Dark Souls: The Lore Behind the Painted World of Ariamis

gamerant.com:

Dark Souls features secrets and lore that must be thoroughly examined in order to unravel the full story. FromSoftware is no stranger to optional, hard-to-find areas that have little effect on the main story, but include entire narratives of their own.

The Painted World of Ariamis is an area hidden deep within the city of the gods, Anor Londo. Difficult to enter and leave, this area hidden within a painting holds many secrets that the gods of Dark Souls wanted to keep from the rest of the world. Upon diving deep into the enemies and items found in this world, players can uncover the secrets that have been banished.

How Dark Souls Grew From a Niche Game to a Genre-Defining Franchise

Finding and entering the Painted World of Ariamis requires many steps to be followed. The first challenge is finding the painting within Anor Londo, where player must navigate the ceiling rafters in a chapel to reach a hidden lift. This chapel is the only area in the game that features the Painting Guardian enemies, and once onto the lift, it is easy to miss the secret entrance to the bottom floor of the chapel.

If players are keen enough to operate the life and take it down instead of up, they will be rewarded with access to the bottom floor of the chapel of Anor Londo, which is guarded by more Painting Guardians. Once the area is cleared, all that remains is a giant painting on the far wall. As foreboding as this painting looks, it does nothing unless the player possesses a specific item: the Peculiar Doll.

This item can only be found by going back to the Undead Asylum and entering the cell players were locked in when their journey began. Upon inspection, the doll reads “A strange doll in strange dress. There once was an abomination who had no