The Nameless King May Not Live Up to His Title

The following was originally posted in this thread by pocketlint60, and all content contained is credited to them. Only minor changes were made to accommodate the difference in format. 

This post offers up a possible identity, and name, of the Nameless King.

via darksouls3.wikidot.com

So everyone and everyone's grandma knows that Gwyn's Firstborn is the ultimate source of

Dark Souls lore conspiracy theorizing, so I decided to offer my two cents.

First of all, here's the simple facts about the guy. Gwyn's Firstborn is:

• The oldest child of Gwyn, obviously.
• A god, obviously.
• Inherited the power of lightning from his father. Presumably he was "assigned" godhood of Sunlight after Gwyn became the first Lord of Cinder.
• Was a god of war.
• Was a dragon slayer, possibly the leader of Gwyn's Dragonslayers and mentor to Ornstein himself.

It's also very, very heavily implied that The Nameless King is the Firstborn we've been dying to see. Now you probably knew all that already; I just wanted to establish where I'm coming from. My theory is this: The Nameless King isn't nameless at all. His name is Faraam.

The description of the Faraam set reads:

"Helm named after a god of war. The armor of the Forossa Lion Knights was preserved even after the destruction of their homeland, and is mentioned in numerous legends, alongside the names of those who are said to have gone beyond death."

(Side Note: This description implies that the Lion Knights are a thing of the long past, but there's at least one left. Lion Knight Albert isn't named "Guy Wearing Forossa Armor Albert". It's also probably relevant that the knights of Lothric are Warrios of Sunlight.)

Now although DS2 implied that the nations of DS1 are long gone and forgotten, DS3 seems to think otherwise, combining elements from Dark Souls 2 with elements from Dark Souls 1. For example, the Red Tearstone Ring has this description in Dark Souls 1:

This red tearstone from Carim boosts the attack of its wearer when in danger.

In Ds2, it says this:

"Caitha, goddess of tears, mourns the undeserving dead, shedding tears as red as blood. It is said that the stone set in this ring is one such tear."

Now since Caitha wasn't mentioned in even a single item description in Dark Souls 1, you'd think this would be an inconsistency. However, Dark Souls 3 explains this very simply: Caitha is a goddess from or in Carim. Morne's ring says:

"A malformed ring given to knights of Carim. Morne served the goddess Caitha and later became an apostle of the Archbishop. They labored together to provide comfort to the suffering."

So we know that DS3's lore merges has no problems working Dark Souls 2 lore into Dark Souls 1 lore, even where they look incompatible. So back to Faraam, and the Firstborn. Now aside from the more obvious connection that Faraam was apparently a god of war just like the Firstborn, take a look at the engraving on the Faraam helmet. It's pretty simple (wouldn't wanna weigh down your helmet with a big fancy bas relief) but what it depicts is clear: a dragon slayer. So to recap, Faraam is a god of war associated with fighting dragons. Hm.

But wait, it doesn't end there. After you stabbed the Curse-Rotten Greatwood in the dick until it dies, you probably looted a certain shield, the Wargod Wooden Shield. Like any good Dark Souls player you probably read this item description off it:

"Wooden shield reinforced with metal. The largest of the wooden medium shields. The bizarre pattern featured on the shield is the mark of a mad god, revered as a god of war in remote regions."

This shield is also an item from Dark Souls 2, where it was called the Lion Clan Shield. The Lion Clan was a race of axe wielding humanoid lions, and you find them pretty close to where you find the Vengarl, a Forossan warrior who was fighting in Drangleic as a mercenary. The Lion Clan Shield says this:

"The design on the shield appears to have some religious significance, but we will never know what sort of gods these warriors answer to."

I wouldn't be too sure. My theory is this: Gwyn's Firstborn fought alongside his father and led the Dragonslayers as a sort of general. He later came to sympathize with the dragons and regret fighting them. He left his place in Anor Londo, switching sides, and possibly fathering Crossbreed Priscilla. For this betrayal, Gwyn had his identity removed from the annals of history. The Firstborn took on a new name, Faraam, and befriended a stormdrake. (Edit: A lot of people have asked why, if NK was a friend of the dragons, he's depicted fighting one on the Faraam Helm. I have no evidence for this, but it would make sense to me that the dragons wouldn't trust him at first. Maybe King of the Storm challenged him to a duel which NK won, and didn't kill him as a show of his lack of hostility. Now if I was a knight from Forossa, THAT would be something I'd immortalize on a badass medieval Boba Fett helmet. Again though, totally speculative.) On his new friend and mount, he fled Lordran to a far away land to the east...Forossa, where he was worshipped as a god of war, possibly a god-king, and continued to fight himself alongside his men. As Forossa became ravaged by the curse, the Lion Knights became mercenaries. Now this next part is extremely speculative, but I like the idea: According to the DS2 Collector's Edition Guide, the Lion Clan appeared suddenly, suggesting their origin isn't natural. It's possible that Drangleic butted heads with them, and perhaps would've hired mercenaries to deal with them. Filled with fear and awe at the sight of Faraam and his Stormdrake, they eventually began worshipping him in their own way, a way that humans have trouble understanding, which is why no one ever identified their god as Faraam. Perhaps the Lion Knights of Forossa even built the Sunlight Altar that you find outside Earthen Peak, but that's totally just my opinion with no evidence at all.

Now it might seem like a bit of a stretch to connect the Firstborn to so many groups, but take a look at the description for the spell you get from the Nameless King's soul:

"Once a slayer of dragons, the former king and wargod tamed a Stormdrake, on which he led a lifetime of battle. This miracle is likely a tale of their bond."

A lifetime of battle would probably mean the chance to travel the world, meet exotic people, and kill them.

Also, note that even though Nameless King is never explicitly confirmed to be Gwyn's son (even though it's very likely), but he is explicitly referred to as a wargod. It's especially interesting that it's written as "wargod" instead of "god of war"...just like the Wargod Wooden Shield.

Phwew. That was quite a wall of text. To be honest, I'm probably thinking about this more than anyone at From Soft, but I wasn't a huge fan of Ds2 and I like the idea that Ds3 actually managed to strengthen it's lore in some ways. It would explain why the Firstborn was apparently around this whole time, but didn't seem to be involved in Dark Souls 2 at all, and how there could be a new god of war when the old one never died or retired. I also always thought it was an interesting coincidence that the Forossa knights were called "Lion Knights", and they and the Lion Clan both have a connection to some kind of god of war, but I couldn't find anything to really support that.

Edit: So I've got tons of great support from everyone, and I wanted to add some stuff that people have pointed out in the comments:

• Ornstein being a LION Knight is especially interesting given the above.
• Some people seem confused by this, so let me make it clear: I am saying that The Nameless King is Faraam, and is also Gwyn's Firstborn. Apparently some people thought I was referring to NK and Faraam as different people.
• u/Aergnist wrote a similar theory. My favorite part is when he points out that the drake that guards the Sunlight Altar in DS1 may have been working for NK.

Edit 2: Oh man I feel stupid. I left out the most blatant information in my favor, the description of the Name Engraved Ring:

"There are countless vestiges of long-lost gods in the ruins of Drangleic. Or perhaps they are the very same gods as ours, only known by different names."

So yeah, even Ds2 wants you to think some of the similar gods are actually the same ones.