As I see it: when the first flame appeared, so did the undead from the darkness (many of them)... among them, Gwyn, the Witch of Izalith, and Nito, when they found their respective souls, formed a following (Gwyn: his Black Knights, the Witch of Izalith: her sisters, Nito: undead slaves)... these followers of the gods were once undead as well, but there were still other undead who were not claimed by anyone and were loose. Here comes the interesting part: the Furtive Pygmy did not do the same as the rest. When he found his dark soul, the Furtive Pygmy split his soul into many parts, abandoning his divinity, and gave them to the other remaining undead... and thus humanity was born. In essence, the Furtive Pygmy is the first human being. In Dark Souls, being human implies possessing a dark soul; when the first flame slowly fades, the FOUR souls of the gods weaken, which is why the curse of the undead exists. They are humans returning to their original form because the dark soul is actually WEAK. When the dark soul is strong and gets out of control, that's what we saw with Manus and all that... that's when darkness is seen in all its splendor, really. But the curse of the undead is precisely the lack of this dark soul, contrary to what most people think; when the first flame fades, the dark soul fades with it too.
In my opinion, the intentions of the Furtive Pygmy were actually an act of generosity towards his undead brethren; he had no ill intentions. It would be sad if Manus were the Furtive Pygmy because it would imply that he succumbed to darkness because of the humans who owe their existence to him.

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one problem, the pygmy isn't a human.

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I'm the furtive pygmy

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Already forgot him man

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credo che il mistero sia facilmente risolto .Il Nano furtivo originale è colui che poi diventerà Manus e regnerà su Oolacile dove perderà il senno .Ma contemporaneamente nella Ringed city grazie alle cure di Filianore i discendenti di Manusnhanno prosperato e son sfuggiti per secoli alla non morte,Gwin concesse loro una loro personale democrazia,i loro guerrieri hanno partecipato più volte alle guerre contro i Draghi per conto di Lord Gwin.Lanima oscura è stata divisa in tutta l'umanità e si pensa che la maggior concentrazione sia nel uovo di Filianore

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Headcanon: He was referred to as a Pygmy because he was the smallest Lord Soul bearer by choice. If the gods are divinely empowered humans, then they could have used that power to enlarge themselves as an ego/status thing, if they weren't already naturally huge Like Seath or Nito. The Pygmy, being furtive, probably had no interest in doing this himself, and remained his original size, causing the other gods to rib him. This eventually applied to all other Pygmies in TRC, and it just became their name in common parlance among the gods.

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I personally don’t like the idea that Manus or anyone that we see in-game is THE furtive Pygmy. I think one of the biggest things that differentiates humans from the gods is that humans eventually die (and in that sense, the undead are sort of made to be closer to godliness, which lines up with gods being linked to fire like how the undead are linked to bonfires). If you ask me, the Pygmy’s dead, and HAS been dead for a long time—and his death is what allowed the Dark Soul to split and become ingrained in all of humanity.
I think the title “furtive Pygmy” is something the gods came up with—he’s defective (a pygmy) because he’s not tied to fire/not like the gods, and they call him furtive because the gods don’t understand the concept of permanent death, and as such assume he’s simply in hiding (hence the “furtive” descriptor).
I think that this ties into the overall themes of the series—gods and the age of fire are all about lasting forever even if it means everything falls apart and becomes empty, and humanity and the age of dark encapsulates the concept that death and endings are necessary things that allow for the creation of something new—just how the death of the Pygmy would give rise to humans, and how the end of the age of fire allows the world to rest and recover to later be reborn into a new age of fire (or an entirely new age, perhaps).
Following up on the idea that humanity is tied with a balance between life and death, I think Manus freaked out and created the abyss because he was supposed to stay dead (as is the nature of humans), so when the people of Oolacile (who, notably, have a tie with light through their sorceries, and, by association, are linked to the gods) reawakened him (disrupting the natural order of life and death) his humanity went wild in an attempt to rebalance things (I’d also suggest that this extreme reaction from his humanity is because he’s a (the?) primordial man, so he’s from a time where people had a greater concentration of humanity/the dark soul within them (which maybe would indicate that an overpopulation of humans would spread humanity too thin, which would make death/the age of dark important to allow the dark soul to recoalesce? Which is maybe why the undead appear if the age of fire goes on too long—there’s not enough humanity to go around, so people become undead/go hollow as a result of not having enough of it)
This is all just my own headcanon, of course, but I thought I’d share and see what folks thought of it/if anyone had suggestions or additions to this concept. Maybe this is all bullshit, I don’t know. Even so, I hope someone maybe finds something that sparks their interest or inspires them in here.

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My d*ck is the Furtive Pygmy

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oh man i forgot about this dude

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For me the biggest indication of that theory is the game design itself. In Dark Souls 1 we battle every Lord from the opening cutscene except the Furtive Pygmy. I think from the perspective of the developers it just makes sense to add him as the final Boss of the DLC, rather than some random human ancestor

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Weird how they chose Furtive Pygmy as the name. (Furtive meaning secretive, and Pygmy meaning small or defective).
Also there are multiple Furtive Pygmy's, shown in DS3. The kings in the ringed city at the end are literally called furtive pygmy's. It's likely that the one referenced in Dark Souls 1 was either the original that we never see (maybe Manus who knows) that split his dark soul among others. OR that it's just referencing one of the many in Dark Souls 3.

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"At the start of the game he is seen holding an item in his hands, and what is it?"
A lord soul or piece of the first flame, each of the Four Lords are seen holding them in the opening.

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Where is this ****ing boss?? I swere I have lookt all over and I can’t find it

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Where do you find this boss I swear I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t ****ing find him **** game design.

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I think that manus is your moms vagina

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I think Manus being the Pygmy is actually plausible, but this page's evidence makes me want to jump off a cliff

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Someone should rewrite this

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Does it really matter tho

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Maybe magnus was a Pygmy lord and it is time for a transition of power to you (your character)

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Trusty Patches.

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Gosh this is a mess

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If kaath sides whith the pygmy then why did he get oolacile to torture tf out of him. That makes as much sense as frampt convincing everyone to dig up and torture gwyn???

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The furtive pygmy could be plural, like you could say "the feeble human" and refer to any/all humans.

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I am the Furtive Pygmy

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The one thing that we have to remember is that, while the furtive pygmy found the lord soul, when your character comes around the Four Kings are holding the Lord Soul.

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I'd like to believe Patches is the son of Velka and brother of Manus... they all together took the dark soul and shared it. Each with an intention. One to punish the gods. One to save the humans and one to turn everything into the abyss.

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Manus is the furtive pygmy, just like the chosen undead is, so not originally like someone implied. He's refered to as being a primordial man, maybe the first of our kind, like the people Gael is slaying/consuming before he asks for your dark soul, and the guy who's crawling on the sand before the fight. But anyway, there's really nothing solid to back this Manus pygmy theory up. I'm pretty sure both of these things i first mentioned are hinted at, in-game and on the title. Like, for instance, the foreshadowing of Manus's appearance/power in the form of how we first discover humanity being used as a weapon and the corrupted citizens. Someone also made the argument that you get as much souls from him as with the rest of the bosses (with lord souls)... Well that's the point isn't it? Manus is just a living representation of how powerful and corrupting humanity and the Dark Soul is and can be, how influential and important we are, in my opinion. And i mean 'powerful' literally and as in passionate too. That's also foreshadowing the Dark Lord ending, when the player is given the choice to either link the flame or bring about the age of darkness in selflishness and/or lust for power. Solaire's journey represents the search for meaning and how everyone's giving up, Oscar's death how some are willing to die to keep that tiny glimpse of hope alive, and the Chosen Undead's story how being alive isn't what really matters, but rather changing the world. I think people want to attribute that title to him (Manus) because they want to feel a sense of pride and acomplishment, similar to the Artorias being left handed situation, except a bit less subtle, honestly. Manus is, or at least was, just like the player, clinging onto hope, looking for something to believe in, because that's what keeps us sane. Manus wants the pendant because deep down he wants his hope back, what distinguished him from everyone else. To be blunt, i believe he represents depression. Dragging you with him when you get his broken pendant. That's what the pendant gift is, a physical manifestation of our spirit. We need it to remind ourselves we always have had something worth fighting for. Ourselves, and each other. That's why Solaire left a summon before Lord Gwyn's fight, after you indirectly save him, he found his sun.

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I’m curious to why Dark Stalker Kaath wanted Manus resurrected. Perhaps the Abyss was critical to starting the age of dark?

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Please disband your simpleton theories that insist on the furtive pygmy being a single individual. Please recall that the introduction to DS1 shows MULTIPLE figures approaching the dark soul, reinforced by the multiple pygmies found in DS3. The western mode of thought that emphasizes the individual has caught all of you in this misunderstanding, not realizing that "forgetting" the pygmy functions as such due to their very nonexistence in a singular sense. Miyazaki's demonstration of Daoism is clear in this story point as the flow of the humanity from the dark soul is one that is simultaneously united and multiple, "shattering" in the sense that Manus may be the pygmy at the same time that those in the Ringed City are, and that the Chosen undead is. Also, Gwyn does not begin the age of flame to save humanity as someone has suggested, but rather to save HIS race of gods from humanity who are manifesting from this source (plural).

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read this during intro to game It lined up so the narrator said " soon the flames will fade and only darkness will remain" And the text : and the flames did fade , and only darkness remained. . . I feel like I'm going back to church xD

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No wonder the pygmy is so easily forgotten

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Manus is the Furtive Pygmy originally, but I believe each humanity is a part of him, spread out over time, which each new humanity he loses more control, until eventually his own humanity runs wild and overwhelms him, so the Chosen Undead is the culmination of Manus' excess humanity in a new vessel with none of his madness

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Why isn't the soul of Manus the Dark Soul? Shouldn't it be the same thing?

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What about the pigmy that taks to you at the start if tge ringed city? after you land on the cliff. the one that seems to know exactly what is going on, is appearently an enemy of the gods and then just disappears after everyone forgets about him?
could he be the furtive pigmy? hes easily forgotten after all

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Manus was the master of the dark soul...it's Gael who's the master of dark soul now he more tougher than manus

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Im gay

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the furtive pygmy is patches

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i dont get it why so many people think manus is the pigmy, it were so *****ing lame when they make the pygmy appear in dark souls he is more a symbol like batman ... wait a minute....... the pygmy is BRUCE WAYNE !!!

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There's a few bosses that give you 60000 souls when killed, Seath, The Four Kings, Witch of Izalith, Nito and Manus. I believe this is not a coincidence and is another fact that point the power of Manus being on the same level as the other souls of the lords.

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