r/darksouls

Its gotta be Artorias for me. Manus is cool but his hitboxes can be frustrating. All the other big bosses were kind of underwhelming.

We already know about mimics; in my opinion, they're the mascot of Dark Souls, along with basilisks. Fake chests that, when opened, reveal a living creature, ready to devour the unwary and greedy adventurer seeking treasure within them.

They're inspired by the classic creature from D&D and are present in almost every fantasy story. Dark Souls, being a unique fantasy world, loves to twist classic fantasy tropes and give them a new spin. Humans are portrayed as beings of darkness instead of being beings of light created by the gods. Gods who were born as humans ascended and now pose as superior beings. The dragon who aids the king keeps the princess as his prize instead of a dragon slayer knight. The dark god of death is the most tranquil and innocent of the gods. Demons are humans transformed by an abundance of chaotic life force. And so on and so forth.

So, what's behind the mimics of Dark Souls? Many probably don't know what they are or where they came from, but if you're reading this on this lore channel, you probably already know at least what they are: the description of the symbol of greed in the first game tells us straight up that they are a clan of gods punished for the sin of greed. In the third game, this description doesn't explicitly state that they are a clan of punished gods, but the enemies do possess a characteristic that betrays them as gods: all Mimics are vulnerable to dark damage, just like divine beings or beings of a divine nature: gods, Silver Knights, the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, the Nameless King, Black Knights, etc. There are cases where beings of a fiery nature are weak to darkness, but I think that's more due to the fire-versus-shadow dichotomy than a divine nature. Mimics lack any fiery characteristics, so that's not where their weakness to shadows comes from.

Well, that was easy: Mimics are cursed and punished gods. But who did this to them? Well, given the magnitude of the punishment and the fact that they were once gods, the most obvious answer is that they must have been punished by entities as powerful as, or even more powerful than, the gods. And in this world, the gods are at the top, so it was surely other gods. But that's not all. The Mimics are so closely linked to the gods of Anor Londo that they are always found in or around divine territory. In DS1, we find the first one in Sen's Fortress, what I would call the lobby of Anor Londo. Within the walls of Anor Londo, there are six Mimics in total: one in the upper part of Anor Londo, next to the statue of Smough; three are in the main cathedral; and two more are in the Duke's Archives. The last two Mimics appear in the DLC in Oolacile, the human city favored by the gods, built right at their feet.

In Dark Souls 3, while not as exclusive as in the first game, most Mimics are concentrated in the domains of the gods: Lothric, the city of the new gods, has the first Mimic we encounter and about five more. The other majority are in Irithyll, the city of the old gods. And the rest can be found in places of a debatable divine nature, such as the Cathedral of the Deep, which was once a cathedral of the White Way, or the defiled city with monstrosities that used to be divine maidens. Like Mimics, they are weak to darkness despite resembling the Hand of Manus.

So, mystery solved? We already know what they are and who's responsible... right? Well, I think there's a figure who's primarily responsible for the mimics, and I'll reveal that when I answer one last question... what are mimics? Yes, we already know they WERE gods, but why are they these deadly chests today? Why do the gods keep so many mimics so close instead of cursing them and banishing them far away?

Well, going back to the original mimic and the tendency to subvert fantasy classics in Dark Souls, mimics in D&D are living creatures that pretend to be chests to lure adventurers and devour them, like a carnivorous plant does with flies. I think the mimics in Dark Souls are the opposite; they don't seek to lure unsuspecting victims, but instead seek to keep thieves at bay and protect the treasure inside. Mimics, especially in Dark Souls, hold important and valuable treasures: silver and gold coins, a cursed club capable of harming the gods, enchanted weapons, a key to access the giant archer, and a talking stone (the treasure is in the Beholder's eye, I suppose).

In other words, mimics are a safe, a security system for treasures... but there's a curious detail: we know they work well to keep thieves at bay and prevent them from getting their hands on the treasures they protect. But how do the owners deposit and retrieve their treasures without dying in the attempt? Well, you probably already know the answer, which also answers the question of who among all the gods conceived of mimics. Lloyd, creator of the eponymous talisman capable of preventing the undead from using Estus, but that's not all; there's a secret use that is never told or referenced anywhere, a secret you can only discover by accident. Lloyd's talisman is the key to unlocking the Mimics, allowing the safe removal of treasure and its placement within them.

In Dark Souls 3, we are introduced to the Blade of Justice and Lloyd's Duels of Justice through a ring and another talisman, suggesting that Lloyd may have also been the one who pronounced the sentence that cursed the Mimics.

In conclusion, the Mimics are a clan of cursed gods condemned to serve as safes to keep important treasures safe from thieves. Lloyd is the architect of this monstrosity and possibly the judge who condemned them.

Thank you for reading.

I made Solaire in the Sims 😁

Is there another red like armour set in Dark Souls 1? I am roleplaying as Super Mario. 🤣 The crimson set is a little too skirty in my oppinion. Google only shows me results of the crimson set.

Found this rad art book on deal to wash down the flavor of trying to play on Switch 2. (Game is also 50% off for a few more days in the US store @ $19.99 if anyone wants to join in the madness.)

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