Ludleth of Courland

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Do-gooder
Full Name	Ludleth of Courland
Alias(es)	Ludleth
Origin	Dark Souls III
Occupation	Lord of Cinder
Powers / Skills	Resourcefulness
Hobby	Guiding the Player.
Goals	To restore the Age of Fire, and bring back the Lords of Cinder.
Family	Unknown
Friends / Allies	Ashen One
Enemies	No information
Type of Hero	Determined Wise Aristocrat

“	I may be but small, but I will die a colossus.	„
	~ Ludleth of Courland

Ludleth of Courland is a major supporting character of Dark Souls III. He is one of the five Lords of Cinder.

He is voiced by Roger Ringrose.

Bio

An Undead who linked the fire in an age long past, Ludleth is the only Lord of Cinder to arrive at Firelink Shrine without a fight. After giving him the Transposing Kiln, he assists the Unkindled by turning boss souls into weapons, spells, and equipment.

Story

None are more dedicated to firelinking than Ludleth. He considers Kingship as kindling an honor, never wavering from royal duty: when all the other Lords of Cinder abandon the kingly path, he remains in his throne. He is also the weakest Lord of Cinder we encounter, his body small, feeble, and broken by his own admission. If killed, he will resurrect in his sleep, suffering a nightmare of his traumatic experience linking the fire — in sleep talk, he mutters about burning to the bone and unbearable pain. Indeed, his body does look to have turned to ash below the knees. But before he was totally incinerated, he did successfully take on the flame. Overcoming such an arduous trial gives him every reason to be proud, though the feat itself is questionable.

Ludleth calls himself a “researcher” of soul transposition, isolating a soul’s qualities and molding them into various powers with special kilns made from crystal lizard hide. This was an art common to his homeland of Courland, though it isn’t completely original to the culture. Past games established the concept as Seath’s invention, with various parties tracing their knowledge of its secrets back to him. The one exception was Straid, a genius sorcerer who independently recreated many forms of magic lost to the New World during Dark Souls II’s era. It shouldn’t be surprising then that Courland is a blend of the two means, developing their own method with some help from Seath. By stitching together the dragon’s creations into a kiln, residents could manipulate their process for crystallizing magical energy, including souls, into physical matter by hand. This is still a skill-intensive process, since the art is lost with Courland and considered taboo by general society “who would err in using it”. But Ludleth had those skills, so likely collected many souls in the course of his research. And that saved him from incineration.

Ludleth claims that he chose to link the fire in reaction to the first Fire Keeper’s vision. This places him at the firelinking facilities during this early period in Lothric history. The man does note the surviving transposing kiln we bring him, and the now defunct Courland by extension, to be quite old, so his lifetime was undoubtedly in an equally bygone era. However, it also implies that his resolve to be a Lord only came after the first Keeper suffered a setback, stepping up to the plate after the entire system was thrown into disarray. He likewise includes himself among those who hid her eyes, pushing his firelinking even later in the timeline. His predecessor didn’t seem to be a factor for concern either, yet they apparently didn’t have time to ferret out a more worthy heir.

Killing Ludleth nets the Player the Skull Ring, a “secret treasure” of Courland transposed from the soul of the Soulfeeder. Much like the Evil Eye, the qualities of this “soul-eater” (魂喰らい) brings the Abyss to mind, particularly with its ravenous hunger for souls it absorbs for power — so many, in fact, that the monster leaves a stench even once the body is burned. It is this smell of countless souls stuffed into one which makes the Skull Ring’s wearer easier to detect, especially by enemies. It is that point that he wanted to be immediately noticed by his enemies; in other words, he has a guilt complex. During his nightmares, the man calls out to “everyone”, begging they forgive him now that he has saved the world as a Lord. He at least feels that he has wronged many, presumably Courland’s population. After all, his throne designates him as an exile. His own country threw him out, blaming him for some terrible incident. He seeks to atone and so wore the ring to ensure everyone knew when the malefactor entered the vicinity.

Abilities

Ludleth played a heavy role in the Untended Grave, with the implication that Ludleth himself is responsible for it, and the events of the entire game, having sealed the dark consumed world beyond the Consumed King, and making sure there was a chance for the fire to be linked a final time by breaking time.

Personality

Ludleth is possibly one of the most reasonable and wise Lords in the entire series. Not only does he provide support to the player through his powerful Soul Transposition magic, unlike, Kaathe, Frampt, and even Yuria, Ludleth immediately comes clean to the Unkindled One on certain shady topics, such as the Untended Graves, and the Eyes of the First Firekeeper, and does his best to explain them in detail, instead of leaving the player in the dark. The biggest example, however, is he's also one of the very few to be completely benevolent, encouraging the Unkindled to choose whatever path they deem right, whether it be dark or light. Only Aldia previously demonstrated such openness. All in all, Ludleth is a shining example of a Lord.