The narratives of the Soulsborne games by Hidetaka Miyazaki are presented in such a way that player’s are able to construct their own story. However, Dark Souls III appears to deviate from this norm, just a little bit: because there is an implicit yet fixed background story for the main character, the so-called Ashen One. Which ties in with the general gameplay mechanic of fighting, in which players are forced to slay specific foes in order to progress the main game and the storyline itself.
In Dark Souls III the Ashen One is an Unkindled. The Unkindled are essentially warriors who didn’t successfully link the fire in their first attempt and were burned to ashes. We find some of these unkindled in the Firelink Shrine. All these characters have a unique connection with one of the Lords of Cinder. Anri of Astora is determined to find and slay Aldrich the Saint of the Deep, Siegward of Catarina was once a good friend of Yhorm the Giant. And Hawkwood the Deserter has a connection to the Abyss Watchers.
Then you also have the three pillars of Lothric: The Priestess, The Knight, and the Scholar. These three pillars hold the Lothric kingdom together. There is also a fourth secret pillar: that of the Hunter. Within this secret pillar are the King’s Black Hands: three highly trained killers who punish enemies in ways that the kings three pillars cannot. In the game The third one is missing. However, the game forces the player to fight important enemies and characters, such as the Twin Princess of Lothric, who have been kept hidden by High Priestess Emma, who understands the actual intentions of the player’s character. This heavily implies that the Ashen One him or herself is actually the third of the Black Hand hunters who was given the task to slay the un-loyal Prince.
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