Content Warning: The following list contains spoilers for the Soulsborne games and descriptions of physical and emotional tragedy that may be disturbing to some readers.
Among its many laurels, FromSoftware's classic Dark Souls series represents some of the most innovative and compelling video game narrative designs of the last decade. It is often driven by lore -- piecemeal bits of story that can be found in item descriptions, in the game's visual design, and in the cryptic whispers of NPCs.
Thanks to Hidetaka Miyazaki's nonlinear structure, the player feels like an active participant in piecing together these stories, making them all the more impactful. For lore-hungry enthusiasts or casual players looking for a moving unconventional story, be sure to take the time to engage with these tragic characters.
Maiden Astarea & Garl Vinland (Demon's Souls)
Maiden Astarea is one of the more interesting stories in Demon's Souls, both tragic and brief. Before the events of the game, she and her lover, the imposing knight Garl Vinland, made a pilgrimage to the Valley of Defilement to try and heal those afflicted with the plague. Despite these noble intentions, Maiden Astarea became possessed by a demon within the valley -- a demon with uniquely benevolent intentions that agreed to help with the maiden's quest.
The knights in her service quickly turned against her -- all but Garl Vinland, who killed his fellow soldiers to protect his love. Now residing in the valley as a deity, Maiden Astarea comes into conflict with the player character who arrives in pursuit of her demonic soul. Once more, Garl Vinland takes up his great hammer in defense of his lady, and though the couple puts up a valiant fight, the player is ultimately victorious and the afflicted people of the valley are left without their venerated healer. While defeating this tandem boss does yield one of the best weapons in the Demon's Souls remake, it doesn't feel good to do in the context of their star-crossed backstory.
Gehrman, The First Hunter (Bloodborne)
Gehrman is one of the first NPCs the hunter meets in Bloodborne's brutal and effective trick weapons that became a staple in Yharnam's hunts.
Though he appears to be an ally, it is revealed that Gehrman is under the control of the Moon Presence, an all-powerful eldritch god who has trapped the old man in the Hunter's Dream to shepherd unsuspecting hunters into perpetuating their cycles of bloodshed that plague the city. For all his efforts to save the city he loved, Gehrman ultimately became a puppet of the forces he hates, and it is up to the player to free him from those clutches in a dynamic boss battle at the game's conclusion.
Wolf & Owl (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)
The protagonist of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Wolf, was adopted from the battlefield by the legendary warrior Owl and raised under the Iron Code -- a shinobi tenet that places supreme authority in one's father, followed by one's master. To disobey this directive was seen as a fate worse than death. Mid-game, it becomes clear that Owl has been corrupted by a thirst for power and demands that Wolf relinquishes his ward, the immortal boy Kuro, placing players in a moral dilemma.
Though players can choose otherwise, in the canonical story, Sekiro sides with his master Kuro, resulting in a tragic fight to the death between Wolf and his adoptive father. It's a defining moment for Sekiro's character that easily ranks among the saddest Soulsborne stories.
Siegmeyer & Sieglinde of Catarina (Dark Souls)
In addition to being one of the most tragic tales in the series, Siegmeyer of Catarina's story represents one of Dark Souls. He has long been in search of his daughter, Sieglinde, also a Knight of Catarina, and requests the Chosen Undead's help in finding her.
It's a long and challenging quest, full of accidental pitfalls and near misses between the divided family. At the tale's tragic conclusion just after Sieglinde has been found, a swarm of Chaos Eaters ambushes Siegmeyer. Though he fights valiantly, the onion knight ultimately succumbs to their attacks and perishes before he can reunite with his daughter.
Knight Artorias (Dark Souls)
Hundreds of years before the events of Dark Souls, Artorias was the great hero of the Kingdom of Oolacile. This legendary Knight of Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, was revered for his unique ability to resist corruption by the Abyss. He fought valiantly on the frontlines of the fight against the darkness until he sacrificed himself to save a dear friend, the Great Grey Wolf Sif.
As a result, the Knight Artorius became possessed by the Father of the Abyss, Manus -- one of the hardest bosses in Dark Souls. By the time the Chosen Undead arrives at Oolacile to combat the Abyss, the darkness has fully consumed Artorius, rendering him a mere shell of the hero he was before, powerless to stop himself from fighting those who would, in better circumstances, be his allies.
Lucatiel of Mirrah (Dark Souls 2)
The only character to make this list from Dark Souls 2, Lucatiel of Mirrah embodies the fear of "going Hollow" better than any other character in the game. This core gameplay mechanic causes a player to become weaker across sequential in-game deaths, representing the gradual zombification of those afflicted with the undead curse and their struggle to remain human. The process is spoken of at great length throughout the Dark Souls series, but only with Lucatiel do players learn the heartwrenching details of feeling one's humanity slowly slip away.
In her quest to cure herself, Lucatiel progressively loses her memory as the hollowing process unfolds, and she becomes increasingly desperate for a solution. By the end of the game, she can barely her own name, and her ultimate fate is left unresolved, allowing this tragic tale to slip from memory all too easily.
The Gascoigne Family (Bloodborne)
The player first encounters the Gascoigne family in Bloodborne's Central Yharnam -- a young girl asking for help in finding her mother, Viola, who went in search of her husband, a hunter prone to bloodlust. She even gives the player a small music box that could be used to soothe her father's spirit when he became overconsumed by endless nights of monster hunting. At the end of the stage, the player encounters Viola, likely murdered by her own husband without the music box at her disposal.
The ensuing battle is one of the best boss fights in Bloodborne, made all the more harrowing by its tragic narrative context. By the end of the game's main campaign, the house of Gascoigne is no more, as the daughter goes looking for her parents and becomes lost to the city's monsters.
The Great Grey Wolf Sif (Dark Souls)
In-game lore suggests that the giant wolf Sif and Artorias the Abysswalker fought side-by-side until the day Artorias was consumed by the Abyss. In an act of love and comion, Artorias shielded Sif from the corrosive effects of the Abyss at the cost of his own soul. Now, Sif guards the tomb of her fallen comrade, even coming to cross swords with the Chosen Undead when they arrive at Artorias' grave.
The final moments of this fight are utterly heartbreaking, in which Sif, wounded and clutching her master's sword in her mouth, limps toward the player with a pitiful whine -- doomed to lose the battle but determined to defend Artorias' legacy until the very end. It's almost impossible to deliver the final blow to this boss, and it easily ranks as one of the most tragic tales of the Soulsborne series.
The Children of Senpou Temple (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)
Though it often resists the horror aesthetic of other games in the Soulsborne series, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice features some of the darkest and most tragic content of any FromSoftware game. No example sums this up so well as the Children of Senpou Temple. In a rabid attempt to achieve immortality, the vile monks of Senpou Temple abducted children from across Ashina to be used in experiments with the parasitic "rejuvenating waters."
Only one child survived these horrendous experiments -- the Divine Child of Rejuvenation, keeper of the Mortal Blade. Tormented by the loss of her friends, the Divine Child is one of the most sympathetic characters in the game, and it's hard to find a Soulsborne story more tragic than that of the lost children of Senpou.