Praise the Sun

Solar, the Solaire Knight of the Sun.

This character is undoubtedly the most familiar to players in the Dark Souls universe.

In the first Dark Souls game, there weren't many tough bosses, but there were quite a few NPCs who left a deep impression. For example, there was the depressed and sarcastic Crestfallen Warrior, the cunning and ruthless Lautrec, the honest and kind Siegmeyer, and the flexible and adaptable Patches.

However, Solaire remains the most familiar character to players, partly because he was practically their adoptive father in Dark Souls 1.

He can be summoned by defeating the Bell Gargoyles, the Gaping Dragon, or the Ornstein and Smough.

On the other hand, it is because this character truly embodies the faith through the most simple and ordinary efforts of an ordinary person. This faith has nothing to do with the Deity, but only with his own persistent pursuit of the sun.

This is so sincere, so passionate.

Most importantly.

He is also a character who will proactively offer help to players.

On the continent of Lordran, a land filled with deceit, betrayal, madness, despair, and oppression, Solaire is like an outcast, completely out of place.

He had no ulterior motives.

In this world where everyone will stop at nothing to survive and for humanity, he always warmly extends a helping hand to the undead who pass by, leaving behind that classic gesture of Praise the Sun.

He is like a pure and warm ray of light on this cursed land, a solace to the hearts of countless players suffering in the darkness.

On the other hand, he was also tragic. He wanted to find the sun and poured all his energy into this endeavor, searching for something he himself couldn't even define, something he simply knew he wanted.

Just like countless ordinary people, they may also want to find their own direction in real life. This direction may be stability, freedom, or being themselves.

But what exactly is it like?

Many people simply can't explain it clearly.

Solaire was a man who sought out the unknown. He knew he was looking for the sun, but he didn't know what the sun looked like, where it was, or what would happen if he found it.

at last.

He searched all of Lordran, but still couldn't find it. In despair, he mistook the false light emitted by an insect for the sun.

He mistook the false light for the true light and willingly allowed himself to be consumed.

Because he had been searching for so long, when a person walks in the dark long enough, their ability to discern diminishes. When a person desires something to a certain degree, anything that shines will begin to seem like the answer.

It's like when someone is in a state of anxiety for a long time, not knowing what to do. When they reach a certain point, they start to lower their standards and stop thinking about finding what they really want. Instead, they find something that seems acceptable.

This is a cruel ending.

Solaire did everything right. He had conviction and was willing to help others. He was always taking action, but the world did not give him any leeway.

His entire character arc is very existential; he is a powerful ordinary person who can regroup and continue to love the world even after his faith collapses. Even if he eventually falls into madness, his previous strength and warmth are genuine and far surpass anyone he meets on his journey.

This is perhaps why he will be remembered by players.

He is not a key character in the main storyline of Dark Souls 1, nor does he advance any plot points. Even if he were removed, the game would still function normally.

But almost everyone who has played Dark Souls remembers the feeling of first encountering him on the city walls.

And at this moment.

The Knight of the Sun, who had previously seemed perpetually optimistic and full of boundless energy, now stood dejectedly beside the dilapidated altar, his shoulders slightly hunched, and even his iconic armor adorned with the sun emblem seemed to have lost its luster.

He had begun to doubt everything he had stood for.

Because he had just visited Anor Londo, the city revered as the abode of the Deity, the golden city bathed in the eternal sunset.

But he did not find the sun he had been searching for.

His faith is cracking.

Lu Xiu quietly stepped forward. The knight, seemingly utterly alone in this world of despair, spoke, his voice tinged with confusion. "It's you, my friend—"

"Whether in Anor Londo or in the dark, sunless Blighttown, I cannot find my sun."

"Should I go to the Lost Izalith next, or to the Tomb of the Gravelord?"

"Will my sun shine in a place like that?"

Lu Xiu remained silent for a moment, then sat down on the dusty stone steps and shook her head, saying, "No."

Solaire was taken aback.

"The Blighttown is nothing but a poisonous swamp, deformed monsters, and dilapidated wooden frames. The chaotic flames have leaked out uncontrollably, causing the environment to be highly polluted by toxins. It's already a hellish place; how could there possibly be any sun there?"

"And Anor Londo, you should have realized it too, it's all just an illusion. That Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight has long since left the Anor Londo and gone to the Kiln of the First Flame —all the holiness and splendor you see in the Anor Londo, the enormous and beautiful Gwynevere you see, are just illusions woven and maintained by Gwyndolin. There is no sun here."

"The entire Anor Londo, even that breathtaking sunset that never sets, is all fake."

Lu Xiu continued, "Lost Izalith didn't have it. The Witch of Izalith, who possessed a powerful royal soul, tried to use her royal soul to replicate a new First Flame, but the experiment failed, forming a twisted and violent chaotic fire. This chaotic fire devoured the Witch, and the place has become Bed of Chaos, constantly giving birth to Demon."

That place is now a Demon city, long since occupied and destroyed by countless Demon, covered in lava and ruins, and there can be no sun there.

There lived only one kind of pitiful insect there, which emitted a light like the sun, but it wasn't the sun; it was merely a mutation of a parasite twisted by chaotic forces.

"There is no Tomb of the Gravelord; it is merely the eternal resting place that the Gravelord Nito, chose for himself after completing his mission."

"It won't be found anywhere else. New Londo has long been corrupted by the Abyss; the Duke's Archives only contains crystals and research waste."

"The Abyss, the Crystal Cave, the Darkroot Garden, and even the Ash Lake at the very bottom—"

"None of them."

"The world we live in is slowly decaying, gradually turning into an incurable quagmire. Every inch of this land is filled with conspiracy, despair, greed, and madness. All once glorious creations are irreversibly heading towards decline."

"Solaire, you won't find the sun here."

97

After Lu Xiu finished speaking...

The abandoned Sunlight Altar fell into a deathly silence.

Only the mournful wailing of the wind blowing through the broken stone pillars could be heard.

Solaire stood still, neither enraged nor hysterically drawing his sword. He remained silent for a moment, then said, "I see—"

"For this dream, I became immortal."

"So it turns out I really am, as everyone says when they laugh at me, a blind, incredibly stupid fool?"

"If that's really the case, then it's truly laughable."

"Ha ha ha ha----"

He gave a bitter laugh, tinged with sadness.

That pride he held, the faith that had sustained him through countless mountains and rivers and enabled him to face countless ferocious monsters, seemed to be utterly shattered at this moment.

He was like a traveler who had trekked through a scorching desert for decades, and on the verge of death, he joyfully rushed towards a spring of clear water, only to find that it was a mouthful of scalding poisonous sand.

The goal has been lost.

They lost their way.

Even the meaning of their continued existence seemed to have been completely erased at this moment.

"Ultimately, what is the sun you're searching for?"

Looking at the dejected Knight of the Sun, Lu Xiu suddenly asked, "Is that Lord Gwyn? He's currently burning himself in the Kiln of the First Flame, keeping the world barely clinging to life."

Or is Gwyn's Firstborn, the Nameless King, the founder of the Sunlight Covenant?

She pointed to the dilapidated altar not far away. "He has been banished and is now with dragons, at the Archdragon Peak."

Solaire followed Lu Xiu's finger and looked at the long-forgotten, dilapidated altar.

A long silence fell once again.

"Lord Gwyn - Firstborn of the Sun - "

Next.

Solaire murmured the two names that represented supreme power in this world.

He slowly shook his head, his voice less self-deprecating and more filled with a sense of bewilderment after peeling back the layers of an onion.

"No—I think they're not the ones I'm looking for."

"I never cared whether the Deity were high above or not, nor did I care about their power to tear the world apart. I crossed mountains and rivers, willingly becoming immortal to come here—"

He raised his hands, looking at them. "I just—I just wanted to find that ultimate, warm light."

"I want to find it, feel it, and even—become it."

Solaire's voice grew softer and softer, as if he were recounting his long-held obsession.

Since you are not looking for the Deity, nor the sun in the sky----

Lu Xiu stood up. "Then why did you go outside to look for it?"

Solaire froze, his heavy mask lifting slightly, seemingly unable to grasp the meaning of those words: "Go outside to look?"

"Throughout your journey, you have consistently reached out a helping hand to those lost, desperate, and struggling undead."

Lu Xiu's voice echoed above the dilapidated altar, "On the Bell Tower of the Bell Gargoyles, in the dark sewers of the Gaping Dragon, and even before the captain of the guard who protects the Anor Londo of Anor Londo —wasn't that golden summoning rune you left behind the most dazzling light on this land?"

"----" Solaire.

"You always greet everyone you pass by with enthusiasm. You uphold your faith with the simplest of strength. In a world where everyone will do anything to survive, you still maintain the purest kindness and warmth."

Lu Xiu stretched out her hand and pointed to the sun emblem on Solaire's chest. "You think you're a fool chasing the light, but in the eyes of those travelers you've saved—you are the only sun in this quagmire of despair."

This statement is like a morning bell or evening drum.

Solaire froze on the spot, as if some restrictions had been broken. The hope that had ignited in the eyes of the undead when they saw him appear in their despair surged into his mind like a tide.

"I am the sun?"

He stared in disbelief at his hands; the armor that had lost its luster seemed to regain a faint yet resilient golden glow.

Yes, that's you.

Lu Xiu looked at him. "The sun is never in the sky, nor in the hands of those the Deity; it resides in your heart, in every swing of your sword, and in every helping hand you extend to others."

"In my hometown, there is a famous thinker who once said, 'Even if you have a little heat, you should give off a little light, like a firefly, so that you can shine a little light in the darkness. You don't have to wait for a torch.'"

If there is no torch thereafter, I will be the only light.

"Give off whatever warmth or light you have."

Solaire murmured the same phrase over and over. Through the thick iron mask, his voice, which had initially trembled slightly, gradually became steady, and finally carried a clear, thunderous quality, as if a thunderbolt had pierced through the gloom.

"There is no need to wait for a torch—if there is no torch afterward, I will be the only light—"

On the abandoned Sunlight Altar, the howling wind seemed to freeze at this moment.

The tall knight's previously hunched posture seemed to straighten up once more.

It was as if an invisible, scorching power was reawakening within his battered, undead body.

"So, don't go to the Lost Izalith. It's full of bugs and Demon. And stop doubting yourself—you're not a blind fool."

Lu Xiu turned around, her back to the dilapidated altar, and left behind her most sincere blessing. "I'm going to save the world."

"Raise your head, Solaire, though this world is decaying, as long as the fire in your heart burns— Praise the Sun."

The tall knight stood silently, watching Lu Xiu's departing figure.

Against the backdrop of the vast and dilapidated landscape, her figure appeared somewhat frail, yet each step she took exuded an unparalleled determination.

"The sun?----"

Solaire stared at the lone figure striding forward, remaining silent for a long time.

Then, he slowly brought his legs together, his heels slamming together with a crisp clanging sound of armor striking each other.

Next.

He took a deep breath, as if he had undergone some kind of sacred baptism deep within his soul, and slowly raised his arms.

He stretched his arms out diagonally forward, palms facing outward, and leaned his body slightly backward.

He had done this gesture countless times, facing the sky.

But this time, it wasn't just facing the sky.

At that moment, the sunlight seemed to pierce through the perpetually gloomy mist of Lordran, casting an extremely faint yet incredibly real golden glow that gently fell upon the armor bearing the sun emblem on Solaire's chest, making it gleam.

"Praise the Sun."

The sound came from beneath the heavy iron mask.

The sound was not loud, yet it pierced through the illusion like a sharp sword, echoing endlessly in the empty ruins.