Bonfires are portals into time?

Today, before fighting the gaping dragon, i noticed something interesting. The torches on the walls act like normal fire, but the bonfire's fire looks as if it was in slow motion. Not like how a flame should act. Are they portals, or the 'convolution effect' that Solaire mentions?

EarthScraper wrote:Today, before fighting the gaping dragon, i noticed something interesting. The torches on the walls act like normal fire, but the bonfire's fire looks as if it was in slow motion. Not like how a flame should act. Are they portals, or the 'convolution effect' that Solaire mentions?

I've always wondered why bonfires are slower. I've never really thought about it, but I'm pretty sure bonfires are special kinds of fires. They are the fires effected by Humanity and the Dark Sign. Humanity is a part of the Dark Soul, and, the darker an object gets, the more corrupt and distorted it gets. The bonfires are fed with humanity, corrupting them. In other words, the more a bonfire is fueled, the more corrupt it gets. A fully corrupt bonfire may be a frozen fire. Just my thoughts.

You can also see phantoms in other worlds around the bonfires, so timeportals might not be too far off.
I also think the darksign is related to this. I used to think the darksign was a mark/scar on your body, but I have noticed that the visual effect of the darksign (icon) appears around your body/spawn location when you are summoned or invade another world. I haven't put too much thought into this, but my theory is that when you use a spoapstone or an orb you actually die before you warp to another world/time, where you are revived upon arriving. So soapstones and orbs are just tools to manipulate the darksign to connect to a bonfire in another dimension.

I disagree, a Bonfire does not "distort" humanity, it's more like charcoal, it just makes that fire's connection to the First Flame stronger, which is also probably why Bonfires burn slower, they aren't actual fires but manifestations of the First Flame within the physical dimensions.

Bonfires, in my opinion are, spacial distortions in their own right, used to connect outside areas to Lordran allowing faster access to foreign lands to those who can manipulate the Flames (i.e. Lordvessel warp).

Chaos fire isn't normal either, that doesn't mean anything

In a game where the objects are obscure and forces the player to make their own connections meaning is everything.

Well, various online items mention that the passage of time is distorted in Lordran, and summoning signs, at least in my opinion, look somewhat similar to the flames of bonfires in game, so I think bonfires very well could have some connection with the passage of time. Consider also that resting at a bonfire resets certain things and not others. (IE regular enemies instantly return to their positions, but items do not respawn and many NPCs, if aggressive, do not reset as well.)

Personally, I think the game suggests that summon signs and bonfires are actually present at every point in the past and future of Lordran simultaneously. At least, that's how I interpret it.

Well the way I see it Manus has the largest collection of humanity in the game and with that he can open up a portal hundreds of years into the future and pull someone back through it.

Maybe the bonfires, fueled by humanity, reset time back to when you first arrived but keep you locked in place? Enemies respawn because they were never killed but items disappear because they are now with you. NPC's move through time because they are in their own timestream but can cross into yours. Lautrec and Solaire appear as if human and within your world yet still need to be summoned (and therefore summoned into your world implying they are from another one) to help you. Hence Logan can get into Sens and appear as if he is within your world without the gate opening for you because in his timestream/universe/whateveryouwantocallit he has opened it and is progressing through his own world. Also you have to be human (have used humanity) to pull people from their world by summoning them and similarly you must be human to force yourself into their world for an invasion.

Yeh I know it's a game mechanic and this theory has holes but I can't see how else they work .If nothing else humanity and undeath seems linked to the distortion of time within Lordran. I probably need to think it through a bit more first...

It seems as though they can link you to the different worlds of others because of the fact that you can see other players.

So yes, it could be that they are portals in to time or possibly into different worlds all together.

However, I find this to be much more of over-analysis. I think most of this is really just a gameplay feature.

CakeThiefPro wrote:Well the way I see it Manus has the largest collection of humanity in the game and with that he can open up a portal hundreds of years into the future and pull someone back through it.

Maybe the bonfires, fueled by humanity, reset time back to when you first arrived but keep you locked in place? Enemies respawn because they were never killed but items disappear because they are now with you. NPC's move through time because they are in their own timestream but can cross into yours. Lautrec and Solaire appear as if human and within your world yet still need to be summoned (and therefore summoned into your world implying they are from another one) to help you. Hence Logan can get into Sens and appear as if he is within your world without the gate opening for you because in his timestream/universe/whateveryouwantocallit he has opened it and is progressing through his own world. Also you have to be human (have used humanity) to pull people from their world by summoning them and similarly you must be human to force yourself into their world for an invasion.

Yeh I know it's a game mechanic and this theory has holes but I can't see how else they work .If nothing else humanity and undeath seems linked to the distortion of time within Lordran. I probably need to think it through a bit more first...

I've been also leaning towards a interpretation very similar to yours....but it's got it's kinks

Shhht, i thought Dark Souls was a fantasy game but they added mothafudgin science fiction up in there..... not a known fact but you are from the future and you were sent back in time to link the fire and prevent the Dark Lord from his goal, oh and you're Gwyn's father.... Gwynevere is his daughter and mother... wait is that how the terminator loop theory goes hahahaha

EverlastingRat wrote:

CakeThiefPro wrote:Well the way I see it Manus has the largest collection of humanity in the game and with that he can open up a portal hundreds of years into the future and pull someone back through it.

Maybe the bonfires, fueled by humanity, reset time back to when you first arrived but keep you locked in place? Enemies respawn because they were never killed but items disappear because they are now with you. NPC's move through time because they are in their own timestream but can cross into yours. Lautrec and Solaire appear as if human and within your world yet still need to be summoned (and therefore summoned into your world implying they are from another one) to help you. Hence Logan can get into Sens and appear as if he is within your world without the gate opening for you because in his timestream/universe/whateveryouwantocallit he has opened it and is progressing through his own world. Also you have to be human (have used humanity) to pull people from their world by summoning them and similarly you must be human to force yourself into their world for an invasion.

Yeh I know it's a game mechanic and this theory has holes but I can't see how else they work .If nothing else humanity and undeath seems linked to the distortion of time within Lordran. I probably need to think it through a bit more first...

I've been also leaning towards a interpretation very similar to yours....but it's got it's kinks

Shhht, i thought Dark Souls was a fantasy game but they added mothafudgin science fiction up in there..... not a known fact but you are from the future and you were sent back in time to link the fire and prevent the Dark Lord from his goal, oh and you're Gwyn's father.... Gwynevere is his daughter and mother... wait is that how the terminator loop theory goes hahahaha

I really need to watch Terminator again,it's been too long

But yeh I love the time travel aspect of Dark Souls and hope it returns in DKII. Gwynevere being Gwyns mother, wife and daughter might explain the snakes below Gwyndolin... incest breeds creepy ****.

oh god, hahahaha that explains a lot, and here I thought Gwyn was having an affair :o