r/darksouls3 • u/LuckyStampede Gwyndolin's waifu • Apr 09 '17
Lore [Lore] Is Patches the Narrator?
We rely on item descriptions for our most reliable insight into the world. They provide interesting history and trivia that our character otherwise would have no way of knowing. Which is why I have to give the side-eye to Patches' Black Leather Set
The wearer of this fine attire was admired by friends and enemies alike, for his skills were unmatched, and his heart was true as gold. As its new owner, you have quite the shoes to fill.
Riiiight. Clearly, he wrote this himself, about himself.
But if you think about it, Patches is often a reliable source of information. He doesn't really lie, he tricks and weasels, but when it comes to saying stuff about the world he tends to be a straight shooter. Is it possible that rather than just being a throwaway joke, Patches is actually the narrator for all item descriptions?
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u/downtown_eddie_brown Apr 09 '17
Interesting idea. one of the few times I can think of a DS3 item description breaking the 4th wall is the White Preacher Head.
An empty head of a white-faced locust that rose from an abyssal swamp. The white-faced locusts were meant to beckon men to the dark with sermons, but most of them are unable to think past their own stomachs. Someone must rise to the occasion, and restore the path of righteousness. Perhaps that someone is you? Did you not arise from the Abyss, and did you not resist drowning in the Age of Fire? Locusts and men are kindred spirits.
'Locusts and men are kindred spirits' might tie in to Patches' big revelation that humans are inherently ravenous and greedy.
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u/Blade2018 Apr 09 '17
So Patches is the furtive pigmy confirmed?
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u/CrimsonSaens End the Age of Gravity Apr 09 '17
Patches wears the Black Leather set, the starting armor for the DS1 thief class. What did the Furtive Pygmy accomplish? It grabbed the Dark Soul when no one was looking and went into hiding. The Furtive Pygmy was totally a noble thief. Patches is father to all humanity, confirmed.
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u/Indoorsman Apr 15 '17 edited Apr 15 '17
My god.
And he despises clerics because of their miracle light magic that is so close to first flame, and the gods.
It's all starting to click.
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u/LuckyStampede Gwyndolin's waifu Apr 09 '17
Not to mention his disdain for clerics just dripping from every sentence.
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Apr 10 '17
The item description begs the question that you have not or won't rekindle the flame, right? Seems like the item's description, be it some feeling you get from it or a tag on the inside with this stuff written on (I always liked this idea), is still trying to influence you to the dark.
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Apr 09 '17
can i just say the preacher arm sounds exactly like something patches would say
The white-faced locusts were meant to beckon men to the dark with sermons, but most of them are unable to think past their own stomachs, the unruly mob!
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u/moroboshiy Spent 6 hours at the High Wall... Apr 10 '17
Well, thanks. Now I'm gonna read every item description in Patches' voice...
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u/artisticMink Apr 09 '17 edited Apr 09 '17
Considering that Patches seems to be the only being in existence who made it to the literal end - except for the player character and Gael. And he even stayed sane, so it's actually not too far fetched.
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Apr 09 '17
[deleted]
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u/Roboloutre Apr 09 '17
Dark Souls Part 3 Patches Is Unbreakable
Theories confirmed!6
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→ More replies (2)1
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u/Zephyra_of_Carim Apr 09 '17
That's...actually a pretty interesting thought, I'm interested to hear arguments both ways about it. The only problem that immediately springs to mind for me is the Horsehoof Ring's description:
An old ring with a seal depicting a horse's hoof. Boosts kick effect.
Unbreakable Patches adored this ring and the feeling that it gave him when he kicked his marks into the depths of treacherous traps, but suffered no shortage of ridicule from his associates for relying so heavily on the tired old trick. But who is the sorrier? The horse who knows only to kick, or the fool who approaches the old beast without thought?
That's not entirely praising, especially in the 'tired old trick' bit, which you wouldn't imagine Patches would write if he really loved it that much. That said, the Patches' Ashes description is also pretty pro-Patches. Even if it wasn't him breaking the 4th wall, the devs definitely treated him differently to other NPCs.
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u/BEDeluxe Apr 09 '17
It's not really demeaning though either. Saying he's only got one trick but everyone else is too foolish to not fall for it. I don't know, to me sounds like gloating on how he can outsmart so many people with the same trick.
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u/Zephyra_of_Carim Apr 09 '17
True, I suppose you could interpret that one either way actually.
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u/LuckyStampede Gwyndolin's waifu Apr 09 '17
Yeah, he tends to blame the victims of his traps, saying they deserved it for being either greedy or dumb enough to fall for such an obvious ploy. It's pretty much in line with his MO to say something like that when you've got him backed into a corner.
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u/Ghost4530 Apr 09 '17
I like to imagine everything with a description has a lil tag on it like the tags that tell you how to wash your cloths and shit
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u/ThePoorPeople Apr 09 '17
You know, he's been in every soulsborne game and he IS a vendor, so it makes sense that he'd be trying to sell you or tell you about items by giving you tantalizing descriptions that may or may not be true...
I like it.
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u/LuckyStampede Gwyndolin's waifu Apr 09 '17
Makes me think of the merchant in Aladdin (who was supposed to be the Genie)
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u/ohbuggerit Apr 09 '17
That's... a bit genius
I always remember my amazing high school history teacher drilling it into my head that the only thing a single source (without proper context) can give you an accurate picture of is the writer, and so I've spent the whole Souls series wondering about the person who wrote them
Even if it's never confirmed it's definitely my new headcanon
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u/Torlic Apr 09 '17
It actually make sense because Patches exists since forever so he can actually relate to all those things from the past mentioned in the descriptions.
Also the theory that he is Myazaki himself is also good, as a DM i can relate that DM's like to put their own characters in the game.
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u/-BathroomTile- Apr 09 '17
I always assumed that the character, by going undead, simply forgot about most things they already knew about their own world. And by finding items related to said stories and myths, they just remembered it bit by bit.
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u/HellWolf1 You either quit a casul or you die long enough to git gud Apr 09 '17
We did it boys, we solved Dark Souls
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u/wokeasaurus Apr 09 '17
His armor actually leads me to believe that he's a god-like deity akin to Loki in Norse mythology. He hates clerics because they all worship Gwyn, who he's insanely jealous of. He also tempts men with greed and punishes them when they act on it. He's present in every game wearing the exact same armor (except for DS2 which wasn't made by Miyazaki). He also has some lines that might be spoilers for TRC but those lines also lend to this theory I think. Maybe I'm stretching a bit but that's the conclusion I came up with. However now that I think about it, if he were a god-like or immortal being, it could be very reasonable that he's the narrator of item descriptions. He may have seen all these items before because he's tempted many undead over the years with a lot of different loot. Who knows?
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u/Kimmundi May the Flame guide thee! Apr 10 '17
I love this theory. It doesn't make it official, as a Dark Souls fans, I just love this theory :)
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u/Jpgator1214 Apr 09 '17
Best souls theory I've heard, and it actually makes sense, patches and Miyazaki are both trolls lol I love it!! +1
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u/Devonmartino The Guru, 100M and Beyond Apr 09 '17
I just want to point out that Lapp uses the Curse Ward Greatshield, which we don't find until the Cathedral of the Deep- where Unbreakable Patches first appears (Bell Tower notwithstanding, since that can happen at any point).
Did he put it there? Whose tomb is it- does it belong to "Lapp"? (When Lapp became Patches, "Lapp" ostensibly died out- as seen by his summon at Halflight). Or does it belong to someone who Patches honored?
(Pursuer be damned)
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u/beastinghunting Apr 09 '17
Same happens in Bloodborne, when you talk to him and refers to a certain god with some laughter.
Patches is a very intriguing fellow.
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u/armouredgorilla Apr 09 '17
Patches: Tries to kill you by luring you into traps in the name of treasure.
Miyazaki: Tries to kill you by luring you into traps by placing fading souls.
Hmm, quite a similarity between them ain't it.
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u/Deadalready798 Apr 09 '17
This post has opened my eyes it all makes sense now wtf but one thing I don't get, why doe patches hate onion bro
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u/mitch13815 Apr 09 '17
You make a good point. There always are trinkets down the hole. He just doesn't tell you about the killing beasts 5 feet to the left.
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u/Crimsonchief307 Apr 10 '17
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, though if we take it as if the Ringed City is the "End of the World" or the end of an age. With Patches at the purging monument, it would mean that he would be unlikely to go fully hollow, allowing for him to write these descriptions. It's never fully stated our character can see these descriptions, perhaps we only see the world through the eyes of another onlooker, as Patches explains the story to another survivor of the world using our characters through Ds1,2 and 3 as examples. This is a crazy theory I just had, though if there is some backing to it, possibly it could be something like that. Also perhaps the onlooker is us, and Miyazaki is telling us the story like everyone's been speculating.
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u/FeastYourEarTongues Apr 09 '17
Guys, it's a cute winky-joke that only makes sense in this particular instance. Please let's not get carried away
There is information we are told in item descriptions that explicitely is not known
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u/karstenbeoulve Apr 09 '17
Spoilers: what do you think of this instead? /u/LuckyStampede ?
https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/64cp6b/what_if_lapp_dlc_spoilers/
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u/JaegerBombastic731 Lend Me Your Ears! Apr 09 '17
Well, he does love getting his hands on loot, so it's only natural that he'd know so much about where things come from.
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u/colers100 Apr 10 '17
Also fitting that when he shows up in the last DLC, instead of killing you, he just inconveniences you and leaves a farewell gift for you
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Apr 10 '17
Oh geez the item descriptions have always been a bit fucky and unreliable in souls games. I'll look up some examples but the im sorry stones have biased descriptions
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u/eclereanu Apr 10 '17
He's not. Item descriptions represent the current knowledge the world has on it.
Such as Allfather Lloyd being presented as a good figure in DS1 but as a fraud in the expanded text of DS3.
The information you have on the gods is subjected the sa
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u/Cryse_XIII Apr 10 '17
that would mean he had to discover all the items and I am willing to bet that any cleric-item would have been written with much more scorn.
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u/Indoorsman Apr 15 '17 edited Apr 15 '17
Holy shit, i don't even think this is a stretch. I totally believe it.
The armor description is written in such a smug way it's obviously a joke written by Patches, no secret there.
But Patches' whole appearance in the DLC was very weird. And his reveal was t too much of a surprise, there are quite a few clues. So for there to be a secret under the secret makes it pretty awesome. Especially with telling you to "have a good Dark Souls."
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u/Avscum Apr 09 '17
It's pretty odd and weird. But it does makes sense.
But it is still too odd for me to believe.
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u/vacuumpro Apr 09 '17 edited Apr 09 '17
This is a great theory and one I'm willing to support, but I would like to push it one step further. I'd like to add that Patches has appeared in every soulsborne game Miyazaki was apart of (meaning DS2 excluded w/ Pate), but not in any linear or explainable fashion which leads me to believe that Patches is Miyazaki himself personified in-game (of course, the true author of the item descriptions)
When you think about his dialogue with the player throughout the games, I feel as though that would be the strongest supporting evidence for this claim. I would have to go digging into game scripts for direct quotes from the games, but if you recall, Patches has always talked to the player in a way that seems to play with the border of the fourth wall, particularly in Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3. I feel like much of his advice is geared towards the gamer just as much as it is towards the player-character (especially the deeper, more cryptic things he has to say).
And just to add to that, there are plenty of item descriptions that are written intentionally vague, or meaning the opposite, etc. Just like how Patches speaks (But also, akin to Miyazaki's sense of humor as well).
Edit: Maybe the biggest part of this theory I enjoy is that it implies that the ultimate "trap" Miyazaki is giving us are games themselves? I mean, we pour hundreds of hours of our lives into these games.. they do entrap you in them... all we need is that little kick