Putting Names to Built Things: Naming the Architecture and Ornament of Dark Souls and Bloodborne [Part 1]
âJust Dark Souls? Not Demonâs Souls?â If anyone wants to take HQ screenshots for me, sure. Until then, itâs sadly not gonna factor into this review.
Iâve had lots of ideas, some already expressed, about how to integrate my knowledge of and an interest in architecture with these games, and one of them was to run through sites and define just what exactly is being seen. For me, thereâs an inherent pleasure to being able to pick out something and conceptually delineate it, but I think the really fruitful result of learning whatâs what is that you can see how itâs iterated upon (besides the obvious benefits for a person whoâs an architect or architectural artist). Thereâs an undeniable pleasure to simply experiencing a setting with minimal formal comprehension. If you want more than that, though, you might like this series.
Above: a gateway right before the Undead Settlement, from Dark Souls 3.
1. Those projecting brackets are corbels. If the rows of them werenât ornamental, the gaps in between would be identifiable as machicolations (sometimes going by the much better name of MURDER HOLES), whose purpose is offensive and defensive. Heavy objects or molten liquid could be expelled from holes between the gaps, and the corbels themselves defended against enemy projectiles.
2. These arches are known as blind arches because they lack actual openings or significant recessions. In effect, theyâre a sort of referential ornament. Blind arches or blind windows can also be arches or windows which once served as actual apertures and were later filled up with brick or stones.
3. Likewise, while this succession of arches would just be an arcade if they stood apart from a wall and formed a free-standing screen, they are a sculpted detail of the wall and also have defined columns, and thus form a blind arcade.
4. This is a parapet (a low wall placed to protect against a sudden fall) â specifically, a crenellated battlement, because it alternates between raised portions (merlons) and indentations (embrasures).
All told, these details have defensive/fort-like suggestions, and itâs super easy to pick up on that even without naming the bits. The Undead Settlement proper has its own gateway, but the fact that itâs preceded by all this gives its isolationist air a thicker scent.