The Witch of Izalith is a mentioned character in Dark Souls.
Description
Similar to the Furtive Pygmy, she is only seen once in the game, in the opening cutscene that shows her claiming her soul. In this scene, she appears to be a towering being with blue lips and ashen skin, hands burnt from extracting her soul from the First Flame. She wears a much more refined version of the clothes her children wear, and is visibly taller than both her children and the catalysts they used, likely being able to draw upon her soul without such a tool.
Lore
The Witch of Izalith was one of the Lords, the four beings who discovered the manifestations of disparity within the First Flame, hers being the Life Soul. As her very soul embodied the ideas of life and heat, she became the first flame sorcerer, and used her soul to generate flame. At some point before this, she became the mother of "The Witches of Chaos," whom were thought to be her biological children. Giving pieces of her soul to her children, they joined in the war against the Dragons, and used their power to weave great firestorms to defeat them.
After this was over, she and her children are thought to have settled in their home city of Izalith, but whether or not she actually ruled the city is difficult to discern. In response to the fading of the First Flame, she attempted to use her Life Soul to generate a new one, believing that it could replace the first when it faded. To this end, she generated a new flame in Izalith, known as the Flame of Chaos. Though she was initially able to manage the flame, her attempt to replace an established component of the world did not succeed, and the flame began to become unstable. Tangled by the hands of witches, none were able to calm the flame, and the Witch of Izalith was killed when it grew too fierce. Using her soul to fuel itself, it spread throughout Izalith, killing many of the citizens. It consumed her body, molding it into a seedbed, and from it the Chaos Flame manifested as the twisted being known as the Bed of Chaos.
From the Bed of Chaos, the flame used the Life Soul to forge a parody of life itself, and birthed flaming creatures that would become known as Demons. Many who were taken by the Chaos Flame were transformed into demons of a similar but varied nature, and most of her children were taken as well. Her only son became a sorrowful, pustulating creature of Chaos flame, while two of her daughters managed to partially escape: Quelaag and Quelaag's Sister. Their lower bodies morphed into demonic spiders, but from the waist up they were spared, and Quelana managed to escape completely. The knights of Gwyn would battle the demons of Izalith, but were unsuccessful in defeating them, and instead took measures to prevent the majority of them from leaving the city. Many who had retained sanity after their corruption, such as the remaining Daughters of Chaos, are thought to have also consented to their imprisonment.
After a certain period, Quelana encountered a human named Salaman, who was able to perceive her form despite her nature. In virtue of this, she removed his natural human fear of flame, and taught him a method by which he could hope to control the uncontrollable power of fire. The teaching was successful and her pupils became the first pyromancer, and Quelana became the mother of Pyromancy. The pyromancies that were learned by Salaman manipulated lava, as they were learned from a Daughter of Chaos, but he would instead teach his students other methods of flame manipulation. His most accomplished pupil was Carmina, who was among the first to take pyromancy into fields that had almost absolutely nothing to do with flame, but rather life. Now most pyromancers, those that can manipulate both life and heat, reside within the Great Swamp and revere the Witch of Izalith and her children as their gods.
Despite the bed's eventual destruction, the Chaos Flame itself is said to have coalesced under the kingdom of Eleum Loyce, where it burned despite the efforts of the inhabitants. Eventually the Ivory King himself would descend into the flames, but he was corrupted as well.
In present time, both the bed and the flame have gone out, and the demons are now endangered due to their race no longer being generated. While some demons wandered the lands, with some communicating with the other races and working alongside them, such as the gatekeeper of Lothric, their own Chaos essence is burning fast. Many live to this day in a secret city of demons, found amidst Izalith's decrepit structures, most of its citizens being demons and corrupted Izalith citizens. The current ruler of the demon city sits alone amidst fallen combatants, with his flames dying out, the last of the original citizens of Izalith to have remembered the birth of Chaos, and the death of the Godmother of Pyromancy.
Known children
- Chaos Witch Quelaag
- Quelaag's Sister
- Quelana of Izalith
- Ceaseless Discharge
- Daughter of Chaos
- The body with the Gold-Hemmed Black Set Ceaseless Discharge is protecting.
- The left and right roots of the Bed of Chaos.
Trivia
- Several parts of the dialogue with Quelana have her make mention of how most humans are unable to perceive her, and it becomes implied that they absolutely cannot if she actively does not want them to.
- Both of the Witch's named children have names beginning with the prefix "Que-", hinting that her own name may have such a spelling, although that name is still unknown. The mentioned goddess Quella bears a similar name, but there is no other apparent connection between her and Izalith.
- It should be known that she did, in fact, succeed in creating a replica of the First Flame despite its malfunction. Not only does it generate life, it also has its own linking of the flame, in which a powerful demon is named the Demon Prince and rekindles it.
- There is currently no information that can give any identification to the father of her children, but she could have also reproduced parthenogenetically (an unfertilized egg creates one gender while a fertilized egg creates another) given her nature, although that would imply that either her one son or many daughters had to be fertilized.
Gallery
