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There’s something magical about Demon’s Souls: its use of confined game worldbuilding as cold and cruel frames and accentuates its characters’ stories. A boss fight, but more importantly, a narrative that sets Demon’s Souls from both its contemporaries and any later Souls is the encounter with Maiden Astraea.
This lady was one of the main demons that the player has to defeat to claim the souls that give the game its title; but upon descending into the depths of the Valley of Corruption, a network of caves and sludge that makes you anticipate a horrible and deformed monster at the end of the tunnel, what we found was a helpless maiden, sitting in the dark.
Oh, but she is not alone. The faithful Garl Vinland, a knight in white armor, is ready to protect her and will stop you in the narrow cavern that prevents you from going around them.
I’ll tell you how to defeat Maiden Astraea and Garl Vinland, one of the bosses of Demon’s Souls Remake. Uncover their weaknesses and quickly achieve victory against this demon.
Demon’s Souls Remake has a good load of final bosses to confront while you complete the game’s story. This time we will talk about Maiden Astraea, the boss of the Valley of Corruption, and Garl Vinland, her squire. I will tell you how to defeat them both in this guide to ensure they don’t end up being a pain in the butt.
My Bottom-Line Up Font
The Maiden Astraea encounter might be the only Souls encounter in which you come in strong and come out like a sad, miserable pulp of guilt.
There are two basic outcomes, though both will provoke the same feeling by design: either snipe Maiden Astraea to death and have Garl kill himself, or snipe Garl to death and have Maiden Astraea kill herself. Apparently, you’re not the only demon killer around, as love is deadly and very much present in the air.
Lore
Stepping into a Demon’s Souls area is like stepping into the mind of the enemy you meet at the end of it. The Old Monk lives with his heart imprisoned by a demon in The Tower of Latria.
The false King Allant lives a lie in a kingdom ruled by demons. Astraea is corrupt, cursed, and hates her nature, just as the valley where she resides detests its own.
Astraea was a gentle and noble lady, pure and with a soul close to God. She traveled to the Boletarian Kingdom and the Valley of Defilement with one task: to help those most in need, the victims of the terrible curse that was consuming the kingdom, and those wounded by the misdeeds of the demons.
With her went her bodyguard: Garl Vinland. Everything was going well until one day something happened: like Urban, Astraea discovered that her God did not exist. It had all been a lie of the Elder, who entered their minds and pretended to be him just for fun.
Astraea went mad, her judgment clouded, and, little by little, she became a demon. Hating her nature, she secluded herself in the deepest part of the valley, and Garl went with her because he loved her.
To her natural prison traveled all those who had heard that she had once been good, that she had helped others. But Astraea no longer wanted to help anyone, only to be alone and meditate, now transformed into a devil.
The player came to her with a mission: to kill all the demons of the Boletarian Kingdom to free the kingdom. Before confronting her, Garl Vinland tried to stop her feet, but the warrior killed him and continued advancing.
When he reached Astraea, she was so sad that she decided to take her own life without a fight, giving him her former pure soul, now transformed into an evil spirit.
The Basics
| Location: | Valley of Defilement |
| Souls: | 23400 |
| Drops: | Pureblood Demon Soul |
The Stats
| HP | 3055 |
| Slash Defense | 116 |
| Pierce Defense | 116 |
| Fire Defense | 88 |
| Plague Resistance | Immune |
| Normal Defense | 116 |
| Blunt Defense | 116 |
| Magic Defense | 99 |
| Poison Resistance | Immune |
| Bleed Resistance | Strong |
Strategy
There are two strategies you can follow here. Either trying to kill Maiden Aestraea first or Garl Vinland first.
The Main Strategy: Beating Maiden Aestraea
If you defeat Maiden Astraea first and then quit and reload your game very quickly, you’ll respawn into the game, and Garl Vinland will have killed himself and will be gone. So, make sure you do this to avoid fighting an unnecessary fight.
First, don’t go down the area’s right side. You will be pestered to death by some creepy things that come out of the river of blood; they cause pestilence and kill you in seconds.
Go down the left path until you stumble upon Garl. He will be there, blocking the path.
It is best NOT to kill him. You can provoke him to attack you, dodge, and, before he returns to his position, run past him, dash down, get into the cave, and you’ll reach Astraea.
You will have to use your most powerful attacks to kill her before Garl arrives. If he reaches you, it’s over; you won’t be able to face him and Astraea simultaneously.
Astraea will counterattack with a shockwave shortly after taking damage. Hence you have to do maximum damage. If he knocks you to the ground, you are finished.
Side B: No Trophy
Option B is to kill Garl Vinland instead. He behaves like any other red ghost, attacking with the mace and protecting himself with the shield. He can also cast a healing spell, but he will put up no more resistance than the physical one, trying to block your attacks.
There are a couple of strategies you can use.
Strategy 1: Close Range Combat
Usually, he doesn’t move very far from the end of the ramp he’s on, so you can’t beat him too much, but you want to bait his attack and then hit him a couple of times, rinse and repeat until he’s dead. It’s hard to get behind them and do backstabs because he doesn’t move his position much.
So it would help if you baited his attack, hit him several times, and then back away and repeat.
Strategy 2: Long Range Combat
If you’re a significant range class, you must lock onto him and keep firing away. He will stand there and take your shots to the face until he’s dead. He has exceptionally high armor, so this will take a long time.
Make sure you bring many arrows where you bring much spice to replenish your mana. But you have to do nothing but stand at range and aim downwards.
There’s no real quick and effortless way for this fight. It’s just a little bit of a grind. It’s not challenging, but it takes a little bit to get to the finish line.
If you kill Garl, do not attack Astraea. For the fight to end, you have to talk to her. She will die instantly.
If you kill Garl and attack Astraea, you will lose. She will use the shockwave to kill you, and as you are in a “swamp,” you won’t be able to move too well… and that’s it.
Maiden Astraea Trophy vs May You Be Unharmed Trophy
You can either walk out of this encounter with both trophies or just one.
To get the first trophy, you need to defeat Maiden Astraea, either by killing her directly or have her kill herself. However, you will only receive the second trophy if you can kill Maiden Astraea without killing Garl Vinland.
FAQs
Question: How Long is Demon Souls?
Answer: Now, a skilled player can finish the game in about 15 hours, especially if they choose the magic path; if you want an accessible mode, this is as close as you’re going to get. But the game is still hard and cruel for melee combat, especially for heavy classes.
Question: In which Order should I Complete the Worlds in Demon Souls?
Answer: The worlds are divided into several zones, usually referred to by numbers. Thus, the first zone of the first world is 1-1, the first zone of the second world is 2-1 and vice versa. It would help if you kept in mind that until you complete 1-1, you cannot go to other worlds. Also, until you complete 2-3, 3-3, 4-3, or 5-3, you cannot go to 1-3.
I would recommend following this order:
• 1-1 (Gates of Boletaria)
• 1-2 The Lord’s Path)
• 2-1 (Smithing Grounds)
• 2-2 (The Tunnel City)
• 2-3 (Underground Temple)
• 3-1 (Prison of Hope)
• 3-2 (Upper Latria)
• 3-3 (The Ivory Tower)
• 4-1 (Island Edge)
• 4-2 (The Ritual Path)
• 4-3 (Altar of Storms)
• 5-1 (Deprived Chasm)
• 5-2 (Swamp of Sorrow)
• 5-3 (The Rotten Haven)
• 1-3 (Inner Ward)
• 1-4 (The King’s Tower)
Question: How Can I Access the Rotten Haven in Demon Souls?
Answer: You can access this area after killing the rotting Colossus boss in the Swamp of Sorrow. However, I would recommend clearing the Altar of Storms area. Then, examine the “Archstone Boss” in the Nexus and select “The Rotten Haven.”
Parting Words
This scene, this still life, is one of exquisite sensitivity and is a shining example of what a narrative with the presence of interaction can offer us. Garl’s great mace swing is strong, but his technique is defensive: he does not want to finish you off, only to make you turn around.
Once defeated, we had a clear path to Astraea, but the girl still did not reveal a new form or secret powers: grieved by the loss of her bodyguard, Maiden Astraea decided to take her own life left us the coveted soul on a platter.
The point is that we are left with one message: being a demon, as such, is not a bad thing per se. By killing Astraea, we become one, for what we are doing is annihilating the hope of two lovers to one day be together.
If we prefer to skip Vinland and go straight to Astraea, killing her, when we see her bodyguard again, he will be crying and refuse the fight. In this way, there is no need for any text explaining that they loved each other.
The player’s link between the different narrative milestones, guided by the suggestions of the dialogues, the scenarios, and the enemies, does the rest. It is more than enough.
The Valley of Defilement mourns the one who cared for its ailing inhabitants. Even if her heart was that of a demon, she was still a saint to them.
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