Unlike the majority of characters throughout Dark Souls, Sieglinde of Catarina, the daughter of Siegmeyer, is speculated to be a human. All the human characters met in Dark Souls are either Undead, who are reborn at Bonfires at the cost of their humanity until they are completely Hollow, or are non-human in some other regard. This makes her quest to find her father all the more treacherous, given the fact that the moment she dies, she is dead for good.

Subtle references and similarities to Kentaro Miura's manga "Berserk" can be found hidden in the game. The earliest example that can be discovered is the blacksmith Rickert, the name of a character in Berserk who was also a blacksmith.

Beatrice the Witch, who can be summoned twice as a Phantom for boss fights, bears a striking resemblance to the Berserk character Schierke.

The main character of Berserk, Guts, can also be seen referenced in a few different ways. A much more subtle reference is Black Iron Tarkus, a character summoned as a Phantom and seen later as a corpse in Anor Londo. His black armor and greatsword are said to be absurdly heavy and only able to be donned by him due to his incredible strength. Guts, while his armor is somewhat differently designed, is known for wielding weapons of absurd weight, and was also known for wearing black armor. What's more, the design of the Dark Souls Greatsword resembles the design of one of Guts' earliest swords.

The second reference is contained within the Dark Souls DLC in the form of Artorias, the Abysswalker. Some similarities include the design of Artorias' armor and Guts' Berserker Armor, their swords' abilities to damage demons and ghosts, their symbolism and references to wolves, their mangled left arms and their losses of sanity (though for varying reasons). In addition to that, many of Artorias' poses both for the DLC promotions and for in-game cutscenes greatly resemble official artwork of Guts from Berserk.

The Pisaca in the dungeon in the Duke's Archives are actually humans captured by the Channelers for Seath's experiments, explaining why these creatures drop a fairly consistent supply of Humanity. Two in particular each drop a different Miracle. When considering the fact that Rhea of Thorolund's Hollow can be found in the dungeon after all her Miracles are purchased, and the fact a corpse in the dungeon is wearing the Maiden Set that Rhea wears, it can be speculated that the two docile Pisacas are former Maidens, and that Rhea was going to receive the same fate.

Demon Souls and Dark Souls are the spiritual successor to From Software's previous hardcore action RPG series King's Field, and both contain many references to it. Particularly, Seath the Scaleless in Dark Souls is a reference to Seath the white dragon in King's Field who is normally portrayed as a force of good.

What's even more interesting is that in King's Field lore, Seath's nemesis is the evil Guyra who also appears as the final boss in several of the King's Field games. He is described in the manual of King's Field II as:
"The Black Dragon who is opposed to the White Dragon, "Seath." Guyra broke a black crystal which controls the powers of nature. He created the "Moonlight Sword" to make his chosen warriors fight for his revival."

In the King's Field II, he appears as a one-eyed dragon. Guyra's appearance is very similar to the character introduced in the Prepare to Die expansion of Dark Souls: Black Dragon Kalameet, who is also a one-eyed black dragon.

Additionally, in the original King's Field, not released outside Japan, Guyra appears as a black dragon that "has lived in the forest and defended the people" since ancient times. This is similar to how Kalameet is fought in a forest in the past.

When originally announced, the game was titled "Dark Ring". The name was changed to Dark Souls because "Dark Ring" can be seen as a euphemism for an anus.

This was the second time the name changed. The first time was also unintentionally risque; "Dark Race".