The Land of Astora
Dark Souls Lore
Astora. One of the neighbouring lands of Lothric. A place of frequently found nobility, as can be ascertained from the limited description given by the character creator in Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition and Dark Souls Remastered: “Handsome face of the refined. Common in Astora.” As well as found in Dark Souls 3: “The features of a true blue blood. Blue of eye and fair of hair, a little reminder of Astora’s former glory.”
The refined visages are common in Astora, indicating prosperity and well-being. In the timeline of the first game, the land is prospering and filled with nobility.
The Dark Beast, devastator of Astora
Before the rising of the chosen undead, there was a point in the history of the kingdom that it was attacked by a fearsome beast which they managed to seal into a ring, as per the following description from Dark Souls Remastered and Dark Souls III:
According to legend, this ring contains the spirit of the evil eye, a dark beast which assaulted Astora. The strength of the evil eye does not waver, and HP is absorbed from fallen enemies.
This ring captured the foul spirit of an evil eye, a creature that ravaged Astora.
Absorb HP from each defeated foe.
The horrid spirit nearly destroyed Astora, but was eventually defeated by “the sword of one most noble.”
Was it a creature rising from the dark, from the Abyss?
Or was it one of the many Serpents we see bowing for you if you become the next Dark Lord?
The Ring of the Evil Eye steals a fraction of the life force when you kill an enemy, as stated in the description: “Absorb HP from each defeated foe.”
What if it steals the little humanity left inside whatever creature you kill?
A complete sprite of humanity will completely revitalise you when used. As drained by the ring, a fraction shall only heal you a minuscule amount.
What skill does Kaathe grant you when joining the Darkwraiths?
Lifedrain the ability to suck humanity and thus life from your opponent.
The ring displays more truth when found in Dark Souls III, as it states that Astora was not only attacked by the beast; It ravaged the land. What does ravage define as? “To bring heavy destruction on; to devastate.”
The devastation is spoken of as a legend in the Chosen Undead’s timeline. The statement is given off as a fact by the time we resurrect as an Unkindled One.
The beast assaulted and ravaged the land of Astora.
What remains of Astora is a bare, ruined skeleton, a ghost of its former glory.
Is there more truth in the statement than believing it was just a legend? Did the nobility of Astora try to hide the devastating blow they had received before by discarding it as a legend?
If you send out your military power to seek to conquer neighbouring lands, to seek treatment to cure the undead curse, is it not strange that you only send out your most proficient force, the elite knights?
In my opinion, this shows that Astora never recovers from the savage attack by the dark beast, that their military force has been constricted severely, and that they spread the legend in an attempt to mislead those preying on what treasure the kingdom holds.
Known inhabitants of Astora
Those of Astora we find in the treacherous lands of Lothric are there for many different reasons. While some set out to conquer and find a cure, others set out for their very own goals, as we can find: Oscar, who seeks the cure by following the prophecy.
Enamoured by the sun’s tantalising brightness, the jolly knight Solaire sets out to pursue his very own sun, but only after willingly becoming undead. And Anri of Astora, who you meet not as undead but as unkindled one.
We find Anastacia of Astora as the tragic, jailed Firekeeper of the Firelink Shrine, and last but not least, Andre, the well-known master blacksmith.
Andre and the Embers
Speaking of Andre, a master blacksmith renowned for his ability to use unique embers probably created inside the lands of Astora. He who can forge weapons in the (un)holy fire of the Divine and Occult Ember and can smelt weapons into a more potent but raw counterpart of themselves with the Large Ember.
By following the hammering on the anvil, you find him before the pathway leading to Sen’s Fortress as the Chosen Undead or the Firelink Shrine, where you see him as the Unkindled One. He is the only known blacksmith of Astora, and it is unknown why he left the lands of origin.
Astora prospered and ascertained its strength through the masterful crafting by Andre and the proficient wielding and infusing of blue magic and faithful blessing of their weaponry and shields.
“One of the enchanted blue shields” proves this in a few shields obtainable in the games, such as the Crest Shield, adorned by Oscar, and the Dragon Crest Shield found near the undead dragon.
In the timeline of the Unkindled One, a relic with the name of the Spirit Tree Crest Shield shares the same description as the other Crest Shields.
The blessing put upon these shields is vastly powerful, as they are still enchanted by the time the Unkindled finds them.
This cements that the blue magic was and is a very potent enchantment.
Weapons crafted in Astora mainly were infused with a robust and faithful blessing. The Chosen one finds Oscar wielding an Astora Straight Sword; while unobtainable from his corpse, we find one near the undead dragon where the Dragon Crest Shield lies, showing us that the weapon was not unique.
The following description is: “High-quality weapon with a powerful blessing.”
By the time we arrive at the timeline of the Unkindled One, the blessing is forfeited. We find the same blade, but with the following description:
“A well-crafted sword named after the ruined land. Astora, before its fall, was a land replete with royal blood, and this weapon is both a reminder and heirloom of that era.”
The powerful blessing it adorned is deleted from the description, and in-game, it is shown it does not scale with Faith anymore.
However, we find that the blade that Anri wields still holds blessings. It scales with Luck, and still holds an ember of a blessing of Faith as it deals bonus damage to undead foes. We notice that the enchanting of Astora is one lost with time.
Finally, one could question why we happen to find Astora weaponry and shields, even after it is hinted that the kingdom has lost its former glory.
The Downfall and Ruins of Astora
Let’s look at the description in the timeline when the Unkindled ones arise. It is a land brought down from its pedestal and thrown into the dirt, as “Astora’s former glory” states; this is further reinforced and explicitly stated in the account of Astoran weaponry, as we find within the description of the Astora Greatsword:
This greatsword, bestowed only upon elite knights, is a relic of the ruined land of Astora.
Designed for a focus on thrust attacks, this sword is hard and sharp, but not unusually heavy.
And Astora’s Straight Sword:
A well-crafted sword named after the ruined land.
Astora, before its fall, was a land replete with royal blood, and this weapon is both a reminder and heirloom of that era.
And at last, we find another Unkindled one, Anri of Astora, who wields Anri’s Straight Sword that states:
Sword precious to Anri, another Unkindled. The dullest type of blade found in the ruined land of Astora.
Only, it was once the sword of an earnest noble figure, and its attacks are boosted by that elusive, essential property unique to humans: luck.
As kingdoms rise and fall, Astora is no exception. While there is no way to determine the eras passed between the Chosen Undead and the Unkindled One, we can be sure that the fate of Astora was set in stone ages ago. Maybe the start of the fall was by the dark beast that ravaged its land. Ultimately, we cannot know, as there is little known history between the two eras.
The ancient strength of the empire, feasible only in the shields and weapons of old, scattered on the grounds of Lothric.
