As the title says. I’ve been thinking about this. I’ll try and compare it to an apocalypse type scenario with more real world politics, obviously this could not happen irl but it’s just there for comparison.
First, the linking of the fire ending. You’re linking the fire and trying to continue the cycle. This is obviously not good because the age of fire is purely beneficial to the gods. Yes they build great cities and such but ultimately mankind is left to rot and suffer and the gods couldn’t care less about us, as evidenced by the twin princes refusing to help your cause or all the other gods fleeing lothric. This is basically like noticing capitalism in decline and trying to restart the system again, not a good idea. In any case you can’t even succeed at fully linking the fire, it’s incomplete. So you’re just delaying the problem for the next guy which is peak liberalism.
Second, the end of fire ending. In my opinion this ending is kind of the accelerationist ending. You have the idea that destroying the fire entirely will stop the cycle or cure the hollows or something. In reality though this just plunges the world into darkness, AND eventually the whole cycle will repeat and the age of fire will begin anew, restoring the gods to their full power. This is like letting society decay to primitivism then reintroducing capitalism, which is just bad. You shouldn’t do it. Same goes for killing the fire keeper which is the other ending inside this ending, you’re just cruel.
Now, the usurpation of fire ending. First, you have the group working within the system to take the power away from the gods. Sure, Kaathe probably has ulterior motives. But from what we know, this is a good ending. Basically it involves you usurping the fire and using it to better mankind in it’s true form, the hollow, much like the furtive Pygmy, who was the only god to split his part of the lord soul amongst humanity instead of using it to bolster his own power in the age of fire. So it’s like you’re destroying the system and bringing power to the hands of the people. Of course there’s the element of you being the new lord, but I like to think you aren’t exactly a god, more like a benevolent leader? Which isn’t the worst thing in the world and the people clearly want you as their leader to lead you into the new age of man, free from the gods. So yeah, this is the revolutionary ending and is therefore the only “good” ending amongst the others.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk