fire. It is unknown who or what lit the First Flame, or why it was lit. But then came the darklings*, whom found the Lord Souls from within the first flame. Being all-powerful and all, the new Lords fought the dragons. The Lords, whom were four, fought the dragons, and prevailed in the end. The Lords were as follows: Gwyn the Lord of Sunlight, The Witch of Izalith, and Gravelord Nito. But there was one who forgotten: The Furtive Pygmy, who took the DARK Soul. So the Lords killed the Dragons with the help of Seath the Scaleless, who betrayed the dragons, and built a kingdom in the Age of Fire. But alas, all that is good does not last, and the First Flame that fueled the Age of Fire began to dwindle until only embers remained. This is when you, the Chosen Undead, go on a journey to discover the faith of the Dark Soul.
Now that we’ve got the basic, yes I said basic, lore behind us, I can begin the tale of Seriv, the Chosen Undead.
I play as Seriv, whom I created, who I dressed up as the iconic Elite Knight from the Dark Souls box-art. Anyways, I had been deciding on what to write for this adventure, so I went ahead and went to go fight Sif. The story of Sif and Artorias is one of great sadness. Artorias was one of Gwyn’s, the Lord of Sunlight, four knights that guarded the city of Anor Londo. Continuing, Sif was Artorias’ companion. As the story goes, the people of Oolacile awoke a dark being. This being was Manus, Father of the Abyss. Manus spread the Abyss, and Gwyn ordered Artorias, and Sif, to repel the creatures of the Abyss. During the fight, the two were eventually overrun by the dark creatures. Artorias, being the good guy, sacrificed himself. Using his greatshield as a barrier, Artorias shielded Sif. Artorias was then consumed by the corruption of the Abyss, and was no longer himself. The story ends here, and my mini-adventure begins.
The Fight
So I went into Darkroot garden, previously Oolacile, to fight Sif. Upon entering this area, it became clear that it was a grave.
I approached closer to examine the greatsword that lay upon the grave, and was greeted with a cutscene.
Before I could touch the sword, Sif appeared.
He took the sword, and the fight began.
During the fight, it became clear that the sword was Artorias’, and Sif was mimicking Artorias’ fighting style. He was beating me to a pulp the entire 10 minutes it took me to kill him, but I eventually did it.
Please ignore the horrible timing of the screenshot.
The victory didn’t feel good at all. The message that every casual player takes from the game is that everything you face is evil, and is trying to kill you. This is when my morality came into play. Was Sif really bad? Was he good? Was he trying to kill me? Did I have to kill him?
I didn’t discover the answer to my questions after researching a bit more, and eventually I did. Sif was only fighting you because he wanted to protect you. Sif did not want you to take the Covenant of Artorias, for it had led to the death of Sif’s companion. He only tried to protect you, but you didn’t know that. It left me questioning whether I should continue playing at all.
That’s it for my first adventure. This was Dark Souls.
* – There is no definite name for the Pre-Lord beings. I just called them “Darklings” because it fit.
Jesse's Adventures in Games 