#i will fully admit that a cribbed some of Vaati's notes for this XD

[anthurak]

Random Dark Souls 3 Thoughts/Theories/Headcanons I think are interesting and/or haven’t seen discussed anywhere else:

So we all understand that the Lords of Cinder essentially represent previous Dark Souls player characters, right? That each previous ‘Age’ of Fire was basically a hypothetical Dark Souls game where a powerful undead rose up to ‘link the fire’ just as we see in the previous two games. Now let’s consider that the plot of Dark Souls 3 is kicked off (if you take a close look at item descriptions/dialogue) by Prince Lothric, who was destined to Link the Fire, refusing to become a Lord of Cinder.

Notice the resemblance?

The inciting incident of Dark Souls 3 essentially that the previous Player Character chose NOT to Link the Fire just like we have the option to do in previous games. Dark Souls 3 is basically showing us what happens if we chose the ‘Age of Dark’ ending.

The answer of which happens to be: Turns out Gwyn, or his spawn and/or the Way of White planned for this and built a failsafe into the whole ‘Fire-Linking’ system in case a Chosen Undead ever failed in their task, or worse, started DOUBTING the whole ‘using humanity as fuel to keep our precious Age of Fire burning’ plan. That being, resurrect a bunch of undead who previously linked the fire and have them link the fire again.

And it turns out they even built in a second failsafe in case those resurrected Lords of Cinder fuck things up; resurrect a bunch of undead who failed to link the fire and throw THEM at the problem.

(my theory/headcanon is that the Lords of Cinder represent player characters who completed a playthrough, while the Unkindled represent PCs who’s players quit a playthrough XD)

And I think that’s just legitimately really fun and clever for a story/formula twist.

Like for one it makes the original/Pre-SotFS ending of Dark Souls 2 where you don’t actually get a choice to Link the Fire even more poignant. The whole point of that ending was that the ‘choice’ between Linking the Fire or Not was actually pointless. That even if YOU don’t Link the Fire, some other Undead WILL. That the ‘choice’ presented to you at the end of the previous game was an illusion.

Now we find out that even if there isn’t some Undead willing to burn their humanity away for the sake of the Gods’ precious Age of Fire, the very system those gods put in place will essentially force them, or someone else, to do it.

In fact, even without taking the failsafe into account, we also actually get hints of this with Aldrich the Devourer in Dark Souls 3. As Hawkwood puts it, Aldrich was made a Lord of Cinder. Not ‘chose’, MADE to be a Lord. If you read between the lines, it starts feeling like the Way of White was essentially keeping Aldrich, this incredibly powerful undead chained up in the Cathedral of the Deep simply as a ‘backup’ Lord of Cinder candidate in case no ‘Chosen Undead’ were willing the link the fire (btw, if you’re unfamiliar with Dark Souls and feeling the urge to woobify Aldrich, do keep in mind that he was ALSO essentially a mass-murdering cannibal who devoured so many people he eventually became a horrific sludge monster. So you know, perspective and all that).

Not to mention that Lothric and Lorian didn’t just ‘choose’ not to Link the Fire, they took major steps to ensure it COULDN’T be linked by anyone else, which we get a first-hand look at in the Untended Graves. First they filled what is supposed to be a ‘starting zone’ for the game with massively overleveled late-game enemies in order to ensure any Unkindled can’t rise. And if that doesn’t work, they also broke the Firelink sword and maybe even killed off any remaining Firekeepers that may have been present at the shrine. So that even when a potential ‘Chosen Undead’ DID show up in the form of Champion Gundyr, there was nothing he could actually do there. Not to mention it seems they also used the Eyes of the Firekeeper item we find there to get their Firekeeper to try and snuff out the flame like we can get our Firekeeper to do in one of the endings.

Really, it seems like the only wrinkle in the Princes’ plan may have been Ludleth. As in, I think the way he became a Lord of Cinder was by sneaking into the Kiln of the First Flame after the Princes opened it, and Linked the stifled flame, starting the ‘age’ we find ourselves in at the start of the game.

Basically, Dark Souls 3 shows us just how twisted and corrupted the Age of Fire has become after all these eons, giving us a look at the lengths the Gods and their followers will go to in order to perpetuate a broken, twisted, even unsustainable system, and the lengths that others will go to in order to break that system.