To be forlorn is to despair, to be alone without purpose.

These are the souls drawn into the painting,

to the cold, gentle world of Ariandel

Some, like Elfrida, they lost faith in their duty

and some, like the followers, simply outlived their duty.

And others, like the Millwood Knights we'll be talking about in this video,

had their duty and their home taken from them.

Millwood is a land of primitive earth worship

and it's fabled knights were know to fight hand in hand with the earth itself.

This hammer, for example, with its head of naturally formed stone

and an attack that rips the earth up from under you, is simbolic of that
relationship.

In fact, the chieftain knights who we disturb in the painting,

would actually be more accurately called high priests.

Many of their heavy bronze weapons, for example, actually have a modest faith
requirement

and they were normally used in sacred rites, not battle.

Upon the blades of these weapons, like the battleaxe, is this symbol of the
ethereal oak,

a sacred tree, which is clearly at the heart of their civilization.

This tree appears on their weaponry, on their capes, on their shields,

and even their helmets are adorned with antlers believed to grow from the blessed
beast of the ethereal oak.

Judging from the horns, I think that would be a kind of a stag,

strange, right?

It's a very curious tree from all descriptions,

and it also appers to be a very bountiful tree,

considering they cut from it the horns for their helmets

and maybe even the wood for their shields.

I'm very confident that the ethereal oak is actually a spirit tree,

as they are described in other item descriptions,

for the word ethereal can mean: not of this world

and spirit trees have been referenced multiple times to be otherworldly, the things
of dreams.

In all the games, spirit trees are actually some of the kindest beings in the
series

for with every new spirit tree mentioned, we learn a little bit more about them

In dark souls 2, for example,

a spirit tree was said to have turned itself into a shield, to protect a small,
frightened child

In the sunken kingdom, we found one that repairs the weapons you hit it with

and, even in the Undead Settlement,

the Cursed Rotted Greatwood consumed the curses of the townsfolk, at its own
sacrifice

They're very selfless and noble beings, considering all the sacrifices they go
through

and here, to the Milwood knights, is this tree so bountiful,

that an entire society was built around it

Unfortunately, of course, according to the Milwood armour,

when the fabled Milwood Forest was discovered, it was a vacant ruin,

the only thing left, was the ethereal oak, stood rotting

It's said that arranged around the rotting ethereal oak, around the bases of their
civilization,

were the belongings of the Millwood knights

and they were arranged neatly on the ground

yet despite the ruin and the rotting tree, no corpses were found

And I believe the reason the description mentions that no corpses were found

is because the knights themselves, their being, not necessarily their belongings,

were drawn into the painting

but we'll get to that

So, what caused this?

What, or who, caused their forest to be brought to ruin?

Well, we find an answer in the Millwood Greatbows

which were crafted and wielded by the knights, so that thay could face their sworn
enemy
This sworn enemy was, and I quote, "the Abyss Dragon"

and the closest thing we have to an Abyss Dragon, in my opinion, in Souls lore,

is the Black Dragon Kalameet

which is an ancient dragon that spews abyss tainted flame and is known as the
bringer of calamity

So, for an abyss dragon who brought ruin to the Millwood forest,

I think that Kalameet, the calamitous dragon, certainly fits the bill,

don't you?

For posterity, I considered some other things,

I considered the Puss of Man, because it resembles a dragon,

but there are multiple Puss of Men and they already have a name and it's not 'Abyss
Dragon'

There's also Kaathe, a primordial serpent, and serpents are known as imperfect
dragons,

and he's an imperfect dragon who resides in the Abyss,

however, he doesn't really fit either.

The Millwood knights created Greatbows to take down this creature

and, you know, it makes a great degree of sense to think

that they would craft greatbows to shoot down giant flying beasts, such as Kalameet

and this exact thing has already happened, because it was Kalameet on the receiving
end of a greatarrow

in another forest, long ago

So this could be a sort of repeat of that scenario

in the same sense that so many other scenarios are repeated in Dark Souls 3

But regardless, right, whoever this dragon was,

even if it isn't Kalameet,

it would seem that their greatbows, they weren't enough to take this thing down

The Millwood forest was brought to ruin

and, according to their captain's ashes,

the Millwood knights lost the forest they called home and began a journey so long,

that even thoughts of their sworn enemy washed away, replaced by a vision of a cold
and brittle wood
The Knights, forlorn, withdrawn into the Painted World of Ariandel

and they likely found a home to wash away the trauma of their past and the terrible
things they've seen

a save place, at least until the unkindled ash comes to kill them all, promising...

Fire for Ariandel

Fire for Ariandel

Hey guys, thank you for watching,

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next week's video will be on the Corvians,

so see you then