Lore (Everlasting Dragons) possible spoilers.

[Parabellum]

So if everything is a never ending cycle of darkness and fire/light as we have been thought ever since DkS 1 why doesnt the everlasting dragons return at one point ? Or the Grand trees ?
Isnt their age the absolute beginning ? (maybe where the age of dark starts off ? before the first flames start appearing again?) Every cycle has a beginning afterall.

(Also intrestingly Aldricht was involved in some age of deep sea/oceans ? huh ?)

All we get to see is tiny bits remaining from the age of the everlasting dragons throughtout the series wich have been completly demolished.
In DkS 2 we can enter a dragons memory and what we see ?
All giant trees destroyed (wich wasnt the case in DkS1 despites the war being over already) aswell as an ancient dragon (?) (wich arent everlasting dragons afaik)

What could had destroyed (all) the remaining trees if the gods and their huge power are gone ?

And in DkS 3 we actually get to see a real giant tree, wich however is broken/looks blasted off and weirdly enough the place gwyn burned himself and his knights (kiln of the first flame) ? wich looked way diffrent (stoney and molten) in DkS 1 O_o I mean it wasnt wooden at all.

And another thing, what the heck happened to the everlasting dragon from DkS 1 ? With Gwyn gone, only one being capable of peeling their stone scales of, nothing would off been capale to kill it,it remained immortal, also wth is that mountain sized dragon in Archdragon Peak Altar.
So much fan service and yet so few answer (for me atleast).

But anyway I am really missing the dragons and the giant trees they gave off a great atmosphere imo, not to mention cutting their tails for funky weapons.

[D K]

The destruction of the everlasting dragons occured before the cycle began, and one could argue that it contributed to the beginning of the cycle.

It's also worth noting that each world that has been created from the rebith of the world has been significantly different.

[Chipslight's kinda gay]

The Everlasting Dragon probably doesn't exist anymore because the Flame created life and death. The Everlasting Dragon were Everlasting because they existed before the creating of the Flame but as soon as it was created, a weakness appeared in their bodies, rendering them killable.

[Snerkus]

it's not a literal cycle

[Skiptro]

the cycle is between the kindling of the flame and the flame dying. The flame gets kindled, it start dying, it gets kindled again, it starts dying. That is the cycle of lords.

the dragons we see are either corrupted descendants or nerfed descendants. Also some of them are experiments by seath and aldious and others to study a way to undo the curse or to create immortality for themselves.

[Parabellum]

Originally posted by Vinyl Scratch:

The destruction of the everlasting dragons occured before the cycle began, and one could argue that it contributed to the beginning of the cycle.

Infact the cycle first enabled the destruction of stone dragons because it created the gods, who been selfish dikes that wanted to rule alone and also feared the humans/fugtive pigmi etc. etc so basicaly the dark ending is the good one I always thought.

But the cycle began under the dragons, for no actual reason - just because thats how the flame plus its fading behaves.
I mean its said "Than from the dark they came and found the souls of lords within the flame" just so, like is referred to in DkS 3 by the handmaid in the untented graves sorta and Dark Ending by the firekeeper "But one day, tiny flames will dance across the darkness, like embers linked by lords past".
Just now there are no dragons or archtrees anymore wich I dont understand.

Originally posted by -D4C- λChipsLight:

a weakness appeared in their bodies, rendering them killable.

I dont think a weakness just so appeared, rather than gywn simply peeling of their stonescales, wich made them immortal - as is clearly stated in the DkS 1 intro: "Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight used his powerful bolts, peeling their stone scales" wich no other seems capable of, not even the choosen undead.
And thus the reason 1 everlasting dragons remains in the ash lake and cant be killed, nor even cares about you attacking or humbing him.

Its kinda epic imo and sucks it never returned but yeah maybe thats just my taste.
Still "imo" the "Age of Ancients" its THE beginning, where " the World was unformed and shrouded by fog, filled with grey crags and arch-trees, and that the immortal Dragons held dominion over land and sea. "

At one point or another the age of ancients would have had to return wouldnt it ? Considering tru how many hundreds of cycles of linking, not linking and ursupation and all the universe is been tru during the time of DkS 3. Imo its a design flaw (let alone because DkS 1 was the zenith) :P despites intented one.

Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpAqgIe05So
http://darksouls.wikia.com/wiki/Everlasting_Dragons

Ps: It might be intented to be like the singularity of our universe, it only happens once and than expands until the engery is used up (and than the cycle happens) - but just theory - I think I came to the same conclusion back in DkS 2 when wondering where my beloved dragons and drakes and archtrees gone to, aswell as cutting tails (bad fan service). :P But yeah the demons also seem to have pretty much died out for good lol with Izalith etc. gone.

[Parabellum]

Originally posted by GungZA:

the cycle is between the kindling of the flame and the flame dying. The flame gets kindled, it start dying, it gets kindled again, it starts dying. That is the cycle of lords.

Actually no.
The flame will fade eventually no matter what, if not linked.
It will also reappear on its own, no matter what.
"Thats the cycle."

The cycle doesnt need to have Lords of Cinder invovled just like DkS 2.
Its not a cycle of lords.. rather the lords have prolonged the age of fire unnaturaly ever since gwyn.

Thus making the dark ending the good ending imo, not to mention that its the "actual" duty of the chosen undead (whos ancestor might be the fugtive pigmi) to bring the age if dark, he just gets blinded during DkS 1 (and DkS 3?) I think in DkS 1 some curse/prediction from Gwyn was the reason why you get blinded, the dark stalker tells you the truth.
Not to mention that the dark age is the age of humans, the opposite of the age of flame/gods.