Bosses Continued

Crossbreed Priscilla

Crossbreed Priscilla is a unique boss in Dark Souls due to the fact that she exists in an entirely optional area that most players will miss on their first play-through, so she is somewhat hidden in the game.  The player has to return to the starting area of the game to retrieve an item and then return to a mid-game area to access the Painted World of Ariamis where Crossbreed Priscilla is trapped.  Crossbreed Priscilla is described in the game as being an abomination and is the result of a Dragon breeding with something else, probably one of the god characters in the game given her general size.

Source: http://darksouls.wdfiles.com/local--files/bosses/crossbreed-priscilla-large.jpg

Once the player has managed to complete the Painted World of Ariamis, which is filled with very aggressive and powerful enemies, they encounter Crossbreed Priscilla in a snowy arena.  Immediately, the player will notice something about Crossbreed Priscilla, namely that she doesn't move to attack the player like every other boss in the game.  She instead will talk with the player and urge them to leave the Painted World, which she describes as "this land is peaceful, its inhabitants kind..."  However, if the player chooses to, they can engage Crossbreed Priscilla in battle, she will become invisible and strike the player while they cannot see her.  The player is able to notice her footprints in the snow, which allows the player to attack her and break her invisibility.  Even after she is visible again, Crossbreed Priscilla is a very difficult boss and can easily defeat the player in a few attacks.

The interesting facet of Crossbreed Priscilla's characterization is her passive reaction to the player's presence, which clearly shows that she is a much kinder character than the other bosses in the game.  However, this passivity or submissiveness is a quality that is a stereotype associated with femininity and since Crossbreed Priscilla is one of the few female bosses in Dark Souls, she is another example of how Dark Souls presents female characters in a unfavorable manner.  If Crossbreed Priscilla were immediately aggressive, her characterization would be counter to the stereotypical presentation of women.  However, as she is presented in Dark Souls, she is just an example of female submission to male dominance.

Dark Sun Gwyndolin

Dark Sun Gwyndolin is a another optional boss like Crossbreed Priscilla, but Dark Sun Gwyndolin is much more important to the overall plot of Dark Souls.  Dark Sun Gwyndolin is described as being a god and thus male but he has a distinctly feminine appearance, voice, and name perhaps due to Gwyndolin's association with the moon, magic and illusions.  The game itself consistently refers to Gwyndolin with male pronouns and the voice actor for the character is in fact male, while the way the character is voiced is somewhat androgynous as is the character's actual in-game appearance which appears to include flowing white robes and even breasts.

Source: http://darksouls.wdfiles.com/local--files/npcs/dark-sun-gwyndolin-large.jpg

Before the encounter with Gwyndolin, the player is initially warned away from the encounter by a voiceover from Gwyndolin.  However, the player can ignore this warning and enter the area that Gwyndolin guards, the tomb of his father Gwyn, an important figure in Lordran's history.  Throughout the encounter, the player must constantly chase Gywndolin down a long, seemingly endless hallway while Gwyndolin hurls powerful magical blasts or arrows at the player.  If the player manages to close the distance and physically engage Gywndolin, he will teleport away from the player, restarting the chase.

Gwyndolin is strongly associated with the moon, magic, and illusions, concepts that are all distinctly non-physical, unlike the traditional swordplay displayed by other bosses.  Additionally, by being associated with the moon, which is traditionally associated with femininity and mensuration, Gwyndolin's exact gender is further blurred.  Gwyndolin's role in the story of the game is one of either an optional Boss encounter that the player has to actively seek out or as the leader of a group that punishes players who have "sinned" in the world by attacking NPCs or betraying other groups.  It is important to note that this group, or Covenant as it is called in the game, allows the player to join and assist in punishing other players who have "sinned" in the game.  Additionally, Gwyndolin is responsible for the sunny appearance of Anor Londo, the city of the gods, as well as all of the enemies that maintain a watch over the city.  Gwyndolin is also responsible for the illusion of his sister, Gwynevere, Princess of Sunlight, which is a key part of the main story of Dark Souls since the player has to retrieve a relic, called the Lordvessel from Gwynevere to complete the game.  There is also another Covenant that centers around Gwynevere which involves protecting and healing other players in cooperative online play.  So, Dark Sun Gwyndolin not only contributes to the main plot, which drives the player's actions throughout the game, but is also behind two Covenants that are associated with positive traits, which is unusual for such a gender-ambiguous character in a video game.

The theme of justice that surrounds Gwyndolin is also interesting, given the ambiguous nature of his gender as well as his skill at illusions, which would be very effective at obfuscating guilt.  Perhaps this duality of purpose, where Gwyndolin is devoted to the contradictory ideas of illusions and justice, is intentional on FROM SOFTWARE's part.  This duality of extreme ideas does echo the rather ambiguous gender of Gwyndolin and would make players more likely to be generally unsettled by this boss.

Pinwheel

The Pinwheel boss is another magic-based character that presents a challenge to the player's progress through Dark Souls' main story.  Pinwheel is found deep underground, in an area that is nestled in between two areas that are populated exclusively with skeleton enemies.  In Pinwheel's boss arena, there are numerous stacks of books which hint at Pinwheel's scholarly nature and his magical prowess.  From the ceiling of this room, there are human skeletons suspended by their wrists, which in addition to the adjacent areas, tells the player that Pinwheel is a necromancer of some power.  Pinwheel itself is a black robed figure that has three sets of arms and hides its appearance behind three masks that seem to communicate with each other in some way.  The player can later receive or purchase these masks to discover that they are called the Mask of the Father, the Mask of the Mother, and the Mask of the Child.  So, Pinwheel is a combination of three individuals, which makes sense given the number of arms and masks, so it is at least in part, identified as being female (based on the Mother, the Child's gender is ambiguous).

Pinwheel is also a magic-based boss that only attacks with magical blasts, can create illusory clones of itself, and can even disappear from sight.  By examining the placement of the Masks on Pinwheel, we can also discover some interesting factors behind the character.  In the following picture, the Masks are, from top to bottom, the Child, the Mother, and the Father, which could mean that the Father part of Pinwheel is supporting the other two parts due to his strength.

Source: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121215003546/darksouls/images/9/9d/Pinwheel.jpg

As a boss encounter, many players will find Pinwheel to be fairly easy to defeat via physical attacks, since its only defense is to disappear when struck.  Pinwheel also has lower health than other bosses in the game, and by the time the player has reached it, they should be powerful enough to defeat Pinwheel without too much difficulty.   In the story of Dark Souls, Pinwheel exists as a leech that is drawing power from one of the mythical figures in Lordran's history, a character named Gravelord Nito.  Even after the player has defeated Pinwheel, the boss appears again in duplicate forms outside of Gravelord Nito's tomb, which makes sense given the symbiotic relationship between the two necromancers (Nito's a necromancer, in case the Gravelord part wasn't clear enough).

The fact that the Child is the top mask hints that Pinwheel is not completely male or female, since the Child's gender is left undefined in the game and the Mask itself appears to display the face of a youth with curly hair whose gender is unclear.  The Masks themselves provide different descriptions of the aspects of Pinwheel as well as providing benefits to the player once worn.  These descriptions and benefits reflect the traditional definitions of gender, where males are considered to be braver and stronger than females.  The Mask of the Father describes him as being valiant and when worn, it increases the player's ability to wear heavier armor and wield heavier weapons.  In contrast, the Mask of the Mother who is described as being kindly, increases the player's health,which allows them to take more damage.  The Mask of the Child describes the Child as being naive, and the benefit it provides allows the player to run and fight for longer periods without having to rest.  The Mask of the Father clearly reinforces the stereotype that masculinity equals strength while the Mask of the Mother highlights the association of femininity with life and healthiness.  The Mask of the Child, being gender-neutral, displays a different type of stereotype, namely that children are full of energy.

Pinwheel can be seen to rejecting traditional gender roles in our male-dominant society since it is hiding its true physical appearance behind the Masks of both genders as well as having a gender-neutral Mask being placed symbolically higher than the gendered Masks.  However, the symbiotic relationship between Pinwheel and Nito is reflective of the traditional gender relationship where the female is dependent upon the male for safety and protection, as Pinwheel (part female) is dependent upon Nito's (male) power for survival in Lordran.  The power leeching aspect of Pinwheel also displays some of the stereotypes and prejudice associated with traditional gender roles, where a female must steal power from a male for it to be considered legitimate rather than earning it for herself.  This might not be a perfect comparison in Pinwheel's case due to its composite nature, but it is still very telling of the stereotypes associated with gender that permeate our culture on many levels.

For Next Time: The Rest of the Bosses