I don't understand hollowing.

[Gingerbread]

I used to think it was something tied to being undead, which was brought on by Gwyn, and that after dying your skin rotted and eventually you became hollow. Is the rotten skin a sign of being a hollow or not? Because the female undead merchant has rotten skin but she's sane. Is that rotting skin thing tied to dying as undead, or something else? How does this work?

[Kleerex]

Don't you dare go hollow!

No, being hollow doesn't mean skin color change. It means losing hope and eventually giving up.

[MaenaZ]

Having your skin rotten off and your body look like a zombie means you are Hollow or extremely close to being Hollow. Both the male and female Undead Merchants are a little unhinged, aren't they? They're probably clinging to last shreds of sanity.

[Gingerbread]

What about Gwyn? At the kiln he's clearly hollow, or getting there. 1. He doesn't speak 2. His skin is rotting 3. Shouldn't he have died linking the flame. I thought Gods couldn't hollow? And assuming hollowing goes with being undead, Gods aren't supposed to be undead. Same with the nameless king in DS3. His skin is rotting too

[NightmareGats]

Shanalotte :
"For when the Undead dies, it is never truly dead, but only one step closer to Hollowing.
Not all Undead are Hollows, but all Hollows were once Undead."

[Инрико Пуччэ]

Originally posted by Gingerbread:

I used to think it was something tied to being undead, which was brought on by Gwyn, and that after dying your skin rotted and eventually you became hollow. Is the rotten skin a sign of being a hollow or not? Because the female undead merchant has rotten skin but she's sane. Is that rotting skin thing tied to dying as undead, or something else? How does this work?

She seems to be holding on only her own willpower (like the Chosen Undead) or maybe the obsession of collecting moss and dung pies for selling. Being Hollow is not related to the appearance or your minds state, it is about losing the Dark Soul's pieces. If someone doesn't occupy self with some purpose and loses the will to continue (to do, like, anything) he goes fully Hollow and can't be recovered.

[Инрико Пуччэ]

Originally posted by Gingerbread:

What about Gwyn? At the kiln he's clearly hollow, or getting there. 1. He doesn't speak 2. His skin is rotting 3. Shouldn't he have died linking the flame. I thought Gods couldn't hollow? And assuming hollowing goes with being undead, Gods aren't supposed to be undead. Same with the nameless king in DS3. His skin is rotting too

Gwyn is more like charred a bit like all Lord of Cinder. Still, all Lords of Cinder go nuts from the experience of being used a fuel for the ur-bonfire.

[Gingerbread]

Originally posted by ChiefBromden:

Originally posted by Gingerbread:

What about Gwyn? At the kiln he's clearly hollow, or getting there. 1. He doesn't speak 2. His skin is rotting 3. Shouldn't he have died linking the flame. I thought Gods couldn't hollow? And assuming hollowing goes with being undead, Gods aren't supposed to be undead. Same with the nameless king in DS3. His skin is rotting too

Gwyn is more like charred a bit like all Lord of Cinder. Still, all Lords of Cinder go nuts from the experience of being used a fuel for the ur-bonfire.

The abyss watchers aren't charred. And the nameless king isn't a lord of cinder

[Инрико Пуччэ]

Originally posted by Gingerbread:

Originally posted by ChiefBromden:

Gwyn is more like charred a bit like all Lord of Cinder. Still, all Lords of Cinder go nuts from the experience of being used a fuel for the ur-bonfire.

The abyss watchers aren't charred. And the nameless king isn't a lord of cinder

No, they are a bit. And I wasn't talking about the Nameless King, his skin has the colour of coal though.

[Rays of Apollo]

Originally posted by ChiefBromden:

I wasn't talking about the Nameless King, his skin has the colour of coal though.

Rrrrracist!!! Nah, I'm foolin.

[Инрико Пуччэ]

Originally posted by Mr. TehNoms:

Originally posted by ChiefBromden:

I wasn't talking about the Nameless King, his skin has the colour of coal though.

Rrrrracist!!! Nah, I'm foolin.

Hail Nito! \o

[dande48]

Hollowing is the process where an undead lose their sense of purpose, their sense of reasoning, and eventually go mad; They become an empty shell of their former self.

[Gingerbread]

So what does the rotting skin have to do with then, if it's not hollowing. Do all undead become rotted corpses? Why does this happen

[CherryKakyoin]

Originally posted by Gingerbread:

So what does the rotting skin have to do with then, if it's not hollowing. Do all undead become rotted corpses? Why does this happen

Due to the curse, you become hollow when you don't have sanity left or you don't have a purpose anymore, the merchants are still somewhat sane because they have a purpose, which is to be merchants, another example is the blacksmith from ds2 he's just 1 step from hollowing but as he's always hard working he won't become hollow (unless he decides to quit, that's why he was so desperate when he was out of his smith)

[Инрико Пуччэ]

Originally posted by Gingerbread:

So what does the rotting skin have to do with then, if it's not hollowing. Do all undead become rotted corpses? Why does this happen

They return to the state all humanoids were in before they found Lord Souls. Gwyn and the Witch of Izalith divided the soul for their clans only, Nito offered much of his soul to the death and creatures to guard the dead and Hollows put to rest. But the furtive pygmy divided his Dark Soul among all other Hollows and made them humans. The Dark Soul is seemingly the weakest but possesses the strong power outmatching everything else and quickly falling out of control due to overuse. That's how the Abyss/the Deep was born. And the Dark Soul gets stronger with the fading of the First Flame unlike other Lord Souls, that's why Gwyn linked the Fire to repel the Dark and ordered to shephed humans and erase the history and the lore of Dark magic from the world.

[Инрико Пуччэ]

I have just realised that if Nito's sword is upgraded by Demon Titanite like other soul weapons, which soul it is made from? Does Nito share a part of his soul with his covenant members in the form of a weapon? And from that souls are Demon's Spears made?