read this during intro to game It lined up so the narrator said " soon the flames will fade and only darkness will remain" And the text : and the flames did fade , and only darkness remained. . . I feel like I'm going back to church xD

Please disband your simpleton theories that insist on the furtive pygmy being a single individual. Please recall that the introduction to DS1 shows MULTIPLE figures approaching the dark soul, reinforced by the multiple pygmies found in DS3. The western mode of thought that emphasizes the individual has caught all of you in this misunderstanding, not realizing that "forgetting" the pygmy functions as such due to their very nonexistence in a singular sense. Miyazaki's demonstration of Daoism is clear in this story point as the flow of the humanity from the dark soul is one that is simultaneously united and multiple, "shattering" in the sense that Manus may be the pygmy at the same time that those in the Ringed City are, and that the Chosen undead is. Also, Gwyn does not begin the age of flame to save humanity as someone has suggested, but rather to save HIS race of gods from humanity who are manifesting from this source (plural).

I’m curious to why Dark Stalker Kaath wanted Manus resurrected. Perhaps the Abyss was critical to starting the age of dark?

Manus is the furtive pygmy, just like the chosen undead is, so not originally like someone implied. He's refered to as being a primordial man, maybe the first of our kind, like the people Gael is slaying/consuming before he asks for your dark soul, and the guy who's crawling on the sand before the fight. But anyway, there's really nothing solid to back this Manus pygmy theory up. I'm pretty sure both of these things i first mentioned are hinted at, in-game and on the title. Like, for instance, the foreshadowing of Manus's appearance/power in the form of how we first discover humanity being used as a weapon and the corrupted citizens. Someone also made the argument that you get as much souls from him as with the rest of the bosses (with lord souls)... Well that's the point isn't it? Manus is just a living representation of how powerful and corrupting humanity and the Dark Soul is and can be, how influential and important we are, in my opinion. And i mean 'powerful' literally and as in passionate too. That's also foreshadowing the Dark Lord ending, when the player is given the choice to either link the flame or bring about the age of darkness in selflishness and/or lust for power. Solaire's journey represents the search for meaning and how everyone's giving up, Oscar's death how some are willing to die to keep that tiny glimpse of hope alive, and the Chosen Undead's story how being alive isn't what really matters, but rather changing the world. I think people want to attribute that title to him (Manus) because they want to feel a sense of pride and acomplishment, similar to the Artorias being left handed situation, except a bit less subtle, honestly. Manus is, or at least was, just like the player, clinging onto hope, looking for something to believe in, because that's what keeps us sane. Manus wants the pendant because deep down he wants his hope back, what distinguished him from everyone else. To be blunt, i believe he represents depression. Dragging you with him when you get his broken pendant. That's what the pendant gift is, a physical manifestation of our spirit. We need it to remind ourselves we always have had something worth fighting for. Ourselves, and each other. That's why Solaire left a summon before Lord Gwyn's fight, after you indirectly save him, he found his sun.

I'd like to believe Patches is the son of Velka and brother of Manus... they all together took the dark soul and shared it. Each with an intention. One to punish the gods. One to save the humans and one to turn everything into the abyss.

The one thing that we have to remember is that, while the furtive pygmy found the lord soul, when your character comes around the Four Kings are holding the Lord Soul.

I am the Furtive Pygmy

The furtive pygmy could be plural, like you could say "the feeble human" and refer to any/all humans.

If kaath sides whith the pygmy then why did he get oolacile to torture tf out of him. That makes as much sense as frampt convincing everyone to dig up and torture gwyn???

Gosh this is a mess