#ds3 lore

[palebloodcvrse]

Ok so orbeck said he was exiled when he became undead

But you dont just wake up one day undead right? He died somehow

Question is how? (Btw it is hella fucked up that he basically got expelled postmortem...)

[demons-fanatic]

Firekeepers: Cycle of Blind Optimism

Spoilers for Dark Souls I, II and III for the entire post:

Fire Keepers have always been prevalent in the Dark Souls Series. In Dark Souls 1 they seem to be somewhat common and serve a different purpose than in Dark Souls 3. Fire Keepers are always Women, it is unknown why this is but some things in Dark Souls can only be done by Women. They all seemingly have a disability; Anastacia is mute, Quelaag’s Sister is blind and ill, Darkmoon Knightess has a lot of humanity swarming out of her soul(presumably) under her Armor. The Old Women are all blind as well. Irina is blind, as are all Fire Keepers in DS3 Firelink Shrine. It is unknown why most of them are blind, even the uncursed ones, but that’s just how it seems to be.

In Dark Souls 1, Fire Keepers seem to have individual names and identities and are key-part in keeping the local Bonfire lit. However, not every Bonfire in DS1 has a Fire Keeper, usually places of importance, like Firelink Shrine or the entirety of Anor Londo; Which are important places. It can be inferred only important places need Fire Keepers, and maybe Anastacia’s power can provide enough power to have all Bonfires lit. But, when she, Anastacia is dead, only Firelink Shrine’s Bonfire is unkindled.  For Anor Londo, the Darkmoon Knightess’ death shuts down all Anor Londo Bonfires, so consistency is very strange and not one for deciphering. The third and final Fire Keeper in DS1 is Quelaag’s Sister, who barely does anything at all; It can be assumed she was always a Fire Keeper and in her transformed state she’s still trying to keep up her duty and her Bonfire. It’s better to say they’re important for specific Bonfires. Fire Keepers also have notable Souls that are charged by infinite Humanity, this soul is also what connects to the power of the Bonfire; In Dark Souls 1, Humanity is what can keep kindling a Bonfire, making it brighter. So, it just shows that a soul of infinite Humanity is what keeps a Bonfire going. So it can be assessed that Fire Keepers are the world's solution to just keeping a Bonfire forever going, since it is unknown when the first Fire Keeper was created. It is possible the world itself is giving these Women the ability. But, this is really all that can be said about Dark Souls 1 Fire Keepers.

In Dark Souls 2, there are only three Fire Keepers. They are the Old Handmaidens in red Clothes in Things’ Betwixt. They serve no purpose only to reassess players’ points, they drop Human Effigies, but that is no surprise since it is essentially Humanity. They don’t even seem to be keeping any Bonfires alight. But, to get meta, it’s definitely just an oversight by the Writers who chose not to really expand on the lore of Fire Keepers at all, and no issue with that, honestly. It is also possible Shanalotte is a Fire Keeper, however, it is explicitly said she is not by another character; But, that does not mean it’s true.

In Dark Souls 3, Fire Keepers are extremely important and seem to have completely changed. It’s still possible for Women with names to become Fire Keepers if they want. It is seemingly connected to Miracles, at least for Irina it is. She must teach every non-dark Miracle and she will be able to transform Souls into power; The correlation of these aspects are very unknown and seems to be confusing. It seems it is also possible to fail to become a Fire Keeper, as Irina also does but later succeeds. She and Eygon come from Carim and have headed to Lothric for it seems to be the land to become a Fire Keeper, for what reason is unknown despite Carim being a religious and place of Miracles. However, it could be possible because a Firelink Shrine is needed to become one and they are only found in the area of Lothric and Lordran. Speaking of such, there seems to be a special shrine in Lothric. In this shrine, there are 5 thrones that are custom built for each Lord of Cinder, previous people who linked the fire and most likely had their own Fire Keeper. This shrine also seems to be cursed; Certain denizens of the shrine cannot die. These being the Ashen One, Andre, Shrine Handmaiden and the Fire Keeper. But, we’ll focus on the Fire Keeper; She is a young Woman with mid length Silver Hair, Pale Skin and a Blindfold Tiara. This Tiara, as seen from the intro CGI of Dark Souls 3 seemingly has a glimpse into the Age of Dark. But, Fire Keepers have no eyes in Dark Souls 3. They are seemingly purposefully left ignorant, but they also do not care what the Ashen One does with the Fire. She is just subservient to her Ashen One. This is the first obvious change, Fire Keepers are seemingly ordered to serve somebody, not multiple people but one person who will link the fire. Whether they do or not doesn’t matter, they are just there to assist them and transform souls into power. She chants something while transforming these souls, it is unknown why: “Let these souls, withdrawn from their vessels, Manifestations of disparity, Elucidated by fire, Burrow deep within me. Retreating to a darkness beyond the reach of flame, Let them assume a new master, Inhabiting ash, casting themselves upon new forms.” It essentially explains the process of Souls and how they transform and are rebirthed into the body and the Soul of their “New Master”. It’s nothing anybody couldn’t figure out themselves, but is an interesting addition. Now, Dark Souls 3 has a very noticeable apocalyptic vibe and by the end, it is very obvious the Universe is trying to collapse in on itself. The fire keeps getting linked, but the fire cannot sustain itself much longer. However, in the regular world aside from Firelink Shrine; The linking of the fire and the act of a Fire Keeper and her wish for a Champion is mocked to the point that plays are put on like comedies. The world knows of the struggles of keeping the world alight by these Champions, but they do not treat it with respect as they should. And what they also seemingly don’t know is how many times the fire truly has been linked. If the Tower Key is purchased and is explored, for one, a Fire Keeper Soul can be found. The Soul of a Fire Keeper who returned from the Abyss and was tainted by the Dark Sigil. Secondly, going down the tower next to the shrine’s main building will prove a horrific scene: Hundreds of corpses of Fire Keepers, all Silver Haired with the same Black Dress. They are carelessly piled up on the floor, discarded after their Champion links the flame. It’s possible they are killed or are “programmed” to die after the linking of the fire. This also begs a question of how are there so many identical Women? It’s possible they are quite literally spawned right after one dies. She walks into the shrine and picks up the Tiara and dons it, in the intro CGI this is exactly what our Fire Keeper does. This almost maddening scene should truly be terrifying for anyone in the Dark Souls world. So many times the world has been kept alive in this singular place, just to prevent an age that has to come one day anyways. Fire Keepers by now are treated like tools to complete something rather than real people. But, it’s not like this comes out of nowhere, Fire Keepers treat themselves as such. It’s like brainwashed slavery, the slave has been conditioned, probably since birth, their Slavehood is good and they are only worth their work. Of course, Fire Keepers aren’t really like slaves but they are there only to serve others. The whole cycle is something that reflects real life as well. We, as humans and human society have had something presumably our whole lives to keep a system going; Say bankers that keep our money in check. There’s not many things that are common that could ruin this, right? Well, having this system our whole lives gives leeway for most people to take it for granted and never expecting it to completely fail. This is how it is for Fire Keepers and keeping the fire lit for the world of Dark Souls. They most likely do not expect anything to go wrong, despite the mechanics of the world(Hollowing, Dragons/Drakes, etc...). Therefore, Fire Keepers don’t really need to be treated as people if their only purpose is known as that one thing society expects to be taken care of. To move on, Fire Keepers have evolved in this world. It’s still seemingly admired to become a Fire Keeper in the modern world, yet, it seems people like Irina do not exactly become the same kind of Fire Keeper as the Silver Haired ones. All Irina says is let the souls be the strength of the Ashen One, while the Silver Haired Fire Keeper is always asking to bring the Ashes of the Lords and strive to bring them. However, as previously stated; She just does not care how the fire is kept as long as she fulfills her duty which is just to serve her Champion. This Fire Keeper can also be given the Eyes of a Fire Keeper, which are the eyes of the first Fire Keeper who has seen a World without fire. She is intrigued by it, and almost wants it to happen. She says she sees tiny flames, alluding that even in the Dark and possible future age of the Deep Sea due to the many times the flame has been lit; There will always be a Flame in this world even if it is the Age of Dark. Giving hope that the world may start again as it did for the Fire Keeper who saw the Age of Dark and the tiny flames. 

Even in the ending where the flame goes out, the Fire Keeper explicitly states there will be tiny flames that will appear in the world again due to the lords who linked it before. However, this time the world will not be reborn as it is usually; This time, it will be the Age of the Deep Sea. Fire and Water mostly never coexist for they both dissipate each other. Refraining from turning into a Deep Analysis, just know this is the Age the Fire Keeper sees in her vision. It is not known why the Fire Keeper is able to see into the future with eyes from the past, but she can, suggesting Fire Keepers have more to them than they may even realize, almost like an Oracle. 

So, what can be said about Fire Keepers and their connection to the seemingly alive planet? Now, it could be that Gwyn himself created Fire Keepers; But, all Gwyn really seems to do is cast Lightning. He’s never shown to be able to create Humans, in fact Gwyn really hates Humans and Humanity and Gwyn’s only stated to just destroy Dragons, put the Pygmies in the Ringed City and have Children. It could have been the Primordial Serpents, their powers are seemingly unknown, but it could be they were tasked with creating a Fire Keeper Soul and planting them into shrines, at least our shrine in Dark Souls 3, since it seems to have had the most successful links. Though, Primordial Serpents serve no purpose other than to teeter the current linkers of the fire to one side or the other. As said before, it’s most likely Fire Keepers are just the World’s solution to keeping the Bonfire going, but after sometime they just became servants for people who are destined to link the fire. This isn’t the first time the world has seemingly created something to fit a purpose; The Undead themselves are created due to the fact Gwyn refused to let the Age of Dark come about. The World uses its own curse just to resurrect someone to link the fire, despite the odds of the entire Universe(seemingly, keep in mind). So, it’s not entirely out of the question the same Woman is created over and over again just for the same purpose. It’s fair to say that the world itself has taken what it has created and slowly evolved and shaped it into something. But, given by the first Fire Keeper, she was most definitely the same one as our current Fire Keeper. For some reason, probably after the first Fire Keeper, every proceeding Fire Keeper after her was born without eyes so she cannot see a World in the Age of Dark, or possibly the future. Where Fire Keepers are born are never alluded to, it is entirely possible they are plopped into the shrine or are born from the Ash; Which is possible and likely. This is just a copy and paste of a theory I wrote in August! I hope you enjoy.