Just a question about the age of fire

[BIG man Ski_LMOA]

So ive been playing dark souls 3 on a different account but ive been wondering.
If i link the flame will all the hollows go back to being human? if so then why is it that when you link the flame (take lothric soldiers for example) the enemies still remain hollow and still attack you. I thought linking the flame would make everyone turn back into normal humans. Unless the souls you gather from all the hollows and bosses just arn't enough to make the age of fire continue. Just wondering about this as ive tried to look this up and found no answers.

[Pät Mc Garry]

Originally posted by Ski:

So ive been playing dark souls 3 on a different account but ive been wondering.
If i link the flame will all the hollows go back to being human? if so then why is it that when you link the flame (take lothric soldiers for example) the enemies still remain hollow and still attack you. I thoguht linkiNg the flame would make everyone turn back into normal humans. Unless the souls you gather from all othe hollows and bosses just arn't enough to make the age of fire continue. Just wondering about this as ive tried to look this up and found no answers.

If all the ennemies became human, why would you keep playing the game ?

[Fasces (No longer in use)]

Someone hasn't been watching their VaatiVidya.

[Pät Mc Garry]

Originally posted by Mac Tonight:

Someone hasn't been watching their VaatiVidya.

It would appear so.

[Sabaithal]

You can chalk all the enemies not changing down to a gameplay thing. If this were to follow the story to the letter, you wouldn't be able to play after linking the fire at all, you would go right into NG+.

As far as linking the flame goes: In past cycles linking the flame would redistribute all the souls you have collected throughout the known world. See, the problem was eventually really powerful beings would end up hoarding all the souls, and all the weaker and more numerous beings wouldn't have much of anything (you could interpret this as a metaphor for the free market). Then the world would stagnate because light souls more or less = life. Thats why you have to kill all of them and return to the flame so that the world doesn't stagnate and die. Thats how it was in the previous cycles.

In Ds3 however, it is strongly implied that linking the flame did not work. There are consequences to prolonging the inevitable, the dreg heap being the manifestation of that. Buildings from all different eras, and kingdoms, warped into the same space, and clearly it did not work out. There is nothing alive here anymore save the dregs. If the flame were to be linked again, you would just be adding to this pile. That's if it was linked at all. When you attempt to do so it sets your body alight and then just...nothing. No explosion, no distribution, no reaction whatsoever. Maybe the flame is too worn down from all the cycles that it can no longer be linked?

[BIG man Ski_LMOA]

ah right i see cheers

[Psicraft]

The flame can't be linked anymore, there's not enough fuel to burn. That's the whole tradegy of Dark Souls, all good things must come to an end.

But it's too late for those hollows. They're not hollow because the flame is going out, they're hollow because they've lost their humanity. I'd say more but I haven't finished the Ringed City DLC.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Psicraft:

The flame can't be linked anymore, there's not enough fuel to burn. That's the whole tradegy of Dark Souls, all good things must come to an end.

But it's too late for those hollows. They're not hollow because the flame is going out, they're hollow because they've lost their humanity. I'd say more but I haven't finished the Ringed City DLC.

I always interpreted humanity as being the actual dark souls, not the light ones. Still, you can possess souls and still not have them be a part of you (See Ds1 liquid humanity). They're hollow because they lost their light souls, light also being symbolic of reasoning and logic to some degree, whereas dark is symbolic of emotion and instinct.

It seems that DS3 also implies that any 'humanoid' being (as human means something entirely different), has an endless well of darkness sprouting from within (which the darksign blocks).

[Psicraft]

Humanity / emotions and memories / fragments of the dark soul, all the same thing.
It is speculated that the darksign is a curse from the gods to counter the unique property of the dark soul, that it could be at least partially restored to its former strength after splitting it into many different forms.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Psicraft:

Humanity / emotions and memories / fragments of the dark soul, all the same thing.
It is speculated that the darksign is a curse from the gods to counter the unique property of the dark soul, that it could be at least partially restored to its former strength after splitting it into many different forms.

From what I could tell with the whole ringed city bit, the darksign is a curse placed probably by gwyn, upon the primary dark soul a long time ago, and consequently all who possess fragments of it (humanity). The curse manifests as a ring of fire, keeping the darkness contained within no matter what happens. The lords did this for fear of the dark spreading (have you fought the pus of men? There are videos of them taking down bosses). People being unable to die as a result was an unintended side effect. The darksign persists after death, and the darksign itself is made of light (or fire, same thing in this case), so life persists even after one should have died.