🔥DARDA LOUX🔥 // ELDEN RING
endings: FRENZIED FLAME / EVERGAOL / RENOUNCED FRENZY
epithets: OF THE LION’S MANE, LORD OF FRENZIED FLAME
he/him. male. str build
bloodhound fang, death’s poker / hero’s set, fingerprint armor
A Numen from the clan of Loux. A combination of which anyone who knows anything should find notable. Born in the Lands Between, then taken to the badlands by his father during the Long March. He’s never known his mother, but was told stories of the clan’s past home. Come adulthood, and his father’s own earthly death, Darda was curious enough about his birthplace to travel into it.
A warrior himself, Darda was never any stranger to violence and atrocities, and always maintains an aloof demeanor at all times. Nonetheless, traversing the Lands made him privy to more than he’d ever had liked to see. Ruin brought about by the work of his own extended family.
He seeks alternate means and methods- the Elden Lord shit surely won’t work, so what of the Mohgwyn Dynasty? No good, of course. The Volcano Manor’s deal? Of course not. No, only something in direct opposition and power could be the answer…
It’s all out of grief, despite what he’d tell you. There’s nothing good here, there could never be any hope here, and so he should be the one to wipe it clean. It’s a mercy kill. It’s not even killing, if what he was promised is true.
… Even then, Darda can’t help but wish there was some other way. The people he’d learned to love from afar, the faces he’d grown to know. If only none of this had happened.
Maybe one day, in some life, he really would believe in more than just hope.
PERSONALITY
Positives
Resilient. Largely in part due to his warrior upbringing in the Badlands, Darda is exceptionally resilient both in mind as well as body. He shrugs off most effects of stress. And focuses more on his goals rather than that of his troubles. Where many would give in, he simply trudges right on through.
Compassionate. It’s often difficult to really tell, but he is. He holds the highest disdain for those who prey on the weak, even if they should be family, or those who would otherwise prove to be his allies. If you are cruel to the weak, he doesn’t like you, and will eventually be making plans of whatever means to get rid of you. If you are a kind soul, he may form a protective fondness for you.
Clever. Despite what one may naturally think of a man like Darda, he’s certainly no meathead. If he can’t simply barrel through an obstacle, he will work things through and devise a more sufficient plan. When speaking to others, he is often silently studying them of their motivations, attributes, and potential weaknesses. Knowledge is indeed power, just applied differently here than with scholarly exploits.
Negatives
Stubborn. Man is a brick wall, both physically as well as emotionally. It is incredibly difficult to sway him, especially when he is of the mind that he will not be moved. He, just like everyone else, believes that what he feels is truly right.
Aloof. Emotionally distant, and often very unwilling to engage with anything further. Darda is generally quite docile, but this also lends to him keeping himself removed from emotional engagement as well as expression. It is very difficult to know how he may be feeling, and he likes to keep it that way.
Cruel. Unfortunately, one can have compassion and still possess room for cruelty all the same. While he has no excessive joy in bloodlust, Darda is still all too comfortable in slaughter, and finds it very easy to cut down anyone who should stand in his path. While he has little penchant for actual torture, the man does relish in the suffering of those he deems deserving of such things.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
GODFREY/HOARAH LOUX. Darda’s father, who he of course knew as Hoarah Loux rather than as Godfrey. Hoarah would speak from time to time of his legacy and heroics as Elden Lord, but otherwise was more than content to become a simple warrior once more. Darda was raised communally by the Loux, and less by Hoarah alone; they have a somewhat contentious, but ultimately respectable relationship.
SEROSH. A mentor for Darda during Hoarah’s time within the Badlands, and the two became good friends. What if your uncle was just a whole fucking lion.
MARIKA THE ETERNAL. The mother that he’s haunted by, but has never been able to know. Everyone speaks of her, everyone has seen her, everyone has loved and worshiped and hated her. Darda has no memories of even her embrace as an infant. If he could just finally meet her, what would she say? If she could have forsaken all of her other children, would he have been no different if he’d stayed? Did she think about him? Did she love him? Was she even capable of this?
MELINA. The half-sister who took up the role of his maiden. Someone who shared his wish to right the sins of their family, and sought hope in him to do this very thing. They loved each other very much, but there is no happy ending. Someone must burn.
WHITE MASK VARRE. A man who recruited him for Mohgwyn while under the impression that Darda was just another average Tarnished. Varre then eventually discerns that Darda is actually a demigod, but otherwise potentially willing to go along with the cult’s plans. Darda himself is simply curious to try and discern if Mohg’s plans should be a viable path for this world. They both want something out of one another, and earnestly enjoy how much they loathe one another as people and make a sport of their contention. Physically attracted, but both are bound by their own contending purposes far more greatly. Darda kills him in the Mohgwyn Palace massacre, saving him for last. It feels empty.
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BIRTH AND INFANCY
Darda was born in Leyndell as the youngest of the Godfrey/Marika line, under the birth name of Goderon. Godfrey became Tarnished soon after, and the infant was taken with him on the Long March, as well as renamed to Darda.
EARLY LIFE WITH THE LOUX
Darda was raised communally, with the whole of the clan caring for and teaching him than just Hoarah alone. He had always been a quiet and awkward sort as a child, and was somewhat uncanny in his differences from being born a demigod; many of the other children didn’t quite care for him, and Darda spent most of his time helping out the adults, training, or tending to the animals.
The Loux culture is one very dedicated to that of brute strength, and Darda was at least able to garner respect in that regard. As the son of Hoarah he had eventual prospects of becoming the new chief, no less, though Darda himself never really had all too much interest in seeking this role.
He learned to hunt, to fight and wrestle, to carve and to cook, and to survive in the harsh lands that his clan now called home. With all the stories of their former place in The Lands Between, including a mother he’d never known, though, Darda’s interest in setting out to see their former home was piqued. Upon his father’s eventual death in battle, the man left behind the Loux to find another candidate for chief, and set out to explore his mother’s lands.
THE LANDS BETWEEN
Melina is his acting maiden, as per the usual. Unlikely that they both start out with the realization that they are one another’s half-siblings, but if Darda gets to talking about his upbringing, they will figure it out easily enough
He undergoes the Boc questline, eventually seizing him his good end. Boc is one of the few that Darda is genuinely pretty fond of, albeit still remaining distance emotionally
He undergoes the Castle Morne questline and learns of the Misbegottens’ plight. His role with the Hyetta questline begins here as well
Joins the Bloody Fingers at Varre’s behest, in a bid to feel out the promise of Mohg’s rule. He and Varre loathe one another, but seek to make the arrangement beneficial regardless; eventually, Darda deems this path no good and dares to make its destruction personal. He massacres all of Mohgwyn Palace, including Mohg himself-- and makes sure to deliver Varre his decapitated head, as a special treat, before killing him, too.
Joins Volcano Manor for much the same reasons as the Blood Fingers; again, this path is found more than lacking. After performing the assigned Tarnished hits, he also slays Rykard, and therefore topples the manor. Rya is given the tonic of forgetfulness; Tanith is slain where she devours Rykard’s corpse.
Diallos’ questline is undergone, particularly where it intersects with that of Jarburg. Darda is very fond of the jars, and is distraught over their being poached. But there is little he can do other than get revenge.
Nepheli’s questline is undergone. He is somewhat fond of her, but given as she had a different upbringing and was mostly raised by Gideon, they have less in common than he’d like. They do have a mutual sort of respect, though.
Darda makes it to Leyndell, and almost seems to have some amount of faith in Morgott… but then he makes his ways down to the sewers. And he sees the Omens, and the other undesirables, and most importantly, learns of the nomads locked down there. He slays Morgott, and accepts the Three Fingers at Hyetta’s behest. He can never forgive this.
Darda and Melina part their ways.
Travels to the mountaintops and receives Shabriri’s blessing. The use of Yura’s corpse is unnerving, but there is little he cares to do about that. Further up the mountains he duels Vyke, and so takes his armor, while also promising to finish what he had started.
Darda burns himself in the Giants’ Kiln.
He eventually fights his father, with the aid of Shabriri. Hoarah Loux can no longer afford to fight Darda as his son, but as a threat to all life itself. Even so, he still is defeated.
Darda makes it to his mother only to never have a single word addressed to him; Radagon switches in and takes up the fight against him. Darda slays him, then the Elden Beast, and then after only the shortest time to grieve and steel himself, unleashes the Flame. Melina swears to kill him.
THE SHADOWLANDS
This path branches off after the massacre at Mohgwyn Palace; covered in the blood of Mohg and all the other denizens, Darda then ventures to the Lands of Shadow at Leda’s behest.
Lowkey, and very warily, hopes that Miquella should indeed serve as a viable savior for the world indeed. He is just as keen as the rest of his followers to find him, and agrees to help
Sorry about massacring your whole former home and workplace Ansbach. Oops
Learns even more of the atrocities his family has committed, that of the Hornsents’ genocide. Additionally, he also is made to learn that of his mother’s origins
He finds his way to the Abyssal Woods, and that of Midra. He is a warning, a portent of what Darda may also become; Darda is made wary, but otherwise still justifying things to himself by asserting that Midra was just someone far more weak than he.
He pities Messmer, but there’s no other way than to kill him. Nothing more that he deserves but to be killed.
It’s when he meets Trina that Darda realizes Miquella will not be a savior, nor that this is something he deserves to put himself through, either. The new goal is now to take up Trina’s wish and slay Miquella, instead.
Undergoes Ymir’s questline and learns even more truths of the world. It doesn’t matter in the end.
Climbs to the top of the tower and, begrudgingly, determinedly, fights off Leda and all cohorts. This is also further proof that Miquella’s plan will not possibly lead to the peace he desires.
Ansbach and Thiollier join him for the final battle. Miquella is unable to be swayed, as is Radahn. Darda kills them both, but finally realizes that he can’t keep continuing to look for others to fulfill the role of savior, and that no one single person even should. Promises to Miquella that he will carry out his wish of a better world all the same.
Takes Miquella’s needle and purges the Frenzy from himself. Darda is then able to avert from an ending where he summons the Flame.
—————
ENDINGS
FRENZIED FLAME. Base ending. Darda goes through all the events of the base game, and finds every potential solution left wanting. He learns of the nomads’ fate, the sins of his family, the sorry state of the world as a whole, and listens to Shabriri’s words. Darda decides in his mind that a mercy-kill for all life would be more worthy than a cycle of suffering, and becomes the Lord of Frenzied Flame.
EVERGAOL. The same base game, except Keziah is the protagonist in full, here. Darda goes through his same path of frenzy, but it’s Keziah who reaches the end and claims the ring for Ranni’s path. Darda is purged of his frenzy, deemed far too dangerous to be allowed free, and locked into an Evergaol. The flames had burned him from the inside as well, and scorched out his eyes. He is given the Sacred Relic Sword (his mother’s corpse) as an offering of meager comfort.
RENOUNCED FRENZY. Again, the base route, except this time Darda diverges into the Shadowlands after the massacre of Mohgwyn. He warily clings onto one last hope with Miquella’s path, until even that too is dashed; but this is what finally makes him understand. Darda realizes he cannot simply keep holding onto others for hope, and instead needs to do better than all the rest of his family tree. He understands, finally, the rotten foundations and the actual faults of the world. He slays Miquella and promises that he will fulfill his brother’s wish all the same; takes his needle, and purges himself of the Frenzy.
BOSS FIGHT
Takes place during his Evergaol end, where Keziah (or another Tarnished) is protagonist. This boss fight would theoretically take the place of Godfrey’s, during the endgame gauntlet. (Morgott’s corpse will also have been disintegrated by this time, as opposed to taking a part in Godfrey’s cutscene.)
Darda will have been all but overtaken by the Frenzy’s influence, and can be found having just slain his father right at the doorway to the Erdtree. Covered in blood, he will be crouched over his father’s corpse and in the process of consuming it.
His fighting style is similar to that of the Hoarah Loux phase, with animalistic grappling techniques as well as the stomps and slams his father is well-known for. Darda will also utilize Frenzy moves and status buildup, though he does prioritize the physical techniques over this.
His boss track would perhaps be similar to that of Midra’s, but far more fast-tempo and harsh; and additionally, including some elements of Hoarah Loux’s phase 2 boss track as well.
MISCELLANEOUS
He is physically in his mid-30s, and his height is 6’9 (nice) which also kinda hints at his demigod status. His build is large, sturdy, with a good bit of solid fat. Even besides his demigod strength, the man is formidable.
He is pansexual and generally down to fuck with anyone who’s down for it first. Not all too picky, given he is indeed in the mood.
He loves to cook, and is a great chef even on the road (kind of especially so, even.) Especially adept at carving meats, but knows well how to forage too. He’s not a terribly picky eater here either.
Autism diagnosis. Truthfully he has so much hair in his face because he hates looking people in the eyes, or vice versa.
While under the effects of the Frenzied Flame’s influence, Darda is under great pain almost 24/7. Thankfully, he is an exceptionally sturdy, robust man in all sense; however he still has immense burns all across his body, and some within his eyes as well. His appetite is also strengthened, and in his madness this sometimes manifests as cannibalism (a flame needs fuel, after all). Darda in his sane state, however, has little desire to cannibalize except in survival situations.
I also like to give him some physical quirks as a means of indicating that he is Not Quite Human. This includes: his taller-than-average height, an unhinge-able jaw, supernumery teeth (extra canines), third eyelids (though they do get burned off from the Flame), ability to dislocate his joints, and extra sturdiness (can take more hits, and extra difficult to pierce)
