I'm usually a melee guy with a big shield. Right now I'm playing Demon's Souls and I've chosen the Temple Knight class to actually use Faith for once. So far I have only one Heal Miracle but I look forward to getting more

One of these days I'll play a Magic build! Not today though

  • micnd90 [he/him,any]
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    edit-2
    2 years ago

    I am inevitably always charmed by pyromancers, especially in DS1 and DS3. For some reason, Sorcerers are always secret kniving assassins and knowledge snobs who eventually got mad in the pursue of knowledge. Faith clerics/maiden always portrayed as bumbling fools with too much blind faith or traitorous and got fucked over, either by Patches or the bleak world of Dark souls. Pyromancy on the other hand is explicitly mentioned as being looked down upon by society, especially Faith clerics and Sorcerers as being uncouth. They are perpetual outsiders and represented by some of the nicest characters in the series with the healthiest master-teacher relationship of mutual learning.

    • DS1 has ultimate bro Laurentius "don't you dare to go hollow" of the Great Swamp who share a piece of himself by giving you the pyromancy flame. "A pyromancer's flame is a part of his own body. The flame develops right along with his skill. When I gave you that flame, I gave you a part of myself. Please take good care of it." If you don't tell him where you meet Quelana, he'll accept it because he's your bro and he trust you (he's right, he will die if you send him down to find the flame).

    • Quelana of Izalith is the daughter of the Witch of Izalith, essentially a royalty and peer of Gwyn. But Quelana treats you with respect and very thankful when you put her family down on her request. She also shared a part of herself when you finished her quest. "Outstanding... You have done very well. Thank you, I am blessed to have met you. I suppose I can call you fool no longer. I can hardly thank you enough. Please take this... It is all of me."

    • Cornyx "what's a teacher without a pupil" of the Great Swamp in DS3 is another great example of a teacher. Whenever you bring him a new tome, he always says let's learn pyromancy together rather than let me teach you. For example "Well, well...I've never seen anything like this. This inscription...this tome is from the Catacombs. Fascinating. On this day, the teacher learns alongside the pupil." (laughs)". "Ah, what have we here! A pyromancy tome from Izalith! Then you've found the home of Pyromancy. Brilliant. I will never curse being old and Undead again. Now, now, show it here, quickly. Let us channel them together."

    Paulo Freire in his book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed", a cornerstone of critical pedagogy mentioned the banking and libertarian model of oppressive education. In the banking model, knowledge functions as a kind of social currency that teachers possess and students do not. The job of the teacher is to “deposit” that knowledge into the students, whose job is then “receiving, filing, and storing the deposits.” Just as people deposit and withdraw their money at a bank, the teacher asks students to store and recall information that the teacher considers important. Freire argues that this model reinforces a lack of critical thinking and knowledge ownership in students, which in turn reinforces oppression. The opposite of this is problem-based learning, where teachers guide students critical thinking skills and solve problem together through mutual learning.

    Freire would be proud of Dark Souls pyromancers. They learn from the player character, treat the player character with respect, all while they impart some of their knowledge in terms of sick fire spells and ascending your Pyromancy flame for bigger numbers to roast enemies.