#artorius

Lawful Good: Princess’s Guard

For a given definition of “good” given how Gwynevere’s dad is a back-stabbing, paranoid monster, plus her illusion is just something made by her younger brother Gwyndolin to trick Undead into following the Chosen Undead lie. But The Princess Guard doesn’t go out of their way to bother anyone else unless they’re intruding on a very private sanctum in a city that’s tantamount to The Vatican. They help each other out with healing magic and, as far as I know, Gwynevere never did anything to hurt the masses (that we know of) and was pretty well-liked by everyone. A code of ethics and an overall pretty benevolent leader (or once benevolent? Maybe?) make them the best choice for Lawful Good.

Neutral Good: The Way of White

These guys could also qualify for Lawful Good, since lorewise, they take it upon themselves to escort maidens that are sent on holy pilgrimages through dangerous areas (unless you’re a spineless cretin like Petrus), and also serve a pretty rigid orthodoxy. Where the Neutral part comes in is that many players in The Way of White are just starting out on their journeys and want to be pointed in the right direction by other, more experienced players, and The Way of White helps with that, keeping invaders out while making it a bit easier to summon similarly aligned characters for assistance. The want to go one’s own way, while quietly keeping out of trouble whenever possible is why The Way of White lands in Neutral Good.

Chaotic Good: Warriors of Sunlight

These guys are here to help, and can often prove to be a beacon of hope in troubled times. But they also go where they want, help who they want and often don’t stick around in one place for long. They got their own quests to take care of, after all. They’re definitely the good guys, and probably the most outwardly supportive of the nine covenants, but they’re free spirits, and thus Chaotic Good.

Lawful Neutral: Blades of The Darkmoon

They have a duty, and that’s to hunt down sinners. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about Lord Umbra-omni the Blood Drinker who kills people for sport and pleasure, or someone that got booted from their covenant for breaking a rule by mistake, if you sin, you need to be punished. But if you keep your nose clean, they’ve got no reason to come after you, and might wind up being your lifeline if someone really nasty comes for you. Even if their leader is holding up a regime that is slowly killing the world, Gwyndolin doesn’t know any better, as his dad’s beliefs were beaten into his head from childhood, and overall, a covenant that’s specifically made to punish people who do wrong is a pretty upstanding thing to create. So the Blades land in Lawful Neutral.

True Neutral: Path of The Dragon

About as neutral as you can get, really. People in this covenant aim to strengthen themselves through 1 on 1 combat. And unlike some of the evil covenants, you need to actively summon them if you want to fight, so they won’t show up out of nowhere to kick your ass and take your stuff. Their morals are all about them getting stronger in order to become immortal, and they better themselves, for whatever reason they might have, in a fair and honorable way. True Neutral.

Chaotic Neutral: Chaos Servants

No, I didn’t just pick this covenant for Chaotic Neutral just because of their name. Their goal is pretty noble, gathering humanity for The Fair Lady to ease her pain. This can be done the normal way, by collecting it, beating bosses, stopping/challenging invaders etcetera. But on the other hand. Hey. You have humanity. Hand it over. Look at Kirk, he disguised himself as a Darkwraith simply because they had better humanity-gathering equipment, and he is a determined son of a bitch, invading you up to three times for some of that tasty humanity. The other thing that is quite chaotic about this faction is the whole… egg thing. Sure, a player can’t get another player sick with egg parasites, but all those worshippers very much can, and some of them are hostile regardless of your affiliation. The fact that there’s no real moral boundaries in how you get humanity, plus the fact that being near some of these guys could be enough to get you sick, lands them in Chaotic Neutral.

Lawful Evil: Forest Hunters

These guys were tricky, and honestly I think there’s a case for putting The Princess Guard or Way of White here instead since their leaders are so manipulative, but I think The Hunters fit here for a number of reasons. Unlike the Princess Guard, who are in an extremely difficult to reach hidden city you have to very definitely trespass in on purpose, these guys have their territory as part of The Darkroot Forest, which any shlub can wander into, and they rip any trespasser to pieces. Hell, unless you really know what you’re doing to get around them, you’re sure to run afoul of these guys without even meaning to before you even get the chance to pledge yourself to them. Sure, there is the fact that they’re guarding Artorius’s grave from robbers, which is pretty noble, but their leader Alvina doesn’t even seem to care much for Artorius, flatly telling people his legend is a lie (which is true, she was there) and not seeming to care all that much if you kill Sif and loot Artorius’s ring. I always got the impression Alvina just didn’t like humans all that much, and used this covenant as an excuse to keep the forest free of any human that didn’t promise to fight for her. The fact that they look out for one another and only guard one particular area makes them Lawful, but their general disregard for human life and the “stab first, ask questions later” mentality makes them rather Evil in my eyes.

Neutral Evil: Darkwraiths

These guys are bad news, plain and simple. They want humanity, and will kill anyone for it. They dress like grim reaper knights and will ambush people just about anywhere. Their leader, Kaathe, raises some good points if you manage to speak to him. Gwyn is a massive coward that messed up the entire world because he didn’t want give up his power, and is using you, the player, as another piece of wood to throw on a fire that should have gone out ages ago. But, this is Dark Souls, so Kaathe is also responsible for probably the single most dangerous being in the story, Manus, going berserk and spreading The Abyss throughout the world, as well as teaching humans how to basically eat each other’s souls in order to become even stronger, all to force an Age of Dark. Darkwraiths’ wanton stalking and killing of people to boost their own abilities puts them squarely in Neutral Evil.

Chaotic Evil: Gravelord Servants