Dark Souls 3 is undoubtedly one of the most challenging and rewarding games ever. It's a game full of treacherous roads, exciting battles, and unforgettable boss encounters. However, while many of the game's bosses are well-known for their difficulty, another aspect of them is frequently overlooked — their lore.
Dark Souls 3 is brimming with sad stories of lost kingdoms, broken heroes, and doomed civilizations. Many of its bosses are inextricably linked to these stories, with tragic backstories and motivations that make defeating them all the more heart-wrenching.
10 Yhorm The Giant
Yhorm the Giant rules the Profaned Capital in seclusion. However, the people did not respect him because Giants were known as slaves. So he gave them one of his two Storm Rulers, a Giant Slayer weapon to prove himself. He then gave the other to a trusted friend. Even so, many still doubted him.
A curse triggered the Profaned Flame one day. To prove himself, he linked the fire to extinguish it. However, he failed, and the fire engulfed him and the capital's citizens. When he was resurrected, he fled back to the capital, this time truly alone, awaiting the death promised by his trusted friend.
9 Pontiff Sulyvahn
Pontiff Sulyvahn was born in the Painted World of Ariandel. He never felt at home, so he left to explore the world outside. Unfortunately, he found the same rot and stagnation as his homeland.
The Profaned Flame gave him ambition, corrupting him. He used the Profaned Flame to usurp the old gods and seize control of Irithyll and Anor Lando while appointing himself as Pontiff. However, in his quest to overthrow tyrants, he became a tyrant himself. He made too many enemies along the way, leading to his defeat.
8 Old Demon King
The Demon race was born from the Chaos Flame of Izalith. The Old Demon King leads this once proud race with Chaos Flame as their core essence. However, the death of the Bed of Chaos left them without any way to produce Chaos Flame. Since the death of the Demon Prince, he has become the last hope of his dying race.
When the player meets the Old Demon King, he will be among the dead bodies of his people in what looks like an aftermath of a great battle with him as the sole survivor. He will fight players to the best of his ability and once dropped to a tenth of his health, releases all the energy he has left in a big explosion of chaos fire in a last desperate attempt to fend them off. This attack will leave him wholly spent, unable to move or lift his hammer. But, proudly, he will still try to bat with one hand, refusing to yield as he knows it will be the end of his entire race if he dies.
7 Darkeater Midir
Darkeater Midir was an Archdragon descendant who the gods raised. Along with Shira, he was tasked with fighting the abyss and keeping an eye on the Ringed City and, most importantly, the Sleeping Princess Filianore until the end of eternity. However, battling the abyss eventually corrupted his body, mind, and soul.
Midir has fought with Shira since the age of the Gods and has protected Filianore for thousands of years. Even after he was corrupted and lost his mind and body to the abyss, he never forgot his sacred oath. As the player enters the Ringed City, he lurks, watching the player in the background.
6 The Dancer Of The Boreal Valley
The Dancer of the Boreal Valley was a distant daughter of the old royal family of Anor Lando, City of the Gods. When the old royal family fled the city, she was left behind. Captured, she was ordered by Pontiff Sulyvahn to serve first as his dancer and later as one of his outrider knights.
The Pontiff bestowed two enchanted swords on the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, paired with the outrider knight Vordt. Their phantoms can be seen walking alongside each other in Irithyll's street. Even when the Pontiff's Eye rings converted them into mindless beasts, they were never far from each other.
5 Oceiros, The Consumed King
Oceiros was once king of Lothric with a queen revered as a goddess. In his later years, he became interested in Seath Scaleless and stumbled upon Big Hat Logan’s research into Crystal Sorcery. Unfortunately, the research consumed Oceiros, driving him mad and slowly turning him into a scaleless dragon.
Oceiros was convinced that by fathering his cross-breed child Ocelote, he might harness his royal blood for a greater purpose. The queen quietly vanished after the birth of her son, leaving the family. What was left of the proud king was a man who lost everything to the obsession of producing a successor to link the fire.
4 Slave Knight Gael
Slave Knights were used as fodder in the old war because of their inability to die. In the Ashes of Ariandel DLC, the player can summon Slave Knight Gael to help in the Sister Friede boss fight. After these events, the painter tasks him to find the Dark Soul of Man so that it can be made into a pigment for her newly painted world.
So he searches for the Dark Soul, which he found at World's End in the blood of the Pygmy Lords. However, since their blood had dried up, he ate them, taking the Dark Soul into his body. In the end, he spills his blood by fighting the player so that they may deliver the pigment of his blood with the Dark Soul back to his mistress, who is still waiting for him.
3 The Twin Princes Lothric & Lorian
Prince Lothric was destined to be Lord of Cinder. However, he was born sickly and with a weak body. Conversely, his brother Lorian was a great champion who slew the Demon Prince. However, though Lorian was the more suited candidate, Lothric was chosen. In a great display of brotherly love, Lorian embraced Lothric’s curse by merging their souls, which rendered him crippled and mute.
However, the twin Princes Lothric and Lorian refused the lord's mantle and locked themselves inside their throne room to watch the fire fade to nothing, so it was the Grand Betrayal. With their combined might, they fought off all that sought their cinders. In the end, they are just two brothers who love each other so much that they sacrifice each other's life force to defend each other from a duty they did not want.
2 Iudex Gundyr
Iudex Gundyr was once a champion, one who could link the fire. However, he arrived at the Firelink Shrine late. He failed his Fire Keeper, who was flung into the graves beneath the bell tower, never to meet her champion.
An unknown warrior then bested Gundyr and became sheathed by a coiled sword. Now he waits at the gate of the Firelink Shrine to judge those who would seek to link the fire, bequeathing the sword only to those who can best him in battle—hoping that one day, someone will come to link the fire once more.
1 The Nameless King
The Nameless King was Lord Gwyn’s firstborn son, a god of war. He was once a dragon slayer that inherited the sunlight from his father, which manifests as Lightning, the weakness of dragons. He fought alongside the knights to defeat the ancient dragons. However, at some point in the war, The Nameless King had a change of heart.
The Nameless King sided with the dragons and sacrificed everything. Following his betrayal, he was erased from the annals of history. Every statue was destroyed, mentions of his name in the history books were erased, and even his name was lost.
Dark Souls 3 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.