Solaire of Astora

About

Solaire of Astora, also known as Praise the Sun, is a character from the 2011 video game Dark Souls. The character has gained a fan following due to his personality and quotes, popularizing the phrases "praise the sun" and "jolly cooperation."

Origin

In September 22nd 2011, the Role-Playing Game Dark Souls was released by From Software. In the game, there is an non-playable character named Solaire of Astora, who is revealed to have an obsession with the sun and set the goal for himself of finding his own sun. Solaire is part of the covenant of the Warriors of Sunlight in the game.

Spread

On August 8th, 2012, the Facebook ^[8] account WarriorOfSunlight launched on Facebook. That day, the site posted an image of Solaire with the text "If only I could be so incandescent" (shown below). in As of January 2018, the page has more than 8,000 likes and 8,000 followers.

Solaire's memorable quotes and overall naive personality garnered massive attention from fans of Dark Souls. There are several popular Tumblr tags involving Solaire including sunbro,^[1] jollycooperation,^[2] solaireofastora,^[3] and praisethesun^[4] (examples below). On October 25th, 2015, the Tumblr^[7] account sunbro launched, sharing fan art of the the game's characters.

There are nearly 6,000 posts tagged as "solaire" on DeviantArt as of January 2018.^[6] On May 5, 2015, DeviantArt^[9] user Emortal982 posted an image of Solaire on the site. The image (shown below) received more than 29,000 views in less than three years.

Praise the Sun

Praise the Sun is a sarcastic phrase playing off of Solaire's naivety as seen by his fans and his unnatural obsession with the sun. The saying is usually paired with images of Solaire himself (examples below).

Sunbros / Jolly Cooperation

Jolly Cooperation is a phrase taken from Solaire's most notable and popular quote:

“But, use this, to summon one another as spirits, cross the gaps between the worlds, and engage in jolly co-operation!”

Online, the quote refers to the character's overall friendliness and ability to work with a team. In the original game, the player is allowed to join Solaire in his covenant of the Warriors of Sunlight in "jolly cooperation." This phrase is quoted by fans and is sometimes paired up with images of Solaire working together with the player or another member of the Warriors of Sunlight. The members of the Warriors of Sunlight covenant are also called "sunbros" by many fans.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References