@@miss_chalice I think Goldmask is the only really awesome faith based character in any fromsoft game. Most of them are just mediocre at best. Goldmask's story seems like nonsense at first, but the more you think about it, the more sense it makes and the more interesting it is.
>Barges in Leyndell >Default stances the concept of order and divinity itself >refuses to elaborate further >dies The biggest chad in the entire lore, holy shit
>T-Poses in reflection the entire game >Becomes so attuned to reality by standing on a bridge pointing at a big tree that he discovers a way to repair the very logic of the universe >Fixes everyone's problems >Refuses to elaborate further >Dies Goldmask is a straight up Chad
@@KuraSourTakanHourtechnically the Buddha understood the order of the universe and taught it in obscure ways, Goldmask just straight out builds an arcane construct that fixes the world logos/God if you stick it into an alien construct
@@qwirkt Buddha didn't understood anything of the universe but rather the mind. Why do you speak with such confidence when you're gonna spread misinformation?
he didnt fix it, he *attempted* to fix it by *attempting* to make it perfect...as well all know, perfection only exists in the abstract and his *fix* will inevitably fail and die just like everything else
I don't think Goldmask is ultimately a fundamentalist of the Golden Order. I think during his quest he becomes a fundamentalist of the Greater Will. His study of the Erdtree is him trying to understand what the Greater Will actually planned for the world, not what the religion of the Golden Order says it wants. And it does seem he is successful. His Rune most likely is far closer to the Greater Will's actually design for the world than Queen Marika's take on it.
Thank you so much for your comment! Really appreciate your input on this. I think I was the one being closed-minded and ignored the other huge influence which is the Greater Will. What you've detailed makes more sense on how his ideology will effect the whole world. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
I think Brother Coryn's questline supports your theory, as he is probably the best representation of a Golden Order fundamentalist. The fact that Coryn eventually comes to reject Goldmask shows that Coryn is more willing to follow the Golden Order than the Greater Will.
I don't think he's a fundamentalist of the Greater Will. He looks upon the gods as fickle, the Greater Will being an Outer God and indeed, quite fickle. I think Goldmask is a fundamentalist of the Golden Order, but comes to the realization that in order to perfect the Order, even the Greater Will must be denied.
@@unbelievablytrash9458 I think he has a problem with the demigods being fickle (essentially Marika and below) I don't think he has a problem with the outer gods like the Greater Will.
@@strayfaux That may be so, but I read it as he disparages the intervention of higher powers that're fickle and flawed, and the Greater Will and it's fellow Outer Gods definitely fill that description.
I love how despite being constantly silent throughout our journey, Goldmask manages to tell us so much about the world, the golden order and its philosophy, a true master indeed ...
14:09 I should mention that in the Japanese version of the game, ONLY Fia’s [Mending Rune] is said to have been gestated (translated closer to the English word “conceived”). However, the Japanese text for Dung Eater’s [Mending Rune] doesn’t mention the rune’s origin, it only mentions that it is [The Mending Rune of the Dung Eater] (nothing in the text mentions anything about it being gestated, created, or even discovered). I don’t know why they chose to mention “gestation” for the text of his [Mending Rune] in the English version when none was mentioned in the Japanese version. 🤷♂️ For Goldmask, it does indeed mention in Japanese that his [Mending Rune] was discovered by him. And it even translates accurately to the English word “discovered”, instead of a different synonym, like with Fia’s. Figured I’d still include this part as well, even though it’s already accurately mentioned in the video.
It's a bit unfortunate when 90% of even attempting to understand what is happening or has happened in the game relies entirely on item descriptions and that they consistently for each entry in the series gets translated in a way that changes the meaning compared to the japanese version.
maybe the Dung eater has been cursed with his demented ideology from the beginning, like he didn't need to conceive or even discover it in any capacity, it is his because he was born with a poisoned mind, it isn't just a rune that he made, he himself is his rune in a strange way
It sounds silly, but having the right voice really does wonders for the souls vibe. Like Vaitti, if you close your eyes, the wispiness in tone sounds like something straight from an npc in the games themselves. The vibe in general reminds me of the Librarian in the old Mummy movies played by Rachel Weisz. Not everyone appreciates the style of story telling found in souls games, but it allows for beautiful stuff like this within the community. Thanks for sharing your interest, this is great.
Hope you still find the motivation and time to make more content, Miss Chalice. Your input is always so eloquent, pleasant and thought provoking. You obviously spend a lot of time on scripting, filming, editing and cosplay. I'm confident your channel will keep growing even if you explore other universes even after you're done with Elden Ring.
@@Amocoru Thanks, I'm terrible at receiving compliments as a content creator (I work on a comic) but I know those kind of comments matter for motivation when they are specific and feel real. I'm not exactly sure how comfortable she is with people randomly sexualizing her given she does some nsfw content apparently, but this is lore videos right here, so I find it somewhat disrespecful for people to comment on her body and that's it when she obviously put hours and hours in stuff that have nothing to do with her research, editing, cosplay making... Just wanted to restore a bit of balance a show support for her work. :') Give credit where credit is due.
Thank you so so so much seriously. Generosity like this doesn't go unnoticed. I just find it so crazy that at the beginning of this year, I didn't even have a channel - I didn't know how to edit, write scripts, organise my thoughts etc. And now I have people like you directly supporting me to make more and more content. It's such blessing and really makes a big difference, especially as LorePlay videos take extra time and effort. Knowing that you acknowledge that is all I could hope for. Thank you again Lucioh!
This is *my* interpretation: First, I want to get out of the way that I wonder if Goldmask dying despite Brother Corhyn's death is simply a game oversight. That'll be important later. The moment when Goldmask begins to be critical of the Golden Order is effectively when he learns about Radagon. What, or who, is Radagon? From everything we know, Radagon seems to be a "puppet" - for lack of a better word - for the Greater Will. Every single thing we know about Radagon shows him forwarding the goals and interests of the Greater Will itself, to the "detriment" of Marika in that she loses control of herself when he's in play. It's notable for example that Marika shattered the Elden Ring whilst Radagon attempt to repair it: the two do not have aligning interests. This is where Goldmask questions the "holism" of the Golden Order, aka that it's one giant entity that happily and flawlessly works together. And he's right to question this. Our knowledge we gain implies a rebellious Marika who was very much trying to get out from under the thumb of the Greater Will. *Why* she desires this and if it's justified, we do not know. This is basically the big question of the game, imo, that we yet lack enough in-game knowledge to deduce: it's likely that either Marika or the Greater Will is the villain, but because the two work together so closely for the majority of history, it's difficult to say what decisions are Marika's and which are the Greater Will's, thus we cannot know why conflict arose between these two, nor make a decision on which of them is more justified. But Goldmask...? He either *does* know or makes such a choice. To me, Goldmask is specifically targeting Marika and other lesser Gods, not the Greater Will itself. And why not? From our knowledge of the game, the "fickleness" arises when characters such as Marika and Ranni refuse to fall in line and begin acting out. And he's right: the Lands Between have *greatly* suffered because of the actions of Marika, Ranni, Rykard and others. The Greater Will is at the very least consistent, but the various other Gods have acted out in a variety of damaging ways. The Shattering led to the chaos the Lands Between has now. Ranni's little trick to preserve her soul (at least, that's our best known interpretation) has spawned the Death Blight curse, and it seems to be continuously spreading further and further from Godwyn's corpse, with no solution in sight. Rykard waged the bloodiest war the Lands Between has ever seen and to this day leads an order that seeks to sacrifice others, and even various other Gods such as Malenia and Radahn waged wars. *It is basically fact that the people of the Lands Between have suffered because of the fickleness - or personalities and imperfections - of the Gods below the Greater Will.* To me, what Goldmask has deduced is the Shattering. He's deduced that Radagon need not exist unless Marika was acting out. His entire existence can only be explained by a Greater Will that needs additional measures to be taken to keep it's "right hand" in check. And to me, this means that what Goldmask essentially seeks is to *remove* the need for an Empyrean at all for the Greater Will to be able to establish it's rule. Either directly by removing the need for Empyrean entirely so the system can function without them, or by virtue of a selected Empyrean completely losing their free will, likely in the form of it "Radagon'ing" all the active Empyreans permanently. The Outer Gods need a vessel to house the Elden Ring in the form of an Empyrean. It's why the Rot God and it's subjects venerate Malenia: because she offers a clear path for the Rot God to take over. It's why the Carians venerate Ranni, because she too can offer a path for the Moon. But what if this wasn't the case and the Greater Will could rule directly without need of Marika or other Gods below them who might rebel...? I think that when analyzing "what happened," this highlights heavy flaws of the Empyreans, but not necessarily of the Greater Will. The Greater Will said "do this thing," the Empyreans (Marika and Ranni in particular) said "no," and thousands of people died and suffered because they stepped out of line. And thus, Goldmask concludes the problem is with the #2 rank of people in charge. Now, this would imply that depending what exactly the Greater Will is, it's motivations, and whether it's good or bad, Goldmask either has one of the best or one of the worst endings. I personally feel like the only crimes we've seen of the Greater Will are an unexplained hatred of the Misbegotten and Omens, a war against the Carians that was proven unnecessary and that the Greater Will seems to have eventually acknowledged as a mistake, and yes, an oppressive level of control over it's *direct* subjects. All other instances of hostility from the Greater Will can be justified in some form: the Fire Giants are called the direct enemies of the Erdtree, the dragons were a great threat in terms of power and seemingly supported other Gods/Orders, and the Merchants were indeed servants of the Frenzied Flame. (though timeline is unclear here; either both parties were tricked or the Merchants were tricked into serving the Frenzied Flame and the Greater Will proactively locked them up) This isn't to say the Greater Will is flawless; it has questionable acts under it's belt. However, in the world of the Lands Between, there *will* be an Outer God. *Someone* is going to be in charge, the only question being who. Compared to the other Outer Gods we've seen, the Greater Will is a saint. It built a flourishing society structure that functioned for hundreds or thousands of years until Marika caused the Shattering. Meanwhile, the Rot God wants to rot everything away, the Formless Mother has this weird obsession with blood an injuries, the Frenzied Flame legit wants to burn away everything, and the Moon is a giant question mark where, best case it's an absolute nihilist/pacifist that just lets people do as they please and cares not for the Lands Between, but it's questionable if such an Outer God could retain power in the face of other threats such as the Rot God. If we *must* choose one of these Outer God, then there is absolutely no question that the Greater Will is at the very least one of only 2 we would want in power, and perhaps the better choice since it more aggressively protects it's claim against hostiles. (and boy does this world have hostiles!) Want to add here: to my understanding, *Marika* is the one granting people such as ourselves Grace. And as such, if Marika suddenly has a change of heart and grants Corhyn Grace despite his past "crimes," and Corhyn is indeed responsible for Goldmask's death, this would reinforce my theory. It's hard to say though because we have no idea how omniscient these gods are. In conclusion, I think Goldmask simply throws his hat in with the Greater Will and seeks to eliminate the need for Empyreans, thus the "fickleness of the Gods" line. This means no future "Shatterings," no future Death Blight curses, no grand tragedies because Empyreans stepped out of line. And depending on what DLC might reveal about Marika/The Greater Will, this has potential to be the best ending in the game.
One point I will dissagree with you on is that "an unexplained hatred of the Misbegotten and Omens, a war against the Carians" was Greater Will's doing, because everything points to it being again a product of fickleness of Marika. As a cosmic force, I don't think Greater Will cares much about such minor factions and races, but Marika can, and boy she does. Marika is a racist and a power-hungry tyrant, she's an asshole, if you will, and that's exactly why the Shattering happened. I don't know if the Greater Will is benevolent or not, probably it's a classic "power that cares only of growing in power", and that isn't necessarely bad for us, especially if we "ban" the fickle gods from messing with it's rules. After all, it's all about how you use a power, and the Erdtree/Two Fingers/Golden Order incantations are shown to be more about healing, protection and empowerment, than destruction. This power can be used for good, and removing it from the world like what Ranni aims to do, I think is a waste. So what if the Greater Will is "in power", it wasn't the one waging wars, Marika was. As an Elden Lord, it will be up to you to lead the Lands Between, so perhaps you can establish new rules, separate from The Golden Order, like to treat Albinaurics, Misbegotten, Omen and other humanoids as equals, use the powers of the Grater Will only for good, and so on. It will take time, there are going to be oppositions, wars, but in the end, as Tommy Wiseau brilliantly said: "If a lot of people love each other, the world would be a better place to live." The only option that may be better, and again, that's DLC speculation territory, would be Miquella's Unalloyed Gold. It was shown to at least reduce Malenia's rot, and to completely erase the Three Finger's marks on your body. If we are able to rescue and somehow help Miquella rehabilitate, and maybe work together on perfecting the Unalloyed Gold, it may be an even better alternative to that of the Erdtree. But why do we have to choose? Can't we have best of both, like the healing and protection of the Erdtree, and cleansing of the Unalloyed? But all of this is a big fat MAYBE, because we don't know exactly what happens after the mending, and the lackluster "throne" cutscenes don't help with that. I still, however, think that Goldmask's ending has the potential to be a great alternative to that of Ranni's, maybe even better.
@@Egorator It's actualy more likely that the greater will was the one with personal hatred of the Omens and Misbegoten, even the Carians. The greater will in lore has taken over the Crucible to impose the golden order with Marika help. The Crucible is pretty much the incarnation of nature of the lands bettwen, and the elden beast is there as a vassal of the greater will to keep it's power in check. Omens are born from a blessing of the Crucible and has such are a reminder of it's power and influence still being there, their existence is a reminder that the golden order is a subjugating power that usurped the Crucible and the Erdtree, has such they must be silenced and hidden away.
This is why I love playing Prophet. The idea that you’re a tarnished exiled from your home for foreseeing rapture of the Lands Between and following the direction of Grace. It’s very cool because you’re not just some lonely soldier, prisoner, or bandit… you had visions that foretold the future. And knowing that we as this prophet are working towards the Erd Tree, we are potentially stopping or enforcing the fate we saw. It makes me feel super connected to the lore as a character.
Characters like this illustrate one of the most underrated aspects of fromsoft games. They're fucking hilarious in these weird, bizarre ways. None of the games take themselves completely seriously, and Elden Ring is probably the most suffused with humor out of all of them, this game is overflowing with goofy funny stuff. The pot people, the t pose, Corhyn and Goldmask's entire relationship, and I refuse to believe nobody saw the humor in the Dung Eater. The extremely dark and serious nature of these worlds lend themselves perfectly to natural, understated comedy.
I always found the description of the mending rune of perfect order pretty interesting, the other two mending runes you have to create yourself, but it's specifically stated that Goldmask discovered this rune, as if it was waiting to be found by someone. You just so happen to find it in the same spot Goldmask started to question the golden order, so I imagine at that moment Goldmask reached a state of enlightenment, and when he returned the mending rune of order was given to him by the Greater Will as a gift
the greater will abandoned the lands between a long time ago so why would it give him a gift? how would he even contact something that has been intentionally long gone?
if anything it draws a parallel between ancient greek pantheon gods which came first and were ascribed human traits/faults, just like the gods/demigods of the lands between, they were ultimately all just fickle humans with super powers. then judaic christian god replaced the pantheon which was seen as a perfect entity (even though that god was just as fickle as humans ,if not more so) which is why goldmasks perfect rune was only perfect in the abstract sense ,perfection cant exist in the physical world
About the ability to decipher Goldmasks movements: When you look at bodyless weapons like the Cipher Pata, that you can find at the Roundtable Hold, they have written runes instead of blades. And that style of writing definitely looks like something you could draw with your fingers in the air, because it's a continous and flowing style. ... However, that still doesn't explain why Corhyn can read it while wearing a blindfold.
blind faith, he still has the guidance of grace, he can see these things without needing eyes, just like hyetaa and the frenzy people can see without eyeballs
So, I'm fairly certain that the reason Radagon was unable to mend the Elden Ring is because he was unable to sacrifice himself to mend it. Every Tarnished who creates/births a mending rune does so at the cost of their own life. But since Radagon is Marika, his desire to mend the Elden Ring was thwarted by the Greater Will crucifying his other half, trapping him in a purgatory state. Hence why we as another Tarnished, must fight him. He is defending the Elden Ring, defending the Golden Order created by his alter-ego after she shuns it.
He can't repair it because he lacks one of the original parts of it: the Rune of Death. Why he won't seek it is maybe he can't leave the Erdtree or maybe he knows he can't win against Maliketh and just waited for someone and take it from them when they arrive. Mending Runes "edit" the laws of reality that is the Elden Ring. But you can't repair it without the essential parts like Death.
14:35 The Dung Eater asks you to defile him "until a cursed ring *coalesces*" which means: smaller parts forming something bigger. And what are the smallest fragments of the Elden Ring? The runes used for currency. The ones that every living being on the Lands Between have. Mohg's Great Rune and Malenia's Great Rune seem to suggest that runes can be tainted by the will of their owners. Perhaps the same is true for the currency ones, which could explain how Mending Runes are formed.
It's important to remember that the "laws" of the Golden Order are not societal laws, but the laws of reality itself. That is why the fickle nature of the gods was so dangerous; they could and did alter the very nature of the world. With that in mind, I don't think the people of the Lands Between would be subjugated by Perfect Order any more than we are subjugated by physics in the real world. Good video!
You've got to respect someone that wanted to know the truth of it all, no matter what that meant. And then, rather than crumble, he sought to seek an alternative. He MADE an alternative. Makes you wonder how his views would react with Miquella, who really embraced fundamentalism for a time, until he understood it wouldn't save Melania.
I actually love the character of Goldmask. A scholar of the divine, he doesn't just seek to learn more about the gods to worship them, he seeks understanding of the world and the place of the divine in the world, regardless of how contradictory that may be to the doctrine of the Golden Order. In terms of "what gives him the right" I think it's fair to say that he's only human, however, he's a human that's set aside all individuality and all material things in search of absolute truth. His mending rune is carefully worded as "will attempt" to fix the golden order, as though even in designing it he had humility enough to recognise his own potential for failure and that seeped into the rune. Essentially, he wasn't determining what the golden order should be off what he would gain and was instead imbuing it with principles that would transcend mortal and divine whimsy. It could also speak to the true golden order being something based on pure ideals and then corrupted by Marika/Radagon. Perhaps in much the same way as many politicians and priests have espoused good and honorable morals but then committed terrible corrupt acts behind closed doors, the Golden Order too was full of good and honorable morals but spoiled by the corruption and personal motivations of Marika/Radagon. In that sense, attempting to restore it to what it should have been could actually mean Goldmask has almost no personal hand in the creation of the new word itself. Either way, clearly his focus was on principles of some sort that would apply to everyone, not just himself. Therefore the new rune wasn't just formed according to a single human's desires, but instead intended to be formed according to the principles that would benefit many people. Essentially acting like a just and incorruptable system without preference or prejudice toward any people. It's maybe also worth noting that his ending seems to be the most positive. The endings don't give you much but with Ranni's taking the dead off into space, the fellrune giving everyone the worst curses forever, the three fingers destroying everything, Fias rune doing... something about the undead? (I don't know if it allows more or less...), and I think that's it... All in all, Goldmask's ending of 'the lands between are rebuilt but good' is pretty idyllic, which is very unlike Miyazaki.
I always thought Gold Mask's critique of Marika was removing the rune of death from the Elden Ring. He thinks the Elden ring in its original golden order state was perfect, and Marika ruined it by fiddling with it and removing the death rune. He believes that not even the gods should be allowed to tamper with the laws of reality.
@@terrycruise-zd5twnope, the mending runes of order VERY SPECIFICALLY doesn't that allow that to happen anymore. His mending rune literally puts a golden shield surrounding the elden ring, preventing further tampering.
A replay is definitely needed because I've never encountered the character. Amazing video as always! you're one of my favorite lore/storytelling youtubers!!
If you played really early like I did, they've since added NPC markers to the map and indications in the site of grace menu when you can talk to NPCs which makes the questlines easier to follow. I probably would've done this questline on my first playthrough if those were added... I just let Corhyn die on Altus Plateau because I either forgot about meeting Goldmask or was past that area.
that’s great that they’ve added NPC markers, quest lines are so hard to follow and to keep track of, I literally made a To-do list to keep track of every NPC/hidden weapons etc and yet even with the list I managed to miss probably 80% of the hidden lore lmao. Thanks for letting me know!
Amazing video and cosplay, as always. This is one of my favourite quests and my favourite 'Elden Lord' ending. I absolutely adore Corhyn's blind foolishness and the fact Goldmask is not a fanatic tho he's a fundamentalist. He's an intellectual. So much so he end up defying (and transcending) the principles of the Golden Order in order (pun not intended) to mend the Land Between. 🛐✨
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the subject matter - religion, specifically religious fanaticism is always such an interesting topic to cover. Especially seeing how far one will go when contradictions in beliefs are involved. Corhyn being blindfolded and blind to the truth is really nice symbolism, thanks for picking up on that!
@@miss_chalice there's so much philosophy in so many endings we get, if one's willing to dig deep enough to understand what's happening in game. The nihilism and "return to one" of the three fingers, Goldmask and religion, Ranni and the supposedly free will (in relation to being subjected by a god) granted to the inhabitants of the Land Between by the age of stars... And even the endings that do not have a proper deeper meaning, have some interesting implications (aside for the age of fracture, which is the less inspired ending to my eyes, as you just do what you're asked to do by the fingers, and nothing more)
Unless there's other lore on it, it just struck me that GM's mask is modeled on the ointment saying - black dots on an otherwise golden circle... A very informative video, thank you for these 🩶
Oh my goodness - that is an absolutely incredible observation! Beautifully done! I kinda of saw it as the Goldmask appeared like a sunflower - the Erdtree being the sun and Goldmask always facing in the direction of it. Until the Erdtree burns down, and the sun no longer shines, the sunflower dies. I like you interpretation more so thank you so much for sharing it!
A great observation, made me think of the placement of the holes in his mask they almost look like holes to see through... further more the fingers have no eyes that you the player can see just sockets and Corhyn is blind folded almost like they’re saying they’re blindly following the golden order perhaps the holes in golden masks mask is to depict the holes in the golden order to see through it for what the golden order really is.
The usage of communication through fingers is also supported further by the fact that incantations themselves are not verbal incantations, but canting via your fingers. Using a finger seal catalyst along with knowing the proper finger movements to cast an incantation is what sparks faith magic. Or at least, that is my interpretation which I think explains it perfectly.
I've not seen any of your other videos but this was really impressive. I love the lore of Elden Ring and you do such a good job at explaining it with a subtle voice and you make it visually entertaining with gameplay context and cosplay. You're like an Audible voice but for Elden ring.
Watched video with no sound, no captions, and blindfolded by interpreting the rhythm and calculus I unlocked the Perfect T-Pose emote and promptly flew off a cliff!
my character has the blindfold option on her model. so when talking to this guy talk about what i told Goldmask it was literally the blind leading the blind leading the blind. and i found that very funny
the exiled prophets are actually the ones who were able to see the future and the erdtrees eventual burning. they were blindfolded and exiled for seeing this prophecy and telling it. also being blinded in fromsoft games is way to show that the blind person has deeper insight into the non-physical world, therefore they can actually see more than non-blind people
Absolutely phenomenal video! And a well crafted Goldmask! This is the only ending I have not done so it’s nice to see such an in depth analysis. Wonderful work Miss Chalice!
Thank you!!!!! So happy it turned out okay. Yes! I didn't actually find Goldmask at all in my first playthrough haha so it was nice to go back an explore what I had missed. Glad to share this with you :)
Fantastic video! Great recap and excellent cosplay, especially the mask!! That said, I can't help but stare at the moulding behind you missing from the wall! Praise the Sun!
AHAHAHH HELP it fell off just after I moved in and I don't know how to reattach it. Thank you for noticing hahah but seriously thanks for your lovely feedback
I just asked a bud and he said it looks like a product called liquid nails was used to put it up, which you can use to put it back up. Finish nails will help keep it up if it gives you trouble. Good luck!
@@miss_chalice more details from goodbuddy: Tell them if they strip off the old glue from the trim and the wall they can use either power grab or liquid nails, they may be able to tape it up with blue painters tape if it will stay in place, but I would recommend to put a few finish nails to hold it up, then put the painters tape on for at least 24 hours. Paint over any hammer marks from nailing in the finish nails, you can pre-drill holes for the finish nails to make the job easier, just don't drill the hole much bigger than the finish nails
@Duckhead you and your buddy are a life-saver! Thank you, I wouldn't have the faintest idea where to start. If you see the moulding restored in my next video, consider it a tribute to you!
First off, amazing cosplay Madame Chalice. You always blow my mind. 2nd, your intro was flawless "What is there to say about a man who says nothing?" Same with his body language too. You did great! Merry Early Christmas you beautiful soul.
@@miss_chalice I hope so too, and ignore that dumb top comment, I cringed so hard when I saw it, you deserve so much better. Sounds like Golden Mask might want to install a totalitarian state, if we follow your hypothesis!
Such an awesome video. Your voice is calming, and you go into the lore really well! I also like the intro. I'm glad you tried to speak with the mask. That's why Goldmask doesn't speak. No one could understand him xD As always, excellent job on the vid!
The intro was so chaotic haha honestly i cut out about 20 mins of footage where I was just figuring out how to position the mask! Glad you enjoyed ! I appreciate your support!
@@miss_chalice i like asmr, and i like lore videos on games im interested in such as souls games so seeing you upload is an instant view + like from me, not to mention your commitment with the cosplays that look amazing. i also love the witcher 3 bloody baron one :)
Okay i needed this, cause really i still haven't seen much of goldmask, i accidentally killed him on my first playthrough and i never actually got to the end on any subsequent playthroughs as i mostly like to mid level pvp, ty for the content!
This is the first video I've seen where someone was skeptical of the "perfection" of Goldmask's order! I love that!!! Throughout our journey thru TLB the Golden Order proves itself to be hateful, controlling, and violent. As a lifelong devotee to that Order, there's no reason for us to believe that Goldmask disagrees with any of their established practices (which include slavery, genocide, and what amounts to fantasy eugenics). As you mention, his Rune solely points to the fickle nature of gods and mortals as an issue. So, it seems to me, his ending is about removing input from the Order. Keeping it "pure", and likely also stagnant. And we know how Miyazaki feels about stagnation lol. We also know that the Great Runes of the Elden Ring govern natural laws. I wonder if that would make his Order, and the enforcement of it, more absolute. If it could somehow compel people to act in accordance with his vision. I get very dystopian vibes from it all.
There's another character that admires the sun just as much the ever brilliant Goldmask admires the golden order... Any chance of a video on Solaire from Dark Souls 1? 👀
Thanks for the great vids! Thanks to all the effort you put into them it's great to watch actively to enjoy the cosplay, visuals and high quality of information, but also re-listen in the background thanks to your amazing work on voice and acting. Keep it up!
Goldmaak is one of my favorite sidequests and i think the best outcome for the standard Elden Lord ending. Goldmask realizing the Golden Order contradicts itself is brilliant.
I tie it with the duskborn ending for the best endings. Both choose a different absolute faith. The duskborn ending showing faith in humanity/the living creatures of the world to make the world better without any interference from the greater will, and the goldmask ending showing faith in the greater wills “true plan”
These videos have caught me up so fast on the lore I waited way too long to get into this game. This channel has definitely made the experience better thank you for the work you put into your videos and your Loreplays they’re my new favorite thing to watch.
By far one of the finest videos of a fellow Tarnished, from a fellow Tarnished. Even to give consideration to the extremes of the ending, of Perfect Order. Merry Christmas, Miss Chalice.
On Goldmask: one bummer about his storyline is how much of a letdown the (SPOILERS) ending of the game is. What a magnificent storyline! I had not considered that he might have done himself in, and I think there is still some evidence to come to a different conclusion, but it does seem to look like he did! It is such a rollercoaster to think about how faith is considered in this game when going over the different spells that require int and faith.
I think it’s a wonderful point you make at the end by questioning Goldmask’s premise of fickleness and what perfection means. Often the hardest biases to discover are our own, and he seems to be no more immune to that than Marika. A world without fickleness is also without free will (or even the illusion thereof). This would cause one of two results: A. The mending is somehow truly perfect in carrying out its intended vision, creating an endless purgatory for anyone who doesn’t agree with it. B. The mending is imperfect in some way yet to be discovered, leading to a repeated cycle of suffering and revolution. My bet’s on this one.
I think your idea of the Age of Order being a sort of “enforced fundamentalism” is the correct interpretation, because the flip side to this ending I think is the Ranni ending. Goldmask’s thinking is “If the gods are flawed - they shouldn’t be flawed”, vs. Ranni’s “If the gods are flawed - they shouldn’t be.”
I think Goldmask's ending and philosophy is similar to what Andrew Ryan once said: "No Gods or Kings, only man" I think Goldmask realized that Gods were just as fallible as man, that they were capable of hiding secrets, deceit, and even seeing that they too, could be wrong. In his mind, the Gods are no more better than a man such as himself, or any other tarnished, a nd that they could get things wrong. I think his mending rune is the understanding and acceptance that anyone can be wrong, Gods or Man, and that there isn't any difference in their Wisdom to rule
I’m sold, based on this video alone I’ll be watching all your future releases. I appreciate the effort and time you put into these RP lore videos! I hope you continue to dig into Elden ring!
His character and story reminds me of the late 19th and early 20th century attempts to form a mathematical language that contained no paradoxes, which led to Kurt Godel formulating his famous incompleteness theorem, proving that any formal system will always contain paradoxes and contradictions, and any attempt to adapt the system to smooth out these contradictions will create new ones, meaning that any formal system of 'order' will always be incomplete in its power to explain reality.
Hahah, I swear I came home from a busy day and I was like "Damn, a nice calming lore video would be so awesome now to end the evening smoothly"... And there you are, with another chill lore video. Keep it up, you are underappreciated really :D You're doing so great at these Chalice!!!! Glad I found you! Have a good one, take care!
Ah damn that truly warms my heart! What excellent timing! So glad I could help in some way after a long busy day. Thank you so much, really happy you appreciate my style. Take care of yourself :)
This is my first "souls game", so naturally I was rediculously confused and came here for lore breakdowns, which I genuinely appreciate. I like these two characters btw. I always ran into them in the wild and it was like meeting an old friend.
I don’t know in what way this is helpful to explain the lore of Elden ring, but I always presumed that Marika, aka. Radagon is a Rebis an alchemical being that is female and male at the same time and considered as the divine hermaphrodite reconciling opposite qualities.
I swear to high heavens, you'd excel in the voice-acting/voice-over world. Your voice is hella unique and pleasing to the ear. I would seriously recommend looking into it. You'd be a wanted Voice for sure
Best lore video appreciate you for making this putting all your hard work into your videos goldmask reminds me of that statue pose from Bloodborne when making contact with the great ones
Gold mask actually seems to “speak” but writing in braille in the air, essentially twitching his finger everytime there would be a bump when reading, and corhyn has learned to read those twitches and interpret them into braille, which is why a lot of the incantations are written in braille
Poor Corhyn, he's really being taken for quite the ride... my favorite bit is when he despairs on mountain top of the giants going "noooo we we're so close, on the very cusp" as he is on his knees literally crying and lamenting something about goldmask's "signs" and goldmask literally just pretends he isn't there and just keeps t-posing.
For some reason, I had interpreted Goldmask’s ending as being an ending in which the gods no longer have power over the lands between. By removing the imperfections of gods, a true golden order, could be attained. Maybe an unalloyed golden order, same as Miquella wanted. I interpreted the ending as being the faith equivalent to Renna’s ending, but maybe my interpretation was a little too charitable. I don’t know. I’m willing to accept that there might be some massive holes in my interpretation.
Positively wondrous. I absolutely loved your Fia video and this one was itself no disappointment. In fact, I’d venture to say it joins your Fia video in it’s masterpiece qualification. So far as I am concerned!❤
I think Goldmask, being a fundamentalist, decided the values of his perfect order on mathematical precision. Not on subjective belief but on precise and deliberate action to bring the most stability. Each tenet weighed with an eye towards harmony and order.
I've always seen Goldmask's ending as a good ending. Order Healing. Incantation. "The noble Goldmask lamented what had become of the hunters. How easy it is for learning and learnedness to be reduced to the ravings of fanatics; all the good and the great wanted, in their foolishness, was an absolute evil to contend with." The fly in the ointment, as the principles of the Golden Order gave way to petty vindication. The learned scholars and devout priests gave way to hateful destructive monsters. I agree with your earlier statement about the cut voiceline for Goldmask. It sounds exasperated yet unsurprised at the absurdity. Goldmask has encountered yet another fly in the ointment. Fickleness is a word used to describe switching directions, changing often. Marika and Radagon are one being, and yet, their goals are very different. Marika, at the end, sought an end to the Golden Order. She broke it with her hammer. Radagon remained faithful, and sought to repair and maintain it. I can imagine the two fighting to take control of the singular body they possess, an inner turmoil so fierce and violent that only a god could create and suffer through it. Fickleness, as they switch and change and flip flop control. I believe that Goldmask removes these flaws in the Golden Order. One way or another, he creates an order that will not be affected by petty gods, that will not let people slip through the cracks through no fault of their own. I believe Goldmask created Heaven. A transcendental place of perfection, where nobody suffers, all live forever, and all are happy, for eternity.
I love these sorts of videos. Something I myself have started investigating is how much topic there is to Rodrika, being a noble not expected to return home.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
what a cool character honestly. he decided to have a mind of his own and then t-posed on the golden order. great video
Thank you and Yes! He is pretty amazing! I respect his autonomy and faithfulness to his craft to uncover the truth
@@miss_chalice I think Goldmask is the only really awesome faith based character in any fromsoft game. Most of them are just mediocre at best. Goldmask's story seems like nonsense at first, but the more you think about it, the more sense it makes and the more interesting it is.
Based
@kichu2326 just beat kingdom hearts it was fire
This comment is Golden
Man literally t-posed so hard he made gods have to obey the law.
>Barges in Leyndell
>Default stances the concept of order and divinity itself
>refuses to elaborate further
>dies
The biggest chad in the entire lore, holy shit
>T-Poses in reflection the entire game
>Becomes so attuned to reality by standing on a bridge pointing at a big tree that he discovers a way to repair the very logic of the universe
>Fixes everyone's problems
>Refuses to elaborate further
>Dies
Goldmask is a straight up Chad
Everything except T-pose = Buddha?? 😂
@@KuraSourTakanHourtechnically the Buddha understood the order of the universe and taught it in obscure ways, Goldmask just straight out builds an arcane construct that fixes the world logos/God if you stick it into an alien construct
He's not just a Chad. He's a Saint.
@@qwirkt Buddha didn't understood anything of the universe but rather the mind. Why do you speak with such confidence when you're gonna spread misinformation?
wym, he tells all of it through the movement of his fingers and corrhyn writes it down, what are you on about
Came to the lands between
Realized that gods are imperfect
Fixed it
T-posed
All without saying a word
he didnt fix it, he *attempted* to fix it by *attempting* to make it perfect...as well all know, perfection only exists in the abstract and his *fix* will inevitably fail and die just like everything else
@@terrycruise-zd5tw L take
@@tuvergalarga6144 w take, if it wasn't for the shattering, the little t posing kid wouldn't be able to do anything
I don't think Goldmask is ultimately a fundamentalist of the Golden Order. I think during his quest he becomes a fundamentalist of the Greater Will.
His study of the Erdtree is him trying to understand what the Greater Will actually planned for the world, not what the religion of the Golden Order says it wants.
And it does seem he is successful. His Rune most likely is far closer to the Greater Will's actually design for the world than Queen Marika's take on it.
Thank you so much for your comment! Really appreciate your input on this. I think I was the one being closed-minded and ignored the other huge influence which is the Greater Will. What you've detailed makes more sense on how his ideology will effect the whole world. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
I think Brother Coryn's questline supports your theory, as he is probably the best representation of a Golden Order fundamentalist. The fact that Coryn eventually comes to reject Goldmask shows that Coryn is more willing to follow the Golden Order than the Greater Will.
I don't think he's a fundamentalist of the Greater Will. He looks upon the gods as fickle, the Greater Will being an Outer God and indeed, quite fickle. I think Goldmask is a fundamentalist of the Golden Order, but comes to the realization that in order to perfect the Order, even the Greater Will must be denied.
@@unbelievablytrash9458 I think he has a problem with the demigods being fickle (essentially Marika and below) I don't think he has a problem with the outer gods like the Greater Will.
@@strayfaux That may be so, but I read it as he disparages the intervention of higher powers that're fickle and flawed, and the Greater Will and it's fellow Outer Gods definitely fill that description.
First couple seconds of the video pretty much sums up the Elden Ring T pose run im doing rn (im in so much pain)
madman. i both respect and fear you.
wait what you are here to
Skumnut!
Regular Elden Ring player: Simp for Ranni
True Intellectuals: Simp for the Ever Brilliant Gold Mask
Remember: Just because you become her consort, it doesn't magically mean she won't friend-zone you and treat it all as just a honorific.
@@outregis Well she has no physical body so being her consort at best is being friendzoned.
@@christopherjohnson2171 A relationship doesn't consist of only what a physical body can do 👍
I love how despite being constantly silent throughout our journey, Goldmask manages to tell us so much about the world, the golden order and its philosophy, a true master indeed
...
...
The lore
The cosplay
The voice
Perfection ❤
The holy trinity!! Thank you, so grateful you appreciate these things :)
Seriously, I’ve rarely found a video so enthralling.
Facts. Please don’t stop. Even if you change games. I will follow this trinity.
AND THE TITS!
@@hillaryclump3208 God bless the Misssus. And her tits
I absolutely love these Loreplays. Your outfits are always so well done!
Thank you!! I am so happy that I started this series. Combining two passions together is a dream come true! Can't wait to make my next one already :)
14:09 I should mention that in the Japanese version of the game, ONLY Fia’s [Mending Rune] is said to have been gestated (translated closer to the English word “conceived”).
However, the Japanese text for Dung Eater’s [Mending Rune] doesn’t mention the rune’s origin, it only mentions that it is [The Mending Rune of the Dung Eater] (nothing in the text mentions anything about it being gestated, created, or even discovered). I don’t know why they chose to mention “gestation” for the text of his [Mending Rune] in the English version when none was mentioned in the Japanese version. 🤷♂️
For Goldmask, it does indeed mention in Japanese that his [Mending Rune] was discovered by him. And it even translates accurately to the English word “discovered”, instead of a different synonym, like with Fia’s. Figured I’d still include this part as well, even though it’s already accurately mentioned in the video.
It's a bit unfortunate when 90% of even attempting to understand what is happening or has happened in the game relies entirely on item descriptions and that they consistently for each entry in the series gets translated in a way that changes the meaning compared to the japanese version.
maybe the Dung eater has been cursed with his demented ideology from the beginning, like he didn't need to conceive or even discover it in any capacity, it is his because he was born with a poisoned mind, it isn't just a rune that he made, he himself is his rune in a strange way
It sounds silly, but having the right voice really does wonders for the souls vibe. Like Vaitti, if you close your eyes, the wispiness in tone sounds like something straight from an npc in the games themselves.
The vibe in general reminds me of the Librarian in the old Mummy movies played by Rachel Weisz.
Not everyone appreciates the style of story telling found in souls games, but it allows for beautiful stuff like this within the community. Thanks for sharing your interest, this is great.
Hope you still find the motivation and time to make more content, Miss Chalice. Your input is always so eloquent, pleasant and thought provoking. You obviously spend a lot of time on scripting, filming, editing and cosplay. I'm confident your channel will keep growing even if you explore other universes even after you're done with Elden Ring.
simp
@@Saronite I donate to a bunch of creators on twitch, patreon and youtube for their content, but assume whatever you want.
@@lucioh1575 Thanks for supporting the creator and her content. They deleted their comment so likely just projecting.
@@Amocoru Thanks, I'm terrible at receiving compliments as a content creator (I work on a comic) but I know those kind of comments matter for motivation when they are specific and feel real. I'm not exactly sure how comfortable she is with people randomly sexualizing her given she does some nsfw content apparently, but this is lore videos right here, so I find it somewhat disrespecful for people to comment on her body and that's it when she obviously put hours and hours in stuff that have nothing to do with her research, editing, cosplay making... Just wanted to restore a bit of balance a show support for her work. :') Give credit where credit is due.
Thank you so so so much seriously. Generosity like this doesn't go unnoticed. I just find it so crazy that at the beginning of this year, I didn't even have a channel - I didn't know how to edit, write scripts, organise my thoughts etc. And now I have people like you directly supporting me to make more and more content. It's such blessing and really makes a big difference, especially as LorePlay videos take extra time and effort. Knowing that you acknowledge that is all I could hope for. Thank you again Lucioh!
This is *my* interpretation:
First, I want to get out of the way that I wonder if Goldmask dying despite Brother Corhyn's death is simply a game oversight. That'll be important later.
The moment when Goldmask begins to be critical of the Golden Order is effectively when he learns about Radagon. What, or who, is Radagon? From everything we know, Radagon seems to be a "puppet" - for lack of a better word - for the Greater Will. Every single thing we know about Radagon shows him forwarding the goals and interests of the Greater Will itself, to the "detriment" of Marika in that she loses control of herself when he's in play. It's notable for example that Marika shattered the Elden Ring whilst Radagon attempt to repair it: the two do not have aligning interests.
This is where Goldmask questions the "holism" of the Golden Order, aka that it's one giant entity that happily and flawlessly works together.
And he's right to question this. Our knowledge we gain implies a rebellious Marika who was very much trying to get out from under the thumb of the Greater Will. *Why* she desires this and if it's justified, we do not know. This is basically the big question of the game, imo, that we yet lack enough in-game knowledge to deduce: it's likely that either Marika or the Greater Will is the villain, but because the two work together so closely for the majority of history, it's difficult to say what decisions are Marika's and which are the Greater Will's, thus we cannot know why conflict arose between these two, nor make a decision on which of them is more justified.
But Goldmask...? He either *does* know or makes such a choice.
To me, Goldmask is specifically targeting Marika and other lesser Gods, not the Greater Will itself. And why not? From our knowledge of the game, the "fickleness" arises when characters such as Marika and Ranni refuse to fall in line and begin acting out. And he's right: the Lands Between have *greatly* suffered because of the actions of Marika, Ranni, Rykard and others. The Greater Will is at the very least consistent, but the various other Gods have acted out in a variety of damaging ways. The Shattering led to the chaos the Lands Between has now. Ranni's little trick to preserve her soul (at least, that's our best known interpretation) has spawned the Death Blight curse, and it seems to be continuously spreading further and further from Godwyn's corpse, with no solution in sight. Rykard waged the bloodiest war the Lands Between has ever seen and to this day leads an order that seeks to sacrifice others, and even various other Gods such as Malenia and Radahn waged wars. *It is basically fact that the people of the Lands Between have suffered because of the fickleness - or personalities and imperfections - of the Gods below the Greater Will.*
To me, what Goldmask has deduced is the Shattering. He's deduced that Radagon need not exist unless Marika was acting out. His entire existence can only be explained by a Greater Will that needs additional measures to be taken to keep it's "right hand" in check.
And to me, this means that what Goldmask essentially seeks is to *remove* the need for an Empyrean at all for the Greater Will to be able to establish it's rule. Either directly by removing the need for Empyrean entirely so the system can function without them, or by virtue of a selected Empyrean completely losing their free will, likely in the form of it "Radagon'ing" all the active Empyreans permanently. The Outer Gods need a vessel to house the Elden Ring in the form of an Empyrean. It's why the Rot God and it's subjects venerate Malenia: because she offers a clear path for the Rot God to take over. It's why the Carians venerate Ranni, because she too can offer a path for the Moon.
But what if this wasn't the case and the Greater Will could rule directly without need of Marika or other Gods below them who might rebel...? I think that when analyzing "what happened," this highlights heavy flaws of the Empyreans, but not necessarily of the Greater Will. The Greater Will said "do this thing," the Empyreans (Marika and Ranni in particular) said "no," and thousands of people died and suffered because they stepped out of line. And thus, Goldmask concludes the problem is with the #2 rank of people in charge.
Now, this would imply that depending what exactly the Greater Will is, it's motivations, and whether it's good or bad, Goldmask either has one of the best or one of the worst endings. I personally feel like the only crimes we've seen of the Greater Will are an unexplained hatred of the Misbegotten and Omens, a war against the Carians that was proven unnecessary and that the Greater Will seems to have eventually acknowledged as a mistake, and yes, an oppressive level of control over it's *direct* subjects. All other instances of hostility from the Greater Will can be justified in some form: the Fire Giants are called the direct enemies of the Erdtree, the dragons were a great threat in terms of power and seemingly supported other Gods/Orders, and the Merchants were indeed servants of the Frenzied Flame. (though timeline is unclear here; either both parties were tricked or the Merchants were tricked into serving the Frenzied Flame and the Greater Will proactively locked them up)
This isn't to say the Greater Will is flawless; it has questionable acts under it's belt. However, in the world of the Lands Between, there *will* be an Outer God. *Someone* is going to be in charge, the only question being who. Compared to the other Outer Gods we've seen, the Greater Will is a saint. It built a flourishing society structure that functioned for hundreds or thousands of years until Marika caused the Shattering. Meanwhile, the Rot God wants to rot everything away, the Formless Mother has this weird obsession with blood an injuries, the Frenzied Flame legit wants to burn away everything, and the Moon is a giant question mark where, best case it's an absolute nihilist/pacifist that just lets people do as they please and cares not for the Lands Between, but it's questionable if such an Outer God could retain power in the face of other threats such as the Rot God.
If we *must* choose one of these Outer God, then there is absolutely no question that the Greater Will is at the very least one of only 2 we would want in power, and perhaps the better choice since it more aggressively protects it's claim against hostiles. (and boy does this world have hostiles!)
Want to add here: to my understanding, *Marika* is the one granting people such as ourselves Grace. And as such, if Marika suddenly has a change of heart and grants Corhyn Grace despite his past "crimes," and Corhyn is indeed responsible for Goldmask's death, this would reinforce my theory. It's hard to say though because we have no idea how omniscient these gods are.
In conclusion, I think Goldmask simply throws his hat in with the Greater Will and seeks to eliminate the need for Empyreans, thus the "fickleness of the Gods" line. This means no future "Shatterings," no future Death Blight curses, no grand tragedies because Empyreans stepped out of line. And depending on what DLC might reveal about Marika/The Greater Will, this has potential to be the best ending in the game.
How you went 2 weeks without a reply or a like is just wild so have mine
One point I will dissagree with you on is that "an unexplained hatred of the Misbegotten and Omens, a war against the Carians" was Greater Will's doing, because everything points to it being again a product of fickleness of Marika. As a cosmic force, I don't think Greater Will cares much about such minor factions and races, but Marika can, and boy she does. Marika is a racist and a power-hungry tyrant, she's an asshole, if you will, and that's exactly why the Shattering happened.
I don't know if the Greater Will is benevolent or not, probably it's a classic "power that cares only of growing in power", and that isn't necessarely bad for us, especially if we "ban" the fickle gods from messing with it's rules. After all, it's all about how you use a power, and the Erdtree/Two Fingers/Golden Order incantations are shown to be more about healing, protection and empowerment, than destruction. This power can be used for good, and removing it from the world like what Ranni aims to do, I think is a waste. So what if the Greater Will is "in power", it wasn't the one waging wars, Marika was. As an Elden Lord, it will be up to you to lead the Lands Between, so perhaps you can establish new rules, separate from The Golden Order, like to treat Albinaurics, Misbegotten, Omen and other humanoids as equals, use the powers of the Grater Will only for good, and so on. It will take time, there are going to be oppositions, wars, but in the end, as Tommy Wiseau brilliantly said: "If a lot of people love each other, the world would be a better place to live."
The only option that may be better, and again, that's DLC speculation territory, would be Miquella's Unalloyed Gold. It was shown to at least reduce Malenia's rot, and to completely erase the Three Finger's marks on your body. If we are able to rescue and somehow help Miquella rehabilitate, and maybe work together on perfecting the Unalloyed Gold, it may be an even better alternative to that of the Erdtree. But why do we have to choose? Can't we have best of both, like the healing and protection of the Erdtree, and cleansing of the Unalloyed?
But all of this is a big fat MAYBE, because we don't know exactly what happens after the mending, and the lackluster "throne" cutscenes don't help with that. I still, however, think that Goldmask's ending has the potential to be a great alternative to that of Ranni's, maybe even better.
Nah.
@@Egorator It's actualy more likely that the greater will was the one with personal hatred of the Omens and Misbegoten, even the Carians.
The greater will in lore has taken over the Crucible to impose the golden order with Marika help. The Crucible is pretty much the incarnation of nature of the lands bettwen, and the elden beast is there as a vassal of the greater will to keep it's power in check. Omens are born from a blessing of the Crucible and has such are a reminder of it's power and influence still being there, their existence is a reminder that the golden order is a subjugating power that usurped the Crucible and the Erdtree, has such they must be silenced and hidden away.
spoiler for DLC: Marika has really good motives for being like that and the fingers state is more sad than we though
This is why I love playing Prophet. The idea that you’re a tarnished exiled from your home for foreseeing rapture of the Lands Between and following the direction of Grace. It’s very cool because you’re not just some lonely soldier, prisoner, or bandit… you had visions that foretold the future. And knowing that we as this prophet are working towards the Erd Tree, we are potentially stopping or enforcing the fate we saw. It makes me feel super connected to the lore as a character.
This but my prophet is just a fraud self help guru
Characters like this illustrate one of the most underrated aspects of fromsoft games. They're fucking hilarious in these weird, bizarre ways. None of the games take themselves completely seriously, and Elden Ring is probably the most suffused with humor out of all of them, this game is overflowing with goofy funny stuff. The pot people, the t pose, Corhyn and Goldmask's entire relationship, and I refuse to believe nobody saw the humor in the Dung Eater. The extremely dark and serious nature of these worlds lend themselves perfectly to natural, understated comedy.
Update: DLC makes the pot people not so funny no more 😢
@youtubeletmeintoyoutube4580 yeah i thought being a pot people was all fun and games 😭
none of that stuff is funny though, your brainrot just inserts humor where it doesnt exist
THE LOATHSOME DUNG EATER
i love the group of jar bairns on the mound in a cave thatre just vibing. it’s like me and the boys when we hang out
I always found the description of the mending rune of perfect order pretty interesting, the other two mending runes you have to create yourself, but it's specifically stated that Goldmask discovered this rune, as if it was waiting to be found by someone. You just so happen to find it in the same spot Goldmask started to question the golden order, so I imagine at that moment Goldmask reached a state of enlightenment, and when he returned the mending rune of order was given to him by the Greater Will as a gift
the greater will abandoned the lands between a long time ago so why would it give him a gift? how would he even contact something that has been intentionally long gone?
if anything it draws a parallel between ancient greek pantheon gods which came first and were ascribed human traits/faults, just like the gods/demigods of the lands between, they were ultimately all just fickle humans with super powers. then judaic christian god replaced the pantheon which was seen as a perfect entity (even though that god was just as fickle as humans ,if not more so) which is why goldmasks perfect rune was only perfect in the abstract sense ,perfection cant exist in the physical world
About the ability to decipher Goldmasks movements: When you look at bodyless weapons like the Cipher Pata, that you can find at the Roundtable Hold, they have written runes instead of blades. And that style of writing definitely looks like something you could draw with your fingers in the air, because it's a continous and flowing style. ... However, that still doesn't explain why Corhyn can read it while wearing a blindfold.
Perhaps because the runes are made of light and Corhyn can see the light of grace
blind faith, he still has the guidance of grace, he can see these things without needing eyes, just like hyetaa and the frenzy people can see without eyeballs
So, I'm fairly certain that the reason Radagon was unable to mend the Elden Ring is because he was unable to sacrifice himself to mend it. Every Tarnished who creates/births a mending rune does so at the cost of their own life. But since Radagon is Marika, his desire to mend the Elden Ring was thwarted by the Greater Will crucifying his other half, trapping him in a purgatory state. Hence why we as another Tarnished, must fight him. He is defending the Elden Ring, defending the Golden Order created by his alter-ego after she shuns it.
He can't repair it because he lacks one of the original parts of it: the Rune of Death.
Why he won't seek it is maybe he can't leave the Erdtree or maybe he knows he can't win against Maliketh and just waited for someone and take it from them when they arrive.
Mending Runes "edit" the laws of reality that is the Elden Ring. But you can't repair it without the essential parts like Death.
uh did you beat the game? he literally sacrifices himself and gets turned into a sword yet his sacrifice still doesnt repair the elden ring lol
14:35 The Dung Eater asks you to defile him "until a cursed ring *coalesces*" which means: smaller parts forming something bigger. And what are the smallest fragments of the Elden Ring? The runes used for currency. The ones that every living being on the Lands Between have.
Mohg's Great Rune and Malenia's Great Rune seem to suggest that runes can be tainted by the will of their owners.
Perhaps the same is true for the currency ones, which could explain how Mending Runes are formed.
It's important to remember that the "laws" of the Golden Order are not societal laws, but the laws of reality itself. That is why the fickle nature of the gods was so dangerous; they could and did alter the very nature of the world. With that in mind, I don't think the people of the Lands Between would be subjugated by Perfect Order any more than we are subjugated by physics in the real world.
Good video!
Like the quick t-pose cut!
hm ? i saw nothing :o
You've got to respect someone that wanted to know the truth of it all, no matter what that meant. And then, rather than crumble, he sought to seek an alternative. He MADE an alternative. Makes you wonder how his views would react with Miquella, who really embraced fundamentalism for a time, until he understood it wouldn't save Melania.
You can also give the Tonic of Forgetfulness to Brother Corhyn when he starts to doubt Goldmask
I actually love the character of Goldmask. A scholar of the divine, he doesn't just seek to learn more about the gods to worship them, he seeks understanding of the world and the place of the divine in the world, regardless of how contradictory that may be to the doctrine of the Golden Order.
In terms of "what gives him the right" I think it's fair to say that he's only human, however, he's a human that's set aside all individuality and all material things in search of absolute truth. His mending rune is carefully worded as "will attempt" to fix the golden order, as though even in designing it he had humility enough to recognise his own potential for failure and that seeped into the rune.
Essentially, he wasn't determining what the golden order should be off what he would gain and was instead imbuing it with principles that would transcend mortal and divine whimsy.
It could also speak to the true golden order being something based on pure ideals and then corrupted by Marika/Radagon. Perhaps in much the same way as many politicians and priests have espoused good and honorable morals but then committed terrible corrupt acts behind closed doors, the Golden Order too was full of good and honorable morals but spoiled by the corruption and personal motivations of Marika/Radagon.
In that sense, attempting to restore it to what it should have been could actually mean Goldmask has almost no personal hand in the creation of the new word itself.
Either way, clearly his focus was on principles of some sort that would apply to everyone, not just himself. Therefore the new rune wasn't just formed according to a single human's desires, but instead intended to be formed according to the principles that would benefit many people. Essentially acting like a just and incorruptable system without preference or prejudice toward any people.
It's maybe also worth noting that his ending seems to be the most positive. The endings don't give you much but with Ranni's taking the dead off into space, the fellrune giving everyone the worst curses forever, the three fingers destroying everything, Fias rune doing... something about the undead? (I don't know if it allows more or less...), and I think that's it... All in all, Goldmask's ending of 'the lands between are rebuilt but good' is pretty idyllic, which is very unlike Miyazaki.
I always thought Gold Mask's critique of Marika was removing the rune of death from the Elden Ring. He thinks the Elden ring in its original golden order state was perfect, and Marika ruined it by fiddling with it and removing the death rune. He believes that not even the gods should be allowed to tamper with the laws of reality.
dumb cause someone else would eventually come along and do the same again
@@terrycruise-zd5twnope, the mending runes of order VERY SPECIFICALLY doesn't that allow that to happen anymore. His mending rune literally puts a golden shield surrounding the elden ring, preventing further tampering.
A replay is definitely needed because I've never encountered the character. Amazing video as always! you're one of my favorite lore/storytelling youtubers!!
If you played really early like I did, they've since added NPC markers to the map and indications in the site of grace menu when you can talk to NPCs which makes the questlines easier to follow. I probably would've done this questline on my first playthrough if those were added... I just let Corhyn die on Altus Plateau because I either forgot about meeting Goldmask or was past that area.
that’s great that they’ve added NPC markers, quest lines are so hard to follow and to keep track of, I literally made a To-do list to keep track of every NPC/hidden weapons etc and yet even with the list I managed to miss probably 80% of the hidden lore lmao. Thanks for letting me know!
Amazing video and cosplay, as always. This is one of my favourite quests and my favourite 'Elden Lord' ending. I absolutely adore Corhyn's blind foolishness and the fact Goldmask is not a fanatic tho he's a fundamentalist. He's an intellectual. So much so he end up defying (and transcending) the principles of the Golden Order in order (pun not intended) to mend the Land Between. 🛐✨
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the subject matter - religion, specifically religious fanaticism is always such an interesting topic to cover. Especially seeing how far one will go when contradictions in beliefs are involved. Corhyn being blindfolded and blind to the truth is really nice symbolism, thanks for picking up on that!
@@miss_chalice there's so much philosophy in so many endings we get, if one's willing to dig deep enough to understand what's happening in game. The nihilism and "return to one" of the three fingers, Goldmask and religion, Ranni and the supposedly free will (in relation to being subjected by a god) granted to the inhabitants of the Land Between by the age of stars... And even the endings that do not have a proper deeper meaning, have some interesting implications (aside for the age of fracture, which is the less inspired ending to my eyes, as you just do what you're asked to do by the fingers, and nothing more)
the tpose in the first few seconds was like a smack in the face
Unless there's other lore on it, it just struck me that GM's mask is modeled on the ointment saying - black dots on an otherwise golden circle...
A very informative video, thank you for these 🩶
Oh my goodness - that is an absolutely incredible observation! Beautifully done!
I kinda of saw it as the Goldmask appeared like a sunflower - the Erdtree being the sun and Goldmask always facing in the direction of it. Until the Erdtree burns down, and the sun no longer shines, the sunflower dies.
I like you interpretation more so thank you so much for sharing it!
@miss_chalice Aw thanks 😊
Yours is also interesting. And heck, why not both?
A great observation, made me think of the placement of the holes in his mask they almost look like holes to see through... further more the fingers have no eyes that you the player can see just sockets and Corhyn is blind folded almost like they’re saying they’re blindly following the golden order perhaps the holes in golden masks mask is to depict the holes in the golden order to see through it for what the golden order really is.
@@goatgoat944 Now that's an interesting view!
Bro witnessed god and said god is wrong and proceded to write his own commandments
The usage of communication through fingers is also supported further by the fact that incantations themselves are not verbal incantations, but canting via your fingers. Using a finger seal catalyst along with knowing the proper finger movements to cast an incantation is what sparks faith magic.
Or at least, that is my interpretation which I think explains it perfectly.
T-Pose Chalice is hilarious! xD
I've not seen any of your other videos but this was really impressive. I love the lore of Elden Ring and you do such a good job at
explaining it with a subtle voice and you make it visually entertaining with gameplay context and cosplay. You're like an Audible voice but for Elden ring.
Watched video with no sound, no captions, and blindfolded by interpreting the rhythm and calculus I unlocked the Perfect T-Pose emote and promptly flew off a cliff!
my character has the blindfold option on her model. so when talking to this guy talk about what i told Goldmask it was literally the blind leading the blind leading the blind. and i found that very funny
the exiled prophets are actually the ones who were able to see the future and the erdtrees eventual burning. they were blindfolded and exiled for seeing this prophecy and telling it. also being blinded in fromsoft games is way to show that the blind person has deeper insight into the non-physical world, therefore they can actually see more than non-blind people
@@terrycruise-zd5tw that is ALSO hilarious and awesome
Absolutely phenomenal video! And a well crafted Goldmask! This is the only ending I have not done so it’s nice to see such an in depth analysis. Wonderful work Miss Chalice!
Thank you!!!!! So happy it turned out okay. Yes! I didn't actually find Goldmask at all in my first playthrough haha so it was nice to go back an explore what I had missed. Glad to share this with you :)
The little easter egg at the beginning was a nice touch
The extra effort to do a costume is fun and makes your insights hit more. Thank you.
Fantastic video! Great recap and excellent cosplay, especially the mask!!
That said, I can't help but stare at the moulding behind you missing from the wall!
Praise the Sun!
AHAHAHH HELP it fell off just after I moved in and I don't know how to reattach it. Thank you for noticing hahah but seriously thanks for your lovely feedback
I just asked a bud and he said it looks like a product called liquid nails was used to put it up, which you can use to put it back up. Finish nails will help keep it up if it gives you trouble. Good luck!
@@miss_chalice more details from goodbuddy: Tell them if they strip off the old glue from the trim and the wall they can use either power grab or liquid nails, they may be able to tape it up with blue painters tape if it will stay in place, but I would recommend to put a few finish nails to hold it up, then put the painters tape on for at least 24 hours. Paint over any hammer marks from nailing in the finish nails, you can pre-drill holes for the finish nails to make the job easier, just don't drill the hole much bigger than the finish nails
@Duckhead you and your buddy are a life-saver! Thank you, I wouldn't have the faintest idea where to start. If you see the moulding restored in my next video, consider it a tribute to you!
@@miss_chalice You are very welcome! Good luck!
First off, amazing cosplay Madame Chalice. You always blow my mind. 2nd, your intro was flawless "What is there to say about a man who says nothing?" Same with his body language too. You did great! Merry Early Christmas you beautiful soul.
Thank you Onyx!! Why thank you, so happy you enjoyed my intro especially :) I wish you a happy holidays and take care of yourself
I love how much effort you put into those videos, keep up the good work please!
I really appreciate that you see that! Thank you! I love putting my all into these videos. Hope I can keep making stuff that you enjoy :)
@@miss_chalice I hope so too, and ignore that dumb top comment, I cringed so hard when I saw it, you deserve so much better. Sounds like Golden Mask might want to install a totalitarian state, if we follow your hypothesis!
@@lucioh1575 neek
Such an awesome video. Your voice is calming, and you go into the lore really well! I also like the intro. I'm glad you tried to speak with the mask. That's why Goldmask doesn't speak. No one could understand him xD As always, excellent job on the vid!
The intro was so chaotic haha honestly i cut out about 20 mins of footage where I was just figuring out how to position the mask! Glad you enjoyed ! I appreciate your support!
I always look forward to your videos, a lot of time and work put into them. The cosplays are amazing as well, one of my favourite lore channels
Thank you so much, that really means a lot that you think so much of my videos :) I hope I can keep making stuff that you will enjoy! I love doing it!
@@miss_chalice i like asmr, and i like lore videos on games im interested in such as souls games so seeing you upload is an instant view + like from me, not to mention your commitment with the cosplays that look amazing. i also love the witcher 3 bloody baron one :)
I love that this is a cool cosplay, lore, and relaxing soft-speaking ASMR all rolled into one. Love it!
Okay i needed this, cause really i still haven't seen much of goldmask, i accidentally killed him on my first playthrough and i never actually got to the end on any subsequent playthroughs as i mostly like to mid level pvp, ty for the content!
Thank you! So glad I could help you experience what you missed
This is the first video I've seen where someone was skeptical of the "perfection" of Goldmask's order! I love that!!!
Throughout our journey thru TLB the Golden Order proves itself to be hateful, controlling, and violent. As a lifelong devotee to that Order, there's no reason for us to believe that Goldmask disagrees with any of their established practices (which include slavery, genocide, and what amounts to fantasy eugenics). As you mention, his Rune solely points to the fickle nature of gods and mortals as an issue. So, it seems to me, his ending is about removing input from the Order. Keeping it "pure", and likely also stagnant. And we know how Miyazaki feels about stagnation lol.
We also know that the Great Runes of the Elden Ring govern natural laws. I wonder if that would make his Order, and the enforcement of it, more absolute. If it could somehow compel people to act in accordance with his vision. I get very dystopian vibes from it all.
Everything within this is just perfect! Can't wait for more videos from you.
There's another character that admires the sun just as much the ever brilliant Goldmask admires the golden order...
Any chance of a video on Solaire from Dark Souls 1? 👀
This is the only time I'll ever be happy Goldmask dresses the way he does.
Thanks for the great vids! Thanks to all the effort you put into them it's great to watch actively to enjoy the cosplay, visuals and high quality of information, but also re-listen in the background thanks to your amazing work on voice and acting. Keep it up!
I've watched 3 of these lore videos now and I'm hooked. Thank you for these awesome videos! 🙏
Goldmaak is one of my favorite sidequests and i think the best outcome for the standard Elden Lord ending. Goldmask realizing the Golden Order contradicts itself is brilliant.
I tie it with the duskborn ending for the best endings. Both choose a different absolute faith. The duskborn ending showing faith in humanity/the living creatures of the world to make the world better without any interference from the greater will, and the goldmask ending showing faith in the greater wills “true plan”
These videos have caught me up so fast on the lore I waited way too long to get into this game. This channel has definitely made the experience better thank you for the work you put into your videos and your Loreplays they’re my new favorite thing to watch.
The ever brilliant Gold mask 🌞
By far one of the finest videos of a fellow Tarnished, from a fellow Tarnished. Even to give consideration to the extremes of the ending, of Perfect Order.
Merry Christmas, Miss Chalice.
On Goldmask: one bummer about his storyline is how much of a letdown the (SPOILERS) ending of the game is. What a magnificent storyline! I had not considered that he might have done himself in, and I think there is still some evidence to come to a different conclusion, but it does seem to look like he did! It is such a rollercoaster to think about how faith is considered in this game when going over the different spells that require int and faith.
I think it’s a wonderful point you make at the end by questioning Goldmask’s premise of fickleness and what perfection means. Often the hardest biases to discover are our own, and he seems to be no more immune to that than Marika.
A world without fickleness is also without free will (or even the illusion thereof). This would cause one of two results:
A. The mending is somehow truly perfect in carrying out its intended vision, creating an endless purgatory for anyone who doesn’t agree with it.
B. The mending is imperfect in some way yet to be discovered, leading to a repeated cycle of suffering and revolution. My bet’s on this one.
I think your idea of the Age of Order being a sort of “enforced fundamentalism” is the correct interpretation, because the flip side to this ending I think is the Ranni ending. Goldmask’s thinking is “If the gods are flawed - they shouldn’t be flawed”, vs. Ranni’s “If the gods are flawed - they shouldn’t be.”
I think Goldmask's ending and philosophy is similar to what Andrew Ryan once said:
"No Gods or Kings, only man"
I think Goldmask realized that Gods were just as fallible as man, that they were capable of hiding secrets, deceit, and even seeing that they too, could be wrong. In his mind, the Gods are no more better than a man such as himself, or any other tarnished, a nd that they could get things wrong. I think his mending rune is the understanding and acceptance that anyone can be wrong, Gods or Man, and that there isn't any difference in their Wisdom to rule
I’m sold, based on this video alone I’ll be watching all your future releases. I appreciate the effort and time you put into these RP lore videos! I hope you continue to dig into Elden ring!
( Y ) ess
@@HeyGuy4321 ew
10 months later and there is still so much to learn. Eternally excited to see your videos when they go live. 🔥
So true Elgrim! Thank you for sticking around all this time as well :) Excited to make as much stuff as I can find to share with you!
Another amazing lore video ! Love your voice and the effort you put into these. Please keep it up !
Thank you so much! So happy you like my style, I can't wait to make more to share with you!
His character and story reminds me of the late 19th and early 20th century attempts to form a mathematical language that contained no paradoxes, which led to Kurt Godel formulating his famous incompleteness theorem, proving that any formal system will always contain paradoxes and contradictions, and any attempt to adapt the system to smooth out these contradictions will create new ones, meaning that any formal system of 'order' will always be incomplete in its power to explain reality.
Hahah, I swear I came home from a busy day and I was like "Damn, a nice calming lore video would be so awesome now to end the evening smoothly"...
And there you are, with another chill lore video. Keep it up, you are underappreciated really :D You're doing so great at these Chalice!!!! Glad I found you!
Have a good one, take care!
Ah damn that truly warms my heart! What excellent timing! So glad I could help in some way after a long busy day. Thank you so much, really happy you appreciate my style. Take care of yourself :)
I just found your channel and I’m bingeing your videos. Your explanations are so easy to digest and informative. Great content.
This is my first "souls game", so naturally I was rediculously confused and came here for lore breakdowns, which I genuinely appreciate. I like these two characters btw. I always ran into them in the wild and it was like meeting an old friend.
I don’t know in what way this is helpful to explain the lore of Elden ring, but I always presumed that Marika, aka. Radagon is a Rebis an alchemical being that is female and male at the same time and considered as the divine hermaphrodite reconciling opposite qualities.
Loved the lore video, your voice is so beautiful when talking about lore, and the cosplay just makes it 10 times better
Thank you so so much. Really happy that you enjoy all the facets of my content and that they work together! Appreciate you!
A great evaluation to gold mask's quest line! Great video.
Amazing chest ahead
\[T]/
...therefore try two-handed.
therefore seek god
Touch grace
You don’t have the right, O you don’t have the right
Can we appreciate Fromsoft straight-up memeing by having GOLDCHAD T-pose on Coryn so hard he mindbroke the guy?
Loving the vids. You can see the hard work that goes into them and that shows, thanks.
So glad you enjoy them! Thank you so much! I will keep trying my best :)
I swear to high heavens, you'd excel in the voice-acting/voice-over world. Your voice is hella unique and pleasing to the ear. I would seriously recommend looking into it. You'd be a wanted Voice for sure
Best lore video appreciate you for making this putting all your hard work into your videos goldmask reminds me of that statue pose from Bloodborne when making contact with the great ones
Thank you so much Frankie! It's my pleasure :) OOoo I still need to play Bloodbourne, I think I will really enjoy it based on the themes
@@miss_chalice Your very welcome ☺️ I think you will enjoy Bloodborne so much lore in that game😍
I seriously needed this before going bed at 9pm to be back up for work at 3.30am. Awesome and chill as always!
Amazing paint work on the mask!
Thank you so so much! I really enjoy the painting stage of cosplay. I can't wait to paint some more and hopefully improve :)
Gold mask actually seems to “speak” but writing in braille in the air, essentially twitching his finger everytime there would be a bump when reading, and corhyn has learned to read those twitches and interpret them into braille, which is why a lot of the incantations are written in braille
This channel is up there with all the best lore channels imo, keep up the great work!
That means the world. Thank you so much :) I will keep trying my best!
Poor Corhyn, he's really being taken for quite the ride... my favorite bit is when he despairs on mountain top of the giants going "noooo we we're so close, on the very cusp" as he is on his knees literally crying and lamenting something about goldmask's "signs" and goldmask literally just pretends he isn't there and just keeps t-posing.
Goldmask is the perfect ending tbh
perfection doesnt exist
For some reason, I had interpreted Goldmask’s ending as being an ending in which the gods no longer have power over the lands between.
By removing the imperfections of gods, a true golden order, could be attained.
Maybe an unalloyed golden order, same as Miquella wanted.
I interpreted the ending as being the faith equivalent to Renna’s ending, but maybe my interpretation was a little too charitable. I don’t know. I’m willing to accept that there might be some massive holes in my interpretation.
Positively wondrous. I absolutely loved your Fia video and this one was itself no disappointment. In fact, I’d venture to say it joins your Fia video in it’s masterpiece qualification. So far as I am concerned!❤
I think Goldmask, being a fundamentalist, decided the values of his perfect order on mathematical precision. Not on subjective belief but on precise and deliberate action to bring the most stability. Each tenet weighed with an eye towards harmony and order.
Loved the beginning
Gotta say I love the music used. The organ really gives that "devout follower" vibe. (Also this really is just a roast Cohryn video. Poor guy)
I could listen to your voice for eternity.
Thanks!
5 seconds in and already perfect, good job!
Thank you so much!! I hope you will enjoy the rest! :)
@@miss_chalice It was great! I loved the bit of Goldmask's Rune effect on the world, never gave it that much thought. Again, great work!
I've always seen Goldmask's ending as a good ending.
Order Healing. Incantation.
"The noble Goldmask lamented what had become of the hunters.
How easy it is for learning and learnedness to be reduced to the
ravings of fanatics; all the good and the great wanted, in their
foolishness, was an absolute evil to contend with."
The fly in the ointment, as the principles of the Golden Order gave way to petty vindication. The learned scholars and devout priests gave way to hateful destructive monsters.
I agree with your earlier statement about the cut voiceline for Goldmask. It sounds exasperated yet unsurprised at the absurdity. Goldmask has encountered yet another fly in the ointment. Fickleness is a word used to describe switching directions, changing often. Marika and Radagon are one being, and yet, their goals are very different. Marika, at the end, sought an end to the Golden Order. She broke it with her hammer. Radagon remained faithful, and sought to repair and maintain it.
I can imagine the two fighting to take control of the singular body they possess, an inner turmoil so fierce and violent that only a god could create and suffer through it.
Fickleness, as they switch and change and flip flop control.
I believe that Goldmask removes these flaws in the Golden Order. One way or another, he creates an order that will not be affected by petty gods, that will not let people slip through the cracks through no fault of their own.
I believe Goldmask created Heaven. A transcendental place of perfection, where nobody suffers, all live forever, and all are happy, for eternity.
Bro that cosplay is incredible 😭
It would be absolutely hilarious if u did a “goldmask cover” and just added subtitles to the entire video while u tposed as goodmask in the background
I've decided to help support you. Praise the Order of lore lady!
Bless you kind one! Many thanks!
Goldmask mysterious and runs around partially naked is just like me fr
Your voice is awesome and your storytelling style is great! If you and VaatiVidya made a video together it would be a thing of pure audio bliss.
I really need your voice for my sleep lore videos to make me sleep please 🙏
Thank you for another great video! Have a happy and safe Christmas Holiday
Thank you so much!! Happy Holidays to you as well :)
Seriously, your voice soothes the lore into my brain the same way Vaati's does. Good on ya!
Thanks for what you do. Love your content lore mommy!
I love these sorts of videos. Something I myself have started investigating is how much topic there is to Rodrika, being a noble not expected to return home.