A theory re: KF The Ancient City

[EdmondDantes]

This is something I thought of recently and thought I'd share here...

THEORY:

The Ancient City takes place before King's Field 1 Japan.

Admittedly my reasoning is a little boneheaded but:

Ancient City's storyline constantly talks about the "people of the forest" who were consumed by Darkness.

KF1JP (or as I call it, "The Royal Cemetary Adventure" because that's less confusing than a jumble of letters) begins with a text crawl about the "Dragon of the Forest" who once destroyed evil there.

Both games take place largely in an underground structure where the goal is to get to the bottom.

Ancient City shows the Moonlight Sword being made for the first time. ‎  KF1 it already exists but in an inferior form until some fairy or something empowers it.

Just a thought. ‎  Anyone got other ideas?

[Holy_Diver]

To me KFIV seemed really weird, like its setting is not a real place. It's more like a miniature Yggdasil, which is pretty much in keeping with all of From Software's games since, including its Dark Souls games. They seem to exist in a mythical wonderland instead of real places, which is used as an excuse to not develop a traditional narrative--that is I think a mark of immaturity for these games. ‎ 

It doesn't really matter what IV is since its plot is disconnected completely. In King's Field there is a remnants of an ancient/magical civilization or clutch underneath its cemetery. In other words, the "dungeon" (perhaps beyond the first basement) is not a construction project of the people's of historical Verdite...

I think it's easy to see (going by the game manual) the "Dragon of the Forest" is the woman Millia who is an emissary of Guyra. She appeared as a Jeanne of Arc character in olden times to force an armistice between kingdoms warring in the continent. The legend ‘One day, the Dragon of the Forest will return, bringing magical artifacts' is basically just a promise that Millia would pass on the Moonlight Sword and her suit of armor, as she does in the game, to Jean.

The 'people of the forest' in the trilogy is a euphemism for the dark elves that fled Melanat and made their homes in the forests around the inland Veld sea in the north of the continent. The KFII manual (the original) I think elaborates on this, explaining that this area is a yearly resort spot where the kingdoms meet and conduct diplomatic matters.

One imagines they fanned out through the forests of the continent (Elegria) in time. Millia would have been their leader, like a Moses character, during their exodus. They were previously enslaved by the high elves of Melanat, confined to the subterranean part of the island complex and forced to work, i.e. in the mines there. Presumably that's where they met Guyra and adopted them in the style of a black H. P. Lovecraft mystery cult whose god is a cosmic horror.

Of course, in a twist, Guyra seems to be the good guy of the trilogy. So it ends up in a "don't judge a book by its cover" morality play in the most simplistic reading. Part III explains that the black dragon in part I is an illusion. Millia is an illusionist, and one of her tricks is to conjure Guyra. But her black dragon seems to be a more classical model of a dragon than Guyra's true form, ‎  that is quite ugly. In SOM's remake (that is quite middling) the dragon is golden and appears not intimidating in the least; Millia appears as a blonde fairy, instead of a geisha girl.