Every location in the Dark Souls series is brimming with hidden details and lore. Fans of the Souls series spend dozens of hours piecing together small details from item descriptions and environments to uncover the game’s history.

One zone with a surprising amount of secrets in it is the Grand Archives from Dark Souls 3. Inspired by the Duke’s Archives from the original Dark Souls, this area is less focused on fighting a scaleless dragon and more on avoiding the strange books and Scholars inside. The zone’s use of environmental storytelling and placement of secrets has made it a widely enjoyed zone for many Dark Souls 3 fans. From corpses to wax, here are 10 things players never noticed about the Grand Archives in Dark Souls 3.

10 Greirat’s Body

Being a thief in the Dark Souls universe can’t be easy. Unfortunately, it seems that Greirat has to learn this the hard way. As players progress his questline, Greirat will start stealing from tougher zones until he eventually decides to give Lothric Castle a visit.

When Greirat does this, players never hear from him again. That is because he was killed during his escapade at none other than the Grand Archives. While climbing up the exterior of the building, players can find Greirat’s body laying on a rooftop alongside his ashes.

9 Contains The Best Spells

Books and knowledge in the Dark Souls universe are usually associated with sorceries and most spellcasters. The fact that the Grand Archives holds some of the strongest spells in the game is no coincidence.

Power Within, Soul Stream, and most Crystal Sorceries can be found in the Grand Archives. Spellcasters will want to arrive at the Grand Archives whenever possible to utilize some of the strongest spells in the game.

8 Curse-Immune Wax

Some of the enemies in the Grand Archives have wax on their heads. These Scholar enemies aren’t wearing this wax as a fashion statement, rather it is to read the books that reside in the Grand Archives. The books that reside there are cursed, so the Scholars have taken to dunking their heads in wax so the curse can’t infiltrate their mind and kill them. That’s also why players can’t be cursed by the books when they dunk their head in the wax pool around the center of the Grand Archives.

7 Illusory Wall

It wouldn’t be a proper Dark Souls zone if it didn’t have secrets to uncover. The Grand Archives contains an illusory wall that many players likely missed their first time through the area.

While ascending the floors of the Archives, players might notice a strange wall that is surrounded by metal gates. This wall is next to a corpse holding a Titanite Scale. Rolling or hitting this strange wall reveals another room that is protected by a Frost Knight. Kill it to obtain the Outrider Knight Armor Set. This room also has the powerful Soul Stream Sorcery.

6 Black Hand Trio

To enter the Grand Archives, players will need to unlock the building with a key. The Grand Archives key can be found on a dead Black Hand NPC outside of the location.

Strangely, a trio of Black Hand NPCs can be found near the top of the Grand Archives and are immediately hostile to the player. The dead NPC, Black Hand Gotthard, might have tried to run away from his duties and was slain by the trio as a result. When Emma dies and spawns Dancer of the Boreal Valley, all Black Hand NPCs become hostile and can no longer be summoned to assist the player.

5 Only Accessible Late Game

For Gotthard’s body to spawn, players will need to defeat the other 3 Lords of Cinder in the game. This includes Yhorn, Aldrich, and the Abyss Watchers.

Players that decide to defeat the Dancer of the Boreal Valley early can make it as far as Dragonslayer Armor. Past this fight, players will reach the Grand Archives bonfire with no way to enter the building. Gotthard’s corpse appears after the Lods of Cinder are defeating, possibly suggesting that he was assassinated for helping the player character with slaying these lords.

4 The Twin Princes’ Clipping Issues

Most major bosses in Dark Souls 3 have introductory cinematics to give the players a glimpse of what they’re about to fight. The Twin Princes have a rather impressive introduction until players notice a visual glitch.

When Lorian enters the frame for the first time, players can see a strange grey cube violently shaking at the back of the room. This cube is actually a foot clipping through the ground. It seems that a copy of Lothric follows Lorian under the map during the cutscene, and his foot is being pulled from under the map to the surface. Why his foot is clipping through the ground, however, is a complete mystery.

3 Can Be Seen From The Start Of The Game

From Software has done a fantastic job of displaying the scale and scope of each Souls game by displaying future zones in the distance. Dark Souls 3 is no different.

At the start of the game, players can see Lothric Castle off in the distance. Further inspecting Lothric Castle will show a giant bridge with two distinct buildings. The building to the left is none other than the Grand Archives while the giant spire to the right is the Twin Princes’ arena. Players can get a better view of the castle layout once they travel to the High Wall of Lothric.

2 Seath’s Curse

It’s clear that the books in the Grand Archives are cursed. Pale white hands stretch out from the pages of certain books and try to curse the player to death. This strange behavior is caused by Seath The Scaleless and his curse.

Seath’s eternal quest for knowledge eventually led him to insanity. Much of his work has been written down and spread over time, eventually making its way to the Grand Archives in Dark Souls 3. This is further supported by the shape of the hands themselves, having the same skin tone and scrawny appearance as Seath’s hands in the first Dark Souls.

1 Three Groups Of Lothric

Based on the layout of Lothric Castle, players can deduce that there is some sort of civil war going on amongst the inhabitants. Blue angelic knights seem at odds with the more traditional red knights. These are two of the three major groups in Lothric, with the third being the Scholars.

Statues can be found all over Lothric Castle. These statues depict strange serpent figures with wings, headless knights, and Scholars with wax on their heads. It seems these are the three major groups that own parts of the castle. The Scholar statue seems to depict the first Scholar of the Grand Archives. As to who this is, many speculate it’s either Aldia from Dark Souls 2 or Ludleth of Courland, but no one knows for sure.

NEXT: Dark Souls 3: Ranking All Of The Covenants