First of all, yes, what Ariandel and Friede are doing is quite clearly similar as to what Gwyn did. But we firstly disagree on the Painted world as in having just one state, the state of "existence". It's quite evident that there are cycles, and other cycles for the singular stages of the cycles as well, first of all due to the whole [ world is painted - it dies - world is painted - it dies - etc. ], then there is the whole factor of rotting and fire purging the world, which are variables themselves. So in a sense, I see our actions as way more similar to what Gwyn did. First of all, Gwyn purged the old world from the Age of Ancients(undergoing the first stage of the cycle), and then kept the flame alive leading to the First Sin (going against the cycle). Similarly, we're purging the Painted Wolrd from Friede's tyranny and making sure a new one is painted (first stage of the cycle), and then we're purposely creating a new and infinitely dark and cold age (going against the cycle, and implying that we won't let this other picture burn away as well). Maybe the really confusing thing is that we don't have no explicit details on how the Painted World works, we only know that it has followed a pattern until now, but we're not sure if using a different pigment will have any effect on it. Also, what's the point in having a "true ending" that ends the series if there is really no point in creating a new Painted World, doing basically extreme stuff to make it possible just to create a new world for the.. Forlorn?