What exactly does lighting a bonfire in Dark Souls 1 do?

I mean it changes how the bonfire looks, but what does it do as a game mechanics? For example, in DS3 you respawn at the bonfire you've lighted, but this is not the case in DS1 - you need to rest at it first. I believe you can't warp to a lighted-but-not-rested-at bonfire neither (or can you?).
There must be some reason developers added this action to the game.

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2 Answers

Just lighting a bonfire in Dark Souls 1 does absolutely nothing gameplay-wise (except grant you an achievement if you don't have it already). You have to rest at a bonfire in order to respawn there or warp to it (if it is warpable).

In Dark Souls 2, lighting a bonfire means you can now warp there.

For Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 2, lighting a bonfire is a separate action than resting at it because you cannot rest when there are phantoms in your world.

The mechanics for Dark Souls 1 is unknown, but for Dark Souls 2, there are plenty of times where I invite White Phantoms to explore a difficult area. I light all the bonfires along the way, and then warp back to them once they leave or I die.

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