For many gamers, Dark Souls is the game that started it all for them: the love of FromSoftware titles, the itch for Souls-likes, the appreciation of incredibly deep and often convoluted lore. Even though Demon’s Souls preceded Dark Souls and established many of the gameplay mechanics that made the Soulsborne titles unforgettable, the second game brought the genre to the mainstream gaming consciousness.
Though the first thing that jumps to a person’s mind when they hear the words “Dark Souls” is likely the game’s notorious difficulty, the second would probably be the phenomenal world building and remarkably deep lore. Entire YouTube channels have been established solely to dissect the lore of Dark Souls and other FromSoftware titles, gathering millions of subscribers. And these lore communities extend to other social media platforms as well, with a few central figures having attained the status of authorities on the subject.
One such figure is Lokey, a self-proclaimed archivist who has not a YouTube channel but a website filled with text, delving into the lore of Demon’s Souls, the three Dark Souls titles, and Bloodborne. Now, Lokey has announced the creation of a two-tome compendium of Dark Souls lore called the Abyssal Archive, complete with a fold-out map of Lordran created by artist Judson Cowan and 17 full-color illustrations by Juan Acosta. The 7x10-inch hardcover books will come with a slip case and gold gilding along the upper page edges. There are three editions available for preorder now through August 14, ranging in price from approximately $180 to $495 USD.
Because Dark Souls lore is predominantly obscure and open to interpretations of NPC dialogues and item descriptions, much of the game’s “established” mythology is more akin to widely accepted Dark Souls fan theories. This will of course be one of the main concerns with any unofficial book that is touted as containing Dark Souls lore. One of the reasons that Lokey is considered by many to be somewhat of an expert on the subject is his fluency with Japanese. He has delved into the game's original Japanese texts and scripts to find tidbits that didn't make it through localization, and has also compared them to the English translations to find discrepancies or possible errors.
Additionally, the conclusions presented in Abyssal Archive have likely not been reached by Lokey alone. The archivist has guest appeared on other reputable Dark Souls lore YouTube channels and podcasts, where ideas have been exchanged, troubleshooted, and sometimes discarded. Of course, as with anything created by fans, no matter how well versed, ideas should be taken as just that: speculation that may or may not be correct. But until FromSoftware creates an official lore compendium for Dark Souls, such as the official guides released for Elden Ring, fan theories are all players have.
Dark Souls is currently available on PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Source: Tune and Fairweather (publisher)
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