Dark Souls is the title that cemented FromSoftware's style in the modern gaming consciousness. By building on the cult success of Demon’s Souls, the game introduced many new players to FromSoftware’s particular blend of punishing boss fights, deep and mysterious lore, and large interconnected fantasy worlds. This blend only continues to grow in popularity with the recently released Elden Ring being the fastest selling FromSoftware game yet.
Dark Souls uses subtler background tracks while the player is traversing the world, but it is the game’s boss themes that make up the bulk of Dark Souls’ stellar soundtrack. Each boss in the game is reflected in the music played during its fight, as some are ostentatious high-fantasy tracks for slaying monsters and dragons, while others are meant to induce a creeping dread in the player.
The game also has players fight ethereal and godly creatures, and this is also reflected in the game's soundtrack. One of the creepiest and most otherworldly tracks on Dark Souls’ soundtrack is the theme for Dark Sun Gwyndolin. This ghostly theme has now been made even more creepy through a fan cover which added an unusual instrument over the top of the track. The cover was performed by Reddit user Nate Miller Erhu using what's known as a musical saw.
The musical saw gets its name because it looks like a hand saw without a cutting edge. Rubbing the edge of the saw with a bow gives an ethereal theremin-esque sound. By playing this over Dark Sun Gwyndolin's theme, the Reddit user is able to give the track a ghostly warbling effect. The boss fight against Gwyndolin takes place in an endless stone hallway in one of Dark Souls’ many hidden areas, and so this ghostly echoing does fit well within the setting of the boss fight.
The Dark Sun Gwyndolin theme also plays during the boss fight against Moonlight Butterfly, which also suits the ethereal tone of the track, but the song is much more representative of the game's lore for Gwyndolin. In Dark Souls’ story Gwyndolin is the last god left in Anor Londo. He is a powerful being, and yet his theme music is sad and haunting. This is representative of the truly sorry state of Anor Londo.
Other boss themes in the Dark Souls soundtrack use extra effects to add to the tone of the track, such as the "Pinwheel" track which has a constant creepy whispering underpinning the music. The Reddit user's rendition of Dark Sun Gwyndolin's theme gives off a similar effect, not to mention an appropriate instrument choice, as it resembles one of Bloodborne's bizarre and powerful weapons.
Dark Souls Remastered is available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
