So picture me, playing some Dark Souls for the very first time, now 20 hours in and happily (…kinda) grinding my way through Blighttown with my faithful character Bepis Jones V. I don’t know most of the mechanics but I’ve got a solid grasp on the controls and some great armor and weaponry, plus a bit of pyromancy.
Along the way, I get how most people get in Blighttown (I’ve heard), and decide I need help. So I decide to do what the game told me to ages ago for the second time: summon an NPC helper.
So, I try to call up my main man Solaire, but instead the summon rock thingy offers me a different NPC with an odd name. I figure it’s probably as good as Solaire, and summon it. I’m greeted with a wizard who immediately starts wrecking shit all over; goddamn, this NPC is broken!
After a few minutes of running into walls, I continue my journey, little wizard NPC friend following along as happy as can be. Occasionally, I wave and beckon to it, jumping for joy as I recklessly run into big bugs and wizard friend saves me. It sometimes bows back; cool AI, I thought. I also sometimes hit and knock it into holes for my amusement. It always gets back out but I have a good laugh.
Finally, as most DS runs go, I fall into a pit. I’m dead, NPC is banished to the shadow realm until I get my humanity back or something, blah blah blah.
AND THEN THE “NPC” SENDS ME A FRIEND REQUEST ON STEAM I WASTED THIS PERFECTLY NICE GUY’S TIME FOR AN HOUR DOING STUPID SHIT BECAUSE I THOUGHT HE WAS AN NPC I DID NOT REALIZE DARK SOULS HAD COOPERATIVE MULTIPLAYER
I will never understand why this Christmas song goes so hard.
OKAY MOTHERFUCKERS LISTEN UP
BECAUSE THIS SHIT IS NOT CAROL OF THE BELLS
IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE/SARAJEVO 12/24 AND IT IS SO MUCH FUCKING MORE THAN CAROL OF THE BELLS.
so during the bosnian war (which was this nasty-ass conflict in bosnia and herzgovina) there was this badass cello-playing motherfucker named vedran smailovic. He was from Sarajevo, was upset about all the shit and nastiness that came about through this war (this was full-on brother-killing-brother shit!) that he went around to bombed-out, blown up buildings and funderals––where he was at risk of FUCKING SNIPER FIRE––and playing the cello. This guy was so set on providing one tiny spot of beauty in a seriously nasty war he was risking being fucking SHOT OR BLOWN UP.
AND THIS IS THE GUY WHO INSPIRED THIS SONG.
He’s why there’s the calm cello part at the beginning before everything gets all violent-sounding. It’s THEMATIC.
THAT’S WHY THIS CHRISTMAS SONG GOES SO FUCKING HARD.
Knowing and understanding history makes everything better. :)