What's the relationship between the ash champion and fire keeper?

[ifoolb]

This should be the last question I ask before I can finally grasp the main idea. I understand that the ash champion is supposed to link the flame when it's dying. And in order to do so he needs lords of cinder in their thrones, or at least their souls.


I read somewhere that Gundyr was also meant to be an ash champion but his fire keeper died before he awoke. This confused me a little, what role do the fire keeper and fire link shrine play? Why is it that there has to be a ashen one/fire keeper pair? Ashen one rised from ash, the fire keeper is a manifestation of humanity, as folk told me in one of my previous thread, though by in game info I think the fire keeper can be achieved by some sort of ritul as the women I rescued from undead settlement said she tried to be a fire keeper.

So I think there is nothing really special of a fire keeper. Speaking of Gundyr, it seems that he can totally handle himself without help of the fire keeper. Besides since he failed his mission, as if nothing went wrong, or am I just the following ashen one after Gundyr?