Jack I hope you don't mind but I'm really struggling to understand your channel. A few minutes in and this is seemingly the same as a previous video (was that a teaser?) but no reference to that. When I look at your channel there's a part 1 of something but then I finally see the other parts in a playlist as member videos, which were all added on the same day - I assume these must have been on Patreon or something? Is the commentary series separate to this never ending story series? I look into the playlists and it mentions you're on the final season of Jack is a Mimic, so it that the name of your channel or a series? Should I watch them in order of upload? I see you've got lots of stand alone lore videos and I _think_ I can see you're trying to make an over-arching theory of everything sort of thing, but I can't get my bearings here at all. But I can tell it's all very well done. It's as if this channel is additional materials or addendum section of an essay and I'm missing the contents of the essay. Can you please help me out here: where should I start on your channel? If I become a member and watch the commentary series, will that basically include all of your ideas?
Sure! If you want a “spoiler” for Jack is a Mimic, why I do very weird things with my channel then the only video you need to watch is Episode 31 of the Mimic Commentary That video is scheduled to go public on June 13th 2025, but if you become a “Silver Tear” tier member you can watch it now! Does watching everything I posted in order make the most sense? Yes, but I post a lot of content and it can be hard to follow. If you become a member I have a video called “How to Understand Jack is a Mimic”, it’s a mirror to my first video “How to Understand Elden Ring Lore”. (This video along with all of my other members only videos will be released to the public eventually) Essentially, my goal has been to mimic how Elden Ring tells its story. Disjointed, out of order, something we learn early in the story becoming more relevant with new information. If you don’t think what I am doing makes sense, did you also feel confused after Shadow of the Erdtree? If so, then look to the item description of the Silver Tear Mask and Lost Ash of War: “To imitate the imitator is a cunning play indeed” and “Thus does the copy pass into the genuine article.” If you ever watch Episode 31 it will make sense, and it might encourage you to rewatch my other videos with a different lens! Stay safe out there and thanks for the comment! I hope you are enjoying the story!
@@JackisaMimic please don't do a retcon DLC hoping people wont realize its a retcon because they are so used to putting apophenia on overdrive to understand the game they haven't realized maybe the lore isn't even understandable in the first place.
This is singularly unique . What youre doing hasnt been done and you're doing it with a mastery of your craft. Here for the long ride ❤ cannot wait for the next chapter.
Rough draft for Chapter 1, hope you like it. I have been having issues with rendering where sometimes the video cuts out and it shows different scenes. I wonder what that is all about
Before you get too too far into this I would say The Alchemical Magnum Opus and probably a synopsis of Purgatorio and Paradiso are essentially required reading to understand the symbolism. You're cook'n so hard I would hate for you to miss something. Also why has no one mentioned the non"baleful" cerulean rot? Its only found in 3 locations. The Ancestor Spirit caves and the Astel boss area which i suspect was invaded by Astel who destroyed that location's Spirit which is why there is a third inactive Ancestor corpse in the Ancestral Woods. Seriously though at the very least the Hand of the Philosopher is just a visual aid and its like the Elden Ring rosetta stone.
The improvement on the art and the visuals and the gags have been wonderful to see,i still think about the carian preceptor lessons though,would be here without the history they thought us
34:52 you have my tears man. you have my tears. I love what you did with all of the lore implications of the lands between. this way, the story feels not only more coherent but also.. human & alien at the same time. nostalgic in a way. thank you for creating these videos. I hope your channel grows and more people discover you as I did. ❤
Hey I appreciate it! One of my goals was to humanize and tell the stories that I think these characters deserve. Lore is fun and all but the human stories that these fantasy characters have is something that I think is more powerful and has more staying power. Also love your name
Great video! You are definitely pouring your heart and soul into it. I didn't expect to be teary eyed as I drink my coffee this morning but here we are lol. Especially seeing you in distress really got to me. I hope these videos aren't bringing you to a dark place; but maybe it is cathartic in way? Still excited for the rest of the series!
Omg Jack, this is one of the best commentary on elden ring... I have ever seen. I've been a big fan of yours for a long time. During covid i played this game as i lived alone for two years and as i saw death decay and root everywhere in the elden ring i saw it in the real world as i followed the news,but the memories of the pre-covid kept me going,thank you again this video is very dear to me. Also, i like the idea of grace being like the last particle of a timeline of elden Ring as i want to believe what miquella is holding is grace as well. The grace of the last memory of the previous journey is what ignites a new one into being big bang style.
It means the world to me that I made something that you like so much. The movie The Neverending Story is something that inspired me, and your last sentence is exactly the type of sentiment I was trying to evoke. If you like my videos consider watching that movie, and if you do, let me know what you think! I hope that you can find joy and beauty amongst all the death and decay. This life is wonderful, and I’m rooting for you!
Adding the cyclical nature to the story is so thought provoking. Like when they talk about the original sin was the burning of the tree, what if that was just you from the previous cycle? Could this be why Melina is Burned and Bodiless? Forever the recycled kindling born from the branches of Marika's Erdtree? I don't have any real clear ideas yet, but it does get my brain brewing in new directions.
People ignorantly say things like “Elden Ring has no story”. But when Fromsoft games release, UA-cam is brimming with excellent videos like this that give us an interpretation of the game’s story from someone else’s point of view. You just don’t see as many videos like this for games that tell the player everything by the end. I find this form of storytelling so much more interesting.
Well thank you for making me bawl my absolute darn eyes out on a Saturday at @35:00 dude, oh my Gwyn why have I never put those two links together in my head for two years straight? 😭😭😭😭
I'm not a lore guy, more of a pvper. But goddamn this video is excellent! Makes me appreciate the game a lot more... and gives me the desire to play through it again whilst paying more attention to the story.
Well, while I was sure I understood everything there is to understand about the lore of the game...there comes this guy completely rewiring my brain. IT HAPPENS EVERY TIME 😢
You’ve misinterpreted Rani’s ending. It’s a shame that the localization of how Rani describes her coming age when you speak with her tiny doll in her tower and what she says during her ending sequence are just mistranslated. She’s not taking the Lands Between on a journey into fear, doubt, and loneliness. She’s talking about the journey she’s about to take into the cosmos as she leaves her home behind in order to let the people of the Lands Between determine their own fates without the meddling of fickle gods. To the extent that realizing we live in a chaotic universe where our existence is utterly inconsequential and tragedy can befall us at any time regardless of how good we’ve lived our lives is ultimately a scary, lonely place, Rani’s journey will be paralleled with that of the Lands Between, but that’s not an ice age meant to kill all but those who live underground. There’s nothing in the game’s text to support that.
I think these mistranslation have been exaggerated. I've seen the same videos you have (and I imagine this youtuber has too) and I fail to see how the message is completely lost between the translations. Sure the Japanese version makes things a little more straight forward. But when I got the age of stars ending for the first time, I interpreted it as an age of darkness and freedom; free from the light of the erdtree and the gods. A cold age where men are encompassed by the chilling dangers of the world but are granted the autonomy to navigate the "night" as they wish" I refuse to subscribe to the idea that the meticulous Miyazaki let such an oversight fall through the cracks such that the main ending of the game has an incorrect message due to simple amateur mistranslations.
They also mistranslated the word 黄金樹, which means "golden tree" into "Erdtree", which is not even a real compound word in english. Pretty egregious oversight on the part of Fromsoftware if you ask me.
Gotta admit I don't claim to fully understand your vids but I must say you do have a talent for telling stories.. This NG+ has been bothering me for a while and I didn't understand why no one incorporated it into the lore in any of the theories you see online, you legit got me thinking that we are like Yuno Gasai from Mirai Nikki, after becoming the goddess of spacetime, she kept on recreating the world to relive her memories of her journey to become a goddess...because she can't bring back the dead and she wants to spend time with the boy she loves, though she has to kill him each cycle to become a goddess again. I didn't think of the implications of it or that we might have been reseting time by starting a new character Mimics are the greatest storytellers of all The greatest liars yet the only things capable of mimicking the truth
Great pieces of art usually make sense on the second or third go around. So, I try to mimic that. Even if it’s not that good, at least the story I’m trying to tell actually has an ending 😂
I am confused about your release schedule. Some videos are locked behind pay walls, some are not. It does not help that you also use the same thumbnail for this video and your last release.
Chapter 2 is now my most anticipated anything in entertainment!!! .. With Night Rein, MHW2Wilds and KCD2 following closely behind lol Ahh.. distractions from ecological, political, economic and cultural collapse... so hot right now..😅 Miyazaki take we amay 🙉 🎮 🙈
Very nice. I will say, starting around the 7 min mark, you have a couple of abrupt music drops that felt distracting in a way. You may want to do more of a slight fade under the dialogue. Unless that abrupt cut was the point. Other than that, my man, absolutely love it.
Abrupt cuts to music are done to focus your attention on the words that are being said. It’s an editing technique that is supposed to lend for more weight to the words that are being said in that moment. That what you are hearing right now is more important than anything else. The world is silent while the story teller sings
@@JackisaMimic I thought perhaps that's what you were doing. Not at all sure why I found it distracting this time, because I know you've done it before and it never bothered me. Well. Bothered is a strong word. I simply noticed. Possibly just the contrast between the music choice and silence...but it WAS effective. Regardless, you're doing such awesome work with the lore and research.
Really good video man, but I feel like bringing up so many loose connections to other Souls games really diminishes the narrative you are trying to tell, and the work of Elden Ring itself. Also, did you read my comment about Hewg=Radagon? I have literally never seen anyone else notice it.
I read a lot of comments, but Im slowing down on doing Elden Ring so it’s just a happy coincidence. Pretty funny though isn’t it, cool that I remembered your theory! Thanks for sharing it, because I love Hewg is Radagon, I think it’s so fun!
Jack I hope you don't mind but I'm really struggling to understand your channel.
A few minutes in and this is seemingly the same as a previous video (was that a teaser?) but no reference to that. When I look at your channel there's a part 1 of something but then I finally see the other parts in a playlist as member videos, which were all added on the same day - I assume these must have been on Patreon or something? Is the commentary series separate to this never ending story series?
I look into the playlists and it mentions you're on the final season of Jack is a Mimic, so it that the name of your channel or a series? Should I watch them in order of upload?
I see you've got lots of stand alone lore videos and I _think_ I can see you're trying to make an over-arching theory of everything sort of thing, but I can't get my bearings here at all. But I can tell it's all very well done. It's as if this channel is additional materials or addendum section of an essay and I'm missing the contents of the essay.
Can you please help me out here: where should I start on your channel? If I become a member and watch the commentary series, will that basically include all of your ideas?
Sure! If you want a “spoiler” for Jack is a Mimic, why I do very weird things with my channel then the only video you need to watch is Episode 31 of the Mimic Commentary
That video is scheduled to go public on June 13th 2025, but if you become a “Silver Tear” tier member you can watch it now!
Does watching everything I posted in order make the most sense? Yes, but I post a lot of content and it can be hard to follow.
If you become a member I have a video called “How to Understand Jack is a Mimic”, it’s a mirror to my first video “How to Understand Elden Ring Lore”. (This video along with all of my other members only videos will be released to the public eventually)
Essentially, my goal has been to mimic how Elden Ring tells its story. Disjointed, out of order, something we learn early in the story becoming more relevant with new information.
If you don’t think what I am doing makes sense, did you also feel confused after Shadow of the Erdtree?
If so, then look to the item description of the Silver Tear Mask and Lost Ash of War:
“To imitate the imitator is a cunning play indeed” and “Thus does the copy pass into the genuine article.”
If you ever watch Episode 31 it will make sense, and it might encourage you to rewatch my other videos with a different lens!
Stay safe out there and thanks for the comment!
I hope you are enjoying the story!
I remember my first mimic…
So is Jack trying to become the game?
@@JackisaMimic I dig the ARG nature of it all. Nice work, man
@@JackisaMimic please don't do a retcon DLC hoping people wont realize its a retcon because they are so used to putting apophenia on overdrive to understand the game they haven't realized maybe the lore isn't even understandable in the first place.
This is singularly unique . What youre doing hasnt been done and you're doing it with a mastery of your craft.
Here for the long ride ❤ cannot wait for the next chapter.
Rough draft for Chapter 1, hope you like it. I have been having issues with rendering where sometimes the video cuts out and it shows different scenes. I wonder what that is all about
Before you get too too far into this I would say The Alchemical Magnum Opus and probably a synopsis of Purgatorio and Paradiso are essentially required reading to understand the symbolism. You're cook'n so hard I would hate for you to miss something.
Also why has no one mentioned the non"baleful" cerulean rot? Its only found in 3 locations. The Ancestor Spirit caves and the Astel boss area which i suspect was invaded by Astel who destroyed that location's Spirit which is why there is a third inactive Ancestor corpse in the Ancestral Woods.
Seriously though at the very least the Hand of the Philosopher is just a visual aid and its like the Elden Ring rosetta stone.
The improvement on the art and the visuals and the gags have been wonderful to see,i still think about the carian preceptor lessons though,would be here without the history they thought us
I find it ironic that Martin's love for turtles do to his homestead's animal policy eventually led to a psy-op where turtles became dogs...
34:52 you have my tears man. you have my tears.
I love what you did with all of the lore implications of the lands between. this way, the story feels not only more coherent but also.. human & alien at the same time. nostalgic in a way. thank you for creating these videos. I hope your channel grows and more people discover you as I did. ❤
Hey I appreciate it! One of my goals was to humanize and tell the stories that I think these characters deserve. Lore is fun and all but the human stories that these fantasy characters have is something that I think is more powerful and has more staying power.
Also love your name
Great video! You are definitely pouring your heart and soul into it. I didn't expect to be teary eyed as I drink my coffee this morning but here we are lol. Especially seeing you in distress really got to me. I hope these videos aren't bringing you to a dark place; but maybe it is cathartic in way?
Still excited for the rest of the series!
The tears are real but the show is all smoke and mirrors
Don’t worry about me, I’m okay. Happy you’re enjoying the story so far!
I watch a lot of Elden Ring lore but few tell a story as compelling as you do, Jack.
Omg Jack, this is one of the best commentary on elden ring... I have ever seen. I've been a big fan of yours for a long time.
During covid i played this game as i lived alone for two years and as i saw death decay and root everywhere in the elden ring i saw it in the real world as i followed the news,but the memories of the pre-covid kept me going,thank you again this video is very dear to me.
Also, i like the idea of grace being like the last particle of a timeline of elden Ring as i want to believe what miquella is holding is grace as well.
The grace of the last memory of the previous journey is what ignites a new one into being big bang style.
It means the world to me that I made something that you like so much. The movie The Neverending Story is something that inspired me, and your last sentence is exactly the type of sentiment I was trying to evoke. If you like my videos consider watching that movie, and if you do, let me know what you think!
I hope that you can find joy and beauty amongst all the death and decay. This life is wonderful, and I’m rooting for you!
Adding the cyclical nature to the story is so thought provoking. Like when they talk about the original sin was the burning of the tree, what if that was just you from the previous cycle? Could this be why Melina is Burned and Bodiless? Forever the recycled kindling born from the branches of Marika's Erdtree? I don't have any real clear ideas yet, but it does get my brain brewing in new directions.
I will never forget this video. Great work
It will always be here if you do
This was an absolute work of art, Jack. Thank you so very much.
the video style has gotten so much better over the whole year. keep it up bro
I absolutely love the idea that the turtle pope in Elden Ring is in no small way inspired by Martin's childhood fascination with his pet turtle(s?) 😅
People ignorantly say things like “Elden Ring has no story”. But when Fromsoft games release, UA-cam is brimming with excellent videos like this that give us an interpretation of the game’s story from someone else’s point of view. You just don’t see as many videos like this for games that tell the player everything by the end. I find this form of storytelling so much more interesting.
Good work, Jack
Keep leading us back
Across the fog
To the lore between
Well thank you for making me bawl my absolute darn eyes out on a Saturday at @35:00 dude, oh my Gwyn why have I never put those two links together in my head for two years straight? 😭😭😭😭
These memories and stories paint a vibrant picture.
42:57 “…So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
It's good to finally see someone else recognize the link between the miranda flowers and the rauh goddess
This is amazing. I can't say something more coherent for now, but this is amazing
48:27 memories of hands…. Touching hands…
Reaching out
Touching me
Touching youuuuuuuu
SWEET CAROLINE
I really like the theory that "gold" is the memory of the person; literally their "experience".
I'm not a lore guy, more of a pvper. But goddamn this video is excellent! Makes me appreciate the game a lot more... and gives me the desire to play through it again whilst paying more attention to the story.
Well, while I was sure I understood everything there is to understand about the lore of the game...there comes this guy completely rewiring my brain. IT HAPPENS EVERY TIME 😢
I'm at 9:03, and you are speaking truth.
This is a work that requires us to improve to understand it.
You’ve misinterpreted Rani’s ending. It’s a shame that the localization of how Rani describes her coming age when you speak with her tiny doll in her tower and what she says during her ending sequence are just mistranslated. She’s not taking the Lands Between on a journey into fear, doubt, and loneliness. She’s talking about the journey she’s about to take into the cosmos as she leaves her home behind in order to let the people of the Lands Between determine their own fates without the meddling of fickle gods. To the extent that realizing we live in a chaotic universe where our existence is utterly inconsequential and tragedy can befall us at any time regardless of how good we’ve lived our lives is ultimately a scary, lonely place, Rani’s journey will be paralleled with that of the Lands Between, but that’s not an ice age meant to kill all but those who live underground. There’s nothing in the game’s text to support that.
I think these mistranslation have been exaggerated. I've seen the same videos you have (and I imagine this youtuber has too) and I fail to see how the message is completely lost between the translations. Sure the Japanese version makes things a little more straight forward. But when I got the age of stars ending for the first time, I interpreted it as an age of darkness and freedom; free from the light of the erdtree and the gods. A cold age where men are encompassed by the chilling dangers of the world but are granted the autonomy to navigate the "night" as they wish" I refuse to subscribe to the idea that the meticulous Miyazaki let such an oversight fall through the cracks such that the main ending of the game has an incorrect message due to simple amateur mistranslations.
They also mistranslated the word 黄金樹, which means "golden tree" into "Erdtree", which is not even a real compound word in english. Pretty egregious oversight on the part of Fromsoftware if you ask me.
if i was on a production team for this channel i would wipe the silver tear mask between takes
One of my favorite parts about your videos are the metal gear references.
ow man i cry
Gotta admit
I don't claim to fully understand your vids but I must say you do have a talent for telling stories..
This NG+ has been bothering me for a while and I didn't understand why no one incorporated it into the lore in any of the theories you see online, you legit got me thinking that we are like Yuno Gasai from Mirai Nikki, after becoming the goddess of spacetime, she kept on recreating the world to relive her memories of her journey to become a goddess...because she can't bring back the dead and she wants to spend time with the boy she loves, though she has to kill him each cycle to become a goddess again.
I didn't think of the implications of it or that we might have been reseting time by starting a new character
Mimics are the greatest storytellers of all
The greatest liars yet the only things capable of mimicking the truth
Great pieces of art usually make sense on the second or third go around. So, I try to mimic that. Even if it’s not that good, at least the story I’m trying to tell actually has an ending 😂
This was very nice. Very excited for the next chapters
Killer thumbnail
So now the erdtree is a mimic tear, nice
"Born amongst salt and smoke" I see what you did there. I see you, man.
That whole section is loaded with references. I think I also said “swords that bring slashes of light.” Lightbringer anyone?
@@JackisaMimic "A sword full of sunlight. So lovely to behold"
“I felt no heat. Did you, Sam?”
What's that clip of Torrent running up to the Midra's Mansa? I thought Torrent is too scared to appear there.
I am confused about your release schedule. Some videos are locked behind pay walls, some are not. It does not help that you also use the same thumbnail for this video and your last release.
He’s a mimic …
Let a man get his bread
what do you mean fortissax is fia - that makes so much sense omg
I can't wait for the Miquella did nothing wrong episode!
Need 60 Arcane to watch this video (worth it)
Are we the ones who are crying?
I am, are you?
💜
Chapter 2 is now my most anticipated anything in entertainment!!!
.. With Night Rein, MHW2Wilds and KCD2 following closely behind lol
Ahh.. distractions from ecological, political, economic and cultural collapse... so hot right now..😅
Miyazaki take we amay 🙉 🎮 🙈
11:42 pin cushion :,0
Is this a reupload
Saw the upload channel and clicked faster as f boi
Very nice. I will say, starting around the 7 min mark, you have a couple of abrupt music drops that felt distracting in a way. You may want to do more of a slight fade under the dialogue. Unless that abrupt cut was the point. Other than that, my man, absolutely love it.
Abrupt cuts to music are done to focus your attention on the words that are being said. It’s an editing technique that is supposed to lend for more weight to the words that are being said in that moment. That what you are hearing right now is more important than anything else. The world is silent while the story teller sings
@@JackisaMimic I thought perhaps that's what you were doing. Not at all sure why I found it distracting this time, because I know you've done it before and it never bothered me. Well. Bothered is a strong word. I simply noticed. Possibly just the contrast between the music choice and silence...but it WAS effective. Regardless, you're doing such awesome work with the lore and research.
I’m rock hard
I'm water soft
I'm air dry
Really good video man, but I feel like bringing up so many loose connections to other Souls games really diminishes the narrative you are trying to tell, and the work of Elden Ring itself.
Also, did you read my comment about Hewg=Radagon? I have literally never seen anyone else notice it.
I read a lot of comments, but Im slowing down on doing Elden Ring so it’s just a happy coincidence. Pretty funny though isn’t it, cool that I remembered your theory! Thanks for sharing it, because I love Hewg is Radagon, I think it’s so fun!
65 minutes of nonsense with very little of use. I dont understand whats happening Jack :D