Pontiff Sulyvahn

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Pure Evil
Full Name	Sulyvahn
Alias	Pontiff Sulyvahn The Tyrant
Origin	Dark Souls III
Allies	Aldrich Archdeacon Royce Archdeacon McDonnell Deacons of the Deep
Powers / Skills	Control over Irithyll Profaned Greatsword Greatsword of Judgement Swordsmanship Superhuman speed Superhuman stamina Ability to summon a clone
Goals	Control Irithyll. Feed Gwyndolin to Aldrich. End the Age of Fire (presumably). Invade and conquer the kingdom of Lothric (presumably). Kill the Ashen One (failed).
Moral Event Horizon	Forcefully turning some of his own subordinates into feral beasts. Poisoning Gwyndolin and feeding him to Aldrich.
Kill Count	Countless
Worst Crimes	Usurpation Mass murder Slavery Malefic Deicide Heresy
Type of Villain	Tyrannical Dark Priest

Pontiff Sulyvahn is one of the main antagonists and a boss of Dark Souls III.

He is the leader of the Outrider Knights and the Church of the Deep, collaborating with Aldrich, Devourer of Gods, feeding him subsequent deities. He managed to conquer all of Irithyll and Anor Londo using the flame found in the Profaned Capital, becoming a cruel ruler and tyrant and making all the inhabitants his slaves.

What Makes Him Pure Evil

• He tricked his loyal Outrider Knights into wearing cursed rings in order to have complete control over them. These would eventually turn their wearers into crazed, savage beasts, haunted by visions of bloody battles.
• He cursed his supreme servant Vordt and a girl he forced to become a dancer with fates worse than death, giving them cursed rings that turned them into great, terrifying beasts with metal armor fused into their skin. He also sent them to Lothric to conquer the land.
• After discovering and claiming the Profaned Flame, he conquered and ravaged Irithyll in the Boreal Valley and Anor Londo, becoming a tyrant and turning all his prisoners into slaves.
• He separated Gwyndolin from his sister, Yorshka, imprisoning her on top of the church tower while Gwyndolin was locked away.
• After his forces were decimated by those of Aldrich, he decided to work with the cannibal to save himself, allowing Aldrich to devour Gwyndolin.
• He tried to kill the Ashen One when they entered his arena.
• He only works with Aldrich and his cult out of pragmatism due to suffering a crushing defeat at their hands.
• While most bosses in the Dark Souls series have an extremely tragic backstory explaining why they became evil, Sulyvahn has none of this, and all of his heinous actions are purely a result of his immense selfishness and lust for power, without really having any redeeming qualities.

Trivia

• It is theorized that Sulyvahn was the First Scholar who managed to convince Prince Lothric not to link the First Flame, allowing the entire world to fall into darkness. If this were confirmed, Sulyvahn would then turn out to be even worse.

External Links

• Sulyvahn on the Villains Wiki.
• Sulyvahn on the Dark Souls Wiki.