As the title says. I’ve been thinking about this. I’ll try and compare it to an apocalypse type scenario with more real world politics, obviously this could not happen irl but it’s just there for comparison.
First, the linking of the fire ending. You’re linking the fire and trying to continue the cycle. This is obviously not good because the age of fire is purely beneficial to the gods. Yes they build great cities and such but ultimately mankind is left to rot and suffer and the gods couldn’t care less about us, as evidenced by the twin princes refusing to help your cause or all the other gods fleeing lothric. This is basically like noticing capitalism in decline and trying to restart the system again, not a good idea. In any case you can’t even succeed at fully linking the fire, it’s incomplete. So you’re just delaying the problem for the next guy which is peak liberalism.
Second, the end of fire ending. In my opinion this ending is kind of the accelerationist ending. You have the idea that destroying the fire entirely will stop the cycle or cure the hollows or something. In reality though this just plunges the world into darkness, AND eventually the whole cycle will repeat and the age of fire will begin anew, restoring the gods to their full power. This is like letting society decay to primitivism then reintroducing capitalism, which is just bad. You shouldn’t do it. Same goes for killing the fire keeper which is the other ending inside this ending, you’re just cruel.
Now, the usurpation of fire ending. First, you have the group working within the system to take the power away from the gods. Sure, Kaathe probably has ulterior motives. But from what we know, this is a good ending. Basically it involves you usurping the fire and using it to better mankind in it’s true form, the hollow, much like the furtive Pygmy, who was the only god to split his part of the lord soul amongst humanity instead of using it to bolster his own power in the age of fire. So it’s like you’re destroying the system and bringing power to the hands of the people. Of course there’s the element of you being the new lord, but I like to think you aren’t exactly a god, more like a benevolent leader? Which isn’t the worst thing in the world and the people clearly want you as their leader to lead you into the new age of man, free from the gods. So yeah, this is the revolutionary ending and is therefore the only “good” ending amongst the others.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk
No, trust me bro, please bro. I'm different from the dragons bro. I won't enslave you mindless zombies bro please. C'mon man, just give me the fire, you'll be happy as a zombie, bro, please.
Hell yeah we read theory. The fire is like capitalism in that it benefits the gods (rich people), and humans (poor people) just sort of benefit not as much i'm guessing. Then the fire begins to burn out and not only do the poor humans get the worst of it, while the gods are almost unaffected, but they are also manipulated into sacrificing themselves to keep the fire going.
Maybe the magic fire in a video game isn't the best analogue for socio-economic systems
Hmm, idk how I feel about that. Sure, while the age of gods does not really resemble capitalism, it still has a very similar hierarchy where the gods build or make humans build great cities then confine them to live in places like the undead settlement. Meanwhile the gods live in splendour like anor londo, or if we wanna talk separate factions like Pontiff Sulyvahn in irythyll. Regardless of the nature of the revolution, the lord of hollows ending sees you taking the power away from the gods, and the age of man has begun. I’ve always interpreted that in a left sense- how can capitalism be considered the age of man? The same inequality exists. Meanwhile the people seizing power for the greater good of humanity seems like a very left wing thing. Then again the whole thing is very much up for interpretation, details are vague and you have to consider the abyss in the lord of hollows ending. Perhaps if the lord of hollows ending is a metaphor for capitalism with the common man replacing gods in the social heriarchy, much like capitalists with divine rulers, the abyss represents the unforeseen consequences? Very much up to interpretation
Someone will just usurp your usurpation when you're not looking
Better let that shit go out and be ready for it when it comes back
I don’t think so tho, the implication of letting it go out is that it will come back stronger than ever, and I don’t think we want that. When the fire is at its height sure mankind benefits in general but really it’s the age of gods, not man. And when that fades even a bit man suffers first. It’s literally just feudal capitalism
Seemed like it would just gradually come back, not necessarily stronger
And the gods/lords are humans that had more exposure to the first flame, they're not entirely difference species
Let the fire go out, let it all reset, and be the first to get to it when it reforms, then divide it equally amongst everyone
The crew you usurp with don't come across as egalitarians
Edit: wait, the lord souls turned ordinary people into 'gods,' not the first flame... but then how would there be enough lords/gods to fill a city... man it's been a while
Well the gods don’t fill a city. Really the gods such as gwyndolin and gwynevere live in lavish cities such as anor londo, where they have knights and such but few if any other real residents. Meanwhile the humans in the time of decline live in places like the undead settlement, undead burg, etc. So the only good god is the furtive Pygmy who split his soul amongst all humans, giving them humanity, and sacrificing his own divine power. He seems like he’s a chill guy ngl
