There is another "disguised" Rune Bear in Limgrave near the camp where you get the Great Epee. Just like the other Mimic enemies that also drops a Larval Tear.
Came here to post this. Damn thing jumpscared me so bad lmao, I had already been through the mistwood and gained a (reasonable i feel) terror at seeing them and BAM
Yeah I remember killing him on my way past then went and hung out somewhere only to be jumped by a rune bear I had no idea where it came from. I didn't see the transformation.
Something to note about Roderika’s hood - the Navy Hood description states that these kinds of hoods were given to people from royalty who became tarnished and were driven away from their homes because they saw the guidance of grace, but the Red Hood description directly says that Roderika never saw the guidance of grace. So it’s likely that she was banished due to political strife or just general dislike by her family, which is kind of expected since she has a close connection to the spirits and ER nobility has this habit of treating everything weird as heresy. She’s probably like that stereotype of a “kid talking to ghosts” since basically the first thing you get from her is a spirit of a young girl transformed into a jellyfish.
She reminds me of Farnese from Berserk, and her move from being a bit unhinged and misunderstood, to understanding what spirits are and then learning about magic and becoming a white mage
@@cilvrea while back someone datamined the old (now cut) end credits of Elden Ring, which revealed Roderika's original name to be "Lost Royal Farnesze". They were not being subtle here lol.
Idk what it was about the one in the snow fields I had no problem killing them on every play through but the game got updated one day and that rune beat was almost impossible to kill I think its attacks were bugged I checked the nerfs that were made and nothing I used was affected
Perhaps Jerren finds it curious that Iji's weapons are 'blunt as stone' because Carian is a house of magic, and 'bluntstones' are how one refers to someone not capable of using magic. Rather than meaning that Iji's weapons were literally blunt, perhaps he was saying that weapons made by Iji possessed no magical properties or enchantments, which would be very odd for a Royal Blacksmith of a magical house, hence Jerren's surprise.
That DOES make sense. It IS rather odd now that I think about it. That the Royal Blacksmith of a Royal House of MAGIC wielders would make non-magical weapons.
The lake of rot being under Liurnia actually reminds me of Color outof space by H.P Lovecraft. Like the glintstone fell from the sky, landed where Liurnia is and started to infect the land it impacted. Also explains why Liurnia is a lake, its a giant crater where Glintstone meteors impacted thelands between.
Sellen is a prime example of the horror of glintsone magic. If you complete her questline, she becomes a large ball of heads. Disoriented and a bit agonized, her study of glinstone magic caused her to corrode into this mass of manifested glinstone material.
I have a theory that Hora Loux learned many of his fighting skills from fighting rune-bears. He has similar grab attacks and strategy... he fights like a rune bear.
It might be possible in a future dlc after Shadow of the Erdtree. With how much detail was packed into not only the story, but the environment, the characters, and item descriptions, there's SO much potential to expand upon any number of those things. I think it would be an awesome idea to keep Elden Ring alive without making the game stale or taking away the mystery and speculations of the souls series we all love so much.
I wonder if the fallingstar beasts that you find in craters around Limgrave were planned to spawn into the map **only after** slaying Radahn. It's always seemed odd to me that the consequence of slaying Radahn and releasing ALL THE FALLING STARS is only one crater (the path to Nokron). It'd make more sense if the falling star beasts, the crater-pocked glade, and Astel only appeared on the map after this cutscene. I think another cool question to ponder is: if Astel was originally meant to be phase 2 of Radahn, who were we originally meant to fight at the bottom of the Grand Cloister?
@@LeviKiefferi doubt it. This one DLC is getting bigger and bigger every month, some say it's a whole other game inside it as dlc, I don't think there'll be another DLC after this gigantic one
If anything, I'm thankful you guys are okay with me talking about your discoveries and expanding on them wherever possible. I hope the extra visibility helps on your end too!
So don't get me wrong I enjoy watching vaatis videos so that's why I keep watching but to me elden ring isn't as interesting to me as soulsborne lore. It's like elden ring is house of the dragon and soulsborne is game of thrones, I had the first one and loved it. Do I want more of the good seasons? You bet, but do I like this second child as much? Eh elden ring has a great story but this time I played it for more soulsish content
That "Elder Miquella" relief on the stone pillar is just The Green Man. He pops up in a bunch of Medieval and Gothic architecture, especially cathedrals.
Yeah that was in a Quelaag video, he clearly doesn't keep up to date with others discoveries, sad to see from the most subscribed fromsoft utuber. Also i would say the relief is the god Pan.
Radahn was holding the stars back to stop fate, effectively halting the war between everyone and preventing anyone from taking the Throne. The Carians saw fate in the stars, learned that they controlled or at least their motion was tied with fate. Radahn defeated Ranni before she could join the fight by stoping her fate from occurring. Considering shes the only demigod who has an ending where she wins, he was right to fear her success.
Yeah people act like "but...why? why conquer the stars?" you mean like, besides astels destroying cities and ranni starting an age of fear and lonliness? idk i guess because it was cool @@tdognschooch
Also, not a coincidence that the beginning of Ranni's questline focuses on killing Radahn and doesn't progress until he is dead. He is holding back the stars from moving figuratively, to stop her fate, and literally, by preventing the meteor crashing which opens up the route to Nokron
@@frozengoat5834that’s not what Ranni’s ending means. The English version was mistranslated. All she’s trying to say is that she would remove the demigods and gods and outer gods etc from the Lands Between, to “have them at a great remove” so that their selfish desires can’t affect the regular people in the Lands Between and can’t start wars with each other, etc etc. it’s actually a very like, “well we had to do a bunch of terrible stuff to get here, but in the end we’re trying to make the world a better place” kind of ending.
Tarnished Archaeologist made an observation that Godrick possibly tries to solidify his claim as a scion of the Golden Lineage through symbols, pointing at how his axe may be a superficial attempt at emulating Godfrey's own axe, in this case considering Godfrey is strong enough to cause shockwaves by stomping his foot, maybe Godrick sought to possess a similar skill by grafting the foot of an individual with similar magic.
Radahn was said to have seen a great threat to Sellia and thus stopped the stars. I believe the meteor was on trajectory to destroy Sellia. When the last vestige of his mind finally realized he was to be bested in battle, he leaped to the stars and struck one blow to the falling-frozen meteor, sending it off course before falling to the Tarnished.
This is what I consider to be correct as well. Every single description of how Radahn stopped the stars mention "a smashing victory" and even the Starscourge Heirloom is a STR talisman. And there's no mention of a space monster. Also I don't want to bring up too much blame on the English translation, but I want to point out that while the English texts about the Starscourge Conflict make it sound like a long, drawn out campaign, the original Japanese texts are much clearer in saying that it was a single event.
@Chaffee738 yeah, I felt like it was more like one big battle in Aeonia. Or maybe a few fights. Perhaps a naval landing at Redmane Castle, and a land attack at Aeonia. I'm guessing Aeonia is where she rotbombed Radhan, and he made it back to his castle before his mind fell apart.
Malenia and Rykard's lines give me the idea that they will return in more powerful forms for a rematch in DLC or a sequel, that would be cool. Especially Rykard, since he has a slightly more ambiguous ending, I imagine Tanith will also transform into a serpent monster
@@EGeorgevThat cutscene reminded me so much of a quote from an old story a friend wrote: "What do you see?" "I see... fire. Bright, blazing stars of fire, beautiful and terrifying, all-consuming yet cleansing." "Good. Now, pull that fire from your dreams, make it yours, and burn every damned one of them."
I like your theory. Im also confused as to why we (Vaati included) consider Godefroy canon. Lore enthusiasts that we are, we must accept Godefroy is just a lazy reskin with some random bullshit made up to justify his existence.
Thank you so much for the shoutout, Vaati!!! I loved cosplaying Roderika, and even took off my red cloak irl when I arrived at that part of her story heheh thank you again for a great video and sharing other creators too :)
The build up of the pillars about Malenia and Miquella description then path of exile had me laughing so hard hahaha thanks Vaati for the laugh. What made it so funny how serious your tone was haha
Here’s a cool detail I found in my playthrough The description of the pulley bow states that it uses a very complex mechanism, which is quite evident due to the design, but more importantly “was likely made by a certain genius who learned Golden Order Fundamentalism.” This leads me to believe the one who created this bow is in fact the same individual who forged the Valkyrie Prosthesis that Malenia herself uses. They seem to operate with similar mechanisms, and if you equip both the bow and Malenia’s armor, you’ll notice they appear to be identical in color and material, and the ornate carvings on the bow match the sword Malenia wields. Assuming these inferences are correct, there is an excellent chance that it was Miquella himself who crafted the bow, using the same techniques he used to create his sister’s artificial limbs.
I’m pretty sure that was Miquella. I don’t have the specifics but it’s mentioned somewhere that he crafted Melania’s prosthetic using unalloyed gold to ward off the scarlet rot
I made that connection too! A certain genius... well it can't be Gideon, he's just a walking wikipedia, Seluvis? No, too creepy and obsessed with Ranni to ever make something worthwhile, a sorcerer or mage? Probably, but why when they have spells anyway? My only conclusion was Miquella because heck, he made a literal TREE from his own blood/will almost the size of the Erdtree, he made holy spells and weapons and gifted them to others, he put himself into some limbo/hibernation when he was kidnapped by Mohg to prevent the Omen baby from using him, I could go on, but yeah I think the Pulley Crossbow and Valkyrie Prosthesis were both made by Miquella~!
There's an entire other theme about water and scarlet rot. Malenia's teacher, the blue dancer, has his entire style based on the flow of water, and is the one who trained malenia on her skills like the waterfowl dance and how to control herself. Also, the blue cloth set has in his description :"Just as still waters turn foul, stagnation leads to decay" who can also be related to the water/rot theme. and to finish, there's also water in the malenia fight, which can also relate to all this. I hope we can hear more of it in some future content.
Water is also tied to death and rebirth. When we first die to the scion at the beginning of the game, there is a black screen with only the sound of bubbles underwater. Then Torrent (which means swirling water) finds us and chooses us, and we are reborn. Plus the mariners are, well, mariners, and are always found in water.
I have another theory about the water rising in Liurnia, I personally think it could really make sense: the moon (on earth) is the thing that impacts tides the most, the moon is responsible for high and low tide, maybe because of Renalla (the full moon queen) the moon stays still above Liurnia for her to have as much power as possible (or alternative theory, Radahn's halting of the stars halted the moons motion as well and stopped it right above Liurnia) and because the moon is right above Liurnia it became high tide right there, all the time, which made all the water go there and made the forest into a swamp which consequently sunk even more? Idk let me know what you guys think (: (it's just a theory, but I think it could be likely idk I'm no lore master haha)
I'm sure its been mentioned before, but Roderika's character concept and arc are heavily influenced by the character of Farnese from Berserk. Both were nobles who got lost on their mission, be it mentally or physically, and find themselves largely alone, only to find purpose again in becoming an apprectice to someone who can show them how to use magic to protect or help others in some way. She even looks like Farnese.
Radahn might be one of my favorite bosses lorewise. He becomes giant of a man and learns gravity sorcery just to ride Leonard, which also connects him to his sorceress mother as his red hair did to his father. He was a brilliant general and soldier and warriors respect him so much even after his madness that Jerren has him killed in a fight as a warrior instead of striding the battle field until Scarlet Rot decays his body. Also he's one of the few figures who can fight with Malenia, dude is literally in-game version of LMSH.
LMSH is the famous elden ring player "Let Me Solo Her" who at the release of elden ring was being summoned to defeat malenia for people struggling to defeat her.
The headless knights bloodstain location is interesting. Their lore specifies that they offered themselves willingly. Is it possible that, unlike most depictions of beheadings via guillotine or sword/axe, they faced the blade upwards as opposed to looking down? It would perhaps explain why the bloodstain is on their back, as gravity pulled the blood downwards dripping down their backs. Willingly and/or fearlessly facing the descending blade in their zealotry, it would compliment the sort of desire seen in the likes of the priests in the winds of the deathbirds. That is, a desire to embrace death or a state of undeath for a specific purpose.
As someone who's been a concept artist in the industry for about a year now I can say that you are spot on, a lot of things come from very specific directions the creative director gives in conjunction with the concept artist. Concept artists mostly know all the relevant visual motifs, so sometimes things you are analyzing could also just be a cool idea a concept artist had, that was approved with little input from the creative director. And sometimes it's just something less relevant that had to get through quickly cause they are running low on time :D I can only talk from the perspective of the few games I've been on so I can't tell how specific Miyazaki gets or how much freedom he gives his concept team but either way they are doing an incredibly good job spawning such interesting debate! Great Video as always!
The Roderika secret makes me love her even more. What an underappreciated gem of a character she is, she definitely deserves more love from the fandom! Her relationship with Hewg is one of the most wholesome things in the entire narrative, and she's easily the most comforting figure at the Roundtable Hold by the end of the game, with her own little arc that the insight in this video helps reinforce. She's awesome!
Part of me wished that her questline would eventually end in master Hewg dying, and then she takes on the blacksmith role aswell as spirit tuner. Sure it would be sad and I would miss Hewg dearly, but it would be so beautiful to see Roderika's growth come full circle, carrying on the will of her father figure. But either way, I completely agree with you. Roderika is such an underrated character. For being the last sane mind that still remains in the Roundtable Hold, she does a great job making the place feel a little less lonely.
Agreed, especially for videogames. As the production of a game goes on and on the developers inevitably face unforseen roadblocks, conflicts, or limitations that usually force them to shuffle, alter, or cancel things on the fly and the result is never completely smooth, you can usually tell one way or another. This happens with movies and shows, though a little less, and even in books you can notice it sometimes, though it's much easier to iron things out if all you're working with is words.
i don’t know if anyone has already pointed this out, but I really think Roderika is just another reference From Software makes from Berserk: she mirrors Farnese in some ways, she’s a noble who has men fighting with her and when she puts her past aside, she learns some kind of magic (i don’t recall exactly what she learns) to help you upgrade spirit ashes, similar to how Farnese becomes a sorcerer and helps Guts with his journey. also, they’re both blonde. idk, i think this could be another reference
I like that Malenia shows respect to the Chosen Tarnished, in spite of her initial shock, after her defeat. Even her promise about the Scarlet Bloom seems delivered as though it's simply a matter of fact rather than a malicious declaration or some such. A nice touch. Shame the "bravely fought" line couldn't be preserved, at least.
I always liked the death quote we actually got in the game. She still shows her respect for the player "Thy strength... extraordinary. The mark of a true lord." but then her attention turns to Miquella, lamenting the fact that because she finally met her match she can no longer be there for him. I felt so bad for her.
@@khfanboy666 maybe 3 blooms weren't her total death, i mean... nobody has witnessed the 4th one and dieing after the 3rd one was more like a prophecy rather than a scientific fact.^^ idk and we don't see her corpse like Godrick's or Morgott's.
I just love that both FromSoft and Capcom have such a love for Kentaro Miura that that they'd spend years and years honoring how influential his work has been, through DS, Elden Ring, Bloodborne and Dragon's Dogma. It's just so cool.
Capcom is doing just because Dark Souls did. Now if you want to spend a lot of time looking for references in Capcom games just look for JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE references there, Capcom was doing it waaaaaaaay before the first anime adaptation.
@@LordSevla Ah yes Capcom Decided to add Multiple Berserk armors and weapons in Dragon's Dogma just because From Software Made a Big Sword look like Gut's
@@YolStrun If you play Dark Souls 1 you ll see there a ton of content inspired by Berserk, who told you it was only a single sword was a liar. Btw Dark Souls series (and Demons Souls) are great games, really endorse actually playing it instead of just watching streamers/youtubers play the game. DD is also one of my favorites from that PS3 generation, playing you see even more content based on Berserk than just armors.
@LordSevla he's exaggerating cause your comment was goofy. No one added berserk shit cause dark souls did it. Berserk has been referenced for decades in all media and the quintessential dark fantasy in Japan.
@@DivineNaruto Just play Dragon's dogma, the game in heavily influenced by Dark Souls. It's by far the best "souls like" that wasn't made by From Software. There isn't really much more from Capcom beyond that, they do have a lot of stuff based on Devilman which was the source from Berserk.
There are banished knights in the castle where you find Godrick, so not totally off-base to suggest some connection with the banished knight leader and Godrick. It could even be argued that Niall taught his Banished Knights the storm moves that they use in their fights, and Godrick took notice, which is why he wanted one of his legs after defeat of the storm-wielding knights.
I think the banished knights under Niall were fighting in farum azula against them along side the elden lord of the blackflame, maliketh fighting for marika to take the power from the blackflame to have a perfect golden order without death. Banished knights are the only enemies besides godksins that are fighting in farum azula. Maliketh steals the rune of death, later on ranni has the power of the rune of death in turn stolen again and makes knives for the destruction of godwyn the golden. Turning him into the prince of death accidentally. Maliketh wants deathroot that seeps up from godwyns roots to gain pieces of the power of the rune of death back. But somewhere commander Niall's master has been "long gone" either dead or captured during marikas battle for the rune of death. The gloam eyed queens consort or elden lord which must be the banished knights lord presumably why they have been banished (fighting against the golden orders wishes for total control) I think might be present in the dlc with hopefully more about the blackflame and its outer god similar to the golden order and its outer god (elden beast). The fell god is to flame giants and rot god is to malenia, the formless mother is to blood sacrifice and possibly miquella in the future dlc. Each outer god with their own vessels(shard bearers) appointed by the greater will spoken by the fingers.
The storm moves used by Niall and banished knights therefore must be derived from their battle in farum azula the place beyond space and time in the eye of the storm. Niall returns as the lone survivor of that battle and looks over castle sol whilst the rest of the remaining banished knights are sent around the lands between with their new storm skills looking for their lord. Storm veil castle possibly being the banished knights old castle way point along with castle sol. They were banished and godrick sneaks into to take over during the shattering. Godrick has know true followers except under fear and that's why he's also employed exiled knights that fight along side banished knights, who in a coup once they find their lord of blackflame will scare the shit of the grafted godrick and retake storm veil to its former glory.
23:10 this theoretical transformation seems all the more plausible now that we have seen Romina, the Saint of the Bud, in the DLC. If she, who is probably not an Empyrean, was capable of such a startlingly inhuman form under rot's transformation, perhaps Malenia is destined for similar.
You know, other than trying to prevent Astel and the Fallingstar Beasts to descend on the Lands Between, I always thought that Radahn holding back the stars was some kind of move to damage the Liurnia sorcerers and the residents of the Eternal Cities. I mean, they drew power and magic from the stars and they were enemies of the Golden Order, so what Radahn did was essentially deprive enemies of the Golden Order of a devastating weapon.
That actually does make sense, he may have studied in Caria and Selia but he was very much for the Golden Order, after all he looked up to Godfrey as a role model. So keeping the stars in check would most likely hinder the Carians and Raya Lucarians.
It'd be weird if he was was against Caria though considering iji forged weapons for him and his closest friend/commander was very clearly loyal to Caria
@acastusofastora8641 while loyal obviously to Caria perhaps there were those among the family or their faction he did not agree with their methods? Being loyal to a cause doesn't mean everyone has to have the same mindset in how to handle matters, especially in terms of conflict
His motivations for facing the stars were likely much more self-centered. He idolized the heroic stories of Godfrey, Godwyn, and Radagon and wanted to face a great foe to immortalize himself into history the way they did.
I love how you talk about them reusing assets to save time, right after theorizing about how Iji's sword looks just like the Greatsword, and the swords in the ground in Caelid look like Radahn's swords.
Elden ring lore theory is tricky because so much of it is just fromsoft saving time. People saying Godefroy is a real character for example is laughable to me.
@@dylanschmeichel2008 The way I interpret that case is that he's real, we just don't get to see his real appearance, due to them just reusing Godrick's.
FS games are often a juggling game of did they intend this or is it merely for development's sake and the fans reading too much into it. The games are great no doubt, but people don't seem to like accepting that lore especially is jumbled about so much in development that a lot of it is held together with tape and glue
I always attributed Liurnia slowly sinking to the fact that Raya Lucaria and the magics of the Carrian Royal Family are all frost / cold based, so now the residual frost from the spells is melting back into water, causing a self made issue
Having weapons that are super blunt would mean that they are less likely to cut/slice open whatever you're attacking. So maybe foes afflicted with rot might have their blood rapidly corrode weapons and armour kinda like Xenomorphs from Alien. Edit: also now come to think of it the Kindred of Rot and specifically their talisman look pretty much like Xenomorphs. Like undeniably so.
I like the theory, but blunt weapons would still make you bleed. You can even cut someone's face with boxing gloves because the skin gets pressed against the hard bony edges of your skull like where your brow is. Not to mention blunt force trauma can still break skin.
@Mjaw90 Great observation! It's like, it's so obvious, and in your face, no one would pay attention to it, looking right through it for the most complex explanation... Unfortunately, if it wasn't for you, I'd have just been like, 'my boy IJI sharpened the sh** out of my weapons tho'. Lmao
To add on to the Radahn and holding back the stars stuff, it should be noted that in addition to being a Liurnian outpost in Caelid, Sellia is an inheritor to the traditions of the Nox of the Eternal City. Astel's lore strongly suggests that he was the falling star which devastated an Eternal City and took away its sky, so it's not insane to think that the Sellians were particularly afraid of the wrath of the stars, given what happened to their forebears. Radahn also learned his craft from an Alabaster Lord, themselves anthropomorphic personifications born from meteoric stones, and he studied in Sellia, so I don't think it's absurd to think that Sellia might have had an above-average amount of dangerous meteor showers. Given how closely tied Radahn was to Caelid in general and Sellia in particular, it feels right to me that he would challenge the stars in order to protect the people who trained him from an above-average threat from the skies.
Honestly you upload the best Elden Ring videos on UA-cam hands down. The research , the ideas all the cutscenes spot on , keep up the good work my friend. A new sub Ben
@@aether1370 If you're not collecting every item to read the description out of desperation for figuring out the lore, why are you even playing a FromSoft game?
@@NatetheNerdythey have a point though. There are like 3 enemies that use death blight and literally nobody uses it in PvP. Also a lot of people play soulsborne games for the challenge and not the lore. I’m not one of those people, but still.
Something I picked up after watching your videos is Miqella being like a moth, meanwhile 'Deathbird' is another name for the 'Death's Head' Moth. Considering the DLC looks like it's gonna involve Miquella and Godwyn it was neat to learn.
The gravity crest is actually very interesting, because is the depiction of a dipole! It happens in eletric fields because you can have positive AND negative charges, but gravity only have positive charges (that we know of). Maybe thats how they were able to use gravity magic in Elden Ring, by discovering a negative gravitational charge!
@@lordcrunch2592 Thats the point. Since we never found something with "negative gravity" , theres no point in calling it a "positive" or "negative" charge, because its always on the same direction
@@RalathymI mean I don’t think it’d be so much of a charge as much as it would just be something with negative mass causing a negative gravitation field. Gravity wouldn’t have dipoles like electric charge regardless of the existence of negative gravitational fields
@@Bundpataka Can you rephrase It? Gravity Works mostly like an eletric field (except that positive mass atracts itself, not repel), but other than that, the vectors should act the same, Just with an inversed direction, no?
Imagine if fighting Radahn caused fallen star enemies to appear all over the map as new bosses. With some deeper connections to Ranni's questline it would have been a legendary ending.
This mightve been a plan, but it wouldve needed even more world changes change like the ashen Capital. Maybe it was deemed too time consuming to develop and they just placed everything as is Astels and all, exept for the crater next to fort Haight that is tied to Radahns boss fight.
I always assumed that Radahn held back the stars to prevent Ranni's journey. She needs them unlocked for her plans, so it could have been his way of holding his family together.
I always assumed it was because of the Nox. The Nox are a civilization guided by the stars, and stood against the Greater Will (or at least didn´t want to bow to him). Radahn being a pawn of the Greater Will held the stars motion so the Nox have no more guidance and were then banished underground
Could also be as simple as Radahn deciding that there should never be a threat from the sky as we immediately see a meteor fall into limgrave. Maybe these used to be common and were a threat (as well as containing astels) and the one in limgrave and the craters are just the very small ones.
@@MisterK9739Radahn was a pawn of the greater will, but more than anything this meant he was a die hard believer in the golden order. Because Ranni’s fate is controlled by the movement of the stars (as explained by her quest and in game ending), Radahn halted her fate because it was in direct contrast with the beliefs and upheld values of the golden order
Radahn was the ultimate follower of the golden order. Ranni was attempting to create her own fate by discarding her corporeal flesh to escape the hold that the golden order had on her. The fate of Ranni is also said to be dictated by the stars, which is explained in her quest line that results in the age of darkness from her dark moon. Radahn thought of this as the highest form of blasphemy, and made it his personal mission to stop Ranni from being able to progress her fate and cause the destruction of the golden order. Hence why Radahn must be killed when doing Ranni’s quest line. It is known that Ranni discarded her corporeal flesh by severing the rune of death in half, with one half she killed her body, and with the other half she killed the soul of Godwyn the golden, another devote follower of the golden order that spelled the most trouble for her. Doing this fulfilled the use of the rune of death, as a soul and body were given a true death. This is the explanation for Ranni and Godwyn’s appearances in game, one is now just a soul, and the other is a body with a dead soul. When one dies a true death in elden ring, it is stated in the weapon Helphen’s Steeple that the soul of the dead manifests in the Helphen, a type of Greek-like underworld. Therefore, it can be assumed that Godwyn’s soul resides in the Helphen. Miquella had discovered that through sleep, the right timing, and an alignment of the stars that resulted in an eclipse, one could partake in a ritual that would allow them momentary access to the Helphen. In game Miquella is stated to have an incredible connection with Godwyn, he looked up to him as a fellow empyrean and loved him the most of his family. Castle Sol exists as a ritual destination for the eclipse, as stated multiple times by multiple different in game sources. It is also connected directly to the Haligtree, Miquella’s home. It is also stated that the eclipse ritual at castle sol had failed previously due to the star scourge denying the movement of the stars to be able to form the eclipse. As the blade of Miquella, Melania holds her brother and his ambitions above anything in the entire world of elden ring. She is willing to sacrifice anything to achieve Miquella’s goals. By the point where us tarnished enter the game, Miquella has already become the worlds greatest healer, as well as constructing an alter ego as Saint Trina, a being who defined the use and limits of sleep magic. It’s believed Miquella strived for healing and sleep magic to aid in the ritual process and the recovery of Godwyn’s soul. Because Radahn inadvertently stopped Miquella from completing the ritual needed to bring back Godwyn’s soul, Miquella sent Melania to defeat the star scourge at all costs. This is why Melania and Radahn fought, and this is also why Melania was willing to sacrifice herself and all of caelid in the battle, because she would do anything to see Miquella achieve his goals. If Melania was successful in her battle, and if Mohg didn’t kidnap Miquella while Melania was away, then Miquella could have been very successful in bringing back the soul of Godwyn the Golden. Due to farum azula, we know that it is possible for time to be altered in game. Considering this, and the fact that the shadow of the erdtree dlc is theorized to be about Miquella, and the place of Torrent’s origin (the Helphen), it can be assumed that the dlc will be about a dream state or time altering state that results in the completion of the ritual eclipse, a journey to the Helphen, and a possible revival (or failure of revival) of Godwyn the Golden.
One of your absolutely best, the sync between picture and story telling is top notch I might like to think that the crushing state for liurnia might be caused somehow by astel, sitting below
I definitely think Liurnia was once a level ground, all the cliffs and Academy alight correctly to make a single large highland, and then the center of it started sinking. Maybe it was a gradual enough process to explain the need for building bridges that are also now broken and lowering. It'd be cool to see its ancient appearance and then also what it will look like once the ground finally collapses; a giant donut-shaped chasm with a School still perched up high in the center.
I think that if Astel was going to be added to Radahn's fight, it would be some sort of phase 3 or maybe a field boss after the fight. I think it's also important to note that the eternal cities, which we know are connected to Sellia, were destroyed by something from the stars, presumably Astel or whatever caused the Lake of Rot. I think it's possible that the practice of night and gravity sorcery, in some way, attracted the forces that caused their ruin. Maybe Radahn happened to show up at the right point to help Sellia by stopping the stars. Of course, now that he's dead, Sellia is basically doomed but hey not my problem
The side conversation on critical thinking was so wholesome - I really appreciate all of your content, have learned so much about ER lore, and I watched it all because it's so well made. Thanks for telling such a good story :)
@@yourehereforthatarentyou what’s more, is the staff of the guilty (which empowers spells that use the Briars of Sin) says red glintstone is made by WOUNDING a victim and turning their blood into glintstone. The shield of the guilty shows a maiden whose eyes were crushed by the briars of sin before she was reborn into the lands between. Mogh’s formless mother craves wounds, and his own horn has crushed one of his eyes.
On the Liurnia note: it would be so cool if in a DLC we got to see the future of the lands between and could see Liurnia having fallen into the Lake, either entirely or with massive holes opening on the continent. Or deathblight spreading from Godwyn into the capital proper. Would love to see the natural progression of these places... maybe even as an art competition?
The DLC will take us far into the future, where the red rot spread out from Caelid to engulf up to Stormveil Castle, and Liurnia sank into the lake of rot underneath, spreading the contagion all around it. The southern half of the continent will be one whole toxic swamp. The players will wail and gnash their teeth, and throw themselves at Miyazaki´s feet, begging him for freedom from the toxicity status, but he will smile and refuse. Then, as they are overcome by anger and begin to tear him apart in a frenzy, he will laugh. Even as he is ripped apart into blood and gore, even as his eyes are pulled from their sockets and the flesh is torn from his bones, he will laugh. And laugh, and laugh, and laugh. For Miyazaki will have already won, his amibition to create the largest toxic swamp in a game fulfilled at last.
@@SorowFame If the land holding up the Liurnian lake gives way, everything around the Academy would fall into the Lake of Rot below. Meaning everything that´s swampy. The areas around or technically within the swamp, such as part or all of the Albinaurics´ village, may slide/be dragged into it as well. Imagine that everything between the cliffs north of Stormveil Castle, and east of the Moonlight Altar, fell down into the Lake of Rot.
I did imagine a future scenario where Liurnia was completely submerged, and the Tarnished journeyed over the lake with Queen Nepheli and elder Jar-Bairn towards the Erdtree. Maybe having a boating section wouldn't be so terrible.
@@amberhernandez Until fifteen Tibia Mariners appear and fill your ship to the brim with skeletons PS. Although having a really powerful Tibia Mariner piloting a big ghost ship would be kinda cool
In hindsight, when speculating on the reason Radhan held the stars at bay in the context of the DLC it can be speculated that one of the reasons he did so was to prevent the marriage between himself and Miquella. It’s stated in the Ranni quest that the stars dictate the fate of the Carian Royals and Radhan has to be defeated to set Ranni’s fate back in motion, but Radhan is ALSO a child of the Carian Royal Family, being Radagon and Renalla’s child and Ranni’s brother. If we assume that Miquella and Radhan were “fated” to be together, through the “vow”, it could be that Radhan didn’t wan this fate for himself and therefor held the stars in place to prevent it. This is also why Malenia has to be sent to fight and kill him and Miquella has to change his plans
I think an important detail to keep in mind with Iji’s weapons is that while stone is definitely a blunt object compared to a forged blade, stone can still be decently sharp and capable of cutting just fine
Tarnished Archeologist is a really great resource for examining the archeology/architecture of elden ring. I would say to take a good bit of it with a good grain of salt, however they tend to point out a good number of similarities that you may not have put together yourself!
Caelid is my favorite area in the game because of all the lore about strange rot, alien creatures, a katana made of a material that states it was used to dispatch of strange creatures, gravity magic, etc. Feels mythical and definitely on my first playthrough, stumbling into Caelid you get this image of a hellish landscape
On a note similar to the analysis of reliefs and architecture in Elden Ring, I think a teamup between Vaati and the Tarnished Archaeologist would really allow for some crazy deep dives into Elden Ring's lore.
On the last secret- I’ve always had it in my head that even once defeated, some of the bosses aren’t REALLY dead. Rykard and Malenia as you said, but also Mohg (Lord of Blood). These guys have been completely roided by outer gods/ancient godlike beings, and even just seeing Malenia’s blooms, Rykards writhing remains, and Mohg materialising from a simple puddle of blood- makes you think that it’s gonna take a lot more than just killing them, to truly defeat them.
Apophenia is such a great topic for discussion with these games, and it's great that someone as big as Vaati brought it up. I think the tough part about analyzing the lore of these games is trying to figure out which "clues" were left behind on purpose or what were just gameplay aspects added in for the padding and immersion.
kinda reminds me of the whole Silent Hill 2 fandom headcanon things although Fromsoft games are different since they are purposely vague unlike Silent Hill
During my first playthrough, I was convinced that Astel is actually the thing that fell from the sky after defeating Radahn. It made sense to me since he kinda is at the end of the new location. As much as I love all the theories about ER, I tend to stick to this one.
so what would be your explanation for the juvenile astel that can be encountered in Ulh Ruins down in the Ainsel? that one can be encountered from day 1 without needing to kill radahn.
Radahn needed to conquer the stars in order to stop Miquella's eclipse from happening -- an event that would have seen the Haligtree usurp the Erdtree. This is also why Malenia herself marched on Radahn -- to free the stars and hopefully to free herself from the rot.
What makes you think he froze the stars to hinder Miquela, i always attributed his freezing of the stars as an attempt to hinder Ranni and his Carrian family only inadvertently hindering Miquela as a result.
Miquella's eclipse was an effort to give Godwyn a proper death and enable him to be reborn through the Erdtree. It by itself has nothing to do with Miquella's plan to create a new Order.
I think Malenia marched on Radahn because the shattering was a war of succession, and Radahn was the only known shard bearer with the strength to be a threat to Miquella's rule. Godrick was weak, Rykard was blasphemous, Ranni discarded her rune, Malenia abdicated, and the omen twins were secret. As far as the Haligtree knew, once Radahn was defeated Miquella would be the only worthy shardbearer left. Thats why Malenia forcing a stalemate was supposed to work, as she didn't have to win, she just had to make sure Radahn lost. Of course Mogh captured Miquella, and once no worthy shardbearer remained, the guidence of grace forsook the demigods.
8:13 in reference to the blunt weapons and guts sword: There’s point in here guys is facing off against a mess of soldiers and they’re reacting to how his sword fighting is so brutal. Guts himself says his sword isn’t very sharp and actually very dull. He says that if the sword doesn’t cut you in half, you’d wish it did.
man its crazy that Day9 totally figured out that glintstone/rot thing in liurnia just within his playthrough without any outside help. they do a great job with storytellin i tellyawut
every time i feel like I've gleaned as much information about the lore as possible, the community absolutely astounds me with even more discoveries, amazing.
It would be interesting if you can prevent Malenia's third bloom by giving her the golden needle obtained from Millicent, and if you don't, you have to fight the scorpion Goddess of rot in a new location, like a secret shrine hidden in the Great Cloister nesxt to the lake of rot.
@@magmatrack3915 it's sort of implied that Miquella's Needle is imperfect by the Frenzied Flame questline. Millicent and Malenia both had the needles inserted in a place other than you and in both cases the needle was capable of failing, though you could argue that it fails Millicent because it's not Miquella's Needle but an incomplete version. But the only other character who can use it is you, when subduing the Frenzied Flame. You can only do this at Farum Azula, so my theory is that it failed Millicent and Malenia because they were using it inside the bounds of time, a space governed by the outer gods, but when you use it outside of the bounds of time, the outer gods' influence is nonexistent and you're able to completely remove their influence from your body like the needle was designed to do.
@@michaelgrey1503 Well interesting question - did it fail Millicent or did it do exactly what it was designed to do? Because if Millicent pull her needle out - she does not bloom
Can you do a video about why the Erdtree is an illusion? It’s pretty trippy once you notice, but the big ass tree is just an illusion! Proof: For one, it’s obviously glowing gold and slightly transparent, you can see the moon and other things through the “solid” tree sometimes, and it also matches other solid illusions we see in game like the golden Godfrey. Next, the tree is depicted as an entirely different species of tree in all of the old tapestries and artwork in the game.. the carvings of the erdtree are a coniferous tree… You can visit the actual base of the real tree where it was burned down and see where the illusion starts. The capital is already covered in ash before we “burn” the tree… There is even more evidence I can’t think of at the moment, but it’s not so much a theory as something pretty obvious once you start looking and noticing all of the signs and evidence. I’m curious about if everyone can see the erdtree or only those who are blessed to see grace? Also, is this what Morgott was protecting? Did he create the illusion or was he just protecting the secret? Is it even a secret? Also, who burned the tree the first time, or was it a casualty of the shattering? Idk.. There are a ton of questions and interesting answers to dig up with this one…
I have a bit of a theory on Radahn. I think that because fate was told in the stars, he knew that Sellia was going to fall if the stars resumed in motion. Maybe a meteor or even Astel would crash into Sellia and destroy it and Radahn wanted to keep the place he learned his magic from safe.
@@VaatiVidyaprops to someone else for making ur video! but not props to the genuine people out there trying to add unique contributions to our understanding of the game.
I felt like I waited forever for some elden ring dlc, I'll never forget playing it with our old lady dog Athena by my side, making sure I knew every time a wolf howled in the game or when someone strayed into my yard. We had to put her down today, after 12 years of love. I hope I can find what we found before in those games and I'm thankful you stayed to help me through Final Fantasy 16. Wish I coulda missed more work for it.
I thought the reason Radahn halted the stars was to halt his fate since Ranni is his sister and her fate is dictated by the stars his might be as well and since Radahn looked up to Godfree we might not want the stars to dictate his fate.
Just based on the Radahn ideas, I feel as though either this or a subsequent DLC might dive into the falling stars in more detail - probably becoming available post-Radahn, and having us confront whatever lead him to become the Starscourge - although it's alternatively possible that Radahn did this to prevent Miquella and Ranni's (or Miquella OR Ranni's, whichever) fates/plans from coming to pass, having known about them somehow beforehand (perhaps glimpsing them during his tutelage and/or with the help of his Carian heritage) - and if this is the case for Miquella, there's a strong possibility we will see this expanded on in Shadow of the Erdtree.
This "link in the description" merchant is 100% subliminally dissing the TA. Even though TA never once mentioned the relief in this video. What a joke, dude is clearly running out of content and is taking shots at others now for some reason.
I thought Radahn knew of Ranni’s fate to become an empyrean and forced to be elden lord. I thought that in order to pause that fate he stopped the stars. It is said the stars are strongly connected to fate. Makes sense if Ranni trusted her brother enough to let him in on what’s going on. Especially if Radahn knew that the fingers and golden order are actually worshipping an alien that would motivate him even more to block any visitors from the stars.
for the Apophenia thing; I also think it's important to remember that, like, it don't matter. none of this matters. 90% of this lore is just speculation regardless that's never going to be "officially" confirmed nor denied. In the end most of it might as well be headcanon. It's what makes sense to you; or perhaps more importantly, what's FUN to imagine, that really matters. And if later on it turns out that "oh this is true or isn't true" based on a reveal of a new item or character dialogue, that doesn't matter either! You change your interpretation and move on, it doesn't mean your previous thoughts were 'wrong' you just didnt have all of the information.
Yeah, wasn’t a fan of that section at all really. I’m sure plenty of our theories could be “disproved” by searching for reused assets, but that’s no fun is it? And just in this video we tried to explain the reuse of Radahn’s swords throughout Caelid, when there may very well not even be a lore reason. Not to mention, it felt like a weird dig at Tarnished Archaeology.
As for Iji's weapons, it should be noted that IRL, pure (one might say, unalloyed) gold is a very soft metal - it is very ductile and malleable, and if you were to forge it into anything sharp, it would dull as soon as it was used. Perhaps this could explain the "blunt as stone" part, especially since we already know about the link between unalloyed gold and scarlet rot, while also hinting that Iji's weapons were in fact made out of unalloyed gold? Also, I think this is well-known at this point but the "...not one of them decayed when faced with the scarlet rot" also fits in well here - gold (again, IRL) is very passive chemically speaking - it's difficult to get it to react with anything but a select few compounds.
I don’t think he’d have used Unalloyed Gold. Firstly you’d think you’d find at least one such sword in Caelid if that’s what they were made of and secondly Malenia’s Hand doesn’t seem to have any issues holding an edge.
I am so excited for your Prepare to cry: Ranni edition. I absolutely adore your channel and look forward to every video you put out. The cinematography of your videos is also amazing.
Another potential lore point: If your under the belief that the Nascent butterfly’s are synonymous with Miquella, then it makes sense why everyone loves him, since he’s well traveled. You can find them all around the Lands Between, even in the Eternal cities The oddest one is in Nokron, next to the acestral infant head. Him being there can mean 3 things; 1 he’s researching the Regal Ancestral spirit to see how to make an order outside the Erdtree influence 2 he’s studying the fingerslayer blade as inspiration for his needles 3 that’s the route he took the get to the Deep Root Depths.
The Ancestor Spirit Followers actually drop these butterflies and there's several places where they're seen around Miquella's Lilies. It's actually a bit overwhelming, you almost can't encounter the Ancestor Followers without a Miquella-related ingredient in sight, FromSoftware went out of their way to establish a connection there - I hope they'll pick up in the DLC.
16:49 I think that it's also important to mention the amount of banished knights in Stormveil castle, given that most of the forces in castle sol (and the summons in Niall's battle) are banished knights.
Cool thing i found out is putting blood affinity on a bastard sword uniquely calls it a Bloody Bastard sword. All other weapons just get "Blood" prefix.
Thank you Vaati for your heartfelt discussion on apophenia, and the effects it can have on better understanding these games we love. You don't just analyze the games by yourself, you collaborate with other bright minds, seek meaningful connections, and I believe that is how you can overcome apophenia.
As for roderika's crimson hood, if you go back to the place in stormveil castle where there is a pile of bodies and some undead dogs, you can find the crimson hood there. I feel like Roderika, went there after Godrick was defeated and left her previous self to start a new as a spirit tuner. Of course it can also be that I just missed that item the first time I went to Stormveil Castle.
9:50 "I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started, all I had was swamp!. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show ´em!. It sank into the swamp, so I built a second one, that sank into the swamp. I built a third one, it burned down, fell over and then sank into the swamp but the fourth one stayed up!"
Imagine if Malenias actual final form is another DLC boss, with even more glorious and dangerous moves, protecting her brother Miquella to the very end.
@@Hevvvyyy just imagine! Rot Goddess Malenia and (hopefully un-cursed) Miquella in his prime! This would make up for the bad fight that the godskin duo gave us!
@@Hevvvyyy it might not be a regular malenia with miquella, it can be young malenia and miquella where she's not a goddess of rot yet, or is not that powerful, because she hasn't awoken her powers or some shit.
There is another "disguised" Rune Bear in Limgrave near the camp where you get the Great Epee. Just like the other Mimic enemies that also drops a Larval Tear.
Came here to post this. Damn thing jumpscared me so bad lmao, I had already been through the mistwood and gained a (reasonable i feel) terror at seeing them and BAM
Oh yeah, I really should have mentioned this when I talked about the ones worth killing. Skipped my mind
Same! Oh well. Gotta let the people know.
@@VaatiVidya This was legit my first thought when you were talking about it. Honestly quite the shame you missed it.
Yeah I remember killing him on my way past then went and hung out somewhere only to be jumped by a rune bear I had no idea where it came from. I didn't see the transformation.
Something to note about Roderika’s hood - the Navy Hood description states that these kinds of hoods were given to people from royalty who became tarnished and were driven away from their homes because they saw the guidance of grace, but the Red Hood description directly says that Roderika never saw the guidance of grace. So it’s likely that she was banished due to political strife or just general dislike by her family, which is kind of expected since she has a close connection to the spirits and ER nobility has this habit of treating everything weird as heresy. She’s probably like that stereotype of a “kid talking to ghosts” since basically the first thing you get from her is a spirit of a young girl transformed into a jellyfish.
I like this
Roderika brings a mentally ill vibe that the royal familiy that caused her to be mentally ill don't really like.
She reminds me of Farnese from Berserk, and her move from being a bit unhinged and misunderstood, to understanding what spirits are and then learning about magic and becoming a white mage
@@cilvrea while back someone datamined the old (now cut) end credits of Elden Ring, which revealed Roderika's original name to be "Lost Royal Farnesze". They were not being subtle here lol.
"they crossed the sea for me" maybe it was roderika who wanted to travel to the lands between to fulfill the jellyfish wish?
I think “fight” is a really strong word when it comes to Rune Bears. You don’t fight them, you experience them.
Those bears are like requis
Idk what it was about the one in the snow fields I had no problem killing them on every play through but the game got updated one day and that rune beat was almost impossible to kill I think its attacks were bugged I checked the nerfs that were made and nothing I used was affected
The Snowfield Bear is absolutely a pain. And the one in the cave has a hilarious amount of Hp, but easily skipped.
If you want a real challenge fight the rune bear and the two nights calvary at the same time.
@@A_Black_Sheep94 yo I feel like remembering what it was like to be a noob again, where on the map can I do this?
The next lore video is the biggest one yet...👀
Can't wait!
Im expecting a 1 hour ranni lore video but your probably gonna over deliver and give us close to 2 hours
@@ChristopherFartNickel i see this as an absolute win
can't wait 0:45
Yeahhhh
Perhaps Jerren finds it curious that Iji's weapons are 'blunt as stone' because Carian is a house of magic, and 'bluntstones' are how one refers to someone not capable of using magic. Rather than meaning that Iji's weapons were literally blunt, perhaps he was saying that weapons made by Iji possessed no magical properties or enchantments, which would be very odd for a Royal Blacksmith of a magical house, hence Jerren's surprise.
That DOES make sense. It IS rather odd now that I think about it. That the Royal Blacksmith of a Royal House of MAGIC wielders would make non-magical weapons.
@@TheBallazanand the fact that they didn't rot away despite not being magical is also then very interesting
@@eemelisaurila9940 perhaps they're made of "unalloyed iron"? That'd both be in theme for the game and also explain why they're so damn heavy.
@@NobodyImportantInTX considering the description of the great sword in beserk, that also works very well, so it is most certainly a possibility
Especially odd that his non-magic weapons resist the rot.
The lake of rot being under Liurnia actually reminds me of Color outof space by H.P Lovecraft. Like the glintstone fell from the sky, landed where Liurnia is and started to infect the land it impacted. Also explains why Liurnia is a lake, its a giant crater where Glintstone meteors impacted thelands between.
It gives me vibes of Moria. That the Academy dug up too much of the crystal and thinned out the layer between both lakes
Sellen is a prime example of the horror of glintsone magic. If you complete her questline, she becomes a large ball of heads. Disoriented and a bit agonized, her study of glinstone magic caused her to corrode into this mass of manifested glinstone material.
I have a theory that Hora Loux learned many of his fighting skills from fighting rune-bears. He has similar grab attacks and strategy... he fights like a rune bear.
the stance he takes when announcing himself as Hora Loux is also often called "bear stance" in Japanese martial arts
i had this exact thought watching the video, the grab attack, jump and shout look exactly the same
nah
he is definitely mimicking the lions
Loux is kinda like khabib he grew up fighting Rune bears
He even "tears open" the player character if he kills you with one of his grab attack. The man really fights like he has claws.
Wow that theory about Astel and Radahn is so cool. Wish the game would have expanded more upon the cosmic entities
Damn UA-cam does not have you verified
It might be possible in a future dlc after Shadow of the Erdtree. With how much detail was packed into not only the story, but the environment, the characters, and item descriptions, there's SO much potential to expand upon any number of those things. I think it would be an awesome idea to keep Elden Ring alive without making the game stale or taking away the mystery and speculations of the souls series we all love so much.
I wonder if the fallingstar beasts that you find in craters around Limgrave were planned to spawn into the map **only after** slaying Radahn.
It's always seemed odd to me that the consequence of slaying Radahn and releasing ALL THE FALLING STARS is only one crater (the path to Nokron). It'd make more sense if the falling star beasts, the crater-pocked glade, and Astel only appeared on the map after this cutscene.
I think another cool question to ponder is: if Astel was originally meant to be phase 2 of Radahn, who were we originally meant to fight at the bottom of the Grand Cloister?
It's so damn cool that I'm personally calling it Canon. Basically anything vatti, you, and zulli come up with my brain goes. "Yeah that's Canon now"
@@LeviKiefferi doubt it. This one DLC is getting bigger and bigger every month, some say it's a whole other game inside it as dlc, I don't think there'll be another DLC after this gigantic one
I love how, nearly a year ago, that piece of character art in the thumbnail came pretty close to Romina, Saint of the Bud.
And also foreshadowed red mane frejia using a curved greatsword like Radahn
@@connorstang3284I was just thinking about that yeah
Thank you for the shoutout vaati, it's honestly amazing how you help other creators out. Love these videos
U deserve it man, been following ur channel ever since elden ring launched
If anything, I'm thankful you guys are okay with me talking about your discoveries and expanding on them wherever possible. I hope the extra visibility helps on your end too!
Took me ages to realize you're the same Levi from Calamity playthroughs, dumb me :P
So don't get me wrong I enjoy watching vaatis videos so that's why I keep watching but to me elden ring isn't as interesting to me as soulsborne lore. It's like elden ring is house of the dragon and soulsborne is game of thrones, I had the first one and loved it. Do I want more of the good seasons? You bet, but do I like this second child as much? Eh elden ring has a great story but this time I played it for more soulsish content
That "Elder Miquella" relief on the stone pillar is just The Green Man. He pops up in a bunch of Medieval and Gothic architecture, especially cathedrals.
I wonder if that pillar is just a rendering of a real pillar then
@@nickgrout2502 Honestly wouldn't surprise me, the dude shows up in so many places. No clue about the other figures carved into the pillar though.
Yeah that was in a Quelaag video, he clearly doesn't keep up to date with others discoveries, sad to see from the most subscribed fromsoft utuber. Also i would say the relief is the god Pan.
I thought it was Rykard haha
*Type O Negative appears behind you for a backstab*
Radahn was holding the stars back to stop fate, effectively halting the war between everyone and preventing anyone from taking the Throne. The Carians saw fate in the stars, learned that they controlled or at least their motion was tied with fate. Radahn defeated Ranni before she could join the fight by stoping her fate from occurring. Considering shes the only demigod who has an ending where she wins, he was right to fear her success.
This is what I always thought, not sure why its not mentioned in the video.....very confusing!!!!!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who knew this
Yeah people act like "but...why? why conquer the stars?" you mean like, besides astels destroying cities and ranni starting an age of fear and lonliness? idk i guess because it was cool @@tdognschooch
Also, not a coincidence that the beginning of Ranni's questline focuses on killing Radahn and doesn't progress until he is dead. He is holding back the stars from moving figuratively, to stop her fate, and literally, by preventing the meteor crashing which opens up the route to Nokron
@@frozengoat5834that’s not what Ranni’s ending means. The English version was mistranslated. All she’s trying to say is that she would remove the demigods and gods and outer gods etc from the Lands Between, to “have them at a great remove” so that their selfish desires can’t affect the regular people in the Lands Between and can’t start wars with each other, etc etc. it’s actually a very like, “well we had to do a bunch of terrible stuff to get here, but in the end we’re trying to make the world a better place” kind of ending.
Tarnished Archaeologist made an observation that Godrick possibly tries to solidify his claim as a scion of the Golden Lineage through symbols, pointing at how his axe may be a superficial attempt at emulating Godfrey's own axe, in this case considering Godfrey is strong enough to cause shockwaves by stomping his foot, maybe Godrick sought to possess a similar skill by grafting the foot of an individual with similar magic.
Radahn was said to have seen a great threat to Sellia and thus stopped the stars. I believe the meteor was on trajectory to destroy Sellia. When the last vestige of his mind finally realized he was to be bested in battle, he leaped to the stars and struck one blow to the falling-frozen meteor, sending it off course before falling to the Tarnished.
I kind of like that idea.
This is what I consider to be correct as well. Every single description of how Radahn stopped the stars mention "a smashing victory" and even the Starscourge Heirloom is a STR talisman. And there's no mention of a space monster.
Also I don't want to bring up too much blame on the English translation, but I want to point out that while the English texts about the Starscourge Conflict make it sound like a long, drawn out campaign, the original Japanese texts are much clearer in saying that it was a single event.
@Chaffee738 yeah, I felt like it was more like one big battle in Aeonia. Or maybe a few fights. Perhaps a naval landing at Redmane Castle, and a land attack at Aeonia.
I'm guessing Aeonia is where she rotbombed Radhan, and he made it back to his castle before his mind fell apart.
Malenia and Rykard's lines give me the idea that they will return in more powerful forms for a rematch in DLC or a sequel, that would be cool. Especially Rykard, since he has a slightly more ambiguous ending, I imagine Tanith will also transform into a serpent monster
I hope melania returns as 3rd bloom her final form rykard was to easy but he was a cool looking boss prob 1 of the coolest for me
Well...you kinda are getting that
@@canadat4380 FAAMILLEE
A more powerful Malenia would be awful tbh
In addition to Godrick and Godefroy, the Fell God also seemed pretty psyched about being offered a leg in the Fire Giant fight.
I pointed this out too. When he said they were the only ones to be happy to accept a leg as offering, the big ol' burny boy immediately came to mind.
the music during that cutscene still gives me chills.
@@EGeorgevThat cutscene reminded me so much of a quote from an old story a friend wrote:
"What do you see?"
"I see... fire. Bright, blazing stars of fire, beautiful and terrifying, all-consuming yet cleansing."
"Good. Now, pull that fire from your dreams, make it yours, and burn every damned one of them."
I like your theory. Im also confused as to why we (Vaati included) consider Godefroy canon. Lore enthusiasts that we are, we must accept Godefroy is just a lazy reskin with some random bullshit made up to justify his existence.
If you offer feet to Lord Miyazaki, he'll make you a boss in the next FromSoft game.
Thank you so much for the shoutout, Vaati!!! I loved cosplaying Roderika, and even took off my red cloak irl when I arrived at that part of her story heheh thank you again for a great video and sharing other creators too :)
Dude your videos are fucking awesome
Thank you so much for your input to the community and all your hard work :-)
Love your videos. :)
Taking the cloak off irl for that moment is such a flex haha. I hope everyone checks out your content!
The build up of the pillars about Malenia and Miquella description then path of exile had me laughing so hard hahaha thanks Vaati for the laugh. What made it so funny how serious your tone was haha
Cant wait for the 30 hour lore deep dive into the grass differences between regions.
I’d love to see this too lol
you're underestimating this lad real bad.
@@eetfuk3571 ok let's make it a two day stream with no breaks 😁
Don't give AgtJake any ideas
Vaati needs to wait for other lore people to do the work first
Here’s a cool detail I found in my playthrough
The description of the pulley bow states that it uses a very complex mechanism, which is quite evident due to the design, but more importantly “was likely made by a certain genius who learned Golden Order Fundamentalism.”
This leads me to believe the one who created this bow is in fact the same individual who forged the Valkyrie Prosthesis that Malenia herself uses. They seem to operate with similar mechanisms, and if you equip both the bow and Malenia’s armor, you’ll notice they appear to be identical in color and material, and the ornate carvings on the bow match the sword Malenia wields.
Assuming these inferences are correct, there is an excellent chance that it was Miquella himself who crafted the bow, using the same techniques he used to create his sister’s artificial limbs.
Good eye! I wonder why it was found on Mt. Gelmir then. That seems to be one of the few areas neither twin really frequented.
Sotha Sil confirmed for Shadow of the Erdtree DLC
I’m pretty sure that was Miquella. I don’t have the specifics but it’s mentioned somewhere that he crafted Melania’s prosthetic using unalloyed gold to ward off the scarlet rot
@@unknwnn7673Yeah Miquella made Malenia's prosthesis
I made that connection too! A certain genius... well it can't be Gideon, he's just a walking wikipedia, Seluvis? No, too creepy and obsessed with Ranni to ever make something worthwhile, a sorcerer or mage? Probably, but why when they have spells anyway? My only conclusion was Miquella because heck, he made a literal TREE from his own blood/will almost the size of the Erdtree, he made holy spells and weapons and gifted them to others, he put himself into some limbo/hibernation when he was kidnapped by Mohg to prevent the Omen baby from using him, I could go on, but yeah I think the Pulley Crossbow and Valkyrie Prosthesis were both made by Miquella~!
There's an entire other theme about water and scarlet rot. Malenia's teacher, the blue dancer, has his entire style based on the flow of water, and is the one who trained malenia on her skills like the waterfowl dance and how to control herself. Also, the blue cloth set has in his description :"Just as still waters turn foul, stagnation leads to decay" who can also be related to the water/rot theme. and to finish, there's also water in the malenia fight, which can also relate to all this. I hope we can hear more of it in some future content.
Water is also tied to death and rebirth. When we first die to the scion at the beginning of the game, there is a black screen with only the sound of bubbles underwater. Then Torrent (which means swirling water) finds us and chooses us, and we are reborn. Plus the mariners are, well, mariners, and are always found in water.
I have another theory about the water rising in Liurnia, I personally think it could really make sense: the moon (on earth) is the thing that impacts tides the most, the moon is responsible for high and low tide, maybe because of Renalla (the full moon queen) the moon stays still above Liurnia for her to have as much power as possible (or alternative theory, Radahn's halting of the stars halted the moons motion as well and stopped it right above Liurnia) and because the moon is right above Liurnia it became high tide right there, all the time, which made all the water go there and made the forest into a swamp which consequently sunk even more? Idk let me know what you guys think (: (it's just a theory, but I think it could be likely idk I'm no lore master haha)
I like it
this makes a ton of sense! there’s so much of the ER world i just take for granted and don’t really question lol
@@vincentmichael7979 thanks🙂
@@vincentmichael7979 yeah right! Even in the real world there's many things we take for granted but when you stop and think about it it's really cool🙂
That might explain why the moon is so massive, why we only see it in one phase, and why we don't see it move across the sky like the sun does.
I'm sure its been mentioned before, but Roderika's character concept and arc are heavily influenced by the character of Farnese from Berserk. Both were nobles who got lost on their mission, be it mentally or physically, and find themselves largely alone, only to find purpose again in becoming an apprectice to someone who can show them how to use magic to protect or help others in some way. She even looks like Farnese.
Fair point
yes
Her name too. Roderick, who was to marry her
You know this as a fact, from a developer or writer, or this is speculation?
@@bigguy7353 so much berserk refrence in the game and her story is almost perfectly aligned with farnese id say the influence is there
Radahn might be one of my favorite bosses lorewise. He becomes giant of a man and learns gravity sorcery just to ride Leonard, which also connects him to his sorceress mother as his red hair did to his father. He was a brilliant general and soldier and warriors respect him so much even after his madness that Jerren has him killed in a fight as a warrior instead of striding the battle field until Scarlet Rot decays his body. Also he's one of the few figures who can fight with Malenia, dude is literally in-game version of LMSH.
Wtf is LMSH?
LMSH is the famous elden ring player "Let Me Solo Her" who at the release of elden ring was being summoned to defeat malenia for people struggling to defeat her.
The headless knights bloodstain location is interesting. Their lore specifies that they offered themselves willingly. Is it possible that, unlike most depictions of beheadings via guillotine or sword/axe, they faced the blade upwards as opposed to looking down? It would perhaps explain why the bloodstain is on their back, as gravity pulled the blood downwards dripping down their backs.
Willingly and/or fearlessly facing the descending blade in their zealotry, it would compliment the sort of desire seen in the likes of the priests in the winds of the deathbirds. That is, a desire to embrace death or a state of undeath for a specific purpose.
As someone who's been a concept artist in the industry for about a year now I can say that you are spot on, a lot of things come from very specific directions the creative director gives in conjunction with the concept artist. Concept artists mostly know all the relevant visual motifs, so sometimes things you are analyzing could also just be a cool idea a concept artist had, that was approved with little input from the creative director. And sometimes it's just something less relevant that had to get through quickly cause they are running low on time :D
I can only talk from the perspective of the few games I've been on so I can't tell how specific Miyazaki gets or how much freedom he gives his concept team but either way they are doing an incredibly good job spawning such interesting debate!
Great Video as always!
I am shocked that your thumbnail is shockingly close to how Romina looks
The Roderika secret makes me love her even more. What an underappreciated gem of a character she is, she definitely deserves more love from the fandom! Her relationship with Hewg is one of the most wholesome things in the entire narrative, and she's easily the most comforting figure at the Roundtable Hold by the end of the game, with her own little arc that the insight in this video helps reinforce. She's awesome!
Part of me wished that her questline would eventually end in master Hewg dying, and then she takes on the blacksmith role aswell as spirit tuner.
Sure it would be sad and I would miss Hewg dearly, but it would be so beautiful to see Roderika's growth come full circle, carrying on the will of her father figure.
But either way, I completely agree with you.
Roderika is such an underrated character. For being the last sane mind that still remains in the Roundtable Hold, she does a great job making the place feel a little less lonely.
She's one of the only characters at the roundtable by the end of the game
shes one of the coolest roundtable characters next to hewg imo
Its funny how cut content so often reveals a much more cohesive and understandable Story then what has been presented in the final game
Agreed, especially for videogames. As the production of a game goes on and on the developers inevitably face unforseen roadblocks, conflicts, or limitations that usually force them to shuffle, alter, or cancel things on the fly and the result is never completely smooth, you can usually tell one way or another.
This happens with movies and shows, though a little less, and even in books you can notice it sometimes, though it's much easier to iron things out if all you're working with is words.
i don’t know if anyone has already pointed this out, but I really think Roderika is just another reference From Software makes from Berserk: she mirrors Farnese in some ways, she’s a noble who has men fighting with her and when she puts her past aside, she learns some kind of magic (i don’t recall exactly what she learns) to help you upgrade spirit ashes, similar to how Farnese becomes a sorcerer and helps Guts with his journey. also, they’re both blonde. idk, i think this could be another reference
I like that Malenia shows respect to the Chosen Tarnished, in spite of her initial shock, after her defeat. Even her promise about the Scarlet Bloom seems delivered as though it's simply a matter of fact rather than a malicious declaration or some such.
A nice touch. Shame the "bravely fought" line couldn't be preserved, at least.
I always liked the death quote we actually got in the game. She still shows her respect for the player "Thy strength... extraordinary. The mark of a true lord." but then her attention turns to Miquella, lamenting the fact that because she finally met her match she can no longer be there for him. I felt so bad for her.
@@khfanboy666 maybe 3 blooms weren't her total death, i mean... nobody has witnessed the 4th one and dieing after the 3rd one was more like a prophecy rather than a scientific fact.^^ idk and we don't see her corpse like Godrick's or Morgott's.
I just love that both FromSoft and Capcom have such a love for Kentaro Miura that that they'd spend years and years honoring how influential his work has been, through DS, Elden Ring, Bloodborne and Dragon's Dogma. It's just so cool.
Capcom is doing just because Dark Souls did. Now if you want to spend a lot of time looking for references in Capcom games just look for JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE references there, Capcom was doing it waaaaaaaay before the first anime adaptation.
@@LordSevla Ah yes Capcom Decided to add Multiple Berserk armors and weapons in Dragon's Dogma just because From Software Made a Big Sword look like Gut's
@@YolStrun If you play Dark Souls 1 you ll see there a ton of content inspired by Berserk, who told you it was only a single sword was a liar.
Btw Dark Souls series (and Demons Souls) are great games, really endorse actually playing it instead of just watching streamers/youtubers play the game. DD is also one of my favorites from that PS3 generation, playing you see even more content based on Berserk than just armors.
@LordSevla he's exaggerating cause your comment was goofy. No one added berserk shit cause dark souls did it. Berserk has been referenced for decades in all media and the quintessential dark fantasy in Japan.
@@DivineNaruto Just play Dragon's dogma, the game in heavily influenced by Dark Souls. It's by far the best "souls like" that wasn't made by From Software.
There isn't really much more from Capcom beyond that, they do have a lot of stuff based on Devilman which was the source from Berserk.
There are banished knights in the castle where you find Godrick, so not totally off-base to suggest some connection with the banished knight leader and Godrick. It could even be argued that Niall taught his Banished Knights the storm moves that they use in their fights, and Godrick took notice, which is why he wanted one of his legs after defeat of the storm-wielding knights.
I think the banished knights under Niall were fighting in farum azula against them along side the elden lord of the blackflame, maliketh fighting for marika to take the power from the blackflame to have a perfect golden order without death.
Banished knights are the only enemies besides godksins that are fighting in farum azula. Maliketh steals the rune of death, later on ranni has the power of the rune of death in turn stolen again and makes knives for the destruction of godwyn the golden. Turning him into the prince of death accidentally.
Maliketh wants deathroot that seeps up from godwyns roots to gain pieces of the power of the rune of death back. But somewhere commander Niall's master has been "long gone" either dead or captured during marikas battle for the rune of death.
The gloam eyed queens consort or elden lord which must be the banished knights lord presumably why they have been banished (fighting against the golden orders wishes for total control) I think might be present in the dlc with hopefully more about the blackflame and its outer god similar to the golden order and its outer god (elden beast). The fell god is to flame giants and rot god is to malenia, the formless mother is to blood sacrifice and possibly miquella in the future dlc. Each outer god with their own vessels(shard bearers) appointed by the greater will spoken by the fingers.
The storm moves used by Niall and banished knights therefore must be derived from their battle in farum azula the place beyond space and time in the eye of the storm. Niall returns as the lone survivor of that battle and looks over castle sol whilst the rest of the remaining banished knights are sent around the lands between with their new storm skills looking for their lord. Storm veil castle possibly being the banished knights old castle way point along with castle sol. They were banished and godrick sneaks into to take over during the shattering. Godrick has know true followers except under fear and that's why he's also employed exiled knights that fight along side banished knights, who in a coup once they find their lord of blackflame will scare the shit of the grafted godrick and retake storm veil to its former glory.
In Iji's defense, weapons that are "blunt as stones" would be particularly useful against armored opponents.
Or squishy bug people
Or squishy bug people
Or squishy bug people
Or squishy bug people
Or squishy bug people
The headless knights bloodstain location is interesting
Hello
@@pujaslife3666what are you doing lady
Good
It's very interesting facts..
Great
23:10 this theoretical transformation seems all the more plausible now that we have seen Romina, the Saint of the Bud, in the DLC. If she, who is probably not an Empyrean, was capable of such a startlingly inhuman form under rot's transformation, perhaps Malenia is destined for similar.
You know, other than trying to prevent Astel and the Fallingstar Beasts to descend on the Lands Between, I always thought that Radahn holding back the stars was some kind of move to damage the Liurnia sorcerers and the residents of the Eternal Cities.
I mean, they drew power and magic from the stars and they were enemies of the Golden Order, so what Radahn did was essentially deprive enemies of the Golden Order of a devastating weapon.
That actually does make sense, he may have studied in Caria and Selia but he was very much for the Golden Order, after all he looked up to Godfrey as a role model. So keeping the stars in check would most likely hinder the Carians and Raya Lucarians.
He was must serve golden order, Radagon made them had the title of Demigod, and after the shuttering, Radahn actually ‘serve’ greater will
It'd be weird if he was was against Caria though considering iji forged weapons for him and his closest friend/commander was very clearly loyal to Caria
@acastusofastora8641 while loyal obviously to Caria perhaps there were those among the family or their faction he did not agree with their methods? Being loyal to a cause doesn't mean everyone has to have the same mindset in how to handle matters, especially in terms of conflict
His motivations for facing the stars were likely much more self-centered. He idolized the heroic stories of Godfrey, Godwyn, and Radagon and wanted to face a great foe to immortalize himself into history the way they did.
I love how you talk about them reusing assets to save time, right after theorizing about how Iji's sword looks just like the Greatsword, and the swords in the ground in Caelid look like Radahn's swords.
Elden ring lore theory is tricky because so much of it is just fromsoft saving time. People saying Godefroy is a real character for example is laughable to me.
@@dylanschmeichel2008He's literally mentioned in item descriptions, are you high?
@@dylanschmeichel2008 The way I interpret that case is that he's real, we just don't get to see his real appearance, due to them just reusing Godrick's.
FS games are often a juggling game of did they intend this or is it merely for development's sake and the fans reading too much into it. The games are great no doubt, but people don't seem to like accepting that lore especially is jumbled about so much in development that a lot of it is held together with tape and glue
I always attributed Liurnia slowly sinking to the fact that Raya Lucaria and the magics of the Carrian Royal Family are all frost / cold based, so now the residual frost from the spells is melting back into water, causing a self made issue
Having weapons that are super blunt would mean that they are less likely to cut/slice open whatever you're attacking. So maybe foes afflicted with rot might have their blood rapidly corrode weapons and armour kinda like Xenomorphs from Alien.
Edit: also now come to think of it the Kindred of Rot and specifically their talisman look pretty much like Xenomorphs. Like undeniably so.
I like the theory, but blunt weapons would still make you bleed. You can even cut someone's face with boxing gloves because the skin gets pressed against the hard bony edges of your skull like where your brow is. Not to mention blunt force trauma can still break skin.
Both are valid points
@@AshlynOneSure, but there's first to the face bleeding and a blade in an artery bleeding.
@Mjaw90 Great observation! It's like, it's so obvious, and in your face, no one would pay attention to it, looking right through it for the most complex explanation... Unfortunately, if it wasn't for you, I'd have just been like, 'my boy IJI sharpened the sh** out of my weapons tho'. Lmao
Nuts Berker
To add on to the Radahn and holding back the stars stuff, it should be noted that in addition to being a Liurnian outpost in Caelid, Sellia is an inheritor to the traditions of the Nox of the Eternal City. Astel's lore strongly suggests that he was the falling star which devastated an Eternal City and took away its sky, so it's not insane to think that the Sellians were particularly afraid of the wrath of the stars, given what happened to their forebears. Radahn also learned his craft from an Alabaster Lord, themselves anthropomorphic personifications born from meteoric stones, and he studied in Sellia, so I don't think it's absurd to think that Sellia might have had an above-average amount of dangerous meteor showers. Given how closely tied Radahn was to Caelid in general and Sellia in particular, it feels right to me that he would challenge the stars in order to protect the people who trained him from an above-average threat from the skies.
Honestly you upload the best Elden Ring videos on UA-cam hands down.
The research , the ideas all the cutscenes spot on , keep up the good work my friend.
A new sub
Ben
There's actually another runebear worth killing in Deep-root depths. It drops the Prince of Death cyst, which increases your deathblight resistance.
resistance to the least common and least threatening pve debuff
@@aether1370 If you're not collecting every item to read the description out of desperation for figuring out the lore, why are you even playing a FromSoft game?
Lmao. I play the games to fight bosses. I'll watch the vaati video for the lore. I ain't reading all dat
@@piszanshid1953 Unga bunga, read make brain hurt.
@@NatetheNerdythey have a point though. There are like 3 enemies that use death blight and literally nobody uses it in PvP. Also a lot of people play soulsborne games for the challenge and not the lore. I’m not one of those people, but still.
Something I picked up after watching your videos is Miqella being like a moth, meanwhile 'Deathbird' is another name for the 'Death's Head' Moth. Considering the DLC looks like it's gonna involve Miquella and Godwyn it was neat to learn.
That shot of Radahn roaring at the sky as the stars begin raining down was epic.
The gravity crest is actually very interesting, because is the depiction of a dipole!
It happens in eletric fields because you can have positive AND negative charges, but gravity only have positive charges (that we know of).
Maybe thats how they were able to use gravity magic in Elden Ring, by discovering a negative gravitational charge!
gravity has charge? since when?
@@lordcrunch2592 Thats the point. Since we never found something with "negative gravity" , theres no point in calling it a "positive" or "negative" charge, because its always on the same direction
@@RalathymI mean I don’t think it’d be so much of a charge as much as it would just be something with negative mass causing a negative gravitation field.
Gravity wouldn’t have dipoles like electric charge regardless of the existence of negative gravitational fields
@@Bundpataka Can you rephrase It?
Gravity Works mostly like an eletric field (except that positive mass atracts itself, not repel), but other than that, the vectors should act the same, Just with an inversed direction, no?
[RULES OF NATURE] intensifies
Imagine if fighting Radahn caused fallen star enemies to appear all over the map as new bosses. With some deeper connections to Ranni's questline it would have been a legendary ending.
I'd bet that this was their intention. It would explain why some of the falling star enemies seem to be in areas of little importance story-wise.
This mightve been a plan, but it wouldve needed even more world changes change like the ashen Capital. Maybe it was deemed too time consuming to develop and they just placed everything as is Astels and all, exept for the crater next to fort Haight that is tied to Radahns boss fight.
there’s actually coded events for Astel’s to do a meteor attack like radahn did
Could be DLC content?
You and Zullie always have the absolute best and most thorough content.
There's actually another Rune Bear disguised as a noble in Limgrave, near the camp where you get that one magic scroll. It also drops a Larval Tear.
I was looking for this comment!!!
I always assumed that Radahn held back the stars to prevent Ranni's journey. She needs them unlocked for her plans, so it could have been his way of holding his family together.
I always assumed it was because of the Nox. The Nox are a civilization guided by the stars, and stood against the Greater Will (or at least didn´t want to bow to him). Radahn being a pawn of the Greater Will held the stars motion so the Nox have no more guidance and were then banished underground
Could also be as simple as Radahn deciding that there should never be a threat from the sky as we immediately see a meteor fall into limgrave. Maybe these used to be common and were a threat (as well as containing astels) and the one in limgrave and the craters are just the very small ones.
@@MisterK9739Radahn was a pawn of the greater will, but more than anything this meant he was a die hard believer in the golden order. Because Ranni’s fate is controlled by the movement of the stars (as explained by her quest and in game ending), Radahn halted her fate because it was in direct contrast with the beliefs and upheld values of the golden order
I wonder what was so important that Radahn gave up his future for it.
Radahn was the ultimate follower of the golden order.
Ranni was attempting to create her own fate by discarding her corporeal flesh to escape the hold that the golden order had on her. The fate of Ranni is also said to be dictated by the stars, which is explained in her quest line that results in the age of darkness from her dark moon. Radahn thought of this as the highest form of blasphemy, and made it his personal mission to stop Ranni from being able to progress her fate and cause the destruction of the golden order. Hence why Radahn must be killed when doing Ranni’s quest line.
It is known that Ranni discarded her corporeal flesh by severing the rune of death in half, with one half she killed her body, and with the other half she killed the soul of Godwyn the golden, another devote follower of the golden order that spelled the most trouble for her. Doing this fulfilled the use of the rune of death, as a soul and body were given a true death. This is the explanation for Ranni and Godwyn’s appearances in game, one is now just a soul, and the other is a body with a dead soul.
When one dies a true death in elden ring, it is stated in the weapon Helphen’s Steeple that the soul of the dead manifests in the Helphen, a type of Greek-like underworld. Therefore, it can be assumed that Godwyn’s soul resides in the Helphen.
Miquella had discovered that through sleep, the right timing, and an alignment of the stars that resulted in an eclipse, one could partake in a ritual that would allow them momentary access to the Helphen. In game Miquella is stated to have an incredible connection with Godwyn, he looked up to him as a fellow empyrean and loved him the most of his family. Castle Sol exists as a ritual destination for the eclipse, as stated multiple times by multiple different in game sources. It is also connected directly to the Haligtree, Miquella’s home. It is also stated that the eclipse ritual at castle sol had failed previously due to the star scourge denying the movement of the stars to be able to form the eclipse.
As the blade of Miquella, Melania holds her brother and his ambitions above anything in the entire world of elden ring. She is willing to sacrifice anything to achieve Miquella’s goals. By the point where us tarnished enter the game, Miquella has already become the worlds greatest healer, as well as constructing an alter ego as Saint Trina, a being who defined the use and limits of sleep magic. It’s believed Miquella strived for healing and sleep magic to aid in the ritual process and the recovery of Godwyn’s soul.
Because Radahn inadvertently stopped Miquella from completing the ritual needed to bring back Godwyn’s soul, Miquella sent Melania to defeat the star scourge at all costs. This is why Melania and Radahn fought, and this is also why Melania was willing to sacrifice herself and all of caelid in the battle, because she would do anything to see Miquella achieve his goals.
If Melania was successful in her battle, and if Mohg didn’t kidnap Miquella while Melania was away, then Miquella could have been very successful in bringing back the soul of Godwyn the Golden. Due to farum azula, we know that it is possible for time to be altered in game. Considering this, and the fact that the shadow of the erdtree dlc is theorized to be about Miquella, and the place of Torrent’s origin (the Helphen), it can be assumed that the dlc will be about a dream state or time altering state that results in the completion of the ritual eclipse, a journey to the Helphen, and a possible revival (or failure of revival) of Godwyn the Golden.
One of your absolutely best, the sync between picture and story telling is top notch
I might like to think that the crushing state for liurnia might be caused somehow by astel, sitting below
I definitely think Liurnia was once a level ground, all the cliffs and Academy alight correctly to make a single large highland, and then the center of it started sinking. Maybe it was a gradual enough process to explain the need for building bridges that are also now broken and lowering. It'd be cool to see its ancient appearance and then also what it will look like once the ground finally collapses; a giant donut-shaped chasm with a School still perched up high in the center.
maybe it's the lake of rot under it corroding the land above
aquatic ecological succession
I think that if Astel was going to be added to Radahn's fight, it would be some sort of phase 3 or maybe a field boss after the fight.
I think it's also important to note that the eternal cities, which we know are connected to Sellia, were destroyed by something from the stars, presumably Astel or whatever caused the Lake of Rot. I think it's possible that the practice of night and gravity sorcery, in some way, attracted the forces that caused their ruin. Maybe Radahn happened to show up at the right point to help Sellia by stopping the stars.
Of course, now that he's dead, Sellia is basically doomed but hey not my problem
The side conversation on critical thinking was so wholesome - I really appreciate all of your content, have learned so much about ER lore, and I watched it all because it's so well made. Thanks for telling such a good story :)
please talk about Alberich’s altered helm revealing that his entire head is red glintstone like a primeval sorcerer
do red glintstones even exist?
@@yourehereforthatarentyou yes, in staff of the guilty, Gelmir staff, Alberich's set, Briars of Sin, Briars of Punishment
@@vladislavgilyov6626 alright then, sick
@@yourehereforthatarentyou what’s more, is the staff of the guilty (which empowers spells that use the Briars of Sin) says red glintstone is made by WOUNDING a victim and turning their blood into glintstone. The shield of the guilty shows a maiden whose eyes were crushed by the briars of sin before she was reborn into the lands between.
Mogh’s formless mother craves wounds, and his own horn has crushed one of his eyes.
@@epiccthulu that’s actually cool as fuck
On the Liurnia note: it would be so cool if in a DLC we got to see the future of the lands between and could see Liurnia having fallen into the Lake, either entirely or with massive holes opening on the continent. Or deathblight spreading from Godwyn into the capital proper.
Would love to see the natural progression of these places... maybe even as an art competition?
The DLC will take us far into the future, where the red rot spread out from Caelid to engulf up to Stormveil Castle, and Liurnia sank into the lake of rot underneath, spreading the contagion all around it. The southern half of the continent will be one whole toxic swamp.
The players will wail and gnash their teeth, and throw themselves at Miyazaki´s feet, begging him for freedom from the toxicity status, but he will smile and refuse. Then, as they are overcome by anger and begin to tear him apart in a frenzy, he will laugh. Even as he is ripped apart into blood and gore, even as his eyes are pulled from their sockets and the flesh is torn from his bones, he will laugh. And laugh, and laugh, and laugh.
For Miyazaki will have already won, his amibition to create the largest toxic swamp in a game fulfilled at last.
Liurnia is basically already in the lake, not sure how much more sunk it could go.
@@SorowFame If the land holding up the Liurnian lake gives way, everything around the Academy would fall into the Lake of Rot below. Meaning everything that´s swampy. The areas around or technically within the swamp, such as part or all of the Albinaurics´ village, may slide/be dragged into it as well.
Imagine that everything between the cliffs north of Stormveil Castle, and east of the Moonlight Altar, fell down into the Lake of Rot.
I did imagine a future scenario where Liurnia was completely submerged, and the Tarnished journeyed over the lake with Queen Nepheli and elder Jar-Bairn towards the Erdtree. Maybe having a boating section wouldn't be so terrible.
@@amberhernandez Until fifteen Tibia Mariners appear and fill your ship to the brim with skeletons
PS. Although having a really powerful Tibia Mariner piloting a big ghost ship would be kinda cool
In hindsight, when speculating on the reason Radhan held the stars at bay in the context of the DLC it can be speculated that one of the reasons he did so was to prevent the marriage between himself and Miquella. It’s stated in the Ranni quest that the stars dictate the fate of the Carian Royals and Radhan has to be defeated to set Ranni’s fate back in motion, but Radhan is ALSO a child of the Carian Royal Family, being Radagon and Renalla’s child and Ranni’s brother. If we assume that Miquella and Radhan were “fated” to be together, through the “vow”, it could be that Radhan didn’t wan this fate for himself and therefor held the stars in place to prevent it. This is also why Malenia has to be sent to fight and kill him and Miquella has to change his plans
I think an important detail to keep in mind with Iji’s weapons is that while stone is definitely a blunt object compared to a forged blade, stone can still be decently sharp and capable of cutting just fine
Tarnished Archeologist is a really great resource for examining the archeology/architecture of elden ring. I would say to take a good bit of it with a good grain of salt, however they tend to point out a good number of similarities that you may not have put together yourself!
Caelid is my favorite area in the game because of all the lore about strange rot, alien creatures, a katana made of a material that states it was used to dispatch of strange creatures, gravity magic, etc.
Feels mythical and definitely on my first playthrough, stumbling into Caelid you get this image of a hellish landscape
I went from Limgrave to Caelid... Shit got real.
On a note similar to the analysis of reliefs and architecture in Elden Ring, I think a teamup between Vaati and the Tarnished Archaeologist would really allow for some crazy deep dives into Elden Ring's lore.
Pretty sure he was throwing made shade at TA with that part, but it would be sick
Vaati would literally have nothing to add lol. TA would be the only reason to watch 😂
@@ethanitus8028how so? He only mentioned his own video
@@halobroodhow so? He only mentioned his own video
They have shouted each other out in the past.
On the last secret- I’ve always had it in my head that even once defeated, some of the bosses aren’t REALLY dead. Rykard and Malenia as you said, but also Mohg (Lord of Blood). These guys have been completely roided by outer gods/ancient godlike beings, and even just seeing Malenia’s blooms, Rykards writhing remains, and Mohg materialising from a simple puddle of blood- makes you think that it’s gonna take a lot more than just killing them, to truly defeat them.
Radahn dropping on Astel after the Pc taking him halfway and Astel escaping his grip, as a half remembered promise to Selia, would have been amazing.
Apophenia is such a great topic for discussion with these games, and it's great that someone as big as Vaati brought it up.
I think the tough part about analyzing the lore of these games is trying to figure out which "clues" were left behind on purpose or what were just gameplay aspects added in for the padding and immersion.
kinda reminds me of the whole Silent Hill 2 fandom headcanon things although Fromsoft games are different since they are purposely vague unlike Silent Hill
During my first playthrough, I was convinced that Astel is actually the thing that fell from the sky after defeating Radahn. It made sense to me since he kinda is at the end of the new location. As much as I love all the theories about ER, I tend to stick to this one.
so what would be your explanation for the juvenile astel that can be encountered in Ulh Ruins down in the Ainsel? that one can be encountered from day 1 without needing to kill radahn.
Like a secret boss that appears after the Radahn fight, heck, I thought there was a Fallingstar beast there in my first playthrough, but no sadly.
20:51, I've never seen Elemer do this move.
Love when Vatti said “it’s loring time” and proceeded to lore all over the place.
Truly one of the lores of all time
this made me laugh way harder than it should have lmao
Radahn needed to conquer the stars in order to stop Miquella's eclipse from happening -- an event that would have seen the Haligtree usurp the Erdtree. This is also why Malenia herself marched on Radahn -- to free the stars and hopefully to free herself from the rot.
What makes you think he froze the stars to hinder Miquela, i always attributed his freezing of the stars as an attempt to hinder Ranni and his Carrian family only inadvertently hindering Miquela as a result.
@@Wile_E_Cyote it's probably Astel, and it inadvertently makes Radahn a big target
@@Wile_E_Cyote Why not both? Radhan was such a bad ass he halted the starts to stop all of his Enemy's plots and plans in one might achievement.
Miquella's eclipse was an effort to give Godwyn a proper death and enable him to be reborn through the Erdtree. It by itself has nothing to do with Miquella's plan to create a new Order.
I think Malenia marched on Radahn because the shattering was a war of succession, and Radahn was the only known shard bearer with the strength to be a threat to Miquella's rule.
Godrick was weak, Rykard was blasphemous, Ranni discarded her rune, Malenia abdicated, and the omen twins were secret.
As far as the Haligtree knew, once Radahn was defeated Miquella would be the only worthy shardbearer left.
Thats why Malenia forcing a stalemate was supposed to work, as she didn't have to win, she just had to make sure Radahn lost.
Of course Mogh captured Miquella, and once no worthy shardbearer remained, the guidence of grace forsook the demigods.
I think it’s not unreasonable to think that a relief in a game is connected to the lore.
8:13 in reference to the blunt weapons and guts sword: There’s point in here guys is facing off against a mess of soldiers and they’re reacting to how his sword fighting is so brutal. Guts himself says his sword isn’t very sharp and actually very dull. He says that if the sword doesn’t cut you in half, you’d wish it did.
man its crazy that Day9 totally figured out that glintstone/rot thing in liurnia just within his playthrough without any outside help. they do a great job with storytellin i tellyawut
This game has legit a never ending story that can be expanded through multiple DLC's. Amazing lore building and connections, just.....masterful❤
every time i feel like I've gleaned as much information about the lore as possible, the community absolutely astounds me with even more discoveries, amazing.
It would be interesting if you can prevent Malenia's third bloom by giving her the golden needle obtained from Millicent, and if you don't, you have to fight the scorpion Goddess of rot in a new location, like a secret shrine hidden in the Great Cloister nesxt to the lake of rot.
Imagine fighting her in the lake of rot 😂 it's already giving me a headache just thinking about it lol
Milicent only bloomed when killed with needle inside of her. So main question is - why Miquella's needle does that
@@iluvev9660 pls dont give them anymore dlc ideas, im already terrified of what they're coming up with
@@magmatrack3915 it's sort of implied that Miquella's Needle is imperfect by the Frenzied Flame questline. Millicent and Malenia both had the needles inserted in a place other than you and in both cases the needle was capable of failing, though you could argue that it fails Millicent because it's not Miquella's Needle but an incomplete version. But the only other character who can use it is you, when subduing the Frenzied Flame. You can only do this at Farum Azula, so my theory is that it failed Millicent and Malenia because they were using it inside the bounds of time, a space governed by the outer gods, but when you use it outside of the bounds of time, the outer gods' influence is nonexistent and you're able to completely remove their influence from your body like the needle was designed to do.
@@michaelgrey1503 Well interesting question - did it fail Millicent or did it do exactly what it was designed to do? Because if Millicent pull her needle out - she does not bloom
Can you do a video about why the Erdtree is an illusion?
It’s pretty trippy once you notice, but the big ass tree is just an illusion!
Proof: For one, it’s obviously glowing gold and slightly transparent, you can see the moon and other things through the “solid” tree sometimes, and it also matches other solid illusions we see in game like the golden Godfrey.
Next, the tree is depicted as an entirely different species of tree in all of the old tapestries and artwork in the game.. the carvings of the erdtree are a coniferous tree…
You can visit the actual base of the real tree where it was burned down and see where the illusion starts.
The capital is already covered in ash before we “burn” the tree…
There is even more evidence I can’t think of at the moment, but it’s not so much a theory as something pretty obvious once you start looking and noticing all of the signs and evidence.
I’m curious about if everyone can see the erdtree or only those who are blessed to see grace?
Also, is this what Morgott was protecting? Did he create the illusion or was he just protecting the secret? Is it even a secret? Also, who burned the tree the first time, or was it a casualty of the shattering? Idk..
There are a ton of questions and interesting answers to dig up with this one…
I have a bit of a theory on Radahn. I think that because fate was told in the stars, he knew that Sellia was going to fall if the stars resumed in motion. Maybe a meteor or even Astel would crash into Sellia and destroy it and Radahn wanted to keep the place he learned his magic from safe.
The slo-mo shot @17:20 is just simply masterclass in cinematography... Amazing work Vaati!
Props to @mispap1 for that!
@mispap1 thank you sooo much for the hardwork!
@@VaatiVidyaprops to someone else for making ur video! but not props to the genuine people out there trying to add unique contributions to our understanding of the game.
@@chasekeylime9717 straight up, this dude needs a full scholastic reference page
I just shed so many tears. I am inspired like never before. I will diminish into my bedroom and game Elden Ring for 12 hour
So Sigma!!!
I felt like I waited forever for some elden ring dlc, I'll never forget playing it with our old lady dog Athena by my side, making sure I knew every time a wolf howled in the game or when someone strayed into my yard. We had to put her down today, after 12 years of love. I hope I can find what we found before in those games and I'm thankful you stayed to help me through Final Fantasy 16. Wish I coulda missed more work for it.
Sorry for your loss ❤
I thought the reason Radahn halted the stars was to halt his fate since Ranni is his sister and her fate is dictated by the stars his might be as well and since Radahn looked up to Godfree we might not want the stars to dictate his fate.
Just based on the Radahn ideas, I feel as though either this or a subsequent DLC might dive into the falling stars in more detail - probably becoming available post-Radahn, and having us confront whatever lead him to become the Starscourge - although it's alternatively possible that Radahn did this to prevent Miquella and Ranni's (or Miquella OR Ranni's, whichever) fates/plans from coming to pass, having known about them somehow beforehand (perhaps glimpsing them during his tutelage and/or with the help of his Carian heritage) - and if this is the case for Miquella, there's a strong possibility we will see this expanded on in Shadow of the Erdtree.
Give the tarnished archeologist the attention he deserves
the path of exile entry almost felt like a bit of shade towards TA...
He shouted out Miss Chalice, that was cool. Tarnished Archaeologist is the GOAT
@@lucaslugarinho6634i thought i was the only one who noticed the subtle attack lmfao.
This "link in the description" merchant is 100% subliminally dissing the TA. Even though TA never once mentioned the relief in this video. What a joke, dude is clearly running out of content and is taking shots at others now for some reason.
@@n8doggy733not cool to shout out some thirst trap utuber when there's damn good lore ppl like Saint Trina and TA
@8:00 "Massive, thick, heavy and far too rough" *eyes*
Melania and the scorpion rot boss in the DLC...connection?
that is what i came to the comments to see an i had the same thought.
@Malibus-Most-Wanted just defeated the scorpion with 2 people helping me out. Ended up dying at the same time as it did and lucked out.
The idea of killing radahn only to see a cosmic antlion fly descent/crash might have been the best boss transition ever made
I thought Radahn knew of Ranni’s fate to become an empyrean and forced to be elden lord. I thought that in order to pause that fate he stopped the stars. It is said the stars are strongly connected to fate. Makes sense if Ranni trusted her brother enough to let him in on what’s going on. Especially if Radahn knew that the fingers and golden order are actually worshipping an alien that would motivate him even more to block any visitors from the stars.
Love the greatsword, got me through my first play through- paired with the nights cavalry set I’m living the berserk dream look
for the Apophenia thing; I also think it's important to remember that, like, it don't matter. none of this matters. 90% of this lore is just speculation regardless that's never going to be "officially" confirmed nor denied. In the end most of it might as well be headcanon. It's what makes sense to you; or perhaps more importantly, what's FUN to imagine, that really matters. And if later on it turns out that "oh this is true or isn't true" based on a reveal of a new item or character dialogue, that doesn't matter either! You change your interpretation and move on, it doesn't mean your previous thoughts were 'wrong' you just didnt have all of the information.
Yeah, wasn’t a fan of that section at all really. I’m sure plenty of our theories could be “disproved” by searching for reused assets, but that’s no fun is it? And just in this video we tried to explain the reuse of Radahn’s swords throughout Caelid, when there may very well not even be a lore reason. Not to mention, it felt like a weird dig at Tarnished Archaeology.
As for Iji's weapons, it should be noted that IRL, pure (one might say, unalloyed) gold is a very soft metal - it is very ductile and malleable, and if you were to forge it into anything sharp, it would dull as soon as it was used. Perhaps this could explain the "blunt as stone" part, especially since we already know about the link between unalloyed gold and scarlet rot, while also hinting that Iji's weapons were in fact made out of unalloyed gold? Also, I think this is well-known at this point but the "...not one of them decayed when faced with the scarlet rot" also fits in well here - gold (again, IRL) is very passive chemically speaking - it's difficult to get it to react with anything but a select few compounds.
I don’t think he’d have used Unalloyed Gold. Firstly you’d think you’d find at least one such sword in Caelid if that’s what they were made of and secondly Malenia’s Hand doesn’t seem to have any issues holding an edge.
@@SorowFame Indeed - I personally don't think this theory holds much water, but it's fun to consider regardless :)
You can find Roderika's Crimson Hood in Stormveil Castle, over a pile of dead bodies of the people that got there with her.
I am so excited for your Prepare to cry: Ranni edition. I absolutely adore your channel and look forward to every video you put out. The cinematography of your videos is also amazing.
Another potential lore point:
If your under the belief that the Nascent butterfly’s are synonymous with Miquella, then it makes sense why everyone loves him, since he’s well traveled.
You can find them all around the Lands Between, even in the Eternal cities
The oddest one is in Nokron, next to the acestral infant head.
Him being there can mean 3 things;
1 he’s researching the Regal Ancestral spirit to see how to make an order outside the Erdtree influence
2 he’s studying the fingerslayer blade as inspiration for his needles
3 that’s the route he took the get to the Deep Root Depths.
The Ancestor Spirit Followers actually drop these butterflies and there's several places where they're seen around Miquella's Lilies. It's actually a bit overwhelming, you almost can't encounter the Ancestor Followers without a Miquella-related ingredient in sight, FromSoftware went out of their way to establish a connection there - I hope they'll pick up in the DLC.
16:49 I think that it's also important to mention the amount of banished knights in Stormveil castle, given that most of the forces in castle sol (and the summons in Niall's battle) are banished knights.
Cool thing i found out is putting blood affinity on a bastard sword uniquely calls it a Bloody Bastard sword.
All other weapons just get "Blood" prefix.
Thank you Vaati for your heartfelt discussion on apophenia, and the effects it can have on better understanding these games we love. You don't just analyze the games by yourself, you collaborate with other bright minds, seek meaningful connections, and I believe that is how you can overcome apophenia.
As for roderika's crimson hood, if you go back to the place in stormveil castle where there is a pile of bodies and some undead dogs, you can find the crimson hood there.
I feel like Roderika, went there after Godrick was defeated and left her previous self to start a new as a spirit tuner.
Of course it can also be that I just missed that item the first time I went to Stormveil Castle.
Thank you for releasing this for Australian audiences
It didn’t go unnoticed
Yessirrr
Bro I'm american and am watching this at 5 am. I should prolly go to bed...
9:50 "I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started, all I had was swamp!. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show ´em!. It sank into the swamp, so I built a second one, that sank into the swamp. I built a third one, it burned down, fell over and then sank into the swamp but the fourth one stayed up!"
07:44 this one is for the boys 😎
Imagine if Malenias actual final form is another DLC boss, with even more glorious and dangerous moves, protecting her brother Miquella to the very end.
there is a theory that malenia and miquella will fight us together
@@SimplCupa Malenia/Miquella duo boss would be amazing! Even as another secret boss fight!
Oh no, god help us all
@@Hevvvyyy just imagine! Rot Goddess Malenia and (hopefully un-cursed) Miquella in his prime! This would make up for the bad fight that the godskin duo gave us!
@@Hevvvyyy it might not be a regular malenia with miquella, it can be young malenia and miquella where she's not a goddess of rot yet, or is not that powerful, because she hasn't awoken her powers or some shit.