Who rings the bells of awakening in DS3?

[Mr.Fluffins]

Whatever I am about to write is based on my understanding of the lore which is by no means complete, so feel free to correct me.
When you enter the untended graves, I assume you end up in the past, since the handmaid is surprised to see you there, even though the bells were not rang (shrine handmaid even has a different dialog with you if you talk to her for the first time after you have spoken to her in untended graves). Handmaid notices that fire fades, so it means that the flame is already dying.
I see no reason for the bells to ring magically by themselves or because of the first flame powers, since the world itself should not be concerned with this - flame is dying, darkness is coming, all is as it should be. Yet the bells ring, and a bunch of people (you and lords of cinder included) get ressurected or awoken, in the last ditch attempt to prolong the age of light. In the first game, it took someone to ring the bells, further showing that they don't do it by themselves.
So who rings the bells of awakening?

[EASY PETE]

I did

[lpnlizard27]

From what i gather Ludelith kindled the flame just barley with his meger soul enough to rouse other lords to their duty (to rekindle fully), but they failed to return and so then the ash was called unpon to gather the lords.

[Mr.Fluffins]

I was under the impression that he was the only lord who willingly returned. The trailer also specifically mentiones the bell (which I guess can only be the bell of awakening, even though there were two) that rises Lords of Cinder. So question remains.

[♡ Floppy Sockies ♡]

Maybe sh*t happens and the there was a strong wind that pushed the bell

[fantastictuna]

Originally posted by lpnlizard27:

From what i gather Ludelith kindled the flame just barley with his meger soul enough to rouse other lords to their duty (to rekindle fully), but they failed to return and so then the ash was called unpon to gather the lords.

so kindling the flame is ringing the bell?

[Baby don't hurt me]

Originally posted by Mr.Fluffins:

I was under the impression that he was the only lord who willingly returned. The trailer also specifically mentiones the bell (which I guess can only be the bell of awakening, even though there were two) that rises Lords of Cinder. So question remains.

♥♥♥♥♥ ain't got no legs

[gackie]

The previous firekeeper. Watch the intro cinematic. The current firekeeper is very new. You can find the old one dead under the bell she rang.

[lpnlizard27]

Originally posted by General Adebowale Babangida:

Originally posted by lpnlizard27:

From what i gather Ludelith kindled the flame just barley with his meger soul enough to rouse other lords to their duty (to rekindle fully), but they failed to return and so then the ash was called unpon to gather the lords.

so kindling the flame is ringing the bell?

Not exactly, he tried to link the fire but did not posses a grand enough soul for the task, but he was able to somewhat halfway link the flame, and so the fire itself with the strength ludlith had given up was to awaken a proper lord to restore the fire, like they had in their past. But the lords that were awakened choose not to restore the flame and went elsewhere, so then with the fire in danger of going out entirely "Ash" was then called upon to restore the link.

[Myrmuz [IRL]]

The Soul of Cinder is in the intro, dragging somebody's body. Could have been him.
Dunno who the body is, could be Friede. If Friede tried to Usurp the Fire and failed, perhaps Soul of Cinder resurrected the Lords to link the fire instead.

[gackie]

Originally posted by Myrmuz IRL:

The Soul of Cinder is in the intro, dragging somebody's body. Could have been him.
Dunno who the body is, could be Friede. If Friede tried to Usurp the Fire and failed, perhaps Soul of Cinder resurrected the Lords to link the fire instead.

That's you.

[Myrmuz [IRL]]

There's no indication that it's the player character.

[seriath]

I have my reasons for this, but I think it was one of the pilgrims we see around the game (so not any "specific" character, which is why its never mentioned), and that they ring it in the "future" we see during the gael fight (watch the opening cinematic again carefully and pay attention to the areas everyone is in, the pilgrims in an ash covered wasteland with nothing but a castle in the background, the lords nowhere near their boss areas and seemingly in the same ash covered wasteland, the firekeeper in what appears to be the crumbling shrine we go to before the kiln and remember she knows what will happen if we dont link the fire because shes presumably seen it already), in some attempt to avert that ending of the world in an ash covered waste land, the pilgrims go and ring the bells and we get sent back to a time when we could have changed things <- we need to powerup on souls to be able to relink the fire, but there aint jack left out there, so we can't exactly power up then, but if we were in the past when lots of things were still alive to suck the souls out of? Well that would work, right?

So where is everywhere in the game in relation to each other? Well, obviously the base games main world is all connected directly, you can run from high wall to anywhere else, including UG, with no funky timewarps like we got with the trip to the abyss-y area in DS1 DLC. Meanwhile CoA/FLS are in the somewhat future or rather maybe outside of time in a way, but its all "after" the rest of the world because of the handmaiden dialogue. So how did this happen? I think Ludelth was probably the sacrifice that allowed that to happen so we could be risen and given time eventually, but I also don't think he came back willingly and was dragged back (end of the opening cinematic) and forced to play as a lord again.

So, as we progress through the game we're basically in the past, until we get ready to go to the kiln, at which point we go into the future we see of the ash covered wasteland. If we branch off to the dreg heap we're just exploring this "end of the world" type area (same ringed sun in the sky as kiln), we hit up RC which is... not exactly an illusion or "the past" exactly, we dont break the illusion when we touch the egg like we do when we kill the mammory monster in ds1 because there is no exact illusion, but we also don't "travel into the future" any further than we already are during the kiln fight or dreg heap I think. Instead, fillianore is actually protecting some kind of time-lock effect, holding RC at a specific point in time so it didnt degrade like everywhere else, the opening in the egg is likely a representation of how we got in in the first place, the RC was likely originally locked away completely but the effect has weakened and let the outside (the decayed world, just like that area of the egg) in to some extent.

Then we come along, break the egg, the timelock spell breaks, and RC is brought up to speed with the rest of the world, the same world we see at the heap and the kiln. We fight gael, we take the blood and allow the painting to be made, but this only allows a "new" world to be made for humanity, it doesnt do anything to save whatever is left of the normal world. So, the pilgrims, what is left of life in the world, set out to restore it using the bells... and thats where the game... uh.. begins? ends?... I'm not sure.

Basically there are two distinct time periods we're in during the game (the past, as the fire is fading to start with because the prince refuses his job, this is the main game area.. and the future we see of the world turning to ash we see at the heap, klin, and very end of RC), and two "time locked" or "outside of time" areas (CoA/FLS, and RC prior to touching the egg).

So yeah, thats my theory anyway. The pilgrims did it, in the future...

[Mr.Fluffins]

Originally posted by Hat Skeleton!:

The previous firekeeper. Watch the intro cinematic. The current firekeeper is very new. You can find the old one dead under the bell she rang.

This seems like the most plausible explanation, actually. I remember this now, and she definitely had the motivation to do it. Moreover, it's that firekeeper whose soul allows the new one to cure the darksign. Still, doesn't explain why only one bell was enough this time, even though there are two.
Regarding the body being carried away, isn't it Yuria of Londor carrying the remains of whoever was her follower? You find his ashes, Hollow's ashes, in the shrine, and they look like a hand that supposed Yuria in the intro carries away (possibly he was a failed Lord of Hollows).
For the time travel/time bending theories and parallel worlds, I really don't want to go in there, because if we start considering that as well, it makes everything too convoluted for my taste.
Anyway, thank you for the discussion people.