Dark Souls: Who Was Knight Artorias?

thegamer.com:

There are plenty of sad stories that have come out of the Dark Souls universe, and the tale of Knight Artorias is maybe one of the saddest. It's said that he was a noble hero who bravely fought against The Abyss. However, we don't really get to see that as our only encounter with him is as a boss during Dark Souls' sole DLC that bears his name, Artorias Of The Abyss. And when we do run into him, he seems less like a heroic knight and more like someone who's hellbent on utterly obliterating us.

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So what happened to this knight? How did he go from a hero to a sword-wielding executioner? Well, like most great fantasy stories, Artorias' downfall involves a sense of duty, failure, and self-sacrifice.

Artorias was one of the Four Knights Of Gwyn, which was a group that also included infamous Dark Souls boss Dragonslayer Ornstein; giant bow-wielding archer and wood carving aficionado, Hawkeye Gough; and the assassin as well as a possible love interest of Artorias, Lord's Blade Ciaron. Of these four, we only meet Ornstein in the base game as he's the last surviving member of this team during the events of Dark Souls. It's only when we travel back to the past during the Artorias Of The Abyss DLC that we get to meet the other three knights including Artorias himself.

By the time The Chosen Undead begins their journey through the ruined kingdom of Lordan, Knight Artorias is already long dead. All that remains of him are the legends of his heroism. It is known that he was an expert swordsman and that he was one of the few who dared to stand up against the imposing threat of The Abyss. He fought the Darkwraiths that spawned from there and was even able to learn how to travel through The