Is the runic writing in the Dark Souls series based on anything?
I've seen in other game series that an in-game language corresponds to some real-life language, such as the various forms of Hylian in the Legend of Zelda series. I had never questioned that the runes that make up a summon sign or a message actually meant anything in Dark Souls until inspecting the inscriptions on the back of the thrones in Firelink Shrine. Each one appears visually different. If it were any other game series, I'd just assume it were a minor detail, but I can't assume that here. Cursory googling has led me nowhere. Is there any evidence confirming or denying that the runes in Dark Souls actually translate to something meaningful, or do they simply look cool?
Note: I tagged both the series and Dark Souls 3 because I'm not sure if the language had always been there, or if it just now "showed up" so to speak in the third game.
Best Answer
TL;DR: There is no confirmed source for anything about the Language, I am however looking into it myself now.
As far as my research went I couldn't find anything about the writing being based on something or meaning anything, this however did get me interested in looking at the actual langauge in the game a bit more, I'll see if the signs do actually correspond to actual words / letters consistantly across all Dark Souls games. If you're interested I can update this answer if I find something interesting about that.
Someone on reddit said that he read somewhere that the symbols are based on a dead Language and when tried to translate only spells out gibberish. Will look into it however.
Since the Souls series is such a big franchise now and is known for its hidden lore and secrets, I wouldn't doubt that they made up an entire language that is consistant across all 3 games, with maybe slight changes because of the time that has passes between what happened in Dark Souls 1, 2 and 3.
Pictures about "Is the runic writing in the Dark Souls series based on anything?"
What programming language is Dark Souls written in?
C++ has been used in the development of games such as The Witcher 3, Dark Souls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), Fortnite , and others. Java, which was founded in 1995, is one of the greatest object-oriented programming languages for general computer programming.Is Elden Ring lore connected to Dark Souls?
That means that while the games are very similar in their worlds, ideas and gameplay, there's no story link between them. So no, players will not need to have played Dark Souls or any other of From Software's back catalogue to understand Elden Ring, though it might help give an appreciation for certain ideas.Are Dark Souls 1/3 connected?
Although set in the same universe as the previous game, there is no direct story connection to Dark Souls.Is Ds2 connected to ds1 and ds3?
Ds2 is directly linked (intended) to ds1, And it managed to do so with it's own interesting story.Dark Souls is underrated
More answers regarding is the runic writing in the Dark Souls series based on anything?
Answer 2
I see a few symbols (best viewable in the white soapstone mark from DS1) that look a LOT like written Hebrew. I can't upload a picture right now, but I'd say that the devs were very much inspired by Hebrew, if they didn't just rip a few letters right from it.
Answer 3
This may be a reach but... The writing looks like it could be the same as the 8,600 yr old ancient Chinese turtle-shell/shoulder-blade oracle-script divinations (part of ancient practices of pyromancy!) At first glance they seemed like norse/celtic runes. But i think they look closer to the Phoenician alphabet. Perhaps they combined several ancient runic alphabets lol
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Stanislav Kondratiev, Magda Ehlers, Mikhail Nilov, Andrea Piacquadio