Undead Curse and the Dark Soul: I got it!

Theory at bottom, but read the evidence:

So I was watching ENB lore videos and the prepare to cry videos piecing the lore together again. I haven't played dark souls in a while and got back into recently so I wanted a refresher. Anyway, I have always loved ENB's theory on humanity being pieces of the dark souls and it being split up among humans. I truly believe this theory makes the most sense given what we know. However I could never figure out why the undead were created. There is so little evidence concerning the undead curse itself in the game save for a few items.


This has been the big missing detail in dark souls lore that has been neglected (to my knowledge). That is until it clicked for me today.

The key is in the darksign description:
"The Darksign signifies an accursed Undead. Those branded with it are reborn after death, but will one day lose their mind and go hollow.
Death triggers the Darksign, which returns its bearer to the last bonfire rested at, but at the cost of all humanity and souls."

The Darksign removes all humanity and souls upon its use, AND returns the undead to a bonfire. Only the undead possess the darksign. Undead use humanity to keep themeselves human and prevent themselves from going hollow. We know that humanity is also used to fuel the bonfires, the bonfires the gods wish to stay lit as it preserves what little power they have left.

This leads me to believe the undead curse functions as a means to fuel the bonfires. The darksign is a branded mark on the living, to indicate that they will become undead. Not everyone possesses the darksign, it is only branded on certain humans. It appears to be able to spread given the plague of the undead, but how it does so is unclear.

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My theory is that the gods created the curse of the undead to motivate humans to harvest humanity and in turn feed the bonfires. Think about it. The darksign delivers humanity to the bonfires with its use by an undead. The undead have every motivation to collect humanity.

Additionally, if humanity is indeed broken pieces of the dark soul
(4rth lord soul) itself, the undead curse serves a second purpose: getting rid of the dark soul. It would be the dark souls power as a lord soul that fuels the bonfire and I think it is safe to say the other lords feared its power. It is apparent that holding too much humanity can cause not only great power (evidence from Manus, humanity bonuses to player, etc.), but can corrupt its keepers (darkwraiths, life drain), horribly deforming them (darkmoon knightess firekeeper armor description).

On that note, this may be why the firekeepers are never allowed to see eachother. Too much humanity together in one area could cause problems....or give people ideas.

Thoughts?

We've (or at least, I've) talked before about the undead curse being a sort of "lifeline" the world has to try and hold on a bit longer, but in the wake of my new theory, I need to rethink the specifics of this specific part.

I don't believe that it is a ploy by the gods though. I will argue day and night that they aren't cruel enough (though others seem to think they are), but there is absolutely no evidence suggesting they would be ABLE to do such a thing. The one god we have to go on, Gwyndolin, though able to weave mighty illusions, does not seem strong enough to affect most of the world's humans with such a powerful curse.

Shkar wrote:We've (or at least, I've) talked before about the undead curse being a sort of "lifeline" the world has to try and hold on a bit longer, but in the wake of my new theory, I need to rethink the specifics of this specific part.

I don't believe that it is a ploy by the gods though. I will argue day and night that they aren't cruel enough (though others seem to think they are), but there is absolutely no evidence suggesting they would be ABLE to do such a thing. The one god we have to go on, Gwyndolin, though able to weave mighty illusions, does not seem strong enough to affect most of the world's humans with such a powerful curse.

The gods were able to destroy a race of immortal dragons, I think they have the power to enact any curse they can conceive theoretically. The purging stone makes note that humans are particularly vulnerable to curses as well. Also, I am not convinced that the gods were beyond cursing humans. They locked away all of their threats in the painted world and they is some evidence to suggest Havel may have been made into an undead (watchtower basement key, evidence for rebelling against the gods with occult club) as punishment. It all suggests the gods have the power and motivation to preserve their rule.

"The basement of the watchtower forms a stone cell. There are rumors of a hero turned Hollow who was locked away by a dear friend. For his own good, of course."

The Painted World is just that: a painting. We have no real way of knowing that the beings in there were actually placed in there, rather than being drawings come to life. In fact, since the doll was back in the Asylum, it seems unlikely to me that they were placed in there. The only person we KNOW who entered was Jeremiah, and he comes from a parallel reality.

Killing dragons is a far cry from cursing (most of) an entire race to eternal un-life. That seems insanely difficult, and the character who has the most potential to do so, Nito, would have no reason too: in order to link the flame, he has to be killed. It also doesn't help that the undead curse isn't an actual "curse," otherwise the purging stone would work on it.

Sorry, I don't buy it. The most recent Undead curse is only a century or so old, so according to this theory the curse was created solely by Gwyndolin (the only god in AL at the time). I doubt he has the power or motivation.

We also know that New Londo, a great city of Undead, forsook the gods after Gwyn departed to Link the Flame the first time. If this city somehow fed the gods, they would have invested much more heavily in its defense.

It makes more sense that the natural cycle of the Dark Souls world consists of an Age of Ancients, followed by an Age of Fire, followed by an Age of Dark, followed by something else (likely the Age of Ancients again). The Undead Curse is a symptom of this natural cycle.