Got attacked once again by a random virus while making the finishing touches on this video, Luckily it wasn't very bad so i was able to get this out in time. Enjoy 🤧❤
So only Poison instead of Toxin, eh? Well, that's a small relief. If you insist on going down to that cesspool, at least remember your Blooming Purple Moss Clumps. It's for your own good.
Wow, I never would have guessed that Farum Azula was large enough to be clearly visible even from Limgrave. I think it's most likely a case of the developers not wanting the location to be so blatantly looming over the player for the entire game. I also appreciate that shot you took at 6:35, it really does look sick being out in the overworld like that lol.
Agreed, it sticks out too much and draws way too much attention to it. The surprise you get by getting teleported there is amazing, though it would've been cool if it became visible after we burn the erdtree and actually go there
Lore-wise I'm pretty sure it was Marika that hid Farum Azula the same way she hid the Shadow Lands. Because she ordered Malekith to hide the Rune of Death there away from everyone and impossible to access by anyone other than the next potential Elden Lord who manages to burn the Erdtree. The hexagonal configuration of the Divine Towers uses the same magic to hide both regions. And the reason why Farum Azula is only visible from the Isolated Divine Tower is that the veil magic is slightly broken there. On top of the tower, the pillars with the embedded meteorites in the direction of Farum Azula are damaged. This is a pretty intentional clue since this is the only Divine Tower like this and the rest are completely intact.
My theory as to why Farum Azula is scarcely mentioned outside of a few item descriptions, and is not visible from the lands between, is that Farum Azula exists displaced not only by distance, but also by time. This is attested to by the Old Lord's Talisman. Further evidence to this effect can be seen in how even if you kill Maliketh in Farum Azula, Gurranq continues to exist at the bestial sanctum. It's classic dark souls time shenanigans.
It’s because the last 30% of the game is very broad concepts loosely stitched together. The fire giants, farum azula, and miquella have no reason to be where they are in the story. The result of a poor development cycle.
@@mattb6616 It is literally a fact that the back half of all fromsoft games are nothing but rushed development. Originally, the black flame was supposed to burn the Erdtree, not the Giant's flame. This was a change made extremely close to the game's release. It would tie together Melina, the Black Flame, the GEQ, and Farum Azula. Instead, the Giant's Flame was substituted because they needed to give the player a reason to go the mountains.
@@aceoffours9354would you happen to have sources for that? (Not a gotcha question but like I just kinda wanna have it so I can discuss the topic amongst my friends)
Definitely think it’s a combination of not wanting to crowd the skyline and have it constantly dominating the background, which is what the Erdtree is supposed to do, and not giving away the reveal of such an opaquely different area from the rest of the world
I was surprised the first time I saw farum azula from the secret divine tower, and as I sat there, time passing as I stared into the fog where the scadutree should be, I think it's just a visual reward for beating Malenia and getting a unique view of the lands between, Its just a bit too much extra visual clutter on the over world lol. Another though is that seeing this floating uprooted location from early ingame makes it feel less idk unique when parts of Limgrave get blasted into the air after beating Radhan. It also might have made the ps4 cry in more places if farum azula's storm was represented on the overworld, or maybe it would just be cooler, i'm no a game dev. Love this style of elden ring trivia!
Being hidden for lore reasons does makes sense yea. It contains the rune of death afterall. Although I do wish that after going there it could become visible. Like visiting it breaks the enchantment. Might be a mod for someone to consider
I wish it was visible but they could put it much further away so you could only see some foggy hint of tornado and debris in the sky so it wouldn't be so obvious spoiler
It would not make sense from a lore perspective as well. Farrah Azula is a land beyond time, the ruins everywhere are there because Faram Azula likely fell ages ago. When you go there, you are in an area that is not bound by the natural passage of time, so it no longer exists in the lands between.
I think the development reason for not showing Farum Azula was to not distract from the Erdtree. From "First step" if you know what you are looking at you can see the Beast Sanctum, the Giants' Forge, a bridge leading to a Divine tower, Caelid tower, Stormveil Castle, but outshining them all (figuratively and literally) is the Erdtree. This view is very intentional and one of the best ingame. They want the Erdtree to feel uniquely impressive and enticing but humans are fascinated by danger so having a Giant Tornado in the distance would hold our attention more than the giant glowing tree, its just how we are wired. Lorewise: I really can't come up with anything good. Any reason one could make the question becomes why can I see it from the Divine tower and not the Giants' Forge, which sends me there and is closer than the Isolated tower, or from the Beast Sanctum. On stormy days at the Beast Sanctum you can find Gurranq outside howling towards Farum even though it isn't visible. Not to mention Leyndell ultimately had a positive relationship with Farum Azula with the founding of the Dragon Cult by Godwyn. If the Giants' forge was some kinda seal, then why? And why can't we see it after we break that seal? I'm sure there is a lore reason but they opted not to put any of it in the game for us to find.
One thing that struck me when you had faram azula visible is that it almost looks almost as imposing (and even slightly similar shaped) as the erdtree itself. Considering Placidusax once being an Elden Lord, I wonder if the tornado acted as his Erdtree. Now that I think about it, his arena is not too dissimilar to Radagon's.
I'd love to see more about the underground cities. They appear to be underground but they all have a night sky with stars and clouds. Thank you for your videos. I really enjoy them!
Thanks for that amazing look at where Placidusax's arena is located and how it works in relation to Farum Azula! You did an amazing, thorough job, even finding a special mesh around the city that normally would never be seen. Your cinematography with the shots of the visible-from-everywhere mod of Farum Azula was impressive too! As for why Farum Azula usually isn't visible, perhaps the Mountaintops have too much icy fog and the Dragonbarrow's storm is meant to be too thick and always present, so only the Isolated Divine Tower has the proper weather and range to see it? I also feel that Farum Azula is partially meant to be hidden by the curvature of the planet, so only something close and high up would give the vantage point to spot it. The Wailing Dunes might have too much Scarlet Rot in the air to see the city and tornado as well. While the Scarlet Rot is cleared by Radahn's meteorite attack, perhaps it's meant to be too dark at night to spot Farum Azula. Thanks again for this video! Regarding other hidden boss arenas, I think it'd be interesting to investigate where Rennala's Phase 2 arena is, along with Rykard's boss room and the locations of the Ancestor Spirits' areas. I'm also curious where the Fell Twins' void is stored. Aside from boss arenas, it'd be cool to check out that possible spiraling staircase high above the Gate of Divinity at Enir-Ilim. I wonder if that's actually a staircase when seen from above, and if any game data indicates that Enir-Ilim was meant to be even taller at one point in development.
Hiding Farum Azula might also have a technical reason. For the vortex to blend in nicely, every single skybox variation would've needed an "active" stormy part connecting the clouds with Farum Azula, either by physics simulation, or an animated texture (first is extremely hardware-demanding, second is a hassle to get right). The mod that makes it visible shows it pretty well how weird and pasted it looks, since it's absolutely not matchnig the environment's always calm weather.
Minus Caelid where it sticks out like a sore thumb and looks really out of place, Farum Azula looks absolutely amazing poking out of the haze and clouds in the distance in all these different areas. When it blends in with the clouds in the skybox it looks so damn cool. I get why they didn't want to spoil it early on though, it works a lot better as a surprise that you get a small taste of early on when you warp to it from The Four Belfries, and the game is so long that by the time you actually get to Farum Azula you've probably already forgotten about the little incursion you did at the Four Belfries, which makes it even more impactful. Such a cool location.
So, I can speak a little bit about the lack of visibility of Farum Azula in general, as this likely connects to some of the older 1.0 lore and item descriptions. We know from the Ruins Greatsword description still present in the base game that a meteor strike was a part of Farum Azula's destruction and the scattered pieces throughout the Lands Between, _"Originally rubble from a ruin which fell from the sky, this surviving fragment was honed into a weapon. One of the legendary armaments. The ruin it came from crumbled when struck by a meteorite, as such this weapon harbors its destructive power."_ and the Alabaster Lord 's Sword in 1.0 has lore that makes them far more similar to the Ancient Dragons, _Greatsword forged from a pale-shite meteoric ore. Its blade holds power over gravitational forces. A weapon unique to the Alabaster Lords, a race of ancients with skin of stone who were said to have risen to life in an age when meteor strikes were common."_ with the Meteorite item description being, _"It is said that, in the Eternal City, now lost in ruin underground, meteorites held the same import as stars."_ The Divine Towers themselves are replete with meteors embedded all over their construction linking to the same trait seen in Gravel Stone, with the Gravel Stone seal located below Gransax's body bearing the description, _"Sacred seal made from Gravel Stone thought to be an ancient dragon scale. Enhances Dragon Cult incantations of the Royal Capital. The worship of the ancient dragons does not conflict with belief in the Erdtree. After all, this seal, and lightning itself, are both imbued with gold."_ This was believed to have been the power of immortality linked to the dragons, and was likely what Runes were in this earliest version of the lore, connecting to why Runebears in the Closed Beta Test dropped Dragon Hearts, as well as numerous other minor differences that link to the dragons as living stone like all of the defensive talismans, _"The ancient dragons, who ruled in the prehistoric era before the Erdtree, would protect their lord as a wall of living rock. And so it is that the shape of the dragon has become symbolic of all manner of protections."_ Back in the pre-release versions of the lore, Farum Azula was once a location known as the "Storm Aerie" and the Drake Knight Armor that's found on a body on a ledge in Farum Azula gives some detail on that, _"Malformed Armor fused with dragon flesh. Worn by Ondrej the Dragon Tracker. The cape is made of dragon wing membrane, but alas, has failed to provide flight. Not a proud hunter's trophy, but rather an obsessive object of ritual metamorphosis. Ondrej seeks the Storm Aerie, a place that only dragons can reach."_ This particular element of the lore at that point was central to a VERY different version of things in the game that are introduced within Stormvale with the Banished & Exile Knights, and tie into why the castle is riddled with that thorny decay. Exile's equipment states, _"Expose thyself not, but govern thyself to be whole hid; else the curse slip inside thee."_ and mentions that each piece _"...have started to fall apart, suffering now a moth-eaten appearance."_ while the Banished Knights have slightly more robust defenses, _"Long ago, those who sought the Storm Aerie traveled far from the capital, and settled in Stormveil. The Stormveil knights are their descendants."_ _"Features an engraved crest of thorns meant to ward against the curse."_ whereas their full armor includes more, _"The twisted horn in the right shoulder, patterned after that of a dragon, signifies adherence to a forbidden form of worship; the consumption of dragon flesh."_ This not only explains their presence at the Dragon Communion Temple within Farum Azula, but also why they're at the Church of Dragon Communion in Caelid as well. In 1.0 they also populate Leyndell with some gathered around Gransax (all of the Leyndell enemies are different in 1.0 with all of the Oracles being Imps). Additionally, this adds in even more context around why Godrick was obsessively attempting to find a means of grafting Dragon Flesh to himself, and also points to the curse that afflicts Godwyn's corpse & Fortissax that's permeating the area being an extension of that wind-bound curse that's turning the air foul over Stormveil. The Remembrance of the Lichdragon also has them listed as "Ancient Dragon Descendant Ransax" as Fortissax & Lansseax were not yet differentiated (explaining why Fortissax is a male ancient dragon but uses the female Ancient Dragon model identical to his sister and uses her glaive in combat). This is where there's a bit of necessary speculation on my part to connect the dots a bit with the older lore, which I'll do in a reply to make sure it all fits easily.
As context for what informs how I approach this type of speculation: I work in software development between product designers & engineers, so I'm used to watching ongoing development being at multiple versions at once and having to be able to implicitly understand things about a whole workflow throughout different teams being at varying stages of change and development and just hold multiple versions of a project in mind at the same time to figure out how things intertwine. So this type of analysis is a heavy overlap with my professional skill set - even beyond it being something that I do in a more hobby-focused recreational sense for meticulously analyzing game design as I just find it enjoyable and fascinating. It's important to mention that even by the time of the Closed Beta Test & what's remaining of the very different fully-detailed lore in 1.0 - a lot of this version of the lore had already been wholly replaced with the elements that match to the release version's lore. So, while the inspirations and often models & other designs are still present that fit both, there are still a lot of gaps, but videos like this one are able to help provide more context about design choices that emphasize details that would otherwise not stand out to show how & why things were built in a certain way - like why Farum Azula is only visible from one specific location. Given that Lansseax is fought in multiple locations and other ancient dragons in Farum Azula can dematerialize the way that Placidusax does in his arena within the storm that is located outside of the constraints of space & time, there was an element of dragons' relationship to space-time being a component of their immortality. The first time that you fight Lansseax when she vanishes by the Abandoned Coffin site of grace, her name mentions something about her being younger (unfortunately I can't find if I've got notes with her specific name in that encounter at the moment), so especially with Godwyn's curse of Deathroot predominantly populating the Dragon Temple within Farum Azula, there was some larger mechanism to that and how Those Who Live in Death was permeating the Lands Between - the Skeletal Militiamen Ashes have an extensively lengthy and very different description & lore from the release version. With all of this, it's important to remember that the Roundtable Hold is another displaced space-time location which is directly in physical contact with Gransax's petrified body in Leyndell. This provides more contextual evidence that these sort of locations were once tied into this whole highly-draconic story element of the lore, bringing us to Farum Azula itself where it was likely meant to be somehow displaced from spacetime by the storm itself in a way that that was PHYSICALLY impossible to reach without draconic influence of some kind, and thus it wouldn't make sense for it to be visible all the time - so how are you supposed to clue in players to this goal around the same time that they're going to be trying to go through Stormvale Castle as their first Legacy Dungeon? The first trapped chest new players encounter is in the ruins where the people in the lake are worshipping the dragon Agheel. This still feels very much like the older lore and clues you in to where Limgrave's Dragon Communion church is at on an island. The trapped chest will teleport you to a mine in Caelid. This places you next to Sellia town of Sorcery who still serve the Eternal City, and also links to Radahn's Gravitational sorcery, and how Astel was originally given an animation of crashing into Radahn's arena in early parts of the game. Additionally, after Radahn's battle results in a massive meteor strike, the gaping hole in the ground has the same sorts of anti-gravitational effects on the rubble that we see with Farum Azula. Beyond this, the lake also kicks off Yura's questline with the Bloody Fingers and the addictive elements with consuming dragon hearts. Notably his questline ends when he is slain by Eleonora - the NPC who wears the Malformed Dragon Armor that used to be connected to Ondrej the Dragon Tracker. It's likely that this questline had been more related to that, especially since early on the Frenzied Flame was just the red draconic lightning that Vyke uses, and in 1.0 the Frenzied Trolls still weep red lightning rather than Frenzied Flame, and there are a number of other extensive differences with Frenzied Flame not yet being differentiated from the red-eyed berserk state of bloodlusted killers like the Hunters of Bloodborne, linking to how the Beastmen & Draconic iconography would likely have been drafted to match to the Souls series overall visual design language (which is important to do even if the lore is wholly unrelated so that there are more ways for players to implicitly understand things). The second trapped chest that early players will find is in the Tower of Return in the Weeping Peninsula, which will teleport you to the Divine Bridge in Leyndell, which is directly connected to the upper boundaries of the Roundtable Hold and Gransax's stone body. The only way to reach the Isolated Divine Tower is through a teleportation gate at this location, which will bring players to that one specific Divine Tower where you're able to physically see Farum Azula. While this teleportation is locked behind defeating Malenia, it's unclear if that was always going to be the case, and it still stands out as a very odd design choice - but it does point to some important parts of where that development was at. I suspect that it may have been that rather than being arbitrarily teleported to Farum Azula from the Forge of the Giants when Melina sacrifices herself as kindling, there was a point where you would have used the this power to fly there from the Isolated Divine Tower, and land at the outskirts, since you're unable to safely get any closer with the storm still raging. This would also explain why it's designed like it was meant to be a place you can travel back to as the "entrance" rather than being an oddly one-time-only warp point without a site of grace, that's also impossible to jump back up to when Melina drops you off there. Given that Miquella's Needle only functions in Placidusax's layer and the Haligtree itself is also significantly different in 1.0, it's likely that many of the other elements that ended up being overhauled and incorporated into *_Shadow of the Erdtree_* with Bayle, Plasidusax, Florrisax, & the Dragon Hearts that transform you physically were fully conceived at this point as well as the Shadow Lands and the suppressing pillar being in the center of the Lands Between bringing all manner of Death into a location wholly displaced from the physical realm that you can see. Even the Fire Lightning that the dragons gain when they start to consume their own kind for power bears a resemblance to Eleonora's questline, and uses is an inverse to the Dragonkin Soldiers of the Eternal Cities wielding Ice Lightning where those designs grew in different directions, but you can still tell how they were once more closely interconnected. The Dragonscale Blade in 1.0 bearing the description, _"A weapon forged from the remembrances of dragonkin soldiers, burnished with the essence of draconic immortality. Alas, the dragonkin never attained immortality, and perish as mere imitations of the ancient dragons"_ - despite the Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella doesn't drop a remembrance in 1.0 even though its form and even its emergence into a Phase 2 with physical wings incapable of flight make it a clear echo to Bayle's own phase 2 transformation with incorporeal wings that can lift him into the skies. They're relics of where these draconic elements were once FAR more central to the game, but were altered & repurposed as the story shifted in a very different direction, and so we didn't see MANY of them until the DLC. A lot of the elements in *_Shadow of the Erdtree_* have plenty of these types of design DNA that still connects to these early phases of development as forms of the ideas and lore that didn't make it into the base game, but were clearly conceived and worked on in some capacity as the story evolved as is natural for software development. While the lack of a physical release of the DLC means that we'll never see anything that's quite the same to give us a look at where any of those things might have been, hopefully this provided some interesting information to be able to look at that stuff in an interesting light that's maybe a bit less common for the way most people approach lore analysis.
Thank you for sharing this i's been a very insightful read, Sadly at the time of Elden Ring 1.0 and even close to release I didn't have the means nor the time to fully indulge into the game and only got to first play about 4 to 5 months after release so many of these older lore choices and item descriptions in 1.0 is something that i felt a bit bummed about for not getting to experience, nonetheless i do say to myself that in the end it's just cut content but as you said it does provide a huge amount of information to fill in the gaps that been created by some final decisions. I've always liked the the Draconic influence in the lore of this world and was also a major reason of me enjoying the world of Dark Souls too, This just made me realize how Dragons could've played an even greater role than they already did in the official release of the game ,Also how trapped chests and places like the roundtable hold also seem to be affected by the power of ancient dragons is also a fun connection.
@@Kami.Sensei Glad to share with ya, though don't feel that you missed out by starting a few months later - _because almost no one who played _*_even at release_*_ have ever played the 1.0 version._ The downloaded versions & day one console patch updated the game to 1.2 which is the release version. This means the only people who have ever played 1.0 were players on PS5 (since that's the only physical disc with that older version on it) whose consoles were never online at any point for their entire playthrough. Some people who got physical copies before the official release date likely played bits on 1.0 before the first update, but likely not the whole game. At that point the differences wouldn't have stood out, and you'd mostly just be missing out on things, since a number of treasure chests are empty and a bunch of field items are just generic placeholders rather than actual weapons & equipment that exist properly in the release version. I only played 1.0 LONG after beating the base game, because it requires a rather meticulous setup to do, and it was only afterwards that I was sufficiently motivated to do so solely as a way to dig into the obscure bits of the game that almost no one else will ever see, and which I personally find particularly fascinating. It's also why I like having the opportunity to occasionally drop info on it when it might be interesting - but especially since you end up exploring parts of the game that I can't do from within the game normally, and I get a better understanding of things from watching them, I want to give back a little of what I figure out.
This is such a beautiful and well-made video. I love how the game implies Placky's arena is far below Farum Azula, yet as you've show, it is really at the very pinnacle of the ancient capital. It is a mausoleum city, after all, so of course the most pristine "Tomb" would be at the summit of the storm. What a beautiful effect you've achieved by flying up to it. Especially in the cutscene section. It really takes my breath away, the sense of awe and majesty you achieved. You've partly solved a mystery that has always puzzled me: from Farum Azula, no embers appear on the Erdtree after Melina/you start(s) the process of burning it, despite the embers clearly being visible from the rest of the map. You can only see the change after Maliketh, when the tree is clearly in deep red fire. I think it's because, as you said, FA has its own overworld map, and they just didn't bother to add the smaller flames during the first stage of burning.
i love that bit at the end showing farum azula from places across the lands between almost feels like some sort of cutscene that'd have people from all over looking at it if it were to have become visible after the tarnished visits like the spell was broken by an outsider entering it or something
The cinematic shots toward the end would be SO COOL if they were synchronized with the music!!! Especially since the music is so well picked (didn't know about it btw so thanks for the discovery). Anyway sick video!
Love it! Great video. You made some wonderful views by showing Farum Azula visible from all those overworld areas. Really classy. I along with other people would love to see if you could attempt loading the Shadow Lands along with the Lands Between to see how they overlap.
You can see it pretty early by taking the Crumbling Lands belfry gate Its still a big surprise when you do but they weren't really saving it for after burning the tree.
As I recall, you cannot visit the Isolated Divine Tower until you beat Maliketh and Leyndell gets covered in ash, so being able to see it from there may be intended as an Easter egg for people who have already completed the area.
I recently saw a video showcasing a mod to allow you to see Farum Azula from anywhere. My thoughts are that it had comparable prominence to the Erdtree in the skybox. This is undesirable because it draws attention away from the Erdtree, which is the ultimate goal for our quest, and towards this mysterious location that is never mentioned and ultimately ends up being just another dungeon. It's a very cool location, but it would surely disappoint anyone who had been able to see it since the start of the game. The game wants us to focus on reaching the Erdtree, so it _can't_ have another object competing with the Erdtree for prominence.
I don't think it was hidden to prevent spoilers, like a lot of people say. The loading screen of Maliketh's arena gives away half the story, a city in the middle of a tornado. Then the Four Belfries just straight up send you there. My guess is that it's for aesthetic reasons first, not wanting FA to compete with the Erdtree, and then secondly for performance.
It would make sense that Marika would hide signs of the previous Elden Ring (Farum Azula) from others. Then there's also the fact that she would want to keep the image of "order", but also she probably could not get rid of these places that are impossible to make with the current Elden Ring rules, that were made with the previous Elden Ring's rules. Farum Azula is a bit wild with the fact that time gets weird in that place and even Placidusax's arena being in the heart of the storm, which "exists beyond time".
combinations of not wanting to spoil it from jump as soon as you look around after you spawn in like "Whoa lets go that way right away!" and the Marika Lore implications...AS WELL AS, hiding it makes for less strain on the console/pc running it.... It really all ties together quite nicely, and Fromsoft loves that. Even if it is only tying together in our head cannon, the effect is strong enough. The odd visual glitch even ties in.. is that a visual representation of the spell/charm cast on everyone to now be able to see it from anywhere on the ground?
The theory that the divine towers kind of hold down the veil that covers the land of shadow tells me that the isolated tower for whatever reason is kind of like a cut in the big top tent, almost like an entrance, and its the one and only spot where you can peer out of the illusion but not in. Which is why you cant see the scadutrdee from farum azula, youre still looking at the illusion. The isolated tower is the one and only spot you can see outside. Would have been really really cool if you had the dlc downloaded and you could see the faint image of the land of shadow as you stand on the threshold of the tower and the veil.
It is distracting but seeing the tornado from the continent is really cool! As an unrelated suggestion, sometimes I see cracks in the ceiling of underground areas ( like Ellac River Cave in the DLC) but when I check the surface above them, there is no opening. Not sure if it is worth investigating but I was curious 😅
Farum Azula, aka the future city, preserves the new Elden Ring from the Age of Compassion (Note the Golden Hair and Spiral) and the statue of the praying Miquella.
so, i feel uniquely qualified to add my thought on this, as Elden Ring was my first Fromsoft Title (not souls-like tho, that goes to The Surge lol). And as a fresh pair of eyes to the visual-style of FS, i would've never thought too much about the "random, giant tornado off in the distance." i would've thought it was some sort of way to break up the, frankly bland ocean-scape surrounding the lands between. just miles and miles of flat water with nothing to look at, not even some waves, was defiantly a choice, and having a perpetual typhoon off in the distance wouldn't be to far of a stretch in a world of magic and gods and the like. Maybe the stray thought of "y'know, that tornado has been there since The First Step, i wonder if there's something I've missed?" and made me go explore some more, or to have the reveal of finally getting to go there after attempting to burn the tree feel much more poignant of an "AH HA!" moment. the theory that Marika hid it does hold water, though probably not in the "hide this chaotic place away from our perfect order" but more so "i have taken the literal concept of Death out of the world entirely, i am going to leave its embodiment with my most trusted companion Maliketh, send him to live with our allies the Dragons, and with their help hide away Azula with our combined magics so no one can find Death and bring it back to the world" And the only reason the Tarnished is able to get to CFA in the first place is probably because Placidusax/The Erdtree saw that the his ally/Itself was in danger, so he/it drew/sent us there to slow us down, or potentially to have the dragons deal with us seeing that not even the fire giant was able to stop us. we were seconds away from burning down the tree when we get swept away, and if you go back to the open-world before beating Maliketh, the Erdtree is still fine, and the capital is not ashen yet, so it stands to reason that something stopped us right before the finish line.
I think they probably decided to hide it because it's distracting. Having the erdtree visible everywhere puts focus on the tree which is a central part of the story. If Farum Azula were always visible it would take away from that.
Great video! Its actually kinda cool seeing Azula rendered into the map and seeing it in the distance. I always thought it would be nice to see, similar to how you can see the Forge as well, which is basically your end goal. I also didnt know you can see Azula from the isolated tower. Can you always see it if you go there? Or after you went to Azula because I didnt notice it before?
It's always visible from there, however in some rare occasions the weather gets too foggy so it's easy to miss at that time but on good weather you can see it very clearly.
I think the reason we can't see Faram Azula is that, despite the serenity of most of the skyboxes, it would be covered in a veil of stormclouds at all times due to the whole.. _"storm beyond time"_ thing. Hence, why you can only see it from the Isolated Divine Tower. Its isolated-ness makes it the only place that is both close enough and clear enough of airborne haze or dust to actually see it. Otherwise, in a place like Limgrave, it would disappear amidst the clouds over the sea, and in places like Caelid or Mountaintops of the Giants, the dust/snow hanging in the air would make it disappear.
I’m pretty sure it’s to not spoil farum azula when exploring the open world. As for why it is visible at that divine tower I believe we can see it since it’s mostly obscured by lighting and fog so it’s kind of hard to tell. Also it looks neat.
I think they should have moved it behind the Mountaintops of the Giants so that it would have been hidden for most of the game until you make it up there which is pretty much endgame anyway. It would have been great to see that when you're almost at the end and knowing there was some super cool tornado ahead.
It's hard to say that the area was hidden to avoid spoiling the player when the four belfries exist and one of them teleports you straight to it, or rather a small chunk floating away from it, but still, the imbued keys arent hard to find and even then you have a 1/3 shot of getting there early, a 50/50 if you didn't forget the starting areas name like I did! Its why I bring it up, I went in as blind as I could to the game and that's the first time I ever saw farum azula
I think Farum Azula is usually "hidden" in the game because it's a storm, and storms move. In other words, while the map shows us where it is, we only see it from the Isolated Tower because (in lore) perhaps it's just "not" there otherwise. Like it coincidentally is around when we're at the Isolated Tower. I.e., lorewise, it may be more "wrong time" to see it, instead "wrong place." That it's only available to see from Isolated Tower specifically may be coincidence. Personally, if they could've figured out how to do it, I think it'd be dope if Farum Azula actually could move around in-game - albeit rarely seen, mostly off-screen. They wouldn't even have to show much - just make the storm so harsh that you perhaps barely see some shadows or stones. Obviously, not _actually_ moving the real level around - just by proxy, a separate asset that's easier to load. Maybe if Elden Ring gets a remaster or remake in 10-20 years, we can get that. Assuming that the idea of Farum Azula moving around was the intended take for explaining why we can't see it - hard to tell.
Would like to see a video about Radagon’s and Elden Beast’s arenas next. I know that Elden Beast’s is at the bottom of the Erdtree but haven’t seen anything about Radagon’s.
Maybe the glitchy tornado was made to hide the place from the rest of the overworld without straight up removing it, but then they decided it was too much, made it 100% invisible, and removed some assets that made the tornado glitch
Great video, also is there a reason why you sometimes get placi arena grace randomly on the map? It has happened to me like 3 times but not sure what triggers it, but cool to fight placi early
What's interesting to me is that the Isolated Divine Tower belongs to Malenia and Miquella's two fingers. Miquella was looking for a cure for his sister's affliction by researching unalloyed gold and the influence of time-twisting Dragon Stones. These Dragon Stones are literally the scales of Ancient Dragons, the residents of Farum Azula, and the only place where we can use Miquella's needle to tame the Flame of Frenzy is inside Placi's arena. I can't help but feel like Farum Azula being made visible ONLY from Miquella and Malenia's divine tower is for a reason. What do you think, Kami?
I'm honestly more of the opinion that the developers forgot about the isolated tower more than anything Anyway if you are taking suggestions I'd like to know more details about how underground locations are handled in ER, are they constantly there, actual in game distance, etc
I don't think Marika or some body hid It, we would have some evidence. I Guess that It was hidden to keep the Surprise effect at the end of the game or to make It seem like it's very far away. Also no npc talks about It because it's a prehistoric Place that many don't know about and the others don't think it's relevant, which Is true since Maliketh Is the only important figure and his presence Is the real secret
with the release of SOTE I came to the conclusion that The Lands Between are just like Skyrim. They're not the actual size that's in the lore, but rather an artistic representation of it - all the important areas and vistas smashed together into something that only conveys it's look, but not the size. I believe the lands between are a continent, the shadowlands are an island in the middle of it, and Farum Azula keeps it's size, but it's far too small and far away to be visible from limegrave.
I have a Theory that Farum Azula used to be at the top of the Jagged Peak before being yeeted into the vortex. I think the city would lodge quite nicely on the Bayle arena
I think farum azula being there will kind of crowd the sight of the erdtree. The erdtree is supposed to be the looming presence you see once you open up the door to stranded graveyard.
I agree something felt weird about only being able to see it in the distance from the one divine tower. If I had to guess it probably had issues on consoles or something.
My theory for why farum azula isn't visible is simply that it's frozen in time. It would make sense that farum azula would only be visible only if you existed at/in the same time as it, but since it's frozen in time, you don't exist at/in the same time. You can only see it when visiting it, since that is the only time when you do exist at/in the same time. As for why you can see it from the isolated tower, I got no clue.
Farum Azula was connected to the lands of shadow via the Jagged Peak it seems quite obvious to me just by fromsoft logic but I'd guess that's the same time the land of shadow was hidden potentially for gloam eyed reasons
It'd have been a cool touch if, only after discovering and landing upon farum azula, it became visable in all of these other adjacent regions for the first time.
I always wondered how Farum Azula would have looked intact and where Placidusax's arena would have been. This seems to line up with my 'best' guess that it had to have been at the very top of the whole city, perhaps at the top of a central tower or something.
Totally something I would do if I am the dev.....highlight stuff and press delete the unused assets underneath, but too lazy to make sure they all gone because I've left 2 minutes to go home at 5.58pm
An explanation from a Mesopotamian/Rome perspective... Balurat represents Babylon, and the Enir-Ilim represents the Tower of Babel. The Divine Gate & Marika ascending to godhood represents the story of the whore of Babylon, which itself represents the fall of Babylon and the rise of Rome. Farum Azula represents Pharos, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which in a lot of stories represents the guiding light. Marika's bedchamber is the Roman Pantheon.
I feel like the reason we can't see it most of the time is because canonically it is much further away than in-game. On the map it's in the middle of the ocean, so it would be pretty far from the mainland. Why it's specifically visible from that tower though, I'm not sure.
bruh i got so confused i was playing core keeper and the exact same sound track came on and match perfectly and though my game audio turned up randomly but it was the video lmao
Another weird map inconsistency: From Castle Sol the Church at the Apostate Derelict site of grace is completely missing even though Ordina and the Wandering Mausoleum are both visible near where the church should be.
One thing I've wondered, a little random, but where are you taken when you are jumped by those 2 omen brothers on the way to morgotts divine tower. The arena is certainly bigger than the bridge and I was going to explore it using starlight, but forgot to equip it and killed the omen.
Great video as always! I would love to be able to see Farum all the time, could you please maybe create a mod for it or maybe some cheat engine script?
If I'm not mistaken, the drakes flying around Farum Azula aren't NPCs, but rather part of the background. This is the same trick that was used in the Dragon Shrine of Dark Souls 2. I have a theory as to why the background wasn't removed when visiting Placidusax's Arena. It's possible the developers left the textures of Farum Azula because it was more cost effective. Of course, it's just speculation.
Yes in my previous video "Hidden visitors" i highlighted some of those drakes that are hidden in the jagged peak too, they act as a map asset instead of a functioning npc, my theory is that they don't really affect performance that much that's why the didn't bother even though changing their display values is quite easy to make them disappear.
Thanks for letting me know. I watched the video and was half surprised that something was hidden from that view. Then again, I already knew that this is something that FromSoftware has done before.
Would you be able to line up Farum Azula where it was originally resting in the northern portion of Caelid (the Bestial Sanctum Island should be its center, and the 2 bridges sould line up)
Everybody expects interconnectivity from all from software games because of dark souls 1. But it is not the case unfortunately. I wished all games had the same design
This might seem like a boring request, but could you check around some of the Hero's Graves to see where they actually are on the map? I can't remember which one exactly, but I have the feeling that one of them might have been overlapping with another piece of level geometry.
I honestly think that farum azula should be able to be seen from certain parts of the map, like the bestial sanctum or edges of the mountaintops My original reasoning as to why you can't really see farum azula from anywhere is due to just clouds or fog clearing it from sight But if i were able to see farum azula from say the bestial sanctum that would give me an incentive to play more cause "damn i wanna go there" Come on you see a giant fuck off island floating in the middle of an enormous tornado how can that NOT make you wanna see what the fuss is about
Boring theory but it probably muddies up the visuals to always have it visible. It really distracts from each area having its own unique look with all of them being brought together by the always visible erdtree.
Isn’t Farum Azula like in a different “time” because of there being 2 gurranqs and the whole placidusax out of time thing. Most likely just hid it for world design and late game area surprise
A little off topic... but I've noticed that the two bells from Ymir/Metyr questlines could be really close, if not directly above, Malenia's and Radhan's Divine towers... is there a way to check it?
Got attacked once again by a random virus while making the finishing touches on this video, Luckily it wasn't very bad so i was able to get this out in time. Enjoy 🤧❤
Blighttown tourism is bad for your health
So only Poison instead of Toxin, eh? Well, that's a small relief. If you insist on going down to that cesspool, at least remember your Blooming Purple Moss Clumps. It's for your own good.
Try getting attacked by a non random, targeted virus for once! xD
Scarlet rot ?
The fact that Placi's arena is, in fact, in the middle of that tornado is just the coolest thing ever.
Wow, I never would have guessed that Farum Azula was large enough to be clearly visible even from Limgrave. I think it's most likely a case of the developers not wanting the location to be so blatantly looming over the player for the entire game. I also appreciate that shot you took at 6:35, it really does look sick being out in the overworld like that lol.
Agreed, it sticks out too much and draws way too much attention to it. The surprise you get by getting teleported there is amazing, though it would've been cool if it became visible after we burn the erdtree and actually go there
You need to go on the top of one of the towers to see it.
that montage of farum from everywhere was really beautiful!
truly!!
Lore-wise I'm pretty sure it was Marika that hid Farum Azula the same way she hid the Shadow Lands. Because she ordered Malekith to hide the Rune of Death there away from everyone and impossible to access by anyone other than the next potential Elden Lord who manages to burn the Erdtree.
The hexagonal configuration of the Divine Towers uses the same magic to hide both regions. And the reason why Farum Azula is only visible from the Isolated Divine Tower is that the veil magic is slightly broken there. On top of the tower, the pillars with the embedded meteorites in the direction of Farum Azula are damaged. This is a pretty intentional clue since this is the only Divine Tower like this and the rest are completely intact.
I just want to see what it looks like un-crumbled.
Me too but sadly this Lego set seem to be missing a lot of pieces to complete 😅
Theyre not missing just scattered around the lands between 😂 but seriously i really do wish they made it visible it looks sooo good!!
Something like Belurat Tower? 🤷♂️
new mod project: Farum Azula🤡
Placidusax's arena is at least one of the things in farum azula
My theory as to why Farum Azula is scarcely mentioned outside of a few item descriptions, and is not visible from the lands between, is that Farum Azula exists displaced not only by distance, but also by time. This is attested to by the Old Lord's Talisman. Further evidence to this effect can be seen in how even if you kill Maliketh in Farum Azula, Gurranq continues to exist at the bestial sanctum.
It's classic dark souls time shenanigans.
That makes sense.
It’s because the last 30% of the game is very broad concepts loosely stitched together.
The fire giants, farum azula, and miquella have no reason to be where they are in the story. The result of a poor development cycle.
@@aceoffours9354 nice headcanon
@@mattb6616 It is literally a fact that the back half of all fromsoft games are nothing but rushed development.
Originally, the black flame was supposed to burn the Erdtree, not the Giant's flame. This was a change made extremely close to the game's release.
It would tie together Melina, the Black Flame, the GEQ, and Farum Azula. Instead, the Giant's Flame was substituted because they needed to give the player a reason to go the mountains.
@@aceoffours9354would you happen to have sources for that? (Not a gotcha question but like I just kinda wanna have it so I can discuss the topic amongst my friends)
Definitely think it’s a combination of not wanting to crowd the skyline and have it constantly dominating the background, which is what the Erdtree is supposed to do, and not giving away the reveal of such an opaquely different area from the rest of the world
Yup. One of the belfries teases the area though, as do boss names and item descriptions.
I was surprised the first time I saw farum azula from the secret divine tower, and as I sat there, time passing as I stared into the fog where the scadutree should be, I think it's just a visual reward for beating Malenia and getting a unique view of the lands between, Its just a bit too much extra visual clutter on the over world lol. Another though is that seeing this floating uprooted location from early ingame makes it feel less idk unique when parts of Limgrave get blasted into the air after beating Radhan. It also might have made the ps4 cry in more places if farum azula's storm was represented on the overworld, or maybe it would just be cooler, i'm no a game dev. Love this style of elden ring trivia!
Being hidden for lore reasons does makes sense yea. It contains the rune of death afterall.
Although I do wish that after going there it could become visible. Like visiting it breaks the enchantment. Might be a mod for someone to consider
That's how I would have done it. Once you kill Maliketh, make it visible, or maybe only visible from outside the capital.
I wish Farum Azula was always visible because it looks so imposing in the distance like that, even tho it would've been a big spoiler haha
I wish it was visible but they could put it much further away so you could only see some foggy hint of tornado and debris in the sky so it wouldn't be so obvious spoiler
there is a mod you can get on pc, and you can even make it so you can see it from the different legacy dungeons
You can use a teleporter to reach a part of Farum Azula in early game tho??
it clashes with the erdtree
It would not make sense from a lore perspective as well. Farrah Azula is a land beyond time, the ruins everywhere are there because Faram Azula likely fell ages ago. When you go there, you are in an area that is not bound by the natural passage of time, so it no longer exists in the lands between.
I think the development reason for not showing Farum Azula was to not distract from the Erdtree. From "First step" if you know what you are looking at you can see the Beast Sanctum, the Giants' Forge, a bridge leading to a Divine tower, Caelid tower, Stormveil Castle, but outshining them all (figuratively and literally) is the Erdtree. This view is very intentional and one of the best ingame. They want the Erdtree to feel uniquely impressive and enticing but humans are fascinated by danger so having a Giant Tornado in the distance would hold our attention more than the giant glowing tree, its just how we are wired.
Lorewise: I really can't come up with anything good. Any reason one could make the question becomes why can I see it from the Divine tower and not the Giants' Forge, which sends me there and is closer than the Isolated tower, or from the Beast Sanctum. On stormy days at the Beast Sanctum you can find Gurranq outside howling towards Farum even though it isn't visible. Not to mention Leyndell ultimately had a positive relationship with Farum Azula with the founding of the Dragon Cult by Godwyn. If the Giants' forge was some kinda seal, then why? And why can't we see it after we break that seal? I'm sure there is a lore reason but they opted not to put any of it in the game for us to find.
One thing that struck me when you had faram azula visible is that it almost looks almost as imposing (and even slightly similar shaped) as the erdtree itself. Considering Placidusax once being an Elden Lord, I wonder if the tornado acted as his Erdtree. Now that I think about it, his arena is not too dissimilar to Radagon's.
This made me wonder, is it possible to load both the Land's Between and the Realm of Shadow so we can see the true size difference?
It also interesting if will it feet in a empty space at the center of Lands Between.
2:41 A flying tarnished in the heart of a storm...how poetic^^
I'd love to see more about the underground cities. They appear to be underground but they all have a night sky with stars and clouds. Thank you for your videos. I really enjoy them!
Thanks for that amazing look at where Placidusax's arena is located and how it works in relation to Farum Azula! You did an amazing, thorough job, even finding a special mesh around the city that normally would never be seen. Your cinematography with the shots of the visible-from-everywhere mod of Farum Azula was impressive too!
As for why Farum Azula usually isn't visible, perhaps the Mountaintops have too much icy fog and the Dragonbarrow's storm is meant to be too thick and always present, so only the Isolated Divine Tower has the proper weather and range to see it? I also feel that Farum Azula is partially meant to be hidden by the curvature of the planet, so only something close and high up would give the vantage point to spot it. The Wailing Dunes might have too much Scarlet Rot in the air to see the city and tornado as well. While the Scarlet Rot is cleared by Radahn's meteorite attack, perhaps it's meant to be too dark at night to spot Farum Azula.
Thanks again for this video! Regarding other hidden boss arenas, I think it'd be interesting to investigate where Rennala's Phase 2 arena is, along with Rykard's boss room and the locations of the Ancestor Spirits' areas. I'm also curious where the Fell Twins' void is stored. Aside from boss arenas, it'd be cool to check out that possible spiraling staircase high above the Gate of Divinity at Enir-Ilim. I wonder if that's actually a staircase when seen from above, and if any game data indicates that Enir-Ilim was meant to be even taller at one point in development.
Hiding Farum Azula might also have a technical reason. For the vortex to blend in nicely, every single skybox variation would've needed an "active" stormy part connecting the clouds with Farum Azula, either by physics simulation, or an animated texture (first is extremely hardware-demanding, second is a hassle to get right). The mod that makes it visible shows it pretty well how weird and pasted it looks, since it's absolutely not matchnig the environment's always calm weather.
woah the end was really epic...to see farum azula from many places in the lands between was so cool with this music^^
Minus Caelid where it sticks out like a sore thumb and looks really out of place, Farum Azula looks absolutely amazing poking out of the haze and clouds in the distance in all these different areas. When it blends in with the clouds in the skybox it looks so damn cool. I get why they didn't want to spoil it early on though, it works a lot better as a surprise that you get a small taste of early on when you warp to it from The Four Belfries, and the game is so long that by the time you actually get to Farum Azula you've probably already forgotten about the little incursion you did at the Four Belfries, which makes it even more impactful. Such a cool location.
So, I can speak a little bit about the lack of visibility of Farum Azula in general, as this likely connects to some of the older 1.0 lore and item descriptions.
We know from the Ruins Greatsword description still present in the base game that a meteor strike was a part of Farum Azula's destruction and the scattered pieces throughout the Lands Between, _"Originally rubble from a ruin which fell from the sky, this surviving fragment was honed into a weapon. One of the legendary armaments. The ruin it came from crumbled when struck by a meteorite, as such this weapon harbors its destructive power."_ and the Alabaster Lord 's Sword in 1.0 has lore that makes them far more similar to the Ancient Dragons, _Greatsword forged from a pale-shite meteoric ore. Its blade holds power over gravitational forces. A weapon unique to the Alabaster Lords, a race of ancients with skin of stone who were said to have risen to life in an age when meteor strikes were common."_ with the Meteorite item description being, _"It is said that, in the Eternal City, now lost in ruin underground, meteorites held the same import as stars."_
The Divine Towers themselves are replete with meteors embedded all over their construction linking to the same trait seen in Gravel Stone, with the Gravel Stone seal located below Gransax's body bearing the description, _"Sacred seal made from Gravel Stone thought to be an ancient dragon scale. Enhances Dragon Cult incantations of the Royal Capital. The worship of the ancient dragons does not conflict with belief in the Erdtree. After all, this seal, and lightning itself, are both imbued with gold."_ This was believed to have been the power of immortality linked to the dragons, and was likely what Runes were in this earliest version of the lore, connecting to why Runebears in the Closed Beta Test dropped Dragon Hearts, as well as numerous other minor differences that link to the dragons as living stone like all of the defensive talismans, _"The ancient dragons, who ruled in the prehistoric era before the Erdtree, would protect their lord as a wall of living rock. And so it is that the shape of the dragon has become symbolic of all manner of protections."_
Back in the pre-release versions of the lore, Farum Azula was once a location known as the "Storm Aerie" and the Drake Knight Armor that's found on a body on a ledge in Farum Azula gives some detail on that, _"Malformed Armor fused with dragon flesh. Worn by Ondrej the Dragon Tracker. The cape is made of dragon wing membrane, but alas, has failed to provide flight. Not a proud hunter's trophy, but rather an obsessive object of ritual metamorphosis. Ondrej seeks the Storm Aerie, a place that only dragons can reach."_ This particular element of the lore at that point was central to a VERY different version of things in the game that are introduced within Stormvale with the Banished & Exile Knights, and tie into why the castle is riddled with that thorny decay.
Exile's equipment states, _"Expose thyself not, but govern thyself to be whole hid; else the curse slip inside thee."_ and mentions that each piece _"...have started to fall apart, suffering now a moth-eaten appearance."_ while the Banished Knights have slightly more robust defenses, _"Long ago, those who sought the Storm Aerie traveled far from the capital, and settled in Stormveil. The Stormveil knights are their descendants."_ _"Features an engraved crest of thorns meant to ward against the curse."_ whereas their full armor includes more, _"The twisted horn in the right shoulder, patterned after that of a dragon, signifies adherence to a forbidden form of worship; the consumption of dragon flesh."_
This not only explains their presence at the Dragon Communion Temple within Farum Azula, but also why they're at the Church of Dragon Communion in Caelid as well. In 1.0 they also populate Leyndell with some gathered around Gransax (all of the Leyndell enemies are different in 1.0 with all of the Oracles being Imps). Additionally, this adds in even more context around why Godrick was obsessively attempting to find a means of grafting Dragon Flesh to himself, and also points to the curse that afflicts Godwyn's corpse & Fortissax that's permeating the area being an extension of that wind-bound curse that's turning the air foul over Stormveil. The Remembrance of the Lichdragon also has them listed as "Ancient Dragon Descendant Ransax" as Fortissax & Lansseax were not yet differentiated (explaining why Fortissax is a male ancient dragon but uses the female Ancient Dragon model identical to his sister and uses her glaive in combat).
This is where there's a bit of necessary speculation on my part to connect the dots a bit with the older lore, which I'll do in a reply to make sure it all fits easily.
As context for what informs how I approach this type of speculation: I work in software development between product designers & engineers, so I'm used to watching ongoing development being at multiple versions at once and having to be able to implicitly understand things about a whole workflow throughout different teams being at varying stages of change and development and just hold multiple versions of a project in mind at the same time to figure out how things intertwine. So this type of analysis is a heavy overlap with my professional skill set - even beyond it being something that I do in a more hobby-focused recreational sense for meticulously analyzing game design as I just find it enjoyable and fascinating.
It's important to mention that even by the time of the Closed Beta Test & what's remaining of the very different fully-detailed lore in 1.0 - a lot of this version of the lore had already been wholly replaced with the elements that match to the release version's lore. So, while the inspirations and often models & other designs are still present that fit both, there are still a lot of gaps, but videos like this one are able to help provide more context about design choices that emphasize details that would otherwise not stand out to show how & why things were built in a certain way - like why Farum Azula is only visible from one specific location.
Given that Lansseax is fought in multiple locations and other ancient dragons in Farum Azula can dematerialize the way that Placidusax does in his arena within the storm that is located outside of the constraints of space & time, there was an element of dragons' relationship to space-time being a component of their immortality. The first time that you fight Lansseax when she vanishes by the Abandoned Coffin site of grace, her name mentions something about her being younger (unfortunately I can't find if I've got notes with her specific name in that encounter at the moment), so especially with Godwyn's curse of Deathroot predominantly populating the Dragon Temple within Farum Azula, there was some larger mechanism to that and how Those Who Live in Death was permeating the Lands Between - the Skeletal Militiamen Ashes have an extensively lengthy and very different description & lore from the release version.
With all of this, it's important to remember that the Roundtable Hold is another displaced space-time location which is directly in physical contact with Gransax's petrified body in Leyndell. This provides more contextual evidence that these sort of locations were once tied into this whole highly-draconic story element of the lore, bringing us to Farum Azula itself where it was likely meant to be somehow displaced from spacetime by the storm itself in a way that that was PHYSICALLY impossible to reach without draconic influence of some kind, and thus it wouldn't make sense for it to be visible all the time - so how are you supposed to clue in players to this goal around the same time that they're going to be trying to go through Stormvale Castle as their first Legacy Dungeon?
The first trapped chest new players encounter is in the ruins where the people in the lake are worshipping the dragon Agheel. This still feels very much like the older lore and clues you in to where Limgrave's Dragon Communion church is at on an island. The trapped chest will teleport you to a mine in Caelid. This places you next to Sellia town of Sorcery who still serve the Eternal City, and also links to Radahn's Gravitational sorcery, and how Astel was originally given an animation of crashing into Radahn's arena in early parts of the game. Additionally, after Radahn's battle results in a massive meteor strike, the gaping hole in the ground has the same sorts of anti-gravitational effects on the rubble that we see with Farum Azula.
Beyond this, the lake also kicks off Yura's questline with the Bloody Fingers and the addictive elements with consuming dragon hearts. Notably his questline ends when he is slain by Eleonora - the NPC who wears the Malformed Dragon Armor that used to be connected to Ondrej the Dragon Tracker. It's likely that this questline had been more related to that, especially since early on the Frenzied Flame was just the red draconic lightning that Vyke uses, and in 1.0 the Frenzied Trolls still weep red lightning rather than Frenzied Flame, and there are a number of other extensive differences with Frenzied Flame not yet being differentiated from the red-eyed berserk state of bloodlusted killers like the Hunters of Bloodborne, linking to how the Beastmen & Draconic iconography would likely have been drafted to match to the Souls series overall visual design language (which is important to do even if the lore is wholly unrelated so that there are more ways for players to implicitly understand things).
The second trapped chest that early players will find is in the Tower of Return in the Weeping Peninsula, which will teleport you to the Divine Bridge in Leyndell, which is directly connected to the upper boundaries of the Roundtable Hold and Gransax's stone body. The only way to reach the Isolated Divine Tower is through a teleportation gate at this location, which will bring players to that one specific Divine Tower where you're able to physically see Farum Azula.
While this teleportation is locked behind defeating Malenia, it's unclear if that was always going to be the case, and it still stands out as a very odd design choice - but it does point to some important parts of where that development was at. I suspect that it may have been that rather than being arbitrarily teleported to Farum Azula from the Forge of the Giants when Melina sacrifices herself as kindling, there was a point where you would have used the this power to fly there from the Isolated Divine Tower, and land at the outskirts, since you're unable to safely get any closer with the storm still raging. This would also explain why it's designed like it was meant to be a place you can travel back to as the "entrance" rather than being an oddly one-time-only warp point without a site of grace, that's also impossible to jump back up to when Melina drops you off there.
Given that Miquella's Needle only functions in Placidusax's layer and the Haligtree itself is also significantly different in 1.0, it's likely that many of the other elements that ended up being overhauled and incorporated into *_Shadow of the Erdtree_* with Bayle, Plasidusax, Florrisax, & the Dragon Hearts that transform you physically were fully conceived at this point as well as the Shadow Lands and the suppressing pillar being in the center of the Lands Between bringing all manner of Death into a location wholly displaced from the physical realm that you can see. Even the Fire Lightning that the dragons gain when they start to consume their own kind for power bears a resemblance to Eleonora's questline, and uses is an inverse to the Dragonkin Soldiers of the Eternal Cities wielding Ice Lightning where those designs grew in different directions, but you can still tell how they were once more closely interconnected.
The Dragonscale Blade in 1.0 bearing the description, _"A weapon forged from the remembrances of dragonkin soldiers, burnished with the essence of draconic immortality. Alas, the dragonkin never attained immortality, and perish as mere imitations of the ancient dragons"_ - despite the Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella doesn't drop a remembrance in 1.0 even though its form and even its emergence into a Phase 2 with physical wings incapable of flight make it a clear echo to Bayle's own phase 2 transformation with incorporeal wings that can lift him into the skies. They're relics of where these draconic elements were once FAR more central to the game, but were altered & repurposed as the story shifted in a very different direction, and so we didn't see MANY of them until the DLC.
A lot of the elements in *_Shadow of the Erdtree_* have plenty of these types of design DNA that still connects to these early phases of development as forms of the ideas and lore that didn't make it into the base game, but were clearly conceived and worked on in some capacity as the story evolved as is natural for software development. While the lack of a physical release of the DLC means that we'll never see anything that's quite the same to give us a look at where any of those things might have been, hopefully this provided some interesting information to be able to look at that stuff in an interesting light that's maybe a bit less common for the way most people approach lore analysis.
Thank you for sharing this i's been a very insightful read, Sadly at the time of Elden Ring 1.0 and even close to release I didn't have the means nor the time to fully indulge into the game and only got to first play about 4 to 5 months after release so many of these older lore choices and item descriptions in 1.0 is something that i felt a bit bummed about for not getting to experience, nonetheless i do say to myself that in the end it's just cut content but as you said it does provide a huge amount of information to fill in the gaps that been created by some final decisions. I've always liked the the Draconic influence in the lore of this world and was also a major reason of me enjoying the world of Dark Souls too, This just made me realize how Dragons could've played an even greater role than they already did in the official release of the game ,Also how trapped chests and places like the roundtable hold also seem to be affected by the power of ancient dragons is also a fun connection.
@@Kami.Sensei Glad to share with ya, though don't feel that you missed out by starting a few months later - _because almost no one who played _*_even at release_*_ have ever played the 1.0 version._
The downloaded versions & day one console patch updated the game to 1.2 which is the release version. This means the only people who have ever played 1.0 were players on PS5 (since that's the only physical disc with that older version on it) whose consoles were never online at any point for their entire playthrough.
Some people who got physical copies before the official release date likely played bits on 1.0 before the first update, but likely not the whole game. At that point the differences wouldn't have stood out, and you'd mostly just be missing out on things, since a number of treasure chests are empty and a bunch of field items are just generic placeholders rather than actual weapons & equipment that exist properly in the release version.
I only played 1.0 LONG after beating the base game, because it requires a rather meticulous setup to do, and it was only afterwards that I was sufficiently motivated to do so solely as a way to dig into the obscure bits of the game that almost no one else will ever see, and which I personally find particularly fascinating.
It's also why I like having the opportunity to occasionally drop info on it when it might be interesting - but especially since you end up exploring parts of the game that I can't do from within the game normally, and I get a better understanding of things from watching them, I want to give back a little of what I figure out.
This is such a beautiful and well-made video.
I love how the game implies Placky's arena is far below Farum Azula, yet as you've show, it is really at the very pinnacle of the ancient capital. It is a mausoleum city, after all, so of course the most pristine "Tomb" would be at the summit of the storm. What a beautiful effect you've achieved by flying up to it. Especially in the cutscene section. It really takes my breath away, the sense of awe and majesty you achieved.
You've partly solved a mystery that has always puzzled me: from Farum Azula, no embers appear on the Erdtree after Melina/you start(s) the process of burning it, despite the embers clearly being visible from the rest of the map. You can only see the change after Maliketh, when the tree is clearly in deep red fire. I think it's because, as you said, FA has its own overworld map, and they just didn't bother to add the smaller flames during the first stage of burning.
i love that bit at the end showing farum azula from places across the lands between
almost feels like some sort of cutscene that'd have people from all over looking at it if it were to have become visible after the tarnished visits like the spell was broken by an outsider entering it or something
The cinematic shots toward the end would be SO COOL if they were synchronized with the music!!!
Especially since the music is so well picked (didn't know about it btw so thanks for the discovery).
Anyway sick video!
Love it! Great video. You made some wonderful views by showing Farum Azula visible from all those overworld areas. Really classy.
I along with other people would love to see if you could attempt loading the Shadow Lands along with the Lands Between to see how they overlap.
Watching Elden Ring documentary at 5 am, waking up 1 am is crazy
You can see it pretty early by taking the Crumbling Lands belfry gate
Its still a big surprise when you do but they weren't really saving it for after burning the tree.
That feeling of "Ahhh, finally we're here." Is great though.
Definitely consider making a short or shorts with the stuff at the end it'd probably do great!
I honestly understand why Farum is hidden in most areas but I really liked the views from different areas you included! Very pretty
Would you mind looking at the waterfall near the Isolated Divine Tower and Beastial Sanctum? Is there anything there under the water?
There's barely anything in any of these places
So freaking cool, I'd agree with a lot of comments saying Marika might've disguised it to maintain the "Erdtree eternal goodness" veil
As I recall, you cannot visit the Isolated Divine Tower until you beat Maliketh and Leyndell gets covered in ash, so being able to see it from there may be intended as an Easter egg for people who have already completed the area.
I recently saw a video showcasing a mod to allow you to see Farum Azula from anywhere. My thoughts are that it had comparable prominence to the Erdtree in the skybox. This is undesirable because it draws attention away from the Erdtree, which is the ultimate goal for our quest, and towards this mysterious location that is never mentioned and ultimately ends up being just another dungeon. It's a very cool location, but it would surely disappoint anyone who had been able to see it since the start of the game. The game wants us to focus on reaching the Erdtree, so it _can't_ have another object competing with the Erdtree for prominence.
I don't think it was hidden to prevent spoilers, like a lot of people say. The loading screen of Maliketh's arena gives away half the story, a city in the middle of a tornado. Then the Four Belfries just straight up send you there. My guess is that it's for aesthetic reasons first, not wanting FA to compete with the Erdtree, and then secondly for performance.
Been putting off this video.
Atleast they are not lying where the dragon lord's throne was.
Hope you feel better soon.
Cheers.
It would make sense that Marika would hide signs of the previous Elden Ring (Farum Azula) from others. Then there's also the fact that she would want to keep the image of "order", but also she probably could not get rid of these places that are impossible to make with the current Elden Ring rules, that were made with the previous Elden Ring's rules. Farum Azula is a bit wild with the fact that time gets weird in that place and even Placidusax's arena being in the heart of the storm, which "exists beyond time".
It gives credence to the "lost in time" thing about Farum, that maybe it actually is in the past.
combinations of not wanting to spoil it from jump as soon as you look around after you spawn in like "Whoa lets go that way right away!" and the Marika Lore implications...AS WELL AS, hiding it makes for less strain on the console/pc running it.... It really all ties together quite nicely, and Fromsoft loves that. Even if it is only tying together in our head cannon, the effect is strong enough. The odd visual glitch even ties in.. is that a visual representation of the spell/charm cast on everyone to now be able to see it from anywhere on the ground?
The theory that the divine towers kind of hold down the veil that covers the land of shadow tells me that the isolated tower for whatever reason is kind of like a cut in the big top tent, almost like an entrance, and its the one and only spot where you can peer out of the illusion but not in. Which is why you cant see the scadutrdee from farum azula, youre still looking at the illusion. The isolated tower is the one and only spot you can see outside. Would have been really really cool if you had the dlc downloaded and you could see the faint image of the land of shadow as you stand on the threshold of the tower and the veil.
6:43 "no NPC around seem to mention it, even the crazy ones" We are all a lil crazy in the lands between 😅
i love this kind of video
It is distracting but seeing the tornado from the continent is really cool!
As an unrelated suggestion, sometimes I see cracks in the ceiling of underground areas ( like Ellac River Cave in the DLC) but when I check the surface above them, there is no opening. Not sure if it is worth investigating but I was curious 😅
Farum Azula, aka the future city, preserves the new Elden Ring from the Age of Compassion (Note the Golden Hair and Spiral) and the statue of the praying Miquella.
so, i feel uniquely qualified to add my thought on this, as Elden Ring was my first Fromsoft Title (not souls-like tho, that goes to The Surge lol). And as a fresh pair of eyes to the visual-style of FS, i would've never thought too much about the "random, giant tornado off in the distance." i would've thought it was some sort of way to break up the, frankly bland ocean-scape surrounding the lands between. just miles and miles of flat water with nothing to look at, not even some waves, was defiantly a choice, and having a perpetual typhoon off in the distance wouldn't be to far of a stretch in a world of magic and gods and the like. Maybe the stray thought of "y'know, that tornado has been there since The First Step, i wonder if there's something I've missed?" and made me go explore some more, or to have the reveal of finally getting to go there after attempting to burn the tree feel much more poignant of an "AH HA!" moment.
the theory that Marika hid it does hold water, though probably not in the "hide this chaotic place away from our perfect order" but more so "i have taken the literal concept of Death out of the world entirely, i am going to leave its embodiment with my most trusted companion Maliketh, send him to live with our allies the Dragons, and with their help hide away Azula with our combined magics so no one can find Death and bring it back to the world" And the only reason the Tarnished is able to get to CFA in the first place is probably because Placidusax/The Erdtree saw that the his ally/Itself was in danger, so he/it drew/sent us there to slow us down, or potentially to have the dragons deal with us seeing that not even the fire giant was able to stop us. we were seconds away from burning down the tree when we get swept away, and if you go back to the open-world before beating Maliketh, the Erdtree is still fine, and the capital is not ashen yet, so it stands to reason that something stopped us right before the finish line.
I think they probably decided to hide it because it's distracting. Having the erdtree visible everywhere puts focus on the tree which is a central part of the story. If Farum Azula were always visible it would take away from that.
Great video! Its actually kinda cool seeing Azula rendered into the map and seeing it in the distance. I always thought it would be nice to see, similar to how you can see the Forge as well, which is basically your end goal. I also didnt know you can see Azula from the isolated tower. Can you always see it if you go there? Or after you went to Azula because I didnt notice it before?
It's always visible from there, however in some rare occasions the weather gets too foggy so it's easy to miss at that time but on good weather you can see it very clearly.
I think the reason we can't see Faram Azula is that, despite the serenity of most of the skyboxes, it would be covered in a veil of stormclouds at all times due to the whole.. _"storm beyond time"_ thing. Hence, why you can only see it from the Isolated Divine Tower. Its isolated-ness makes it the only place that is both close enough and clear enough of airborne haze or dust to actually see it. Otherwise, in a place like Limgrave, it would disappear amidst the clouds over the sea, and in places like Caelid or Mountaintops of the Giants, the dust/snow hanging in the air would make it disappear.
Finally I can rest in peace. I saw it first using the portal then the isolated tower.
awesome video! very cool seeing them together.
kami sensei going shzoom on these videos is funny. sometimes cheats are ok when its educational
I’m pretty sure it’s to not spoil farum azula when exploring the open world. As for why it is visible at that divine tower I believe we can see it since it’s mostly obscured by lighting and fog so it’s kind of hard to tell. Also it looks neat.
I think they should have moved it behind the Mountaintops of the Giants so that it would have been hidden for most of the game until you make it up there which is pretty much endgame anyway. It would have been great to see that when you're almost at the end and knowing there was some super cool tornado ahead.
It's hard to say that the area was hidden to avoid spoiling the player when the four belfries exist and one of them teleports you straight to it, or rather a small chunk floating away from it, but still, the imbued keys arent hard to find and even then you have a 1/3 shot of getting there early, a 50/50 if you didn't forget the starting areas name like I did!
Its why I bring it up, I went in as blind as I could to the game and that's the first time I ever saw farum azula
probably the developers didn't want farum azula's tempest to overshadow the Erdtree itself, making the tree feel even more important
Or the big goblet. You could often see it from the start of the game and lurnia so it always made players curious too.
I think Farum Azula is usually "hidden" in the game because it's a storm, and storms move.
In other words, while the map shows us where it is, we only see it from the Isolated Tower because (in lore) perhaps it's just "not" there otherwise. Like it coincidentally is around when we're at the Isolated Tower.
I.e., lorewise, it may be more "wrong time" to see it, instead "wrong place." That it's only available to see from Isolated Tower specifically may be coincidence.
Personally, if they could've figured out how to do it, I think it'd be dope if Farum Azula actually could move around in-game - albeit rarely seen, mostly off-screen. They wouldn't even have to show much - just make the storm so harsh that you perhaps barely see some shadows or stones.
Obviously, not _actually_ moving the real level around - just by proxy, a separate asset that's easier to load.
Maybe if Elden Ring gets a remaster or remake in 10-20 years, we can get that. Assuming that the idea of Farum Azula moving around was the intended take for explaining why we can't see it - hard to tell.
Would like to see a video about Radagon’s and Elden Beast’s arenas next. I know that Elden Beast’s is at the bottom of the Erdtree but haven’t seen anything about Radagon’s.
Maybe the glitchy tornado was made to hide the place from the rest of the overworld without straight up removing it, but then they decided it was too much, made it 100% invisible, and removed some assets that made the tornado glitch
Great video, also is there a reason why you sometimes get placi arena grace randomly on the map? It has happened to me like 3 times but not sure what triggers it, but cool to fight placi early
What's interesting to me is that the Isolated Divine Tower belongs to Malenia and Miquella's two fingers.
Miquella was looking for a cure for his sister's affliction by researching unalloyed gold and the influence of time-twisting Dragon Stones.
These Dragon Stones are literally the scales of Ancient Dragons, the residents of Farum Azula,
and the only place where we can use Miquella's needle to tame the Flame of Frenzy is inside Placi's arena.
I can't help but feel like Farum Azula being made visible ONLY from Miquella and Malenia's divine tower is for a reason.
What do you think, Kami?
I'm honestly more of the opinion that the developers forgot about the isolated tower more than anything
Anyway if you are taking suggestions I'd like to know more details about how underground locations are handled in ER, are they constantly there, actual in game distance, etc
I don't think Marika or some body hid It, we would have some evidence. I Guess that It was hidden to keep the Surprise effect at the end of the game or to make It seem like it's very far away. Also no npc talks about It because it's a prehistoric Place that many don't know about and the others don't think it's relevant, which Is true since Maliketh Is the only important figure and his presence Is the real secret
with the release of SOTE I came to the conclusion that The Lands Between are just like Skyrim. They're not the actual size that's in the lore, but rather an artistic representation of it - all the important areas and vistas smashed together into something that only conveys it's look, but not the size. I believe the lands between are a continent, the shadowlands are an island in the middle of it, and Farum Azula keeps it's size, but it's far too small and far away to be visible from limegrave.
I have a Theory that Farum Azula used to be at the top of the Jagged Peak before being yeeted into the vortex. I think the city would lodge quite nicely on the Bayle arena
I think farum azula being there will kind of crowd the sight of the erdtree. The erdtree is supposed to be the looming presence you see once you open up the door to stranded graveyard.
I agree something felt weird about only being able to see it in the distance from the one divine tower. If I had to guess it probably had issues on consoles or something.
YOO THE CORE KEEPER MUSIC
My theory for why farum azula isn't visible is simply that it's frozen in time. It would make sense that farum azula would only be visible only if you existed at/in the same time as it, but since it's frozen in time, you don't exist at/in the same time. You can only see it when visiting it, since that is the only time when you do exist at/in the same time. As for why you can see it from the isolated tower, I got no clue.
Farum Azula was connected to the lands of shadow via the Jagged Peak it seems quite obvious to me just by fromsoft logic but I'd guess that's the same time the land of shadow was hidden potentially for gloam eyed reasons
Maybe there should’ve been a storm off that direction but keep the locale proper rarely visible
It'd have been a cool touch if, only after discovering and landing upon farum azula, it became visable in all of these other adjacent regions for the first time.
Maybe it's the spiral aesthetic that made marika not want to see it. Spirals are the symbol of the hornsent after all
You can see farum azula from the isolated divine tower
I always wondered how Farum Azula would have looked intact and where Placidusax's arena would have been. This seems to line up with my 'best' guess that it had to have been at the very top of the whole city, perhaps at the top of a central tower or something.
Could you show us what radagon's arena platform looks like out of bounds and whats inside the erdtree?
Totally something I would do if I am the dev.....highlight stuff and press delete the unused assets underneath, but too lazy to make sure they all gone because I've left 2 minutes to go home at 5.58pm
An explanation from a Mesopotamian/Rome perspective... Balurat represents Babylon, and the Enir-Ilim represents the Tower of Babel. The Divine Gate & Marika ascending to godhood represents the story of the whore of Babylon, which itself represents the fall of Babylon and the rise of Rome. Farum Azula represents Pharos, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which in a lot of stories represents the guiding light. Marika's bedchamber is the Roman Pantheon.
I feel like the reason we can't see it most of the time is because canonically it is much further away than in-game. On the map it's in the middle of the ocean, so it would be pretty far from the mainland. Why it's specifically visible from that tower though, I'm not sure.
bruh i got so confused i was playing core keeper and the exact same sound track came on and match perfectly and though my game audio turned up randomly but it was the video lmao
Another weird map inconsistency:
From Castle Sol the Church at the Apostate Derelict site of grace is completely missing even though Ordina and the Wandering Mausoleum are both visible near where the church should be.
That might just be something to do with render distance and such... Like the one video someone made about statues changing at certain distances
One thing I've wondered, a little random, but where are you taken when you are jumped by those 2 omen brothers on the way to morgotts divine tower. The arena is certainly bigger than the bridge and I was going to explore it using starlight, but forgot to equip it and killed the omen.
I feel like Placidusax was the one who hid the city, not Marika, as he's in his arena waiting for his god/recovering from Bayle's betrayal.
Great video as always! I would love to be able to see Farum all the time, could you please maybe create a mod for it or maybe some cheat engine script?
If it's so hidden i wonder how the Carians is able to make a teleportation gate to it
I'm kind of curious about the gigantic underground lake north west of fortissax's arena. Have you done a video on it?
I haven't done any video about deeproot depths yet but i'm definitely considering it for a future video.
The music makes me want to play Corekeeper
It's a great game 💙
If I'm not mistaken, the drakes flying around Farum Azula aren't NPCs, but rather part of the background. This is the same trick that was used in the Dragon Shrine of Dark Souls 2. I have a theory as to why the background wasn't removed when visiting Placidusax's Arena. It's possible the developers left the textures of Farum Azula because it was more cost effective. Of course, it's just speculation.
Yeah, have you seen the "tumbling" drakes near Bayle? The roll around in the sky... no flapping or flying.. rolling.. Just a broken animation.
Yes in my previous video "Hidden visitors" i highlighted some of those drakes that are hidden in the jagged peak too, they act as a map asset instead of a functioning npc, my theory is that they don't really affect performance that much that's why the didn't bother even though changing their display values is quite easy to make them disappear.
Thanks for letting me know. I watched the video and was half surprised that something was hidden from that view. Then again, I already knew that this is something that FromSoftware has done before.
Would you be able to line up Farum Azula where it was originally resting in the northern portion of Caelid (the Bestial Sanctum Island should be its center, and the 2 bridges sould line up)
Everybody expects interconnectivity from all from software games because of dark souls 1. But it is not the case unfortunately. I wished all games had the same design
This might seem like a boring request, but could you check around some of the Hero's Graves to see where they actually are on the map? I can't remember which one exactly, but I have the feeling that one of them might have been overlapping with another piece of level geometry.
I honestly think that farum azula should be able to be seen from certain parts of the map, like the bestial sanctum or edges of the mountaintops
My original reasoning as to why you can't really see farum azula from anywhere is due to just clouds or fog clearing it from sight
But if i were able to see farum azula from say the bestial sanctum that would give me an incentive to play more cause "damn i wanna go there"
Come on you see a giant fuck off island floating in the middle of an enormous tornado how can that NOT make you wanna see what the fuss is about
Huh, I swear I saw the silhouette of Farum Azula from other parts of caelid
entirely possible, graphical glitches happen. Its always there, so yeah its a good possibility.
Boring theory but it probably muddies up the visuals to always have it visible. It really distracts from each area having its own unique look with all of them being brought together by the always visible erdtree.
Isn’t Farum Azula like in a different “time” because of there being 2 gurranqs and the whole placidusax out of time thing. Most likely just hid it for world design and late game area surprise
I'm curious if Plassidusax arena matches with Bayle; I've heard the theory that Farum Azula used to be what is now Jagged Peak.
It was probably removed from view because it disrupts the imagery.
A little off topic... but I've noticed that the two bells from Ymir/Metyr questlines could be really close, if not directly above, Malenia's and Radhan's Divine towers... is there a way to check it?
It should have been visible once you defeat the fire giant and get to the forge.
You are awesome 😀
so placidusax's arena is THE highest point in the lands between?
Great video kami the Witch