The colors of Humanity

[CALCIUM]

So throughout my play throughs of all the dark souls games, I have noticed that things related to humanity come in 3 different colors (excluding black of course). The 3 colors seem to be white, purple, and red.
I assume that white just means that the humanity is in a calm/docile state, however I do not know what the other 2 mean in terms of humanity. Does anyone have theories on what these colors mean or do you think their just colored differently for the heck of it?

[//]

what are the things related to humanity that come in those colours?

[CALCIUM]

Originally posted by //:

what are the things related to humanity that come in those colours?

Humanity, dark spells, manus' soul, Gael's soul come in white.
Artorias when he buffs himself, Dark eater midir's weapon art, souls of the daughters of manus and others who have dark within them have purple.
The energy coming out of Gael during his boss fight, the dark hand, the elder ghru magic (Which I believe to be of humanity as it is very similar to Gael's energy and the wisps), one of the dark pyromancys ( I cant remember on the top of my head its name), and the wisps (who I believe to be related to humanity as they are found in the catacombs and come out of the mass of souls in new londo), are in red.

[Sabaithal]

Interesting.

Well as you already said, humanity's default color seems to be black. But, it does have a white 'aura' (outline) around it, no? Now, this could just be to make the sprites actually visible from a gameplay perspective, but think back to Ds2, Nashandra. She held a white 'flame' in her hand (which she would sometimes use a laser), and cherished this flame so much that she continued to hold it up, even when falling to her knees when dying. But it was white, not yellow like normal flame we see.

Ever hear of the saying 'every light casts a shadow'? Aside from being...well pretty straightforward (for this series) in terms of what that means, maybe that's why the darkness can, ironically, manifest a pure white flame.

Also, my memory is a bit foggy, so if you wouldn't mind refreshing us on where and when specifically you noticed the humanity having different colors? Context can help discern the significance.

[CALCIUM]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Interesting.

Well as you already said, humanity's default color seems to be black. But, it does have a white 'aura' (outline) around it, no? Now, this could just be to make the sprites actually visible from a gameplay perspective, but think back to Ds2, Nashandra. She held a white 'flame' in her hand (which she would sometimes use a laser), and cherished this flame so much that she continued to hold it up, even when falling to her knees when dying. But it was white, not yellow like normal flame we see.

Ever hear of the saying 'every light casts a shadow'? Aside from being...well pretty straightforward (for this series) in terms of what that means, maybe that's why the darkness can, ironically, manifest a pure white flame.

Also, my memory is a bit foggy, so if you wouldn't mind refreshing us on where and when specifically you noticed the humanity having different colors? Context can help discern the significance.

As I have said up above before
Humanity's outline, Manus and Gaels soul, most dark magic/hexes have white
Artorias when he buffs himself, The souls of the Daughters of Manus and those who have dark in them, Dark eater midirs katana weapon arts, and if I remember correctly, the effects of weapons that are enchanted with dark in ds3 are purple
The energy the comes out of Gael during his boss fight, the black flame pyromancy, Nadalia's ash idols magic attack, the outcry and dance of fire pyromancy, the wisps (Who I assume are of the dark as they come out of the mass of souls in new londo and are found in the catacombs), and the elder ghrus homing magic attack (as it looks similar to the energy that comes out of Gael) are red.

Edit: Oh and also the Dark Hand is also red as it is use to suck the humanity out of people.

[dsantos259]

I think the outline identifies the type of "alignment" the Dark Users have

I should point out that Gael's soul has that white outline but his inital powers have a deep red hue, turning white on rare occassions like others

I think those who have a Red outline on their powers (like dark Wraiths or any specific highly aggressive power like the Dark Hand) seems to indicate a more hostile, perhaps corrupted variant of the Dark

Purple is probably for religious Zealotry in the Dark as must with this hue seem to in the miracle magics department

Where as a only White Outline, as seen in Karla, reflects the Dark in it's more ambiguous state. Pure but not docile

I should point out that Humanity in previous games was "generated" by helping others, so much that DS 1 suggests "saintly" people are more abundant in their Humanity naturally where as invaders stole the Humanity of others... so perhaps this is an indicative of the Dark's true nature before being manipulated by the Dark Wraiths or Manus' insanity

On that note: Anyone noticed that Gael's soul, in it's shape and form, matches Manus'?

Edit: I just remembered, there's also the new Blue hue on certain powers too and all are associated with the Deep. Though they share alikeness with Humanity, the Deep Gem implies there's a Darkness beyond Humanity's... perhaps Blue represents a different form of influence that use Hmanity as a medium? Since it's related to the Deep, it can be labeled toa more aquatic touch

[CALCIUM]

Originally posted by dsantos259:

I think the outline identifies the type of "alignment" the Dark Users have

I should point out that Gael's soul has that white outline but his inital powers have a deep red hue, turning white on rare occassions like others

I think those who have a Red outline on their powers (like dark Wraiths or any specific highly aggressive power like the Dark Hand) seems to indicate a more hostile, perhaps corrupted variant of the Dark

Purple is probably for religious Zealotry in the Dark as must with this hue seem to in the miracle magics department

Where as a only White Outline, as seen in Karla, reflects the Dark in it's more ambiguous state. Pure but not docile

I should point out that Humanity in previous games was "generated" by helping others, so much that DS 1 suggests "saintly" people are more abundant in their Humanity naturally where as invaders stole the Humanity of others... so perhaps this is an indicative of the Dark's true nature before being manipulated by the Dark Wraiths or Manus' insanity

On that note: Anyone noticed that Gael's soul, in it's shape and form, matches Manus'?

Edit: I just remembered, there's also the new Blue hue on certain powers too and all are associated with the Deep. Though they share alikeness with Humanity, the Deep Gem implies there's a Darkness beyond Humanity's... perhaps Blue represents a different form of influence that use Hmanity as a medium? Since it's related to the Deep, it can be labeled toa more aquatic touch

I actually kinda like that however I do have questions. you say that red is a possible corruption of dark and it could be however wouldn't purple be closer to corruption? I ask because Artorias was corruped by the abyss and when ever he buffs himself (which I think is him being corrupted further) is purple as well as his soul. Dark eater Midir's katana weapon art is purple and we also know he was corrupted by the dark and the description states that the katana is a representation of Midir himself. Also with the soul of Artorias in mind, many characters who are corrupted by the dark have that purple color around their soul.

On that note: I too have noticed Gael's soul is very similar to the soul of manus. I think its because Gael has consumed so much humanity that his soul is very close to the original dark soul.

[dsantos259]

Originally posted by CALCIUM:

Originally posted by dsantos259:

I think the outline identifies the type of "alignment" the Dark Users have

I should point out that Gael's soul has that white outline but his inital powers have a deep red hue, turning white on rare occassions like others

I think those who have a Red outline on their powers (like dark Wraiths or any specific highly aggressive power like the Dark Hand) seems to indicate a more hostile, perhaps corrupted variant of the Dark

Purple is probably for religious Zealotry in the Dark as must with this hue seem to in the miracle magics department

Where as a only White Outline, as seen in Karla, reflects the Dark in it's more ambiguous state. Pure but not docile

I should point out that Humanity in previous games was "generated" by helping others, so much that DS 1 suggests "saintly" people are more abundant in their Humanity naturally where as invaders stole the Humanity of others... so perhaps this is an indicative of the Dark's true nature before being manipulated by the Dark Wraiths or Manus' insanity

On that note: Anyone noticed that Gael's soul, in it's shape and form, matches Manus'?

Edit: I just remembered, there's also the new Blue hue on certain powers too and all are associated with the Deep. Though they share alikeness with Humanity, the Deep Gem implies there's a Darkness beyond Humanity's... perhaps Blue represents a different form of influence that use Hmanity as a medium? Since it's related to the Deep, it can be labeled toa more aquatic touch

I actually kinda like that however I do have questions. you say that red is a possible corruption of dark and it could be however wouldn't purple be closer to corruption? I ask because Artorias was corruped by the abyss and when ever he buffs himself (which I think is him being corrupted further) is purple as well as his soul. Dark eater Midir's katana weapon art is purple and we also know he was corrupted by the dark and the description states that the katana is a representation of Midir himself. Also with the soul of Artorias in mind, many characters who are corrupted by the dark have that purple color around their soul.

On that note: I too have noticed Gael's soul is very similar to the soul of manus. I think its because Gael has consumed so much humanity that his soul is very close to the original dark soul.

On the note of the Soul: Yeah, I agree. I think that in the end, Gael may have somehow recreated the Dark Soul which we get to keep while its blod is given to the painter girl

As for the colours: fair point... perhaps Red Hue is not corruption but perhaps Perversion of the Dark by malicious intent or agression or violent nature of its user while the Purple hue is the corrupted colour? Like the Dark being twisted or twisting the user?

[Jevmen]

Blue is not humanity, is the human dregs, another type of dark
White represent the pure humanity and the Black flame
Purple represent dark sorcery

[CALCIUM]

Originally posted by dsantos259:

Originally posted by CALCIUM:

I actually kinda like that however I do have questions. you say that red is a possible corruption of dark and it could be however wouldn't purple be closer to corruption? I ask because Artorias was corruped by the abyss and when ever he buffs himself (which I think is him being corrupted further) is purple as well as his soul. Dark eater Midir's katana weapon art is purple and we also know he was corrupted by the dark and the description states that the katana is a representation of Midir himself. Also with the soul of Artorias in mind, many characters who are corrupted by the dark have that purple color around their soul.

On that note: I too have noticed Gael's soul is very similar to the soul of manus. I think its because Gael has consumed so much humanity that his soul is very close to the original dark soul.

On the note of the Soul: Yeah, I agree. I think that in the end, Gael may have somehow recreated the Dark Soul which we get to keep while its blod is given to the painter girl

As for the colours: fair point... perhaps Red Hue is not corruption but perhaps Perversion of the Dark by malicious intent or agression or violent nature of its user while the Purple hue is the corrupted colour? Like the Dark being twisted or twisting the user?

That would make sense as Manus's humanity went wild seeking his precious pendant (and potentially snapping after being tortured or just having his tomb defiled) but remained having a white outline for his dark attacks and his soul, there never was any other color with him as far as I remember. His daughters however had more more wicked desires than Manus did as one was his greed and desire, another his anger and wrath, another his loneliness, and one his fear and sorrow. Manus had to have felt these things but they probably werent as concentrated as with his daughters as they are actually embodiments of those emotions therefor causing their souls to be a lot more twisted than his own soul.

Now with red, from what I have gathered pyromancies are connected to ones emotion more so than the other kind of spell casting. With that in mind and the fact the first red form of humanity was a pyromancy that we know of, we can assume that red isnt just the 3 you stated but in general just very strong negative emotions in general however if it was just those 3 things you stated to make red it would still make sense.

[CALCIUM]

Originally posted by Jevmen:

Blue is not humanity, is the human dregs, another type of dark
White represent the pure humanity and the Black flame
Purple represent dark sorcery

Alright I can see that as such but if purple represents sorcery then what about velstadt from ds2? He uses only Miracles as far as we know yet the dark part of his soul has a shade of purple from the constant exposure to dark.

[dsantos259]

Originally posted by CALCIUM:

Originally posted by dsantos259:

On the note of the Soul: Yeah, I agree. I think that in the end, Gael may have somehow recreated the Dark Soul which we get to keep while its blod is given to the painter girl

As for the colours: fair point... perhaps Red Hue is not corruption but perhaps Perversion of the Dark by malicious intent or agression or violent nature of its user while the Purple hue is the corrupted colour? Like the Dark being twisted or twisting the user?

That would make sense as Manus's humanity went wild seeking his precious pendant (and potentially snapping after being tortured or just having his tomb defiled) but remained having a white outline for his dark attacks and his soul, there never was any other color with him as far as I remember. His daughters however had more more wicked desires than Manus did as one was his greed and desire, another his anger and wrath, another his loneliness, and one his fear and sorrow. Manus had to have felt these things but they probably werent as concentrated as with his daughters as they are actually embodiments of those emotions therefor causing their souls to be a lot more twisted than his own soul.

Now with red, from what I have gathered pyromancies are connected to ones emotion more so than the other kind of spell casting. With that in mind and the fact the first red form of humanity was a pyromancy that we know of, we can assume that red isnt just the 3 you stated but in general just very strong negative emotions in general however if it was just those 3 things you stated to make red it would still make sense.

What's this about the first red form being that of a Pyromancy? As afar as I know the first red Dark Ability was Life Drain from the Dark Hand

Pyromancy is connected to ones connection with instinct witht eh surrounding nature. The only Red Pyromancies I know of are the Chaos Pyromancies and those are connected to the Flame of Chaos, all born from the Life Soul.

The only Pyromancies I am aware of that are connected to the Dark Soul are the Dark ones.

[CALCIUM]

Originally posted by dsantos259:

Originally posted by CALCIUM:

That would make sense as Manus's humanity went wild seeking his precious pendant (and potentially snapping after being tortured or just having his tomb defiled) but remained having a white outline for his dark attacks and his soul, there never was any other color with him as far as I remember. His daughters however had more more wicked desires than Manus did as one was his greed and desire, another his anger and wrath, another his loneliness, and one his fear and sorrow. Manus had to have felt these things but they probably werent as concentrated as with his daughters as they are actually embodiments of those emotions therefor causing their souls to be a lot more twisted than his own soul.

Now with red, from what I have gathered pyromancies are connected to ones emotion more so than the other kind of spell casting. With that in mind and the fact the first red form of humanity was a pyromancy that we know of, we can assume that red isnt just the 3 you stated but in general just very strong negative emotions in general however if it was just those 3 things you stated to make red it would still make sense.

What's this about the first red form being that of a Pyromancy? As afar as I know the first red Dark Ability was Life Drain from the Dark Hand

Pyromancy is connected to ones connection with instinct witht eh surrounding nature. The only Red Pyromancies I know of are the Chaos Pyromancies and those are connected to the Flame of Chaos, all born from the Life Soul.

The only Pyromancies I am aware of that are connected to the Dark Soul are the Dark ones.

There are a few pyromancys that are related or can be connected to humanity.
The pyromancys are the black flame from ds1 found in the Abyss at oolicile, the outcry from the soul of Nadalia who is a daughter of Manus, and dance of fire from ds2 seems to look as a pyromancy of the dark similar to Nadalia's pyromancy even if the description only says who made the pyromancy.

[Jevmen]

Originally posted by CALCIUM:

Originally posted by Jevmen:

Blue is not humanity, is the human dregs, another type of dark
White represent the pure humanity and the Black flame
Purple represent dark sorcery

Alright I can see that as such but if purple represents sorcery then what about velstadt from ds2? He uses only Miracles as far as we know yet the dark part of his soul has a shade of purple from the constant exposure to dark.

Still using a dark source and is consumed, thats why his soul is purple, also the Hexes dissapeared in other games and you where only able to find them in DS2 so i think is hard to connect this

[dsantos259]

Originally posted by CALCIUM:

Originally posted by dsantos259:

What's this about the first red form being that of a Pyromancy? As afar as I know the first red Dark Ability was Life Drain from the Dark Hand

Pyromancy is connected to ones connection with instinct witht eh surrounding nature. The only Red Pyromancies I know of are the Chaos Pyromancies and those are connected to the Flame of Chaos, all born from the Life Soul.

The only Pyromancies I am aware of that are connected to the Dark Soul are the Dark ones.

There are a few pyromancys that are related or can be connected to humanity.
The pyromancys are the black flame from ds1 found in the Abyss at oolicile, the outcry from the soul of Nadalia who is a daughter of Manus, and dance of fire from ds2 seems to look as a pyromancy of the dark similar to Nadalia's pyromancy even if the description only says who made the pyromancy.

Oh right

XP

But yeah those are good indicator of it since the core is Dark but the outlines are of that typical shade of red in mroe malevolent Dark users

[CALCIUM]

Originally posted by Jevmen:

Originally posted by CALCIUM:

Alright I can see that as such but if purple represents sorcery then what about velstadt from ds2? He uses only Miracles as far as we know yet the dark part of his soul has a shade of purple from the constant exposure to dark.

Still using a dark source and is consumed, thats why his soul is purple, also the Hexes dissapeared in other games and you where only able to find them in DS2 so i think is hard to connect this

Alright you got me there now that I think about him actually using hexes as a source of dark. But then what about Artorias? He does not use magic, nor is he using a source of dark (At least willingly) even if you were to say when he buffs him self that could be a source of dark that is not a spell or at least any kind of casting we know of.
So are you saying that purple is corruption/ being consumed by the abyss or it represents the dark sorcery but if it does represent dark sorcery then what about the 2 miracles atonement and dark blade? They are not sorcery yet rely on dark (at least dark blade does). Or are you saying it represents multiple things?