Lord Gwyn

I love Dark Souls. The confusing lore and the fantasy setting just did it for me, so it didn't take long for me to decide that i would try to create some characters. With Gwyn having heavy impact on the story overall he would be the first to be recreated.

You may know Gwyn from Dark Souls, but you can only fight him in his hollowed form, stripped from the mighty strength he once posessed. I wanted something different, so i asked myself: What would Gwyn look like before his rise to power, before he became a god? The lore indicates almost nothing about the events before Gwyn found the lordsoul inside the first flame. In my opinion Gwyn was just a human who grew so powerful that others considered him to be a godly entity. He united many races against the powerful everlasting dragons. A king, a ruler, never to be matched again.

Since i started playing Guild Wars 2, i realized that there are many similarities between GW2 and Dark Souls. Ancient everlasting dragons are enemies and the key to defeating them lies in a crystaldragon who betrays his own kind (Seath/Aurene).

Thats where i begin my story.

Gwyn was once a loyal follower of Kormir and a sunspear, devoted to reach glory. He always had an affinity to lead troops and unite people around him. When the awakening of the dragons began he was drafted into the forces that would defend Tyria. On a mission leading a corps of sunspears, he found Kormirs Library. Within he gained knowledge about the power of the sun and how to wield it, just like Kormir. Shortly after he found the thing that would change him forever. The devoted follower found proof that the gods had left Tyria long ago. Instead of falling in despair, Gwyn felt angry. All his devotion, what was it for? He made a decision. He would become a god, a shepherd for the common folk, someone people in dire need would send their prayers to. How far was he planning to go for that goal?

After forming a pact and rising up to be its leader, he fought the dragons with his new found powers. Zhaitan died in his Lair in the newly risen Orr. Mordremoth could be bested in his own Dreamrealm. But Kralkatorrik would prove a challenge. Even after uniting Elona, he still wasn't strong enough to damage the dragon. The only hope lied in the crystaldragon Aurene. He trained dayli with her to learn to coordinate their attacks to stand a chance against the Kralkatorrik. But time was not on his side. Kral managed to grow too strong by devouring the souls in the mists. The duo was no match for him and in the final fight he killed Aurenen who tried to save her master Gwyn. With nothing to stop him, Kral managed to unleash enough energy to bait out the other Elder dragons who would shape Tyria beyond recognition. Many races died out and the dragons reached their goal. Mankind was on the brink of extinction.
Gwyn, devoted to reach his goal used the despaired mankind for his own goals. He decided he hadn't gone far enough. In an attempt to create a powersource to end the reign of dragons he sacrificed all humans who weren't blindly loyal to him to Kormirs flame. This sacrifice would create the Lordsoul. Using its almost infinite power, he revived Aurene(who lost her memory in death and would later become Seath), empowered his followers to be able to kill the dragons. In a big war, that would destroy Tyria almost completely, he managed to hunt the dragons and terminate them all. Their reign was over. The survivers of that war then turned to Gwyn to lead them as a king.

A king needs a land and Tyria had been completely destroyed. Restoration had to happen and so the rebuilding phase begin. The result of that phase was a Land built on the ruins of Tyria. Honoring their king they named it after his title Lord. Lordran was born.

To provide for his people and reach his goal of Godhood he decided to go even further.
He utilized his power to place a curse on all of the remaining followers of him, the only ones spared being his family. The curse would alter their memories to hid the gruesome things Gwyn did during the war. Under his rule the history of Tyria in form of books and scrolls would be burned so that no one would ever know what really happened. He forged his own story, and shortly after, people would begin to worship him as a god. That's when the Age of Fire began.

That's when the curse backfired. People struck by the curse were immortal, after death they would revive with less and less soul in them. They would forget who they are and turn into mindless, zombielike creatures. Gwyn tried to revert that process, but he used almost all power living in the Lordsoul he created. The curse couldn't be undone. Seeing his kingdom crumble after everything he reached, a great despair had befallen him. With no people to rule over, he felt redundant. In a final try to empower the Lordsoul to his old glory, he sacrificed his own soul to the flames. Henceforth he was known as the Lord of Embers and the story of the chosen undead would begin.

I got the whole idea by doing a challenge with a friend: Who would forge his legendary sword first? Me as Gwyn finishing Sunrise first or him as Gael finishing Twilight.
Be sure to check him out too: https://gw2style.com/look.php?id=16393
We will make sure to keep you up to date about the challenge.