Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-29522860-20160809040855/@comment-91.97.146.16-20160811103443

I think how things unfolded throughout the series is exactly the right way.

Gwyn might have been a liar and afraid of the dark (now, that sounds awesome xD ), but we can't deny the Age of Fire was generally a preferrable state of existence. Man might have been considered second-class and all, but overall, it seemed peaceful. At least I haven't found evidence to the contrary in the series.

Compare this to the dark... Which Gwyn must have had a taste of, as it directly states how the flame faded before he became the first Lord of Cinder. I think he briefly experienced a state WE saw in Untended Graves, which seems to take place after Gundyr failed and before Ludleth linked the fire, not unlike Gwyn. It is a threatening sight, and doesn't look good to any living being, if you ask me. Even the handmaiden confirms that this darkness halts all soul movement, which to me sounds like eternal rest, or... death.

So, choosing between the glorified Age of Fire and the Age of Dark after it should be an easy choice. I think we can agree that Age of Fire just looks better here. So, Gwyn (rightfully) linked the fire, but the mistake lies in how he linked it. We still don't know exactly what that process means, but it certainly involves chaining humanity to it as a fuel, or at the very least to the connected bonfires. It also seems to contain a lot of casualties, as in the souls offered (though the first time, Gwyn's might have been enough) or the destruction ensuing by the flame outburst (witnessed by the Black knights and the Profaned Capital).

Maybe he didn't do it right, maybe it was against the nature or maybe he intended to shackle humanity, but man definitely changed afterwards. The undead curse is not mentioned before Gwyn's linking, and Aldia implies it was a direct cause of Gwyn's "First Sin". Whatever, the curse brought destruction, and something happened to Oolacile and New Londo. I don't think the Abyss is the very same as the Age of Dark, as we don't see it everywhere when the fire fades, but only in special places, like an infection. It's even compared to a disease quite often. Same goes for the Deep, which also became corrupted, if it's not the same thing as the Abyss. Curiously, Kaathe seems to have taken a liking with the Abyss. In any case, Gwyn's action had downsides, so should you do the same?

Yes. Yes, you should.

I do think taking the risk and a few sacrifices to overall achieve more positive results is better than to take no responsibility and just let nature its course. Even Aldia and Vendrick searched for a third path, neither the linking nor dark path, so that kinda says something. But i think at some point, prolonging the fire, for ever-shortening timespans, is just not worth the fuss. In DS1, it's all cool for who knows how long after it was linked again. As evident in DS2, where Straid flat out told us how many kingdoms rose and fell there, so live must have been possible for a very long time.

Lothric, however, is obviously overdoing things. By that time, the world is too distorted, too tired and rotten, everyone seems to be fed up with it, even the mighty Lords of Cinder. To me it's clear that by the time we arrive there, it's best to let it finally fade. Note how this is most likely happening, anyway. The linking of the fire by us lets us only mildly burn, Darksign Sun still present. The narrator tells us again and again how we are unfit to be cinders, and since the Lords of Cinder, despite our efforts, did not come personally, I am very inclined to believe that we actually FAIL to link the fire and we burn out along with it in that ending. So, in the end, we get the reset, anyway. Emerald and DS3 Keeper confirm that it's not the last we've seen from the flame, and it will re-appear somewhen. Unless Aldritch succeeds, but he won't, since he ate my master and therefore paid the price, HA!!! \(ò.ó)/

So yes, I think linking the flame is the way to go, since it goes out in the end, anyway. World doesn't care about you, that has always been the thing with Dark Souls. The Lord of Hollows ending presents us Aldia's third possibility, though. Note that Dark and Hollow are separate things, the Dark (SOUL) is something like humanity, and the hollows of Londor are seemingly detached from it. It might be the status quo, the original state of man, without the dark soul. In any case, Londor is EVIL. Quick glance at the "miracles", the "detestable" inhabitants and the mention of a certain name, "Kaathe", reminds me of Oolacile, but probably a lot better and controlled, but still... Unless the DLC changes a lot stuff around, Yuria and her followers appear very sinister and spiteful to me, and I'd rather have the world get a reset than giving those guys control over the world.