you ever think about just how bad the world has gotten? And I'm not just talking about le western civilization has fallen. Globally things just seem to be getting worse for all of humanity, and the planet as a whole. (in your country of course.)

There is no story to fully resolve.
There are only incomplete fragments of stories they attempted to fit together but ran out of time trying to resolve.

It's okay to accept this.
All the stupid little details you've been tracing.
They go nowhere.
Nothing makes sense at the end of those threads.
Nothing is supported and nothing fully fits everything together.
You are getting lost in headcanon.

The story is incomplete, and they hide that behind fragmented atmospheric storytelling.

I'm not saying they've never succeeded at this.
Obviously Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne have real narratives and the little hints and mysteries pay off, and provide implicit resolution and interpretation of world events.

This does not apply to Dark Souls 2 or 3 or Elden Ring.
These are incomplete games with incomplete stories.
Finishing the games was more important than fully resolving whatever stories they wanted to fit in.
They needed to finish the games and make money.
They took what stories they had to support the levels and content they had and tacked them on.
They are held together with a glue of ambiguity and curiousity, but there is no substance there.
There is no secret to find out, and their never was, because they are incomplete.

You are chasing ghosts.
Please learn to see the difference between the positive and negative assertion here.
It does sometimes work and they create a great complete story.
It does sometimes not work and they just slap things together.

Anyone know where I can torrent Hammer and Bolter episodes 14-16? All my usual sources only have up to and including 13