Disclaimer: This article will contain major lore spoilers for Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel. While most of the story has been pieced together from item descriptions discovered in the DLC, there are still a lot of mysteries left unsolved in the story, meaning that some of the conclusions we have drawn here may be proven inaccurate later on down the line.
Our story begins when the Ashen One arrives at the Cleansing Chapel in the Cathedral of the Deep, where he (or she) encounters Slave knight Gael. Gael is praying for fire for Ariandel, and when he sees you, he notes that you have the same scent as another woman, and he concludes that you are Ash. The other woman, as we’ll later find out, refers to Sister Friede. Gael begs us to show his lady flame. Once we confirm that we are Ash, Gael will take us into the Painted World of Ariandel through a rotted scrap of the painting.
At the very first bonfire, we’ll find a Corvian sitting at the corner. He tells us to make our bed and find a good place to rest. While this isn’t really indicative of anything at this point, it is the first hint of the flame versus rot conflict that exists in the Painted World. Venturing further into the Painted World, the Ashen One soon comes across Ariandel Chapel, where Sir Vilhelm stands guard outside. Vilhelm makes a peculiar remark, and is confused as to how you got here, considering that “no bell tolls.” As we know from all of Dark Souls III’s promotional trailers, the beginning movie, and vanilla NPC dialogue, the Ashen Ones rise from their graves when the bell tolls. This is how our journey started, and how we embarked on our initial journey to bring the Lords of Cinder back to their thrones.
However, no bell has tolled in the Painted World, so there’s no reason for us to be here. Nevertheless, Vilhelm tells you to head inside the Chapel and speak with Sister Friede. Friede tells us to leave, and states that there is nothing for the Ashen One here. Our duty lies in the outside world, and we should just forget about the Painted World.
Of course we’re not going to do that, so the Ashen One ventures deeper into the Painted World instead. Here, we find many feeble Corvians on the verge of death. We also find much stronger, much more threatening Corvian knights that choose to slay their brethren. While exploring the Settlement, the Ashen One soon comes across a Corvian NPC who tells us that the inhabitants of this world had long decided to burn this world away with flame, so that a new one may rise. However, Sister Friede, who is revealed to be the first Ash to come to this world, had arrived and convinced Father Ariandel not to do so. Instead of burning the world away, she convinces the Father to let the world steep in rot, and some of the Corvians (the knights that we encounter, essentially) began to follow her rule and turned on their own kind. The NPC also tells us of a prophecy involving two Ashes, one of which will help to restore this world. In this case, we are the second Ash destined to show the lady flame.
Once past the Corvian Settlement, we encounter Sir Vilhelm again, and he decides to slay the Ashen One since we’ve refused to leave. After killing him, he drops a Contraption Key that leads to the attic of the building we’re in, and we find a young painter girl. This is the lady that Gael asked us to find and show flame to. She is the one who will paint a new world to replace this one.
The Ashen One continues through the Snowy Mountain Pass, and along the way, we find a very large bell that lies abandoned on the ground. This must have been the bell that tolls to wake the Unkindled Ones up. But since it’s broken, it couldn’t possibly toll. Perhaps it was Sister Friede and Sir Vilhelm who destroyed the bell so that there’d be no way for a second Ash to arrive in the Painted World.
Soon after, we’ll find a crypt infested with blood-sucking bugs. This is likely a form of symbolism to show just how steeped in rot the world is now. After activating a contraption in the crypt, we get to watch a cutscene where a statue (which looks very similar to the one in the Painted World of Ariamis) moves to reveal a secret area next to where Sister Friede is sitting. In the new area, we find Father Ariandel who speaks of flickering flames. The Father is seen hunched over what looks like a Lordvessel, covering his eyes because he’s afraid of seeing fire. He tells us to bring him his flail, and we later learn that the Father flails himself because his blood is the only thing that will keep the flames at bay. Sister Friede enters the area and tells Father Ariandel not to worry, and that she’ll snuff out these ashes for good.
What she’s basically saying here is that she’s going to kill us.
After striking down Sister Friede, Father Ariandel sees her dead body lying on the ground and cries out in pain. The fire starts to spill over, and because Friede herself is an Ashen One, she is quickly revived by the flames. After killing the both of them, Friede is revived once more as Blackflame Elfriede.
“When the Ashes are two, a flame alighteth. Thou’rt Ash, and fire befits thee, of course…”
After defeating Elfriede, we can speak to the painter girl once more. She has a few interesting lines of dialogue where she talks about how she will soon paint a new world – one that will make a goodly home for someone someday. She also has another line that should prove very interesting to Dark Souls fans:
“Those who aren’t ken to fire cannot paint a world. Those absorbed by fire, must not paint a world. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten, Mother…”
First of all, I previously theorized that perhaps this painter girl was the one who created the Painted World of Ariamis, the very same one we saw in Dark Souls. After all, time is convoluted in Lordran, and it’s possible that the Ashen One was somehow sent back in time through Gael’s rotted scrap of painting. It’s also possible that time just flows differently in the paintings. However, the girl also mentions her mother. This is just speculation, but it seems likely that Crossbreed Priscilla may indeed be this girl’s mother.
In fact, it’s becoming quite a popular theory that perhaps the Painted World of Ariamis had decayed over time, but Father Ariandel had come around to restore it. This is why we see remnants of the Painted World of Ariamis all throughout. Priscilla’s iconic colosseum, for example, is near the base of this world. Perhaps as Ariamis started to fall into ruin, Father Ariandel restored the painting, and a new world was essentially painted over the old one. That new world is the one we’re in now, and it’s also begun to succumb to rot and decay. The painter girl wants to create a world that will make a goodly home for someone. This could very well refer to Priscilla, who was sucked into Ariamis but quickly grew attached to it, but perhaps she simply wanted a new world that would honor Priscilla’s memory. Again, this is all speculation, and the girl’s connection to Priscilla cannot be confirmed.
Because the Painted World of Ariandel was starting to fall apart, the inhabitants had collectively decided that it should be burned away with ash, so that a new creator could create a brand new painted world. However, Elfriede entered the Painted World of Ariandel and convinced the Father not to let it burn away. According to the description on the Ordained set, Elfriede had cast aside her connection to the Sable Church, and found a world and people that she wanted to protect. Here, we learn that she is actually the eldest sister of Yuria. Instead of helping Yuria and Liliane find a new Lord of Hollows for Londor, however, she chose to stay in the Painted World of Ariandel.
We don’t exactly know what her true intentions were, but we can safely assume that she chose to take on the role of protector in this world. Just as Priscilla was seen as the protector of Ariamis, Elfriede herself also adopted mannerisms that we previously saw in Crossbreed Priscilla. Her scythe and invisibility attacks are clearly meant to show her efforts in trying to be similar to Priscilla, perhaps so that she could convince the Corvians that she was really on their side.
Either way, once we defeat her, the painter girl promises to start painting again. She has one more revealing line of dialogue. We quickly find out that Gael is actually her uncle, and she also wonders aloud if he’s found the Dark Soul of man. Now there’s a term we haven’t heard in quite a while. Just to refresh your memory, the Dark Soul is a unique lord soul that the Furtive Pygmy picked up right before the Age of Flame. It is said that the Humanity items we used in Dark Souls are actually shards or chunks broken off from the Dark Soul itself.
We also shouldn’t forget that the Dark Soul is very intrinsically linked to the Dark Hand weapon wielded by the Darkwraiths. The Darkwraiths can use the Dark Hand to initiate a grab attack on the player, and in the original Dark Souls, this attack could suck away Humanity from the Chosen Undead if you had any. And who do the Darkwraiths serve? Lord Kaathe, of course. And how does Kaathe, our favorite Primordial Serpent, fit into the story of Dark Souls III? Well, Yuria of Londor serves him. She reveals this if you choose to kill her. Yuria and the Sable Church are looking for a new Lord of Hollows to lead Londor, and you can take on the mantle if you complete her quest line and get the Usurpation of Fire ending.
In Dark Souls, the Chosen Undead could bring the Lordvessel to Kaathe, and this would trigger the Age of Dark ending. With Dark Souls III, however, it is still a little unclear if the Lord of Hollows is ushering in a new Age of Dark, or something entirely different. Regardless, we know that Yuria and the Sable Church, along with the Darkwraiths, will be very interested in locating the Dark Soul. From the painter girl’s dialogue, we also know that Gael is seeking the Dark Soul. After completing the DLC and finishing off Elfriede, it’s worth noting that Gael is nowhere to be found in the game. There’s no closure, and this is just me speculating again, but I don’t think we’re quite done with this story just yet, and it should be picked up again in the second and final DLC coming next year.
Where will the DLC take us? My best guess is that we’re finally going to learn more about Frampt and Kaathe. With Kaathe representing the dark, it only makes sense that Frampt should show up in some way, considering that he represented fire in Dark Souls. And of course, the sisters of Londor will almost certainly be involved as well. Perhaps the Sable Church is coming close to finding the Dark Soul. And perhaps Gael is, for unknown reasons, tracking their movements and trying to locate it before they do. As for the Painted World of Ariandel? Perhaps we’re done with it, and Priscilla’s bloodline can continue in peace. Or maybe the painter girl will have some part to play in the events to come too.
Either way, things are quickly coming to a head in the Dark Souls universe, and I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
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