At long last, we have the first confirmed kill on an Archdemon: The Dragon God of Stonefang Tunnels. Only three more before we can finally take on the final boss in Boletaria and bring an end to the Old One’s wakefulness.
With that in mind, let us continue our journey.
Thumbnail by Sam Callahan.
As promised, the wiki entry for the Talisman of Beasts.
While the tradition of using item descriptions to tell players about the world’s lore didn’t really take off until Dark Souls, there are pieces of it that you can see here in Demon’s Souls, and the Talisman of Beasts is a prime example. When you save both Sage Freke and Saint Urbain, both of them begin to talk disparagingly of the other while in the Nexus. This stems from Saint Urbain’s belief that the Soul Arts are immoral, and an evil bastardization of the miracles he is capable of.
But the Talisman of Beasts reveals a truth that flips that belief on its head. Specifically, it tells us that the God he prays to in order to unleash his miracles is, in truth, the Old One. As we already know, the power of the Old One is the power of the Soul Arts, the use of human souls as a catalyst for extraordinary feats. While Saint Urbain believes his miracles are the antithesis of the magic practiced by Sage Freke and Yuria the Witch, the truth is that both magic and miracle are one and the same. Both of them are just different schools of the Soul Arts: Two sides of the same coin.
It’s a detail that will totally escape the notice of most players, at least in their first time through the game. However, that only adds to the mystique of the Soulsborne series. The fun is in the discovery, and there’s almost always more secrets to discover.
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