This track is now available on Bandcamp: rozn.bandcamp.com/album/shaman-village-from-shadow-of-the-erdtree Also stream on Spotify and Apple Music: lnk.to/elden1
@jumbootsjamstrang5694 The golden braid. "A braid of golden hair, cut loose. Queen Marika's offering to the Grandmother. Boosts holy damage negation by the utmost. What was her prayer? Her wish, her confession? There is no one left to remember, and Marika never returned home again." You find it in the village, in a tree, in front of a body that looks like Marika. Possibly the grandmother in the description.
Agreed. I suppose the softer notes represent Marika as a human, and the harsher notes represent the golden order. Hence why shaman village, as said in the minor erdtree incantation; Marika summoned this erdtree, to bathe her village in gold, but without order.
I really liked how the themes had bits of their originals. Messmer sounds abit like Radagons theme Radahn sounds well, like Radahn but vastly changed And now this. It's really cool
@@dragonlordplacidusax9413 in the cut content it is part of a larger poem, that Godrick seems to repeat as a sort of mantra. So who's to say it didn't originate from Marika? Maybe, maybe not, but being so dismissive kind of defeats the entire purpose of Fromsoft's esoteric lore.
'Oh Golden One... At whom were you so angry?' as the song of the bats goes. You know, maybe after all this time, she was probably angry at herself and angry that she could never have what she really wanted. As Sir Gideon once said, 'Perhaps the Queen's sorrow was justified.'
@@Bodgie7878 They slaughtered her people and twisted her flesh. She become a cursed god not chosen by the Greater Will. I'm not surprised she turned when all of her children were born cursed.
"You will find no answers in that place. There is no solution there. No cosmic plan nor grand design. Naught but a memory lives there now, of what once there was, and of the pain. It too will soon be forgotten, for that grace will never return. Tarnished, if you would go seeking hope, bother not. Those echoes will not avail you; these lands cannot be saved. But if you would ease them in their passing, seeketh there the comfort of Gold."
Even if you know nothing about the lore, stepping foot into the shaman village you can feel it, a feeling of peace, but also intense sorrow. It's quiet, somber, and peaceful, but still the memories of great loss linger in the very atmosphere of the village.
True! Even my dumbass without knowing the lore understood that place is home to someone important which I found out later since I missed Golden Braid lol
Fromsoft gave us a more impactful story moment than 99% of games by presenting us with an empty village and 2 items, masterful worldbuilding right there.
Marika was just a village girl. If not for the Hornsents persecution maybe she would have never become a god trying to prevent another loss that she suffered from happening again.
agreed but remember her village is right next to the finger ruins and she was guided by the fingers to godhood. if it was their grand plan it probably would have happened either way somehow.
I dont think it was godwyn that caused her to shatter the elden ring personally since we know she doesnt care about her children i think its her divinity that is the issue. As st trina her self said there is nothing worse than a caged divinity. In my headcannon she consipired with Ranni and the nox to kill him in order to further her plans since we know for a fact that the shattering was planned by Marika and not done out of impulse
Marika was always the most interesting character to me. I don't understand people who unironically "hate" antagonists as a character for doing antagonistic things. Character doing bad things doesn't mean they're a bad character infact they can be the best character which is the case with Marika. Now having played the DLC Marika is the greatest fromsoft character, an all timer best character ever and one of the greatest antagonists in fiction.
Well, why did she still do bad things? That's why people hate her. She's a great character, but she's still an evil character. What logic is it: An excellent villain does bad things, but since he is well written, you shouldn't hate him?
@@michelinosports9363 I think it too. I think she was used by Metyr to imprison (gaol, jail, lock-up) the Elden Beast, for eternity. But not just Marika. The Divine towers prove that dragons were also influence by Metyr and her actual position under a cathedral, a proof that the Nox were under her influence too. The cult of the Two Fingers is tied to the Lands Between societies.
Imagine if Godrick became the DLC final boss and finding Shaman Village and has a new mindset. A fragile old man with golden spiritual grafted arms wielding the powers of the other demigods "Tarnished...no, warrior blessed with gold, seek thy era of thou order. Or bring about gold unalloyed, gold without order. I, Godrick last of the demigods, stand anew, for the age of guidance commence. Phase 2: Has Morgott, Radagon and Miquella golden miracles
What's beautiful is that the lore for SOTE was written prior to the base game's development even starting, so Godrick of all characters saying this line, the guy who grafts things onto himself seamlessly which is an attribute of the Shamans that he is descended from, is extremely fitting in hindsight. He had no idea just how beautiful his original home was, but even he yearned for the comfort of Gold, without Order. Marika's lineage is one of the most beautifully written generational traumas in fiction.
I knew as soon as I rode in that something was different here. Virtually no items except for two. No enemies. Flowers everywhere, music. Kind of haunting and makes me think Marika wasn't such a bad god.
She was essentially a sympathetic tyrant. Melina's dialogue at the base of the dectus confirms she just destroyed anyone who didn't fall in line with her order.
@@BaconDrive Which I kind of understand. From what I can gather after all the DLC context, she essentially wanted to make the Golden Order her perfect idea of what should be, without death and without any chance of hornsent/crucible nonsense coming back to haunt her, which is ironic given she had two omen children. Not saying she was good or benevolent by any means but I get why she did certain things the way she did.
@@turnipmanz1754 "The current imperfection of the Golden Order, or instability of ideology, can be blamed upon the fickleness of the gods no better than men. That is the fly in the ointment." - Erdtree Scholar Goldmask
@@turnipmanz1754 this is my favorite way of describing the situation. I feel that even in Elden Ring, there's this sense of humans losing themselves to "something greater," whether it may be beneficial or harmful. In almost every case, it's the latter. In a way, the gods are almost written as ideologies, with only the rare few actually valuing human rights and coexistence of life. It was never the gods that made the people what they were -- human spirit burns within, pushed in every direction by internal tides of tragedy and joy. No matter who they worship, no matter what they believed in, humans *believe*. A god may always exist in some capacity in the Lands Between, and that's okay. It might even be necessary, seeing as how in Ranni's ending, the dark moon takes the position of a benevolent ruler that allows humanity to make decisions for itself. How we go about living in a world *with* these gods, however, is an entirely different problem. Morality may be gray, and at times memories or personal tragedies may cloud our judgements and lead us to act out of personal trauma or ally with forces that don't have our best interests in mind. Navigating such a world is enough to drive anyone into psychological isolation, and I don't blame those who lose their way. I don't blame them for shattering their old paths either, as sudden as it may seem. Human sympathy is what separates us from "gods," and it's what makes even the empyreans in this game so unimaginably pitiable. In that way, all of us are a lot more like Marika in a sense than we would ever care to accept.
I used to really hate Marika as an antagonist, but after this part in the dlc, i understand her motivations a lot more. Her actions were unforgivable, and yet...
Unforgivable, yet understandable. All she truly wanted was safety and freedom; to never lose anything again. But for every enemy defeated, every chain broken, a new danger would arise, and a new link would form. So she shattered it all.
The moment her first son died, godwyn, she truly believed that even becoming a god couldnt prevent the death of her loved ones. Thats when she gave up and destoryed the elden ring
Shes really not so bad. Ranni is actually the most treacherous and villainous character in the game, but simps have their minds in the gutter and fiendishly rush to defend her.
@tamnickyle i understand what you mean, but her character is trying to escape the dominance of the endless cycle. That's typically what miyazaki views as the correct approach to his games . Also I'll add that the translation to English lost quite a bit for what she says in her ending.
"Only the kindness of gold, without order." In a world under the golden order. The sheer emotion, the love and tears of relief and mercy you feel at the mere affirmation that the light of gold is more than merciless judgement, callous discrimination, unwarranted dictation. That the light of gold can hold love and kindness for the world shatters my heart. Marika if only you had shown the world the kindness and love of gold, without order nor cruelty. Mayhap thy order of gold would birth a world free of despair and loss.
/!\ Spoilers, maybe ? As soon as i reached the village, i was struck by the lack of sounds in the ambience. All of a sudden, all the misery, chaos, the stress... It was gone. And then the music played, and as soon as it did, it felt like something big was up. 2 items and the name of the village, followed by the music was all it was needed to make me rethink the lore of the game, why Marika acted this way, and how her character is so well-written. Elden ring is not about being a hero of the lands or it's destroyer. Elden ring always have been about ending the cycle of hatred, revenge, in one way or the other. There is no "good" or "true evil", there never was. Just a girl who tried to make things right the way she has seen them. Even after all the tragedic events the were inflicted upon her, all she wanted was to find a home, maybe a small house in a village, bathed in rays of gold. Of course, i do not forgive her for her acts. However, i understand why she did them. Thanks for the amazing song ! Really captured the melancholic mood of the place. (I'm still at Bayle for now, can't wait to finally get to the dark tower and burn the thorns ! Please don't spoil me anything, cheers !)
Gwyn was a good person. Evil person would not kill themselves and sacrifice themselves, so that people they care could go out and enjoy life. Both Gwyn and Marika are manipulative, but they are meant to be tragic characters who mean well.
@@matiasluukkanen7718 Bro what? Gwyn prelonged the Age of Fire so he could maintain his power that would otherwise be granted to men by cycle of nature and Age of Darkness. He literally robbed humanisty and doomed it to suffer for eternities
@@matiasluukkanen7718 Gwyn literally cursed mankind and permanently ruined the world, indirectly creating the Abyss and the Deep and all the problems that come with them, out of his fear of death and the end of his age.
@@makol-wl2nfAnd what do you think it means to lose your power? You are not going to just sit on your throne and wait for life to continue. The same thing that happened to the ancient dragons was going to happen to Gwyn and that is what she wanted to avoid, along with all the gods, her followers and her children. He's not a saint, he was just a man who wanted to keep everything under control.
[Spoilers ahead] Minor Erdtree Secret incantation of Queen Marika. Only the kindness of gold, without Order. Creates a small, illusory Erdtree that continuously restores the HP of nearby allies. Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, knowing full well that there was no one to heal.
@@HosseinTaghavi-sq1cf noone is borned a monster They become it There was a reason for all her sins her suffering And at the end she got punished Lost her son Godwyn ,her children are borned with afflictions And she was a puppet for the greater will , that God only wanted her for her womb, she wanted to destroy the order of the greater will knowing that it wouldn't let her free She got crucified, created a future for the tarnished to change the future of the Lands Between The real monster is Miquella, forced love compassion without their own will Just what the Greater Will wanted too and that's why Marika destroyed it
You know what really made the village work? The flowers. It could have been any anchient ruin. There are many in Elden Ring. It would have been sad. But the flowers showed you a glimpse of what it might have been, once There was still love there... :'(
@@neutralplayeroflol5722 Polar opposites, yet similar outcomes. A lot of people say that Marika is the Elden Beast, and if that's true, then you kill both Marika and Radagon, and maybe Miguella.
@@ExetiorExeExetiorthearch-demon The Elden Beast is the Greater Will. The Greater Will is what chooses who becomes a god. Marika was not chosen and her children all cursed.
This'll be remembered in the same way veteran souls fans remember the Gwyn piano,if there's ever a Marika boss fight,this motiff must be played to give players a similar emotional gut punch as when they heard Gwyn's theme while fighting SoC...
@@impartialthrone2097 Same body,different people,I feel like Marika would've had a different fighting style and possibly even dialogue,since Radagon is completely mute...
Somewhere, in the alternate universe where nothing ever went wrong, Marika probably still lives in that village. She's probably still a mother, with beloved kids. She uses what incantations she knows to heal people who need it. She brings small offerings to the Grandmother in the tree, like everyone else. She might tend a garden. She sees the Scadutree every day; the view is gorgeous. Maybe she dreams of adventuring beyond her village, maybe she's happy to just live among the wind and the flowers. She has no soreseal, no curse of duty. No order, just kindness. And in her simple life, she's closer to sainthood than her divine counterpart ever was. Don't we all wish the Hornsent hadn't ruined everything?
@theawickward2255 and maybe her children would not be born cursed and could live normal lives and (for some) experience parental love like other children
@@theawickward2255 In the alternate universe the world of ER is dead, corrupted by different cosmic entities and inter-planar gods. READ LORE WTF. WHY PEOPLE CAN NOT UNDERSTAND HOW F*CKED world of ER without Great will TEND A GARDEN AHAHAHAHAH..
This is the best place for finishing your adventure in Elden Ring. I never can imagine that. After 2,5 years greatest adventure in my life. After winning battle with gods and other great creature's of this world, you come in shaman village with that ost and sit down near fire or little gold tree. You will never forget this. Thanks Hidetaka and FromSoftware for that great adventure.
After finding the village and finally puttingvall the pieces together as to how Marika ascended to godhood, and why she did what she did, I only had one simple thing to say as I sat down in the middle of the field bathed in gold. "I understand."
There is an interesting lecture I want to point here. Marika's used her spell with "only the grace of gold, without order" to try to heal her village, and while she did in fact made a beautiful field of flowers, "there was no one left to be healed", the only memory of this act, being the little tree that remained. Melina seems to have inherited her mother's spell, since she uses it, but this three is way bigger, plus, while The Lands Between are clearly on a decrepit state, there is still hope for something to eventually bloom for the better. I wonder if the reason why Melina's tree is bigger than Marika's, it's because Melina, unlike her mother, can still save her land, and given the fact she is willing to sacrifice herself to allow it, I like to think that in some way, Melina's is doing what her mother couldn't, save her home, not seeking revenge, but guided "only by the grace of gold, without order", in some way, showing that she learned from her mother's mistakes, and doesn't want to be guided by hate, but love.
My headcanon is that Melina is how Millicent to Malenia, a little copy of Marika that represents something. I believe that Melina is Marika's love, by burning the erdtree alongside Melina, means that Marika wish for everything she believed to be destroyed through her own love; a love she's not deserving
I don't think the spell was shamans' heirloom. After all, gold = Greater Will, and was born from Marika's affair with this Deity as stated in the lore trailer to the DLC.
It’s truly tragic when you realize that Marika only wanted freedom at the end, after everything she had done she tried to cast out the Outer Gods who tore her life and her family apart by shattering the Elden Ring. The guidance of gold isn’t from the Greater Will, it’s from Marika to complete her mission alongside Melina. In the end, we weren’t called back to the Lands Between by some divine providence or to complete some noble goal, it was to answer the fleeting and forgotten prayer of girl torn war in the name of the divine, a girl who once knew only flowers. To find freedom, and to become a lord without a god, instead a lord of man.
Finally somebody understands The Marika is the main hero of the story We are her Vengeance against all entities that conquered the world of ER. Gold and grace are not bad things, in other way around - it is the warm blood of civilization that brings Life. It was just hijacked in some ways. I guess even GW are not that bad, if we look on other Entities. I still think that we need another Heaven(aka) DLS to finish the cycle. We still have the cutted melina boss fight and a lot of stuff. When she is the closest creature to original marika in lore now.
@@BloodyArchangelus She is DEFINATELY NOT the hero of the story. Yeah she changed her mind at the end. Thats it. That doesnt excuse the state of the world she made which you see in game, or her deeds to other innocent races. The whole point of her character is that she is just another turn of the cycle, she became the hornsent society.. If she had been the bigger person and used her new Godhood for the betterment of all she would have been a hero, but she gives in to hate and becomes the same if not worse. The point is that she shouldnt have done that, then the game wouldnt even need to take place. That is what Grrm writing is about at least
I don't see Marika as a girl. She has indeed become a goddess, birthed many children, built a world order and then worked to destroy it. She did not want only freedom for herself. She wanted to destroy the world order built by her hands but that turned out not what she wanted. Her wisdom, her cunning, her ruthlessness is on another level.
I always wondered what was with those dancing women and the Godskin Apostle inside the village near the walls of Leyndell. I think I understand now, I believe it’s meant to be a mockery of Marika’s time living in the Shaman village. Notice how they’re all dressed in very flowery and shaman like clothing and all the flowers strewn about the place.
when i arrived... the song and the emptiness in the village, devoid of even the traces of bodies. it made me cry. if i were to quote a certain depressed news anchor "something great happened here, and now its over with."
I adore how small everything is when it comes to origins. We fight in the great citadels of the Golden Order, but the DLC reminds us with the Hornsent and the Shamans that it all started in tiny little villages, that from these small communities nestled away in the world came the horrors that would set the stage for the ensuing slaughter
It's unfair how almost all the comments are discussing the lore without addressing how amazing this cover is. It gives a whole new layer to the minimalist vibe of the original track and reignites the emotions I felt upon reaching the area. Solid work!
Could you imagine if someone like Gideon or Ansach was given the information and they pieced it together and said “thats… thats all this golden order came from… it was all a wish or prayer from a scared girl who didn’t want to see her people suffering anymore, what a mess that has made… makes you wonder, if the lands between is merely Marika’s dream, perhaps she’s still that scared little girl. I won’t condemn or condone what she did, I merely understand, but some part of me wish I didn’t.”
In my opinion, if you want to hear Marika speak to you, just listen to the haunting, sorrowful and beautiful lone female singer in the Elden Beast theme. She says so much with so few words.
Marika is an autist, hypersensitive, empath, capable of being anything thanks to Shamans ability, she wanted to free everyone from despair/pain/sorrow, but she was just used by Metyr to goal the Elden Beast. The song reflects how kindness can lead to autoritarism with absolute order, and the despair that its realization brings.
i just found this video, my god its awesome to listen to and just reminds me of why i love fromsoft style of story telling, this game is just 10/10. thank you for this awesome video and thank you fromsoft for making such awesome games.
In the end with revelations given in the DLC, Marikas' story was much like Daenerys Targaryens'. Due to her people having coveted biological traits and slain to near extinction, she eventually wanted revenge and sought power to exact it. The Targaryens also had special traits and were very few in number, and Daenerys is often motivated by revenge. Instead of an iron throne, she ascended to godhood. Instead of breaking the wheel, she broke the Elden Ring. Both laid kingdoms to waste with their serpentine childrens' fire. Instead of birthing dragons to conquer the world, she birthed demigods; both of which all were cursed to suffer or die. The deaths of those they birthed led them to madness. Madness for which we tarnished and Jon Snow, their champion guided by grace, end up slaying them at the very throne they sought. And like many GRRM characters, both were incest enjoyers. There are also similarities between Bran and Miquella. Both go off on their own journey of ascension, lost use of their physical bodies to some extent, can control other people at will, ride on the back of a semi-mindless giant man, and their sister is their personal assassin. And where Bran has the godswood trees, Miquella has the haligtree. It almost makes me wonder if the world of Elden Ring includes a bunch of scrapped rough draft-y ideas from ASOIAF, or its simply just inspired by it.
Now on one hand your comment sounds pretty profound but on the other hand it tries to redeem season 8 and make what happened in it make any sense which kinda ruins it for me .
Great work! I really like what they did with Marika's background. Made her a character with great depth and her actions maybe not justified but understandable.
And to think, Marika was once a happy little girl that got tangled up by the fate of the Greater Will to become the ruler whom was broken inside yet tried her best to heal the people who disappeared from her village knowing, there was no one left... And thus set her journey to build the Erdtree and establish an order which would potentially backfire on her but this is probably her way of trying to repent her sin and im guessing to ask forgiveness as well for the people she failed to protect
Big MASSIVE Spoiler: Oh but it was not the ill of the Greater Will but her own. She made herself to be a god. The Greater Will left long ago and Metyr has been running the show since
"Relinquish, ye Tarnished. For there is naught but grief here. No one to help here. So abandon, ye who yet holds it, hope. There is no answer. For this is where it had started. And this is where it will end. For our Mother shall never again return. For there is nothing left to return to. There is no one to save anymore. No one to embrace Gold. Only memory yet dwells. Grace will fade. And the gods will lament forever more. What is thy prayer? Thy faith? Thy confession? Matters not. For no one shall ever return home again. Not together; not ever. And the rays of Gold will finally dim."
Honestly I defeated the final boss and though at first I felt the adrenaline of winning, in the end I looked upon those who aided me in my journey. We did it for a greater good, and it cost us dearly. So can I truly cheer, or cry? A thousand year voyage guided by compassion, replaced (in my case) with a thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the moon. Alas, nothing has changed.
I haven't played all of the soulsborne games, only dark souls 1 - 3, sekiro and elden ring, and I do know about bloodborne's ost, but so far, this is my favorite music of all the 5 games i've played it makes me feel calm, and for me it's soothing and warm, a stark contrast to most of the other games' ost, and elden ring's
The English translation on minor erdtree is a little bit off. The original Japanese text should be translated as: “Marika Bathed the village of her home in gold, even though she knows that the people she wishes to heal were no more.”
When I arrived to the area, it felt so much peaceful and filled with such tranquility it gives you a break from all the dark grim and devastated locations in the Realm of Shadow.
It felt like a backstory, then the voices gives me the feeling of a nobody being granted to divinity. THen absolute solemn of yearning. Becoming divine deprives of genuine connection. Now, we see the sins that has been done for the sins that was brought to her, then the idea of death wouldn't be so bad knowing deep down she knows she deserves it, not as punishment but a selfish way of finding peace. Perhaps some of her children would one day find their new homes bathed in rays of gold while she would never return.
Imagine, you go home after a very hardwork then buy some food to share with your whole family expecting their happy and surprised face, after a long walk you knock the door but no one is welcoming, the hall is just blowing cold wind and it's just a mess in sight, you call out their beloved name one by one yet still no answer. That doesn't stop you to prepare the food you brought, patiently await them. Times flew, The food is not warm anymore and you should go moving on, leaving it untouch, after all you know from the very start, they'll never come home again. Only your useless effort can make your little heart a bit happy. :'(
While this is a very sad moment, its kind of worrying how many people dont recognise the horrors of the actions Marika took after this and they endorse those actions. Grrm would have never worked on a project were the message is "Marika was right to do what was done to her, to her oppressors". That is not who he is, and Miyakazi either. Just saying for those who need to hear it
Right? It’s kind of disturbing. But this is the same group of people that argue the “fear doubt and loneliness” ending from the apocalypse witch is good. That the “love encompasses all. Let all things flourish.” Abundance/Compassion ending is bad because change is scary I guess.
@CreativeUsernameEh You failed media literacy class. Miquella's "compassion" is no more than the tyranny of being a mind-slave to his compulsive magic. Whereas the fear, doubt, and loneliness of Ranni's freedom is exactly that: Freedom. Liberation from the cycle of tyrannical gods. Ranni will depart from the world, and all people will be free from the certainty of her existence to live their own lives. She will not force herself on anyone. In fact, the hope is that no one remembers her, or the Elden Ring's existence. To remove both God and Ring from life.
@@DreamersOfReality On the other hand Ranni's deeds are way worse than Miquella's in comparison. Miquella just tricked one or two brothers and some tarnished. Ranni releases a curse on the world that will only keep growing and doesnt get resolved by any of the endings. And this way she f's over a nice guy and gives him one of the worst fates in the franchise. Also she gets us to kill another brother. Though i know his ending is bad i still like Miquellas character more. Ranni is "The ends justify the means", while Miquella is too childish/not himself anymore too see the harm that will come from his good intentions.
You know what is even more worrying? People who judge fictional fantasy goddess with modern days morals, lying on the sofa comfortably. What is even more worrying is these people teaching others how to immerse and enjoy a video game and a fictional story. If only by "reminding". Very worrying indeed.
@@teunvanderveen6477Miquella sent his terminator sister to kill their brother. Which she failed to do but managed to nuke entire country. But I guess, it's not on him?😅
It is naive of Miquella to think he could create a good and gentle world by bewitching all its people. It was naive of Marika to think she could build anything but violence and suffering on the basis of violence and suffering. There is no happy ending for the Lands Between. No gold. Only order. And I fear that cannot be changed.
@@bruv399The suffering of the lands between shall continue it is simply pulling a curtain on everyone's eyes knowledge of the outer gods and loyalty to them causes conflict but it is conflict-based in truth the inefferent concepts of order, chaos and the other outer gods shout indefinitely into the lands between the wall of the Moon shall not hide reality
Do not fall into despair. Even through the very darkest moments of the Shattering War, there were birth. There still are. Even in the dark times, the stars shine quietly. Life still blooms abundant in this beleaguered world. Flowers open their throats to taste the morning dew. The wolves fill the night with their joy. If you would be Lord, do not deny the notion that Life wishes to continue, to keep trying. Embrace this notion.
The repeated weight of such tragedies make my wrath grow as I traveled the Lands Between. If order can allow so much suffering, a cycle of pain and oppression leaving the world in ruins...then perhaps chaos is preferable
I wonder if Miquella ever saw Marika’s home, and made him determine that the things that caused his mother to take such detestable actions were caused by her personal feelings, history and trauma. The many things that he discards in his journey thru the Realm of Shadow. Trying not to follow her path.
I'm sure, he didn't. Both Bonny and Shaman village are kind of hidden. If he did, there would been a cross in one of these places. The hornsent probably fed him one of his one-sided stories. Miquella knows what his mother did. But not why...
"Golden One, at whom were you angry ?" And when she left, her angry shattered the world. O Golden One, how could you not ? 'Tis greater path had roots into the bosom of despair. In the rays of gold, she couldn't hear the songs of Shamans. In the blessed fields, flower crowds no more but the bloodshed of thousands upon thousands. In the people that followed her, no more songs of Grandmother but some betrayed to the stars above*. Foolishness driving them away to murder their saviours*. In those once adorned in horns**, she saw those who had yet to suffer. So, their blood had to spill so that they could not taint her order. So that the land could be the honoured the title of home, she had to tread a difficult path. The cackling fire and crimson liquid tainting the lands. Home could come soon. She would make it. Yet she couldn't remember, when had last time gold be a symbol of Kindness ? * referring to the Nox **Comparison Misbegotten and Hornscent English isn't my main language so excuse any grammar errors ! :)
In Elden Ring, the environment, although silent, speaks louder than actions. 😔 The changes were there. But the people are nowhere to be found. Or wandering somewhere in the Lands Between.
After the DLC, all of Marika’s actions have a reasonable motive to me. She shunned the Omen, even her own children, because it reminded her of home. She shattered the Elden Ring, because she lost someone who was close to her again. Whatever reminds her of home, she hides, or destroys.
I like to think that everything and everyone in the Land's Between and the Shadow Lands, weren't always mired in anguish and war. I like to imagine that a very very long time ago way before the demigods and outer gods, that all was relatively peaceful with everyone and everything living normal lives without the overflow of famine, disease and war. Then one day the meddling of those outer gods had manipulated all the life of the world with its inhabitants falling victim to the chaos, death, and war that came from it and with the world's inhabitants making bad decisions, and making everything worse and worse as time went on. Marika is an example of that. I can imagine that before her and her village fell victims of the slaughter that happened to them, she was just an innocent village girl just wanting to be apart of her small community and be as nice and helping as she can be. Then after her people's slaughter and torture, she decided enough was enough. No more kindness or mercy of any kind, just nothing but swift cold death upon her people's executioners. She lead a path of vengeance and from that vengeance, she made other poor choices that resulted in even more affliction and curses. Melina was right by saying this world was in dire need of repair and death, indiscriminate. But then you lean more towards another option.. Why try to fix what is beyond repair? Why continue on with a broken system that just causes more and more suffering and no real solution to it all? You then start to understand the flame of frenzy ending.. Taking every affliction, every sin, and every curse and melting it all with the flames of chaos until all is one again. No more death, no more suffering, no more births.. No more existence. I understand Marika's motives for everything, but none of what she did helped anything or anyone, it only brought more death and suffering. Letting it all burn away will be the only true release anyone in the Land's Between can find. May chaos take the world 🔥.
This place in the dlc was just a drenched in nostalgia for me. The subtle strums and melody of this piece just had me entranced. A place of a long gone memory. Yet it was as pristine as if it was still lived in. Marika was lied to about godhood and what it would truly entail. And yet, the path to hell is paved with good intentions. And, this village serves forever as a reminder of what if maybe Marika chose not to walk the path of a God? Did she have any other choice? It's bittersweet to think about.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
This track is now available on Bandcamp: rozn.bandcamp.com/album/shaman-village-from-shadow-of-the-erdtree
Also stream on Spotify and Apple Music: lnk.to/elden1
Beware! Sadness ahead.
It's crazy how some music and two items recontextualise everything we know about the story.
I know the incant is one, what was the one?
@jumbootsjamstrang5694 The golden braid.
"A braid of golden hair, cut loose. Queen Marika's offering to the Grandmother. Boosts holy damage negation by the utmost. What was her prayer? Her wish, her confession? There is no one left to remember, and Marika never returned home again."
You find it in the village, in a tree, in front of a body that looks like Marika. Possibly the grandmother in the description.
The fact that its just the root notes of the Elden beast theme is so cool
Agreed. I suppose the softer notes represent Marika as a human, and the harsher notes represent the golden order. Hence why shaman village, as said in the minor erdtree incantation; Marika summoned this erdtree, to bathe her village in gold, but without order.
I really liked how the themes had bits of their originals.
Messmer sounds abit like Radagons theme
Radahn sounds well, like Radahn but vastly changed
And now this. It's really cool
Like the description of the minor Erdtree saying
"The kindness of gold, without order"
"And one day, we'll return. To our home, bathed in rays of gold."
this quote has _Nothing_ to do with marika.
And yet...somehow...it fits
@@dragonlordplacidusax9413 So? You out here policing youtube comments or something?
@@dragonlordplacidusax9413keep yourself safe
@@dragonlordplacidusax9413 in the cut content it is part of a larger poem, that Godrick seems to repeat as a sort of mantra. So who's to say it didn't originate from Marika? Maybe, maybe not, but being so dismissive kind of defeats the entire purpose of Fromsoft's esoteric lore.
'Oh Golden One... At whom were you so angry?' as the song of the bats goes.
You know, maybe after all this time, she was probably angry at herself and angry that she could never have what she really wanted.
As Sir Gideon once said, 'Perhaps the Queen's sorrow was justified.'
With* With whom
I mean I think she was also pretty angry at the hornsent
@@Bodgie7878 Justifiably so.
@@Bodgie7878 They slaughtered her people and twisted her flesh.
She become a cursed god not chosen by the Greater Will. I'm not surprised she turned when all of her children were born cursed.
"You will find no answers in that place. There is no solution there. No cosmic plan nor grand design. Naught but a memory lives there now, of what once there was, and of the pain. It too will soon be forgotten, for that grace will never return.
Tarnished, if you would go seeking hope, bother not. Those echoes will not avail you; these lands cannot be saved. But if you would ease them in their passing, seeketh there the comfort of Gold."
Is this a quote, or did you just make this up? It's cool either way.
@@theawickward2255 I made it up! It's what I imagine someone would say about the place, based on the music. :P
Very well written quote definitely fits the theme the dlc is telling@brianlertkantitham6664
@@brianlertkantitham6664 It fits very well. I'm impressed.
You made this up??!!! I was racking my brains trying to think of who said it, it sounds exactly like something an NPC would say, well done:)
To quote another game describing this DLC,
"Good people mean well. They always don't end up doing well".
Isaac Clarke, Dead Space 3...
@@jonathanfernando9203 it’s all… dead space, he said
Very fitting
idk if I would go as far as saying marika is a good person lol
@@maxwellvindman7212 She WAS. Everyone was. Everyone is. Before life changes you.
Even if you know nothing about the lore, stepping foot into the shaman village you can feel it, a feeling of peace, but also intense sorrow. It's quiet, somber, and peaceful, but still the memories of great loss linger in the very atmosphere of the village.
True! Even my dumbass without knowing the lore understood that place is home to someone important which I found out later since I missed Golden Braid lol
I straight up froze in my tracks.
Fromsoft gave us a more impactful story moment than 99% of games by presenting us with an empty village and 2 items, masterful worldbuilding right there.
Imagine people calling it "an empty space with two items and two reused osses from the main game". I saw it with my own eyes 😢
It still sucks.
under justification of a cryptic story..
@@enki6399 cope harder, bro. Cutscene or riot!
shaman village is my fav spot in the dlc, its so calming thank u for making this masterpiece of a cover
And so tragic
@dragonslayerarmor I love passing by the place as well. The colors of the flowers 💛
it genuinely was the most impactful moment of the game for me. when I reached the village it all clicked for me.
Same.
Marika was just a village girl. If not for the Hornsents persecution maybe she would have never become a god trying to prevent another loss that she suffered from happening again.
agreed but remember her village is right next to the finger ruins and she was guided by the fingers to godhood. if it was their grand plan it probably would have happened either way somehow.
I dont think it was godwyn that caused her to shatter the elden ring personally since we know she doesnt care about her children i think its her divinity that is the issue. As st trina her self said there is nothing worse than a caged divinity. In my headcannon she consipired with Ranni and the nox to kill him in order to further her plans since we know for a fact that the shattering was planned by Marika and not done out of impulse
@@kye4230 but was that before or after the Greater Will abandoned the Lands Between?
Well, she was born an empyrean. She wasn't JUST a girl.
Feel for the omen, despise the hornsent
Marika was always the most interesting character to me.
I don't understand people who unironically "hate" antagonists as a character for doing antagonistic things. Character doing bad things doesn't mean they're a bad character infact they can be the best character which is the case with Marika.
Now having played the DLC
Marika is the greatest fromsoft character, an all timer best character ever and one of the greatest antagonists in fiction.
Well, why did she still do bad things? That's why people hate her. She's a great character, but she's still an evil character.
What logic is it: An excellent villain does bad things, but since he is well written, you shouldn't hate him?
@@MOZZT-Wanted that's how it is. People generally don't hate magnificent villains.
Are you sure? Sometimes I hate them even more.
@@MOZZT-Wanted there are some theorys, marika was influenced by metyr, the mother of the fingers. thats why she do all this things.
@@michelinosports9363 I think it too. I think she was used by Metyr to imprison (gaol, jail, lock-up) the Elden Beast, for eternity.
But not just Marika. The Divine towers prove that dragons were also influence by Metyr and her actual position under a cathedral, a proof that the Nox were under her influence too.
The cult of the Two Fingers is tied to the Lands Between societies.
Without condemning or condoning, I understand.
Wise.
Mmmm, yes, very wise.
says the guy who blew up nyc
And one day we will return to our home, bathed in rays of gold.
i think he was talking about the leyndell or smth, but close enouth.
Imagine if Godrick became the DLC final boss and finding Shaman Village and has a new mindset. A fragile old man with golden spiritual grafted arms wielding the powers of the other demigods
"Tarnished...no, warrior blessed with gold, seek thy era of thou order.
Or bring about gold unalloyed, gold without order. I, Godrick last of the demigods, stand anew, for the age of guidance commence.
Phase 2: Has Morgott, Radagon and Miquella golden miracles
What's beautiful is that the lore for SOTE was written prior to the base game's development even starting, so Godrick of all characters saying this line, the guy who grafts things onto himself seamlessly which is an attribute of the Shamans that he is descended from, is extremely fitting in hindsight. He had no idea just how beautiful his original home was, but even he yearned for the comfort of Gold, without Order.
Marika's lineage is one of the most beautifully written generational traumas in fiction.
I knew as soon as I rode in that something was different here. Virtually no items except for two. No enemies. Flowers everywhere, music. Kind of haunting and makes me think Marika wasn't such a bad god.
She was a terrible god but an understandable human
She was essentially a sympathetic tyrant. Melina's dialogue at the base of the dectus confirms she just destroyed anyone who didn't fall in line with her order.
@@BaconDrive Which I kind of understand. From what I can gather after all the DLC context, she essentially wanted to make the Golden Order her perfect idea of what should be, without death and without any chance of hornsent/crucible nonsense coming back to haunt her, which is ironic given she had two omen children. Not saying she was good or benevolent by any means but I get why she did certain things the way she did.
@@turnipmanz1754 "The current imperfection of the Golden Order, or instability of ideology, can be blamed upon the fickleness of the gods no better than men. That is the fly in the ointment." - Erdtree Scholar Goldmask
@@turnipmanz1754 this is my favorite way of describing the situation.
I feel that even in Elden Ring, there's this sense of humans losing themselves to "something greater," whether it may be beneficial or harmful. In almost every case, it's the latter. In a way, the gods are almost written as ideologies, with only the rare few actually valuing human rights and coexistence of life. It was never the gods that made the people what they were -- human spirit burns within, pushed in every direction by internal tides of tragedy and joy. No matter who they worship, no matter what they believed in, humans *believe*.
A god may always exist in some capacity in the Lands Between, and that's okay. It might even be necessary, seeing as how in Ranni's ending, the dark moon takes the position of a benevolent ruler that allows humanity to make decisions for itself. How we go about living in a world *with* these gods, however, is an entirely different problem. Morality may be gray, and at times memories or personal tragedies may cloud our judgements and lead us to act out of personal trauma or ally with forces that don't have our best interests in mind. Navigating such a world is enough to drive anyone into psychological isolation, and I don't blame those who lose their way. I don't blame them for shattering their old paths either, as sudden as it may seem. Human sympathy is what separates us from "gods," and it's what makes even the empyreans in this game so unimaginably pitiable.
In that way, all of us are a lot more like Marika in a sense than we would ever care to accept.
I used to really hate Marika as an antagonist, but after this part in the dlc, i understand her motivations a lot more. Her actions were unforgivable, and yet...
Unforgivable, yet understandable. All she truly wanted was safety and freedom; to never lose anything again. But for every enemy defeated, every chain broken, a new danger would arise, and a new link would form. So she shattered it all.
The moment her first son died, godwyn, she truly believed that even becoming a god couldnt prevent the death of her loved ones. Thats when she gave up and destoryed the elden ring
Shes really not so bad. Ranni is actually the most treacherous and villainous character in the game, but simps have their minds in the gutter and fiendishly rush to defend her.
@tamnickyle i understand what you mean, but her character is trying to escape the dominance of the endless cycle. That's typically what miyazaki views as the correct approach to his games . Also I'll add that the translation to English lost quite a bit for what she says in her ending.
@@EIfricMiquella is far worse.
"Only the kindness of gold, without order."
In a world under the golden order. The sheer emotion, the love and tears of relief and mercy you feel at the mere affirmation that the light of gold is more than merciless judgement, callous discrimination, unwarranted dictation. That the light of gold can hold love and kindness for the world shatters my heart. Marika if only you had shown the world the kindness and love of gold, without order nor cruelty. Mayhap thy order of gold would birth a world free of despair and loss.
I teared up a little when I read that description. "Only the kindness."
It seemeth vengeance is a force primordial even to the laws of Order itself.
“In a world without gold we could have been heroes.”
Have you considered our lord and saviour frenzied flame?
@graphemelucid8407 if I could report and get your account banned for saying that blasphemy, then I absolutely would.
/!\ Spoilers, maybe ?
As soon as i reached the village, i was struck by the lack of sounds in the ambience. All of a sudden, all the misery, chaos, the stress... It was gone.
And then the music played, and as soon as it did, it felt like something big was up.
2 items and the name of the village, followed by the music was all it was needed to make me rethink the lore of the game, why Marika acted this way, and how her character is so well-written.
Elden ring is not about being a hero of the lands or it's destroyer.
Elden ring always have been about ending the cycle of hatred, revenge, in one way or the other.
There is no "good" or "true evil", there never was. Just a girl who tried to make things right the way she has seen them.
Even after all the tragedic events the were inflicted upon her, all she wanted was to find a home, maybe a small house in a village, bathed in rays of gold.
Of course, i do not forgive her for her acts. However, i understand why she did them.
Thanks for the amazing song ! Really captured the melancholic mood of the place.
(I'm still at Bayle for now, can't wait to finally get to the dark tower and burn the thorns ! Please don't spoil me anything, cheers !)
May you find Miquella the kind Lord Tarnished
@@normanbear Thank you kind Tarnished. My path ahead seems to shorten as the end nears.
I am in need to find Miquella the kind.
Don't give up, Skeleton!
What she did to the albinaurics are pure evil tho
Crazy you go the whole game thinking Marika was just another Gwyn. And then you find Bonny Village and the Shaman Village……😢
I chose to save hornsent from leda 🥲 then I found bonny village and gaol
Gwyn was a good person. Evil person would not kill themselves and sacrifice themselves, so that people they care could go out and enjoy life. Both Gwyn and Marika are manipulative, but they are meant to be tragic characters who mean well.
@@matiasluukkanen7718 Bro what? Gwyn prelonged the Age of Fire so he could maintain his power that would otherwise be granted to men by cycle of nature and Age of Darkness. He literally robbed humanisty and doomed it to suffer for eternities
@@matiasluukkanen7718 Gwyn literally cursed mankind and permanently ruined the world, indirectly creating the Abyss and the Deep and all the problems that come with them, out of his fear of death and the end of his age.
@@makol-wl2nfAnd what do you think it means to lose your power? You are not going to just sit on your throne and wait for life to continue. The same thing that happened to the ancient dragons was going to happen to Gwyn and that is what she wanted to avoid, along with all the gods, her followers and her children. He's not a saint, he was just a man who wanted to keep everything under control.
*be wary of tears*
[Spoilers ahead]
Minor Erdtree
Secret incantation of Queen Marika.
Only the kindness of gold, without Order.
Creates a small, illusory Erdtree that continuously restores the HP of nearby allies.
Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, knowing full well that there was no one to heal.
Spoilers:
They were all dead, stuffed into jars, only one survivors... Marika, the now God of the Lands-Between
The fact that Melina knows this secret Incantation has some...interesting implications.
@@Lardo137 she's her daughter, already was heavily implied in the base game and with some Messmer items description, this become even more implied
@@Cyn_likes_corpses Is this flavortext in-game or did you write that?
@@Cyn_likes_corpses melina being messmers younger sister makes so much sense
Remember them...
Let them rest let them be bathed in rays of gold...
Oh Marika the Eternal may you rest with your people
fam, she's a monster
@@HosseinTaghavi-sq1cf noone is borned a monster
They become it
There was a reason for all her sins her suffering
And at the end she got punished
Lost her son Godwyn ,her children are borned with afflictions
And she was a puppet for the greater will , that God only wanted her for her womb, she wanted to destroy the order of the greater will knowing that it wouldn't let her free
She got crucified, created a future for the tarnished to change the future of the Lands Between
The real monster is Miquella, forced love compassion without their own will
Just what the Greater Will wanted too and that's why Marika destroyed it
@@HosseinTaghavi-sq1cfnot everyone is born a monster, well unless your Carnage, he was always an f up weirdo even when he was a child
@@neutralplayeroflol5722 In it defense: Venom wasn't a good father/mother figure for Carnage
@@HosseinTaghavi-sq1cfnah, she was a goddess
You know what really made the village work?
The flowers.
It could have been any anchient ruin. There are many in Elden Ring. It would have been sad.
But the flowers showed you a glimpse of what it might have been, once
There was still love there... :'(
Marika abandoned her compassion for the love she believed in. While Miquella abandoned his love for a compassionate world.
@@neutralplayeroflol5722 Polar opposites, yet similar outcomes. A lot of people say that Marika is the Elden Beast, and if that's true, then you kill both Marika and Radagon, and maybe Miguella.
@@ExetiorExeExetiorthearch-demon The Elden Beast is the Greater Will. The Greater Will is what chooses who becomes a god. Marika was not chosen and her children all cursed.
This'll be remembered in the same way veteran souls fans remember the Gwyn piano,if there's ever a Marika boss fight,this motiff must be played to give players a similar emotional gut punch as when they heard Gwyn's theme while fighting SoC...
Marika and Radagon share a body. When we fought Radagon, we also fought Marika's body.
@@impartialthrone2097
Same body,different people,I feel like Marika would've had a different fighting style and possibly even dialogue,since Radagon is completely mute...
There should never be Marika boss fight. That would ruin her character.
In an alternate universe somewhere… Marika is just living a peaceful life.
Somewhere, in the alternate universe where nothing ever went wrong, Marika probably still lives in that village. She's probably still a mother, with beloved kids. She uses what incantations she knows to heal people who need it. She brings small offerings to the Grandmother in the tree, like everyone else. She might tend a garden. She sees the Scadutree every day; the view is gorgeous. Maybe she dreams of adventuring beyond her village, maybe she's happy to just live among the wind and the flowers. She has no soreseal, no curse of duty. No order, just kindness. And in her simple life, she's closer to sainthood than her divine counterpart ever was.
Don't we all wish the Hornsent hadn't ruined everything?
@@theawickward2255 “They were never saints. They just happen to be in the losing side of the war.” - Leda
@theawickward2255 and maybe her children would not be born cursed and could live normal lives and (for some) experience parental love like other children
@@KuraiShogunThat was said about the Hornsent
@@theawickward2255 In the alternate universe the world of ER is dead, corrupted by different cosmic entities and inter-planar gods.
READ LORE WTF. WHY PEOPLE CAN NOT UNDERSTAND HOW F*CKED world of ER without Great will
TEND A GARDEN AHAHAHAHAH..
This is the best place for finishing your adventure in Elden Ring. I never can imagine that. After 2,5 years greatest adventure in my life. After winning battle with gods and other great creature's of this world, you come in shaman village with that ost and sit down near fire or little gold tree. You will never forget this. Thanks Hidetaka and FromSoftware for that great adventure.
After finding the village and finally puttingvall the pieces together as to how Marika ascended to godhood, and why she did what she did, I only had one simple thing to say as I sat down in the middle of the field bathed in gold. "I understand."
There is an interesting lecture I want to point here.
Marika's used her spell with "only the grace of gold, without order" to try to heal her village, and while she did in fact made a beautiful field of flowers, "there was no one left to be healed", the only memory of this act, being the little tree that remained.
Melina seems to have inherited her mother's spell, since she uses it, but this three is way bigger, plus, while The Lands Between are clearly on a decrepit state, there is still hope for something to eventually bloom for the better.
I wonder if the reason why Melina's tree is bigger than Marika's, it's because Melina, unlike her mother, can still save her land, and given the fact she is willing to sacrifice herself to allow it, I like to think that in some way, Melina's is doing what her mother couldn't, save her home, not seeking revenge, but guided "only by the grace of gold, without order", in some way, showing that she learned from her mother's mistakes, and doesn't want to be guided by hate, but love.
I love this interpretation
My headcanon is that Melina is how Millicent to Malenia, a little copy of Marika that represents something. I believe that Melina is Marika's love, by burning the erdtree alongside Melina, means that Marika wish for everything she believed to be destroyed through her own love; a love she's not deserving
@@neutralplayeroflol5722 Malenias pride and marikas love. I love this hc lol. its feels right. even if it isn't.
I think her speech when the Tarnished is about to claim the Frenzied Flame could back this up.
I don't think the spell was shamans' heirloom. After all, gold = Greater Will, and was born from Marika's affair with this Deity as stated in the lore trailer to the DLC.
It’s truly tragic when you realize that Marika only wanted freedom at the end, after everything she had done she tried to cast out the Outer Gods who tore her life and her family apart by shattering the Elden Ring. The guidance of gold isn’t from the Greater Will, it’s from Marika to complete her mission alongside Melina.
In the end, we weren’t called back to the Lands Between by some divine providence or to complete some noble goal, it was to answer the fleeting and forgotten prayer of girl torn war in the name of the divine, a girl who once knew only flowers.
To find freedom, and to become a lord without a god, instead a lord of man.
Finally somebody understands
The Marika is the main hero of the story
We are her Vengeance against all entities that conquered the world of ER.
Gold and grace are not bad things, in other way around - it is the warm blood of civilization that brings Life. It was just hijacked in some ways.
I guess even GW are not that bad, if we look on other Entities.
I still think that we need another Heaven(aka) DLS to finish the cycle.
We still have the cutted melina boss fight and a lot of stuff. When she is the closest creature to original marika in lore now.
@@BloodyArchangelus She basically hedged her bets on either our Tarnished or Godfrey. Fitting it came down to those two outside the Erdtree.
@@BloodyArchangelus She is DEFINATELY NOT the hero of the story. Yeah she changed her mind at the end. Thats it. That doesnt excuse the state of the world she made which you see in game, or her deeds to other innocent races. The whole point of her character is that she is just another turn of the cycle, she became the hornsent society.. If she had been the bigger person and used her new Godhood for the betterment of all she would have been a hero, but she gives in to hate and becomes the same if not worse. The point is that she shouldnt have done that, then the game wouldnt even need to take place. That is what Grrm writing is about at least
I don't see Marika as a girl.
She has indeed become a goddess, birthed many children, built a world order and then worked to destroy it.
She did not want only freedom for herself.
She wanted to destroy the world order built by her hands but that turned out not what she wanted.
Her wisdom, her cunning, her ruthlessness is on another level.
@ and before that, she was nothing more than just a girl who lived in a field of flowers.
That’s the tragedy.
I always wondered what was with those dancing women and the Godskin Apostle inside the village near the walls of Leyndell.
I think I understand now, I believe it’s meant to be a mockery of Marika’s time living in the Shaman village. Notice how they’re all dressed in very flowery and shaman like clothing and all the flowers strewn about the place.
the birds flying away as you walk through the village is what wraps everything together and made the area so beautiful for me
Beautiful and soulful cover... Cello and choir were amazing
It was all pain, what started it all. But how it’s time to heal, and Mend the wounds of a broken Order.
when i arrived... the song and the emptiness in the village, devoid of even the traces of bodies. it made me cry. if i were to quote a certain depressed news anchor "something great happened here, and now its over with."
I adore how small everything is when it comes to origins. We fight in the great citadels of the Golden Order, but the DLC reminds us with the Hornsent and the Shamans that it all started in tiny little villages, that from these small communities nestled away in the world came the horrors that would set the stage for the ensuing slaughter
"Neither condemning nor condoning, I understand"
It's unfair how almost all the comments are discussing the lore without addressing how amazing this cover is. It gives a whole new layer to the minimalist vibe of the original track and reignites the emotions I felt upon reaching the area. Solid work!
ROZEEEEEEN. MAKE A COVER OF THE FINAL BOSS OF THE DLC. AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!!
Great Cover. Beautiful.
Sad, Forever?
You bet I am!
I imagined hearing this in the voice of T.C. Carson. Well played, young Kratos
Could you imagine if someone like Gideon or Ansach was given the information and they pieced it together and said “thats… thats all this golden order came from… it was all a wish or prayer from a scared girl who didn’t want to see her people suffering anymore, what a mess that has made… makes you wonder, if the lands between is merely Marika’s dream, perhaps she’s still that scared little girl. I won’t condemn or condone what she did, I merely understand, but some part of me wish I didn’t.”
Understanding her motivations, seeing the love I have for my family and friends, I would do the same too 🌳🌅
May they be bathed forever in rays of gold
When I understood where I was, I forgot to breath. To walk where a God once tread, truly breathtaking.
After this dlc, i wish we could talk to Marika. But i have a feeling we could have, but Radagon took over before we could have the chance.
I dont think that was Radagon. I think that was the elden beast that controlled his body like a puppet.
@@mrsgamer9218 Whether he was acting on his own free will or not, either way he was a puppet nontheless
In my opinion, if you want to hear Marika speak to you, just listen to the haunting, sorrowful and beautiful lone female singer in the Elden Beast theme. She says so much with so few words.
@@mrsgamer9218Radagon WAS a tool of Fingers to consume Marika and become a loyal handy god.
Marika is an autist, hypersensitive, empath, capable of being anything thanks to Shamans ability, she wanted to free everyone from despair/pain/sorrow, but she was just used by Metyr to goal the Elden Beast.
The song reflects how kindness can lead to autoritarism with absolute order, and the despair that its realization brings.
i just found this video, my god its awesome to listen to and just reminds me of why i love fromsoft style of story telling, this game is just 10/10.
thank you for this awesome video and thank you fromsoft for making such awesome games.
1:35 gave me chills
I litteraly and softly said "oh shit"
Through this music I saw the tragedy and the entire life of Queen Marika flashed before my eyes.
This was divine and Eternal just like her.
The violin that starts at 0:43 reminds me so much of the OST of the Horizon games.
Bro I was just about to say that
In the end with revelations given in the DLC, Marikas' story was much like Daenerys Targaryens'.
Due to her people having coveted biological traits and slain to near extinction, she eventually wanted revenge and sought power to exact it. The Targaryens also had special traits and were very few in number, and Daenerys is often motivated by revenge. Instead of an iron throne, she ascended to godhood. Instead of breaking the wheel, she broke the Elden Ring. Both laid kingdoms to waste with their serpentine childrens' fire. Instead of birthing dragons to conquer the world, she birthed demigods; both of which all were cursed to suffer or die. The deaths of those they birthed led them to madness. Madness for which we tarnished and Jon Snow, their champion guided by grace, end up slaying them at the very throne they sought.
And like many GRRM characters, both were incest enjoyers.
There are also similarities between Bran and Miquella. Both go off on their own journey of ascension, lost use of their physical bodies to some extent, can control other people at will, ride on the back of a semi-mindless giant man, and their sister is their personal assassin. And where Bran has the godswood trees, Miquella has the haligtree.
It almost makes me wonder if the world of Elden Ring includes a bunch of scrapped rough draft-y ideas from ASOIAF, or its simply just inspired by it.
Now on one hand your comment sounds pretty profound but on the other hand it tries to redeem season 8 and make what happened in it make any sense which kinda ruins it for me .
Great work! I really like what they did with Marika's background. Made her a character with great depth and her actions maybe not justified but understandable.
This is so incredibly gorgeous.
I’ve been collecting all this Elden ring music lately, it’s been good
Please share
I visited the village the first time at night and the golden light from the tree shinning in the darkness was beautiful.
What a ride it's been...
This is such an amazing piece. The climax is like ecstasy. Bravo.
Im actually speechless
And to think, Marika was once a happy little girl that got tangled up by the fate of the Greater Will to become the ruler whom was broken inside yet tried her best to heal the people who disappeared from her village knowing, there was no one left... And thus set her journey to build the Erdtree and establish an order which would potentially backfire on her but this is probably her way of trying to repent her sin and im guessing to ask forgiveness as well for the people she failed to protect
Big MASSIVE Spoiler:
Oh but it was not the ill of the Greater Will but her own. She made herself to be a god.
The Greater Will left long ago and Metyr has been running the show since
"Relinquish, ye Tarnished. For there is naught but grief here. No one to help here. So abandon, ye who yet holds it, hope. There is no answer. For this is where it had started. And this is where it will end. For our Mother shall never again return. For there is nothing left to return to. There is no one to save anymore. No one to embrace Gold. Only memory yet dwells. Grace will fade. And the gods will lament forever more. What is thy prayer? Thy faith? Thy confession? Matters not. For no one shall ever return home again. Not together; not ever. And the rays of Gold will finally dim."
Honestly I defeated the final boss and though at first I felt the adrenaline of winning, in the end I looked upon those who aided me in my journey.
We did it for a greater good, and it cost us dearly.
So can I truly cheer, or cry?
A thousand year voyage guided by compassion, replaced (in my case) with a thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the moon.
Alas, nothing has changed.
You just chose the side and fought for it.
There has not to be mandatory "good guys" side and total happy ending in the well written fantasy epos.
Beautiful stuff mate keep it up.
Thank you for making this
@@Deflamed_Sphere thank YOU for listening 🥹
@@RozenDJ the music is amazing!
I just want to let you know that this cover is incredible
@@Eppursi That’s very sweet, thank you 😊
This is beautiful
I haven't played all of the soulsborne games, only dark souls 1 - 3, sekiro and elden ring, and I do know about bloodborne's ost, but so far, this is my favorite music of all the 5 games i've played
it makes me feel calm, and for me it's soothing and warm, a stark contrast to most of the other games' ost, and elden ring's
The English translation on minor erdtree is a little bit off. The original Japanese text should be translated as:
“Marika Bathed the village of her home in gold, even though she knows that the people she wishes to heal were no more.”
Very lovely music. But I can’t let anyone forget about St. Trina’s theme. So sorrowful yet peaceful at the same time.
When I arrived to the area, it felt so much peaceful and filled with such tranquility it gives you a break from all the dark grim and devastated locations in the Realm of Shadow.
YESSSSS another excellent song to use in my Elden Ring campaign, and just in time for a tragic revelation.
masterpiece!
It felt like a backstory, then the voices gives me the feeling of a nobody being granted to divinity. THen absolute solemn of yearning. Becoming divine deprives of genuine connection. Now, we see the sins that has been done for the sins that was brought to her, then the idea of death wouldn't be so bad knowing deep down she knows she deserves it, not as punishment but a selfish way of finding peace. Perhaps some of her children would one day find their new homes bathed in rays of gold while she would never return.
This is absolutely beautiful.
Imagine, you go home after a very hardwork then buy some food to share with your whole family expecting their happy and surprised face, after a long walk you knock the door but no one is welcoming, the hall is just blowing cold wind and it's just a mess in sight, you call out their beloved name one by one yet still no answer. That doesn't stop you to prepare the food you brought, patiently await them. Times flew, The food is not warm anymore and you should go moving on, leaving it untouch, after all you know from the very start, they'll never come home again. Only your useless effort can make your little heart a bit happy. :'(
Feels like a melding of the Elden Beasts OST and the Milfanito’s song from DS2. Beautifully done.
"Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, knowing full well that there was no one to heal."
she knows that there will never be a day for her to return to her home., bathed in rays of gold
@@neutralplayeroflol5722 No one to return too.
this is beautiful
Before the DLC I thought Marika was a Tyrant I now realise that couldn't have been more wrong.
At the end of the journey she was a tyrant, the twist was that she started innocent
She was a tyrant. A really sad one. >_>
She's still a tyrant, a sad past doesn't clear that.
She’s still evil. The hornsent being awful bastards doesn’t absolve her of anything.
@@zeche8477 Yes it does lol
While this is a very sad moment, its kind of worrying how many people dont recognise the horrors of the actions Marika took after this and they endorse those actions. Grrm would have never worked on a project were the message is "Marika was right to do what was done to her, to her oppressors". That is not who he is, and Miyakazi either. Just saying for those who need to hear it
Right? It’s kind of disturbing. But this is the same group of people that argue the “fear doubt and loneliness” ending from the apocalypse witch is good. That the “love encompasses all. Let all things flourish.” Abundance/Compassion ending is bad because change is scary I guess.
@CreativeUsernameEh You failed media literacy class. Miquella's "compassion" is no more than the tyranny of being a mind-slave to his compulsive magic. Whereas the fear, doubt, and loneliness of Ranni's freedom is exactly that: Freedom. Liberation from the cycle of tyrannical gods. Ranni will depart from the world, and all people will be free from the certainty of her existence to live their own lives. She will not force herself on anyone. In fact, the hope is that no one remembers her, or the Elden Ring's existence. To remove both God and Ring from life.
@@DreamersOfReality On the other hand Ranni's deeds are way worse than Miquella's in comparison. Miquella just tricked one or two brothers and some tarnished. Ranni releases a curse on the world that will only keep growing and doesnt get resolved by any of the endings. And this way she f's over a nice guy and gives him one of the worst fates in the franchise. Also she gets us to kill another brother.
Though i know his ending is bad i still like Miquellas character more. Ranni is "The ends justify the means", while Miquella is too childish/not himself anymore too see the harm that will come from his good intentions.
You know what is even more worrying?
People who judge fictional fantasy goddess with modern days morals, lying on the sofa comfortably.
What is even more worrying is these people teaching others how to immerse and enjoy a video game and a fictional story. If only by "reminding".
Very worrying indeed.
@@teunvanderveen6477Miquella sent his terminator sister to kill their brother. Which she failed to do but managed to nuke entire country. But I guess, it's not on him?😅
Marika thank you for choosing me.
It is naive of Miquella to think he could create a good and gentle world by bewitching all its people. It was naive of Marika to think she could build anything but violence and suffering on the basis of violence and suffering. There is no happy ending for the Lands Between. No gold. Only order. And I fear that cannot be changed.
Excepts for rannis ending which is basically ditching and letting everybody live however they want without any real greater order or purpose
@@bruv399The suffering of the lands between shall continue it is simply pulling a curtain on everyone's eyes knowledge of the outer gods and loyalty to them causes conflict but it is conflict-based in truth the inefferent concepts of order, chaos and the other outer gods shout indefinitely into the lands between the wall of the Moon shall not hide reality
Do not fall into despair.
Even through the very darkest moments of the Shattering War, there were birth. There still are. Even in the dark times, the stars shine quietly. Life still blooms abundant in this beleaguered world. Flowers open their throats to taste the morning dew. The wolves fill the night with their joy.
If you would be Lord, do not deny the notion that Life wishes to continue, to keep trying. Embrace this notion.
The repeated weight of such tragedies make my wrath grow as I traveled the Lands Between. If order can allow so much suffering, a cycle of pain and oppression leaving the world in ruins...then perhaps chaos is preferable
Ah, yes. The most foul atrocities start with the righteous wrath.
Million miles stare when the 1:40 hits, shoutout to all who walked with us.
This was definitely the song to do a mix of
This song has been haunting me for days at this point...
This reminds me of the birthplace theme from hollow knight
They do have similar 'where it all began' vibes.
Everything Marika did was for the memory of her village. Kind of poetic that the catalyst of everything is what plays at the very end of it all.
I wonder if Miquella ever saw Marika’s home, and made him determine that the things that caused his mother to take such detestable actions were caused by her personal feelings, history and trauma.
The many things that he discards in his journey thru the Realm of Shadow. Trying not to follow her path.
I'm sure, he didn't.
Both Bonny and Shaman village are kind of hidden. If he did, there would been a cross in one of these places. The hornsent probably fed him one of his one-sided stories.
Miquella knows what his mother did. But not why...
"Oh death, become my blade once more" with this song aaaaaaah ✨✨
This is sublime
"Golden one, at whom were you angry?"
"Golden One, at whom were you angry ?"
And when she left, her angry shattered the world. O Golden One, how could you not ? 'Tis greater path had roots into the bosom of despair. In the rays of gold, she couldn't hear the songs of Shamans. In the blessed fields, flower crowds no more but the bloodshed of thousands upon thousands. In the people that followed her, no more songs of Grandmother but some betrayed to the stars above*. Foolishness driving them away to murder their saviours*. In those once adorned in horns**, she saw those who had yet to suffer. So, their blood had to spill so that they could not taint her order. So that the land could be the honoured the title of home, she had to tread a difficult path. The cackling fire and crimson liquid tainting the lands. Home could come soon. She would make it.
Yet she couldn't remember, when had last time gold be a symbol of Kindness ?
* referring to the Nox
**Comparison Misbegotten and Hornscent
English isn't my main language so excuse any grammar errors ! :)
In Elden Ring, the environment, although silent, speaks louder than actions. 😔
The changes were there. But the people are nowhere to be found. Or wandering somewhere in the Lands Between.
This is more a cover of the final battle theme than it is a cover of shaman village.
this is soo beautiful i love this
After the DLC, all of Marika’s actions have a reasonable motive to me. She shunned the Omen, even her own children, because it reminded her of home. She shattered the Elden Ring, because she lost someone who was close to her again. Whatever reminds her of home, she hides, or destroys.
I would love to hear your version of Miquella's song !
really love the solo in the first half
This is enough to make me want to cry……😢😢😢😢
this is a beautiful cover, I used it in a fake trailer for fun, it is uploaded on my channel. thank you for sharing!!
this is amazing
I like to think that everything and everyone in the Land's Between and the Shadow Lands, weren't always mired in anguish and war. I like to imagine that a very very long time ago way before the demigods and outer gods, that all was relatively peaceful with everyone and everything living normal lives without the overflow of famine, disease and war. Then one day the meddling of those outer gods had manipulated all the life of the world with its inhabitants falling victim to the chaos, death, and war that came from it and with the world's inhabitants making bad decisions, and making everything worse and worse as time went on. Marika is an example of that. I can imagine that before her and her village fell victims of the slaughter that happened to them, she was just an innocent village girl just wanting to be apart of her small community and be as nice and helping as she can be. Then after her people's slaughter and torture, she decided enough was enough. No more kindness or mercy of any kind, just nothing but swift cold death upon her people's executioners. She lead a path of vengeance and from that vengeance, she made other poor choices that resulted in even more affliction and curses. Melina was right by saying this world was in dire need of repair and death, indiscriminate. But then you lean more towards another option.. Why try to fix what is beyond repair? Why continue on with a broken system that just causes more and more suffering and no real solution to it all? You then start to understand the flame of frenzy ending.. Taking every affliction, every sin, and every curse and melting it all with the flames of chaos until all is one again. No more death, no more suffering, no more births.. No more existence. I understand Marika's motives for everything, but none of what she did helped anything or anyone, it only brought more death and suffering. Letting it all burn away will be the only true release anyone in the Land's Between can find. May chaos take the world 🔥.
Somewhat if you believe the very ordering of the world and of individuality was a mistake by the greater will
This place in the dlc was just a drenched in nostalgia for me. The subtle strums and melody of this piece just had me entranced. A place of a long gone memory. Yet it was as pristine as if it was still lived in. Marika was lied to about godhood and what it would truly entail. And yet, the path to hell is paved with good intentions. And, this village serves forever as a reminder of what if maybe Marika chose not to walk the path of a God? Did she have any other choice? It's bittersweet to think about.