Dark Souls Lore: Velka, the Goddess of Sin

 

Velka, the Goddess of Sin. The woman with jet black hair. An entity that has so much influence over the world of Dark Souls, yet if you play the game blindly you'll never know she exists. But just how much influence does she have? What are her goals, her intentions? And how does she without the player's knowledge, manipulate them into doing exactly what she wants? This is an article that will talk about Velka's intentions, her role in the story of Dark Souls, and more importantly her ultimate goal. I will be using item descriptions, the locations of said items in the game, and dialogue from one key character to help illustrate just how much pull Velka has in the story. So without further ado, let us begin.

 

Velka is the Goddess of Sin. She uses crows as messengers and servants of her will. She is associated with the color black, and is the patron deity of Cairim, a city we will get into later on. She is also described as a rogue deity, another point we will touch on later. As stated previously, she uses crows to act as her messengers. At the very beginning of the game, you are taken from the Undead Asylum by a giant crow. This crow can later be used to go back and forth between Lordran and the Undead Asylum. Coincidence? Perhaps. But there is a piece of evidence connecting the crow and Velka, as well as another character and location. If you return to the Undead Asylum, you will find an item called the "Peculiar Doll". This item allows you to enter a place called the "Painted World of Ariamas".

The Painted World is considered by fans of Dark Souls to be a place where many unused ideas for Dark Souls were placed. And the most interesting enemy in this world, are the crow people.

 

Interesting isn't it? Well it only gets more interesting from here. Lore wise, the Painted World is a place where the gods banished things that were dangerous to them. There are Phalanxes [which resemble Hollowed humans more than the original Phalanx design.]

 

 

In addition there are Hollows with cancerous growths, that when killed exude a toxic mist. There are giant white rats, Skeleton Wheels, and an Undead Dragon. The reason this world ties into my theory on Velka, is that there are artifacts in the Painted World that are used by Velka and her followers. The Pardoner gear including Velka's Rapier and Velka's catalyst. This all seems to imply that most of the things found in the Painted World are associated with Velka, whether they are creatures influenced by her power [ The Crow people] or are artifacts that are used by her followers. Two very important plot related objects are found in this world though, both protected by crow people. One, is the Dark Ember which can be used to make occult weapons. Occult weapons are capable of killing gods and if used on the final boss cause large amounts of damage, so it makes sense such a dangerous Ember has been sealed away. But that's not the most interesting thing in the Painted World. The Red Sign Soapstone is, which again is protected by Crow people. The Red Sign Soapstone is used by Darkwraiths to leave signs so people can request to be invaded. Game play mechanics aside, why is an artifact used by the Darkwraiths, sealed away in a world where almost everything is connected to Velka? We will come to this plot point in a bit but let's add a bit more evidence to this connectionbetween Velka and the Darkwraiths for later. This statue.

This statue is found in the Painted World facing the half dragon Priscilla who we will get to in a moment. The reason I bring this statue up is two fold, number 1, the statue has black hair [if you look closely enough] and has a small child statue right next to it holding her, almost like a child holding its mother, and number 2, because this statue can be found in the city of New Londo, the city of the Darkwraiths. To wrap up Velka and the Painted World, Priscilla, uses an ability called Lifehunt which she uses through her scythe and if you kill the crow people they will drop Souvenirs of Reprisal which we will get into later.



New Londo was a city fashioned after Anor Londo, the city of the gods. It was ruled over by Four Kings who Lord Gwyn picked himself. The Four Kings were given a shard of Gwyn's Lord Soul but were seduced by the art of Lifedrain and turned their knights into Darkwraiths. As the Four Kings became corrupted by Lifedrain, they were sealed away by the city being flooded. Now, some interesting things to note about the lore of this event and the city. How they are connected to Velka, and how it sheds light on her motives.

First off, look closely at the armor of the Darkwraiths. if you look closely you'll see that their armor has black feathers on the cowl and shoulder pauldrons. Black feathers, kind of like crow feathers huh? Now other Dark Souls Lore video makers have pointed this out but it can be written off as a coincidence. If you don't know about the Red Sign Soapstone which can be found in the Painted World. Or about the similarities between Lifehunt, an ability only Priscilla has, and Lifedrain. Or that there are statues of Velka in New Londo.

Which now leads us to the last bits of information on Velka. The Souvenirs of Reprisal which you can loot off of the crow people can be given to Gywndolin to help you advance in the Blades of the Darkmoon. Gywndolin is rewarding you for killing Velka's servants. The people we see from Cairim, Lautrec, Oswald, and Chester are schemers, and liars. Lautrec is collecting humanity for a goddess called Fina, who we know next to nothing about, Oswald is a Pardoner, one who can pardon you for sins committed against other players, or to help you accuse other players. Chester's true motives are unknown except that he tries to kill you when you attempt to advance further into Oolacille. All of Velka's miracles rely on intelligence rather than faith implying that she wants intelligent followers, or useful followers rather than devout ones. But now, comes the last line that cemented my theory. Oswald of Cairim, the Pardoner says this every time you walk away.

"It is only human to commit a sin."

Now that all evidence has been, all notes laid on the table, let us begin dissecting the motives of Velka.

I believe that Velka is not only the Goddess of Sin, but a goddess of humanity. She has existed since the Dark Soul has existed or maybe even predates it and the Lords. Her color, black, is the same color as humanity sprites, or more specifically the fragments of the Dark Soul. She aids your character, the chosen undead by spiriting you away to Lordran where you can go on your journey. Throughout your journey you strike down the Lords, and eventually Gwyn. If you choose not to light the last bonfire the Age of Dark will be ushered in. I believe Velka is using the player character for her own schemes, and has been for last thousands of years, trying to usurp the Lords and rule over humanity. You the player are just her pawn, part of her schemes. Her scheme to usher in the Age of Dark, an age where she rules over the world instead of Gwyn. Because Velka is a schemer, just like the rest of Cairim. She plotted the uprising against the Lords before the start of the game, which you read about in the Catacombs off of the Occult Club. She failed in this and everything related to her was banished and sealed away in the Painted World. After this she managed to sway the Primordial Serpents Kaathe and Frampt to serve her, perhaps they knew her rule would be inevitable since the Flames were dying anyways. Kaathe tricked the residents of Oolacille to awaken Manus, the Father of the Abyss and such unleashed the Abyss. Artorias the Abysswalker is dispatched from Anor Londo to stop the spread of the Abyss but fails. The chosen undead is transported to the past and stops the Abyss while also slaying Artorias. Much later on, Kaathe seduces the Four Kings with the art of Lifedrain. It is likely that they may have worshipped Velka before their descent anyways due to the presence of the statues of Velka. The Four Kings and their Darkwraiths are sealed away, thus leading to Velka losing yet more pawns to usher in her Age of Dark. She creates a prophecy speaking of a Chosen Undead who will come to Lordran and will save the world, when in reality this chosen undead will be the world's undoing. They will be used by Velka to usher in an Age of Dark, and once their purpose is complete, they will most likely be discarded.

I hope you all have enjoyed this article and like me are looking forward to Dark Souls 2. Thank you for joining me for this and before you leave, look at this screenshot from Dark Souls 2 and see if you notice anything similar to a certain statue.

Red Vulture out.

I apologize for this picture being down here, my phone was glitching up while writing this and I was unable to fix it. Please bear with it and I hope you enjoy the article.