Dark Souls is an allegory for depression and life as a whole. Giving up is the true death. but the game is also deeply Nietzschean. It offers neither external salvation nor moral certainty there are no guarantees of redemption simply a harsh world that just IS. Meaning is not imposed upon you, you must create it through endurance and perseverance. Suffering is not merely an impediment. Itt is an integral part of the process. Every death, every return to the bonfire, echoes the same struggle again and again, asking if you can keep going. To go Hollow is to give in to nothingness, to keep going is an act of will, a quiet claim of strength even when hope feels absent. Power does not come from being pure or destined, it comes from learning, from facing fear, from choosing life even when it is cruel and indifferent However, it is also chockfull of Christian iconography in a way that deliberately clashes with its Nietzschean core. The world is in a endless cycle of fire and rot, as if it is a fallen world beset with sin. Sacrifice is ubiquitous. Gods immolate themselves to extend the age of existence, martyrs are sacrificed so that others may live on, and you perpetuallly offer yourself in ways that are almost penances. Burning bonfires are resurrections, but they are not gifts they are earned through suffering. Even in a world as hard as this one, it is not all darkness. Summoning allies to aid you, leaving messages, and sharing stories through the echoes in the world are all reminders that you are not alone and others perservere and have hope just like you There is no strict political side here, its a lesson about a experience every single person on earth has or will experience at one point or another. Trying to put your own politics into the equation is not only disrespectful to the source material but also really fucking stupid