He is a knight notable for his signature gesture, "Praise the Sun", as well as an unusually friendly demeanor contrasting most of the other characters in the game.

Like the player character, Solaire is an Undead who journeys to the land of Lordran from his homeland of Astora, albeit on a personal mission to "find his very own Sun".

The player typically last encounters Solaire in Lost Izalith, where he has gone insane and hostile upon donning a Sunlight Maggot, which he considers to be his "Sun".

[2] Miyazaki created the character of Solaire to bring recognition to the gesture and make it more popular, purposely positioning him as a "champion" who is the first truly helpful NPC that most players see in the game.

[9] Destructoid named Solaire one of their favorite new video game characters of 2011, calling him "the embodiment of selfless camaraderie and generosity", as well as "bat-shit crazy".

[10] Matthew Byrd of Den of Geek called him the third best video game NPC, stating that "Solaire of Astora is everything that you’re not expecting to find in Dark Souls.

[11] James Davenport of PC Gamer praised Solaire as "a human-shaped reminder that other people are all we have", also saying that the character was "why I so often rally against the 'get good' ethos that so many misguided Dark Souls players cling to".