Board Thread:Dark Souls II/@comment-16047389-20140416200536/@comment-5264386-20140417055841

Whilst I personally don't agree with the idea of these rings, I'd imagine they were implemented to make the game more accessible to newcomers to the series. This would be the more likely explanation, given that a Ring of Life Protection (although it could be a Ring of Soul Protection, I can't remember which) can be found in No Man's Wharf, an early area of the game.