THE KING OF IZALITH

the art needs some work, will edit in the finished pic when its done.

i was recently re-reading the design works interview and noticed something- in the conversation about the bed of chaos they mention that originally there was to be a "king of izalith" who the player would fight against ON the bed of chaos (as in BoC was effectively the boss arena). if any elements of this exist at all in the game as it is, then there is a good case to be made for jeremiah being the king of izalith- he exclusively uses chaos pyromancies and is a king exiled from his homeland.
if this is the case, it would make sense why he was removed as a boss, seeing as it would make the BoC fight a ctrl+c ctrl+v of the old monk boss from demons souls, though without the online/invader controlling the boss that made the fight so memorable. unless, of course, they had planned to copy that too. i mean, think about it, the chaos servant covenant requires donating humanity, but has no invasion/co-op tools to help raise the humanity (you're limited to either WSS or RSS, which any player can use, or farming from in game enemies). so what if they'd planned to have the chaos servants fight in the same way as the old monk fight? again, if this is the case, the fact that its so similar to demons souls would be more than enough reason to cut it from the game.

seeing the amount of pondering about jeramiah in this blog makes me think that my tinfoil hat may in fact be a xanthous crown.

BLIGHTPUS AND THE ENGORGED

more painted world speculation!

this post will focus on pyromancy and possible linking of dialogue found elsewhere in the game to enemies/events in the painted world.

first of all, xanthous king Jeremiah. i've heard a few people mention the possibility that Jeremiah is in fact Salaman, the previous apprentice of Quelana. This is a very viable theory, especially considering Jeremiah uses chaos pyromancies, though its should be noted that Miyazaki has stated in interviews that Salaman only exists in dark souls in name only, so it may be unlikely. of course that makes Jeremiah even stranger than his appearance already makes him appear (which to be honest, makes me even more intrigued with him. he comes across as simultaneously absurd and menacing. a strange combination)
I personally think that the hollow inhabitants of the painted world are Jeremiah's followers (especially if the term "king" is to be taken literally), the broken concrete cages found there being used to hold them before being sent to the painted world where they eventually turned hollow. i'm obviously using the fact some of the hollows (specifically the engorged hollows) also use pyromancy. Its easy to come to the conclusion that Jeremiah was seen as a threat to the gods.

something else intriguing is the fact the the engorged hollows burst out toxin when killed and  also can cast poison mist. the only other mention of such pyromancy is from the spells developed by Eingyi-

Unique pyromancy crafted by Eingyi,considered a heretic even at the Great Swamp. Create intense poison mist. Why was Eingyi driven from the Great Swamp?One only need cast this pyromancy, a perverse diversion from the art of fire, to find out.

(text from toxic mist pyromancy)

the pyromancies found in the painted world are stated to be "outland" pyromancies, so we can assume they were developed independently of Eingyi's works. Also the mention that poison and toxin (and its highly plausible this also applies to the acid based pyromancy found in the painted world) are seen as "peverse" fits very well with Jeremiah's strange and absurd appearance.

now, onto something else regarding Eingyi. when speaking to him at one point he states the following-

Worse than Undead, we are diseased, and unwanted.Like the grime of the Great Swamp.But my dear, Fair Lady! She cried for me…And swallowed the great Blightpus, despite Mistress Quelaag's orders to the contrary.

my personal theory is that the engorged hollows themselves are inflicted with blightpus, a possible side-effect of the prolonged use of "perverse" poison and toxin pyromancies. Though i must admit, other than the one line of dialogue from Eingyi there is no other mention of blightpus, its cause or effects are unknown, so i could be completely wrong. Its totally plausible that blightpus is just an affliction like a disease that he contracted either in the great swamp or in blight-town swamp itself.

***

and one last thing; a while back i'd read someones theory that xanthous king Jeremiah was created (in addition to the obvious reference to the old monk in demon's souls) in reference to "the king in yellow" (xanthous meaning yellow). from the wikipedia

The King in Yellow is a collection of tales of the supernatural by Robert W. Chambers, named after a fictional play with the same title that recurs as a motif through some of its stories and first published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895.Described by S.T Joshi as a classic in the field of the supernatural, it contains 10 stories, the first four of which, "The Repairer of Reputations", "The Mask", "In the Court of the Dragon" and "The Yellow Sign", mention The King in Yellow, a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it.

the king in yellow was also used/referenced by several other authors, notably  HP Lovecraft being one of them. The idea of the lost kingdom of Carcosa, that the king in yellow was to preside over, fits with lost civilization themes found in dark souls very well.
all speculation of course (with very little to back it up, other than the fact Jeremiah has the terms "yellow"(xanthous) and "king" in his name) but i must admit i really like the idea that this is the source of the reference

ZENA AND SEATH

so i was shooting the breeze with solaire today and i've come to the conclusion that my first post (regarding the message images) is wrong. solaire is too trustworthy for this to be true. i recant.

but i was thinking about domhnall. i've heard people have speculated about links to seath, though i've seen little written, few details. there do seem to be a few links though and i may have some speculation  regarding this.
domhnall sells crystal weapons, and seath is very much involved in the use of such things. in addition to this the armor the crystal general (the hollowed NPC you fight before the un-winnable first encounter with seath in the dukes archives) is quite reminiscent of domhnalls armor set, and could easily be interpreted as originally hailing from zena.
so how and why does seath have links to the people of  zena? well, the theory i have only works if domhnall is seen as an example of the tendencies and character of the people of zena. if this is the case, then the people of zena are interested in trinkets and oddities, the collection of and trade of such items and rareties. henceforth seath, being heavily invested in research of lost and rare arts would benefit greatly from contact with the people of zena and their goods, regardless of where they sourced them. likewise the people of zena would be very interested in the books, tomes and various rare magical items that seath has in his collection in the archives. i'm sure the two sides would build a good rapport and the crystal general would happily side with seath and domhnall could easily trade his wares with either the general, seath himself or some other agent of seath for the crystal items has has.

IRON TARKUS IN THE PAINTED WORLD

this is cool, a guy has taken the NPCs from the game and pit them against each other. its fascinating to see how their AI reacts, their smarter choices and total fails.

i'm making this post for another reason though, theres a comment by the uploader (IAmV3nom, its an excellent channel with some cool videos featuring cut content from dark souls, check it out) replying to a question regarding the source used to determine characters stats (and i quote)-

Hello bro. Stats were pulled direct from the game files, as well as equipment. The information pulled was from the NG+7 versions at highest levels. So, Solaire from Kiln, Leeroy as invader, Logan from Dukes etc. It would have been wrong for me to make their stats up, but I must stress that there was a Tarkus due to invade in Painted World. I tested this guy for a joke, as he was never legitimately in the game, and he pretty much wrecked anything in front of him. Including two on one

now i find this VERY interesting, tarkus was to invade the player in the painted world! we know for a fact from interviews with dark souls director, hidetaka miyazaki, that NPC placement was actually well thought out, with background story to each character and situation. so what does tarkus invading the player mean?
personally i'm thinking (hoping) that tarkus himself was exiled to the painted world by the gods, the rulers of anor londo because he was too much of a BAD ASS and therefore seen as a threat to the gods.
i'm curious as to the reason he invades the player and where abouts the invasion takes place. possibly the path towards priscilla sama? there is a knight of berenike there in game as it is and tarkus was also of the berenike knights. if i personally were tarkus, i'd do all in my power to protect that fluffy tail from the possible threat of the chosen undead.

*disclaimer- i should be noted that the fact that this is invasion event is not in the finished game means that i cannot be assumed to be part of the official story of tarkus, as it could very well have been removed due to them deciding to rewrite tarkus' story-line.

BLACK DRAGON KALAMEET

i'm currently drafting up a drawing of kalameet. to do so i've been trying to get a screenshot of him doing the calamity eye grab move (in NG++ this means a lot of deaths) and as i was being slaughtered i was thinking about the fact that kalameet spews black flame. its black. this reminded me of the pyromancy you find in the chasm of the abyss, called black flame. a pyromancy influenced by the "wild humanity" of the abyss.

"A Pyromancy discovered from the Dark Abyss by a pyromancer who wandered into Oolacile. Conjure a great flame into one's palm. Black Flames are weighty and cause Physical damage. Enough to smack away the mightiest of shields."

curious still, i looked up any information on kalameet regarding the abyss, but theres no mention. one thing piqued my attention though, his black flame attack cause physical and magical damage. this means his attack damages in a way more akin to dark abyss magic than fire/pyro damage. of course i'm aware this could just have been a random allocation of damage types by the developer, but what if it isn't? what if kalameet has, at least somewhat, been affected by the abyss? well, realistically it wouldn't have any other implications than that kalameet has chosen a rather shitty place to hang out. kind of like setting your home up next to chernobyl power plant.

hopefully i'll finish this drawing off soon, i'll post it as soon as its done.

HEART U BUTCHERS KNIFE

little illustration i did. put it up on redbubble as a friend asked to get it on a shirt. link here

MESSAGE RATING IMAGES

i was thinking about the images that are associated with orange soapstone messages. whilst i must admit theres a good chance the pics were chosen at random, but  could it be possible the character image associated could be related to how trustworthy the character is?
to clarify for anyone who doesn't know how it works, you can leave a message with the orange soapstone, (generally used to give advice, though often used to fool other players) and by pressing a button (select i think?) you can rate the message, positive or negative. enough positive votes and the little picture that accompanies the message will change. the images are as follows-

1. Undead
2. Knight Solaire
3. Lady of Darkmoon
4. Domhnall of Zena
5. Frampt the Primordial Serpent

i took the list directly from one of the wiki sites and would like to state that the "undead" is clearly the undead merchant (could be either male or female one) and its not certain whether the serpent is Frampt or Kaathe.

now, my theory is that the higher rated the message is, the more trustworthy the advice, and as such relates to the character image.
-the undead merchants are dubious and only really interested in themselves and making profit. not terribly trustworthy
-solaire is a nice guy, but a little insane and doesn't really know where he's going in the land of lordran. just that he's looking for his sun (whatever that may be)
-lady darkmoon, trustworthy to a degree, but tight-lipped. seems to be withholding information.
-domhnall, like the merchants, is more interested in trade, BUT will dole out some invaluable (and accurate) information regarding certain areas of the game.

-serpent- these characters give you the most direct information on your purpose. of course the information one gives contradicts the other to a degree, so which serpent does the image relate to? either i suppose. the one you believe to be the truth. (and as such is a nifty little joke on the part of from software, if the trust theory is correct)