Thank you for watching! What do you think about the ancient origins of Rauh? There was so much to be said about them that I had to cut this video down to only talk about the Night & Flame aspect. Edit (corrections): - 1:04 I misspelled original as oringal... just... goddammit brain. - 2:34 I have been informed it is pronounced GO-lem as in "go the opposite of stop" and I am so sorry if it drove you nuts. - 3:10 The Fire Spritestone does NOT use spirit calculus as one of its ingredients, my bad! - 12:38 I didn't mention Mirage Rise in Altus Plateau, which is not near water in modern times, but the path through the valley leading to the Shaded Castle seems like it may have once been a river which has since dried up.
That whole basin where the Mirage Tower is located looks as though it had been a lake at some point. The strange thing is when I tried to figure out where the lake water drained out and why... I discovered that the way the land is formed it looks like water must have flow in to that lake basin, not out of. As if that dried up river bed just to the west must have at some point overflown to the point that the water breached the eh.. land-wall? There's probably a geological term for that, but I'm no geologist... Anyway! It looks like that large river once flooded to the point it carved an entry into that basin where we find the Mirage Tower. And all that water has since drained or evaporated. Anyway! Point being, Mirage Tower may have been built right on the shore of a large lake as well as next to a large river as you pointed out.
Amazing video I had never made the connection to flowing water it makes their burial practices make so much more sense! What are your thoughts on the huge titan skeletons we see in the stone of the lands between (mostly caelid and the forge)? I had always thought they used the chains to move the forge around and pour out the molten rock to build the land we see around/over the Rauh structures but I’d love to hear your take? Also when do you think the Ancient dragons and the Twinbird became the dominant power in the lands between? I had always assumed it was after the forge/Rauh and now that you connected tibia mariner’s and the first death practice to Rauh I’m even more sure, but what do you think the timeline is there? I would love it if you did a whole video on Placidusax and the twinbird too! Or the finger ruins and shamans or hornsent and midra, love the videos In general !
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I was lucky enough to get algorithmed into your video after listening to someone make the connections of kagare with Elden Ring’s themes. Believe it was LastProtagonist. The flowing water and purification rituals got me thinking of Godwynn funnily enough. Death being concerned and all. It makes what the black knives did to him so much worse after considering the two videos. The Nuemen/Shaman are “pure.” No filth or uncleanliness in their being. Godwynn, Marika’s first non-cursed and pure child is finally born, lives up to his potential and is then marked by the kagare of a death so foul that it’s symbolized by a gaping centipede in his flesh. Ah! Now THAT’s punishment. I know it’s not Rauh but i’m not sure the idea would have hit me without both videos so thank you anyway. The ancient ruins were always a mystery to me in this game even after the DLC. Your video here is now the most cohesive view I’ve heard on them. Can’t wait for whatever topic you write about next.
They PET THEM?!?!?! *looks up video* THEY PET THEM!!!! That is so interesting that they experience emotions/consciousness. Wow. I LOVE it. Thank you for sharing this!!
For both! The little Lava Tears are like super heat-resistant Silver Tears and this shows they and their 'chillier cousins' also have sentience. I think lots of us probably suspected that, given the cut content for the Mimic Tear quest, but it's nice to have additional confirmation. ☺
You can tell Elden Ring is truly a step up in fromsoft games when people don't stop at just text in item descriptions but start analizing buildings and rock materials. Zullie the Witch, Tarnished Archeologist and hoping you, Nameless singer become the trifecta for enviromental analysis. Praises aside! The Carian royalty also uses a big pond, which reflects the moon, kind of like a giant mirror, making a new connection with water and the Rauh! Liurnia, a region of Carian possesion would need a lot of water control to perform several moon sorceries. And the lack of it is slowly flooding Liurnia!!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing 🙏😭Please do, this is so well put together Honestly, do you think the Rauh predate Marika's Golden Order? There's almost no visual connection to the erdtree in their style and the burials would not make sense in a world without destined death. It seems like the purpose of those burials was to avoid some sort of putrification of the spirit, like the Ancestor Spirit? What could be the connections between them and the Rauh, as it seems they fit all the elements present in their ruins like the usage of spirits, the many dams, the lilies and an obvious sky. I can't wait for that Nox video, so far not many lore specialists have explored it and it's culture!! Loving the vids!
@BonusDuckie there is also a theory involving colors as to why liurnia is sinking, the rot bellow mixes with the glintstone and water above, red and blue make purple, the color of gravity, and gravity sinks. (It's a poor retelling of another's discovery, so forgive me if it makes no sense)
Another thing I just remembered is that at night in Ruah, it's stunning. Just like the Carian Manor etc night skies. Right to a T. Beautiful. Iirc, no other area has these skies at night.
It was Master Hewg who identified Rodericka as a spirit tuner. Yet another connection between spirits and smithing. You're a genius for making this connection.
Fancy seeing you here! Congrats on reaching 100k subs, good for you. GREAT for you. Well deserved. You have done wonders for moving forward the acceptance of analyzing the architectural & visual evidence that is everywhere in this game. I am grateful, and I believe that the future success of this channel (assuming it is a success lol) will always owe a debt to you for paving the way in the ER UA-cam community. I just made the UA-cam channel! Or well I made it like two years ago but I finally started actually posting videos haha. I stopped posting on Reddit with plans to make vids, but I got delayed due to my IRL job and it was a whole thing. I've been told on multiple occasions that we should collaborate in the future, hmu on Reddit (or whatever) if you are interested. Though I feel I need to prove myself a bit more on UA-cam, we certainly share interests from the historical, archaeological, and environmental storytelling aspects.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I am sure we can find something to collaborate on. Actually we're almost finished with our own Rauh video, which has been cooking for a while (IRL jobs do get in the way, dont they?), though takes a different angle and is quite complementary to this one. We'll be sure to give you a shout out in it. Really looking forward to your future videos!
@@tarnishedarchaeologist Hell yeah!! Looking forward to watching the new one. My next vid was going to be the other Rauh angle, but I have some ideas what you will be covering so I will wait to see what you say and we can play off each other. Thank you for the shoutouts, they are a huge help and already people have recognized my name because you talked about me. You rock, my man. Which is obvious because you're an archaeologist, and rocks, y'know??
i'd like to add that the spirit in stone holes is further connected to the watchdogs by the blurb on the sword, saying 'Though decorated with the watchman's eye, the pupil was taken by graverobbers and is now hollow, leaving this sword a mere lump of stone.' meaning it's missing something that gave it power there
Yes agree. That watchmen's eye is VERY interesting to me. VERY interesting. If the thing in the center of the eye was a jewel or a glintstone, maybe that connects to the glintstone eyes of the sorcerer's stone crowns. Idk.
As someone who has been exploring and analyzing these ruins since forever, this video is absolutely incredible. Almost everything lines up exactly how I thought, plus even more. I always got the feeling that they were related to the Giants somehow, but the idea that they were the sister culture to them, and thus the predecessors to the Astrologers is a completely mind blowing idea that solves almost every issue. I firmly believe this is canon
UA-cam's recommendations algorithm is so weird. I have to click "not interested" on way too many videos, but this one I wouldn't have found on my own, which I'm grateful for. I'm eager to see more lore videos from you!
Yeah I had a video pop up in my recommended from 2 months ago that was about how the algorithm seems to have changed recently to promote smaller creators. As a new, small channel, I am very grateful for this haha. it was this one if you wanna hear more: ua-cam.com/video/s5l0g740yZw/v-deo.html
Before I finished playing the DLC, I clicked "not interested" on every single DLC related video, and it _kind of_ worked. I still got spoiled for the name of the final boss though...
I hope to bring a perspective that maybe hasn't been covered enough. My theorist friends and I have spent a lot of time analyzing the architecture and we think there are some more clues yet to be uncovered in there. The nice thing about architecture? Rocks don't move around like people do haha
I think it's also meant to be a visual metaphor for the fact that Godwyn has always existed as a literal figurehead. First for the golden order, then for Those Who Live in Death.
@@r-6-j294 This is one of them: ua-cam.com/video/VCe6tVyJ7bw/v-deo.htmlsi=Z7MoPYI6UKh76XS0 But there are multiple ones. However, he hasn't mentioned the Rauh ruins yet (his videos each take months to make)
@@odenetheus Cool video. At 15:11, he actually shouts out to Nameless Singer, the poster of this video for their posts on reddit. (the time I mentioned automatically became a link to that time in this video. Just to clarify, I meant that time in the Tarnished Archaeologist's video)
Really great video! The connection between bats and the ruins is particularly interesting to me, especially considering the chanting winged dames who are dressed in finery and sing about being spurned as mothers... intriguing stuff!
I've always noticed that the bats while not only singing about spurned mothers, also take on a look similar to not only the hornsent grandam, but all the finger maiden husks, like enia and the twins in roundtable.
There's also a section in rauh ruins that seems to only exist as a spot for owls to hang out. It's just to the right of where you meet the giant furnace, below the bridge on the right side
Just another connection to Rauh and the Fire Giants. Rauh seems to have some ancient connection with the crucible, with horned beasts popping up there and Devonia searching there. Well according to the talisman of all crucibles, the “mother of crucibles” appeared on the giants as a collection of all crucible aspects. Rauh could be a place where one of these “mother of crucible” appeared, affecting its inhabitants. This might explain the origins of the hornsent people too, another offshoot of the Rauh civilization like the astrologers.
I think the next video will be about why the crucible has such power in this place. I like the Mother of Crucible idea quite a bit. Also interesting that it implies that there are multiple crucibles?? And maybe the Mother of Crucibles connects to the Rauh Goddess statue?? I am super excited to get writing the next essay.
"Hey Gordon Ramsay, could you tell me the name of the civilization in the Lands Between that forged an alliance between Night and Flame?" "IT'S FUCKING RAUH!"
I just watched your GEQ/Messmer video, now THAT was incredible. What beautiful environmental storytelling. I'm honored that you have you enjoyed my work!!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing NO YOU!! 😭💙 Thank you so much, huge compliment because you are brilliant. Hey if you ever want to cross paths with an unhinged crackpot... I live in the house with all the red string 😆
I think this stuff IS dramatic!! It's meant to be entertainment (both the video and the game's lore) so I figured I would lean fully into it and make it exciting because its inspired from real history (in my opinion) and real history is metal af
perhaps the holes in the large gravestones could have once been filled with spritestones/spirit calculuses as a catalyst for the dead spirits to move through to go to their final resting places, maybe if the location of large gravestones create a path of some sort. although i am not fully versed in the lore and would be interested in others interpretations
What’s wild is that this similar spiritual energy cycle can also be found in of all games: Minecraft Wardens are powered by souls, Soul sand collects souls overtime like literal sediment which grow new life in the form of nether warts and undead skeletal enemies
I truly believe that the worldbuilding of most fantasy worlds can be considered to be modern mythology. Like ancient mythologies, they are attempting to explain the world around them. and that worldbuilding has to make sense and feel right to us as players in the world. and to do that, it is best if the worldbuilding has some sense of reality, of coherence to it. so perhaps there is some truth, some common thread even, which does exist in all of these "mythologies."
Hey, I just wanted to say how grateful I am that the Greater Algorithm blessed me with this recommendation. I'm a huge From loretube fan, and this belongs with the big names in the community. Keep it up. You rock.
I think we only see Rauh ruins in the places where the rocks erode to reveal the civilization on whose shoulder the entire world is built. I do think, like TA, that there are Rauh ruins literally everywhere. I feel there’s an unexplored theme of Elden Ring - the idea that we all rest on the shoulders of giants. The older and influential a civilization is, the more gigantic it is. I think it’s one of those things that FromSoft does, that’s rather subtle and terribly blunt at the same time. Like how much of the modern world is resting on the shoulders of the Roman Empire. That is Rauh - the foundational civilization for the entire world.
I like TA's interpretation of the ruins being built by giants, but I consider it to be more mythological and with this video I tried to be more historical and treat the ruins as the products of a culture/civilization who built them for a purpose. Rauh may indeed be the foundational civilization, like the Roman Empire, upon which the world is built. I like it even more after another user pointed out "Rauhman Empire" to me and I looked up the etymology of "Rome" and one possibility is from Rumon, the ancient name of the Tiber River, and the "Ru-" stem coming from *rheo meaning "flow, stream". Which blew my fucking MIND. And actually, I kinda have some more evidence for Rauh becoming the Roman Empire (Leyndell) but that's gotta wait til the Leyndell video.
I think this theme is also found in the giant skeletons that are exposed in Caelid and Mountaintops: parts of the lands between are quite literally built on the shoulders of giants
The connection between Rauh, flowing waters, and sprites further cements my theory that the "blind swordsman" and the blue fairie both refer to the Siofra or Ansel River. Siofra being Gaelic for a small spirit, and Ansel meaning Divine Protection, and the Rivers serving to contain the Lake of Rot.
So the kanji for "fairy" in japanese I believe also contains the kanji for "sprite" or can mean sprite. And the kanji for "sprite" can also mean "spirit". So fairy ~ sprite ~ spirit are all kinda the same, and the Blue Dancer Fairy may just be flowing waters. Very Spirited Away hahahaha "the spirit of the Kohaku river!" Perhaps the primeval current itself, which is more generally the concept of movement, flowing water, change. The concept of change vs. stagnation.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing that makes sense to me, considering Elden Ring is sort of a Magnum Opus of all their games, and Stagnation as a spiritual concept has played a role in both the Dark Souls series and in Sekiro. Maybe that's why the Primeval Current is so taboo, because it implies there's something impure about the crystalized (stagnant) nature of Glintstone sorceries.
Thank you for the video. This is quite possibly one of the most coherent explanations of the history of the civilizations in Elden Ring that I've seen so far. Please keep up the good content!
that was a wonderful video! you deserve thousands of views, no joke, great narration, great editing and great theory, you absolutely changed my perspective on many of my favorites areas of Elden ring
This is exceptional. Well researched, astute environmental observation, and great presentation. Your channel is about to blow up and I'm thrilled to have found it early. Well done, indeed. Excited for what's to come.
The purple garden, i think its putrescence came from the stone cofffin, if you go to Miquella's Cross site of grace there, look at the stone coffin where you will jump down and find the boss, you will see something like a liquid, drip down from that coffin. The Charo's Hidden Grave, full of red flowers - Lycoris, a flower symbolizing Death, Departure, and Reincarnation. Cerulean Coast, full of blue flowers (i don't know what type of those flower), the color of Cerulean gave feeling peace, restful and relaxation. Through both of this place, end up with the fissure, in the purple garden, where these coffins rest.
I actually cut a line about how I thought Charo's Hidden Grave could actually BE the Fissure. because it IS hidden, and its full of ships. And the location of the rest of charo's grave isn't hidden at all. Then again, perhaps it is possible that both the cerulean coast & charo's hidden grave areas were once like, beneath the land itself and thats why the grave was hidden.
so good. finally lots of discussion about all those columns all over the lands between. this video has such good detail about all the architecture and how it links all the timelines and cultures, that is my favorite part about elden ring, so glad the dlc added so much to this. the lore crafting is so deep with these games and i love where youre going with it :)
Glad you appreciate the architecture :) there's SO much more to be said about the architecture and the visual motifs and clues, SO many more puzzles to uncover, and so much lore. My theorist friends and I have been coming up with some great ideas for a long time and I finally have my act together enough to make videos about it all!!
How very to cool to have UA-cam organically recommend me a name I recognize from reddit from 2 years ago! We commented a bit back and forth with eachother on reddit lore posts near the game's launch. Good fun. Speaking of good fun -- this video! Really well done, holy cow. Sound, smart and thoughtful connections and frankly really unique. You're the first I've seen dive at Rauh from this angle (or frankly dive into Rauh at all...) and it was fascinating. You've got really great stuff here and I think you will quickly become a big voice in the lore community if you keep this up! The level of detail you were able to go into based on the scant direct Rauh info we get in the game was really impressive. I'm subbed and really looking forward to more!
THEBLARINGBLUE!! I remember reading your posts on reddit two years ago!! I think I followed you are well. Great stuff. Happy to see you here :) I thought for sure that Rauh was going to be a hot button topic so it is weird that no one has really dove into them when they are a big section of the DLC (they have their own map fragment like, all to themselves!). I'm really glad I could do them justice. As for the level of detail: I had a lot of lore dumps from analyzing the ruins in the base game and was able to fill in most of the gaps with the DLC. I hope to become a big name, and rep the great theorists I've worked with these past few years. I have a LOT of content, I just have to get faster & more efficient with making the videos while keeping up the level of quality. Great again to see you on the interwebs!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I’m flattered you remember and it’s great to see you’re doing well and making great stuff. Can’t wait to follow along. Like you said with the DLC filling in gaps- I can’t help but agree. A lot are disappointed with Miquella’s story (I kinda am too) but man oh man, what they did with Marika, Bonny Village, Enir-Ilim and more was sooo validating and fulfilling for me. I really feel like I got the closure I needed from the DLC and for that I am so grateful.
oooooooooooohh you said the thing!! also yeah i totally agree its related. ice + fire == water because fire melts ice to create water (obviously). and obviously the mountaintops are covered in snow and also there's only night and no sun up there. another big connection is the snowy crone, who was ranni's "secret" mentor. but we don't know too much about her. and the zamorians, who wield ice tempests, BUT Zamor was against the Fire Giants. that's ice vs. fire. Zamor occupies one of the black stone ruined villages we find all over the map, and to me it seems like they are perhaps the oldest of the old ruins throughout the lands between. one thing that connects those stone ruins to Rauh is 1) dark/black stone 2) they use pointed archways (versus rounded/curved archways). so perhaps that may be important. but thats so far back in history we're gonna need more info to figure out a better timeline.
Very nice video! I am glad you showed the that the ruins of Rauh extend all over the lands between. Very compelling theory about the union of night and flame, cheers to you and all of the others who contributed to this. Some people are so hung up on the Miquella storyline and how "disconnected" the lore of the DLC feels to them, but I think that Fromsoftware has given us more clues than ever about the nature of the world. Subbed!
One day, Indigio Montoya, I will make a Divine Towers lore video, and I will do my absolute best to cover every possible thing related to the Divine Towers. But that needs to be a build up since there is a lot that needs to be discussed before we can get that payoff.
Keep it up, these are the lore videos we all strive for here in YT. As soon as people start checking out your channel, you are gonna be acknowledged as the Lore Master you already seem to have become! 🙌
I was big into Dark Souls theorizing back in the day, and I was doing Game of Thrones/ASOIAF lore theorizing since Season 8, but never shared anything for either fandoms. Then when Elden Ring came out I finally started posting theories on Reddit and eventually made a plan to do UA-cam but I wanted to have a better picture of some of the timeline before I started putting all the effort into making videos. So I think I've got some good foundation to put out theories which will benefit the community and our understanding of the larger story! I want a timeline so badly haha. And, I have some great theorist friends who have helped flesh out these theories :) Thank you for the kind words!!
@JackisaMimic sent me here and I'm glad I came!! Soooo many insightful observations! Blowing my over and over for 30 minutes. Perhaps this muddies the waters of your very well worked out theory, but the DLC introduced a connection between the ancient dynasty and the Astrologers. Above the entrance to the Suppressing Pillar is a relief that matches the relief found on several obelisks in the Dynasty ruins. The elevator inside the Suppressing Pillar is identical to the elevators in the Astrologer Rises. Except that Astrologer elevators levitate and the center-button glows. The Suppressing Pillar elevator rises mechanically with a large pillar and the center-button does not glow. My interpretation of this has been that this Suppressing Pillar elevator was a precursor to the more advanced Astrologer elevators. Meaning the descendants of the ancient dynasty became Astrologers. Yet, I find your proposal and rationale extremely compelling. That the Black Stone civilization (Rauh) was a water, death, and spirit culture from which the Astrologers descended. Perhaps there's a way to marry the two observations? What if the Astrologers were descendants of Rauh who were descendants of the Ancient Dynasty? The Dynasty has lots of water, death, and spirit connections as well: aqueducts, the Ancestral Followers occupying their ruins are all spirity and watery, the Grand Cloister and Lake of Rot. They have the coffin water burial thing to take you to Astel. I need to fire up the game now and check the elevators in Rauh :P Thank you for making and sharing such a great video!
Oh! And! The Claymen "who served as priests in the ancient dynasty" created Bubble Sorceries. Bubbles made from water. And their sorcery uses the same sigil and the Night/Nox sorceries. And the Nox have very similar elevators to the Astrologers. The center-button is exactly the same. But the patterns on the rest of the elevator platform is quite different from the ones found on the Astrologer and Suppressing Pillar elevator platforms. Perhaps there was a fork? Of the ancient dynasty some went on to become Rauh and some became the Nox?
I had to go back into the game to look up this evidence. Uhl definitely has the connection to spirits, water, and cycles of rot/rebirth. They didn't have writing though, and the Rauh civ had writing on their tablets (unless those were hornsent tablets, idk). As to who came first, Rauh or Uhl, idk. I don't see a ton of architectural overlap in the Uhl Ruins, BUT I do see that the fire braziers look the same. So thats something. The Ruined Forges and the Uhl Ruins also seem to be made out of similar clay-like stone. But idk. The architecture is different but the interests are super similar. Oh wait, we DO find a set of Rauh Ruins near Mohgwyn Dynasty palace. That indicates at least SOME cross-cultural influence. And possibly at the same time. So maybe Rauh is the oldest, and started in the northern half of the map, and Uhl is also old, but started in the southern half of the map, and also possibly underground (idk how Belurat plays into this yet). As for the elevators: Okay so the Astrologer/Rises & Suppressing Pillars have the same elevator design, yes. The Nox elevator has the same middle design, but the elevator design itself is much fancier & more modern. Like an evolution. They can all connect with Spirits/Water/Night/Death (Suppressing Pillar monument says "all manners of Death wash up here). The elevators in Rauh are their own thing and move with a large stone column that goes up & down. BUT, the levers that we use to pull them up & down have the same design as the Suppressing Pillar elevators + Catacomb elevators. With the same 4 ringed design on top. Astrologer elevator levers are different, and so are Nox levers; both are fancier/more modern. For these cultures, I thinking again there is a Night/Death connection. This is a really tough question and there are patterns but I think we need a dedicated Uhl investigation to fully understand them and then later to do a full Night/Death/Water video (which I will do eventually, but now that you have pointed out all of this Uhl stuff I need to figure out Uhl first). What a great comment, thank you!
also super great point/connection. yeah, it must all be from water, and also artificial beings. The Astrologers don't have a sigil exactly, but they do have the Academy Ball Teleport sigil, which we find in the Academy & I think a few of the Rises. That sigil is a part of the Night & Bubbles sigil, and then we have the Carians/Crystalians sigil. C&C / N&B sigils appear to be derivations of the same root. Carians definitely hail from the Astrologers, and perhaps the Nox do as well. Or, the Nox may be directly descended from Rauh, but I don't think so. The Nox have like, a Leyndell filter they passed through. But they seem to have conserved the water/night aspect of the Astrologers/Rauh better than the Carians did. The Carians got Night/Moon/glintstone stuff. Magic-wise: the Nox are about inversion and darkness, whereas the Carians adopted following the full moon, which is about the reflection of the Sun. A night lit by the moon. Whereas I think the Nox are described as worshipping the dark moon. So the split may have been either at the time of Rauh, but I am thinking more likely at the time of the Astrologers.
Oh and as for the Uhl connection: the pillars in Uhl are the same we find in Raya Lucaria. Also some in Elphael. So the cross-talk with Uhl may have been from that touchpoint as well
God damn did you wrinkle my brain. The connection between Rauh, running water, the flow of souls. How it all lines up so beautifully with a concept of the afterlife. How stewarding the flow of water then souls positioned this culture to meld with the smith cultures stonework and create life. You suggest a duality of spirit and substance, that after mastering the Lands Between, reaches towards the heavens. The relation of souls flowing through water rites, and eventually flowing down through the earth to the underworld, even makes sense of how the Nox may have forged their own version of life. Dewsoaked herba, and the water flowing through the underground areas may still contain souls not captured by the Golden Order. The story you tell even makes it seem like the Outer Gods may be forces of the natural order attempting to reassert themselves. I look forward to anything you put together that relates to how the Hornsent and then the Golden Order figure into things here. Thanks for the great insights
Yes you nailed it. Exactly. The flow of water and the flow of souls. Your insight about the duality of spirit and substance is interesting because I had written a line about "the duality of Rauh" at one point, and it is very much this. Do you think spirit & soul are different in this game? For as long as I have been doing this theory work, I still an unsure if the soul and spirit are different. I think they must be. Some possible clues: - The new Larval Tear item mentions that it is not spirit or flesh but something in-between. - Hefty Furnace Pot: "The furnace's flame burns away both body and soul. " - Death Mask Helm: "the old man turned his attention to the spirituality of Messmer's flame, using it in a rite of resurrection. Yet the soulless bodies he brought to life were no comfort to poor Wego." And yes, love the notion that the "forces of the natural order" are reasserting themselves. Marika may have tried to remove something fundamental, and perhaps she did, but the Order is alive, in a way. It's trying to fill the hole left by where Death was supposed to go. To fix itself. God I can't wait to write up some magic theories about this, but one thing at a time.
Don't know if they're separate. Tama and Kami are separate concepts in Japan, except in cases where a person might become a Kami. I'd be curious as to what words were used in the Japanese if it matters. That aside there does seem to be this concept of souls existing in fire after burning the body. The Rancor spells suggest this, as well as the Death Mask Helm you mentioned. The body burns, and the spirit remains in some way. they may need to be guided to underworld. We do find Rancor right down the way from the potential water burials you pointed out. There is the Bondstone item. The last line says "Bonds with the sprites were made to be broken." As if all this spirit manipulation that might be at play was never meant to be or shouldn't be permanent. Part of the reason I love your theory so much is it may square what exactly is going on with the Fingers and the Greater Will. We have a society that masters the flow and manipulation of souls on their planet, and then turns their gaze upwards, to disastrous effects. Timeline is choppy though. Farum Azula suggests Gold and the GW's influence has been around for a very long time. There are some metaphors to be had around the flow of water and panning for gold. Not only that but the Divine Towers of the same culture are embedded with meteorites filled with gold This all could just boil down to a metaphysical gold rush.
It doesnt work because the greater Will is the universe itself not a good and that means that the order forces are only little parts that doesnt want to be in balance with the rest
Oh my gosh I LOVE this speculation!!! It’s one of those things I never really gave thought to, but your attention to detail with the black stone, reliefs, and location analysis (them being close to the water) is absolutely brilliant. A very well put together presentation!! 💕
I love that you say "this quick" because I feel like I took forever with making the video but it has only been 5 weeks I guess haha. But it makes me feel like there is plenty of time yet left for interest in Elden Ring!!
@NamelessSingerEldenRing definitely quick! Just think, you got your first video out faster than Tarnished Archeologist in a similar market and quality. These types of videos have staying power, and I'll probably watch multiple times since it's currently the best video out on Rauh. Looking forward to the next one 😀
A few other points: In the early studies of astronomy and optics, researchers figured out that the best way to study the stars using tools that could magnify their images past the capacities of the naked eye were to utilitize reflective lens, and one of the first utilized forms was light wells-- literally, large basins of still water that would sit under the night sky and just absorb pure reflections of the sky (and it's why many early star charts are circular in nature); to this day this technique is still utilized in image capturing of stars, albeit with hyperrefined glass lenses on satellites outside the atmosphere. In Caria Manor, you can see the stargazing pool of still water in Loretta's combat room, which was likely where The Carian royals held court to favor their Queen Rennala (who was once a stargazer of the mountains herself); she is the Full Moon, and the light wells with her-- the Golden Egg glowing is her object of desire, her former love was (Radagon, who I likely suspect is the Sun, eclipsed by Marika's shadow; Godwyn now sits in the Seat of the Sun in the Nameless Eternal City of the Deeproot Depths). The Dark Moon, however, is void of light. If you go to Caria Manor, there is a pool at the bottom of the tower, but waterfalls are eternally filling it up-- this prevents light from welling up in it. (Read that again: Eternal. Flowing. Void of Light.) This is Ranni's Dark Moon, and it is lucid like a dream. The golden light is also tied to the Frenzied Flame, and is collected in water when the water is still... or Stagnant. Exposure to the Light is Rot, and it is like a cancer. The fire giants come in pretty simply: Fire Giants is another name for Stars. The Astralogians neighbored the stars. Amidst the Astralogian was the Queen of the Full Moon, Rennala, and all with the Alliance of Night and Flame-- rather, all who live in the sky of night and stars-- followed in her legion. She was the only one who could match the authority of the Erdtree, and so Marika tricked her by conjoining with her during the Eclipse-- Sun and Moon converge. The Dark Moon seeks to burn her living body away and break free from the bonds of fate so she can return the Moon to reigning over the stars, and burn away her political rival: Marika the Eternal. During her possession by Marika, Rennala's vision of the stars was conjoined, becoming part of the body of the Elden Beast, and allowing Marika to dominate the stars (a.k.a., the Outer Gods), hegemonizing the absolute power of the Universe. Only the Empyreans could challenge her authority-- the twins became gods, Ranni seeks the Age of the Stars, and she replaced the Gloam-Eyed Queen with her own ascension (Gloam-Eyed Queen being another name for the True/Dark Moon, which in Marika's case would be like saying "thine other self" as much like the Eclipse of Rennala and Radagon, the Dark Moon (Ranni) and the Eclipse (Marika) are virtually the same thing when conjoined-- Lunar Princess Ranni sought its uncoupling.)
I couldn't find your comment for a second and I got scared that you had deleted it and then I searched your username and couldn't find it on youtube and then i finally searched some of the text in my comment history search and found you again. I could have scrolled through the video comments but I didn't but the point is that I have been thinking about this all day. Like I keep rereading it because there is something major here and this has struck me in a deep way where my subconscious knows that something is up. Maybe because parts of this are so bold, or so deep. The light wells is all BRILLIANT. It fits with so many things. I had not put the pieces together that that explains these circular pools of water, I thought it was just linked the moon and the tides. Could this theory also explain Liurnia as a whole, reflecting the stars as a still lake? It's all one big reflection of the stars? also note that Liurnia/where the moonlight shines forms a crescent on the western half of TLB. TLB landmass itself looks like an eye, and this crescent where liurnia is would be the back of the eye, where the optic nerve is. This optic nerve could be Raya Lucaria, or perhaps the Four Belfries, which have a bunch of black hole portals (or blindspots, perhaps) which are representative of the optic nerve. The Full Moon is also associated with reflecting the sun's light of course, and Farum Azula (realm of light) is directly across from it. Radagon as the Sun makes sense, especially with your Fire Giants as stars. Which fits beautifully with the Astrologers aspect. It makes me believe that perhaps Rauh was more about night and flowing water than the direct study of the stars, and Rauh/Astrologers (Night Sky) joined with the Fire Giants (Stars) which I think what you are getting at. Back to Radagon as the Sun. Yes, 100%. The Red Sun of the Japanese flag, and the Red Sun on the Sun Realm Shield, and the Fire Giant spells look like a Red Sun. I have been playing with the idea that there was a split in the Sun at some point, where Light & Flame split (2F/3F). Was this the OG Radagon/Marika split? So the Frenzied Flame is kept in total darkness, because the light eats away at it. We see that it is a large black hole in the center. It appears like that black hole is like fuel, and your "Exposure to the Light is like a cancer". The light feeds the black hole in the center, which feeds the flame? This is all REALLY, REALLY fascinating. Do you have reddit or discord? I would love to talk more.
i would also like to point out that Rellana's arena has a similar water pool to Ghost Loretta's arena. also, ghost Loretta makes me think of some sort of spirit projection given how they spawn regardless of if real Loretta is dead. "spirits are eternal" as the video said.
What a BRILLIANT video. Some of these findings really blew my mind - especially the Rises having an 8 pointed octagonal gear-like shape like the pillars of the rauh civilization - such interesting Architecture in ER. Great connections! Thanks for the video!
Glad you enjoyed the video! There is more to be said about the 8-pointed octagonal gear shape. It is part of a more pervasive "pattern of 8" we find in cultures connected to Rauh, the Fire Giants, and the Astrologers. I didn't have enough of the full picture for this video to go into the whole thing. But keep a look out for it!
This also makes sense as to why all of the carian royals names start with ra. They probably claim to trace their lineage back to rauh. To honor their ancestors
yes great catch! we have all of the carians AND we have RAdagon and he is a Fire Giant. So that likely traces back to the Rauh alliance. Makes me wonder if perhaps that was the name of the God/demigod from the age before Rennala. Rennala was a young astrologer, so maybe Rennala's parents generation. Maybe the goddess of Rauh...?
NICE ONE! Thanks for pointing this out! Renalla and Renna start with "Re" rather than "Ra". But this totally has the feeling of a thing. Lore detector going off. Thanks!
New sub from Taiwan The current of your knowledge has flown far and wide, I hope it translates to streams of subs, and flood of currentSea for you Love your wonderful format and top-tier content ! thank you!
Interesting theory. Though, given the architectural links, the Rauh are the Fire Giants. They built the fore and that, as you pointed out, is the same architecture. They’re Fire Giant ruins based on the evidence.
Awesome video ! I wanted to point out that everything you said can work to if the astrologer had just discovered the rauh civilization! They don't have to be their descendants or a subdivision of Rauh. it's possible that the astrologers rediscovered Rauh's tech and decided to study it. Explaining why their towers and settlement are next to Rauh's ruins
Hmmm interesting idea. Yeah you are correct that there's some room for freedom of interpretation with how the cultures are related. If the Astrologers did rediscover Rauh tech instead of being a branch of them, the next interesting question is what caused Rauh's civilization to die in the first place? A question to which I have some ideas but do not know the answer to yet.
The merchant in Liurnia who sells you the cookbook and the astrologers says "don't ask where I got them" referring to his goods. It's likely he probably got the Astrologers set and the cookbook off a corpse.
What an awesome video with so many great observations! I particularly like the point about the spritestones--I can definitely see them being the predecessors for the more advanced Golems! And the connection between water and Rauh is actually even stronger in the Japanese: Rauh is written as ラウフ, which is a transliteration of "Lauf." And Lauf is German for "current," "flow," "run," "course [of events]," usw. In any case, I'm so glad you have a UA-cam channel now! Your reddit posts about the Gold Road and the Divine Towers (along with Quelaag) helped convinced me to take a deeper, second look at a lot of the environmental storytelling in the game.
Yeah and Rauh may also be related to the PIE root *rei- meaning "to flow, run." which is where the Rhine gets its name from. And also ROME may come from the same root?? The ancient name of the Tiber river is Rumon, which is relate to Greek *rheo which means "flow, run", and ultimately comes from the same PIE root. So Rome's whole name may come from a root meaning, essentially, flowing water. It's wrinkling my brains and I just learned this yesterday. I am glad you liked the Reddit posts. They really seem to have had a positive effect on the community and I am so... fulfilled by that knowledge. The environmental storytelling is REAL!!!!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing It's unlikely that the actual name is Rauh. If they really meant for it to be "Rauh", the japanese name would be written as ラウー. Now we know it's a non-japanese word, since it's in Katakana, and ラウフ would be read as Ra-U-Fu. This could be translated as "Rauf", "Rauph", "Lauph", or "Lauf". If it was an english word, it would be something like "Ra-oof". Considering that many Japanese artists and especially game developers seem to have a thing for medival europe and often use especially german words, it's likely that @garrulousgoldmask's suggestion of "Lauf" is correct (at least I can't think of any other word that would make sense).
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I remember your name being mentioned by other Elden ring lore theorists, I forgot whom but Ill let you know. I hope so too! Your videos and theories are of high quality and your voice is very pleasant to listen to :D. Super keen to see more!
@@Sieuqt I think Tarnished Archaeologist has mentioned me before. And I am so glad that you like my voice! I didn't like it and I was self conscious about it but you make me feel better :) i am excited to put out more content!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRingbeing self conscious is the hardest part. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You crushed this. I have watched hours of all the best creators.
the Rauh ruins are at the top left of the map and it looks like they would connect with Ruin-Strewn Precipice. (this is if you put the land of shadow map in the lands bettwen map)
Yes it does look like that. I kinda wonder if there were once tunnels or something, because we do see the tunnels that the Vulgar Militiamen are in. And Ancient Ruins of Rauh are built into the rock/cliffs. Rauh likes building into stone. Hmmm. I just noticed that that is a fun parallel. Building into stone to allow for pathways for water to flow through. Wisdom ~ water ~ spirit, put those into stone > wisdom of stone?
This also explains the over-reaction of the hornsents to Midra. The flame of frenzy is the only thing capable of destroying both body and spirit. Also I now finally know the question I had for a long time: The creation of crystalians.
Yeah I didn't even go into detail about them but the crystalians are linked to signing an old accord with the Carians, and their sigil is denoted as being the sigil of the "Carians and Crystalians" vs. the "Night and Bubbles" sigil. So it seems like there was some sort of split in the Night culture at some point. Still unsure of how or what yet.
There are so many callbacks to Dark Souls it feels like Elden Ring is Dark Souls but with a GRRM twist. I'm working on a theory that will directly bring in some Dark Souls stuff and I am so excited for it but idk if it will be the next one or not.
Oh, YOU'RE the person who made that post on Reddit about the alliance between Serpents and Giants! While I have seen people mention this before, you did a much better job at explaining it all and tying the separate motifs of serpents and grants together!
Yes that was me! I am planning a Divine Towers specific video eventually but I sort of want to build up to it because there are a few things that I am still ironing out. And I want to make it make sense with the DLC lore and that still needs some time to cook
LOL multiple people have said that my voice is AI but it's not! It's extra funny because I was super self-conscious about my voice because I think its different than most women, I did not expect that I would have to prove that its not AI And thank you for the compliments, glad you enjoyed!
Night is also associated with the moon, which is associated with water for obvious reasons. Also, night protects souls. See the lore/descriptions relating to the eclipse, to the duplication mausoleums, and the tortured crucified people that are quiet at night.
Flat Earth cosmology makes so much sense for Elden Ring's world, I can't believe this is the first time I've seen someone come up with it. Just a silly question, what're your thoughts on the Lamenter? Red hair and chest face like a Fire Giant, omen horns, and the transformation seems to be caused by Blackflame...
Wait where did I mention flat earth cosmology? Though, the Elden Ring itself seems to be 2D so there could be an aspect of this world which is 2D and then manifests itself in 3D. The red hair aspect I think comes from the notion that the Lamenter was originally someone with red hair, which could indicate Fire Giant ancestry. Perhaps the FG-descendants were persecuted in the aftermath of Messmer's Crusade. The Omen, FGs, and Blackflame all seem vaguely tied to pain and suffering (the FG cutscene shows him ripping off his foot to open the eye in the center of his chest), and thorn sorcery is all about sacrifice. Thorn sorcery/creation of red glintstone was discovered in the north. The fire acolytes with the Staff of the Guilty is about sacrifice. So we have a connection to sacrifice and pain and flame. And the Lamenter is about grief and pain. So something about that.
Big hint the crucible and the fell god are actually one in the same. The furnace golems make that even more clear the furnace visage, the red haired faces, the mixed lifeforms inside melting into one thing the end result the hardened tears. The dungeaters armor sun visage is to much of a coincidence and we know he was an omen loving maniac. The other big clues lie within the items you get from the remembrance of the fire giant. From all their descriptions they make it rather clear than the fire giants we know came to be when the they borrowed the power of the fell god. As soon as they did it changed them physically they gained that cyclops face in their stomach and it also made their hair red. I personally am starting to believe that the formless mother is the Female aspect of the this fell god. There is a reason one needs to be blinded and the thorn sorcerers pilgrimage and are worshiping the flame of ruin. Also it seems helps explain why formless mother can turn blood into flames.
please more !!! i watched both your videos and they are some of my favorite lore videos i've seen so far. no matter how much lore i watch thats based on item descriptions, it doesnt really stick with me as much as these examples that are built into the very landscape of the game, and so obvious once pointed out (especially re: your road video).
I truly believe that we can compare shared visual motifs in the same way that we compare shared item descriptions, and that includes the visual information present in the architecture. I love it so much and I am so excited to share everything we've found!!
Fantastic video. You should voice actual documentaries. I love your connections, everything was very easy to follow and connect the dots, and I'm especially grateful that you maintain an air of scepticism in your conclusions, a fatal flaw of many a headcanon lore hunter. Thanks for a very cool take!
I was super self-conscious about my voice when I started but I have gotten a lot of compliments about it and I cannot express properly how much that means to me. I started out posting on Reddit and you must maintain skepticism or the comments will skewer you hahaha. I hope to stick to the evidence, provide counterarguments, and when there are multiple possible explanations we'll just discuss all of them and then the audience decides what they want :)
He really did pave the way. If I had started doing this 2 years ago no one would have believed that it wasn't asset reuse. It's something I heard a LOT of in the discord/reddit communities, and now people are totally sold on its importance. Visual language is just as important as textual language!
The focus on flowing water vs stagnation... it struck me as incredibly odd that the Scarlet Rot had been left to fester in Rauh since before the shattering and yet only occupied a small area with no clear barriers to growth. It makes sense that all the flowing water in and around it reduces its... virality, and ensures a lack of stagnation and a healthy neighboring biome can continue to flourish alongside the rot infected area! Also, I'm so glad someone is finally talking about the allusions of space being water or a sea, and currents in relation to that. Death too, but that's at least talked about in relation to the ocean more often. Very good shit! I think the only thing I would contend at all about what you're presenting here is the idea of the coffin-boats being sent down the river. Its suggested (admittedly in a non-assertive way) that they *drifted* to the Lands Between (well, the locale of the Lands of Shadow, which once were just an area of TLB). The imagery on the Uhl Dynasty ruins depicting them on an ocean with waves... And Numen, said to be from another world. Meldable flesh, putresence, silver tears, the night, the ocean, a voyage of 1000 years into the starry night sky, sheperded by the dark moon. I'm just so very fond of the idea of the Numen arriving as the coalesced dead, reforming (however that may be; " Life sprouts from death, as it does from birth. Such is the way of the living."), and mingling with the "normal" inhabitants of the Dynasty/TLB. This could then even be the source of the water-burial and water-focused cultures - a defining event in developing human history during which boats drifted from the night sky, bringing strange new peoples and all the culture and mystery wrought from them.
Yes I think the notion that spirits ~ water is a major takeaway here and has major implications for later, but I am not yet sure of how far it goes. The spirit/water connections DO connect to Uhl. The Ancestral Infants Head spouts "spirit vapour" as a geyser. And the ship connection is legit. They are also about trees it appears, since there is the large lake near Nokron with dead trees, and Mohgwyn Dynasty is nearby with Mohg watering trees, and there are ancestral followers in the Forest of Ancient Bowers. I think they might be getting at spirits being the waters which makes new buds grow. It may even be that the stone coffin ships in the first panel of the Uhl Obelisk are meant to represent DEATH, and the trees growing in the second panel illustrates life growing FROM death. You are correct that there is a whole thing with the stone coffin ships, Uhl & the Numen, and I did NOT cover that in this video. The fact that the stone coffin ships are only in the cerulean coast, a place with beaches and access to the ocean, and how we find illustrations of ships on the map which look exactly like the stone carvings on the Uhl obelisks, may indicate that these ships are Numen ships which actually traveled over the ocean and washed up here. For this video I went with what the NPC ghost said and the pattern of rivers/coffin burials, but I may have been inaccurate about the stone coffin ships themselves traveling down the Ellac River. They may have come from the ocean, and thats how the Numen got here.
Excellent how you built upon each element of your theory with the next, gradually adding evidence until there was a mountain to look at. Great video! 🎉🎉🎉
Thanks for appreciating that! Yeah I feel the tension while structuring the essays to jump right into the good stuff/biggest conclusions and doing a buildup, and the best path forward is a mix of the two. but GOD do I love a big buildup to a conclusion
Thanks so much! I have been wanting to make UA-cam videos for a long time now but the stars didn't align until recently. Hoping to weave in the old stuff with the new to get a full picture. Or as full as we can with these games lol
Hell yeah, you nailed a bunch of points I've been drifting around and obsessing over but never managed to tie together. Admittedly to some degree, it's because I spent a ton of time trying to analyze waterways - like trying to figure out where that aqueduct crossing the Rauh ruins may have connected, where certain water sources originated, and getting generally obsessed with the flow of the Siofra and Ainsel rivers. Then I realized that the dam leading into the lake of rot doesn't actually make sense and realized that perhaps water physics weren't going to be the source of revelations I'd hoped they might be. (you get a reservoir of more stagnant water upstream from a dam, not downstream - the waterway downstream from a dam often runs low and fast. This mostly only occurred to me because I've played far too much Timberborn.) Anyway. I've loved both videos you've dropped so far, and I am absolutely looking forward to whatever area you dig into next!
Yeah I have not seen a ton of discussion about water personally, but I was also out of the community for a little while working on IRL stuff. Tarnished Archaeologist just put out a great video about the Shadow Realm possibly being between two rivers, relating it to Mesopotamia and the Tigris/Euphrates. For the Lake of Rot, I think the dam is purely symbolic and may not work with actual physics. Dams create lakes >> Lake of Rot. The Nox were just controlling water, pretty much. I can't wait til the Nox video, whenever that may be haha
Hey, there’s some evidence for your idea that the ruined forged/smithing arts were created by the fire giants. The basegame item just called the “Hammer,” which is found in Hewg’s place in the Roundtable Hold in Leyndell, outright says that “the art of smithing is said to have originated among the giants.” Great video!!!
THANK YOU damn that is totally the missing link I needed to fully link the connection between the Smithing culture & Fire Giants, because I think that was a part of the essay I didn't go into enough depth on. But eventually I'll try and do a fully Smithing-Fire Giants video including parts of that evidence so I will include it then
Haven't seen any other videos talk about this. Did not notice the similarities at all in Limgrave while I was in the Rauh Ruins. One of my favorite lore videos already
This video is awesome! I came to a similar conclusion in the base game about the fire giants and astrologers making the golems together, but had trouble connecting that idea to Rauh until seeing this video. Another interesting detail which might support your theory is how the hornsent actually use sorceries, just "wielded as incantations". It's possible that the hornsent studied Rauh, and then came to worship their findings rather than properly reproducing the sorceries & technologies of Rauh.
Excellent connection and I love it. So they learned Rauh sorceries, but perhaps they knew that the Crucible current ~ Rauh's current, and so they were able to use those sorceries as incantations, because they worshipped the Crucible. Or maybe they found the old sorceries of Rauh without knowing they were sorceries and that's why they used them as incantations instead. Like maybe they just channeled the ideas differently? Rauh knew how they worked and so could use themselves, their minds, to channel them, but for the hornsent, without that knowledge, just had to use faith. God its so interesting how that works.
Dang i almost wish i havent found you for a couple months because i could binge more now. Incredible quality on both this and your previous video. Gonna go check out that essay you left now 👍🏻
Wow! This makes so much sense! So many boss arenas have water in them. I feel like this connection between water and the cosmos is shown best in the Elden Beast zone.
All of this makes me wonder even more about where the Uhl and the Uld stand in relation to the Rauh and the Nox. The Uhl/Uld both utilized water to precept cosmic events, but don't seem to utilize fire like the Rauh did. From what I've been able to tell from my own investigations, my working theory is that the Uhl/Uld precepted either the coming age of Gold or the Astel, and began to prepare for their apocalypse through extreme rites of self-preservation, turning themselves into living clay that cannot die. I was thinking maybe it might've been the God of Rot which caused their collapse, but the Uhl seemingly were successful sealing the outer god of Rot away, although I'm sure they weren't unscathed by the ordeal, especially considering their Grand Cloister was almost entirely consumed by a lake of Rot. Considering how large the Grand Cloister is, I think it's plausible that it might've been akin to Leyndell in size, scale, and importance to the Uhl/Uld.
Re: space being akin to or a type of water: FromSoft had played with this idea in depth before in Bloodborne, with the sky becoming the sea and sea becoming the sky in many cases (especially in the hunter's nightmare). So yeah I think you're really onto something connecting the early primeval current sorceries to the culture focused on running water! You also kind of touched on it when talking about the flowing magma, but to take it a step further, both molten metal and water are essential for smithing. To temper steel you douse the hot metal in water. Incredible work! I'm so excited to see where you go from here! I live readings and analysis of ER that focus just as much on the architectural and physical clues along with in-game text and dialogue.
SHIT I didn't play Bloodborne, I had a few years where I wasn't playing too many video games and then i got super into Elden Ring again. I think I should play Bloodborne ASAP but now I'm trying to churn out vids.... But thats super useful to know and I'll search for some theories about it so I am more familiar. Great point about using water for smithing. I actually almost included a line about that but stopped myself because I didn't see water barrels/dousing bins in most of the Forges so I didn't want to make that jump.
yeah i am thinking that more and more. maybe the "spirit being" is the amalgamation of spirits joined together in the river? i had a WHOLE section written about the blind swordsman and rauh but i took it out because it got into rot ideas and this was more about the night & flame connection. i feel like we need to deal with the nox before we can talk about the blind swordsman, because there are many relations of the blind swordsman to the nox: the nox create a flowing sword, the sealing of rot was done nearby, they have twin rivers and the lake of rot. but i think the nox are much younger than rauh, which is why its so important we figure out when the god of rot was sealed. I am kinda even wondering... if its possible... that the nomadic warriors WERE Rauh's people. because i mean none of these locations besides the one in the shadow realm seem like they are great places to live. they have a few "benches" there. but the rest aren't really cities. but if they were a nomadic tribe who wandered around and had the fire giants build these structures, that could be something.
You’re awesome! Really excited to see more creators dive into Rauh’s influence in the lands between, they’re clearly positioned as the first or at least one of the earliest civilizations we see evidence of. One of my biggest questions is whether the Hornsent are native to the ruins we find in the shadowland, or if they’ve taken over the ruins, not unlike Leyndell.
The Antiquity Scholar's Cookbook states that the Hornsent scholars were studying the ancient ruins, and looking for techniques "thought lost to antiquity". So the Hornsent came after Rauh, seemingly quite long after. And they have taken over the Ruins.
Also if you put the land of shadow map into the middle of the base game map, assuming that's where it fits before it was cast into the land of shadow, Rauh ruins would be fairly close to both liurnia and the mountaintop of the giants.
Yeah I think it's even possible that the Ancient Ruins of Rauh could have been connected to the Ruin-Strewn Precipice. Outside of the Snow Valley Ruins they are the most impressive and dedicated set of ruins. There may have even been a river which ran from Altus towards Shaded Castle that may have dried up; maybe the flow of water was different back in the day. When the Shadow Realm split from the rest of TLB I kinda wonder if something changed and the Ellac River used to be much more prominent.
Awesome video, incredibly well put. I'd only like to propose that Rauh may have had a more complex relationship with rot, not outright antagonistic, at least not at the beginning. Rauh seems to have been deeply polytheistic and in the ruins we find the Verdigris Discus, which is said to be a gift from an outer god. Now, verdigris is simply corroded copper. The forager brood shows us that rot may have postive applications. I posit that Rauh initially had a more nuanced relationship with Rot, whose balance was broken by the God's sealing by the blind swordsman. That's why it was so malevolent when Romina found it much later, when her own suffering allowed her to weave its divine energy into Scarlet Rot, a more virulent, unbalanced and dangerous version of Rot.
Oh, this take is fantastic. Excellent interpretation across the board. I am adding your comments to my notes and will probably be quoting you in the next video. I agree that it was not all antagonistic. I only mentioned the flowing water alone in this video in comparison to Rot/stagnation to emphasize the connection to the Astrologers/currents later. Verdirgris Discus is a good one. I think the Spirit Calculus forms by following principles of stagnation, look up what a calculus is and how it follows the principles of yodomi and kegare (stagnation/rot principles in Shintoism, you may already be familiar are you are clearly a learned theorist). So its more that Rauh understood the ENTIRE cycle, both sides, flowing water and stagnation, and how they were important. I think that is gonna be the next video, and maybe also the Crucible. I had never considered the Rot Romina found as being malevolent, but I think that you are correct. It is also a deeper red instead of Malenia's more pink version. And I like the notion of suffering allowing her to weave it into the scarlet rot. Could you elaborate on how you think she would mechanistically do that? Because the suffering angle is EXTREMELY interesting to me. As part of this video I was working on a theory that the swordsman may have been from Rauh itself, but the flowing swords we hear about being created are in relation to the Nox. So was the blind swordsman from Rauh or were they Nox? The Nox & Rauh share a LOT of similarities, and perhaps the Nox are so modern that the key is that the flowing swordsman ISN'T from the Nox, but rather is from Rauh and the sealing of the God of Rot did happen during Rauh's era. Fuck but the issue here is that I need to talk about the Nox first because I feel like the current inkling is that the swordsman was Noxian. But maybe he wasn't. Shit I will just keeping thinking this through in this comment and I think I need a Google Doc and a deep dive. This is super interesting though and I am gonna consider this in more detail. Excellent comment, thank you.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing Thank you very much for replying, I'm glad you found the comment interesting! Regarding Romina, I came to this conclusion due to the similar story of the Bloodfiends. The Bloodfiends are victims of the Crusade as well, and when they peered on the corpse of their ancestors (their tutelary deity, judging by the Outer God Heirloom) they instead saw in its eyes a malevolent deity, which they began to misguidedly worship. Now, there are two possibilities: either the Formless Mother was able to "hijack" the ancestor's corpse, or she was indeed the ancestor, twisted by the clan's suffering. In both cases, it seems that despair and suffering can deeply affect the relationship between mortals and gods. And given that the DLC heavily hints that the outer gods are indeed "outer" for not belonging to the Order, it wouldn't seem strange to me if Romina managed to contact the divine element of Rot using the surviving bud in her burned down church as a spiritual medium (another practice well known to the Hornsent and previously Rauh). As per the blind swordsman, I'm inclined to agree with you in placing him as far back in the timeline as possibile, thus linking him more to Rauh. That's because the Pests existed even before Romina adopted them, implying that there has been at least one aspirant Goddess of Rot before Romina. But, since Romina seems to have stumbled into something new to her, I'd guess this is an earlier, forgotten attempt to escape its confinement. It seems to me that the nomadic warriors (those wearing blue scarves over their eyes) are the people of the blind swordsman, maybe even founded by him. There are no links between these nomadic warriors and the Nox, as far as I'm aware, so maybe they could be survivors from Rauh's fall, like the Astrologers and the Fire Giants. Edit: I also read your essay about the Divine Towers, and it's not beyond reason that the Serpent underwent a similar "transformation by neglect and suffering" as the outer gods, transitioning from a deity that values the cycle of life that rebelled against the Erdtree for this reason (although brutal in its own way), to the greedy and grasping entity we meet in the game
@@Pizzifrizzo yo so sorry for the delay, i was on vacation, but if you message me on reddit maybe we can talk more? this is all great stuff and i would love your input on the next video as i am trying to figure out the timeline. you helped me so much with this comment i am already putting you in the special thanks for the next vid. so much of what you said in this second comment gels with other notes my friends and i had come up with for this essay, in particular the channeling thing. the suffering stuff is also SUPER SUPER important like i cannot even begin to start with that god i hate trying to have long discussions in the youtube comment section. but yeah message me please!!
We are all Tarnished and we work together! His work is great and he's given me shoutouts in the past, I am proud to finally join the ranks of UA-camrs like him.
This is amazing, I was really hoping I could find a video discussing what Night and Flame really means, and the Rauh Ruins, Golems, the architecture of forge of giants and of course the Sprite Stone but I never thought they would all be in the same video. Looking forward to the future videos!
I originally was writing the essay just about Rauh but then I realized the connection to Rauh & Night and reorganized the video to be about this. I still can't believe it all came together so well!!
First two videos are already good so this should be a great channel. One thing to add, the two kanji together 技師 is one word, gishi, it means engineer or technician. So a majutsu gishi would be a sorcery engineer or a magic technician. Spellmachinist is a good translation
Thank you! I am definitely going to be more careful in the future if I reference the Japanese translation because I do not speak Japanese I just really like analyzing languages and I don't want to get things wrong.
This is a breath of fresh air in the reused topics, with click baits, based on far fetched hunches and hypotheses. With this being, only, the second video, yours has structure, examples and a logical narration. Bravo! Keep up the good work! 👏 Can't wait for the next video! ❤
Thank you so much. I think people sleep on the architecture, but there's so much information there. I am going to try and stay very grounded and stick to just identifying the patterns and figuring out a story to explain them.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing we always applaud the game for it's graphics, but never realised that the basis is some amazing architectural patterns across the ages. I applaud you for the scientific approach on the lore part, which was widely missing from the "Elden Ring lore community" (took me by surprise, ngl 😂). BTW, how much time does it take to produce such a masterpiece?
Thank you for watching! What do you think about the ancient origins of Rauh? There was so much to be said about them that I had to cut this video down to only talk about the Night & Flame aspect.
Edit (corrections):
- 1:04 I misspelled original as oringal... just... goddammit brain.
- 2:34 I have been informed it is pronounced GO-lem as in "go the opposite of stop" and I am so sorry if it drove you nuts.
- 3:10 The Fire Spritestone does NOT use spirit calculus as one of its ingredients, my bad!
- 12:38 I didn't mention Mirage Rise in Altus Plateau, which is not near water in modern times, but the path through the valley leading to the Shaded Castle seems like it may have once been a river which has since dried up.
That whole basin where the Mirage Tower is located looks as though it had been a lake at some point.
The strange thing is when I tried to figure out where the lake water drained out and why... I discovered that the way the land is formed it looks like water must have flow in to that lake basin, not out of. As if that dried up river bed just to the west must have at some point overflown to the point that the water breached the eh.. land-wall? There's probably a geological term for that, but I'm no geologist... Anyway! It looks like that large river once flooded to the point it carved an entry into that basin where we find the Mirage Tower. And all that water has since drained or evaporated.
Anyway! Point being, Mirage Tower may have been built right on the shore of a large lake as well as next to a large river as you pointed out.
now do a feature with vaati and smoughtown lol, or a podcast, id be nice to hear yall nerd out lol
Amazing video I had never made the connection to flowing water it makes their burial practices make so much more sense! What are your thoughts on the huge titan skeletons we see in the stone of the lands between (mostly caelid and the forge)? I had always thought they used the chains to move the forge around and pour out the molten rock to build the land we see around/over the Rauh structures but I’d love to hear your take?
Also when do you think the Ancient dragons and the Twinbird became the dominant power in the lands between? I had always assumed it was after the forge/Rauh and now that you connected tibia mariner’s and the first death practice to Rauh I’m even more sure, but what do you think the timeline is there? I would love it if you did a whole video on Placidusax and the twinbird too! Or the finger ruins and shamans or hornsent and midra, love the videos In general !
I have heard your pronunciation of golem many times, and I don't think its particularly wrong just maybe archaic or regional.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I was lucky enough to get algorithmed into your video after listening to someone make the connections of kagare with Elden Ring’s themes. Believe it was LastProtagonist.
The flowing water and purification rituals got me thinking of Godwynn funnily enough. Death being concerned and all. It makes what the black knives did to him so much worse after considering the two videos. The Nuemen/Shaman are “pure.” No filth or uncleanliness in their being.
Godwynn, Marika’s first non-cursed and pure child is finally born, lives up to his potential and is then marked by the kagare of a death so foul that it’s symbolized by a gaping centipede in his flesh. Ah! Now THAT’s punishment.
I know it’s not Rauh but i’m not sure the idea would have hit me without both videos so thank you anyway.
The ancient ruins were always a mystery to me in this game even after the DLC. Your video here is now the most cohesive view I’ve heard on them. Can’t wait for whatever topic you write about next.
This made me think that the giants could melt the ice leading to more water flowing from the mountains since the Rauh value flowing water
Love it.
Very good point
Forge Golems petting the lava things is a small but very important detail they show them experiencing emotions and consciousness, having a spirit
They PET THEM?!?!?!
*looks up video*
THEY PET THEM!!!!
That is so interesting that they experience emotions/consciousness. Wow. I LOVE it. Thank you for sharing this!!
Look up the description of the Imp Ashes. It is very endearing.
@@Fmakegeo6 they also have a hole with a gem in it, very similar imagery
For both! The little Lava Tears are like super heat-resistant Silver Tears and this shows they and their 'chillier cousins' also have sentience. I think lots of us probably suspected that, given the cut content for the Mimic Tear quest, but it's nice to have additional confirmation. ☺
You can tell Elden Ring is truly a step up in fromsoft games when people don't stop at just text in item descriptions but start analizing buildings and rock materials.
Zullie the Witch, Tarnished Archeologist and hoping you, Nameless singer become the trifecta for enviromental analysis.
Praises aside! The Carian royalty also uses a big pond, which reflects the moon, kind of like a giant mirror, making a new connection with water and the Rauh! Liurnia, a region of Carian possesion would need a lot of water control to perform several moon sorceries. And the lack of it is slowly flooding Liurnia!!
That is my goal!!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing 🙏😭Please do, this is so well put together
Honestly, do you think the Rauh predate Marika's Golden Order?
There's almost no visual connection to the erdtree in their style and the burials would not make sense in a world without destined death.
It seems like the purpose of those burials was to avoid some sort of putrification of the spirit, like the Ancestor Spirit? What could be the connections between them and the Rauh, as it seems they fit all the elements present in their ruins like the usage of spirits, the many dams, the lilies and an obvious sky.
I can't wait for that Nox video, so far not many lore specialists have explored it and it's culture!! Loving the vids!
@BonusDuckie there is also a theory involving colors as to why liurnia is sinking, the rot bellow mixes with the glintstone and water above, red and blue make purple, the color of gravity, and gravity sinks. (It's a poor retelling of another's discovery, so forgive me if it makes no sense)
Big pond for Elden Beast's arena too, but not Radagon's. Idk if this means anything, but if we're talking about puddles that's another
Another thing I just remembered is that at night in Ruah, it's stunning. Just like the Carian Manor etc night skies. Right to a T. Beautiful. Iirc, no other area has these skies at night.
It was Master Hewg who identified Rodericka as a spirit tuner. Yet another connection between spirits and smithing.
You're a genius for making this connection.
Hewg also says Roderika reminds him of a "spirit tuner I met long ago".
I didn't know you have a YT channel! Your reddit posts back in the day are still some of the best and most insightful reads out there. Kudos.
Fancy seeing you here! Congrats on reaching 100k subs, good for you. GREAT for you. Well deserved. You have done wonders for moving forward the acceptance of analyzing the architectural & visual evidence that is everywhere in this game. I am grateful, and I believe that the future success of this channel (assuming it is a success lol) will always owe a debt to you for paving the way in the ER UA-cam community.
I just made the UA-cam channel! Or well I made it like two years ago but I finally started actually posting videos haha. I stopped posting on Reddit with plans to make vids, but I got delayed due to my IRL job and it was a whole thing.
I've been told on multiple occasions that we should collaborate in the future, hmu on Reddit (or whatever) if you are interested. Though I feel I need to prove myself a bit more on UA-cam, we certainly share interests from the historical, archaeological, and environmental storytelling aspects.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I am sure we can find something to collaborate on. Actually we're almost finished with our own Rauh video, which has been cooking for a while (IRL jobs do get in the way, dont they?), though takes a different angle and is quite complementary to this one. We'll be sure to give you a shout out in it. Really looking forward to your future videos!
Ahhhh, I’m glad to see you two interact and so happy to know that new videos are imminent!
@@tarnishedarchaeologist ohey there
@@tarnishedarchaeologist Hell yeah!! Looking forward to watching the new one. My next vid was going to be the other Rauh angle, but I have some ideas what you will be covering so I will wait to see what you say and we can play off each other. Thank you for the shoutouts, they are a huge help and already people have recognized my name because you talked about me. You rock, my man. Which is obvious because you're an archaeologist, and rocks, y'know??
i'd like to add that the spirit in stone holes is further connected to the watchdogs by the blurb on the sword, saying 'Though decorated with the watchman's eye, the pupil was taken by graverobbers and is now hollow, leaving this sword a mere lump of stone.' meaning it's missing something that gave it power there
Yes agree. That watchmen's eye is VERY interesting to me. VERY interesting. If the thing in the center of the eye was a jewel or a glintstone, maybe that connects to the glintstone eyes of the sorcerer's stone crowns. Idk.
As someone who has been exploring and analyzing these ruins since forever, this video is absolutely incredible. Almost everything lines up exactly how I thought, plus even more. I always got the feeling that they were related to the Giants somehow, but the idea that they were the sister culture to them, and thus the predecessors to the Astrologers is a completely mind blowing idea that solves almost every issue. I firmly believe this is canon
It feels great to hear that it lines up with your thinking!
UA-cam's recommendations algorithm is so weird. I have to click "not interested" on way too many videos, but this one I wouldn't have found on my own, which I'm grateful for. I'm eager to see more lore videos from you!
Yeah I had a video pop up in my recommended from 2 months ago that was about how the algorithm seems to have changed recently to promote smaller creators. As a new, small channel, I am very grateful for this haha.
it was this one if you wanna hear more: ua-cam.com/video/s5l0g740yZw/v-deo.html
Before I finished playing the DLC, I clicked "not interested" on every single DLC related video, and it _kind of_ worked.
I still got spoiled for the name of the final boss though...
elden ring lore community becoming more diverse is a joy to watch
I hope to bring a perspective that maybe hasn't been covered enough. My theorist friends and I have spent a lot of time analyzing the architecture and we think there are some more clues yet to be uncovered in there. The nice thing about architecture? Rocks don't move around like people do haha
Right? The algorithm blessed me with this, I'm shocked this channel doesn't have more subs. Fantastic content!
It's because most of the big tubers had their head cannons dismantled. Now they hate they game like Ratotiskr
@@NamelessSingerEldenRingI love your analysis. I'm looking forward to @tarnishedarchaeologist take too 😁
@@stevenwayne3701 jakeisamimic, kitetales, and so many others have been such fresh perspectives, i really appreciate their hard work
Godwyn's immortal flesh taking on a mermaid figure is almost certainly a reference to the Ningyo, one of which famously was buried beneath a tree.
Miyazaki is just Japanese
I think it's also meant to be a visual metaphor for the fact that Godwyn has always existed as a literal figurehead. First for the golden order, then for Those Who Live in Death.
Finally someone dared to talk about this civilization
Tarnished Archeologist has talked a lot about them
@@odenetheus Really? Can you tell me what videos
@@r-6-j294 This is one of them: ua-cam.com/video/VCe6tVyJ7bw/v-deo.htmlsi=Z7MoPYI6UKh76XS0
But there are multiple ones.
However, he hasn't mentioned the Rauh ruins yet (his videos each take months to make)
@@odenetheus Cool video. At 15:11, he actually shouts out to Nameless Singer, the poster of this video for their posts on reddit. (the time I mentioned automatically became a link to that time in this video. Just to clarify, I meant that time in the Tarnished Archaeologist's video)
Really great video! The connection between bats and the ruins is particularly interesting to me, especially considering the chanting winged dames who are dressed in finery and sing about being spurned as mothers... intriguing stuff!
THANK YOU for appreciating the bats. I love them and I think their placement is totally intentional.
Alrhough its important to remember that bats also exist in castles, caves, and moutainsides that have nothing to do with Rauh
I've always noticed that the bats while not only singing about spurned mothers, also take on a look similar to not only the hornsent grandam, but all the finger maiden husks, like enia and the twins in roundtable.
Yes, I always wanderer why they were always around the ruins
There's also a section in rauh ruins that seems to only exist as a spot for owls to hang out. It's just to the right of where you meet the giant furnace, below the bridge on the right side
Just another connection to Rauh and the Fire Giants. Rauh seems to have some ancient connection with the crucible, with horned beasts popping up there and Devonia searching there. Well according to the talisman of all crucibles, the “mother of crucibles” appeared on the giants as a collection of all crucible aspects. Rauh could be a place where one of these “mother of crucible” appeared, affecting its inhabitants. This might explain the origins of the hornsent people too, another offshoot of the Rauh civilization like the astrologers.
I think the next video will be about why the crucible has such power in this place. I like the Mother of Crucible idea quite a bit. Also interesting that it implies that there are multiple crucibles?? And maybe the Mother of Crucibles connects to the Rauh Goddess statue?? I am super excited to get writing the next essay.
Consider also: the dark-stone Shadow Keep houses Mariner boats, burning with a gold flame.
"Hey Gordon Ramsay, could you tell me the name of the civilization in the Lands Between that forged an alliance between Night and Flame?"
"IT'S FUCKING RAUH!"
LMFAO EXCELLENT!!
Wow this is absolutely incredible, you did a fantastic job showcasing all of the connections here!!
I just watched your GEQ/Messmer video, now THAT was incredible. What beautiful environmental storytelling.
I'm honored that you have you enjoyed my work!!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing NO YOU!! 😭💙 Thank you so much, huge compliment because you are brilliant. Hey if you ever want to cross paths with an unhinged crackpot... I live in the house with all the red string 😆
i love the way u talk about the lore so dramatically like a history channel documentary or sth 😭
I think this stuff IS dramatic!! It's meant to be entertainment (both the video and the game's lore) so I figured I would lean fully into it and make it exciting because its inspired from real history (in my opinion) and real history is metal af
There was a board of nails, and you hammered them all down. This makes SO much sense. Feels like you're looking at Miyazaki's notes.
This was beautifully phrased and I am touched. Thank you.
perhaps the holes in the large gravestones could have once been filled with spritestones/spirit calculuses as a catalyst for the dead spirits to move through to go to their final resting places, maybe if the location of large gravestones create a path of some sort. although i am not fully versed in the lore and would be interested in others interpretations
What’s wild is that this similar spiritual energy cycle can also be found in of all games: Minecraft
Wardens are powered by souls,
Soul sand collects souls overtime like literal sediment which grow new life in the form of nether warts and undead skeletal enemies
I truly believe that the worldbuilding of most fantasy worlds can be considered to be modern mythology. Like ancient mythologies, they are attempting to explain the world around them. and that worldbuilding has to make sense and feel right to us as players in the world. and to do that, it is best if the worldbuilding has some sense of reality, of coherence to it. so perhaps there is some truth, some common thread even, which does exist in all of these "mythologies."
Hey, I just wanted to say how grateful I am that the Greater Algorithm blessed me with this recommendation. I'm a huge From loretube fan, and this belongs with the big names in the community. Keep it up. You rock.
Thank you so much. Your words make me feel so good about myself and the work that went into this. I will do as you say and keep it up!!!
I think we only see Rauh ruins in the places where the rocks erode to reveal the civilization on whose shoulder the entire world is built. I do think, like TA, that there are Rauh ruins literally everywhere. I feel there’s an unexplored theme of Elden Ring - the idea that we all rest on the shoulders of giants. The older and influential a civilization is, the more gigantic it is. I think it’s one of those things that FromSoft does, that’s rather subtle and terribly blunt at the same time. Like how much of the modern world is resting on the shoulders of the Roman Empire. That is Rauh - the foundational civilization for the entire world.
I like TA's interpretation of the ruins being built by giants, but I consider it to be more mythological and with this video I tried to be more historical and treat the ruins as the products of a culture/civilization who built them for a purpose.
Rauh may indeed be the foundational civilization, like the Roman Empire, upon which the world is built. I like it even more after another user pointed out "Rauhman Empire" to me and I looked up the etymology of "Rome" and one possibility is from Rumon, the ancient name of the Tiber River, and the "Ru-" stem coming from *rheo meaning "flow, stream". Which blew my fucking MIND. And actually, I kinda have some more evidence for Rauh becoming the Roman Empire (Leyndell) but that's gotta wait til the Leyndell video.
I think this theme is also found in the giant skeletons that are exposed in Caelid and Mountaintops: parts of the lands between are quite literally built on the shoulders of giants
These two have probably been the best ER lore videos I’ve seen. The attention to detail, visuals and editing choices are incredible
Saving this comment for posterity's sake! I am trying to put out the best lore content that I possibly can, glad that is coming across.
The connection between Rauh, flowing waters, and sprites further cements my theory that the "blind swordsman" and the blue fairie both refer to the Siofra or Ansel River. Siofra being Gaelic for a small spirit, and Ansel meaning Divine Protection, and the Rivers serving to contain the Lake of Rot.
So the kanji for "fairy" in japanese I believe also contains the kanji for "sprite" or can mean sprite. And the kanji for "sprite" can also mean "spirit". So fairy ~ sprite ~ spirit are all kinda the same, and the Blue Dancer Fairy may just be flowing waters. Very Spirited Away hahahaha "the spirit of the Kohaku river!"
Perhaps the primeval current itself, which is more generally the concept of movement, flowing water, change. The concept of change vs. stagnation.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing that makes sense to me, considering Elden Ring is sort of a Magnum Opus of all their games, and Stagnation as a spiritual concept has played a role in both the Dark Souls series and in Sekiro. Maybe that's why the Primeval Current is so taboo, because it implies there's something impure about the crystalized (stagnant) nature of Glintstone sorceries.
“Give it to us RAUH!!! And WRIGGLING!!!” ~ Golem
Thank you for the video. This is quite possibly one of the most coherent explanations of the history of the civilizations in Elden Ring that I've seen so far. Please keep up the good content!
that was a wonderful video! you deserve thousands of views, no joke, great narration, great editing and great theory, you absolutely changed my perspective on many of my favorites areas of Elden ring
Thanks so much! I am happy to hear that you will have new perspective on your favorite places :)
This is exceptional. Well researched, astute environmental observation, and great presentation. Your channel is about to blow up and I'm thrilled to have found it early.
Well done, indeed. Excited for what's to come.
As am I! Thank you for the kind words!!
The purple garden, i think its putrescence came from the stone cofffin, if you go to Miquella's Cross site of grace there, look at the stone coffin where you will jump down and find the boss, you will see something like a liquid, drip down from that coffin.
The Charo's Hidden Grave, full of red flowers - Lycoris, a flower symbolizing Death, Departure, and Reincarnation.
Cerulean Coast, full of blue flowers (i don't know what type of those flower), the color of Cerulean gave feeling peace, restful and relaxation.
Through both of this place, end up with the fissure, in the purple garden, where these coffins rest.
I actually cut a line about how I thought Charo's Hidden Grave could actually BE the Fissure. because it IS hidden, and its full of ships. And the location of the rest of charo's grave isn't hidden at all. Then again, perhaps it is possible that both the cerulean coast & charo's hidden grave areas were once like, beneath the land itself and thats why the grave was hidden.
Holy moly. Was not expecting imp lore which are my favorite critters. Most wonderful video!
so good. finally lots of discussion about all those columns all over the lands between. this video has such good detail about all the architecture and how it links all the timelines and cultures, that is my favorite part about elden ring, so glad the dlc added so much to this. the lore crafting is so deep with these games and i love where youre going with it :)
Glad you appreciate the architecture :) there's SO much more to be said about the architecture and the visual motifs and clues, SO many more puzzles to uncover, and so much lore. My theorist friends and I have been coming up with some great ideas for a long time and I finally have my act together enough to make videos about it all!!
How very to cool to have UA-cam organically recommend me a name I recognize from reddit from 2 years ago! We commented a bit back and forth with eachother on reddit lore posts near the game's launch. Good fun.
Speaking of good fun -- this video! Really well done, holy cow. Sound, smart and thoughtful connections and frankly really unique. You're the first I've seen dive at Rauh from this angle (or frankly dive into Rauh at all...) and it was fascinating. You've got really great stuff here and I think you will quickly become a big voice in the lore community if you keep this up! The level of detail you were able to go into based on the scant direct Rauh info we get in the game was really impressive. I'm subbed and really looking forward to more!
THEBLARINGBLUE!! I remember reading your posts on reddit two years ago!! I think I followed you are well. Great stuff. Happy to see you here :)
I thought for sure that Rauh was going to be a hot button topic so it is weird that no one has really dove into them when they are a big section of the DLC (they have their own map fragment like, all to themselves!). I'm really glad I could do them justice. As for the level of detail: I had a lot of lore dumps from analyzing the ruins in the base game and was able to fill in most of the gaps with the DLC.
I hope to become a big name, and rep the great theorists I've worked with these past few years. I have a LOT of content, I just have to get faster & more efficient with making the videos while keeping up the level of quality.
Great again to see you on the interwebs!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I’m flattered you remember and it’s great to see you’re doing well and making great stuff. Can’t wait to follow along.
Like you said with the DLC filling in gaps- I can’t help but agree. A lot are disappointed with Miquella’s story (I kinda am too) but man oh man, what they did with Marika, Bonny Village, Enir-Ilim and more was sooo validating and fulfilling for me. I really feel like I got the closure I needed from the DLC and for that I am so grateful.
I once heard a song about night and flame, but the lyrics mentioned something about ice and fire 🫢
oooooooooooohh you said the thing!!
also yeah i totally agree its related. ice + fire == water because fire melts ice to create water (obviously). and obviously the mountaintops are covered in snow and also there's only night and no sun up there. another big connection is the snowy crone, who was ranni's "secret" mentor. but we don't know too much about her.
and the zamorians, who wield ice tempests, BUT Zamor was against the Fire Giants. that's ice vs. fire. Zamor occupies one of the black stone ruined villages we find all over the map, and to me it seems like they are perhaps the oldest of the old ruins throughout the lands between. one thing that connects those stone ruins to Rauh is 1) dark/black stone 2) they use pointed archways (versus rounded/curved archways). so perhaps that may be important. but thats so far back in history we're gonna need more info to figure out a better timeline.
A bear a bear! At the maiden fair!
Amazing quality deep dive! I'll need to watch it multiple times to take all this in. Can't wait to see your next videos.
Thank you so much! I can't wait to see them either lol
Very nice video! I am glad you showed the that the ruins of Rauh extend all over the lands between. Very compelling theory about the union of night and flame, cheers to you and all of the others who contributed to this. Some people are so hung up on the Miquella storyline and how "disconnected" the lore of the DLC feels to them, but I think that Fromsoftware has given us more clues than ever about the nature of the world. Subbed!
Thank you for revealing more about the lore regarding the divine tower cultures. Been waiting for more on this and it didn't disappoint
One day, Indigio Montoya, I will make a Divine Towers lore video, and I will do my absolute best to cover every possible thing related to the Divine Towers. But that needs to be a build up since there is a lot that needs to be discussed before we can get that payoff.
Keep it up, these are the lore videos we all strive for here in YT. As soon as people start checking out your channel, you are gonna be acknowledged as the Lore Master you already seem to have become! 🙌
I was big into Dark Souls theorizing back in the day, and I was doing Game of Thrones/ASOIAF lore theorizing since Season 8, but never shared anything for either fandoms. Then when Elden Ring came out I finally started posting theories on Reddit and eventually made a plan to do UA-cam but I wanted to have a better picture of some of the timeline before I started putting all the effort into making videos. So I think I've got some good foundation to put out theories which will benefit the community and our understanding of the larger story! I want a timeline so badly haha.
And, I have some great theorist friends who have helped flesh out these theories :)
Thank you for the kind words!!
WAIT-you can use the crystal darts on golems??? That would have made that divine bridge full of golems so much easier!
yes it seriously makes it so much easier. you don't even have to use them on each golem, just one of them and then they'll attack each other
I have lived, breathed, and shit ER since release, and never knew about the crystal dart effect.
@swordierre9341 damn man lol
Also on the forge golems, would've been great to have realized before struggling so much with their duo-fights.
I knew crystal darts could effect stone imps and the stone watchdogs, but golems too?
@JackisaMimic sent me here and I'm glad I came!! Soooo many insightful observations! Blowing my over and over for 30 minutes.
Perhaps this muddies the waters of your very well worked out theory, but the DLC introduced a connection between the ancient dynasty and the Astrologers.
Above the entrance to the Suppressing Pillar is a relief that matches the relief found on several obelisks in the Dynasty ruins. The elevator inside the Suppressing Pillar is identical to the elevators in the Astrologer Rises. Except that Astrologer elevators levitate and the center-button glows. The Suppressing Pillar elevator rises mechanically with a large pillar and the center-button does not glow.
My interpretation of this has been that this Suppressing Pillar elevator was a precursor to the more advanced Astrologer elevators. Meaning the descendants of the ancient dynasty became Astrologers.
Yet, I find your proposal and rationale extremely compelling. That the Black Stone civilization (Rauh) was a water, death, and spirit culture from which the Astrologers descended.
Perhaps there's a way to marry the two observations?
What if the Astrologers were descendants of Rauh who were descendants of the Ancient Dynasty?
The Dynasty has lots of water, death, and spirit connections as well: aqueducts, the Ancestral Followers occupying their ruins are all spirity and watery, the Grand Cloister and Lake of Rot. They have the coffin water burial thing to take you to Astel.
I need to fire up the game now and check the elevators in Rauh :P
Thank you for making and sharing such a great video!
Oh! And! The Claymen "who served as priests in the ancient dynasty" created Bubble Sorceries. Bubbles made from water. And their sorcery uses the same sigil and the Night/Nox sorceries.
And the Nox have very similar elevators to the Astrologers. The center-button is exactly the same. But the patterns on the rest of the elevator platform is quite different from the ones found on the Astrologer and Suppressing Pillar elevator platforms.
Perhaps there was a fork? Of the ancient dynasty some went on to become Rauh and some became the Nox?
I had to go back into the game to look up this evidence.
Uhl definitely has the connection to spirits, water, and cycles of rot/rebirth. They didn't have writing though, and the Rauh civ had writing on their tablets (unless those were hornsent tablets, idk). As to who came first, Rauh or Uhl, idk. I don't see a ton of architectural overlap in the Uhl Ruins, BUT I do see that the fire braziers look the same. So thats something. The Ruined Forges and the Uhl Ruins also seem to be made out of similar clay-like stone. But idk. The architecture is different but the interests are super similar.
Oh wait, we DO find a set of Rauh Ruins near Mohgwyn Dynasty palace. That indicates at least SOME cross-cultural influence. And possibly at the same time. So maybe Rauh is the oldest, and started in the northern half of the map, and Uhl is also old, but started in the southern half of the map, and also possibly underground (idk how Belurat plays into this yet).
As for the elevators: Okay so the Astrologer/Rises & Suppressing Pillars have the same elevator design, yes. The Nox elevator has the same middle design, but the elevator design itself is much fancier & more modern. Like an evolution. They can all connect with Spirits/Water/Night/Death (Suppressing Pillar monument says "all manners of Death wash up here).
The elevators in Rauh are their own thing and move with a large stone column that goes up & down. BUT, the levers that we use to pull them up & down have the same design as the Suppressing Pillar elevators + Catacomb elevators. With the same 4 ringed design on top. Astrologer elevator levers are different, and so are Nox levers; both are fancier/more modern. For these cultures, I thinking again there is a Night/Death connection.
This is a really tough question and there are patterns but I think we need a dedicated Uhl investigation to fully understand them and then later to do a full Night/Death/Water video (which I will do eventually, but now that you have pointed out all of this Uhl stuff I need to figure out Uhl first).
What a great comment, thank you!
I added this comment to my notes and i will give credit to you in the eventual video
also super great point/connection. yeah, it must all be from water, and also artificial beings.
The Astrologers don't have a sigil exactly, but they do have the Academy Ball Teleport sigil, which we find in the Academy & I think a few of the Rises. That sigil is a part of the Night & Bubbles sigil, and then we have the Carians/Crystalians sigil. C&C / N&B sigils appear to be derivations of the same root.
Carians definitely hail from the Astrologers, and perhaps the Nox do as well. Or, the Nox may be directly descended from Rauh, but I don't think so. The Nox have like, a Leyndell filter they passed through. But they seem to have conserved the water/night aspect of the Astrologers/Rauh better than the Carians did. The Carians got Night/Moon/glintstone stuff.
Magic-wise: the Nox are about inversion and darkness, whereas the Carians adopted following the full moon, which is about the reflection of the Sun. A night lit by the moon. Whereas I think the Nox are described as worshipping the dark moon. So the split may have been either at the time of Rauh, but I am thinking more likely at the time of the Astrologers.
Oh and as for the Uhl connection: the pillars in Uhl are the same we find in Raya Lucaria. Also some in Elphael. So the cross-talk with Uhl may have been from that touchpoint as well
God damn did you wrinkle my brain.
The connection between Rauh, running water, the flow of souls. How it all lines up so beautifully with a concept of the afterlife. How stewarding the flow of water then souls positioned this culture to meld with the smith cultures stonework and create life. You suggest a duality of spirit and substance, that after mastering the Lands Between, reaches towards the heavens.
The relation of souls flowing through water rites, and eventually flowing down through the earth to the underworld, even makes sense of how the Nox may have forged their own version of life. Dewsoaked herba, and the water flowing through the underground areas may still contain souls not captured by the Golden Order.
The story you tell even makes it seem like the Outer Gods may be forces of the natural order attempting to reassert themselves.
I look forward to anything you put together that relates to how the Hornsent and then the Golden Order figure into things here. Thanks for the great insights
Yes you nailed it. Exactly. The flow of water and the flow of souls. Your insight about the duality of spirit and substance is interesting because I had written a line about "the duality of Rauh" at one point, and it is very much this.
Do you think spirit & soul are different in this game? For as long as I have been doing this theory work, I still an unsure if the soul and spirit are different. I think they must be. Some possible clues:
- The new Larval Tear item mentions that it is not spirit or flesh but something in-between.
- Hefty Furnace Pot: "The furnace's flame burns away both body and soul. "
- Death Mask Helm: "the old man turned his attention to the spirituality of Messmer's flame, using it in a rite of resurrection. Yet the soulless bodies he brought to life were no comfort to poor Wego."
And yes, love the notion that the "forces of the natural order" are reasserting themselves. Marika may have tried to remove something fundamental, and perhaps she did, but the Order is alive, in a way. It's trying to fill the hole left by where Death was supposed to go. To fix itself. God I can't wait to write up some magic theories about this, but one thing at a time.
Don't know if they're separate. Tama and Kami are separate concepts in Japan, except in cases where a person might become a Kami. I'd be curious as to what words were used in the Japanese if it matters.
That aside there does seem to be this concept of souls existing in fire after burning the body. The Rancor spells suggest this, as well as the Death Mask Helm you mentioned. The body burns, and the spirit remains in some way. they may need to be guided to underworld. We do find Rancor right down the way from the potential water burials you pointed out.
There is the Bondstone item. The last line says "Bonds with the sprites were made to be broken." As if all this spirit manipulation that might be at play was never meant to be or shouldn't be permanent.
Part of the reason I love your theory so much is it may square what exactly is going on with the Fingers and the Greater Will. We have a society that masters the flow and manipulation of souls on their planet, and then turns their gaze upwards, to disastrous effects.
Timeline is choppy though. Farum Azula suggests Gold and the GW's influence has been around for a very long time.
There are some metaphors to be had around the flow of water and panning for gold. Not only that but the Divine Towers of the same culture are embedded with meteorites filled with gold
This all could just boil down to a metaphysical gold rush.
It doesnt work because the greater Will is the universe itself not a good and that means that the order forces are only little parts that doesnt want to be in balance with the rest
Oh my gosh I LOVE this speculation!!! It’s one of those things I never really gave thought to, but your attention to detail with the black stone, reliefs, and location analysis (them being close to the water) is absolutely brilliant. A very well put together presentation!! 💕
Awesome job, I'm glad to see a high quality DLC video this quick.
Rauh is super interesting!
I love that you say "this quick" because I feel like I took forever with making the video but it has only been 5 weeks I guess haha. But it makes me feel like there is plenty of time yet left for interest in Elden Ring!!
@NamelessSingerEldenRing definitely quick! Just think, you got your first video out faster than Tarnished Archeologist in a similar market and quality.
These types of videos have staying power, and I'll probably watch multiple times since it's currently the best video out on Rauh.
Looking forward to the next one 😀
A few other points:
In the early studies of astronomy and optics, researchers figured out that the best way to study the stars using tools that could magnify their images past the capacities of the naked eye were to utilitize reflective lens, and one of the first utilized forms was light wells-- literally, large basins of still water that would sit under the night sky and just absorb pure reflections of the sky (and it's why many early star charts are circular in nature); to this day this technique is still utilized in image capturing of stars, albeit with hyperrefined glass lenses on satellites outside the atmosphere.
In Caria Manor, you can see the stargazing pool of still water in Loretta's combat room, which was likely where The Carian royals held court to favor their Queen Rennala (who was once a stargazer of the mountains herself); she is the Full Moon, and the light wells with her-- the Golden Egg glowing is her object of desire, her former love was (Radagon, who I likely suspect is the Sun, eclipsed by Marika's shadow; Godwyn now sits in the Seat of the Sun in the Nameless Eternal City of the Deeproot Depths).
The Dark Moon, however, is void of light. If you go to Caria Manor, there is a pool at the bottom of the tower, but waterfalls are eternally filling it up-- this prevents light from welling up in it. (Read that again: Eternal. Flowing. Void of Light.) This is Ranni's Dark Moon, and it is lucid like a dream.
The golden light is also tied to the Frenzied Flame, and is collected in water when the water is still... or Stagnant. Exposure to the Light is Rot, and it is like a cancer.
The fire giants come in pretty simply: Fire Giants is another name for Stars. The Astralogians neighbored the stars. Amidst the Astralogian was the Queen of the Full Moon, Rennala, and all with the Alliance of Night and Flame-- rather, all who live in the sky of night and stars-- followed in her legion. She was the only one who could match the authority of the Erdtree, and so Marika tricked her by conjoining with her during the Eclipse-- Sun and Moon converge. The Dark Moon seeks to burn her living body away and break free from the bonds of fate so she can return the Moon to reigning over the stars, and burn away her political rival: Marika the Eternal.
During her possession by Marika, Rennala's vision of the stars was conjoined, becoming part of the body of the Elden Beast, and allowing Marika to dominate the stars (a.k.a., the Outer Gods), hegemonizing the absolute power of the Universe. Only the Empyreans could challenge her authority-- the twins became gods, Ranni seeks the Age of the Stars, and she replaced the Gloam-Eyed Queen with her own ascension (Gloam-Eyed Queen being another name for the True/Dark Moon, which in Marika's case would be like saying "thine other self" as much like the Eclipse of Rennala and Radagon, the Dark Moon (Ranni) and the Eclipse (Marika) are virtually the same thing when conjoined-- Lunar Princess Ranni sought its uncoupling.)
I couldn't find your comment for a second and I got scared that you had deleted it and then I searched your username and couldn't find it on youtube and then i finally searched some of the text in my comment history search and found you again. I could have scrolled through the video comments but I didn't but the point is that I have been thinking about this all day. Like I keep rereading it because there is something major here and this has struck me in a deep way where my subconscious knows that something is up. Maybe because parts of this are so bold, or so deep.
The light wells is all BRILLIANT. It fits with so many things. I had not put the pieces together that that explains these circular pools of water, I thought it was just linked the moon and the tides. Could this theory also explain Liurnia as a whole, reflecting the stars as a still lake? It's all one big reflection of the stars?
also note that Liurnia/where the moonlight shines forms a crescent on the western half of TLB. TLB landmass itself looks like an eye, and this crescent where liurnia is would be the back of the eye, where the optic nerve is. This optic nerve could be Raya Lucaria, or perhaps the Four Belfries, which have a bunch of black hole portals (or blindspots, perhaps) which are representative of the optic nerve. The Full Moon is also associated with reflecting the sun's light of course, and Farum Azula (realm of light) is directly across from it.
Radagon as the Sun makes sense, especially with your Fire Giants as stars. Which fits beautifully with the Astrologers aspect. It makes me believe that perhaps Rauh was more about night and flowing water than the direct study of the stars, and Rauh/Astrologers (Night Sky) joined with the Fire Giants (Stars) which I think what you are getting at.
Back to Radagon as the Sun. Yes, 100%. The Red Sun of the Japanese flag, and the Red Sun on the Sun Realm Shield, and the Fire Giant spells look like a Red Sun. I have been playing with the idea that there was a split in the Sun at some point, where Light & Flame split (2F/3F). Was this the OG Radagon/Marika split?
So the Frenzied Flame is kept in total darkness, because the light eats away at it. We see that it is a large black hole in the center. It appears like that black hole is like fuel, and your "Exposure to the Light is like a cancer". The light feeds the black hole in the center, which feeds the flame?
This is all REALLY, REALLY fascinating. Do you have reddit or discord? I would love to talk more.
i would also like to point out that Rellana's arena has a similar water pool to Ghost Loretta's arena. also, ghost Loretta makes me think of some sort of spirit projection given how they spawn regardless of if real Loretta is dead. "spirits are eternal" as the video said.
What a BRILLIANT video. Some of these findings really blew my mind - especially the Rises having an 8 pointed octagonal gear-like shape like the pillars of the rauh civilization - such interesting Architecture in ER. Great connections! Thanks for the video!
Glad you enjoyed the video! There is more to be said about the 8-pointed octagonal gear shape. It is part of a more pervasive "pattern of 8" we find in cultures connected to Rauh, the Fire Giants, and the Astrologers. I didn't have enough of the full picture for this video to go into the whole thing. But keep a look out for it!
This also makes sense as to why all of the carian royals names start with ra. They probably claim to trace their lineage back to rauh. To honor their ancestors
yes great catch! we have all of the carians AND we have RAdagon and he is a Fire Giant. So that likely traces back to the Rauh alliance. Makes me wonder if perhaps that was the name of the God/demigod from the age before Rennala. Rennala was a young astrologer, so maybe Rennala's parents generation. Maybe the goddess of Rauh...?
NICE ONE! Thanks for pointing this out!
Renalla and Renna start with "Re" rather than "Ra". But this totally has the feeling of a thing. Lore detector going off. Thanks!
@@Elden_dorK yeah not the same spelling, but the same phoneme i believe. both the "ra" and "re" end up being pronounced the same.
Oh my god. Mind blown
what about rykard?
This is genuinely great. Fantastic work!
New sub from Taiwan
The current of your knowledge has flown far and wide,
I hope it translates to streams of subs, and flood of currentSea for you
Love your wonderful format and top-tier content !
thank you!
This was an incredibly poetic comment, and very on theme with the video. Thank you for your support!
Holy shit, i didnt expect this high quality in a random video on my for you page. Kudos to the effort you put in here!
Interesting theory. Though, given the architectural links, the Rauh are the Fire Giants. They built the fore and that, as you pointed out, is the same architecture. They’re Fire Giant ruins based on the evidence.
You are such a clever lore analyst, i would never thought of this
Shared visual motifs are the same as shared words in text descriptions, and we can do the same kind of analysis between them
Awesome video !
I wanted to point out that everything you said can work to if the astrologer had just discovered the rauh civilization! They don't have to be their descendants or a subdivision of Rauh. it's possible that the astrologers rediscovered Rauh's tech and decided to study it. Explaining why their towers and settlement are next to Rauh's ruins
Hmmm interesting idea. Yeah you are correct that there's some room for freedom of interpretation with how the cultures are related. If the Astrologers did rediscover Rauh tech instead of being a branch of them, the next interesting question is what caused Rauh's civilization to die in the first place? A question to which I have some ideas but do not know the answer to yet.
The merchant in Liurnia who sells you the cookbook and the astrologers says "don't ask where I got them" referring to his goods. It's likely he probably got the Astrologers set and the cookbook off a corpse.
What an awesome video with so many great observations! I particularly like the point about the spritestones--I can definitely see them being the predecessors for the more advanced Golems! And the connection between water and Rauh is actually even stronger in the Japanese: Rauh is written as ラウフ, which is a transliteration of "Lauf." And Lauf is German for "current," "flow," "run," "course [of events]," usw.
In any case, I'm so glad you have a UA-cam channel now! Your reddit posts about the Gold Road and the Divine Towers (along with Quelaag) helped convinced me to take a deeper, second look at a lot of the environmental storytelling in the game.
Yeah and Rauh may also be related to the PIE root *rei- meaning "to flow, run." which is where the Rhine gets its name from. And also ROME may come from the same root?? The ancient name of the Tiber river is Rumon, which is relate to Greek *rheo which means "flow, run", and ultimately comes from the same PIE root. So Rome's whole name may come from a root meaning, essentially, flowing water. It's wrinkling my brains and I just learned this yesterday.
I am glad you liked the Reddit posts. They really seem to have had a positive effect on the community and I am so... fulfilled by that knowledge. The environmental storytelling is REAL!!!!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing It's unlikely that the actual name is Rauh. If they really meant for it to be "Rauh", the japanese name would be written as ラウー.
Now we know it's a non-japanese word, since it's in Katakana, and ラウフ would be read as Ra-U-Fu. This could be translated as "Rauf", "Rauph", "Lauph", or "Lauf". If it was an english word, it would be something like "Ra-oof". Considering that many Japanese artists and especially game developers seem to have a thing for medival europe and often use especially german words, it's likely that @garrulousgoldmask's suggestion of "Lauf" is correct (at least I can't think of any other word that would make sense).
What an amazing and original theory, this adds so much to the overall lore discussion. Great video, keep up the good work!
Thank you so much! I knew it was a good theory when as I was putting together the evidence I already had I kept finding more and more stuff that fit.
How your videos and channels dont have more subscribers and views is beyond my understanding.
I just started! But I hope to keep pumping out high quality content and eventually the views will come. Thank you for the kind words!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I remember your name being mentioned by other Elden ring lore theorists, I forgot whom but Ill let you know. I hope so too! Your videos and theories are of high quality and your voice is very pleasant to listen to :D. Super keen to see more!
@@Sieuqt I think Tarnished Archaeologist has mentioned me before. And I am so glad that you like my voice! I didn't like it and I was self conscious about it but you make me feel better :) i am excited to put out more content!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRingbeing self conscious is the hardest part. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
You crushed this. I have watched hours of all the best creators.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing AGREED your voice is so great for voiceovers :)
I am absolutely adoring these elden ring lore channels that are popping up
the Rauh ruins are at the top left of the map and it looks like they would connect with Ruin-Strewn Precipice. (this is if you put the land of shadow map in the lands bettwen map)
Yes it does look like that. I kinda wonder if there were once tunnels or something, because we do see the tunnels that the Vulgar Militiamen are in. And Ancient Ruins of Rauh are built into the rock/cliffs. Rauh likes building into stone.
Hmmm. I just noticed that that is a fun parallel. Building into stone to allow for pathways for water to flow through. Wisdom ~ water ~ spirit, put those into stone > wisdom of stone?
This also explains the over-reaction of the hornsents to Midra. The flame of frenzy is the only thing capable of destroying both body and spirit.
Also I now finally know the question I had for a long time: The creation of crystalians.
Yeah I didn't even go into detail about them but the crystalians are linked to signing an old accord with the Carians, and their sigil is denoted as being the sigil of the "Carians and Crystalians" vs. the "Night and Bubbles" sigil. So it seems like there was some sort of split in the Night culture at some point. Still unsure of how or what yet.
It's almost like a callback to Dark Souls, innit.
There are so many callbacks to Dark Souls it feels like Elden Ring is Dark Souls but with a GRRM twist. I'm working on a theory that will directly bring in some Dark Souls stuff and I am so excited for it but idk if it will be the next one or not.
Oh, YOU'RE the person who made that post on Reddit about the alliance between Serpents and Giants! While I have seen people mention this before, you did a much better job at explaining it all and tying the separate motifs of serpents and grants together!
Yes that was me! I am planning a Divine Towers specific video eventually but I sort of want to build up to it because there are a few things that I am still ironing out. And I want to make it make sense with the DLC lore and that still needs some time to cook
Man this is some good shit, can't wait for more!
This was beyond wonderful. Not a single criticism I can levy. If that’s a real voice then it’s perfect
LOL multiple people have said that my voice is AI but it's not! It's extra funny because I was super self-conscious about my voice because I think its different than most women, I did not expect that I would have to prove that its not AI
And thank you for the compliments, glad you enjoyed!
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing I could listen all day. It’s you and vati at the top for me
commenting for the algorithm. Great video for real. I'll be listing from now on.
your comment has helped, this video blew up quite a bit in the algorithm thanks to people like you!
Night is also associated with the moon, which is associated with water for obvious reasons. Also, night protects souls. See the lore/descriptions relating to the eclipse, to the duplication mausoleums, and the tortured crucified people that are quiet at night.
I didn't realize that the tortured crucified people are quiet at night... that is really interesting and I will have to think about that.
Flat Earth cosmology makes so much sense for Elden Ring's world, I can't believe this is the first time I've seen someone come up with it.
Just a silly question, what're your thoughts on the Lamenter? Red hair and chest face like a Fire Giant, omen horns, and the transformation seems to be caused by Blackflame...
Wait where did I mention flat earth cosmology? Though, the Elden Ring itself seems to be 2D so there could be an aspect of this world which is 2D and then manifests itself in 3D.
The red hair aspect I think comes from the notion that the Lamenter was originally someone with red hair, which could indicate Fire Giant ancestry. Perhaps the FG-descendants were persecuted in the aftermath of Messmer's Crusade. The Omen, FGs, and Blackflame all seem vaguely tied to pain and suffering (the FG cutscene shows him ripping off his foot to open the eye in the center of his chest), and thorn sorcery is all about sacrifice. Thorn sorcery/creation of red glintstone was discovered in the north. The fire acolytes with the Staff of the Guilty is about sacrifice. So we have a connection to sacrifice and pain and flame. And the Lamenter is about grief and pain. So something about that.
Big hint the crucible and the fell god are actually one in the same. The furnace golems make that even more clear the furnace visage, the red haired faces, the mixed lifeforms inside melting into one thing the end result the hardened tears. The dungeaters armor sun visage is to much of a coincidence and we know he was an omen loving maniac. The other big clues lie within the items you get from the remembrance of the fire giant. From all their descriptions they make it rather clear than the fire giants we know came to be when the they borrowed the power of the fell god. As soon as they did it changed them physically they gained that cyclops face in their stomach and it also made their hair red.
I personally am starting to believe that the formless mother is the Female aspect of the this fell god. There is a reason one needs to be blinded and the thorn sorcerers pilgrimage and are worshiping the flame of ruin. Also it seems helps explain why formless mother can turn blood into flames.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing When you primeaval current as water on top of the dome of the sky
This video is insane. I've never seen such thorough work for elden ring
"Thorough" is definitely the theme I am going for, thank you for appreciating it.
please more !!! i watched both your videos and they are some of my favorite lore videos i've seen so far. no matter how much lore i watch thats based on item descriptions, it doesnt really stick with me as much as these examples that are built into the very landscape of the game, and so obvious once pointed out (especially re: your road video).
I truly believe that we can compare shared visual motifs in the same way that we compare shared item descriptions, and that includes the visual information present in the architecture. I love it so much and I am so excited to share everything we've found!!
Fantastic video. You should voice actual documentaries. I love your connections, everything was very easy to follow and connect the dots, and I'm especially grateful that you maintain an air of scepticism in your conclusions, a fatal flaw of many a headcanon lore hunter. Thanks for a very cool take!
I was super self-conscious about my voice when I started but I have gotten a lot of compliments about it and I cannot express properly how much that means to me.
I started out posting on Reddit and you must maintain skepticism or the comments will skewer you hahaha. I hope to stick to the evidence, provide counterarguments, and when there are multiple possible explanations we'll just discuss all of them and then the audience decides what they want :)
Yooooooo awesome video! Can't wait to watch more of your stuff. Well done with narrating and presentation. Really like your ideas!
Thanks so much!
This was really well put together! Fantastic research and visuals.
Man your videos get me so hyped and excited! I feel like there are very few who go into the detail you do, keep up the amazing work!
Thanks so much!! I will do my best to keep it up.
Everyone paying attention to iconography after the introduction of The Tarnished Archaeologist is so damn cool.
He really did pave the way. If I had started doing this 2 years ago no one would have believed that it wasn't asset reuse. It's something I heard a LOT of in the discord/reddit communities, and now people are totally sold on its importance.
Visual language is just as important as textual language!
The focus on flowing water vs stagnation... it struck me as incredibly odd that the Scarlet Rot had been left to fester in Rauh since before the shattering and yet only occupied a small area with no clear barriers to growth. It makes sense that all the flowing water in and around it reduces its... virality, and ensures a lack of stagnation and a healthy neighboring biome can continue to flourish alongside the rot infected area!
Also, I'm so glad someone is finally talking about the allusions of space being water or a sea, and currents in relation to that. Death too, but that's at least talked about in relation to the ocean more often. Very good shit!
I think the only thing I would contend at all about what you're presenting here is the idea of the coffin-boats being sent down the river. Its suggested (admittedly in a non-assertive way) that they *drifted* to the Lands Between (well, the locale of the Lands of Shadow, which once were just an area of TLB). The imagery on the Uhl Dynasty ruins depicting them on an ocean with waves...
And Numen, said to be from another world. Meldable flesh, putresence, silver tears, the night, the ocean, a voyage of 1000 years into the starry night sky, sheperded by the dark moon.
I'm just so very fond of the idea of the Numen arriving as the coalesced dead, reforming (however that may be; " Life sprouts from death, as it does from birth. Such is the way of the living."), and mingling with the "normal" inhabitants of the Dynasty/TLB. This could then even be the source of the water-burial and water-focused cultures - a defining event in developing human history during which boats drifted from the night sky, bringing strange new peoples and all the culture and mystery wrought from them.
Yes I think the notion that spirits ~ water is a major takeaway here and has major implications for later, but I am not yet sure of how far it goes. The spirit/water connections DO connect to Uhl. The Ancestral Infants Head spouts "spirit vapour" as a geyser. And the ship connection is legit. They are also about trees it appears, since there is the large lake near Nokron with dead trees, and Mohgwyn Dynasty is nearby with Mohg watering trees, and there are ancestral followers in the Forest of Ancient Bowers. I think they might be getting at spirits being the waters which makes new buds grow.
It may even be that the stone coffin ships in the first panel of the Uhl Obelisk are meant to represent DEATH, and the trees growing in the second panel illustrates life growing FROM death.
You are correct that there is a whole thing with the stone coffin ships, Uhl & the Numen, and I did NOT cover that in this video. The fact that the stone coffin ships are only in the cerulean coast, a place with beaches and access to the ocean, and how we find illustrations of ships on the map which look exactly like the stone carvings on the Uhl obelisks, may indicate that these ships are Numen ships which actually traveled over the ocean and washed up here. For this video I went with what the NPC ghost said and the pattern of rivers/coffin burials, but I may have been inaccurate about the stone coffin ships themselves traveling down the Ellac River. They may have come from the ocean, and thats how the Numen got here.
This was the easiest sub of my life , fantastic video ive been so currious for the entire game about these ruins
Thanks for the sub!! I am glad I could provide some answers.
Excellent how you built upon each element of your theory with the next, gradually adding evidence until there was a mountain to look at. Great video! 🎉🎉🎉
Thanks for appreciating that! Yeah I feel the tension while structuring the essays to jump right into the good stuff/biggest conclusions and doing a buildup, and the best path forward is a mix of the two. but GOD do I love a big buildup to a conclusion
A mage and giant double boss fight would have been pretty cool come to think of it.
Actually yeah that would have been amazing.
Good to see you on UA-cam, I really enjoyed your posts on Reddit!
Thanks so much! I have been wanting to make UA-cam videos for a long time now but the stars didn't align until recently. Hoping to weave in the old stuff with the new to get a full picture. Or as full as we can with these games lol
Hell yeah, you nailed a bunch of points I've been drifting around and obsessing over but never managed to tie together. Admittedly to some degree, it's because I spent a ton of time trying to analyze waterways - like trying to figure out where that aqueduct crossing the Rauh ruins may have connected, where certain water sources originated, and getting generally obsessed with the flow of the Siofra and Ainsel rivers.
Then I realized that the dam leading into the lake of rot doesn't actually make sense and realized that perhaps water physics weren't going to be the source of revelations I'd hoped they might be. (you get a reservoir of more stagnant water upstream from a dam, not downstream - the waterway downstream from a dam often runs low and fast. This mostly only occurred to me because I've played far too much Timberborn.)
Anyway. I've loved both videos you've dropped so far, and I am absolutely looking forward to whatever area you dig into next!
Yeah I have not seen a ton of discussion about water personally, but I was also out of the community for a little while working on IRL stuff.
Tarnished Archaeologist just put out a great video about the Shadow Realm possibly being between two rivers, relating it to Mesopotamia and the Tigris/Euphrates.
For the Lake of Rot, I think the dam is purely symbolic and may not work with actual physics. Dams create lakes >> Lake of Rot. The Nox were just controlling water, pretty much. I can't wait til the Nox video, whenever that may be haha
Hey, there’s some evidence for your idea that the ruined forged/smithing arts were created by the fire giants. The basegame item just called the “Hammer,” which is found in Hewg’s place in the Roundtable Hold in Leyndell, outright says that “the art of smithing is said to have originated among the giants.” Great video!!!
THANK YOU damn that is totally the missing link I needed to fully link the connection between the Smithing culture & Fire Giants, because I think that was a part of the essay I didn't go into enough depth on. But eventually I'll try and do a fully Smithing-Fire Giants video including parts of that evidence so I will include it then
Haven't seen any other videos talk about this. Did not notice the similarities at all in Limgrave while I was in the Rauh Ruins. One of my favorite lore videos already
Damn, how do you not have more subs? This is top-shelf lore content. Keep up the fantastic work!
I just started! The positive comments are very encouraging and I am totally focused on the next video and keeping up this level of production.
This video is awesome! I came to a similar conclusion in the base game about the fire giants and astrologers making the golems together, but had trouble connecting that idea to Rauh until seeing this video.
Another interesting detail which might support your theory is how the hornsent actually use sorceries, just "wielded as incantations". It's possible that the hornsent studied Rauh, and then came to worship their findings rather than properly reproducing the sorceries & technologies of Rauh.
Excellent connection and I love it. So they learned Rauh sorceries, but perhaps they knew that the Crucible current ~ Rauh's current, and so they were able to use those sorceries as incantations, because they worshipped the Crucible. Or maybe they found the old sorceries of Rauh without knowing they were sorceries and that's why they used them as incantations instead. Like maybe they just channeled the ideas differently? Rauh knew how they worked and so could use themselves, their minds, to channel them, but for the hornsent, without that knowledge, just had to use faith. God its so interesting how that works.
Dang i almost wish i havent found you for a couple months because i could binge more now. Incredible quality on both this and your previous video. Gonna go check out that essay you left now 👍🏻
I totally know what you mean it always feels great to find a channel with great bingeable content. Give me a few more months!!
Wow! This makes so much sense! So many boss arenas have water in them. I feel like this connection between water and the cosmos is shown best in the Elden Beast zone.
Yeah the Elden Beast area with the waters + cosmos is totally a part of this, but not sure how yet.
Night and Flame draw to each other is shuch an interesting concept that actually happend in game
I know right? Even the Rennala/Radagon stuff fits with it. Maybe a Night to Dawn/Day type of progression?
All of this makes me wonder even more about where the Uhl and the Uld stand in relation to the Rauh and the Nox. The Uhl/Uld both utilized water to precept cosmic events, but don't seem to utilize fire like the Rauh did.
From what I've been able to tell from my own investigations, my working theory is that the Uhl/Uld precepted either the coming age of Gold or the Astel, and began to prepare for their apocalypse through extreme rites of self-preservation, turning themselves into living clay that cannot die. I was thinking maybe it might've been the God of Rot which caused their collapse, but the Uhl seemingly were successful sealing the outer god of Rot away, although I'm sure they weren't unscathed by the ordeal, especially considering their Grand Cloister was almost entirely consumed by a lake of Rot. Considering how large the Grand Cloister is, I think it's plausible that it might've been akin to Leyndell in size, scale, and importance to the Uhl/Uld.
Just when I started feeling like I was traversing a desert, TA uploads and I find this channel. I feel like I just stumbled upon an oasis.
I am wandering through my own version of a desert in a way and I cannot wait until I find my oasis. I am happy to be yours!!
Re: space being akin to or a type of water: FromSoft had played with this idea in depth before in Bloodborne, with the sky becoming the sea and sea becoming the sky in many cases (especially in the hunter's nightmare). So yeah I think you're really onto something connecting the early primeval current sorceries to the culture focused on running water!
You also kind of touched on it when talking about the flowing magma, but to take it a step further, both molten metal and water are essential for smithing. To temper steel you douse the hot metal in water.
Incredible work! I'm so excited to see where you go from here! I live readings and analysis of ER that focus just as much on the architectural and physical clues along with in-game text and dialogue.
SHIT I didn't play Bloodborne, I had a few years where I wasn't playing too many video games and then i got super into Elden Ring again. I think I should play Bloodborne ASAP but now I'm trying to churn out vids.... But thats super useful to know and I'll search for some theories about it so I am more familiar.
Great point about using water for smithing. I actually almost included a line about that but stopped myself because I didn't see water barrels/dousing bins in most of the Forges so I didn't want to make that jump.
Given the blue dancer connection, it's possible that the "fairy" from the blind swordsman's story was a Rauh spirit being.
yeah i am thinking that more and more. maybe the "spirit being" is the amalgamation of spirits joined together in the river?
i had a WHOLE section written about the blind swordsman and rauh but i took it out because it got into rot ideas and this was more about the night & flame connection.
i feel like we need to deal with the nox before we can talk about the blind swordsman, because there are many relations of the blind swordsman to the nox: the nox create a flowing sword, the sealing of rot was done nearby, they have twin rivers and the lake of rot. but i think the nox are much younger than rauh, which is why its so important we figure out when the god of rot was sealed.
I am kinda even wondering... if its possible... that the nomadic warriors WERE Rauh's people. because i mean none of these locations besides the one in the shadow realm seem like they are great places to live. they have a few "benches" there. but the rest aren't really cities. but if they were a nomadic tribe who wandered around and had the fire giants build these structures, that could be something.
I love your voice and I'm happy someone is finally talking about the Rauh Civilization
Just got to Rauh and man I was craving some lore exploration! Thank you for delivering and great work!
You’re awesome! Really excited to see more creators dive into Rauh’s influence in the lands between, they’re clearly positioned as the first or at least one of the earliest civilizations we see evidence of. One of my biggest questions is whether the Hornsent are native to the ruins we find in the shadowland, or if they’ve taken over the ruins, not unlike Leyndell.
The Antiquity Scholar's Cookbook states that the Hornsent scholars were studying the ancient ruins, and looking for techniques "thought lost to antiquity". So the Hornsent came after Rauh, seemingly quite long after. And they have taken over the Ruins.
Also if you put the land of shadow map into the middle of the base game map, assuming that's where it fits before it was cast into the land of shadow, Rauh ruins would be fairly close to both liurnia and the mountaintop of the giants.
Yeah I think it's even possible that the Ancient Ruins of Rauh could have been connected to the Ruin-Strewn Precipice. Outside of the Snow Valley Ruins they are the most impressive and dedicated set of ruins. There may have even been a river which ran from Altus towards Shaded Castle that may have dried up; maybe the flow of water was different back in the day. When the Shadow Realm split from the rest of TLB I kinda wonder if something changed and the Ellac River used to be much more prominent.
Awesome video, incredibly well put. I'd only like to propose that Rauh may have had a more complex relationship with rot, not outright antagonistic, at least not at the beginning. Rauh seems to have been deeply polytheistic and in the ruins we find the Verdigris Discus, which is said to be a gift from an outer god. Now, verdigris is simply corroded copper. The forager brood shows us that rot may have postive applications. I posit that Rauh initially had a more nuanced relationship with Rot, whose balance was broken by the God's sealing by the blind swordsman. That's why it was so malevolent when Romina found it much later, when her own suffering allowed her to weave its divine energy into Scarlet Rot, a more virulent, unbalanced and dangerous version of Rot.
Oh, this take is fantastic. Excellent interpretation across the board. I am adding your comments to my notes and will probably be quoting you in the next video.
I agree that it was not all antagonistic. I only mentioned the flowing water alone in this video in comparison to Rot/stagnation to emphasize the connection to the Astrologers/currents later. Verdirgris Discus is a good one. I think the Spirit Calculus forms by following principles of stagnation, look up what a calculus is and how it follows the principles of yodomi and kegare (stagnation/rot principles in Shintoism, you may already be familiar are you are clearly a learned theorist). So its more that Rauh understood the ENTIRE cycle, both sides, flowing water and stagnation, and how they were important. I think that is gonna be the next video, and maybe also the Crucible.
I had never considered the Rot Romina found as being malevolent, but I think that you are correct. It is also a deeper red instead of Malenia's more pink version. And I like the notion of suffering allowing her to weave it into the scarlet rot. Could you elaborate on how you think she would mechanistically do that? Because the suffering angle is EXTREMELY interesting to me.
As part of this video I was working on a theory that the swordsman may have been from Rauh itself, but the flowing swords we hear about being created are in relation to the Nox. So was the blind swordsman from Rauh or were they Nox? The Nox & Rauh share a LOT of similarities, and perhaps the Nox are so modern that the key is that the flowing swordsman ISN'T from the Nox, but rather is from Rauh and the sealing of the God of Rot did happen during Rauh's era.
Fuck but the issue here is that I need to talk about the Nox first because I feel like the current inkling is that the swordsman was Noxian. But maybe he wasn't. Shit I will just keeping thinking this through in this comment and I think I need a Google Doc and a deep dive.
This is super interesting though and I am gonna consider this in more detail. Excellent comment, thank you.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing Thank you very much for replying, I'm glad you found the comment interesting! Regarding Romina, I came to this conclusion due to the similar story of the Bloodfiends.
The Bloodfiends are victims of the Crusade as well, and when they peered on the corpse of their ancestors (their tutelary deity, judging by the Outer God Heirloom) they instead saw in its eyes a malevolent deity, which they began to misguidedly worship. Now, there are two possibilities: either the Formless Mother was able to "hijack" the ancestor's corpse, or she was indeed the ancestor, twisted by the clan's suffering. In both cases, it seems that despair and suffering can deeply affect the relationship between mortals and gods.
And given that the DLC heavily hints that the outer gods are indeed "outer" for not belonging to the Order, it wouldn't seem strange to me if Romina managed to contact the divine element of Rot using the surviving bud in her burned down church as a spiritual medium (another practice well known to the Hornsent and previously Rauh).
As per the blind swordsman, I'm inclined to agree with you in placing him as far back in the timeline as possibile, thus linking him more to Rauh. That's because the Pests existed even before Romina adopted them, implying that there has been at least one aspirant Goddess of Rot before Romina. But, since Romina seems to have stumbled into something new to her, I'd guess this is an earlier, forgotten attempt to escape its confinement.
It seems to me that the nomadic warriors (those wearing blue scarves over their eyes) are the people of the blind swordsman, maybe even founded by him. There are no links between these nomadic warriors and the Nox, as far as I'm aware, so maybe they could be survivors from Rauh's fall, like the Astrologers and the Fire Giants.
Edit: I also read your essay about the Divine Towers, and it's not beyond reason that the Serpent underwent a similar "transformation by neglect and suffering" as the outer gods, transitioning from a deity that values the cycle of life that rebelled against the Erdtree for this reason (although brutal in its own way), to the greedy and grasping entity we meet in the game
@@Pizzifrizzo yo so sorry for the delay, i was on vacation, but if you message me on reddit maybe we can talk more? this is all great stuff and i would love your input on the next video as i am trying to figure out the timeline. you helped me so much with this comment i am already putting you in the special thanks for the next vid. so much of what you said in this second comment gels with other notes my friends and i had come up with for this essay, in particular the channeling thing. the suffering stuff is also SUPER SUPER important like i cannot even begin to start with that god i hate trying to have long discussions in the youtube comment section. but yeah message me please!!
Wow! You're giving Tarnished Archeology a run for his runes. Bravo! Great content!
We are all Tarnished and we work together! His work is great and he's given me shoutouts in the past, I am proud to finally join the ranks of UA-camrs like him.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing Yay for Jolly Cooperation!😁
This is amazing, I was really hoping I could find a video discussing what Night and Flame really means, and the Rauh Ruins, Golems, the architecture of forge of giants and of course the Sprite Stone but I never thought they would all be in the same video. Looking forward to the future videos!
I originally was writing the essay just about Rauh but then I realized the connection to Rauh & Night and reorganized the video to be about this. I still can't believe it all came together so well!!
First two videos are already good so this should be a great channel. One thing to add, the two kanji together 技師 is one word, gishi, it means engineer or technician. So a majutsu gishi would be a sorcery engineer or a magic technician. Spellmachinist is a good translation
Thank you! I am definitely going to be more careful in the future if I reference the Japanese translation because I do not speak Japanese I just really like analyzing languages and I don't want to get things wrong.
This is a breath of fresh air in the reused topics, with click baits, based on far fetched hunches and hypotheses.
With this being, only, the second video, yours has structure, examples and a logical narration.
Bravo! Keep up the good work! 👏
Can't wait for the next video! ❤
Thank you so much. I think people sleep on the architecture, but there's so much information there. I am going to try and stay very grounded and stick to just identifying the patterns and figuring out a story to explain them.
@@NamelessSingerEldenRing we always applaud the game for it's graphics, but never realised that the basis is some amazing architectural patterns across the ages.
I applaud you for the scientific approach on the lore part, which was widely missing from the "Elden Ring lore community" (took me by surprise, ngl 😂).
BTW, how much time does it take to produce such a masterpiece?
Thank you for this! I could tell there was a connection between rauh and the divine towers, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint it
Your brain saw the connection subconsciously!!