The Lore of the Black Knights is central to the story of Lordran, and the Dark Souls trilogy.
From Silver to Black to ghost, these knights remained faithful to Gwen. They fought the Ancient Dragons, the chaos demons and the witch of Izalith, sacrificed themselves in the Kiln of the First Flame to extend the Age of Fire, and persevere to scare any new undead who might threaten Gwyn’s age. Their Legend shall never be forgotten!
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Soundtrack:
Shadow of the Colossus OST – Prohibited Art
Gothic 2 OST – city of Khorinikvalita
Dark Souls OST – Intro
Kingdom Two Crows OST – Mischievous Alchemy
Rome Total War OST – Journey to Rome Part 1
Rome Total War OST – Mayhem
Hollow Knight OST – City of Tears
Dark Souls OST – Ending
Age of Mythology OST – Flavor Cats (In the Comfort Zone)
Hollow Knight OST – Fungal Wastes
Savage: Battle for Newerth OST – Lost Hills
Journey OST – Nascence
#darksoulslore #darksouls #gaming
Hawkshaw.
47 Comments
What's your most memorable Black Knight moment?
Kingdom two crowns music
nice
I'm almost entirely certain the difference in Gwyn's hair color you observed is just a matter of lighting. I don't think there's any evidence that his hair was ever anything other than gray.
i would recommend reading Lokeys Abyssal Archive, As alot of the information in this video is incorrect and speculation.
Maybe it's a bit of both. Whose to say that Gwyn's forces were so utterly divided into purely just two groups? Whose to say that Gwyn didn't retain enough of his mind to assign some knights after burning? Also; the Demon's Souls similarity is more likely the Blue-Eyed and Red-Eyed Knights.
So happy to hear Gothic soundtrack in the background
The total war Rome soundtrack was a nice touch 😀
Yoo the gothic2 music <3
black knights r pretty cool.
Another Hawkshaw classic <3
I will forever mourn the loss of the Silver Knight melee weaponry from DS3.
-Maybe it wasn't translated correctly and both versions are right?
-During the War of Demons the Silver Knights turned into Black Knights in terms of Weaponry and Armor and maybe that's when the tittle was created.
-When Gwyn took these veterans of the war against demons to the Kiln of the First Flame they finally turned completely in the final version of the Black Knights we know, because that's where their bodies got burned and their soul fused with the armor, transforming them in the Black Knights completely, both in terms of armor and weaponry but also in terms of their soul and status as wandering husks.
These guys are something else in yout first blind run of ds1. Not knowing the game well or the genre, they were scary as hell. And when you finally learn to kill one its also something else
For those interested there was also a Dark Souls: Age of Fire comic made, featuring a Silver Knight Captain. Silver Knight Arkon was the protagonist in that comic.
Could the timeline inconsistencies not all be true? The Silver Knights who accompanied Gwynn to fight the demons were blackened and twisted by that campaign, and their nature changed to become wandering protectors. Whereas the Silver Knights who remained at Anor Londo are the stalwart defenders of that place.
Due to the power that Gwynn shared with his knights, perhaps the connection meant that when the flame was linked, all the knights died. The retinue of Anor Londo knights that accompanied Gwynn became spirit, the Silver Knights of Anor Londo became the closest to 'regular' undead, and the Black Knights became more like patrolling phantoms.
15:21 I don't agree with "it can't be both" – that could possibly mean that Silver Knights Gwyn took with him to fight Chaos were not blackened, but tempered, and did not turn into completely black colour as we see them in game. however, the impact of the Kiln was so strong, yet somehow did not impact silver to its melting point, that it turned silver black from inside out. if you were to scratch a Silver Knight whose armour was oxidised from time, or blackened by Chaos fire, you'd still find bright silver underneath. with Black Knights, their silver is now black that you can't simply scratch off. so, the Black Knights had a dark sheen to them due to Chaos fire, but the Kiln fire turned them dark completely.
I remember trying to kill the first Black knight in Undead Burg for hours and when I finally did he dropped the black knight sword! My friend was so mad at me because I lucked out and got the BKS from the first black knight on my first playthrough and he's never got it on a strength build xD
All my years seeing souls lore videos, and content creators definitely @Hawkshaw you are the most based one
Can you talk about the crucifixion in elden ring and what it means please
The silver knights did not become black knights in Izalith. That's wrong. Their armor was charred in the kiln of the first flame after Gwyn kindled the flame. I mean, think about it if the fire of Izalith melted their armor, the fire of the kiln will evaporate them. No, they remained silver even after Izalith.
LMAOOOOOOO
Is it me, or does the sound they make when you kill them sound like flushing a toilet in a public restroom?
Well in the interview he said "they are transformed" and "when they burned" referring to becoming only spirit, he did not mention the state of the armours, so those could already have been charred
The discrepancy of how they became black knights can easily be explained by the different narratives put forth by the gods.
Gwyn essentially committed mass murder/suicide with his most loyal soldiers, creating ghastly suits of warped black armor that roam Lordran, and he himself turned into a withered corpse devoid of any personality.
Those are horrifying details, which is why they covered all of that up as much as they could.
Instead, they are merely veterans of the war against the evil demons and chaos magic, still keeping watch for their eternal enemies.
As for the rest:
Gwyn has an empty tomb in Anor Londo, the illusions still show eternal sunlight over Gwyn's domain, the Kiln of the First Flame is hidden and inaccessible to anyone besides the ancient serpents, etc.
I LOVE U FOR PUTING OST FROM GOTHIC 2
None of this is in the games.
Could it be possible Silver knights were charred black by Gwens sacrifice and other silver knights were charred in the war against the demons even if hatsuyamas story doesn't really fit with that? I feel like that would be a nice middle ground
I know its a Dark Souls oriented video / series, but I can’t stop to appreciate the Gothic music you shove left and right in your videos lately. Hope maybe a Gothic series now that the game came out on *recent hardware*( Nintendo Switch ) and PC patches released by THQ
Very good video
Fun fact, the weapons and armor becoming stronger is plausible irl, the burning flesh and bone would create carbon and with that melting into their armor it would make it stronger
Honey, wake up, Hawkshaw uploaded!
Gothic 2 ost is a classy touch.
There always wil be that same question in every pßlaythrough of dark souls 1 in my mind. When i reach the undead burg and I am on my way to the taurus demon, I ask myself – "do I kill the black knight now and take the risk of getting killed and have to come here again, or do I ignore him?" The answer always is the same – I kill him, because even if I never wear the ring he is protecting, I can´t sleep becuase I know "hey man, I didn´t loot the fkn ring". X D
I always thought it was very odd that Gwyn looked so old during the opening cutscene in that moment where he appears to be finding the Lord Soul within the First Flame. Like, did this guy just spawn out of the darkness already as an old man? Never made sense to me. Thanks for answering that riddle!
I know it's not a contest and I'm certainly not trying to throw shade, because this community is full of fantastic creators. But it genuinely confuses me whenever I hear someone call anyone besides Hawkshaw the "best FromSoft lore YouTuber." This channel is simply on another level from anyone else imo, at least in terms of the depth of research and attention to detail.
Perhaps black knights can be formed by both the first flame kindling event, AND prolonged Chaos flame, as the two are related forces.
I KNEW IT! THE MUSIC AT THE START IS FROM GOTHIC 2!!!
(Sorry, excited fan here, don't mind me)
I hear Gothic's music, I love it
I've not yet watched this video. But I did catch myself thinking about the Black Knights today. I thought about how the initial idea was for them to chase you to the ends of the earth, which was later scrapped. The remnants of this idea still remain, the Black Knights will chase you further than any other enemy. I believe this is how they function. They are told to chase the enemies of Anor Londo. With Gwyn gone, they are alive in body but their souls are trapped in the realm between the Kiln and Firelink. Their bodies still execute their tasks with mindlessness. They see an intruder, like someone bearing a Blue Tearstone Ring, they hunt them down and kill them. And then what? They remain until they perceive another intruder, with no mind of their own. It will be interesting to see if any of these ideas have found their way into this video, even though we have never shared them with each other.
I still think that the Silver Knights might be females.
respect for gothic ost brudda <3
I'm honestly sad they replaced the death roar to the necromancers
Theres hollow knight music in this 😂
I finished the game twice, but without lore channels I would have no idea wtf was going on
Have you done a video on the reocurrance of human bodies being recycled. Returned to the natural system of sorts. The good and bad that comes from that. Even the plant life has changed over to the consumption.
Yo Eredin really went and switched it up lol
Okay but why can't the black knights be made by both the kiln and war? Because I mean, Gwyn could have had 2 batches of black knights, no?