"Welcome to the bonfire, Unkindled One. I am a Fire Keeper. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee."
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Hey everyone. \[T]/
The main idea and motivation to do this cosplay, other than my love for the Dark Souls series of course, sprouted from me wanting to add some extra flair to the recording of my Gwyn, Lord of Cinder - Harp Duet (You can see it here:
https://youtu.be/ZAEs5Dwt0bYy). Since Dark Souls is a game that thematically revolves around the never-ending ebb and flow of fire and dark, I found it important to try to capture this in my screenshots. I've never done an extensive screenshot session before but I did my best.
Finding the appropriate grey dye for her robes turned out to be quite the task, as the greys would always look too brown, too blue, or too black, but when a friend commented that I should try checking out the green hues more, everything clicked.
Warbeast Cowl was an obvious choice here, the cosplay would be far less recognisable without it. One of the Revenant starter blindfolds is closer, but light armour is a must for this look. Still makes me a little sad that I can't use this
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/4/47/Unique_norn_female_hair_side_6.jpg/170px-Unique_norn_female_hair_side_6.jpg hairstyle, as it is absolutely perfect for the Fire Keeper, but I don't have any light armour Norns and in general she is a bit too petite-looking to be appropriate as a Norn.
Trappings of the Lich is the only skirt that really captures the length and flow of the Fire Keeper's skirt. The eye detail on the skirt is a shame, but it doesn't break the aesthetic for me. I considered using Foefire Wraps for some fiery gloves, but that probably would've been "too much of a good thing", considering I after all made her an Elementalist just for the fire effects. On top of having spent 400g to get the Koda's Warmth Enrichment, it probably would've been over the top. Boots are not specified because they almost never show anyway so it doesn't matter.
Fire Keeper doesn't carry any weapons in Dark Souls III but I decided to look for appropriate ones anyway. Found the Courage focus and it was probably at that point I decided that I couldn't NOT do this cosplay - it was too perfect as an Estus Flask look-alike. Dark Souls Estus Flask description reads:
"The Undead treasure these dull green flasks.
Fill with Estus at Bonfire. Fills HP.
The Estus Flasks are linked to the Fire Keepers. The Dark Tales also make reference:
An emerald flask, from the Keeper's soul. She lives to protect the flame, and dies to protect it further."
Which further solidified my decision to use the focus. Firebringer, though a tad short, was the only main-hand weapon I liked for this look (there's other fiery swords but I didn't like how rugged or unelegant most of them were).
Other than this, I also went all in and bought a full set of Superior Runes of the Fire, Superior Sigils of Fire, as well as Dark Souls-appropriate trinkets like the Charred Back Warmer, Jar of Lost Souls, Althea's Ashes etc. In my inventory there are also items such as Eternal Flame, Sun God's Gift (Gwyn!), Ashes of the Effigy, Burning Ember, Heart of Fire. If you come up with any other ones that would be nice to have, however useless the items themselves are, let me know. I am fully dedicated. I love Dark Souls so much. I even changed her name to "Flame Tender" just for this cosplay. If I take off her mask, you'd also see that she's blind, just like the real Fire Keeper. Hope you enjoyed the look!
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"Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?"