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What's up guys, I'm Dave Klein, and welcome back to my Dark Souls Lore series. Today,
we're going to talk about Seath the Scaleless. As the betrayer of the dragons and the godfather
of sorcery, he's actually quite the influential character. So, let's get started.
"And Seath the Scaleless betrayed his own... And the dragons were no more".
In the beginning, before the lords fought the dragons, there was one dragon in particular
who was an outcast, Seath. Seath was born without the stone scales of the everlasting
dragons, and as a result, it would seem lacked the immortality of the dragons. Either out
of jealousy, or simply the *** for immortality, when Gwyn presented Seath the opportunity
to betray his kin, he did so, and it would seem in order to gain the Primordial crystal.
"Ah, the secret of Seath's immortality? It is an effect of the Primordial Crystal,
a sacred treasure pillaged by Seath when he turned upon the ancient dragons."
We know, due to Seath's bequeathed Lord Souls, that "Seath allied with Lord Gwyn and turned
upon the dragons, and for this he was awarded Dukedom, embraced by the royalty, and given
a fragment of a great soul." In being awarded Dukedom, Seath created a royal archive of
knowledge, where he would retreat to in order to study the soul and immortality. His studies
and attempts at understanding this lead to several major influences through Lordan and
the surrounding lands.
We learn from the Homing Crystal Soulmass that "The mysteries of souls, crystals, and
the sorceries are deeply intertwined." If souls, crystals, and the sorceries are
deeply intertwined, it's interesting, then, that it is a primoridial crystal that grants
Seath his immortality. So, if Seath was studying the primoridial crystal, this is what would
eventually allow him to discover and grandfather in sorcery. For cutting of Seath's tail, players
will receive the Moonlight Sword, which tells us
"Seath is the grandfather of sorcery, and this sword is imbued with his magic, which
shall be unleashed as a wave of moonlight."
As crystals and sorcery are intertwined, Seath is known for both. The Crystal Ember, found
in the Duke's Archives, is known as a "Crystal ember created by Seath the Scaleless." Additionally,
the most advanced sorceries are crystal sorceries, discovered by Big Hat Logan only after arriving
at the Duke's Archives. Also linking advanced sorceries to Seath is The Large Magic Ember.
"The large magic ember, a form of sorcery. Handled only by the Vinheim Blacksmiths."
can be found in Seath's study, only after defeating Seath.
The sorcery "Soul Arrow" tells us "Soul arrows inflict magic damage, making them effective
against iron armor, tough scales, and other phsycially resilient materials." The interesting
bit of information here is that soul arrow is effective against tough scales, and it
would seem possible the stronger variations of Soul Arrow were developed by Seath in order
to fight against the dragons.
And yet, Soul Arrow, and many sorceries, are taught in the Vinheim Dragon School, a school
that is known for teaching sorcery. On top of that, Seath's Large Magic Ember can be
"handled only by the Vinheim blacksmiths". I believe it is very likely Seath is the influence
for this school, and whom the school is named after. When looking at the outlaying lands,
it seems they have all been influenced by the reign of Gwyn, and the only dragon who
would have a positive light on them would be Gwyn's duke, Seath the Scaleless. Furthermore,
Seath, as the Godfather of Sorcery, would be revered by those who study the art, and
we see this quite clearly in Big Hat Logan, who has made it his mission in undeath to
seek out Seath and the Regal Archives. And, besides, what other dragons do we know of
who use sorcery? ... None.
While Seath did usher in an understanding of sorcery and its relation to souls and crstyal,
some of his methods were frowned upon.
"A great pool of knowledge, the fruits of superior wisdom and an unquenchable desire
for truth. Some would say Seath had an unsound fixation,
...But his work is a beautiful, invaluable resource.
All progress demands sacrifice. And I certainly hear no antipathy for that
wonderful scaleless beast."
All progress demands sacrifice. In order to test out his theories, Seath began to gather
various maidens and humans throughout the land, and began to experiment on them. He
sent out channelers in order to obtain and capture these maidens. They channelers, being
described as "sorcerers that serve Seath the Scaleless. Even after the onset of Seath's
madness, the "snatchers" as they were often called, ventured to far lands to find suitable
human specimens. We can witness this ourselves, as when Rhea of Thoruland begins praying in
the Undead Church, right in the eyesight of a channeler, she will eventually be "snatched"
and taken to the Duke's Archives.
The Archive Tower Giant Cell Key tells us "The giant cell once imprisoned countless
maidens, but is now empty, save for a few key persons. They struggle to uphold their
sanity, as the horde of "mistakes" writhe at a fearfully close proximity." These "mistakes"
being the Picasas. The maiden set can be found in the Archive Tower, and it would seem some
of these weren't just any maidens. When fighting the Picasas, two will remaining crying in
the back, and will never agro against you, even after being attacked. Upon killing them,
they drop the miracles Soothing Sunlight, and Bountiful Sunlight. These are "the miracles
of Gwynevere, the princess cherished by all." It is clear that these two, in particular,
were hand-maidens of Gwynevere.
Now, as a side note, The Arhive Tower, where the maidens and prisoners were kept, also
contains a bonfire that traps undead inside of a cell. Within the Archive Tower Giant
Cell, players can find a firekeeper soul. I believe, in his knowledge of how Undeath
works, Seath captured a firekeeper in order to create a bonfire in his prison, allowing
him to capture the undead, and thus the reasoning for both.
In experimenting on the maidens, Seath created the Picasas as a mistake, who interestingly
have tails that look very similar to Seath's. When venturing into the crystal forest, players
can find more of Seath's creations. The Crystal Golems, and a walking manifestation of the
crystals Seath has discovered, help the Channelers capture maidens. We find one in the Crystal
Forest itself, with Siegliende captured inside of one of its giant crystals. In the Darkroot
Basin, another Crystal Golem can be found having captured Dusk of Oolacile. Yet another
creation can be found in the Moonlight Butterflies. The soul of the moonlight butterfly is described
as "Soul of the mystical Moonlight Butterfly, which flitters in the Darkroot Garden.
Special beings have special souls. The butterfly's soul is a creation of Seath the Scaleless."
But why is the Moonlight Butterfly in Darkroot Basin? As well as the Crystal Golems? While
both the Crystal Ember and Large Magic Ember are found in the Duke's Archives, the Enchanted
Ember is found in Darkroot Garden. The Enchanted Ember being "a form of sorcery, [and] a vestige
of the lost land of Oolacile." I believe it all has to do with Oolacile. The vast majority
of the sorceries in the game not found from Vinheim or Seath, are found from Oolacile.
Spells such as Cast Light are described as "Ancient sorcery of the lost land of Oolacile.
The light-producing sorcery is elementary but nonetheless demonstrates the achievements
in mysticism of Oolacile. Such magic has not been developed even in Vinheim."
"My home, Oolacile, is the home of ancient sorceries.
The sorceries of Oolacile differ from the magic of thine age. It is difficult to explain...
Oolacile sorceries are, what doth one say? They are somewhat... of an approximation.
Thine sorceries are more straight forward, negating all but they self.
Dost thou not find some fascination in these discrepancies?"
I believe that Seath finds a fascination with these discrepancies, and he has sent his creations
to the former land of Oolacile to gather what knowledge they can to bring back to him, so
he can study the sorceries created by Oolacile. If players have downloaded the DLC, yet a
further connection exists in the broken pendant, which can be found by killing the crystal
golem in the Duke's Archives. This broken pendant's "vine appears to originate from
Oolacile", and is used by players to return back to Oolacile in the DLC.
But, in the end, Seath went mad. According to the Archive Tower Cell Key, "The Archive
Tower, once a trove of precious tomes and letters, became a prison after the onset of
Seath's madness". While it's never explicitly explained why Seath went mad, I believe it's
a commentary on knowing too much, and going too far. The idea that there are some things
beyond human comprehension, and we were never meant to understand.
Some things to think about:
Seath also had his enemies. Havel the Rock made it his mission in life to destroy Seath.
According to the miracle Great Magic Barrier, "Havel the Rock, an old battlefield compatriot
of Lord Gwyn, was the sword enemy of Seath the Scaleless. He despised magic, and made
certain to devise means of counteraction." It's never clear why Havel despised magic,
but do you believe there was any reason in particular? Could it have had anything to
do with Seath's methods of experimenting on maidens? It would seem Havel visited Ash Lake,
as his Great Magic Barrier can be found there, and he wields the Dragon Tooth, so maybe his
hatred of Seath began after his trip to Ash Lake and discovering the Ancient Dragon?
Another oddity with Seath is in his relation to Ash Lake. The purging stone bearing clams
from Ash Lake can also be found right in front of Seath's lair. Additionally, the only two
locations of hydras in the game are in Ash Lake, and the Darkroot Basin, where the Hydra
is surrounded by Crystal Golems and near Seath's Moonlight Butterfly. Perhaps Seath brought
these creatures with him in order to study or utilize. As it would seem Havel visited
Ash Lake; perhaps Seath actually brought the clams and Hydra down there in order to prevent
more Undead from discovering the ancient dragon. Or, perhaps, there is no real correlation.
What do you guys think?
One final bonus note about Seath, for those of you who don't know:
Seath is actually a reoccurring character in From Software's games. The ancient dragon
had a major role in From Software's first foray into Video Games, the King's Field series,
as the white dragon God who warred against Guyra, the black dragon God. Seath's weakness
was Guyra's weapon, the Moonlight Sword, and the Moonlight Sword is used in Japan's King's
Field III in order to slay the final boss of the Playstation franchise... Seath.
Alright, that's gonna rap up this Dark Souls Lore video. As always, let me know what you
guys think in the comments, and what you think the Ash Lake correlation to Seath is. I'd
like to give props to MSPainting, John Quick, and TerraMantis on helping me with some details,
and I know both TerraMantis and Silver Mont are working on Seath videos as well, so definitely
support them bot, and check out their versions of Seath's lore when they're complete. I'll
see you guys next time, peace.