He has been accursed from birth (meaning, he's afflicted with the undead curse, specifically) and his brother Lorian had to conduct some kind of kindling ritual to link his soul to Lothric's. The twins aren't that different from ''unkindled'', and the other Lords become ash precisely because they are ''unkindled''. That's the best explanation I can think of.

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(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

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Wow, thank you so much!! I'll probably remake this video sometime in the future. Since uploading it I've written more and more about ASOIAF and expanded on this theory. :) Same for the Elden Ring video.

Thank you! As for your questions: It's difficult to say how Robert Strong got resurrected, but I wouldn't discard the possibility that Qyburn is versed in R'hllor magic. His very name could be a hint ('QyBURN'.) The Faceless Men likely wield the power of the Great Other, primarily at least (but there's probably more to them than that.) Death is the pillar of their worship, after all. My guess is that they're trying to combat the maester conspiracy. Arya's plotline of becoming a shadow assassin involves her having to lose herself in order to become a proficient magician (which ties back to my point about magic and resurrection and so on.) Lancel is likely faking/imagining things. We don't know much about the Others and their relationship with the Children of the Forest, but we do know that they are definitely related. I wouldn't discard the possibility of the show once again showing us a glimpse into George's vision for them, as in, they were more or less created by the CotF in a necromantic/soul-purging ritual as a way to deal with their enemies in a desperate attempt at winning a war. The Others definifely seem to be 'apostles' for the Great Other, inhuman tools of soul-extraction, something like that. We'll certainly get more information about the Others in tWoW.

Thanks! I will be remaking this video with about 1h of new content, and Godwyn/the Dragons will be talked about in depth.

@@thefirelinkconspiracyi will be there no matter what!

@@joaopedr0r0orcha54 I'm glad to know, thank you so much!

Thank you!!

I'm glad to know, thank you!

That's an incredible coincidence. I think only about a dozen people saw that post xD I deleted it the day after too. I'm glad you've found my videos all these years later!

Thanks for commenting! And yeah, the 'gods' of ASOIAF are more akin to Lovecraftian entities or forces of nature.

Thank you, I'm glad you've enjoyed it.

In Jon's case, I'd recommend you prepare for the worst xD I don't think the ending will be grimdark, however. It'll be bittersweet, with humanity overcoming the prophecy once again.

@@thefirelinkconspiracy I actually gave up reading the books a long time ago, they just stopped being engaging for me 😅 The World of Ice and Fire was a great read though.

I strongly recommend the ASOIAF book series. If you're a fan of From Software's games, you'll love it I haven't played Fear and Hunger yet. The game looks quite interesting, but it's not my style of gameplay. I think I'll give it a shot some day though. :) And thanks for commenting!

​@@thefirelinkconspiracyThe Macumber makes a lot of sense for Elden Ring. I think the first Gurdians of the Galaxy present a similar idea about the universe in the eye of a God. Fear and Hunger games play is dark/debasing 😆😅. I watched lore videos

Thank you!!

Thanks for the book recommendation. I will keep it in mind.

Thank you, comments like these are very encouraging to me.

:)

I appreciate the long critique. Here's my reply. -the evidence you offer for the myth of Macumber being true is frankly pathetic I understand that I have indeed provided little evidence for Macumber's existence in the books. As speculative as this idea is, I do think it is a reasonable and strong possiblity; as I've said, the mention of Macumber in the show would be completely random and frankly puzzling if it wasn't a deliberate inclusion by George. There is also a season premiere that ends with Macumber's eye as the climax of the montage - which indicates that his presence in the narrative is stronger than it seems at first. And while the show isn't a reliable source for the book canon, there is a crucial piece of evidence that is more significant than it may appear (from the books) - the lake Gods Eye is where a particularly symbolic battle took place, that being the Battle Above the Gods Eye. If you study the text and pay attention to the details, you can see that George was foreshadowing something greater. David Lightbringer has written about this on his website if you're interested. And just to reiterate, both episodes that mention Macumber are credited with George's writing, and again, it would be absurd to think that D&D or someone else randomly chose to insert such a relevant creation myth into the narrative for seemingly no reason. Remember that there are various other plotlines of the show that are likely a result of George's involvement, and they will likely take place in the books too (but of course they'll be written masterfully there.) Examples include Shireen's sacrifice, Hodor's revelation and Daenerys going mad and being killed by Jon. -No gods in Ice and Fire are confirmed to exist, and George has spoken before about wanting to keep them firmly off-stage I absolutely agree that they are firmly kept off-stage. In fact, I believe that the "gods" are no more than forces of nature so to speak. Think of a lovecraftian entity instead of a Greek, human-like, personified 'god'. GRRM has referenced Lovecraft blatantly again and again, especially with his more recent work - and I don't think that's a coincidence. I think I should have expressed this idea better in the video, and I'll edit the pinned comment to clarify this. -Your appeals to Martin's involvement with Elden Ring ring (heh) false because it's very unclear which pieces of worldbuilding can be attributed to him Not really. It is confirmed that George has written the entirety of the 'mythos' of Elden Ring. Here is a direct quote from an interview with Miyazaki: "So we established very early that he would be writing that foundation, that historical element to the game, something that took place long before the events of the game itself" "When we were talking with George Martin, we had these themes and ideas for creating pieces of artwork for the bosses, for these core characters of the story. And when he wrote the mythos, we asked him to create these dramatic heroes of this ancient mythos that takes place before the events of the game." So, George most certainly wrote the 'universe' of Elden Ring, and Miyazaki and his team worked on writing the characters and some of the 'present day' story with heavy inspiration from GRRM's own works. "The biggest departure from the Dark Souls series is that I had this constant source of inspiration and impetus from George R. R. Martin and the mythos he had created. This probably had the largest impact on the game just because it was an approach I hadn't used before. It allowed me to draw lines connecting the history in this new mythos and build up something very fresh. It provided a lot of motivation and a great, constant source of inspiration." -Take the way that you postulate "soul extraction" - a very obviously Miyazakian concept - as an active element in the world of Ice and Fire I absolutely disagree with this. The 'loss of one's soul' isn't an idea invented by Miyazaki, quite the contrary; he took inspiration from real world mythology and beliefs about the soul. The notion that one's soul is related to one's memories and humanity is nearly universal, and if you examine the 'undead' characters of ASOIAF it's easy to see that they follow a similar logic. Lady Stoneheart being the more blatant example. -A maester conspiracy is of course an idea that George has seeded in the text, but it's important to note that there's no actual evidence for this Multiple characters comment on it, there's an entire chapter dedicated to the idea, and it would make no sense for it to be a random red herring by George. Not to mention of course the undeniable bias the maesters have against Aemon Targaryen which is noted in-universe to be a result of his bloodline. Again, I believe that if you put that plot into perspective you can understand the purpose of the maesters in the narrative quite clearly. -it is simply not in the spirit of the story George has been telling for the order that serves as the keepers of knowledge and literature to be some kind of conspiratorial bad guys Well, this is merely your interpretation of their role. I personally view them as a nuanced group of characters that work for the greater good of the realm, like they themselves claim to do, ironically enough - the twist being that they are conspiring against the interest of various characters to achieve it. In fact, they're opposing the coming of the antichrist, so if we were to label them as 'good' or 'evil' I'd say they lean toward the good. -and I also dk how you square treating everything magical as evil when magic is clearly needed in the existential fight against the Others I don't think magic is necessarily evil. I think you're misunderstanding my views on ASOIAF - I don't think there is much good or evil that is 'intrinsic' to nature or even to most of the cast. The world isn't 'evil' because it was created by a demiurge like Macumber. Although magic does come at a 'human' cost most of the time. I do believe that - at least if the battle that we get will be like that of the show - the war against the Others will serve as a microcosmic display of 'Ice meeting Fire', and will culminate in Jon (who I believe is 'fated' to become the Azor Ahai) charming Dany (who I believe is 'fated' to become Nissa-Nissa.) The forces of men will wield fire magic (as foreshadowed by Melisandre's involvement with the Wall plotline.) It of course makes little sense that R'hllor is the true good god and the Great Other is the evil one - they're both part of a duality that composes the universe. That means that men (who will be portrayed as 'fire') and the Others (the antagonistic force that will obviously be portrayed as 'ice') aren't meant to embody 'good and evil', and their conflict will serve as a means to a 'greater' end (the coming of the Azor Ahai, who'll embody both Ice and Fire and etc.) -but there is nothing about Catelyn's soul being taken over by R'hllor that says "the human heart in conflict with itself". This is just not the way that George writes characters. I disagree. Beric Dondarrion's portrayal as well as his followers are still an example of 'the human heart in conflict with itself', and yet he is clearly losing his soul and himself. In fact, he is one of the clearest examples of the 'soul extraction' mechanic - he comments on it directly. As he gets resussitated time and time again he loses more and more of his memory and sense of self. -how backwards this idea is that George will kill off his two main characters for the sake of telling an inhuman, impersonal narrative about deities? Not backwards at all. The prophecy isn't carried on by an envoy of a god or by a god themself, but by men - men's actions will lead the way to the coming of the Azor Ahai. And men's actions are the only thing capable of stopping the Azor Ahai. In fact, George took the idea of ancient prophecies and so on and molded them precisely to fit his thematic ideas of men's inner struggles. Free will is a thing after all. Part of the prophecy itself claims that the Lion of the Night comes as a punishment onto men for their wickedness. It is very significant that the two main characters of the series fit perfectly into the two archetypes of the central prophecy of the narrative. Please feel free to continue the discussion and/or tell me if my reply helped make things clearer. :D

@@thefirelinkconspiracy Sorry for the late reply, and I appreciate the good faith attempt at discussion, I apologize that I probably came off quite rude and aggressive in the initial comment. Not expecting to change your mind here, but I still take issue with some of the argumentation and would like to clarify my stance further as well. - There‘s no doubt that many things seen in the show are reflections of events that will happen in the books, though there are comments by D&D that indicate that Jon killing Dany is a show invention. It also seems unlikely that she’ll go “mad” in the show so much as become more ruthless. In any case you can certainly argue that a lot of show plotlines might have some parallels in the book, but there’s not even evidence of Macumber holding any real significance in the show, let alone in the books. As for the Battle Above the God’s Eye - it simply doesn’t hold much relevance towards the mainline series. Again, you simply need more than vague symbolic allusions to substantiate a claim like “the Macumber myth is real” - I know about the stuff that Miyazaki has said re: Martin‘s involvement, but there are some discrepancies between what he‘s said, what Martin has said and what other From employees have said. For example it‘s really unclear from their testimonies whether George wrote the Shattering or not. So it‘s hard to say concretely what George wrote beyond a sort of „lorebook“ of the mythos (and tbc, FROM had meetings with GRRM about the general direction they wanted to go and ideas they wanted to work with before he did that) which they then worked from when making the game. The exact contents of that book, and how directly FROM adapted it, is impossible to know atm. - I‘m not saying Miyazaki came up with the concept of souls, but their specific metaphysical place in his work, as this quantifiable subtance which is collected and hoarded as currency and fuel, is very much specific to him and has no real parallel in GRRM‘s work. Characters in ASOIAF lose their souls, maybe, but only in a strictly metaphorical sense. - The maesters weren‘t biased against Aemon - like I said in the comment, by his own testimony, he left for the Wall of his own volition. Marwyn doesn‘t know what he‘s talking about here which lends credence to the idea that he‘s not right about the maesters. I‘m not saying it‘s a complete red herring - there‘s probably truth to the idea that maesters are skeptical of and ideologically opposed to magic, but that doesn‘t mean there‘s a deep and far-reaching conspiracy in the way that Marwyn posits it. - Beric and Catelyn are losing themselves, but these are metaphors for war and trauma. They retain their agencies as human beings - they‘re not possessed by deities, which is the idea I took issue with. They‘re not literally losing their souls - they‘re losing their memories, and fixating on specific goals and desires tied to their traumatic deaths, which is akin to losing your soul or „yourself“ in a metaphorical sense. - Regarding the last bit: yes, the narrative you‘re positing will have been told through the actions of humans, but it‘s to the end of telling, like I said, an impersonal story *about* deities which will only have any meaning in what they say about humanity in the abstract. This is the opposite of George‘s approach to the story, which is very individualist, perspectival and existential - all about individual characters, how they react to their environments, how they define themselves, their wills and hopes and desires. Gods only have relevance in terms of what they say about our characters (and indeed, GRRM‘s worldview is that mankind created gods); Aeron‘s a prophet to cope with his childhood abuse, Catelyn‘s piety reflects her dutiful approach to her social role, Euron‘s turbo-atheism reflects his nihilism and narcissism, Tyrion‘s agnostic atheism reflects his pragmatism, cynicism and intelligence - etc.

@@baaaldur That's fine, you can reply whenever you want. And you didn't come off quite rude, don't worry :) "There‘s no doubt that many things seen in the show are reflections of events that will happen in the books, though there are comments by D&D that indicate that Jon killing Dany is a show invention. It also seems unlikely that she’ll go “mad” in the show so much as become more ruthless." I disagree with this, but again, we'll just have to wait to see for sure. What I think will happen is that Dany will get involved in the battle against the Others, indeed just like the show, and will want to take Westeros for herself after that, and by that point, Jon, who is already on his way to becoming the 'antichrist' archetype, will betray her for reasons that will possibly still seem pragmatic, though they'll reflect Jon's increasingly cold mentality. And then what's left is for him to become the Azor Ahai and so on. I recommend you go re-read Jon's final chapters in ADWD, the foreshadowing is bone-chilling. His nightmare where he seems to personify an Other, wielding a shining sword (Azor Ahai symbolism, the union of Ice and Fire, he's the Ice and his fiery sword, which will be obtained by slaying Dany, the Fire) and killing all of his friends. "For example it‘s really unclear from their testimonies whether George wrote the Shattering or not." I disagree, I think it's made quite clear that all of the events that happened before the game itself were 99% written by George, as they qualify as the "mythos", which were confirmed to have been written by him. Miyazaki and his team wrote the characters we interact with in the game, that is, the NPCs/ their dialogue. "Characters in ASOIAF lose their souls, maybe, but only in a strictly metaphorical sense." I absolutely disagree with this. We've been told that magic has a cost again and again and again, and it is clear to see if you're not biased toward interpreting ASOIAF as a "low fantasy" series or something like that (which it is not.) Magic costing one's soul to be used is not a particularly novel idea either, and it works perfectly for the story George wants to tell. The more one gets in touch with magic, the more one loses his sense of self. Think of Arya, Melisandre and every other Red Priest, Lady Stoneheart, Berric, etc. etc. They were written in a very distinct way, for sure. But a definitive and obvious example is.. Patchface! It gets incredibly clear how and why he's become what he is if you know of my theory. "Marwyn doesn‘t know what he‘s talking about here which lends credence to the idea that he‘s not right about the maesters. I‘m not saying it‘s a complete red herring - there‘s probably truth to the idea that maesters are skeptical of and ideologically opposed to magic, but that doesn‘t mean there‘s a deep and far-reaching conspiracy in the way that Marwyn posits it." Since making this video I've vastly improved my knowledge of ASOIAF. And the Maester conspiracy is blatant, so blatant in fact that it's almost obvious to see it unfold if you have it in mind. The Dance as well as the Faith upheaval are, precisely, a conspiracy orchestrated by the Maesters to eliminate the Azor Ahai bloodline, which is why they were so desperate to marry a Targ king with a Hightower, and why they're opposed to poligamy and incest, and so on. I recommend you watch the video by Preston Jacobs about the Dance, but watch it with my insight about the conspiracy in mind, and it will be as clear as day, I promise you. The conflict between the Targs and the Maesters, the Hightowers and the Faith is precisely centered around the preservation of the Azor Ahai bloodline. "Beric and Catelyn are losing themselves, but these are metaphors for war and trauma. They retain their agencies as human beings - they‘re not possessed by deities, which is the idea I took issue with. They‘re not literally losing their souls - they‘re losing their memories, and fixating on specific goals and desires tied to their traumatic deaths, which is akin to losing your soul or „yourself“ in a metaphorical sense." It is both literal and figurative. And they still have human agency. I'm sure we'll see this unfold more as the story goes on. "like I said, an impersonal story about deities which will only have any meaning in what they say about humanity in the abstract." Again, since writing this video I've learned a great deal more about ASOIAF. I strongly recommend you read "The Sand Kings" by George. It is a smaller work that is essentially a story of men vs God; to be more specific, about a Demiurge who incites war and division and wants men to worship him, and who is ultimately defeated by mankind uniting and rebbelling and killing the Demiurge. While it is not directly related to ASOIAF, it incredibly validated all of my beliefs, if you read it you'll see why.

Thanks for commenting! I haven't thought about Sothoryos for long, but the oily black stone seems to be related to an ancient empire that worshiped the Drowned God (AKA the Great Other.) And I'll probably make more ASOIAF videos in the future, but I have no plans for it at the moment.

How could Miquella want Godwyn as his consort if the lore especially says he is dead and can’t go back because the rune of death wasn’t the gold epitaph description say that Miquela only wanted Godwyn to die a true death and not revive him?

@@Guilherme-g3q he may have wanted him as his consort from before he died? or he may want him to die a true death just to use his soul like he did with Mohg

@@cinderbones I understand the first question but in game is said that his soul dies so Miquella would just have his body but in the gold epithet description says he wanted Godwyn to die a true death so that means he wanted Godwyn’s body to die too meaning he probably had no purpose to use his body(the only thing that is alive from him) so meaning he probably have no purpose with Godwyn to become his consort so the most logical sense is for Radahh to be his consort, mostly meaning Godwyn wasn’t a option for consort

Thanks for commenting! As for your questions: There is plenty of evidence that the GEQ acted late in the Age of the Erdtree. Some of which is covered in the video. Melina shares a moveset with the Black Knife Assassins. Melina's role as the GEQ ended in her burning the Erdtree, but failing to destroy it - which is Leyndell is already covered in ash when we get there. There are no Godskins nor Black Knives in the Land of Shadow - and Marika veiled that part of the Lands Between in shadow way before the NotBK and the GEQ's/Godskin hunt. I could go on, but this video as well as my previous one will be made outdated by my next upload, which will include all that I've written for Elden Ring, and cover everything from the prehistoric era to the endings of the game. Placidusax' role in the narrative has nothing to do with the GEQ. He was Elden Lord before the Age of the Erdtree, yes, but he was not married to the GEQ, but to Florissax, who was an aspect of himself/of his Anima. Bayle is his firstborn. I will cover this in detail on my next video as well. As for the Minor Erdtree in Marika's home, which represents 'gold without order': The explanation for that is that the Shamans - a matriarchal tribe who directly descended from the Numen (cavemen) of the underground - represent a microcosm of the Age of the Erdtree. To begin with, they're a matriarchal culture, with a motherly figure as their leader (the Grandmother.) They buried their dead, a ritual that resulted in their soil being fertilized with their remains - and their trees acquired golden leaves, and produced a golden sap, which the Shamans consumed to acquire their golden hair as well as conductive properties. This is why the Shamans are special, and why they were later hunted to produce the Gate of Divinity and a God. And the excuse the [predecessors of the Hornsent] used to justify their brutal inquisitions is precisely that the Shamans were infringing their order with their burial customs. At the time, the dead were cremated in Ghostflame, not buried to be absorbed by treeroots and so on. Again, I will elaborate on this on my next video. I hope these answers are alright for now! And again, thank you for commenting! :D

@@thefirelinkconspiracy Hi thank you for the reply. I have many points to agree with you and some differing opinions from yours but that's okay, as long as we say our takes are not definitive. I think Melina is not the Gloam Eye Queen but only a vessel that house a fragment of Rune of Death in her eye. She does have the power of Destined Death but not the queen herself. One of the thing most define the Godskins are their snake/serpent-like nature. Melina has nothing related to snake but is much more associated with the assassins and their mixed allegiance, and her birth and purpose is instead closely mirrored with Milicent and her questline. It makes more sense to me that the queen was the snake shown in the DLC trailer where Marika pulls runes from its skins. Enia tells us the Rune of Death was plucked from the creation of the Golden Order upon its creation. It make sense to me that Marika plucked out the rune thus taking away the queen's power and Maliketh was able to defeat the queen. Marika then went ahead and created the rune of life which defines the Golden Order. I agree Melina has close tie to the first burning of the Erdtree. Your point of no Godskins in the Land of Shadow is very compelling. Looking forward to more of your videos with more concrete proofs!

@@0987ggggg The skin from which Marika pulls the golden rune strings didn't belong to a snake. It belonged to the flayed Hornsent that compose the second layer of the Gate of Divinity. You can see that their bodies are flayed, and that the material Marika pulls the strings from is stitched human skin, not snake skin. Marika plucked the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring as she became a god, yes, however the Queen did not exist yet. To me, the narrative is quite clear - Ranni stole the Rune of Death, which was sealed within Maliketh's blade (this is why his blade is broken.) Ranni was colaborating with Melina, which is why Melina is tied to the Black Knife Assassins (they share a moveset) and why Melina got a chunk of the Rune of Death, and so on. In order to solve these questions we really must paint a bigger picture, and not view each event as an isolated 'world-building' detail. :)

Thanks for commenting! I can definitely see an issue with the general perception of From Software's games by the community. They're viewed not as works of literature with themes, build-ups and pay-offs and overarching narratives, but as "world-building projects" with arbitrary, disconnected ideas so to speak. And this creates confusion.

o7

Gnosticism is everywhere in fiction. It's quite bizarre, really.

@@thefirelinkconspiracy You pointing out that The One Great is basically a Demiurge, it made me realize and that there could be a ton of other Demiurges out there warping other realities as they see fit.

The Empyreans (besides Marika herself, who was reborn as an Empyrean through the first ritual conducted atop Belurat) are all born from Marika and Radagon. Melina isn't a rival Empyrean to Marika, but an asset of her; she follows her duty, which was imparted to her by her mother before she was abandoned. The thing with Rykard's and Messmer's serpents is vaguely related too, I'll cover both of them on a later video. Rykard was subsumed by the powers of the Serpent like Marika feared Messmer would be. Rykard was supposed to aid Melina's and Ranni's conspiracy (which was orchestrated by Marika), but he abdicated from his role due to the Serpent's 'greed'. The Black Knives are definitely tied to the GEQ. The moveset is one of various clues that directly link them to Melina. The Rune of Death was stolen once and only once, and it was in the NotBK by Ranni. The Black Knives were forged then, and the Black Flame/the Godskins came right after that, with Melina wielding the fragment of the Rune of Death - which is why after her defeat by Maliketh, the Black Flame lost its power, as the fragment was (mostly) re-sealed (Deathroot is the exception to this, as death was imbued into Godwyn's corpse and spread to the roots of the Erdtree through it; it was part of Marika's plan.)

@@thefirelinkconspiracy "Maliketh was a shadowbound beast given to his Empyrean. Marika's sole need of her shadow was a vessel to lock away Destined Death. Even then, she betrayed him." She is an Emyprean

​@@johncrondis4563 Yes that is correct. Empyrean refers to the composition of the body as a conduit. Which is why Marika's children with Radagon all inherit her conductive properties.

I'm glad you've enjoyed it. Thanks!

Thank you! And yes, both their curses are related to the Twinbird, and in a way, Miquella's is quite similar in concept to 'stagnation' indeed. I have written more extensively about this idea for the script of a video to come.

Yes that's true. And I highly recommend you watch my video about the story of Demon's Souls so that you don't miss out on the incredible lore this game (PS3 version) has to offer. It's truly a shame that so much was lost with this remake.

Will I get spoiled much? I do plan to experience the game, even if in the DarkSouls-ified version. also, beat the Phalanx recently and someone in my vc said this verbatim, "all Ellie did was carefully walk around a blob of whatever, the hell was that music for?". sooo yea. they've never seen the original and even then they feel the remake is off.

@@engchann Lol at your friend's remark, that is true. And as for the video, yes, it spoils the entire game. I meant that you should watch it after beating the remake so that you don't miss the story. :)

I've never been part of the discussion, I don't watch any Elden Ring lore content nor engage with the community outside of this channel. I'm passionate about researching and understanding From Software's narratives. :)

Thanks for commenting! Velka was the inventor of Fire-linking. Fire-linking is a way of combating the Curse of Undead and restoring/advancing the natural cycle, draining the fire of the sun. This is precisely why below Irithyll rests the Profaned Flame. Fire-linking brought forth the night of Irithyll, and much like how Gwyn had created the Curse of Undead to shackle the Dark below the ground, Velka's Fire-linking did the same, but for the fire, more or less. Just to be clear, the Curse of Undead is a mechanism devised by Gwyn in colaboration with Seath (the one who invented the Curse) and Nito (the one who helped spread it; Allfather Lloyd) to prolong the Age of Fire. He had intended to curse those outside of Anor Londo's (the World of Men's) walls, so that their souls would fuel the sun. Of course, it all backfired and etc.

@@thefirelinkconspiracy I always had doubts about two things: why is Velka allowing undead into Lordran, and what was Velka and Gwyndolin's relationship (souvenirs of reprisal being in Ariamis). What I don't still understand is why Gwyn linked the first flame then if, as you say, the firelinking was invented/promoted by Velka. I'm sorry but it is paradigm-changing for me to think that by the linking of the flame we are favouring the age of Dark. All what I learnt by now suggested the contrary. It kinda makes sense by the DS3 usurpation of the flame ending, but I'm not sure Velka would be fully aligned of the Sable Church objectives. Another thing that I can't see is the following: if Velka is promoting firelinking, are the remaining gods against it? If so, why Gwynevere scapes Lothric once he renounces to link the flame? So many questions 😅

@@nightmike7655 Velka was Gwyn's wife, and Gwyndolin was alchemically produced by Seath using a chunk of Velka's and Gwyn's souls (as well as the 'essence' of the dragons, which is why Gwyndolin has snake legs, and why he's the alchemical rebis - a transcendental being that unites male and female natures, and is empowered by a dragon.) This means that Gwyndolin was, more or less, Gwyn's bastard child (which is why the Way of White fundamentalists in DS3 refer to him as a bastard, and to Fire-linking as a bastard's curse; Prince Lothric, who was convinced by Sulyvahn to abdicate his duty, refers to Fire-linking as a curse as well.) Gwyndolin follows Velka's will and helps the Chosen Undead link the fire and etc. The Usurpation of Fire ending is the continuation of Prince Lothric's duty; he was to succeed Gwyndolin as the alchemical rebis (which is why he too is an effeminate male) and usurp the fire to lead mankind in the new age. I explain this in more detail in my video about Fire-linking, if you're interested. As to how/why Gwyn linked the fire, well, there are two possibilities. He could've been tricked by Velka, or directly coup'd. It's likely that he was afflicted by his own Curse of Undead and lost clarity of mind (possibly a deliberate move by Velka, as she sacrificed herself in a ritual, and we know the Curse is spread mainly through death, and Velka's children which were likely 'born' of this ritual are all adepts of Fire-linking, with the exception of Friede, who abandoned her role as a leader of the Sable Church.) The "remaining gods" (meaning the royals of Lothric and Irithyll) aren't against Fire-linking, quite the contrary; the main enemy of Fire-linking is Sulyvahn (and Aldrich.) I hope this helped clear things out a little bit. I'm currently writing a script for an enormous video that'll paint the whole picture of DS1/2/3's narrative. :)

@@thefirelinkconspiracy that's a fascinating theory! I'll watch the rest of the videos of this series. So even Gwynevere, who wants to prolongue the age of fire, was decieved by wanting the linking of the flame?

Vargram is very much akin to the player character. He's a Tarnished whose quest is to aid Melina fulfill her prophecy/follow Marika's plan. It's likely that within his own world he claimed the Godslayer Greatsword, further emphasizing the connection between the GEQ and Melina's duty. As for the title of Shadow, it's not literal. He isn't the shadow of an Empyrean as ordained by the Greater Will. :)

I believe that the fate the Fingerslayer Blade refers to is that of an Empyrean. Empyreans are the only characters refered to as having a fate that can be altered by the Greater Will, as they are the perfect conductors for it (which is why they are chosen by the Fingers as possible successors to Marika - it is their birthright, as they have inherited Marika's conductivity due to having been born of a single god.) Ranni's fate being tied to the stars is similar to the afflictions/curses/fates of other Empyreans, such as Malenia's rot, Miquella's eternal youth and "lack of conclusion" (which may be just be a narrative factor that is thematically connected to his curse, but it's an interesting observation nonetheless), Messmer's flame threatening to subsume him, and GEQ's prophecy to burn the Erdtree.

Thanks for sharing your views here. While I agree that the overseer of Melina's spirit, which was imprisoned at the Grand Lift of Rold, is from the Marais' family, I definitely do not think her body was burnt by a random Marais' executioner. I think her body was burnt in her first attempt to burn the Erdtree with the Black Flame/the flame of the Serpent Deity, which she stole by flaying the deity, combined with the power of Destined Death. This mirrors Melina's quest to burn the Erdtree with the help of the Tarnished - this time, she sacrifices her spirit to burn the Erdtree at the source of the Fell God's fire, the Kiln. Yes, much like Messmer, Melina was a bastard born out of wedlock - but both were definitely Empyreans and both were children of Marika and Radagon, as indicated by various context clues, such as Messmer's red hair (which dates his birth to roughly after the war against the Giants, probably during Godfrey's absence, before he had returned from the Mountaintops.) The GEQ is directly stated to have been an Empyrean chosen by a pair of Fingers - which were killed by the Fingerslayer Blade, and are located right above the Godslayer Greatsword (the sword wielded by Melina as the GEQ) at Caelid's Divine Tower. There is a distinction between an Empyrean and a demigod, you're correct. A demigod can be said to be any of Marika's children. An Empyrean is specifically a children of Marika and Radagon - a child born of a single god, who has inherited Marika's 'conductivity', which is precisely why they have a birthright/are chosen by a pair of Fingers as a potential candidate to succeed Marika. Of course, the Empyrean status is granted by the conductive body, meaning that if one gets rid of the Empyrean body and of their pair of Fingers they completely lose the Empyrean status/the possibility of succeeding Marika. Which is why Ranni's questline centers around getting rid of her pair of Fingers and etc. As for the shadowbound beasts, the truth is we only see two of them - Maliketh and Blaidd - and it is difficult to conclusively say if there were others like them. What we do know is that both Marika and Ranni had plans to conspire against the Greater Will, while the other Empyreans (Melina excluded) did not. Which means that it's possible that shadowbound beasts could've been, quite literally, guard dogs of the Greater Will tasked with overseeing those the GW saw as possible rebels. The Two Fingers are at the very least hinted to possess some sort of divination ability, meaning they likely foresaw Ranni's and Marika's treason. And again, we don't know if Melina had a shadow or not; it's possible that she did, but slew it as she did with her Fingers. The visions of burning the Erdtree are definitely tied to Melina's duty.

I believe that if we place all of the clues related to men's lifespan in context we get a reasonably conclusive explanation. Before the curse, men weren't immortal, as proven by Nito's existence (his very title is "First of the Dead".) However, we do know various characters that seem to have lived for many centuries if not more, such as Gwyn himself. There are various NPCs that clue us into the fact that one can consume souls to expand their lifespan. Think of the undead merchant at the Firelink Shrine shortcut to the Lower Undead Burg. In fact, this is quite intuitive once you understand the 'fantasy-science' logic of Dark Souls. (This applies to Demon's Souls as well.) What we can deduce by using this evidence to form a big picture is that the Undead Curse severely reduced men's lifespan. Aldia says that when Gwyn (with Seath's and Nito's help and etc.) created and spread the Curse ("when the Lord of Light banished Dark"), men assumed a 'fleeting form'. This means that the wealthy could essentially live foverer, as long as they had souls at their disposal. The nobles of the so-called "World of Men" (the territory within Anor Londo's walls, which included at least Carim and Thorolund) were so rich they didn't even need to employ souls as currency - they'd use coins instead. The plebeians lived less, as they were poorer, and would go on to employ souls as currency. Thanks for asking a question here, and I hope this answer is enough for now. I'll cover these topics in more detail on a future video. :)

Wat

Thank you so much! And you're absolutely on point about Melina's characterization! It's subtle yet quite moving, she's such a beautifully written character. As for Metyr, I'm currently writing an enormous Elden Ring video that'll cover everything major about the game's lore. I'll even confidently say that that video will make my previous work obsolete, as its script features my refined and expanded thoughts. I'm sure you'll enjoy it! :)

​@@thefirelinkconspiracy looking forward to it! Just take your time and go at your own pace.

Thanks for commenting :) As for your question, I believe Maliketh and the Blaid - the two Shadowbound Beasts we see in game - aren't literally Marika and Ranni's 'half brothers' so to speak. They're beastmen who got special treatment by the Greater Will (the same force that granted them intelligence in the first place), much like Marika and the Empyreans are 'conductors' for its influence, and are thus shaped/controlled by external factors (such as Outer Gods and the influence of the Two Fingers.) It's a bit more complicated than that, and I plan to explain it in detail on a future upload. But the 'half-brother' label comes from both Marika and the Empyreans as well as the Shadowbound Beasts being, non-literally, 'children' of the Greater Will.

@@thefirelinkconspiracy nice. Thanks, man