On the First Day, man was granted a Soul, and with it, clarity.
On the Second Day, an irrevocable poison was planted upon Earth.
The Old One is the central, overarching antagonist in Demon’s Souls, even if that claim is arguable when looking at the lore as a whole. But if we stick to the plot of the game, and considering the threat the Old One poses, it is undeniably the major antagonist force at play.
Ever since the Old One was first planted upon Earth, it was left in a state of eternal slumber, for Mirdans had to awaken it on the first time. Then, it was somehow put back to slumber, and then once again awakened by the twelfth King Allant on his twilight years. The Monumental states:
"Long ago, via the Soul Arts, we ruled the world. And in our insatiable exploration woke the Old Beast."
"Thus, that upstart Allant once again awakened the Old Beast."
While in most depictions out there we see the Old One as this colossal, shapeless, worm-like mass of earth and vegetation, its true form is found at the bottom of its "throat", as a pale, radiant light of infinite souls; for that is what the Maiden in Black interacts with to put it back to slumber.
Around its true form, we can see strange root-like formations twisting and intertwining around it, like a protective outer layer; and both their color and texture being different from the rest of the "body" reveal something: when the Old One was first left, it was just this formless light surrounded by the twisting, abnormal roots around it, and then as centuries went by, dirt piled on top of it and vegetation began growing around it. Further proof is the Talisman of God resembling these unique formations, while the Talisman of Beasts resembles the outer look it has in current times. Put simply, the Talisman of God actually predates the Talisman of Beasts.
Old wood charm in the resemblance of the Old Beast. Can use both miracles and magic.
The symbol of God was nothing more than the resemblance of the Old Beast.
Even though this outer vegetation isn’t an original part of the Old One’s physical body, it still became a part of it, and inherited magical properties: the Talisman of Beasts’ JP description states that it was shaped from "old wood", "wood from an old tree"; and the amulet serves as casting tool for both magic and miracles. On the other side, the Istarelle, which is heavily implied to derive from this outer layer of vegetation around the Old One as well, deals mostly Magic damage, and wielding it increases resistance against poison and plague.
Well-polished with carvings applied all over. One of the few extant revelatory items of God.
Possession of Holy Knight Rizaia. Through divinity, raises the user's poison and pestilence resistance.
Whenever the Old One is awake, it spreads a colorless Deep Fog across the land, and within the fog, demons spawn. For the sake of simplicity, I will call demons subservient to the Old One as "Fog Demons". The Fog Demons have only one purpose for existing: to collect souls and give them to the Old One. The way the Fog Demons do it doesn’t matter, whether it is taking them from the soil, the atmosphere, the water, or by hunting humans; as long as they give those souls to their master. The Monumental states:
"The Old Beast generates demons and continuously takes souls, continuing to accumulate them inside itself, a bottomless nothingness."
The Japanese name for the Old One is, actually, the "Old Beast" (古い獣), sometimes referred to as simply "Beast" (獣), referring to the strangely low level of intellect it possesses. Even having consumed countless souls, to the point of having erased most of the world just during the First Scourge, the Old One is… quite stupid.
When the player character has slain all of its Fog Demons, the Old One immediately howls for a new one, and openly welcomes the human that has mysteriously appeared right after, wanting it to become its new Fog Demon. And how does the Maiden in Black talk to the Old One? In the same manner as a small child. On that very cutscene, she says:
"Oh Beast… this way… You doubtless wish for a new demon… Good child…"
And the Old One falls right into this trap, allowing the Maiden in Black to put it back to slumber (if the player chooses the Return to Slumber ending, that is). No creature with the minimal sense of self-preservation would fall so easily for such an obvious trap, but in all honesty, it’s not like the Old One even needs self preservation instincts. During the game, no one ever talks about the possibility of harming, let alone killing, the Beast.
And the reason for that is that it cannot be possibly be harmed or killed. When we meet the Old One at the end of the game, it has countless magical harpoons stuck to its body, and during the Monumental’s cutscene, we can see the Nexus (を楔の神殿, "Wedge Shrine") unleashing fire upon it, the charred, nameless ruins of Mird around the root of demons further confirms it. And despite all of this, during the First Scourge, the Old One nonetheless continued to spread its Deep Fog and take souls, like if nothing had happened.
To make matters even worse, even if physically sealed away in a dreamscape inside the Nexus, the Old One is not hindered in any way by this restraint, and nevertheless continues to spread its Deep Fog like if it wasn't sealed.
And the same way the Old One is illogical, so is the Deep Fog it spreads, that is why the JP text for the introduction refers to it as an "abnormal" fog. That is why, as well, it is always referred to as "colorless". One might think that it's simply called that because it has a whiteish/grayish color, but on other descriptions, both white and gray are established as actual colors. Thus, it is impossible, it is illogical, for something to lack a color, yet this Deep Fog does.
And the threat that the Old One poses is far more than what it might seem at first glance, too. Souls are the ether by which beings acknowledge, in one way or another, the world around them. And if there's nothing to acknowledge the world exists, can it be assured it exists? The answer is no, and the Monumental confirms it.
"The world that has lost its reason is swallowed by the Dense Fog and vanishes."
If allowed to run awaken and unchecked, the Old One will inevitably, eventually erase all of existence from reality itself.
The Old One was presumably planted by the very same Creator God that had granted soul to man and everything that lives, as well as having created the world itself, but, why? Why put a world-erasing demon? The answer lies in the Northern Regalia, that was left together with the Old One.
While the localizations claim that it was left with with malicious purposes, or that it was left by a malicious force; the Japanese text simply states it was left “due to malice”, implying that there was a great malice going on in the world that prompted the Creator God to put the Old One.
Symbol of the Old King of Boletaria. The silhouette of this blade is Soulbrand, and also Demonbrand.
Not much is said about its origins, even in the traditions of the Boletarian Royal Family, but it is considered to have been left behind in the world together to the Old Beast due to malice.
After all, the miracles "God's Wrath" and "Anti-Magic Field" refer to them being symbols of the power of God (Creator God) against great malice, and dark silver, the oldest known metal, exorcizes malice. In short, this Creator God was heavily against evil.
Dark-silver shield passed down in Vinland.
Dark-silver is known as the oldest metal, and is said to exorcize dark malice. Protects its user against all types of magic.
What was that malice? Humans, through soul, were doing magic. If through soul one can understand reality, then through soul one can alter it and redefine it. Yuria states:
"The godly something-or-other gave us souls not for the sake of magical arts, but for the sake of man's thought."
More soul meant more intellect and more power for magic, and where to find large quantities of souls? In fellow humans. The Northern Regalia is made by two blades, Demonbrandt and Soulbrandt, and both of them scale their damage depending on how close, or how far, the player's soul is from "demonhood", that being the Character Tendency mechanic. And how to approach *demonhood"? By slaying innocent NPCs.
Magic manifested from the soul of the demon "Yellow-garbed Old Man". The amount of souls obtained by defeating enemies increases.
Via this magic the caster learns "thirst for souls" and thoroughly seizes souls from the target to the utmost limit. There is no way in which this differs from the conduct of a demon.
Thus, those primitive, evil humans that slaughtered innocent people to absorb their souls would become known as "demons", And so, the Creator God planted a true Demon, destined to erase the world itself, due to human malice. Their own sin would be their downfall, as Fog Demons behave exactly the same way as those evil humans, and their shape and modus operandi are based after the human mind.
But humans weren't evil at their core, the same clarity that their innate soul amount provided, allowed them to have free will, there were still good, righteous people out there, and so, there was a chance to avoid a catastrophe.
It's because of that that the Old One was left in a state of slumber, if humans continued to do evil, it would inevitably, eventually be awakened; if humans corrected their path, it would stay slumbering, undisturbed.
And alongside the Old One, man was given a great power to still have a chance to do good and fight back if the Beast awakened, as the Recovery (大回復, "Great Heal") miracle states.
Miracle manifested from the soul of a Primeval Demon. Greatly recovers the caster's HP.
God, for the purpose of opposing demons, granted man a greater power.
This "greater power" is the Northern Regalia that was left together with the Old One, specifically, the Demonbrand half of it. This white blade increases its power the farther the user's soul is from demonhood, and has the unique effect of dealing +50% damage against exclusively Fog Demons.
That isn't to say that, though certainly against an objective malice, the Creator God is really good on its own. It gave souls to its Creation for it to understand the world around it, but not the slightest instruction on how to, or how not to, use it; and then reacted violently every time the Creation acted malicious with the soul. First with the Primordial Dragons and the "cataclysm", then with humans and the Old One. And to make matters worse, the Northern Regalia was "left behind", that is to say, "abandoned".
The world of Demon's Souls has been abandoned by God, ever since the very early days of human history.
Special thanks to Odokuro Translation Server and Lokey Lore for JP text accurate translations.
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