Dark Souls 3 Alpha :: All Epitaph Lore Found :: Cut Story Elements Restored

[@DebugMenu]

So obviously I thought this was impossible! But so happy to be able to do this. I spent a CRAZY number of hours on this, so I hope you not only enjoy this, but also show SanadSk some love by checking out some of his new videos as well. He's doing his best to create interesting stuff outside of 'Souls stuff lately, so if you like video games in general, go support his work!

[@mcrarburger]

Lance I love you and all you do! Thank you for all the interesting content you produce and it's crazy all the effort you put into this!

[@elzumo]

I thought for sure these epitaphs were never even written...thank you!

[@dryboneskirby]

Lance McDonald nice job to both of you it’s super appreciated

[@Walamonga1313]

Doesn't Sanad just steal other people's content? Or was tha someone else.

[@darklingscribe]

The Epitaphs’ content remind me of the poems that the Locust Preacher NPCs recite in the Ringed City DLC. I wonder if the similarity is intentional?

[@mcrarburger]

"With my thoughts and with my painting, death will be welcomed" Sounds like a certain figure from a certain DLC...

[@NarffetWerlz]

I'd say Ariandel. Or possibly the painting girl's mother?

[@guiom7661]

Lol you guys are thinking way too far, they probably didnt even have the lore for the dlc all in place while making the game and also theres a bunch of paintings in that room...

[@noahschneider5988]

I was actually thinking ariyams the painter from dark souls 1

[@zipzopzoobitty]

Probably not, though the concept is sound, could be any of the painters or leaders within the paintings. I also have this theory that since the Dark Souls 2 Queen is a painting, then DS3 might be suggesting that like Ariamis and Ariandel, Drangleic could potentially have taken place in aalternate painted world. Would really flesh out a few things while having it contradict Dark Souls 1 and 3 less.

[@zipzopzoobitty]

Thoughdevsdo say its like south pole relation to Lordran amd Earthen Peak is in Dark Souls 3, so maybe not. Maybe the throne that grants wishes may explain some of the inconsistences, beyond 4th wall recogition of Miyazaki simply not being involved in DS2.

[@VaatiVidya]

Great work guys. Loving this growing community that has sprung up from all your efforts. Some of these would have been great to have in the game. Obviously many are vague and generic, but the set about the pilgrims and the final epitaph really resonated with me. We're so starved for context around those characters that these help a lot.

[@kylekatayamadaisuke]

Gey is vatti

[@thedude44226]

You should make a lore video about the alpha content!

[@snowpotatoporkchops2793]

My dog got dead

[@spacesquid3222]

Gross. Get out of here Vaati. Lance actually knows how to give credit when credit is due - unlike yourself. Lance made this video first don't piggyback off his hard ass work. Edit: Grammar

[@snowpotatoporkchops2793]

@@spacesquid3222 take it easy

[@saintriot]

Thanks for these. Appreciate the work you put into this stuff.

[@LliamSangiorgio19]

The man himself!

[@HarrisSounds]

4:00 "Such a horrible savage tribe, a pilgrim driven away by the Demon Hunter." Found right after encountering several enemies in the Road of Sacrifices. But one enemy stands out. I just went back and compared the Lycanthropes (fast large enemies with crosses on their backs, hooded and chained, slightly visible shell), to the pilgrims design (hooded and chained with a visible shell). Very similar. What if the Lycanthropes are corrupted pilgrims? I can't say for what reason, but it seems they're lost pilgrims who became feral and were possibly crucified and killed, only to somehow re-animate, tearing their cross from the dirt, to be carried with them. I might add, that the name "Lycanthrope" describes someone addled with wolf's blood, which could be interpreted as the same wolf's blood that the Watchdogs of Farron use in their ceremonies. Description from the Exile Armor Set: "After the Legion's Watchers became Lords of Cinder, the wolf blood dried up, and Farron was consumed by a festering wood." Could it be that the drying of the blood triggered the re-animation of the tainted Pilgrims?

[@zipzopzoobitty]

I had a thepry that the lycanthropes are actuallyFarron knights in the middle of transformation into the Ghru(Which item descriptions confirm that the Ghru came from.), which wpuld explain why you also see some animalistic corpses crucified too. I also think the rotted wood is the Abyss, as one of the epitaphs seem to suggest that it is the cause of the poison. Makes sense given that the Abyss is sealed in the nearby catacombs there. I don't think it was just the wolf blood drying up that allowed for the Abyss to take over, I think it was actually the Abyss Walkers leaving their thrown too, allowing the Abyss to grow.

[@err0r0b0]

There are many pilgrims in the souls series. Way of White pilgrims, pilgrims of Londor, etc. Remember the big pilgrim's key from the beginning of Dark Souls 1? A curious item..

[@Bluekingdom-Customs]

10:45 The giant in there imprisoned and asleep tried to usurp Yorm from his throne for rule, but failed to kill him and was imprisoned. Lore wise this would fall into when the residents of the Profaned Capital didn't like or trust him so sought help or was offered help from another giant, he failed to usurp Yorm, but instead of killing him, Yorm imprisoned the giant to show he had mercy. This falls in line with him trying to stop the Profaned Flame and gain approval of the residents. Just my thoughs

[@vampireguy24]

"A man who fights The Abyss will die with a dull blade."

[@clovericy5480]

Two thirty in the morning, should be asleep, watching best channel instead. Keep up the good work!

[@herrpez]

Well shit. It's two years later, but I'm up around that same time. Hello, stranger in the night!

[@clovericy5480]

@@herrpez hello there to you too! I hope you sleep well when able!

[@Rootbeeroverseer]

2:16 ...The Dark Soul. This is my first attempt at decoding lore with the community. I just immediately thought of the pieces of the Dark Soul in everyone, (The very essence of everyone) coming together .

[@SinclairLore]

Thanks for the upload!!

[@outlaw123Mannyvel]

Sinclair Lore podcast incoming?

[@serd7147]

wtf, that was fast

[@DebugMenu]

I kid you not, as soon as SanadSk told me what he'd found, I put about 200 hours work into putting this all together. I wasn't going to bother patching the alpha maps to make them work after my last video, as I thought I'd seen all the epitaphs had to offer. But his discovery definitely made it worth the effort. (Yeah I know it was less than 200 hours ago that I posted my last video but lol you get the idea)

[@serd7147]

@@DebugMenu you absolutely madlad, sorry I like memes

[@cp.ngoose1178]

I've been noticing how much more confident you are whilst making these videos now. It's wondering watching you grow alongside a great series. Like always, thank you again, so much, for taking your time (and other people's) to uncover all this amazing work. Much love my dude 👌❤️

[@dannguyen7800]

10:55 this double-confirmed the fact that wolnir was the original boss of the profaned capital. and i was kinda surprised that pontiff is indeed the boss of irithyll. was expecting him to be the final boss at untended grave

[@creation8383]

I have never actually heard that before but it does sound interesting. Can I ask why it double confirms it? What is the other information that Lord Wolnir would have been the boss of the Profaned Capitol.

[@cauliflowerconnoisseur2710]

@@creation8383 two year old comment but there was a screenshot that had Lord Wolnir being in Yhorm's boss room. So, i think they had intended him to be the boss there. And Pontiff was supposed to be the last boss, fought in untended graves.

[@soddof7972]

This does explain some of the slightly odd mob positions in the final game... good job

[@dryboneskirby]

11:12 excuse me fellas

[@TheSpectralForce]

Seems like they had a second go at the BB note concept. More poetic, but ultimately most of the epitaphs seem rather pointless. Instead of only having a few in the game (like in BB) they just cut it altogether. On a slightly unrelated note, it'd be cool to have a more realized version of BBs notes. Then the player could have a notebook of sorts that documents all of the notes, as well as all item descriptions you've discovered. It would make souls lore easier to keep track of and potentially more approachable.

[@iWillWakeYouUp]

"soul drain" = life drain?

[@DebugMenu]

Yep, almost 100% certainly. I translated it very literally, but yes it's very likely a reference to the Soul Drain attack. I think that the same kanji is used to describe that attack in the Japanese version of Dark Souls.

[@Walamonga1313]

Demon's Souls anyone?

[@atlasfontaine5270]

Awesome video, really wish these were left in. I only just found out about them today. 🇦🇺 thank you for all your hours of work on this.

[@shaddykack]

This is awesome! Adds major context to certain characters and existing lore interpretations! Thanks for all your hard work :)

[@ahawkone8850]

This is awesome! Thanks for the hard work man! I feel like these were hints not just about lore, but about challenges coming ahead, and I wonder if that's why they were cut? They remind me of the Locusts in TRC, but some of them seem to be oddly out of context for their location/appearance. A grave of a people, seems like it would not just be a random single tiny tombstone in the back of a dark warehouse. EDIT: I also feel that many of them hint at a very different story than the game presented, and that with these some of the context around the world and it's events becomes a little too clear. Like, they're telling you "this is the story" rather than letting us learn the story ourselves.

[@NoiseBerryGames]

Another great video; I can only imagine how much work this one must have taken!

[@praetoriandorn3154]

"Praise the archer. From the sky it comes and stabs into those who ignore these teachings"....those who do not praise the almighty archer get stabbed with an arrow the size of a whale hunting spear.

[@AdrianArmbruster]

That's an amazing find. I can kind of see why they took them out, though. Most are either just vague tidbits that can be inferred from the environment or lore, or tips that are better left to players writing messages of their own.

[@ffx5846]

Thank you for doing creative and interesting things for us that enjoy the soulsborne saga. Your work and your skills are amazing and very useful.

[@anevilstripper6095]

This is great! New discoveries in the souls/borne games are always exciting! I say my thanks to you and Sanadsk! ^-^

[@FATLUSAnthony]

references to beasts and blood, deepest lore

[@markdanforth3226]

Great effort and work. Thanks for taking the time to present these. Really, really good. However, I'm glad they left these out of the final release. I love the mystery of DS3 and these would have taken some of that away.

[@Raziel_J]

Amazing!!! As big fan of Dark Souls series, I really appreciate the hard work that this must have taken. Keep it up.

[@1128nesecret]

Loving these ds3 alpha vids! It took a while but I feel people are finally cracking into the files of this one. Super excited. If I may suggest , I'd love to see alpha area layouts. Even if they are just a rough idea.

[@anchorite2078]

This is a HUGE find, thank you for all the work!

[@DracoMetorHD]

Heya! I know I didnt comment on the other videos of yours (that I LOVED) but lets tske this comment for them all! I really really adore and appreciate your art, Im so grateful my favourite series is still receiving so much love :) also damn I would habe loved to have those in the final game- though executed a little better haha :)

[@DebugMenu]

Thanks so much!

[@B0110CK5]

Accept.... blood?????????? And that's the *last* epitaph????

[@1128nesecret]

Fast work! Truly admirable. Thank you.

[@nortron_zero8994]

These really remind me of the mechanic in Nier Automata. Where you can leave a message when you die. People can find your body in their world and recover some buffs and gear. But also see the message you left. They are made selecting words and phrases from a predetermined list, but most come across as quite bleak and philosophical musings on death. This is really neat.

[@Monu73796]

Brilliant work!! This is some precious lore ore, especially the ones about the pilgrims, the one about soul drain(likely life drain?) and the last one about the prince.

[@RazorOfArtorias]

You guys are AWESOME! Keep the good work.

[@ninjataco7777]

Thanks for both of your efforts to bolster the lore :)

[@OmniRemix]

Fascinating! Great work. Cool to see some new DS3 lore being unearthed :)

[@Dang_Ol_Username]

Hopefully Sekiro will have a similar enough framework to allow you to work your magic on it as well! Good job!

[@anderstaylor6694]

This is great!! Thank you for all the work!

[@Taeki]

Awesome! Keep up the good work. Love the cut souls content

[@natMcil]

I never thought these epitaphs could have been found, well done

[@ludwig1672]

thank you for the huge work that u have done

[@LightsJusticeZ]

Really awesome work you put it in for doing this for us, I'm all we all appreciate your hours spent. I will say that while most, if not all, of the translations are rather literal versions of it, I would have loved to see how the translating team would have worded them. I got a much different vibe from those translations compared to just the 4 that were in the beta. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the video and that 46 readings went by so fast!

[@Dorito_Djinn]

The content you guys find has been consistently blowing my mind. I wonder just how much more we can uncover?

[@teachergeoff9833]

This is incredible! Thank you!

[@DarkBloodSouls]

You are a god

[@Xalozar]

Praise your work. As a DS enthusiast im very happy to know the alpha.

[@Chibotgaming]

Fear the water. The devil's whispers spell the end of the pilgrimage...cos

[@Dahjiii]

Thats impressive that youre able to find such stuff.

[@Artorikus]

Good job for that amazing work. I love to discover tha kind of contents.

[@theastrovert]

the epitaph before rosaria sounds like a reference to I Am A Hero, which gives a new context to all the man grubs hanging about...

[@Thegeobot]

What is i'm a Hero? Nah it seems to refer to the Dark soul, the original soul from wich the pigmy spawned humanity, it is also a verry popular ancient belief among religions about Men coming from the same soul/entity/fragment.

[@KaraokeTisma]

You guys are absolutely amazing and i love to see your discoveries that you made! These epitaphs are pretty pointless to be honest though. They could have used those orange soapstones to deliver important messages, but most epitaph's messages sound pretty irrelevant. I am glad they got rid of them.

[@perjohansson4414]

Omg, great work!

[@ArbitraryGravity]

Brilliant brilliant brilliant work

[@saeedsh.4234]

Thank you!

[@KKKuma]

The lighting is so good.

[@NetherStray]

Very late, but I love the lore of Irithyll and two of the epitaphs there were really cool to me "Grave of a nameless people. We will not forget the glory that is the shining city of the sun." The Irithyll Slaves--the ragged, invisible enemies you fight everywhere--were once the residents of Irithyll. I feel like this epitaph is the grave they fashioned for themselves, especially since it's in a dark, run-down place where they can hide it. There are so many of them in there, too. It's their own place of safety. "Feel the light. Even though the figure cannot be seen, the eyes of the dead are upon you from everywhere." Probably easy to write off as a game tip. "Look for the glowing eyeballs, you'll be able to spot the otherwise invisible enemies before they can catch you off guard." However, it could also be a lore hint, too. Who's the NPC who was in the alpha version of the Darkmoon Tomb? If the whole rest of the Londor crew was there, there would be more than just the one NPC. It's possible it could have been planned to be some form of either Gwyndolin or one of the Darkmoon blades out for revenge, maybe there to flesh out the story of how all that happened. Either way, I think the epitaph is--in a lore sense--meant to be directed to the Irithyll slaves as a form of encouragement (or control), telling them that the gods aren't gone just yet.

[@erickschusterdeoliveira2662]

wow, the scenes with the sky serpents are *striking* and look absolutely apocalyptic. like "the end times has already begun" shit. a scene like that when heading to the end of the game would be shocking

[@phobos5323]

Impressive work.

[@crashman1344]

Pretty sure that the one in the former Gwendolyn area is the tomb of the Darkmoon Firekeeper.

[@Kinoksis]

Lord Vaati, Seeker of Lore, just skipped a heartbeat with this revelation!

[@clovericy5480]

Finished the vid. Def got some Bloodborne vibes from the beasts and such. Shame we didn't get a saw cleaver for our Hunter Ring. Loved it, by the way!

[@Duneraven]

Good job!

[@XDjUanZInHO]

When there's no spell or lantern that let you see on catacombs

[@GARGANTUANMASKEDFISH]

The only one that really adds to the established lore in a meaningful way is the one about Sulyvahn's swords - he has a narrow, thrusting magical sword to penetrate the body and pierce the soul and a broad flaming sword to pulverize and burn the body. Seems like he was experimenting with means to fully kill-off undead and unkindled without fear of them returning to interfere again. All of the stuff about blood is interesting but much like the blood=paint stuff from the DLC it's completely meaningless. The painting one is interesting though as it implies whoever did those paintings lived in Irithyll/Anor Londo, creates some vague implications that the other games may have just taken place in one of his paintings.

[@delta7115]

Lots of references to blood. I wonder if there was meant to be any connection to the self-beheading knight statue that bleeds itself after you defeat the Dancer. the "not a human or a dragon" bit suggests a tie between the wretches and the royal family. oceiros was definitely doing some dank dragon experiments, i wonder how they all wound up down in irithyll dungeon though. perhaps sulyvahn had something to do with it, since you see the cathedral knights in lothric castle. he and oceiros were obviously working together, but why and to what end...

[@Cody1425105]

I see why these were removed. They are pretty vague philosophical musings that don't really relate to the average player, only those seeking the deeper aspects of the game's lore, but then they're scattered around everywhere. It's not as if they're special things to be found by dedicated players. Even with a good knowledge of the lore, I'd say more than half of them don't really add anything to the established stories or theories. They just seem unnecessary so I see why they were done away with. Thanks for the hard work, I absolutely love learning about how many things might have been.

[@DrnMontemayor]

Most of them are just glorified warnings for enemies you encounter.

[@2634josh]

Nice camera work at 11:06

[@DebugMenu]

Haha I was trying to hide the fact that the floor is completely invisible

[@2634josh]

I thought the hand reaching up at the bottom of the shot as you read the epitaph regarding the abyss was very fitting. Great vid hope to see more cut Souls content man

[@하즈스공공구]

This is a miracle.

[@jeterpilled_memester]

Accept blood...that final epitaph going to have me thinking about an interconnected SoulsBorne theory for a while...

[@chicodepuertorico1450]

You guys keep saying it's speculation and that these were lore tidbits, removed from the final game, but to me, they just seem like landmarks the Devs left behind to remind them of what they were doing in that area... That they were written in a poetic fashion might just show that they had a good sense of humor about it...

[@elzumo]

Awesome!!

[@AbdallaYoussefdarksideXD]

awesome video man keep your awesome videos but I have a question for you are you gonna do the same thing with shadow die twice when it comes out next year?

[@The9toes]

I always liked the epitaph and lore notes in Bloodborne and felt DKS3 could have used them. Had no idea they were a thing at one point.

[@Taktwo2]

deepest lore gets deeper

[@scarecrow7421]

While I like the idea of these Epitaphs, I feel that most of the descriptions are kinda meh or boring. Although some of them are amazing. Like... "The grave of the immortal Army. A man who fights The Abyss will die with a dull blade." "The sword on the right shreds the body, and the sword on the left slices the soul. To where will those destroyed be send?" "It was neither a Human nor a Dragon. In sadness he danced for the Royal family. Here he rests." I feel they removed them because it would be too much work for something most people wouldn't care about. Maybe if the descriptions were a little more interesting in what they said or refereed to it could've worked. For example if they referenced certain characters or past lore from the series similarly to the Locust Preachers.

[@zholotoi5953]

Also we don't have context for them. What are they? Just random notes? Who left them? Why are there so many? When did Fromsoftware gave lore that free? They are also everywhere and don't give anything besides lore and a bit of advice which is kinda useless.

[@JoshThewonder]

If you ever get a chance to create a behind the scenes video about how you added context to these place holders I would be interested in learning about it

[@michel333alfa-kun3]

2:23 this epitaph sounds like something an acid head would say

[@DrazV2]

Amazing to have all this unused content available for exploration. Could this be turned into a mod in the future?

[@ejihajwilhelm4604]

I've never been happier for you to be wrong before

[@cezerelecrucio9717]

"He was neither human or dragon, he danced for the royal family, here he sleeps". In the dungeon? Relating to Ocelot?? 🤔

[@Thegeobot]

No, it is about the creatures in the cells that look like Gollum, they seem to be humanoid in nature but are deformed into dragon like monsters, the have clearly vestigial wings and wield Weak dragon bone weapons that resemble the original Dragon weapons from DS1.

[@santivergniaud7816]

Amazing disxrovery, do you know what’s in the chest in farron?

[@DebugMenu]

It's just a normal soul item in the alpha map.

[@AbsolXGuardian]

I wonder if someone could make this into a mod. They could use your work so far, but for the retail version (bringing over the core epitaph code and assets), and then replace the Japanese text with equivalent translations. And maybe a few changes to bring it more in line with the final game

[@gnightrow4020]

The area at 0.35 always looked like it was supposed to have something there

[@NoBandwidth-0]

I know it's not in the game, but I like to write, and I do enjoy these epitaphs, so here's a custom one that I wrote: "Grave of a gluttonous bishop. Holy men die as they live, consuming".

[@emme94]

Nice work! Hey, will you have a blog (or something like that) with all the epitaphs transcribed? I really, really wish I could read them.

[@kahaedra]

Vaati vidya made a video specifically highlighting the fact that things get lost in translation when talking about lore. Apparently it holds true for the lost lore of the game data as well.

[@gadbenezer9329]

It seems the Lothric family used blood in a way to try to create the perfect heir for the flame which might be the reason why Lothric was born crippled and weak and ocellot being born a child of dragons due to abusing blood in unspeakable means.

[@BikesTrainandAuto]

So essentially the Pilgrims were moths to the flame.

[@MrTobstars]

5:25 by the gods, Laurence, fear it.

[@WeWillAlwaysHaveVALIS]

"I am afraid, dark"

[@Stormshader]

@12:47 - what is that grphical effect of the epitaph? I know stuff like that happens if you don't have a proper background or stuff, but it doesn't make any sense to me at this point?

[@backyarddad4198]

Now that ds3 scripting is so developed i wonder if we see anyone restore these to the base game

[@Setter153]

Great video! I noticed that they use a word "不死" for Undead in Japanese version of dark souls, not for immortal

[@Banana-cc5rx]

isn't undead pretty much means immortal.

[@markvb305]

Immortal means that they won't die (at least from old age). Undead means that they already died, but are still animate.

[@Setter153]

But Undead in Souls games are never mentioned as immortal, aren't they? Also I'm Japanese, so I'm sorry if my crappy English confuses you

[@Banana-cc5rx]

@@Setter153 your English is fine. Now that I think about what you meant it's really weird. But other than 不死 is there any other kanji for undead lol

[@aqzspm00]

不死 seems to be the word used for undead in RPG and fantasy, it also means immortal but in the context of a fantasy game. It litterally means 不 un (or any indication of negation )　死 and death. I did a little researchs and outside of a fantasy setting it would mean immortal. I'm not sure if there is a native word for undead in Japanese since this one looks like a translation of an english or occidental word, they are usually called ghosts 幽霊　or dead　亡霊 .

[@MrPF]

I think that it was the right decision to remove the epitaphs They just feel like "mini tutorials" Only to give you hints about the area But its not necessary since most of these things can be figured out easily by paying attention And about the pilgrins, I really hoped there would be more details about then in the game, but, I also think that it's cool that we don't have a lot of info about then, it gives a good mistery vibe

[@Chillrah]

Why'd they remove this, it adds to the atmosphere so much

[@jpcsdutra]

Lance, my dude, 13 minutes is not by any means a long video. Chill and do your thing. We like it. That being said, I can see why this was cut. It sticks out like a sore thumb in the family of games. It is either tipping you to what comes next or is additional lore for bosses, that can be used in items, souls, weapons or armor. It feels out of place in the Souls series. It implies a few changes in the story of some bosses, but it is expected of an alpha. What really surprises me is that there aren't any in the Unattended Graves. You'd think the place with the most graves, you'd have some epitaphs. At least on the dark version where even Firelink Shrine is dead.

[@jpcsdutra]

Actually, on second thought, it feels like this is lore content for beta testers while item descriptions weren't done.

[@TheKoistar]

7:38 Solaire?