Pinwheel

Overview

Pinwheel is a non-optional boss found at the end of The Catacombs, just before entering the Tomb of Giants. He is a remarkably weak boss with the fourth lowest boss HP in the entire game. However, his ability to make copies of himself can sometimes overwhelm low level players. Upon death, he drops the Rite of Kindling, which the player can use to kindle bonfires and receive more Estus. Since that particular ability is pretty useful in the early portions of the game, many returning players choose to defeat Pinwheel early on to gain the Rite as soon as possible.

Lore

When Pinwheel is defeated, he is guaranteed to drop one of his three masks. The item description of each mask states that Pinwheel was a necromancer who stole the power of the Gravelord. Whether that power is the Rite of Kindling or something else is undetermined.

Pinwheel appears to not be merely one individual, but rather three family members fused together. In his opening cutscene, the masks move independently. Each mask dropped after the fight is described as belonging to a different family member. His name in Japanese, Sannin Haori, which roughly translates to "three person coat," is wordplay on the concept of Nininbaori, the comedic act where two people wear the same large coat and pretend to be one. In the Design Works concept of Pinwheel, the wearer of the father mask appears to be bearing the burden of his family's weight on his back.

How this transformation happened is left ambiguous, however the repeated mutterings of "I'm so sorry" in Pinwheel's boss music and the image in the design works have led many to believe it was the result of the father's half-successful necromancy in bringing the child and the mother back to life.