Centipedes/Insects/Vermin are my favorite symbols in FromSoftware’s games, and I wanted to expand on my thoughts regarding kegare, this idea of a spiritual and physical pollution, in the Souls games; because it is such an integral concept in Miyazaki’s design philosophy. Almost every souls game has a theme about how we have to accept change, or else we will become stagnant and lose what we were trying to preserve in the first place. -King Allant was worried that his kingdom was coming to a close, so he reawakened the Old One and turned himself into a demon to hold onto his power. -Gwyn was worried about the gods losing their power and feared that humans would be next to inherit ownership of the world, so he relit the First Flame and trapped the world in a cycle of light and dark. -Genichiro Ashina was worried about his dynasty losing their power, so he tried to claim the Dragon’s Heritage to defend his territory forever before resorting to alternative, and lesser, means; becoming barely human by the end. -And Queen Marika wanted to hold on to her claim to the Elden Ring, and so removed the Rune of Death to not only weaken her strongest adversary, but to also make her kingdom eternal. In almost every game, kegare is visually expressed through the use of insects and poison swamps, as insects are seen as dirty and stagnant water is usually the breeding grounds for insects. -www.gameinformer.com/games/demons_souls/b/ps3/archive/2009/11/05/feature-demon-s-souls-director-discusses-difficulty-sequels-and-more.aspx?amp In this old Gameinformer interview from way back in 2009, Miyazaki states that two of the areas in Demon’s Souls were made with the idea of them being places of evil. The Tower of Latria is a man-made evil, while the Valley of Defilement is a natural evil. The Valley is indicative of a physical pollution leading to a spiritual pollution. The area is a festering cesspit of disease, with two of the bosses being related to bugs in some way; with the Leechmonger being a pile of leeches and the Dirty Colossus being a mound of flesh and wood that shoots swarms of flies. The last boss in the area, Maiden Astraea, represents this spiritual pollution coming from a place of physical pollution, with the description for the spell Death Cloud saying “Astraea, who willingly accepted the corrupted and corroded, naturally became the most corrupted of them all”. -In Dark Souls, The Depths are the sewer system for the Undead Burg where criminals and other unwanted people were thrown away. Below that is a shanty town built over a swamp presumably for those who became sick from the Depths called Blighttown. And below the swamp is the Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith, which is where the Witch of Izalith created the Chaos Flame. Almost every kind of Chaos Demon has some sort of insect-like feature. The Taurus and Capra Demons both have bug eyes. The Cragspiders look like a combination of people and flies. There are these centipede-worm things that spit acid that breaks your equipment. The Ceaseless Discharge has multiple eyes as well as legs on its back that looks like a spider, and the arm that fell off of it became the Centipede Demon. Some of the Witch’s daughters became half god-half spiders, and those that serve them become egg bearers, with the worm-like offspring parasitizing the egg bearer. There are the Sunlight Maggots that Solaire will put on his head and go crazy. And the Witch herself became what looks like a big silverfish bug. I think all of this is to illustrate that the demons are inherently unnatural, they aren’t necessarily evil but that the Witch’s attempt at recreating the First Flame and what resulted from that is a corruption of nature and life. -Then in Dark Souls 3, we have the Deep. The Deep was originally a sacred pool of water that was watched over by Way of White clerics at the Cathedral of the Deep, in a very similar fashion to priests at a Shinto shrine. When you go to the Cathedral, in the back there is a big body of water; I’m pretty sure this is the Deep. Anyways, I don’t remember exactly which one, I think it was McDonnel, but one of the Archdeacons became fascinated with Human Dregs, which are the sediment from the human soul. He began tossing them into the Deep, and they started to cause the water to grow stagnant. This then became like a new version of the Abyss, becoming the breeding grounds for insects that can be summoned with the Gnaw and Dorhys’ Gnawing miracles, as well as the spider-lion things. I also think it’s neat that the Abyss, in contrast to the First Flame, often manifests as a liquidy goo. The Abyss and the Deep are calm, cool, and still; in contrast to the First Flame which is energetic, hot, and ambitious. This I think is why the Abyss shows up as a swamp in Farron Keep and The Ringed City. And in the abyssal swamp in the Ringed City are the White-Faced Locust Preachers, with locusts being representative of something all-consuming. -In Bloodborne, the League is a group led by Valtr that hunts centipedes called vermin. The description for the League’s rune, called Impurity, says “Vermin writhe within filth, and are the root of man’s impurity”. I’m not as aware of how kegare fits into Bloodborne’s narratives and themes, but I see that there is a video by a couple of big name Souls UA-camrs that kinda goes over how kegare (defilement) and tsumi (sin) fits into Bloodborne. ua-cam.com/video/oCisZBbs7UA/v-deo.html. I would like to note that the rune for the Vilebloods, called Corruption, is different than Impurity and I would argue that Impurity represents kegare, whereas Corruption represents tsumi (a transgression against thr orthodoxy of the Healing Church). -Now Sekiro is very interesting, as it is very explicit with its themes of Shintoism and Japanese Buddhism. The game is heavily focused on the Buddhist concepts of Samsara (cycle of reincarnation) and Nirvana (enlightenment by escaping the cycle), as well as Shinto kegare. Many of the other Souls games also have these Buddhist elements to them, but they aren’t as explicit as this one that is set in a fictional medieval Japan. But anyways, the Fountainhead Palace is a waterfall that runs below I believe the Sakura tree that represents the Divine Dragon. The water of the Fountianhead Palace is called the Rejuvenating Waters. This is what the Okami people at the Fountainhead Palace would drink to become immortal and serve the Divine Dragon. Where the water runs off to is I believe the location where the Guardian Ape is first found. The water stagnates here and I believe that the centipedes were born here and then somehow made it upstream, infecting the whole water supply. Those who then drink this water are infected by these centipedes, gaining a dirty form of immortality compared to the Dragon’s Heritage, which is in itself seen as a curse by Kuro. One such group that has intentionally done this to themselves are the Buddhist monks at Senpou Temple. The goal of Buddhism is to reach Nirvana, escaping the cycle of reincarnation. But you are supposed to do so by becoming enlightened. What these monks are doing is that they are giving themselves a false Nirvana, believing that this is the easy ticket out of Samsara. But the game is showing that this is not the right way to do so, and that immortality and making yourself stagnant is not a good thing. -And then in Elden Ring we have two different concepts that relate to kegare. Godwyn and Ranni’s bodies are marked by a centipede symbol, as their half-deaths are both a defilement (kegare) and transgression (tsumi) against the Golden Order. But then there is also Scarlet Rot, which is stagnant, dirty water that leads to a disease that eats away at one’s body and mind. The blind swordsman who sealed away the outer god of Rot used a sword that looked and moved like flowing water, which removes the impurities born from the still water. To ease her suffering, this swordsman taught Malenia the Waterfowl Dance, a way to move like water. The description for the Blue Cloth Set says “The blue color of its fabric symbolizes brisk waters, as fluid and flowing as the sword in the hand of its wearer. Just as still waters turn foul, stagnation leads to decay. Warriors must remain ever-drifting”. This need to constantly be moving may also be why the armor mentions that it belongs to a nomadic warrior. Water is pretty important in Shintoism, as there is a way to purify yourself of kegare through ritual washing called misogi.
On Elden Ring specifically: The two underground rivers are named after fairies, with Siofra being the word for Fairy in Old Irish and Ainsel being the name given by a fairy in a Scottish fairy tale. This likely means that the Blue Fairy was literally the spirit of one or both of those rivers, and it seems like the rivers themselves were diverted to contain and seal the God of Rot. This is why the Lake of Rot is so concentrated/intense, yet also contained. The Rot has continued building and growing, but is unable to spread past the flowing rivers that surround it and keep it contained.
The ones in Sekiro always creeped me out. I always wonder did those monks knew about about the truth behind their immortality? Did they volunteer to be infested? Were they forced to do it? It's so fascinating because these things just show up all the sudden. Did Sekiro ever worry about his own immortality could eventually turn to that?
Yes! The Senpou monks absolutely knew. Holy Chapter: Infested "A passage describing a journey to enlightenment. "For an age, I have been blessed by the worm. To be undying is to walk the eternal path to enlightenment, thus I must become enlightened to understand why I cannot die. It is said the holy dragon's origins were in the west. So I wonder, how did the worm come to be bestowed upon me?" This is either given to Wolf by a infested monk, who also has some additional details. Or it found later cast into a pond with a sunken Buddha statue. I can't imagine that the Corrupted Monk boss didn't know about the centipede inside her. Especially because she uses it in her third phase. Wolf certainly has a lot to ponder about immortality, and the ending you choose, for Wolf would be him making some philosophical opinion on it.
I'm assuming that Sekiro would NOT develop a centipede, as his immortality is shared with Kuro and comes directly from the Divine Dragon, as opposed to everyone else getting it second handed. That said, Sekiro's immortality isn't without its cost. He himself is immune to the spiritual stagnation, so it gets spread to other people in the form of Dragonrot.
I think I figured out why I love your video so much: they remind me of lectures in my favorite university classes, just without the stress and anxiety of exams and research projects looming over my head.
The sperm-ish imagery may be alluding to 'Spermatheca', or Insect-Spermatheca(not sure of name), the part of female insect reproductive system(s). This makes more concept-riffing sense lore-wise due to the nature of Fromsofts piercing, blood, rebirth. There's a thing there probably.
is this the thing about how some male bugs sting their female counterparts with their dick to inject sperm into the "bloodflow" and have it reach the reproductive organs that way ?
Reminds me about some reading I was doing involving Japanese folklore about stagnant water and the parasites that grow within it. Essentially: If free flowing water is purifying then stagnant waters are places were evil coagulates (queue tangent into talking about rot and the swordsman that flows like water), leading to a specific cultural dislike of creepy crawlies that specifically live around swamps and other places of slow decay much in the same way that rats are an icon of pestilence for Europeans post black death ( We all deal with rats and bugs, but its interesting which one your culture uses as a symbol for sickness). You see a brilliant doubling down on this in the famous manga/anime Mu-shi-shi, which examines classic Yaoki and other folkore monsters AS parasites. Centipedes are an interesting choice for a "death" animal because they don't themselves eat rot... but they DO eat a lot of other bugs that cause decay in things, specifically wood and other plant matter. I'd reckon that the reason that the centipede is the symbol for death is because it implies the decay of the Erdtree has already set in, something the golden order could NEVER allow.
I'm definitely enjoying the new series! While the longer videos are a lot of adventurous fun, these short and sweet vids are way easier to get into, and they are really good at imparting bits of lore and other information.
There's also the rot in DS3 ashes of Ariandel. Something I' ve noticed in the '' Rot'' textures in the DLC 'Ashes of Ariandel. The eggs in it are not actually eggs, they are pupae. Which is the cocoon where an adult fly will emerge. Flies have four stages of evolution, eggs, maggots, puppae, and Imago(adult). From a symbolic point of view. I find it quite interesting.
I always found it neat how the cursemark of death is in the same shape as the golden centipede crafting item, and the way D. talks about vermin like valtyr does seems like more than coincidence.
The Gowry thing is a crazy detail! I wonder if that means Gowry is an avatar of the Rot Goddess or the Rot itself, like how Shabriri is an embodiment of the Frenzied Flame.
@@minespatch The I Outer God of Rot probably has no gender. I called it a goddess because its intended end goal is to use Malenia's body to rule the Lands Between.
So one thing I have noticed missing from souls analysis over the years is emotional understanding, not just a why and how but what motivated characters. The flame of chaos is the best example of this, the flame of chaos was created out of love and it is what the flame symbolizes. It is very clear Miyazaki is a fan of Carl Jung and society has forgotten him and a lot of his ideas, we are not beasts we are more. "Pyromancy flame drawing upon the latent power of Quelana of Izalith, mother of pyromancy. For the pyromancer, a flame is a precious thing indeed, to be nurtured, often for an entire lifetime. When the flame is shared, it creates an eternal bond between the parties." The lore never clearly states there is a first flame alive somewhere either and with pyromancy was born from flame sorcery that was lost. Pyromancy was born from the humans directly after all. Have you ever noticed the parting pyromancers parting flame in DS3 has some very unique characteristics? It requires strength to wield effectively. Why do I bring all this up for Vermin? Well I have always thought that these represent the parts of our being like desire and greed that can infect us and essentially control us. Looks can be deceiving though, the demons of Izalith are largely sympathetic while in Sekiro insects are related to negative ideas. The Hunters nightmare is the fusion of reality of what they truly are and that is why vermin infected hunters appear alongside Ludwigs horrible guise. Love motivates people all through history, people live their entire lives on their idea of love even if it is horribly wrong. "men are props on the stage of life, no matter how sweet how exquisite, a lie will remain a lie." Aldia rejected love, but he was wrong. The blood dregs look like sperm and a lot of things reference intercourse or reproduction for these reasons, because they are created from the baseless beasthood of men. Intelligence is not enough though, as that can lead men down dark paths as well, but there is no faith in bloodborne. Faith alone is blindness, but tempered by intelligence is flame, is love. To lose love is to die, or at least a part of you, but yet you live and this is undeath. I know this was a huge ramble nobody will agree with but you touched on so much of what I see I needed to share. Oh also my biggest reach but favorite headcannon for this fact is that chaos flame is unrequitted love, one sided true love, and the chaos blade description in ds3 is why. "The sword is not unlike a thing misshappen, granted life, but never welcome in this world. In other words, chaos itself." The sword hurts you as you fight with it, giving you strength but costing you in pain.
I love gross bugs and centipedes and fromsoft's depictions of insects as a force of nature is fascinating to me!! Especially in sekiro where we see immortal corrupted monks decomposing in their own robes while living symbiotically with worms and flies, its so cool to me
There was also a dark souls cut enemy where you have a giant bug that spawns mosquitos. King bore on youtube presented it. It's a Izalith creature. Not sure if the Tseldora parasite spiders fit this topic but it might.
Please Queelag do a video on Valtr, he is one of my favorite characters and ultimately fascinating in what he represents (to me). Thanks for the video!
The Code is Cracked! Travel to Maliketh, The Black Blade Site of Grace after you defeat him and aquire The Rune of Death. The Elden Ring with the statues and the floor decor is the Decoder for Weapons, Poses, Attire, Everything! Try wearing Gideon Offnirs attire, walk up to the candles, turn your back to the Elden Ring and start lining everything up! It has worked with everything I've tried so far. Also Marika is more than likely the witch that Sellen's Mask is based off of. The statue looks like a younger witch, the mask is a more mature witch. Happy Holidays and Happy Lore Hunting!
I think a lot of people go astray trying to find truths in the smaller things, when truth is often writ large for all to see. My personal take on Dark Souls the first one, is that its a new version of the story of Prometheus, and he stole the fire from the gods. What do we know of Gwyn, he fought the dragons who are known to breathe fire, and "found" the first flame. But "flame" is a metaphor i think, i think it represents something to aim for and the purpose to try to do it. The hollow are said to have lost their purpose/motivation. We stand outside of that as our dreams arent dead so we have a part of the first flame in us still, a dream, a wish, a meaning to strive for, and that is the story that is being told in the game. We fight the last order, the order of Gwyn because its dead and corrupt it can no longer give people meaning and purpose or even something to strive for, so we kill it and if we are so willing we try to kindle the flame again in a new image. It is for all purposes and intents creating a new religion, or rewriting the old one to fit with the world we live in today as for example jesus (though fictional) did in the new testament That is the first dark souls game. Dark Souls game 2 and 3 are a continuation of the first one, Elden Ring is not, Elden Ring tells a story of how a new order was created, the gold order, which gave rise to a whole world under the rule of Marika, but its dead and corrupt when we take the scene, as all children see our old traditions, values, morality and even religion when they come into the world, its dead and corrupt already because the world is different today compared to what it was like for their parents, who tried to updated those values but the world has changed with those new values, so children are always brought into a world where its traditions are dead and corrupt.
I really like videos like this, thank you for inspiring me with the crucible and flowers videos. I've been looking into the story the flowers tell and it's been very interesting. I think there may have been an age of chaotic flowering vines, with one flower somehow changing into a tree. But when a shardbearer dies, golden leaves fall from the erdtree that erdleaf blossoms actually eat. It's description states erdtree leaves fell in days of antiquity, but if the tree is eternal, all I can think of is godwyns death. Perhaps leaves fell on the night of black knives, and from the leaves new life could grow in the form of flowers. I think this either represents a cycle of tree and flower, or, a cycle of flowers interrupted by an eternal tree and the crucible of life trying to return to its natural form. I'd love to hear other people thoughts too though
I knew there was a good reason for why I should hate and fear bugs!! 🤮😱 Strong work on the vid! Content wise, it was chocked full of info (as usual), and the production was tight and clean (pretty much the opposite of anything shitty).
Has this ever happened to you? I got excited when you mentioned centipedes in your last video, because I remember reading that they sometimes represented the corruption of immortality, but when I went to go read into it more, I couldn't find anything on the subject! The same thing kind of happened with white snakes. I could have sworn I read on Wikipedia that they are a symbol for the pursuit of immortality in Shinto, specifically relating to the mythical figure, Orochimaru. Unfortunately, when I tried looking it up so I could elaborate, all I could find on the subject was that the Naruto character, Orochimaru, pursued immortality. It makes me feel like either my memory is getting bad, I'm bad about making assumptions, or they shuffle information on the internet more often than I think. Regardless of the reason, I should probably take more notes.
The 6 Divine Towers are the 6 quarks that make an atom. The international symbol for an atom has 6 points. Placidusax is Delphi, the original center of the 4 Fundamental Forces.
You are easily one of the smartest, most plausible Miyazaki Lore Hunters out there and that is not a compliment, more than it is FACT! Even when ill (sorry you have to go through that) you make short work, speak volumes. I am not implying you don't work hard by that statement., I am know you do, your content is very RICH and easy to digest, like Ben &Jerry's ice cream. Great Work!
I know your sorta from soft/souls like centric channel but it would be cool to see you go into Warhammer 40k lore and what not! Also been a while since your last upload hope your doing good 🙏
I clicked because I thought it was vermis lore, but this video was nice too. You might like vermis if you like dark fantasy worlds like this one... the lore comes from manuals for a game that doesn't exist, it's a bit odd
It occurred to me on my last playthrough that the Chaos servant covenant is essentially a bódhisattva vow...out of compassion you walk the path of doing benefit for other beings and you do benefit other beings by walking the path (becoming a literal path in this game)
It's worth noting also that in the real world some religions believed blood to be distilled from blood, as blood is believed tonbe the medium of the soul and sperm is created as a downstream product of it with the ability to bring life in procreation. The blood dregs looking the way they do is a very direct reference of that.
![GIRL IM DRUNK lets talk about Elden Ring Flowers [My dog barks really loud ASMR]](/img/n.gif)
Centipedes/Insects/Vermin are my favorite symbols in FromSoftware’s games, and I wanted to expand on my thoughts regarding kegare, this idea of a spiritual and physical pollution, in the Souls games; because it is such an integral concept in Miyazaki’s design philosophy. Almost every souls game has a theme about how we have to accept change, or else we will become stagnant and lose what we were trying to preserve in the first place.
-King Allant was worried that his kingdom was coming to a close, so he reawakened the Old One and turned himself into a demon to hold onto his power.
-Gwyn was worried about the gods losing their power and feared that humans would be next to inherit ownership of the world, so he relit the First Flame and trapped the world in a cycle of light and dark.
-Genichiro Ashina was worried about his dynasty losing their power, so he tried to claim the Dragon’s Heritage to defend his territory forever before resorting to alternative, and lesser, means; becoming barely human by the end.
-And Queen Marika wanted to hold on to her claim to the Elden Ring, and so removed the Rune of Death to not only weaken her strongest adversary, but to also make her kingdom eternal.
In almost every game, kegare is visually expressed through the use of insects and poison swamps, as insects are seen as dirty and stagnant water is usually the breeding grounds for insects.
-www.gameinformer.com/games/demons_souls/b/ps3/archive/2009/11/05/feature-demon-s-souls-director-discusses-difficulty-sequels-and-more.aspx?amp In this old Gameinformer interview from way back in 2009, Miyazaki states that two of the areas in Demon’s Souls were made with the idea of them being places of evil. The Tower of Latria is a man-made evil, while the Valley of Defilement is a natural evil. The Valley is indicative of a physical pollution leading to a spiritual pollution. The area is a festering cesspit of disease, with two of the bosses being related to bugs in some way; with the Leechmonger being a pile of leeches and the Dirty Colossus being a mound of flesh and wood that shoots swarms of flies. The last boss in the area, Maiden Astraea, represents this spiritual pollution coming from a place of physical pollution, with the description for the spell Death Cloud saying “Astraea, who willingly accepted the corrupted and corroded, naturally became the most corrupted of them all”.
-In Dark Souls, The Depths are the sewer system for the Undead Burg where criminals and other unwanted people were thrown away. Below that is a shanty town built over a swamp presumably for those who became sick from the Depths called Blighttown. And below the swamp is the Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith, which is where the Witch of Izalith created the Chaos Flame. Almost every kind of Chaos Demon has some sort of insect-like feature. The Taurus and Capra Demons both have bug eyes. The Cragspiders look like a combination of people and flies. There are these centipede-worm things that spit acid that breaks your equipment. The Ceaseless Discharge has multiple eyes as well as legs on its back that looks like a spider, and the arm that fell off of it became the Centipede Demon. Some of the Witch’s daughters became half god-half spiders, and those that serve them become egg bearers, with the worm-like offspring parasitizing the egg bearer. There are the Sunlight Maggots that Solaire will put on his head and go crazy. And the Witch herself became what looks like a big silverfish bug. I think all of this is to illustrate that the demons are inherently unnatural, they aren’t necessarily evil but that the Witch’s attempt at recreating the First Flame and what resulted from that is a corruption of nature and life.
-Then in Dark Souls 3, we have the Deep. The Deep was originally a sacred pool of water that was watched over by Way of White clerics at the Cathedral of the Deep, in a very similar fashion to priests at a Shinto shrine. When you go to the Cathedral, in the back there is a big body of water; I’m pretty sure this is the Deep. Anyways, I don’t remember exactly which one, I think it was McDonnel, but one of the Archdeacons became fascinated with Human Dregs, which are the sediment from the human soul. He began tossing them into the Deep, and they started to cause the water to grow stagnant. This then became like a new version of the Abyss, becoming the breeding grounds for insects that can be summoned with the Gnaw and Dorhys’ Gnawing miracles, as well as the spider-lion things. I also think it’s neat that the Abyss, in contrast to the First Flame, often manifests as a liquidy goo. The Abyss and the Deep are calm, cool, and still; in contrast to the First Flame which is energetic, hot, and ambitious. This I think is why the Abyss shows up as a swamp in Farron Keep and The Ringed City. And in the abyssal swamp in the Ringed City are the White-Faced Locust Preachers, with locusts being representative of something all-consuming.
-In Bloodborne, the League is a group led by Valtr that hunts centipedes called vermin. The description for the League’s rune, called Impurity, says “Vermin writhe within filth, and are the root of man’s impurity”. I’m not as aware of how kegare fits into Bloodborne’s narratives and themes, but I see that there is a video by a couple of big name Souls UA-camrs that kinda goes over how kegare (defilement) and tsumi (sin) fits into Bloodborne. ua-cam.com/video/oCisZBbs7UA/v-deo.html. I would like to note that the rune for the Vilebloods, called Corruption, is different than Impurity and I would argue that Impurity represents kegare, whereas Corruption represents tsumi (a transgression against thr orthodoxy of the Healing Church).
-Now Sekiro is very interesting, as it is very explicit with its themes of Shintoism and Japanese Buddhism. The game is heavily focused on the Buddhist concepts of Samsara (cycle of reincarnation) and Nirvana (enlightenment by escaping the cycle), as well as Shinto kegare. Many of the other Souls games also have these Buddhist elements to them, but they aren’t as explicit as this one that is set in a fictional medieval Japan. But anyways, the Fountainhead Palace is a waterfall that runs below I believe the Sakura tree that represents the Divine Dragon. The water of the Fountianhead Palace is called the Rejuvenating Waters. This is what the Okami people at the Fountainhead Palace would drink to become immortal and serve the Divine Dragon. Where the water runs off to is I believe the location where the Guardian Ape is first found. The water stagnates here and I believe that the centipedes were born here and then somehow made it upstream, infecting the whole water supply. Those who then drink this water are infected by these centipedes, gaining a dirty form of immortality compared to the Dragon’s Heritage, which is in itself seen as a curse by Kuro. One such group that has intentionally done this to themselves are the Buddhist monks at Senpou Temple. The goal of Buddhism is to reach Nirvana, escaping the cycle of reincarnation. But you are supposed to do so by becoming enlightened. What these monks are doing is that they are giving themselves a false Nirvana, believing that this is the easy ticket out of Samsara. But the game is showing that this is not the right way to do so, and that immortality and making yourself stagnant is not a good thing.
-And then in Elden Ring we have two different concepts that relate to kegare. Godwyn and Ranni’s bodies are marked by a centipede symbol, as their half-deaths are both a defilement (kegare) and transgression (tsumi) against the Golden Order. But then there is also Scarlet Rot, which is stagnant, dirty water that leads to a disease that eats away at one’s body and mind. The blind swordsman who sealed away the outer god of Rot used a sword that looked and moved like flowing water, which removes the impurities born from the still water. To ease her suffering, this swordsman taught Malenia the Waterfowl Dance, a way to move like water. The description for the Blue Cloth Set says “The blue color of its fabric symbolizes brisk waters, as fluid and flowing as the sword in the hand of its wearer. Just as still waters turn foul, stagnation leads to decay. Warriors must remain ever-drifting”. This need to constantly be moving may also be why the armor mentions that it belongs to a nomadic warrior. Water is pretty important in Shintoism, as there is a way to purify yourself of kegare through ritual washing called misogi.
On Elden Ring specifically: The two underground rivers are named after fairies, with Siofra being the word for Fairy in Old Irish and Ainsel being the name given by a fairy in a Scottish fairy tale. This likely means that the Blue Fairy was literally the spirit of one or both of those rivers, and it seems like the rivers themselves were diverted to contain and seal the God of Rot. This is why the Lake of Rot is so concentrated/intense, yet also contained. The Rot has continued building and growing, but is unable to spread past the flowing rivers that surround it and keep it contained.
Holy crap I never knew about the Moon Presence's face in the Blood Dregs, really neat detail
The ones in Sekiro always creeped me out. I always wonder did those monks knew about about the truth behind their immortality? Did they volunteer to be infested? Were they forced to do it?
It's so fascinating because these things just show up all the sudden. Did Sekiro ever worry about his own immortality could eventually turn to that?
Yes! The Senpou monks absolutely knew.
Holy Chapter: Infested
"A passage describing a journey to enlightenment.
"For an age, I have been blessed by the worm. To be undying is to walk the eternal path to enlightenment, thus I must become enlightened to understand why I cannot die. It is said the holy dragon's origins were in the west. So I wonder, how did the worm come to be bestowed upon me?"
This is either given to Wolf by a infested monk, who also has some additional details. Or it found later cast into a pond with a sunken Buddha statue.
I can't imagine that the Corrupted Monk boss didn't know about the centipede inside her. Especially because she uses it in her third phase.
Wolf certainly has a lot to ponder about immortality, and the ending you choose, for Wolf would be him making some philosophical opinion on it.
I'm assuming that Sekiro would NOT develop a centipede, as his immortality is shared with Kuro and comes directly from the Divine Dragon, as opposed to everyone else getting it second handed. That said, Sekiro's immortality isn't without its cost. He himself is immune to the spiritual stagnation, so it gets spread to other people in the form of Dragonrot.
I think I figured out why I love your video so much: they remind me of lectures in my favorite university classes, just without the stress and anxiety of exams and research projects looming over my head.
The sperm-ish imagery may be alluding to 'Spermatheca', or Insect-Spermatheca(not sure of name), the part of female insect reproductive system(s). This makes more concept-riffing sense lore-wise due to the nature of Fromsofts piercing, blood, rebirth. There's a thing there probably.
is this the thing about how some male bugs sting their female counterparts with their dick to inject sperm into the "bloodflow" and have it reach the reproductive organs that way ?
I never attacked Gowry so the insect interaction never dawned on me. Great video! Your editing skills are coming along nicely too :)
Reminds me about some reading I was doing involving Japanese folklore about stagnant water and the parasites that grow within it. Essentially: If free flowing water is purifying then stagnant waters are places were evil coagulates (queue tangent into talking about rot and the swordsman that flows like water), leading to a specific cultural dislike of creepy crawlies that specifically live around swamps and other places of slow decay much in the same way that rats are an icon of pestilence for Europeans post black death ( We all deal with rats and bugs, but its interesting which one your culture uses as a symbol for sickness). You see a brilliant doubling down on this in the famous manga/anime Mu-shi-shi, which examines classic Yaoki and other folkore monsters AS parasites.
Centipedes are an interesting choice for a "death" animal because they don't themselves eat rot... but they DO eat a lot of other bugs that cause decay in things, specifically wood and other plant matter. I'd reckon that the reason that the centipede is the symbol for death is because it implies the decay of the Erdtree has already set in, something the golden order could NEVER allow.
Gotta love how rich and straight to the point this new series is
Holy cow, just re-found your channel after 10 years. Glad to see you're still making awesome souls content after all these years!
The amount of souls lore and imagery I consumed I am surprised I haven’t found you until now. Very good stuff. Thank you
Very bite sized and friendly to lore experts or casual souls fans alike. Amazing series so far ❤
I like the essay format you’ve been using, it gets the point across very effectively
I'm definitely enjoying the new series!
While the longer videos are a lot of adventurous fun, these short and sweet vids are way easier to get into, and they are really good at imparting bits of lore and other information.
There's also the rot in DS3 ashes of Ariandel.
Something I' ve noticed in the '' Rot'' textures in the DLC 'Ashes of Ariandel. The eggs in it are not actually eggs, they are pupae. Which is the cocoon where an adult fly will emerge. Flies have four stages of evolution, eggs, maggots, puppae, and Imago(adult). From a symbolic point of view. I find it quite interesting.
I always found it neat how the cursemark of death is in the same shape as the golden centipede crafting item, and the way D. talks about vermin like valtyr does seems like more than coincidence.
Can't wait to have my mind exploded later let's gooooo
The Gowry thing is a crazy detail! I wonder if that means Gowry is an avatar of the Rot Goddess or the Rot itself, like how Shabriri is an embodiment of the Frenzied Flame.
Was the scorpion a goddess? I assumed the scorpion had no gender.
@@minespatch The I Outer God of Rot probably has no gender. I called it a goddess because its intended end goal is to use Malenia's body to rule the Lands Between.
@@TriforceWisdom64 I guess the closest we'll ever see of the rot god is the stinger weapon.
Amazing job as always!
So one thing I have noticed missing from souls analysis over the years is emotional understanding, not just a why and how but what motivated characters. The flame of chaos is the best example of this, the flame of chaos was created out of love and it is what the flame symbolizes. It is very clear Miyazaki is a fan of Carl Jung and society has forgotten him and a lot of his ideas, we are not beasts we are more. "Pyromancy flame drawing upon the latent power of Quelana of Izalith, mother of pyromancy. For the pyromancer, a flame is a precious thing indeed, to be nurtured, often for an entire lifetime. When the flame is shared, it creates an eternal bond between the parties." The lore never clearly states there is a first flame alive somewhere either and with pyromancy was born from flame sorcery that was lost. Pyromancy was born from the humans directly after all.
Have you ever noticed the parting pyromancers parting flame in DS3 has some very unique characteristics? It requires strength to wield effectively. Why do I bring all this up for Vermin? Well I have always thought that these represent the parts of our being like desire and greed that can infect us and essentially control us. Looks can be deceiving though, the demons of Izalith are largely sympathetic while in Sekiro insects are related to negative ideas. The Hunters nightmare is the fusion of reality of what they truly are and that is why vermin infected hunters appear alongside Ludwigs horrible guise.
Love motivates people all through history, people live their entire lives on their idea of love even if it is horribly wrong. "men are props on the stage of life, no matter how sweet how exquisite, a lie will remain a lie." Aldia rejected love, but he was wrong. The blood dregs look like sperm and a lot of things reference intercourse or reproduction for these reasons, because they are created from the baseless beasthood of men. Intelligence is not enough though, as that can lead men down dark paths as well, but there is no faith in bloodborne. Faith alone is blindness, but tempered by intelligence is flame, is love. To lose love is to die, or at least a part of you, but yet you live and this is undeath.
I know this was a huge ramble nobody will agree with but you touched on so much of what I see I needed to share. Oh also my biggest reach but favorite headcannon for this fact is that chaos flame is unrequitted love, one sided true love, and the chaos blade description in ds3 is why. "The sword is not unlike a thing misshappen, granted life, but never welcome in this world. In other words, chaos itself." The sword hurts you as you fight with it, giving you strength but costing you in pain.
I love gross bugs and centipedes and fromsoft's depictions of insects as a force of nature is fascinating to me!! Especially in sekiro where we see immortal corrupted monks decomposing in their own robes while living symbiotically with worms and flies, its so cool to me
I just realized parity in themes w/ Bloodborne/Armored Core -- 'ascension' via Byrgenwerth/Allmind
There was also a dark souls cut enemy where you have a giant bug that spawns mosquitos. King bore on youtube presented it. It's a Izalith creature.
Not sure if the Tseldora parasite spiders fit this topic but it might.
Please Queelag do a video on Valtr, he is one of my favorite characters and ultimately fascinating in what he represents (to me). Thanks for the video!
The Code is Cracked! Travel to Maliketh, The Black Blade Site of Grace after you defeat him and aquire The Rune of Death. The Elden Ring with the statues and the floor decor is the Decoder for Weapons, Poses, Attire, Everything! Try wearing Gideon Offnirs attire, walk up to the candles, turn your back to the Elden Ring and start lining everything up! It has worked with everything I've tried so far. Also Marika is more than likely the witch that Sellen's Mask is based off of. The statue looks like a younger witch, the mask is a more mature witch. Happy Holidays and Happy Lore Hunting!
another amazing video Quelaag!
I think a lot of people go astray trying to find truths in the smaller things, when truth is often writ large for all to see.
My personal take on Dark Souls the first one, is that its a new version of the story of Prometheus, and he stole the fire from the gods. What do we know of Gwyn, he fought the dragons who are known to breathe fire, and "found" the first flame. But "flame" is a metaphor i think, i think it represents something to aim for and the purpose to try to do it.
The hollow are said to have lost their purpose/motivation. We stand outside of that as our dreams arent dead so we have a part of the first flame in us still, a dream, a wish, a meaning to strive for, and that is the story that is being told in the game.
We fight the last order, the order of Gwyn because its dead and corrupt it can no longer give people meaning and purpose or even something to strive for, so we kill it and if we are so willing we try to kindle the flame again in a new image. It is for all purposes and intents creating a new religion, or rewriting the old one to fit with the world we live in today as for example jesus (though fictional) did in the new testament
That is the first dark souls game. Dark Souls game 2 and 3 are a continuation of the first one, Elden Ring is not, Elden Ring tells a story of how a new order was created, the gold order, which gave rise to a whole world under the rule of Marika, but its dead and corrupt when we take the scene, as all children see our old traditions, values, morality and even religion when they come into the world, its dead and corrupt already because the world is different today compared to what it was like for their parents, who tried to updated those values but the world has changed with those new values, so children are always brought into a world where its traditions are dead and corrupt.
I really like videos like this, thank you for inspiring me with the crucible and flowers videos. I've been looking into the story the flowers tell and it's been very interesting. I think there may have been an age of chaotic flowering vines, with one flower somehow changing into a tree. But when a shardbearer dies, golden leaves fall from the erdtree that erdleaf blossoms actually eat. It's description states erdtree leaves fell in days of antiquity, but if the tree is eternal, all I can think of is godwyns death. Perhaps leaves fell on the night of black knives, and from the leaves new life could grow in the form of flowers. I think this either represents a cycle of tree and flower, or, a cycle of flowers interrupted by an eternal tree and the crucible of life trying to return to its natural form. I'd love to hear other people thoughts too though
Love this one ❤🎉 flowing through the whole series of games with ease ✨️
I knew there was a good reason for why I should hate and fear bugs!! 🤮😱
Strong work on the vid! Content wise, it was chocked full of info (as usual), and the production was tight and clean (pretty much the opposite of anything shitty).
fear not the dark my friend
I really like these!
Has this ever happened to you?
I got excited when you mentioned centipedes in your last video, because I remember reading that they sometimes represented the corruption of immortality, but when I went to go read into it more, I couldn't find anything on the subject!
The same thing kind of happened with white snakes. I could have sworn I read on Wikipedia that they are a symbol for the pursuit of immortality in Shinto, specifically relating to the mythical figure, Orochimaru. Unfortunately, when I tried looking it up so I could elaborate, all I could find on the subject was that the Naruto character, Orochimaru, pursued immortality.
It makes me feel like either my memory is getting bad, I'm bad about making assumptions, or they shuffle information on the internet more often than I think. Regardless of the reason, I should probably take more notes.
I GET THIS ALL THE TIME it drives me mad when I cant find the myth or story Im looking for!
hope you feel better soon!
I would LOVE a full breakdown on snakes in Miyazaki games.
The 6 Divine Towers are the 6 quarks that make an atom. The international symbol for an atom has 6 points. Placidusax is Delphi, the original center of the 4 Fundamental Forces.
This is a great topic thank you
Fantastic Video! :)
You're great. Always glad to see what you got to say. :)
Haha apologizes for exactly what is in your bio :) thank you for the video
YAY!! MOAR LORE
Silent Hill soundtrack match any lore video about anything.
Lore queeeeen!
I for one welcome our new Parasite overlords.
#1 video about centipedes and vermin.
Hell yea it’s bug time!
Orange Charred Ring
All vermin are to be crushed
Radagon is Radagaisus is God Spear
amazing
Where did the Miquella and Godwyn video go? About Sheol and all that? What has happened?
Feel better Q 🤒
Gowry comes back?! Holy shit!
Late upload? Lets gooooo ❤
very goood content
You are easily one of the smartest, most plausible Miyazaki Lore Hunters out there and that is not a compliment, more than it is FACT! Even when ill (sorry you have to go through that) you make short work, speak volumes. I am not implying you don't work hard by that statement., I am know you do, your content is very RICH and easy to digest, like Ben &Jerry's ice cream. Great Work!
Yessssss
I know your sorta from soft/souls like centric channel but it would be cool to see you go into Warhammer 40k lore and what not! Also been a while since your last upload hope your doing good 🙏
I clicked because I thought it was vermis lore, but this video was nice too. You might like vermis if you like dark fantasy worlds like this one... the lore comes from manuals for a game that doesn't exist, it's a bit odd
It's been too long I really need to replay bloodborne
Anyone think the title "Vermin and Centipides" is kinda hot?
🐞🐞🐞
less goo i wanma be infestedd
I like bugs, they're cute 🥰
Woohoo speech impediment club🥳
It occurred to me on my last playthrough that the Chaos servant covenant is essentially a bódhisattva vow...out of compassion you walk the path of doing benefit for other beings and you do benefit other beings by walking the path (becoming a literal path in this game)
It's worth noting also that in the real world some religions believed blood to be distilled from blood, as blood is believed tonbe the medium of the soul and sperm is created as a downstream product of it with the ability to bring life in procreation. The blood dregs looking the way they do is a very direct reference of that.
Fantastic Video! :)