Queen Marika's Full Story Explained (Elden Ring Theory)
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- Опубліковано 25 вер 2024
- Elden Ring's Queen Marika is quite the enigma - as is the mysterious Radagon, the second Elden Lord. Allow me to explain their story to you in this extensive part-lore, part-theory video.
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Do you think Marika is evil?
EDIT: Hey guys, I've discovered a few more details that are pretty interesting regarding Marika's lore (like some actual quotes from her in-game!) and they've been added at the beginning of my video covering Ranni! Check it out here ua-cam.com/video/AWeJVy_EMxE/v-deo.html
Awesome video
yes
I'm not sure, probably though.
No...I think she was probably just prideful, or held too much power to NOT be corrupted by it. Like a Daenerys Targaryen type. The Lands Between thrived during her reign right? I don't think she was inherently evil. Though, the crusades against the Fire Giants and the Glintstone religion peeps should be looked at closer to say for sure. ....was eliminating them part of Marikia's plan, or the Greater Will's?
I don’t know
It's weird that you didn't mention the fact that Hewg, the blacksmith at the roundtable, mumbles to himself something like "Queen Marika, please forgive me, I haven't made a weapon that could kill God yet", which possibly hints to the fact that Marika was planning to overthrow the Greater Will and possibly other Outer Gods.
Exactly this.
poor hewg
Nice canon
Also there actually is a weapon called "Godslayer's greatsword" in Elden Ring :)
@@tazka69 That’s just the name of that weapon, what Marika wanted was something akin to *spoiler ahead*
the Fingerslayer Blade.
Maybe the solution to why Godwyn was killed is rather simple: Ranni never meant to kill herself, she just wanted to shed her empyrean body. If she just used the black blade to end herself, she would have fully died. But by having Godwyn murdered at the same time, the cursemark of death was split and her spirit stayed alive. If this is the case then Godwyn might simply have been a sacrifice she was willing to make.
It lines up with the alchemical vibes present too. Death costs a body and a soul, and by giving up Godwyns soul she would only need to lose her "empyrean body" to satisfy deaths appetite.
@@existentialdandy Good to know! I'm curious to see how much alchemy will play into the lore of ER, I've heard some people talk about it before.
Sad. Her own brother.
@@lanceelopezz223 in-law. Ranni was born from Rennala but Godwyn was born from Marika. Actually since Marika and Radagon are somewhat different people (but also the same) they might not be related at all if you give into semmantics
Renni just like her mother/father she and Melina is just one
I do not believe that Marika is evil in any way; I believe quite the opposite. I think it's incredibly important to remember that, since she was chosen to house/hold/be the Elden Ring, she is no longer her own person. She is beholden to, and in many ways controlled or enslaved by the Greater Will (as is the world). I believe that a lot of the things you attribute directly to her in your video are actually actions of the Greater Will enacted through her, or things that she felt forced to do in order to free herself from it. As the game progresses, we see more and more indication that Marika rebelled against the Greater Will and tried to throw off her (and the world's) shackles. The most obvious example of this is her shattering of the Elden Ring (shattering herself). When the Two Fingers speak through Enia, they say "Marika's trespass demanded a heavy sentence. But even in shackles, she remains a god, and the vision's vessel." Her trespass was shattering the ring, and we find her shackled and impaled when we enter the Erd Tree. Still, however, the Greater Will controls the world through her. I believe her shattering the ring was an attempt to free humanity from the Greater Will's control. Her attempt failed, and she was sorely punished for it. Then, Marika concocted a new plan, one which had to be done much more covertly as she was now tightly controlled and monitored. This second plan is the one our character gets involved in, and is the focus of the game. I’ll go over the parts of the plan below, and it should go without saying that everything I'm about to say is purely my opinion and interpretation.
1. The Demigods: First, Marika had her children, the demigods, each take a part of the shattered Elden Ring. The Greater Will tells the player, through Enia, that "The Greater Will has long renounced the demigods. Tarnished, show no mercy. Have their heads. Take all they have left." I believe this was the Will trying to recover all of the pieces of the Ring back from the demigods so it could be reforged completely once again. Her children had quite a number of problems, too many to list. However, as long as they were busy fighting, hiding, and being willingly devoured by giant snakes, they would not come together to bring the runes back to the Greater Will's control.
2. Ranni: Marika relied upon her one child who was very much sane, intelligent, and against the Greater Will: Ranni. Given that Radagan is Marika (or at least part of her), Ranni is Marika's child. The game is pretty explicit that Ranni is the one who orchestrated the Night of the Black Knives, however, there are things late in the game that hint that it was, in fact, Marika who arranged everything through Ranni. One such hint is on The Remembrance of the Black Blade: "Maliketh was a shadowbound beast given to his Empyrean. Marika's sole need of her shadow was a vessel to lock away Destined Death. Even then, she betrayed him." This betrayal was her sending Ranni and the Black Knife Assassins to steal the rune of death from him. The Black Knife armor set descriptions all say "The assassins that carried out the deeds of the Night of the Black Knives were all women, and rumored to be Numen who had close ties with Marika herself." There are other hints. Take a good look at all of the descriptions from the last few areas of the game. If I am correct in my belief that everything in Elden Ring is the story of Marika trying to break the world free of the control of the Greater Will, then Ranni's ending would be exactly what Marika wants: humanity being far removed from the controlling influence of outer beings.
3. Death: Marika needs death to be back in the world. She realized after shattering herself and still being very much alive that she would never be free of the Greater Will unless she could truly die. There are multiple instances in the hub of the blacksmith explicitly stating that Marika herself asked him to create weapons that could slay a god. She wants to die. I do not know if Godwyn's death was part of this plan or just a tragic accidental byproduct.
4. The Tarnished: I believe the entire purpose of the "Tarnished" (the entire group of people, not just the PC) is to kill Marika. The first Tarnished was Marika's own husband, Godfrey. Melina repeats Marika's own words to us "My Lord, and thy warriors. I divest each of thee of thy grace. With thine eyes dimmed, ye will be driven from the Lands Between. Ye will wage war in a land afar, where ye will live, and die." I believe that Marika made him tarnished because she realized she could free him by doing so. By driving Godfrey away, Marika could send a very powerful leader to shepherd a new group of people who would grow in size and strength and be largely out of the Greater Will's direct sphere of influence. Since then, and from that group of people, numerous tarnished have come to the Lands Between. Most have not accomplished much, but Miyazaki's games are always about throwing a million Hollows at the problem until ONE finally gets past the Anor Londo Archers. Also, to repeat "Ye will wage war in a land afar, where ye will live, and die," I don't believe "and die" is meant to be a curse. It's supposed to be a blessing. Anyway, Marika has little to no avenues of directly rebelling against the Two Fingers left to her. Her children cannot directly overthrow the Greater Will. Her only hope is to wait and pray that a Tarnished will prove strong enough to do the one thing no one else can do for her: kill her. This is why Melina is tasked with bringing us to the Roundtable Hold once we've proven ourselves by defeating a shardbearer. This is why Hewg was imprisoned in the Hold and tasked by Marika herself with forging a weapon that can slay a god. This is why Melina gives us Torrent. This is why Ranni appears at the Church of Elleh to give us the Spirit Calling Bell. All of these people have been awaiting a Tarnished to prove him/herself so they could provide the help that Marika wishes.
5. Melina: We see early on in the game that Melina is watching and testing us to see if we'll make it very far. When we do and we show a lot of promise, she gives us Torrent and starts to reveal to us that she has a purpose that she cannot quite remember. She was made for something very specific. She eventually disappears, after the Erd Tree refuses to let us enter, telling us that she needs to go and discover her purpose. We don't know exactly where she goes or what she does, but, when she returns with her purpose in tow, all she wants to do is burn the Tree. The Greater Will did not allow us into the tree because it is aware of what Marika wants. It is aware that there is now a legitimate danger to her, and, therefore, it. Melina now knows that she needs to burn the tree for us and then teleport us to Farum Azula so that we can get the death rune. All of this only serves one purpose: killing Marika. I do not believe that Melina is one of Marika’s children, but rather an aspect or avatar of Marika, created to serve a purpose. I think that we see the same thing in Millicent’s questline, in which Millicent is an aspect of Malenia. Melina is literally Marika guiding us to kill Marika.
6. The Radagon Problem: Radagon is and was meant to be confusing, and I am still working on how he fits into the whole equation. I believe that Radagon’s abandonment of Rennala and “marriage” to Marika were forced by the Greater Will. I also agree that Radagon probably is “order” in the Elden Ring. Let’s assume that Marika had already been chafing under the Greater Will’s control, and the Greater Will was aware of it. It would want a new, more malleable, less rebellious replacement for her. None of Marika and Godfrey’s children would do. The Greater Will may have forced the Radagon aspect of Marika back to the Tree in order to produce children that would be better suited toward being faithful ringbearers. Their children, of course, turned out to be quite imperfect. Perhaps this has something to do with what Radagon left in Rennala’s care when he left her. In any case, Radagon was used as a band aid to cover the broken, rebellious Marika. Since Marika’s attempt to shatter the ring, she and Radagon have been fighting with each other to break, mend, break, mend, etc. This is why, when the player character finally enters the Tree, it is Radagon that attacks us and tries to stop us. He is the aspect of Marika that wants to be controlled. Perhaps Radagon is simply Marika’s “Order” aspect, or perhaps he’s the part of her that is directly controlled by the Greater Will. Perhaps when Marika started to resist, the internal struggle between obedience and rebellion literally split her in two.
7. Endings: Ranni’s ending is the good one. It is the one that most fits what Marika wants: freedom. The endings in which the PC “mends” the Elden Ring are the bad endings, as they are nothing but the end of Marika’s rebellion and the solidification of the Greater Will’s subjugation of the world. Let the Elden Ring be shattered forever.
Best explanation comment so far!
beautiful theory- I love that there's also so many parts where a simple different interpretation of intent or personality can radically redefine how you view the game's plot. Kinda makes every player's conclusion one that feels special to them
*Slow Clap* well done
Here's another food for thought; if Merika is as evil as some believe then why were Radagon and the Elden beast, one a vassal of the Greater Will and other a manifestation of order of the elden ring our final bosses and not Merika? To not get her hands dirty? That'd be very underwhelming if so. However, what confuses me is Gideons change of aspiration from becoming elden lord to "Merikas has high hopes for us to struggle. Unto eternity." Is this The Elden Beast (Greater Will) influence or an information of Merika hidden and probably will be expanded through dlc?
Ranni is clearly evil, and her ending is a trap.
She doesn't truly free people, she returns control of the world to the outer god that ruled before the Golden order. To the creatures from the stars, and look at what comes from the stars. Monstrosities.
Then look at the works of the golden order and greater will. A paradise on earth where people live eternally. A land where people can have families and live fulfilling lives. It's obvious that the rule of the greater will is benevolent and there's really no reason to rebel. Rebellion in such a case is just childish.
No, if Marika wants to die, it's our job to spank her into submission, get her back in line and rule eternally at her side. After having spanked all of her children back in line as well.
TL;DR Marika needs to be spanked until she understands whose boss, but not killed. Ranni is a trap and not the fun kind.
The radagon being a split off Great rune with his own form caught me by surprise. I also didn't notice the pattern behind his statue and the pattern being the ER being the same.
Giants cursing radagon with red hair is a shocker too.
Subbed.
Proof that gingers have no souls
He is the binding agent of the elden rune. It is his rune and his nature to create order, unite everything and end chaos, idk why she didn’t try to kill him
the mesh pattern is also all around, and the blocked magic gates you need to open to get to different places especially Raya Lucaria Academy. The masks of the mages in and around Raya Lucaria (seluvis has the same) also have the pattern over the mouth part, signifying Radagon telling them to be silent about his whole thing with Rennala.
@@alalmalal maybe she tried, but she removed the rune of death from the Elden Ring, so he can't truly die.
I like the idea that he used the law of regression on himself, and so he "returned" to her and that's how they fused together.
Maybe if death was still a thing he wouldn't have been able to pull it off, he would have died instead of being fused with her. Their fusion makes it impossible for her to kill him without killing herself (I guess he's really smart if he did this intentionally).
She still tried to, she shattered the ring...
She did it anyway, but by that time they'd become one, albeit not the same.
Something I noticed after watching your video, Radagon's Scarseal also has the criss-cross pattern!
You’re right! Brilliant!
And not just there! I think the rune is also found on the wall of thorns blocking the Erdtree
also one of the variation of his lighting bolt attacks has an aoe with the pattern
We need moreee
The lattice pattern also appears when using the weapon art of the Sacred Relic sword. Conversely - the Hammer of Mairka seems to explode with it's weapon art into chaos, as if it recreated the shattering of the Elden Ring. There's probably a bunch of incantations that show this as well, but those 2 immediately came to mind. Great video! Look forward to more.
My theory is that if you think about his name, "Radagon of the Golden Order", I think Radagon IS order. Radagon is possibly the Rune of Order. Marika possibly originally intended to create Radagon as a means to enforce order in the realm, that's why he was created. But since Marika is also a part of the Elden Ring, removing Order from herself is what led her to disorder and chaos. That's why she made her selfish decisions to shatter the Elden Ring.
The golden order is just the people the thrones belonged to at Morgots arena
That explains why the red wolfs name is “The Red Wolf of Radagon” key word being of, so it does imply it being the order
@@masterchief2669 it's a wolf who belonged to Radagon and was left to safeguard Renalla, that's it
You get a Rune of Order through the miniquest
Also, Marika is just a girl from one of the Eternal cities who was chosen Empyryan and made her way to becoming a god, the Elden Ring existed way before her and was ruled by other characters too.
something in regards to Ranni's goal with her own Order I've been seeing a lot around, and I know you didn't cover it yourself in this video but I thought I'd mention it regardless. Once you've completed her full questline and go to the new site of grace in her room and speak with her doll she says this:
"...
I take it thou'st noticed? I shouldn't be surprised.
I thought I might expound a little further...
Upon the order I envision.
Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night.
I would keep them far from the earth beneath our feet.
As it is now, life, and souls, and order are bound tightly together, but I would have them at a great remove.
And have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch...
All become impossibilities.
Which is why I would abandon this soil, with mine order.
Wouldst thou come to me, even now, my one and only Lord?"
I've been seeing people interpret this line "And have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch all become impossibilities." mainly to say that Ranni wants a cold dark world where everyone is reduced to a state of childlike blissful ignorance, unaware of the horrors as they exist in a blind and dumb stupor. But for me at least, this makes no sense. Ranni of all people, the one who slew the soul of her half brother and killed her own physical body using the Rune of Death she stole from her half-uncle, culminating in a final act where she slays the two fingers sent to control her destiny and ensure she take the role of a blind follower of its will, wants a world where everyone exists in blind ignorance? My interpretation of that line is this, as it is now with the golden order, all the things she listed as Certainties are things controlled by the greater will, and so what Ranni wants is a world with no certainty. One like our own in real life, where instead of having our fates controlled by a formless entity we are free to pursue whatever we wish. The souls of the Lands Between once flowed upwards to ascension among the moon and stars, but the Greater will has perverted this process and now our souls are poured into the Erdtree instead. Ranni wants to return things to how they were, a life of freedom, and ascension after death. It's why I cannot bring myself to oppose her no matter what I do in each run I have done of the game, as a human being who values free will and despises control it feels like the only true option to take. A life of golden slavery, or the freedom of the night sky.
I saw someone put it like this: “those who were shunned by the light are free to walk in darkness.” And I really like that. Her ending, to me, represents embracing chaos over strict order.
Ranni: I’ve become so much like Eren Yeager it’s scary
for me, ranni's whole purpose is to separate Great Will's Direct influence from the world as far as possible, so that humanity can decide their own destiny under the moonlight, that means no more influence from erdtree and the golden order.
I saw that there were some translation issues with her ending, in the Japanese version it's more clear that she's going to keep her order and other cosmic fuckery far away from people so people can live and die while not being controlled by them. The impossibilities line is referring to how people would perceive her order and not taking away their emotions or something.
Thank you! So many other comments and videos dont' touch on this at all, Ranni isn't giving up to the Outer God of the Stars or what have you that she may be working with, but freeing the people to follow whoever they wish into the future. People think since there are monsters from the stars it is all bad, when in reality everything was already bad in the Lands Between.
The finger reader in Roundtable Hold said that Godrick is a distant descendant with diluted blood. I've seen many people say he's a son of Godfrey and Marika, but this seems contradicted in the game.
considering he has a thrown in the erdtree, i think its safe to say hes their offspring. it could be godfrey could be somehow related to godefroy. it keeps with the naming patern. also notice how godfrey has his lion attached to him. this is likely a form of grafting.
@@wowitsfrostygames155 you can also see Godfrey big image in the room in stormveil castle
Your theory about radar on being the embodiment of the rune of order is so far the only theory surrounding him I’ve seen that makes sense. Super comprehensive video, well done
Yeah, it also could explain why the Goldmask guy was so interested in him. Perhaps he was trying to figure out what happened to the Rune of Order and got stumped at where Radagon had ended up (and the player helps him find out)?
We know that Queen Marika is from the Age of the Dragons, before the Age of the Erdtree, and her original home was likely Farum Azula, at least sometime during the Dragon God and Dragonlord's reign, and well before the eternal city's destruction. This is implied by statues of a young girl and three wolves, which can be seen in the same area where the PC defeats Maliketh, Marika's beastly half-brother. Maliketh is obviously there because of familiarity and nostalgia's sake. It can also be assumed that she had two other beastly half-brothers. Further, the Fingers were likely already around before the destruction of Farum Azula. At some point, after the Dragon God abandoned the world and Dragonlord Placidusax withdrew to await his return, the Fingers chose Marika as the Elden Ring's successor and Maliketh as her shadow, just as they did with Ranni and Blaidd. This was seemingly done by the Fingers in service to the Greater Will, which suggests that even the Dragon God and Dragonlord were under their influence.
I think Marika and Ranni's stories are very similar, only Ranni actually got the ending Marika eventually came to desire. At least, there are some amazing parallels. We have the chosen Empyrean Marika, the fiercely loyal, beastly shadow Maliketh, and the aged Misbegotten smithing-master Hewg. We also have the chosen Empyrean Ranni, the fiercely loyal, Half-wolf shadow Blaidd, and the aged Troll smithing-master Iji.
It seems like the price Marika paid for becoming the embodiment of the Elden Ring, was the forfeiture of her autonomy to the Greater Will (which likely existed from a time even before the Age of the Dragons). Many of the decisions she made after becoming a goddess-queen, are likely to have been heavily influenced by the Greater Will. One example of this could be the decision to conquer the Lands Between and unite them under her rule, effectively the rule of the Greater Will. Another example is her giving Destined Death to Maliketh for safe-keeping, with the supposed intent being to end true death. And with death out of the picture, the Greater Will gained power over the flow of all life, eventually using it as nourishment for the Erdtree.
To satisfy the Greater Will and maintain her rule, I think Marika, just as she did with the Rune of Death, removed the Rune of Order from herself. With that rune, she, either with or without the help of the Greater Will, created Radagon, a male version of herself. I don't believe the revelation that Radagon is Marika, is to be taken as literal fact throughout the entirety of the story. For a very long period, the two were separate individuals with different desires. It's possible that the lack of influence from the Rune of Order caused Marika to become increasingly chaotic against the Greater Will. It was only much later, after Marika banished Godfrey, that Radagon, whether by the Greater Will's command or through his strict devotion to the Golden Order, returned to Leyndell to become King Consort. Sometime later, Marika, after possibly helping Ranni orchestrate the Night of the Black Knives, acts out one last time in defiance of the Greater Will, shattering the Elden Ring (essentially herself) and cursing everything. It forces the Greater Will to eventually rely on the Tarnished, which is how the PC eventually comes into the story.
It's always in the comments. Good write up.
Godfrey was probably banished because be would side with Marika before the golden order. Or would go against it.
@@jordanbauerly8843 I agree. It's certain that Marika took his grace, along with others, and banished them to war in a land far beyond the Lands Between, to live and die away from the influence of the Erdtree. Unless something is revealed down the line, it's likely we'll never know what exactly triggered the banishment of Godfrey and the other Tarnished. But we can be sure that it was part of Marika's overall plot.
Lately, I've been thinking Marika, with the last vestiges of her will, summoned the Tarnished back to the Lands Between by giving them guidance towards their lost grace. The reason I doubt it was the Greater Will is because, no matter the choices you make in game, the path to the Erdtree will always be blocked by thorns, and the Two Fingers will always eventually deny you guidance so they can supposedly confer with the Greater Will. Even Morgott, as loyal as he was to the Erdtree despite being an Omen, was denied access to it. He even ridicules the player character for trying where even he failed. This suggests the Greater Will probably abandoned the idea of replacing Marika after the Night of the Black Knives, ultimately deciding to one day get revenge against the treacherous demigods while sustaining the Erdtree without the coming of a new age. The Two Finger's insistence for the Tarnished to kill the demigods and become the Elden Lord, also seems to verify they, along with the Greater Will, are misleading the player, acting in self-preservation and using the Tarnished to get revenge.
Additionally, I don't think Godfrey was the only one loyal to Marika. It seems that all of the demigod children were either loyal to Marika or acting in accordance to desires and motivations they shared with her. Morgott called them all, Godwyn, Malenia, Miquella, Radahn, Ranni, and Rykard, traitors of the Erdtree. We know that Malenia, on behalf of Miquella, fought for her brother while he sought ascension to godhood. Radahn, at some point, suspended the stars to halt Ranni's plot and had motivations of his own that deviated from those of the Greater Will's. So, the Greater Will spurned them all. Either way, they were lectured by Marika at some point: "Hear me, Demigods. My children beloved. Make of thyselves that which ye desire. Be it a Lord. Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices."
Godfrey led the Tarnished beyond the fog that surrounded the Lands Between, to await the call of Marika to receive their lost grace. Marika said, "Then, after thy death, I will give back what I once claimed. Return to the Lands Between, wage war, and brandish the Elden Ring. Grow strong in the face of death. Warriors of my lord. Lord Godfrey."
It's suggested that Godwyn martyred himself, much to the dismay of the old Finger Reader Crone in Deeproot Depths, to become the first of the demigods to die. She says:
"Ohh...
Oh, Lord Godwyn...
Such cruelty, such humiliation...
My poor, sweet lordling should have died a true death.
As the first of the demigods to die.
As a martyr to Destined Death.
But why must it yet bring such disgrace?
A scion of the golden bough, sentenced to live in Death..."
The Finger Reader Crone thinks what happened to Godwyn was cruel and humiliating, and they wonder how his martyrdom levied such a disgraceful, heavy price. The consequences of his decision led to the death of his soul and the death of Ranni's body. It could be they all decided that Ranni, being the chosen Empyrean candidate to replace Marika, had the best chance of ascending to godhood without being subordinate to the Greater Will.
Ranni was chosen by the Fingers and Greater Will as the next Empyrean, to become the vessel of the Elden Ring. With the help of Marika and the Black Knives, Destined Death was stolen from Maliketh and led to the death of Godwyn's soul and Ranni's body. The fact there is a Black Knife assassin sitting outside of the Queen's Bedchamber, directly implies they were connected to Marika in some way.
When the Black Knives stole Destined Death from Maliketh, they all became targets of the Greater Will. It seems Ranni gifted Rykard an item capable of fending off the strikes of Maliketh's blade, as he was the only one in on the plot who was strong enough to fend off Maliketh in the event things went wrong.
Where Melina is concerned, I believe she is the Gloam-eyed Queen. And if that is true, that means she is also an Empyrean, a child born from Marika with the primary purpose of burning the Erdtree. It's also possible she holds the great rune that Ranni gave up. Also, consider the Three Sisters sub-region. There are three towers, Renna's Rise, Ranni's Rise, and Selevus' Rise. But Selevus obviously isn't the third sister. Sister, in the case I'm speaking, may be in reference to a sisterhood of witches, not actual sisters. If the third sister isn't Melina, then who could it be? Or, is the Three Sister name referencing the towers themselves and unrelated to Renna, Ranni, and Melina? For certain, we know that Ranni and Melina are working at separate goals that overlap in certain areas.
Finally, I've yet the understand the Black Knife assassin angle at the end of Ranni's quest. It makes sense they'd go after Blaidd once Ranni killed her Two Fingers, to protect Ranni. But it doesn't make sense that they'd go after Iji. Iji wasn't a threat to Ranni, but he was aware it wouldn't be long before he'd follow behind Blaidd. It could be that he arranged his own death, but I think it’s more likely that Iji’s guilt led to him releasing Blaidd from the evergoal, bringing upon himself the wrath of the assassins. But then, considering the ringleader of the assassins is imprisoned near the Moonlight Altar, it could be that they betrayed Ranni, Blaidd, and Iji. Or maybe Ranni was the one who went rogue and decided to give in to the influence of the Outer God of the Dark Moon.
The godskin guys followed an empyrean chosen by the greater will and they opposed the greater will. It might be the greater will likes to change Its veseels for whatever reason, so Its in plan to overthrow itself? The 2 fingers and the 3 fingers might be the sides of the same coin and, while they oppose each other, they both follow the same god. It would make sense that the greater will has 2 faces, as even the vessel Marika was split into 2 and theres also the 2 and 3 fingers, which make 1 hand together. So the greater will itself might be schizophrenic or something.
@@MMOplayeerr There's definitely a duality at play, but it's likely a part of the order of the world rather than being specific to the Greater Will. Ranni's dialogue mistranslation drama aside, it's still clear that life, souls, and the order of the world can be supplanted. And in her vision of how things should work, she would "have them at great remove."
Marika, with the best of intentions, made grave errors during her ascension. And somehow, I think it has to do with her involvement with the Greater Will and following the Golden Order. She said, “I declare mine intent, to search the depths of the Golden Order. Through understanding of the proper way, our faith, our grace, is increased. Those blissful early days of blind belief are long past. My comrades; why must ye falter?” If the Golden Order was truly her idea of how the world should operate, she wouldn’t have needed to seek understanding of it. This means the Golden Order already existed and possibly passed from the Greater Will. At some point, she decided to investigate the Golden Order, which was met with hesitation from her allies. And what better way to do that than by creating Radagon, a male version of herself and embodiment of the largest of the Great Runes?
Through her observations of Radagon, Marika came to a conclusion. She said, “O Radagon, leal hound of the Golden Order. Thou'rt yet to become me, thou'rt yet to become a god. Let us both be shattered, mine other half.” Because of Radagon’s failure to take her place, she was forced to acknowledge the Golden Order as it was, was imperfect. So, she declared an end to them both. This led to the events of the Shattering, representative of the many wars between Marika and Radagon’s demigod children.
You could cover Elden Ring for ages and I’d keep coming back. It’s not the sort of game I’d like to play, but I love hearing about the story and lore! Thank you so much for piecing it together for us. This is clearly a complicated story. 😅
You should try and play it. It took me years to finally "get" these games, but once you do, there's nothing like them.
@@mtn9272 They look amazing!! So maybe I will try. I am quite tempted. The, uh, real problem lies in my extreeeeemely low tolerance for blood…and by low tolerance, I mean practically zero tolerance. Blood spatters have me like 😖😖😖
When it comes to blood and gore I am sensitive butterflyyyy
@@marissabulso6439 you can turn off the blood in the settings, there's a filter for it!
@@mtn9272 whhhhaaaaatttttt
You just changed my life. 😂 Thanks!!
@@marissabulso6439 just try to avoid the giant blood swamp and the Palace above it with the Lord of blood who fights you by throwing flaming blood everywhere
I have no desire to actually play this game (definitely not because I am garbage at them), but I am super fascinated in the lore and grapevine of characters! This was a great introduction to an apparently super convoluted and complex character, and you did phenomenally explaining it! I can’t wait for more explanation videos from you!
Ur tripping the best part of the game is being terrible then after some hard work u destroy everything it’s very satisfying
And there it’s lots of glitches to get to a higher level if u want to
"I have no desire to play this game definitely not beacuse i am garbage at them" so what your too good for us huh!?
🤣
Play elden ring, get maidens.
Use mods or cheats offline. I sure as hell won't judge you for it
I’m so glad you’re making Elden Ring content. I just beat the game yesterday and it’s one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. The lore behind this game is amazing and either close to or at the level of Bloodborne’s
Anyone remember maskedNintendobandit
I freaking love your profile picture Yokai watch is soo underrated!
Completely agree. Bloodborne was (and still is) awesome, but this is definitely my 2nd. I feel like it took the best parts of dark souls and bloodborne and made harmony. Lol
I love how well you explained what the Elden Ring was and queen Marika's role in the story. I would also love to hear your take on Ranni and her questline as her and Blaidde were some of my favorite npcs and npc questline in the game.
Considering Radagon was aligned with the Golden Order it's possible that Marika did not split him from herself willingly and it was the doings of the Greater Will in order to have someone as powerful as her under its control. There is also supposed to be some text in the game (I read it online but sadly don't have a source) where Marika talks about him as he was less than her that could make sense if she didn't created him
"O Radagon, leal hound of the golden order, thou art yet to become me, thou art yet to become a God. Let us be shattered, both. Mine other self".
That first part definitely indicated that she thinks less of him compared to herself. "Leal hound" is clearly a term used to belittle him for being subservient (He's just dutiful, as some people would argue, as opposed to her who has an agenda of her own). Then she taunts him about how he wasn't successful after he "pulled something" to attempt to try to become her/ replace her.
At least "not yet" successful.
"Let us be shattered, both"
That's her shattering the ring, herself, and Radagon in the process since she's the vessel for the ring and they were fused.
"Mine other self".
This is the hardest one to interpret. It can mean many things.
First, that they were always the same entity, she just made him his own person at some point, and she's not willing to accept the fact that now he's attempting to be whole without her. Some people say that Radagon is the rune of order, and this would give more credibility to that possibility.
A second possibility would be that it's metaphorical, that because he's her husband, then he's her other half.
A third one is very literal, they fused and therefore he's literally "her other self".
A fourth one is that it's a combination of any of these three with another, or all of them together.
A fifth is that it's something else that I missed, and it's entirely possible.
But I like your theory that he was the Greater Will's creation.
I think he resented Marika for having him be subservient to her. He fought for her, he got cursed, he left the woman he loved who was his wife (and it was devastating for her) to fulfil his duty as Marika's consort when it was required of him to do so.
At some point, she was going to be replaced... But she was attempting to prevent that, and it's clear where Radagon's allegiance lies. It's with the Golden Order, which was no longer in alignment with Marika herself.
Now, her agenda remains debatable tbh. Did she do all of this because she was bitter about being replaced? Or did she do it because this outer god, the greater will, is not a benevolent one?
That actually remains a mystery...
There're some very interesting things Melina said in certain churches, in which she shares with the Tarnished Marika's own words. The lines you hear in the Church of Pilgrimage are these:
"Then, after thy death, I will give back what I once claimed. Return to the Lands Between, wage war, and brandish the Elden Ring. Grow strong in the face of death. Warriors of my lord. Lord Godfrey."
It seems that Marika intentionally banished Godfrey so that the Tarnished would return one day, instead of casting him away forever. And here she still addresses Godfrey as "my lord," which implies that she actually still loves him.
The lines you hear in the Minor Erdtree Church are these:
"I declare mine intent, to search the depths of the Golden Order. Through understanding of the proper way, our faith, our grace, is increased. Those blissful early days of blind belief are long past. My comrades; why must ye falter?"
And then there's another line of Marika that she said to her demigod children (I forgot where she said it):
"Make of thyselves that which ye desire. Be it a Lord, Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices..."
Then there're these lines you hear in her bedchamber after defeating Morgott:
"O Radagon, leal hound of the Golden Order. Thou'rt yet to become me, thou'rt yet to become a god. Let us both be shattered, my other half."
Radagon, instead of being open-minded, seems to be the origin of Golden Order fundamentalism, which is implied in many item descriptions (one of them being Radagon's Rings of Light, and then there's Golden Order Greatsword). The people who believe in Golden Order fundamentalism are, in Fia's words, "dogmatic brutes." The Goldmask also laments them being transformed from faithful apostles into mere fanatics. It seems that Marika shattered the Elden Ring because she realized that the Golden Order is imperfect, which caused her children to born as Omens (accursed blood) or afflicted with scarlet rot (which is some sort of outer god), and "blind belief" is not the way to make the world a better place. Radagon on the other hand, believes that the Golden Order is perfect and needs no changing, so he tried to defend it instead.
While this definitely complicates the question of Marika's motivations the fact that Radagon was the creator of Golden Order Fundamentalism ties really well into the gameplay: Fundamentalist incantations require intelligence and faith, rather than just being faith based, with Law of Regression and Law of Casuality (two basic principals of Fundamentalism) even being entirely intelligence-based. That makes sense considering Radagon studied both sorceries and incantations.
This actually made more sense.
that makes sense. Maybe even Radagon was the shadow given to marika by two fingers similar to Blaidd being given as a shadow to Ranni. hmm.. But then radagon marrying to Rennela doesn't make sense... If he were to be created by greater will as a shadow to Marika then he shouldn't be able to love a queen(Rennela) that wages war on the Golden Order and the Greater Will. Or maybe being created as a shadow to someone doesn't mean you can't have feelings and a free will or can't disobey to your creator and marry his enemy idk...
@@acommoncommenter9364 No, Marika's shadow was Malekith, that's explicitly stated in the game.
As for how much free will the shadows have, that's another debate. Judging by what we know about Blaidd he clearly was able to defy the Greater Will by supporting Ranni at least.
@@Nostradankus thanks for informing about maliketh. I didn't knew that. About balidd, he has a curse on him that makes him go insane whenever Ranni acts against two fingers. He is her companion when she isn't acting against two fingers but he goes nuts and attacks everything when curse is triggered. I can't conclude on that he has much of a free will. I found that info either after killing or freeing blaidd from evergaol(before he goes insane) I'm not sure which one but Smithing master Iji tells you everything about Blaidd once you have done one of the two actions
Thanks Bandit, I've been looking for some good "Elden Ring explained" videos, and this is the best so far!
So, as a new Tarnished, when you come back to life, are you alive because of the Greater Will or because the death rune doesn’t exist?
The greater will.
Man, If someone put a curse that turned me into a ginger I'd be pretty upset too.
Would love to see a lore breakdown on the frenzied flame and the three fingers that allow you to inherit it been wondering about that
For those who don't know, Ranni's appearance in the game is the look of her mentor who taught her sorcery iirc. Her soul inhabits a doll which is made in the likeness of her mentor. This is written in her armor set description. also I don't know if it's just me but Ranni's original body which is in the top of Liurnia's Divine tower appears to have red coloring in the hair so maybe she's a redhead too.
I've watched a few lore videos and this was the only one that started making things click in my head. So far I've been pretty much lost as to 95% of the story. It's very nice to finally be able to understand what I'm doing. Thanks!
this was extremely well explained, thank you! And yess, I would love to see Ranni's story explained
4:09 Lucky bastard but considering how epic he was, it definitely makes sense that he deserves the best kind of wife.
I just wanna see Marika and her armies at full glory. I also would like to see her at full power with all the runes in place
The Empyrean thing is a bit wonky in how it's worded in Malenia's Remembrance:
"Miquella and Malenia are both the children of a single god. As such they are both Empyreans, but suffered afflictions from birth. One was cursed with eternal childhood, and the other harbored rot within."
I don't think being born of a single god is required to be an Empyrean, but rather their afflictions are caused by that fact. That's why Ranni is still an Empyrean while being born of Renalla.
There's also the Gloam-Eyed Queen we never met who is said to also be an Empyrean in the Black Flame Ritual incantation. Empyrean is probably just a demi-god with the potential to wield the Elden Ring.
I agree, I just updated the wiki as this misunderstanding that to be an Empyrean, you must be born of a single god is definitely confusing. I’ve heard people say Ranni is the adopted daughter of Rennala originally being from Marika and Radagon which has no evidence behind it.
There’s also speculation Melina is or is related to the Gloam-Eyed/Dusk Queen. There IS a relation between Melina and Ranni, overlapping their eye tattoos you see a four-toed fowl foot. Idk what their relation is so far they think they’re sisters.
I think it's less likely that Renalla is Ranni's actual mother than it is that the definition of Empyrean is incorrect.
@@kscott2655 it’s stated multiple times that she’s rennala’s daughter, I think it’s more likely than her being Marikas
@@danoliver8989 - There's false information and lies in all FromSoft games. You only get snippets from certain perspectives. Mother is one of those titles that doesn't automatically denote a biological relationship, though it commonly does.
Excellent video. One thing I’m curious about is where you read Radagon was cursed to have red hair. Everything I’ve read implies he’s actually part giant and that’s the reason why he has it/is upset by it. It’s also implied the war with the giants happened while Radagon was married to Rennala, not after he leaves her to join Marika
It’s also implied Rennala is an adoptive daughter of Radagon and Rennala.
Rykkard was a pretty cool dude as well. He became the serpent because he was cast out because he was tired of the tarnished being treated as second class citizens. He wanted to full on rebel against the Golden Order, but didn’t have the power to fight on even ground. So he sought it with the God Devouring Serpent. It’s extreme, but a pretty solid reason. Him and Radahn are really the only two who had pretty noble intentions, at least at first.
Ranni’s not randomly chosen either. In her dialogue she specific explains why her, Miquella, and Malenia are the only ones who can fill this role.
Item descriptions also pretty deliberately say that Radagon and Marika weren’t created together. They didn’t start out as two pieces of one being, that seems to have happened after the Shattering.
It’s a good video, there’s just definitely some inconsistencies in here. The lore is meant to be vague, but some of these things are actually addressed in descriptions
I’m probably the only one whose going to see this, but just in case anyone’s curious: Ranni’s a capable successor (as well as Miquella and Melania) because she’s an Empyrean. The Royal position is filled by an Empyrean, a Consort, and a Shadow (for Marika it was her as Empyrean, both Godfrey and Radagon as Consort at different times, and Maliketh as Shadow. That’s also why Mohg doesn’t make a play for Marika’s position. You can’t hold the will of the Elden Ring if you’re not an Empyrean. Ranni’s Shadow is/was Blaidd and we end up her consort. She was chosen because she was born to fill this role and with Miquella and Malenia, the only other Empyrean options being cursed (plus Miquella is gone and Malenia’s actually a pretty morally gray to black character when you look at her lore) Ranni’s is the only logical choice for Marika.
Out of all the Elden Ring explained videos I’ve watched from other channels/UA-camrs, this is the only one that was explained in a way that made sense to me. Thank you and please do more!
The lore of Marika and Radagon is quite reminiscent with Jaime Lannister and Cersei Lannister. Also, the road to understand the missing pieces of "Elden Ring" is also quite reminiscent with how we understand the meaning of "The Songs of Ice and Fire". Truly remarkable storyline.
You're doing good, keep doing it because i love to understand lores.
This is awesome, and super helpful and informative! It makes so much sense that Radagon IS the Rune of Order! Especially with his desire to restore the order that Marikia shattered.
A few ponderances:
- Do the other demi-god children that Marikia gave the runes to, also represent the aspects of their runes the way Radagon does?
-Do you think the Elden Ring is a physical object gifted by the Greater Will? (Like the Triforce) ...or do you think the Elden Ring is an *aspect* of the greater Will?
-Where does the Erdtree fit into all this?
- (For a later video) What's up between Ranni and Melina? There HAS to be some kind of connection there, right?
I mean the ring wasn’t originally the ring it was the beast it only became the ring later at least according to the Elden star’s description
From what I can tell, the erdtree is like a casing to enclose/protect the elden ring. When Marika shattered the ring, it was fractured across the Lands Between and that's why there are minor erdtrees.
the erdtree is very parasitic by nature. youll recall, that marika removed the rune of death from the elden ring, removing true death from the lands. this effectively gives the greater will mastery over death, because now instead of people who die going to their natural place of being, wherever thats supposed to be, they are instead sent to the erdtree, likely as energy for the tree and maybe the greater will itself.
There's also the "flames of chaos" ending, where you destroy the ring completely and engulf the world in "flames of chaos" whatever that means.
This is probably uneducated but it might have to do with the outer god of the flame giants? I know that the mark of frenzy is acquired from the three fingers, I don't really know much about them.
@@roundandedgeless.1218 It comes from the 3 fingers. It seems something related to a hand that was seperated, the 2 fingers and the 3 fingers. 3 fingers is related to the frenzied flame ending.
@@Jhonatt Interesting. Does anyone know what the hand itself comes from?
@@roundandedgeless.1218 no, haven't found anything that explains where the fingers actually come from. But, we can speculate that the 2 fingers, are like the holy fingers, or sacred, while the 3 fingers are chaos.
@@Jhonatt chaos and order are opposites but i can see them coming from the same thing or hand
Cool tidbit too, Radagon planted Blaidd as a sleeper agent disguised as a childhood friend to Ranni to make sure she didn’t go against the Golden Order. Hence why you fight the Baleful Shadow and kill Blaidd at the tower in the end of her quest line 😢
Wasn’t the ring shattered after Godwyn’s death? If so Radagon existed before it was broken
Yes it was
I hope you bring us more lore investigations as your presentation and pacing of humor flowed extremely well.
The explaination was thorough, graphics were accurate and not constantly repeating, high quality audio, and professional script writing/reading.
Do more!
Cheers!
There is an inherent assumption here that Marika was the villain all along, where it's being hinted at that all she ever truly was, was a puppet to the Greater Will and a medium for them to control the world through. Both the wars against the Caria and the Giants reek of another god trying to destroy their competition, as the Carians worshipped the Moon, and giants a "fell god." The picture being painted is that Marika was growing tired of being a Slave to the greater will, and after death of her beloved Firstborn took action in order to try to undermine the Greater Will before she was replaced by a more willing servant. She ordered Hewg to create a god-slaying weapon that could be used to kill her and shattered the Elden Ring. She was confined in the Erdtree while Radagon, who Marika called the "Lapdog of the Greater Will", tried to unsuccessfully repair the Ring. Ultimately, the Greater Will was forced to recall the Tarnished after the demigods failed to collect the Runes.
A tarnished was never supposed to become an Elden Lord. Despite the return of their grace and the supposed prophecy of a coronation to an Elden Lord, the Erdtree refuses their entry via thorns inlaid with Radagon's rune and Radagon immediately attempts to kill the Tarnished when they enter the tree. Followed by the Elden Beast itself, a god vassal to the Greater Will.
Great freaking video, helped me understand the relationship of Marika with Radagon. And most of the story in the game. Outstanding job brother.
New Bandit video = great day! Love the new look and feel of the channel.
I know this is a year old but pretty sure we have confirmed that Godrik is not a child or Marika but a descendent of Godwin.
When you talked about The Greater Will, the way you described it made me immediately think of The Miracle in Blasphemous, which actually made them both make more sense to me!
Thanks man!
The stuff going on with Marika and Radagon has some real "Finckle is Einhorn" energy
I want to watch this theory, but I haven't played any of Elden Ring yet😥 I promise to come back and watch this through once I've played it!
For sure! Take your time to enjoy everything in the game - it's a masterpiece :)
I can't wait for someone making 2 hours long video explaining the whole of the Elden Rings lore.
The question that bothers me is if the greater will wants us, the tarnished, to get the mantle of elden lord, then why the Erd tree refused us entrance? Why we needed to fight Radagon and Elden Beast? And great explanation btw.
that is indeed a great question i feel like i'm being manipulated that is why I'm hesitant to pick ending like ranni or marika but the only other choice is the frenzied flame so i guess that is what it is
@@colorpg152 yeah, definitely there is a lack of freedom of agency in this game, just like the 1st Dark Souls. We don't know which ending is the better one.
marika herself blocks your path. gideon tells us in his fight "none shall become lord, marika has high hopes for us, to suffer unto eternity." we also know melina is no longer acting under her mothers desires because she tells us she is now acting of her own volition after we get to the north. for there to be an elden lord means the golden order would be rebuilt and thats the last thing she wants.
@@wowitsfrostygames155 i'm not so sure about that because since she is fused with the elden beast and radagon its possible gideon mistakenly read radagon's mind or something, although i feel like people are making so many assumptions its actually annoying
dude you explained the best and most clear to me. I finally understand the story and Marika and Radagon.
Well, since Vaati is slacking, I'd love to hear more! Specially about Ranni and the other demigods.
I feel like there is more to Miquella!
@@myamdane6895 I firmly believe Miquella will be related to DLC, there's just too much left unexplained and unexplored when it comes to him. Unless they are pulling the Gwyn's Firstborn trick again and leaving us wanting to know more for three games before giving us answers
@@matheusmterra Is DLC confirmed? If so hype
@@myamdane6895 not confirmed, but you can count that there will be. Every Souls game bar Demon's Souls and Sekiro had DLC, given the success of Elden Ring I believe it's a given
@@matheusmterra yeah and if im not mistaken sekiro didnt get one because they didnt feel it sold enough copies. though you would think winning game of the year would make that a moot point but whatever. no shot ER odesent get dlc.
Just one thing, while it’s not confirmed, I believe Godrick is not actually the son of Marika, as he noted to have “diluted blood”. Additionally, as is noted in the Morgott introductory cutscene, Godrick’s proper title is actually “The Golden”, as opposed to his in game epithet, “The Grafted”. This indicates that he is actually Godwyn’s son, and inherited his father’s title after his death.
Ranni's ending was the first one I got. So I'd love to hear the full lore around it!
her ending is evil
In her ending the circle continue we become Godfrey when she Renni/Melina rise to power just like her mother/farther Marika/Radagon did
@@anhhai-rm9ce exactly except the darkmoon has been described at least 2 times as something evil to be dreaded
@@colorpg152 i think is the same as what happened with marika and godfrey. She becomes vessel of the elden ring and you become her "eternal consort" aka an eternal elden lord. Don't know if the moon will affect how the world works tho
@@m.z.2956 well he want very eternal since he became the first tarnished and all
Thinking back to the cinematic trailer and Ranni’s narration is kind of funny. It reminds me of that Eric Andre meme. “On a night of wintery fog, the rune of death was stolen… By someone that totally wasn’t me.”
I think the whole “one person is two people” thing is pretty common in this story. Marika being Radagon is probably less weird than it sounds.
As Jojo watcher its really easy to understand... Let me introduce you, Diavolo and Doppio...
Marika literally took the I love myself to a whole other level and nice inspiration from fromsoftware of the royal disease that also happened in Spain from Incest.
Radahn Definitely strikes a lot more of a resemblance to King Gaiseric. A character from Berserk which Miyazaki absolutely loves to reference in his games.
4:35 Godrick isn't a child of Godfrey and Marika, he's a descendant of them, which is why he's weaker.
Wtf, why is Marika so chaotic 😂
I’m laughing so hard. I didn’t expect this. What an interesting story. It really reminds me of the chaos and grandeur of the Silmarillion. I love it-
The auto-generated captions call Ranni "Ronnie" and Marika "America" and fucking love that lmao
Great video Bandit, looking forward to more Elden Ring content.
This is the most clear explanation of tbe lore I have ever seen 😌 a relief
I'd listen to Bandit read the dictionary, honestly. Loving the rebrand and the new content. Keep it up man! You've got my continued support. ✌️
Radagon has the most badass video game character design I've ever seen
So i kinda agree with your version but i do have some differences mainly in her motivation.
I believe that the greater will interfiered in her life alot. She was happy with godfrey, radagon was happy with renala but the greater will wanted a replacement and maybe to distance a god from a worshipper of the moon (rival outer god). So the greater will removed godfrys glow banishing him and demanding the marriage of the two halfes and the birth of embyreans. I also believe ranni is marikas child but she rather asociates with renala and her outer god. The family isnt very functional, since they later war against each other (i mean they are from 3different families and all) and ranni had godwyn killed (she had to kill him so she doesnt die fully, she wanted to lose the body and by killing herself and godwyn at the same time the deathrune split, killing her body but not her spirit and killinf godwyns spirit but not his body). I read somewhere that miquella was supposed to become heir (cant confirm 100%) so maybe due to favouritism from the greater will and marika that lead to rannis dislike of her real family. So when rannis plot happened marika finally lost it she wanted to get rid of the greater will and in a act of rebelion shattered the ring. She wasnt perfect and made many mistakes but i kinda feel that motivation makes more sense
Radagon's criss cross rune is on the thorns that block your entry btw
You are incorrect about what an Empyrean is. Empyreans are just direct children of gods. There's no "one parent" rule.
"Miquella and Malenia are both the children of a single god. As such they are both Empyreans, but suffered afflictions from birth."
This is the line that confuses people.
"As such they are both Empyreans, but suffered afflictions from birth" is a single uninterrupted thought. It's TRYING to tell you that these particular Empyreans share a parent, and that their afflictions are because of that shared heritage.
If you REALLY wanted to stretch the interpretation you could potentially interpret it as "because they had only had one parent they suffered afflictions from birth" I guess.
Either way. This one line is NOT a statement of the requirements for being an Empyrean. I'm not sure why people are fixated on this.
Small Edit for Clarity: God is a title. Empyrean is the "race" of the Gods. Two gods (whom are empyrean) or two empyreans can bang and make more Empyreans.
Agreed, the main issue is Ranni who is born from Radagon & Rennala. No matter how you spin Radagon Rennala is always human so unless there's an additional theory that stretches the theory to make Ranni a single birth and than transplanted to Rennala, it's safe to say that its not a requirement.
The ranni mix up has me thinking that the "born of a single God" line just means that to be empyrian you have to have at least one empyrean parent. You can't become an empyrian by deed alone
Nah, empyreans are potential succesors of the god. Some are, some aren't. Miquella was an empyrean, Mohg wasn't. The "race" of the gods are the numens, which is what Marika was (see ''numen's rune" description).
You sound like you watch a lot of Rick and Morty..
Maybe people are confused by it because the storyline is delivered in a vague fashion, as it’s a FromSoft game.
I don't know if the single parent thing is the reason for the affliction. Miquella's needle, was originally meant to cure/abate the scarlet rot states that it was devised to combat the meddlings of outer gods. This is further evidenced by it taming the frenzied flame, which we also know is the product of an outer god.
It seems to me that the rot (and presumably also the eternal childhood) are the result of outside meddling.
Now maybe the outer god in question is the greater will and miquella/Melania's afflictions are punishment for her trying to subvert the "you need a consort" requirement by being her own consort. But either way it seems like they were imposed on the children from outside based on what we know.
So Godwyn’s body is probably roaming around somewhere, without any soul.
Godwyn the (first) hollow sounds like a dlc boss.
So Godwyns body is at the base of the Erdtree in Deeproot Depths - He is the new lord of death and Fia's quest will take you to where his body is however he does not move. Due to the Erdtree's power of remembrance in the bottom of Stormveil castle is a part of him growing (Which is protected by an Ulcerated Tree Spirit) - This is ultimately what cursed Stormveil castle as well.
I propose an alternative. What if Radagon started as his own person and later merged with Marika? Honestly, neither explanation really makes much sense, it's just one of those things in the lore that's vauge enough for a couple possible answers. Tho beyond the one in this video and my idea I can't think of any.
you are right, from melina's dialouge:
When resting at Queen's Bedchamber after defeating Morgott
Spoken echoes linger here. Words of Queen Makira, who vanished long ago. If you wish, I will share them with you.
In Marika's own words. O Radagon, leal hound of the Golden Order. Thou'rt yet to become me, thou'rt yet to become a god. Let us both be shattered, mine other half
@@xxluapxx Seems to imply the opposite, that Marika split off the red haired part of herself cursed by the fire giants, and set him on the path to ascension, so they could Re-join as one perfect being. This is a common concept in old alchemy called a Rebis.
In the opening scene cut when Merika is hammering the ring, you can see merika swap with Radagon.
I'd like to know why the way inside the Erdtree is locked up to the player. If it was the Greater Will's plan to allow you entry, then why block it off? They force you to commit a cardinal sin, then try to kill you FOR commiting that cardinal sin
Also, they were IN Radagon as the Ring...
Because Marika cheated she did the thorns to prevent anyone to become elden lord mostly out of selfishness
Now I understand how Marika and Radagon works. Thanks for the clear explanation!
I echo the sentiment that Radagon has the Seal of Order - and as such is the progenitor of Golden Order Fundamentalism - what I found more difficult to reconcile with that belief, is why he fell in love with Rennala, of the Moon. It seemed so out of Order, and not true to his Rune's sake. That is, untila thought occured to me - Even in the natural cycle of Order, the Sun and Moon come together momentarily, creating an Eclipse before inevitably separating. If Rennala represents the Moon, and Radagon the Sun, then it is perfectly balanced as all things should be.
The moon and sun are often romanticized together, and it is evident in Miyazaki's work he is enamoured with that duality. In Dark Souls, with characters like Solaire, and Dark Moon Gwyndolyn, his love for the duality between a light and darkness is evident. And in this case, especially, as an aspect of sun and moon coming together: they create twilight - Ranni.
Radagon gives Rennala the Amber Egg when he leaves for Marika. Amber. Seluhvis asks for an Amber Starlight Shard as it is said to be able to control a Demi-God, he tries to use it on Ranni but it doesn't work. Amber must have some property of the Greater Will, or even be a fragment of it. All of this adds up. How is Rennala Ranni's mother? Adoption. Or as a Surrogate. Radagon birthed Ranni, likely using the Mending Rune of the Unborn, and Rennala hatched it. Ranni was likely born of an Amber Egg (Perhaps all Empyreans are born this way.), just as what Rennala clings to, hence why the Amber shard does not affect her. And being born of Amber, this is why she needs to kill herself. To usurp control of her will from the Greater Will itself and pursue twilight. Ranni was not born of two parents, but created by one God. With her destined path tied to the twilight she represents - her ending quite literally eclipses the sun, bringing this duality into perfect balance, and ushering in a new age. Not of light, or darkness.
I also have to add - that perhaps The Greater Will and the Full Moon, each different worshipped Gods, are themselves one split being such as Marika and Radagon.
And then we have the mystery of Godwyn. I surmise the rune of death is meant to kill body and soul. But Godwyn's soul died, whereas Ranni's body died. A necessary sacrifice. Orchestrated by Ranni as a way to attain true freedom. To free herself without killing her soul. This is another thing common in Japanese RPG's - the idea of a "True Ending" representative of True Freedom. The Persona games and Catherine as well as others all have this common thread. Ranni's ending is True Freedom. The Lands Between? Between what? The Sun and the Moon? Death was removed by Marika. The Stars frozen by Redahn. Time stands still. Stagnancy. Ranni being the proverbial child of the eclipse removes the space between the sun and moon, bringing them together and forgoing "The Lands Between" the cycle between night and day, broken at last.
If Ranni is twilight, could she also somehow be the "gloam-eyed queen"?
This helps me to understand the story a whole lot better. It makes sense we and many other enemies can’t die yet the bosses can due to them being demi not in the endless cycle of death.
Feel like I’m cheating on Vaati by watching this.
Dude i feel you hahaha
Omgggg. Thank you so much for this video. I finally understood the lore of this game. It was so informative and interesting. Can't wait to see more videos . Hope you do more background stories
What a great video! The game has such an interesting lore but not everything in game made sense but Bandit does what he does best! Waiting for the next one, maybe some theories about Fia or Astel. Keep up the good work! ✌
Out all of the elden ring story explained out there, this is the only one that make me understand. Good job
Great video! I think the game gives a lot of clues that "The Greater Will" is actually kind of an Eldritch being in a Lovecraftian sense. Despite all the talk of "order" and the Golden Order being "holy", we find that the two fingers are rotting pieces of still-moving corpse, dead fingers are at the top of every divine tower, and everything touched by the Elden Ring in the Lands Between is succumbing to some kind of decay, disease, or undeath. Not to mention how one of the worst set of enemies in the game are basically a 12-20 fingered giant hand spiders, leading me to believe that detached fingers and hands are up to no good. I think these are world-building clues that all the Greater Will has done is put a very pretty looking layer of power down into the world, but underneath the surface of it is something truly horrifying.
I don't think all this decay on the Fingers and in the world was just because the Ring was shattered; Marika seems to have had a deep instability, and the church that's built around her, (and their ideals about the Golden Order and the Greater Will's purpose) shroud how much of a nutjob she and all the 'gods' are! I mean, seriously; she tries to kill herself, and all her children and heirs take PIECES OF HER for her power, while another part of her tries to put her back together. If anything, I think Ranni's ending is the best, because it's clear to me that The Greater Will is an intrusive force on the world that was disguised in a pretty, golden light, but in actuality, is something awful and terrifying, like we see with that space-beast at the end. I'm not saying the Void and the Stars are much better, (we've seen some of those creatures, too), simply that the powers that be outside the Lands Between might be better left alone!
Overall, I think Elden Ring has amazing world building. I think it becomes clear through the game that the Elden Ring and the 'order' it provides is rotten to the core. Nothing exemplifies it better than the Erd Tree, which is this shining beacon of golden light energy, but at the roots is decaying, rotten, and deadly. I think that's the window into what "The Greater Will" actually is doing: it presents a pretty surface while what lies beneath is probably destroying everything around it.
THIS IS THE FIRST FUCKING VIDEO IVE FOUND THAT ACTUALLY EXPLAINS THIS GAME THANK YOU!
So if the Greater Will is seeking you out to become the Elden Lord, why does it try to kill you in the end with Radagon and the Elden Beast?
I think there was a betrayal on the part of your journey. Remember that the Erdtree literally locks the door but with the helps of Melina, we were able to enter. It feels like the Greater will just want to use everyone espicially you just to kill the shardbearers and collect the shattered great runes so it could return its to former self.
Well it may not be the greater will after all since why would the erdtree be block by thorns why would you have to go burn it unless the greater will wanted the rune of death back inside the ring also could be the fact it's the elden beast beasts are mindless and aggressive could also be Marikas intervention as her plan basically made ofnier go insane he also mentions that Marika wants the tarnished to fight forever or something
Sonic goat was a good addition.
Marika/Radagon duality explained: I think the Japanese do what we do. We look at Eastern culture and incorporate some of what we see into our own. We have "Zen" feelings and attitudes, we meditate and learn Yoga, we say Namaste to each other. The Japanese see 2.38 Billion People on this globe who follow ... wait for it ... God Father, God Son, and God Holy Spirit. The trinity of God in Christianity, forged into one. I suggest that this is where the Marika/Radagon duality is from. And if we can't explain it ... well ... 2.38 billion people cannot explain the trinity split of God, either. I think that the Japanese look at us with as much interest as we look at them. Almost all architecture is from European structures, as an example. We peek, we learn from one another, we are inspired.
Something to note that ties Marika to the Black Knives thing is their armor set, which says that rumors say that those who performed the assassination were all female, and more notably, all Numen with close ties to Marika herself. Which implies that it may have been part of Marika's own plans, which raises many questions.
So, I don’t think it was Marika who was necessarily responsible for everything. The fire giants were destroyed because their flame could burn the Erdtree and so it seems their destruction was decided by the greater will. The same for the Carians, as their moon worship contradicts the worship of the greater will and the golden order. Again with Godfrey, he was abandoned by grace which is given by the greater will. Marika herself is in service to the greater will until she seems to have rebelled by breaking the Elden Ring
The dragonlords weapon call him the first elden lord tho. So whoever the fire giants God was it probably did something to piss off the greater will.
@@andrewpaul8732 It seems pretty me that the outer gods have some kind of rivalry, what with the Greater Will, the Formless Mother and the fire giant’s Fell God all seeming at odds with each other. It also seems the Greater Will wants full control over the world, so I’d imagine that and the fire god being able to harm its Erdtree is enough to warrant a war
This is one game that I don't give a damn about spoilers.
Awesome video
This video is amazing, it had photos and text that matched what you were currently talking about, which was great for someone like me that just could not immediately remember which character was which, with all the names being the GRRM and all of them essentially being one big family feud, thank you very much.
Empyreans are not a specific race of people, they are simply candidates for the greater will. Ranni says in her questline "I was once an Empyrean. Of the demi-gods, only I, Miquella, and Malenia could claim that title. Each of us was chosen by our own two fingers, as a candidate to succeed Queen Marika, and become the new god for the coming age. Which is when I received Blaidd. In the form of a vassal tailored for an Empyrean. But I would not acquiesce to the two fingers." All we know about the empyreans is that they are explicitly chosen by the two fingers (who interpret and disseminate messages from the greater will), they must have a shadow (Ranni and Blaidd, Marika and Maliketh) and they must have a consort.
"Miquella and Malenia are both the children of a single god. As such they are both Empyreans" Combining this with the fact that none of the other demigods born from Marika are considered Empyrean, we are left with the conclusion that the difference between Miquella/Malenia and all the others (Godwyn/Morgott/Mohg/Godrick/Radahn/Rykard) is in their parentage: specifically in the fact that, conveniently, those born from a single god (just like the quote says) are Empyreans (also just like the quote says). The outlier is Ranni, but if she came from the Great Rune of the Unborn, which is theoretical, then she could have been born of only Marika (Radagon) and still remained Rennala's "child", since the Rune is in her possession.
Or it's just up to the will of the fingers. That works too lol
@@BanditGames I can see why you would interpret Malenia's remembrance quote as such, but personally I interpreted that quote as: Miquella and Malenia were born of a single god (the god the greater will had already chosen previously) so, as such, they were empyreans.
When you talk to Miriel, Pastor of Vows about Rennala, he says: "In the end, Lady Rennala was left alone, cradling the amber egg Lord Radagon bequeathed her. Now she devotes herself to it through forbidden rite; the grim art of reincarnation..." We also know from the Unborn Demigod great rune description that "Children born anew by Rennala are all frail and short-lived. Imperfect beings, each and all."
I think it is unlikely that Ranni was born of the amber egg, as anyone else that is born of the amber egg that doesn't hold the great rune ends up passing away shortly after (i.e. Boc's questline if you give him the larval tear). I think it's much more likely that Radagon gave Rennala the great rune as a way of safe keeping, and after having lost her husband, her daughter Ranni, her son Rykard becoming a giant serpent, and her son Radahn losing himself to the scarlet rot, she used that to surround herself with children to cope with her broken heart.
Obviously there is a lot of room for personal interpretation in Souls games, and I apologize if I sounded a little curt in the original comment 😅
I think what the remembrance is trying to state is that Malenia and Miquella's curses were the result of being born of a single god, because it is in a way incestuous. Ranni is not afflicted by a curse because she's not born of a single god.
"Thorns" blocking passage to Erdtree from Lyndell throne room look exactly like Great Rune of Order
Radagon was a chad 😏
by Faaaaaaaaar the best Elden Ring Lore videos I have seen.
Finally, a trans character that isn't used as a political commentary on modern society
Dude, they were separate beings, the timeline of their lifetimes don't connect so at some time they are in diferent places when both of them still existing
@@xyxyxyxyxy6762 it literally says Marika is Radagon
omg please make an hour long lore dump of the whole game, i would absolutely love to watch that
I only just noticed the rune arc at the bottom of the Rosen ring symbols when you pointed out that said symbol was made up of great runes
The close up of Radagon removing the hammer is interesting, the hammer itself exudes the same criss cross pattern as the the missing rune.
I was listening to another theory that was pretty awesome, and essentially it was basically Marika and radagon shared the same body, and when radagon was out and about, godwyn would take on the appearance Marika to continue rule in her stead. Then the night of black knives happens, and godwyn was there while Marika, as radagon, was with rennala. Marika was who ranni meant to target. because it was godwyn, and not Marika, an empyrean, ranni is left in the state she is. Thought it was a cool take. Good video!
I think in the dlc trailer the old guy whos pulling the sword out of him self has the missing 0 piece mentioned around 7 minutes. Once he pulls the put up and out it may turn the rib looking pieces into a circle and it would also connect to 0 emote u get with the pre order.
also for the theory that Radagan is the embodiment of the rune of order (the criss cross pattern) in his boss fight when he is slamming his hammer down the same pattern appears as an AoE attack.
My theory about Marika and Radagon is that its a natural trait she was born with. Remember that she was born from one god, that would make more sense if that god was both male and female at the same time and that trait would be passed to the child.
I always thought the portrayal of the elden ring seemed incomplete. To me it looks like the bars at the top and bottom of the image should continue on to connect to a larger image.
Please do more Elden Ring lore videos. The story is very interesting but very complex. So I appreciate you making the complex understandable.
Look at the full-sized image of the Elden Ring. The top looks like the same crucifixions we see of Tarnished in-game and Marika's pose. Definitely a connection there. Below the Elden ring is a massive arc cupping the Ring, obviously what the Rune Arcs come from and the lower arc of what their description refers to. Now, look at the three rings of the Elden Ring. It's kind of confusing to look at, but as far as I can tell the rings meet each other at six points. Six Great Runes are what must be retrieved. Perhaps to re-connect these touching points.
I’m pretty sure that lower arc is the rune of death.
If you talk to the turtle Miriel, Pastor of Vows he does mention that the statue of Radagon contains a secret
The first thing I thought when I heard ''Marika'' mentioned connected to the game was;''Is Murica / the US really lore in this universe ?'' And my mind entered into a whirlwind of thought and contemplation of how Murica (*Eagle screech in the distance) could be connected to the story.