Long may the Sun shine!

On the outside, it depicts 8 rays - the customary amount of sunrays for the royal family:

On the inside, it depicts a flower of 16 petals:

This must be the Chrysanthemum of 16 petals - a symbol of Japanese Imperial family in real world, a symbol of Gwyn's royal family in Dark Souls' setting:

@ornsteinbignaturals How does it feel to be the only Dark Souls fan whose opinions actually matter?

@ekstra-bullshit @hollowwaterfairy dsfhfdghgfds As much as I'd like to just answer 'autism', the real answer is a bit different. xD I have no imagination as an artist or writer, so instead of imagining I "figure things out". Thus, when I design or write a character, I have to base it (especially design) on something existing, and this, in turn, led me to develop a habit of noticing and picking up every single detail that could be of use!

I'm uploading my old two big zines from back in the day for DS3 and BB's birthday. Please heed the warnings for the second one, you can download it from my itchio enjoy

I was talking with @armorenthusiast about the disco horse about Japanese original script vs localisations because whereas some people claim that English script itself came first, others take Japanese script puritanism to the point they deny that Lost Sinner is female character. So here is the rough rundown on how much scrutiny localisations deserve so far:

Demon's Souls and Bloodborne: Nothing about English localisation is approved or should be seen as canon, Sony hired random people to adapt the text and not people in actual contact with Fromsoft. In fact, they straight up make shit up? From only approved of English voice acting itself, like lines delivery, but had no impact on the script. Demon's Souls adaptation is in fact done by one guy that was tired and underpaid and is broken in every spot (bonus points for Remake not even bothering to fix the mistakes if not making them worse) and Bloodborne's adaptation made Gehrman a drooling incel which has nothing to do with the character Fromsoft themselves wrote and missed a lot of important nuances.

Bloodborne Japanese script (with retranslations and notes from not one but TWO fluent speakers): ( x )

Demon's Souls Japanese script: ( x )

Dark Souls 1 and 3: Localised mostly by one guy who is Miyazaki's close friend, almost all changes and liberties were properly communicated and approved by Miyazaki himself! he didn't review EVERY single minor description, sure, so there are cases of misgendering or bold assumptions in small places but when it comes to overall lore we technically have two versions: Japanese and English. TECHNICALLY! I still think omitting that Aldrich ate his own children and omitting that Anri and Horace are siblings was ultimate chicken move lol The rule with them is: when English and Japanese descriptions do not contradict/exclude one another, both can be concidered as canon!

Dark Souls 2: Very similar thing as Dark Souls 1 and 2, just that Miyazaki wasn't involved. But otherwise there was SOME communication. For example, Lost Sinner specified as female character in localisation whereas Japanese script omitted it was an instruction by DS2 team and even Japanese fandom agrees that this specification makes way more sense within the lore, but in some places Dark Souls 2 has ABSURD mistakes (like accidentially localising the same name twice thus splitting one character into two). Other times the changes are useless (like hiding Pursuer's name for no reason). So the instructions to localisations were minimal and some were done as fixes in side materials or SotFS edition, but where they were? They sure counted.

As general rule for gendering: When character's gender is omitted in Japanese (their language allows it, it isn't the same as they/them pronouns or individuals that do not use pronouns) localisations almost always default to a 'he', and it is easy to do because usually gender is omitted for very obscure characters who you may not even meet. Like, Pharis or Durgo were never a he, Dores was never a he, etc etc etc. In Dark Souls 2, Japanese script omitted Gods' genders using neutral 'kami' for everyone and Lost Sinner, however these were commucated with localisations to specify who is God and who is Goddess and to not mess up their iconic girlboss but mistook Throne Watcher for a he at first and only fixed it later. Other times, gendering goes beyond in other languages; Hilde from Elden Ring was never gendered in Japanese OR English, but gendered languages such as Italian or French used feminine terms and with how strict Elden Ring's localisation was that too likely was an instruction.

Website for all Dark Souls parts Japanese script: ( x )

Elden Ring trilogy: Little to no mistakes in localisation, easily the most scrupulously revieved localisation up to date. The only odd things I can think of is inconsistency between Ranni stating her motivations vs how she speaks in her ending or omitting that Marika had at least one bastard Demigod child but otherwise the most competent adaptation yet. The general rule is to not get TOO caught in the semantics as often some inconsistencies that can be pointed out do not really change anything about understanding lore or characters. And when the dealbreaker for the theory is which specific synonym is used, THEN it is better to consult Japanese script!

Elden Ring's Japanese script (with notes): ( x )

Shadow of the Erdtree Japanese script: ( x )

(If anyone knows where to find all of Japanese script for Nightreign in one place let me know please so I'll add this here too! So far I've been just finding Japanese text for each line individually via Japanese websites!)

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To think of it, if Djura was a Dark Souls character, he would've been one of THE biggest haters of the Abyss Watchers (which is incredibly based)!

The thing about Beasthood in Bloodborne is that it is not created by the Holy Blood but unleashed by it. What you fear is not the Holy Blood itself but the fact that it "connects" you with what you really are! What ALL humans are!

And after you've witnessed and known it, who can possibly tell if you will be able to stop at only the "acceptable" advantages the Communion provided and restrain yourself?

But in Dark Souls terms, Beasthood is the Darkness within men. A Darkness that is and was always natural for them, the thing no one "gave" them. Beasthood is this:

I'd say Gods' fear was not completely unfounded, but rather that their fallacy was failing to understand how much the line really is blurred. Gods believed that just because they as a species are not capable of turning into a monster it meant they were not capable of monstrous acts, and this was the true fault at Gwyn's and others' logic. Gods have done terrible things... Lloyd especially was notoriously a terrible person.

In Bloodborne, no one is "protected" by the blur of their species! Not even the Great Ones, as even Flora jumps on its four and becomes very beast-like in its second phase! What Bloodborne characters do operate with is believing themselves to be too holy, civilised or righteous to turn into Beasts... Likewise, missing the point that you do not need the literal transformation to be a monster by your actions!

The Hunter's Nightmare first location has a very awesome display of it, actually! The blood-drunk Old Hunters furiosly attack the beasts that do not even fight back and simply back away in fear, but when they're done? They will attack YOU, the fellow Hunter! There is no doubt in it about who is the REAL beast here!

Needless to mention that red-eyed variant of these Hunters drop Vermin, which is another setting's evidence of the total moral failing on deeply spiritual, visceral level that has nothing to do with what you transformed into.

Djura's point is not to forsake the Hunt altogether, but that killing beasts for the sake of killing is wrong as the beasts in Old Yharnam won't go outside to hunt the citizens. He even gives the Hunter his own Hunter's badge, something he knows will aid them in the Hunt as someone who once dreamed! He knows some beasts should be killed... The dangerous kind of beasts, that will kill their own just to kill.

But... again, doesn't it sound familiar? It sounds EXACTLY like what the Hunter would be doing if they didn't agree to spare the beasts of the Old Yharnam and went to hunt them anyway! Djura doesn't draw the distinction on whether you are a human or a beast, they are just different transformation stages of the same concept... However, he draws the distinction on whether human or beast "behaves" or doesn't.

Abyss Watchers not only unapologetically borrow aesthetics, looks, blood covenant thing and fighting style from the Bloodborne Hunters (because we all know Miyazaki had the worst post-Bloodborne hangover while creating Dark Souls 3) but they also seem to be specifically "that" type of the Hunters! The type that will hunt people not because the Abyssal Darkness exposure made them dangerous but because there was that exposure at ALL! Once again, the exact same fallacy of blaming one's capacity for harm and evil on some concrete, artificial distinction.

And what if someone behaves mindlessly aggressive just like the typical Abyss-transformed Monster but is still a human? Should they be let go because this isn't Abyss or they should be hunted too? But if there is no distinction between whether Abyss corrupted you or not and everyone with the Darkness in their nature (so, every human) is capable of acting the same way does it mean that ALL humans need to die?

Well, you know, this IS literally what happens with them!

Djura is like, just capable of understanding this much: that the distinction is completely made up and pointless and the only qualifier for hunting someone is if they possess active, real threat. Not about whether they physically transformed into something else. He could have even been an Abyss Watcher formerly and now a detractor but not same as Hawkwood! Like, cool detractor! Detractor that found a kind of an Oolacile to protect with the gatling gun aimed at anyone who as much as breathes in its general direction in a funny way!

(...granted, considering that CONSTANT reuse of character tropes is completely authentic for Fromsoft's universes, could be more sensible to make an OC based on Djura's trope than just put him here fdshfhd)