Part 30: Throne of Want
Why, hello there! Welcome to the final episode of my Dark Souls II Let's Play! (Well, the main game at least) I'm sure after watching you will be left with many questions. Some most of which I won't have satisfactory answers for. If one of those questions concerns the Throne of Want read on below. If not: Just ask in the thread (you can also do this regarding the Throne of Want as you no doubt will have questions I don't have answers for). Spoilers for the main game are A-Okay now, even if there's Lore stuff I haven't covered (there's plenty). If it concerns the DLCs, though, please abide by the spoiler policy in the op (spoiler tag them, but don't overdo it with the spoilers.) The Dark Soul icon next to the episode banner links the the weapon showcase, in case you care.
What the hell is the Throne of Want anyway? You don't know and I don't either. But we can still talk about it some. Since it's actually an object so important to the plot that it culminates in us sitting on it like we're the freaking king of the world. Why is it not properly mentioned anywhere in the game? Where did it come from? Where does it go? Is it comfy? What even is it?
We can safely assume that it is not comfy seeing as it's carved out of or into a large piece of rock. But we can merely speculate about the others. The origin of the Throne, for instance, probably lies wherever the giants are from. It may possibly be "the prize" that Vendrick brought back. the throne appears to be a human-sized chair carved into a giant-sized chair after all. So that's a reasonable guess. But the game doesn't outright tell us. For all we know it might have been in Dranleic this entire time. It doesn't look like something that would be easy to transport, to say the least. But the Giants did want it, probably.
Now, the question of all questions would, of course, be what exactly is the throne and why is it so important? Well, here's an item description that is very relevant but will not answer any questions, but raise even more of them.
Giant's Kinship
Each King has his rightful throne. And when he sits upon it, he sees what he chooses to see.
Or perhaps, it is the throne, which shows the king only what he wants.
We need this item to even gain access to the throne itself. Nashandra wont even bother to show up until we have the Giant's Kinship. Which seems like a pretty abstract thing to hold in your inventory. We all know that you don't gain Kinship of a race by killing it too, so it's kind of weird. Thing is Dark Souls II is not the best translated game, which is why the rerelease will feature updated item descriptions. But we already know that the original japanese for Giant's Kinship can be more literally translated as "Resonance with the Giants". This, of course, still doesn't give us answers, though.
My personal theory is that the throne of want is built on top of the Kiln of the First Flame from the first game. I mainly take this from the fact that the Emerald Herald, Shanalotte, tells us that we will be able to link the fire using the throne. Which is something that we had to do in the Kiln of the First Flame in Dark Souls. (Linking the fire means to re-ignite the first flame, denying an Age of Dark/Man by enabling another Age of Fire/Gods. The Age of Dark may actually also be the same as the Age of Ancients, seeing as the Age of Ancients was the time before fire existed, it may be what it takes to enable truly immortal beings rather than humans. Kaathe, the one who calls it an age of man in Dark Souls is definitely not human and has no actual business aiding humans. He's also a very enigmatic possibly lying creature. But now we're speculating in an entirely different direction)
But Yes, Shanalotte seems to want us to link the fire while Nashandra wants to prevent this. In the end it appears to be our decision whether we want to link the fire or to not do that. The game does nothing to show us what the outcome is. After the credits we are dumped back in Majula, where we can choose to explore the world as we left it, maybe find new things or to sit at the Bonfire and advance to the next cycle and start New Game+
Throne Watcher and Throne Defender
Another double team boss fight. Watcher and Defender aren't too different. Defender seems to be a little slower while Watcher does some crazy backflips and is faster. But they attack very much like you'd expect them to. Like with any other boss encounter that features multiple opponents the main issue lies in finding a good time to attack without being attacked by the other one. Just Kite 'em and wait for a good opening, really. But be wary of the edges of the room, because you just may fall off while kiting the two. To make things a little easier you can use ranged attacks so you don't have to run in every time a good opportunity presents itself. But the basic way you'd fight them is the same whether you choose close or long ranged attacks.
If you kill one of them they will kneel down. The other one will probably run up to them sooner than later in an attempt to revive them with full health. You'll have plenty of time to damage and kill them before they do that though. But there's nothing wrong with keeping their health about even to kill them at roughly the same time. But I've never actually had one revive the other myself.
Going by their names their task seems to be to make sure no one reaches the throne. or more specifically, that Nashandra doesn't reach it. But also no one else, why would they attack us otherwise? Surely, we are about sane enough to be reasoned with to some degree. But then again, their Soul icon is the same as Velstadt's a dark purple soul that appears to have been influenced by the Dark.
If you fight them before finding the Giant's Kinship you'll be left with nothing to do in the room. Once you have the Giant's Kinship though...
Nashandra
If you come here after killing the Watcher and Defender previously Nashandra will wait in the room for you. If you kill them after finding the Giant's Kinship Nahandra will enter the room after their death. The fight against her is pretty easy. The worst thing she can and will do is to summon a bunch of cursed orbs that will damage and curse you. But you can just attack them and they'll disappear. She'll summon them once at the start of the fight and then after they disappeared whenever she feels like it.
At close range she can use a couple of different swing combos with her scythe as well as an AoE blast you'll just have to run away from in time. At long to medium range she'll use one of two laser attacks. It'll either go straight ahead of her or shell sweep from your left to the right with it. It's easy to dodge through or away from in either case. You can use this as an opportunity to run in close and get in a couple hits or shoot her from a range in between the laserings.
I said she's pretty easy and this may or may not be an intentional design decision. Thing is, Nashandra may not necessarily care whether or not she survives. Her main aim is to curse us, to get us as close to Dark as possible before we sit upon the throne. In other words she wants us to be more likely use it to start an Age of Dark. Her being a fragment of Manus means that she is a being of Dark and would most likely benefit from that outcome whether her body gets destroyed here or not.
The Demon's Souls final boss was really easy to drive home the point that you've become the Demon fighting against a pathetic being that is struggling to even move now. In Dark souls the final boss was easy only if you chose to parry him, really, but people tend to view easy final bosses as a series tradition in any case.
Throne Watcher Soul
Soul of the Throne Watcher.
The throne of the King is sacred, and must be observed closely at all times.
Watcher Greatsword
Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Greatsword
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 74/185
Magic Damage (+0/+5): 60/150
Scales with: STR (E), DEX (D), MAGIC (B)
Requirements: 18 STR, 16 DEX, 15 INT
Damage Type: Slash, Magic
Special Ability: use L2 when two-handed to apply a magic weapon buff at the cost of some durability.
In-Game Description:
Greatsword wielded by the Throne Watcher. Unleash its true power to enwreath magic.
The Watcher has stood by the throne for ages. Will his wait be worth the while?
Note: The Throne Watcher is actually probably female. The body shape seems to indicate this and apparently the japanese text confirms this.
Watcher's Shield
Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Shield
Physical Defense (+0/+5): 95/95.6
Lightning Defense (+0/+5): 90/91.2
Stability (+0/+5) 40/48
Requirements: 8 STR, 11 DEX
Damage Type: You know what? Technically all shields do strike damage but who cares?
In-Game Description:
Small shield used by the Throne Watcher. Made from an old sacred chime.
The Watcher has stood by the throne for ages. Will his wishes be fulfilled?
Throne Defender Soul
Soul of the Throne Defender.
The throne of the King is sacred, and requires an appropriate guardian.
Defender Greatsword
Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Greatsword
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 80/200
Lightning Damage (+0/+5): 30/80
Scales with: STR (C), DEX (D), LIGHTNING (C)
Requirements: 20 STR, 12 DEX, 15 FTH
Damage Type: Slash, Lightning
Special Ability: use L2 when two-handed to apply a magic weapon buff at the cost of some durability.
In-Game Description:
Defender's Shield
Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Shield
Physical Defense (+0/+5): 100
Magic Defense (+0/+5): 70/73.7
Stability (+0/+5) 60/68
Requirements: 15 STR
In-Game Description:
Shield of the Throne Defender. Permeated by powerful magic.
The Defender has stood by the throne for ages. Will his wait be worth the while?
Note: This is one of the best medium-sized shields in the game. Stability really is the stat you're looking for when it comes to shields. Damage reduction is not really important. 100% physical are nice, other reductions are nice too but overall it doesn't matter as much as stability because stability is what allows you to take more hits before being guard broken.
Soul of Nashandra
Soul of Nashandra, Queen of Drangleic.
Nashandra was born of the Dark with an insatiable lust for strength.
Use the special soul of this prisoner of desire to acquire numerous souls, or to create something of great worth.
Scythe of Want
Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Reaper
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 104/260
Dark Damage (+0/+5): 120/200
Scales with: STR (D), DEX (B), DARK (C)
Requirements: 14 STR, 20 DEX, 18 INT, 18 FTH
Damage Type: Slash, Dark.
In-Game Description:
A scythe born from the soul of Nashandra.
The old one of the Abyss was reborn in death, split into miniscule fragments, and spread across the land. The pieces began to coalesce again, becoming human in shape
Bow of Want
Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Bow
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 40/100
Lightning Damage (+0/+5): 40/130
Scales with: STR (C), DEX (A), LIGHTNING (C)
Requirements: 9 STR, 20 DEX, 18 FTH
Damage Type: Strike, Lightning
Special Attack: Heavy off-hand attack causes a special durability depleting lightning attack I never showed off.
In-Game Description:
A bow created from the soul of Nashandra
The old one of the Abyss was reborn in death, split into miniscule fragments, and spread across the land.
The smallest of the pieces, sensing its own fragility, yearned for what it lacked.
Chime of Want
Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Chime
Lightning Damage (+0/+5): 100/122
Dark Damage (+0/+5): 100/130
Scales with: LIGHTNING (A), DARK (S)
Requirements: 15 INT, 40 FTH
Damage Type: Lighting, Dark
In-Game Description:
Sacred chime created from the soul of Nashandra. Greatly amplifies spells.
The old one of the Abyss was reborn in death, split into miniscule fragments, and spread across the land. The tiniest of these pieces, precisely due to its size, was the first to restore its form.
Help me do the remaining co-op parts of the DLCs (on PS3)
I'll do it tomorrow at about 22:00 GMT+1. Click here to see what time that is in your location. Before actually starting I'll make a post in the thread to let people know.
Crown of the Ivory King on New Game:
I currently have a Soul Memory of 3949580 which means that with your Name-engraved Ring set to Kremmel, God of Struggle you can be summoned by me if your SM is between 1,500,000 and 14,999,999
The DLC is entered through the Shrine of Winter, you'll find a set of Totems there. Place your summon sign in front of one of those.
Crown of the Old Iron King on New Game+(++++++++):
I currently have a Soul memory of 18,875,471 which means that with your Name-engraved Ring set to Kremmel, God of Struggle you can be summoned by me if your SM is between 2,750,000 and basically everything above that.
The entrance to the DLC is at the end of Iron Keep. In the Lobby head into the room on the left and place your summon sign in front of one of the totems there.