Gwyn, Lord of Cinder

Description

Lord Gwyn wears an impressive set of royal drapes, with gold bands on his arms, and a crown atop his head. On his feet are what appear to be a form of moccasins and anklets, and he wields a greatsword imbued with the power of light and of the First Flame, which he uses to adequate effect. His face is that of an aged man with calm eyes, and he has an impressively long, grey beard and hair of the same nature. When the Chosen Undead fights Gwyn in the Kiln of the First Flame, Gwyn Is nothing more than an empty husk with an haggard appearance, charred skin and hollowed eyes.

Location

Gwyn, Lord of Cinder can be found inside the Kiln of the First Flame.

Summoning

It is possible to summon Solaire of Astora to help in the fight if he survived in Lost Izalith. His summon sign can be found at the top of the staircase from Gwyn.

Lore

Dark Souls

Gwyn is one of the primordial humanoid creatures that appeared underground after the First Flame appeared, bringing life, death and "disparity". He was one of those who found the four Lord Souls, souls of immense power, together with Gravelord Nito, the Witch of Izalith and much later the Furtive Pygmy.^[1]

With the immense power of his soul, the greatest among all the Lords,^[4] Gwyn established an underground civilization, becoming its king and forming an army of Silver Knights at his orders.^[1] At some point Gwyn also had a relationship with an unknown woman and from their union were born his firstborn son^[5][6] and his eldest daughter, Gwynevere.^[7]

Once his army had been prepared and armed with spears and greatbows that used arrows as big as iron spears,^[8][9] Gwyn went to the surface with the intention of waging war against the Dragons and conquering the world with his Lord allies.^[1] The war turned out to be very bloody; for each of the majestic creatures slain, three scores of Gwyn's soldiers perished.^[10] The bodies of dragons were harder than stone, and resistant to fire and magic, making their killing difficult.^[11] At one point Gwyn was even forced to integrate into his ranks the primordial humans,^[12] descendants of the Furtive Pygmy who had found the Dark Soul, and who had developed their own weapons and armor infused with the life-giving power of the Abyss.^[13]

The tide would turn in the Lords' favor when Seath, a pale dragon born without the scales of his kind due to the "disparity", betrayed the dragons to ally with Gwyn, and pillaged their Primordial Crystal.^[14][15] Seath's lack of scales as well as his vulnerability provided the Lords with a key piece of information: that the scales of his brethren were the source of their immortality. Gwyn thus used his Great Soul to manipulate the light of the sun, transforming rays of sunlight into lightning, a form of energy capable of penetrating dragon scales.^[16][17][18] Meeting the dragons in battle, Gwyn used his spears of sunlight to peel apart the dragons' scales, while his knights employed lightning-infused weapons to similar effect.^[1][8] The Witch of Izalith and her daughters weaved great firestorms, destroying the archtrees and burning the dragons; while Nito unleashed a miasma of death, rotting the archtrees and infecting the dragons.^[1] Gwyn's eldest son would also take part in the war with his father, killing several dragons with his lightning spears and primordial cross spear.^[19] After a long struggle Gwyn and the Lords emerged victorious, exterminating most of the archdragons and thus conquering the surface world.^[1]

Gwyn's victory over the dragons was overshadowed by a certain problem: the Furtive Pygmy's discovery of the Dark Soul, a special soul which, even when fragmented among its descendants, did not lose its power and continued to generate life through the Abyss.^[20] The limitless potential of the Dark Soul contrasted with the Great Lord's limited power,^[16] posing a grave threat to his new dominion. The Lord managed to skillfully resolve the issue through diplomacy: He gifted the pygmies a magnificent ringed city at the edge of the world to rule as kings, as well as his youngest daughter Filianore as part of their pact.^[21] With this clever move Gwyn ensured that the Pygmy Lords and the power of their Dark Soul would be contained within the Ringed City and out of history,^[22] whilst making them subjects to his dominion,^[23][24] eliminating from history even the contributions of the Ringed Knights during the war against the dragons and the very existence of the Furtive Pygmy.^[1][25] Despite these precautions, Gwyn continued to fear humans and the potential of their soul; he would thus "mark" their Dark Soul and bodies using the Flame with the Darksign,^[26][27] a literal ring of fire around the Dark Soul of humans. The fire castrated the powers of humans, making them mortal and incapable of making use of their natural abilities, assuming a "fleeting form".^[27][28]

Having secured absolute dominion over the world, Gwyn thus began the Age of Fire, a time of prosperity that was defined by the power of the First Flame and the vision of the Lord.^[1][3] Gwyn's clan placed themselves atop the new world order, assuming the role of deities for humans who were their subjects,^[29] and Gwyn took the title "god of sunlight".^[30] Humans thus venerated the gods, who lived in the city of Anor Londo in the region of Lordran, building an economy and culture around the use of souls,^[31][32] even hunting the descendants of dragons for sport^[33] and domesticating some of them.^[34] Gwyn left the other two Lords to tend to their own domains: Izalith built her civilization underground while continuing to study flame sorcery,^[35] and Gravelord Nito remained in the Catacombs to oversee the dead.^[36]

Gwyn would also establish the order of his Four Knights, chosen amongst his most trusted warriors, and entrust them with several vital tasks along with fragments of his powerful Lord Soul.^[37] Dragonslayer Ornstein was (likely) named captain of the order,^[38] with Hawkeye Gough leading the Dragonslayers and Greatarchers,^[39] Artorias leading the Knights^[40] and Ciaran leading the Lord's Blades, an order of female assassins tasked with eliminating Gwyn's enemies from the shadows.^[41][42]

Gwyn proved himself a skilled ruler, using his power to bind and hold close to him the potential powers of the world. He amply rewarded the betrayal of the dragon Seath and his indispensable contribution to the war, giving him the title of Duke and inducting him into the nobility of the gods through a marriage to one of his daughters.^[43][44] Gwyn also gave him a fragment of his powerful Lord Soul along with the Archives, and left him to his studies near Anor Londo.^[14] As for humans, cognizant of the abilities of four of their great leaders, Gwyn bequeathed on them another shard of his powerful Soul,^[45] and let them build their civilization of New Londo near the divine capital.^[46] Gwyn would also befriend the Primordial Serpent Frampt and convince him of his ideals and vision of the Age of Fire.^[2][3]

At some point Gwyn would also have his lastborn child Dark Sun Gwyndolin^[47][48] who was born with a strong affinity for moon magic^[48][49][50] and a "fragile and repulsive appearance",^[51] particularly due to the snakes coiled around his lower half.^[52] Due to his birth under the "feminine sign of the moon" and its influence that gave him strong moon magic, as well as his questionable lineage, Gwyn raised him as a female so that he could not officially become his heir, even making him wear women's clothing and a magic ring which would allow Gwyndolin to move and act like a girl, leading him to behave like a sullen brooding goddess.^[50][53][54]

At one point, the Witch of Izalith used her Lord Soul in an attempt to replicate the generative properties of the First Flame, resulting in her producing a Flame of Chaos and transforming herself into a Bed of Chaos that began producing Demons.^[35][55] Izalith and her daughters would eventually bring the Flame of Chaos under their control,^[56] and learn how to use it, moving from being fire sorcerers to developing pyromancy^[57] and creating a new society together with the demons generated by the Bed of Chaos.^[58] These developments pushed Gwyn to wage war against the chaos demons, developing weapons and fighting techniques strong enough to face their sizable new enemies^[59] and sending his Silver Knights to Izalith, in a war where their armor and weapons were charred black.^[60] Gwyn's knights fell short of total victory, unable to exterminate the demons or destroy the Bed of Chaos,^[61] and ended up retreating and only managing to banish the demons underground while enslaving some lesser demons who would become servants of the gods.^[62]

Although the Age of Fire and the rule of the gods lasted for centuries, at some point the First Flame began to fade.^[1] Gwyn understood that if the Flame went out, the Age of Fire would be succeeded by an Age of Dark, a new order of humans led by a Dark Lord.^[3] Fearful of this outcome, the god made a drastic decision: In order to maintain the order of Gods, he would link the dying Flame and prolong its life. He trusted none but himself to carry out the sacrifice involved; he thus divided the power of his Lord Soul among the members of his clan^[30] and handed down the power of the sun to his children,^[16] leaving his firstborn son to inherit his titles.^[5][63] Gwyn also tasked his sons and Frampt with shepherding the humans into following his example, linking the Flame generation after generation, to uphold his Age of Fire, each of them becoming Lords through the process.^{[2][64][65][66]}

Now bereft of most of his Lord Soul's power and with only the power of his soul,^[30][67] Gwyn left for the Kiln of the First Flame, the structure built to house and protect it, with only his robes, his mighty greatsword^[16] and his powerless crown,^[67] accompanied only by a guard of Black Knights.^[68] Eventually Gwyn linked the First Flame,^[30] prolonging its life but being consumed by it, remaining the empty husk of cinders guarding the core of the Kiln.^[69] The inferno of the newly kindled fire melted the surroundings^[70] and burned his knights to ashes, leaving them to wander the world as disembodied spirits.^[68]

Gwyn's act of linking the First Flame came to be a point of controversy for several figures; namely Kaathe and Aldia would regard Gwyn's sacrifice as having "unnaturally" extended an Age of Fire that was never meant to last, inhibiting the potential of humans in the process.^[3][27] As of the time of the Chosen Undead, one consequence of the former's actions lies beneath Firelink Shrine: a city which was captured by the Darkstalker and had to be flooded before the Abyss within could spread to the surface world.^{[46][71][72][73]}

Dark Souls II

An immense amount of time after his first linking of the First Flame, Gwyn's very name was lost. Even his miracles recounting his battles with lightning spears against the dragons at the start of the Age of Fire do not mention his name, implying that his heritage and culture have been lost to Drangleic.^[74] In fact, the only knowledge of a "god of the sun" leading the clan of the gods comes from the miracles that narrate the deeds of his son,^[75] who became king^[76] and god of the sun after him^[77] but was then exiled and deprived of his name.^[5]

However in Heide, as the beacon of the culture of Anor Londo in the region,^[78][79] there are several statues representing him, albeit in a distorted form but resembling the characteristics of Gwyn's representations in Lordran. Although portrayed with the head of an eagle, the pose, the sun medallion and the sword still strongly resemble the weapon, robes and symbology of the Lord of Sunlight.^[80]

Centuries after Gwyn sacrificed his soul to link the Flame, some remnants of it^[81][82] manifested again in Drangleic, continuing to exert their influence on the region.^[83] At some point the Old Iron King came into contact with the soul of Gwyn,^[84] which had become "Ichorous Earth" and produced the scorching iron and magma of the Iron Keep.^[84][85] The Old Iron King was thus destroyed by the mass of iron^[86] possessed by the soul of Gwyn^[87] who then went on to control the remains of the Old Iron King, creating a demonic-looking creature made of melted iron.^[88]

Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin at some point learned of Gwyn's existence and his story but not his name, referring to him merely as the "Lord of Light".^[27] He understood how Gwyn altered the natural order and began linking the Flame, which extended the Age of Fire against the course of nature, and he expresses his outrage at Gwyn for making men lesser than their original form as the "Lord of Light" banished Dark and all that stemmed from Humanity with the Darksign,^[89] defining it as the "First Sin" committed against humans and their nature.^[27]

Dark Souls III

The remnants of the will and power of Gwyn,^[90][91] as the first one to ever link the First Flame, would emerge as part of the Soul of Cinder, the deific manifestation of the souls of all those who have linked themselves to the First Flame throughout history, thus creating a hollowed-out entity possessing all the abilities of the previous Champions.^[91][92]

The powers of Gwyn would manifest when the Soul of Cinder was challenged by an aspiring Champion;^[90][91] acting as the Flame's last line of defense within the Kiln, the Soul of Cinder fought to either test the might of one who would link the Flame, or to protect it from a would-be betrayer or usurper.

Artifacts

• Soul of Gwyn, Lord of Cinder
• Bequeathed Lord Soul Shard
• Great Lord Greatsword
• Great Lord Set
• Sunlight Spear
• Sunlight Spear (Dark Souls II)
• Sunlight Spear (Dark Souls III)

Strategies

Health and Stamina management are a must in this fight, as Gwyn will rarely give the player any chances to heal. It is heavily advisable to use a fast weapon to attack with, preferably one that drains little stamina. Heavy weapons are not recommended for this fight. It may be hard for the player to find a proper opening to fight back or heal as a result of Gwyn actively seeking the player. Despite his very weakened state, he is still the former Lord of Sunlight, so don't rely on lightning as he is immune. His attacks deal a great amount of damage if they connect. If blocked, his attacks will still deal considerable damage to the player as a result of the flame damage his sword deals. A good way to reduce the damage to a slight margin is by using shields with high fire defense, such as the Black Iron Greatshield or the Black Knight Shield, which can be dropped by the nearby Black Knights; however, care should still be taken as blocking a full attack chain will cost a lot of stamina and may eventually result in losing health or dying. The Gold-Hemmed Black Set can further negate the fire damage at the cost of less physical defense against his attacks.

The pillars in the arena can be used to block his attacks, however, Gwyn will easily move around them and continue attacking. It is possible for him to keep attacking a pillar that is blocking his path, giving the player a chance to heal, however, he may simply go around it.

Parrying is a high-risk, but incredibly efficient strategy. All of Gwyn's attacks, minus the kick and grab, can be parried. Using the Hornet Ring, a single riposte can erase a large fraction of Gwyn's health. However, any mistakes can end up badly for the player. Therefore, it may be preferable to opt for heavier armor for this strategy, as dodging is not the main tactic, and the additional poise and defense leaves some margin for error. It is ideal to block the first hit of his combo, and parry the telegraphed second hit. After performing a riposte, the player will have just enough time to Estus heal.

Summoning Solaire or other players can help ease the battle, giving a chance to heal or apply buffs. For Solaire, he may be able to land several hits before dying. By using the Black Knight Halberd or a spear type weapon you can hit Gwyn through the pillars and take little damage from his attacks.

Melee strategy

While Gwyn does not provide for a lot of openings, especially if wielding a slow weapon like the Zweihander, it is possible, through using a shield with enough stability and having enough fire resistance, to use a circling strategy.

Keeping very close to Gwyn and keeping a shield up, the player can be dealt very little damage by the flaming sword by constantly strafing to the player's left. When Gwyn attempts to grab the player or kick them, the slower animation should enable the player to get behind Gwyn's back, thus making the attack miss. At that point, there's a small window to get an attack in. With a weapon with a strong enough attack to break Gwyn's poise, the player then has a full second to finish the attack animation and get the shield back up, effectively never breaking their guard.

Use of this strategy requires the player to keep a close look on their stamina bar.

Regularly, though, the player will have to heal themselves, unless the fire damage is completely negated. Using the pillar strategy outlined above is quite efficient. It is a good idea to keep one's health high enough to that a grab attack can't kill with one hit. Therefore, having 20 estus flasks is recommended.

Notes

• Unlike any other boss in Dark Souls, Gwyn can be parried.
• Defeating Gwyn and passing into NG+ will cause the Chosen Undead to be in their hollowed state upon their awakening in the Northern Undead Asylum, even if they had reversed hollowing before the fight.

Boss information

Attacks

Dashing Thrust

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
550	0	258	0	Regular / Fire	Yes	Both	Medium

Used by Gwyn while he's dashing. Although it is one of his linear attacks, it is possible he may switch to a slashing combo midway. It is also one of his best attacks in terms of tracking the player.

Quad-Slash Combo^{[note 1]}

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
400	0	250	0	Regular / Fire	Yes	Both	Medium

Gwyn performs this attack in quick succession and solid tracking. It begins with an angled slash, then a horizontal one, another angled and finally a horizontal slash once more. The angled attacks can be sidestepped if the player moves early enough.

Kick

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
250	0	0	0	Strike	No	Neither	Medium

Triggered regularly when blocking close to Gwyn, it causes a large drain of stamina if it connects while blocking.

Slash and Thrust^{[note 1]}

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
388	0	250	0	Regular / Fire	Yes	Neither	Medium

Occasionally Gwyn will interrupt his normal slash combo with a quick thrust afterwards. If it hits, the player will be stunned, leaving them open for further combos.

Slashing Upper Combo^{[note 1]}

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
550	0	250	0	Regular / Fire	Yes	Neither	Medium

Starts with a powerful horizontal slash, which takes a large portion of stamina, followed by two more hits. The first two slashes can be difficult to evade.

Charging Slash

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
488	0	250	0	Regular / Fire	Yes	Neither	Medium

A powerful slash used by Gwyn to break the player's guard.

Instant Dash/Double Slash^{[note 1]}

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
550	0	250	0	Regular / Fire	Yes	Neither	Medium

A very fast attack, which comes out of Gwyn's instant dash when he glides towards the player before slashing twice.

Explosive Hand

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
200	0	638	0	Fire / Regular	No	Neither	Medium

An unblockable grab attack that deals massive fire damage. It has a high horizontal hitbox, so it is possible to roll under it to avoid it. It's relatively slow and does not track well so player can simply walk backwards to avoid it. After knocking the player away, Gwyn will follow up with a jumping slash or dashing slash. It also leaves Gwyn open to attacks for a short time.

Defenses

Physical Defenses				Elemental Defenses			Resistances
354	354	354	354		249	1,770	S		A

These stats are sourced from FuturePress's Official Dark Souls Strategy Guide.

Drops

Item	Soul of Gwyn, Lord of Cinder
Drop Rate	Guaranteed

Gwyn's armor, the Great Lord Set, can be purchased from Domhnall of Zena during the next playthrough.

Trivia

• Gwyn's title uses the kanji "薪の王" that can be literally translated as "King of Kindling" or "King of Firewood".
• Gwyn's design and lore seems to have been heavily inspired by Zeus of ancient Greek mythology.
• Several aspects of him can also be compared to the Welsh deity Gwyn ap Nudd.
  • Gwyn ap Nudd is said to be a warrior with a "blackened face" similar to Gwyn's hollowed flesh, and the King of the "fair folk." The gods of Lordran being a fair folk.
  • In Arthurian legends and writings, Gwyn ap Nudd was the ruler of a delightful paradise called the otherworld, or Annwn. Such a place would be similar to Anor Londo during its glory days.
  • Additionally, one can make a comparison between Gwyn ap Nudd leading the Wild Hunt in Welsh legend, and the dragon hunts of Gwyn.
• "Gwyn" translated from Welsh means "White/Pure" or "Holy".

Gallery

Opening cinematic.

Concept art.

Statues of Gwyn and Gwynevere in Anor Londo.

Statue of Gwyn in Anor Londo.

Statue of Gwyn and presumably the Furtive Pygmy in Dark Souls III.

Closeup of his face

3D Model

Music

Footnotes

References