Every once in a while I think back about how much of what sounds like Dark Souls most unique, mysterious, and imaginative-sounding lore comes from a translation error:
Somebody misread
็ถใ (to inherit; to take over; to feed [a fire])
as
็นใ (to link; to connect)
And we got Firelink shrine, Lord Gwyn's linking of the flame, and so forth...
And the exact method to completing your quest to link the fires anew came as a late to endgame twist for English speaking players, rather than being telegraphed from very start.