Dark Souls 3: DLC Announcement Update, Thoughts, and a Possible Bloodborne Connection

DLC ANNOUNCEMENT NEWS

     After months of playing Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, and returning to Dark Souls 2 while a bide my time- the announcement we've all been waiting for has arrived.  Dark Souls 3's first DLC announcement will arrive on August 24th!

Huge news on the way, folks. 'What is it?" You ask? Well, you're going to have to wait to find out. pic.twitter.com/ivrzL0Z7N3

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) August 17, 2016

     Since the game was released in March, we've known that the $25 season pass would include 2 packs.  One would be released in the fall of 2016, and the second in early 2017.  Now we've gotten confirmation that information on the first will be presented on the 24th leading many people to speculate what it might include.

     From a Kotaku interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, we know:

   Kotaku: For people who have already finished Dark Souls 3, can you give any tease for the DLC? How do you intend to surprise players? 

Miyazaki: I’m not sure I can provide "information" without spilling the "surprise." The only thing I can say now is that we’re planning two DLCs for Dark Souls 3. The first is scheduled for release in autumn of 2016, and the second is scheduled for early 2017. We’re actually still working on the first one. Content-wise, it builds off of the previous titles and will be featuring a new area, enemies, gear, and story. The game story revolves around a new location which I believe will offer a different feel from Dark Souls 3.

     In addition there's been some supposed concept art leaks with potentially amazing stuff.  Granted, the leaks might just be old or unused images, as there IS the Faraam armor from part 2.  Although the amor DOES appear in Dark Souls 3.  It's item description in 3 says, "This set is 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."  Those who have gone beyond death makes me question things.
     Then in the second image below, the locale looks like the Lothric Castle area where you meet Emma, and fight Dancer of the Boreal Valley.  If it is unused art, it could be the precursor to the current entrance to Lothric with the angel-like statue possibly becoming the knight cutting his neck, and the chained woman becoming Emma.  I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

POSSIBLE BLOODBORNE CONNECTION

     But if it isn't simply old and unused art...

That city looks an awful lot like Yharnam.  And that tree is amazingly creepy.

     Ok, I've been really mulling on this idea.  I think the abyss is the dark of humanity (If I recall correctly, Manus was a man that succumbed to humanity and from that came the abyss), while the Deep was something other worldly- as we aren't told where it came from, just that it was found.  Just to be sure, I DO think they have a lot of similar properties, but are derived from separate sources- the same ways there is the first flame and the chaos flame. Similar things from varied origins.

     What if the deep is an internal portal to a place like the hunters dream- Aldrich (Eldritch!) feared what was there- so maybe he saw something big in his, you guessed it- his DREAM! - and that opened the doorway for the celestial monstrosities to possibly come through.  In the Old Hunters Bloodborne DLC one of those creepy brain sacks asks, "Have you heard how curiously the sea churns?  It bellows, from deep inside me." (Not an exact quote, but something close to that.)

Very reminiscent of where you fight Dancer in Lothric Castle.

     The Deep would be really cool.  Although I'm curious to see if we'll ever meet Gwynevere- who like Velka- has eluded us but has had an immense presence in the series.  I want to see what they've been up to.  Not necessarily in Londor though.  All the various gods from the Souls games like Caitha have been absent, so it could be interesting to see something else coming to power in another land.

     I think that the Deep would be better overall as the final DLC creating a potential bridge to the "dark fantasy" series that From has in the works. Maybe something that would take place in an era between Souls and Bloodborne, and I wouldn't mind a Pirate-like Souls type fantasy with explorable islands against those Lovecraftian horrors.  I mean the Hunters of Bloodborne had to start somewhere, so maybe the Deep is their arrival and causing the age of the Deep to come?  (And considering the "Old One" from Demon's Souls may be related/connected to those in Bloodborne...)
     To also further my suspicions, this particular leaked concept art has me really intrigued- a soldier with some Ebrietas like tentacles.

     Forgot to ask- what about all the other places we haven't seen- like Vinheim, Carim, or Astora's ruins? There's a ton of possibility for the DLCs. (White Birch Branches)  As with previous From DLCs they've been known to have them take place in times out of chronological order.  So of course we may get any number of alternate times of places we've heard of.

     Regardless, whatever they have been making will be wonderful.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES & THOUGHTS

     Notes on Aldrich possibly alluding to Bloodborne (citation from wiki):

     His name is spelled "エルドリッチ" in Japanese, which is read as "Eldritch," possibly a reference to H.P. Lovecraft.

     Aldrich Faithful covenant pendant, "The holy symbol of the Cathedral of the Deep, and crest of those who see beyond fire to the age of deep waters."

     His Soul, "When Aldrich ruminated on the fading of the fire, it inspired visions of a coming age of the deep sea."

     The Deacons of the Deep fight has a familiar red aura that goes from Deacon to Deacon, and looks suspiciously like one from Bloodborne.  Perhaps the Deep is a place we can reach through looking inward. Besides, only the souls collected that have been effected by the Deep are blue.

     Could there be a connection that Aldrich is keep in the highest part of Dark Souls 3 with the possibility that above him is an ocean of another realm?

     It might be a nice touch to point out there's also a recognizable suit of armor (Demon's Souls) found in the chalice dungeons of Bloodborne.

     Bone ash armor description from Bloodborne:

"Armor made of bone ash,worn by the oldest keepers. 

The keepers, who mind the slumbering Great Ones,
gained eternal life, preserved in ashen form in
a ceremony of flame that cremated body and soul"

     And the look of the items look very much like the witches of Dark Souls such as Karla and Demon's Souls' witch Yuria.

     Due to the the way IPs work, I think the Souls games and Bloodborne can definitely be connected nicely, but never explicitly stated as two different companies own them- which fits wonderfully into how the games' whole story works- through pure implication.

     And as a plug for a couple guys far better at this than myself, these videos are well worth a watch:

ParagonDS Dark Souls 3 DLC Thoughts: The Deep

VaatiVidya Dark Souls 3 DLC Thoughts: Londor

VaatiVidy Dark Souls 3 Angels of Lothric (Possible DLC Connections)