#allant

Fat Officials (太った公使, "Fat Ministers") are one of, if not the, most iconic enemies in Demon's Souls, and these vile beings are one of the clearest examples of the malice and cruelty of mankind.

Their origin is, at first glance, uncertain, as they appeared seemingly out of nowhere just before the Second Scourge, as the description on their hat says.

Hat worn by the King's ministers. If you just have this hat, you too can become a minister!

The Fat Ministers who appeared immediately before the demons spread their tendrils and gained the favor of King Allant oppressed the populace with a smirk.

That hat has, as their despised symbol, become entirely the object of the populace's resentment, it is said.

Indeed, we can see this oppression carried out by them everywhere, and since they constantly laugh, it is clear that they enjoy their actions. In Stonefang, they use whips and watch over the abused Scale Miners. In Boletaria, they mock the deaths of their own soldiers, and something in particular happens to Yuria the Witch as well. She in particular was taken aside and taken to an isolated tower, and to access it we need a blood-stained key (dropped by a minister guarding some cells) and also to wear the Hat, so that the minister inside the tower mistakes us for one of his peers and lets us through.

If we try to talk to Yuria wearing the hat, she'll mistake us for another minister as well. And given the fact that she's secluded in an isolated location for the mnisters only, and her dialogue, it's pretty much implied that she was tortured and abused not just physically, but also, yeah.

"...Who's that? ...Another one again, is it... Well, do as you like. But I doubt there's much to gain beyond this scrawny body."

We have a hint of these ministers' presence in Latria as well. After all, Allant's younger brother Rydell was imprisoned by one very early during the Second Scourge (if not right before) inside Latria.

"The key to this cell was taken away by one of the King's ministers quite some time ago. The black pig was shaking his fattened belly all the while..."

Likewise, the ministers are rudimentary mages, using two basic fire spells: Ignite, and Flame Toss. The fact that they know how to use spells indicates that they got involved with magic and Soul Arts under the reign of the twelfth Allant, and the Japanese description of Flame Toss (火線, "Fire Line") gives us some insight into their origin:

A standard magic. Releases a fire line.

The fire line explodes when it hits the target, dealing flame damage.

Considered to be the first magic to be learned by common magicians.

So, the ministers were originally commoners, ordinary people, until King Allant gave them favor and power to do whatever they want, which explains why they now wear extremely ornate robes, and why they hold such a high position. However, Biorr says that these ministers "sully the authority of the King" with their actions.

"Those black flies, sullying the authority of the King as they please..."

Allant was a person that despised malice, why did he give favor to such evil people? What Biorr doesn't know, having been far to the south with Ostrava, was the change in perspective that Allant experienced.

Let's remember Allant's vision. In his old age, he became depressed and maddened by the malice that rots the world, and so he seeks to end it all by means of the demons. However, the Boletarian Empire was already quite strong, and now that it had magic, even more so, so he was going to need to weaken it. That's where the Fat Ministers come in, random commoner mages to whom he gave favor and freedom to do whatever they wanted. And with these benefits, the newly-appointed ministers gave free rein to their cruelty, enjoying the process. Thus, the Boletarian Empire was weakened from within, leaving everything ready for the demons to quickly wipe it all out. Besides, to Allant, the world was already rotten anyway, so what did a little more cruelty matter? Also, the fact that the ministers were originally commoners, ordinary people, only reinforced his point.

Keystone left by the demon "Tower Knight".

Large and small streets pile up in a complex manner in Boletaria Castle's keep, set off by a large gate. The hated ones who embody Old King Allant's madness, the Fat Ministers, are lying in wait, no doubt.

Later, when the Colorless Fog came, the ministers were mutated by it (just like the Valley's Depraved Ones), based on the general perspective on them. Thus, they became inhuman beings, with white eyes and purple-silver skin, their voice became demonic and distorted. With the Colorless Fog, they also gained enormous strength, thanks to these mutations.

Long-handled large axe having a blade in the form of a crescent moon.

Weapon of the Fat Ministers with faint smiles. Quite heavy, demonstrating that the arm strength of the ministers who wield these is extraordinary.

However, they are not excused from the demons' slaughtering. First off, as Biorr well states, the Fat Ministers are soul-starved, even though they still command soldiers and enjoy the cruelty they inflict.

"Black flies sucking up to His Majesty! Even starvation hasn't changed their lowly nature!"

We get the key to Rydell's cell from a corpse. There are two Black Phantoms of them on the third level, indicating that they died leaving negative emotions behind. One of the ministers we pursue throughout the third level of Boletaria is eventually brutally ambushed and impaled in the back by the Penetrator, receiving a bit of a taste of his own medicine.

It is also worth noting that, given the context, the strange male vocals we hear "laughing" during the OST piece belonging to both the Tower Knight and the Penetrator fights, are actually the laughs of the Fat Ministers, laughing at our perilous situation.

“Le grand Incendie de Londres, tel qu’il s’écrit, est fortement influencé par le peri ideon d’Hermogène le Rhéteur. Il serait plus exact de dire que c’est moi qui ai choisi “l’Idée” hermogénienne de vitesse (aussi qualifiée de “vélocité”, “rapidity“, celeritas, “vivacité”, ou “presstezza” par les différents commentateurs de la Renaissance), pour lui faire jouer un rôle central dans ma stratégie rhétorique. En premier lieu, c’est vrai, par curiosité, parce qu’elle est selon toute vraisemblance une innovation d’Hermogène, un de ses apports les plus marquants à la tradition, ce qui lui donne l’attrait indéniable de la rareté. Mais aussi, mais surtout parce qu’elle a été sentie telle à la Renaissance, dans la poésie anglaise et italienne où j’ai d’abord (dans mon ignorance honteuse de l’Antiquité gréco-latine) découvert son existence (et en premier lieu chez Giulio Camillo Delminio, auteur d’un traité sur le “théâtre de la mémoire”). La place de cette Idée, d’ailleurs centrale aussi dans la géométrie de l’exposition rhétorique puisque, quatrième des sept Idées, elle est flanquée de deux triples : Clarté, Grandeur et Beauté à l’avant – Ethos, Vérité, et Gravité en arrière). Une “vie brève” et fabuleuse d’Hermogène (genre par excellence du style de la vélocité), due Philostrate (que j’accélère encore, et compactifie, tout en négligeant le fait qu’elle parle peut-être d’un autre Thermogène, dit le Sophiste, que M. Patillon ne veut pas confondre avec le Rhéteur) constitue une illustration de cette interprétation, et pleine de “suavité” (ou “dolcezza”, ou “saveur” : une autre belle “idée” du peri ideon. Je m’autorise du traité pour la faire servir à l’ethos de mon ouvrage, comme “composant” de la véridicité) : Hermogène, né à Tarse, avait à quinze ans une si grande réputation de sophiste que l’empereur Marc-Aurèle se déplaça pour l’entendre. Mais à vingt ans, il perdit d’un coup son don, en apparence de manière naturelle. “Où sont donc, lui disait-on, tous tes discours ailés? Ne sont-ils pas envolés de toi à la vitesse des oiseaux?” Il mourut âgé, pauvre, inconnu, car on cessa de penser à lui dès que son art le quitta. Quand on ouvrit son cadavre, on vit qu’il avait le coeur plus gros que la normale, et couvert de poils.” Sturm, traduisant Hermogène en latin en 1571, parle de l’idée de vitesse en des termes qui évoquent le courant impétueux du fleuve, et ses eaux “froides” (comme on dit dans le “Lancelot en prose”). C’est une qualité qui rend vivantes les eaux de la parole qui sans elle se transformeraient en mare stagnante. Mais comme il suffit parfois de regarder fixement le fleuve pour empêcher son image de couler, comme le courant, même rapide, fuyant trop glissement, à la longue, semble lent et presque immobile, il faut l’interrompre par quelque interpolation d'”hirsutes“, les mots et les sons par excellence de la vélocitas.”

Portrait d'une femme indienne en noir et blanc, style de Cristina McAllister

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