Where do sunlight medals go?

So I was feeding a zillion medals to the Altar of Sunlight, and started wondering where the things were actually going. Near as I can tell, for each other covenant where you have to offer an item for ranking purposes, you offer the item to a discrete being. Eyes of Death go to Nito, humanity goes to Kaathe or Daughter of Chaos, SOV to Gwyndolin, etc. But with sunlight medals you appear to be offering them to either the broken statue or the Sun itself overhead (depending on your point in the playthrough Solaire may be standing nearby, but you're not offering them to him), at which point something accepts them and they disappear. What is the lore explanation for this?

befowler wrote:So I was feeding a zillion medals to the Altar of Sunlight, and started wondering where the things were actually going. Near as I can tell, for each other covenant where you have to offer an item for ranking purposes, you offer the item to a discrete being. Eyes of Death go to Nito, humanity goes to Kaathe or Daughter of Chaos, SOV to Gwyndolin, etc. But with sunlight medals you appear to be offering them to either the broken statue or the Sun itself overhead (depending on your point in the playthrough Solaire may be standing nearby, but you're not offering them to him), at which point something accepts them and they disappear. What is the lore explanation for this?

Some of us Forum-ites were talking about lore stuff on Skype last night, and we eventually debated the idea that perhaps the CHARACTER is the God of War and using the statue lets you sort of "bleed over" memories from before they were wiped. This would probably have the medals acting as a sort of "bridge" to the sealed/erased memories.

This theory is also supported by the notable mention that, unlike the other covenants, there is nobody at the shrine to TEACH you the miracles.

Or...You're leaving medals upon the statue of the god of war, a practice done to old gods and heroes who have passed or are not around, as tribute. Think of it like putting flowers on a grave.

Tolvo beat me to it. The sun's brightness in that particular location seems to suggest it's a favored spot for this god/covenant. As for how you can learn from a statue? A lot of gifts to mortals are just left at opportune times and in convenient locations for the correct person to find it. Another explanation is simple affinity. The sun magic is all miracle based. That's important to note because they require faith. Increase your affinity (a seemingly invisible notion until the next rank is achieved) and your faith in the covenant is increased. With greater faith comes greater knowledge of the workings. Also in this case the use of lightning bolts as part of the nature of the gods is well known (just watch the intro) meaning that you should be aware that the strongest of the sun can throw them and all you need is more faith. This is contrasted to say, Darkmoon Blade or the Princess Guard ones which seem to have active magic licensing their use. Leave the covenant and you haven't unlearned the miracle, you just lost your license to use it.

But you're not actually leaving them there, you hold them up in the air towards the sun and they vanish. That's what I meant about the other covenants, in those you can safely presume that Nito or Gywndolin etc is actually taking the item from you in some fashion because you are giving something directly to them. What it makes me think is that the old God of War or some other deity is still accepting them somehow (and perhaps also doling them out in the first place, if you're getting them from coop out of thin air). Similarly, you are bowing when you do this, which seems to only be something you do when dealing with a deity or equivalent -- when giving stuff to the Daughter of Chaos or Kaathe you just stand there, but when dealing with Nito or Gwyndolin you bow/kneel.

Tolvo wrote:Or...You're leaving medals upon the statue of the god of war, a practice done to old gods and heroes who have passed or are not around, as tribute. Think of it like putting flowers on a grave.

I agree with this, but there should be medal-like objects on the ground. I guess fromsoftware forgot that detail.

It says they're "faintly warm." Perhaps they're made of sunlight and vanish to join the rest of the light.

The Sun is fading. There is evidence to suggest that the sun in Lordran that we see is already just an illusion or a magical conjuration. If the sun is just an illusion and Lordran has truly fallen into endless night (like the intro says), how could the medals be comprised of solid sunlight?



Also, doesn't Kaathe say something about Gwyn wiping our character's memory? Strikes me as evidence to my "You are the God of War" theory. Perhaps the medals are only warm to us, because they are a part of our essence from our past life.

I don't see evidence of a fading sun or illusory one outside of anor londo. If it was all illusory then killing chesty larue would get rid of all sunlight not just in londo. Or the alternative is multiple fake suns. Even tog shows evidence of sunlight.

Additionally, who said the medals were made during the current age? Maybe they were made in the sun's heyday. Additionally also, there's obviously still some sun, see above, and we don't know how much it takes to make a medal.

Finally, that was just a thought I had. I don't have any evidence for it. I won't address the God of War stuff since there's a thread or twelve to that already, including one specifically for the points you raised I think. Although I could definitely buy that I was the God of War. I mean, look at me. Total God material....