Playwright Lorde is an important character in BLACKSOULS 2 that appears throughout the DLC3 part of the game. You will first meet him in his normal form, but as you travel further through Winterbell, he’ll be invading you as a spirit when you least expect it.
He’s based on the real-life French playwright André de Lorde, who was the main author of the Grand Guignol plays. The real-life version of Lorde had a nickname “Prince of Fear”, which is adapted as “Prince of Hell” in the game.
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Appearances | BS2
The only part of the game where Lorde appears in the second game is DLC3
Lorde in Jail
To get to Lorde in the first place you need to defeat Florence, and then go through the door in her room and then through the Elevator. You will get thrown into one of the jail cells in the Remote Jail area, where Lorde can be found in one of the jail cells as well.
When you talk to Lorde for the first time he will be surprised you opened the door to his cell. He will go on about how he likes being contained because it has a positive effect on his creativity, after that he will start reciting some verses.
If you talk to him more he will ask you how were the verses. If you tell him it’s not bad he will reveal how he’s kinda famous, and that he has been printed in some newspapers.
Talking to him some more will lead to him giving you Lorde’s Fountain Pen because he recognizes that you’re a writer as well. After that, you can tell him you want to go outside, or you can just try to kill him.
The Bookshelf
While Lorde is still in the jail cell, you can check out the bookshelf in his cell and there is a newspaper talking about Grand Guignol, aka the World’s Scariest Theatre, along with some of the names of the plays that will be showing:
- Stillbirth
- Ultimate Torture
- Sins of the Mental Ward
- Waxworks
- The Faceless Man
- The Dread Theatre
Lorde is in this newspaper addressed as the Prince of Hell. After you’re done reading, he will remark how his child, the Grand Guignol, is taken from him – it’s now in “far away land of Winterbell, it now holds Dinner Show…. And I’m not invited there”.
Kill Lorde
If you try to kill Lorde while he’s still in his cell, he will finally show his face to you, and attack you as the Prince of Hell. He’s one of the strongest enemies in the game you can face, so you shouldn’t try to kill him because of how strong his attacks are.
Killing him while he’s still in the jail cell will give you a Tainted Black Soul, and Lorde’s Fountain Pen.
Lorde will remark how it’s still weird that you’re the only one who can leave this place, mentioning his child, Grand Guignol, and how it treats him like a tumor.
He will disappear and you will get the Playwright’s Hood, which is very powerful.
Lorde on the Chain Bridge
In the Windless Valley, there’ll be a huge chain bridge that you’ll have to cross, but when you start going through it, a nightmare spirit will invade you with the name Prince of Hell.
Then, when the spirit gets you, you will see Lorde hanging upside down, ready to kill you.
He’s a very strong opponent. Defeating him will give you a Tainted Black Soul, and Lorde’s Fountain Pen.
White Castletown Surprise
After Unis and Leiden have their encounter at the White Gate, the gate will become unusable so you have to go through the hidden door on one of the castle walls to get into the castle.
When you enter the White Castletown area, you will be instantly invaded by the Prince of Hell, who won’t show himself right away.
To get further in this area you have to pull down a lever in a specific cramped room, and once you pull down the lever, what appears to be a frozen statue of a nightmare spirit will start rushing towards you and that’s how Lorde will greet you.
This time, Lorde will be sideways, and not upside down.
If Lorde comes behind you, he will backstab you and you will most likely die instantly. So it’s better to initiate the fight while he’s still a “statue”.
Final Encounter
When Mabel dies and you reach the part of the game where Grand Guignol is, in one of the hallways you will have the Prince of Hell invade you again, for the last time.
He will start the fight with a dialogue on how fairy tales are bad, and how his real works that depict the morbidity of real life are way better.
Then he will shower you with a lot of strong attacks which you may not survive if you are not prepared enough, as he’s a very tough enemy in the game.
After the fight is finished it seems like he thought you were his child, Grand Guignol, the entire time, but then he realizes it’s just you and not his child. Lorde will start going mad, and then he will suddenly disappear as if he got erased by someone.
Personality
Lorde is very attached to his “child” Grand Guignol, who completely rejects him and that’s where most of his agony comes from. He’s a cynical personality, and that emotion reflects his works which are morbid, and perhaps scary.
He doesn’t like fairy tales, but rather Lorde prefers his plays that resemble the “ugly world of adults”.
At one point during the final fight with him, if you take enough of his health, he’ll tell you how no one wants your stories, and that you should “think of the kids and hang yourself right this moment”.
Appearance
As you can tell from the first look at Lorde, he’s basically an owl with a human form. He has a long cloak underneath which he hides all of his knives and other weapons. Lorde appears to be tall and in good shape.
Aside from his cloak, you can see his completely black pants and shoes, so it’s fair to assume he’s wearing a quite dapper suit underneath his cloak.
