Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-10407900-20140914234758/@comment-16047389-20140919183758

Personally, I believe that the First Flame is kindled/linked by burning souls. Gwyn most likely wasn't human, as it doesn't make sense for Artorias (in his cut dialouge), Ciaran, and Gough (who all either have negative comments about humans or dialouge to heavily infer that they themselves are not human) to serve one.

As to the matter of the First Flame consuming souls, and not necessarily Humanity, take into account the whole journey of the Chosen Undead and the Bearer of the Curse. It was not a journey to collect Humanity, but one to collect souls. To enter the Kiln, you needed the souls of the Lords, arguably the most powerful souls of all. To pass the Shrine of Winter, you needed either the Four Great Ones' souls, or to accrue an enormous amount of Soul Memory. King Vendrick did not use Humanity to keep the curse at bay:

A powerful soul is like a curse. And Vendrick, King of Drangleic used a powerful soul to keep the curse at bay. - King's Ring description. The Emerald Herald did not send you to collect Humanity or Human Effigies. She sent you after souls to become stronger and resist the curse for longer:

Bearer of the curse…Seek souls. Larger, more powerful souls. Seek the King, that is the only way. Lest this land swallow you whole… As it has so many others. - Emerald Herald's dialogue. Here's my theory. Souls are used in order to prevent an Undead from further Hollowing. Upon death you lose all your souls, thus your form deteriorates further. This would be because souls are the source of all life, Human, Giant, God, Living, or Undead, all depend on souls:

Souls are the source of all life, and whether Undead, or even Hollow, one continues to seek them. - Soul of a Hero's description. Humanity is unique in that it doesn't prevent Hollowing, but that it actually reverses it. It was only ever useful to the Undead, and the living never even had much of a purpose for it:

How peculiar that humans had found little use for humanity until they turned Undead. - Rite of Kindling's description. I do not believe that there is ever a true cure for the Curse, as the Curse and the soul may in fact be directly connected to one another:

The soul and the curse are one and the same. Your soul has grown stronger still. I only hope it brings you what you wish. - Emerald Herald's dialogue. I also believe that the First Flame is tied to all souls, all life, and that by linking the First Flame with a powerful soul, you are in effect restoring life to the world, and thus removing the Curse for a time:

You, who link the fire, you, who bear the curse…Once the fire is linked, souls will flourish anew, and all of this will play out again. - Emerald Herald's dialogue. Thus, the idea of the cycles in the Dark Souls universe. I believe that the Dark is different in that it and all that are a part of it will continue to exist even without the First Flame. It is interesting to note the opposing behaviors of both the First Flame and the Dark. While the First Flame, what can be considered the apex of Light, splits one powerful soul among many smaller ones, the Abyss, what can be considered the apex of Dark, seeks to split, spread, grow, and reform into a single powerful entity:

What once was a great void of darkness became but fragments. But slowly, the scattered fragments grew, absorbing all things. - Darkdiver Grandahl's dialogue. I have many more ideas regarding the Dark, the Abyss, and the Dark Soul itself, but those are for a different thread of discussion.

TL;DR - The Curse can't be permanently cured, but can be staved off by throwing powerful souls into the First Flame regularly.