It's almost a little sad

[@ZullietheWitch]

I glossed over the Archdragon, but only because I have another video focused solely on it, which is one of the best performing videos on my entire channel. I'm assuming most of you will have seen it, but if not, here's the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYvHiKyko7CZsJY

[@RamAurelius]

I always thought the Dragons were one of the most interesting aspects of DS lore. Though how they're represented throughout the franchise feels a bit inconsistent, especially with all their different types of descendants running around. Great video though, Archdragon peak is definitely in my top 5 areas.

[@phobos5323]

I was wondering about the Archdragon: Is there any hard evidence that it was meant to be a full fledged boss? It's something that I always assumed, but could it be that it was meant to be something closer to the Archdragon in DS1? The scale seems kind of off, and its model is used for the twinkling stone. (Of course, it also could have been both, since there's also the cases of Wolnir and Gwyndolin.)

[@ArchangelExile]

Interesting... 🤔

[@pious83]

You briefly show the Ash Lake Dragon. Was that ever supposed to be more than just a covenant?

[@ZullietheWitch]

@@pious83 It has attack animations and has the "boss defeated" audio on its (unused) death animation. It doesn't actually have any way of moving from its perch though, even its attacks keep it in the same place, so it was probably always meant to be sitting right where it's sitting and only turn into a boss fight if you aggravated it.

[@RamAurelius]

I personally think it makes more sense that dragons are nearly non-existent by the time of DS3, with Midir making sense as an outlier since the Ringed City was supposed to be isolated from the rest of the world.

[@salamanda550]

@@Tausami The Ringed City we visit, and the Dreg Heap, are set at the end of the world, after countless cycles of fire and rekindling. Though, we get flung even further forward in time, to fight Gael, by Fillianore, when all has burnt to ash.

[@stairmasternem]

@@Tausami I think back to Dark Souls 1’s explanation for phantoms. Worlds overlapping. In my opinion Dark Souls 3 has several worlds going on with you going inbetween them. The biggest pointer to this is Anri’s quest where you are summoned into Anri’s world and face Aldrich there. Also the fact that npcs pop between the main level and Firelink.

[@FFKonoko]

@@Tausami the dreg heap is the end result of the world's decay, where space and time become so convoluted, it breaks down, compressing and contorting. The world collapsing in on itself at the very end of the overextended age of fire, a desert of Ash with ancient civilizations pressed together, and with the ringed City beyond it. Where the things that have washed down the river of time collect, like unwanted garbage. It is unclear if some of it has made it the short way, being pushed through time rather than existing for all of that time. The player certainly finds a couple shortcuts, including filianore. And I do wonder if the way they kept the ringed City isolated was by pushing it right to the end of everything....

[@Sercroc]

@@Tausami the when starts to lose his mportance when the fire starts to fade, remember fire brings light and light is time, that's why time is stagnant/convoluted, dreg heap is the end just before you got to fight soul of cinder, with the murky men indicating the age of the deep is next,. Ringed city is like in a time bubble linked to filianore, whe you wake her up, the spell breaks, and you probably get sent just before the dreg heaps, considering you can see lothric castle in the distance, while we know it's on top of the dreg heaps

[@NAPH170]

@@Tausami The ringed city takes place in the far furture, most likely that of many different timelines, but the pressence of the dragon slayer armor that the champion of ash defeated appearing there seems to indicate that it's at least partially represetitive of the future of the world we play through.

[@FFKonoko]

It does make sense. The further the timeline moves from their time, the less pureblooded would survive. Especially since we often killed the few that showed up in the other games.

[@reecetaylor2626]

@@hermitcard4494 evolution favors the fit. Humans have an offshoot in our evolutionarily past where the weaker species for adapted for scavenging for meat survived. In a world hostile to them, large, old, and majestic dragons wouldn't have done as well as their decedents.

[@MammalianCreature]

@@hermitcard4494 It's hard to evolve to survive, a system that takes time, when you're actively being wiped out. Dragonslayer was a title, a title that belonged to multiple people.

[@Sercroc]

@@hermitcard4494 those are ,no true dragons, it's even possible the white wiverns in ds3 were initially men, members of the dragon covenant, since they both have pus of man coming out of their body

[@mrdeafter]

@@hermitcard4494 evolution favor the one who fit that environment best, Not how strong they are.

[@mroffice8166]

@@hermitcard4494 also, to add on to already said stuff, I don't think the world of dark souls has been around long enough for proper evolution to take place

[@finchhawthorne1302]

Even in the last sanctuary of dragons there are no true dragons left.

[@quint3ssent1a]

Kinda ironic that "the last sanctuary of dragons" filled with fanboys trying to make their best impression of a real dragon. Even their weapon mentions that the power of dragons tragically faded.

[@yusukeelric]

considering the nameless king resides in it, and Anor Londo royalty loves to slay dragons. I believe he made the dragons extinct and transformed the place in his own castle. More considering its implied he had certain dragon slayer come to him after the events of the first game. It was probably a dragon sanctuary at some point.

[@Ollybollyk]

@@yusukeelric He was exiled for siding with the dragons, so that seems unlikely.

[@agenttex5973]

@@Ollybollyk while that may be true, the nameless king seems to be hollow just like his father, maybe he killed them After hollowing, with the only thing he spared being his closest companion IE The Storm Drake

[@OnAChairSitting]

This is why the Dark Souls 3 dragon form is so withered and dead. You are, quite unfortunately, imitating the state of the dragons and their power. And there isn't much of that left.

[@TheNickofTime]

I still remember my first play through if DS1, where I had just enough of a grasp of the lore to realize what a big deal it was to find a living Archdragon in Ash Lake. I’d assumed they were a lost cause, but the reveal that they weren’t extinct is what informed my decision not to link the flame at the end, hoping that letting Gwyn’s age of fire die out would allow the dragons to flourish again.

[@Gibbidens]

Too bad that both linking the fire or extinguish it forever are decisions that would have been of no matter for the next games since, I presume, it was never meant to exist a second or even a third chapter... I mean, I'm glad they l've kept making them because I had fun (except for DS2) but after the first one it has to be all mumbo jumbo time travel made up lore on the spot. Convoluted this, convoluted that, I mean, come on...it's all a big excuse to keep going on. After all these years begging for a Bloodborne sequel, now I'm glad that it's one of a kind and messed up lore in its own univocal way.

[@blight00000]

@@Gibbidens technically, dark souls 3 only happens if you link the flame in dark souls 1, but yeah, I can see where you're going with this

[@gyphryphobia]

“Enough grasp of the lore” You mean the games intro?

[@gothamdarkknight3729]

@@blight00000 Actually, DS3 would happen regardless of whether you link the flame or not in DS1. Even if you send the world into an Age of Dark, another Age of Fire will inevitably rise from the embers of the first flame left after it faded. What we see in Dark Souls 3 is the result of Ages of Fire and Dark happening continuously, leaving the world a mess.

[@gothamdarkknight3729]

@@Gibbidens time was convoluted in DS1 anyways lol. Solaire himself mentions that. And yea, From made DS1 without expecting to make sequels, but the success of the game drove them to expand the lore and retcon some things. But overall, it worked out. I just started DS2, and it's not that bad. Sure, it's hella different from the other two games and ADP mechanic sucks, but it's actually pretty fun. Once you get over the fact that it is a very different game from what the others are, it's quite fun.

[@realkingofantarctica]

I see the arches, I see the peaks, but where are the dragons, Todd?

[@Rileykirk77]

I don’t know, Margo!

[@_Tzer]

the dragons are wyverns skyrim tiem.

[@aiasfree]

The emaciated deer form makes a lot more sense if they had kept the mother dragon in the game.

[@metalmonster9536]

Or maybe because the mother dragon was gone they were so ill-nurtured

[@nymphaeales9149]

they need milk

[@jacobhoover1654]

Idk get the hate, it looks like a 50/50 mix of dragon & human

[@jbark678]

@@jacobhoover1654 It looks like the goat men from the swamp without hooves.

[@jacobhoover1654]

@@jbark678 that proves my point, those "goatmen" are actually followers of the Path of the Dragon: they have wings growing on their backs, further supported by Hawkwood following the Path of the Dragon.

[@exbelion3543]

Hopefully Elden Ring will introduce us to more awesome dragon variants

[@Ryan-op7yd]

A shame we'll never fight a true Dark Souls archdragon though

[@Usernameneverseen]

Please no, I've stared at too many drake asses and thighs over the course of the 3 games, I'm tired of standing by a dragons ankle stabbing it's toe while watching its fat booty for signs it's going to spin or something. If they redesign the entire camera system so my screen isn't 80% polygons of a dragons taint during the fight then I'd be interested but personally I hope they lay off the 4 legged monster bosses for a while.

[@konundrumite]

@@Usernameneverseen If you fought midir this way, it's completely your fault. The game makes it extremely clear that the best way to attack it is face to face hitting it's head. I would assume they've learned how to manage dragon fights moving forward based on this. Same thing goes for the storm drake.

[@berk6413]

Well we already know the one from the trailer that can catch lightning, so I’d say ER is off to a good start already with dragons

[@kroh7742]

Agheel best boi So far.. Atleast

[@filipwolffs]

"The only legitimate dragon was a corpse." A missed opportunity to say "The only true dragon is a dead dragon."

[@Virus16th]

I only just now realized that they actually did give Midir four wings. Idk why I never saw it till now, you'd think with all the times I died to him I would have picked up on it. In my defense, the lower wings are quite small. Almost as if atrophied through time.

[@Rakshael]

They're really only clear when he spreads them in challenging you and when he perches on the cliffs around Ringed City

[@guitarguy42394]

I mean in your defense pretty much everyone’s visual focus during the Midir fight is on your character, Midir’s head, and your stamina bar😂

[@AlfonsoSRT]

Same here.

[@ceilingfanenthusiast6041]

I had no idea either.

[@yusukeelric]

Thing is so big and you can't circle around it, so it makes sense it's so hard to see it from a different angle

[@maneater2066]

Fun Fact, the wyverns in Lothric and the Ancient Wyvern were originally human: the ones in Lothric were afflicted by Pus of Man - wild stagnated humanity - and they die when you kill it, while the Ancient drops a Dragon Head Stone when you kill it, implying it used it to transform. We know there was a deep relationship between Lothric and the Archdragon Peak - the cult of the Warriors of Sunlight is widely spread, and the two domains' rulers are siblings after all - so we can imagine that the two got much closer when Gwynevere became queen, and Lothric abandoned its dragonslaying traditions and started to incorporate dragon-turned soldiers in its army.

[@armandoborrelli8852]

Sabaku docet?

[@OiranDaki]

I love Dark Souls lore... ty ❤

[@maneater2066]

@@armandoborrelli8852 Lui e nessun altro, compare

[@armandoborrelli8852]

@@maneater2066 hahahaha fantastico, conquistiamo la community internazionale con le conoscenze del maestro

[@obviouslykaleb7998]

@@armandoborrelli8852 what is this conversation

[@DS_DoggerX]

It's a shame we haven't ever fought any archdragons at full strength. Seath was a blind, scaleless weakling, Kalameet was weakened by Gough, Sinh was corroded, Ancient Dragon was fake, and Midir is nearly consumed by the Abyss, to the point of using humanity magic. Sure, you may fight Kalameet without shooting him down, and that's the only archdragon we may fight at full strength, but not many have done that, and it's made really difficult for one to achieve.

[@timelessdust3001]

Would midir being consumed by the abyss only make him stronger tho? Giving him new powers and such

[@_snowylil]

Kalameet kicked my _arse_ and is the only DS1 boss I haven't killed, good *lord* I would be terrified to fight one at full power

[@Angryegg387]

Well the dragons are supposed to be immortal beings who are impervious to almost every attack so they would need to be weakened

[@DS_DoggerX]

@@timelessdust3001 you could say that, but the point is, it's not his own strength. Humanity certainly gives him an edge, but at the cost of his own, original strength. I mean, it plays a part, but can we truly be sure that it's stronger than he was originally? We never fought him in his prime

[@metalmonster9536]

The fact that even such mighty beings have lost their glory and are declining is the beauty of Dark Souls world

[@metalmonster9536]

I'm glad they cut out all those dragons. Such creatures should be rare, making every few appearances impactful. Midir itself is damn magnificent, but it wouldn't have stood out as such a memorable boss if there were dragons all over the shop.

[@ReyCardo]

“You’ll be one of them, sooner or later”

[@crashedforeigncar]

"Haaaaaa..."

[@mikhailvasiliev6275]

Disagree. Finding a safe haven for the last some bits of true dragon-kind would have been absolutely mind-blowing.

[@jotarokujo3603]

@@mikhailvasiliev6275 that's what archdragon peak is. Dragons have quite literally been hunted to extinction in this series. Spamming dragons seriously cheapens the experience, for example DS2 practically spams dragons as if it's no big deal that somehow there's such a variety of dragons still remaining after all this time.

[@ricecake3544]

@@jotarokujo3603 don't forget to mention that non of the dragon fights in ds2 were good

[@eldave178]

I love your music choices for all of your videos, they really bring a sense of nostalgia while also being extremely professional and informative. You are definitely in my top 10 list of my favorite KZbinrs.

[@LautrecOfCarim]

No textures, huh? Ocelotte grew up to become a big boy. Heh.

[@loftwingheropon2743]

OOOCELLLOOOTTEEEEEE!

[@kroh7742]

I wouldn't say that, if the oceiros' uncut boss fight was also planned to be kept at the same time

[@batteryacid3832]

Oceiros has cut dialogue and audio which implies he’d kill Ocelotte in his rage which triggers phase two, though for unknown reason it was removed and now he just has a transformation at 2/3 health. Also, funny enough, the baby had a humanoid model which is unfortunately untextured. So it’s a fun idea, but wouldn’t really work.

[@stairmasternem]

My guess is that Wyverns replaced them in general, probably meaning that the wyvern boss in Archdragon could have initially been one of the cut dragons.

[@Yolaak]

While it is a bit of a shame, having only one actual dragon made Midir so much more special in my opinion. Dragons are gone to the point where even on Archdragon Peak there are no dragons to be found but then BAM there is a living, breathing dragon for you to fight.

[@masterblaster2678]

I'm so glad that Midir exists. Best dragon fight imo. Felt absolutely vicious in every movement, and doesn't fly around too often. Also dealing more damage to the head is an awesome mechanic for a dragon fight. You can't just camp beneath the dragon and hack away at its feet until it takes flight rinse and repeat (*cough cough* Ancient Dragon *cough cough*) you need to be right in front of it, where it can use better attacks. The design is so lit too, I mean come on, it's an abyss dragon! This boss is in my top 3 favorite bosses of all time.

[@ManoredRed]

My bet is in the "the world is too dead for dragons" theory. Having no living dragons around does help subtly reinforce the idea of a decayed world, and From cares about such subtle details of lore. Also, Midir specifically has backstory explaining why he is still around after so long.

[@specialnewb9821]

That idea never made sense to me. Dragons predate disparity so ennui should be a return to their natural state.

[@ZannyAisling]

@@specialnewb9821 i mean, the dragons were almost entirely wiped out at then end of the first ‘stone age’, so really while we’re seeing the world teeter between a second stone/stasis/flameless age and a dark-based gwynesque hegemony the dragons don’t really have a mechanism to just re-appear as the same “species” they were beforehand. we’re getting to a second round of “dragons” in the broader, niche-based sense but they aren’t literally the same types of beasts the everlasting dragons were (at least by the points the game shows them, who knows what the various forms of dragon-imitation escalated to that we aren’t privvy for, perhaps it DID eventually loop back around to “true” everlasting dragons)

[@ManoredRed]

@@ZannyAisling Ye. If there is a second age of ancients, one would guess that there will be a dominant "stone species" again, but it may not necessarily be dragons.

[@hamsterfromabove8905]

@@specialnewb9821 Its a simple matter of time. The true dragons aren't reproducing. As the world grows older there are less dragons. It doesn't matter how strong they were. Eventually over thousands of years they'd die. If they aren't reproducing then slowly over the years one by one they'll die in battle. It doesn't matter how many battles they won, it only takes one bad fight to reduce the number of dragons in the world by 1.

[@MasterSean-ql9xi]

I feel like using wyvern corpses instead of dragon corpses makes sense lore-wise. Because it shows that archdragon peak was created after the war against the everlasting dragons. It was made a safehaven for all the remaining dragon-like species, but it doesn't try to show that any real dragons survived the war.

[@jacobhoover1654]

It wasn't made to be a safehaven, although it does function as one since it is so difficult to get there. Remember the sun is still shining in Archdragon Peak even when the Eclipse is in every other map.

[@MasterSean-ql9xi]

@@jacobhoover1654 I see. I wasn’t sure it’s exact origins, I just remember hearing that the nameless king went there, and it became a safe spot for dragon like beings to retreat to. But that is interesting, I never noticed the eclipse not present there.

[@jacobhoover1654]

@@MasterSean-ql9xi I am unsure of the origins but that shows it exists outside of the the curse of Linking the Fire, since the Eclipse only happens after "Returning the Lord's to their Thrones." Maybe similar to the Painted World.

[@darkstalkerkaathe4582]

@@jacobhoover1654 not to mention that the nameless king inherited the sunlight from his father, so it seems likely that the sun we see on Archdragon Peak is of his own making

[@clayxros576]

I would wager their original idea was that, with the World of Flame in decline, whatever brought about the Eternal Dragons originally was also giving birth to them again to transition the world. Or, even more concerning, the breakdown of time overall had brought some of the original Dragons back from the past, effectively letting them escape Gwyn's genocide. Because of the unstable nature of time, seeing so many wouldn't actually be too weird, and corpses being everywhere would show they were making an active attempt to either reclaim the world or help the world transition into a new form. I can definitely imagine why they removed that idea though, they probably had not enough time to fully embrace it, same with the Puss of Man storyline. Makes me wish DS3 got the Elden Ring treatment, but alas.

[@Umezete]

I think the first idea makes alot of sense, especially with the themes of decay giving rise to trees in the series (New arch trees?) and just in general how circular souls lore is.

[@Cocamo]

As someone who makes 3d models for a living that black low poly dragon is a decimated model, which means there is a high poly version that it’s based from to create the textures. Meaning it’s out there but they left out the textures

[@fang4223]

When I first played through DS3, my innitial theory crafting was that the world was skipping over the age of man and returning to it's unformed state, returning directly to the age of dragons, with the heavy emphasis on trees overtaking so many areas early game making me think of potentially budding arch-trees (albeit corrupted). Given this idea of man being robbed of their age, the concept of an archpeak holding more true dragons makes a little more sense: Your fighting to take back what was wrongfully taken from you. It opens up interesting moral questions that what we got couldn't explore, arising from you potentially committing the same sins as the previous kingdoms of Anor Londo and Dranglaic. That being said I can understand the cut if that is the case. It would still take away from the magnificence of the dragons as a whole for sure.

[@mylittledarkworldjohn4289]

Imagine that you're the guy/team that modeled all of it/textured it only to be told its not going to be seen. You still get payed regardless, but spending multiple days if not a week only to be told. Yeah, the animation team couldn't finish it, cause its to massive to animate so close to release

[@JustBooker]

Definitely feels like the untextured dragon is now Lichdragon Fortissax

[@mikeymooman1]

In retrospect, the model for the "mother dragon" looks quite similar to Lichdragon Fortissax, but then again, they're both just dragons with 4 wings

[@voodoominerman]

I think it makes more sense if the everlasting dragons did start showing up again for ds3. Since the world seems to be heading towards an age of gray, the endless cycle of light and dark could in fact be a single age in an even bigger cycle, which switches from ages of parity (everlasting dragons, a world of gray) into ages of disparity (light & dark, Gwyn's age) and then back to parity again (the world of ash we see at the end of the ringed city).

[@clayxros576]

I also feel this to be the case. Dragons returning as the Age of Fire is reaching its finale is fitting, and dragon corpses littering the place signify a final defiance against the Age of Dark. Heck, it could even be that the Age of Dark is the intended state of the world, with the Age of Parity acting as a precursor, and Age of Fire flooding the world with various states of life. Dark in this case slows the world so that, even though a variety of life is able to flourish, that life moves far slower so the world itself is able to recover far easier compared to the vast resource consumption inherent to the age of Fire. A kind of balanced age.

[@waltersullivan2727]

The skinnier ones look kind of funny but seeing previously unused content moved to DLC. Like the Heavy set to Lapp set, pvp boss in Spear of the Church, and Bat Demon to Demon Prince. I think Mother Dragon was probably the precursor to Midir looking at those statues.

[@IrvineTheHunter]

It reminds me of the "Garlech Dragon Gate", very pretty but also quite serpentine.

[@bigezfire2390]

The fourwinged dragon is the same if not the based model idea for the fourwinged dragons in elden ring. Just a thought when i watched this, stay dandy

[@aaronwillets1172]

So glad I have notifications for this channel

[@mohdsarul1530]

4 wing dragon that is reused in ER.... How many enemy fromsoftware has discarded for later use? Noone will know...

[@benjaminatherton2394]

Watching this now after playing Elden Ring makes me realize that the Mother Dragon was probably that massive one in Caelid and the four winged dragon model was more than likely tweaked and repurposed for the ancient dragons

[@JuicySpagooter]

Kalameet is a traditional dragon. 4 legs+ wings. We can’t forget about the boi

[@TheTickyTickyTicky]

Elden ring : EY YO I HEARD YOU WANT MORE DRAGONS

[@ThePteropterus]

Fast forward to now and that four winged quadrupedal dragon is looking a little more familiar.

[@rasenpapi5653]

its funny coming back to this video after elden ring. elden ring was almost like an apology or catchup for the lack of dragons. giving us like 8 boss dragons off the top of my head that i remember

[@Pupperpats]

Maybe this four winged dragon was used in Elden Ring as the Ancient dragons.

[@rdoozy]

This is really amazing to see. Sad that so many things went unused or undeveloped. Your work is incredible Zullie

[@pablopenguin13]

They were saving them for Elden Ring lol

[@Dwarfkloon]

Amazing Video as always thank you Zullie

[@oscargarcia4036]

Damn shame they couldn't use this content, but l at least elden ring will have lightning wielding dragon fights

[@cegathelich]

If they had been able to get them working in time of release for 3, they could have justified lore-wise it by saying that the age of fire is wholly incompatible with dragons being widespread, but the age of man isn't so incompatible and with the age of man swiftly coming, together with the work of those at archdragon peak they could have been coming back. Lore-wise that fact should probably have been a secret of Archdragon Peak, as Lothric and its associated kingdoms worked hard to keep the age of fire going, and the rise of dragons (which Lothric embraced in a limited respect) would have been antithetical to their goals of prolonging fire.

[@StephanuSneed]

"by saying that the age of fire is wholly incompatible with dragons being widespread" It isn't tho. The dragons were mostly wiped out because of a war, not because they are inherently incompatible with the Age of Fire. Once the war stopped, they survived and kept reproducing. "the rise of dragons (which Lothric embraced in a limited respect) would have been antithetical to their goals of prolonging fire" Lothric was just turning their knights into dragons. That isn't really a "rise of dragons". And we see that those dragons become crippled and eventually die when the Fire fades.

[@waltermalone216]

Man is the true poison, not the Age of Fire. The Dragons were nearly extinct thanks to the Gods, then you have some naked dude every couple generations running around killing all the dragons that are left.

[@kalten1380]

@@waltermalone216 I mean, The gods literally poisoned Man tho.

[@waltermalone216]

@@kalten1380 And Man is still infinitely more prosperous despite that. Imagine if the Gods hadn't tried to poison them.

[@aidenmclaughlin1076]

Makes Midir even more of a badass

[@ddangho914]

It is pretty tough to make giant bosses to be both fun and interactive. I mean even in the famed Monster Hunter series, a long going series where you are constantly fighting monsters, even they had a lot of struggles in making successful giant dragon fights. I'm just glad Fromsoft successfully pulled off Midir at the end of the series. Not only is he a marvel to look at, but he can be a template for future Fromsoft games.

[@elizabethhicks4181]

Granted the REALLY giant dragons in Monster Hunter are way bigger than anything you fight in souls. Safi is about the size of Midir, and he's about as interactive and has about as much going on. Ala is smaller, and was even smaller in Tri, and Fatalis is a long boi but he's not as chunky as Midir, so you can keep more of him in view. Jhen, Dalamadur and mmmaaaybe Lao-Shan are bigger than Midir, and fall into the 'you're fighting the environment' category that MH hasn't managed to make super solid quite yet.

[@ES21007]

@@elizabethhicks4181 There's also Laviente in Frontier, which is as big as an island and is the biggest MH monster so far.

[@Fulldrag7802]

I’m of the theory that in DS3, the world is slowly reverting to an Age of Ancients. I’m honestly still shocked that Midir had survived as long as he has, even when being slowly being corrupted by the very Abyss that the old Gods made him devour. He IS “technically” a descendant of the Archdragons but a very, very close descendant, since he still has all the characteristics of the old dragons: four wings, four sets of teeth, stone scales (even though they’ve been worn down by exposure to Abyss for so long). I had a thought that at the very close of the Age of Fire, when the world has fallen to ash and the sun sets for the final time, the Archdragons would rise from the ashes like Phoenixes, destroy what’s left of the old world, Arch Trees would slowly regrow and the world would enter a permanent Age of Ancients. Funny how at the very end of the world, it all goes back to how it began...

[@hatefulgaming1800]

There’s a lot of cut dragons in Ds3, especially in lothric

[@timelessdust3001]

Lol

[@dasme8210]

i really like the four winged dragon designs throughout souls series. It really makes the dragons feel like something of divine origin

[@bluntlyhonest6803]

I know this is a bit random but thank you Zullie for all these random facts about the souls series, it gives good insight to the behind the scenes of the games, which i for one just find really interresting, and i bet others find it interresting too, keep up the good work :)

[@DioBrando-mr5xs]

Perhaps they were going to be used to show that even if the fire/darkness cycle is ending, a greater cycle is still in play. As gods and humanity bid farewell, dragons and their descendants return.

[@Stormandreas]

Amusing seeing these models now and having them ALL be used in Elden Ring as various Dragons. Even the Mother Dragon as Greyoll

[@greenhowie]

I like to imagine they did successfully program an actual Dragon but it broke free of its coding and went on a rampage, destroying most of the first build of DS3.

[@themonnamanshow]

Once again, perfect music for this sort of video!

[@zarakikenpachi7359]

you unravel and find cool stuff hidden in these cool games and use cool OSTs as well. This is basically the coolest channel ! can't wait to finish my ds2 playthrough as well to start watching your ds2 videos

[@Lepoetism]

I bet the unused content of the entire series is enough to make an independent game.

[@darkwhispersstories47]

Ds2 alone is enough for that

[@Lepoetism]

@@darkwhispersstories47 yes i know XD

[@Your3rdShadow]

It's interesting looking back at this post Elden Ring, you can absolutely see where they decided to repurpose many of these for the new game.

[@ScytheFly]

it actually makesense that we see very few dragon, they been hunted to extinction since the dawn of era but in DS3 we at the end of time

[@KarmaSpaz12]

That second model has those lumpy bits on it like Oceiros.

[@lixthewitch6718]

That dragon seriously skipped leg day.

[@spyrelionsol7683]

THANK YOU for explaining why Dragons and Wyverns are not the same. Love this channel a lot btw!

[@liligloo]

Absolutely love the twilight princess music

[@gygantomaxhia]

I don't know if anyone has pointed this out yet, but Yorshka and the dragon from 1:23 almost have the same type of tail

[@cmragg7649]

I would like to assume the dragon model that appears at the high wall was an early concept of Oceiros that maybe had a unique event, much like when Kalameet’s first appearance on the bridge.

[@Withers00]

Musical choices in these are always such a treat

[@mikepaul2289]

From not using the four winged model that looks like it’s sitting on the nest of branches, but making a new one to replace it shows they really wanted that aspect included, which really makes me wonder what it’s significance is. First time I saw it I was reminded of the dragon in ash lake on the nest of branches but there really isn’t any other details on this I can think of

[@michaeljhale23]

Elden ring decided to make up for it lol.

[@Skitz6969]

Man... That Zelda: Twilight princess theme got me feeling nostalgic.

[@SylvAlternate]

im gonna be honest, ive never realized dragons in dark souls have 4 wings

[@netkat7486]

You're videos have got me very interested in the dark souls franchise. One a few month back caught my eye and i have been hooked ever since.

[@halbarroyzanty2931]

It just hit me that by the time you find midir, there's probably no others like him left. how tragic that the very last dragon would grow tired and corrupted fighting for the long gone gods who slayed his kind

[@ArexMotion]

This got me very excited to see what they are doing with dragons in Elden Ring. Can't wait for you to make videos about ER!!

[@nightrunnerks]

These lads became Fortisax and Lanseax

[@gabebernhard4601]

Seems like there may have been a subplot about the return of the dragons. Like maybe with the end of the age of fire, there could be a return to the Age of Ancients

[@vj7248]

Thats the implication DS3 has with the pilgrim butterflies and the empty landscape seen in end of ringed city. In DS3 Alpha the skies of the dreg heap were filled with wyverns for example. So they def scrapped dragon stuff to make it more lowkey. I think the idea in general with DS3 is that cus the Age of Fire was prolonged artificially for so long the 'Age of Dark' and presumably the 'Age of Ancients' that would happen after all got fucked. Thus the 'natural cycle' explodes all at once to DS3's apocalyptic scenario.

[@adamm5054]

I love your videos, thank you.

[@giacomogiliberti2673]

0:28 could that be a modified version of sinh' s model?

[@musashimiyamoto8998]

So many dark souls channels yet tours is the ONLY one thats original. No other dark souls content creator can do this type of content and it's so refreshing to see, definitely the best Dark souls channel on KZbin or from soft in general 🙌🏽🙌🏽

[@artunerza7380]

so many dragon dragons in elden ring, praise be archdragons!

[@BoverdeseKnuttz]

Dude… don’t tell me they ended up using the untextured one for Lichdragon Fortissax…

[@MSte21]

The dragons are such a melancholy, tragic aspect of the games. It was probably the right call to only have them as remains and anomalies.

[@justsomewritingfan2202]

The Archdragon Peak Variant kinda gives me Vibes of an earlier version of the King of Storms. With all the four Wings, coded for Archdragon peak and sized for a boss arena. But thats probably just a coincedence given contradicting points.

[@theftking]

I'm always so fast to jump on this videos. Zul is the cool.

[@TardarSauce]

The only difference between a dragon & a wyvern are its legs & tail. All wyverns are dragons NOT all dragons are wyverns.

[@pituvir2618]

Glad to see that some of these are in elden ring

[@zer0_sign]

I love how you used the twilight princess soundtrack I actually wanna play it rn :3

[@colinouille2786]

I'm almost certain they repurposed that model for the dream dragon you fight in elden ring!

[@THExDUFFxBOMBx42777]

You know what? I like your videos, and Elden Ring is right around the corner. Subbed

[@TheReturnOfGeorgePingas]

This makes sense with the abyss serpent storyline that was mostly cut from the game.

[@uhhmary]

0:32 2 years later and suddenly the elden ring ancient dragons suddenly look a lot more familiar wtf

[@saladmancer4802]

Pretty neat thing considering there's cut content pointing towards a place underneathe Lothric. Maybe the unused Lothric dragon corpse was used for the descent into that location? Much like how some of the Ringed City assets were pulled from it.

[@Crimson_Samurai-h8q]

Gwyn and his knights laughing in the background

[@JL-tn1kv]

Music choice bringing back feelings of nostalgia

[@Rejoice.]

Twilight Princess was so good, I love when you use its soundtrack.

[@WingMaster562]

My mind just kept replaying that specific line from the intro cinematic in DS1, "and the dragons were no more"

[@jackpfefferkorn3734]

That's one change I really appreciate in Elden Ring. There was no campaign to wipe out the dragons, so there are dragons you can fight all over the place.

[@thesyndrome43]

I don't mind this change, it makes Midir all the more impactful because it's the first true, living dragon we have seen in the game, in a series where so much time has passed that we thought they might be all extinct; the fact that he was a dragon attuned to dark made it even more crazy

[@genghiskhan6809]

It all worked out because Midir was so badass

[@oldperson-ls3jc]

One of my favourite Zelda OST's!

[@Deadnight-ei6lp]

Looking at the unused model today, its kinda apparent that it was used in Elden Ring as its strikingly similar to the Ancient dragons.

[@greed94]

What's that smell? The sweet smell of mods years down the line, a bunch of dragons in the game. A man can dream, okay?

[@taylorsfine7864]

Coming back to this video after Elden Ring, that four winged dragon model is almost certainly the dragons like Fortissax and Lansseax. That means they were made back in like 2015 and finally used like 6-7 years later.

[@EternalMagikarp]

They took all the dragons we wanted in 3 and threw them at us in elden ring lol

[@TheKing-qz9wd]

The idea of the four wings and four legs escapes me.