Dark Souls III was the third and final release in FromSoftware’s Dark Souls trilogy, serving as the culmination of the iconic third-person action-adventure role-playing title. The game did a great job at connecting themes, characters, and concepts from the previous two games and making the third entry feel like a worthy send-off.
Playing FromSoftware games for the first time can be quite overwhelming, but there’s plenty to experience. The bosses may feel unbeatable, but in addition to their vulnerabilities, they have interestingly tragic backstories worthy of looking into.
10 Iudex Gundyr
Iudex Gundyr is the first boss players face in Dark Souls III and is the make or break point for those new to the series. This giant warrior was once a great champion who was now cursed with waiting for someone to pull the coiled sword from his body and link the First Flame. An unknown presence defeated Gundyr in the past and drove the coiled sword through his chest, locking him in place, forced to wait for the chosen ash to arrive and remove the sword from deep within his body.
9 Lothric, Younger Prince
In addition to the twin princes having one of the more interesting boss mechanics in Dark Souls III, they have a ton of lore explaining their tragic existences. The kingdom they once ruled was home to what was known as the Three Pillars of Lothric. The Knight was the pillar holding their army of warriors, The High Priestess was their dutiful religious title, and The Scholar was the center for academic learning in Lothric. It even had a fourth unofficial pillar called the Hunters that traveled outside of Lothric.
8 Vordt Of The Boreal Valley
Vordt of the Boreal Valley is a rather odd design as it happens to be a dog-like creature encased in a suit of armor. The reason for this is rather sad and revolves around Vordt once being an Outrider Knight under the command of Pontiff Sulyvahn.
Little did Vordt know that a ring the Pontiff gifted him would drive him mad and over time turn him into the wild beast he became. He served alongside the Dancer of Boreal Valley, who also became a disfigured beast and transformed into something far from human.
7 Dragonslayer Armor
The Dragonslayer Armor and its boss fight might be some of the best environmental storytelling FromSoftware has ever done. The armor itself looks to be that of Ornstein, the legendary knight general of Lord Gwyn. It is now filled with Pilgrim Butterflies that are controlling the armor. This fight is located near the Nameless King, which makes sense considering Ornstein journeyed out to find Gwyn’s first-born, as the knight was most loyal to the kid who betrayed his father’s best wishes and befriended dragons, leading to his history and existence being erased.
6 Pontiff Sulyvahn
The world of Dark Souls is filled with plenty of vile entities all looking to consume energy and gain power in one way or another. Pontiff Sulyvahn happens to be another one of these cases as the young sorcerer became tainted with ambition and set his eyes on Irithyll. He gave his loyal Outrider Knights that were tasked with conquering other lands special rings. These rings would eventually turn the men into beasts and drive them mad, which the Pontiff saw as insurance as to avoid these men ever challenging or betraying him.
5 Sister Friede
Most players know Sister Friede as one of the more frustrating fights in Dark Souls III, but she has quite the history behind her. In addition to manipulating Father Ariandel, she is an Unkindled, which is rather telling. This means that she either attempted to link the flame or usurp but failed in one way or another. This led to her being resurrected as an ashen one and resulted in her finding Ariandel’s Painted World. She was fighting until her final moments in order to preserve the painted world as it currently existed.
4 Abyss Watchers
In many ways, the Abyss Watchers represent how FromSoftware views many of the franchise’s hardcore fans. They’re a group of fanatics who shaped their lives and purpose around the legendary knight known as Artorias, who was featured in the first Dark Souls game.
The reason they look so much like him is because they wanted to emulate him and went as far as drinking wolf blood to obtain more strength. After some time of lacking purpose, they ended up linking the fire and becoming hollow.
3 Yhorm The Giant
The Dark Souls games have side missions involving non-playable characters that are completely optional and easily failed by those unfamiliar with a mission’s given process. One of the more interesting ones in Dark Souls III revolves around the boss named Yhorm the Giant and his old friend Siegward of Catarina. Siegward is tasked with reaching the Profaned Capital and fulfilling the promise of killing his friend if Yhorm ever rose from the dead to suffer a never-ending existence. The player can help him accomplish this goal and put his friend at peace.
2 Slave Knight Gael
When players run into Slave Knight Gael in the Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel DLC he’s a corrupted individual driven mad by someone or something. It turns out that he was on a mission to recover the Dark Soul owned by the Furtive Pygmy. The goal was to obtain a pigment The Painter needed for her to finish her work. He becomes obsessed with obtaining the Dark Soul and ultimately kills all the Pygmies by cutting their throats and drinking their dried blood. In turn, his body grows larger and his brain deteriorates.
1 Soul Of Cinder
When it was announced that Dark Souls III would be the end of a beloved series fans were upset. The studio at FromSoftware is full of clever and inventive designers who love environmental story-telling and thematic representation in their games. The final boss of Dark Souls III’s base game was an entity known as Soul of Cinder. It was an amalgamation of every Lord of Cinder who existed before it as well as the Chosen Undead who linked the flame in their respective worlds. Players must overcome the franchise’s own legacy in order to finally put it to rest.
NEXT: 10 Dark Souls Lore Facts You May Have Missed
