Skeleton Lords

The Skeleton Lords are minor antagonists in Dark Souls II. Once servants of the Old Iron King, they chose to create their own kingdom instead.

Biography
When the Curse of the Undead occurred, the Old Iron King commanded his men to capture all undead around the kingdom in "undead hunts", where they could spend their days being tortured in the dungeons of the Huntsman's Copse. These lords took charge of these hunts and took their days in torturing and killing the undead no matter how many times they resurrected.

As the curse worsened, the lords themselves turned into hollow skeletons themselves. Instead of becoming amoral zombie-like enemies, they retained their positions as the Skeleton Lords. Abandoning their duties, they created their own kingdom out of bone.

They encounter the Bearer of the Curse at the peak of their power. Each lord wields a different weapon: the left lord has a scythe, the middle lord has a staff, and the right lord has a halberd. While all three lords are capable of casting pyromancies, they tend to only use it when the player is at a distance. The staff wielder will only use pyromancy while the scythe and halberd wielders tend to use primary combat. Each lord is not that powerful and will only go down in a couple of hits. When defeated, each Skeleton Lord will summon a group of skeletons: the scythe wielder spawns normal skeletons, the staff wielder spawns armored skeletons, and the halberd wielder spawns bonewheel skeletons. Defeating all three Skeleton Lords and the hordes they summon will end the battle.

Trivia

 * The skeletons that the lords spawn, while still persistent, are less aggressive and deal less damage than regular skeletons.