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Thoughts on Lothric being beheaded in his cinders icon?

thank you for activating my autism trap card. this post will meander a little because unsurprisingly this one detail is upholding like half of lothric's character and there's a lot of different things to talk about here lol.

the tl;dr is like decapitation is symbolic of the sacrifice of giving yourself over to your duty. implicitly it's a depiction of the abandonment of your autonomy and will (by way of discarding your body), and therein your submission. the cinders in general all use this imagery in part because the unkindled conquers them and thereby forces them to return to their duty through this restraint of death.

but with regards to lothric specifically, not only are his cinders unique, but the decapitation is also a fundamental part of his character and role in the world. it is both making a deeper point about the "firelinking curse" that prince lothric is discussing, and also that lothric kingdom controls the ceremony and "culture" of modern firelinking... and lothric kingdom fixates on this iconography. specifically you see this a lot with the knights, which is really important to contextualize lothric and his relationship with the fire and his own kingship, and the nature of how lorian's fealty towards lothric manifests (...which itself is stressing the nature of lothric's kingship lol. jsyk it is a Herculean task to force myself not to segue about lorian on this post.)

emma is especially fun here: sat in front of the beheading knight and as a symbol of lothric's faith, she's reminding you of your duty to seek the lords and return them to their thrones.

the knights are the enforcers of lothric's faith, so-called paladins, and symbolic of the very kingdom itself. they're the masters and tamers of the wyverns, and the method of which lothric used to conquer the surrounding countries to establish the supremacy of its kings — the means by which it emphasizes its position as the new royalty that supplanted the old gods. and the knights are the ones who die beheaded, who fight to the very last to protect all of this when civil war falls upon the kingdom.

ultimately, the knights sacrifice themselves as tools to be used for the sake of the health and vitality of the kingdom... and this is the motif repeated with the lords, the unkindled, the kings, and even the firekeepers.

anyways, the thing with lothric specifically is that he's also crowned in his death:

so the beheading is explicitly contextualized here in the sense that taking his cinders is also to be a kind of coronation for him (something reinforced by his throne, but also his items generally) — not only is he being forced to submit himself to the duty of the flame, but also by ascending to kingship he's submitting himself to the stewardship and attentions of his people.

his cinders conflating these two things is really important (and i think why his cut dialogue talks about how he doesn't want to be king because kings are ill-fated, but that's another post for irrelevant content) because it emphasizes the metaphorical, spiritual nature of being king and how you are called to shoulder the burdens and souls of your people - why lothric is raised in the priesthood as a figurehead of the faith, why he's given the name of his bloodline and kingdom, why he was intended to be a holy champion with a blessed sword.

but it's also simply because being king is identical to being a lord of cinder. when linking the fire, you're taking on the burdens of being lord. it's not a plot hole like some say, there's no "lorian will inherit after lothric's death": lothric is expected to shepherd his kingdom through the holy act of his death and his rekindling of the world's life.

and it goes all the way down to his afflictions that disable him, because these too are things that signal the restriction of his autonomy, that enforces his bondage to the duty that he was born for. all of his items and even lothric himself drums on about him being a cursed thing for this reason, because lothric himself identifies his duty with his curse, and thereby recognizes the same affliction in the unkindled and the others bound to the flame just as he is.

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🥀🪷🪻

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Lothric knight statue by Elliott Wells

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*slaps abyss watcher* this bad boy can fit so many swords in it

(spams roll

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shoutout to this gwyndolin statue for just being Fucking Stunning. i mean holy fuck. craving eyes very clearly understood the message because dear god they captured the beauty and power in this character 100% perfectly.

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New icon and banner to match my previous miquella ones!!

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new icon and banner for other socials, miquella's lily and the golden epitaph :3

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Lothric drawin since its been awhile

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wyverns, cute when theyre babies and still kinda cute when theyre not breathing fire and causing property damage

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Ten reps of thank you bounces to the people responsible for the cinematics in Vaati’s Poison of Thiollier video (cropped this a gorillion times cuz quality always poops its whole diaper on the apps I post from and I’m not smart enough to fix that)

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Fallen God / Rising Angel

he has 'baby raccoon in a live trap' energy

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those united in common cause prints ✦ patreon ✦ more about my OCs here

It was never Kindly Miquella, was it? The Erdtree was leading you all along. So that you might ascend to lordship.

I really like the fight with Leda and other Miquella followers. The music, the dialogue...it feels so tragic, that it has ended this way; but it was unavoidable. It reminded me a bit of the Moon Presence boss fight in Bloodborne - because once again, it feels like we are the main boss here. We are the greater evil for these characters.

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a confrontation between miquella and messmer in the shadow keep throne room