So what's the main symbol, well, symbolize this time around (ending spoilers)

[FolgersInYourCup]

I'm speaking of the symbol used for the marks of martyrdom. In the first game, the main icon symbolized the twisted one.

I was thinking it could be referencing the final form of the miracle in the "bad" ending. The Second Psalm. Seems to be evocative of the roots moving upward.

What do you all think?

[Lone Emissary]

With the new guilt system, after dying a few times and despite picking up the guilt fragment, the fervour bar eventually gets diminished by those thorns. It's only then that the end of the bar has the exact same Marks of Martyrdom symbol. So, I think the symbol represents the thorns that start enveloping the fervour of the Penitent One which symbolizes the heavy burden of the ever accumulating guilt. Thorns irl are heavily associated with suffering (of the Christ) and to extent with martyrdom and in the world of Blasphemous it's approximately the same.