Lord's Blade Ciaran |
|---|
 |
Lord's Blade Ciaran is a Character in Dark Souls.
Information
Lord's Blade Ciaran, most commonly known as simply Ciaran, is one of the Four Knights of Gwyn Lord of Cinder and member of The Lord's Blades. She represents the classic thief-like character of the Four Knights. She uses her signature Hornet's Ring and the Lord's Blade Set as well as the Gold and Dark Silver Tracers, which she offers you in exchange for Artorias's soul. In combat, Ciaran uses flurries of weak but fast attacks and dodges in conjunction with throwing knives and Lloyd Talismans to rapidly wear down her opponents, much in the style she used to hunt the foes of her lord.
The Gold Tracer and Silver Tracer are both exceptional weapons (albeit with exceptional dexterity requirements), one being arguably the best weapon for inflicting bleed and unprecedently being the only weapon to gain a superior moveset when wielded in the left hand, the other being the weapon with the highest critical modifier and the nigh-unique ability to inflict toxic damage, making trading the relatively less useful soul somewhat common among players.
Her armor, the Lord's Blade Set, is effectively the midpoint between light and medium armor types, offering superior poise and defenses compared to light armor sets at the cost of slightly higher weight, while still being lighter then any medium armor set and having greater curse and poison resist, being an asset to almost any playstyle, making Ciaran's murder exceedingly common.
Encounters
She appears next to a tiny grave in the place where you fight Artorias, after you defeated him (may require to reload or warp to a new area before triggering her spawn). She asks for the Soul of Artorias if the player has it, to pay tribute to his memory. If you give it to her, she will gift to you the Dark Silver Tracer and the Gold Tracer, claiming that she won't need them anymore. If you refuse, she will not turn hostile, and will remain where she is, and will speak to you again if prompted, giving you another chance to give her Artorias's Soul, but will disappear forever after you reload/go to another area. If you attack her, she will fight you, and she will use Lloyd's Talismans.
If you choose to give the Soul of Artorias to her, next time you reload/warp to a new area she will be gone, with no way to find her again until the next NG cycle, thereby depriving the player of the opportunity to obtain The Lord's Blade Set. If the player wants all of her items and to keep Artorias's Soul, it is recommended to kill her immediately or after speaking with her once to hear her dialogue and refuse her (many players recommend killing her on sight as it is apparently suprisingly common for players to speak to her to hear her dialogue, then select the wrong answer, accidently giving her Artorias's Soul.) There are no known benefits besides those of moral conscience for giving her Artorias' Soul instead of killing her. (she gives you her blades silver tracer and gold tracer in exchange, which can be obtained from her dead body).
Combat
NOTE: Ciaran secretly has a spare Gold and Dark Silver Tracer. Giving her Artorias's soul to take her weapons so the player can easily kill her for her armor does not work.
Ciaran can be considered one of the more difficult NPC's to fight, having extremely good weapons, decent health, good dodging ability for an NPC, and the unique ability to use Lloyd's Talismans like the player can. Because of her high damage and her ability to rapidly inflict bleed, it is possible for her to kill the player in three or four of her chain attacks. For players on their first or second playthrough, it may take several attempts to kill her, so it is recommended to rest at the Ooacile Township bonfire to allow repeated rapid attempts.
Like many initially passive NPC's, the player's best bet is to use Power Within or the Red Tearstone Ring to inflict huge damage on the passive character with the aggro'ing hit, so that the second or third hit kills her. Despite this, patience is often required for the fight, as attempting to spam her to death can often result in her outdamaging the player if the player does not stunlock her or runs out of stamina before she is dead. If succeeding with two hits does not work, it is often prudent to back off to recover stamina and interupt her during her attacks or as she moves closer to you, and keeping your distance when you are not attacking is universally recommended, given that she cannot recover health in any way. Spells like Dark Bead and Homing Crystal Soul Mass that inflict high damage but are hard for NPC's to dodge can trivialize the fight for spellcasters, as can Fire Tempest (provided she is still passive) and Black Flame or Great Combustion for Pyromancers, while weapons with high stun are recommended for builds with the strength and endurance to use them. Faith oriented builds are recommended to start with fast high damage moves like Wrath of The Gods then followed up with Darkmoon or Sunlight Blade on an weapon with some range, as Ciaran will often dodge slower moving single projectiles like the Lightning Spears (these can however be used in combination with high poise armor with high bleed resist to hit her in the middle of her attack chains.) Armor with high bleed resist and/or the Bloodshield and Bloodbite Ring is a must as this is Ciaran's primary method of inflicting damage.
Ciaran is weakest at range, with her only options being non-damaging Lloyd Talismans (these should still be rolled) and throwing knives. Backing up to recover stamina for attacks will usually prevent her from attacking the player except for heavy builds, but will cause her to throw Throwing Knives (which can be sidestepped) and Lloyd Talismans (which must be dodged). Due to her fast and lengthy attack chains and sweeping slashes, it is difficult to dodge her attacks and remain close to her without getting hit, thus if you choose to fight Ciaran close up it is recommended to use a shield to avoid letting your guard down, ideally one that can resist bleed, often in conjunction with a spear or thrusting sword so that your guard does not have to be dropped, due to the high attack speed of her weapons. Having a heavy shield will often cause her attacks to bounce off, allowing for easy hits with reasonably fast weapons.
Drops
- 10,000 Souls
- Dark Silver Tracer & Gold Tracer (only if she didn't trade them for Soul of Artorias with you)
- Lord's Blade Set
Notes
- Killing her in the past (Oolacile), causes a Lloyd's Talisman to appear in front of Artorias' Grave in the area you fight Sif in Lordran (the present).
- Anyhow, handing over Artorias's Soul to her and NOT killing her won't trigger any other events in the present.
- Consuming Artorias Soul before re-entering the arena will not make her appear.
Trivia
- Her ring, Hornet Ring, can be found behind the gravestone of Artorias. you pick it up from a corpse that looks female, so it is possible that that is her body. When you meet her, she really wants to pay her respect to Artorias, so it is possible she died praying for him. Alternatively if you killed her that would also explain the location of her corpse.
- Curiously, Ciaran, contrary to appearances, speaks of humans as if she were not one of them, speaking of humanity as a whole when you fight her, as well as her dialog if approached with the Artorias Soul in storage or burned for souls instead of being on hand. If this were the case, that would make her a race not seen elsewhere in the series, or otherwise a very short variant of the race that Artorias and the Silver Knights are composed of.
- However, despite her claims, given her height and build, which is only ever seen in human characters in the entire series and the fact that she is succeptible to Dark Hand's lifedrain, which ONLY works on human opponents, it is highly likely that she is indeed human, which has interesting implications regarding her viewpoint and beliefs.
- As Ciaran dies, the line without subtitles "My... dear.. Artorias..." can be heard, suggesting she might have had a romantic relationship of sorts with him.
- In Hawkeye Gough's cut dialogue, he exposes Ciaran indeed had romantic feelings for the knight, but they were unrequited.
Dialogue
Initial Meeting: "...You, is that not... The soul of the man who fell on this spot, he was a dear friend. I wish to pay proper respect, with that Soul. Would you be willing to part with it?"
Answering "Yes" :"Thank you, you are very kind. Please take this, I no longer need it. May the Lord guide thee."
Answering "No": "Yes, of course... I must not be presumptuous, Artorias would not have approved."
Talk after answering "No" What is it? Something else? Have you changed your mind?
Answering "No" again: ...Then you have no business with me...
Talk without possessing the Soul of Artorias: "...Are you human? ...I forgive you. I'm here to pay respects to a dear friend. Please allow me a moment alone."
Attacking her: "Hmph, you humans... Always taking what you please. Then, I shall do the same."
Upon killing the player: "Hmph, such conceit... How did you imagine that the Lord's Blade would not reach you?"
Killing her: "But, how... You humans... *My...dear...Artorias*" (portion in brackets unsubbed)
Anonymouswelp it seems it's up to me to unite the lovers in the afterworld
- Anonymous
Killed her easily, that'll teach her to underestimate humans
- Anonymous
im suprised her voice actor is pretty good arguably the best female va for this game along with quelana
- Anonymous
Step 1: kill artorias.
Step 2: warp to firelink and buy his armor from that guy.
Step 3: wear all of it.
Step 4: use dark hand grab on ciaran.
Step 5: watch artorias and ciaran share a lovely kiss
The love of your life died? Skill issue, that would NEVER happen to me. Right Fina? Right?
- Anonymous
Artorias rejected hornet ring users, just like it should be
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
kind of lame you can't get her armor without killing her. it'd be cool if it could be found at her corpse where you find the hornet ring if you give her arty's soul
- Anonymous
F*ck Artorias. I send her to firelink shrine with cheats and now my harem is complete.
- Anonymous
She loved artorias,but never had a chance to tell him.so artorias didn't know about it.the only reason artorias wanted to save dusk was his duty as a knight and abysswalker.
I'm not simping,just telling the truth.
Please do not be toxic,we are humans,we have emotions,morals and of course, a heart.
Dislike this comment as you wish
- Anonymous
man i wish i was artorias so i could get a cute girl like ciaran
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Ciaran: Tells me a heartbreaking story about her relationship with Artorias
Me: Pretending to listen while readying my Demon's greataxe heavy to flatten her for those weapons and armor
- Anonymous
Bruh I reloaded once and the grave showed up but she didn't, rip dex build
- Anonymous
tbh im sorry for her loss Artorias no doubt was a amazing person before he was killed and his corrupted corpse was brought back
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Ciaran is apparently immune to poison. I poisoned Gough in cold blood, but apparently Ciaran has no problem with that. Sadly, she isn't immune to backstab from a silent, invisible assassin.
Also she doesn't drop Artorias's soul if you gave it to her before. I guess it is like a price to be able to get her knives early so you can stab her in the back with them. Hehehe, hehehehehe~~~
- Anonymous
If you have any morals, you never kill her on a first playthrough. Second playthrough go ahead
- Anonymous
Such a character with wasted potentials. I wish she was a summonable npc in the artorias fight, helping us deliver a mercy kill to a tormented friend she loved so much. At least that would actually make me consider her request.
- Anonymous
I’m on the Remastered version of the game, she appeared at the grave, I have the soul, but I can’t talk to her despite the prompt appearing. Reloading via bonfire and even force restarting the game doesn’t help. Any idea what caused this or how to fix it?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
in all honesty due to how artorias is described in lore as a really nice and caring guy I'm not surprised Ciaran was close with him I mean who wouldn't like someone who was like artorias
Ciaran has got good taste in the men she likes tbh even if she's gets a little carried away
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This character is the pinnacle of wasted potential they could of done more things with her than just make her sit at a grave
For real. I like ciaran I like all of the darksouls characters but ciaran really could have been used better
- Anonymous
apparently she can survive being eaten by the chaos eater that's impressive Ciaran
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
i found a mod for the game hollow knight that turns hornet into Ciaran and turns the hollow knight boss into artorias its actually pretty cool
- Anonymous
if you think about it apart from sif Ciaran was artorias only friend that's kind of sweet
- Anonymous
in darksouls 3 you find her ring at the untended grave at a grave with what looks like artorias sword so dose that imply Ciaran is buried or simply died
in the untended graves most likely from a broken heart after all those years I'm not surprised her grief for artorias was her end
- Anonymous
I gave her Artorias soul and she gave me her weapons, saying she had not use of them anymore, then I attacked and she drew another set of weapon, yeah right you have no use of them.
- Anonymous
well there isnt much to go off with artorias and ciaran, what i do know is that the Japanese like to leave things up to interpretation, and dark souls isnt different. Cut dialouge from Gough could be interpreted in many different ways, or not be counted at all due to it being cut from the game for one reason or another. Nonetheless, I like to believe that both artorias and ciaran were in love or at the very least shared the same feelings and im not alone in that.
- Anonymous
can people stop shipping her with artorias the number one rule in dark souls is nothing nice happy or wholesome will ever happen so love is dead
- Anonymous
i cant help but feel sorry for her she lost someone she loved no one should have to experience that
- Anonymous
Idk why but I’m on my first playthrough ever and this chick DIDNT spawn at all. I’ve done maybe 5 reloads and the grave was just there but not her. It’s ok as I will do NG+ but I just hope such a glitch doesn’t return.
If you think she is hard to fight like the author of this article, then don’t fight vilhelm at a low sl in ds3.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I am genuinely surprised by the lack of horny people in this comment section
- Anonymous
if you think about it Ciaran most likely takes her life after Artorias dies because she's all alone life is cruel lets hope the after life is better
- Anonymous
I had a idea for a mod that Ciaran is watching the fight from above and when we get artorias to middle health she jumps down and jumps on his back sort of like loran and lothrics fight were she then helps him fight by throwing firebombs at us while artorias fights use and when we beat artorias we face her but she's empowered by the abyss due to being so close to artorias and his corruption
- Anonymous
the fact people say the ship of Ciaran and artorias is not canon because of cut dialogue from Hawkeye even though we never hear artorias say anything about it and the line was most likely cut because why would Hawkeye need to know if Ciaran loved him at all Ornstein didn't seem to so neither would gough so what i think is they may actually may be thing but just never said anything about it because remember artorias went to save a princess so why do you think he was doing It to get the girl
- Anonymous
This wiki page needs to be abandoned it’s about time ciaran is a useless npc in dark soul she’s not worth looking into or anything
- Anonymous
Anyone want to share how many play throughs of dark souls you had were you killed her spine that seems to be the only good thing about her character in this game she can die
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
if you get killed by ciaran will she still appear in the arena? (Really want to get tracers and her set without artorias's soul :( )
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If you actually think about it it makes sense why ciaran struggles in a full on fight she’s a assassin if we walked in and she was hiding in wait for us where she I don’t know could drop down and plunge attack us she would win then but in a face to face fight no
- Anonymous
Here’s a question if ciaran expressed her feelings to artorias and he never returned them but she kept loving him and Hawkeye even says he knows she didn’t stop loving him why didn't artorias just you know kill her because she didn’t stop simping over him when he wasn’t interested in her that way
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
its kind of nice to know there's something positive like love in darksouls i know its not cannon Ciaran and artorias are a thing i just think its nice they actually included something nice like she has those feelings into a game like darksouls
- Anonymous
Her outfit looks cool and her blades do too I like her style choice :)
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I see no reason not to kill her. If there are no known repercussions, unique items, and you keep a soul item, theres no reason not to. I just beat here in full black iron with a +5 silver knight straight sword and it took like 6 minutes. If you're patient, it's a really easy fight.
- Anonymous
There’s actually a video of ciaran vs the witch of izalith and ciaran won it was a round pc battle thing ciaran won 2 rounds and the witch won 1
- Anonymous
why do people even look Ciaran up anymore she's hands down the most hated character in dark souls
- Anonymous
“One of the hardest npcs in the game” my ass. Using the hilarious two handed r2 on the black knight great sword I made her fly all the way into heaven so she could join artorias with two or three swings. Just back away and let her come to you.
- Anonymous
she's not worth killing reasons 1 I already had very good gear so I didn't need her blades or outfit 2 atrorias was the fight i came for not hers 3 if she actually was as deadly as its implied in the lore I would probably fight her but since she's just sat there its not worth it still like the character though fits in nicely with the other knights of gwyn
- Anonymous
dose anyone actually like ciaran at all not in the nsfw way as a character in the lore?
- Anonymous
I'm doing a Great Bonk run, and at +15 with 49 Strength, she took four hits to kill. No backstabs, no parries, no buffs. Open with a two-handed R2, R1 as she's getting up, and again, back up a second to regenerate stamina, then R1 until you roll catch her. Only got hit once, and that was when I let my stamina regen.
If you die, though, I don't know what to tell you. Getting that opening crush is vital to a painless kill.
- Anonymous
im i wrong for not killing her i mostly don't see the point tbh i would rather have her weapons than the armour also i think artorias and Ciaran's relationship was that of best friends so if you want to ship them go ahead but i think it was more like they where just very close friends like brother from another mother kinda thing this is just my opinion so no hate to anyone
- Anonymous
I kill her everytime for fun, plus she gets to be with her boyfriend that way lol
- Anonymous
Am I the only one who thinks Ciaran is EXTREMELY easy? Everything I read about her is false to me. Like how she is not one of the hardest but one of the easiest NPC to fight, how the melee fight is preferable as she is noob at fighting in close range, because every time You hit her she dodges (but she can't dodge forever so she dies) and runaway. I don't even get hit by her at all. In my first ever try to kill her, I died few times, yeah. But I also died to Taurus Demon and Ornstein & Smough that are super easy vere impossibly hard for me. Still she was definitely easier than Lautrec (solo, e.g. at Firelink Shrine) or even Crestfallen Warrior, that I couldn't kill. Of course now I know how to deal with those NPC's, but still she is one of the easiest NPC in Dark Souls to fight. Definitely not one of the hardest. Because she won't even hit You. She is too slow at performing any kind of attack. She literally has no single strike at me, before I kill her now. And I can kill her with many kind of weapons. I used to different playstyles recently. From Moonlight Greatsword to Great Scythe, Winged Spear or even Quelaag's Furysword. Outcome was always the same. She didn't even start attacking. Except throwing the knives/lloyds. But she never actually used the blades. She is too slow to do so. And she dies quickly too.
- Anonymous
If I rest at a bonfire and then meet her and attack her, will she still be there if she kills me or do I only have one chance to get her stuff?
- Anonymous
My friend told me to kill her and get her set but now i'm incredibly sad
- Anonymous
Yes Ciaran had feeling for Artorias but she call him a friend when we first talk to her if they were more than friend she would have call him her *lover or husband* but she didn’t so when he die they were only friends... no where it is confirmed that Artorias had feeling for her too.
- Anonymous
This wiki is misleading about Artorias, any where in his bio they say he kill humans yet because he wear blue like Ciaran he automatically become a human killer :/
- Anonymous
With giantdad i pancaked and backstabbed her to death in 15 seconds
- Anonymous
Anyone know why when we talk to Ciaran she call us YOU but when we talk to Gouch he call us THEE, they work together so why they have a different way of using the word ‘you’ ?
- Anonymous
Why would they make it so that the only way to get her stuff is to kill her? There's no incentive to let her live.
- Anonymous
I don't know what the "recommended" level is for the DLC, but I am SL80 and just fought her and found her to be a cakewalk, unlike all the preamble above claiming she's a "tough fight". I guess learning to parry, backstabbing, and 2-handing the Uchigatana made her stupid easy. Although learning to parry has trivialized much of the encounters in the game, so I highly recommend folk take the time to learn how.
- Anonymous
I had no spells and killed her. Just keep your distance and let her walk into your sword. The guy who sells you thinks for twice the price by the bridge isn't happy. He threatened me! ... I like the the blue robe, I put ten twinkling on it for a 37.5% weight/ silent armor set. Black iron legs and gauntlets with 112lbs 55lvls on stamina, currently level 228ish... ng+
- Anonymous
All I had to do is slam jam her a couple timesewith smoughs hammer and boom I had useless weapons forbidden my build, but it did help my armor set, I had artorias chest gough helm, ciarene pants, ornstiens gloves, and smoughs hammer, my name was disciple and I was a darkmoon blade, kinda god lover
- Anonymous
All these complicated guides to beating her...just learn how to parry. Or learn proper spacing and fight her honorably, it's much more fun.
- Anonymous
I have a question,If you attack ciaran and then forgive your sins to oswald of carim will she still be hostile?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Artorias: powerful boss Ornstein: powerful boss Gough: shoots a powerful , almost unbeatable dragon into disability and weakness easy mode Ciaran: npc who happens to be a little better in combat than most npcs...
- Anonymous
asmodan? you mean the lord of sins from diablo? why do you referring him?
- Anonymous
No idea why, she just never appeared for me. I had Artorias' Soul in my inventory, and then moved it into my bottomless box, pulled it back out, and put it back in again. I save/quit and warped to other bonfires and came back, and she still never appears. His grave is still there, though. Weird little bug.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
great club +15, magic weapon, tower shield. Two swings and she was dead, didnt even received a scratch, heh
- Anonymous
Fun PvP fight, the most skilled NPC in the game. I love how she avoids stunlocks like skilled PvP player. Only don't fight her in NG+, all the fairness goes out of the window.
- Anonymous
The Weapons, The Armor and also the Moveset seems similar to "Dancer of the Boreal Valley" from Dark Souls III !
- Anonymous
If you use the soul if Artorias next to her when she asks for it she gasps and starts to break down
Just killed a woman, feeling good
9
+111
-1