MovieChat Forums > The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) Discussion > Dark Souls

Dark Souls

posted 3 years ago by Aries (762)
8 replies | jump to latest

So, I've been catching up on this trilogy last couple of days. I watched the LoTR movies back in the day, but never got around to seeing this one till now.

I haven't read the novel, so am not biased like a lot of the fanboys who hate this series and give it a ridiculous 1-2 rating in IMDb accompanied by a review that's longer than the actual book itself. I liked this one a bit more than the first one, AUJ, which was also pretty good, although not as grand in scale or scope as the LoTR trilogy.

One thing that struck me was how some of the set pieces bore a striking resemblance to select locations in Dark Souls (the first one) - the ruins of Dol Guldur looked EXACTLY like the Undead Burg and the goblin town in the first movie resembled Blighttown a lot.

Anyone else see the resemblance?

[–] Ace_Spade (9343) 3 years ago

I think if you're going for a crumble-down, European, dark fantasy setting, well it's hard to get out of certain imagery. I do see the resemblance, though, and it's possible that they (the design team) were influenced by Dark Souls.

[–] Aries (762) 3 years ago

Good point! That said, of all the movies / movie sets I've seen, none resembled DS more than the above 2 locations. I half expected Gandalf to get assaulted by archers and fire bombers lol.

Even Game of Thrones had nothing that looked like DS locations, given how bleak and dark it could be from time to time.

[–] Ace_Spade (9343) 3 years ago

Well, and you have a point insofar as multiple locations in the movie do resemble multiple locations in the game and Goblintown-Blighttown aren't terribly common in European dark fantasy settings. Ramshackle wooden towns, yes, but pestilent underground ones...not so much.

Because of Tolkien's association between goblins and munitions - the "fire from Orthanc" and his comments in The Hobbit about how goblins became responsible for WMDs (basically) - it would make total sense for them to have thrown fire bombs.

I still haven't watched (or read) Game of Thrones/ A Song of Ice and Fire, but I'll take your word for it.

The more I think on it, the more you might be right. Somebody might have been playing Dark Souls and that influenced their designs, maybe even just subconsciously.

Then again... If we think about it, if somebody said, "Design a town of goblins," most people would probably come up with that rotting wood banged-together look, and the book dictates it's underground, so... And because of Tolkien's remarks on goblins, that proto-steampunk influence isn't farfetched either.

I dunno. Could be coincidence. But there are quite a few coincidences.

[–] Aries (762) 3 years ago

Damn man, you need to drop everything and watch Game of Thrones lol! Seriously, it's an amazing show and even though the ending wasn't great, the rest of the show is just so fantastic that you won't regret watching it. No other show on TV comes close.

I once compared LoTR to Skyrim and GoT to Dark Souls. GoT & DS are both dark, very brutal, at times quite bleak, VERY intense and give you an experience that you don't get anywhere else, with some very memorable characters & locations.

LoTR & Skyrim (IMO) are comparatively milder, entertaining, more pleasant and less menacing overall, while being bigger in scope and narrative. I like LoTR and the Hobbit movies, but love GoT a lot more. Similarly, Skyrim was fun to play, but doesn't rank anywhere near DS for me, which is one of my favorite series.

I'm jealous of what you have in store, since you'll be watching GoT for the first time with fresh eyes. Don't read any reviews or spoilers and just watch it. It's hard to describe how amazing that show is.

And yeah, I think the books and games influence each other to a point where it could be more than just mere coincidence that the settings / locations look so similar. The Blightown resemblance was only so so, but Dol Guldur is exactly what I'd expect the Undead Burg to look like if they made a show or movie based on DS and paid serious attention to detail.

[–] Ace_Spade (9343) 3 years ago

Yeah, I know... I'm always late to the party, bursting in on friends going, "Hey, have you guys seen this hilarious Grumpy Cat thing!?" and they're always going, "...yes." So, by the time I knew what Game of Thrones was it was two or three seasons in and between that head-start and the fact that there were encyclopaedia-sized books to go along with them it seemed a little overwhelming, so I just found other stuff to watch. The other factor was that I had been watching Californication and I think there was another rather nudity-heavy show and I was starting to roll my eyes at "edgy" shows that had to show off how much sex was going on, so GoT got a "pass" from me for some time.

I do plan to read the books and watch the show at some point. I know they're supposed to be great (or in the case of GoT's final season, "divisive at best").

I'm a huge Tolkien fan. It's unlikely that GoT will unseat the Master in my mind, and maybe that's nostalgia/brand loyalty, maybe it's not, but I like your Dark Souls/ Skyrim comparison.

Love Dark Souls. I love the Elder Scrolls games, too, but yeah...love Dark Souls. It's unrelenting.

I've avoided spoilers for GoT for the most part. I once made some friends of mine laugh by rattling off literally everything I knew about the show and it's such a sad hodge-podge of misinformation and basic facts about the show that they got a kick out of it.

Maybe there's a larger-picture leaking of video game aesthetics into big time movies, too.

[–] Aries (762) 3 years ago

I got into GoT when it was near the end of Season 5. Haven't read the books, but they are on the list and I'll hopefully get around to them sometime.

It's not really about one show or series unseating the other. I just think you'll enjoy the show if you watch it. It's actually an advantage in a way if you watch it now, cause you have the whole show and don't need to wait months or years for the next season like we used to do when we followed it live. You'll defo be binging big time, cause it'll suck you in.

Cool that you like DS too. I've played the first 2 and like the 2nd one too, although it wasn't as memorable as the first. Got the 3rd one sitting at the top of my pile of games I'll play next year. Got Deus Ex Mankind Divided, DS3, The Witcher 3, Evil Within 2, Doom Eternal, Plague's tale, Metro Redux and a few others, so gaming's going to be a blast in 2021 lol. Hope you do watch GoT and enjoy it.

[–] Ace_Spade (9343) 3 years ago

I'll like it when I get around to it. Some of it is just that I have a list of books, films, TV shows, games, articles, plays, etc., etc., etc. that I "have" to watch. It's easy to forget about stuff on the pile. I also tend to watch more accessible stuff. I have a Netflix subscription and an Amazon Prime account, so I tend to watch the (myriad) of free things on those before seeking out something I'd need to pay to buy/rent like GoT. I will watch it some day. Somebody I know probably has the DVDs...

I think DS3 is a system-tier up from what I have, so I'm not sure when I'll play it. I might seek it out on computer, although I don't really have a gaming setup.

I agree, the second DS wasn't as memorable as part one. It was still great fun, though, and I love that it reduces your health bar as you die. Classic Dark Souls, "Oh, you failed? It's easier to fail now. TRY HARDER, WEAKLING!" Other games have difficulty sliders that calibrate the enemies so they aren't too hard, Dark Souls is punishing you for losing.

I'd also like to try out Demon's Souls and Bloodbourne (I think it's called...?) some time, too.

[–] Ace_Spade (9343) 3 years ago

Much as I love the idea, I'm not sure a series or film of Dark Souls would work. A large part of the fun of DS is wandering around as this lonely undead character, discovering the storyline (if it can be called that) by simple investigation. It's almost got "plot by osmosis" as you find out snippets of storyline and lore through legend, hearsay, and weapon descriptions. Then you find these characters from mythology as sad shells of their former selves and it's just combat, but it feels deep and moving because you learned about them and now you see the end result. Taking that vibe and that storytelling mechanism and translating it to narrative-driven worlds would be strange.

Dark Souls: The Movie would almost (to me) look like Mad Max: Fury Road in terms of how that's a basic, functional plot and you just have to glean the cult society of Immortan Joe by flashes of observation as it roars by, screaming and spray-painting its teeth with liquid chrome. But would that be satisfying? Maybe...

A series would be better, I think, because it could take advantage of the reincarnation/respawn stuff that is actually part of Dark Souls' plot. The protagonist is an undead hero, slowly going hollow. Every episode he (or she) makes it a little further into the world of Lordran (or wherever) and just as they're making progress, "whamo!" dead. Next episode starts at the first bonfire again, with the hero a little more decayed and frazzled.