Lore question about Bonfires

[BirdbrainVT]

What makes the Fire Keeper's bonfires (Firelink, Anor Londo and the one in front of Quelaan) special compared to normal bonfires? Why can every other bonfire aside from those three be lit without a fire keeper present?

Is there a lore reason or at least a well known theory?

[Stonergoat1]

Originally posted by AxtasisN7:

What makes the Fire Keeper's bonfires (Firelink, Anor Londo and the one in front of Quelaan) special compared to normal bonfires? Why can every other bonfire aside from those three be lit without a fire keeper present?

Is there a lore reason or at least a well known theory?

because they are kindiled

[Rays of Apollo]

If I recall, every bonfire has a keeper, correct?

[BirdbrainVT]

Originally posted by Mr. TehNoms:

If I recall, every bonfire has a keeper, correct?

If they do, they're not represented ingame. There's only three fire keeper NPCs and not enough Fire Keeper Soul items in the world to cover every single bonfire.

[Mr. Death]

Originally posted by Mr. TehNoms:

If I recall, every bonfire has a keeper, correct?

Not all, there is the Firelink Shrine keeper, The Daughter of Chaos, Anor Londo with the Brass keeper, Chamber of the Princess is kindled by fake Gwynevere, Ash Lake bonfire is kindled by the Everlasting Dragon

[m0k]

There are also some abandoned ones, where you can still find their souls nearby. The one in Blighttown comes to mind.

[ALL]

As we learn later in the series, sometimes an entire area is kept lit by 1 firekeeper :P
Not sure if that applies to the first Dark Souls, but whatever.

[BirdbrainVT]

Originally posted by Aigless:

As we learn later in the series, sometimes an entire area is kept lit by 1 firekeeper :P
Not sure if that applies to the first Dark Souls, but whatever.

But if that was the case, surely if a fire keeper died, ALL of the Bonfires under her care would become unusable, not just the one she happens to be next to most.

[m0k]

Each Fire Keeper is a corporeal manifestation of her bonfire, and a draw for the humanity which is offered to her.

So it seems that a Firekeeper actually is the bonfire in human form?

[ZaidusRecon]

Let's work with what we know. Prepare for another essay.

[1]:= "Soul of a long-lost Fire Keeper.
Each Fire Keeper is a corporeal manifestation of her bonfire, and a draw for the humanity which is offered to her. Her soul is gnawed by infinite humanity, and can boost the power of precious Estus Flasks. Reinforced Estus Flasks capture denser Estus, allowing for increased restoration of HP."

[2]:= "Fire Keeper Soul [not long-lost]
A Fire Keeper's soul is a draw for humanity, and held within their bosoms, below just a thin layer of skin, are swarms of humanity that writhe and squirm."

[3]:= "Anastacia of Astora's Dialogues
...You have agreed to link the Fire... Finally, the curse of the Undead will be lifted, and I can die human..."

[4]:= "The Estus Flasks are linked to the Fire Keepers. The Dark Tales also make reference:
An emerald flask, from the Keeper's soul.
She lives to protect the flame,
And dies to protect it further."

[5]:= "Armor of the Darkmoon Knightess, Fire Keeper of Anor Londo.
After becoming Undead, she visited the Dark Sun Gwyndolin at the Mausoleum of the Spiral Depths, became a Blade of Darkmoon, and assumed the flame-keeping duty. She received this armor, which hides her hideous form and helps her hunt the guilty."

[6]:= "Lady of the Darkling's Dialogues
Using 'Talk' option
2. The bonfire attended by the Keepers are special. They are linked to one another, and their flames never die. Yet never shall the Keepers of these flames meet."

Summary
^[1] Each Fire Keeper is a corporeal (tangible, physical) manifestation of her bonfire. A Fire Keeper's soul draws humanity. Each Fire Keeper has infinite humanity.
^[2] The infinite humanity squirms under the surface of their skin, presumably only barely contained.
^[3] Fire Keepers suffer from the curse of the Undead, too. Apparently linking the Fire will remove or otherwise solve the curse.
^[4] Apparently the death of a Fire Keeper can somehow help protect 'the flame'. The 'Dark Tales' might not be a reliable source anyway, since it is something created by the in-world people (rather than the developers), and we know that in-world people can be manipulative and even purposefully deceptive.
^[5] The Darkmoon Knightess, better known as the Lady of the Darkling, was first a human, or at least a being capable of coming under the curse of the Undead. Then she became an Undead. Then she became a Fire Keeper. The infinite, swarming humanity gives Fire Keepers a "hideous form".
^[6] Bonfires with Fire Keepers are not the same as bonfires without Fire Keepers. Bonfires with Fire Keepers don't die (implying that normal bonfires can eventually burn out, which makes sense considering that the player lights the bonfires they find, except for the bonfires with Fire Keepers). Bonfires with Fire Keepers are somehow linked to each other, presumably in a way that is distinct to the linking that we exploit when Warping between bonfires after placing the Lordvessel. But Fire Keepers will never meet each other, presumably because of some restriction (rather than chance, and the Lady of the Darkling somehow knowing the future). This restriction is likely to be distance, each Fire Keeper needing to actually keep (retain, maintain, implying the requirement of physical presence) their fire, or, for all we know, it could be some kind of power or balance of separate powers relating to bonfires.

From gameplay, we know that each pair of bonfire and Fire Keeper is inseparably tied together, evidenced by the fact that if a Fire Keeper is killed then her bonfire extinguishes permanently (or until the soul of the Fire Keeper is somehow restored to the bonfire). (But surely, to emphasise the connection in the opposite direction, adding humanity to a bonfire should affect the bonfire's Keeper in some way? Maybe it does, and we just don't know.)

My first thought is that there appears to be a contradiction. Humans, or at least Undead, can become Fire Keepers ^[5]. However, each Fire Keeper is a manifestation of her bonfire ^[1]. The word 'manifestation' usually carries the connotation of being sourced from the abstract thing. So the source is the contradiction. However, a closer look at the definition of manifestation (a thing that embodies something abstract) reveals that the source is irrelevant to the fact that a Fire Keeper embodies (the power of) her bonfire.

Well, I don't have time right not to get into the meat of this post. All I've done is set out the building blocks for our deductions and cleared up a possible-to-interpret-as contradiction.

Have at, I guess.

[The Koro]

About bonfires I always had this crazy theory:

If you look closely at the bonfires you will see that in the ashes there are human bones. So for me bonfires are related to some sort of human sacrifice.

Then I remembered that all hollows had this spiral pattern in their chest, the Darksign. Considering that the Coiled Sword is always present in every bonfire my theory is this:

Bonfires are the place when some special humans (the keepers) were sacrificed using the Coiled Sword, in order to link humanity with the First Flame. The Darksign is a reminder, the scar left by the impalement of the Coiled Sword.

And yes, is a crazy theory XD

[Stonergoat1]

Originally posted by The Koro:

About bonfires I always had this crazy theory:

If you look closely at the bonfires you will see that in the ashes there are human bones. So for me bonfires are related to some sort of human sacrifice.

Then I remembered that all hollows had this spiral pattern in their chest, the Darksign. Considering that the Coiled Sword is always present in every bonfire my theory is this:

Bonfires are the place when some special humans (the keepers) were sacrificed using the Coiled Sword, in order to link humanity with the First Flame. The Darksign is a reminder, the scar left by the impalement of the Coiled Sword.

And yes, is a crazy theory XD

nah man the dark sign is a ring of fire keeping the dark in which was the first sin that gwyn cursed humans with

[Average Citizen (Not FBI)]

Originally posted by ZaidusRecon:

^[5] The Darkmoon Knightess, better known as the Lady of the Darkling, was first a human, or

This post is literally (not an asinine euphemism, but the literal meaning of 'literally,') the first time I've ever heard of the Darkmoon Knightess referred to as "Lady of the Darkling," much less "better known as," and I've been with Dark Souls since its PS3 launch.

Originally posted by The Koro:

About bonfires I always had this crazy theory:

If you look closely at the bonfires you will see that in the ashes there are human bones. So for me bonfires are related to some sort of human sacrifice.

Then I remembered that all hollows had this spiral pattern in their chest, the Darksign. Considering that the Coiled Sword is always present in every bonfire my theory is this:

Bonfires are the place when some special humans (the keepers) were sacrificed using the Coiled Sword, in order to link humanity with the First Flame. The Darksign is a reminder, the scar left by the impalement of the Coiled Sword.

And yes, is a crazy theory XD

You haven't been paying attention, have you? The basis for every bonfire is the bones of those afflicted with the Undead curse, it's very blatantly spelled out in Dark Souls 3's item description for Undead Bone Shards. It's also been established through various media that Dark Souls 3 was going to have a "place your own bonfire" mechanic, involving shoving a Coiled Sword violently into an Undead's body, that was axed relatively late in development, which is why we have a bonfire for every boss even if there's a Grand Archives bonfire a short jaunt away from the Dragonslayer Armor bonfire.

Ignoring the mechanics, there's no lore connection between humanity and bonfires; in terms of Kindling, it's a game design choice, not a narrative one. To Kindle in Dark Souls is to sacrifice a "rare" commodity (Humanity,) but in subsequent games the concept of humanity is divorced from the bonfires entirely.

[N.Wiseman]

Eh... the firekeepers draw humanity into their bodies/souls, god knows where from. You can burn humanity to reinforce a bonfire. It isn't too much of a stretch to think that bonfires replenish estus/restore undead specifically by burning humanity.

It seems likely that the bonfires are sustained/boosted by burning one of three things:

Humanity offered by undead.
Humanity from the firekeeper.
Remaining humanity from what are most likely the bones of the last firekeeper - Unkindled bonfires.

---> If this is the case, then bonfires go out when their keepers die because the firekeeper no longer sustains them, and the remnants of the firekeeper skeleton are no longer capable of sustaining the bonfire (hence the need for a firekeeper). This doesn't make a lot of sense though, I'd suspect it's for gameplay/roleplay reasons: an incentive not to kill firekeepers.

This isn't much use, I admit. I also wonder if it's significant that you "offer" humanity: the darkness opposed to Gwyn's light, in a ritual that both purges you of it, sustains the bonfire network and ultimately the age of fire, and mimics Gwyn's sacrifice. Because "offer" isn't "give": it's either giving someone the choice of something when you aren't sure they'll take it, OR it's giving something to a being you greatly respect/are insignificant before, a more humble "give". So maybe there's something about the gods there, a topic I know little of.