The Story of the Wolf King

[Rissole25]

So if you've ever gone to upgrade the Spirit/Wolf Bow, you'll know that to even get the broken arrow, that you have to search and activate four paintings. These paintings spots are randomised every game, but the paintings themselves are always activated in a certain order. Looking at the pictures, and listening to the characters quotes, you learn about a king.

Picture 1

Dempsey: I’ve seen my fair share of war. Never seen a happy ending.
Nikolai: Great king prepares for battle. Man’s best friend at his side.
Takeo: Even a great king, can learn from a dog.
Richtofen: Ah, here is the first one. I’ve been looking for you.

The first picture. It introduces us and sets the scene. The King has his two wolves/dogs by his side. They are equals, and understand one another. Their bond is strong enough, that even his insignia is of two wolves. It is likely they ruled the castle in the past, although the insignia is now the dragon during the map. He is getting ready for war.
 

Picture 2

Dempsey: A man’s only as strong as the friend by his side. The king has his hounds. What do I got?
Nikolai: Whenever armies clash, men are lost in sea of swords. Such is war.
Takeo: Many died this day. Their souls cry out through the painting.
Richtofen: This would be number two. Thank you.

We see the King charging into war, followed by one of his hounds. His army following their leader into a deadly battle. Of note is that the King is wearing the same helmet seen in the mural in Shadows of Evil.

Picture 3

Dempsey: They say war is hell. But this looks like a war with hell.
Nikolai: What is that…thing? We will not fight that, will we?
Takeo: I have heard many tales of such creatures. I fear they may be more than just folklore.
Richtofen: Number three. A personal favourite. Last time I saw this was when I picked up the key.

The war. It seems to be against the Apothicons. In the top right we see the giant Kraken like thing from Shadows of Evil attacking the castle. The battlefield is scorched with fire. Many men are killed.

Picture 4

Dempsey: Outnumbered and outgunned, not even his big-ass dogs could protect him.
Nikolai: This, is not really uplifting story.
Takeo: No mortal, could hope to achieve victory against such evil.
Richtofen: Und(And) number 4. Unfortunately, dear king, battling zat(that) particular evil only ever has one outcome.

We see the King has been killed. We see someone (possibly the Big Guy from Buried, or just possibly a woman/the Queen) crouched next to his body, clearly upset that the King is dead.

Our story doesn't end here though. It seems that once Group 935 took the castle, they assembled the remains of the Kings Hounds, however they were missing one of the hounds skull. It is located by the flag seen above the Rocket Pad. Once returned, the spirit of that hound appears and digs in 3 spots where the Kings remains are scattered. He was never given a proper burial, and now the Hound wants you to return his masters remains to his crypt and coffin. Once done, his skeleton will reform in the coffin and present to you the fixed Wolf Bow arrow. Now with his master finally at rest, the spirit of the Hound will howl and vanish.

 

Some definite questions arise from this though:

Is the war against the Keepers and Apothicons depicted in the Shadows of Evil mural the same battle we see here?

If it is the Big Guy, why is he here? And how does he end up in Buried in the first place?

Did the Apothicons have human armies? There are arrows used against the Kings army, although it's possible the Apothicons have more humanoid people like Shadowman to use them.

[Tattoo247]

Good theory, and nice seeing all the quotes, there is some major forshadowing in them. 

I definitely think we're seeing the same battle, or at least this realities version of that battle. The giant things in the sky, I'm almost certain are Eldritch Abominations, reality weavers from h.p lovecraft novels. 

I would also think Apothicons did not share peace with this King or people at all. My theory is this King craved power as most ruling men do and started a war he could not win.

As far as the buried guy, I'm not seeing him in the painting or this story lol. A hilbilly in medieval times? Sound like some Army of darkness stuff to me haha

And now that I'm looking at it, in the second painting we might be seeing the death of the first wolf, the shadowed figure in the forground with arrows in it. We don't see the wolves togeter after the first painting.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Tattoo247

[Ragdo11706]

2 hours ago, Tattoo247 said:

As far as the buried guy, I'm not seeing him in the painting or this story lol. A hilbilly in medieval times? Sound like some Army of darkness stuff to me haha.

 

Notice the straps to the Overalls, and the long lanky arm. 

When I first saw this, children playing a game and telling us a story, while including different aspects from their own dimension, was the first thing that came to mind.

[Tattoo247]

Ok at first I just saw a rock,  I can kind of see what you're saying, but I guess I'll have to wait for your thread on it to see why this has to be the Big Guy. I can definitely see someone slouched over but no overalls and that arm looks strange to me, like there's no elbow. Plus it looks dead lol

What bothers me about picture 3 is the location, nothing about that place looks similar to the Iron Dragon, so did this King survive a battle with the Apothicons? We see his sword and shield on the ground, that would imply his defeat, but when we see him in painting 4, it seems to be a nice day, green grass and sunshine definitely are not depicted in painting 3...

Its funny the wolf bow was my least favorite of the 4 until I learned to use it correctly, and paired with the backstory, it's easily my favorite.

[Tac]

@Tattoo247 someone on Reddit linked me this (I can't remember who for the life of me)

[Guest]

I was like "Why is the Big Guy there?" but on further inspection, you could view it as a woman with ginger hair and a white dress, crouched down to the king. The queen? She has a ring, by the way. Also a dress, not dungarees. Her legs aren't parted. Its definitely a woman.

[Tac]

2 hours ago, Nightmare Voyager said:

I was like "Why is the Big Guy there?" but on further inspection, you could view it as a woman with ginger hair and a white dress, crouched down to the king. The queen? She has a ring, by the way. Also a dress, not dungarees. Her legs aren't parted. Its definitely a woman.

While I believe that is very much up for debate, @Rissole25 did say he was making a thread on that so I think we should probably wait until that comes out haha. Sorry man!

What're your thoughts on the Wolf King?

[Rissole25]

3 hours ago, Nightmare Voyager said:

I was like "Why is the Big Guy there?" but on further inspection, you could view it as a woman with ginger hair and a white dress, crouched down to the king. The queen? She has a ring, by the way. Also a dress, not dungarees. Her legs aren't parted. Its definitely a woman.

It could be a woman. And it would probably make a lot more sense if it is. But I think their is also evidence that it may be the Big Guy. So I can't rule out either one right now.

[Guest]

What proof is it that its the big guy? The actual proof given, looks wise, can easily be debunked by the colour of the DRESS (leg gap, again), ring and hair. Did you guys actually look at it how I described? Clearly it is a white dress and there is a ring on her finger. Seriously, that can't be ignored. It being the big guy is worse than saying there is Bus Route B. Please actually take time to look at it, compare it to the Big Guy (literally the only similarity is the straps, which are different colours...), then if you still cannot see it, think about it storyline wise, where we are going in the story and the logic in it. Sorry for coming off like a jerk, but it genuinely is not the Big Guy and I would hate it if this just turned into a "Well that's your opinion" type deal, considering we will never get a resolution to what is in the painting, as the only important thing to find here is the King. No idea who he is by the way, I just believe he was a Templar King and lived in that castle, only to die in a battle against the ancient evil.

[Tattoo247]

Something I'd like to add after looking closely at the Wolf Kings sleeves, there are a series of Iron crosses down the arms. I had doubts the Der Eisendrache castle belonged to the Wolf King even though he died here with his dogs, but seeing the Iron cross was the confirmation I needed and wanted to share.

[MikeCirka]

I noticed on all the shields around DE there are three other symbols on the shields besides the large dragon face (an explosion, lightning bolts and a crescent shaped thing). I was curious about what they could be, and now seeing that they were still on the shields even back before the two wolves became a dragon instead, I'm even more curious...

[yonasv10]

If you zoom in the collOur is not white but bleu and the arms are not female but male if you see White it is the Light that reflect to the clothes

[Tattoo247]

It'll be an argument til the end of time, the dress is white.

They use soft greys and white mixed with blue to cast shadows on white clothing. I dont paint but I do this alot on my tattoos and marker prints.

And even if was blue, it's obviously not dark blue.

Sorry just realized this was the wrong topic for this discussion !

[THExDESERTxFOX]

Is anyone else curious why the helmet is different